Feb. 3, 2026

This Week in Horror History | Rings, The Prodigy, The Messengers + In the Mouth of Madness (Feb 2–8)

This Week in Horror History | Rings, The Prodigy, The Messengers + In the Mouth of Madness (Feb 2–8)
This Week in Horror History (Feb 2–8) is your weekly horror movie release-date rundown—with where to watch (U.S.), a deep-cut spotlight, and a weekly recommendation built for long winter nights. This week we’re talking cursed media, home-invasion dread, and the kind of slow-burn paranoia that makes you stare at your own hallway a little too long.

Inside this episode

Horror releases from Feb 2–8
  • Feb 2, 2007 — The MessengersA glossy studio haunted-house/farm nightmare where the land doesn’t want you there.Where to watch: Tubi (free w/ ads), Prime Video (subscription)
  • Feb 3, 2017 — RingsThe modernized curse—fear spreads because people can’t stop clicking.Where to watch: Prime Video (subscription) / MGM+; or rent on Apple TV, YouTube, Fandango at Home
  • Feb 6, 2026 — The Strangers: Chapter 3The trilogy payoff—masks, anonymity, and primal “why us?” terror.Where to watch: In theaters (check local listings)
  • Feb 8, 2019 — The ProdigyA parent’s worst nightmare: the moment you realize your child might not be only your child anymore.Where to watch: Tubi + The Roku Channel (free w/ ads); or rent/buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV

🎬 Deep-Cut Spotlight
  • Feb 3, 1995 — In the Mouth of MadnessJohn Carpenter turns reality into a trapdoor—fiction vs. belief, and what happens when a story starts rewriting the world.Where to watch: Shudder / AMC+ (subscription), Tubi (free w/ ads), or rent on Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Prime Video

🎂 Horror birthdays in this window

⭐ Weekly Recommendation
  • Feb 2, 2001 — ValentineGlossy early-2000s slasher comfort food—stylish, mean, and perfect for the season.Where to watch: Tubi + The Roku Channel (free w/ ads), Hoopla (library card), or rent on Prime Video, Fandango at Home, Apple TVCompanion pick: Heart Eyes

Support the show
This episode is “sponsored by me”—grab merch and support the Weekly Spooky feed at weeklyspooky.com/store

🎧 LISTEN NOW and subscribe for spine-tingling horror stories every week!

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🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨‍💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
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If you're listening in February, you know the deal. The

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sun checks out early, the air tastes crisp, but not

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in a good way anymore, and every creek in the

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house gets a little louder because the world outside is quiet.

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Winter doesn't just change the weather, it changes your imagination.

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It turns a normal wholeway into a long tunnel. It

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turns your reflection into a stranger if you catch it

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at the wrong angle. And that is why this show exists.

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Because horror history isn't just trivia. It's proof that certain

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fears come back on schedule. A family moves into a

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place that doesn't want them, a curse modernizes itself and

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spreads like a bad link. A kid smiles like an adult,

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and you feel your stomach drop. This week has all

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of that. So let's open up the calendar. I'lbeit carefully.

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Welcome to this Week in Horror History, your weekly tour

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through anniversaries, releases, and genre landmarks that began haunting us

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between February second and February eighth. Coming up, a mid

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two thousand studio spookfest where the Cornfield is patiently waiting

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a revived Jy Horror curse that retools itself for the

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always online era. The third chapter of a modern home

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Invasion trilogy hitting theaters right now, well this weekend, and

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I'm excited about it, and a twenty tens something is

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wrong with the kid thriller that really goes for the throat.

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Then after the break we'll do our deep cut spotlight

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on John Carpenter's reality cracking Nightmare, released this week in

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nineteen ninety five. If you like horror that makes you

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question the rules, well buckle up because we're diving. In

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February second, two thousand and seven, The Messengers was released.

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The Pang Brothers brought a glossy jump scare, friendly studio

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horror vibe to a story that's basically a winter fear

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in disguise. You move somewhere to start over, and the

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place has its own opinion about that. A struggling family

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lands on a remote farm, money's tight, tensions are high,

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and then the house starts showing them things, not just

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spooky silhouettes in doorways, but the kind of unsettling wrongness

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that feels personal. The best part of The Messengers is

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its atmosphere, big empty spaces, long sight lines, and that

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sense that the land itself is well, let's just say

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not on your side. At the box office, it made

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about fifty five point one million dollars worldwide on a

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sixteen million dollar budget. It also helped to establish Kristen Stewart,

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who would later go on to star in Twilight and

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many other films, as a box office draw. Straight up.

