Survivor's Ed

One... two... Freddy's coming for you. In the season finale of our horror movie podcast Survivor's Ed, we tackle one of the most iconic villains in cinema in one of the best movies in his franchise. Nightmare on Elm Street 3 features an early example of the touch black guy that SURVIVES the movie, later replicated by Ice Cube, Busta Rhymes, and a bunch of other rappers in horror movies. Freddy Krueger takes center stage as we talk about the Dream Warriors!

Usually, when you ask anybody black if they've seen the movie Life, they will tell you "of course" and immediately start talking about that depressing Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence movie. This ain't that. This week we're talking about Life, a 2017 science fiction horror film set in space, directed by Daniel Espinosa and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, and Hiroyuki Sanada. This movie is GOOD y'all. Go watch it so you can join us for a discussion about the most adorable "Calvin" to ever ended up becoming a big scary alien monster. Let's talk about Life!

We've decided to ice skate uphill on this one. Blade is a phenomenal superhero horror film, released in 1998, directed by Stephen Norrington, and starring the incredible Wesley Snipes. This movie holds a special place in our hearts as the earliest mainstream Marvel movie to feature a black lead. Great action. Simple story. Awesome world-building. A ton of fun. We're joined by That Phat Samurai Guy as we discuss Blade! 

Ghosts of Mars is insane, y'all. John Carpenter was on one when he made this one. Release in 2001, this movie feels like a late eighties sci-fi action romp. Ice Cube punches the camera. A guy loses a thumb and no one cares. Drugs save the day. Pam Grier tells us to get double tough. This movie has it all. Let's talk about Ghosts of Mars! 

Mary Lou Davis of Hell's Kitchen Season 19 and her new YouTube channel Geeks and Grubs joins us to talk about a very layered movie. Jordan Peele divided folks with his 2018 horror film Us, which is ironically about divisions within ourselves. Or is it? Maybe it's about class? Race? The abuse, oppression, and genocide of indigenous people?  Look... this movie has a lot to say. Lupita Nyong'o's incredible performance as Red and Adelaide and a pitch-perfect use of "I Got 5 On It" make for a wonderful discussion.  Let's talk about Us!

Annihilation takes sci-fi horror to a super unique place. This may be the most bright, flowery and sunny movie to include a nightmare monster bear you've ever seen.  Full of great performances, as well as brilliant writing and directing by Alex Garland, this movie is unsettling and moving in all the right ways. Now let's talk about how our black and brown people did in Annihilation!

Remember when Tales from the Crypt started making movies, y'all. That was weird. It led to some pretty epic things, including Billy Zane punching a hole in a guy's head and getting his hand stuck in that guy's head.  This movie is amazing, especially for how it treats its black women. Ed Greer, co-creator of Reboot It and The Greatest Pod, joins us as we talk about Demon Knight!

We got through this whole episode without a single Armie Hammer reference! Not sure whether to be proud or disappointed. Ravenous is a 1999 movie about cannibalism. Fun topic, really. Turns out when you eat people, strange things start happening in you. Guy Pierce, Jeffrey Jones, Robert Carlyle, David Arquette, Joseph Runningfox, Neil McDonough, and the unflappable Sheila Tousey star in this INSANE movie. See what we had to say about Ravenous.

We LOVE this movie. Signs is a 2002 science fiction film, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring the totally-not-controversial  Mel Gibson. It's an alien invasion, y'all! And if you saw are episode on The Thing, you know we love a good alien invasion.  Also, this might be our first episode where the writer/director is also the only person of color in the film. M. Night truly wore multiple hats this time. Let's talk about Signs!

Oh boy. Stephen King is a strange man.  This week we dive into the movie adaptation of King's classic book, It! Spanning two movies—released in 2017 and 2019, and directed by Andy Muschietti—the story of Pennywise's reign of terror is far more complex than it seems. We discuss kids in peril, big turtles, and cosmic clowns as we try to nail down a rule for surviving It. Also, Derry is trash.