--And Now The Podcast Starts!

BONUS: A Very British Horror on The Ash Tree (1975)

Happy New Year!  But Christmas continues.  Here's another gem from the archives of the podcast A Very British Horror, wherein Paul and Chris discuss a (sort of) ghost story for Christmas, the BBC's 1975 adaptation of MR James' The Ash Tree, which is currently streaming on BBC iPlayer.  Coincidentally, it stars Edward Petherbridge, who also appears in The Exorcism, which we covered in the last  episode of And Now thePodcast Starts...

 

Works Cited

James, MR, "The Ash Tree", Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, 1904. (Available to read on Project Guttenberg)

The Ash Tree (BBC Television, UK 1975, director: Lawrence Gordon Clark) (BBC iPlayer)

#107 Christmas Special: The Exorcism (1972)

AKA Missed Classics #13

 

Belatedly following up on our 2020 review of During Barty's Party, here we look at another 1970s TV play by director Don Taylor, 1972's socially-conscious Christmas ghost story, The Exorcism.  Ian, Kirsty, Stella and Dan talk the talk.

 

Works Cited

The Exorcism is part of the series Dead of Night (BBC Television, UK 1972, producer: Innes Lloyd) is available on BFI DVD

The Stone Tape (same credits) has just been re-released on Blu-Ray and DVD by 101 Films

Beasts (ATV Television, UK 1976, producer: Nicholas Palmer) features the episode During Barty's Party and was released on DVD by the now-defunct Network, though you might still be able to find a copy - here's our 2020 episode about it

Box of Delights: The Exorcism (2018 podcast in which John Dryden Taylor is interviewed about The Exorcism) can be found here

Ghost Stories for Christmas: Woman of Stone (BBC Television, UK 2024, director: Mark Gatiss) is currently streaming on BBC iPlayer

 

Artwork by Kirsty Worrow (Instagram: OneCrowLeft).  Music by Greg Hulme.

 

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All clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (Commonwealth law) and Fair Use (US law) for the purposes of criticism and education.  No copyright infringement intended.

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#106 Nightmares on Film

The visual media of cinema, TV and videogames are especially suited to depicting the strange visions and wonky logic of human dreaming, and the horror genre is especially able to take advantage of this.  Kirsty and Dan discuss some of the best examples, while Stella drops in to make some points, too.

 

Works Cited

 

Un Chien Andalou ("An Andalusian Dog") (Les Grande Films Classiques, France 1929, director: Luis Bunuel (co-writer: Salvador Dali)

Meshes of the Afternoon (US 1943 silent/1949 with added music, directors: Maya Deren and Alexandr Hackenshmeid, who later changed his name to Alexander Hammid)

Eraserhead (AFI Center for Advanced Studies, US 1979, director: David Lynch)

Lost Highway (October Films, US 1998, director: David Lynch)

Mulholland Drive (Universal Pictures US 2001, director: David Lynch)

Rabbits (web series, US 2002, director: David Lynch)

Twin Peaks: The Return (Showtime Network Television, US 2017, showrunners: Mark Frost and David Lynch)

Jacob's Ladder (Tri-Star Pictures, US 1990, director: Adrian Lyne)

Legion (20th Century Fox Television, US 2015-17, showrunner: Noah Hawley)

The Big Lebowski (Polygram Filmed Entertainment, US 1998, directors: Joel and Ethan Coen)

Dead of Night: The Exorcism (BBC Television, UK 1972, director: Don Taylor) - be sure to watch this before you listen to our Christmas episode, which will be available on Friday 20th to Patreon supporters and on Christmas Eve to everyone else

 

Artwork by Kirsty Worrow (Instagram: OneCrowLeft).  Music by Greg Hulme.

 

To hear our next episode early please go to our Patreon page and become a supporter

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All clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (Commonwealth law) and Fair Use (US law) for the purposes of criticism and education.  No copyright infringement intended.

Visit our website, andnowpodcast.com

 

#105 Enys Men (2022)

Kirsty and Dan discuss Enys Men, director Mark Jenkin's unique sort-of-folk horror/art film hybrid set on a lonely Cornish island.  Beware, there are some plot developments given, although this very much open-to-interpretation film is fairly spoiler-proof.

(Apologies, by the way, that the last episode was delayed by a day.  We've made sure this one's come out on time!)

 

Works Cited

 

Enys Men (Film Four, UK 2022, director: Mark Jenkin) - The trailer is largely dialogue-free so we didn't include it in the podcast, but you can see it here

M3gan (Blumhouse Pictures, US 2022, director: Gerard Johnstone) - our episode about androids in horror

 

 

Artwork by Kirsty Worrow (Instagram: OneCrowLeft).  Music by Greg Hulme.

