In this last episode of the year we discuss our cinematic highs and lows of 2025, as well as looking back at our achievements this year and a preview of what we have in mind for 2026...
Wishing you all a healthy and prosperous new year!
Did you know that before the tinsel and the Coca-Cola truck, Christmas in Britain was a time for... terror? In the penultimate episode of the year (wink wink), Meg and Clelia gathered around the fire to discuss the great British tradition of Ghost Stories for Christmas.
Long before the Victorian era, the winter solstice was seen as a thin place—where the veil between the living and the dead was at its most fragile. But it was Charles Dickens who truly cemented the 'Christmas Ghost' into our DNA with his 1843 masterpiece, A Christmas Carol.
From the chilling 1951 Alastair Sim version to the high-budget Hollywood spectacles, we’ve seen Scrooge redeemed a thousand times. But... there is one version that stands above them all. A version that captures the heart, the thrills, and the humour of the original text perfectly.
Talking, of course, about the 1992 cinematic force majeure: The Muppet Christmas Carol! We’re diving deep into why Michael Caine’s straight-faced performance and a cast of felt characters created, in our very biased minds, the most authentic Dickensian adaptation.
Join us as we explore the folklore behind the ghost stories tradition, discuss our favourite tales from the beyond, the fear… and the fuzzy felt!
We are joined by a very special guest: Payton McCarthy-Simas, author of That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film, to dive deep into Rob Zombie’s The Lords of Salem (2012) — a hypnotic, polarising, and deeply uncanny entry in modern witch cinema.
Payton brings their expertise on American witch narratives to unpack the film’s hallucinatory imagery, its lineage in Puritan panic, and its portrayal of witchcraft as both a site of feminist resistance and profound horror.
We trace the film’s depiction of addiction, grief, and bodily vulnerability, and explore how Zombie reimagines the witch’s coven as a force that is at once communal, grotesque, and defiantly powerful.
Join us as we interrogate whether The Lords of Salem offers liberation or damnation; how the film echoes real histories of persecution; and what it means to place a woman at the centre of a cosmic ritual she cannot escape. Expect discussions of trauma, ritual spectacle, psychedelic horror, and the complicated politics of representing female and non-binary bodies within witchcraft narratives.
Tune in for an episode that’s part cultural excavation, part fever dream.
****Payton is an author, programmer, film critic, and video artist with a focus on horror and genre film. Their writing has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, Film Daze, and The Brooklyn Rail among others, as well as spotlighted in The New York Times, CNN, and RogerEbert.com. Her short films and screenplays have been featured in several film festivals as well as shown at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. She is also the author of two books of nonfiction and film criticism, One Step Short of Crazy: National Treasure and the Landscape of American Conspiracy Culture (2024) and That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film (2025). Payton holds a Masters in Film and Media Studies from Columbia University and is a member of the Online Association of Female Film Critics and GALECA.
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Editing and theme music by Adam Hynes @adamnarrows
Follow the hosts of Monstrous Flesh on social media @monstrous_flesh and @monstrousmeg
In this last episode of the Revenge season, we discuss two cult classics bound by grief, love, and the intoxicating lure of vengeance. Join us as we explore how The Crow ( Proyas, 1994) and Mandy (Cosmatos, 2018) blur the line between mourning and madness, tenderness and brutality.
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Editing and theme music by Adam Hynes @adamnarrows
Follow the hosts of Monstrous Flesh on social media @monstrous_flesh and @monstrousmeg
In our penultimate episode, we are discussing The Brood (1979) and Pyewacket (2017), two films that explore the dark, terrifying side of the mother-daughter relationship and how emotional trauma can literally manifest in monstrous ways. We'll be delving into the concept of psychosomatic horror, where unresolved anger and deep-seated familial resentment give birth to something truly terrifying, whether it's homicidal children or a demonic entity summoned from the woods. These films show that sometimes, the greatest source of terror and the deepest motivation for revenge comes from the people closest to us.
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Editing and theme music by Adam Hynes @adamnarrows
Follow the hosts of Monstrous Flesh on social media @monstrous_flesh and @monstrousmeg
In this episode, we are discussing Carrie (1976) and Sissy (2022), two films that examine the terrifying intersection of bullying, social isolation, and the ultimate, explosive backlash from a teen pushed to her limits.
We're exploring how both films tap into the profound fear of the outcast, showing the devastating consequences of relentless torment and how a desire for acceptance can curdle into a magnificent, destructive rage.
So, get ready to feel the heat, because hell hath no fury like a teenage girl!
