Sometimes family is a few battered wind-up toys, a dubiously-reformed rat, and some birds you've persuaded not to eat you. In this episode Ren Wednesday, Adam Whybray and special guest Stuart Young discuss The Mouse and his Child by Russell Hoban, published in 1967, and the animated film released in 1977. Body Horror + Philosopy = Jokes? Join Ren, Adam and Stuart for a discussion of conciousness itself, the last visible slush puppy, and of course, extended parodies of Samuel Beckett's Endgame.

A transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/65-mouseandhischild

In this off the cuff, spur of the moment, spontaneous and unresearched bonus episode, a Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray located in the same georgraphical location entertain you with a book: Madness at the Mall, the 36th installment in M.D. Spenser's Shivers series.

No transcript for this one, but normal service will be resumed shortly!

Content notes: A cat gets killed!

Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are back with their discussion of part two of the Goosebumps TV series from 2023, and they won't be satisfied until they get their puppet carnival!

This is a Slappy-centric set of episodes, covering the territiory of Night of the Living Dummy, Night of the Living Dummy Two, the lesser known mud-monster episode You Can't Scare Me, and purportedly Welcome to Horrorland, though Ren and Adam were unconvinced.

Digressions include teaching Shakespeare with puppets, robot wars and the suitability of an angsty teen listening to The Proclaimers.

A full transcript of this episode is available here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/63-goosebumpsparttwo

Hello millennnials, zoomers and sundry other generations to look out for, and welcome to the Goosebumps of 2023! In this nostalgia-defying episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray talk about the first half of the reinvented Goosebumps series for Disney Plus, covering Say Cheese and Die, The Haunted Mask, The Cuckoo Clock of Doom, Go Eat Worms and Reader Beware.
Digressions include vegan veal, Mr Blobby and immersive theatre, and Adam puts in a sincere recocmmendation for the 1996 episode of The Haunted Mask.

Content note for brief discussion of a suicide plotline at the one hour mark.

A full transcript of this episode is availabe at: goosebumps-2023

In this bonus episode, Adam Whybray interviews Lauren Stephenson and Robert Edgar, two of the editors of the recent anthology Horrifying Children: Hauntology and the Legacy of Children's Television, published by Bloomsbury. They chat about anologue horror, public information films and intent vs effect in horror, as well as subversive queer interpretations of the Garbage Pail Kids.

The transcript for the episode is available here: horrifying-children

Hail, O eaters of Toadstools! Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are back with returning guest and standing-stone correspondent Ali to talk about Alan Garner's debut novel from 1960, the Weirdstone of Brisingamen. This episode may venture further into fantasy than usual, but there's still plenty of horror to get your teeth into, with swarms of svarts, skin mittens, and of course, caves. Plus, Ren feels so guilty about their lacklustre watching of Casper that their notes for this episode include archival research.

Note: We had to re-record the first fifteen minutes of the episode so there's a few slight oddnesses at the beginning, but it settles down :)

Happy festives, spooky kids! Ren's brain is fully on holiday already for this episode about the 1995 mixed live-action and CGI film Casper, directed by Brad Silberling, and perhaps more pertinently, set decorated by Rosemary Brandenburg.

In this not particularly thorough episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray discuss the mochi-like texture of Casper, the career trajectory of Eric Idle, and of course, the fish bannister. And as a bonus, Adam gets a computer to sing a song about textures.

Transcript is available here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/59-casper

Hello and happy halloween spooky kids! For this sixth anniversarry (!) episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are joined by special guest Ailish Brassil to talk about three different filmic adaptations of Disney's Haunted Mansion ride.

Excpect the classic elements of comedy tombstones, extending corridors and sinister butlers - as well as the screaming goats, ghost winks and arachnaphobia unique to each adaptation. It's chaotic! But that's haunted mansions for you.

Content note: Brief references to suicide in the story descriptions.

A transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/58-haunted-mansions

In this episode Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray go back to Ren's childhood to talk about a dark comedy: Angela and Diabola by Lynne Reid Banks. A different twist on the Omen trope, this book gives the evil child a twin of corresponding pure goodness, and a couple of long-suffering parents who do their best for their increasingly supernatural offspring. Indulge in the allure of evil with us, spooky kids, but please don't lock any small children in cages.

A transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/57-angelaanddiabola

Don't go chipping any dolls out of the plaster in your cellar, creepy kids, or open any ouija board apps! And definitely don't go and hunt your woebegotten cousin's ghost on a rainy Scottish island! It's not worth it! In this episode Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray discuss the 2015 Young Adult novel Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell, a grisly book about creepy dolls and the people they torment. Digressions include ghost hunting, bat detecting and late-era Simpsons.

Content note: This book contains strong violence that we outline, injury details and a suicide mention.

The transcript is available here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/56-frozencharlotte