Media: October 2026 • Nick D’s Horror Favorites
Nick Digilio
Nick Digilio is best known for his 35-year stint at WGN Radio, but his resume includes much more. He’s been a film critic for over four decades, currently hosts three podcasts on the Radio Misfits Podcast Network, including the popular Nick D podcast, and last year added “author” to his business card (40 Years, 40 Films). This year, for Halloween season, he has followed up that first book with a more appropriately thematic book—40 Years, 40 Horror Films.
The book begins with instant credibility. Rich Koz (Svengoolie) wrote the foreword.
“We crossed paths a couple of times late at night at WGN in the ’80s,” Nick explains, “when I would appear on late-night shows like Eddie Schwartz’s show or Steve and Johnnie’s show. Sometimes Rich would appear on those shows, and that’s when we connected. I’ve always been a huge fan of his. I think he’s a remarkably talented guy. I’ve always respected him, and we’ve always had a mutual respect. Over the years, both of us have become staples at the Flashback Weekend Horror Convention. And that’s where we really started to have a connection as professionals and performers. So over the years, we became friends, and when I decided to write this book, he was the first person I called. He immediately said yes and wrote a beautiful foreword that not only captures the spirit of the book, which is celebrating horror, a genre that’s the bastard stepchild of genres, but he also encompassed our relationship. It’s a beautiful thing, and I’m thrilled about it.”
Long-time Digilio fans know all about Nick’s devotion to the horror genre. It’s one of his favorite topics of discussion. But they may not know what indoctrinated him.
“I guess the one that really sort of blew my mind and opened up the door was 1958’s The Horror of Dracula, which is directed by Terence Fisher and stars Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. It’s a Hammer Film, and for horror fans, the British production company Hammer started making movies in the 1950s. They basically took all the stuff that Universal did, like all the Universal monster movies, and made them bigger, and put color in them, and boobs, and cleavage, and blood, and all kinds of stuff.”
But it’s not his all-time favorite. That honor goes to John Carpenter’s Halloween.
“I first saw it in November of 1978 at the Chicago Theater. Not only did it scare the shit out of me, and not only did I think it was brilliant and great and terrifying and all that good stuff, but it was the first movie I realized what a director did. Back then they had posters outside of movie theaters, and I actively looked for the name, and it said, directed by John Carpenter,’ and that opened the door for me. That’s when I became a cinephile. After I saw Halloween, I knew that whatever I wanted to do professionally with my life had to involve movies. I knew that from Halloween, and Halloween‘s a horror movie. So that’s why I have such a deep emotional connection. It’s why I wrote this book.”
People who read Nick’s first book will recognize the format.
“It’s organized and structured exactly as my first book, 40 Years, 40 Films. That was an autobiographical journey through my 40 years as a film critic. I decided that at the 40-year anniversary, I was going to take my favorite movie from each year and write about it. So that’s what I did in the original book. Each chapter features an essay about my favorite movie of each year, no matter the genre. So the first chapter is from 1985, my favorite movie of that year, going all the way through to 2024. I also have all of my top 10 lists for 40 years. So that’s how I structured this book as well.”
So, if you’re doing the math, **40 Years, 40 Horror Films doesn’t just recommend 40 horror films. It recommends 440 horror films. That’s more than 14 horror films a day for the entire spooky month of October. That’s more than you can watch if you watched one every second of the month. Does anyone need that many horror film recommendations?
Actually, Nick knows plenty of horror fans who will embrace it. He even has a name for that group.
“The book is dedicated to people in the tribe,” he explains. “The tribe are those fans that are really dedicated to the genre, the people who love the horror movies, the people that can sit up at the Flashback Horror Convention till 3 o’clock in the morning and argue whether or not Trauma or Suspiria is the better Dario Argento movie.”
Nick is one of them.
“I mean, look, I love watching people getting ripped apart with chainsaws. I’ll watch that all day long. I like bodies being torn apart, brains, guts flying out all over the place. Sense of dread, though, is something that I really love. The movies that, when you’re watching them, you’re kind of like, man, I just feel uncomfortable right now. Those are the ones that really get under my skin.”
You can follow all of Nick Digilio’s many exploits, including his podcasts, books, Substack, and movie reviews at his website, Nickdigilio.com.
