Invasion of the Pod People (Thomas Eliot)

I interview Brian Patrick O'Toole, the writer of (among others) Evilution, Basement Jack, and producer of Dog Soldiers about working on those movies, writing emotional characters, the future of independent cinema, and get a bunch of great stories.

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

I love evil doll movies. There's something so intensely unsettling about mundane, harmless things like dolls doing things they shouldn't be able to. If you found yourself being chased by a regular guy with a knife, at least people might believe you, but who would believe you if you told them you're being chased by a doll with a knife? Trying to get help could get you landed in an asylum!

Here are my thoughts on twenty one evil doll movies.


Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

While designing Fear of the Unknown, I divided the movies that were inspiring me up into six categories based on the kind of antagonist they feature. For each of those categories I came up with six example movies that I think tell the history of that kind of antagonist, talk about why I loved that movie, and if you love that movie, give a few suggestions for what to watch after it - so I actually end up talking about way more than 36 films.

The six categories are Mundane Threats, Seemingly Unstoppable Threats, Unbelievable Supernatural Threats, Cosmic Horrors, Enormous Threats, and Conspiracies. I list 6 movies in each of those categories, plus suggestions what to watch next if you liked that movie.

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

Let's create a character and a setting together in Fear of the Unknown, my zero prep horror mystery RPG. The quickstart rules are available now, and the full version is coming to Kickstarter in October. Get the quickstart rules here: https://sixpencegames.itch.io/fear-of-the-unknown

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

In this episode, I give a basic overview of how to play Fear of the Unknown, my zero prep horror mystery game. Solve mysteries, encounter horrors, face perils, and see how that changes you as a person!

Download the quickstart rules here: https://sixpencegames.itch.io/fear-of-the-unknown

And join the discord here: https://discord.gg/G957SXKwYx

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

I'm Thomas Eliot, designer of the upcoming zero prep horror mystery RPG Fear of the Unknown. In this podcast I talk about (and interview!) my influences. Featuring interviews with filmmakers, musicians, and artists who work in horror and gaming, and me discussing all of those subjects on my own.

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

An actual play of Fear of the Unknown, a zero prep horror mystery RPG coming to Kickstarter in October. Featuring special guest star, horror screenwriter and producer Brian Patrick O'Toole, whom I interviewed on this channel last month!

The kickstarter for Fear of the Unknown is now live throughout the month of October 2022!




Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

I interview Brian LaGuardia, composer for Rice Games and Fear of the Unknown! Also releasing today are all of the Sixpence Games themes for our previous games: in addition to Fear of the Unknown by Brian LaGuardia, we also have Murder Most Foul, Professor Pugnacious, and Cultists of Cthulhu, each by Brent Hengeveld.

https://ricegames.net/

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

In this month's interview I talk microbudget filmmaking with Len Kabasinski, the king of independent action genre cinema. You can support his work and see all of his movies on his patreon at patreon.com/killerwolffilms

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

Join me and my oldest friend John Carpenter (no, not that John Carpenter, the other one) as we go through our favorite kills in horror films

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

Most games of Fear of the Unknown have one GM and multiple players, but it also works with just a single player! Join us today as Howard Frieze GMs and I play, trying to unravel a horrifying time loop.

The kickstarter for Fear of the Unknown is now live throughout the month of October 2022!


Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

In this episode I interview Andrew Leman and Sean Branney of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, makers of film adaptations of The Call of Cthulhu and Whisperer in Darkness

Also, the kickstarter for Fear of the Unknown is now live throughout the month of October 2022!


Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

In this month's episode, I interview Prof. Dustin Morrow, writer / director of Black Pool (2019) and professor in the School of Film at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, USA.


Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

In this actual play of Fear of the Unknown Thomas is the Oracle, Sean and Jamie play and are later joined by Graham, and together they play boat thieves in the 1950s on the shores of Lake Michigan battling against a vengeful Sheriff.

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

In this episode, Thomas Eliot is the Oracle, Sean Patrick Fannon (Prowlers and Paragons) and Jamie Avery (playtester who literally had a nightmare about Fear of the Unknown) play the Deputy Sheriff and star hockey player in a small Alaskan town beset by a ravenous oil company.

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

Today my guest is Dustin Matson, the writer, director, and one of the stars of Tapehead. We talk about Tapehead, the upcoming feature length sequel Tapehead: The Return of Jacob Cobb, and indie filmmaking in general.

You can watch Tapehead here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s60ldSPJ6ZY

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

In today's episode, I interview Rico Dalsimer, creator of the Durty D youtube channel and the Dawn of the Friend short film.

