Welcome to SAW IT FIRST AT ANOMALY, a new series from The Hellscape Literary Society where we revisit films we first discovered at Rochester’s Anomaly Film Festival that went on to make some serious noise.

First up: Huesera: The Bone Woman! Mike and Kenya dig into this creepy, bone-cracking nightmare about motherhood, identity, bodily autonomy, and the expectations society puts on women. Plus, we’re pairing the film with some equally unsettling books that explore similar themes. Because what’s better than body horror with a little literary analysis?

Books mentioned in this episode:

• The Haunting of Alejandra — V. Castro
• The Queen of the Cicadas — V. Castro
• Monstrilio — Gerardo Sámano Córdova
• You Weren’t Meant to Be Human — Andrew Joseph White

Come for the horror, stay for the books and bone cracking fun!

Welcome to the Hellscape Literary Society, where us two friends are navigating the hellscape that we currently live in through the joy of books, movies, and more.

And I am Mike, here with my partner, my co host, Kenya.

Hey, y'.

All.

And Kenya.

I know we had, like, a better line for that, and I totally spaced on it.

I mean, we're all.

We're all good, man.

Yeah.

Thank you.

And of course, we have with us our guide and friend.

Howdy.

Howdy.

How's it going today?

Beautiful fall day in Rochester.

We are.

We are recording in the fall, which I think is the best season to be recording this kind of show.

Oh, yeah.

We're edging into Spooky seasons.

Spooky Season.

And this is, of course, Chris Lindstrom, or as I affectionately know him, Stromi.

Yep.

And, yeah, it's a beautiful day and we're.

I'm excited to talk about some of these movies that I remember seeing, you know, during, you know, during Anomaly and other things.

So I'm excited to see what you guys have to say.

Yeah, exactly.

That's a great, like, intro into what we're doing today.

So if you listen to our early first episode or partnering with Anomaly, if you haven't, go back and check it out on whatever platform, podcast platform you love.

You know, we're really inspired by Anomaly.

Love the movies there.

And one of the things we love about Anomaly the most is that it introduces us to movies that then.

That aren't just great, but then get, like, a lot of buzz and renown on.

So we thought we'd do a little series ahead of this new Anomaly coming this year, where we highlight movies that were at.

That we saw an Anomaly before or we saw before, that'll be a point of discussion.

But that then went on to be something bigger.

So, you know, this is.

We, I think, are dubbing this the.

I saw it first at Anomaly.

I love it because, again, like, one of the things that's great about Anomaly is you can be on the early edge of seeing some movies that everyone's going to be talking about later.

And that's what we're talking about.

Yeah.

And also make sure you go to anomalyfilmfest.com to get your.

Your pass for the entire festival, which is happening from November 11th to the 15th in Rochester, New York, at the historic Little Theater and the Dryden theater.

Go to anomalyfilmfest.com to get your tickets today.

Yes.

So please do that.

You will not be disappointed.

But without further ado, let me.

I'll start Introing the movie and we can break into it from there.

Yeah, yeah.

All right.

All right.

This movie, it actually premiered before that at Tribeca and that director, Garza Silvera won the best narrative director and Nora Ephron award.

Just a really brief synopsis, unless you have one that you want to.

No, go ahead.

Okay.

I'm on the microphone.

This.

I'm on the hook for it.

All right, so this movie is.

It's a Mexican film and it's about this woman, Valeria, who her and her husband have been trying to have a baby.

When she becomes pregnant, kind of the joy with it starts to get spooky as she starts having anxiety about it.

And then really one of my favorite parts of this film that I think was a major Oscar snub is these fantastic sound editing where all these bone crackling things start happening.

Spooky occurrences are happen, happen, happen.

And the process of this pregnancy.

We learn more about Valeria, her past and her differing thoughts with her husband about what that pregnancy is and what it will mean for her.

We get some bruja, some witchcraft involved.

And I won't say much more.

I don't know, do we want to be spoiled?

I mean, we don't have to.

We don't.

I don't know that we have to spoil everything.

Although that is fun for me to talk about.

To talk about the spoilery things.

But I think this movie, you know, they're really happy about the baby and.

And then she starts getting advice and from other people in the family and she starts having a lot of anxiety.

She starts thinking about her life as a mom and a wife.

And then there's this side relationship that she kind of like goes back to.

It starts to put a strain on things.

And for this movie, you know, speaking of like the genre thing.

Right.

So fall.

I think it's supernatural.

Right.

I think there with.

