Episodios

  • High Anxiety

    High Anxiety
    Nov 7 2025
    Everyone's brains seem to be on high alert in the digital age, although society has become more accepting of mental health struggles and treatment. In this, the first part of a series, we examine the challenges facing high school students. Subsequent stories will look at first responders and seniors.
    Kaitlyn Holder is a fitting choice to help anxious and depressed students at Beacon High School. Just a few years ago, she got so anxious attending her college classes that she would vomit on her way to the bus.
    Holder started this year as academic coordinator for Beacon High School's new Bridge for Resilient Youth in Transition (BRYT) program, which helps students transition back to school after extended absences due to mental health. Holder's job is to help those returning catch up on missed work.
    "I see myself in these students," said Holder, 25, who is often mistaken for a teenager. "In high school, I had a lot of anxiety around my performance. So much of my self-worth was tied to my grades."
    She graduated from Newburgh Free Academy in 2018 with all A's. But her anxiety worsened when she went to the University of Albany, moving away for the first time from her parents and her beloved pet kitty Shy. "Gradually, it just became harder to wake up on time and to get myself ready. I started missing classes because I was so anxious," she said.
    During the pandemic, Holder found it hard to leave her college apartment and wouldn't turn on her camera during online classes. "I actually lost credit in a lot of classes for not showing my face or speaking during the Zoom calls," she said.

    As a teen with autism and depression, social media made it worse. "A lot of my day was just spent sleeping. When I was awake, I was reading terrible news articles. The TikTok algorithm knows a lot. And if you are sad, and you're getting sad content on your page, and you're interacting with it, that's all going to bring you down. I only engaged in negativity online."
    Eventually some professors helped her find campus mental health resources, let her do more work at home and generally offered encouragement. "If I didn't have those teachers supporting me. I don't know if I would have graduated," said Holder, who finished on time with a 2.8 GPA in linguistics.
    While she still struggles with anxiety and depression, Holder has deleted TikTok from her phone and rarely goes on social media or watches the news. In January, she hopes to complete an online master's degree in special education from the University of Mount St. Vincent in the Bronx.
    She's telling her story because she wants her students to know they're not alone. "It's important for kids to know that teachers are human and we struggle," she said.
    Holder's is a challenge facing many young people in the Highlands and across the country: anxiety and depression worsened or created by social media.
    According to the National Survey of Children's Health, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the prevalence of teen anxiety has increased 61 percent - from 10 to 16 percent - since 2016. Depression increased 45 percent - from 5.8 to 8.4 percent.
    To help, Highlands schools are increasing staffing and programs. At Haldane, the district in 2024 added a third school counselor and went from 1.5 school psychologists to two full-time. The district also has two social workers. Last year, a group of Haldane teachers and administrators read The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, by Jonathan Haidt.
    At the Garrison School, which goes through eighth grade, the district in recent years has begun teaching students about social and emotional intelligence in several ways, including the Yale RULER program, where students learn to Regulate, Understand, Label, Express and Regulate their emotions.
    Greg Stowell, the superintendent, said that issues of depression and anxiety are increasingly prevalent, even at the younger grade levels, and the district, now offers therapy t...
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    16 m
  • Beacon Siblings Served Their Country

    Beacon Siblings Served Their Country
    Nov 7 2025
    Sisters, brother enlisted during Vietnam
    For Victoria Ryan, Veterans Day on Tuesday (Nov. 11) will once again evoke memories of the 35 years the Beacon native and her siblings, Deborah and Bill, collectively served in the U.S. Army.
    Bill joined first, in 1970, followed by Deborah in 1973. Victoria, at the urging of her mother, enlisted just a few months after her sister.
    Victoria remembers Bill as "laid back, easygoing, athletic and serious minded." At the height of the Vietnam War, he enlisted rather than waiting to be drafted. A field artillery surveyor, he reached the rank of specialist and served in Germany until being discharged in late 1973. He died in a car accident in 1978 at age 25.

    "Bill had enrolled at University of Tennessee; he wanted to take mechanical engineering," Victoria recalled.
    Deborah, prior to joining the military, had worked for three years as a model. In the Army, she became the first woman to serve as a military police officer (MP) at West Point, a distinction that earned her a profile in the New York Daily News. Deborah explained to the newspaper why she had enlisted: "We were at war and the men were fighting. Why shouldn't I?"
    In a 2025 newsletter published by Together We Served, an organization that helps veterans stay connected and chronicles their stories, Victoria told the group how proud she was of her sister. "She pursued a law enforcement career in the Army and was deeply serious about her duties," she said.

