The THING about Films

|Horror Comedy Is Back — But Can It Survive 2026?

Send Us Your Scares! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2520560/fan_mail/new] Can horror comedy actually make a comeback? Or did the internet ruin the spoof movie forever? This week, Ambrose and Jessica go deep on five films — Scary Movie, Shaun of the Dead, Tucker & Dale vs Evil, M3GAN, and the upcoming Scary Movie 6 — to answer one question: what makes a horror comedy actually last? Leave a review 👉🏻 https://the-thing-about-films.beam.ly/review [https://the-thing-about-films.beam.ly/review] Newsletter Sign up at https://deadletter-m8dfsqxm.manus.space [https://deadletter-m8dfsqxm.manus.space/] Episode Breakdown * They break down how Keenen Ivory Wayans ran two weeks of character rehearsals to make Scary Movie feel like a real slasher underneath all the filth. * The story of how a volunteer zombie army built from a Spaced fan site helped make Shaun of the Dead on just six million dollars. * Tucker & Dale isn't really a slasher parody — it's a movie about class prejudice and how horror films trained us to assume the worst about working class people. * A single TikTok dance cut M3GAN from a hard-R horror movie into a PG-13 cash machine — and both Ambrose and Jessica have feelings about it. The Dead Letter If you want more horror between episodes, The Dead Letter is the free monthly newsletter from TheTHINGaboutFilms. Each issue includes Anatomy of a Scene, Cutting Room Floor, Casting Shadows, Whispers in the Dark, and Summoning Soon. It's horror that goes deeper without the homework.  Sign-off Thanks for hanging out in the dark with us. If you're enjoying the show, subscribe and leave us a review — it really does help. We'll be back next Friday with something that'll probably wreck us emotionally. See you then. "And the best part it's absolutely Free, and you can cancel anytime you want if you don't like it." Support the show [https://cash.app/$thethingaboutfilms] EPISODES FM - _https://episodes.fm/1809836198?view=apps&sort=popularity [https://episodes.fm/1809836198?view=apps&sort=popularity] Swift - https://www.swiftenergy.gg/products/tropicrush?ref=svalxxsi [https://www.swiftenergy.gg/products/tropicrush?ref=svalxxsi] Facebook Group Page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1263899825130479 Blue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/thethingaboutfilms.bsky.social Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thethingaboutfilms/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/search?q=TheTHINGaboutFilms&t=1754605765379 X - https://x.com/thingaboutfilms?s=21 [https://x.com/thingaboutfilms?s=21]

|Thir13en Ghosts (2001): The Most Underrated Haunted House?

Send Us Your Scares! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2520560/fan_mail/new] This week, Ambrose and Jessica step into Cyrus Kriticos's glass house of horrors to break down Thir13en Ghosts (2001). They tackle the wild Black Zodiac lore, the practical effects masterclass behind those twelve ghosts, and the question that splits horror fans down the middle — is this movie a glorious mess, or a misunderstood cult classic? Leave a review 👉🏻 https://the-thing-about-films.beam.ly/review [https://the-thing-about-films.beam.ly/review] Our Newsletter 👉🏻  https://deadletter-m8dfsqxm.manus.space [https://deadletter-m8dfsqxm.manus.space] Episode Breakdown * The bisection death scene and the practical body gag that put this movie on every horror top-ten list * Why the Angry Princess, the Jackal, and the Torso are still some of the best ghost designs ever put to film * Matthew Lillard chewing scenery as Dennis vs. Tony Shalhoub's grounded sad dad performance * The grief metaphor hiding under all the glass, gore, and chaos — plus the rumored TV series in the works The Dead Letter Want more horror in your inbox every month? Sign up for The Dead Letter, our free horror newsletter companion to TheTHINGaboutFilms. Each edition features five recurring sections: Anatomy of a Scene, Cutting Room Floor, Casting Shadows, Whispers in the Dark, and Summoning Soon. It's the perfect way to keep the horror conversation going between episodes. Sign up at https://deadletter-m8dfsqxm.manus.space [https://deadletter-m8dfsqxm.manus.space/] Sign-off Thanks for hanging out in the crypt with us this week, horror fam. If you dug the episode, hit follow, drop us a rating, and share it with the friend who still won't admit they were terrified of the Jackal as a kid. The Dead Letter newsletter is waiting for you — Jessica, take it home. "And the best part it's absolutely Free, and you can cancel anytime you want if you don't like it." Support the show [https://cash.app/$thethingaboutfilms] EPISODES FM - _https://episodes.fm/1809836198?view=apps&sort=popularity [https://episodes.fm/1809836198?view=apps&sort=popularity] Swift - https://www.swiftenergy.gg/products/tropicrush?ref=svalxxsi [https://www.swiftenergy.gg/products/tropicrush?ref=svalxxsi] Facebook Group Page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1263899825130479 Blue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/thethingaboutfilms.bsky.social Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thethingaboutfilms/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/search?q=TheTHINGaboutFilms&t=1754605765379 X - https://x.com/thingaboutfilms?s=21 [https://x.com/thingaboutfilms?s=21]

