Test Pattern

In this episode, curated by Micah, we're celebrating badass female villains with Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II and Hellbound: Hellraiser II! Sources: Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987) "High School Retrospective: A Look Back at Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II" by Phil Castor, Blumhouse "Interview: Director Bruce Pittman on Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987), TV Store Online Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) Commentary with Tony Randel, Ashley Laurence, and Peter Atkins

We just wanna play because we're your friends 'til the end! We watched the original Child's Play and Child's Play 2! Sources: Child's Play (1988) Commentary with Alex Vincent, Catherine Hicks, and Kevin Yaegher Commentary with David Kirschner and Don Mancini "Your Friend 'Til the End: An Oral History of Child's Play" by Jake Rossen, Mental Floss Child's Play 2 (1990) "Six Things You Didn't Know About the Child's Play Franchise" by Lindsay Case, AMC

In honor of Women in Horror Month, we watched two movies that were written and directed by women and feature female main characters that subvert the tropes used in the genre - The Slumber Party Massacre and Jennifer's Body! Sources: The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) Commentary with Amy Holden Jones, Debra Deliso, and Michael Villella   Jennifer's Body (2009) Commentary with Karyn Kusama and Diablo Cody "How Jennifer's Body went from a flop in 2009 to a feminist cult classic today" by Constance Grady, Vox  

We're testing our powers with Brian De Palma's Carrie and Chronicle! Sources: Carrie (1976) On Writing by Stephen King, pgs. 72-87 "10 Behind-the-Scenes Facts About the Making of Carrie (1976)" by Jake Dee, ScreenRant "Carrie Turns 40: Secrets Behind the Iconic Horror Film" by Nicole Pelletiere, ABC News   Chronicle (2012) "Eight Women Accuse Hollywood Filmmaker Max Landis of Emotional and Sexual Abuse: 'We're Not People to Him'" by Amy Zimmerman, The Daily Beast "Josh Trank Banned Max Landis From Chronicle Set and Hasn't Spoken to Him Since 2012" by Zack Sharf, IndieWire "The Post-Disaster Artist" by Matt Patches, Polygon

We're looking back at the fifth year of the podcast and looking ahead to what's next for Test Pattern! Episode Image by Truck Torrance 

Merry Christmas! We're discussing the dark holiday novel Gremlins and its more lighthearted film adaptation! ;) Gremlins by George Gipe (1984) "Gremlins Week: The 10 Maddest Excerpts From the Novelisation" by Nick De Semleyn, Empire "George Gipe is Dead at 53; A Film and Television Writer", The New York Times   Gremlins (1984) Production commentary with Joe Dante, Michael Finnell, and Chris Walas Director/Cast commentary with Joe Dante, Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Dick Miller, and Howie Mandel "40 Things We Learned From Joe Dante's Gremlins Commentary" by Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

We know some kids who are definitely getting coal in their stockings! We watched The Children (2008) and Better Watch Out! Sources: The Children (2008) "Tom Shankland Talks the Children" by Heather Wixson, Dread Central   Better Watch Out (2016) "Fantasia 2017 Interview: Director Chris Peckover Talks Better Watch Out" by Michele Galgana, Screen Anarchy

Hey there, Halloweenies!  It's time to gather round the big orange couch and tell five tales of frights - all from 90s Nickelodeon shows! "The Ghost Story" from "Salute Your Shorts" (1991) "Haunted House" from "Ren & Stimpy" (1992) "The Tale of the Twisted Claw" from "Are You Afraid of the Dark" (1992) "Halloweenie" from "The Adventures of Pete and Pete" (1994) "Sugar Frosted Frights" from "Rocko's Modern Life" (1995)

We're so excited we're howling at the moon because we watched An American Werewolf in London and The Howling! Sources: An American Werewolf in London (1981) Beware the Moon, documentary "I Walked with a Werewolf", featurette "Making An American Werewolf in London", featurette "An Interview with John Landis", featurette "Makeup Artist Rick Baker on An American Werewolf in London", featurette   The Howling (1981) "Unleashing the Beast: The Making of The Howling", documentary

