Chris Vander Kaay

Chris Vander Kaay (born March 17, 1978) is a screenwriter and director author primarily known for his work in the horror genre. ^[1] In 2024, he made his writing and directorial debut with .ask, a microbudget found footage horror movie in which he also starred. The film received generally positive reviews upon release. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

In 2018, he was the subject of the 2018 documentary Fear Man, exploring the sociological and psychological implications of horror fandom. ^{[5] [6]}

With his wife Kathleen Fernandez-Vander Kaay he co-authored the 2018 book Indie Science Fiction Cinema Today: Conversations with 21st Century Filmmakers, about 21st century science fiction cinema. From 2016 to 2018, he was a contributing writer for Bloody Disgusting. ^[7] With Chance Shirley he cofounded Subspace, a sci-fi movie curation service. ^[8] In 2020, he co-created the webseries Deadly Duos for JoBlo.com with Steven Espinoza ^[9] The same year, he and Espinoza published Spoiler Alert, a satirical book about tropes in Hollywood films. ^{[10] [11]}

Filmography

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Writer	Actor	Notes
2014	The Redemption of Henry Myers [12]	No	No	Yes	No
2018	Fear Man	No	No	Yes	Yes	Self
2024	.ask	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Directorial debut

Bibliography

Novels

• Life After Death (2020) ^[13]

With Wayne Clingman

• Bones Beneath the Pale (2019)
• Narco Saints (2019)

Short fiction

• Year's Best Transhuman (appeared in SF 2017 Anthology- November 2017)

Nonfiction

With Kathleen Fernandez

• The Anatomy of Fear: Conversations with Cult Horror and Science Fiction Filmmakers (2014) ^{[14] [15] [16] [17]}
• Horror Films by Subgenre: A Viewer's Guide (2016)
• Indie Science Fiction Cinema Today: Conversations with 21st Century Filmmakers (2018)
• Spoiler Alert! The Badass Book of Movie Plots (2020; co-written with Steven Espinoza) ^{[18] [19]}

With Darryl Isaaacs

• Build Your Billion-Dollar Law Firm: I Did It, and You Can, Too! (2023)

References

1. "Horror Experts on their Favorite Genre Performances That No One Talks About".
2. Delores, Bee (December 10, 2024). "How Found Footage Captures our Desperation to be Liked Online". Dread Central . Retrieved February 19, 2025.
3. Hoover, Kevin (October 31, 2024). "Found Footage Film .ask Brings a Monkey's Paw to the World of YouTube". Rue Morgue . Retrieved February 19, 2025.
4. McAndrews & Mesnard, Mary Beth & Terry (November 25, 2024). "Episode 253: Filmmaker Chris Vander Kaay and Cloak and Dagger". Scarred for Life. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
5. "New Horror Documentary 'Fear Man' Released Free on Prime".
6. "Doubting Thomas Films".
7. "Articles by Chris Vander Kaay".
8. "Subspace: About Us".
9. "First Episode of New Video Series Deadly Duos Focuses on Raimi and Campbell".
10. "Looking at Movie Cliches with the man who Wrote the Book" . Retrieved September 21, 2023.
11. "Stack Overflow: Movie Magic" . Retrieved September 21, 2023.
12. The Redemption of Henry Myers (2014) - IMDb , retrieved 2023-04-05
13. "One Missed Pod 020: ONE CUT OF THE DEAD (2017) with guest Chris Vander Kaay".
14. "The Castle Of Horror Podcast Presents: A Special Interview With Anatomy Of Fear Author Chris Vander Kaay" . Retrieved September 21, 2023.
15. "The Anatomy of Fear: Conversations with Cult Horror and Science-Fiction Filmmakers" . Retrieved September 21, 2023.
16. "Exclusive Book Excerpt: "Anatomy of Fear" uncovers the inspiration behind "Tremors"" . Retrieved September 21, 2023.
17. "The Story Behind the Missing Scenes in the 'Black Christmas' Remake" . Retrieved September 21, 2023.
18. "Looking at Movie Cliches with the man who Wrote the Book" . Retrieved September 21, 2023.
19. "Stack Overflow: Movie Magic" . Retrieved September 21, 2023.