15 Epic Meltdown Roles

The freedom that horror is given to explore the deepest, darkest corners of the human psyche is what brings its greatest value. Ever since I watched Zulawski’s 1981 film Possession, I have been obsessed with finding films with performances of the same caliber. For this list, I watched a ton of movies to find what I was looking for. It wasn’t enough that someone had to be a little insane - I wanted a performance pulled from somewhere deep, real, and disturbing. However these women achieved that - and whether those methods were ethical - is up for debate. Whether they were pushed, forced, tortured, or blessed, their performances are worth checking out for those who love a little bit of a psychological nightmare.

Bette Davis - Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
1962, Directed by Robert Aldrich, Written by Lukas Heller (NR)

As a young person, my introduction to Bette Davis was unfortunately through a Kim Carnes song from 1981. My second introduction was through Whatever Happened to Baby Jane and Davis’ performance hasn’t left my mind since. The academy took notice and threw her a Best Actress nomination which was well-deserved. Davis plays Baby Jane, a former child star and spinster living with her paraplegic sister played by Joan Crawford. Perhaps too true to real life, we watch Baby Jane descend further into madness as she ages, refusing to let her glory days go and mistreating her sister. Even juicier, the conflict between sisters is palpable. “It was an open secret that Davis and Crawford loathed each other, and filming was contentious as their real-life hatred for one another spilled over into the production, and even after filming had wrapped.” This movie is an absolute must for horror fans or old film fanatics and is one of my favourite examples of a truly cracked mind. Her meltdown moment comes while singing “I’ve Written a Letter to Daddy”, the song that brought her childhood fame. Baby Jane catches her face in the mirror and seems to recognize and comprehend her age for the first time. Bette Davis’ haunting visage comes to mind at the most inopportune moments thanks to that iconic moment.

Natalie Portman - Black Swan
2010, Directed by Darren Aronofsky, Written by Mark Heyman & Andres Heinz (R)

Natalie Portman’s performance in Black Swan left me breathless. Portman plays a ballet dancer desperate to make a name for herself by playing the lead role in Swan Lake. Her inherent anxiety and compulsive behaviours spiral out of control until she is pushed to pure darkness. Part of this was due to her commitment to the role, she told Entertainment Weekly “There were some nights that I thought I literally was going to die. It was the first time I understood how you could get so wrapped up in a role that it could sort of take you down.” Portman lost a shocking amount of weight and trained for several hours daily in order to dance for the film (along with her dance-double Sarah Lane.) Her breakdown moment comes at the end of the movie, giving us a brilliant and broken finale and proving to everyone that she can play both roles - good and evil - perfectly.

Ellen Burstyn - Requiem for a Dream
2000, Directed by Darren Aronofsky, Written by Hubert Selby Jr. (R)

The second Aronofsky film on my list, Requiem for a Dream is a contender partly because it’s the only movie I haven’t had the stomach to watch more than once. This is mainly because of Ellen Burstyn’s incredible performance as Sara Goldfarb, an elderly woman who becomes mistakenly addicted to amphetamines for weight loss. Her descent into total ruin is horrifying. Sara is caught in the turmoil of her heroin-addicted son’s life and suffering that familiar loneliness and neglect of the aged. Watching her physical and mental transformation scarred me and still bothers me when I think about it. It’s worth noting she was completely robbed of her Academy Award, losing to Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich.

Isabelle Adjani - Possession
1981, Directed & Written by Andrzej Zulawski (R)

I’ve talked about Adjani’s role in Possession incessantly since my first viewing years ago. Adjani's commitment to her character is something I have not seen replicated. Possession shines a spotlight on a failing marriage fraught with infidelity and disatisfaction. Throw in a phallic monster and you have a recipe for a genre-bending mindf * ck. Isabelle’s performance is one that left me starving for more, and every performance I see I subconsciously compare to her selflessly agonizing commitment. It’s hard to choose a specific moment to highlight, but a favourite tends to be her total meltdown in a subway tunnel. Pick your favourite moment, you’re sure to find one.

