Grave Tone: Horror Podcast

Friday the 13th movies ranked worst to best, all 12 of them, and then we get into what Crystal Lake just did to Jason Voorhees. Happy Halloween weekend, campers.Finishing Crystal Lake sent us straight back through the whole Friday the 13th franchise to see if the new lore changes how the movies hold up. Arthur and Meaghan each rank every film, from Friday the 13th (1980) and Friday the 13th Part 2 to Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, Jason X, Freddy vs. Jason, and the 2009 remake. Some picks line up perfectly. Some really do not (Jason in space gets defended, loudly). Along the way: Crispin Glover's dance in The Final Chapter, Ted White standing up for a freezing castmate, costume designer Ellen Lutter becoming the only woman to ever play Jason, and how close he came to being called Josh. If you want the best Friday the 13th movie settled once and for all, this is the closest we'll get.Every Friday the 13th Movie Ranked, Worst to BestArthur's list, 12 to 1: Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, Part III, Jason Takes Manhattan, The New Blood, A New Beginning, Jason Lives, The Final Chapter, Friday the 13th (2009), Freddy vs. Jason, Jason X, Friday the 13th (1980), Friday the 13th Part 2.Meaghan's list, 12 to 1: Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Goes to Hell, The New Blood, Part III, A New Beginning, Friday the 13th (1980), Jason X, Friday the 13th (2009), The Final Chapter, Freddy vs. Jason, Part 2, Jason Lives.The only places we agree: A New Beginning at 8 and the 2009 remake at 5.Freddy vs. Jason is a Nightmare on Elm Street movie. We both said it. Fight us on Threads.Friday the 13th Trivia and Behind the ScenesJason Voorhees was almost named Josh in Victor Miller's early script.Ted White was 58 when he played Jason in The Final Chapter, and threatened to quit when a castmate was left in freezing lake water.Costume designer Ellen Lutter's legs are the first shot of Jason in Part 2, the only time a woman has played him.Camp Crystal Lake is really Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, a Boy Scout camp in Hardwick, New Jersey, open since 1927.Crystal Lake Recap: Jason Voorhees' Origin (Spoilers)Bellflower experiments on Pamela during her pregnancy, then on young Jason, which finally explains why he survives drowning and grows up so fast.Linda Cardellini gives Pamela Voorhees real depth, and we'd watch her do this for six more seasons.Our Threads poll: 76% said the new lore adds to Jason rather than killing the mystery.Crystal Lake Characters, Old and NewLevon and Briana Brooks bring great sibling chemistry and a real reporter's drive.Crazy Ralph gets a survivalist backstory that makes him a person, not a punchline.Legacy names return: Dorf, Enos, and Claudette, and Barry, who get way more than two minutes this time.What Other Horror Podcasts Thought of Crystal LakeEleazar from Nightmare Echoes podcast loved the kills and Dorf's growth, but isn't sold on explaining Jason's immortality. Nelly and Antony from the Horror Roulette podcast praise Cardellini and the 1970s atmosphere, with a few too many subplots.Will Crystal Lake Get a Season 2?Bellflower ran other experiments (that kid in the burlap sack), which is plenty to build on.Peacock hasn't announced a renewal yet. We think money talks. Follow us & Subscribe:SpotifyApple PodcastTikTokInstagramThreadsGrave Tone Horror Podcast WebsiteHorror Newsletter Background music by: Steve Swisher from the Producer's Chair Podcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Our Fresh Meat review is in, and honestly? Dead Meat's horror anthology is a lot better than the cranky online ratings say.James A. Janisse and the Dead Meat team took more than 500 short film submissions, whittled them down to 13, and wrapped them in "Sate the Screen," a butcher shop story about a little girl and a TV that has to be fed (fresh meat, get it?). We caught the one-night-only screening on October 12 with a packed theater that gasped, laughed, and yelled at all the right