Scare U

Grad student Helen Lyle is determined to find out why the residents of the Cabrini-Green housing development in Chicago are petrified by the Candyman, a ghost who allegedly appears if you say his name in the mirror five times.  After jokingly summoning him with Trevor, her philandering professor husband, Helen heads to Cabrini-Green with her pal Bernadette to interview residents and track down the truth. Instead she discovers what might just be the Candyman’s lair, an abandoned apartment laid out strangely like her own.  Soon enough, she’s standing face to face with the man himself.  And he hasn’t brought a bag of Skittles.  This guy’s got a hook for a hand, bees on his knees, and a desire to possess Helen, who may or may not resemble the woman he once loved.  After her encounter with the Man, Helen awakes to find herself on the floor of an bathroom covered in blood, her crazy nightmare just beginning.

Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-26:43

Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 26:44-1:11:26

Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:12:26-1:26:22

Director Bernard Rose

Screenplay Bernard Rose, based on “The Forbidden” by Clive Barker

Featuring Xander Berkeley, Michael Culkin, DeJuan Guy, Kasi Lemmons, Virginia Madsen, Ted Raimi, Tony Todd, Vanessa Williams

Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr. is Artistic Director of HartBeat Ensemble, Hartford’s Public Theatre and Visiting Lecturer in Theatre at Trinity College. He is also co-founder of Civic Ensemble, a community-based theatre company in Ithaca, NY. At HartBeat he has appeared in My Children! My Africa! and Possessing Harriet. For Civic, he appeared in My Children! My Africa!, Fast Blood and his adaptation of Mike Daisey’s The Trump Card. Godfrey taught for several years at Cornell University, where he co-produced and directed Eugene O’Neill’s All God’s Chillun Got Wings and The Next Storm, in collaboration with Civic Ensemble. Godfrey was Producing Artist in charge of New Artist Development for Off-Broadway’s Epic Theatre Ensemble, appearing in A More Perfect Union, Widowers' Houses (which Godfrey co-adapted with Ron Russell), and Measure for Measure, among other plays. At Epic, he also co-wrote and starred in a documentary play about the election of President Barack Obama, Dispatches From (A)mended America. Godfrey is a 2012 TCG/Fox Fellow, a participant in the TCG SPARK Leadership Program, and a lifetime member of Ensemble Studio Theatre. He has also taught at Marymount Manhattan College, Binghamton University, UConn Hartford and John Jay College. Additional New York theatre credits include The Old Settler (Primary Stages), Betty’s Summer Vacation (Playwrights Horizons), Free Market (Working Theater), Leader of the People (New Georges), and microcrisis (Ensemble Studio Theater).

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from Candyman by Philip Glass.

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.

Wilbur Whateley wants the Necronomicon, and although the library’s closing, local coed Nancy is so entranced by Whateley that she’s inclined to let him read it.  Her professor, Dr. Armitage, isn’t thrilled with the idea of someone borrowing the book – even for five minutes – until he realizes who the reader is.  Eager to find out more about Wilbur, and his family history of seeking out transdimensional creatures, he invites Wilbur and Nancy to dinner.  But Wilbur’s not interested in becoming one of Armitage’s biographical sketches – he wants Nancy to come back to his home, drink some tea, and… stay there forever.  That’s when his grandfather, Old Man Whateley arrives, causing Nancy to raise an eyebrow.  Why is he so determined to keep her away from the house?  What on the upper floors is making all those wind and ocean sounds?  And why is Wilbur so desperate to introduce Nancy to the Devil’s Hopyard, a stone altar where, it is rumored, his ancestors once performed sacred rituals to call forth a race of creatures that would bring about the end of life as we know it? 

Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-27:20
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 27:21-1:07:56
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:07:57-1:24:26

Director Daniel Haller
Screenplay Curtis Hanson, Henry Rosenbaum, and Ronald Silkosky, based on the novella by H.P. Lovecraft
Featuring Donna Baccala, Ed Begley, Lloyd Bochner, Sandra Dee, Beach Dickinson, Sam Jaffe, Barboura Morris, Jack Pierce, Talia Shire, Dean Stockwell

John DeVore is a two-time James Beard award-winning essayist and editor. He's written about pop culture for Decider, Esquire, and Premiere (RIP), among many others. John's first memoir, 'Theatre Kids,' will hit bookstores in 2024

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from The Dunwich Horror by Les Baxter.

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 been a while since true crime writer Ellison Oswalt had a bestseller, and the strain is starting to show on Ellison, his wife Tracy, and their kids Trevor and Ashley.  Local law enforcement isn’t keen on him, either, as his last few books didn’t cast them in too fond a light. So Ellison and his family take up residence in a modest Pennsylvania ranch house with something of a history – something we learn when we watch as a family is lynched in the house’s back yard.  Unfortunately, this may be his last chance at the big time, so Ellison neglects to inform Tracy of this, and when things start going bump in the night, and the home movies left behind reveal ominous clues about a killer’s identity, Ellison finds himself turning from the hunter to the hunted.  A helpful deputy steps in to assist, as well as a professor of the occult, but by the time they reveal their own information, the situation has devolved from strange… to sinister.

Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-28:47
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 28:48-1:00:57
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:00:58-1:23:12

Director Scott Derrickson
Screenplay C. Robert Cargill & Scott Derrickson
Featuring Michael Hall D’Addario, Vincent D’Onofrio, Clare Foley, Ethan Hawke, James Ransone, Juliet Rylance, Fred Dalton Thompson

Hannah Cabell is a New York-based actor, director, and writer. She wrote, directed, and starred in the short film Lost Nation, which won Best NH Short at the 2023 New Hampshire Film Festival. As well as the feature version of Lost Nation, she has written The Hills and the Sky, about an archivist’s obsession with Betty and Barney Hill’s 1961 alien abduction, and the comedy television pilot Brother Husbandry. Hannah’s acting credits include “The Black List,” “The Good Fight,” “Madam Secretary,” “Mr. Robot,” and “The Leftovers,” and she currently plays Judge Renee Gittens on “Law & Order.” Film work includes The Surrogate, Luce, and Thine Ears Shall Bleed (upcoming). She has been nominated for Lortel and Drama Desk awards for her stage performances. MFA, NYU.

Ryan King is a screenwriter, playwright, and actor who grew up in Central Texas and now lives in New York with his wife and daughter. He wrote the screenplay for Black Flies, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year, starring Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan, after being selected for the 2018 Black List of Hollywood’s favorite unproduced screenplays. His original thriller screenplay, The Tutor, starring Garrett Hedlund and Noah Schnapp. HAs a playwright, he’s been a member of the Ars Nova Playgroup, the Primary Stages Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, the Working Farm @ SPACE on Ryder Farm, and the Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writers Group. His plays have been developed by Cape Cod Theatre Project (twice), Williamstown Theatre Festival, Naked Angels, Rattlestick Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, Colt Coeur, Primary Stages, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Ars Nova, Theater of NOTE, Tofte Lake Emerging Artists Program, and Ground Up Productions, and his short play Antares Returning was produced as part of Fit Club’s 2017 Spring Fling festival and nominated for Best Short Play by the NY Innovative Theatre Awards. As an actor, he has appeared regionally and Off-Broadway.

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from Sinister by Christopher Young.

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 the unexpected arrival of a ventriloquist dummy on his doorstep, and the sudden, violent death of his wife – two events that might be related – Jamie Ashen is arrested by Detective Lipton, a cop with a thing for electric razors. Lipton’s also a by the books kind of guy who’s convinced Jamie is responsible for his wife’s death. But Jamie doesn’t have time for games — he’s determined to find out who or what killed his wife and tore her tongue out in the process. His search takes him back to his home town of Raven’s Fair, where the superstitious residents suspect the spectral Mary Shaw, a long-dead ventriloquist, may be to blame. Seems Shaw was connected to the disappearance and ritual murder of families years back, then became the victim herself of a heinous crime. With Lipton on his tail, Jamie visits his aging father Edward, his young wife Ella, local mortician Henry and his demented wife Marion, who unspool a tale too fantastic to be true.  And slowly, the truth about Raven’s Fair reveals itself to Jamie’s unsuspecting, and for now human, eyeballs.

Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-26:04
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 26:05-1:07:52
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:07:53-1:25:35

Director James Wan
Screenplay Leigh Whannell, based on a story by Wan and Whannell
Featuring Michael Fairman, Bob Gunton, Joan Heney, Ryan Kwanten, Laura Regan, Judith Roberts, Amber Valletta, Donnie Wahlberg

Luisa Colón is a New York City native who began her career as a journalist in the late 90s. Her work has appeared in numerous print and online publications such as New York, Latina, USA Today, The New York Times, and many more. Her first novel. Bad Moon Rising was published in August, and she has a short story in the upcoming horror anthology, DREAD, which is published by the aptly-named Cemetery Dance Publications. Luisa's other creative work includes illustration as well as two murals currently displayed at the World Trade Center. Her Substack, Disaster Class, can be found here. As an actor she starred in the award-winning 2006 indie film Day Night Day Night and played the titular role in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s 2007 short film Anna.

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from Dead Silence by Charlie Clouser.

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.

Ricky and his shy, reserved cousin Angela are spending the summer at Camp Arawak, a bargain basement overnight camp in upstate New York run by Mel, cigar-chomping shyster, and staffed by a bunch of adult and teenage degenerates.  Angela is initially withdrawn, occasionally catatonic – but is soon brought out of her shell by Ricky’s friend Paul, who takes a liking to Angela in the hopes he might be able to make it with her before summer’s end.  But there are forces are at work – forces determined to put the strangely distant Angela in her place.  Bunkmate and camp harlot Judy sees Angela as a weirdo, then a threat when she attracts Paul’s attention.  Counselor Meg, who can’t get Angela to eat, play sports, or swim, constantly berates Angela for her failure to thrive.  That’s when the murders begin, one at a time, first a staffer, then a camper, and on and on.  Mel tries to hide it due to the bad publicity, but as any good camp director knows, murder’s bad for business, and the more we learn about Angela’s murky past, the more things at Camp Arawak take a turn… for the deadly.

Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-26:29
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 26:30-1:02:16
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:02:17-1:21:08

Director Richard Hiltzik
Screenplay Richard Hiltzik
Featuring Christopher Collet, Paul DeAngelo, Desiree Gould, Karen Fields, Owen Hughes, Robert Earl Jones, Katherine Kamhi, Mike Kellin, Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten

Jack Sholder began his career as a film editor, working on the feature documentary King: From Montgomery to Memphis which was nominated for an Academy Award. He won an Emmy for his editing work on 3-2-1 Contact. After writing and directing several award-winning short films, Jack wrote Where Are The Children starring Jill Clayburgh for Ray Stark and Columbia. In 1982, Jack directed Alone In The Dark for New Line Cinema with Martin Landau, Jack Palance, and Donald Pleasence. He then directed A Nightmare On Elm Street II: Freddy’s Revenge. His next feature, The Hidden, won many awards including the Grand Prix at the Avoriaz Film Festival, Jury Award at the Sitges Film Festival, and Best Director at Fantasporto. Premiere Magazine called it “one of the ten most underrated films of the 80s.” This was followed by Renegades with Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips and By Dawn’s Early Light for HBO with Martin Landau, James Earl Jones, Rip Torn, Rebecca de Mornay, and Powers Boothe. Jack has directed movies and television for MGM, Paramount, Universal, Warners, Fox, United Artists, Lionsgate, HBO, Showtime, NBC, Discovery, and others. He is the recipient of lifetime achievement awards from FantaFest and the Grossman Festival. In 2004, he founded the Film & Television Production program at Western Carolina University where he was Professor and Director of the FTP program until 2017.  Jack has received Life Achievement Awards from Fantafestival (Rome), Grossmann Film Festival (Slovenia), and Fantastic Fest (Austin).

