Willow and I FINALLY managed to get together to record an episode! Because we’re OBLIGATED TO for this PODCAST we OSTENSIBLY do. It’s Guillermo del Toro’s first and dozenth iteration of “Frankenstein!”

It’s Del Toro Time returns with a deep dive into Steven Spielberg’s haunting 2001 sci-fi fairy tale, A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Originally developed by Stanley Kubrick and completed by Spielberg, this movie mashes up Pinocchio, Frankenstein, and a whole lot of emotional trauma—plus teddy bears and Jude Law as a robot gigolo. What more could you … Continue reading "The Ecstasy of Influence – A. I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)"

What do you get when three of the most powerful men in Hollywood decide to produce an animated film about the life of Moses? You get “The Prince of Egypt!”

It’s anime! It’s a thriller! It’s bizarre! It’s awesome! It’s Satoshi Kon’s “Perfect Blue” on The Ecstasy of Influence on It’s Del Toro Time!

Finally! The movie people have been DEMANDING! Oops, I mean, finally the movie no one has ever seen. Yes, this is the video that will most likely go the most unwatched! It’s Pupi Avati’s “L’Arcano Incantatore” and it’s really good!

Who is the biggest GO-BO-LIN of them all?! The Monster! The Creation! The FRANKENSTEIN! Yes, it’s out BAZILLIONTH version of Frankenstein and we’d like to remind everyone that THE MONSTER IS NOT VERY NICE! It’s “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” y’all on the Ecstasy of Influence!

We’re back with “Tim Burton’s Henry Selick’s Everyone Else’s The Nightmare Before Christmas!” We’ve seen it a billion times! Spooky!

In 1992, Martin Scorsese directed a movie that is either his magnum opus, or a load of HOGWASH. It’s “The Age of Innocence” and we really get into it!

Welcome to the JUDGMENT ZONE! It’s Phil and Willow and we’re back to talk about Albert Brooks’ 1991 classic “Defending Your Life!” What a weird movie to come back on, I swear. Anyways, here it is!

Aaaaaaaand, we’re done! It’s “A Little Something For Us Tempunauts” by Philip K. Dick and “The Dark Descent” is over! PARTY HORN NOISE!

WE’RE SO CLOSE TO THE END! It’s the penultimate “Dark Descent” story and it’s a whopper! “The Hospice” is quintessential Robert Aickman: it’s creepy, offbeat, weird, strange, chilling and inexplicable. We really loved it and now… only one story to go!

What a mystery this story is! Willow isn’t sure if she likes it, or if it even qualifies as horror. I’m enamored of it, but can’t really decide what it’s about! PERFECT! It’s “The Asian Shore” by Thomas M. Disch!

This week, it’s one of the most terrifying and terribly intimate stories we’ve yet covered. The cosmic horror of “The Willows” by Algernon Blackwood!

This week, Willow and I take a look at the creepy effects of UNFETTERED CAPITALISM with Edith Wharton’s “Afterward!”

Whaddaya get when you take a dead guy, an invisible monster and a heaping dose of post-Civil War Traumatic Stress Disorder? “The Damned Thing” by Ambrose Bierce! The missingest author in the history of Weird Fiction!

This week, Willow and Phil take a quick look at a quick story: “The Beautiful Stranger” by Shirley Jackson. We throw out a lot of theories as to the actual nature of this story, but the one thing we can agree on? That stranger is beautiful.

Sometimes, you don’t even need to ask. “What Was It?” by Fitz-James O’Brien!

Boy oh boy are we ever getting tired of sad men dying for their ghosts. It’s “The Beckoning Fair One” by Oliver Onions! A good story, but jeez, guys. See a therapist or something.

We’ve got a big one this week! It’s “The Repairer of Reputations” by Robert W. Chambers and Willow goes OFF. If you’re looking for her sources, here they are! de Oliveira, Hugo Mendes. “An Empire of Delusion: The Process of Alienation as Expressed by Robert W. Chambers’ ‘The Repairer of Reputations.’” Thesis, Proquest Dissertations Publishing, … Continue reading "The Dark Descent – “The Repairer of Reputations” by Robert W. Chambers"

This week, we’re heading off to jolly ol’ Russia for a bit of nineteenth century whimsey titled “Clara Militch” or “Klara Milich” or any number of permutations. It’s by Ivan Turgenev and it’s a real cracker! By which I mean, we were utterly confused by it.