We’ve discussed before the importance of knowing your genre. Your craft will improve by seeing what others have done. And when it comes time to be in the room with other filmmakers working in the same genre, you want to be knowledgable and show you know what you’re talking about. This means keeping up on the latest trends and getting familiar with your cinematic history.
So for me, a bedrock of my knowledge of the horror genre comes from Mike Muncer’s Evolution of Horror podcast. The series provides great deep-dives of different sub-genres, tracking how they’ve changed overtime. It provides a syllabus of important works to make sure I haven’t missed anything. And it also takes the time to identify the smaller works of the genre worth seeking out, thanks to the array of film critics Mike brings on.
And even for the movies I’ve already seen, I can always find fresh insights from Mike and his knowledgable guests. They take their time analyzing these films. Driven by a deep passion for the topic, every movie is given its fair shake whether a classic of the genre or a b-movie delight.
But it doesn’t end with the history of horror. The podcast regularly updates with major recent releases – they just dropped a two part episode on The Haunting of Bly Manor. And the British horror festivals get covered in detail either on the podcast or their youtube channel, letting you know the titles to watch out for.
For those aiming to work professionally as a writer, you have to be knowledgable on what you’re writing about. And for me, as someone interested in horror, The Evolution of Horror remains my go to source on everything of note.