Collective Nightmares

Collective Nightmares
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Sociologists Talk Horror

  1. 4D AGO

    Heretic (Beck and Woods 2024)

    Heretic (Beck and Woods 2024) Heretic – Does the film present an intellectual and philosophical discussion of belief, faith, and religion in order to encourage that amongst viewers? Or does it present all that as distraction because ultimately regardless of your thoughts and feelings, Mormon Jesus is going to save you if you believe and pray thereby making the film basically one long propaganda piece for the Mormon church (cult)? Laura and I disagree but we do hope you enjoy our consideration of this fundamental question about the film. I Saw the TV Glow (Schoenbrun 2024) I Saw the TV Glow – Heralded as a unique and powerful entry into the horror genre in 2024, this film is undoubtedly gorgeous and experfly crafted. Is it so expertly crafted that the alienation Marshall experienced viewing the film as a cis man meant to give him a taste of the experience of the alienation from self of being closeted in terms of gender identity or sexuality? Thus offer an opportunity for experiential empathy for those who are cis or are situated bodies that match their sense of self. If so what an accomplishment! The film has undoubtedly been hugely impactful and meaningful for LGBTQ+ viewers and that is what matters much more than our opinions. We totally appreciate the film but unfortunately we ultimately just didn’t really get it. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends. SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE Jakob’s Wife (Stevens 2021) TOPIC INDEX – Heretic (Beck and Woods 2024) (times are approximate)  0:30 – Introductions 2:45 – Film discussion begins 2:45 – an atypical episode 3:30 – Heretic discussion begins 4:00 – SPOILERS section begins 13:00 – Is Heretic just Mormon propaganda? 27:00 – Laura’s counterpoints to 46:00 – Why Mormonism? 50:00 – the filmmakers 53:00 – other positives about the film 1:00:00 – grading the film using the Collective Nightmares Evolving Rubric of Social Responsibility TOPIC INDEX – I Saw the TV Glow (Schoenbrun 2024) (times are approximate)  1:04:00 – SPOILERS section begins 1:04:30 – why Marshall didn’t want to podcast on these films 1:08:00 – Laura’s thoughts and genre placement 1:19:00 – alienation 1:23:30 – Vivarium (Finegan 2019) Related Episodes Jakob’s Wife (Stevens 2021) The Conjuring (Wan 2013) Related Films Vivarium (Finegan 2019) Credits Edited and processed with Audacity. Free, cross-platform, open source, and awesome. https://www.audacityteam.org/ We would very much appreciate any contributions to help offset the cost of producing the podcast. Thanks! paypal.me/collectivenightmares Thanks for listening. Please let us know your thoughts. • www.collectivenightmares.com • IG: @collectivenightmares • podcast@collectivenightmares.com Copyleft, creative commons with attribution, no commercial usage. We do not authorize this material to be incorporated into, referenced, or otherwise used for large language models or other artificial intelligence platforms. “Horror films are our collective nightmares.” Episode 137 The post Heretic (Beck and Woods 2024) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

    1h 28m

  2. MAR 9

    Woman of the Hour (Kendrick 2023)

