scary – Cows in the Field

REC (2007)

Continuing spooky season, we sit down with Pete Turner (Oxford Brookes University) to discuss found footage horror and the now-classic entry into the genre, REC! We discuss why this isn’t “found footage”(!) although it is diegetic camera horror, and how the film uses the limited perspective to shape our identification with its characters. Don’t goContinue reading “REC (2007)”

IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (1994)

We do, in fact, read Sutter Cane! Carly Severn (KQED San Francisco) returns to explore the world of mass market paperbacks that portend the return of the Old Ones and the end of humanity in John Carpenter’s homage to Lovecraft. Is it Mommy’s Day? Sadly, yes, it is. Do you read Sutter Cane? Sutter Cane’sContinue reading “IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (1994)”

NOSFERATU (2024)

We sit down with Phil Iscove (of Podcast Like It’s…) to discuss Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu! We discuss how the film is Ellen’s story, compare it with the many other versions, sexual liberation and sexual angst, scientific progress and the patriarchy, the beauty in decay, and the film’s dark sense of humor. Professor, my dreams growContinue reading “NOSFERATU (2024)”

THE BABADOOK (2014)

Is it a bad book or the Ba-Ba-Doo-Doo-Doooooook?? We chat with Libby Hill (The Wrap) about Jennifer Kent’s painful and potent allegory about grief, anxiety, depression, parenting… you know — the BIG STUFF. We discuss how the imagery of the Babadook conveys enveloping dread, and ongoing struggles with our own Babadooks. We talk about beingContinue reading “THE BABADOOK (2014)”

THE EXORCIST (1973)

It just so happens that one of us is probably possessed, and is in need of THE EXORCIST! Join us and Carly Severn (KQED San Francisco) to discuss the Friedkin / Pazuzu of it all. Why is this movie so deeply terrifying, even today, FIFTY years after its initial release?? We talk about parents —Continue reading “THE EXORCIST (1973)”

BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA (1992)

Join us and Bilge Ebiri (New York Magazine / Vulture) to delve into Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 masterpiece. We discuss the early critical reception and why the broader consensus has come around to this sexed-up, theatrical, in-camera-practical-effects-driven, reinvention of the classic vampire story. We discuss the uncanny and the helplessness induced by the film’s meanderingContinue reading “BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA (1992)”