SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello, my fellow Dreadites. Welcome back to the Dread Alert Podcast. Today, I am joined by Samantha Hale, whose comedy special Horror Nerd is available on video on demand now, and I have to tell you, it is hilarious, especially if you're a fan of the horror genre, because there are so many in jokes and it is so relatable. Samantha has a large history and family history in the horror genre, and I'm so glad she's joining us here today. Samantha, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Thanks for having me. I'm a dreadite.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Yeah. Right? That's such a great name.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Dreadites. It's like deadites, but more.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

But scarier.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Yeah, well, I know. I'm like, should I what do I call horror nerd people? Nerdites? That could work.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

I love it.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

That works.

unknown 0:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

So uh why don't you give me a quick pitch? What is your comedy special? What's it all about? Uh uh give us the log line.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Yeah, so it's a horror-themed stand-up comedy special, which usually people are like, what does that mean? Because I think I'm the only stand-up comedian, like straight stand-up comic, who's just purposely focusing all on horror. I mean, there are many amazing comics like Pat Noswald or Dana Gould, who's a friend, who have really cool bits, but it's like my whole career, my whole life is horror, really. Um, so it's it's an hour special of basically kind of diving into my relationship with horror, why I love it. I mean, of course, we're making jokes and roasting killers and you know, calling out different genres and whatnot, but it's more about how like I am a horror nerd. That's it's who I am. It's uh I'm one of those people where horror and fall and pumpkin spice is my entire personality. So I put it in an hour comedy special.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

I am your target audience because that is how my wife and I live our life. We have a spooky baby, she just turned two, and she's super into Scooby-Doo. So we are a uh Right? She was Scooby-Doo for Halloween, too. Um, but uh, we are a horror family, and so your comedy special really we laughed, but we it was it was uh emotionally relevant. It resonated uh there as well. And so just it checked all the boxes um from being funny to being a love letter to the genre we live our life in. So thank you for putting it together.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Thank you for, I mean, a love letter to the genre, that's the highest of all compliments and exactly what we were going for, really. I mean, I think we did like 11 drafts before we kind of got this nice balance of okay, this is gonna appeal to like the real hardcore nerds who are gonna get the deeper cuts, but also a broader audience who might be like, hey, I'm it's spooky season. I'm feeling like I just wanna, I don't know, a horse sounds fun. I'll throw this on. They're also gonna understand it because it's not just about, well, I know that in 1970, like it's not just about facts, it's about emotions. It's about my connection with it. And my dad got me into this stuff when I was eight. And the more shows that I do and the more people I talk to, the more I realize that that's pretty common. Like a lot of us who grew up with this stuff, our parents got us into it way too young, probably. And uh, and we developed this extreme connection to it and it's nostalgic. Um, my dad has passed, actually, both of my parents have passed, and I talk about that in the special. And so when I put on it, I remember my dad letting me see that. And I remember like my dad had a white glove in the living room for some reason, and I was so afraid that Pennywise was gonna like come into the glove that I made him burn it and he did it. He's like, Okay, I'm gonna put it in the fireplace. Like, that's a memory I have with my dad now because of Tim Curry. Thank you, Tim Curry.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Right. Uh, we met Tommy Lee Wallace a few weeks ago, and my wife was like, I was traumatized by it. And he's like, How old were you when you saw it? Because everybody sees it way too young. And it it's part of the the experience. It's it's a coming of age ritual, I think, for a lot of us. And we all chase that dragon of the thrill that that those early films gave us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Right. It gets harder to get that thrill as you get older because we've seen so many amazing things, we've seen so many uh special effects. Like they hate me in haunted mazes, like Halloween Horns. They hate me because they they're doing an amazing job and they jump out of me and they're wearing all this special stuff. And my I'm like, oh cool, no, dude, you look great, cool. Like they they can't freak me out.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Same. I'm like, oh, that was such a well-executed scare. And they're like, Thanks. I'm gonna scream, dude.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Like, go, go, uh, don't, don't compliment me on the technicality of it. But that's our way of showing appreciation, you know?

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Yeah, we had I admire the craft, and uh, and I really admire the craft that you put in. Having done uh a not very tight 10 minutes in my day uh as part of a theater project, I admire the craft that went into you writing this. And I have to ask, what was your process like? How did you take all of this horror experience and all of these personal experiences, marry them together, find the punchlines? What was your process like?

SPEAKER_02 4:48

That's a great question that I actually don't get very often. I haven't really been asked about the writing process. Um, like the concept, absolutely, but the writing process, it's how I write material about horror is usually so I'll re-watch the movie and sometimes I'll just be watching it like doing my workout or something, kind of half-watching it, and my brain will just catch something. Wait, what? And I'll just think about something differently and realize that's a great opportunity for a misdirect or a comedy comes in threes or one of the various joke structures that we use. Um, but also I do a lot of research. I just, even though I've seen the movie 8,000 times, I'll go on Wikipedia, I'll go on the Wiki fandom pages, and I'll just read about every single detail and see what my brain catches that maybe I never thought about before. Um but ultimately when you're writing a joke, you kind of have to get back in touch with why am I writing this in the first place? What was it that was so special or so upsetting or so tragic or so alarming or exciting about this material or this thing that happened that I had to go write a joke about it? Like, what am I trying to get? What's my point? What am I trying to connect to the audience with?

