"FIRST WORD ON HORROR" (2025) Documentary Promises An Embarrassment Of Horror Author Riches! (TRAILER)

We don’t even know where to start with this one. Our hands are shaking too much from excitement! What do you get when you take five of the most exciting voices in horror fiction today and have them discuss their passion for horror, their inspirations, their philosophies, and their technique, all while reading from one of their short stories? You get a 15-part documentary series highlighting the phenomenal talent and imagination of some of the most unique and thrilling talents working in horror today. Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Elizabeth Hand, Laird Barron, and Mariana Enriquez are the authors, and we cannot wait to see what they have in store for us. Add to this line-up the incredible talent of Director Philip Gelatt (“THE SPINE OF NIGHT”) putting it all together, and you get one of THE must-see series of 2025. To say we’re eagerly awaiting this would be the understatement of the year.

From The Press Release

Releasing exclusively via Substack on February 7, 2025.
FIRST WORD ON HORROR is a fifteen-part documentary series that profiles five of the finest horror writers working today. 

Across multiple episodes, each author discusses their life, inspirations, philosophies, and 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. 

The authors profiled are New York Times bestsellers, multi-award winners, and cult favorites. In this first season, they are Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Elizabeth Hand, Laird Barron, and Mariana Enriquez. 

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. 

FIRST WORD ON HORROR is directed by Emmy and WGA-winning writer and filmmaker Philip Gelatt, whose credits include The Spine Of Night, Europa Report, They Remain, The Bleeding House, and Love Death + Robots. The project is produced by Will Battersby (The Spine Of Night, They Remain, Trumbo), and other key crew include Director of Photography Sean Kirby, Composer Peter Scartabello, Editor April Merl, and Sound Designer Ben Cheah.

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