June 12, 2023 • 49 mins
Are there ways that movies can help improve the world? Even horror movies? Of course there are...
Guest: Josh Burkey, victimsandvillains.net
DISCOUNT CODE FOR ENTRANTS: Bliss24 for 15% off submissions for 2024's Horrific Hope Film Festival
—-----------------
Promo: Doomsday: History's Most Dangerous Podcast
Disclaimer: Josh Harrison, Earthdawn Survival Guide podcast
Art: Troy Larson
Music: Jake Pierle -- https://jakepierle.bandcamp.com/
—-----------------
Ignorance Was Bliss online: https://linktr.ee/iwbpodcast
Sponsor: Bath By Bex (code CBDkate for 25% off)
Sponsor: Komuso Design (code bliss15 for 15% off)
Sponsor: Horrific Hope Film Festival 2024 (code bliss24 for 15% off submission)
Guest: Josh Burkey, victimsandvillains.net
DISCOUNT CODE FOR ENTRANTS: Bliss24 for 15% off submissions for 2024's Horrific Hope Film Festival
—-----------------
Promo: Doomsday: History's Most Dangerous Podcast
Disclaimer: Josh Harrison, Earthdawn Survival Guide podcast
Art: Troy Larson
Music: Jake Pierle -- https://jakepierle.bandcamp.com/
—-----------------
Ignorance Was Bliss online: https://linktr.ee/iwbpodcast
Sponsor: Bath By Bex (code CBDkate for 25% off)
Sponsor: Komuso Design (code bliss15 for 15% off)
Sponsor: Horrific Hope Film Festival 2024 (code bliss24 for 15% off submission)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Do you like blood loss and decapitationsand debris poking through your skin. If
you like your gods angry, yourbuildings collapsible, and your insects organized into
living quilts, Doomsday is the podcastfor you. Subscribe to rediscover some of
the most traumatic, bizarre, andonspiring but largely unheard of disasters from throughout
human history and around the world.This first season, you'll hear about the
(00:23):
worst groin injury in the recorded historyof medical science, people compressed to the
height of a business card, preheededto the temperature of the sun, electrocuted
by cocoanuts, and phrases like theplague of horror had been cleared away by
the cleansing mercy of the volcano.This is not the podcast you play around
your kids, or while eating,or even a mixed company. But as
(00:44):
long as you find yourself a littlemore historically engaged and learn something that could
potentially save your life, our workis done. All this and bore on
Doomsday, History's most Dangerous podcast.A funeral Kazoo production on the Anchor FM
network Find It wherever podcasts are found. This podcast sometimes involves discussions of sex,
violence, and ornamental illness. Ifthis might disturb you or those around
(01:07):
you, feel free to skip it. If you find yourself upset while listening,
it's okay to jump ahead or justturn it off. Privacy and confidentiality
have been protected whenever requested and possible. If you ever feel unsafe or suicidal,
please contact your local crisis center,national hotline, or emergency services.
In the United States, the NationalSuicide Prevention hot Line number is one eight
(01:33):
hundred two seven three eight two fivefive. Take care of yourself, you
matter. Hey, this is Kate. Are you a horror movie kind of
person? I think I used tobe. I don't watch any TV or
(02:00):
movies anymore. Really, I've gotteninto the habit since I've been sick of
having something on in the background justto help break my day up into chunks.
But I'm not paying attention anymore,so I'm not. But I used
(02:21):
to be. I used to lovethe whole experience of going to the theater,
especially if it weirded me out orplayed with my head. And I
kind of missed that. But youknow, deaf, so I accept it.
You know, I'm frankly lazy ofit. It's easier to just not
(02:46):
watch movies than it is to takeall of the steps that you need to
take to be able to fully enjoythe immersive experience. That being said,
I totally get people being into it. Just take a look through some of
(03:07):
your podcatchers sometime. There are somany different genres of movie reviews, movie
discussions with spoilers, without spoilers,specific Disney specific kids movies, specific comedies,
and you know, horror movies.And when that happens, how do
(03:32):
you stand out? How do youmake your show something special? My friend
Josh figured out a way, soI'm gonna let him explain it, but
basically, he started with this podcastidea, what are we gonna do?
(03:55):
We're gonna make a podcast, andhe found ways to expand it into the
real world, a real life,and to do important things with it.
And at the end of the day, I feel like, look, if
(04:15):
you're making a podcast just for thehell of it and you don't really want
to make an impact on the world, that's okay. But if you're able
to take your work and have animpact on the world, a positive,
strong impact on the world, that'smagical. And I feel like a lot
(04:35):
of us really want to do that. Are you sure you really want to
know this is ignorance was bliss.My name is Josh. I'm the director
(05:18):
of Horrific Hope Film Festival and thehost of the horror mental health podcast of
Biscazing. Okay, so talk tome about horror mental health, Like how
do we mix those up? Becauselike, I have my thoughts about it,
but sure, so horror mental healthis well, I guess, like
(05:42):
I start back at the beginning withmy with my own relationship with horror and
when I grew up in a fairlyconservative Christian household and one of the things
that helped me get through my deathof my grandmother at a young age was
just becoming a centophile and horror kindof always seemed to be that forbidden fruit
(06:05):
for me. And so when Iwas eighteen, I just probably went a
little bit too deep into the genreand ended up kind of getting into this
like really un healthy borderlines, reallytoxic relationship with the genre. So really
it really damaged my own mental healthand kind of like the behavior that I
(06:26):
had with my then girlfriend who's nowmy my my wife, some of my
co workers, friends, family,stuff like that. So I took a
step back actually from the genre frommy own mental health to kind of get
it in order. And when Icame back to the genre, I really
wanted to explore some of the mentalhealth aspects of those characters like Freddy Krueger,
(06:55):
Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, Pinhead, Chucky and kind of like really
not only examine them from a howdoes how do their victims like how does
that all affect their mental health?But like what is the the genre willing
to talk about in terms of mentalhealth as well? And and I mean
(07:16):
it's from the from the mental healthside of things. I've attended workshops,
full workshops of like here are moviesthat depict it well, even if they
don't name it, but here aremovies that depict mental illness and or mental
health well, including those in thehorror genre. And here are ones just
(07:39):
you're clear of. And so doyou have opinions on that? Like do
you have personal favorites or is itsort of a catch as catch can for
you. It's so it's interesting becausethe horror as a as a genre,
when you're getting into it almost kindof feels like the equivalent of stepping into
like the BDSM community when you likeyou want to know your limits. So
(08:01):
you say, all right, thisis where I draw the line of the
stand because I don't like the waythat this makes me feel, or I
could never find myself or see myselfdoing this, or you know, my
partner blah blah blah. And that'skind of the same way as with the
horror community. There are definitely aspectsof those genres, Like there are definitely
(08:22):
like three films to name, likerough Top would be films like Megan is
Missing, the Kempsie Tapes, aSerbian film, Human Centipede. These are
films that really are on the extremespectrum of it. And so one of
the things about being coming into thisgenre is understanding your own limits. Your
(08:46):
mental health is never worth the sacrificejust to be entertained, because that hour
and a half two hours that you'resacrificing for entertainment ultimately end up essentially hatching
years years of scars um. Andso for me, like for me personally,
like the one area that of mentalhealth or ama of horror that like
(09:07):
I stick clear of if a filmrevolves around it or has like a really
graphic scene is always rape. Bothmy parents were sexual assault survivors, and
so I grew up kind of seeingthat that impact of years of that trauma,
and you know, those were conversationsthat we had regularly in my house
(09:30):
growing up. And so anytime thatlike Rob Zombies Director's kind of Halloween's a
great example, there's a really graphicsex scene in there. Anytime I watched
that movie, it's here's I knowit's coming, skip this entire scene,
will will fast forward ten minutes tosee it, and I stick. I
tend to like stick away from likefilms like I Spit on your Grave,
(09:52):
Last House on the Left, etcetera. Do you have the flip side?
Do you have ones where you're like, this is an exemplar of go
watch this In terms of like interms of like entertainment value or in terms
of like a mental health exploration,I don't know. I asked the question,
you answer it. I don't thinkin terms of like entertainments. I
(10:16):
would definitely say, like some thatare just like just entertaining and are just
kind of like ridiculous. Are justactually watched rewatched Frank and Hooker this past
weekend, and like it's this likesuper nineties schlocky trauma film where a guy
basically kills hookers to like bring hisgirlfriend back to life, and I love
(10:41):
like schlock like that, So likethat's always been kind of something that I've
always liked in terms of entertainment.But one of the things that I really
like about doing a film festival likethis and also like a podcast, is
that we've come into contact with alot of independent cinema that is doesn't have
(11:01):
the studio bounds or these expectations fromlike audiences that know their voices or the
characters, So you're allowed to kindof explore a lot more character depth than
I feel like you would in yournormal uh you know, Scream, Halloween,
Exorcists, et cetera, like yournormal like famous Ips and so it
(11:22):
Films like that that would recommend thatI feel like does a great job at
exploring things would be Silas would definitelybe one. It's now streaming on shutter.
