Tag Archives: horror

Podcast

240 – Lillith: From Demon To Goddess Featuring The Cast and Crew of “Porno”

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The first time I’d ever heard the name Lillith was because of a role-playing game. In the 90s, Dungeons & Dragons wasn’t quite hardcore enough, so we had to delve into the White Wolf World of Darkness. And tabletop wasn’t hardcore enough, we had to do it live action. That’s right, baby, LARPing (just like Peter Dinklage in the underrated Knights of Badassdom).

If you don’t know what LARPing is, it’s where you dress like your character and act out your Dungeons & Dragons game, except we pretended we were vampires and that the basements of our parents’ houses were nightclubs. Instead of rolling dice, we did rock, papers, scissors, and of course we dressed up goth AF.

White Wolf eventually made it to the mainstream with their TV show, Kindred: The Embraced which was a C. Thomas Howell-starring evening soap about vampires using the mythology from the game. I’m sure that FOX thought they were getting a new Dark Shadows, when it was a lot more like What We Do In The Shadows without the unintentional jokes (it does have a deep bench of 90s’ TV talent though from X-Files’ alien bounty hunter to Lana Lang from Superboy).

Anyway, in the game, Lillith was known as the “Mother of Vampires”. In the Garden of Eden, she was created from the same clay as Adam and was his original wife. However, Lillith was not interested in being subservient to Adam and eventually was kicked out of Eden after doing the nasty with an angel and also reportedly refusing to be on the bottom when she was getting it on with Adam. She’s only mentioned in the Bible once, but she features more prominently in Jewish mysticism and folklore.

So, she’s associated with sex from the very start and she becomes a boogyeman in medieval Jewish culture. If your baby died in the middle of the night, it was Lillith. If you woke up in the middle of the night and felt a pressure on your chest (like the “Old Hag Syndrome”), it was Lillith. She’s been a bad guy in much more than vampire role-playing games, she’s a villian from Supernatural to Bordello of Blood.

Well, in the intervening centuries, the idea of women being subservient to men has gone the way of other medieval thinking and Lillith has been reinvented as an avatar of feminine strength and defiance (Sarah McLachlan even invoked her name for the women-centric fair that was popluar in the late-90s.)

However, in the new horror-comedy, Porno, which premiered at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival, Lillith is back to being the good ol’ Sex Demon that we all know and love. This time she’s tormenting the poor innocent teenagers working at a small town movie theater.

From L to R: Director Keola Racela, “Ricky” Glenn Scott, “Lillith” Katelyn Pearce, “Todd” Larry Saperstein, “Abe” Evan Daves, “Heavy Metal Jeff” Robbie Tann, Writer Laurence Vannicelli, and Writer Matt Black

Drected by Keola Racela and written by Matt Black, Laurence Vannicelli, Porno is right up the alley for fans of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead or Peter Jackson’s Braindead , it’s ridiculous, scary, over-the-top, and has plenty of boobs and blood. We had a chance to talk to the filmmakers, writers, and the cast of Porno at SXSW and interview them about the film. Here’s some of the things you’ll learn in the conversation:

  • The inspiration they took from filmmaker and occultist, Kenneth Anger for their film within a film structure
  • What medieval monks have to do with the original mythology of the Succubus
  • The real-life spookiness of the semi-abandoned town they shot in New York
  • How to keep the right balance of horror and comedy
  • Everyone’s favorite and most influential horror movies
With a poster like that, you know you’re going to have a good time!

Lillith is the spirit of defiance and she copulated with demons and sought vengeance on humanity for being kicked out of the Garden of Eden. For that, we thought we’d include probably the most defiant song we have. Sometimes you’ve just had enough, just like Lillith did in the Garden of Eden, and you’re sick of being on the bottom. That’s what this track is about, here’s Sunspot with “Step On It”.

I’m tired of being your yes man. 
Your fleeting whims have bled me dry. 
I think “No %&*ing way” has a better ring to it anyway, 
Than “How can I please you again my dear?” 

I’ve had enough of being your boy toy. 
The world will still revolve, but not around you. 
I’m gonna stay around; if you don’t like that get out of town 
cuz I will not please you again my dear. 

Every time I see your face, 
I think that I might want to 
STEP ON IT! 

This is for every guy and every girl around the world 
That you have hurt in your whole life 
You take and do not give you take and 
Do not give. You’ve been there too; 
How could you leave and hurt me too? 
You take and do not give you take and 
Do not give! B%&*!

Your egomania has worn me out, 
guess I won’t be the one to cut you 
down to size, 
I think get on your knees has a lot 
more power than “pretty please”, 
so how will you please me again my dear? 

Every time I see your face, 
I think that I might want to 
STEP ON IT! 

