Brian McAuley

“Aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands.”
― Brian McAuley, Candy Cain Kills

“We’re not dealing with evil personified or a dream demon or some zombie man-child. Ghostface is always someone you know, someone you trust. This whodunit murder mystery angle adds layers of depth beyond the simple hack and slash, centering the “why” amid the gory “how”s. Decoding the puzzle is part of the fun, especially when you’re watching along with friends and shouting out suspects along the way. That magical formula predated Scream, starting in Italy with a wave of 1970s films dubbed giallo. One can easily see the influence on 1980s American slasher cinema when watching Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood (1971), Lucio Fulci’s Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972), and Dario Argento’s Deep Red (1975). These beautifully photographed slices of cinema often turned the camera into the killer’s point of view, pulling viewers through the screen and making us complicit. It’s our black-gloved hands committing these gruesome executions, some of which were later cribbed shot-for-shot by stateside filmmakers.”
― Brian McAuley, Breathe In, Bleed Out