This week we're all "abuzz" to start on a new franchise. We're dipping our toes back into classic horror with 1958's science fiction / horror tale of experimentation gone amuck with THE FLY. This is the film that made Vincent Price a horror icon (even though he's in a supporting role) and contains marvelous special effects, a fantastic creature reveal, and one of the most disturbing finales ever in a horror movie. This week Mike, Brian, and Nicole are joined by Shawn Murphy from the Men Who Like Men Who Like Movies podcast to talk B-movies, the ethical dilemmas in science research The Fly raises, how the film reflects the status of disabled persons during this time and why those last five minutes still pack a nightmarish wallop. 

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Our last batch of film coverage from Fantasia, plus an interview with Adams family directing team on their new feature Hell Hole. premiering on Shudder August 23rd.  

This week we start a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of a franchise where found footage and anthologies are smashed together into one horrific format. Mike, Rachel, Stephen and special guest Tucker (Disenfranchised podcast) talk about of of the grimiest series we've covered to date as we tackle  V/H/S/. Now six entries (and two spinoffs) deep, this started out as a showcase for some of horror's up-and-coming directors to show their stuff in short form. The first entry alone features Ti West (X, Pearl, Maxxxine), Adam Wingard (Godzilla vs Kong), David Bruckner (Hellraiser), and Radio Silence (Scream VI, Abigail). The results can be uneven, but when they work V/H/S can be a hell of a lot of fun. Also, is this the most dirtbag of all the franchises? We discuss. 

This week the gang is infiltrated by the Illuminati to tell you there's nothing to see here except perhaps one of the most understood slasher sequels of all time. Is this maligned, underseen, box-office bomb starring pre-stardom Rene Zellweger and Matthew Mcconaughey secretly brilliant? Listen now and find out 

Mike and Jessica are joined by Andrew Fabry of The Dead Letter Movie podcast to talk Leatherface, the third entry in the Chainsaw series and the first of two movies with that title. As the 80s closed and the box office fortunes of Freddy and Jason began to taper off, New Line Cinema needed a new hit franchise. Picking the bones of Cannon films, they thought they'd have a name brand icon that they could release a string of hit horror movies on. Were they right? Well, sort of since they keep making these things. This time out we talk how studio interference and an out flor blood MPAA cut this one out at the knees before it could even get up and running. 

How do you follow up one of the scariest, most unnerving movies of all time? By making a straight up comedy of course! This week, Mike and Stephen take a long look at a movie that was a decade plus in the making. From diving into the behind the scenes troubles that nearly torpedoed the movie, rating Stretch as a final girl, trying to determine just how much blow Dennis Hopper was on during filming, to examining why this one works, even if its a dramatic shift in tone and tenor. Spoiler: IT'S ALL IN THE MEAT. 

The second half of our discussion gets to the good stuff. We talk about the most iconic introduction of a horror villain ever committed to the big screen, the insanity of the dinner party, have it out over Franklin, discuss the social, economic, and political factors that influenced the making of this movie and examine its legacy. With guests Brian Keiper, Devaughn Taylor and Nichole Goble. If you haven't already, go back and check out part one. 

This week we kick off a brand new franchise with the greatest horror movie of all time, Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This episode promises to be a massive one, and we've broken our talk down into multiple parts. For part one, we talk about the confluence of events that went into Hooper and writer Kim Henkel's script, the absolute hell it was to make this movie, where Hooper ranks amongst the masters of horror and start breaking down some of the iconic moments of the movie. Mike is joined by regulars Devaughn Taylor (The Bloody Blunts Cinema Club), Brian Keiper (Movies For Life), and guest Nichole Goble (Bodies of Horror) to talk Leatherface and family. We also ask, "Is Franklin as bad as we all say he is?" (Mike says hell yes). We'll be back with another massive installment and the second half of our talk soon. 

This is the bonus show Mike has wanted to record for a long time. This week, Jessica Scott comes on to talk about her love for 1999's dark comedy and cult classic Jawbreaker, a movie about some real mean girls that aren't above covering up a murder or two. After that Mike talks about the might Jawbreaker-the three piece punk/emo stalwarts from the East Bay. It's Mike's all time favorite band and while it might not be an in depth critical examination of their music, it certainly gets him right in the feels. 

