We’ve got two amazing new releases and three fun oldies this week. We’ll start off with the critically acclaimed “Sinners” that’s just come to streaming. We’ll then stop for a snack with “Cannibal Mukbang,” another tasty new release. We’ll do a couple of comedy-horrors next, “Hot Fuzz” (2007) and “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil” (2010). Lastly, we’ll go way back in time and meet “The Man from Planet X” from 1951.

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Mainstream Films:

2025 Sinners

* Directed by: Ryan Coogler

* Written by: Ryan Coogler

* Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton, Saul Williams

* Run Time: 2 Hours, 17 Minutes

* Get it here: https://amzn.to/45Vl2s8

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

It’s very much a humanity and period drama with magic and horror in the background, at first. Then things get crazy toward the second half. The cast, direction, music, and effects are all excellent. Especially the use of music. It’s on the long side but worth it.

Spoilery Synopsis

It’s 1932 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. A man with a broken guitar walks into church, and the preacher gets really upset, changing the sermon to talk about men who are full of sin. He wants Sammie to give up his sinful ways. We get flashes of violence and blood.

We flash back to the cotton farm, where all the black people work in the fields; it’s after slavery, but the echoes of it are still strong. We then cut again to two brothers, Smoke and Stack, who are dressed up with a fancy car. Mr. Hogwood shows up and shows them some property. It gets a little tense, but they’ve got a bagful of money and buy it.

Sammie argues with his preacher father about going out for the evening. “You keep going out with the devil, sooner or later, you’re gonna bring him home.” He goes off with Stack and Smoke, saying he’ll be back for service tomorrow. They’ve got big plans for the day and night.

The three are planning on putting a juke joint together, with lots of drinking, at the old sawmill they just bought. Stack runs into Mary, an old jilted lover, and a white looking woman as well, so she could be trouble. The harmonica player, Delta Slim, tells a story about why black folks shouldn’t get too successful.

Smoke goes to see Annie about cooking at the juke joint tonight, and they have a long history. We get a montage of everyone setting up for the party, including the cooking.

Elsewhere, a dirty-looking and injured white man beats on a door and asks a white couple for shelter from the Choctaws. He offers them money to let him inside, and they invite him in. A short while later, a Choctaw scout with others shows up, and he says he’s looking for a dangerous man who’s not what he seems. She lies and says she hasn’t seen him. They soon leave, and the strange man kills the couple, who should’ve never invited him in. Before long, all three of them are vampires.

Mary shows up to the big party, and she looks a little out of place there. Stack wants her out of there before trouble breaks out; she’s part black in the family, but has been passing for years, a prime target for lynching.

Delta Slim finishes his piano set and introduces Sammie, who plays the guitar. The magic of music fills the room. We see a guy playing an electric guitar and half the crowd is dressed like anachronistic rappers, ancient Africans, and even Asian musicians and dancers thanks to the Asian grocer and his wife. (I guess the Blues are timeless?). They are having a goooood time.

And then the three vampires, Bert, Joan, and Remmick, show up outside. They talk to the doorman/bouncer and want it. They pull out instruments and start playing; they say they just want to join the party, and they’re pretty good bluegrass singers as well. Smoke does not want to let them in.

Smoke gives Sammie some career advice; he wants to keep his young cousin out of trouble, but Sammie thinks he might want to go to Chicago like the twins did.

Mary wants to talk to the white trio about coming back; the twins are going to need every dollar they can get. She finds them playing their music right outside the barn. They’ve very friendly– until they aren’t.

When Mary returns to the party, she needs an invitation to come inside. The vampires start picking off people as they go outside to pee. As Smoke deals with a cheating gambler, Stack and Mary make out; she’s drooling. We see that yes, they did turn her outside. By the time Smoke and Sammie come in, they’re both covered in Stack's blood. Smoke wastes zero seconds filling her full of lead, but that doesn’t even slow her down.

Stack bleeds out as everyone watches; the party is over. Annie talks to Sammie, and she seems to know what they’re dealing with– she wants to move Stack’s body outside for a while. They end up locking the room he’s in.

Cornbread comes back from peeing and needs an invitation back inside. Annie accuses him of being a haint now, and the others don’t interrupt her at all. It gets so obvious that he needs an invitation that they all know something’s up with him.

There’s a knocking at the locked storeroom door; only Stack’s dead body was in there. He’s feeling much better now and busts down the door. Annie splashes him with a bottle full of pickled garlic, which makes him sizzle and run out. And then she knows they aren’t haints, they’re vampires. She says that they all need to hold out till sunlight. She explains all the rules of vampires to the group.

They find someone lying in a pool of blood. When the men carry a body outside, they see that there’s a whole bunch of vampires out there dancing as Remmick sings very Irishly. It’s a whole big musical number, and the vampires apparently not only get immortality and bloodthirstiness, but also a talent for Irish singing and dancing. Clearly in many ways they are an extension of Remmick.

Inside, everyone eats some garlic to prove they aren’t vampires, and Remmick comes to the door, making it clear how things are going to turn out for all the people in there. The Klan was already planning to come and kill them all. The mill was a trap by Hogwood that’s been used more than once, to get a bunch of black folks together in one place. The vampires are much nicer, or so they say. Stack talks to Smoke, and he makes a good case. Eternal life in one big happy family.

One of the crew finally breaks and dares the vamps to come inside. Remmick perks up - was that an invitation? Good enough! There are a lot more vamps than humans already, so the fight is a little one-sided. Smoke ends up staking Annie, which upsets Mary.

Remmick wants Sammie’s songs and wants to absorb his musical talent. Meanwhile Stack and Smoke fight inside. Sammie whacks Remmick with his guitar that has a silver disc that ends up embedded in his head. That really hurts, and all the vamps feel the wound. Smoke comes out of nowhere and stabs Remmick all the way through with a stake as the sun rises. Most everyone burns in the sunlight, especially Remmick.

Smoke tells Sammie to go home and bury that guitar. They seem to be the only ones left alive.

Smoke unpacks his old army rifle and goes after the Klansmen who arrive to shut down the juke joint. He’s got a machine gun and grenades too, and he takes out all of the evil white men. He gets shot, dies, and yet still has a happy ending.

Back in the opening scene, Sammie walks back into his father’s church with the broken guitar. We see that Sammie’s got a big clawmark on his face. Instead of dropping the guitar fragment and turning his back on music as his father urges, we see him driving away with it.

We flash forward many years and see that Sammie is old and has made a long career from singing the Blues. He runs a club of his own now, and one night, he gets some very strange visitors who need to be invited in… Stack and Mary.

Stack tells the story of how they survived and asks Sammie to play for them; he’s repaired that same old guitar.

Brian’s Commentary

The vampire effects toward the end are really good, but they aren’t overbearing through the rest of the film. This is the kind of vampire story that makes you wonder how there aren’t already billions of vampires all over the world.

It’s got a big budget, and the historical setting and context are just about perfect. It’s really slow getting to the action bits; there’s only one quick scene about vampires in the first 70 minutes, much more a period drama than anything else, but once the sun goes down, it gets pretty crazy.

The magical realism during the first musical act stands out from everything else [The Blues are forever?]. The singing vampires are a little weird as well, but not as much as the first musical number.

It’s long, but it’s really excellent.

Kevin’s Commentary

Remmick must restrain himself and his minions to keep a reasonable clan size. It’s very easy to convert others to loyal vampires. It was cool how the vampires seemed to be extensions and connected to Remmick while still retaining much of their original personalities. I really liked the long stretch without much vampire action as we got to know the characters and the world they are living in. Then the vampire action kicked in nicely. The use of music was great. And I was impressed with how flawlessly Michael B. Jordan played twins, both his acting and the special effects. This one is a winner.

2023 Cannibal Mukbang

* Directed by: Aimee Kuge

* Written by: Aimee Kuge

* Stars: April Consalo, Nate Wise, Clay von Carlowitz

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 44 Minutes

* Watch it here: https://amzn.to/4e0cVN0

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

So, how much would you put up with in a relationship? This movie takes the question to the extreme. The cast is good, the script is well written, and the effects are realistic. It’s heavy on strange romance with a heavy dose of gore and horror. We liked it quite a bit.

Spoilery Synopsis

Mark stares at the redhead at the convenience store. He soon finds a way to talk to her, but he’s too shy to stick around. He leaves the store and gets hit by a car. He wakes up in the redhead’s house; she’s Ash, and she’s the one who hit him. She feeds him, and it’s delicious. She’s fascinated by the metal plate in his head that he’s had since he was a kid.

Mark works in customer service; Ash eats stuff online while people watch. He knows all about mukbanging since he watches them all the time. They have a good time, and she drives him home.

Mark’s job isn’t much fun. He watches Ash’s videos and then fantasizes about her, but he’s weird about it, cutting off his own nose for her. Mark’s older brother, Maverick, gives Mark some advice about women, and he’s clearly no expert.

Ash finally gets back in touch with Mark and invites him over. She’s made a blanket fort, and it’s all really cozy and romantic. He explains that as a hobby, he writes horror movie reviews [Who does that?!], and she’s impressed. They talk about where they came from, and this leads to kissing and lots more talking.

Another day, Mark takes Ash to a vegan place, and she doesn’t look happy; she’s rude and distracted throughout the whole date. A creepy-looking man comes in, and Ash looks worried. “You need to leave now,” she warns him.

Mark goes to hang around in the park and accidentally watches as the creepy man attacks Ash. He’s about to hit her when she reaches up and breaks his arm in half. She bites the man in the throat, killing him, as Mark walks up to talk. “You’re eating him.” He offers to help her move the body.

When Ash shows Mark to her “butcher’s table,” he wonders what were in the nachos he ate the other night. “You don’t even know what hot dogs are made of,” she counters. “I only kill the people that society could do without.” He recognizes her as a serial killer, Alexandra Rouge, he’s read about. No, Alexandra was Ash’s sister. She cuts the dead man up and saves the pieces for later.

This leads Mark into more weird fantasies. Maybe Ash is the stable one in this relationship? He starts going into convulsions, and she says his hunger may be starting. He goes over, and she’s prepared a charcuterie board, fully decorated with a skull. He’s still freaked out, but he’s coming to terms with it.

Ash tells us about her little sister, Allie, and how they lived in Louisiana. A man kidnapped them and put them in a cage. He eventually killed Allie and made Ash eat her. Ash soon turned the tables on the swamp man and killed and ate him.

Ash runs errands in the morning, leaving Mark on his own, and he has breakfast. He loves cannibalism now!

Ash talks about a child molester that she’s been tracking, and she wants to kill him tonight. That goes off really well, and they do it over and over; cue the killing and eating montage!

After quite a long time, Ash asks about sex. Are they ever gonna do it? He’s still very uncomfortable, but he finally goes for it– in the butchery room. Afterward, they argue, and he leaves.

Maverick, Mark’s brother, breaks into Mark’s house, worried about not hearing from him in so long. The smell is terrible, but Mark’s in there, asleep, and he doesn’t look good. He hasn’t seen Ash in two weeks, and it’s tearing him up.

Mark goes back to Ash and apologizes. She says they have important business to attend to tonight; she’s got another victim in mind. The victim tonight turns out to be… Maverick!

Maverick knocks Ash out and gets to work raping her as Mark hides in the closet and waits for her signal. He comes out and confronts, much to his surprise, his brother. Ash had no idea they were related. The pair tied up Maverick and put him in the basement to discuss the situation. There is much begging and yelling. “If you love me, you would kill him,” Ash says.

Mark releases Maverick and gets accidentally stabbed in the process. Ash bites Maverick’s ear off. Mark lets him go yet again, and Ash is not happy. She kills Mark with an axe as Maverick runs out the door, his ear in hand.

Brian’s Commentary

It’s very slow getting to the action, but it does eventually get there. We saw the “twist” coming long before it did; Maverick was just too much of an ass to be allowed to live.

It’s an allegory for toxic relationships, but it’s still fun to watch. It’s almost more of a romantic drama than a horror film, but it’s got cannibalism and gore, so it’s got that working for it.

It ended with Maverick getting away. That’s not going to end well for Ash, but we don’t see any of the fallout from that, which should have at least been an after-credit scene.

Kevin’s Commentary

It’s a weird romance. I thought the acting and chemistry between the two main characters were great. I enjoyed everything right up to the ending, which I thought was a little abrupt and didn’t quite seem finished; it didn’t quite satisfy. But it’s good overall and definitely worth watching.

2007 Hot Fuzz

* Directed by Edgar Wright

* Written by Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg

* Stars Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman

* Run Time: 2 Hours, 1 Minute

* Watch it: https://amzn.to/3SSp6BS

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

It’s a cop buddy action mystery thriller comedy with just the tiniest pinch of horror hints. That said, it's got a lot of laughs with a decent body count, and the pieces of the mystery coming together are very clever.

Spoilery Synopsis

Nicholas Angel introduces himself. We see that he’s some kind of supercop, excelling at everything. He’s so good that he makes all the other cops look bad, so they transfer him to a tiny town out in the country. Also, they’re not going to take “No” for an answer. He tells his ex, Janine, who doesn’t really care since he cares more about his job than anything else.

So Nicholas moves to Sandford, a quiet village in the English countryside. He’s… not thrilled to be there. He goes to the pub and meets the Porters, the owners, as well as PC Danny Butterman. He immediately starts causing trouble when he finds a bunch of underage drinkers in the pub– he clears out the whole place. He’s maybe a little overzealous for this kind of posting.

In the morning, he meets Simon Skinner, who owns one of the big stores in town. Next, he goes to the station and meets Inspector Butterman, his new boss, who says this is the safest village in the country. He meets all the other cops, who show him that things aren’t the same outside the city.

That evening, Tom Weaver, the old man who thinks he runs the town, throws a party for Nicholas for the Neighborhood Watch group. The old man has a grudge against “The Living Statue,” a street performer whom no one else cares about at all.

After an awful presentation of “Romeo and Juliet,” Nicholas and Danny walk right past a mysterious hooded figure who later viciously murders the stars of the stage play. Two decapitations are not something that the town cops are really equipped to deal with. But it’s staged to look like a car accident, and Angel is the only one suspicious.

The duo gets called out to an old man with a whole barn full of guns and weapons, which they confiscate. They celebrate later and then carry a drunk home. The hooded killer gets the man immediately after.

At the big church fundraiser, the town reporter tries to talk to Nicholas, but is killed by the masked killer who knocks a pointed piece of masonry down on him.

Nicholas tells his boss that he thinks all the recent deaths are connected, but the inspector prefers to think they were all just accidents. Cue the research montage as the pair discuss all the characters we have met.

Not long after, Nicholas hears all about a big real estate deal in the town from the local florist, who is killed as Nicholas watches. He chases the killer through the greenhouses. All the police still insist that there are so many accidents.

The whole police force goes to arrest Simon Skinner at the grocery store. Nicholas has a whole convoluted theory about Simon and the real estate deal. Except, according to security footage, Simon has a perfect alibi. Now, Nicholas looks like an idiot to everyone.

That evening, Nicholas goes back to his hotel room, and the killer is waiting for him. It’s Michael, Simon’s not-so-smart assistant. He and Simon were working together.

Nicholas runs to the castle, where Simon is there with a whole coven of witches that includes a lot of the townspeople we already know. It’s the whole Neighborhood Watch group! Nicholas walks in and tells them they’re all under arrest.

The Inspector Butterman shows up, and he’s all in with the cultists. This is all about winning the “Best Village” award again. Danny seems to be with them as well, and all Nicholas can do is run away. He falls into an underground pit and sees the bodies of all the people in town that the cult considered bad and killed.

He runs up to Danny for help, and Danny stabs him. But he just faked it to get Nicholas to safety; he doesn’t know anything about the big conspiracy or his father’s involvement.

Nicholas buys some supplies and then comes back in the morning. He goes to the evidence room and stocks up on all the weapons he could ever want. He rides into town on a horse, and everyone sees him coming. We see that all the quaint little villagers are armed to the teeth.

One by one, Danny and Nicholas take out the crazy villagers. The other police show up, and Nicholas tries to explain everything to them. Danny and the Inspector have their family moment, but the rest of the police start to believe him.

Everyone runs to Simon Skinner’s store for the final battle. Butterfield and Simon make a quick getaway, and it’s time for a high-speed chase as the award judges look on in astonishment.

Nicholas and Simon fight in a miniature version of the town like big silly kaijus. Nicholas has a very painful finish. Frank Butterfield makes his escape, but the town swan takes him out instead.

The London police want him back now; they’re numbers are slipping. Nicholas decides to stay in the little town now, where he’s learned to have a good time…

Until crazy old Tom shoots Danny and gets trapped under the sea mine and blows up… everyone. But it’s a comedy, and none of our heroes are hurt too badly. There are way more survivors than there should be, and one year later, Nicholas is the new police chief.

Brian’s Commentary

Nicholas’s supercop has no sense of humor or much of a personality, and he reminded me immediately of the main character in “The Wicker Man” from 1973, which is probably not a coincidence.

Timothy Dalton, as Skinner, was an obvious villain, but also a sort of red herring, since the whole town was really the baddies here. Other than him, there are lots of familiar faces here, so that’s a lot of fun in itself.

Still, there’s very little horror here. There’s a serial killer who wears a black robe and looks like Death, as well as a whole group of cultists/witches.

It’s very good, but don’t watch it as a horror movie.

Kevin’s Commentary

This is probably my favorite of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's movies. And it’s really too much of a stretch to call it horror, but that’s okay. It’s really funny and entertaining.

2010 Tucker and Dale vs Evil

* Directed by Eli Craig

* Written by Eli Craig, Morgan Jurgenson

* Stars Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes

* Watch Now: https://amzn.to/4jUkM01

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This is an excellent horror comedy. It takes the idea that the killer hillbillies in a horror movie are actually the misunderstood good guys. So much depends on your point of view. It’s bloody and violent and very fun.

Spoilery Synopsis

We cut to a couple of true crime podcasters, but they’re both very quickly killed. The credits roll as we shift to a car full of teenagers in West Virginia. Chad makes a hillbilly joke. Their car is passed by two sketchy-looking rednecks in a pickup truck. When they stop to buy beer, those same two guys are there. It all looks very “Deliverance”-y.

At the store, Tucker and Dale, the hillbillies, admire the young college students. Dale likes the girls, but he doesn’t have the self-confidence to talk to them. He walks over to the girls while absent-mindedly carrying a huge scythe; he laughs nervously, and the kids all think he’s some kind of maniac.

Tucker talks to Dale about his self-confidence problems. We soon see that these guys are really deep in the region of “It’s not what it looks like,” when they get pulled over by a cop. They get to the “vacation home” that Tucker just bought, and it’s quite the fixer-upper. It’s a cabin in the woods, to be sure. There are bones hanging from the ceiling and news clippings about serial killings on the walls. They narrowly avoid a booby trap, and we see just how ignorant these two are about what they’ve stumbled into.

Not far away, Chad and the gang talk about “The Memorial Day Massacre” twenty years ago that happened right here. We get a flashback to when that all happened. It’s like every serial-killer-in-the-woods movie we’ve ever seen.

Tucker and Dale are out on the lake fishing. A bunch of the campers go skinny dipping. One of the girls has an accident, and Dale rescues her. One of the other campers sees this. “We’ve got your friend,” Dale yells, and they all run away.

Allison wakes up in the morning at the cabin, and she’s terrified of Dale and his pancakes. The teenagers walk through the woods and blow the whole thing out of proportion.

Dale explains what really happened to Allison, and she understands. They make friends and start playing board games together. Meanwhile, Tucker is outside working with his chainsaw as Mitch, one of the kids, approaches. Tucker cuts into a bee nest and reacts badly, terrifying everyone with his chainsaw antics. Mitch gets impaled on a tree branch and dies. The body is soon found by the other kids, who assume the hillbillies are murderers; Chad says, “It’s us versus them!”

Tucker walks back to the cabin, and he’s covered in bee welts. Dale pulls the stingers out, one by one, and Tucker talks about how afraid Mitch looked when he saw the bees.

The kids hide and overhear Dale talking about “beating the crap out of Allison and finishing her off.” He means, of course, at their trivia game, but they don’t hear that part. Then Tucker starts working on cleaning up the dead wood around the cabin with their wood-chipping machine. Dale and Allison dig an outhouse hole, and the kids think they’re making her dig her own grave. Two of the college students attack the men, and that goes hilariously badly for both of them. Allison is knocked unconscious in the action.

Tucker is amazed that one of the college students ran and jumped into his wood chipper (he tripped when aiming to attack Tucker). Dale talks about one of them impaling himself on a spear right in front of him. “This is a suicide pact,” Tucker speculates. They could call the police, but what would they say? Who would they believe?

Out in the woods, Chad suggests that this is an amazing opportunity to kill some rednecks. The rest of the kids run into the sheriff, and they drive back to investigate. Meanwhile, Tucker and Dale try to unplug the wood chipper.

Tucker tells the cop, “We have had a doozy of a day. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, these kids started killing themselves all over my property.” They go inside, and the sheriff runs right into the booby trap from before. Chad starts shooting at the guys, and Tucker blames the whole thing on Dale.

When Chad takes Dale’s dog as a hostage, the guys fight back with a nail gun. He’s only a distraction as Tucker frees the dog, which leads to another chase through the woods. They soon catch Tucker and hang him upside-down from a tree.

Allison wakes up, and Dale tells her what’s been going on as he cries. She offers to clear up all the misunderstandings and goes outside, where she sees the carnage. She finds Tucker’s shirt with a couple of fingers inside. He soon tracks down Tucker, who says, “This vacation sucks.”

Chad and the other kids show up, and Allison explains it all to them, but Chad just wants to kill some hillbillies. They think she’s got “Stockholm Syndrome.” Chad’s just a psychopath.

Allison gets Chad and Dale to sit down and talk, all diplomatic-like. Chad explains how his parents were attacked in the Memorial Day Massacre twenty years ago. The rednecks of the time captured his mother and killed his father.

Outside, Jason and Chloe have been waiting to come inside and save the day with a weed whacker. They break in and kill Naomi by accident. Chad accidentally sets Jason on fire. The whole cabin ends up exploding, much to Tucker’s dismay. “I’m a terrible therapist,” whines Allison.

Chad gets up and comes outside with his axe. Tucker, Dale, and Allison run to the truck and drive away– right into a tree. While they’re unconscious, Chad takes Allison away.

Tucker gives Dale a rousing speech about how Dale’s not as stupid and ugly as he thinks he is. Tucker’s badly hurt, so it’s up to Dale to save Allison.

Chad has Allison literally tied to a lumber mill saw; he’s burned and crazy now. Dale decides to embrace his inner “killer hillbilly.” Chad starts up the buzzsaw as he and Dale fight.

Allison finds a newspaper article that explains that Chad’s parents were the Memorial Day Murderers; it’s all genetic! “Chad– you’re half hillbilly!” Dale then kills Chad with chamomile tea.

The news reporters are calling it a “mass suicide,” and also that there was a killer who was never found. Tucker, in the hospital, asks Dale about Allison. They’re going bowling, so it’s a date! Also, Dale has learned not to help people now.

Brian’s Commentary

It’s all a comedy of misunderstanding, of course, but it uses all the horror movie tropes. The gore and deaths are really well done, and always funny. It uses all the killer-in-the-woods tropes, but it’s totally turned around since the kids are the bad ones.

Tucker and Dale are hilarious, and we absolutely should have had half a dozen sequels by now. It’s very possibly my favorite horror-comedy.

Kevin’s Commentary

This is really excellent. There are lots of laughs, and I liked it even better this second viewing. The script is great, and Tucker and Dale are perfectly cast.

1951 The Man from Planet X

* Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer

* Written by Aubrey Wisberg, Jack Pollexfen

* Stars Robert Clarke, Margaret Field, Raymond Bond

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 11 Minutes

* Trailer:

* Get it from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3FiB6t9

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This is mainly a classic example of early 1950s science fiction, but it’s got some horror elements with alien scares, peril from space, and conniving humans. It’s certainly dated, but that adds to the fun. We enjoyed the watch.

Spoilery Synopsis

In the dark castle on the hill, a man wonders what happened to the girl and her father. He expects that he’ll be dead by morning as well, but he intends to fight. He’s a reporter, and he writes down his story about meeting a man from Planet X face to face. We flash back…

A new planet has arrived from nowhere, and it’s all very mysterious. John Lawrence and Professor Blaine talk about mysteries from the sky. The new planet isn’t going to collide with the Earth, but it’s going to come really close. Professor Elliot discovered the new world, and he’s gone to Burry Island, the place that’s going to be closest to the new planet.

John goes to the remote Scottish island where Elliot is staying. He’s met by Enid, the professor’s daughter. They drive up to the old castle on the hill, where he meets Elliot and Dr. Mears, whom John doesn’t like. Mears just showed up two weeks ago, one of Elliot’s former students. Elliot admits he’s not sure what’s going to happen as the planet gets really close in a few days.

John and Enid go for a walk on the foggy moors, and John likes what he sees, in all the meanings of the word. They find a strange metal thing on the ground that looks like a bomb or missile. Dr. Elliot can’t explain it either, but he thinks it may have come from outer space, as the metal is unknown. Mears points out how important that metal is to science.

After dropping John off at the inn in town, Enid gets a flat tire on the foggy old country road. She sees a flashing light out on the moor and finds a space rocket that has landed out there. She looks in the window and sees an alien face inside. She screams and runs all the way back to the castle.

The old professor thinks she’s imagined it all, so she takes him out there; Mears skulks along behind them. When Elliot looks in through the window, there’s no one inside. A beam from the ship shines on the old professor, who goes into some kind of trance. He feels better later and tells the whole story to John.

When John sees the spaceship, he says it looks like “A big diving bell,” and the professor says there’s not much difference between water and space, so why not? Then they see the spaceman, who appears to be holding a gun. It collapses as the alien tries to adjust his space suit.

The alien soon recovers and gets up. They try to communicate, but that doesn’t work, so it follows them home to the castle, much to Enid’s surprise. Dr. Mears wants to use math to communicate with the alien. John doesn’t trust Mears, and Mears knows it.

Alone, Mears works his math with the creature, hoping to learn something he can use for profit. He has no plans to share his knowledge with anyone else. He overpowers the very weak alien and turns down the gas it breathes. He goes in and tells Elliot that he’s had no luck.

Enid goes into the room with the creature and screams.

John returns and finds Enid missing, as is the creature. He and Mears walk back to the spaceship to see if they are there. They aren’t there, so John goes back to the castle, leaving Mears there.

The constable and another man arrive to talk to Elliot. Some men from the village have vanished. John’s not willing to tell them the story, but he’s willing to take the constable out to the moor and show him. They go back to where the spaceship was, but it’s not there now, and neither is Mears.

Back in the village, the second villager shows up and says that Professor Elliot went off with the alien and Mears. John says what he knows, which sends all the villagers off in a panic. The constable reports that the phone lines are out, so they try to signal a passing ship.

Meanwhile, more villagers are starting to work for the alien, all mind-controlled. John finds more men out by the alien ship, digging.

Scotland Yard sends two men; the ship did get their message. They want to bring in the military. John says he has a plan, and the police decide to go along with it. They give him until eleven o’clock– the planet will be at its closest at midnight.

We cut to the opening sequence, as John writes out his story before time runs out. He goes to the ship, where he encounters Elliot and Mears. He tells Elliot to walk back to town. Mears explains what the alien is doing; there’s going to be an invasion since the alien’s planet is dying. He tells the mind-controlled slave workers to walk away, and they do it.

The alien comes outside, and John tackles it, turning his valve off. It soon dies. He sends Enid and Mears to safety, but the alien, not as dead as it would appear, gets back up. Mears decides to run back to the ship as the army starts shooting at it. Mears get shot in the back by the soldiers before the ship explodes.

Meanwhile, Planet X gets really close to the Earth, and everyone watches as it passes harmlessly. John and Enid discuss how the government is going to cover it all up. Enid thinks the creature was friendly, and Mears was lying about the invasion.

Brian’s Commentary

The 1950s were known for their atomic horrors and flying saucer movies, but this is one of the early ones, and it was very influential in what followed.

We don’t know what Mears did back in the day for John to distrust him, but the feeling is obvious. Any planet that came that close to Earth would be a much bigger deal than the film suggests. Also, we don’t know for sure at the end what the creature’s motivations were, invasion or just exploration? Mears is the only real death in the film, and the soldiers did that.

The alien is possibly the least emotive creature ever filmed. It’s just a fixed head inside a glass helmet, no moving mouth, blinking eyes, or anything. Well, I guess that does make it pretty alien. The acting is good, the pacing is fine, but the alien really makes it hard to take seriously.

Kevin’s Commentary

The science is pretty bad, but it’s a decent watch for entertainment. The alien and effects are simple and dated. It was a great year for science fiction: “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” “The Thing From Another World,” and “When Worlds Collide” were all released in 1951, too. This is one to either relax and enjoy for what it is or make fun of it mercilessly. It depends on the mood you’re in.

Short Films:

2023 Short Film The Fisherman’s Wife

* Directed by: Jared Watson

* Written by: Jared Watson

* Stars: Kelsey Carthew, Cairlin Riley, T. Ryder Smith

* Run Time: 8:11

* Watch it:

What Happens

A fisherman wanders the deserted beach, scrounging for whatever he can find, which is mostly garbage. He continues on with his futile search until he sees a woman lying in the sand. No, not a woman– a mermaid caught in a net!

He carries her home, but she’s gasping and having difficulty breathing. He boils water in a pot and then pulls out the butcher’s knife… No, it’s not what it looks like. Is it?

Commentary

This is one messed-up family.

It’s all very dark and depressing, lonely and filthy. It’s post-apocalyptic even, but it’s still hilarious in its weirdness. It’s very ponderous and slow-moving, and that just adds to the oddball charm here.

It’s very cool!

2024 Short Film The Noise Next Door

* Directed by: Christopher Cox

* Written by: Christopher Cox

* Stars: James Sanger, Scott Bolger, Natalie Polisson

* Run Time: 13:09

* Watch it:

What Happens

Jay just moved into a new, small apartment, and he’s not too impressed with it. As he talks to his mother, he hears someone bumping into the wall from the other side. He knocks on the neighbor’s door, and the man inside apologizes for watching his movie too loudly.

The thumping continues, and it’s clearly not a movie. He looks through his door’s peephole and sees a woman crying. When he opens the door, no one is there. He checks with the neighbors again, and it’s not her. They have no idea what the sounds are, and they’re also tired of being bothered.

He calls the apartment manager to report it. He’s not about to let it slide without investigating further, and he soon learns he shouldn’t have…

Commentary

It’s time for a new apartment!

From the neighbor’s point of view, Jay is just a nut. From his point of view, he’s trying to help. We don’t know until the end what’s really going on. I kept waiting for someone to say, “Oh, it’s THAT apartment,” like they knew– it took a while, but that’s exactly what happened.

This is very nicely paced and fast-moving. It’s very well done and makes perfect sense. It ratchets up the tension right up to the end. Excellent!

2023 Short Film Eyestring

* Directed by: Javier Devitt

* Written by: Alena Chinault, Javier Devitt

* Stars: Jeannie Bolet, Alena Chinault, Erin Grant

* Run Time: 8 Minutes

* Watch it:

What Happens

Veronica talks on the phone, and the phone-in therapist on the other end talks about balance and her getting out more. As she talks, she starts to pull a little hair out of her eye. Except the hair pulls and pulls… Credits roll.

She’s out driving now, and the eye-hair is hanging down the side of her face. She calls her “concierge” from earlier, but she can’t talk to the same guy from earlier– the “therapists” are all assigned randomly.

She decides to go to the store and pick up some “eye care products,” including scissors…

Commentary

Wait– people actually call those phone-therapy lines?

Ew. Nothing’s worse than stuff in your eye. Except maybe something coming out of your eye.

It’s well shot and well acted. None of this goes the way you’d expect, which is the best part!

2025 Short Film Play or Die

* Directed by: Luca Zanzlorenzi

* Written by:

* Stars: Silvia Barattini

* Run Time: 6:17

* Watch it:

What Happens

A woman sits alone in her room at night and looks at the “Play or Die” screen on her computer. After deliberating for a moment, she clicks “Accept.” It’s a one-million-dollar challenge, and it's worth the risk for her. She looks at her bank account, and the money is suddenly all there. She has to follow the rules exactly, or “you’ll lose it all.”

The rules say, “Turn off all the lights, lock the door, and do not look behind you.”

It’s not going to be pretty, is it?

Commentary

Not following the rules is one thing, but she did as instructed in the end, so why did they kill her? Half of the short film was a black screen, so we’re left to imagine what happened.

I can live with the darkness, but the game broke its own rules, which is a cheat.

Nope. Didn’t like this one.

2022 Short Film Searchers

* Directed by: Isaac Ruth

* Written by: Isaac Ruth

* Stars: Michelle Lukiman, Christine Renaud, Ash Yap

* Run Time: 12:36

* Watch it:

What Happens

A woman wakes up from a nightmare of bones. She’s asked to search for a missing six-year-old, and she tells her contact, “This is the last time.”

Liv drives out to Salton Sea, a mostly dead community in the desert. She goes to see the girl’s mother, who is evasive and paranoid about her kidnapped daughter. She tells the story about finding that her daughter was missing one night.

It wasn’t the garden-variety kidnapper. It’s also not just one missing kid– it’s six, just this year…

Commentary

It’s one of those “what’s really going on here” type of stories, well acted and well shot. The locations and scenery here are really good. There’s no resolution to the story, and we’re left with a couple of mysteries. The director calls it a “Proof of concept” film, and I’m intrigued, but it’s not a story in itself. I’d totally watch a feature-length film expanding on this.

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We’ve got three new releases this week as well as a pair of oldies. We’ll open on the not-Poohverse “Piglet” and then go to church for “Consecration.” For our oldies, we’ll take a look at one more episode that even Pinhead didn’t show up for in “Hellraiser: Revelations” from 2011, followed by the remake of “House of Wax” from 2005. And we’ve got more shorts as well!

