Quiet Little Horrors

Sometimes even we want a break from the unrelenting horrors. We decided to mix it up just a bit and have some fun with the slapstick supernatural noir/horror comedy that is 1992's Death Becomes Her. Don't worry, it's still got plenty of darkness to dissect. But it also has a bunch of amazing women we love to watch and also a herd of manservants, so that's nice.

The "woman trapped in 70s psychological horror" well never runs dry for us. We go back for a low-key classic of the genre, 1971's Let's Scare Jessica to Death . We cover: folk horror, vampires, lesbians, and the weirdest instrument case ever made.

When you're up for a bad time, Kiyoshi Kurosawa always comes through. We discuss the "tortured detective pursues a serial killer and finds an existential crisis" tale that is Kurosawa's 1997 masterpiece Cure .

Strap in, there's a lot to cover in director Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! We like its moxie, but are mixed on its results. Highlights include: the modern depiction of Frankie, Jessie Buckley's ferocity, and the unequivocal support for messy and mad women.

We haven't covered many 90s horror movies because they tended to be not subtle or ... good. But Stir of Echoes is something of an overlooked psychological horror gem, in a 90s, blue-collar, Kevin Bacon sort of way. Join us for a discussion about themes of social commentary ahead of their time, indie queen Illeana Douglas and how we definitely can't afford a house in that neighborhood of Chicago an...

We tackle our first documentary with The Last Sacrifice , a sprawling look at the 1945 murder that inspired the story behind The Wicker Man and, by extension, the folk horror film genre and modern paganism. Like the doc, our discussion moves from the inciting incident and into why we think stories like these endure. Also, a moment of silence for never getting the opportunity to be 1970s witches.

We found the ideal "quiet little horror as giallo"—1976's The House with Laughing Windows . We discuss weird Italian towns, brightly-lit attics, and this film's overlap with folk horror. Also: what's in that bag?

In which we continue our Powell and Pressburger coverage and identity three primary life lessons: men should wear more shorts, don't repress your emotions and thus lose your mind, and no colonialism. Let's talk about Black Narcissus .

Ambition, Technicolor, fairy tales, how to be an artist in an unforgiving society, and terrible, terrible men. Let's talk about Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes .

This episode is the all about the hallucinatory Technicolor, Japanese ghost story anthology film Kwaidan . We discuss the film's theatrical style, the enduring power of folklore and why you probably shouldn't marry strange women you meet in snowy woods.

Tio Guillermo finally got his passion project Frankenstein on the screen and we have thoughts. We talk about the adaptation's cinematic legacy, the story's historical origins and all the details of Oscar Isaac's obsessive, villainous character study.

We close another year and our sixth full season with a list of our favorite episodes and films from 2025, as well as what we're looking forward to in 2026. Thanks for listening and happy new year!

The end of the year seems like a good time for a surrealistic descent into paranoia and madness, so let's watch 1976's The Tenant . We're joined this time by friend of the podcast Michael Fogus to discuss the novel from which the film was adapted, themes of social conformity and identity, and why Isabelle Adjani is just the best. 

Things we like: difficult women, slices of the early 2000s, and weird little films turned cult classics. Therefore, we like director Lucky McKee's 2002 film debut May . In this episode, we discuss the unique tone, story and antiheroine of this horrifically offbeat character study.

It's Robert Altman season at QLH. We discussed his film Images a few seasons ago and it's about time we circle back to the other two films in his "woman-focused" trilogy: That Cold Day in the Park and 3 Women . We cover: dream states, women's madness, power dynamics, doubles, different dimensions and how our favorite Altman films are possibly the least Altman-esque of the bunch.

Happy Halloween! We celebrate with the latest from director Oz Perkins, The Monkey —which swerves a bit from his usual tone, and our usual subject matter, but we found a lens that snaps both into focus. We discuss Stephen King adaptations, the absurdity of death, and how both horror and comedy prepare us to face life.

Yet another entry in the "teenage girls are terrifying" files with Peter Jackson's fictionalized tale of New Zealand's most infamous real murderesses in Heavenly Creatures . We discuss the intensity of girls' imaginations and friendships, the dangers of emotional repression and why we don't discuss what a great movie this is more often.

As Americans, we don't really get the whole British boarding school deal, but apparently at one point they were full of facades and jealousy, teenage girls bonding and bullying, and Eva Green being fabulous but also maybe unhinged. Cracks didn't make much impact on its release in 2007, but we make the case for its reappreciation.

We thought we'd take an episode to look at the work of the recently departed David Lynch and each of us brought one of our favorites to talk about:  Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and Mulholland Drive . Just a bunch of women trying to figure out what's real and what's not and how to live with it anyway, so if that's your idea of a good time, come on in.

We love it when a film hits squarely in our personal center of interest and Aislinn Clarke nailed it. We discuss Fréwaka and its themes of historical and generational trauma, women at the mercy of fate, and some good old-fashioned evil fae.

We're perpetually here for a bad time and there are few worse times than Antichrist . Join us for a discussion about Lars von Trier, excavations of cultural misogyny and pretty much all the content warnings.

Bergman March continues with what is often regarded as Ingmar Bergman's only "real" horror film. We might dispute it's his only one, but not that this one goes to some horrific places. We discuss the figure of the tortured, self-absorbed artist, women's sustaining labor and if it's possible for artists to make the right bargains with the world.

What wouldn't brighten the tail end of winter but some profound psychological chaos, despair and dread? So we're taking on a couple of Ingmar Bergman films, beginning with 1972's Cries and Whispers . We discuss the brilliant color cinematography of Sven Nykvist, the complex bonds between women and seeking freedom in the liminal spaces between life and death. You know, nice, lighthearted spring far...

We're not done with vampires yet. After sharing our favorites, we discovered that each host had one film on her list that the other had not seen and that the two films seemed oddly complementary: I Like Bats and Martin . So we both caught up and circled back to discuss two of the strangest and most psychological films in the vampire canon.

After Nosferatu , we wanted to keep talking about vampires—but there were so many movies to pick from that, instead of choosing only one or two, we each brought a whole darn list. So enjoy as we discuss A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Daughters of Darkness , Thirst , Habit , The Addiction , My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To and all the other best offbeat vampires that movies have to offe...