TALES FROM BEYOND THE PALE Season 6 Teaser: “The Host”
Writer and Score, Glenn McQuaid; Director, Larry Fessenden
(Released 30 October 2025)
Tommy and Gene uncover more than they bargain for when strolling through a graveyard at midnight.
Cast: Jaxon Bartok and Leon Barrett, Tales Theme by Jeff Grace, Poster by Brian Level

THE SLAUGHTERED
Written and directed by Joe Maggio.
(December 11, 2025: 36 mins)
A wealthy, “do-gooder” investor is caught unawares by the savage reverberations of a single act of moral duplicity.

Cast: James Le Gros, Alex Hurt, Emily Bennett, Eleanor Hutchins, Imani-Jade-Powers, Monica Wyche, Jordan Gass-Pooré and Matt Rocker.
Score by Dave Eggar. 
Poster by Tevor Denham.

ORPHEUS
Writer, Director Jenn Wexler
(December 11, 2025: 36 mins)
A recently widowed woman uses a new AI technology to talk to her dead husband.
Cast: Emily Bennett, Jeremy Holm, Abi Lieff, Estelle Olivia, Gaby Leyner, Glenn McQuaid, Matt Rocker, Rigo Garay, Larry Fessenden, John Speredakos
Sound Recording, Design and Mix by Matt Rocker at Underground Audio, NYC
Associate Producer: Sean Redlitz; Score by Antoni Maiovvi
“Waiting” written and performed by Shayfer James
Poster by Brian Level

THE NEXT VOICE YOU HEAR WILL BE YOUR OWN
Written and directed by Emily Bennett
(January 08, 2026; 46 mins)
After a week-long bender in Las Vegas, a group of road-tripping friends stumble upon a pay phone in the middle of the desert that allows them to talk to their future selves.
Cast: Madeleine Morrell, Nick Fondulis, Samuel Dunning, Rigo Garay, Larry Fessenden and Emily Bennett.
Sound design and mix by Shawn Duffy
Original score by Graham Reznick.
Additional music by Epidemic Sound.
Poster by Trevor Denham

SUPER!
Written and directed by Rigo Garay
(February 12, 2026; 37 mins)
A New York City building Superintendent encounters a Super Gator on the night of the Super Bowl.
Cast: Bill Sage, Rigo Garay, Lorraine Farris, Kareem Savinon, Dante Fiallo, David Cardoza, Romanichel, Jessalyn Abbott.
Original score by Jack Fessenden.
Sound design and additional music by Matt Rocker
Poster by Brian Level.

EVERYTHING MUST GO
Written and Directed by Ted Geoghegan
(March 12, 2026; 30 mins)
A group of teens get more than they bargained for when hired to break into a shopping mall that’s swallowing a small town’s economy.
Cast: Chloë Levine, Clay Von Carlowitz, Benjamin Frankenberg, Xero Gravity, Asta Paredes, and Joe Bob Briggs
Original score composed by Luke Fuller
Sound recording, design, and mix by Matt Rocker
Poster artwork by Jason Beam

THE DEVIL’S SHARE
Written, directed and edited by Roxanne Benjamin
(April 09, 2026; 41 mins)
An investigation into the strange goings-on in a rust-belt factory town quickly goes south.
Cast: Zach Gilford, Liana Liberato, Jonah Ray Rodriguez, Larry Fessenden, Jon Daly, Matt Peters, Susan Burke, Kate Freund, Rigo Garay, Evan L. Katz, and Owen Granich-Young.
Sound Design and Mix, Owen Granich-Young
Score by The Gifted
Poster Art: Brian Level

Roxanne Benjamin on “The Devil’s Share”

Apr 13, 2026

With Susan Burke in the booth.

Musings on The Devil’s Share

Having started in the theater before moving to film, my directing experience has always involved the visual medium. Even my prior experiences with the Tales series was onstage at film festivals, when Glenn or Larry needed an extra voice for a role.  So when they asked if I’d be interested in writing or directing on this new season, I was eager to have the opportunity (and the challenge!) of creating a horror tale that was completely audio-based.