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from Sleepaway Camp by Edward Bilous.

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, Stitcher, 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.

We meet Lucie on Halloween morning, at a bus stop by a pier that is festooned with flyers with the names and faces of missing children.  She’s soon picked us by Catherine Wilson, a wisecracking nurse who makes house calls to elderly residents.  Lucie, who is interning for Ms. Wilson, is none too happy about the work, and at the end of her first day, relates her experiences to her friends Will and Ben over beers at the local pub.  Will is a fisherman who works for his father, and Ben works for his mother at the pub.  Like Lucie, the boys aren’t thrilled with the quality of their lives – and so they hatch a plan to break into the home of one of Ms Wilson’s patients, the comatose Ms. Jessel, whose house allegedly contains treasure which will, the kids hope, set them on the paths to prosperity.  There’s just one catch:  Ms. Jessel’s home is not what it seems.  Nor is Ms. Wilson.  And when the residents of the home extend a hearty welcome to the thieving trio, the result is a Halloween night of chaos and spiritual mayhem that changes their lives forever.

Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-31:13
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 31:14-1:02:42
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:02:43-1:26:52

Directors Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury
Screenplay Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo
Featuring Chloé Coulloud, Béatrice Dalle, Catherine Jacob, Jérémy Kapone, Chloé Marcq, Félix Moati, Marie-Claude Pietragalla

Alix Austin and Keir Siewert are co-founders of Switchblade Cinema.

Alix is a British/Swiss Director and Creative Producer with an all-consuming passion for action-fuelled films driven by practical effects & lethal sound design. Her work has screened at festivals including Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Raindance and Brussels International Fantastic Festival. After completing work on leech creature short SUCKER (2022), which released on SHUDDER and ALTER, she directed her first feature film, toxic relationship body horror KILL YOUR LOVER, with creative partner in crime Keir Siewert, which opened the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival in October 2023. Other work includes co-directing the London segment of Horror Anthology Feature ISOLATION (2021) with Siewert, alongside Larry Fessenden (WENDIGO). Alix is a member of Directors UK and was the recipient of the Raimi Productions Scholarship in '23. 

Keir is a Scottish and American filmmaker who is partial to making visceral, genre-bending films and a BFI Network X BAFTA Crew 2021 Alum. Writer/Director of award-winning horror short RETCH, which toured over 30 festivals, including London Short Film Festival and the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival; KILL YOUR LOVER (with Alix Austin), which opened the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival in October 2023; MMA short film DUCHESS, and Genera grant winner PORTRAIT. Besides narrative films, he has directed over 100 music videos. You can find more of his work, including music videos, promos and commercials here.

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from “Livid” by Raphaël Gesqua.

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, Stitcher, 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.

Who doesn’t love a party?  And what’s better at a party than a good party game, especially one that involves grasping an embalmed hand and speaking the words, “Talk to me.”  For the full effect, you then say, “I let you in” and allow yourself to be fully possessed by whatever lies beyond the spirit realm.  It’s terrifying, but also a total rush, provided you keep your trip under 90 seconds.  For Mia, it's a welcome distraction from a rough year. She recently lost her mother for reasons unexplained, and her best friend Jade’s little brother Riley keeps tagging along with them to parties.  Jade and Riley’s mother is concerned the kids might be into something nasty, like pot, or booze.  Little does she know, the kids are into something far more addictive, and when one of the games goes a little too far, all hell breaks loose, unleashing spirits best left undisturbed.