SPEAKER_01 5:57

That's really interesting and probably where I went wrong when I was writing for that theater project. Um how did you get into stand-up comedy in the first place? It seems like you had a sort of twisty path, uh, as you allude to in your special.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

To say the least. Yeah, I kind of fell into it. Uh, I did not want to be uh a stand-up comic growing up. It never really occurred to me. Um I wanted to do the acting thing because my my grandfather was an actor, my great-grandfather was an actor, my great-grandmother was an actress. I'm like, I'm genetically required to be an actor. So I was doing that, right? And I was, and I, and I still loved horror at this time, obviously. I was in a couple really terrible bee horror movies that were awesome. But I uh I was just like working so hard and not getting anywhere. And then one day a friend of mine said, Hey, do you want to go see the women at Chelsea Lately at the Laugh Factory? So we went, and it was Natasha Legero, Jen Kirkman, Sarah Kelonna, like really amazing women. And I was so enamored and like they're so powerful, they're so confident, they know who they are, they're not afraid of hecklers. Wow. And Natasha Logero actually said, Well, you know, I used to do this show. Now it's a class called Pretty Funny Women. Check it out. So I took this class thinking this is a bucket list one and done, and here I am all these years later.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

That's fantastic. I find that a lot of us horror people are ex-theater kids. Yeah. I was talking to Clay McLeod Chapman. He's like, you need to get a list of the horror authors who are theater kids, and we'll do a round table because there's so many of us.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

And I I don't know what it is. I and my suspicion is, and I think this applies directly to your sus to your special, is that it's an empathy thing. Horror asks of us to be empathetic across genders with men rooting for the final girl, across uh class, across so many different barriers. And I think stand-up comedy asks us to do the same thing, and I think theater asks us to do the same thing, and I think film criticism asks us to be empathetic, at least if you're doing it right and not just out here to shit on films for views. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

And people do that. And people do that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

What does horror nerd mean to you? What does being a horror nerd mean to you?

SPEAKER_02 8:00

It means that feeling when you put on a horror film that you love, that feeling of, oh, there's this new movie out, it looks so good. That feeling of your whole heart lights up and your whole uh like body just is like, woohoo! It just feels like, all right, fun times. It's like, it's like Halloween as a kid when you knew Halloween was coming and you're like, cool, I'm gonna dress up, I'm gonna get this candy, I'm gonna go here. It's exciting and it makes you feel like a kid again in a in the best of ways. I mean, I'm kind of as an adult focusing on my inner child more than ever, honestly. I'm like, yeah, she went through some shit and she was a kid. Um, I think a lot of us who are nerds, um, maybe had some some stuff in the child. Maybe we were bullied. Maybe like I was a really heavy kid. I was bullied pretty severely. My parents divorced quite young, like, and I'm an only child, so I kind of had to live in my head a lot as a kid. And horror films, I'm like, oh, look at all these new friends I have. This is great, you know, and so that feeling of giddiness over horror, I think that's the nerdy part because I view nerd, I view the word weird as a compliment. So the idea, especially like with the live show with horror nerd, is like, hey, this is the place where all of us weird kids can get together and just take risks and be silly and perform in character, talk about things that we wouldn't really talk about in a normal set. Um, and my and my favorite thing is to see when someone who maybe isn't a big whore nerd is now like I have a friend of mine, Jeremy, who's does every show with me. He's never seen the Nightmare in Elm Street series. And he and like he's a grown-ass man and he'd never seen this stuff because he wasn't into horror. But now I've taken him under my wing and now I'm forcing him to. And he he's he was literally like live texting me as he was going through the Nightmare in Elm Street series. He was like, Oh my god, what Josh Agor? Like flipping out, not Roseanne Barr! How are all these people in this? Loving every second of it. And and he had never seen obviously Nightmare in Elm Street 2. He's like, a final boy? This is awesome! Like he loved it. Him and his husband loved it.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

And that is such like a uh, and I know it was tough for Mark Patton, but that was such a queer icon film.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

It was such a breath of fresh air in the middle of the 80s where everything was so repressive, too.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

Right, right. And and extra bonus points. What a a dear friend of mine who I absolutely adore is Christopher Young, who was the composer on that film. Oh, he's been a guest on our podcast, and he's just the loveliest person on the planet. I met him at Midsummer Scream, and I didn't know who he was at first. So we just started talking. And then once I realized it, I'm like, holy shit, you composed Hellraiser? You're that, Christopher Young?

SPEAKER_01 10:38

That theme is on our Halloween car ride playlist. That's an it's an epic theme. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

It's romantic, it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Hellraiser's on my top 10 list for sure.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

It's right behind you. I see it.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Yeah, right? Uh and I truth be told, that's signed by Doug Bradley, who you mentioned in your special, and is in your special thanks. And Clive Barker. We met Clive at one of his last conventions, and just the loveliest man, so nice to our like infant daughter at the time.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

It was just a lifetime experience. See, those are memories that you're gonna have for the rest of your life, all because of a painhead, really.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Right? And uh Doug Bradley's uh just a class act, like I mean, just like a good guy.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

You pre pretty much described my childhood in describing your own. Uh heavy set only child in the 80s, watching horror too young. Uh and and one thing that really differentiates us, uh, an obvious thing, is that I'm a male horror fan and you're a female horror fan. And I wonder, and this question comes from my wife. Do you experience, and it's my wife is my producer here, and she runs a side channel in the Dread Alert Media Network. We share this love of horror, we bonded over horror, but she wonders what your experience is as a female horror fan, if you find it, at least your perception of it, to be different than a male horror fan in a male-dominated fandom.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Yeah, that's a great question. What's your wife's name?

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Sarah.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