Seo Young-Hee - Bedevilled
2010, Directed by Cheol-soo Jang, Written by Kwang-young Choi (R)

I watched Bedevilled early in my horror obsession and it impressed me greatly. Seo Young-Hee plays a woman stuck on an island in South Korea. Her childhood friend returns to visit, reeking of the success and fortune of the city. Young-Hee begs her to take her away from the island - for good reason, as she is the victim of severe physical, mental and sexual abuse. Nobody takes her seriously until she quietly snaps. The scene where she finally makes a move is so natural and seemingly comes from nowhere that it will leave you shocked. If you’re a fan of revenge films, don’t miss this one. Yeong-Hee captures the quiet desperation of a woman who feels she has no other way out but through bloodshed.

Gena Rowlands - A Woman Under the Influence
1974, Directed & Written by John Cassavetes (R)

Alright, this one isn’t a horror movie per say, but I wasn’t surprised that I might have to venture onto the fringe of genre to find exactly what I was looking for. Gena Rowlands proved to give one of the best performances I’ve seen onscreen. Rowlands plays Mabel Longhetti, a woman clearly suffering from declining mental health. Her husband knows he has to do something about it, but struggles to make the decision to get her help. Rowlands is electric; my eyes never left her when she was onscreen. The intense climax scene of her psychotic break has earned her a spot on this list. I was struck immediately by how afraid the men in the film were of her unpredictable and uncomfortable behaviour - we were constantly shown their gaze as an indicator of how deranged her behaviour had become. This movie deserves a full review for its ultimate digestion. Rowland’s portrait of a woman desperate to stay sane amidst her marriage and children has shot this movie into my top 10 of all time.

Alex Essoe - Starry Eyes
2014, Directed & Written by Kevin Kolsch & Dennis Widmyer (R)

Alex Essoe is another actor I can’t stop talking about. Her brave and fierce portrayal of a young woman shooting for the stars in Hollywood is a noticeable achievement for such an early stage in her career. Without spoiling anything, Starry Eyes has a body horror element that is rarely done so well. It’s hard to say where Essoe’s character’s breaking point occurs, as there are so many levels to what’s going on inside her mind. This, to me, is closest to the quality of performance Adjani gives in Possession. This is no surprise, as Essoe has said it was a great inspiration for this role. Her knowledge of horror greats and her ability to draw inspiration from them fills me with great hope for anything she goes on to star in.

Shelley Duvall - The Shining
1980, Directed & Written by Stanley Kubrick (R)

Horror fans know the infamous stories of the torture of Shelley Duvall while filming The Shining. Kubrick reportedly pushed her to her mental, physical, and emotional limits. Duval was subjected to endless physically demanding takes, and stress to the point that her hair began to fall out. This comes across in her performance leading to a terrifying finale.
Forgive me for saying so, but my love for The Shining only goes so far. Part of this is because of Duvall’s nearly distracting performance. Critics laud her for her raw emotion, but it came with a price for me. Stephen King reportedly told the BBC that Duvall’s character was “One of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film. She's basically just there to scream and be stupid and that's not the woman that I wrote about.” Regardless of my feelings about it, The Shining is a must-see for any horror fan, so get out there and take notes.

Charlotte Gainsbourg - Antichrist
2009, Directed & Written by Lars von Trier (NR)

For a man who is accused of hating women, von Trier sure has some of the best actors giving him their loyalty. Charlotte Gainsbourg is my favourite example. She has an incredible depth to her performances and doesn’t rely on stereotypical roles to get her point across. Von Trier is known for pushing his actors to the absolute limit, so it was actually a challenge not to include too many of his colleagues on this list. Of the sexism controversy, Gainsbourg says, “People have said he doesn’t like women but I don’t see how you can portray characters with such depth and not feel for them, have no empathy? I think he loves women.”
Though there are at least three films in which Charlotte pulls from the absolute depths of human experience, I’ll focus on Antichrist for its horrifying climax scene involving self genital mutilation. Playing a grieving mother after the death of her child, she retreats to a cabin in the woods with her psychiatrist husband to devastating results. “She says that the hardest scenes to film were not those that required her to perform explicit sex acts or horrific violence … but those that tested her emotional limits.” This makes total sense for me, as I uncomfortable through the entire film - so much so that it took me three tries to finish.

