Mind Over Splatter
30 episodes - English - Latest episode: 8 months ago -Dylan Ferguson, Sheldon Kilcullen, William O'Donnell and guests discuss, dissect, and debate horror movies. Each episode digs into a different subgenre, series, or style of flicks. We reappraise underseen or underrated gems, and (over-)analyze films from unusual angles. Sometimes we get into fights. Various expert guests will appear to provide context and vaunt their particular obsessions.
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Episodes
The Devil You Don't: Now Available
August 18, 2023 04:00 - 2 minutes - 1.52 MBIntroducing "The Devil You Don't" - a new, four-part history series about the Jersey Devil, and the birth of the modern world, from Dylan Ferguson. Soon, you can subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can listen on Spotify right now: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3jlLAJsvLunXBwcgIWOwot
Coming Soon: The Devil You Don't
August 05, 2023 16:00 - 2 minutes - 1.93 MBSneak peak at a new limited history podcast from Dylan Ferguson, featuring Sean O'Rourke, with music by Rob What. What is the Jersey Devil, and why has it left its grubby little claw-marks across 300 years of American history? Learn surprising stories about dueling almanacs, Ben Franklin, eugenics, the birth of science, independent filmmakers, and cryptozoology. Look for it starting August 18th!
What Dreams May Come, Part 4: New Nightmare, Freddy vs. Jason, and the remake
October 31, 2022 06:00 - 39 minutes - 27 MBThe final chapter. We begin by digging into Wes Craven's complex, thoughtful meta-sequel New Nightmare (1994), discussing how it reassesses the themes of the first film. Then, it's time to argue over the contentious Freddy vs. Jason (2003) - is it an Iraq War allegory? - before wrapping things up with the 2010 remake. And yes, we can finally unveil our full-franchise rankings.
What Dreams May Come, Part 3: The Dream Master, Dream Child, and Freddy's Dead
October 29, 2022 08:00 - 38 minutes - 26.6 MBThese ones get real weird. It's time for an increasingly drunk Dylan, Sheldon, Will - and special guest Scott Crompton - to delve into the zany, unhinged worlds of Nightmare 4: The Dream Master (1988), Nightmare 5: The Dream Child (1989), and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991). The production history and reception of the films we're dissecting are set against a backdrop of Freddy Krueger's runaway pop-culture celebrity in an MTV-generation world.
What Dreams May Come, Part 2: Freddy's Revenge and Dream Warriors
October 27, 2022 10:00 - 36 minutes - 24.9 MBThe second part of our exploration of the Nightmare on Elm Street films probes the notorious gay themes in Freddy's Revenge (1985), and the contentious ways that the AIDS crisis, and the homophobia of the period, are incorporated into the movie. Dylan, Sheldon, Will, and Scott then move on to dissecting and debating the wild, influential A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), and we finally get to start ranking these things.
What Dreams May Come, Part 1: The Origins and Implications of A Nightmare on Elm Street
October 25, 2022 12:00 - 50 minutes - 35 MBIn late-70's and early-80's America, Laotian men began suddenly dying from their dreams. Newspaper coverage of the medical mystery would inspire one of the richest and most enduring classics of horror cinema. We begin with the true story of that tragedy, and how it challenges our assumptions about the distinction between dreams and reality, before connecting it to the seminal 1984 film. Scott Crompton, a professor of English and film - and a Nightmare super-fan - joins Dylan, Sheldon, an...
Parasocial Activity 2: Picking the Best Horror Film for Each Year of the 1990's [Video Episode]
April 01, 2022 07:00 - 2 hours - 84 MBFor the full experience, go to our YouTube page! Dylan, Sheldon, and Will got together in the same room, for the first time, to record a special video episode for the second season finale. The topic? Nineties horror. We each picked our favourite scary movie for every year of the decade, from 1990 - 1999, but have kept the picks a secret from one another, until now. And of course, we make it a drinking game, and you can play along. Join us as we have some fun dissecting beloved classics and u...
