The podcast is made up of several series of episodes on recurring themes. Interspersed with the occasional one-off, these include the following…
In-depth Creator Interviews
So far these have included directors Rob Savage (Host), writer Stephen Volk (Ghostwatch), actor/writer Anthony DP Mann (Bleak December Productions), writer Gemma Hurley (Host) and writer/presenter Danny Robins (The Battersea Poltergeist).
New Film Previews
We have interviewed several creatives behind the highlights of 2020 horror film festivals, including: writer/director Brea Grant (12 Hour Shift); writer/director Ryan Kruger and producer James C Williamson (Fried Barry); director Charlie Steeds (Death Ranch); director Martin Guigui, co-writer/producer J Shawn Harris, actor Lance Henriksen and many others from The Unhealer (2020); co-directors Dorota Swiess and John C Lyons (Unearth); director Alejandro Ibaniz (Urubu); director Ruben Pla (The Horror Crowd); director Sylas Dall, producer Bry Troyer and star Mary Madeline Roe (They Reach); and director Cody Callahan and star Ari Millen (The Oak Room).
New Film Reviews
In which we discuss, spoiler-free, new films that come our way from film festivals or elsewhere. So far this has included films from Grimmfest (2019 and 2020) and Frightfest (2020) and single items such as 2020’s innovative streaming hit, Host.
Things We Love
Kirsty, Stella, Ian and Dan get to rave about a horror series or film in which they are all simply delighted. So far this has included What We Do In The Shadows, The Changeling and True Blood.
Analysis
We take a detailed look at a particular area of the horror genre, sometimes over several episodes. So far we have looked at current female horror directors, the use of paganism in the genre, the development of horror on US TV post-The Walking Dead, the modern trend towards horror film remakes, and pandemic-based horror.
Missed Classics
In-depth, spoilery discussions on key texts from film or TV horror that one or more of the hosts has never seen before. So far we have episodes on Suspiria (1977), The Black Cat (1981), During Barty’s Party (1976), The Cabin in the Woods (2012), The Haunting of Hill House (2018), The Legend of Hell House (1973) and The Exorcist III (1990).
Questions of Horror
In which, generally, a subset of our hosts have a good chat to ponder the oddities of the horror genre. In Series One we talked about why ghosts are frightening and why horror stories often have dark endings.
Halloween Franchise Retrospective
Howard and Dan both love John Carpenter and his 1978 masterpiece Halloween, so for the fortieth anniversary of that film, decided to join Ian (for one episode) and a bevy of special guests (frequently including the spectacular Spider-Dan from Spider-Dan and the Secret Bores) to engage in spoiler-filled analysis and appreciation of every single film in this increasingly chaotic franchise. Series One of the podcast includes reviews (recorded in 2018) of every film made up until 2009; more to follow in Series Two!
Lee/Cushing, Howard/Dan
Howard and Dan also love British horror films in general, and Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in particular, so, beginning in 2016, decided to record podcasts on every single film those two stars made together. Series One includes spoiler-averse discussions of The Curse of Frankenstein, Dr Terror’s House of Horrors, Scream and Scream Again, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Horror Express and mini-segments on Dracula AD 1972 and The Satanic Rites of Dracula; more to follow in Series Two!
Nineties Gothic
The 1990s brought a rarely discussed Gothic revival movement to the cinema, including several films produced by Columbia Pictures and/or Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope. Series One includes discussions of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Interview with the Vampire; more to follow in Series Two!
Feasting on Hannibal
Kirsty and Dan are mad about NBC’s Hannibal (2013-15) and keen to indoctrinate Ian, Stella and anyone else they can. Joining them for an in-depth, season-by-season analysis of this unique TV show are super-intelligent super-fans Dr Rebecca Williams from the University of South Wales and Dr Lori Hitchcock Morimoto from the University of Virginia. In Series One, we covered Season One; more to follow… you get the idea!
Revisitations
Occasionally we get the urge to revisit a film or TV series we haven’t seen in a long time and give it a second opinion. In Series One we did Alien3. We’ll do more.
The Bag of Death
Howard and Dan have both seen a lot of old horror films; The Bag of Death contains them all (and a few that are horror-ish). Dan rings Howard up, pulls a film at random from the bag, and they talk about it for 10-20 minutes. This has been a segment in almost every episode of the podcast since the start of 2021.
-- And Now The Podcast Starts! 