Frightday

Five hours after Frank Olson went through a tenth-floor window at the Statler Hotel, a CIA security agent was already at the hotel taking Robert Lashbrook's statement. By 9:15 that night, Lashbrook and Dr. Harold Abramson were in Abramson's office playing back a tape and settling on a story about delusions, guilt, and persecution, while another agent sat in the waiting room and listened. New York's newspapers went on strike that same day. The story died in a day. Twenty-two years later, a Washington Post story announced "Suicide Revealed" and left out the man's name. Alice Olson knew who it was anyway. Kelly follows the paper trail from the Statler to the Oval Office. It runs through the cover story put together within hours, a CIA consultant's memo that sums Olson up in four fragments, Sidney Gottlieb's off-the-record admonition, the 1973 purge of the agency's drug files, and a Dick Cheney memo advising President Ford to say as little as possible. The family held a press conference in their backyard and got a presidential apology, lunch with the director of the CIA, and a stack of documents that explained almost nothing. Then a $750,000 private bill closes the book, until a misfiled box of MKUltra records turns up the next year. Along the way: Kelly's creatine coffee, Byron's theory that Saturday night television did it, his position on cremation, and a SAPS read where the promo code briefly becomes AUDIOWOLF.

CHAPTERS 1:10 Where we left off: Alice and the martini visits 6:42 Five hours later: the first statements 13:31 9:15 PM: the tape recording and "the deal" 19:11 The detectives, the Duggan case, and a newspaper strike 20:48 The Lovell memo 24:47 The Colby file and the LSD question 30:01 An off-the-record admonition 31:26 Seymour Hersh, the Rockefeller Commission, and "Suicide Revealed" 37:48 The backyard press conference and the Cheney memo 44:34 The Oval Office and lunch at Langley 50:55 "Increasingly belligerent": the family pushes back 55:06 The 1973 shredding, Ruwet's regret, and the dart gun 1:03:23 $750,000 and a misfiled box 1:05:39 Part three is coming

KEY FOLKS: -Frank Olson: the subject of a CIA file that was mostly about something else -Alice Olson: his widow, who recognized her husband in a newspaper story that never named him -Eric Olson: the eldest son, who read the "complete" file and found the top layer of a cover story -Robert Lashbrook: Gottlieb's deputy, the only man in the room, and not much help to the NYPD -Dr. Harold Abramson: the allergist whose session notes became the official story -Lt. Col. Vincent Ruwet: Olson's boss, Alice's longtime visitor, and eventually a man with regrets on the record -Sidney Gottlieb: CIA chemist, recipient of one off-the-record admonition -Stanley Lovell: CIA consultant and author of the four-fragment memo -Seymour Hersh: the reporter whose December 1974 front page started the unraveling -William Colby: CIA director, lunch host, and the man with the dart gun -Gerald Ford: the president who apologized, without saying exactly what for -Sen. Edward Kennedy: who declared the book closed -Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld: just getting started

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING -Wormwood (2017), Errol Morris's six-part Netflix docudrama -The Frank Olson Legacy Project, Eric Olson's document archive, including the file Colby handed the family in 1975: http://www.frankolsonproject.org -Dick Cheney's July 11, 1975 memo to Donald Rumsfeld, "The Olson Matter/CIA Suicide" (Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library): https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0005/1561485.pdf -Seymour Hersh, The New York Times, December 22, 1974 -The Rockefeller Commission report (1975) -Church Committee hearings, September 1975 -Sen. Edward Kennedy's subcommittee hearings (1975 and 1977) -President Ford's statement on signing S. 3035, October 12, 1976

SPONSOR Sap's: Hydration & Recovery. Get 20% off at http://sapsoriginal.com with promo code AUDIOWOOL.

