Welcome to Horror

As Johnny Vegas once said - “Who’s ready for ice cream?”

After nearly 200 episodes, we’re finally getting round to Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy, kicking off with the absolute belter that is 2004’s “Shaun of the Dead”.

A film which features more dead celebrities than Austin Powers’ address book; more cameos than a karaoke machine stuck on “Word Up”; and dares to ask the eternal question about whether or not dogs can look up.

Having honed their cinematic flair with the essential turn-of-the-century sitcom “Spaced”; Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg took their love of Romero’s Living Dead Trilogy (as it was then); melded it with British RomCom mundanity and created probably the best horror comedy hybrid since “An American Werewolf in London”; with scares, gore and laughs in equal measure, plus an absolute genuine heart. Twenty years on, this film remains a high watermark of British Horror and British Comedy, its status as a classic was never in doubt from day one.

Watch (or re-watch) to avoid spoilers and join us.

Welcome To Horror Presents: “The Adventures of We Have Been Watching”.

Once again it’s time for the team to spurt forth with their brain translators to inform you of their extra curricular eye feasting.

Items explored include “Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me”; Rod Serling’s “The Night Gallery”; Glenn Danzig’s “Death Rider in the House of Vampires”; Cecelia Condit’s creepily surreal short “Possibly in Michigan”; 2018 British Horror Comedy “Book of Monsters”; and Shudder’s “The 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time”.

No prep needed, but listeners beware, as here be (possible) spoilers and (definite) swearing.

Join us!

In the second half of our Not For Everyone Podcast recommendations, we’re watching another Stephen King adaptation - 2003’s “Dreamcatcher”.

A film in which Morgan Freeman’s eyebrows are designed to stop pigeons nesting; Damian Lewis auditions to play the Joker as Hugh Laurie; and Jason Lee just needs to leave those fucking toothpicks where they are!

For a film about killer worms that burrow into your arse; “Dreamcatcher” has a remarkably glossy and expensive look, with a cast of big names. Written by King whilst high on painkillers, the story has a lot of similarities with his classic “It”, even down to its fictional location. Somehow though, the film manages to either take itself too seriously or not seriously enough, and may have been improved for amping up the (toilet) humour of the premise.

Watch (or re-watch) to avoid spoilers and join us.

As a follow up to our Christmas Crossover with our Kurt Army Cousins, The Not For Everyone Podcast, we decided to take a look at two of the Stephen King adaptations that were mentioned, but unseen by us.

First up is George A Romero’s “The Dark Half”; a film in which we learn that pure, undiluted evil must be dressed like Tom Waits; that Henry (Portrait of a Serial Killer) has even less idea of the law when on the other side of a police badge; and that Eleanor Lance escaped from Hill House to become pipe smoker of the year (1993).

A faithful adaptation of King’s take on his own outing as the author Richard Bachman, this is a superior slice of 90s horror, reuniting King with Romero, with a superb cast backed up by incredible practical and visual effects that still hold up today.

Watch (or re-watch) to avoid spoilers and join us

Welcome to Horror bring you another filmmaker interview!

Lee sits down with James Hood, writer and director of “Caretaker”, the haunting and enigmatic film that won Best Short Film at this year’s Romford Horror Film Festival.

Massive thanks to James for his time, and for giving us the opportunity to view “caretaker”, the episode also comes with a brief spoiler free review from the team as well, and we urge you to seek this film out now!

Find James at

Instagram: james_w_hood

Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/ffeD

Welcome To Horror Episode 192 is a round up of our visit to this year’s Romford Horror Film Festival.

We had an excellent time on our first visit to the festival.

We got to see two amazing features - “The Pocket Film of Superstitions” and “How To Kill Monsters”, (which went on to win several awards at the festival, including best director and best actress).

We give spoiler-free reviews of these features, as well as the shorts “Collection Only” and “Kin”, and talk about the festival as a whole, and some of the lovely people we met there; such as author, actor and podcaster Lauren Jane Barnett, director Tony Mardon and actor Ross Sambridge.

This episode is (hopefully) spoiler free, but with (likely) swearing.

Join us!

