The Horror Double Bill
Welcome to The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we pair classic and modern horror films to create something greater than the sum of its parts. Inspired by the legendary BBC2 horror double bills of the 1970s and 1980s, each week we discuss two films that share twisted themes, unsettling atmospheres, or strange connectionsFrom the shadowy corridors of black and white classics to the paranoia-fueled chaos of the 21st-century, we take a deep dive into what makes these films memorable and the social context in which they were made. Expect discussions on film history, censorship, director profiles, folklore, a...
Episode 22: Witchfinder General (1968) & The Sacrament (2013)
Welcome to episode 22 of the Horror Double Bill the podcast where each week we combine two movies to create something for a greater than the sum of their parts
This week we are exploring religious fanaticism, the dangers of group think, cult mentalities, and discussing our first folk horror of the series, as well as our first pseudo-documentary.
First up we have Matthew Hopkins Witchfinder General from 1968 and director Michael Reeves starring Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, Hillary Dwyer and Rupert Davies. Then we travel forward in time to 2013 and the sacrament from right a director T...
Episode 21: Cat People (1942) & The Company of Wolves (1984)
Episode 21: Cat People (1942) & The Company of Wolves (1984)
Welcome to episode 21 of The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we pair two films to create something far greater than the sum of their parts.
This week – after a very short break - we are back with the shapeshifters with two films that use metamorphosis as metaphor for sexuality, albeit with very different interpretations.
First up we have Cat People from 1943 and legendary producer Val Lewon. Directed by Jacques Tourneur it stars Simone Simon, Tom Cowway, Kent Smith and Jane Randolph. Then we fo...
Episode 20: Seconds (1966) & The Substance (2024)
Welcome to episode 20 of The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we pair two films to create something far greater than the sum of their parts.
This week we are exploring the horrors of ageing and identity with two movies that take the viewer on a disorienting journey into the price of reinvention and rejuvenation
First up we have Seconds from 1966 and director John Frankenheimer, featuring a career best performance from former matinee idol Rock Hudson alongside Salome Jen and Will Geer. Then we bring ourselves bang up to date – nearly - with th...
Episode 19: Colossus The Forbin Project (1970) & Upgrade (2018)
This week we are exploring the horrors of Artificial intelligence and tech noir with two films from very different eras but similar fears and concerns.
First up is Colossus: The Forbin Project from 1970, directed by Joseph Sargent and starring Eric Braden, Susan Clark, Gordon Pinsett, and William Schallert. Then we jump forward nearly half a century to 2018 with Upgrade, written and directed by Leigh Whannell, and featuring Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson, and Benedict Hardy.
Both of these films imagine worlds where technology outpaces human intelligence and in which something designed as a helpful to...
Episode 18: The Uninvited (1944) & The Changeling (1980)
Episode 18: The Uninvited (1944) & The Changeling (1980)
Welcome to episode 18 of The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we pair two films to create something greater than the sum of their parts.
This week we are exploring the horrors of the haunted house which strangely enough is very different to the trope of the old dark house that we discussed back in episode 12.
First up we have The Uninvited from 1944, directed by Lewis Allen and starring Ray Milland, Gail Russell, Ruth Hussey, and Donald Crisp then we jump forward in time to 1980 with...
Episode 17: Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971) & Symptoms (1974)
Episode 17: Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971) & Symptoms (1974). Fall into madness.
Welcome to episode 17 of The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we pair two films to create something greater than the sum of their parts.
This week we are exploring the horrors of autumn, with a double bill of movies that use the tuning of the seasons as metaphors for the increasingly fragmented psyches of their protagonists.
First up we have Lets Scare Jessica to Death from 1971, then we follow this with Symptoms from 1974
Both movies use the beauty of...
Episode 16: Livid (2011) & Suspiria (1977)
Welcome to episode 16 of the horror double bill the podcast where each week we pair 2 movies to create something far greater than the sum of their parts
This week we are exploring the terrors of ballet school with two European horror films that are connected through more than just the depiction of dance.
First up we Head to France and 2011 for Livide from the directing duo of Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, starring Chloe Colloud, Marie-Claude Pietragalla, Chloe Marcq, and Felix Moati
Then we head across to Italy – or should that be Germany – and 1...