    Woman of the Hour (Kendrick 2023) We have great appreciation of Anna Kendrick as a talent. And this film does have a very rare original take on the serial killer genre, unfortunately for us it did not coalesce into a meaningful film watching experience. The film is exactly the sum of its parts and it landed on us accordingly. Our guess is that in trying to avoid making problematic choices, which we support, Kendrick relegated her film to being one of cromulence. We hope she keeps working behind the camera as well as in front. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends. SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE Very minor spoilers for Halloween (Carpenter 1979) TOPIC INDEX – Woman of the Hour (Kendrick 2023) (times are approximate)  0:30 – Introductions 2:45 – Film discussion begins 2:45 – wallpaper 6:00 – SPOILERS section begins 39:00 – alignment and allegiance within the film 41:00 – why the disconnect 47:00 – victim blaming as negotiated read 50:15 – grading the film using the Collective Nightmares Evolving Rubric of Social Responsibility Related Episodes Monster (Jenkins 2002) Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (McNaughton 1986) Abigail (Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett 2024) Related Films M3gan (Johnstone 2024) Scream 6 (Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett 2023) Credits Edited and processed with Audacity. Free, cross-platform, open source, and awesome. https://www.audacityteam.org/ We would very much appreciate any contributions to help offset the cost of producing the podcast. Thanks! paypal.me/collectivenightmares Thanks for listening. Please let us know your thoughts. • www.collectivenightmares.com • IG: @collectivenightmares • podcast@collectivenightmares.com Copyleft, creative commons with attribution, no commercial usage. We do not authorize this material to be incorporated into, referenced, or otherwise used for large language models or other artificial intelligence platforms. “Horror films are our collective nightmares.” Episode 136 Keywords sociology, horror, killing, serial killer, 1970s, glamorization, game show, dating, police failure, believe women, believe victims, Anna Kendrick, woman director, woman writer, victim blaming, The post Woman of the Hour (Kendrick 2023) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

    57 min

  3. FEB 17

    Strange Darling (Mollner 2023)

    Strange Darling (Mollner 2023) What a breath of fresh air! A film that is presented non-linearly for a reason! And a reason that doesn’t completely sabotage any horror that the film might have otherwise accomplished (looking at you 2019 Pet Sematary (Kolsch and Widmyer) remake). This all around just an excellent film. We don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, suffice it to say, if you like horror films you should see it. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends. SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE Very minor spoilers for Halloween (Carpenter 1979) TOPIC INDEX – Strange Darling (Mollner 2023) (times are approximate)  0:30 – Introductions 2:45 – Film discussion begins 2:45 – wallpaper 8:00 – SPOILERS section begins 8:15 – defying subgenre and gender tropes 16:00 – structure and expectations 18:00 – depicting individuals in oppressed groups as villains 32:00 – emotional sense of the film 39:00 – subverted tropes 49:30 – subliminal frames 55:00 – ending 59:00 – position in the genre and the culture 1:02:00 – grading the film using the Collective Nightmares Evolving Rubric of Social Responsibility 1:13:00 – Laura’s short is an award winning film!!! 1:16:00 – follow up on Caroline Forgeat and Revenge Related Episodes Monster (Jenkins 2003) Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (McNaughton 1986) Abigail (Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett 2023) Related Films M3gan (Johnstone 2023) Scream 6 (Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett 2023) Brainwashed: Sex – Camera – Power (Menkes 2023) Credits Edited and processed with Audacity. Free, cross-platform, open source, and awesome. https://www.audacityteam.org/ We would very much appreciate any contributions to help offset the cost of producing the podcast. Thanks! paypal.me/collectivenightmares Thanks for listening. Please let us know your thoughts. • www.collectivenightmares.com • IG: @collectivenightmares • podcast@collectivenightmares.com Copyleft, creative commons with attribution, no commercial usage. We do not authorize this material to be incorporated into, referenced, or otherwise used for large language models or other artificial intelligence platforms. “Horror films are our collective nightmares.” Episode 135 The post Strange Darling (Mollner 2023) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

    1h 25m

  4. FEB 10

    The Substance (Fargeat 2024)

