Still Scared: Talking Children's Horror

In this bonus episode, Adam Whybray interviews Lauren Stephenson and Robert Edgar, two of the editors of the recent anthology Horrifying Children: Hauntology and the Legacy of Children's Television, published by Bloomsbury. They chat about anologue horror, public information films and intent vs effect in horror, as well as subversive queer interpretations of the Garbage Pail Kids.

Hail, O eaters of Toadstools! Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are back with returning guest and standing-stone correspondent Ali to talk about Alan Garner's debut novel from 1960, the Weirdstone of Brisingamen. This episode may venture further into fantasy than usual, but there's still plenty of horror to get your teeth into, with swarms of svarts, skin mittens, and of course, caves

Happy festives, spooky kids! Ren's brain is fully on holiday already for this episode about the 1995 mixed live-action and CGI film Casper, directed by Brad Silberling, and perhaps more pertinently, set decorated by Rosemary Brandenburg. In this not particularly thorough episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray discuss the mochi-like texture of Casper, the career trajectory of Eric

Hello and happy halloween spooky kids! For this sixth anniversarry (!) episode, Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are joined by special guest Ailish Brassil to talk about three different filmic adaptations of Disney's Haunted Mansion ride. Excpect the classic elements of comedy tombstones, extending corridors and sinister butlers - as well as the screaming goats, ghost winks and arach

In this episode Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray go back to Ren's childhood to talk about a dark comedy: Angela and Diabola by Lynne Reid Banks. A different twist on the Omen trope, this book gives the evil child a twin of corresponding pure goodness, and a couple of long-suffering parents who do their best for their increasingly supernatural offspring. Indulge in the allure of evil

Don't go chipping any dolls out of the plaster in your cellar, creepy kids, or open any ouija board apps! And definitely don't go and hunt your woebegotten cousin's ghost on a rainy Scottish island! It's not worth it! In this episode Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray discuss the 2015 Young Adult novel Frozen Charlotte by Alex Bell, a grisly book about creepy dolls and the people they

Enter into the turnip-filled darkness this episode, as Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray discuss Robert Westall's Carnegie medal winning 1981 novel, The Scarecrows. Or, more accurately: The Very Angry Young Man and The Scarecrows That Represented His Anger. It's chewy, it's problematic, it's really frickin' weird and the scarecrows don't turn up until the end - have a listen and see w

Buzz buzz, creepy kids, today Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are tackling a stack of short stories by Roald Dahl, focussing on his collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar And Six More. In this episode they discuss the horror of boarding schools, make predictions about which stories Wes Anderson is likely to adapt, and Ren becomes overwhelmed with mirth at Joyce Carol Oates' t

Hello creepy kids! Ren Wednesday and Adam Whybray are back again to discuss the Joe Dante film The Hole (2009), not to be confused with The Hole (2001), which makes much less use of its titular hole. In this lemon-and-ginger tea powered episode, your cohosts discuss skewed suburban aesthetics, creepy theme parks and scrunkly jester voices, and as a special treat go on an extended d

In this warty-textured episode, Adam and Ren are joined by returning guest Willow to talk about two books by Susan Gates: Revenge of the Toffee Monster and to a slightly lesser extent, Killer Mushrooms Ate My Gran. In this wide-ranging episode, this gang of 90s kids chat about the Millennium Dome, cordyceps and the origins of toffee, and are joined by an extra special coconut-heade