The Rants Macabre

Closing out PRIDE month we talk about current events and the documentary 'Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street' (2019). Star Mark Patton tells the story of the making NOES2, and its impact on his life. The 4 track EP of horror music for horror fans is at https://darrenty.bandcamp.com/ Check out Joshua Tonks' reviews and follow (www.instagram.com/joshuatonks) and www.gaylydreadful.com for "Your one stop shop for all things gay and dreadful."

We're going back to the days of our youth, with Part 2 of our 90s Teen Horror. We further explore the teensploitation of the MTV-WB era. We explore Jamie Blanks' star-packed Urban Legend (1998), and the Miramax produced, Kevin Williamson penned, directed by Robert Rodriguez, Breakfast Club vs Alien invasion movie, THE FACULTY (1998). If you want to dive even deeper into 90s horror, check out Alexandra West (@ScareAlex) and her book The 1990s Teen Horror Cycle: Final Girls and a New Hollywood Formula. She's also cohost of The Faculty of Horror podcast. Don't forget to check in at the website, therantsmacabre.com for random show extras and episode searches.

Mindy and Darren look back at their formative years in Part 1 of 90s Teen Horror. They examine the WB and the wave that brought us star-driven horror movies with Sarah Michelle Gellar and the Dawson's Creek gang. In this episode we discuss the 1998 ADWEEK article, THE BOOM TUBE, and I Know What you Did Last Summer. If you want to dive even deeper into 90s horror, check out Alexandra West (@ScareAlex) and her book The 1990s Teen Horror Cycle: Final Girls and a New Hollywood Formula. She's also cohost of The Faculty of Horror.

Our fascination with witches takes us to the original tale of the Baba Yaga. Many things to many people, the legend of Baba Yaga has found a home throughout pop culture and classical music. Mindy guides us through Pictures at an Exhibition 9A; Baba Yaga by Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881). References: Identifying Impressions of Baba Yaga: Navigating the Uses of Attachment and Wonder on Soviet and American Television by Megan Armknecht, Jill Terry Rudy, Sibelan Forrester. + Who's Afraid of Baba Yaga? A Reading of Ageing From the Gender Perspective by MARIJA GEIGER ZEMAN and ZDENKO ZEMAN

We're back for some news, updates and to share a curating challenge. On Facebook, Marknado Lehew asked what 5 movies would you recommend to a horror newbie to get them hooked on the genre. We've risen to the challenge to talk horror indoctrination.  Next week we'll be back with a full episode on Baba Yaga. Plus, Darren's new EP is up at our website, therantsmacabre.com

We return to our deep dive into lycanthrope lore and popular culture in this Part 2 of Curse of the Werewolves. Darren and Mindy dig in to some historical accounts of monsters, murderers, and medical anomalies. In our coverage, we review two modern werewolf classics, Neil Marshall's DOG SOLDIERS, and Joe Dante's THE HOWLING. Our music is back up for sale at BandCamp https://darrenty.bandcamp.com/album/apophenia - Check out our song "When I" where Mindy sings lead!

In Part 1 of our series on werewolves, we explore the history of werewolf lore and it's grand entrance into popular culture with the Universal classic, The Wolf Man (1941). We have a new home on BandCamp here https://darrenty.bandcamp.com/album/apophenia with more music to come. And you can access our additional library at https://www.patreon.com/rantsmacabre

Before we wrap up our summer break, we're checking in with a fun chat about... Ancient Aliens and Bob Lazar. Joining us is Jaxon, Mindy's husband (and baby Syd in the background) and Ancient Aliens fan. We talk about the documentary Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers (2018), and compare notes with the ancient astronaut theorist.

