Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025) is the sixth installment in a (mostly) beloved franchise of fright films. Fans consider it one of the best in the series, and even the less enthused have found gems to enjoy. The opening sequence is a blast. The kills are hilarious and maximalist. And you even get a little bit of character development. The conversation stays mostly on topic, but let’s be honest, Bloodlines is like a new AC/DC album. You know what you’re getting. We stray into conversation abo...
Jun 25, 2025•1 hr 22 min
Companion (2025) comes to us at a great time in our culture’s history. As of this writing, AI hucksters are incinerating the planet so anyone can prompt Harry Potter fan fiction and the innumerate can vibe code their way to enough series A funding to purchase one-way flights to the Martian refugee colonies of the ultra wealthy. If those words are unfamiliar to you, just wait. Soon enough, the tech oligarchs will replace you with a subservient version of yourself that will. Or maybe they’ll just ...
Mar 26, 2025•1 hr 35 min
In this episode, we sink our yellowed fangs into Nosferatu (2024). It’s one of our best conversations in a while. Likely due to our occult powers ascending and a potent peasant stew of nicotine and caffeine. We talk about orthodox exorcisms, Lily-Ross Depp’s rise as an actor, supernatural penises, and what kind of undead creatures we’d like to be. Robert Eggers has once again delivered an incredible looking film that shows what you can do with an absurd obsession for details. Are we all in on th...
Jan 30, 2025•1 hr 26 min
The Substance (2024) is a nearly perfect example of what we like in movies. It’s dripping with weighty ideas about bodies and power’s putrid hold on humanity. The director is an alluring French woman who appears to be a deep fan of all the dark shit we’re into. The actors are going for it hard. The effects are practical. It’s absurdly gory and fun. To conversate and celebrate this body horror peak, we’re joined by Monique Jenkinson–who needs little introduction to our audience–but just in case, ...
Dec 16, 2024•1 hr 53 min
David Fincher’s first film, Alien 3 (1992), is a notorious example of studio meddlers clashing with an auteur-minded director, leaving a franchise in the khazi. It’s a shame, because xenomorphs are basically money makers. The film has some solid performances and a gloriously grimy setting. But alas, the film (both cuts) is a mess. The special effects are majorly downgraded from Aliens. The plot is full of more holes than a pair of old Weyland-Yutani panties. But they did manage to give Sigourney...
Nov 20, 2024•1 hr 22 min
Alien$ made an enormous amount of money because James Cameron asked “What if there were a lot of aliens?” and “What if there were a ton of machine guns?” Answering “Yes, and” to these bold questions guaranteed a hit in the 80s. What a time to be alive! In this episode, we discuss Weyland-Yutani’s corporate culture, life in the Colonial Marines, the history of Jews in Mexico and their theoretical role in space, great sci-fi industrial design, and the tyranny of Fox Studio suits. It looks like we’...
Oct 14, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Behold! In part two of our conversation about Alien (1979), we get more into speculative territory about UFO sightings, how a trillion dollar space-faring company might operate, and how notes from studio suits always ruin things. We get more into HR Giger’s influence on the film and his firm grip on 90s mall goth aesthetics. We also cover some advice about how to survive in the Alien universe (don’t look inside wet eggs) and imagine what products you might make from harvested xenomorph pieces (b...
Sep 17, 2024•48 min
Alien (1979) is a perfect movie. Which is why there is an entire Weyland-Yutani freighter worth of commentary about it. In this, our first ever two-part episode, we explore what makes the film exceptional and we explore the conversation around popular critical touch points—like Ripley’s panties. As working class heroes ourselves, we bring new thoughts to the class dynamics of the ship’s mission and the role of middle management in making things worse for everyone. If this leaves your chest burst...
Aug 31, 2024•1 hr 1 min
Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) is responsible for dozens of film studies books and an inexhaustible number of undergrad student theses–and now a new episode of your favorite podcast featuring our unofficial third co-host Monique Jenkinson (AKA Fauxnique). We cover all of the hits: color theory, suspense, costuming, heroic ladies, weird cops, set design, relationships, whether or not Marc should powder his whole body to combat global warming, and of all things, rolling suitcases....
Jul 24, 2024•1 hr 32 min
Chad and Marc return from the prison of their career commitments to the nihilist hellscape of Amazon Prime’s dystopic series Fallout Marc is a noob to this take on this apocalypse-as-western. His guide Chad, has spent some time building his own vault in the time-incinerating Fallout Shelter game. They discuss Walton Goggins’ reign, Prime vs. Netflix, Cormac McCarthy, how Lucy is no Mary Sue, Kyle MacLaughlin’s classic Americana charm and whether a positive mental attitude will serve you as you n...
