Episode 23: Southern Comfort (1981) & The Descent (2005)

Welcome to episode 23 of the Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we combine two movies to create something far greater than the sum of their partsThis week we are exploring the great outdoors with two films that fall into the sub genre of backwoods horror, though to be fair the second one is more backwoods adjacentFirst up we wade through the swamps of Louisiana with Southern Comfort from 1981 and director Walter Hill, starring Keith Carradine, Powers Booth, Fred Ward, and Peter Coyote. Then we travel to 2005 and the Appalachian Mountains with The Descent from director Neil Marshall, starring Shauna MacDonald, Natalie Mendoza, Akex Reid and Myanna Buring.Along the way we’ll be discussing the origins of the back woods horror sub-genre, exploring some of the classic and if we’re honest not so classic entries, discussing the career of Walter Hill, debating whether Southern Comfort is an allegory for the Vietnam war and much much more.Sources & ReferencesIntroduction and both moviesThe Rural Gothic in American Popular Culture Backwoods Horror and Terror in The Wilderness by Bernice M MurphyThe Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Gothic Volume 1 edited by Clive BloomSouthern Comfort interviews, commentaries and documentaries that can be found on the Vinegar Syndrome special edition blu-ray release of the filmMen, Women and Chainsaws by Carol J Cloverhttps://thequietus.com/culture/film/film-southern-comfort-walter-hill-40-anniversary/https://brightlightsfilm.com/human-frailty-swallowed-whole-on-walter-hills-southern-comfort-1981/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/56697https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Hillhttps://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/56697The DescentThe Making of The Descent by Janine Pipe and Neil Marshallhttps://youtu.be/gqx5snAahzA?si=6-3pqO6_B8313zFnhttps://www.dreadcentral.com/interviews/3370/marshall-neil-the-descent/https://theasc.com/articles/the-descent-creepy-crawlershttps://www.horrorthriller.com/Movies/Directors/N_Marshall/Centu_rion_Inter_view.htmlContemporary British Horror Cinema Industry, Genre and Society by Johnny Walkerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Marshallhttps://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time/all-voters/neil-marshall Instagram: @thehorrordoublebillemail: [email protected]: @thehorrordoublebillartwork by Justin Parker (IG jpkr_illustration.com)