    Early in her posting to West Point, Deborah pulled an officer over for speeding, Victoria recalled. "Do you know who I am?" the officer asked arrogantly. Deborah responded: "Sir, please do not confuse your rank with my authority."
    Deborah served in the Army until 1990. Her career included stops in Europe and Korea, and she rose to the rank of warrant officer in the criminal investigation division. She died in 2016 at age 61.
    "Although she was four years younger than me, I always looked up to her in many ways," Victoria said. "She died a proud veteran."
    Deborah's daughter, Leslie Ann Martell, a West Point graduate, served in Afghanistan and now serves in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
    Victoria went on to earn the rank of staff sergeant and served in the Army until 1988. In the mid-1970s, she and Deborah were both posted at West Point, where they "had a lot of great times," said Victoria. "We played tennis, had lunch together and went to Army football games; Deborah loved those games."

    She also recalled happy get-togethers with Deborah, Bill and their parents at the family's Beacon home during that period.
    While stationed at West Point, Victoria worked in administration for the third regiment Corps of Cadets. Her career also took her to Hawaii, Holland and numerous posts across the mainland U.S.
    Like her sister, Victoria was not afraid to speak her mind. During a physical training program at Fort Myers, Virginia, she was appalled that early morning runs were conducted in Arlington National Cemetery. She protested up the chain of command, all the way to the sergeant major of the Army. To her "astonished relief," the runs ceased.
    "I felt shame, embarrassment and guilt for my part in disrespecting this revered and sacred cemetery," said Victoria. "I needed to take a stand."

    Her saddest military experience came during her final assignment in the Army casualty office. In 1986, a DC-8 bringing personnel stationed in Egypt home to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, crashed after taking off from Gander International Airport in Newfoundland, killing all 248 passengers and the eight crew members.
    Calling it "the worst peacetime military aircraft disaster in the history of the U.S. Army," Victoria said her office spent months identifying all the bodies. "We told our people out in the field where to go, who to speak to and exactly, word for word, what to say to the next of kin about their loved one passing away," she said.
    Now retired and living in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she is an active member of...
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    5 m
  • Young at Heart

    Young at Heart
    Nov 7 2025
    Beacon lyricist specializes in musicals for kids
    Growing up in rural North Carolina, Melvin Tunstall III lived behind a church. "My father was a deacon, but everyone thought he was the pastor," he recalls. "He cut a path between the woods and our house."
    Evidenced by Tunstall's singing style and his collaborative score for the musical Stuntboy: In the Meantime, now on tour, gospel music seeped into his psyche.
    Things are picking up for the Beacon writer, composer, lyricist and performer. Earlier this year, he traveled to North Carolina to direct a Raleigh Theatre Arts Center production of The Music of Sam Cooke, who began with gospel and ended with soul.
    "The call for that gig came out of nowhere," Tunstall says. "As I started to dive into the show, it's such a history lesson. That was one of my favorite theatrical experiences."

    For Tunstall, the past is attractive. He is working on a musical score based on the 2022 children's book Yellow Dog Blues about a boy who, while searching for his lost dog, learns about the influence of Mississippi Delta blues musicians on the electrified Chicago scene in the 1940s and 1950s.
    Tunstall's niche is uplifting works for young people. Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical ran for three weeks this year at a theater in Bloomington, Indiana, and Senior Class premiered at the Olney Theatre Center in Maryland.
    TheaterWorksUSA produced his hour-long musical adaptation of Stuntboy, based on a graphic novel for children written by Jason Reynolds and illustrated by Raul the Third, which is now on a national tour.
    Like the Sam Cooke opportunity, Tunstall received an unsolicited call to write for a five-person Stuntboy cast. His musical partner, Greg Dean Borowski, sent over songs and Tunstall, who wrote the book and lyrics, added his touches and recorded demos for the cast to study.