In this episode, we are discussing Ms. 45 (Ferrara, 1981) and Revenge (Fargeat, 2017), two films that take the "rape-revenge" subgenre and turn it on its head. We're looking at how these films transform a victim into a vigilante, reclaiming their agency and power through brutal, unapologetic acts of violence. We explore the catharsis and controversy of this trope, and question what it reveals about the deep-seated societal anger surrounding sexual violence.
So, prepare for a bloody and brutal journey, because these women aren't just getting even—they're starting a war.
In this episode, we are discussing Hard Candy and Gone Girl , two films that show how the quiet, intellectual girl-next-door can become the most terrifying avenging angel.
We'll be looking at how female intelligence and cunning can be weaponised in a hyper-masculine world to expose and ultimately destroy the men who seek to exploit them. We'll also explore how these films flip the script on who is the victim and who is the perpetrator, leaving the audience to question their own moral compass.
Revenge is a dish best served cold, and these women are masters of the slow burn...
In this episode, we are discussing Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) and Morgiana (1972), two films that show how the poisonous brew of sibling rivalry, jealousy, and psychological manipulation can turn a house into a cage and a family into a battlefield. We'll be looking at how revenge is not always an external force but can fester from within, leading to a slow, methodical unraveling of the mind and the ultimate destruction of a family.
So, lock your doors, and check on your loved ones, because the call is coming from inside the house.
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Editing and theme music by Adam Hynes @adamnarrows
Follow the hosts of Monstrous Flesh on social media @monstrous_flesh and @monstrousmeg
In this episode, we are discussing Lady Vengeance (2005) and Ballerina (2023), two films that show the immense power of female rage and the methodical, brutal lengths our heroines go to in order to seek retribution. We'll be looking at the difference between the collective and personal nature of revenge, how trauma fuels the desire for justice, and how these films challenge the traditional portrayal of women as passive victims.
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Editing and theme music by Adam Hynes @adamnarrows
Follow the hosts of Monstrous Flesh on social media @monstrous_flesh and @monstrousmeg
Welcome to Season 3, "Revenge”, exploring the many and varied motivations for Women to seek revenge in horror.
This season, we’ll be looking at how revenge manifests, the different forms it takes, and importantly, we’ll be questioning why there’s been a tendency to gender this concept.
In this episode, we are discussing Play Misty for Me (1971) and Fatal Attraction (1987), two films that helped define the "erotic thriller" subgenre and sparked a moral panic around female rage. We'll be delving into the tropes of the spurned lover and the "bunny boiler" to understand what these films reveal about societal anxieties surrounding female independence, desire, and retribution.
So, grab your headphones and maybe lock your doors, because things are about to get unhinged!
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Editing and theme music by Adam Hynes @adamnarrows
Follow the hosts of Monstrous Flesh on social media @monstrous_flesh and @monstrousmeg
"The killer is a maniac. But his mind works in a semi-logical pattern. which has a reasonable meaning for him."
We're joined by Matt Rogerson, author of 'The Vatican Versus Horror Movies' (McFarland, 2024), and the upcoming Fulci’s Inferno (2025), to discuss their unique insights into the intersections of the world of horror cinema and faith. We discuss Matt's work and influences, and dissect Lucio Fulci's 1972 Gialli masterpiece 'Don't Torture a Duckling'. Hold on to your ears for this one
***WARNING: Spoilers, explicit language***
Matt Rogerson works in Health & Social Care Research Regulation. His film analysis specialises in the intersections between Horror and Roman Catholicism. His books, The Vatican versus Horror Movies (2024) and Fulci’s Inferno: Faith in the Films of a Giallo and Horror Auteur (2025), are published by McFarland & Co. He also features in House of Leaves Publishing’s Filtered Reality: The Progenitors and Evolution of Found Footage Horror and Palgrave MacMillan’s forthcoming The Handbook of the Zombie, and Arrow Video releases Exorcist 2: The Heretic and Zombie Flesh Eaters. He is the Managing Editor and owner of 1428 Publishing Ltd, whose first book Darkest Margins: Essays on Liminality & Liminal Spaces in the Horror Genre will be published later this year.