Isabella Rossellini - Blue Velvet
1986, Directed & Written by David Lynch (R)

Basically everyone in Blue Velvet has a meltdown, but Isabella Rossellini gives it her all. Striking out from a modeling and cosmetics representative career, David Lynch offered her this opportunity to stand out - and boy does she ever. Playing the tortured Dorothy Vallens in an artful look at the underbelly of the American Dream, her breakdown comes slowly but begs great empathy. Join Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan) and follow a mystery as he witnesses the sadomasochistic treatment of Dorothy being held hostage, the kidnapping of her husband and son being waved over her head as a bargaining chip for violent sex. Her stark-naked simper, “he put his disease in me” has haunted me ever since my first viewing.

Halle Berry - Gothika
2003 Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz Written by Sebastian Gutierrez (R)

Bear with me as we go into an awkward time for horror. Perhaps nobody was more surprised than me when it turned out I enjoyed Gothika. Halle Berry is a psychiatrist who has somehow become the patient with no memory of how she got there. Plagued with visions of the dead and a growing sense of paranoia, her meltdown comes in hallucinations and violence that leads to a devastating reveal. Among my casual movie-going friends, this movie comes up repeatedly. I’d recommend it for your friend who isn’t that into horror - a familiar face and predictable story will keep them comfortable while you can enjoy a decent performance of a woman on the verge of losing it all.

Catherine Deneuve - Repulsion
1965, Directed & Written by Roman Polanski (NR)

As part of Polanski’s apartment trilogy, Repulsion is the exploration of a shattered mind in a small dwelling. While brainstorming ideas for this list, Catherine Deneuve was a name that came up almost unanimously among fellow cinephiles. Deneuve plays a beautician exhibiting almost a fear of men while staying with her sister - her discomfort with her sister’s sexuality and her own hidden desires wreaks havoc on her mind. She hallucinates and is filled with terror at the simplest interruptions to her day. Her violent breaking is so reminiscent of a woman’s desperate anger after being sexually assaulted that each time I watch I’m filled with a new sense of empathy. For fans of Repulsion, be sure to check out Darling - our leading lady there gives a similar role the ol’ college try, but you might appreciate it more than I did. The Bloodlust even did an episode on Darling.

Elisabeth Moss - Queen of Earth
2015, Directed & Written by Alex Ross Perry (NR)

In Hollywood it’s all too common to hear about an actor who would turn down a role because of how she would appear on screen. Elisabeth Moss is not such an actor - she is unafraid to show ugliness of humanity with her face and her heart. Queen of Earth starts with a stark and painfully real close-up of a sobbing and broken Catherine, having been dumped by her boyfriend. She retreats to the cabin of her best friend where we join in reliving memories of past summers and happier times. This movie is for those who prefer a somber and reflective look at the cracking of a mind, as you’ll have a lot more questions than answers by the time the film is complete. Elisabeth Moss has also caught my eye in the New Zealand TV Drama Top of the Lake which deals with “mature subject matter” - she has shown she can hold her own when the topic gets dark and the going gets tough.

Bjork - Dancer in the Dark
2000, Directed & Written by Lars von Trier (R)

Dancer in the Dark is a tough film to watch so I recommend it only to intense fans of Björk or von Trier, respectively. This is a thriller crossed with a musical and only one of those two things is done very well. Björk plays an immigrant mother going blind, who desperately works her life away to save money for preventative surgery for her son. When she’s accused of a crime she didn’t commit, things start to unravel. After starring in the film, an exhausted Björk accused von Trier of “emotional pornography” and “soul robbery”. While she has no clear breaking point in this film, her performance is notable - unfortunately the movie is such a tough ride that I won’t be able to sit through it ever again. Neither can Björk, as she dramatically swore off acting after it was completed. BONUS: This movie also features Catherine Deneuve!