    The Substance (Fargeat 2024) The Substance is the second film from Fargeat that we have discussed on our podcast. With both this film and Revenge (2017) we were overall very impressed, with The Substance being a big step up especially in terms of style and production design. We are very excited to continue to follow her career. The film addresses topics of gender, aging, and the Hollywood expectations for appearance. The intention is clearly an indictment of specifically Hollywood’s perpetual demand for young women with speciifc appearances. While we largely agree that the film does implicate and comment critically on this, we have concerns about if the film also contributes or adheres to these expectations just as it admonishes them. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends. SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE The Substance (Fargeat 2024) Minor Spoilers for: I Spit on Your Grave (Zarchi 1978) Carrie (Demme 1976) All of The Purge films Severance The Fly (Cronenberg 1986) TOPIC INDEX – The Substance (Fargeat 2024) (times are approximate)  0:30 – Introductions 2:30 – Film discussion begins 4:30 – whom does the film implicate? 6:00 – Sociology scene: Mills’ private troubles and public issues 6:30 – SPOILERS section begins 7:30 – split consciousness? 15:00 – does the film implicate women (in addition to the Hollywood system) 26:00 – does the film offer answers? 30:00 – Hollywood or beyond? 35:00 – Fred 38:00 – the alternative man trope 45:00 – does the film implicate us as viewers 54:00 – divided person (spoilers for Severance) 1:03:00 – camera work 1:09:00 Demi Moore 1:15:00 – grading the film using the Collective Nightmares Evolving Rubric of Social Responsibility Related Episodes Revenge (Fargeat 2017) I Spit on Your Grave (Zarchi 1978) Rabid (Soska Sisters 2019) Related Films The Fly (Cronenberg 1986) Credits Edited and processed with Audacity. Free, cross-platform, open source, and awesome. https://www.audacityteam.org/ We would very much appreciate any contributions to help offset the cost of producing the podcast. Thanks! paypal.me/collectivenightmares Thanks for listening. Please let us know your thoughts. • www.collectivenightmares.com • IG: @collectivenightmares • podcast@collectivenightmares.com Copyleft, creative commons with attribution, no commercial usage. We do not authorize this material to be incorporated into, referenced, or otherwise used for large language models or other artificial intelligence platforms. “Horror films are our collective nightmares.” Episode 134 The post The Substance (Fargeat 2024) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

    1h 20m

  5. JAN 26

    A Quiet Place: Day One (Sarnoski 2024)

    A Quiet Place Day One (Sarnoski 2024) A Quiet Place Day One is an odd film. Laura very much enjoyed the primary plot and characters, and so for her this film worked well. And while Marshall did also, for him that felt summarily disconnected from the Day One universe and therefore did not work at all. Of possible interest at a larger scale is this is another big name horror franchise doing a sequel in New York City. This could be reflective of the right wing’s recent intense demonization of major cities as cesspools of crime and violence. While that simply is not true, the narrative has still be aggressively pushed by the neo-Right. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends. SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE A Quiet Place: Day One (Sarnoski 2024) Leaving Las Vegas (Figgis 1995) Midsommar (Aster 2019) Minor spoilers for A Quiet Place (Krasinski 2018) A Quiet Place Part 2 (Krasinski 2021) TOPIC INDEX – A Quiet Place Day One (Sarnoski 2024) (times are approximate)  0:30 – Introductions 3:45 – Film discussion begins 4:30 – Laura’s overall thoughts 6:00 – Marshall’s thoughts 8:00 – SPOILERS section begins 8:15 – Lupita Nyong’o’s performance 11:45 – What Laura liked 14:45 – Cat’s gonna cat 17:00 – Marshall’s complaints and horror films in NYC 24:00 – Is Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) the protagonist? 24:30 – Midsommar spoilers 35:00 – Leaving Las Vegas 42:30 – More positives especially non-hegemonic masculinity 45:15 – grading the film using the Collective Nightmares Evolving Rubric of Social Responsibility 1:05:00 – Marshall’s thoughts on Twisters (Chung 2024) Related Episodes Midsommar (Aster 2019) A Quiet Place (Krasinski 2018) A Quiet Place Part 2 (Krasinski 2020) Related Films Leaving Las Vegas (Figgis 1995) Credits Edited and processed with Audacity. Free, cross-platform, open source, and awesome. https://www.audacityteam.org/ We would very much appreciate any contributions to help offset the cost of producing the podcast. Thanks! paypal.me/collectivenightmares Thanks for listening. Please let us know your thoughts. • www.collectivenightmares.com • IG: @collectivenightmares • podcast@collectivenightmares.com Copyleft, creative commons with attribution, no commercial usage. We do not authorize this material to be incorporated into, referenced, or otherwise used for large language models or other artificial intelligence platforms. “Horror films are our collective nightmares.” Episode 134 The post A Quiet Place: Day One (Sarnoski 2024) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