Shake and Fake: Blair Witch and the Found-Footage Horror Boom (1998-2008)
March 14, 2022 07:00 - 1 hour - 75.8 MBAn exploration of the ideas, people, and films behind the found-footage horror boom - including Paranormal Activity and Lake Mungo - with Dylan, Sheldon, and Sean O'Rourke. Featuring a deep-dive into the origins of The Blair Witch Project, with detours into "mysterious phenomena" TV shows, Sundance and the American indie movie renaissance, the rise of the multiplex, the birth of viral marketing, and what made 1999 possibly the greatest year ever for American film. Plus, an interview with Pro...
Shake and Fake: Blair Witch and the Found-Footage Horror Boom, 1998-2008
March 14, 2022 07:00 - 1 hour - 75.8 MBAn exploration of the ideas, people, and films behind the found-footage horror boom - including Paranormal Activity and Lake Mungo - with Dylan, Sheldon, and Sean O'Rourke. Featuring a deep-dive into the origins of The Blair Witch Project, with detours into "mysterious phenomena" TV shows, Sundance and the American indie movie renaissance, the rise of the multiplex, the birth of viral marketing, and what made 1999 possibly the greatest year ever for American film. Plus, an interview with Pro...
Shake and Fake: Found-Footage Horror 1998-2008 - From Blair Witch to Cloverfield
March 14, 2022 07:00 - 1 hour - 75.8 MBAn exploration of the ideas, people, and films behind the found-footage horror boom - including Paranormal Activity and Lake Mungo - with Dylan, Sheldon, and Sean O'Rourke. Featuring a deep-dive into the origins of The Blair Witch Project, with detours into "mysterious phenomena" TV shows, Sundance and the American indie movie renaissance, the rise of the multiplex, the birth of viral marketing, and what made 1999 possibly the greatest year ever for American film. Plus, an interview with Pro...
Trial and Terror: British Folk Horror and Witchcraft 1966-1974
February 25, 2022 08:00 - 1 hour - 60.7 MBDylan, William, and special guest David Annandale break down eccentric British horror movies dealing with paganism and the rural occult, like The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General. Featuring an interview with Gary Parsons, a filmmaker and film historian specializing in English witchcraft documentaries, who tells us about lesser-known witch flicks from the sixties and seventies, and explains the British counterculture's fascination with occultism at that time. We compare and contrast some su...
Internal Inferno: Pain and Pleasure and the Hellraiser Movies
February 04, 2022 08:00 - 2 hours - 89.2 MBA comprehensive discussion of Clive Barker’s 1987 classic Hellraiser – then all nine sequels – featuring Dylan, Sheldon, and Will, plus an interview with Peter Tupper, a cultural historian of BDSM, who provides some fascinating insight into the traditions and aesthetics channeled by the movies. The boys talk about Barker, the series' tortured production history, and the themes of the films, exploring the relationship between pain and pleasure, desire and disgust, and why uncomfortable activi...
A Very Splattery Christmas: Discovering New Horror Through the Magic of Gift-Giving
December 18, 2021 19:00 - 1 hour - 41.3 MBFor this special holiday episode, Dylan, Sheldon, and Will have decided to gift one another horror movies that they know (or hope) the giftee has never seen. The six strange, wonderful, lesser-known gems that we've helped each other discover are unveiled and discussed one at a time. Along the way, we learn about some fascinating filmmakers, like Lucio Fulci and Tom McLoughlin, unpack bizarre slashers, unearth a breathtaking early Italian vampire flick, and expose Sheldon to a Mexican luchado...
Shock and Paw: Late-70's Animal-Attack Natural Horror Movies
October 21, 2021 13:00 - 1 hour - 70.3 MBDylan, Sheldon, Will, and guest Sean O'Rourke plunge into weird and fascinating big-killer-animal flicks from 1976-1980, including Orca, Grizzly, and Tentacles. We discuss animal intelligence, environmentalism, and America's relationship to wilderness in the 20th century, while debating the films' merits and setting them off against one other in a tournament to determine the greatest post-Jaws eco-horror oddity. We also learn about the artists behind the films, including John Frankenheimer a...
