No work and no play makes Howard a haunted boy! This interview explores the slasher genre with Brian McAuley’s Curse of the Reaper, a supernatural Scream meets The Shining in a story about fading fame. McAuley talks about his love for the slasher genre, how his screenwriting journey shaped the novel, and gives some spooky recommendations of his own.
Horror is such an expansive genre, continuing to live on with moviegoers and readers alike! Especially in the spooky season but even during times like Summerween, the love for horror is clear and these stories are something that audiences always find themselves drawn to. Spooky books are always something I have on my bookshelf, so being able to speak to a horror author is an honour I take very highly.
About Brian McAuley
Brian McAuley’s debut novel, Curse of the Reaper, was named one of the Best Horror Books of 2022 by Esquire. His holiday slasher novella, Candy Cain Kills, earned praise from Kirkus Reviews for its “sublimely drawn characters,” some of whom survived for the sequel, Candy Cain Kills Again: The Second Slaying. His next novel, Breathe In, Bleed Out, is out now from Poisoned Pen Press.
As a WGA screenwriter, Brian has written everything from family sitcoms (Fuller House) to horror films (Dismissed). He teaches as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Screenwriting at ASU’s Sidney Poitier New American Film School.
Thanks for joining us. Let’s get started, Brian.
For any readers unfamiliar with it, can you give an elevator pitch for Curse of the Reaper?
Curse of the Reaper tells the story of Howard Browning, a washed-up actor famous for playing a slasher villain in a long-running 80s horror franchise. When the studio announces a reboot, replacing the elderly star with young heartthrob Trevor Mane, Howard fights to reclaim the role he brought to life. But the Reaper has plans of his own, consuming Howard’s mind and demanding the final cut.
Can you tell us what drew you to the landscape of the slasher and horror genre? Were these stories you were interested in when you were younger, and how does that inspire your writing now?
I grew up reading Goosebumps books, but seeing Scream at the formative age of ten is what opened the gateway to my lifetime love of slashers. That film remains a big influence in the way I like to balance horror with humor and social commentary.
The story’s examination of the supernatural is interesting. A character from the past comes back to haunt the actor in the future, now that they are being passed over for the role. How did you come up with this?
Before Scream, Wes Craven made a meta-horror movie called New Nightmare, wherein Freddy Krueger breaches the real world to haunt the final girl actress, Heather Langenkamp.
While I adore this film, I was more interested in Robert Englund — the actor whose identity is forever entwined with this slasher icon. I wanted to explore the fine line between method and madness while creating my own slasher franchise in the process.
What made you want to explore the dirty underbelly of Hollywood as an underlying theme of this novel?
I lived and worked in Hollywood for a decade, so it didn’t require a whole lot of imagination to show how heartless and exploitative that industry can be. It provided the perfect setting for themes of desperation, identity, and expendability, but it also let me pay heartfelt homage to the magic of moviemaking.
Out of all of your books, do you have a favourite character? What about their story or personality particularly resonates with you?
Being my first book protagonist, Howard Browning will always loom largest in my heart. He’s tragically imperfect and eternally at war with himself, but his genuine passion for artistic integrity is something I admire.
As a screenwriter with quite a few films on your resume, how did you find the shift to novel writing? Was it originally planned to be a film, and did you find that the screen and script writing helped with the theatrics of the book?
This story was originally written as a screenplay that got positive feedback from various producers, but never actually sold. Translating it into a novel meant I could keep the cinematic set pieces while delving much deeper into the psychological horror of a dual character study.
If you could be any character from any of your favourite horror stories (book or film), who would you choose and why? It doesn’t have to be the good guy…
I’d have to go with Hannibal Lecter. The man has great taste.
Can you recommend slasher books or movies that you think are criminally underrated? Are there any authors that inspired you aside from the likes of King and Koontz?
There’s a brilliant mockumentary slasher film called Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon that doesn’t get talked about enough, even in horror circles.
Modern slasher authors like Stephen Graham Jones and Adam Cesare continue to inspire me, and I’m incredibly grateful to call them my supportive peers now.
Thank you so much, Brian, for speaking with us about your book and the inspirations behind them! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Be sure to explore his other books, available here: Breathe in, Bleed Out and Candy Cain Kills and its sequel Candy Cain Kills Again: The Second Slaying. You can connect with him on socials here: Instagram, Twitter, Bluesky, or his website.
Or if you’d like to read more of our articles about horror books to read this summer, read this article! Or have a peek into the team’s favourite ways to experience horror themselves here!
If you’d like to find more horror recommendations, have a flick through our Bookstr bookshelf.
