Dark Horse Comics Halloween Movie Recommendations Special

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[00:00:55] You know it's October when three things happen. Pumpkin-flavored everything takes over every single menu like it's always been there. Half your neighborhood is in cosplay for no reason other than it's Tuesday and I'm a werewolf now. And you get a sudden undeniable urge to re-watch horror movies that you've seen 12 times. Because it's not October without it. That last one, that's today's whole episode.

[00:01:20] I've got some of the wickedest minds in comics right now. The people writing the books that are currently freaking you out on the shelf. Julio Anta, Connor Goldsmith, and Kristen Nudsnuck. And I'm asking for their favorite horror movies to help you round out your spooky season watch list. But we're also going to settle something bigger. The greatest Halloween candy debate of all time.

[00:01:42] Before we get into all that, pumpkin spice. Cinnamon, nutmeg, seasonal joy, or a collective flavoring Stockholm Syndrome? What do you all think? I love it. Okay, I value that. I, so here's my thing. I honor all opinions on various flavors, but I don't like pumpkin as a flavor, like in general. So I don't like pumpkin pie either. So I just feel, I'm Connor, by the way. Hi to your guests.

[00:02:10] Um, I, to your listeners, we're the guests. You know what I mean? It's early, by the way. You're good. People at home. Um, I, so I, I feel like I can't personally assess because I wouldn't like it even if it was the best pumpkin thing. Right? Cinnamon's good. That I approve of. Counterpoint. Pumpkin spice usually doesn't actually taste like pumpkin. It just tastes like all the other things they put in pumpkin pie to make it palatable.

[00:02:38] I think it's delicious. However, I do have a caveat where I recently, aka yesterday, dropped an entire venti pumpkin spice shaken espresso on my carpet in my living room and all over all of my toddler's toys. So I'm starting to hate it a little bit because I spent like an hour cleaning pumpkin spice off of my life yesterday.

[00:03:03] I'm gonna make a true confession, Kristen. I've actually never ordered one because it has pumpkin in the name and I just assumed that it would taste more pumpkin-y than you're indicating that it does. So maybe I'll give it a shot. It's a Halloween miracle. Julio, what are your pumpkin thoughts? Sing out, Louise. I like, I like pumpkin bread. Uh, I like carving pumpkins, but I have never had a pumpkin flavored drink. Really? I love me. I love me.

[00:03:32] Pumpkin cheesecake is the best. Mmm. Yeah, I mean, I don't drink coffee. So I think that's the like main source of pumpkin drinks, right? So, uh, that's probably the culprit, but I do love pumpkin bread. Mmm. Yeah, I like pumpkins mostly as a visual. They're great, but I don't consume them frequently. You know what it just triggered in me? Does anybody just eat pumpkin? No. Is that a thing? No, right?

[00:04:01] No, but I love pumpkin seeds. Like raw? Yeah, I've never. You ever like cook them after you cry with pumpkin? They're so good. Cooked seeds are good. That I've done. Fresh? Raw? Raw? Raw? Raw pumpkin sounds crazy, but I'm- A little disgusted. Hidden to pumpkin raw. The new health craze. I've seen that video. It went viral one time. I have heard that pumpkin though, like the Libby pumpkin can, you know, the stuff that

[00:04:30] everybody gets to make a homemade pumpkin pie or whatever is not actually pumpkin. It's just like another kind of squash. You know, that isn't that America in a nutshell. Corporate lie. Okay. At least it's a squash. I thought you were going to say it's like, you know, orange flavor 13. Yeah, it was like not even a gore. Right. Like beaver extract or whatever. Yeah, exactly. When they announced that like red flavor or whatever was like from beaver glands.

[00:04:57] I was like, okay, this I don't say what. So the strawberry flavor that used to be in a lot of stuff is actually, I'll just go to straight to the body heart. It's actually the secretion of the anal gland of the beaver, like the animal. No. So wait, that means they taste like strawberries. Who found that out? If you were to rim a beaver, it would apparently taste like strawberries.

[00:05:25] So they, and I'm not suggesting one do that because that's presumably illegal and vile and you know, everything, but I'm just saying that they extracted this natural flavor. So just look into what quote unquote, natural flavors means on, on your, I only know that it is technically natural thing about it. And like, you know, PETA lies. So I had to look it up, but they were, this was true. They don't use it anymore. Now they use artificial. Uh, they've, they've simulated the beaver anus flavor.

[00:05:55] And now they use that in strawberry candies instead. How the, who the fuck way back when just, just, these are some lonely dudes out in the woods somewhere to be like, Hey, who decided to milk a cow and drink what comes out. I mean, like we've all, you have to think about how odd the OG farmers must've been really. Yeah. Before we had fallen suit to do something to entertain ourselves.

[00:06:21] There was something going on up top that I don't need to investigate personally, but I, I worry. It's slightly of concern. Wow. I think we have truly horrified everyone that's listening. But, um, that was an icebreaker, right? Yeah. Right. That was, that was good. Connor, you are welcome anytime back on the show. Cause I love you. You're, you're a fascinating human being. Thank you. I love to be loved. New genre, consumer horror. I'm a Pisces. It's like sickness. I think that's being a Virgo.

[00:06:51] I think I'm attracted to that. So yeah, I've talked about this a lot on my show because my podcast Cerebro because Jean Grey is canonically a Pisces, which I, it bothers me because she, I see darkness in myself in her. But then Madeline Pryor is canonically a Virgo because she was born the day that Jean Grey died on the moon, which was September 1st. That is my birthday. Oh my God. That's that good?

[00:07:20] That's why they get along. Cause they're sisters. They're identical twin sisters, but one is a Pisces. One is a Virgo. And that's very difficult as you can imagine, but I think we'll get along. I think we will prove that it can work. No doubt. Well, in preparation, I've been thinking a lot about what makes horror, horror and it's writers. And in your case, Kristen, I heard you're an artist as well. You know, and y'all think differently than most people.

[00:07:49] I feel like, you know, so as comics creators, you build tension, you build iconography. World building is your deal. So two examples here, legend and Ghostbusters. The structure of legend is a fairy tale, but the design of it, you know, with the creatures and with Tim Curry going all God mode as darkness makes it like genuinely menacing. Then there's Ghostbusters, like totally embracing a full house of iconography, like ancient evil and possession and ghosts.

[00:08:16] But you know, this is mostly remembered as a comedy with horror trappings. So where does horror live for you? Like what makes horror, horror? What defines it? Connor, you're up. Go for it. I'm up. I just talked for like an hour. Julio should be up. Yeah, but it's my job to do this. Oh no, with the big question. Okay, fine. No, you can. Fine. Okay, fine, fine, fine, fine. Um, well, I think part of what's fun about horror as a genre is that there's a lot of slippage, right?

[00:08:46] Um, it is something that encompasses a lot of different stories because if the defining element is it seeks to scare you or to frighten you or to elicit a fear response of some kind that is hopefully cathartic. I don't think it's just to torment you usually. Uh, there are exceptions where I like martyrs. I don't know how cathartic that was by the end.

[00:09:11] I was like, well, um, that was thoroughly unpleasant, but you know, great performance. Uh, I just, I think that what's interesting about that is that what scares different people is different. Right. Um, and that means that there are a lot of films that aren't necessarily seen as horror. I remember Jordan Peele was asked if get out was a horror movie and he called it a social thriller.

[00:09:39] Uh, he said that I'm not saying it's not a horror movie, but for me, it was more in the vein of like, you know, Rosemary's baby or misery or one of those. Um, but a lot of people would consider Rosemary's baby, one of the most iconic horror movies. Right. So it's a, it depends on, on your lens on it. So I don't know that there's a hard and fast definition, but I guess I would say anything

[00:10:04] that aims to elicit a fear or dread in the audience to create some kind of deeper emotional response through the narrative. I feel like the tough part with horror is actually distinguishing it from thrillers. Cause thrillers are, they feel different. And I, whenever it's like Halloween time, we accidentally watch a thriller.

[00:10:27] I'm like, oh, so I would say it's something that instills fear or tries to instill fear or has unsettling supernatural elements because that's kind of the distinction between thriller and horror for me is that thrillers are always in the real world generally. Right. Like, um, versus like something can be, if it's spooky or if it has ghosts, like Ghostbusters,

[00:10:56] I think that makes it horror adjacent with caveats. Yeah, I agree with all that, but you know, I think something that Connor said about catharsis is for me, like one of the biggest things about horror is that it does, it elicit this feeling of catharsis. Um, but you know, a lot of my favorite horror movies are those that are like the most grounded or the ones that maybe aren't even intended to be horror movie. But for me, it's like a personal horror movie.

[00:11:26] Um, if I were to live through that, that movie. Um, but I do, you know, I do also just love like, uh, the supernatural stuff, you know, like any horror movie with aliens in it is like, so like when I was a kid was just like, such a touch point for me. Like I'll never forget watching signs for the first time. And that moment when you see the security footage of the alien and like, that, that scene is

[00:11:55] incredible. The movie is kind of like 10 year old knees, like, but that's terrified, but excited, you know? Yeah. I think maybe that's something about horror too. Like it's the excitement of, of the fear, you know? I, uh, yeah, I would say that most of my favorite horror movies are only technically horror, like are, are not technically horror movies, or at least people wouldn't necessarily describe them that way.

