Episode 013- Picking at the Scabs

Aug 18, 2016

Horror stories are supposed to upset the apple cart.

Great stories captivate us.  Some narratives are timeless.  Some comment on the times in which they’re born.  And some stories are timeless because their meanings change with time. 

Stories can be great in themselves, but sometimes they resonate with something we experienced, our times, our culture, our politics.

And sometimes, that isn’t pretty at all.

 And even widely different interpretations of the story can be right.  After all, art reflects whoever is experiencing it, as well as the intentions of the artist. 

In this episode I talk about how horror is wonderfully suited to comment (or not) on the time it’s written, and sometimes the message only shows up after time has passed.

 Do the zombies in George Romero’s 1968 movie "Night of the Living Dead” mean something different than zombies in Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake of "Dawn of the Dead?" 

John Carpenter’s “They Live” has different meanings to someone who watched it for the first time this year than someone who watched it in 1988. 

If you like or dislike Eli Roth’s “Hostel,” what does it say about you? 

Times change and good stories adapt to them.  And all these thoughts were inspired by a recent binge watch of Season 1 of Mr. Robot.  Enjoy!

 

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Topics discussed:

Mr. Robot (2015)

Hostel (2005)

Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

The Thing (1951)

Them! (1954)

Psycho (1960)

Targets (1968)

The Terror (1963)

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

They Live (1988)

28 Days Later (2002)

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

 

1. Budd Dwyer

Cyber Hackers

Savings and Loan Scandal

Iran-Contra Scandal

Enemy of the State

Frankenstein

Mary Shelly

Horror as Allegory

Horror as Metaphor

Subtext

Eli Roth

Slovakia

Velvet Revolution

Xenophobia

German Expressionism

Robert Weine

Weimar Republic

Hans Janowitz

Carl Meyer

Don Seigel

Dan Mainwaring

McCarthyism

Red Scare

Anti-Communism

Giant Bug Movies

Them!

Hiroshima

Nagasaki

Atom Bomb

Los Alamos

Howard Hawks

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

Bomb Shelters

Charles Starkweather

Alfred Hitchcock

Peter Bogdanovitch

Roger Corman

Boris Karloff

Charles Whitman

University of Texas Tower

George Romero

Duane Jones

John Carpenter

Yuppies

Reganomics

September 11, 2001

World Trade Center

Pentagon

Danny Boyle

Ground Zero

Zombie Apocalypse

Zack Snyder

Tobe Hooper

Mick Garris

Horror

Horror Movie

Horror Podcast

 

#Mr. Robot (2015)

#R. Budd Dwyer

#Cyber Hackers

#Savings and Loan Scandal

#Iran-Contra Scandal

#Enemy of the State

#Frankenstein

#Mary Shelly

#Horror as Allegory

#Horror as Metaphor

#Subtext

#Hostel (2005)

#Eli Roth

#Slovakia

#Velvet Revolution

#Xenophobia

#German Expressionism

#Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

#Robert Weine

#Weimar Republic

#Hans Janowitz

#Carl Meyer

#Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

#Don Seigel

#Dan Mainwaring

#McCarthyism

#Red Scare

#Anti-Communism

#Giant Bug Movies

#Them!

#Hiroshima

#Nagasaki

#Atom Bomb

#Los Alamos

#The Thing (1951)

#Howard Hawks

#Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

#Bomb Shelters

#Charles Starkweather

#Psycho (1960)

#Alfred Hitchcock

#Targets (1968)

#Peter Bogdanovitch

#Roger Corman

#Boris Karloff

#The Terror (1963)

#Charles Whitman

#University of Texas Tower

#Night of the Living Dead (1968)

#George Romero

#Duane Jones

#They Live (1988)

#John Carpenter

#Yuppies

#Reganomics

#September 11, 2001

#World Trade Center

#Pentagon

#28 Days Later (2002)

#Danny Boyle

#Ground Zero

#Zombie Apocalypse

#Dawn of the Dead (2004)

#Zack Snyder

#Tobe Hooper

#Mick Garris

#Horror

#Horror Movie

#Horror Podcast