Brendan Corcoran

Senior Copywriter

At some point along the way, slasher movies and horror movies became hopelessly entangled in the public’s imagination, but there’s a distinct, crucial difference between the two. As horror movie scholar John McCarty put it, slasher flicks “aim not to scare their audiences, necessarily, nor drive them to the edge of their seats in suspense, but to mortify them with scenes of explicit gore.” That leaves true horror films to build intense, atmospheric dread and creeping unease with often very little carnage, making Ti West’s “The House of The Devil” a master class in the very concept. A loving homage to the trashy, ridiculous Satan-obsessed films of the 80s (right down to the awesome Tangerine Dream sounding synth score), the movie does come with a very intense final fifteen minutes or so, but up until that point, it keeps layering on an absurd amount of tense, white-knuckle suspense, often with only very slow pans across the rooms within a spooky old house (one sequence set to the The Fixx’s “One Thing Leads to Another.”) Check it out. And maybe prepare to hit pause a few times while viewing, just to do some breathing.

James Campbell

Creative Director

My favorite horror film is Halloween. I know this sounds like a boilerplate response, but it is actually very carefully considered. There are many reasons why Halloween is the pinnacle of the art form.

– Best movie poster/cover art of the era
– Disorienting synth soundtrack, composed by John Carpenter on a 48-hour bender
– Michael Myers doesn’t speak, doesn’t run, has not discernible motive and cannot be killed
– First of the slasher genre
– Annie’s death scene in the garage is as close to perfect as I’ve ever seen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq6KWyJXpqI
– That’s a William Shatner mask, painted silver

 

Brendan Lyss

Junior Copywriter

Movie: The Shining – One night, when my brothers were babysitting me, we all watched The Shining. I was five years old and way too early in development to watch a movie of this nature. My sibs  thought it was funny to tease me when I complained about them not hanging out with me saying, “Come play with us, Brendan”…This always ensured that I would not come play with them. Book: Edgar Allan Poe: Collected Works – “The Tell Tale Heart” is easily the scariest for me, closely followed by “Mask of the Red Death.” I went on an Edgar Allan Poe bender after watching the electric first season of “The Following.”

Emily Wisely

Assistant Brand/Business Development Manager

I have only recently learned to appreciate a good scare, so I still need a powerful storyline to accompany the jump scenes and heart-racing score. El Orfanato – The Orphanage – is a haunting film directed by J. A. Bayona (and produced by Guillermo del Toro) that takes place in Spain. I’ve seen it enough to not have nightmares anymore – only because I know when to look away. It’s scary, sad, suspenseful and beautifully done.