Horrible Imaginings Podcast

  On this episode of the Horrible Imaginings Podcast we talk to some of the talented filmmakers being highlighted at the 2018 Etheria Film Night. The mission of Etheria Film Night, happening Saturday, June 16th at the Egyptian Theatre and Aero Theatre in Los Angeles, is to annually showcase a progressive slate of genre films, directed […] More

It is Pride Month! We here at Horrible Imaginings recognize this tradition every year with our festival partners FilmOut San Diego. This year they are celebrating their 20th anniversary, and we have invited several of their selected filmmakers to join us on the podcast. These filmmakers decided to not only put their efforts into their […] More

This is a bit of a bonus podcast, recorded live, following a screening of the 1985 vampire classic Fright Night, starring Roddy McDowall, Chris Sarandon, Amanda Bearse, William Ragsdale, and Stephen Geoffreys. The screening was a special free event that we at Horrible Imaginings put on to introduce ourselves to our new neighborhood at our […] More

  Us horror fans know that we love a stigmatized genre. We have felt the chastisement of those around us for this love. But we also rest well on the knowledge that horror is embedded in the history of human storytelling. It is of utmost importance, and that any contempt thrown our way is born […] More

The Horrible Imaginings Podcast is ending our hiatus to bring all you creatives some important news about an opportunity for funding and visibility for your next horror project! The platform Seed&Spark has teamed up with 3311 Productions and The Orchard to seek out and help make new projects a reality. Check out the video for […] More

Rape Revenge films are perhaps the most replete with conflict for conscientious audience members who find themselves, for one reason or another, drawn to them. Whether people feel comfortable admitting it or not, this especially dark and often nasty subgenre is a lucrative one, with thousands of imitations and similar stories released worldwide. Some of […] More

Hello everyone! As you know, this is a horror genre podcast but it is also a film festival official podcast, and we are trying to increase our content that has to do with film festival missions and purposes from the start so let’s start with an element in the film festival world that I am particularly […] More

In a recent trend of referring to popular web based content as a means of retelling the modern horror story, the amount of viable source material to draw upon seems to expand in measure quicker than said supply can be depleted. We’ve seen Youtube provide us with creepypasta born series such as Marble Hornets and SyFy has tuned us […] More

We are less than a week from Halloween, the best year of the night for us horror fans, and if you are anything like me you are planning on filling your days with even more horror films than usual in celebration. With all of the new and unprecedented access to more film titles than ever […] More

Oh boy, am I a sucker for a good Japanese ghost story. There is just something about them that resonates with me. I think it is the focus on spirits that exact a cruel form of justice and vengeance. The cold callousness mixed with an almost deserved karma. It speaks to me. I first read […] More

In all the years I have done Storytime Edition episodes, I never did Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” because it just felt a little too obvious for some reason. I have been asked now for the third time to record a reading of it for the podcast, and I was even asked to read it […] More

It is the last day of September, which means Halloween is knocking at the door and ready to fill our homes with all the scares that we have come to love since childhood. One of the classic Halloween images, of course, is that of the abandoned old haunted house silhouetted threateningly by a glowing full […] More

Hello, listeners! Holy crap I can’t believe how quickly time has passed. This has truly been a summer of way too much going on, with countless conventions and festivals, planning, meetings, and more to keep me away from the podcast mic, not to mention suddenly having to teach middle school Science for a brief period. […] More

Hello, listeners! Sorry for the long break between episodes as we plan the next film festival, on top of me moving, my cat dying, a violent car accident, and a lot of other bullshit. This show is not about any of that, though, but about something fun instead! That’s right… this past Saturday, June 3rd, […] More

Returning to the “literature” in our mission to explore horror in history, art, literature, film, and beyond! Today, we are giving you one of our most special Storytime Editions yet! It is a whole collection of readings from some of today’s most prominent authors of the bizarre, the horrific, the weird, or the just plain […] More

Hello everyone! It is time for another episode of the Official Podcast of Horrible Imaginings Film Festival, and this is an exciting one because we get to nerd out about one of those horror franchises partly responsible for helping drive the passion that makes our festival possible: PHANTASM! Well Go USA has just released the […] More

It is one of the most terrifying mysteries of the 21st century. So many grisly and unexplained elements that it has gone viral and inspired hundreds, if not thousands, of conspiracy theorists, amateur detectives, and calls for action. It is the mystery of what happened to Elisa Lam. And What Happened to Elisa Lam? is […] More

Hi, everyone! As promised, here is my second episode from the 24th Annual San Diego Latino Film Festival! Once again, it also marks the third year of Horrible Imaginings Film Festival partnering with them to bring the “Un Mundo Extraño” block of horror and fantastic cinema. If you missed my last interviews with the directors of Histeria and The […] More

