The Fear of God: A Horror Movie Podcast

We start a brand new mini-series this week examining a handful of Stephen King adaptations which were all released last year. The first of these is also one of the most unconventional. Directed by Osgood Perkins, THE MONKEY takes a King short story about fate and recurring trauma and turns it into an absurdist dark comedy about death. Impressively well-made and often disarmingly humorous, The Monkey deftly executes outlandish destruction but struggles to balance the tone of its looney toons death sequences with its occasional stabs at earnestness. But in the end, like life, it seems to be admitting that fate not only sits beyond our control, but perhaps also beyond our conception of control.

We're joined by bestselling author and friend of the show Matt Ruff to unpack all of our thoughts on Osgood Perkins' The Monkey in this brisk and fun episode that we really hope you enjoy.

5:34 - Catching up with Matt Ruff

18:27 - THE MONKEY

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Come sit by the fire! It's time for another Ghoul Scouts edition of The Fear of God! Vera and Jess are joined by Jocee Worley and Penny Rouse venture over the rainbow for this decidedly darker and more frightening sequel to The Wizard of Oz: RETURN TO OZ.

Plagued by production delays and studio misgivings, Return to Oz was a major disappointment at the time of its release in 1985. But it developed a cult status over the decades, fueled by innumerable children who remember watching it when they were younger and being terrified by its bleaker story and nightmarish visuals. Starting a new series of films that scared us as kids -- and featuring a Patron-only scary short story! -- this is a vibrant and hearty conversation, brought to you as only the Ghoul Scouts can bring it.

We hope you enjoy this return to the campfire and this Return to Oz!

Patron Only Segment: Scary Campfire Story: The Green Ribbon

7:25 - RETURN TO OZ

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In what might be (maybe) our final uniquely focused conversation about Ryan Coogler's landmark, Oscar-winning film Sinners, we sit down with Dr. De'Anna Daniels. Dr. Daniels is assistant professor of Africana and religious studies with a PhD in religion in the African-American religion concentration from Rice University. Her diverse scholarly interests include black religion, the intersection of gender and sexuality, black speculative fiction and horror, popular and visual culture, art, and aesthetics. She brings her extensive experience and thought to the broader conversation surrounding the film Sinners, which has been a focal point of her interests and studies since she first saw it. She has already done impressive work to present the film within academic environments to help people engage with it in a deeper, more curious, and more richly contextual way.

We were honored to be joined by her as well as friend of the show and fellow professor Brandon Grafius to dive even deeper into the world of Sinners and unpack the layers of its relationship between horror and religion. This conversation is insightful and challenging, digging deep into the roots of both religion and horror traditions to ask better questions of ourselves and our presumptions as we engage with not only Coogler's film, but art and horror on the whole.

It's a lively and vibrant dialogue that we hope and believe you're really going to enjoy.

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This past Sunday was the 98th Oscars ceremony and it was filled with reasons to celebrate and reasons to debate. Conan O'Brien hosted a show which pitted two stellar films -- Sinners and One Battle After Another -- against each other to claim the top prizes in cinema recognition.

We gathered together again with Claire Lechtenberg, Director of Development & Marketing for Charlotte's Independent Picture House, to sit with us and discuss the highs and lows of this year's ceremony: our favorite awards, our frustrations, the rhythm of the show itself, and what we predict will be next for both the Oscars and this year's nominees.

It's a brisk and lively discussion about this year's highest cinematic accolades and we hope you enjoy it!

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As a final coda to our series looking back at some prominent films from 2025 (#2025stillalive), we're ending in a similar fashion to how we began. We started this series with a pair of films in one episode (Together + Companion), and we end by discussing Ben Leonberg's unconventional canine-centric chiller GOOD BOY and the latest film from Danny and Michael Philippou, BRING HER BACK.

Both films deal with characters (both human and canine) who experience profound desperation as people they love are lost or threatened. Good Boy is told entirely from the perspective of Indy, a dog who senses a malevolent presence he can't understand threatening his owner. Bring Her Back tells the story of Andy and Piper, two step-siblings who enter into foster care after the sudden and horrific death of their father. They soon learn that their foster mother, Laura (Sally Hawkins), has recently lost a child and not all might be as it seems in their new environment. The films have varying degrees of effectiveness and a wide array of different interests, but each are compelling in their own right.

We're joined by third chair and Ghoul Scout Troop leader Vera Goudie to explore these two pieces, their interesting creative choices, and the surprising ways they reflect starkly different approaches to grief, fear, and desperation. It's one of our heartiest and most heartfelt discussions and we really hope you enjoy it!

5:43 - Whatcha Watchin' / Readin' / Listenin' To?

32:35 - GOOD BOY + BRING HER BACK

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As part of our continued extensive coverage of Ryan Coogler's landmark film Sinners (nominated for a record-breaking 16 Oscars this weekend, including Best Picture), we invite back de'Angelo Dia. Dia is the Director of Education and Community Engagement for Charlotte's Independent Picture House, and describes himself as a theopoet and mystic whose work explores culture and moral imagination through poetry, performance art, and photography.

