Everything became soda just as my stomach decided it can no longer tolerate carbonation.
Darker Jess
@jessicaesquire.bsky.social
Co-founder of @darkertimes.bsky.social. Queer, ex-Mormon, former lawyer. Day job in media. She/her. The Triangle, NC. https://darkertimes.com
I love a hater. One important reason for haters is that some things deserve to be hated. Turns out our suspicion around Sex Purge Movie was merited and Marya has a beautiful takedown.
🏳️🌈 Ms. Marya E. Gates 🦩@oldfilmsflicker.bsky.social · 3h ago"If this is what it takes to get a rom-com greenlit these days, maybe we should just let them die. Death with dignity is surely a better fate for the genre than fascist capitulation." Zero stars for this piece of shit movie. My review of ONE NIGHT ONLY for @ebertvoices.bsky.social
What parent has not been scared to death by a small child suddenly appearing in the night? There has always been a lot of creepy kids in horror and, as this great essay notes, that is probably because kids ARE creepy.
Darker Times@darkertimes.bsky.social · 4h agoWe need to talk about how terrifying parenting is. Like, having to wake up in the middle of the night (peak time for the spooky) to care for them. Only to realize your child may be the spooky thing? @kswalkerwrites.bsky.social writes about this in today's piece: www.darkertimes.com/parenting-a-...
Also both less than 2 hours. Which apparently movies have forgotten how to do. I Want Your Sex is 90 MINUTES?!!! I didn't realize that was still possible?!!
Darker Jess@jessicaesquire.bsky.social · 17h agoI know this is not the popular opinion but the two best movies of the summer are both sex comedies starring Olivia Wilde. Yes I have seen the two other movies.
I know this is not the popular opinion but the two best movies of the summer are both sex comedies starring Olivia Wilde. Yes I have seen the two other movies.
Some post with an awful maga story in it will have 1.5k reposts and I will see 1.4k quote-posts in my feed. I can only handle seeing the same dunk about 683 times before I can't take anymore.
Going to see I Want Your Sex tonight. When 17yo heard I was going to the movies he got all inquisitive about what it was to see if he could go along. Finally I had to say, "It's something you don't want to see with your mother," for both our sakes.
I do think my new single would be a very good audio to use for a tiktok or reel if any of y'all wanna make it go viral
Rachel H@rachelcraves.bsky.social · 3w agoMy band Bangwell Putt's first single is out today! Punk for fans of Winona Fighter, Panic Shack, and XRay Spex That's my butt, yes. bangwellputt.bandcamp.com/track/are-yo... open.spotify.com/track/3D2CTq...
Oo found it, looks like a recent and still vague statement at the end of this interview! www.polygon.com/eli-roth-int... But haven't seen confirmation of the specific vfx firm DarkHalf yet. Not listed on IMDb.(Tho they're associated with Cream Productions, who produced the film.)
Eli Roth reveals how he made the bloodiest thriller of the year:
The trailblazing director breaks down his ultra-gory new horror movie, Ice Cream Man
polygon.com
Darker Jess@jessicaesquire.bsky.social · yesterdayIf anyone has reporting (preferably not in a review) of the use of AI in Eli Roth's Ice Cream Man, I'd love a link, thanks. So far I've just seen speculation on social, would love confirmation.
If anyone has reporting (preferably not in a review) of the use of AI in Eli Roth's Ice Cream Man, I'd love a link, thanks. So far I've just seen speculation on social, would love confirmation.
I am firmly anti-AI, but I can't force other people not to use it. So if they do I tell them you should not use it for anything you can't personally confirm or verify. If what you're asking goes beyond your expertise that isn't a task for AI. You definitely shouldn't ask an expert to do it for you.
Emily M. Bender@emilymbender.bsky.social · yesterdayIn my inbox this morning is a message from someone saying that they "selected me" to provide feedback on their manuscript and then proceeding to describe the ms like this: >>
Anna's first post on SpongeBob was one of the most popular things we've done. Season two is a subscriber exclusive! We want to make as much of our writing free as possible but we need subscriptions to make that happen. Hello support our worker owned site if you can!
Darker Times@darkertimes.bsky.social · yesterdayHoly shrimp! @annarosereads.bsky.social returns to Bikini Bottom for SpongeBob HorrorPants: Electric Boogaloo, Season Two Terrors! The 2nd installment of this series, Anna takes a look at her favorite cartoon and the unique horrors that lurk below the surface. www.darkertimes.com/spongebob-ho...
I think it's finally happened. I'm cancelling my Alamo Drafthouse season pass. I've been a member since their beta test on 2019. I started going to the original when I lived in Austin. But everything about it has gotten So Much Worse this year that I have to call it off.
if you like what we've been publishing at @darkertimes.bsky.social, please help us keep going by subscribing! we are worker-owned, subscriber-funded and trying to cross the financial threshold that will allow us to pay ourselves (and others!) for this work www.darkertimes.com/subscriber-d...
