Evolution of Horror

February 1, 2022 8:37 AM

Evolution of Horror is a podcast that explores the history of the horror genre by delving into particular sub-genres across multiple weeks. Each episode, host Mike Muncer is joined by a different guest: a critic, filmmaker or expert, to discuss a particular film in depth, to look at its place within a sub-genre and its impact and legacy on cinema history.

Partly via the access granted by his day job, as the producer of BBC Inside Cinema and via his apparent immersion in the UK horror festival/podcast/writer/critic community, Mike regularly features terrific, relevant guests to discuss each group of films.

Take, for instance, his 14 part series on Slashers. For guests, the show featured UK feminist horror film event programmers The Final Girls, film composer Neil Brand, horror historian and giallo guru Alan Jones, FX artist Dan Martin (A Field in England, Host), Freudian film analyst Mary Wild, and film critic Rhianna Dillon. After an introductory episode discussing the tropes and history of slasher films, Mike and his guests went on to do comprehensive reviews/recaps/breakdowns of Psycho and Peeping Tom, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Bay of Blood, and Black Christmas and Alice, Sweet Alice. And that was just the first four episodes.

Other seasons include:

• Ghosts (20 episodes)
• Folk Horror (17 episodes)
• Zombies (24 episodes)
• Occult (22 episodes)
• Mind & Body (35 episodes)
• Aliens (30 episodes)

The podcast also does intermittent special episodes on new releases and older classics:

• Halloween Kills, featuring the film's director David Gordon Green
• In the Earth, with director Ben Wheatley
• Fear Street a six part crossover series with Jill Nolan & Becky Darke, podcasters specializing in discussing 80's and 90's YA horror novels, (starting here and continuing on their podcast Don't Point that Horror at Me)

And if all of that isn't enough, EoH also has a Patreon podcast that covers horror TV shows, checks out film festivals, does batch reviews of entire film series, takes deep dives into particular directors and stars, and more.

posted by DirtyOldTown (7 comments total)

Legitimately great podcast and Mike is a great host. They also have an excellent (and lively) Facebook Group.

May I also recommend the excellent Faculty of Horror podcast.
posted by Werod at 8:46 AM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]

I’m enjoying it quite a bit, there’s a lot to chew on and some legitimately great insights. The guests are all pretty solid, although periodically they have people on who worked on the film in question and the episode becomes about the making of the film rather than unpacking the film, which… well, it’s good, but a different kind of good. I mean, who doesn’t love a good yarn about crafting prop penii for a Ben Wheatley film?
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:34 AM on February 1, 2022

One of the few serious drawbacks to this show is that there is a lot to catch up on; that’s a feature, too, of course.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:49 AM on February 1, 2022

I am a weird person who doesn’t watch horror movies but enjoys podcasts about horror movies, so thank you for the recommendation.
posted by Comet Bug at 10:56 AM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]

What's really special about this podcast is that, while it is based around discussion, it feels very structured. Never rambling, nearly always on point. That, and the near perfection in matching guests to content. Going to talk Psycho? Don't just say the score is amazing, bring on a composer to explain how the strings sound like stabbing. Going to talk Freddy Krueger? Bring a film critic who is also from the LGBT community and talk about how very gay Freddy's Revenge is. The podcast shows a lot of thoughtfulness and planning.

The horror community is pretty broad. There are people who can explain the relationship of giallos to slashers. There are people who can riff on the feminist subtext in The Slumber Party Massacre. There are people who will admit how much seedy fun it just waiting for the awful kids in the Friday the 13th series to meet Jason's machete. Evolution of Horror does all of those things and it brings a rotating cast of fun, knowledgeable people along to make sure it never misses a trick.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:17 AM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]

I like the way Muncer gets so many women on the show, and women from a lot of backgrounds (podcasters, scholars, a Freudian, producers, directors, and actors). It's great to be reminded of how many women are involved in horror film.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:55 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]

I am a weird person who doesn’t watch horror movies but enjoys podcasts about horror movies, so thank you for the recommendation.

Same here!

I've been looking for a new podcast with a big backlog to work through, so this sounds like it will be right up my alley. I also enjoy the Tear Them Apart podcast, where cartoonist Evan Dorkin talks with his friend Paul Yellovich about horror movies. It is very much a two guys shooting the shit podcast - and if you don't like Dorkin, you will very likely not enjoy it - but I think it's a lot of fun. Just King Things is another horror based podcast, where two guys read and discuss Stephen King's ouevre, but they have a Patreon subscriber-only podcast where they discuss the film adaptations. I've only listened to a couple episodes of that, but it may be of interest to someone.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 4:17 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]