Midnight Cinema: A Horror Movie Podcast with Art & Erik – Details, episodes & analysis

These Foolish Games...Are Tearing Us Apart

Grab your wedding dress, load up the crossbow, gather round the puzzle box and make sure the servants aren't in the line of fire! 

This week on Midnight Cinema, we're crashing the blood-soaked family game night of Ready or Not - a wickedly fun blend of horror, dark comedy, and class warfare where the in-laws play for keeps!

When Grace says "I do," she's not just joining a family—she's entering a ritualistic game of survival that spirals into chaos, carnage, and some of the most satisfying comeuppance in modern horror.

Art and Erik dive deep into one of the standout horror hits of the late 2010s, breaking down its sharp satire, killer pacing, and why this movie hits that rare sweet spot between brutal and hilarious.

We're digging into:

• Samara Weaving's absolute star-making performance—and that iconic scream
• The filmmaking team Radio Silence Productions and their knack for balancing chaos with comedy
• How the film skewers wealth, privilege, and old money traditions
• An ensemble cast that keeps you entertained at every twist and turn 
• Practical effects, over-the-top gore, and why it all works
• That ending… and why it lands so perfectly

Whether you're here for the horror, the humor, or just to watch rich people get what's coming to them, Ready or Not delivers—and we're here for every twisted minute of it.

If you survive the night without getting hunted through a candlelit mansion, crushed by a dumbwaiter, or sacrificed at dawn, come hang with us for more late-night deep dives into cult favorites, horror hits, and beautifully unhinged cinema at midnightcinemapod.com.

Be sure to follow and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify , or wherever you listen to your podcasts! We promise, no games required (probably).

And come hang with us on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube  for clips, chaos, behind-the-scenes shenanigans, and the occasional family tradition you'll be glad you're not part of.

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Behind your seat might be a Vurdalak-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack…

Don't steal rings from dead mediums.
Don't answer the phone when your dead friend keeps calling.
And if Boris Karloff tells you not to let him in after the bell strikes ten—because he might be an undead Vurdalak—for Pietro's sake… DON'T LET HIM IN.

In Black Sabbath, Mario Bava's stylish 1963 anthology horror classic, these are the lessons Art and Erik learn the chilling way.

This week on Midnight Cinema, we ride through the fog-drenched Russian countryside, creep through crumbling mansions, and drift into the sleek and shadowy apartments of a Technicolor nightmare that left a permanent mark on Erik's childhood—and might just still be able to get under his skin all over again.

A co-production between American International Pictures and Italian studios, this trio of tales delivers everything from corpse-faced apparitions to undead children scratching at the door. And in its bold color design and visual flair, you can see the DNA of films like Suspiria lurking just beneath the surface.

Art and Erik are here to unpack it all—story by story, scare by scare.

We're diving into:

• Boris Karloff as a delightful host and creeperific Russian patriarch!
• The WTF logic of  "The Telephone"
• 1800's dread and 1960's hair styles combine in "The Wurdalak"
• Why Erik might want a remake of "The Drop of Water", right now! 
• How it shaped horror films to come! 

And if you make it through the night without answering that cursed telephone, pocketing jewelry from the wrong corpse, or letting Boris Karloff in after the bell tolls ten… come hang with us for more late-night deep dives into cult classics, gothic nightmares, and all the wonderfully unhinged cinema we adore at midnightcinemapod.com.

Be sure to follow and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen! We promise, there's no undead Vurdalak waiting just outside your door.

And come hang with us on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube  for clips, chaos, behind-the-scenes shenanigans, and the occasional message… quietly delivered in the dead of night… from someone who really, really wants their ring back.

Bring your shotguns, pack your tightest shorts, and dammit—stay away from the beaver lodge!

Art and Erik chomp into the outrageous 2015 horror-comedy Zombeavers, the movie that bravely asks the question no one needed answered: What if a zombie apocalypse… but beavers?

A weekend girls' getaway for three sorority sisters turns into a gnawing nightmare when toxic waste transforms a family of cute, industrious beavers into an army of undead furballs with an unstoppable appetite for flesh, limbs, and very unfortunate college students.

