GTGC - #199 - Halloween

GoodTrash GenreCast

Happy Halloween! Your favorite film analysis podcast is back with the Halloween classic, John Carpenter's Halloween. Alex, Caleb and Dustin gather around the analysis table to wrap up Shocktober 2016 with this holiday classic. You may or may not be surprised by the hosts' reactions to the film. The review is made up of an interesting look at seminal works that get surpassed by time and innovation. In honor of the horrifying visage of William Shatner, this week's game sees the hosts talking about Famous Faces that could look Evil. But, you didn't come here for games. You're here to hear solid film analysis. Caleb, Alex and Dustin bring some strong analysis to counter the evil of Michael Myers.
Caleb gets the ball rolling by discussing the history of Samhain and it's correlation with Halloween. Caleb explains the roots of many of our holiday traditions, such as apple bobbing, and gives some foundation for what Carpenter initially wanted to achieve with the franchise. He argues that Halloween as a mirror of societal horror could have worked if not for the money grab of the initial sequel. Alex takes over from here and speaks a bit to his point about franchising films before moving into her true analysis of the film. She looks at the portrayal of female sexuality and the harms of the slasher film in relation to femininity. She argues that the misogyny of the film is a challenge to overcome, not only for Halloween but the genre as a whole. Dustin counters and compliments her argument a bit. He discusses the pros of the film and the strength that it did attempt to give to females through the final girl trope developed. He takes a closer look at the slasher villain as an agent of God's wrath. Thank you for joining us this month for our favorite annual marathon, Shocktober. We want to inform you that we will be taking a brief break. To properly prepare for Episode 200 and to work around schedules, we've decided to take a week off. We will return on November 14th with Episode 200. If you want to know what movie we're watching for that special episode, you'll have to listen to this week's episode. Trick or Treat, dear listener. Halloween Timestamps 00:35 - Welcome and Introductions 02;36 - Synopsis and Reviews 11:00 - The Game - Famous Terrifying Faces 17:13 - Social Media 18:40 - Analysis 39:57 - Shelf or Trash/Else or Instead 44:56 - Wrap Up