Still Scared: Talking Children's Horror

Welcome to a world of texture, spooky kids, as your hosts Adam Whybray and Ren Wednesday (but more Adam, let's be honest) show you around the dilapidated Wonderland of Czech surrealist Jan Švankmajer's film Alice from 1988. Get ready for crackling and slurping and rattling, clacking and creaking and crunching as Ren and Adam just scrape the surface of what this stop-motion interpretation of Alice in Wonderland has to offer. Transcript available in the show notes here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/77-svankmejeralice

Hello spooky kids! In this very nearly topical episode, your hosts Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray discuss the phenomena that is The Amazing Digital Cirucs, created by Gooseworx. Is it for children? Is it horror? Is it Vapourwave? Is it Watership Down? All these questions and more will be answered on this rambling journey through the thing what the kids like these days. Enjoy! Transcript is in the show notes here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/76-amazingdigitalcircus

A new children's horror classic enters the Still Scared canon with Clive Barker's The Thief of Always from 1994! For this episode co-hosts Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are joined by totally unsuspicious guest Cat Burroughs to chat about this little-known but heavy hitting modern fable by writer, director, artist and progenitor of goths Clive Barker. The textures are out in force in this one, so let's get scritchy. Content note: There's a description of what appears to be a hanged body that we read aloud, and mention of a couple of cat deaths.

Ee-i, adio spooky kids, and welcome to our Robert Cormier episode, in which Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray discuss three books by the American writer known for his 'deeply pessimistic novels'. We talk about I Am The Cheese from 1977, Fade from 1988 and The Rag and Bone Shop from 2001 (published posthumously), an unsettling, ambitious and chewy trio of novels that lean into the 'disturbing' element of our 'creepy, spooky and disturbing' purview. Transcript available here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/74-robert-cormier Content note: General discussion of dark themes and we read an extract from I Am The Cheese in which the protagonist is chased by a dog and it might be a bit intense for listeners afraid of dogs.

Happy new year, spooky kids! In this episode your hosts Adam Whybray and Ren Wednesday return to John Wyndham with his last book, Chocky from 1968, and the TV adaptation from 1984. We talk about Chocky's unusual parental perspective, Wyndhiam masculinity and possession horror, and digressions include Sonic Spinball, the works of Donald Winnicot and Cat Stevens' prog rock album. Transcript in the show notes!

Happy belated 8th (!) anniversary to Still Scared, spooky kids! In this episode, your hosts Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are returning to the British children's author Robert Swindells, and his novels Stone Cold from 1993 and Hydra from 1991. These two very different examples of children's horror give us plenty of scope to discuss the varied expressions of the genre, and this episode's digressions include the creation of the Honey Monster, the genius of George Elliot and the surprisingly specific prudishness of pre-teens. Enjoy! And just a warning, Stone Cold is on the grittier side. There’s a serial killer character and a bit more violent. Nothing too explicit, but it’s not as fun as some of our other topics. Hydra is pretty fun though, so you can skip to the end if you just want that one, at 52.00.

Jump off the fishing boat into the mythology pool, spooky kids, because today we're going back to the twelfth century via 2003, with the animated film Y Mabinogi! For this whirlwind introduction to Welsh mythology, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are joined by returning guest Mattie Dogrose to chat skeletal horses, mouse gallows and of course, carrying the giant severed -- but still living -- head of your leader home from Ireland. Many thanks to Mattie to introdcung us to this film and these stories! Content note: Several characters in these stories have a traumatic time surrounding childbirth and motherhood A transcript of this episode is available in the shownotes, here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/71-y-mabinogi

Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are joined by returning guest Ava Foxfort (veteran of our Deptford Mice episodes) to talk about the beloved 80s masterpiece Terrorvision, and also some film called Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The Bob Hoskins Appreciation Society is fully represented, and the adjective grody finds its perfect application. Grab yourself a specific brand of lager beer, and get on into it! *Unlike the movie Terrorvision, this podcast is not sponsered by any American beer companies.

We've got a sequel on our hands, spooky kids, and you'd better believe it's disquieting and unsatisfying! Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are back to discuss Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Roald Dahl's hodge-podge of a sequel to his beloved classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Hotel employees are eaten alive by aliens! Willy Wonka reveals the chocolate factory contains a hell dimension! And there's some really tedious poems! You'd be forgiven for skipping this book, but have a listen to the episode. A transcript of the episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/69-great-glass-elevator

It's been a while since we've talked about Japanese children's horror, but your co-hosts Adam Whybray and Ren Wednesday are back this month to chat about the anime of The Promised Neverland. Don't go past the fence or through the gate, because this story goes darker faster than you might expect. A transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/68-promised-neverland