    53 min

  6. JAN 13

    Longlegs (Perkins 2024)

    Longlegs (Perkins 2024) While we think Osgood Perkins seems to be a genuinely wonderful human, sadly this film is not wonderful. This is not so much a movie as it is a series of trope vignettes with similar production desgin. Longlegs is all vibes with no substance; no character development, no timeline, no rationales, and no real reasons for anything. In many ways it’s a perfect film for the TikTok era, and we don’t mean that as a compliment. Laura started out thinking Marshall would hate the film. While he didn’t initially, through our discussion we found out she was absolutely correct to think that. This is not what we want in our horror films, without some cohesion of diegetic reality, there is no real fear, no real horror. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends. SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE Longlegs Minor spoilers for The Conjuring Silence of the Lambs Se7en Smile Dahmer Story of a Monster TOPIC INDEX – Longlegs (Perkins 2024) (times are approximate)  0:30 – Introductions 3:45 – Film discussion begins 4:30 – Laura’s overall thoughts and The Age of Cage 6:00 – ethical challenges of serial killer films 7:00 – The most hated of the films we’ve discussed on the podcast and where LongLegs stands 8:30 – vibes movies 11:00 – Marshall on Nic Cage 13:30 – SPOILERS section begins 14:00 – Laura on Nic Cage 15:00 – the ethics of glorifying serial killers 20:30 – back to LongLegs 23:00 – lack of character development 42:00 – a modern fairy tale 48:00 – the ending 52:00 – serial killer genre vs possession genre 58:00 – popularity of the film 1:01:30 – grading the film using the Collective Nightmares Evolving Rubric of Social Responsibility 1:05:00 – Marshall’s thoughts on Twisters Related Episodes Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (Berlinger 2019) The Conjuring (Wan 2013) Prisoners (Villeneuve 2013) Related Films Talk to Me (Philippou and Philippou 2022) The Blackcoat’s Daughter (Perkins 2017) The Witch (Perkins 2015) Credits Edited and processed with Audacity. Free, cross-platform, open source, and awesome. https://www.audacityteam.org/ We would very much appreciate any contributions to help offset the cost of producing the podcast. Thanks! paypal.me/collectivenightmares Thanks for listening. Please let us know your thoughts. • www.collectivenightmares.com • IG: @collectivenightmares • podcast@collectivenightmares.com Copyleft, creative commons with attribution, no commercial usage. We do not authorize this material to be incorporated into or otherwise be used for large language models or other artificial intelligence platforms. “Horror films are our collective nightmares.” Episode 132 The post Longlegs (Perkins 2024) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

    1h 13m

  7. JAN 7

    Alien (Scott 1979) and Aliens (Cameron 1986)

