I love these types of anthology. The episodes are written well, acting is great. I enjoyed every episode and hope there are many more to come!

The majority of the episodes ranged from just okay to pretty good, in terms of writing. The voice acting was also great, or decent at the very least. Production choices were great for establishing the tension/mood. I’m also always a fan of Justin McElroy in VA mode. But the last S1 episode (Rarities) was amazing and compelled me to write this review. The intro scene runs a little long which might annoy a more impatient listener but when the episode (and the protagonist’s voice actor) really dug in, I was frozen in my seat. It’s visceral and gnarly and just really compelling. I think it’s great as a finale, but if you just listen to one, listen to ep 8!

I can handle most things, but injury and death to animals is something I can’t listen to, particularly when it’s a character doing it on purpose and is accompanied by animal sound effects. My dog and I would have appreciated a content warning on Episode 7.

Is season 2 coming?

A+ for production, but the stories are rambling and dull. If anyting, I found them hard to follow. Maybe its relying too much on the sound effects and not enough on the story structure. Endnings are vague and unsatisfying. I'm often having to guess what is going on, which seems to be a problem with some other QCODE produtions I have followed. Does not compare to other horror anthologies I listen to regularly.

i am a big fan of horror podcasts and can say with absolute certainty that this podcast is right up there with the magnus archives for my favorite. there’s nothing quite like the feeling of the hair on the back of your neck standing up due only to immersive audio spooks. i can’t stop listening. no really, i can’t stop, someone PLEASE HEL

i listened too this podcast months ago and i still think about it weekly! really hope there’s new episodes in the words. the best qcode pod (and i’ve listened to almost all of them!)

I felt like episodes just kept getting worse after the first one. It’s a fine horror anthology but it was tiresome by the end. Either way I want the feed to die

Really great spooky fiction and I love the host Justin McElroy, so good! 🤘🤓

each story holds my attention really well. plus the sound stage QCODE presents is almost always above standard. these podcasts really are immersive. if you’re looking for a podcast that you can listen to here and there, this one is easy to pick up again after leaving. an anthology podcast where each story is actually interesting. highly recommend for people into horror and searching to a little scare

Please come out with Season 2, 3, 4, & 5 !

Loved

Really enjoy this podcast. Great stories that keep you locked in from beginning to end.

The presentation, voice acting, and production quality is impeccable. Unfortunately, the stories are just okay and very far from scary. Plus the whole "Boogeyman narrator" is over done and doesn't add anything to the stories.

These are really well acted and quite chilling.

Can’t seem to get a enough of these. I need more! Lol

I hope there will be more stories soon!!

The stories were very original - the final one, was amazing. Great voice acting and production.

I need more!

The stories are interesting. The only annoyance, the creepy guy introducing each episode. He’s long and drawn out. Just get to the story.

…but is more shock than substance. The HIT episode especially was not strong enough to warrant the over-the-top violence; it felt like a concept that 13yo boys would come up with. The Truth is a similar podcast, and is more consistent in originality, writing and overall quality.

Out of 10 stories, only one was a “meh”. Others have just sucked me right in and have been fantastic. Thumbnail - omg, I literally had a racing heart just imaging the scene. This podcast is a keeper for sure!!!

Love the Tales from the Crypt or Creepshow vibe this had! Great stories!! I hope there will be more!!

What’s the deal with “new episodes” that are just ads? Really lame if you ask me.

This show is INCREDIBLE. I don’t usually like fiction podcasts but the stories are so well-written and acted, you can’t help but be sucked in. Can’t wait for more episodes !

Great stories and fun story telling. Pretty immersive and very entertaining

This was SO much fun! Loved the short story! Scary but so entertaining! Loved it

I’ve always loved horror short stories, and this is so soooo good. There’s such interesting story concepts and all the acting is very well done. I came here as a McElroy fan and Justin does such a good job as the evil narrator!! I hope we get more episodes soon!! :)

Bad Vibes is great successor to classic radio horror anthologies like Suspense and Lights Out. I really love the use of Mr Boogie as a sinister host like the Hermit from The Hermit’s Cave or Raymond from Inner Sanctum (though Justin McElroy is both scarier and funnier than either of the actors that played those characters). The sound design is great. The scripts are very well crafted. The actors nail their roles. What more could you want?

I am loving this creepy anthology series! Every episode is a standalone, but in ep 8 there’s a tie-in to a previous episode, so it’s worthwhile to listen to them in order. The only thing that would have made this series better is if it was released in October. The proximity of Halloween would have been the perfect setting.

This is just what I need! What a fun escape from our world today. Great production values. Fantastic acting. Love it!!!

Season 1, show number 8 left an indelible impression on my mind. Well written, highly detailed superb voice acting. In fact ALL the episodes up-to this point have really been on point. Qcode is are the best creators at voice acted radio style dramas. The entertainment value is far superior to any thing else available.

It’s entertaining, it’s interesting. All in all, a pretty good pod. BUT, I know better than to get anything more than mildly invested in anything from QCODE. Not because they don’t produce quality but instead they just can’t seem to do it for long...meh

Is so good and mister boogey can get it

LOVE this show! Perfectly creepy. My only critique is that I wish they had more specific content warnings at the top of the show. The audio design is REALLY intense - which is fantastic - but calls for more warning with certain topics, I personally think.

