HORROR BUSINESS Episode 19: Not Just Boys Fun, or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love FIRE IN THE SKY

Greetings grays, reptoids, mantids, and everything in between! Thank you as always for checking us out and we have got one heck of an episode for you guys. We are joined for this episode by two wonderful guests, Aimee and Carly from the Final Girls podcast. We had a blast recording this episode and can’t wait for you to hear it. First and foremost we want to give a shoutout to our sponsors over at Lehigh Valley Apparel Creations, the premiere screenprinting company of the Lehigh Valley. Chris Reject and his merry band of miscreants are ready to work with you to bring to life your vision of a tshirt for your business, band, project, or whatever else it is you need represented by a shirt, sweater, pin, or coozy. Head on over to www.xlvacx.com to check them out. Thanks! This episode we are taking a look at two films that revolve around the concept of non-voluntary abduction by non-human entities, aka alien abduction. Our films are 1993’s neo classic Fire In The Sky and 2013’s Dark Skies. We begin by giving a shout out to Chris and LVAC, and then talking about what we’ve seen recently. Liam and Aimee talk about FX’s television series Legion, the beauty of Dan Stevens, and how the show works on levels that appeal to both comic fans and non-comic fans alike. We talk about the recent horror film The Belko Experiment, Liam complains about Skull Island while Justin mumbles nonsense, and Justin confesses to not being into The Eyes Of My Mother. The excitement about the upcoming films Raw and Life is briefly discussed. Our discussion on Fire In The Sky begins with each of us sharing our first experiences with the film and what we thought and how it made us feel. Justin gets unnecessarily excited talking about how he has met two of the cast members of this film (D.B. Sweeney and Robert Patrick). Justin gives a little background on the events the film claims to be based upon, and Liam talks about his personal experience seeing the movie for the first time with Justin. We talk about a common criticism of the movie, which is that the film couldn’t make up it’s mind as what it wanted to be, and discuss how the film actually succeeds as a horror film if nothing else. Sweeney’s successful portrayal of Travis Walton as a ‘likeable everyman’ is discussed. Justin talks about his personal experience with being afraid of the concept of alien abduction in horror films. The music of the film and how it helps create tension and develop mood is discussed. Roger Ebert’s review praising the set design of the inside of the alien ship is brought up and discussed, which leads into a deeper discussion of how truly “alien” the inside of the ship is, and Liam talks about how the aliens have a rather “steampunk” feel to it. Carly talks about how much of the movie not involving aliens felt repetitive and boring, and Aimee talks about the contrast of the alien scenes and the “comedic” feeling of the movie due to it’s time of release, as well as the break from most alien abduction films which feature a lot of clean and sterile surfaces while this one has lot of dust and grime and slime and is overall dirty. Aimee then talks about the strange mischaracterization of Travis Walton as less a naïve dreamer and more a childish manbaby. Justin then spends time picking apart the idea that Fire In The Sky is only scary because it’s “based on a true story” and instead postulates that the film stands on it’s own as being scary due to a) the film deviating from what Walton claimed actually happened, and b) the dubiousness of Walton’s real life story. Walton’s actual account of what happened is briefly summarized, as is the case against Walton telling the truth. The intentions of the screenwriter of this film, Tracy Torme, in deliberately sensationalizing Walton’s account are briefly discussed. Aimee begins a discussion on sleep paralysis, and the phenomenon of sleep paralysis as the inspiration for the alien abduction phenomenon is examined in depth.