CONNECT Discord: discord.frightday.com The Frightday Society: frightdaysociety.org Email: [email protected] Bluesky / Twitter / Instagram: @frightday Phone line: 1-833-FRIGHT-9 Stream on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/14ioP0zfFczK8hKPsDUmko?si=cff351ada3944a9a

Want more? Join the Frightday Society, at http://thefrightdaysociety.org

As a Society Member, you'll have access to all Screamium content (Behind the Screams, It's Been a Weird Week, A Conversation With..., Toast to Toast PM with Wine Kelly, Cinema Autopsy, the Writers' Room, bonus episodes of Captain Kelly's Cryptids & Conspiracies, Byron's Serial Corner, and so much more!

You'll also be part of our interactive community dedicated to the advancement of horror, hauntings, cryptids, conspiracies, aliens, and true crime. All things frightening.

Keep our mini-fridges full of blood...I mean...not blood...normal things that people drink...by going to http://shop.frightday.com

Theme music by Yawns Produced by Byron McKoy Follow us in the shadows at the following places: @byronmckoy @kellyfrightday @frightday

This is an Audio Wool Original.

#FrankOlson #MKUltra #CIA #Wormwood #FortDetrick #RockefellerCommission #ChurchCommittee #SeymourHersh #ColdCase #TrueCrime #Conspiracy #Frightday

A corn maze stabbing, a man in the sewer who talks to kids, and two skeletons going at it on an SUV. A flamingo thief on the stand and a priest versus a falling crucifix. A goon gal behind the wheel, 3,000 pounds of stolen snow crab, a murder suspect who'd plead guilty for a cheesesteak, a knife at Wendy's, and so much more.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frightday/id951360425

Stream on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/14ioP0zfFczK8hKPsDUmko?si=cff351ada3944a9a

Want more? Join the Frightday Society, at http://thefrightdaysociety.org As a Society Member, you'll have access to all Screamium content (Behind the Screams, It's Been a Weird Week, A Conversation With..., Toast to Toast PM with Wine Kelly, Cinema Autopsy, the Writers' Room, bonus episodes of Captain Kelly's Cryptids & Conspiracies, Byron's Serial Corner, and so much more!

You'll also be part of our interactive community dedicated to the advancement of horror, hauntings, cryptids, conspiracies, aliens, and true crime. All things frightening.

Keep our mini-fridges full of blood...I mean...not blood...normal things that people drink...by going to http://shop.frightday.com

Theme music by Yawns Produced by Byron McKoy

Follow us in the shadows at the following places: @byronmckoy @kellyfrightday @frightday

This is an Audio Wool Original.

Most summer camps have a lake. Every summer camp in a horror movie has something at the bottom of it. Jane Schoenbrun's third feature follows Chris, a queer director hired to reboot a dead 80s slasher franchise, who tracks the original final girl to the abandoned camp where it was shot. What follows is desire, fear, fried chicken, and a masked killer living in a hole in the lake.

Byron and Kelly dig into Schoenbrun's most playful film yet: Gillian Anderson's Billy, the trauma buried in the original film's infamous scene, Little Death and its helmet, and a soundtrack of needle drops that may or may not be ironic. Along the way: whistleblower catch-up, the new studio, a Noah's Ark update, Newfoundland accents, and the revelation that Byron does not know who Sade is...

WATCH / LISTEN New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one.

CHAPTERS 0:34 Live from the cabin in the woods 2:50 Whistleblowers and the mystery SD cards 5:14 The new studio and Noah's Ark 7:42 Midterms and Audio Wool Plus 10:57 Staff picks 11:04 Byron's pick: The Final Girls 15:24 Kelly's pick: Eraserhead 22:02 Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma 28:22 Chris and the Camp Miasma franchise 37:58 The original film and Billy's trauma 42:17 Sponsor: SAPS 44:40 Little Death and the needle drops 51:44 Chris goes back in 54:04 As Above, So Below 58:27 Final Thoughts and ratings 1:03:12 Next time: Frank Olson, part two

ABOUT THIS EPISODE A review of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026), written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun (We're All Going to the World's Fair, I Saw the TV Glow). Starring Hannah Einbinder, Gillian Anderson, and Jasmine Savoy Brown.

