Horrorspiria

In this episode, May and special guest Kayley DeLong, an expert in disability studies and dark tourism, break down the use of real-life penitentiaries in horror through the films Eloise and The Lost Episode.

In this episode, May sits down with Ariel Baska, founder of the film festival Access:Horror and accomplished horror filmmaker. Ariel and May explores the topic of medical gaslighting in horror through Ariel's own film, Our First Priority , as well as The Entity and A Cure for Wellness. There is also more information on Access:Horror in the episode, which takes place on July 8 & 9 virtually...

Horrorspiria is once again organizing film screenings in conjunction with Suns Cinema DC. The theme this summer is TROPIGOTH -- a collection of underseen films from Latin America. Clinton and May preview each film -- no spoilers! The series includes Diablo Rojo (PTY), Bacurau, and Santa Sangre. First screening is on June 28th!

In this episode, May and Clinton detail all the horror (and some non-horrors) of 2022 and rank some of their favorites, least favorites, tired tropes, and hopeful wishes. For a list of what films are discussed, please review the Horrorspiria Masterlist on Letterboxd . 

In this episode, May sits down with Dr. Valeria Villegas Lindvall, Senior Lecturer in the Aesthetics Unit at the University of Gothenburg. Valeria's dissertation, Wicked Women and Witches: Subversive Readings of the Female Monster in Mexican and Argentinian Horror Film , explores gendered monstrosity in Mexican and Argentinian visual culture: La Llorona and the bruja (witch), respectively. In this...

Horrorspiria is finally organizing our first film screenings in conjunction with Suns Cinema DC. This first showcase focuses on “queer fears” through the lens of The Lost Boys, Alucarda, and The Bloodettes. Clinton and May preview and expand on each film and their relationship to queerness. Come out on October 5, 19, and 26 to Suns Cinema in DC!

In this episode, May talks with film critic and author, Josephine Maria, about dance and horror films. They discuss ballet as a site of body horror through both versions of Suspiria (1977 & 2018) and The Red Shoes (1941) as well as more possibilities for horror and dance to fuse.  The episode is currently streaming on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker, PocketCasts,...

In this Spotlight episode, May sits down with Final Girls Film Festival Berlin founders, Sara and Eli, to learn more about the groundbreaking festival. Final Girls Film Festival showcases horror cinema that’s directed, written, or produced by women and non-binary filmmakers. The festival and its team is committed to creating space for female (trans-inclusive) voices and visions, whether monstrous,...

In this episode, May sits down with Amber, creator of the HornBloodFire podcast and a horror critic from the UK. Amber and May discuss one of their favorite foreign horror movements -- the J-Horror wave. In this episode, some films discussed are Onibaba, Hausu, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Ringu, Ju-On: The Grudge, Battle Royale, and more. The episode is currently streaming on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Goo...

In this episode, May and Clinton watch critically-acclaimed horrors around the world that they missed in 2021 — “critical leftovers.” May and Clinton discuss Gaia, The Boy Behind the Door, Malignant, Coming Home in the Dark, and Lamb. The episode is currently streaming on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker, PocketCasts, and RadioPublic.

In the first crossover episode for Horrorspiria, May interviews Jonny & Aileen, creators and hosts of  ¡UY QUE HORROR!, a Latinx horror movie podcast.  In this episode, Jonny & Aileen discuss the inspiration behind the podcast, their backgrounds spanning Brazil, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Honduras, and as a group, Jonny, Aileen, & May discuss the joys, traumas, and triumphs of s...

In this episode, May sits down with Amy Harris, PhD researcher and teacher from De Montfort University in Leicester, UK. Amy specializes in women-made British horror, a topic she has written about in the new anthology, Bloody Women: Women Directors of Horror , and what she studies as part of her dissertation. In this episode, Amy discusses the shifts and shapes of women-made British horror, includ...