Hi, Sarah. What's up, girl? Um, good question. One of us. There, we have there's a huge female horror. There's a huge female horror, like everyone loves horror. I don't know if maybe it was just because women, like, no, it wasn't really cool in the 80s at all. Like, you were still kind of that weird kid, but especially for a girl, we were supposed to like Barbies and stuff, which was so stupid. I never cared about Barbies. I wanted to play with my horses and I wanted to watch my scary movies. That's all I cared about. Um, but I think we've always loved it. We've always loved it equally. Um, and it's a it hits maybe a little bit differently for us because, you know, unfortunately, we when it becomes when it comes to true crime, we are quite often the targets of that. Not saying that men are not, because they absolutely are. There are all kinds of crazy people out there. But it's it's very cathartic in a way of okay, and I think that's why we like true crime as well. It's like, well, what can I learn from this? How can I um, you know, in a true crime sense, how can I honor that victim and learn from her and and and you know, send love to to that person and and hope that this doesn't happen again. Um but it's also like, you know, we're raised as women. Well, put your keys in between your fingers just in case you get attacked. And I'm like, really? We're we're teaching women not to do that. Let's teach men not to attack people or anyone not to attack people. I shouldn't say it's just men. But so we kind of were were raised with this real life fear, so it almost seems safer to watch, okay. Well, if I watch Nightmare on Elm Street, I know that Nancy's gonna be cool in the end. So it's kind of uh it's like I don't know, it's like a release in a way. Yeah, but also like we're just we have a dark side too, just as much as as men do. We just weren't allowed to show it because we had to be prim and proper and all that crap. And thank goodness it's much better now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Oh, for sure. And I horror is like the most inclusive space, right? This community is fantastic, yeah. Um, but it's interesting uh and how you're describing your relationship to the final girl as cathartic in one way where men might experience a catharsis of their own vulnerability that they're not allowed to be in touch with in a different way. Uh so it's an empowering thing for a female viewer, and it's a a vulnerable thing for a male viewer. And I'm not trying to split this along gender lines in any tangible way. Everybody is on a spectrum of how they engage with gender, and so by by that means horror. Um, but it's just it was an interesting question that Sarah brought up and wanted me to ask you. And I think her experience has been similar to yours, is that when she was younger, it was a bit more taboo for her to be interested in something like that. And I think as a female content creator, she sees the supporters and the detractors, and then a kind of a group of people that I rarely see, the weirdos, in the comments saying, Show me your feet. And it's just a very, you know, it's a very different experience.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

Yeah, and we, you know, and but I hate to say it, but like we as female comedians, it's a lot better than it used to be. But there are still a handful of those dudes who are in their basement, their mom's basement, like women aren't funny. It's like, okay, well, just because my life experience as a woman isn't something that you d directly relate to because you're not a woman, it doesn't mean it's not funny, it just means it's not your cup of tea. That's okay, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Or there are you're not curious enough.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

Right. Or you don't you I don't want to say you're not smart enough to think outside of your own box, but like think outside of your own box, man. There's so many different people come from so many different backgrounds and experiences that none is uh it's all equal. No one's better or worse than anyone. It's just hey, I have a different life experience, so my sense of humor is different than yours. But there are there are people out there who were just so threatened, like, well, I could have done that funnier. I'm like, okay, well, go ahead. I dare you, get on stage. I dare you. But they won't talk to me in person at all.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

No, right? Everybody's a stand-up comedian until you have 50, 100, 200, 1000 eyes on you and you have to land a joke. And I can say that from experience because I was I was hilarious in my head before I stepped on stage.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

I know.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Everybody clapped when I was done, but for the wrong reasons.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Oh, I'm sure you were great, but it takes a while to get good. It really, really does. Sometimes people just want to be like, oh, where's my Netflix special? I'm like, you're two years in. Chill out. Hold on. Get good for the case.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

I had the I had the benefit of it being a warm-up to a stand-up comedian play about a stand-up comedian. So I was supposed to be bad. I was supposed to be the bad opener. So I had that blanket of security. But uh yeah, it it it made me really respect the craft because it is as much of a craft as it is an art form.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

Yeah, I mean, if you think about what we're doing, it's scarier than a horror film. We're getting up in a room full of people, and hey, strangers who I've never met, I'm gonna share my most intimate, darkest secrets. And if you don't laugh at a certain line that I also wrote myself, I'm gonna hate myself. It's not normal. Um, but it's like you conquer that fear, and it's kind of similar maybe with horror films. Like, I don't go into a horror film thinking, oh God, okay, here we go. You know, like I'm I I I don't want to say I'm like comfortable with being uncomfortable, but I'm comfortable with being uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Yeah, you certainly get used to living in that space for sure.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

I wonder, so horror comedy is its own subgenre and its own right, and it has a very important place in the in the in the horror canon. Do you have any theories about why horror and comedy go so well together? Why they're the chocolate and peanut butter uh of the horror subgenre.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

The Reese's pieces.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Yeah, you you blend them perfectly. You are your special is the holiday pumpkin version with the with the little bit of extra peanut butter, that perfect blend. You know those are better. You know, those are better than the normal Reese's. So horror nerd. Horror nerd is the Reese's pumpkin of the uh of the candy line. And I wondered if you have any theories as to why they blend together so well.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Oh my god, I'm gonna put that on a bumper sticker. I love that so much. Um so it's similar, like horror and okay, like setting up a joke and then like setting up a kill. We're kind of doing a similar thing where we're creating tension, we're we're taking the audience on this ride with us, they don't know where it's gonna wind up. We're making them really uncomfortable, like uh-oh. And then we reward them with either a punchline in comedy or a kill scene, or the victim gets away, right? So it's kind of like you take them on this magical ride of excitement and then release. So it's very similar. Um, and also, and I and I say this all the time because people forget that it is a physiological thing as well. Like fear and excitement in our bodies are very similar. It's a very similar kind of science behind it. Um, not that I'm a scientist in any way, but it feels kind of the same. So when I was first starting out, when I was really, really nervous, I would say, Samantha, you're excited. I would try to reframe it. You're excited, you're your nerves are kind of going because you really care and you're really excited. Okay, cool. So you try, I tried to convince myself of that, even though I was terrified for the first several years.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Yeah, of course. And you know, I think you're onto something there. I think that's there, there's an element of surprise that has to be uh there. You can't let the audience get ahead of the scare. You can't let the audience get ahead of the punchline. Um, I want to shift gears and ask you uh a bit more of a growing up personal question. And it's it's probably the most obvious question, and you've probably answered it a thousand times, but what was it like growing up across the street from the poltergeist house? That's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

I'll never get sick of that question. Um I didn't know it first, to tell you the truth, because I was so young. I what grade was I? I was so young that I didn't put it together. I just was, I mean, my my dad and I, we grew up watching poltergeist together. It and poltergeist were kind of two of the very early ones. And the scene in the bathroom where his face falls off, that messed me up pretty bad, also. Um, and they did that at Halloween Horror Nights this year. They had that scene in the maze, and I was like, yes, best part. Um, but I didn't know. I thought, oh man, Simi Valley, this sucks. Like, I didn't know. I just knew that I was away from my friends um that I that I was, you know, going to school with in Los Angeles. Um, but once I figured it out, and I'm like, are you effing kidding me? I've been walking past this place for I had no idea all summer long. I've been carrying my little groceries back and forth by the poltergeist house. I lost my ever-loving mind. I was so excited. I was like, I think I put this in the special because I was like, divorce is great. You guys should have broken up sooner. This is so great. Because I didn't have any friends out there to tell you the truth. So it was just me and the poltergeist house. Um, and and now it's an Airbnb, which is pretty amazing. And um, the woman, Rachel, who owns the house now, is super lovely, and she's coming to the show this month, which I'm really excited about.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

That's fantastic. My next question was have you ever been inside? Have you like walked around it at all?