May 16, 2024•57 min•Ep. 117
Clueless (1995) is one of those films that almost everyone has a soft spot for. It defined a time and place, riffed on a classic, upholds pretty good values, is extremely quotable, and makes you feel happy when you watch it (unless you are truly dead inside). So why are we covering it on a horror podcast? Well, it’s Marc’s favorite movie, and Chad prefers it to all horror movies. It’s an episode we’ve joked about doing forever. Recently, we both read “As If!: The Oral History of Clueless, as Tol...
Mar 23, 2024•1 hr 17 min
When faced with the recent dreary Christmas horror offerings of the past year or two, we felt nothing but apathy. Which is a terrible position to be in when you’re looking for a holiday episode idea. But fear not! Or rather—Fear No Mort—the season seven finale of Rick and Morty is pretty great. It sticks the landing on an overall decent season that could’ve been much worse. But it’s smart, funny and brings up a lot of themes that we’ve spent years covering: the nature of fear, creativity in mass...
Dec 24, 2023•1 hr 4 min
It’s been a while—but fear not—we have returned, just in time for Halloween! This episode covers 10 loosey-goosey horror themes that we’ve been pondering as of late. We praise stuff we love and do quite a bit of bitching about the state of the world. There’s a little bit of optimism and a lot of that old time hate. Something for everyone! We don’t focus on any particular films. However, fans of Alien, Barbie, and Jack Ryan are in for a treat. Or maybe a trick....
Oct 26, 2023•1 hr 23 min
Andy Weir’s novel The Martian (2011) is top-shelf hard sci-fi for nerds who love space and MacGyver situations. Just four years after (official) publication, Ridley Scott made a film version starring (South Park voice) Matt Dayyyyyymon. Both versions of the story are fast paced and fun. They aren’t exactly horror, but survival stories are often horrific. And this one has a touch of terror and a dash of body horror to make it on the show. We get into how artists and engineers see the world differ...
Sep 10, 2023•1 hr 11 min
The Craft (1996) is a beloved teen witch movie that helped define the 90s mall goth experience. It also made supporting actress Fairuza Balk a bit of an icon for the heavy eyeshadow crowd. Does this movie still hold up? Blessed be, yes! Other than a lame soundtrack, this is a fun movie with memorable scenes and decent actors. We talk about what it was like to be a neophyte goth in New Orleans during the late 1900s, witchcraft as a thing that’s cool and corny, and the role of life coaches/therapi...
May 31, 2023•1 hr 20 min
This episode we talk with our comrade Alexander Herbert about his great new book, Fear Before the Fall: Horror Films in the Late Soviet Union . Alexander is a PhD candidate in Soviet History at Brandeis University, specializing in environmental activism and the history of technology leading up to collapse. He gives us the scoop on Soviet horror films, the punk scene in Moscow, and a behind the scenes look into how the Zero Books sausage is made....
Mar 04, 2023•56 min
Hear Chad and Marc tackle the monolithic drones of metal duo Sunn O))). They discuss witchery and ritual, gear and sculpture, fandom and influence, and (as usual) capitalism and art.
Feb 02, 2023•1 hr 4 min
Nick “The Tooth” Gullo is a 2x IBJJF Jiu Jitsu Black Belt world champion, co-host of the Infinite Worlds podcast, a writer, lawyer, world traveler, TV Star—and most importantly for this NYE resolution conversation, is absolutely shredded in his 50s. He joins us for the second time to discuss discipline, keto dieting, being kind to yourself, internet hucksters (Liver King, etc.), toxic masculinity, toxic acceptance, male energy, self-help cults, goal setting, and a lot more. This episode doesn’t ...
Jan 06, 2023•1 hr 24 min
Halloween Ends (2022) is Blumhouse’s last shot at making that Michael Meyers money. But rather than do more of what sort of works, they introduce us to the saddest sack character ever and focus the film on his dating life, which is sort of an interesting choice for this insufferable franchise. We don’t love it. But Marc doesn’t hate it as much, which makes for some high-value conversation. We also talk about A Star is Born, Dirty Harry, Tarantino’s new book, and what our Halloween sequels might ...