[00:12:21] Uh, and there are straight up horror movies that I love also, but, um, you know, I just did a podcast that will be coming out this month also called out to get you, uh, that Margo mutter and Beck's called to. That's about like queer takes on horror film. And, uh, the first thing I asked was, can I do Mulholland drive? And because that's my favorite film ever. Yeah. And they were like, yeah, absolutely. I was like, okay. Because a lot of people don't count as a horror movie, but to me, it's like the scariest

[00:12:51] movie ever made. Um, people. Oh, it's not on the ground. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh yeah. I'm also the windiest man. I thought they were really creepy. Oh, they are. Oh, they're terrifying, but they're trying to let her know. Yeah. Anyway. Um, I, yeah, I mean that movie has the signs moment of like the thing behind the diner.

[00:13:15] Obviously there are jumps in that movie, but for the most part, it's a psychological drama. It's a tragic romance. It's a lot of other kinds of things or like funny games by Mikau Hanukkah. Is that a horror movie? I think so, but I don't know that it would be classes one, like in the, it would be probably on the thriller shelf at the blockbuster for the kids.

[00:13:42] It's blockbuster was a store you would go to where you would rent movies. That one toes the line. It straddles thriller and horror. Yeah. Well, going, going back to Lynch, you know, I think about Eraserhead, you know, like that is, I don't know if it's a traditional horror movie, but it's about the horror of parenting and not being ready to parent, you know? Mm-hmm. Um, and I think because he is so like one of a kind and singular in his voice, like

[00:14:12] there are so many of his movies that have so many horror elements to it. But I think like outside of Mulholland Drive and maybe Lost Highway, like there aren't jumps in any of his movies, right? Yeah, Lost Highway is probably the most horror-y outside of Mulholland. Yeah. Fire Walk With Me is pretty, yeah. Fire Walk With Me is a horror movie. That's actually what I put in my answer for the question. I always think of that as like part of Twin Peaks, but you're so right. Yeah. That like it is a movie that is distinctly unto itself.

[00:14:41] And that is one of the all-time horror performances by Charlie in that movie. Yeah. She's so great. Yeah. Incredible. For someone who was hired to be a photograph. Yeah. And then just they kept like her back because she was so good. Also like one of the most iconic screams. Oh yeah. Yeah. You know, like throughout Twin Peaks, obviously, but in The Return especially. Like I- It's funny because when I think about that scene, I think about the behind the scenes

[00:15:07] version of it with Lynch, you know, coaching her on doing the scream versus like the actual one on the show. But yeah, incredible. Hitchcock's a good example though, to go to like what, cause Twin Peaks with that character and the two characters that she plays is referencing Vertigo, right? And Vertigo, I wouldn't call a horror movie. Yeah. But it's a thriller, but like it, there are parts of it that are very scary, right?

[00:15:36] Like it, it's, you know, and that, so the, the distinction between thrilling and horrifying, I guess is sort of the, the bottom line there because obviously Hitchcock does have movies that are straight up horror movies. And then you have something that's like very, like Rear Window is definitely a psychological thriller, but I think like the story that that movie is structured is much more horror-y cause you're kind of locked in with him in that way.

[00:16:05] And I think that a lot, Carol Clover talks about this in Men, Women, and Chainsaws, a lot of the, the thing about horror and part of, she, she developed the final girl concept in film criticism. And she was talking about in that book about, I Spit on Your Grave in particular, and how part of what is interesting about horror is that a lot of the time the protagonist is a

[00:16:32] woman because it makes her physically more vulnerable to the threats and that it is a rare genre in that it forces an imagined male viewer much of the time to identify with a woman in crisis and peril. And I think that Rear Window similarly forces you to identify with a man who can't stand up and therefore is physically vulnerable to the situation around him.

[00:16:57] So I think of that very much as a horror movie, even though it's like not, and certainly nothing supernatural happens in it. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Have any of y'all ever seen Boxing Helena? Yes. No. That one, it's an older movie. It's Julian Sands' movie. By Lynch's daughter. Yeah. I know it. I haven't seen it yet. It is one of those. I saw it at Rockbuster all the time when I was a kid and I was like, what is this? It derailed Sherilyn Fenn's career actually on the subject of Twin Peaks because it was

[00:17:26] so widely hated, but it is, it's very interesting. It's an interesting movie. Is it good? Yeah. That's a hard question. I think my feeling on, well, what do you think? You brought it up. Do you think it's good? Our host. I'm talking to you. Me? Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. The Julian Sands movie? The... Boxing Helena. Boxing Helena. Yeah. I mean, it has been decades since I have seen it. So that's my caveat.

[00:17:55] But no, I mean, I, at the time, I really, really enjoyed it. I thought Julian Sands has always been hot. I don't know. Yeah. No, I mean, I get that. I don't find him hot in that one personally because of what he's doing in it, I would say. Right, right. But no, I mean, I, I think, I think for me, it's a lot like, like I love Verhoeven.

[00:18:21] And I think that a lot of people would say that like some of Verhoeven's movies or even De Palma are like not good, like qualitatively, but I disagree. Right. And I guess, I think that's how I feel about boxing Helena is it's like, it's insane. But I think that that is what's interesting about people are still talking about 30 years later. Right. Yeah. Yeah. For the other two who haven't seen it. I mean, basically, he is controlling this, this woman by basically dismembering her.

[00:18:50] He amputates her arms and legs and keeps her in a box. Okay. Okay. Interesting. It is the, the definitive obsession. He's boxing Helena. But she doesn't have to pay rent. No. I suppose. Uh, yeah. Just kidding. But it's not particularly gruesome. Like there's not a lot of, at least that's the way I remember it. It's not like gore. No, no. She gets hit by a car, right? Or something like that. And she's trying to get away from him.

[00:19:17] And he's like, well, now I have to amputate your limbs and keep you in a box. So. Yeah. Um. Yeah. It was, uh, it was Jennifer Lynch wrote and directed it. Um, and it was so widely maligned that she didn't really pursue filmmaking beyond that. I don't think like she's, she did, but not in a, she's more of a television director is my recollection. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:19:45] I wonder how growing up with her father influenced that. She's an interesting Instagram follow. She does have a white dreadlock situation that I think I wouldn't have, but I do find her to be an interesting Instagram follow. I love a white dreadlock situation. Believe it or not, I, I used to have dreadlocks. This was a long time ago, but yeah, I loved my dreadlocks. I, I think this may be a generational divide. Yeah. Probably. Yeah.

[00:20:16] Probably. So not to, all right, well, not to be, no judge all you'd like ages. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. I can live with it. It's okay. I'm not already. I mean, no, I'm almost 40 and now there's plenty of generation gaps that the kids are telling me about that. I, I, I Snapchat was where I had to get off the train. I was like, I don't understand this. Why would you want the messages to disappear? So, you know, we're all in a process of aging at all times.

[00:20:45] I mean, we already had Gen Alpha tune out when we talked about blockbuster. So it's all. Oh yeah. They've never, they have no, actually, you know what? I bet Gen Alpha thinks that blockbusters catch. Like they're probably into it as the. They have a full offer of blockbuster. Yeah. For like the analog days. Cause like, frankly. Cause it's free. Drift. Many, but even many, you know, they were worse in some ways, but better in other ways. Mm-hmm. Well, Julio, let's focus on Vista Boricin.

[00:21:12] Like we talked about this a couple of months ago, a socially conscious creature feature set in Puerto Rico, looking at the physical, emotion and cultural impacts of Hurricane Maria and the continuing tragedy that is. Colonialism encapsulated by foreign interests. You know, this, this put it in the box of like films like Candyman or get out or parasite where the monsters land because of the story underneath it. You know, they tell you something true, you know, and what I love about this book is how horror is functioning.

[00:21:42] On so many levels, right? The creature itself, the, the environmental fallout, the cultural weight, colonialism, you know, the big umbrella. There's a lot of going on here. So how do you keep all those layers from stepping on each other? You know, what's the actual writing trick to holding that much together without it sort of collapsing into a mess? Yeah. What's the writing trick? I don't know. Um, uh, I, I think it's, um, you know, there's a horrible answer, but I do feel like it's instinctual.

[00:22:12] You know, like we've all watched enough movies, read enough books, read enough comics. Uh, we've read enough bad comics, enough good comics, you know, like we, uh, are a, you know, amalgamation of our tastes and our influences, I think. Um, and, uh, you know, for this book, like a lot of my books, it sort of came together as multiple ideas that I sort of like, at some point in the process of developing one idea, I realized, oh wait, I should just bring this other idea that I had.

[00:22:42] Um, and for this book, um, and for this book, it started off with, you know, my love of the universal monsters and my desire for a long time to, you know, make my own monster that could stand beside one of these, you know, like, um, creature from the black lagoon is one of my favorite movies of all time. You know, that movie has had a massive influence on me.

[00:23:02] And this book is really my version of that, you know, uh, but instead I take, you know, one of the most iconic cryptids of Latin American history, a cryptid that every country in Latin America fights over, you know, who gets to claim it.

[00:23:18] Um, and a cryptid that I grew up, you know, seeing reports on like Spanish language news about them tracking the Chupacauras all over Latin America, you know, like he's in Puerto Rico one week, the next week he's in Honduras and then in Salvador and it's, you know, he's everywhere. It's like Elvis, just spotting. Yeah, exactly. The Elvis of Latin America, arguably. I love that for him, to be honest. Can you imagine him in the little jumpsuit? Oh, I'd love that.

[00:23:48] Wow. Pop collar. Um, but, but yeah, so there's that idea. Sucking their blood right before, right after the ceremony. You go to Tijuana, you get married by the Chupacabra. That would be the Vegas equivalent. What's the Vegas, uh, I guess, yeah. Yeah. But, but so, so I had this idea, you know, for like a physical creature sort of horror book.

