Episode Details

Greetings, and welcome back to Horror Business. We have one awesome episode in store for you guys. On this episode we’re discussing two films directed by women: 1990’s The First Power and 1998’s Fallen.

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We start by talking about what we’ve seen or done lately in the field of horror. We talk about a few of the recent events at the Mahoning Drive In (CarpenterFest, Vampyrty, and their Umberto Lenzi tribute) Exhumed Film’s Class of ’88 screening, the new documentary on Monster Squad entitled Wolfman’s Got Nards, and the films A Quiet Place (which Liam and Justin have rather lengthy and detailed discussion on) Hereditary, The Endless, Devil’s Gate, and we talk about the trailers for Halloween, Mandy, The Predator, and Tau.

Up first is The First Power. We talk about how it’s a combination of late 80s/early 90s “Satanic panic” films and “buddy cop” films from the same period. We talk about the brisk pace of the film, Lou Diamond Phillips’ inexplicable wardrobe choices, and the films inclusion of another ‘90s fad: psychic detectives!

We spend some time talking about the sort of ‘go to’ interpretation of Satanism in the late 80s/early 90s which was do Christian stuff backwards or upside down, and how none of that has any real theological basis. We discuss the concept of the films titular powers. We touch upon how the film came out right around the time that the idea of ‘psycho killers are scarier than supernatural things’ in horror fiction, and how the film manages to combine those two aspects with supernatural serial killers. The film’s almost laughable depiction of policework is touched upon, as is the films uncharacteristic of the