HORROR BUSINESS Episode 148: THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW & ONE DARK NIGHT

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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 about two absolute bangers from 1983: One Dark Night and The House On Sorority Row.

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 some of the things we’ve done involving horror recently. Liam talks about the films Destroy All Neighbors and Where The Devil Roams, as well as the comic series Monstress, and we talk about the recent season finale of True Detective.

Up first is The House On Sorority Row. We give a brief summation of the film and talk about the film’s status in the realm of fandom, in that it’s considered one of the greatest slashers of all time.

Justin talks about how despite this being the film he wasn’t crazy about this episode, he still found it to be and effective and well-paced film that seemed to know what it was doing, even if that was a touch well worn.

We discuss the film’s lack of a male gaze, something that is rare in the realm of slashers, and some of the more interesting visual choices the film makes.

We discuss the film’s clear influence, mostly Hitchcock, and the director’s relationship with Brian de Palma also being an influence. The film’s effective red herring/reveal of the killer is touched upon.

            Up next is One Dark Night. We talk about the near ensemble cast of the film and the strange connections they make to the rest of cinema. We talk about the film’s unconventional but effective opening, and how it leads into a film that seeks to be a zombie movie but does so in an extremely roundabout way.

The film’s unorthodox take on “zombies” is discussed, as is the phenomenon in ‘80s horror films in which practical effects that didn’t quite cross the finish line into the realm of realistic become far more unsettling than what they were meant to depict.

Justin talks about how scary and effective the film is given that it looks like what it’s depicting. The film’s absolute bonkers plot to get to a somewhat simple climax is discussed again, as is the “so nonsensical it makes sense” approach it takes.

We talk about the very visceral cruelty of the human antagonist in comparison to the cruelty of the dead(?) psychic vampire antagonist. Some of the more haunting imagery in the film is discussed. The film’s somewhat troubled production is briefly touched upon.

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!