Slasher Digest FM: October Previews

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Spooky season greetings and salutations and don't touch that dial. You're listening to Slasher Digest FM. It is I, your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast and resident slasher in chief, Chris. And as always, we're joined by our contributor and demonic darling, Cho.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Night of the Reaper, huh?

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Kinda catchy. If you're not in the loop on Slasher Digest, it's actually our free newsletter where our listeners can have a one-chop shop to find the latest on Hacker Slash from the content that we produce to discourse in our community, behind the scenes perspective on the show, and some of our upcoming attractions.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

It's a great way to catch up or keep in touch with all of the awesome and fun stuff going on in and around the Hacker Slash community, especially during spooky season. But it's also a great first read for the new blood coming in. Welcome. Hello. So this is a great first step to help you guys get your feet wet and kind of find your place in our little community.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

For sure. Now this episode actually takes things even further because it actually gives us a deeper look at what's happening on the show behind the scenes and what awaits us in the month ahead specifically. And normally this is an episode that's usually reserved for patrons, but we actually want to bring everyone in on the fun during our favorite time of year.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

So welcome to all of the Slasher FM newbies who may be watching or listening to us for the very first time on Slasher FM. We hope you enjoy hearing some of these deeper cuts, some of these longer conversations, and hopefully you decide once spooky season wraps that you really want to keep listening to us and even decide maybe to sign on as a patron to keep getting this awesome content.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Hell yeah. But listen, we're not going to look at November yet because right now, channel, at long last, the air is crisp somewhere else besides South Florida, of course. But the month that we have all been waiting for, for all intents and purposes, is here. We've been celebrating spooky season, obviously, all September, but October spooky season just yeah, it's a little different like.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Absolutely. That's right. And all of September, the uh the erudite and wise students of Hackerslash University have been hitting the books, putting pen to paper. And really, Chris, as Dean of the Damned of Hackerslash U, I'm pretty proud to share that all of our students are poised and ready to graduate into the 31 Days of Horror in October.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Oh my gosh. Wow. And listen, we talk about in this economy the cost of education. This one's all free.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

It's you can't get a better deal, honestly, and just the quality of education, the quality of community you're getting. I mean, what's not to love, Chris?

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Yeah, it's like, you know, you can join a sicker version of a frat without all the gross parts of being in a frat. You know?

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's it's the Brotherhood without yeah, without all the gross stuff.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

It's it's a cult, is what it is, actually. That's what we are. We're a cult.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Slowly growing our cult status. So welcome, welcome, all new blood to that. But Chris, obviously, yeah, we've got a lot going on in October. Some celebratory, you know, we've already started with the celebratory shenanigans. So tell us what what else can we look forward to in October as we really dive in?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

For sure. Really great questions all around. First things first, if you are here with us right now, this might be your first time. If you've been here before, then you know, especially in all of September, that September and October in our spooky season brings free sides. Now, B sides are usually the extended version of our episodes that all of our patrons get. And that's for all things besides the point. It's typically where we go on like rants, tangents, some are related to the movie, sometimes inspired by the movie, sometimes we find ourselves in some really weird places. But it always has some sort of purpose. I promise. Those extended episodes are actually now completely free for everyone in the spooky season, so you can look forward to even more of that. Now, in terms of episodes, we have a few things. One, we have candy corn that already published. If you're looking for another dose of Tony Todd, you got it. Don't expect a lot of them. And I know that candy corn, as it is, is a very divisive candy, so I think it's up to you whether or not you're gonna have fun with this movie specifically. I'll reserve my thoughts, listen to the episode. But then we go into actually two new releases this month. So we're gonna have the Strangers Chapter 2 releasing, and later in the month we're gonna have the Blackphone 2 and lodged in between those two movies. And actually, rounding out the rest of the month, one between those two movies, and then one to close us out. We have a couple that folks usually are looking forward to. And I tell you, we have had a lot of people asking for the exorcism of Emily Rose.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Really? Really?

SPEAKER_00 4:48

This is one that continues to come up over the years, and folks, you're finally getting it. And I'm very proud to say that we have finally made it far enough into the Halloween franchise to be doing Halloween 20 years later, which you may know from 1998 as H2O.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

It's incredible that we've we've reached this point. But more importantly, Chris, I would like to mention that if we're at H2O, all roads lead to a Halloween resurrection being on next year's Halloween.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

