The duo returns with a three-part discussion of John Langan’s 2013 horror collection “The Wide, Carnivorous Sky.” We have the filthy children of Worcester doing what they do best (smelling like garbage and eating things); a theatrical deconstruction of zombie tropes, a professor giving an apocalyptic presentation that still elicits yawns from know-nothing college kids, and space vampires. Analytic, somewhat contrarian deconstructions are a common thing here - for example, so you like vampires? Well, how about a vampire who lives in SPACE, and his coffin is a CHRYSALIS, and and stakes work against him, but not for the reasons you think! Can you HANDLE THAT!
Episode 122 - Horror Roundup, January 2019
It’s been awhile boys and girls, but that hasn’t stopped us from binging horror media. Here’s all the horror we’ve consumed recently but didn’t need to spend a whole episode talking about, such as; Terrifier, Human Centipede 3, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Summer of ‘84, Cold Skin, Mandy, Cold Hell, 31, Black Sabbath, Dark Harvest, Halloween, The Hunger, Possum, Channel Zero, True Detective, The Fisherman, Hold The Dark, and more! How can we possibly have so much free time on our hands? Because we’re sad, miserable, lonely people…
2018 Christmas Bonus: Santa's Slay (2005)
Your work may not have given you a Christmas bonus, but we sure will! It's not worth spending a whole episode covering Santa's Slay, but eight or so minutes, yeah, that's enough time to cover the three minute opening short. Unlike the rest of the film, it’s better than getting a turkey leg smashed through your head!
Episode 121 - Merry Christmas 9: All The Creatures Were Stirring (2018)
If you're going to cover “All Through The House", logically the next film to discuss is "All The Creatures Were Stirring", the brand new, 80 minute, mild shrug of a horror anthology. If only Tales from the Crypt had made the holiday film “Twas the Demon Knight Before Christmas” this would have been a much better themed month...
Episode 120 - Merry Christmas 8: Secret Santa (2015) & All Through The House (2015)
The duo cover not one but TWO low-budget Christmas slashers: Secret Santa (2015) and All Through the House (2015). While the duo can’t recommend either, they bicker over their relative merits, with J.R. preferring the lighthearted, more adventurous (and total failure in everything it tries to do, save crushing your hopes and dreams that you might enjoy it) Secret Santa, with Derek going for the dreadful violent idiotic slog (which delivers everything it is supposed to for being a Christmas slasher film) that is All Through The House (you can tell who writes these descriptions!)(And who posts them!).
Episode 119 - Merry Christmas 7: Black Christmas (1974)
Our Christmas viewing returns with a winner: Black Christmas (1974). Derek and J.R. discuss, among other issues, why this movie works: the voluble, unhinged killer is unsettling, the movie surprisingly portrays the emotional aftermath of violence, and the tone is generally ambiguous and realistic. It ain’t all roses, of course, with some lame shoehorned humor and weird character actions. J.R. also reminisces about his idyllic childhood spent prank calling messages of mayhem.
Episode 118 - Mike Flanagan 7: The Haunting of Hill House, Part 3
The duo wrap up their discussion of The Haunting of Hill House by going over the last three episodes and debating what exactly they are supposed to take from the general softening of the tone and themes as the story went on. What are we supposed to be feeling about This Old Hill House?
Episode 117 - Mike Flanagan 7: The Haunting of Hill House, Part 2
After a creaky beginning and the obligatory "each kid gets an episode of backstory," the Haunting of Hill House gets rolling. The duo discuss episodes 4 through 7, where we see the show's attempt to spread out a rather brief plot over a full season. We get a real bravura episode (episode 6) and then crease our brow at where this show is going. Disappointment ahead!
Episode 116 - Mike Flanagan 7: The Haunting of Hill House, Part 1
The duo begin their discussion of Mike Flanagan’s “The Haunting of Hill House,” covering the first three episodes in this loosely adapted remix of Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel. We delve into the background of each of the Crain children, from least-screwed-up to most-screwed-up. “I’ll need to take some liberties. I always do,” the novelist Steve Crain says as Mike Flanagan’s surrogate to the audience: SHIRLEY JACKSON FANS PLEASE DON’T TURN ME INTO A GHOST, I HAVE A WIFE I NEED TO PUT IN ALL MY MOVIES!
Episode 115 - Depression Month 4: Misc. Depression
The duo discuss miscellaneous depression issues including general mental health updates, the controversy over the ending of Lights Out (2016), and the exhausting art-piece that is David Foster Wallace’s short story “The Depressed Person.” It’s not as grim as it sounds, trust us. You will feel better about yourself in comparison to us, and isn’t that really the true purpose of art?
Episode 114 - Depression Month 3: Melancholia
Fresh off the insights into clinical depression provided by William Tryon's "Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness," the duo discuss Lars Van Trier's 2011 film "Melancholia." They discuss how the lead character Justine, played by Kirsten Dunst, manifests the myriad symptoms of depression while several characters - from her doting sister to her impatient brother-in-law - display the different coping mechanisms of dealing with someone who depressed, with Justine's beau, played by Alexander Skarsgard, stuck with the saddest role: completely ignorant dunce. There's a pun there, I'm sure of it!