It basically explores a hairstylist who termsto murder as opposed to actually wanting
(11:43):
to kind of deal with some ofher trauma and life long losses and stuff
like that, and just also kindof like crying to like how to have
also this like fear of missing out. It's just such a really great example
of like just a complex story that'sjust told in such a compelling way.
(12:07):
Like now, I'm like trying tothink of like other films that I feel
like that aren't like the obvious answer, like Gordon Keel and stuff like that.
Do you watch other genres or areyou sort of one of those very
specific focused horror guys. Oh,I love other genres. I am.
(12:28):
We're recording this in mid May.I am so looking forward to Like a
Little Mermaid is one of my mostanticipated movies this year. It's one of
my favorite films of all time.I'm looking forward to Flash next month.
I love movies period. I mightbe a horror podcaster and director of a
(12:50):
horror film festival, but I lovecinema. I love being moved to tell
stories polite societies, like another onefrom earlier this year that it just enthralled
me. It's such a good film, and it is this like UK comedy
(13:11):
action comedy about mommy issues and likejust really weird kind of like sci fi
John Wicks stuff. But it happensto be like just following like uh,
people from Bollywood, and so it'sit's this just it's so random, but
it's so good, and I justI love to be moved. I love
(13:31):
to be made to laugh and fryand be drawn to the edge of my
seats, and so yeah, Ijust love cinema period. It's one of
my favorite things in terms of ingeneral life. I guess I kind of
miss it, you know, Idon't. I don't watch movies or TV
anymore because my hearing he's gotten sobad, and going to the theater it's
(13:54):
one of the areas where accommodations arestill spotty and difficult to get and if
you use the screen reader to captionit, people will a bitch that you've
got your phone on. And that'sfun. So I just I first I
stopped going to see movies in thetheater, and then I stopped watching them
at home because captioning was iffy,and then I stopped watching TV. And
(14:16):
now I'm out of like all ofit. It's just it's not a thing
I enjoy anymore. But I missedthe experience of whether it was going to
the theater or whether it was settlingin on the couch and you know,
watching the new opening credits and beinglike, all right, let's let's go.
Yeah, COVID's also kind of changeda little bit of that stuff as
(14:39):
well, where you could go seea film in theaters opening night and it
gets experience it with a packed house, and it was always a it was
always an experience, and I don'tfeel like there we get that anymore.
Because one of the things that Ilove is BJ back from the Office,
(15:01):
wrote and directed his first film lastyear called Vengeance. There's a point in
the movie where he talks about likeanalyzing America now, talks about how we're
living in divided times, not justin the sense of socially, politically,
economically, but because of the riseof like dreaming, we and social media
(15:24):
you all. Basically the way thathe phrases it is that we live in
our own time, Like we checksocial media when it's convenient for us,
We watch things when it's convenient forus, and so like, don't you
don't get to have those experiences anymore. I think the last time I saw
a film with a plaqued house wasactually a Skinner Rank earlier this year,
(15:45):
and it was one of the omistmovies I've ever seen. But just kind
of getting to like experience it witha crowd is like something it's really special,
and I feel like we don't kindof get to experience that anymore because
of um, just because of ofof how we live, just because of
how we've kind of developed as aculture. Well and and arguably there's also
(16:10):
and a degree of that. Youknow, I grew up in the era
of this sort of old style theaterseating, you know, where the chair
you have to kind of you getto kind of balance on the very edge
of the chair and let it flopdown and try not to colf on the
floor, you know. And andnow everything is like these huge, you
(16:33):
know, lounge chair with cup holderstyle fancy like I had to the last
the only movie I've seen in thetheaters in the last who decade is the
um the Mister Rogers film Neighborhood withTom Hanks, And that's because I was
(16:55):
going to be on a podcast totalk about it, and so I was
like, oh, I should watchthe movie first, that would be good
idea. And I went and Iremember like walking into the theater and me,
this doesn't even feel like a theateranymore, like almost part of one
of the reasons, you know,I went a lot in high school.
Uh, you know, in thenineties and and saw so for me,
(17:17):
you know that that was the ageof like Schindler's List and seven and you
know Aladdin, and you know thatthese movies that just worked well in the
theater for one one reason or another. And now I'm like, I don't
want to spend you know, it'sit's fifty bucks for two people to go
to the theater, and I don'twant to spend fifty bucks on and maybe
(17:41):
for this city. You know,part like I was almost in high school,
Zone was paying for the discomfort.I mean, my favorite theater experience
of our remains. Um So,I grew up in upstate New York and
specifically where Rod Serling got his startfor Twilight Zone fans. And so there
(18:03):
was this theater that was, youknow, one of those sort of not
old timey but like mid range typeswhere it had the movie screen, but
it also had the stage in frontof it, and it had to really
ornate like the worn velvet seats whereyou're like, oh my god, how
many butts have touched this seat?But I don't care. I'm going to
sit in it anyway. But likethe walls had like the velvet like you
(18:29):
know, that if you went overand touched the wall, it would feel
the same way as your seat felt, and so you just didn't do that.
And you know, it had abalcony. It was just the sort
of I don't know if I'm describingit right, but do you know,
like mid nineteen nineteen hundreds feel oflike what I felt like cinema really should
feel like. And I went witha friend um to go see seven,
(18:56):
which I think is a fantastic move. Even though I find it psychologically wildly
inaccurate, I still enjoyed the movieitself a ton, and I really enjoyed
making my kids watch it as theygot older, because I was like,
welcome to this is what was hotconsidered like edgy when I was your age,
(19:18):
you know. But so I'm sittingin this theater and it's so you've
got the whole that vibe. Everything'sshabby, everything's run down, and I'm
watching a horror film and that one'sI wouldn't consider it gore, but it's
got some scenes, it's got someintensity. And as I was sitting there,
(19:40):
it turns out twenty minutes, fortyfive minutes, I don't know,
some amounts of time into the movieis when I discovered that they had theater
cats. They had a couple oflike straight cats that lived in the theater,
and so something brushed against my legand I was so part of my
(20:02):
brain is still clinging to the ceilingbecause it's scared the Jesus out of me.
But it was like perfect for theambiance. And that's not something like
I have cats here, but Iexpect them to pester me. I did
not. I did. That wasfully unexpected there. So that was that
was a wonderful moment, And that'sthat's awesome, like really adding to like
(20:23):
that experience and like I mean,I feel it would be like the same
exact thing of like finding like ayou know, a smaller bug like a
road or a worm, like inan environment like that, you're that's something
that you're not expecting. So itadds a late level of kind of terror
(20:44):
to that to where it's just likeit's not quite scary, it's just something
that like catches you off guard andyou kind of have to like reset yourself
afterwards. Well you do a lotof reality testing for the rest of the
movie to be like something like Isat, you know, my legs,
you know, with my chin onmy knees, my feet up on the
seat with me, because I wasjust like, look, I like cats,
but like I don't want to gothrough the full range of the animal
(21:07):
kingdom of what else might be inhere. And you know, the guy
I went with was was just ahigh school buddy. But I remember thinking
like if this had been a dateby this point, I would have already
been able to be like, look, you're out of luck tonight, because
I'm gonna go home and just sleepfor days, Like no way. Yeah,
it's one of those things that likeyou just see like a goat coming
(21:30):
out next time. It was likea little bit of like a dog.
Maybe there's like some bunnies popping upin it, and all of them would
have been terrible, terrifying, youknow what. It wouldn't have mattered,
like you know, cutest, cutestlittle hedgehog ever would have scared the shit
out of me at that time.You know, like just it was ideal.
