CHUCKY’S Back, HELLRAISER Rules, and More!
In This Issue:
- Terror Talk: Pod People
- Image of the Week: Blood Money
- Tiny Bites – This Week’s Best Horror Headlines
- The A to Z of Subgenres: M is for Mad Scientists
- Things We Love: Frankenstein Turns 200
TERROR TALK: POD PEOPLE
By Joshua Lyon
There are tons of horror podcasts out there, and we’ve found five of the best — all excellent programs hitting their prime, each with a different take on the genre to keep you well rounded.
The Squad: Shock Waves
This talkie recently celebrated its 100th episode, and hosts Rebekah McKendry, Rob Galluzzo, Elric Kane, and Ryan Turek are all industry pros with strong opinions. Like a coffee klatch of ultra likable and deeply knowledgeable horror nerds, expect to hear them riff on the films they watched each week, followed by guests as diverse as Heather Langenkamp and a music expert breaking down the history of The Exorcist’s “Tubular Bells.”
The Storytellers: Knifepoint
A simple recurring format — short stories told from a first person POV as terrifying events unfold — creates an eerily effective urgency to these tales. Each one is fused with mounting dread, and if you’re an aspiring filmmaker or feel like expanding on one of the stories in your own way, they’re all free to adapt any way you’d like with no obligation to pay the author. (But if you accidentally spawn a franchise, it’d be a nice thing to do anyway.)
The IRL Experiences: Spooked
From WNYC Studios (the folks behind Radiolab andFreakonomics) come unexplainable, white-knuckle true stories of the supernatural, told by the understandably freaked out people who experienced them. Think of it as ground zero for new urban legends.
The Insider: Post-Mortem With Mick Garris
The creator of Showtime’s Masters of Horror and NBC’s Fear Itself conducts interviews with horror icons like John Carpenter, Dario Argento, and Robert Englund, as well as major new talents like directors Alexandre Aja (High Tension, Horns) and Mike Dougherty (Trick ’r Treat, Krampus).
The Braaaaains: The Faculty of Horror
Rue Morgue Executive Editor Andrea Subissati and author Alexandra West go super deep with their research and academic analysis of specific films and subgenres, and their website offers supplemental reading materials on each subject so you can develop an education as exemplary as theirs.
IMAGE OF THE WEEK
Blood Money
The most valuable movie poster in the world is this one for the 1931 film Dracula, which sold at auction last November for $525,800. Only two copies exist.
TINY BITES
CONSTANTINE COSPLAY, THE TERROR RETURNS & MORE
It’s the first official week of summer, so here are 8 beach-themed horror movies you might want to check out. (It’s worth the click just to see the Piranha 3DGIF.)
John Constantine (aka Hellblazer) was not-so-subtly based on Sting. So good-sport Sting cosplayed as Constantine to announce he’s written an introduction to the 30th anniversary Hellblazer collection.
A dedicated fan watched all the Hellraiser movies back to back in a week and wrote a candid analysis about the experience. He did not like Hellseeker, but was intrigued by Judgment.
The BBC wonders if calling films like A Quiet Placeand Get Out “elevated horror”is disrespectful. (Our respectful answer: No.)
AMC renewed The Terror for a second season. It will focus on a spectre menacing members of a Japanese-American community during World War II.
Listen to this eerie version of “Cry Little Sister,” the theme from The Lost Boys, by someone born to sing it — Marilyn Manson.
This article reviews horror movies based on how well the movies fit their titles, making the case that the hills in Silent Hills aren’t any more silent than your average hill.
What happened to Will Byers after he was transported to the Upside Down in Stranger Things? There’s going to be a comic for that.
Child’s Play creator Don Mancini announced via tweetthat Chucky is getting his own TV series. In related classic-horror-of-the-80s-and-90s news, Syfy is developing Clive Barker’s Nightbreed into a TV series.
THE A TO Z OF SUBGENRES: M IS FOR MAD SCIENTIST
An essential character of sci-fi/horror, the Mad Scientist is often the symbol of man’s reach gone too far — of playing God. Born in the pages of Shelley and Wells, Mad Scientists are captivating creatures. At the center of works as frightened of scientific boundary-pushing as they are in awe of it, Mad Scientists lead us into the future, across time, through dimensions and usually fall prey to their own hubris, or their own creations, in the process.
Essentials: Frankenstein/Bride of Frankenstein(1931/1935), The Invisible Man (1933), Island of Lost Souls (1932), Re-Animator, The Fly (1985)
Favorites: Ex Machina, Metropolis, From Beyond, Eyes Without a Face, Splice
THINGS WE LOVE: FRANKENSTEIN TURNS 200
Frankenbook is “a collective reading and collaborative annotation experience” where more than 80 philosophers, astrobiologists, and horror experts are commenting on the original 1818 text of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. They explore themes like Philosophy & Politics, Science (of course), and Technology. You can participate by commenting on annotations or adding your own.