Kathy Bates - Misery
1990, Directed by Rob Reiner, Screenplay by William Goldman (R)

I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t see Misery until very recently, and I was blown away. Frankly, I didn’t expect much from the story and I am so glad I was proven wrong. Kathy Bates plays Annie Wilkes, an injured and stranded writer’s “biggest fan”. Rescuing him from his car accident and holding him up in her isolated cabin proves to be more than mere humanitarian aid; she has ulterior motives and she inflicts pain to get what she wants. The uneasy feeling of being around someone you know is going to lose it is exhausting, and it comes across in the film. You never know what move Annie’s going to make until she goes hog-wild and shows her true capacity for evil. Stephen King has said that Annie represents cocaine - an addiction he was prisoner to for some time. Somehow this knowledge makes Annie an even more formidable villain.

Honourable mentions: Julianne Moore - Safe, Kim Stanley - Seance on a Wet Afternoon, Faye Dunaway - Chinatown, Deborah Kerr - The Innocents, Lauren Ashley Carter - Darling

~ @bexbz

5 Free* Mobile Horror Games Worth Playing

I confess, I'm not much of a mobile gamer. Though I love my PS4, I generally don't play anything on my cellphone. It's not that I'm elitist, I just prefer the feel of a controller in my hand. The other day, I was itching to play a horror game. I'd just finished Until Dawn and didn't have the luxury of enough disposable income to purchase a new game. I turned to my phone and thought, "I wonder what happens when you type 'horror' into the app store?" I was surprised by the amount of horror games that came up! Many were "escape" games, where you wake up in a dark room and have to find your way out. Some were survival games that I was terrible at. Some were jump scare prank apps that I presume you use on your friends. But some little gems were narrative, and I downloaded several to try them out.

*Now, of course, you could argue that most of these apps aren't really free. That's fair - several of them are free introductory episodes with subsequent episodes costing $2-$5. I love finding games like these, because you get a chance to try them out before you decide if you want to pay for any further episodes or in-app purchases. I played a lot of free games and most of them I uninstalled immediately after playing. I sifted through the sands of a barren desert to find the games that are worth your time!

Note: I have an HTC One M8 so these games were played on an Android device. I have noted where each game can be found, and whether you play on an Android or Apple device.

So, without further adieu, here are 5 Free Mobile Horror Games Worth Playing:

1. The Last Door
The Game Kitchen
Available on PC, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone and web browsers
www.thelastdoor.com

This was my absolute favourite of the bunch I tried. I was not aware that this game was a Kickstarter project initially backed by "213 supporters and released March 2013." The Last Door is a Victorian gothic narrative game about a man named Jeremiah who receives a mysterious letter from his childhood friend Anthony. Concerned, he travels to Sussex to search Anthony's eerie manor and determine the fate of his friend.

Immediately the game starts off with a man, a chair, and a rope in an attic. No direction is given - but you'll figure it out pretty quickly. This is a dark Lovecraftian story and I loved it. After the opening credits, you take control of Jeremiah and wander the halls of the home. There is no shortage of puzzles, locked doors, and creepy letters left around for you to discover.

The original music by Carlos Viola is amazing in this game. Beautiful, haunting piano fills the mansion as you explore every room for clues of the truth about your discovery. The use of sound and music was a treat and is best experienced with headphones: the floor creaks when you're upstairs, the basement drips, and tension is heightened at just the right moments.

At first, I was put off by the graphics. They were extremely pixelated and hard to make out at times. As the game went on, I began to appreciate the look - the vagueness of the characters and scenery allowed me to imagine the story as frighteningly as I wanted. This is not a horror game that relies on jump scares: it relies on atmosphere, dread, and your own imagination.

It goes without saying that I purchased full access to this game (The "Collector’s Edition") for $5. I'm glad I did, because Episode 2 is already better than the first. And with unique challenges and trophies, the replayability for The Last Door is pretty impressive. If you play only one game on this list, make it this one.

2. Hide and Seek: The Story of Dorothy
TabomSoft
Available on iPhone and Android devices

The look of this game had me at hello. Reminiscent of early Japanese RPG days with cute characters and no end to the nostalgia. Here you play as a young girl who fell asleep... while playing hide and seek. Wake up in a mansion and follow clues, chase scenes, and death traps to regain your memory and make your way out.

