1.20.26
GREED V2 – FUGAZI NOW: GUY PICCIOTTO
Part One of my recent extensive interview with self-described "human hand grenade" Guy Picciotto drops today. Guy discusses his turbulent life before joining Fugazi, the dramatic and often dangerous shows the band played, getting acclimated to violence, the necessity of "breaking off pieces of yourself" when you're in a group, producing records, and playing with Vic Chesnutt and Jim White after Fugazi ended. Part Two (dropping 1.28.26) covers Fugazi's creative peak, Rickenbacker guitars, the many sides of Steve Albini and Tom Verlaine, the transient nature of life, and the quest for musical freedom. Part One is here.
12.18.25
GREED V2 – FUGAZI NOW: JOE LALLY
How did the bass-playing powerhouse dealt with life after his legendary band? It was not an easy road, but Joe Lally has come out the other side as a punk jazz musician. Part Two (dropping 12.21.25): After years of searching, the sonic explorer is finding new ways of approaching music. Part one is here.
12.12.25
THE HORROR XPRESS – THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
The site's most popular post of 2025: How Roger Corman, Nicolas Roeg, and Vincent Price channeled Ingmar Bergman and Edgar Allen Poe for a twisted tale of parties and plague. The celebration starts here.
11.15.25
GREED V2 – FUGAZI NOW: IAN MACKAYE
The charismatic frontman of Fugazi and Minor Threat looks back at his favorite recordings, wrestles with his writer’s block, and ponders his musical legacy in a world gone mad. Part Two (dropping 11.29.25) Washington, DC’s preeminent punk recounts his brushes with death and wrestles with The Big Questions. Part One is here.
10.12.25
GREED V2 – FUGAZI NOW: BRENDAN CANTY
The drummer for Fugazi, Messthetics, MC50, Rites of Spring, One Last Wish, Happy Go Licky, Hammered Hulls; player of pretty much any instrument you drop in his hands; producer, songwriter, old friend, and all-around terrific person talks about songwriting, producing, touring, inspirations, structure vs. improv, and the realities of being a musician in 2025. Part 2 (dropping 10.18.25): Brendan discusses drumsticks, politics, why first takes are often the best takes, Fugazi’s punishing tours, more tips on recording drums, and not dying young. Part One is here.
8.8.25
THE HORROR XPRESS – BRIAN DE PALMA VS. THE AUDIENCE
Film Historian Howard S. Berger discusses genius director Brian De Palma's not-so-secret agenda of cinematic terrorism, and how what one generation viewed as artistic "theft" is now celebrated as "speaking in the language of cinema." It's right here.
MID-2025
KURT DEVELOPS A HUGE TV PROJECT WITH A VERY FIRM NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT
This was a fully commissioned, extremely ambitious history series that would have been spectacular, but it fell apart at the last moment when The Money decided it was unwise to spend a very large sum of money in "the current climate." Can't blame them, really. At least it paid some bills!
4.10.25
KURT GUESTS ON THE NICK TAYLOR HORROR SHOW PODCAST
Nick Taylor invited me to talk about movies on this century's equivalent of talk radio, and I did so, because these things can be a lot of fun. It's an interesting experience to be the interviewee instead of the interviewer. I think this is the sixth podcast I've guested on, though I hosted dozens of episodes of The History of Horror Uncut.
2.15.25
KURT GUESTS ON THE DANA GOULD HOUR PODCAST
I spent an hour talking about movies and punk rock with comedian's comedian Dana Gould, one of the high points of my year. The other hour of the episode featured genius illustrator Drew Friedman, because I only roll with nerd royalty.
2.1.25
HORROR'S GREATEST SEASON 2 NOW STREAMING ON SHUDDER
The second season of HORROR'S GREATEST is now streaming on Shudder and AMC+. Season Two episodes are "Animal Attacks," "Hidden Gems," "Killer Dates," "Film Scores," and "Space Horror." I appear in several episodes as an interviewee, especially Space Horror, largely because few others had seen Solaris, Aniara, or Ikari XB-1.
11.22.24
GREED V2 – FUGAZI: THEN & NOW
This weekend GREED launches a special series devoted to the Washington, DC band Fugazi. It will run periodically over the next year or so. We begin with a set of previously unpublished interviews I conducted with Joe Lally, Guy Picciotto, Brendan Canty, and Ian MacKaye as they were recording their first proper LP, Repeater. I will follow up these interviews with present-day conversations with each of the four musicians, now that we are on the other side of the iceberg.
