In this episode, hosts Katherine Troyer and Anthony Tresca discuss the 2006 film Black Sheep. 

Episode Highlights: Katherine talks about ecocriticism, Anthony claims the true stars of the show are of the four-legged variety, and--in addition to a delightfully extended bit on our career dreams of being horror creatures--we discuss the importance of good creature effects.    

A Dose of Scholarship: For a specific look at ecocriticism and the horror novel, check out Stephen A. Rust's 2014 article "Comfortably Numb" published in the journal Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. And for those interested in digging deeper into the field of ecocriticism, you cannot go wrong with starting with Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm's The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology and Ken Hiltner's Ecocriticism: The Essential Reader. 

This podcast episode first aired on February 5, 2020

Twitter/Instagram: @NightmarePod1; YouTube: Such a Nightmare channel; Email: [email protected]; ALL LINKS

In this episode, hosts Katherine Troyer and Anthony Tresca discuss the 2019 film Pet Sematary. 

Episode Highlights: Katherine discusses the importance of the home in American horror, Anthony compares the film's three acts to a less-than-appetizing sandwich, and we talk about the dangers of trying to create a film based on a checklist of "good" horror.

A Dose of Scholarship: For some lovely scholarship on the role of the home in horror, we suggest looking at Cynthia J. Miller and A. Bowdoin Van Riper's edited collection Horror Comes Home.  For a nice tour of the "house in horror movies," check out Cleaver Patterson's Don't Go Upstairs!. 

This podcast episode first aired on January 20, 2020

Twitter/Instagram: @NightmarePod1; YouTube: Such a Nightmare channel; Email: [email protected]; ALL LINKS

In this special episode (yay!), hosts Katherine Troyer and Anthony Tresca discuss Anne Rivers Siddon's 1978 novel The House Next Door.

Episode Highlights: Katherine talks about the Southern Gothic aesthetic, Anthony suggests that the book deserves to be seen as three acts each composed of three mini-acts, and we praise the novel's ability to deliver a quiet (and quite terrifying) horror. 

A Dose of Scholarship: For a nice introduction to the nuances of the Gothic in American texts (including the Southern Gothic), we suggest The Cambridge Companion to American Gothic. And, as always when we think about the Gothic in American popular culture, we recommend turning to Bernice M. Murphy's work.

This podcast episode first aired on January 1, 2020

Twitter/Instagram: @NightmarePod1; YouTube: Such a Nightmare channel; Email: [email protected]; ALL LINKS

In this episode, hosts Katherine Troyer and Anthony Tresca discuss the 2019 film Midsommar.

Episode Highlights: Katherine discusses the problems of generic classification, Anthony shares his appreciation of Florence Pugh's performance, and we debate how the film changes depending on whether it is a horror film or just a really dark coming-of-age story. 

A Dose of Scholarship: To learn more about the trickiness of generic classification, you cannot go wrong with texts like Stephen King's Danse Macabre or Noel Carroll's The Philosophy of Horror.

This podcast episode first aired on December 31, 2019

Twitter/Instagram: @NightmarePod1; YouTube: Such a Nightmare channel; Email: [email protected]; ALL LINKS

In this episode, hosts Katherine Troyer and Anthony Tresca discuss the 2015 film Krampus.

Episode Highlights: Katherine talks about monster theory, Anthony praises the film's visual and practical effects, and we lightly bicker about whether the film is ultimately affirmative or disaffirmative in its message. 

A Dose of Scholarship: There is so much great scholarship on monster theory! We recommend beginning with Monster Theory: A Reader, edited by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen. Another good edited collection is Monster Culture in the 21st Century: A Reader. For those looking for single-author books, we suggest checking out the books, respectively, by Stephen T. Asma and W. Scott Poole. And we are very excited about the January 2020 release of The Monster Theory Reader, edited by Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock!

