The Pod and the Pendulum Mike Snoonian

This week we talk about the time the Paranormal Activity series took a deliberate turn away from focusing on wealthy, white, upper middle class families and turned toward the Latino communities of Los Angeles. Writer / director Christopher Landon called The Marked Ones more of a “cousin” of the previous four films rather than a true sequel, and perhaps making that diversion allowed or something looser and unbound by the formula that had gotten stale by the previous entry. The Marked Ones shifts the focus directly onto witchcraft and possession horror while being far less about a haunted house where things that go bump in the night. It also gives us much more of a communal feel, introduces more comedic undertones and offers up three of the better protagonists in Jesse, Hector, and Marisol. 
 
It’s too bad they couldn’t stick the landing and introduced some really silly things like time travel. Goddammit.  
 
All this, plus Mike and Devaughn talk about the dumbest stunts we’ve ever pulled, Cousin Oliver and the Brady Bunch, going all “Mercked Ones” for a few glorious moments, and Mike’s wife sleep-singing when she has nightmares. 
 
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Please take a moment to rate and review us on the Apple Podcast app, or rate us on the Spotify app. Reviews and five star ratings help new listeners find us every day, and we greatly appreciate the feedback and support. 
 
Check out our website for easy access to our full catalog of shows, with hundreds of hours of free content. You can search the catalog, leave a review and even leave us feedback all from the site. Go to www.podandthependulum.com to check it out. 
If you have the means, consider becoming a patron today and support the show. Patreon members get exclusive full length episodes, audio fan commentaries, exclusive mini-sodes and more. Join today at patreon.com/podandthependulum.

 This week it feels like we’re covering familiar territory. It feels like we’re playing the greatest hits. It feels like the activity is less paranormal and more all too familiar with its fourth entry in the series Paranormal Activity gives us a true sequel for the first time, but instead of forging ahead, the series feels stuck in neutral for the first time. Despite an excellent early performance from Kathyrn Newton, it relies on the same tropes and scares of the first three movies while rehashing and recycling plot lines like a day-old meatloaf. Did fans still want to get this served up to them? We discuss all the above, plus so much more this week.
 
If you like what you’re listening to make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcast feeds. 
 
Please take a moment to rate and review us on the Apple Podcast app, or rate us on the Spotify app. Reviews and five star ratings help new listeners find us every day, and we greatly appreciate the feedback and support. 
 
Check out our website for easy access to our full catalog of shows, with hundreds of hours of free content. You can search the catalog, leave a review and even leave us feedback all from the site. Go to www.podandthependulum.com to check it out. 
If you have the means, consider becoming a patron today and support the show. Patreon members get exclusive full length episodes, audio fan commentaries, exclusive mini-sodes and more. Join today at patreon.com/podandthependulum.

This week we're going back in time with what Mike calls the "Dream Warriors" of the Paranormal Franchise with its third installment. Rather than continue the cliffhanger ending of its sneak prequel, directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman travel back to the 80s to show audiences just how Katie and Kristi got mixed up with Tobi the demon to begin with (spoiler alert: it's those damned witches). The end result might be the most entertaining entry of the series, with scares coming from start to finish, and great additions like an oscillating fan ratcheting up the tension even further. Plus, we get Dennis, the first positive male role model in the franchise to date, as he does his best to get to the bottom of the mystery and protect his two step children. This week we're joined once again by Mary Beth McAndrews to talk about a movie she says "had to walk so Hereditary could run"
 
 
If you like what you’re listening to make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcast feeds. 
Please take a moment to rate and review us on the Apple Podcast app, or rate us on the Spotify app. Reviews and five star ratings help new listeners find us every day, and we greatly appreciate the feedback and support. 
Check out our website for easy access to our full catalog of shows, with hundreds of hours of free content. You can search the catalog, leave a review and even leave us feedback all from the site. Go to www.podandthependulum.com to check it out. 
If you have the means, consider becoming a patron today and support the show. Patreon members get exclusive full length episodes, audio fan commentaries, exclusive mini-sodes and more. Join today at patreon.com/podandthependulum. 
 

This week we're back with more found footage, more spooky cameras, more demonology, and more things that go bump in the night with 2010's Paranormal Activity 2. Even better we double down on the toxic masculinity and toss in some casual racism towards are poor, amazing housekeeper to boot! (Daniel, you're the worst). This sequel does manage to build on the framework of the first film not only in how it captures footage, but also in building out the mythology and world that will follow over the course of the series. We're joined by photographer Rachel Schwebach(@indiesmutpeddler) for another spirited discussion

This week we begin a new franchise. We are talking about Paranormal Activity which is arguably the most successful series of the 2000 tens. From its humble beginnings as a tiny independent movie meant to be shown small audiences to a global phenomenon that raked in hundreds of millions of dollars this is the series that launched so many other found footage titles over the next decade for better or worse. Along with special guest Mary Beth McAndrews (Dread Central, Scarred For Life) your cohosts discuss how creator Oren Peli self-taught himself the basics of filmmaking and with a minimal cast and crew, made this supernatural chiller in his own home. We also dive into the themes present throughout the movie such as the toxic relationship between Katie & Micah that only makes the haunting worse, the way the film predicts our growing acceptance of constant surveillance, and the demonic as a microcosm of rampant consumerism and an economic system on the edge of collapse. All this, plus a debate over just what separates a classic found footage movie from hand held garbage.

We have a special treat for you this week this episode was originally recorded for the GHOULS MAGAZINE podcast with hosts Rebecca McCallum  (Talking Hitchcock) and our own Ariel Hellraiser. While ghouls is on a temporary hiatus Ari was kind enough to offer this conversation between two of the brightest minds in horror on the 1st two Human Centipede films. They dive deep into the body horror of it all along with the gender dynamics in the history of the mad scientist archetype. It's a really fun conversation and we'll hopefully tide listeners over while we get ready for our next franchise. We hope you enjoy this bonus show and we'll be back next week.