STAFF PICKS Kelly: The Final Girls (2015, Todd Strauss-Schulson) Byron: Eraserhead (1977, David Lynch)

SPONSOR SAPS hydration recovery beverage. Visit saps original dot com and use promo code AUDIOWOOL.

CONNECT Discord: discord.frightday.com The Frightday Society: frightdaysociety.org Email: [email protected] Bluesky / Twitter / Instagram: @frightday Phone line: 1-833-FRIGHT-9

An Audio Wool original produced by Byron McKoy. Theme music by Yawns.

#tags #CampMiasma #JaneSchoenbrun #GillianAnderson #HannahEinbinder #A24 #SlasherMovie #HorrorReview #HorrorPodcast #Frightday

This is a preview of content member's of the Frightday Sociay get at http://thefrightdaysociety.org

Captain Jack is back, and this time he's not alone... A new Proton email titled "hellp" arrives with a desperate message from someone who seems to be a prisoner...of his? A girl promised a mansion and a way out of Gary, Indiana, if she'd do the unthinkable...

Byron and Kelly go Full-Walrus armchair detective, chasing that address across the United States, stumbling onto suitcase murders along I-90, the Sylvia Likens case, a Prohibition agent, a Patty Hearst near-miss, a UFO incident at Ellsworth Air Force Base, and finally, an Ellsworth Street that leads right back to ...well...you'll see.

We need your help cracking this one. Join the hunt in the Frightday Community Center at discord.frightday.com.

Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:36 Captain Jack writes again 4:10 The "Help" email 7:13 The backwards audio 11:00 Is this Captain Jack's prisoner? 12:45 Hunting the address in Gary, Indiana 16:15 Sisters in suitcases and the I-90 corridor 21:20 The Ellsworth AFB UFO detour 23:10 Replay: "Naked and Famous" 27:00 The Sylvia Likens connection 29:45 Remembering David 36:16 Replay: "Monkey Gland" 41:30 Berkeley clippings and a Prohibition agent 44:30 !?!

At 2:30 AM on November 28, 1953, a man in his underwear went through a closed window and drapes at the Statler Hotel in Manhattan. The night manager reached him on the sidewalk while he was still trying to speak. Upstairs, a phone call went out from the room: "Well, he's gone." The man was Frank Olson, a government bacteriologist. His family would spend the next sixty years getting three different explanations from the government for what happened in that room.

Kelly walks through Olson's work building America's biological weapons program at Camp Detrick, his quiet move onto the CIA's books, and a summer 1953 trip to Europe that left him wanting out. Then come the spiked drinks at Deep Creek Lake and the strange final week in New York that ended on Seventh Avenue. Along the way: the original switchboard operators, a full accounting of Mambo No. 5's sequel, and a SAPS read that negotiates its own discount live.

CHAPTERS 0:42 November 28, 1953: the Statler Hotel 6:09 Eric Olson, age nine: fell or jumped 9:38 Who was Frank Olson 11:55 The Special Operations Division, MKNAOMI, and Artichoke 16:35 The 1949 Army security file 23:23 The last trip: Europe, summer 1953 27:53 "Did you ever see a man die?" 31:21 Korea, germ warfare, and the recanted confessions 37:48 Deep Creek Lake, November 1953 44:44 Dr. Harold Abramson and John Mulholland 49:26 The crash and the first phone call 53:44 Part two is coming

KEY FOLKS: Frank Olson: bacteriologist, acting chief of the Special Operations Division, and a man who did not follow orders Alice Olson: his wife and former classmate Eric Olson: his son, who spent sixty years on the words "fell or jumped" Armond Pastore: Statler Hotel night manager Norman Cournoyer: colleague and friend, one of the few people Olson confided in Sidney Gottlieb: CIA chemist who ordered the Deep Creek dosing Robert Lashbrook: Gottlieb's deputy and Olson's minder in New York Lt. Col. Vincent Ruwet: Olson's boss and later the family's frequent visitor Dr. Harold Abramson: an allergist consulting for the CIA on LSD John Mulholland: stage magician and author of the CIA's covert-delivery manual Richard Helms and Allen Dulles: upstairs

