That's Dark Press Kit

That’s
Dark

That’s
Dark

THAT’S DARK
INTRODUCTION
CONT
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03
05
INTRODUCTION
THIS IS THE INTRODUCTION
Here’s the entry point
into That’s Dark. Learn
a little about our show
and things that we talk
about. It’s pretty simple
really. Our show is a
conversation where
(extreme) cinema,
culture and laughter
intersect.
PURPOSE
THIS IS THE OBJECTIVE
When dealing with
movies of this kind,
it’s a pretty good idea
to have a purpose.
An idea of what we’re
trying to accomplish.
A general direction.
Or at least we’ll say
what we don’t want to
do.
FORMAT
THIS IS THE SHOW
Hot Takes, Cold Cuts,
Threads and much
more. We break down
the major and minor
portions of our show
as well as the bonus
content we’ll be sharing
with our audience. Get
a sense of exactly what
we’re doing.
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THAT’S DARK
INTRODUCTION
ENTS
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17
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THE HOSTS
THESE ARE THE VOICES
Danny, David and
Pappy, three close
friends who share a
fascination for crazy
movies and a love of
conversation. Meet the
hosts of That’s Dark
and get a glimpse
into their unique
personalities.
EPISODES
THIS IS SEASON ONE
The complete list of
episodes for season
one. We offer a glimpse
into the films we watch
and the themes we
discuss. And we’re
pretty transparent
about how we learn
to organize and host a
podcast.
MARKETING MATERIAL
WHERE TO FIND US
We hope you find
the show compelling
enough to reach out to
us. Here’s where you’ll
find our contact. And
if you’re so kind as to
write a blurb about
us, we’ve put together
some material to make
that easier.
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MINDBUCKED
[\ ‘mīnd \ bukt] NOUN
A state of mind resulting from the realization that true genius is hidden in what
at first glance seems sheer stupidity.
FROM
CUTTING MOMENTS II

THAT’S DARK
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
FILM ON THE FRINGE.
That’s Dark examines film on the fringe, stuff you won’t find in mainstream
cinema. The movies we watch are often, if not overwhelmingly, considered
to be offensive by detractors and transgressive by fans. We’re still figuring
out where we sit in the conversation. It’s probably somewhere in between
the two. We’re fans of the genre, driven by a kind of morbid curiosity. But
we’re also hyper-aware of the boundaries that these films push. And we’re
sometimes troubled by what we see.
The genre is extreme cinema. It’s a body of film that challenges and subverts the conventions of
normative cinema. And we’re not just talking about the content of a movie. No, the way these
films are technically made also defy the standard expectations of a movie.
However, there’s no denying that the content of an extreme film can be wildly jarring. These
movies deal with and respond to real-world themes, issues and concerns. They just happen to
present them in ways that might shock you. Shock could truly be at the heart of every extreme
film. There’s no doubt that these movies try to make the viewer uncomfortable. And well, we’ve
felt various forms of discomfort when watching them. And yet, we’re still watching them and
doing these shows. We’re trying to reconcile those uncomfortable feelings with the fact that we
continue to watch.
That’s Dark is more than a show about cinema. It’s a cultural and philosophical podcast as
well. We dig into these films as viewers as well as critical thinkers, offering gut reactions and
thoughtful commentary. We make this show for people who already enjoy or are curious about
these types of movies – that’s a given. But we also make this show for people who have never
heard of the genre, people who enjoy roundtable discussions about things like ethics, gender,
representation and other important issues.
So, watching these movies is not a prerequisite for this podcast. We’ll tell you what you need to
know so you can keep up with the conversation.
01

“
But to take
away your art
supplies... What
would they do if
you just started
drawing in blood?
You know?”
DAVID
THE MIKE DIANA INTERVIEW