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For some reason, this movie had completely shot over my

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head for years and years, but I finally discovered it

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maybe ten years after it came out on a random

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streaming service. Really enjoyed it. Definitely worth a look or

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a revisit, and you can stream it very easily for

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free with ads on two BTV, or check it out

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on Prime Video with your subscription. The prequel I can

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kind of take or leave, but if you love the

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first one, you'll want to check that out too. February third,

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twenty seventeen, Rings hits theaters. Rings is what happens when

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an old curse tries to survive in a new ecosystem.

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The original Ring concept is beautifully analog, a videotape, a

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tube television, and a phone call on a landline. Rings

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drags that legend into a world where everything is shareable.

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Streamable and forwarded without thinking. The movie's core dread isn't

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just the tape kills you in seven days. It's the

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way curiosity spreads. A rumor becomes content, a dare becomes

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a ritual. And the scariest part is how believable that

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chain reaction feels. On a twenty five million dollar budget,

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it brought in eighty three point one million dollars, which

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isn't setting the whole world on fire, but is nothing

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to sneeze at. And I do want to mention I

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saw this film in the theater and I actually really

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liked it. I don't hear people talk a lot about Rings,

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but I think it held up pretty well. It delivered

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some fun scares and some cool concepts and an update

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to the Ring gou concept. I wish more people talked

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about Rings, and I think it's worth a revisit if

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you've already seen it but kind of forgotten a bit

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about it. It's available to watch on Amazon Prime Video

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with your subscription or MGM Plus, and of course you

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can and of course you can rent it on Apple

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TV YouTube or Fandango at Home, among many others. Ooh,

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this one might get a little heated and a little controversial.

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February sixth, twenty twenty six. That's this week The Strangers

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Chapter three will hit theaters. It's the capper to the

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new reboot era trilogy of The Strangers. It's an experiment

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that's been pitched as one long story split into three chapters,

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which is why chapters one and two play like cliffhangers

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instead of clean standalone films. But honestly, I think that's

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kind of forward thinking in some ways, what with streaming

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being what it is. I mean at this point, when

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you watch a lot of these streaming shows, they're damn

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near a feature film as each installment. I mean the

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last season of Stranger Things, some of the episodes were

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knocking on two hours, so I think watching three ninety

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to one hundred minute movies is not a huge stretch.

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Chapter three is positioned as the payoff, the point where

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the tension either collapses into something satisfying or proves the

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whole thing should have stayed a tighter, meaner one and done.

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Either way, It's a big date for modern home invasion horror,

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and this franchise has always been good at one thing,

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and that is making the ordinary feel unsafe. I think

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The Strangers is a phenomenal horror film. I think The

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Strangers Pray at Night is a wild ride that really

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does work. And I have really enjoyed The Strangers chapters

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one and two, and I've heard a lot of mixed

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things all over the internet about those two films. Most

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people saying that their Pedestrian are not the most interesting

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films are criticism that to me, doesn't really make a

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lot of sense. To me, The Strangers very simply is

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a solid horror series meant to scare you, unnerve you,

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and make you question because there's a massive mystery element

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with the killers being masked in a mysterious town full

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of strangers. Ah See, they're even playing the concept up

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even more of strangers the title. Obviously, I'm not here

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to guilt you or tell you you're wrong if you

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didn't like The Strangers chapters one and two. To me,

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chapter one was pretty pretty solid. Chapter two was NonStop

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fun in games, with an incredible amount of suspense and

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a scene involving a wild boar that had me so

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on the edge of my seat. I just had a

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really great time. I didn't have to walk out of

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the theater feeling like a changed person, like after watching

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I don't know, Uncut Gems or Pearl or something like that.

