Mind Over Splatter

Introducing "The Devil You Don't" - a new, four-part history series about the Jersey Devil, and the birth of the modern world, from Dylan Ferguson. 

Soon, you can subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can listen on Spotify right now:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3jlLAJsvLunXBwcgIWOwot

Sneak peak at a new limited history podcast from Dylan Ferguson, featuring Sean O'Rourke, with music by Rob What. What is the Jersey Devil, and why has it left its grubby little claw-marks across 300 years of American history? Learn surprising stories about dueling almanacs, Ben Franklin, eugenics, the birth of science, independent filmmakers, and cryptozoology.

Look for it starting August 18th!

The final chapter. We begin by digging into Wes Craven's complex, thoughtful meta-sequel New Nightmare (1994), discussing how it reassesses the themes of the first film. Then, it's time to argue over the contentious Freddy vs. Jason (2003) - is it an Iraq War allegory? - before wrapping things up with the 2010 remake. And yes, we can finally unveil our full-franchise rankings. 

These ones get real weird. It's time for an increasingly drunk Dylan, Sheldon, Will - and special guest Scott Crompton - to delve into the zany, unhinged worlds of Nightmare 4: The Dream Master (1988), Nightmare 5: The Dream Child (1989), and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991). The production history and reception of the films we're dissecting are set against a backdrop of Freddy Krueger's runaway pop-culture celebrity in an MTV-generation world.

The second part of our exploration of the Nightmare on Elm Street films probes the notorious gay themes in Freddy's Revenge (1985), and the contentious ways that the AIDS crisis, and the homophobia of the period, are incorporated into the movie. 

Dylan, Sheldon, Will, and Scott then move on to dissecting and debating the wild, influential A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), and we finally get to start ranking these things.

In late-70's and early-80's America, Laotian men began suddenly dying from their dreams. Newspaper coverage of the medical mystery would inspire one of the richest and most enduring classics of horror cinema.
 
We begin with the true story of that tragedy, and how it challenges our assumptions about the distinction between dreams and reality, before connecting it to the seminal 1984 film.
 
Scott Crompton, a professor of English and film - and a Nightmare super-fan - joins Dylan, Sheldon, and Will, to discuss, in detail, how the first Freddy Krueger film was made, how it works, and what it means. 
 
This is the first installment in a special 4-part series about the Nightmare on Elm Street movies.

For the full experience, go to our YouTube page! Dylan, Sheldon, and Will got together in the same room, for the first time, to record a special video episode for the second season finale. The topic? Nineties horror. We each picked our favourite scary movie for every year of the decade, from 1990 - 1999, but have kept the picks a secret from one another, until now. And of course, we make it a drinking game, and you can play along. Join us as we have some fun dissecting beloved classics and unearthing little-known gems from horror cinema's most misunderstood decade.

An exploration of the ideas, people, and films behind the found-footage horror boom - including Paranormal Activity and Lake Mungo - with Dylan, Sheldon, and Sean O'Rourke. Featuring a deep-dive into the origins of The Blair Witch Project, with detours into "mysterious phenomena" TV shows, Sundance and the American indie movie renaissance, the rise of the multiplex, the birth of viral marketing, and what made 1999 possibly the greatest year ever for American film. Plus, an interview with Professor Margarida Medeiros about Victorian ghost photography, and how our relationship with cameras has long influenced debates about fact and fiction. And, of course, we argue over the different movies under discussion, and rank them all at the end of our shaky, nausea-inducing journey through the deep woods of this unsettling sub-genre.

Dylan, William, and special guest David Annandale break down eccentric British horror movies dealing with paganism and the rural occult, like The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General. Featuring an interview with Gary Parsons, a filmmaker and film historian specializing in English witchcraft documentaries, who tells us about lesser-known witch flicks from the sixties and seventies, and explains the British counterculture's fascination with occultism at that time. We compare and contrast some surprisingly varied titles – involving skin-pilfering demons and undead bikers – while telling stories about the filmmakers, the time period, and generally exploring everything about these folking weird movies.  

A comprehensive discussion of Clive Barker’s 1987 classic Hellraiser – then all nine sequels – featuring Dylan, Sheldon, and Will, plus an interview with Peter Tupper, a cultural historian of BDSM, who provides some fascinating insight into the traditions and aesthetics channeled by the movies. The boys talk about Barker, the series' tortured production history, and the themes of the films, exploring the relationship between pain and pleasure, desire and disgust, and why uncomfortable activities – like watching scary movies – can feel so good. After analyzing and comparing every last entry, we eventually get three separate ranked lists reflecting three different perspectives on one of horror’s most beguiling and unclassifiable franchises.