Intro, Math Club, and Debate Society (spoiler-free): 00:00-25:33
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 25:34-1:08:36
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:08:37-1:28:42

Directors Danny & Michael Philippou
Screenplay Danny Philippou & Bill Hinzman
Featuring Chris Alosio, Joe Bird, Otis Dhanji, Alexandra Jensen, Marcus Johnson, Sunny Johnson, Ari McCarthy, Miranda Otto, Zoe Terakes, Sophie Wilde

Gretchen McNeil is the author of several young adult novels including Dig Two Graves, Possess, 3:59, Relic, Get Even, Get Dirty, and Ten, as well as the horror/comedy novels #murdertrending, #murderfunding, and #noescape. Her most recent novel is Three Drops of Blood, pitched as a YA Rear Window, and she has yet another book in the works, titled, They Fear Not Men in the Woods. "Ten: Murder Island," the film adaptation of "Ten," premiered on Lifetime, and Get Even and Get Dirty have been adapted as the series “Get Even” and “Rebel Cheer Squad: a Get Even series” for the BBC and Netflix. Her next book, Four Letter Word, arrives in March 2024.

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from Talk to Me by Cornel Wilczek.

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, Stitcher, 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.

What’s wrong with Larry Abbot?  The radio star is having bouts of fear, perhaps a remnant of childhood trauma.  Otherwise, everything’s swell:  he’s engaged to be married to his scene partner, Vickie Pearle.  But the radio show, hosted by the Manhattan Mystery Theater and lead sponsor Ralston-Purina, are concerned about Larry’s mental health, so they’ve hired Larry’s Uncle Paul, a psychiatrist. to employ a radical cure that will rid Larry of his fears in 36 hours.  Larry and Vickie travel to Larry’s ancestral stomping grounds, a palatial estate.  The cast of characters that assemble at the estate for Larry and Vickie’s wedding — Larry’s cousins Charles, Nora, Susan, and Francis Jr.; the family butler, Pfister; and the maid, the diminutive Rachel — all seem to have ulterior motives of one kind of another, which may include inheriting the fortune of the family matriarch, Aunt Kate.  Will Larry and Vickie make it through the next couple days alive?  Will we, the audience, make it through the next 82 minutes without clawing our eyes out?

Intro, Math Club, and Debate Society (spoiler-free): 00:00-33:30
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 33:31-1:00:18
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:00:19-1:17:45

Director Gene Wilder
Screenplay Gene Wilder & Terence Marsh
Featuring Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Jim Carter, Dom DeLuise, Eve Ferret, Bryan Pringle, Jonathan Pryce, Gilda Radner, Jo Ross, Paul L. Smith, Peter Vaughan, Ann Way, Gene Wilder

Award-winning director/producer Michael Pressman has worked across most entertainment genres and mediums, including comedies, dramas, social commentaries, short films, feature length studio and indie films, series television and movies, Broadway stage productions, and regional theater.  His directing credits for film include The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, Doctor Detroit, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, To Gillian on her 37th Birthday, and Frankie and Johnny Are Married.  His television movies include To Heal a Nation, about the building of the Vietnam memorial, and the Anne Tyler adaptation Saint Maybe, starring Tom McCarthy, Blythe Danner, and Mary-Louise Parker (Hallmark Hall of Fame). He co-executive produced and directed David E. Kelley’s “Picket Fences,” which lasted four seasons and won him two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series. Pressman then launched Kelley’s next show, “Chicago Hope,” which earned him another Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series. Other series that Pressman has produced and directed include multiple episodes of the Emmy Award-winning series “Law & Order: SVU,” and two seasons of “Blue Bloods.” He executive produced the fifth and sixth season of NBC’s “Chicago Med,” earning that show its highest ratings to date. Pressman’s stage work includes directing the Los Angeles premiere of To Gillian on her 37th Birthday, and a Los Angeles production of Frankie and Johnny in the Claire De Lune, the 2008 Broadway revival of Come Back, Little Sheba with S. Epatha Merkerson in the lead role. His most recent stage experience was directing Diane Frolov’s Come Get Maggie for L.A.’s Rogue Machine Theatre.

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from “Haunted Honeymoon” by John Morris.