In this episode, May talks with actor and aspiring filmmaker, Jazz Echevarría, about werewolves and werewolf films. Inspired by Craig Ian Mann's 2020 book, Phases of the Moon: A Cultural History of the Werewolf Film, May and Jazz try to grow an appreciation for the werewolf and their depiction in cinema since the 1940s. They discuss The Wolf Man, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, The Werewolf in Washingto...

In this episode, May sits down with Tuğçe Kutlu, PhD candidate, writer, and researcher from Ankara University. Tuğçe specializes in studying grief in horror, particularly Anglophone films, which is what she wrote her dissertation about. In this episode, Tuğçe explains her dissertation in depth, which looks at Midsommar, Hereditary, The Woman in Black, Pet Sematary, and The Babadook through the Küb...

In an episode from the 2021 vault, May and Clinton discuss horror-comedies as they relate to spoofs, parodies, and satires. To explain the concept, May and Clinton review Phantom of the Paradise, One Cut of the Dead, and What We Do in the Shadows (series). The episode is currently streaming on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker, PocketCasts, and RadioPublic.

Gabi comes on the podcast again to discuss mothers in horror. Intersections range from the monstrous feminine to queer appropriation in horror in our analysis and discussion of mother!, La Llorona, and The Babadook.  

In an episode from the 2020 vault, May and Clinton go through 3 Netflix series from India, South Korea, and Colombia. We discuss the themes and metaphors present in each of these historical-horror-themed series. We look at The Green Frontier, Kingdom, and Betaal. The episode is currently streaming on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker, PocketCasts, and RadioPublic.

In this episode, May sits down with Horrorspiria's first international guest, PhD candidate from University of Liverpool: Rhys Jones. Rhys specializes in studying the abject in horror, which has led him to many intersections of queer theory, psychoanalysis, and horror. In this episode, May and Rhys look at The Lighthouse, Raw, The Dragula Brothers, and Martyrs , to discuss queer sensibilities in h...

Black horror is Black history. In this episode, May gives a brief rundown of that history before sitting down with Black genre filmmaker and professor, Nikyatu Jusu. They talk about Nikyatu's upcoming work on her feature film, her Sundance-nominated vampire short, Suicide By Sunlight , but most of all, Nikyatu provides a unique perspective of actively working to make Black genre films in the 21st...

On this episode of Horrorspiria, Lisa comes back on the pod for an in-depth look at the film business. Also an academic at George Mason, Lisa is an independent film producer with a background ranging from anti-piracy law for major studios to microbudget productions, which is the majority of her work now. We discuss the nooks and crannies of all those complicated terms we creatives aren't super fon...

In our first episode of 2021, May sits down with Horrorspiria favorite and one of Maryland's pride and joys: Eric Allen Hatch. Known for his past as programmer at the Maryland Film Festival, his essays in various publications, and his cinema memes which have caught the retweets of the powerful and obscure, Eric goes into detail about how his "baby", Beyond Video, came to fruition and how it's been...

May and Clinton return to their (and America's) roots by looking at America's first wave of horror films: the Pre-Code era. This is where the monster movies started, this is where horror as a genre in American film history started; all while William Hays was feverishly trying to shut down avenues of filmmaking centered around these salacious topics. We look at four films from the era: Dr. Jekyll a...

Getting back in the analytical grind of things, May and Clinton discuss three international genre films with the theme of hunter vs hunted. The very essence of this theme is the foundation of slasher films, but what sets these three films apart is how the prey subverts the expectation of the predator. We look at three films made across the globe - Canada, France, and Brazi. In this episode, May an...

In our first bonus pod of 2020, May and Clinton discuss what they've been watching in quarantine. We have some genre picks, some TV picks, some book recommendations, some movie things: a little bit of everything that we're loving and hating. Stay safe everyone! Be back with a new episode by the end of May.

Happy International Women's Month! In our first quarantined episode, May and Clinton discuss four lesser-known female-directed horrors from the last 50 years. What does the female gaze look like in a typically misogynist genre? Does it exist? We look at four different films made in four very different decades in order to examine the nuance of the mythic lady-directed presence in genre cinema. In t...