Not Your Final Girl

The time is nigh! From the black and white world, Candace and Ariel are hanging out with filmmaker Chelsea Stardust for our annual Vintage Halloween episode, where we discuss some of the most festive pre-1970 horror films.

Get ready for this triple feature - spanning three decades, we’ve got atmospheric and suspenseful psychological classic Cat People (1942), followed by Hammer campfest The Curse of Frankenstein (1952 - and in color!), in which Peter Cushing is toxic in his little outfits. Last up, low-budget indie nightmare of our hearts, Carnival of Souls (1962). In case you’re wondering, there is a common theme in these movies, but you gotta listen to find out. We can’t just give you everything in the description, okay?

We can give you Chelsea’s amazing Halloween mix though! [do we just put a link to the dropbox? idk] You can also check out our other episodes featuring Chelsea’s movies here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-am-your-mother-all-that-we-destroy-and-we-need-to/id1484828490?i=1000521133594 and here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cult-comedies-satanic-panic-we-summon-the-darkness-w/id1484828490?i=1000522933073. Also our Letterboxd has been mega-updated, so you can take a look at everything we’ve watched for the show.

Chelsea Stardust is a filmmaker known for her work on two successful horror movies, All That We Destroy (2019) and Satanic Panic (2019). You can check out All That We Destroy on Hulu and Satanic Panic on Shudder. And follow Chelsea on instagram to see what’s coming next from her: https://www.instagram.com/chelseastardust/

A proud part of the Morbidly Beautiful Podcast Network. Our drive for intersectionality aligns well with the Morbidly Beautiful ethos. We love that MB is a nonprofit that gives back to the horror community, and are thrilled to be a part of the network! Show now also streaming on morbidlybeautiful.com!

Movies Discussed: Cat People (1942), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Carnival of Souls (1962)

Links: IG- instagram.com/nyfgpod Twitter- twitter.com/nyfgpod FB- facebook.com/nyfgpodcast/ Pod merch- https://society6.com/nyfgpod

I am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland- https://www.amazon.com/Am-Not-Your-Final-Girl/dp/0692966633

Bandcamp- arieldyer.bandcamp.com

Show art by Brian Demarest: instagram.com/evilflynn

It’s Not Your Final Girl’s inaugural October episode, get ready for the jump scares - just kidding, we won’t do those, but there are some spooky sound effects in the background because our guest was literally in a haunted house. Today, we’re talking to haunter Jourdain Blanco about Haunt (2019) and The Houses October Built (2014), two films whose plots are deceptively similar, but deliver plenty of diverse scares.

We’ve also got spooky season stories, a murder roadie, a day in the life of a scare actor (so much punching!), price estimates on the average extreme horror attraction, all the evil clowns you could want, and… McKamey Manor, we guess. Listening to us is way more fun than getting buried alive, that’s the NYFG guarantee.

P.S. Candace has now been to three (3) haunts as of press time, and they were so much fun! Hit us up if you’d be our haunt road trip buddy.

Jourdain Blanco is a professional haunter and entertainer who lives in Arlington, Texas. He works year round on haunts wearing a myriad of different hats (actor, trainer, makeup artist), and has come into a love of horror films and all things horror as an adult. You can find Jourdain on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/sparky_da_clown/

A proud part of the Morbidly Beautiful Podcast Network. Our drive for intersectionality aligns well with the Morbidly Beautiful ethos. We love that MB is a nonprofit that gives back to the horror community, and are thrilled to be a part of the network! Show now also streaming on morbidlybeautiful.com!

Movies Discussed: Haunt (2019), The Houses October Built (2014)

Links: IG- instagram.com/nyfgpod Twitter- twitter.com/nyfgpod FB- facebook.com/nyfgpodcast/ Pod merch- https://society6.com/nyfgpod

I am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland- https://www.amazon.com/Am-Not-Your-Final-Girl/dp/0692966633

Bandcamp- arieldyer.bandcamp.com

Show art by Brian Demarest: instagram.com/evilflynn

Welcome to the world underneath, ghouls. Don’t panic, Candace and Ariel are here to guide you out of the simulation with the help of author Hailey Piper; we’re talking about John Carpenter’s Reagan-era classic They Live (1988), along with Dark City (1998), a mind-bending noir we couldn’t believe came out right before The Matrix.