You can watch Durty D here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/DurtyD

And you can check out the 72 hour Kickass Film Fest here:

https://filmfreeway.com/KickAssFilmFestivals

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

Today I interview Steve Rudzinski, the writer director of CarousHell, CarousHell 2, and more! You can watch CarousHell here:

https://tubitv.com/movies/682665/caroushell?start=true

And you can watch all of Steve's movies on his patreon here:

https://www.patreon.com/SteveBuster/

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: Comment Link
Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

tw: discussion of suicide

In today's episode, my guest is Matt Gordon, a special effects makeup artist from right here in Pueblo Colorado. A warning, this episode does get a bit heavier than most.

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

In today's episode, my guest is Chris Dubey, producer and star of Paper City Burnout, a neo-noir / crime thriller tragedy.

You can watch Paper City Burnout for free on Tubi:

https://tubitv.com/movies/641760/paper-city-burnout

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

In today's episode I interview Rick Ives, writer/director of Solid Rock Trust, a tense heist movie set almost entirely in a single location.

You can watch Solid Rock Trust here: https://tubitv.com/movies/701273/solid-rock-trust?start=true

You can follow Rick on twitter here: https://twitter.com/flashbulb_films



Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

In today's episode I interview some folks who made Valentine Bluffs, a My Bloody Valentine fan film. We've got Chuck Ryan, who plays the miner and Axel and is a producer, John Piekos, the DP, and Darren Pastor, the special effects guy.

You can watch Valentine Bluffs here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIIOv49awUU

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

In today's episode my guest is Noah Bunyon, the director of The King in Yellow, an adaptation of the 1896 collection of short stories by Robert W. Chambers.

You can watch The King in Yellow here:

https://www.amazon.com/King-Yellow-Mike-Newman/dp/B0B6WVBK24


Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

A bit of a disclaimer: my mic had some difficulties this episode, so my audio is a bit garbled. Fortunately my guests are audible just fine.

In today's episode my guests are Chris McInroy, the director, Stacey Bell, the executive producer, and Kris Phipps, another producer, of several horror shorts: GUTS, Bad Guy Number 2, Death Metal, We Summoned a Demon, and the One Time in the Woods segment in the Scare Package anthology.

You can watch their shorts here:

https://vimeo.com/chrismcinroy

And you can watch Scare Package exclusively on Shudder.

Leave a comment and share your thoughts: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl4t13kxz012w01xi0gxphf5d/comments

Today's guest is Fable Siegel, director of the Lackadaisy animated pilot, a cartoon about anthropomorphic cats in prohibition era St. Louis. You can watch the Lackadaisy pilot here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vffu6FG4YP4

And you can read the original Lackadaisy comic here:

https://lackadaisy.com/

Today's guest is Tracy Butler, creator of Lackadaisy. Lackadaisy is a comic about anthropomorphic cats in prohibition era St Louis that was recently adapted into an animated pilot. You can watch the pilot here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vffu6FG4YP4

And you can read the original Lackadaisy comic here:

https://lackadaisy.com/

Today's guest is Justin Seaman, creator of The Barn, and '80s throwback horror movie. The Barn Part II is coming soon, and in the meantime you can watch The Barn here:

https://tubitv.com/movies/491603/the-barn

Today's guest is Pierce Berolzheimer, the writer/director of Crabs!, a genre-bending horror comedy creature feature about, you guessed it, crabs invading a small town. You can watch Crabs! here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/0QRXUKUZPS46G1CFCCIJI9MFWD/

Today's guest is Fred Vogel, director of The Final Interview, a psychological thriller set almost entirely in a single room, and the August Underground trilogy, highly influential and hard to find fake snuff films.

You can find The Final Interview here, and the August Underground trilogy is set to be re-released later this year, starting this month.

https://www.thefinalinterviewmovie.com/

Today's guest is John Johnson, director of Curse of the Blue Lights and Zebulon Pike and the Blue Mountain. This is a special episode, as John Johnson is also a resident of Pueblo, Colorado, where I live! This is the first episode I recorded in person, in our local public library - the same place where I first saw a showing of Zebulon Pike and the Blue Mountain.

Curse of the Blue Lights is a supernatural horror film shot in Pueblo, Colorado, and set in a fictionalized version of Pueblo. It was inspired by local folklore. Zebulon Pike and the Blue Mountain is a historical dramatization of the true story of Zebulon Pike's expedition west, filmed on location in the locations his journey actually took him to.