This is one of those games where you die - a lot. You might try to examine a painting that shoots knives, or you might accidentally walk through a door to a gaping maw of spikes. Have no fear: you have multiple lives! The only downside is that after you've run through them all, you have to wait real-time to get them back. Of course, you can always purchase more lives if you're impatient but I took those times as a welcome break.

This game employs riddles and creepy imagery in a way I really enjoyed. I wasn't very fond of the chase scenes, but they served to add some urgency that could otherwise be lacking. This is just one episode of many, with the option to buy more. It's unclear whether each episode is a self-contained story...I haven't been able to beat it yet!

3. The Jusou
Edges LLC
Available on both iPhone and Android devices

If you're particularly fond of Japanese horror such as Ringu and Ju-On, you'll be a fan of The Jusou. This is a simple little puzzle game that calls itself "an unspeakable memory from 25 years ago." We begin outside a small home where a mysterious tragedy occurred. Upon entering the home, your character tries to find out exactly what happened.

Explore the dark house as a ghostly woman makes her presence known. Who is she, and what happened to her? You'll need to find some batteries for your flashlight before you can find out!

There are some jump scares in this game, though none of them were particularly frightening. I enjoyed the moody atmosphere and dark graphics, even if I felt the story didn't pay off as much as I would have liked. This felt like a quick play compared to the rest, and I'd like to revisit it to see if there's anything I missed. This is the only game on the list that is 100% free!

4. Fran Bow Alpha Demo
Kill Monday Games
Available on PC, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone and web browsers
www.franbow.com

Fran Bow, like The Last Door, is also at the top of my list. Another crowdfunded game, this one claims to be “an intense story of pain, loss and acceptance.” Your character is Fran, a 9 year old girl in a psychiatric ward which of course, she's trying to escape from. Early on, she discovers pills that make her see hideous images, writing in blood on the wall, spirits, and clues. She knows she must get out, since her cat told her so.

Wander the halls of the ward, meet other troubled children, and fool the adults around you. Follow the clues to uncover something nefarious (probably). I thought the artwork in this game had a certain charm, and I’ll definitely be purchasing the full game to experience the complete story. This one is full of dark whimsy.

5. Into the Dead
Pik Pok
Available on iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, Facebook, and -- get excited -- this one's coming to Oculus Rift!
www.intothedead.com

Are you sick of zombies yet? Good, because this is a zombie game and it is seriously addictive. This is one of those simple “run as far and as fast as you can” games. In this one, you’re in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and you’re running for your damn life. Get caught by a zombie, and you’re back at the beginning. Unlock perks like weapons and companions to see how far you can make it, and outrun your friends scores for bragging rights!

Perfect for those times you’re waiting in line at the DMV, or you’ve just got a few minutes to spare, it’s worth a shot if you like constantly beating your own high scores (don’t judge my high score okay, I took this screenshot early on!).

There are a ton of mobile horror games in the app store, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the best ones are also available online or on Steam! If you’re new to these games, hopefully this list narrowed them down to help you get started in the right direction. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have The Last Door to continue playing...

@bexbz

*Honourable Mentions include: DearRED, Ellie: Get Me Out of Here, Murder Room, Slendrina: The Cellar, The Exorcist: Story of School, Haunted Circus 3D, Eyes - The Haunt*

10 Great Episodes of Lore

I am obsessed with all forms of urban legends, myths, and folklore. I’m also really into podcasts lately, because it’s 2016. That being said, there’s one in particular that really scratches my itch to be creepily intrigued. That podcast is LORE. Lore is created and performed by Aaron Mahnke, who might be a robot. I say this because of the extensive and intricate research he undertakes in order to bring us fascinating stories every two weeks. Lore explores the terrifying truths behind common and uncommon folklore, and just recently it was revealed that the Aaron is partnering with the creators of The Walking Dead to bring Lore to a television near you! What better time to celebrate this addictive podcast?

