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Horror Pride Month: Writer/Director/Activist ND Johnson

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5 years ago

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ND Johnson

Atlanta-based filmmaker ND Johnson is so many things. The black transfem writer and director quite frankly took me by surprise as they sat down to chat with me on the record for Horror Pride Month 2021.

In most interviews, especially if it’s someone whose career you’re not totally familiar with, there’s a sort of getting-to-know-you phase where you’re just sort of feeling each other out. Not with ND.

“I was thinking about the idea of being queer as a choice,” Johnson said. “People say, ‘Oh you chose to be queer. You chose to be gay; you chose to be this or that.’ I think a choice was made. I don’t think I chose to be what or who I am, but I did choose my happiness. I chose to wake up in the morning and look how I wanted to look and feel how I wanted to feel and be who I wanted to be and I wasn’t going to let other people’s opinions or judgments or social status quos decide what I’m going to be for myself.”

You have my attention.

“The American dream is built on that,” they continued. “Conform or die, and I choose death. Kill the conformity in me. It doesn’t help anybody. I also don’t think it helps straight people, though. I feel like straightness, or the need to adhere to this concept of straightness, has killed communities. It has massacred whole generations of people. I’m not into it.”

It was at that point, I knew that we were about to have one of the most honest conversations of the year, and I was totally here for it.

Now, every horror fan has a moment, usually in a film, that made them a horror fan. It’s that first scare; the first time the chill runs down your spine and you feel something akin to danger.

In this Johnson is like all of us, and the filmmaker recalled a couple of moments in her earlier childhood when she felt that initial creep. She is quick to point out, however, that she never doubted she was safe, mostly thanks to mom.

“I remember watching The Ring when I was seven or so,” Johnson told me. “I was so nervous that the girl was going to come out of the TV and get me and my mother looks at me and said, ‘If she comes into this house, she got the wrong motherf*cker.’ And I knew then my mom was going to protect me at all costs. I knew I was fine, then. Like, if she came to my house, she made a mistake.”

A little while later, Johnson saw the original Halloween for the first time, and well…they might have needed a little more assurance.

For the future filmmaker, it was not only Michael Myers’s perceived inability to die nor the boldness with which he carried out his killings. Unlike his contemporaries like Freddy Krueger, Myers was a quiet killer stalking his prey and that fed into the nightmares that would come following Johnson’s initial viewing.

“This is why I love horror,” she said. “I think horror is just a great way to analyze fears and shortcomings, but we’re too…egotistical might not be the right word, but we’re too self-involved. Horror creates an environment where you can displace those things. You can look at them and analyze. Humanity is dark. Like, not only does humanity do dark things, but people do really dark things. It’s difficult to understand that in regular reality. So the genre lets us explore those things.”

As Johnson grew up it was time to start making decisions about the future. A self-professed theater kid, she had her eyes set on being a playwright and writing musicals, but she had one problem. A lot of her ideas just seemed too big for a stage. Though she still wanted to write musicals and work in theater, there was an undeniable flexibility in film that spoke to her and she was soon on her way to the University of North Texas in Denton to study.

As she was finishing her degree, she decided that Atlanta was really the place where she wanted to be. Her eyes had been set on the Savannah College of Art & Design and so, she sold everything she could, pooled her resources, and moved in with a cousin in Atlanta as she prepared for grad work.

That’s when everything fell apart.

“I got a job at Waffle House and worked there for about six months until I couldn’t take it anymore,” they said. “Then I somehow got into organizing here. I’ve done a series of film internships and fellowships from organizing to digital marketing to PA-ing on film sets. This was the best decision I could have made for myself, and ultimately I wanted to be around black queer people and Atlanta seemed to be a hub for that. So, I’ve been here for three years and I’ve been making movies. I make them how and when I want to make them. Everything I’ve set out to make happen has happened.”

This brought ND Johnson to the present where she’s been working on making a film titled Sweetness which she is developing from a short proof-of-concept film of the same title that is making the rounds in festivals at the moment.

Sweetness blurs genre lines, confronting the relationship between men and transfems. The idea is one she’s had since attending college, but was unable to make it happen because her classmates would not commit to the film and its message.

