Dark Discussions Podcast

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. Since Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and her creation of the monster, iconic horror characters have entered the imaginations but more so the nightmares of genre fans for generations. Whether they are supernatural monsters that stalk the night for new victims, whether they are wicked sociopaths filled with murdering wrath, whether they are demonic outer beings that collect souls for hell, monsters both human and inhuman have been the focus of frightening and lurid tales both in literature and film alike. Dark Discussions takes a look into what has frightened audiences over these past forty years. With an eclectic look into the genre, four fiends of death which have brought audiences terror and dread through various film franchises are spotlighted in detail. Michael Myers of John Carpenter’s Halloween fame seems human, yet could there be a supernatural element to his beginnings? The focus of

Welcome the newest episode of Dark Discussions, your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that’s fantastic. At times infectious diseases in horror films seem to be the cause of such horrible things as zombie outbreaks or alien plagues that spread throughout the planet and kill everyone and anything. 28 Days Later, Stephen King’s The Stand, The Crazies, and Stake Land are just a few examples of this. The disease itself is just the spark for a theme that takes different paths than the story of the plague itself. Yet both film and fiction have actually used diseases as the main theme behind their plot where together sickness and paranoia spread and each become the antagonist of the premise. With the home release of director Steven Soderbergh’s film Contagion infectious diseases once more are the forefront of table talk. Antibacterial gel, sexually transmitted disease, terrorist threats, swine flu, contaminated food … society has become not only more aware of such threats but also m

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. What does it say to the viewer when the director, on a DVD edition, has an introduction to a film where he apologizes for what you are about to see? French director Pascal Laugier writes and directs the co-produced French and Quebec, Canadian feature film Martyrs starring the beautiful actresses Mylène Jampanoï and Morjana Alaoui. Part of the new variety of extreme French horror films, Martyrs may be the most literary and nihilistic of the bunch, yet arguably the most important. As Lucy and Anna, two young foster girls, come face to face with a simple middle class family that may have some relationship to the early childhood kidnapping and abuse of one of them, shocking violence ensues. Was the family responsible for the unexplained cruelty and exploitation which Lucy had to ordeal as a child or was it a case of mistaken identity that goes awry? What appears to be a revenge film filled wit

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. By an author which has many anthologies, short stories, novels, comic books, and young adult books all coming out at what seems to be at the same time, Jonathan Maberry's latest novel with a title that sounds as if it is that of an old black and white film noir was released just in time for Halloween on October 25th, 2011. Dead of Night, a thrilling and compelling zombie plague story, is much more than the generic sounding title that it is called. When a serial killer is executed at a Pennsylvania maximum security prison, unbeknownst to some, the body is claimed by an unknown relative from a rural south eastern county of the commonwealth. Reporter Billy Trout starts an investigation on what could be a significant story that eventually turns into much more than he ever expected. As his findings turn into shock, police officers JT Hammond and Desdemona Fox are called to what appears to be a

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. A film based on one of the worst pandemics in the history of mankind can’t be a good and enjoyable watch, can it? When the Black Plague (also known as the Black Death) swept across Europe in the 1300’s, anywhere between 30 to 60% of the population of the continent died. No matter your age, no matter your gender, no matter your heritage or nation, if you were exposed to the disease and contracted it, you were already dead. Approximately 23% of the entire world’s population died during this time or 1 in every 5 people. The disease which was actually the bubonic plague was spread by fleas from rats who would then find a new host upon people. And the disease would spread as quick as if we were talking a zombie outbreak. Since folks had no idea how a tiny common flea was behind the spread, it was determined by the superstitious that Satan or God and His wrath had come to punish humanity. Directo

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. At first, what appears to be just a typical late winter film release actually turns out to be a high point in genre cinema. In the year 2000, David Twohy, the screenwriter for such action films as The Fugitive, Waterworld, and G.I. Jane, cowrites and directs a science fiction and horror thriller that would go on to define not only his career but the careers of two of its lead actors, establish one of cinema’s greatest antiheroes since John Carpenter’s Snake Plissken, and build a cult following that rivals such films as Night of the Living Dead. Pitch Black, a science fiction horror film that falls into no specific niche, has been compared to such movies as Alien, Predator, Ghost of Mars, and countless other science fiction films of years gone by. When a meteor storm forces the crash landing of a transport spacecraft on what appears to be an uninhabited desert planet, the group of survivors

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. Stated on their website, AnthoCon is northern New England’s only speculative fiction convention (which) showcases imaginative brilliance in speculative fiction and art, with an additional focus on the convergence of images and literature. Dark Discussions attended the convention as members of the media to mingle with fellow attendees, meet the various guests, and interview folks both famous and up and comers who’ve written novels, short stories, comics, and presented art in all the subgenres of the fantastic: horror, science fiction, fantasy, techno-thrillers, thrillers, and mysteries. In Episode 030, cohost Philip interviewed best selling horror authors Jonathan Maberry and Gord Rollo. With the latest episode of Dark Discussions, we interview other authors and artists who have spectacular genre work that all listeners of the show should not only know about but also partake in their works.

