Ghouls Next Door

Slash/Back is part coming-of-age, part John Carpenter’s The Thing, with a sprinkling of Attack the Block and all heart. While fighting alien invaders, these girls learn to love and fight for their culture, their home, and their identity. Gabe shares thoughts from the creator and cherishes new stories like these. A playful homage to horror while educating, love it! Kat shares information on the unc...

CAM is a truly haunting film that gets increasingly more uncomfortable and terrifying in ways certain content creators and femme-presenting people can feel at their core. The film follows camgirl Alice, a charming creator who specializes in intense but memorable “experiences” for her fans. After making her way to the top of the camgirl charts, her account and identity are stolen by someone wearing...

As part of our New Year, New Me series Ghouls are talking about the intense pressures of society and the beauty industry. Episode 4 of Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities , The Outside, is a bizarre film about how completely undone we can become while pursuing a more perfect outside. Gabe discusses the film's messaging, peculiar approach, and the webcomic it was inspired by. Kat explores t...

Our incarceration system is truly horrific. Gabe talks with two people working to change the broken system. Our first guest is Tyree Wallace, currently incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. Tyree is the founder of the MANN UP Association, a peer support and empowerment group that does work both inside the walls of SCI Phoenix and on the outside to help those preparing for release. He is also...

The horrors of the incarceration system are so robust and complex that there’s truly no one answer the problem. There is no end to what we could cover in this episode. It’s been a really difficult episode to plan for. In a two-part special, Ghouls are discussing the horrors of our mass incarceration system. Gabe explores the many issues and offers an abundance of documentary suggestions while also...

Ghouls are exploring the fictional and real-life towns on fire. Gabe explores Carmen Maria Machado's Low Low Woods which tells the tale of Shudder-to-Think, Pennsylvania, and the terrible secrets brewing there. A story where sinkholes and towns on fire pale in comparison to the horrors of generational trauma. Kat covers the real-life Silent Hill inspiration, Centralia, PA. Surprisingly, the fact t...

Barbarian (2022) is a new horror film that explores many things including AirBnB woes and Detroit's Housing Crisis. Ghouls dive into this brilliant film and how it left them with much to unpack. Gabe explains the connections to Detroit's housing issues and Kat explores how we got here. What's haunting Detroit? Sources in this Episode: Barbarian Ending Explained: The Horrors and Resilience of Woman...

The internet is haunted! Ghouls are discussing the many horrifying things about the internet from cyberbullying, doxing, swatting, and more. They're covering Unfriended and Unfriended: Dark Web. Both films have some truly fun and creative deaths, each with its own unique villain. Tune in to learn just how important 2-factor authentication is! Sources in this episode: Unfriended: Dark Web wardrives...

Ghouls are chatting with Wi-Moto Nyoka, founder of Dusky Projects who participated in the first Halloween event at Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary to see how the haunted attraction all began. They're also talking to the Senior Live Entertainment Manager of Halloween Nights, EZ Kushin to see how far it's come. Creative spooky haunts and quality improvements abound. Have you attended the h...

2022 has been an excellent year for Horror content. The Ghouls chat about their favorite films from this year, what they're looking forward to watching as well as what games and books have brought them joy. Featuring conversations about: Bodies Bodies Bodies, Fresh, X, Nope, Prey, Pearl, Barbarian, Antlers, Smile, Hocus Pocus, the Midnight Club, Cabinet of Curiosities, All of Us are Dead, Stranger...

Ghouls have attended many haunted attractions and love a good scare. Hell House LLC is a found-footage horror franchise that plays with our love of Halloween-time activities. Gabe discusses the absurdity of the films and some of their more exciting horror points. But some "attractions" can't be called that at all and instead, seem more like torture chambers. Kat discusses the real-life "extreme ha...

Ghouls are discussing haunted people, more specifically how grief, isolation, and abandonment can haunt us. We cover The Others (2001) and A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) to explore how these films explore these ghosts. For both of these films, the horror is simply not knowing the extent to which our own minds will mend and twist reality so that we may, in some form, survive. Kat expands on all the s...