I am so excited! You kind of had to really hold me back from doing two Halloween movies this year because Praise be to Busta. Praise be to Busta, indeed. Oh, okay. Listen, and if you don't know what we're talking about here, you may also not know about the good word of Saint LL Gul Jay. Praise be to Busta and LL Gul Jay are both cornerstones of our Discord community. So if you want to get in on the know, don't worry, it doesn't cost a thing. Just come and hang out with us. It's completely free and it's a great safe haven for incredible discussions about horror and also just meeting really great people.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Yes. And as if we weren't busy enough, Chris, the hackerslash university faculty and staff are also gonna be bringing you a bunch of bonus episodes, continuing that fun throughout the month. We recently dropped our guide to the best 31-day watch list tips, and we're gonna be diving in with some a lot more fun stuff with some of the other hosts about horror hot takes. Chris, I believe you and Sean are gonna be giving us a review of Halloween horror nights eventually. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Oh, yeah, that's gonna happen. What you know, depending on the exact date, because Sean and I, oh I'm so excited. This is the last episode that I record until we both go. It's gonna be so good. We're gonna go there on the 8th of October, and then we're gonna try to get an episode out the following week for it. I'm so excited, Shell. I cannot like we have begged for a terrifier house, and I know that we've also wanted another crack at a Jason house. Uh listen, we're gonna be in heaven. I have set aside so much money to spend there because I just know I'm gonna buy a bunch of bullshit.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

I am so excited to hear from you guys on how it is, and just yeah, especially getting what you asked for double whammy in one year. Yeah, I'm so excited to hear what you and Sean have to say about your experience.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. Also, I just haven't seen Sean in a long time, and I'm very excited for that.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Great little reunion.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Absolutely. Now, in terms of other stuff that we have going on, you know, Chell, you're always keeping it loaded for us with incredible blog content. We have a lot that's happening this month, and more to come on what our blog is gonna look like because we are also doing something new this year where we are really committing to the bit here. We're doing, and this is an exercise of vulnerability and letting go of perfection, believe me, but we're having fun making 31 reels for 31 days of horror. So between myself and Sean and Binks, we've all kind of mix it up. And we've picked a grouping of days, and we are gonna give one recommendation of a movie from our list of available recommendations to post on social media, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc. It's gonna be a good time. And actually, I'm really excited that from there we're getting a lot of new folks who have never heard about us before, which is really exciting. Very small in terms of social media. Like uh again, I'm a big introvert, I don't do social media, but the fact that we're still finding new people is really exciting on the YouTube side of things. I've seen now a few comments come through where we've had people who have been listening to us for over a year, are not in the Discord, are not on our Instagram, and are just learning that we had a YouTube channel. So this is fucking working out great.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Yes, yes. It has been definitely a season of connection, Chris. And you know, we've been talking even since August of really encouraging people to expand their horror horizons wherever they were in the hackerslash community. We wanted them to expand and try and find those other pools and communities, and we'll get into that in a little bit, but it has been a huge success in my eyes, trying to really just get all of those different areas connected a little more.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

100%. It feels so good. And let me tell you, like this chapter where I am in my life, I've been I've been working a lot, I've been doing a lot, and I'm always someone who tries to go, go, go, go, go, do, do, do, do, do. And I think that's also like my formative years as a young adult was spent in the military where you're working nonstop and you're just going at it 100%. And if you don't feel like you can go anymore, you keep going, right? So it's incredible to see how I can apply a different level of that to something that I love, but not only just like endlessly pour into it, which for so long has it's kind of felt that way. But to be in this space, ever since really we started our Discord server, and it's continued to grow since then, but to be in this place where we're just like really seeing everyone come together, that I cannot tell you. Like, I don't even mean just patrons, right? Like, especially patrons who are like it's such an incredible, like little tightening community we have. But genuinely, every single comment, every review, every comment on our YouTube, like I read it all. This is obsessive for me. It's like been like my I wouldn't say it's like my life's work, but like it's almost kind of my fucking it's the longest commitment I've had in my life.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

I'm yeah, I would say you put a lot of work and time.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Yeah, I've been doing this podcast longer than I was in the Navy, longer than my longest relationship, and longer than my tenure at this company I at, which I absolutely fucking love, right? Like this has been a point of stability. And to see everybody come together, it just reminds me that like the original vision of this was to create an environment, right? To foster an environment in which conversations about horror movies serve as catalysts for enriching connections for people. And that it feels like it's it's really coming to fruit.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

It really so is, especially uh, yes, we've had a really great Discord community. Obviously, I came in through the Discord community. A lot of us did that are really present now, leading those conversations, even leading some community events in there. Yeah, absolutely. And I'm I'm seeing this new wave now on Discord with the 31 days of horror. And it's really interesting because we actually, thanks to Chris, have had a new space for us all to really come together for the 31 days of horror. So, Chris, you want to tell us a little bit about the tracker?