Episode 15: Sleep Tight (2011) & Them (2006)
Episode 15: Sleep Tight (2011) & Them (2006): There's no place like home.....
Welcome to episode 15 of The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we pair two films to create something greater than the sum of their parts.
This week we are exploring the horrors that lurk in the home, with two movies that depict our safest spaces as places of threat, terror and murder. First up with have Jaume Ballaguero’s Spanish psychological thriller Sleep Tight from 2011, a highly disturbing character study of a malignant building custodian and the lengths to which he will go to ac...
Episode 14: Messiah of Evil (1973) & The Fog (1980)
Episode 14: Messiah of Evil (1973) & The Fog (1980): "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside....."
Welcome To episode 14 of the horror double bill the podcast where each week we pair two movies to create something far greater than the sum of their parts
This week we are exploring coastal horrors and the terrors that lurk in the liminal space between the land and the sea. First up we have Messiah of Evil from 1973 a surreal almost Lovecraftian indie horror from the writers of American Graffiti Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and, somewhat bizarrely...
Episode 13: Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943) & An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Welcome to episode 13 of The Horror Double Bill. This week we are exploring the horrors of lycanthropy and the legend of the werewolf, a creature that has been used for centuries as a metaphor for themes including sexual repression, puberty, male violence, insanity and the beats within.
An we are starting off this week with the first horror movie that I ever saw, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman from 1943 starring Lon Chaney Jnr, Bela Lugosi, illona Massey and Lionel Atwill. Then we are jumping forward to 1981 with An American Werewolf in London from starring David Naughton, Jenny Agutter...
Episode 12: The Cat and The Canary (1939) & The Corruption of Chris Miller (1973)
Welcome to episode 12 of the horror double bill the podcast where each week we combine 2 films to create something far greater than the sum of their parts.
This week we are exploring the horrors of the old dark house, and the enduring influence of its many tropes on horror cinema.
First up is The Cat and the Canary from 1939 — a horror comedy starring Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard, George Zucco, and Gail Sondergaard. Then we head back to Spain for The Corruption of Chris Miller a twisted psychological thriller from 1973 starring Jean Seberg, Marisol, and Barry Stok...
Episode 11: The Ghoul (2016) & Triangle (2009)
Episode Eleven: The Ghoul (2016) & Triangle (2009) : Time loops, mobius strips and the nature of reality
Welcome to episode 11 of The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we combine two films to create something far greater than the sum of their parts.
This week are exploring two movies that play with our perceptions of reality, with the Ghoul from 2016, a low budget British psychological thriller that has its roots in the stand up comedy scene of the early 2000s, and Triangle from 2009, a surreal and nightmarish horror from British director Christopher Smith.
...
Episode 10: We Are What We Are (2010) & Raw (2016)
Welcome to episode 10 of The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we combine two films to create something far greater than the sum of their parts.
This week we are exploring the horrors of cannibalism – a subject that was once regarded as one of the ultimate cinematic taboos but which has now become a strangely prevalent sub-genre , and one that is used as a metaphor for anything from class and social division to sexual awakening.
First up we have our inaugural Mexican film of the series, with Jorge Michel Grau’s We Are What We...
Episode 9: They Look Like People (2015) & The Invitation (2015)
Episode Nine: The Look Like People (2015) & The Invitation (2015). Urban paranoia, independent cinema and the horrors of friendship
Welcome to episode 9 of the Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we put two films together to create something far greater than the sum of its parts.
This week we are unwrapping the horrors of friendship, with two films from 2015 that ask the questions, what do you do when people you once thought you knew are no longer the people you remember, and how long should you stick around to find out exactly who they have be...
Episode 8: Isle of the Dead (1945) & Martin (1977)
Episode Eight: Isle of the Dead (1945) & Martin (1977) : There's no such thing as a vampire.
Welcome to episode 8 of The Horror Double Bill – the podcast where we put two films together to create something greater than the sum its parts.
This week we are unpacking 2 rather unusual takes on vampire mythology. First up is Isle of the Dead from 1945, produced by Val Lewton, who we discussed back ion episode two, and starring the legendary Boris Karloff. Then we jump forward 32 years to 1977 and Martin from director George A Romero’s, which marks the first time that Rome...