moments. Fantasia Festival energy, basically.After that: Below on Netflix (sea creature horror in Newfoundland, with Josh Hartnett and Charlie Heaton doing the accent), Crystal Lake on Peacock with Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees, and two Brooklyn Horror Film Festival screenings, the slasher Slay and the folk horror comedy Mountain King. Meaghan breaks down Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer, and we close on Hallowarrior on Shudder and Clayface.Fresh Meat Review: Dead Meat's Horror AnthologyDead Meat turned a short film contest into Fresh Meat: Volume One, 13 horror shorts picked from more than 500 submissions. The wraparound, "Sate the Screen," is written and directed by James A. Janisse, who plays a butcher whose daughter is hooked on a screen that needs feeding.Our one-night-only theater crowd was loud in the best way, and that's how an anthology like this should be seen.Shorts we keep talking about: Jinx, Dagnabbit!, Tchotchke, Why Did You Stop Me?, Earworm, You'll Be Fine, and Vape Glow.Mike Flanagan's Carrie Review (Spoiler-Light)Summer H. Howell is excellent as Carrie, and Samantha Sloyan makes Margaret White uncomfortably reasonable.Alison Thornton gives Chris Hargensen actual motivation; Amber Midthunder, Matthew Lillard, and Tim Bagley round out a strong school staff.Our Mike Flanagan TV shows ranking: The Haunting of Hill House on top, then The Fall of the House of Usher, Midnight Mass, Carrie, and The Haunting of Bly Manor.October Horror TV: Crystal Lake and BelowCrystal Lake on Peacock: Linda Cardellini's Pamela Voorhees, real gore, and a lot of franchise lore.Friday the 13th tangent: Part VI's zombie Jason, The New Blood's telekinetic showdown, and why Jason Takes Manhattan is mostly boats.Below on Netflix brings sea creature horror to Newfoundland and Labrador, with Josh Hartnett and Charlie Heaton.Brooklyn Horror Film Festival: Slay and Mountain KingSlay: high school seniors, a cabin, and a killer somewhere in the group. It gets better once they reach the cabin.Mountain King is a funny Scandinavian folk horror rom-com with great practical makeup, starring Hannah Deale and Carter Sirianni.Carter Sirianni also leads Chat; our interview with writer-director Ole J Hartmann is coming soon.Horror Books and AudiobooksTrad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer: a trad wife influencer, a farmhouse, and something in the well. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke takes the trad wife trend in a more psychological direction.Kirby Heyborne's narration of Whalefall by Daniel Kraus is up there with Ray Porter's Project Hail Mary.More Horror for Halloween WeekendWhalefall in theaters: Austin Abrams carries almost the whole film.Hallowarrior on Shudder: Milly Shapiro in a post-apocalyptic Halloween movie that's perfect for a party.Clayface, co-written by Mike Flanagan, is DC going full body horror.Anthology picks for October: The Mortuary Collection and Trick 'r Treat. Follow us & Subscribe:SpotifyApple PodcastTikTokInstagramThreadsGrave Tone Horror Podcast WebsiteHorror Newsletter Background music by: Steve Swisher from the Producer's Chair Podcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Clayface review time: DC Studios finally made a real horror movie, and we walked out of it with a 7 and a 4.5. Full spoilers and the ending explained.James Watkins' Clayface, based on a story by Mike Flanagan, follows Matt Hagen, a rising Hollywood star whose face is carved up by a Gotham mob boss's henchmen. Desperate to get his life back, he signs up for an experimental regenerative treatment that isn't ready for human trials. It works. Then it keeps working. Arthur and Meaghan break down DC Studios' first horror movie, from the plastic surgery and aging commentary to body horror that goes further than you'd expect from a comic book movie (it's no Cronenberg, but it isn't shy either).How Mike Flanagan Got DC to Make a Clayface Horror MovieMike Flanagan came up with the Clayface story and co-wrote the screenplay, but his slate (the Carrie series and The Exorcist: Martyrs) kept him from directing.James Gunn never planned on a Clayface movie; Flanagan's pitch and script changed his mind.We never expected to review a DC movie on this show. Here we are.Body Horror, Plastic Surgery and the Fear of AgingThink The Fly meets The Substance, comic book edition.Meaghan's tagline: keep going with plastic surgery, and this is what we'll all look like in a decade.R-rated gore that mostly doesn't cut away (we still want that mace shot).Clayface Cast: Tom Rhys Harries, Naomi Ackie and Who Almost Played Matt HagenTom Rhys Harries' uncanny, chiseled-but-soft face is perfect casting for a man made of clay.Naomi Ackie (Blink Twice, Mickey 17, I Love Boosters) plays Dr. Caitlyn Corr.Eddie Marsan, Max Minghella, David Dencik and Joshua James round out the cast.George MacKay, Tom Blyth, Jack O'Connell and Leo Woodall all read for the role.Clayface Scare Factor and ScoresScare Factor: Creep Me Out / Solid Scares. The eye stuff got Arthur.Arthur gives it 7 digs. Meaghan gives it 4.5: a strong first half, then the comic book villain origin took over.Find your next watch with the Horror Movie Picker.Favorites: Practical Effects, Gotham Aesthetic and Shapeshifting TransitionsThe makeup and reconstruction work on Matt's face looks mostly practical, and it's great.An old-school Warner Bros. logo and older songs make this Gotham feel like it could be any decade.The nightclub sequence where Matt flips through identities is the fun comic book stuff done right.Clayface Ending ExplainedThe bow from the man on the street, the boiler room, the kiss: we walk through the final scene.Our read: Caitlyn is never really there. Watch the feet. It's all clay.Some people in our theater saw it very differently, so we break down why. Follow us & Subscribe:SpotifyApple PodcastTikTokInstagramThreadsGrave Tone Horror Podcast WebsiteHorror Newsletter Background music by: Steve Swisher from the Producer's Chair Podcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Woodstake is the vampire graphic novel that sends a Dracula-style predator to Woodstock 1969, and we sat down with the man who made it. Shawn Hainsworth (who writes as Darin S. Cape) joins Meaghan and Arthur to talk about how rereading Bram Stoker's Dracula alongside Michael Lang's The Road to Woodstock turned into a pun, then a screenplay, then five years of work on the Woodstake graphic novel.The elevator pitch is simple: hippies vs. vampires. What's underneath it is a lot more interesting. Shawn wanted to take one of the most cynical creatures in horror (a centuries-old predator who knows human failings better than anyone) and set it loose on a generation that honestly believed it could change the world.Woodstake: Hippies vs. Vampires at Woodstock 1969Shawn Hainsworth's elevator pitch for the Woodstake graphic novel: a vampire descends on Woodstock in 1969.The idea hit while he was rereading Bram Stoker's Dracula and reading Michael Lang's The Road to Woodstock at the same time. The pun came first; the scenes followed.He didn't want it to just be campy, so it took a while to find something bigger inside the concept.A Dracula-Style Vampire vs. the Peace and Love GenerationA cynical, centuries-old vampire who knows human failings better than anybody, set against people who believed they could change the world.Three kinds of hippie: Nina, the true believer; Artie, who might sell out and become a yuppie; and Jon, chasing his own career.The Vietnam War divide runs through the villains, including a vampire who argues about the war while trying to kill Artie.Recreating Woodstock 1969 in a Graphic NovelShawn and Felipe Kroll watched the Woodstock documentary on repeat to get the details right.Every act appears when it actually played, and Creedence Clearwater Revival's Bad Moon Rising lands right as things come to a head.Michael Lang makes a cameo, and the story ends with a conversation between the vampire and Jimi Hendrix.Shawn's dream backstage passes: Richie Havens stretching his set into