“The Horror Guys Guide to the Horror Films of Christopher Lee” is available NOW!

https://www.horrormonthly.com/horror-guys-guides/christopher-lee-filmsCheck out our selection of short horror biographies, including Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and many more: https://www.hourlongpress.com/

The latest issue of “Horror Monthly” is now on sale! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.com

Mainstream Films:

2025 Piglet

* Directed by Andrea M. Catinella

* Written by Harry Boxley

* Stars Alexander Butler, Lauren Staerck, Alina Desmond

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 23 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This isn’t the Piglet from “Pooh: Blood and Honey,” it’s a separate tale. This Piglet is a big, mutated guy wearing a mask and having a big appetite for killing. Reminiscent of Leatherface from “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” movies. The music and accents required subtitles. Brian was harsher on it than Kevin was, who found it entertaining more than not. But we both agree it didn’t show us enough new to really be interesting. It’s not a standout film, and we thought it was okay at best.

Spoilery Synopsis

A prison van stops in the woods so the driver can pee. “Is it true what they say about him? About the experiment… and his family?” The prisoner was part of a scientific experiment that deformed him. Dr. Bickley turned the scrawny man into a huge killing machine. He then murdered the people in the prison. Naturally, the prisoner gets out of his chains and kills all three of the inept security guards. The masked killer returns to his lair and puts on a pig mask. Credits roll.

A carload of party girls stop on the side of the road so one of them can throw up. Kate is upset about hiding from her insane boyfriend. Two other girls talk about the pig serial-killer who used to operate in this area. A man comes out of the woods and tells them not to go to the camp, as bad things always happen there.

A man in a cowboy hat talks to Piglet about the girls who will be coming to stay at the farm. Piglet can have his pick of one of the girls; the rest will go in the freezer.

The girls arrive at Mr. Hogarth’s farm for the first time in ten years. Kate sees Piglet in the woods, but only for a moment. Mr. Hogarth, the man in the cowboy hat, shows the girls around; he runs the camp.

On the road, three other people stop their car with a breakdown and have to walk the rest of the way to camp through the forest. Courtney is autistic or something and forces them to stop so she can draw. As they wait, the other two stop for sex. Piglet kills the couple, Riley and Bruce, with a big meat hook. Courtney goes looking for them and finds herself in a bear trap until Piglet catches up to her.

Kate gets a scare from a man covered in blood. The police come and pick up the homeless man as Mr. Hogarth assures the girls that animals won’t come into the camp. One of the girls tells the story about the local serial killer they used to call “Piglet,” who fell in love with a girl named Kate.

Judith soon finds Courtney chained up in the barn and hides while Piglet comes in and kills Courtney with a hook before killing Judith as well.

Kate and Susie talk about Spencer, Kate’s crazy ex, who used to follow her around and stalk her. She feels like that again. They both plan to move to Salt Lake City. Meanwhile, Alex and Dianne make out in the hot tub as Mr. Hogarth watches. Hogarth then kills Dianne with an axe.

Alex, Kate, and Susie wonder what happened to all their friends. They talk about making a phone call, but try to drive to town instead; the car has been sabotaged.

Hogarth and Piglet work together to kill Alex with a sledgehammer. Kate thinks Spencer has followed them and is causing all their troubles. Bret, the weird harbinger from the woods, shows up and tells them they need to leave– he offers them gas for their car. They soon see Piglet, and the chase is on. Bret shoots Piglet, and then the girls take his gun and force him to drive them to town. Bret explains the whole thing, but Susie and Kate are skeptical. Hogarth comes outside and blames Bret for keeping a bloodthirsty monster on the grounds.

Piglet shows up and kills Bret while Hogart shoots Susie in the leg. Piglet takes Susie to the barn and chains her up. He then peels her face off with the help of his knife.

Kate runs to the road and flags down a cop, Officer Burke, who handcuffs her and takes her back to Hogarth and Piglet. They all sit around and sing “Happy Birthday to you” to Kate. Instead of a birthday cake, they give her a foot with a candle wedged on top; they’re cannibals. “Piglet’s chosen you. We want you to join the family. He needs a mate. He’ll take the mask off for the honeymoon.”

Kate seduces Officer Burke and attacks him as well as Hogarth. She runs out to Bret’s car as Piglet comes up behind her. She rams him with the car and then drives off. The car stalls out not too much later, and Kate walks to another barn, where she encounters a man in a welding mask. Piglet grabs the man and kills him right away. She steals the man’s car, but crashes it as well.

Kate knocks Piglet down and goes at him with the axe. She pulls off his mask, and he just vanishes.

Brian’s Commentary

This isn’t part of the “Poohniverse,” as this version of Piglet is just a deformed man wearing a pig mask, not a mutant animal at all. The mask, however, looks just like the one in “Blood and Honey,” but it’s a whole different story. The weird family is more closely related to the one in “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” instead.

The music was so overbearing in the beginning that we had to turn on the subtitles to catch all the details of what was being said. The thick accents were strong enough that we would have needed the subtitles anyway.

The acting is really weak, and the accents are atrocious. If you can make it through the pre-credit sequence and keep your sanity, you might like this one. That opening scene was really the worst of it, but it never really gets good.

It’s not awful for a low-budget indie flick, but it doesn’t really do anything we haven’t seen many times before. I never thought I’d say it about a movie, but it’s no “Pooh: Blood and Honey.”

Kevin’s Commentary

I don’t disagree with any points Brian made, but I did find it entertaining enough to keep me interested - a fundamental requirement to get any kind of thumbs up from me. The short run time helps, with minimal time wasted - it does have a lot of gore and kills, and the effects are realistic.

2023 Consecration

* Directed by Christopher Smith

* Written by Christopher Smith, Laurie Cook

* Stars Jena Malone, Danny Huston, Thoren Ferguson

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 31 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This has a little bit of a slow start, but we do gradually get to find out what’s really going on and who’s behind it. The movie blurs the lines a little between good and evil, right and wrong. And raises some questions about who is really in charge. We thought it had a cool wrap-up and liked it a lot.

Spoilery Synopsis

A woman walks down the street thinking about guardian angels. Suddenly, an old nun walks up and points a gun at her.

We cut to the same woman, Grace, giving an eye exam to an old woman. She goes to see John, an old friend and teacher, about the old woman’s case. She goes home to work on her computer when, suddenly, the lights go out. We get glimpses of a nun in the background, inside the house, but Grace doesn’t see anything. She gets a phone call from the police, who say they’ve found the body of her brother, the victim of a murder suicide.

Credits roll as she travels to the remote convent where her brother’s body was found. DCI Harris fills her in on the investigation. They think Grace’s brother, a priest, killed another priest and then himself. Harris is trying to piece together what actually happened and why. He tells the story about how one of the nuns thought they saw the devil and poked their own eye out. They’re an extreme sect.

Grace and Harris meet Mother Superior, and we see that Grace isn’t interested in religion at all. The old woman blames a demon for the deaths. She gets a vision of Michael warning her that it’s not safe there; then she faints.

When Grace wakes up, she meets Father Romero from the Vatican. She goes back to sleep and dreams about a middle-ages witch hunt. She goes to the place where Michael died and sees many nuns dropping off the same cliff. She faints again and wakes up in the convent. She confronts the whole group of nuns at dinnertime.

Father Romero takes Grace on a tour of the ruins of the old church and explains the history of the place. He seems straightforward and honest, exposing that the Mother Superior cleaned up Michael’s body before the police arrived.

She goes through Michael's books and finds a really weird one that she can’t read. Except that she can read it somehow. We get another flashback to young Grace doing things she shouldn’t be able to.

We cut to Romero arguing with Mother Superior and the other involved nuns. Grace and Sister Meg talk about life in the convent.

DCI Harris questions Mother Superior. Kate’s rude to all the religious people, and we soon get a flashback as to why. Her father was a religious nut who kept them locked in cages, which explains her attitude and also why the two siblings have a secret code that only they can read. Kate watched as her father killed their mother.

When their father was captured, the convent tried to adopt the two children. We get a flashback to that as well, but the old priest and nun really only wanted Grace. As the kidnapping progressed, something happened, and a truck ran into the kidnappers.

She tells this to Romero, who believes Michael came there to find a relic. He offers several ancient books to Grace, and they’re in code as well. The same code she thought was her and her brother’s. The books talk about the Knights of the Morning Star and his shadow. We get another flashback to Grace’s brother Michael being tortured for information about the relic. He refuses to talk, and when he gets up he stabs the old priest, which is how he died.

Grace watches as a nun stabs herself, and the next thing we see, she’s talking to DCI Harris about what she’s learned. She stops in at the prison to meet her father and asks why he did the things he did. He believes that she’s the devil’s own child, and he should have done even worse. He’d died in a storm, and she prayed for him to come back, which he did, but he wasn’t the same after. When she tells him that Michael died, he tells her to “bring him back.” He doesn’t think she can die. He points out that wherever she goes, death and destruction soon follow.

Mother Superior talks to Harris, and she says that Grace is the relic; not only that, but Grace knows this herself.

Grace watches as an invisible force beats up one of the nuns who was trying to hurt Grace. She walks back to the convent, where no one seems surprised that she’s now covered in blood.

Father Romero does a prayer to “consecrate her,” and then opens up a door to an underground place beneath the church. “She must be contained for eternity; her power is a threat to Christ,” we hear someone say. As Romero tells the nuns to seal the crypt, all Hell breaks loose in the church, killing him. “So that was your plan, to bury me in a tomb? What happened to forgiveness?” Grace asks.

Grace goes up to the “suicide ledge” and starts walking backwards, the way Romero explained to her. Before she gets too close to the edge, Harris shows up and tries to talk her out of it.

She jumps. And falls very, very slowly. Slowly enough for another flashback. We see that somehow, Grace has been time-travelling through young Grace’s childhood, saving her from many bad things, sometimes invisibly. She even has a conversation with the about-to-die Michael. She tries to persuade him not to, but he says he must. The mother superior and two nuns there feel invisible Grace push past them and see Michael’s one-sided conversation with invisible Grace. Before he jumps to his death. Then she finishes her own fall off the cliff.

In the morning, Harris sends boats out to find Grace’s body, but that’s not easy and nothing is found. Mother Superior tells him that Grace isn’t dead; she’ll go on using her power until she’s stopped.

We flash to Grace, drinking with her old friend John. She’s looking very healthy now. She still doesn’t like churches. John mentions that the old woman from the beginning now has perfect sight; it seems to be a miracle.

We cut back to the opening scene, with Mother Superior pointing a gun at Grace on the street. Out of nowhere, she’s hit by a vehicle and killed. Grace is her own guardian angel...

Brian’s Commentary

It’s slow going in the beginning, and we don’t know who’s good or bad for a very long while. Still, the mystery and suspense build up continuously, and it comes to a fun ending.

It looks good, it’s well acted, it’s a mystery where we do get all the answers in the end. I liked it.

Kevin’s Commentary

I liked the places it went with theology and angels, and how far people would go to protect the status quo. Basically, I think, she’s a fallen angel slumming as a human, hiding the memory of who she really is from herself most of the time. Very cool. It does have a slow start, but I thought the finish was great. I highly recommend it.

2025 Self Driver

* Directed by Michael Pierro

* Written by Michael Pierro

* Stars Nathanael Chadwick, Reece Presley, Lauren Welchner

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 30 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

We weren’t sure going into this one, the trailer looked iffy. But it turns out the trailer doesn’t do it justice. It was very good. Nathanael Chadwick is perfectly cast in the lead, which is good since the majority of the movie is about him driving around and doing stuff. It moves well as things get more complicated through the night. We both liked it a lot.

Spoilery Synopsis

A man drives a car as the credits roll. D, the driver, eats his generic fast food in the car and gets a phone call from his landlord, which he ignores. His girlfriend calls and asks when he’s coming home, but this is Friday, the day that pays the best. She complains that there’s no WiFi; he probably didn’t pay the bill.

He opens the VRMR! App, a rideshare thing. He picks up people and takes them where they want to go, and he does a variety of weird characters that are all critical. They. Are. Annoying.

One of the clients offers him a business card for Tonomo, a new company that offers better pay and a signing bonus. Four or five thousand dollars a night, with the right attitude. He doesn’t actually say it’s legal, but D thinks about it. D calls VRMR! on the phone, and it’s the usual annoying runaround with the voice system and “hold music.” He wants to get paid early, but that’s not going to happen.

He keeps on driving and picks up two drunk women, one of whom pukes all over his back seat. It costs even more money to wash the car. The VRMR! app says it’s time for a mandatory 8-hour break.

He calls Nick with Tonomo about the job. Nick installs an app on D’s phone. D signs the mile-long “Terms and Conditions” page. “Always do what the app tells you; never speak to the clients. If you quit in the middle of a job, you lose all your money.”

D hits “Start,” and the app tells him where to go. He misses a turn, and that already cost him a penalty deduction. He gets to the destination, and the app has him wait. He picks up a woman and drives her where the app says to go. As he drives, she changes into an angel costume. He drops her off in an alley, but she wants him to wait for her.

The payment for the job comes to $100. The next job is for $500, but he promised the girl he’d wait. He accepts the job anyway and drives on. The whole thing has a lot of time pressure, so he has no choice. On this job, he just carries a package.

D stops and a man gets in, and he’s loud and obnoxious; he says he’s a pusher. D drops the guy off and continues with the package. He goes around the block, and the app tells him to pick up the same guy. It looks a lot like he’s a getaway driver now. D and the man argue over the route, but D insists on following the app. The man gives D a gun to dispose of and some drugs as a tip. He ends up with $450 for that job.

Between jobs, D tastes one of the drug-coated sugar cubes the man gave him but doesn’t really take it.

He takes on another $500 job. This one has him move to the back seat next to a passenger and hit the man. “It’s OK, just do it,” says the man. D does the job. Each punch is $50, again and again. It gets easier for D around the fourth punch. With all the bonuses, he makes a bunch.

The app tells him to “rest now.” He uses the time to clean up the blood on the back seat. He goes back to the place he dropped off the angel woman, but she’s not there.

The next job is $2000. Before accepting, he tries one of the sugar cubes. They stop and pick up two girls, one is very high or drunk, and it might be a matter of sex trafficking. She cries and fights, and D just sits there. About this time, the drugs D took start kicking in. He sits there while the brother and sister carry the stoned girl into a warehouse. When they come out, they yell at each other and then start making out on the hood of the car.

D starts seriously hallucinating now, but he’s also driving where he needs to go. Something went wrong with the girl they dropped off, so they need another one. They stop and grab the girl with the angel wings from earlier. They drive back to the sex trafficking warehouse, and the brother and sister have to deal with a more immediate problem.

D digs out that gun from earlier. He gives the angel girl the other sugar cube, and she wakes right up. The two run away from the car but the two soon catch and beat up D. The car itself rescues D from the evil pair.

“Job abandoned: Payout $0” D loses all the money for the evening’s work.

He gets back in his car and drives away. VRBR! sends him a text asking if he wants to drive some more, which he accepts. Back to the grind…

Brian’s Commentary

The trailer didn’t do this one justice. It’s mostly just one guy and a few passengers, very simple. For quite a while into this, I was thinking, “I’d do this job,” but then it got a bit excessive.

The jobs weren’t that hard from D’s point of view, I dunno what he thought was going to happen taking LSD or whatever it was during the work.

It was well shot, looked good, was nicely paced, and kept my interest throughout. Very cool!

Kevin’s Commentary

I was reminded of “13 Sins”(2014), where the guy had to do progressively more twisted things with anonymous instructions.

I like being pleasantly surprised by a movie, and this is one that does that. The trailer looked like a maybe, and it turned out to be a winner. Things build nicely and move well, with just enough dark humor to spice it up. I’d recommend it.

2011 Hellraiser: Revelations

* Directed by Victor Garcia

* Written by Gary J. Tunnicliffe, Clive Barker

* Stars Steven Brand, Nick Eversman, Tracey Fairaway, Jay Gillespie

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 15 Minutes

* Trailer:

* Watch it: https://amzn.to/43zJXQp

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

Unlike some of the previous sequels that were a standalone movie with a little Hellraiser stuff barely tacked on, this was made as a Hellraiser movie. Clive Barker wasn’t involved because he no longer held the rights, and he vehemently denounced it, but it does tap into a lot of elements from the first two movies. Doug Bradley isn’t involved either and reportedly said bad things about it. There’s a different and less effective Pinhead actor. All things considered, though, it was surprisingly pretty entertaining and certainly better than some of the previous sequels.

Spoilery Synopsis

We open on a found-footage style camera view of two guys leaving L.A. to get one of the guys some sex. Nico and Steven are going to Tijuana for hookers. Their car gets stolen, and the next thing they know, they’re playing with a cursed puzzle box. Lights blink, bells ring, and the walls glow. Pinhead shows up for his box and Nico’s soul.

We cut to Steven’s mother and sister discussing the video we just watched. Ross, Steven’s father, doesn’t want to talk about Steven, but Emma does. They all argue. Pinhead listens from another dimension. Emma sneaks into the bedroom and watches the rest of Steven’s video. Nico kills a hooker, so that kinda spoils the trip.

Back at home, Steven’s parents, Ross and Sarah, talk to Nico’s parents, Peter and Kate. As far as they know, both boys went missing and were presumed murdered. We see that Emma has the puzzle box. As she plays with the box, Steven suddenly appears, more or less alive.

The phones are dead, and now all of a sudden, everyone’s cars are gone. The parents think some kind of psycho has followed Steven and has cut the phone lines and stolen the cars. They lock all the doors and plan to run for help in the morning.

Emma continues to play with the box, which escalates the weirdness inside the house. When the lights come back on, Steven is gone again. They soon find him outside, “They’re coming. The vagrant called them Cenobites.”

We get another flashback to Mexico, where the boys talk about not getting caught for the hooker’s murder. A vagrant comes over and offers them a puzzle cube; “It’s experience. A form of ultimate arousal.” He gives the box to Nico. Not long after, Nico opens the box and all Hell breaks loose. Pinhead comes and takes Nico away.

Steven hires a hooker and kills her as well, thinking it will help Nico. Her blood brings Nico partially back, but he needs much more.

Back in the present, Steven flashes back to having his skin peeled off. Steven wakes up and makes a move on his own sister before kissing her.

The vagrant shows up outside. “He’s here. The one who escaped. They will have him again.” Peter shoots the guy, but the vagrant then slices up Peter’s face, killing him. Steven then shoots Ross. “This isn’t you talking,” says Ross.

Flashback to Mexico again as Steven hires and starts to kill another hooker. He stops halfway through when he sees she has a baby. Nico comes in and argues with Steven, who finishes the job. Nico wants one more, a man, so he can wear his skin. Steven refuses, so Nico kills him and takes his skin. This has been Nico in the house with his parents all along!

After much monologuing from Steven-skin-Nico, Emma brings him the box. She stabs him as well, but he still forces her to open the box.

Pinhead and the other Cenobites, including Steven as an apprentice Nailhead, come for Nico. Pinhead only wants one thing, and that’s Nico. When Ross shoots Nico, Pinhead needs someone as payment, so he tears Sarah apart. Then they send Emma home with Ross, who dies. Emma looks at the box, maybe she’ll try again.

Brian’s Commentary

This is the first film where Pinhead isn’t played by Doug Bradley. Stephen Smith Collins isn’t a great substitute. Clive Barker refused to have anything at all to do with the film in a very clear way. That said, at least it is clearly a Hellraiser story, unlike a lot of the past half-dozen films in the series. Despite Barker’s opinion, this is not the worst of the series.

Kevin’s Commentary

After the previous sequels, I was bracing myself for the worst. I was pleasantly surprised to find this one wasn’t too bad. It’s not great, certainly not up to par with the first two movies, but it does have some of the elements from them. Trivia says it was a rush job thrown together so the company could maintain their rights. I’d call it watchable with no regret, having seen it.

2005 House of Wax

* Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

* Written by Charles Belden, Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes

* Stars Chad Michael Murray, Paris Hilton, Elisha Cuthbert

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 53 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

It’s a remake, in name only, of the 1953 original. That said, though, this had a good script, actors who knew what to do with it, good direction, and excellent special effects. Plus top-notch death scenes. It’s a good one to go into blind if you can. We thought it was very entertaining.

Spoilery Synopsis

It’s 1974, and we watch as someone fills a mask mold with melted wax as their child calmly eats cereal. The other child comes in, and he’s an out-of-control monster who has to be tied and duct-taped to the high chair. That kid ain’t normal. Credits roll.

In the present day, Carly and Paige talk about starting their internships after their trip, as Wade shows up. Blake finds a shortcut on the GPS for their planned road trip. Nick and Dalton are also going, but no one really wants them to.

Halfway through the shortcut, there’s a detour, and they all decide to pull over for a nap. Nick is just out of jail, and he blames Carly and Wade for ratting him out. Nick and Carly are twins, and they clearly don’t like each other much. The wind kicks up, and there’s a terrible stench coming from the woods.

A truck stops nearby, just sitting there with the headlights on high, shining at them. Nick throws a bottle at it, smashing one of the headlights. The truck backs up and drives away. After the group goes to sleep, Carly hears someone skulking around outside in the darkness.

In the morning, they all pack up, but Dalton seems to have lost his camera. When they look to see where that smell is coming from, they find a huge pit full of dead animals and at least one person. The group watches as a roadkill collector dumps carcasses from his truck. The hand in the pile is just part of a mannequin.

Also, the belt on Wade’s car has broken - probably sabotaged though they don’t realize that. Wade and Carly go with the roadkill guy to the gas station for a replacement belt to fix Wade’s car. The driver is creepy, has a big knife, and the window won’t open. It’s tense, but he turns out to be okay. The road’s washed out, so they walk the rest of the way to town.

Blake, Paige, Dalton, and Nick get stuck in traffic in the big city; they’re gonna miss the big game, so they turn around and head to where Carly is.

Wade and Carly make it into the little town of Ambrose, but there’s no one on the streets. But there are puppies in a shop window, and they see a lady peek out through some upstairs curtains. They go into the church, and there’s a funeral in progress. They exit quickly. Bo angrily comes out. He runs the gas station. The funeral’s gonna be going on for a while, so they decide to visit the big house of wax they walked past earlier.

Wade notices that “The House of Wax” is literally covered in wax on the outside. It’s closed, but they go inside anyway. The floor and walls are made of wax, as well as almost everything else. The place is dusty and old, but it’s got lots of cool things to see. Carly gets skeeved out, and they go back to the gas station. Carly tells Wade about her being the good twin while Nick was the “vile one.”

Bo returns and invites them to his house to pick up the fan belt. Bo talks about Trudy, who used to be the main artist there. Vincent was Trudy’s son. Dr. Sinclair was Trudy’s husband, a doctor who did bad things. She went crazy, Sinclair killed himself, and their two sons went to foster homes.

Wade soon comes to the conclusion that Bo is one of Trudy’s sons, just before the power goes out and someone attacks him. Bo chases Carly around outside, and she runs back toward town. In the center of town, all the lights come on and there are city noises, but nothing at all is moving.

Vincent drags Wade into his workroom and starts cleaning him up and sewing the hole shut, and waxing all his hair off. Wade is put into a “wax shower” that coats him completely.

Carly runs back to the church and sees that all the parishioners are wax figures, the priest included. It’s Trudy Sinclair’s funeral, and it appears to have been going on for a long time. Bo comes in to talk to his Momma and looks around for Carly, and soon catches her. He straps her to a chair and superglues her mouth shut.

Nick and Dalton arrive in town. Carly yells after getting her lips apart, and Nick comes downstairs and releases her; he knows about Bo now. Dalton goes to the wax museum and finds the very immobilized, yet still alive, Wade. There’s not much skin left under the wax. Vincent shows up and chases Dalton toward the basement workroom before beheading him.

Carly and Nick go to the woman peeking out of the curtain, but that’s just an animatronic wax figure. So are the puppies.

Meanwhile, Paige and Blake have sex in their tent out in the woods. Blake stops to check his phone messages and hears bad news from Carly. Vincent shows up and kills Blake, but Paige runs and hides, but not long enough, so he gets her as well.

Nick and Carly run to the movie theater, which is showing “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.” Inside, they turn the tables and finally kill Bo. Wade and Dalton had the car keys, so the pair decide they have to go back inside the house of wax to find them.

Carly finds a news clipping talking about how Bo and Vincent were Siamese Twins joined at the head. Dr. Sinclair separated them. Vincent ended up with a half face. And Bo was the violent one. We cut to Bo, not as dead as he appeared. Outside, Vincent drives up with Blake and Paige’s bodies in the back of the truck.

Bo and Vincent talk - well, Bo talks - and they’re clearly in on the plot together.

Nick finds Dalton in the wax machine and pulls his reconnected head off by accident. Vincent shows up, and the three fight as the wax-cooking fire flares up. The fire gets out of control, and since the whole building is made of wax, it starts melting. Carly beats Bo to death with a baseball bat for real this time, and Vincent starts to chase them, but the whole place is falling down around them. After a battle, Vincent is killed too.

Bo and Vincent fall through the floor into the burning basement, and Nick and Carly have to claw their way through the walls as the whole place oozes down around them.

In the morning, the police arrive, and there are wax-covered bodies all over town, so no one doubts the story. The sheriff explains that the town has been deserted for ten years, and most people forgot the place even existed.

We hear over the sheriff’s radio that the Sinclairs didn’t have two sons, they had three. On the way out of town, Carly notices the weird roadkill guy waving to them on the way out.

Brian’s Commentary

“Town of Wax” would be more accurate. This is almost nothing like the original from 1953.

The melting building was really well done, but where would anyone have gotten that much wax? The acting was fine, the characters were distinctive, and it didn’t get boring. The whole idea is a little hard to believe, but overall, it was a fun movie

Kevin’s Commentary

I really enjoyed this one, it was actually the third time I’ve seen it. Even knowing the twists, it’s a fun movie. The whole package - script, cast, effects, direction, all work for me.

Short Films:

2018 Short Film And The Baby Screamed

* Directed by: Dan Gitsham

* Written by: Dan Gitsham

* Stars: Fionn Gill, Lisa Backwell, Otto Gitsham-Mair

* Run Time: 3:27

* Watch it:

What Happens

There’s a baby crying on the baby monitor. The baby is always crying on the monitor, so the parents argue about whose turn it is to check on the screaming. The father does his thing, and it stops for a bit. Not a long bit, as the crying starts again. And again. And again.

The father finally comes up with a solution to get a good night’s sleep. This turns out to be a really bad idea.

Commentary

It’s a simple idea and a simple story, but it’s still very effective. It’s darker than I would have preferred, but it does all take place late at night, so I can deal. For a hair over three minutes, it’s worth taking a look.

2024 Short Film The Night Nurse

* Directed by: Tim Delaney

* Written by: Tim Delaney

* Stars: Francesca Anderson, Rachel Brun, Emily Jon Mitchell

* Run Time: 12:15

* Watch it:

What Happens

Tallulah’s stuck in the nursing home at Christmas time. She looks longingly at all the visitors that other people are getting. A stranger waves at her, and Tallulah ignores her; she’s a little bitter. The nurse comes in and reminds her that the sun lamp will help with her memory. He’s nice, and then he leaves.

Late that night, Tallulah hears something from her neighbor and goes to investigate. She sees that smiling stranger from earlier biting her old neighbor’s neck. Could she be a vampire? Whether she is or not, will anyone believe an old woman with dementia? Would it be a bad thing to have just one visitor?

Commentary

The vampire here is surprisingly convincing… and tempting. She makes a lot of logical sense. This old lady’s not so far gone that she can’t put up a fight, and that’s exactly what happens. I had a very good idea how it would end, as they projected that too early on with the nurse.

I was immediately reminded of “The Rule of Jenny Pen” (2025). Old people in nursing homes are generally not taken very seriously when they complain.

It’s well shot, nicely paced, and I thought it was really good.

2023 Short Film Red Velvet

* Directed by: Blake Simon

* Written by: Blake Simon

* Stars: Austin Lynn Hall, Alisha Erozer

* Run Time: 13:00

* Watch it:

What Happens

Jack practices introducing himself; he’s nervous about asking a girl out. He calls an escort service and orders an escort for his motel room. It’s all very automated, and Cassandra will be joining him shortly. He bumps the radio and overhears people discussing that the end of the world is imminent, like tonight, imminent.

Jack’s already ordered the prostitute, so what’s he gonna do? He turns on the news to verify what he heard, and yeah, that’s all accurate. He looks down at his arm, and he’s already infected with whatever it is– maybe. It messes with your head first.

Cassandra comes to the door, and he lets her in. Could she be infected? It’s all very confusing. She’s good enough at her job to almost make Jack forget what’s happening outside. Almost.

Commentary

I kept wondering all along if he was just imagining it, which is what we’re supposed to be wondering. Right up to the end, we’re never sure. But we do get answers!

This is fun. We get enough information about the situation to make it tense, but then Jack’s got a whole lot of tension even before the story begins, and it only gets worse for him.

2024 Short Film “O”

* Directed by: Dominik Balkow

* Written by: Dominik Balkow

* Stars: Nadine Scheidecker

* Run Time: 14:06

* Watch it:

What Happens

We open on a dried-up, mummified-looking mouth making the “O” face. We zoom into the mouth for our story…

A woman looks into the hole, back out at us, and smiles. We cut away and see that she’s looking through a hole in a brick wall. She stands there watching the hole all day, well into the night, until a stranger bumps into her and breaks her concentration.

That night, she dreams about the moaning hole and goes right back to it, this time, with a flashlight.

What’s in the hole? She reaches in and finds nothing.

Before long, all holes start doing it…

Commentary

I immediately wondered if we were going to get some kind of play on the glory-hole, much like “Glorious” from 2022. It’s not quite that twisted!

It’s black-and-white and very sharp. It looks great, and all along, we’re wondering what’s in there, as does the woman. It’s a fun tale of obsession and compulsion.

It’s very weird!

2022 Short Film Sushi Noh

* Directed by: Jayden Rathsam Hua

* Written by: Jayden Rathsam Hua

* Stars: Felino Dolloso, Geneva Phan, Jodine Muir

* Run Time: 18 Minutes

* Watch it:

What Happens

Ellie dances to the music until her uncle yells at her to turn the music off. He seems grouchy and doesn’t like her noisy toys. He breaks her toys and won’t let her call her parents. He’s stuck babysitting her while the parents are away at a conference. He has someone coming over tonight, so he demands that she keep quiet. He turns on a TV show about making sushi, and it’s very strange.

Uncle Donnie gets one of the sushi-making machines that’s even weirder than the commercial. Uncle Donnie soon has his date, but she clearly doesn’t like him. He offers her sushi, and she doesn’t like it. Turns out, his big date is really just trying to proselytize to him. She talks about visualizing their dreams, and Ellie listens to all of it.

Ellie learns to “Emanate” her desires.

Commentary

“Emanate!!!!”

I may never eat sushi again. That may be the worst date ever.

I guess the moral of the story is don’t abuse your family, or you may wind up the victim of a sushi curse.

This is awesome, both silly and terrifying at the same time.

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Some classics, some remakes, and some fun for you this week! We’ll start out with the super-powered “Freaks” from 2019. We’ll then watch the original “Cube” film from 1997 and then the Japanese remake from 2021. We’ll do the sequels another time. We’ll watch a couple of old classics next, “The White Reindeer” from 1952, as well as “The Seventh Seal” from 1957.

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Mainstream Films:

2019 Freaks

* Directed by Zach Lipovsky

* Written by Zach Lipovsky

* Stars Emile Hirsch, Bruce Dern, Grace Park

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 45 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This leans heavily into science fiction, action, thriller aspects while whispering in some horror. It starts out nicely with a bit of mystery and gets more fascinating the more we find out what’s going on in this alternate reality. It was very entertaining with a big thumbs up from both of us.

Spoilery Synopsis

A little girl, Chloe, peeks out the window at the ice cream truck on the street. Her father shoos her away from the window and covers it back up, saying she’s not being a good hider, and the bad guys will find her if she’s not careful. She recites all the details about her made-up identity with her dad. She knows exactly what to do if her father ever doesn’t come home. “I can’t wait until I’m normal,” she whines. They seem happy, but they’re also clearly hiding. Is he some kind of loon?

Then Dad’s eyes start to bleed, which surprises no one. She wonders if her eyes will do that someday. He shouts at her, “You are not normal!” and she laughs. Chloe knows things about “the mountain,” but she’s not supposed to know about that.

Chloe dreams about a monster trying to break in the door, and we see that she’s been drawing scary pictures. Turns out, she sees ghosts. Dad says, “Ghosts aren’t real.”

The next morning, Chloe hears the ice cream man outside again, and someone drops a book through the mail slot, “Mr. Snowcone and the Princess.” Chloe wants ice cream. She sees another little girl at the ice cream truck and wishes out loud repeating for Harper to bring her some. She does, so Chloe opens the door. Harper’s mother, Nancy, also stops by and introduces herself. “She looks so normal,” Nancy says. Dad wonders how Harper knows Chloe’s real name.

Harper wakes up and finds Chloe in her room. This version of Harper is Chloe’s sister, at least Chloe thinks so. And wants Harper to pretend she’s Chloe’s mother. Dad comes in, and Chloe’s alone in the locked room. He offers to just buy her some ice cream since he has to go out for supplies anyway.

A short time later, Dad rushes in, covered in blood and holding a gun. “That’s OK, this mostly isn’t my blood,” he says. “I just gotta be more careful.” Not only has he been shot, he’s forgotten the ice cream. He says they may have to stay hidden for a very long time.

Once Dad passes out, Chloe grabs a gun and hundred-dollar bill and goes outside to get some ice cream. She looks around like she’s never been outside before. “Are we safe from the people who want to kill us?” She asks the ice cream man, who happens to know her name. He lures her into the back of his truck and drives her to “the park.” On the way, they pass a billboard showing someone who bleeds from the eyes and a warning to call 911.

They do, in fact, actually go to the park. The old man asks if Chloe can do anything special. He tries to scare her, and then he tries to make her mad, to get a response. “Is there anything you can do that other people can’t do?” A police officer shows up, and the old man claims to be her grandfather. Chloe gets upset at the cop, and she makes him go away with the power of her mind.

On the way home, the old man explains that Chloe’s mother was his daughter– he really is her grandfather, and he really does take her back home. He hands her a drug to make her father go to sleep the next time he returns.

