The final episode! We're joined once again by Hale "Satan" Appleman, he of stage, screen, "The Magicians," "American Horror Story," Teeth, and more. Our assignment: Longlegs, Osgood Perkins' insidiously stylish brain-twister featuring off-the-hook performances by Maika Monroe, Alicia Witt, and a barely recognizable Nicolas Cage. Along for the fun, in the next installment of our "Campus Radio" segment, is Mr. Marcus Dunstan, director of the new film #AMFAD All My Friends Are Dead.
Intro, Math Club & Debate Society, Campus Radio, To Sir With Love (spoiler-free): 00:00-29:04
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 29:05-1:06:40
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:06:41-1:21:39
Screenplay/Direction Osgood Perkins
Featuring Nicolas Cage, Michelle Choi-Lee, Maika Monroe, Kiernan Shipka, Blair Underwood, Alicia Witt
Hale Appleman is perhaps best known for playing Eliot in “The Magicians,” currently streaming on Netflix, and Tobey in the Sundance horror comedy Teeth. Genre fans have seen him in the eleventh season of “American Horror Story,” and he’s appeared in the NBC series “Smash,” AppleTV’s “Truth Be Told,” and in the films Beautiful Ohio, Pedro, and Private Romeo. He is also an accomplished stage actor whose credits include the Roundabout Theatre Company, ART, the Berkshire Theater Festival, and The Old Globe. Hale can be heard on the L.A. Theatre Works recording of Sam Shepard's Buried Child.
Marcus Dunstan’s screenwriting with his partner, Patrick Melton, include such horror films as Feast 1-3, Saw IV-V-VI and Saw 3D The Final Chapter, Pirahna, Pacific Rim, God Of War, Final Destination 6, and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. #AMFAD All My Friends Are Dead marks Dunstan’s sixth feature as a director. Dunstan’s previous directing credits include The Collector, The Collection, The Neighbor, Blumhouse’s Pilgrim, and 2022’s Blumhouse Presents: Unhuman. He is a producer of The Candidate, and executive producer of 2022’s horror-thriller Take Back the Night. Fall 2023 saw the release of the Dunstan-directed, Clio Award-winning Jack In The Box horror short film Feeding Time. Currently, Dunstan and Melton are collaborating on Saw XI for Director Kevin Greutert and Lionsgate, an animated take on Gris Grimley’s Frankenstein, as well as the horror film Escape: Halloween with Live Nation and Insomniac. This fall, Dunstan returns behind the camera for production of the horror-thriller film Death Valley, co-written by Melton and Dunstan.
Our theme music is by Edward Elgar and Sir Cubworth. Music from Longlegs by Elvis Perkins.
Crawling out of the swamp, Eric and Bradford are joined by Broadway actor-musician Matt Saldivar for a rollicking discussion of Neil Jordan's grand guignol ode to undying love. With a cast headed by Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt as comedy duo Lestat and Louis, interesting turns from Kirsten Dunst, Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater, and Stephen Rea, Anne Rice adapting her novel, and great effects work by Stan Winston, there's enough baroque to ba-reak the bank... but is it, as one character says, "of the Mississippi"? An uneven tone, plot threads that go nowhere, and SO MUCH FIRE threaten to sink the #1 horror movie of 1994, but not even THIS podcast can keep a bloodthirsty creature of the night down. Let's get started.
