PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Sam Zimmerman has one of the coolest jobs ever. As VP of Programming for Shudder, Sam gets to decide what’s going to be available on the horror streaming service. And he gets paid to do it! I may be just a little jealous.
To celebrate Shudder’s Halfway to Halloween for 2024, I chatted with Sam via Zoom about how he got the gig, what makes his job exciting, horror movies, and more!
PopHorror: Thank you for your time, Sam. I’m super excited to speak with you today.
Sam Zimmerman: Of course! Thanks for having me.
PopHorror: I’m excited for Halfway to Halloween. I feel like it should be its own holiday.
Sam Zimmerman: I think we’re getting there. I think in a few more years it’ll be federally recognized, internationally recognized. We’re on our way.
PopHorror: Yeah, and I’m still waiting for the day off work.
Sam Zimmerman: Well, that’s the most significant part. I think Shudder’s really on a mission not only of good films but how many days off can we get the good people of this world.
PopHorror: Right? Tell us about being the VP of Programming at Shudder. What makes the job exciting?
Sam Zimmerman: Most of what I do is what makes the job exciting. I am really grateful that I touch kind of all things Shudder, both from our originals and our acquisitions of our new films – anything you see called a Shudder Original or a Shudder Exclusive – but also everything that we bring to the service that’s an older film or a catalog. Sometimes that’s just working with studios and bringing films we all know and love and love to revisit, like Drag Me to Hell is on Shudder right now. Just the joy of bringing a movie we all love to the service. But also going and finding films that haven’t been around and I think that’s one of the things that excites me the most. Earlier this month, we premiered Mute Witness as a streaming exclusive, and that film barely made it off VHS. I think there was a barebones DVD in the late 90s, early 2000s, but it’s so good, and it’s so much fun, and it’s so suspenseful. It almost feels like a secret, like sneakily it’s one of the best thrillers of the 90s but it’s barely around. People can barely watch it in an easy way so bringing a film like that to the service and making it much more accessible or having a hand in making it much more accessible – I know there are a million other people that go into it in terms of everyone who’s restoring it – that really just makes me so thrilled. That makes my heart sing.
PopHorror: I love that. One thing I like about Shudder is it helps bring those movies that are harder to find, that maybe people have never heard of, and opens them up to the masses, to people who may have never seen them. And what better place to do it than a streaming service that is dedicated to just horror. This is something that we’ve needed for years.
Sam Zimmerman: As horror fans, I think we all grew up, especially hearing titles of movies, but never getting a chance to watch them. I remember when I first saw Scream as a kid and they’re name checking all these movies, and name check The Town That Dreaded Sundown. Then for years I just became obsessed with seeing The Town That Dreaded Sundown because it was the coolest title I’d ever heard. Obviously, that one is likely more accessible. I think generally it has been around and available. We’ve also had it on Shudder every once in a while. I just feel continuously guided by that feeling as I get older. What movies have we all heard of, but many of us just haven’t gotten a chance to see? Here it is, please enjoy it. Have a fun time!
PopHorror: How did you land this righteous gig?
Sam Zimmerman: I always like to say it is a dream even when I’m in the spreadsheets. How did I land it… I worked at Fangoria for many years when I was much younger. Through covering horror films and going to film festivals and meeting people, I’d been introduced to this concept that here at AMC Networks, they were building something that might look and feel like Shudder, this concept of a streaming service dedicated to the genre. I was really fortunate to be brought on as a consultant at the time, basically as a genre expert or a programming consultant. The conversation was if this was made, what should it look like? What should it feel like? If we wanted it to feel curated and we wanted to feel like I would subscribe to it, you would subscribe to it, it couldn’t just come from a place of inauthenticity or from folks that didn’t care about the genre. So, I worked alongside a lot of other great curators at that time and then in summer of 2015 when Shudder was ready to launch, I got brought on full time as – at the time – the curator, and then since it’s expanded into many, many responsibilities.
PopHorror: That’s so cool! So Shudder’s Halfway to Halloween has a killer line-up. I’m really excited to finally get to see Late Night with the Devil because I think I’m like the last person on the planet that didn’t see it in the theaters. I know they’re all pretty important to you, but which one are you most excited to bring to fellow horror fans?
Sam Zimmerman: Oh, man. That’s a very difficult question because they all are scratching really beautiful itches, if you will. I think Late Night with the Devil (read our review HERE) is so much fun aesthetically audacious. It commits to its bit in such a really wonderful way, and it is scary, and it gives you a sort of devilish smile while you’re watching it. It’s also such a great concept, just living in the confines of the 70s late night talk show. But then Baghead (read our review HERE) which we premiered on the fifth, is just a perfect scary movie, like a shut-the-lights-off-there’s-a-witch-and-you’re-going-to-get-scared kind of movie. I always feel like Shudder, we should do everything, right? We should do everything the genre can do, but at the core of that is like, is this movie going to creep me out? Am I going to be able to light a candle and have a nice creepy Friday night and Baghead hits that in the heart. And then Infested… I mean Infested is just the ideal creepy crawly giant spider movie. It’s scary and it’s tense. Sometimes I just feel like this, I get to think of everyone sitting on Shudder and watching people get scared. It’s a little evil but it’s a lot of fun.
PopHorror: I am also excited for Infested. I love movies that make me feel uncomfortable, that make me feel like maybe I should take a shower after watching it because it’s disgusting.