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Oh my gosh, Joe. Listen, last year we did a Google sheet. And if you listen to our previous episode, and really our previous bonus episode, you'll hear about like the trials and tribulations of that Google spreadsheet, right? Works for some. If you love spreadsheets, apparently not everyone else isn't like me. And I get that I'm a spreadsheet nerd. I can make a point system for literally anything. It's kind of ridiculous. It's impressive. Listen, no, I don't know, impressive or traumatic, I don't know. But now we have this tracker. And what this tracker allows you to do is actually chart your progress over the course of 31 days. And you can choose not only to log the movie, but to really explore an in-depth review as in-depth or as not in-depth or as superficial as you would like it to be. But then it also, and this is what I'm really excited about, also really links you to our entire back catalog to see all relevant episodes for those movies that we've covered, which has honestly been really exciting, Chell, because obviously we're on an episode we just recorded episode 412, 413, etc. And there are so many episodes that people ask for that we've already done, and they don't realize that we've already done because they just haven't scrolled far back enough on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. So I think resurfing this, so I think resurfacing this has just been such a great way of just extending the life of what we do and really memorializing that. So I'm really excited about it. But I have some early results if you would like to hear. Like what kind of numbers did you expect?

SPEAKER_01 12:57

I figured we'd have because our Discord was really excited about, we had some beta testers. I figured we'd have about probably maybe two dozen industrious folks because it is an extra platform and people are busy and you know, and obviously starting out sometimes. We haven't talked about it a super ton yet. So probably it'd say probably about two dozen. I'd say probably logging in and tracking their stuff with us.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

For sure. So I think, gosh, I can't remember the number that we had on the spreadsheet last year. We had some, but it was definitely less than two dozen. And when we think about how complex a spreadsheet can be, I expected it to be an easier tick because this is now just a website that you go to. It's a survey in a form that you fill out. But when I tell you, I thought I would be lucky if we to get about that, right? The two dozen. Okay, are you ready? To hear this incredible insight.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

I'm on the edge of my seat.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

I am too. I'm gonna be real. I'm gonna be I am too. Since we started this on October 1st, we have had 545 visits to the forum. We have had 315 unique visitors, and about a third of that is actually translated to participants. So we have right around 100 participants, which is wild. Wild.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Wild, uh, almost 100 people, and it's been yeah, it's been we haven't even gotten to the first full first full week of October, and that's numbers.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Yeah, it's wild because again, this is something that's set up where when you get to the landing page, you can pick whatever day. You don't have to do all 31 days, you can join us and meet us wherever you are, so it's not too late, even as you listen to this. It's about getting some good recommendations for horror movies, and you can click around, bounce around as much as you want, but a hundred people is just wild to me, chall. It's wild and more than I would have expected from us not even really having a landing page for this on our website, right? Like we talk about it in our bonus episodes. Now we're talking about it on social media through like the 31 days reels, but that's about it. That's about it. We haven't even really talked about this in every core episode that we do. That's insane to me.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

That is that is huge. And obviously, I mean, first of all, thank you to all those folks who, you know, dove in with us and you know wanted to start tracking. And one thing I do want to point out, Chris, obviously, 31 Days of Horror, we've talked a lot about the themes, but you are not beholden to that theme. So say you're listening to this on October, you know, 5th or 6th, and you're realizing, oh crap, I didn't watch a, I didn't watch a Stephen King movie on October 1st. Still log it. You know, it's not gonna kick you off for it. We still want you logging whatever you watched that day, whether it was an American horror story episode or half of a nightmare on Elm Street on AMC, like, yeah, please, like, it is not too late to to be a part of it, even if you're backlogging and just, you know, including those things. It does not have to be on theme. That's just a fun way to do it. But if you're watching horror, that's the whole, that's the whole name of the game here.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Exactly. Listen, rules are meant to be broken. You come as you are, you don't have to conform or comply. But we'd love to see your progress along the way. Because whether you're watching something with us or you're watching an episode of Scooby-Doo, like this is the kind of place where we want to see what everyone's up to, if you like to share that with us. And we want to think about just the thoughts that you have and such interesting perspective to take away from this, and just really celebrating that within the community because it's also not just the tracker show, it's also our Discord community where people are just chatting about their picks, offering recommendations, asking your questions and get some answers. I couldn't help it with a Disney song. But it's been great to see it all come to life. And Sean's also doing something special where he's putting in 31 songs, so he's doing a spooky fucking Halloween song a day. It's great.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Yes, yes. And shout out to Sean with that, adding that in because I I I have friends who who run a bar and they're starting their spooky season and they were trying to do a playlist. And I'm like, I'm just gonna keep pulling every day. Whatever Sean's given, I'm just gonna drop it into my Spotify playlist for him. So yeah, it's it's a nice addition because yeah, you don't think about the music side of things. And in the Discord community, on one of the first couple days of October, we dropped in as our question of the day of what people's 31 days of horror goals were. And a lot of them said just sticking with it until the end because life happens, it takes a lot to do, you know, 31 full days of movie a day. But I do think this tracker is helping a lot of them stay accountable or being like, I, you know, I want to put something up. I wanna, I wanna, you know, include myself in it. So I think that's also been a really good motivator for some folks to have that like little reward of like, yeah, I get to add on to the tracker, you know, I get to brag and say, I watch this.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

