Still Scared: Talking Children's Horror

Still Scared: Talking Children's Horror

Mini Episode: Picture Books

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Join us this time for a mini-episode, as Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray gleefully chomp on a monstrous spread of picture books from Maurice Sendak, David McKee, Beatrix Potter and Neil Gaiman.

Featuring undulating midnight oceans, trembling patchwork elephants and the existential crisis of a monster who finds himself treated as a boy, it's a zippy tour around the creepiest picture books of our childhoods.

A full transcript of the episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/31-picturebooks

Room 13 & Nightmare Stairs

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Once again, spooky kids, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are here to take you into the world of children's horror literature with Room 13 from 1989 and Nightmare Stairs from 1997, both by Robert Swindells.

This time, Ren and Adam are at the seaside, enjoying the fresh air, the pier treats, and the sound of the Dracula in the next room gnawing on his latest victim. Join us for stakes, sleepwalking, stairs and a special guest interview with a fictional teenager.

A full transcript is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/30-room13

Something Wicked This Way Comes

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What's that haunted tune whistling through the calliope? Find out with Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray as they take a tour of Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Circus and explore the whirlingly evocative, if admittedly morally confusing world of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes.

We talk Dust Witches, balloon funerals and masculinity, in a rollickingly ghoulish episode filled with plenty of children's horror to get your panic-coloured teeth into.

A full transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/28-somethingwicked

The Garden of Darkness

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In this episode Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray talk about the post-apocalyptic Young Adult novel The Garden of Darkness by Gillian Murray Kendall from 2014.

We discuss what makes a horror, look at the early modern influences on the book,
and despair of our own chances in a post-apocalyptic setting.

Plus we discover the natural source of morale.*

Content notes, there are a few: Discussion of an adult character preying on children, including in a sexually-loaded way, discussion of eugenics and mention of Nazis in relation to the same character.

Also apologies also for the slightly poorer sound quality than usual on this episode, we had some mic volume issues!

A full transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/27-gardenofdarkness

* It's toucans.

Children of the Stones

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Happy day, spooky kids! In this episode Ren Wednesday, Adam Whybray and returning guest Ali Kay delve into the brain-washing, time-looping world of the 1977 BBC TV series Children of the Stones.

Join us for Morris dancing, Solar Serpents and educational asides into the history of surgery, as we try to untangle the plot of this creepy and atmospheric seventies classic.

A full transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/26-childrenofthestones

The Box of Delights

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What's up, spooky kids? Join Still Scared for their Christmas-or-thereabouts episode about the 1984 TV series, The Box of Delights.

This time, Ren Wednesday, Adam Whybray and special guest Willow discuss whimsical kidnapping, dolphin chariots and 1930s slang, and Willow really gets some #teachervibes going.

All this and more from a podcast that can proudly say that it's not in the pocket of Big Posset.

A full transcript of the episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/25-boxofdelights

The Dark Crystal

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In their most squamous, writhing, goopy and tendril-filled episode yet, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray explore the vibrant landscape of 1982's dark fantasy puppet film, The Dark Crystal.

Join us for this wallow in a many-textured world, featuring a special guest appearance from Adam's unattached false front tooth.

A full transcript of this episode is available in the show notes, here: https://stillscared.podigee.io/24-dark-crystal

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

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This episode we invite you to join Ren Wednesday, Adam Whybray and a cast of geese, scamps and orphans in the Dickensian horror-romp that is The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken.

Featuring shipwreck, secret passageways and a villainous governess, this book delivers the thrills and chills, and a plethora of Textures of the Week.

Content note: description of a child's death by drowning.

A full transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/23-wolves

Malevolents & Anniversary Catch-up

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In this episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray celebrate one year of Still Scared with a ghost story graphic novella, Malevolents: Click Click, by Thom Burgess and Joe Becci.

We huddle in front of our campfire to discuss mental illness in horror, ghosts in our hometowns, and take a look back on what we've learned about children's horror over the year of our podcast.

A full transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/22-malevolents

Thornhill

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In this episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray alliterate themselves into a particularly gothic gloomy ghost story, 2017's Thornhill by Pam Smy.

We discuss fibrous drawings, ambivalent endings and the powerlessness of childhood, as we talk about this uniquely told modern horror.

This episode also features a particularly crunchy and unanimous Texture of the Week that all you creepy puppet fans won't want to miss!

A full transcript of this episode is available at: https://stillscared.podigee.io/21-thornhill

Content note: Descriptions of school bullying, allusions to suicide, and death by fire.

About this podcast

A podcast in which one film lecturer and one scaredy-cat discuss creepy, spooky and disturbing children's books, films and tv.

by Ren Wednesday, Adam Whybray

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