Sam Zimmerman: It depends on how you feel about spiders really.
PopHorror: I don’t like them so I think this will be right up my alley. How did you decide on the selections for this year? What goes into selecting these films?
Sam Zimmerman: There’s a small team of us here at Shudder, it’s myself, my colleague Emily, and my colleague Nick, and we are out in the world, both buying and producing films. we’re so driven by what excites us and what we think will excite Shudder members, horror fans, horror fans who might not have heard of Shudder yet. We’re driven by the artists who make these films, but also the people who want to see them and never any sort of cynicism. Are we having a great time, do we think this movie is exhilarating? We want to bring it to Shudder. The big conversation sitting down is when is the best time to put this out. To me, Halfway to Halloween is really a specific vibe on Shudder. We’re really trying to capture a spirit. We’re trying to say why should we have to wait between Octobers? At the halfway point, we should sit down, and we should feel like we do in October, and we should have fun with mischievous scary films. I think these three – this lineup of Baghead, Late Night with the Devil, and Infested – would fit just as perfect on an October night, and that to me makes them perfect for Halfway to Halloween.
PopHorror: I agree. I don’t like having to wait until October to celebrate Halloween.
Sam Zimmerman: And most of us don’t! Most of us are watching horror movies everyday, but this gives us a reason to shout it out loud.
PopHorror: Yeah, exactly. They say if you’re really a horror fan, you don’t just wait until Halloween to watch scary movies. You watch them all year long. I appreciate having a reason to celebrate Halloween again, though. That’s the most fun time of year.
Sam Zimmerman: Yeah! And also, just create fun programming around things. With Late Night with the Devil, we have Ghostwatch on Shudder. To me, those two movies are in conversation, and I think Ghostwatch, like Mute Witness and a few other films that we’re bringing to the service, many people have heard of but they haven’t had the chance to see. I think that getting to sit down on April 19 and watch Late Night and watch Ghostwatch, I’m hard pressed to think of a better fun double feature.
PopHorror: I’ve heard of Mute Witness, but I haven’t seen it so now I’m excited to watch it. You’ve made me want to watch it.
Sam Zimmerman: It’s so good.
PopHorror: The horror genre has evolved over the years and has become a box-office powerhouse. Why do you feel people connect with horror?
Sam Zimmerman: I think there’s a lot of reasons. I think there’s a very simple base reason in that the genre is instinctual and really, it’s one of the storytelling modes that’s direct to your instincts and direct to your feelings, and that’s what is perfect about it. Horror movies can be so thoughtful and intellectual and profound, but that first wave you’re getting from it is, “Am I scared? Am I tense or am I laughing uncontrollably? Or am I laughing out of discomfort?” There’s few other things that feel like that, and I think it’s just a really wonderful, beautiful feeling. And then there’s so many reasons for some people I think watch it out of some sort of therapeutic quality. I alway say, to me there’s a real quality of getting to touch a void. There’s these things that exist out in our world and we’re going to confront them in horror movies, and sometimes they’re extrapolated into something bigger and supernatural, and sometimes they’re more reality based. We’re getting to hit that nerve and touch that void in a way that likely not, hopefully not to in our real lives, but it’s a nice feeling to stare into the abyss and be able to come back.
PopHorror: I agree with you. One thing I like about horror is that horror is what stays with me after I’m done watching the movie.
Sam Zimmerman: Oh yeah.
PopHorror: It’s what I discuss with my friends. I don’t really go out and discuss the last comedy that I watched. I may tell them about it but we don’t have discussions about it or go over it or dissect it. Horror stays with me more than anything else.
Sam Zimmerman: I’m the same way. I really felt like as a kid, there was something that was just drawing me to it and I think the other aspect is for some people who love the genre, and I’m guessing you’re one of them too, there’s also a comfort quality to it too. There’s that aesthetic quality like if I watch a Vincent Price, Roger Corman, Edgar Allan Poe movie, I feel very homey. I feel like there’s a blanket on me, in a way, that’s just the other great feeling in the world. These are comfort movies sometimes.
PopHorror: That’s how I am with 90s horror. Not gonna lie.
Sam Zimmerman: Which ones?
PopHorror: Scream is definitely a comfort movie, but also Urban Legend, I Know What You Did Last Summer…
Sam Zimmerman: Urban Legend, yes! Urban Legend is my favorite of that whole wave. I’m such an Urban Legend-head.
PopHorror: Yeah, I am too. I have a soft spot for 90s teen slashers, I’m sorry.
Sam Zimmerman: Nothing to apologize for. Urban Legend is one of the only movies of that whole wave that also delivers on a really iconic opening sequence.
PopHorror: Yes!
Sam Zimmerman: So many movies try, but that… I mean, “Someone’s in the back seat!” I yell that all the time.
PopHorror: Yes! Just one last question for you today and I’m sure you get asked this all the time, but what is your favorite scary movie?
Sam Zimmerman: Rapid fire, it’s An American Werewolf in London. If you allow me to trail off, it’s also Suspiria – the original though I do love the remake. Let’s Scare Jessica to Death is a big one for me. Inside, the French film from 2008 is a big one. A really huge touchstone for me. It’s a special movie. The Shining. Depending on if you think it’s a horror movie, Manhunter. Those are probably the off-the-cuffs.
Thank you so much to Sam for taking the time to speak with us. Baghead, Infested, Late Night with the Devil, and Mute Witness are all currently available on Shudder!