“This is a project that begs to be told, especially for someone who deals with this subject matter so often in my personal life,” Johnson explained. “I want to see narratives that I do not typically see. A majority of the narratives around transfems are around sex work only or drug addiction or domestic abuse and violence where she ends up dead in the end or they’re playing corpses on Law & Order having cis-hetero men misgender them.”

Because of this, Johnson says, she’s not drawn at the moment to work in studios where too many people get to make decisions about what a film should and should not be.

“If I let a studio get their hands on my shit, they’re going to want to change it,” she said. “With Sweetness, it’s a very special project to me. I’ve created projects in the past where I told myself I couldn’t be sensitive about it. You give it to other people to create their vision. You just wrote it. I don’t want to do that with this. This is mine.

“What I want to see is black trans people being our own heroes in our story. I love a final girl. I don’t see why she can’t be black and trans. I want to confront things I’ve dealt with for years. There’s a ton of violence just for walking around being who you are as a black trans woman. I have been followed home. I have been questioned in bathrooms.

“What I would like to do in this horror film is show what people do, but also to encourage other transfem people to look beyond that. To learn to defend yourself. We’re taught to look to men for protection but when they’re the ones causing harm what are we supposed to do? That’s gaslighting. I want to explore that more, but ultimately, it’s really about learning how to take care of yourself. When you’re having your moments of terror, making sure you see the next day. So many girls haven’t. Part of that is because we were never taught to defend ourselves. Narratives like this one can help reshape the world.”

Funny thing is, I think ND Johnson is already doing exactly that. For more information about Sweetness, the film, CLICK HERE.

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Panic Fest 2026 Review: ‘Frogman Returns’ Is A Thrilling Sequel That Goes For The Croak!

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8 hours ago

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May 6, 2026

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Horror as a genre has a greater propensity for sequels than almost anything else in the world of cinema. There have been scores of slasher sequels from the likes of Friday The 13th to A Nightmare on Elm Street to even sequels to seemingly stand-alone affairs like The Exorcist and The Blair Witch Project. While some may be seen as cash grabs or of diminishing returns, it cannot be argued that there have been some phenomenal sequels to horror films such as Aliens and Evil Dead 2 among many others. So imagine my pleasant surprise to see that 2023’s Frogman is back in the aptly named Frogman Returns!

The sequel picks up not too long after the original’s cryptid catastrophe. The Loveland, Ohio Frogman and surrounding cult that was exposed by amateur filmmaker Dallas (Nathan Tymoshuk) has since disappeared and the terror of the magic wand wielding amphibian seemingly ended. Having lost his friend Scotty (Benny Barrett) and a falling out with Amy (Chelsey Grant), Dallas has found a new life heading a cryptid reality web show. But when strange forces call him and his team back to Loveland, will he have to face the Frogman for a final battle?

I was a big fan of the original Frogman upon release, and was interested in seeing where director Anthony Cousins was going to take the story. I’m happy to report that he did the best kind of thing you can do for a sequel like this: made it weirder and wilder! Not only is there Frogman, but a number of classic cryptids have encounters as the genie is out of the bottle and Dallas irrevocably proved that there are truly monsters among us. There is a pretty memorable scene involving a run-in with the living pants-like Fresno Nightcrawler creature that establishes what a brave and bizarre new world things have become since the previous film. Monsters are basically a fact of life now. So, of course, people are finding ways to profit from it.

Dallas’ arc continues from the first film and I do like how he carries the weight and guilt of Scotty’s disappearance and his disconnection with Amy. There are real consequences to the ways things went wrong previously and Dallas is haunted by the consequences of his obsession. Now he attempts to make things right in some form as his adventures bring him back to where it all began. And for those here for Frogman… without spoiling too much, everyone’s favorite amphibious cryptid does make a triumphant return. With a neon explosive finale that left me craving even more.

Frogman Returns does a fine job of documenting the new adventure in the traditional found footage format, with the foundation of Dallas’ new reality web show keeping the cameras rolling. Combining that with ample and memorable practical fx for all manner of beasts and gore to see. Exploding heads, zapped limbs, and so much more get captured on camera in all their visceral glory.

