Payton McCarty-Simas is an author and film critic based in New York City. Their writing has been featured in The Brooklyn Rail, Film Daze, Little White Lies, Rue Morgue, Horror Studies, and Bright Lights Film Journal among others, while their short films and screenplays have been featured in several film festivals, including a showcase at the Hammer Museum in LA.
They hold a Masters in film and media studies from Columbia University, where she focused her research on horror film, psychedelia, and the occult in particular.
Payton is also the author of two books of film history and criticism, One Step Short of Crazy: National Treasure and the Landscape of American Conspiracy Culture, and All of Them Witches: Fear, Feminism & the American Witch Film.
She lives with her partner and their cat, Shirley Jackson.
Publication:
Favorite Movie:
“All That Jazz”
Professional Memberships:
- Online Association of Female Film Critics, Member
- Rotten Tomatoes, Tomatometer Approved Critic
Online Association of Female Film Critics 