    Though Tunstall's high school musical, Senior Class, tackles issues of race and class, Stuntboy is wholesome and features supportive, affirming messages.
    The protagonist, Portico Reeves, is an 8-year-old trying to overcome anxiety surrounding his parents' impending divorce. The production features plenty of movement onstage, along with colorful sets and costumes.
    Church-style harmonies bookend the opening song, which introduces Portico's female best friend and his bullying nemesis. Driven by keyboards, the tunes are poppy and upbeat. Though there are spoken interludes, most of the story is conveyed in the lyrics.
    After premiering at Bronxville High School in Westchester County, the production will travel to Austin, Texas, for performances on Nov. 5 and 6.
    Tunstall moved to New York City after college but returned to North Carolina following 9/11. Friends pulled him north again, and he joined the cast of the Toronto production of Rock of Ages in 2010 and the original Broadway production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, hanging around for six years.
    He became acquainted with theater folks living in Beacon, found a beneficial living arrangement and moved to the city two years ago. "It reminds me of Blowing Rock, North Carolina," he says.
    Although jobs seem to find him, he continues to hustle. "This is a tough business," he says. "You have to be five years ahead of the game, but I'm married to my career. I'm just thinking, 'Let's get as much theater into the world as possible.' "
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    4 m
  • Beacon to Distribute Emergency Groceries

    Beacon to Distribute Emergency Groceries
    Nov 4 2025
    City and Dutchess, Putnam counties allocate funds
    The Beacon City Council voted Monday (Nov. 3) to spend $50,000 to provide grocery gift cards to city residents who have lost federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
    At the same time, the Trump administration said Monday that it will partially fund SNAP, commonly known as food stamps, for November following two court orders. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had planned to freeze payments starting Nov. 1 because of the federal government shutdown. The program costs $8 billion monthly, but the White House said an emergency fund it will use has $4.65 billion, or enough to cover about half the normal benefits.
    It's not clear exactly how much beneficiaries will receive, nor how quickly they will see value show up on the debit cards they use to buy groceries. November payments have already been delayed for millions of people. In Dutchess County, 17,152 people rely on food stamps (including 640 households in Beacon); in Putnam County, it's 2,885 people.
    In Beacon, beginning Thursday (Nov. 6), $50 gift cards to either Key Food (268 Main St.) or the Beacon Natural Market (348 Main St.) or $60 in coupons for the Beacon Farmers' Market (Sundays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 223 Main Street parking lot) will be distributed at the city's Recreation Center at 23 West Center St.
    Cards and coupons will be available Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Beacon residents enrolled in the SNAP program must provide photo identification, proof of residency (such as mail) and their SNAP card. Options are limited to one per SNAP recipient.
    Additional times will be added as needed. The council has set no end date for the program; it will be determined based on demand for the cards, the use of funding, and the resumption of federal benefits or the implementation of a comparable state program. Updates will be posted at beaconny.gov.
    Mayor Lee Kyriacou asked city staff to develop the program last week, when it became apparent that federal benefits were at risk of lapsing. The grocery stores and the farmers' market, which is operated by Common Ground Farm, provided the cards to the city at a substantial discount, Kyriacou said. The city opted for a direct transfer of cash-like gift cards because it was the quickest and easiest program to control, given the tight deadline, he said.
    "We wanted to get assistance to people so that they could use and decide what they want," City Administrator Chris White said.
    The city will conduct online outreach and distribute flyers in both English and Spanish at low-income apartment complexes to inform residents about the program. Funding for the Beacon program was drawn from a $75,000 allotment in the 2025 budget for planning studies. White noted that "this is only a patch. The federal government needs to step up and maintain its commitment to people."
    Dutchess County announced it would commit $150,000 per week to support local food pantries, for up to 10 weeks, pending approval by the Legislature at its Tuesday (Nov. 6) meeting. The county said the amount was determined after consulting with Renee Fillette-Miccio, who chairs the Dutchess County Food Security Council. In Putnam, County Executive Kevin Byrne approved a request by legislators to provide $150,000 to fund food pantries.
    The Associated Press contributed reporting.
    Local Food Assistance
    Beacon's Backyard Kitchen
    The group serves a hot breakfast at 12 Hanna Lane in Beacon on Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. and a to-go lunch until 10:30 a.m. See instagram.com/beaconsbackyard.
    Beacon Farmers Market
    SNAP benefits are doubled through Greens4Greens, a partnership with Common Ground Farm in Wappingers Falls. To redeem benefits, visit the manager's tent, where the benefit card can be charged any amount in exchange for $1 tokens. For every $2 processed, customers will receive a $2 voucher, up to $50. As of Nov. 2, managers are distributing ...
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    11 m
  • Dutchess Executive Proposes $651M Budget

    Dutchess Executive Proposes $651M Budget
    Nov 4 2025
    Includes more sales-tax revenue for Beacon
    The budget proposed by the Dutchess County executive for 2026 would lower the property tax rate and provide more sales tax revenue to Beacon.
    Sue Serino's proposal to the Legislature includes $651 million in spending. Among its provisions, it would eliminate 10 vacant jobs and leave 17 unfilled. (See dutchessny.gov.)
    Despite those changes, spending would rise by 1.8 percent, Serino said on Oct. 29 in an address to the Legislature. She cited a $6.7 million increase in "state mandates," primarily for daycare, early intervention, and special-education programs, as well as higher costs for salaries and benefits.