Intro, Math Club & Debate Society, To Sir With Love (spoiler-free): 00:00-27:55
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 27:56-1:02:57
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:02:58-1:24:31
Director Neil Jordan
Screenplay Anne Rice, based on her novel
Featuring Antonio Banderas, Tom Cruise, Kristen Dunst, Laure Marsac, Helen McCrory, Brad Pitt, Stephen Rea, Christian Slater, Sara Stockbridge
Matt Saldivar is a Mexican-American New York City-based actor. He grew up at The United States Military Academy at West Point. He has originated and appeared in principal roles on Broadway in Bernhardt/Hamlet, Junk, Peter and the Starcatcher, Act One, A Streetcar Named Desire, Saint Joan, The Wedding Singer, Honeymoon in Vegas, and Grease. Matt has performed in dozens of Off-Broadway and regional productions as well as in film and television. Matt also composed songs, played bass and guitar, and portrayed the character of Julio de los Flacos as a long-time member of the band and theater/cabaret/comedy troupe The Petersons. He received his BA with a double major in Theater and Spanish from Middlebury College, and his MFA in acting from NYU. He has been an actor and vocalist in the development process of new works for the theater with such artists as Elvis Costello, Stephen Sondheim, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bruce Hornsby, Jason Robert Brown, Adam Guettel, and Randy Newman.
Our theme music is by Edward Elgar and Sir Cubworth. Music from Interview with the Vampire by Elliot Goldenthal.
The house in Harrisville, Rhode Island is not clean. In fact it's filthy, lousy with supernatural yuck. That's bad news for whoever inhabits it, and no one's going to have it worse than the Perrons—father Roger (Ron Livingston), mother Carolyn (Lili Taylor), and their five daughters. When the otherworldly rumblings get out of hand, who they gonna call? In this case, it's the OG Ghostbusters, Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga). To say what happens next would be a spoiler, and we don't do that without a warning. But after our forays into James Wan's Dead Silence and Insidious, allow us to say that The Conjuring is a cool breath of delightfully fetid air. Director, dramaturg, and Columbia University professor Christian Parker joins us for academically incisive commentary.
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): 1:01:21-1:20:50
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
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.
Our theme music is by Edward Elgar and Sir Cubworth. Music from The Conjuring by Joseph Bishara.
Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright were on to something. Taking a well-worn subgenre and fusing it with the distinct style they'd perfected on Channel 4's "Spaced," the two concocted a script like no other and produced a cult classic. Twenty years since its premiere, we look at the production and legacy of Wright's breakthrough film with Clark Collis, former Entertainment Weekly reporter and author of You've Got Red On You: How Shaun of the Dead Was Brought to Life. So pack up your Breville and jam toasties, grab a Cornetto and whatever blunt instrument is by the doorway, and join us at the Winchester. Tonight, we're taking out some z-words.
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
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.
Our theme music is by Edward Elgar and Sir Cubworth. Music from Shaun of the Dead by The Specials.
So... you think you can remake a classic horror movie. That's what Michael Bay thought, anyway, when his production shingle Platinum Dunes embarked on a new adaptation of Jay Anson's tale of mayhem on Long Island. Citizen Kane the 1979 Amityville Horror may not be, but it holds a special place in the hearts of horror fans worldwide. So who's to blame for the mess that is the 2005 version? First (and last) time director Andrew Douglas? Frequently shirtless Ryan Reynolds, miscast as axe-wielding George Lutz? Or screenwriter Scott Kosar, who picks up a surprise nomination this week for the Michael Myers Award? Whatever your take is on this misbegotten footnote in the annals of horror history, we had a blast discussing it with Gretchen McNeil, back for her 5th episode, and the second in our Amityville mini-exploration.
Due to some technical issues, the quality of some of the audio is below our standards. Apologies.
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
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.
Our theme music is by Edward Elgar, and, this week, by Duck Sauce. Music from The Amityville Horror (2005) by Steve Jablonsky.
For more information on this film, writing by your hosts (on our blog), and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get yours. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
What's that, by the side of the road? Is that a... vomiting nun, played by star of stage and screen Irene Dailey? And what's that, up in the sewing room? Is that a... priest covered in flies, played by Oscar-winner Rod Steiger? However you feel about it, there's no question that Stuart Rosenberg's O.G. THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979) is an iconic launch of a never-ending franchise, one that's produced more clunkers than most—but which seems to have legs like no other. With '70s icons Margot Kidder and James Brolin along for the ride, plus plenty of ferrofluid and a requisite microfiche scene, we don't need to be told twice to GET OUT. Joining us for the first of two episodes is our pal, YA horror author extraordinaire 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
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.