|Dolly (2025): The Doll-Masked Killer You Can't Unsee

Send Us Your Scares! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2520560/fan_mail/new] Ambrose and Jessica head into the woods for Dolly (2025), Rod Blackhurst's nasty backwoods nightmare about a giant masked woman who doesn't want to kill you — she wants to keep you. We break down the brutal cold open, the nursery from hell, and the ending that flips the whole movie on its head. Leave a review 👉🏻 https://the-thing-about-films.beam.ly/review [https://the-thing-about-films.beam.ly/review] Our Newsletter 👉🏻  https://deadletter-m8dfsqxm.manus.space [https://deadletter-m8dfsqxm.manus.space] Episode Breakdown * Why the opening shovel scene tells you exactly what kind of movie you're in for * The nursery, the crib, and the genuinely unsettling thing Dolly actually wants from Macy * Max the Impaler's performance and how that doll mask does so much heavy lifting * Where the script slips, the Texas Chainsaw shadow it walks in, and that ring shot at the end The Dead Letter 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻 Want more horror between episodes? Sign up for our free monthly newsletter, The Dead Letter — the official companion to the podcast. Every issue brings you Anatomy of a Scene, Cutting Room Floor, Casting Shadows, Whispers in the Dark, and Summoning Soon. It's everything we're obsessed with, packed straight into your inbox. Thanks for hanging out in the crypt with us. If you had fun, follow the show, leave us a review, and tell a friend who loves a good doll-mask nightmare. New episodes drop every Friday. "And the best part it's absolutely Free, and you can cancel anytime you want if you don't like it." Support the show [https://cash.app/$thethingaboutfilms] EPISODES FM - _https://episodes.fm/1809836198?view=apps&sort=popularity [https://episodes.fm/1809836198?view=apps&sort=popularity] Swift - https://www.swiftenergy.gg/products/tropicrush?ref=svalxxsi [https://www.swiftenergy.gg/products/tropicrush?ref=svalxxsi] Facebook Group Page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1263899825130479 Blue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/thethingaboutfilms.bsky.social Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thethingaboutfilms/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/search?q=TheTHINGaboutFilms&t=1754605765379 X - https://x.com/thingaboutfilms?s=21 [https://x.com/thingaboutfilms?s=21]

|Good Boy (2025) Ending Explained: Does The Dog Die?

