How To Make a Horror Movie and Survive

DiLouie’s (Episode Thirteen) horror comedy is both a love letter to 1980s horror and a parody of the decade. Max Maurey is the famous horror director who dreams of making the ultimate horror film, but he’s stuck making slashers that induce more laughs than screams. Sally Priest is a young actor looking to escape the shadow of her domineering mother and finally get her big break as a Final Girl. Sally might get her wish when Max discovers a cursed camera that once filmed a horrible and bloody accident; in Max’s hands, it might film a few more. In his narrative, DiLouie demonstrates a deep understanding of not only horror movies but the nuts and bolts of how films are made. Using this knowledge and the well-known cursed-object trope, his gleefully ghoulish tale shows his love of the genre while also poking fun at 1980s Hollywood excess that permeated the Reagan decade and the movies it spawned. Immersing its audience in this tale of inspiration-turned-annihilation is narrator Garrett Michael Brown’s bombastic movie-trailer delivery.