21 Jump Scare

The Exorcist III (1990)

The Strangers (2008)

Welcome to The Minute of Spin, a bite-sized music segment in which we explore a single song that came to define an entire band. Unfortunately, we can't afford the rights to the songs we spotlight, so you won't actually hear the song. But you're welcome to listen to the song here:  https://youtu.be/eu2iv-vMKT8

The ability to create a perfect pop song is a gift bestowed on precious few.  The trick, of course, once you’ve done it, is to create another.  And there’s the rub.  The La’s brilliant frontman Lee Mavers was never really satisfied with “There She Goes.”  Not after the first time it charted, or the second time, or even the third.  What we hear, on the other hand, is something very different.

The story of The La’s is a testament to the power of perfectionism to make and break a band’s career.  It took the Liverpool band five years to find a more or less stable lineup, and several attempts to record both “There She Goes” AND its debut album.  In late 1989, the band teamed up with U2 and Simple Minds producer Steve Lillywhite – but Mavers wasn’t getting the sound he wanted, so the group abandoned the sessions.  That left Lillywhite to piece together an album.  And the result, despite Mavers’ misgivings, was an unqualified success.

There’s some debate as to the subject matter of “There She Goes.” Lines like “racing through my brain” and “pulsing through my vein” have led some to speculate that it’s about heroin.  Then, it’s also a perfectly beautiful, melancholy love song, steeped in 60s nostalgia yet very much of the moment. The song only reached #49 on the Billboard charts in 1991, but made significant inroads on the alternative scene.  I was  among the fortunate few who caught the La’s on the band’s first and only tour of the U.S, at DC’s 9:30 Club.  I remember thinking how young they looked, and how talented you had to be to write a song like “There She Goes.”  

In some way, Mavers must have known this as well.  The La’s disappeared after the release of their debut album, with Mavers occasionally coming out of hiding to play with other bands.  A version of the La’s surfaced in summer 2005, playing various festivals in England and fueling inevitable rumors about a second album.  But six years on, we’ve yet to see or hear anything more.

Ironically, when the American band Sixpence None the Richer released a version of “There She Goes” in 1999, the song went to #32, 17 points higher than when the La’s released it.

To hear all episodes in this series, visit soundcloud.com/eric-9-3/sets/the-minute-of-spin/ or visit the Yarn AudioWorks website at http://21jumpscare.com/

Yarn AudioWorks

The La's, "There She Goes"

Welcome to The Minute of Spin, a bite-sized music segment in which we explore a single song that came to define an entire band. Unfortunately, we can't afford the rights to the songs we spotlight, so you won't actually hear the song. But you're welcome to listen to the song here:  https://youtu.be/hIqwzQ7g-Cc

Originally from Lee County, Mississippi, where they honed their skills in the local Baptist church, brothers Joe, Willie, Lester, and George Chambers initially set their sights on the folk communities of Los Angeles and New York City.  After playing the ‘65 Newport Folk Festival, the Brothers firmly established themselves on the national scene.

Their first two albums, recorded live in L.A. and Boston, highlighted the band’s early R & B leanings.  This was followed by something of a bidding war over the Brothers, with both RCA and Warner Brothers duking it out with Columbia.  Columbia won – mainly, it seems, because they didn’t want to put them in suits.  But things got fuzzy:  upon learning of the group’s new song “Time Has Come Today,” Columbia president Clive Davis asked for it to be recorded by a white group, something the African-American band was vehemently against.

By ‘68, the band had added white drummer Brian Keenan in time for its third record, “Time Has Come,” which showed off the Brothers’ rock proclivities to maximum effect.  “Time Has Come Today,” an eleven minute and six second blast of psychedelia, cowbell, reverb, and maniacal laughter became a rallying cry of the day.  Aside from the repeated exclamation of the word “Time,” the song doesn’t hint at revolution: it’s more about the emerging of a new consciousness.  Still, the song’s power catapulted a shortened version to #11 on the Billboard charts, where it remained for five straight weeks, never cracking the top ten.  

The Chambers Brothers released several more records on a variety of labels in the late sixties and early to mid seventies, but nothing captured the commercial appeal of Time Has Come.  The boys went on to become studio musicians and to devote time to their church back home.  The song has since enjoyed cover versions by Steve Earle & Sheryl Crow, the Ramones, and others.

To hear all episodes in this series, visit soundcloud.com/eric-9-3/sets/the-minute-of-spin/ or visit the Yarn AudioWorks website at http://21jumpscare.com/

The Chambers Brothers, "Time Has Come Today"

Welcome to The Minute of Spin, a bite-sized music segment in which we explore a single song that came to define an entire band. Unfortunately, we can't afford the rights to the songs we spotlight, so you won't actually hear the song. But you're welcome to listen to it here:  https://youtu.be/IWWwM2wwMww

Certain songs you hear today, they just sound so quaint.  There’s an adventurous spirit to them, a sense of breaking rules, of pushing boundaries.  Then there are songs that purport to do that, but don’t really make a lot of sense.  Then there are songs that don’t make a lot of sense, but are great songs anyway, despite themselves.  In late 1979, an English band called The Vapors released “Turning Japanese,” a song that seems to be about obsessive love, but really, is about something much sweeter.  I think.

“Turning Japanese” is about a guy who may be in jail who stares at a picture of himself and someone he loves.  He kisses the picture when there’s no one around, and he wants an X-ray so he can look at his loved one from the inside.  It’s got all the makings of a classic creepy obsessive love song, except for one thing:  our protagonist is turning Japanese.  What does it mean?  Some have speculated that the song’s about orgasm, but not according to songwriter Dave Fenton, lead guitarist and vocalist for The Vapors
“Turning Japanese,” Fenton said, “is all the clichés about angst and youth and turning into something you didn't expect to.”  Oh, I see, so it’s a coming of age tale.  Okay.  Whatever the song’s about, it’s catchy as hell, and after hitting #3 hit in the UK, the song reached #36 in the States, clearly a first for a song about changing nationalities. 

Sadly, after their 1979 album New Clear Days, the one that featured Turning Japanese, the Vapors only released one more record, which failed to chart, and broke up shortly thereafter.  The song has since become a new wave classic, with covers by artists as diverse as Liz Phair, Incubus, SCTV, Coldplay, and yes, Kirsten Dunst.

To hear all episodes in this series, visit soundcloud.com/eric-9-3/sets/the-minute-of-spin/ or visit the Yarn AudioWorks website at http://21jumpscare.com/

The Vapors, "Turning Japanese"

Welcome to The Minute of Spin, a bite-sized music segment in which we explore a single song that came to define an entire band. Unfortunately, we can't afford the rights to the songs we spotlight, so you won't actually hear the song. But you're welcome to listen to it here: youtu.be/J0ag8DkipmQ

Some bands change so much in the course of their lifespan, it’s almost like they’re made up of a bunch of different bands.  Changes in personnel and approach can give this impression.  Those who first encountered Fleetwood Mac through their 1975 self-titled album, or through Rumours, probably had no idea that the band started out as an all-English blues outfit when three members of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers left to start their own group – namely, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, and Peter Green.

Now known as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, the London-born Green was responsible for some of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest early hits, including “Albatross,” “Man of the World,” and “Black Magic Woman,” which was later covered by Santana.  But it’s his 1969 composition “Oh Well” that remains the group’s most enduring. 