Dia sat down with Nathan to further explore the invitation Ryan Coogler extends to us through his film Sinners, specifically how it becomes more than a singular director's vision and broadens to a truly collaborative and community-centric work. This fascinating conversation connects dots both cinematically and culturally for the ways the film is pushing an important discussion forward, provoking us to view ourselves in unconventional ways.

It's a vibrant dialogue that we hope will enhance your appreciation for Coogler's film and for the moment in which it arrives. We hope you enjoy!

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The first season of Stranger Things released just a month before the first episode of The Fear of God. Though the proximities are nothing beyond coincidental, Stranger Things has always loomed a bit over our show in ways that were often surprising, funny, fun, and occasionally lovely.

As we've been marching through the rewatch of Season 5 for our Patrons, we now wanted to close things off with one last Stranger Things party. We gathered together a host of guests from previous patron segments -- Vera Goudie, Charlie Baber, Josh Raugh, Matt Murray, and Lindsey Dunn -- to share our final takeaways from the final episode of the cultural phenomenon's final season. We also play a highly competitive game of Stranger Things-themed Trivial Pursuit!

So, let's take one last trip to the Upside Down, fight a few lingering demogorgons, and roll the dice on one last DND campaign as we all share our closing thoughts on STRANGER THINGS. Enjoy!

2:14 - Introductions and Welcomes

4:20 - FoG History and Stranger Things

7:14 - Trivial Pursuit Round 1

17:34 - Stranger Things Finale

50:18 - Trivial Pursuit Round 2

59:20 - Stranger Things Themes

1:31:09 - Trivial Pursuit Round 3

1:45:38 - That Ain't Right, Stranger Things

1:57:08 - Trivial Pursuit Final Round

2:12:56 - Final Takeaways

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As an extension of our coverage of Ryan Coogler's masterful film Sinners, this week we present to you a special conversation with author and professor, Dr. Yvonne Chireau. Dr Chireau has spent much of her academic career studying religious history and supernatural traditions, particularly within Africana religions, African American religious tradition, and American folklore. She has written extensively about Hoodoo practices and the African American Conjuring tradition, which led to her directly providing her consultant expertise on Coogler's film.

In this fascinating conversation, she sits down with Nathan and friend of the show (and fellow author and professor) Brandon Grafius to discuss the complexity of religious expression within the film Sinners, as well as illuminating the ways these ancient religious practices have often been deeply influential and just as deeply misunderstood, particularly within film and the horror genre at large. It's a riveting and enlightening dialogue that we hope will more fully enrich your appreciation for the subject, as well as for Dr. Chireau's work and Ryan Coogler's film. 

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We have a fun surprise interview for you this week about a film that made tremendous waves at last year's Fantastic Fest. DOLLY is a gleefully disturbing, unflinching, gore-drenched love letter to every horror film you had to sneak into your basement to watch after everybody else went to bed. Filmed in classic 16mm, it tells the story of Macy (Fabianne Therese) who while on a woodland excursion with her partner (Seann William Scott) encounters a monstrous figure (Max the Impaler as "Dolly") who abducts her with the intent of raisin her as their own child.

It’s a vintage shot of pulp-novel flavored nightmare fuel, beholden to the greats but carving out a path of its own. Reed had the privilege to sit down with both the co-writer and director Rod Blackhurst and the star Max the Impaler to discuss the design and craft of this stylish film, as well as some of the surprisingly thoughtful ways it plays around with the conventions of slasher thriller tropes.

DOLLY is in theaters exclusively as of March 6th. We hope you'll check it out and we hope you enjoy this interview!

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We have an epic episode for you this week about an epic film from last year (#2025stillalive). Ryan Coogler has been a striking creative visionary in cinema for years now. With SINNERS, he unleashed a tour de force of creative storytelling, groundbreaking behind-the-scenes negotiations, and a powerhouse commentary on culture, art, and history. Sinners has now been nominated for a record-breaking 16 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and continues to find and captivate new audiences daily.

We invited a panel of friends and FoGgers to discuss this film with us, including returning friends of the show Chris Clark and Natashia Deon (attorney, professor, and author of The Perishing) and new-to-the-FoG guest Shaherah White (entrepreneur and host of the Love Manifested podcast). Together we dive deep into the themes and the cultural touchstones of Coogler's impressive film, including what it has to say about freedom, power, temptation, and art. It's one of our heartiest and most compelling discussions of this entire series.

Also featuring returning guest Charlie Baber to discuss STRANGER THINGS, Season 5, Episode 7 on a Patron-only segment, this is a hearty and full conversation that we really hope you enjoy.

4:39 - Two Questions with Shaherah White

Patron Only Segment: STRANGER THINGS, Season 5, Episode 7

10:55 - SINNERS

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