Still Scared: Talking Children's Horror

Happy Halloween, spooky kids! In this seventh anniversary episode, Ren Wednesday, Adam Whybray and special guest Mattie Dogrose chat about a 1980s Disney horror curio that lost the studio a hell of a lot of money: The Black Cauldron! We discuss moderate peril, oracular pigs and the films liberal approach to Welsh language and culture, and Adam and Ren once again alight on a unamious texture. Enjoy! The transcript is a bit delayed on this one, apologies! We will get it up as soon as possible, at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/66-black-cauldron

Sometimes family is a few battered wind-up toys, a dubiously-reformed rat, and some birds you've persuaded not to eat you. In this episode Ren Wednesday, Adam Whybray and special guest Stuart Young discuss The Mouse and his Child by Russell Hoban, published in 1967, and the animated film released in 1977. Body Horror + Philosopy = Jokes? Join Ren, Adam and Stuart for a discussion of conciousness itself, the last visible slush puppy, and of course, extended parodies of Samuel Beckett's Endgame. A transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/65-mouseandhischild

In this off the cuff, spur of the moment, spontaneous and unresearched bonus episode, a Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray located in the same georgraphical location entertain you with a book: Madness at the Mall, the 36th installment in M.D. Spenser's Shivers series. No transcript for this one, but normal service will be resumed shortly! Content notes: A cat gets killed!

Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are back with their discussion of part two of the Goosebumps TV series from 2023, and they won't be satisfied until they get their puppet carnival! This is a Slappy-centric set of episodes, covering the territiory of Night of the Living Dummy, Night of the Living Dummy Two, the lesser known mud-monster episode You Can't Scare Me, and purportedly Welcome to Horrorland, though Ren and Adam were unconvinced. Digressions include teaching Shakespeare with puppets, robot wars and the suitability of an angsty teen listening to The Proclaimers. A full transcript of this episode is available here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/63-goosebumpsparttwo

Hello millennnials, zoomers and sundry other generations to look out for, and welcome to the Goosebumps of 2023! In this nostalgia-defying episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray talk about the first half of the reinvented Goosebumps series for Disney Plus, covering Say Cheese and Die, The Haunted Mask, The Cuckoo Clock of Doom, Go Eat Worms and Reader Beware. Digressions include vegan veal, Mr Blobby and immersive theatre, and Adam puts in a sincere recocmmendation for the 1996 episode of The Haunted Mask. Content note for brief discussion of a suicide plotline at the one hour mark. A full transcript of this episode is availabe at: goosebumps-2023

In this bonus episode, Adam Whybray interviews Lauren Stephenson and Robert Edgar, two of the editors of the recent anthology Horrifying Children: Hauntology and the Legacy of Children's Television, published by Bloomsbury. They chat about anologue horror, public information films and intent vs effect in horror, as well as subversive queer interpretations of the Garbage Pail Kids. The transcript for the episode is available here: horrifying-children

Hail, O eaters of Toadstools! Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are back with returning guest and standing-stone correspondent Ali to talk about Alan Garner's debut novel from 1960, the Weirdstone of Brisingamen. This episode may venture further into fantasy than usual, but there's still plenty of horror to get your teeth into, with swarms of svarts, skin mittens, and of course, caves. Plus, Ren feels so guilty about their lacklustre watching of Casper that their notes for this episode include archival research. Note: We had to re-record the first fifteen minutes of the episode so there's a few slight oddnesses at the beginning, but it settles down :)

Happy festives, spooky kids! Ren's brain is fully on holiday already for this episode about the 1995 mixed live-action and CGI film Casper, directed by Brad Silberling, and perhaps more pertinently, set decorated by Rosemary Brandenburg. In this not particularly thorough episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray discuss the mochi-like texture of Casper, the career trajectory of Eric Idle, and of course, the fish bannister. And as a bonus, Adam gets a computer to sing a song about textures. Transcript is available here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/59-casper

Hello and happy halloween spooky kids! For this sixth anniversarry (!) episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are joined by special guest Ailish Brassil to talk about three different filmic adaptations of Disney's Haunted Mansion ride. Excpect the classic elements of comedy tombstones, extending corridors and sinister butlers - as well as the screaming goats, ghost winks and arachnaphobia unique to each adaptation. It's chaotic! But that's haunted mansions for you. Content note: Brief references to suicide in the story descriptions. A transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/58-haunted-mansions

