Scream Scene Podcast

Trick or treat, it's Halloween! Universal Studios takes another swing at horror with 1941's HORROR ISLAND, starring Dick Foran, Peggy Moran, Leo Carrillo and Fuzzy Knight. Duelling singing cowboys and more characters you can count feature in this low-budget film directed by George Waggner. But do those ingredients add up to a horror-filled stew? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 17:29; Discussion 31...

Your deadicated hosts travel (further) back in time to review the 1934 Mexican horror classic EL FANTASMA DEL CONVENTO, directed & co-written by Fernando de Fuentes. Do the Google Translate subtitles hold up? How does EL FANTASMA compare to LA LLORONA from 1933? Tune in and find out! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 14:18; Discussion 34:02; Ranking 54:15

When the Devil commands, Karloff obeys! THE DEVIL COMMANDS (Dmytryk 1941) brings together Gothic horror and science fiction with a little big of Hitchcock’s REBECCA (1940). Adapted from William Sloane’s The Edge of Running Water and starring Karloff and Anne Revere, listen to hear how this film brings together a mad scientist and spirit medium for some great results. Context setting 00:00; Synopsi...

It's a fun but dumb spoopy film with Bela Lugosi in THE DEVIL BAT (Yarborough 1940)! It's a surprising hit with your deadicated hosts, despite being produced by the Producers Releasing Corporation, the cheapest poverty row studio there ever was. Starring Bela Lugosi, Suzanne Kaaren, Dave O'Brien, Guy Usher, and Donald Kerr, plus a very early appearance of Arthur Q Bryan, the voice of Elmer Fudd! C...

Where's the line between thriller and horror? Your deadicated hosts try to figure it out after watching THE DOOR WITH SEVEN LOCKS (Lee 1940), released in the US as CHAMBER OF HORRORS! Premiering right when London endured the Blitz, this pulp thriller features Leslie Banks, Lilli Palmer, Roomily Lunge, Gina Malo, and Richard Bird. Plus, a special Halloween announcement for our Patrons of the Night!...

Your deadicated hosts encounter another Boris Karloff mad scientist flick, this time from Monogram Pictures, directed by William Nigh and written by Curt Siodmak. It's THE APE (1940)! We discuss/rant about Hollywood's obsession with apes and ape-like creatures, and rave over the different ape-suit actors from the '40s, including Ray "Crash" Corrigan, featured in this film. Context setting 00:00; S...

Your deadicated hosts return to Universal Pictures for the reboot THE MUMMY'S HAND (1940), featuring Tom Tyler as toilet paper boy Kharis (not Boris Karloff), Dick Foran, Peggy Moran, Wallace Ford, and George Zucco. This is the missing link between the 1932 and 1999 mummy movies, but is there any substance underneath its wraps? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 28:56; Discussion 40:17; Ranking 57:48

Your deadicated hosts cover another sci fi horror flick starring Boris Karloff from director Nick Grinde: BEFORE I HANG (1940) features a unique take on the tried-and-true formula, but how much of it is original versus leftovers from other horror tropes? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 9:13; Discussion 18:40; Ranking 31:44

Your deadicated hosts watch a Columbia Pictures film directed by Nick Grinde starring Boris Karloff as a mad scientist playing with the forces of life and death. Wait... haven't we seen this one already? It's 1940's THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES! A scientist's chilling experiments with frozen therapy go horribly awry in this sci fi horror starring Boris Karloff, Roger Pryor, and Jo Ann Sayers. We strugg...

Do we uncover a hidden gem, or do we need an eye exam? Our hindsight is 20/20 with this episode on 1940's DR CYCLOPS from Paramount Pictures! Starring Albert Dekker, Thomas Coley, Janice Logan, Charles Halton, and Victor Kilian. Hear what our first three-tone technicolour horror film has in common with THE MUMMY, KING KONG, and others! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 24:55; Discussion 31:13; Ranki...

Your deadicated hosts cover the history of race films in the segregated US for this episode on SON OF INGAGI (1940)! Will this first all African American cast horror film thrill us, or rehash old tropes? Take a listen to find out! The film stars Laura Bowman, Alfred Grant, Daisy Bufford, Spencer Williams, and other African American actors unfortunately lost to time. Directed by Richard Kahn and wr...

