The Murder Media Podcast

He Doesn't Even Sparkle! Teen Vampires Turn Deadly.

And we're back, with a look a two media texts, twenty years apart, which tell the story of a bunch of teenage vampires turned murderers. Examining the 2002 film The Vampire Clan, and an episode from Stella's favourite YouTuber, Bailey Sarian, this episode considers the development in true crime from tabloid trash to comprehensive chronologies. 
 
Bailey Sarian: *strange* blood rituals by a teenage vampire clan turns deadly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWfy87P__v0&t=2127s 
The Vampire Clan (Webb, 2002)
 
Miskatonic: https://miskatonicinstitute.com/events/if-looks-could-kill-the-spectacle-of-murder-in-contemporary-crime-media-london/
 
For information and sign up for the Blood Myth Symposium, email murdermedia81@gmail.com
 
Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at murdermedia81@gmail.com, or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/
 
 
Music:
 
Cybertruck by Mood Maze
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck
License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9
 
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert
License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK
 
All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.

Episode 15: Idols of Murder

This week, Stella finally reflects on The Murder Media Symposium and her trials and tribulations at the hotel. Then the episode gets into the serial killer biopic: films which tell the life stories of real world murderers. Exploring My Friend Dahmer and Extremely Wicked, Stella thinks about why these people get films made about them, what myths to they perpetuate, and how do you say the word 'trajectory?'
 
My Friend Dahmer (Meyers, 2017).
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile (Berlinger, 2019). 
Sources:
Bingham, D. (2010). The Biopic as Contemporary Film Genre. Rutgers University Press 
Gaynor, S. M. (2022). ‘Better the Devil You Know: Nostalgia for the Captured Killer in Netflix’s Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes,’ in Robinson, B,. & Daigle, C. (Eds). Serial Killers in Contemporary Television: Familiar Monsters in post 9/11 Culture, pp. 135 – 151. Routledge 
Joannou, M,. & McIntyre, S. (1983). ‘Lust for Lives: Report from a conference on the biopic,’ in Screen, vol 22(4), p. 147 
Rosenstone, R. A. (2007). ‘In Praise of the Biopic,’ in Francaviglia, R,. & Rodnitsky, J. (Eds). Lights, Camera, History: Portraying the Past in Film, pp. 11-29. Texas A&M University Press  
Simpson, P.L. (2010). ‘Whither the Serial Killer Movie?’ in Hantke, S. (Ed). American Horror Cinema: The Genre at the Turn of the Millenium, pp. 133-152. University of Mississippi Press 
Schmid, D. (2006). Natural Born Celebrities: Serial Killers in American Culture. University of Chicago Press 
Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at murdermedia81@gmail.com, or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/
 
 
Music:
 
Cybertruck by Mood Maze
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck
License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9
 
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert
License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK
 
All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.

Episode 14: My First Cult starter pack

Come and join The Murder Media Cult - we'll need all your money, your house, but we promise some lovely shoes. This week, Stella is joined again by Shellie McMurdo for a chat about cults on screen. Shellie gets to talk about one of her favorite things - The Sacrament - an incredible film from Ti West which retells the horrifying story of Jonestown. 
Stella and Shellie also muse on Waco, cults in video games, and what might feature in a starter pack for someone wanting to start their very own cult. 
Media mentioned: 
The Sacrament (Ti West, 2013)
Red State (Kevin Smith, 2011)
The Last Podcast on the Left - Episode 274 - Oaklahoma City 
The Last Podcast on the Left - Episode 300 - Jonestown
Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at murdermedia81@gmail.com, or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/
 
 
Music:
 
Cybertruck by Mood Maze
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck
License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9
 
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert
License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK
 
All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.
 
 

Episode 13: Just Diggin' Rectangles in the Ground.

This week, Stella explores the conditions of YouTube and how that impacts the true crime and makeup videos from the legendary Brittany Vaughn. Unpacking Vaughn's video on Peter Sutcliffe, Stella explains how the political economies of YouTube shape and effect Vaughn's brilliant content. 
Note: at one point Stella talks about a piano sound effect. It is not a piano! It is a xylophone! 
 
