The Scariest Things

It has become a Summer tradition: The Scariest Things joins forces with our Podcasting sisters from the East Coast, The Jersey Ghouls , to do some summer school homework. This year’s assignment from Liz was to spin the Wheel of Misfortune and receive a Horror Movie Studio. We then were to report back on their history and legacy, along with some recommendations. It was an education for us, an...

Witching and Bitching (2013) When considering foreign language horror, do not sleep on Spanish productions. It’s not usually the first stop in horror, with French Extremism, Italian Giallo, and J-Horror often getting the most notoriety. There are some legendary titles from Latin America that you should consider. In Episode 186, the Scariest Things gives you nine titles worthy of a watch. The...

Caroline Menton, Carolyn Bracken, and the Wooden Man from Oddity (2024) Oddity is the scariest horror movie of 2024. It crushed the film festival circuit, drawing acclaim at SXSW, Overlook, BiFan, and Fantasia Fest. The director, Damian McCarthy, took some time to talk with The Scariest Things to tell us about how he crafted the surprise horror hit of the year. Pay attention, horror fans. Oddity s...

The 2024 Thingy Awards! The 2024 Thingy Awards! It is time for the Mid-Year Scariest Things grand celebration: Once again, we surveyed and received votes from our favorite fans and industry contacts to determine the best horror movies of last year. If there were a couple of themes from last year: Possession and Australia. We got a lot of both in 2023, and it was GOOD. It was one of the best years...

Kia Dorsey in Ghost Game (2024) Intensity 🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 Directed by Jill Gevargizian Written by Adam Cesare In Ghost Game , a trio of mischief-makers stakes out an old manor with a dark legend surrounding it. Their goal: stay in the house without the new residents discovering them. Internal relationship conflicts, a disturbed resident family, and the potential of a supernatural haunt upen...

Alexandra Pica plays both Genevieve and Stevie in a dual role in Did I? (2024) Look carefully: this is a VERY clever image. Intensity: 🩸🩸out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸, with sexual assault trigger warnings. Directed by Sarah Tice Written by Sarah Tice and Zachary Beckler DID I? , the winner of the Portland Horror Film Festival’s Goule D’Or (Best Feature in Festival) Award, takes an honest approac...

Mike Capes and David Shackleford (in the Dino Suit) star in The Invisible Raptor (2024) Intensity: 🩸🩸🩸out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 for copious comic gore Directed by Mike Hermosa Written by Johnny Wickham and Mike Capes The Invisible Raptor is a crowd-pleaser, plain and simple. This spoof of Jurassic Park flips the script on the behemoth tentpole franchise by not trying to do digital dinosaurs at all. Ins...

Barbara Steele in Black Sunday (1960) It was a dark and stormy night! Prepare to enter the foggy moor with The Scariest Things as we discuss the genre’s roots in Gothic Horror, the ornate and narratively complex origins of horror film. The roots of horror films go straight to Gothic Horror. The adaptations of 1930s films used the literature of the 19th century for their horror references. Go...

Prequel, Sequel, and Reboot – The Omen has them all! It has become something of a Hollywood crutch. The cynical amongst us consider prequels, sequels, and reboots to be lazy storytelling. Franchise horror comes in all forms. When obvious profits are predicted, big-budget studio films and straight-to-streaming B-movies fall into the same formula. Rinse, repeat, and rinse again. We think we ca...

At the Overlook Film Festival, The Scariest Things caught up with up-and-coming director John Rosman, who was on hand to present his debut feature film New Life. This thriller was a sleeper surprise at the festival. A political thriller that morphs into a toe-curling body horror show halfway through. The film is in limited theatrical release and can be streamed online now! When you go to a Horror...

April means going to New Orleans for one of the best genre film festivals in the world and one of our favorites: The Overlook Film Festival . This year was a challenge for the festival as the 2023 SGA and WGA strikes had a diminishing effect on studio releases, the fest managed to pull in some terrific foreign films, and the short films shined too. Overlook isn’t the biggest festival. By com...

Way back in June of 2023, The Scariest Things asked The Jersey Ghouls , Jackie and Marissa to play a game and spin the Wheel of Misfortune on Spooky Time Episode 18 . Foolishly, they said yes and we all discussed our misfortunate franchise results on Podcast Episodes 173 and 174. We asked them to come back again to spin the wheel and…they said yes! This time it’s a Wheel of FORTUNE as...

