Fear of the Dark
A film podcast about race and horror. Hosted by Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran.
Episodes
On this very special episode of Fear of the Dark, Matthew and Stacey are joined by Dr. Eleanor Johnson, Professor of English at Columbia University. We meet up in cyberspace to talk about her new book, Scream with Me, which reads several classic horror films from the 1970s and 80s alongside the rise of American second-wave feminism. Eleanor shares with us some of the background and thinking behind her book, her writing process, and...
Candyman... candyman... third time's the charm! On this episode, Matthew and Stacey talk about Bernard Rose's 1992 horror film, Candyman, starring Tony Todd as the ghost of a Black artist who was murdered in the nineteenth century and haunts Chicago's Cabrini-Green public housing project. Join us as we chat about Candyman's iconic costuming, the domestic B-plot of Helen's (Virginia Madsen) cheating husband, and how Clive Barker's o...
In this episode, we get a little too close to the friendly woman who lives in town... Today, we discuss Ma (2019), the horror film starring Octavia Spencer as Sue Ann ("Ma"), in which a group of high school students get wrapped up in her pursuit of vengeance against those who wronged her when she was younger. Join us as we talk about the the horrors of service and hospitality, the aestheticization of Black femininity, and, interest...
Matthew and Stacey sit down to talk about Ti West's 2022 slasher Pearl, starring Mia Goth as the titular antiheroine in this prequel to X. Join us as we discuss the film's representations of the American (immigrant's) dream and the history of cinema, as well as whether we might consider this film a contemporary contribution to American folk horror.
Film: Pearl (Ti West, 2022) Intro Music: “The Army of You” (Library of Congress Free...
In this episode, Stacey and Matthew sit down to talk about Trey Edward Shults' It Comes at Night (2017), starring Joel Edgerton, Riley Keough, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo, and Kelvin Harrison Jr. This post-apocalyptic horror film explores the dynamics of two families who decide to live in the same house in hopes of increasing their chances of survival, and whose secrecy and mistrust eventually lead to a horrific set of tragedi...
On this special, slightly-out-of-the-ordinary episode of Fear of the Dark, Matthew and Stacey celebrate the 50th anniversary of Steven Spielberg's classic, Jaws. Join us as we geek out over the film together. We chat about our favorite lines and funny moments, the iconicity of the shark in horror, and how a movie like Jaws imagines the animal as compared to the apex predator in Jordan Peele's Nope (2022).
Film: Jaws (Steven Spielbe...
On this episode, Matthew and Stacey talk about the 2020 horror film His House directed by Remi Weekes. The film stars Wunmi Mosaku as Rial and Sope Dirisu as Bol, a South Sudanese couple fleeing to London for asylum, as they find themselves struggling to conform to the pressures of belonging in England while also being haunted by the ghosts of their past. Tune in with us as we discuss historical and personal trauma, anxieties aroun...
In this episode, we stave off the zombie apocalypse by heading to the second floor and taking out the staircase... Join us as we talk about George A. Romero's 1968 film, Night of the Living Dead, the symbolism of the farmhouse in the 60s, the doomed heroism of our protagonist Ben (played by Duane Jones), and the sociopolitical milieu of the film's release.
Film: Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968) Intro Music: “The Ar...
"AUTOPSY IN PROGRESS"...
On this episode of Fear of the Dark, Stacey and Matthew chat about Final Destination (2000) in tandem with the newest installment in the franchise, Final Destination Bloodlines (2025). We reminisce a bit on what it was like for us to first see the original, and then we discuss the role of William Bludworth, playe...
On this episode, Matthew and Stacey are joined by Rosette Simityan, a fellow UC Davis colleague in the English Department. Join us as we talk about Zoë Kravitz's 2024 psychological thriller, Blink Twice, which stars Naomi Ackie as Frida, a cocktail server, and Channing Tatum as Slater King, a tech CEO who invites Frida and her friend, Jess (Alia Shawkat), to his private island. Once there, Frida and Jess start to realize that they ...
On this episode of Fear of the Dark, Stacey and Matthew talk about Midsommar, the 2021 broad-daylight horror film directed by Ari Aster that came out six years ago this month. The film stars Florence Pugh as Dani, a young woman who has just tragically lost her immediate family and decides to join her boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor), and a handful of other doctoral students on an extended stay at a small commune in Sweden over th...
Do you know the thought experiment of Mary in a black and white room? Join Matthew and Stacey as they discuss Ex Machina, the 2014 sci-fi thriller starring Alicia Vikander as an android named Ava, who is put to the Turing test by a programmer (Domhnall Gleeson) under the watchful supervision of his CEO (Oscar Isaac). We chat about binary gender constructs, aspirations to the heteronormative human, and the film's invocations of the ...
On this episode, Matthew and Stacey discuss the newest installment in the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus (2024), where a group of human space colonists and one android attempt to escape their planet. Tune in as we talk about the juggling act of horror in this film, from the figure of the Black android to anxieties around monstrous futurity.
Film: Alien: Romulus (Fede Álvarez, 2024) Intro Music: “The Army of You” (Library of Congre...
Stacey and Matthew have been pushing too many pencils… On this mini-episode, we talk about the 1987 classic, Predator. Join us as we chat about how music transforms the setting of the film and if the Predator’s “color blindness” might have more than one meaning.
Film: Predator (John McTiernan, 1987)
Intro Music: “The Army of You” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive)
Outro Music: “Late Night Indigo” (written and performed by S...
On this episode of Fear of the Dark, Matthew and Stacey talk about the 2005 film The Descent, which follows a group of women who go on a caving trip in Appalachia in honor of one of their friends who has recently passed. We ask ourselves: where does the true horror of this film really lie? Is it with the blind, cryptid crawlers who hunt the women as they search for an escape from the collapsed cave - or in the women themselves?
F...
In this mini-episode of Fear of the Dark, Stacey and Matthew follow up on the previous episode with a short conversation on Robert Eggers’ 2024 adaptation of Nosferatu. Join us for a not-so-sympathetic take on this particular rendition of the vampire’s legacy.
Film: Nosferatu (Robert Eggers, 2024)
Theme Music: “Play the Game” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive)
Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror, hoste...
In this episode, Matthew and Stacey sit down to talk about Werner Herzog’s 1979 Nosferatu and how the process of adaptation integrates both new and old conceptions of the Other.
Film: Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1979)
Theme Music: “Play the Game” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive)
Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror, hosted by Dr. Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran. Episode edited by Matthew Ver...
In the first episode of Fear of the Dark, Stacey and Matthew talk about Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s 2025 supernatural horror film. Met with immediate critical acclaim, it stars Michael B. Jordan as identical twins Smoke and Stack, whose Mississippi juke joint gets terrorized by vampires on opening night.
Is Sinners really a horror film? What is the role of memory and sentimentality in its broader narrative? And in the incredible dancin...
They’re here…! And by “they” we mean “us.” Welcome to Fear of the Dark, a podcast on race and horror with Dr. Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran. In this brief trailer, we share a little bit about who we are, our approaches to talking about film, and who we hope is listening.
Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror. Hosted by Dr. Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran.
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