Scare U

We're back from Spring Break, discussing James Whale's 1935 classic featuring Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, and Ernest Thesiger. Our guests are the authors of the new book Peggy Webling and the Story Behind Frankenstein: The Making of a Hollywood Monster, about the woman who wrote the stage play from which Universal's Frankenstein (1931) was adapted. Also: a new superlative honoring one of our favorite actors, the inimitable Béatrice Dalle.

Intro, Debate Society, To Sir With Love (spoiler-free): 00:00-27:40

Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 27:41-56:04

Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 56:05-1:16:04

Screenplay William Hurlbut, adapted from the novel by Mary Shelley by John Balderston & Hurlbut

Featuring Colin Clive, E.E. Clive, Dwight Frye, Gavin Gordon, O.P. Heggie, Valerie Hobson, Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Una O’Connor, Ernest Thesiger, Douglas Walton

Bruce Graver has taught British Romantic literature and art at Providence College since 1985.  He has prepared scholarly editions of the works of the Wordsworth family, has a special interest in 19th-century 3D photography (The Stereoscopic Picturesque is about to be published), and is a classically trained pianist and tenor who has performed with various New England choirs and chamber ensembles. In good weather, Bruce can be found hiking along the Appalachian Trail, or across the mountains of the English Lake District, where the Wordsworths and Beatrix Potter once lived.

Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum is an ancient historian who teaches postgraduates at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, and writes on the history of astrology, divination, and ancient medicine. She has been an amateur genealogist for the past 23 years. Peggy Webling is Dorian’s great-grandaunt, and she grew up hearing family tales about her writing of the play Frankenstein. In 1991, she and her mother discovered a large cache of letters that Peggy and her sisters wrote to Dorian’s great-grandmother over almost 30 years, and Dorian now owns an unpublished archive of Peggy’s letters, papers, manuscripts, and photographs.

To find out more about Bruce and Dorian’s book, click here.

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from Bride of Frankenstein by Franz Waxman.

For more information on this film, essays from your hosts (including why the Professor chose it, on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, scareupod.com.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook group. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

When music journalist Myles Clarkson visits ailing piano virtuoso Duncan Ely at his palatial California home, ostensibly to interview the man, Duncan notices something distinct about Myles:  his hands – they’re beautiful, the bone structure perfect for a concert pianist.  Myles, it turns out, is a Juilliard-trained musician whose career tanked after receiving some bad reviews.  Taking an interest in Myles, Duncan introduces him to his artist daughter Roxanne. Soon Myles has entered the pianist’s inner circle, much to the chagrin of Myles’ wife, Paula, who feels more than a tinge of jealousy at the attention being paid to her husband.  But things are about to take a turn for the uncanny.  Roxanne casts a plaster life mask of Myles, and with Duncan on his way out, Myles donates blood to help him.  While Myles is asleep, something happens, and when he awakes, he’s changed.  It’s almost as if he’s someone else. His urge to live, to love, to play music, is revived, leaving Paula to wonder:  just what, or who, is inhabiting the body of the man she loves?

Intro, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-28:50
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 28:51-1:02:54
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:02:55-1:22:19

Director Paul Wendkos
Screenplay Ben Maddow, based on the novel by Fred Mustard Stewart
Featuring Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset, Bradford Dillman, Pamelyn Ferdin, Curt Jurgens, Barbara Parkins, Kathleen Widdoes, William Windom

David Cote is a playwright, opera librettist, and critic based in New York. His operas include Lucidity – which will be produced by On Site Opera in New York and Seattle Opera in fall 2024, Blind Injustice, which premiered at Cincinnati Opera and will be presented at Peak Performances at Montclair State University February 16 & 18. Other operas include Three Way at Nashville Opera and BAM; The Scarlet Ibis for the Prototype Festival; and 600 Square Feet with Cleveland Opera Theater. His plays include The Müch, Saint Joe, and Otherland. David wrote lyrics for Nkeiru Okoye’s Black Lives Matter monodrama, Invitation to a Die-In and the dating-app song cycles In Real Life, composed by Robert Paterson. David’s TV and theater coverage appears in The A.V. Club, Observer, 4 Columns, and American Theatre. He was the longest serving theater editor and chief drama critic of Time Out New York. He’s also the author of popular companion books about the Broadway hits Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Spring Awakening, Jersey Boys, and Wicked.

