328: The Birds, with Ross Bryant

We’re back and we’re watching the skies. You never know when some gannet might decide to kamikaze its way into your skull, or a mob of hawks take exception to your woodwork and peck it to splinters. We’ve decided to turn to two experts for advice, but their approaches don’t really mesh. Daphne du Maurier would have us hunker down and wait for the inevitable, while Alfred Hitchcock favours stalking your love interest, barely even addressing the avian threat. We’re beginning to think these so-called experts are for the birds.

Main Topic: The Birds

The Birds is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best-loved films, and one of his few forays into outright horror. It was also one of three features that he directed based on stories by Daphne du Maurier. But just how much does the film resemble du Maurier’s story? And which version provides better inspiration for Call of Cthulhu?

Our Guest Host

We are delighted to welcome Ross Bryant back as our guest host for this episode. You may know Ross from The Improvised Shakespeare Company, Dropout TV, The Glass Cannon Network, or the many Call of Cthulhu games he and Scott have played together on Ain’t Slayed Nobody.

Most recently, Ross has launched his own podcast, called Push the Roll With Ross Bryant, where he runs fully improvised games of Call of Cthulhu, based on listener suggestions, for various friends from the worlds of comedy, improv, and tabletop gaming. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts

Links

Things we mention in this episode include:

• Daphne du Maurier
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• Rebecca (1940)
• Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
• Jamaica Inn (1939)
• The Infernal World Of Branwell Bronte by Daphne du Maurier
• “Don’t Look Now” by Daphne du Maurier
• Don’t Look Now (1973)
• Wreckers
• Evan Hunter
• 87th Precinct
• Audition by Ryu Murakami
• Audition (1999)

Daphne du Maurier

• Psycho (1960)
• Psycho by Robert Bloch
• Big Little Lies
• The Birds by Frank Baker
• The Terror by Arthur Machen
• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
• Indian ringneck
• Passenger pigeons
• The Blitz
• World War Cthulhu: London
• The Phoney War
• The Happening (2008)
• John Wyndham
• The Death of Grass by John Christopher

• The Rats by James Herbert
• Slugs by Shaun Hutson
• Crabs series by Guy N Smith
• Doomwatch
• Long Weekend (1978)
• Phase IV (1974)
• Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2008)
• Sharknado (2013)
• When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs
• High Anxiety (1977)
• “A Streetcar Named Marge” from The Simpsons
• Herschell Gordon Lewis
• Savage by Richard Laymon
• Mulholland Drive (2001)

News

Christmas Ghost Story Reading

Our good friend Mike Perceval-Maxwell of Mr Spike’s Bedtime Stories is once again organising our annual Christmas ghost story reading. This year, we are presenting “The Great God Pan” by Arthur Machen, with an exciting cast of guest readers.

The readings will take place on The Good Friends of Jackson Elias Discord server over four nights, between the 15th and 18th of December inclusive. Each reading will start at 22:30 GMT and last for 30-40 minutes.

As per previous years, we are recording these readings and releasing them on the Good Friends’ podcast feed. The first part will be going out just after this episode.

You can find our previous Christmas ghost stories below.

• “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
• “The Canterville Ghost” by Oscar Wilde
• “The Viy” by Nikolai Gogol
• “Told After Supper” by Jerome K Jerome
• “The Searcher of the End House” and “The Horse of the Invisible” by William Hope Hodgson

Blasphemous Tome Issue 14

Issue 14 of The Blasphemous Tome will be going out in early January of 2026. This bumper issue includes two new scenarios by Matt and Scott, presenting loose conceptual sequels to “A Social Responsibility” and “Blackwater Creek”.

Anyone backing us at the $5 level or higher at the end of December will receive a print copy of the Tome, signed by our own gnarled hands. Backers at the $3 level will receive a voucher for a heavily discounted print-on-demand copy, and every backer will receive the PDF.