FRIGHT SCHOOL

Welcome back to Fright School! We reminisce on old school Vines and social media trends. Joe shares his love of HEATED RIVALRY which Joshua immediately tries to ruin with Queer theory. Is Joshua trying to gatekeep horror? This week, we continue our franchise deep dive in to the Conjuring Universe with ANNABELLE! We discuss the history of the Warren's case, the Magical Black Person trope, and review why dolls are so scary. We encourage all to donate to bail funds in your area to support the necessary work of activists around the country: The National Bail Fund Network: Directory of Community Bail Funds Suggested Reading: Oh, The Horror: Annabelle Review by Hana Shafi There’s a Psychological Reason Dolls Are So Spooky By Shayla Love Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! This week, we reflect on the past year of Fright School episodes. We promise we have so much more planned for this year barring an apocalypse which seems more and more likely! Joshua and Joe share what they did for New Years. It's that time of year again: franchise deep dive and this time we're grabbing our rosaries and plunging into THE CONJURING UNIVERSE! We kick off with THE CONJURING by discussing our love of Lili Taylor, the history of exorcism in the Catholic church, the heteronormativity of the film, and perhaps over reliance on the body-ody-ody of horror work that came before. Suggested Reading: “The Conjuring”: Right-wing, woman-hating and really scary By Andrew O'Hehir Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy New Fear, Fright School! We're breaking down the best in horror television and movies and what we hope to catch up on! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a jam packed edition of Fright School! This week we welcome to the Wes Craven Memorial Library LUXE THE DRAG QUEEN! Like the rest of the world, we are catching up on the latest episodes of STRANGER THINGS! SPOILER ALERT! Joshua spent the fall watching GILMORE GIRLS instead of rewatching the exploits of Eleven and the Gang so he is a bit lost in the Upside Down. Luxe tells us about her horror journey and how the genre intersects with drag. Let's get sickening with the QUEENS OF THE DEAD! Tina Romero invites us all to the last drag show before the apocalypse offering a critique of how the Queer community can devour its own. We discuss internalizing self-hatred, the role apps and phones have in killing Queer community, enabling self-destruction, and offer our thoughts on a new era of horror: Dragsploitation. When there's no more room in hell, let's have a kiki! Find LUXE THE DRAG QUEEN here! Recommended Reading: SUFF Interview: Glitter and Gore: Tina Romero on Queens of the Dead by Nadine Whitney Why Tina Romero put a queer twist on her father’s zombie-movie legacy with Queens of the Dead by Aimee Hart Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Halloween Fright School! The Freaky Kiki Horror Ball 2 was a huge success! Thank you to everyone who came or supported the ball! Joshua has returned to Stars Hollow to Joe's utter delight. This week, we pledge allegiance to the tree of Aunt Gladys by chatting all things WEAPONS! We discuss embracing the grotesque in the Trump Era, Hagsploitation, the film as Grimm's Fairy Tale, alcoholism allusions, and school shooting allegories. WEAPONS is about everything and nothing. 'Weapons' exposes the dark underbelly of American suburbia by Justin Chang ‘Weapons’: An Aimless Fable of Modern Horror by Greta Wilkinson “Weapons” — No Child Left Behind by Nicole Veneto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zefyr Lisowski is a poet, essayist, educator, and author of two poetry collections, Blood Boxand Girl Work, along with the forthcoming essay collection Uncanny Valley Girls: Essays on Horror, Survival, and Love releasing October 7th 2025 from Harper Perennial.   Joshua Napier from Fright School had the opportunity to catch up with Zefyr about her new essay collection and the impact of the horror genre in her life. In this wide ranging interview, they discuss Zefyr’s writing influences, the Queer relationship to horror films, the theme of “gay escape” in SCREAM, the trouble with werewolves as trans metaphor, and the incomparable work of the late artist Greer Lankton.   Preorder Uncanny Valley Girls: Essays on Horror, Survival, and Love here: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/uncanny-valley-girls-zefyr-lisowski?variant=43555228287010 Follow Zefyr on Instagram @zefrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr  For more information and details of upcoming events visit: https://zefyrlisowski.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome back to Fright School! This week, Joshua cries Elder Millennial Abuse and continues to pine for Hugh Jackman. Joe has thoughts on MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and LILO & STITCH. Joshua joined a GEEKSCAPE live to break down the new Paul Reubens documentary PEE WEE AS HIMSELF. We took a trip to our local cinema to check out BRING HER BACK! Spoilers abound! We discuss the psycho biddy genre, the cult of counseling, and grief as a means to an end. ‘Bring Her Back’ Review: A Foster Mother Like No Other The Geekscape "Pee-Wee As Himself" Discussion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! We catch up on 4 year old information about Marjorie Taylor Greene. Joe is studying the geopolitical ramifications of Eurovision. What new movies are we most excited about? This week, we take another trip with CLIMAX. This film has everything you could want in French cinema: suffering children, sexual misconduct, incest, Le Dance. This movie is like if PARIS IS BURNING took place at the SUSPIRIA dance academy after a hostile takeover by Timothy Leary. Oh, incidentally, have you heard about the FREAKY