I remember watching horror movies in the theater as a kid and knowing to hide when the subs hit your chest and the strings kicked in. Working in the horror genre, sound design and score has always been my favorite part of the process – the moment when everything you’ve done up until that point starts to really come together and the elements of fear are built. I’ve worked with my sound designer Owen Granich-Young and composers The Gifted on almost every single project I’ve ever done, they’re definitely my ride-or-dies and always down to experiment and dig in creatively.  I tried to think of an idea for a tale that would lean into sound as the entity of evil for them to play around with – and also thought of how we consume tales these days.

Liana telling Zach what’s what.

I come from a very rural rustbelt town, where tales told about the town itself down through the generations is a common occurrence – a shared communal history.  The sound of where I grew up – that Appalachia feel – is also something I really wanted to bring out in the story – growing up in that area it has a very distinct audio element in my mind – creaking trees, work boots on wooden floorboards, cicadas and a suffocating humidity – and that small town been-here-for-generations-everybody-knows-everybody closeness that can also be suffocating in its own right. That got me thinking – what if that small town ‘putting down roots’ charm wasn’t about not wanting to leave – but not being able to?  Being stuck in generational patterns and shared history.  Hence were the seeds of ‘The Devil’s Share’ born.

Zach me and Liana with our best school picture day smiles.

I’m lucky to work with so many talented folks who genuinely enjoy what they do. What I love about Zach Gilford is all you have to say is I got this idea or role I’m thinking you’d be good for and he immediately responds with ‘I’m down’ before you even tell him what it is. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s one my favorite actors both to watch and to work with.  I also have my own roots in the comedy community here in LA outside of the horror community – we’ve all ended up working on each other’s projects in different roles over the years -hence why so many comedy folks end up popping up in my work.  You’ll hear some of my ‘regulars’ like Susan Burke, Jonah Ray and Matt Peters along with comedian and Fallout Fake Talk Show host Jon Daly, and a newcomer (for me!) whose work I’ve long admired  – Liana Liberato – who is absolutely phenomenal as Taylor and has the best cackle you’ve ever heard.

And of course, writer/directors are not spared their turn at the mic – Kate Freund, Evan Katz as ‘Drunk Hank’ and the imitable Larry himself join the cast.  I could go on at length about how much we all enjoyed this process (and the ability to just do as many takes as we want and try new things without the ‘burden’ of physical production) but I feel I’ve rambled on enough and I could go on singing all the cast and crew’s praises for pages –I’ll just leave you with I hope you enjoy listening to The Devil’s Share as much as all of us enjoyed making it together. All photos probably by Jen Yamato at Monkeyland Audio.

Apparently this is what directing looks like.

Ted Geoghegan on “Everything Must Go”

Mar 13, 2026

Benjamin Frankenberg, Clay Von Carlowitz, Joe Bob Briggs, Fessenden, Geoghegan, Asta Paredes.

When I made We Are Still Here way back in 2014, I realized that the chances of me ever directing anything set in the present were slim-to-none. Two films and one audio drama later, it’s remained very, very true. To be fair, I just don’t care for the present.

Nostalgia? Now that’s where it’s at.

I was born in the 70s, grew up in the 80s, and came of age in the 90s. When folks complain of Stranger Things’ abuse of “nostalgia porn”, I roll my eyes. The past may not have been perfect (Spoiler Alert: IT WASN’T), but I can’t deny missing the carefree years of my youth. Any excuse I have to creep out of the present, I’m going to take it.

That said, I was a mallrat before Kevin Smith claimed the word. I grew up going to the massive, labyrinthine Holiday Village Mall in Great Falls, Montana at least once a week throughout all of the 1980s. My father would pick me up from school and take me there every Friday, where we’d get cheese dogs and Orange Juiliuses (Julili?). After lunch, we’d spend an hour in Aladdin’s Castle Arcade, pouring quarters into Galaga and Gauntlet until my fingers ached.

When tasked with writing a Tale, I knew I wanted it to occur at the mall that now exists solely in my mind. The story, which occurs in the same fictional Lovecraftian town that We Are Still Here was set, wasn’t intended as a spiritual sequel, but a spiritual sibling.