You can find Curse of the Blue Lights here:

https://www.amazon.com/Curse-Blue-Lights-Special-Deluxe/dp/B00EXDVDIS

And Zebulon Pike and the Blue Mountain here:

https://www.zebulonpike.net/

John Johnson's main site is:

https://johnhjohnson.net/

And his Damon Runyon site is:

https://damon-runyon.com/

Today's guest is Preston DeFrancis, director of Ruin Me, a metamodern slasher film. You can watch it, and the director and writer's commentary, on Shudder:

https://www.shudder.com/movies/watch/ruin-me/7dfe6d8d92cc6b23

Today's quest is Lloyd Kaufman, cofounder of Troma, the world's longest running independent film studio. You probably already know who Lloyd is.

You can watch all sorts of Troma movies on Troma Now:

https://watch.troma.com/

In this first annual Slimy Awards episode, I take a moment to reflect on the first year of doing Invasion of the Pod People, talk about what's changing going forward (not much, just more interviews!), and of course present the first annual Slimy Awards.

If you are an independent filmmaker and would like to get interviewed about your work, send an email to invasionofthepodpeoplepodcast@gmail.com

This is a special episode celebrating Six Feet Under Horror Fest, which sadly my short did not get into. Today's guests are Bryan Oliver and Will Grey of Cirrus Studios, whom I met at the previous 6FU. You can see their work here:

https://www.watchcirrus.com/

It's been just about a year, and the feature film of Tapehead is out! You can watch the original 45 minute "short" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s60ldSPJ6ZY And you can buy the feature film, Return of Jacob Cobb, here: https://kunaki.com/sales.asp?PID=PX00ZYO1CG&pp=1

Thomas Jacobson is one of the members of 5 Second Films, and one of the directors of Dude Bro Party Massacre 3, which you can watch here:

Today's guest is Greydon Clark, a prolific director of low budget independent films for many decades. You can find lots of his films on Tubi, as well as on his website, where you can also get his autobiography, which I greatly enjoyed reading as preparation for this episode:

http://greydonclark.com/

Today's guest is Kevin Kopacka, director of Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes, a German metamodern horror film that you can watch here:

https://tubitv.com/movies/689314/dawn-breaks-behind-the-eyes

Today's guest is Samuel Morrison, writer of By Deception. You can watch By Deception here:

https://tubitv.com/movies/699196/by-deception

Today's guest is Peter Cannon, director of Exposure, which is not yet released

My guest today is Adam Marcus, director of Secret Santa, a holiday horror flick that will be showing at New Fear's Day, the winter and holiday themed horror film festival I've put together, and is currently streaming on ScreamBox: https://www.screambox.com/details/1000000019139/Secret-Santa

He also directed Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, which is currently streaming on tubi: https://tubitv.com/movies/682530/jason-goes-to-hell-the-final-friday

My guest today is Christopher Wesley Moore, writer/director of Children of Sin, a horror movie set at a gay conversion camp - but not the one you're thinking of. You can stream Children of Sin on tubi: https://tubitv.com/movies/679385/children-of-sin

Continuing this month's theme of interviewing people about things other than specific films they've made, I'm interviewing Richard Hansil about founding a new indie film studio. You can learn more about 3one8 Films and follow along with their development on their website: https://www.3one8films.com/

This month I'm changing things up by not interviewing people about specific movies they've made. Instead, my guest today is Rudi Womack, director of the Wyoming International Film Festival. We talk about WYOIFF and film festivals in general. You can find more information about, and submit your films to, WYOIFF on Film Freeway:

https://filmfreeway.com/WyomingInternationalFilmFestival

And their website:

https://www.wyoiff.com/

Here For Blood is an upcoming home invasion movie about a babysitter protecting their charge from a cult. The twist? The babysitter is a professional wrestler!

Here For Blood is coming to theaters and ScreamBox on February 9th.

The Fetch is an upcoming thriller that fits into the "the real monster is trauma" subgenre.

Followers is a new slasher/home invasion film that just came out on March 12th, 2024, and is streaming exclusively on ScreamBox.

https://www.screambox.com/

https://www.instagram.com/smallertown

Today's guest is Charlie Steeds, a hugely prolific British film director. We talk about Gods of the Deep and Freeze, a modern and period piece adaptation of The Call of Cthulhu and At the Mountains of Madness respectively, as well as his other work. You can watch a lot of his movies on tubi:

https://tubitv.com/person/5f5ca9/charlie-steeds

https://twitter.com/darktemplefilms

https://www.instagram.com/charliesteeds

Today's guest is Chris Notarile, writer/director of Methodic and just a ton of fan films. You can watch Methodic on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Methodic-Niki-Notarile/dp/B0CQKJY5WC/

And you can watch his fan films on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/@blinky500

Today's episode is a special one. Instead of the usual deep dive with one filmmaker about a specific film, I interviewed as many people as I could at the Pueblo Film Festival, asking them "where do you see the future of independent film going?"

https://pueblofilmfest.org/

This June we're looking at things connected to indie horror filmmaking that aren't films themselves, starting with Horrifying Hot Sauces. You can buy them here:

https://horrifyingco.com/

Continuing with this June's theme being things that are about horror movies rather than are horror movies themselves, here's Nina Nesseth with Nightmare Fuel, a book about the science of horror movies.