This podcast episode first aired on December 16, 2019

Twitter/Instagram: @NightmarePod1; YouTube: Such a Nightmare channel; Email: [email protected]; ALL LINKS

In this episode, hosts Katherine Troyer and Anthony Tresca discuss the 2008 film Martyrs.

Episode Highlights: Katherine talks about trauma theory, Anthony shares the story of his own traumatic first viewing of the film, and we discuss why the film's disparate parts work together so effectively. 

A Dose of Scholarship: Elaine Scarry's The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World is a great source for considering how we can bridge trauma theory and scholarship on the horror genre. To learn more about trauma studies, we recommend starting with Cathy Caruth's seminal book Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. 

This podcast episode first aired on December 3, 2019

Twitter/Instagram: @NightmarePod1; YouTube: Such a Nightmare channel; Email: [email protected]; ALL LINKS

In this episode, hosts Katherine Troyer and Anthony Tresca discuss the 2018 film Hereditary.

Episode Highlights: Katherine explores the concept of the monstrous-feminine, Anthony shares Ari Aster's original intentions for the film, and we discuss our problems with the film's conclusion.

A Dose of Scholarship: We suggest turning directly to the source...Barbara Creed's The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis offers an excellent examination of how the female reproductive body continually appears as a monstrous object within the horror genre.

This podcast episode first aired on November 20, 2019

Twitter/Instagram: @NightmarePod1; YouTube: Such a Nightmare channel; Email: [email protected]; ALL LINKS

In this episode, hosts Katherine Troyer and Anthony Tresca discuss the 2008 film The Strangers.

Episode Highlights: Katherine discusses the impact of 9/11 on American horror, Anthony talks about the importance of ending a film at the right moment, and we discuss the merits of claiming that a film is "based on true events."

A Dose of Scholarship: Philip L. Simpson's article "'There's Blood on the Walls': Serial Killing as Post-9/11 Terror in The Strangers" can be found in Murders and Acquisitions: Representations of the Serial Killer in Popular Culture. For those interested in learning more about how 9/11 affected the landscape of the horror genre, we highly recommend Kevin J. Wetmore's Post-9/11 Horror in American Cinema. 

This podcast episode first aired on November 4, 2019

Twitter/Instagram: @NightmarePod1; YouTube: Such a Nightmare channel; Email: [email protected]; ALL LINKS

In this special Halloween episode, hosts Katherine Troyer and Anthony Tresca discuss the 1978 film Halloween. (Of course!)

Episode Highlights: Katherine talks about the Suburban Gothic as a critical framework, Anthony questions why the film seems to hate partially naked women, and we get into a lively debate about whether or not the film's conservative perspective undermines the larger value of the film.

A Dose of Scholarship: For more on the Suburban Gothic, we encourage you to check out Bernice M. Murphy's The Suburban Gothic in American Popular Culture. Murphy beautifully and thoroughly discusses this sub-genre through a variety of texts--from zombie films to Desperate Housewives--all the while leaving you to ponder whether you actually want that home in the suburbs after all.

This podcast episode first aired on October 30, 2019

Twitter/Instagram: @NightmarePod1; YouTube: Such a Nightmare channel; Email: [email protected]; ALL LINKS

In this episode, hosts Katherine Troyer and Anthony Tresca discuss the 2014 film It Follows.

Episode Highlights: Katherine establishes a critical framework for the abject, Anthony talks about STGs (sexually transmitted ghosts), and we deplore over the film's abundance of panning shots.

A Dose of Scholarship: For more on the concept of the abject, check out Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva. We also highly recommend Barbara Creed's article "Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection," which can be found in the edited collection The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film. In addition to masterfully unpacking Kristeva's ideas, Creed offers an excellent example of how to analyze specific horror films through the lens of the abject.

This podcast episode first aired on October 22, 2019

Twitter/Instagram: @NightmarePod1; YouTube: Such a Nightmare channel; Email: [email protected]; ALL LINKS