SPEAKER_02 20:52

That's my plan, is to go out and hopefully I mean, my my ultimate like nerd dream goal would be to do a show around the pool. How great would that be? Backyard around the pool? That's my goal. 100%. So I'm gonna try to make it happen.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

Honestly, I love that idea. Uh, we're in Pittsburgh, so the Buffalo Bill House from Silence of the Lambs is nearby.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

No, and have you gone?

SPEAKER_01 21:17

I've not gone yet, but they're like a convention acquaintance. I know, right? They're so cool. Uh they're like convention acquaintances of ours, and I I just we need to get out there. They do tours and they do Airbnb. And we've been to the uh Night of the Living Dead Cemetery and the Dawn of the Dead Mobile their last weekend. So those like horror home bases uh for like these films that are iconic in your life, they're so lovely to visit. And it's just I don't know. I saw so much of myself in your special, which just speaks to how approachable you as a performer are, but also how yeah, no, I thank you uh for doing it. You're amazing. And also how uh well tailored for horror fans your your piece is. I can't recommend this highly enough if you're if you're still listening to us, go check out Horror Nerd. I have so Many more questions, but I just wanted to give them a plug in the middle here.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Yes, please.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

So another thing we have in common is an appreciation for the Halloween trilogy directed by David Gordon Green. I in your c I had to I had to mark this down because I feel like when we find each other in the wild, we have to at least address the fact that we didn't hate Halloween kills and Halloween ends.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

Why don't people I loved it? I don't understand why people are such haters.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

I I totally agree. And I want to I want to hear your thoughts. So open floor, tell me what tell me, if anything, what you loved about it. I just I want I just want to share this with you.

SPEAKER_02 22:34

Yeah, I mean, if you get Jamie Lee Curtis, you're winning already. I mean, I love H2O, don't get me wrong. Um, and I think H2O had one of the best moments in all of horror when friggin' uh her mom, when Janet Lee drives up in the psycho car with the psycho music playing and then gets out and says, if I may be maternal for a moment, I died. I died. It was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

That was for us, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

That was for us. That was the way the normal normies didn't get it. That's fine. Yeah, right. Um, but the thing that I really loved about um, I guess specifically ends, really, was like, okay, there's a lot of psychological aftermath of having running from the boogeyman your entire life and then feeling like you've passed that curse down to your daughter and your granddaughter. I mean, there's some that was fascinating to me how they handled that. The darkness, the I really love the the storyline with Allison actually, of like, yeah, she's rebelling, she's making some choices, she's going after the bad dude. Like, she's dealing with trauma. Like, trauma, it doesn't just go away. PTSD doesn't just go away. So I thought it was really sophisticated that they brought that into the mix. And I know that some people didn't, sorry, spoiler alert, they didn't like that that Michael didn't have enough screen time, that there was another, but that creative, that was different, and I thought he did a great job. The actor did a a great job with that.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Totally agree. And the boogeyman is the shape, it's not necessarily Michael. This is my my grandstand here. It doesn't matter who's under the mask. And frankly, the mask might not even matter either. It is an absence of personhood, it is pure evil. The shape can be anyone, and I think that's what makes Halloween ends particularly frightening, is that the shape could be contagious, or the shape could be any one of us. And I also think it's a really well-directed art film in disguise as a slasher.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

Yeah, it is very artistic.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

Yeah. So uh, no, I I just I love that trilogy, and I have made videos in defense of it. And so when I find another fan, I have to pick their brain about what they stick together. Right? Honestly. I somebody commented you're doing the devil's work with this video because I liked it and uh and justified my love. But you know, hey, I've been accused of worse.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

Yeah, if that's the worst thing we've been accused of, that's fine. And like that radio scene and the way that they were in the radio station, that reminded me of the Warriors and the fog. I was like, this is fun. I like this. This is the music. I mean, they used the cramps in there. I was like, this is great. I agree with that.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Good eye on the fog. That's a that's a good yeah, absolutely. I didn't even connect it. But there were so many Carpenter illusions in that from the obviously Christine framework. But yeah, the fog spot on.

SPEAKER_02 25:13

We just on Dia de los Muertos, November 1st, we went to go see John Carpenter play in downtown LA. And it was so fun. And like at the end of it, he was like, Okay, I'm gonna ask you guys one thing. Make sure to drive home safely because Christine is out there. And then he played the Christine. It was great, it was so good.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

He, I I never I wish I could see him live. I it's like a dream. I had the opportunity to meet him, right? I met him at a con twice, I met him at two separate conventions, and the second time, the first time he my my wife blushed and melted down because and she doesn't get starstruck, she's stone cold. But John Carpenter got to her and he he just was tickled by that. Uh and the second time, he was tickled by our infant daughter who had just had a diaper blowout, and we like wrapped her in a blanket because he didn't have a line, which we're like, smelly baby. Yeah, we're like, we're just gonna stand back a little bit with the smelly baby. But he was like the most charming, grumpy old man I have ever met. Uh, John Carpenter, chef's kiss, perfect, wonderful human being. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

Yeah, he just seems like just a funny character of a guy who's seen it all and done it all, but still has this sense of humor.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

Right. And I know I've talked about a lot of con meets that I've had because I'm a convention head myself, and your uh bits about conventions resonated so much with me. I have to ask, do you have uh a list of favorite con meets? I won't ask you to pick your all-time favorite, but who was great that you've met?

