As Spooky Season continues, the Dames discuss all things vampiric, including:

• A brief history of sexy scary monsters
• Transgressive sexuality, Freudian nightmares, and rapacious aristocrats
• Why Bela Lugosi is the best Dracula
• Twilight's de-fanging of the vampire
• Why Coppola's Dracula is really problematic

Plus! The Last Duel kerfuffle and why a medieval epic about rape might not be such a big hit right now. 

For more sexy/scary vampires, check out our Letterboxd list: https://letterboxd.com/citizendame/list/sexy-scary-sexy-vampire-movies/

This week! The Dames are kicking off Spooky Movie Season with a deep dive into the evolution of horror, especially in the later years. From the Satanic Panic of the 70s and 80s to the social justice films of today, we explore all the things we love about modern horror movies, with a little bit of classic appreciation thrown in for good measure.

We also spend a little bit of time discussing Neon's elitist release strategy of Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Memoria: https://twitter.com/IndieWire/status/1445403907161792523

The Dames take on documentary and film criticism this week, discussing how we talk about documentary filmmaking and why it's important for critics to divide their feelings about the subject from critique of the film itself. 

Plus! Are we intimidating? Why is Crisp Rat playing Mario? And other important questions of the day. 

This week we're talking genres! What are the genres, how do they work, or why do they matter? Plus listener questions and deep dives into Nia DaCosta's Candyman and the 1947 film, Nightmare Alley.

The Dames teach a master class in film criticism, including:

• How to read a film beyond the plot and dialogue
• When critics should take a step back
• Historical and cultural context and subtext
• Subjectivity and objectivity

Plus! The Matrix Resurrections trailer and our reactions to James Wan's Malignant. 

This week!

• How are people getting things so wrong?
• Why do we love movies?
• Is Taxi Driver more of a Paul Schrader film than a Martin Scorsese film?
• Stuff we've been watching like Theater of Blood, Sunset Boulevard, and What We Do in the Shadows - Season 3 is finally here!

The Dames provide their most whiplashy of whiplash episodes, discussing:

• Disney films and cultural context
• Why you're all wrong about the current season of Ted Lasso
• Horror films based on urban legends
• Nia DaCosta's Candyman

Catch a clip of our August bonus episode, a deep dive into the joy and wonder of the 1988 Oscar-winning movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Supplemental Reading: 15 Things You Might Not Know About Who Framed Roger Rabbit 

This week the Dames talk about the wonderful world of animation for grown ups! 

Plus:

• The ongoing "theatrical experience" debate 
• Jurnee Smollett and Misha Green are getting their Black Canary movie!
• Brief reviews of The Green Knight and The Night House
• And Listener Questions!

For further reading:

https://www.indiewire.com/2021/08/film-critics-challenge-studios-in-person-screenings-1234653798/

The Dames discuss the term "Hitchcockian" in celebration of Alfred Hitchcock's upcoming birthday! What does "Hitchcockian" mean? Why is it so overused? And why does Brian De Palma suck so hard? Plus:

• Why are superhero directors so obsessed with Martin Scorsese?
• James Gunn is a dingbat, and
• Our feelings about The Suicide Squad