Podcasts
The 10 Best Part 4s in Horror [Halloweenies Podcast]
It took nearly three years, but Stranger Things 4 has finally arrived on Netflix. (Well, the first volume of episodes anyways.) By now, everyone’s already talking about the season’s Elm Street vibes, praising Kate Bush for giving fans the best needle drop of the series, and debating whether or not Steve Harrington is going to kick the bucket.
The Halloweenies? They wanna talk Part 4s.
Look, it’s no surprise that the Duffer Brothers like to treat each season of Stranger Things like a film sequel. Hence, the numbers. So, the gang thought it’d be a great opportunity to celebrate the oft-forgotten fourth entry of a franchise, particularly since they’re at the point in their Evil Dead coverage when speculation on Evil Dead 4 was abound.
So, that’s what they did. They gathered up all the Part 4s in horror they could find, hit the voting boots, and came out with a top 10 that they feel pretty, pretty … pretty good about it. Some entries you can probably rattle off right now (Freddy! Jason! Michael!), but others may surprise you … or, hell, even aggravate you (no spoilers). Who knows.
Stream the episode below or subscribe via iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS. New to the Halloweenies? Catch up with the gang by revisiting their essential episodes on past franchises such as Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and Scream.
You can also become a member of their Patreon, The Rewind, for hilariously irreverent commentaries (e.g. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Gremlins, Child’s Play) and one-off deep dives on your favorite rentals (e.g. Saw, 28 Days Later, Manhunter, Near Dark). Each month promises something new and unexpected from the wildest corners of the genre.
Maybe you haven’t thought about your good friend Sweeney Todd in a while, or maybe you have. The 2007 movie is a bit of a memory, though a fond one – it has a healthy 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, for what it’s worth. But 2023’s Broadway revival starring Josh Groban, who your mom thinks is “so talented” (she’s right!), was enough of a hit that its run was extended.
It appears we’re in a bit of a Sweeneyssaince.
For the uninitiated, Sweeney Todd is the story of a barber who kills his customers and disposes of the bodies by passing them off to pie shop owner Mrs. Lovett, who uses them as a special ingredient. But there’s more below the trap door.
Sweeney Todd isn’t just a late 70s musical that turned into a movie; it started as a penny dreadful called The String of Pearls: A Domestic Romance (author unknown), told week-to-week in the 1840s. Penny dreadfuls were essentially fiction zines featuring serialized stories that were usually horror-based and cost a penny, leading to the very literal nickname.
The String of Pearls differs from the more well-known Sweeney Todd plot in that it follows the investigation of a missing persons case that leads to the reveal of Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett’s arrangement, as opposed to the more modern iteration which treats audiences to the duo hatching their homicidal plan and then giving the worst haircuts ever. What a delightfully wild reveal that must have been if you were a reader in Victorian London after weeks of wondering what had become of the missing sailor carrying a string of pearls to deliver to a lovely girl.
Kristen and Will discuss the history and future of Sweeney Todd and works inspired by it this week on Guide to the Unknown. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to get a new episode every Friday.
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