Episode recorded: October 8th, 2026 (10/08/2026)
00:00:38 - Podcast starts
00:01:33 - On Scout’s books on Tobe Hooper, John Ford, Anthony Mann, and Christophe Gans
00:11:41 - Researching on Christophe Gans
00:16:53 - Our own French director hyperfixation (and some tangents on Julia Ducournau’s Alpha)
00:24:51 - Tangent about Andrei Tarkovsky’s influence on video games including Silent Hill
00:30:42 - Why did horror storytellers take a lot of inspiration from Tarkovsky?
00:47:15 - Christophe Gans and his deep appreciation for genre cinema and its history
00:57:33 - Jean Cocteau’s influence on Christophe Gans’ cinematic takes on Silent Hill and Beauty and the Beast
01:02:47 - Christophe Gans’s suspicion toward organized religions
01:07:18 - Defending bad or undervalued movies and having contrarian views (how Scout differs from someone like Armond White)
01:15:15 - What could filmmakers today learn from Christophe Gans?
01:18:53 - People finally treating video games like a literature
01:23:00 - What if Christophe Gans made an anime?
01:27:00 - Is Scout working on another book on a different director?
Film critic, filmmaker, and video essayist Scout Tafoya once again joins with Jay to discuss his latest book The Otherworld, which is about French genre director Christophe Gans and his filmography. We also discussed Gans’s influences from Soviet auteur Andrei Tarkovsky, Polish sexploitation filmmaker Walerian Borowczyk, and French cinematic poet Jean Cocteau and each of their own historical context. Scout also explains why the much maligned Return to Silent Hill (2026) meant to him.
Grab yourself a copy of The Otherworld here: https://www.patreon.com/cw/honorszombie/shop
Read Jay’s review of The Otherworld: https://www.patreon.com/ReAnimateTHISPodcast/posts/otherworld-of-by-167609177
Intro music: WANDERLUST (Celest3 mix) by Celest3 - https://celest3.bandcamp.com/track/wanderlust-celest3-mix (CC BY-SA 4.0 - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
Ending music: Arizona Green Tea by Stuffy Doll - https://stuffydollband.bandcamp.com/track/arizona-green-tea (used it with a permission)
Audio Editor: Jay Whang