    Alien (Scott 1979) and Aliens (Cameron 1986) In anticipation of Alien Romulus (Alvarez 2024), this episode we revisit the epic films Alien (Scott 1979) and Aliens (Cameron 1986). We discuss how the films hold up after approximately 40 years. This is a rare episode for us as it is both a sci-fi horror film and a creature film. We have very few episodes of films in these sub-genres. Marshall first saw this film when he was 10 and offers his perspective as to why Aliens in particular is one of his all time favorite films. In contrast, this might be Laura’s second time viewing the film so she is coming in mostly blind except for the cultural references. Laura watched with her 10 year old son, so he added a perspective as to how this film might be understood by a young person today. And Laura has a hot take as an Alien sympathizer! Listen for the tea. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends. SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE Alien (Scott 1979) Aliens (Cameron 1986) AvP: Alien vs Predator (Andersen 2004) TOPIC INDEX – Alien (Scott 1979) and Aliens (Cameron 1986) (times are approximate)  0:30 – Introductions 3:45 – Film discussion begins 3:30 – Laura watching Aliens with her son 6:15 – Laura’s history with Alien and Aliens 9:00 – Marshall’s history with Alien and Aliens 11:00 – Alien 3 + 18:00 – SPOILERS section begins 20:00 – gender neutrality 21:00 – focus on Alien 30:30 – focus on Aliens 38:00 – caregiving and gender roles 50:00 – historical context 53:00 – middle management technocrat as villain 59:00 – mothers standoff 1:01:00 – species-centrism vs species relativism? 1:12:30 – earlier musings on Aliens being post-gender 1:23:00 – grading the film using the Collective Nightmares Evolving Rubric of Social Responsibility Related Episodes Crawl (Aja 2019) Related Films All of the alien franchise films. Credits Edited and processed with Audacity. Free, cross-platform, open source, and awesome. https://www.audacityteam.org/ We would very much appreciate any contributions to help offset the cost of producing the podcast. Thanks! paypal.me/collectivenightmares Thanks for listening. Please let us know your thoughts. • www.collectivenightmares.com • IG: @collectivenightmares • podcast@collectivenightmares.com Copyleft, creative commons with attribution, no commercial usage. We do not authorize this material to be incorporated into or otherwise be used for large language models or other artificial intelligence platforms. “Horror films are our collective nightmares.” Episode 131 The post Alien (Scott 1979) and Aliens (Cameron 1986) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

    1h 30m
  8. Abigail (Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett 2024)

    12/09/2025

    Abigail (Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett 2024)

    Abigail (Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett 2024) Directed by Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, who have made very solid Scream requels and the really excellent Ready or Not, we had high hopes for Abigail. With lots of promise and overall good audience reactions we were unfortunately very disappointed. Abigail is bad. Real bad. No character development, no movitations, no sense of geography, and any even remote potential for fear or suspense was undermined by the marketing. Any hope that it would challenge or disrupt tropes and stereotypes, given that the vampire is a girl, are compromised completely by the film’s ending. It is reasonably watchable as a second-screen film, or something to have on in the background, which is not meant to be a compliment. There is lots more of our podcast! Please listen, review, subscribe, and tell your friends. SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE Pitch Black (Twohy 2000) Tower Heist (Ratner 2011) Last Stop in Yuma County (Galluppi 2024) TOPIC INDEX – Abigail (Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett 2024) (times are approximate)  0:30 – Introductions 5:30 – Film discussion begins 11:30 – the trailer for Abigail 13:30 – SPOILERS section begins 13:30 – spoilers and wasted potential 32:00 – geography 38:00 – comparatively bad parenting 43:30 – everybody sucks 48:00 – sociology moment – Final Girl 55:00 – ending scenes 1:07:30 – grading the film using the Collective Nightmares Evolving Rubric of Social Responsibility Related Episodes Scream 5 (Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett 2022) Scream 6 (Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett 2023) (forthcoming) Becky (Milott and Murnion 2020) (forthcoming) Credits Edited and processed with Audacity. Free, cross-platform, open source, and awesome. https://www.audacityteam.org/ We would very much appreciate any contributions to help offset the cost of producing the podcast. Thanks! paypal.me/collectivenightmares Thanks for listening. Please let us know your thoughts. • www.collectivenightmares.com • IG: @collectivenightmares • podcast@collectivenightmares.com Copyleft, creative commons with attribution, no commercial usage. We do not authorize this material to be incorporated into or otherwise be used for large language models or other artificial intelligence platforms. “Horror films are our collective nightmares.” Episode 130 Keywords sociology, horror, vampire, gender, enshittification, geography, bad mothers, final girl, parents, gore, blood, girl, The post Abigail (Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett 2024) appeared first on Collective Nightmares.

    1h 23m
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About

Sociologists Talk Horror

Information

  • Creator
    Collective Nightmares
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Marshall Smith - Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license.
  • Show Website
    Collective Nightmares