Eye On Horror
Eye On Horror
Monstrum with Dr. Emily Zarka
This week, the boys are joined by professional monster expert Dr. Emily Zarka PhD. Dr. Z is the creator and host of PBS's Monstrum, a deep dive into the many worlds of monsters! From Jumping Vampires, to Slasher Killers and D&D, Dr. Z is on a mission to share her passion and show that human history is monster history.
But first, the boys review Heretic, Gladiator 2, Nickel Boys, Companion (NO SPOILERS), Better Man, Correia revisits the Hostel movies, Jay goes to Disneyland, and Jacob explores the world of Stephen King Dollar Babies! It's all new on EYE ON HORROR!
Watch Monstrum on the PBS App, PBS.org, or on Storied's YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_lsQEz7yLOpq278N-4I72cTXlRE1kVUN
Keep up with Dr. Zarka and all the cool projects she has going:
https://www.dremilyzarka.com/
This week's mentioned movies:
https://letterboxd.com/correianbbq/list/eye-on-horror-podcast-sn-7-ep-18/
Follow us on the socials: @EyeOnHorror or check out https://linktr.ee/EyeOnHorror
Get more horror movie news at: https://ihorror.com
Welcome to eye on horror, the official podcast of ihorror.com this is episode 137 otherwise known as season seven. Episode 18. I am your host, James Jay Edwards, and with me, as always, is your other host, Jacob Davison, how you doing? Jacob, doing all right, just kind of getting over getting my COVID and flu vaccines, like it kind of winded me. It wasn't as bad as before, but slept. Slept a while last night. Did you get them at the same time? They would be same? Oh yeah, no, I did both at the same time. Yeah, that'll knock you out. Also with us, as always, is your other other host, Jon Correia, how you doing Correia?
Jonathan Correia:Oh, doing fantastic. I had some very a big hubris last night, and was like, I can stay up for one more thing, and it was out cold on the couch. Went directly to bed. So there's dishes from last night that need to be done that I'm staring at from across the apartment and not doing right now so that we can record this podcast. I
James Jay Edwards:know how you feel. I actually on Tuesday, which means nothing to the people listening, but you guys know my wife and I actually went to Disneyland and, Oh, nice. And I hadn't been since she and I first started dating, so it's been like 17 or 18 years. So I got to see Galaxy's edge, nice Star Wars section, which I had never seen, which was totally awesome. Now Chewbacca had the day off, so I didn't get to get a picture with Chewbacca, which really breaks my heart, because that was one of the things I really wanted. But I did get to go on on rise the resistance and Smugglers Run. And I was a pilot on Smugglers Run, and and my wife was the other pilot. And let's just say we crashed a lot. The engineers were getting this because they had to repair a bunch. But I really could handle that Light Speed Stick. And, you know, I was taken to light speed, yep, but yeah, taking
Jonathan Correia:you to light speed, God, just say, Well, no, we're not supposed to go to light speed. Radio, no, we're going to light speed now.
James Jay Edwards:Light Speed now. Nope, it tells you when to do it. And I actually didn't try. I wonder if I could have done it just randomly. I don't think it would have done it, though, but yeah, it was. It was a long day, and my Fitbit told me I walked 10 and a half miles nice over the course of the day, walking around, and, Yep, I got to see the Haunted Mansion decorated for Nightmare Before Christmas Bucha, which was also one of the points of going because, yeah, I had never seen it done for and I think I like it better as the Haunted Mansion. But it was interesting to see because, you know, you zeros down the hallway instead of a candlestick, and that was kind of fun. But, you know, it was cool.
Jonathan Correia:It's always go. It's always great hanging out with the grim, grinny Ghost, especially when they come out to socialize, yeah, you know,
James Jay Edwards:but yeah, enough about my Disney trip. What's been going on? There hasn't been a lot of new stuff coming out.
Jonathan Correia:Well, there's one that I think we've all seen at this point, Heretic? Yeah,
James Jay Edwards:I talked about heretic last episode, but let's hear what you guys said. What do you guys think? I thought I really liked it. I thought it was interesting. And, yeah, no, you were right, though, just like Hugh Grant really stole the show, just being kind of like a horror version of the beta. Reply, Guy and I, although I think would really set the movie for me, was the product. It was the sets, you know, like from the cozy living room to like the deeper into the layer and all the mishmash of different artifacts. But, yeah, no. Like, I lost it when Hugh Grant did that jar, Jar Binks impression,
Jonathan Correia:I didn't know I needed that in my life. And then it happened, and it's almost like when there's a piece of your heart that's missing that you didn't know what that was missing, and then suddenly it's there, and you feel a bit more whole Hugh grants, jar, jar, big suppression, not the movie that is, but I am thankful that we have that. I dug it for the most part. It's one of those things, one of those type of movies where, like, one of your worst horrors is realized, so it's not the most comfortable. And my worst horror is being stuck at an Afters party with a theology major, uh, ranting at me, and that, because that's what it came down to. It's one of those like mid 2000s Tim Minchin, Russell Brand, or Dawkins type theology. There's someone who watches a lot of those videos and then is, is. Spewing those at you. It's like, Well, if God existed, what if this? Why does this happen? It's like, you just sitting there being like, Jesus Christ, man, I just needed to, like, have another beer. I don't want this, but it's Hugh Grant doing it. And so there is a bit of, like a pull. There is a bit of, like, a Ah, you're making some good points. But what I really Doug is that the movie gave the missionaries, especially so Sophie Thatcher's the time to, like, go like, Yeah, but also like, you didn't even think about, like, there's one point where he compares, like, for the major religions to monopoly games and Sophie Thatcher's like, you didn't even take into account with, like, Judaism, like, you know, the Holocaust, or anti semitism, or anything like that with this. And it's just, like, completely obliterates his comparison. And she's like, and your comparison is, frankly, quite insulting, comparing religions to monopoly. And so, like, I don't know if, like, the movie was trying to make points, and I do kind of feel like that third act was a bit, it kind of lost me a little bit. It wasn't, but overall, it wasn't bad. It was a good movie. It was just, it's just one of those ones where, like, I saw it in theaters, and I'm okay if I don't see it again. You know what I mean, where it's like that, I had a good time, but I'm all set
James Jay Edwards:that scene with soapy that you're talking about at that point they, they kind of realize what his gig is and that they're in trouble. So their whole point is, you know, they have to challenge him, you know, to to keep him around. So that's where that comes from. And you're right. She, she basically turns the tables on him. It's like another theology or an anti theology major, almost, yeah, riti, which is funny, because she's supposedly one of the believers and and she's, you know, kind of spewing back to him, you know this, you know, it doesn't take into account that, you know. So, yeah,
Jonathan Correia:I'm just, like, really worried about encountering the theology film Bro, that's gonna, like, start going, this is the best movie ever, because it says everything that I'm saying, and it's like, that was the point of it, but, but okay, because, you know, they exist.
