Dec. 16, 2025

This Week in Horror History | Black Christmas, Young Frankenstein & Ghost Story (December 15–21)

This Week in Horror History | Black Christmas, Young Frankenstein & Ghost Story (December 15–21)
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Bundle up, my spookies—this week’s This Week in Horror History digs into Christmas horror movies, winter ghost stories, and festive frights from December 15–21. We’re hanging the stockings and turning off the lights as we revisit the classics that made the holidays just a little more terrifying.

We kick things off with Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (1974), a black-and-white horror-comedy love letter to the Universal Monsters era. It proved that audiences were happy to unwrap creepy laughs during the holiday season, turning a modest budget into a massive hit and cementing itself as a cozy winter comfort watch for monster kids everywhere.

From there, we head into the snow-choked terror of Bob Clark’s Black Christmas (1974)—the grim, stalker-in-the-attic slasher that helped invent the blueprint for holiday horror slashers. Killer POV shots, obscene phone calls, sorority sisters in danger, and a cozy Christmas setting turned sinister make it a must-watch Christmas horror movie for anyone who likes their tinsel tangled with blood.

We then unwrap some Christmas horror gaming with the PS1-style indie nightmare Christmas Massacre, where retro graphics, a whispering Christmas tree, and a deeply disturbed killer turn nostalgic winter vibes into something nasty and unforgettable. If you’re into indie horror games, lo-fi visuals, and brutally mean Christmas horror, this one belongs on your December playlist.

For fans of analog horror and late-night weirdness, we shine a frosty spotlight on Local 58’s Real Sleep—a fake infomercial that slowly mutates into something cosmic, invasive, and deeply wrong. It’s perfect for those long, cold nights where the TV glow is the only light in the room.

Our Deep-Cut Spotlight settles on Ghost Story (1981), a wintry ghost tale about regret, buried secrets, and a haunting that refuses to stay in the past. Legendary performances and snow-dusted atmosphere make it an ideal December ghost story to curl up with while the wind howls outside and the Christmas lights flicker.

Along the way, we celebrate horror icons with birthdays this week, revisit the seismic impact of Wes Craven’s Scream (1996) as a late-December slasher staple, and build you a Christmas horror watchlist loaded with slashers, ghost stories, analog nightmares, and cold-weather horror comfort films.

Where to watch this week’s picks (U.S.):

  • Black Christmas (1974) – Currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, Shudder, AMC+ and more, and also free with ads on platforms like Tubi and The Roku Channel
  • Ghost Story (1981) – Streaming on Amazon Prime Video (including Prime with ads), with digital rent/buy options on Amazon, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home
  • Christmas Massacre (Game) – Available digitally on Steam, GOG, PlayStation, Xbox, and directly from the Puppet Combo store for PC collectors. 
  • Young Frankenstein (1974) – As of this week it’s not on major subscription services in the U.S.; your best bet is grabbing a digital copy or Blu-ray from retailers like Amazon and other disc shops. 
Hit play on this episode of This Week in Horror History for a Christmas horror history lesson you can turn directly into a holiday horror movie night—plus the details on our sponsor’s special seasonal deal.

Support the show and get a tasty energy drink without the crash at AspireDrinks.com and get 25% off with promo code SPOOKY at checkout!

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WEBVTT

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Most people spend this week wrapping gifts and planning travel.

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We're spending it remembering the night the calls came from

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inside the house, the day a ghost came back to

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collect on a fifty year debt, and the moment an

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entire genre smirked and said, yes, this is a horror

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movie and we know it. From snowy New England mansions

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to dingy video stores and cursed YouTube uploads, this week

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in horror History is loaded with cranky slashers, cozy ghost yarns,

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and at least one Christmas tree that tells you to

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commit murder. Now, pour something warm, double check the phone line,

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and let's unwrap what's going down. You're listening to this

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week in horror history On the weekly Spooky Feed, I'm

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Enrique Cuto, your guide through the icy corridors of genres past.

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This time we're digging into the week of December fifteenth

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through twenty first, a stretch that gave us horror comedy royalty,

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a foundational Christmas slasher, and one of the coziest ghost

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movies ever filmed. Coming up, a mad scientist and his

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monster prove horror and jokes can share the same laboratory.

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A sorority house is terrorized by obscene calls and attic

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shadows years before the slasher boom. A vengeful spirit stalks

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old men through snow drifts and memory. Plus a loaf

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bi Christmas massacre you can play, and an analog horror

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sleep tape that wants into your dreams. Let's get to it.