Send Us Your Scares! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2520560/fan_mail/new] This week we're breaking down Good Boy (2025), the seventy-thousand-dollar indie horror that out-grossed The Rock at the box office and won its golden retriever a real acting award against actual humans. We dig into whether the monster is real, why this movie is secretly a grief story, and which one of us would survive moving into a haunted family farmhouse. (Spoiler: Jessica is Todd. We're sorry, Jessica.) Leave a review 👉🏻 https://the-thing-about-films.beam.ly/review [https://the-thing-about-films.beam.ly/review] Our Newsletter 👉🏻  https://deadletter-m8dfsqxm.manus.space [https://deadletter-m8dfsqxm.manus.space] Episode Breakdown * Ben Leonberg shot the entire movie at nineteen inches off the ground using his own dog Indy, his own house, and four hundred shooting days * The Kuleshov effect, ADR'd dog whines, and the wild fact that Indy was never actually scared in a single frame * The lantern reveal in the bedroom, the dog skeleton in the basement, and the ending that's been wrecking horror fans for weeks * Is the monster real, or is it just what dying looks like to a dog who has no words for it? The Dead Letter Want more horror in your inbox? The Dead Letter is our free monthly newsletter and the perfect companion to the podcast. Every issue gives you Anatomy of a Scene, Cutting Room Floor, Casting Shadows, Whispers in the Dark, and Summoning Soon. Sign up at our website and we'll meet you in your inbox once a month. "And the best part it's absolutely Free, and you can cancel anytime you want if you don't like it.” Thanks for hanging out with us this week. If you liked the show, hit subscribe, leave us a review, and tell a friend who can't watch a movie without checking if the dog dies first. We see you. Support the show [https://cash.app/$thethingaboutfilms] EPISODES FM - _https://episodes.fm/1809836198?view=apps&sort=popularity [https://episodes.fm/1809836198?view=apps&sort=popularity] Swift - https://www.swiftenergy.gg/products/tropicrush?ref=svalxxsi [https://www.swiftenergy.gg/products/tropicrush?ref=svalxxsi] Facebook Group Page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1263899825130479 Blue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/thethingaboutfilms.bsky.social Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thethingaboutfilms/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/search?q=TheTHINGaboutFilms&t=1754605765379 X - https://x.com/thingaboutfilms?s=21 [https://x.com/thingaboutfilms?s=21]

|Demons (1985): The Movie That Makes Horror Contagious

Send Us Your Scares! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2520560/fan_mail/new] What if watching a horror movie was the thing that got you killed? That's the question at the heart of Demons, the 1985 Italian splatter classic from Lamberto Bava and Dario Argento — and Ambrose and Jessica are here to make the case that this film invented meta-horror a full decade before anyone gave it credit. Leave a review 👉🏻 https://the-thing-about-films.beam.ly/review [https://the-thing-about-films.beam.ly/review] Our Newsletter 👉🏻  https://deadletter-m8dfsqxm.manus.space [https://deadletter-m8dfsqxm.manus.space] Episode Breakdown: * Ambrose argues that Demons beat Wes Craven's New Nightmare to the "horror-as-infection" concept by ten years — and he's not wrong * The hosts break down Geretta Geretta's iconic demon transformation, which was entirely improvised and ended up setting the physical blueprint for every demon in the film * Jessica and Ambrose go deep on the practical effects — glowing demon eyes made from street sign material, teeth pushed out by mechanical fangs, and a spine-bursting scene straight out of a fever dream * Coffin ratings are in: Ambrose lands at four and a half, Jessica goes full five — and makes a pretty convincing argument for why the unexplained stuff is actually the point. The Dead Letter is our free monthly horror newsletter, and it's the perfect companion to the show. Each issue includes Anatomy of a Scene, Cutting Room Floor, Casting Shadows, Whispers in the Dark, and Summoning Soon. It goes out once a month and it's completely free to subscribers. Thanks for listening to TheTHINGaboutFilms. If you're enjoying the show, subscribing and leaving a review goes a long way — it helps more horror fans find us, and we genuinely appreciate every single one. "And the best part it's absolutely Free, and you can cancel anytime you want if you don't like it." Support the show [https://cash.app/$thethingaboutfilms] EPISODES FM - _https://episodes.fm/1809836198?view=apps&sort=popularity [https://episodes.fm/1809836198?view=apps&sort=popularity] Swift - https://www.swiftenergy.gg/products/tropicrush?ref=svalxxsi [https://www.swiftenergy.gg/products/tropicrush?ref=svalxxsi] Facebook Group Page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1263899825130479 Blue Sky - https://bsky.app/profile/thethingaboutfilms.bsky.social Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thethingaboutfilms/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/search?q=TheTHINGaboutFilms&t=1754605765379 X - https://x.com/thingaboutfilms?s=21 [https://x.com/thingaboutfilms?s=21]