Documenting Horror

On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by writer/director Philip Gelatt and novelist Paul Tremblay (author of Horror Movie and The Cabin at the End of the World, among other scary books) to discuss the new Substack-hosted docu-horror series Etch. The concept is pretty cool: Philip has interviewed a quintet of horror authors—Tremblay, Stephen Graham Jones, Laird Barron, Elizabeth Hand, and Mariana Enriquez—and every week he’s dropping another episode that combines that interview with a reading of a short story and video illustration. (Not quite a movie, exactly, more like creepy imagery.)

I’ll say, as a longtime user/reader of Substack, it’s exciting to see folks push the boundaries of what the site can be. I think most people see Substack as a newsletter/podcast site, and most of the video I’ve seen on Substack has been, more or less, video versions of podcasts. (We have a lot of those here at The Bulwark!) But this is a great example of a creator deciding to bypass the studios and the streamers and just make something he wants to see in the world using the broadcast tools provided by

Hamish McKenzie

and his team at Substack and doing so in a way that allows you to “own” the readers/followers, a stark contrast from YouTube, TikTok, and other user-generated video sites. (It’ll be great when they drop a streaming-style app.) If you are into horror, I highly recommend checking this out. And if you enjoyed this episode, I hope you share it with a friend!

And if you’re curious about Etch, you can watch the first episode for free here:

First Word on Horror - Dear Final Girls - Part One