Payton McCarty-Simas is an author, programmer, and film critic based in New York City. 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’s writing has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, Fangoria, Little White Lies, and others, and she is the author of two books, One Step Short of Crazy: National Treasure and the Landscape of American Conspiracy Culture, and That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film. She lives with her partner and their cat, Shirley Jackson.