[00:24:14] Um, and then for a long time I also had this idea about an activist that is extremely dedicated to what she does. She's very, you know, she's very good at being an activist because she's so single-minded and so devoted and so angry. But it comes to the detriment of the rest of her life, you know. Um, and it's that neglect of trying to sort out your trauma that is really the horror of her story.

[00:24:40] Um, and then at the same time, you know, there's so many real life elements that go into the story about the colonization of Puerto Rico. Uh, and the horror of, of colonization that leads all the way to the present day, all the way from 500 years ago to today. Um, so for me, I think the balance is that all of these three ideas have horror elements to them. Some are more obvious, like the Chupacabras.

[00:25:05] Others are more psychological or physical on the landscape of a, or the psyche of an entire nation. Um, and they sort of like take turns throughout the story as being the central piece of horror. Sometimes, you know, the Chupacabra is doing what he does and, you know, terrorizing people and physically, you know, uh, instilling fear. And sometimes, you know, our main character Loli is dealing with the psychological elements of her horror.

[00:25:35] So, uh, you know, I, I think it sort of lends to, to the balance, I think. So, uh, so what are some of your favorite then movies that are message-based, you know, or message-focused? Um, you know, without being too cliche, I think Get Out is obviously, like, a, a big, uh, point of inspiration for me ever since I saw it.

[00:25:59] Uh, it showed me that you could have, like, you could do this in a modern setting without, like, uh, you know, you, you know, I don't want to say that, like, it doesn't tackle the issues head-on, but it does it in a really interesting way, you know, where it takes history into it. Um, but then also, like, um, I, I almost said Green Book. Uh, I, Green Room. Green Room. Some people would say Green Book is a horror. Green Book is a socially conscious horror movie.

[00:26:27] Yeah, some people would say. Uh, but, but Green Room is one of my favorites. Um, and, uh, you know, I think because I grew up in, like, the punk and hardcore scene, playing in bands, going on tour, um, and even though I came up in a generation that, uh, you know, my local scene had kind of already weeded out all, like, the neo-Nazi elements from it, um, you know, there was, you know, I, I grew up in Miami.

[00:26:57] In South Florida, right? Um, and we didn't have a super, super strong punk scene. Um, but Broward County, which was above us, you know, Pembroke Pines, Fort Lauderdale, all these areas which are much wider, um, did have stronger scenes. And, like, we would go and play shows up there a lot. And I would go to watch shows. And there was that element of discomfort sometimes, not because, you know, there were neo-Nazi bands the way that there is in, uh, Green Room.

[00:27:27] Um, but because of, like, that element of, like, going to a new place that you've never been to, you know. And when I would go on tour with bands, like, going to Alabama, you know, for the first time, uh, can be a little scary, you know. Um, so I, I really related to, to that movie. And I just, like, loved the, like, survival horror of it all. Mm. Nice. Connor? You're looking at your thought there. Kristen, I, I talk too much.

[00:27:55] Kristen, what's your favorite socially conscious horror movie? Um. I'm sorry, I don't mean to run your show. Oh, no. I'm just getting self-conscious. Do thing, do thing. It's all good. It's all good. I would say, first of all, They Live. I love They, I love They Live. That's a huge inspiration on the thing I'm writing now, actually. Oh, my God. Okay, cool. I can't wait to read it. Oh, my God. It's so, it's so funny. It's so fun. Relatable.

[00:28:21] Just, like, the whole, okay, honestly, there was this episode of the TV show Goosebumps that I saw when I was a kid. And it was clearly ripping off They Live. So, actually, this Goosebumps episode. I'm ripping it off right now. There are worse things to rip off. It, like, blew my mind as, like, an eight-year-old or, like, a ten-year-old or something. I was like, oh, my God, what if, like, glasses? You're like, oh, I see everyone's aliens. I was really into the concept of, like, everyone secretly being not human except for me.

[00:28:49] Like, anamorphs was my thing when I was a kid, too. Oh, I love the anamorphs. And, like, I just, like, love that, like, unmoored feeling. Yeah, anamorphs. Oh, love it. Turned me into a hawk. But, like, just, like, kind of, like, the way that they live, like, approaches that kind of, like, social message. But with, like, a lot of, like, comedy. It's so goofy. There's that, like, ten-minute sight scene. I was just, like, laughing the whole time because they just kept wailing on each other. Yeah, damn.

[00:29:18] And the design of, like, the creature is just, like, so iconic and cool and kind of funny but also scary. And then the other one I was taking was The Host, the Korean movie. It's, like, a nuclear waste monster. And it's just so good. I love that it was, like, the U.S. was, like, the bad guys. Yeah. I mean, life imitates art and vice versa, right?

[00:29:48] I was like, this feels real. This feels correct, right. Yeah, The Host is great. I mentioned Rosemary's Baby earlier, which I absolutely love. Obviously, it's a complicated film because it's Polanski. And it's a feminist movie by Roman Polanski. So it's before, but it's still one of those things where you're like, well, let me assess. But part of that is it's based on a book by Ira Levin that I love a lot.

[00:30:17] He also wrote The Stepford Wives, which I think is one of the best socially conscious books. I think the book is a lot better than the film. Not that the film is bad. The film is to – the book never tells you what's up with The Stepford Wives. And the movie is like, we're going to show you because it's scarier that way. And I'm like, I think it's actually scarier if we don't find out exactly what's going on. But I think Night of the Living Dead is just – Yeah, definitely.

[00:30:47] And that one's interesting because Romero always said that it wasn't really on purpose. But just casting a black man in that part makes the whole movie so charged in so many ways that the scripts didn't necessarily intend, but that are undeniable the second that you do that. And the way that that movie ends is so memorable in part because of the racial injustice of it, right?

[00:31:18] You know, I think that that one's really, really special. Yeah, I mean, I think that most of the horror I like best has some kind of social message because to me what horror does – and this is what any genre fiction does really – is get at – it's a metaphor, right? For like what's actually going on.

[00:31:42] And I think if it's not related to what's actually happening around you, it's not interesting and it can't really provoke that kind of catharsis we were talking about earlier. Yeah, I mean, returning to They Live I think is a great one for me because it's a full circle moment because that's talking about consumerism and media manipulation. I'm tripping over media manipulation today.

[00:32:05] But it's also got – it's so 80s because we have to mention this stars Rowdy Roddy Piper. It sure does. For people who don't know this, kids who might be listening, right? Right. This was a wrestler who wore a kilt everywhere. Like it was just such shtick. And it makes that movie completely over the top. And I absolutely love They Live. I haven't watched it in a while. I need to go back and watch it again this year. Same.

[00:32:33] But then you also mentioned Parasite earlier. And that's one that, again, straddles the like thriller horror line. But I would say it's filmed very much as a horror in a lot of it. And that one, in terms of like recent things, really stuck with me as a – like a, you know, it's more about the social message. But it also puts you through the fucking ringer. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Absolutely does. Yeah.

[00:33:03] Well, let's move on to kind of the – I think the current niche that everyone loves, which is body horror. It's huge in comics right now. You know, we're in this unique period where all post-COVID we're collectively analyzing what the self is, you know, which is a little money. You know, many of us connect less physically and more online. And you couple that with this overall heightened sense of anxiety, the social anxiety and identity and technology.

[00:33:31] You know, no wonder it's the go-to genre. So this is at the heart of your book, Connor. Did you hear about Mimi Green? Which I absolutely adored, you know. Oh, thank you. I'll be honest. Yeah. I mean, it hit me at a very personal level. Like, I live with an autoimmune condition. You know, my relationship to my body is complicated. I know everybody's relationship to their body is complicated. But it was – No, but I wanted to hit people generally with their own experiences, right? Because body horror is so personal. I don't – like that's – but please continue. No, no.

[00:34:01] I mean, and my relationship even to watching movies that are body horror focused has changed really dramatically, you know, since my condition. I think that's probably only natural for anybody to go through. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's a very strange experience, especially to have gone through that, like, in my 40s because it wasn't a condition that I'd lived with all my life. So, you know, I had to adapt to this thing immediately, you know.

[00:34:27] Now, so for me, reading Mimi Green reads like documentation. You know, you're serving wellness and cancel culture and body, you know, dysmorphia, you know, queer identity themes. You know, I connected with her journey. So what was getting processed on the page for you? Yeah. Lots. So it's been very therapeutic writing this book.

[00:34:53] Before I get into it, though, I just want to say if you're an autoimmune disorder person, have you read Sicko yet by Tini Howard and Amal Karpina? That book kills. Yeah, it does. That book's so fucking good. Anyway, I digress. But everything Ignition's doing right now I just think is really exciting. I agree. So this book came out of a lot of personal things I was experiencing.

[00:35:23] I've had an eating disorder my whole life. Binge eating disorder specifically, which is like not something that is as obvious in media because, you know, anorexia, bulimia, things like that tend to get more adaptation or treatments in things because they're visually dramatic. I would imagine.

[00:36:11] I would imagine is part of why. I've lost about 200 pounds since then. Wow.

[00:36:47] Yeah. And I think that's crazy when I was doing it was the celebrities who were clearly also doing the same thing I was doing, but were lying about it. Like, I'm just hitting the gym really hard or I've just changed my diet. I'm like, no, you had a sleeve gastrectomy just like me and you've lost 150 pounds just like me. And like, you know, that's not that. And it's because to.

[00:37:10] There was a certain there still is a certain because now we see it with GOP ones where when you use medical assistance to help manage a weight issue. There are people who think it's a capitulation to a lack of willpower or something where it's cheating or what have you.

