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Me when Will wood sings the most vile shit ever over incoherent piano smashes
Good job audio drama creators let's keep it up đź‘Ź
Atanas Ilitch as the Driller Killer, Slumber Party Massacre 2 (1987)
Everyone, meet the plot of AHS season 9. I don't even know what this show is anymore xD.
Horror/pop culture influences to the Hatchetfieldverse
As a disclaimer i have not listened to every talkback or livestream in its entirety and this is not in any way meant to be The Definitive, Master, Absolutely The Only Right List list. this is just me sharing some horror knowledge and where I think influences lie. please feel free to add on to this list!
The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals: The biggest connection I can make is Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) about aliens taking over the bodies of humans as part of a plot to invade earth. where the term "podperson" comes from
Black Friday: I know the premise is based on the real life Tickle Me Elmo craze in 1994. (people trampling each other for the doll) in terms of pop culture the evil/haunted doll is a trope as seen in Chucky (1978) and Annabelle (2014). Wiggly is an eldritch being, the black and white, the cults, madness (we'll get into eldritch later)
Nightmare Time: So many nightmare time episodes give B-horror vibes and I love it
The Hatchetfield Ape Man: what B horror is made of. I love how retro this one feels even as it takes place in the modern day timeline (Ted and Hidgens are in it, there's a mention of texting and Ted's pornhub premium account, and yet Lucy feels like a such a period character) feels like an old B creature movie (the creature from the black lagoon comes to mind)
Watcher World: to an extent haunted amusement park is a trope (hell its in classic scooby doos) loved ones turning on each other and possesion/influence is seen in a lot of paranormal horror (the conjuring 2, the exorcist) illusion based horror is done really well is Mike Flanagan's Oculus (2013)
Forever and Always: the android and the clone plots feels like classic SF. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep/Blade Runner (1982) Philip K Dick style sci-fi.
Time Bastard: the song itself is a James Bond tribute. a time loop is a great storytelling frame that can cross genres, although the ImplicationsTM always hover around horror. Groundhog Day (1993) is the classic timeloop example, if more lighthearted.
Jane's a Car: this is Stephen King all the way baby. Christine (1983) is novel/film about a killer car, the owner of said car's growing obsession with it, and the cars violent protective but deadly nature
The Witch in the Web: this is trickier for me. the witch is an ancient trope and Willabella Muckwab is a classic witch in the woods. I mean thats fairytale, Hansel and Gretel, luring children stuff. Hannah as a psychic child, and a very powerful one feels very Stephen King, (Eleven from Stranger Things is the same type of character)
Nightmare Time Two
Honey Queen: In terms of the relationship between Linda and Zoe, Death Becomes Her (1992) comes to mind. theres just something about the ruthlessness of these two antiheros. also Gerald is a plastic surgeon much like the male protagonist of that film
Perky's Buds: okay the weed turning birds sentient i can't speak to but birds in horror is a trope for sure, Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) is perhaps the most famous. The Hatchetmen being portrayed as an insular dangerous hillbilly family is also a trope, seen in The Hills Have Eyes (1977) and Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Abstinence Camp: Ah, the slasher. quintessential modern horror. Abstinence Camp is probably most like Friday the 13th (1980) with both the summer camp setting and the focus on the chastity (or lack there of) of the teenagers and that being the reason for their deaths. (other famous slashers being Psycho (1960) Halloween (1978), and Scream (1996))
Daddy: Peter pan syndrome or the forever child reminds me a bit of The Orphan (2013) though I admit that's not exactly the dynamic here. creepy child forcing a relationship is the twist in Ginger Snaps 2 (2004). cults spring up ALOT in hatchetfield, specifically the idea of wealthy elite worshipping the lords in black in exchange for power. this is an eldritch trope, as seen below.
Killer Track: satanic rock music or music that drives teenagers to the devil is an old panic. In terms of pop culture the premise of the cursed song itself (listen and you die unless you force other people to listen) is The Ring (2001, for the American remake) in The Ring a cursed video kills the watcher in 7 days, unless they show the tape to someone else.
Yellow Jacket: children fighting in death matches is popular now because of The Hunger Games, although the dystopian tropes roots of this is seen earlier in Battle Royale (2000) or The Long Walk (1979) (hello AGAIN Stephen King).
hatchetfield in general: the spooky town/weird town/horror town is a personal favourite trope of mine and hatchetfield qualifies. also seen in Welcome to Night Vale (2012) and the cartoon Gravity Falls (2012) to name only two. Also the ever iconic Twin Peaks (1990)
eldritch horror: the center of hatchetfield lore is the Lords in Black and they're eldeitch horror, that is massive, almost unknowable and incomprehensible extra-demensionsal beings whose scale and power to humanity is like an ant and a boot (we're the ants). explored in the works of HP Lovecraft (most famously The Call Of Cthulhu) but an enduring branch of horror in its own right. Common staples include another dimension(s) where the creatures are from (the black and white in our case) , cults worshipping the Beings for power (the starry children, Linda's wiggly cult) and madness or a corruptive influence. a great modern example is The Magnus Archvies
other influences: saw a Mariah Rose Faith tweet that said she was watching Evil Dead and could see the hatchetfield influences and yeah, the Evil Dead (1981) trilogy is very campy, very self referential horror with a starkid like sense of humor (there's a Toronto musical version Evil Dead Live that is Very Starkid, its infamous for having a "splash zone" where if you're an audience member sitting in those seats you WILL be covered in fake blood)
scream, similar to above, very meta, mixes of comedy and horror.
bonus: Hey Melissa: while not exactly the same reminds me of Misery (1990) about a woman who comes across her favourite author in a car accident, she rescues him and cares for him...and then won't let him leave. body horror, capture,obsession its all there. also based ON ANOTHER STEPHEN KING BOOK GOD DAMN IT.
what horror do you see in hatchetfield? what did I miss? let me know!
EDIT: Nerdy Prudes Must Die: Bullied teenagers getting revenge on the popular kids who tormented them: Carrie (1976 for the film) (what's up Stephen King, pull up a chair), also Heathers (1988). A group of teenagers covering up a bad thing they did and being picked off by the person they wronged is also a trope, seen in I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) Nerdy Prudes is also the first stage show to include The Black Book. The black book, a grimoire or spellbook of edrtich knowledge reminds me of the Necronomicon. The Necronomicon was introduced to pop culture by HP Lovecraft, it appears in multiple of his own works, and then later in works by different creators, including The Evil Dead films. Lovecraft loved the idea of the Necronomicon appearing in other peoples work, as it built up a collective horror/eldritch mythology within our culture. Its appearance in so many works, has cemented the Cursed book/Book of The Dead/within pop culture.
*Jonathan Sims voice* "Statement of Tom Houston, regarding-..."
"Tim? Are you… sure this is a real statement and not just one of your pranks? "
…
"Alright, alright. Fine. I swear to God, if I find out you're filming this later..."
"Statement of Tom Houston, regarding… his car, which happened to be his dead wife."