Hellbent For Horror

Hellbent For Horror

This is S.A. Bradley, and I'm a life-long horror lover. This podcast combines horror history, personal observations, common themes, and cultural trends to tell a story with each episode. Here we talk about all things horror. Horror movies, books, comics, hosts, conventions. The door swings wide here, and all types of horror are welcome. Each episode covers some aspect of horror with lots of viewing or reading suggestions for you to check out. I want to start conversations with people about all types of horror. I've been a fan all my life, and I love all the different styles: Classic Universal Monsters, Slasher Films, Found Footage, French Extreme, Asian Extreme, Korean Ghost Stories, J-Horror, Hammer Horror Films, Amicus Films, Glass Eye Pix, EC Horror Comics, Creature Features, Horror Hosts, Italian Zombie movies, Spanish Zombie movies, George Romero Zombie movies, Giallo, Silent Horror Films, Nature Run Amok, Atomic Age Horror, Roughies, Exploitation, Horror Literature, Serial Killer, Halloween, B-Movie, Splatter films, ghost stories, Folk Horror, supernatural, body horror, torture porn, VHS, Psycho.

Episodes

May 2, 2025 59 mins

Izzy Lee is a take-no-prisoners indie filmmaker whose 20-plus genre short films garnered praise from Fangoria, Dread Central, the A.V. Club, and EW.com. 

And then came the pandemic.

However Izzy Lee rose from the ashes and came back tougher than ever, with her first published novella (I Can See Your Lies) and her feature-length film directorial debut, HOUSE OF ASHES.

Join me as Izzy talks about creative influences, the art of the s...

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Although 2024 has passed, so many horror films were released that I am still playing catch-up to see them all!

You might have loved some and hated others, but there's no denying that the horror genre flourished in 2024 and continues to be one of our most diverse storytelling styles.

From...

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It's time for more Horror for the Holidays, and this year, we have double the chills and thrills to celebrate!

First, the tradition of telling ghost stories for Christmas gets a new annual series from Severin Films called The Haunted Season, and the first episode streams on Shudder through December, with a new film every Christmas season!  

My guests are acclaimed autho...

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Welcome to PART TWO of our dive into Hong Kong CAT III films...

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The UK created the Video Nasties list. 

The MPAA created NC-17. 

And Hong Kong had CATEGORY III films.

It is probably the least widely known classification of outrageous, transgressive, explicit, and violent films. From 1988 to the British Handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the governmen...

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Happy Halloween!

Hellbent for Horror returns from the dead (and grateful to be here) to start more conversations. I've missed you all!

The best-kept secret of long-term horror fans may be that we don't necessarily watch merely to be scared. What captivates us is the element of surprise. If you can't scare us, surprise us.

How do you surprise horror ...

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Like it or not, failure is a part of creation, invention, and art. Read more

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Join me as I talk with Del Howison, the co-owner of Dark Delicacies, the world-renowned book and collectibles store in Burbank dedicated to horror and fantasy that celebrates 30 years as America's home of hor...

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For the last 25 years, Cinema Wasteland has been a Mecca for horror movie maniacs. The legendary convention draws cineastes in and turns them into repeat visitors, "Wastelanders."

As CW reaches its Silver Anniversary, many Wastelanders ask," How long will this go on?" 

Join me as I discuss Cinema Wasteland's ongoing saga and interview veterans and newcomers, trying to define what makes this show the last great fan convention standi...

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The 96th Academy Awards Ceremony is upon us, but we fans know that the only award that matters is if you recommend a horror movie to your friends and they love it!

In reality, 2023 was such a good year for horror movies that I needed two episodes to cover my favorites!

Join me as we celebrate PART TWO of the "Killer Elite," a list of horror movies that surprised me and that I recommend to horror fans!

I hope you enjoy the show!

Mov...

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February 22, 2024 57 mins

The 96th Academy Awards Ceremony is in a few weeks, but the annual outrage over the lack of horror movie nominations is in full swing. We fans know that the only award that matters is if you recommend a horror movie to your friends.

In reality, 2023 was a damn good year for horror movies, with diverse styles and subgenres to satisfy any horror fan's tastes, and I have so many recommendations I needed two episodes to cover them!

Joi...

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It's Time for our annual Christmas Ghost Story!
 
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Horror movie collectors live to find those rare movies that eluded us. These are the movies that are so obscure and bizarre that it becomes a quest to see them and pass them on to other fans.

Join our guest, Roxanne Guarino (Cinema Insomnia with Mr. Lobo), author of the ...

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poster with large VHS cassette tape with bloody fingerprints on it.

Welcome to "Tape Two" of S.O.V. (shot on video) movies that prove that Horror is the Punk Rock of Cinema!

For decades, fans made movies without Hollywood, money, or distribution deals. Following the DIY ethos, regional horror movies s...

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Horror is the Punk Rock of Cinema, and S.O.V. (shot on video) movies prove it!

For decades, fans made movies without Hollywood, money, or distribution deals. Following the DIY ethos, regional horror movies sprung up everywhere and told crazy, original, and personal stories and created a subculture.

Just like punk rock did! 

Join me on "Tape One," where I discuss the long history of renegade moviemaking outside the system, some of m...

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Happy Halloween!

Join me as I talk about all of the little annual "rituals" I do around Halloween, including books, movies, decorations, old memories of Samhains gone by, and new "ritual bits" added this year!

I hope you enjoy the show!

Books Discussed:

Ghost Story -Peter Straub

Books of Blood- Clive Barker

The Year's Best Hardcore Horror- Edited by Randy Chandler and C...

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Legendary Filmmaker William Friedkin died on August 7th, 2023, a few months before the 50th Anniversary of THE EXORCIST.

As his legend would dictate, Friedkin was a bit of a demon himself to those who worked with him and opposed him. "Hurricane Billy" would do anything for a shot, even at the risk of life and limb. 

Join me as I take a personal look at my utter fascination with the director, whose work captivated me at an early age...

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Three years of the pandemic is enough. We stared into the abyss, and it changed us. And horror movies got us through.

Horror movies also told us the scary and ugly truth about how monstrous we were. As we spent our Seasons in the Abyss, here are some trends I noticed... and NO ZOMBIE MOVIES INCLUDED!

PART ONE OF TWO.

Movies Discussed: 

SYNCHRONIC (2020)

ST. MAUD (2021)

DEMENTER (2021)

THE VIGIL (2021)

RELIC (2022)

HIS HOUSE (2020)

...

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December 31, 2022 26 mins

Here's my Postmortem on the 2022 Christmas Holiday Season, where I discuss Killer Santas, Trolls, Yule Logs, and the death of "The War on Christmas!" 

Movies Discussed:

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)

A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983)

TROLL (2022)

CHRISTMAS, BLOODY CHRISTMAS (2022)

THE MEAN ONE (2022)

VIOLENT NIGHT (2022)

ADULT SWIM'S YULE LOG (2022)

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Happiest of Holidays to you! 

Just in time for Christmas Eve is the Hellbent for Horror Annual Christmas Ghost Story!

Keeping the old British tradition going, I've been reading ghost stories for Christmas over the last few years. Because Christmas and horror go together like cookies and milk and Santa!

This year's story is M.R. James' "Casting the Runes," which is the story that was adapted into the excellent 1957 film directed by ...

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