Our theme music is by Edward Elgar, and, this week, by Duck Sauce. Music from The Amityville Horror (1979) by Lalo Schifrin.
For more information on this film, writing by your hosts (on our blog), and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get yours. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
Take a seat at the dining room table and gaze through that planchette. We're attempting to connect with the spirit world in Mike Flanagan's 2016 prequel-to-beat-all-prequels OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL, featuring Elizabeth Reaser, Lulu Wilson, Annalise Basso, and Henry Thomas. Joining us to battle Demons from the Great Beyond is the amazing Louisa Krause, she of Starz's "The Girlfriend Experience" Season 2 and the films The Dive, Maggie Moore(s), Ava's Possessions, Martha Marcy May Marlene, and many more. And this week, we introduce a new segment, "Campus Radio," with a special appearance by Jocelin Donahue, one of the stars of the new film The Last Stop in Yuma County (17:14).
Intro, Debate Society, Campus Radio, 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
Louisa Krause appears in the independent features The Dive (in which she stars alongside Sophie Lowe) and Maggie Moore(s) (opposite Jon 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.
Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar. Music from Ouija: Origin of Evil by The Newton Brothers.
For more information on this film, writing by your hosts (on our blog), and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get yours. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
Strap on your gas mask, crack open that sketch pad, and astrally project yourself into The Further as we continue our James Wan mini-series with an assessment of Wan's 2010 Insidious. With a script by key collaborator Leigh Whannell and a cast featuring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, and the ethereal Lin Shaye, this is the Insidious that started them all. Joining us at the séance table is Allison Broder, host of the Who's There? podcast.
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
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.
Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar. Music from Insidious by Joseph Bishara.
For more information on this film, writing by your hosts (on our blog), and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get yours. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
Hooray for Captain Spaulding! And some Fireflies. Writer and early-00s horror authority Ariel Powers-Schaub joins us to vivisect Rob Zombie's 2003 roadside attraction of sin and debauchery, House of 1000 Corpses, starring Sid Haig, Karen Black, Rainn Wilson, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie, and a young, nubile, young Walton Goggins as "Deputy Steve Naish." So strap in, (fish)boys and girls. It's gonna be a bumpy night.
Intro, Debate Society, To Sir With Love (spoiler-free): 00:00-28:27
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 28:28-54:47
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 54:48-1:14:46
Director Rob Zombie
Screenplay Rob Zombie
Featuring Karen Black, Erin Daniels, Dennis Fimple, Walton Goggins, Sid Haig, Chris Hardwick, Jennifer Jostyn, Matthew McGrory, Bill Moseley, Michael J. Pollard, Rainn Wilson, Sheri Moon Zombie
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 on September 17th from Encyclopocalypse Publications. Pre-order the book here.
Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar. Music from House of 1000 Corpses by Rob Zombie and Scott Humphrey. Thanks to Liz DeGregorio and Jerry Sampson for introducing us to Ariel.
For more information on this film, writing by your hosts (on our blog), and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get yours. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
Watch out for that piano! And the well! And the light fixture! And the... clock? This week, we're joined by the one and only Dawn Luebbe (co-director, Greener Grass, Wayfair's "Welcome to the Wayborhood") to discuss Nobuhiko Ôbayashi's mindbending horror cult comedy House. Will we make it out alive? Only Auntie's cat Blanche knows for sure.
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
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.
Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar. Music from House by Asei Kobayashi and Mickie Yoshino.
For more information on this film, writing by your hosts (on our blog), and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com.
Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
We're back from Spring Break, discussing James Whale's 1935 classic featuring Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, and Ernest Thesiger. Our guests are the authors of the new book Peggy Webling and the Story Behind Frankenstein: The Making of a Hollywood Monster, about the woman who wrote the stage play from which Universal's Frankenstein (1931) was adapted. Also: a new superlative honoring one of our favorite actors, the inimitable Béatrice Dalle.
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
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.
