Mind Over Splatter

These ones get real weird. It's time for an increasingly drunk Dylan, Sheldon, Will - and special guest Scott Crompton - to delve into the zany, unhinged worlds of Nightmare 4: The Dream Master (1988), Nightmare 5: The Dream Child (1989), and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991). The production history and reception of the films we're dissecting are set against a backdrop of Freddy Krueger's runaway pop-cul...

The second part of our exploration of the Nightmare on Elm Street films probes the notorious gay themes in Freddy's Revenge (1985), and the contentious ways that the AIDS crisis, and the homophobia of the period, are incorporated into the movie. 

Dylan, Sheldon, Will, and Scott then move on to dissecting and debating the wild, influential A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), and we finally get to start ...

In late-70's and early-80's America, Laotian men began suddenly dying from their dreams. Newspaper coverage of the medical mystery would inspire one of the richest and most enduring classics of horror cinema.
 
We begin with the true story of that tragedy, and how it challenges our assumptions about the distinction between dreams and reality, before connecting it to the seminal 1984 film.
 
Scott Crompton,...

For the full experience, go to our YouTube page! Dylan, Sheldon, and Will got together in the same room, for the first time, to record a special video episode for the second season finale. The topic? Nineties horror. We each picked our favourite scary movie for every year of the decade, from 1990 - 1999, but have kept the picks a secret from one another, until now. And of course, we make it a drinking game, and you can play along. ...

An exploration of the ideas, people, and films behind the found-footage horror boom - including Paranormal Activity and Lake Mungo - with Dylan, Sheldon, and Sean O'Rourke. Featuring a deep-dive into the origins of The Blair Witch Project, with detours into "mysterious phenomena" TV shows, Sundance and the American indie movie renaissance, the rise of the multiplex, the birth of viral marketing, and what made 1999 po...

Dylan, William, and special guest David Annandale break down eccentric British horror movies dealing with paganism and the rural occult, like The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General. Featuring an interview with Gary Parsons, a filmmaker and film historian specializing in English witchcraft documentaries, who tells us about lesser-known witch flicks from the sixties and seventies, and explains the British counterculture's fascin...

A comprehensive discussion of Clive Barker’s 1987 classic Hellraiser – then all nine sequels – featuring Dylan, Sheldon, and Will, plus an interview with Peter Tupper, a cultural historian of BDSM, who provides some fascinating insight into the traditions and aesthetics channeled by the movies. The boys talk about Barker, the series' tortured production history, and the themes of the films, exploring the relationship between p...

For this special holiday episode, Dylan, Sheldon, and Will have decided to gift one another horror movies that they know (or hope) the giftee has never seen. The six strange, wonderful, lesser-known gems that we've helped each other discover are unveiled and discussed one at a time. Along the way, we learn about some fascinating filmmakers, like Lucio Fulci and Tom McLoughlin, unpack bizarre slashers, unearth a breathtaking ea...

Dylan, Sheldon, Will, and guest Sean O'Rourke plunge into weird and fascinating big-killer-animal flicks from 1976-1980, including Orca, Grizzly, and Tentacles. We discuss animal intelligence, environmentalism, and America's relationship to wilderness in the 20th century, while debating the films' merits and setting them off against one other in a tournament to determine the greatest post-Jaws eco-horror oddity. We a...

Dylan and Will are joined by Nick Wolfe to discuss the haunting silent films that emerged from Sweden and Denmark between 1917 and 1922, including Häxan and The Phantom Carriage. Featuring interviews with film professor Anne Bachmann, theologian Patrik Hagman, and Häxan-expert Richard Baxstrom, we also explore the world that produced these movies, discussing Lutheranism, Satan, the history of Sweden's Golden Age of silent film...

The second half of a two-part season premiere investigating the Friday the 13th movies. Dr. Stella Castelli of the University of Zurich drops by to explain why Freddy vs. Jason is really a vaudeville double-act, while Dylan, Sheldon, and Will dissect and debate all the Jason movies from Part VI: Jason Lives right up until the 2009 remake. Discussion ranges from horror franchises that went into space, to the distinction between horr...

The first half of our epic deep-dive into the entire Friday the 13th franchise. Featuring an interview with Dr. Michael Smith, an expert on the history of American summer camps, the Season 2 premiere sees Dylan, Sheldon, and Will analyzing, debating, and ranking Fridays 1 through 5 while also investigating the Siskel-and-Ebert-led backlash against the movies, the history of 3D films, Jacques Plante, and The Greatest Movie Summer Ev...

Dylan, Sheldon, and Will delve deep into 1973's The Exorcist, and argue about the various sequels they love and hate. To help provide some fascinating context for the original classic film, theologian Dr. Bernard Doherty drops by to explain how it fits into the backlash against the Vatican II reforms in the Catholic Church, while cultural scientist Dr. Johanna Braun describes how it can be viewed as a depiction of hysteria, dr...

For the tenth installment of Mind Over Splatter, we decided to do our first video episode (currently available on YouTube!) and play a drinking game involving some of our favourite movies to celebrate. Dylan, Sheldon, and Will unveil their number-one horror film of every decade, while trying to guess one another's secrets picks, and debating the many controversial selections along the way. It was a ton of fun, plenty of surpri...

Dylan, Sheldon, and Will chat bugs, with a special guest appearance by renowned bee expert and author Mark L. Winston. We break down strange and unique creepy-crawly flicks from 1974-1978, including Phase IV, Squirm, and The Swarm, while also discussing their cultural contexts, taking you into some entertaining corners of film history. Plus, with a little help from Dr. Winston, we learn about the 1970's killer-bee hysteria, di...

Dylan and William are joined by author and film professor David Annandale to discuss Japanese giant monster movies. The three committed kaiju geeks unveil their top-10 lists one entry at a time, while debating the merits of recent Godzilla films, analyzing peculiar Gamera entries, and singing the praises of lesser-known gems like Dogora and Yog Monster From Space. Lots of fun discussions and unexpected reappraisals here, ready to b...