Basement Girls
A horror (and whatnot) podcast.
Co-Hosts
Latest Episodes
Episode 13:
The Santa Clause as Body Horror
with Peter Counter
Never put on a dead man's clothes!
Author and culture critic Peter Counter joins Steph Grossman and Bianca Pérez in the basement to discuss how The Santa Clause (1994), starring Tim Allen, is actually a movie about body horror, possession, and the sublime. It's basically a yuletide Hereditary (in fact, we're pretty sure Santa Claus knows Paiman...).
Episode 12:
Ray Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree
Book & Movie Review
With Bianca Pérez out for her Hallowedding (!), WIRED Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast host David Barr Kirtley joins Steph Grossman in the basement to discuss the '90s animated Halloween classic, The Halloween Tree (1993), as well as the Ray Bradbury 1972 novella of the same name that inspired it.
Episode 11:
Summer Camp Horror: Friday the 13th
It ain't fall 'til September 23rd y'all.
Hold onto sweet, scary summer for one more day by joining your resident basement girls in their discussion about the summer camp horror film that started it all: the original Friday the 13th. Topics include a brief history of summer camp, the "whodunnit" aspect of the film, cozy horror, feminist subtext, final girls, motherhood, and how the famous "ch ch ch ah ah ah" sound is actually a remix of "kill kill kill ma ma ma" (really! That's what it says!). P. S. Steph deeply hates Neddy.
We also answer questions and comments from a few listeners who also happen to be authors: William Jensen, Brendan Deneen, and Amy Gentry.
Episode 10:
Found Footage Horror, Part 2: Modern Found Footage
Screenlife = Screamlife.
Steph Grossman and Bianca Pérez discuss how recent innovations in the found footage genre tap into our internet addictions and round-the-clock "screenlife" to create uniquely contemporary horror stories. “Screamlife” FF films discussed include: Megan is Missing (2011), Unfriended (2015), Unfriended: Dark Web (2018), Searching (2018), Host (2020), and *sigh* Dashcam (2022). Also discussed: modern found footage in the form of online urban legends (Slenderman), Youtube videos (Marble Hornets and The Backrooms), and iconic found footage-y posts found on Twitter ("Dear David") and Reddit ("Pen Pal").
Episode 9:
Spencer Movie Review
with Adam D. Jameson
“Is she eating the g*dd*mn pearls?!”
Author and film critic Adam D. Jameson joins Steph Grossman and Bianca Pérez to discuss the gothic elements of Pablo Larraín's princess Diana movie Spencer (2021) that make it a Christmas horror film. SPENCER was written by Steven Knight, and stars Kristen Stewart, Timothy Spall, Sean Harris, and Sally Hawkins.
Episode 8:
Found Footage Horror, Part 1: The History of the Genre
My cam shake brings all the fans to the yard.
Steph Grossman and Bianca Pérez present the history of found footage, a beloved sub-genre of horror, starting with its literary origins, and then discussing the earliest and most iconic FF horror films: David Holzman’s Diary (1967), Cannibal Holocaust (1980), The McPherson Tape (1989), The Blair Witch Project (1999), The Last Broadcast (1998), and Paranormal Activity (2007).
Episode 7:
The Two Suspiria’s
Dance until you die/get pretzeled.
Literature scholar Bryce Jeter joins Steph Grossman and Bianca Pérez to discuss the similarities and differences between Dario Argento’s original Suspiria (1977) and Luca Guadagnino’s remake of it (2018), written by David Kajganich, and starring Dakota Johnson and Tilda Swinton (who goes above and beyond—as always—playing not one but two witches, and also an 82-year-old man. What a pro!).
Episode 6:
Interview with Alex Amick, Editor of The Wind
In our first-ever My Favorite Horror interview, Alex Amick, editor of The Wind, joins us to discuss breaking into the movie industry via film editing, what it was like on the set of The Wind (hint: it involved creepy night horses…), and her favorite horror, The Witch.
The Wind (which we reviewed in Episode 1) is a western horror film set on the American frontier, where a woman is left to deal with the darkness of the prairie—and her own mind. The Wind is now streaming on Netflix.
Browse all episodes.
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Basement Girls Soundtrack
Inspired by horror.
We’ve curated a playlist of songs that have either appeared in horror films we’ve watched, or that give off a deep, dark vibe.
Featuring: Phoebe Bridgers. Pixies. Songs from A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. And more.