Hi, everyone! Tomorrow (March 16th) is the opening night of the 24th Annual San Diego Latino Film Festival! It also marks the third year of Horrible Imaginings Film Festival partnering with them to bring the “Un Mundo Extraño” block of horror and fantastic cinema. This year promises to be our strongest showcase of dark films yet, and I […] More

Hello, everyone! We have a bonus episode for you today since I was asked if I wanted to interview some of the actors who are playing the new Lionsgate Power Rangers, and I just couldn’t resist. It was a lot of fun, especially for a quick, 10-minute press round. I love Japanese Tokusatsu shows, which […] More

Although my tenure as co-director of the HP Lovecraft Film Festival Los Angeles came to an end this year when our franchise license wasn’t renewed, I can’t say I regret the number of amazing people I got to work with and meet along the way. One such person is Mike Dalager, who has spent the […] More

Have you ever wanted to take a peek behind the curtain of film festivals? If you are a filmmaker, have you thought about some of the things you should do to increase your chances of acceptance into festivals? Those questions and more are what this episode is all about. This was recorded live on Saturday, […] More

Oh man, when two cineastes decide to have a conversation watch out! It is hard to contain the purest of enthusiasm for movies that erupts when you put me on Skype with my friend Jon Spira! You might remember that from episode 157, when he joined me to discuss his documentary Elstree 1976, which you […] More

Happy New Year, everyone! I have a thrilling episode for you tonight! You won’t believe it but seeing…er…HEARING is believing! He was a KING in his world, but here he is just a captive–KONG, the 8th wonder of the world! Yes, this episode is all about one of cinema’s most innovative and grandest achievements. None other […] More

The winter holidays are quickly approaching, so what better time for a quick “Storytime Edition” of the Horrible Imaginings Podcast? “Storytime Edition” episodes are readings of classic horror, Gothic, or paranormal short stories in the public domain. Today’s story takes place in the holiday season, though that has little bearing on the horrors within. The […] More

As promised! The Horrible Imaginings Podcast has picked up an esteemed and brilliant new semi-regular co-host! He has been known for his collaborative work in novels and anthologies including The Light at the End, The Scream, Animals, and Book of the Dead. He publishes the work of other talented authors with his imprint Fungasm Press. Along […] More

Hello, everyone! I hope you didn’t eat too many people for Thanksgiving! In today’s episode, I get to recommend some holiday reading for you. It’s a battle between a real-life horror one side, facing off against one of literature’s most popular monsters! That’s right, the new book Dracula vs. Hitler (review) has hit the shelves! […] More

Happy Halloween everyone! I have a bittersweet episode to celebrate our favorite holiday. As you all probably know, John Zacherle, aka Zacherley The Cool Ghoul, departed this mortal dimension late last week. He lived to the rich old age of 98, and for monster kids of all ages, Zacherley has long been an important part […] More

Halloween is exactly one week away, and I have the perfect little tale of terror for you! William Wymark Jacob’s macabre short “The Monkey’s Paw” has become one of those stories that has so infused itself in pop culture that it’s become almost a kind of myth or urban legend. Movies, plays, comic books, TV […] More

Hello, horror fans, and welcome to our new home here on Dread Central! For those of you who have been keeping up, I have maintained some podcast silence as we have prepared for our busiest year yet with Horrible Imaginings Year 7, Fabio Frizzi in San Diego, The Terror on the Tenth Art Gallery, several […] More

ScareLa is less than a month away! That means not only is Halloween starting early, but so is Horrible Imaginings because we will have a film block at the convention! It is so exciting for us to be part of this amazing convention, and what better way to celebrate than with a friendly horror-loving conversation […] More

Sometimes things just happen that take you somewhere you didn’t expect to go, but there you are and it is freaking awesome. Everything about what happened Sunday feels like some kind of divine providence. I finished the novel “The Complex” by notable horror author Brian Keene at 2:00 AM, found out a couple of hours […] More

Last week, Horrible Imaginings presented a week of screenings of the new documentary “Elstree 1976” at the Digital Gym Cinema here in San Diego, California. During the Saturday night screening, director Jon Spira graciously agreed to talk to the theater after the screening for a Q&A via Skype. What this meant for him was setting […] More

“Index Zero” is a new dark science fiction film from Italy, and a debut feature from director Lorenzo Sportiello. As with any good genre story, Sportiello uses high-concept cinema to explore some very real problems facing Europe today–namely the refugee and immigration problems that challenge many European countries. The film also boasts an impressive world-building […] More