The Deep House follows a youtube couple who is known for exploring abandoned, creepy, and “haunted” places. They find themselves underwater, exploring an incredibly creepy house. Several red flags and warnings later, they become trapped. A fun found-footage-y film that triggered some of the Ghoul's fears (claustrophobia and underwater) but doesn't quite make it to our favorites list. Gabe has many...

Some houses are born bad. We say haunted but we mean the house has gone insane. Stephen King's TV mini-series, Rose Red, is a hidden gem. Rose Red is a perplexing architectural nightmare that feeds off of the energies and lives of its inhabitants. Gabe shares how Rose Red changed their horror life for the better and gives us a full kill count of this murderous house. Kat tells us about the Winches...

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Certain Dark Things is a neo-noir, thrilling adventure in an alternate Mexico City where vampires exist. Moreno-Garcia's vampires are unique, inspired by cultures and folklore. We follow Atl, an Aztec vampire, as she fights for freedom from the evil colonizer vampires alongside a charming young trash-picker, Domingo. Featuring colorful characters, lore, and an adventure, Cer...

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a talented writer with a knack for writing colorful, inspiring, and exciting stories no matter the genre. Kat tells us about Silvia's life and what drives her to write. Gabe shares information about the diverse books Silvia has written and how her existence in the genre fiction world has changed Gabe's reading life.  Sources in this Episode: How Silvia Moreno-Garcia's...

N.K. Jemisin had a haunting dream of a woman so stricken with grief and rage, that she moved mountains. That paired with a class by NASA on what would happen to the Earth if we lost the moon, inspired the first book of the Broken Earth trilogy. Gabe explores the world of the Stillness unpacking the heavy themes throughout the book. This one is gonna hurt. Kat explains the fate of the world if we l...

N.K. Jemisin is a talented and impactful writer of genre works. Inspired by dreams, society, and science, Jemisin builds fantastical worlds that mirror our own. Kat walks us through Jemisin's life, her history, and why we're so thankful this fellow nerd decided to finally pursue writing as a career. Gabe dives into Jemisin's inspirations, her dreams, and the recurring powerful themes in her work.&...

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is a harrowing near-future story that serves as a cautionary tale. We are like frogs slowly boiling in the water, what will it take to finally make moves to fight back? However, this warning seems to serve a very specific brand of woman. Ghouls discuss the impact of the book but also the negative effects of having such an important piece of literature that lac...

Margaret Atwood is an author of over 50 works. Well known for her feminist, dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale , she has a knack for predicting a grim future. Kat shares about Atwood's life, a bit about her influences, and more about her. Gabe covers the classic themes in Atwood's work and how she masterfully blends real-world scientific, political, and economic horrors with a terrifying future.&...

Octavia Butler's Earthseed series ( Parable of the Sower & Parable of the Talents ) paints a grim near future. Protagonist Lauren Oya Olemina fights to survive and prevail in this hellscape America plagued by religious extremists, rampant illiteracy, intense violence, and more. Lauren has found the true form of god, that of change and seeks to share the words of Earthseed: the books of the liv...

Octavia Butler is a staple of science fiction and Afrofuturism. Octavia looked to highlight the horrors of our present world’s oppressive systems. She tackled slavery, white supremacy, capitalism, climate change, fascism, religious fundamentalism, and more. She has been called the mother of Afrofuturism and has inspired many Black science fiction writers today.  Kat talks about her history an...

Titane is a film about human evolution, identity, and connection. This unique film is so much more than you'd imagine. Gabe talks about found family, genderfluidity, and our intimate connection with technology. Kat shares resources for queer youth and other information to make you an even better ally. Sources in this Episode: What TITANE is really about | Explained Titane Prove No One Has a Body t...

Ti West's X (2022) is a fun slasher film featuring sex-positive protagonists trying to make a film, live their lives, and take advantage of their youth. While filming their X-rated film, these X-Factor hot humans encounter evil and gore galore. Gabe unpacks the slasher's themes and amazing filmmaking that seem to parrot very real tension around sexual activity today. There is definitely a generati...

Rosemary's Baby is a classic horror film with a large impact on the genre. But does it do more harm than good? This film tells the story of a world without hope or feminism. Gabe discusses how we can't separate art from the artist. Kat explains the need for intersectional feminism. Sources in this Episode: Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby: Patriarchy Without Feminism Is Hell Rosemary's Baby, Reproducti...