James Jay Edwards:I have a friend who's, he's a film critic in in Salt Lake City, and he, he's a former Latter Day Saint, and he, he his review of it was really interesting. I'll send you guys a link if you want, because he basically approaches it from a former church members go, you know, he actually went on one of these missions where he had to do this kind of thing. And it was, it was a pretty interesting take on the movie that, you know, I wouldn't have had because I wasn't, you know, a Mormon. You know, I'm, I've never been a Mormon, but he, as a former church member, had a really interesting take. I
Jonathan Correia:would love to hear more takes like that, because I did read one article about, like, what they got right and what they got wrong about being missionaries, and like, how, especially a lot of the there was, there's some really interesting takes out there about, like, what it is like, especially being a female missionary going to stranger houses and like, what, what the kind of, like, anxieties and terrors that go with that. So I do appreciate those takes a lot. That's how
James Jay Edwards:I actually started my written review of it. I'm like, you know, these people go to strange lands and knock on people's doors. I'm like, why haven't? Hasn't anyone done a horror movie about this in the past? I mean, it's a terrifying concept. Yeah, a friend of mine reviewed the movie saying it was like, if you if, uh, Jigsaw from saw was Ricky Gervais and trap and trapped you, that's, that's pretty accurate. Yeah, I have been pretty much buried. We're getting into awards voting, so I've been buried in screeners. And I got my Substance screening screener the other day, so I'm gonna get to see it. But I've been mainly, you know, diving into, like, awards stuff I did see, which isn't really horror, but it has a lot of cool blood. Gladiator II, which opens, it'll it will have opened after this episode posts, it's funny, it's more it's not as serious a movie as Gladiator, and for the first half of it, maybe, maybe first third, I thought it was just gonna be a rehash of Gladiator, and I was kind of bummed, but then they do this cool little twist that is actually a pretty obvious twist, but it ties it back to the first movie. And then it got kind of fun, but the the fight scenes are almost hysterically inaccurate. Like, like, they Well, first I thought it was kind of cool, because they have one scene where they where they flood the Coliseum with water, and then they have boats out there, and they react the naval battles, which is something that the Romans did.
Jonathan Correia:I was about to say, if you say that didn't happen, no, I've been fighting people online about that. Like,
James Jay Edwards:No, it did. It did. But here's, here's where they went wrong. At least, I think they went wrong. I wasn't there, obviously, but this scene, there were sharks in the water. So like if people got knocked off the boat, there was a Hungry Shark there to tear them apart. And I am doubting the fact that they had hungry men eating sharks in the Coliseum for that, I mean, but it did make for a good battle. It was, it was awesome to watch. That's
Jonathan Correia:forgivable, because here's the thing, they might not have been able to do that, but if they could have, they would have,
James Jay Edwards:this is, actually they did put sharks in the Coliseum. Did they? I knew that should have happened. Wow. Okay, well, I read about that back in elementary school. Wow. How did they catch the sharks? I wonder. I mean, that's a double check on that. But no, like, they went crazy with, like, some of the glad editorial games, like, they'd get all kinds of crazy ass animals to throw in
Jonathan Correia:there. Yeah, you got to remember they didn't have TV or anything like that. So this was, like, their Super Bowl, their what this was their Sunday Night Football. This was their Thursday night M*A*S*H. You know, new episode of M*A*S*H and stuff. But like, what's beautiful about hearing that fact is, you got to remember that, yes, they, they pretty much invented plumbing for the Roman Empire. At least other cultures had plumbing as well too. There were irrigation systems, but they invent for for the Roman Empire, they invented plumbing for the purpose of flooding the Coliseum, not so that people could flush and poop and all that stuff. No, no, no, the peasants in their and their feces. We want to see glad. We want to see naval ship battles at home. We don't want to go to sea to watch it. We want to watch it here. And like, just the amount of effort, like, is insane. I'm
James Jay Edwards:gonna have to do some hardcore research into that, because knowing that the shark thing is real really raises a lot of questions, how the hell, what kind of sharks did they use? I'm imagining ones that were from, like, the sea that was, that was near there. But also, how the hell do they? One, catch the sharks. Two, transport them and keep them alive long enough, maybe that's how they got them hungry. Was to not feed them. But oh, oh yeah, now I'm going to have to do a deep dive. Yeah,
Jonathan Correia:we, we are currently proving that all men think about is the Roman Empire. Like, how often this thing
James Jay Edwards:about it? This is true often. But also, another thing I saw for rewards viewing is called Nickel Boys. Have you guys heard about this? No, this one. And this isn't really horror. I don't want to spend too much time on it, but it's, it is pretty horrific. It's about a pair of black boys in the late 60s, Tallahassee, who get sent to this reform school. And this reform school is very racist and very brutal, and these poor kids, they're just subjected to all this, you know, torture from the school itself. And it's really interesting, though, because it is the way it's presented, is from your literally, the point of view of one or what both of them, but at different times, the you're in these kids heads. So the and the only way that you can tell, and this takes some getting used to, which kid you're in the head of is by someone calling him by their names are Elwood and Turner, and you you know one at someone around them goes, Hey, Elwood. Then the camera will look at that person. Or if you see the other one, like, if you see Turner, you know you're seeing through the eyes of Elwood. If you see Elwood, you know you're seeing it through the eyes of Turner. But it's a really interesting way. It really immerses you into the terror of this reform school. Yeah,
Jonathan Correia:that's awesome. That's a that's like what they did on the British show, peep show, where it was all from someone's point of view, and so, but with that, you heard a lot of the inner monologs. So there was a lot of that comedy. Of like, you they would say something, but maybe they would think something else. So like, kind of flipping that for for more dramatic effect rather than comedic. Is, is really interesting. Yeah,
James Jay Edwards:they didn't, they didn't have the inner monolog part, but, um, but it was still, yeah, it was still very immersive. Another thing I saw for awards that I can't talk about yet, but I can just tell people I saw it. I saw Nosferatu, boom, and I can't the it's under embargo, so all I can tell you, and let's see if you can tell what I thought from my from telling you this, I can't wait to talk to you guys about it. Okay, copy,
Jonathan Correia:so Jay hated it. You heard it here first. Jay thinks Nosferatu is the worst movie of the year. No,
James Jay Edwards:I get I'm gonna go on the record and say, No, I absolutely did not hate it, but I can't go into a review. All I can do so the embargo lifts on December 2. So our next episode, I'll get to talk about Nosferatu just so but, but for now, just know I've seen it, and that's a that's a pretty good teaser for next episode. Well, speaking
Jonathan Correia:of A. Cryptic comes out in the future. Can't really talk about it. Jacob and I went to a very early screening of the upcoming movie. Companion, Yes, Jake Quaid, Sophie Thatcher, Jacob, Jack Quaid, why do I keep thinking it's Jake? But anyways, Jack Wade, Sophie Thatcher, and it was written by, written by and directed by Drew Hancock and boy howdy. That first and foremost, they already released the trailer, and that trailer, especially once you have seen the movie you were you can see they purposely just picked the most out of context shots possible to not let you know what the fuck this movie's about, and like
James Jay Edwards:with Barbarian, when they said the new Justin Long movie even even