SPEAKER_02 26:38

You know, there's so many people that I've been excited by, but I have to say, my all-time favorite, I don't know, dude, I gotta give it to Kane Hodder. I'm obsessed with Kane. I love him. Um, the first time I got to meet Kane was when, so my friend David Bertolino, who created Spooky World, um, there's a new documentary out called Spectacular, which is amazing. So David kind of brought me into this world of all these amazing um horror icon actors that he, you know, used to bring to his theme park back in the day. And so one day he was like, Hey, we're all going to uh Booga to Beppo before Monster Palooza. Do you want to come? Oh, Kane Hodder's gonna be there. I said, What? We're having spaghetti with Jason Hell Yeah, I'll be there. So we go, and that's how that joke came about and that I put in the special, because I literally said that to him.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:21

Which, if you haven't seen the special, it's just a true story about how Kane showed up 20 minutes late, sits down, sits down next to me, and says, Hey everyone, sorry I'm late. My Uber driver got a ticket on the way over. And then I said, Oh no, I hope she didn't get in Uber trouble. And then he looked at me holding a knife and said, Please tell me you're not a comedian. And we were friends right away. Uh he's so funny, he's so cool and real. And um, the the the Doug Bradley story, actually, um, that also happened at Monster Palooza. Was that this that I think that was the same year, the next day, maybe? I don't remember. But um, so basically, long story short, Doug Bradley challenges me to write a joke about him that has never been done before. I freak out and I'm like, oh God. And I went, I like left, came back a half hour later, and he didn't think I was coming back, I don't think. And so after I went and like wrote all these jokes, I realized, oh, my angle was my first boyfriend was the one that got me into Hellraiser. And uh, and so it was kind of like a the personal joke. So I'm like, he's never heard this before, he doesn't know my ex. Anyway, so um, I'm really proud of myself, but I decided to go to Kane's booth and I'm like, Kane, Kane, Kane, this is what just happened. He's like, Well, let me hear the jokes. And I did the jokes for him, and he's like, That's hilarious, he's gonna love it. Um, and he was so fucking supportive and funny. And Doug's reaction was not um quite as big as Kane's reaction. Because you know, Doug is very like, he's just so cool and like British and professional and like lovely and terrifying at the same time. And you want him to like you. Yeah, so that was just such a cool experience. And then also um, one other one a funny story is um David, this was years later, David calls me and he's like, Hey, because they were doing the spectacular premiere um in Los Feliz. He's like, Hey, I need you to do me a favor. Can you pick up a friend of mine who's coming to the screening tonight? And I was like, Sure, okay, cool. And he's like, Yeah, yeah. So he's staying at at this hotel, just pick him up here, and then here's his number, just text him when you get there. So I did, and freaking Kane walked out. I was like, You butthead. So it was really fun. I didn't know. I'm like, I'm picking up Kane. Uh and so we yeah, so we drive over there, and it's and he's so funny. And as soon as we get there, we we, you know, he's mobbed by people who want autographs and stuff like that. And he's so nice, he signed every single one, was really nice to everyone. And the best part was, oh my god, I just realized this was a full circle moment, actually. I never even put the oh my gosh. Okay, so as we're walking up to the theater, the theater manager comes out and says, Oh, hey, do you want me to help Mr. Hodder get in? I can get rid of all these people. I said, I think he's fine. And then I looked at her and I knew exactly who she was, and she was like, Oh, hi, I'm Michelle. I'm like, Oh hi, Michelle, it's nice to see you. And she just kind of looked at me like awkward, and then I said, Oh yeah, we used to do the Rocky Horror Picture Show together. That guy that wrote that I wrote the Hellraiser jokes about, he actually hooked up with her. And so I was like, Oh, hey, Michelle, have you met my new boyfriend, Jason Voris?

SPEAKER_00 30:28

It was so that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

I just put that together. Wow, okay, crazy.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

A preview of Horror Nerd 2, Alexaloo.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

Exactly. I'm writing the sequel right now.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Right. Kane busted my balls for a solid 15 minutes. We were at a tiny convention and like he had the time. And Kane takes forever with everyone in line.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

I know, he's so genuine.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Right. He busted my balls for not joining SAG when I was a must-join. And I was like, I just didn't want to pursue film all that seriously. And he's like, uh, I think Lar Park Lincoln was there. He's like, Lar, this guy didn't join SAG! Everybody's just busting my balls. It was like, it was an epic convention moment. Kane Hotter is the greatest.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

The greatest. And I just saw him at uh Son of Monster Palooza uh last month, and I was able to like give him the postcard with the the cover on it and be like, hey, Kane, you're in this. And it meant a lot to me, and it meant a lot to him. And I have a picture with him holding it, and I was like, Will you sign my own cover for me? Because you're in this, dude. Like it was it was a really cool moment, and I just I just think he's so great. Um, but I should say I do want to give a shout out to Midsummer Scream in Long Beach, that is my all-time favorite convention, and we've been so lucky to get to perform. We've done the show there. Thank you, David Markland, he's the best. David and Claire Dunlap are so great. Um, so we did the show this year where I hosted as Annabelle, I called the show the Annabelle Sessions. And the idea was Annabelle is now an anger management therapist, and all of these icons of horror want to talk about their feelings. So they would come on, and their set was like them talking about their feelings. So we had a ghost face, a Chucky, uh um a Norman slash Norma. And it was just my friend Tommy, like he did like the split face of half Norma makeup, half Norman, and he just argued with himself for 10 minutes. It was awesome. Um, and then we had Jason Voorhees, and we had a comic planted in the audience as his mom. And so she was like, You're doing great, honey. I love you. And then yeah, it was great. It was really fun.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

So something else we have in common, and I I hate to be like hyper specific about your your comedy special, but these are things that like just resonated with me. Our love.

SPEAKER_02 32:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

Hey, our shared love of holiday candles, specifically Halloween candles.

