Deep Dive: How To Make Horror Movies - With Jed Shepherd The Writer Of HOST

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Filmmaker Jed Shepherd joins Scarred for Life for the first of our special Halloween deep dives during October into the horror industry — and we explore the strange films and TV shows that scared him growing up. Jed is the writer of HOST, the lockdown horror phenomenon made almost entirely through Zoom, which went from a prank between friends to one of the most talked-about horror films of 2020.

So how did HOST actually happen? Jed reveals how an innocent Zoom prank became a viral sensation, how the feature film came together, why some of the actors were genuinely surprised by what happened on screen, and how the limitations of making a film during lockdown became part of what made HOST so frightening. We also get into the horror of isolation, why the unknown can be scarier than showing a monster, the psychology of being trapped behind a computer screen, and how a film made for a relatively tiny budget ended up reaching audiences around the world. But this is Scarred for Life, so we also need to know what scared Jed Shepherd as a kid.

His three scars take us through some wonderfully strange corners of British and Australian television: ROUND THE TWIST, including the unforgettable fox with lemons for eyes; CHOCKY, which still genuinely unsettles Jed decades later; and SPITTING IMAGE, whose grotesque puppets became something altogether different when viewed through the eyes of a child.

Jed also talks about growing up as a horror obsessive, discovering classic horror films, collecting VHS, hunting down obscure and hard-to-find movies, and why physical media still matters to him in the age of streaming.And if you've ever dreamed of making your own horror film, Jed has some very practical advice. He explains why you don't necessarily need film school, why making short films is the best place to start, and how modern phones give aspiring filmmakers access to technology that previous generations could only dream of. Plus: VHS horror collecting, The Blair Witch Project, lockdown, Zoom séances, childhood nightmares, British horror, filmmaking, and Jed's new horror projects. 🎃 Welcome to a very special Scarred for Life Halloween episode.

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