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from The Mephisto Waltz by Jerry Goldsmith.

For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scareupod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ group. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Behold – the late, great Edward Lionheart, a Shakespearean actor whose performances in Julius Caesar, Troilus and Cressida, Othello, Cymbeline, and others left him the laughingstock of London theatre critics, is dead.  And yet somehow, someone is knocking off said critics one at a time in truly Shakespearean fashion… albeit with slight alterations to the text.  Shylock may have wanted his pound his flesh – this killer takes the heart.  Joan of Arc might have burned at the stake – this killer fries his victims in a hair salon.  Peregrine Devlin, head of the London Critics Circle, is baffled, as are the police.  And yet – the order of the killings bear a striking resemblance to Lionheart’s last repertory season.  What’s going on with the Thames-side meths drinkers that have taken up residence in the crumbling Burbage Theatre?  And what might Edward’s daughter, Edwina, have to do with everything?  Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend us your ears – for herein lies the tale of the deceased actor who set out to exact revenge, and succeeded, and the rest – is silence.

Intro, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-26:10
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 26:11-1:07:38
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:07:39-1:28:17

Director Douglas Hickox
Screenplay Anthony Greville-Bell, based on an idea by Stanley Mann and John Kohn
Featuring Harry Andrews, Coral Browne, Robert Coote, Diana Dors, Jack Hawkins, Ian Hendry, Joan Hickson, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Robert Morley, Milo O’Shea, Dennis Price, Vincent Price, Diana Rigg, Eric Sykes

Ben Viccellio is an actor, writer and Associate Professor of Drama & Film at Kenyon College. His acting credits include the role of Oedipus in Frank Galati's Oedipus Complex at The Goodman Theatre; Cherry Orchard, Theatrical Essays, and the world premiere of Men of Tortuga at Steppenwolf; the role of Petruchio in Short Shakespeare: Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth in Short Shakespeare: Macbeth, and Guildenstern in Hamlet at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.  Ben has also also acted for film and television, as well as in the odd commercial... some of them, he claims, very odd. His writing for the stage has been produced in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Aspen.

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from Theatre of Blood by Michael J. Lewis.

For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scareupod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ group. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

World War II.  Somewhere in Germany.  Accompanied by a cameraman shooting propaganda for Mother Russia, a ragtag platoon fighting the Nazis receives a distress signal from fellow soldiers and heads off to investigate.  They approach a church where no Russians can be found, but the church is inhabited by creatures who appear to be constructed from weapons, parts of machines and vehicles, but still have blood flowing through their veins.  The creatures seem like part of the Nazi war machine, but then, one can’t be sure in the fog of war.  Soon, cut off from the outside world, the platoon is surrounded, their C.O. down.  It’s up to the rest to get inside the factory of a mad scientist, and soon discovers just where the creatures are from, who created them, and why they exist.

Intro, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-26:30
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 26:31-1:01:38
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:01:39-1:24:28

Director Richard Raaphorst
Screenplay Chris Mitchell & Miguel Tejada-Flores, story by Richard Raaphorst & Miguel Tejada-Flores, original idea by Richard Raaphorst
Featuring Cristina Catalina, Robert Gwilym, Alexander Mercury, Luke Newberry, Karel Roden, Joshua Sasse, Mark Stevenson, Hon Ping Tang, Andrei Zayats

Bobby Frederick Tilley is a costume designer for theater, film, and TV.  His theater credits include Be More Chill on Broadway, for which he received one of his two Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Costume Design.  His work has also been seen at the Atlantic Theatre Company, the Geffen Playhouse, the Signature Theatre, the Roundabout, Second Stage, LAByrinth Theater Company, Rattlestick Theater, and Ars Nova, among other venues. 

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar. 

For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scareupod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ group. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Following a double mastectomy, and hoping to recover in peace, actress Veronica Ghent travels to what she believes will be a solitary retreat in the Scottish Highlands.  She’s accompanied by a young nurse, Desi, who through sheer will and a good heart is able to put up with Veronica’s brusque, standoffish nature.  There are other forces at work:  the land on which their cabin sits was the burial ground of thousands of alleged witches, whose ashes have fertilized the soil and created ground rich with supernatural power.  When her dreams are haunted by visions of witches being burned and silenced, we learn of an incident from Veronica’s past involving a famous director and possible abuse.  It’s an incident that’s scarred Veronica as much as her recent surgery.  But now, imbued with powers thanks to the the Highlands, Veronica finds herself able to confront the damage done to both mind and body.