To find out more about Bruce and Dorian’s book, click here.
Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar. Music from Bride of Frankenstein by Franz Waxman.
For more information on this film, essays from your hosts (including why the Professor chose it, on Our Blog), and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com.
Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
When music journalist Myles Clarkson visits ailing piano virtuoso Duncan Ely at his palatial California home, ostensibly to interview the man, Duncan notices something distinct about Myles: his hands – they’re beautiful, the bone structure perfect for a concert pianist. Myles, it turns out, is a Juilliard-trained musician whose career tanked after receiving some bad reviews. Taking an interest in Myles, Duncan introduces him to his artist daughter Roxanne. Soon Myles has entered the pianist’s inner circle, much to the chagrin of Myles’ wife, Paula, who feels more than a tinge of jealousy at the attention being paid to her husband. But things are about to take a turn for the uncanny. Roxanne casts a plaster life mask of Myles, and with Duncan on his way out, Myles donates blood to help him. While Myles is asleep, something happens, and when he awakes, he’s changed. It’s almost as if he’s someone else. His urge to live, to love, to play music, is revived, leaving Paula to wonder: just what, or who, is inhabiting the body of the man she loves?
Intro, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-28:50
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 28:51-1:02:54
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:02:55-1:22:19
Director Paul Wendkos
Screenplay Ben Maddow, based on the novel by Fred Mustard Stewart
Featuring Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset, Bradford Dillman, Pamelyn Ferdin, Curt Jurgens, Barbara Parkins, Kathleen Widdoes, William Windom
David Cote is a playwright, opera librettist, and critic based in New York. His operas include Lucidity – which will be produced by On Site Opera in New York and Seattle Opera in fall 2024, Blind Injustice, which premiered at Cincinnati Opera and will be presented at Peak Performances at Montclair State University February 16 & 18. Other operas include Three Way at Nashville Opera and BAM; The Scarlet Ibis for the Prototype Festival; and 600 Square Feet with Cleveland Opera Theater. His plays include The Müch, Saint Joe, and Otherland. David wrote lyrics for Nkeiru Okoye’s Black Lives Matter monodrama, Invitation to a Die-In and the dating-app song cycles In Real Life, composed by Robert Paterson. David’s TV and theater coverage appears in The A.V. Club, Observer, 4 Columns, and American Theatre. He was the longest serving theater editor and chief drama critic of Time Out New York. He’s also the author of popular companion books about the Broadway hits Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Spring Awakening, Jersey Boys, and Wicked.
Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar. Music from The Mephisto Waltz by Jerry Goldsmith.
For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on Our Blog), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
Behold – the late, great Edward Lionheart, a Shakespearean actor whose performances in Julius Caesar, Troilus and Cressida, Othello, Cymbeline, and others left him the laughingstock of London theatre critics, is dead. And yet somehow, someone is knocking off said critics one at a time in truly Shakespearean fashion… albeit with slight alterations to the text. Shylock may have wanted his pound his flesh – this killer takes the heart. Joan of Arc might have burned at the stake – this killer fries his victims in a hair salon. Peregrine Devlin, head of the London Critics Circle, is baffled, as are the police. And yet – the order of the killings bear a striking resemblance to Lionheart’s last repertory season. What’s going on with the Thames-side meths drinkers that have taken up residence in the crumbling Burbage Theatre? And what might Edward’s daughter, Edwina, have to do with everything? Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend us your ears – for herein lies the tale of the deceased actor who set out to exact revenge, and succeeded, and the rest – is silence.