Jonathan Correia:more cryptic, and they need to keep it that way, because not knowing anything other than those facts made that movie so incredible. What do you think, Jacob, without giving anything away, of course,
James Jay Edwards:there's some good stuff, and I'm saying it now. It will be the movie of Valentine's Day. 2025
Jonathan Correia:Yeah, yeah. I there was a point in that movie where I was like, Man Jack quaids Going for his mom's Crown of the romance comedy mantle. And then I ate those words, and then I and then I was given those words back. It's, it's really just twisty turny, and in the best ways possible, like it's, oh man, there's just it's, there's so much good in it, with it that I can't talk about because it gives it away. I think the worst part about that movie is the fact that we saw it 10 weeks early, and now I have to wait now nine more weeks until the end of January to see it again, because I genuinely want to see this movie again. It's there's so much in there that revisiting it will be fun. And the other thing that really upsets me about that movie is because of the type of movie it is, because of the type of performance. Sophie Thatcher deserves awards for that performance, like she was absolutely phenomenal with what she did, and she's killing it, man. I'm so excited about her career. She's picking some really great roles, speaking
James Jay Edwards:of 10 weeks early, another thing I saw, and this is more like for my weirdest movies of the year list, not so much horror, but another thing I saw for awards screening is better man, this is the monkey movie. Yes, this is the movie. It's the, it's the the biopic of Robbie Williams. But the twist is Robbie, and it says at the beginning, he's like narrating it, and he goes, Oh, I'm going to show you me the way I see me. And then he is a chimp for the entire movie. And we were joking as we left the screening. We're like all, well, I'm going to tell my kids this was a planet of the apes movie. It seems like a remake of one of those later Planet of the Apes, later 60s, you know, type planet apes movies. It was, it was really, it was crazy, and it does. There is one point when it turns into a full out ape brawl, which is interesting because Robbie Williams is the only chimp character. But when you see it, you'll get where, what that is, but it, yeah, it is definitely we it's pretty much a standard biopic. You know, there's nothing crazy in it that you either don't already know, or you know, haven't seen before, except for the chimp angle, which is kind of hilarious.
Jonathan Correia:Now, for someone like me who isn't super on know about Robbie Williams and his boy band years or his solo years. Like, like, I might recognize a song or two, is it still worth checking out? So, yeah, really very,
James Jay Edwards:it's very much a musical. It's, it reminded me a lot, the presentation kind of of Rocket Man, where they do break into songs, you know, quite frequently. But it's not like Bohemian Rhapsody, where it's it, where it's organic. It is like a musical where, like, all of a sudden there would be this huge song and dance number that'll happen. And I think, I mean, I don't know much about Robbie Williams, either, but I think it sticks pretty close to his career, like he at one point, he, um, it actually is kind of heartbreaking at one point, it goes over his relationship with this, that singer for All Saints, that the girl singer, and then she kind of left him for Liam Gallagher and who Liam Gallagher and him, it's weird. It's like he wasn't, I guess Liam Gallagher is kind of a dick, but if you can put up with that, you can be his friend, at least. That's how it came off in this but, but, yeah, it's, it's kind of because it goes through this point where, like, she gets pregnant, and then her record company, her record company, because her band is taking off, kind of pressures her into getting an abortion. And it's very subtle, the way they handle it in this but when you pick up on the clues and realize what happened, you're like, Oh, fuck. This is terrible. Are, oh, this is just, it's horrifying, but, yeah, it's, it's weird, but it does. It's, it's a 2025, release they're just doing, like the early awards voting screenings now. So that one, you know, you were talking about 10 weeks in the future. This one's pretty close to that. No, it
Jonathan Correia:looks interesting. I did a lot of retro watching, filling holes of franchises that I've maybe seen one film and watched the rest. One of those revisits was the Hostel movies, because I've only ever seen the first one, like around the time when it came out. I've always not liked it.
James Jay Edwards:The second one, I think is better see that's
Jonathan Correia:the thing, and re watch. I was like, let me revisit the first one. And it was reaffirmed. I mean, there's a lot of the franchise as a whole has some really interesting ideas, and I think only the second one really explores them. Well, that first one, it was like, all I could think of is how many times was bro said in that pitch meeting for the first hostile movie, because, like a lot, the first 30 minutes or so is like a really bad American Pie movie that just drops the F word every two minutes, and it's just extremely homophobic. And I understand with Eli Roth, especially Green Inferno and the Hostel movies, like he likes to have very unlikeable characters, so that when they it feels earned later when hits the fan, but at the end of the day, it's there's still the protagonists, and so there's just like, hardly. I still don't like the first one, but the second movie, I was very surprised in how much I liked it, because, like, the very beginning of it, I was like, oh, so we're kind of doing the same thing, but it's women now, and now it's, yeah, gender swapped. But it's the guy who wrote all those gay bashing, uh, dialog in the first movie now writing for women. And it always like, so I was already, like, on edge of, like, wanting to hate it, but once they especially got things going with, like, the hostile and like, it takes to per the story and perspective of, like, two guys who are a part of the hunt, and then also the people who are the force victims. I was like, really into it. And I was like, All right, cool. Eli Roth made another movie. I liked. It shows
James Jay Edwards:the other side because it goes with the three women, and then it goes with the two guys who have purchased this, and one of them is on the fence about it, yeah? So, so that it gives you kind of the, you know, yeah, let's do this. Let's do this. And the other guy's going, I'm not so sure,
Jonathan Correia:you know, and then and else, and I'll spoil it, because it's, you know, it's an older movie. But then there's that very interesting swap with those two where the guy who's like, very like, has a boner for it. Basically, it's like, yeah, we're gonna kill some people, or we're gonna be much more better, like I said. And then, like, the swap is like, whoa, okay. And that ending felt a bit more earned than the first one. And then I gotta say, the third movie, which was directed by Scott Spiegel, undoes all of that. Dude,
James Jay Edwards:the third Hostel. I Yeah. I don't like to talk about the third Hostel, the
Jonathan Correia:third and again, the third Hostel introduces a lot of interesting ideas of like, what an American version of this hunting organization would look like, especially in Vegas, there's a lot more bedding, there's all these things. There's, again, a lot of interesting world building that's there, and not a whole lot is done with it. And not only that, but I think just budget and like, otherwise, like, there's a lot of things where shooting itself in the foot, where it's like, wait. So you have the super secret organization, but now you're revealing this wing of it that kind of opens the door to a shit ton more witnesses and people being a part of it, and you only have two security guards and, like, the whole thing, and they're like, We got compromised. I'm like, I was surprised you weren't compromised years ago. The best part of that movie, the opening of that one, I really enjoyed. There's a nice fake out on, like, what it's going to be, where they make it seem like this American Taurus is about to be taken by these, again, Eastern European folks, but then it's, there's a flip. So that was fun. But other than that, the best part of the movie is there's one part where the guard is watching Black Dynamite when everyone starts revolting, and it's the scene where black dynamites like coming down in the parachute and shooting and stuff. Other than that, there's no reason to watch it.
