JED Talks

I’ve been trying to get EDUARDO SANCHEZ on the podcast for about a year and realistically I’ve wanted to speak to him most of my adult life. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT is not only one of the best horror films ever made, but for me, it’s probably the most influential. It was a total joy deep-diving into The Blair Witch Project with the guy who made it and it was really interesting to learn its effects on the rest of Ed’s career and Horror as a whole. We find out what Eduardo would have done if he got a chance to make a prequel and his very own sequel! If you enjoyed the episode, please spread the word and perhaps rate, review and subscribe if you haven’t already done. You can find Eduardo HERE and you can find me HERE.

This feature-length special is the very first HORROR SUMMIT on JED TALKS. I do a Nick Fury and bring together the Avengers of Horror Podcasts. These are the people whose views are listened to and respected by the Horror community as a whole. Their opinions on the hot topics of Horror reverberate and matter to fans of the genre. I call upon the talents of Chelsea Rebecca & James A. Janisse from DEAD MEAT, Kimberley Elizabeth & Jonathan DeHaan from NIGHTMARE ON FILM STREET, Trevor & Lauren Shand & Leo D’Antonio from THE BOO CREW and Prince Jackson from KNIGHT LIGHT: A HORROR MOVIE PODCAST. This dream team help me discuss and put to pasture, some of the hottest and most controversial subjects in the Horror world, including ‘Elevated Horror’ and Reboots/Remakes. We also discuss why everyone dedicated their lives to horror and we end the show on underrated/underseen recommendations (heads up - go watch Guinea Pig 6)! So grab a pen and take notes, because there is a lot to dissect here! Thanks so much to everyone involved and I’m looking forward to the next Horror Summit so much! If you enjoyed what you heard, subscribe, rate and review & spread the word. You can follow me on twitter HERE and find me every week on Clubhouse’s Number 1 Horror room CLUBHOUSE OF HORROR where you will see and hear the biggest names in Horror!

On this episode of JED TALKS I speak to ALEJANDRO BRUGES about his career highs and lows; working with Robert Rodriguez, Mick Garris and Eduardo Sanchez. Apologies for my microphone during this episode, it was faulty so I’ve tried to clean it up as much as possible! Alejandro is trying to get off social media so I’m not going to provide his links, but you can have mine twice: @jedshepherd and @jedshepherd. Next week on JED TALKS I hold a HORROR SUMMIT!

On today’s episode I have another incredible and prolific horror author who is at the top of his game, its BRIAN KEENE! We talk about his journey, his process, his mentors (Joe Lansdale / Stephen King), his comic work and movie adaptations! Brian is one of the loveliest people putting pen to paper so and if you want to dive into his work, he suggests THE COMPLEX and I had so much fun reading THE GHOUL. You can find Brian at his website briankeene.com and on Twitter. You can find me on twitter too and if you have CLUBHOUSE, check out CLUBHOUSE OF HORROR every thursday!

Today I talk to a British director who has made 2 of the top 5 best British Horror movies of the last 30 years. Neil Marshall came straight out of the gate with DOG SOLDIERS (the best werewolf movie since An American Werewolf in London) and followed it up with THE DESCENT which was a universal success story. One of the few to put British horror on the map, it was an absolute pleasure to talk to him about the above films plus his brand new one The Reckoning (co-written by its star Charlotte Kirk). We also discuss just what happened with HELLBOY (2019) and how Neil got into the business of make believe in the first place. If you like what you hear, let me know on twitter @jedshepherd and thank you for coming to my Jed Talks!

For the second week in a row I speak to one of my favourite authors on the planet, a man who wrote a book that made me soil my pants for the two nights it took to read it. A man who instilled a fear in me of turning the page, in case the thing my imagination conjured manifests… it’s PAUL TREMBLAY! We speak (I gush) about his books, potential screen adaptations and his writing process. If you enjoyed this episode as much as I did you can find out more about Paul at his website https://www.paultremblay.net/. You can also catch him on twitter https://twitter.com/paulGtremblay where you will see us continue the convo! You can catch me here https://twitter.com/Jedshepherd if you want to let me know what you think of the pod (nice things only!) and I’m always happy to chat horror with you guys.