Freedom, Santana, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Arlo Guthrie, and Hendrix.From Screenplay to Graphic NovelWoodstake started as a screenplay; the whole prologue was added after the first two issues were written.Felipe Kroll's painted art style looks nothing like a typical comic book, and he repainted pages to get them right.Woodstake took about five years from idea to finished graphic novel.Vampire Movies and Why Vampires Never DieShadow of the Vampire, Willem Dafoe and the Max Schreck legend from the making of Nosferatu.Meaghan's festival pick Los Vampires, about the Spanish-language Dracula crew that shot at night.Shawn calls vampires the Swiss Army knives of the horror world: What We Do in the Shadows, Interview with the Vampire, and even Star Trek's salt vampire.Woodstake '99 and What's Next from SHP ComicsWoodstake '99 concludes the story at Woodstock 1999, with darker art and a vampire who is back for vengeance.Issues are named after songs: Going Up the Country, My Generation, Freedom, Bad Moon Rising and Purple Haze. There's a companion Spotify playlist too. Follow us & Subscribe:SpotifyApple PodcastTikTokInstagramThreadsGrave Tone Horror Podcast WebsiteHorror Newsletter Background music by: Steve Swisher from the Producer's Chair Podcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Our Other Mommy review, fresh from the theater: Jessica Chastain plays a mom and the thing wearing her face, and it should have wrecked us. It didn't.Rob Savage (Host, The Boogeyman) directs this adaptation of Josh Malerman's 2024 novel Incidents Around the House, produced by James Wan through Blumhouse-Atomic Monster. The cast is stacked: Jessica Chastain, Arabella Olivia Clark, Jay Duplass, Arian Moayed, Dichen Lachman and Karen Allen (yes, Marion from Raiders of the Lost Ark).Other Mommy Review: Our Verdict and Scare FactorOther Mommy gets 4 digs out of 10 from both of us; a stacked cast and great visuals can't fix a story with no build.Scare factor: Fun and Wild, with Light scares (and yes, we argued about it).Meaghan's tagline for the movie: "Don't lie to your children."Incidents Around the House: Josh Malerman's Novel vs the MovieThe novel is told entirely from eight-year-old Bela's perspective, which Meaghan compares to Emma Donoghue's Room.In the book, the entity is tall, boxy, and wrong (eyes on its chin), and it stays in Bela's closet far longer.The book's ending is much darker than the film's, which Meaghan refuses to spoil on mic.Want the full book breakdown? Our friends at Drawn to Darkness are covering it.Why the Dread Never BuildsThe Other Mommy movie reveals its entity in the opening minutes, before we know anyone in the family.One throwaway line explains why the entity can suddenly leave Bela's room.There's almost no ambiguity between Ursula and Other Mommy; the novel's impersonation scenes are where the real fear lives.What Works: Practical Effects, the Ball Pit and the Upside-Down PartyThe melting face and the seven-foot entity land some genuinely creepy moments.The ball pit to bedroom to ocean transitions look great (and feel very James Wan, very Insidious).The upside-down party sequence with babysitter Kelvin is Meaghan's favorite scene in the film.Jessica Chastain's Dual Role and the Motherhood ThemeJessica Chastain is grounded as Ursula and deeply unsettling as Other Mommy; her glued-on smile made a kid on set scream.Arabella Olivia Clark carries a hard role as Bela, and Jay Duplass makes Russ easy to root for.The film keeps the book's honest take on parenthood: you can love your kid and still want your own identity.Coming Up on Grave ToneNext week: Whalefall, Brian Duffield's adaptation of the Daniel Kraus novel.We're catching Fresh Meat, Dead Meat's horror shorts anthology.Not sure what to watch? Try the Horror Movie Picker at gravetonepod.com. Follow us & Subscribe:SpotifyApple PodcastTikTokInstagramThreadsGrave Tone Horror Podcast WebsiteHorror Newsletter Background music by: Steve Swisher from the Producer's Chair Podcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.