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING Wormwood (2017), Errol Morris's six-part Netflix docudrama Unsolved Mysteries, Frank Olson segment Church Committee hearings and final report CIA security office records and the Deep Creek memo The 1949 Army security file on Olson

SPONSOR Sap's: Hydration & Recovery. Get 20% off at http://sapsoriginal.com with promo code AUDIOWOOL.

CONNECT Discord: discord.frightday.com The Frightday Society: frightdaysociety.org Email: [email protected] Bluesky / Twitter / Instagram: @frightday Phone line: 1-833-FRIGHT-9

Stream on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/14ioP0zfFczK8hKPsDUmko?si=cff351ada3944a9a

Want more? Join the Frightday Society, at http://thefrightdaysociety.org As a Society Member, you'll have access to all Screamium content (Behind the Screams, It's Been a Weird Week, A Conversation With..., Toast to Toast PM with Wine Kelly, Cinema Autopsy, the Writers' Room, bonus episodes of Captain Kelly's Cryptids & Conspiracies, Byron's Serial Corner, and so much more!

You'll also be part of our interactive community dedicated to the advancement of horror, hauntings, cryptids, conspiracies, aliens, and true crime. All things frightening.

Keep our mini-fridges full of blood...I mean...not blood...normal things that people drink...by going to http://shop.frightday.com

Theme music by Yawns Produced by Byron McKoy

Follow us in the shadows at the following places: @byronmckoy @kellyfrightday @frightday

This is an Audio Wool Original.

#FrankOlson #MKUltra #CIA #Wormwood #FortDetrick #ProjectArtichoke #ColdCase #TrueCrime #Conspiracy #Frightday

This week, if they find a body in your frunk, you likely put it there. Thirty-one sloths die before opening day, a surgeon takes the wrong organ, and Return to Nature finally gets its sentence. A widower's grief journal, a finger in the OJ, and Taylor Momsen gets bit again. Dads catch fire, a café called Clunch gets robbed three nights straight, and someone touches Paul Bellini, so much more.

Stream on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/14ioP0zfFczK8hKPsDUmko?si=cff351ada3944a9a

Want more? Join the Frightday Society, at http://thefrightdaysociety.org As a Society Member, you'll have access to all Screamium content (Behind the Screams, It's Been a Weird Week, A Conversation With..., Toast to Toast PM with Wine Kelly, Cinema Autopsy, the Writers' Room, bonus episodes of Captain Kelly's Cryptids & Conspiracies, Byron's Serial Corner, and so much more!

You'll also be part of our interactive community dedicated to the advancement of horror, hauntings, cryptids, conspiracies, aliens, and true crime. All things frightening.

Keep our mini-fridges full of blood...I mean...not blood...normal things that people drink...by going to http://shop.frightday.com

Theme music by Yawns Produced by Byron McKoy

Follow us in the shadows at the following places: @byronmckoy @kellyfrightday @frightday

This is an Audio Wool Original.

Author Brad Olsen, whose books make up his Esoteric Series, joins us to discuss his new book, Secrets of Antarctica, and his case that Nazi Germany's occult research, advanced craft, and key personnel survived the war and went south. Brad links the Thule Society and the Ahnenerbe, the 1938-39 German claim on Neuschwabenland, Hans Kammler and the Bell, the Vril women, and the alleged Haunebu craft to a breakaway German presence he believes still operates under the ice. He cites wartime U-boat maps, Soviet files he says reached the West after the Cold War, and whistleblower accounts.

