This interview series is a part of “Killing It!” a column dedicated to highlighting superlatives of the film community and the music they listen to. It aims to showcase the humanity and diversity of everything surrounding the horror genre and beyond.

“[Gen Z] is the most mentally ill of any generation. We don't really see that as much in TV shows and movies, but it's a really big problem.”

Heed these words from Cory McCullough, better known as her moniker, “Gory Cory.” She is a 17-year-old blogger, filmmaker, high school senior and the brains behind GoryCory.com. She has quickly gained praise from the genre community, an impressive pool that includes Fangoria’s Phil Nobile Jr. and Meredith Borders, Host producer Jed Shepherd, The Necromoni Podcast’s Don Guillory and James Sabata, Dread Central’s Michelle Swope and Daily Dead’s Heather Wixson.

Her piece for Shudder’s blog, “The Kids Aren’t Alright: Why Now Is The Time For Teen Horror” is a timely call to arms for the lack of authentic teen representation: “Watching reboots of 80’s movies doesn’t give us the same sense of nostalgia that appeals to Millennials and Gen-Xers. We want filmmakers to see us, to point out our specific fears and dilemmas.”

Raised in Connecticut by a Halloween loving family, McCoullough was first bitten by the horror bug in third grade when she watched Jaws. At age nine, she dressed as Norman Bates after seeing an actor portray him on the Universal Studios Studio Tour, which prompted hilarious concern from her teachers. She also encouraged her friends to play Bloody Mary with her. While they fearfully refused, she insisted, “I want to meet and talk to her!” As proven, the affection for all things spooky helped pave the path to who she is today.

I am impressed with this future mogul not because of her ambition at a young age (though that is worthy of note), but for her embodiment of a hard work ethic, humility and self/cultural awareness that so rarely exists in both younger and older generations. She uses her platform responsibly and is a prime example for how vulnerability and inclusivity go hand-in-hand with horror.

Join us at the kid’s table to discuss the blind spots of modern horror films, why there should be a Teen Fangoria, academic horror, the recent misconduct allegations in the horror community and more. Gen Z has a lot to say... and it’s time we shut up and listen.

In high school, do they have horror clubs or are you involved in any extracurriculars?

I usually have to kick and scream to get people to watch horror movies. I was able to find a couple at my school in Arizona. Definitely not in Connecticut. We're going to change that though. A change is coming.

Is there a thing in Connecticut about ghosts?

It's a little known fact that every place you go on the East coast is incredibly haunted, but Connecticut specifically is. I think it's because it's such a boring place. It's so old that all the houses are back from when the pilgrims were here, so everything feels very haunted. There's a really large theater scene there because it's so close to New York. They're really superstitious. Every single theater, Playhouse, anything, they're all haunted. They guarantee every place with a stage is haunted.

Does that have to do with the ghost light they put up?

Yes, it is actually. The ghost light is a big part of that superstition. I grew up around that and my mom loves that stuff. We would always go on ghost tours and sightseeing.

In regards to your blog, how did that start?

You know, we were in a horror production course together at USC and the professor, Dr. Rebekah McKendry, who is the coolest person ever, said, “Just go out and make stuff. Don't wait for anyone's permission. If you want to make something, just make something.” I was so tired of not being able to talk about horror with anybody. I felt like I was annoying my friends so much because they'd never seen the movies I was talking about. I figured I would just write a blog.

Are you focusing on writing only? What's your dream for “Gory Cory”?

My dream is directing and writing movies and TV series. I really love TV series and I don't think we have enough of them that are horror, so that's sort of what I've been hopefully working towards… but it's sort of difficult to pitch anything when you're under 18.

That's so true. I remember you were trying to find places that accept all ages.

Yeah. That's another thing. Any kind of screenwriting competition… they rarely accept anyone under 18. I'm hoping it'll change, but I think that's one of the reasons that we see so few movies and TV shows that actually capture what kids are going through.

What are the biggest stereotypes?

First of all, casting actors that are 32 to play 12 year olds is maybe not the best choice. That usually leads to some problems. Writers will try to throw in teen slang and they really don't know how to use it. And honestly, this sounds kind of sad, but Gen Z doesn't really talk about their emotions that much. They're not very open with people and they usually make a joke out of everything. We don't see that as much in a lot of the TV shows and movies today.

Would you say that there's some movies or shows that are doing it right?

Euphoria is probably the closest to being accurate within the atmosphere. That captured sort of what we deal with on a day to day basis really well. This generation is the most mentally ill of any generation. We don't really see that as much in TV shows and movies, but it's a really big problem that I don't really know a single person that isn't affected by mental illness in some way.

That reminds me about your Shudder article. It was such a great piece because it made me think about [the cultural fears in] movies from our generation that are a given for you guys now.

Yes, every single room I walk into, I'm looking for multiple exits in case there's a shooting. It's like having a slasher go around killing people with knives is a dream that would be so much better. It's so much nicer than what we deal with on a day to day basis.

If our generation was about [the fear] of serial killers, what would be the fear for Gen Z?

Oh my God. We've sort of grown up with a mindset of like, “Oh, we're going to be probably one of the last generations. We're never going to be able to afford a house because older generations have destroyed the economy, the planet and the earth is dying.” I feel like that's one of the reasons that a lot of kids my age have this end of the world mentality. It's really depressing and hopeless. We don't want to see movies about school shooters. Slashers as the next sub-genre are coming back because they're close enough without being right on the nose of what we deal with. Psychological horror as well, I think those two that are going to really be able to capture it.

Are there any current horror films that are doing it well?

