Fright School

Welcome back to Fright School! Joshua and Joe are both drink goblins! Joe kicks off Spooky Season with some pumpkin spice. We continue to work on the FREAKY KIKI HORROR BALL! this week we traveled to the BORDERLAND (2007). We discuss the ethics of horror films "based on actual events," the Mexico border in the American Imagination, and how the ongoing War on Drugs informs more horror films than it helps people struggling with addiction. The Narcosatanist (HBO): A docuseries chronicling a rash of brutal murders linked to alleged drug-dealing satanic serial killers Adolfo Costanza and Sara Aldrete. The Narco Saint: How a Mexican folk idol got conscripted into the drug wars by Ann Neumann Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! This week we are celebrating Summerween! Joshua doesn't know shit about THE FLINTSTONES but he has been catching up on INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE. Joe is once again attacked by fatphobia and he has the scar to prove it! We're dedicating the next few episodes to an exploration of fact versus fiction starting with WINCHESTER (2018)! We break down the myths associated with Sarah Winchester, her spooky house, and the famous rifle. Is the true horror just patriarchy and capitalism?! We're throwing a BALL! Visit our links for all the info on the FREAKY KIKI HORROR BALL! Winchester: The True Ghost Story Behind Helen Mirren’s Haunted House Thriller By Joanna Robinson Labyrinth of Lies: The Truth Behind the Sarah Winchester Mystery House Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! This week we recap our love for our Geekscape family while trying to summarize Comic Con. Joshua misses fashion. Joe talks hentai and lampshading. We give our thoughts on DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE. This week we took a field trip to see TRAP (2024). We discuss making fake pop music work, inverting horror, the "true" story TRAP is inspired by, and Joe takes us back to the root of his Queer desire, Josh Hartnett. Geekscape Enjoys the SDCC 2024 HER Universe Fashion Show For all the latest details on our FREAKY KIKI HORROR BALL check out our links Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! This week we're bringing you an episode from the Geekscape booth at San Diego Comic Con! We chat all things Queer Horror with Dr. Heather O. Petrocelli author of Queer for Fear: Horror Film and the Queer Spectator! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bienvenue à Fright School! We're going French again this week! But first, we're going to Comic Con! Find us hanging out at the Geekscape booth #1632 all week long. Keep an eye on our social media for dispatches from the con throughout the week. We share some CC memories and look forward to seeing our friend and Podfather, Matt Kelly (from Horror Movie Night, White People Problems, Christmas 365, Weird Al-gorithm, One Hit Thunder and the many other shows he produces since he does not seem to need sleep)! This week we watched CALVAIRE. What could go wrong when a cabaret singer gets stranded in the Belgium countryside? We discuss the brutal intimacy of the film, debate whether a film can be feminist without centering women characters, and Joshua teaches Joe a new word. Follow us everywhere @FrightSchool! Check out our links HERE We're throwing a ball! Check out the Freaky Kiki Horror Ball coming this October! ‘Calvaire’ and Horror in the Absence of a Matriarch by Jenn Adams THE DISQUIETING GUEST — CALVAIRE A

Welcome back to FRIGHT SCHOOL! Happy Pride Week, San Diego! Joshua saw LONGLEGS and IN A VIOLENT NATURE with mixed results. Joe spent an evening in a women's prion with Melissa Etheridge. What's up with Joe and prisons lately? Joshua does a terrible David Attenborough impression. This week, we get back to Joe's Catholic roots with SAINT MAUD! We discuss the allusions to CARRIE, THE EXORCIST, and DON'T LOOK NOW, how faith can sometimes look like mental illness and vice versa, reality testing, and the ecstasy of godgasms. Recommended reading: Saint Maud and the Terror of God’s Presence by Christina Pasqua Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! Joe went to Palm Springs to study Queer zoology. Joshua gives Joe a fashion lesson (again). This week the Queers bash back in DEPARTING SENIORS! Is this HEARTSTOPPER with a slasher? We discuss the ongoing SCREAM influence in meta horror, James Baldwin's thoughts on White gays, and internalized homophobia. Fun stuff, kids! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! Hi Gay! Joshua is excited for BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE. Joe went to prison and takes us to church! We’re continuing our Pride season 2024 (we are in San Diego, after all) with SPIRAL! It’s a suburban nightmare when a gay couple moves to small town ‘murica! We talk the politics of fear, shifting identities, and are reminded why jogging can be bad for your health.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to FRIGHT SCHOOL! It’s that time of year again, priDEMONth! We’re kicking things off with a Fright School field trip to see I SAW THE TV GLOW! I Saw the TV Glow’s Ending Is Full of Hope, If You Want It to Be Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! Happy St. Patrick's Day! How many pints of Irish are you? Joe is having a reunion with GIRLS5EVA and taking all of that girl power one step further with LOVE LIES BLEEDING. Joshua saw Madonna in Silver Daddy Land aka Palm Springs. This week, we are finishing up our mini salute to the Mary Shelley's enduring work FRANKENSTEIN with LISA FRANKENSTEIN (2024)! This neon piece of comedy horror gets a bit overshadowed by its reverence for its references, but it is fun spotting the many and varied Easter eggs hiding in it. We wonder what the Future Legendary Spooky Children will think of the film in a few decades, chat about Diablo Cody's universe, and realize there is little to actually compare the film to in Mary Shelley's original novel. Oh well! Dig up some cans of TAB from the graveyard of 80s nostalgia, pop some popcorn, grab LISA FRANKESNTEIN, WEIRD SCIENCE and BEETLEJUICE and you may have the makings for a perfect slumber party with the Monster High Ghouls... Learn more abou