James Jay Edwards:I got something fun that I did. I got this VHS with like these old Stephen King Dollar babies. And for those of you don't know, like the dollar babies, or like Stephen King would let college students or young filmmakers do like little adaptations of his shorts or stories for $1 and it was like this 80s night shift collection that had Disciples of the Crow and The Night Waiter, and both disciples of the Crow was the first actual Children of the Corn adaptation. Have either of you guys seen it? Yeah?
Jonathan Correia:It's on the 4k disc for arrows, children of the core and release. So nice, worth picking up that release. It looks gorgeous. Oh
James Jay Edwards:yeah, I gotta check that out. But now it is interesting to kind of see where that type of stuff began, and to see it in kind of short form, because actually, like the angle they went with disciples of the crow where, like every time they do like the He who walks behind the rose stuff, like there's all these flocks of crows, and they keep it ambiguous whether there is a supernatural element or not. And the night waiter was more of a horror comedy, because it's basically about this guy who gets a job as a night waiter at a haunted hotel, and his manager is a total dick and keeps on messing with him and tells him all these stories about, like, hauntings and supernatural stuff, so it like really riles them up. So kind of has a bit of a same Ramy quality to it. But, yeah, I dug it. And again, it's just interesting kind of look back at this type of horror.
Jonathan Correia:Oh, absolutely. And the dollar babies, I think Frank Durban got to start doing $1 Baby. Oh, really it. I know there's, like, a couple of names that got big, but they only just recently shut down the program, and it was because they just, it was literally king and his wife running the whole program. And, you know, the there's only so much you can do in the legalese with it and all that, like they even said from the beginning, like kings, agents and lawyers and everybody hated the program because they're not making any money off of these, but it was a really cool program to give people a start. I wish I had done it same. I tried to do one in college, but had zero money, so even if I could afford to do the dollar thing, like I couldn't do anything outside of just buy I didn't even have the dollar. No, I had the dollar, but couldn't do anything else with it. Uses
James Jay Edwards:up your whole budget, and then it's just your face with a campfire below you, telling the story, just
Jonathan Correia:reading like the reach or something. Yeah, yep.
James Jay Edwards:And now let's bring in our special guest. This is one that I'm really, really excited for. We have the host of PBS Monstrum. Dr, Emily zarka, hey. Dr, z how you doing?
Dr. Emily Zarka:I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me.
James Jay Edwards:Oh, thanks for being here. This, this is, this is as soon as Korea told me he had this book, I'm like, Yes, I'm a huge monster fan. Let's, let's start at the beginning. Um, have you always been into monsters? How did you when did you discover you were into monsters
Dr. Emily Zarka:at a very young age Actually, I think I was under 10, and I remember watching like, terrible, you know, like B horror sci fi movies with my mom, and then watched Night of the Living Dead and The Lost Boys and Scooby Doo on zombie Island. And so I was just exposed to, like, all these different types of monsters. Now, always thought there was something so fascinating about them. And oddly enough, I thought that was something maybe just a little girl growing up in the 90s like that I had to hide in some capacity. So my initial consumption of horror was kind of more private. And like, you know, just in privacy of my own home, like, not something I really talked I really talked to my friends about. And then when I went and did my undergraduate work at the University of Colorado Boulder, I started taking literature classes that dealt with horror in a way that was, like, really smart and intentional. And I was like, Oh, so this thing that I've been kind of thinking about and a fan of for a really long time actually does have, you know, academic weight and meaning behind it, and took off from there. What is your
James Jay Edwards:PhD in? I would love to hear about this, because once you get to that level of graduate work, they're very specific. What's your PhD in?
Dr. Emily Zarka:So my PhD is in British Romantic literature with an emphasis on the Gothic, and I wrote my dissertation about the undead in that time period. So that was really where I started leaning hard into the monster expert thing. So yeah, very, very specific, but looking at representations of undead bodies in particularly female authors in the Romantic period. And in doing that, I was being exposed to all different types of folklore and monsters in general. And I was like, Okay, maybe it doesn't have to be super specific, and maybe I can make this broader. And that's kind of where the initial idea for Monstrum came from. Cool
James Jay Edwards:and speaking of, how did Monstrum begin, or what was the origins at PBS, it
Dr. Emily Zarka:was my little Frankensteinian love child. So it was kind of this idea that I had when I realized that I love I teach at ASU, and I love teaching in the classroom, but I'm also really passionate about taking education outside of the university and making it more accessible, because I think that inherently, people are curious, and there's a lot of people out there who want to learn. So I pivoted a little bit to public scholarship, and was writing for some websites and doing some, you know, talks locally, that kind of thing, going to comic cons and talking about monsters in that capacity. But what really changed is ASU actually featured my work as, like a grad student, and I had to give like, a little five minute Ted style talk, kind of about my research and where I wanted to take it. And I remember pitching that I want to do for monsters, what Anthony Bourdain did for food. And so I started, like, really. Marketing. Thank you. Marketing. My research, which I think is an academic that's something a lot of, like old school scholars don't want to think about. You know, again, like you said, it's like a super niche thing, and like, only people in your field care about it, and I think that that's not as effective as other methods. So I had this idea for Monstrum, and I had, like, my little tagline, and I was really inspired by Crash Course and complexity, who PBS has worked for, worked with before, and I work with now, which is wild. And I was given 15 minutes to, like, cold pitch the head of digital programming. I had zero idea what I was doing. I didn't have a pitch deck. I just, like, went into the call and, you know, was passionate about it, and talked about this idea of human history is Monster history. And luckily, they were looking for more humanities content. And PBS is all about, you know, that idea of accessible education. So I think we really merged in that regard. And it was supposed to be just one episode about dragons. And while we were filming that, we got the call, like we want you to do more. And it became Monstrum, the YouTube channel in 2019 and then that morphed into storied, which is PBS is, you know, Humanities hub online. And so I'm just really grateful to work with them, and they give me a lot of creative control, and like, let me lean into some of my crazy ideas. So I'm very fortunate that that
James Jay Edwards:kind of brings me up the creative control you have. How big of a team do you have? Because these are pretty slickly produced. I mean, they're the animation is pretty impressive on these. I mean, it's simple, but it is so effective. What kind of a team do you have? I have
Dr. Emily Zarka:an incredible team. So PBS paired me with spots in which is based out of Austin, Texas, and they're incredible. So I work really closely with three other people who kind of do, like the creative director, we two other producers, and then they have a team of editors. So I would say probably we have a team of about five people, six, including me, that are, you know, behind these episodes. We have a fact checker that comes in and then, yeah, sorry. Our illustrations are done by the fantastic Samuel Allen, who's actually based in the UK, and he's been with us from the beginning too. And so it's very international and collaborative. But now spotson is incredible, and they do great work.
