This episode has everything! Lady Shasha talks growing up a fourth-generation horror fan in Connecticut on a steady diet of HBO, Gore Zone, Elvira, Dean Koontz, drive-ins, Blacula and Buster's Pub & Video. Plus what it's like being one of the few women of color producing content in the horror community.

Dear Final Girl

Horrorigin Story - Lady Shasha's Horror Lineage

#HorrorFam's beloved @beernut1 shares his Horrorigin Story, a tale of classic movies and classic horror from a classy guy who grew up normal except for his love of horror—and a rather traumatic history with the movie Gremlins.

Horrorigin Story - Seth's Classic Beginnings

"Then the virus wasn't on TV anymore. It was in the street." Sound familiar? 376 days after COVID lockdown, Lori and Tam watch 28 Days Later in response to a listener letter about losing time, finding perspective and understanding painful times while we're living through them.

Episode 19 28 Days Later

Am I already messing up this parenting thing before the baby sees the light of day? No Rachel, you're not. In response to this week's letter, Tam and Lori check out Prevenge, the 2016 horror comedy about a newly widowed and pregnant Ruth and her VERY articulate and homicidal fetus.

Episode 18 Prevenge

Relating to others can be murder. Just ask Darling, the title character of Mickey Keating's phenomenal 2015 film. Or ask Janet, whose letter to Dear Final Girl inspired our movie choice for this episode. Tam and Lori talk how we connect, how we isolate, and how hard it is to feel lonely.

Episode 17 Darling

Episode 16 They Live

Do things feel different but somehow still the same? A letter from Purgatory sparks questions about identity as Tam and Lori check out Possessor.

Episode 15 Possessor

In this Horrorigin Story Episode, Van recalls his childhood as a "mature little person," his initial rejection of movies in the humorous-yet-violent genre, and his eventual introduction to Cronenberg's The Fly. Stay for the discussions of Kafka, librarians, and Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark.

Horrorigin Story - Van's Well-Behaved Beginnings

A final girl in Nashville struggles with a job that's starting to feel like a trap. Sound familiar? Tam and Lori watch Saw while discussing how to get out, how to cope until you do, and how to find out what you really want so your next move is the right on. Check it out!

Episode 14 Saw

There's only one thing wrong with the Davis baby... It's Alive! Lori and Tam take on Larry Cohen's 1974 classic, inspired by @Lando_Horror's Horrorigin Story. Lots of high-caliber acting in this low-budget production with explorations of how authority structures touch the lives of private citizens in crisis.

Episode 13 It's Alive

Check out our return episode and learn how Minnesota winters, watching late-night B-movies with a Pepsi-lovin' grandma, and those awesome 80s VHS covers created a lifelong horror compulsion for @Lando_Horror.

Horrorigin Story - Lando's Horror Compulsion

In the season closing episode, Frank (@NewHeyah) recounts the time he found horror with Jason Goes To Hell, rediscovering the genre in '96 with Scream, and re-rediscovering horror more recently with Leprechaun Origins. L&T talk horror as a solitary experience and one that builds community, the power of finding horror when you're "too young," and escaping to your own private cinema. 

Horrorigin Story - Frank & The Private Cinema

Dear Final Girl dances into the story of a girl, her mother, and the movie that shaped a lifelong love of horror. This week's origin story comes from writer Valerie Thompson (@ValMThompson).  

Horrorigin Story - Val Thompson Discovers Horror With Mom

This week Tam and Laura reflect on the memorable Horror Origin story submitted by horrorfam favorite @NoKimOnlyZuul. Talking about her earliest experiences with horror gets our intrepid two pondering their own teenage perspectives. It's all in a day's work for a true final girl.  

Horrorigin Story: Kim's Favorite Security Blanket

Leigh Evans (Night of the Horrorphile) discusses how he identified with Leatherface's Texas Chainsaw Massacre, his parents' own devotion to horror films, the harsher realities of growing up in the South, and finding joy in real darkness through horror. 

Horrorigin Story Leigh Evans and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The advice and horror podcast that dishes on life and other scary movies. Join hosts Tamara and Laura as we discuss your letters. Send to: dearfinalgirl@gmail.com