Scary Thoughts

Back in October of 2020 we hosted an online screening of the 2020 indie sci-fi film, The Vast of Night. The event was put together by Fulcrum Arts. This episode is a recording of the post-watch Q&A with the film’s production sound team: Crow and Erik Duemig and Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Designer Johnny Marshall. Ironically, the sound quality of this episode is a bit rough thanks to Zoom, who are really not stepping up meeting the audio needs of our collective remote living dystopia. Fuck those guys. Enjoy the episode.

The Purge franchise’s first film was released in 2013. There are now four flicks, two seasons of a TV series, and a host of questionable fan content online. We discuss the appeal of this story, what Purge politics would actually mean in real life, why Rick & Morty’s “Look Who’s Purging Now” is the best Purge movie, and some gabbing about the current apocalypse. In other words, a classic Scary Thoughts adventure.

Jordan Peele is an important Black filmmaker and a horror nerd’s horror nerd. His 2019 film Us is packed full of references to obscure classics—but does that make it less original? Boston and J from one of our favorite podcasts, Race Trader, join us to discuss it (along with a little sidetalk about Get Out and Tyler Perry).

Glenn Danzig’s Verotika (2019) is a failure. But has it failed in an interesting way? That all depends on how much you like boobs. In this episode we discuss bad acting, bad effects, bad music, and bad films. We also touch on things we like: Tommy Wiseau, outsider art, The Mandalorian—and yes—boobs. Also, keep your ears alert for Marc flexing on the whole cast of Verotika with his own French accent.

Gather ‘round boils and ghouls, it’s our annual Halloween episode! This year we’re covering It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966). Short and sweet like a peppermint patty, we talk about television, made up holidays, bad boomer ideas, belief, trash cinema, The Boys, and renting movies in the 90s.

Writer Michelle Tea, writer Meg Elison, and composer Lawrence English join us for a trio of COVID-19-era conversations. We ask them each, “Is this how you thought it would all end?” All three guests have great perspectives on the apocalyptic vibrations affecting us all, but are any of us truly ready for the end?

Rick and Morty is one of those shows people love making video essays about. It’s smart, it uses philosophical ideas to deliver dick and fart jokes, and it includes a lot of high-level sci-fi/cosmic horror. This classic Scary Thoughts adventure is just Chad and Marc. Depending on what universe you’re listening to this in, that might be a very big deal.

Shudder’s Zoom-based film Host (2020) is the belle of the COVID-19-horror-film ball. This fun and imaginative movie is a great way to spend an hour at the end of a depressing work day. But is it actually good? Or are we just starved for options? We are joined by Madeleine Koestner, the co-founder and programmer of the Unnamed Footage Festival. She’s a frequent guest on The Overlook Hour podcast and writes for a ton of horror sites. Basically the perfect guest for talking about this one.

Joe Dante’s 1989 film The ‘Burbs has been our most requested film to cover since we started this podcast. It’s great and so is our guest Nathan Thompson. He’s a writer and journalist and hosts the Yoga and meditation podcast Escaping Samsara. We get into the occult, genre films, living in the suburbs, longing for nostalgia and the joy of strong character actors.

Cormac McCarthy’s bleak, apocalyptic father-son road trip novel, The Road (2006), won both the Pulitzer Prize and the admiration of Oprah. Daniel Coffeen (Zero Books, Renegade University) rejoins us to discuss if the book deserves all the praise and whether or not the movie gets it right. We talk a bit about Blood Meridian, too, if that’s your thing.

Max Brooks nailed it with his 2006 fictional oral history, World War Z. It’s a fun book with lots of original ideas, which makes it a blast to talk about; especially since there are so many parallels with our own current COVID-19 lifestyles. We give the movie as much attention as it deserves (not much) and touch on our own survival tactics. Episode bonus: there are scrub jays chirping in the background throughout the show, so if you’ve been missing nature, this is a good one.

The Wicker Man (1973) is British folk horror at its best. It’s got weird townsfolk music, a mysterious and sexy monarch, bizarre occult practices, and nude pagan dance numbers. We’re joined by Steven Intermill, the Director of the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft & Magick (Cleveland, OH). We get deep into the well-researched details of the film, the history of Wicca in America, and all kinds of other high weirdness. The sound is a bit dodgy in this episode, but it’s a tremendously enjoyable one.

What better time than a pandemic to cover Safe (1995) by Todd Haynes? This illness thriller is on a lot of “best of” lists even though it’s rarely talked about now. In this episode we’re joined by author K.M. Soehnlein. We cover AIDS activism in the 80-90s, the weirdos of the wellness scene, cults, 80s yuppie decor, Christian Science, and Moore.

The Hunt (2019/20) is surrounded by political drama but is pretty mediocre. Except for our hero Betty Gilpin, who absolutely slays. We spend just about as much time talking about fake martial arts, conspiracy theories and war as we do the actual movie.

Our pandemic podcasting continues with the 2002 fast-zombie film 28 Days Later. We both loved it when it came out, but some elements of the film have aged better than others. The conversation drifts into COVID-19 talk, tactical training for actors, hotels for the homeless, and conspiracy mindsets.

Tim Burton’s Ed Wood (1994) is his best film and Johnny Depp’s best performance. Your inner goth teen might bristle, but everything about it is near perfect. Joshua Grannell (Aka Peaches Christ) joins us again to talk about why the great weirdos of film matter and what it means to be in love with the people who create the strange and unusual. 

In the age of COVID-19 there are only two popular subjects: Trump and the Tiger King. We are tired of both. But the memes remain strong. We talk about the saga of these cat-addicted mutants, how well the story works as a doc, and the inevitable reality show dominance of streaming services. Fair warning: this is a rantier than usual episode. And our sound quality is again poor due to Zoom; hopefully we will return to audio excellence one day.

Thanks to COVID-19 caused social distancing, this is the first episode we’ve recorded remotely. With compromised audio, and fortified immune systems, we talk about life under the virus, answer a lot of listener questions, and make predictions about the future.

Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 Contagion is eerily prescient because of the filmmakers dedication to research and realism. The cast, cinematography, and script are excellent. But it’s not exactly an uplifting watch, considering the news. We recorded this episode the day before the Bay Area was ordered to shelter in place for COVID-19.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) is debut director Ana Lily Amirpour’s stylish Iranian vampire spaghetti western. It’s more or less everything we like here at Scary Thoughts: it looks cool, it has a great soundtrack, a mesmerizing cast, and it’s about the undead. We talk about why we both loved it, we disagree about Amirpour’s follow-up film, and get into why female artists are great, but can’t get behind “male feminists of Tinder.”