Elric Kane on 20 Films That Inspired His Dating-App Horror Film The Dead Thing
BY TIM MOLLOY, MARCH 4, 2025
As someone who has been discussing and recommending films on my two podcasts (Fangoria‘s Colors of the Dark and the New Beverly Cinema’s Pure Cinema Podcast) for the last decade, I shouldn’t have been surprised that when I made my own movie, The Dead Thing (now on Shudder!) many folks would ask what some of my influences for it were.
When you’re actually in production on an indie film, you have no time to watch movies or even reflect too much on such things, so I decided to dig into what films were on my mind at various stages — from the writing process to post-production — and what specific impact they may have made.
Hopefully this can act as a double-edged list: If you’ve seen the film and are interested in some of the influences on it, this is for you. Or you’re simply looking for a list of eclectic or under-discussed films, I hope this leads you to some discoveries.
1. Habit, directed by Larry Fessenden (1995)
A true north star for the inception of our project. By focusing on character and emotion over FX and scares, Larry made one of the great down-and-dirty Indie horror films and was a major inspiration in our writing process.
Add a comment