Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2025 Norwegian film The Ugly Stepsister, written and directed by E. Blichfeldt. This film is fantastic! A dark inversion of a Cinderella story, The Ugly Stepsister creates a twisted fantasy world where the aesthetics are grotesque but we learn all the right lessons.
It’s What’s Inside (Jardin 2024) Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2024 film It’s What’s Inside, written and directed by G. Jardin. This film is closer to the edge of horror than we usually venture, but the premise of the film was interesting enough that we gave it a chance. We hoped the film would explore the component of the sociological imagination that stresses the significance of fomenting strong empathy for others. It did so, but not in ways we found overall constructive. We felt the film kept the exploration of experiencing the perspec
The Brood (Cronenberg 1979) Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the classic 1979 David Cronenberg film The Brood. While this is a Canadian film, we wanted to include this in our mini-series on pregnancy and women’s bodies because it came out in 1979. Reagan would be elected in 1980 after having married the racist Southern Strategy of Atwater with the opportunistic politicization of abortion by the evangelical christians. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends. SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE The Brood (C
Birth/Rebirth (Moss 2023) Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2023 film Birth/Rebirth. This is a vaguely Frankensteinian film, that addresses control of women’s bodies from a unique perspective. We very much appreciate a novel take especially given the current political climate. Laura was really impressed with the dominant read of the film as well as the representation of pregnancy, IVF, and prospective motherhood. Marshall had concerns of a possible contested reading of the film as critical of fetal science and respecting the choices of pregna
Sociologists discuss the horror film Immaculate especially as it compares to The First Omen.
Red Rooms (Plante 2023) Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2023 film Red Rooms. Ostensibly this is a film about the dark web phenomemon of the titular red rooms. Oddly, the film did not actually offer any insight into red rooms. This film is different, and we definitely appreciate that. We just wish it offered something, anything!, interesting in terms of perspective or thoughts on the phenomenon it purports to address. We enjoyed it, learned nothing from it, but still enjoyed it. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subsc
Nosferatu (Eggers 2024) The film is gorgeous. It is well acted. Unfortunately, Eggers seems to be moving toward the strain of modern horror directors who are style without substance. And or sytle without ethical substance. Eggers appears to be willing to stray from Stoker’s book as well as from the 1922 classic version by Murnau. However, the changes he makes are at best socially stagnant. He arguably relegates women to foils for men characters, or arguably regressive, stripping away the queer coding of Murnau’s version. So while his attention to appearance, acting, and in this case language i
Cruising (Friedkin 1980) This episode is dedicated in loving memory of our dear friend Matt Brown, PhD. You lived unabashedly out and gay. You loved cruising and the scene. And you always had a unique perspective. We would have loved to hear your thoughts on this film especially. We miss you! Cruising was made during the brief few years post Stonewall and before significant awareness of AIDS that would decimate gay men especially throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In many ways we found this film to be more progressive, and offer better representation, of gay men than more recent films. We reviewe
Heretic (Beck and Woods 2024) Heretic – Does the film present an intellectual and philosophical discussion of belief, faith, and religion in order to encourage that amongst viewers? Or does it present all that as distraction because ultimately regardless of your thoughts and feelings, Mormon Jesus is going to save you if you believe and pray thereby making the film basically one long propaganda piece for the Mormon church (cult)? Laura and I disagree but we do hope you enjoy our consideration of this fundamental question about the film. I Saw the TV Glow (Schoenbrun 2024) I Saw the TV Glow – H
Woman of the Hour (Kendrick 2023) We have great appreciation of Anna Kendrick as a talent. And this film does have a very rare original take on the serial killer genre, unfortunately for us it did not coalesce into a meaningful film watching experience. The film is exactly the sum of its parts and it landed on us accordingly. Our guess is that in trying to avoid making problematic choices, which we support, Kendrick relegated her film to being one of cromulence. We hope she keeps working behind the camera as well as in front. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe,
Strange Darling (Mollner 2023) What a breath of fresh air! A film that is presented non-linearly for a reason! And a reason that doesn’t completely sabotage any horror that the film might have otherwise accomplished (looking at you 2019 Pet Sematary (Kolsch and Widmyer) remake). This all around just an excellent film. We don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, suffice it to say, if you like horror films you should see it. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends. SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE Very minor spoilers for Halloween (Carpenter 1979) TOPIC
The Substance (Fargeat 2024) The Substance is the second film from Fargeat that we have discussed on our podcast. With both this film and Revenge (2017) we were overall very impressed, with The Substance being a big step up especially in terms of style and production design. We are very excited to continue to follow her career. The film addresses topics of gender, aging, and the Hollywood expectations for appearance. The intention is clearly an indictment of specifically Hollywood’s perpetual demand for young women with speciifc appearances. While we largely agree that the film does implicate
A Quiet Place Day One (Sarnoski 2024) A Quiet Place Day One is an odd film. Laura very much enjoyed the primary plot and characters, and so for her this film worked well. And while Marshall did also, for him that felt summarily disconnected from the Day One universe and therefore did not work at all. Of possible interest at a larger scale is this is another big name horror franchise doing a sequel in New York City. This could be reflective of the right wing’s recent intense demonization of major cities as cesspools of crime and violence. While that simply is not true, the narrative has still b