Audio-only storytelling is a blessing to someone like myself, who is used to working in film, but I quickly realized that if sound was all I had, my voice actors had to be top tier. Landing the performances I wanted while working with close pals was a gift, and reminded me of a motto by old friend David Lawson: “Make movies with friends.” The results are amazing.

I’d been close friends with Clay von Carlowitz and Asta Paredes for over a decade and alway wanted to work with them. Benjamin Frankenberg, who I’d become buddies with a few years back, was in the same boat. I’d seen Chloe Levine in The Ranger and knew Xero Gravity from her amazing, next-level horror journalism work. Of course I wanted to have them at the mall-party.

The role of Poppa Jim was one we’d tried to crack for weeks and when someone on the team brought up Joe Bob Briggs, I leapt at the idea. I was watching him on late night television at the very same time I was loitering at the mall, and the connection felt too honest to pass up.

Everything Must Go was the single finest experience of my directorial career. Without the weight of the screen, we got to just have fun. Every take, every note… it all just felt nice.

I hope everyone tuning in to Everything Must Go finds a way to slide back to a simpler time. The 80s were special to many of us, but were also a dumpster fire. Including Reagan in my episode wasn’t just about setting a time, but about acknowledging someone from the era who, well… sucked.

Nostalgia is a powerful beast, and allows us to see the best in everything. I’m grateful to have harnessed it for my Tale, and I hope it warms your black little hearts as much as it did mine.

Ted Geoghegan
March, 2026

Chloë Levine, Benjamin Frankenberg, Xero Gravity, Ted Geoghegan, Clay Von Carlowitz, Asta Paredes

Rigo Garay on “SUPER!”

Feb 13, 2026

Bill Sage and Garay

As a kid, I was fascinated by the urban legend of alligators in the NYC sewer. I looked into the myth, discovering testimonies of people spotting the reptiles in ponds. I even read a story about a guy who flushed an alligator he got at the circus down the toilet back in the 60’s. Owning a prehistoric reptile as a pet is a lot of responsibility, and being responsible isn’t always guaranteed to be a part of human nature.

SUPER! is a satirical take on how the Left views the Right and how the Right views anyone who isn’t them. But more importantly, SUPER! is a celebration of all the different inhabitants of New York City. Lefty, Righty, immigrants, patriots, blue-collar and the unemployed, at the end of the day, we’re all just Gator food.

Dante Fiallo, David Cardoza and Rigo Garay

There’s a slew of acting gold in current day NYC, you just gotta mine for it. I’m a fan of Bill Sage, he came on to the scene in that era of 90’s New York auteur cinema that I admire. I brought on Lorraine Farris who I acted with in Crumb Catcher. On set I would say to myself “I gotta cast her in something someday”, I’m glad I finally did. It tickles Fessenden when I would mention my favorite Glass Eye movie is Liberty Kid, so naturally I had to cast Kareem Savinon. Actor Dante Fiallo and Cartoonist/Filmmaker/Actor David Cardoza are a filmmaking duo, so I paired them up as the boiler guys, and then there’s Romanichel who is the only cast member to play 2 different roles in 2 different languages.

Matt Rocker Sound Designed the Tale. We used his extensive sound library to really bring out that NYC vibe. For Stevie’s kid voice, we took a page out of South Park and pitched my voice up. Rocker used a fancy program which basically allowed us to speak into the mic and it translated into alligator growl. All the gator noises you hear are Rocker snarling into a mic, it was a fun day at work.

Jack Fessenden shredding the killer tune in SUPER!

I grew up going to Hip-Hop and Hardcore shows, so I have a fondness for gritty, live music. That’s what I wanted for the score, a guy shredding on an electric guitar. I approached Jack Fessenden to write a score and record it with Rocker, who both have a history in playing in bands. It was a hell of a jam session, it felt like we were recording a punk album, that’s until Larry, Jack, Matt and I hummed “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah” in acapella.

This one is dedicated to Larry Cohen. —Rigo Garay

Emily Bennett on
THE NEXT VOICE YOU HEAR WILL BE YOUR OWN

Jan 9, 2026

A payphone in the desert. That’s how it all started.