[00:37:36] And let me tell you, as someone who had like 80 percent of my stomach removed and is on a GOP one for medical reasons, like you still have to go to the gym. You still have to like focus on what you're doing. And I also it was important to me that it not come across as didactic either. Like and you should try to lose weight however you can, because that's not the message I'm trying to convey either.

[00:38:02] And that's why the Ashley character who is heavy is an important character because she her horror is completely separate from the body horror that's going on. She doesn't have hang ups about her body that way. But I was living in Los Angeles. I was in the process of losing a lot of weight. And the thing that I started to notice was that every like 10 pounds, people would treat me differently.

[00:38:28] And then there was a certain moment at which I got under some threshold that I hadn't been aware of where like now you're invited to stuff. And it made me angry. At the same time that I was thrilled to be like getting the the payoff that I wanted, it also made me really pissed off. And so the book came out of.

[00:38:56] A primal fear that I had as like a public facing podcast person, also somebody who built my career on the Internet since I was a teenager of like, you know, what if the stupid shit you said when you were 15 on LiveJournal like was suddenly picked apart on Twitter? Like, would you stand up to scrutiny? Probably not. Right. And it's like that idea because the cancel culture is this overblown concept. But it is true that people have taken on a very prosecutorial edge with each other, particularly since COVID.

[00:39:25] I think that in the lockdowns, we didn't have anything to do but pick each other apart of the Internet to some extent. So it created this environment where it was like, well, how can we take down whoever? And then it becomes about excavating like what it is about yourself that you don't like, that you think other people might take issue with. And for me, my complex relationship to my body was part of that. So the body horror came really naturally out of that. And I didn't mean to make it.

[00:39:53] It's not autobiographical because she isn't me. But I definitely wish a woman, first of all, in part because I thought that a woman who is a public figure facing body scrutiny would be something that a lot of people would more broadly understand. Whereas like gay male body image is its own kettle of fish that the book also touches on, but that, you know, I thought was slightly more niche.

[00:40:18] I think that's like the best kind of thing is when you it's sort of autobiographical, but only in a way where like you and people who know you closely know. Exactly. And you still get to change things. You're not like stuck, you know, writing exactly what happens to you. But you get to like use that as like fuel. Yeah. Yeah. Auto fiction doesn't really interest me, but fiction that draws on. I can't write without drawing on myself in some way.

[00:40:45] Like every character in that book is kind of me, but also isn't. Uh huh. Yeah, we all put a small piece of ourselves in every character we write, you know, even the worst characters. But I also like for me, I think it's more of like. I was going to say especially. Especially the worst character. For me, I'll just speak for myself. But like I feel like I sometimes hide behind. Even when I write very personal books, I hide behind the fact that this is not me.

[00:41:15] You know, this character and I have very different biographies. But like you said, the people that know me and, you know, they'll see that like this is I'm writing about myself. You know what I mean? And my dad read the third issue of Mimi and looked at me and went, hmm. And I was like, OK, sir. He was like, it's very good. He's like, I'm very impressed. But it's interesting when you know you to read this comic. That's why I tell my family, I'm like, you don't have to read my stuff. Don't worry. My mom.

[00:41:44] Actually, my mom got mad at me because in one of my books, the main character's mom was overweight, heavy set. And she was like, is this how you see me? And I was like. Wow. Oh, no. Well, I had a book. She could read that might, you know, help her reassess that process. I really loved it. I connected to Mimi Green so much having gone through that massive flare at the end of last year. Lost like 35 pounds.

[00:42:14] Started back with the podcast stuff in March. And then I've sensed because of the steroids that I've been on, you know, gain that 35. Of course. So I've gone. I've gone through 70 pounds in the last. And steroid weight also is like, so how much water weight you feel bloated. It's like all body. Also, you're just starving all the time if you're on steroids. Right. No, absolutely. Yeah. It's like the opposite of JLP's. It wasn't actually it.

[00:42:42] It's I'm still on the low dose for the moment. But like, yeah, it actually wasn't my experience at all. I've never been hungry the whole time. Oh, that's lucky. Because I know I know people with steroids who are just like, I can't stop eating. And I'm like, yeah, that'll that'll happen. Yeah. It makes me sick. I just wish I couldn't eat. But anyway. Wow. Grass is always greener, right? When it comes to these things. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's get into like favorite body horror movies. Kristen, let's start with you. Sure.

[00:43:12] Well, one was The Brood, which I watched while pregnant, which was a hilarious. Yes. So pregnant. That's my favorite. Body horror. It was so messed up, but I loved it. And then, yeah, it's kind of I think it's about like a they're doing like medical experiments on like a pregnant lady and these weird little creatures come out of her. And then the other one was this movie called Extra, which I didn't think was going to be really good, but it actually was.

[00:43:38] And it's about this guy who gets like abducted by aliens and the aliens like change his like body. And he gets born as like a full, fully grown human man out of a lady. And then like his this just like these really crazy effects that like they're like 80s like top notch 80s like body horror effects. Like he like give the alien DNA to his child.

[00:44:07] And then like you see this like weird pulsing thing in his kid's neck. And it was like I'll never like forget that image. So that's why I pick extra. Also, probably reanimator is one where like the effects are really cool and like gross. Oh, and then there's this other one. Actually, literally, I can't remember the name, but I'll never forget this one scene where it was a giallo. So like, I don't know what it might have been like a human rights violation.

[00:44:34] But well, you know, she did it. So, hey, like a car regurgitated like pig guts and her eyes were like blood. And it was like the grossest thing I ever saw. And I want to say it was Fulci, the director. But that one was whatever that was. I'll like never forget it until like the day I die because I screamed.

[00:45:02] And I'm usually like really badass when it comes to. Yeah, that's wretched. But it sounds like it would be memorable. Yeah. Nowadays they wouldn't do that with CGI. Right. But the practical effects are better. They just are. They are. Yeah. Totally. You know, we talked about Eraserhead earlier. I think Eraserhead actually has a lot of body horror elements, especially with the baby. Yeah. You know, which we still don't know what that was.

[00:45:31] You know, what that practical effect was. Like what was the basis for it? What did he use to make it? Like Eraserhead is one of my favorite movies. I watched it during two lunch breaks when I worked at Apple. And I hated my job. That's a very Lynchian space. Yeah. And it was in. As this was meant to be seen. We had an off-site break room with just all white walls and IMAX.

[00:46:01] So I watched it. I watched it back when. Do you guys remember when Criterion, before Criterion Channel, they were all on Hulu? So you can watch all the Criterion movies on Hulu. So I watched it on Hulu on a like 27 inch iMac in a white room filled with people eating Chipotle. That's wild. Yeah. So that was my experience. I wouldn't call it an appetizing film. Yeah.

[00:46:30] But you know what? Like that film like changed the way I looked at filmmaking, I think. It was. I think it was my second Lynch. Mulholland Drive was definitely. Yeah. I think Mulholland Drive was my first. And then I sort of like. Let me go to the beginning. When you look back on it. Because it's like such a culmination of so many things he did. And when you go back, you're like, oh, this makes Mulholland Drive make more sense. But it was fun to jump in as a teenager. Just try to understand Mulholland Drive. Yeah.

[00:46:59] I mean, I think it like. I'd be curious to see like. Was it his best performing movie ever? You know? Like, was it like. Did he have the best spot? Like, because I feel like it was the most in like the cultural zeitgeist. You know, maybe Dune probably made more money. I think Dune was a bomb, right? But. Well. But I think. Because it was like a blockbuster bomb. That's what. Yeah. I think that's probably. As opposed to an art house movie. Yeah. It lost money. But. Wait, Elephant Man. I think it did really well.

[00:47:28] Elephant Man is probably the. Yeah. That probably made the most. Yeah. I saw Eraserhead when I was 10 years old at my dad's house. He put it on for me. And I was like, what the fuck am I watching? I think Inland Empire did pretty well, too. I guess I don't know. It was like shot on like video. Well, yeah. Maybe profited. Wasn't your dad a horror like movie director? Yeah. I mean, like a. Little Bird told me that. He used a horror movie called Moto Psycho.

[00:47:57] And as an awkward teen. And you were in it. I starred in it. And I pulled his head off. And my sister was behind the scene holding like a turkey baser and squirting fake blood everywhere. It was pretty. In like an old barn in Connecticut. Yeah. Childhood memories is pretty fun. Nice. Yeah. That's awesome. I'm a scream queen. That's fabulous. I love that. I look so awkward in it, too. It's so embarrassing. So I'm always like, yeah. I guess you can watch this if you want.

[00:48:27] Just like. Don't touch me. My favorite body horror. Cronenberg, obviously, is the OG in that space. The Brute is my favorite Cronenberg body horror as well. Yeah. I love John Carpenter's The Thing. Oh, yes. I would consider a body horror. The practical effects in that are just fantastic. And it's so fucking gross.

[00:48:58] But with Cronenberg, I think what to go back for a second, what I love is like even Crash, which is like not a horror movie, is about like the abjection of the body. Right. And like the when like Rosanna Arquette is like, here's all this stuff I've done to my body because it turns me on. You're like, whoa, that's absolutely crazy. I think that that's a great example of how like the horror sensibility can suffuse different

[00:49:26] genres, even if something isn't a horror movie. It's why it's like, you know, History of Violence is another one of his that's like not a horror movie. But that long sequence in the saga is body horror. Right. The fight scene. It's also kind of hot because Viggo Mortensen's naked the whole time. So, you know, there's a lot going on. And in terms of recent stuff, I loved The Substance by Corley Farja. That trailer dropped right after we sold Mimi Green.

