The Third Week of Halloween 2023

This week: scientists, mad.

Recommended in this episode

Poem

Dear Dr. Frankenstein by Jericho Brown. From his book The New Testament, published by Copper Canyon Press

Movies/TV

Young Frankenstein (1974) Spooky? Possibly? Maybe?; stream on Max, buy the DVD to hear Mel Brooks’ commentary (prepare to have your heart broken when he reacts to seeing his departed friend Madeline Kahn on screen again)

Werewolf by Night (1999) Legit scary, especially in the first half, but ultimately surprisingly sweet; stream on Disney

The Wild, Wild, West (1965-1969) Occasionally spooky, although the spooky element almost always turns out to be a ruse by the villain (like the steam-powered Kraken tentacle that was destroying shipping in the San Francisco Bay—seriously, that was an episode)

also mentioned:

Eureka (2006-2012) Not even spooky, sometimes tense, mostly amiable romps

Books

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots (at times scary, due to examples of the real consequences of super-hero level violence; also on Libby)

Music

What’s He Building in There? by Tom Waits (spooky, in a fun way; listen on most music streaming services)

And we recommend searching for Halloween on any music streaming service—there’s a lot of stuff!

also mentioned:

Skullcrusher Mountain by Jonathon Coulton (spooky, also in a fun way; we’d recommend anything by Mr. Coulton)

Podcasts

Limetown (spooky, some scary descriptions of violence; available via most podcast players—also a TV series on Peacock, and a prequel novel)

also mentioned:

Welcome to Night Vale (spooky, maybe a little scary?; available via most podcast players—and is the nucleus of an entire spooky media mini-empire)