Here’s a list of my top 10 Lore episodes, in order of release:

Episode 6: Echoes

One of the most horrifying memories of humanity’s past is the state of the early mental institution, or asylum. Politics aside, it also happens to be one of my favourite sub-genres of horror movies; nothing scares me more than the human psyche and the torture inflicted on mentally ill people who were often just misunderstood.

“Settings are often just as important to a story as the tale itself. The Shining had the Overlook. The Legend of Hell House had the Belasco. We fear cabins in the woods and even our own basements. But the mother of all horror settings is the asylum, with a dark pedigree unlike any other.”

I could talk all day about early asylums, especially about Dr. Freeman - the man credited with inventing the icepick lobotomy. This episode of Lore addresses this and more while examining the Danvers State Hospital, the introduction of thorazine, and the fate of it all today. I wish this episode was twice as long. Might I suggest some supplemental reading? My Lobotomy: A Memoir by Howard Dully, which follows the story of the author, a misbehaving child who was treated with a lobotomy at the age of 12, and how it affected his life.

Episode 8: The Castle

“When the authorities entered a building in Chicago’s south side in 1895, they weren’t prepared for what they found. Above and below the neighborhood pharmacy was a seemingly never-ending maze of doors and rooms. What those hallways and staircases led to, however, was beyond disturbing.”

If you’re a true crime buff or you watch American Horror Story, you’ll know who Henry Holmes is. Season 5 is aptly named ‘Hotel’ taking place, well, in a hotel. This was loosely based on Holmes’ hotel which was built to facilitate his murder spree. H.H. Holmes is one of the first documented serial killers in America and was also a successful con artist. Building his own version of a funhouse (called "the Murder Castle") to hide the victims of his crimes is not his only legacy, and I encourage you to listen to find out more.

Episode 9: A Devil on the Roof

“Few stories have the endurance to last centuries. Fewer still have a proven track record of documented, authoritative eyewitness accounts to back them up. Among those rare myths, one stands above most. For nearly 300 years, something has haunted an area of the country that is known for rare and unusual wildlife. So many people have seen it, in fact, that it’s almost impossible to deny its existence.”

Unfortunately, I’m not a big fan of creature sightings. Whether it’s bigfoot, chupacabra, or nessie; I feel like taking an eternal nap when those blurry photos show up. But I can’t deny the effect these stories have on society - especially the Jersey Devil. In 1.1 million acres of mysterious untouched forest, stories are bound to come up. Since 1735, the origin of this folklore has been in question. No matter how it began, the descriptions of the creature remain the same. What does this mean for the story? Listen up and decide for yourself. This isn’t that X-Files episode, don’t worry.

Episode 11: Black Stockings

“Humans have a history of making up stories to explain the unexplainable. Sometimes we use those stories to teach our children a moral lesson, or entertain our friends. Sometimes, though, those stories get taken seriously, and the results have been unspeakable.”

Thankfully humanity has evolved enough to eradicate some ridiculous theories we had about what was going on around us. We like to ask “why?”, and when no immediate answer comes to mind, we like even more to make them up. We tend to blame others for our misfortune, and sometimes even weird made-up creatures like The Changeling. To learn about the origin of Changelings, and the horrific things people did to rid themselves of them, listen to this one.

Episode 12: Half-Hanged

“History is full of people who took things too far. Humans are gifted at turning on one another, a skill we’ve honed over the millennia. But when a small town in colonial Massachusetts needed a scapegoat for a dying hero, they discovered a target who refused to go down without a fight.”

Just as we used to blame Changelings for our children's’ bad behaviour, we also blamed people we didn’t like for our misfortune. We are all aware of the Salem witch trials, a microscopic view of a panic that spread all across the nation. Listen to this episode of Lore to learn about a tenacious victim whose accusers worked outside of the legal system.

Episode 17: Broken Fingernails

“We leave our loved ones there after they’ve passed. We treat the space with reverence and solemn deference. Cemeteries are meant to be a final resting place. Sometimes, though, the ones who should be gone try to come back.”

I don’t know if it’s normal to have a burial plan before you’re 30, but I’ve already decided I’ll be cremated. Graveyards naturally creep people out - they’re places of mourning, mystery, and hauntings. They’re not particularly nice places to visit, unless you’re a wayward teen drinking vodka coolers and partying at the "Baby Graves"^ at the edge of town. In any case, when people are buried there they’re not expected to come back. Listen to this episode to see how true that really is.