For sure. And I think if you know me, my personal life, and you know what my line of work is, you're probably laughing to yourself, thinking, oh yeah, there goes Chris Accountability Rojas. But for sure, right? Like I if I know how to do two things, it's one to be consistent and two to make a system that allows you to be consistent. However, I fucking love it. I fucking love it. It's just even now I'm scrolling through, right? And I can see a couple folks uh well, I can I definitely I guess I could see everybody if I wanted to, but I was able to turn on and get this system to work to to log and to allow me to see partial submissions and to see the thoughtfulness that everyone's weaving into these is just love it so much. It's so good.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Huh. We love to hear it. Yes, we've got some very insightful, very smart horror movie watchers in our community, and I really I'm really loving being able to see them shine in this way.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

Mm-hmm. A hundred percent. You know what else has been shining, Chill? Tell me. It's been our community events that we had in September in the beginning here of October, where we're really bringing the people together to watch some good shit. Apparently, I lost my virginity in the Discord server with Rocky Horror Picture Show specifically. Thank you all for being there for that magical moment. I didn't think that's something I would ever say on a fucking podcast.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

No, absolutely. And I mean, I I am a Rocky Horror regular. I love going, so I was so excited to be able to do a screening. And yes, Chris, I know you, and there were a couple others that were new to the game that were, you know, we were shouting, we were shouting things out in the chat, we're getting up and dancing to the time warp on camera. So it was a lot going on, but it it was a ton of fun. It was one of our most highly attended watch parties that we've had in the Hackerslash Discord, and it was a damn good time. Just vibes were impeccable for a Thursday night.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

Mm-hmm. And listen, the vibes continue to be impeccable because we have Meets Double Feature, which was Stellar. And we also had Nathan coming through with an impromptu paranormal activity watch party.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

Yes, and there's hopes that he'll kind of continue doing that where he's gonna read the room through October, see if we want to drop in a couple more paranormal activity watch parties in there. And yeah, Meets Double Feature. I was able to hop in for the first one. It was Fright Night from the 80s, which it's been a very long time since it was one of the first really horror movies I watched when I was really diving in into the the canon of 80s horror. But man, that is such a fun movie. And Chris Sarandon's not too bad to look at either in that movie.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

Listen, he's a handsome guy. I get it.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

So shout out to Meat for doing that, continuing to wow us with his selections. And I'm really excited to see, you know, I I we haven't really heard much yet of what he might be cooking for October. We're not sure if he's gonna take October off with all the 31 days stuff, but I'm sure in the next couple months we will see Meet hopefully returning to do some more double features, and we're really excited to see what he brings us next.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

A hundred percent. And listen, for those of you, I know we keep talking about the Discord server, for those of you who have been popping in, holy shit, welcome. We love having you here. Chell, you I think have a count of the number of new folks who joined our Discord server just within September.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Yes, from September to yeah, throughout the whole month, we had 17 new Discord users. That's crazy numbers. And many of those, sometimes we get people that join and we don't hear much from them, you know, and it can be a very overwhelming place for a lot of people. If you're not in familiar with Discord, of course. But so many of these folks dove right in. They they they heard about the 31 dings, they heard about what was going on, and they dove right in. So kudos to them, kudos to our Discord community who obviously wrapped their arms around them almost immediately in the chats, especially 31 Dings. And I believe there were some conversations in some of the meetings.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

chats and the cryptid chats so yeah they're made the the newcomers made their you know made themselves at home pretty quickly in the Discord which we love to see again you folks really continue to make this house a home so thank you we love that and speaking of the people who have been keeping a buzz along chill I know you also were taking some insights from how active our website has been throughout September and I think this is significant right because we know that that links to literally every episode we have but then all the things that we're sharing in advance about how to prep for the spooky season and we also had a few good blog posts in there too.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Yes the the hackerslash community all of our students were really studying up in September we had 515 users in September which is great numbers absolutely fantastic and our average active time we went to about 31 seconds which isn't as high as prior but that's also because we had a lot more users we had a lot more things for folks to look at so I even though you know 31 seconds isn't as high as we were seeing sometime during the summer I mean everything has been popping off or seeing the visits and I think a lot of people again in September we encouraged them to you know kind of expand their view of Hackersash. So I think we had a lot of folks just looking around checking it out getting a feel for it getting a vibe and yeah we welcome them. We're happy we hope they found what they were looking for on our blog and our website and hopefully they keep coming back.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Yeah for sure and I think the other interesting thing here is that we often look back to our website as being the gateway for things. So sometimes people go there just to click on to our Discord and to click on to our Patreon and to click on to a few other things. So I feel great about it. Thank you so much. But let's talk about what was in the website because holy shit you're putting in some effort you put in monstrous effort on these blog posts.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

