Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Collective Nightmares

Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of West's first film in his wildly ambitious horror trilogy, X. This film sparked a conversation about the state of the slasher sub-genre, cross gender identification in a post-gender world, and the elderly representation in horror.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of West's third film, MaXXXine in his wildly ambitious horror trilogy. This film bring the trilogy to a very satisfying conclusion. Of the modern horror trilogies we've reviewed this is by far the most successful and we are here for it!

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of West's second film, Pearl in his wildly ambitious horror trilogy. This film sets up the third film to either be a notably progressive overarching motif across the films, or it may ulitimately prove conservative, which would be very disappointing.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of Cregger's breakout horror film, Barbarian. This film was well executed with a mix of progressive statements and baffling contradictions.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of Cronenberg's newest film, Crimes of the Future. Laura hated it, finding it overwrought, navel gazing, and abstruse. Marshall loved it, as an innovative exploration of bodies, pain, film, and the creative process. This made for a great discussion.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the fifth film in the Scream franchise, Scream. We are thrilled to return to the slasher genre with this latest installment. This is the first Scream without Wes Craven and we had concerns. We are relieved to report it is overall a really solid and fun film with great updates to the genre.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of Slumber Party Massacre from 2021. This is a companion episode to our discussion of the original 1982 film of the same name. This is a brilliantly subversive feminist response to slasher films ... for the first hour. The final half hour is a disaster.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of The Slumber Party Massacre from 1982. Written and directed by women in response to the sexism of the first wave slashers, this is quite a time capsule. It definitely only partially succeeds in being progressive but we do appreciate the effort especially relative to other films of the era.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the French film Titane (Ducournau 2021). Only the second woman to win the Palm d'Or at Cannes (really Cannes <_<). One of the more bizarre films we have watched in the best way. Titane offers a unique film experience that we recommend.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of season one of the breakout TV series Squid Game (Dong-hyuk 2021). At the time the most popular media that had ever been on Netflix and a global sensation. Even better it holds up to our intense ideological scrutiny. We hope we get more season!

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2020 film Violation (Mancinelli & Sims-Fewer). Who would have thought that the entire interpretation of a film would hinge on sleep and ice cream. This film is really extraordinary in many ways. It is at times too subtle for its own good.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2021 film There's Someone Inside Your House (Brice). Just when we thought we were done with Wan's films, they pulled us back in! Somewhat less conservative than the film's that Wan helms, it seems his impact is still apparent in the film.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2021 film Malignant. Part of our mini-series on the films of James Wan. Wan's films are typically masterfully constructed while this feels sloppy and disjointed. His conservative ideology still shines through in this film especially with regard to women.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2022 film The Blackening. This is as outstanding film that both deconstructs racist tropes of horror and moves the genre forward with new ideas. All of this is beautifully executed in terms of direction, writing, and acting. A stellar film!

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2021 film Candyman. DaCosta updates the urban folk legend of the 1992 Rose film Candyman. A phenomenal film that continues to confront the issues of race, class, gender, and geography head on.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2021 film The Forever Purge. The Forever Purge returns triumphantly continuing to expand the scope and allegory of the purge concept. Rather than a cheap cash in, the purge films continue to take on current and divisive sociological issues. For that we thank them and encourage other filmmakers to do the same.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, offer a sociological discussion of the 2022 breakout film Smile. Smile offers an incremental advancement within the manifestation of psychological issues sub-genre reinvigorated for a new wave of films by The Babadook. It matches form to narrative in brilliant ways and is an excellent viewing experience. However in the details the film breaks down and ultimately sabotages itself and not in a good way.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, return again to the Conjuring-verse for a sociological discussion of The Conjuring 3 for the podcast Collective Nightmares. This film devolves from passive conservative to outright proselytizing a hateful fire and brimstone version of Christianity. Wow.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, return to the James Wan-iverse for a sociological discussion of The Conjuring 2 for the podcast Collective Nightmares. Entertaining but ideologically conservative is an interesting mix.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, creep back to A Quiet Place for a sociological discussion of of the film for the podcast Collective Nightmares. This discussion focuses on horror that avoids controversy.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, return to the Saw universe to discuss Spiral from a sociological perspective for the podcast Collective Nightmares. This discussion focuses on what Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, and Darren Lynn Bousman bring to the franchise.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss Fresh (Cave 2022) from a sociological perspective for the podcast Collective Nightmares. This discussion focuses on patriarchal control of women and survival strategies in response.