SPEAKER_02 32:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

And you name dropped two candles. One I bought this year because I think it was a new scent, and one that was last year's scent, but it was still around this year. Uh, pumpkin uh pecan waffles. And uh and the um blueberry maple pancakes, I believe it was. Uh new for this year. Uh I I have recently hit my limit on candle storage space. I could probably reach just out of frame and pull a uh pumpkin s'mores. So that's how that's how legit we are.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

Are we the same person? Here's uh pumpkin vanilla creme.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

Oh yes. So uh I have to ask you what your all-time favorite is from any brand. We we are not sponsored by any brand, but uh or any any store or any mall outlet. I honestly at this point we should I should be buying stock. Um, but do you have a favorite scent? Is there one that lingers through the years uh that that's that's just great?

SPEAKER_02 33:47

Well, first of all, I should say that one of the scariest moments of my life was when my boyfriend first moved in and he was like, Oh hey, I need a towel. I'm just gonna go grab one from and I was like, no, my candle collection is in there. He's gonna see I'm a crazy person. Oh boy, because I have a lot. Um I have a lot, but um he he didn't break up with me, so that's good. Um but I would say actually the one that started me on Bath and Body Works is um blueberry maple pancakes. I'm a blueberry junkie, I just love anything blueberry, and and I like pancakes. So I was like, that seems like a win. I'll just get this one, why not? And then I was like, wow, this is really good. And then my friend Lori Blitz, who I blame for my candle addiction, who's the my friend Lori is in the special. She's the one where when I did that joke, I looked at her and I was like, you get it, or I said something to her.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

That's my friend Lori, because first of all, she definitely gets the pussy reference. And uh second of all, she's the one that got me into these dumb candles in the first place. She's like, you know, there's a rewards app.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

I'm like, oh no, now I'm and the single wicks are good for the redemption. It's a mess. I'm I'm in too deep.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

Oh, I know. And for me, I buy all the body spray and all the smelly stuff too. So I just have a and then they just put out Disney villains. I'm screwed. I'm screwed.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

I have a wife follow this. She's got the hand sanitizer holder. Like we're at least united in this, although she has drawn lines. She's like, your entire like our entire entertainment center, instead of having like DVDs in them, we have like DVD shelves because that's where all the candles are. So do I!

SPEAKER_02 35:24

There's literally a pumpkin carving candle in my I am on a VHS kick right now. I'm collecting VHS.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

Um, oh yeah, I've got pumpkin carving. I've got, I've got, what is this one? This one's like blueberry cotton candy. Oh, it's main blueberry cotton candy, and it's main and it's blueberries. It makes me think of Stephen King, so I'm keeping that one. I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_01 35:44

Uh if I might recommend Honey Crisp Hayride is such a banger if you like apple scent. It's like a totally have it.

SPEAKER_02 35:52

I've got the wallflower and the soap too. Oh, and the spray. I've got the spla the spray, the what is it, this room spray right over there, too.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

I can see mine from here.

SPEAKER_01 36:02

I have the room spray as well.

SPEAKER_02 36:04

Are we the same person?

SPEAKER_01 36:05

Right. I and honestly, like so. Our lived experience is like I mean, it's like I I saw Scream in Theaters at 13. I went like three or four times. I was there opening night on Blair Witch Project. Like, we have we have so much in common.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

Yeah, my mom, I remember my mom took me to Blair Witch in Simi Valley, and we saw that movie, and I the whole time it was just like, wait, what? And then I remember the next, it scared me the next day. Like the next day, I started really thinking about it, and I got really like freaked out.

SPEAKER_01 36:35

Did you have the experience? And so uh you there was no way you missed the marketing campaign for that. And like, is it real? Is it not real? But did you have the experience going in like I might be the one to solve this? It might be real, and I might be the one to see something.

SPEAKER_02 36:48

Yeah, yeah. Kind of like, is it? I don't, what is it? It was just it all kind of felt like I don't know what's going on, but I think this is not real. But wait a minute, where do these actors go?

SPEAKER_01 37:01

Oh, yeah. I I remember sitting in that theater going, when's it gonna pick up? But also I'm like white knuckling this. Like, is it and it's like one of my top five favorite movies. I have to just preface that. But like I remember white knuckling that and being pretty sure it was gonna start soon.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Yeah, like it's coming, it's coming, it's gonna, it's gonna get here. That's how I felt. I saw The Exorcist, and I talk about it in my special when I was 10, and I think I had already seen so many horror films that I didn't really understand the brilliance of that film until until I was an adult, really, and re-watched it. It was like, this is ins incredible. This is this is wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

I totally agree.

SPEAKER_02 37:39

Yeah, and I actually my uh so I'm a dog person, I love dogs so much. I got my my soul dog love in my life passed away not that long ago, and so like I waited, I waited, and then I was about to be like ready, and um, I almost took a dog from Linda Blair, and then I found a kitten, and I'm like, okay, I guess I have a kitten. And sadly, the dog that Linda had wound up being not cat friendly. But I did get to know Linda through that. We were texting, and just she was she was so sweet, and she was so lovely, and I still feel bad. I still want that dog, but I'm worried about my cats. But one day, one day, Linda, one day.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

That's an amazing story. First of all, she seems lovely. I've never met her, but she seems amazing.

SPEAKER_02 38:21

Yeah, she's she cares about those dogs more than anyone. She's such an animal advocate, and I truly admire her for that.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

We uh we were dog people who changed to cat people too, so we'll add that to the list of uh shared lived experience. And that's why we have room sprays because cats have no fear of candles, and uh they probably should.

SPEAKER_02 38:40

They do not, and that was why I logged on like right in time because somebody threw up right in front of my computer right before I logged on.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

They're good for that too. Scarf and barf. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:52

Oh, that's fantastic. So um, I'm gonna ask you a few questions we ask everyone who comes on, but they're tailored for you a little bit. So what is your favorite horror comedy if you can pick? And you can give multiple. I know I'm putting you on the spot. You can run down a list of them. You can send, I had one guy uh on the show who is a brilliant director, send me a list of 30 films because he could not pick his favorite horror film and he didn't want to misrepresent. And I was like, we'll put it in the show description. Yeah, he's fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 39:19

I I know that feeling because whenever I say what's your favorite scary movie, and they look at me, I'm like, I know that's a rude ass question. I'm so sorry. Um but horror comedy. Now, this film has been kind of people argue about what genre it really is, but one of my top three movies of all time is Beetlejuice. I was raised on Beetlejuice. So horror comedy, I'm obsessed. I can watch, I mean, I've got my sandworm on my arm. Um, I love Michael Keaton. Uh that movie I watched, so I had like a like I recorded it off TV. I had my little VHS tape, and I watched it so many times that my mom like had this boyfriend that was kind of a douche, and he got sick of me watching it. So he recorded over football one day just to piss me off. And I'm a kid. And I remember that was like literally one of the worst days of my childhood was coming home and okay, time for Beetlejuice, and I would put it on, and it was butt ball. I cried, I cried, I cried. Um, but I love Beetlejuice and I like the second one as well. I don't give a shit. I love Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. Agreed, yeah, and uh, but also Sean of the Dead would be a great one.