For our part 2 of our series on Black Horror we rejoin our conversation with Kristina Leath-Malin. We discuss black and French Horror, as well as Kristina's MFG short film "One For The Road", her Stephen King Dollar Baby with 90% Female cast and crew. You can find Kristina's documentary project My Final Girl: Black Women in American Horror at https://myfinalgirl.com/ You can find Kristina's video work and podcast here: https://vimeo.com/plzwatch And her writing on film here: http://KLMBrooklyn.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/klmbrooklyn

For Part 1 of our long-awaited conversation on Black Horror we are joined by Kristina Leath-Malin. As an academic, filmmaker and feminist horror scholar, Kristina's MA on French Horror and the "New Wave Extremity" culminated with her thesis-turned-published book Objectification repackaged: The Women of 21st Century French Horror. Her current work at https://myfinalgirl.com/ and documentary project My Final Girl: Black Women in American Horror includes a web/podcast series, video work, and an internet database dedicated to exploring the positioning and representation of Black Women in American Horror Films. Together we discuss the documentary Horror Noire (on SHUDDER), and look at a cross section of seminal films in black horror. You can find Kristina's video work and podcast here: https://vimeo.com/plzwatchAnd her writing on film here: http://KLMBrooklyn.com

Welcoming spring with a touch of death.     *OK, seriously, we'll be back for two episodes this April to talk Black Horror, and we'll be joined by a special guest. See you all soon!

We take to the mics to chat and catch up. Talking future show planning and doing some nerding out over Jordan Peele's projects.

Hey listeners! While we prep for coming episodes and take some time to breathe, we're sharing this exclusive Patreon episode. We're excited for Jordan Peele's 'US' coming out March 21 and thought it would be fun to offer up this installment about Peele's directorial debut 'GET OUT'. And a HUGE thank you to our Patreon patrons who made this episode possible. You're the best! We've got some things in the works, so you'll get an update episode before February is out.

Happy New Year! One at a time we're engaging the senses in analyzing Netflix's new Bird Box and A Quiet Place. We compare Sandra Bullock's see-no-evil, blind apocalypse with John Krasinski's hear-no-evil silent nightmare world.

We return to finish Mike Flanagan's Netflix & Amblin Entertainment-produced The Haunting of Hill House. We finish out talking about Christmas music and traditions.

This week we take our first steps into The Haunting of Hill House. Before celebrating Mike Flanagan's Netflix miniseries we make a stop at the first feature film adaptation of Shirley Jackson's classic, 1963's The Haunting. (We agreed that Robert Wise could have used some ghosts in his haunting movie.)

Happy Halloween! We welcome back podcaster (Miskatonic Musings!) and author of Farmington Correctional, Sean M. Thompson. We talk about his books, mental illness, sleepwalking, and dive into Brad Anderson's low budget gem, Session 9. Here is Sean's Amazon page where you can find a lot of his work.

To celebrate our 150th episode we're celebrating the end of the world! We talk Apocalypticism, the study of doomsdays across different cultures and theologies. Having some fun with the idea, we focus on three end of the world comedies, Edgar Wright's The World's End, Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg's This is the End, with The Happening in between. For M. Night Shyamalan's Mark Wahlberg-helmed disaster we recorded our audio commentary and edited it down to the best parts for your listening pleasure.

After three years of podcasting we've amassed quite a collection of sketches and bonus content. So while we approach our 150th episode, we're having a look back and doing our very first Clip Show! https://www.patreon.com/rantsmacabre

We take a look at the Netflix true-crime docuseries "The Staircase". Leaving spoilers for the second half of this episode, we take a deep dive into Kathleen Peterson's mysterious death and the court case surrounding Michael Peterson. Exploring the docuseries and beyond, we offer some armchair sleuthing as well as other sources for the listener to explore the case.

Long overdue, we take on Torture Porn and analyze it's place in modern culture. Comparing notes and how they've aged, we talk James Wan and Leigh Whannell's SAW (2004), and Eli Roth's Hostel (2005).