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Jakob’s Wife (Stevens 2021) What a fascinating film! Technically well made, story and characters that are well crafted, ideologically supremely toxic. This film was reminiscent of Summer of ’84 in how it was entertaining and at first glance, not particularly problematic. However, once we dove into a detailed analysis the rot just kept getting deeper. …

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss Freaky (Landon 2020) from a sociological perspective for the podcast Collective Nightmares. This discussion focuses on representations of gender and bodies in the film.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss His House (Weekes 2020) from a sociological perspective for the podcast Collective Nightmares. We revisit the haunting/possession genre because this was such a compelling film.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the film Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (Glosserman 2006) from a sociological perspective for the podcast Collective Nightmares. This is the epilogue to a mini-series on serial killer horror films.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the film Man Bites Dog (Belvaux, Bonzel, Poelvoorde 1992) from a sociological perspective for the podcast Collective Nightmares as the fifth episode of a mini-series on serial killer horror films.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the absolute masterwork Monster (Jenkins 2003) from a sociological perspective for the podcast Collective Nightmares as the fourth episode of a mini-series on serial killer horror films.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the new classic film Se7en (Fincher 1995) from a sociological perspective for the podcast Collective Nightmares as the third episode of a mini-series on serial killer horror films.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the horror film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (Berlinger 2019) from a sociological perspective for the podcast Collective Nightmares as the second episode of a mini-series on serial killer horror films.

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the horror film Henry (McNaughton 1986) from a sociological perspective for the podcast Collective Nightmares as the first installment in a mini-series on serial killer horror films.

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Hosts Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, provide a sociology based analysis of the rape-revenge film Promising Young Woman (Fennell 2020).

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Hosts Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the sociological aspects of the oddball, lesser known The People Under the Stairs from Wes Craven (1991).

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Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the horror film Saw (Wan 2004) from a sociological perspective for the podcast Collective Nightmares.

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Poltergeist (Hooper 1982) The fifth installment in our possession and haunting mini-series. One of the most iconic haunting films ever, with arguably the single most iconic scene in a haunting film: Tobe Hooper‘s Poltergeist. We emphasize that Poltergeist was more progressive and less sexist than the other films from these sub-genres we’ve watched that followed …

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Insidious Chapter 2 (Wan 2013) The fourth installment in our possession and haunting mini-series. We return to James Wan and the Insidious universe. Check out our episodes on The Conjuring and The Possession and Insidious! Marginally better ideologically The Conjuring and Insidious but still problematic. We talk the McDonaldization of horror and the joy or …

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Podcast hosts Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the sociological aspects of the 2010 film Insidious by James Wan (2010). This is episode three of our mini-series on haunting and possession films.

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Podcast hosts Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the sociological aspects of the 2013 film The Possession by Ole Bornedal (2013). This is episode two of our mini-series on haunting and possession films.

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Podcast hosts Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the sociological aspects of the 2013 film The Conjuring by James Wan (2013). Intensely well crafted and scary, but ideologically intensely conservative.

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Podcast hosts Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the sociological aspects of the 2019 film The Lodge by S. Fiala and V. Franz who also made Goodnight Mommy (2014).

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Podcast hosts Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the sociological aspects of the extraordinary 2014 film Nightcrawler by Dan Gilroy.

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Podcast hosts Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the sociological aspects of the 2020 horror film Antebellum (Bush and Renz 2020)

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Podcast hosts Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the sociological aspects of the 2020 horror film Always Shine (Takal 2016)

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Podcast hosts Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the sociological aspects of the 2020 horror film We Summon the Darkness (Meyers 2019)

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Podcast hosts Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the sociological aspects of Kevin Smith's 2011 horror film about domestic terrorism, Red State.

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Podcast hosts Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the sociological aspects of P. Brice's Creep (2014) and Creep 2 (2017) with M. Duplass.

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Podcast hosts Marshall Smith, PhD, and Laura Patterson, PhD, discuss the sociological aspects of Romero's 1978 Dawn of the Dead.

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Relic (James 2020) If you enjoyed The Babadook (Kent 2014) or The Witch (Eggers 2015) you should watch this film. Understated, with a powerful subtext that leads to a profound final reveal. A horror film that focuses on women, family, and profound questions of caring and life. SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE Relic (James 2020) – …

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Prisoners (Villeneuve 2009) Prisoners is dark and twisted in the best possible ways. Villeneuve’s first English-language feature film. He has gone on to massive success for good reason with films such as Sicario (2015), Arrival (2016), and Blade Runner 2049 (2017). Martyrs (2008) remains the pinnacle of horror thus far in the 21st century. Exactly …

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The Last House on the Left (Iliadis 2009) This episode we discuss Iliadis’ 2009 remake of Craven’s 1972 iconic film The Last House on the Left. This film is situated in the context of the 2000s reboots of many first wave horror films. In modernizing the classic in terms of style, the film unfortunately also …

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