Especially with what you were talking about with the sounds and stuff, it falls into a body horror category for sure.

And then I also think, especially right now, it feels like.

And maybe this is just my algorithms.

There's a lot of mother horror and women horror sort of like is in a.

In a heyday right now.

And I think Hussera definitely fits into some of that.

That maternal fear, parasitic.

Oh, yeah.

Stuff going on.

Sure.

Well, if.

Right.

It fits right in with a lot of the conversation we're having now.

Or we're having now with you know, the systemic loss of bodily control for women.

Even like bleeding Talking point now with like the Cornell 7 and the again the.

That do women have ownership of their own body?

Like that's a really like big point of this movie, you know, on a lighter tone, which feels like a weird way to turn that.

So yell at me for that if so.

But it's also topical now because we were talking about before it's spooky season now.

So it definitely, you know, the body horror is a great part and especially that it's accomplished with sound is great.

So it fits in with a spooky season movie.

But it's also, as I mentioned, it's.

It's a Mexican film.

It's deeply rooted in Mexican folklore and it is Latin Hispanic Heritage Month.

So it's a great film for that.

And one of the things I love.

Anomaly had a special series focused on entirely on Hispanic horror and Hispanic films.

I know, you know, we have several people represent, you know, within Anomaly.

You know, I'm Puerto Rican, so it was really meaningful to me and like was something that man just really touched me that Anomaly took that time to highlight those voices that, you know, don't always get that representation.

And I think that again, this just fits in perfectly and was one of those films that then.

I know it's on shudder now and it's buzzed about afterwards.

So.

Yeah, good.

So do Honor, do we want to dive into books?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Unless there's anything else you want to talk about with the movie and you're trying not to spoil it.

It sounds like.

Well, I don't.

I want to leave things for the book discussion so we could kind of get into there more.

I mean, I think one of the things that the, the.

The ads already spoil this sort of amalgamation of body parts thing that happens in the woods towards the end.

And that's on the poster.

Yes, that's true.

So again, I think leaning heavy into some of the body horror stuff, the supernatural bits.

I think you mentioned the Brujah representation, but she's kind of being haunted and we don't really know what's going on.

Which I think is a segue.

My first book that I chose was the Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro.

Oh, that is on my tbr.

I have it out from the library.

I have not read.

I say that every time you are.

Going to read that as books to people.

We have a forever an unending tbr.

Right.

Absolutely.

This one I have sitting on my stairs with my other library books.

It is there.

So, yes, I want to hear it.

Tell me all about it.

So I won't spoil that one either.

But Alejandra is a new mom, so I think she's recently pregnant.

I don't think she's pregnant in the book, but she might be, but she's definitely a new mom.

Staying at home, and she starts learning about some family secrets, and she goes to therapy.

I love a book where people go to therapy.

But she starts to.

She's also being haunted by La Llorona, which, again, rooted in some Mexican folklore there.

And.

And La Llorona feeds on her despair and has been feeding on the despair intergenerationally in this.

In this book.

And so she is trying to figure out how to break the relationship that La Llorona has with her family.

And again, it feeds.

It has a lot of the maternal.

The guilt stuff, the.

The mom role stuff, the.

All of those kinds of similar themes that come up in Hussera.

Ooh, yeah.

All right.

Well, I've definitely got to read it.

But what you will find interesting is I also have a V. Castro book that I'm connecting, and mine is Queen of the Cicadas.

So is a, you know, brief summary of the book.

It's this woman, Belinda.

She becomes fascinated by the legend of La Reina de las Chicharas, the Queen of the Cockroaches.

That's based.

And the narrative in the book is rooted around the story of Milagros Santos, who's a Mexican migrant farm worker whose death becomes foundation for this supernatural vengeance and reclamation.

So it's a different story.

It's not rooted in.

In the motherhood that Hugh Sarah is.

But there's a connection and kind of why I drew that, as they're both, you know, specific to these.

These Mexican supernatural traditions.

You know, they both kind of are centered around this idea of this monstrous woman in this, like, female transformation that, you know, again, from one end, you can look at, like, oh, they're monstrous.

But it's again, like, she uses this idea, this transformation of this woman to, you know, kind of embody this, like, the.

The rage and resistance against what's kind of controlling her.

And that, like, that transformation becomes something of power rather than just evil.

Also, that both women.

There's a queer women story that I think is a good connection to Hura, too, because that was, I think, one of the things with the film that was Just not her.