Split into two parts upon its release, “Oh Well” is three minutes of hard rocking blues followed by six minutes of spaghetti Western-style strumming, piano, and cello.  In a video of the band performing Part One during their BBC Sessions – Green flanked by guitarists Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan, McVie and drummer Fleetwood – but you’re continually drawn to the bearded Green, wearing some kind of tunic, laughing throughout, like a monk possessed.

The song’s influence is undeniable.  It’s been covered countless times over the years by the likes of Joe Jackson, The Rockets, Big Country and Tom Petty.  Green himself wasn’t as lucky – he got religion, then LSD, and was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia. He spent most of the 70s and 80s in and out of mental hospitals.  But he eventually made it back, and to this day, Green’s still out there, performing with friends.  In 1998 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

You’d be hard-pressed to call “Oh Well” the song that came to define Fleetwood Mac.  Following a transitional period, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the band and they achieved mainstream success with albums like “Rumours,” “Mirage,” and “Tusk.”  But Mac purists will always hearken back to the formative years, and the man who gave the band its name.  For this reason, we can confidently say that the defining moment of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac was “Oh Well.”

To hear all episodes in this series, visit soundcloud.com/eric-9-3/sets/the-minute-of-spin/ or visit the Yarn AudioWorks website at http://21jumpscare.com/

Editor’s Note:  Peter Green died on July 25, 2020.

Fleetwood Mac, "Oh Well"

Welcome to The Minute of Spin, a bite-sized music segment in which we explore a single song that came to define an entire band. Unfortunately, we can't afford the rights to the songs we spotlight, so you won't actually hear the song. But you're welcome to listen to it here: https://youtu.be/sOK4U_pSxGA

Listening to certain hits of the 1970s, you really get a sense of how much tastes have changed over the years.  The same can be said for some of the artists that had those hits.  By today’s standards, they’d be seen as impossibly square.  But watching these folks in action, with their big hair, or no hair, wide collared blazers or frilly dresses, is to take a step backward in time, when these things were not only accepted, but cool.

Brooklyn-born Robert John started singing under his real name, as 12 year old sensation Bobby Pedrick, Jr., and hit the pop charts with a Doc Pomus-Mort Shuman tune, White Bucks and Saddle Shoes.  By the mid Sixties he’d changed his name and signed with a variety of labels, finally landing at A&M where, in 1972, he had a hit with a cover of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”  After that it was on to EMI where he released his third, self titled album, and the hit for which he’d be best remembered:  “Sad Eyes.”

On the basis of John’s falsetto, gushing melodies and a heartfelt lyric about a discreet infidelity, Sad Eyes went to #1 on the Hot 100, but it took a while to get there:  20 weeks exactly, after starting out at #85.  This tied the record set by Nick Gilder’s “Hot Child in the City” for a single taking the longest time to hit the top spot.  It’s not the only record in John’s book:  he also held the distinction of having the longest stretch between first entering the charts, in 1958, and having a number one single, 21 years later, a feat topped only by Tina Turner.

John released one more album, 1980’s Back on the Street, and five more singles, but none had the impact of Sad Eyes.  At this point, New Wave was coming into vogue, and John’s laid back crooner image, once de rigueur for guests on Solid Gold, became a thing of the past.  50s remakes had no place in a world becoming enthralled with hits like “Cars,” and “Video Killed the Radio Star.”  But Bobby Pedrick had his moments in the sun – three in fact, and that’s a lot more than A Flock of Seagulls ever had.

To hear all episodes in this series, visit soundcloud.com/eric-9-3/sets/the-minute-of-spin/ or visit the Yarn AudioWorks website at http://21jumpscare.com/

Robert John, "Sad Eyes"

Welcome to The Minute of Spin, a bite-sized music segment in which we explore a single song that came to define an entire band. Unfortunately, we can't afford the rights to the songs we spotlight, so you won't actually hear the song. But you're welcome to listen to it here: https://youtu.be/gKfMlQ7KWFE

Sometimes, a band is so original it takes the world years to catch up.  And when said band signs with a major label, it doesn’t necessarily mean success.  Often, a band in its earliest form is a band at its most pure, most effective.  You could make this case and then some for Camper Van Beethoven, a band so out there, so fascinating, they were alternative before there even was an alternative.

CVB started out in Redlands, California, in 1983, the product of several merged garage bands, and eventually migrated to Santa Cruz, where they put out their first album, Telephone Free Landslide Victory.  A five-piece at this point, including bassist/vocalist David Lowery, guitarist Chris Molla, bassist Victor Krummenacher, drummer Anthony Guest, and violinist Jonathan Segel, CVB’s first outing was a loose collection of songs that celebrated as much as it sent up California life.  Ska and Eastern European-style melodies interspersed with songs so pointless you couldn’t help but laugh, like “Where the Hell is Bill,” “The Day that Lassie Went to the Moon,” and the song that became their trademark, “Take the Skinheads Bowling.”

So:  why take the skinheads bowling?  The song never answers that, but it does provide some howlingly bizarre lyrics, like “There’s not a line that goes here that rhymes with anything,” and “I had a dream – it was about nothing.”  It’s the not caring that makes it work, the not knowing why the skinheads have to go bowling – or even if they’d want to go bowling.  The music’s so propulsive, so upbeat, there’s no time to ponder such questions.  Just take them, dammit.  

Camper Van Beethoven released two more critically acclaimed records on their Pitch-a-Tent label before moving to Virgin for two more, then disbanded.  Lowery formed the band Cracker and had major hits with the songs “Low” and “Euro-trash Girl” before reuniting CVB in 1999.  Undaunted by time, and still very much in pioneer mode, the band covered the entire album of Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk and released a record of all-new material in 2004.  Meanwhile, Take the Skinheads Bowling was covered by Teenage Fanclub, and figured prominently in the 2002 film Bowling for Columbine.

To hear all episodes in this series, visit soundcloud.com/eric-9-3/sets/the-minute-of-spin/ or visit the Yarn AudioWorks website at http://21jumpscare.com/

Camper Van Beethoven, "Take the Skinheads Bowling"

Welcome to The Minute of Spin, a bite-sized music segment in which we explore a single song that came to define an entire band. Unfortunately, we can't afford the rights to the songs we spotlight, so you won't actually hear the song. But you're welcome to listen to it here: https://youtu.be/daa9pZDxfIY

In June of 1993, I found myself wandering one day through the park in DC’s Farragut Square.  The local alternative station, WHFS, had been holding a series of lunchtime concerts there, and the band that day was a three-piece from California called dada.  Their album Puzzle had been released the previous year, and a couple of singles were in heavy rotation on ‘HFS.  In concert, the band was on fire, with Joie Calio and Michael Gurley’s vocals beautifully complementing one another.   I ran out and bought Puzzle on cassette, and it remained in on my Walkman until the tape practically disintegrated.

Dada’s still around, touring and recording with its original lineup, but I’m willing to bet they’ll best be remembered for the first single off Puzzle, “Dizz Knee Land.”  A song melding images of violence, hatred and crime with the line “I’m going to Disneyland,” dada took the tune all the way to #5 on the Modern Rock Chart.  When asked about the song’s origins, Calio said it came to him in a dream in which he’d seen the name Disneyland on a bus, and heard the melody before waking.  To avoid copyright infringement, dada spelled Disney D-i-z-z K-n-e-e. 

Unfortunately, the band never matched the success of Puzzle, due perhaps to their lack of luck with record labels than anything else.  Dada released two more albums on the IRS label, American Highway Flower in ‘94 and El Subliminoso in ‘96.  Then IRS folded and the band moved to MCA, before MCA’s parent company was bought out.  Dada took a six year hiatus, with Calio, Gurley and drummer Phil Leavitt moving on to other projects before reuniting in 2003 with a live album.  

