Quiet Little Horrors

The "woman trapped in 70s psychological horror" well never runs dry for us. We go back for a low-key classic of the genre, 1971's Let's Scare Jessica to Death. We cover: folk horror, vampires, lesbians, and the weirdest instrument case ever made.

When you're up for a bad time, Kiyoshi Kurosawa always comes through. We discuss the "tortured detective pursues a serial killer and finds an existential crisis" tale that is Kurosawa's 1997 masterpiece Cure.

Strap in, there's a lot to cover in director Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! We like its moxie, but are mixed on its results. Highlights include: the modern depiction of Frankie, Jessie Buckley's ferocity, and the unequivocal support for messy and mad women.

We tackle our first documentary with The Last Sacrifice, a sprawling look at the 1945 murder that inspired the story behind The Wicker Man and, by extension, the folk horror film genre and modern paganism. Like the doc, our discussion moves from the inciting incident and into why we think stories like these endure. Also, a moment of silence for never getting the opportunity to be 1970s witches.

We found the ideal "quiet little horror as giallo"—1976's The House with Laughing Windows. We discuss weird Italian towns, brightly-lit attics, and this film's overlap with folk horror. Also: what's in that bag?

In which we continue our Powell and Pressburger coverage and identity three primary life lessons: men should wear more shorts, don't repress your emotions and thus lose your mind, and no colonialism. Let's talk about Black Narcissus.

Ambition, Technicolor, fairy tales, how to be an artist in an unforgiving society, and terrible, terrible men. Let's talk about Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes.

This episode is the all about the hallucinatory Technicolor, Japanese ghost story anthology film Kwaidan. We discuss the film's theatrical style, the enduring power of folklore and why you probably shouldn't marry strange women you meet in snowy woods.

Tio Guillermo finally got his passion project Frankenstein on the screen and we have thoughts. We talk about the adaptation's cinematic legacy, the story's historical origins and all the details of Oscar Isaac's obsessive, villainous character study.

We close another year and our sixth full season with a list of our favorite episodes and films from 2025, as well as what we're looking forward to in 2026. Thanks for listening and happy new year!

The end of the year seems like a good time for a surrealistic descent into paranoia and madness, so let's watch 1976's The Tenant. We're joined this time by friend of the podcast Michael Fogus to discuss the novel from which the film was adapted, themes of social conformity and identity, and why Isabelle Adjani is just the best. 

Things we like: difficult women, slices of the early 2000s, and weird little films turned cult classics. Therefore, we like director Lucky McKee's 2002 film debut May. In this episode, we discuss the unique tone, story and antiheroine of this horrifically offbeat character study.

It's Robert Altman season at QLH. We discussed his film Images a few seasons ago and it's about time we circle back to the other two films in his "woman-focused" trilogy: That Cold Day in the Park and 3 Women. We cover: dream states, women's madness, power dynamics, doubles, different dimensions and how our favorite Altman films are possibly the least Altman-esque of the bunch.

Happy Halloween! We celebrate with the latest from director Oz Perkins, The Monkey—which swerves a bit from his usual tone, and our usual subject matter, but we found a lens that snaps both into focus. We discuss Stephen King adaptations, the absurdity of death, and how both horror and comedy prepare us to face life.

Yet another entry in the "teenage girls are terrifying" files with Peter Jackson's fictionalized tale of New Zealand's most infamous real murderesses in Heavenly Creatures. We discuss the intensity of girls' imaginations and friendships, the dangers of emotional repression and why we don't discuss what a great movie this is more often.

As Americans, we don't really get the whole British boarding school deal, but apparently at one point they were full of facades and jealousy, teenage girls bonding and bullying, and Eva Green being fabulous but also maybe unhinged. Cracks didn't make much impact on its release in 2007, but we make the case for its reappreciation.

We thought we'd take an episode to look at the work of the recently departed David Lynch and each of us brought one of our favorites to talk about: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and Mulholland Drive. Just a bunch of women trying to figure out what's real and what's not and how to live with it anyway, so if that's your idea of a good time, come on in.