We bring you the second half of our dive into 2022's SCREAM. This week we look at how the legacy characters fare, why this is Dewey's movie, explore the nature of fandom, talk about what we want next, and ask what the hell a requel is anyways?

This week we FINALLY get to sit down and talk about one of our favorite movies of the year, the fifth installment of the SCREAM series. It's a massive talk so we broke it into two pieces. This week Mike, Rachel and Stephen are joined by shoe designer and pop culture writer Andrew LaSane. Part one delves into the making of the movie, how the new crop of characters stack up and the elevated violence and gore in this entry. 

This week we wrap up our latest franchise with one of the most controversial movies we've ever covered. The Child's Play remake had longtime fans of the series up in arms as the movie and characters were ripped from series creator Don Mancini in an attempt by United Artists to cash in on the Child's Play IP. This seemed to doom the reboot from the start, as horror fans wanted little to do with s Chucky that didn't feature Mancini in a creative role, or Brad Douriff as Chucky's voice. Even casting Luke Skywalker himself as the voice of the killer doll did little to appease fans. 

Controversy aside, how does the movie fare on its own merits? What do we think of Chucky as an Alexa gone bad versus the product of a voodoo spell? What do we think of the over the top gore and kills? Would this movie have its stans if it was just about a killer robot that only wanted to be loved? Mike can't handle these questions on his own, so this week we have our first crossover episode with our friends Stephen and Brett from the DISENFRANCHISED podcast to talk about all this and more. 

Rate, subscribe and review Disenfranchised over on Apple Podcasts: link

This week the crew talks about the last movie in Don Mancini's Child's Play franchise Cult of Chucky. We talk about Nica as the most tormented character in horror history, Mancini's original vision for putting Chucky on a train, how multiple Chuckys opened up whole new avenues for the series and how Seed feels like the middle chapter in a longer sage (now playing out on the series Chucky.)

Read Rachel's interview with Cult of Chucky composer Joseph LoDuca here 

We close out the Blade series with a wild one. Mike and Devaughn talk about a movie that has more going on behind the scenes than in front of the camera. We take our time to discuss and maybe even debunk the stories of improper behavior of series star Wesley Snipes on the set of Trinity, his animosity towards writer/director David S Goyer and costars Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel, how Patton Oswalt's off the cuff remarks became accepted truth, and Snipes legitimate frustrations as both an executive producer who felt ignored and the franchise star who felt the series being taken away from him. There's also a whole ass move it discuss, and, well it's not great. Yet it's not as bad as people who have you believe. With a stacked cast, including indie darling Parker Posey having the time of her life, decent action set pieces and sweaty one liners delivered by Mr. Reynolds, this one has more going on for it than we remembered, despite the presence of one of cinema's weakest portrayals of Dracula. We also speculate on the future of the series, and ask with everything being so up in the air, "Why not Snipes?" 

Reboot? Requel? Sequel? We're not sure but we do know we're back to talk about the time they made Chucky scary again. Mike is joined by regular panelists Jessica Scott & Devaughn Taylor along with special guest Justin Gerber (Halloweenies, The Losers' Club) to break down the 2013 slasher film Curse of Chucky. This one feels like a soft remake of the original film, yet Don Mancini retains the history of the franchise and manages to weave 25 years worth of lore into this single location chiller. We talk about what works, how Nica's disability is handled, and why having one creative team manage the series helps Childs Play maintain a level of consistency rarely found in multiple-entry slasher films. This was a fun one folks, so buckle down. 

This week Mike is joined by Brian Keiper as we talk the horror comedy delight  Seed of Chucky. 

This week guest Matt Donato (Certified Forgotten, Bloody Disgusting) joins  Mike, Stephen and Jessica to talk about the high point of the Child's Play series. The only thing better than one killer doll is two, especially when one is brought to life by the stunning Ms. Jennifer Tilly. This week we talk bad romance, queer horror and puppet sex and so much more. 

In this special bonus episode, Mike had the chance to sit down with the filmmaking quartet the Adams family. This husband and wife directing duo of Nick and Tobey Adams have made seven feature films along with their daughter Zelda, who co-writes and co-directs with them, and their daughter Lulu Adams who appears in their latest film, Hellbender. Currently streaming on Shudder, Hellbender tells the story of a daughter isolated from the world by her mother, lest she unleash the powerful and potentially destructive force that lies dormant within her.