This is for every guy and every girl around the world 
That you have hurt in your whole life 
You take and do not give you take and 
Do not give. You’ve been there too; 
How could you leave and hurt me too? 
You take and do not give you take and 
Do not give! 

Every time I see your face, 
I think that I might want to 
TACKLE YOU! 

This is for every guy and every girl around the world 
That you have hurt in your whole life 
You take and do not give you take and 
Do not give. You’ve been there too; 
How could you leave and hurt me too? 
I turned my time to pleasing you, 
You turned away and now you take and 
Do not give, you take and do not give you take and 
Do not give! 

I’ve had enough of being your yes-man, 
I’m sick and tired of being your boy-toy.

Podcast

154 – Are You Afraid of the Dark? A Conversation with D.J. MacHale

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When it came to causing nightmares for the children of the 90s, few people besides the bogeyman himself are as responsible as D.J. MacHale. As the co-creator of Nickelodeon’s long-running Are You Afraid of the Dark? horror series for children, his work terrified a generation of flannel-clad youngsters. In addition to Are You Afraid of the Dark?, D.J. has also authored the ten-volume (!) Pendragon series of young adult science fiction and fantasy books as well as the Morpheus Road ghost story trilogy.

We’re joined in the discussion by Scott Markus from What’s Your Ghost Story? who worked with D.J. on his show Flight 29 Down in the mid–2000s. Scott’s also going to be moderating a panel where D.J. is appearing with some of his Are You Afraid of the Dark? cohorts at Midsummer Scream, which is a festival dedicated to Halloween and horror on July 29th and 30th at the Long Beach Convention Center.

D.J. MacHale Midsummer Scream
Click here to learn more about Midsummer Scream

While Are You Afraid of the Dark? was originally intended as a series of direct-to-video fairy tales that would help beleaguered parents put their kids to sleep, the concept evolved into the campfire ghost story that everyone remembers as D.J. and his co-creator Ned Kandel realized their fairy tale bedtime story series had more possibilities as an anthology television series focused around scary tales instead.

The show ran for seven seasons and produced ninety-one episodes and helped launch the careers of future stars like Ryan Gosling, Eliza Cuthbert, and Neve Campbell. With frequent nods to classic horror cinema, Are You Afraid of the Dark? became one of Nickelodeon’s most fondly remembered programs, but some of the nightmare fuel behind the show came from D.J.’s own paranormal experiences.

d.j. machale are you afraid of the dark
Even the ghosts of classic cinema, like F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, show up in the Tale Of The Midnight Madness

Growing up in an old haunted house in Greenwich, Connecticut, D.J. lived in a home full of weird sounds and feelings. He recalls his mother, someone who definitely wasn’t into the “oogedy-boogedy” side of the world, telling him later on that she had seen a woman in the window upstairs when there was no one in the house. Also, that she would figure out a way to turn off the lights upstairs without having to go through the hallway alone in the dark because she never quite felt comfortable up there.

He remembers two distinct experiences in the house. One, waking up in the middle of the night as a toddler, and seeing a shadow figure floating through the hallway beyond the door. This made such an impression on the young filmmaker that he even recreated it as the opening scene in Are You Afraid of the Dark’s first episode. Art imitating life (or death, as it were!)

Two, as a teenager, while home alone trying to learn “Foxy Lady” bu Jimi Hendrix on guitar, he could hear some kind of weird activity in that same hallway whenever he would put the needle down on the record. When he finally finished the song, he recalls clearly hearing someone in that same hallway sliding up against the wall and sighing. Thinking it was his brother-in-law playing tricks, he searched the house, but there wasn’t anyone there.

D.J. and his mother later theorized that it was the previous owner of the house, a Rose McKeever, who had died on the site, still roaming the upstairs hallway, and “tut-tut”ing young people for their loud music from beyond the grave.

D.J. MacHale Black Sabbath Are You Afraid of the Dark
Where do you think Ozzy and Tony Iommi got the name from?

Gee, ya think Ozzy Osbourne was influenced by this too?

Those experiences and a fateful screening of Boris Karloff’s Black Sabbath at a vintage theater would lead D.J. toward the worlds of fantasy, horror, and science-fiction throughout his career. From his work on Disney’s Tower of Terror film (which we discuss extensively in the podcast) to his latest book series, The Library, which lets the reader help in solving supernatural mysteries, D.J. MacHale is the man behind countless creepy feelings and sleepless nights.

You can find more of D.J. MacHale’s latest works by checking out his website.

The song for this week’s episode is our remix of the “Are You Afraid Of The Dark” theme song. We love how it sets the tone for the creepy stories that follow it, so make sure to listen to Sunspot’s (instrumental) remix of the theme at the end of the podcast!