Last updated on March 10th, 2024
Is it just me, or is analyzing movies with your friends almost as fun as watching the movies themselves? I believe a big part of the enjoyment of sharing a movie-watching experience with another person is having the opportunity to share perspectives afterward. The act of opening your mind to another person’s thoughts and opinions on a film gives you the gift of seeing parts of the movie in new ways. This is where movie review podcasts come in.
Tuning into horror movie podcasts (or any movie podcasts, for that matter) is a great way to hear new perspectives on old favourites as well as candid reviews on movies you have not yet seen. By nature of the medium, you get to be a fly on the wall so to speak, hearing podcasts’ hosts’ and guests’ likes, dislikes, jokes, fears—all unifying human experiences—in regards to a particular horror film which is both fun and entertaining.
Whether you are new to horror podcasts or just looking for recommendations, if you are interested in these types of conversations, here is a list of amazing horror movie podcasts to go listen to right now…
Horror Queers
Who The Hosts Are: Joe Lipsett and Trace Thurman are queer horror film critics and writers for Bloody Disgusting, among other impressive bylines. In fact, Horror Queers is a part of the Bloody Disgusting podcast network. Joe is also the founder of the film and television blog, Queer.Horror.Movies.
Why You Should Listen: This is my all-time favourite horror podcast and the one that actually inspired me to start this blog. The hosts, Joe and Trace are the kind of people you want to be best friends with. They are diehard horror fans and insanely knowledgeable film critics without being horror gatekeepers, and their authenticity and witty humour will make you instantly fall in love with them and tune in every week. It goes without saying that I love hearing them discuss horror movies with LGBTQ+ themes, but more than that, I appreciate their moments of vulnerability where they share their experiences and struggles as gay men with the listeners, which adds emotional depth to their podcast without ruining the fun vibe of the show.
On top of their credentials, they also share my love of the Scream franchise, which makes them the podcast hosts of my dreams.
Editor’s Note: Canadian listeners will be proud to learn that the talented Joe Lipsett is a fellow Canadian who hails from Toronto.
Spooky Tuesday
Who They Are: Spooky Tuesday is a downright loveable trio of women who are crazy about horror (and Matthew Lillard, nuff said). This spooky triad includes horror buffs Sydney Thompson, Monica Heidt, and Chelsea Duff.
Why You Should Listen: Picture a podcast with your talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show-stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, horror-loving besties. Self-described as “three girls who love fake blood, making everything gay, and Matthew Lillard!” you know you are going to have fun with this pod. Fans of the Scream genre will especially delight in their brilliant segment where they debate where (adorably dubbed) Matty Lilly would fit into their featured movie. Cue heart eyes.
Dead Meat Podcast
Who They Are: James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca are YouTube horror royalty and need no introduction. But in case you’ve been living under a rock in the horror community, they are the creative minds behind the popular YouTube channel, Dead Meat which has deservingly garnered millions of loyal subscribers (if you haven’t already, go check out their genius series,The Kill Count — seriously, drop everything and go). James and Chelsea are true fans of the horror genre with the film study credentials to back it up, so you can expect to learn a lot about all your favorite horror movies.
Why You Should Listen: Their unique voices and polished brand of horror critique carry over seamlessly from their YouTube channel to their eponymous podcast. With the longer format that podcasting allows, the Dead Meat Podcast leans more informally than its YouTube channel and gives you an in-depth glimpse into James and Chelsea’s thoughts and feelings on the films that they review. Their enthusiasm is contagious, so like their epic YouTube channel, you will have a blast listening to this podcast.
Kim and Ket Stay Alive…Maybe
Who The Hosts Are: Kim Burns and Ketryn (Ket) Porter of the horror movie comedy podcast, Kim and Ket Stay Alive…Maybe are award-winning actresses and horror movie megafans. In addition to their acting backgrounds connecting them to the world of film, Kim is also a producer, and Ket is a screenwriter.