Wow, another podcast episode more focused on classic film than horror! Horror can be peripherally involved, though, as the main thrust of our conversation is censorship and The Production Code that became the means for censorship in Hollywood for over three decades. I was graciously invited to join Cinema Junkie Beth Accomando at The La […] More

Once again, it is that time of the year where we focus on classic film in honor of the TCM Classic Film Festival, which has been hitting Hollywood, California in a big way every Spring since 2010. (Incidentally, I’m proud to say that our own Horrible Imaginings Film Festival shares its birth year with TCM […] More

Since the provocative promotional images first hit the internet, the new film “Nina Forever” has been garnering attention from the festival circuit and genre fans alike. Love, loss, grief, and the inability to move on are emotional extremes that most of us have had to deal with, and “Nina Forever” explores those extremes in the […] More

In 1973, African American director Bill Gunn was tasked with making the next “Blacula.” Instead, he gifted the world with the strangest rumination on identity, addiction, and religion that we are just beginning to appreciate. Starring Duane Jones, who gave a revolutionary performance in George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead,” and the magnetic […] More

Pablo Absento showed her atmospheric horror short film “Shi” at the 2015 Horrible Imaginings Film Festival, as well as film festivals all over the world, and that got the notice of none other than Fangoria. Now, all of you can watch this film and see what all the buzz is about in 8 terrifying minutes […] More

Horrible Imaginings is bringing one trippy anthology film to San Diego’s Digital Gym Cinema in February! It’s called Southbound, and it tells the connected stories of some truly unfortunate people who find themselves in the loneliest parts of the American roadscape. There are genuine feelings of mystery, dread, and weirdness throughout this film. I really […] More

It has been a bit of a hiatus since our last episode while I take care of some health problems, but hopefully I can attack 2016 with regained vigor and enthusiasm. This will be the final episode of 2015, and what better way to endcap the year on a film festival podcast than with a […] More

John Skipp and Andrew Kasch, the directing duo behind the “This Means War” segment of the new Halloween celebration anthology called Tales of Halloween, joined us for a fantastic and hilarious Q&A following our screening. It was after 1:00 am by the time this Q&A happened, but there was no shortage of energy or thoughtfulness. And […] More

Amazingly, it has been one month since my episode reflecting on Horrible Imaginings Film Festival. I have several episodes awaiting post production, but it’s the Halloween Season and this one needed to move to the front of the line! I was invited to a live panel Halloween event at the San Diego Public Library on […] More

Another year has come and gone, leaving us with the best Horrible Imaginings Film Festival yet! Our new venue at The Museum of Photographic Arts was a hit, the films were top notch, the audience was incredible, and the feedback has been overwhelming. Join me in a reflection of the event, along with Cinema Junkie […] More

Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2015 has come to an end, but people around the world can re-live one of our best moments in this podcast! We got Mexican filmmakers Gigi Saul Guerrero, Aaron Soto, and Mauricio Chernovetzky to join me on the stage to talk about the unique place that horror and fear have in […] More

Three French Canadian directors behind the latest indie hit TURBO KID–Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell, and François Simard–join us for a last-second podcast conversation about their retro post-apocalyptic baby. I’m rushing this one through, because I am hoping this will get people in San Diego to the Digital Gym Cinema to see it either tonight (9/5 […] More

I often say I like to use this podcast to discuss horror in art, history, literature, film, and beyond. Film tends to hog the limelight there, but today I get to talk art. Specifically, dance and performance art. Russian-born Anna Yanushkevich has been performing her curious acts in San Diego for at least as long […] More

In his book “On Writing,” Stephen King compares his writing process to a type of archaeology, where he digs the story out of the Earth’s clay, piece by piece, rather than meticulously planning it from the start. I have always thought that method is where he is sometimes led astray as a writer. Imagine putting […] More

It’s time for another Storytime Edition! That’s right! One of my audiobook-style readings of various types of public domain stories. For today’s Storytime, I’ve chosen William Hope Hodgson’s “The Voice in the Night.” William Hope Hodgson was a British writer with a penchant for the macabre. He spent a lot of his young life on […] More

You are in luck, especially if you were not able to make our Funky Bollywood discussion at San Diego’s own Digital Gym Cinema last night, because I decided to make a podcast of the episode. And what a great idea, too, because it turned out to be one of the best and most enthusiastic Q&A’s […] More

With the recent tragic news that we wouldn’t be getting a Silent Hills, I have had the game Silent Hill 2 on my mind. It is one of the few video games that has really left its mark on me. My co-host Angela, on the other hand, is a big video game nerd so I […] More