And so that's the kind of experiencethat I miss, is the three
(21:52):
hundred and sixty degree feel of it. It's really hard to kind of recapture
something thing like that in a modernsense. We here in Virginia, where
my wife and I live, arelucky enough to actually have a historical landmark
in one of our more populated portionsof the city which we live. And
(22:15):
they basically took like an old timeytheater like which you're describing, and they've
kind of redone it up and notnecessarily like brought into like the modern age,
but like kept it up to code, and they do films from like
fifties to like now. I've actuallyhad the chance of seeing Mahaland drive there
(22:37):
last month, and such a greatexperience to be able to kind of step
into something that historic, because itfeels like a time machine to where like
when you come in as a matterof which door you come in, but
there are these like center seats likein the very back where like you have
people where like wheelchair access, butthen you have like balconies. And when
(23:03):
I saw Muhalad drive there, theyactually have a portion of the stage has
a riser on it so actually itcomes up and you act. They actually
have a guy that's on staff thatplays like an old timey organ and that's
kind of how they kick get everythingoff, and then he goes down the
movie starts yeah, it's it's likeit's seeing a film in an environment like
(23:26):
that just the way that cinema wasmeant to be is it's not only nostalgic,
but it's just it's such a spectacularexperience because it's something that you just
don't think you're ever gonna experience untilyou do well, until there's a cat
rushing against you to like yeah,yeah, and well, and that's the
things that you know, my kidsaren't ever going to experience that. You
(23:48):
know, my older kids can remembertimes pre COVID, so they can at
least recall what it is like forit not to feel weird to be in
a packed house. Know, restrictionshave been lifted in Massachusetts where I am,
and so like you're allowed to havea packed house. But my husband
(24:08):
takes the kids to see movies oncein a while, and he said,
like, it feels odd. Itfeels weird to have broken social distancing after
having spent two and a half yearshardcore social distancing from everybody. Absolutely,
and so my older kids can kindof remember that at least a little bit.
But we weren't taking them to horrormovies at the time, you know,
(24:30):
because my oldest is twenty three.The next one's eighteen. So you
know, prior to COVID, weweren't we weren't, like okay, at
home once in a while, Idefinitely watched you know, Silence of the
Lambs and Seven of Them, butit was at home, you know,
so that you could like pause thingsand deal with like, am I traumatizing
you yet? No, Okay,let's press play and keep seeing if we
(24:52):
get to that point. They're nevergoing to fully know that. But my
younger too, you know, they'rethey're they're thirteen and ten, they're not
ever going to know that. Thattheater experience, Yeah, you bring up
something that's like really interesting to hearfrom like a parental environment and to kind
of bring back to like an earlierpoint of like also knowing your limits,
like being able to have someone tokind of ease you into the genre of
(25:17):
horror is something that something I reallykind of wish that I would have had
growing up. Like I don't holdany like ill will against my parents for
like sheltering me from it, butthere are definitely like experiences where I'm like,
the first time I watched something likeI previously mentioned Last House on the
Left, and the whole thing isit's a rape revenge film. It's the
(25:38):
first film from Wes Craven and it'sa hard watch. It's a very hard
watch, even by nineteen I thinkit's like nineteen seventy two standards. And
I was on tour at the timewith the band I was I was playing
in and just watching that on theroad and having to like go about just
normalcy was really hard because there's apart of me that's just like, what
(26:02):
did I just watch? So youget somebody experiences like that to where like
I think someone that you can Ican coach you through that experience, but
also at the same time, likepause and say like are you okay,
Like you know, kind of justlike checking in with you, I think
is really important, especially because itdefines the limits on what you can like
(26:23):
also take in terms of entertainment,but also at the same time it's a
it's a great bonding experience as well. Well. And I like to know
when I'm missing my kids up,you know what I like, because we
all do, like parents just fundamentallyscrew up our kids. But I like
to know I'm doing it rather thanhave it be a surprise later so that
that that helps. That's that's alsoa valid point. My parents did the
(26:48):
best they could and hoped for thebest, and I think my sister and
I turned out pretty pretty good,so you know, I think they did
an all right job. So WesCraven you mentioned earlier, you mentioned Fredy
Krue River in West Craven. Ihave to bring it up because it is
like literally one of the only claimsto fame from the town where I went
(27:08):
to college. I went to collegein Potsdam, New York, which is
what up on its upstate New York, like on the Canadian border. So
the closest towns were in Montreal andOttawa and last house on the left,
people under the stairs in Nightmare onElm Street are based in Potsdam, like
(27:30):
if you if you look at thescenery, and because he taught there at
the time, he taught Sunny Potsdamat the time, and he taught film
theory and that kind of thing,and so like the Nightmare on Elm Street,
for instance, if you watch themovie, at no point does Elm
Street actually play a role, likethey don't. The movie deliberately avoids anchoring
(27:52):
itself geographically, but Elm Street Potsdam, like I've lived on Elm Street in
Potsdam, and that it was thehouse that he's talking about. You know,
all of the frat houses had theirown little sort of real or not
real, believed or not believed,I don't care, but their stories and
(28:15):
their their ghosts and whatever. Andthat was the Theta Kai house. And
one of the Theta Kai students talkedabout this, you know, guy who
stole your nightmares kind of basic storyline, and did a short film of that,
which he ultimately sort of built out. And that was only like I
(28:36):
never put it together for a longtime because I was by it. Just
I wasn't that much of a cinephile, Like I didn't pay that much attention
to things like directors or whatever.But when I was in college there a
freshman pledge drank himself to death inthe Theta Kai house, and so it
hit the news like this is theNightmare on Elm Street house and now we
(29:00):
have a death in the house,like how creepy, how unusual, And
I'm like, well, it's actuallylet's focus on fraternity use of alcohol perhaps,
but okay, gotcha interesting to know. And if you look at photos
of the interior scenes for the peopleunder the stairs. That's my husband's fraternity,
(29:22):
the stairs and the people like Ihave a photo of the like friends
of mine standing in front of thatdoorway and another friend of mine, once
overindulged in, gave a lap dancesitting, you know, with her guest
with his back directly against that door, and I have like a blurry photo
(29:42):
of that. And it's just thatthere's always been that, like, what
a weird claim to fame, andhe's always been a little bit cagy about
where it's based. But look,give us something, you know. It's
this little, tiny, dark townfull of engineers, Like, give us
some claim to fame. We deservesomething. There's actually a point in one
of the Elm Streets where I thinkit's in. I think it might be
(30:06):
Freddie's The Dead, but there's apoint in there where Freddie actually mentions that
every town has an Elm Street andthe reason that they ended up actually calling
in a nightmare on Elm Street andcould get this one wrong. I have
made it note on my show thatI'm not like I love I love every
franchise, but I'm not like adiehard Freddie fan. So, uh,
(30:29):
if your audience is this, pleasedon't crustify me. Uh. But one
of the things that Craven has talkedabout in interviews is like also that the
same exact thing is that you havethis like, uh a big ambiguity.
I think it's how you say yeah, yeah, that word um, and
(30:51):
that's why you kind of get somethinglike um. I don't remember the town
that, like the fake town.I think Spring would from from Nightmare on
Elm Street, but it's been along time since I've seen people under the
stairs, so I don't remember likenext to nothing about that. But that's
really cool to hear that though itwas just one of those like it was
such a what a weird little factoid. And then and and then that's I
(31:14):
agree, that's what the Craven hasbeen since then KG about it, which
I think is more marketing. Youknow. It's because it's like I if
you look at the scenery and ifyou look at the house, you know,
and you know all of it likeit. It fits in with the
vibe and it's He taught at PotsdamState University there well it was sunny Potsdam.
(31:37):
It was called State University of NewYork, you know. And then
subsequently came out with it. Soit's like, look, the timeline works.
Just give us our thing. It'sit's it's the one thing to be
able to say, like I've beenin that house, you know, yeah,
no, I get that. That'sthat's that's really cool though, So
talk to me about your your horrificSo horrific. Hope is the first film
(32:01):
festival to be horror centric and mentalhealth focus. There's not really anything else
there that out there is like that. So we had this past year.
We did it in April, theWinchester, the Alamo, Virginia, and
(32:22):
basically the whole point of our ourfestival is to showcase the best voices,
best up and coming voices in thefilm in the independent world of filmmaking and
specifically horror, but use their artto openly discuss mental health, how entertainment
mental health themes, but also howmental health, how entertainment affects our mental
(32:45):
health, also provide resources for allthose in attendance and all those really who
It just happened to also attend theAlamo that day as well, and so
it took scribe from me like I'mgoing to a music festival this coming weekend
and so I have a sense,but describe for someone who's never attended a
(33:06):
film festival, like, what isit like? So our film festival is
really unique because we try and youtalked we talked earlier about the how when
you go to see like a modernmovie, like it doesn't really feel like
a big cinemagic experience. We wantyou to feel like you are not only
(33:28):
having these really vulnerable conversations, butat the same time that you are getting
a chance to step into something that'sone of a kind and that is an
actual experience. So like for us, just kind of going back through this
year. So this past year wewere able to people pay a flat fee
(33:49):
and they're able to experience films fromcountries that you probably may never visit,
see films that you may never seeagain. One of our filmmakers, actually
the winner of our Best Short thisyear, actually said that not only was
the film his film, What's calledIncubus, not only would it play it
(34:10):
not only would it be a Virginiamirror, but it actually ended up also
being the only time it'll likely playin the state of Virginia as well.
So this past year we had wehad we had films both shorts and features
from Australia, Canada, France,the Netherlands and Norway, Portugal, Spain,
(34:30):
Ukraine, the United Kingdom and theUnited States. So you're basically getting
to see films they wouldn't see anywhereelse, and people just throw films in
your general direction or like, howdoes that? How does that work?
