The Devil's Workshop

Put on your straw hats and overalls and throw away that toothbrush, folks, because we're headed to the West Virginia mountains for Rob Schmidt's Wrong Turn (2003) . Listen as Katy tries to flesh out the thin as a whisper conceit behind this movie, while Nik takes a movie that is completely contemptuous of southern and rural people and makes it even more exploitative! Workshop begins at 10:47.  Rev...

We're hitting the grimy streets of late-80s New York City to investigate a very upset public servant in William Lustig's  Maniac Cop (1988) . Listen as both Nik and Katy play the role of good cop for a movie that misses the mark - but only just barely - as we attempt to revise the movie from a flawed gem to a would-be slasher masterpiece.  Workshop begins at 9:37.  Revisions begin at 1:02:37. E-ma...

This episode we crash land in flyover country to ask the question, "What if Superman sucked?" with David Yarovesky's  Brightburn (2019) ! Listen to Nik and Katy grab our utility belts and don our super suits to fight the real villain of this story - the screenplay.  Workshop begins at 7:17.  Revisions begin at 42:13.  E-mail us at thedevilsworkshoppod@gmail.com .  Find us on Instagram: https://www...

If you thought The Wolfman wasn't self-serious and vapid enough, then boy do we have the movie for you! It's From Hell (2001) ! Listen as Katy physically restrains herself from bringing up the (much better) Alan Moore comic from which the movie is adapted, then "Awww

We see and hear a lot of evil on this podcast, but we'll speak no evil about the brilliant and underappreciated Monkey Shines (1988)! Cheer as Nik cuts this badboy down to a tight 90, then put that cheer in reverse as Katy makes this movie the psychosexual nightmare it longs to be. Which approach will come out on top? Only you can decide. Workshop begins at 20:33.  Revisions begin at 1:08:04.  E-m...

A friend of a friend of my cousin's babysitter told me that this episode, we're covering Urban Legend (1998). Listen as we chant the name "Wes Craven" into a mirror three times, hoping a better movie will appear!  Workshop begins a t 10:50.  Revisions begin at 1:19:53.  E-mail us at thedevilsworkshoppod@gmail.com .  Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ thedevilsworkshoppod/ And Bluesky...

This episode we don our top hats and straitjackets as we're involuntarily committed to Joe Johnston's troubled remake,  The Wolfman (2010). Werewolves are such rich fodder for metaphor and the filmmakers made perhaps the bravest choice which was to make no choice at all. Listen to us try to pack some meaning into this violent transformation.  Workshop begins at 12:46.  Revisions begin at 1:11:06. ...

It's back to 1941 as we climb the Carpathian mountains for Michael Mann's would-be masterpiece, The Keep (1983). Come to hear Nik read history's longest tagline - stay to hear Katy try to fix World War II.  Workshop begins at 13:02.  Revisions begin at 1:18:47.  E-mail us at thedevilsworkshoppod@gmail.com .  Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ thedevilsworkshoppod/ And Bluesky! https:...

We're headed back to Nik's awkward high school years for Geoffrey Wright's Cherry Falls (2000)! Listen as we do everything we can to make sure this episode - nay, this entire podcast - is never monetizable!  Workshop begins at 9:00.  Revisions begin at 1:27:37.  E-mail us at thedevilsworkshoppod@gmail.com .  Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ thedevilsworkshoppod/ And Bluesky! https:...

We have orders to head to an Alabama military base to witness the high speed collapse of the blended family in Abel Ferrara's Body Snatchers (1993) .  Listen as we spend an hour gushing over what is undoubtedly the best movie we've so far featured on this podcast - a refreshing change from the abject stupidity of A Cure for Wellness - then enjoy our feckless struggle over how best to gild this par...

We're checking ourselves into the Swiss Alps for a dose of Gore Verbinski's visual feast,  A Cure for Wellness (2016) - an appopriately timed subject not because Verbinski's next movie is out in theaters right now (Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die) but because Nik has a sinus infection while recording it. Listen to him get worse throughout the episode and laugh at his pain!  Workshop begins at 11:38...

We're heading back to the 80s to survive the apocalypse with Regina and Samantha Belmont in the dusty, red-tinted world of  Night of the Comet (1984) .  Listen to us agree that there are tonal problems, and then pick a side as to whether the movie needs to stay heightened and ridiculous or become more somber. Choose carefully, because which side you take determines who gets custody of you in the d...

We're doing a postmortem on Johannes Roberts' Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) . As fans of the Capcom source material, we appreciate the 90s setting and the 1:1 recreation of the R.P.D., but as writers, we have to ask: can you really cram two legendary games into one 107-minute script without catching a case of narrative whiplash? Workshop begins at 12:27.  Revisions begin at 1:14:02...

It's Hannibal (2001)! Workshop begins at 25:52.  Revisions begin at 1:52:07.  E-mail us at thedevilsworkshoppod@gmail.com .  Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ thedevilsworkshoppod/ And Bluesky! https://bsky.app/profile/ thedevilsworkshop.bsky.social Theme music by Nihilore.  Dark Horror Opener by Arctsound --  https://pixabay.com/music/suspense-dark-horror-opener-242644/   Ethereal...

It's The Frighteners (1996)! Workshop begins at 12:07.  Revisions begin at 1:08:05.  E-mail us at thedevilsworkshoppod@gmail.com .  Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ thedevilsworkshoppod/ And Bluesky! https://bsky.app/profile/ thedevilsworkshop.bsky.social Theme music by Nihilore.  Dark Horror Opener by Arctsound --  https://pixabay.com/music/suspense-dark-horror-opener-242644/   Et...

It's Ghost Story (1981)! Workshop begins at 7:58. Revisions begin at 1:33:23.  E-mail us at thedevilsworkshoppod@gmail.com .  Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ thedevilsworkshoppod/ And Bluesky! https://bsky.app/profile/ thedevilsworkshop.bsky.social Theme music by Nihilore.  Dark Horror Opener by Arctsound --  https://pixabay.com/music/suspense-dark-horror-opener-242644/   Ethereal...

It's Vampires (1998)! Workshop begins at 10:31.  Revisions begin at 1:16:05.  E-mail us at thedevilsworkshoppod@gmail.com .  Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ thedevilsworkshoppod/ And Bluesky! https://bsky.app/profile/ thedevilsworkshop.bsky.social Theme music by Nihilore.  Dark Horror Opener by Arctsound --  https://pixabay.com/music/suspense-dark-horror-opener-242644/   Ethereal...

It's Leprechaun (1993)! Workshop begins at 8:15.  Revisions begin at 1:04:03.  E-mail us at thedevilsworkshoppod@gmail.com .  Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ thedevilsworkshoppod/ And Bluesky! https://bsky.app/profile/ thedevilsworkshop.bsky.social Theme music by Nihilore.  Chime of Doom by Kostas17 -- https://freesound.org/s/538432/  -- License: Attribution 3.0 Ethereal Nightmare...

Join English grads (and husband and wife duo) Nik Oliver, MFA and Katy Oliver, PhD as they bring a literary twist to horror movie analysis. Using the Iowa Writers' Workshop model, they discuss and critique the storytelling in beloved but flawed horror films. Then, each of them attempts to fix the movie's flaws by writing a new revised draft of the story. For the inaugural episode, it's Night of th...