DRtL Episode 39: Horror Heroines!

0 Comments | This entry was posted on Mar 14 2016

…. And once again after slightly too long a hiatus, we return once more with another episode of Don’t Read the Latin!

This time out, we’re talking about heroines in horror. Horror movies tend to have more female protagonists than practically any other genre, which is something we both love about them. At some point, we plan on having a Feminism in Horror episode where we’ll delve into why we think that is and examine just how horror treats its female characters. But for now, we just want to talk about some scream queens we’ve known and loved, from our favorite classic final girls all the way to, well, The Final Girls. Give it a listen, tell your friends, and as always, we look forward to your comments.

DRtL Episode 38: Horror Soundtracks!

0 Comments | This entry was posted on Feb 11 2016

Listen! What’s that sound? Does that eerie pulsing synthesizer music mean that there’s a killer lurking in the shadows? No — it’s just the latest episode of Don’t Read the Latin!

This time out, we’re talking about horror soundtracks and scores that we love — even when they’re from films we don’t.

Montoure goes all film-school on us and starts talking about diegetic vs. non-diegetic music, Jennifer carefully side-steps around the subject of a mysterious competition in her youth, and so much more!

Stuff We Mentioned

At one point, Montoure mentions that the film He Never Died (he couldn’t remember the title at the time, but that’s the one) reminded him of a novel called Sandman Slim, by Richard Kadrey, so here’s a link to that book on Amazon. (Or click on the cover image, here, if you’re more visually inclined.) It’s a fun read and you should check it out!

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He also mentioned the unused soundtrack for Hellraiser by the band Coil, and said that the whole thing was probably on YouTube. It is! You can give it a listen here. It’s very different from the soundtrack that actually got used!

And finally, he also also mentioned a haunting little comic by Ehud Lavski about a mysterious radio station. He reblogged that one on his Tumblr. You can click on the thumbnail below to read the whole comic.

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DRtL Episode 31: The Kids Are Alright

0 Comments | This entry was posted on Oct 12 2015

Horror movies with kid heroes. It’s a natural. How better to make an audience scared for your protagonist than to make him (or her) a young, vulnerable, innocent child? Throw in the “your parents will never believe you” trope, and you’re set for some real scares. This episode, we salute the best child protagonists the horror genre has to offer.

Join Michael and Jennifer as they dissect the casting and plot direction of Hannibal’s third season, play with an Angel puppet, talk about the Paul Stanley / Dee Snyder feud, and reveal the secret of how to get Jennifer’s daughter to watch a movie that might be slightly scary. Listen in amazement as Michael fucks up immediately! (We talked about People Under the Stairs during the Wes Craven episode, not the Stephen King episode. Obviously.)

We apologize once more, I’m afraid, for the sound quality of this episode. We forgot to set up the powered USB port for the microphone, and therefore that “robots gargling underwater” background echo is back. Yay. Also you can hear traffic outside and Jennifer’s cat meowing, although hopefully that last part is endearing. Anyway. We’ll try to set things up a little better next time.

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Bonus Video
Here’s a fan-made music video for the Scissor Sisters song Return to Oz that Michael mentioned:


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Bonus Tumblr Meme

For those who haven’t seen it, here’s the “Public Service Announcement” Michael mentions making on Tumblr, in a post that’s received over 25,000 notes so far:

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DRtL Episode 25: Hail to the King!

0 Comments | This entry was posted on Jun 22 2015

DSCN2582Hail to the King — namely, Stephen King, that household name of horror, the Maine Man himself! As any horror fan will tell you, Stephen King has had more than his fair share of movie adaptations, not all of them good. Well — maybe, most of them really not that good. But! We persevered here at DRtL, and dove right into our retrospective. We mostly remembered King’s films as being fairly light, fun, popcorn movies — but join us as we realize how wrong we were, and just how many of the genuinely horrifying aspects of human nature are lurking under the surface of King’s work, like a clown in a sewer.

Not to say we didn’t have fun with the topic. See for yourself. Or, I guess, hear for yourself!