My Horror Anatomy: E. Alvin mines five horror classics for ‘Appetite’ video -

Welcome to My Horror Anatomy, a terrifying series in which artists and creators dissect their five most influential horror films.

Horror-pop is a savory delicacy. Often like the horror film genre itself, the blood-curdling format has been relegated to the underground ⏤ macabre ringmasters like graveyardguy and the criminally-overlooked Ellise have notched some of the bloodiest and most terrifying horror-pop in recent years. Calling upon such spooky influences as John Carpenter’s Halloween and The Blair Witch Project, which yanked found-footage into the modern era, another midnight crawler named E. Alvin invites you into his twistedly contagious wonderland with his new visualizer. “Appetite,” an already bone-chilling expedition, slides a sharpened butcher knife under the rib cage and right into the heart, Michael Myers-style.

Producer Zachary Koval fuses the song’s backbone with a distinct John Waters flavoring. “My producer and I stayed in this old chapel-turned-Airbnb in upstate New York as a songwriting retreat. One night, after too many shots of Henny, I emotionally gutted myself and channeled it into [this song],” says Alvin, whose deceptively angelic voice further punctuates the disturbing, nerve-burning tone. “It’s told from the perspective of a masochist who continuously feeds their abuser’s desires, realizing too late the psychological damage being inflicted upon them.”

Blood-tinted fingertips flash across the screen, as if we’re a Peeping Tom archetype peering into a dungeon in which bodies are mangled and torn by some unseen Maniac. Red, life-affirming syrup caramelizes the screen, and its only purpose is to send more chills tingling along the spine. The production appropriately twists the tendons, nearly snapping the Achilles in two. Alvin’s breath spills into the eardrums, nearly suffocating, but there’s something equally as invigorating about it

Below, Alvin walks us through five horror classics from which he drew his own unique aesthetics and stylistic turns.

5. It Follows (2015)

It Follows is one of those rare films I’ve see that had me leaving the theater absolutely mesmerized. The plot, the color scheme, the characters ⏤ everything felt like a drawn out fever dream. The cinematography and color palate remind me a lot of Gregory Crewdson, a photographer I draw a lot of visual inspiration from. There’s symbolism ripe for the picking in this movie, and I go back to it often.

4. The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Blair Witch Project is structured around minimalism; the gloomy grays of the woods: the eerie, skeletal branches reaching up to a barren sky. Visually, there is something about it that I’ve always gone back to for inspiration. Maybe it’s the rawness of it? Maybe its the way the stick figurines hang hauntingly in an abandoned area in the forest? There’s a particular aesthetic that is so original here, and that’s the beauty of it.

**3. Suspiria (1977)**

Suspiria (both the original and remake) are full of gothic, macabre eye candy. The original bleeds a vibrant red throughout the film and plays on the grand location of an all-girls ballet school. The remake, however, takes from modern horror films. The pallet is darker, less vibrant and more bleak, but the cinematography is superb, honing in on the aesthetic of an ambiguous coven of witches. Depending on what I’m trying to convey, I look to both films for inspiration

**2. Scream (1996)**

The self referential slasher film that redefined a genre. I absolutely love Scream. It knows what it brings to the table and goes full force with it. There’s a tone to the film, too, that I love. The entire aesthetic oozes the “’90s” but it works and still holds up to this day. I even have a similar sweater to Stew in the final act of the film that I love dearly. Everything hits the mark for me here, and I go back this film very frequently.

**1. Halloween (1978)**

Halloween isn’t just my favorite horror film of all time ⏤ it is my favorite movie, period. The cinematography is fluid, the idea is simple yet effective, and the score is incredible. John Carpenter may have not originated the synthesizer being utilized in horror films, but he certainly made it popular. The music in this film and series, alone, has influenced my own music tremendously. The visuals are just as mesmerizing. The ghostly whites, the deep blues, the dim lighting all blend to make a film worth appreciating time and time again.