I bought a copy of THE DRIVE-IN from a second hand shop in South London for 30p when I was a kid. I knew nothing about it save for the fact it had a monster/comet thing bursting out of a cinema screen. I knew if the book was even half as good as the cover, I’d invested wisely. Little did I know that this book would be one of the most influential books in my life and something I read almost by default when I’m looking for escapism. Of course most people reading this will probably recognise the name from the fact he wrote the original story that Bubba Ho-Tep was based on (starring Bruce Campbell as Elvis!). Joe is one of the most prolific people I’ve ever spoken to and you’ll find his secret to writing within this podcast…. it’s not what you think! Let me know what you think on twitter @jedshepherd and thank you for coming to my Jed Talk.

On this episode of JED TALKS, I talk to the indie film legend LARRY FESSENDEN about his career. We chat about his breadth of work, his production company and his new movie (on SHUDDER) DEPRAVED! A lovely chat with a lovely bloke - he even said that HOST was his favourite film of 2020! hear all about it and let me know what you think on twitter @jedshepherd. <3

When it comes to underrated/under-appreciated horror movies that are actually very good, few have been more overlooked than the new found footage classic BE MY CAT: A FILM FOR ANNE. I consider myself a found footage connoisseur and even I didn’t know this little gem existed. Written/Directed/Catered by Romanian auteur Adrian Tofei, this is the closest I’ve ever been to thinking I’m watching an actual snuff film. The line between fiction and reality is so effectively blurred, I was watching my front door for a SWAT team to burst through and taser me for watching something I shouldn’t. So this episode I had fun speaking to the man behind the madness: Adrian Tofei! Thanks for coming to my Jed Talks.

Justin Dyck has made two dozen Xmas movies and a film about a monkey that plays soccer, so you’d be forgiven if you thought that ANYTHING FOR JACKSON would be less than stellar. Fortunately for Shudder - and everyone with a subscription - this is an expertly directed and solidly written exorcism movie that subverts horror tropes more than the last 3 Conjuring Universe movies. Honestly, that whole sequence with the kid in sheet and the lift is up there with the best set pieces I’ve seen for. while. I’d listen to this podcast AFTER you watch the film as we do go into spoiler territory a little - you have been warned! Let me know what you think of the film AND this episode by adding me on twitter @jedshepherd.

This episode I chat to writer/producer Jimmy George and writer/director Chris Lamartina about one of my favourite found footage films of recent time. If you haven’t seen WNUF HALLOWEEN SPECIAL yet, please do. You’ll thank me. Its dripping with talent and love and so is this interview. We chat about their careers leading up to their new movie WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WILL SCARE YOU (which I also love) and plans for WNUF 2! Let me know what you think on twitter @jedshepherd. Thanks for coming to my Jed Talk.

I’ve seen every documentary about The Exorcist out there and up until now had firmly believed that Mark Kermode’s FEAR OF GOD was the best of the bunch. That was until I watched a screener of AELXANDRE O. PHILIPPE’S new documentary LEAP OF FAITH which sideswiped me with how essential and quickly its risen to the top of that pile. Its trick is to just give Friedkin the foundation to build his stories upon and these are ones you also have likely not heard before. LEAP OF FAITH is out TODAY (19th Nov 2020) on SHUDDER so watch it asap and let me know what you think! You can find me on twitter https://twitter.com/Jedshepherd

This is really special for me. As most of you who listen regularly know, NIGHT OF THE COMET is my favourite movie of all time. It’s always on my mind when Im writing stuff because its the perfect balance of horror and levity and has two of the best lead performances in film history (imho). So interviewing the genius behind it, the guy who wrote and directed it - Thom Eberhardt - has been on my bucket list for a very long time. He had a lot of stories I’d never heard before about the making of NOTC so it was a dream for me. I also surprised Thom with a Night of the Comet reunion of his two lead actresses, my friends CATHERINE MARY STEWART and KELLI MARONEY. These two actresses are the best kinda people and probably the two most underrated actresses working today. I want to see them in everything! So tune in and hear me geek tf out and let me know what you think. Im on twitter @jedshepherd so come say hello! <3

