PODCAST OF THE WEEK

Radio Rental

Pretty much anybody can make a podcast, — and these days many do. So you’ve got to give it to the ones who go the extra mile and make it fancy.

Radio Rental has taken a simple enough concept — a compendium of real-life horror stories, like a Halloween edition of This American Life — and built a whole high-concept world around it.

The podcast is set in a video store owned and operated by the eccentric Terry Carnation, a character played by

The Office’s Rainn Wilson, who welcomes you in at the start of each episode and introduces each story as though it’s a rare VHS from his collection.

The visual and sound design is from the same 1980s throwback page as Stranger Things, full of neon lights and woozy background synths. All this helps set the scene and get you in the mood but it’d be nothing if the stories weren’t good too.

Like any anthology series, the quality and spookiness varies, but Radio Rental’s focus on real life horrors — a story from a guy who was on the same flight as Richard Reid, the "Shoe Bomber", another who narrowly avoided being murdered by serial killer Aileen Wuornos — means they’re always compelling, even when they’re not downright bone-chilling.