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. Dark Discussions heads to the high seas with one of the greatest yet dark adventure films of all time, John Huston’s 1956’s Moby Dick. The film starring Gregory Peck has a screenplay written by one of America’s greatest authors and was based on the novel written by yet another one of America’s greatest novelists. Ray Bradbury, the science fiction author, weaves an adaption faithful to Herman Melville’s original tale, taking dialogue straight from the source material and not only highlighting the novel’s strengths but bringing a foreboding supernatural sense to a doomed journey lead by a man set out for vengeance against a beast that may be more than just an animal. The saga of Captain Ahab, a man who but a few years earlier lost not only part of his soul but also his leg during an encounter with the white whale, delves into the depths of such high concept themes as good versus evil, menta

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. For horror fiction fans, Jonathan Maberry and Gord Rollo are two of the most popular horror writers to bring frights and chills to readers throughout the world. Jonathan Maberry is a New York Times best selling author and has won such prestigious awards as the Bram Stoker Award for best first novel. His career includes ten horror and techno-thriller novels including books about zombies, werewolves, both pre and post apocalyptic worlds, and bio genetic monsters. He has contributed to numerous horror and genre anthologies plus is a comic book freelance author. Gord Rollo has four published novels including Jigsaw Man, Valley of the Scarecrow, Strange Magic, and Crimson. From a modern day Frankenstein to deals with the devil, his novels have become favorites of readers who love horror based in real world settings as well as those focusing within the supernatural. His short fiction has b

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. As the modern vampire haunts cinemas, video games, and graphic novels, the best selling author Charlaine Harris creates within the written page a mind reading woman named Sookie Stackhouse who lives in an alternate yet present day world where vampires, werewolves and witches roam through a land unhidden and unafraid of humans and their superstition. True Blood, HBO’s riveting television series, created by producer Alan Ball takes Charlaine Harris’s stories to the small screen. With its elements of extreme exploitation and violence but having the traits of soap opera and romance, the series has reinvented vampires and the classic monsters once more. Paying homage to 1970’s blood and boobs drive-in fair and the violent yet romantic novels of Anne Rice, True Blood has been so successful that the production of a fifth season has begun. Dark Discussions discusses the success of the show and how i

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. Dark Discussions continues their four episode focus on Christopher Smith and his films. In 2009, genre favorite, Christopher Smith, directs and screen writes his latest feature film, Triangle, a story that appears to be many things at once before turning itself into a tremendous opus and arguably one of the top horror films in over a decade. Fangoria magazine even trumps that and states it to be one of the top 300 greatest horror films of all time. Your hosts at Dark Discussions not only agree but also give their own praise upon a fantastic film by a fantastic film maker. The film stars genre favorite Melissa George in arguably the best performance of her career. Not only has she cemented herself as a modern day scream queen but with Triangle she shows she is an overlooked actress both in performance and beauty. On a beautiful sunny day not far from the stunning beaches of Miami, she

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. Horror film fans, welcome to a special edition of Dark Discussions. Horror, horror, and more horror. We drop the science fiction, the techno-thrillers, and the fantasy films for a straight out take on the films that make Samhain and Halloween the time of year we all love. But what makes a great horror film? What keeps us up at night? And most importantly what makes us shift in our seats while we watch a good horror tale at a cinema or on a television? Who hasn’t done top ten lists? Until now, Dark Discussions has not. Now that we are at the midyear point of our existence and you, listeners, know us through your iPods and computers, we figured it was time to list the films that make us get that little knot of dread in our stomachs when we watch them. Eric, Philip, and Mike present each their top ten lists of horror. You won’t find any films on our lists for historical importance. N

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. 2011's Rock and Shock horror convention, October 14th-16th, was once again an absolute success during the month of Halloween. Fans were able to meet some of their favorite horror actors, actresses, and novelists and then mingle with such movie monster icons as Jason Voorhees, ChromeSkull, and Freddy Krueger. In attendance were genre favorites Bill Moseley, Kane Hodder, Camille Keaton, Ian McCulloch, Robert Englund, Monique Dupree, Sarah French, and Joe Knetter just to name a few. Dark Discussions, as press agents, were able to interview a number of folks including some of the cast and crew of the film Inkubus, Robert Englund’s new monster flick which world premiered with Mr. Englund in attendance (Episode 025 of Dark Discussions focuses exclusively on the film). With this second part of the convention coverage, Gordon and Philip were able to interview some of the more famous folks in att