So we we go through a servicecalled film Freeway, which if you visit
(34:50):
now can get film submissions for twentytwenty four are currently open, so you
go to film freeway dot com,forward slash Horrific Film Festival and all of
the ignorance is Bliss listeners. Ifyou're a filmmaker, if you use the
code Bliss twenty four for the monthof June, you get fifteen percent off
your submissions. But basically people cansubmit their screenplays, whether it's short films,
(35:17):
feature films. They can do completedshort films and feature films. And
then in January you're notified that hey, you've been selected or you have not
your if you're part of our ScreenRantcompetition, you've been selected as a finalist.
And then in the beginning of Aprilyou're notified whether or not you've been
(35:39):
done for a second or third place, and prices typically rained from anywhere as
little as ten dollars to as muchas like, I think, like fifty
five sixty dollars, depending on thetime of year that you do it.
So like we have an early birdspecial which runs from June to August.
(36:00):
We have one that is considered theregular time period, which goes from August
to November. This is kind oflike medium pricing. And then we have
what's called a late period that willrun from November to mid January until like
submissions close for the week or forthe year. And these are kind of
(36:21):
like the more expensive versions of these. Yeah, of the prices you'd pay.
How hard is it to like,is it easy to convince filmmakers like,
hey, join our thing here?Or do you have to do a
heavy hustle Like I don't know,compare it to like getting a podcast guest.
Is it easier or harder than that? For ours? I feel like
(36:45):
ours is a little bit. Ifeel like ours has been a little bit
easier because not only is it agreat like it's mental health and so like
people like really rally behind that cause, but it's also also happens to be
a fundraiser for our nonprofit as well, and so I think people are a
(37:06):
little bit more open to the ideaof submitting to us. So we market
ourselves on social media like we woulda podcast. But also at the same
time, I'm constantly watching for likeplatforms like Facebook and Twitter, um to
see like which filmmakers are currently makingAnd this is our third year, so
(37:27):
like we've kind of gained general mysys did refuse reputation reputation, but like
a decent following among filmmakers. Solike film Freeway is a great service because
you can actually like if you ifyou like a specific film festival, you
can actually hit follow and so anytimethey're they open up, you get notified
(37:51):
saying, hey, this is it, whereas like other ones, UM,
we still do a lot of networking. So I'm like going to like other
film festivals, uh conventions, kindof talking to people both in person online
about the film festival and like reullytrying to grow it as well. Do
you tell do you? I meanI imagine it's maybe a stupid question,
(38:15):
but do you have you turned peopleaway? Have you been like look,
I'm not playing that here, likethanks, but here's your ten bucks back.
Uh So, because um so,one of the one of the first
rules that when you like pull upour page, um it actually says submission
does not mean admission. And that'susually a common thing, um that you
(38:39):
will find with film fiftools. That'sjust the common thing among film festivals is
that you are you're submitting and thehopes of playing on the big screener being
a part of that year's festival,but you don't get your money back kind
of thing. And so for us, like we're really we're really you know,
open about it, Like gear moneyis going towards paying the cost of
(39:01):
the film festival, but also atthe same time it's it's going towards helping
us continue our our nonprofit of gettingmental health resources into places here in Virginia,
other conventions, other film festivals,etc. What do you mean by
(39:22):
resources for mental health? So wewe are we bring like uh like hotlines,
like literature information, statistics, stufflike that. It's kind of things
that we do in terms of bringingstuff into conventions like like comic coons and
like other film festivals, places wherepeople are using those fandoms as kind of
(39:46):
like means of escape. But there'snothing that is kind of like saying what
brought you to something like Spider Manor Batman or video games stuff like that,
And so you wanted to kind ofbe kind of like a catch all
I guess is for like people tolike a understand that they're not alone,
(40:07):
be that there are other people outthere that are suffering with that, and
also to where to have a goodstarting point to get connected to a counselor
or um just other people that canlike help them go through that difficult time
and stuff like that. So doyou have like a you know, ultimate
(40:30):
goal or five year plan or whatever, or are you just sort of flying
by the seat of your pants tosee, Okay, what can we do
this time? Are you talking aboutI know this is your show, but
I just I need some clarification onthe question. Uh No, with with
specifically with the nonprofit, like what'sthe what are the goals for the nonprofit
and the film festival? So ournonprofit, our goal would be to eventually
(40:52):
build up to do a second filmfestival, but also um to have a
rick and mortar kind of place herewhere we are kind of combining both of
those worlds to where we would wantto get to a place where we are
able to do like live entertainment herein terms of like movie nights, or
(41:15):
like live support live local acts interms of like artists here, but also
at the same time to where likewe can employ eventually eventually employ uh like
counselors and therapists to kind of havelike a place where we can have like
an house um people and kind oflike expand more lass just doing entertainment and
(41:40):
pop culture and podcasting. So thatconcept fascinates me because I just make shit
up as I go, Like literallyevery you know, people are like,
oh, what what's coming up onyour show? And I'm like, I
look, I'm not done releasing episodes. That is all the answer I can
give you. And so this ideaof planning is fascinating to me, and
(42:04):
like, I mean, these areideas that I have and ultimately, like
we down the line, like we'vetalked about the idea of doing like our
own Stomicon and doing like other filmfestivals that would combine like other would be
like genre specific to like comedies ordrama, and then like tying that into
like mental health. But like ourall of our trajectory is like saying,
(42:28):
all right, right now, wewant to just bring this conversation of mental
health and fandom into new places andnew arenas. Because about three years ago
when COVID hit, we my wifeand I we before we started the nonprofit,
we were still doing podcasting, butlike we essentially started over again when
(42:50):
we became a nonprofit here in Virginia. So our goal, like the all
the goals that we've had are thegoals that were eventually working towards. But
I think some of those aspects oflike five years that I would like to
do are probably like an actuality,like a fifteen to twenty year vision plan
essentially. Yeah, and at theplanner, but like the ideas, it's
(43:13):
I used to be you know,once upon a time, and then I
had brain damage and so now it'sjust like I, you know, I
don't know what's happening tomorrow. Butit it feels like you're you're gaining momentum.
It feels like, you know,obviously the first year you do anything,
you're just sort of making it upand you're like, wow, I
got four cents. That's amazing,and it feels like you're starting to sort
(43:37):
of find your your groove. Yeah, it's uh. It took a lot
of And that's one of the thingsthat I always tell people about podcasting is
that, like, if you're interestedin getting into podcasting, a you know
the audience you want to you wantto create for be, what's going to
separate you from other podcasts because noweveryone has a channel and everyone has a
(44:00):
has something to say, So likewhat's gonna make your words have more value
than the other person? And solike having that clear cut trajectory really helps.
But like also at the same time, it allows you know, not
only not how was it necessarily experiencedburnouts also but it kind of helps avoid
(44:22):
some of that stuff. But itis like really hard to kind of have
momentum to kind of keep going.We've been doing we're doing the podcasting portion
of the nonprofit since twenty sixteen,and it started out it was just me
and a buddy and we would talkabout geek stuff and then it evolved into
what it it's become now. Butit's definitely been a lot of hard work.
(44:47):
And I have a I have agreat we have a great board directors,
and also we just happen to havegood, good staff as well,
good creative people that are working soit's it's not without a lot of work,
to say the least. Like andyou know, I don't think I
don't think it would be what itis today if we didn't have the people
(45:07):
that have either worked alongside us overthe years. And also I guess my
wife too, is like always challengingme to like plan and create stuff,
so kind of got it hammered inmy head now when it comes to stuff
like that. I like the pointthat Josh makes at the end. Like
(45:36):
once in a while I had peoplekind of make a big deal when they
talk to me about, Wow,you've been doing podcasting for five years.
That's wild, And then Josh comesalong and he's like, oh, is
that all you know? I startedin twenty sixteen, No big, He's
not like that. I'm just beinga dick. But for real, it's
(46:00):
easy to burn out. I knowa lot of people who have had pod
fade and burnout. I've had acouple of shows that I've ended. But
here here's a guy who started witha show and found a way to maintain
it as well as to expand it. And I think that's that's magical.
(46:23):
Age talks about the people around youbeing the ones that make it happen,
and that's extremely true. Like Iknow, I haven't been very active lately
with the podcast that I've been sick, and I've been tired, and I've
(46:45):
been overwhelmed with life lately. Buteven with that, I'm surrounded by people
who support me and who've got myback and who have told me, okay
to take a break and come back, no big deal. And that's magical.