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On December fifteenth, nineteen seventy four, mel Brooks released Young Frankenstein,

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his black and white love letter to the universal monster cycle,

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with Gene Wilder as the twitchy Doctor Frankenstein and Peter

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Boyle as the most lovable corpse in cinema. Shot in

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a very classic kind of gothic style with lab gear

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borrowed from the original Frankenstein films, It's packed with gags

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horror fans still quote to this day. In fact, I

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think I mentioned this a few weeks back when I

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went to find It's Alive from the original Frankenstein movie.

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The first five or six results for the sound were

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from Young Friend Winkenstein. It's a film that's really left

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a mark in horror history, even if it is a

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parody and a comedy. Another thing I think is truly

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hilarious about Young Frankenstein is It was put out in

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the seventies in black and white, and at that time

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black and white was extremely old fashioned and really just

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relegated to super low budget movies and student films things

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like that. Mel Brooks had to fight with the studio

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to keep the film in black and white because he

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felt like that was so necessary and I would have

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to agree. So he sticks this little nugget into the trailer,

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and it always always makes me laugh. Don't miss Young

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Frankenstein personally directed by mel Blazing Saddles Brooks in Black

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and White Elephants twentieth Century. Fock sincerely believed that the

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film could be bombed simply by being in black and white.

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An audience is not understanding that it's a parody and

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not some old film being re released. Well, as is

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often the case with studios, they were absolutely positively wrong

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and basically every way. On a budget of around two

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point eight million dollars, it earned roughly eighty six million worldwide.

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I don't even think I have to do the in

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today's money calculations for you to understand what a massive

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boon that is, an absolute hit that showed horror fans

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would be happy to attend an affectionate parody. Now, this

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is something that as far as revisiting Young Frankenstein, it's

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not currently on any major streaming service, not for rent,

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not to watch free with ads, nothing, not a zip zilch.

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So you're mostly looking at grabbing yourself a DVD or

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Blu ray. And I do recommend you get it because

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it's absolutely worth a revisit. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and

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you'll learn to pronounce his damn name. Right now, here's

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some horror perspective for you. Just five days later, on

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December twentieth, nineteen seventy four, Bob Clark's Black Christmas hits theaters.

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A sorority house is menaced by obscene phone calls while

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a killer hides in the attic, watching from the shadows.

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This film is a classic. If you haven't seen it,

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you need to watch it. Yes, it's a little bit

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of a slow burn. What do you expect. It's nineteen

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seventy four. Man, It's directed by Bob Clark, who went

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on to direct another classic Christmas film that people have

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revisited for decades. But believe it or not, that one

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is a Christmas story. Yeah. So first we had obscene

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phone callers. Then we had Old Ralphie and all he

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had to worry about was shooting his eye out. With

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Olivia Hussey, Margo Kidder, and the man himself, John Saxon.

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The film pioneered the concept of killer point of view shots,

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although not including the many jallos made in Italy, but

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that's a story for another day. It was also a

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trendsetter for holiday horror, and of course, making the infamous

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the call is coming from inside the House twist go

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beyond being an urban legend whispered around to a concept

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heard in theaters and talked about at water coolers and

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slumber parties. This was also years before Halloween and Friday

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the Thirteenth, both famous slasher movies that focus on a

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day on the calendar. In many ways, Black Christmas is

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the first slasher movie, though that's a very long debate

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to get into and we're not going to do that today.

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Made for roughly six hundred and eighty six thousand dollars,

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it earned about four million dollars worldwide. It slowly snowballed

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from a modest success to an absolute cult classic. And

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I have the four k uhd by the way, that

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came out from I believe it was screen Factory. The

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movies never looked better, and it played in theaters last

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year I got to see it on the big screen. Really,

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it really sticks with you. And I'm going to resist

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the urge to play segments from the obscene phone caller

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in the film on this show, because oddly enough, this

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show is kind of family friendly. But boy howdy, the

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film is available, and I mean very available for you

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to revisit this holiday season, so you have no excuse.

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It's streaming on Prime Video, Peacock, AMC Plus, Shutter, the

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Criterion Channel, and more, and you can also watch it

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for free entirely with ads on the Roku channel, Pluto TV,

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shout Factory, and several others. You can even find it

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over on two B TV for free, as well as

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the two thousand and six remake Black Christmas, or as

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a lot of people like to call it, Black Xmas,

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which in my opinion, has aged like fine wine. It's

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an early two thousand slasher full of thrills, chills, and

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the desire to toss your Christmas cookies because it is

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a nasty one. They're both available to watch at twob

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Get to work on those, because if you don't watch those,

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I don't see how your Christmas will be holly and

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or jolly. Let's go for something a little different. On

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December seventeenth, twenty one, indie game developer Puppet Combo released

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Christmas Massacre on PC. It's a PS one style slasher

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where you play Larry, a disturbed man who's Christmas tree

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whispers that he should make things right and we don't

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know what that means. Tank controls, VHS style filters, and

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mean spirited grindhouse kills make it a nasty little cult favorite.

