Haunted: The Audio Drama - Season 2 (2023-24) - Horror Audio Drama Review

I loved season one of Haunted: The Audio Drama and so was excited when I heard it was going to continue into a second season. I wondered how a second season would fare, as the core plotline of season one; investigating a signal that had the ability to send homicidally mad anyone who hears it was such a cool thing. I feared that like many subsequent seasons of shows, that the focus would fall onto exploring the hidden backstory of one of the cast. This is exactly what did happen, but it was more engaging than I gave it credit for. While the overarching story this season wasn't as good as last time around, this was still a wonderful show that I only had a few complaints about. Unavoidable spoilers for the first season to follow.

This season is split over thirty eight episodes that take place over nine interlinked but separate stories. After the events involving the signal, paranormal enthusiast Abigail Corbin (voiced by Isabella Barbieri) has gone on a road trip with jaded alcoholic paranormal investigator James Hunter (Jamie Evans) and police officer Dan Cowell (Luke Hunter). Their aim is to locate James' former partner Karl Trevino and stop whatever evil plan he has came up with. They soon learn that the man aims to destroy the shady organisation who him and James had been captured by as children. Along the way James discovers revelations about his past that causes an ever growing rift between him and his partners, as well as what the true intentions of the organisation really are.

I needn't have worried about how they would come up with ideas for a second season, even if at times they seem to be be heavily influenced by Resident Evil. There are several lines taken from that game and used like Easter Eggs, at one point someone says the iconic line "Blood! I hope this is not Chris' blood", in the 'The Cry of the Abyss', the story here is basically Resident Evil 4 but set on a mysterious island, with a character questioning at one point if the relentless villagers who suddenly call off their attack have all gone to bingo, much like Leon Kennedy questioned in that game.
The idea of a time loop was played with before, and here you instead have time travel with 'Presque Vu' that finds Abigail back in time during a haunted pub crawl. The idea of pocket dimensions is introduced, and these were always fun episodes. The highlight of the pocket dimension ones being mid-season finale 'Darkness Falls' that sees our heroes discovering an apartment block full of vampires hidden away in an abandoned town.

Variation to the formula creates some different feeling episodes. Two-parter 'What the Spirit Saw' was guest written by Marc Smith. Perhaps the weakest of the stories here, but at least it was only two episodes. I thought 'Triptych' had a great idea to it, with Abigail and James relegated to background characters, with Dan brought to the forefront. I really didn't expect Dan to be that great an addition to the main cast, but I enjoyed his growth over the season. Having him interact with a mysterious woman, Eliza Wu, whose motives appear unknown over the course of the season was fun and gave his character more to do than just arguing with James and Abigail. I can't say I really liked the ultimate path his character took, with him getting duped painfully easily towards the end of the season in penultimate story 'Divergence'.
The season seemed to be leading up to revelations about James' lost past, but while there were indeed revelations, these were very heavily signposted, and so didn't land with as much impact as they could have. It culminates in season finale 'The Children of Little Hope', while this wasn't as dramatic and action packed as the season one finale, it still left on enough of a cliff-hanger that again I am intrigued to see where the show goes next.

For people who haven't listened to season one, this isn't going to be a good point to drop in. Many of the stories fed into each other, but I thought the show could be at its best with its more stand-alone moments. My favourite story of the who season was one of these, 'The Dark Menagerie' which had the protagonists under attack from a possessed doll that was basically Annabelle from The Conjuring universe, with versions of Ed and Lorraine Warren also appearing here to give a neat twist on what you would expect out of this.
I loved listening to this continuing story each week, and while some of the voice actors were not as good as others, for the most part the voice work is excellent, and the stories told wonderfully, so that it is easy to picture the events that are taking place. With two more seasons to come, I am excited for the future of Haunted: The Audio Drama.

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The Sounds of Nightmares (2023) - Horror Audio Drama Review

It is hard to escape hearing about The Sounds of Nightmares at the moment, as it appears to be being advertised on just about every podcast I listen to. This is a six episode horror audio drama that is based on the Little Nightmares video game series. I can't say I was the biggest fan of Little Nightmares, while it looked good, I found it super frustrating to play. Thankfully, Little Nightmares II was a whole lot better, with me having giving it an 8/10. The games keep the nightmare fuelled world in which they take place a bit of a mystery, I was surprised that this audio drama provides a lot of lore that was not evident in the games, something I was well on board for.

The drama for the most part (perhaps exclusively) consists of just the two actors. In the real world, a counsellor at a children's psychiatric institute (voiced by Kester Lovelace - Song of Horror video game voice work), has taken a special interest in one of his patients, a young girl who requests to be referred to as 'Noone' (voiced by Amy Purshouse). She has been having crippling headaches, and each night when she sleeps, she has extremely vivid nightmares in which she is transported to a nightmarish world full of large grotesque human like figures. The counsellor holds special sessions with Noone, in order for her to recount her visits to this world. He promises the girl he is trying to cure her of her nightmares, but in reality it is for more selfish reasons. Many years in the past someone close to him had the same thing happen to them, with the world they visited in their dreams spookily matching up with what Noone describes, until one day they vanished into thin air. The counsellor, rather than help the girl with her troubles, instead hopes he can use her to find a way to discover what happened to his loved one.

This apparently being canon led to a lot of revelations for me, namely that the world of Little Nightmares takes place in an alternate reality that can only be accessed via nightmares, and which only children can visit. I had always assumed the title was due to playing as a child in a horror filled world made for giants, so discovering the title was more literal, that it is a nightmare realm accessed by sleeping children, was really quite cool. There are a few nods to the games throughout, with the gnome type creatures making an appearance, as well as the reveal of just why there are random piles of people's belongings dotted around the games. It is final episode 'The Lonely Way', where a direct link between the audio drama and the game is made, something that was somewhat unexpected.

Each episode is roughly thirty minutes long, and takes place as a series of audio recordings that the counsellor is playing back to himself, to try and understand what is happening when Noone dreams. Each episode consists mainly of a different session where the girl is explaining her last dream. This did lead to a bit of a disconnected feel, as each nightmare is separate to the one before, taking place in an entirely new location in the Little Nightmares reality. They kind of follow the path of the games in that there is often an antagonist type figure Noone is trying to survive against. The horror vibe does work, with episode four 'The Theater of the Mind' being the most horror like, as the girl witnesses an evil ventriloquist's puppet operating independently from its owner. The core story takes place back in the real world, with it becoming increasingly obvious that the counsellor protagonist, whose viewpoint we see the story from, is a bit of an anti-hero. He may have noble intentions, but certainly not for the girl he is trying to treat, something which she really comes to realise over the course of the show.

The overall story was fine, but it wasn't groundbreaking. I loved the explanations for the game world this drama provided, but the story wasn't that exciting. Each nightmare being a stand alone adventure that ends with Noone waking up led to a bit of a stop and start effect. It culminates with not much really having changed. With a third game in the works, it is possible that some of what happens here will feed into that, I guess I will see when the game comes out. The Sounds of Nightmares can be listened to for free, so if you like the games then I think it is worth checking out.

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