    Revenues would come from $273.8 million in sales taxes, $106 million in property taxes and $23 million in general-fund reserves, or savings. The tax levy would be $224,000 below a state-mandated cap, and the rate assessed on property owners would fall from $2.17 to $2.10 per $1,000 of assessed value.
    Serino said she anticipates $5.4 million in additional sales tax revenue by allowing an exemption from Dutchess' portion of the sales tax (3.75 percent) for clothing and shoes costing less than $110 to lapse on March 1. (The 8.125 percent sales tax includes 4 percent for the state and 0.375 percent for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority).
    Beacon's share of sales taxes, which totaled $6.1 million, will rise from 2.35 percent to 2.45 percent in 2026, or an additional $268,000. According to Serino, ending the clothing and shoe exemption would yield an extra $133,000 for Beacon.
    Democrats criticized the decision to end the exemption, which took effect in 2022. Legislator Yvette Valdés Smith, who represents Ward 4 in Beacon and part of Fishkill and is the Legislature's minority leader, called it a "rash decision" that will hurt working families.
    "The Republican-led county government's mismanagement of funds - including a luxury clubhouse at the baseball stadium, mindboggling pay raises and failed litigation against New York State - has necessitated this tax increase," Valdés Smith said in a statement.

    Republicans, who hold 15 of 25 seats on the Legislature, faced criticism for funding upgrades at Heritage Financial Park in Wappingers Falls, the home of the Hudson Valley Renegades, the New York Yankees' High-A affiliate. They also authorized spending up to $100,000 to sue the state over a state law requiring most local elections to be held in even years, but no funds were spent, according to the county. The state Court of Appeals upheld the law in October, but a new lawsuit challenging its legality has been filed in federal court.
    Smith said the budget "fails to properly address the EMS [emergency medical services] crisis" and "contains no meaningful funds for our efforts to deal with the housing crisis."
    In her budget address, Serino highlighted $2 million in funding for supplemental ambulance service to address shortages that have led to long wait times, along with $2.5 million for youth programs and $1 million for the county's Housing Trust Fund, which supports affordable housing projects.
    Her budget would fund two school resource officers, a Drone as First Responder Program for the county's Real-Time Crime Center and a new Elder Justice Task Force. That collaboration with the Office for the Aging and the district attorney and sheriff's offices "will investigate, identify, pursue and prosecute those who exploit older adults through abuse, fraud or neglect," according to Serino.
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    4 m
  • Putnam Legislature Eyes Tax Relief