[00:49:54] And I was super stressed about it because I was like a Hollywood body horror about a famous woman like having dysmorphia. Oh, but then it was very, very different. And but it was similarly like a socially conscious, so to speak, film about something. It was about aging more than it was about what I was working with. So it ended up being a comp. We ended up using Silent Hill Meets the Substance as like our log line. But I loved that.

[00:50:21] The French generally are big into this stuff there. Julia de Carnot did that film Tata recently about the woman who like wants to fuck a car. But it's also that's like a really that's how everybody everybody knows is like the car fucking movie. But it like is like a really intense body horror also. And I just I don't know. I have OCD and I have a lot of intrusive thoughts about like.

[00:50:49] Maming myself or other people like just I have a lot of like violent intrusive thoughts. And that is to me the most distressing part of obsessive compulsive disorder. So watching something where like that does happen is really it really freaks me out. And I think that when you're writing horror, you have to write about what scares you.

[00:51:14] So it was a natural place to go for me when I was like, well, what horror do I want to do? So much of my life has been about body fear that it only felt natural to go there. I think comfort horror is a weird thing for me. And it's something that I've, I don't know, had trouble coming to grips with, I guess, the darker aspects of myself, my soul. I don't know. But like Cronenberg is king. I don't know if you all have seen Audition.

[00:51:43] Anybody seen Audition? I love Audition. We talked about Takashi Miike before we started recording, actually. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. But like on the surface, that's a like it's a romance film. But then it's all of a sudden very much not. And I think maybe the Boxing Helena is like a good comparison there, too. You know, like this is the Boxing Helena where you see all of the nasty dismemberment parts. Yeah. And it is. It's rough. But what's great about Audition is, is it a romance movie?

[00:52:12] Because even from the beginning, I think the way that he's regarding these women is so repulsive. And I think that what makes Audition so satisfying is the way it flips. Yes. But if you haven't seen Audition, I don't want to tell you what happened. So actually. I haven't been meaning to watch it for like a decade. Yeah. So if you're listening at home and you haven't seen Audition. That'll be one for this October. Very worth it. But it's like it's a great example, too, of someone who does crazy stuff with body horror.

[00:52:42] His Masters of Horror movie, Imprint, is really hard to watch, but is really fascinating. Well, if people are curious about Audition, my comparison in the moment is like Bone Tomahawk. If people have seen that one. And yeah, I don't want to spoil anything. But like that was that was an equally like, whoa. The darker part of me that I don't want to admit is that I actually think I like the torture porn aspects of things where they do do that flip and something happens.

[00:53:10] And it's just like the car crash moment. Sure. So. So, yeah, I I I have trouble with like a hostile or saw kind of thing that's like not real. But in part because like the images tend to get stuck for me because I have that like brain OCD thing. But.

[00:53:31] I mentioned I Spit on Your Grave, like I think or Coralie Fargea before the substance in a movie called Revenge, that is like her send up of the rape revenge genre. And that is also like really traumatic body horror in its own way. Right. But I think that in particular, there are a lot of female filmmakers doing really interesting stuff with that now. Oh, yeah. Saw 1 is fun because instead of it. That one's great. I love the first one. That's the one I like.

[00:54:01] They get a little extreme. Guy from Princess Bride was in it. And I was like, oh, he's like crying very cutely. I was like, hmm, maybe it's fun when it's like a hot guy. He's my uncle's best friend. What? So he used to call my house all the time when I was a kid. Not all the time. Did he go like, I do wish? What the hell? No, I tried to be normal. But actually, it was when he was, I was a kid and he was on the X-Files at the time. And I was just like, you were really good on the X-Files this week. And he'd be like, thank you.

[00:54:31] Oh, my God. He's a nice guy. That's awesome. We can get to this in the comedy horror section. My uncle, Zach Galligan, is the star of Gremlins. Oh, what? That's the... You'll find it out. That's my nepo baby. It's my mom's brother is the star of Gremlins. So that's... Wow. Yes. So other, a similar 80s celebrity is a good friend of his. So that's my carry on with story. I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to name drop, but it is just a thing. I love it.

[00:55:00] I got a chill from that name drop. That's a great one. And since, Connor, you've completely taken over and you've given the next bit, let's just go ahead and do our little uno reverse. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry. It's fine. It's fine. We'll get into it like comedy horror. So, Kristen, this is kind of more your wheelhouse here with demons making bad career choices. And Touched by Demon, you have low-level demon named Bifranz who is so unhappy with his

[00:55:27] life in hell that he opens up a life coaching business on Earth, you know, hoping the good deeds will buy his way back in. Shenanigans ensue. As a Gen Xer, I must say, what is millennials' focus on? Like, what is it with y'all in therapy? Like, therapy is always a thing. Therapy is just so much. We don't do therapy. Yeah. No. I personally do have an aversion to therapy myself. I was literally, I triggered a friend of mine recently by saying all this stuff about

[00:55:57] how hard it is to find a therapist and how it's not worth it. And she was like, you sound like my boyfriend. Stop talking right now. But at the same time, for me, I think where a lot of this came from. So I don't actually go to therapy. Oops. But a lot of this came from I'm always on, like, a self-help journey. I always have this. It's right that you know, not what you do. Right? Yeah, exactly.

[00:56:24] So I was like, I always like to read, like, you know, self-help books and just try to, like, be better than I am. Because, you know, there's always room to improve. Like, there's being a good person, but there's also being, like, a productive person. I think being a freelancer and having ADHD makes those, being productive and, like, getting stuff done, it's, like, so hard that I'm always just trying to, like, whip my brain into doing the right thing.

[00:56:51] So I've always felt like there was some, like, disconnect between, like, who I want to be and who I am at the moment. Like, the two selves, like the higher self and the lower self, they're always, like, in battle. Because the lower self is more fun and the higher self is, like, annoying and shitty. But I should listen to him if that makes sense.

[00:57:14] Like, so, like, I think I was kind of, in a way, because in this story, it's, like, this demon, he's like, why did I go to hell? I had it so nice in heaven. And here I am, like, just, like, looking at all my bad choices in life. And so he wants to change, but he fundamentally doesn't know how. And he wants to help people, but it's really not coming from, like, a very sincere place.

[00:57:43] It's coming from a place of, like, selfishness. Um, but it's kind of like a comedy of errors because, I don't know, I guess it's, uh, to me it's relatable to try and continually fail at, like, doing better or, like, doing better for, like, a week and then just totally falling off of things. Say that, queen. Yeah. Inconsistency queen.

[00:58:10] Actually, like, that's, like, a formative memory of mine is getting, like, a report card. I was, like, an elementary schooler and everything said good but inconsistent. And I was, like, yeah. Mine was always pleasure to have in class, which means gay. Love that. Oh, my God. So, like, I don't know. I was, the title is kind of a playoff of Touched by an Angel. So it's, like, a dark version of that because in every episode of Touched by an Angel,

[00:58:38] like, these angels come in and they, like, you know, they help. There's an episode I watched in preparation for writing this where it was, like, oh, they helped Pedro Pascal learn to, he was in an episode. Young Pedro Pascal. He's in everything. Yeah. No doubt. Now he is. He was, like, he learned how to be a poet. Back then, he's on, like, one episode of everything. He's in the season four premiere of Buffy. Like, he's in everything for, like, one episode. I didn't even realize that, the Buffy thing. I didn't know that. Yeah, he's the gay guy who dies in that.

[00:59:07] But, um, it's a good performance. Yeah, he was really good at him. So untouched by an Angel episode. So I was, like, doing, like, the reverse of that. So, like, in the first issue, they meet this girl who, like, everyone, like, loves her. Her parents, like, love her sister more. It's kind of like, uh, there's some book I read that was, like, not, it was, like, My Sister's Keeper. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Pico. That's a horror movie.

[00:59:34] So I kind of, like, took that plot, sort of. So she's, like, she was born so that she could, like, donate, like, blood marrow and organs and stuff to her. Or, like, dying sister. And so she hires them because she's, like, I'm not happy because they're always trying to, like, steal my liver. And they accidentally, like, encourage her to murder her family. So that's kind of, like, where the story... That would have been a better ending to My Sister's Keeper, in my opinion. I think she should have gone sicko mode. That would have been great.

[01:00:03] See, I just did a rewrite of My Sister's Keeper and called it Touched by Human. Jodi, you've got notes. Yeah. Jodi Pico wrote Wonder Woman for a while. She's in the comic space. She might be listening. You never know. Oh, really? Oh. Blum, your work. I'll have to check that out. That was, that was by far the most horrifying thing, I think, out of everything I've prepped for this and all the reading I've done, The Savior Siblings was, that's some freaky shit. Like, that was really disturbing.

[01:00:31] I think it, like, it kind of, I don't know, some part of me just has this, like, persecution complex where I just love stories where it's, like, someone's just, like, life is horrible and everything is, like, irredeemably bad. For some reason, it makes me happy, so I feel like I tend to, like, go towards that instead of being more nuanced. Yeah. I also, I guess I wanted to make her sympathetic because then she becomes a character in the story.

[01:00:57] And there was another issue where it was, like, a monkey's paw situation, but the guy, the guy who gets- I touched by an angel episode? Oh, no, this is my comic. Oh, no? This is one of your comics. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm, like, trying to get re- Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, so, like, they give someone a monkey's paw. And he's, like, he has, like, a diaper fetish. And the girl he likes also has, like, a baby fetish, but they're both, like, bottoms. So that's, like- They both want to be the baby, right?

