Faculty of Horror

By Andrea Subissati and Alexandra West

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Typical duration
54 min
per episode

Based on Podcast App listening data

Faculty of Horror episodes

November 26, 2025 Episode 145. In Memoriam: The Others (2001)
Mind the fog and join Andrea and Alex as they explore the dark hallways of Alejandro Amenábar’s The Others. From geopolitics to religion and the weight of motherhood, not everything in the film is as it appears.
Class of 2025 Merch is now available! Thanks to Caleb Milatovic and Rachelle Walker for the incredible design!

REQUIRED READING
The Others. Dir. Alejandro Amenábar, 2001.

EXTRA CREDIT
“Nicole Kidman made a horror movie about Tom Cruise and Scientology.” A video exploration of Kidman’s performance under the watchful eye of Scientology.
Taken from Life: The Unsettling Art of Death Photography. The history and science of capturing images of the dearly departed.

The Birth of Purgatory by Jacques Le Goff. How Catholicism decided it needed a third state between heaven and hell.

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1 hr
October 27, 2025 Episode 144. Made for TV: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
It’s almost time kids, the clock is ticking! Andrea and Alex explore the strange world of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, uncovering tricks and treats in the history of holiday, Celtic rituals, and our evolving relationship with our TVs.
Class of 2025 Merch is now available! Thanks to Caleb Milatovic and Rachelle Walker for the incredible design!

REQUIRED READING
Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Dir. Tommy Lee Wallace, 1982.

EXTRA CREDIT
Halloween III: Season Of The Witch – The Inside Story Of A Cult Classic. Director Tommy Lee Wallace on ditching Michael Myers to make Halloween’s best sequel, 40 years on.

The Commercialization of the Calendar: American Holidays and the Culture of Consumption, 1870-1930, by Leigh Eric Schmidt.

Irish San Francisco. An article detailing the Irish population metrics in California.

Tricks of Festival: Children, Enculturation, and American Halloween by Cindy Dell Clark.

Halloween’s Mutation: From Humble Holiday to Retail Monstrosity. NYT article on the rise and popularity of the holiday.

Video, Science Fiction, and the Cinema of Surveillance. Thomas Doherty’s article exploring the place of television in film.

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51 min
September 27, 2025 Episode 143. Rage: Apt Pupil (1998) and We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
In this episode Andrea and Alex delve into the dark side of masculinity with the film adaptations of Apt Pupil and We Need to Talk About Kevin to explore the manosphere, motherhood, and the complexities of anger.
Please note: this episode was recorded September 5, 2025.
Class of 2025 Merch is now available. Thanks to Caleb Milatovic and Rachelle Walker for the incredible design!

REQUIRED READING
Apt Pupil. Dir. Bryan Singer, 1998.
We Need to Talk About Kevin. Dir. Lynne Ramsay, 2011.

EXTRA CREDIT
Guns by Stephen King. King’s essay on gun culture and mass shooting in America.

How American Racism Influenced Hitler. Alex Ross’ New Yorker piece on America’s dark relationship with the Nazis.

The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood. Sharon Hays’ treatise on the profession and expectations of mothers.

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1 hr 32 min
July 25, 2025 Episode 142. Teen Dreams: I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Buckle up and keep your eyes on the road because we’re chatting about the teen slasher thriller I Know What You Did Last Summer. From morality and justice to small town trappings, we unearth a murky past that refuses to stay buried!
More content over on our Patreon!

REQUIRED READING
I Know What You Did Last Summer. Dir. Jim Gillespie, 1997.

EXTRA CREDIT
Behavioral Risks during the Transition from High School to College. The NIH report on tendencies and actions during the last summer before adulthood.

Generation Multiplex. Timothy Shary’s examination of youth culture at the movies.

The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings. Jan Harold Brunvand’s seminal work on modern folklore.

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1 hr 9 min
June 25, 2025 Episode 141. Blood Relations: The Hills Have Eyes (1977 & 2006)
Pack your car and mind the detours because we’re kicking off summer with an episode on The Hills Have Eyes. From familial tensions to political warfare in the original and the remake, there’s a whole host of darkness to be found under the summer sun.
More content over on our Patreon!