Northern Frights: Scandinavian Silent Horror Films
September 23, 2021 15:00 - 1 hour - 57.4 MBDylan and Will are joined by Nick Wolfe to discuss the haunting silent films that emerged from Sweden and Denmark between 1917 and 1922, including Häxan and The Phantom Carriage. Featuring interviews with film professor Anne Bachmann, theologian Patrik Hagman, and Häxan-expert Richard Baxstrom, we also explore the world that produced these movies, discussing Lutheranism, Satan, the history of Sweden's Golden Age of silent film, and the lives of the remarkable filmmakers behind these chilling...
Bonus Episode Teaser: Horror Pinball Machines
August 27, 2021 16:00 - 7 minutes - 5.07 MBIn the first bonus epiosode, Dylan, Sheldon, and Will bring up a few recent films, before discussing pinball machines based on horror movies. Plus, we ask one another which pics we've changed our minds on since we first covered them, then cap off the season premiere debate by handing out merits and demerits to various Friday the 13th entries. The full bonus episode is available only on our Patreon.
Notes on Summer Camp: Analyzing and Ranking the Friday the 13th Films - The Final Chapter
August 13, 2021 13:00 - 1 hour - 73.6 MBThe second half of a two-part season premiere investigating the Friday the 13th movies. Dr. Stella Castelli of the University of Zurich drops by to explain why Freddy vs. Jason is really a vaudeville double-act, while Dylan, Sheldon, and Will dissect and debate all the Jason movies from Part VI: Jason Lives right up until the 2009 remake. Discussion ranges from horror franchises that went into space, to the distinction between horror and terror movies, and how New York's 1980's Crime City da...
Notes on Summer Camp: Analyzing and Ranking the Friday the 13th Films - Part 1
August 12, 2021 17:00 - 1 hour - 79 MBThe first half of our epic deep-dive into the entire Friday the 13th franchise. Featuring an interview with Dr. Michael Smith, an expert on the history of American summer camps, the Season 2 premiere sees Dylan, Sheldon, and Will analyzing, debating, and ranking Fridays 1 through 5 while also investigating the Siskel-and-Ebert-led backlash against the movies, the history of 3D films, Jacques Plante, and The Greatest Movie Summer Ever. Part 2 is available early on our Patreon: https://www.p...
Prized Possessions: Analyzing The Exorcist and Ranking Its Sequels
May 10, 2021 18:00 - 1 hour - 76.8 MBDylan, Sheldon, and Will delve deep into 1973's The Exorcist, and argue about the various sequels they love and hate. To help provide some fascinating context for the original classic film, theologian Dr. Bernard Doherty drops by to explain how it fits into the backlash against the Vatican II reforms in the Catholic Church, while cultural scientist Dr. Johanna Braun describes how it can be viewed as a depiction of hysteria, drawing from a long and surprising history in both psychiatry and ar...
Prized Possessions: The Exorcist and Its Sequels
May 10, 2021 18:00 - 1 hour - 76.9 MBDylan, Sheldon, and Will delve deep into 1973's The Exorcist, and argue about the various sequels they love and hate. To help provide some fascinating context for the original classic film, theologian Dr. Bernard Doherty drops by to explain how it fits into the backlash against the Vatican II reforms in the Catholic Church, while cultural scientist Dr. Johanna Braun describes how it can be viewed as a depiction of hysteria, drawing from a long and surprising history in both psychiatry and ar...
[Special Video Episode!] Parasocial Activity: Our Favourite Horror Film of Each Decade
April 22, 2021 17:00 - 2 hours - 95.6 MBFor the tenth installment of Mind Over Splatter, we decided to do our first video episode (currently available on YouTube!) and play a drinking game involving some of our favourite movies to celebrate. Dylan, Sheldon, and Will unveil their number-one horror film of every decade, while trying to guess one another's secrets picks, and debating the many controversial selections along the way. It was a ton of fun, plenty of surprising and brilliant films are under discussion, and you can even pl...
Bumblecore: 1970's Killer Bug Movies
April 15, 2021 16:00 - 1 hour - 54.3 MBDylan, Sheldon, and Will chat bugs, with a special guest appearance by renowned bee expert and author Mark L. Winston. We break down strange and unique creepy-crawly flicks from 1974-1978, including Phase IV, Squirm, and The Swarm, while also discussing their cultural contexts, taking you into some entertaining corners of film history. Plus, with a little help from Dr. Winston, we learn about the 1970's killer-bee hysteria, discover neat insect facts, and look at the origins of the environme...
