Fear of the Dark

On our second episode of the horror/comedy mini season, Stacey and Matthew discuss Josh Ruben's Werewolves Within (2021). The film stars Samuel Richardson as Finn Wheeler, a forest ranger assigned to a small Vermont town called Beaverfield, who gets sheltered in with the rest of the townsfolk when they begin to suspect that one among them could secretly be a werewolf. Join us as we talk about this movie's other great star, Milana Vayntrub, how the film thinks about its Black protagonist (is he the werewolf?), and what it means to be a "good neighbor" in the politically-divided small town America.
Film: Werewolves Within (Josh Ruben, 2021)Intro Music: “The Army of You” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive)Outro Music: “Late Night Indigo” (written and performed by Stacey Baran)
Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror, hosted by Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran. Episode edited by Matthew Vernon. Mixdown and mastering by Stacey Baran.
Follow us on Instagram @fearofthedarkpod!

On the first episode of Fear of the Dark's horror/comedy mini season, Matthew and Stacey sit down to talk about The Blackening (2022). The film follows a group of friends who get together for a reunion in a remote cabin. Upon arrival, they realize that a trap has been set, which leads them to the ultimate question: who is the "Blackest" out of them all? Join us as we talk about the tropes and stereotypes of the Black character in horror, and what kinds of stakes are set up in this film to critique - and fulfill - them.
Episode/Show: The Blackening (Tim Story, 2022)
Intro Music: “The Army of You” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive)
Outro Music: “Late Night Indigo” (written and performed by Stacey Baran)
Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror, hosted by Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran. Episode edited by Matthew Vernon. Mixdown and mastering by Stacey Baran.
Follow us on Instagram @fearofthedarkpod!

Fear of the Dark is releasing its second mini season, which is all about the horror/comedy film. What connects horror and comedy as independent genres, what differentiates them, and why does this crossover work so well? We have a line-up of four films to think about how the horror/comedy filters and unmasks each genre's racial conventions and tropes: The Blackening (2022), Werewolves Within (2021), Sorry to Bother You (2018), and Barbarian (2022). Of the horror/comedy film, we ask: should we be laughing or screaming? Enjoy our intro for this mini season, and tune in to listen starting December 12!
Intro Music: “The Army of You” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive)Outro Music: “Late Night Indigo” (written and performed by Stacey Baran)
Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror, hosted by Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran. Episode edited by Matthew Vernon. Mixdown and mastering by Stacey Baran.
Follow us on Instagram @fearofthedarkpod!

This time on Fear of the Dark, Matthew and Stacey sit down briefly to talk about the series, Alien: Earth, the latest addition to the Alien franchise. Recorded when we just entered spooky season, this mini episode covers what we like (and don't like) about the series, as well as where it fits into the broader trends of the streaming and TV industry.
Show: Alien: Earth (2025)
Intro Music: “The Army of You” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive)
Outro Music: “Late Night Indigo” (written and performed by Stacey Baran)
Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror, hosted by Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran. Episode edited by Matthew Vernon. Mixdown and mastering by Stacey Baran.
Follow us on Instagram @fearofthedarkpod!

On this episode of Fear of the Dark, Stacey and Matthew sit down to talk about the episode, "The Viewing," from the horror anthology, Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities. Directed by Panos Cosmatos, the episode stars Peter Weller as Lionel Lassiter, a wealthy recluse, who has invited a small group of people to something called "the viewing." Among the guests in attendance are Charlotte (Charlene Yi), an astrophysicist, and Randall (Eric André), a musician, who come to realize that being "chosen" by Lassiter entails much more than they initially thought... Join us as we chat about collection and consumption, how race might figure into the power dynamics of the group, and the state of film and streaming viewership today.
Media: "The Viewing" (Panos Cosmatos), in Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (2022)Intro Music: “The Army of You” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive)Outro Music: “Late Night Indigo” (written and performed by Stacey Baran)
Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror, hosted by Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran. Episode edited by Matthew Vernon. Mixdown and mastering by Stacey Baran.
Follow us on Instagram @fearofthedarkpod!

