Faculty of Horror | Podcasting from the Horrored Halls of Academia

Oct 22 2021

Episode 100. American Nightmare: The Crazies (1973)

Live from Salem Horror Fest, our 100th episode on George A. Romero’s The Crazies sees us tackling small-town life, biology, the Vietnam War, health care and our own podcasting mortality. Plus, a very special Cameo!

Class of 2021 Merch is here! Original art by Slutfocate

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REQUIRED READING

The Crazies. Dir. George A. Romero, 1973.

EXTRA CREDIT

The Crazies. Dir. Breck Eisner, 2010.

Robin Wood on the Horror Film. A collection of Wood’s seminal essays.

Hearts and Minds. The 1974 Oscar-winning documentary about the Vietnam War.

New Pandemics, Old Politics: Two Hundred Years of War on Disease and its Alternatives. Alex De Waal’s new book on modernity’s need for narratives and biology’s refusal of them.

The Birth of Biopolitics. Foucault’s lectures that introduce his theories of biopower and biopolitics.

The American Idea: The Best of the Atlantic Monthly. A large collection of essays that reflected and shaped America.

The Washington Post: “If we want people to take the coronavirus vaccine, we need to treat them like consumers” by Jennifer Reich. Has our history with DTCAs made us treat healthcare like businesses?

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Tagged George A. Romero, Lisa Loeb, Salem Horror Fest, The Crazies

Sep 27 2021

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Episodes

Episode 99. Be Our Guest: The Invitation (2015)

The table is set, the wine is poured and the time has come to take your seat at the table as we delve into Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation. From a history of dinner parties to the dynamics of grief, we’re serving up a once in a lifetime, four-course meal of analysis.

Class of 2021 Merch is here! Original art by Slutfocate

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Salem Horror Fest 2021 – tickets and info now available!

REQUIRED READING

The Invitation. Dir. Karyn Kusama, 2015.

EXTRA CREDIT

Millennials have dinner parties, they just don’t call them that. Nisha Chittal’s analysis of the history and evolution of dinner parties.

The American Dinner Party. A detailed breakdown of what constitutes a dinner party by Amy Nash.

Rue Morgue TV: An Expert on Cults Reviews The Lodge.

What is it about California and Cults? A history and analysis of the Golden State’s relationship with cults.

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism. Amanda Montell’s book about cults and their wide-ranging influence.

One More Time with Feeling. The Nick Cave documentary that follows the singer as he completes the album Skeleton Tree after the death of his son.

The White Album. Joan Didon’s iconic essay and essay collection about the West coast and the end of the ’60s.

The Epidemic of Despair: Will America’s Mortality Crisis Spread to the Rest of the World (2020) by economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton. Some findings from their book, Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism.

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Tagged Karyn Kusama, The Invitation

Aug 25 2021

Bonus content – Candyman (1992) Commentary

Sweets for the sweet! We’re still on our annual August hiatus but we accidentally said “Candyman” five times and resurrected a commentary we recorded for our Patreon back in 2019. Whoops!

Listen in to whet your appetite for Nia DaCosta’s reimagining this weekend!

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Jul 27 2021

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Episodes, Uncategorized

Episode 98. House Warning: The Amityville Horror (1979) and Poltergeist (1982)

Call your bank and pack the moving truck because we’re uprooting everything we think we know about home ownership. From the Lutz’ mortgage with Devil to the skeletons in the Freelings’ closet (and backyard), Andrea and Alex unearth what lies beyond and beneath the white picket fences of American suburbia.

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Salem Horror Fest 2021 – tickets and info now available!

REQUIRED READING

The Amityville Horror. Dir. Stuart Rosenberg, 1979.

Poltergeist. Dir. Tobe Hooper, 1982.

EXTRA CREDIT

Gaylords of Darkness Amityville 4 episode. The incomparable Stacie and Anthony tackle one of the strangest movies ever made. A must-listen!

Stephen King’s Danse Macabre. King’s non-fiction treatise on all things horror.

Romance and Real Estate, Walter Benn Michaels. Michael’s chapter on the emotional ties to owned property.

Owning Up: Privacy, Property, and Belonging in U.S. Women’s Life Writing, 1840-1890. Katherine Adam’s book about the rise of individuality, property and women’s relationship to owning a home.

In the Nation, Why Owning a Home is Still the American Dream. A history of status, taxes and the uses of home ownership.

Digging Up the Indian Burial Ground Trope. Shea Vassar’s breakdown and history of the trope which includes Terri Jean’s 5 reasons for the trope’s enduring popularity.

The Terrifying True Story that inspired Poltergeist. A look at Amityville‘s neighbours that inspired Poltergeist.

Reaganomics killed America’s middle class. An examination of Reagan’s economic policies and their lasting effects.

Half-True Crime: Why the Stranger-Danger Panic of the ’80s Took Hold and Refuses to Let Go. A deep-dive into the 1980s moral panic and its after-effects.

Cursed Films: “Poltergeist”: The Shudder series by Jay Cheel tackles the many urban legends surrounding the Poltergeist franchise.

“Haunted Real Estate: The Occlusion of Colonial Dispossession and Signatures of Cultural Survival in U.S. Horror Fiction” by Gesa Mackenthun. TIL the word “occusion!”