When he wakes up, Chloe’s father finds that his daughter has a new attitude; she calls him a liar. He says her mother was killed because she couldn’t follow the rules. A little later, Chloe finds her mother in the little room where she was with Harper earlier.

We watch Chloe’s father dozing in front of a news report, “Remembering Dallas Ten Years After the Attack,” and they show the city in ruins. The “Abnormals” or “Freaks” are the subject of discussion. Any Freaks who are running loose are illegal. Most of the Freaks have been relocated to a mountain somewhere. “Living weapons of mass destruction,” calls the newscaster. But the agent being interviewed suggests how wonderful it could be to find an Abnormal child they could raise to be good and on their side.

Chloe somehow ends up in Harper’s room while still at her own house during a sleepover, and all the other girls start calling her a Freak. She also finds her mother chained to the floor.

When Chloe tells her father about what she’s seen, he doesn’t believe any of it. She tries to drug him as instructed, but he figures out what she’s doing. She forces him to go to sleep–without the powder, and her eye bleeds.

Chloe wants to go across the street and pay Nancy to become her new mom, but Grandpa shows up and offers to take Chloe to her real mom. Grandpa explains what happened to Chloe’s mother– her father wouldn’t use his powers to protect the family, since he wanted to hide.

Grandpa takes Chloe to see Agent Ray, the woman from the TV. He pretends to be a priest who’s been taking care of an “Abnormal.” Ray has an easy, painless way to detect mutants by using an ultraviolet flashlight to see if there are traces of blood tears, and the old man looks clear. He wants Ray to take them both to Maddick Mountain. That plan goes south, and the old man makes them both disappear– he can turn invisible! He stabs a cook in the eye, and the overzealous cops shoot that guy as they invisibly escape. He believes that his daughter is still alive and being held at the Evil Mountain.

Chloe’s dad, Henry, appears out of nowhere, and teleports the old man away. He says he’s been looking for her for a week. Then we see that Henry doesn’t teleport, he can slow down and even stop time outside a bubble he projects. The world only advances while he sleeps; it’s only been a few months since Chloe’s mom died, but it’s been years inside the house from their point of view inside the bubble he projects.

Henry takes Chloe and a big pile of money across the street to Nancy and Steven’s house. They expected this; Henry wants to leave Chloe with them with the promise of regular payments. Harper is there as well, and she doesn’t like Chloe, who has been appearing in her room; she’s gonna be a problem. This is a weird situation, and Nancy and Steven argue. Chloe makes the problem go away– for a few minutes before they’re thrown out.

Henry and Chloe go back home, where Grandpa Alan is tied to a chair. As the two men argue, Chloe talks to her mother in the attic. When Henry tries to nail the door shut, Chloe makes him nearly kill himself before passing out herself.

Alan tells Henry that Mary isn’t really dead. This leads to an argument. Chloe notices Nancy, across the street, talking to the police about getting a reward. Chloe makes the policeman stab Nancy in the eye, and then the other cops see her eye bleeding and shoot her.

Chloe gets a vision of her mother strapped to a bed after being tortured. Henry sees it too, this time. He apologizes as they watch two workers get ready to inject something into Mary. Chloe makes them stop, at whatever distance the scientists are away. She then makes the remaining man release Mary, fully possessing him.

Agent Ray comes to the door, which interrupts everything; Henry freezes the entire outside world. Chloe wants Henry to talk to Ray and convince her that he’s normal. Alan shows Henry how to get past Ray’s ultraviolet light test, so he lets her in. They talk about Freaks in the neighborhood like Nancy and Steve. She knows who he is as well as the whole family story. She’s got drones outside ready to kill them all if he doesn’t cooperate, as well as heavily armed cops outside. Meanwhile, Chloe continues to fully control that other security man, who wheels Mary toward the prison exit. Mary has said she has to get outside to have room to use her power.

As Ray and Henry talk, Alan, who is invisible, steals Ray’s gun. Ray says Henry will be killed, but Chloe will be saved and used as a weapon. Ray knows he’s there. She shoots Henry and goes upstairs to find Chloe doing her thing with Mary and the man at the prison. Ray shoots Chloe, but Grandpa gets in the way and blocks the bullet; he dies. Chloe then makes Ray shoot herself.

Henry comes upstairs, and he uses Ray’s radio to tell the men outside that she’s a hostage. Henry freezes time, goes outside, and shoots several of the cops before starting time up again, which gives the rest of them pause.

Inside the mountain, the guards close in on Mary, but Chloe makes them open the doors. Mary then flies away with a shockwave that blasts all the guards outside into pulp, “I know where to find you,” she tells her. Henry slows the Hellfire missile that’s in the process of hitting their roof and he runs out with Chloe.

A bit later, Chloe wakes up just as Henry dies. Mary shows up, she flew all the way there. The shockwave from her landing kills the remaining soldiers closing in on Chloe. She carries Chloe away, who declares that they aren’t going to hide anymore.

Brian’s Commentary

This should not be confused with the 1932 film “Freaks” which is a whole different animal.

We start off with a paranoid, isolating father who appears to be crazy, and it goes quite a long time until we learn otherwise. We’re forty minutes in before we figure out that this is the X-Men universe. The X-Men are fun, but this film is probably much more like the way it would really work out if mutants were real.

Bruce Dern was 83 here and it’s a big part for someone of that age. Lexy Walker, as Chloe, is very young and does an outstanding job here as well. Emile Hirsch looks just like a young Jack Black for some reason, but he’s good too.

It’s a bit minimal on the horror elements, but it was really entertaining.

Kevin’s Commentary

I thought this was very cool. We got to gradually find out what was going on in this alternate world, and once we did it was a cool story. The effects of Chloe’s distance viewing and projection, the time dilation, and the invisibility were all very well done. I’d give it a solid thumbs up.

1997 Cube

* Directed by Vincenzo Natali

* Written by Andre Bijelic, Vincenzo Natali, Graeme Manson

* Stars: Nicole de Boer, Maurice Dean Wint, David Hewlett

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 37 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This is heavy on science fiction, but certainly has the horror elements with trapped people, deadly traps, and gruesome deaths. We travel through the cube trap with the cast, trying to figure out what’s going on as they do.

Spoilery Synopsis

A bald man wakes up on the floor inside an industrial-looking room that’s cube-shaped. Each of the six sides, four walls, floor, and ceiling, has a door in the center. He opens one and goes into the next room, which is identical to the first. He goes through several rooms, lit in different colors. Suddenly, something happens, and the man falls to pieces– literally. We see a razor sharp grid– these rooms are trapped! Credits roll.

A man whose shirt says “Quentin” wakes up another named Worth. They are joined by two women, Leaven and Holloway. Quentin has blood on his hands, and he tells the others about the traps. An older man, Rennes, comes in, and he’s found a way to avoid the trap rooms by throwing his shoes in first. None of them remembers how they got there.

Who built this place? The government? Aliens? Holloway is a doctor, Quentin is a cop, Rennes is a career criminal who is known for escaping prisons. Leaven is a student and Worth is “just an office guy.” The group uses the “boot trick” to move through several more rooms as they start looking for a way out. Leaven notices that each room has a serial number. Rennes gives them all a speech about being careful seconds before being sprayed with acid in the face and melting. So much for the boot method.

Quentin and Leaven look at the serial numbers on the doors and notice that the trapped rooms all have a prime number. The pattern seems to work, and they go through a bunch of rooms, all alike. Once in a while, they hear machinery in the walls doing something. They open a door and find a mentally challenged man inside; he’s Kazan.

They all start getting tired and hungry. Quentin falls into a trap and gets cut, but the room isn’t prime, so they don’t understand that. Quentin and Leaven start to get really annoyed with Kazan, who’s loud and smells bad. They all argue with Worth, who has a bad attitude and doesn’t believe there is a way out. He eventually admits he worked in the office who drew the plans for the shell of the cube. The group all argues about conspiracy theories and ideas about how this place got made. It all starts to sound pretty hopeless, so Quentin beats up Worth.

With Worth’s information, Leaven figures out that the cube has 17,000-plus rooms. She also figures out that the serial numbers are three-dimensional coordinates.

They find a room where the trap is activated by sound, but they have to go through instead of around. They’re all concerned about Kazan, who’s noisy at the best of times, but they all make it through. Afterward, Quentin and Hollway argue about him being abusive. They make it to where they think the door should be, but it’s just a sheer wall outside.

Holloway sings from a rope made of clothing to try and get somewhere “outside,” which doesn’t work. Something moves, and she nearly falls but Quentin catches her. Then Quentin lets her fall to her death.

Leaven, Kazan, Worth, and Quentin decide the best bet is to go down, so they can drop out the bottom. They all stop for a nap first. As the others sleep, Quentin hauls Leaven away to leave the others and go off on their own. It soon becomes apparent that Quentin is a little but insane– and maybe a pedophile as well. Worth comes to the rescue, and the others realize that Quentin killed Holloway. Still, might makes right, so Quentin beats Worth senseless.

Uh-oh. They come to a room and find Rennes’ body. They’ve travelled in a circle somehow. No, they soon figure out that the rooms move around. Leaven does some math, and she says she knows where the exit is. The math is way too advanced for her to figure out, and then Kazan chimes in with the answer; he’s a human calculator (and an excellent driver as well, most likely).

The three manage to escape from Quentin, and they leave him behind. They come to the “bridge” room and wait for it to move. The rooms then shift and they lose Kazan somewhere. He doesn’t go far, and they retrieve him as they end up in the final room. They enter the bridge to the outside.

They see the light outside, but Worth doesn’t want to leave, since he feels that this is all his fault. As he and Leaven talk, Quentin sneaks in behind them and kills Leaven. He also stabs Worth. Kazan goes outside, but Worth hangs onto Quentin just long enough for the room to cut him in half when they move again.

Worth, Badly wounded, lays down next to Leaven’s body as the cubes reset again. Kazan walks out to the exit, alone.

Brian’s Commentary

Julian Richings was on the poster, the trailer, and all the advertising, but he’s only in it for thirty seconds and never says a word. Iconic!

Seven actors and one set. This would have a hard time being more low budget, but it’s really good.

The rooms all made sense until they started talking about permutations, and that’s where they lost me. The movie is essentially a math puzzle.

This was good when it came out, and it still holds up today.

Kevin’s Commentary

Having the rooms be different colors is such a simple idea but so effective in making a single set seem like a maze of rooms. This was my third or fourth time seeing it, and I think it’s great. I like everything about it.

2021 Cube

* Directed by Yasuhiko Shimizu

* Written by Vincenzo Natali, Koji Tokuo

* Stars Tokio Emoto, Masaki Okada, Takumi Saito

* Run Time: 1 Hour 48 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This is a Japanese remake of the 1997 English language film “Cube.” While it does have some differences to make it a bit interesting, it has an even lower budget feel to it than the original and we both thought it was on the dull side for much of the film. If you’re a fan of the 1997 version and two follow-up movies, you’ll probably find this at least interesting. But we don’t highly recommend it.

Spoilery Synopsis

A man opens a door and climbs through the small hole. He enters a cubical room from one of the sides. He opens the opposite door and goes inside. There’s a room exactly like it, only in a different color. As he walks across the floor to the next door, giant tubes shoot out of the wall to impale him and a big cube of flesh falls out of his chest before he collapses.

Another prisoner wakes up to find two other people in the room with him. None of them know how or why they are there. A door opens and someone throws a shoe in . This guy walks through to the next door, and one of the prisoners asks him what’s going on. They open the ceiling door and find the first man and his chest chunk. Then a girl opens the door and comes in as well. Credits roll.

The guy with the shoes demonstrates to the others that some of the rooms are booby-trapped. Everyone introduces themselves. Kai, Goto, Uno, and Ide talk about what they do in the real world. Then they all freak out a bit until they calm down and Ide leads them to the next room.

Goto notices that each room seems to have a serial number. They keep moving until they find an older man, Ando, in one of the rooms. Now, there are six of them. Uno, the youngest - a boy, doesn’t like to talk or be touched.

Suddenly, the lights go out, and giant spinning fans start to descend. The room they are in is rigged; they barely manage to open the floor door and escape. Not long after, Uno figures out that the room numbers can predict whether or not there is a trap inside. He and Goto work on some math problems for about an hour, and then find a pattern.

The group starts making rapid progress, as the prime numbers seem to indicate the presence of a trap. They find one room that’s got a sound-activated trap, and they have to be very, very quiet. Ando gets a cut on his leg after Ochi accidentally makes a noise.

The next door they open has that first guy and his hollowed-out chest again. They’ve travelled in a circle? No, the rooms move! Soon after, Ide gets cut to bits with a laser in one of the rooms.

Everyone sits around while Uno does more math problems. Bars come up out of the floor, splitting the room, and the group, in half. Ando says that’s OK, he hates young people anyway, and he goes off on his own. Ochi on his side has no choice but to follow him.

Uno, Goto, and Kai continue in another direction, still relying on the numbers to guide them. Goto and the others watch a projection of himself in the past, on the roof of a building as his brother, Hiruto, stands on the edge. He says the wrong thing, and Hiruto jumps to his death.

Ando and Ochi, in a different room, talk about how much they hate each other; it’s old versus young with these two. Youth wins out, as Ochi crushes the old man’s head in one of the doors.

Uno yells at Goto that he understands why Hiruto killed himself; adults are garbage! Uno then jumps into a deathtrap, but Goto grabs and saves him instead. Kai opens the next door, which opens to an empty space. They watch as one of the rooms moves; is that the exit? Must be.

They decide to make for that cube near the door and see if it is the exit they need. Ochi opens the door and finds them again. He’s covered in blood and says Ando got killed in a trap. Uno catches on quickly that he’s lying, but the others don’t. He tells Goto, but Goto is skeptical that Ochi would have killed Ando.

Ochi very soon exposes himself by attacking Goto. He’s gone quite insane from working at a convenience store. It’s more complicated than just that, but it makes a kind of sense. He makes a long speech before trying to kill Goto. He doesn’t want to go outside. Abruptly, a trap goes off and kills Ochi. The room starts to move, and Goto gets left behind.

Kai and Uno ride the moving cube to the exit. After Uno gets out, Kai decides to stay inside and says goodbye to him as he walks away. We cut to Goto, who is all cut up, injured, and very much not quite dead yet.

We see on a screen about the ones killed, that Uno was “Released” while Goto was “Continued.” Kai, on the other hand, has glowing computerized eyes that go back to appearing normal after a moment. She goes into a room with another batch of prisoners, and you can see her processing each of them one at a time visually before she speaks. It appears she’s some sort of android or cyborg, and she’s been in on the whole thing all along.

Brian’s Commentary

Kevin said, “This is for people who liked the first Cube, but wished it was more slow and dull.” I can’t argue with him. There are long stretches with no dialogue, and the math problems are cranked way up as well.

The original had some commentary about the conflict between rich and poor people; this one seems to do the same with age differences and child abuse.

We see lots of pointless American remakes of foreign movies, like “Funny Games,” “Speak No Evil,” or “The Ring.” This one spins that around and does a Japanese remake of an American movie. This one is equally as pointless and diminished as those other remakes.

Right off the bat, we noticed that the cube’s walls and floor are cheaper looking and smaller than in the original. It’s not a shot-for-shot remake, but it’s pretty close. The characters are all different types, and some of the traps are different from the first film.

There are some flashbacks and new things, but not enough to make this as good as the original. It picks up a bit in the second half, but the first one is still far superior.

Kevin’s Commentary

As Brian mentions in his commentary, for the most part, I found this kind of low-key and dull. There are enough differences from the original to spark some interest here and there, but overall, I didn’t care for it. The set and technical aspects weren’t as good as the original. The second half is better, but overall it’s just okay.

1952 The White Reindeer

* Directed by Erik Blomberg

* Written by Erik Blomberg, Mirjami Kuosmanen

* Stars Mirjami Kuosmanen, Kalervo Nissila, Ake Lindman

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 14 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

Instead of the vampire turning into a bat, she turns into a white reindeer - that was a different take we’ve never seen before. This was kind of interesting seeing what life was like in a small Finnish community in 1952. The movie has a dark fairy tale vibe to it, literally starting out with a woman setting up the story, and there’s also vibes that it's a documentary about these people and the nature they live with. It wouldn’t be for everyone, but we thought it was a decent watch.

Spoilery Synopsis

We watch people wandering around in a desolate snowscape as the singer tells us about a witch with “evil in her belly.” There’s also a story about a girl who turned into a deer and died when a hunter killed her. We watch the woman make it to the witch’s tent, give birth, and die.

We cut to Pirita at the reindeer-sled races. It’s like the Iditarod meets Ben Hur. Pirita is way ahead when a man throws a lasso over her and pulls her off the sled. They laugh and then kiss.

Later, the man, Aslak, meets her parents and says he has good intentions and pays a dowry. There’s a party and lots of drinking and toasts. It’s a happy day for everyone!

Some time passes, and although the two love each other, they have a dead bedroom. He leaves to go on a weeks-long reindeer cattle drive, which leaves her at home alone.

Pirita goes to visit an evil-looking man, Taslkku-Nilla, out in a very remote cabin. She wants a love potion from him. His magic drum gets out of control, and even he’s afraid of it, calling her a witch. He does tell her that she has to sacrifice the first living thing she sees when she leaves– which is her pet reindeer, a little white tame one.

She takes the little reindeer to the altar of the Stone God and kills it with her knife. She then passes out in the snow and gets a vision.

Pirita goes looking for Aslak, but he’s not in the camp when she gets there, he’s out hunting. She goes to sleep in the tent with all the other men, but she wakes up in the middle of the night. She leaves the tent and becomes a big white reindeer.

Some hunters see the white reindeer and start tracking it. One of the hunters ropes the animal and wrestles it to the ground, just as we saw Pirita do earlier. Suddenly, the deer is Pirita, laughing at the shocked hunter. As he leans in for a kiss, she gets a surprised look and bites him on the neck, killing him.

Other hunters find the body and bring it back to the village. All the village men find Pirita attractive, especially after the love potion spell, and that night, she eats another man.

The men talk about the “White witch reindeer,” and argue about superstition. They discuss their favorite weapons. They spot a white reindeer outside and one man chases it and shoots it, but his gun explodes. He sees Pirita there, laughing at him.

That night, back in camp, the man with the exploding gun recognizes Pirita and chases her with a torch. The other men wrestle him to the ground, but now, Aslak is a little suspicious of his wife. She looks in the mirror and sees that she now has fangs. That night, she almost kills Aslak, but doesn’t at the last moment.

At church, Pirita doesn’t sing with all the other women, and people notice. Aslak sharpens his spear; he wants that reindeer. “Cold iron is the only way to kill a witch,” he proclaims. We see that a lot of people in town are readying iron weapons.

The white reindeer returns, and all the men grab their spears and go after it. Pirita knows she’s in trouble and goes back to Tsalkku-Nilla to undo the spell, but she finds him frozen to death inside his hut; no help there.

She runs back to the sacrificial altar and begs the stone god to take back his magic. Instead, she turns into the reindeer right then and runs off. Aslak sees the reindeer from a distance and pursues it on his skis. He gets it with his spear and approaches, only to find out that it’s his own wife.

Brian’s Commentary

I had no idea people used reindeer as sled dogs or could just catch a wild one to tow your sled. Very cool! There are a lot of shots of reindeers and people herding, hunting, and wrestling them.

There’s very little dialogue, so even if you don’t like subtitles, this isn’t excessive. Visually, it’s excellent, especially if you’re curious about Finland in the old days (it’s vague about when this takes place, but it could've been as late as 1952).

It’s interesting due to the location and time period, but there’s not really much of a story or drama here. A lot of it feels like a nature documentary rather than horror. I suspect many modern audiences would find it boring.

Kevin’s Commentary

The best part about this was getting a historical peek at a very different culture, thriving in a frozen land, from many decades ago. It’s low-key on horror, more like a fairy tale, but I thought it was worth watching.

1957 The Seventh Seal

* Directed by Ingmar Bergman

* Written by Ingmar Bergman

* Stars Max Von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Bengt Ekeros

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 36 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

It’s a visually interesting piece that explores religion, philosophy, human relationships, the meaning of life, and death. Death is personified and while it’s not their first appearance on film, it’s an iconic version that has influenced other later movies and media. It’s pretty grim through much of it, and on the talky side, but it’s one worth checking out for sure if you haven’t seen it.

Spoilery Synopsis

We open on a deserted-looking beach, and we hear about the lamb opening the seventh seal, and the signs of the apocalypse. We cut to shots of dead men on the beach, from a shipwreck, including Antonius Block. He gets up and prays, not as dead as the others. Well, maybe not so good, since Death himself appears to him. “Are you ready?” Antonius challenges Death to a very high-stakes game of chess.

Antonius rides his horse away, with Squire Jons tagging along, talking about all kinds of ominous things. They try to ask a man for directions, but he’s obviously died from the plague.

Jof wakes up, gets out of his wagon and talks to his horse until he has a vision of a mother and child walking through the grass– he assumes it is the Virgin Mary. He goes inside and tells Mia about what he saw. She doesn’t believe him since he’s played pranks on her before. They are part of an acting troupe, and they've been hired to entertain the priests, who are all worried about the plague.

Squire Jons talks to a man painting a mural about the value of scary paintings. It’s a painting of the plague dead, meant to remind the living that they’re going to die. Jons tells that they’ve just come home from the Crusades.

Antonius arrives at the church and makes a confession– to Death. He laments that he doesn’t care about his fellow man, and he has major doubts about his faith. He wants knowledge, not faith. Why won’t God show his face? Antonius wants to use his reprieve from Death to do one worthwhile act.

Antonius and Jons go outside and find a woman being flogged for having “carnal intercourse with the devil.” They think she’s the cause of the plague. Antonius and Jons ride out of town.

The two come upon a mostly abandoned town. Jons talks to Ravel, who brags about robbing the many dead in town. He’s the man who talked Antonius into going on the crusade ten years ago; it was a scam of some kind, and Jons threatens to kill Ravel if they see him again. Ravel’s woman becomes Jons’s housekeeper.

The acting troupe/circus has come to town. One of the actors follows a local woman into the bushes for a good time. The act is interrupted when a bunch of creepy monks and sick people march into town in a macabre parade. Everyone stops, prays, and cries. “You shall all die from the Black Death,” says the leader. He’s… not a fun man. After his morbid speech ends, the whole group moves on.

Everyone knows the plague is coming, and there’s a lot of angst as they wait in dread. The people are talking about Judgment Day and what that entails.

Plog the blacksmith is looking for his wife, who ran off with Jonas, the actor we saw earlier. He talks to, and threatens, Jof, because he’s an actor, too. They force him to dance and perform until Jons comes and rescues him.

Antonius sits in front of the chessboard and talks to Mia, who has a small baby, Mikael. He recognizes her from the circus show. Jof comes back, and he’s a mess from his ordeal. Antonius and Jof talk about safe places to hide from the plague. Antonius offers to guide them through the forest. Antonius talks about his wife, whom he hasn’t seen in a decade.

He likes being here with this calm, quiet family, and he’s cheerful when Death comes to play a turn of chess. Death vaguely hints that something bad might happen to Jof and his family. Plog, the blacksmith, begs to come with the group through the forest, hoping to find his missing wife.

Antonius, Jons, and a few others lead Jons’s family through the woods. They very soon catch up with Plog’s wife, Lisa, and Skat the actor. The two men call each other names until Lisa begs forgiveness. Lisa is obviously manipulating both men, and Jons cynically watches the whole thing.

Skat hides by climbing a tree, but then gets upset when Death arrives with a big saw to cut the tree down. “Your time has come. Your contract is terminated.” The tree falls and Skat dies.

Soldiers walk through, pushing a cart with the witch aboard, they’re heading to the execution grounds.

Antonius tells the witch that he’d like to meet the devil in order to ask him about God. She doesn’t have any good answers. The men burn the witch. Antonius and Jons argue over whether anyone, God, the angels, or Satan, is watching over the poor girl.

A man infected with the plague crawls into camp looking for help. Jons won’t let anyone go near the man or help him, as it’s pointless.

Later, Jof watches as Death returns for his game with Antonius. Mia thinks Antonius is alone, but Jof sees Death for what he is. “Nothing escapes me,” says Death. Antonius tries to spill the board, but Death restores the pieces and says Antonius is going to lose in the next movie. “When next we meet, you and your companion’s time will be up.” He still won’t say anything about the afterlife.

There’s a storm, and Jof and Mia have to park the wagon for the night. They know Death is on their heels. Meanwhile, Antonius and Jons enter a castle and look around. It’s Antonius’s home, and his wife is inside. They all sit down to dinner until Death shows up and they all recognize him… “It is finished,” says the mute girl.

We cut to Jof, Mia, and Mikael, all fine and healthy in the morning after the storm has passed. Jof sees the rest of the characters walking in a line as the Grim Reaper leads them in a long dancing line. Antonius, Jons, Skat, Plog, Lisa, and the mute girl are all dead now.

Brian’s Commentary

You know it’s old when Max Von Sydow gets fourth billing under people you’ve never heard of.

This wasn’t the first portrayal of Death as a character, but it was an extremely influential depiction.

It’s basically all the characters talking about how people deal with death, loss, and faith. It’s very philosophical, and all the characters have their own opinions. It’s an exceptionally bleak film, and they don’t get much more morbid and death-obsessed than this one. Visually, it’s excellent, the characters are all good, and there’s a lot of talking about religion and philosophy here.

Kevin’s Commentary

You never know when you’ll be climbing a tree and Death will come along with a saw to collect you. And the tree. This movie was much more interesting than I expected, full of engrossing and thought-provoking moments. Visually it’s great, the cast does a fine job, and the writer/director Ingmar Bergman clearly knew what he was doing.

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Episode 239

No special theme this week, just a lot of creepy stuff!

We’ll start with the excellent Lovecraftian “Dagon” from 2001. We’ll then look at a different cult in 2015’s “Baskin.” We’ll then eat some of “The Devil’s Candy” and then watch the excellent remake of “Dawn of the Dead” from 2004. 

For our newsletter-exclusive bonus films this week, we’ll also watch:

• “Demonic Toys” (1992)

• The anthology film “Holidays” (2016) 

Check out all our books with one easy link: 

https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Dagon (2004) https://www.horrorguys.com/dagon-2001/ 

• Baskin (2015) https://www.horrorguys.com/baskin-2015

• Short Film: Vestige (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-vestige-2023

• Dawn of the Dead (2004) https://www.horrorguys.com/dawn-of-the-dead-2004

• The Devil’s Candy (2015) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-devils-candy-2015

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com 

• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys 

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• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 238: Zom-Coms

We’ve got five movies this week:

We’ll start with the funny zombie movie that started it all, “Shaun of the Dead” from 2004. Then we’ll visit “Zombieland” twice, in 2009 and 2019. 2013’s “Warm Bodies” is a bit of a different take on zombies, as is “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” from 2019. 

On our newsletter site, horrorbulletin.com we discuss all the above PLUS: 

• “The Uninvited” (1944)

• “65” (2023) 

Check out all our books with one easy link: 

https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Shaun of the Dead (2004) https://www.horrorguys.com/shaun-of-the-dead-2004/

•  Zombieland (2009) https://www.horrorguys.com/zombieland-2009/

• Zombieland 2: Double Tap (2019) https://www.horrorguys.com/zombieland-double-tap-2019/

• Warm Bodies (2013) https://www.horrorguys.com/warm-bodies-2013/

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2019) https://www.horrorguys.com/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-2016/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com 

• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys 

• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

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• Threads: https://threads.net/brian_schell

• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 237: Serial Killer Week

We’ve got five movies this week:

We’ll start with the 1986 film, “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer,” then move on to 1995’s “Se7en.” Then we’ll watch a fictionalized version of the real-life “Zodiac” and go insane with “The Collector” and “I Saw the Devil.” Crazy stuff!

On our newsletter site, horrorbulletin.com we discuss all the above, PLUS: 

• “Hollywood in the Atomic Age - Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists!” (2021) 

Check out all our books with one easy link: 

https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer https://www.horrorguys.com/henry-portrait-of-a-serial-killer-1986/

• Se7en https://www.horrorguys.com/se7en-1995/

• Zodiac https://www.horrorguys.com/zodiac-2008/

• The Collector https://www.horrorguys.com/the-collector-2009/

• I Saw the Devil https://www.horrorguys.com/i-saw-the-devil-2010/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com 

• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys 

• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

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• Threads: https://threads.net/brian_schell

• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 236

We’ve got four more movies and a short film this week:

We’ll start with the early-2000s zombie classics, “28 Days Later” and “28 Weeks Later,” then we’ll watch the crazy 1963 kaiju movie “Atragon.” Finally, we’ll discuss “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” from 2017.

On our newsletter site, horrorbulletin.com we discuss all the above, PLUS: 

• “Monster on Campus” from 1958

• “Overlord” from 2018

Check out all our books with one easy link: 

https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• 28 Days Later (2002) https://www.horrorguys.com/28-days-later-2002/

• 28 Weeks Later (2007) https://www.horrorguys.com/28-weeks-later-2007/

• Short Film: Worth The Weight (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-worth-the-weight-2023/

• Atragon (1963) https://www.horrorguys.com/atragon-1963/

• The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-killing-of-a-sacred-deer-2017/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com 

• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys 

• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

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• Threads: https://threads.net/brian_schell

• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 235

We’ve got four more movies and a short film this week:

We’ll start with the 2023 Swissploitation film, “Mad Heidi.” Then we’ll go back and watch both the good “Warlock” movies from 1989 and 1993. Finally, we’ll visit with “The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane” from way back in 1976

For our bonus films, over at https://horrorbulletin.com, we have:

• “The Devil Bat” with Bela Lugosi from 1940

• “Timecrimes” from 2007

Check out all our books with one easy link: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Mad Heidi (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/mad-heidi-2023/

• Warlock (1989) https://www.horrorguys.com/warlock-1989/

• Warlock II: The Armageddon (1993) https://www.horrorguys.com/warlock-ii-the-armageddon-1993/

• Short Film: Flat (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-flat-2023

• The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-little-girl-who-lived-down-the-lane-1976/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com 

• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys 

• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

• Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@BrianSchell

• Threads: https://threads.net/brian_schell

• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 234

We’ve got four more movies and a short film this week:

We’ll start with the 2023 documentary, “The Dogman Triangle: Werewolves in the Lone Star State.” Then we’ll go to Ireland and become “Unwelcome.” After our short film, well meet 2020’s “Becky” and follow up with her sequel, this year’s “The Wrath of Becky.”

For our bonus films, over at https://horrorbulletin.com, we have:

• “Malum” (2023) - A police officer spends the night in a very strange old jailhouse. 

• “Hellraiser: Bloodline” (1996) - the fourth film of the series, this time covering the creation of the puzzle box and giving us Pinhead— in space!

Check out all our books with one easy link: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• The Dogman Triangle: Werewolves in the Lone Star State (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-dogman-triangle-werewolves-in-the-lone-star-state-2023/

• Unwelcome (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/unwelcome-2023/

• Short Film: Serbian Dancing Woman (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-serbian-dancing-woman-2023/

• Becky (2020) https://www.horrorguys.com/becky-2023/

• The Wrath of Becky (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-wrath-of-becky-2023/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com 

• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys 

• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

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• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 233

We’ve got four more movies and a short film this week:

We’ll start with the 2023 Shudder Original, “Brooklyn 45,” a WWII-era ghost story— sorta. We’ll then go to prison in “Nefarious,” also from this year. After we watch our short film, “Canary,” we’ll watch an outrageous killer-doll film, “Baby Oopsie.” We’ll then wrap it up with “The Black Demon” from 2023.

For our bonus films, over at https://horrorbulletin.com, we have:

•    “Society” (1989) - A very strange body-horror movie with, um, “social” commentary.

•    “Morgan” (2016) - It’s an insane, killer robot!— or is it?

Check out all our books with one easy link: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

Here. We. Go!

Links:

•    Brooklyn 45 https://www.horrorguys.com/brooklyn-45-2023

•     Nefarious https://www.horrorguys.com/nefarious-2023

•    Short Film: Canary https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-canary-2023

•    Baby Oopsie https://www.horrorguys.com/baby-oopsie-2021

•    The Black Demon https://www.horrorguys.com/the-black-demon-2023

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

•    Email: email@horrorguys.com 

•    Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

•    The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

•    Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

•    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

•    Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

•    Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@BrianSchell

•    Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 232

We’ve got four more movies and a short film this week:

We’ll start with the wild, indie film “Oops! You’re a Vampire” and then go insane with “Jacob’s Ladder” and “The House that Jack Built.” Then we’ll watch a literal “cult classic” with “The Seventh Victim” from way back in 1943!

For our bonus films, over at https://horrorbulletin.com, we have:

•    “Coming Home in the Dark” (2021) a revenge thriller

•    “Frankestein el Vampiro y Compañía” (1962) AKA “Frankenstein, The Vampire, and Company”

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

•    The Horror Films of Peter Cushing

•    The Horror Films of Vincent Price

•    Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

•    Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

•    Hammer Horror Films

•    The Silent Age of Horror

•    The Horror Films of Roger Corman

•    The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

Creepy Fiction:

•    A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

•    Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

•    Oops! You’re a Vampire (2022)

•    Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

•    Short Film: The Dead Collectors (2023)

•    The House that Jack Built (2018)

•    The Seventh Victim (1943)

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

•    Email: email@horrorguys.com 

•    Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

•    The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

•    Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

•    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

•    Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

•    Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 231

We’ve got four more movies and a (longish) short film this week:

We’ll start with the brand-new “Influencer” and “Huesara: The Bone Woman,” both from 2023. Then we’ll take a look at a possibly-political short film from 1989 with a big body count. We’ll follow that up with the next two films in the Ginger Snaps series, “Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed” and “Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning.”

For our bonus films, over at https://horrorbulletin.com, we have:

• “Psycho IV: The Beginning” from 1990, Anthony Perkin’s last turn as Norman Bates

• “The Innocents” (1961) probably the best adaptation of “The Turn of the Screw.”

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Peter Cushing

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price

• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

• Hammer Horror Films

• The Silent Age of Horror

• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

• The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Influence (2023)

• Huesara: The Bone Woman (2023)

• Elephant (1989)

• Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004)

• Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004)

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com 

• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys 

• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 230

We still have more oldies for you this week, some real overlooked classics this time.