Given I was 25 in 1993, alternative rock was right up my alley, and in DC, no station captured the youth vibe better than WHFS.  Watching videos of dada, you see a band perfectly in synch with its time:  Calio in his untucked plaid shirt, Gurley with his blonde hair tucked under backwards baseball cap – it’s straight out of the Nirvana school of alternative dress.  But that was the 90s for you, when power pop ruled the airwaves, and songs like “Dizz Knee Land” were aimed directly at the heart of Generation X.

To hear all episodes in this series, visit soundcloud.com/eric-9-3/sets/the-minute-of-spin/ or visit the Yarn AudioWorks website at http://21jumpscare.com/

Dada, "Dizz Knee Land"

Martyrs (2008)

Bonus Episode:  Men (2022)

With special guest Tom Foley

Intro, Math Class, and Debate Society (spoiler-free) 0:00-18:05
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy) 18:06-55:11
Superlatives (so. many. spoilers.) 55:12-1:13:11

Director Robin Hardy
Screenplay Anthony Shaffer
Featuring Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland, Christopher Lee, Ingrid Pitt, Edward Woodward

Opened (US):  August 7, 1974 
Budget:  $810,000
Box office:  $61,000 (US/Canada); $180,000 (worldwide)

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS
Summoned to a remote island off the coast of Scotland by a report claiming a young girl, Rowan Morrison, has gone missing, West Highland Constabulary Sergeant Neil Howie finds himself far from any reality he’s ever known, due to the strange customs and people of the island, called Summerisle. A god-fearing, Christian man in every way, Howie is put off, then shocked by the the island’s free-thinking, sexually explicit ways. He refuses the advances of Willow, a landlord’s daughter, and threatens to arrest Miss Rose, a schoolteacher, for discussing phallic symbols. Summerisle, Howie comes to understand, believes only in gods of fertility, and pagan ways, as overseen by Lord Summerisle, a tall, imposing chap with a fantastic house and even snappier wardrobe. When no one can seem to recall having met or seen Rowan, Howie’s investigation leads down a series of increasingly strange dead ends. And as May Day approaches, he becomes increasingly convinced that he has become the subject of a bizarre, dangerous game.

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO
Tom Foley is an award-winning filmmaker. He has helmed national TV commercials for iconic brands like Nike, Harley Davidson, and Burger King, and recently created branded content films for Tito’s Vodka and the Alzheimer’s Association. Tom’s work keys on human emotion — from narrative comedy to heartfelt documentary storytelling. Always presenting a strong visual point of view, Tom emphasizes the unique humanity of his subjects. Tom is currently represented by Element Productions (Boston/LA) and is a member of the Directors Guild of America. Learn more about Tom at www.tomfoley.tv.

EPISODE NOTE
Music from “The Wicker Man” by Paul Giovanni and Magnet

Scare U

The Wicker Man (1973)

With special guest Adrienne Celt

Intro, Math Club, and Debate Society (spoiler-free) 0:00-27:42
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy) 27:43-54:41
Superlatives (so. many. spoilers.)  54:42-1:10:23

Director Ti West
Screenplay Ti West
Featuring AJ Bowen, Jocelin Donahue, Greta Gerwig, Tom Noonan, Dee Wallace, Mary Woronov

Opened Oct 30, 2009
Budget $900,000
Box office $101,000 gross US/Canada

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS

Seeking some extra cash to pay for her new off-campus apartment, college sophomore Samantha answers an ad for a babysitting job. Her friend Megan suspects something weird is going on and insists on joining Samantha for the evening. On the night of a total lunar eclipse, the two drive to a grand Victorian on the outskirts of town and meet the Ulmans, an older couple going out for the evening – but there’s a catch. There’s no child. Samantha is asked to hang out in the house in case anything should happen to Mrs. Ullman’s mother upstairs. Initially reluctant to take the job, Samantha is able to wring 400 bucks out of the Ulmans, and settles in for an evening alone in a dark, dark house, on a dark, dark night.

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Adrienne Celt is the author of the novels “End of the World House” (Simon & Schuster 2022); “Invitation to a Bonfire” (Bloomsbury 2018), which was an Indie Next Pick, an Amazon Best Book of the Month, and is currently being adapted into a TV show for AMC; and “The Daughters” (Norton/Liveright) which won the 2015 PEN Southwest Book Award for Fiction and was named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, as well as a collection of comics: “Apocalypse How? An Existential Bestiary” (DIAGRAM/New Michigan Press 2016). Her writing has been recognized by an O. Henry Prize, the Glenna Luschei Award, and residencies at Jentel, Ragdale, and the Willapa Bay AiR. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Esquire, Zyzzyva, Strange Horizons, Ecotone, The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, and Electric Lit, among other places, and her comics and essays can be found in Catapult, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Rumpus, the Tin House Open Bar, The Millions, and elsewhere. She publishes a webcomic (most) every Wednesday at loveamongthelampreys.com.

EPISODE NOTE

Music from “The House of the Devil” by Jeff Grace.

The House of the Devil (2009)

With special guest Michael Musto.

Intro, Math Club, and Debate Society (spoiler-free) 0:00-27:34
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy) 27:35-56:19
Superlatives (so. many. spoilers.) 56:20-1:13:19

Director Mervyn LeRoy
Screenplay John Lee Mahin, based on the play by Maxwell Anderson, based on the novel by William March
Featuring Gage Clarke, Paul Fix, Eileen Heckart, William Hopper, Henry Jones, Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Evelyn Varden, Jesse White

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS

8 year-old Rhoda Penmark is angry.  Not because her father, a colonel, is heading off to Washington for 4 weeks.  Not because her apartment building’s janitor, LeRoy Jessup, is hovering a little too close for comfort. No, Rhoda’s pissed because her classmate Claude Daigle has won the school’s penmanship medal, and in Rhoda’s mind, that just isn’t fair.  Meanwhile, Rhoda’s doting mother, Christine, has begun to wonder whether Rhoda might be a little too interested in the medal, and when word comes that Claude has met a suspicious end at the school picnic, Christine’s curiosity turns to worry.  Is Rhoda really as sweet and innocent as she looks?  Is LeRoy really just a mixed up fool who monologues on occasion?  Or is something more nefarious afoot – something to do with heredity, with nature vs nurture, and a certain coincidence that takes place whenever Rhoda is in the vicinity of those she considers obstacles to her desires?

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Michael Musto is best known as the long running "La Dolce Musto" columnist for the Village Voice, for which he is still a contributor. Musto's articles about show biz and clubbing have also appeared everywhere from the New York Times to Vanity Fair, and he currently writes a gossip column for Queerty.com, in addition to contributing to the Daily Beast. Musto has written four books—including the non fiction guide "Downtown" and the novel Manhattan on the Rocks—and he has long been a TV commentator on pop culture, popping up on CNN, as well as in documentaries on Showtime, Netflix, FX, Vice and Amazon Prime. He has won the Glam Award for Best Nightlife writer eight times.

EPISODE NOTES

Music from “The Bad Seed” by Alex North.