Intro, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-26:10
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 26:11-1:07:38
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:07:39-1:28:17
Director Douglas Hickox
Screenplay Anthony Greville-Bell, based on an idea by Stanley Mann and John Kohn
Featuring Harry Andrews, Coral Browne, Robert Coote, Diana Dors, Jack Hawkins, Ian Hendry, Joan Hickson, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Robert Morley, Milo O’Shea, Dennis Price, Vincent Price, Diana Rigg, Eric Sykes
Ben Viccellio is an actor, writer and Associate Professor of Drama & Film at Kenyon College. His acting credits include the role of Oedipus in Frank Galati's Oedipus Complex at The Goodman Theatre; Cherry Orchard, Theatrical Essays, and the world premiere of Men of Tortuga at Steppenwolf; the role of Petruchio in Short Shakespeare: Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth in Short Shakespeare: Macbeth, and Guildenstern in Hamlet at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. Ben has also also acted for film and television, as well as in the odd commercial... some of them, he claims, very odd. His writing for the stage has been produced in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Aspen.
Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar. Music from Theatre of Blood by Michael J. Lewis.
For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on Our Blog), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
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.
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
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.
Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.
For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on Our Blog), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
Following a double mastectomy, and hoping to recover in peace, actress Veronica Ghent travels to what she believes will be a solitary retreat in the Scottish Highlands. She’s accompanied by a young nurse, Desi, who through sheer will and a good heart is able to put up with Veronica’s brusque, standoffish nature. There are other forces at work: the land on which their cabin sits was the burial ground of thousands of alleged witches, whose ashes have fertilized the soil and created ground rich with supernatural power. When her dreams are haunted by visions of witches being burned and silenced, we learn of an incident from Veronica’s past involving a famous director and possible abuse. It’s an incident that’s scarred Veronica as much as her recent surgery. But now, imbued with powers thanks to the the Highlands, Veronica finds herself able to confront the damage done to both mind and body.
Intro, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-29:52
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 29:53-1:01:52
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:01:53-1:23:23
Director Charlotte Colbert
Screenplay Charlotte Colbert & Kitty Percy
Featuring Jonathan Aris, Layla Burns, Kota Eberhardt, Olwen Fouéré. Rupert Everett, Alice Krige, Amy Manson, Malcolm McDowell
Jerry J Sampson is a female horror screenwriter whose main thematic focus is on generational trauma and the effects of repression on the psyche. She has four feature scripts in various forms of production, including one feature supernatural horror optioned and filming in her hometown of Portland, Oregon. She is currently in pre-production on her directorial short film debut, In Dreams, working together with local crew and talent to create a truly haunting short that encapsulates the feeling of grief and loss through a lyrical and gorgeous narrative. In addition to her filmmaking pursuits, Jerry is also a film critic for such online publications as Ghouls Magazine, Rue Morgue, Moving Picture Film Club, and others, offering deep dives and editorials on current and classic horror films. She features on podcasts and panels, attends film festivals as both a creative and as press. Her collection of fiction The Scream & Other Dark Stories can be ordered here. Per her website, “She is here to offer a different voice in the horror sphere, always striving to prove the value of the horror genre as a means of catharsis and social commentary. The genre is so often overlooked, but she believes that through horror we, especially women, are able to safely explore the dark corners of the world, of our communities, of our homes.”
Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar. Music from She Will by Clint Mansell.
For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on Our Blog), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
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. Its face is obscured, and it’s slumped over, lifeless. Because said 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.
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
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.
Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar. Music from Eyes Without a Face by Maurice Jarre.
For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on Our Blog), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
Jennifer Check and Anita “Needy” Lesnicky are best friends living in the town of Devil’s Kettle, best known for its waterfall and high school football team. When Jennifer suggests she and Needy step out to see a band, Low Shoulder, at the local roadhouse, Melody Lane, Needy’s reluctant. She’s rather spend the night with Chip, her boyfriend. But Jennifer's nothing if not persuasive. Upon arriving at Melody Lane, it’s clear the band is a bunch of locals posing as hipsters from the city. But Jennifer’s entranced by the lead singer, Nikolai, who she finds “salty,” and as the set heats up, so does Melody Lane. A fire soon engulfs the bar, and after escaping, Jennifer and Needy are beckoned to the band’s van. Jennifer succumbs, but Needy runs home, only to find Jennifer in her kitchen, beaten, bloody, and gorging herself on Boston Market chicken. What's happened? And what does it mean when certain members of their high school class end up dead, mangled, drained of their blood? Needy suspects something bigger than a few random murders at play, and wonders if maybe, just maybe, her bestie’s at the center of it all.
Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-31:16
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 31:17-1:03:26
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:03:27-1:18:27
Director Karyn Kusama
Screenplay Diablo Cody
Featuring Adam Brody, Megan Fox, Kyle Gallner, Chris Pratt, Amy Sedaris, Amanda Seyfried, J.K. Simmons, Johnny Simmons, Cynthia Stevenson
Kate Thompson is a small animal veterinarian by day and a horror movie aficionado by night who has a special affinity for the campy, gory, and feminist side of horror. As co-host of The Nightlight Horror Movie Club podcast with her best friend and fellow vet, Ariana, they explore the darkest corners of horror cinema, presenting a unique blend of movie reviews and mini-episodes, true crime, creepypastas, urban legend, and all things 'spoopy.’
Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar. Music from Jennifer’s Body by Andrew Ampaya and Ryan Levine.
For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on Our Blog), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
Driving instructor Rose Dooley lives alone in rural Ireland, but she’s hardly ever alone. The local residents call Rose any time they have a, shall we say, ghost problem. Which happens more often than you’d think. You see, Rose’s father, the late ghost hunter Vincent Dooley, has imbued Rose with certain ‘talents’ to divine and chat up ghosts that are giving people a hard time. That’s when she’s approached by one Martin Martin, a woodworker whose late wife has been making his life hell for the past several years, constantly berating him and his choices from beyond the grave. At the same time, determined to sell his soul for a revived career, washed up American pop star Christian and his wife Claudia have been picking out virgins to sacrifice, and soon set their sights on Martin's daughter, Sarah. It’s up to Rose and Martin to foil the Winters’ nefarious schemes, and to make sure it's "curtains for Christian."
Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-25:32
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 25:33-56:00
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 56:01-1:14:13
Directors Mike Ahearn & Enda Loughman
Screenplay Mike Ahearn & Enda Loughman and Maeve Higgins & Demian Fox
Featuring Jamie Beamish, Terri Chandler, Emma Coleman, Risteard Cooper, Will Forte, Maeve Higgins, Claudia O’Doherty, Barry Ward
Wendy MacLeod’s play The House of Yes became an award-winning Miramax film starring Parker Posey, and was produced by many theaters including The Magic Theater, Soho Rep, The Washington Shakespeare Company, The Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, and The Gate Theater in London. Her other works for the stage include Sin and Schoolgirl Figure, both of which premiered at The Goodman, Juvenilia and The Water Children, both of which premiered at Playwrights Horizons, and Things Being What They Are, which premiered at Seattle Repertory Theatre, had an extended run at Steppenwolf in Chicago, and was produced by The Road Theatre in LA. She was the first writer selected for The Writer’s Room residency at the Arden Theater in Philadelphia, where she wrote Women in Jeopardy! which was selected for The Kilroys' List and premiered at GEVA. The Ballad of Bonnie Prince Chucky was commissioned by and produced at ACT's Young Conservatory in San Francisco. Her prose has appeared in The New York Times, McSweeney's, Salon, POETRY magazine, and on NPR's All Things Considered. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, she is the James E. Michael Playwright-in-Residence at Kenyon College. Her plays are available through Dramatists Play Service and at Playscripts.com.
Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar. Music from Extra Ordinary: “A Woman’s Heart” by Eleanor McAvoy, performed by McAvoy and Mary Black.
