Hypnogoria

In this surprise bonus podcast, we take a look at the new third edition of  Opening the Box of Delights just published by Herne Books - a new expanded edition of the book by Dr Philip W. Errington all about John Masefield's Christmas classic!

In this podcast we present our annual commentary for the BBC's A Ghost Story for Christmas series, and this year we have reached the last episode of the original run, The Ice House written by John Bowen, which was first shown on Christmas Day night 1978.

In this festive special, we take a look at  The Box of Delights - The Roleplaying Game  from ACE Gamebooks, by Jonathan Green and Tony Hough. We trace its beginnings back to the gamebook,  'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas (2019)  and the following roleplaying game  'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas before exploring roleplaying in the winter wonderland of John Masefield's Chri...

In this little chat from the fireside, Mr Jim gives us a little update on his battle with lung cancer but more importantly reveals what's coming up on all our various shows for the festive season! 

In a last helping of winter horrors before Yuletide, we have a variety of movies featuring snowy werewolves, ancient temples in the ice, encounters with yetis, and killer snowmen!

We continue our selections of fine frights for winter nights, rounding up more interesting winter horror movies! This time we have films featuring assorted trolls, isolated artic bases, Scandinavian slashers, and a visit to the Overlook Hotel

For November we begin a new mini series, looking at horror movie suitable for winter viewing! In this first episode we have some classic wintry terrors from the 1950s, the 1970s and the 1980s, discover how zombies fare in the snow, look an early movie from Osgood Perkins, and defrost an obscure 1980s monster movie!

In this chapter we discover what was happening in the mid 1990s on Halloween night, and look at the only big scream outing for Caspar the Friendly Ghost, low budget horror Jack-O, the return of Angela in Night of the Demons 3, and even a movie based on the Monster Mash! 

In this show we look at the final book of the Scarred For Life series - Volume Three is a massive 740 page tour through the dark side of 1980s pop culture. It covers comics, movies, books, videos, and games, plus features a stealthy book-within-a-book on nuclear anxiety and cold war terrors!

In this little show, we review a little microbudget horror from 2012 - Leaving DC. This creepy found footage movie is the video diary of a man who has left the big city to live in a lovely house in the country... But there's something in the woods round his new home... 

We conclude our deep dive into the layers of history and folklore in the Robert Eggers version of Nosferatu , discovering the secrets of Count Orlok and the various pacts and deals that bind the characters together. 

In this chapter we uncover how historical accounts of vampires and ancient folklore gave us a reimagined and reanimated Orlok in the new Nosferatu (2024).

The Nightmares of Nosferatu returns to examine the new Robert Eggers incarnation. In this chapter we chart the development of the movie and the long road it took to the screen, and the magic that went into its making!

A little update on my on-going battles with lung cancer, but this time I have some good news to share! 

In a surprise new chapter, we take a look at a new addition to the Black Lagoon extended family tree - the 2024 movie Monster Island AKA Orang Ikan, a tale of men versus aquatic humanoid monsters set in World War II!

A little chat from the fireside in which Mr Jim updates you all on his battle with the dreaded cancer! Spoilers - it's going well ;) 

In the final part of our history of the Great Ice Lolly Wars, we look at the 1980s, with icy snack tie-ins to the likes of Star Trek The Motion Picture, Superman The Movie, and of course the original Star Wars trilogy, but also discover how yogurts turned into monsters! 

Continuing our history of assorted geeky, freaky, and galactic ice lollies of the 1970s, we discover sci-fi ties-ins to the likes of Space 1999 and the Bionic lolly plus famous monsters Dracula, King Kong and the Daleks getting their own frozen snacks!

For our summer special season this year, we take at look back at the days with ice lollies and frozen snacks went all freaky, geeky, and intergalactic! In this first chapter we discover how ice lollies could get you into Moon Fleet, fighting Daleks with Doctor Who, encountering Red Devils and Jelly Terrors, plus adventuring with a host of Gerry Anderson characters! 

In this show we look at the final Poe adaptation done by Roger Corman,  The Tomb of Ligeia , starring Vincent Prince and Elizabeth Shepherd and scripted by Robert Towne who would go on to pen classics such as  Chinatown !

In the UK at this time of the year the woodlands are awash with a carpet of bluebells. However as beloved as these wild flowers are, they have a lot of folklore surrounding them, and links to faeries, the dead, witches and the Devil himself! 

I have some serious news and it ain't great... 

This week, the great children's author Aidan Chambers sadly passed away. And this show we take a fond look back on the ghostly books he penned and the various anthologies of spooky stories he edited.

Did you know Oliver Stone had made a horror film? No? Did you know he'd made TWO horror movies before he directed Salvador (1986)? Well, step this way and discover his first two movies - Seizure (1974) starring Jonathan Frid, Hervé Villechaize and Martine Beswick, and The Hand (1981) starring Sir Michael Caine! 

In this chapter we examine the movie often hailed as the greatest Roger Corman ever made - Masque of the Red Death (1964) - starring Vincent Price, Hazel Court, and Jane Asher, plus cinematography from future legendary director Nicolas Roeg.