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It was a fun time. I enjoyed my popcorn and

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my movie. I got scared. I got to see some

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freaky horror atmosphere. It was a lot of fun. I

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am totally amped to see where they go with the

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Strangers chapter three personally. So that's just my opinion. And

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as far as where to watch it, it'll be in

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a theater near you. Check your local listings. February eighth,

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twenty nineteen, The Prodigy hit theaters. This one taps into

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a very specific kind of nightmare, the moment a parent

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realizes the child they love might not be only their

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child anymore. The Prodigy leans into the fear that something

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ancient and cruel has slipped behind a sweet face. It's

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not the big, supernatural fireworks that sting. It's the small,

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intimate wrongness, a look that just unnerves you for no reason.

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You can put your finger on a tone that doesn't

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belong in an eight year old mouth, a family dynamic

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rotting from the inside. And I do want to mention

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one of my favorite creepy things in movies and TV

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shows are little children that talk like adults. The cruel

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irony of that is I, growing up was a little

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child that spoke like an adult, so I would creep

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myself out. As far as the box office goes, it

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pulled in twenty one point one million dollars worldwide on

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a six million dollar budget. That's not too shabby for

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a smaller film, although it always feels weird to say

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six million dollars is small. I caught this film in

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the theaters myself, and I remember enjoying it quite a bit.

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Where to catch it is pretty simple. It's free with

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ads on tub and the Roku channel, or you can

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rent it or purchase it on Fandango at home, Amazon

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Prime Video, and what was that last one? Apple TV.

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Today's episode of This Week in Horror History is actually

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brought to you by well Me. If you go to

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means a whole heck of a lot to us, so

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thank you. And when we come back, it's time for

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our deep cut spotline on in the Mouth of Madness,

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John Carpenter's proof that the scariest monster is the story

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that rewrites the world while you are still reading it?

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All right, spookies, back to it, lights down, headphones on.

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And if you see a paperback on your shelf that

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you swear wasn't there yesterday, well maybe don't open it.

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Although I'm not your dad, you can do what you want.

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You're an adult. Do you read? Sutter Kane On February third,

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nineteen ninety five, In the Mouth of Madness hit theaters.

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This is one of those films that feels like it

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was made for people who love horror and love the

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idea that it can bend reality. It's often joked that

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in the Mouth of Madness is the scariest story. H. P.

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Lovecraft never wrote a film that underperformed in its initial release,

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but has become an absolute cult favorite. In fact, I

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already have my pre ordered copy of the soundtrack on

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vinyl courtesy of Terror Vision Records. In the film, we

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follow an insurance investigator played by the incredible Sam Neil,

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practical skeptical train to follow paper trails, sent to locate

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a missing best selling horror author, and immediately the case

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behaves like a mind trap. The clues don't just lead somewhere,

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they reshape the road beneath you, figuratively and literally. Fans

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aren't merely obsessed, they are altered. And the horrific fictional

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town in Sutter Kane's writings appears to be an actual place.

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But which came first, hobbs End or the stories? And

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if the stories came first, what built the town? What

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makes it work is how straightforward Carpenter keeps the presentation.

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He doesn't nod to the camera. He plays it like

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a nightmare. Procedurally, find the man. Read the pages, follow

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the map, except the map is lying, and the pages

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aren't describing the world. They might be replacing it. The

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whole thing builds to a question that lands like a

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cold hand on the back of your neck. If enough

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people believe a story, does that make it true? Or worse,

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does it become inevitable? As far as box office goes,

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it made eight point nine million dollars domestically, and the

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budget was reportedly between eight and fourteen million dollars, depending

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on who you ask. So it was a bomb at

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the box office, but a phenomenal film. I just recently

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watched my four kuhd release of it and it looked stunning.

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So if you want to check it out or revisit it,

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I very much recommend you do. It's streaming on Shutter

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or AMC Plus with a subscription, and also free with

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ads on two BTV. You can, of course, also rent

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it on any VOD platform like Apple TV, Fandango at Home,

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and Amazon Prime Video. So go on, read yourself some

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Sutter Kane. Now, let's light a black candle for the

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horror birthdays that took place during this week in horror history.

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Starting with one of horror's biggest legends. Born on February fourth,

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nineteen forty George A. Romero, the filmmaker who helped define

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the modern zombie genre with his trailblazing film Night of

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the Living Dead, as well as the follow up's Dawn

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of the Dead My possibly favorite movie of all time

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and Day of the Dead, along with a plethora of

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other films. Very much worth your time. Happy birthday, George Romero,

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and you are greatly missed. February fourth, nineteen forty eight.

