The Lunatics Project

12/19/2025

Yule is a 12 day historic pagan festival celebrated in conjunction with the Winter Solstice on December 21st in the Northern Hemisphere. There is much to discuss when it comes to the history of yule and the wild hunt. It’s no mistake that Yule is celebrated on the longest night of the year. For the Germanic people, Yule was a time to worship the gods. Odin actually translates to Yule Father. https://www.lunaticsproject.com/post/the-history-of-yule-and-the-wild-hunt

12/18/2025

35mm photos from Milford Cemetery in Connecticut. Milford Cemetery, located in Milford, Connecticut is one of the oldest colonial cemeteries in the United States dating back to the mid 1600s. Looking around you see a wide array of types of gravestones, reflecting the many years of burials that have taken place here.

12/17/2025

“You’re killing people!” “No, I’m killing boys.” 🤘 Jennifer’s Body (2009) was written by Diablo Cody and directed by Karyn Kusama. The film stars Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried. The balance between comedy, horror, and teen drama is perfection.

We see Fox’s and Seyfriend’s characters, an unlikely pairing of a popular girl and a nerd, tackle all of the typical high school experiences together: boys, bands, s*x. But things quickly escalate after a fire at a bar kills locals.

The thing about Jennifer's Body that I love the most is the fact that we are dealing with a succubus. Personally, I don’t think succubi get enough air time. A succubus is typically a female figure that preys on men (though as Jennifer says in Jennifer’s Body, she goes both ways.) According to folklore, a succubus relies on its s*xual prowess to force men to have s*x with them. They require semen to survive and do not harm their partners. However, in modern interpretations, namely Jennifer’s Body, men are certainly harmed. Often in modern representations, succcubi are beautiful and feminine, but that wasn’t always the case. They’ve also been known to be demonic and frightening.

Overall, there are way more male villains in horror films than women. Not to say there aren’t any; of course, we have Carrie, Samara, Annie Wilkes, Jason’s Mom, and Kayako Saeki, just to name a few. But Jennifer is rare in her unobstructed beauty; even at her lowest point in the film, she is just a bit tired. Cody pits Needy and Jennifer against each other, but in a way that deeply deconstructs competitiveness between friends.

Jennifer’s Body is a provocative film that uses horror, folklore, and dark comedy to address deeper themes of friendship, female empowerment, and societal pressures. Today, it’s a cult classic. For more on women in horror, listen to episode 166 of the Lunatics Radio Hour podcast. https://www.lunaticsproject.com/episodes

12/17/2025

As most horror fans are aware, the genre is more well known for its depiction of violence against women than it is for the limited feminist work within it. That being said, there are some great feminist horror movies out there (though in the grand scheme of things there should be many many more) that are worth checking out. I have compiled a list of some of my favorite feminist horror movies to watch if you’re sick of seeing women used as props to be mutilated.

I have compiled a list of some of my favorite feminist horror movies to watch if you’re sick of seeing women used as props to be mutilated.

12/16/2025

Abby sits down with our friend Kate Rotunda to talk about the intersection of feminism and horror. We start out by discussing Frankenhooker (1990) and go from there. CW: Discussion of violence against women and SA. Lunatics Radio Hour - episode 166, anywhere you listen to podcasts. https://www.lunaticsproject.com/episodes

12/15/2025

Horror movies are full of death and violence, that’s part of their charm. We’re all used to watching characters be stabbed, shot, and ripped to shreds without blinking an eye. But every now and then there’s a character death which feels unnecessarily brutal.

Horror movies are full of death and violence, that’s part of their charm. We’re all used to watching characters be stabbed, shot, and ripped to shreds without blinking an eye. But every now and then there’s a character death which feels unnecessarily brutal. Some deaths that don’t blend well...

12/14/2025

I recently stumbled into the lobby of The Chatwal Hotel in Manhattan for drinks. The hotel was built in 1905 by Stanford White. White was an incredibly well known architect in his era, but he was actually murdered during a musical performance at the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden by Harry Kendall Thaw. Thaw was a wealthy heir to a coal fortune and married a woman that White had allegedly drugged and s*xually assaulted. I'll admit, when I first came to post these photos I just wanted to share the incredible design (the building was restored in 2010 by Thierry Despont). I had no idea about the horrifying history of it's original architect, but that goes to show you....history and horror are everywhere.

12/13/2025

I’ll be honest, it took browsing through the curated list of HBO holiday movies for me to remember that Edward Scissorhands (1990) is a Christmas movie. Growing up in the 90s meant I saw this movie a lot in my childhood, but not much since then. But even revisiting it, 35 years after its initial release, it’s still fantastic. It holds up. It’s art. Let's talk about the inspiration behind Edward Scissorhands. https://open.substack.com/pub/lunaticsproject/p/the-inspiration-behind-edward-scissorhands?r=3b6qv&selection=60a30937-40cc-42ca-9a8a-dc1ca47b0e4c&utm_campaign=post-share-selection&utm_medium=web&aspectRatio=instagram&textColor=%23ffffff&bgImage=true

12/12/2025

The Yule Lads, who each have their own quirky personality traits (a la the Seven Dwarfs) are the sons of Grýla. Grýla is a horrifying Icelandic monster that lives in the wild landscape of Iceland. She is known to hunt naughty children, cook them and eat them in her mountain cave. Though she wasn’t always a Christmas figure, she did evolve into one. In medieval sources, Grýla was described as a troll-like figure. She’s also been described with fox-like attributes, which meant that she became associated with arctic foxes over time.

The Yule Lads, who each have their own quirky personality traits (a la the Seven Dwarfs) are the sons of Grýla. Grýla is a horrifying Icelandic monster that lives in the wild landscape of Iceland. She is known to hunt naughty children, cook them and eat them in her mountain cave. Though she wasn.....

12/10/2025

This is The Victorian, a bar located inside the historic Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas. But this space has lived many lives. At one time it was a bank, another a spa. But most interesting it served as the broadcast headquarters for KTBC. Where President Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson would broadcast their radio show from (Johnson was a Senator at the time.) The surrounding Driskill hotel is just as rich in history. It's now thought of as one of the most haunted hotels in the city of Austin.

12/09/2025

Listen in as Abby and Alan talk through some of the horrific origins behind the everyday sayings that we know and love. History is wild. Lunatics Radio Hour, anywhere you listen to podcasts. history origins origins https://www.lunaticsproject.com/episodes

12/05/2025

Tonight is Krampusnacht. As darkness falls on the evening of December 5th, folks across certain regions of Europe perpare for Krampusnacht. Traditionally, across Austria’s Alpine folklore and some parts of Germany, Krampus was said to visit children the night of December 5th, the day before the feast of Saint Nicholas. While well behaved children would be rewarded with gifts and treats from St. Nick, Krampus was known to punish bad children. Krampus is known for his use of birch rods.

As darkness falls on the evening of December 5th, folks across certain regions of Europe perpare for Krampusnacht. Traditionally, across Austria’s Alpine folklore and some parts of Germany, Krampus was said to visit children the night of December 5th, the day before the feast of Saint Nicholas. Wh...