Jonathan Correia:That's That's awesome. And I love that the Genesis was dragons, because that's always like, the big thing for me, when I'm like, everyone's like, cultures are very same, similars are always there's always things like, Why does every culture have a dragon? Yes, always the Ancient Aliens explanation, which is honestly kind of racist, their interpretations, yeah, but, like, interesting, but it is a cool thing to think about. Like, why are there so many similarities between different cultures? And that's when you when you and I think that's a great introduction. Is like, how we look at myths, how we look at monsters, and the stories we tell that we start to see, like, there's the there's a pessimistic view of like, wow, we're not original at all. But then there's also the wow, we're all really united under this weird thing that we all think that there's a creature out there where it's a human that transforms into a into an animal like that. So it's really cool.
James Jay Edwards:That's the realist view of it. It's like, okay, if everybody's got a dragon, people in, you know, Europe, Asia and North America, how wrong can they be? You know, same thing. You know, like, you've got Bigfoot in North America, and then you've got in the Himalayan, you've got the Abominable Snowman. How do you know it's not the same thing, the same species? No, those are the
Dr. Emily Zarka:questions that I ask in the episodes, right? So I kind of approach it definitely from the realist point of view, but also from the power of imagination. Again, I think that I I believe that humans are inherently storytellers. I think that's one of the things that separates us from like other species and other animals. And I think that monsters are the things that we're scared of. We're all scared of something, and we all want to make these social constructs of like, what is good and who is bad, and monsters really fit into that. But I think what's really interesting, and maybe this is just the academic in me, is, for me, a lot of the time, it's not even the monster that I find really fascinating. It's who is claiming that monster, or, you know, pointing the finger at that person. Because the other thing that pops up a lot too up a lot, too. Something like a dragon is very animalistic. And does it exist? Does it not exist? What can, you know, explain it? But things like changlings, or, you know, vampires or werewolves that have like that human component, I think, is really fascinating.
Jonathan Correia:Who's being charged as a changeling, who, in history, yeah, exactly, who's
Dr. Emily Zarka:being demonized or other, because that's what comes into a lot of the play with these and I've seen that across the board, and a lot of monsters, especially those like more human esque ones, and there's things like religion and colonialism and all these other aspects that come into these creatures. And yeah, I love tracing those lines and basically this web that we've created monsters across the globe. And
James Jay Edwards:on that subject, I was wondering, what's your process from choosing a monster for the topic to research to production?
Dr. Emily Zarka:Yeah, great question. So we have a couple different things that how we choose monsters. So one is just what's interesting me at the moment, to be quite frank, I also keep a running Document. Of all the monsters that are suggested on YouTube, I am. I'm the only person I know who does does this, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but I read every single comment on every single video on the storied channel, which I've felt a little bit of a tough skin with that, but I do that because I really like to engage with our audience, and they have some great ideas and great perspectives. So I keep that running document, and then we are always very conscious of trying to balance out, I would say, like the Western popularized monsters with things that are lesser known, again, because we are educational at the end of the day, and I want people to be exposed to all these different cool creatures that people have created. So once we choose the monsters, then I get on my research hat. So I research and write the episodes. And that process can take days to weeks, depending on the monster. I try to pull from sources that are peer reviewed and academic, but also looking at things like digital folklore. And I might end up going down a weird rabbit hole about like horses in China or something, but because I'm really pulling from lots of different disciplines. So then I write the first version of the script and share it with my production team, and we go through, probably, I would say, at least three versions of every script, table read, and then, yeah, we batch film. So I'll film a couple episodes at once, since they are in Texas, and we then hands over to behind the scenes production. And, you know, get the couple versions of the episode, and PBS takes a look, and then we launch it and cross our fingers and hope for the best. I
Jonathan Correia:love the balance of that you have here, because it's everything from like you'll do crypt a cryptid one episode to an Eastern folklore the next. And then you'll do, like, a popular pop culture one, you know, so there isn't like, it's all under the general umbrella of monsters. And I think that's so great because, yeah, I mean, you go from talking about the manticore and its influence in D&D, and then, most recently, you guys did an amazing episode on slashers, which you know as big horror fans. Here, it's one of those things where it's like, oh, the topic, we all hear about the topic that's like, super discussed, but you do a really amazing job of packing a lot of information into it's a 32 minute episode, which is incredible. And what I what I really loved about is so many times when people talk about slashers, they talk about it in definites, you know, like, it started with Halloween. This is just a proto and you went into like, this is the this is the influences here, and especially when it came to the proto slashers you talked, you made the best point I think possible, which is all these proto slashers weren't financially or commercially successful until Halloween. That was the big turning point with it was the marketability, and that's why that one's so influential, which I really appreciated. But how daunting was that? Because you're not just talking about one specific type of myth, though you're talking about an entire genre of film. Yeah,
Dr. Emily Zarka:it was something we hadn't really tackled that scope before in film. And we've done, like, a classic, universal Hollywood monster episode, and, you know, things like that, which has been great, but I was nervous. I'm not gonna lie that was one of the ones that took me a lot longer to research. But again, I have to, you know, give a shout out to PBS and spotson because I came to them. I'm like, wait, I have this like, weird idea, like, let's do a long episode about slashers for Halloween. Let's do it on like a set. Let's, like, film these little things. So we really, was really fun to do because of something out of our element a little bit. And again, my incredible team built that entire like bedroom set, like in the back wall. So it was so immersive and so fun. And my got to show off my terrible acting skills, so we but that was important because I am such a fan of slashers, and for me, it's like my little love letter to the genre. And I agree with you. I think that a lot of the time it's not just about like, oh, well, this is the first movie, or this is the first time this happened. It's like, this is the first female killer, like, this is the first, you know, final girls, or final guy. And I think that that sort of that rigidity isn't as what the genre is about. For me, I think it's a fun, flexible genre, and so I wanted to show that in the episode. But I think that rigidity also speaks to how it's interpreted. I mean, of course, as you all know, these are things that have been considered high everything from high art to torture porn and everything in between. And I think that there's a space in the conversation for the things that are great about the genre and the things that are problematic about it, and how we've sort of evolved over time. So I wanted to show that evolution of, you know, yeah, here are the things that inspired this genre, and now we've taken it in so many different directions. I did get so many comments on the slasher special that I didn't bring up Terrifier, which I regret, but that was honestly one of the hard things too, is we had these huge conversations about, like, which slashers we would include, and, you know, legally, like, how much of what we can show. And of course, it is PBS. So how do we get around a slasher episode without showing too much Gore or blood? So we had to be creative in that way. But I'm really proud of that. Episode, and hope we get to do a little bit more, maybe those like horror film type critiques in the future. How
James Jay Edwards:do you show any of Terrifier? You even did the disclaimer at the beginning, there will be blood, but Terrifier, you Yeah, even with the disclaimer. How do you do that. What I loved about the slasher one, and this was something that when you were shooting, you know, yours things on the set and with the different costumes, it's almost like they they use a filter that it basically, especially when you're hiding under the bed with the footsteps going by. I'm like, is this Dr Z, or is this from the movie? Like it just emulates the actual slasher slime bite. I found myself going, I haven't seen this. Oh wait, no, that's her. Yeah, I
Dr. Emily Zarka:love that. That's we were trying to do, is we wanted to, like, sort of situate the audience in like a slasher movie. And of course, we joke like we need to make a full, full length version of this, like fictional film, so that a lot of the camera work was all for my director, David. He's incredible. And again, we're used to shooting like static on the monstrum set, so he, I think, really embraced this idea of, you know, being a little more creative and doing those kind of tracking shots. And, yeah, we had a really, really fun time with it.
