The Scariest Things

Jeremy Cohen and the Sweet 16 Killer! Just in time for Halloween, Liz sat down and chatted with film and television editor, Jeremy Cohen to talk about his most recent project Totally Killer ! Jeremy has worked on numerous film and television projects and reunited with director Nahnatchka Khan on Totally Killer . The film is a pitch perfect time travel horror comedy staring Kiernan Shipka , as Jami...

USC Film School Professor, and Glorious Director, Rebekah McKendry Dr. Rebekah McKendry has a unique perspective of the film industry, having carved an unusual path to becoming a director of horror movies. She came up through the marketing ranks at Fangoria and then Blumhouse, directing horror shorts on the side. Following that, she has spent the last seven years as a film professor at USC’s...

The Screenplay Works of Dennis Paoli: Suitable Flesh, Re-Animator, Dagon, and From Beyond Two movements in the 1980s helped elevate the works of H.P. Lovecraft to an unsuspecting public. The first was the Chaosium role-playing game, The Call of Cthulhu. It was a game that pitted daring investigators against unspeakable horrors of the Lovecraftian Mythos. The second was the collaborative movie effo...

We’ve got a full house, and are fully loaded with reviews, previews, and news of upcoming genre materials. In this week’s Spooky Time: Liz is back from Fantastic Fest , where she saw lots of really promising films in her weekend jaunt. Check our site for all the Fantastic Fest film reviews! It’s the season for a good horror novel. Liz has been accumulating a bunch of great ones,...

What is the scariest place you have ever been? Liz Williams may have you topped. In this duet of a Spooky Time episode, we talk about her trip to the H.R. Giger Museum in Gruyères, Switzerland, and many other new and spooky happenings in the horror-verse. Also in Episode 24: Liz heads out immediately to Fantastic Fest, and she previews the big Austin Festival. Make sure to check out her reviews fr...

In August, I had the golden opportunity to be a V.I.P. participant in the Cabin in the Woods Film Festival, which was, in fact, taking place in a cabin in the woods of Anderson Island. You may have heard my earlier podcast, where I interviewed Crystal Conner about this unique experience. The V.I.P. experience allowed everyone in the cabin to be judges for the slate of horror short films and was bo...

The great Canadian Director David Cronenberg, doing some body horror. Welcome to Episode 172: The David Cronenberg Invitational: AKA the best in Canadian Horror. In truth, this list could have been completely populated with his notable filmography: Shivers (1975) Rabid (1977) The Brood (1979) Scanners (1981) Videodrome (1983) The Dead Zone (1983) The Fly (1986) Dead Ringers (1988) Naked Lunch (199...

Liz is away in Europe, so now the boys can play! And we are on our best behavior. Halloween is rolling up, so there are a number of things coming our way that you just might want to check out. In this week’s Spooky Time: Mike announced that he will drag Eric to see The Nun 2 . We really didn’t like The Nun , but the second installment at least has a good trailer. Given the Conjuringver...

Alphabet of Horror by Jared Von Hinman It’s an exercise we all learned from the moment we started reading. Learn your ABCs by associating words with letters. Imagine if you learned how to read and write by associating the alphabet with horror movies. That’s the theme of The Scariest Things Podcast episode 171. Before you listen to the podcast, here’s what we invite you to do. Com...

On this episode of Spooky Time, Eric, Mike, Liz and Robert are talking all about the best horror movie of the year (so far)… A24’s TALK TO ME directed by Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou. We try to stay away from spoilers in the discussion but if you haven’t already experienced this film, get to the theater! We ask you to forgive any audio quality issues for this one, Eric s...

Nothing quite like a day at the Beach. Roy Scheider in Jaws (1975) Vacation, all I ever wanted Vacation, had to get away Vacation, meant to be spent alone Vacation, all I ever wanted Vacation, had to get away Vacation, meant to be spent alone The Go Go’s As we celebrate the end of Summer, the Scariest Things is offering up a menu of cautionary tales. Going on Vacation may be the last thing y...

In this episode of Spooky Time… Eric is talking about The Last Voyage of the Demeter and Sorry Charlie from Popcorn Frights! Mike lists all the spooky things he would do if he had won the mega millions lottery drawing (spoiler alert: he didn’t win) Robert reviews the horror TV series From starring Harold Perrineau and available on MGM+ . Liz wants you to blow your budget on Halloween d...

