PopHorror Let's Get Scared
I don’t think we talk about horror authors enough. There are plenty of things spotlighting filmmakers and directors, actors, even screenwriters, but horror authors are rarely mentioned. I’m a big reader and would love to hear more from these writers who can bring on the nightmares. This is one of the reasons I’m super excited about the new TV series by Philip Gelatt (The Spine of Night), First Word on Horror. This docuseries profiles several popular horror authors as they discuss their writing, relationship with horror, and tidbits about their lives while reading some of their work.
To celebrate the release of the show, I chatted author Paul Tremblay (The Cabin at the End of the World, A Head Full of Ghosts, Horror Movie) about how he became a part of the show, why he loves horror, and more!
PopHorror: I’m a huge fan and I really enjoyed your segment in First Word on Horror so I’m super excited to talk to you today.
Paul Tremblay: Thank you!
PopHorror: Philip said you guys knew each other before you signed up to do the show but how were you approached for it and what made you want to say yes?
Paul Tremblay: As you mentioned, Phil and I have known each other probably for a decade at this point and I live like a half an hour away from him, so a handful of times a year we get together just for lunch and to talk about what we’re doing. He had mentioned that he’d interviewed Laird (Barron) and then it was like, “Oh, I’m going to turn this into a TV series and interview other writers.” In my memory, I feel like he asked me pretty early. I mean, if he didn’t ask me I’d be running to his house like, “Phil! Let me in!” It’s super exciting. If anything, my only fear was, based on who Phil interviewed – Laird, Stephen (Graham Jones), Liz Hand, and Mariana (Enriquez) – that my backstory was going to be so boring compared to theirs.
PopHorror: I didn’t find it boring at all!
Paul Tremblay: Oh, thank you.
PopHorror: I’m a big reader and a big horror fan. I love that this is spotlighting horror authors because I don’t feel like we talk about them enough. We see more about films and filmmakers and I love that this is opening people up to new authors and books. This is the best thing ever.
Paul Tremblay: I’m proud to be in it.
PopHorror: How did you decide on using your short story, The Teacher?
Paul Tremblay: Some of that was a little bit collaborative. Phil and I were like, “Hey, we need to read a short story, what do you think?” I actually ended up reading two stories, partly because I picked one because it was short. It was called The Party and it’s a newer story. But Phil actually said, “Let’s read The Teacher too.” It ended up working out that The Teacher was a little bit more easier to not adapt totally because it doesn’t do the whole story but it made sense too because if we’re going to be talking, at some point during the show, about me being a high school math teacher, I think that was obviously a bit on the nose but in a good way.
PopHorror: Honestly, I didn’t know that you are a high school math teacher until watching this and I think that’s so awesome.
Paul Tremblay: Thanks!
PopHorror: There was a line that you said from your story, “We have no idea what normal stuff is,” and that really stood out to me. I paused the show and wrote it down. I loved that line. I feel like it epitomizes being a horror fan because we don’t know what normal is.
Paul Tremblay: Right!
PopHorror: We really like what we see with horror and the abnormal. I just wanted to say that that line really stayed with me. I wanted to spotlight that for a second.
Paul Tremblay: Thank you. I appreciate that. I wrote that a while ago, but I feel like all teenagers think that way. I felt like it was nice to say it out loud, especially if anyone younger was going to read that. But yeah, I think horror’s job is to not be normal. Horror’s job is to transgress and poke at the edges of mainstream culture, pop culture, and society. I love fun horror. Evil Dead II is one of my favorite movies, but I also hope that horror doesn’t get so popular that it becomes staid or this fixed thing. I want it to be dangerous and uncomfortable.
PopHorror: Yes! That is exactly how I feel too. I love that. In your segment you said that you feel like your superpower would be that you’re always afraid. I loved that as well. What is it that draws you back to the horror genre?
Paul Tremblay: I think it’s longer than we have to talk. I don’t know if this is even unique to horror, but horror evokes such strong emotions, so I think people who get it keep wanting to come back. Even people who don’t get it, they don’t get it because it evokes such a strong emotion they don’t want to deal with it. Which is fine because not everybody’s going to be a horror fan. But for me, my favorite horror stories or movies, even if they’re dire and grim – depending on how dire and grim or the story itself – I really find it hopeful because it’s like, I release a little bit of that fear and anxiety. Whoever wrote this movie, whoever wrote this book, they get it. They feel the same way I do. That makes me feel a little bit less alone in the whole mess.
PopHorror: I agree. And about bringing out our emotions, I always say that I feel differently leaving a horror movie than I do leaving a comedy. While enjoyable, they don’t stay with me like horror does. When I’m telling my friends about the things that I’ve watched, it’s always about the horror because you can do so much more with it and it does something to us that stays with us more than any other genre. The second part of my question was why you feel that so many people resonate with the horror genre, and I think it’s because it allows us to feel that way in the safety and comfort of our own home.
Paul Tremblay: Right! It’s funny. I think if you talk to 20 horror fans, you might get 20 different responses. Although I think maybe half would be in the camp of it’s like a roller coaster or it’s a catharsis – I get to experience this terrible thing so maybe I can handle terrible things better in real life. I am not that way at all because I clearly can’t handle anything better because I’m a horror fan. I think it goes back more for me as I was saying before, just the idea of like, okay, other people recognize that this is terribly, terribly wrong. I think that’s a hopeful thing. I definitely never feel like it gets out of my system. In fact, I wrote a book called The Pallbearers Club and I was writing it during 2020 during the sort of teeth of the start of the pandemic and in that book, I was like, oh I finally discovered this is why I write horror – because I have so much leftover stuff from being a not happy high schooler. I thought that when I write this, that’ll be it. It’ll be gone. I’m very happy with the book, very proud of it but it did not function that way. It did not get rid of any of that baggage. It was like, ah well, I got a book out of it I guess.
PopHorror: I hate to say it, but it kind of worked out for us as readers.
Paul Tremblay: Yeah!
PopHorror: I have just one last question for you today. What is your favorite scary movie?
Paul Tremblay: Oh, boy. I can’t just give you one, is that okay? Can I break the rules?
PopHorror: Absolutely!
Paul Tremblay: I’m going to give you two because one’s a famous one, The Thing. Other than Jaws, I’ve probably watched that the most times. Love that movie. It’s so well written, so perfectly executed. Every rewatch, it works. And I’ve enjoyed showing that movie to people who aren’t horror fans and they still love it even though it’s disturbing and gory. But another movie that has certainly meant a lot to me and I think about all the time is Lake Mungo, an Australian movie around about 2008. That movie is a real sort of quiet movie about grief that builds towards… There’s a lot of misdirection and you think something’s happening and then something isn’t happening, and it builds up to this reveal that’s, as an adult, remains one of the scariest things that I’ve seen.
Thank you so much to Paul for taking the time to speak with us. First Word on Horror is available exclusively on Substack!