I started listening because I love the concept of Justin’s character. To be honest his character is the most interesting one out of all the stories that they had. The first three episodes were solid, though they had something lacking (which to be honest, my favorite out of all of them so far is the violin episode.) but they’re still good, reminded me of an adult version of goosebumps. However. What really made me give this low rating, was because of their most recent episode with the work out routine. The content warning was a vague oversimplification of the actual traumas in the episode which was shocking and just terrible to listen to. If you’re going to have a lot of sensitive content in an episode, you should *actually* state what type of horror is in the episode instead of “be advised some content isn’t appropriate for all audiences”. Or at least write it out in the written description. Which, they didn’t even do that. All in all, the rest of the stories after the first three are less than desired content. They should at least Work more on content warnings, then focus on stories that aren’t the usual “and then the main character dies at the end”. It becomes predictable and uninteresting. It holds potential though, and I hope they make adjustments to improve.

Gawd, this podcast is so amazing and so engaging. Any possibility for longer episodes?

I was so personally invested in the 6th episode. Hope there is more to it?

Quite well done and interesting as always with QCODE but but wish there was more of McElroy

The first episode, After The Beep, hits it out of the park. Engaging story with excellent audio production, utilizing spatial/binaural audio to its advantage. However, after that, a lot of the other episodes aren’t that *scary*. The writing doesn’t feel natural, pushing elements that probably wouldn’t happen “in real life,” if you will. Occasionally, it’s pretty good, but more times than not it falls flat. But that being said, give it a listen. The first episode is worth it, and if you like it maybe you’ll like the other episodes as well.

Voice acting fantastic, but felt way more thriller than horror and often ended abruptly or in a way you could predict. Felt like a b-movie, so definitely enjoyable if that’s your bag.

The pros: Justin McElroy has an amazing voice for horror. The cons: Justin McElroy only narrates the intros and outros, and feels a little bit wasted. The stories themselves leave a lot to be desired. They aren’t really scary, they just fit the shape of a scary story (which admittedly does work to scare some people). They lowkey feel like they were written by someone who wanted to capitalize off The Magnus Archives ending, so they threw together some campfire stories in order to leech off an available audience and advertise their other shows to them. They feel like they were written by someone who doesn’t fully understand that what made TMA so good was the very human insights we get into the people telling their stories, as well as truly uncanny, relatable moments that feel like they could happen to you. For example, the first episode of this podcast has a sad woman (there’s really no other character to her besides being sad) be verbally abused by her dead parents via the phone, until she crashes her car in the same place they did. It’s not really relatable, the characters are flat and uninteresting, the relationship between the woman and her parents is unexplored, and it leaves you not caring about or relating to her. The decision to have these stories be acted out like a radio drama rather than read by a narrator doesn’t serve the genre well. Understanding how a character feels, really getting inside their head, these are strong tools in a horror writer’s toolbox, and we’re unfortunately missing out on that here. Without better characterization, there’s no reason to care about the characters, which makes it hard to engage in horror I, like a lot of people, found this podcast because The Magnus Archives had ended, and I think the producers counted on that. However, instead of creating a well-crafted collection of horror stories, they’re just churning out whatever bland mush they can to grab a ready audience.

Every episode is the same. A voicemail that kills people, a violin that kills people, a video streaming app for teens that kills people, a drug that kills people, it has just sort of lost any level of unpredictability for me. I will say this podcast is absolutely bad vibes. Nothing fun happens to anybody in these episodes, the audioscapes are mostly down right atrocious, and quite a few I plead people not to listen to while inside a vehicle. For good horror you’re gonna have to go literally anywhere else.

Definitely interesting stories and well don’t. But not spooky or scary at all. They always end less exciting than I would think.

I love horror podcasts. I also love Justin McElroy. Why is no one talking about a McElroy horror podcast!! It’s amazing!

It is hard to find good modern fiction horror podcast that give the feel of old time radio podcast but this one does it. It reminds me a lot of inner sanctum. Really enjoying it so far.

I just listened to the first episode and have no idea what happened. *spoiler alert* I know that her parents died in a crash, then...? She got weird phone calls. I think there was a crash. And then her parents were there? Was it just a nightmare that they died? What was the point of her going to work? Did something interesting happen? I was floored when I saw the second episode didn’t follow the first and give some necessary explanations. It’s a podcast so we can’t see what’s going on, and there was too much background noise to know what was real and what wasn’t.

Idk why podcast producers think including that scratchy static effect. Not only is it incredibly played out (and thus not effectively creepy or whatever), it is often done in such a way that, when wearing headphones, it is physically painful to hear. This is one of those times. Figure out your levels or whatever, idk, but QCode shows usually don’t do this crap...maybe talk to one of your more capable coworkers about it.

Whoever is in charge of the sound on this podcast is gifted. The audio is movie quality I was shocked on how well it told a story and how I actually felt the voice actor behind me in the 3rd episode!!! Keep it up

What a fantastic series, really captures that good old horror cheese in a modern context. Keeps it creepy but also has fun. Also, Juice makes a solid Crypt Keeper. I look forward to more.