This week, we’ll start with “Burnt Offerings,” a sort of haunted house film from 1976. Then we’ll catch up with Norman Bates in “Psycho II” and “Psycho III” from 1983 and 1986, then we’ll find out “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” From 1962

For our bonus films, over at https://horrorbulletin.com, we have:

•    “High Life” (2018), a sci-fi movie about a shipload of criminals and major isolation issues.

•    “The Orphanage” (2007) a film about ghosts and missing children.

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

•    The Horror Films of Peter Cushing

•    The Horror Films of Vincent Price

•    Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

•    Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

•    Hammer Horror Films

•    The Silent Age of Horror

•    The Horror Films of Roger Corman

•    The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

Creepy Fiction:

•    A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

•    Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

•    Burnt Offerings (1976)

•    Psycho II (1983)

•    Short Film: Coffee (2023)

•    Psycho III (1986)

•    What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

•    Email: email@horrorguys.com 

•    Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

•    The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

•    Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

•    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

•    Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

•    Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Five newer films this week, including three takes on popular children’s cartoons that definitely aren’t for children! We’ll start off with the mysterious “Presence” and then the silly “The Parenting.” For our not-a-cartoon segment, we’ll take a dip with “The Little Mermaid” and then go sailing with “Popeye the Slayer Man” and “Popeye’s Revenge.”

The latest issue of “Horror Monthly” is now on sale! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.com

Pick up our newest book, "The Horror Guys Guide to the Academy Awards of Horror" at https://www.horrormonthly.com/horror-guys-guides/academy-awards-of-horror

Get all our reviews once a week:

Mainstream Films:

2025 Presence

* Directed by Steven Soderbergh

* Written by David Koepp

* Stars Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 24 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This is filmed in an interesting way with lots of swooping around like we’re the POV from a ghost, and there are a low number of hard cuts - instead going with long continuous shots. The horror simmers in the background while family drama and bad people things are at the front. We both kind of liked it but didn’t love it.

Spoilery Synopsis

We walk through a big, empty, dark house. Credits roll.

In the daytime, a woman rushes in and gets ready for a meeting. She’s a Realtor, and she’s showing the house to Rebekah, Chris, Tyler, and Chloe. The house has just gone on the market.

The painters arrive to work, but one of them refuses to go into one of the rooms. Soon, the family is all moved in. Not long after, we see that Rebekah may have done some shady business dealings, and she may face some repercussions. Chris worries about his own involvement in whatever she’s done; he’s thinking of separating from Rebekah.

Chloe, on the other hand, is still grieving the death of her friend Nadia, who died suddenly. She soon senses someone in the room with her. The next day, the ghost picks up all her schoolbooks and puts them away for her. Chloe notices that right away.

Chris and Rebekah talk about getting help for Chloe, who isn’t over Nadia’s death yet. Chris wants to get her a therapist, but Rebekah says it’ll just take time.

Tyler brings Ryan home to meet Chloe, and the two are soon a couple. They talk about Nadia; he knew her too. It was bad drugs, Chloe thinks. She also thinks Nadia’s spirit is in the house with them. As soon they start to make out, the shelf in the closet breaks down, interrupting things.

At dinner, Chloe asks the others about feeling a “presence” in the house. Tyler gets nasty with her, calling her an attention-seeker. Everyone argues. Chris mentions that Chloe knew both girls who died– there were two who died from the bad drugs.

Even Chris thinks Tyler is being a jerk. When Tyler brags about posting a bad photo of a girl from school on the Internet, the ghost wrecks his bedroom, and they all see it. Chloe swears it’s Nadia.

Chris calls in Carl and Lisa, a couple of psychics, who stop by on their lunch break. Lisa says “It’s suffering, just like you are, Chloe.” The presence is there for a reason, but Lisa can’t tell what that is. Tyler and Rebekah soon decide that Lisa’s a fake, but Chloe is all in on what she said.

Ryan comes over and spikes Chloe’s drink as the ghost watches. The table starts to vibrate, and her drink falls on the floor. She invites him to stay over on the weekend while her parents will be away.

Lisa comes back, and says she had a dream about a “window that doesn’t open” and that the ghost is there to prevent something bad from happening.

Chris and Rebekah talk vaguely about their legal issues, but we still don’t know what the trouble is. They may talk to a lawyer while they’re on their trip. They leave.

Ryan comes over and Tyler lets him in. He drugs Tyler and knocks him right out before preparing a similar drink for Chloe.

Chloe decides she doesn’t want to go through with it with Ryan. “I’m not like… stable.” She tells him no, but then drinks her spiked OJ.

As she passes out, he goes on and on about how she only gets what she wants, and she wants all this. Ryan basically admits killing Nadia and the other girl. He smothers her off-and-on with some plastic wrap. The ghost sees all this and tries to help– it goes downstairs and wakes up Tyler. He runs upstairs, tackles Ryan, and they both go out the upstairs bedroom window which seems to instantly kill them both.

The house is empty again, the family is moving out. Rebekah looks in the old mirror and sees Tyler in there. “He came back to see me!” She cries and everyone is sad.

Brian’s Commentary

We get lots of long, lingering shots, apparently from the ghost’s point of view as it moves from room to room inside the house. It’s a pretty good house, and we spend the entirety of the film wandering around inside watching the humans inside. It’s like a depressing version of “The Sims.”

It’s a believable yet dysfunctional family. It’s a very slow moving, talky film, with very little action. I had assumed that the parents were covering up the fact that Tyler had killed those girls but that wasn’t the case at all. We never actually find out what the family’s legal issue is about.

It’s… OK. Not great.

Kevin’s Commentary

I did like the POV from a ghostly viewpoint. And it did have some entertaining moments. The cast puts in some realistic and believable performances, notable for relatively inexperienced Callina Liang and newcomer Eddy Maday keeping up as the teenage kids with their much more experienced parent actors. But I thought the horror was a bit too low-key with the family drama front and center. I liked it more than I disliked it, six out of ten.

2025 The Parenting

* Directed by Craig Johnson

* Written by Kent Sublette

* Stars Nik Dodani, Brandon Flynn, Brian Cox, Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow, Dean Norris

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 34 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This is a very funny take on an awkward family get-together with an excellent cast. After it gets going, we get to see some horror elements as a bonus. It’s very well made and a lot of fun.

Spoilery Synopsis

It’s 1983, and Jamie and Allie argue with their mother. “Hate you kids.” Then something in the basement grabs and eats the mother. Jamie goes downstairs, and it gets him as well. As Allie walks through the house, all the wallpaper peels off the walls. The monster gets her too.

We cut to Rohan and Josh driving down the road, talking about cats. They’re on the way to a huge rental house where all their parents are going to meet. Josh says his parents are normal, and Rohan is jealous of that.

They arrive at the house and meet Brenda, who tells them about a big fire in the 80s. The house has been empty since, and she’s the caretaker. She’s very weird. Sara calls on the phone and warns Rohan not to propose to Josh this weekend.

Rohan’s wealthy adoptive parents arrive. Frank and Sharon awkwardly meet Josh. Liddy and Cliff, Josh’s parents, arrive next, and they’re more working class. They brought three little yap-yap dogs.

Someone we don’t see shakes a snowglobe with a miniature of the house inside, and it starts to snow for real at the house. The parents are all annoying, and it’s very awkward for the young gay couple. Josh eats some funny gummies, and he no longer cares about the parents.

Dinner is comically awkward as well, Josh doesn’t help. It soon becomes a weird singalong. Everyone complains about the flaky wifi. The wifi password, when read aloud, apparently summons some kind of creature.

Everyone turns in for the night, but they all hear bumping and grinding from the next bedroom. Everyone hears it, all three couples. None of them are doing the bumping or the grinding. We cut to a person with no mouth banging their head against the wall downstairs.

Sara shows up out of the blue, which annoys Rohan. Frank reads the wifi password and wanders down to the basement to reset the router. A clawed hand reaches out for him, and he takes it.

In the morning, everyone convenes for breakfast. They all hint about the noises during the night and wonder about Frank being absent. Sara comes in, and everyone hates her immediately. Frank walks into the room, and he’s… different. Frank cuts Josh with the big knife by accident– twice. The resulting chaos winds up killing one of the little dogs.

Everyone argues later until Frank walks into the room, completely naked and proud of it. This is followed by lots of vomiting, and Frank doesn’t know what happened. One of the little dogs eats some of the puke and his eyes start to glow.

The romantic, fun weekend is not going well for anyone. Frank has a talk with the demon who already possesses him. Josh and Rohan argue about each other’s behavior until they see a crazy weird monstrous woman standing in the corner before vanishing.

Sara goes into the basement, looking for a snow shovel, and finds some photos as well as Jaime from the 80s down there, who’s now a ghost zombie. He chases her outside and then vanishes.

Everyone knows something is going on, but none of it makes sense. Sara has photos of the pre-zombie family who used to live there. She also finds Allie’s book on demonology and Andras in particular. They all decide that Allie must have summoned a demon, and now it’s in Frank.

Sharon takes some food to Frank, who asks her to kill him. Things get crazy from there, and now no one doubts that there’s a demon in Frank. They lock the monster in a bedroom, and everyone talks about their feelings in this situation. It’s all very heartwarming until the little demon dog attacks Liddy.

Josh and Rohan walk to the nearby neighbor’s house– it’s Brenda. She knows all about the demon, but didn’t think the wifi thing was going to work. She explains the story with Allie, Jamie, and their mother. Brenda was into the occult and got Allie into the scene. “What if we conjure a demon?” Things went badly after that.

The warm moon is out, the snow is suddenly gone, and Brenda is doing a ritual to bring Andras out. Rohan goes inside and talks to the zombie ghosts, who have been trying to help. Rohan goes outside to confront Frank and Brenda, and he volunteers to be a host for the monster. It starts to leave Frank to go into him, and Josh is supposed to shoot Rohan once it’s in him, but he can’t do it. Josh invites it into him instead. Soon, they’re all doing it in a circle. The demon doesn’t know what to do and splits up into multiple directions before manifesting in person. Frank himself stomps the weakened demon-bird to death.

The next morning, everyone, including Brenda watches as Josh asks Rohan to marry him. Frank apologizes for being a rotten father to Rohan. They see the three ghosts and the one dead dog ghost outside, and dead-Allie flips off Brenda before they all vanish.

Brian’s Commentary

It’s all very real and very awkward until the demon shows up. It’s still hilarious after that, but it takes a more horror-centric approach.

What happened to Kate the dog? The dog just sorta vanished after Sara arrived and didn’t appear until the end.

The creature at the end, as well as the zombies, really aren’t much to look at. This one is all about the excellent cast, a bunch of familiar faces you’ve seen before. Brian Cox must have had a ball doing this after Succession ended– it’s very different.

And good. It’s very funny!

2024 The Little Mermaid

* Directed by Leigh Scott

* Written by Leigh Scott

* Stars Mike Markoff, Lydia Helen, Jeff Denton

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

The cast does a decent job with this telling of the tale, though there aren’t enough musical numbers. It’s a serious take on the tale, with plenty of horror elements and some nice references to H.P. Lovecraft worked in. We were pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was.

Spoilery Synopsis

Dr. Eric Prince leads an archaeological team digging on the shore. Mr. Collins, from the board, complains that he’s supposed to be doing offshore digging, and he’s creeping too far inland. Eric explains that what he’s working on might be a lot better. Eric offers a bigger bribe, so that’s all good for now.

Meanwhile, a couple of fishermen out in a boat catch something in a net. They pull it on board and see that it’s a… mermaid. “This is better than a marlin,” says one. The mermaid wakes up and chomps one of them with a mouthful of fangs. Then her tail divides into legs, and she hypnotizes the other man.

Eric has a nightmare about vicious mermaids. He gets a call from a man who has some relics for him to see. The man has very old coins and jewelry, and a strange woman sold them to him. Eric says he’d like to meet this mystery woman.

At the dig site, they find a mummified body and a fishy-looking pagan idol of Dagon. There’s most likely an ancient temple buried right here. Eric says that it’s a huge discovery, the biggest since King Tut.

We cut to a red-haired woman who looks very familiar. She talks to the man with the coins and jewelry. She’s very interested in the ancient temple that Eric has found. She arranges a meeting with Eric; she’s Aurora. She says her trinkets were just old things the family had.

They flirt and appear to be attracted to one another. He says she looks really familiar.

Eric and his helpers take a boat out to do some diving. While down there, Eric sees a red-headed mermaid, very clearly. His helper sees it as well, so he knows he’s not crazy. The next day, Eric tells Aurora what he saw. She’s not as skeptical as she should be, and even hints that she might be a mermaid herself.

Mr. Collins, on the other hand, wants to cancel Eric’s digging permit. He has until the end of the day to clear out everything.

Eric has another date with Aurora, and she has her cook make sushi. We see that her cook is the hypnotized fisherman from the boat, who is looking a little fishy himself now. Eric mentions that the dig has been halted due to the locals. She makes her intentions clear, and Eric’s not about to put up a fight.

Later, she gets her minion Sebastian to drive her to town, where she meets with Mr. Collins. She uses her mind control to make him do her bidding. Surprisingly, Collins calls Eric and tells him that he can continue to dig in that area after all. Aurora says she bought the whole place.

Dr. Ferdinand Ashley, from the university arrives to help on the dig. They’ve been financing all this until now. He finds a stone tablet that has an inscription and warning about evil spirits. Then they find a sacred seal, and of course, Eric quickly breaks the seal. Ferdy mentions a dig in Innsmouth, where he had to deal with a Dagon cult once before, and he wants to avoid that this time around. Also, he warns Eric not to get in trouble with Aurora, as so happens when Eric is around women.

Ferdy does some research on mermaids and Dagon. That temple really shouldn’t be here, but that’s the least weird thing about all this. They start pumping water out of the flooded underground temple.

Ferdy goes into town and finds a photo of Aurora from 1921, but then, he’s confronted by Sebastian and Aurora. She’s very threatening, but Ferdy is smart and says the right thing and they let him go… with Sebastian following.

Ferdy has a nightmare and tells Eric that they need to stop digging and get out of town. Eric thinks Ferdy has lost his mind, going on and on about opening magical cursed tombs and how evil Aurora is. Ferdy enlists Archie, the local guy, to work against Aurora. Just then, cultists in fish masks arrive. “Her majesty would like a word with you.”

Diving into the subterranean temple, Eric looks around and finds lots of neat stuff. He comes up and finds that he’s been down there for hours. It’s dark, so he’ll have to wait until tomorrow to go down again.

Aurora tells Eric that Ferdy and Archie tried to kill her and that she stopped them. Ferdy and Archie are being held prisoner by Sebastian on the beach. Aurora tells Eric that she couldn’t break the seal on the temple; she’s been trying for centuries.

Aurora admits what she is to Eric. She wants him to go back to the temple, open the gates, and let the Old Ones out to conquer the world. Ferdy and Archie break loose, kill Collins and Sebastian, but Eric won’t let them kill Aurora. “She’s my destiny.” He leans in for a kiss, and Archie shoots them both.

Aurora roars and jumps back in the ocean as Eric apologizes and dies. Ferdy and Archie rush back to the dig site to seal it up before Aurora can release Hell on Earth. The guys reseal the tomb, say some magic words, and save the Earth.

Aurora comes to Ferdy; she can’t break her promise not to harm him. She admits that she’s just one of many and her time will come, one way or another.

Brian’s Commentary

The movie needed more songs and dancing. These live-action remakes sure are different from the original Disney, aren’t they? ;)

There are a lot of references here to H.P. Lovecraft, who wrote about “The Deep Ones,” which aren’t exactly mermaids, but close enough for now. Innsmouth, Dagon, the Elder Gods, and more all get name-dropped here.

So what’s keeping Aurora from hypnotising some construction guys to open that tomb again? She knows right where it is and even owns the land it’s on.

The acting is fine, and everything looks good here. Some of the dialogue is pretty atrocious, and the story is about as predictable as can be, but it’s not bad overall.

Kevin’s Commentary

I’d say the dialogue was sometimes a weak point, but overall I was pleased. I really liked the Lovecraftian elements that were woven into the story, that was a good fit. I was bracing myself for something lame, but ended up enjoying it quite a bit.Kevin’s Commentary

This was even funnier than I expected, with a cast that all looked like they were having a good time, even when the horror elements kicked in. There was a surprisingly low body count for the situation they were in. It would have been a perfect setting to have the characters getting gradually killed off until there was a survivor or two at the end. It wasn’t that kind of movie, and it was fun seeing that for a change.

2025 Popeye the Slayer Man

* Directed by Robert Michael Ryan

* Written by Cuyle Carvin, John Dooan, Jeff Miller

* Stars Jason Robert Stephens, Sarah Nickin, Angela Relucio

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 28 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This take on the character was surprisingly good. The practical effects are well done, and Popeye looks cartoon realistic if a little unexpressive. There’s a little dark humor around the edges, but it’s mostly very serious. The story itself is pretty standard slasher fare, but all in all we liked it quite a bit.

Spoilery Synopsis

A woman runs through the foggy oceanside town toward a locked warehouse. She breaks the lock and rushes inside the cannery. Two men are chasing her, but one of them has heard stories about this place and is hesitant to follow her inside. The woman, Adrienne, stops when she sees a bulky man with big arms standing in the shadows. The bad men corner her until an empty can of spinach rolls into view. The hugely strong monster of a man tears one of the baddies in half and crushes the skull of the other. She calls him a monster, and he says “I am what I am.” Credits roll.

Dexter is making a documentary about “The Sailor Man,” a local legend. Dexter clearly likes Olivia, and Lisa seems to like Seth. “They say the Sailor Man is still out there, roaming the docks.” Dexter has arranged for all his friends to show up to the docks and help with his film.

Mr. Allister meets with Margo, a woman whose clients want to buy and demolish the old cannery. The place has been empty for twenty years, and that might be due to the hazardous contamination under the factory. And what about that crazy ghost story about the Sailor Man? They smell pipe smoke, and Allister goes off to investigate. Turns out, Margo was scared by Angus, the maintenance man for the property.

Angus, left in the building alone, does a security sweep before locking up. He finds what’s left of the two baddies from the pre-credit sequence. As he leaves them, he sees the Sailor Man, who squishes his head.

Dexter, Olivia, and Katie talk about the Sailor Man, and one of the drinkers there, Bernie, growls out the tale for them. Jesse and Terry come in, and they’re all over Olivia. Joey is Katie’s abusive boyfriend.

The young people all arrive at the cannery, and Olivia picks the lock. Dexter, Lisa, Katie, Olivia, and Seth go inside. Back at the bar, Joey, Terry, and Jesse talk about the Sailor Man and they plan to go to the cannery to get Katie.

Lisa and Seth split off and explore on their own, and they run into trouble with a spinach can. Dexter and Olivia explore as well while Katie watches the security monitors. Outside, Margot shows up and wonders what all the cars are outside for. She finds Angus’s remains and then sees the Sailor, who comes after her. After ripping a chunk of her scalp off, he shuts her in a compactor and turns it on.

Going through the papers, Dexter figures out that that plant closed due safety issues and a spinach infection. Dangerous labels of bacteria in the food could have had good outcomes. Alistair owns the cannery and the newspaper, so there must be a coverup. Lisa and Seth return, and they all smell pipe smoke. They read the old rhyme about “Popeye the Sailor Man,” something they’ve all heard.

Back in the office, Lisa spots Popeye and runs. “He’s real!” She runs straight into the arms of Joey, who bullies her. The Sailor Man arrives on the scene, and Jesse stabs him to no effect. When the Sailor man crushes his head, we see where the name “Pop-Eye” came from.

Terry tries to drive away, but Popeye lifts the car up so he can’t escape. He steps on a gnarly nail but keeps on going. The Sailor Man drags a huge anchor and uses it to behead Jesse. “Anchors away,” he grunts.

Lisa and Seth find Jesse’s body and decide it’s time to go. Joey has a gun and shoots Katie by mistake. Everyone runs in panic, and Seth falls off a ladder. He doesn’t suffer long, as Popeye impales him with some rebar. Lisa soon follows in exactly the same way.

Dexter and Olivia find the Sailor Man’s lair and even an old photo of him when he was a normal human with his family. His wife, Olive Oyl, was the whistleblower for the cannery’s contamination, and she disappeared shortly after breaking the story. They watch as Popeye comes in and downs a can of radioactive spinach. It’s toxic and has mutated that poor sailor man.

Dexter and Olivia come across Katie and Seth’s bodies and know it’s time to go. We see Joey is still wandering around with his gun. Dexter walks right into Popeye, who grabs him until Olivia shouts, “Let him go!” which he does, but not before breaking Dexter’s arm badly. Olivia thinks the monster isn’t trying to hurt them, he’s just protecting his home. Dexter wonders why the Sailor listened to Olivia, and it also looked like Olivia recognized that picture of the Sailor’s wife.

Olivia talks to Popeye. “You recognize me, don’t you? Daddy?” He nods. “My Swee-Pea?!” Just then, Joey shoots Popeye. Olivia tells Popey that the spinach is destroying his mind. When Joey threatens Olivia, he rips Joey’s arm off and beats him to death with the bloody stump.

Dexter and Olivia make it outside and find Katie, who’s not dead. Police and ambulances soon arrive. Dexter and Olivie promise to come back for Popeye and get him some help.

Later, Mr. Allister talks to the buyers who cancelled the sale. He still plans to demolish the cannery. He kicks a can of spinach and then runs into the big man himself. “I yam what I yam,” he says as he crushes the corrupt businessman’s head.

Brian’s Commentary

The prosthetics and practical gore effects are good. Maybe not exactly lifelike or expressive, but they do the job. Popeye gets a few zingers, but he's really hard to understand; fortunately he doesn’t talk much.

I liked the Wympee cameo. We did get spinach, a corn cob pipe, and some catchphrases. Other than some over-the-top deaths, there wasn’t as much humor here as I would have liked, it’s a pretty typical stalker/slasher film, just with a more well-known antagonist.

For a public-domain cash grab, it’s not too bad. It’s got a full coherent story that all makes sense. The closing credits have a banging theme song, and I’d totally be up for a sequel to this one.

Kevin’s Commentary

I’m glad they went with practical effects here, I think that helped a lot. Popeye looks decent enough, but maybe a little on the rubbery side. It’s got a decent story and moves well, with just enough references to the classic cartoon here and there. I give it a thumbs up.

2025 Popeye’s Revenge

* Directed by William Stead

* Written by Harry Boxley, E G. Segar

* Stars Emily Mogilner, Connor Powles, Danielle Ronald

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 19 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

A very angry Popeye picks off a group of people in an isolated location by a lake in this one. With a swap, the killer could have been any big angry guy picking people off in creative and gory ways. It’s decent enough, but doesn’t make enough of the fact that it’s Popeye. Though there are multiple popping eyes as well as an assortment of other juicy practical effects. It was better than we expected, but not anything really special. A moderate thumbs up.

Spoilery Synopsis

We get an animation that tells about a baby who was born with some deformities. He had huge arms and a weird face. The child was constantly bullied until he killed one of the bullies, choking him so hard his eyes popped out. His parents locked him in the basement alone. An angry mob came to the house and burned it to the ground, killing his parents. The child was burned in the fire but escaped. The crowd chased him to the lake, where he fell in and disappeared. Popeye’s body was never found.

We cut to Mia and her two friends, who are out by the lake to make a video. Mia has a bad feeling about the legend of Popeye. Popeye’s old house is currently under renovation after fifteen years. Cherry is only there to make out with Alan, and the documentary soon turns into an accidental porn film.

Mia wanders around outside doing sound recording stuff, and she hears someone out there with her. A bald man in a sailor cap beats her to death with an anchor. Out of nowhere, he also drives his fist through Cherry’s chest, killing her instantly. Alan puts up more of a fight, but he can’t escape the lumbering killer. His eyes get popped.

Popeye’s imaginary friend slips a note under the door. “Welcome Back.” Credits roll.

Lora and her husband, George, argue about the property that they’ve just inherited. It’s the land where the legendary Popeye was supposed to have died. Their daughter Tara likes Dylan, and they’re off, along with Kathy to the lake. Beanie, Nick, Sky, and Donna are going along. They want to turn Popeye’s house into a haunted attraction.

The group literally runs into a fisherman on the road who warns them not to go to Popeye’s house, as the fog is lethal there. The seven young people arrive at the house; it’s creepy but they’ve been cleaning and restoring it. At the dock, Popeye takes notice of new occupants and kills that fisherman we saw earlier.

Back in town, George and Lora talk to Jane, their neighbor, who says, “He’s back. Three dead in the Popeye house!”

Tara tries to get all her friends to work rather than play. Donna and Dylan try to convince the others as well. There’s a knock at the door, and a crazy-eyed woman comes in. “You’re not supposed to be here. He’s not gonna like this. If you leave now, he won’t hurt you.” This warning is not well received by the gang. “I want you all to suffer the way he suffered,” she says before running off.

Later, Nick and Sky make out in the hot tub. She wants him to break up with Donna. They argue, and he leaves. Popeye shows up and kills her as Olive Oyl shows up to egg him on.

In the morning Nick tells everyone that Sky took a taxi home. Beanie asks Kathy on a date, but she’d rather die. Beanie then storms off into the foggy woods to sulk. He finds the boat the Popeye lives on and checks it out. Popeye rips his spine out before pulling his head off.

Tara’s parents finally figure out that she and her friends have gone to the murder house.

Nick and Donna argue, and he finds a mostly-eaten can of spinach as the fog rolls into the cabin. Nick finds out he’s not as tough as he thinks he is, and he, too, loses an eye. Outside, Donna finds that the cars all have flat tires she finds Nick’s body and runs off into the woods to hide from Popeye. He finds her and runs over her with a tractor.

Tara, Dylan, and Kathy look for the others but can’t find anyone. Tara finds a photo of her mother, and Dylan says his mother has the same photo. They hear Donna screaming and run to find Popeye finishing her off.

The parents arrive on the scene, and Popeye immediately kills Jane. George and Lora run away and catch up with Dylan and Tara.

Popeye catches up with Kathy and tips her car over before setting it on fire.

Back in the cabin, Lora tells the story. That thing out there is Johnny, her student, and that’s Popeye’s real name. The week after his death, he appeared in her nightmare, along with everyone in town. The dream wanted them to rebuild the house. She was involved in helping to kill little Johnny. Only little Tara stood up for Johnny, but she was too little to help.

Suddenly, Olive Oyl barges in and stabs George and Lora. Olive explains that she was Johnny’s sister, also locked in that basement. Johnny didn’t deserve what happened to him, and now he lives inside the fog that rolls in from the lake. Tara douses Olive in fuel, and Dylan burns her.

Popeye shows up, and he recognizes Tara. He starts beating Dylan to death until Tara gets on the tractor. They do something vague to lock him into place with the anchor, and then Tara runs him over with the lawn mower.

Of course, that can’t be the end for Popeye, who grabs Tara from behind after they think they are done.

Brian’s Commentary

Who knew Popeye was British? We almost needed subtitles at times. Also, Popeye was never a real sailor; his parents just dressed him like that.

This was made by the same people who made “Pooh: Blood and Honey” and its sequel– but without the loving care and attention to detail those films enjoyed. This is a basic kill-the-horny-teenagers-one-at-a-time at a campground movie. If Popeye had been a guy in a hockey mask, no one would have even noticed the film.

Some shots of the lake are covered in small boats, and others are just a dark gray deserted place. The continuity was clearly not a priority.

Actually, the whole thing seems rushed and subpar. It’s nowhere as good as “The Slayer Man.”

Kevin’s Commentary

The story follows a slasher formula that could have swapped anyone for Popeye. Though we don’t usually get to see the killer’s face so clearly without a mask. The practical effects are good. The kills are gruesome. It was okay as far as slasher flicks go, but the Popeye angle was kind of disappointing.

Contact Info:

Email:

* mailto:email@horrorguys.com

Websites:

* https://www.horrorguys.com

* https://www.horrormonthly.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 229 Weekly Horror Bulletin Newsletter 229

This week, we’re back to the 80s! More specifically, 1988, as all the films we’re watching this week come from that year. 

This week, we’ll start with “Pumpkinhead” and “Child’s Play,” two excellent films that started new franchises. We’ll look at the one-offs, “The Serpent and the Rainbow” and “Waxworks” and then for our bonus films (at horrorbulletin.com), we’ll look at “Friday the 13th Part VII The New Blood” and “Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.” That was a pretty significant year in horror! 

Book News

We’ve got two announcements this week about our books:

1. FREE! Horror Bulletin Monthly Issue 20 is now out. This, as always, has all our previous month’s reviews inside, but this month, we’re offering the ebook version (in PDF and ePub) absolutely free! Check out https://brianschell.com/collection/free-books for this one and more!

2. FREE! The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/collection/free-books. The eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback, but that one’s obviously not free. Also note, that there are a couple of other free books on the site as well!

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Peter Cushing

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price

• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

• Hammer Horror Films

• The Silent Age of Horror

• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

• The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Pumpkinhead (1988)

• Child’s Play (1988)

• Short Film: Satanic Panic ’87 (2023)

• The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)

• Waxwork (1988)

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com 

• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys 

• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 228

This week, we’re skipping our usual short film and just blasting away with FIVE full-length reviews!

This week, we’ll watch a whole stack of brand-new movies released just this month. We’ll start with the comedic “Renfield,” move on to the less-comedic “The Pope’s Exorcist,” battle with more demons in “Evil Dead Rise,” get locked in a smart house in “Motion Detected,” and then deal with more demons, just this time with a Jewish exorcism in “The Offering.”

For our bonus reviews over at horrorbulletin.com, we have:

• “Enys Men” from 2023, an artsy, yet thought-provoking horror film. 

• “The Devil ad Father Amorth” (2017) a documentary about the real priest who inspired “The Pope’s Exorcist,” and it includes a video of a real exorcism. 

Book News

We’ve got two announcements this week about our books:

1. FREE! Horror Bulletin Monthly Issue 20 is now out. This, as always, has all our previous month’s reviews inside, but this month, we’re offering the ebook version (in PDF and ePub) absolutely free! Check out https://brianschell.com/collection/free-books for this one and more!

2. FREE! The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/collection/free-books. The eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback, but that one’s obviously not free. Also note, that there are a couple of other free books on the site as well!

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Peter Cushing

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price

• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

• Hammer Horror Films

• The Silent Age of Horror

• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

• The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• The Offering (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-offering-2023/

• Motion Detected (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/motion-detected-2023/

• Evil Dead Rise (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/evil-dead-rise-2023/

• The Pope’s Exorcist (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-popes-exorcist-2023/

• Renfield (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/renfield-2023/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com 

• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys 

• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 227

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week—

This week, we’ll watch some sci-fi horror from the 80s. We’ll start out with “Humanoids from the Deep” from 1980, then go into space with “Saturn 3” from the same year. We’ll play with computers for a while with “EvilSpeak” from 1981, and then have the aliens come to us in “The Hidden” from 1987.

For our bonus reviews over at horrorbulletin.com, we have:

•    “Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives” from 1986

•    “Magic” (1978)

Book News

We’ve got two announcements this week pertaining to our books:

1. FREE! Horror Bulletin Monthly Issue 20 is now out. This, as always, has all our previous month’s reviews inside, but this month, we’re offering the ebook version (in PDF and ePub) absolutely free! Check out https://brianschell.com/collection/free-books for this one and more!

2. FREE! The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/collection/free-books. The eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback, but that one’s obviously not free. Also note, that there are a couple of other free books on the site as well!

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

•    The Horror Films of Peter Cushing

•    The Horror Films of Vincent Price

•    Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

•    Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

•    Hammer Horror Films

•    The Silent Age of Horror

•    The Horror Films of Roger Corman

•    The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

Creepy Fiction:

•    A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

•    Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

•    * Humanoids from the Deep

•    * Saturn 3

•    * Short Film: Polaroid (2023)

•    * Evilspeak

•    * The Hidden

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

•    Email: email@horrorguys.com 

•    Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

•    The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

•    Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

•    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

•    Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

•    Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 226

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week—

This week, we’ll watch the brand-new“Scream VI” from 2023, then the classic “Diabolique” from 1955, The found-footage film, “Hell House, LLC” and the Lovecraftian “From Beyond.”

For our bonus reviews over at horrorbulletin.com, we have both versions of:

•    “Funny Games” (1997)

•    “Funny Games” (2007)

Book News

We’ve got two announcements this week pertaining to our books:

1. FREE! Horror Bulletin Monthly Issue 20 is now out. This, as always, has all our previous month’s reviews inside, but this month, we’re offering the ebook version (in PDF and ePub) absolutely free! Check out https://brianschell.com/collection/free-books for this one and more!

2. FREE! The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/collection/free-books. The eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback, but that one’s obviously not free. Also note, that there are a couple of other free books on the site as well!

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

•    The Horror Films of Peter Cushing

•    The Horror Films of Vincent Price

•    Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

•    Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

•    Hammer Horror Films

•    The Silent Age of Horror

•    The Horror Films of Roger Corman

•    The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

Creepy Fiction:

•    A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

•    Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

•    Scream VI (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/scream-vi-2023/

•    Diabolique (1955) https://www.horrorguys.com/diabolique-1955/

•    Short FIlm: Kickstart my Heart (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-kickstart-my-heart-2023/

•    Hell House LLC (2015) https://www.horrorguys.com/hell-house-llc-directors-cut-2015/

•    From Beyond (1985) https://www.horrorguys.com/from-beyond-1986/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

•    Email: email@horrorguys.com 

•    Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

•    The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

•    Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

•    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

•    Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

•    Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 225

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week— This time, it’s anoth wild assortment of weirdness!

This week, we’ll watch the brand-new reboot of “Children of the Corn” from 2023, then the older, but still funny “Dance of the Dead” from 2008, the weird, sci-fi-ish, “Under the Skin” from 2013, and the terrifying “Night House” from 2020.

For our bonus reviews over at horrorbulletin.com, we have both versions of:

•    “The Slumber Party Massacre” (1982)

•    And “Slumber Party Massacre” (2021)

Book News

We’ve got two announcements this week pertaining to our books:

1. NEW! “The Horror Guys Guide to the Films of Peter Cushing” is available now at all the usual places, including our web store: https://brianschell.com/b/cushing. This is one of our biggest books yet, looking at all fiftyof Cushing’s horror films and eight of his other influential movies.

