The Desire of Horror
Charla Ferguson and Martin Essig
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About This Podcast
Charla's love of horror movies combine with Marty's love of psychoanalysis and history of religions. This is a review and analysis of horror movies and what they say about desire.
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Recent Episodes
S2E33 Special Episode: Backrooms (2026)
What about when we choose to remain sick? There is a scene in Backrooms in which the protagonist "Clark," played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, decides to stay in his disease because coming out of it would…
S2E32 32. Grizzly Man: Are We Responsible for Our Mental Illnesses?
Timothy Treadwell was mentally ill, and it led to his death and that of his girlfriend. He compensated for his sense of not being accepted in human society by projecting a persona of the protector of…
S2E31 31. Out of Darkness
What is Otherness? Out of Darkness 2022 directed by Andrew Cumming fits into a number of horror categories, but we've decided to do it on our nature horror series. When we were kids back in the 80s,…
S2E30 30. Annihilation
We get deep into the weird genetic refractions of Alex Garland's very loose take on Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation. Area X seems to be a place of infinite possibilities, except for the possibility of…
S2E29 29. Outbreak and The Bay
In this special double feature addition of the Desire of Horror, Marty's sister Andrea joins the duo once again for a discussion of Outbreak (1995) directed by Wolfgang Peterson and The Bay (2012)…
S2E28 Special Episode: Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix
Char and I cross over from our normally audio-only Desire of Horror Podcast to produce this Youtube video. We discuss the book Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix. https://youtu.be/XR8TvC5gfso The book…
S2E27 27. Frozen
Three, vanilla, college kids get stuck in a ski lift chair high above some undisclosed, New England slopes, as a winter storm rolls in. While they're up there, they argue about stuff like their…
S2E26 26. The Ruins
Privileged, White folk on vacation at a Central American resort may be a sort of cliche at this point, but The Ruins' version of this well-worn scenario takes some pretty fun, and perhaps, critical,…
S2E25 25. The Happening
"The Happening" kind of sounds like there's about to be a groovy 1970's party. Maybe, that's intentional because what happens is like the total opposite of a groovy 1970's party, and M. Night…
S2E24 24. The Descent
We're going down, way down into the underground with an all female cast of characters who desire nothing so much as to be put to the test of extreme situations. Yes, these adventurous ladies love…
S2E23 23. Cabin Fever
Welcome to a cast of reprehensible characters who aren't even lovable enough to hate. These guys not only have no moral compass but they've caught some highly contagious disease in the Appalachian…
S2E22 22. Lake Placid
Well, let me tell you, this lake is anything but placid, especially since (spoiler alert) Mrs. Delores Bickerman (Betty White) keeps her big-ass crocodiles in there. And some poor man studying…
S2E21 21. Deep Blue Sea
One of the most common and ancient themes of horror is that of human transgression of the "natural" world. In Western Mythology this history of transgression begins with Prometheus's giving to…
S2E20 20. Anaconda
Forget whatever you think you know about anacondas, you're about to get schooled. Anaconda starts out with some very brief but essential facts about the Amazonian native, like that anacondas enjoy…
S2E19 19. Gremlins
Gremlins is a true Christmas classic. We had Marty's sister Andrea back for this very special Christmas addition of the Desire of Horror. Although there is much about the film that doesn't make…
S2E18 18. Tremors
The concept is sharks under the ground, which is extra terrifying because you can't get away from them by staying out of the water at Amity Island Beach. And these "Graboids," as they are so aptly…
S2E17 17. Arachnophobia
With so much about immigration in the news as of late, it is hard not to see Arachnophobia as not somehow in dialog with the issue of middle America's obsession with being taken over by foreign…
S2E16 16. Jaws
The desire of the unknowable other takes on new depths in the impenetrable, black eyes of a shark. Matt Hooper, the marine biologist played by Richard Dreyfuss, waxes poetic about the almost eternal…
S2E15 15. The Birds
We're starting the new season off with the genre-defining classic of nature horror, Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. This movie may be about the random, inexplicable, violent behavior of birds, but it…
S1E14 14. Vampires Wrap-up
Here we go with the vampire wrap up! It's been a bloody first season at the Desire of Horror podcast, and that's how we like it! Blood has always had a central place in the History of Religions.…
Frequently Asked Questions
The Desire of Horror has published 33 episodes since June 2025, covering topics in Film Reviews, Philosophy.
The Desire of Horror is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 1h.
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