THAT’S DARK
PURPOSE & VALUES
THAT’S DARK
PURPOSE & VALUES.
Let’s start with what the goal is not. We’re not interested in questioning
whether or not people should make these movies. We accept that they exist.
Our goal is to ask why people make these movies.
We are fascinated by all the potential whys. Here are a few. Why are
people compelled to make these types of movies? A lot of thought, effort
and sometimes money are put into these films. Also, why are viewers,
people like ourselves, willing or even eager to watch them? Why do people
voluntarily put themselves in a position of discomfort? And why are people so adamantly
against watching them?
Sure, discomfort and even fear are things that people typically avoid if they can. We,
however, are trying to get to the root of why we become unsettled. And we aim to identify
the things that make us uncomfortable. Our goal is to use these films as a way to understand
our discomfort and to translate that understanding in ways that make sense to our listeners
and us.
It might sound contradictory to the subject matter, but we like laughter. And we laugh a lot.
Humor is a huge part of our show. We’re always telling jokes, and sometimes we do so as a
self-defense mechanism, a way to protect ourselves from what we’re watching. We want to
present the heavy and thought-provoking content of our show in a way that people can relate
to, in ways that make as much sense to them as they do to us. We hope our listeners laugh
too. But we’re not here to laugh at these movies and the things that they depict.
Here’s another thing we’re not doing. We’re not interested in justifying the violence depicted
in the movies we watch. We don’t support or endorse violence of any kind. Rather, we are
confronting fictional depictions of violence and trying to understand the reasons for making
these types of movies, our own willingness to watch them and the themes/concerns they
raise.
While we examine voyeurism, That’s Dark is not voyeuristically motivated. We are not here
to ogle these movies, celebrating violence for violence sake. The person who does that is
not our intended audience. At best, we hope that we could help make that type of person
reconsider the way that he/she approaches this kind of film.
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THAT’S DARK
PURPOSE & VALUES
THAT’S DARK
PURPOSE & VALUES.
We make this podcast for people who like to think critically about how films depict various
and often troubling aspects of culture.
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THAT’S DARK
FORMAT OVERVIEW
MOVIE EPISODES
HOT TAKES & COLD CUTS
Our format is pretty simple. We’ve put together a long-form podcast
where we watch and discuss some of the craziest films made.
Considering one film per episode, we record each episode in two
separate major sections – Hot Takes and Cold Cuts.
In Hot Takes, we finish watching a film and immediately begin
recording a discussion that attempts to make sense of what we just
watched. We start with a brief character sketch and a short plot
summary to orient those listeners who don’t want to watch the film. Then we move through
two major sections. What is the movie about? And how did the movie make you feel? After
processing our thoughts and emotions in the comfort of friends, we hold an Accountability
section where we question the director and others who are responsible for the making of a
controversial film. We end Hot Takes with a Loose Ends section devoted to addressing any
lingering questions or topics we deferred during the show.
Cold Cuts is recorded after a week of reflection. Abandoning immediate reactions for a more
calculated approach, we dive back into the film armed with research and organized thoughts.
Take Backs is our opening section, an opportunity for each host to re-consider and address any
of the hotter takes from the previous recording. We then discuss how the movie has impacted us
emotionally and mentally throughout the week before turning to Fact Checking. In this section,
Danny leads us through interesting and sometimes ridiculous facts surrounding the production
and history of the film. Next, Pappy leads a section where we sink into the philosophical and
thematic elements brought up by each film. Afterward, David leads a section devoted to reviews
where we discover some of the most nonsensical viewer opinions on the internet. We conclude
with the Big Reveal where David and Pappy tell Danny the movie they have planned for next
week.
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THAT’S DARK
FORMAT OVERVIEW
THREADS
MAJOR SERIES THEMES
Threads is a crucial component of That’s Dark. These are our minor episodes. Each season, we
open or return to four important threads that deal with significant themes that connect the
films we watch. From genre and ethical cinema to spectacle and laughter, we consider the major
philosophical aspects of our show.
THE SOUND GAME
CALLING A BLUFF
This is a bonus episode that arose from a disagreement between Danny and David while
discussing Grotesque. Here’s the gist. David thought the bodily sound effects were pretty
convincing. Danny did not. To settle the debate, David came up with The Sound Game. It’s a
simple challenge. David cue’s up both audio clips from the movie and compares them against
other sounds, some from real life audio bites. Danny (and Pappy) have to try to guess which are
real and which came from the movie.
THE GLOSSARY OF TERMS
INSIDE JOKES FOR LISTENERS
An audio companion-piece for our listeners. We’re continually coining or repurposing ridiculous
terminology. And we keep track of everything here. If you want to learn the meaning of “riding
cowboy,” “going to the courthouse” or any of other phrases you’ll hear throughout each season,
consult the That’s Dark Glossary of Terms.
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“
Sorry to keep
coming in with all
these terms I’m
coining. But he
comes home to a
‘schadenfahmly’.”
DANNY
BREAKING HER WILL I

