ETCH CAST - Episode 2 - From Hell’s Heart, I Film at Thee

Welcome back to the shadows. Episode 2 of ETCH CAST is here, and it’s our first Behind the Camera installment — a recurring series where we pry open the process and let you see how the stories get their scars.

This week we go under the skin of First Word On Horror: how it started with Laird Barron, why we kept putting doors behind every author, and what it takes to light an interview until it looks like a painting (answer: six hours and every C-stand on the truck). We talk the evolution of the format — interview vs. reading, why B-roll became essential — and how each episode took on its own texture: wintry verité with Laird; archival hauntings for Paul Tremblay; painterly unease for Mariana Enríquez; animated visions for Elizabeth Hand; and a mini-slasher for Stephen Graham Jones, who swapped in “Dear Final Girls” at the eleventh hour and blew the doors off (literally, in one case).

Also inside: parental revisionism (our moms are fact-checking us), prop lore (yes, that mummified head), DP Sean Kirby’s glorious lighting labyrinths, and a reminder that a great “podcast” sometimes needs to be a documentary, because light, sound, and presence do things to your nervous system that audio alone can’t.

🎧 Listen now, free on Spotify.

Want the full video version of Episode 2? Subscribe below to support the Etch team and independent filmmaking.

Stay curious. Stay weird. The shadows are listening.