A few years ago, I was clicking around the internet and I stumbled upon this photograph. The photo shows a Pacific Bell payphone in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

The image was so stark and uncanny I had to find out what it was. I learned the payphone was installed in the 1960s for the extremely remote communities that lived in this part of the desert, and it was eventually discovered by popular culture in the 90s. People would call the payphone from all around the world, while others made pilgrimages in hopes they would hear the phone ring. Those who became fascinated with the lone booth seemed inspired by it, hoping to connect to something that felt greater than themselves. The phone booth became a surreal symbol for serendipity and connection in the modern world. Fun, right?

But then I started wondering: What if the person on the other line was… Me? But not just me… Me from the future. What existential turmoil could that bring? What opportunities could that present? And how could that go horribly, horribly wrong? The rest of the story developed from there.

When writing this piece, I was inspired by the mythology of the siren as well as classic social-experiment focused episodes of The Twilight Zone. I was also inspired by films such as Donnie Darko, Time Crimes, Coherence and Triangle as well as the delightfully evil desert-set horror anthology Southbound (which also happens to feature the great Larry Fessenden).

I molded each character to my talented cast, and we recorded at Underground Audio NYC with the wonderful Matt Rocker. The day was filled with laughter and screams, and then I went into post with my amazing producer Jordan Gass-Poore’ supporting me throughout. I worked with friend and composer Graham Reznick to craft the uncanny siren-like song that rides atop the desert winds. I provided the vocals for this song, and Graham was masterful at layering and extending the tracks, stretching them into the darkening horizon.

And my sound designer Shawn Duffy, with whom I work as often as possible, helped bring the rest of the world to life. This is the first time I’ve written for audio, and I quickly realized the best thing about audio drama is that you can go BIG. I wanted to begin this piece as a contained drama and social experiment and crank it up to blockbuster levels, embracing the full audio potential of films like Dune and and Tremors in the end. The climax of this piece was really vital to the story, and Shawn masterfully drove it home with his design.

Glass Eye Pix continues to be a subversive yet joyful beacon of light in the darkening desert of media monopolies, empty franchises and AI driven content. I’m honored to join the long lineage of Tales From Beyond the Pale contributors and continue sharing grassroots, independent tales of terror with the audiences I love the most.

And next time, when your phone rings, maybe don’t let it go to voicemail. After all, you never know. The next voice you hear might be your own.

Jenn Wexler on “ORPHEUS”

Dec 12, 2025

Jordan Gass-Pooré, Rigo Garay, John Speredakos, Emily Bennett, Jenn Wexler, Jeremy Holm, Larry Fessenden, Gaby Leyner, Matt Rocker BELOW:Abi Lieff

I came up with the concept for “Orpheus” this time last year. In the past I’ve helped to produce Tales (here’s looking at you Seasons 2 and 3!) but this would be my first as a Tales writer/director. I knew I wanted to write an episode that would allow for a variety of soundscapes and that would let me explore multiple horror sub-genres. I wanted to craft a story that could start intimate and expand into something epic – a chamber piece that spins its way into a blockbuster. The magic of the audio drama! One moment, an intimate phone conversation; the next, nuclear explosions and planes falling from the sky. It’s all possible in audio. Which ultimately led me to realize that this creative process could help me cope with the major anxieties I was having around the advent of AI – at that point, primarily the rise in popularity of ChatGPT.

As I started to develop the story, I knew immediately that I wanted Emily Bennett and Jeremy Holm to star as the couple at the center of it, both fantastic actors and my good friends. I pitched Emily on the idea while tucked into a corner of Jack Fessenden’s childhood bedroom during Glass Eye’s legendary Christmas party. She said yes, as did Jeremy soon after, and I got to work writing, with their voices top of mind.

We recorded “Orpheus” in February with Matt Rocker at Underground Audio NYC, the cast rounded out with Glass Eye regulars and newcomers alike, over the course of two days, and then I dove into the dialogue edit. While editing, I got a coffee with incredible singer/songwriter and my good friend Shayfer James, described the concept to him and that I was searching for a song to serve as the couple’s first wedding dance, as well as the theme for the episode. He sent me his song “Waiting,” which I instantly fell in love with. With that in place and the dialogue edit complete, Matt worked his sound design wizardry, and the episode started to come to life.

