<span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]">I</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="0">f you're the sort who's skittish at heart and easily agitated or frightened, you should probably take a pass on </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-track="0"><em>Lore</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="0">, the new fact-based horror anthology on Amazon that streams this </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="Normal" data-atex-track="0">Friday the 13th</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="0">.</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">For the rest of us, who live for a good scare, we'll be there sitting in the dark, chain-bingeing past midnight on six brand-new disturbing tales based on the real people and events behind our modern-day myths and legends. </span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">Anticipation in fandom is already running a fever that can only be cured with a shot of the good freaky stuff – and they'll get it with celebrated dread veterans Gale Anne Hurd, executive producer of </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>The Walking Dead</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">, and Glen Morgan, former executive producer of </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>The X-Files</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">, on board as the proprietors of TV's latest screamer-streamer. </span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">"We are in the unscripted, alternative side of 'this is truth' – we want to do something that hasn't been seen before on streaming or TV," says Hurd, who also produced </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">films such as </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>The Terminator</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"> and </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>Aliens</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"> early in her career.</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>Lore</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"> brings to visual life the podcast phenomenon of its narrator and creator Aaron Mahnke, who has seen his eerie audio grow to more than five million listens a month since it began in March 2015. Knowing he's such a meticulous researcher only serves to make it all the weirder and more unsettling as he explores the historical accounts that spawn our worst nightmares.</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">"When I </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">found out about the podcast and started listening, I thought, 'Oh my God, this is a dream come true'," says Hurd. "The idea of being able to bring the true scary stories </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">… to life, and to understand where these great mythologies came from, is fascinating." </span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">One familiar face </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">is actor Robert Patrick, who also stars in the TV series </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>Scorpion</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"> and is fondly remembered as the </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">T-1000 cyborg in </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>Terminator 2: Judgment Day</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"> (1991). He signed on </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>Lore</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"> without hesitation: "With Glen and Gale involved, I knew it was really going to be a high-level project</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">. They're using different media, cartoons, archival footage, stills, film, narration and they're bringing it together," </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">says Patrick, "and they're giving the actor the opportunity to create the live part, the re-enactment and the dramatic part of the story. It's really done very, very well. It's very creepy.</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"> </span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">"My episode, </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>Passing Notes</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">, is about Eliakim Phelps, who's a reverend in the 1840s, true story. His wife dies, and he hears about séances and the spiritual world. He checks it out enough to understand 'that perhaps this is a way that I can actually prove the existence of God – and if there's a life after death. And I want to do it by communicating with my wife. I want to just tell her one more time that I love her.'"</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">Phelps discovers to his horror that if you do manage to pry open a door to the spirit world – you never know what terrifying entity may slip through it</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">.</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">Other episodes will delve into vampires, changelings, werewolves</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">, possessed dolls</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"> and more, with series stars: Kristin Bauer van Straten, known for </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>True Blood</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">; Adam Goldberg, of </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>Fargo</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"> fame; Holland Roden, fresh off a six-year run on </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>Teen Wolf</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">; </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">Colm Feore, from </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>House of Cards</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">; and Campbell Scott, previously seen in </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>The Amazing Spider-Man</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">.</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">One of Mahnke's favourite episodes is </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>Echoes</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">, "a story that exposes how mental health patients were treated … and the barbaric techniques that were used to help them find a normal life" including the lobotomy, in which a steel rod is hammered through an eye socket into the brain and "swished around". The resulting, horrifying brain damage was said to calm patients.</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="-10" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">Hurd took a shine to </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-track="-10" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>They Made a Tonic</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="-10" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">: "What is the origin of the vampire myths? It's much closer to home. The people indeed 'made a tonic' which they believed would cure the disease. It is a ghastly cure."</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="-10" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">Hurd says her storytelling goal is "to get the people who are watching this into the head space of the characters who are making decisions. We're making all of that relatable, which makes it even scarier.</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="-10" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"> When it's cold, hard facts – it's not scary," </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="-10" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">says Mahnke, also the author of </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-track="-10" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>The World of Lore</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="-10" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"> book series. "When it's a real thing – with real connections – it becomes a lot more frightening."</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">"I've been drawn to tales of the supernatural since I was a kid. Probably fifth grade, writing assignment – the teacher wanted us to write a short story, for penmanship. I chose to write about a haunted graveyard where they were now selling pumpkins – and the pumpkins had bones in them. I've loved </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">horror</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"> ever since."</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">"The </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-fs="NormalItalic" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"><em>X-Files</em></span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"> fed that while I was in college. Then I was writing supernatural novels for a while</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}"> but a lot of the research, the source material, never made it into the books. So I filed it all away – and there's some great stuff in there. Stuff I wanted to share with people. Things that really happened. And through a series of fortunate events, that turned into </span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">a podcast and television show</span><span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-uat="{KerningMethod:JElEL09wdGljYWw=}">."</span> <span data-atex-cstyle="$ID/[No character style]" data-atex-track="-15">Lore is available for streaming on Amazon Prime from Friday</span> _______________ <strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/television/how-much-stephen-king-can-our-quivering-hearts-take-1.661700" style="">How much Stephen King can our quivering hearts take?</a> _______________