Open Mic Night of the Living Dead

A surprise special for you this week, as Rachel recovers from surgery and we couldn't quite get a deep dive ready for you in time. However, we thought that body horror would be a fun subgenre to explore given Rachel's recent experience with her own lived experience these last few weeks. Join us as we discuss Cronenberg(s), Carpenter, and all things autonomy-violating, boundary-breaking, and just plain gross. Plus a remaster of John's song inspired by Black Christmas from last year. 

We talk about some of our favorite spooky movies that might not make it on the usual seasonal lists. Plus the studio demo of Rachel's song Mother Knows Best.  

We wrap up our coverage of Ridley Scott's masterpiece, including SFX, characters and themes. Plus don't miss two brand new songs inspired by the film! Barton, Michaela. “How ‘Alien’ (1979) Queered the Binaries of Traditional Gender.” Flipscreened. 18 August 2020. https://flipscreened.com/2020/08/18/how-alien-queered-the-binaries-of-traditional-gender/. Brinkhof, Tim. “As Seen on ‘Alien’: H.R. Giger’s Biomorphic Nightmare.” Artnet. 26 April 2024. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/as-seen-on-alien-giger-xenomorph-2460983. “Gender in Body Horror: Alien & Videodrome.” Movies: trash classics obscurities beauty. 26 April 2012. https://lastephens92.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/gender-and-horror-in-videodrome-alien/. Giger, H.R. “More Press Reaction.” HR Giger. April 1998. https://hrgiger.com/alien4-press.htm. Hall, Sophia Alexandra. “Forget Xenomorphs: The real threat in Alien was wage inequality and corporate greed.” Big Issue. 13 August 2025. https://www.bigissue.com/culture/film/alien-film-xenomorph-wage-inequality-ridley-scott/. King, E.L. “Embracing Ellen Ripley and Alien’s Genderfluid Motifs.” Horror Press. 12 June 2023. https://horrorpress.com/editorials/4231/embracing-ellen-ripley-and-aliens-genderfluid-motifs/. Windram, Dominic. “Feminism & Film: ‘Mainstream cinema woman’s body has come to signify the spaces of the unknown, the terrifying, the monstrous.’ (Barbara Creed).” LinkedIn. 19 April 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/feminism-film-mainstream-cinema-womans-body-has-come-signify-windram/.

We finally tackle Ridley Scott's masterpiece, Alien. We cover what makes it horror, the team of geniuses (genii?) who created the film, and discuss the impeccable vibes that make this one of our favorites. Make sure to check out part two next week!

After diving deep into Child's Play last week, this week we discuss selections from Brad Dourif's horror and horror-adjacent film and television career. He's been in a lot of movies. Plus a demo of our new duet, We Got This.    Chapters 00:00:00 Intro 00:03:09 An Actor-Focused Encore: Why Brad Dourif 00:06:38 The 70s and 80s: Laura Mars to Fatal Beauty 00:12:47 Child's Play, The Exorcist III & the 90s Detours 00:20:01 The Hazing and the Rob Zombie Era 00:25:48 Wizard of Gore to Wildling 00:31:00 Ginger Clown 3D, the Two Malignants & Six Degrees of Brad Dourif 00:36:28 Song Demo - We Got This 00:39:51 Losing Light