Matthew Lillard Serves Up ‘Macabre Spirits’ for Horror Fans with Tequila and a Mike Flanagan Novella [Interview]

From Scream to Scooby-Doo to Five Nights at Freddy’s, Matthew Lillard has had a stronghold on burgeoning horror fans for generations. The actor has combined his love for genre storytelling and his appreciation for potent potables with Macabre Spirits.

The horror-themed tequila line is the latest from Find Familiar Spirits, Lillard’s fandom-centric alcohol brand that was founded in 2022. It launched with the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired Quest’s End Whiskey, which itself spawned from Lillards D&D company, Beadle & Grimm’s Pandemonium Warehouse.

Lillard explains, “I have a company called Beadle & Grimm’s with four of my best friends from the acting school I went to for college. We’ve been playing Dungeons & Dragons since we were 21, and we started this company that delivers high-end D&D products right to your door.”

Another friend of Lillard’s, Bloodsucking Bastards screenwriter Justin Ware, recognized how Beadle & Grimm’s customer experience-focused approach mirrored that of his friend Tim Sparapani‘s Blue Run Spirits. He brought the idea of integrating Dungeons & Dragons and whiskey to Lillard.

“Frankly, I jumped at the opportunity,” Lillard says of the partnership. More than just a high-end spirit, every bottle offers a unique imbibing experience paired with a story that ties into the drink.

“I immediately got it and understood the capabilities and the storytelling elements of it. Each bottle is a different chapter of an ongoing story. Each bottle is a different character class, and the liquid in that bottle represents the character that’s in the story.

“The idea of telling a story over a long trajectory of bottles made total sense to us, and we dove in. We sold out in two weeks. We then had a waiting list of 25,000 people, and that whole brand has blown up.”

Given his connection to the genre, catering a spirit experience toward the horror fandom was a logical next venture. Thus, Macabre Spirits was born.

“I’m at horror cons all the time. What I see in the horror community are these people who are on the outside looking in, who are constantly in black, who are tatted up, who love something very specific,” Lillard tells Bloody Disgusting.

“To us, finding a niche community and going, ‘Hey, we see you. This is built for you. It’s not built for fucking a banking bro or a Karen down the street. It is built for you.’ The idea of identifying that and creating a love letter to that community is how we start.

“And we find it exciting! Creating this, it’s fucking cool, and we’re having fun doing it. All those elements made sense to go into Macabre next.”

And why tequila? “Well, I like tequila,” Lillard grins. Hand-selected by Find Familiar’s award-winning spirits team, the small-batch additive-free tequila is a reposado from Jalisco.

“There’s a craft to tequila. In whiskey and bourbon, you have these stories around where it was made and how it blends. Tequila has the same sort of artisanal approach to creating it.”

Macabre’s inaugural release is accompanied by Rare, Fine & Limited, an exclusive, original novella written by Mike Flanagan. The modern master of horror recently directed Lillard in The Life of Chuck, a feature adaptation of the Stephen King story from If It Bleeds.

“At every turn, you could not ask for a better collaborator than Mike. To his credit, he jumped right in. He’s like, ‘I love this idea. I want to do it.’ I think it’s interesting that Mike’s sober and was still willing to work with us on this project,” notes Lillard.

“We asked for anywhere between 12 and 15,000 words, and I got a text in the middle of the night one night like, ‘Hey, how firm are you on the 15,000 words?’ I was like, ‘If you’re having fun, then follow your charm. Keep writing.’ The next thing you know, he turned in an 80,000 word novella. Animal Farm isn’t as long as this. And it’s great!”

Lillard teases the story, “Our hero is this hedonist, this rich, over-the-top guy who wants to eat life. He’s invited into a proprietor’s store to sip a delicate and incredible spirit, and his life is changed forever.”

Flanagan retained the option to adapt the novella into a film. “One of the great things is that we did a deal, then we reopened negotiations because he wanted the option to do it as a movie if he wanted to at some point. That’s how excited he is about it,” Lillard enthuses.

Could Lillard play the lead? “Unfortunately for me, Mike has so much going on, so by the time he got around to doing this film I will be 108 years old,” he laughs.

“In collaboration, all you want to do is find somebody as passionate about the thing you’re doing as you are. Mike not only matched it; he exceeded our expectations, and he’s incredible.”

He adds, “Our hope is that you’re reading this novella as you’re sipping the tequila. I think people will really get a kick out of it.”

The Macabre team enlisted Mia Bergeron, an oil painter known for her use of dramatic light effects, to create the cover art for the book, which also appears on the bespoke black bottle.

“Mia Bergeron is this incredible artist out of Tennessee,” praises Lillard. “Her interpretation of the story is on the book cover and the same image is on the bottle. For every bottle of Macabre Spirits, we’ll have an artist interpret the story and make a painting to go on the front of it.”

More from Macabre Spirits is on the way next year. “We do seasons, and this is a season of blue agave, which we’re gonna do this exploration of tequila over the next two more drops.”

Also coming in 2025 is The Life of Chuck, which won the People’s Choice Award at Toronto International Film Festival before being acquired by NEON. Despite only shooting one day on the project, Lillard was recently praised by actor David Dastmalchian as having “a moment in this film that just breaks my heart.”

Lillard describes his character, Gus, as an everyman. “I have a great role, in that I think the movie finds weight in this little five-minute scene. You’re not really sure what’s going on, and all of a sudden Gus comes alone and adds this real beautiful weight to the film.

“In terms of the emotion, it’s the craft. I couldn’t have done that when I was a kid. I’m 54 years old. I’ve been acting for 30 years. I’ve been teaching for a long time. In this moment, the things that I believe in in terms of craft worked. Doesn’t always work; sometimes you miss by a mile. But on that day, it worked, and I’m really proud of it.”

Lillard is currently gearing up to return as William Afton in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, due out on December 5, 2025. “I think the filmmakers heard the criticism that the fans gave on the first one and have adapted their approach to the second film,” he teases.

“The great news about [Five Nights at Freddy’s creator and co-screenwriter] Scott Cawthon is he cares so deeply about what the fans think. He made changes to reflect what people were interested in seeing more of.

“I’m excited. I think the movie’s gonna be really, really good. I think fans are gonna lose their minds!”

In a recent appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show,” Lillard emphatically told his Scream co-star “Stu is definitely alive.” Is there a particular angle to the character that would entice him to return to the Scream franchise? “That is above my pay grade!” Lillard chuckles.

“I have always wanted to do my season of steroids,” he jokes. “I would like to come back from prison jacked up, complete with prison tattoos covering my entire body and just do gratuitous nude scenes the entire time.”

Macabre Spirit’s Rare, Fine & Limited Reposado Tequila is available to pre-order now. Expected to ship in January, the first 5,000 bottles will be numbered for collectability.

“I think there’s something about literary horror that’s really thrilling. We’re trying to create something that’s a new way to approach the delicacies of the horror genre. Our hope is that people are intrigued by the storytelling and this incredible story that Mike Flanagan told,” says Lillard.

“And I hope that people see our brand for what it is, which is a love letter to the horror community. The whole idea is to build something for a group of people that we’re not trying to take advantage of but we’re trying to deliver something to.”

He smirks, “And it’s fucking badass! The bottle’s cool, the tequila is delicious, and the story is terrifying. If you’re drinking tequila, you might as well drink ours.”