We're diving teeth-first into:

• Zombie beavers with glowing eyes, razor teeth, and zero respect for personal space
• Cabin-in-the-woods chaos dialed up to "did they really just do that?"
• Practical effects that are way better (and wetter) than they have any right to be
• A grizzled beaver hunter who has big Quint-from-Jaws energy and has absolutely seen some things
• Horny twenty-somethings making spectacularly bad survival decisions

Is it dumb? Absolutely.

Is it self-aware? Completely.

Is it secretly kind of impressive? … find out what we think!

From dams to dismemberment, we break down why Zombeavers belongs in the proud tradition of creature features that understand the most important rule of horror comedy: if you're going to be ridiculous, go all in.

If you survive the night without getting gnawed in half by a radioactive rodent or dragged screaming into a moonlit lake, come hang with us for more late-night deep dives into cult classics, creature features, and wonderfully unhinged cinema at midnightcinemapod.com

Be sure to follow and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! 

And come hang with us on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube for clips, chaos, behind-the-scenes shenanigans, and and the occasional warning about suspiciously aggressive wildlife.

Welcome to Potter's Bluff!

Don't stop at the diner.

Don't get gas.

And whatever you do...stay far away from the mortuary.

Art and Erik are digging into Dead & Buried, the sun-bleached seaside nightmare that proves nothing good ever comes from a quiet coastal town. We're leaving no headstone unturned as we follow Sheriff Dan's investigation into a truly alarming number of murders, all committed with smiles, pitchforks, and an unsettling love of photography.

With eerie coastal vibes, gnarly practical effects by Stan Winston, and a story cooked up by the writers of Alien, this 1981 oddity is prime Midnight Cinema material.

We're covering it all, including:

• Jack Albertson as the world's most overly devoted small-town mortician
• Melody Anderson as Sheriff Dan's wife, whose hobbies include aggressive dusting, polishing silver, reading up on voodoo, and casually collecting ceremonial daggers.
• Killer mobs who somehow have time for murder and photography.
• WTF twists, turns, and revelations that go places you absolutely do not expect.
• A finale that leaves you questioning literally everyone in town.

From beach to boatyard, we'll steer you through this weird little village where the locals are friendly, the tourists don't last long, and the dead never seem to stay that way for long.

And if you make it out of Potter's Bluff without being impaled by a farm tool, immortalized on film by a smiling local, or politely ushered into the mortuary after sunset, come hang with us for more late-night deep dives into cult classics, forgotten oddities, and all the beautifully unhinged cinema we adore at midnightcinemapod.com

Be sure to follow and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! No coastal road trips required.

And come hang with us on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube for clips, chaos, behind-the-scenes shenanigans, and and the occasional warning about towns that look a little too friendly.

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MAKE SURE YOU PUT THE GLASSES ON!

This week on Midnight Cinema, we're tuning in to John Carpenter's They Live. It's the alien-invasion, anti-consumerist, pro–back-alley-fistfight classic that proves the real monsters were inside the boardroom all along.

Roddy Piper stars as Nada, a drifter who stumbles upon the single most powerful accessory in movie history: a pair of sunglasses that reveal the ugly truth beneath our shiny, ad-soaked reality. Billboards bark commands. Newscasters rot from the inside out. Capitalism is literally not human. And the only way to wake people up… is to beat the living hell out of your best friend in an alley for six uninterrupted minutes.

We dig into Carpenter's simmering Reagan-era rage, the film's journey from cult oddity to internet scripture, and why They Live somehow feels more relevant now than it did in 1988. We talk alien yuppies, pirate TV resistance, iconic one-liners, and the sheer confidence of a movie that says, "No, the fight should be longer."

Put on the glasses. Question authority. Trust no billboard.

And remember: we have come here to chew bubblegum and talk cult cinema… and we're all out of bubblegum. 

And if you make it through the night without being hypnotized by a TV signal, exposed as an alien, or dragged into a six-minute alley brawl, come hang with us for more late-night deep dives into cult classics, conspiracy cinema, and all the wonderfully unhinged movies we adore at
midnightcinemapod.com

Be sure to follow and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! No subliminal messaging.  We promise! 

And come hang with us on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube for clips, chaos, behind-the-scenes shenanigans, and don't forget to CONSUME. 