We love it when a film hits squarely in our personal center of interest and Aislinn Clarke nailed it. We discuss Fréwaka and its themes of historical and generational trauma, women at the mercy of fate, and some good old-fashioned evil fae.

We're perpetually here for a bad time and there are few worse times than Antichrist. Join us for a discussion about Lars von Trier, excavations of cultural misogyny and pretty much all the content warnings.

Bergman March continues with what is often regarded as Ingmar Bergman's only "real" horror film. We might dispute it's his only one, but not that this one goes to some horrific places. We discuss the figure of the tortured, self-absorbed artist, women's sustaining labor and if it's possible for artists to make the right bargains with the world.

What wouldn't brighten the tail end of winter but some profound psychological chaos, despair and dread? So we're taking on a couple of Ingmar Bergman films, beginning with 1972's Cries and Whispers. We discuss the brilliant color cinematography of Sven Nykvist, the complex bonds between women and seeking freedom in the liminal spaces between life and death. You know, nice, lighthearted spring fare.

We're not done with vampires yet. After sharing our favorites, we discovered that each host had one film on her list that the other had not seen and that the two films seemed oddly complementary: I Like Bats and Martin. So we both caught up and circled back to discuss two of the strangest and most psychological films in the vampire canon.

After Nosferatu, we wanted to keep talking about vampires—but there were so many movies to pick from that, instead of choosing only one or two, we each brought a whole darn list. So enjoy as we discuss A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Daughters of Darkness, Thirst, Habit, The Addiction, My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To and all the other best offbeat vampires that movies have to offer.

It's a new year and a new season, and we're starting things off with a dark, dread-filled, mustachioed bang: Robert Eggers's 2024 Nosferatu. We discuss filmmaking from another era, storytelling from another era, and the feminine urge for death. Also: cats! Who survive!

2024 is coming to a close and that means it's time to take stock. We share our picks for our favorite episodes, our favorite films we saw this past year, and what we're looking forward to seeing next year. Happy New Year, friends!

In 18th-century Austria, women be depressed. For pretty good reasons. We discuss the recent film, The Devil's Bath, and cover what it feels like to be trapped in an oppressive society, both sides of subtlety, and why maybe sometimes people should talk things out before resorting to murder (sometimes).

Bunny Lake is missing ... or did she never exist? You know women, always making up imaginary children to claim have been kidnapped. We discuss Otto Preminger's 1965 psychological whodunnit, Bunny Lake Is Missing, including the differences between the film and its source novel, and society's hysterical assumptions about women without children, or women with children via unconventional ways.

To follow up our discussion with Toby Poser and John Adams, we take a closer look at their recent feature, also starring daughter Zelda Adams, Hellbender, and talk about folktales, monstrous mother-daughter relationships, and coming to terms with who you are.

A little something different this time: we sit down with filmmakers Toby Poser and John Adams to discuss their homegrown horror films and what it's like working on a film as a family. Enjoy!

We go on an existential romp through loneliness, isolation, and serial killings, with a dash of bizarre sailor-themed nightclub musical. 1970's The Strangler is a French giallo of deep weirdness and opportunity for discussion—which is what we do around here, so this one is a good one.

We hate the title, but we love the movie. And we love Liz Taylor, who gives a striking performance as an odd, difficult woman hell-bent on self-destruction in 1974's Indentikit. Also Andy Warhol shows up for a bit, because why not.

While we don't often cover new releases so close to their release dates, we anticipated that Longlegs was a good opportunity for an exception. This episode, we bookend our earlier episode on director Oz Perkins's debut feature with a discussion on his latest. Covered topics include the legacy of Anthony Perkins, the mythic potential of horror film, creeping dread, existential terror, unsettling silence. You know. The usual.

It's Oz Perkins season here at the podcast. In anticipation of Longlegs, we went back to his debut The Blackcoat's Daughter—a film we've mentioned before, because it's about 200% our thing, but this is the first time we've discussed it in depth. Devils, psychosis, and another installment in our favorite ongoing thematic series, "teenage girls are terrifying."

