About this episode

The episode discusses the recent success of horror films in theaters and features insights from film critics.

The topic: Horror movies are having a moment. Two of this year's greatest box office successes are two horror films, each from unknown directors with non-IP scripts and relatively small budgets. A horror darling: Obsession is the unexpected runaway hit of the summer, having grossed over $400 million worldwide on less than $1 million budget. Now almost two months out from its initial release, it is still playing in theaters nationwide. Another hit: Backed by the studio A24, Backrooms had a budget of $10 million and has grossed almost $350 million worldwide. Some of its success can be attributed to it being based on a popular 4Chan post that sparked a webseries and several internet games. Guests: Amy Nicholson , film critic for LAist, film critic for the Los Angeles Times and host of the podcast ‘Unspooled’   Christy Lemire , film critic for LAist, and co-host of the ‘Breakfast All Day’ YouTube and podcast series  Tim Cogshell , film critic for LAist, Alt-Film Guide and CineGods.com 

People in this episode

Guests: Amy Nicholson, Christy Lemire, Tim Cogshell

Topics covered

• horror movies
• box office success
• independent films
• theater attendance
• film criticism

Keywords

• horror films
• box office
• independent directors
• A24
• film critics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: LAist, A24

Books & works: Obsession, Backrooms

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