REQUIRED READING
The Hills Have Eyes. Dir. Wes Craven, 1977.
The Hills Have Eyes. Dir. Alexandre Aja, 2006.

EXTRA CREDIT
Sawney Bean – Scotland’s Most Famous Cannibal. An overview of the Scottish legend.

Fairy Tales for the Apocalypse. Christopher Sharrett’s interview with Wes Craven.

Through the Eyes of America: Wes Craven’s “The Hills Have Eyes.” Matt Carlin via Mubi.com.

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55 min
May 21, 2025 Episode 140. Pump It Up: The Substance (2024) Live from Salem Horror Fest
Join Andrea and Alex live from Salem Horror Fest for feats of strength (!) and a discussion of the horrors of beauty standards, the weight of celebrity culture, and the algorithms that are out to get us.
More content over on our Patreon!

REQUIRED READING
The Substance. Dir. Coralie Fargeat, 2024.

EXTRA CREDIT
Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism. Sarah Wynn-Williams account of her time at Facebook.

On Women. Susan Sontag’s essays on women and their physical relationships to the world.

Fran Lebowitz on Race and Racism. From the 1997 edition of Vanity Fair where Lebowitz discusses nepo babies.

How Ozempic shaming illuminates complexities of treating weight problems from the Harvard Gazette.

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1 hr 6 min
April 30, 2025 Episode 139. Labour Pains: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)
Spring has sprung so it’s time to get into the greenhouse! In this episode, Alex and Andrea investigate the differences between mother and caretaker, the privilege of home upkeep, and why yuppies love windchimes.
More content over on our Patreon!

REQUIRED READING
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle. Dir. Curtis Hanson, 1992.

EXTRA CREDIT
The Unnatural History of the Nanny. The NYT’s 1973 exploration of the importance of the role in modern culture.

The Lifesaving, Horrifying History of Wet Nurses. A look at another key and intimate household role.

Querying ‘Karen’: The rise of the angry white woman. Before she was a haircut meme, she was a person.

Review: Third Wave Feminisms. Is “capitalist feminism” a thing?

Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers. Jude Doyle’s non-fiction treatise that examines the othering of female power.

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1 hr 13 min
March 26, 2025 Episode 138. School of Thought: Detention (2019)
Log on to this episode where we go deep with the film adaptation of the cult video game Detention. From totalitarianism in Taiwan and beyond, the ghosts of our past often have dire warnings about our present and future that we should heed.
More content over on our Patreon!

Catch us LIVE at Salem Horror Fest!

REQUIRED READING
Detention. Dir. John Hsu, 2019.

EXTRA CREDIT
Does Historical Accuracy in Games Really Matter? The pros and cons of infusing entertainment with fact.

Piecing together the past: The Notion of Recovery in Fiction and Film from Taiwan by Steven L. Riep. Observations on recovery narratives and how the white terror has been commemorated but remains poorly understood.

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1 hr 1 min
February 25, 2025 Episode 137. One of Us: Freaks (1932)
Join us as we delve into the lineage and legacy of Tod Browning’s pre-code horror classic. From the morality police to representation of disability to community building through murder, we discuss why Freaks remains a unique and unrepeatable entry in the horror canon.
More content over on our Patreon!

REQUIRED READING
Freaks. Dir. Tod Browning, 1932.

EXTRA CREDIT
Spurs. Tod Robbins short story on which Freaks is based.

What’s so Scary about Disability? Laura Elliott’s piece on the legacy of fearing some bodies.

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space. Amanda Leduc’s exploration of how society has stigmatized disabilities for centuries.

Code of the Freaks. A 2020 documentary covering portrayals of disability in film.

A Brief Timeline of the History of Disabilities: The Shameful Treatment of People with Disabilities. An overview covering how perceptions of disabilities have shifted over human history.

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1 hr 3 min
January 28, 2025 Episode 136. Curse of Fack: 2024 Year in Review
Andrea and Alex run down their favourite horror films from 2024, share what they’re looking forward to this year and go head-to-head in trivia for Fack supremacy.
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1 hr 49 min