We were prepping our students we were churning out the good stuff so of course we kicked it all off with our student handbook of sorts Be True to your ghoul which talked about kind of how we were going to do spooky season this year how for everyone to make the most of it and y'all listened y'all were again expanding your horizons you were talking you were prepping doing the group project or preparing for the 31 days so that study guide is obviously still up that student handbook is still there with any tips and tricks if you need to go back and you know really check on yourself to make sure that yeah you are really getting the most out of this spooky season. And then yeah we had a couple of we called them homework assignments during this during September, one of them being watching a horror documentary and we gave them a little bit of help. We we had a study guide of why horror documentaries are something that you should have on your radar especially kind of in the build up to spooky season when you're really going to be drinking from the fire hose with all these different types of horror and gave them some recommendations that because I am a big fan of horror documentaries I love them. It was kind of a really good way for me to be brave into past and future kind of horror endeavors. So yeah we wanted to expand people's horizons in that way see if they had anything they you know they wanted to learn about the horror movies that they loved most and the uh thread is still open in the uh film class 101 if you want to chat about your film and horror documentaries that you watched or are continuing to watch or maybe inspired your 31 days of horror.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Hell yeah and the great thing about hackerslash you is that we accept late assignments. So if you didn't do it in September not too late.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Full credit no grade deductions none of that nonsense yes and then another assignment was actually handed down by Professor Frank and Sean and of course our slasher in chief Chris about some spooky season bucket lists. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

Listen every time you start getting into the season you must assemble a list of ways to actually enjoy the season that includes you know really digging into haunts any big theme parks or local haunts that you have thinking about how you're going to celebrate with spooky music, spooky recipes, etc but also just some great hauls from your local shops with Halloween decor. And really sitting back there's one thing that I want to add on there and I know I was talking about carving pumpkins and I I talked to my whole thing about how I didn't know about pumpkin carving until I dated a white girl from the Midwest. However I just want to provide a quick update I think the compromise and Sean is going to excommunicate me from this podcast I think I'm gonna get a craft pumpkin and try to just carve that because I live in an apartment in fucking Florida and these things won't last but a day but I'm gonna get a little hot knife I'm gonna get a craft pumpkin and I'm gonna try to fucking carve a pumpkin like and see how that goes. And then when I go to visit Sean and hang out at his house then I'll carve a real pumpkin there.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

There you go you get both best of both worlds I for one am excited to see your craft project.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

Hey I'm excited to see it too but that is just one example of the many things that you can do. So if you are trying to work through your spooky season bucket list and you want to see what you should be at or what are you missing, check out either the episode or the blog post. It's there to guide the way for you.

SPEAKER_01 27:21

Yes. And then we rounded out alongside our Rocky horror episode and our Rocky horror watch party we also had a blog on there Jump Scares and Jazz Squares just talking about the beautiful mix of horror and musicals two of my favorite loves that I can talk endlessly about and makes me a whippin' on Trivia Night but an absolute nightmare most any other place. So it was a lot of fun to be able to to write about those things and wax poetic and kind of introduce some folks to some different angles of horror musicals not only Rocky horror and repo but some actual Broadway musicals like the Evil Dead musical and uh original horror movie horror musical soundtracks such as We Are the Tigers which was off Broadway about the uh it's a slasher essentially about these cheerleaders at a team building retreat and they get picked off one by one and we don't know who the killer is. It's catchy it's fun check it out. What the fuck why didn't you tell me about this I I I was waiting for the right time I knew you would be so devoted to it and we just didn't have time for it. It's outstanding we are the tigers it's all on YouTube and Spotify it's off Broadway.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

Do yourself a favor check it out Wow wow I have lost my Sunday now that's great I need you to know what's been living rent free in my head please tell it's been the it's been the Halloween episode of Greece Rise of the Pink ladies yep and then every Halloween episode of Glee.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

They did such good great glee episodes on Halloween they I mean Rocky Horror we talked about that how that was your intro to it but God I think there was one year where Sue Sylvester was like jigsaw on a bike I think there was an elevator involved if I remember sure was it was good shit.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

It's okay maybe maybe the watch party that I do is gonna be a watch party of all the Halloween episodes of Glee. We'll see more to come I am so for it. Yeah now looking at everything that we assembled A in our Discord in our website thinking about the community it all kind of gets packaged up together when we think about the core point of our show which is a podcast and we do episodes where we review movies which is pretty exciting. Now one of the things that we're super excited about is that we had two really strongly performing movies this month overall we did pretty fucking solid for September.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

We had a little over twenty four thousand downloads which were a fairly quiet September not too bad at all however pointing out here that within the first week we had the Conjuring last rites and sinners that both cleared 2000 which is to no one's surprise honestly everybody wanted those episodes I was I was real excited with the the put out this this month and yeah absolutely with some of these people have been begging for for a while I mean honestly Chris the whole slate was really what people have been wanting even Hellhouse LLC and the Rocky Horror Picture Show I mean Hellhouse has always had a special place in our community so when the new lineage came out uh it was certainly a movie but people were our community was ready for it they were yearning for the Hellhouse and the Rocky Horror Picture Show is always going to be a crowd pleaser.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

For sure it absolutely is but I think what's significant to note here is Rocky Horror posted later in the month so we haven't fully gotten all their stats so I know that it's that episode's not going to be that episode is not going to be outperformed by Hellhouse LLC Lineage. I also think it's hilarious Hellhouse LLC Lineage got anything over like 1200 good for that movie.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

Sorry for everyone who watched it hey it's dropping on shutter at the end of October so maybe if you uh if you're brave enough and October 30th you decide to watch it you know where your next stop should be is is that episode of Hacker Slash.

