‘Lace up your hiking boots and pick a bunk…’
It’s weird how a tentative step in one direction can lead to a full tumble down a pop culture rabbit hole. This particular journey starts with Judd Apatow. I fell in love with Apatow and his work after The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. After following his career over a decade or so, I discovered his excellent Netflix comedy Love. That show was my introduction to Paul Rust – a comedy writer and actor who you just know has a bunch of old Weezer records in his garage and a collection of Star Wars posters with fraying edges. Through Rust I heard about In Vorhees We Trust, the podcast that he co-hosts with Matt Gourley – himself a comedy writer and podcaster.
The concept is simple. Superfans Gourley and Rust dissect each Friday the 13th movie, devoting roughly two and a half hours to each movie (much longer than the running time of the movies themselves) on an improvisational adventure into the bowels of Camp Crystal Lake.
These are deep dives for sure but they aren’t inaccessible. The hosts have a knack for making the listener feel like they are sat in a bar with Gourley and Rust, rather than listening through headphones and this is vital for the geekier moments (I imagine. As a massive Friday the 13th fan myself, I love all of it).
The two have a relationship that is so adorable that the whole podcast feels like a meet cute but Jason is always shambling around in the background keeping the whole thing grounded. The feeling is that given free reign to cover any topic, these two crazies would just keep talking until one of them died.
In Vorhees We Trust works as either a great companion to the Friday the 13th movies or as the perfect introduction to them. The fact that either is applicable is a testament to just how fun and enjoyable this podcast is. Essential for horror fans but recommended for everyone else too.