Nov 29, 2022•1 hr 7 min
Our first DOUBLE FEATURE episode covers Jack Hill’s Spider Baby (1967) and Rob Zombie’s The Munsters (2022). Why these films together? Well, the straightforward answer is that we watched them the same week—and Sid Haig. But we do weave some viable thematic and cultural webs between the two. We cover incest, cannibalism, Kanye, why secondary writing is terrible, what we’ve been doing wrong, the DSM-5, first deaths, and quite a bit more. This is a sprawling, classic Scary Thoughts episode and one ...
Oct 20, 2022•1 hr 29 min
Drag legend and horror icon Peaches Christ (Joshua Grannell) is back for a fourth episode. This time we’re exploring the spooky secrets of Terror Vault, a fully immersive haunted theatrical experience that takes audiences on a terrifying journey within the dank, rat-infested walls of the old San Francisco Mint. If you’re into haunts, you’re going to love this episode. We talk about the origins of Peaches’ interest in horror performance, the technical details of running the show, how the piece is...
Oct 04, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Dan Trachtenberg’s 2022 Predator offering, Prey , is one of the better films in the franchise. If you’re a truly misguided soul, (like Marc) it might even be your favorite. We talked about what it did well and what could’ve been better. Before getting to the choppa, we start with a little bit about where Marc’s academic journey is taking him.
Aug 25, 2022•59 min
Karyn Kusama’s 2009 film Jennifer’s Body, is finding an audience thanks to a mix of #metoo reckoning, queer analysis, oughts nostalgia, and public fascination with Megan Fox’s hematophagic pairing with male scream queen Machine Gun Kelly. This film hasn’t aged well, but our age is treating it well. We discuss whether that old-time patriarchy or a messy script with boring kills led to the initial cold reception of the film.
Aug 03, 2022•1 hr 29 min
The second half of Stranger Things 4 was fun. Even Argyle and Lucas managed to have great moments. In this episode we talk about why this season won us over, how drugs help with the enjoyment of art, whether or not there are epochs (and if music in the 80s was one), and whether or not it makes sense to have naked heavy metal girls on a character’s wall if it upsets modern sensibilities.
Jul 14, 2022•1 hr 23 min
We started our show talking about the first season of Stranger Things , so we are compelled to continue. Thankfully for everyone, the end is nigh. But as Marc is fond of saying, “Don’t let our yuck interfere with your yum.” There’s still a lot to like about the show, even if it is circling the drain of mediocrity on its way to the septic tank of nostalgia. Our next episode covers the finale.
Jun 30, 2022•1 hr 14 min
The Evil Dead (1981) and Evil Dead 2 (1987) are both unimpeachable classics of horror comedy. After our longest hiatus, we delve into the cult lore of these films and their influence on horror. This episode isn’t exactly philosophical, but it’s a fun one, especially if you grew up with Sam Raimi’s madcap brand of cabin-based mayhem. And for the first time–no major spoilers!
May 19, 2022•1 hr 29 min
We started Scary Thoughts back in 2016. The years since have been–eventful. This episode rambles hard as we attempt to answer the question, “what have we learned?” Think of it as a director’s commentary. We talk about what we thought the show would be, where it’s going, our friendship, horror podcasting as a phenomenon, being rooted in the Bay Area, and we tell a bunch of bar stories, which people always seem to like. Thanks for listening....
Mar 04, 2022•1 hr 49 min
Let us help you slide into this not-quite-new not-quite-normal-not-quite-post-pandemic with some answers to your questions. You asked about news consumption, movie theaters, horror trends, Disney character team-ups, nostalgia, algorithms, the hunt for Joe Rogan, meditation—and we answered. It’s all very on-brand for our Self-Help for Nihilists series.
Feb 16, 2022•2 hr 3 min
Julia Ducornau’s Titane (2021) features a lot of dancing and gender theory. So who better to have as a guest than Monique Jenkinson, AKA Fauxnique ? We talk about her new book Faux Queen: A Life in Drag , body horror, female violence, Sharon Stone’s directing ambitions, film criticism, tarot cards, body horror, and French flatulists. Opinions were divided on this film, so it’s an exciting episode....
Feb 06, 2022•1 hr 46 min
Don’t Look Up came out on Netflix just in time to brighten everyone’s 2021 holidays. The director, Adam McKay, is one of the most successful comedy directors ever, but this movie isn’t exactly a winner, even if it does have a ton of actors we love. In an episode almost as long as this too-long film, we discuss the few things we liked—and spend most of the episode deriding it. We veer into slightly spicy territory on this one. Does politics ruin comedy? Does anyone like Joe Biden? Can the news be...
Jan 17, 2022•1 hr 38 min
