Scary Thoughts

Is John Goodman’s character insane? Is he hypersane? Is he right? When does it pay to believe in conspiracies? We ask all these questions and more in our 10 Cloverfield Lane episode and explore the larger Cloververse and whether or not this expanded universe makes the actual movies any better.

Cabin in the Woods is one of those horror films everyone seems to love. It's smart, funny and for the purposes of this podcast, epically intertextual. Listen in to find out more than you ever wanted to know about horror tropes and the way your hosts, Marc and Chad, would prefer to be killed if a hundred nightmare creatures were suddenly released into their office space.

With so many excellent horror movies to cover, Boo! A Madea Halloween is a bit of a strange choice for an episode. Fear not fright fiends, it's a better film than you might imagine. Even if it sort of sucks. We cover the Illuminati's desire to see male black actors wear dresses, what it means to be outside of Hollywood, and the future of YouTube stardom.

Eugene S. Robinson, writer and dapper tough guy, joins the show for a discussion of the 2016 punk rock thriller, Green Room. The conversation covers neo-Nazis in the early punk scene, what it means to be ready for violence, what is and isn’t authentic, and the best choice for desert island albums. Eugene is a great storyteller and shares great tales from his time in the art rock band Oxbow.

Is Forrest Gump a pathological liar with an unhealthy obsession with a lost soul or a sweet and heroic man gifted with an absence of ennui? We go deep into the psychology of Robert Zemeckis' enduring Vietnam War epic to find out what horror makes a man give up everything and travel America as a derelict. We also try to answer the enduring existential question, "is life really like a box of chocolates?"

Fair warning, this episode is thick with weirdness. Marc and Chad discuss the 2008 Canadian film Pontypool. It’s about a language virus, which invites us to infect the discussion with William S. Burroughs, semiotics, pataphysics, Quebecoise separatism, and altered states. Strap your headphones on and get ready to look for Honey the Cat.

In this highly requested Phantasm episode Marc Kate and Chad Lott explore the boundaries of low-budget dreams, sci-fi horror, and follicle normativity. This is a well-loved movie with lots of original ideas, but it has some real issues, too. All this makes for a great episode for girls and BOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYS alike.

In this episode Marc and Chad answer the question posed by 1985's punk rock horror comedy masterpiece Return of the Living Dead: Why Bother? The dynamics of slow vs fast zombies, great soundtracks, amazing character actors, and more are on the autopsy table this time around.

In this episode we do something a bit different. Marc and Chad talk about how they met, how they found horror, and why they think about it the way they do. There's no specific films talked about, but this is a long, funny look at how a new friendship grew. Featuring more cursing and rambling than usual.

In this episode we are joined by DJ Nako to discuss Tim Burton’s 1988 film Beetlejuice. The conversation gets away from the film, but goes deep into music and the gothic subculture. If you’re of a certain age and your closet is full of black clothing, this is the episode for you. No need to send hate mail regarding Chad’s dislike of A Nightmare Before Christmas, Marc is slowly poisoning him with arsenic for his adoration of Tom Hanks and Mark Wahlberg.