Episode 113 - Depression Month 2: Darkness Visible, Part 2
The duo finish discussing William Styron's "Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness." as William's depression gets even more severe and he discovers that therapy is useless and geese are terrifying. He discusses some of the stranger aspects of depression: the palpable quality of ominousness, his irrational possessiveness, depression's relationship to the concept of loss, and the mind's capacity to endure what seems to be interminable. And then of course like all severe depressives he just almost instantly gets better; whew, had us worried there Mr. Styron!
Episode 112 - Depression Month 1: Darkness Visible, Part 1
The duo kick off Depression Month with the first half of William Styron's "Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness." They discuss William Styron's realization that he had a serious problem, his disastrous attempts at making small talk at a prestigious soiree during the throes of his depression, the elusive nature of depression's pain and the difficulties in describing it to someone who has never suffered from it, and why the word "depression" is a poor substitute for BRAINSTORM!
Episode 111 - Jonathan Raab, Colorado's Favorite Son
We speak with Jonathan Raab, editor of Muzzleland Press and author of the forthcoming Camp Ghoul Mountain Part VI: The Official Novelization about small press publishing, the lure of horror and the supernatural, mental health, religiosity, the quest for satisfaction, and the fundamental question of why bother doing anything. J.R. expresses his love. J.R. is rebuffed.
Episode 110 - Nick Szostakiwskyj, Calgary's Favorite Son
The duo become investigative journalists once again and surprise themselves by the amount of information they get from director, writer, and all-around polymath Nick Szostakiwskyj, who directed the Lovecraftian horror film Black Mountain Side (2014) and the forthcoming Hammer of the Gods (2019). Nick talks origins, inspirations, financing, advertising and distribution blunders, independent film realities, the Book of Job, and more, all while Canadian huskies howl in the background. The DEFINITIVE Nick Szostakiwskyj interview.
Episode 109 - Q1 FY19 Horror Roundup 2
J.R. attends the Scary Movies 11 Festival at Lincoln Center and Derek has too much free time as the duo discuss a ton of new horror films and fiction. In a spoiler-free discussion, J.R. highly recommends The Witch in the Window , and then largely recommends Await Further Instructions , Anna and the Apocalypse and the more-polarizing film Hurt, while Derek recommends Brimstone, which seemed to fall under the radar. J.R. was fitfully amused by Blood Paradise and is more mixed about What Keeps You Alive and the entertaining but glib Lords of Chaos. J.R. can’t recommend Boogeyman Pop, and stay far, far away from The Inhabitant. Derek, as expected, dismisses Hellraiser: Judgment but perhaps not as harshly as you would expect, unlike The Meg, The First Purge, and Mom and Dad, which are easily dismissed. They also briefly cover Castle Rock, House of Leaves and Stephen King’s The Outsider, and give a collective “meh” to Veronica. Lastly, the weird fiction collection The Weird lives up to its namesake and is recommend if you have 3 months.
Episode 108 - Underseen Lovecraftian Horror 3: Stalker
The duo throw out a curve ball and discuss Andrei Tarkovsky's 1979 masterwork "Stalker," based on the episodic novel "Roadside Picnic." We discuss some of the important differences between the more action-heavy novel and the more measured film, some of the works' Lovecraftian themes and philosophical implications, and imagine a skeezy A24-style trailer promising Stalker-sized action and thrills!
Episode 107 - Underseen Lovecraftian Horror 2: The Spider Labyrinth
The duo discusses “The Spider Labyrinth,” the 1988 Italian horror film that you should check out if you have 82 minutes and your fondness for Lovecraftian-themes like forbidden cults and secret Gods renders you particularly tolerant and forgiving to a movie that has deep, deep flaws. Horror fans, frankly, have lower standards for films that fall within their wheelhouse, so your mileage may vary. This movie has some effective scenes, a pretty “out there” ending, and “good bones,” in that the pieces are in place for the movie to be good, but good Lord are these some creaky clichés and absurdly dense characters.
Episode 106 - Underseen Lovecraftian Horror 1: Black Mountain Side
The duo discusses Black Mountain Side, a film you should see. J.R. was skeptical given its surprisingly low IMDB score and a corny poster pull quote that exclaims proudly that the movie is “expertly made,” like as if you should expect a real movie or something! But Derek was right, this movie is generally effective and worth seeing, even if its mythology is a bit all over the place. Also, the writer-director was only 21 years old when he made this, as if you need any more reason to feel bad about how little you’ve personally accomplished
Episode 105 - Benson/Moorhead 3: The Endless
The duo kicks off “obscureish Lovecraftian film month” by discussing The Endless, the recent film by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead, about two brothers who escaped from a cult who voluntarily return and find themselves entangled in mysterious machinations. We debate whether this movie has any reason to exist, given that it serves essentially as a sequel to Resolution that fails to cover any new ground and explains-away much of what gave Resolution its power.