The Adams discuss how lockdowns and COVID precautions influenced the cope of their film and how it also freed them to do almost anything they want. They also discussed composing the music together as a family, how they started making movies together in the first place, what horror influences them the most, and so much more.

Make sure to watch Hellbender, along with their previous film The Deeper You Dig, streaming on Shudder now. Follow them on twitter @adams_films. You can also stream their music on Spotify under the band name H6llb6nd6r.

This show is also appearing on the Psychoanalysis: A Horror Therapy Podcast feed. That's right, I double dipped. 

We're back with a new episode that asks the important question: would you buy a doll if that doll was a named Larry? That's right we're talking about Child's Play 3. This Rachel Reeves (@vinylgrrrl) swings by to discuss this underappreciated slasher movie from the early 90s. It's the one with the new Andy and it's the one that's set at military school. It earns the rare distinction of being a slasher movie that only kills male characters. We discuss whether or not child play gets enough love or if it gets overlooked as it is sandwiched between a fantastic sequel and perhaps the most popular entry in the series as a whole. Even if that's the case it is well worth any fan of the series time to check this one out as it has a lot of fun stuff to offer.

Mike & Devaughn have a brief talk about what's been on their plate lately. We talk Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, Kevin Can F Himself, Yellowjackets, what the best entry  of the Big Four is, and more. Mike comes off like an old man yelling at clouds when he talks about music. 

Sorry Jack. Chucky's back. This week we cover Child’s Play 2. This week we take a fond look back at the sequel to the hit 1988 slash movie and we ask why isn't this one as fondly remembered as other beloved sequels like Friday the 13th two or Halloween two? This 1990 slasher takes all the things we love about the original movie and builds on them including with a massive finale set in a toy factory that is full of gloopy special effects. We take a look at what it would be like to be a foster kid after such a traumatic event and extol the virtues of Brad Dourif's continued excellence as he grows in the role of everyone’s favorite killer doll. We also give a lot of love to Kyle who belongs right up there on the pantheon of beloved final girls as she is plucky and smart and an absolute badass.

We're joined by a very special guest from the Movies For Life podcast Michele Eggen as well as regular contributors Stephen Foxworthy (Disenfranchised podcast) and Devaughn Taylor (Bloody Blunts Cinema Club).  

Do you want to play?  This week we kick off a brand new franchise with a look back at the 1988 slasher film Child's Play. Chucky might be small in stature, but this pint sized horror was no joke-at least not in this first installment which plays the horror straight. Mike is joined by Rachel Reeves, Jessica Scott and Devaughn Taylor to talk about what makes this such a classic 80s horror and why it still continues on today. 

One thing that helps, having the series and character spearheaded by one person since its inception. We talk about Don Mancini's original idea for the character, what changed and how he adapted to make it work. We discuss Tom Holland's Hitchcockian flair from the director's seat, as well as Kevin Yager's MVP status in creating a true marvel in animatronics. 

It wouldn't be like us if we didn't get sidetracked so tune in for discussions on how "hobo horror" had a real moment in the 80s, traumatizing children's toys, and so much more. 

This week we bring you part two of our revisit of SCREAM, the 1996 slasher movie that gave the horror genre a shot in the arm. Ahead of this week's fifth installment, Mike and guests Elbe (grumpire.com) and Brian Keiper (Bloody Disgusting, Movies For Life pod) talk about what distinguishes Sydney from other final girls, reckon with the legacy of Randy and fanboy culture, what made Billy and Stu tick as murderers,  and talk about what we want out of the new movie. 

Ahead of the fifth installment, this week we go all the way back to the beginning and take another deep dive into the movie that gave the horror genre a serious shot in the arm in 1996. It's no secret that SCREAM is one of Mike's favorite movies and franchises, and he's never going to skip an opportunity to talk about it. Sometimes it's fun to go back and have a do-over.

This week he's joined by Brian Keiper (Movies for Life podcast, Bloody Disgusting) and Elbee (Grumpire.com) to talk about this slasher. We covered the making of the movie and behind the scenes drama fairly deeply during out first go round, so this time we focus on the characters. Is Randy due a revaluation in 2022? Where does Sydney rank among horror heroines? What do we make of the motivations of Billy and Stu? We also talk about Scream's place in horror and the movies that sprang up in the wake of its success. We give our predictions and what we'd love to see in Scream 5. Of course, no discussion of Scream would be complete without a discussion of Wes Craven, the man who helped define the direction of horror in three seperate decades. 

