No Darkness But Ours

Join Gemma Files and Simon Bestwick as they begin exploring this 2017 film from Argentina, in which a string of bizarre incidents in an ordinary city neighbourhood escalate to a nightmarish conclusion. The terror of the unknown, the fragility of all we know and love, and utter randomness of events that can unravel our whole world: it's all here in Demian Regna's - appropriately - terrifyin...

Lynda E. Rucker is one of the finest practitioners of weird fiction in contemporary horror, and the latest collection of her strange and subtle fiction, Now It’s Dark , is out now from Swan River Press. In the third of this four-part interview, she talks to Gemma and Simon about the creative process, the idea of fiction as dreaming with your eyes open and the importance of grounding the weird in t...

Lynda E. Rucker is one of the finest practitioners of weird fiction in contemporary horror, and the latest collection of her strange and subtle fiction, Now It’s Dark , is out now from Swan River Press. In the second of this four-part interview, she talks to Gemma and Simon about the double-edged nature of being part of a group, the hazards of social media and some of the fears that populate her w...

Lynda E. Rucker is one of the finest practitioners of weird fiction in contemporary horror, and the latest collection of her strange and subtle fiction, Now It’s Dark , is out now from Swan River Press. In the first of this four-part interview, she talks to Gemma and Simon about the influence of Robert Aickman, the role of horror fiction, the folk horror film Ynys Men , and the power of the ambigu...

The 1973 television play Penda’s Fen , written by David Rudkin is an extraordinary work that still unsettles, beguiles and astonishes fifty years after it was made, and stands as a classic of folk horror. It revolves around a series of revelations and supernatural encounters that lead a teenage boy, Stephen Franklin, to question everything he’s holds certain – his sexuality, his religion, his righ...

The 1973 television play Penda’s Fen , written by David Rudkin is an extraordinary work that still unsettles, beguiles and astonishes fifty years after it was made, and stands as a classic of folk horror. Last week, we looked at how its teenage protagonist is forced to recognise and accept his true sexuality; tonight, in the second of three episodes, we look at how the visions and revelations he e...

In the third instalment of this podcast, Gemma and Simon look at the queer horror fiction of Vernon Lee, Marjorie Bowen and Louisa May Alcott, and the bleak fictional portrayals of female queerness and sexuality in a world which denied those women any possibility of a happy ending. Want to support our podcast? Make a one-off donation via our Ko-fi page: https://ko-fi.com/nodarknessbutourspodcast F...

The 1973 television play Penda’s Fen , written by David Rudkin, is an extraordinary work that still unsettles, beguiles and astonishes fifty years after it was made, and stands as a classic of folk horror. In the first of three episodes, we discuss how its teenage protagonist experiences a series of visions and revelations that ultimately call everything he believes about himself into question. Mu...

A sample of some of our subscriber-only content - a deep-dive review of Ben Wheatley's 'In The Earth.' To hear the whole thing, subscribe via one of the links below:   Anchor: (audio only) https://anchor.fm/no-darkness-but-ours/subscribe Patreon (for video) https://www.patreon.com/nodarknessbutours  Music: Come Play with Me Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons:...

In the final part of this subscribers-only podcast, Gemma Files and Simon Bestwick conclude their deep dive into Ben Wheatley's film In The Earth . Filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic and set at the height of it, this eerie, beautiful and hallucinatory work of folk horror is a feast for horror fans, holding echoes of Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood and Nigel Kneale's The Stone Tape and tinged with...

Stories about, by or for queer women have been a part of the horror genre from the beginning, not least in one of the classic vampire stories, J. Sheridan le Fanu’s Carmilla , which Gemma and Simon take as their starting point in the first of four episodes exploring the topic of Lesbian Horror. Want to support our podcast? Make a one-off donation via our Ko-fi page: https://ko-fi.com/nodarknessbut...

In the second part of this subscribers-only podcast, Gemma Files and Simon Bestwick continue their deep dive into Ben Wheatley's film In The Earth . Filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic and set at the height of it, this eerie, beautiful and hallucinatory work of folk horror is a feast for horror fans, holding echoes of Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood and Nigel Kneale's The Stone Tape and tinged wit...

In the first part of this subscribers-only podcast, Gemma Files and Simon Bestwick begin a deep dive into Ben Wheatley's film In The Earth . Filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic and set at the height of it, this eerie, beautiful and hallucinatory work of folk horror is a feast for horror fans, holding echoes of Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood and Nigel Kneale's The Stone Tape and tinged with dark h...