SPEAKER_00 31:25

Yeah we'll get we'll get we'll get a few more in there we'll get a few more in there we'll we'll get the mileage out of trauma bonding.

SPEAKER_01 31:31

Exactly now obviously that is incredible news that we have more things dropping on shutter but child I think you've also done a great job collecting some insight on what else is happening where in the world of horror yes oh my gosh I am I am a watch list girly I all year long await the lineups for some of those iconic TV even just cable lineups for Halloween AMC Fear Fest is one and freeform formerly APC families 31 nights of Halloween so yes both of those drop rather late this year it was pro it was very late probably the 29th or 30th of September that these were dropping but we do have AMC Fear Fest coming back. It's in full swing and we have Janelle Monet who is our host again she was a fan favorite last year so they brought her back and it's they've got some fantastic themes this past weekend was a Freddie versus Jason weekend where they were alternating between Friday the 13th movies and nightmare on Elm Street movies. They of course have their Halloween kickoff marathon which happened on October 1st and it's just it's outstanding. If you're really just wanting to I'm a person that when I'm doing stuff around the house I just want TV to almost watch me. So having Fearfest on just letting letting AMC decide what I'm gonna watch you know for the 45 minutes as I'm folding laundries it's very freeing so yes here's my problem A I only have like streaming now I don't I I don't I don't have cable anymore but I'm sure I can access this through the AMC app.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

However my problem is that I desperately need to sweep him off my FRP and if I walk by that fucking TV and Michael Myers is on it if you know praise be to Saint Busta himself if he is on it and Halloween resurrection is going I'm fucking I'm done I'm not doing shit I'm watching game over I'm watching the movies I can't do it I can no longer be productive I just have to enjoy this season we're in where horror movies reign supreme over on a channel.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

I love that yes I totally get that and then for those folks who maybe you've got kiddos in your life or maybe you just need a break from some of the heavy stuff you've been watching freeform is always a great option they're the ones coming in with fantastic options like the Addams Family Addams Family Values the Hocus Pocus is all throughout the year all throughout the season yeah it's it's a good place where again yeah you're like you know what I don't want to put a lot of effort I don't want to put a lot of thought in I want to watch something familiar and comfortable 31 Nights of Halloween at freeform is always a great answer. Yeah they've even got Hotel Transylvania is coming out this year with it they're bringing back Sweeney Todd and Nightmare Before Christmas so it's it's a good place to go. I always kind of like having it on like oh if I'm having a party I know there's some folks that you know maybe don't love horror that's a great option let's put that on and let let freeform tell us what we're gonna be watching for a couple hours.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Yeah I think it's also hilarious that freeform is the family friendly option and then we have pretty little liars go on as long as we did on Freeform. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

We love that absolutely wild bananas yes now in terms of other newness you have a note here about a movie coming from the mind of Crispin Glover what's up with that behind the scenes of me in addition to being a horror fan and a music schools fan I am also a back to the future nut I've loved it since I was a kid. So of course Crispin Glover who plays George McFly Marty McFly's father has always been a fascinating creature to me. If you are not familiar with Mr Crispin middle name Hellion it's his actual middle name Crispin Hellion Glover he is a fascinating individual he was like banned from Letterman because of how weird he was he's of course starred in some horror movies such as the remake of Ben, the one with the mice so he's a fascinating person but he has really dove into the last few years into independent horror he was had a decent sized role in We Have Always Lived in the castle the the kind of horror gothic movie based on the the short story and then yeah so he recently announced him and his brother are dropping this new independent surreal horror movie called No You're Wrong. No other info about it but I tell you what Chris Crisping Glover as weird as he is I feel like I need to at least check it out and see what the hell is going on this could not have been any further from my radar I just you know the in the Venn diagram of things that we overlap in Crispin Glover is nowhere he's like on the sheet of paper next to us it has a bunch of fucking squares on it.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

Absolutely nothing. Incredible I didn't know that that's so cool.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Yes so definitely if you need to kill time or you need something just go down the crispin glover rabbit hole you won't regret it. He's a weirdo but in the best way possible he's just he's an interesting dude he he's worth he is worth your time and attention for a little bit and you can whip out those fun facts at parties but now actually you raise a good point here about Crispin Glover because what I do know he was in was a particular Friday the 13th film where he was labeled as a dead fuck. Yeah a very interesting dancer which was also improvised. So if that gives you any indication about this weirdo and I say that lovingly Mr.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