Don't get them wet. Don't feed them after midnight. And whatever you do… don't press play alone.

This week on Midnight Cinema, Art and Erik head to Kingston Falls to unwrap one of the most chaotic holiday gifts ever committed to film: Gremlins.

What starts as a sweet 1984-era Christmas fantasy quickly mutates into a punk-rock creature feature stuffed with anarchic humor, broken rules, and homicidal puppets in Santa hats. Directed by Joe Dante and produced by Steven Spielberg, Gremlins somehow manages to be heartwarming, horrifying, and completely unhinged often in the same scene.

We dig into:

• Gizmo: how Spielberg saved our little furry hero

• The gremlin rulebook (Erik breaks down timezones and liquids.)

• That infamous chimney/Santa monologue and how it traumatized a generation

• Why Gremlins helped create the PG-13 rating

• Small-town Americana vs. full-scale creature chaos

• And how this movie still feels dangerous in a way modern studio films rarely do

From barroom mayhem to movie-theater mania, Gremlins is a Christmas movie that actively wants to ruin Christmas, and we love it for that.

So pour some eggnog, lock up your mogwai, and join us as we celebrate the holiday classic that proved the '80s were absolutely feral.

Happy Holidays from Midnight Cinema! And remember, follow the rules! 

And if you make it out of Dotty's bare without getting your mogwai wet come hang with us for more late-night deep dives into cult classics, holiday oddities, and all the wonderfully unhinged cinema we adore at midnightcinemapod.com

Be sure to follow and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! 

And come hang with us on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube for clips, chaos, behind-the-scenes shenanigans, and the occasional message scrawled in green goo by someone who definitely broke the rules. and the occasional message scrawled in green goo by someone who definitely broke the rules.

Gas up the snowmobiles, staple your Advent calendar shut, grab the gingerbread cookies and please study the safety instructions! We're heading to Finland.

This week on Midnight Cinema, Art and Erik travel deep into the frozen wilderness to unwrap one of the most wickedly original Christmas movies ever made: Jalmari Helander's Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale.

Forget everything you think you know about Santa Claus. This isn't a jolly old man squeezing down chimneys — this is ancient folklore, buried alive beneath the Arctic ice, waiting to be unearthed by corporate greed, dynamite, and very bad decisions. Naughty lists are enforced. Elves are feral old men. And Christmas cheer comes with a body count. Even the reindeer aren't safe.

Set in a remote Finnish village near the mythical Korvatunturi mountains, Rare Exports blends dark comedy, creature-feature thrills, and icy suspense into a holiday horror experience unlike anything else. It's equal parts mythological nightmare, pitch-black satire, and winter survival film. And somehow still finds room for warmth, wonder, and a surprisingly heartfelt coming-of-age story.

In this episode, we dig into:

• Santa Claus as ancient monster, capitalist commodity, and cultural myth

• Why Rare Exports works as horror, comedy, and Christmas movie

• The film's immaculate tone: deadpan humor, dread, and escalating chaos

• Does this film have a place as a modern holiday cult classic

So zip up your parka, mind your manners, and keep your children close. Because in Rare Exports, Santa is watching and his elves are everywhere! 

Merry Christmas from Midnight Cinema! And remember: behave! 

And if you make it through the long Finnish night without being dragged into the tundra by feral elves, audited by an ancient Santa, or sealed in a crate marked "Rare Exports," come hang with us for more late-night deep dives into cult classics, holiday oddities, and all the wonderfully unhinged cinema we adore at midnightcinemapod.com

Be sure to follow and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! We promise, there's no Arctic survival gear required.

And come hang with us on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube for clips, chaos, behind-the-scenes shenanigans, and the occasional message quietly slipped under the door by someone who knows whether you've been naughty or nice.

Ho-ho-hold onto your helmets! This week, Art and Erik blast off into one of the most delightfully bizarre holiday oddities ever projected onto a screen: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians—the children's matinee fever dream that boldly asked, "What if Mars just really needed Santa?"