This week Mike, Devaughn & Steven are back to talk about BLADE II and the return of everyone's favorite vampire killer. Directed by Guillermo del Toro, it might be the perfect mix of horror and comic book heroics and offered the Spanish auteur his first bonafide hit in the United States. Our trio of hosts break down the troubled path the future Oscar winner traveled to land the movie, and how his encyclopedic knowledge of comic book lore and monsters helped elevate the second Blade during a time when X-Men and Spider-Man movies began raising expectations for what comic book movies could be. We talk about A LOT here, including what might be the worst piece of film criticism ever to enter the public sphere via Ain't It Cool News, why Blade is the asexual hero for our times, the continued bromance between Blade and Whistler, just how early 00s this movie is (if you know, you know) and marvel (no pun intended) at the massive step up in the action set pieces. So strap in, grab a stake, load up on some garlic and settle down for another supersized episode. 

After the success of Gremlins, a sequel seemed inevitable. Yet despite the massive box office success and pop culture impact of the first movie, it seemed like no one aside from the accounting department at Warner Brothers wanted to make the new thing. It took a lot of coaching, a massive upgrade in pay and the promise to let him do anything he wanted as long as Gizmo and gremlins were involved to get Joe Dante behind the camera for another go-round. 

The result? Perhaps the best middle finger to corporate movie making we’ve ever been blessed with. The New Batch takes everything we loved about the first movie, cranked the dial to eleven and added in heaping servings of critiques on consumerism and mass media. That the film was a minor disappointment at the box office doesn’t matter. In fact, Dante seemed to relish in the movie underperforming at the box office, as it proved his point there was no great need for more of these films. 

Over the years The New Batch has received a revaluation, with critics and fans lauding Dante’s subversive and cynical sense of humor. Gremlins 2 is the closest marriage of the classic Bugs Bunny cartoons with the gross-out terror of EC Comics. Adding Rick Baker to create the gremlin creatures for the second go-round allowed for a more diverse cast of critters imbued with their own personalities and idiosyncrasies that managed to improve on an already near-flawless movie monster. It’s a classic that just gets better with every viewing.

This week we’re joined by Kay Lynch. Kay is the director of the Salem Horror Festival, which just wrapped it’s fifth season with massive in-person and virtual programs. Also joining us is Rachel Reeves, co-host of The Losers’ Club podcast and writer whose bylines have appeared on Rue Morgue, Consequence of Sound, and Dread Central among others. 

We're back this week to wrap up our discussion of Joe Dante's GREMLINS. As we get deeper into the movie we talk how it nails seasonal depression and just how hard the holidays can be for some people. We also talk some of the complicated racial stereotypes that are played for laughs in this movie, how Randall Peltzer embodies the mediocre white dude, and the unbridled chaotic energy of the bar  and Snow White scenes. Brian Keiper of Movies for Life and Stephen Foxworthy of the Disenfranchised pod are back as guests. 

This movie is so massive we had to break our talk about it into two shows. Mike is joined by longtime friends of the pod Brian Keiper (Movies for Life podcast, Dread Central) and Stephen Foxworthy (Disenfranchised podcast) to talk about the 1984 horror comedy classic that thrilled and scarred children for life. We’re talking Gremlins.

For the first part of our discussion, we talk about how this movie got made, where 1984 ranks in terms of best years ever for a movie and why the children’s movies from this era still resonate nearly four decades later.  We break down whether Joe Dante is Martin Scorsese for the B-movie crowd and how Spielberg lent his magic touch to this one. We discuss the rules around the Mogwai and why that kitchen scene still scares the bejesus out of us today.

As we take a break in November to relax, retool and come back, we're releasing a bit of our patreon content so you still have new-to-you shows to listen to. In December, we'll be back with GREMLINS/GREMLINS 2

This week, we're releasing Mom & Dad from the vaults. This batshit crazy jam starring Nic Cage and Selma Blair finds parents actually doing what we've all wanted to do with our children at one point: murdering them stone cold dead. It's an absolute blast of a film, and one of Cage's top-shelf genre efforts. 

Please check out Petros' show Caged In, which covers the career and life of Nic Cage.