Since we got on the topic of demonically possessed faux documentary, what else could we do next but talk about Ghostwatch and its timeless capacity for inspiring abject horror and lasting mental trauma. Have fun!

Once more into the breach of found footage, although this time with a self-aware twist, in Late Night with the Devil. We discuss the evolving genre, doing a lot with a little, and the haunted brillance of David Dastmalchian.

The last in our mini series of episodes about doppelganger films is one about a little known Roger Moore gem: The Man Who Haunted Himself, from 1970. The swinging sixties are never over if you've got a reckless, hard-living double of yourself running around town causing trouble. We discuss the tension of determining what is reality and what's in one's head, how much we enjoy a solid psychological thriller, and why emotional repression is probably not the way to live one's life (even if it doesn't result in an evil doppelganger).

We're still on a tear about doubles, so this time we talk about one of the most direct, recent horror films on the subject: Jordan Peele's Us, from 2019. We discuss real-world parallels, social antiheroines, unsettling endings, and, of course, The Twilight Zone.

Quick note: Our apologies for the delay with this episode—Jen was moving and has been even more scattered than usual. We're working our way through a series of episodes about films featuring doppelgangers and doubles, and for this one we reach back to classic Hollywood: Hitchcock's Vertigo. We discuss the meta machinery of making the "perfect" woman, how women end up participating in the same machinery themselves, and how much we love Midge.

And we're back! We took a brief break and have returned with a long stretch of movies on a favorite theme: doppelgangers. We begin with 2010's Black Swan and discuss how it holds up over a decade after its release—especially these days, when the psychological horror film landscape is crowded with more unhinged women than you can shake a stick at, if that's your sort of thing.

You know what's really scary? Songwriter's block. And also maybe ghosts. But also maybe not? The Strings is one of the quietest and most subtle films we've covered, almost entirely about interiority, isolation, and the prices people pay for creation. But also maybe ghosts? Who can say.

This month we're delving into sound and music and all of their meta cinematic potential, beginning with the extremely meta Berberian Sound Studio. We discuss the practical art of sound effects, the tremendous performance of Toby Jones, and how one of our favorite movie endings is the dissolution of reality (we're very normal, that's why we have this podcast).

We go deep into the Irish wilderness for a found footage folk horror romp full of cults, secrets, and annoying young people with 2016's Crone Wood.

We go back to our roots with this overlooked gem of classic British folk horror, Robin Redbreast. Contains some progressive perspectives current society seems to have retreated from and enduring the life lesson that you should never sleep with boring men, however pretty they are.

We get experimental with one of our favorites from the past year, Enys Men, and discuss the wide range of folk horror, the deadening repetition of women's lives, and being unstuck in time and space. You know, a nice, normal start to 2024.

Happy New Year! With 2023 in the books, we take a look back at our favorite films from the past year, new and old, and what we're looking forward to in 2024.

Now that we've discussed the original Black Christmas, there's nothing else to do this year but take a look at the two remakes: one from 2006 and one from 2019. They both have a hard time living up to the first, they each have a charming weirdness worth watching.

Merry Christmas! Don't answer your phone! Or trust your weirdly controlling boyfriend! But do drink and insult people à la Margo Kidder as Barb. Let's talk about the original Black Christmas.

We extend our discussion about silent horror films with one of the most interesting cinematic takes on the topic: 2000's Shadow of the Vampire. Come for Willem Dafoe as the somewhat comical undead, stay for the subtext about what horrific sacrifices humans should make for the sake of art.

This month we're getting classy and discussing a topic we haven't ventured into yet: silent horror film. We talk about the ones we love and the ones on our watchlists, and dig into the details of what silent horror film has to offer with The Cabin

The October theme is suburban horror, so what could we cover next but Tom Hanks's journey through the wilds of having very weird and somewhat suspicious neighbors: 1989's The 'Burbs. Let us appreciate Joe Dante, Carrie Fisher and Dick Miller.