Fear of the Dark

On this episode of Fear of the Dark, Stacey and Matthew talk about Midsommar, the 2021 broad-daylight horror film directed by Ari Aster that came out six years ago this month. The film stars Florence Pugh as Dani, a young woman who has just tragically lost her immediate family and decides to join her boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor), and a handful of other doctoral students on an extended stay a...

Do you know the thought experiment of Mary in a black and white room? Join Matthew and Stacey as they discuss Ex Machina, the 2014 sci-fi thriller starring Alicia Vikander as an android named Ava, who is put to the Turing test by a programmer (Domhnall Gleeson) under the watchful supervision of his CEO (Oscar Isaac). We chat about binary gender constructs, aspirations to the heteronormative human,...

On this episode, Matthew and Stacey discuss the newest installment in the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus (2024), where a group of human space colonists and one android attempt to escape their planet. Tune in as we talk about the juggling act of horror in this film, from the figure of the Black android to anxieties around monstrous futurity. Film: Alien: Romulus (Fede Álvarez, 2024) Intro Music: “...

Stacey and Matthew have been pushing too many pencils… On this mini-episode, we talk about the 1987 classic, Predator. Join us as we chat about how music transforms the setting of the film and if the Predator’s “color blindness” might have more than one meaning.   Film: Predator (John McTiernan, 1987) Intro Music: “The Army of You” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive) Outro Music: “Late Night...

On this episode of Fear of the Dark, Matthew and Stacey talk about the 2005 film The Descent, which follows a group of women who go on a caving trip in Appalachia in honor of one of their friends who has recently passed. We ask ourselves: where does the true horror of this film really lie? Is it with the blind, cryptid crawlers who hunt the women as they search for an escape from the collapsed cav...

In this mini-episode of Fear of the Dark, Stacey and Matthew follow up on the previous episode with a short conversation on Robert Eggers’ 2024 adaptation of Nosferatu. Join us for a not-so-sympathetic take on this particular rendition of the vampire’s legacy.   Film: Nosferatu (Robert Eggers, 2024) Theme Music: “Play the Game” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive) Fear of the Dark is a film po...

In this episode, Matthew and Stacey sit down to talk about Werner Herzog’s 1979 Nosferatu and how the process of adaptation integrates both new and old conceptions of the Other.   Film: Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1979) Theme Music: “Play the Game” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive) Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror, hosted by Dr. Matthew Vernon and Stacey Ba...

In the first episode of Fear of the Dark, Stacey and Matthew talk about Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s 2025 supernatural horror film. Met with immediate critical acclaim, it stars Michael B. Jordan as identical twins Smoke and Stack, whose Mississippi juke joint gets terrorized by vampires on opening night. Is Sinners really a horror film? What is the role of memory and sentimentality in its broader narr...

They’re here…! And by “they” we mean “us.” Welcome to Fear of the Dark, a podcast on race and horror with Dr. Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran. In this brief trailer, we share a little bit about who we are, our approaches to talking about film, and who we hope is listening. Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror. Hosted by Dr. Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran.