Chris Landon

This episode's subtitle should be, So many movies, so little time. We start in Chris' childhood where he describes sneaking into his parents' room to watch Hitchcock's "Psycho" around the age of five, making short films in high school with his friends including a zombie sequel to "Xanadu" (which became a cult college favorite), feeling underwater after "Another Day in Paradise", leaving Los Angeles (and writing) before beginning to approach his work "like a job", "Disturbia" as a mix of Hitchcock's "Rear Window" and a John Hughes movie, "Happy Death Day" and "Happy Death Day 2U" as mash-ups of "Groundhog Day" with horror tropes, writing his most recent movie "Freaky" with Michael Kennedy, working on the adaptation of "My Best Friend's Exorcism" by Grady Hendrix, and signing up to help reboot the "Paranormal Activity" franchise. But it's not just movies — though there are a ton of movies that we talk about — it's also about how all horror films aren't all about slash, blood, and gore. Chris talked about one of his aims to use the "genre as a Trojan horse" and how he's going to "smuggle much weightier themes inside of a movie that just looks cute and fun and scary", citing "Get Out". We also get into how 'best of' lists or a list of favorites can be problematic, how there are so many films to choose from. Chris also talks about how he discovered his authentic voice, not taking criticism personally, and focusing on being a better listener which has improved his life as a husband, a father, and made him infinitely happier with his solo and collaborative work. Stay tuned after the outro music to hear Skipper say, "I see" — which kicks off Siri and reaks some frustration. This is a good reminder that voice user interfaces (voice UI) are always listening. And we're talking about you — Siri, Alexa, Cortana, etc. This episode was edited and mastered by Troy Lococo. Special Guest: Chris Landon.