And it sounds like Josh has asimilar support network. So just you
(47:10):
know, first of all, Josh, thank you so much for talking to
me. I've known Josh for yearsand we've just we crossed paths a little
bit last year and now this isthe first time he's been on the show,
and I fully insist on him comingback someday. But thank you all
for listening. And you know,just I don't ask for ratings and reviews.
(47:32):
Those mean nothing. They literally meanabsolutely nothing for real, But sometime
drop a note to your favorite podcaster, just let them know if an episode
of There's made an impact on yourlife, or just that you're listening and
that you got their back and thatthey're they're they're doing a good thing,
(47:58):
like it sounds bow and I know, it's kind of scary because this person
who's inside your head, you know, inside your ears talking to them like
I know, people have made thewildly huge mistake of assuming that I'm a
celebrity when really I'm just an idiotin my basement. But for real,
(48:21):
it means so much to know that, hey, this matters. And that's
part of why I always tell youguys, just in case you forget that
you matter.
Do you like blood loss and decapitationsand debris poking through your skin. If
you like your gods angry, yourbuildings collapsible, and your insects organized into
living quilts, Doomsday is the podcastfor you. Subscribe to rediscover some of
the most traumatic, bizarre, andonspiring but largely unheard of disasters from throughout
human history and around the world.This first season, you'll hear about the
(00:23):
worst groin injury in the recorded historyof medical science, people compressed to the
height of a business card, preheededto the temperature of the sun, electrocuted
by cocoanuts, and phrases like theplague of horror had been cleared away by
the cleansing mercy of the volcano.This is not the podcast you play around
your kids, or while eating,or even a mixed company. But as
(00:44):
long as you find yourself a littlemore historically engaged and learn something that could
potentially save your life, our workis done. All this and bore on
Doomsday, History's most Dangerous podcast.A funeral Kazoo production on the Anchor FM
network Find It wherever podcasts are found. This podcast sometimes involves discussions of sex,
violence, and ornamental illness. Ifthis might disturb you or those around
(01:07):
you, feel free to skip it. If you find yourself upset while listening,
it's okay to jump ahead or justturn it off. Privacy and confidentiality
have been protected whenever requested and possible. If you ever feel unsafe or suicidal,
please contact your local crisis center,national hotline, or emergency services.
In the United States, the NationalSuicide Prevention hot Line number is one eight
(01:33):
hundred two seven three eight two fivefive. Take care of yourself, you
matter. Hey, this is Kate. Are you a horror movie kind of
person? I think I used tobe. I don't watch any TV or
(02:00):
movies anymore. Really, I've gotteninto the habit since I've been sick of
having something on in the background justto help break my day up into chunks.
But I'm not paying attention anymore,so I'm not. But I used
(02:21):
to be. I used to lovethe whole experience of going to the theater,
especially if it weirded me out orplayed with my head. And I
kind of missed that. But youknow, deaf, so I accept it.
You know, I'm frankly lazy ofit. It's easier to just not
(02:46):
watch movies than it is to takeall of the steps that you need to
take to be able to fully enjoythe immersive experience. That being said,
I totally get people being into it. Just take a look through some of
(03:07):
your podcatchers sometime. There are somany different genres of movie reviews, movie
discussions with spoilers, without spoilers,specific Disney specific kids movies, specific comedies,
and you know, horror movies.And when that happens, how do
(03:32):
you stand out? How do youmake your show something special? My friend
Josh figured out a way, soI'm gonna let him explain it, but
basically, he started with this podcastidea, what are we gonna do?
(03:55):
We're gonna make a podcast, andhe found ways to expand it into the
real world, a real life,and to do important things with it.
And at the end of the day, I feel like, look, if
(04:15):
you're making a podcast just for thehell of it and you don't really want
to make an impact on the world, that's okay. But if you're able
to take your work and have animpact on the world, a positive,
strong impact on the world, that'smagical. And I feel like a lot
(04:35):
of us really want to do that. Are you sure you really want to
know this is ignorance was bliss.My name is Josh. I'm the director
(05:18):
of Horrific Hope Film Festival and thehost of the horror mental health podcast of
Biscazing. Okay, so talk tome about horror mental health, Like how
do we mix those up? Becauselike, I have my thoughts about it,
but sure, so horror mental healthis well, I guess, like
(05:42):
I start back at the beginning withmy with my own relationship with horror and
when I grew up in a fairlyconservative Christian household and one of the things
that helped me get through my deathof my grandmother at a young age was
just becoming a centophile and horror kindof always seemed to be that forbidden fruit
(06:05):
for me. And so when Iwas eighteen, I just probably went a
little bit too deep into the genreand ended up kind of getting into this
like really un healthy borderlines, reallytoxic relationship with the genre. So really
it really damaged my own mental healthand kind of like the behavior that I
(06:26):
had with my then girlfriend who's nowmy my my wife, some of my
co workers, friends, family,stuff like that. So I took a
step back actually from the genre frommy own mental health to kind of get
it in order. And when Icame back to the genre, I really
wanted to explore some of the mentalhealth aspects of those characters like Freddy Krueger,
(06:55):
Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, Pinhead, Chucky and kind of like really
not only examine them from a howdoes how do their victims like how does
that all affect their mental health?But like what is the the genre willing
to talk about in terms of mentalhealth as well? And and I mean
(07:16):
it's from the from the mental healthside of things. I've attended workshops,
full workshops of like here are moviesthat depict it well, even if they
don't name it, but here aremovies that depict mental illness and or mental
health well, including those in thehorror genre. And here are ones just
(07:39):
you're clear of. And so doyou have opinions on that? Like do
you have personal favorites or is itsort of a catch as catch can for
you. It's so it's interesting becausethe horror as a as a genre,
when you're getting into it almost kindof feels like the equivalent of stepping into
like the BDSM community when you likeyou want to know your limits. So
(08:01):
you say, all right, thisis where I draw the line of the
stand because I don't like the waythat this makes me feel, or I
could never find myself or see myselfdoing this, or you know, my
partner blah blah blah. And that'skind of the same way as with the
horror community. There are definitely aspectsof those genres, Like there are definitely
(08:22):
like three films to name, likerough Top would be films like Megan is
Missing, the Kempsie Tapes, aSerbian film, Human Centipede. These are
films that really are on the extremespectrum of it. And so one of
the things about being coming into thisgenre is understanding your own limits. Your
(08:46):
mental health is never worth the sacrificejust to be entertained, because that hour
and a half two hours that you'resacrificing for entertainment ultimately end up essentially hatching
years years of scars um. Andso for me, like for me personally,
like the one area that of mentalhealth or ama of horror that like
(09:07):
I stick clear of if a filmrevolves around it or has like a really
graphic scene is always rape. Bothmy parents were sexual assault survivors, and
so I grew up kind of seeingthat that impact of years of that trauma,
and you know, those were conversationsthat we had regularly in my house
(09:30):
growing up. And so anytime thatlike Rob Zombies Director's kind of Halloween's a
great example, there's a really graphicsex scene in there. Anytime I watched
that movie, it's here's I knowit's coming, skip this entire scene,
will will fast forward ten minutes tosee it, and I stick. I
tend to like stick away from likefilms like I Spit on your Grave,
(09:52):
Last House on the Left, etcetera. Do you have the flip side?
Do you have ones where you're like, this is an exemplar of go
watch this In terms of like interms of like entertainment value or in terms
of like a mental health exploration,I don't know. I asked the question,
you answer it. I don't thinkin terms of like entertainments. I
(10:16):
would definitely say, like some thatare just like just entertaining and are just
kind of like ridiculous. Are justactually watched rewatched Frank and Hooker this past
weekend, and like it's this likesuper nineties schlocky trauma film where a guy
basically kills hookers to like bring hisgirlfriend back to life, and I love
(10:41):
like schlock like that, So likethat's always been kind of something that I've
always liked in terms of entertainment.But one of the things that I really
like about doing a film festival likethis and also like a podcast, is
that we've come into contact with alot of independent cinema that is doesn't have
(11:01):
the studio bounds or these expectations fromlike audiences that know their voices or the
characters, So you're allowed to kindof explore a lot more character depth than
I feel like you would in yournormal uh you know, Scream, Halloween,
Exorcists, et cetera, like yournormal like famous Ips and so it
(11:22):
Films like that that would recommend thatI feel like does a great job at
exploring things would be Silas would definitelybe one. It's now streaming on shutter.
It basically explores a hairstylist who termsto murder as opposed to actually wanting
(11:43):
to kind of deal with some ofher trauma and life long losses and stuff
like that, and just also kindof like crying to like how to have
also this like fear of missing out. It's just such a really great example
of like just a complex story that'sjust told in such a compelling way.
(12:07):
Like now, I'm like trying tothink of like other films that I feel
like that aren't like the obvious answer, like Gordon Keel and stuff like that.
Do you watch other genres or areyou sort of one of those very
specific focused horror guys. Oh,I love other genres. I am.