In our latest episode, we're sensing the ghostly presence of a child. We watched The Haunting of Julia and The Others! Sources: The Haunting of Julia (1977) "An Interview with Colin Towns" by Kier-La Janisse, Spectacular Optical Strong Language & Violent Scenes Podcast - Episode 123: The Haunting of Julia (with Sam Zimmerman)   The Others (2001) "The Others at 20: The Haunted House Movie that Reinvigorated the Genre" by Scott Tobias, The Guardian "A Look Inside The Others", featurette "An Intimate Look at Director Alejandro Amenabar", featurette

It's spooky season and we're ringing in October with a couple of monster mashes! We watched The Monster Squad and Little Monsters! Sources: The Monster Squad (1987) "30 Things We Learned From The Monster Squad Commentary" by Kate Erbland, Film School Rejects Writer/Director and cast commentary with Fred Dekker, Andre Gower, Ryan Lambert, and Ashley Bank Writer/Director and director of photography commentary with Fred Dekker and Bradford May "Monster Squad Forever!", featurette "A Conversation with Frankenstein", featurette Wolfman's Got Nards, making-of documentary   Little Monsters (1989) Film historian commentary with Jarret Gahan "Call Him Maurice", featurette "Beneath the Bed",  featurette "Monsters Big & Small", featurette

We look at the 1971 controversial psychological "experiment" and discuss the 2015 movie based on the real events, The Stanford Prison Experiment! Sources: The Real Deal "The Story: An Overview of the Experiment", The Stanford Prison Experiment Official Page Dr. Zimbardo's Slideshow Narration for the 40th Anniversary Presentation, stanford.edu Consent Form, The Stanford Prison Experiment Official Page Study Overview (given to participants), The Stanford Prison Experiment Official Page Prisoner Rules (read to prisoners), The Stanford Prison Experiment Official Page The Stanford Prison Experiment, BBC documentary "Mind Field: The Stanford Prison Experiment", Vsauce   The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015) Director commentary with Kyle Patrick Alvarez "Billy Crudup, Ezra Miller, Michael Angarano to Star in Stanford Prison Experiment" by Jeff Sneider, The Wrap "Stanford Pics in Stand-off" by Carl Diorio, The Hollywood Reporter "The Stanford Prison Experiment Cast on Audience Reactions and Editing Nudity", Variety

Haters can frig off, because we're visiting the deep hole in the woods where we're keeping our monster friends!  We watched The Pit & PG: Psycho Goreman! Sources: The Pit (1981) Film historian commentary with Paul Corupe and Jason Pichonsky "Interview with Jeannie Elias", BluRay featurette "Interview with Sam Snyders", BluRay featurette "Interview with Ian A. Stuart", BluRay featurette   PG: Psycho Goreman (2020) Writer/Director commentary with Steven Kostanski "One-on-One: An Interview with the Director", BluRay featurette "Interviews with the Cast", BluRay featurette "Interview with Adam Brooks", BluRay featurette "Kortex: A Konversation", BluRay featurette "The Music of PG", BluRay featurette "Fight Choregoraphy", BluRay featurette "Minature Magic", BluRay featurette "Inside the Creature Shop", BluRay featurette

We're hexed by the Mother of Sighs as we explore Dario Argento's original Suspiria and the 2018 remake starring Tilda Swinton and Dakota Johnson! Sources: Suspiria (1977) Film historian commentary with David Del Valle and Tory Howorth "Do You Know Anything About Witches?" BluRay featurette "Suzy in Nazi Germany", BluRay featurette "Suspiria - A Sigh From the Depths: 40 Years of Suspiria", BluRay Featurette Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento by Maitland McDonagh, pgs 123 - 157 Horror Europa, documentary Bravo's Scariest Movie Moments: Suspiria   Suspiria (2018) "Exclusive: The Suspiria Remake Isn't Dead After All" by William Bibbiani, Mandatory "Director Luca Guadagnino Discusses Suspiria", BUILD Series "Suspiria Screenwriter Explains that Wild Ending and Why Dakota Johnson is a New Kind of Final Girl" by Jamie Righetti, IndieWire

We're off to see the wizard ... and to explore the horrors of Oz with the original MGM classic The Wizard of Oz and the Disney-produced sequel Return to Oz! Sources: The Wizard of Oz (1939) "Judy Garland was Put on a Strict Diet and Encouraged to Take 'Pep Pills' While Filming The Wizard of Oz" by Colin Bertram, Biography.com "The Tin Man's Toxic Metal Makeup" by Anne Marie Melmenstine, Ph.D., ThoughtCo Film Historian Commentary with Johnathan Fricke   Return to Oz (1985) "A Conversation with Walter Murch" by Bill Chambers, Film Freak Central