[01:01:27] Yeah, they both want to be the baby. Then it's, like, a Rugrats role play, which isn't really what they're looking for. My first thought was the Broad City episode. What was that one? I don't remember. Yeah. Fred Armisen hires them to clean his apartment, but he's a baby. Yeah. He doesn't have any money. He wears a- It's the meme. I'm a baby. Yeah. But, yeah, so- Touched by an angel.

[01:01:55] I was thinking, I never watched Touched by an angel, so if you were telling me, like, there's a monkey's plot episode, I would have completely believed you. But Touched by an angel always freaked me out as a premise. Like, no disrespect to Della Reese, absolute queen. But the idea that, like, angels are watching and they're just interceding in your life all the time. Like, at least Quantum Leap's just some guy. I don't like the idea that, like, heaven has eyes on me. That's, like, a weird- Yeah. I've never enjoyed that as a premise. I don't want a guardian angel. Well, they're helping them, but yeah. It's very turn off my GPS.

[01:02:25] Like, stop. What are you doing? I was always freaked out by the concept that Santa was watching me. Honestly, more than God. Yeah, I don't love that. Because I was like, my toys are on the line here. No, when I was three, my mother told me Santa wasn't real because I explained all the security issues I had with this man entering our home. And she was like, it's me. It's me. Don't worry about it. It's fine. And that, you know, potato. And now kids have Elf on the Shelf watching them. That's even creepier. That is so creepy. Why do people do that? Those are jump scares. I don't get it. They look creepy.

[01:02:55] They look scary. That's fucked up is what that is. Just do some parenting, people. Yeah. Yeah, really. All right. Well, comedy movies. Kristen? Okay. I have a very big opinion on this one. Not big as in controversial, but I look really- Okay. My first rated R movie I saw in theaters was The Frighteners. Okay. I loved it so much.

[01:03:22] I know people won't really like it that much, but Peter Jackson's horror movie, so like Braindead slash Dead Alive, Bad Taste, and The Frighteners are like my big ones because I don't think I ever laughed more than when in Braindead when the old lady's face is falling into her power and she eats part of her face. It was so funny and great. I haven't even seen that movie. It's so good. It's kind of like an evil dead ripoff, but in my opinion- Yeah. It's very Raimi.

[01:03:53] Yeah. I love it. I love everything. Almost everything Peter Jackson does. And I also think Bucket of Blood, especially as an artist, I found it really funny and relatable. That's the one where the guy is like a murderer and he like puts the things and people he kills into like casts and then people think they're like these cool sculptures and he becomes like a famous artist. And Slumber Party Massacre 2 was another one.

[01:04:19] If anyone's seen that, it's kind of just a very random 80s movie, but it's so good that I legit got tears in my eyes at the end. And there's a scene, first of all, the killer is like kind of hot and he has like a guitar and there's this cool scene where he's trying to kill the girls and he's like singing a song and it turns into a musical. And this is where I started like crying tears of joy because I'm just like an emotional person. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen ever. And it was super funny.

[01:04:49] Directed by a woman. Yeah. Check it out. I think it's better than Slumber Party Massacre 1. Well, I love when the sequel really pops. It's kind of a different story. It's like just they use the same name because that's what they do in the 80s. I'm going to jump off that. Yeah. I'm going to go with mine since we're talking about sequels and I'm going to shout out Warwick Davis because I'm a massive fan of the Leprechaun franchise. You know, I'm not going to count the last two, so I'm going to say there are six that are in the pan.

[01:05:18] The apocryphal Leprechauns. Yes, indeed. Indeed. But nothing, nothing is going to ever trump Leprechaun in the hood. A futerocanonical final two Leprechaun film. Leprechaun in the hood is a classic and I will die on that hill. You know, seeing him rap was, it was the pinnacle moment of waiting for five movies to get to this point to see him rapping with Ice-T. Peak. It was amazing. I need to see that movie. Yeah.

[01:05:44] That's an Irish black solidarity moment that Sinners really was drawing on, I think. In an important way. I'm Connor Goldsmith. I'm Irish. I'm allowed to make these jokes about Leprechauns, I promise. No, so I, my favorite is also a sequel probably.

[01:06:06] I saw Evil Dead 2 before I ever saw Evil Dead 1 and I think that that's the better way to do it, personally. Same. Yeah. Because Evil Dead 2 is kind of like he just did it again, but it's better. Which is an interesting way to do a sequel. Just to be like, what if we did it exactly again, but this time it was better and funnier? And I find that to be really rewarding.

[01:06:36] As an experience, I find myself quoting the, like, Grandma in the Basement a lot in my general life. She has just such a great voice. I'll swallow your soul! You know, it's like, it's good stuff. Sam Raimi in general is just really great at that. He's sort of the undisputed master of comedy horror for a lot of people.

[01:07:01] A recent one that I really liked, I forget the director's name, was Ready or Not with Samara Weaving. That is so, so funny and so, so good. Yeah, that was great. And I saw that on a lark, like, not really knowing anything about it and I was stunned by how funny it was. But I'm also, like, I'm slightly, I'm weird. Like, I find a lot of horror movies funny. Like, I loved Obsession this year.

[01:07:31] Yes. But I also thought, like, it was incredibly upsetting, but it was really funny. Like, I laughed a lot in that movie and that is the vibe that I think a lot of the best horror does hit. Like, I think Ari Aster hits that really well. I loved Midsommar, which I would call a comedy horror, but I don't know if everyone would.

[01:07:58] So, you know, I think part of that comes out of, like, a certain camp sensibility that I bring to genre fiction. I grew up watching B movies and Mystery Science Theater and stuff like that with my dad. So, like, I love when stuff makes you laugh, even as it's, like, kind of distressing you or upsetting you. Yeah. Because I think that that's, like, I mean, the best tragedy also has jokes in it, right?

[01:08:27] Like, to get the best catharsis out of people, you need them to feel a gamut of emotions, I think. Like, yeah. Yeah. That's what I would say. And obviously, shouts to Gremlins and Gremlins 2. I just never really, like, immersed in them fully because it was my uncle in them. So I was like, it's Uncle Zach, which is, like, you know, not... Pulls you out slightly, but they're great. And I prefer the sequel because I'm gay.

[01:08:56] I mean, Gremlins 2 is so, so funny. I know, I know. It's one of the funniest comedy horror. It's objectively not as good a film as Gremlins 1, but I like it better because it's... Okay. I was like, I think I like it more. On a screen, like, a structural level, I think the first one is tighter, let's say. But I like the second one more. And what does better really mean at the end of the day is something that I think we all should reflect on.

[01:09:26] I mean, Gremlins fucked me up as a kid, I'm not gonna lie. Like, that was the one that really... The first one's scary and the second one isn't scary is kind of what I mean, yeah. I wasn't scared and it didn't really stick with me until that last line that, like, lock the doors, there just might be a Gremlin in your house. And I was like, you motherfucker. I was fine until y'all did that to me. Gotcha. You bastards. You bastards. Wait, that's what happened when I saw The Ring in theaters. I was like... But at the end, they're like, oh, we're gonna show you the tape now.

[01:09:56] And I was like, oh my God, I'm gonna die. Seven days. I really thought I was gonna die. I cannot. I can't. The Ring is one I can't really even... Because I am a big Naomi Watts head behind Drive, but I cannot... I can't fuck with The Ring. The Ring really gets me. I loved The Ring. Is it scary? Ringu, the original, is also... Yo, it scares the shit out of me. Yeah, it's like the most scary movie, I think. Yeah. No, I can't. I can't with The Ring one day. I had nightmares for days and days. Yeah.

[01:10:26] It's spook... It's spooktacular, that one. Also, Ring Zero is like really good. It's about the girl, Sadako or whatever, and like her tragic past. And it really... No, there's a whole series in Japan. And like a lot of them are really... The thing about... It's one where the remake is scarier, I think.

[01:10:49] Which is not usually how it goes, but the original is like a more emotional experience. Because it's more about her, you know? I would think. I think. Well, yeah. They're different, but they're... I don't know which one I like more. Because I saw the American one in theaters. They're both really great. I think the tones are different, you know? The crazy thing about the Japanese Ringu is that there's this part where in any other movie, they would just be like, this old guy comes up and tells them what happens.

[01:11:19] And it's a flashback. But in the Japanese one, it's randomly... He randomly has psychic powers. So that's how we see what happens. And it never like comes back. It never has anything to do with anything. And it was like the fun... It was like the funniest place. It's like the dementia thing, right? Where she like projects her mind into photographs. That's how she makes the tape. It's like a Japanese... Yeah. Okay. Oh my gosh. Okay. So that makes sense. But it just felt really random. This guy was like... Yeah, no. I'm psychic.

[01:11:49] It's a culturally contextual moment. Okay. Now I have a deeper understanding then. Yeah. But you said ring zero. And I thought, I've never seen this. So I immediately went to like Diet Coke. I mean, like is it... Yeah. Oh. There's no sugar. Meaning like it's before one. So it's zero. Yeah. So it's like her prequel. Yeah, no. Japanese prequels are often called zero. Yeah. Yeah. In comics. Zero issues. Yeah. True. I feel like that was a thing in the 2000s. We barely see those.

[01:12:18] But I think that was because of the proliferation of Japanese pop culture in the West. That makes sense. Because you had like Street Fighter Alpha, which is of course called Street Fighter Zero. And that's like the Godzilla minus one or something. One. Godzilla minus one. Yeah. They love that. Yeah. It's great. Zero is coming. I know. It's always fun to go back. If you have a story, don't do a prequel if you don't need to do a prequel.