I loved the complexity of it, that it wasn't just her, like, in her identity as a woman becoming a mother, but then also, like we mentioned, like, looking back on, you know, we're introduced to this other relationship that she had that comes into the play as well.

And then there's this whole, like, identity of, well, the queer identity and how that fits in.

So I love the Queen of Cicadas kind of touches on that too.

Difference.

Queen of Cicadas has a lot more to do with the racism and colonialism in that story where again, we don't in this one because.

Or the movie because we're more, you know, we're in Mexico.

So a little bit different flavor, but I think you can draw, you know, connections with each.

So I loved that one.

I'm super excited to read Alejandra.

The Haunting of Alejandra.

The Haunting of Alejandra.

Yes.

So I. I will read that soon.

Yeah.

And I will also step in to say the director also has a new movie out on Hulu last year is actually looks like.

Is a remake of the Hand that Rocks the Cradle.

Really?

Oh, goodness.

So it is starring.

Starring Micah Monroe, who was in it.

Follows.

And Long Legs.

Oh, yes.

Then Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Raul Castillo, Martin Starr, Ricky Lindholm.

Like, it's a pretty interesting cast.

Doesn't have great IMDb ratings, but like, I am.

You know, we also saw Hugh Sarah, and that's like a 6.1.

And that's not like, that is a way better movie than that is as a number.

Right.

So I think it'd be kind of interesting to see, like, this is also an English language movie.

Right.

More mainstream.

So I'm kind of interested to see how her sensibilities go into a new direction.

So I'm actually interested to watch that.

Nice.

Because that's on Hulu, so you can watch it.

Yeah, well, like you talked about, like, that the movie was both about the isolation of, you know, of pregnancy and motherhood, but also the like, separation from your entire identity and like, what a.

What a rich thing for books and other things.

That internal monologue and all those other directions you can go in when you're tying these books together.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Well, and I'm glad that you brought that up because I.

The work that I do is often with new parents or birthing people who are about to give.

Give birth and that isolation of pregnancy and having a little baby, you know, who is basically sucking the calcium from your bones, both metaphorically and literally.

And the struggle of Postpartum in particular, feels very.

No one else will understand this.

This is.

This must be only me that's having such a hard time because everybody else looks like they're loving everything about this.

Right.

And I think social media goes into that and big time.

So I think the themes of this movie and the books that we were just talking about are definitely worth spending time thinking about for people.

Yeah, absolutely.

Because also in the best case, it is both tremendous joy, but also loss.

In the best case.

Right.

In the best case, it's tremendous joy, but also you're losing part of who you were for at least a time period.

Right.

You're not.

There is no.

There is no pure joy.

It is.

There is loss.

Absolutely there is.

And it might be temporary, but you are losing for a time period, a whole portion of yourself.

Yep, absolutely.

Yeah.

And that adjustment period can be really.

Can be especially difficult if you don't anticipate that.

Right, right.

For.

For people who are like, no, everything's going to be exactly the same now I just have a baby.

Right, right, right.

And like you said, social media is such a huge part of that, too, and like, mommy culture and all that, because it does, like, presents this.

Like, I just remember when we had our first, you know, with my wife and even like the local mommy groups in Facebook that were kind of sold to, I think, or at least she's looked at them as like, oh, this is a place where I can find community with other kind of moms that are in this.

This same place.

But then found, like, even in meetups and stuff at times there could be some of that, like, oh, we're putting on our best face.

And.

Because I want to look the best.

And then it, like, I mean, maybe, but, like, I think anyone dealing with.

And I say this in a loving way.

I love my children, but they are parasites.

Yeah.

Like, especially for a mother, like, they're literally, like, taking from you.

They are taking from you.

And it's already.

It's a lot.

And then to have, like, that comparison again as a guy and the dad here, like, this is not my place to like, just my observation.

It looked.

Hey, dad, it was tough.

I know this is crazy, but dads are parents, too.

Yeah, we are.

We are.

I just don't ever want it.

Like, I recognize and, you know, I have, like, dad, some Great dad friends.

And we talk about this stuff, but recognize that, like, we're at one level.

And I won't presume to.

Well, I mean, I think know the depth of the other thing.

Right.

That I was mentioning with the advice from Hussera.

And she goes to her.

Her mom and, and, oh, yeah, there's a. I think her sister and she's like, babysitting those kids and something goes bad and then they're like, you're going to be the worst mom that's ever lived.

Right.

And it makes me think about those social media posts where somebody posts something about, you know, they want to do organic food and somebody's like, you can't do organic food.

