Still Buffering · Sydnee McElroy, Rileigh Smirl and Teylor Smirl

Still Buffering: Camp Damascus (2023)

November 9, 2025·53 min·2 clips

A conversion camp uses demonic possession to prevent people from being gay in Chuck Tingle's horror novel.

Spooky season refuses to leave quietly. Sydney and Taylor open by mourning the end of Halloween, then sit with one very Huntington complaint: trick-or-treat got moved to a colder, rainier Thursday. Their theory is half civic, half suspicious. Maybe the move was meant to stop kid shenanigans, even though the official window was only six to eight and porch lights were already going dark. From there, the episode slips into book talk. Sydney knew Taylor would love Camp Damascus, but the horror made her rethink who else should get the recommendation. Taylor, of course, wanted it rougher. Some friends might show up for the queer storyline and allegory, while Taylor calls the read light and wishes the scares had gone harder. That gap is where the fun sits. A recommendation turns into social math: who can take the grotesque parts, and who needs to be protected from them. Chuck Tingle comes with baggage, too. Sydney mainly knew him through the goofy romance books, including the Tide Pods stretch. Yes, those books are real. That sends them to Justin recording audio for one of them and asking Sydney to sit in the studio because the text was that wild. The episode never stiffens into a lesson. It is two hosts measuring taste in real time, one adding warning stickers while the other keeps peeling them off. Camp Damascus still gets a solid recommendation. By the end, both hosts say they enjoyed it and point it toward listeners who like this exact kind of horror talk. Then the show heads out with Maximum Fun, the Novellas' theme song, and one more inflatable Halloween decoration.

As heard by us

A warm, strange Camp Damascus chat about queer horror taste, Halloween leftovers, and Chuck Tingle's weirder orbit.

Still Buffering turns its Camp Damascus discussion into a loose, funny handoff from Halloween comedown to queer horror enthusiasm. Sydney and Taylor open with the very local drama of trick-or-treat being moved off Halloween in Huntington, complete with cold rain, Friday night…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

A spooky pick that starts playful and ends up much darker than you expect.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Still Buffering