The Bad Seed (1956)

With special guest Hale Appleman

Intro, Math Club, and Debate Society (spoiler-free) 00:00-26:51
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy) 26:52-53:53
Superlatives (so. many. spoilers.) 53:54-1:14:48 

Director Sam Raimi
Screenplay Sam Raimi & Ivan Raimi
Featuring Adriana Barraza, Molly Cheek, Kevin Foster, Alison Lohman, Justin Long, David Paymer, Dileep Rao, Lorna Raver, Chelcie Ross

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS

When Christine Brown, a young bank loan officer, must decide whether to grant a third extension on the loan of one Sylvia Ganush, who’s already defaulted on two – she’s in a real quandary.  She really wants that Assistant Manager position, and Stu Rubin seems to have the inside track with her boss, Mr. Jacks.  But Christine’s determined, and so, with all the heartlessness she can muster, she denies Mrs. Ganush the extension.  It’s a decision that will come to haunt her – for Mrs. Ganush curses Christine with the Lamia, an ancient goat spirit that makes Christine’s life a living hell.  The only solution:  the sacrifice of an animal, and giving away the cursed object. Will a kindly medium, Rham Jas, be able to help Christine?  Will the woman who met the Lamia years before, Shaun Sen Dena, be able to lend her expertise?  Will Christine’s psychology professor boyfriend Clay ever figure out what’s going on?  What will stop the spirit’s relentless assault, and put a button on Christine’s nightmare?

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Hale Appleman has been seen onstage at major American theaters including the Roundabout Theater Company, American Repertory Theater, The Old Globe, and the Berkshire Theater Festival.  He can be heard on the L.A. Theatre Works recording of Sam Shepard's Buried Child and starred as Jesus in the New York premiere of Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play. Hale may be best known for playing Eliot in TV’s “The Magicians”; other film and TV credits include Beautiful Ohio, Pedro, Private Romeo, and the Sundance horror comedy Teeth, and he’s recurred on TV in "Smash" (NBC), the currently streaming “Truth Be Told” (Apple TV), and FX’s “American Horror Story: NYC” as a David Wojnarowicz analog in the 1980s East Village art scene.

EPISODE NOTES

Music from “Drag Me to Hell” by Christopher Young.

Drag Me to Hell (2009)

With special guest Gretchen McNeil

Intro, Math Club, and Debate Society (spoiler-free) 00:00-24:33
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy) 24:34-1:08:31
Superlatives (so. many. spoilers.) 1:08:32-1:29:11

Director Frank Darabont
Screenplay Frank Darabont, based on the novella by Stephen King
Featuring Andre Braugher, Alexa Davalos, Jeffrey DeMunn, Marcia Gay Harden, Nathan Gamble, Laurie Holden, Toby Jones, Thomas Jane, Chris Owen, William Sadler, Frances Sternhagen, Sam Witwer

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS

After surviving a torrential Nor’easter that rips parts of his home and adjoining properties to shreds, Bridgton, Maine resident and graphic artist David Drayton, his son Billy and wife Steff notice a strange fog rolling in on the lake behind their house. After confirming that his boathouse was crushed by neighbor Brent Norton’s old tree, a source of old resentments, David gathers Billy and Brent into his jeep and heads into town for supplies.  Upon arrival at the  local supermarket, The Food House, into which half the town seems to have crammed, it becomes apparent that the mist is no longer on the lake:  in fact, it’s now is at the doorstep of the supermarket.  Inside the store, we meet a gaggle of characters:  Ollie Weeks and Bud Brown, the store’s co-managers; Mrs. Carmody, a god-fearing woman who’s convinced that Man has brought shame and disgrace upon the world; feisty old Mrs. Reppler, who’s not a fan of Mrs. Carmody; locals Jim, Myron, Hattie, and Ambrose; and Dan Miller, whose frantic first appearance in the store heralds the danger to come.  For there are terrors lurking in The Mist, the stuff of Hieronymous Bosch nightmares, monstrous beings that make even the act of venturing outside dangerous and deadly, and perhaps portend the coming of the apocalypse.

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Gretchen McNeil is the author of several young adult novels for Disney*Hyperion and Balzer + Bray including Possess, 3:59, Relic, I’m Not Your Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Get Even, Get Dirty, and Ten, as well as the horror/comedy novels #murdertrending—the #1 YALSA Teens’ Top Ten pick for 2019— #murderfunding, and #noescape. Her most recent novel for Disney*Hyperion is Dig Two Graves, pitched as a YA Strangers on a Train, to be followed by Three Drops of Blood in 2023 and Four-Letter Word in 2024. Gretchen’s books have been published in more than a dozen languages all over the world. Ten: Murder Island, the film adaptation of Ten starring China Anne McClain, premiered on Lifetime in 2017, and Get Even and Get Dirty have been adapted as the series “Get Even” and “Rebel Cheer Squad: a Get Even series” for the BBC and Netflix. Her latest book, Three Drops of Blood, will be published in March 2023. Gretchen is repped by Ginger Clark of Ginger Clark Literary.

EPISODE NOTES

Music from “The Mist” by Mark Isham.

The Mist (2007)

With special guest Suzanne Keilly

Intro, Math Club, and Debate Society (spoiler-free) 00:00-31:42
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy) 31:43-1:07:36
Superlatives (so. many. spoilers.) 1:07:37-1:26:59

Director John Carpenter
Screenplay Bill Lancaster, based on the novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr.
Featuring Wilfrid Brimley, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David, Richard Dysart, Charles Hallahan, Jed, Peter Maloney, Richard Masur, Donald Moffat, Joel Polis, Kurt Russell, Thomas Waites

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS

An American research crew at a base in Antarctica finds they are not alone in the desolate, freezing landscape when a nearby Norwegian team accidentally awakens an alien presence that’s been frozen in the ice for a hundred thousand years. As the American crew determines just what the alien’s M.O. is, they are overcome by a creeping distrust, and the paranoid group slowly unravels as an unseen, deadly force runs rampant on the base. 

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Suzanne Keilly is a screenwriter in Los Angeles, known for adapting and reimagining 80s cult genre fare including Slumber Party Massacre, Leprechaun Returns, and “Ash Vs Evil Dead.”  Despite her penchant for horror, Suzanne got her start writing and performing sketch comedy and improv at stages across North America including UCB, the Groundlings, Second City, and Just for Laughs.  She was most recently a writer on Netflix’s cancelled, yet beloved series “Warrior Nun,” and is currently writing a horror whodunnit for Viacom.

EPISODE NOTES

Music from “The Thing” by Ennio Morricone.

The Thing (1982)

With special guest Doug French

Intro, Math Club, and Debate Society (spoiler-free) 00:00-27:00
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy) 27:01-58:09
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier) 58:10-1:18:21

Director Sam Raimi
Screenplay Sam Raimi & Scott Spiegel
Featuring Sarah Berry, Denise Bixler, Bruce Campbell, Richard Domeier, Dan Hicks, Theodore Raimi, Kassie Wesley

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS 

A couple, Ash and Linda, are driving to what they believe will be a romantic getaway at a cabin in the woods that Ash claims is deserted.  The cabin, we discover, once belonged to an archaeologist, Dr. Raymond Knowby, and his wife Henrietta, who, while on an archaeological… mission of some kind, discovered a book, the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, the Book of the Dead.  Upon arrival, Ash finds a reel to reel recording of Dr. Knowby discussing his mission and reciting lines from the Necronomicon.  Harmless stuff, you’d think.  Harmless, that is, until Linda and Ash’s world starts coming alive, with evil spirits pouring out of every crack, crevice, and ditch.  When Dr. Knowby’s daughter Annie arrives, along with her lover, a pair of locals, and new pages from the Necronomicon, all are in for a rude awakening.  Evil spirits gonna evil.  Fortunately, Ash is there, and proves mighty handy with a chainsaw and sawed-off shotgun.