As I am writing this, it’s HALLOWEEN and HOST is the number 1 horror film on Rotten Tomatoes with 100%. If you told me this would happen only 6 months ago I would call you a liar. Bucket List completed! What made HOST special was it’s cast, my good friends (in appearance order) HALEY BISHOP, JEMMA MOORE, EMMA LOUISE WEBB, RADINA DRANDOVA, CAROLINE WARD, some who you have heard on this very podcast - before they became divas! They girls return to Jed Talks to talk a little bit about HOST but also I wanted to ask them questions they will never have been asked before like - Where’s the weirdest place you’ve urinated? There is 20 minutes on that. Also there is a weird sub-plot about Emma recording this podcast LIVE from Elton Johns house. Pure chaos but these are my friends when they let their guard down, stop being polite and start being real! <3

Its the hardest thing in the world to do a GOOD Horror anthology. There have been so many - especially recently - but most have forgotten the golden rule of Anthologies - Make the Wraparound Story as good as your best segment. Ryan Spindell’s THE MORTUARY COLLECTION does this effortlessly and I had so much fun speaking to the writer/director of this film about his journey to make it and whats next. Hit me up on twitter @jedshepherd and Ryan @RyanSpindell!

It was an absolute pleasure to talk to Mick Garris today, especially as his film HOCUS POCUS is the number 1 film in the US Box office right now! As you will hear, almost every story blew me away as Mick has a knack of being in the right place at the right time and knocking everything he has faced, out of the park. We about THE GOONIES, BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED, AMAZING STORIES, SPIELBERG, CRITTERS 2, SLEEPWALKERS, MASTERS OF HORROR, NIGHTMARE CINEMA, HOCUS POCUS and lots lots more! Enjoy the episode and thanks for coming to my Jed Talk! @jedshepherd

This week on JED TALKS I chat to to writer/director Damien LeVeck & Producer Natalie LeVeck about their new horror film The Cleansing Hour! It is rare that a film in the exorcism sub-genre wins me over, but this one did with its originality and subversion of the tropes. It drops on Shudder today - 8th October 2020 - so if you want to hear the story behind how they made it, this is for you! Let me know what you think and just generally hit me up on twitter // https://twitter.com/Jedshepherd See you next week and thanks for coming to my Jed Talk!

WELCOME TO THE REBOOT OF JED TALKS! From now on, the podcast will almost entirely be Horror leaning. Some might say it already was, but now I’m making it official. Each week we will start with Horror news and then an interview with a filmmaker. On this episode I have Rob Savage, who co-wrote HOST (the horror movie of 2020) with me and also Directed it. We chat The Craft reboot, Ben Wheatley’s lockdown horror and the Haunting of Bly Manor. My special guests are the filmmakers behind SCARE ME which drops on Shudder TODAY (October 1st). Actor/Writer/Producer/Director JOSH RUBEN and cinematographer BRENDAN H BANKS talk about how they made Scare Me and their career leading up to it. I loved the movie and can’t wait to see what they do next. If you liked this episode, please rate and review (and subscribe if you haven’t already) and you’ll totally make my day. add me on twitter @jedshepherd <3

JED Talks is back with an interview with one of the greatest voices currently walking this planet… Rebekah Del Rio. You may know her as the crying lady from Mulholland Drive who literally dies onstage while singing. OR you may know her from the new Twin Peaks series, killing onstage with Moby! I absolutely loved hearing all of her stories about new Twin Peaks, David Lynch and her career and I hope you do too! Let me know what you think on twitter @jedshepherd.

It’s not every day I get to speak to a member of the Blue Rose Task Force, but today I did. Agent Tammy Preston, better known as singer/songwriter/model/actress (what can’t she do?) Chrysta Bell. Often touted as David Lynch’s muse, her experiences with Lynch coloured much of our conversation and for that I am truly grateful. We also discuss music and the fact this was basically Chrysta Bell’s first acting role! A total joy to speak to, you can find Chrysta Bell at The Twin Peaks UK Festival in London this weekend (29/30 of September) or at her website https://chrystabell.com/ and all of the various links for further perusal are found within. Thanks for listening and you can find me on twitter https://twitter.com/Jedshepherd <3