Intro, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-29:52
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 29:53-1:01:52
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:01:53-1:23:23

Director Charlotte Colbert
Screenplay Charlotte Colbert & Kitty Percy
Featuring Jonathan Aris, Layla Burns, Kota Eberhardt, Olwen Fouéré. Rupert Everett, Alice Krige, Amy Manson, Malcolm McDowell

Jerry J Sampson is a female horror screenwriter whose main thematic focus is on generational trauma and the effects of repression on the psyche. She has four feature scripts in various forms of production, including one feature supernatural horror optioned and filming in her hometown of Portland, Oregon. She is currently in pre-production on her directorial short film debut, In Dreams, working together with local crew and talent to create a truly haunting short that encapsulates the feeling of grief and loss through a lyrical and gorgeous narrative. In addition to her filmmaking pursuits, Jerry is also a film critic for such online publications as Ghouls Magazine, Rue Morgue, Moving Picture Film Club, and others, offering deep dives and editorials on current and classic horror films. She features on podcasts and panels, attends film festivals as both a creative and as press. Her collection of fiction The Scream & Other Dark Stories can be ordered here. Per her website, “She is here to offer a different voice in the horror sphere, always striving to prove the value of the horror genre as a means of catharsis and social commentary. The genre is so often overlooked, but she believes that through horror we, especially women, are able to safely explore the dark corners of the world, of our communities, of our homes.”

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from She Will by Clint Mansell.

For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scareupod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ group. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Somewhere on the outskirts of Paris, a woman, Louise, is driving alone at night.  There’s a body in the back seat of her car.  Its face is obscured, and it’s slumped over, lifeless. Because said body is a corpse, and Louise is soon dragging it into the Seine.  Meanwhile, after giving a speech about the perils and pleasures of skin grafts, a doctor, Genessier, is called to the morgue to identify a body.  It is that of his missing daughter?  So he claims.  On his way out, Gennessier is accosted by a man, Tessot, who asks if the body is that of his missing daughter, Simone.  Gennessier tells him no, it’s his daughter, and that’s that.  But back at the doctor’s home/clinic is indeed his daughter, Christiane, alive and well, but hiding behind a white mask that obscures a badly scarred face, the result of a recent car accident.  The police, meanwhile, are suspicious – who is the body in the river, and why is IT missing its face?  And why does it appear someone surgically removed said face with a scalpel?  Louise, meanwhile, has located and lured a new facial donor / candidate / victim back to the clinic, a victim who’s soon undergoing a gruesome surgery that may or may not spell freedom, as it were, for poor faceless Christiane Genessier.

Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-27:46
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 27:47-1:06:09
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:06:10-1:26:50

Director Georges Franju
Dialogue by Pierre Gascar, adaptation by Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, Jean Redon, and Claude Sautet, based on the novel by Jean Redon
Featuring Béatrice Altariba, Pierre Brasseur, François Guérin, Juliette Mayniel, Alexandre Rignault, Edith Scob, Alida Valli

Liz DeGregorio is a poet, writer, and editor. Her work has appeared in Electric Literature, Lucky Jefferson, Anomaly, Catapult, Dread Central, BUST, Ghouls Magazine, OyeDrum Magazine, and many other publications. She’s also performed at Providence’s Dorry Award-winning storytelling series Stranger Stories.

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from Eyes Without a Face by Maurice Jarre.

