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This is part 2 of our holiday special to be broadcast on December 25th, 2021.

This episode looks at speculative movies.

[Please listen to Part 1, which is season 2 episode 5, if you want to listen to David and Troy talk about holiday TV, books and comics.]

There are two movies that we will look at in much more detail in this episode:

Black Christmas – 1974
Krampus – 2015

These two films will take the vast majority of our holiday movie special.

We will look at other holiday fair that have some kind of speculative content. Two of the greatest examples are:

“It’s a Wonderful Life”
“A Christmas Carol”

NOTE: I don’t think we look into “A Nightmare before Christmas” at all, and some other recent classics are missed. We need to save something for next year!

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When it comes to Black Christmas, this is one of the great speculative Canadian films, up there with Ginger Snaps (2000) and Heavy Metal (1981), even though Heavy Metal is a Canadian-American co-production. The Thing (2011) and Cube Zero (2004) have enough Canadian content to qualify as Canadian.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Canadian_science_fiction_films

Canadian Horror Films:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Canadian_horror_films

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What is it about Black Christmas that makes it one of the earliest, and perhaps the first one ever, slasher film? Why do so many people consider it a classic?

How is it that the director, Bob Clark, who is best known for

Murder by Decree
Tribute
Porky’s
A Christmas Story

end up directing Black Christmas?

How is Black Christmas influenced by The Exorcist?
How did Black Christmas influence Halloween and other films?

Why is John Saxon so great?

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We will also look at Krampus, and why it is, in the tradition of Gremlins, a horror movie that the whole family can enjoy (as long as your children are not super young). Why does Troy and his family watch this recent classic every Xmas? Listen and find out!

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Troy Harkin and David Clink will talk about the holidays, in genre movies.

There is no special guest for this episode.

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This is part 1 of our holiday special to be broadcast on December 11th, 2021.

This episode looks at speculative TV, books, and comics.

[Please listen to Part 2, which is season 2 episode 6, if you want to listen to David and Troy talk about holiday movies. Episode 6 is set to be broadcast on December 25th, 2021]

The holiday season is replete with references to the holidays, in TV and books and comics.

From the annual Dr. Who Christmas Specials, to the Star Wars Holiday Special. The holidays are no stranger to science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

The Twilight Zone visited the holidays, as well.
Night of the Meek is one such episode.

Wonder Woman (the series starring Lynda Carter) also had a holiday episode.

It seemed that comics in December seemed to have some tie-in to Christmas, especially superheroes like Superman or Spiderman. Perhaps they thought parents would put some in their children’s stockings?

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Connie Willis put together a collection of her science fiction and fantasy short stories called “A Lot Like Christmas.”

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Troy Harkin and David Clink will talk about the holidays, in genre TV, genre books (briefly), and genre comics.

There is no special guest for this episode.