(12:28):
We're recording this in mid May.I am so looking forward to Like a
Little Mermaid is one of my mostanticipated movies this year. It's one of
my favorite films of all time.I'm looking forward to Flash next month.
I love movies period. I mightbe a horror podcaster and director of a
(12:50):
horror film festival, but I lovecinema. I love being moved to tell
stories polite societies, like another onefrom earlier this year that it just enthralled
me. It's such a good film, and it is this like UK comedy
(13:11):
action comedy about mommy issues and likejust really weird kind of like sci fi
John Wicks stuff. But it happensto be like just following like uh,
people from Bollywood, and so it'sit's this just it's so random, but
it's so good, and I justI love to be moved. I love
(13:31):
to be made to laugh and fryand be drawn to the edge of my
seats, and so yeah, Ijust love cinema period. It's one of
my favorite things in terms of ingeneral life. I guess I kind of
miss it, you know, Idon't. I don't watch movies or TV
anymore because my hearing he's gotten sobad, and going to the theater it's
(13:54):
one of the areas where accommodations arestill spotty and difficult to get and if
you use the screen reader to captionit, people will a bitch that you've
got your phone on. And that'sfun. So I just I first I
stopped going to see movies in thetheater, and then I stopped watching them
at home because captioning was iffy,and then I stopped watching TV. And
(14:16):
now I'm out of like all ofit. It's just it's not a thing
I enjoy anymore. But I missedthe experience of whether it was going to
the theater or whether it was settlingin on the couch and you know,
watching the new opening credits and beinglike, all right, let's let's go.
Yeah, COVID's also kind of changeda little bit of that stuff as
(14:39):
well, where you could go seea film in theaters opening night and it
gets experience it with a packed house, and it was always a it was
always an experience, and I don'tfeel like there we get that anymore.
Because one of the things that Ilove is BJ back from the Office,
(15:01):
wrote and directed his first film lastyear called Vengeance. There's a point in
the movie where he talks about likeanalyzing America now, talks about how we're
living in divided times, not justin the sense of socially, politically,
economically, but because of the riseof like dreaming, we and social media
(15:24):
you all. Basically the way thathe phrases it is that we live in
our own time, Like we checksocial media when it's convenient for us,
We watch things when it's convenient forus, and so like, don't you
don't get to have those experiences anymore. I think the last time I saw
a film with a plaqued house wasactually a Skinner Rank earlier this year,
(15:45):
and it was one of the omistmovies I've ever seen. But just kind
of getting to like experience it witha crowd is like something it's really special,
and I feel like we don't kindof get to experience that anymore because
of um, just because of ofof how we live, just because of
how we've kind of developed as aculture. Well and and arguably there's also
(16:10):
and a degree of that. Youknow, I grew up in the era
of this sort of old style theaterseating, you know, where the chair
you have to kind of you getto kind of balance on the very edge
of the chair and let it flopdown and try not to colf on the
floor, you know. And andnow everything is like these huge, you
(16:33):
know, lounge chair with cup holderstyle fancy like I had to the last
the only movie I've seen in thetheaters in the last who decade is the
um the Mister Rogers film Neighborhood withTom Hanks, And that's because I was
(16:55):
going to be on a podcast totalk about it, and so I was
like, oh, I should watchthe movie first, that would be good
idea. And I went and Iremember like walking into the theater and me,
this doesn't even feel like a theateranymore, like almost part of one
of the reasons, you know,I went a lot in high school.
Uh, you know, in thenineties and and saw so for me,
(17:17):
you know that that was the ageof like Schindler's List and seven and you
know Aladdin, and you know thatthese movies that just worked well in the
theater for one one reason or another. And now I'm like, I don't
want to spend you know, it'sit's fifty bucks for two people to go
to the theater, and I don'twant to spend fifty bucks on and maybe
(17:41):
for this city. You know,part like I was almost in high school,
Zone was paying for the discomfort.I mean, my favorite theater experience
of our remains. Um So,I grew up in upstate New York and
specifically where Rod Serling got his startfor Twilight Zone fans. And so there
(18:03):
was this theater that was, youknow, one of those sort of not
old timey but like mid range typeswhere it had the movie screen, but
it also had the stage in frontof it, and it had to really
ornate like the worn velvet seats whereyou're like, oh my god, how
many butts have touched this seat?But I don't care. I'm going to
sit in it anyway. But likethe walls had like the velvet like you
(18:29):
know, that if you went overand touched the wall, it would feel
the same way as your seat felt, and so you just didn't do that.
And you know, it had abalcony. It was just the sort
of I don't know if I'm describingit right, but do you know,
like mid nineteen nineteen hundreds feel oflike what I felt like cinema really should
feel like. And I went witha friend um to go see seven,
(18:56):
which I think is a fantastic move. Even though I find it psychologically wildly
inaccurate, I still enjoyed the movieitself a ton, and I really enjoyed
making my kids watch it as theygot older, because I was like,
welcome to this is what was hotconsidered like edgy when I was your age,
(19:18):
you know. But so I'm sittingin this theater and it's so you've
got the whole that vibe. Everything'sshabby, everything's run down, and I'm
watching a horror film and that one'sI wouldn't consider it gore, but it's
got some scenes, it's got someintensity. And as I was sitting there,
(19:40):
it turns out twenty minutes, fortyfive minutes, I don't know,
some amounts of time into the movieis when I discovered that they had theater
cats. They had a couple oflike straight cats that lived in the theater,
and so something brushed against my legand I was so part of my
(20:02):
brain is still clinging to the ceilingbecause it's scared the Jesus out of me.
But it was like perfect for theambiance. And that's not something like
I have cats here, but Iexpect them to pester me. I did
not. I did. That wasfully unexpected there. So that was that
was a wonderful moment, And that'sthat's awesome, like really adding to like
(20:23):
that experience and like I mean,I feel it would be like the same
exact thing of like finding like ayou know, a smaller bug like a
road or a worm, like inan environment like that, you're that's something
that you're not expecting. So itadds a late level of kind of terror
(20:44):
to that to where it's just likeit's not quite scary, it's just something
that like catches you off guard andyou kind of have to like reset yourself
afterwards. Well you do a lotof reality testing for the rest of the
movie to be like something like Isat, you know, my legs,
you know, with my chin onmy knees, my feet up on the
seat with me, because I wasjust like, look, I like cats,
but like I don't want to gothrough the full range of the animal
(21:07):
kingdom of what else might be inhere. And you know, the guy
I went with was was just ahigh school buddy. But I remember thinking
like if this had been a dateby this point, I would have already
been able to be like, look, you're out of luck tonight, because
I'm gonna go home and just sleepfor days, Like no way. Yeah,
it's one of those things that likeyou just see like a goat coming
(21:30):
out next time. It was likea little bit of like a dog.
Maybe there's like some bunnies popping upin it, and all of them would
have been terrible, terrifying, youknow what. It wouldn't have mattered,
like you know, cutest, cutestlittle hedgehog ever would have scared the shit
out of me at that time.You know, like just it was ideal.
And so that's the kind of experiencethat I miss, is the three
(21:52):
hundred and sixty degree feel of it. It's really hard to kind of recapture
something thing like that in a modernsense. We here in Virginia, where
my wife and I live, arelucky enough to actually have a historical landmark
in one of our more populated portionsof the city which we live. And
(22:15):
they basically took like an old timeytheater like which you're describing, and they've
kind of redone it up and notnecessarily like brought into like the modern age,
but like kept it up to code, and they do films from like
fifties to like now. I've actuallyhad the chance of seeing Mahaland drive there
(22:37):
last month, and such a greatexperience to be able to kind of step
into something that historic, because itfeels like a time machine to where like
when you come in as a matterof which door you come in, but
there are these like center seats likein the very back where like you have
people where like wheelchair access, butthen you have like balconies. And when
(23:03):
I saw Muhalad drive there, theyactually have a portion of the stage has
a riser on it so actually itcomes up and you act. They actually
have a guy that's on staff thatplays like an old timey organ and that's
kind of how they kick get everythingoff, and then he goes down the
movie starts yeah, it's it's likeit's seeing a film in an environment like
(23:26):
that just the way that cinema wasmeant to be is it's not only nostalgic,
but it's just it's such a spectacularexperience because it's something that you just
don't think you're ever gonna experience untilyou do well, until there's a cat
rushing against you to like yeah,yeah, and well, and that's the
things that you know, my kidsaren't ever going to experience that. You
(23:48):
know, my older kids can remembertimes pre COVID, so they can at
least recall what it is like forit not to feel weird to be in
a packed house. Know, restrictionshave been lifted in Massachusetts where I am,
and so like you're allowed to havea packed house. But my husband
(24:08):
takes the kids to see movies oncein a while, and he said,
like, it feels odd. Itfeels weird to have broken social distancing after
having spent two and a half yearshardcore social distancing from everybody. Absolutely,
and so my older kids can kindof remember that at least a little bit.
