SHRINK CHAT: Pumpkinhead, The Cell, Clown & Homicidal Sleepwalking

Can someone really commit murder in their sleep?

⚠️ Trigger warning: discussion of a toddler's death, a child's death in a hit-and-run, involuntary psychiatric holds, and suicidal feelings.

Shannon and Cathy break down homicidal sleepwalking, from Kenneth Parks to Simon Fraser, and take on Knott's Scary Farm's controversial FearVR 5150 maze. Plus, Horror Facts with Cath, and reviews of Pumpkinhead, The Shed, Clown, 30 Miles from Nowhere and Hell Baby.

Therapists Shannon and Cathy bring a clinical lens: what a 5150 hold really is, why a haunted psychiatric hospital does more harm than a haunted house, and what the brain is doing when someone acts without consciousness.

Covered in this episode:

- The Cell (2000, Jennifer Lopez, Vincent D'Onofrio)

- Knott's Scary Farm and FearVR 5150

- Kenneth Parks and Simon Fraser

- Pumpkinhead (1988, Lance Henriksen, Stan Winston)

- The Shed (2019)

- Clown (2014, Jon Watts, Eli Roth)

- 30 Miles from Nowhere (2018, Carrie Preston)

- Hell Baby (2013, Keegan-Michael Key, Leslie Bibb)

Clinical concepts: parasomnia, homicidal somnambulism, slow-wave sleep, 5150 involuntary holds, NAMI, mental health stigma, grief, identity and being consumed by an illness.

A correction from us: Kenneth Parks's killing was in 1987, and he was acquitted in 1988. Matthew Wolf-Meyer, author of the article we cite, is an anthropologist.

Related episodes:

- PSYCHOLOGY: Mental Illness in Horror, Joker, Hereditary & The Babadook

- SHRINK CHAT: Host, In Search of Darkness, Tom Savini & Lucio Fulci

If this episode made you think, follow Terror Talk and leave us a 5-star review. It helps other horror fans find the show.

*Two licensed therapists, one forensic psychologist, one clinical LMFT, take apart the minds behind the crimes.*

Until then... sleep safe. 😴

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