    Putnam Legislature Eyes Tax Relief
    Nov 3 2025
    Reserves $6.5M for potential program
    The Putnam County Legislature on Oct. 29 approved a $229 million budget for 2026 that sets aside millions of dollars for potential property tax relief, while including money for food programs and several Philipstown nonprofits.
    The Legislature's revision of County Executive Kevin Byrne's $222 million proposal includes a substantial addition: carving out $6.5 million from the county's swollen reserves for a Homeowner Tax Relief Program contingency account.
    Byrne may take exception to adding $7 million to his proposed budget. Under the county charter, he can veto changes made by the Legislature, but the lawmakers can override those vetoes.
    Legislator Paul Jonke, who proposed the tax-relief idea, is one of several legislators who said this would be the first time a county has implemented such a program. Its purpose, he said, is to give relief to homeowners who, despite cuts by Byrne in the last two budgets, have seen "virtually no impact" on their bills.
    "It's going to benefit senior citizens, it's going to benefit veterans," he said. "It's going to benefit the people who need that little bit of help when they get their oil bill or their electric bills."
    Funding would come from the county's reserves, or savings. An audit for 2023 found that Putnam ended the year with $144.3 million in reserves, including $78.3 million in "unassigned" funds that had not been designated for specific areas of spending. With sales taxes exceeding projections and Putnam "underspending" by $22 million, the total reserves were $31.8 million higher than in 2022, and the unassigned reserves $7 million higher, according to the audit.
    "We're sitting on a lot of money, folks," said Legislator Dan Birmingham, who represents Mahopac and parts of Southeast. "If the public had a true vision of [the amount], they'd rightly be outraged."
    Legislator Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and Putnam Valley, sought to amend the proposal to extend it to all residents, not just property owners, predicting that "it's going to be a very hard sell, and it probably won't be legal just to give this tax relief in the form of cash back to owner-occupied homes." She suggested that the county could give money back through other methods, such as grants for energy-efficiency projects, fee waivers and assistance for childcare.
    "If we truly want to provide tax relief, we should do it legally and inclusively," said Montgomery.
    But Montgomery and other legislators set aside their concerns about legality to support the proposal, which still must be developed. The Legislature also approved a request by Birmingham to set aside $150,000 for food programs, following an earlier approval of $9,700 for Second Chance Foods, based in Brewster.
    "They're not the only organization in the county that does help those folks who are experiencing food insecurity," said Birmingham. "We have food pantries in all parts of our county."
    The Legislature approved $10,000 grants requested by Montgomery for Boscobel, the Garrison Art Center and Hudson Valley Shakespeare. It also increased County Historian Jennifer Cassidy's position to full-time and her annual salary to $80,000.
    What remains unchanged from Byrne's original $222 million proposal is a $45.2 million property-tax levy and a projected $83.5 million in sales-tax revenues. The $1 million reduction in the levy represents the largest cut in the county's history, he said.
    The budget also includes $2.3 million for Putnam's inaugural sales-tax-sharing agreement with Nelsonville, Cold Spring, Philipstown and five other towns and the Village of Brewster. Each municipality will receive a share based on population to be used on infrastructure. Philipstown expects to receive $169,000 and Cold Spring and Nelsonville, $50,000 each, the minimum guarantee.
    Byrne's budget added new positions, including a counsel for the majority-Republican Legislature and a part-time counsel for Montgomery, its lone Democrat. It also ad...
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    5 m
  • Food Aid in Jeopardy

    Food Aid in Jeopardy
    Oct 31 2025
    Nonprofits, weakened by funding cuts, brace for disaster
    Things were already getting worse, even before the prospect of funds running out on Saturday (Nov. 1) for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program because of the ongoing federal government shutdown.
    At the Philipstown Food Pantry, coordinator Kiko Lattu said the number of visitors during its Saturday morning hours has increased by 30 percent, including people who hadn't visited in years. "They were getting by for a while, but things have become more difficult," she said.
    In Beacon, Fareground said it has started getting more food requests at the same time it is revamping its community fridge program. Dutchess Outreach in Poughkeepsie, which had been serving around 250 people a month, saw over 2,000 in February. Second Chance Foods, based in Brewster, said more people are requesting their Wednesday distributions. "There's been an increased need, and we're already at capacity for that program," said Martha Elder, the executive director.
    Unless a resolution is reached soon, the cuts to SNAP - colloquially known as "food stamps" - threaten to transform a slow-moving emergency into a full-scale disaster as nonprofits and communities struggle to fill the gap.
    And the gap is sizable: In Putnam County, 2,885 people rely on food stamps. In Dutchess, it's 17,152, and across the river, in Orange County, it's 45,530. "Those are not numbers we will be able to support," said Jamie Levato, the executive director of Fareground.
    Renee Fillette-Miccio, the executive director of Dutchess Outreach, said about $3.4 million flows into the county each month for food benefits. "For every one meal provided by a food pantry, SNAP provides 12," she said. "There's just no way for the charitable food system to be able to keep up."
    Trickle-down
    After weeks of speculation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced last week that federal food aid could cease on Nov. 1. The Trump administration said it could not legally tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds.
    Fillette-Miccio of Dutchess Outreach spent Tuesday in Washington, D.C., speaking with lawmakers from both parties, each of whom told her that President Trump could easily restore funding. "They all had the same thing to say, which was that it's just a matter of a phone call," she said.
    SNAP helps about 1 of every 8 Americans buy groceries, and nearly 80 percent of recipients are older adults, disabled or children, "which means that they don't really have the capacity to work to bring in money for food," said Dr. Hilary Seligman, a professor at the University of California who studies food insecurity and its health implications.

