Still Scared: Talking Children's Horror Ren Wednesday, Adam Whybray

Hail, O eaters of Toadstools! Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are back with returning guest and standing-stone correspondent Ali to talk about Alan Garner's debut novel from 1960, the Weirdstone of Brisingamen. This episode may venture further into fantasy than usual, but there's still plenty of horror to get your teeth into, with swarms of svarts, skin mittens, and of course, caves. Plus, Ren feels so guilty about their lacklustre watching of Casper that their notes for this episode include archival research.

Note: We had to re-record the first fifteen minutes of the episode so there's a few slight oddnesses at the beginning, but it settles down :)

Happy festives, spooky kids! Ren's brain is fully on holiday already for this episode about the 1995 mixed live-action and CGI film Casper, directed by Brad Silberling, and perhaps more pertinently, set decorated by Rosemary Brandenburg.

In this not particularly thorough episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray discuss the mochi-like texture of Casper, the career trajectory of Eric Idle, and of course, the fish bannister. And as a bonus, Adam gets a computer to sing a song about textures.

Transcript is available here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/59-casper

Hello and happy halloween spooky kids! For this sixth anniversarry (!) episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are joined by special guest Ailish Brassil to talk about three different filmic adaptations of Disney's Haunted Mansion ride.

Excpect the classic elements of comedy tombstones, extending corridors and sinister butlers - as well as the screaming goats, ghost winks and arachnaphobia unique to each adaptation. It's chaotic! But that's haunted mansions for you.

Content note: Brief references to suicide in the story descriptions.

A transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/58-haunted-mansions

In this episode Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray go back to Ren's childhood to talk about a dark comedy: Angela and Diabola by Lynne Reid Banks. A different twist on the Omen trope, this book gives the evil child a twin of corresponding pure goodness, and a couple of long-suffering parents who do their best for their increasingly supernatural offspring. Indulge in the allure of evil with us, spooky kids, but please don't lock any small children in cages.

A transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/57-angelaanddiabola

Don't go chipping any dolls out of the plaster in your cellar, creepy kids, or open any ouija board apps! And definitely don't go and hunt your woebegotten cousin's ghost on a rainy Scottish island! It's not worth it! In this episode Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray discuss the 2015 Young Adult novel Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell, a grisly book about creepy dolls and the people they torment. Digressions include ghost hunting, bat detecting and late-era Simpsons.

Content note: This book contains strong violence that we outline, injury details and a suicide mention.

The transcript is available here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/56-frozencharlotte

Enter into the turnip-filled darkness this episode, as Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray discuss Robert Westall's Carnegie medal winning 1981 novel, The Scarecrows. Or, more accurately: The Very Angry Young Man and The Scarecrows That Represented His Anger. It's chewy, it's problematic, it's really frickin' weird and the scarecrows don't turn up until the end - have a listen and see what we made of it!

Content notes: interpersonal violence, unhappy family dynamics, rage.

Transcipt and shownotes are availble here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/55-thescarecrows