Episode 7: Village of the Damned (1960) & Who Can Kill a Child (1976)
Episode Seven: Village of the Damned (1960) & Who Can Kill a Child (1976). There's something very wrong with the children....
Welcome to The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where we combine two films, and fall down several rabbit holes, to create something greater than the sum of its parts.
First up is Village of the Damned, from 1960 starring George Sanders and Barbara Shelley, in which group of mysterious children take control of a small English village. Then we are heading to another village, only this time in Spain, for Who Can Kill a Child from 1976, which even...
Episode 6: Night of the Eagle (1962) & The Devil Rides Out (1968)
Episode Six: Night of the Eagle (1962) & The Devil Rides Out (1968). Must be the season of the witch......
Welcome to The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where we combine two films, and fall down several rabbit holes, to create something greater than the sum of its parts.
First up is Night of the Eagle, from 1962, released in the US as Burn Witch Burn, in which professional rivalries on a college campus spill over into something far more primal and far more ancient. We follow that with my favourite hammer movie, The Devil Rides Out from 1968, which...
Episode 5: The House With Laughing Windows (1976) & Don't Torture a Duckling (1972)
Episode 5: The House with Laughing Windows (1976) and Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) : Rural Giallo, Postwar Italy, and the Haunted Landscape
In this episode of The Horror Double Bill, we journey deep into the unsettling beauty of the Italian countryside to explore The House with Laughing Windows (1976) and Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972). These two standout examples of rural gialli capture a nation in flux—reflecting the tension, suspicion, and isolation brought about by post-war migration from the south to the north of Italy.
We unpack the social, cultural, and historical upheaval that followed World War II, as I...
Episode 4: And Soon The Darkness (1970) & The Hitcher (1986)
Episode 4 – The Horror Double Bill: And Soon the Darkness (1970) & The Hitcher (1986)
In this episode of The Horror Double Bill, we explore two chilling roadbound nightmares that turn travel into terror. First, we examine And Soon the Darkness (1970), a sun-drenched British thriller where isolation in the French countryside gives way to dread. Then, we dive into The Hitcher (1986), a haunting, nihilistic American horror-thriller in which a lone driver picks up far more than he bargained for on the open road.
Both films use beautiful yet empty landscapes to generate feelings of isolation, and in this episode we...
Episode 3: Frightmare (1974) & Possum (2018)
The Horror Double Bill Episode Three: Frightmare (1974) & Possum (2018) British suburban gothic, moral outrage, and the horror of family values.
This week on The Horror Double Bill, we’re digging into the unsettling world of British horror with a pairing that’s as psychologically disturbing as it is politically charged: Frightmare (1974), directed by Pete Walker, and Possum (2018), the bleakly brilliant debut from Matthew Holness.
Join us as we chew over themes of madness, repression, and inherited trauma, exploring how these two films capture a peculiarly British horror – one rooted in decaying institutions, Victorian legacies, and a deep d...
Episode 2: The Leopard Man (1943) & Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)
The Horror Double Bill Episode 2: The Leopard Man (1943) & Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) Guilt, madness and the Italian Giallo
Welcome to The Horror Double Bill, where horror is a feeling, not just a genre.
In this episode, we delve into The Leopard Man (1943), a moody psychological thriller from producer Val Lewton. Then we leap into the stylised paranoia of Dario Argento’s Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)
We explore the legacy of Val Lewton’s “suggestive horror,” the evolution of giallo cinema, and how both films capture dread through style, sound, and suggestion.
Episode 1: La Cabina (1972) & El Bar (2017)
Episode One: La Cabina (1974) and El Bar (2017) - claustrophobia and paranoia in Madrid
Welcome to the debut episode of The Horror Double Bill, a podcast that celebrates horror in all its unsettling, uncanny, and occasionally absurd forms. Inspired by the BBC2 double bills of the 1970s and early ’80s, each week we pair two films that share themes, tones, or a peculiar sense of dread that lingers long after the credits roll.
This week, we descend into the claustrophobic madness of Spanish horror with Antonio Mercero’s eerie TV classic La Cabina and Álex de la Igl...