2. FREE! ”The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films” is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/b/halloween. The eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback, but that one’s obviously not free. Also note, that there are a couple of other free books on the site as well!

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

•    The Horror Films of Peter Cushing New!

•    The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

•    The Horror Films of Vincent Price

•    Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

•    Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

•    Hammer Horror Films

•    The Silent Age of Horror

•    The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

•    A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

•    Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

•    You’re Killing Me (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/youre-killing-me-2023

•    The Disappointments Room (2016) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-disappointments-room-2016

•    Short film: Jameson (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-jameson-2023

•    Shark Night (2011) https://www.horrorguys.com/shark-night-2011

•    Frankenstein vs The Mummy (2015) https://www.horrorguys.com/frankenstein-vs-the-mummy-2015

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

•    Email: email@horrorguys.com 

•    Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

•    The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

•    Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

•    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

•    Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

•    Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 224

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week— This time, it’s a wild assortment of weirdness!

This week, we’ll watch the brand-new ”You’re Killing Me,” followed by 2016’s “The Disappointments Room.” Then we’lol take a dip into “Shark Night” from 2011 and do battle with “Frankenstein vs. The Mummy” from 2015

For our bonus reviews over at horrorbulletin.com, we have:

• “Cowboys vs. Zombies: The Devil’s Crossing” (2014)

• And “The Frankenstein Theory” (2014) a very weird British “whodunit” about a mental case.

Book News

We’ve got two announcements this week pertaining to our books:

1. NEW! “The Horror Guys Guide to the Films of Peter Cushing” is available now at all the usual places, including our web store: https://brianschell.com/b/cushing. This is one of our biggest books yet, looking at all fifty of Cushing’s horror films and eight of his other influential movies.

2. FREE! ”The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films” is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/b/halloween. The eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback, but that one’s obviously not free. Also note, that there are a couple of other free books on the site as well!

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Peter Cushing New!

• The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price

• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

• Hammer Horror Films

• The Silent Age of Horror

• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• You’re Killing Me (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/youre-killing-me-2023

• The Disappointments Room (2016) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-disappointments-room-2016

• Short film: Jameson (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-jameson-2023

• Shark Night (2011) https://www.horrorguys.com/shark-night-2011

• Frankenstein vs The Mummy (2015) https://www.horrorguys.com/frankenstein-vs-the-mummy-2015

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com 

• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys 

• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Candyman (1992), Farewell to the Flesh, Day of the Dead, Candyman (2021) Episode 223

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week— This time, it’s a wild assortment of weirdness!

This week, we’ll cover all of the “Candyman” films: the original from 1992 and the reboot from 2021 as well as the two sequels to the original, “Farewell to the Flesh” and “Day of the Dead.”

For our bonus reviews over at horrorbulletin.com, we have:

• “Murder to the Tune of Seven Black Notes” (1977) another Lucio Fulci film about premonitions and murder

• And “The Psychopath” (1966) a very weird British “whodunit” about a mental case.

Book News

We’ve got two announcements this week pertaining to our books:

1. NEW! “The Horror Guys Guide to the Films of Peter Cushing” is available now at all the usual places, including our web store: https://brianschell.com/b/cushing. This is one of our biggest books yet, looking at all fifty of Cushing’s horror films and eight of his other influential movies.

2. FREE! ”The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films” is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/b/halloween. The eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback, but that one’s obviously not free. Also note, that there are a couple of other free books on the site as well!

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Peter Cushing New!

• The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price

• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

• Hammer Horror Films

• The Silent Age of Horror

• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

 

Links:

• “Candyman” (1992)

• “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” (1995)

• “Short Film: Goodnight Gracie“ (2023)

• “Candyman: Day of the Dead” (1999)

• “Candyman” (2021)

 

 that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com 

• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys 

• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week— This time, it’s a wild assortment of weirdness!

Last week, we looked at Winnie the Pooh, but this week, it’s “Cocaine Bear” another wild romp in the woods! We’ll then go for a swim in the ocean with “The Flesh Eaters,” and then hunt for the promised child with the “Skinwalkers.” Then we’ll watch a weird cold-war AI drama, “Colossus: The Forbin Project” and learn that our robot overlords only want the best for us.

For our bonus reviews over at horrorbulletin.com, we have:

*  “Fulci for Fake” (2019) a documentary about Lucio Fulci

*  And “The Munsters’ Revenge” (1981) the final outing for the original cast.

Book News

We’ve got two announcements this week pertaining to our books:

1.  NEW! “The Horror Guys Guide to the Films of Peter Cushing” is available now at all the usual places, including our web store: https://brianschell.com/b/cushing. This is one of our biggest books yet, looking at all fifty of Cushing’s horror films and eight of his other influential movies.

2.  FREE! ”The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films” is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/b/halloween. The eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback, but that one’s obviously not free. Also note, that there are a couple of other free books on the site as well!

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

*  The Horror Films of Peter Cushing New!

*  The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

*  The Horror Films of Vincent Price

*  Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

*  Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

*  Hammer Horror Films

*  The Silent Age of Horror

*  The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

*  A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

*  Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

*  Cocaine Bear (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/cocaine-bear-2023/

*  The Flesh Eaters (1964) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-flesh-eaters-1964/

*  Short Film: The Rotting of Casey Culpepper (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-the-rotting-of-casey-culpepper-2023/

*  Skinwalkers (2006) https://www.horrorguys.com/skinwalkers-2006/

*  Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) https://www.horrorguys.com/colossus-the-forbin-project-1970/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

*  Email: email@horrorguys.com 

*  Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

*  The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

*  Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

*  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

*  Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

*  Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week— This time, it’s a wild assortment of weirdness!

Oh, bother! It’s “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey,” an online mystery with “Ghost Webcam,” the Jewish alternative to The Exorcist, “Attachment,” and “Friday the 13 A New Beginning.”

For our bonus reviews over at horrorbulletin.com, we have:

•    “Carnival of Souls” (1962)

•    And “Carnival of Souls” (1998)

Book News

We’ve got two announcements this week pertaining to our books:

1. NEW! “The Horror Guys Guide to the Films of Peter Cushing” is available now at all the usual places, including our web store: https://brianschell.com/b/cushing. This is one of our biggest books yet, looking at all fiftyof Cushing’s horror films and eight of his other influential movies.

2. FREE! ”The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films” is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/b/halloween. The eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback, but that one’s obviously not free. Also note, that there are a couple of other free books on the site as well!

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

•    The Horror Films of Peter Cushing New!

•    The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

•    The Horror Films of Vincent Price

•    Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

•    Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

•    Hammer Horror Films

•    The Silent Age of Horror

•    The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

•    A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

•    Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

•    Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honer (2023) https://horrorguys.com/winnie-the-pooh-blood-and-honey-2023

•    Ghost Webcam (2023) https://horrorguys.com/ghost-webcam-2023

•    Short Film: Aria (2023) https://horrorguys.com/short-film-aria-2023

•    Attachment (2023) https://horrorguys.com/attachment-2023

•    Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) https://horrorguys.com/friday-the-13th-a-new-beginning-1985

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

•    Email: email@horrorguys.com 

•    Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

•    The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

•    Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

•    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

•    Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

•    Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 220

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week— This time, they’re all brand new, recent-release films!

“We Have a Ghost” from 2023 is up first, followed by a “Spoonful of Sugar” which isn’t as sweet as it sounds, especially before being “Swallowed.” Ir might even make you “Sick.”

For our bonus reviews over at horrorbulletin.com, we have:

•    “Aenigma” (1987)

•    and “The Face of Fu Manchu” (1965)

Book News

We’ve got two announcements this week pertaining to our books:

1. NEW! “The Horror Guys Guide to the Films of Peter Cushing” is available now at all the usual places, including our web store: https://brianschell.com/b/cushing. This is one of our biggest books yet, looking at all fiftyof Cushing’s horror films and eight of his other influential movies.

2. FREE! ”The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films” is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/b/halloween. The eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback, but that one’s obviously not free. Also note, that there are a couple of other free books on the site as well!

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

•    The Horror Films of Peter Cushing New!

•    The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

•    The Horror Films of Vincent Price

•    Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

•    Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

•    Hammer Horror Films

•    The Silent Age of Horror

•    The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

•    A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

•    Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

•    We Have a Ghost (2023) https://horrorguys.com/we-have-a-ghost-2023

•    Spoonful of Sugar (2023) https://horrorguys.com/spoonful-of-sugar-2023

•    Short Film: Catch Your Breath (2023) [https://horrorguys.com/] https://horrorguys.com/catch-your-breath-2022

•    Swallowed (2023) https://horrorguys.com/swallowed-2023

•    Sick (2023) https://horrorguys.com/sick-2023

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

•    Email: email@horrorguys.com 

•    Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

•    The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

•    Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

•    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

•    Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

•    Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

We’ve got some classics and not-so-classics this week from Charles Band and Full Moon Entertainment. We’ll begin with 1976’s “Crash!”, follow that up with “Parasite” from 1982, and get crazy with “Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn” from 1983. We’ll then fast-forward a bit and watch the very odd “Meridian: Kiss of the Beast” from 1990 and then the very recent “City of Demons” from 2025.

The latest issue of “Horror Monthly” is now on sale! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.com

Pick up our newest book, "The Horror Guys Guide to the Academy Awards of Horror" at https://www.horrormonthly.com/horror-guys-guides/academy-awards-of-horror

Get all our reviews once a week right here!

Mainstream Films:

1976 Crash!

● Directed by Charles Band

● Written by Marc Marais

● Stars: Jose Ferrer, Sue Lyon, John Ericson

● Run Time: 1 Hour, 28 Minutes

● Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

The awesome poster is the best thing about this one. If you’re into old-school practical effect car chases, crashes, and explosions, this one's for you. As far as horror movies go, it’s pretty tame. A somewhat disjointed tale of murder and revenge and collateral damage. It wasn’t a great film by any means, but we found it pretty entertaining.

Spoilery Synopsis

A couple in a van talk about almost arriving at their destination. A car comes up behind them and forces them off the road. It’s a Crash! The van explodes in a huge fireball, and we see a body fly through the air.

Sometime later, we watch Kim walking through an outdoor flea market at a drive-in. She buys an ugly little figurine from a creepy man at the swap meet.

We cut to Kim’s husband, Marc Denne, watching old movies of them playing tennis. Marc is now confined to a wheelchair, and he’s not happy about it. He doesn’t want her to ever leave the house again.

We cut to a man in a car who encounters the black convertible that caused the crash earlier. He also crashes and explodes!

Kim uses the little figurine on her car key chain and then goes for a drive. Suddenly, a Doberman dog jumps in the back of her convertible and causes her to crash, this time without the explosion.

We cut to Kim in the hospital, covered from head to toe in bandages. She’s all cut up and has dog bites as well. She’s in shock and won’t release that little figurine. We cut to Marc, who actually trained the dog to attack and kill his own wife.

There’s an APB out for the black convertible hit-and-run car, and as the policeman chases the car, he sees no one driving it at all. It makes the police car crash and then drives off.

Dr. Martin and Lt. Pegler don’t know who she is or what really happened to her. She wasn’t found anywhere near a car accident, so someone dumped her in the desert. Marc watches a “Do You Know This Woman” announcement on TV, so he knows she’s still alive. “With no memory she’s as good as dead, but what if she remembers?” He asks the dog.

Marc goes to the hospital where Kim is staying and sneaks into her room. He pulls out her breathing tube and IV and then leaves. Shortly after, Nurse Kathy finds her dying but hooks her back up; she and Dr. Martin know someone tried to kill Kim.

The driverless ghost car is surrounded now by three police cars, and it’s a crazy chase. All three police cars meet a violent end as the ghost car drives on.

Dr. Martin sketches the figure that Kim won’t release and talks to a guy at the university. The little statue is a Kaza, and it’s really old. The occult character it represents is dedicated to revenge and violence. Meanwhile, Kim wakes up with bright red eyes, and she telepathically moves the wheelchair in her room.

Dr. Greg Martin and Nurse Kathy talk to Kim, who has woken up but doesn’t remember anything. Meanwhile, the ghost car kills a few more police cars and tourists. Lt. Pegler is surprised that Kim has recovered so quickly; she’s going home to live with Nurse Kathy. Greg takes the Kaza figure to a specialist, who turns out to be… Marc. Marc knows all about the Kaza,

That night, Marc’s electric wheelchair attacks Marc’s dog, and Kim seems to be behind it telepathically. The dog is killed. Kathy sees that Kim’s eyes have turned bright red. Marc knows that the Kaza was behind the attack.

Marc calls Kim and wants to meet, but she still doesn’t recognize him. They get together and go back to his house, and she doesn’t remember that, either. He calls her Kim, and she doesn’t pick up on that, either. He admits everything and then locks her in the sauna before cranking it up to eleven.

Lt. Pegler and Greg watch as a black convertible is towed in. The keys fit, so it’s absolutely Kim’s car, so now they know who she is. When Greg hears that she’s Mrs. Demme, he runs off.

At the police impound yard, the car springs to life and escapes as Kim controls it mentally from inside the sauna. As Kim's memory returns, we get a hazy “greatest crashes” montage; she remembers all the car crashes now. (I think we see edited versions of all the crashes here, which goes on for far too long and feels like filler.)

Greg contacts Lt. Pefler, who sends everyone to Marc’s house before it’s too late. Meanwhile, Marc sits at home and practices what he’s going to tell the police. The convertible gets there first, and it stares down Marc in his wheelchair. He shoots at the car, but his little wheelchair can’t outrun the killer car. The car pushes the wheelchair over a cliff. When he survives the fall, the car “jumps” on him and explodes. Yeah. He's dead now.

Greg arrives at the house and runs inside. He opens up the sauna and finds Kim inside with red eyes, still controlling the killer car. He leads her out to safety.

Brian’s Commentary

I was never quite clear on why Marc wanted to kill Kim in the first place.

If you like car crashes, this one has a lot of them. The majority of the film’s budget had to have been for junk vehicles and obsolete police cars, so I lost track of how many crashed in this. If the convertible causing all the accidents was Kim's car, then how did it cause the van crash in the opening… before Kim’s accident? It was probably just an editing thing, but we noticed it.

John Carradine plays Dr. Wesley Edwards, the anthropologist who tells Martin about the Kaza. It’s a very small role, and he did all his shots in one afternoon. Jose Ferrer was in a large number of horror films around this time, but for some reason, he never really became a horror icon, which is unfortunate. John Ericson, playing Greg, looks like he’d rather be just about anywhere else other than here.

It’s fun in the way only a 1970’s schlockfest can be, and it is entertaining. Still, no one’s going to call this a great film.

Kevin’s Commentary

Although this was choppy and disjointed, it was a fun watch. I might have been a little nostalgic, having seen so many films of that era that were heavy on car crashes or at least included one or two. I hadn’t seen this one before. It’s not a great movie, but I enjoyed it.

1982 Parasite

● Directed by Charles Band

● Written by Alan J. Adler, Michael Shoob, Frank Levering

● Stars Robert Glaudini, Demi Moore, Luca Bercovici

● Run Time: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes

● Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This makes the bold claim of being the first futuristic monster movie in 3-D. Technically, perhaps it is. There is an ambitious story at the heart of it, but the execution doesn’t quite come together. It falls flat in the technical and acting aspects. It was some of Demi Moore’s earliest work, and she’s on record saying it was the worst movie she’s ever been in. It wasn’t truly awful, but it was pretty low.

Spoilery Synopsis

We open on a man loosely strapped to a table. A man with an “X” tattooed on his hand tightens the straps. There’s a scientist there, Dr. Paul Dean, and he’s working on something in his lab. There’s an accident and the worm he’s been experimenting on crawls inside him. Something bursts out of the man on the table’s chest, ala “Alien,” only cheaper looking. No, that was Paul’s nightmare– it was him on the table.

We see that it’s the far future of 1992, and the world has seen some changes, not for the better. Paul goes to a small, nearly deserted town and walks around with a laser pistol. He hears a scream and goes inside to find two men raping a woman. We see that for a scientist, Paul has the strength of a superhero as he takes out the two men. Afterward, the crazy woman attacks him, too. OK, it’s a bit more post-apocalyptic than it seemed at first.

Paul meets Buddy, an old man who’s tired of the crazies. He goes to Buddy’s for coffee, which is in short supply, but has a seizure due to the parasite inside him. On the way out, the crazy topless woman smashes his apparently-plastic laser pistol. He’s attacked by one of the men from before, but Paul stabs him in a really obvious 3D shot.

Paul stops for gas. The fill-up is $105, and they only take silver. He heads on into the tiny town of Joshua, population 60-ish. He finds a sign that says room for rent, and an older woman comes to the door. She doesn’t want his cash either, but she’ll take his gold ring. He gets a room and sets up all his “science stuff.”

Paul opens his shirt, and we see that his stomach is all grey and bumpy now. Paul goes next door to a restaurant that sells canned soup; the owner, Collins, doesn’t like the local kids. The local kids are all “punks” in every sense of the word, and they steal Paul’s soup. Patricia walks in, and they all turn their attention on her– she grows lemons for Collins. Ricus, the leader punk, used to work for the company, and he’s got the “X” tattoo to prove it. Pat and Collins eventually run off the gang.

Meanwhile, Miss Daley, Paul’s new landlord, goes through all his books and equipment. Outside, a menacing-looking black sports car zooms into the gas station, and the man inside gets out. He’s Wolf, a “Merchant,” and he’s probably the movie’s villain.

The gang sneaks up on Paul and goes through his van and motel room. They steal his metal Thermos which has something important inside. All six of the gang and Paul load into a car and drive out to the gang’s lair. One of the guys opens the Thermos and reaches inside, and he gets a 3D worm attack right in the face. They beat Paul senseless and dump him.

He wakes up at Pat’s place; she’s rescued him somehow. She’s made him rattlesnake tea– just kidding, she says, it’s made from lemons. Wolf arrives in town, and he’s clearly looking for Paul. He runs into Buddy, who denies having seen Paul. Wolf knows he’s lying and shoots his hand off. He has better luck talking to Collins.

Back at the gang hideout, Zeke cries about the thing inside him eating its way out. He’s clearly dying, and Ricus has no idea what to do.

Paul has moved to Pat’s place with all his equipment. Paul tells her that he created the parasite for the government, but it was really The Merchants who were behind the project. Paul’s prognosis is not good. He needs the parasite that’s on Zeke in order to find a cure. If the parasite reproduces, it’s basically the end of the world.

The gang ambushes Wolf, which goes badly for one of the gang members. They slow him down enough that Paul gets away.

In the morning, the parasite has drained Zeke and gone off on its own somewhere. Oh, it’s on Dana, another of the gang. They all run to Collins’s place for help. Everyone heads to Miss Daley’s place, where they all work on saving Dana. Collins sends Ricus to Pat’s place to find Paul.

Wolf gets to Pat and beats the truth out of her. Ricus attacks him, and the two fight. Paul returns from somewhere and tells Pat that he can kill the parasites with high-frequency sound.

Dana dies, and the parasite moves on… to Miss Daley. It climbs up on her ceiling, and 3D drops goo on her until it jumps down and gets her. Eventually, it bursts out of her head.

Paul and Pat track the parasite and wrap it in a blanket. They get a sample, but the worm escapes. Paul turns on the audio equipment, and his parasite rips its way out of him– and bites Pat before it dies and melts away. Paul is cured!

In the basement, Wolf shoots Ricus and knocks out Collins. He then attacks Paul, and they wrestle around right in front of the second parasite, which jumps on Wolf. Wolf falls out a window, and Pat shoots the fuel tank to blow up Wolf and the monster. They burn to death painfully.

Paul, Pat, and Collins look at Wolf’s burning corpse. “It’s over,” Pat states.

Brian’s Commentary

I saw this in theaters when it came out. It was the first 3D movie I had seen with grey glasses rather than the old red-and-blue ones. However, the glasses didn’t really make the movie any better. They just didn’t have the budget for a post-apocalyptic world; all we got was cars in a desert town.

The acting isn’t good. The effects aren’t good. The pacing and cinematography are pretty awful. It’s Demi Moore’s first big role, but she’s said on the record this was the worst movie she’s ever done.

It’s not the worst of all horror movies, not by a long shot, but it’s also a very far cry from being good. Maybe a 3/10 if I’m feeling generous.

Kevin’s Commentary

This kept seeming like it should have been better than it was. The basic premise is interesting. It’s got some ideas. But the execution of it just doesn’t really come together. I don’t regret seeing it, but once was more than enough.

1983 Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn

● Directed by Charles Band

● Written by Alan J. Adler

● Stars Jeffrey Byron, Michael Preston, Tim Thomerson

● Run Time: 1 Hour, 24 Minutes

● Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This was apocalyptic futuristic science fiction, directed by Charles Band and part of the Full Moon company, so it does have the horror movie connection. This one is a very 80s blast of action and romance that kept reminding us of “Mad Max: The Road Warrior.” And it was very clearly made with 3D in mind as a gimmick. The effects haven’t held up well, but it was passably entertaining.

Spoilery Synopsis

A man drives his futuristic vehicle through the desert. After a while, he’s spotted by a mutant on a hill, and soon after, a flying craft shoots lasers at him. The man in the truck shoots back, causing the flying machine to crash explosively. Dogen then parks the truck to check out the damage. He looks at the dead man’s body and finds a red crystal.

We cut to a couple of crystal miners who complain about being in Nomad territory. They find a big one, “We’re rich!” When they go outside, Dhyana’s father is executed by the cyborg Baal.

Elsewhere, Dogen sees smoke and heads toward the action. He soon arrives at the mine site and finds Dhyana hiding inside the cave. He tells her about Jarden-Syn, a madman who’s been inciting the Nomads in a holy war. Baal is Jared-Syn’s son.

Jared-Syn tells his followers that he knows someone has come to challenge them.

Dogen asks Dhyana about the red crystal he found, so she takes him to her equipment supplier for answers. The little man, Zax, does some tests and says it’s a storage crystal for life force. It may have come from a lost city, but the only man who can take Dogen there is a former ranger named Rhodes.

Baal chases Dogen and Dhyana, and he shoots hallucinogenic acid at them before getting run off. In a fever dream, Dogen dreams about Jared-Syn, who can’t hurt him as long as Dhyana is with him. Jared-Syn concentrates real hard, and Dhyana teleports to where he is; he then teleports a monster to fight Dogen. Dogen’s smart, and he manages to short-circuit the electrical monster.

Dogen goes to a small encampment and goes into an entirely alien-free version of the Star Wars bar. He tracks down the ex-ranger, Rhodes, there. “You must’ve fought in the Sand Wars.” Rhodes isn’t cooperative, but Dogen goes outside to watch a guy getting beaten up. This somehow leads to a gunfight, which somehow leads to Rhodes sobering up and becoming an ally.

The two men drive to the Cyclopean burial grounds, which is where the lost city is. They walk through the smoky ruins and find a mask made of crystal. Suddenly, they’re both attacked by little sandworms with big teeth. Dogen shoots his worm, but Rhodes scares his off simply by yelling at it in a grouchy tone.

On the way out of the zone, they’re stopped by Hurok and his Cyclopean goons. The only way to live is for Dogen to fight Hurok in the Pit. Hurok’s way bigger and meaner, but Dogen’s smarter and wins the fight. Dogen spares Hurok’s life, so he’s an ally now, too.

Dogen and Rhodes drive right into Baal’s camp, making a mess of things as everyone scrambles to their own vehicles. After escaping, Dogen tries on the crystal mask, and it gives him a sweaty, shirtless vision of himself and a burning tree. He comes out of the trance just in time to see Rhodes attacked by Baal; Dogen rips Baal’s cybernetic arm off, leaving acid everywhere.

Baal runs home to tell Jared-Syn what happened, but they have Dhyana as a hostage. We see that his life-force crystal is huge; “The small crystals feed the larger.”

Dogen walks right into their camp alone and confronts Jared-Syn. Hurok is there as well, and he stands up for Dogen. Dogen makes a very brief speech, which sways enough of the rabble to cause a revolt. Jared-Syn uses his crystal powers to shoot at Dogen, but Dogen uses the crystal mask as a shield.

Baal grabs the mask and breaks it, so Hurok kills him. Jared-Syn flies off on an air-bike, and Dogen chases after him; now it’s just one-on-one. Jared-Syn calls upon his dark magic powers to open up a dimensional portal, so the chase gets a bit weird. Jared-Syn escapes.

Dogen goes back to the camp where Hurok and Dhyana are, and they talk about Jared-Syn going to another world or another time. He shoots the big crystal, which explodes and releases all the life forces it holds.

As Dogen and Dhyana walk away, Rhodes catches up to them in the car. All three head back to town…

Brian’s Commentary

“We have Mad Max at home.” You know it’s post-apocalyptic because everyone is sweaty, and no one washes their faces. In the end, Jared-Syn gets away and there was no sequel, so that didn’t work out so well.

This was obviously cashing in on “Mad Max: The Road Warrior” (1982), which was a recent hit at the time. There are also a lot of nods to “Star Wars” (1977). It’s post-apocalyptic, with lots of car chases, mutants, and hokey special effects. It was also filmed in 3D, although there aren’t an excessive number of gimmick shots in this. There are a lot of POV driving and flying shots, which, I assume, looked more impressive in 3D than 2D.

The makeup effects, especially on Baal and Hurok, are pretty decent; the other special effects are extremely dated. This was the movie that got Richard Moll cast in “Night Court,” as he really stood out.

It’s more action-adventure-sci-fi than horror. Still, it’s got mutants and monsters and mayhem. It’s… OK.

Kevin’s Commentary

They had a generous glycerine budget. Dogen, especially, was sweaty and shining through most of the film. The other makeup effects were pretty good, too. The special effects weren’t great, but overall, I thought it was moderately entertaining. I don’t know if I’d especially recommend it, but I didn’t hate it.

1990 Meridian

● AKA “Meridian: Kiss of the Beast” and “The Ravaging”

● Directed by Charles Band

● Written by Charles Band, Dennis Paoli

● Stars Sherilyn Fenn, Malcolm Jamieson, Charlie Spreadling

● Run Time: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes

● Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This was too long and drawn out. There is a story, a decent cast, and some very cool real-world settings in Italy. But it drags. It’s got horror elements and a romantic plot. Overall, the effect is pretty sedating and we give it a moderate thumbs up at best.

Spoilery Synopsis

We open with a bunch of circus performers coming out of a glowing cave.

We then cut to a church, where a boy brings in a painting that the woman in the castle has donated. The frame is old and valuable, but the worthless painting is hiding something painted beneath it. We pan down to the crypt beneath the church, and it’s full of old skulls. The priest takes the painting to Gina to restore the original layer.

Gina gets to work on the painting, but she has to meet her best friend, Cat, who is visiting Italy for the first time in ten years. Cat’s family owns an old castle on the mountain; old Aunt Martha has been living there all this time as the caretaker. Cat explains that legend says the man who built the castle in the 1500s was a wizard who turned his enemies to stone, which explains all the weird statuary on the property.

The two girls notice the creepy circus setting up just outside and attend. The ringleader, Fauvrey, introduces the sideshow. The dwarf points out the strong man, snake charmer, fire eater, and the others. When it comes time to pick a volunteer from the audience, they pick Gina. Fauvrey throws knives at her on stage, and it’s all fine. All through the show, some of the people on stage stare ominously at Cat out in the crowd.

After the show, Cat and Gina go backstage to talk to Fauvrey, who is charming and seems to like the girls as well. Cat is pressured into inviting the whole troupe up to the castle for dinner that night. Martha and Adriano aren't thrilled to cook for the big crowd, but they don’t have much choice.

They all toast their host, but we see that the dwarf has drugged the girls’ drinks. The girls almost immediately get woozy, and Fauvrey rapes both of them, as does the mysterious man in the mask who looks just like him. “I need you to love me,” says the man who drugged and raped her. The two twins(?) then continue to have sex with both girls. Somewhere in the middle of sex, Lawrence Fauvrey turns into a werewolf to finish the act.

In the morning, Cat and Martha talk about the mess the guests made last night. The circus and everyone with it are gone. Neither of the girls remembers the details, but they both suspect they were drugged. “We can’t go to the police,” Cat says. Gina leaves with a shrug to go back to work on the mysterious painting. And that’s the extent that we hear about the sexual assault from the night before.

Alone now, Cat wanders through the huge castle. She goes into a bedroom and finds a dead woman on a bed. She runs to get Martha, who says there’s no one there. When they return, there is no one there. She saw the dead girl when she was very young, which is why her father sent her to America at a young age.

Later, Cat finds Oliver Fauvrey outside, and he apologizes for last night. “When we made love, what we felt was real,” he explains, so now she’s sure of what happened. He leaves and talks to his evil brother, Lawrence, about Cat being “The One.”

Back in town, Gina works on uncovering the image in the painted-over artwork. It shows the castle on the hill.

In the castle, Cat follows the “ghost” to a crack in the wall, where she sees a vision of the werewolf carrying the dead woman and puts her on the bed. Later, Martha explains that the girl in the white dress was Cat’s father’s sister, Audrey. Audrey used to like the creepy owner of the circus, who sometimes acted one way and other times another (almost as if they were two men). Yeah, that was the Fauvrey group then, too. They’ve been around quite a while.

Cat goes through dead-Audrey’s room and finds a dress and some jewelry that are just her size. Lawrence appears to her, and he doesn’t deny killing Audrey. He ties her to the bed and rips her clothes off– but then the werewolf, Oliver, attacks him from behind; she sees him.

Gina has worked all day and into the night on the painting, which shows the castle, Cat, and Lawrence/Oliver. Meanwhile, Oliverwolf and Cat make out in the bedroom. Martha says, “It’s just a dream.”

Oliver tries to kill himself with an arrow, and Lawrence mocks him, knowing it won’t work. “Only someone who loves you can kill you,” he taunts. “You’re the beast, Lawrence.”

Oliver comes to Cat and swears he never killed anyone after the first lady of the castle, 400 years ago. Now, he’s here to protect her and have her kill him. He wants to die, and only she can break the curse. He begs her to do it as he starts to change. Change completed, the beast lumbers back into the portal and leaves her alone.

Cat goes to the local priest for confession, and the priest thanks her for donating the painting. She doesn’t know anything about it. Cat says it must have been Martha, but the priest says Martha died six months ago. “I conducted the funeral service myself.”

Gina finished the painting. It shows the Beast shooting a crossbow at Cat and Lawrence in the woods.

Cat and Martha have words. Cat has to face her destiny– and the truth that she loves Oliver. Martha leads Cat to the realization that Oliver isn’t the bad one, it must be someone else. Martha says she’ll always be with Cat as she vanishes.

Cat, alone now, dresses up in Audrey’s outfit and walks through the crack in the wall to the brothers’ lair. Oliver introduces himself and says the bad guy is his brother, Lawrence. He explains the whole thing to Cat. Lawrence killed the woman who owned the castle, but Oliver was the one who ended up cursed. He can only be freed if the lady of the castle loves him and kills him. Turns out, he’s really Lawrence, faking it, who plans to kill Cat.

Lawrence drags Cat out to the woods, and we see Oliverwolf out there watching with his crossbow. It’s just like the scene in the painting. Gina shows up and sees what’s going on. When the dwarf shows up to abuse Oliver, Gina helps him shoot Lawrence.

Oliver turns human again, and he hugs Cat. All the circus people walk back into the mouth of the magic cave. Oliver and Cat go with them to be happily ever after…

Brian’s Commentary

So the werewolf/beast is the gentle, good guy and the normal guy is the baddie? OK. I want to say it was a take on “Beauty and the Beast,” but it had enough differences to make it stand out.

The sex scenes are incredibly long and drawn-out and seem to be a focus of the film (the director obviously liked them). Sherilyn Fenn was right in the middle of filming “Twin Peaks” at the time, and she was a hot commodity, so that was probably behind it. Of all the cast members of Twin Peaks, her career seemed to stall out fairly quickly, but she does all right here.

The castle itself and the statuary gardens are real places in Italy; you can even book weddings there.

The werewolf costume is the same one from Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1990), with a few modifications. The visuals are good, and the soundtrack is well done. However, the problem is that the story itself is very slow and drawn-out.

It’s quite dull.

Kevin’s Commentary

The castle and the park with the big statues were awesome settings and added a lot to the film. Good thing because it’s kind of dull. It’s got the right elements there, just needs to be tightened up. As it was, the entertainment was on the low side.

2025 City of Demons

● Directed by Charles Band

● Written by Leon Schmoolie

● Stars Ariana Madix, Jessica Morris, Circus-Szalewski

● Run Time: 1 Hour, 22 Minutes

● Trailer: (This movie is so bad, they didn’t make a trailer)

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This wasn’t horror so much as it was a loose collection of scenes that was a delivery system for hot clothed girls, hot unclothed girls, girl-on-girl sex, man-on-girl sex, and girl sex with a giant Elvis puppet. That last one was at least interesting in a weird way. There are ghosts and vampires and other stuff going on in a choppy mix that we both firmly give a thumbs down.

Spoilery Synopsis

Danni and Reese, both Realtors, talk about selling an old house that’s been empty for eighty years. They go inside and start pulling sheets off the furniture (the house doesn’t even look eight years old). The pair get to work cleaning before the buyer arrives. We get a “cleaning montage.”

We cut to a casting room where actresses talk about wanting to be in this movie so badly, but one of them insults the work. Two others don’t fare much better with the awful script, but the perky, vacuous one gets cast. They go home, put on monster masks, and dance in front of a crystal ball, and we see that someone is watching them. They have a lot of really cool horror movie masks and props– they’re all decorating for Halloween.

Back at the old house, Reese watches as ghosts frolic outside near the waterfall. More ghosts, including the ghosts of Sonny Barnes, Tubby Fitzgerald, and Erik Burke talk to her. She hears screaming in the basement and goes through a secret door to get down there.

The four “horror girls” decide to watch “The Killer Eye” on DVD. They even have a Killer Eye prop. One of the girls takes her top off and flashes the Eye. In the movie, a woman in clown makeup gets her fortune told by a woman at the beach who takes her to a dispensary on her break. We get a glimpse of the “Gingerdead Man” as well as the “Evil Bong.” They all watch a show featuring a zombie-puppet Elvis, having sex with a stripper.