10.27.24
KURT LAUNCHES THE HORROR XPRESS
The Horror Xpress is a Substack magazine I edit and publish that hosts interviews with writers, filmmakers, film historians, and film scholars who work in the horror/suspense genre. It is doing pretty well, especially after getting an endorsement from author Joe Hill. (If you haven't read Joe's novel King Sorrow, do yourself a favor and pick it up – it is huge and sprawling and highly entertaining.)
10.12.24
KURT RE-LAUNCHES GREED
GREED Volume One was a music/arts zine I published while I was living a double life as a journalist by day and disaffected punk rocker by night. It grew out of the small but influential Washington, D.C. music scene and attempted to cover all things “underground” with a sense of humor and an attention to graphic design. GREED folded just before many of the niche bands, artists, writers, and films we celebrated “broke out” in the wake of Nirvana. Through GREED I made many of my closest friends and had the opportunity to design records, cassettes, and CDs for bands I liked, most notably Fugazi’s first six releases. I then had the good fortune of moving into making documentaries for television. I traveled the world and internalized so much stress that my hair went gray in my 30s. But much as I love making films, I missed the far less filtered world of print. So GREED has returned, armed with slices of the old and juicy chunks of the new. GREED v2 serves up in-depth interviews with a host of celebrated creators, comics, features, and humor.
8.27.24
HORROR'S GREATEST SEASON 1 NOW STREAMING ON SHUDDER
After working in semi-secrecy for many months, I can finally announce that my new film survey series HORROR'S GREATEST began streaming on Shudder and AMC+ starting August 27, 2024. Season One episodes are "Tropes & Cliches," "Giant Monsters," "Japanese Horror," "Horror Comedies," and "Stephen King Adaptations."
5.22.23
KURT WINS FANGORIA CHAINSAW AWARD
101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time won a Fangoria Chainsaw Award in the category “Best Nonfiction Series or Miniseries.” This is a big deal in the horror community and it’s certainly a big deal to me. Fangoria and Cinefantastique were lodestars of my youth. I picked up the award in a solemn ceremony that ran on Shudder.
2.5.23
TITANIC: 25 YEARS LATER WITH JAMES CAMERON DROPS TODAY
The special I have been working on for the last little bit premieres today on National Geographic TV and Hulu. It will be on Disney+ when the international subtitling is finished. I supervised the hour’s assembly and wrote and produced the second half, which features action footage of celebrated director/world ruler James Cameron conducting grueling laboratory tests to determine whether the fictional character Jack could have survived the aftermath of the sinking of the Titanic if he climbed aboard a fictional piece of debris with the fictional character Rose. Spoiler alert: human bodies are not built to survive immersion in 28˚F water for extended periods of time.
10.26.22
101 SHMMOAT EPISODE 8 DROPS TODAY on SHUDDER
The final episode of The 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time debuts today on Shudder. The response to this series has been terrific. It was Shudder's biggest series debut of 2022.
9.13.22
ALL THREE SEASONS OF ELI ROTH’S HISTORY OF HORROR SEASONS ARE NOW ON BLU-RAY
Those of you who believe you should not have to pay rich people over and over again for “content” may be interested to know that all three seasons of Eli Roth’s History of Horror are available on Blu-Ray, free from the whims of corporate giants and the ever-changing currents of streaming. That's nineteen hours of solid documentary fun, all written and directed by me, plus some special features, though most of the special features are on the first season disc.
9.7.22
101 SCARIEST HORROR MOVIE MOMENTS OF ALL TIME BEGINS STREAMING TODAY ON SHUDDER
Master filmmakers and genre experts celebrate and dissect the most terrifying moments of the greatest horror films ever made, exploring how these scenes were created and why they burned themselves into the brains of audiences around the world. I wrote, directed, and produced all eight episodes. The first and last episodes were edited by the great Joe LaMattina. The other episodes were edited by Joe, Caleb Emerson, Daniel Strange, and Andrew D. Lewis. This series came out very well and I can’t wait for everyone to see it.
12.1.21
THE SCIENCE OF AVATAR
I have signed on for a few months as Series Producer for the forthcoming Disney+/National Geographic series The Science of Avatar. This involves a return to science adventuring, including shoots at the National Ignition Facility, UC Berkeley, MIT, and on a research vessel off the shores of Catalina Island. I have missed this kind of thing and am looking forward to filming some hard science.
