If you grew up in a religious home, you may have grown up learning to fear horror movies. Maybe not fearing the actual movie but fearing getting caught by one of your parents. Is it wrong for people of faith to watch, let alone enjoy, horror movies? For some, a knee-jerk reaction is “Absolutely not!” and for them, it is probably best that they should abstain from the creepy fare. But for the rest of us, what value do horror movies provide for Christians? Finding that value is one of the goals of the series that has been produced with a partnership with Christianity Today and Fuller Seminary.
Be Afraid (not to be confused with the similar sounding Be Afraid Horror Podcast) is hosted by Dr. Kutter Callaway. He isn’t what you would call a rabid fan of horror, but he has grown an appreciation of such films over the years. Callaway holds two PhDs (one in theology and one in psychological science) from Fuller Seminary and often speaks on the topic of theology and culture.
Callaway has written and co-written a number of books on the topics of marriage, psychology and counseling, atheism, music, TV and even books for children, but this deep dive into scary films is fairly new to him. Or at least it was as the first season of the series debuted last year. Now, just in time for the 2024 Halloween season, Be Afraid is presenting new bonus episodes.
“For someone like me who loves chatting it up, one of the best things of hosting a podcast is getting the chance to sit down with some really great people and engaging in wide ranging conversations about all sorts of topics,” says Callaway during the opening of the first bonus episode. “As in interviewer though, I’m sometimes a little bit like Dug the Dog from the Pixar movie Up who constantly gets distracted by squirrels. I always have the best intentions of staying on topic, but sometimes my guests bring up such interesting ideas, I can’t help but to let the conversation meander a bit.”
Related: Theologian Kutter Callaway Tells People of Faith Not to Fear Horror Movies. Here’s Why
During the making of the first season of the show, Callaway filmed his interviews with a number of special guests. Now, those interviews can be heard in their entirety in podcast form or watched on YouTube. The first is an interview with Tony Hale who discusses what things scare him and some of the scary things found in Disney movies. The second is with Mack Brandt who starred in shows like Lovecraft Country and appears in the new Joker: Folie a Deux movie as an Arkham Asylum guard.
If this podcast hasn’t been on your radar before, you’ll want to check out the 10 regular episodes first before diving into the new stuff. These all have inventive titles like, “What an Excellent Day for an Exorcism” and “We All Go a Little Made Sometimes.” During each episode, Callaway tackles the horror genre of filmmaking. With interviews with filmmakers and theologians, Kutter discusses the pros and cons of watching spooky movies. Regardless of where you stand on the issues, you’ll find that the conversations become quite insightful. You might also enjoy about my interview with Kutter too!
Main Image: Sammy-Sander from Pixabay
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