Reese rushes into a room where she sees the Phantom of the Opera having sex with a woman. No, it’s Erik, Sonny, and Tubby. Reese says the potential buyer of the house will find her. They laugh; Erik was posing as the buyer.

“This sucks,” says one of the horror girls (as did Kevin) at the weird Elvis puppet sex. The crystal ball is still watching them all, and when it starts glowing, they all notice.

In the basement of the mansion, the three old dead movie stars continue to terrorize Reese. They introduce their leading lady, much to Reese’s terror.

We cut to a strip club and see still more sexy things. A woman leaves, and something in the parking lot abducts her.

We cut to a man and woman shopping, and we see that he’s a vampire.

One of the horror girls protests to the other about how straight she is as they climb into bed together. When they’re interrupted, they suggest the third girl join in.

Back at the haunted house, Reese and Danni, the other Realtor, clean out the deactivated waterfall and find a necklace. They talk about the buyer, who only communicates with them by letter. Was she hallucinating the working fountain and the dead movie stars?

Back at the strip club, a woman talks to the owner, who doesn’t like the light. She wants a job, so he makes her do a sexy dance for him. Meanwhile, her boyfriend wanders around in the main area of the club and watches the show. Two women in the restroom talk about the dancer who has been killed.

The abducted woman wakes up in a mechanic’s garage and screams at the walls.

Danni goes to sleep in one of the bedrooms and is transported to a land of mountainous animated boobies as the characters from “The Killer Eye” get all philosophical with the devils there. She runs downstairs and is grabbed by the three dead actor ghosts. They chain her to a post in the basement. Meanwhile, we cut to other places and see still more… stuff.

We see that the guy at the store, the girls in the garage, and the strip club members are all vampires, and they do their thing.

Reese and Danni drink wine as the credits roll.

Brian’s Commentary

DO NOT Confuse this with 2018’s “Constantine: City of Demons” that we reviewed when it came out.

WTF was that? Someone cleaned scraps off the cutting-room floor and stitched them together? There never was anything resembling a plot.

This is like scenes from nine different movies edited together inconsistently with triple the usual amount of T&A thrown in. There were too many blonde women who all looked alike; we couldn’t tell who was who for the most part. This is really, really hard to follow. We repeatedly cut away to scenes that don’t really go anywhere or fold in with any of the other plots. There’s just way too much cutting back and forth between things that don’t seem to be related.

We realize that this one is chock full of cameos, but the credits don’t say who they are. I caught a few, but “Evil Bong” and “Gingerdead Man” are completely egregious. Stuart Gordon, the director of “Re-Animator” was one I spotted, but I know there were a few that I should have recognized and didn’t. Full Moon went crazy with the self-references to their own films, but not having seen much of their stuff since the 80s and 90s, I was a little overwhelmed.

This was truly, unequivocally incoherent trash. And not in a good way.

Kevin’s Commentary

Stuff happened to a bunch of attractive young women who were pretty interchangeable in appearance. The story was vague and choppy, with enough horror elements to slap the horror genre on it, but it was more of a mostly bland softcore porn. Charles Band (director) has been directing and writing for decades with some entertaining stuff under his belt - something went terribly wrong with this one.

Contact Info:

Email:

● mailto:email@horrorguys.com

Websites:

● https://www.horrorguys.com

● https://www.horrormonthly.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 219

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week!

We’ll hear a “Knock at the Cabin” and then have some “Shivers.” We’ll camp out with the “Cub” on “Friday the 13th The Final Chapter.” As a bonus this week over at horrorbulletni.com, we’ll look at two more oldies:

•    The original “Night of the Living Dead” (1968)

•    and “The Velvet Vampire” (1971)

Book News

We’ve got two announcements this week pertaining to our books:

1. NEW! “The Horror Guys Guide to the Films of Peter Cushing” is available now at all the usual places, including our web store: https://brianschell.com/b/cushing. This is one of our biggest books yet, looking at all fiftyof Cushing’s horror films and eight of his other influential movies.

2. FREE! ”The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films” is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/b/halloween. The eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback, but that one’s obviously not free. Also note, that there are a couple of other free books on the site as well!

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

•    The Horror Films of Peter Cushing New!

•    The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

•    The Horror Films of Vincent Price

•    Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

•    Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

•    Hammer Horror Films

•    The Silent Age of Horror

•    The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

•    A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

•    Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

•    Knock at the Cabin (2023): https://www.horrorguys.com/knock-at-the-cabin-2023/

•    Shivers (1975): https://www.horrorguys.com/shivers-1975/

•    Short Film: Stuck (2023): https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-stuck-2023

•    Cub (2014): https://www.horrorguys.com/cub-2014

•    Friday the 13th The Final Chapter (pt. 4): https://www.horrorguys.com/friday-the-13th-the-final-chapter-1984

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

•    Email: email@horrorguys.com 

•    Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

•    The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

•    Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

•    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

•    Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

•    Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 218

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week!

We’ll start with “Infinity Pool” a weird story about cloning— sorta. Then we’ll look into a bait-and-switch barely-horror film “Burial,” try to avoid the curse in “Night of the Eagle,” and then hang out in a haunted house the the “Spookies.” As a bonus this week over at horrorbulletni.com, we’ll look at two more oldies:

•    “Werewolf” (1995)

•    “Manhattan Baby” (1982)

Book News

We’ve got two announcements this week pertaining to our books:

1. NEW! “The Horror Guys Guide to the Films of Peter Cushing” is available now at all the usual places, including our web store: https://brianschell.com/b/cushing. This is one of our biggest books yet, looking at all fiftyof Cushing’s horror films and eight of his other influential movies.

2. FREE! ”The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films” is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/b/halloween. The eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback, but that one’s obviously not free. Also note, that there are a couple of other free books on the site as well!

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

•    The Horror Films of Peter Cushing New!

•    The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

•    The Horror Films of Vincent Price

•    Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

•    Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

•    Hammer Horror Films

•    The Silent Age of Horror

•    The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

•    A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

•    Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

•    Infinity Pool (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/infinity-pool-2023/

•    Burial (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/burial-2022/

•    Short Film: Moonstruck (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-moonstruck-2023/

•     Night of the Eagle (1962) https://www.horrorguys.com/night-of-the-eagle-1962/

•    Spookies (1986) https://www.horrorguys.com/spookies-1986/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

•    Email: email@horrorguys.com 

•    Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

•    The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

•    Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

•    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

•    Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

•    Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

M3GAN, Oculus, Disquiet, and Phenomena Episode 217

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week— This time, we’ve got some really fun movies!

We’ll start with “M3GAN” a modern take on a killer robot doll. Then we’ll look into a haunted mirror with “Oculus,” try to figure out what’s going on with “Disquiet,” and then talk to some bugs with “Phenomena.” As a bonus this week over at horrorbulletni.com, we’ll look at two more unfortunate happenings in the wilderness:

•    “The Killer Bees” (1966)

•    “Friday the 13th Part III” (1982)

Four years ago this week...

Four YEARS AGO this week, on episode 11, we looked at “Don’t Torture a Duckling” (1972) and “The Possession of Hannah Grace” (2018).

Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg011/.

Discount News

We’ve got two announcements this week pertaining to our books:

1. We have a new one, and it’s FREE! ”The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films” is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/b/halloween. The eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback via Lulu, but that one’s obviously not free. Also note, that there are a couple of other free books on the site as well!

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

•    The Horror Films of Vincent Price

•    Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

•    Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

•    Hammer Horror Films

•    The Silent Age of Horror

•    The Horror Films of Roger Corman

•    The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free!)

Creepy Fiction:

•    A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

•    Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

•    M3GAN (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/m3gan-2023/

•    Disquiet (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/disquiet-2023/

•    Short Film: Leopard Heels (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-leopard-heels-2023/

•    Phenomena (1985) https://www.horrorguys.com/phenomena-1985/

•    Oculus (2013) https://www.horrorguys.com/oculus-2013/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

•    Email: email@horrorguys.com 

•    Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

•    The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

•    Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

•    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

•    Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

•    Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 216

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week— This time, we’ll call it “Stupid people vs. Nature: Nature Wins” week.

We’ll start with “Open Water” (2003), then hang out in “Frozen” (2010). We’ll stop for a short film, then return with 2014’s “Backcountry” and 2022’s “Fall.” As a bonus this week, we’ll look at two more unfortunate happenings in the wilderness:

•    “Devil’s Pass” (2013)

•    “Deliverance” (1972)

Four years ago this week...

Four YEARS AGO this week, on episode 10, we looked at “Drag Me to Hell” (2009) and “Happy Death Day” (2017).

Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg010/.

Discount News

We’ve got two announcements this week pertaining to our books:

1. We have a new one, and it’s FREE! “The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films“ is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/b/halloween. The price listed there is $1.99 USD, but if you use the coupon code HALLOWEEN, the eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback via Lulu, but that one’s obviously not free.

2. All our paperback books are now available from Lulu as well as on Amazon. Lulu just sent me a promo code to let you get 15% off any purchase. So yeah, order what you want and SAVE! Use the promo code FEBRUARY15 to get 15% off everything in your order from Lulu.

https://www.lulu.com/search?page=1&q=Brian+schell&pageSize=10&adultaudiencerating=00&sortBy=RELEVANCE

•    Or Buy from Horror Guys Shop

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

•    The Horror Films of Vincent Price

•    Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

•    Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

•    Hammer Horror Films

•    The Silent Age of Horror

•    The Horror Films of Roger Corman

•    The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free— see above for coupon code)

Creepy Fiction:

•    A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

•    Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

•    Open Water https://www.horrorguys.com/open-water-2003/

•    Frozen https://www.horrorguys.com/frozen-2010/

•    Short Film: Nice to Finally Meet You https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-nice-to-finally-meet-you-2023/

•    Backcountry https://www.horrorguys.com/backcountry-2014/

•    Fall https://www.horrorguys.com/fall-2022/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

•    Email: email@horrorguys.com 

•    Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

•    The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

•    Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

•    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

•    Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

•    Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week— This time, We’ll look at the cause of manypeople’s phobias and nightmares. Yes, it’s the 1970’s disaster movie craze. If you weren’t afraid of saying, cruise ships, and skyscrapers— you will be. We’ll look at the original “Airport” (1970), “The Poseidon Adventure” (1972), “Earthquake” (1974), and “The Towering Inferno” (1974).

As a bonus this week, we’ll look at two more disasters:

•    “Airport 1975” (1974)

•    “Meteor” (1979)

Four years ago this week...

Four YEARS AGO this week, on episode 9, we looked at “The Stuff” (1985) and “Crucible of the Vampire” (2019).

Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg009/.

Discount News

We’ve got two announcements this week pertaining to our books:

1. We have a new one, and it’s FREE! “The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films“ is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/b/halloween. The price listed there is $1.99 USD, but if you use the coupon code HALLOWEEN, the eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback via Lulu, but that one’s obviously not free.

2. All our paperback books are now available from Lulu as well as on Amazon. Lulu just sent me a promo code to let you get 15% off any purchase. So yeah, order what you want and SAVE! Use the promo code FEBRUARY15 to get 15% off everything in your order from Lulu.

https://www.lulu.com/search?page=1&q=Brian+schell&pageSize=10&adultaudiencerating=00&sortBy=RELEVANCE

•    Or Buy from Horror Guys Shop

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

•    The Horror Films of Vincent Price

•    Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

•    Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

•    Hammer Horror Films

•    The Silent Age of Horror

•    The Horror Films of Roger Corman

•    The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free— see above for coupon code)

Creepy Fiction:

•    A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

•    Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

•    Airport (1970) https://www.horrorguys.com/airport-1970/

•    The Poseidon Adventure (1972) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-poseidon-adventure-1972/

•    Short Film: Esther (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-esther-2023/

•    The Towering Inferno (1974) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-towering-inferno-1974/

•    Earthquake (1974)  https://www.horrorguys.com/earthquake-1974

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

•    Email: email@horrorguys.com 

•    Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

•    The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

•    Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

•    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

•    Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

•    Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 214

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week— This time, We’ll start out with “The Lair,” a newer creature feature. We’ll then watch the superb zombie film, “Rec” from 2007, “Constantine” from 2005, and “Friday the 13th Part 2” from way back in ’81.

As a bonus this week, we’ll look at future plagues:

*  “Cult of the Cobra” (1959)

Four years ago this week...

Four YEARS AGO this week, on episode 8, we looked at “Valentine” (2001) and “My Bloody Valentine” (2009).

Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg008/.

Discount News

We’ve got two announcements this week pertaining to our books:

1.  We have a new one, and it’s FREE! “The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films“ is available now, exclusively at our web store, https://brianschell.com/b/halloween. The price listed there is $1.99 USD, but if you use the coupon code HALLOWEEN, the eBook version is completely free. Enjoy! Note that it’s also available as a paperback via Lulu, but that one’s obviously not free.

2.  All our paperback books are now available from Lulu as well as on Amazon. Lulu just sent me a promo code to let you get 15% off any purchase. So yeah, order what you want and SAVE! Use the promo code FEBRUARY15 to get 15% off everything in your order from Lulu.

https://www.lulu.com/search?page=1&q=Brian+schell&pageSize=10&adultaudiencerating=00&sortBy=RELEVANCE

*  Or Buy from Horror Guys Shop

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

*  The Horror Films of Vincent Price

*  Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

*  Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

*  Hammer Horror Films

*  The Silent Age of Horror

*  The Horror Films of Roger Corman

*  The Horror Guys Guide To The Halloween Films (Free— see above for coupon code)

Creepy Fiction:

*  A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

*  Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

*  The Lair (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-lair-2022/

*  Rec (2007) https://www.horrorguys.com/rec-2007/

*  Short Film: Death and the Winemaker (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/death-and-the-winemaker-2023/

*  Constantine (2005) https://www.horrorguys.com/constantine-2005/

*  Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) https://www.horrorguys.com/friday-the-13th-part-2-1981/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

*  Email: email@horrorguys.com 

*  Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys

*  The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

*  Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

*  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

*  Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

*  Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 213

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week— This time, We’ll start out with “The Apology” a sort of leftover Christmas season film, then we’ll stretch WAY back to a time when “Friday the 13th” was brand-new. We’ll then take a look at the ridiculous “Tusk” and the new “There’s Something Wrong with the Children.” Good stuff!

As a bonus this week, we’ll look at future plagues:

• “Beast of the Yellow Night” (1971)
• “Mondo Cane” (1962)

Four years ago this week...

Four YEARS AGO this week, on episode 6, we looked at “Dr Phibes Rises Again” (1972) and “Day of the Dead: Bloodlines” (2018).

Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg006/.

Sixteenth Issue of Horror Bulletin now available

The newest issue of Horror Bulletin Monthly, our monthly compilation of all our reviews, is out now. This includes all the bonus content and is available as both a print book and an ebook. If you don’t have time to read the website or email, here’s one more option for you!

• Buy from Horror Guys Shop

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price
• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater
• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!
• Hammer Horror Films
• The Silent Age of Horror
• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts
• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• The Apology (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-apology-2022/
• Friday the 13th (1980) https://www.horrorguys.com/friday-the-13th-1980/
• Short Film: Givertaker (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-givertaker-2023/
• Tusk (2014) https://www.horrorguys.com/tusk-2014/
• There’s Something Wrong with the Children (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/theres-something-wrong-with-the-children-2023/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com 
• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horrorguys
• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com
• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys
• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 212

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week— This time, all “plague related” films. We’ll start with “Nocebo” and “Pontypool,” which feature two supernatural-adjacent diseases. Then we’ll go the traditional plague route with “Contagion” and the original version of “The Andromeda Strain.”

As a bonus this week, we’ll look at future plagues:

• “La Jetee” (1962)
• “12 Monkeys” 1995

Four years ago this week...

Four YEARS AGO this week, on episode 6, we looked at “Dr Phibes Rises Again” (1972) and “Day of the Dead: Bloodlines” (2018).

Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg006/.

Sixteenth Issue of Horror Bulletin now available

The newest issue of Horror Bulletin Monthly, our monthly compilation of all our reviews, is out now. This includes all the bonus content and is available as both a print book and an ebook. If you don’t have time to read the website or email, here’s one more option for you!

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price
• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater
• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!
• Hammer Horror Films
• The Silent Age of Horror
• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts
• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Nocebo (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/nocebo-2022/
• Pontypool (2009) https://www.horrorguys.com/pontypool-2009/
• Short Film: The Plague (2019) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-the-plague-2019/
• Contagion (2011) https://www.horrorguys.com/contagion-2011/
• The Andromeda Strain (1971) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-andromeda-strain-1971/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com
• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horror-film-books
• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com
• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys
• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 211

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week. We’ll start with “Paralysis” and “Bermuda Island,” two new releases from 2023. Then we’ll watch “Nanny” and “Hatching,” a couple of 2022 films.

As a bonus this week, we’ll look at :

• “Rabid” (1977)
• “A Cat in the Brain” 1990

Four years ago this week...

Four YEARS AGO this week, on episode 5, we looked at “The Abominable Dr Phibes” and “Hellraiser: Judgment” (2018).

Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg005/.

Sixteenth Issue of Horror Bulletin now available

The newest issue of Horror Bulletin Monthly, our monthly compilation of all our reviews, is out now. This includes all the bonus content and is available as both a print book and an ebook. If you don’t have time to read the website or email, here’s one more option for you!

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price
• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater
• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!
• Hammer Horror Films
• The Silent Age of Horror
• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts
• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Paralysis (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/paralysis-2022/
• Bermuda Island (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/bermuda-island-2023/
• Short Film: The Door (2023) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-the-door-2023/
• Nanny (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/nanny-2022/
• Hatching (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/hatching-2022/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com
• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horror-film-books
• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com
• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys
• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 210: The Horror Guys' Top-Ten films that were released in 2022

Brian’s top-ten list

1. Crimes of the Future
2. Barbarian
3. The Munsters
4. Fresh
5. Pearl
6. Resurrection
7. Speak No Evil
8. When the Screaming Starts
9. Deadstream
10. Bones and All 

Kevin’s top-ten list

1. Crimes of the Future
2. Nocturna: Side A: The Great Old Man’s Night
3. When the Screaming Starts
4. Pearl
5. What Josiah Saw
6. Deadstream
7. Bones and All
8. Glorious 
9. Moloch
10. You Won't Be Alone

 

Links:

1. Crimes of the Future https://www.horrorguys.com/crimes-of-the-future-2022/
2. Barbarian https://www.horrorguys.com/barbarian-2022/
3. The Munsters https://www.horrorguys.com/the-munsters-2022/
4. Fresh https://www.horrorbulletin.com/p/bonus-reviews-spider-baby-or-the
5. Pearl https://www.horrorguys.com/pearl-2022/
6. Resurrection https://www.horrorguys.com/resurrection-2022/
7. Speak No Evil https://www.horrorguys.com/speak-no-evil-2022/
8. When the Screaming Starts https://www.horrorguys.com/when-the-screaming-starts-2021/
9. Deadstream https://www.horrorguys.com/deadstream-2022/
10. Bones and All https://www.horrorguys.com/bones-and-all-2022/
11. Nocturna: Side A: The Great Old Man’s Night https://www.horrorguys.com/2022-nocturna-side-a-the-great-old-mans-night/
12. Pearl https://www.horrorguys.com/pearl-2022/
13. What Josiah Saw https://www.horrorguys.com/what-josiah-saw-2022/
14. Glorious https://www.horrorguys.com/glorious-2022/
15. Moloch https://www.horrorguys.com/moloch-2022/
16. You Won't Be Alone https://www.horrorbulletin.com/p/all-four-of-the-cabin-fever-films

 

 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

This week, we’ve got five good ones for you! We’ll start out with the new “Heart Eyes” from 2025, then we’ll look at 2012’s “Byzantium,” and then 2024’s “Inhuman Kiss.” We’ll also take a look at “The Corpse Bride” from 2005 and “The Dead Thing,” also from 2024.

And, of course, we have more excellent short films for you!

The latest issue of “Horror Monthly” is now on sale! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.com

Pick up our newest book, "The Horror Guys Guide to the Academy Awards of Horror" at https://www.horrormonthly.com/horror-guys-guides/academy-awards-of-horror

Get all our reviews once a week: https://www.horrorweekly.com

Mainstream Films:

2025 Heart Eyes

* Directed by Josh Ruben

* Written by Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon, Michael Kennedy

* Stars Mason Gooding, Olivia Holt, Gigi Zumbado

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 37 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This was way less serious than either of us expected. It’s got a serious body count and gore, but leans heavy into humor and romance too. Very much a mash up between a slasher horror and a rom-com. We found it entertaining.

Spoilery Synopsis

Patrick and Adeline are going to have the best Valentine’s day ever. He botches the proposal when she bites into the ring by accident. As they kiss, his phone interrupts. It’s Nico, the photographer, who’s messed up the “candid” photos. Someone kills Nico before he can try again. Then Patrick gets an arrow shot through his forehead. Adeline runs through the vineyard, and it’s nowhere near as romantic as it was a minute ago. As the killer closes in on her, a security guard tries to stop things, but he dies quickly. Adeline, on the other hand, learns what it’s like to ride through a giant wine press. We see the killer in his mask, which has hearts for eyes. Credits roll.

The news calls him “HEK” the “Heart Eyes Killer.” He’s struck several times on the past few Valentine’s Days.

We cut to Ally and Monica talking about the holiday. Ally is impressed to find she has exactly the same coffee order as Jay Simmonds, who is clearly on the path to be her new boyfriend until she accidentally gives him a bloody nose and runs away.

Crystal Cane talks to the board; she didn’t realize there was a Valentine’s Day killer out there, so Ally’s ad campaign is just terribly timed. She’s made an ad of various lovers dying violently, which is not the look Crystal was going for. She calls in Ally’s replacement, which turns out to be Jay Simmonds.

Detectives find a wedding band at the scene of the pre-credit murders, and it says “J.S.” They know it was HEK, and there are going to be more deaths.

Jay and Ally talk. Monica and Ally talk. Ally goes on a date with Jay, and the bouncer at the expensive French restaurant runs a metal detector over her. Ally goes on and on about how she’s the least romantic person ever. She really hates Jay, but kisses him when she spots Collin, her ex, who is out with a date of his own. We see through the killer’s mask as he watches all four people.

Ally gets locked out of her building, so Jay smashes a window and cuts his hand. Suddenly the duo is attacked by HEK, who’s been hiding in her closet. The killer then chases them into a closed botanical garden, and they all play hide and seek. As soon as the police show up, the killer disappears.

Jay is arrested as the HEK murderer. He’s not happy because Ally ditched him in the chase. They found the mask and the murder weapon. The ring they found earlier has his initials on it as well. Meanwhile, Ally tries to have Jay released since it couldn’t have been him. The detective points out that Jay was in the same towns as all the other HEK murders.

Suddenly, the lights go out at the police station and the real killer strikes again. We see that his heart eyes light up, and he’s got night vision. Soon, they’re all outta cops. Ally finds a gun and shoots the killer about a hundred times, missing HEK with every single shot. Still, Ally and Jay get out of the police station and make their way to a busy drive-in theater.

No one gives the masked killer a second look as he walks through the place stabbing people right and left. As they hide, Jay and Ally make up and bond a bit.

When the killer resurfaces, Ally wants to work with Jay as a team to defeat HEK. They knock him over the head and impale him with a machete. He’s gotta be dead now. Then Ally pukes all over the killer’s body. They pull the killer’s mask off and see that it’s– no one that they recognize.

After the police clean up everything, Jay gets a ride home with the surviving detective, and Ally’s left all alone. Monica calls and gives Ally a pep talk. Ally then rushes to the airport to catch Jay before he boards his flight out of town.

Out of nowhere, Ally gets a call from HEK, and he’s got Jay as a hostage. She goes to the old building and finds both Jay and the killer there. The killer removes his mask, and it’s David, the IT guy from the police station. He’s working with, and married to, Detective Jeanine Shaw (with initials J.S.). Eli, the killer who died, was just an obsessed fanboy; these two have been alternating kills all along.

The murderous duo want Ally to shoot Jay, and then they’ll let her go. She shoots right through Jay, wounding Shaw. David shoots as badly as Ally does, not hitting anything. Everyone fights, and Ally finally puts her metal straw to productive use as Jay finishes off David.

One year later, Crystal Cane makes a toast to Jay and Ally, who have saved her business. Ally is going back to medical school, and she’s still with Jay. Afterward, they go on another date at the same drive-in, which is sorta symbolic for them. He pulls out a ring– no, it’s just a key to his apartment. Instead, she proposes to him.

Midway through the closing credits, Ally gets a call from you-know-who. No, it’s just Monica playing a joke on them.

Brian’s Commentary

The trailer made this look like a bog-standard slasher film, but it actually leans way over into parody and comedy. The characters, situations, and deaths are mostly all very over the top, and have all the usual tropes from both slasher movies and rom-coms.

It doesn’t even have a stinger fake ending where the killer reappears before the credits. Well, it does, but not in the usual way. It’s not what we expected, and that’s the best thing I can say about this movie. I was entertained throughout.

Kevin’s Commentary

I thought this was a lot of fun. It didn’t show me a lot that I hadn’t seen before, but it’s well made and well put together. The entertainment value was high, and I enjoyed it a lot.

2012 Byzantium

* Directed by Neil Jordan

* Written by Moira Buffini

* Stars Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Arterton, Sam Riley

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 58 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This was cool how it starts out with a couple women and gradually fills in who they are and what their history is. There’s horror and romance and very good story telling. It’s a little on the long and slow side, but that’s a feature not a bug in this one, as the movie unfolds. It’s a very good one.

Spoilery Synopsis

Eleanor writes a story and then throws it out her window. Robert, an old man, reads her note and says it’s a good story. Her story is about Clara, who is full of secrets.

We cut to Clara, dancing in a nightclub. She steals from a man and then bites him on the nose when he puts up a fight. The club owner fires her, so she steals from him as well. When Werner comes looking for Clara, she leads him on a chase all over town.

Old man Richard takes Eleanor home and tells her stories from his scrapbook. “There comes a time in life when secrets should be told. You’ve got secrets, haven’t you?” He talks about old stories of revenants. She cuts his wrist and drinks his blood until he dies peacefully.

Werner and Clara talk. He repeatedly insults her. She very quickly beheads him in the hotel room. Eleanor comes home; she’s Clara’s roommate, and she’s not happy at the mess she finds. Now they have to move again. They set fire to the place and hitch-hike out of town.

The two women split up for the evening, and we see they have very different approaches to picking up men. Clara does the classic w***e-thing, while Eleanor plays classical music for old people and a waiter named Frank. Eleanor doesn’t hurt her mark, but Clara invites her along to go home with Noel, whom she’s found. They go to his place, a big hotel called the “Byzantium.”

The Byzantium has a long history, but Noel owns the place. He invites Eleanor to stay there while he and Clara, aka Camilla, do their thing. Instead, Noel is a nice guy and he takes them in and helps them. Clara pitches the idea that she could start a whorehouse in the Byzantium.

We get a flashback to Eleanor’s “origin story,” where she runs into a woman in a batcave and gets bitten. She then goes home with Ruthven, an old vampire who says he knew Eleanor’s mother.

Eleanor finds it necessary to tell her story. She can’t tell Noel, so she goes back to Frank and tells him about her mother’s encounter with Ruthven. Her mother was forced into prostitution and had baby Eleanor, whom she put in an orphanage. She grew up to become a nun.

The men who investigated Werner’s death have now found old man Richard’s corpse, and they seem to know what they’re seeing. We cut to Clara, drinking some guy on the beach.

Eleanor goes to visit Frank in the hospital and talks to Gabi, his mother. Frank’s been fighting leukemia for years and takes blood thinner. On the way out, she drinks an old woman.

Clara’s brothel in the Byzantium starts getting customers and workers.

Frank and Eleanor talk about being friends, but she says, “It would be fatal. For me.” She says she has to live with a secret, and she can’t tell him. She writes down her story and gives it to Frank.

We get more flashbacks to Eleanor’s mother, who we see was Clara. Clara’s dying, and she was Ruthven’s favorite. Darvell, one of Ruthven’s friends, stops by for a visit, and he’s a vampire now. We see Darvell’s origin next; he got sick and was dying, when two men came to see him. They gave him the location of a shrine. Darvell went into the batcave we saw earlier and got bitten and died inside. Ruthven ran all the way home and stole all Darvell’s property, but now, Darvell has returned.

Eleanor watches an old Hammer vampire film on TV. Frank comes to the door and talks to Clara; he knows her story now. Eleanor tells Frank that her story is true, but he doesn’t believe it; he thinks it’s all just a metaphor or something like that. Eleanor stops at the old folks’ home on the way home and eats another old woman.

The two vampire hunters find the dead man on the beach and continue their search.

Frank shows Eleanor’s story to the teacher, and he shows it to a colleague. They think that Eleanor is a very disturbed young woman. He comes to the Byzantium, and he’s surprised to find that Eleanor lives in a brothel. He threatens to get in touch with social services.

Back in the flashback, we see more of what happened to Darvell. He gave Ruthven the map to the cave, but Clara shot Ruthven and took the map herself. Later, when Eleanor turned 16, Clara took her to the cave as well.

Eleanor confronts Frank about giving away her story. She says she only picks on people who want to die. He invites her to his birthday dinner.

Meanwhile, Clara talks to Eleanor’s teacher. She tells him the rest of the true story. Darvell took her to the two old vampires, “We are the pointed nails of justice.” She followed the old men’s code until it was time to turn Eleanor. Women are not allowed to create, which was her crime. Ruthven had raped Eleanor and given her syphilis, so the only way to save her was to make her a vampire. Then Clara kills the teacher, who is later found by Morag, his associate.

Eleanor and Frank kiss, but she says it can’t possibly work out. He’s dying anyway, so she drinks some of his blood. Eleanor and Clara fight, and Noel is accidentally killed.

Morag somehow hooks up with Darvell and Savella, the old vampires, and we see they’re the men who have been tracking Clara all along, working with the police. Clara goes to see Frank, but he won’t let her inside.

The Brotherhood grab Ella, and Clara runs to help. Darvell says that Eleanor has been condemned from the moment Clara created her, since women are forbidden to create. Savella explains that his sword was made in Byzantium during the crusades, and then Darvell beheads him with it. Darvell releases Clara, who runs to release Eleanor. He says there are more members of the brotherhood who will come for them eventually.

Clara says it’s finally time for Eleanor to go out on her own, as she plans to travel with Darvell now. Eleanor, on the other hand, takes sickly Frank to the island and sends him into the shrine…

Brian’s Commentary

So… a happy ending?

These vampires show reflections in the mirror and walk outside during the daylight. They don’t have fangs, but they do have to be invited inside. Also, they can’t turn other people themselves; they need to go to that shrine.

It’s slow moving, and we’re not really sure where it’s going through most of the runtime. The main plot is about Eleanor wanting to talk about her secrets to Frank and the results of that, but the various flashbacks to the past are where the action is.

What kind of school were Eleanor and Frank attending? They were lying on their backs talking about personal problems like some kind of weird acting class or self-help group, not like any high school I’ve ever seen. Also, why would Eleanor bother going to school? She could pass for an adult and not need to take the risk.

It’s long and involved and very well done.

Kevin’s Commentary

I really enjoyed this one. It wasn’t what I expected, and I liked how it gradually filled things in, showing us the present and the past. The complex story-telling in layers is excellent.

2024 Inhuman Kiss

* AKA “Sang Krasue”

* Directed by Sitisiri Mongkolsiri

* Written by Sitisiri Mongkolsiri, Chookiat Sakveerakul

* Stars Phantira Pipityakorn, Oabnithi Wiwattanawarang, Sapol Assawamunkong

* Run Time: 2 Hours, 2 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This is a Thai film, which in itself was interesting as something we don’t see too often. It was also had lore and a creature that was different from what we’ve seen before. It was very well made with great effects, a sort of horror love story. And it’s on the long side, but worth it.

Spoilery Synopsis

We open with four children walking through a field and then a jungle in Indonesia. Jerd and Noi whine about how far it’s been. As it gets dark, they come to a large abandoned house out in the woods. They’ve heard that inside this house is a chest that holds Nual’s spirit. She guards the forest. When Noi wants to leave, Ting and Sai side with Jerd to go inside. Sai gives Noi a “protective amulet” to help keep him calm inside. We soon see that there is absolutely a ghost inside the house with them… Credits roll.

Years later, the little kids have gotten older; Sai is having her period. She and Jerd talk about school being closed due to the war in Bangkok. It’s nice having some time off. They go to a hospital that has been abandoned, but they aren’t sure why. Sai helps out at the hospital, but today, she’s the only one there. Aunt Kamlai, an old woman, comes in with an injured boy, and she mentions that a Krasue ate her chickens. The old woman talks about the rules of Krasues.

Sai talks to a man in town who is going on patrol to watch out for the Krasue. No one has seen it in a long time. Ting talks to Sai about how cute and rich Jerd is, and Sai blushes.

That night, she dreams of the old house and scary things. When she wakes up, her window is open, she’s covered in blood, and all scratched up. Maybe the blood the previous night wasn’t from her period.

She and Jerd go back to the old house in the woods. There are dead animals outside the house, and then they see someone coming in the darkness. It’s Noi, and he’s got a torch. He’s just come back from the war; his parents were killed.

Then a bunch of other people arrive, and they don’t look happy. The leader of the group says they’ve come from a neighboring village, where all the chickens and small animals have been eaten by the monster. He says “If a mother Krasue spits in water and a girl drinks it, she becomes another Krasue.”

The man opens a cage. He’s literally got the dead head of a Krasue in there; they have a whole bunch of heads. These men have come to hunt the Krasue that’s been bothering the villagers.

Sai and Noi catch up. He was just getting started in medical school when the war interrupted things, and she says she’s been volunteering at the hospital. The chief of the village talks to Noi about the new men in town. He doesn’t believe in Krase and wants the men gone as soon as possible. Sai feels funny on the walk home.

In the morning, Sai vomits blood and chunks, there’s more blood on the bed, and her chest is all red and veiny. One of the nearby farmer’s cows has been torn apart.

Noi is suspicious of the Krasue hunters, but Jerd wants to learn to fight the monsters. Noi says he doesn’t believe in ghosts, but Sai isn’t so sure. That night, we see what’s been happening to Sai. Her head separates from her body and flies around the village menacing a baby. Noi follows the red glowing head back to Sai’s house and watches it reattach Sai’s head. Yes, Sai is the Krasue.