^For context, the "Baby Graves" were in a small town I went to high school in. The town had a regular graveyard and then a "forgotten" graveyard out in the bush from the early 1900s where allegedly a plague had killed a bunch of babies and young children. They were all buried out there in fear that whatever they had was contagious so it was left to ruin over the years. You could go down this dirt road and go into the bushes a bit and there were a ton of unmarked graves, sunken into the ground. People dared each other to go in the middle of the night to see who could last the longest. There were eerie little white picket fences and crosses around a couple of them, but it was common to sink into some that you couldn't see. There was a single marble headstone far back into the trees that had the name Volkmar Bellack on it, but we never found out anything of note with that name. It was particularly scary in the winter as you would often hear grouse doing a mating call by thumping their feet on the ground which echoed and sounded like a panicked heartbeat. The "cool kids" tended to go out and party in the bush, drinking and leaving their bottles around the graves. It was a weird place, and in a small town with nothing to do it wasn’t uncommon to hear “want to go check out the Baby Graves?” on a Friday night.

Episode 18: Hunger Pains

“For as advanced and civilized as we are, humans are still led by very basic desires. We are drive by a need for safety and shelter. We long for a community to belong to. And we hunger. But not every method of sating our desires is good. Upon occasion, those methods have become downright evil.”

First of all, I love this episode because much of the material is from my home province of Alberta, and I get some weird satisfaction knowing that there’s cannibalism in the history there. The idea of eating other human beings is taboo, so when we hear stories of people driven to enough desperation to do so, a chill gets sent up the spine. Even scarier are those who ignore the taboo and feast on flesh anyway, after being touched by a creature called the Wendigo. Listen on, if you liked Hannibal.

Episode 23: Rope & Railing

“There are places in the world that we rarely see. Our busy lives never take us there, and as a result, they don’t come to mind when we think of chilling tales and frightening lore. But they exist, and despite their inherent light, they too hold a deep darkness.”

If you had to pick just one episode from this list, I would suggest Rope and Railing. This is my favourite episode thus far and I heartily recommend it to anyone who will listen. Having an affinity for the sea and a natural curiosity has always attracted me to lighthouses. Every lighthouse I’ve visited has a story behind it that locals tell with a glint in their eye, but none of them have a story as fantastic as the one shared in this episode of Lore.

Episode 25: The Cave

“Over the centuries, all sorts of methods have been used to govern people. And while some have been just and humane — such as most modern legal systems — others have been more unusual. Social fear, religious tyranny, and military might. However, few examples stand out as much as the events that took place over a century ago on a small island off the coast of Chile.”

This is the episode that gave me chills, and my second-highest recommendation. This episode revolves around a particularly nasty cult of warlocks. Blackmail, curses, forced deformities, this one has it all. Journey with Aaron into the secret cave where some of the darkest and cruelest actions allegedly took place, and then let me know how you sleep after. I’ve been thinking about this one ever since I heard it, and my second listen-through for this list affected me just as much.

Episode 26: Brought Back

“Humans have been obsessed with escaping the grasp of death for thousands of years. It’s impossible, of course, but we dream of it nonetheless. Which makes the events in a small Caribbean village all the more horrifying.”

Zombies! They’re kind of real-ish and we all know it. Whether you prefer them shuffling or running, you’ve seen enough of them to last you the next 10 years right? Regardless of how they’re portrayed on TV and film, there is a strange history behind their folklore that reignites my interest. If you’re not zombied-out, check out this episode for some real freaky history.

There you have it! These are all my favourite episodes of Lore. My only complaint is that I wish the episodes were even longer. I learn so much when I listen to the podcast that I’m starting to drive my coworkers crazy with my excited retellings. Even those stories I think I know a lot about are enriched after listening to what Aaron has to say on the subject. What about you? Share your favourite episodes below!

~@bexbz

If you like this list, you'll probably also like 10 More Great Episodes of Lore.