EPISODE NOTES:
Released Wednesday 25th October 2017
Story Etc. Episode 8: Fear was produced and presented by Tom Crowley, Jenny Redmond and Eleanor Rushton. The supervising editor is Odinn Orn Hilmarsson, who also composed the music.
INTRO:
- Eleanor was particularly terrified by The Woman in Black, a ghost story by Susan Hill, and The Witches, a children's horror book by Roald Dahl.
- Jenny was frightened by Scream, Wes Craven's 1996 slasher movie satire, and the novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.
- Tom was frightened by Ghostwatch, the 1992 ghost-hunting drama written by Stephen Volk.
- Eleanor cites The Hound of the Baskervilles, a Sherlock Holmes mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle.
ROBERT NAIRNE:
- Robert is an actor and creature performer. He can be found on IMDB here and on Twitter at @robertnairne.
- Robert has recently been seen in Penny Dreadful, Rogue One and Red Dwarf, and can also be seen in Hammer House of Horror Live: The Soulless Ones, which has been extended until 4th November 2017.
- Robert has Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder of the connective tissue, to which he attributes his tall, thin and hyper-flexible physique.
- Robert mentions two other hugely influential creature performers: Doug Jones and Javier Botet, who also have Marfan syndrome.
- Hammer Films, producers of The Soulless Ones, have a legacy in horror dating back over 80 years, and are best known for a host of British Gothic horror film productions from the 1950s-1970s.
- Robert cites Frankenstein, Mary Shelley's Gothic novel, and its iconic Monster.
- Robert's favourite creature performance is Doug Jones as The Pale Man and The Faun in Guillermo Del Toro's 2006 film Pan's Labyrinth. He also loves Javier Botet's performance as the titular Mama in Andy Muschietti's 2013 film.
ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION:
- Jenny and her family were shocked and frightened by The Devil of Christmas, the Christmas Special of BBC Two series Inside No. 9 by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. The episode played on classic British horror movie tropes and the European folktale of the Krampus.
- Tom spots parallels between The Witches and They Live, John Carpenter's 1988 film.
COPPICE, THE LIVING PUPPET GIRL:
- This poem was written and performed by Molly Beth Morossa, who can be found at her website here, and on Twitter at @MBethMorossa.
- Molly can also be heard performing Dateless Night by Leon Craig in our third episode, Secret.
ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION:
- Tom brings up the scientific horror of Doctor Who, the long-running BBC TV series, specifically referencing the two-parter The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, written by Matt Jones, and Hide, written by Neil Cross.
TANYA KIRK:
- Tanya Kirk is the Lead Curator of Rare Books 1601-1900 at The British Library, where she curated the Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination exhibition. She can be found on Twitter at @tanyakirk.
- Tanya also compiled a collection of classic ghost stories about books and libraries, entitled The Haunted Library, published through the British Library.
- Tanya cites The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole as the first Gothic novel.
- Tanya also mentions quintessential sensational Gothic writers Wilkie Collins and Edgar Allan Poe.
- Tanya cites Algernon Blackwood's work as an early 20th Century appearance of folk horror.
- In her exhibition, Tanya included a model of Wallace as the Were-Rabbit from The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Steve Box and Nick Park's 2005 film.
- Tanya also mentions an image included in the exhibition of a woman masturbating while reading The Monk by Matthew Lewis. The image can be seen here.
- Tanya mentions M.R. James, Edith Wharton, May Sinclair and Elizabeth Bowen as ghost story writers who produced work inspired by books and libraries.
- Tanya's choice for scariest story in The Haunted Library anthology is The Book by Margaret Irwin.
ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION:
- Contrary to Eleanor's claim, Satanic Panic is not a existing music act, but Satanic Panic in the Attic is an album by Of Montreal.
MALIK IBHEIS:
- Malik is an actor and mime. His website can be found here and he is on Twitter at @malikibheis.
- Malik has most recently been seen on television on Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams on Channel 4 (in the episode Impossible Planet). He can also be seen regularly at the Double R Club at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club in London, and at the next edition of Crowley & Co.'s The Night at Brasserie Zédel on Monday 6th November.
- Malik's first experience of mime and physical performance was at an early Cirque Du Soleil show.
- Malik's education was at Die Etage in Berlin and The International School of Corporeal Mime in London, which has subsequently moved to Wisconsin, USA.
- Like Robert Nairne, Malik was hugely inspired by the work of actor Doug Jones.
- Red Hand, the character Malik mentions, can be seen on his Instagram feed, here.
- Malik's costume in Electric Dreams, the robot RB29 was created by Kristyan Mallett. The movement was directed by Ita O'Brien and the vocal performance was by Christopher Staines.
THE WHISPERERS:
- The Whisperers was written by Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) and was performed by Omar El Okdah. Recorded and directed by Eleanor Rushton.
JAMES CARNEY:
- James Carney is an actor, writer and producer based in London. He can be found at his agent's website here, or on Twitter at @scaffoldjim.
- James created, writes and produces for the podcast The Unseen Hour. It can be found on Apple Podcasts here, Stitcher here or on your podcatcher of choice. It is recorded live monthly at The Rosemary Branch Theatre.
- James was inspired to launch a podcast by Welcome to Night Vale and The Thrilling Adventure Hour. The other biggest influence on the show was classic BBC Radio comedy programme The Goon Show.
- James specifically mentions Unseen Hour Episode 7: Victims of the Quellmouth Curse, as a more horror-focused example.
- James took us through the writing process behind Episode 10: The Dark Hearth.
- James mentions American mythologist Joseph Campbell and his theory of archetypes, espoused in his seminal work The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION:
- Examples of spy-based conspiracy thrillers mentioned include Tomas Alfredson's 2011 film adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Eleanor's Tobey Maguire example - The Good German (2006).
- Jenny's example of self-referential horror is Cabin in the Woods (2012), directed by Drew Goddard.
- 80s nostalgia horror stories mentioned include It (2017), directed by Andy Muschietti and Stranger Things, a Netflix Original programme created by The Duffer Brothers.