Brittany Vaughn's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BrittneyVaughn 
Bishop, S. (2018). Anxiety, panic and self-optimization: Inequalities and the YouTube algorithm. Convergence, 24(1), 69-84. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856517736978 
 
Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at murdermedia81@gmail.com, or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/
 
 
Music:
 
Cybertruck by Mood Maze
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck
License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9
 
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert
License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK
 
All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.
 
 

Episode 12: Crybaby Nerd

The Murder Media podcast is back! After a break for teaching and then Xmas, NYE, and marking, Stella is back to update on the book proposal progress, and to get cracking on some more overthinking and analysing true crime media. 
This week, Stella looks at two media texts that tell the story of the Unabomber: the 2017 series from Discovery, Manhunt: Unabomber, and the 2021 film, Ted K. 
Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies: https://miskatonicinstitute.com/events/if-looks-could-kill-the-spectacle-of-murder-in-contemporary-crime-media-london/ 
Dracula Returns to Derby
https://www.derby.ac.uk/news/2024/dracula-returns-to-derby/ 
The Murder Media Symposium - murdermedia81@gmail.com 
The Net, the Unabomber, LSD and and the Internet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn9BvNAUvcU&t=3129s 
 
Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at murdermedia81@gmail.com, or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/
 
 
Music:
 
Cybertruck by Mood Maze
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck
License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9
 
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert
License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK
 
All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.
 
 

Episode 11: Time for a cooling off period...

We made it! We made it to the end of the first series of The Murder Media Podcast. Stella has to go off and be a lecturer now, so, the podcast has to take a break. In this episode, Stella takes a look at how the actual book is shaping up, with a little walk through the chapters, some more of the case studies, and a sneaky look at what else is to come in The Murder Media Project. 
Thank you to everyone who has listened, liked, shared, and thank you to all of my brilliant guests. 
The Murder Media Podcast will be back..... this is just a cooling off period...
 
Sources used in this episode: 
Lotz, A.D. (2014). The Television will be Revolutionized. New York University Press
Nowell, R. (2011). Blood Money: a history of the first teen slasher film cycle. Continuum. 
Sharma, S. (2016). 'Netflix and the Documentary Boom,' in McDonald, K,. & Smith-Rowsey, D. (Eds). The Netflix Effect: Technology and Entertainment in the 21st Century. Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 143-155
 
Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at murdermedia81@gmail.com, or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/
 
 
Music:
 
Cybertruck by Mood Maze
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck
License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9
 
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert
License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK
 
All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.
 
 

Episode 10: Chatting with Dr Tom Watson about the West Memphis Three and the Paradise Lost trilogy.

This week Stella has a good long chat with Dr Tom Watson about a case that they both remember and both know in lots of detail: The West Memphis Three and their fight to get out of prison after being wrongly convicted of murder. Joe Berlinger's Paradise Lost trilogy of films is unpacked, alongside chats about the case and the heavy metal community, true crime documentary more generally, and Tom's weird connection between haircuts and true crime. 
 
Sources: 
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (Berlinger, 1996) 
Note: For UK listeners the three Paradise Lost films are currently on NowTV. 
 
Bien-Kahn, J. (2022). 'The Man Behind Netflix's Jeffrey Dahmer Docuseries is a True Crime Hit Factory,' Bloomberg, October 20,https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-10-20/the-man-behind-netflix-s-jeffrey-dahmer-docuseries-is-a-true-crime-hit-factory?leadSource=uverify%20wall&embedded-checkout=true 
Echols, D. (2012). Life After Death: Eighteen Years on Death Row. Blue Rider Press. 
Watson, T. J. (2013). 'Rethinking History through Documentary: Paradise Lost and the documented case of The West Memphis Three,' in Mee, L,. & Walker, J. (Eds). Cinema, Television and History, New Approaches, pp. 200-222. Cambridge Scholars Publishing
 
Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at murdermedia81@gmail.com, or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/
 
 
Music:
 
Cybertruck by Mood Maze
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck
License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9
 
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert
License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK
 
All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.
 
 
 

Episode 9: True Crime and Ghosthunting: "It was JOHN!"

This week, Stella visits one of her fabourite YouTubers, Glam & Gore, and explores a video from the 2019 Halloween series where Mykie and friends stayed at various reportedly haunted locations. Merging historical true crime and ghosthunting, this YouTube video might just finally solved the 130 year old case of the Borden murders. Examining media crossovers of true crime, ghost hunting and the conventions of YouTube, this episode explores old and new media, the digital and the analogue, and their application to this very contemporary mode of true crime content. 
 