Horror on the High Seas: Blake Lively surfs among sharks in The Shallows (2016) Here, there be dragons! The deep ocean conjures up deep-seated fears. They call that Thalassophobia. It’s real, and it translates to the movies. The Scariest Things enters the life raft and examines ocean-born horror in Episode 182! Humans need the oceans, but we do not belong in them (unless you come from Micron...

The Scariest Things Podcast sat down with Diane to talk about her new film, horror comedy, Glenn Danzig, and her future horror projects!

Rick Grimes enters Atlanta in Season One of The Walking Dead (2010) Oh God, please don’t let the world end like this! The Scariest Things looks to the future of a dystopian world of the few surviving humans facing grim realities. Whether it’s our fault, or the zombie’s fault, or an alien incursion, or perhaps the Earth is just tired of us, this existential dread is the stuff that...

This is the greatest of the movies with “haunt” in the title… but we had to exclude The Haunting (1963) from our considerations. You have our apologies in advance. Mike challenged us to record a podcast discussing movies with “Haunting” or “Haunted” in the title. If you search “Haunting” in IMdB, there are well over 4000 films with that word in...

True Detective Season 4: Night Country – Review, evaluation, and easter eggs! True Detective Season 4: Night Country has just completed its run on MAX, and it is totally worth stealing your neighbor’s MAX… I mean, BUYING a month of MAX… to binge the series. As satisfying as it can be to binge a series, having this as a weekly water cooler show was a great way to build antic...

We use this to pick the Horror Movies We Are Looking Forward To in 2024! Pure Guesswork! The Scariest Things eagerly awaits the slate of films for 2024. We are thrilled to cast our eyes forward to the scary films to come. Sadly, if years prior are any indicator, our ability to spot the best of what is to come is unfortunately spotty. That isn’t to say that we won’t make the attempt to...

It’s time for that which you cannot avoid seeing: The Worst Horror Films of 2023! The Worst Horror Movies of 2023. It’s an unfortunate but needed exposure of what was awful in 2023. What is more unfortunate is that we had to watch these movies last year. You may consider this a warning. A red flag. But admit it, many of you like to kick a bad movie when it’s down. Our advice? Kic...

Talk To Me Godzilla Minus One When Evil Lurks Late Night With the Devil The Best Horror Films of 2023: Talk To Me, Godzilla Minus One, When Evil Lurks, and Late Night With the Devi l The Best Horror Movies of 2023: The Scariest Things writing team didn’t have a consensus #1 film, but all four of the films that reached the top spot are likely to become instant classics, remembered for decades...

The Horror Movies That Made Us: Liz picks The Dark Crystal (1982) Just How did a bunch of reprobates like the hosts of The Scariest Things become horror junkies? For Episode 176, we gathered to discuss our experiences watching movies to determine why we got into scary films. Gateway horror movies a plenty! When determining the movies that made us, it is all about context. Think back to your movie...

Southern Fried Horror: Slither (2004) Hey Y’all! Fire up the barbeque and grab some sweet tea. It’s time to take a trip down to SEC country to partake in some Southern Fried Horror! Loaded with folklore, charm, sweat, and boozy ambiance, Southern Horror offers languid and charming horror that doesn’t spare the bloodshed. That well-earned Southern Hospitality becomes a mask of dec...

The Wheel of Misfortune franchise horror discussion continues with the Jersey Ghouls! The wheel gives, and sometimes it gives you something kinda lame! Our joint session with Jacki and Marissa, The Jersey Ghouls, back on Spooky Time Episode 18, continues with the second half of our epic discussion. If you recall from Episode 1, each of the six participating podcasters spun The Wheel of Misfortune...

Anthony Cousins, Director of Frogman (2023) There is still some life in found footage horror. Anthony Cousins has delivered one of the best shaky cam offerings in many years. It helps to have an underappreciated new cryptid, the Frogman of Loveland Ohio. It’s a genuinely frightening film, in glorious low-res high-8 film. Anthony spent some time sharing his process with The Scariest Things. A...

It’s a Scariest Things and Jersey Ghouls mash-up when we spin the Wheel of Misfortune! Do you want to play a game? That is what we said to Jackie and Marissa, The Jersey Ghouls back on Spooky Time Episode 18 . The Ghouls joined The Scariest Things crew and we all spun the Wheel of Misfortune, ahhhhhhh! The Wheel had 42 (!) franchise options and after a nail-biting round of wheel spinning and...