We’re not even halfway through our stashed Halloween candy, and it’s already official: 2017 has become the biggest box office year ever for horror. While the domestic box office has been down 11 percent since 2016, horror films managed to pick up $733 million in ticket sales, fuelled by monster smashes like Get Out and It. In this episode of TIFF Long Take, host Geoff Macnaughton puts together his own Scooby Gang — Faculty of Horror podcast co-host Alexandra West and Midnight Madness programmer Peter Kuplowsky — to investigate our renewed bloodlust for genre films.

The three discuss the mainstream appeal of horror (4:10), why some Stephen King adaptations thrived (It) while others failed to stay alive (The Dark Tower) (7:40), and how Jordan Peele’s Get Out became a cultural phenomenon (10:45).

In the episode’s second half, Geoff, Alexandra, and Peter get into why A-listers aren’t necessary in horror (18:00), what major studios can learn from Blumhouse (22:55), and why movie theatres are still the perfect setting for jump scares (28:05).

TIFF Long Take is also deeply honoured to be named Toronto's favourite podcast in NOW Magazine's Readers' Choice awards. Thank you to everyone who voted!

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