In this episode: Lovecraft (barely), monster fucking (of course), houseless protagonists, horror noobery, the merits of edgy teenager politics (maybe it really is all bullshit), meta alien Roger Ebert, and the way time is a flat circle. Also, this episode is especially fun because it’s secretly a quadruple feature if you read Hailey’s books Queen of Teeth and The Worm and His Kings. Tons of cosmic horror to go around, folks. Tear down the walls of your perception with us. It will only hurt for a minute.

Hailey Piper is the author of horror books such as The Worm and His Kings, Queen of Teeth, Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy, and more. Once hailing from the haunted woods of New York, she now lives with her wife in Maryland. Find her at www.haileypiper.com or on Twitter via @HaileyPiperSays.

A proud part of the Morbidly Beautiful Podcast Network. Our drive for intersectionality aligns well with the Morbidly Beautiful ethos. We love that MB is a nonprofit that gives back to the horror community, and are thrilled to be a part of the network! Show now also streaming on morbidlybeautiful.com!

Movies Discussed: They Live (1988), Dark City (1998)

Links: IG- instagram.com/nyfgpod Twitter- twitter.com/nyfgpod FB- facebook.com/nyfgpodcast/ Pod merch- https://society6.com/nyfgpod

I am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland- https://www.amazon.com/Am-Not-Your-Final-Girl/dp/0692966633

Bandcamp- arieldyer.bandcamp.com

Show art by Brian Demarest: instagram.com/evilflynn

Hey ghouls! Today we've got a special feed drop for you from our incredibly talented pod-friend, Wi-Moto Nyoka of Dusky Projects and the Black Women are Scary podcast. Come for the flash fiction starring Candace and Ariel in which we are horribly murdered, stay for the eclectic conversation about a bunch of other fun topics including the dirt on libraries and what's what with fast food. 

"Join us as we talk horror, fast food, and what it's really like to be a librarian, with Candace and Ariel of Not Your Final Girl Podcast.

Flash fiction by your humble host Wi-Moto Nyoka

SFX contributions by Private Hell Productions and Sound Effect"

WI-MOTO NYOKA is a writer and transmedia artist. She is the founder of Dusky Projects, creating and producing horror & sci-fi content for young adult and adult audiences. You can follow her work on IG and Twitter (kind of) @Duskyprojects. If you like podcasts and discovering new horror authors, check out Black Women Are Scary, a radio-dramatic podcast that celebrates and produces short horror stories by BIPOC authors. Available wherever you get your podcasts!

A proud part of the Morbidly Beautiful Podcast Network. Our drive for intersectionality aligns well with the Morbidly Beautiful ethos. We love that MB is a nonprofit that gives back to the horror community, and are thrilled to be a part of the network! Show now also streaming on morbidlybeautiful.com!

Links: IG- instagram.com/nyfgpod Twitter- twitter.com/nyfgpod FB- facebook.com/nyfgpodcast/ Pod merch- https://society6.com/nyfgpod

I am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland- https://www.amazon.com/Am-Not-Your-Final-Girl/dp/0692966633

Bandcamp- arieldyer.bandcamp.com

Show art by Brian Demarest: instagram.com/evilflynn

Content note: One of the movies we talk about in this episode features sexual assault, both discussed and implied. If you don’t want to hear us talk about that, you can stop listening at about the 52 minute mark to avoid it.

We promised you ghouls an update on our backpacking/trail maintenance trip in the Los Padres National Forest back at the beginning of the summer, and here we are with two more wilderness horror movies, along with a harrowing hiking tale of our own. Today we’ve got backpackers atmospherically getting chased by a bear in Backcountry (2015), and backpackers atmospherically getting chased by an outback serial killer in Wolf Creek (2005).

Come for the horrors of the natural world, stay for the surprise friendships, haunting mysteries, dismantling of toxic masculinity, torture porn, and of course - the Official Not Your Final Girl Rewrite. Sure Wolf Creek is a little rough, and Backcountry slanders the humble and derpy black bear, but much like backpacking, once you’re done you’ll think, “that was a pretty fun time.” Plus, with this double feature, you won’t have to worry whether you brought enough water or sunscreen.

A proud part of the Morbidly Beautiful Podcast Network. Our drive for intersectionality aligns well with the Morbidly Beautiful ethos. We love that MB is a nonprofit that gives back to the horror community, and are thrilled to be a part of the network! Show now also streaming on morbidlybeautiful.com!

