podcasts
C. Robert Cargill and I have run in some of the same Austin film spaces for some time now, but we didn't actually meet until Fantastic Fest earlier this year. He was gracious enough to agree to come on the podcast, and as luck would have it, his
Tracing The Shape
Sam Loomis is a man haloed by ghosts. We talked earlier about the madness of this scientist driven toward the supernatural by the soulless gaze of a small boy, and that's still there, but even if he wasn't a witness to Michael's first murder,
Tracing The Shape
If you know anything about the production of Halloween, then you probably know that the film was shot not in Illinois in the fall, but in California in the spring. The streets of Haddonfield are quite verdant, the trees full of leaves, so to create some semblance of fall in
Tracing The Shape
Halloween gives me something new every time I watch it. That's not an exaggeration. I have seen this movie at least once a year for at least the last 23 years, and there are still details worth mining, worth expanding. This time around, for instance, I noticed something
Tracing The Shape
Michael Myers doesn't become The Boogeyman until he encounters a child. John Carpenter has done his part over the decades to reinforce the idea that his monster is more force of nature than man, something echoed by Dr. Loomis throughout Halloween. There was a time when it felt
Tracing The Shape
Great Final Girls come in all varieties. Despite what Randy Meeks would have you believe, there is no single formula for nailing the character in any given film. If there was a formula, though, it would be Laurie Strode. Virtuous, apparently pure of heart and body, and determined to fight
Halloween
Sam Loomis is a mad scientist. We don't know if he's always been that way, and we get no clues as to what other factors in his life have driven him to this point, but by the time we meet this man, framed as the hero
podcasts
I've been a fan of Talking Scared, Neil McRobert's author interview podcast, for years. To my mind it's the best show of its kind, and Neil is the best interviewer in the game at the moment. So I was thrilled, as both a listener
John Carpenter
What does Michael Myers want? It's question we will return to again and again over the course of our journey together in these essays, because it's unknown and unknowable. Michael cannot, will not tell us, leaving us only with his actions and the fevered analysis of
Tracing The Shape
Every year, my wife hosts a pumpkin carving party for family and friends. It's a very chill evening, complete with snacks and drinks and, usually, something very kid-friendly on TV. It's also the evening that, every year, I carve the same jack-o'-lantern: The one
movies
The image you see above is my favorite shot in all of horror cinema. I've done my homework, looked at all the other major contenders, and it's never gotten better or more atmospheric than this single image. Despite how much I talk about and think about
books
I've been listening to Neil McRobert talk about horror writing on his essential podcast, Talking Scared, for years now, so when I learned he had a novella landing in 2025 I reached out to the publisher, because I wanted to make sure I got an early look at