[01:12:45] But that's just some advice, free advice. Yeah. Do I need to give mine? I still need to give mine, right? Let's hear it. Yeah. Yeah. I really loved Dawn of the Dead. Yes. Actually, sorry. I'm, I, you know, my brain is all messed up right now. From Dusk Till Dawn. Not Dawn of the Dead. Oh, that's awesome. I was thinking Dawn of the Dead is an interesting comedy horror choice. Yeah. No, from Dusk Till Dawn. That's a long one.

[01:13:14] I thought maybe you meant Shaun of the Dead, which is obviously a fact. No. Well, I like that you knew that I was confusing myself. I wasn't going to correct you, though. We're all friends here. From Dusk Till Dawn, I just love that midpoint, you know, when you're like, it's a pretty like straight movie, you know, like we're playing and reading straight and then, and it's funny, but then we get the reveal, you know, and it's like one of my, I think probably one of

[01:13:43] the most iconic like midpoints in a movie, but I loved it. And I thought it was like, I just burst out laughing. It was awesome. Talk about Latin American horror too, Salma Hayek and that is so iconic. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's, maybe I shouldn't be, I saw as a kid, as like a young teenager, I saw that scene before I ever saw the movie. I'm sure you did.

[01:14:09] There are many scenes that I would say teenagers, for the kids, sometimes back in the day, you had to look on the internet for things and you know, it was, it was a bit of a jungle, but you would find scenes from films. And then you watch the movie for the first time. You're like, oh, that's what that was about. Oh, that makes more sense now. Yeah. Context. Yeah. Yeah. That's a great one. Yeah.

[01:14:38] Modern ones. Like, I think barbarian is hilarious. Yeah. Love it. I love that one. Another great midpoint. And weapons too. And weapons. I was dying laughing watching weapons. So funny, but also really scary. Like he's, Parker is really good at that. I haven't seen the new Resident Evil movie yet, but I'm very excited. Yeah, I don't even know. Yeah. Well, let's wrap things up with what everyone is most excited about. You know, in a recent interview, Rambi dropped one,

[01:15:09] which was probably butchered the name, but it was, uh, Bregmayugam, which is an Indian horror film. Top of my list. Black and white, Indian folk haunted house movie that looks absolutely wicked. So I'm super excited about that one. Intentional black and white can be really, like, I love, um, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, the Annali armor horror movie that uses black and white. So this is so well. Uh, I'm really excited to see primetime.

[01:15:36] Uh, that looks like a fucking horror movie. Yeah. And we said Resident Evil. I'm really excited to see that. But yeah, primetime looks scary. And I also don't know anything about him aside from, like, About Chris Hansen? Yeah, yeah. I don't know any. Oh, that one. Like all the stuff that they're clearly hinting at in the trailer. I don't know anything. He's a weird guy. I'll say that. Weird guy. Billy? Oh, I saw the trailer too. I kind of forgot about it. Yeah.

[01:16:05] All I know is To Catch a Predator. And, like, oh, they would repeat. Whatever. Like, that's it. That's all I know. Yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, I haven't seen primetime yet, But Robert Pattinson is doing an uncanny Chris Hansen impression As someone who, like, was the, like, a teenager when To Catch a Predator was on And definitely, like, watched it because everybody did. His voice was so distinctive. Like, I, I, I, I love to do, like, impressions that I wouldn't even attempt

[01:16:34] A Chris Hansen voice because it, like, wouldn't be quite right. And Robert Pattinson, who's British, is nailing it, which I, I found impressive. I love him. Yeah, no, that's the, he's on a great run. He's so great. I didn't know, like, when he first came out, I was like, I didn't know this guy was such a fantastic actor. Well, Kristen Stewart too, right? Now we're all team Edward. It's interesting. Like, post-Twilight. I know, it was like, they were really. They showed up in this piece of trash and then they really. I kind of like the Twilight movies. Here's my thing.

[01:17:04] I think vampires being heterosexual and Mormon is a crime against gay people. She was spreading her lived experiences. I don't care. I think that it's appropriative. I think it's cultural appropriation. And I. Connor, which is more offensive to you, the straight or the Mormon part? I think they kind of go hand in hand, really, at the end of the day. It's the Mormon-ness that really throws me. Because, like, a vampire is, I suppose.

[01:17:33] I mean, they should be at least bisexual, in my opinion, if they're a vampire. I think that's just what, I think that's kind of what vampires are about, really. But leaving that aside, I think a vampire theoretically can be heterosexual. But if the vampire is also Mormon, I think that that's a bridge too far for me personally. To me, it makes sense because they can't have sex before marriage. And that's like this, like, oh, I really want to do it. But vampires should be fucking. That's what vampirism is about.

[01:18:01] He doesn't want to bite her because he wants to, like, preserve her. And they're sparkly in the sun. So it's like that, like. Right. Yo, it's not that God hates you and you burn in the sun. It's that he's too pretty in the sun. I fucking hate it. I'm sorry. I'm glad that it, like, sexually awakened a whole generation of teenage girls to embrace their power or whatever. Like, that's great. That is absolutely great. But the vampire aspect of Twilight really bothers the shit out of me. But yes, great actor. Great actor. Great, great actor.

[01:18:31] This also explains why in this generation the birth rate is so low. If that's what sexually awakened people. Yeah. Well, it's, you know, also we can't afford to have children. So there's that. Yeah. There's a lot of factors, I would say. What am I most looking forward to? I mean, the Zack Greger Resident Evil, which I'm hopefully going to go see this week, I've been geeked about for a while because I love those games.

[01:18:59] Because I'm a millennial who played all of those on PS1, PS2, etc. So that, but I'm not someone who, like, desperately needs it to be accurate to the game. I know that there are people upset that it's not an adaptation of a game story, but I tend to think that that's often a better choice. Yeah. I mean, I feel like those other movies already exist. I feel like that, right?

[01:19:27] Well, those other movies also weren't particularly faithful to the games. So I get why there are people who would want something that, like, actually goes there. But I think that it's better to just do something vibey in the universe and let, especially when you have someone like Zack Greger, who's a really singular kind of vision. Like, just let him cook on something of his own. I, we used to rent games at Blockbuster just to bring Blockbuster back again when I was a kid. Yeah.

[01:19:55] And so I remember renting Resident Evil and I couldn't get past, like, the very first, like, five minutes. The first one was really hard. I just got mobbed by zombies. What a mansion. So I don't know what happens in those games. I really tried. But that's also a movie I'm looking forward to. They go to some crazy places. Yeah. But Mila. I need to, like, watch a Twitch streamer or something. What else is coming? Oh, that Jessica Chastain movie, Other Mommy.

[01:20:25] I haven't heard about that one. Have you seen it? Okay, the trailer's crazy. It's based on this book called Incidents Around the House that I'm a little mixed on, but it's an interesting idea. The issue is it's narrated by an eight-year-old, which I just always find that difficult, personally. So I think that the film will be easier for me to access because it won't be narrated by an eight-year-old because it's not a first-person narrative. But it's about, like, a monster in the closet kind of story, but it looks exactly like her mother. Ooh.

[01:20:55] And Jessica Chastain is playing. It's crazy in some of these stills. Yeah. Jessica Chastain is playing the mother and the demon. Oh, that sounds so good. Sounds very psychological. Yeah. Cool. No, I'm excited about that. That's coming out in, like, a week or two. She looks so creepy. Yeah. And she's always—I mean, the thing about Jessica Chastain is she's kind of creepy at, like, baseline level.

[01:21:19] I'm sure she's, like, a nice person, but she has, like, a certain—it's why she could play, like, a CIA agent really convincingly. Like, she has a certain chilliness to her that I think really makes this good casting. Kristen, have you dished on yours? I can't remember. I don't really—okay. I'm not very up to the—I don't know what's going on in the world, but mine was Resident Evil.

[01:21:46] We were going to see that actually yesterday, but then my cobbler got sick, and so I didn't want to foist him. But there's that. I actually don't know anything that's coming out lately, but I did see a really good movie called Hocum, so in exchange, I'll just say that movie was really good, and I kind of feel like it went under the radar. I haven't seen that one yet, but everybody says it's great. Watched it so good. It's so, so, so good. It actually really scared me, and I just watched it at home. And I'm really hard to scare. I, like, feel—I feel nothing.

[01:22:16] To go to a comics place, I'm interested to see what happens with this Clayface movie. Yes. Because on the surface, it does sound like Sony is Spider-Man without Spider-Man. We're just going to do a Craven movie, which is, like, crazy. But I think that with this, like, you could actually do a really interesting—the thing is, it doesn't seem like it's going to be about how he's gay, which is what the classic Clayface story was totally about. So that is kind of a bummer.

[01:22:44] But, I mean, it is and it isn't, but if you know, you know. But it looks like it could be, like, a genuinely spooky time in, like, an IP context, which I think is always fun to see and something that I think about a lot in comics because I've been doing creator-owned work up to this point. But it would be fun to kick the tires on, you know, some established properties as well. Yeah.

[01:23:12] I mean, I got to shout that with DC and Jude Doyle writing the Clayface miniseries right now. Such a good series. I love what Jude is doing with it. So it's really, really good. And in comics, I'm excited about—I mean, the Midnight stuff is about to drop over at Marvel. And that, edited by Jordan White, who I think is just a genius. And I'm always down for more of Jonathan Hickman on X-Men. So I'm excited to see how that comes together.