We set the Tale aside for a little bit while I worked on another project, and when we picked it back up in the fall, AI in the real world had grown exponentially (as I guess you would expect from it.) Writing “Orpheus” back in January, the Tale seemed very science fiction. Now with Sora, Claude, a few weeks ago Nano Banana, et al, AI has become a very real, inescapable part of our lives and our society. (The day before we released “Orpheus,” I read this article in the Independent – “If You Could Speak To Your Dead Grandmother Forever, Would You?”) The future is apparently here.

But at any rate, there was a Tale to release! In November, brilliant composer Antoni Maiovvi came aboard and crafted a score capturing all of the sub-genres I’d been excited to explore – domestic drama, psychosexual tech thriller, end-of-the-world apocalypse blockbuster. We mixed the Tale at Underground Audio with Matt working his magic. And on our final day of mixing, Larry and Glenn recorded The Host’s intro and outro, which was super fun to see come together.

Meanwhile, as we were finishing up the Tale, Brian Level was making my poster art dreams come true, with a modern spin on the classic gothic women-running-away-from-houses paperback novel covers.

There you have it! A year in the life of an episode of Tales From Beyond the Pale.

And probably obvious to say, but this episode was 100% made by HUMANS. There was no AI in the making of this Tale. Sorry, Orpheus!

– Jenn Wexler

Joe Maggio on “THE SLAUGHTERED”

Nov 13, 2025

“The Slaughtered” came about, as so many of my creations seem to come about, as a result of long conversations with Larry Fessenden about politics, philosophy and the state of humanity. In this case, we were discussing John Rawls’ “veil of ignorance,” a thought experiment where individuals must build a society and its attending laws without knowing where they stand in the social hierarchy, and so out of sheer self-interest and self-preservation they will be motivated to create laws which are fair to everyone. I started thinking about this idea and how it applies to our current American society, where so often those at the top, the wealthy, the politically aligned of all colors and stripes, operate with a breezy, carefree nonchalance, buffered from any consequences stemming from their actions and ideas by the wide, soft cushion of their exalted status. I started to imagine a scenario where the chickens come home to roost, where a smug, wealthy, “do-gooder” investor is caught unawares by the savage reverberations of a single act of moral duplicity. Thus “The Slaughtered” was born.

For the cast, I knew I wanted to work again with James Le Gros, with whom I’d made one film (“Bitter Feast” 2010) and one previous tale (“Cannibals, Season 3.) As I wrote the script I imagined James’ voice in my head – refined, intelligent, a little mischievous – in the role of William Baxter, the morally upstanding ethical investor with a dark secret. For the role of Henry Munger, the town wild man, I was unsure, but then I met Alex Hurt on the set of Larry’s film, “Blackout” (2023). Watching Alex as Charley Barrett, the tortured artist/werewolf at the center of the film, it occurred to me that he would be the perfect Henry Munger, a tortured individual who, like Charlie, is highly civilized and utterly savage at the same time, these opposing impulses ceaselessly pulling at the jagged edges of his existence.

The dialogue was recorded in bits and pieces over the course of several weeks due to scheduling conflicts, including one marathon session with James Le Gros in a studio in LA and Alex Hurt in NYC. Underground Audio’s Matt Rocker somehow managed to weave it all together. In what was easily one of the most thrilling recording sessions I’ve ever been a part of, Dave Eggar, cellist extraordinaire, composed the score on the fly, listening to the radio play and then riffing, layering and just generally blowing our minds with the virtuosity of his playing and the acuity of his creative reflexes.

I’m so thrilled to have been given the opportunity to create this Tale. There’s something so pure about audio storytelling, and as a filmmaker it’s always good to be shaken up a bit and reminded of the power of sound as a storytelling engine. So much of what William and Henry say and do and the way they say and do it is ripped straight from my being. I hope listeners enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

—Joe Maggio, Nov 12 2025

TOP: Sketches by Trevor Denham for the poster. BELOW: Dave Eggar and Maggio discuss the score.