This Week in Horror History | New Year Horror — Kwaidan, Witchboard & One Missed Call (Dec 29–Jan 4) - Weekly Spooky: Horror Stories & Scary Tales

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This time of year, horror doesn't just celebrate the new year,
it weaponizes it. Because nothing feels quite as haunted as
a calendar flipping over, a clean slate, a fresh start,
and the creeping suspicion that something has followed you into it.

(00:24):
This is the week of messages from the other side,
some whispered through a wooden planchette, some delivered by a
ringing phone, and some carried on humming wires like a
ghost learning a new language. Welcome back to this week

(00:53):
in horror history. I'm your host, Enriquekuto, and it's our
last show of twenty five. This episode covers December twenty
ninth through January fourth, seven days where the past keeps
a calling and the line never quite disconnects. We keep

(01:15):
the show fun, punchy, and spooky. Here's what's waiting for
us this week. A gorgeous Japanese ghost anthology that feels
like a curse you can't stop watching. A New Year's
Eve Wuiji party that turns just for fun into never again,

(01:36):
the monster that's been chasing us since eighteen eighteen, Frankenstein
steps into the world, and a cursed voicemail that arrives
stamped with the time You're going to die then will hit,
a deep cut spotlight where the killer doesn't hide in
the dark, he hides in the electricity. Plus horror birthdays

(02:00):
for the week, then and now, and a weekly recommendation
to take you into the new year. The Delightfully Wrong Way.
December twenty ninth, nineteen sixty four. Quaydon premieres in Tokyo, Japan.
If you've ever wanted a horror anthology that looks like

(02:23):
a nightmare painted on silk, this is the one. Masaki
Kobayashi's quite On adapts Japanese folk tales into four long
form ghost stories, snow spirits, betrayed samurai, living hair, and
a musician who performs for the dead. It's slow, deliberate,

(02:48):
and absolutely hypnotic. The scares aren't jumpy, there inevitable, like
the story already ended and just watching the moment that
the doom finally lands. And it was a big swing.
Reports put the budget around three hundred and eighteen to

(03:11):
three hundred and eighty million yen, but it earned only
two hundred and twenty five million yen at the domestic
Japanese box office. An expensive, gorgeous gamble that somehow lost money.
It's not just an art film. This was an example
of a studio betting hard on ghosts and you can

(03:34):
watch it right now on HBO Max. December thirty first,
nineteen eighty six. Witchboard gets its first US limited theatrical
release New Year's Eve. Is a perfect horror setting because
everybody is a little sentimental and maybe a little reckless.

(03:57):
Witchboard takes a party trick of hey, let's try the
Luigi Board and treats it like a loaded pistol. It's
not the flashiest film of the decade, but it's tight.
It's got a lot of meanness, but also it's truly
a funny and engrossing film, and honestly, all of Kevin

(04:20):
Tenney's films are that way, whether you go for the
most popular of his films, Night of the Demons, or
even into his more obscure films like Brain Dead or
Pinocchio's Revenge, and in my opinion, the truly underrated witch Trap,
which is not directly related to any Witchboards, but a

(04:43):
really fun time and with Witchboard it nails a very
specific kind of fear, the moment you realize you invited
something into your life and closing the session is not
the same as closing the door, and this one actually
had a really good run at the box office, roughly

(05:06):
seven point million dollars grossed on about a one point
five to two million dollar budget. An excellent little cult
movie worth checking out if you've never seen it or
revisiting this season. It's available to stream completely free on
two BTV, Pluto TV, Sling TV, the Roku, Channel Plex,

(05:28):
and Filo. You can also check it out on Amazon
Prime with a subscription, or on AMC Plus. January first,
eighteen eighteen, Frankenstein is published new Year, New Monster, one

(05:49):
that never stopped evolving even now. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or
the Modern Prometheus arrives like a warning label for ambition,
a cautionary tale about creation without responsibility. The tragedy isn't
just the creature, it's the human instinct to build something

(06:13):
powerful and then abandon it the second it becomes inconvenient.
Two centuries later, we're still living inside of that very question,
what do we owe the things we make? When you
consider that this story came about before computers, before a

(06:34):
lot of modern technology, before the cotton gym, even let alone,
before nuclear weapons and artificial intelligence. It gives you a
lot to chew on, and I definitely recommend picking up
a copy. The book is in the public domain, so
you can download a pdf for free at the Gutenberg
Press website or archive dot org or just about anywhere really.