We're back talking about music in our favorite (and classic) horror movies. We analyze a few classics and talk about their production. Mindy talks theory, influences and how Bernard Herrmann is the Bach of movie composers. Check out Werewolves in Siberia here: https://werewolvesinsiberia.bandcamp.com/

In our first part of our Sounds of Horror series we're talking about movie music. John Carpenter is back to score Halloween, and records and CDs are outselling music downloads, so it's a great time to talk about movie scores. We talk about some favorite director/musician combinations and the origins of putting music to film.

We assemble our Save Horror Madness brackets for our annual contest with Women in Caskets, Miskatonic Musings, and Tab & Jacob of Test Pattern. We tried to mix horror favorites with good sense, and some coin flipping. Have a look--have a listen--vote yourself on Twitter and Facebook and wish us luck! Get your brackets at https://www.savehorror.com/madness

With our eyes on the sky we explore the field of UFOs—talking old and new declassified material and phenomena. To close out, we talk two classic alien abduction movies: Communion (1989) and Fire in the Sky (1993). And the history of probings!

When evil meets the law, we bring you stories of police and the darkness. Starting with Scott Derrickson's exorcist cop thriller, Deliver Us From Evil (2014), the 80s classic Maniac Cop (1988), and the wildly under-appreciated Fallen (1998) with Denzel Washington.

Joined by our good friend and fellow horror fan, Tony (@flirtaciousboi), we cover a provocative cross section of mid-2000s horror remakes. Starting with Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), then Jaume Collet-Serra's House of Wax (2005), and finish out with Alexandre Aja's extreme take on The Hills Have Eyes (2006).

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas! Checking in with a new Christmas classic, we cover this year's Better Watch Out. Directed by (honorary Australian) Chris Peckover and written by Peckover and Zack Kahn. Starring Olivia DeJonge, Levi Miller, Ed Oxenbould, with supporting cast Patrick Warburton & Virginia Madsen. Here's a link to the Home Alone clips... with blood.

Covering a classic (The Sixth Sense) and a resurgent peak (Split), we talk M.Night Shyamalan films and compare a few episodes of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone that might deserve some of that credit. #Shyamalaned!

Sean and Charles from Miskatonic Musings join us for a round of Gerald's Game(2017). Mike Flanagan (HUSH, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Oculus, etc.) directed the hell out of Stephen King's claustrophobic tale of bondage gone wrong starring Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, and Carel Struycken. Check the boys out at @MiskatonicPod and their iTunes Page, and hub. Sean has writing you can find at his webpage and on Amazon here.

In our visit through Haunted Houses, we arrive at The Overlook Hotel, the site of Stephen King's The Shining. Adapted by Diane Johnson and Stanley Kubrick, the 1980 film starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall is a different animal entirely. We talk shared brilliance and wild differences.

When a home is so much more, we explore the theme of Haunted Houses in this Part 1 with Stuart Rosenberg's THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979) and the 2006 animated MONSTER HOUSE.

It's finally here! We put our heads together, debated and negotiated to arrive at our official Top 25 Horror Movies. Also joining us people of the New York Horror Meetup to share their favorites and best of the genre. Do check us out at https://www.meetup.com/nychorror/

Mindy guides Darren down the rabbit hole of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. We get some insight into Mindy's 90s fashion icon, Sarah Michelle Gellar. And Joss Whedon Joss Whedon Joss Whedon.

It's about time we covered The X-Files. We show some appreciation to the great writers and directors behind classic episodes and talk our favorites FIREWALKER, WAR of the COPROPHAGES, KADDISH, and DETOUR. WARNING: There's an audio issue for the first half, but it's back to normal at the 39 minute mark.

We're back from our deep dive into J Horror (thanks again, Charles!) for a review of The Conjuring 2. We've got mixed feelings about James Wan's (of Saw, Insidious, and Furious 7 fame) return to the adventures of Ed & Lorraine Warren. This time they investigate the famous Enfield Haunting.

Mindy & Darren invite special guest Charles from Miskatonic Musings to share his kaiju knowledge for the last installment of their J-Horror series. The trio talk Godzilla (1954), The X from Outer Space (1967), & Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995).