[01:23:42] Julio, you go in the Midnight Signing? It's all three of them. It's Philip Kennedy Johnson and Hickman and Percy all going to be there. Midtown Comics, probably. Where is that? In New York? Is it a Midtown? Yeah, it's in New York. Yeah. Well, I don't know. I saw it was in New York. That's the best I can do. I'm sorry. I can't give more clarity. We do have comics publishing for one more year in New York. So I would hope that we have some events.

[01:24:09] Yeah, I think I have surpassed my Midnight Screen signings time of my life, to be honest. I would love to see Jonathan and Ben, though, so I should go. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I love my job. Well, the remit is I get exposed to so many great comics, and I want to thank the Dark Horse PR team for helping me put this panel today and getting everybody together and help everybody round out their spooky season watch list.

[01:24:37] I'll drop links in the show notes with all the recommendations as well as links so you can check out Beast of Hurricane, Did You Hear About Mimi Green, and Touched by a Demon. Thank you all so much for joining me today. Before I let you go, a question I have been dying to ask because I already have my answer, and I need to either validate me or ruin my week. So top of the list, what is the worst Halloween candy of all time? Mm-hmm.

[01:25:06] Smarties, smarties, nerds. I'm going to give the controversial answer. I don't eat candy. I wasn't allowed to as a kid. So I've never. That's so Catholic. Oh. That is criminal. Is it because of all the razor blades in the candy? Or worse. What did you say? Is it because of all the razor blades in the candy? That's what you used to say back in the 90s. I forgot about that. Yeah. I assumed it was, you know, too indulgent candy. No, yeah.

[01:25:34] I mean, listen, my family is evangelical. That's how I grew up. Oh, okay. Yeah. That's even more. Yeah. So they don't like Catholics, first of all. But second of all. But that's interesting from a Latino perspective. I don't think I've. I know many evangelicals. No, no. Because evangelical, this is a whole other podcast. This is a whole other podcast.

[01:25:57] The CIA sent a bunch of evangelical preachers all over Latin America because Catholic, you know, there was a revolutionary Catholicism. Because you got to fight the papists. Yeah, no, exactly. So it was, yeah, a lot of Cold War stuff. So that's how. Fascinating. I think that's how a lot of us become evangelical and non-denominational, non-Catholic. And that's the part of your next book. Yeah. Yeah, right? Yeah. No, see, I'm Irish and Jewish.

[01:26:23] So it's all like guilt, shame, or evangelical Protestantism is like a very alien. Yeah. Culture to me. But I find that interesting. Still a lot of guilt and shame, but different flavor. But in a different way. It's a different. Not candy flavored. Right. Not in kind of like a. Honestly, like with Catholicism and Judaism, it's kind of in a campy way. It's sort of genre fiction in its way. Right. Whereas I think evangelical is more of a thriller. Yeah. To go back around to our initial conversation. All right. Now you guys answer.

[01:26:54] Favorite or worst candy. I am. I, well, I hate dark chocolate. I don't like, cause I don't like bitter stuff. Like I can't even, I don't drink anymore, but I couldn't drink red wine even like when I did drink because I just, they have, I never, they always say like, you'll develop like bitter taste buds as you age. And I just, I didn't for whatever reason. So any like bitter candies I don't like.

[01:27:17] Um, and I have always, uh, like if something is on the other hand, like too sweet, like a marzipan kind of thing, like I can't really fuck with that either. So I, I like a. What if you're treating where like they're giving out like marzipan infections? I grew up in Westchester. Oh, okay. New York. New York. Oh, okay. So. Where the X-Men are from. Um, but yeah, no, I'm just, but like anything that's like too, um, too like rich. I don't, I don't super love.

[01:27:46] So I, I, I like a sort of middle, middle brow candy. Like what's wrong with a Snickers bar by God? You know what I mean? Um, or, uh, but, uh, controversially I like candy corn, which I know people. It's my, my, uh, my nan loved candy corn, but particularly, and this is the, this is the hack. It needs to be stale. You leave it out. It's like peeps. Yeah. Like you got to leave it out. It's like wax. You're like, yeah, waxier. Like a fine wine.

[01:28:16] Yeah. Yeah. No, exactly. Or like, I will say my sour patch, like watermelons and kids and things also better when stale. Okay. Like just open the bag, leave it out for like three hours before you touch it. I'm with you on that. I'm with you on that. I would say. We're really selling candy to Julio too. Yeah. You got to get on board. Yeah. I don't need any of this. So stale candy is what is my takeaway. Try stale candy. Okay. I don't like the, um, like Smarties, Nerds, Skittles.

[01:28:47] Those are always the worst. Starburst. I just want chocolate. So you don't like beaver anus flavor is what you're trying to say. The natural fruit flavors to bring it back around are just not your thing. I like Smarties. I mean, if it's infused into chocolate. I'm just going by like when I was a kid, what was at the bottom of my bag after I had like had a lot of feast. Oh, but also this is critical. Are these Smarties like the hard ones that are American? In like a roll. I found that. Yeah. Those are gross.

[01:29:14] Those I like, but Smarties that are like the, in the UK and in Europe and I think Canada, apparently Smarties are like chocolate things that are. Oh yeah. Not those. The ones that are just like big M&Ms. No, those are great. Those are better than M&M. I'm like, this is like, that's not an M&M, but you're calling it a Smartie. And I think that it's stolen M&M valor to be perfectly honest. Number one is probably Kit Kat or honestly anything chocolate.

[01:29:44] Okay. Okay. Mine is always and forever will be Boston baked beans are fucking gross, right? This is not a candy. It's a cry for help wrapped in a legume. It is disgusting. No, if we want to go to like actual trash, like raisinets are disgusting. Oh God. Yeah. Yeah. I don't like raisins to begin with. So that's part of it. I love raisinets. You get to fool yourself into thinking you're being healthy because you're like, I ate a raisin.

[01:30:14] That's fair. I suppose. I, uh, I didn't like the raisins to begin with. Yeah. So I just didn't, I couldn't vibe with a raisin up vibe. Julio, I feel like really like we're leaving you out. What treats do you, what, what sort of like, what was allowed to you in your evangelical oubliette? Like, did you have? You know what I was allowed? Uh, Pillsbury crescent rolls. Okay. Oh, okay. Hey. Those are good. I really loved those. Were you allowed to do Halloween at all or was that satanic? Uh, no, I was allowed to do Halloween.

[01:30:44] Um, I wasn't allowed to eat candy, cake, ice cream, sodas. Uh, I think, I think that covers it, but you know, anything that. At least you're allowed to do it. At least what? At least you're allowed to do it. My, uh, my neighbor growing up, my neighbor growing up, his parents were like very Muslim. They were from Pakistan and it was like a no Halloween. And he was like, can I come to your house and do Halloween? And we were like, yes, absolutely. You should come to our house and do Halloween. We will not tell anyone.

[01:31:15] Yeah. So I, I, I'm sad for people when they can't do Halloween. Yeah. That feels like performative without payoff though, because you get to dress up, but you don't get to eat the cool junk food. I don't know. Yeah. I would collect them and bring you into my friends. Yeah. I mean. Oh, that's kind of sweet. That's, that's kind of sweet in its way. Yeah. Some would say it's Christ-like. I think your friends loved it. Yeah. Community building. Really. It's Christ-like. Providing loaves and fishes, but they're, you know. Swedish fish.

[01:31:46] And yeah. Right. Swedish fish. Circus peanuts are gross. Which are not better. They're. Yeah. Swedish fish are not better when they've sat out for a long time. I don't think so. Swedish fish, there isn't really any way to fix, in my opinion. They're just kind of there. They're fine. It's a great way to like pull out your fillings. Eat a Swedish fish. Say that. That is very true. Wake that up. I. Yeah. Jolly ranchers are the best way to pull out a silver filling. For the kids, they used to just put silver in your teeth.

[01:32:16] To ward off the werewolves. And you could just pull it right out with a jolly rancher. Mm-hmm. Well, I'll, I'll, I'll put a, a punctuation mark here on the end of this and say, Julio, if anybody ever does offer you something that are called circus peanuts, there's no peanut in it. Just. It's just circus. It's all circus. It's just circus. It's truly just circus. Yes. They're disgusting. It tastes like. It tastes like. Orange. But like, not like the fruit. The color. It just tastes like the color. Orange. Uh-huh.

[01:32:46] Okay. Good to know. I'll remember that. But not like, like, like I like an orange Starburst robe, but like, this is just, it's just a, it's a distressing orange color and it's the taste of the color. I don't even remember what they taste like. I just remember their large. The texture is like memory foam. The fruit. Right. Right. It's like a very, it's, it's a, it's, you know, like that seventies wallpaper color orange. It tastes like that.

[01:33:14] Like the Brady Bunch, the tiles at the Brady Bunch is living room. That orange. You're really getting into it. Good to know. Apricot. True writer. Oh my God. All right. Well, I don't know that we ever actually answered what the worst candy is, but at least we illustrated. I think Marty. We provided a list of bad ones. He didn't miss much in, in not getting all the candy when he was a kid for sure. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, Kristen, Connor, Julio, thanks for hanging out with me today.

[01:33:43] It has been a lot of fun. Thanks for having us. Yeah. Of course. This is Byron O'Neill and on behalf of all of us at Comic Book Yeti, thanks for tuning in and we will see you next time. Take care, everybody. Peace. Bye guys. Bye. This is Byron O'Neill, one of your hosts of the Cryptid Creator Corner brought to you by Comic Book Yeti. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of our podcast. Please rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff.

[01:34:10] It lets us know how we're doing and more importantly, how we can improve. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode of the Cryptid Creator Corner, maybe you would enjoy our sister podcast, Into the Comics Cave. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.