Get to Know Cinesylum!

Written by MaryAnn Lyons

Cinesylum hosts, from left to right: Aaron Hudson, Samantha Hurdich, and Danni Winn.

“Welcome out fellow horror fans!” One thing you can count on at a Cinesylum screening: hearing co-host Samantha “Sam” Hurdich utter this phrase before she and co-host Aaron Hudson introduce the movie. Whether it’s a classic Hitchcock flick like Psycho or an underseen ‘80s gem like The Hitcher, movie fans of all types can always count on a fun experience at a Cinesylum screening. 

Currently, Cinesylum hosts a double feature night at The Academy Theatre (TAT) once a month. The first film is often a horror movie, but occasionally they throw a curveball at their fans by showing a western, like Tombstone, or a fantasy such as Willow. The second movie is always a surprise, but Sam and Aaron take care to pick a movie that ties into the first somehow. Perhaps the second movie will share an actor with the first movie, or the themes may be similar. Part of the appeal of Cinesylum screenings at TAT is the mystery of the second movie. “It makes it fun to guess. It’s like an indoor drive-in” says Cinesylum fan Brian Husar. Lauren Knight, who helped bring Aaron and Sam together for hosting movie screenings and now co-hosts a movie podcast with Aaron, agrees. “I can almost never guess the second movie, because Aaron & Sam’s collective film knowledge is so vast. But let’s put it this way: I never ever leave disappointed.”

Aaron and Sam hosted a screening of The Last Man on Earth in April 2026.

Sam and Aaron also host screenings at Roadhouse Cinemas in Scottsdale once or twice a month. These screenings may include Premiere Nights, where Sam and Aaron introduce a newly released horror film that everyone is seeing for the first time. One such time was in August 2025, where Sam and Aaron not only gave a pre-show talk about the new movie Witchboard, but they also moderated a Q & A session with the movie’s director, Chuck Russell, afterward. 

Aaron with director Chuck Russell at the Cinesylum screening of Witchboard in August 2025.

Aaron and Sam’s love of horror movies dates back to their childhoods. Aaron considers Jaws, The Birds, and House on Haunted Hill as influential movies from his youth. The television series The X-Files and Are You Afraid of the Dark? also influenced Aaron. He recalls enjoying Crestwood Universal Studios Monsters books as well. For Sam, the Nightmare on Elm Street series and The Exorcist were the most significant movies. Sometimes referred to as the “goth Vanna White” by Aaron when presenting raffle prizes before a screening, Sam also loves horror makeup and special effects. Finally, Tim Burton movies, such as Edward Scissorhands, “really drove a lot of her sensibilities and aesthetic.” 

While The Academy Theatre has been hosting Cinesylum screenings since April 2024, the group has existed in some form since 2018. That’s when Sam and Aaron first started hosting movie screenings together at a movie theater in Tempe, Arizona. 1996’s Scream was the first of these screenings to be a horror movie. Aaron explains, “We went more into planning the intro than normal, and I dressed as Ghostface and her as Drew [Barrymore]’s character…I remember we hugged afterwards cause it went so well and we had such high expectations for the show.”

Cinesylum mascot Skully

Along the way, another co-host, Danni Winn, came aboard for the horror screenings. The Covid-19 pandemic put their screenings on hold, but eventually, Aaron, Sam, and Danni began hosting horror screenings again. They became known as Cinematary. The first movie screened under this name was Chopping Mall in 2021. Aaron says it was around this time or a little earlier that he felt that he, Sam, and Danni were onto something. “Coming out of the pandemic, getting even eight or ten people to a show was huge. We were getting more than that every Tuesday night.” Screenings continued to gain traction as they expanded their reach. Although Danni doesn’t co-host as much anymore, she is doing well and still supports the group.

The first screening at TAT was the 1959 mystery House on Haunted Hill, starring Vincent Price. The road to screenings at TAT was a long one. After a dispute with the management of the Tempe theater that had previously hosted screenings, Cinematary found themselves needing a new location and new name. At the same time, Angel Arredondo, the founder and Director of TAT, was considering new ways to expand the theatre’s programming beyond the children’s and adult’s acting programs. It was serendipitous when Aaron and Angel met each other through mutual contacts. “I thought the theatre was really cute and special and an opportunity to do some types of screenings that I can’t do at a first run theater or one where I have to worry about needing to pack a certain sized audience,” says Aaron. A partnership was born. Cinematary changed its name to Cinesylum around the same time and has thrived ever since.

Aaron and his daughter Evie pose with Skully before a Dick Tracy screening

Many things are taken into consideration when deciding what to screen. “I can have very populist taste so I think if I wanna see something on the big screen, I think others will too,” says Aaron. The time of year (Psycho in May 2024 for Mother’s Day), momentous anniversaries (the 100th anniversary of the silent film The Phantom of the Opera was in September 2025), or themed months (Dario Argento-ary in January 2025) are all examples of considerations Aaron takes into account when planning a screening. Sometimes a screening is planned up to a year in advance. Aaron also gets great satisfaction out of introducing a movie to an attendee who has never seen or sometimes never even heard of it. 

Outside of Cineslyum, Aaron works for Severin Films while Sam works for DoorDash’s corporate office. When asked what he hopes a newbie takes away from a Cinesylum screening, Aaron says it’s all about “Community…You come and hang out, watch the movie, talk about it after.  Movies are unique, so many creatives and artists of different types come together to make them…We take them so subjectively in our own ways based on our experiences with them and personal sensibilities, and yet we also get such pleasure enjoying them with a crowd of like minded people.” And if you’re lucky, you might also walk away with a fun prize!

In case you are not able to attend a Cinesylum screening, you can still recreate the spirit of the group at home by watching The Mutilator, as recommended by Aaron. “[It’s] a better directorial debut than Citizen Kane, and I will stand on Orson Welles’s Criterion collection in my cowboy boots and proclaim it!” We hope to see you at a future screening!