Brad also gives his account of Operation Highjump as a covered-up military defeat. He explains how he reads a widely circulated version of Admiral Byrd's 1947 warning about polar attacks, and he describes what he says was an American and Soviet standoff in Antarctic waters. Along the way he recounts the self-financed sailboat expedition that took him across the Drake Passage, presenting this material to a German audience, a 40-year "time loop" he sees linking the Philadelphia Experiment to the Bell, and his next book on underwater megaliths, including the Baltic Sea anomaly.

In this episode (00:00) From travel writer to esoteric author (01:12) An eviction payout funds a trip to the seventh continent (02:48) Catching a sailboat out of Ushuaia (04:00) The Drake Passage, and a quick word on flat earth (05:55) Calving ice and a near man-overboard (07:49) Why a self-financed expedition matters (09:28) Pyramids in the ice, and Nazi flag darts the sea captains still hunt for (11:23) The 1938-39 German expedition and the claim on Neuschwabenland (13:08) Alleged motherships, Hitler's alleged secret speeches, and the hole near the South Pole (15:10) U-boat maps to Agartha (16:10) Tibet, Ernst Schäfer, and the Nazi search for an inner earth (17:48) Mapping Neuschwabenland (18:37) The Schirmacher Oasis, lakes that never freeze, and Brad's U-boat piers theory (20:35) Did the Germans ever leave? (21:46) Kammler, Maria Orsic, and Brad's overlay of Byrd's flight path (24:07) Operation Highjump and Byrd's 1947 warning (26:37) Greenland and Thule (28:14) The Führer's convoy, the Hitler escape theory, and the Dönitz quote (29:47) Enigma, the British in Antarctica, and the lost commando story (31:41) An American and Soviet standoff, as Brad tells it (32:08) The Antarctic Treaty and Brad's account of the "Battle of Highjump" (34:04) The Haunebu and the missing planes (36:30) The Orion file and the Soviet submarine mission Brad describes (38:18) Black market U-boat maps and the Soviet files on the Ahnenerbe (40:00) The Thule Society on the mission patch (41:48) Presenting in Germany, and the discontinued Haunebu model kit (44:53) Next book: underwater archaeology and the Baltic Sea anomaly (47:32) A black basalt octagon and the Black Sun at Wewelsburg (49:19) Kammler, underground bases, and the 40-year time loop (51:16) The Bell and the Vril women (52:18) Where to find Brad Notable moments

"All disclosure subjects seem to have a conclusion in Antarctica."

On the Antarctic pyramids: "If one of them is built by intelligent hands, it's a complete game changer."

What German attendees told him after his talk: "Leave it to an American to come to Germany to tell us our true history in Antarctica."

"There's no such thing as a flat earth... Set foot on terra firma."

People, places & references mentioned The Thule Society, the Vril Society, and the Ahnenerbe Hans Kammler, Maria Orsic, and Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz The Haunebu, Die Glocke (the Bell), and the Black Sun at Wewelsburg Castle Neuschwabenland and the German Antarctic Expedition of 1938-39 Ernst Schäfer, the German explorer of Tibet Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Operation Highjump Operation Tabarin, Port Lockroy, and Vernadsky station Project Paperclip and the Antarctic Treaty Wild Bill Donovan, whose papers are held at the Army War College, Carlisle Barracks Emery Smith, Linda Moulton Howe and her whistleblower Brian S. Peter Levenda, David Hatcher Childress, Elena Danaan, and Nikolai Subbotin Dennis Åsberg and the Baltic Sea anomaly Kecksburg, the Philadelphia Experiment, and Montauk Contact in the Desert, where this conversation was recorded

Find Brad Website and conference schedule: BradOlsen.com Books, including the Esoteric Series: CCCPublishing.com New book: Secrets of Antarctica: The Untold History of the Ice Continent

VISITORS is an Audio Wool original, produced by Byron McKoy. Theme music by Yawns. More episodes at frightday.com/visitors and audiowool.co

Y'all... the trail is coming to an end. Who had the best insanity defense?

Editors note...so sorry for the crackling audio...I have no idea how that happened!

