Mark Frost - Scared Stiff and The Believers

1987 was the time when David Lynch & Mark Frost first met and started to collaborate - so what exactly was Mark Frost up to right before that time?

Two semi-psychological thrillers that shared enough similarities we're discussing them as one.

"African" mysticism, single parents, curses, psychiatry, and a dash of 80s moral concern come up in both Scared Stiff and The Believers. We comb through these similarities to try and pick apart what interests, thoughts, and concerns were bubbling with Mark Frost as he and David Lynch began their collaboration on a number of projects that would culminate in Twin Peaks. We also finally take a stand and support what David Lynch has been saying for years: that Lynch/Frost productions really do have more than a healthy dose of Frostianism to them, a statement we feel comfortable making after working through Frost's pre-Peaks works.

Scared Stiff
Starring: Andrew Stevens, Mary Page Keller
Directed by: Richard Friedman
Written by: Mark Frost, Daniel F. Bacaner, Richard Friedman
Produced by: Daniel F. Bacaner, Charles S. Carroll

The Believers
Starring: Martin Sheen, Helen Shaver
Directed by: John Schlesinger
Written by: Nicholas Conde (novel), Mark Frost (screenplay)
Produced by: Edward Teets

Notes

• Scared Stiff is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Eiy06dregg
• Another similarity we forgot to mention in the podcast: both films feature children who have another pseudo-spiritual facsimile from another culture - a lamp and a doll, both with somewhat racially insensitive markings.
• Aidan was right regarding the "anthropological work" described in The Believers - it was in Sudan, in East Africa, over 3,000 km from the Ivory Coast.