Purge Overkill: Analyzing and Ranking All The Purge Movies
April 11, 2021 19:00 - 1 hour - 49.4 MBDylan, Sheldon, and guest Sean O'Rourke dig deep into the mythology of The Purge. We break down each of the four movies, scrutinizing their themes for how they reflect and interpret the current events dominating American discourse in the years of their releases. Plus, of course, we judge and rank them. An episode rich in politics, contemporary issues, and slow-motion masked dancing.
Gamera Obscura: Unshelling Our Top-10 Favourite Kaiju Movies
March 26, 2021 20:00 - 1 hour - 59 MBDylan and William are joined by author and film professor David Annandale to discuss Japanese giant monster movies. The three committed kaiju geeks unveil their top-10 lists one entry at a time, while debating the merits of recent Godzilla films, analyzing peculiar Gamera entries, and singing the praises of lesser-known gems like Dogora and Yog Monster From Space. Lots of fun discussions and unexpected reappraisals here, ready to be mined for your pre-Kong kaiju viewing lists.
Trick or Treatise: Ranking the Halloween Movies
March 12, 2021 15:00 - 2 hours - 89.7 MBDylan, Sheldon, and William discuss the entire Halloween franchise chronologically, from start to finish, ranking the films separately as they go. We weigh the various filmmakers' approaches, break down the meanings and the cultural contexts behind different turns the movies took, and get into heated, half-drunken arguments over the merits of oddities like Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, and Halloween: Resurrection. At the end of the contentious, beer-fueled marathon session, we've co...
The Crone Zone: Vivisecting Our Top-5 Favourite Cronenberg Movies
March 04, 2021 20:00 - 1 hour - 58.2 MBDylan and William are joined by special guest Nicholas Wolfe to chat David Cronenberg. We've each prepared a list of our top-5 favourite Crone films, kept secret from one another, and we reveal the picks one at a time while counting up towards the best works from the Canadian master of psychologically-complex body-horror. We penetrate deep into the themes of these intense and singular movies, debating and delighting over the aesthetics, ideas, and iconic performances in Dead Ringers, Videodr...
A Loaf of Various Horrors: Anthology Films We Love
February 27, 2021 22:00 - 1 hour - 60.6 MBDylan, Sheldon, and Will discuss and spar over some of their favourite horror anthology films, including Creepshow, Tales from the Hood, Spirits of the Dead, and many more. Along the way, we appraise Miike, Bava, King, and Fellini, while trying to pin down the elements that make for a truly great anthology flick. Lots of fun recommendations to be found here.
Wilderness Now: Late-90's Animal-Attack Natural Horror Movies
February 16, 2021 21:00 - 1 hour - 76.9 MBDylan, Sheldon, and special guest Sean O'Rourke dissect big-killer-animal flicks from 1995-1999, including Anaconda, Deep Blue Sea, Lake Placid, and the profoundly insane Congo. We try to develop a theory of why there was a boom in big-budget natural-horror at that historical moment, discuss the unexpected writers behind these screenplays, and learn some surprising facts about real-life man-eaters.
Recency Bias: Discussing Saint Maud, PG: Psycho Goreman, and Possessor
February 10, 2021 23:00 - 56 minutes - 39.1 MBDylan, Sheldon, and William break down some recent horror (or horror-ish) movies, diving deep into the chilling Saint Maud, the zany PG: Psycho Goreman, and the mid-numbing strangeness of Possessor. We speculate if these very unique releases can tell us anything about the state of horror in 2020 and beyond.
Grasping at Claws: Debating Our Top-10 Favourite Slasher Movies
January 31, 2021 20:00 - 1 hour - 66.7 MBIn the début episode of this new podcast about horror movies, Dylan Ferguson, Sheldon Kilcullen, and William O'Donnell have prepared lists of their Top-10 favourite slasher films, but kept them a secret from one another. We reveal our picks, working our way up from 10 to 1, while sparring over what's the best Friday the 13th, Scream, and Nightmare on Elm Street flick, diving deep into some wonderful lesser-known titles we love, and exploring the meaning of slasher-movie mythology, all in one...