Noi leaves the hospital and goes to stay in a monastery with a monk. The monk explains more about Krasues.

As night falls, Tad and the hunters are out in force, watching to shoot the flying head. Noi comes to Sai’s house with a bunch of chickens to feed the monster so it doesn’t have to go out.

After sunrise, Sai and Noi talk about monsters, and they both know what she is now. He feeds her again that night and several nights after. They get closer and closer. Jerd, on the other hand, spends all of his time with Tad and the hunters; no one has seen the monster in nearly a month.

Sai accidentally infects Kaew, a little girl at the hospital, and she becomes a Krasue that very night. Tad lures the tentacled head out with a lizard and captures it. It fights back, and the men shoot it. Tad laughs as the Krasue dies in his hand.

Kaew’s parents tell Tad that the little girl had just gotten back from the hospital, and Tad and Jerd look at Sai. Sai realizes that she infected the girl and feels terrible.

Tad and Jerd and the men watch as Noi leads Sai out into the jungle and back to the old house. She’s drawn to the place for some reason, and they want to investigate what might be there. They find glowing bushes and plants; she eats one, and says it makes her feel better. It will stop the transformation.

The couple starts to kiss, but Sai thinks he may be infected as well. He takes the chance. Jerd feels betrayed and beats up Noi. Sai hides from Tad in the haunted house and we get a flashback to how she became infected.

Sai’s head comes off and kills one of the hunters. Then another, picking them off one by one. Shots are fired, which attracts Jerd, who fights with Tad to defend Sai. Meanwhile, a lot of the hunters are killed.

The next morning, the village has to clean up the mess and tend to all the wounded. Tad tells his story, and he says this Krasue isn’t like the others. When darkness falls, the whole village is out looking for the monster. Noi falls over in pain and Sai looks for the magic plants she picked.

Tad and the mean hunters come after Sai, but the village Chief, Sai’s father, isn’t having that. There’s a standoff as she scrambles to eat the magic plant to hold off the change.

Sai eventually comes out and shows that she’s not a monster. Tad accuses Sai of infecting the little girl, but Sai turns it around and accuses Tad of kidnapping and trying to rape her. Jerd is conflicted but takes Sai’s side against Tad. Later, Tad sprouts fangs and attacks Jerd; he’s not a Krasue, he’s something else.

Noi goes after more of the magic plant but finds that Tad has burned the whole field, so that’s not going to help again. Meanwhile, we see Jerd has been infected with something nasty and is now Tad’s unwilling minion.

Noi wants Sai to run away to Bangkok with him. Sai goes to say goodbye to Jerd and sees what he’s become. Jerd says he;s know all along that she was the monster, and he only went with the hunters to misdirect them. He’s loved Sai for years, but she only has eyes for Noi; still, he wouldn’t betray her. He begs her not to leave him now, and he’s a pathetic mess. She also says goodbye to her father.

Noi says goodbye to his monk friend. The monk explains the other half of the legend, the Krahang, the male version of the Krasue. The Krahang is cursed to destroy the heart of the Krause he loves.

It’s movie night for the village, and Sai is dragged along until she starts to feel chest pains. Noi waits for her at the rendezvous spot, and he collapses in pain. Jerd hears Tad’s twisted voice in his mind.

During the movie, in front of everyone, Sai has a seizure and does her thing. They all watch her tentacled head fly away. Meanwhile, Jerd and Tad transform into demonic-looking monsters as well.

The villagers chase the flying head through the woods while the batlike Krahangs fly in and capture her. Jerg has the head, but Noi shows up to fight him. Noi begs Jerd not to hurt her, and he hesitates. Tad charges in and the two monsters fight each other. Meanwhile, the villagers beat the crap out of Sai’s headless body. Tad rips out Jerd’s heart right in front of Jerd’s parents.

Noi carries Sai’s body as her head flies along next to him, but they’re cut off by Tad. The head pulls Tad way in the air as the monk shoots him from afar; he’s a sniper-monk.

We flash back to the previous Krasue, a woman named Nual. Her husband locked her head in a box inside that old house and chained it shut. The husband, we see, is the monk, and he knows the whole story.

Noi carries the limp Sai’s body through the woods as the villagers pursue him. Noi insists he can cure Sai, but Sai’s head knows better; her body is dead. They both cry and then kiss. She cuts his boat loose and watches him float away.

Someone shoots Sai’s head from behind. We get a flashback montage of happier times as Noi screams at Sai’s floating, lifeless head.

Brian’s Commentary

Villains.Fandom.com says, Krasue are spirits from Southeast Asian folklore depicted as the head of a young and beautiful woman that floats at night with her internal organs hanging below her - she is a vicious creature driven by extreme hunger and thirst, active throughout the night until she must return to her body by daylight: during the hours of day she will wander among the local population as a normal human, albeit with a tired expression.

This one is fun because it’s a kind of monster we haven’t seen before, in a country we don’t see much of in horror movies. It’s long, but it doesn’t get boring, although it could have been shortened a bit.

The characters and actors are all interesting and well done. The “love triangle” aspect is really well done without being too cliche. The special effects and creature makeup are excellent here, although we don’t see much of the monster for the first hour.

This was way better than I thought it’d be. Excellent!

Kevin’s Commentary

This was cool all around, with the uniqueness of a foreign land and a creature that was new to me. Two kinds of creatures, actually. I thought it was really well made and entertaining.

2024 The Dead Thing

* Directed by Elric Kane

* Written by Elric Kane, Webb Wilcoxen

* Stars Katherine Hughes, Blu Hunt, John Karna

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 34 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

A young woman generally unsatisfied with her life is also unsatisfied with the string of guys she dates and sleeps with. But then she meets someone special, and we think that it’s going to be a happily ever after. Nope, a little more complicated than that. This was pretty unique, kind of low on the scares and high on the drama, and we liked it more than disliked it.

Spoilery Synopsis

Alex looks at her phone and then she has sex. Credits roll. She spends a lot of time on her phone’s dating app, swiping and swiping, clearly not happy with the selection. Still, she dates a lot. She likes Mark, her coworker, but she won’t go there.

She meets this one guy, Kyle, with a photo of his cat, and they spend the night together and talk about lots of things. Over some time, they get close. Alex’s roommate, Cara, is engaged to Paul, but Alex doesn’t like him; neither does Cara, apparently.

Kyle doesn’t answer any of Alex’s texts, and she starts to get upset. Mark asks her if they could be a thing, but she doesn’t want to date a coworker. She’s infatuated with Kyle. She’s on a date with yet another guy and spots Kyle across the room and follows him.

Alex tracks Kyle down at his job, and the barista there says he was killed not long ago; she’s even got an “in memoriam” flyer from the funeral. She finds his earbuds on the spot where he’s supposed to have died. She tracks down the woman she saw Kyle with, and she doesn’t know much.

Alex uses the dating app and swipes on Kyle again. They arrange a date, he shows up, but he doesn’t recognize her. She knows there’s something wrong with Kyle, and she ditches him to go to work instead. Mark comes on to her, and she rebukes him.

Kyle tracks down Alex and wants to know when their first date was. His memory is sketchy, and he doesn’t sleep. Alex goes home, alone, and finds Cara on the floor, drunk. Cara’s wedding is cancelled, and she’s wearing the dress anyway, which is pathetic in Alex’s opinion.

The next night at work, Mark has quit and a new guy has started. He has ugly shoes, but he’s got a good story to go with them.

Kyle meets up with Sarah, a new girl. They get along really well until he notices some earbuds. He returns to his ugly, bloody, self, scaring the crap out of Sarah.

Alex goes home after work and finds Kyle in her bed. He tells her about getting hit by a car in the road. Her match on the dating app distracted him. He knows now he’s dead and a ghost. She knows it too, but that doesn’t stop them from having sex for the rest of the night.

Kyle watches roommate Cara from the shadows, and he’s a little creepy about it. Kyle can also see his dead-self in the mirror, and when he does, he gets a little violent.

Still, Alex and Kyle are very happy together. He seems to be a little much for her sometimes, and she’s more than a little afraid of him. He doesn’t want her to go to work and stay with him all the time.

Alex finally goes to work, and her coworker Chris says it’s been more than a week that she’s been missing. The boss thought she left town, and they replaced her.

She. Lost. Nine. Days.

Back at the apartment, Paul comes by, and Cara has left his stuff out for him to take after their nasty breakup. Kyle is there, of course, and he watches Paul messing around in Alex’s room. Kyle follows Paul home and kills him. Kyle then kills Cara too, and shuts her body in a closet.

Alex comes home to Kyle, and they argue. She wants to break up, but he’s afraid of what comes next. He vanishes, and she deletes him from the Friktion App.

Some time passes, and now Alex is dating Chris, the guy from her former job. He wants to get closer, but she’s not over Kyle yet. Kyle, on the other hand, is the jealous type, and kills him too. To make it worse, Kyle possessed Chris’s dead body. “We’ll be together always…”

She runs, but she can’t escape him. He strangles her.

Alex, now a ghost herself, still uses the dating app, and she sees her own dead strangled body when looking in a mirror.

Brian’s Commentary

We get a long way into this one before we know what’s going on, and even then, there are lots of bits we aren’t told. Kevin suspected that Kyle had been a serial killer in life, and that he would have killed Alex if he hadn’t died and lost his memory first. Honestly, that would have been more interesting than what we got.

It’s a ghostly romance story with a bit of murder and mayhem thrown in. It’s got very little action but a lot of drama. It’s fine, but it’s not going on our top ten lists this year.

Kevin’s Commentary

I went into this not knowing it was a ghost story, and I was caught off guard that Kyle was one. And when she broke up with him, there was still too much movie left for it to be that simple. I didn’t expect how far he would take things, though. I thought it was quite good and unique enough to be interesting. I was entertained.

2005 Corpse Bride

* Directed by Tim Burton, Mike Johnson

* Written by Tim Burton, Carlos Grangel, John August

* Stars: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 17 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

The stop-action puppetry is impressive. And it is clearly a Tim Burton work. The voice cast is a collection of recognizable people, including Christopher Lee in his last horror movie role. Brian was fairly entertained, Kevin not so much.

Spoilery Synopsis

We watch as Victor Van Dort draws a picture of a butterfly. He releases it, and we follow along as it flies through the town. We soon learn that this is a musical as Victor’s parents sing about the pending wedding and how it's a great day for a wedding. Across the street, the bride’s parents sing the exact opposite song. Her family is dead broke, and they need the wedding for the money.

The parents all get together to discuss the details of the wedding while Victor keeps himself busy by playing the piano, which draws in Victoria, his bride-to-be that he’s never actually met.

Three hours later, Pastor Galswell runs them through the wedding rehearsal… one more time. There are a lot of words to memorize, and Victor’s not doing well. He can’t even get a candle to light. In the middle of the ceremony Lord Barkus Bittern comes in, and he’s all stuffy and proper. The whole thing goes badly and Glaswell cancels the ceremony until Victor can learn his vows.

Victor goes for a walk in the woods as he frets over the lines he can’t remember. He recites his vows as he meanders through the dense old, creepy woods. He finally gets it right– except something in the woods hears him and acts on it. Victor has accidentally committed to marrying a dead woman! “I do,” whispers the Corpse Bride.

She chases him out of the woods and forces him to kiss her. He wakes up in the land of the dead, and there’s a bunch of fun characters there, celebrating the newlyweds. This leads to another music number, as the skeleton band tells us how she fell in love with a bad man who killed her. There’s a whole prophecy thing involved.

Back at the house, Lord Barkus tells the others that Victor has been seen in the company of another woman.

In the deadworld, Victor tries to hide from the Bride, and they chase each other past all the sight gags. When she catches him, he apologizes for the mistake. She says her name is Emily. She gives him a wedding present, a box of bones that assembles itself into a skeleton dog, Scraps, Victor’s dog who died many years ago.

Victor comes to the conclusion that Emily should meet his parents. The only problem is that they’re still alive. They go talk to Elder Gutknecht, the local expert on lore. He’s got all kinds of books, including one that tells how to get back to the land of the living.

The couple reappears in the woods. She’s very happy to be back in the real world. Victor says he’s going to go home and prepare his parents, but he really plans on simply deserting her there. The worm in Emily’s head tells her that it’s a trick.

Victor sneaks into Victoria’s room and tells her that he cannot wait to marry her. Then he sees Emily outside the window, and then he explains things to her. It’s… awkward. When Victor denies it, she says the magic word to take him back to the land of the dead. Afterward, they argue about being married.

The worm and a black widow spider sing to Emily about her best assets.

Upstairs, Victoria goes to see Pastor Galswells about the afterlife. “Can the living marry the dead? Victor is married to a corpse bride!” He takes her home and tells her mother that Victoria is speaking in tongues. No one believes her. Barkus talks to Victoria’s parents about how much better she would do to marry him. He talks about the tragedy that took his young bride away many years ago. The parents decide that Victoria will marry Barkus.

Barkus makes it clear that he’s only marrying Victoria for the family money, not realizing they don’t have any. The servant, Mayhew, dies accidentally.

Victor apologizes to Emily for how he treated her. None of this was according to plan. They play a duet on the piano, and all is fine. Suddenly, the alarm sounds– it’s a new arrival, Mayhew, who feels much better now. He tells Victor about the upcoming wedding.

Elder Gutkrept comes in and explains that “Till death do us part” means they aren’t really married. Unless Victor actually dies. Victor overhears all this, and he agrees to do it. The whole town is invited to the wedding, and spiders sing a song about making Victor a new suit.

Back in the real world, just as Barkis begins his speech, all the dead characters arise, which is quite a shock to everyone, all over town. Turns out, most of the villagers recognize the dead as their deceased relatives, and everyone is actually happy about it.

Victoria explains to Barkus that her family is broke, which comes as a shock to him. The Old Pastor tells the dead, “You shall not enter here!” as the dead come to the church for the wedding.

Victor and Emily are at the church getting married and Victoria walks in to see it. Emily fills his cup of poison, but she can’t go through with it; she doesn’t want him to die. She doesn’t want to steal Victor away from Victoria. It’s all very touching– until Barkus comes in to break things up; he’s already married to Victoria.

Emily recognizes Barkus as the husband who murdered her. This leads to an epic fight between Barkus and Victor, with the dead mostly just getting in the way. Barkus wins, and then he picks up the wine glass and drinks it, not realizing it’s poison. Barkus is now one of the dead, subject to their rules. The crowd drags him back downstairs.

The Corpse Bride gives Victor his ring back, setting him free from his promise. She walks off into the moonlight and breaks up into a swarm of butterflies. Victor and Victoria are left behind in the church for a happy ending.

Brian’s Commentary

This is probably the most Tim Burtony of all the Tim Burton animated films. He didn’t make much that looked like this afterward. It basically takes everything he learned from “A Nightmare Before Christmas” and brings back the best of that. The problem, if there is one, is that there isn’t much new here.

It’s not subtle– everything in the deadworld is bright and colorful, and the real world is all dark gray and dull. There are a few songs, but none are especially memorable, and there aren’t that many.

The cast, on the other hand, is pretty amazing. Every character is played by someone you’ll recognize. If you’re a fan of this kind of animation (I am), you’ll probably like this, but it’s middle-of-the-road of the Burton films.

Christopher Lee appears in several scenes as the terrifying Pastor Galswell. He does get the line “You shall not enter here,” a line from Gandalf the Grey, a role he wanted but was too old to play. His voice here is unmistakable, although he didn’t do any songs.

Kevin’s Commentary

I can appreciate this for the work it is. For personal entertainment value, I wasn’t into it. A few chuckles here and there. I found myself concentrating on other things, and at about the halfway point, I realized about 20 minutes had passed without my noticing.

Short Films:

2020 Short Film: The Itch

* Directed by Connor O. McIntyre

* Written by Ethan Walden

* Stars: Shayn Herndon, Chelsea Jordan, Nicholas Daue, Bobby Gutierrez

* Run Time: 11:40

* Watch it:

What Happens

Enzo asks his girlfriend Abby if she’s going in to work today, but Abby says she’s going to stay home today. She takes a shower and finds a red mark on the back of her neck, and it itches. The itch gets progressively worse, and she misses more and more work. Enzo keeps saying there’s nothing much there and she needs to suck it up and move on with her life. Eventually, she’s had enough of both problems.

Commentary

It’s very well filmed, and it’s always clear exactly what’s going on at all times. The two leads are very good here, the body horror effects are very well done, and overall, it's a lot of fun.

2018 Short Film: Last One Screaming

* Directed by Matt Devino

* Written by Matt Devino

* Stars Camila Greenberg, Olivia Mackenzie-Smith, Derek Alvarado

* Run Time: 9:31

* Watch it:

What Happens

Ashley sits in the police interrogation room, waiting to be interviewed by a psychologist. The two detectives who already questioned her think she’s a loon and guilty of at least three murders. The doctor enters, and she seems to understand completely about the Satanic puzzle box they found in the cabin in the woods. What really happened there?

Commentary

Did Ashley kill all her friends? The answer becomes obvious quickly, but the question is why? Even more questionable is the psychiatrist, who seems to believe her every word.

We’ve seen slashers and cabins-in-the-woods before, and we often wonder how the survivor is going to explain all the bodies to the police. Now, we see how that usually goes.

Contact Info:

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Episode 209

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week. We’ll start with “Soft & Quiet” and “The Menu” a couple of shockers from this year. Then we’ll pop back to 2019 and watch the woodsy “Sator.” We’ll finish up with the supernatural “A Wounded Fawn.”

As a bonus this week, we’ll look at :

• “The Brood” (1979)
• “Hypochondriac” (2022)

Four years ago this week...

Four YEARS AGO this week, on episode 4, we looked at “Darkness Falls” (2003) and “Hereditary” (2018).

Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg004/.

Sixteenth Issue of Horror Bulletin now available

The newest issue of Horror Bulletin Monthly, our monthly compilation of all our reviews, is out now. This includes all the bonus content and is available as both a print book and an ebook. If you don’t have time to read the website or email, here’s one more option for you!

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price
• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater
• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!
• Hammer Horror Films
• The Silent Age of Horror
• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts
• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Soft & Quiet (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/soft-quiet-2022/
• The Menu (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-menu-2022/
• Short Film: https://www.horrorguys.com/from-where-it-hides-2022/
• Sator (2019) https://www.horrorguys.com/sator-2019/
• A Wounded Fawn (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/a-wounded-fawn-2022/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 208

We’ve got our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week. We’ll start with “Sissy” and “Something in the Dirt” two somewhat comedic horror films from 2022. We’ll then look at a classic short film, and then move on to “You Are Not My Mother,” a weird one from Ireland. Finally, “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” is a good place to avoid.

As a bonus this week, we’ll look at another Cushing-Lee collaboration, “I, Monster” from 1971 and “Who Can Kill A Child?” A creepy Spanish from 1976:

• “I, Monster” (1971)
• “Who Can Kill A Child” (1976)

Four years ago this week...

Four YEARS AGO this week, on episode 2, we looked at “Shutter” (2007) and “Birdbox” (2018).

Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg003/.

New Book: The Horror Films of Roger Corman

We do the usual “Horror Guys Treatment” for all the horror films directed by Roger Corman from 1954 up to 1990. Included are 29 full-length films that truly count as horror. In addition, we’ll look at seven other noteworthy Corman movies that aren’t horror, including his first producing credit, his first directing credit, his favorite non-horror project, and a few others. If you love Roger Corman’s macabre masterpieces, we’ll cover all of them here.

Sixteenth Issue of Horror Bulletin now available

The newest issue of Horror Bulletin Monthly, our monthly compilation of all our reviews, is out now. This includes all the bonus content and is available as both a print book and an ebook. If you don’t have time to read the website or email, here’s one more option for you!

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price
• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater
• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!
• Hammer Horror Films
• The Silent Age of Horror
• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts
• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Curse of the Blind Dead (2019) https://www.horrorguys.com/curse-of-the-blind-dead-2020
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/texas-chainsaw-massacre-2022
• Short Film: Last Man (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-last-man-2022
• The Gate (1987) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-gate-1987
• Bones and All (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/bones-and-all-2022

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com
• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horror-film-books
• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com
• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys
• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 207

We’re back to our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week. We’ll start with “Curse of the Blind Dead.” A sad, almost indie-level production of a reboot from 2019. Then we’ll take a look at the new “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” from this year, which is not a reboot. We’ll go back in time and through “The Gate,” a fun one from 1987, and then we’ll take some time for dinner, “Bones and All” from this year.

As a bonus this week, we’ll look at a pair of awful 1960s films, both starring John Carradine:

• “Blood of Dracula’s Castle” (1969)
• “Gallery of Horror” (1967)

Four years ago this week...

Four YEARS AGO this week, on episode 2, we looked at “Mad Ron’s Previews from Hell” (19987) and “The Nun” (2018). It’s fun hearing how much the show has changed since that first episode!

Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg002/.

New Book: The Horror Films of Roger Corman

We do the usual “Horror Guys Treatment” for all the horror films directed by Roger Corman from 1954 up to 1990. Included are 29 full-length films that truly count as horror. In addition, we’ll look at seven other noteworthy Corman movies that aren’t horror, including his first producing credit, his first directing credit, his favorite non-horror project, and a few others. If you love Roger Corman’s macabre masterpieces, we’ll cover all of them here.

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Fifteenth Issue of Horror Bulletin now available

The newest issue of Horror Bulletin Monthly, our monthly compilation of all our reviews, is out now. This includes all the bonus content and is available as both a print book and an ebook. If you don’t have time to read the website or email, here’s one more option for you!

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price
• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater
• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!
• Hammer Horror Films
• The Silent Age of Horror
• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts
• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Curse of the Blind Dead (2019) https://www.horrorguys.com/curse-of-the-blind-dead-2020
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/texas-chainsaw-massacre-2022
• Short Film: Last Man (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-last-man-2022
• The Gate (1987) https://www.horrorguys.com/the-gate-1987
• Bones and All (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/bones-and-all-2022

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll watch four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com
• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horror-film-books
• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com
• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys
• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 206

We’re back to our usual lineup of four movies and a short film this week. We’’ start with “Men” from 2022, then look at “Fang” a new indie film. “House of Darkness” from this year is up next, and then we’ll finish off with “Cloverfield,” the giant monster-hit of 2008.

In the Bonus reviews this week, over at http://horrorbulletin.com, We've got two more classics for you:

• “Village of the Damned” from 1960
• “Village of the Damned” from 1995

Which is better? Find out!

Four years ago this week...

Four YEARS AGO this week, on episode 1, we looked at “Leprechaun” (1993) and “Leprechaun Returns” (2018). It’s fun hearing how much the show has changed since that first episode!

Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg051/.

New Book: The Horror Films of Roger Corman

We do the usual “Horror Guys Treatment” for all the horror films directed by Roger Corman from 1954 up to 1990. Included are 29 full-length films that truly count as horror. In addition, we’ll look at seven other noteworthy Corman movies that aren’t horror, including his first producing credit, his first directing credit, his favorite non-horror project, and a few others. If you love Roger Corman’s macabre masterpieces, we’ll cover all of them here.

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Fifteenth Issue of Horror Bulletin now available

The newest issue of Horror Bulletin Monthly, our monthly compilation of all our reviews, is out now. This includes all the bonus content and is available as both a print book and an ebook. If you don’t have time to read the website or email, here’s one more option for you!

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price
• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater
• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!
• Hammer Horror Films
• The Silent Age of Horror
• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts
• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Men (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/men-2022/
• Fang (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/fang-2022
• Short Film: Oldtimers (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-oldtimers-2022/
• House of Darkness (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/house-of-darkness-2022
• Cloverfield (2008) https://www.horrorguys.com/cloverfield-2008

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll be watching four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com
• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horror-film-books
• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com
• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys
• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 205

This time, we’ll watch some TV. The new Netflix series, “Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities,” has been out for a little while now, and we decided to watch all eight episodes. Like all anthologies, it has high points and low, so we’ll talk about those. Overall, we really liked the series and hope they make more soon.

In the Bonus reviews this week, over at http://horrorbulletin.com, We've got MORE stuff from Guillermo Del Toro:

• “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio” from 2022
• “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” from 2019

Three years ago this week...

THREE YEARS AGO this week, on episode 51, we looked at “Calling Dr. Death, Kiss of the Vampire, Antichrist, and Martyrs.” That was a weird bunch!

Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg051/.

New Book: The Horror Films of Roger Corman

We do the usual “Horror Guys Treatment” for all the horror films directed by Roger Corman from 1954 up to 1990. Included are 29 full-length films that truly count as horror. In addition, we’ll look at seven other noteworthy Corman movies that aren’t horror, including his first producing credit, his first directing credit, his favorite non-horror project, and a few others. If you love Roger Corman’s macabre masterpieces, we’ll cover all of them here.

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Fifteenth Issue of Horror Bulletin now available

The newest issue of Horror Bulletin Monthly, our monthly compilation of all our reviews, is out now. This includes all the bonus content and is available as both a print book and an ebook. If you don’t have time to read the website or email, here’s one more option for you!

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price
• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater
• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!
• Hammer Horror Films
• The Silent Age of Horror
• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts
• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Short film: The Satan (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-the-satan-2022/
• Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities (2022): Episodes 1 and 2 https://www.horrorguys.com/guillermo-del-toros-cabinet-of-curiosities-2022-episodes-1-and-2/
• Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities (2022): Episodes 3 and 4 https://www.horrorguys.com/guillermo-del-toros-cabinet-of-curiosities-2022-episodes-3-and-4/
• Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities (2022): Episodes 5 and 6 https://www.horrorguys.com/guillermo-del-toros-cabinet-of-curiosities-2022-episodes-5-and-6/
• Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities (2022): Episodes 7 and 8 https://www.horrorguys.com/guillermo-del-toros-cabinet-of-curiosities-2022-episodes-7-and-8/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll be watching four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com
• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horror-film-books
• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com
• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys
• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 204

We've got four more horror films this week. We'll take a drive in the country with “Jeepers Creepers” from 2001. We’ll then take a school bus to the big game in “Jeepers Creepers 2” from 2003. Next, we’ll go back in time a week or two in part 3, and then forward 23 years in “Jeepers Creepers Reborn” from 2022.

In the Bonus reviews this week, over at http://horrorbulletin.com, We've got:

• “Skinamarink” from 2022
• “Munster, Go Home!” from 1966

Three years ago this week...

THREE YEARS AGO this week, on episode 50, we looked at “The Mad Doctor of Market Street, Revenge of Frankenstein, Chaos A.D., and Berberian Sound Studio.”

Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg050/.

New Book: The Horror Films of Roger Corman

We do the usual “Horror Guys Treatment” for all the horror films directed by Roger Corman from 1954 up to 1990. Included are 29 full-length films that truly count as horror. In addition, we’ll look at seven other noteworthy Corman movies that aren’t horror, including his first producing credit, his first directing credit, his favorite non-horror project, and a few others. If you love Roger Corman’s macabre masterpieces, we’ll cover all of them here.

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Fifteenth Issue of Horror Bulletin now available

The newest issue of Horror Bulletin Monthly, our monthly compilation of all our reviews, is out now. This includes all the bonus content and is available as both a print book and an ebook. If you don’t have time to read the website or email, here’s one more option for you!

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price
• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater
• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!
• Hammer Horror Films
• The Silent Age of Horror
• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts
• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Jeepers Creepers (2001) https://www.horrorguys.com/jeepers-creepers-2001/
• Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003) https://www.horrorguys.com/jeepers-creepers-2-2003/
• Jeepers Creepers III (2017) https://www.horrorguys.com/jeepers-creepers-iii-2017/
• Jeepers Creepers Reborn (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/jeepers-creepers-reborn-2022/
• Short Film: Final Gasp (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-final-gasp-2022 short-film-final-gasp-2022

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll be watching four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com
• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horror-film-books
• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com
• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys
• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

We’ve recently started doing our bonus reviews as a bonus podcast. Let us know what you think-- good idea or not? Did you actually listen to them and enjoy them, or should we stay text-only for the newsletter?

Anyway, we're doing four more movies this time around, but these will be from our bonus newsletter. We'll discuss:

* “Fresh” from 2022

* “We “Need to Talk About Kevin” from 2011

* “Spider Baby, or The Maddest Story Ever Told” from 1967

* “You Won’t Be Alone” from 2022

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

•    Email: email@horrorguys.com

•    Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horror-film-books

•    The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

•    Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com

•    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

•    Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

•    Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Bonus Podcast 203 (Bonus #5)

Episode 203

We’ve recently started doing our bonus reviews as a bonus podcast. Let us know what you think-- good idea or not? Did you actually listen to them and enjoy them, or should we stay text-only for the newsletter?

Anyway, we're doing four more movies this time around, but these will be from our bonus newsletter. We'll discuss:

* “Fresh” from 2022
* “We “Need to Talk About Kevin” from 2011
* “Spider Baby, or The Maddest Story Ever Told” from 1967
* “You Won’t Be Alone” from 2022

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

* Email: email@horrorguys.com
* Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horror-film-books
* The web: http://www.horrorguys.com
* Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com
* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys
* Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys
* Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 202

We've got four more horror films this week. We'll take a cheerful vacation to the mountains in “Cabin Fever” from 2002. We’ll then go to prom in “Cabin Fever 2”
 from 2009 and take a nice break on a tropical beach in “Cabin Fever 3” from 2014. Then we’ll waste everyone’s time with the pointless 2016 remake of the original.

In the Bonus reviews this week, over at http://horrorbulletin.com, We've got:

• “You Won’t Be Alone” from 2022
• “We Need to Talk About Kevin” from 2011

Three years ago this week...

THREE YEARS AGO this week, on episode 49, we looked at “The Invisible Ray, The Abominable Snowman, The Bunny Game, and The Killer Toon.” Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg049/.

New Book: The Horror Films of Roger Corman

We do the usual “Horror Guys Treatment” for all the horror films directed by Roger Corman from 1954 up to 1990. Included are 29 full-length films that truly count as horror. In addition, we’ll look at seven other noteworthy Corman movies that aren’t horror, including his first producing credit, his first directing credit, his favorite non-horror project, and a few others. If you love Roger Corman’s macabre masterpieces, we’ll cover all of them here.

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Fifteenth Issue of Horror Bulletin now available

The newest issue of Horror Bulletin Monthly, our monthly compilation of all our reviews, is out now. This includes all the bonus content and is available as both a print book and an ebook. If you don’t have time to read the website or email, here’s one more option for you!

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price
• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater
• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!
• Hammer Horror Films
• The Silent Age of Horror
• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts
• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volumes 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Cabin Fever (2002)
  https://www.horrorguys.com/cabin-fever-2002/
  
  
• Cabin Fever 2: Spring Break (2009)
  https://www.horrorguys.com/cabin-fever-2-spring-fever-2009/
  
  
• Short film: Kiddo (2022)
  https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-kiddo-2022
  
  
• Cabin Fever 3: Patient Zero (2014)
  https://www.horrorguys.com/cabin-fever-3-patient-zero-2014/
  
  
• Cabin Fever (2016)
  https://www.horrorguys.com/cabin-fever-2016

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com, for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll be watching four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com
• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horror-film-books
• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com
• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys
• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 201

We've got four more hot new 2022 horror films this week. We'll keep silent about "Speak No Evil," then we'll meet up with an old stalker buddy in "Resurrection." After that, we'll do a "Deadstream," and then have a fun "Night of the Tommyknockers."

In the Bonus reviews this week, over at http://horrorbulletin.com, We've got:

• "Fresh” from 2022
• "Spider Baby or The Maddest Story Ever Told" from 1967

Three years ago this week...

THREE YEARS AGO this week, on episode 48, we looked at four Thanksgiving "Classics": "Blood Freak," "Thankskilling," "Thankskilling 3," and "Poultrygeist." Wow. Gobble Gobble, everybody! 

Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg048/

New Book: The Horror Films of Roger Corman

We do the usual “Horror Guys Treatment” for all the horror films directed by Roger Corman from 1954 up to 1990. Included are 29 full-length films that truly count as horror, and then watched them all. In addition, we’ll look at seven other noteworthy Corman movies that aren’t horror, including his first producing credit, his first directing credit, his favorite non-horror project, and a few others. If you love Roger Corman’s macabre masterpieces, we’ll cover all of them here.

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Fourteenth Issue of Horror Bulletin now available

The newest issue of Horror Bulletin Monthly, our monthly compilation of all our reviews, is out now. This includes all the bonus content and is available as both a print book as well as an ebook. If you don’t have time to read the website or email, here’s one more option for you! 

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price
• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater
• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!
• Hammer Horror Films
• The Silent Age of Horror
• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts
• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volume 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Speak No Evil (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/speak-no-evil-2022/
• Resurrection (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/resurrection-2022/
• Short Film: Guts (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-guts-2022/
• Deadstream (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/deadstream-2022/
• Night of the Tommyknockers (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/night-of-the-tommyknockers-2022/

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll be watching four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com
• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horror-film-books
• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com
• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys
• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

It’s vampire week (because… why not?)! We’ll start off with 2024’s “Drained” and “Little Bites.” We’ll watch a few more older films, “From Dusk Till Dawn” (1996) and “Shadow of the Vampire” (2000). Lately, we’ll watch the very weird “Only Lovers Left Alive” from 2013.

And, of course, we have more excellent short films for you!

The latest issue of “Horror Monthly” is now on sale! Check out all the back issues, as well as our other books, with one easy link: https://horrormonthly.com

Pick up our newest book, "The Horror Guys Guide to the Academy Awards of Horror" at https://www.horrormonthly.com/horror-guys-guides/academy-awards-of-horror

Get all our reviews once a week: https://www.horrorweekly.com

Mainstream Films:

2024 Drained

* Directed by Peter Stylianou, Sean Cronin

* Written by Peter Stylianou

* Stars Ruaridh Aldington, Madalina Bellariu Ion, Craig Conway

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 47 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This was a pretty novel take on vampires and love, dependency and addiction. The casting is perfect, the script is well written, and all the technical aspects are top notch. Horrorguy Brian liked it some, Horrorguy Kevin liked it a lot.