What leads an audience member to scream? Director Arthur Lubin struggles with this question in 1940's BLACK FRIDAY, starring Boris Karloff, Stanley Ridges, and Bela Lugosi (sort of). This gangster/mad scientist horror flick montages its way across your screens for this week's Scream Scene! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 13:24; Discussion 20:05; Ranking 39:07

Introducing the one and only Vincent Price to the show is THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS (1940), directed by Joe May and co-starring Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Nan Grey. As the invisibility returns, will too the madness? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 25:14; Discussion 33:08; Ranking 48:26

Your deadicated hosts encounter Humphrey Bogart in his only horror film! It’s 1939’s THE RETURN OF DOCTOR X, directed by Vincent Sherman, and starring Wayne Morris, Rosemary Lane, our man Bogie, and Dennis Morgan. This sci fi horror flick has much in store, including some second-hand embarrassment… Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 24:20; Discussion 32:01; Ranking 47:17

What happens when you mix Scotland Yard, Bela Lugosi, and author Edgar Wallace together? Why, the police procedural thriller THE DARK EYES OF LONDON (1939) from director Walter Summers! It received the H rating for 'Horrific' upon release, but is it really? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 22:39; Discussion 28:30; Ranking 44:45

Victor Halperin returns to Scream Scene with 1939's TORTURE SHIP! This horror film offers a terrifying premise, but listen in to see how stars Lyle Talbot, Irving Pichel, and Jacqueline Wells fare on these choppy waters... Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 15:28; Discussion 24:40; Ranking 34:11

Monitor your heart palpitations for Karloff's 1939 THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG, featuring the fantastical notion of on-pump heart surgery! This science fiction old dark house horror flick is directed by Nick Grinde and co-starring Lorna Gray and Robert Wilcox. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 23:30; Discussion 26:35; Ranking 49:12

Peer through the window pane for Tod Slaughter and George King's THE FACE AT THE WINDOW (1939), another Victorian horror film? Well, your deadicated hosts duke it out over whether this adaptation of the stage melodrama fits the bill or not. Just what does this vintage thriller have in store? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 18:37; Discussion 24:39; Ranking 35:02

Horror returns after a three-year gap with 1939's SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, directed by Rowland Lee. What changed in America that Universal Studios was willing to raise this dead genre? How far does this apple fall from the Frankenstein tree? And how do Basil Rathbone, Lionel Atwill, and Bela Lugosi stand in comparison to Boris Karloff as the Monster? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 38:59; Discussion 4...

It's the last horror flick before the three year break the world took from horror between 1936 to 1939... Boris Karloff stars in THE MAN WHO CHANGED HIS MIND (1936), from director Robert Stevenson. We share what caused film industries around the world to change their mind about horror as we review this film from Gainsborough Pictures. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 14:48; Discussion 20:21; Rankin...

Your deadicated hosts cover Eddie Mannix, A Merritt, and more in the last horror film from Tod Browning: THE DEVIL-DOLL (1936)! With giant over-sized props, a dark family drama, and a cross-dressing toymaker, this film is anything but boring. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 16:35; Discussion 27:13; Ranking 41:38

The Halperin Brothers return in the 1936 independent American horror film REVOLT OF THE ZOMBIES! Hoping to return to their WHITE ZOMBIE success, the Halperins head to... Cambodia? To look for... zombies?? In the midst of a... love triangle??? Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 29:27; Discussion 37:45; Ranking 46:40

Your deadicated hosts dive into the demise of the Laemmle Family and the last gasp of the American horror boom... all this and more in the very complicated background of Lambert Hillyer's 1936 DRACULA'S DAUGHTER! Just what is vampirism being used as a metaphor for? From queerness to mental health to addiction, the lines are blurry but your hosts set themselves to the task of figuring it out. Conte...

Born-for-the-role Tod Slaughter stars in this 1936 Quota Quickie adaptation of SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET, directed by George King! Featuring a lively discussion of Penny Dreadfuls, British Quota Quickies, and Victorian literary genre conventions. Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 27:08; Discussion 35:16; Ranking 55:12

The Warner Brothers try their hand at horror yet again with 1936's THE WALKING DEAD starring show favourite Boris Karloff and directed by Michael Curtiz. See just what this film noir-prototype has to offer... Hint: it's not zombies! Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 23:55; Discussion 30:29; Ranking 54:14