But we weren't taking them to horrormovies at the time, you know,
(24:30):
because my oldest is twenty three.The next one's eighteen. So you
know, prior to COVID, weweren't we weren't, like okay, at
home once in a while, Idefinitely watched you know, Silence of the
Lambs and Seven of Them, butit was at home, you know,
so that you could like pause thingsand deal with like, am I traumatizing
you yet? No, Okay,let's press play and keep seeing if we
(24:52):
get to that point. They're nevergoing to fully know that. But my
younger too, you know, they'rethey're they're thirteen and ten, they're not
ever going to know that. Thattheater experience, Yeah, you bring up
something that's like really interesting to hearfrom like a parental environment and to kind
of bring back to like an earlierpoint of like also knowing your limits,
like being able to have someone tokind of ease you into the genre of
(25:17):
horror is something that something I reallykind of wish that I would have had
growing up. Like I don't holdany like ill will against my parents for
like sheltering me from it, butthere are definitely like experiences where I'm like,
the first time I watched something likeI previously mentioned Last House on the
Left, and the whole thing isit's a rape revenge film. It's the
(25:38):
first film from Wes Craven and it'sa hard watch. It's a very hard
watch, even by nineteen I thinkit's like nineteen seventy two standards. And
I was on tour at the timewith the band I was I was playing
in and just watching that on theroad and having to like go about just
normalcy was really hard because there's apart of me that's just like, what
(26:02):
did I just watch? So youget somebody experiences like that to where like
I think someone that you can Ican coach you through that experience, but
also at the same time, likepause and say like are you okay,
Like you know, kind of justlike checking in with you, I think
is really important, especially because itdefines the limits on what you can like
(26:23):
also take in terms of entertainment,but also at the same time it's a
it's a great bonding experience as well. Well. And I like to know
when I'm missing my kids up,you know what I like, because we
all do, like parents just fundamentallyscrew up our kids. But I like
to know I'm doing it rather thanhave it be a surprise later so that
that that helps. That's that's alsoa valid point. My parents did the
(26:48):
best they could and hoped for thebest, and I think my sister and
I turned out pretty pretty good,so you know, I think they did
an all right job. So WesCraven you mentioned earlier, you mentioned Fredy
Krue River in West Craven. Ihave to bring it up because it is
like literally one of the only claimsto fame from the town where I went
(27:08):
to college. I went to collegein Potsdam, New York, which is
what up on its upstate New York, like on the Canadian border. So
the closest towns were in Montreal andOttawa and last house on the left,
people under the stairs in Nightmare onElm Street are based in Potsdam, like
(27:30):
if you if you look at thescenery, and because he taught there at
the time, he taught Sunny Potsdamat the time, and he taught film
theory and that kind of thing,and so like the Nightmare on Elm Street,
for instance, if you watch themovie, at no point does Elm
Street actually play a role, likethey don't. The movie deliberately avoids anchoring
(27:52):
itself geographically, but Elm Street Potsdam, like I've lived on Elm Street in
Potsdam, and that it was thehouse that he's talking about. You know,
all of the frat houses had theirown little sort of real or not
real, believed or not believed,I don't care, but their stories and
(28:15):
their their ghosts and whatever. Andthat was the Theta Kai house. And
one of the Theta Kai students talkedabout this, you know, guy who
stole your nightmares kind of basic storyline, and did a short film of that,
which he ultimately sort of built out. And that was only like I
(28:36):
never put it together for a longtime because I was by it. Just
I wasn't that much of a cinephile, Like I didn't pay that much attention
to things like directors or whatever.But when I was in college there a
freshman pledge drank himself to death inthe Theta Kai house, and so it
hit the news like this is theNightmare on Elm Street house and now we
(29:00):
have a death in the house,like how creepy, how unusual, And
I'm like, well, it's actuallylet's focus on fraternity use of alcohol perhaps,
but okay, gotcha interesting to know. And if you look at photos
of the interior scenes for the peopleunder the stairs. That's my husband's fraternity,
(29:22):
the stairs and the people like Ihave a photo of the like friends
of mine standing in front of thatdoorway and another friend of mine, once
overindulged in, gave a lap dancesitting, you know, with her guest
with his back directly against that door, and I have like a blurry photo
(29:42):
of that. And it's just thatthere's always been that, like, what
a weird claim to fame, andhe's always been a little bit cagy about
where it's based. But look,give us something, you know. It's
this little, tiny, dark townfull of engineers, Like, give us
some claim to fame. We deservesomething. There's actually a point in one
of the Elm Streets where I thinkit's in. I think it might be
(30:06):
Freddie's The Dead, but there's apoint in there where Freddie actually mentions that
every town has an Elm Street andthe reason that they ended up actually calling
in a nightmare on Elm Street andcould get this one wrong. I have
made it note on my show thatI'm not like I love I love every
franchise, but I'm not like adiehard Freddie fan. So, uh,
(30:29):
if your audience is this, pleasedon't crustify me. Uh. But one
of the things that Craven has talkedabout in interviews is like also that the
same exact thing is that you havethis like, uh a big ambiguity.
I think it's how you say yeah, yeah, that word um, and
(30:51):
that's why you kind of get somethinglike um. I don't remember the town
that, like the fake town.I think Spring would from from Nightmare on
Elm Street, but it's been along time since I've seen people under the
stairs, so I don't remember likenext to nothing about that. But that's
really cool to hear that though itwas just one of those like it was
such a what a weird little factoid. And then and and then that's I
(31:14):
agree, that's what the Craven hasbeen since then KG about it, which
I think is more marketing. Youknow. It's because it's like I if
you look at the scenery and ifyou look at the house, you know,
and you know all of it likeit. It fits in with the
vibe and it's He taught at PotsdamState University there well it was sunny Potsdam.
(31:37):
It was called State University of NewYork, you know. And then
subsequently came out with it. Soit's like, look, the timeline works.
Just give us our thing. It'sit's it's the one thing to be
able to say, like I've beenin that house, you know, yeah,
no, I get that. That'sthat's that's really cool though, So
talk to me about your your horrificSo horrific. Hope is the first film
(32:01):
festival to be horror centric and mentalhealth focus. There's not really anything else
there that out there is like that. So we had this past year.
We did it in April, theWinchester, the Alamo, Virginia, and
(32:22):
basically the whole point of our ourfestival is to showcase the best voices,
best up and coming voices in thefilm in the independent world of filmmaking and
specifically horror, but use their artto openly discuss mental health, how entertainment
mental health themes, but also howmental health, how entertainment affects our mental
(32:45):
health, also provide resources for allthose in attendance and all those really who
It just happened to also attend theAlamo that day as well, and so
it took scribe from me like I'mgoing to a music festival this coming weekend
and so I have a sense,but describe for someone who's never attended a
(33:06):
film festival, like, what isit like? So our film festival is
really unique because we try and youtalked we talked earlier about the how when
you go to see like a modernmovie, like it doesn't really feel like
a big cinemagic experience. We wantyou to feel like you are not only
(33:28):
having these really vulnerable conversations, butat the same time that you are getting
a chance to step into something that'sone of a kind and that is an
actual experience. So like for us, just kind of going back through this
year. So this past year wewere able to people pay a flat fee
(33:49):
and they're able to experience films fromcountries that you probably may never visit,
see films that you may never seeagain. One of our filmmakers, actually
the winner of our Best Short thisyear, actually said that not only was
the film his film, What's calledIncubus, not only would it play it
(34:10):
not only would it be a Virginiamirror, but it actually ended up also
being the only time it'll likely playin the state of Virginia as well.
So this past year we had wehad we had films both shorts and features
from Australia, Canada, France,the Netherlands and Norway, Portugal, Spain,
(34:30):
Ukraine, the United Kingdom and theUnited States. So you're basically getting
to see films they wouldn't see anywhereelse, and people just throw films in
your general direction or like, howdoes that? How does that work?
So we we go through a servicecalled film Freeway, which if you visit
(34:50):
now can get film submissions for twentytwenty four are currently open, so you
go to film freeway dot com,forward slash Horrific Film Festival and all of
the ignorance is Bliss listeners. Ifyou're a filmmaker, if you use the
code Bliss twenty four for the monthof June, you get fifteen percent off
your submissions. But basically people cansubmit their screenplays, whether it's short films,
(35:17):
feature films. They can do completedshort films and feature films. And
then in January you're notified that hey, you've been selected or you have not
your if you're part of our ScreenRantcompetition, you've been selected as a finalist.