Glam & Gore video: 'Ghost told us who did the Lizzie Borden Murders' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_MbWnZHCmk&t=1404s
 
Glam & Gore video: 'I talked to a ghost at the haunted Chateau Marmont?' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP3QS-HciKo 
 
Glam & Gore video: 'I can't explain what happened in Salem.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDzJkcUyVGk 
 
Sources: 
Koven, M. J. (2007). 'Most Haunted and the convergence of traditional belief and popular television,' in Folklore, vol 118(2), pp. 183-202 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00155870701337403 
 
Reed, W. (2017, October 30). Ghost Hunting in the 21st Century: Science or Science Fiction? Sciencebuffs.org https://sciencebuffs.org/2017/10/30/ghost-hunting-in-the-twenty-first-century-science-or-science-fiction/ 
Sconce, J. (2000). Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television. Duke University Press
 
Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at murdermedia81@gmail.com, or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/
 
Music:
 
Cybertruck by Mood Maze
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck
License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9
 
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert
License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK
 
All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.
 

Episode 8: Murder Media Comics: Bleeding off the page.

This week Stella tackles true crime comics: graphic novels that tell tales of murder. First looking at Maids by Katie Skelly, the story of the Papin sisters and their brutal murder of their employers; then The Butcher of Paris written by Stephanie Phillips, which tells the unbelievable story of serial killer Marcel Petiot, a monstrous man who used the desperation of those fleeing Nazi occupied France to his advantage. And finally, Becoming Unbecoming by Una, a heartbreaking, poignant yet sadly recognisible to many, story of growing up in the shadow of the Yorkshire Ripper. 
 
Sources used in this episode: 
Hutcheon, L. (2006). A Theory of Adaptation. Taylor & Francie Group
McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding Comics. Harper Collins
Mee, L. (2022). Reanimated: The Contemporary American Horror Remake. Edinburgh University Press
 
Do check out And Now The Podcast Starts! Join Dan, Stella, Ian, and Kirsty as they chat about all things horror. You can find the podcast in all the usual places. 
 
Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at murdermedia81@gmail.com, or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/
 
If you would like PDFs of the images / panels I talk about, drop me an email or give me a nudge on Instagram of Facebook. 
 
 
Music:
 
Cybertruck by Mood Maze
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck
License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9
 
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert
License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK
 
All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.
 

Episode 7: True Crime and Comedy: ‘Do we need that many dicks?’

This week, Stella chats about two of her favourite podcasts: All Killa No Filla and The Last Podcast on the Left, and picking up from episode 5, their approaches to the Jeffrey Dahmer story. Told via the skills of stand up comedians, observational and sketch comedy, and improvisation, these podcasts re-present this well-worn story with a dark wit, woven into meticulous research. Episode 7 takes the fundamentals of how true crime is understood to deal with grisly details and subversive characters, yet at the same time, uphold law and order. What happens then, when these fundamentals collide with comedy?
 
Sources:
 
Gaynor, S. M. (2023). ‘Bones are life!’ True crime podcasting, self-promotion and the vernaculars of Instragram with Cult Liter, in, Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture, vol 22(1), pp. 1-16 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15405702.2023.2281581
 
Sherrill, L. A. (2020). The Serial Effect and the True Crime podcast ecosystem, in Journalism Practice, vol 16(7), pp. 1473-1494 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17512786.2020.1852884
 
The Last Podcast on the Left – Episodes 122, 123, and 124 cover Jeffrey Dahmer.
 
All Kille No Filla – Episode 10, Jeffrey Dahmer. This is a very early episode of All Killa, and the audio quality is a little muffled.  
 
Both podcasts are available via iTunes and Spotify.
 
Follow The Murder Media Project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or email directly at murdermedia81@gmail.com, or visit the website https://murdermedia81.wordpress.com/
 
 
Music:
 
Cybertruck by Mood Maze
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/cybertruck
License code: 2F2G6DAKEWYFVVC9
 
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/neon-desert
License code: VYEEJAZCIFRKWWPK
All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK) and Fair Use (US Law). No copyright infringement intended.