Gavin Charles | Instagram | Letterboxd | The Vanguard Podcast

Hello Horrorverse readers, and happy Scary Season! I’m Gavin Charles, co-director of “NOCLIP”, a found-footage film I co-created in 2024 about exploring liminal spaces and getting lost in the backrooms. There are now three films in the “NOCLIP” trilogy, the third of which we premiered earlier this year.

To my knowledge, “NOCLIP” was actually the first ever feature-film explicitly based around the concept of THE BACKROOMS, a fun-fact which uniquely qualifies me to write this list as the guest curator for this issue…

Now that I’ve announced my qualifications, let me try and explain what is so intriguing about the liminal aesthetic, and why a prediction I made several years ago has already come true. The next big horror craze, I forecast, would be liminal horror. Much like how slashers dominated the 80’s, or how torture porn flicks were all the rage in the 2000’s, liminal horror is here, and in this year alone we’ve seen a myriad of films riffing on or directly inspired by the concept: BACKROOMS, obviously, but also “EXIT 8”, “BUDDY”, “TEENAGE SEX & DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA”, “IT ENDS”, “BUFFET INFINITY” and of course, “NOCLIP 3: THE CHATTANOOGA SYNDROME”.

Looking back a decade from now, people will consider this wave the era-defining subgenre of the post-pandemic horror movie. The lonely, nostalgic, disconnected, abandoned vibes, the fading architecture and interior design which triggers a chilling deja vu: I’ve been here before. But was it in a dream? Or a distant childhood memory?

Like so many others, especially in my age range, I became fascinated with this aesthetic that was popularized and named by the Internet and after the original “Backrooms” photo and accompanying creepypasta emerged:

This simple concept thrilled me and so many others, and it inspired me to set off and explore the backrooms of the local shopping center Crown Center, an exercise that became “NOCLIP”.

But, the aesthetic and creepiness of liminality has been around forever. People just didn’t have a term for it, and the Internet finally turned it into something official. But anyone who’s seen Stanley Kubrick’s “THE SHINING”, or basically any David Lynch film, knows that this idea predates the Internet and has long fascinated audiences, before it became the hot new fad in horror.

Brett Petersel | Bluesky | Instagram | Letterboxd

🏕️ Johnny’s back! On Valentine’s Day weekend, February 12, 2027 to be exact, IN A VIOLENT NATURE 2 will slash its way through theaters. Chris Nash is returning with a script he had written and getting behind the camera with co-director Nate Wilson. The first film was a huge success for IFC and Shudder, with this sequel, once again, delivering violent kills and some backstory to who Johnny is. From what we’re hearing, RUN, don’t walk (like Johnny) to the theater!

☕ Dunkin’ is taking advantage of Scary Season by offering new (and/or) limited menu items, including the Spider Donut (which is returning to the menu) and the Berry Battie Daydream Refresher. There’s also the Halloween Munchkins Basket, which both glows and is filled with 50 munchkins. There’s also other merchandise available on their website at dunkinrunsonmerch.com.

🎃 Every year, there are always a few standout costumes that everyone must wear. This year, according to Google Trends, it looks like both parties and our streets will feature OBSESSION’s Nikki and BUDDY (Killer Unicorn). Bloody Disgusting has the full list here.

👽 Hulu knows the truth is out there, so they’ve ordered Ryan Coogler’s THE X-FILES reboot to their streaming platform. The series will star both Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel, with Coogler handling directing, writing and producing the pilot episode. No news yet on a premiere date, but we’ll share it on Horrorverse once confirmed.

🍿 Rob Savage had a great weekend. His new film, OTHER MOMMY, took the #1 slot at the weekend box office, knocking VERITY to #2.

🔥🪰 Lionsgate is releasing an 8-disc set for Rob Zombie’s Firefly Trilogy, which includes HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, THE DEVIL’S REJECTS, and 3 FROM HELL. Also included in the set are limited edition posters, a Zombie-curated photography book, and box artwork designed by Vance Kelly. You can purchase the set here on Amazon.

Gavin Charles, co-director of the NOCLIP films, and the Horrorverse team share their favorite horror films that feature liminal spaces. Check out the list on Letterboxd.

Candi Norwood | Bluesky | Instagram | Letterboxd | StoryGraph | Website

I first discovered my love of liminal spaces while winding my way down creepy stairs to an underground brewpub in Asheville, NC, so I think it's only appropriate to start with a book set in NC.

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher - Kara's in dire straits after a divorce and does not want to live with her mom, so she goes to stay with her uncle at his oddities museum in North Carolina. She discovers a hidden tunnel behind a hole in a wall of the museum which leads to a number of alternate realities - some of which are somehow worse than our current one. In classic T. Kingfisher style, there's humor, heart, and some good creepy moments.

House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski - People either love or hate this book. I love it. It's 700 pages long, it's written as an academic text whose editor includes so many footnotes, he creates his own story within the text. And the text itself is about a documentary film (which may or may not really exist) about a bigger-on-the-inside-but-not-in-a-cool-way-like-the-TARDIS cursed house which is its own story. Sometimes you have to rotate the book or even turn it upside down to read the words, which is no small feat with a book that weighs almost 3 pounds.

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