The Fear of God: A Horror Movie Podcast

Frank Herbert's landmark science fiction novel has become more culturally central thanks to the recent blockbuster films by Denis Villeneuve adapting the story. But as we make our way through our series on the late David Lynch, we had to stop by Arrakis and grapple with his much-maligned adaptation from 1984. Featuring a massive budget (which came with lots of production demands as well), a star-studded cast, and classic 1980s sets and effects, Dune did everything it could to capture an epic space-opera vibe.

We discuss how successful or not it was alongside friend of the show Julie Ahern and new friend of the show Nicole Amato. This is a hearty, fun, thoughtful conversation that also wrestles with Dune's unique themes subverting our prominent concepts of destiny and heroism. We enjoyed tremendously discussing this film and we hope you enjoy it as well!

3:32 - Getting to know Nicole Amato

19:10 - DUNE (1984)

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see. One chants out between two worlds... fire walk with me.

When David Lynch's megahit series Twin Peaks was cancelled after two seasons, people eagerly awaited the announced feature film. Responses were decidedly mixed, however, on the finished film, controversial as it was for missing lots of key series regulars and for focusing almost exclusively on the last week of Laura Palmer's life. Despite an outstanding performance from Sheryl Lee and Lynch's signature stylistic flourishes, Fire Walk with Me was greeted with mostly negative feedback.

This week, we continue our Lynch series by revisiting that film and trying to uncover its value in light of its subject matter. We're joined by friend of the show Steven Beckley and feature a Patron-only segment featuring a chat between Reed and Nathan about episodes 8 & 9. Whether you've been following our chats from the beginning or whether this is your biggest prompt yet to do so, we hope you enjoy this look at "who killed Laura Palmer" and the legacy of Twin Peaks.

Patron Only Segment: Twin Peaks, Season 2, Episodes 8 & 9

4:41 - TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey friends, we have a very brief additional interview to share with you for the upcoming film CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD, in theaters as of May 9th. Director Eli Craig sat down with us for a few minutes to discuss his upcoming film. It's a brief chat, but one we hope you'll enjoy!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In January 2025, the iconic visionary filmmaker David Lynch passed away. His films invite numerous interpretations about humanity, creativity, dreams, fears, and they seem to have given entire generations of people open permission to be weird. Since we had never covered him on the show before, we decided to make David Lynch's films the centerpiece of this year's creator profile.

We start with his first feature film, ERASERHEAD. It's a film that took him nearly five years to make and has invited countless debates and interpretations in the years since for its sparse, nightmarish interests. We're joined by Matt Ruff and Vera Goudie this week as we kick off an entire run through David Lynch's catalogue.

We're glad you're here and we hope you enjoy.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Available publicly for a limited time, we present an exclusive Patron B-Side!

We have a special surprise for you this week that we'll bet you didn't "see" coming. ("See" what I did there?) Ok, enough of the Matt Murdock puns, we have a special conversation between Nathan Rouse and Brandon Grafius all about our favorite Hell's Kitchen lawyer-by-day-dispensing-justice-by-night superhero: DAREDEVIL!

Nathan and Brandon share their histories with this longstanding Marvel character, why he remains so compelling, and their personal favorite comic stories featuring him. Then they share their somewhat complex feelings about the recent MCU season 1 of DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN, offering some poignant reflections along the way about why the character remains a beacon of hopeful resilience while also presenting some troubling portraits of our fractured times.

It's a vibrant and thoughtful conversation that we hope you enjoy!

Special Note: This episode is available to our Patron Subscribers only and is available here for a limited time. To enjoy all of our bonus Patron content, visit Patreon.com/thefearofgodpodcast.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We have another special interview for you this week, this time with director Felipe Vargas, whose new film ROSARIO hits theaters on Friday, May 2nd.

Rosario is a richly textured paranormal horror story about a woman who, during a severe snowfall, must spend the night with her deceased grandmother's body while she waits for the ambulance to arrive. But when she discovers a hidden room filled with religious, ritualistic items, she begins to be haunted by supernatural occurrences and must come to terms with her family's buried secrets, confronting the sacrifices and choices they have made.

It is a thoughtful and creepy film, but also surprisingly funny and colorful film as well. We had a wonderful conversation with the Felipe and we hope you check out Rosario and enjoy this conversation!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sometimes you just have to face your worst fears, like public speaking, or flying, or rapidly replicating creeping, crawling spiders. Infested is a French horror film about residents in a tenement building who suddenly find themselves facing a massive quarantine inside their building as it is overrun by countless arachnids with swift, predatory, lethal power. Although the film offers up lots of squirming terror, it also smartly focuses on some disarming character relationships and points to an important observation about our relationship with the natural world.

Also featuring a Patron-only segment where Reed and Nathan share their thoughts on the recent blockbuster film from Ryan Coogler, SINNERS, this is a fun and thoughtful episode that we really hope you enjoy.

Patron Only Segment: SINNERS

8:48 - INFESTED

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We have a special surprise for you today, an interview with award-winning author Adam Cesare about his novel Clown in a Cornfield and its forthcoming film adaptation, which will be exclusively in theaters on May 9th.

Clown in a Cornfield is a remarkably thoughtful and accessible book while also being scary, provocative, and an insane amount of fun. Director Eli Craig of Tucker and Dale vs Evil fame has adapted Adam's book with an equally thoughtful eye towards its tone, its inspirations, and fun. It works as a funny and thrilling popcorn slasher film while also providing some compelling threads of thoughtful themes.

We hope you go check out the film when it hits theaters (again, May 9th) and we hope you enjoy our discussion with author Adam Cesare!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We have something a bit different this week that we hope you'll enjoy. For more than two decades, a community known as Arts & Faith have been writing about and curating films (and other media) of great spiritual significance. On at least six different occasions, the community put together a Top 100 Films list, with the most recent endeavor taking place in 2020.

This week, Reed is joined by friend of the show and host of the podcast "1ofmystories", Lindsey Dunn. Both of them participated in the selection of the forthcoming 2025 edition of the Top 100 Films list. They discuss the history of the community, the selection and voting process for the films, a handful of films from the 2020 list, and also ways that you could become a part of the community if you're interested.

We hope you'll check out artsandfaith.com for more details and we hope you enjoy this week's special conversation!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's the first installment of The Fear of God: Ghoul Scouts Edition! This week, Reed and Nathan are lost in the shadows as Vera Goudie and Jess Fischli take over the show with a discussion of the infamous thriller from Karyn Kusama and writer Diablo Cody: JENNIFER'S BODY.

Starring Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried, Jennifer's Body tells a subversive and darkly comic tale of codependency, possession, and good, old-fashioned revenge. The film, originally pitched to audiences as a kind of feminine slasher, is a far more interesting and layered piece than its first audiences recognized.

Also featuring a Patron-only "Whatcha" segment, this is a lively and thoughtful discussion that we really hope you enjoy!

Patron Only Segment: Whatcha Watchin' / Readin' / Listenin' To?

3:23 - JENNIFER'S BODY

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.