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The Fear Archive

The Fear Archive

Written by: Violet Hour Media
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 The Fear Archive investigates the real stories behind horror films. Every episode, hosts Amanda Kagiwada and Michael Ryan Assip dig into the actual cases, killers, hauntings, and conspiracies that Hollywood turned into your favorite scary movies — and ask whether the film or the truth is more disturbing. From Ed Gein and Psycho to the Gainesville Ripper and Scream, from MK-Ultra and The Manchurian Candidate to Faces of Death and the internet gore ecosystem — if a horror film has a real story behind it, the Fear Archive will find it. New episodes every other Wednesday. A Violet Hour Media production. Art True Crime
Episodes
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street vs. The Hmong Sleep Deaths: The True Story Wes Craven Used as Source Material

    A Nightmare on Elm Street vs. The Hmong Sleep Deaths: The True Story Wes Craven Used as Source Material
    Apr 29 2026
    The Fear Archive investigates the Hmong sleep deaths — a series of unexplained nocturnal deaths among Southeast Asian refugees in the early 1980s that Wes Craven has cited as direct source material for A Nightmare on Elm Street. Between 1981 and 1983, healthy young Hmong men living in the United States began dying in their sleep. No warning. No medical explanation. The Los Angeles Times covered the cases. Wes Craven read the coverage and asked: what if the thing killing them was inside their dreams? Tonight Amanda and Mike use the same source material Craven used — the actual 1981 and 1983 articles — to trace the line from real unexplained death to one of the most iconic horror films ever made. Hosted by Amanda Kagiwada and Michael Ryan Assip. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production. LISTENER WARNING: This program includes discussion of real-world violence and other subject matter that may be upsetting for some listeners. Please proceed with caution. Popular Topics Include: A Nightmare on Elm Street true story, Hmong sleep deaths, SUNDS, sudden unexplained nocturnal death syndrome, Wes Craven, Freddy Krueger, Hmong refugees, sleep death horror, true crime horror podcast, Fear Archive, horror podcast, Violet Hour Media, real nightmare deaths Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    59 mins
  • Dead Air | Ep. 02 | Amanda Has A Body In Her Wall

    Dead Air | Ep. 02 | Amanda Has A Body In Her Wall
    Apr 22 2026
    Amanda has a dead rat in her wall and has been marinating in the smell for weeks. Mike has a baby garter snake in his foundation and is convinced mama snake is behind him right now. This is Dead Air — the Fear Archive companion show where nothing stays on topic and everything connects back to true crime anyway. This episode: the rat in the wall becomes a conversation about frogging and things hiding in domestic spaces, which leads to the CERN Large Hadron Collider, Mandela effects, and whether a particle collider in Switzerland is throwing us into new timelines. Then Rex Heuermann pleads guilty to strangling eight women at Gilgo Beach — a case both hosts grew up near on Long Island. Plus The Killing Season documentary, the West Mesa Bone Collector, and Amanda's report from the LA premiere of the new A24 Faces of Death remake. Also: Forbidden Fruits, They Will Kill You, and a very strong pitch for why you should watch Cropsy immediately. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • Faces of Death (1978) vs. Faces of Death (2026): The True Story Behind the Most Notorious Shock Film Ever Made

    Faces of Death (1978) vs. Faces of Death (2026): The True Story Behind the Most Notorious Shock Film Ever Made
    Apr 15 2026
    The Fear Archive investigates Faces of Death — the 1978 shock documentary that was not quite a documentary, not quite fiction, and was deliberately designed to keep you from knowing the difference — and the 2026 remake that asks the harder question: why are you still watching? Faces of Death was released in 1978, directed by John Alan Schwartz under the pseudonym Conan LeCilaire. It presented itself as a documentary about death across cultures. In reality it was a carefully engineered hybrid: some footage real, some staged, all of it designed to manufacture one question — is this real? As long as you were asking, you kept watching. That was the entire mechanism. The 2026 remake, directed by Daniel Goldhaber and Isam Mazhi and starring Barbie Ferreira and Charli XCX, does not try to shock you with death. It makes you watch yourself watching. Which, as Amanda and Mike argue tonight, is the more disturbing film. Hosted by Amanda Kagiwada and Michael Ryan Assip. Executive produced by Cassie Jozefov. A Violet Hour Media production. LISTENER WARNING: This program includes discussion of real-world violence and other subject matter that may be upsetting for some listeners. Please proceed with caution. Popular Topics Include: Faces of Death 1978, Faces of Death 2026, John Alan Schwartz, Mondo films, shock cinema, black humor, morbid curiosity, snuff mythology, Barbie Ferreira, Charli XCX, Daniel Goldhaber, LiveLeak, rotten.com, true crime horror podcast, Fear Archive, horror podcast, Violet Hour Media, why do we look Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 12 mins
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