Horror Joy

Brian and Jeff return from a July hiatus for a Horror Joy series on summer camp slashers, beginning with Friday the 13th (1980).
Their discussion focuses on sexuality, gender roles, and moral judgment, the absence of adult authority and supervision, and how the camp functions as a microcosm for late-1970s/early-1980s anxiety around Reagan-era politics and youth economic prospects, drawing on Kara M. Kvaran’s socioeconomic analysis and related scholarship.
They end by sharing joys of slasher nostalgia, pre-cellphone disconnection, practical effects, and invite listeners to email about a possible Discord.

Brian and Jeff return from a July hiatus for a Horror Joy series on summer camp slashers, beginning with Friday the 13th (1980).
Their discussion focuses on sexuality, gender roles, and moral judgment, the absence of adult authority and supervision, and how the camp functions as a microcosm for late-1970s/early-1980s anxiety around Reagan-era politics and youth economic prospects, drawing on Kara M. Kvaran’s socioeconomic analysis and related scholarship.
They end by sharing joys of slasher nostalgia, pre-cellphone disconnection, practical effects, and invite listeners to email about a possible Discord.
Haints and Hollers Apothecary
Kvaran - “You're All Doomed!” A Socioeconomic Analysis of Slasher Films

Brian and Jeff are joined for a special episode of Meet Your Maker by Spider One and Krsy Fox to discuss their upcoming film Big Baby (VOD August 7) and the relationship between joy and horror.
Spider and Krsy trace their creative paths from small-town upbringings through music, acting, and songwriting into filmmaking, emphasizing that making your own work overcomes industry gatekeeping.
They explain how Big Baby’s writer protagonist reflects frustrations with disposable modern criticism and explores storytelling’s power and responsibility, including a meta take on the author/filmmaker as a kind of slasher.
They detail designing the original Big Baby mask with Little Shop of Gore, balancing gore with psychological thriller elements, and maintaining safety and a supportive “family” set culture.
They tease possible Big Baby 2 and cite revisiting the Evil Dead series with their horror-loving daughter as current joy.

On Horror Joy, Jeff is joined by author Michael Boulerice about his novella Inhalation (released June 16).
Boulerice shares his origin story—writing nonfiction essays online before shifting to horror 4–5 years ago with help from developmental editor Alex Woodrow—leading to short-story sales and publishing with Dead Sky (including Feeding the Wheel).
Michael and Jeff discuss why haunted house stories endure as fears of a corrupted safe space, then talk spoiler-light about Inhalation’s decaying home, Catholic family dynamics, weaponized belief, and Alice in Wonderland’s Caterpillar as cosmic-horror inspiration tied to Boulerice’s late father-in-law, whom the book tributes.
Boulerice previews a themed collection, Ether’s Wood Elementary Primer (summer 2027), plus novels in progress, and cites recent joys like Widow’s Bay, Beyond the Walls, The Backrooms, and the film Human Lanterns.

Jeff hosts a solo episode of Horror Joy: Meet Your Maker with author Amy Jane Stewart, who grew up in Edinburgh, lives in the Scottish Borders, and whose debut novel Hex House (Titan Books) is a feminist horror fairy tale released spring 2026. She is also completing a University of Sheffield PhD on winged women and received Creative Scotland funding in 2023.
Stewart describes horror’s connection to joy through nostalgia for boundary-pushing media, the welcoming horror community, and horror as a safe space to explore big feelings and loss of control. She recounts deciding at 26 to pursue publication, facing rejections, finding her voice in creepy short fiction during an MA at York St John, and ultimately signing with an agent and a 2024 book deal, with Hex House blending fantasy and gothic horror.
They discuss genre boundaries, haunted houses as subversions of home and trauma, Hex House’s dual perspectives (Ellie and Siobhan), and Stewart’s next dark-academia horror novel, plus recommendations including The Lamb, The Brides, and The Memory Tree.