Overall, if you were a fan of the first Frogman, then Frogman Returns is a more than worthwhile follow up to digest.

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Jessica T Deveraux Got Possessed At Her Own Bar

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20 hours ago

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May 6, 2026

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Key of Bones: Curse of the Ghost Pirate needed a drag queen to get possessed by a pirate ghost in a Key West nightclub. They found one suprisingly easily. She had been working at that nightclub since 2008. That is either a very lucky casting choice or the universe doing its job.

Jessica T Deveraux is not a newcomer to any room she walks into. She has been competing in drag pageants across multiple states since she was 14. She held the title of Queen Mother XXXV, one of the most respected titles in the Florida Keys. She has been a resident headliner at Aqua Nightclub since 2008.

“When the opportunity came up, I was super excited, but also super nervous,” Deveraux said. “I was excited because it was something I’d always wanted to do. And nervous because I had never done it before. I had no idea what to expect.”

She said yes anyway. The film now exists.

What the Film Actually Is

Key of Bones: Curse of the Ghost Pirate is a horror-comedy written and directed by Tony Armer, shot entirely in Key West. The plot follows a local waitress, a ghost tour guide, and a tourist who accidentally awaken a curse connected to the legendary pirate Anne Bonny. What follows involves drag queens, lesbian pirate ghosts, and cursed treasure, which is either an accurate description of any given Saturday in Key West or the most efficient logline of the year.

Armer pitched it as Shaun of the Dead meets Goonies meets Pirates of the Caribbean. Deveraux confirmed that is the pitch she received. She also confirmed it did not fully prepare her. “As much as you think you’re prepared for that,” she said, “until you actually walk on set and see what’s happening, or watch the movie and see what’s happening, anything you might have prepared goes out the window and you just have to feed off the energy of the moment.”

Desiree

The character is Desiree, a drag queen who gets possessed midway through the film by one of the pirate ghosts and spends a substantial chunk of screen time fighting herself. “Desiree is kind of a take-charge drag queen who gets possessed and loses her own faculties and is now controlled by a ghost pirate,” Deveraux said. “So there’s this inner struggle with her having to follow orders while still trying to be the fierce queen that she is.”

The scene where Desiree first encounters Anne, the pirate ghost, was filmed at Aqua Nightclub. The bar where Deveraux has performed every week for going on eighteen years. “One of the most exciting scenes was when Desiree first meets Anne. That scene was filmed at the bar that I work at, Aqua Nightclub. So that was really cool to see my home bar become the set.”

The Chaos Was Organized

Deveraux describes the set with real fondness. “You’d have people over here rehearsing stunts, people over here getting their makeup done, people over there shooting an actual scene, while other people were at craft services. But everybody was so professional that it all ran very smoothly.”

There were exceptions. Night shoots in Key West require quiet. Key West is structurally opposed to quiet. “One of the most chaotic moments was when we were trying to film at night and we needed quiet on the set, and you had two different bars in the area playing different songs very loudly.” Two bars. Two songs. Simultaneously. The city did not pause production to cooperate with production.

She also arrived without knowing about hurry-up-and-wait, which is the specific misery of film sets where you spend long stretches fully ready while nothing happens. Deveraux was in full drag during these stretches. “When you’re in full drag in five pairs of tights and wearing a body form, that can become very uncomfortable. But that’s the nature of the beast, and I’ll know what to expect in the future.”

There is also something film does that a stage never does, it withholds the response. “When you perform for a live crowd, you know if they’re enjoying what you’ve done or not enjoying what you’ve done almost instantaneously, and you can feed off of that energy to heighten the experience. In film, you don’t really know. You have to wait months to find out if the audience actually enjoys the performance.”

The Eighteen-Year Overnight

Jessica T Deveraux started performing at 14. A performing arts high school, an LGBT youth center down the road, and a drag pageant that needed entrants. She entered with help from some of the more seasoned queens around her. She won. She kept going.

Fifteen-plus years of pageant competition across multiple states. What do people on the outside not understand about that world? “To be successful in pageants, you need to have discipline, you need to have drive, you need to have desire, and you need to know who you are. It also helps if you have some money.” She laughed. “Pageants can be expensive. But they can be so rewarding, and they truly help you grow not just as an entertainer but as a person.”