THAT’S DARK
THE HOSTS
THE HOSTS
ROUGH MOVIES. SOFT GUYS.
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TO THE COURTHOUSE
[tu thē kort-haus] VERB
The act of repeatedly bringing up a single point over and over again to the
detriment of a conversation.
FROM
BREAKING HER WILL II

THAT’S DARK
THE HOSTS
DANNY
ALLEGEDLY SCARE, NEVER SHOOK.
Cinephile. Conversationalist by heart. Danny is a long time lover of
movies, and he’ll tell you about it if you ask him. Maybe even if you
don’t. While he’d probably deny it, he’s also the reason why That’s
Dark exists. Seriously. His close friends wanted to exploit the way he
connects emotionally to movies. Voila! Podcast born. Historically,
you can find him somewhere on the periphery of extreme cinema.
Terrified by the potential threat of unalterable post-traumatic effects
and drawn in by a natural morbid curiosity, Danny’s read many a
plot summary but never really watched extreme films. Now, all that’s
changed. He’s the proud host of a podcast. And that podcast forces him to watch movies he never
thought he’d watch. But his commentary on this show might have him rethinking his emotional
susceptibility to extreme cinema.
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THAT’S DARK
INTRODUCTION
01

THAT’S DARK
THE HOSTS
DAVID
PREDICTABLY ANARCHISTIC.
Devil’s advocate. A sound engineer by trade. David is the only
extreme movie buddy you’d ever need. There hasn’t been a movie
yet that he wouldn’t watch. It takes a lot for a film to shake David.
So, when it happens, you know that film is probably pretty serious.
Or maybe it strikes a nerve that perhaps only he possesses. Always
an opponent for the sake of it, you can expect David to throw a
metaphorical wrench into the conversation should the opportunity
present iteslf. Resistant to rules, he scoffs at structure and
organization. Though leave a dirty cup on this counter for too long
and suddenly his world is filled with too much chaos. David’s not the type to tow the company
line, even his own. But Danny and Pappy know that. So they plan ahead.
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THAT’S DARK
INTRODUCTION
01

THAT’S DARK
THE HOSTS
PAPPY
JUDGE, JURY AND EDU–CATIONER.
English professor. Overly competitive by nature. Pappy is a lifelong fan of
both extreme cinema. And robust debate. In fact, people often confuse
his conversational zeal for anger. To say he came up with an idea for a
podcast would be inaccurate. He came up with a plan to entrap Danny
into watching Martyrs. And that plan came in the form of a podcast.
Pappy has always been fascinated with extreme movies, rarely refusing to
watch something the first time David asks. Does he suffer from morbid
curiosity? Yes. But extreme cinema also lets him think critically about
something that’s difficult to explain. He’s imaginative enough to draw a
connection between a B-movie and Plato. But he’s unaware of the 72 minutes he needs to explain
it. Brevity isn’t one of his strengths. Apparently, neither is empathy. His friends are trying to make
him better.
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THAT’S DARK
INTRODUCTION
01