Tragedy Girls was great. I thought that was really close and it just didn't really get the marketing it deserved. Jennifer's Body. That's not too current, but that was really good for teen representation. If we could get a modern day version of that, because the way that Jennifer speaks is so accurate to this generation.

Tragedy Girls (2017). Now streaming on Hulu.

What are your thoughts on academic horror, the term you coined -- and what got your brain thinking about it?

I wanted to write an article about going back to school because it was September. School is terrifying and I realized there wasn't a term for school horror. One of the big themes is a mistrust of the system, which we see in a lot of horror movies, but especially with the school system and the school board. Because if you're not on the school board, you have no clue what's going on and you do not trust them. I could totally imagine some kind of weird faculty horror movie every time that I see some random administrator sitting in on classes. They always sit in the back on their laptops and never speak. It's always a little creepy. So I was thinking a lot about that and they usually also deal with coming of age and figuring out what to trust and who to trust. So it's a really big part of teen and young adult horror stories.

It's such a universal fear: being in institutions and not having control.

Even if you're a parent, you don't know what that school is teaching your kids. With any kind of institution, but with the education institution especially, there's a lot of secrecy that's not necessarily evil or anything, but it certainly could be… who knows?

I want to bring up that article that you wrote about the Cinestate scandal. It was so well written and positive.

I was really terrified to write that because I'm just starting out and I didn't want to be blacklisted before I got started. When I saw what Fangoria, Phil Nobile Jr. and Meredith Borders did, I was so shocked because I'd never seen someone step up to that level and just completely say, “I don't care if I have a job if injustice is happening.” That's such a big deal I don't think we really talked about it being a big deal. When have we seen that in any industry in America? It made me really hopeful for the future.

It's such a brave thing to do.

It was so brave of them. I think they set an example for every single production company or any company in the future, regardless of whether it's in movie-making or in oil, you know… that you cannot let this stuff slide. When you don't let things slide, it makes a huge change for the better. Look at Fangoria now. They're doing amazing. They have amazing co-owners now. I just can't wait to see what they do in the future.

Definitely. What would you like to see more from the horror community in the future? On the note of similar things being brought to light?

I think this is the tip of the iceberg. We're definitely going to see more, not because horror is an industry where this happens, but just because it happens in every industry, sadly. Especially when it comes to indie movies, it's sort of commonplace to let it happen and not be able to do anything about it. We're going to start seeing more stuff come to light and it's going to be painful and it's going to be really sad, and there'll be people we trust that we can no longer trust, but I think this stuff has to happen in order for change to happen. It'll make our industry so much better and so much safer.

Yes, like it's healing itself.

Exactly. That's why I was so blown away by the reaction that it got and the people who are still supporting Fangoria because they know they took the right steps. That's also a nice way of setting an example of saying, “You won't get blacklisted for this. You can still survive when you do the right thing.”

Beautifully said. What advice would you give for younger people who want to get into horror?

Read, watch, write, create everything you can. Go to the library, get every horror book you can find that's in your age range. Don't watch or read anything you weren't prepared for. You'll probably feel pressure to watch it so that you could be included in certain conversations, but don't do it. Take time for your mental health and all that stuff and be true to yourself. If you don't like a certain sub-genre, if you don't like a really popular franchise, you don't have to. It's okay and just put yourself out there and be yourself, I guess!

That belongs on a magazine cover.

I don't know. I feel like I'm still like a kid that's just getting into the horror world. I don't even know what it's like.

Imagine if there’s a Teen Fangoria.

Oh my God. Yes. It could be just like Teen Vogue. That would be so cool.

That's exactly what popped into my mind!

Oh my God, that would be amazing!

You should do it. I would fully support you.

Honestly, I think that's one of the reasons we don't see as many kids in horror, because it is a little inappropriate for certain ages. I just turned 17, but I was only able to legally watch R rated movies [in theaters] last year. If we had something like Teen Fangoria where it covered PG and PG-13 stuff, that would be so epic. Oh God, that would be cool.

I remember Judy's Corner on your blog. Can you talk about the horror content that exists for kids and children?

A lot of people don't consider the horror content for kids to be horror because they're like, “Oh, it's not scary,” but it most absolutely is. The way that any of us get into horror is usually through some kind of like children's horror. I know I got into it through things like Halloween Town, Twitches, The Addams Family, The Munsters and Scooby Doo, which don't get enough attention as teen horror. We need a lot more of it because it's so fun. Kids really like when we push the envelope and kids like to be scared. I loved being scared watching Scooby Doo as a kid. Judy's Corner on my blog is a little corner for kids. Judy Neeb is a librarian in California and she does amazing recommendations on kids horror books. She's really cool.

What music are you listening to?

God, my taste in music is so strange. I'm really obsessed with Instagram video. I usually listen to any of the audios that are used for that on SoundCloud. I just really like envisioning stories and video edits, and I think that's also a really big part of writing horror that appeals to teens, because [video edits] are a great marketing tool. That's the only way I can get any of my friends to watch anything regardless of genre. I could do a whole 30 minute conversation on that. If anyone's curious, they can send me an email!

Gory Cory’s “Fall Essentials” Playlist:

EMBED SPOTIFY:

Is there anything I missed that you'd like to add or include?

If people want to know what appeals to teens, they can ask us. I think teen consultants should be a thing. My generation really wants to help people create stuff that's accurate to our experiences. Just ask questions, I guess!

Connect with Gory Cory: www.gorycory.com

Twitter: @gorycoryhorror

Instagram: _gorycory_

The Necromoni Podcast: discussing Becky and Trick R Treat

[Disclaimer: this interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.]

All Hail the Oracle of Teen Horror, Gory Cory