This is a preview of the content you can expect when you support us by joining the Frightday Society at http://thefrightdaysociety.org

Stream on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/14ioP0zfFczK8hKPsDUmko?si=cff351ada3944a9a

Want more? Join the Frightday Society, at http://thefrightdaysociety.org As a Society Member, you'll have access to all Screamium content (Behind the Screams, It's Been a Weird Week, A Conversation With..., Toast to Toast PM with Wine Kelly, Cinema Autopsy, the Writers' Room, bonus episodes of Captain Kelly's Cryptids & Conspiracies, Byron's Serial Corner, and so much more!

You'll also be part of our interactive community dedicated to the advancement of horror, hauntings, cryptids, conspiracies, aliens, and true crime. All things frightening.

Keep our mini-fridges full of blood...I mean...not blood...normal things that people drink...by going to http://shop.frightday.com

Theme music by Yawns Produced by Byron McKoy

Follow us in the shadows at the following places: @byronmckoy @kellyfrightday @frightday

This is an Audio Wool Original.

This week, Byron talks with Steve "the Shovel Man" Zaragoza, co-host of Dynamic Banter (formerly of SourceFed and Cloverfeels), about his horror anthology audio drama "Gray Bones in a Grave," why festival horror isn't what it used to be, and an intriguing game of horror this-or-that that somehow ends with a modern cult classic on top.

Stream on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/14ioP0zfFczK8hKPsDUmko?si=cff351ada3944a9a

0:00 Cold open and Steve's résumé 1:00 Reunited, the Skybound/Geena Davis creator contest, and Frankenstein MD 2:17 The rise of the "Scream King"? 2:52 What happened to Fantastic Fest: the pandemic, the Alamo South Lamar move, and Harry Knowles 5:21 This-or-that: a post-Obsession, post-Backrooms look 14:07 First horror memories 18:11 Why comedians make the best horror 25:39 Backrooms, the Osgood Perkins "shadow director" rumor, and Backrooms 2 29:14 A24 vs. Neon vs. the free agents, plus Yellow Veil Pictures 32:07 The Hollow Wheel and Steve's Halloween-season VR streams 33:37 Will & Dawn, Yankee in the South, and the slow-motion car crash 35:59 GRAY BONES IN A GRAVE: origins, the Creeper comic, and the Shovel Man 41:25 Naming the host: RIP the Gravesman and the Casketeer 44:21 The radio-play dream, live table reads, and the Riverside pipeline 47:12 The cast: Bree Essrig, Nicholas Hamilton, Sam Levine, Whitney Moore, and Talking Bones 51:24 The Freaks and Geeks goodwill index, and the one exception 54:06 Creep Tapes, remote interviews, and the upside of the COVID era 55:03 Season one vs. season two, and the curse of a hard-to-type title 1:01:15 Steve's Letterboxd and his half-star takedown of Flubber

ABOUT THE SHOW GRAY BONES IN A GRAVE is a horror anthology audio drama created by Steve Zaragoza and Brett Register, with a dash of Owen Carter. Each episode is a self-contained story led into the graveyard by the Shovel Man, a Crypt Keeper-style host who tells you how each resident got buried there. It's fully sound-designed, with live radio-play-style table reads streamed to patrons before each episode drops. Six episodes make up the first season, and scripts for season two are already underway.

Website: graybonesinagrave.com (that's GR-A-Y, built by Jesse Stilwell) Patreon: patreon.com/graybonesinagrave Socials: @graybonesshow

FRIGHTDAY Discord: discord.frightday.com The Frightday Society: frightdaysociety.org Email: [email protected] Bluesky / Twitter / Instagram: @frightday

MORE FRIGHTDAY 700+ episodes covering horror, paranormal, cryptids, true crime, and conspiracies since 2014. An Audio Wool original produced by Byron McKoy.

