Kimberley Elizabeth and Jonathan DeHaan are the authors of the new book Cocktails from the Crypt: Concoctions Inspired by Your Favorite Horror Films. They are the hosts of the horror movie podcast Nightmare on Film Street. They live in Winnipeg.
Q: What inspired you to write Cocktails from the Crypt?
Jon: We've been crafting themed cocktails for events as long as we've been planning parties. We have had His & Hers Halloween-themed cocktails at our wedding! But Cocktails From The Crypt started in earnest during the pandemic through the online watch parties we would host for our podcast audience.
Kim: We would create a cocktail specifically for the movie we were watching and record a tutorial to show everyone how to make it at home themselves. It really helped make those nights feel like a party you were attending with your online friends (even if you were just sitting on the couch in your apartment).
Q: How did you choose the cocktails to include?
Jon: Some of the cocktails started with the drinks (we're always tinkering and my notes app if full of unpublished recipes), some started with a name that was too good to pass up (like the Texas Chain Saw Margarita), but a lot of drinks began with our love of their respective movie.
We knew we had to include some of the beloved staples like The Exorcist or Halloween, but we also wanted to make sure the drinks were a representative sample of our own personal obsessions (which is why we're definitely the only cocktail book with a drink inspired by Jason X haha).
Kim: From there it was all about fine tuning the drink to tell the story of the movie, one sip at a time. The movies played as much a part as the ingredients and it was always about taking the tone or mood of a movie and interpreting those elements into flavor profiles. Starting from the base alcohol, all the way down to how we style the garnish.
Q: What are your top three favorite horror films?
Jon: This is always a tough question, because the answer changes on a daily basis, but I think my Top 3 are Evil Dead 2, Videodrome, and The Blair Witch Project. Sometimes when I'm feeling pretentious I like to say Lost Highway (which is definitely in the top 10) but I'm way more likely to be watching a guy with chainsaw for a hand chop up a bunch of zombie demons any night of the week.
Kim: My three faves also definitely depend on which way the wind is blowing, but in this moment I'll go with From Dusk 'Till Dawn, Poltergeist, and The Shining. The first one because it's an absolute party, the second because it's a great story with a realistic family to root for, and the third because it still makes the little hairs stand up on my neck.
Q: How did the two of you collaborate on the book?
Jon: What's so great about working with Kim is that it truly is a partnership. We both have our own strengths but we tackle everything together and the best idea always wins. I definitely had more of a hand in creating the first pass on a lot of the drinks but Kim was always there tinkering with ratios and adding in new flavors to get each drink to the finish line.
Kim: Jon's definitely the master mixologist of our duo, he's always playing with ratios and tweaking ingredients. I really have the most fun planning out the creative elements, what the final product is going to look like. Creating unique garnishes, picking the perfect glassware.
Also, all the puns in the book are me. And the bad jokes. I typically drafted the first drafts of the written parts of the recipes and Jon would pass through after with his editing hat on, cutting my puns, removing my bad jokes...
Q: What are you working on now?
Jon: Oh, we're always working on something. Honestly, I would love to work on a Mocktails From The Crypt follow-up book. Mocktails are so much fun to work with and alcohol-free spirits have only been getting better.
Kim and I are also working on a UFO project right now. I'm not sure exactly what shape it's going to take when we finally put it out into the world but I'm so damn excited about it I'll turn it into a dang finger puppet show if I have to!
Kim: And we're always publishing new episodes of our horror movie podcast, Nightmare on Film Street. We put out fun discussions weekly, review new horror movies on our website, and are always posting spooky memes on our social media.
Q: Anything else we should know?
Jon: I'm of the firm belief that your enjoyment of a movie can be heavily influenced by the conditions you saw it, and I'm always looking for new ways to create the ideal setting for every movie I watch. Sometimes that means creating a little trailer reel to get in the mood, but a lot of times that's mixing a drink that pairs perfectly.
Movie nights at home don't have to feel like a compromise. With the right snack, the perfect drink, (maybe a slice of pizza) movie nights at home can be a real party, and we hope that Cocktails From The Crypt will help give you inspiration for your own.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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