Sitting in the Dark

Welcome to another month in the Dark! This time we’re taking on those head-turning, wall-clinging, priest-punching pests, DEMONS and the poor saps they possess!

What business do we have doing all this? Well, some, but we level up this month with a few very special guests. Lester Ryan Clark is actor, writer, and teacher of everything, and Kynan Dias is a filmmaker and assistant professor in film at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and  and together they host The Exorcist Minute right here — and brand new — on TruStory FM, covering, as they say, the scariest movie of all time, minute by terrifying minute.

We talk about Poltergeist 2, Krampus, Hereditary, The Exorcist 3, The Rite, and The Exorcist. As usual, we put together a list of the films (and a few bonus films, for this month’s curriculum posted on our Letterboxd account right here. Clone the list and get to watching!

Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world on The Next Reel’s Discord channel!
  • (00:00) - Welcome to Sitting in the Dark
  • (02:08) - The Films of Demonic Possession
  • (03:59) - What is a "Demon"
  • (06:51) - Letterboxd List in the Show Notes!
  • (07:27) - What Constitutes a Demon Movie?
  • (15:05) - Poltergeist II
  • (27:47) - Krampus
  • (39:24) - Hereditary
  • (48:45) - The Exorcist III
  • (58:43) - The Rite
  • (01:06:31) - Check out The Exorcist Minute!
  • (01:08:26) - Coming Attractions

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What is Sitting in the Dark?

Sitting in the Dark is a podcast about horror, but not the kind that hides in a single shadow. Each month, hosts Tommy Metz III, Kynan Dias, and Pete Wright pick a theme — an idea, a trope, a nightmare that keeps winding back — and explore it through three films that share its DNA. Sometimes the connections are obvious, sometimes they’re unexpected, and sometimes they lead you deeper into the maze than you expected to go.

One month might bring The Drac Pack, three wildly different takes on cinema’s most famous vampire. Another, a journey through The Bride, the Boy, and the Firetruck, unpacking coded queer horror across decades. We’ve explored maternal terror in Mommy Acts This Way Because She Loves You, broken into the home-invasion subgenre, tiptoed through haunted houses, and stared down both classic monsters and blockbuster franchises.

What ties it all together is a love of horror as a labyrinth — a twisting path where every turn reveals something new about our fears, desires, and cultural obsessions. With smart conversation, dark humor, and a willingness to look behind the curtain (or under the bed), Sitting in the Dark invites you to settle in, turn down the lights, and find out what connects the nightmares.