And then in the beginning of Aprilyou're notified whether or not you've been
(35:39):
done for a second or third place, and prices typically rained from anywhere as
little as ten dollars to as muchas like, I think, like fifty
five sixty dollars, depending on thetime of year that you do it.
So like we have an early birdspecial which runs from June to August.
(36:00):
We have one that is considered theregular time period, which goes from August
to November. This is kind oflike medium pricing. And then we have
what's called a late period that willrun from November to mid January until like
submissions close for the week or forthe year. And these are kind of
(36:21):
like the more expensive versions of these. Yeah, of the prices you'd pay.
How hard is it to like,is it easy to convince filmmakers like,
hey, join our thing here?Or do you have to do a
heavy hustle Like I don't know,compare it to like getting a podcast guest.
Is it easier or harder than that? For ours? I feel like
(36:45):
ours is a little bit. Ifeel like ours has been a little bit
easier because not only is it agreat like it's mental health and so like
people like really rally behind that cause, but it's also also happens to be
a fundraiser for our nonprofit as well, and so I think people are a
(37:06):
little bit more open to the ideaof submitting to us. So we market
ourselves on social media like we woulda podcast. But also at the same
time, I'm constantly watching for likeplatforms like Facebook and Twitter, um to
see like which filmmakers are currently makingAnd this is our third year, so
(37:27):
like we've kind of gained general mysys did refuse reputation reputation, but like
a decent following among filmmakers. Solike film Freeway is a great service because
you can actually like if you ifyou like a specific film festival, you
can actually hit follow and so anytimethey're they open up, you get notified
(37:51):
saying, hey, this is it, whereas like other ones, UM,
we still do a lot of networking. So I'm like going to like other
film festivals, uh conventions, kindof talking to people both in person online
about the film festival and like reullytrying to grow it as well. Do
you tell do you? I meanI imagine it's maybe a stupid question,
(38:15):
but do you have you turned peopleaway? Have you been like look,
I'm not playing that here, likethanks, but here's your ten bucks back.
Uh So, because um so,one of the one of the first
rules that when you like pull upour page, um it actually says submission
does not mean admission. And that'susually a common thing, um that you
(38:39):
will find with film fiftools. That'sjust the common thing among film festivals is
that you are you're submitting and thehopes of playing on the big screener being
a part of that year's festival,but you don't get your money back kind
of thing. And so for us, like we're really we're really you know,
open about it, Like gear moneyis going towards paying the cost of
(39:01):
the film festival, but also atthe same time it's it's going towards helping
us continue our our nonprofit of gettingmental health resources into places here in Virginia,
other conventions, other film festivals,etc. What do you mean by
(39:22):
resources for mental health? So wewe are we bring like uh like hotlines,
like literature information, statistics, stufflike that. It's kind of things
that we do in terms of bringingstuff into conventions like like comic coons and
like other film festivals, places wherepeople are using those fandoms as kind of
(39:46):
like means of escape. But there'snothing that is kind of like saying what
brought you to something like Spider Manor Batman or video games stuff like that,
And so you wanted to kind ofbe kind of like a catch all
I guess is for like people tolike a understand that they're not alone,
(40:07):
be that there are other people outthere that are suffering with that, and
also to where to have a goodstarting point to get connected to a counselor
or um just other people that canlike help them go through that difficult time
and stuff like that. So doyou have like a you know, ultimate
(40:30):
goal or five year plan or whatever, or are you just sort of flying
by the seat of your pants tosee, Okay, what can we do
this time? Are you talking aboutI know this is your show, but
I just I need some clarification onthe question. Uh No, with with
specifically with the nonprofit, like what'sthe what are the goals for the nonprofit
and the film festival? So ournonprofit, our goal would be to eventually
(40:52):
build up to do a second filmfestival, but also um to have a
rick and mortar kind of place herewhere we are kind of combining both of
those worlds to where we would wantto get to a place where we are
able to do like live entertainment herein terms of like movie nights, or
(41:15):
like live support live local acts interms of like artists here, but also
at the same time to where likewe can employ eventually eventually employ uh like
counselors and therapists to kind of havelike a place where we can have like
an house um people and kind oflike expand more lass just doing entertainment and
(41:40):
pop culture and podcasting. So thatconcept fascinates me because I just make shit
up as I go, Like literallyevery you know, people are like,
oh, what what's coming up onyour show? And I'm like, I
look, I'm not done releasing episodes. That is all the answer I can
give you. And so this ideaof planning is fascinating to me, and
(42:04):
like, I mean, these areideas that I have and ultimately, like
we down the line, like we'vetalked about the idea of doing like our
own Stomicon and doing like other filmfestivals that would combine like other would be
like genre specific to like comedies ordrama, and then like tying that into
like mental health. But like ourall of our trajectory is like saying,
(42:28):
all right, right now, wewant to just bring this conversation of mental
health and fandom into new places andnew arenas. Because about three years ago
when COVID hit, we my wifeand I we before we started the nonprofit,
we were still doing podcasting, butlike we essentially started over again when
(42:50):
we became a nonprofit here in Virginia. So our goal, like the all
the goals that we've had are thegoals that were eventually working towards. But
I think some of those aspects oflike five years that I would like to
do are probably like an actuality,like a fifteen to twenty year vision plan
essentially. Yeah, and at theplanner, but like the ideas, it's
(43:13):
I used to be you know,once upon a time, and then I
had brain damage and so now it'sjust like I, you know, I
don't know what's happening tomorrow. Butit it feels like you're you're gaining momentum.
It feels like, you know,obviously the first year you do anything,
you're just sort of making it upand you're like, wow, I
got four cents. That's amazing,and it feels like you're starting to sort
(43:37):
of find your your groove. Yeah, it's uh. It took a lot
of And that's one of the thingsthat I always tell people about podcasting is
that, like, if you're interestedin getting into podcasting, a you know
the audience you want to you wantto create for be, what's going to
separate you from other podcasts because noweveryone has a channel and everyone has a
(44:00):
has something to say, So likewhat's gonna make your words have more value
than the other person? And solike having that clear cut trajectory really helps.
But like also at the same time, it allows you know, not
only not how was it necessarily experiencedburnouts also but it kind of helps avoid
(44:22):
some of that stuff. But itis like really hard to kind of have
momentum to kind of keep going.We've been doing we're doing the podcasting portion
of the nonprofit since twenty sixteen,and it started out it was just me
and a buddy and we would talkabout geek stuff and then it evolved into
what it it's become now. Butit's definitely been a lot of hard work.
(44:47):
And I have a I have agreat we have a great board directors,
and also we just happen to havegood, good staff as well,
good creative people that are working soit's it's not without a lot of work,
to say the least. Like andyou know, I don't think I
don't think it would be what itis today if we didn't have the people
(45:07):
that have either worked alongside us overthe years. And also I guess my
wife too, is like always challengingme to like plan and create stuff,
so kind of got it hammered inmy head now when it comes to stuff
like that. I like the pointthat Josh makes at the end. Like
(45:36):
once in a while I had peoplekind of make a big deal when they
talk to me about, Wow,you've been doing podcasting for five years.
That's wild, And then Josh comesalong and he's like, oh, is
that all you know? I startedin twenty sixteen, No big, He's
not like that. I'm just beinga dick. But for real, it's
(46:00):
easy to burn out. I knowa lot of people who have had pod
fade and burnout. I've had acouple of shows that I've ended. But
here here's a guy who started witha show and found a way to maintain
it as well as to expand it. And I think that's that's magical.
(46:23):
Age talks about the people around youbeing the ones that make it happen,
and that's extremely true. Like Iknow, I haven't been very active lately
with the podcast that I've been sick, and I've been tired, and I've
(46:45):
been overwhelmed with life lately. Buteven with that, I'm surrounded by people
who support me and who've got myback and who have told me, okay
to take a break and come back, no big deal. And that's magical.
And it sounds like Josh has asimilar support network. So just you
(47:10):
know, first of all, Josh, thank you so much for talking to
me. I've known Josh for yearsand we've just we crossed paths a little
bit last year and now this isthe first time he's been on the show,
and I fully insist on him comingback someday. But thank you all
for listening. And you know,just I don't ask for ratings and reviews.
(47:32):
Those mean nothing. They literally meanabsolutely nothing for real, But sometime
drop a note to your favorite podcaster, just let them know if an episode
of There's made an impact on yourlife, or just that you're listening and
that you got their back and thatthey're they're they're doing a good thing,
(47:58):
like it sounds bow and I know, it's kind of scary because this person
who's inside your head, you know, inside your ears talking to them like
I know, people have made thewildly huge mistake of assuming that I'm a
celebrity when really I'm just an idiotin my basement. But for real,
(48:21):
it means so much to know that, hey, this matters. And that's
part of why I always tell youguys, just in case you forget that
you matter.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!