Five of horror’s finest writers are getting to share their stories in the upcoming fifteen-part documentary, First Word on Horror from writer and filmmaker Philip Gelatt (The Spine Of Night, The Bleeding House, Love Death + Robots).
Profiled in the first season of the documentary series are Stephen Graham Jones (The Only Good Indians, My Heart Is a Chainsaw), Paul Tremblay (A Head Full of Ghosts, The Cabin at the End of the World), Elizabeth Hand (Waking the Moon, Winterlong), Laird Barron (The Imago Sequence and Other Stories, Swift to Chase, Blood Standard), and Mariana Enriquez (The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, The Things We Lost In The Fire).
Across multiple episodes, each author discusses their life, their inspirations, their philosophies, and their writing techniques while reading one of their short stories. As fact and fiction blend, secrets are revealed and the delicate alchemy that turns human experience into creative expression begins to emerge.
The series is a love letter to writers of all ilk, to the primacy of the human experience, and to the simple act of reading a damned good story. Through the authors’ lives the series takes viewers from a harrowing Iditarod dogsled race in Alaska to the lurking terror of growing up under the Argentinian dictatorship; from the unbridled energy of the early DC punk scene to an ill-fated hunting expedition on the Blackfeet reservation in Montana.
Also bringing the series to life are producer Will Battersby (The Spine Of Night, They Remain, Trumbo), Director of Photography Sean Kirby, Composer Peter Scartabello, Editor April Merl and Sound Designer Ben Cheah.
First Word on Horror‘s new poster (seen below the trailer) was created by horror artist and writer Trevor Henderson, best known for creating viral character Siren Head, as well as designing monsters for Tarot.
First Word on Horror releases exclusively via Substack on February 7 via independent animation and production company Etch. Head over to Etch’s Substack for more information and check out the new trailer below.