James Jay Edwards:You did a little of that with the Universal Monsters. Went to where you got the dress all, you know, yeah, classic Hollywood. And there was a little more acting on your part with it.
Dr. Emily Zarka:Yeah, that was super fun, too. And, like this, very creative filming wise for that, because I was incredibly pregnant at the time, so we kind of had to film around that and use some classic tricks to cover that up. But so that's a special episode for me, because, you know, my little one was, that was his first
Jonathan Correia:time on set. Oh, that's awesome. I love the use of hair makeup, like, especially with the slash photo, I was just like that, that classic hair, the outfit, you nailed it. Thank
Dr. Emily Zarka:you. That was all me. That was like, what, you know, I just wanted to do it. It was fun. And, yeah, the ponytail, and we just again, leaned into it. So imagine had such a great time. Well,
James Jay Edwards:that was great. It's like when you went from the 70s to the 80s, all of a sudden, there you are, you know, night where you went from Halloween to night right now? Yeah,
Dr. Emily Zarka:and not everyone noticed, but the set actually changed. So we tried to update the bedroom to be more representative of like that genre, or like more modern. So we spent way too much time on that. And I was like, we have to have a caboodle. And, yeah, it was really fun.
Jonathan Correia:So hard question, I know we said no hard questions, but here's why, what's your favorite slasher film then? Or three, like, three that, like, off the top of your head, these are my favorites.
Dr. Emily Zarka:So Halloween, I think, is perfection. Like, that's the first slasher I really remember watching, and I watched it when I was a teenager, so I think there was something that really spoke to me about this man, like stalking a teenage girl. So that's when I was like, Huh? Like, this is interesting. So Halloween for sure. I mean Scream. Scream is a comfort watch for me. It's so genius in so many ways. And I also really like The Burning. I just think it's like fun. Not enough people talk about it. I think that there's some really creative kills. I think the killer is cool. It has like the signature, you know, weapon. So those will probably be my top three, off the top of my head, nice and
James Jay Edwards:actually segueing off of The Burning and the subject of the show. I always think it's interesting when folk or mythological creatures or monsters kind of bleed into pop culture in the reverse. And I feel like that's the case with a subject like cropsy, because originally, cropsy was an urban legend from I think I believe it was Long Island New York. And I was wondering just, do you think it's one way that keeps these monsters alive, or is it just kind of both sentiments of both pop culture and film, or, yeah, or is it like a cycle?
Dr. Emily Zarka:I think it's not necessarily a cycle. I think it just shows like The Power of horror to tell stories like, we keep returning to these devices and, you know, tropes, because there's something that works for them and that they're comforting to a degree. And as I talked about that in the slasher episode, that the reliability of kind of like, you know, this is going to happen. They're going to separate, like, there's something and comforting with that, which I know it's crazy that people think, like, Wait, slasher movies are like, your comfort genre. I'm like, yeah, I don't know what that says about me, but I think that when you have that crossover between, like, folklore and monsters, and especially seeing them in pop culture, I do think that's really, really interesting, because it's kind of like, what is about that thing that's speaking to us at that moment in time. So, yeah, something like Cropsy is really interesting. Or there's that just came out. I'm blanking, it's on Hulu. But this kind of, like the Terrifier, this terrifier too, this idea of like, a creepy kid show, right? Like, Mr. Crockett, yes. Thank you. Mr. Crockett, yeah. So I think, like, Terrifier 2 and Mr. Crockett, lean into this, like, kind of millennial nostalgia thing, of like, the shows we used to watch and, like. Actually, they're really creepy in a lot of ways. So I think this like back and forth of like dialogs. That's how I see horror. Is not like a one sided conversation, but it's creators and audiences engaging with one another in these stories, and then, yeah, making like a faux documentary about like a really niche, specific thing. And I think that that's so cool, because that allows us to tell more stories, and that's what I think is really, really awesome about horror in general. And this is something that I looked at way back when, and, you know, my PhD with the Gothic, but I think horror has always been a space for marginalized voices to tell stories and share experiences in a way that makes it seem more accessible, or there's like, a certain level of freedom to talk about some really difficult subjects in horror. And I think that that's still true today. And I think a lot of like, this new wave of slashers that we're seeing is like that films in general. I think the more voices we have contributing these conversations, the cooler stories we get. So I've been, personally, as a fan, very happy to see horror evolve and take on, you know, different perspectives,
Jonathan Correia:absolutely. And I always found the the funniest critique when it comes to especially slashers, is they're like, they're promoting violence, they're promoting this. And it's like, no one's really relating with the slasher killer. Because at the end of the day, it's the classic good versus evil, and it almost always ends with good triumphing evil. It's like, how is that any different from classic stories of mythology, or, yeah, even biblical stories? You know, it's very similar. It's just, yeah, a bit more gratuitous,
Dr. Emily Zarka:yes. But again, I think that there's something about that gratuitousness that really makes it that kind of doesn't promote violence, because it's like, no one's going to be sliding someone's head through, like a bread slicer, like that. Just doesn't make sense. So for me, it almost, I like the camp aspect, I guess, of slasher and I think what's really cool too, with slashers and that level of gore and kills is things are different now, obviously with special effects, but like some of the practical special effects. Some of them are chintzy, for sure, but some of them are, like, really effective. So again, I think that slashers could be done low budget, and you could get really creative with them. And I think that that's another reason that they had that sort of, you know, boom in the 1970s and 80s wasn't just a commercial success, but it's my personal opinion. I think it really like fed something to the creators too.
