J.R. Blanes is carving a distinctive path through contemporary horror. With his Southern Gothic horror collection Portraits of Decay already out from Ruadán Books, the short story collection The Skeleton Closet on the horizon, and the New England witchcraft dark academia novel Acascreamia coming from Crystal Lake Publishing, Blanes is busy. Very busy.
We sat down with the Chicago-based writer to talk influences, underrated gems, and the horror that still makes him sleep with the lights on. From his formative encounter with Edgar Allan Poe in third grade to his enduring devotion to Clive Barker, Blanes is refreshingly open about the touchstones that shaped him. He also has strong opinions on the best endings in horror cinema, the most underrated film of recent years, and why we should all be reading Robbie Dorman. Pull up a chair. This one is worth your time.
“Clive Barker showed me what it means to use my imagination. Without him, I don’t know if I would’ve become a writer.”
J.R. Blanes on Southern Gothic Horror, Clive Barker, and the Art of Fright
The first horror book I remember reading
Probably the first horror book I remember reading was the Tales of Edgar Allan Poe. I remember vividly the first time I read A Tell-Tale Heart in third or fourth grade. Up until that point, I’d never had a story strike me with such visceral emotions. I was a child who scared easily, but for some strange reason, also enjoyed being frightened. I could feel and hear the pounding of the heart. I shivered picturing the old man’s pale eye. It excited me in ways I’d never been excited before. I knew from that moment on I loved horror.
The First Horror Film I remember watching
I guess you could count the Universal Monster Film, The Wolfman. The transformation scene in that movie still gives me shivers watching it. I think it’s why transformations happen often in my fiction. That moment changed the way I looked at movies forever. After that, I watched every one of those old films and even collected the models, which my dad bought for me.
The Greatest Horror Book of All Time
Wow! Now that’s a hard question. There are so many amazing novels out there. But I’m going to go with Weaveworld by Clive Barker, only because it was the book that really made me want to become a horror author. I still re-read it every few years and it gets better every time. I’m probably due for a re-read of it soon now that I’m thinking of it.
The Greatest Horror Film of all time
Damn! Another tough question. It changed mattering on what day you ask me. I’m going to have to say it’s a tie between Carpenter’s The Thing and the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. They have two of the best endings ever, not only in horror films, but in films in general. They’re like a punch to the throat. I hope to one day have an ending that is as perfect as the endings in those two films.
THE GREATEST WRITER OF ALL TIME
Clive Barker. He’s been my biggest influence since I was ten years old and first read his collection, In the Flesh (otherwise, known as Books of Blood 4). From that point, I devoured all of his works up to that point and continued to do so for many years. He showed me what it means to use my imagination. Without him, I don’t know if I would’ve become a writer.
THE BEST BOOK COVER OF ALL TIME
Piercing by Ryu Murakami. The needle about to plunge into the body of a cowering rabbit. In my opinion, it’s a cover that’s hard to look at but impossible to look away from. It makes me cringe, but excited for the story that awaits me inside its pages.
THE BEST FILM POSTER OFF ALL TIME
In the Mouth of Madness. I remember seeing the poster for that in my local movie theater in Michigan City, Indiana back in 1994 when it was released and I knew I had to see it. It’s still also one of my favorite films I rewatch often.
THE BEST BOOK / FILM I HAVE WRITTEN
My best book is the one I’m currently working on entitled, Summer of the Butcher. I always hope that the best thing I’ve—or I’m doing—is what I’m working on. I always want to be pushing my writing to the next level.
THE WORST BOOK / FILM I HAVE WRITTEN
The worst book I wrote was a sci-fi thing when I was in my late twenties. It was seriously dreadful. Every writing trope you could think of. Terribly written. I’m so happy that I’m the only person who ever saw it. I’d be embarrassed if it ever got out in the world. Thankfully I deleted it from existence.
THE MOST UNDERRATED FILM OF ALL TIME
Frogman released in 2023. It filmed like a documentary about three films looking for the legendary creature in Loveland, Colorado. It looks like a B-movie but, in my humble opinion, it’s seriously brilliant and deserved so much more love. I heard at a Horror Convention in Milwaukee that they are making a sequel and I can’t wait. Everyone should seriously go out and watch this film. It doesn’t disappoint.
THE MOST UNDERRATED BOOK OF ALL TIME
Underneath by Robbie Dorman. I’m lucky to be friends with Robbie and this book should be a horror classic. It reminds me in some ways of The Thing—scientist in the cold atmosphere of Antarctica searching for a particle that might have created life. It’s so well-written. It literally gave me chills as he dives deeper into his character’s experience in this isolated station. It made me never want to have to face winter or the cold again.
THE MOST UNDERRATED AUTHOR OF ALL TIME
I think she’s now getting the recognition she deserves, but I’m going to say Viggy Parr Hampton. Everything she writes is amazingly horrifying. From creepy historical nuns to a haunted abandoned amusement park with a ghostly alligator to a surviving lobotomy patient. She delivers these stories with such emotional depth they nearly broke me by the time I finished them.
THE BOOK / FILM THAT SACRED ME THE MOST
Lake Mungo. I watched it alone one night and I’d never had to leave the lights on before. For some reason, it crawled under my skin and wouldn’t let go. The moment when the video reveals the bloated, dead version of Alice was the first time I really thought about looking away from the screen. It felt so real. Yeah, I’m shaking just talking about it.
THE BOOK / FILM I AM WORKING ON NEXT
As I mentioned before, I’m working on a Horror/Thriller called Summer of the Butcher that takes place in two timelines: Chicago in 1983 during the height of the punk rock scene and forty years later in 2023. It follows an ex-punker who is trying to solve a serial killer mystery that changed her life and the life of her friends in their 20s. My hope is that it will be released some time in 2028.
Portraits of Decay by J.R. Blanes
Reveling in occult rituals gone wrong, body horror, and the creeping dread of the Southern Gothic, Portraits of Decay paints an enthralling tableau of obsession, revenge, and a thirst for control that asks the question: why ruin a painting when you can ruin a soul?
Up-and-coming young artist Jefferson Fontenot has everything going for him: The hot New Orleans art scene has noticed him, and he’s finally found his true love, Nevaeh Parker.
But Fontenot’s bright future hides a darkness known as Gemma Landry—the artist’s lover and art scene influencer. Gemma believes Jefferson’s talent holds the key to her seizing control of the popular Carondelet Street Gallery. But when Gemma discovers Jefferson’s infidelity, she enslaves the artist with a poison she acquired from swamp-dwelling witch Mirlande St. Pierre.
Now trapped in a rotting body and plagued by hellish visions, Jefferson finds himself reduced to a zombie-like servant for his unhinged ex, while Nevaeh is forced to embrace her past, hoping to save the man she loves. As the dark curse courses through Jefferson’s veins, everyone involved soon discovers—in the most brutal of fashions—the terror that awaits when you cross Gemma Landry.
J.R. Blanes
J.R. Blanes is the author of the Southern Gothic Horror Tragedy Portraits of Decay (published in 2025 from Ruadán Books), the short story collection The Skeleton Closet (publishing by Dark Nest Publishing in October 2026), and the upcoming New England Witchcraft Dark Academia Novel Acascreamia (coming from Crystal Lake Publishing in 2027.) His short fiction has appeared in Allegory, Tales to Terrify, The No Sleep Podcast, The Haunted Mailbox, among others. He lives in Chicago with his wife and their neurotic dog, where he is the co-creator of the reading series, The Genre Society.
Website: https://jrblanes.com/
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jrblanes5115/shorts
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