10.1.21
HISTORY OF HORROR UNCUT SEASON THREE PODCAST
I produced and the redoubtable Chris Heckman engineered another batch of premium jaw-wagging for Shudder, built out my long interviews with Meat Loaf (his last extended interview before his death), Edgar Wright, Mike Flanagan, Joe Hill, Jennifer Tilly, Jeffrey Combs, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Max Brooks, Lex Scott Davis, and Eli’s sessions with Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, and promising young writer/director Quentin Tarantino.
9.25.21
HISTORY OF HORROR SEASON 3 BEGINS
This season’s episodes are, in air order, SEQUELS THAT DON’T SUCK, INFECTIONS, PSYCHICS, APOCALYPTIC HORROR, HOLIDAY HORROR, and MAD SCIENTISTS. As usual, I wrote and directed all the episodes. Mad Scientists is perhaps my favorite of the series, and if, as I suspect, this is the final season of HoH, I will be happy to have that be my final statement.
9.28.20
HISTORY OF HORROR UNCUT SEASON TWO PODCAST
I produced season two of the surprisingly popular History of Horror Uncut podcast for Shudder (apparently it’s a top 5 Apple podcast selection), with the able help of engineer Chris Heckman. The 45-to-90 minute episodes debut once a week through December, starting today. The lineup is Bill Hader, Megan Fox, Ari Aster, Rob Zombie, Ken Foree, Nancy Allen, Greg Nicotero, Eli Roth, Andre Ovredal, Roger Corman, Joel Schumacher, Mary Harron, Don Mancini, Barbara Muschietti, and Tom Savini. The episodes are built out of the extended interviews I conducted for the series.
1.11.21
HISTORY OF HORROR SEASON 3 NOW IN PRODUCTION
AMC has commissioned six more episodes of Eli Roth's History of Horror for October 2021. Producing this during a global pandemic should prove quite interesting.
10.10.20
HISTORY OF HORROR SEASON 2 BEGINS
This season’s episodes are HOUSES OF HELL, MONSTERS, BODY HORROR, WITCHES, CHILLING CHILDREN, and NINE NIGHTMARES. Featuring another powerhouse lineup of filmmakers and cinephiles, including Bill Hader, Ari Aster, Nancy Allen, Quentin Tarantino, Rob Zombie, Piper Laurie, Megan Fox, Patty McCormack, Ashley Laurence, Chris Hardwick, Kier-la Janisse, William Katt, Leonard Maltin, Joe Dante, Rachel True, Katharine Isabelle, Keith Gordon, Mick Garris, Laraine Newman, Dana Gould, Tananarive Due, Andre Ovredal, Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti, Bryan Fuller, and many more lovely people.
2.5.20
HoH SEASON ONE WINS 2020 REELSCREEN AWARD
Season One of Eli Roth’s History of Horror was named the Best Arts and Cultural Program at the 2020 Reelscreen Awards. The award itself is a lovely Lucite cube that now gathers dust on my piano.
4.10.19
HISTORY OF HORROR UNCUT PODCAST ROLLS OUT MAY 3
AMC/Shudder will soon release podcasts built from the hundreds of hours of interviews conducted for the series. These are largely-uncut versions of my very lengthy chats with Edgar Wright, Bryan Fuller, Diablo Cody, Victor LaValle, Tippi Hedren, Tony Todd, Catherine Hardwicke, Josh Harnett, and Bruce Campbell, plus Eli Roth's encounters with Stephen King, Quentin Tarantino, Rob Zombie, and Greg Nicotero.
9.10.18
KURT HOSTS MONSTERPALOOZA SCREENING SEPT. 14
The first episode of Eli Roth's History of Horror, ZOMBIES, will have a sneak preview Friday, September 14th at SON OF MONSTERPALOOZA, in the theater of the Marriott Burbank Convention Center & Hotel. The 43 minute film will screen at 8:30. I will answer questions afterward. Thanks to Tony Timpone for setting this up!
9.8.18
HoH SLASHERS PT. 1 SCREENS AT BEYOND FEST OCT. 2
Eli Roth will host a screening of ZOMBIES October 2nd at Hollywood's famous Egyptian Theater. This year's Beyond Fest features an amazing retrospective of David Cronenberg's work, so if you're in the City of the Fallen Angels, don't miss it.