We take a look at the original Conjuring film and talk about the real life Warrens! Sources: "What's in a Title? The Conjuring Producer and New Line in Dispute Over TV Rights" by Nellie Andreeva, Deadline "Screenwriters Chad and Carey Hayes Talk The Conjuring, Finding the Film's Point of View, Real Life Paranormal Incidents and the Appeal of Horror" by Dave Trumbore The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren by Gerald Brittle "The True Story of Connecticut Paranormal Investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, Who Are Behind The Conjuring 3 and Many Other Popular Horror Films" by Susan Dunne, The Hartford Courant "Annabelle: The Real Story", History vs Hollywood "The Conjuring: The Real Story", History vs Hollywood "Inside the Real Amityville Horror House Where Murder and Alleged Hauntings Took Place in the 1970s" by Marco Margaritoff, All That's Interesting "The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It True Story: The Real Case of Arne Johnson" by Anna Menta, Decider "Real-Life Conjuring Couple

Gather round Monster Kids, we're joined again by James to revisit the world of horror anthologies with the 80s cult classic, Waxwork! Sources: Director/Star Commentary with Anthony Hickox and Zach Galligan "The Waxwork Chronicles", featurettes "Making of Waxwork", featurette Find James Online! @CalamityJames4 on Twitter

This is an extremely disturbing, lengthy case that involves home invasion, stalking, sexual assault, rape, and murder.  We want to be very clear about that so that people who might experience distress from listening to discussions about those topics can stop the episode here.  We want to encourage everyone to put their mental health and well-being first - if you are concerned about the topics that may be covered in this episode, please join us next week. The clock strikes Soul's Midnight once again as we explore the case of the Golden State Killer. Sources: Casefile Podcast - Case 53: The East Area Rapist - 1976 (Part 1) Casefile Podcast - Case 53: The East Area Rapist - 1977 (Part 2) Casefile Podcast - Case 53: The East Area Rapist - 1977-1978 (Part 3) Casefile Podcast - Case 53: The East Area Rapist - 1978-1979 (Part 4) Casefile Podcast - Case 53: The East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker (Part 5) Casefile Podcast - Case 53: The Golden State Killer (Part 6) I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNam

This is an extremely disturbing, lengthy case that involves home invasion, stalking, sexual assault, rape, and murder.  We want to be very clear about that so that people who might experience distress from listening to discussions about those topics can stop the episode here.  We want to encourage everyone to put their mental health and well-being first - if you are concerned about the topics that may be covered in this episode, please join us next week. The clock strikes Soul's Midnight once again as we explore the case of the Golden State Killer. Sources: Casefile Podcast - Case 53: The East Area Rapist - 1976 (Part 1) Casefile Podcast - Case 53: The East Area Rapist - 1977 (Part 2) Casefile Podcast - Case 53: The East Area Rapist - 1977-1978 (Part 3) Casefile Podcast - Case 53: The East Area Rapist - 1978-1979 (Part 4) Casefile Podcast - Case 53: The East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker (Part 5) Casefile Podcast - Case 53: The Golden State Killer (Part 6) I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNam

We honor one of the horror greats by looking at two of his most colorful films.  Join us as we party with Vincent Price in The Masque of the Red Death and The Abominable Dr. Phibes! Sources: Vincent Price Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography by Victoria Price "Vincent Price: 'Master of Horror' on film, but great day off screen" by Kelley Vlahos, WTOP News "Remembering Vincent Price: A Conversation with His Daughter Victoria Price", Halloween Every Night "Vincent Price's Daughter Confirms Her Famous Father was Bisexual" by Colin Murphy, Queerty The Masque of the Red Death (1964) "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe "Hop-Frog" by Edgar Allan Poe Friends and Enemies: Women in the Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Richard P. Benton, pg. 1-25 "The Long-Simmering Feud Between Edgar Allan Poe and Rufus Griswold" by Kim Reynolds, Boston Public Library "A Short Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death", Interesting Literature "The Masque of the Red Death" by Jeff Stafford, TCM   The Abominable D