You can buy Nightmare Fuel anywhere Tor Nightfire books are sold, such as on amazon, and follow Nina Nesseth on twitter: https://twitter.com/cestmabiologie/

Today's interview is with Adrian Țofei, writer/director/star of Be My Cat: A Film for Anne, one of the most intense and realistic found footage films I've seen, and with Duru Yücel, who joined him to make We Put the World to Sleep, their upcoming sequel to Be My Cat. Lots of links today!

You can watch Be My Cat here: https://tubitv.com/movies/491721/be-my-cat-a-film-for-anne

Support Adrian and Duru's work here: https://www.patreon.com/AdrianDuru/posts

And find all of their things here:

https://linktr.ee/AdrianTofei

https://linktr.ee/DuruYucel

https://linktr.ee/BeMyCatMovie

https://linktr.ee/WePutTheWorldToSleep

Today's guest is Devin Montgomery, writer/director of Monsters Within, an upcoming small town psychological thriller.

You can watch the trailer for Monsters Within here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Ib2Ia1BzI

Today's guest is Adam Newman, writer/director of Everwinter Night, a horror/comedy

You can watch Everwinter Night here: https://tubitv.com/movies/100018318/everwinter-night

Today's guest is Austin Smagalski, writer/director of To Die Alone, a psychological thriller set in the woods.

You can find more info on Austin's films at www.glasscreekfilms.com and https://www.charmingstranger.com

Tickets and updates: https://linktr.ee/todiealonefilm
IG: @charming_stranger_films and @todiealonefilm and @austinsmagalski
X: @CharmingStrange
FB: https://www.facebook.com/CharmingStrangerFilms/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@glasscreekfilms

Siege at Nune High is an action thriller about defending a school, like Assault on Precinct 13 but starring kids, made by some high schoolers and their teacher.

You can watch Siege at Nune High at www.siege-movie.com and on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@siegemovie
You can follow along on instagram: @siegemovie

Baleful is a surreal nightmare film that's coming soon.

You can follow along on the Deformed Lunchbox youtube, instagram, or twitter

Beezel is a haunted house story told over three generations.

You can find more information about Beezel and the other spooky stories Victoria and Aaron make here:

http://www.epic-pictures.com/film/beezel
 
https://x.com/DreadPresents
https://www.facebook.com/dreadpresents/
https://www.instagram.com/dreadpresents/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCyFWveJ8VzuCksq-KKeb2g
 
https://www.youtube.com/c/SocialHouseFilms
https://www.instagram.com/socialhousefilms/
https://www.facebook.com/socialhousefilms/

The Creeping Death is a cozy Halloween centered horror movie, available now on ScreamBox

www.creepingdeathmovie.com

https://twitter.com/MattSampere

https://www.facebook.com/creepingdeathmovie

https://www.instagram.com/creepingdeathmovie

Compression is a colorful psychological thriller about an agoraphobic podcast host

https://www.instagram.com/compressionmovie

https://www.facebook.com/CinephreakPictures/

https://www.instagram.com/emjdurch_

Score

Needle Drops

Glowzies is about slime and zombies. What more could you want? Made in Grand Junction, Colorado, Glowzies won Best Schlock Feature and Best Use of Slime at the 2024 SlimeFest, a film festival I put together last summer.

Glowzies will be released by Terror Films

instagram.com/KevinBr00ks

Clawfoot is a sort of home invasion thriller with some really surprising twists and turns

Stream it on Amazon

Instagram

Taking a break from interviews for a bit to focus on editing my first feature film, THE PHILIP EXPERIMENT -or- HOW TO CONJURE AN IMAGINARY GHOST

Frogman is a found footage creature feature now streaming on FoundTV and you can watch Scare Package on Shudder. You can see more of Anthony on Youtube and his personal Instagram, and more about Frogman on the movie's Instagram.

Delicate Arch is a new surreal horror film now streaming on Screambox. You can follow Matt on Instagram, and follow the Delicate Arch Instagram.