Or the people that are the nutritionists who are telling women that they shouldn't use formula or, you know, you should be doing this or you can't do that or, you know, all of this sort of stuff that really makes it hard for anybody to feel like they can find community, which is all the more isolating for people.

And, you know, babies don't make it easy on you.

I'm.

I know this will feel terrible, but they don't care.

No, they don't.

You're struggling.

Right.

They're little tiny beings that are just trying to get their needs met.

Right.

And there are certain times of day where that's real, real hard.

And if you don't know that that's part of.

Part of what being a baby is, you know?

Yep.

So the episode of.

It's a lot that I did.

We talked a little bit about some of the, some of the ways that that babies can pull for the anxiety and the unresolved stuff that we all have from growing up with our own parents.

Right.

And so all of that really comes out, I think, in the, in the recommendations that we have for this movie.

Oh, and I like you.

That was a great episode of Itala.

Also one of our fellow shows on the Lunchadore podcast network.

You're right.

Excellent discussion there.

So highly recommend anyone check that out for, I mean, more Kenya, of course, because who wouldn't want more Kenya?

But also just really if that.

That topic.

Again, fantastic discussion.

Discussion.

Emily is great in general and brought a lot to great episode.

Do we have time for one more book or.

Absolutely.

Okay.

Okay.

What's another one that you.

Okay, well, I see that on your pile is Monstrilio, and I'm wondering if you recommended it for this one or for a different movie.

A different one.

Oh, I think my different one is going to be a surprise.

All right.

It's.

It fits.

So I'm very excited to hear that.

So Monstrilio is by Gerardo Simano Cordova.

If I'm not mispronounced, if I'm mispronouncing that, I apologize.

Reimagining.

There's a woman who has a child.

It's actually a couple.

She has a child.

He is very sickly, and he dies.

He's got some sort of respiratory lung condition, and she saves a piece of his lung, and through her love and nurturance, it becomes a creature that grows up into a boy and then a man.

Yep.

And throughout the book, the narrator is really showing us we're getting a lot about mom, about the family, about him from that sort of like, third person.

But then at the end, we have his point of view, just like in the actual Frankenstein.

It's mostly from the doctor's point of view.

And then we get the monster's point of view at the end.

So it's very similar in that way.

And this one, again, has a lot of those themes of loss and grief.

And she is unable to let her son die.

And when she is so overcome with this need for him to return in whatever way he can possibly return, it really shoves a riff in between her and her husband's relationship, and they split up.

And I. I think the other place I read this one for the Genre Snaps Book Club, which is the horror book club that I run.

Little plug there.

And we talked a lot about how she couldn't.

She couldn't let.

She couldn't let him go.

But also her hubris of, like, it wasn't like she couldn't let him go for something about him, it was about her.

Right.

And so thinking about Victor Frankenstein is one of my favorite favoriteists of all the classics, even if it's a little bit boring to read.

But I recommend everybody read it anyways.

And it's short.

It's not very long.

Yeah, it's pretty short.

You can read it.

And I really.

I love an audio because it's epistolary.

It feels.

It reads pretty epistolary, so it's great as an audio, I think that he is such a.

He is in every imagining, he's either trying to prove himself to people or prove himself to himself or become the most.

The smartest, most famous, most respected doctor in the world, whatever.

The thing is, how he creates this creature is really about himself.

And then he wants to abandon the responsibility of that.

Right.

And that is.

Is Monstrilio, but from the maternal angle as well.

Yeah.

And I mean, that connects with Hugh Sarah a lot with.

Talking about that while here, we'll get into the spoiler alerts.

Like, you know, again, she.

It's a lot of this.

It's.

It's pregnancy.

Right.

And she's birthing a life.

But it's, you know, it's through her viewpoint and at the end, like, she realizes, like, I can't be part of this child's life.

Like, I need to separate myself.

Again, a very different, like, reasoning and, you know, a conclusion.

But there's kind of that, you know, for her, I think it's more.

It's hard to say.

Positive because I feel like it's.

It's difficult.

Right.

Like, and it definitely, like, made me think of some of the.

More.

Some movies that have come out recently, like Immaculate, that are kind of sit with a mother, like, recognizing, like, look, I can't.

Just because I was pregnant with this child.

Like, I. I can't.

Right.

And you know, with Frankenstein, it's much more.

It's selfish.

Right.

And you're right in the book.

Like, but it's tough because, oh, man, it's such a good book because it's so complex.