Movies Discussed: Backcountry (2015), Wolf Creek (2005), Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

Links: IG- instagram.com/nyfgpod Twitter- twitter.com/nyfgpod FB- facebook.com/nyfgpodcast/ Pod merch- https://society6.com/nyfgpod

I am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland- https://www.amazon.com/Am-Not-Your-Final-Girl/dp/0692966633

Bandcamp- arieldyer.bandcamp.com

Show art by Brian Demarest: instagram.com/evilflynn

Greetings, ghouls, and get ready for a little tension and suspense. Candace and Ariel are back from the beach, still relatively young, and are talking to comics and tv writer Pornsak Pichetshote about the horror comics that freaked us out the most, film criticism as a defense mechanism, and of course our double feature. Today we’ve got two variations on the home invasion genre - Green Room (2015), and Funny Games (1997 and 2007 because we accidentally watched two different versions lol oops).

Stick around for discussion of so-called “elevated” horror, analysis of punchable faces, a performance “devoid of camp,” more reviews from fake Roger Ebert, and one (1) shocking confession from Ariel. One or more of these movies may get on your nerves, but hey, buy the ticket, take the ride, right? You’re in good hands with us, we promise.

Pornsak Pichetshote is a Thai-American writer of comics and TV. His comic book series INFIDEL has been listed on NPR’s Best Horror Stories of all Time, featured on 20+ Best of the Year lists (including NPR, Barnes & Noble, Huffington Post & The Hollywood Reporter) and optioned for a feature film by Sugar23 and Tristar Pictures. His new book THE GOOD ASIAN has launched to industry acclaim. As a TV writer, his work includes Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger, Two Sentence Horror Stories, and Light as a Feather.

A proud part of the Morbidly Beautiful Podcast Network. Our drive for intersectionality aligns well with the Morbidly Beautiful ethos. We love that MB is a nonprofit that gives back to the horror community, and are thrilled to be a part of the network! Show now also streaming on morbidlybeautiful.com!

Movies Discussed: Green Room (2015), Funny Games (1997), Funny Games (2007)

Links: IG- instagram.com/nyfgpod Twitter- twitter.com/nyfgpod FB- facebook.com/nyfgpodcast/ Pod merch- https://society6.com/nyfgpod

I am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland- https://www.amazon.com/Am-Not-Your-Final-Girl/dp/0692966633

Bandcamp- arieldyer.bandcamp.com

Show art by Brian Demarest: instagram.com/evilflynn

Your illustrious hosts are living their best aquatic horror life at the beach this weekend so we're sharing a feed drop from another podcast! Ariel had the privilege of guesting on This Book That Book to geek out about some of her favorite childhood reads, and of course that includes horror! Tune in to hear her talk formative media and youthful pranks gone too far, and we'll be back in a couple weeks with another NYFG episode.

This Book That Book is a narrative interview podcast where host Katherine Kwong interviews a guest about a meaningful book they read as a kid. The show is about revisiting one's childhood bookshelf, those books, and reflecting on what the story means to you now.

Katherine's inspiration behind starting her pod: "I want the show to inspire people to go back to those stories or spend time thinking about what books impacted them at a young age." The show is for library lovers, people who can't help but eagerly point out their book recommendations in bookstores, and for those who still find time for children's books on their TBR lists.

Follow the show on instagram @thisbookthatbookpodcast and email questions and ideas to [email protected]. Read a kids' book you haven't thought of in years: tag us at #thisbookthatbookpodcast. 

Are you tired of heavy-hitting double features by now? We hope not, because this week we’ve got a barn burner of an episode - Candace and Ariel are joined by Mars and Story from Gorefriends Podcast to talk about horror classic Rosemary’s Baby (1968), and its sister-from-another-mister Hereditary (2018).

Grab a candle, pull up a chair at the seance table, (maybe put a hold on House of Psychotic Women) and join us to talk about family grief, the horror of isolation, deals with the devil, madness, and the conspiracy of patriarchy. Heavy topics, sure, but at least the ants and the cultists are having a great time.

Were you in the theatre to see Hereditary for the first time? Did you find floating Toni Collette terrifying, hilarious, or other? Does Rosemary’s Baby still scare the shit out of you? Find us on the socials and tell us about it.

And please check out Gorefriends! Join besties Story and Mars as they do in-depth analysis' on all types of horror films. From the folklore to the gore, your gorefriends got you covered! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gorefriends/id1460123618. They covered Hereditary here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/8-hereditary/id1460123618?i=1000440688697, and Rosemary’s Baby here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/42-rosemarys-baby/id1460123618?i=1000471101236 

A proud part of the Morbidly Beautiful Podcast Network. Our drive for intersectionality aligns well with the Morbidly Beautiful ethos. We love that MB is a nonprofit that gives back to the horror community, and are thrilled to be a part of the network! Show now also streaming on morbidlybeautiful.com!

