SHRINK CHAT: Terror Train, Scream 5, Basket Case & The Pale Door

What happens when a slasher gives away its killer in the first fifteen minutes?

Content note: discussion of hazing and a prank that leaves a student institutionalized, and of the 1980s slasher trope of a killer disguised as another gender, which trans communities have long criticized (about 15:03 to 16:13).

It’s our first Shrink Chat of 2021. Cath’s Horror Facts land on American Psycho, then we talk about the new Scream, Jordan Peele’s influence on it and horror’s turn toward social commentary. Our buddy watch is the New Year’s Eve slasher Terror Train with Jamie Lee Curtis and a very creepy David Copperfield. Then the Shudder horror western The Pale Door, Rare Exports, Basket Case, the Unhinged remake, 1408 and Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies, plus Adrienne Barbeau’s podcast She Kills and Carol J. Clover’s Men, Women and Chainsaws on gender in horror.

Therapists Shannon and Cathy talk about the diathesis-stress model and what a prank can trigger in someone already vulnerable, why retriggering a trauma is a strange way to stop a killer, how an early reveal kills suspense, why a woman with agency or without compassion reads as a monster, and how horror gives marginalized communities a language for their struggles.

Covered in this episode:

• American Psycho (2000) in Horror Facts with Cath
• The new Scream, Jordan Peele and the social turn in horror
• Terror Train (1980), our buddy watch: Jamie Lee Curtis, David Copperfield and the hazing gone wrong
• The diathesis-stress model and retriggering trauma
• The killer-in-disguise twist and how it’s been criticized
• Color of Night (1994), a sleeper worth revisiting
• The Pale Door (2020), a Shudder horror western
• Rare Exports (2010), the Finnish evil Santa
• Basket Case (1982), Duane, Belial and stop motion
• Unhinged (2017), the remake of a 1982 video nasty
• She Kills, Jennifer’s Body and women in horror
• Men, Women and Chainsaws by Carol J. Clover
• 1408 (2007), John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson
• Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies and horror comedy

Clinical themes: diathesis-stress, trauma and triggers, hazing and bullying, gender and monstrosity, agency and how women are judged on screen, horror as emotional expression.

Corrections and updates: The new Scream was released in January 2022, with Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette returning. American Psycho’s lead is Patrick Bateman, a nod to Norman Bates; “Hip to Be Square” plays in the film, but Huey Lewis pulled it from the soundtrack album. 1408 is based on a Stephen King short story from 1999. Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies is a 2016 Austrian film, not German or Finnish. She Kills is hosted by Adrienne Barbeau.

Related episodes:

• GIALLO: Dario Argento, Deep Red, Mario Bava & Blood and Black Lace
• SHRINK CHAT: A Christmas Horror Story, Christmas Evil & Creepshow
• WINTER HORROR: Dead Snow, Cold Prey, Pontypool, ATM & Jack Frost

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

Until then... sleep safe. 😴
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