Glover if you're listening absolutely yeah and yeah he has had his own time at Camp Crystal Lake Wow and you too can have your own time at Camp Crystal Lake because there's tours happening all October in New Jersey and I need to tell you Cho how much I envy this and I envy this specifically because on the mega birthday this year on Friday June 13th there were plenty of tours and overnight stays at this camp in New Jersey and it didn't work out for me to be able to go but I do think this is going to be a bucket list item for me for next year. I want to take a trip to New Jersey to go to that camp.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

I I totally believe in you and that I think I think that is the next level you know you got the the Halloween horror nights house I think it it will be time for you to make a pilgrimage to the I wonder if we could like swing a kind of group rate situation and we did a hackerslash meetup at the summer camp.

SPEAKER_00 38:30

I don't know I don't know could be an option mm-hmm now what things that continued to be optioned in fucking Hollywood the conjuring can't be stopped. It just can't we did the conjuring last rights and now they have a series greenlit by HBO Max and I don't know how I feel about it.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

I was ready to say goodbye to them with Last Rights I thought it was a fantastic kind of way to send Ed and Lorraine off into the Great Beyond so to say so to speak in the conjuring universe. Obviously this uh announcement came uh a just a few days after it was announced that the conjuring was raking in the big bucks at the box office so obviously money talks but yeah I'm I I am very protective of this franchise I really love it so I don't want it to become just a cash cow if it's done well great but I'm not it's not something I need it is not something I would have ever asked for. I didn't even realize it was an option so we'll see I mean it'll be tough even with younger and Lorraine I do love Veraformiga and Patrick Wilson as and Lorraine that's what kept me coming back. So if they're not in it I don't know how quickly I will run to press play on this.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

I think I'm really down to clown with Welcome to Dairy. You know I I'm really there for it. I'm also there for the Crystal Lake series that we're gonna get I think I can pause on the conjuring I don't know that I I need it. I think I'll do it out of the sense of like fuck I'm a completionist and I'm gonna have to figure it out at some point but that's like also saying like okay do we need a Saw series? No we don't just let it be its thing and just leave it alone.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

And speaking of letting movies be its own thing Chris I have a a hot to lukewarm take about this next news item but I'm curious to hear your views before I share mine but of course weapons was a summer smash horror this year Zach Kregger's you know I want to say sleeper hit but I think we all kind of knew it was going to be big. Yeah there are some soft confirmations going around the you know the the publications movie publications that there is an Aunt Gladys prequel to weapons in the works.

SPEAKER_00 40:48

Okay here are my thoughts child to no one's fucking surprise I'm 90% sure we called this in our B side I I I think during the episode or in the B side of this episode I talked about this movie getting the Pearl treatment and they're gonna explore Gladys and what the fuck Gladys was up to long before this movie. Yeah this is to no one's fucking surprise do I want it I don't think I I don't know that I want it. I definitely don't need it and I feel like the mystery surrounding Gladys I feel like I'm I'm satisfied by what we got within that movie and it was such a fun time and I swear to God if we get another fucking wild unnecessarily long approach to Gladys I think I'll be tapping out.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

Yeah I I read it and obviously people were talking oh there should be prequel and even when it was just kind of speculation like no we do not I was actually really shocked at even like apparently Krager is allegedly on record. I didn't obviously super duper vet but these were some legitimate sources that were talking about soft confirmations and it really surprised me because yeah some things can just be left well enough alone and yes the whole thing about Aunt Gladys is we don't know her backstory. We don't know where the hell I don't even know if she was related to the family. I still stand up I don't think she was related to them. I think it was an opportunity thing. I don't need to know I don't want to know you know I don't want weapons is beauty is that there were those unanswered questions that kind of let your mind run wild.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

I don't need those answered for me and yeah I it was it's not something I need yeah listen we'll see what happens I don't remember feeling as great about Pearl as I did about X and then you know Maxine was a fun time.

SPEAKER_01 42:37

I'm curious to see how this goes I remain open but also I'm not like chomping at the bit for it so to speak yeah obviously weapons was one of many movies that we covered this year but the great thing about this show especially in this season we're watching a lot of shit that doesn't necessarily get covered on the show and I would love to know give me one what what's been on your mind yes so I watched a new release last month in September called Night of the Reaper and I went into this I did it for the Oh My Horror Challenge that I've been doing all year for some fall autumnal horror. And let me tell you this did not disappoint it is it is the classic babysitter horror movie trope there's a slasher oh there's a psychotic you know kind of killer that might be on the loose might be targeting the babysitter but they give it a fun spin and I I had a great time with it it's a tight 95 minutes which I always love in a horror movie. It's on shutter it's a shutter exclusive and it was just fun. It had a good pace it had a really good very fall spooky vibe but not like Halloween vibe. It was it it was fantastic. It I think it would definitely be worth people watching if you just you know what I just want to put something on that I can kind of have a little fun with