For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on Our Blog), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
Eccentric billionaire Rudolph Deutsch wants someone to figure out what (or who's) been haunting the old Belasco mansion, the “Mt Everest of haunted houses.” Apparently the house has something to do with the secret to life after death, so Deutsch enlists a team of potential rivals to get to the bottom of it: physicist and sometime paranormal investigator Barrett and his wife Ann; mental medium Florence Tanner; and physical medium Ben Fischer, the sole survivor of the last attempt to exorcise the old home. Almost from the jump, something’s off – no one trusts each other, science butts heads with pseudoscience, and when the actual haunting comes, no one really wants to discuss it. No one, that is, except for Florence and Ben, who’ve seen enough in their time to recognize the dangers that lie within Belasco House. And by the time the possessions begin, furniture starts shaking, and chandeliers start tumbling, it’s too late to turn back. The team must see this through, and get to the bottom of what’s been driving Hell House’s off-the-charts psychic energy.
Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-30:32
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 30:33-1:04:30
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:04:31-1:20:20
Director John Hough
Screenplay Richard Matheson, based on his novel Hell House
Featuring Peter Bowles, Roland Culver, Pamela Franklin, Michael Gough, Gayle Hunnicutt, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill
Christopher Shinn is a playwright and screenwriter who lives in New York. Several of his plays have premiered at the Royal Court Theatre: Four, Other People, Where Do We Live (Obie Award), Dying City (Pulitzer Prize finalist) and Now or Later, which was shortlisted for the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play. His other plays include The Narcissist (Chichester Festival Theatre), Teddy Ferrara (Goodman Theatre and Donmar Warehouse), An Opening in Time (Hartford Stage), Picked (Vineyard Theatre), What Didn't Happen (Playwrights Horizons), On the Mountain (South Coast Rep), The Coming World (Soho Theatre), and Against (Almeida Theatre). His adaptation of Hedda Gabler premiered on Broadway in 2009 and his adaptation of Judgment Day premiered at Park Avenue Armory in 2019 and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Adaptation. His awards and grants include a Guggenheim Fellowship in Playwriting, a grant from the NEA/TCG Residency Program, and the Robert Chesley Award. He was a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard in 2019-2020, a Cullman Fellow at New York Public Library in 2020-2021, and a MacDowell Fellow in 2023.
Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.
For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on Our Blog), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
It’s a cage match in a used car graveyard, with soul hunter Cyrus Kriticos taking on soul preserver Kalina Oretzia. Lost amidst the metal is The Breaker, a murderous ghost Cyrus wishes to add to his collection. Assisting Cyrus is Dennis, a medium whose ability to sense ghosts sends him into spasms of pain. Kalina’s only wish is to set souls free and let them roam the earth. Cyrus succeeds in capturing Breaker, but loses his life in the process. We cut to the home of Cyrus’s nephew, math teacher Arthur Kriticos, his two children Bobby and Kathy, and their nanny, the sassy Maggie. They’ve got a visitor today, a lawyer, Ben Moss, representing Cyrus’s estate. The news: Cyrus is bequeathing his house to Arthur, who’s spent the last few months mourning the death of his wife in a fire. The house, it turns out, is a modern masterpiece of architecture, a glass structure with Latin etched on the walls, and walls that slide back and forth like a living organism. Arthur’s flattered, but… he can’t pay for this. He barely gets by as it is. But Ben assures him, Cyrus has everything figured out. All Arthur and the kids need to do is move in and get settled. But once they start looking around, the Kriticos family realizes they’re being watched, and the inhabitants of the basement are none too happy to be under new management.
Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-27:31
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 27:32-55:27
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 56:27-1:15:27
Director Steve Beck
Screenplay Neal Marshall Stevens & Richard D’Ovidio, story by Robb White
Featuring F. Murray Abraham, JR Bourne, Embeth Davidtz, Rah Digga, Shannon Elizabeth, Matthew Lillard, Shawna Loyer, Alec Roberts, Tony Shalhoub
Jason Ragosta is a horror writer, director, and illustrator who has created award winning short films such as Boy In The Dark and ZTV: Sympathy For The Devil, and “Mother Love” which was part of Sinphony: A Clubhouse Horror Anthology released in 2022. He is currently in various stages of development on several feature films and episodic series.
Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar. Music from Thirt13en Ghosts by John Frizzell.
For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on Our Blog), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our Facebook group. Follow us on Instagram.