 

To hear our next episode right now please go to our Patreon page and become a supporter

Socials: BlueSky Mastodon Twitter Instagram (also on Threads) Facebook

All clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (Commonwealth law) and Fair Use (US law) for the purposes of criticism and education.  No copyright infringement intended.

Visit our website, andnowpodcast.com

 

#104 The Quatermass Conclusion (1979) with Simon Clark and Spider-Dan

AKA Clark on Quatermass #2: The 1979 Novel

 

This is the second episode we've released in which award-winning author Simon Clark (@HotelMidnight) pops on to talk to Dan about their mutual hero, writer Nigel Kneale.  In the earlier episode they discussed Kneale's script books of the 1950s Quatermass TV serials; here they discuss Kneale's 1979 follow-up novel, Quatermass.  To preface this discussion, and with the kind blessing of our good friend Spider-Dan, we also present a re-edited 2022 episode from the splendid podcast Spider-Dan and the Secret Bores.  In this episode Dan discussed the 1979 theatrical film The Quatermass Conclusion, on which the novel was (sort of) based, and this chat gives excellent context for the discussion with Simon, so it comes first.

Beware - spoilers for Quatermass/The Quatermass Conclusion (novel, series and film) and Quatermass and the Pit.

 

Works Cited

 

The Quatermass Conclusion (Euston Films, UK 1979, director: Piers Haggard

Quatermass (Thames Television, UK 1979) - streaming on ITVX in the UK

The Quatermass Xperiment (Exclusive Films/Hammer, UK 1955) - Dan and Howard's discussion

The Quatermass Experiment/Quatermass II/Quatermass and the Pit (BBC Television, UK 1953/55/58) - Simon Clark on the script books

Quatermass and the Pit (Twentieth Century Fox/Hammer, UK 1967, director: Roy Ward Baker)

A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss (BBC Television, UK 2010, directors: John Das & Rachel Jardine) - currently available on Amazon Prime in the UK

Shudder's folk horror documentary mentioned by Spider-Dan is Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (Severin Films, US 2021, director: Kier-La Janisse)

Spider-Dan appears throughout our Halloween retrospective series and also to discuss The Black Cat He is on BlueSky as @secretbores.bsky.social

What We Do In The Shadows (FX TV, USA 2019-23, Creator: Jemaine Clement) is streaming on Disney+ - our episode

 

Artwork by Kirsty Worrow (Instagram: OneCrowLeft).  Music by Greg Hulme.

 

To hear our next episode right now please go to our Patreon page and become a supporter

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All clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (Commonwealth law) and Fair Use (US law) for the purposes of criticism and education.  No copyright infringement intended.

Visit our website, andnowpodcast.com

 

#103 Grimmfest 2024 Reviews: Crumb Catcher & Delivery Run

This year, Stella and Dan got to go to Manchester's Grimmfest together for the first time since before the pandemic.  Here they talk about the two films they saw, listed below.

NB. 'The Lurking Gits' is a reference to a joke on Stella's other podcast, the excellent Murder Media.

 

Works Cited

 

Crumb Catcher (Doppleganger Releasing/Music Box Films, US 2023, director: Chris Skotchdopole)

Delivery Run (Arctic Renegades/Jackrabbit Media, US/Finland/UK 2024, director: Joey Palmroos)

Duel (Universal Pictures, US 1971, director: Steven Spielberg) - our episode

Fargo (Polygram Filmed Entertainment/Working Title Films, US/UK 1996, directors: Joel and Ethan Coen)

 

Artwork by Kirsty Worrow (Instagram: OneCrowLeft).  Music by Greg Hulme.

 

To hear our next episode right now please go to our Patreon page and become a supporter

Socials: BlueSky Mastodon Twitter Instagram (also on Threads) Facebook

All clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (Commonwealth law) and Fair Use (US law) for the purposes of criticism and education.  No copyright infringement intended.

Visit our website, andnowpodcast.com

#102 The Aesthetics of Abjection

AKA Questions of Horror #6: What Makes Horror Beautiful?

Kirsty and Dan discuss the beauty that can sometimes be found in works of horror - or, to use Kirsty's cooler phraseology, the aesthetic qualities of abjection.  Stella chimes in too.  And yes, Kirsty does comment on how much she is "enjoying sunlight", which is a clue that the main discussion here was recorded several months ago.

