Creepy concoctions 'Nightmare on Film Street' couple pairs cocktails with horror films; book launch in Winnipeg Saturday By: Ben Sigurdson Posted: 5:01 PM CST Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024

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This article was published 28/11/2024 (585 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Whether your favourite horror film leaves you shaken or stirred, Kimberley Elizabeth and Jonathan DeHaan probably have a cocktail for that.

Since 2016, Elizabeth and DeHaan (35 and 36, respectively) have hosted the Nightmare on Film Street podcast, where the husband-and-wife duo chat about their favourite gory, grisly and creepy flicks.

At that time the pair, who moved to Manitoba from Ontario in 2022, found they were pondering what was next after a couple of entrepreneurial projects.

“We were trying to think of something we were both equally passionate about, so we asked ourselves, ‘What do we love?’” Elizabeth says.

The answer: horror movies.

“When we started out, a lot of the horror podcasts were very academic or just like DVD commentary — really deep dives into movies,” says Elizabeth from the couple’s home in La Broquerie.

“We thought ‘What about for the casual horror fan?’ We wanted to do something that bridged the gap and was easy for people who are just getting into horror, but also good for superfans.”

It was a recipe for success — they have pumped out more than 350 episodes of Nightmare on Film Street, with over two million downloads in total and an average of 40,000 per month. (“It usually peaks in September and October, when everyone’s talking about horror movies,” DeHaan notes.)

On Saturday at Raven’s End Books, the pair launch their book Cocktails From the Crypt: Concoctions Inspired by Your Favorite Horror Films, a collection of drink recipes paired with classic (and not-so-classic) scary movies. The launch kicks off at 6 p.m. with a cocktail hour, followed by a 7:15 p.m. screening of the 1959 film Vincent Price flick House on Haunted Hill.

Cocktails From the Crypt features 60 cocktails split into different-themed chapters, with concoctions created or modified by DeHaan and Elizabeth to be paired with particular slasher flicks, monster movies and other macabre cinema.

The idea for the book was spawned during COVID when the pair were trying to create their own fun.

“The cocktails grew out of us just trying to event-ify being stuck at home, trying to make events out of our Friday nights, even though they were just in our living room,” says Elizabeth.

In addition to screening a horror film, DeHaan would find trailer reels of the flick online, as well as commercials from the time, an idea they eventually ported over to their monthly watch parties with paid Patreon fans, who would also receive a recipe for a creepy cocktail to go with the movie.

“One of the best parts about going to a party is that there’s usually a punch or some sort of specialty drink. By giving people a recipe and making these trailer reels, we were trying to create an atmosphere where you felt like you were actually attending something,” says DeHaan.

Neither DeHaan or Elizabeth has formal mixology or cocktail-making experience, calling themselves more enthusiastic fans than bartenders.

They pair worked on honing their creepy cocktails over many months and with some help from taste-testing from friends.

“When we were making the drinks, we tried to have a good blend of classics that people already know how to make, but with a fun twist, and some that were purely original from us,” says DeHaan.

“We were always assuming this might be someone’s first cocktail book and we didn’t want it to be too crazy.”

Modifying the classics proved to be one of the more challenging aspects of writing Cocktails From the Crypt.

“I have such a reverence for drinks like the Mai Tai, I thought, ‘This drink is perfect as is; maybe we don’t need to touch it,’” DeHaan says. (Their take on the cocktail in the book is called Drag Mai Tai Hell, paired with the 2009 film Drag Me To Hell.)

“It’s the same with the Sazerac — it’s such an iconic drink. It went through so many different iterations. I didn’t want to have it in the book unless it was delicious and unless it was something new. Pairing it with (the 1977 film) Suspiria and adding an Italian liqueur (Strega) changes the dynamic, but still maintains that perfect balance. (The pair dubbed the cocktail Sazerac de Profundis.)

When asked about a favourite cocktail from the book, Elizabeth notes she’s prone to alternate between chapters.

“Right now, I’m really into the B-Movie Madness chapter — the cocktails are so vibrant and bright. And they’re a little different, a little out there, kind of like the movies. We have Killer Clowns from Outer Space, Chopping Mall, Jason X … that was a fun, zany chapter,” she says.

“I think anybody that’s a horror fan will think, ‘Wow, I can’t believe they made a cocktail for this movie.’” (The cocktails for the above movies, respectively: Killer Kosmo from Outer Space, Killbot Kimikaze and Cryo-Killer Slush.)

DeHaan, meanwhile, leans toward the Tiki Terrors chapter and the challenges it posed.

“I love tiki drinks, but some of them are so hard to play with because the ratios are so specific and there are so many ingredients,” he says.

“One of them in the book is the Re-Agent, the cocktail to go with (1985’s) Re-Animator. It’s a stirred drink rather than shaken, which almost sounds sacrilegious for tiki, but also because there’s so much citrus in it, like you’re expected to shake it. That’s the conventional wisdom with mixology, but it completely changes the look of it because it gets really frothy, which doesn’t work for a glowing serum.”

Curious imbibers and horror fans can see and taste for themselves at Saturday’s event; DeHaan and Elizabeth will be serving up the Re-Agent as well as the House on Haunted Hill cocktail, the Price is Rye, at the Raven’s End launch.

“We’re really excited for the Raven’s End event. It’s such a cool little bookstore for horror people,” DeHaan says. “Chelsea (McKee-Trenchard), the owner there, has done an incredible job curating the shop. It’s a really welcoming environment.”

Elizabeth agrees.

“It’s really cool to have our own little local bookstore we could partner with for this. Having something like this in our area was just such a serendipitous thing.”

uncorked@mts.net

@bensigurdson