As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to talk about the complicated relationship to masculinity and community with Martin Scorsese’s 1990 blockbuster, GoodFellas. And here it is! Our first fan-requested film, we dive into what makes GoodFellas a “man” film and discuss whether or not that is a bad thing or what it even means in the first place.

Socials: @watchingoutloud

What we need is some divine intervention, and that’s exactly what Maxxxine delivers. This week we’re wrapping up the Ti West X trilogy with our star, Maxine, finally getting what she deserves: the Hollywood spotlight. This film takes all those slasher horror tropes and repackages them for a final girl that is anything but a victim. She’s the fucking movie star of our dreams 🤩

Socials: @watchingoutloud

We don’t care what anyone says, Pearl IS a star! The prequel to X, this second film in the Ti West’s trilogy gives horror a technicolor makeover. Another ode to film and a girl’s longing for love and acceptance through stardom, this film changes the discussion around female sexuality in the horror genre. If a girl can’t have love and sex, then can we really blame her for becoming murderous? Who’s to say? We say, you listen!

Socials: @watchingoutloud

We’re following up The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the first of Ti West’s scream queen trilogy, X (2022). Starring Mia Goth and paying homage to TCM and the 1970s slasher flick, we look at how the X rating and the rise of pornography coincides with the value of women’s looks as society wonders what could be more horrifying than a woman that has aged, gasp!

Socials: @watchingoutloud

Season 2 is here, kittens! We’re yapping about Tobe Hooper’s film that revolutionized the horror genre forever: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This season, we’re Leatherface apologists as we discuss a disillusioned America the dying working class. What fun!

Socials: @watchingoutloud

Happy holidays, watchers! In this bonus episode while we're on hiatus, listen to us relive the absolute nightmare that is the 1998 holiday flop, Jack Frost. Even Michael Keaton slipping into his Beetlejuice voice can't save this movie from a good roast.

See you in 2025!

The season 1 finale! We're wrapping up our first Halloween Special series with Final Girl Sidney Prescott and the Scream franchise. She's the Final Girl that transgresses all the tropes and brings the horror heroine into the 21st century. We couldn't miss the opportunity to gab about Nev Campbell and crush on Skeet Ulrich (probably too much) as we navigate Wes Craven's meta-horror in its ultimate form.

Instagram & TikTok: @watchingoutloudpod

Letterboxd: @watchingoutloud

Email: [email protected]

Sources:

https://www.businessinsider.com/scream-movies-cool-facts-you-may-not-know-2021-10#scream-4-was-meant-to-be-the-start-of-a-new-trilogy-20

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_(1996_film) 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_2 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_(2022_film) 

https://womensmediacenter.com/fbomb/how-sidney-prescott-redefined-the-final-girl-trope

Welcome to prime time, bitch!! This week we’re talking about final girl Nancy Thompson and perhaps the most successful horror franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street. In the first film of this franchise, teenage Nancy chases after the monster herself. Throughout all of her films, she is outsmarting Freddy Krueger at every turn, ultimately killing the killer every chance she gets. It is also in this series that writer/director Wes Craven introduces his particular brand of meta-horror, primarily centered on the final girl, which alters horror in the decades to come.

Instagram & TikTok: @watchingoutloudpod

Letterboxd: @WOL_pod

Email: [email protected]

Sources:

Clover, Carol. Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. 1993.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street#/media/File:A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street_(1984)_theatrical_poster.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street_3:_Dream_Warriors

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Craven%27s_New_Nightmare

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Langenkamp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Thompson_(A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street)

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/59752/15-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-nightmare-elm-street

Get a load of this episode, you bitch! In the second installment of our Season 1 Halloween Special, we are talking about the final girl that faces the horrors of outer space: Ellen Ripley. In the Alien franchise, Ripley as a final girl doubles as one of the first women action heroes. We discuss the ways the final girl navigates the sci-fi sub-genre of this horror franchise, and the parallels we see between the scream queen and the female action hero.

Instagram & TikTok: @watchingoutloudpod

Letterboxd: @watchingoutloud

Email: [email protected]

Sources:

Clover, Carol. Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. 1993.

Zinoman, Jason. Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror. 2011.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(film) 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_(film) 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_3 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_Resurrection

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigourney_Weaver

In the first installment of our Season 1 Halloween Special, we are looking at the franchise that introduced the canonical horror icon: the Final Girl! Laurie Strode is the founding mother of the Final Girl trope, as the term is coined by film critic Carol Clover in the 1992 book Men, Women, and Chainsaws. Your hosts are going to tell you all about what makes a girl a Final Girl and how Laurie Strode establishes and transforms this trope throughout the Halloween franchise. And be sure to tune in next week to see which Final Girl we're fawning over next!

Instagram & TikTok: @watchingoutloudpod

Letterboxd: @watchingoutloud

Sources:

Clover, Carol. Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. 1992.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_girl#:~:text=Clover%20studied%20slasher%20films%20from,whether%20she%20kills%20him%20herself

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Strode

https://collider.com/who-was-the-first-final-girl

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077651/trivia/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_(1978_film) 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_H20:_20_Years_Later

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_(2018_film)