A quick message from Simon about the shape of things to come here at No Darkness But Ours Music: Come Play with Me Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ https://anchor.fm/no-darkness-but-ours/subscribe https://www.patreon.com/nodarknessbutours

Weird fiction author Laird Barron is currently ill in the US, and has no health insurance. John Langan joins Simon to bring us up to date on Laird's progress, and on the GoFundMe set up to fund his medical care. Link to the GoFundMe here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/laird-barron-hospital-costs-medication-costs/donate (Apologies for my gormless face taking up half the screen - I thought I'd minimise...

Following on from their episodes on Queer Horror, in this special edition of the podcast Gemma and Simon interview Hailey Piper, author of The Worm And His Kings, The Possession of Natalie Glasgow, No Gods For Drowning and the forthcoming A Light Most Hateful about her own original and compelling brand of weird fiction. Want to support our podcast? Make a one-off donation via our Ko-fi page: https...

In the first of three podcasts on Queer Horror, Gemma Files and Simon Bestwick discuss the proposition that all horror is queer, as it concerns by its nature life outside the default, their own relationship to that default and how that's shaped their own work. Ti West's X , the morality of slasher films and fatphobia all come under scrutiny, along with where the line between representation and app...

In the final part of their overview of Queer Horror, Gemma Files and Simon Bestwick turn their attention to more recent creators of Queer Horror such as David Rudkin, Joel Lane, Clive Barker and Michael McDowell, and discuss the power of sexuality as a force of both liberation and destruction. Come and join us in the shadows... Want to support our podcast? Make a one-off donation via our Ko-fi pag...

In the second part of their Queer Horror podcast, Gemma Files and Simon Bestwick discuss the work of new and emerging contemporary horror authors like Paula Ashe, Hailey Piper and Eric LaRocca, along with queerness in classic horror texts such as Dracula and the works of Lovecraft. And much, much more. Do please join us.... Want to support our podcast? Make a one-off donation via our Ko-fi page: h...

In this special Christmas edition of the podcast, Gemma and Simon each read a ghost story. YOL by Gemma and JARMAN'S GHOST by Simon are two very different, but equally haunting, tales of terror to listen to on Christmas Eve. Happy Holidays to all our listeners! Want to support our podcast? Make a one-off donation via our Ko-fi page: https://ko-fi.com/nodarknessbutourspodcast For sneak previews of...

Join Gemma and Simon as they talk to George Popov and Dan Oldroyd, the director and star of the superb folk-horror films HEX and THE DROVING, about the movies and the SIDEWORLD series of documentaries. Want to support our podcast? Make a one-off donation via our Ko-fi page: https://ko-fi.com/nodarknessbutourspodcast For sneak previews of future episodes and exclusive bonus content, subscribe to: O...

Join Gemma and Simon as they talk to the director and star of the superb folk-horror films HEX and THE DROVING about the movies and the SIDEWORLD series of documentaries. Want to support our podcast? Make a one-off donation via our Ko-fi page: https://ko-fi.com/nodarknessbutourspodcast For sneak previews of future episodes and exclusive bonus content, subscribe to: Our Patreon: https://www.patreon...

In the final part of their exploration of folk horror, Gemma Files and Simon Bestwick discuss vampires and werewolves as serial killers, the case for Straw Dogs as a folk-horror movie, the 'colonial horror' of 'The Gorge of the Churels,' the genius of Saki in 'Sredni Vashtar' and of David Rudkin in Penda's Fen , and much much more besides. Coming soon, the duo will be delving into the world of Que...

Celtic mythology, Alan Garner, Martin Cruz Smith lesser-known folk-horror classics, colonial horror and George Popov's The Droving all come under the scrutiny of Gemma Files and Simon Bestwick in their ongoing discussion of folk horror. Come pull up a chair and listen in. Want to support our podcast? Make a one-off donation via our Ko-fi page: https://ko-fi.com/nodarknessbutourspodcast For sneak p...

As Halloween approaches, join Gemma Files and Simon Bestwick in the first of a three-part investigation of folk horror. In the first episode, they grope towards a definition of folk horror, looking at the 'unholy trinity' of The Wicker Man, Blood On Satan's Claw and Witchfinder General and then further afield...  Want to support our podcast? Make a one-off donation via our Ko-fi page: https:/...