In this episode Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray go back to Ren's childhood to talk about a dark comedy: Angela and Diabola by Lynne Reid Banks. A different twist on the Omen trope, this book gives the evil child a twin of corresponding pure goodness, and a couple of long-suffering parents who do their best for their increasingly supernatural offspring. Indulge in the allure of evil with us, spooky kids, but please don't lock any small children in cages. A transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/57-angelaanddiabola

Don't go chipping any dolls out of the plaster in your cellar, creepy kids, or open any ouija board apps! And definitely don't go and hunt your woebegotten cousin's ghost on a rainy Scottish island! It's not worth it! In this episode Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray discuss the 2015 Young Adult novel Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell, a grisly book about creepy dolls and the people they torment. Digressions include ghost hunting, bat detecting and late-era Simpsons. Content note: This book contains strong violence that we outline, injury details and a suicide mention. The transcript is available here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/56-frozencharlotte

Enter into the turnip-filled darkness this episode, as Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray discuss Robert Westall's Carnegie medal winning 1981 novel, The Scarecrows. Or, more accurately: The Very Angry Young Man and The Scarecrows That Represented His Anger. It's chewy, it's problematic, it's really frickin' weird and the scarecrows don't turn up until the end - have a listen and see what we made of it! Content notes: interpersonal violence, unhappy family dynamics, rage. Transcipt and shownotes are availble here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/55-thescarecrows

Buzz buzz, creepy kids, today Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are tackling a stack of short stories by Roald Dahl, focussing on his collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar And Six More. In this episode they discuss the horror of boarding schools, make predictions about which stories Wes Anderson is likely to adapt, and Ren becomes overwhelmed with mirth at Joyce Carol Oates' tweets about skeletons. Transcript (and Ren's Texture of the Week that they forgot to say in the episode) is at this link: https://stillscared.podigee.io/54-henrysugar Content note: Our discussion of the story The Swan discusses bullying between kids at some length.

Hello creepy kids! Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are back again to discuss the Joe Dante film The Hole (2009), not to be confused with The Hole (2001), which makes much less use of its titular hole. In this lemon-and-ginger tea powered episode, your cohosts discuss skewed suburban aesthetics, creepy theme parks and scrunkly jester voices, and as a special treat go on an extended digression about Las Vegas rock band, The Killers. Content for this episode, the latter half of the film deals with issues of physical domestic abuse. A full transcript of the episode is available here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/53-thehole

In this warty-textured episode, Adam and Ren are joined by returning guest Willow to talk about two books by Susan Gates: Revenge of the Toffee Monster and to a slightly lesser extent, Killer Mushrooms Ate My Gran. In this wide-ranging episode, this gang of 90s kids chat about the Millennium Dome, cordyceps and the origins of toffee, and are joined by an extra special coconut-headed guest for Texture of the Week. The transcript of this episode is available here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/52-toffee-monster

Happy new year, spooky kids, and welcome to our episode on Wendell & Wild (2022), in which Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray gawp at beautiful stop-motion and wrangle unruly plot into submission. Featuring textural interruptions, a squirm of worms and the ultimate MacGuffin, this episode is one for the goths and the freaks and the sincere appreciators of viruoso animation. The transcript is available here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/51-wendellandwild

Welcome back, spooky kids! In this end-of-the-year episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are talking about a suitably wintery ghost story - Moondial by Helen Cresswell. Impressionistic, atmospheric and philosophical, Moondial is a book rich in language and ideas, and in this episode your co-hosts have a tussle with conceptions of time and ghosthood, as well as sharing a rare unanimous Texture of the Week. The transcript is available here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/50-moondial-book

In this episode, Still Scared finally venture into the genre of video games! In this round-up episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray chat about children's horror in games over the last thirty years, contemplate the inherent eerieness of early 3D, and do a quick deep-dive into Psy High, a supernatural mystery text game from 2014. A transcript of the episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/49-horror-games

In this episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray finally dive in to Creeped Out season two, from back in 2019. Exploring this collection of curious tales, they detour into creepypastas and garmonbozia, and discuss the importance of checking the reviews to see if an app will steal your face. As full transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/48-creepedout-seasontwo

In this episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray talk about two books by English writer Nicholas Fisk - Grinny from 1974 and Monster Maker from 1979. In this episode, your brave and bionic co-hosts chat about slurks and ultragorgons, wimshursts machines and UFOs and ask the question: what kind of English family have their own swimming pool??