It’s a great time to be a horror fan, the genre’s films are more diverse and more accessible than ever, and 2018 was the best year on record for the horror film industry, with box office ticket sales surpassing $800 million USD.

Successful and critically acclaimed films like Jordan Peele’s Get Out and John Krasinksi’s A Quiet Place seem to signal a shift in the culture of Hollywood horror, drawing in larger and more mainstream audiences who are now hungry for more.

The genre has produced a vast and inconsistent array of films for almost a century now, shining a light on the weird, wonderful world of society’s most twisted creators. It’s a community that has some of the most notorious die hard fans, and after a period of drought for mainstream quality horror, many horror enthusiasts are welcoming the influx of scary movies that are now gracing our screens.

Ari Mattes, lifetime horror fan and Media Lecturer at Notre Dame talked to Victor Petrovic about all things horror.