This 1964 movie answers crucial questions like:

• What if Martian kids binge-watched too much Earth TV and got sad?
• What if Mars solved its depression problem by… kidnapping Santa?
• What is this terrifying creature called Torg?
• How cute can a polar bear attack actually get?
• And how many puns can one movie jam into a toy workshop before OSHA steps in?

We break down:

Santa & Mrs. Claus — Where do they rank in the cinematic Christmas Pantheon?

Martian culture: Sleep Spray for the children, cattle prods for the adults and food pills for everybody!

ChoChem:  The ancient sage who is performing like his life depended on it!

Torg:  Villain? Pet? Misunderstood gentle giant? Cardboard?

Voldar  The only guy taking this plot seriously, and his mustache is with him every step of the way!

1960s sci-fi ambition  Shot with the confidence of a blockbuster and the budget of a PTA bake sale.

Plus: Set Designs from community theater, Pia Zadora before she was known as Pia Zadora, how to stage a climactic action scene with 25 cents left in the budget, and actors doing their best to save film by saving mistakes in the moment!

It's a wild ride, so join us on Spaceship One! Kimar and Droppo are waiting!

If you make it back from Mars without being bonked by Torg, zapped by a malfunctioning Martian headpiece, or force-fed space vitamins by Momar, come hang with us for more late-night deep dives into cult classics, holiday oddities, and all the wonderfully wobbly cinema we adore at

midnightcinemapod.com

Be sure to follow and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! No interplanetary travel required.

And come hang with us on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube for clips, chaos and  for clips, chaos, behind-the-scenes shenanigans, and the occasional message beamed directly from Santa's workshop on Mars. 

Robots and Angels and Bears, Oh My! 

Get the Christmas cookies in the oven, finish your letter to Santa, and whatever you do, don't let the fire go out! Hop in the Hummer because Midnight Cinema is celebrating the holidays with the Engel family! And you're invited! 

Art and Erik are facing down the shadow of Saint Nicholas as they lead you through the snowbound fun that is Michael Dougherty's 2015 holiday horror comedy Krampus! 

We're opening every present and examining every demonic toy of this Christmas-set modern classic. 

• The spectacular opening scene skewering holiday consumerism

• Adam Scott and Toni Collette and the great cast.

• The terrifying (and somehow adorable?) Gingerbread Men with nail guns

• Killer toys: the Jack-in-the-Box from hell, the Angel creature, the teddy bear attack and the stabby robot.

• Erik and a special guest fill us in on Austrian holiday cookies! 

• Aunt Dorothy's one-liners and why she's the MVP of the movie

• The lore behind the real European Krampus and how Dougherty updates it

• That unforgettable, bleak, twisty ending—interpretation theories included

• Snowmen, Evil Elves, WTF Reindeer and what is under the the snow?

By the end, Art and Erik decide whether Krampus is a lump of coal… or a perfect spiked-egg-nog of festive fright.

Spoiler: We're keeping the fire stoked.

If you survive Krampus' naughty-list inspection, come have some hot chocolate and hange out with us with us for more late-night deep dives into cult classics, horror oddities, and the cinematic weirdness we love at midnightcinemapod.com

Be sure to follow and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen!

And come hang with us on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube for clips, updates, chaos, and questionable Christmas behavior.

Grab your baby monitor, oil up the chainsaw, and for the love of all that is holy stay away from the tree line because this week Art and Erik are diving head-first into William Friedkin's The Guardian, the 1990 "Wait… Friedkin made THIS?" supernatural horror oddity.

That's right: the director of The Exorcist, The French Connection, Sorcerer, and To Live and Die in L.A. decided to go full druid-nanny-tree-monster—and we're here to lovingly pick through every branch, twig, and inexplicable creative decision.

From mystical kidnappings to nature-worshipping erotica to questionable Nanny Agency advertisements. 

We get into the production history and how Friedkin - Oscar-winning, stone-cold legend -ended up making a druid-tree-monster movie that somehow feels like both an expensive studio horror film and a fever dream from a forgotten VHS rental shelf.

 If you escape the enchanted forest with all your limbs intact, come hang with us for more late-night deep dives into cult classics, horror oddities, and the cinematic weirdness we love at midnightcinemapod.com

Be sure to follow and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen!

And come hang with us on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube for clips, chaos, and behind-the-scenes fun.