Longlegs (Perkins 2024) While we think Osgood Perkins seems to be a genuinely wonderful human, sadly this film is not wonderful. This is not so much a movie as it is a series of trope vignettes with similar production desgin. Longlegs is all vibes with no substance; no character development, no timeline, no rationales, and no real reasons for anything. In many ways it’s a perfect film for the TikTok era, and we don’t mean that as a compliment. Laura started out thinking Marshall would hate the film. While he didn’t initially, through our discussion we found out she was absolutely correct to th
Alien (Scott 1979) and Aliens (Cameron 1986) In anticipation of Alien Romulus (Alvarez 2024), this episode we revisit the epic films Alien (Scott 1979) and Aliens (Cameron 1986). We discuss how the films hold up after approximately 40 years. This is a rare episode for us as it is both a sci-fi horror film and a creature film. We have very few episodes of films in these sub-genres. Marshall first saw this film when he was 10 and offers his perspective as to why Aliens in particular is one of his all time favorite films. In contrast, this might be Laura’s second time viewing the film so she is c
Abigail (Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett 2024) Directed by Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, who have made very solid Scream requels and the really excellent Ready or Not, we had high hopes for Abigail. With lots of promise and overall good audience reactions we were unfortunately very disappointed. Abigail is bad. Real bad. No character development, no movitations, no sense of geography, and any even remote potential for fear or suspense was undermined by the marketing. Any hope that it would challenge or disrupt tropes and stereotypes, given that the vampire is a girl, are compromised completely by
Late Night with the Devil (Cairnes and Cairnes 2023) Late Night with the Devil became somewhat of an immediate indie cult classic. According to Wikipedia “The film grossed $16 million and was met with widespread critical acclaim.” While Laura found the film to be quite an entertaining watch, Marshall was not a fan. And then when we delved into the messaging and subtext of the film things really went sour. The film not only perpetuates sexist horror tropes but it does significant work to validate the caustic Satanic Panic of the late 1970s and early 1980s that is still toxically present in aspe
Poor Things (Lanthimos 2023) Poor Things cause quite a stir on the film scene when it was released. While not exactly horror it is definitely bizarre and has some macabre and fantastic elements, so here we are to discuss it. We had mixed feelings about this film but if nothing else, we appreciate the big swings it took in terms of stylization, acting, and narrative. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends. SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE Poor Things (Lanthimos 2023) Forrest Gump (Zemeckis 1994) It Follows (Mitchell 2014) very minor spoilers TOPIC IND
Better Watch Out (Peckover 2016) Following up on our discussion of The Babysitter is a film that is sort of similar in terms of vibe, and very different in terms of execution. At least this is true for the first segment of the film. Luckily for all of us, this film is not The Babysitter. While it has some originality and there is evidence of effort to break out of problematic messaging, it ultimately only has mixed success. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends. SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE Bottoms (Seligman 2023) Becky (Milott and Murnion 2020)
The Babysitter (McG 2017) While entertaining and with solid acting performances especially from Samara Weaving, McG’s Babysitter is a bizarrely lecherous film where the camera is wielded like the fantasies of a man’s imagination of a pre-adolescent boy. A film that, in our opinion has aged like milk, yet spawned a sequel after apparently a slow burn cult following established on streaming. If you have any doubt of just how inappropriate thiis is to watch, imagine the gender’s reversed. It also pushes that age old tripe of hegemonic masculinity being an aspiration. There is lots more of our pod
Evil Dead Rise (Cronin 2023) Evil Dead Rise is well constructed and entertaining. It features a few minor pro to some of the tired tropes of possession films, ultimately the film is sloppy both ideologically and in terms of plot. Overall it still reinforces the tired arguments that women are only worthwhile if serving as mothers. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends. SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE The Evil Dead (Raimi 1981) Evil Dead (Alvarez 2013) Inside (Maury and Bustillo 2007) TOPIC INDEX – Evil Dead Rise (Cronin 2023) (times are approximate)
Evil Dead (Alvarez 2013) With this reboot of Evil Dead, Alvarez and Sayagues became the ones to watch of a new generation of horror film creators. Raimi’s The Evil Dead (1981) is one of the first modern era cabin in the woods horror films. It is a feat of scrappy engineering and a landmark of independent horror cinema. Amongst a swamp of mediocre, unnecessary, and opportunistic reboots, Alvarez’s film is one that is excellent, competent, and updates the original in interesting ways. While there is still problematic content, especially with regard to gender, Evil Dead (2013) is a refreshing rem
The only thing interesting about this film is the concept. If you must watch any of it, watch the animated intro. The rest is a waste of your time, energy, and life force. A super cynical effort to leverage Winnie IP entering the public domain. This film was so bad it forced us to reconsider our scale for evaluating films. Also, our shortest episode thus far because the film was not even bad in interesting ways. Trite sewage. I’m not even going to link to the film on IMDb or Wikipedia because that would encourage giving the film attention. Credits Edited and processed with Audacity. Free, cros
The First Omen (Stevenson 2024) The First Omen is a long slow burn. It is beautifully constructed, well acted, and intellectually terrifying. If you can see this in a theater, please do! There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends. SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE Proxy (Parker 2013) Inside (Bustillo & Maury 2007) TOPIC INDEX – The First Omen (Stevenson 2024) (times are approximate) 0:30 – Introductions 5:00 – Film discussion begins 6:00 – Laura has submitted a short horror film to festivals! 11:00 – Spoilers begin 12:00 – opening scene as mise en abyme 1
Piggy (Perada 2022) What a wonderfully different horror film! We love a film that is in dialogue with hegemonic gender norms, beauty standards, and audience expectations. Piggy evokes Haneke and Funny Games in tasking viewers with considering their own presumptions and responsibilities in watching a horror film. Fascinating! And with a exquisite performance by the lead actress Laura Galan, this film by Carlota Pereda is worth seeking out. We look forward to seeing what these talented folks do next. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends. SPOI
