Long before I considered recording my voice, I chose to share my thoughts on horror in written words (I even quietly posted a couple of those essays here, where the world would never see them).
Inspired by an iconic quote from one of my favorite films, I sought to share my take on films — both new and old — that were famously considered “a good scare.”
“You know, it’s Halloween. I guess everyone’s entitled to one good scare.”
I fell in love with the name A Good Scare, largely because it felt so connected to the film that first inspired my love for the genre. There were two major problems with my vision, though.
- I found more fulfillment in meaningful conversations with people than I did in sharing my own singular perspective.
- The concept of finding famously good scares left no room for the horror films that try to do so much more than scare you.
The solution to the first problem was simple: I’d take the energy I put into my writing and convert it into energy towards the idea for a podcast I had been kicking around in the back of my mind. The solution to the second problem, though, was a little more difficult to swallow.
I was too attached to the name.
When first building the idea of our show, I struggled to find the perfect replacement. While by all early intentions this podcast would be an experimental hobby, I knew if I wanted to one day build a brand and do something bigger, it would need to uniquely stand on its own, without ties to any one particular film.
Hack or Slash 1.0 consisted of four members: myself, my friend Dan, his wife Leah, and my co-worker Ashley. We spent weeks thinking of every name we could, cross-checking it with existing podcast directories in 2017 to see if the name was in use, and compiling a list of options.
In the end, the (borderline laughable) nominees were:
- The Spook Troop
- A Slice of Horror
- Movie Slashers
- Friday Night Frights
- Dark Thoughts
- Horror Afficionados
- /Cast (pronounced “Slash Cast”)
- Creepitism (a play on creepy/criticism)
- The Web
- Dripping Blood
- Bad Pumpkins
- The Coffin
- Fearful Thinking
- Horrorology
- Twisted Truths
- Scarema (a play on scare/cinema)
- Hack or Slash
- Throwing Knives
Once the list was assembled, Dan donned his Excel Wizard hat and built a voting system where we’d compare each name against another and rate which one we liked better.
In the end, there was one clear winner (with a charming runner up we couldn’t really take all that seriously).
When Dan shared the results, the vision for the show began to solidify. We established we didn’t want to limit ourselves to horror films of a particular style or level of popularity. We developed a system where we’d build a database of every horror movie and select films with a number generator to avoid any bias. We’d truly be picking movies randomly, and bring our individual perspectives on its quality.
Hack or Slash — and the initial identity that came with it — was born.
As you know from reading The Power of April, Hack or Slash 1.0 only lasted a few months after we decided on a name. It has, though, proven to be a name that has evolved as quickly as our purpose and strategy has.