 

Works Cited

The Cell (New Line Cinema, USA, 2000, director: Tarsem Singh)

Hannibal (NBC Television, USA, 2013-2015, showrunner: Bryan Fuller) (our episodes on Season One and Season Two)

Bram Stoker's Dracula (Columbia Pictures, USA, 1992, director: Francis Ford Coppola (our episode)

Alice aka Something From Alice (First Run Features, Czechoslovakia et al, 1988, director: Jan Svankmajer)

Men (DNA Films/Entertainment Film Distributors, UK, 2022, director: Alex Garland) (our episode)

The Wicker Man (British Lion, UK, 1973, director: Robin Hardy) (our second paganism episode)

Midsommar  (A24 Films, USA/Sweden, 2019, director: Ari Aster) (our first paganism episode)

Antichrist (Nordist Film Distribution, Denmark et al, 2009, director: Lars von Trier)

Dark (Netflix/Weidermann & Berg Television, Germany, 2017-2020, showrunners: Baron Bo Odar & Janje Friese)

The Third Day: Autumn (Sky Arts et al, USA/UK, 2020, creators: Felix Barrett, Dennis Kelly)

Crimson Peak (Universal Pictures, USA, 2015, director: Guillermo del Toro)

 

To hear our next episode right now please go to our Patreon page and become a supporter

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Artwork by Kirsty Worrow (Instagram: OneCrowLeft).  Music by Greg Hulme.

All clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (Commonwealth law) and Fair Use (US law) for the purposes of criticism and education.  No copyright infringement intended.

 

Visit our website, andnowpodcast.com

 

#101 Favourite Horror Franchises

AKA Questions of Horror #5: What Are Our Favourite (or the Best) Horror Franchises?

Ian, Kirsty, Stella and Dan ruminate on the above question, while Howard calls Dan on the phone to add his two-penny's worth.

 

Works cited

I, Claudius (1976) is sadly no longer on BBC iPlayer

The Woman in Black (1989) - rentable on Amazon Prime

The Scream films and TV series (1996-2023 - hear our previous episodes on Scream V and Scream VI)

The Child's Play franchise (1987-2017) and TV series Chucky (2021-2024): Martin Jameson's Chucky reviews from Season 2 for Sci-Fi Bulletin

The Quatermass franchise (1953-1996) - Our episode on the 1950s TV scripts

The Alien franchise (1979-2024) - Our episodes on Alien, Aliens, Alien3, Alien Resurrection, and Alien Romulus

The books, films and TV series about Hannibal Lecter (1981-2015) - Our episodes on Season 1 and Season 2 of the TV show

The Amicus series of horror anthology films (1965-74) - Our episode on Dr Terror's House of Horrors

The Exorcist films (1973-2023) - Our episodes on Exorcist II: The Heretic and The Exorcist III

 

Artwork by Kirsty Worrow (Instagram: OneCrowLeft).  Music by Greg Hulme.

 

Socials: BlueSky Mastodon Twitter Instagram (also on Threads) Facebook

All clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (Commonwealth law) and Fair Use (US law) for the purposes of criticism and education.  No copyright infringement intended.

Visit our website, andnowpodcast.com

BONUS: A Very British Horror on 1972's Asylum (feat. Dan)

As a companion piece to our episode on --And Now The Screaming Starts!, here's an episode of the much-missed podcast A Very British Horror discussing 1972's Asylum, the previous movie made Amicus Productions and director Roy Ward Baker.  The show's regular hosts, Chris Denton and Paul Monk, are joined by our very own Dan, in hyper-enthusiastic mode.

If you've never seen Asylum, it's great fun and someone has (probably dodgily) uploaded it to YouTube.  We recommend you watch the film before listening to this spoilery discussion.

Many thanks to Chris and Paul for allowing us to host this.

Not Episode 100 --And Now The Screaming Starts! (1973)

Happy Halloween!

Welcome to our new regular series.  In this episode, Dan, Kirsty, Stella, Ian and even Howard all give their thoughts on the little-discussed British horror movie from 1973 whose name their podcast borrowed (ripped off). Beware that Dan frequently refers to cutting back to "the studio" as if he thinks he's delivering a 1980s regional news report.  Also please prepare for regular references to boobs and bonnets.

Trigger warning: --And Now The Screaming Starts and its source novel, Fengriffen, contain rape scenes, which are discussed on the podcast.

Spoiler warning: the discussion gives full details of the film's storyline.

 

Works Cited

--And Now The Screaming Starts! (1973) - available on YouTube

Threads (1984) - Available on BBC iPlayer and Tubi

Case, David - Fengriffen and Other Gothic Tales, Valancourt Books, 2015

Scott, Manda - Any Human Power, September Publishing, 2024

 

BlueSky Mastodon Twitter Instagram (also on Threads) Facebook

All clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (Commonwealth law) and Fair Use (US law) for the purposes of criticism and education.  No copyright infringement intended.