For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scareupod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ group. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Jennifer Check and Anita “Needy” Lesnicky are best friends living in the town of Devil’s Kettle, best known for its waterfall and high school football team.  When Jennifer suggests she and Needy step out to see a band, Low Shoulder, at the local roadhouse, Melody Lane, Needy’s reluctant.  She’s rather spend the night with Chip, her boyfriend.  But Jennifer's nothing if not persuasive. Upon arriving at Melody Lane, it’s clear the band is a bunch of locals posing as hipsters from the city.  But Jennifer’s entranced by the lead singer, Nikolai, who she finds “salty,” and as the set heats up, so does Melody Lane.  A fire soon engulfs the bar, and after escaping, Jennifer and Needy are beckoned to the band’s van.  Jennifer succumbs, but Needy runs home, only to find Jennifer in her kitchen, beaten, bloody, and gorging herself on Boston Market chicken.  What's happened?  And what does it mean when certain members of their high school class end up dead, mangled, drained of their blood?  Needy suspects something bigger than a few random murders at play, and wonders if maybe, just maybe, her bestie’s at the center of it all.

Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-31:16
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 31:17-1:03:26
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:03:27-1:18:27

Director Karyn Kusama
Screenplay Diablo Cody
Featuring Adam Brody, Megan Fox, Kyle Gallner, Chris Pratt, Amy Sedaris, Amanda Seyfried, J.K. Simmons, Johnny Simmons, Cynthia Stevenson

Kate Thompson is a small animal veterinarian by day and a horror movie aficionado by night who has a special affinity for the campy, gory, and feminist side of horror.  As co-host of The Nightlight Horror Movie Club podcast with her best friend and fellow vet, Ariana, they explore the darkest corners of horror cinema, presenting a unique blend of movie reviews and mini-episodes, true crime, creepypastas, urban legend, and all things 'spoopy.’

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from Jennifer’s Body by Andrew Ampaya and Ryan Levine.

For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scareupod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ group. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Driving instructor Rose Dooley lives alone in rural Ireland, but she’s hardly ever alone.  The local residents call Rose any time they have a, shall we say, ghost problem. Which happens more often than you’d think. You see, Rose’s father, the late ghost hunter Vincent Dooley, has imbued Rose with certain ‘talents’ to divine and chat up ghosts that are giving people a hard time. That’s when she’s approached by one Martin Martin, a woodworker whose late wife has been making his life hell for the past several years, constantly berating him and his choices from beyond the grave. At the same time, determined to sell his soul for a revived career, washed up American pop star Christian and his wife Claudia have been picking out virgins to sacrifice, and soon set their sights on Martin's daughter, Sarah. It’s up to Rose and Martin to foil the Winters’ nefarious schemes, and to make sure it's "curtains for Christian."

Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-25:32
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 25:33-56:00
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 56:01-1:14:13

Directors Mike Ahearn & Enda Loughman
Screenplay Mike Ahearn & Enda Loughman and Maeve Higgins & Demian Fox
Featuring Jamie Beamish, Terri Chandler, Emma Coleman, Risteard Cooper, Will Forte, Maeve Higgins, Claudia O’Doherty, Barry Ward

Wendy MacLeod’s play The House of Yes became an award-winning Miramax film starring Parker Posey, and was produced by many theaters including The Magic Theater, Soho Rep, The Washington Shakespeare Company, The Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, and The Gate Theater in London. Her other works for the stage include Sin and Schoolgirl Figure, both of which premiered at The Goodman, Juvenilia and The Water Children, both of which premiered at Playwrights Horizons, and Things Being What They Are, which premiered at Seattle Repertory Theatre, had an extended run at Steppenwolf in Chicago, and was produced by The Road Theatre in LA. She was the first writer selected for The Writer’s Room residency at the Arden Theater in Philadelphia, where she wrote Women in Jeopardy! which was selected for The Kilroys' List and premiered at GEVA. The Ballad of Bonnie Prince Chucky was commissioned by and produced at ACT's Young Conservatory in San Francisco. Her prose has appeared in The New York Times, McSweeney's, Salon, POETRY magazine, and on NPR's All Things Considered. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, she is the James E. Michael Playwright-in-Residence at Kenyon College. Her plays are available through Dramatists Play Service and at Playscripts.com.

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from Extra Ordinary: “A Woman’s Heart” by Eleanor McAvoy, performed by McAvoy and Mary Black.