“
The sexual
term is
Cowboy.
He’s riding
cowboy.”
PAPPY
CUTTING MOMENTS I

THAT’S DARK
EPISODES SEASON ONE
EPISODES
COMPLETE SEASON ONE.
Welcome to the complete first season. This is an outline of
our major episodes and the films we’ve watched. There’s
eight movies and what seems an infinite amount of themes.
Gender, ethics, cinema, empathy, history, violence, death,
sexuality, the panopticon and trauma – to name a few. We
get into it.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the first season is
listening to us trying to learn how to organize, write and host a podcast. We’re as transparent as
we can be with the learning curve and often make essential discoveries about what we’re doing
(and not doing) on the fly. When you have a friendship as we do, it’s easy to be honest with what
is and what’s not working with the show.
Take a look through the list of episodes for the first season of That’s Dark.
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THAT’S DARK
FORMAT OVERVIEW
CUTTING MOMENTS
THE MALE GAZE IN CINEMA
Danny, David and Pappy kick off That’s Dark with Douglas Buck’s Cutting Moments (1997). In the
series opener, they forget to do a plot summary, make their way through some psychoanalysis and
the male gaze while Danny spends half the episode denying and/or coming to terms with the truth
about this movie. Spending a considerable amount of energy on trying to understand the film’s
female perspective, they find themselves on the verge of being “Mindbucked.”
MARTYRS
POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS ON SCREEN
In episode two, Danny watches a movie that’s been a long time coming – Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs
(2008). We start by compensating for last week’s plot summary faux-pas with a character sketch
and a plot summary that is almost certainly too long. We talk about a number of subjects,
including whether or not we’d mercy kill each other, PTSD and the basement beast. And after so
many attempts, Pappy finally watches Martyrs with Danny.
MURDER – SET – PIECES
THE VALUE OF SHOCK MIXED WITH A LITTE PSYCHOPATHY
David and Pappy try to turn up the heat on Danny, but they’re all left somewhat speechless after
watching Nick Palumbo’s Murder-Set-Pieces (2004) – for reasons they didn’t quite expect. They
introduce the 3 Minute Drill plot summary; the conversation covers different forms of shock value,
the role of empathy and they put the main character through a psychopath test. Hot Takes run
high on this one.
BREAKING HER WILL
THE PANOPTICON
Hand-picked by Danny, the boys watch Bill Zebub’s Breaking Her Will (2009). David makes
interesting claims about the effectiveness of torture scenes. Danny seems to defend the trained
talents of Bill Zebub’s actors. And Pappy leads a discussion on the panopticon. An important term
is coined that appears in the rest of the season, and Danny, David and Pappy are tested to come up
with their own awesome director pseudonym.
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THAT’S DARK
EPISODES SEASON ONE
HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER
ALTERNATIVE FACTS OF HENRY LEE LUCAS
Another film that lives in the mythology tucked within Danny’s mind, John McNaughton’s Henry:
Portrait of a Serial Killer is this week’s film. Things get lively when Pappy takes his turn at the
three-minute drill, and Danny goes “Full Henry” on his fact-checking. The conversation focuses
on the reality of Henry Lee Lucas and McNaughton’s cinematic representation of the notorious
serial killer.
GROSTESQUE
THEORIZING TORTURE PORN
Squirmish-ness abounds when Danny, David and Pappy watch Koji Shiraishi’s Grotesque (2009).
Danny and Pappy play head games, and questionable activity happens at the start of the threeminute
drill. This is the first real journey into both Japanese cinema and a popular subgenre of
extreme film. The conversation focuses on trying to understand the genre of torture porn and the
role of the body in extreme cinema.
IN A GLASS CAGE
WHERE DEATH & PLEASURE DRIVES MEET
The one that got away. Danny, David and Pappy piece together their discussion on Agusti
Villaronga’s In A Glass Cage (1987). Organized through audio flashbacks, the boys retrace their
steps through a surprise three-minute drill twist and their discussion regarding the problems of
genre, the pleasure principle, and the death drive. Conversational etiquette flys by the wayside and
the boys try to figure out where it went wrong, in retrospect.
A SERBIAN FILM
BREAKING DANNY’S WILL
In the season finale, Danny finally meets Srdjan Spasojevic’s A Serbian Film (2010). After the
big reveal is nearly blown, David and Pappy execute a game of deception to surprise Danny with
a film he doesn’t want to watch. Listen to Danny run an emotional gauntlet as he navigates the
most notorious film in the genre. We cover intentional fallacy, whether or not the film is a Serbian
allegory and consider the film as a tragedy. Season one goes out with a bang, not a whimper.
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RIDING COWBOY
[rī-ding kau-boi] VERB
1. An act of heterosexual intercourse where the male straddles the female in a
way that seems impossible for copulation.
2. A general act where someone does the impossible.
FROM
CUTTING MOMENTS I

THAT’S DARK
INTRODUCTION
WHERE TO FIND US
CONTACT
GMAIL
INFO@THATSDARK.COM
INSTAGRAM
@THATSDARKPODCAST
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