Diablo Rojo (PTY) & Quicksand

Why do haters gotta hate? Was Lucio Fulci full of crap? Who would you bribe to slap a TV-MA label on a PG parody? Find out this week as we discuss the Mexican and Native American roots of True Detective: Night Country, Hammer fanfic and "action" in Wrath of Dracula (United Kingdom, 2023) and influential classic horror in The House that Screamed (Spain, 1969). Plus - we get some help from Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, learn why you shouldn't adopt a ghost and/or vampire and get distracted by Elmo's preemo slasher villian potential.

"How Mexico City influenced the icy Alaska mystery of ‘True Detective: Night Country’" by Bernice Vautista for the Associated Press

"True Detective: Night Country’s indigenous representation offers hope for decolonising television," by Agata Lulkowska for the Conversation

We've got something for everyone this week. Grady gets blood splatter on his shoes with The Witch Part 1: The Subversion (South Korea, 2018), a John Wick-y action horror that pulls no punches. Melissa watched the French short film 3:36 (2017) four times and swears she had a different interpretation every time. Marcus loved the raw ambition of Out of Darkness (United Kingdom, 2022), a Stone Age monster flick with spectacular drone shots.

Plus - Scandinavian disasters, Scottish killers wearing pig masks and campy desert monsters are all dropping on streaming this week.

What if Footloose was secretly about Slovakian witches? What if Daren Aronofsky - or Alfred Hitchcock - directed a twisty Mongolian flick? What if a tire came to life and killed you with psionic powers? Talk a walk on the weird side with us this week as we discuss Nightsiren (Slovakia & The Czech Republic, 2022), Aberrance (Mongolia, 2022) and Rubber (France, 2010). Plus, a chanty Thai horror movie drops on Netflix this week.

We've got something for everyone this week. Grady gets his face melted off by an evil doctor with Eyes Without A Face (France & Italy, 1960), a noire chiller that works with classic film censors, not in spite of them. We fall out of tune with PussyCake (Argentina, 2021), a punk rock scifi horror with killer ideas that can't quite find its own beat, and Marcus kicks some ass with former UFC star Brandon Vera in Day Zero (Philippines, 2022). Also, a movie called Werewolf Santa drops on Tubi this week, and it's got a cameo from everyone's favorite drive-in movie critic.

Lucio Fulci - the man, the myth, the legend. We stroll down Bourbon street towards the gates of hell with The Beyond (Italy, 1981), a vintage gorefest with no thoughts but plenty of drippy grindhouse vibes. Melissa gets spooked and emotionally wrecked by the short film The Shop of Eternal Life (China & USA, 2016), Marcus gets underwhelmed by Huesera: The Bone Woman and Mongolia's first horror movie hits VOD. Plus, we chat about the just-announced film adaptation of Until Dawn, a fantastic horror video game that could really flop as a movie.

What's scarier: Islamic horror, Anglican horror, or a Japanese teenager with a chainsaw? What about all three in one podcast episode? This week, we dive into Shudder exclusives Kandisha (France, 2020) and Martyrs Lane (United Kingdom, 2021), two spiritual hauntings with very different vibes, and then chainsaw our way into something completely different with the Japanese manga Saitama Chainsaw Shoujo. Also, we unpack our wildly subjective favorites from 2023 and get confused by excitable doggos in an upcoming streaming drop.

Articles mentioned in this episode:

Saitama Chainsaw Shoujo, unofficial English translation on MangaKakaLot

We're back! Melissa checks out neighborly horror Nail (Mexico, 2017) on YouTube, Marcus gets himself to a freaky nunnery with Sister Death (Spain, 2023) on Netflix and Grady sees right through efforts to prank him with Mad Spider Sea (Taiwan, 2020). Also, will True Detective: Night Country be a return to form?

Sites mentioned in this episode:

Wicked Worldwide: International Horror Shorts on Alter Horror's YouTube Chanel

We interrupt your holiday cheer to bring you tales of the gothic, monstrous and macabre. This week, the posse unpacks tentacled dream horror in Housewife (Turkey, 2017) and uncanny puppet violence in Don't Hug Me I'm Scared (United Kingrom, 2022). We're also overwhelmed by the triumphant return of everybody's favorite kaiju in Godzilla Minus One (Japan, 2023) and underwhelmed by a spiteful demon in When Evil Lurks (Argentina & USA, 2023).

Big shout out to Faith, our gateway gargoyle and friend of the podcast. Feel better! We've got a Letterboxd list of gateway horror flicks to cheer you on.

We'll be back full time on January 11, 2024.

Websites mentioned in this episode:

16 days 16 films

Stick a fork in Thanksgiving. Listen to our blooper reel instead. We'll be back with actual episodes in December.

Is it a slow burn if every character is unlikeable? This week, we're pining for the fjords as we trek to Norway for Sacrifice (United Kingdom, 2020), an underwhelming Lovecrafty horror with too much angst and too few tentacles. We also watch a graphic betentacled affair between an alien and the protagonist of The Untamed (Mexico & others, 2016) and look forward to chilling goats and benthic arachnids as When Evil Lurks (Argentina & USA, 2023) and Mad Spider Sea (Taiwan, 2020) drop on streaming this week.