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, Stitcher, 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 late one night in America, and two men are chasing tweakers from a local meth den.  One escapee, James, gets away.  The other, a girl, is set on fire by the men before they drive off.  Meanwhile, local police chief Daniel Carter is asleep on the job, again, when he spots James crawling out of the woods, and transports him to the nearest medical facility, Marsh General, where he estranged wife Allison works as a nurse.  The hospital is on the verge of closing after a fire took out most of it, and they're working with a skeleton crew:  besides Allison, there are two nurses, Kim and Beverly; one doctor, the mysterious Richard Powell; and only two patients, Cliff and pregnant Maggie.  It’s upon Daniel’s arrival that the world tilts on its axis:  strange robe-clad figures emerge from the forest, Beverly is caught performing impromptu surgery on Cliff, and Maggie goes into labor.  What happens from here defies logic, description and expectation, but as Daniel and Allison determine to face down the wickedness that comes their way, they soon find themselves enmeshed in a plot that goes way beyond medical science, and maybe, beyond the reaches of time and space itself.

Intro, Math Club, and Debate Society (spoiler-free) 00:00-29:22
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy) 29:23-1:03:19
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier) 1:03:20-1:24:18

Director Jeremy Gillespie & Steven Kostanski
Screenplay Jeremy Gillespie & Steven Kostanski
Featuring Stephanie Belding, Mik Byskov, Daniel Fathers, Art Hindle, James Millington, Grace Munro, Kathleen Munroe, Aaron Poole, Evan Stern, Kenneth Welsh, Ellen Wong

John DeVore is a two-time James Beard award-winning essayist and editor. He currently writes a column for Decider called 'Is It Woke?' and his first memoir, 'Theatre Kids,' will hit bookstores in 2024. His favorite movie is 'Fiddler on the Roof,' followed by 'Hellraiser.' Favorite recess snack: Lunchables.

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from “The Void” by Jeremy Gillespie.

For more information on this film, the pod, essays from your hosts on our blog, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠scareupod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Stitcher, 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.

This is our SEASON 2 FINALE. Thank you for joining us! We'll be back with some bonus episodes this summer, then will be back in the fall for a whole new season of SCARE U.

When we meet Oskar, it’s 1982 and he’s a meek 12-year-old with a shameful blonde pageboy haircut.  His parents are divorced, making for a lonely existence on a nondescript housing estate in a suburb of Stockholm.  On top of this, local bully Conny’s been taunting him at school, his jabs becoming increasingly violent.  Meanwhile, people are dying in Oskar’s neighborhood, especially around his apartment complex.  Could it have something to do with the middle-age man and 12 year old girl that just moved into the building, the ones that placed cardboard on their windows, seemingly to shield them from the outside world?  Why one night does that man subdue and hang a pedestrian upside down, slitting his throat until hid blood drains into a funnel?  That’s when Oskar meets Eli, the girl next door, and takes a liking to her when she solves his Rubik’s cube.  But Eli’s smarts don’t come from school – she’s been around a while, you see – and she may not even be a she at all.  What transpires when Oskar and Eli become friends, and what happens when others in town catch on to Eli’s nocturnal habits, are only the beginning of this icy but romantic coming of age drama.

Intro, Math Club, and Debate Society (spoiler-free) 00:00-26:58
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy) 26:59-55:57
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier) 55:58-1:17:12

Director Tomas Alfredson
Screenplay John Ajvide Lindqvist
Featuring Peter Carlberg, Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Ika Nord, Per Ragnar, Patrik Rydmark

Joshua Conkel is a Los Angeles based writer, filmmaker, and podcaster. His short film, He Watches, is in festivals now, and he is the co-host of Bloodhaus, a weekly arthouse horror comedy podcast.

Our theme music is by Sir Cubworth, with embellishments by Edward Elgar.  Music from “Let the Right One In” by Johan Söderqvist.

For more information on this film, the pod, essays from your hosts on our blog, and other assorted bric-a-brac, visit our website, ⁠⁠⁠⁠scareupod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠. Please subscribe to this podcast via Apple or Google Podcasts, Stitcher, 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.