5 Horrific Questions with ...

The cast of 'Detention of the Dead'

Each October, we dive deep into the sinister world of horror cinema, where we pose the same spine-tingling questions to the masters of fear, the creators of nightmares — the filmmakers who bring the macabre to life. 

With blood-curdling excitement, we uncover the dark and diabolical inspirations behind their chilling creations, explore the art of scaring audiences, and unearth the secrets of cinematic terror. 

Descend into the minds of horror maestros if you dare, as they share their spine-chilling insights in a annual celebration of all things eerie and terrifying.

These are our '5 Horrific Questions' with:

Kathryn Newton and Vince Vaughn in Michael Kennedy's 'Freaky'

Freaky and It's a Wonderful Knife's Michael Kennedy - "Science shows us how being scared in a movie theater or while watching a movie at home actually makes us happier people." 

Terror Trips' Jeff Seemann - “Everything about [The Blair Witch Project] gave me chills and made me want to make my own.”

Hope Madden on set

Obstacle Corpse's Hope Madden -  “Oh, I'm all in with horror. I honestly can't see myself making anything else. I don't think I would even want to.”

Detention of the Dead's Alex Mann - “The journey to get to this point is only comparable to running two or three marathons in a row and then climbing Mt. Everest in storm!" 

Zombies from 'The Dead Next Door'

The Dead Next Door's J.R. Bookwalter - "Romero's 'worst' movies are always better than most people's best films."

Who isn't afraid of a scary clown?

Closed for the Season’s Jay Woelfel - "If you only read two books about how horror works and what it’s about, read that and Lovecraft’s non-fiction essay Supernatural Horror in Literature."

'Undead Fred' frightens

'M' is for Model's Sage O'Bryant - "A heart-pumping, adrenaline-induced high is what we ’re after."

Undead Fred's Deanna Sherman - “The genre we drew was ‘zombie,’ and I was pretty mad. I didn't want to make a normal zombie movie, because there are so many.”

Peter Rottentail's John Oak Dalton - "[We like to be scared] to challenge ourselves emotionally. For emotional release."

Slashers Gone Wild's Rob Avery - "Empathy is what makes a horror movie scary. If you can vividly imagine yourself in the characters’ situation, you feel their terror."

The Ghost Walk Saga's Rocky Karlage - "I think it would be fun to turn The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly into a horror film. I would write it as a showdown of different types of monsters."

Twincarnation's Doug Kaufman - “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs and all arounds. But, hey, that’s part of the molding process for a creative, right?”

A twisted take on Paul Bunyan

Axe Giant's Jeff Miller - “It is a dark, contemporary take on the tale of the giant lumberjack. And a lot of bloody fun."

Nightmares Film Festival's Jason Chris Hamel - "By the end of the shoot, I was on cloud nine and knew this is what I was supposed to be doing.”

Little Evil actor Bryan Geary - "Blood, guts and curse words. As long as the audience is shouting at the screen, I think you did your job!"

A 'Terminator'/'Night of the Living Dead' mashup? Yes, please

The Zombinator's Sergio Myers - “Holy shit, I just saw the spirit of a dead girl in the mirror and she’s standing behind me.”

The Omnipotence of Dreams' James Travers - "Gremlins. I would love to remake that movie way more scary."

Public Axis 3000's Alex Cantrell - "Memories I can't forget."