Hemlock Halloween Returns!
After a hiatus last year, Hemlock Halloween returns! Hemlock Halloween is our annual tradition, where we feature horror and mystery audio projects we've worked on. This year, we've decided to not only feature shows we've worked on, but shows we recommend as well. Read on to discover our full list of shows to keep you entertained this Halloween season.
Shows We've Worked On:
Liars & Leeches (Horror Audio Drama and Hemlock Creek Original Series)- Hemlock Creek's first original show, Liars & Leeches is a horror audio drama about grief, terror, and the overwhelming power of both. It follows Tonya Wright after the tragic murders of her sister and brother-in-law in a random act of gun violence. Struggling to travel outside of her home, she now lives constantly on edge about perceived threats that seem to surround her. Retreating to the house her sister and brother-in-law once shared to process her grief, Tonya soon discovers that someone — or something — has followed her there.
Dark Dice (Horror Actual Play)- Dark Dice is the horror actual-play D&D podcast where in each season, travelers embark on a journey into the dark corners of a world brimming with dragons, monsters, and dark gods. They will never be the same again. We've done dialogue editing, mixing, and mastering for multiple seasons of Dark Dice.
The White Vault (Horror Audio Drama)- The White Vault is a horror fiction podcast featuring languages and voices from around the globe. Presented in a found-footage format, the story contains accurate depictions of modern archaeology, rare languages & sounds, and wraps the listener in a tale of isolation horror through a full cast voice team & detailed award-winning soundscape. We did dialogue editing for seasons 4 and 5.
Maxine Miles (Mystery Audio Drama)- Created by Lauren Shippen of Atypical Artists, this YA mystery series will feel very familiar to fans of Nancy Drew. It’s the fall of 1997 in Hastings, New Hampshire and autumn is the time of year this small town shines. Apple cider, pumpkin patches, farmer’s markets...it’s idyllic New England. Picturesque, plaid-filled, and, for fifteen-year-old, Maxine Miles, plodding.Suddenly, Max’s school year starts to look a bit more interesting when a fellow student vanishes. With the help of her misanthropic classmate, Ross, Max starts to look into the disappearance. Her investigation draws her deep into the dark woods around Hastings and even deeper into the secrets and lies that course through the veins of this sleepy town. We did all audio post-production for this show.
Dark Sanctum (Horror Anthology Series)- Dark Sanctum is an award-winning thrilling, chilling audio fright-fest. Original stories about things that go bump in the night, inspired by The Twilight Zone and genre legends like Stephen King, Guillermo del Toro, James Wan, and Mike Flanagan. We did dialogue editing for the first two seasons.
Windy City Nihilism (Horror Actual Play)- It is summer in Chicago and once again protests have taken over the city as the people demand more care and community and less state violence and austerity cuts to public programs. Little do they know, a demon has found itself wanting to stoke chaos and distrust in the city. A rag tag group of local activists try to stop it. We did all audio editing for this show.
Black Women are Scary (Horror Anthology)- Black Women is Scary is a horror anthology series where each episode features a new story and new sound designer, both of whom are black women. It spans the genres of supernatural, folk, and modern horror. We edited all audio for two episodes of this show.
Show We Haven't Worked On, But Would Recommend:
Tales from the Singing Porch (Folk Anthology Series)- While not every episode of Tales from the Singing Porch is horror, "The Salesman" certainly is. It follows a family as a salesman comes to town, offering solutions and protections after something begins killing the towns livestock. The main characters grapple with sacrificing autonomy for the promise of protection in an original fantasy folktale that mirrors the same questions we ask about surveillance in modern times.
The Gospel of Haven (Religious Horror Audio Drama)- The Gospel of Haven is a horror series about a cult living inside the body of the god they worship. When Haven becomes sick and threatens the life of the people living inside, a devout priestess and a closet heretic each set out to uncover the cause of Haven's disease. This show features incredible and unique world building, and draws you in to a fast paced and rapidly decaying world.
Shadows at the Door (Horror Anthology Series)- Shadows at the Door is a horror anthology series written by Mark Nixon. Originally a novel, Mark later converted the book into an immersive audio series. Some episodes retell classic stories, like the Picture of Dorian Gray, while others are completely original fables, written by Mark himself.
Ominous Thrill (Horror Anthology Series)- Ominous Thrill is a horror anthology series created by Jeff Schmidt. Jeff has an extensive history of editing audio for radio and audio fiction, and has now taken the plunge into creating his own series. Mixed with Dolby Atmos (a mixing technique used for movie theaters), this podcast has an incredible level of immersive sound design, making for one creepy listening experience.
Project E.D.E.N. (Horror Audio Drama)- Project E.D.E.N. is an upcoming horror sci-fi audio drama set to release its first episode on Halloween. While the show hasn't been released yet (though their trailer has), we wanted to give them a shout out for the coolest audio drama website we've ever seen. Good luck to them on launch!
If you're looking for horror audio fiction to keep you entertained this season, definitely check out some of these shows, and if you like them, don't hesitate to let the creators know!