Please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe to our show wherever you enjoy your podcasts. 

It's time for our third annual dad and daughter Halloween bonus show. This year Mike's daughter Ada joins him to break down the most appropriate movie of the season, the 2007 anthology and instant classic Trick 'r Treat. Along with talking about the major themes of the movie, how it taps into the holiday and what makes each segment so special, the duo have a lot more on tap. For instance, Ada gives a very detailed plan on how she'd choose her victims if she were a serial killer and which of her friend's parents would be the most likely to suggest a group pact to have all the kids in their social circle murdered off. 

It's a fun episode, and our last original one for a month as we take a break to retool. Thanks to all our listeners and supporters for everything over the past two and a half years. 

It's time kids. Gather around the television. It's officially Halloween week which means our horror movie viewing habits are kicking into overdrive. If you're like us, sometimes it's easy to suffer from choice paralysis when there are so many great things to choose from this season. Mike and Lindsay unveil a handful of their go-to picks as the 31st draws closer. PLUS: What do you do when there is so much content to pick from across so many streaming platforms? Sometimes the greatest nightmare of all is all the doom-scrolling for hours on end but never actually choosing something to watch. Mike takes some time to break down what the most popular streaming services are offering across their Halloween Hubs. Mike breaks down the best offerings from Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Shudder, HBO Max, and Peacock when you need something to watch and watch right now. 

This week Mike and Lindsay dive into the genre films currently making the festival circuit that are sure to be on your most anticipated horror and genre titles in the coming year. We talk about what makes the festival experience so great for horror fans and dive into over a dozen titles (without getting too spoilery)  and what made them such fantastic watches. Titles covered include but aren't limited to: The Sadness, Agnes, Silent Night, Hellbender, When The Screaming Starts & more...

Plus, we address the future of the show and why we're taking a break in November...

We're continuing our "let's try some new stuff" this Halloween season, this time with an overview of the games you should be firing up if you're in the mood of scaring the bejesus out of yourself this Halloween season. Lindsay and Mike talk about what makes a great horror-themed game and talk about some of our favorites like Friday the 13th, Until Dawn, Alien: Isolation, Dead By Dawn, Bioshock, Alan Wake, Man of Medan and more. So fire up the console, stretch out those digits, load up on Mountain Dew and Bagel Bites and have your self a good old fashioned gaming night. 

We’ve gathered a list of some of our most anticipated and favorite horror comics to keep you cozy this Halloween season.

It’s Halloween season, my spooky friends, and the best time to curl up with a pumpkin spiced latte, thick socks, and a good book. And the best kind of book for the occasion: a spooky graphic one.

To get all your warm toes and spiced tongues in the spooky spirit, here’s a collection of my favorite new and anticipated upcoming spooky comics.

Beware the moon, listeners! This week, we're taking a break from the format and covering a one-off movie, and it just happens to be Mike's favorite horror movie of all time: John Landis' An American Werewolf in London. Lindsay needed to take the week off for TIFF, so Mike's brought on a pair of fantastic guests to fill her shoes, KiIll By Kill's Gena Radcliffe joins us to discuss how this movie turned her into a lifelong horror fan, and Daily Grindhouse's Jessica Scott is on board to talk about how much this movie has meant to her over the years. Long time listeners are in for a treat as Mike goes off on why Werewolf  is indirectly responsible for his marriage. 

We're back with the second half of our talk about 1998's BLADE. Jay Kreiger from the Genre Haze podcast is back with Mike and Devaughn to talk all things Daywalker. We talk about why Wesley Snipes was such an inspired choice to play the character and how he made it his own. On the other hand, the hero is only as good as the villain they go up against, and Stephen Dorff absolutely eats as Blade's adversary Deacon Frost. Wouldn't it have been great to keep Deacon around for a some sequels and buck the comic book movie trend of killing of the bad guy? Plus, we talk the Blade/Whistler chemistry, and how this hints at where actions movies will go in just a year when The Matrix hits the screen and goes even further with blending genres. It's time for some superheroics, so strap on your shades and best black trench coat, because it's all about BLADE. 