(07:01):
January fourth, two thousand and eight, One Missed Call opens
in North America. A phone rings, you answer, and you
hear the sound of your own death recorded as a
voicemail from the future. One Missed Call is the American

(07:22):
remake of legendary Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miyike's two thousand and
three film, part of the mid two thousands wave where
Hollywood tried to translate what was called Jay Horror into
English and hope the Curse survived the trip. There were
a lot of these, like Ringu, which became The Ring

(07:43):
and The Grudge. There were a lot of these in
the early two thousands. This one is a mixed bag,
but the core hook is nasty. Your life is reduced
to a timestamp, a countdown. You can't stop checking because
ignored oring it doesn't make it go away. And I

(08:03):
do want to mention I feel like time has been
oddly kind to these early two thousand horror movies, similar
ones like Sorority Row or House of Wax. They all
have a lot to enjoy about them now that they're
a little older and tapping into some nostalgia. Valentine is

(08:24):
another one worth checking out if you've never seen it
or if you remember hating it. Financially, it was the
definition of a fine release, about forty five point eight
million dollars worldwide on a twenty million dollar budget. Not
a smash hit, but not a disaster either, just enough
to make you wonder why it feels so empty. It's

(08:49):
available to stream right now, completely free with ads, on
two BTV as well as the Roku channel, or you
can watch it on Amazon Prime or AMC Plus with
a subscription. This episode is sponsored by save Arista Coffee,

(09:15):
makers of premium half Calf and Decalf blends for people
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spend the next six hours wide eyed hearing phantom footsteps
in the hallway, convinced the shadow in the corner is moving, breathing, waiting.

(09:38):
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just without the congratulations you are now awake until the
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(10:02):
and use promo code spooky for twenty five percent off
at checkout, and you'll support the podcast with every purchase
that's savorista dot com promo code Spooky for twenty five
percent off your next favorite coffee purchase when we return
from the break. If you've ever wondered what horror looks

(10:25):
like when the killer doesn't need a knife or a body,
in fact, doesn't even need to be alive, our deepcut
Spotlight is about a serial killer who turns into pure current.
The wall outlet becomes a doorway, the phone line becomes
your throat, and every glowing screen becomes a window he

(10:48):
can look through. Welcome back, my Spookies, Let's plug in
and see what's on the other side of the circuit.

(11:12):
Released on December twenty ninth, nineteen ninety three, Rachel Talalay's
Ghost in the Machine is one of those early Internet
panic movies that feels oddly prophetic. Now the premise is
gloriously be movie. A serial killer dies during a storm

(11:33):
and his consciousness gets absorbed into a computer system. Now
he can travel through phone lines, power lines, and appliances,
anything connected to the grid. This immediately gives me memories
back to Christmas morning when I was trying to hook
up the Bluetooth record player I had received, and instead

(11:55):
of it connecting to my surround sound system, it just
kept connecting to my stove. I was listening to Christmas
records from my stove. So this film is not far off.
It's it's the nightmare version of convenience. I suppose your

(12:15):
life is smart, so it listens your devices are connected,
so they invite him in. And here's the sad part
though the movie was basically dead on arrival. This was
the follow up film for Rachel Talalay, who had previously
directed Freddie's Dead The Final Nightmare, and just two years

(12:38):
after this film, she would make the cult classic Tank Girl.
Ghost in the Machine had a lot going for it,
including a phenomenal cast including Karen Allen and Chris Mulkey,
but it just didn't seem to connect with audiences in
the theaters. It cost around twelve million dollars to produce

(12:59):
and only brought in around five point one million domestically.
Most would call that a flop, but flops, as you
should learn from listening to this program, can be treasures
because when it works, it works like a comic book
come to life in neon and electricity. And what makes

(13:19):
it worth pulling off the shelf this week? You might ask? Well,
Number one, it's a time capsule of nineties tech fear scanners, payphones,
CRT monitors, and the belief that the system is bigger
than you are. How can you not love that? Two?
The set pieces are truly inventive, death by modern convenience,

(13:41):
staged like the house itself is turning on you. And
of course Talay directs it like she's having an absolute blast, sleek,
fast and weirdly stylish for something this mean in the
best possible way, And honestly, I feel like Freddy's dead
and tank Girl also feel like she's just having a

(14:03):
ball making her movie, which always makes me smile. As
far as where to watch it right now, there's nowhere
to watch it free with ads or with a subscription,
but you can rent it at the usual suspects like
Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Amazon Prime, Google Play, and YouTube.
I really do recommend you dust this one off and

(14:23):
give it a little love that it so desperately deserves.
But the real question is are you brave enough to
spend New Year's Week staring at a glowing screen knowing
something might be staring back? I read that off of
a glowing screen. Now let's replace the eerie blue glow

(14:48):
of electronics with the fun, festive, and deadly orange glow
of birthday cake candles. I know right, these are horror
birthdays for dis November twenty ninth through January fourth. First
up born on December twenty ninth, nineteen thirty seven, it's
Barbara Steel, and I have to say she is Gothic

(15:11):
horror royalty, most known for Black Sunday. But I love
her and Danza Macabra. I think she's bewitching. Her eyes
just draw you in. She's a fascinating and beautiful person
to look at. She basically taught cinema how to look haunted.
So happy birthday. Barbara Steel born on December thirtieth, nineteen

(15:37):
eighty is Eliza Douschkou. She brought strong survivor Energy to
Wrong Turn, even though the woods were clearly a bad idea.
She was also very memorable in the two thousand and
eight film The Alphabet Killer. I think it's kind of
an underrated flick. I definitely recommend checking it out. Happy Birthday,