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Doug French is a writer, podcaster, speaker, and conference organizer who is preparing for artificial intelligence to put him completely out of work. And now that his last child has graduated high school, he feels like Chuck Noland at the end of CAST AWAY.  His latest project is "When the Flames Go Up," a podcast community he started with his ex-wife about the unique challenges of late-stage parenting. Whatever we thought we were preparing for, this isn’t it.  His favorite movie used to be “Brazil,” until it came true. Now it's “Adaptation.”

EPISODE NOTES

Music from “Evil Dead 2” by Joseph LoDuca.

Evil Dead 2 (1987)

With special guest Jack Sholder
 
Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-26:29
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy):  26:30-1:02:16
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:02:17-1:21:08
 
Director Richard Hiltzik
Screenplay Richard Hiltzik
Featuring Christopher Collet, Paul DeAngelo, Desiree Gould, Karen Fields, Owen Hughes, Robert Earl Jones, Katherine Kamhi, Mike Kellin, Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten
 
SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS 
 
Ricky and his shy, reserved cousin Angela are spending the summer at Camp Arawak, a bargain basement overnight camp in upstate New York run by Mel, cigar-chomping shyster, and staffed by a bunch of adult and teenage degenerates.  Angela is initially withdrawn, occasionally catatonic – but is soon brought out of her shell by Ricky’s friend Paul, who takes a liking to Angela in the hopes he might be able to make it with her before summer’s end.  But there are forces are at work – forces determined to put the strangely distant Angela in her place.  Bunkmate and camp harlot Judy sees Angela as a weirdo, then a threat when she attracts Paul’s attention.  Counselor Meg, who can’t get Angela to eat, play sports, or swim, constantly berates Angela for her failure to thrive.  That’s when the murders begin, one at a time, first a staffer, then a camper, and on and on.  Mel tries to hide it due to the bad publicity, but as any good camp director knows, murder’s bad for business, and the more we learn about Angela’s murky past, the more things at Camp Arawak take a turn… for the deadly.
 
SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO
 
Jack Sholder began his career as a film editor, working on the feature documentary King: From Montgomery to Memphis which was nominated for an Academy Award. He won an Emmy for his editing work on 3-2-1 Contact. After writing and directing several award-winning short films, Jack wrote Where Are The Children starring Jill Clayburgh for Ray Stark and Columbia. In 1982, Jack directed Alone In The Dark for New Line Cinema with Martin Landau, Jack Palance, and Donald Pleasence. He then directed A Nightmare On Elm Street II: Freddy’s Revenge. His next feature, The Hidden, won many awards including the Grand Prix at the Avoriaz Film Festival, Jury Award at the Sitges Film Festival, and Best Director at Fantasporto. Premiere Magazine called it “one of the ten most underrated films of the 80s.” This was followed by Renegades with Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips and By Dawn’s Early Light for HBO with Martin Landau, James Earl Jones, Rip Torn, Rebecca de Mornay, and Powers Boothe. Jack has directed movies and television for MGM, Paramount, Universal, Warners, Fox, United Artists, Lionsgate, HBO, Showtime, NBC, Discovery, and others. He is the recipient of lifetime achievement awards from FantaFest and the Grossman Festival. In 2004, he founded the Film & Television Production program at Western Carolina University where he was Professor and Director of the FTP program until 2017.  Jack has received Life Achievement Awards from Fantafestival (Rome), Grossmann Film Festival (Slovenia), and Fantastic Fest (Austin).
 
EPISODE NOTE

Music from Sleepaway Camp by Edward Bilous.

Sleepaway Camp (1983)

With special guests Hannah Cabell & Ryan King

Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-28:47
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 28:48-1:00:57
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:00:58-1:23:12 

Director Scott Derrickson
Screenplay C. Robert Cargill & Scott Derrickson
Featuring Michael Hall D’Addario, Vincent D’Onofrio, Clare Foley, Ethan Hawke, James Ransone, Juliet Rylance, Fred Dalton Thompson

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS  

It’s been a while since true crime writer Ellison Oswalt had a bestseller, and the strain is starting to show on Ellison, his wife Tracy, and their kids Trevor and Ashley.  Local law enforcement isn’t keen on him, either, as his last few books didn’t cast them in too fond a light. So Ellison and his family take up residence in a modest Pennsylvania ranch house with something of a history – something we learn when we watch as a family is lynched in the house’s back yard.  Unfortunately, this may be his last chance at the big time, so Ellison neglects to inform Tracy of this, and when things start going bump in the night, and the home movies left behind reveal ominous clues about a killer’s identity, Ellison finds himself turning from the hunter to the hunted.  A helpful deputy steps in to assist, as well as a professor of the occult, but by the time they reveal their own information, the situation has devolved from strange… to sinister.

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIOS

Hannah Cabell is a New York-based actor, director, and writer. She wrote, directed, and starred in the short film Lost Nation, which won Best NH Short at the 2023 New Hampshire Film Festival. As well as the feature version of Lost Nation, she has written The Hills and the Sky, about an archivist’s obsession with Betty and Barney Hill’s 1961 alien abduction, and the comedy television pilot Brother Husbandry. Hannah’s acting credits include “The Black List,” “The Good Fight,” “Madam Secretary,” “Mr. Robot,” and “The Leftovers,” and she currently plays Judge Renee Gittens on “Law & Order.” She also appears in the upcoming pilot Driven, written and directed by David Shane. Film work includes The Surrogate, Luce, and Thine Ears Shall Bleed (upcoming). She has been nominated for Lortel and Drama Desk awards for her stage performances. MFA, NYU.

Ryan King is a screenwriter, playwright, and actor who grew up in Central Texas and now lives in New York with his wife and daughter. He wrote the screenplay for Black Flies, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year, starring Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan, after being selected for the 2018 Black List of Hollywood’s favorite unproduced screenplays. His original thriller screenplay, The Tutor, starring Garrett Hedlund and Noah Schnapp, was also recently released and peaked at #3 on Netflix’s Top Ten. He’s currently developing several projects for tv and film, some horror and some not. As a playwright, he’s been a member of the Ars Nova Playgroup, the Primary Stages Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, the Working Farm @ SPACE on Ryder Farm, and the Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writers Group. His plays have been developed by Cape Cod Theatre Project (twice), Williamstown Theatre Festival, Naked Angels, Rattlestick Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, Colt Coeur, Primary Stages, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Ars Nova, Theater of NOTE, Tofte Lake Emerging Artists Program, and Ground Up Productions, and his short play Antares Returning was produced as part of Fit Club’s 2017 Spring Fling festival and nominated for Best Short Play by the NY Innovative Theatre Awards. As an actor, he has appeared regionally and Off-Broadway at theaters including the Atlantic Theater Company, Second Stage, Clubbed Thumb, PS 122, HERE Arts Center, Barrington Stage, Hartford Stage, Studio Theater, and the Huntington Theater. Education: Yale School of Drama and the University of Texas at Austin.

