I can’t stand the Apple Podcasts app, so I use Pocket Casts. I went to download the Beetlejuice episode, and it couldn’t download, so I tried the newest episode and had the same problem. I tried to just stream both without downloading and it doesn’t work. I went to the podcast’s website and tried to stream the newest episode from there, and it doesn’t work.

I tried another podcast app I have that I rarely use called PlaydioCast, and I was still having the same issues. When I went to play/stream an episode in Spotify, it finally worked.

Is anyone else having this issue, or is it just me? Does anyone know what could be wrong if it’s just on my end? Everything was working fine the day before yesterday when I downloaded and listened to a different episode. I don’t want to only be able to listen to the show using Spotify.

For all you Fac friends who have been eagerly waiting to see the top pick from the 2023 year-in-review, cancel your evening plans. Or call in sick, I’m not your boss. https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/les-chambres-rouges

I have a pathological fear of A Nightmare On Elm Street to the point I have nightmares about it at least once a month. I’ve never seen it. I trace it back to being 5 when it came out. Anyway it’s in the local cinema for the 40th anniversary & my BFF has offered to go with me & hold my hand. I’m a 45yo woman scared of a 40yo film recently reclassified in the UK as a 15 cert. What do y’all think? Should I watch it? (I have been trying ‘exposure therapy’ & managed to listen to both Fac eps on it but only on double speed 😂)

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Can anyone remember which ep talked about the original Speak No Evil? I’ve finally taken the plunge & got a Shudder membership to watch it & I’d love to listen back to the episode. Can’t find it on the Patreon so I’m wondering if it was a year in review ep.

I watched A Dark Song today, on Alex's recommendation (in one of the Assessment episodes), and I am left a little perplexed.

The movie's first two acts seem to be a pretty clear metaphor for the cycle of domestic abuse: woman gives up everything for man she thinks will give her what she wants, isolates herself from her family, agrees to cook and clean, gives him all her money, and faces his yelling, control issues, and assaults the moment she is locked in with him. Solomon even points it out when he won't let Sophia leave the house (yikes) saying something like, "You can't leave, it's a cycle!" He convinces her that the rite not working is all her fault, which feels very reminiscent of abusers blaming their victims for provoking abuse.

There are even some little details that allude to the movie being about the trap of domestic abuse: there's a couch which is upholstered in what looks very much like the carpet from the Overlook (another film about a woman trapped in isolation with an abusive husband), and Sophia sleeps in a bedroom with bright, sunny, yellow walls - a jarring contrast to the tone of the film, but I think it's an intentional nod to "The Yellow Wallpaper," especially since other rooms have similar wallpaper or paint. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is famously about a woman locked away in the countryside by her husband.

ANYWAY, all this to say, it seemed pretty clear to me what this movie was about, but then the third act takes a really sharp turn when Solomon dies. First, it seems to follow the theme: Solomon has destroyed all the resources that would allow her to go on alone; she tries to leave, but ends up back at the house. Obviously, the abuse has ended, but she's still trapped by its effects.

Except then, suddenly there's demons coming up the hell right now! There's chasing, there's torture, then an angel that looks like Athena is crouching down being beatific and awesome.

I don't get it. The last 15 minutes feels almost like the end of a different movie - even though they spend the whole movie doing this summoning rite, it still feels all along like nothing will happen, and certainly doesn't feel like anything summoned is going to manifest as people in demon costumes and a giant glowing angel. Tonally, the effects don't fit the rest of the film.

I can't decide if they just didn't know how to wrap it all up, or if they just decided the ending need to be bigger than the rest of the film, or if I'm just crazy. I found the ending really jarring and unexpected, but not in the good way.

Did anyone else watch this one? Am I missing something? I really did enjoy it quite a bit, I just don't know if I'm fully grasping everything it's saying.

Does anyone recall which episode (or maybe Patreon) the Fac referenced The Macpherson Tapes? I'm sure this must be how I found out about it but I can't see anything logical which ties in. It would've been an ep from the last six months. I don't know about you all but I add so many things to my watchlist when Alex and Andrea mention them and then when I finally get to watch them I like to go back and listen to the discussion again and get even more from it.

I guess maybe it could have been on something they guested on too???

Has anyone figured out how to watch Red Rooms 2023 (Les Chambres Rouges) within the US?
All I can find is a TV series by the same name on Tubi.
It’s on both Andrea and Alex’s 2023 list.

I know that Alex has written about found footage horror films in the past and that the podcast has at least one episode on the subgenre, so I thought I would share a related project of mine with the community. 👻

I just had my first book published by McFarland & Co. It's adapted from my PhD thesis and titled POV Horror: The Trauma Aesthetic of the Found Footage Subgenre. Here is a brief description, if you'd like to know more:

Drawing together strands of film theory and psychology, this book offers a fresh assessment of the found footage horror subgenre. It reconceptualizes landmark films—including The Blair Witch Project (1999), Cloverfield (2008), Paranormal Activity (2009), and Man Bites Dog (1992)—as depictions of the lived experience and social legacy of psychological trauma. In particular, the author demonstrates how the frantic cinematography and ambiguous formulation of the monster evokes the shocked and disoriented cognition of the traumatized mind. Moreover, the frightening effect of trauma on society is shown to be a recurring theme across the subgenre. Close textual analysis is given to a wide range of films over several decades, including titles that have yet to receive any academic attention. Divided into four distinct sections, the book examines how found footage horror films represent the effects of historical and contemporary traumatic events on Western societies, the vicarious spread of traumatic experiences via mass media, the sublimation of domestic abuse into haunted houses, and the viewer’s identification with the monster as an embodiment of perpetrator trauma.

I was also recently interviewed about the book on a different podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQWSulRwxQc

Just curious to know.

Hi everyone,

I just uploaded two true babysitting horror stories in animated form. Enjoy watching and if you liked it, please leave a like!

#horror #scary #story #horrorstories #ssganimations🔥🔥

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1FcXVPTvE0

Thank you for your support!