Like, and I love that it has the different narratives from.

From the mother to her friend.

We get kind of that connection too, to the book or the movie with the.

The queer relationship.

That also changes her identity too in like, well, what does this mean?

And then the father, who also has a queer relationship.

That again, so we.

A lot of those ties there.

But then we also hear from Monstrilio and it's just interest.

Like, there's no easy.

Like, you can't just say, like, yes, like, she's operating selfishly, like, through selfish motives.

But, you know, it's written with such complexity and an authenticity.

Right.

That it's like, you know, you have to consider all of them have, like, very valid reasons for the, you know, how the trauma has unfolded their lives.

Absolutely.

And yeah, it's.

Man, that's.

I'm excited to.

I'll save more because I'm talking about it, but with a different movie.

Okay.

Well.

And it's one of my favorite story tropes in general is the what makes a monster, what makes a man kind of thing in this assumption of the monster being a brainless, destructive sort of thing.

And then they have this emotional complexity and this intelligence that nobody expects from them.

Yes.

There is also a theme of consumption that we won't Necessarily flesh and things like that within the book.

That was also really great.

That was a solid horror kind of pick.

Yes.

Love it.

I have.

So the.

My second book, and I brought a copy of it for the Vids is.

And I'm interested because I know we had some discussion.

Yeah, I wrote that one down for this one as a possibility too.

So I chose you Weren't Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White.

And this one, again, it's so.

It's very similar in that it is one of, like, the most strongly graphically body horror books I've ever read.

Interesting.

It's.

It gets icky, but it's also about a pregnancy that is not necessarily wanted.

So in this case, a very different story.

So this is.

Stars Crane, who is an autistic trans man, but still.

But becomes pregnant kind.

I mean, against his will.

Right.

Like in an abusive relationship.

I would.

So a little bit different than the movie because, you know, Valyria in the movie, like, she.

She's willing with her husband.

Crane is not in a healthy relationship.

He's not in a healthy relationship, but it is a. I mean, it is a relationship.

Right.

There is a power differential, but he feels like he's making choices about what he's doing.

And he's left home and has been picked up by this group of people who it turns out to be not a good group of people.

The person that he's with is not a good person.

He's a brutal killer for the group of people.

Right.

And there's a whole hive situation going on.

And the word parasite is a perfect, perfect kind of tie in for that book.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

And I mean, the big thing that separates it too, is that again, Crane is a.

Is a trans man.

And the hole in the book where it's different, but I think is really powerful with the book is that as a trans man, like, the pregnancy really, like, punches in the face of, like, his entire identity.

And the book is just.

But, you know, again, with the body horror and other things, you're right.

It's an uncomfortable book to read and it really, like, digs into that.

But I think similarly, Crane and Valeria dealing with, you know, what is my identity and what does this pregnancy do to my identity and who I am?

Again, from very different angles and background, but it's still like, very strong similarities in that, like, you know, that exploration of autonomy and identity and.

Absolutely.

All that.

Just again.

And if you like body horror, this is.

It's.

It's got a lot.

Yes.

And Crane goes through great lengths to separate himself from who he used to be and his.

His family of origin and all of those kind of things.

And some of these things just keep popping back up.

Very much.

Very much so.

Yeah.

Those are my two.

You got two, I think.

Yeah, that's good.

All right, cool.

Well, I like who, and I'm so excited to read the Haunting of Alejandra.

I'm excited to talk about Monstrilio with one of our other movies.

So this has been fun.

Put in the plugs for the show and where people can find on Instagram.

Yes.

So we are the Hellscape Literary Society.

And.

And we actually do have an Instagram account for it.

We said we weren't going to have an Instagram account.

I made one anyway because that is just how I roll.

So we do have an Instagram account for the podcast, but also each of us have an Instagram account.

I am at.

Reviews may vary on all platforms.

Yes.

And I am at Pages from the shadows with dots between.

So pages.com from the shadows.

I'm Mike and Kenny.

Why don't you give them the handle for our podcast page?

Yeah.

It is the Hellscape Literary Society.

Easy peasy.

Yeah.

Look it up.

So, yeah, find us on there.

Either the show or us individually.

Yeah, we'd love to hear from you.

We want your thoughts on this movie, what you would connect to it also if you saw it in Anomaly or somewhere else.

Yeah.

And drop your.

When you comment, drop your favorite body horror recommendations across media.

O, I like that.

That's going into the notes.

Absolutely.

Okay.

This has been a presentation of the Lunchor Podcast Network.