    On Friday (Oct. 31), a federal judge ruled, in response to a lawsuit by 25 state attorneys generals, including from New York, that the suspension of SNAP was illegal and ordered the government to report on Monday its plan to distribute funding. Benefits were already facing delays because it takes a week or more to load SNAP cards in many states.
    Some governors and mayors have stepped in, using what money they have available to fill the program that feeds about 42 million Americans. In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency, announcing $65 million in emergency food assistance and a website at bit.ly/SNAPaid that lists food banks and other social services.
    Dutchess County announced it would commit $150,000 per week to support local food pantries, for up to 10 weeks, pending approval by the Legislature at its Tuesday (Nov. 6) meeting. The county said the amount was determined after consulting with Fillette-Miccio, who chairs the Dutchess County Food Security Council.
    In Putnam County, legislators on Friday unanimously approved a request to County Executive Kevin Byrne to allocate $150,000 to fund food pantries through the end of the year.

    The potential federal pause comes at a time when many nonprofits have found their federal funding slashed or eliminated with little notice or explan...
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    20 m
  • Masters of Horror

    Masters of Horror
    Oct 31 2025
    Two Philipstown residents want to scare you
    Sam Zimmerman loves Halloween. He really, really loves it. As the senior vice president of programming and acquisitions for Shudder, AMC Networks' streaming service, he has seen any frightening film you can mention - that's his job.
    It's also now a central part of his life at home. In February, he and his wife and their two young sons moved to Parrott Street in Cold Spring, the heart of the village's annual trick-or-treating ritual.
    Zimmerman likely didn't realize it, but another fright aficionado, Tore Knos, was already in place in Philipstown. In April, The New York Times called Knos' 2024 film, Snakeeater, one of "five horror films to stream now."
    Although horror is booming at the box office, and there are seemingly unlimited viewing options online, Zimmerman says he most enjoys introducing viewers to sub-genres like giallo (Italian horror from the 1970s, such as films by Dario Argento) or folk horror, such as The Wicker Man (1973) and Midsommar (2019).

    When Shudder launched, there weren't many boutique streaming services. As VP of programming, Zimmerman helps create collections so viewers "don't spend all their time browsing; they find things they want to watch and care about and explore within the genre.
    "You can continuously come up with different nooks and crannies," he says. "It's fun to create pathways, to be able to say, 'Here are five or 10 films within this genre,' with some classics and some undiscovered gems. You'll get a good sense of the hallmarks and tropes." The Washington Post last year called Zimmerman "the man who picks your nightmares."
    Zimmerman grew up in the Bronx and says he was probably too young when he became a horror fan, "but I couldn't help it." He read the Goosebumps series, as well as books and stories by Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. "I remember my dad showing me An American Werewolf in London and my grandmother buying me Psycho," he says.
    In 2004, while he was in high school, his mother, stepfather and two sisters moved to Cold Spring. He would visit often, and the family hit Parrott Street at Halloween. At SUNY Purchase, Zimmerman majored in cinema studies and interned in New York City at Fangoria. "I stuck around the office until they hired me," he says. "I started going to film festivals and understood my interest was in programming, development, acquisition and production." In 2014, he became a consultant to the fledgling Shudder, then joined full-time.
    His focus initially was on building the catalog by licensing classic and cult films. "There were all these films that, at the time, hadn't streamed," he recalls. "I knew this was our opportunity to showcase movies that had a reputation or had been celebrated but that most people hadn't been able to see." One example: Andrzej Zulawski's Possession (1981), which had limited home video distribution.

    In 2016, Shudder began producing new films. Some highlights: Host, which was made quickly during the pandemic, about teens who conduct a Zoom seance (what could go wrong?), A Violent Nature ("something of an art house reinvention of what a slasher film is") and Oddity, an Irish film about a blind medium.
    "In some ways, horror is one of the oldest forms of storytelling," Zimmerman says. "There have always been scary stories and cautionary tales, so there's something primal there. Even intellectual horror movies are trading on instinct and provocation. They reflect our anxieties at any given moment. But they're also fun, with that satisfaction of getting a thrill."
    When Tore Knos needed moody, misty footage for Snakeeater, which is available on Amazon Prime, he didn't have to go far. Much of the film was set in a shadowy New York City. But he realized, during editing, that he needed a "pillow shot" to create atmosphere.
    "I needed a shot looking up into the fog," he recalls. "One day it was super foggy, so I drove under the Bear Mountain Bridge and got a great shot."

    While re...
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    7 m