Episode 110: High Strangeness at the Movies with Zoe Burnett

“Projections.” Drawing created in Procreate on the iPad by Barbara Fisher, 2023.

Hello fellow weirdos.

Morganna and I love movies, and so does Zoe Burdette. We planned on having an episode about the paranormal in cinema with the three of us, each talking about three films with paranormal themes or stories, and we even recorded it.

Alas, the Internet Gods were displeased by the offerings I gave (popcorn, while appropriate for the episode, was not sufficient….maybe I needed to add extra butter) and so Zoe’s track on the episode only recorded intermittently,

But this time! This time, Zoe and Barbara got together and recorded the episode, and everything worked out. If you like it, we can always do another episode, and this time get Morganna with us and hey, maybe another guest in addition to Zoe.

So, what’s happening in this episode? We talk about films that not only have the theme of paranormal activity or phenomena in them, but which also are centered on a nuclear family. All of the films involve small children directly and it’s interesting to watch this dynamic play out in different settings and time periods. Horror films often gain a lot of their juju from the complex dynamics of family life. Parents are doing the best they can with what is happening, children bring energy into the situation and are often the threatened parties, and sometimes, we are reminded that the real monsters are other humans—not ghosts, aliens, demons or cryptids. Or, for that matter, Pagans, Witches, or other humans who have been pushed to the margins of the dominant society and demonized for ages.