Some Great Behind the Scenes of the Many Horror Sub-Genres
We here at nK know that the folks at Shudder love love love their horror movies. The Horror’s Greatest series is proof of that. Started in 2024, this docuseries dedicates each episode to a theme or scenario of horror. The episodes feature clips from movies interspersed with interviews from actors, producers, writers, reviewers, directors, and fans.
Director/writer Kurt Sayenga has a long, storied history of loving horror. He produced or executive produced series like Eli Roth’s History of Horror, The 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time, and Microkillers. He knows what makes horror fans tick. Sayenga brilliantly centers the first episode around Tropes and Cliches. The episode covers killer rednecks, creepy houses, and final girls. Some filmmakers lean into them while others take on the challenge of subverting them.
Other episodes include Giant Monsters, J-Horror (truly brilliant episode), Horror Comedies, Horror Movie Scores, Animal Attacks, Killer Dates, Hidden Gems, and Space Horror. The episode on Stephen King Adaptations is wonderful. The interviewees don’t shy away from the fact that some adaptations are amazing, while many miss the mark. Of course they do. The movie makers have to show you something. Readers interpret the same scenes through theater of the mind, and that is hard to outdo, even in IMAX.
Sayenga isn’t alone. Everyone interviewed is a horror veteran, devotee, or both. The cast includes David Dastmalchian (Late Night with the Devil), Kate Siegel (The Fall of the House of Usher), Joe Hill (The Fireman), Tananarive Due (Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror), Jeffrey Reddick (Final Destination), Alex Winter (The Lost Boys), Jenn Wexler (The Sacrifice Game), Dana Gould (Stan Against Evil), The Boulet Brothers (The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula), Chelsea Rebecca (Dead Meat), Tom Holland (no, not that one (Fright Night)), and Steve Niles (30 Days of Night).
This series is a great companion to the docuseries In Search of Darkness, which focuses on a time period instead of genres. Each provides nostalgia for movies that many of us rented on VHS and DVD. Many of these films were produced years or decades before streaming. It’s inspiring to see that the love of these movies is timeless. There are still champions out there bringing these movies to the modern generation. The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs has published almost 200 episodes. Sites like Fangoria are still going strong. There are mega-fans who still cosplay movies that were direct to video. The Alamo Cinema and Drafthouse shows horror films from every decade in their theaters.
While we reminisce, emerging filmmakers are building new horror films and franchises. Jordan Peele, Ryan Coogler, Danny Boyle, and James DeMonaco have all introduced us to new terrors. Others like Jennifer Kaytin Robinson are taking on reboot duties like I Know What You Did Last Summer as Macon Blair brings back The Toxic Avenger. Other interesting 2025 standouts include Zach Cregger’s Weapons, Michael Shanks’ Together, and Joseph Kahn’s Ick.
Horror’s Greatest doesn’t just replay the best scenes from many movies. It digs into the reasons why we are both drawn to horror, and shy away from it. There is a psychological deep dive into how we pair horror and comedy, why we fear what we fear, and how the genre takes the illogical and envelopes it in a story. Viewers have reactions to both the everyday (Arachnophobia) and the impossible (Child’s Play). Whatever triggers your emotions and makes you cringe, Horror’s Greatest has you covered.
Check out Horror’s Greatest on Shudder or through Amazon Prime today.