SPEAKER_00 44:00

Hell yeah. Okay. I'm intrigued and I'm down to watch it. And Chell, I know we usually do like one movie, but I've got two for you. Ooh. The beauty of AMC A list is that we'd be doing scream unseen and we'd be doing just fucking random movies just to keep using those benefits, right? You get X amount of movies free per week. And then it's renewed, it rolls over every week. It's it's just a great system, and I I absolutely love it. Allie got me lined up for two movies. One Bone Lake. Holy shit, I love this movie. It was a little slow in the beginning, a lot more penis than I ever cared to see. But this movie was fucking great. It was hilarious. The performances incredible. The characters are both maddening and endearing. I just fucking adore this movie. And I want you to walk into it knowing nothing. The trailer gives way too much shit away. Do not fucking watch a move a trailer for this movie. If you get the vibe that it's bone lake-ish, or if you hear the term bone lake, fucking plug your ears, look around, do something else, walk out of the theater, walk away from the space you're in, and just go watch the movie.

SPEAKER_01 45:12

I've heard a lot of buzz in our a little bit, you know, in our Discord. I know the the poster had you know had a little bit of fun with putting the rated R proximity to bone on that. So I thought that was kind of funny. I I haven't seen any trailers for it. I haven't seeked it out, but I have heard quite a buzz. So this is really exciting because with a name like Bone Lake, it could have gone either way, I feel like. So I'm really excited to hear that it could actually be a fucking party.

SPEAKER_00 45:41

I really liked it. Also, Boner Lake is fucking hilarious. So good for this movie for doing that. I also love that. Okay, I will say this. Now that you say that the R being close to Bone, that's hilarious. In the trailer, one of the titles says, Come first. It's just fucking, it's hilarious. It's so good. It's so good. I really enjoyed this movie. It is a perfect blend. Like psychological terror, and not necessarily the way that I think is gonna actually scare you, right? But it's fucking mind games, and then it's also comedy, and then it's also some great violence. So I really enjoyed it. The second one, I finally got to see good boy. Can confirm he was a good boy.

SPEAKER_01 46:25

I'm so excited. I'm supposed to see that this week with a couple friends. I am chomping at the bit to see this movie.

SPEAKER_00 46:32

I will spoil nothing for you, but I can confirm that I enjoyed the time that I spent in that theater watching that dog. It was a good time. And also, it's I I kept just thinking about my own dog because my dog is is chunkier than this one and a completely different breed, but like the vibe in the face is very similar. And I I, you know, there's a point where the dog is barking, and I'm just like, oh yep, that would be Jin. That'd be Jin. I think this movie, this dog is Jin in a wig for sure, because they're acting very similar, and it was just such a good time. But one of the cool things, Jel, and I don't know if you're seeing this like in a regular screening, but when it was the scream, but when it was early access, there was a like featurette at the end of the movie where the director is talking about how this movie was made, and it was done over the course of course of four years in their home. So it's the director's dog in the movie, it's just him, his wife, and the dog, and they're just getting like sometimes entire days to get eight seconds of film where the dog is looking a certain way, and then he just keeps reiterating this guy has no fucking idea he's in a movie. No, and so what they do is like they did this great cut of like what it looks like in the movie, and then what it looks like on set because they're all being silly behind this behind the camera, just like making weird noises to get him to look with curiosity. It was just such a fucking brilliantly assembled movie. I cannot say enough good shit about it. I can't wait for us to do an episode on it. This shit was great.

SPEAKER_01 48:05

I'm so excited to see it. Oh, I'm pumped. God. A lot of good things to look forward to.

SPEAKER_00 48:10

Absolutely. There's so much good to look forward to. There's so much for you to be pumped about. But for now, I want you to keep pumping an iron, folks, because there you have it. That wraps up this edition of Slasher Digest FM. Now we've covered a lot here for sure, but there's always more lurking beneath the surface.

SPEAKER_01 48:29

If you want to dive deeper into the stories we've covered, make sure you sue make sure you subscribe to the Slasher Digest newsletter. You'll get all the links, the updates, horror highlights delivered straight to your inbox. So be sure if you haven't already to sign up now in the link in our show notes.

SPEAKER_00 48:47

And if you're one of our patrons, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And if you think we've thanked you enough, no, thank you even more. Because your support is what keeps this whole thing alive. For everyone else, consider this your invitation to the family, especially because we're unlocking this slasher digest FM for everyone this spooky season. So if you've been curious about what's behind the curtain, you can take a peek. Now's the perfect time. Jump in, see what our community is all about, and we'll see you next time, folks.

SPEAKER_01 49:16

Happy spooky season.