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Shock rock icon Alice Cooper is born a man who

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basically turned horror esthetics into a touring religion, and not

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only beloved for his music strictly, Alice Cooper is always

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leaned into the horror realm of the world, including playing

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Freddy Krueger's father in Freddie's Dead The Final Nightmare. Happy Birthday,

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gam Gam That was for you, Dave, February sixth, nineteen

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seventy seven. Josh Stewart, best known to horror fans as

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Arkin in The Collector and the Collection, was born. And

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if you've never seen The Collector and the Collection, stop

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what you're doing. Well, okay, finish the podcast and give

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those a watch. The Collector is available to watch on

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Amazon Prime with a subscription to BTV, Pluto Tv, and

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the Rocud channel free with ads, and of course you

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can rent it. And The Collection, which was the massive

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follow up with a bigger budget and a bigger body count,

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is available to rent at the usual suspects like YouTube,

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Google Play, Apple TV, Fandango at Home, and Amazon Prime.

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That is a great one. Have a very happy birthday,

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Josh Stewart. Fur Then, and now here's what's fun about

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this week's lineup. It's a time capsule of how horror

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changes its delivery system without changing its core fears. In

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the two thousand's studio, Horror leaned hard on mood, relocation, dread,

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and the House Knows Your Name energy, The Messengers lives

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right there. A family fractures under stress, and the Haunting

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feels like it's exploiting those cracks. In some ways, it

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was like a revisit of the nineteen seventies with all

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the haunted houses that were popular in media at that time.

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By the twenty tens, the genre starts asking a new question,

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what happens when fear spreads through modern behavior. Rings isn't

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just scary because technology is inherently evil. It's scary because

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people can't stop clicking. That's the update. The curse doesn't

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need a monster to chase you. You're too busy chasing

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it yourself. And now in twenty twenty six, the Strangers

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still works because it's primal masks, anonymity, the terror of

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someone choosing you for no reason at all. Different decades,

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different packaging, same knife to the throat. For our weekly recommendation,

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we head to February second, two thousand and one, when

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Valentine hits theaters, and this one is highly underrated. If

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you want something that perfectly fits the theme for this week, well,

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Valentine is the pick. It's glossy, early two thousand slasher,

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comfort food, a friend group with old sins, a holiday

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hook you can sell on a poster, and a killer

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who turns romance into a threat. It's also a great

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reminder of how the era played these movies. It's stylish,

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its mean, and just self aware enough to keep the

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pace moving along. The premise is simple, and it scratches

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that winter night movie itch, especially around Valentine's Day. You'll

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probably hear me say a lot on this show and

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cutting deep into horror that the early two thousand's horror

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movies really, in my opinion, are aging very well. I

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may be alone in that thought, but I don't think

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I am. As far as box office goes for Valentine,

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this is where it disappoints. About thirty six point seven

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million dollars worldwide on a twenty nine million dollar budget,

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So obviously it did not set the world on fire.

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But I do think it's worth a watch or a revisit,

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very much so. And it's available to watch free with

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ads on the Roku channel and two BTV. You can

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also check it out on Hoopla with your Library Card

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membership and of course rented on any major VOD platform

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like Amazon Prime Video, Fan Dangle at Home, and Apple TV.

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And if you want a great companion piece for Valentine,

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check out Heart Eyes. That is a really fun one. Well, Spookys,

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that's your trip through February second through eighth. Four quick hits,

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one deep cut, mind bender, and enough cursed media to

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make you keep your phone face down for the rest

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of the night. But make sure you come back tomorrow

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because on Weekly Spooky we have a brand new terror

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tale from Michael Kelso called I Hate Driving a truck

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in the winter, but not just because of the weather,

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some guaranteed chills to keep you creeped out. And again,

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make sure to check out Weeklyspooky dot com slash store

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and give us a little support. We really do appreciate it.

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But now it's time for me to get back to

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all the many, many spooky things I do. I'll see

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you all tomorrow and of course next Tuesday for another

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week in horror history. Until then, remember our days are

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numbered because that's how we tell them, apart for