The Aqua residency has now run for going on eighteen years. That is an unusual thing in an industry that usually offers neither consistency nor loyalty. “I am so blessed to have been given this opportunity to work at Aqua Nightclub. It is very nice to have a consistent weekly gig for going on eighteen years, and I know that I’m very lucky and grateful for all of the love, work, and family that I have because of it.”

As Queen Mother XXXV, she produced a runway competition benefiting the Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice of the Florida Keys. “Not only was it one of the most respected titles in Key West, but it also allowed me the chance to give back.”

The Kinship

Drag and horror share a history. Camp, transformation, the performance of something larger and stranger than ordinary life. Both traditions have been running these ideas in parallel for decades. Deveraux came to Key of Bones from the drag side, and while talking about that overlap she surfaced something she had not put together before: one of her all-time favorite movies, a film she has always loved to quote, is The Craft. The horror-drag kinship had been living in her personal canon the whole time.

“There is definitely a kinship between the two worlds,” she said. “However, as someone who is new to the horror scene and not knowing what to expect, I did feel an ease being able to go into it having had the drag experience.”

“Drag queens are some of the strongest people, and we’ve been here since day one and we’re not going anywhere. Drag queens are community leaders. We will be there to help support our community and any community that asks us.”

Both horror audiences and drag audiences built themselves around things the mainstream spent decades looking at sideways. They know each other.

What Comes Next

Deveraux was asked if Key of Bones was a one-time thing or the beginning of something. “I would definitely love to do more film or television. This is definitely not a one and done thing for me. And my inbox is open, casting directors. Please message me.”

She was also asked whether she would take a straight horror role. No camp. No comedy. Just terror. “I would definitely take it. However, I would have to do some research on how to play it straight.” Then: “After the amount of fun I had on set for Key of Bones, I can only imagine what running in terror versus sashaying in terror would be like.”

“I want people to see my range as a performer. That I can act as well as dance. To see someone who loves and has passion in all that they do.”

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Indie Horror

Panic Fest 2026 Review: ‘Creature Of The Pines’ Is An Interesting Found Footage Horror That Walks A Beaten Path

Published

1 day ago

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May 5, 2026

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There are certain parts of the world that have an inherent evil or cursed nature to them. The Bermuda Triangle, where so many ships have vanished in its waters. Death Valley, where many have met their end in the unforgiving desert. And then there’s The Pine Barrens of New Jersey. A woodland infamous for the cryptid named The Jersey Devil.

While The Jersey Devil may be the mascot or face of sorts for the area, there are other dangers within those woods. Specifically, an area known as Pine Hollow. Infamous for numerous disappearances of local and hikers. While some attribute it to natural hazards, others say the source of these incidents may be tied to folklore. An ancient mimic of indigenous legend that targets those wandering its woods. After a trio of hikers disappear and leaves only one shell shocked survivor and witness wandering the wilderness, a documentary crew attempts to clarify between fact and fiction… only to find themselves subject to their own torments.

Creature Of The Pines is a decent found footage/mockumentary endeavor, and I’m always a sucker for that kind of framing. I will also give points for taking an original approach on the region rather than using a more well known cryptid or monster. Instead, crafting their own beast with the shapeshifting demon of indigenous lore. It did make it more interesting than relying on a more infamous antagonist, allowing the movie to make up its own rules and history behind the titular creature.

Unfortunately, the story does fall into a lot of the cliches of the sub-genre as well. Lots of scenes building up strange sounds coming form the woods leading to some shaky cam segments as a character is dragged off by an unseen force and such. The talking heads portions of the mockumentary featured some decent actors and subjects that kept things fairly fresh. Especially the former forest ranger who discussed the dark and terrible history of Pine Hollow.

Even still, the third act was kind of a mixed bag with the final confrontation and reveal of the horror. Ambiguity tends to work better in found footage for a reason, sometimes its better to leave the evil up to the imagination. There’s also a twist to the ending that felt a bit obvious considering the build up.

But, if you’re a big fan of found footage and mockumentary horror like I am, (especially for New England based horror) then Creature Of The Pines is worth at least a watch.

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