The Summer 2026 Subscriber Drive
Help Darker Times get to 500 paid subscribers by August 14th so we can keep you up to your elbows in frights.
darkertimes.com
Emily C. Hughes@emilyhughes.bsky.social · 2d agokicking off week three of the @darkertimes.bsky.social subscriber drive with this kickass piece from @allyoutthere.bsky.social, which should put to rest any lingering ignorant comments along the lines of "horror for kids isn't scary" or "middle grade is dead" www.darkertimes.com/middle-grade...
This is a really important opinion piece that is very relevant to parents, writers, librarians, teachers, anyone who works in publishing, and anyone who cares about books. Changes in the industry and the push for book bans are threatening the ability of kids to read and discover.
Darker Times@darkertimes.bsky.social · 2d agoIt's week 3 of The Darker Times Subscriber Drive! Reflecting on the state of middle grade horror, @allyoutthere.bsky.social pens an insightful, thought-provoking piece that drives home how crucial horror for young readers is. Read it: www.darkertimes.com/middle-grade...
I am annoyed by the misrepresentation of the debate around opening schools. There was a way to open schools and offices! Invest in air filtration!! No one would do it! Closing the schools was the moderate approach, not the far left one! We did a certain amount of solidarity and then said no more.
Dave Andress@davidandress.bsky.social · 3d agoCovid lockdowns demonstrated, in a deeply imperfect way, the possibility of large-scale social solidarity for a higher cause. That is a prime reason why so many powerful people want us to run screaming away from them into the comforting arms of selfish individualist competition.
I just started Cape Fear and I need someone to tell me whether it: 1) thinks it is good and prestige but is actually bad and dumb 2) is purposely bad and silly and isn't trying to be good and prestige One of these I can tolerate and the other one I can't.
I haven't updated on this in a while. I am basically ok now? I have occasional faint stomach pain but much less than before. Never figured out exactly what it was--no ulcer, possibly gallstones, motility is fine. But I'm now taking a pill that makes me sleepy almost all the time.
Darker Jess@jessicaesquire.bsky.social · 4mo agoMy stomach has been off for around 6 weeks now. I no longer feel hungry or full. Instead I just feel shifting flavors of pain or discomfort that I have to try and translate. It is probably an ulcer but we won't know until I get through a few more appointments. Truly cannot recommend. It sucks.
This is AMAZING news. Apple is a good home for it. Already an episodic series by nature, depending on how you break it up you could get several excellent seasons. The lucky production designer who gets to take this on!!
Colson Whitehead@colsonwhitehead.com · 5d agoAnd the official announcement — variety.com/2026/tv/news...
The fact that "email," "infographic," and "outsource" were born the same year as me makes me sound much younger than I am.
Merriam-Webster@merriam-webster.com · 5d agoFind the 5 words from your birth year that perfectly describe YOUR vibe ⬇️ www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/
On the one hand I'm totally opposed to books written with AI. On the other hand, how the hell is an author supposed to prove they didn't use AI? AI detectors cannot be used to police writing, since they are also AI and do not work! This is bad!
Justina Ireland@justinaireland.com · 5d agoLook, this story is bananas. A whole bunch of people read an AI manuscript and wanted to throw money at it. But the craziest thing here is that PUBLISHERS MARKETPLACE RAN AN AUTHOR’S MANUSCRIPT THROUGH AN AI DETECTOR. Like, WTF are we doing here, guys?
It's just rude that Shudder and AMC+ are two separate platforms and that they don't just put all the horror stuff on Shudder. I should not have to subscribe to AMC+ to watch The Vampire Lestat! It doesn't make sense!
Who cares about Emily Wilson and JCO? We fight on @darkertimes.bsky.social all the time and none of us have been cancelled for it yet.
Darker Times@darkertimes.bsky.social · 6d agoDING! DING! DING! 🔔 The 2nd installment of our Let Them Fight Series is HERE! This time @emilyhughes.bsky.social and @annarosereads.bsky.social tackle Josh Malerman's Incidents Around the House! How do you feel about Incidents? & the upcoming film Other Mommy? www.darkertimes.com/let-them-fig...
I am finally home after a much-too-long journey with unanticipated obstacles and I can't even make an Odyssey joke because I've seen what y'all have done over the last few weeks.
My experience in so much of the witch as symbol tracks back to my own very religious upbringing. She is ugly, withered, evil according to the righteous. But now I see her as a symbol of autonomy and rebellion. So much to dive into!
Darker Times@darkertimes.bsky.social · 7d agoThe witch functions as a lens into our own cultural preoccupations. Reading into the subtle differences between text & subtext in stories of witchcraft illuminates how power, anxiety, & history commingle in art. Read @scumbelievable.bsky.social's essay: www.darkertimes.com/witches-worl...
This is the second time I've had a flight cancelled thanks in part to one of these! My luck!!
Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · last wk.American Airlines flights are grounded nationwide due to an IT outage, an FAA advisory says
I had my fallopian tubes removed for other reasons but it was a very fast and simple outpatient procedure!! This is great news!
Morgan Thompson@morgankthomp.bsky.social · last wk.Woah, this is huge news: most ovarian cancer begins in the fallopian tubes, which can be removed (if patient desires) during other abdominal surgeries. Ovarian cancer has vague symptoms and often isn’t diagnosed until late stage with low survival rates. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/h...