For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scareupod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ group. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Eccentric billionaire Rudolph Deutsch wants someone to figure out what (or who's) been haunting the old Belasco mansion, the “Mt Everest of haunted houses.” Apparently the house has something to do with the secret to life after death, so Deutsch enlists a team of potential rivals to get to the bottom of it:  physicist and sometime paranormal investigator Barrett and his wife Ann; mental medium Florence Tanner; and physical medium Ben Fischer, the sole survivor of the last attempt to exorcise the old home. Almost from the jump, something’s off – no one trusts each other, science butts heads with pseudoscience, and when the actual haunting comes, no one really wants to discuss it.  No one, that is, except for Florence and Ben, who’ve seen enough in their time to recognize the dangers that lie within Belasco House.  And by the time the possessions begin, furniture starts shaking, and chandeliers start tumbling, it’s too late to turn back.  The team must see this through, and get to the bottom of what’s been driving Hell House’s off-the-charts psychic energy.

Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-30:32
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 30:33-1:04:30
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:04:31-1:20:20

Director John Hough
Screenplay Richard Matheson, based on his novel Hell House
Featuring Peter Bowles, Roland Culver, Pamela Franklin, Michael Gough, Gayle Hunnicutt, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill

Christopher Shinn is a playwright and screenwriter who lives in New York. Several of his plays have premiered at the Royal Court Theatre: Four, Other People, Where Do We Live (Obie Award), Dying City (Pulitzer Prize finalist) and Now or Later, which was shortlisted for the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play. His other plays include The Narcissist (Chichester Festival Theatre), Teddy Ferrara (Goodman Theatre and Donmar Warehouse), An Opening in Time (Hartford Stage), Picked (Vineyard Theatre), What Didn't Happen (Playwrights Horizons), On the Mountain (South Coast Rep), The Coming World (Soho Theatre), and Against (Almeida Theatre). His adaptation of Hedda Gabler premiered on Broadway in 2009 and his adaptation of Judgment Day premiered at Park Avenue Armory in 2019 and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Adaptation. His awards and grants include a Guggenheim Fellowship in Playwriting, a grant from the NEA/TCG Residency Program, and the Robert Chesley Award. He was a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard in 2019-2020, a Cullman Fellow at New York Public Library in 2020-2021, and a MacDowell Fellow in 2023.

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar. 

For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scareupod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ group. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

It’s a cage match in a used car graveyard, with soul hunter Cyrus Kriticos taking on soul preserver Kalina Oretzia.  Lost amidst the metal is The Breaker, a murderous ghost Cyrus wishes to add to his collection.  Assisting Cyrus is Dennis, a medium whose ability to sense ghosts sends him into spasms of pain.  Kalina’s only wish is to set souls free and let them roam the earth.  Cyrus succeeds in capturing Breaker, but loses his life in the process.  We cut to the home of Cyrus’s nephew, math teacher Arthur Kriticos, his two children Bobby and Kathy, and their nanny, the sassy Maggie. They’ve got a visitor today, a lawyer, Ben Moss, representing Cyrus’s estate. The news:  Cyrus is bequeathing his house to Arthur, who’s spent the last few months mourning the death of his wife in a fire.  The house, it turns out, is a modern masterpiece of architecture, a glass structure with Latin etched on the walls, and walls that slide back and forth like a living organism.  Arthur’s flattered, but… he can’t pay for this.  He barely gets by as it is.  But Ben assures him, Cyrus has everything figured out.  All Arthur and the kids need to do is move in and get settled.  But once they start looking around, the Kriticos family realizes they’re being watched, and the inhabitants of the basement are none too happy to be under new management.

Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-27:31
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 27:32-55:27
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 56:27-1:15:27

Director Steve Beck
Screenplay Neal Marshall Stevens & Richard D’Ovidio, story by Robb White
Featuring F. Murray Abraham, JR Bourne, Embeth Davidtz, Rah Digga, Shannon Elizabeth, Matthew Lillard, Shawna Loyer, Alec Roberts, Tony Shalhoub

Jason Ragosta is a horror writer, director, and illustrator who has created award winning short films such as Boy In The Dark and ZTV: Sympathy For The Devil, and “Mother Love” which was part of Sinphony: A Clubhouse Horror Anthology released in 2022.  He is currently in various stages of development on several feature films and episodic series.

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from Thirt13en Ghosts by John Frizzell.

For more information on this film (including why the Professor chose it, on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Blog⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), the pod, essays from your hosts, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scareupod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave us a 5-star rating. Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ group. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.