Why You Should Listen: Their show boasts a highly original format where it feels like you’re listening to a “Choose Your Own Adventure” game unfold for each horror movie that they review. Basically, in each episode, one host who has not seen a particular movie presents the plot points to the other host one by one, each posed as a “what would you do?” scenario to see how they will answer the question, and find out if they will ultimately make the right choices and “survive” the movie.
Aughtsterion
Who The Hosts Are: Sam Wineman is a Los Angeles based writer and director known for his film The Quiet Room, Deathcember’s “Milk and Cookies”, and Shudder’s upcoming queer horror documentary, Horror Is Queer. His co-host, Jordan Crucchiola is a writer and producer also living in Los Angeles (you also may know her from her appearance in Eli Roth’s History Of Horror). She is a specialist in genre cinema and describes herself as, “arguably the world’s foremost scholar of the movie Jennifer’s Body” which makes her perfect, in my books.
Why You Should Listen: If you hate horror gatekeeping and are an unabashed lover of early aughts (2000–2009) horror movies, this podcast is for you. Augtsterion unapologetically discusses and recommends horror movies that are largely misunderstood and/or critically panned and deserve a second chance (or first!) They describe themselves as “Like the Criterion Collection but more gay and more fun.”
The Gravetalk Podcast
Who The Hosts Are: Jon, Mark, and Garrett of The Gravetalk Podcast are a couple of scary movies buffs just doing what they love watching and reviewing horror movies for our listening pleasure.
Why You Should Listen: The hosts are all extremely likable and funny, so if you like your horror reviews with a side of hilarious commentary, this one is for you. I also love that they also aren’t afraid to sometimes cover some of the more random (read: unpopular) horror movies for the comedic value—and it always pays off.
The Horror Virgin
Who The Hosts Are: Mikey is a horror movie aficionado and Todd is an audio/video producer and the self-proclaimed Horror Virgin of the show.
Why You Should Listen: The premise of The Horror Virgin is the perfect recipe for a thoroughly entertaining podcast: “3 Friends. 2 Horror Fans. 1 Horror Virgin. Will he survive?” Both hosts bring the laughs, and listeners will enjoy self-identifying with horror fan Mikey and laughing along with him as he tries to scare the titular Horror Virgin, Todd.
Scream!
Who The Hosts Are: Scream! is a horror movie podcast hosted by Alaina Urquhart and Ashleigh (Ash) Kelley from Morbid: A True Crime Podcast and Caleb from Horror Soup.
Why You Should Listen: First of all, their theme music is a banger. Music aside, the humourous banter and chemistry between these hosts make this podcast so much fun to listen to.
Two Chicks and a Horror Flick
Who The Hosts Are: Felicia and Tawny describe themselves as “Two horror-addicted best buds sharing our unedited, comical, no BS opinions on horror flicks.”
Why You Should Listen: I love a good female-founded podcast and these women do it perfectly. Their episodes are well-spoken and researched but still feel chill and conversational. Like all my favourite podcasts, I love how they inject humour into their reviews.
Final Girls Horrorcast
Who The Hosts Are: Aimee and Carly are two horror-loving ladies who enjoy discussing scary movies on their podcast, Final Girls Horrorcast which is part of the Modern Horrors podcast network.
Why You Should Listen: As mentioned above, you can never go wrong with a fabulous, female-founded horror podcast. If you like your horror movie reviews more bite-sized, these women do a cool episode format where they review two movies per episode that complement each other thematically. This format adds another layer of interest to the episode when the two movie’s respective topics overlap with each other.
My Spooky Gay Family
Who The Hosts Are: My Spooky Gay Family is a comedy/horror podcast hosted by drag queen Pissi Myles and self-described “humorist” Sam Baxter.
Why You Should Listen: This podcast is an intersection of two of my favourite things: horror and drag. I love hearing horror movie reviews and commentary from a queer perspective and these two do it with panache and laugh-out-loud humour.
Do you agree with these picks? What’s your favourite horror movie podcast? Share your thoughts in the comment section below to add it to the conversation.