Pre-order 'Fulci's Inferno' Matt's exploration of Faith in the Films of Lucio Fulci here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fulcis-Inferno-Horror-Giallo-Auteur/dp/1476696772/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1V5FXPW0FH713&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.AdMTgYz0rabdsZ6wCtUyaINsCAKtqjc_rq05qKYMZ8Jv39KnNqe12AEc32XVl_WYwLYF-Xvx7qy2sYuQP0FprqREOEPKir4PYLPXCrSqSOGkuKx14HBIX6D15-yccXmuMwZAodQA2KfX3hVvFegck6LLgYTI4YcvOmyBpHFWjPs.pu_9IL2nAiLVl_cmDvBQeDBnQpjacGNyMdcJrKvj_SI&dib_tag=se&keywords=fulci%27s+inferno&qid=1749559919&sprefix=fulci%27s+inferno%2Caps%2C85&sr=8-1
Order Arrow Films' 4K release of Fulci's Zombie Flesh Eaters, featuring new writing by Matt here: https://www.arrowfilms.com/zombie-flesh-eaters-limited-edition-4k-uhd/16553796.html
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Find out more about Monstrous Flesh and upcoming events www.monstrousflesh.co.ukFollow Clelia (@monstrous_flesh) and Meg (@monstrous_meg) on Instagram, Threads and X.
Sound design, editing and theme music by Adam Hynes (@adamnarrows).***Cover art by Sobi Graphie
The Daylight Horror series comes to a chilling conclusion! 😱 In our final episode, we dive into the twisted depths of Funny Games and Eden Lake. Prepare for psychological torture, teenage terror, and a whole lot of uncomfortable truths about classism and violence. ☀️🔪 #podcast #horror #daylighthorror #funnygames #edenlake #podcastlife #horrorpodcast"
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Find out more about Monstrous Flesh, our reading list for episodes and upcoming events via our website monstrousflesh.co.uk
Follow Clelia (@monstrous_flesh) and Meg (@monstrous_meg) on Instagram, Threads and X. Sound design, editing and theme music by Adam Hynes (@adamnarrows).
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Sources:
"Hybrid Hoodie Horrors Genre Localisation and Britain’s Moral Panic" (Lindsey Decker, 2021)
"HEARTLESS HOODIES - Contemporary British Horror Cinema: Industry, Genre and Society" (Johnny Walker, 2024)
We're breaking down the chilling double bill of The Wicker Man (both the 1973 AND 2006 version!) and Midsommar.
Get ready for pagan rituals, twisted cults, and a whole lot of uncomfortable sunshine. ☀️💀
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Find out more about Monstrous Flesh, our reading list for episodes and upcoming events via our website monstrousflesh.co.uk
Follow Clelia (@monstrous_flesh) and Meg (@monstrous_meg) on Instagram, Threads and X. Sound design, editing and theme music by Adam Hynes (@adamnarrows).
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This week, we discuss the iconic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - a blood-soaked odyssey into the maddening heat of rural Texas. We dissect the film's enduring legacy, from its groundbreaking violence to its exploration of family, fate, and the American psyche.
We then turn our attention to Carlota Pereda's groundbreaking debut Piggy, delving into themes of bullying, body image, and the monstrous within us all.
Get ready to sweat, scream, and question your sanity.
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Find out more about Monstrous Flesh, our reading list for episodes and upcoming events via our website monstrousflesh.co.uk
Follow Clelia (@monstrous_flesh) and Meg (@monstrous_meg) on Instagram, Threads and X. Sound design, editing and theme music by Adam Hynes (@adamnarrows).
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Welcome to this Monstrous Flesh podcast mini-series, where we turn our attention to a fascinating subgenre - Daylight Horror.
This week we're talking about Steven Spielberg's 1975 cult classic Jaws and Jordan Peele's UFO extravaganza Nope, from 2022. Why do these two films make a great double bill, you ask? ...
Let's talk!
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Find out more about Monstrous Flesh, our reading list for episodes and upcoming events via our website monstrousflesh.co.uk
Follow Clelia (@monstrous_flesh) and Meg (@monstrous_meg) on Instagram, Threads and X. Sound design, editing and theme music by Adam Hynes (@adamnarrows).
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Research for this episode:
JAWS:
"I believe the ladies have explained everything. Now it's up to you, whether to be a goat or a witch. If you choose to be a goat, cut the ribbon. But, if you choose to be a witch, keep your ribbon intact. Then you'll join this witch camp."
In this episode, we delve into Rungano Nyoni’s poignant and powerful film, "I Am Not a Witch" (2017). This unique piece of cinema blends elements of magical realism and social commentary to explore themes of oppression, identity, and resistance through the eyes of an accused young girl in Zambia.
