With Your Ears, The World Enters You: Rabbit Trap (UK/USA, 2025)
Rabbit Trap is a film as folk tale.
A Slippery Slope from Cute to Evil in Cult of the Lamb
This Christmas I found myself sitting in my recliner watching my kid play Baldur’s Gate 3 on his new Steam Deck in the very boring, adult predicament of having asked for relatively practical gifts and now having no new toys to play with. I decided to remedy my […]
“Mother of Flies: Your Curse is My Gift”
The Gutter’s own Carol Borden has some thoughts on the Adams Family’s new film, Mother of Flies (USA, 2025): “Mother of Flies is itself a ritual—one that transmutes these experiences, these fears, the pain, the cost of survival, the wonder and joy of survival, and the intimate closeness […]
Another Collection of Vintage Ghost Stories for the Holidays
At Precast Reinforced Concrete Heart, Ray Newman has gathered a collection of vintage ghost stories. It’s the British tradition to watch them for Christmas, but watch them for whichever holiday you like–or no holiday at all and whenever you want. “If you’ve seen all of the BBC Ghost […]
American Hysteria: “Bloody Mary”
On American Hysteria Podcast. Chelsey Weber-Smith considers the history of “Bloody Mary.” “Bloody Mary…Bloody Mary…Bloody Mary…For our Halloween special, we are going to trace the history of the slumber party ritual known as Bloody Mary in which a young summoner stands in the dark in front of a […]
Fréwaka: Never Go Through The Red Door
There is nothing charming about the red fairy door we encounter in Aislinn Clark’s Irish language horror film, Fréwaka (Ireland, 2024).* Its fairy tree is old and hung with scissors and bones. And there is nothing safe about the Good Folk attracted to the house with the fairy door in it.
The Cultural Gutter 