Blog Archives
DARK DISCUSSIONS explores HEREDITARY, returns to JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM
The masthead for DD Episode 341: Hereditary. Collage by Philip Perron
Dark Discussions recently delved into a couple of this summer’s hits–Hereditary and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
While Hereditary, as is typical of just about every new horror film that comes out, was touted as “the scariest film ever”–and the trailer makes it look like another “scary little girl movie”–it Read the rest of this entry
DARK DISCUSSIONS dives 47 METERS DOWN
47 METERS DOWN collage by Philip Perron.
Shark Week may be a long 10 months away, but there’s still plenty of thrills to be had in this year’s much-delayed Mandy Moore vehicle 47 Meters Down, which had been titled–and even briefly released, as I understand it–under the moniker In the Deep.
Dark Discussions delves deep into what works and what doesn’t in this film (which personally I didn’t get all the hate for–it’s a friggin’ shark thriller, for God’s sake, why are you all expecting high art?) which is available on Blu-Ray and DVD today. Pick it up here — http://a.co/20Q1UNs — then dive into what we thought!
You can listen to our episode on Stitcher, iTunes, and here: http://www.darkdiscussions.com/Pages/podcast_293.html
DARK DISCUSSIONS contemplates LIFE
DARK DISCUSSIONS Masthead for Episode 279, LIFE, by Phillip Perron.
I won’t reveal too much about what we thought about the film (you’ll just have to listen to our episode on Stitcher, iTunes or right here: http://www.darkdiscussions.com/Pages/podcast_279.html), but there are some interesting articles about the movie’s realism floating around, one of which is here in Geekwire: https://www.geekwire.com/2017/alien-horror-movie-life-biology-space/
Life is now available on VOD and on Amazon here http://a.co/b7vDnJE and probably on other platforms.
DARK DISCUSSIONS on THE CONJURING 2; resources for exploring the story behind the film
Nathan Schoonover (occult specialist, paranormal investigator, co-host of The Ghostman & Demon Hunter Show and my husband) joined us on Dark Discussions for an in-depth look at The Conjuring 2. We had a total blast! We discuss Amityville, Ouija boards, the real Enfield Poltergeist, DBox (and if you don’t know what that is you’ll just have to check it out) and more!
You can listen through I-Tunes and Stitcher or you can simply download it right from the Dark Discussions website here: http://www.darkdiscussions.com/Pages/podcast_238.html
Below, a very basic (I do mean VERY basic) list of resources in case you’re interested in exploring the real stories behind the film. This has already Read the rest of this entry
Time to ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW with the DARK DISCUSSIONS Podcast…
This is an alternate poster for the film. On the DVD, there is a special feature in which you can enjoy a preview of several different versions of posters and taglines.
When Escape from Tomorrow—the surreal film Randy Moore guerilla-style in the Disney Parks—was released last year, everyone wanted to know what I thought (I wrote Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole: Tales from Haunted Disney World, a collection of ghost stories set in Disney Parks). Now you can find out Read the rest of this entry
Don’t look in the microwave: DARK DISCUSSIONS does GREMLINS!
Who doesn’t love the terminally cute Gizmo?
I got the chance to discuss one of everybody’s favorite movies—1984’s Gremlins—on Episode 120 of Dark Discussions! Foreign cars, puppetry vs. CGI, maxi-cassettes and more…if you were a child of the 80s (and even if you weren’t and are curious), you can take a trip down memory lane Read the rest of this entry
Opening Chernobyl Diaries
The ghostly, abandoned city of Pripyat is the setting for the new Oren Peli film Chernobyl Diaries.
For those of us who were alive at the time, the word Chernobyl—which at its essence means wormwood, fitting for a place which poisoned itself for centuries to come—is scary all on its own. I was fifteen at the time of the accident, and stories of what happened to you when you were exposed to too much radiation were rendered in gory detail around the school cafeteria. After all, images from ABC’s graphic The Day After, which had aired only two and half years before, had branded our minds.
An essay on the just-released Chernobyl Diaries, “Opening Chernobyl Diaries: the truth is scarier than the film,” is now over at the Dark Discussions Podcast Article Library at http://www.darkdiscussions.com/Pages/article_007.html.
Our Fetish for Zuni
The Zuni Fetish Doll from 1974’s Trilogy of Terror
The mention of 1974’s Trilogy of Terror sometimes results in a blank stare until I jog it by adding: “you know, the one with the nasty doll that chases a woman around her apartment?”
The memory is suddenly fresh: “That doll scared me so much as a kid! I had nightmares for weeks!”
Yeah, we love that Zuni fetish doll, but why? The answer lies in what he represents. I take a look in “Our Fetish for Zuni: Why we’ll never escape ‘that doll’” over at the Dark Discussions Podcast Article Library here: http://darkdiscussions.com/Pages/article_003.html
