Category Archives: Blog

BONUS CONTENT! Commentary: I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

Join Alex for a commentary on the teen slasher classic, I Know What You Did Last Summer. Featuring a discussion of wigs, classism, star power and how an urban legend threatened to bring down a cynical generation, this commentary makes the case for July 4 becoming the Fisherman’s Holiday.

Cue up the film, get some popcorn and settle in for 100 minutes of teens making terrible choices.

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Fack Flash: Quarantine Viewing, part 1

We’ve had a lot of people asking what we’ve been watching lately so here’s a run of the new releases that have been on our radar.

The second portion of this episode is available to all tiers of our Patreon! Join now and gain access to the rest of our lockdown activities, plus even more perks and extras. Become a Patron!

Movies discussed: 

  • The Hunt
  • Vivarium
  • The Invisible Man
  • Sea Fever
  • Sputnik
  • Underwater
  • I See You
  • Antlers
  • Blood Quantum
  • Relic
  • Dreamland
  • The Rental
  • Swallow

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Episode 75. Crime Spree: Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) and Zodiac (2007)

This month, Andrea and Alex pull back the veil on narrative cinema and the true-crime phenomena. From John McNaughton’s nightmarish debut to David Fincher’s gumshoe epic, the answers to our response and responsibility to real-life events is almost always more complex than they appear on the surface.

Class of 2019 T-shirts are available now at Twisted Ts! 

Salem Horror Fest – Tickets to our live show on October 5th are on sale now! The Fack Dispatch – Subscribe to our BRAND NEW monthly newsletter!

REQUIRED READING

Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer. Dir. John McNaughton, 1986.

Zodiac. Dir. David Fincher, 2007.

EXTRA CREDIT

Violence Incorporated: John McNaughton’s “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer” and the Uses of Gratuitous Violence in Popular Narrative. Steffen Hantke’s in-depth examination of violence in the film.

Regarding the Pain of Others. Susan Sontag’s follow up to On Photography.
 
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. Michelle McNamara’s search for the Golden State Killer.
 
The Ethical Dilemma of Highbrow True Crime. Alice Bolin discusses how true crime went from guilty pleasure to pop culture phenomenon.

LISTEN

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Episode 73. Freddy Inc: A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Master (1988), A Nightmare on Elm Street:The Dream Child (1989), Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), New Nightmare (1994), Freddy vs Jason (2013)

Andrea and Alex hit the hay one last time to discuss how Freddy became a marketing legend, a cultural sensation and an arbiter of taste. Transitioning from installments in the late ’80s to the ’90s to the early aughts, Freddy illustrates how slashers have evolved (or devolved) to become cultural icons.

Class of 2019 T-shirts are available now at Twisted Ts!

 Salem Horror Fest – Tickets to our live show on October 5th are on sale now!

REQUIRED READING

A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Master. Dir. Renny Harlin, 1988.
A Nightmare on Elm Street:The Dream Child. Dir. Stephen Hopkins, 1989.
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. Dir. Rachel Talalay, 1991.
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. Dir. Wes Craven, 1994.
Freddy vs Jason. Dir. Ronny Yu, 2013.

EXTRA CREDIT

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy. The four hour documentary that delves into the nooks and crannies of the Elm Street franchise.

How MTV changed the world with its industry of cool. A look at MTV from it’s birth to the height of its popularity.

Welcome to His ‘Nightmare’: How Freddy Krueger Became a Pop Icon. Rolling Stone examines how Freddy went from child murderer to teen sensation.

Slash of the Titans: The Road to Freddy vs Jason. Dustin McNeill’s exhaustive look at the production history and scripts that led to Freddy vs Jason.

Hockey Masks, Machetes and Razor Fingers: The Writers Behind ‘Freddy Vs. Jason’ Tell All! Trace Thurman’s interview with Freddy vs Jason screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon.

Bloody Disgusting. Larry Zerner explains the messy Friday the 13th lawsuit.

MTV’s Freddy Krueger Hour clips. All the MTV segments featuring Freddy Krueger promoting NoES 4.

Metacinema: A Modern Necessity. A guide and explanation of “metacinema” from its beginnings.

The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Lyotard’s critique of cultural metanarratives.

The Bogeyman of Your Nightmares: Freddy Krueger’s Folkloric Roots. A cultural history of figures like Freddy, and how the original and remake compare.

LISTEN

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