Podcasts
Michael Jackson’s ‘Ghosts’ at 25: When the King of Pop Met the Masters of Horror [The Losers’ Club Podcast]
Darkness falls across the land, the midnight hour is close at hand, creatures crawl in search of blood, to terrorize y’alls neighborhood. But here’s the greatest trick of all, the song we’ll sing you won’t recall. It isn’t “Thriller” as you’ll see, but different tunes with HIStory…
In 1996, Michael Jackson returned to the spooky with “Ghosts”. Based on an original story by Mick Garris and Stephen King, the 40-minute spectacle was directed by make-up effects maestro Stan Winston and sees Jackson playing five different roles.
Today, The Losers’ Club heads to Normal Valley to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the oft-forgotten short. Bundled together at the Maestro’s creaky mansion, they spill blood on the dance floor, groove with ghosts, and answer one simple question: “Is it scary?”
Join Losers Michael Roffman, Dan Caffrey, and Ayisha Gatson as they chart the state of horror in the mid-’90s, discuss what King and Garris brought to the table, marvel at Winston’s wizardry, and debate why this is hardly the finest hour for the King of Pop.
Stream the episode below and return next week when the Losers bounce over to Little Tall Island to brave the Storm of the Century. For further adventures, join the Club over long days and pleasant nights via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS. You can also unlock hundreds of hours of content in The Barrens (Patreon).
After winding down June with discussions of our vey first William Castle film Homicidal (listen) and queer director Roland Emmerich’s summer tentpole Independence Day (listen), we’re heading back to 1981 to check out Joe Dante‘s seminal werewolf film The Howling.
The Howling sees television journalist Karen White (Dee Wallace) attend a psychiatric retreat with her husband Bill (Christopher Stone) after being attacked and traumatized by local serial killer Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo). It isn’t long before Karen realizes that the retreat is actually a secret cult of werewolves, and they’ve already got their sights set on Bill.
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Episode 394: The Howling (1981)
Make note of that smiley face sticker and snag that conveniently-placed jar of acid because we’re talking Joe Dante’s stealth werewolf classic The Howling (1981)!
Join us as we discuss the film’s deviations from its source material before doing a deep dive into this very tongue-in-cheek, self-aware horror film. It honestly feels like a precursor to Scream, in many ways!
Plus: Roger Corman (again!) those incredible special effects, differentiating “color movies” from “movies in color,” and why queer icon Elisabeth Brooks has us going “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!”
Cross out The Howling!
Coming Up Next: We’re tackling our very first Ken Russell film with a look at his controversial 1984 erotic thriller Crimes of Passion!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 508 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Forbidden Fruits, Saccharine, Evil Dead Burn, an audio commentary on Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (aka Howling II: Stirba – Werewolf Bitch), and the conclusion of our coverage of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat on the Requel Tier.