SPEAKER_01 40:22

Um handsome.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

But then there are movies like Weapons wasn't supposed to be funny, but it was so flippin' good. Like Gladys was such a character, she's such a new icon that that scene at the end when the kids start chasing her, we were like we were like dying. It was so good.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Yes, I totally agree. And it's interesting because horror comedy is it's a there's a there's a blend, right? It's either like lean's comedy or lean's horror. You have to pick a lane, and uh weapons picked its lane, but it was still quite amusing at times.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

Oh god, Amy Madigan was so good, he was so fucking good.

SPEAKER_01 40:59

And I I totally relate to Beetlejuice. I was like that kid as well. I love the animated series. I could not get enough.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

Same, I love the animated series.

SPEAKER_01 41:08

Right. Yeah, I uh I I didn't have a lot of like Beetlejuice action figures, I've re as I recall, but I had like the bed I I was obsessed with. I asked for it for Christmas, I think. The bed where you put the Beetlejuice in and you like do that and he comes out little.

unknown 41:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:25

Right.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

And that's probably worth something now. I mean, that's the crazy person. If I can find it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:30

Yeah, it's it's it's definitely in my basement in a bin somewhere that I took from my mom's house and have not opened since she was like, I'm cleaning out my basement.

SPEAKER_02 41:38

Well, I hope it's in there somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 41:40

Yes, I do too. Um, okay, so next question, even harder. What is your favorite horror movie of all time? And again, we can give multiple.

SPEAKER_02 41:49

Halloween, Halloween, Halloween.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

Same.

SPEAKER_02 41:52

We are the same person. Right. Oh, yeah. Your description.

SPEAKER_01 41:56

Your description of that movie was my exact experience with it. Like I'd seen a ton of horror, and then it was just like something changed for me with that movie. And I credit Scream, I credit Ghostface himself because I feel like Scream is an encyclopedia, at least at the time, was a roadmap for young horror fans. Uh, and when I went hunting, I found the shape. But I want to hear, um, this isn't about me. Why do you love Halloween?

SPEAKER_02 42:23

It's just, it's one of those movies where it just feels like the whole movie is alive, the whole movie's a character, the leaves falling, the the way that you can like when those opening shots of Haddonfield, it it just feels like you're there. You can feel the air, you can smell the leaves. Like it's so well done. Um, and I love that there's no blood in it, you know. It's just this psychological, it's more in your mind. It was like sometimes less is more. It was such like a I don't want to say minimalist because I think it was just budget issues, you know, but um, but it was just so good. The music, the atmosphere, there was an atmosphere to it that I don't know if any other movie is captured.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

I I agree. And I think what they what they uh failed to capture is Michael stalking. Like he's not, they're not afraid to linger on him watching or standing. And like that just when that's present, the movie is different. And yeah, I totally yeah, absolutely fantastic movie.

SPEAKER_02 43:21

Yeah. Here's the thing you might get a kick a kick out of. So years ago, I went like up the road to my well Spargo, right up the road. I needed to open an account, and they're like, Oh, okay, well, this is Mickey, he can help you out. I was like, cool. So I go into this office with with this, you know, banker, and he's really funny and he's really cool. I'm like, this guy's awesome. I don't know where this guy came from, but we're getting along great. And I don't know if I was wearing like a horror t shirt or something, because somehow the question gets brought up. He's like, Oh, what's your favorite scary movie? I'm like, Don't ask me dumb questions. It's Halloween, obviously. And he's like, Oh, yeah, I was in that. I said, I'm sorry. He's like, Yeah, I was in that. I said, like with Michael. Myers, like the John Carpenter movie. He's like, uh huh. I said, Well, what are you talking about? He's like, Yeah, well, my dad is Erwin Yablonce. Uh, he was the producer, and I was the little boy at the very beginning who said the boogeyman's gonna get you, and then knocks the pumpkin out of Thomas. He's like, That was me. I'm like, what? And we've been friends ever since.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

That's fantastic. Oh my gosh. Yeah, and that was Irwin's son. That's so that checks out.

SPEAKER_02 44:25

The whole world.

SPEAKER_01 44:26

Right? I um those are some people, speaking of conventions, that I have I have a few, but like PJ Soles, I've never gotten to meet, and uh Nancy Keys. Yeah. I'm just one of these days. They're gonna go on my babysitter murders poster back there.

SPEAKER_00 44:42

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

But um awesome. This this has been so fantastic talking with you. Uh, where can people see Horror Nerd?

SPEAKER_02 44:50

Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube. I mean, you can just go into your internet brow, your internet browser. What am I, a hundred? You can go into Google and just look up Samantha Hale, Horror Nerd. There's no W in front of it, horror nerd. Um I will pop up. Yeah, and we also have a podcast streaming now uh where wherever you get your podcast pleasure, Spotify, Apple, whatever it is. Um it's called the Horror Nerds Podcast because there are multiple co-hosts. And again, that's just like a group of friends who just love this shit. And we do sketches, we do like commercials with horror actors, like like we did uh a commercial for Strode Realty, because remember her dad is an agent agent. So, but we made like Jack Torrance, one of her agents, trying to sell hotels, and like I think Annie Wilkes was trying to sell a rustic log cabin, you know, like very relaxing. Yeah, we definitely have fun with it.