EPISODE NOTE

Music from Sinister by Christopher Young

Sinister (2012)

With special guest Liz DeGregorio

Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-27:46
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy):  27:47-1:06:09
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:06:10-1:26:50
 
Director Georges Franju
Dialogue by Pierre Gascar, adaptation by Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, Jean Redon, and Claude Sautet, based on the novel by Jean Redon 
Featuring Béatrice Altariba, Pierre Brasseur, François Guérin, Juliette Mayniel, Alexandre Rignault, Edith Scob, Alida Valli
 
SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS 
 
Somewhere on the outskirts of Paris.  A woman, Louise, is driving alone at night.  There’s a body in the back seat of her car.  The body’s face is obscured, and it’s slumped over, lifeless -- indeed, the body is a corpse, and Louise is soon dragging it into the Seine.  Meanwhile, after giving a speech about the perils and pleasures of skin grafts, a doctor, Genessier, is called to the morgue to identify a body.  It is that of his missing daughter?  So he claims.  On his way out, Gennessier is accosted by a man, Tessot, who asks if the body is that of his missing daughter, Simone.  Gennessier tells him no, it’s his daughter, and that’s that.  But back at the doctor’s home/clinic is indeed his daughter, Christiane, alive and well, but hiding behind a white mask that obscures a badly scarred face, the result of a recent car accident.  The police, meanwhile, are suspicious – who is the body in the river, and why is IT missing its face?  And why does it appear someone surgically removed said face with a scalpel?  Louise, meanwhile, has located and lured a new facial donor/candidate /victim back to the clinic, a victim who’s soon undergoing a gruesome surgery that may or may not spell freedom, as it were, for poor faceless Christiane Genessier.
 
SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Liz DeGregorio is a poet, writer, and editor. Her work has appeared in Electric Literature, Lucky Jefferson, Anomaly, Catapult, Dread Central, BUST, Ghouls Magazine, OyeDrum Magazine, and many other publications. She’s also performed at Providence’s Dorry Award-winning storytelling series Stranger Stories.

EPISODE NOTE

Music from Eyes Without a Face by Maurice Jarre.

Eyes Without a Face (1960)

With special guest Bobby Frederick Tilley

Intro, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-26:30
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 26:31-1:01:38
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:01:39-1:24:28
 
Director Richard Raaphorst
Screenplay Chris Mitchell & Miguel Tejada-Flores, story by Richard Raaphorst & Miguel Tejada-Flores, original idea by Richard Raaphorst
Featuring Cristina Catalina, Robert Gwilym, Alexander Mercury, Luke Newberry, Karel Roden, Joshua Sasse, Mark Stevenson, Hon Ping Tang, Andrei Zayats
 
SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS 
 
World War II.  Somewhere in Germany.  Accompanied by a cameraman shooting propaganda for Mother Russia, a ragtag platoon fighting the Nazis receives a distress signal from fellow soldiers and heads off to investigate.  They approach a church where no Russians can be found, but the church is inhabited by creatures who appear to be constructed from weapons, parts of machines and vehicles, but still have blood flowing through their veins.  The creatures seem like part of the Nazi war machine, but then, one can’t be sure in the fog of war.  Soon, cut off from the outside world, the platoon is surrounded, their C.O. down.  It’s up to the rest to get inside the factory of a mad scientist, and soon discovers just where the creatures are from, who created them, and why they exist.
 
SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Bobby Frederick Tilley is a costume designer for theater, film, and TV.  His theater credits include Be More Chill on Broadway, for which he received one of his two Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Costume Design.  His work has also been seen at the Atlantic Theatre Company, the Geffen Playhouse, the Signature Theatre, the Roundabout, Second Stage, LAByrinth Theater Company, Rattlestick Theater, and Ars Nova, among other venues.

Frankenstein's Army (2013)

With special guests Bruce Graver & Dorian Greenbaum

Intro, Debate Society, To Sir With Love (spoiler-free): 00:00-27:40
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 27:41-56:04
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 56:05-1:16:04
 
Director James Whale
Screenplay William Hurlbut, adapted from the novel by Mary Shelley by John Balderston & Hurlbut
Featuring Colin Clive, E.E. Clive, Dwight Frye, Gavin Gordon, O.P. Heggie, Valerie Hobson, Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Una O’Connor, Ernest Thesiger, Douglas Walton
 
SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS 
 
1816.  A dark and stormy night.  On Lake Geneva, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and Mary Shelley have gathered for a night of storytelling.  As Mary spins her tale, a continuation of her earlier story Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus, we shift to the Bavarian Alps, as a windmill burn, Henry Frankenstein is thrown from the roof, and a monster languishes in the watery cellar.  But what’s this?  The monster is rising from his grave and roaming the countryside, in search of food, shelter, and perhaps, a friend.  Meanwhile, Henry has made a speedy recovery, thanks in part to the love of a good woman, and is visited by Dr. Pretorius, a scientist who shares Frankenstein’s interest in regenerating necrotic flesh.  When Pretorius is unable to convince Frankenstein to resume his work, Pretorius hatches a plan to blackmail him – and tame the savage beast within a poor, lonely, and confused monster’s heart.
 
SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIOS

Bruce Graver has taught British Romantic literature and art at Providence College since 1985.  He has prepared scholarly editions of the works of the Wordsworth family, has a special interest in 19th-century 3d photography (The Stereoscopic Picturesque is about to be published), and is a classically trained pianist and tenor who has performed with various New England choirs and chamber ensembles. In good weather, Bruce can be found hiking along the Appalachian Trail, or across the mountains of the English Lake District, where the Wordsworths and Beatrix Potter once lived.  

Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum is an ancient historian who teaches postgraduates at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, and writes on the history of astrology, divination, and ancient medicine. She has been an amateur genealogist for the past 23 years. Peggy Webling is Dorian’s great-grandaunt, and she grew up hearing family tales about her writing of the play Frankenstein. In 1991, she and her mother discovered a large cache of letters that Peggy and her sisters wrote to Dorian’s great-grandmother over almost 30 years, and Dorian now owns an unpublished archive of Peggy’s letters, papers, manuscripts, and photographs. 

EPISODE NOTES

To find out more about Bruce and Dorian’s book, Peggy Webling and the Story behind Frankenstein, visit https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/peggy-webling-and-the-story-behind-frankenstein-9781350371651.

Music from Bride of Frankenstein by Franz Waxman.

21 JUMP SCARE

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

With special guest Dawn Luebbe

Intro, Debate Society, To Sir With Love (spoiler-free): 00:00-27:40
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 27:41-58:48
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 58:49-1:15:41
 
Director Nobuhiko Ôbayashi
Screenplay Chiho Katsura, based on a story by Chigumi Ôbayashi
Featuring Kimiko Ikegami, Miki Jinbo, Asei Kobayashi, Ai Matsubara, Yôko Minamida, Masayo Miyako, Kumiko Ôba, Kiyohiko Ozaki, Saho Sasazawa, Mieko Satô, Eriko Tanaka
 
SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS 
 
With summer vacation looming, local teen Gorgeous is looking forward to spending time out of town with her dad, a famous movie score composer.  Her crew, which includes best friend Fantasy, has their own excursion planned to a training camp and inn owned by their friend, Mr. Togo.  But when Gorgeous’ dad returns from Italy with a new bride, surprising Gorgeous, and not in a good way, she resolves to spend vacation with her aunt, a woman she hasn’t seen for more than ten years.  And when her friends’ trip with Mr. Togo falls through, Gorgeous invites her friends to come with her.  There’s Fantasy, the daydreamer; Sweet, who’s kind and gentle; Mac, who eats all the time; Prof, who wears glasses and reads; Melody, who loves music; and Kung Fu, who’s good at kung fu.  All soon find themselves in the presence of Gorgeous’ Auntie, a wheelchair-bound senior whose house seems nice, quaint… strange.  Little do the girls know, Auntie, her cat Blanche, and the house itself, have other plans in store.