In this seasonal holiday-inspired episode, Matthew and Stacey fight over a waffle iron at the Black Friday sale (disclaimer: no one actually got hurt)... Join us today as we discuss Eli Roth's 2023 slasher film, Thanksgiving, based on the fictitious trailer originally advertised in Grindhouse (Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, 2007). We talk about the corporate phenomenon of Black Friday, the film as an homage to the slasher genre (is it though?), and where Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, 2002; Hostel, 2005) fits into today's horror mediascape.
Film: Thanksgiving (Eli Roth, 2023)Intro Music: “The Army of You” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive)Outro Music: “Late Night Indigo” (written and performed by Stacey Baran)
Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror, hosted by Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran. Episode edited by Matthew Vernon. Mixdown and mastering by Stacey Baran.
Follow us on Instagram @fearofthedarkpod!

On this episode, Matthew and Stacey go to the movies (separately this time) to watch Guillermo Del Toro's 2025 horror film, Frankenstein, starring Oscar Isaac as Victor and Jacob Elordi as Frankenstein's creature. Matthew opens this conversation with a spooky excerpt from Mary Shelley's original novel, and then we dive in. Where has the body horror of the creature gone in the newest adaptation of this horror classic? How do we think about race and the production of whiteness in the creature? What's up with the "Netflixification" of this film?
(Dear listener, especially: what do you make of (spoiler alert) Victor's accident outside of the factory and his eventual leg prosthesis? Tell us in the comments or on Instagram. We'd love to know what you think!)
Film: Frankenstein (Guillermo Del Toro, 2025)Intro Music: “The Army of You” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive)Outro Music: “Late Night Indigo” (written and performed by Stacey Baran)
Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror, hosted by Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran. Episode edited by Matthew Vernon. Mixdown and mastering by Stacey Baran.
Follow us on Instagram @fearofthedarkpod!

On this episode, Matthew and I discuss The Long Walk (2025), a dystopian horror film directed by Francis Lawrence and based on Stephen King's 1979 novel. The premise is straightforward: a large group of young men from all across the nation volunteer to walk in an annual marathon, and if they stop for too long at any point or fall below a certain base speed, they will be killed. Join us as we talk about the spectacles of violence and the abject, what the film suggests about the nation's future in the hands of the single Black character, Pete (David Jonsson), and how The Long Walk fits into the conversations around American politics and fracture today.
Film: The Long Walk (Francis Lawrence, 2025)
Intro Music: “The Army of You” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive)
Outro Music: “Late Night Indigo” (written and performed by Stacey Baran)
Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror, hosted by Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran. Episode edited by Matthew Vernon. Mixdown and mastering by Stacey Baran.
Follow us on Instagram @fearofthedarkpod!

On this very special episode - a little "bonus" after our Jordan Peele mini season - Stacey and Matthew sit down to talk with Dawn Keetley, Professor of English and Film at Lehigh University, about HIM, the 2025 sports horror film directed by Justin Tipping and produced by Jordan Peele. The story follows Cam (Tyriq Withers), a rising football star who goes to train with Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), the famed and nearly worshipped quarterback for the San Antonio Saviors, for the opportunity to become his successor. Like Cam, we got the chance to chat with one of our (mostly Stacey's) academic heroes and rant together about the reception of political horror today. Join us for this fun conversation as we think about the intriguingly marketed, visually maximalist, and highly stylized HIM.
Film: HIM (Justin Tipping, 2025)Intro Music: “The Army of You” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive)Outro Music: “Late Night Indigo” (written and performed by Stacey Baran)
Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror, hosted by Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran. Episode edited by Matthew Vernon. Mixdown and mastering by Stacey Baran.
Follow us on Instagram @fearofthedarkpod, and find some of Dawn's work (along with many other brilliant folks) at horrorhomeroom.com!

Happy Halloween! On the final episode of our Jordan Peele mini-season, Stacey and Matthew talk about Nope (2022), the Western sci-fi horror starring Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer, two siblings who discover an unusual phenomenon in the skies near their family's horse ranch. Join us as we close out the season, talking about the many cinematic influences on Nope, the equivocation of the racialized human and the animal, and how the movie inserts itself into the longer legacy of American cinema.
Film: Nope (Jordan Peele, 2022)Intro Music: “The Army of You” (Library of Congress Free Music Archive)Outro Music: “Late Night Indigo” (written and performed by Stacey Baran)
Fear of the Dark is a film podcast about race and horror, hosted by Matthew Vernon and Stacey Baran. Episode edited by Matthew Vernon. Mixdown and mastering by Stacey Baran.
Follow us on Instagram @fearofthedarkpod!