Popverse's top stories

• Daredevil’s business card in Spider-Man: Brand New Day has the wrong area code in his phone number
• Wonder Man Yahya Abdul-Mateen II opens up about Disney cancelling the show - and how Marvel can "change the narrative"
• Rob Liefeld has some extremely specific thoughts about Deadpool's anatomy: "He is well-endowed."

Critical Role's Matt Mercer knows his way around a horror story. As you might recall if you've watched any of the Critical Role Age of Umbra storylines, the frequent GM and Daggerheart co-creator is well-versed in tales of dread and doom. Still, there are areas of the horror sphere that Mercer gravitates toward more than others, and in a recent discussion around his favorite fandoms, the The Legend of Vox Machina voice actor expounded on which.

The interview in question went down on the YouTube series String and Tell with Tawny Platis, where Exandria's creator and The Mighty Nein's own Essek Thelyss began his discussion about horror with the kind that he doesn't quite like. 

"I love horror," Mercer said, "But I love horror that's done well. I'm not a big fan of like the Hostels, you know, the horror that's just torture porn."

Part of what Mercer doesn't track with in those particular pieces of horror media is that he prefers spooky fare that's more "about atmosphere. It's about telling the story through pace and tension and music. [...] I think my favorite genre of horror that is not done that well often is occult horror."

Specifically, Mercer points to movies like Hereditary, which he said is "that type of occult horror I like where it brings in dark, magical narratives in a normal space. There's that kind of unveiling of the mystical, dark demonic sort of tone. The Exorcist, of course, is a classic kind of occult horror; one of the standouts."

"That would be ancillary to cosmic horror," Mercer continued, "Which is often also not done very well. When it's done well, it's phenomenal. The recent Color Out of Space with Nic Cage that came out a few years ago is actually pretty dang good."

Finally, Mercer praised an oft-overlooked 2020 horror film titled The Empty Man.

"It was it came out in theaters the summer of 2020," he said, "So nobody saw it. It has a cast of very talented but not very well-known performers, and some standout since then have gone on in other projects. It's also  two and a half, almost three hours long. It changes genre multiple times. If you go in with low expectations, it is a very surprising film and I think it's a phenomenal cosmic horror in a way that you don't expect it to be."

Well there you go, horror fans. It's not too early to start your Halloween 2026 watch list.

With two animated series on Prime Video, Campaign 4 in full swing, and so much more Exandrian lore to come, Critical Role is showing no signs of slowing down. That's why the adventuring party at Popverse are here to bring you everything we can from those nerdy-ass voice actors & Bo., including:

• Critical Role release schedule
• Critical Role's Campaign 4 characters ranked
• How to watch Critical Role in order
• Ways for you to relive the Critical Role panel from ECCC '26
• Taliesin Jaffe on playing Mollymauk Tealeaf for Campaign 2 vs. playing him for Prime Video
• Matt Mercer's homebrew warrior class (created originally for Vin Diesel)

...and much, much more. Roll initiative, player. Magic awaits.