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It's short, brutal, and drenched in cheap holiday decor, basically

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playing like a lost nineteen eighties video nasty if it

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were fed through a PlayStation. I've not played the game myself,

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but I've watched several YouTubers play it and it is

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a lot of fun. It's very cheery. I'm not a

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huge gamer. I don't have a PC or anything to

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play it on, but this one is right up my

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alley and if you want to check out Christmas Massacre.

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It is available on p via Steam and other PC storefronts,

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with console ports on platforms like Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and

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Xbox PlayStation. I wonder if you'll work on my PlayStation five.

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It's just the kind of thing you need to make

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your Yule Tide extra grim and to wrap things up.

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On December nineteenth, twenty eighteen, analog horror channel Local fifty

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eight dropped Real Sleep, a fake late night infomercial for

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an experimental sleep program. This one is a lot of fun,

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a lot of creepy fun, with a lot to dig

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your way into. It starts out like a grainy, low

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rent advertisement or infomercial with very public access production values,

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then glitches into unsettling diagrams and corrupted instruction to quote

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reject false shapes implying dreams are some kind of cosmic intrusion.

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The short quickly became one of Local fifty eight's most

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talked about uploads and a cornerstone of the analog horror boom.

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I really do recommend you check this one out and

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really just go to Local fifty eight on YouTube and

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watch a lot of the stuff they have, But Real

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Sleep that is the money, all right, and it's a

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perfect after midnight viewing if you'd like to just absolutely

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ruin naps for a minimum of a week, So put

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it on late with the lights off, and then I

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dare you to go straight to bed. This week's episode

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is brought to you in part by the good folks

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that Aspire Drinks. You know me, my spookies. I live

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dot Com promo code spooky. Thanks to Aspire Drinks for

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their support. After the break, we're heading to a snowy

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New England town where four old men discover that burying

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a secret doesn't mean it won't knock on your door

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fifty years later. Welcome back to this week in horror history.

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Let's settle in for our deep cut spotlight. A wintry

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ghost story that deserves a spot in your December rotation.

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Released in the United States on December eighteenth, nineteen eighty one,

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Ghost Story adapts Peter Straub's novel into a chilly tale

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about the whimsically named Chowder Society, four elderly friends haunted

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by what they did to a young woman a half

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a century ago. Directed by John Irving and starring Fred Astaire,

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Melvin Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks, Junior, John Houseman, and Alice Kreeg,

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the film trades jump scares for atmosphere snow packed streets,

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creaking mansions, and firelit storytelling sessions that feel like the

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world's bleakest Christmas gathering. On a reported budget of thirteen

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point five million dollars, it earned twenty three point four

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million Domestically respectable but not a huge hit and not

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a cable marathon staple. Over time, though, it became a

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cult favorite among fans of slow literary style ghost stories,

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which is many of you spookies who tune in. So

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what makes it worth pulling off the shelf this week, Well,

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there's plenty, so I'll just give you a few. Alice

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Kreeg is quietly terrifying as the wronged woman who may

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or may not have ever truly left the structure of

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old men. Telling overlapping tales allows the film to between

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haunted houses and guilt, and even a touch of body horror,

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and most terrifying of all, at its core, it's a

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film about regret, the idea that something you did in

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your twenties can haunt you straight into your seventies. It's

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a film that has such a thick atmosphere you will

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not regret sitting down on a cold winter night and

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watching it unless you're doing so alone. And even then,

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if you're listening to this show, you'll probably enjoy that feeling.

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As far as where to watch it, it's available to

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stream on Amazon Prime Video, including free with ads, and

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you can rent or buy it digitally on Amazon, Apple TV,

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and Fandango at Home, and there are also several options

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on DVD and a very very nice blu ray from

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Shout Factory. So take it from me, your old uncle

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Henny put it on. Let the imaginary snow pile up

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at the windows and just see if you don't start

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checking the glass for a pale face outside. Now, let's

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raise a blood spattered glass of eggnog for a few

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folks celebrating birthdays this week. First up, born on December sixteenth,

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nineteen sixty seven, Miranda Otto from What Lies Beneath to

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Annabelle Creation and Azzy Possession hit Talk to Me, which

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I did enjoy quite a bit. She's quietly become modern

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horror Royalty, and it's very very well deserved. So Happy Birthday, Miranda.

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Born on December seventeenth, nineteen seventy seven is Catherine Winnick.