Jonathan Correia:They get very Tom and Jerry sometimes, which
James Jay Edwards:I'm always surprised when people say that slashers are misogynist, because to me, they're almost feminist, because especially the example I like to use is Nightmare on Elm Street. Nancy Thompson, every male in her life. Fails her her dad, her boyfriend, her friends. She has to take on this guy on her own, basically. And where all of the men fail, she succeeds. So when people say, I mean, sure, a lot of women get killed in these movies, but a lot of men get killed in these movies. A lot of people get killed in these movies. So whenever people say that slashers are misogynists, I'm like, do you watch them?
Dr. Emily Zarka:I think it can go both ways. Like, don't get me wrong. I think that there, especially, there's some really problematic aspects of representing both male and female characters in these movies. Yes. So I mean, I see that there again, are problems, but I think that there are problems with any genre. Problems with any genre. It's about having those conversations, and, again, changing things, which what we see and, like, that's Nightmare on Elm Street. The entire franchise, I think, is all about women, educating women, because Nancy is involved in, like, training the next ones. And, yeah, so I think that there's potential for slashers to be feminist. I mean, again, that's kind of one of one of the reasons I love the genre, as you said, is there's some really kick ass, like, female characters in there, and I know that sometimes that even subverts expectation. I'm thinking of something like, You're Next Aaron, one of my favorite final girls, is incredible in that movie, because they assume that she's going to be an easy kill, then they don't know that she was, like, raised in, like, the Outback and like, is actually crazy in like, the best way possible, or even something like the new Scream movies, this concept of having the Final Four right, that's full of queer, non white final people, I think that's also really awesome. So again, I think that we can appreciate the good things that slashers do, and point out the things that maybe aren't so great and change them in future movies. And I think we've been seeing that, especially in the 21st
Jonathan Correia:century, well, even early in the in the sub genre. As you can tell, I love the Slumber Party Massacre posters in the back that those films went so far with the critiquing that some people didn't even pick it up because it was just doing it in such an over the top and silly manner. I'm gonna
Dr. Emily Zarka:add that to my list of highly recommended slashers, all directed and written by women. Yes, which, again, makes a difference. I mean, they literally the idea of the giant drill is like so obvious
James Jay Edwards:the way it's defeated by cutting it in half.
Dr. Emily Zarka:Yes. Absolutely. We
James Jay Edwards:always joke that the Slumber Party Massacre movies, it's not subtext, it's text. Really, they're really hitting you over the head with
Dr. Emily Zarka:it. And also has one of my favorite horror movie moments of all time is when they're eating the pizza like over the dead delivery guy's body. It's just chef's kiss. He's great. But again, I think that's speaks to the importance of having different voices behind the camera and, like in the script writing, I think, yeah, that text, as you mentioned, is so overt and so obvious. And I mean, obviously the creators were, like, leaning into what they knew would be, like, commercially successful, and like what the studio wanted to see, but then doing something really progressive and, like feminist, which a lot of people don't really see, which, again, as you said, is crazy, given how obvious it is.
Jonathan Correia:Oh yeah. I chatted with the director of Slumber Party Massacre 2 at a signing recently, and she was like, yeah. Corman made sure that we had the things that were marketable, the violence, the boobs, and then we were allowed to do what everyone had outside of that. And it's so great because there are parts in all four of those movies really, where it's like, this is what you wanted, right? And it's presented in such a way it's like, you wanted this. Look how ridiculous this thing that you wanted is, and it's turning
Dr. Emily Zarka:this, like male gaze idea on its head by making it so, so obvious that it's like, Y'all, this is ridiculous, but like, Sure, we'll give it to you anyway.
James Jay Edwards:And at the time, people didn't realize that they were parodying this slasher concept. You know. People were like, oh, cool, another slasher movie,
Dr. Emily Zarka:yeah, yeah. They got people to show up, and then they did something, you know, different, and made, you know, I think again, those conversations happen. Which is really
James Jay Edwards:cool, yeah? Which is another thing that I feel like that the slasher genre, lends itself to parody frequently, or parody, satire and spoofs, because on top of on top of that, you know, there's been stuff like scary movie or more recently, and one of my favorites, Dude Bro Party Massacre 3. And why do you think that slashers tend to have, or tend to lend themselves to comedy like that, because
Dr. Emily Zarka:I think they're comedic and like, the sense of, like, some of the kills and like, even some of the dialog, especially in those early movies, is like it. I don't know if it's intentionally funny, but it is hilarious because of that. You know, leaning so hard into the extremes of the genre, I think that obviously makes it really easy for parody and satire. And I think it's fascinating that they're going to reboot scary movie. I think, oh yeah, they just announced that. So that's going to be fascinating, because Scream does this right? It's like, how do you operate when it's like, you're a parody franchise to a degree that or satirical one. And kind of leaning into that, I think is really cool. So yeah, I think it's because the ridiculousness of slashers. And because of those extremes, you can have extreme characters, Extreme Kills, extreme villains that that lends itself perfectly to
Jonathan Correia:parody. And the Wayne brothers are back, thank God.
James Jay Edwards:So great. Parodying slashers is kind of easy because, and you go into this in your episode, there are that the tropes are there, the the nine, you know, things that you find every slash week. So they're they lend themselves to parody. Because all you have to do is follow those, yeah, like all those tropes
Dr. Emily Zarka:in that pattern, absolutely, yep. Um,
James Jay Edwards:now I, before we go, I we need to talk about cryptids, because I love cryptids and and I was excited when I was scrolling through the monster ones. I, you know, they're you've got episodes on Classic Monsters, on mythological, you know, all that kind of things. But then you've got the cryptids. And first off, what's your favorite cryptid? Jackalope? That's a cute little crypt.
Dr. Emily Zarka:It's a cute but it's like, again, it's so I think because when I was younger and I moved from Vermont to Arizona, and like, saw rabbits for the first time, like, out in the desert, I was like, oh, like, and they do. There's some explanations of, like, for the sightings that I think are really fascinating. But, yeah, there's something about like, cute monsters that I think gets me like, yeah, a fanged horned rabbit is hilarious.
James Jay Edwards:So when you do the the cryptids, it I noticed with moth man, you actually traveled to Point Pleasant. Do you try to do that with the cryptids? Like you go to their hometown to get the first hand accounts when we can.
Dr. Emily Zarka:Yeah, so that's something that we did not with the crypto but with the documentary Exhumed, looking at the history of zombies in the US. That was so important to get certain perspectives that when we can film and person for cryptids, it's, I think, ideal. That's one of the reasons why we've delayed some things, like Jersey Devil we haven't done yet, because we really want to do that in the location, because there is something about telling those stories in the places where they first evolved. Like the woods and Point Pleasant are scary. Like we filmed there a little bit at night, and I, like, refused to do it in darkness, because I'm like, It's creepy. Like, if you grew up in the northeast, like those woods are really, really creepy. Yeah. So I think when we can sort of get that vibe and experience what maybe the people who saw these cryptids were experiencing, that's definitely ideal.