KIKI HORROR BALL? Exploring The Meaning Of Gaspar Noe's 'Climax' By Travis Bean Climax By Peter Kim George Gaspar Noé Retrospective: ‘Climax’ by Raúl Alejandro Mendoza Tatty Macleod on French Cinema Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! Joe is doing physically well while Joshua is dying of the consumption. Joshua hopped on the Geekscape YouTube channel to give his chaotic thoughts on ANDOR. Joe talks Joshua into seeing THUNDERBOLTS* because Julia Louis-Dreyfus. This week, we sink our teeth into SINNERS. Well, we take a nibble because this film is DEEP. We chat about the cautionary tales of horror, the film's rather classic take on vampires with an interesting twist on invitation, and the mind-blowing, blues soaked soundtrack. Recommended Reading: Sinners Is Bold, Ambitious, and Just Misses Greatness By Angelica Jade Bastién SINNERS: How Ryan Coogler Shook Hollywood! with Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes Check out Joshua discussing ANDOR on the Geekscape Channel! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! This week, we investigate a PRESENCE! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! This week, we predict how the horror genre will respond to the Trump Era. We reflect on the subject of fatness in horror after reading Dread Central's recent article on CARRIE. Joe's takeover continues with IDLE HANDS (1999). We remind our listeners that cannabis is legal for recreational use in California. We discuss the Columbine Massacre's affect on the film, overcomplicate the film with a discussion of our bodies in revolt, and pick some of our favorite teen horror films that climax at a dance! Recommended reading: Why Has a Fat Girl Still Never Been Cast as Carrie White? by Josh Korngut Charting the Dumb Charm of ‘Idle Hands’ Through its Soundtrack by Emma Garland Horror: A study on Cliver Barker part 19, The Body Politic by OJB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! This week Joe is taking over once again and we're getting lost in the weeds literally... We're examining the relationship between cannabis and horror by kicking it off with a stoner horror double feature of SCARY MOVIE and SCARY MOVIE 2! We chat about parody films, why getting high pairs well with getting scared, and 25 years of the original SCARY MOVIE! Recommended reading: Why Weed Makes Horror Movies Way Better by Nicole Flanigan Blunt Force Trauma: A Look At Cannabis In Horror by Andrew Ward Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the 300th episode of Fright School! This week, our dear friend Justine joins us to catch up and discuss the show! Thank you to all of our listeners for getting us to 300! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome back to Fright School, kiddies! We discuss our DIE initiatives. Joshua and Joe recap the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary (well isn't that) Special! Joshua shares about some favorite SNL movies while Joe is first in line for tickets to The Culps comeback tour. This week, we wrap up (for now...) our Tales From The Crypt deep die-ve with THE ASSASSIN (season 6 episode 8). We interrogate the early 90s precarious, and often preposterous, depiction of Trans people in the 90s. 5 Tales of Queer Terror from TV Anthologies By Paul Lê  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Valentine’s Day, Dear Listener! This week we took a field trip to see HEART EYES! Spoilers abound so beware!!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome back to Fright School! This week, we are picking back up with our TALES FROM THE CRYPT franchise deep dive! But first! Please welcome to the stage Miss Nora Virus! What are Joe's thoughts on WICKED, you ask? We chat about our feelings of musical adaptations in general. We watched two episodes of TALES FROM THE CRYPT this week: ONLY SIN DEEP and DEAD RIGHT! We discuss the dubious morality plays of TFTC, fatphobia and further villainization of fat bodies, and the double edged sword at the throats of ambitious women. Also, White people doing Voodoo in the 80s? Groundbreaking. Further Reading: Lessons of Virtue in Tales From The Crypt? by Briana Brucato. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Fright School! We start off discussing holiday presents! Joe is journaling... or trying to. Have you read A NOUN of NOUN and NOUNS by Proper Noun Initial. Initial. Proper Noun? Was it any good? Joe is building his TBR and needs recs. We prepare to enter the Drag Race Cinematic Universe (DRCU). This week, we took a trip to see the new remastered version of SE7EN in IMAX! Despite being set in Vague Metropolis, we discuss New York as a character in film. We also revisit the discussion of the apocalyptic visions of horror from way back in season 1 of FS, SE7EN's juxtaposition of apathy and hope, and explore the possible Magical Negro trope in the film as informed by HORROR NOIRE. While Joshua enjoys the relentless rain of the film, Joe gives us an update on the 7 Deadly Sins. Here at Fright School we have been very lucky to meet, talk with, and become friends with so many horror creators across the seasons of our show. Now we find that so many of our wonderful community are directly being affected by the fires burning in Los Angeles, California. Our hearts are with everyone affected and who have lost so much. Please consider helping in any way you can: Resources To Support Those Affected By The L.A. Fires Further reading about SE7EN: ‘Se7en’: A Rain-Drenched, Somber, Gut-Wrenching Thriller that Restored David Fincher’s Faith in Filmmaking By Sven Mikulec Colors and visual storytelling in SE7EN by Debaditya Sekhar Jena Writing The Horror Movie: The Inner Psychology of Se7en, Drag Me To Hell & Dawn of the Dead By Jacob Krueger Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices