It’s anime! It’s a thriller! It’s bizarre! It’s awesome! It’s Satoshi Kon’s “Perfect Blue” on The Ecstasy of Influence on It’s Del Toro Time! https://berenstainbearcast.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Del-Toro-Perfect-Blue.mp3Di philgonzales

Finally! The movie people have been DEMANDING! Oops, I mean, finally the movie no one has ever seen. Yes, this is the video that will most likely go the most unwatched! It’s Pupi Avati’s “L’Arcano Incantatore” and it’s really good! https://berenstainbearcast.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Arcano.mp3Di philgonzales

Who is the biggest GO-BO-LIN of them all?! The Monster! The Creation! The FRANKENSTEIN! Yes, it’s out BAZILLIONTH version of Frankenstein and we’d like to remind everyone that THE MONSTER IS NOT VERY NICE! It’s “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” y’all on the Ecstasy of Influence! https://ia800405.us.archive.org/4/items/del-toro-shelleys-frankenstein/Del…

We’re back with “Tim Burton’s Henry Selick’s Everyone Else’s The Nightmare Before Christmas!” We’ve seen it a billion times! Spooky! https://ia600800.us.archive.org/20/items/del-toro-night-christmas/DelToro-NightChristmas.mp3Di philgonzales

In 1992, Martin Scorsese directed a movie that is either his magnum opus, or a load of HOGWASH. It’s “The Age of Innocence” and we really get into it! https://ia600802.us.archive.org/27/items/del-toro-age-innocence/DelToro-AgeInnocence.mp3Di philgonzales

Welcome to the JUDGMENT ZONE! It’s Phil and Willow and we’re back to talk about Albert Brooks’ 1991 classic “Defending Your Life!” What a weird movie to come back on, I swear. Anyways, here it is! https://ia600800.us.archive.org/0/items/ecstacy-defending-your-life/Ecstacy-Defending%20Your%20Life.mp3Di philgonzales

Aaaaaaaand, we’re done! It’s “A Little Something For Us Tempunauts” by Philip K. Dick and “The Dark Descent” is over! PARTY HORN NOISE! https://ia600308.us.archive.org/7/items/del-toro-tempu/DelToro-Tempu.mp3Di philgonzales

WE’RE SO CLOSE TO THE END! It’s the penultimate “Dark Descent” story and it’s a whopper! “The Hospice” is quintessential Robert Aickman: it’s creepy, offbeat, weird, strange, chilling and inexplicable. We really loved it and now… only one story to go! https://ia600303.us.archive.org/23/items/deltoro-hospice/Deltoro-Hospice.mp3…

What a mystery this story is! Willow isn’t sure if she likes it, or if it even qualifies as horror. I’m enamored of it, but can’t really decide what it’s about! PERFECT! It’s “The Asian Shore” by Thomas M. Disch! https://ia800307.us.archive.org/20/items/del-toro-asian-shore/DelToro-AsianShore.mp3Di philgonzales

This week, it’s one of the most terrifying and terribly intimate stories we’ve yet covered. The cosmic horror of “The Willows” by Algernon Blackwood! https://ia600206.us.archive.org/15/items/del-toro-the-willows_202403/DelToro-TheWillows.mp3Di philgonzales

This week, Willow and I take a look at the creepy effects of UNFETTERED CAPITALISM with Edith Wharton’s “Afterward!” https://ia600203.us.archive.org/29/items/del-toro-afterward/DelToro-Afterward-1.mp3Di philgonzales

Whaddaya get when you take a dead guy, an invisible monster and a heaping dose of post-Civil War Traumatic Stress Disorder? “The Damned Thing” by Ambrose Bierce! The missingest author in the history of Weird Fiction! https://ia600206.us.archive.org/25/items/del-toro-bierce/DelToro-Bierce.mp3Di philgonzales

This week, Willow and Phil take a quick look at a quick story: “The Beautiful Stranger” by Shirley Jackson. We throw out a lot of theories as to the actual nature of this story, but the one thing we can agree on? That stranger is beautiful. https://ia601307.us.archive.org/32/items/del-toro-beautiful-s/DelToro-BeautifulS.mp3…

Sometimes, you don’t even need to ask. “What Was It?” by Fitz-James O’Brien! https://ia601302.us.archive.org/31/items/del-toro-what-was-it/DelToro-WhatWasIt.mp3Di philgonzales

Boy oh boy are we ever getting tired of sad men dying for their ghosts. It’s “The Beckoning Fair One” by Oliver Onions! A good story, but jeez, guys. See a therapist or something. https://ia601304.us.archive.org/16/items/del-toro-beckoning/DelToro-Beckoning.mp3Di philgonzales

We’ve got a big one this week! It’s “The Repairer of Reputations” by Robert W. Chambers and Willow goes OFF. If you’re looking for her sources, here they are! de Oliveira, Hugo Mendes. “An Empire of Delusion: The Process of Alienation as Expressed by Robert W. Chambers’ ‘The Repairer of Reputations.’” Thesis, Proquest Dissertations Publishing, 2021…

This week, we’re heading off to jolly ol’ Russia for a bit of nineteenth century whimsey titled “Clara Militch” or “Klara Milich” or any number of permutations. It’s by Ivan Turgenev and it’s a real cracker! By which I mean, we were utterly confused by it. https://ia601204.us.archive.org/5/items/del-toro-clara-militch/DelToro-ClaraMilitch.mp3…

It’s another headscratcher! “Seaton’s Aunt” by Walter de la Mare might not be the scariest story we’ve ever read, but it sure does make me feel sad! https://ia601201.us.archive.org/14/items/del-toro-seatons-aunt/DelToro-SeatonsAunt.mp3Di philgonzales

Yes, I sing Hall and Oates at one point. It’s “Night-Side” by Joyce Carol Oates! https://ia801204.us.archive.org/26/items/del-toro-night-side/DelToro-NightSide.mp3Di philgonzales

We’re back in Lovecraft Country, this week! It’s Stephen King’s “Crouch End” and it’s a modern CLASSIC! https://ia801204.us.archive.org/14/items/del-toro-crouch-end/DelToro-CrouchEnd.mp3Di philgonzales

When is a ghost not a ghost? When it’s a SIGNAL-MAN! It’s “The Signal-Man” by Charles Discken and Willow has NOTES on the story! NOTES! https://ia601200.us.archive.org/26/items/del-toro-signalman/DelToro-Signalman.mp3Di philgonzales

“Seven American Nights” is phenomenal and Gene Wolfe is brilliant. That’s all. https://ia801801.us.archive.org/3/items/del-toro-seven-american-nights/DelToro-SevenAmericanNights.mp3Di philgonzales

“Sssssssssmokin’!” Oh, somebody stop me. This week, we begin a new chunk of “The Dark Descent” as we wend our way into “A Fabulous Formless Darkness” by way of the game-changing short story “Smoke Ghost” by Fritz Leiber. Does it live up to the hype? Yes. Yes, it does. https://ia601509.us.archive.org/12/items/del-toro-smoke-ghost/DelToro-SmokeGhost.…

Oh, Henry James. Why must you be so obtuse? This week, it’s a return to the creeps and the spooks as we take a step inside “The Jolly Corner!” Any good? Well, Willow had no idea what was going on! https://ia800505.us.archive.org/32/items/del-toro-jolly-corner/DelToro-JollyCorner.mp3Di philgonzales

This week, it’s a story that really left a wild impression on us. Is it supernatural? Natural? A little bit of both? Who knows! It’s “Mackintosh Willy” by Ramsey Campbell! https://ia600505.us.archive.org/32/items/del-toro-time-mackintosh-willy/DelToroTime-MackintoshWilly.mp3Di philgonzales

This week, it’s a story that is remarkably similar in many ways to last weeks. So, we both loved it, of course! Right? RIGHT?! *sigh* It’s “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor. https://ia601402.us.archive.org/9/items/del-toro-time-good-country-people/DelToroTime-GoodCountryPeople.mp3Di philgonzales

This week, it’s our first Tanith Lee story and, maybe not coincidentally, one of our favorites. Is it horror? Who cares? It’s awesome! It’s “Three Days” here on The Dark Descent! https://ia904600.us.archive.org/0/items/del-toro-three-days/DelToro-ThreeDays.mp3Di philgonzales

D. H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking Horse Winner” is no liar. It’s got a rocking horse. It’s got a winner. It’s all there on the tin! https://ia600501.us.archive.org/1/items/del-toro-rocking-horse/DelToro-RockingHorse.mp3Di philgonzales

Are you ready for some heady noir? This week’s “You Can Go Now” by Dennis Etchison is weird and trippy and short and delightful! It’s a real headscratcher, I tells ya! https://ia600506.us.archive.org/34/items/del-toro-you-can-go-now/DelToro-YouCanGoNow.mp3Di philgonzales

Willow and I are back with more Dark Descent. This week, it’s “My Dear Emily” by Joanna Russ. It’s a vampire story, with a twist! The twist? Um… it’s good? https://ia902501.us.archive.org/14/items/del-toro-my-dear-emily/DelToro-MyDearEmily.mp3Di philgonzales

If there’s one person we love talking about at The Dark Descent, it’s Dick Math! Dickie the Math Man! Richard “Richie Rich” Matheson! Yes, this week we take a look at Dickie’s first ever published story “Born of Man and Woman!” And, it’s an icky one! https://ia902601.us.archive.org/7/items/del-toro-born-man-woman/DelToro-BornManWoman.mp3…

When is a ghost not a ghost? When it’s your repressed homosexuality! It’s Robert Hichens’s “How Love Came To Professor Guildea” on The Dark Descent! https://ia902707.us.archive.org/4/items/del-toro-professor-guildea/DelToro-ProfessorGuildea.mp3Di philgonzales

In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” Emily doesn’t get a rose. How about that? It’s The Dark Descent and we’re back! https://ia902608.us.archive.org/33/items/del-toro-rose-emily/DelToro-RoseEmily.mp3Di philgonzales

A woman really hates that wallpaper in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-paper!” It’s yellow, alright! https://ia601607.us.archive.org/10/items/del-toro-yellow-wallpaper/DelToro-YellowWallpaper.mp3Di philgonzales

This week, Willow and Phil schalk the schalk with J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Schalken the Painter!” It’s based on a real guy, but it’s not! It’s pretty sexy but also gross! It’s a rip roaring good time and also about the societal helplessness of women in the face of suffocating patriarchy. “Schalken the Painter!” https://ia904709.us.archive.org/23/item…

This week, THE CAT HAS A RACIST NAME. And, YES, we discuss it! Also, Lovecraft’s impossibly wild interpretation of Roman mythology and, look, it’s actually a pretty good story about a grieving father. It’s “The Rats In The Walls!” https://ia804707.us.archive.org/14/items/del-toro-rats-walls/DelToro-RatsWalls.mp3…

This week, it’s all about Christmastime, Mega-Malls and Stone Babies, baby! It’s “Within the Walls of Tyre” by Michael Bishop and it’s MESSED UP. https://ia904707.us.archive.org/13/items/del-toro-tyre/DelToro-Tyre.mp3Di philgonzales

You better watch out! Baby who’s that? It’s Phil and Willow back with “The Monkey” by Stephen King! And, all we really need to say is that this is the best King character and he needs to come back, please. Thanks. https://ia801602.us.archive.org/20/items/del-toro-the-monkey/DelToro-the%20Monkey.mp3Di philgonzales

Willow and I return to the world of Poe with “The Fall of the House of Usher!” It’s nice to be back on firm ground with a classic story and talk all about Poe and his 13 year old bride. No, really, it’s fun. https://ia904706.us.archive.org/32/items/del-toro-usher_202301/DelToro-Usher.mp3Di philgonzales

Willow thinks I’m nuts for ever having liked this mess. It’s “Dread” by Clive Barker! https://ia904709.us.archive.org/29/items/del-toro-dread/DelToro-Dread.mp3Di philgonzales

If you like non-verbal developmentally disabled men with borderline personality disorder performing inprov surgery on unconscious women, have we got a story for you! It’s “Bright Segment” by Theodore Sturgeon and it’s ICKY! https://ia904707.us.archive.org/12/items/del-toro-bright-segment/DelToro-BrightSegment.mp3…

Are you scared of roaches? Hope not! Because we’re talking about Thomas M. Disch’s “The Roaches” from “The Dark Descent” and it’s got ROACHES! https://ia904708.us.archive.org/12/items/del-toro-the-roaches/DelToro-TheRoaches.mp3Di philgonzales

We’re diving back into “The Dark Descent” because watching movies has PROVED DIFFICULT! And, what a story to dive into! It’s Robert Aickman’s “The Swords” and it’s about… sex? Stabbing? Thrusting? It’s fairly explicit and fairly grimy and we talk about it for a WHILE. Enjoy! https://ia904708.us.archive.org/22/items/del-toro-the-swords/DelToro-TheSw…

What do you get when Guillermo del Toro decides to make “Pinocchio?” “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio!” It’s an aggressively Guillermo del Toro movie and we wouldn’t have it any other way. https://ia601400.us.archive.org/2/items/del-toro-pinocchio/DelToro-Pinocchio.mp3Di philgonzales

You like birds? You like murmuring? You like GRIEF? Well, we do! We close out Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities with the phenomenal “The Murmuring” by the incredible Jennifer Kent! Then, we rank the eps! It’s fun! https://ia601407.us.archive.org/1/items/del-toro-cabinet-08/DelToro-Cabinet08.mp3…

When the director of “Mandy” throws a bunch of comic actors and Robocop in a room together and makes them do Space Cocaine, the result is “The Viewing!” Also, Gremlin Water Hatchers; they grow! https://ia904704.us.archive.org/33/items/del-toro-cabinet-07/DelToro-Cabinet07.mp3Di philgonzales

https://ia804706.us.archive.org/16/items/del-toro-sick_202211/DelToro-Sick.mp3Di philgonzales

We were having such a great run of episodes, it was inevitable we’d hit a dud. “Dreams in the Witch House” takes Lovecraft’s original story, removes the plot, keeps a few names, a rat with a face and calls it a day. It wouldn’t be bad if it wasn’t so… bad. Sorry. https://ia904702.us.archive.org/14/items/20221110_20221110_2010/DelToro-Cabinet06.mp3…

Whaddaya get when you take one of H. P. Lovecraft’s most famous short stories and streeeeeetch it out? You get the Cabinet of Curiosities adaptation of “Pickman’s Model!” Is it very much like the story? Errrr… Is it entertaining? Heck yes! https://ia904706.us.archive.org/25/items/del-toro-cabinet-05/DelToro-Cabinet05.mp3…

In “The Outside,” director Ana Lily Amirpour takes a webcomic by Emily Carroll and turns it into something else. Something full of body horror, comedy, self-loathing, and axe murder! It’s “The Outside!” https://ia601404.us.archive.org/10/items/del-toro-cabinet-04/DelToro-Cabinet04.mp3Di philgonzales