In a mental asylum it is the administrator who is the maddest of all.

Meet Dr Caligari a man with a talent for hypnotism and who's enemies have a funny habit of winding up dead.

This episode explores the man behind the murder spree, whilst also looking at the introduction of the mad genius archetype within slasher cinema, that would later give rise to Hannibal Lecter.

There is also a discussion on WWI and the ways in which it inspired this film and would play a formative role in the idea space that would later give birth to slasher cinema.

As we enter a world of hypnotism and side shows remember, you never know who may be a mad man's secret murder weapon.

The soot soaked streets of London a mere few decades after the reign of Saucy Jack are bloodied once again this time by a killer with a predilection for blonde women. As darkness falls over London and women have to walk home in pairs wearing wigs to hide their hair colour a man moves into a boarding house and immediately comes under suspicion of being the killer. The man does indeed have a connection to the Killer far more personal than many may realise.

As well as dealing with the life and times of the Avenger today's episode looks at the idea of slashers operating over a much wider radius than we have previously seen, and with a much larger number of victims.

We are also exploring the interplay between true crime and slasher horror and the idea of investigation as a hallmark of the slasher genre.

In today's episode we explore the idea of escaped lunatics as a concept within slasher cinema, you might think of Michael Myers but it started earlier.

We are once again going to go back to the silent film era and look at the 1927 film the Cat and the Canary, a film about a family will reading terrorised by an escaped lunatic called the Cat, who rips his victims apart like they are canaries.

We hope you enjoy.

The Bat is a silent horror film from 1926 directed by Roland West, which shows clear lineage between early horror cinema and the later slasher films we know and love, in the form of masks and hidden identities.

Master criminal or supernatural being? The Bat spills blood committing daring heists in search of unimaginable riches. Join me as we discuss the being known only as The Bat.