My guest today is Nina Nesseth, writer of Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films. This gem of a non-fiction book is a pop-science look at fear, how and why horror films get under our skin, and why we keep coming back for more. In my conversation with Nina, I focused on the practical applications of her findings. In other words, we explored the ways in which movie makers can weaponize human psychology.

SHOW NOTES
* You can find Nina here and here and here ;
* Nina’s book is Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films ;
* Val Lewton was the genius behind the Lewton Bus from Cat People (1942) ;
* Nina’s favorite director who too few people know about is Julia Ducournau.

Justin Mayfield always wanted to be a makeup artist. It has allowed him to work on a huge variety of projects which include fake blood, prosthetic genitals and decaying biker zombies. Justin used these mad skills to transform himself into BellaLu Ghostly, the spooky spinster of TikTok.

SHOW NOTES
* BellaLu Ghostly on TikTok
* Justin’s website
* The movie Justin worked on was L.A. Slasher
* Movies mentioned: Blood Quantum, Wolfcop, The Garbage Pail Kids Movie and Retardead
* For more horror drag, check out The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula

Victor LaValle started his career writing literary novels. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, literary novels are what English literature profs fawn over, the kind of works that win Nobel Prizes. They’re highbrow, serious stuff and writing them was making Victor miserable. His switch to writing horror novels full of monsters is what made him fall in love with writing again. And the world is a better place for it.

SHOW NOTES
* Victor’s website is here.