#GrayBonesInAGrave #SteveZaragoza #HorrorPodcast #HorrorAnthology #DynamicBanter #Frightday

This week we yes-clip into the studio to chat psy-cosmic music festivals, unsolved Morse code, and an earth-shattering nepotism revelation, before walking into liminal horror reviewing Kane Parsons' "Backrooms".

Stream on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/14ioP0zfFczK8hKPsDUmko?si=cff351ada3944a9a

0:00 Cold open 0:33 The "endless" Montana compound, liminal spaces, and following your gut 2:42 Housekeeping: AMC Scream Unseen with Jacob 3:30 Mooshfest, Tywalker and the Humanoids, and Galactic Twang 7:05 The Captain Jack situation: cracking Morse code hidden in a Bluey card 8:00 Fire in the Mountains, the Blackfeet Reservation, and a Stanley Hotel winter retreat 10:58 Staff Picks: Cube (1997) and Dead Ringers (1988) 15:41 The Robert Pattinson / Jeremy Irons nepotism saga 19:26 BACKROOMS review begins 21:45 Who is Kane Parsons? A24's record-breaking opening 23:00 Liminal vs. analog horror, Jung, and the threshold self 26:23 Web series origins and the Osgood Perkins "shadow director" rumor 31:00 Spoilers begin: Clark, Mary, and the mono-yellow labyrinth 42:38 What does it all mean? 49:44 Highs, lows, and final ratings

ABOUT THE FILM BACKROOMS (2026) is a science fiction horror film written, directed, and co-scored by Kane Parsons, adapted from his own viral YouTube analog-horror web series, with a screenplay co-written by Will Sudik. A jaded furniture salesman discovers a doorway in the basement of his store that opens into an endless, humming yellow labyrinth; when he vanishes inside it, his therapist follows him in. Made for roughly 10 million dollars, it is the debut feature from the self-taught 20-year-old Parsons and reportedly gave A24 the biggest opening weekend in the studio's history. Produced by A24, James Wan's Atomic Monster, Chernin, and 21 Laps, with Osgood Perkins aboard as a producer.

TALKING POINTS Where a 20-year-old self-taught director fits into the A24 machine, the leap from analog-horror YouTube series to a 10-million-dollar feature, liminal vs. analog horror as the first genuinely Gen Z horror movement, the Jungian read (threshold spaces, the shadow self, leaving your old self before you've arrived at the new one), the Osgood Perkins "shadow director" rumor and Mark Duplass's defense of Parsons, whether the film earns its ambiguity or just withholds resolution, and Exit 8 and Skinamarink as fellow travelers.

STAFF PICKS Byron: Dead Ringers (1988, David Cronenberg) Kelly: Cube (1997, Vincenzo Natali)

CONNECT Discord: discord.frightday.com The Frightday Society: frightdaysociety.org Email: [email protected] Bluesky / Twitter / Instagram: @frightday Phone line: 1-833-FRIGHT-9

MORE FRIGHTDAY 700+ episodes covering horror, paranormal, cryptids, true crime, and conspiracies since 2014.

#Backrooms #KaneParsons #A24 #LiminalHorror #AnalogHorror #Frightday #HorrorReview #HorrorPodcast

Want more? Join the Frightday Society, at http://thefrightdaysociety.org As a Society Member, you'll have access to all Screamium content (Behind the Screams, It's Been a Weird Week, A Conversation With..., Toast to Toast PM with Wine Kelly, Cinema Autopsy, the Writers' Room, bonus episodes of Captain Kelly's Cryptids & Conspiracies, Byron's Serial Corner, and so much more!

You'll also be part of our interactive community dedicated to the advancement of horror, hauntings, cryptids, conspiracies, aliens, and true crime. All things frightening.

Keep our mini-fridges full of blood...I mean...not blood...normal things that people drink...by going to http://shop.frightday.com

Theme music by Yawns Produced by Byron McKoy

Follow us in the shadows at the following places: @byronmckoy @kellyfrightday @frightday

This is an Audio Wool Original.