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Before she start on vikings, she log time in video

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store staples like Satan's Little Helper Amusement and Hell Raiser

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Hell World, which, by the way, Satan's Little Helper is

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one of my all time favorite Halloween picks. You don't

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want to miss that one if you get a chance

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to give it a watch. Happy birthday, Catherine. This next

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one is a household name, but he has some very

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strong ties to horror. Born on December eighteenth, nineteen sixty

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three is Brad Pitt. His genre resume includes interview with

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the Vampire, the serial killer Classic seven and the zombie

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blockbuster World war Z. But I'll forever remember him for

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starring in the Freddy's Nightmares episode Black Tickets. Yeah, he

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was on the Freddy Krueger TV series from eighty nine

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to ninety, which, if you want to learn a little

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more about you can listen to an entire podcast myself

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and my buddy Dave did running down every episode of

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the often forgotten maligned series. Just search Welcome to prime

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time on your favorite podcasting app. Happy Birthday, Brad Pitt.

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And finally, another big name that owes a lot of

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his stardom to genre films, born on December nineteenth, nineteen

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eighty Jake Jillenhall. From Donnie Darko to the unnerving and

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underrated Nightcrawler, He's brought an off kilter intensity that fits

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right into horror's extended family. So Happy birthday, Jake Jillenhall.

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And if any of those films are on your shelf,

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this is the week to put them on in celebration

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fur Aur then and now. On December twentieth, nineteen ninety six,

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Wes Craven's Scream hit theaters and quietly rewired the Slasher

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and I want to mention Wes Craven is one of

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the few people to inarguably reinvent the horror genre twice

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in one career and just over a day decade apart.

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Nightmare on Elm Street was released in nineteen eighty four,

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and since then all horror films that followed were different. Well, Similarly,

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when Scream came to theaters, the horror market was never

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quite the same. Wes has done something many filmmakers could

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only dream of doing. He's one of my favorites, and

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I think he's horribly underrated. On a budget of around

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fourteen to fifteen million, it carved out roughly one hundred

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and seventy three million dollars worldwide, reviving both Craven's career

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and the idea that slashers could be bloody, smart, and

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meta all at the same time. Ghostface's mask became a

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Halloween staple. In fact, I was ghost faced three different

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times during my young years and teenage years for Halloween.

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The Drew Barrymore fake out opening became instantly iconic, and

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suddenly the slasher wasn't dead, it just self aware. Give

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it a rewatch. I assure you it's as good as

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you remember it, and you can catch it for free

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with ads on Pluto TV or rented on the usual

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suspects like Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Apple TV, or

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Fandango at Home Today. The franchise is a full on

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legacy machine. Scream seven, directed by writer Kevin Williamson with

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Nev Campbell's Sydney Back at the Center, is slated for

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an early twenty twenty six release, proving this series has

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a lot of phone calls left to make. Don't miss

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that one in the theater. Now for our pick of

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the week, Well, it's the aforementioned Black Christmas from nineteen

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seventy four. It fits the calendar perfectly. December twentieth release,

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Sorority House lights, snow outside the windows, and it feels

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nasty and even a modern The obscene phone calls the

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unseen killer in the attic and that bleak unresolved ending

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that still gives me goosebumps to this day. They all

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play just as hard now as they did in nineteen

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seventy four. Historically, it is a key proto slasher. You

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can trace a straight line from its killer point of view,

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shots and holiday vibe all the way to Halloween Silent

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Night deadly night and a whole wave of Christmas carnage.

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But it's also just a great, mean, little winter chiller

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with messy, believable characters and a killer whose motives stay

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unsettingly opaque. As I mentioned earlier, you can watch it

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on Prime Video, Peacock, AMC Plus, Criterion Channel, Shutter, as

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well as many places free with ads like the Roku channel,

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Pluto TV, Shop, Factory TV, and tuob with its remake

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from the early two thousands. If you watch one home

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for the holiday's horror movie this week, make it the

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one that quietly taught us just how afraid to answer

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the phone we should be. That's it for this week

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in horror history for December fifteenth through twenty first, a

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week of vengeful ghosts, cranky sorority killers, cursed cartridges, and

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analog nightmares beamed straight into your sleeping brain. If you

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want more spooky goodness, on the weekly Spooky Feed Tomorrow

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we have a brand new holiday themed horror for you,

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with the unsettling and misleading name of a Christmas Romance.

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On Thursday, we come out with a brand new free

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novella for you to listen to, called an Angel of Death. Christmas,

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and on Friday, I'll be carving up the mind bending

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holiday horror film dead End with Rachel on cutting deep

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into horror. And on Saturday we'll have a big fat

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compilation of holiday horror stories to help you wrap your

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gifts while you hope the good Santa comes down your chimney.

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And if you notice that this show is dropping a

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little later, it's because there's so much weekly spooky fun,

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we just have to stack it up on the days,

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so sometimes this show might drop around noon or one

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o'clock to make way for a scary story. Until next time,

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Keep the lights low, keep the volume high, and remember

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our days are numbered, because that's how we tell them apart.

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See you next time.