The BAMPIRE Interview

Bit of a change this episode; Lee and Adam chat with filmmakers Zoe Wassman and Malachite Saaquya about their movie “Bampire”, which they are in the process of crowdfunding.

Bampire is a 90s-set horror comedy, introducing a brand new element to vampire lore - vampires who morph into deer!

Combining live action with practical effects and animation - it’s described as “Evil Dead 2” meets “Roger Rabbit”.

It has a cast including genre stalwart Diane Franklin, “The Room”’s Greg Sestero and the legendary “Lloyd Kaufman”; animation from Josh Stifter; visual effects by the award winning Trysta Kelley; and Taylor Morden in the director’s chair.

Having completed filming, the guys are now looking to raise the funds required for post production.

As you will hear, Zoe and Malakhai’s passion and love for this project is infectious, they really want to get this out there, and from what we’ve seen of the amazing footage they have, so do we!Have a listen, and go to

bampiremovie.com which will take you straight to their Indiegogo page, there you’ll see a teaser and find out exactly what you can do to help this movie get out there, and pick up some lovely merch too!

Support independent film.

Welcome To Horror Presents: “We Have Been Watching And The Monster From Hell”.

It’s time, faithful listeners, for the WTH team to have another one of our fireside chats about our inter-schedule viewing, and this time we’re joined by special guest; Lady Jennifer (her motivation: it’s half term and she was bored).

This episode we discuss 70s anthology series “Thriller”, 1959’s “Horrors of the Black Museum”, Channel Four’s “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared”, Hammer’s “Scars of Dracula” and “Taste the Blood of Dracula”, 2014’s “It Follows”, 2023’s Ghost Story for Christmas “Lot No. 249” and the brilliant series “Wellington Paranormal” which now has a podcast.

No prep needed, but listeners beware, as here be (possible) spoilers and (definite) swearing.

Join us!

We present a spoiler free look at “The Group”, the debut feature of director William Higo.

A group meeting for (mostly) recovering addicts is suddenly hijacked by an unknown man, who conducts his own brutal group therapy session, down the barrel of a gun.

Secrets are exposed, truths confronted and loyalties are torn and formed as the situation reaches boiling point.

A taut thriller set in one location, this film is so much more assuredly cinematic than those restrictions may suggest, and it succeeds in being a tense and intriguing ride. The small cast work wonders with a smart and unflinching script, holding the viewer in their seat for the film’s duration.

A big thank you to Will Higo for reaching out to us (via longtime friend of the show Tony Wash) and allowing us to view this excellent thriller.

Having wowed at festivals, “The Group” is available in the US, and coming soon in the UK, and we urge you to seek it out!

For our US listeners The Group is available on:

Indemand

Dish

Directv

Vudu

https://www.vudu.com/content/browse/details/The-Group/2716039

Hoopla

https://www.hoopladigital.com/movie/the-group-jennifer-aries/16479645

Microsoft link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-group/8d6kgwxxkw2f?activetab=pivot%3aoverviewtab

Apple link, which should open the app: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-group/umc.cmc.2fopy9nvq50zdk3drpyfze72c

It’s the next film in our Countycide season, and today we go down to the woods for a big surprise, with 2006’s “Severance”, from director Christopher Smith.

A film in which the arrival of a gang of brutal, sadistic murderers relieves the true horror of an office team-building weekend; Lord Percy steps in something rather nasty; and Danny Dyer provides niche observational humour for all the ‘shroom heads in the audience.

Another under appreciated film from the man who brought us high-seas time twister “Triangle”, “Severance”, despite its once ubiquity in secondhand shop DVD racks, seems to have also fallen out of sight, which is a real shame. It has a strong cast portraying believable, genuinely funny, characters (whether the character knows it or not) evoking perfectly that mismatch of work colleagues thrown together outside of office hours. With a genuinely nasty streak and scenes of gore and murder that would be much more gruelling in a straight narrative, and a lovely playful mixing of perspectives; this film should be rightly remembered and embraced by more fans of the fusion of comedy and horror.

Watch (or re-watch) to avoid spoilers and join us.