Quiet Little Horrors

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.