February 25, 2022
Greatest of All Time: Horror Podcasts
Are you looking for a fright to keep you up all night? Here are some horror podcast recommendations that fit the bill!The White Vault
The White Vault tells the story of a repair team sent to Outpost Fristed, located on the island of Svalbard, Norway, which has the northern-most human settlement in the world. Consisting of experts from across the globe, the group works to find out why the outpost is sending out strange signals. Although they manage to fix the radio, a massive snowstorm traps the team on the base because travel is not advised. The longer the crew stays in Outpost Fristed, the more strange and terrifying things they uncover beneath the ice.The podcast has a total of five seasons, with the final episode set to be released on March 8, which makes it easy to binge listen. Most of the voice actors come from around the world, bringing their native languages to the story, including but not limited to German, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian, Russian, and Finnish. Most of the story is told in English so the listener can understand the plot and because English is the only common tongue between most of the characters; however, we often hear bits and pieces of each characters’ languages. Seasons 1 and 2 take place in Svalbard; the story shifts to an archeological site in the Chilean Andes for seasons 3 and 4, which has some strange similarities to some of the things found near Outpost Fristed. I won’t spoil the location of the final season, but trust me when I say that it’s worth the listen. Find The White Vault on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and other podcast platforms.The Magnus Archives
The Magnus Archives follows Jonathan Sims, the new Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, which collects and investigates paranormal reports. Each episode, Sims reads a statement made by people who believe that something supernatural occurred to or near them, and the findings made by the Institute related to the report. As the story goes on, you begin to realize that these statements all have elements in common, but Sims refuses to believe that any of them could be true or connected. From there, a larger narrative grows to encompass horrors far greater than Sims could have imagined.Episodes were uploaded weekly from March of 2016 up until the series finale in March 2021. The show had a large and active online fanbase during its release, meaning there is plenty of fan content to be found across the internet. The Magnus Archives even has an asexual biromantic lead, making it a rare bastion of ace representation in media. I highly recommend listening to this show in small bites (each episode is only about 20 minutes long) or large chunks (it’s very easy to binge). Just don’t listen in the dark. You can find The Magnus Archives on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitchers, and other podcast platforms.
—Serenity Block, Podcasts Editor
“In space no one can hear you scream,” the tagline to the popular Alien movie series, very accurately summarizes how some might describe their first time playing Alien Isolation. In this game, which is indeed based on the Alien films, you are Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley, and have been searching for your mother when you finally strike gold. The flight recorder of the ship that Ellen was last recorded to be on is to be found on a space station by the name of the Sevastopol with a team of researchers. Unfortunately, the place had other visitors already on board—ones that are not too friendly either. Crawling through tiny air vents in the pure darkness, you have to move with caution, or the “monster” may come for you. You not only have to run from a monster that hides within the darkness but from other survivors on the station where self-preservation is the first thought on everyone’s mind. There is something amiss, and it’s up to you, Amanda Ripley, to find out what is really going on at the station. There is also mic compatibility to make it more immersive. Alien Isolation can be played on PC, all Playstation systems, all Xbox systems, and even on Android and Apple phones.
Pretty in Pink is the kind of teen movie that helped solidify the “Brat Pack” era. For reference, this term was coined by New York Magazine for a group of popular actors who frequently starred in coming-of-age movies in the eighties. This ripple of cinema introduced a golden time of teen movies that were both relatable and aspirational.
The Lost Boys: When teen brothers Michael and Sam move to Santa Clara, California, little do they know that it’s the “murder capital of the world.” Michael, at 18, soon disappears into the local night life, so Sam heads to a local comic shop where he meets Edgar and Allen Frog, two brothers with a knack for melodrama. The brothers unceremoniously hand him a comic on vampires and warn him in throaty, Apocalypse Now tones that there’s more to sunny Santa Clara than meets the eye. Sam scoffs at first, but then Michael shows up at home acting very strangely—avoiding sunlight and drinking what looks like blood out of a bottle. Oh, and at one point, he accidentally floats up to the ceiling and can’t get down. Meanwhile, a pack of good-looking if big-mulleted boys led by Kiefer Sutherland’s David stalk menacingly in the shadows. The Frog Brothers soon convince Sam that Michael is likely a half-vampire, and the only way he can be human again is for Sam to join them on a quest to kill the head vampire. Problem is, they’re not quite sure who holds that distinction. Is it David? Or someone else entirely? The film fails the Bechdel test miserably—the lone woman in the cast, Jami Gertz’s Star, is a more ethereal version of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl stereotype whose only purpose seems to be serving as Michael’s damsel-in-distress and saying people’s names with tear-filled eyes. But The Lost Boys also packs edge-of-your-seat suspense with laugh-out-loud one-liners and a terrific ’80s soundtrack. If I can tell my inner feminist to pipe down and let me enjoy this Trash Vortex classic, you can, too. —Available on Netflix. 
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Looking for some creepy short-story madness? An online short-story platform known as the SCP Foundation (Secure, Contain, Protect) has a tantalizing collection of the weird and mysterious from evil Santa Claus to tunnel dwellers, other worlds to everything else that goes bump in the night. To date, the collection, written by numerous authors, has over a thousand parts!
“Mwahahaha, a new villain comes to life! All you mortals are utterly doomed!” This writing activity allows you to create a new super villain to wreak mayhem upon the world. Allow your mind to spread its creativity by inventing a bad guy of your very own.