This week we're joined by Bloody Disgusting's Meag Navarro to talk about he latest entry to the Conjuring universe. We say goodbye to this series (for now at least) as Lindsay and Meg try to convince Mike how this one compares favorable to the first two. Mike has his doubts about that. Tackling the only documented case where "demonic possession" was used as a courtroom defense, this time around the Warren's are trying to hunt down the demonic forces possessing Arne Johnson, a young man that killed is landlord. Continuing the series' trend of setting up future spinoff movies, the third film sometimes feels like it's setting up its own Legion of Doom to do battle with the do-gooder Warrens. 

Hey listeners. We hope you enjoy this mini episode that highlights what we're offering our patrons. Right now, we've set a goal of $150 a month. Once we hit that goal, we'll be adding reviews of the most current fare hitting theaters, VOD & streaming services. We're about two-thirds of the way to that goal as we hit publish, and could use your help getting over the hump. 

All of our patrons receive access to a full length bonus show every month. To that end, here's an extended excerpt from our latest show, where we cover the bonkers Nic Cage / Selma Blair "parents out to murder their kids" jam, MOM & DAD. We're joined by Petras, host of the all things Nic Cage podcast, CAGED IN. 

To become a patron, head over to patreon.com/podandthependulum and sign up today. 

This week we welcome the the cohost of the long running horror podcast Kill By Kill, Patrick Hamilton to the show. We're in the home stretch of our Conjuring covering with a hell of a fun entry into the "teens trapped in a warped haunted house" subgenre of movie. This one tries to tie the spinoffs more directly to the main movies, and it does a pretty swell job of it. Does it feel like they're sometimes trying to throw too many potential spin off characters on screen at times? Sure. Does it mostly work? Hell yes. 

This week, Stephen Foxworthy of the Disenfranchised podcast joins us once again. This week we dive into the second character and third movie to spin off the Conjuring, with 2018's The Nun. With its gothic horror trappings, including gorgeous castles shot on location in Romania, this feels like an attempt to do Hammer Horror, minus all that pesky sexual undercurrent stuff percolating underneath. We talk about what works, how The Nun fits into the Conjuring series as a whole, and why Catholicism is ripe for horror storytelling in this entertaining AF episode. 

Fucking dolls man. 

This week Mike and Lindsay tackle the midpoint of the Conjuring movies, Annabelle Creation. David Sanberg's follow-up to his own hit, Light's Out, gets to step out of the shadows a bit with this haunted house tale that mostly works by putting kids in incredible danger, but at time suffers from bloat and repetition. Hear what else we have to say. 

This week we welcome special guest Mishna Wolff to talk about her new indie horror comedy, IFC's Werewolves Within) along with the second movie in the Conjuring-verse, 2016's THE CONJURING 2. This time Ed and Lorraine Warren hop over the pond to check on a pair of cheeky moppets who claim their house is being terrorized by a belligerent old man ghost. Are their more jump scare and spooky spookies to be had? This may be the height of the series, and we dive into exactly what makes this one work so well. 

We continue our trek through the Conjuring-verse with its first spinoff, and the first in a trilogy around that creepy-ass doll Annabelle. We're joined by Bodies of Horror host Nichole Goble to talk just why dolls are so freaky, what works in this so-so film, and what the scariest toys we ever had in childhood were. The scariest thing about this movie is just how good it is at churning out those box-office dollars, so someone out there finds her terrifying. 

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This week we kick off a new franchise with the closes thing to the Marvel-verse horror has offered since the Universal films of the 30s and 40s. We're exploring THE CONJURING, James Wan's supernatural chiller based on the "true" case files of Ed and Lorraine Warren. We explore what actually constitutes truth and how much it's okay to bend it to tell a great story. We're joined by DeVaughn Taylor of The Bloody Blunts Cinema Club podcast to discuss a film we all mostly enjoy. From creepy dolls like Annabelle to crafting a well-timed jump scare, Wan gets more right than wrong, even if he lionizes a pair of hucksters and charlatans. 

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Hey. We're back with another script reading of an unproduced horror script. This time our largest assembled cast yet tackles Carky Fukunaga's bug nuts second draft for Stephen King's IT. This one has it all, including baby eating. We had a blast recording this one, even if it goes off the rails by page 38. Enjoy. 