Jonathan Correia:Thank you for lending to the argument that New Englanders were, we tend to I'm from New Hampshire originally at Jacobs for mass. So we we know, like you stay out of the woods, like it's almost ingrained in us some of these, even if we're not super conscious about it. My partner, I took them to New England a few times, and they're always like, oh, let's go hang out in the graveyard at night. I'm like, Fuck, no. Oh, you believe in this. I'm like, I don't know about believing it, but I don't want to test it. Man, it's too ingrained in our blood. Man,
Dr. Emily Zarka:better safe than sorry. Yes, I'm totally with that.
James Jay Edwards:Yeah, no, I actually made a short found footage film in the haunted woods at dogton, and every fiber of my being as a New Englander was saying, Yeah, this is a bad idea. Yeah,
Jonathan Correia:Lauren stain, yeah, over here.
Dr. Emily Zarka:And yeah, I don't remember someone telling me that like the woods. I guess it must just be like folklore and stories that I heard when I was a kid that, like, make me feel that way, plus, yeah, like the inherent creepiness of the environment that, yeah, it does feel very ingrained. It
James Jay Edwards:was The Blair Witch Project. Oh, really, I wasn't allowed to watch that, but I was, oh no,
Jonathan Correia:we didn't have that when I grew up in a very in a log house in the woods, so, like, it was very disconnected from media, but even so, just like the emptiness of like humans and hearing the noises and it being so bright with the stars and everything, so you can see everything, but you don't see everything. There's shadowy stuff, and it's usually just animals. But still, your imagination goes wild Absolutely, and that's the basis of most monster stories, something shadowy happened over there,
Dr. Emily Zarka:yeah? Or some behavior we can't explain, like, let's make a monster out of it. Yeah, had to be a jackalope. Yeah? Had to be a jackalope, of course.
James Jay Edwards:Well, that's what I think cryptos are. A lot of it is, you see something that you can't explain, and you're like, Oh, it's a monster, you know, which? Hey, that works for me. It gives me it. It feeds my imagination. Before we go. I do. I have, I have two requests for you. One of them we talked about off before we started recording. Do the hodag, Rylander, Wisconsin. The hodag is an amazing cryptid, agreed, kind of related to the hodag, the Slide Rock Bolter in Colorado.
Dr. Emily Zarka:I'm not which is interesting, because I went to school there. Yeah,
James Jay Edwards:that will be a very short one, because it's that William T Cox fearsome critters of the lumber woods, the same book that did the hodag and basically the slide rock bolter is a land whale who hooks himself up on the top of one mountain, and he unhooks himself, slides down, eats someone, and then flips around and hooks himself up and waits for his next victim. It's awesome,
Dr. Emily Zarka:hilarious, fascinating. I'm always looking for excuse to go back to Colorado. So it is
James Jay Edwards:it is great. It is great. So those are my two requests for Monstrum, and I'll be waiting for them.
Dr. Emily Zarka:Perfect. I'd
James Jay Edwards:like to request the Gloucester Sea Serpent.
Dr. Emily Zarka:Okay, okay. Sea Serpents are really interesting. Yeah,
James Jay Edwards:the the Gloucester Sea Serpent is, is, is a fun one too. Yeah, oh, yeah, they shot at it. You got to go to Gloucester to do it. Though I would
Dr. Emily Zarka:love that. I mean, this one, I think is so fun. And one of the things I love so much about this show is I think that initially PBS, and even my production team was like, how is this going to be a series that lasts for more than one season? Right? Like they just didn't think that there were enough monsters. And I'm like, trust me around season six and planning for season seven, and hope I've seen no reason to slow down anytime soon, because there are so many of these, like cryptids and folk tales and, you know, modern things. And again, digital folklore is a space I'm really interested in right now, too. So I'm gonna keep going for as long as I can. I saw
James Jay Edwards:you, you had an episode on Slender Man, which is the digital folklore. So, yep, we've
Dr. Emily Zarka:done Slender Man. We've done siren head. We've done the SCP Foundation. So yeah, I'm always looking for, again, that balance between old and new. Because, again, my theory is that human history is Monster history, so I gotta talk about the new stuff too. Yeah,
James Jay Edwards:right on way, putting it when you get more episodes under your belt and you want to come back anytime, come back anytime, we would love to have you anytime. And everybody watch Monstrum with Dr. Z and you can find it I was watching on YouTube. Is that the main place it is the YouTube channel?
Dr. Emily Zarka:Yes, we have the YouTube channel. It's also available on the PBS app and pbs.org Okay,
James Jay Edwards:okay, awesome. Now, before we take off, what are you working on now, is there anything other than Monstrum that you're doing that you want to plug?
Dr. Emily Zarka:Yes, so in addition to Monstrum, I know we have a couple of really exciting episodes coming up, including one on change lanes, which was the fan voted episodes that's been it's a long script right now, pushing my director doesn't love but it's gonna
James Jay Edwards:be good two part like the werewolf. Yeah, exactly.
Dr. Emily Zarka:So I have that coming up. But I also recently did a audible series about serial killers, real and imagined. That came out in July. So that's a little bit of a different take. So looking at how both real killers and fictional ones have kind of blurred over time, and why that's happened. And then the other thing I don't have details I can speak about yet, but I will be appearing on television soon, and then I'm actually shopping a book around right now that would be like a modern bestiary for cryptids. Nice,
James Jay Edwards:nice. Oh, I can't wait for that. By that book, perfect. Any of these come to fruition, just reach out and we'll have you back on I'd love to be back. I feel like we've just scratched the surface of your knowledge here. We need to, we need to explore more. But for now, we are out of time. So where can people find you? Or do you have, like, social media pages that people can look
Dr. Emily Zarka:up? So I have the Monstrum PBS Instagram account, as well as a personal Dr. Emily Zarka Instagram account. And then for all my latest stuff, you can find information on my website, www.dremilyzarka.com,
James Jay Edwards:okay, great. And as far as we are concerned, you can find us @eyeonhorror and all the socials, or at ihorror.com which is the website we call home. Our theme music is by restless spirits, so go check them out. And our artwork is by Chris Fisher, so go check him out, and go check out Monstrum With Dr Z and come on back anytime. And you know, we love to talk monsters, um, and we will see everybody in a couple of weeks. So for me, James, Jay Edwards, I'm Jacob Davison.
Jonathan Correia:I'm Jonathan Correia.
Dr. Emily Zarka:I'm Dr. Emily Zarka, keep
James Jay Edwards:Your Eye on horror.
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