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. Inkubus, a new and exciting horror movie, filmed in Rhode Island and starring Robert Englund, William Forsythe, Joey Fatone, and Jonathan Silverman, premiered on October 15th, 2011 at the horror convention Rock and Shock in Worcester, Massachusetts. Dark Discussions was able to attend and both prior and after the viewing received full access to the film makers as well as a number of the cast and crew. Philip and Gordon interview talented first time director Glenn Ciano and learn first hand about his vision and the background of an incredibly powerful horror film. Also Ben DeLuca, the cinematographer, ponders his role and what makes it one of the most frightening movie experiences in psychological horror to date. The film extends to a limited release on October 28th, 2011 right in time for Halloween and by early 2012 will be available on demand to over 80 million homes. Philip and Gord

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. Probably one of the most highly anticipated films in years and also one of the most dreaded films in years as fans of John Carpenter’s The Thing have fallen on either side of the fence on whether anything should be done to his classic film. Some have been waiting for a second film featuring the 1982 universe that John Carpenter created while others have been horrified that this is just Hollywood once more attempting to make a new franchise. The new film simply entitled The Thing (2011) is released with a large marketing campaign at the right time of year only weeks prior to Halloween. With hot, hip, and beautiful actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead starring, and with a plot that takes place immediately prior to the beginnings of John Carpenter’s film, the question many had days leading up to its release would be whether fans and critics would embrace this new take on John W. Campbell’s novell

Welcome to Dark Discussions, your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that’s fantastic. As the 1990’s begin, the tale of nosferatu, the vampire, follows many different approaches that quite differ from the historical monster known to be the spawn of hell and an enemy of Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church. With Anne Rice’s 1973 novel Interview With the Vampire produced for the big screen, vampires, though still quite violent and horrific, start to take on a new face. Romantic themes permeate the back story as death and loss follow every move of the creatures of the night. Vampires as central characters become the focus of such films. As protagonists and antiheroes, the vampire becomes an individual that film audiences are more able to feel for but as a result the horror element begins to fade from the mythos. Stories such as Underworld and Blade make the monster almost appear as if they are superheroes. Action and stylized violence brings a rebirth to a tired genre but also mak

Welcome the newest episode of Dark Discussions, your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that’s fantastic. Throughout millennia the devil has caused more fear in the hearts of humanity than any other being. The incarnate of evil and the ruler of hell, Satan has tempted the fate of man from the very beginning. When St. John the Divine wrote the Book of Revelations in which the end of the world was to come, he described that prior to the closing stages of the present, a man would come that would lead an apocalypse. And that man would be the antichrist, the son of Satan. In the late 1960’s, specifically in the United States of America, a fear of demonic and satanic cults swept the nation. Churches and communities became paranoid with the changes to society and at points were taken with the belief that all was related to the devil himself and his power over humanity. Following the wave of hysteria, culture followed where authors and movie producers took note and began producing suspense

Welcome the newest episode of Dark Discussions, your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that’s fantastic. Though vampires have been part of the fabric of myths and folklore throughout the centuries of both cultures and countries, it wasn’t until a fifty year old Irish immigrant and theater manager out of England named Abraham Stoker published a pulp novel entitled Dracula that the creatures of the night developed into arguably the most important monster in horror and genre fiction ever. Bram Stoker’s creation brought about a sociopathic being of a sexual predatory nature that entered the nightmares of any who happened to read this very successful tale of the supernatural. Beginning with Universal Pictures 1931 film Dracula starring acting legend Bela Lugosi, this iconic character lead the way for such other movie monster franchises as Frankenstein, the Wolfman, and our more modern nightmares of Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, and Michael Myers. Other production companies followed wi

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. Two files, one episode. No kidding, you read that correctly. Dark Discussions presents to you a two part episode of 2011’s Horror Realm Convention, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s great horror symposium. Now in existence for three years, Horror Realm revels in the fact that it resides in the city of the living dead. That’s right, George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead as well as Dawn of the Dead not only take place in the suburbs of the city, but George A. Romero and the majority of the cast and crew are all natives to Pittsburgh and its surrounding areas. Though the Pittsburgh Pirates have been a member of the living dead for many years, just like the Steelers, zombies are alive and well. Dark Discussions presents to our listeners interviews and more interviews. Mike drives the four to six hours, scavenging for gas, food, and water while avoiding the zombie apocalypse to get to down

Welcome to Dark Discussions podcast. Your place for the discussion of horror film, fiction, and all that's fantastic. Two files, one episode. No kidding, you read that correctly. Dark Discussions presents to you a two part episode of 2011’s Horror Realm Convention, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s great horror symposium. Now in existence for three years, Horror Realm revels in the fact that it resides in the city of the living dead. That’s right, George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead as well as Dawn of the Dead not only take place in the suburbs of the city, but George A. Romero and the majority of the cast and crew are all natives to Pittsburgh and its surrounding areas. Though the Pittsburgh Pirates have been a member of the living dead for many years, just like the Steelers, zombies are alive and well. Dark Discussions presents to our listeners interviews and more interviews. Mike drives the four to six hours, scavenging for gas, food, and water while avoiding the zombie apocalypse to get to down