First Word on Horror
Episode: The Teacher
Created by Philip Gelatt
Starring Paul Tremblay
Exclusively on ETCH Studio’s Substack beginning February 21st, 2025

by Sasha Ravitch, Staff Writer

“Do I walk around thinking of imminent doom? Kinda, yeah. I would more describe it as worst-case scenarios. My head is always spinning worst case scenarios, I can’t help it [...] I try to pull myself out of there, and I think writing helps do that sometimes [...] Either as a filmmaker or a writer, ‘film or write what you know’ is terrible advice. Write about what you're obsessed with, write your obsessions: that’s great advice because you’re going to do it anyway, whether you’re aware of it or not.” Paul Tremblay: “The Teacher,” First Word on Horror. 

Philip Gelatt’s First Word on Horror is a prescient and powerful concept, with a pleasing execution and result. This fifteen-part documentary series chronicles five of our most esteemed contemporary horror writers: Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Elizabeth Hand, Laird Barron, and Marian Enriquez. Hosted on Etch Studio’s Substack, a new episode is delivered into the inbox of subscribers each Friday, beginning the week of February 3rd. It feels as if the series has been thoughtfully constructed to illuminate the thinning line between lived experience and crafted story, and the subsequent exploration of narratives (and what shapes them) is rendered afresh by each author who takes the stage. Oscillating seamlessly between the telling of fiction, the telling of truth, the telling of both, and perhaps the sharing of neither, these episodes reveal the integral humanness of these supernaturally talented storytellers.

Our second author for ETCH Studios’ series is the inimitable Paul Tremblay, whose most recent novel, Horror Movie, has become so successful that I have seen it being read in public everywhere from subway trains, to airplanes, to cafes and to concerts. Tremblay has made a name for himself both by virtue of how prolific he is as well as the originality of his ideas. Tremblay has won the Bram Stoker (twice!), and the British Fantasy, Locus, and Massachusetts Book awards. His best-selling books include Cabin at the End of the World, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock, and Head Full of Ghosts. He has published crime novels and a short story collection, and his essays have appeared in publications such as the New York Times and Los Angeles Times.

In his episodes, categorized under the appropriate title “The Teacher,” we are treated to an unpacking of the various inspirations and influences for our titular teacher’s horror-writing career. After receiving his MA in Mathematics from University of Vermont, Tremblay began working as a high school math instructor. This proximity to teenagers, as well as the experience of becoming a parent himself, can be observed via the discomfiting accuracy with which he explores terror through the lens of adolescence and childhood. Reified by his own experiences of insecurity and the imaginal prowess of youth, Tremblay explores how fear shaped him both as a juvenile (with the Ouija board anecdote) and as an adult (with a parents’ fear).

The episodes are bolstered by a nauseating (complimentary) and effective patchwork of sensory stimulus, with credit to Peter Scartabello’s music design. Scartabello’s music complements the surreal shots of 1950s schoolchildren and carnage-heavy found-footage which accompany Tremblay reading passages of his writing aloud. The chosen story, and the effective editing and sound design, linger in your mind like a memory you can’t outrun. It is that dissonance in minor chords, in tandem with the characteristic uncanniness and violence of Tremblay’s storytelling, which make the greatest impact within these episodes.

Our author is gracious, humble, and reflective, pausing to introspect in accordance with questions that the viewer presumes were posed to him prior to our arrival. Tremblay’s perspective feels grounding, and his demeanor is calming, which only adds to the effective and distressful terror of his storytelling. Tempered by effective editing and thoughtful commentary, these episodes with insight into Tremblay’s formative development, and past decade and a half of his writing, are refreshing and interesting. They never linger too long on one topic, they never overstay their welcome, and so they effectively whisk  you from one wondrous fright to another.

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