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Dawn Luebbe is known for her debut feature, Greener Grass, which she wrote and directed with Jocelyn DeBoer. Variety deemed the film, “The most pleasant surprise of this year’s Sundance” following its 2019 world premiere. Their screenplay was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. It was theatrically distributed by IFC and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime and AMC. Dawn and Jocelyn have directed two episodes of TruTV’s “Adam Ruins Everything.” They've made four short films which have appeared in over 100 film festivals across the globe. Most recently Dawn directed a documentary short called Dress A Cow which premiered at the SXSW film festival. She has directed dozens of commercials in the US, Mexico, and Europe for brands such as GEICO, Coca-Cola, Wayfair, and Google, as well as environmental campaigns for the organization "Science Moms" and the fossil-free hydrogen company, Vattenfall. 

EPISODE NOTES

Music from House by Asei Kobayashi and Mickie Yoshino.

House (1977)

Intro, Debate Society, To Sir With Love (spoiler-free): 00:00-28:14
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 28:15-54:45
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 54:46-1:14:43

Director Rob Zombie
Screenplay Rob Zombie
Featuring Karen Black, Erin Daniels, Walton Goggins, Sid Haig, Chris Hardwick, Jennifer Jostyn, Bill Moseley, Michael J. Pollard, Rainn Wilson, Sheri Moon Zombie

Released April 11, 2003
Budget $7 million
Box office $12.6 million US / $16.8 million worldwide
 
SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS 
 
Grab your popcorn, kids:  it’s time for Dr. Wolfenstein’s Creature Feature Show… this week, the tale of Jerry, Bill, Denise, and Mary, American kids making their way across the country, working on a book about strange roadside attractions.  When their car runs out of fuel on Halloween eve, they pull in to Captain Spaulding’s Museum for Monsters and Madmen, a joint offering both chicken and gasoline, and where, we’ve learned, a brutal holdup and double homicide has taken place.  Spaulding tells the kids the legend of local crazy Dr. Satan, who used mental patients as bizarre experiments before being hung by enraged citizens.  Eager to see the tree from which said doctor was lynched, the kids gas up and move on — only to encounter Baby, a vivacious blonde by the side of the road who’s looking for a ride home.  Agog, the boys invite her into the car — but right on cue, an unseen marauder takes out one of their tires, and the kids are forced to pull up to Baby’s house, well off the road, and wait for her brother Rufus to replace the tire.  While waiting, they encounter Baby’s family, and the horrors of her home — which leads the kids to a hell that no one, save perhaps for Dr. Wolfenstein, could have predicted.
 
SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Ariel Powers-Schaub is a horror film critic and analyst from the great American midwest. She is a writer and a podcaster who champions 2000s horror. Ariel served as a senior contributor to and Administrative Assistant for Ghouls Magazine, and is a regular contributor to The Pod and the Pendulum. Her first book, Millennial Nasties, will be released September 17th from Encyclopocalypse publications. Recess snack:  Hostess cupcakes.

EPISODE NOTE

Music from House of 1000 Corpses by Rob Zombie and Scott Humphrey.

House of 1000 Corpses (2003)

With special guest Allison Broder

Intro, Debate Society, To Sir With Love (spoiler-free): 00:00-28:58
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 28:59-1:04:02
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:04:03-1:21:19
 
Director James Wan
Screenplay Leigh Whannell
Featuring Joseph Bishara, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Angus Sampson, Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins, Leigh Whannell, Patrick Wilson

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS 
 
Things are looking up for the Lamberts: they just moved into a new home with their kids, Dalton, Foster, and baby Cali.  Father Josh, a teacher, is spending nights at work, while wife Renai, a songwriter, plunks lazily away at the piano. But when things start going bump in the night—doors opening, objects moving, ghostly faces in the dark—Renai’s nerves are frayed.  Josh isn’t sure what’s happening.  That’s when Dalton steals up to the attic, falls from a ladder, and is confronted by… something.  When they check on Dalton the next morning, he's seemingly in a coma, but doctors don’t know what’s wrong.  His signs are normal.  Fast forward: three months later.  Fed up with the nocturnal bumping, Renai insists it’s time to move, again, and Josh agrees. But there’s a problem: whatever was haunting house one is in not inclined to chill.  Urged by Josh’s mother Lorraine, they hire a trio of professionals: medium Elise Rainier and her assistants Specs and Tucker.  And soon enough,  the Lamberts learn what’s haunting them, and what they must do to rid their family of otherworldly demons.

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Allison Broder has been the host of the Who's There? podcast since 2020; on the pod she interviews horror fans and creatives about why they love the genre.  She lives in New York City where she sees a ton of theatre.  She will defend Scream 3 and the 2019 Black Christmas to the death.  Recess snack:  Hostess cupcakes.

EPISODE NOTE

Music from Insidious by Joseph Bishara.

Insidious (2010)

With special guest Louisa Krause
Special appearance by Jocelin Donahue

Intro, Debate Society, To Sir With Love (spoiler-free): 00:00-34:44
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 34:45-1:01:10
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:01:11-1:22:04
 
Director Mike Flanagan
Screenplay Mike Flanagan & Jeff Howard, based on characters created by Stiles White & Juliet Snowden
Featuring Annalise Basso, Doug Jones, Parker Mack, Elizabeth Reaser, Kate Siegel, Henry Thomas, Lulu Wilson

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS 
 
Deep down, don’t we all just want to be heard and understood?  That’s the question facing newly single mom Alice Zander and her kids, teenage Lina and 9 year-old Doris.  It’s 1967, and Alice is posing as a professional medium, misleading others who’ve experienced loss, with her daughters serving as accomplices.  But when a new board game surfaces, promising the open pathways to the great beyond, Alice is all in, if only for the chance to communicate with her late spouse Roger.  That said, there are rules to this game, and if not followed to the letter, complications can result.  Complications that take the form of demons eager to possess the young and weak of mind.  Complications that threaten to destroy the bond Alice has built with her daughters, with little regard for other souls claimed along the way. 

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Louisa Krause appears in the independent features The Dive (in which she stars alongside Sophie Lowe) and Maggie Moore(s) (opposite John Hamm and Tina Fey).  On television, she was one of the leads of the Starz series “The Girlfriend Experience,” and had memorable recurring roles on Showtime’s “Ray Donovan” and “Billions.”  Her extensive list of film credits includes Todd Haynes’s Dark Waters opposite Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway; Billy Crystal’s comedy feature Here Today; the A24 feature Skin opposite Jamie Bell and Danielle Macdonald; Young Adult; Martha Marcy May Marlene; The Phenom; Ava's Possessions; King Kelly (Best Actress, PiFan Film Festival); Jane Wants a Boyfriend (Best Actress, Napa Film Festival); and Bluebird (Best Actress, Karlovy Vary Film Festival).  On stage, Louisa starred in Annie Baker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Flick, directed by Sam Gold.  

Jocelin Donahue is an American actress known for her breakout role in Ti West’s critically-acclaimed The House of the Devil, turning in what IndieWire called “one of the all-time great final girl performances.” In the years since, Donahue has appeared in many popular studio, independent, and genre films. Her lead performances in The Frontier, Offseason, and Summer Camp are roundly praised by critics and audiences alike. Donahue has worked with preeminent directors like James Wan on Insidious: Chapter 2 and Terrence Malick in Knight of Cups, playing opposite Christian Bale and Antonio Banderas. In 2019, Jocelin appeared in Warner Bros’ Doctor Sleep, directed by Mike Flanagan. Her TV credits include a memorable role as a rookie FBI agent and partner to Martin Freeman on the crime series “StartUp” and guest starring roles on episodes of “Lethal Weapon,” “The Rookie: Feds,” “The Affair,” and “CSI,” among others.