SPEAKER_01 45:45

That's awesome. And that's available wherever you get your podcasts?

SPEAKER_02 45:48

There is, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

Sounds awesome. Well, where can people find you if they want to stay up to date with what you're doing?

SPEAKER_02 45:54

Yeah, if you're I'm sure everyone is on Instagram. I'm posting all the all the updated clips and show dates and all of that. So it's at the Samantha Hale, um, also at Horror Nerd Comedy.

SPEAKER_01 46:07

Fantastic. And is there anything that you'd like to plug that you're working on next?

SPEAKER_02 46:12

Ooh. Actually, the thing, my next project, which I'm really excited about, um, is I am writing a short film about Lizzie Borden, which I'm really excited about. And we're gonna basically we're blending let what would happen if Lizzie Borden wound up on, let's say, a Joe Rogan type podcast. What would she do to those guys? So stay tuned for that. That is actually where we're in rewrites right now, which I'm really excited about.

SPEAKER_01 46:40

Sign me up for that. I appreciate your uh willingness to go into the true crime sphere as well. I know that some people are like, no, just horror, not true crime, but I think that the real world can be just as horrific, if not more horrific.

SPEAKER_02 46:56

Oh, more so. I mean, I people actually ask me, because so, so we we run the show at the Hollywood Improv every third Friday of the month. So if you're in Los Angeles, please come check us out. We also, speaking of true crime, um, have you seen the mortician on HBO?

SPEAKER_01 47:09

No, not yet.

SPEAKER_02 47:11

Okay, so there's this mortuary, former mortuary in Pasadena, the Lamb Family Mortuary, and the guy David Scons, who was running it, was doing horrible, bad, bad, bad things, like harvesting body parts and selling them, putting multiple bodies in one oven, really, really awful, awful stuff. Thank goodness he got caught, went to jail. He's out now, which is not scary at all. Um, because I run my show at the former mortuary. I also run it there. Yeah, yeah. So the ongoing joke is like, what if one day we look at the ticket event and uh David's name is on there? What do we do? Do we run? Do we lock the door? Um but uh um yeah, I know it's a lot, but but so I do a theme like at the Hollywood Improv every month has a different theme. And you know, when I first started, it was the big ones Vampires, Paranormal, Body Horror. Okay, sure. Now we're we're four years later, so we're getting really weird and specific. Um but I do get the question a lot, would you ever do a true crime themed show? And I'm like, I just don't know that uh that that you you can make that funny because these are real victims, these are real people, these are real families affected by this. So I mean, we could make fun of the killer, but like fuck those guys. Why are we giving them any attention at all?

SPEAKER_01 48:24

100%. It's a very difficult line to walk, being respectful and having a sense of humor.

SPEAKER_02 48:31

Yeah, it's hard. Like the the the one thing that like when I go to conventions, sometimes they have the booths where they have all the like serial killer gear, and I'm like, I don't I don't know that I want to wear a Bundy shirt. I don't I don't want to celebrate that piece of shit. Um, but I I everyone process but you know what though? Here's the thing everyone processes trauma and fear differently. So I don't know if that's cathartic in some way or I just don't want to be like Michael Myers is not real. He's fun to have a good time with, but we're not idolizing someone who's actually hurt someone. So Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:06

And I think that, and I don't mean to get too heady, but I think that there's also a shift happening in the slasher fandom right now where we're where that third act identity shift where we're like not rooting for the slasher to kill all the terrible characters and now we're rooting for the final girl. That's happening less and less with some of the bigger slasher franchises and some of the movies that are coming out. You see people who are like, no, let's just be brutal. I want to see brutal. And that worries me a little bit. And it probably is related to the Bundy merch that's out there. Uh or the people who are standing Ted Bundy because he's hot.

SPEAKER_02 49:35

Like, that's like he's not gonna make an exemption for you, girl. He's gonna take your ass out too. Don't be a tic jum. This is not a well person.

SPEAKER_01 49:45

Yeah, absolutely. And and I feel like there's an empathy crisis, and and uh I don't know, for what little part of the garden I yeah, thank you. Uh but for the little part of the garden that I contend, I want to encourage people to not only have empathy for performers because you're out there being vulnerable, for directors, because it takes a lot to get something from an idea to the screen, uh, but for the characters themselves. And remember that we're we're supposed to be rooting for uh a restoration of balance, not just the vengeance of the killer.

SPEAKER_02 50:13

Yeah, yeah. But I think you're right though. I had there have been like In a Violent Nature, for example, uh the way that all of those characters were written, like none of them were likable. None of them had any, like we were just like, yeah, get rid of all of them, whatever. But I think that was intentional. Um so I don't know if that's more of their trying to make the killer more interesting than the camp counselors now, or like what the what the plan is there. But I mean, I guess we just have to keep reinventing and looking at things differently and making it new and fresh. So I get that.

SPEAKER_01 50:44

I think horror is reaching its adulthood. You know, that we have pre-psycho horror, which is its own kind of like vibe, and then psycho resets the game. And the 80s were sort of like the teenage years where we're doing weird creative stuff, you know? And then the 90s were like the college age where we're mellowed out a bit, and the we we reinvented ourselves after college, and now we're like in our adulthood. We have a stable horror job, and like we're making like really good social commentary horror. Uh, we're like responsible adults, and I'm interested to see how horror as a genre matures in the coming years because we are in the middle of a renaissance, and uh I think your special is absolutely reflective of that.

SPEAKER_02 51:26

Well, thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_01 51:28

I appreciate you joining me today and listening to my rambling about horror theory and talking about candles. It was a pleasure sharing this time with you.

SPEAKER_02 51:36

That was the best surprise ever. I've never had that bond with anyone so fast, and I'm gonna tell my boyfriend he's gonna laugh so hard.

SPEAKER_01 51:44

But my wife was like, Oh, you she's like, You're not gonna be uh in search of things to talk about. The the candles alone you could occupy 45 minutes with. Well, thank you so much. Thank you. Is there anything you'd like to leave us on?

SPEAKER_02 51:57

Um, I'll be right back. I love it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

That's perfect. As always, stay spooky, my friends.