Collective Nightmares

Slumber Party Massacre (Esterhazy 2021)

This film is so fascinating for so many reasons. It is a brilliant satire of slasher films and accomplishes so much of the feminist messaging that the initial Slumber Party Massacre was not able to do … for an hour and five seconds. The last half hour or so the film just falls off a cliff in terms of message, ideology, and representation.

While I don’t think of us as movie snobs, we definitely had lower expectations for a SyFy channel original film. However, this film is surprisingly good! It t...

The Slumber Party Massacre (Jones 1982)

This film is a cult classic. Written by Rita Mae Brown who also penned Rubyfruit Jungle and was an avowed feminist and civil rights advocate it was supposedly written as a feminist response to the first wave slasher films of the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, Amy Holden Jones who directed the film may have been more interested in producing something successfully commercial and possibly deliberately within the exploitation genre. We think we see both of these strains competing in the film. And as you might imagine, that makes...

Titane (Ducournau 2021)

One of the more bizarre films we have ever watched, and that is saying something! Docournau has managed to produce a film that transcends most hegemonic  categories and divisions. This effectively disarms viewers pushing them into experiencing the film emotionally rather than analytically. This is no small feat. The deserved winner of the 2021 Palm d’Or at Cannes. Let this film drive over you and then join us for our full discussion.

There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends.

SPOILERS IN...

Squid Game – Season 1 (Dong-hyuk 2021)

Join us for the full discussion.

Our first foray into television. This was recorded when Squid Game was at peak popularity. The show is brilliant in execution and rife with sociological content. The series especially excels at drawing connections the show makes between structural circumstances and individual agency, which is the foundation of the sociological imagination. These connections are sometimes taught as the relationships between a buffet (structure) and what people choose to put on their plate (agency). People can only really make choices from the options that are pr...

Violation (Mancinelli and Sims-Fewer 2020)

We spent much of this episode confused as to details of this film. Please don’t come after us for this confusion until you listen through to the end. We do finally clarify our understanding of the film and respond to the text as it stands. It’s quite something to have the interpretation of a film hinge on ice cream and sleep. It was a journey to get to the end and figure it all out, but we did it! Part of the podcast is our exploration of the film as w...

There’s Someone Inside Your House (Brice 2021)

We thought we could finally be done with Wan, but we ended up watching one he co-produced. Still conservative in ideology, the film does show some advances in diversity and representation. Could this be a shift in the baseline expectations of inclusion in horror films and if so what does that mean for the genre?

Also, we definitely have to give the film its due accolades for the intriguing and innovative title.

Join us for the full discussion.

There is lots more of...

Malignant (Wan 2021)

Join us for the full discussion.

There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends.

SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE
Malignant (Wan 2021)

TOPIC INDEX – Malignant  (Wan 2021) (times are approximate) 

0:30 – Introductions
4:15 – Movie discussion begins
5:00 – overall takes – NO SPOILERS
6:00 – Laura’s over it with Wan
11:00 – establishing cohesion and continuity in film
14:20 – SPOILERS begin
15:00 – wealth inequality and horror incredulity
21:30 – story recap
26:30 – positive aspects of the film
32:00 – gender representation
44:00 – women as reprod...

The Blackening (Story 2022)

The Blackening takes the baton from films such as Get Out, The First Purge, and Candyman and runs with it. Both tense and scary as well as uproariously funny, this is a fantastically fun horror film viewing experience!

Join us for the full discussion.

There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends.

SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE
The Blackening (Story 2022)
Carrie (Demme 1976)

TOPIC INDEX – TOPIC INDEX – The Blackening  (Story 2022) (times are approximate) 

Candyman (DaCosta 2021)

Marshall still vividly remembers seeing Candyman (Rose 1992) in the theatre. A rare horror film to take on issues of race, sexuality, and poverty. Even more rare was that it was done with intersectionality.

When Peele announced he would be producing a remake, and Nia DaCosta would be directing we had high hopes. DaCosta achieved a historic first as a black woman to have her film open number one at the box office. Super disappointing it took us as a culture until 2021 for this to be accomplished, but we are happy to...

The Forever Purge (Gout 2021)

The Forever Purge is the fifth film in the Purge-iverse. The fourth film, The First Purge, was a highpoint in this series. It was followed by a TV show that was destined to fail because it had to be sanitized for USA network. I wish they would have put it on HBO, Showtime, Netflix, or somewhere with teeth! Anyhow, The Forever Purge returns triumphantly continuing to expand the scope and allegory of the purge concept. Since the first film that while entertaining seemed like somewhat of a missed opportunity for social...