EPISODE NOTES

Music from Ouija: Origin of Evil by The Newton Brothers.

Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)

With special guest Gretchen McNeil

Intro, Debate Society, To Sir With Love (spoiler-free): 00:00-26:42
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 26:43-1:04:42
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:04:43-1:21:32

Director Stuart Rosenberg
Screenplay Sandor Stern, based on the book by Jay Anson
Featuring James Brolin, Irene Dailey, Murray Hamilton, K.C. Martel, Margot Kidder, Meeno Peluce, Natasha Ryan, Michael Sacks, Helen Shaver, Rod Steiger, Don Stroud, Amy Wright

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS 
 
George and Kathy Lutz have finally found their dream home.  It’s an investment, a real fixer upper as they say, but the future seems bright. Sure, six people were murdered in the house just a year earlier, but that’s not gonna stop god-fearing folks like George, Kathy, and their kids. That’s when the fun begins:  doors and windows open and close mysteriously, locked shut one moment, wide open the next.  Lightbulbs burn out.  Flies swarm in the sewing room.  Various religious folks come and go, struck with horrible bouts of nausea.  And George himself seems to be changing, growing more agitated by the day.  What is affecting the family and those trying to help them?  Could whatever it was that motivated the original murder be coming back to affect the Lutzes?  As the clock strikes 3:15, something terrible is about to be revealed.

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Gretchen McNeil is the author of several young adult novels including Dig Two Graves, Possess, 3:59, Relic, Get Even, Get Dirty, and Ten, as well as the horror/comedy novels #murdertrending, #murderfunding, and #noescape. Her most recent novel is Four Letter Word, pitched as an homage to Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt. "Ten: Murder Island," the film adaptation of Ten, premiered on Lifetime, and Get Even and Get Dirty have been adapted as the series “Get Even” and “Rebel Cheer Squad: a Get Even series” for the BBC and Netflix.

EPISODE NOTES

Music from The Amityville Horror (1979) by Lalo Schifrin.

The Amityville Horror (1979)

With Gretchen McNeil

Intro, Debate Society, To Sir With Love (spoiler-free): 00:00-23:30
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 23:31-1:06:30
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:06:31-1:22:45

Director Andrew Douglas
Screenplay Scott Kosar, based on the book by Jay Anson
Featuring Jimmy Bennett, Melissa George, Philip Baker Hall, Jesse James, Chloe Grace Moretz, Rachel Nichols, Ryan Reynolds

Due to some technical issues, the quality of some of the audio is below our standards.  Apologies.

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS 
 
George and Kathy Lutz of Deer Park, New York are shopping for a new home. They’ve barely got two nickels to rub together and three hungry mouths to feed, but no matter. They’re hot and skinny and cut and when you’re this attractive you can do just about anything. And so off to Amityville they go, to a grand fixer upper that’s magically fixed in just a few hours. But why’s the house s’damn cold? And why does little Amy keep seeing visions of a dead girl in her room? Why is George always out back chopping wood with his shirt off? Turns out, there’s more to this house than anyone knew—anyone, that is, who’s not named Lutz.  Seems everyoine knows about the murders that took place in the home the year before—they’re just not saying anything. But when you’re this hot, you don’t need to read the news. It comes to you.

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Gretchen McNeil is the author of several young adult novels including Dig Two Graves, Possess, 3:59, Relic, Get Even, Get Dirty, and Ten, as well as the horror/comedy novels #murdertrending, #murderfunding, and #noescape. Her most recent novel is Four Letter Word, pitched as an homage to Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt. "Ten: Murder Island," the film adaptation of Ten, premiered on Lifetime, and Get Even and Get Dirty have been adapted as the series “Get Even” and “Rebel Cheer Squad: a Get Even series” for the BBC and Netflix.

EPISODE NOTES

Music from The Amityville Horror (2005) by Steve Jablonsky.

The Amityville Horror (2005)

With special guest Clark Collis

Intro, Debate Society, To Sir With Love (spoiler-free): 00:00-27:06
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 27:07-56:12
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 56:13-1:09:26
 
Director Edgar Wright
Screenplay Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright
Featuring Kate Ashfield, Nicola Cunningham, Lucy Davis, Nick Frost, Jessica Hynes, Dylan Moran, Bill Nighy, Simon Pegg, Peter Serafinowicz, Rafe Spall, Penelope Wilton

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS 
 
Shaun’s 29, working in an electronics store, living in London’s Crouch End with his slacker best friend Ed, and on the edge of getting dumped by his girlfriend.  It’s all par for the course for Shaun, who until now hasn’t had a great deal to get excited about – that is, aside from his local pub and Ed’s fart jokes.  But that’s about to change.  With the arrival of something related to something related to something from space, a deadly infection is overtaking the citizens of Crouch End.  And while things aren’t that different around town, it soon becomes apparent that action is required.  It’s time to take the fight to the hordes of rampaging yet shambolic undead.  Time to show these z-words just who’s boss, and why one unassuming clerk can be the hero we need, if not the one we want.

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Clark Collis is an entertainment journalist who grew up in the small English town of Wells and studied history at Cambridge University. Clark recently concluded an 18-year stint at Entertainment Weekly, writing cover stories about Jay-Z, Doctor Who, The Crown and 2018’s Jamie Lee Curtis-starring Halloween. He is the author of You’ve Got Red On You: How  Shaun of the Dead Was Brought to Life and is currently working on a second book about the horror genre.  Recess snack: jam toasties.

EPISODE NOTE

Music from Shaun of the Dead by The Specials.

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

With special guest Christian Parker

Intro, Debate Society, To Sir With Love (spoiler-free): 00:00-29:00
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 29:01-1:01:20
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:01:21-1:20:49
 
Director James Wan
Screenplay Chad Hayes & Carey W. Hayes
Featuring Joseph Bishara, John Brotherton, Shanley Caswell, Kyla Deaver, Vera Farmiga, Mackenzie Foy, Joey King, Hayley McFarland, Shannon Kook, Ron Livingston, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS 
 
It’s 1971, in Harrisville, Rhode Island.  A couple and their five children move into a  farmhouse, the promise of a new life in front of them.  But someone, or something, doesn’t want them there.  Things start to go bump, then clap, then crash, then squish.  What’s causing these otherworldly sounds?  Who keeps tugging at the kids’ legs as they sleep?  When certain ghouls begin showing up in the dark, menacing the family, they turn to renowned ghost hunters Ed and Lorraine Warren to look into the home’s history and determine just what is causing these ghastly occurrences.

SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO

Christian Parker is a director, dramaturg, and former Chair of the graduate Theatre Program at Columbia University, where he is currently a professor of Professional Practice, leading the MFA concentration in Dramaturgy.  His work has been on view at the Steppenwolf Theatre, Gulfshore Playhouse, the Rattlestick, the New Harmony Project, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and many others.  Christian has served as the Associate Artistic Director of Atlantic Theater Company, was on the Tony Awards Nominating Committee for three years, and was a resident at the American Academy in Rome in Spring 2024. 

EPISODE NOTES

Music from The Conjuring by Joseph Bishara.

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