Today marks the beginning of October, thus the beginning of spooky season and the countdown to Halloween. It is the grand season for horror fans, candy obsessed children (and adults admittedly), and lovers of all things a bit darker, a bit more macabre, a bit scarier. From movies to television to stories to music, art during this season tends to lean a little bit more toward the spooky, and I love it. Seriously, horror is one of the few genres that consistently evolves, takes risk, launches careers, fosters a passionate fanbase, and can deliver stellar storytelling while tackling relevant social issues in an entertaining manner. So, in honor of the genre, this month will focus on horror media of all types starting with this review, and recommendation, of the recently released horror podcast story Mordeo.

Mordeo is a horror podcast from Crypt TV in conjunction with Blumhouse productions and iHeartMedia sound produced by Wolf At The Door. In short, there are a lot of established heavy hitters that helped make this podcase story happen. Though to be honest, that is not very surprising. As media, and audience attention, continues to be diversified and divided, studios are doing whatever they can to carve out their section of the constantly shifting pie. Normally, such actions would irritate me, but both Crypt TV and Blumhouse have a history of creating incredible horror works within various financial and production constraints. And iHeartMedia is simply acting as an established channel to release this particular medium, so, as expected, this horror podcast is pretty damn good on all fronts.

Mordeo is horror narrative based on Crypt TV’s original Mordeo series which is heavily based on the Wendigo folklore of the First Nations around the Great Plains regions of United States, the Great Lakes regions of the US and Canada, and the East Coast forests of Canada. While watching the original work is not necessary to understand or appreciate this podcast, I would highly recommend checking out Crypt TV’s YouTube channel. It is rather impressive with the original monster creations, interconnecting mythos, sound and atmospheric design, and all done in short bursts on an obvious limited budget. This podcast does expand a bit on the mythology from the original video series, but again not necessary to have that background to listen to this.

The story of Mordeo focuses on Isaiah Williams (voiced by J. Alphonse Nicholson) the lone survivor from a brothers’ camping trip suffering from, seemingly, PTSD after the events that transpired in the woods. Throughout the ten half hour to forty minute episodes, the mystery of that night unravels and expands into a supernatural world and war between two factions with their own intentions for the mind, body, and soul of Isaiah and, by association, his family; his widowed sister in law Ashley (voiced by Ashley Platz) and his niece Joslyn (voiced by Olivia Lott). It is a relatively short production that you could, if so desired, finish off in a long afternoon and well worth the time. Every aspect of this production is performed with intent, care, and legitimate effort. The pacing, writing, acting, sound design, and all other production aspects are expertly done.

It appears that this is simply one of many podcast productions Blumhouse has in the works, and I look forward to see what they and Crypt TV make in the coming years. Once again, highly recommend giving this podcast a listen. It’s the perfect way to start off this Halloween season.