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Greetings, and welcome back to Horror Business. We have one awesome episode in store for you guys because we’re talking 1995’s Haunted School and 2009’s Occult.
First and as always thank you to our Patreon subscribers. Your support means the world to us and we are eternally thankful. If you would like to become a Patron, head to patreon.com/cinepunx. Thanks in advance! Also, a huge thank you to the fine folks over at Lehigh Valley Apparel Creations, the premiere screen-printing company of the Lehigh Valley. Chris Reject and his merry band of miscreants are ready to work with you to bring to life your vision of a t-shirt for your business, band, project, or whatever else it is you need represented by a shirt, sweater, pin, or coozy. Head on over to www.xlvacx.com to check them out. Thank you also to Essex Coffee Roasters, purveyors of freshly roasted coffee and doers away with of coffee elitism! Head to www.essexcoffeeroasters.com to check out their fine assortment of coffee and enter CINEPUNX in the promo code for ten percent off your order! Also thank you to Paul Sharkey for his MANY technical contributions to this show and others on the Cinepunx network. Head to www.mechanicalsharkmedia.com for all your miscellaneous production (and mechanized shark!) needs!
We start by talking about what we’ve done involving horror recently. Liam talks about There’s Something In The Barn, Divinity, and Civil Dead, as well as the comic Mortal Terror. Justin talks about the recent Netflix original Society Of The Snow and the series Blue Eye Samurai, as well as watching the premiere of True Detective: Night Country.
Up first is Haunted School. We give a brief plot summary and history of the film spawning a franchise. We talk about the concept of the yokai, as well as the Japanese tradition of having media about children solving some sort of paranormal/extraordinary threat. We discuss the concept of how even though some of the apparitions in the film are superficially silly they become legitimate frightening when taken in the proper context.
We talk about how despite being a kid’s movie it still feels like there was a legit danger to the children, and touch upon how the film resembles a Spielberg film in that it at times becomes genuinely frightening. We again talk about the history of Japanese films that are surreal and over the top in costume design to achieve a fantastic sort of horror, and how the film blends cute children and genuine horror.
Justin talks about the horror of the absurd and cartoonish, as well as concept of schools outside of normal hours feeling scary. The school itself as a character is touched upon, as is the idea of what happens after the credits roll in horror films. We briefly talk about how sometimes in horror films when practical effects fail to be utterly convincing, they become even scarier.
Up next is Occult. We talk about how the film is at its heart essentially what Lovecraft was writing about (the unknowable nature of reality). Justin talks about the fatalism of the film and how much of the horror comes from the sense of an oncoming doom, as well as the upsetting ending.
Liam talks about how the movie didn’t really appeal to him despite being a fan of some of the directors’ other films, as well as how “found footage” films are hit or miss for him. We talk about another one of the director’s films, Noroi: The Curse and how that film hit harder for Liam than this one did, and dive into why that could be. Justin talks about how the concept of “what if all the unhinged shit a mentally unwell person is saying turns out to be true?” is genuinely unsettling, as well as the intrusion of the eerie and grotesque into the every day.
The way the film relates to extremism is touched upon, in that the idea of finding some supernatural truth doesn’t automatically guarantee you are morally correct in your actions in the name of that truth.
As always thank you for listening and to everyone and anyone who donated on Patreon, checked this episode out, or shared a tweet/shared a post on FB/gave us love by recommending us to someone. We love you forever for listening and donating. Any questions, comments, suggestions for movies and guests, or if you yourself want to join us for a movie viewing or even an episode, can be sent to [email protected]. We would love to hear from you! Thanks always to Justin Miller, Jacob Roberts, Paul Sharkey, and Doug Tilley for their technical contributions and fliers, Mike Smaczylo for the shirts and fliers (you can check more of his work out at here), and also thanks to Josh Alvarez for the theme song, Chris, Brad, and LVAC for the support and buttons (check them out at www.xlvacx.com and on Twitter), Essex Coffee Roasters (www.essexcoffeeroasters.com) and a HUGE thank you to anyone who retweeted us or shared something on Facebook that we posted. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @thehorrorbiz666, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/thehorrorbiz66, check out our Spotify account at Cinepunx, and remember to rate, review, and subscribe to us on ITunes. In fact, if you write us a review, email us with your mailing address and we’ll send you some free pins and stickers! Check out www.cinepunx.com for more info on some of our other podcasts, some ultra stylish Cinepunx related merchandise, and how you can donate to our Patreon! Until next time…thanks!