(15:58):
Eliza born on December thirty first, nineteen thirty seven is
Anthony Hopkins, a chilling reminder that the scariest monsters can
be brilliant and polite. Anthony Hopkins didn't dip his toe
into a ton of horror, but his depiction of the

(16:19):
terrifying Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs and Red
Dragon it's something you'll never quite get over. But at
least while he's eating your flesh, you know he's using
the right fork. Happy Birthday, Anthony Hopkins born on January Tewod,

(16:39):
nineteen eighty seven is Shelley Hennig, a modern genre staple
featured in films like Unfriended and Wigi, which, by the way,
I think are both pretty underrated films. Although I'm a
bigger fan of Ouigi two Origin of Evil, but I
think Unfriended in particular deserves a lot more love than
it gets of course, at the box office it got

(17:01):
a ton of love, so maybe I'm just in an
echo chamber. She really has a gift of making dread
feel personal. And she's only one year younger than me,
so I don't know if that makes me feel younger
or older, but either way, Happy Birthday, Shelley hennig And
Finally born on January fourth, two thousand and three, is

(17:25):
Jaden Martel, a big screen face of fear, known particularly
for It Well It being the It chapter one and
briefly in chapter two. The kid knows how to sell
terror without blinking. His facial expressions are highly, highly powerful,

(17:45):
and if you haven't seen him in the film from
twenty twenty four, Arcadian, that's another one I really recommend.
Jaden Martel stars across Nicholas Cage as a father trying
to raise his sons in an apocalypse of relatively unknown origin.
Happy birthday, Jaden. You do make me feel old, but

(18:07):
have a good one. I hope you all have a
very happy birthday, you beautiful weirdos, and I mean that
with all the love in the world. May your candle
stay lit and may nothing blow them out from behind you.
For our then and now, we again fall back to Frankenstein.

(18:28):
That's how intensely in the nomenclature in the Zeitgeist Frankenstein is.
We've talked about it multiple times. Just doing a few
months of horror history brings up Frankenstein again and again.
But now, on the eve of its original publication on
January first, eighteen eighteen, let's take a look at how

(18:50):
it's all affected everything up to now. When Frankenstein hit
shelves in eighteen eighteen, the fear wasn't technology the way
we mean it today. It was creation itself, the nightmare
that you could reach too far, make something alive and
then lose control of what you made. It was a

(19:13):
concept not only birth from Mary Shelley's mind, I mean
in Jewish culture they had been referencing a creature called
a golum, a kind of automaton made out of clay
that got out of control. Fast forward to now, and
Frankenstein is basically the unofficial patron saint of modern horror.

(19:34):
Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, viral experiments, even cursed apps and haunted algorithms.
Over and over. The story mutates, but the spine stays
the same. If you can create it, you can be
responsible for it, and if you refuse that responsibility, it

(19:56):
will come looking for you. As far as how to
Rea Frankenstein. As mentioned before, it's public domain, so you
can check it out on Project Gutenberg and other sources.
Free to read on ebook or find literally hundreds of
print editions dirt cheap at your favorite used bookstore. And
if you need a double feature suggestion, read a few chapters,

(20:19):
then watch Frankenstein from nineteen thirty one for the classic,
then jump to something more modern like maybe Netflix's adaptation
where the creation bites back. And now wrapping it up
with our weekly recommendation, I have to recommend the aforementioned
Witchboard from nineteen eighty six. Even though it doesn't take

(20:43):
place explicitly at New Year's it kind of feels like
New Year's. I mean, a group of friends are together,
drinks are flowing, and the vibe is just a little well,
a little too confident for lack of a better term.
Witchboard is a great pick because it's not just about
pozzes as spectacle. It's about possession as a slow, humiliating

(21:05):
takeover a bad decision that starts as a joke and
ends as a life sentence with a great sense of
humor throughout. And look, if you've got a Wiji board
in your closet for parties, well maybe just don't. As
far as where to watch, as we mentioned before, which
board is readily available on two BTV, Roku channel and

(21:27):
of course AMC Plus with a subscription, so check it out,
give it a watch, enjoy yourself, and you can thank
me later. That's your this Week in Horror for December
twenty ninth through January fourth. I hope you enjoyed it,
and I hope you have a great and fun, safe
and Ouiji board free new Year. And right here tomorrow

(21:49):
on the Weekly Spooky Feed, we'll be dropping a brand
new scary story. It takes place on New Year's Eve,
so it'll make sure you feel very festive, so don't
don't miss that. And on Friday, we'll begin our series
of best of twenty twenty fours every Friday in January,
so you can remember the scares of the year and

(22:10):
I can take a much needed break, but not for long,
because there's always something new here at the Weekly Spooky Feed,
so subscribe and I'll see you all next Tuesday. But
until then, remember our days are numbered because that's how
we tell them, apart until next week.

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This Week in Horror History | New Year Horror — Kwaidan, Witchboard & One Missed Call (Dec 29–Jan 4)

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