Movies Discussed: Hereditary (2018), Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Links: IG- instagram.com/nyfgpod Twitter- twitter.com/nyfgpod FB- facebook.com/nyfgpodcast/ Pod merch- https://society6.com/nyfgpod

I am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland- https://www.amazon.com/Am-Not-Your-Final-Girl/dp/0692966633

Bandcamp- arieldyer.bandcamp.com

Show art by Brian Demarest: instagram.com/evilflynn

Hang out in the scary suburbs with us this episode! Pod Mortem co-host Travis Hunter asked us to pick a formative horror movie to go with his, and we ended up with a heavy hitter double feature for the books. First off we’ve got simplicity, style, and one of the greatest final girl/movie monster face-offs of all time in Travis’ kindergarten(!) favorite, John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), followed by whimsical-yet-terrifying classic Poltergeist (1982), which Candace and Ariel can both call early nightmare fuel. 

Stick around for discussion of iconic soundtracks, normie stoners, ghost ASMR, dads losing their absolute shit, Candace’s sick Poltergeist shirt (sorry, it’s no longer available), and Ariel’s favorite game: Spielberg or Hooper. We will also find out what Roger Ebert thought of these titans of the genre, since we are sure you’re dying to know.

What’s your formative horror? Find us on the socials and let us know! While you’re at it, rate and review us so our egos can be sated.

Travis Hunter is the co-host/producer/editor of the weekly horror podcast Pod Mortem (@thepodmortem). He is also a singer/songwriter and award-winning writer with a degree in mass media/journalism. Follow him everywhere @travismwh.

And please check out Pod Mortem here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pod-mortem-a-horror-podcast/id1505007720

P.s. We made a reference to Satanic Panic as our last episode - you’re not crazy, we tweaked our schedule since we recorded this episode.

A proud part of the Morbidly Beautiful Podcast Network. Our drive for intersectionality aligns well with the Morbidly Beautiful ethos. We love that MB is a nonprofit that gives back to the horror community, and are thrilled to be a part of the network! Show now also streaming on morbidlybeautiful.com!

Movies Discussed: Halloween (1978), Poltergeist (1982)

Links: IG- instagram.com/nyfgpod Twitter- twitter.com/nyfgpod FB- facebook.com/nyfgpodcast/ Pod merch- https://society6.com/nyfgpod

I am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland- https://www.amazon.com/Am-Not-Your-Final-Girl/dp/0692966633

Bandcamp- arieldyer.bandcamp.com

Show art by Brian Demarest: instagram.com/evilflynn

Content note: This episode's movies heavily feature themes of sexual assault, and while they are mostly figurative, we do thoroughly discuss those themes.

We're back, and we've got a QUADRUPLE FEATURE for you this time. It's Pride Month, ghouls, and we've been dying to talk about all the queer stuff in the Alien franchise. Come along with us on a journey of gender nonconformity, mommy issues, hypercapitalism, found family, and of course- penis-headed monsters. If you aren't already a Ripley 8 x Call shipper, you will be once we're done here, and you'll be pleased to know there are 91 tagged fanfics on Ao3.

P.S. The Stephen King movie whose name escaped us is Sleepwalkers (1992).

Need more Alien in your life after this? Check out Pod Mortem's episode here, and Nightmare on Fierce Street's here, here, here, and here. Find Gretchen Felker-Martin's excellent essay, "Kane's Son: Sexual Violence and Symbolism in Alien and Aliens" here. And you can read Whitney Anspach's thorough thesis "Study of Gender Representations within the Aliens Series" here.

A proud part of the Morbidly Beautiful Podcast Network. Our drive for intersectionality aligns well with the Morbidly Beautiful ethos. We love that MB is a nonprofit that gives back to the horror community, and are thrilled to be a part of the network! Show now also streaming on morbidlybeautiful.com!

Movies discussed: Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien3 (1992), Alien: Resurrection (1997)

Song used during the series recap: "Hypersleep" by Jerry Goldsmith from Alien: Original Motion Picture Score

Follow us on twitter, instagram, and facebook. And buy our cool ass merch!

Buy our namesake's book, I am Not Your Final Girl by Claire C. Holland

Show music by Ariel Dyer - arieldyer.bandcamp.com

Show art by Brian Demarest: instagram.com/evilflynn