Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we celebrate one year of Drawn to Darkness by raising a glass to Edgar Allan Poe’s revenge-soaked classic, "The Cask of Amontillado", a story about wounded pride, wine snobbery, and one extremely committed masonry project. Expect talk of Poe’s tragic life, literary feuds, mysterious deaths, buried-alive panic, Freemasons, creepy crypts, and why you should never follow a frenemy to a second location. We also discuss the unsettling question the story refuses to answer: what exactly did Fortunato do? Was this revenge for a real wrong, a thousand tiny slights, or one fragile man’s fantasy of perfect punishment? Spoiler and Content Warning: Content includes revenge, murder, claustrophobia, being buried alive, darkness, damp crypts, bones, chains, alcoholism, death, possible mental instability, and the horrible realisation that someone who smiles at you might also be planning to wall you up. We also spoil the "The Cask of Amontillado". So go read it this 1846 classic, and come back. Palate Cleanser: For a lighter trip into the macabre, try black comedies and dark-weirdo classics like Clue, The Craft, Heathers, The Addams Family, Beetlejuice, or Drop Dead Gorgeous. They let you enjoy the creepy, strange, and morbid without trapping you in an underground wine murder dungeon. Also, the podcast That Aged Well, to revisit beloved films and asks how well they hold up; The Basement Yard, for silly green-flag-guy energy. And don't forget to take a moody evening walk while listening to Poe short stories, if your idea of self-care involves dusk, dread, and nineteenth-century guilt spirals. Recommendations: Poe stories including The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, The Premature Burial, Berenice, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Murders in the Rue Morgue His Hideous Heart, a YA anthology of contemporary Poe retellings Mike Flanagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher Wine and Crime episode on being buried alive The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror adaptation of The Raven The Princess Bride, because Count Rugen knows when to run from vengeance Goodfellas, especially the manipulation and “go into the scary second location” energy The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, for the danger of politeness overriding instinct Speak No Evil, for another brutal lesson in ignoring red flags The Descent, for being trapped underground in the dark Interview with the Vampire, for a particularly horrible buried-alive fate Buried, starring Ryan Reynolds CSI, the Nick-buried-alive episode, for peak 2000s TV trauma Immaculate, for a brief but memorable buried-alive horror moment Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, especially “Graveyard Rats” Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, for the Well of Souls Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, for bone-lined crypts in Venice Macbeth, because “false face must hide what false heart doth know” is basically Montresor’s entire personality Homework: Next up: The Silence of the Lambs. We’re moving from Poe’s damp catacombs to Buffalo Bill’s basement, with more second-location danger, more manipulation, more dungeon-like spaces, and Clarice Starling walking one of horror’s most memorable corridors. Watch or rewatch before our next episode. And after that: Mindhunter. We are officially in our basement era. Until then, do not follow anyone into a damp, bone-lined crypt for a drink, no matter how rare they say it is. We’ll see you next time on Drawn to Darkness. Special thanks to Nancy Azano for our cover art (Instagram: @nancyazano) and Harry Kidd for our music (Instagram: @harryjkidd, Spotify).