The inherent boundary-pushing horror genre has become a safe harbor for exploring LGBTQ+ themes, and now there is a West Coast Festival that celebrates and provides an avenue for Queer Horror. Come to Portland’s Clinton Street Theater , from August 18-20 for Queer Screams , the inaugural festival from J.T. Seaton, director of the recent laugh-tastic “The Haunted Baby Carriage from Hell...

Spooky Time is BACK, baby! Mike has returned from his trek into the jungles of Costa Rica and managed to avoid flesh-eating viruses, and man-eating sloths, to rejoin the Scariest Things Crew. In this episode of Spooky Time: Eric Announces One Million Site clicks. A reminder to all our listeners to check out our latest Dead List: Trapped in a Bathroom! Liz recounts her reviews of Manhole and Blue H...

Muaahaahahaa! Evil ascendant in The Boxer’s Omen (1981) Haaaaiiiiii YAAAA!!! Whap! WHAP! ROAR! WHAP! Break out the nunchucks and bo staves, it’s time to talk horror with Eastern roots. The kung-fu / martial arts sub-genre of the action-horror theme is populated with some of the wildest, most convoluted, and most colorful movies imaginable. And some of these films push past the imaginat...

While Mike is braving the jungles of Costa Rica, Liz, Eric, and Robert gathered to discuss the week in horror. Festival season is still in full swing, and we are Liz discusses a nominee for “Feel Bad Movie of the Year” Liz previews the third wave of programming for Fantasia Film Fest in Montreal, a three-week film marathon! Get some rest, Liz. Eric is looking forward to Haunted Mansion...

The Envelope, Please! There was a strong youth movement in the horror movie offerings of 2022. Breakout stars who received prominent roles in major studio productions factored significantly in the 2023 Thingy Awards. This was a great year for the big studios, who brought us multiple original stories bolstered by studio budgets and talented directors. As usual, The Scariest Things had an open invit...

In this very special episode of Spooky Time, Eric, Liz, Mike, and Robert are joined by Jacki and Marissa- The Jersey Ghouls- to spin the “Wheel of Misfortune”! It’s a summer game a little bit less intense than one of Jigsaw’s. But only a little! Here is how it works… Liz has 42 franchises entered on a Wheel of Misfortune: Ringu, Scary Movie, Puppet Master, Hatchet, Sa...

Just ahead of their film screening at the Chattanooga Film Festival , Liz sat down with the co-writers and directors of the (only?) yoga horror movie, Mind Body Spirit , Alex Henes and Matthew Merenda ! Listen to the chat, read Liz’s review, and head over to the festival on Friday, June 23 to catch the film, presented by Art Brut Films . Tickets are available here .

“We Are Not Monsters” At Crypticon in Seattle, Eric was on a discussion panel with Jungian scholar Willy Greer, whom I know well as one of the hosts of the Portland Horror Trivia Massacre, and also psychological trauma therapist Terri Harden, who was the panel moderator for the evening. We had just done a panel for one of my favorite subjects, the disabled in horror, and we followed up...

In this episode of Spooky Time… Mike compares The Boogeyman book to the movie and gets his action panel ready for the items coming up to bid at Propstore ! Eric recaps The Portland Horror Film Festival and announces the 2023 THINGY Awards. Cast YOUR vote here ! Liz looks forward to the Chattanooga Film Festival where you can catch films like TST favorites Beaten to Death and Onyx the Fortuit...

Your hosts are putting on their sunscreen and stepping outside for episode 167- Daytime Horror! It was a dark and stormy night…that’s the beginning of scary stories the world over because we all have an inherent fear of the dark and what could be lurking in the shadows. If we can just make it through the night we’ll be safe, right? Wrong! Set under the blinding sun of the Austral...

The Portland Horror Film Festiva is one of our nearest and dearest associations, built together by friendships, sustained by quality programming, and confirmed by yet another awesome roster of independent horror films. We know we have a number of Northwest fans, and the weather is now PERFECT for the festival season! For those of you not in the know, PHFF curates perhaps the absolute best horror s...

The Scariest Things Podcast had the honor of sitting down with one of the most inventive voices in horror today, Bomani J. Story , to talk about his new film the Angry Black Girl and Her Monster. The film had its premiere at SXSW and the Scariest Things Podcast was there to take it all in! A hundred years on we’ve been blessed and not-so-blessed with hundreds, or maybe thousands of Frankenstein-re...

Are you ready for a Unique Horror Film Festival Experience? A good friend of the Podcast, horror author Crystal Connor is launching what has to be a one-of-a-kind indie horror film festival, located near Seattle. She has been researching what so many film festivals do, and when she realized that she wanted to get in on the action, she would have to approach this from a completely different angle....