The players:

PENNYWISE Sloane Kay (@pierogiwitch)

Bill Denbrough Mike Snoonian (@mike_snoonian)

Richie Tozier Julian Gardner (@juliansgardner)

Beverly Marsh Nichole Goble (@NicholeInDC)

Eddie Kasbrak Molly Henery (@BloggingBanshee)

Ben Hanscomb Brian Keiper (@BrianDKeiper)

Mike Hanlon Katie Wallace

Stage Directors: Jim Rohner (@NolanFixesTeeth), Jessica Scott (@WeWhoWalkHere), Taffeta Vee (@TaffetaV)

Henry Bowers Devaughn Taylor (@_daddydisco)

Snatch Huggins, Patrick Hocksetter, Mrs. Marsh  Melissa Jurkowski (@gekpodcast)

Victor Criss Tifa (@chickapedia)

Greta, Zach Denbrough Katie Wallace

Georgie Denbrough, Mr. Marsh & Sharon Denbrough Jay Alary (@JuliusBarthlme)

Mrs Kasbrak & various Ryan Healy (@ryandanielhealy)

Chief Borton & various Stephen Foxworthy (@ChewyWalrus)

We're taking one last trip out to that cabin in the woods. This time we're not here for a getaway, a long weekend or a vacation. This time we've got to purge all the bad stuff out of our system. We've got to get back on the straight and narrow. This time we're here to talk about Fede Alvarez' over-the-top gore fest and extreme take on the deadites with EVIL DEAD. We're joined by Certified Forgotten's MATT DONATO to talk about why this might be the cream of the crop when it comes to the films remade* in the 2000s. 

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*Is it a remake? A sequel? A reimagining? A continuation? All of the above? 

It's bedtime for suckheads in the first part of our double episode on 1998's horror and superhero hybrid, BLADE. Wesley Snipes steps into a role he seemed born to play as the vampire killing "Daywalker" in an R-rated romp that owed just as much to martial arts and gun-fu films as it did comics. The end result was a smart, violent, over the top bloody thrill ride that was world's ahead of the campy histrionics that marked so much of the superhero fare that made its way into theaters at the time. The global success of BLADE made it possible to bring the X-Men to the silver screen just two years later and Sam Raimi's genre defining Spider-Man two years after that. 

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This episode Mike, Devaughn and guest Jay Krieger (from the Genre Haze podcast) breakdown the publication history of Marvel's premier vampire slayer, and discuss the vastly different state superhero films were in during the late 90s compared to the present day. Plus, we talk the early days of Marvel Studios and their attempts to crawl out of bankruptcy and get their comic book heroes off the funny book pages and onto the big screen. 

This episode we all hail to the king and sing the praises of Army of Darkness. The conclusion to the Evil Dead saga trilogy trades horror for high adventure and humor, and it does it with incredible flair. 

This week we're joined by Stephen Foxworthy, cohost of the Disenfranchised podcast, and Cat Scully, author of the YA illustrated novel Jennifer Strange (available here) to talk one liners, slapstick and boomsticks, and the joy of practical effects and puppetry. This is the one where Bruce Campbell solidifies himself as a genre legend with his wiseacre performance of Ash. 

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This week we've packed up and are heading back out to that cabin in the middle of the woods for Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn. We're joined by filmmaker Brad McHargue to tackle whether this is a sequel or remake, how the passage of time and experience allowed this to be a bigger and bolder experience and the role that Stephen King played yet again in helping Sam Raimi's young career. This is the movie where it feels like Bruce Campbell becomes the  knuckleheaded Ash we've come to know and love all these years later.  Plus, and this is very important, we get into an in-depth discussion on the difference between school lunches in America vs Canada. Riveting stuff as always. 

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Groovy. 

After a couple months tackling the extreme and often dank and depressing world of French horror, we needed a bit of a reprieve. We need a little bit of rest and relaxation. We need to get away from all the hustle and the bustle and the grind of the everyday world. So we’ve packed up a weekend travel kit, gotten behind the wheel of our old jalopy and are taking the back roads to a little cabin in the middle of the woods. What could possibly go wrong as we set out to break down the Evil Dead franchise?

The original 1981 remains a groundbreaking work of independent cinema that launched the careers of three childhood friends: Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell & Rob Tapert. Join us as we break down the behind the scenes struggles that it took to launch this video nasty into the world. Learn about the real life curse on the cabin it was filmed and why the filmmakers owe a debt of gratitude to Stephen King.

This week we're joined by J Blake Fichera, author of Scored to Dead & Scored to Death 2: Conversations with some of Horrors Greatest composers. 

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