Spoilery Synopsis

We see a man lying in a hospital bed with a vampire sucking on his arm. “Love is forever,” she says. Credits roll.

Thomas is a struggling artist who lives with his mother. She’s dating John, a pest control man. Thomas is depressed, so he goes to a dance club. There, he spots a woman who looks like the one he’s been drawing repeatedly. He’s enthralled, and so is she. She’s Rhea. Two weeks later, Thomas is still thinking about Rhea. She doesn’t have social media.

John announces at dinner that he’s moving in with Thomas and his mum. They’re kicking Thomas out. “I’m an artist, Mum!” “No, you’re lazy!” Even before he gets moved in, there are bills to pay, but Thomas doesn’t have a job.

Thomas gets a call from Dana, his bartender friend; Rhea has returned. When he arrives, he finds her with another man. She catches up with Thomas a bit later, alone. They go to his place, and he invites her in.

She gets right down to business for sexy time, which surprises Thomas, who hasn’t done this much. By the time he gets to bed, she just wants to sleep. Thomas wakes up later to find Rhea biting his arm and sucking on the blood. She has fangs– vampire! “You taste amazing!” He hides in the bathroom, but she leaves him her home phone number. The bite marks on his arm heal very quickly.

In the morning, Thomas is wary of sunlight, but he’s fine; it doesn’t hurt him. That night, she comes back, and he lets her in again. This time, he lets her suck his blood, and he likes it too, now. In the morning, she gets exposed to sunlight and screams; he freaks out, but she was just playing with him. Sunlight doesn’t bother her much.

He asks her how she became a vampire, and she says, “You have to eat one’s heart. It was a long time ago.”

Thomas starts having pretty serious money problems. His phone has no credits and the power is off. Rhea comes back again, “When the full moon comes, I won’t be able to control it.” They have more good times together.

Every day, Rhea has to go home to tend to her boyfriend, who is not well. He invites her to live with him, and she agrees. They go see Andreas, the man we saw her feeding from in the opening scene; he’s dying. He has no regrets. He’s dying of old age… at 32.

Thomas and Rhea visit Mum and John. They comment on how much weight Thomas has lost. Rhea doesn’t eat. Thomas gets a nosebleed, and Rhea licks the blood off his fingers, which Thomas’s parents think is… odd.

One night, Thomas sees Rhea having some kind of seizure; she knows Andreas has died. She was visiting him and his heart stopped halfway through feeding her.

Thomas is exhausted, but Rhea is hungry. He realizes that she’s slowly sucking the life out of him. She goes out for dinner. At the bar, he sees her with another guy, which results in a fight.

Thomas passes out and goes to the hospital. His mother says there’s something not right about Rhea, and then they take him home.

It’s the night of the full moon, and as Rhea screams in pain, so does Thomas, across town. John gets tired of having Thomas in the house, and they argue. John decides to go back to his apartment, which is where Rhea’s been staying. When John goes inside, Rhea eats him.

Thomas goes over to the flat, as he’s worried about John. Rhea apologizes for killing John, but she’s still hungry. She grabs Thomas and flies away, but she ends up dropping him on a rooftop.

He runs home and tells his mother that Rhea’s a vampire, but she thinks he’s on drugs. Rhea has mind control powers over Thomas, so he cannot help when Rhea kills his mother.

Thomas is arrested for killing John and his mother. He swears Rhea the vampire girl did it, and they think he’s going for an insanity defense.

Thomas is sent to an asylum where he meets a patient who also has bites. “They’re everywhere,” the man laughs. Thomas continues to have dreams and nightmares about her.

The police tell Thomas that there’s no evidence that he killed anyone, so he’s free to go. One of the detectives warns Thomas to quit talking about vampires, and then he flashes his fangs. Thomas is released and goes home.

Thomas goes to John’s flat, where Rhea is chewing on Dana now. He points a knife at her, and she tells him to go ahead and kill her. “I don’t want this anymore,” she begs.

The police saw Thomas with the knife, and the SWAT team arrives at the apartment. They find Dana, unharmed, and Rhea, with her heart cut out. Thomas is eating it. He has fangs now and flies away…

Brian’s Commentary

I don’t understand how Brits pay for electricity. They put a little money on a USB drive and plug it into the breaker box? Thomas was paying a few pounds here and there to keep the power on.

Thomas is useless and pretty unlikable, and Rhea isn’t much better. The situation is interesting, and we were mostly following along just to figure out what the rules of these vampires are.

It was a bit slow at times, but overall, I liked it more than disliked it.

Kevin’s Commentary

I liked this one a lot. I thought the relationship was cool, how Rhea would keep a special donor to keep from killing as much for blood. And it explores the idea of how much was really love and how much was enthrall from vampire powers.

2024 Little Bites

* Directed by Spider One

* Written by Spider One

* Stars Krsy Fox, Jon Sklaroff, Elizabeth Phoenix Caro

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 45 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

How far would or should a mother go to protect her child is one of the questions here. There are some other questions too, and some things seem pretty clear when there’s a monster in the closet that feeds on blood. It’s well made and moves well. But we didn’t understand or appreciate the ending. So we have mixed feelings about it.

Spoilery Synopsis

Mindy, a woman appearing depressed, sits alone and looks upset when a bell rings. She opens the door to a closet room, and something frightening says, “I’m hungry.” “Can you do the leg?” she asks. “I much prefer the arm,” he replies. He insists on her arm, even though it’s infected. “Now, feed me.” She removes her robe, revealing that she’s covered in scars. The creature leaps and bites her as the credits roll.

Mindy gets a call from her daughter, Alice. She wants to come home again, but Mindy knows that won’t be a good idea. Mindy’s mother is bitter and angry that she is not taking care of her daughter. She thinks Mindy is on drugs and gives her a big lecture. Mindy clearly isn’t living her best life. Just as she gets to sleep, the bell rings again.

At the store, Mindy runs into Gail, one of her friends. “You look terrible.” Gail clearly sees that something is wrong, but Mindy is evasive and deceptive. At home, Mindy continues to feed the creature. They talk, and he is not supportive.

Sonya, with Child Protective Services, comes to the door to check on Alice. She’s gotten a call about Alice’s welfare. Sonya threatens police and warrants if Mindy won’t let her in to look around. She wants to meet Alice when she comes home. The bell rings, and Sonya wonders what that is and goes to investigate. There’s a bad smell, but nothing bad happens. Sonya says she’ll come back on Tuesday, and she expects to see Alice then.

Agyar, the monster, wants Mindy to give Alice to him. It’s clear who’s really in charge here. She wants to find him someone else to eat. He… sings her a song.

Mindy picks up a guy at the bus stop. He’s a desperate, nerdy guy, and he’s a little afraid of her. She’s flirty, and he ends up going home with her, but he’s also terrified. She makes him some ice cream, loading it up with tons of pills and drugs. It’s not subtle at all, but she’s insistent on spoon-feeding him. It’s so overpowered that he just pukes it all up– and then keels over.

She slowly drags Paul downstairs and into Agyar’s room. He takes a bite and gags. “It’s no good. It tastes of misery and despair. Take it away.” She drags Paul back upstairs and wakes him. She can’t explain the bite mark on his arm, so he leaves in a panic.

The next day, in the park, an older woman sits next to Mindy and talks about children. Mindy notices that Ellenor has bite marks all down her arms, but they don’t speak of that.

Sonya returns for Alice, who still hasn’t come home. Mindy confirms that Alice is home and downstairs. Sonya walks into the dark room in the basement, and Agyar devours her. Still, Sonya puts up quite a fight, and Agyar loves the treat. Sonya’s dead body is… gone. “You underestimate my capabilities. The rest of this mess will be gone in a minute.”

Mindy calls her mother and tells her to bring Alice home tomorrow. She tells the monster that she won’t be deceived anymore and that this is all over now. He’s not concerned.

Mindy’s mother brings Alice the next day, and she’s not nice at all. When Alice asks why she had to spend so much time at Grandma’s, Mindy can’t explain. “I need to show you something,” she explains. “Monsters are real, and there’s one downstairs.”

The two go downstairs together, but Agyar isn’t there. Alice wonders if Mindy is out of her mind. “He’s gone. It really might be over.”

Finally happy, Mindy tucks Alice into bed. She then goes back downstairs just to be sure. Later, she has a nightmare about Agyar feeding on Alice, but it’s just a dream.

In the morning, Burt, from CPS, comes knocking, looking for Sonya. He’s the office manager, and he wants to talk to Alice. The talk goes well, and he leaves again. There’s a knock on the door. Mindy is in the shower, so Alice answers. It’s Agyar in full creepy mode. He doesn’t do anything but tell Alice to tell her mother that he’s been there. “Tell her Agyar was here for a little visit.”

When Mindy gets out of the shower, Agyar has gotten inside, and it’s obvious to both women that he’s trying to scare them. Then they hear the bell ringing again. “Do you hear him too?” Alice does hear him and says, “I think we just need to kill him.”

Agyar shows up again and dares Mindy to kill him. Instead, she gets down on her knees and crawls to him. He bites her. Alice walks over. “Are you one of us?” he asks. Then Alice bites him, and Mindy bites him, too. They both finish off the monster and eat well.

We cut forward many years, and now Alice is grown up.

Brian’s Commentary

It’s slow-moving and moody, showing us how bleak Mindy’s life is. The big mystery is how she got stuck caring for a vampire in her closet. Agyar is cruel and sadistic but also seems pretty weak and helpless– until he’s not. He’s got all sorts of weird powers beyond the usual vampire stuff. What is he?

The creature design for Agyar is really good. We only see him in the dark, but what we see is pretty cool. He looks more like Nosferatu (1922) than Nosferatu (2024).

It features a fun cast of “horror women,” including Heather Langenkamp, Bonnie Aarons, and Barbara Crampton. We wondered until the very end whether or not Agyar was even real or just Mindy’s insanity manifesting.

Still, I have many questions. We get zero explanations for any of this, and the ending twists everything around, but we still don’t know why. It was doing really well until that ending, and neither of us understood it.

Kevin’s Commentary

Like Brian said, I was fully on board until the ending. Agyar was ridiculously powerful, the situation was horrifying and horrible, and everything was great. I suppose we weren’t supposed to take it so literally, and it was about the power of motherhood and misogyny and woman power over the domination of men or something. Whatever. The ending bugs me more the more I think about it.

1996 From Dusk Till Dawn

* Directed by Robert Rodriguez

* Written by Robert Kurtzman, Quentin Tarantino

* Stars Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Juliette Lewis

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 48 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

The first chunk of this is a crime spree movie. Then suddenly - vampires! It’s very well put together, often offbeat and over-the-top. It was our second viewing, and we still liked it a lot. If you want a fun movie, check this one out.

Spoilery Synopsis

A Texas ranger stops in at the local liquor store in the desert. He complains about the weather to the clerk. The ranger’s had a bad morning, and goes on and on about how he doesn't like potato head Mongoloids. There was also a bank robbery in Abilene where four people were killed. The robbers might be heading this way toward the border.

When the ranger goes to the restroom, we see that the two robbers and their hostages are right there in the store. Seth Gecko is normal enough, but Richard Gecko seems like a psychopath. This is obvious when he lies about the clerk signalling the cop and shoots them both. Before dying, the clerk manages to shoot Richard in the hand. Together, the brothers are especially lethal. As they leave, the building explodes excessively. Credits roll.

They stop at a cheap motel and unload the bank teller they have in the trunk. Seth explains the rules to the terrified Gloria. We get a news report showing us just how bad the brothers are: sixteen dead so far. FBI Agent Chase is confident that they’ll catch the brothers soon.

We cut to the Fuller family, Jacob, Kate, and Scott, out on a road trip in their RV. Jacob’s a pastor, but he’s recently lost his wife and his faith, and he’s quit his job. He wants to sleep in a real bed, so they take their RV to the motel. They almost run over Seth in the parking lot.

We cut back to the brothers, as Seth returns with food to find that Richard has raped and killed Gloria. Even though he knows his brother’s a lunatic.

Richard knocks on Jacob’s door. He and Seth come in and hold Jacob , Kate, and Scott at gunpoint. Richie immediately becomes obsessed with Kate. Everyone loads into the RV and heads down the road. They encounter a roadblock, but Jacob and Scott play along to stay safe. They pull it off and cross the border into Mexico.

They drive for the rest of the evening and stop at a strip bar. It’s not a subtle place, open dusk till dawn, with bikers all over the place. The guys beat up the doorman and go inside. It’s a stripper bar with lots of naked women, and Jacob and his family aren’t the usual clientele. Seth and Richard, on the other hand, love the place. The bartender says it’s a private bar, and that the brothers need to leave. Once again, Jacob helps out.

As the group drinks, we get a look at the various other patrons of the place: Razor Charlie, Frost, and Sex Machine. Soon, it’s time for the big dance number, Santanico Pandemonium! She comes out and does a whole striptease with a snake. We soon learn why Quentin Tarantino is a well-known foot fetishist.

The doorman, apparently recovered, comes inside and points out the brothers. Soon, there’s shooting and stabbing and things are looking bad as the brothers get violent. None of the patrons seem too upset. Richard’s hand starts bleeding again, and the patrons get excited. They shoot the doorman repeatedly.

Suddenly, Santanico turns into a giant lizard woman and attacks Richard, biting him in the neck. He very quickly dies. Then the doorman and several other corpses get up and attack again; they’re vampires. This whole place is a vampire bar. The vamps turn on the human patrons, and it's a huge, out-of-nowhere brawl. Kate takes the cross off her neck and kills the doorman with it. Frost and Sex Machine are also very good human fighters, and they rack up a bunch of dead vampires, including Razor Charlie and Santanico.

Things eventually calm down just a bit, and Seth, Jacob, Frost, and Sex Machine end up working together against the vampires. All the vampire bodies suddenly self-combust.

Seth says goodbye to his dead brother, but then Richard turns into a vamp and gets up again. Seth stakes him personally. The group is locked inside the place, and they hear millions of bats outside. More of the dead humans turn into vampires, and the battle resumes. Sex Machine gets bitten in the arm, but it’s not bad.

The group discusses the rules of vampires and how to kill them. Seth points out that Jacob is a man of God, and that could be useful. Seth literally gives a pep talk about religion to get Jacob’s faith back. Frost tells us all his old war stories and Sex Machine starts to hear voices, get sweaty, and grow fangs. He soon sneaks up and bites both Frost and Jacob before getting thrown through the door. Frost then turns into a monster very quickly as Seth, Kate, and Scott hide in the back room.

Back in the main room, Jacob faces off against a hundred vampires, with only a cross and a shotgun to help him. He makes his way back to the storeroom with the others. They go through the boxes of stuff to find weapons and useful things. They find all sorts of neat things.

Once they are ready, they open the door and force their way out to the main room. The four humans fight back, and they kill a lot of vampires, including Frost and Sex Machine, who have returned.

The battle ends, and Jacob becomes a vampire. He bites Scott, who melts his father with holy water. Scott’s torn apart by other vamps. There are still a lot of vamps as Seth and Kate notice the sun rising outside.

Seth’s Mexican partners come to the door and break in. They let in enough sunlight to kill the rest of the vamps. Seth and Carlos argue about why they chose this place to meet.

Seth and Carlos complete their business. Kate wants to go with Seth, but he refuses, leaving her behind. Kate drives away in the RV, and we see the backside of the strip club. It’s built on the roof of an ancient pyramid!

Brian’s Commentary

This was a regular old crime thriller for the first hour, with no real weirdness at all other than the two murderous brothers. Not long after getting to the strip club, we learn that there’s a whole lot more going on. It’s got lots of familiar faces, including some nobodies who became much bigger stars later.

Everything inside the club is so ridiculously over-the-top that it’s hard to take too seriously, but that doesn’t keep it from being fun. The creature effects are excellent, and the “hero” vampires are all interesting and fun to watch.

The acting here is all top-notch, especially for a horror film. Somehow, Cheech Marin got to play three roles. Danny Trejo, Fred Williamson, and Tom Savini play patrons and vamps, and those guys are always fun to watch. It was successful enough that it spawned two film sequels and a TV series.

It’s a fun classic!

Kevin’s Commentary

I think I enjoyed it even more on this second viewing. It’s held up very well for entertainment value. It has that Tarantino vibe to it, plus his foot fetish. I’d recommend it for a fun vampire movie with a lot of action.

2000 Shadow of the Vampire

* Directed by E. Elias Merhige

* Written by Steven Katz

* Stars John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Udo Kier

* Run Time: 1 Hour, 32 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

There was a real silent movie called “Nosferatu,” made in the 1920s, and this movie portrays many of the real people involved in the process. This film is all about that event, but it’s a horror movie take on it, with a director, crew, and cast wondering if they might have hired a real vampire in the lead role. It’s offbeat and entertaining, with a bit of dark humor. We thought it was really good.

Spoilery Synopsis

After the credits, we see that it’s Berlin in 1921. Friedrich Murnau was denied the rights to film the book Dracula, so he changed a few names and made it anyway.

We watch as Murnau directs some actors in the silent film. The star, Greta, complains that films are stupid and she’d rather be in the theater. Albin, the producer, wants to know who Murnau has cast as the vampire for the film, but Murnau says nothing.

They’re packing up to move the production to Czechoslovakia since they can’t film in Transylvania. They hear about the actor Max Shreck, who has been living there for weeks. He absorbs himself in the character and will only appear to them at night, in full makeup, as he’s always in character.

The crew arrives at the location, and Murneau is very tight-lipped about everything. Night falls, and someone drops off a weasel in a cage, which is promptly eaten by Schreck.

Filming begins, and there is a bit of trouble from some of the locals. They shoot the scene where Gustav, playing the main character, meets Count Orlock for the first time, and this is the first we see of him as well. Gustav is legitimately terrified.

Not long after the scene is finished, they find one of the cameramen, Wolf, passed out in a hallway. Orlock watches in amusement. One of the locals sees Wolf, crosses herself, and says “Nosferatu,” much to Murnau’s amusement.

The next evening, it’s time for more filming, and Schreck shows up, growling and monstrous. He wants some makeup, but Murnau refuses. The scene goes well. Later, the men talk about Schreck’s weird Method acting.

As they film the next day, the power goes off, and Schreck actually bites Wolf. Some of the men want to wrap the production and end the film. After the film crew leaves, Schreck plays with the projector and watches the sun rise on film. Murnau yells at Schreck, “You agreed not to hurt my people!”

Schreck refuses to film his scenes aboard the ship, and they argue about that. They end up building a replica ship on the grounds of the castle.

Albin and Henrik get drunk and ask Schreck a bunch of “vampire questions.” They ask him about the book, Dracula, and Schreck has a unique take on the book. In the middle of the conversation, Schreck grabs a living bat out of midair and eats it. “What an actor. Dedication!”

A new cameraman arrives to replace Wolf as the production moves to a small town. Greta joins them there, and she’s not a fan of small-town life. Schreck senses that she’s arrived in town, and he wants her. Murnau insists that he stay away from her until the ending scene. Murnau is clearly afraid of the actor.

We see that most of the crew is on drugs of one kind or another, except for Schreck, who’s just plain insane (or a vampire). Murnau, while high, confesses that there’s no Max Schreck, he just found him; he’s a real vampire, and he promised Greta to him.

It’s time for the big finale, and Greta wonders why everyone looks so depressed. “Who died?” Then she meets Orlock/Schreck. She sees that he doesn’t have a reflection in the mirror and freaks out, so they sedate her with more morphine; she calms down quickly. They film Orlock’s death scene, and it’s perfect.

Filming down, Schreck wants Greta. As he bites her neck, for real, they continue filming. The men have set a trap for Schreck, but he threatens to kill them all. Fritz shoots Schreck, and Schreck kills him and Albin. The sun comes up, and Murnau continues to film as Schreck melts in the sunlight.

Murnau is pleased with his results.

Brian’s Commentary

Obviously, this is based on the back-and-white, silent, 1922 version of “Nosferatu,” but it’s no documentary. The whole gimmick here is whether or not Schreck is really a vampire or not. Max Schreck was said to be really weird in real life, so it’s not a huge stretch.

I like how the film crew all wears lab coats as if this is some kind of science. Murnau talks the actors through the scenes as it films; it’s a silent film anyway, so why not?

Willem Dafoe uses only some very subtle prosthetics here, Orlock is mostly just… him. He’s really the highlight of the film and steals every scene that he’s in.

Very weird!

Kevin’s Commentary

Max Shreck went on to make several dozen movies after “Nosferatu,” so it appears he was not a real vampire who died for real at the end of the production as this movie would have us think. It was a fun take on things though, and very entertaining with strange characters. Especially Defoe as Shreck.

2013 Only Lovers Left Alive

* Directed by Jim Jarmusch

* Written by Jim Jarmusch, Marion Bessay

* Stars Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Wright, John Hurt

* Run Time: 2 Hours, 3 Minutes

* Trailer:

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

If you wonder what the life of old vampires might be like, this is your chance. It’s very low on action, but we found that to be a feature not a bug. This was our second viewing, and we both liked it even more this time around.

Spoilery Synopsis

Eve sits in her cluttered room and listens to 1960s music. Elsewhere, so does Adam.

Later, Adam has another musician over to his apartment. Adam collects antique guitars, and the other man is Ian, who buys things for Adam. Adam mentions seeing an old-time musician playing, but then corrects himself by saying, “Yeah, on YouTube.” Adam really wants to make music, but he’s super reclusive, which complicates things. He tells Ian he wants a bullet made of wood, and he has some very specific requirements. “It’s for… a project.” Adam is clearly hiding things from Ian.

Eve walks through a middle-eastern town and stops in a cafe. She greets Bilal, who works there. She asks how “He” is, and Bilal talks about keeping “his” secrets, and hers as well. Old man Christopher Marlowe comes in, although he doesn’t want the name said aloud. He was a famous author four hundred years ago. He’s very, very old. She jokes about causing chaos by going public with their secret. He gives her a bag containing bottled blood, the good stuff.

Adam leaves the house dressed like a surgeon, and it’s clear he lives in a very abandoned area of Detroit. He parks and goes into the hospital, wearing a surgical mask. He gets into the blood bank and scares Dr. Watson, who works there. He’s been expecting Adam. Watson takes a bundle of cash and hands over a bunch of blood in Thermoses.

Everyone takes a break and drinks their blood. Adam, Eve, and Christopher are all vampires! Eve picks up her recent-model iPhone and calls Adam, who answers on an antique wireless phone. They do a very weird video call on his cobbled together vintage equipment; she’s his wife. He’s been depressed lately and thinking a lot about death. She agrees to come and see Adam, but traveling is hard for their kind.

Adam records some music, and he’s got a lot of equipment, new and old; he’s kinda stuck in the past. Some men come to the door, but he doesn’t answer. Ian brings the wooden bullet that Adam wanted. Adam whines about the rock-n-roll fanboy kids coming to his door; they know where he lives, which he doesn’t like.

Christopher tells Eve that he had a dream about her sister, Ava. They talk about Adam; when Christopher wrote “Hamlet” he should have used Adam as a role model.

Eve travels by jet at night and arrives at Adam’s house in Detroit. He plays her his latest music, like what he used to play with Schubert. Adam used to love scientists but not so much after what happened to Darwin and Tesla. She has the ability to tell how old something is just by touching it. He takes her through the abandoned neighborhoods of Detroit. It’s all very depressing, which fuels Adam’s mood.

They go back to the house, and Eve has made them O-negative popsicles; he didn’t even realize his freezer worked. He plays some old music for her, but then the power goes out. We see that Adam has built a special generator using technology way beyond anything else; he’s not a complete Luddite after all. He also admits that he had a dream about her sister, Ava.

Adam goes out for more blood, and Eve finds his pistol and wooden bullet. She knows that it’s newly made. She confronts him when he gets home, and he blames it on his fear of what humanity is doing to itself. She reiterates the benefits of immortality, like nature and dancing.

The two return home after a drive and find Ava is there. It's been 87 years, and Adam still holds a grudge. She stays over, and Adam isn’t a fan of having a houseguest. She’s very pushy, and mentions that she heard some of his music in an underground club in L.A. He swears all his music is private.

Ava insists that the three of them go out to a club for some music. They meet up with Ian, and Adam overhears Ian’s conversation with another man; something shady is going on. They pass around a flask of blood, and Ian says he wants to try some, thinking it’s alcohol. Adam snatches it away before he can

Then they hear Adam’s music playing at the club. Adam wants to leave– right now. All of them, Ian included, go back to Adam’s house. Adam and Eve go to bed, leaving Ian with Ava.

The following evening, Eve tells Adam that Ava needs to go, before it’s too late. Eve goes downstairs to find that Ava has totally drained Ian and trashed the place as well. “How many times?” demands Eve. Adam throws Ava and all her stuff out the front door. Eve and Adam then put the body in the car.

They dump the body in an acid pit in an empty garage. The body is gone to skeleton before it even sinks.

Eve books two tickets back to Tangier; it’s time to leave town. When they get there, they head to Christopher Marlowe’s cafe, but they find it closed. Bilal answers the door, and he knows Adam. Christopher is not doing well. The old man says he got some bad blood, contaminated. “Avoid the hospital here,” he warns. Christopher makes it clear that he wrote all Shakespeare’s stuff and just used Shakespeare’s name as a cover. He grouses about Shakespeare being a hack. The old man dies peacefully a moment later.

“What are we gonna do?” They ask each other simultaneously. Eva goes off to get Adam “a present,” and while she’s gone, Adam hears a band in a tiny bar. He likes the music and the singing. Eve comes back with a musical instrument for Adam.

Unfortunately, they’re both starving; they were counting on Christopher’s connections to keep them fed. They watch a couple of lovers on the rooftop and know what’s coming. “We’re just gonna turn them, right?” Adam agrees, and says he gets the girl.

Dinner time!

Brian’s Commentary

What kind of “contaminants” would kill a vampire?

Vampires are immortal. Most vampires, therefore, would be very old, on average. This movie is one of the few to show what realistic “old” vampires would be like, always struggling to keep up with technology and keep up with social things and just keep interested in living.

The scenes in and around Detroit are perfect for the movie; I’m sure that’s where all the vampires hang out in reality. There’s no real action at all; it’s just vampires being vampires and what that really means today.

You’ll either love the details of vampire life or you’ll be bored to death with the lack of action, I don’t see much in between. I liked it a lot.

Kevin’s Commentary

We get some glimpses of their powers - information by touch, low key telepathy, super speed, immortality, and of course drinking blood and fangs. But it’s interesting how low action it is, mostly just old ones going about their nights and letting us see how they live. I thought this was very cool, and very well acted.

Short Films:

2020 Short Film: Night Diner

* Directed by Khaled Ridgeway

* Written by Khaled Ridgeway

* Stars Yves Beneche, Paul Mischeshin, Tisha Banker

* Run Time: 9:14

* Watch it:

What Happens

A food influencer goes to a diner where he’s heard the burgers are amazing. He gets there moments after ten p.m. and finds them closed. He goes around back, and the waitress and the cook let him in for a last-minute bite. He’s black, and the waitress hints that maybe that’s a problem, but he sticks around for his meal anyway.

Commentary

That really is a tasty burger! You know something is off right away, but it takes a while to find out why exactly.

First of all, who goes to a diner after ten o’clock anyway? Waffle House, sure, but not a place like that. Even so, wanting food after they’re clearly closed is a really bad idea. After the first crack about being out of Kool-Aid, he should have taken the hint and just left. Oh well; he won’t be making that mistake again.

Tasty!

2017 Short Film: Feast on the Young

* Directed by Katia Mancuso

* Written by Katia Mancuso

* Stars Paige E. Joustra, Jena Schaak, Marisa Matear

* Run Time: 13 Minutes

* Watch it:

What Happens

Big sister Mina gets tired of babysitting her young sister Alice, who is obsessed with a book of fairies given to her by her dead father. When Alice runs off into the woods to sit next to a fairy house they built, Nina follows along. What she finds is not what she expects.

Commentary

This looks really good. The magical fairy circle is very clear in how it works, and even though nothing is explained, it all makes sense. The fairy is terrifying and really well done, and the two sisters act believabnly throughout.

Very good!

2019 Short Film: Lili

* Directed by Yfke van Berckelaer

* Written by Yfke van Berckelaer

* Stars Lisa Smit, Derek de Lint

* Run Time: 8:38

* Watch it:

What Happens

An actress does an audition for a man who gets increasingly demanding of her skills. She reads over her lines, gets complimented on her performance, and then is instructed to change it up some. This repeats a few times, and she gets more and more uncomfortable each time.

Commentary

Is the director named Harvey, by any chance? It was fun seeing her read the same lines with different emphases and attitudes. I assume that many auditions go something like this, at least until the ending, which is really well done.

It’s a simple short, with only a bit of weirdness right at the end. They did a lot with a little here.

Contact Info:

Email:

* mailto:email@horrorguys.com

Websites:

* https://www.horrorguys.com

* https://www.horrormonthly.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 200

We've got four more hot new 2022 horror films this week. We'll cheerfully begin with a “Smile,” then we’ll “Watcher” some “Crimes of the Future,” and then we’ll clean up all the “Bodies Bodies Bodies ”

In the Bonus reviews this week, over at http://horrorbulletin.com, We've got:

• "V/H/S Viral” from 2014
• "Incantationr" from 2022

Three years ago this week...

THREE YEARS AGO this week, on episode 47, we looked at: "Mystery of Edwin Drood” (1935), “Phantom of the Opera” (1962), “Freaks” (1932), “Morbid Stories” (2019) and “The Fare (2019)" and they're all fun in their own way.

Listen to that old episode here: https://www.horrorguys.com/hg047/

New Book: The Horror Films of Roger Corman

We do the usual “Horror Guys Treatment” for all the horror films directed by Roger Corman from 1954 up to 1990. Included are 29 full-length films that truly count as horror, and then watched them all. In addition, we’ll look at seven other noteworthy Corman movies that aren’t horror, including his first producing credit, his first directing credit, his favorite non-horror project, and a few others. If you love Roger Corman’s macabre masterpieces, we’ll cover all of them here.

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Fourteenth Issue of Horror Bulletin now available

The newest issue of Horror Bulletin Monthly, our monthly compilation of all our reviews, is out now. This includes all the bonus content and is available as both a print book as well as an ebook. If you don’t have time to read the website or email, here’s one more option for you!

• Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com
• Buy Direct: https://horrorguysshop.com/

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

• The Horror Films of Vincent Price
• Universal Studios' Shock! Theater
• Universal Studios' Son of Shock!
• Hammer Horror Films
• The Silent Age of Horror
• The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

• A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts
• Tales to Make You Shiver, Volume 1 and 2

Here. We. Go!

Links:

• Smile (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/smile-2022
• Watcher (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/watcher-2022
• Short Film: Scooby Doo: Blair Witch Project (1999) https://www.horrorguys.com/short-film-scooby-doo-blair-witch-project-1999
• Crimes of the Future (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/crimes-of-the-future-2022
• Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) https://www.horrorguys.com/bodies-bodies-bodies-2022

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorMovieGuys.com for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Get ready for next week, where we’ll be watching four more full-lengths and a fun short film!

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

• Email: email@horrorguys.com
• Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horror-film-books
• The web: http://www.horrorguys.com
• Subscribe by email: http://horrorbulletin.substack.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys
• Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

And now for something completely new! Just as an experiment, through the months of October and November, we'll be doing our bonus reviews as a bonus podcast. Let us know what you think-- good idea or not? Did you actually listen to them and enjoy them, or should we stay text-only for the newsletter?

Anyway, we're doing four more movies this time around, but these will be from our bonus newsletter. We'll discuss:

"V/H/S Viral" from 2014 "Island of Terror" from 1966 "The Skull" from 1965 "Incantation" from 2022

New Book: The Horror Films of Roger Corman

We do the usual “Horror Guys Treatment” for all the horror films directed by Roger Corman from 1954 up to 1990. Included are 29 full-length films that truly count as horror, and then watched them all. In addition, we’ll look at seven other noteworthy Corman movies that aren’t horror, including his first producing credit, his first directing credit, his favorite non-horror project, and a few others. If you love Roger Corman’s macabre masterpieces, we’ll cover all of them here.

* Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com

* Buy Direct:

https://horrorguysshop.com/

Fourteenth Issue of Horror Bulletin now available

The newest issue of Horror Bulletin Monthly, our monthly compilation of all our reviews, is out now. This includes all the bonus content and is available as both a print book as well as an ebook. If you don’t have time to read the website or email, here’s one more option for you!

* Buy from Amazon: Amazon.com

* Buy Direct:

https://horrorguysshop.com/

Check out all our books!

The Horror Guys Guide to:

* The Horror Films of Vincent Price

* Universal Studios' Shock! Theater

* Universal Studios' Son of Shock!

* Hammer Horror Films

* The Silent Age of Horror

* The Horror Films of Roger Corman

Creepy Fiction:

* A Sextet of Strange Stagings: Six Surprising Scripts

* Tales to Make You Shiver, Volume 1 and 2

V/H/S Viral (2014)

Island of Terror (1966)

The Skull (1965)

Incantation (2022)

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorGuys.com for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

* Email: email@horrorguys.com

* Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horror-film-books

* The web: http://www.horrorguys.com

* Subscribe by email:

* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys

* Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys

* Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe

Episode 199

And now for something completely new! Just as an experiment, through the months of October and November, we'll be doing our bonus reviews as a bonus podcast. Let us know what you think-- good idea or not? Did you actually listen to them and enjoy them, or should we stay text-only for the newsletter?

Anyway, we're doing four more movies this time around, but these will be from our bonus newsletter. We'll discuss:

"V/H/S Viral" from 2014 "Island of Terror" from 1966 "The Skull" from 1965 "Incantation" from 2022

* V/H/S Viral (2014)
* Island of Terror (1966)
* The Skull (1965)
* Incantation (2022)

And that’s our show. Thanks for joining us. Stop in during the week at our website, HorrorGuys.com for news and horror updates, to comment on this podcast, or to contact us.

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned for more regular and bonus reviews next week!

* Email: email@horrorguys.com
* Book Store: https://brianschell.com/collection/horror-film-books
* The web: http://www.horrorguys.com
* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrormovieguys
* Twitter: http://twitter.com/HorrorMovieGuys
* Theme Music by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.horrorweekly.com/subscribe