The two modern pillars of J-Horror are here, Ringu (1998) and Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)! We talk Shinto, Buddhism, monsters, spirits, and 'ghosts in machines'!

This first installment of our J HORROR series takes us to some weird places. We start with Japanese cultural aesthetics, and by the end are talking about Cyberpunk Dadaist music styles. All the while, we discuss 1977's House, and Shin'ya Tsukamoto's Tetsuo, the Iron Man (1989). Join us at Patreon for this months exclusive episode on GET OUT.

Welcoming Mindy back from her work trip we catch up and talk about what we've been watching. Mindy finished The Leftovers (Darren's finally hooked), started Riverdale, and hated Man Vs. Darren watched Beyond the Gates, and [in doing research for the Patreon episode on Jordan Peele's Get Out] went back to 1975's The Stepford Wives.

This episode is brought to you by our Patreon supporters, as it was our first exclusive Patreon episode! We dive deep into Night of the Living Dead, both the 1968 George Romero original and underrated Tom Savini helmed remake.

Mindy fights through walking pneumonia to bring you this grab bag of movies and documentaries. This week we review Dig Two Graves (2014), the new HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest, the Eli Roth produced, Clown, and 2008's The Children. Join us at Patreon.com/rantsmacabre for exclusive episodes, sketches, original music, and more!

We watched a whole bunch of anthology films! Brinding you Creepshow (1982) Trilogy of Terror (1975), and Twice-Told Tales (1963). For an actor spotlight, Mindy talks about the legend Karen Black.

To celebrate our newest Patreon episode (where Darren watched Mindy's beloved St. Elmo's Fire for the first time), we're bringing you this bonus episode where Mindy watched Star Wars: A New Hope for the first time. Ever. As an adult. Join us on Patreon for access to all exclusive content like this, and fully produced Rants Macabre episodes, commentaries, a Behind-the-Scenes documentary, an installment of The Science of Fear, etc. etc.

After losing the Save Horror Madness competition, the Women in Caskets decided our punishment should be Charles Band's Evil Bong: High 5. This steaming heap was AT LEAST as hard to sit through as last year's Dick Shark episode so I hope our edited commentary is as funny. Check out the Women In Caskets' Patreon Page here.

Back to the world of spirit mediums, psychics, mentalists and ectoplasm! We talk about the rise of Spiritualist culture and debunkers Harry Houdini & The Amazing Randi and the movie they inspired Rodrigo Cortés' Red Lights.

In part 1 of our exploration of Spiritualism and the practice of séances we talk origins. Then we look at two classics, the Donald Sutherland-Julie Christie in Venice, Don't Look Now (1973) and The Changeling (1980) starring George C. Scott. These tales of loss serve as a high bar in the genre thanks to great concepts and performances.

It was a casual Friday recording to chat about Emiliano Rocha Minter's shocking We Are The Flesh (on Shudder now), and Mindy is newly obsessed with HBO's The Leftovers. (Darren is gunshy about Damon Lindelof projects.) We talk show prep and fill you in plans for upcoming episodes.

We turn our attention to the movies that frightened us as children: The Witches (1990), Return to Oz (1985), and Something This Way Comes (1983). Our conversation asks whether this modern wave of gentler kids' movies is actually doing any favors to the children of today... because we came OK. Didn't we?

FREE SONG! This week we talk the new IT trailer and the production trouble behind it, and bad movies. FREE SONG! Darren saw The Windmill (2016), and Mindy watched Kevin Smith's Yoga Hosers (2016) and for some reason Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave FROM 2005! Also Darren wrote and recorded a song that plays at the end of the episode.

In part two of our Possession & Exorcist series we talk the Church's history and dive into 1973's The Exorcist. William Friedkin's classic gets a closer look and Mindy debates it's status as one of the most frightening films ever made. Undoubtedly one of the greatest casts in horror history, starring Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn and Jason Miller.