It was the pictures of the VHS sleeves on the podcast’s main website, which drew me to this show. They made me feel nostalgic about my teenage self, wandering around the video store, looking at the bottom shelf of the horror section, where all the weirdest movies lived.
This whole show had a nostalgic, old-fashioned feel about it, reminiscent of classic tv lore such as “Night Gallery” or “The Twilight Zone” or “Tales of the Unexpected.”
The show consists of seven short stories, half acted, half narrated, some self-penned by the creator, some loosely adapted from works by Gogol, Ambrose Bierce and HG Wells. I’m not sure I would call them “horror”, but they were certainly weird, like the kinds you might find in the tv shows named above.
The stories were all more sophisticated than the artwork on the mock VHS sleeves would have you believe. They were deeper, more personal, more poignant than I expected. “Room to Grow in” for instance dealt with feelings of agoraphobia and the need to feel sheltered; and “Jackrabbit” – which was my favourite – dealt with the futility of life and pre-destination.
I’m really looking forward to the next instalment.