From the film's bold critique of patriarchal structures and its portrayal of the systemic subjugation of women, we explore the heartbreaking journey of the protagonist, Shula, as she navigates a world that views her as both a threat and a commodity.
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Find out more about Monstrous Flesh, our reading list for episodes and upcoming events via our website monstrousflesh.co.uk
Follow Clelia (@monstrous_flesh) and Meg (@monstrous_meg) on Instagram, Threads and X. Sound design, editing and theme music by Adam Hynes (@adamnarrows).
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Cover art by Kurakurakucing
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Research for this episode:
Interview with Rungano Nyoni for Get Into Film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE8eUU7SkWo
I AM NOT A WITCH SHOWS THE BITTER TRUTH BEHIND THE FOLKLORE - https://filmobsessive.com/film/film-analysis/film-genres/art-house/i-am-not-a-witch-shows-the-bitter-truth-behind-the-folklore/?utm_content=cmp-true
‘I Am Not a Witch’: How a Satire About Misogyny Is Transforming Zambia’s Film Industry - https://indiewire.com/features/general/i-am-not-a-witch-rungano-nyoni-interview-zambia-1201999906/
Critical Analysis of 2018 drama I am not a Witch
https://www.academia.edu/41562185/Critical_Analysis_of_2018_drama_I_am_not_a_Witch
https://www.filminquiry.com/i-am-not-a-witch-2018-review/?utm_content=cmp-true
I Am Not a Witch: The ordeal of a young African girl set against the tone of satire
https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/329162/
'Where did the sweet little lady I knew disappear?'
'I gobbled her up'
This week we are discussing Bulbbul from 2020, a hauntingly beautiful horror film that redefines the genre with its rich storytelling and potent symbolism. Set against the backdrop of 19th century Bengal, "Bulbbul" is a tale of love, betrayal, and the supernatural, but most importantly, it’s a powerful commentary on the plight and strength of women.
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Find out more about Monstrous Flesh, our reading list for episodes and upcoming events via our website monstrousflesh.co.uk
Follow Clelia (@monstrous_flesh) and Meg (@monstrous_meg) on Instagram, Threads and X. Sound design, editing and theme music by Adam Hynes (@adamnarrows).
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Cover art by Kurakurakucing
OK, here's your motivation. You're lost, you're angry in the woods, and no one is here to help you. There's a fucking witch and she keeps leaving shit outside your door. There's no one here to help you! She left little trinkets, you fucking took one of them, she ran after us. There's no one here to help you! We walked for 15 hours today, we ended up in the same place! There's no one here to help you, THAT'S your motivation! THAT'S YOUR MOTIVATION!
Welcome back to another episode of the Monstrous Flesh podcast. This week, Clelia and Meg journey into the eerie forests of Maryland to dissect the groundbreaking found-footage horror film, "The Blair Witch Project" (1999).
Join us as we recount the harrowing experiences of the film's characters, Heather, Mike, and Josh, and analyse the psychological dynamics that drive the story to its nerve-wracking conclusion. From the unsettling atmosphere created by the raw, handheld camera work to the haunting final scene that left audiences reeling, stick with us and we just might get you out of the woods...
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Find out more about Monstrous Flesh, our reading list for episodes and upcoming events via our website monstrousflesh.co.uk
Follow Clelia (@monstrous_flesh) and Meg (@monstrous_meg) on Instagram, Threads and X. Sound design, editing and theme music by Adam Hynes (@adamnarrows).
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Cover art by Kurakurakucing
Men are such cocksuckers aren't they? You don't have to answer that. It's true. They're scared. Their dicks get limp when confronted by a woman of obvious power and what do they do about it? Call them witches, burn them, torture them, until every woman is afraid. Afraid of herself... afraid of men... and all for what? Fear of losing their hard-on
This week, we're casting our spell on the 1987 film adaptation of "The Witches of Eastwick," a cinematic gem that blends dark comedy, supernatural thrills, and a powerhouse cast.
Join your hosts Meg and Clelia as we delve into the film's portrayal of power, sexuality, and sisterhood, dissecting the unforgettable performances of Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer, as well as the devilish Jack Nicholson.
Grab a wax figurine and your favourite needles, because it's time to dive into the eerie world of The Witches of Eastwick!
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Find out more about Monstrous Flesh, our reading list for episodes and upcoming events via our website monstrousflesh.co.uk
Follow Clelia (@monstrous_flesh) and Meg (@monstrous_meg) on Instagram, Threads and X. Sound design, editing and theme music by Adam Hynes (@adamnarrows).
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Cover art by Kurakurakucing