Welcome back to Fright School! Joshua catches Joe up on 22 years of SOUTH PARK history. Joe breaks down SCHMIGADOON. Joe is also gifting the world with a Cabaret to benefit Lambda Archives! This week we're celebrating the tenth anniversary of EX MACHINA (2014). We compare the film to BLACK MIRROR, discuss human responsibility and AI, explore the film's relationship to FRANKENSTEIN, and debate the ethics of ChatGPT. Can a fashion forward gynoid drink a Cosmo? Monstrous Creators and Exploited Creatures: Ex Machina and Frankenstein by Screen Queens An Examination of Themes of Consciousness and Humanity in Ex Machina Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! Joshua is doing some deep processing. Joe is seeking thoughts on the state of new Beyoncé music. This week we're taking it back 30 years to MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN! We compare the film with previously discussed adaptations, learn about Romanticism, and find ourselves in awe of Robert De Niro's Monster. MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN (1994): A RETROSPECTIVE by Keri O'Shea 'Mary Shelley's Frankenstein': The (Almost) Perfect Adaptation of a Horror Classic by Matthew Mosley The Cultural Historical Context of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein by Sandra M. M. Gastaldi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! Joe got his hair did! We discuss THE NEW LOOK and FEUD: CAPOTE VS THE SWANS. This week we chat about THE ANGRY BLACK GIRL AND HER MONSTER (2023). We break down the FRANKENSTEIN references at work in the film, discuss systemic violence, the state of mental health and substance use treatment, and the pressure on Black women to save us all. The Humanity at the Heart of The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster by JP Nunez THE ANGRY BLACK GIRL AND HER MONSTER IS A HARROWING TAKE ON THE FRANKENSTEIN TALE by Tai Gooden ‘The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster’ Review: A High Schooler Tries to Bring Back Her Dead Brother in Uneven Indie Horror By Murtada Elfadl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! This week we get into it about our shifting Queer culture. We compare and contrast Queer As Folk, Looking, and Love, Simon. We're continuing our Black Horror History dive with ABBY (1974)! Hitting theatres almost a year to the day of THE EXORCIST's release, Abby was quickly mired in legal troubles from Warner Bros. We compare the two films, discuss the Queerness of the film, and get curious about the Christian and Yoruba themes and the way Africa is envisioned in the western imagination. Spectacular Degradation: Exploitation Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine in ABBY and THE EXORCIST by Lea Anderson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! We are excited to be joined once again by Professor T.J. who tells us all about their return to JEOPARDY! Joe revisits DISTRICT 9. We are once again celebrating Black History Month with an ode to HORROR NOIRE with MA (2019)! T.J. called it a "misfire on every level" back in 2019 and we're very excited to hear about his current thoughts on the film. We also compare MA to A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, recast the film with Melissa McCarthy in order to interrogate the racial themes, explore Black women's access to their rage, and briefly discuss mental health themes in the film. Joshua and T.J. bond over bad alcohol choices in their misguided youth. Did everyone have a MA in their neighborhood? The Trouble with the Movie MA by Isabella L Price We Asked A Psychiatrist To Analyze 'Ma' By Matthew Jacobs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! Joe can't stop singing "Live and let Die.'" Joshua goes all ASMR trying some of Joe's cookies. We debate seeing MEAN GIRLS: THE MUSICAL. We also get nostalgic with QUEER AS FOLK and Joe shares his top 3 sex scenes. This week we wrap up Jigsaw January with SAW IV! We break down the ongoing father/son relationship trope in the series, discuss some of the confusing politics at play, and wonder about the film's role in building radical empathy. Using Saw IV as a Primer on Social Justice Brian C. Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! We welcome back to the show Young David! We catch up with him and discuss how the new year is going so far. David offers his best of 2023 picks. We discuss Oscar nominations and post hot strike summer. This week, we're continuing our Jigsaw January with SAW III! We break down our favorite traps, finding a sense of purpose, and discuss the family dynamics often highlighted in the SAW franchise. Take notes kids, THIS is what back alley neurosurgery is supposed to look like! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! It's a whole new year of FEAR! We start off with a chat about our New Year's experiences. Joshua read some books. Joe plans to read the other 11 books he meant to read last year. We share our thoughts on SALTBURN. Feeling thirsty? Whose bathwater would you most like to drink? In honor of the 20th anniversary of SAW we are dedicating our 2024 January Franchise Deep Dive to the sequels in the sadistic series. This week, the secret word is trypanophobia as we find ourselves trapped in the filthy needle pit that is SAW II. We compare Jigsaw to Job, Joshua gives a lesson in blood-injection-injury phobias, and Joe is grateful for his escape room experiences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy New Fear! We’re looking back at 2023 and sharing our favorite moments! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Horrordays, Fright School! To celebrate, we thought we’d release this chat between Joshua and Jacki from the JERSEY GHOULS celebrating 50 years of THE EXORCIST! This streamed as part of Geekscape’s Holiday Livestream-tacular! We hope your holiday season, however you may celebrate, has been kind to you! Scary Cryptmas, children, and here’s to a New Year filled with FEAR! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices