Horror Movie Night

Trudging on through this wintry weather, it’s good to know that we’ve got a trio of burnt-up ghosts waiting at home keeping the place nice and toasty for us. This week, we’re snuggling up with the criminally underrated WE ARE STILL HERE (2015), which was released to genre fanfare and immediately forgotten about. It’s a great little film and we hope you like it as much as we do, else old Lassander Dagmar might come boil your brains in your silly little skull. It’s family time on this week’s episode of Horror Movie Night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If there’s one thing this show’s hosts love, it’s movies that really peel back the layers of what film schools is truly like. Case in point, 2000’s URBAN LEGEND: FINAL CUT, a tale in which a film professor decides to steal a student’s movie and kill everyone involved so he can have the prize money and not have to be a teacher anymore. Makes total sense, right? This sequel is possibly a hair more believable than the plot of Scream 2, but not by much. Luck for us, we’re very good at suspending our disbelief here on Horror Movie Night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A good chunk of us are probably buried under snow right now, so why not grab our skis and hit the slopes? While we’re at it, we might as well crank some obscure 80s Swedish hair metal but be careful - they rock so hard that their music sometimes causes avalanches! It should be fine… What’s worse is there’s a murderous group of Hills Have Eyes knockoffs chilling in the nearby factory and definitely not enough lighting on set to show the viewer who’s killing who. That’s 1985’s BLOOD TRACKS in a nutshell (we think - it was really dark) and we’re digging ourselves out of that fluffy white stuff this week; we may even shovel some snow! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Few horror tropes get our blood pumping quite like a little heavy metal and Satanic panic, so you must be wondering why it took us this long to get to THE GATE 2: THE TRESPASSERS (1990). Well, we don’t have a good answer for that, but we DO have a good reason for picking it now, and it has a lot to do with this baby turning 35 and our recent desire to celebrate such things on the show. Plus there’s a lot of demon poop in this one, which is objectively hilarious. So now we ask you, what would you wish for if you had summoned an 8” demon capable of making it come true (and then turn it into the aforementioned poop)… Quick suggestion, probably avoid getting your drunk dad his pilot job back right out of the gate… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our tradition of letting listeners vote on the first movie of the year for us has once again led to the most obvious choice: more kinder trauma! If you’re a millenial and weren’t homeschooled in the late 80s, you were scarred like the rest of us by the visual of Christopher Lloyd’s eyeballs falling out in the family favorite WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? (1988), and we’re here to remind you about it. Welcome to the new year, try not to get dropped in a vat of caustic, toon-killing chemicals, ok? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know what’s crazy? The fact that as of today, Willem Dafoe has now starred in not one, but TWO Nosferatu films. A24’s retelling is now playing in theaters and so we decided now would be a perfect time to discuss a perfect movie about Count Orlock, SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE (2000). You’ve got Dafoe as a vampire playing a vampire in a vampire silent film, and John Malkovich as the myopic director who doesn’t mind a little murder here and there as long as his movie gets made. Is this the most quotable vampire movie of all time? We’re here to argue that it is! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Check out Matt's new podcast "Christian Cringe" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gather round, kids - we’ve got a heartwarming story for you about a Christmas long ago (1990) in a magical place called “Houston” where a detective on a mission encounters an alien with an arm-mounted drain snake to create space heroin to take back to his planet. There is also a gang called the White Boys (really!) who dress like finance bros who want to get their hands on that sweet, sweet space heroin too. And as a bonus, the alien has a killer flying CD attack. It’s a lot to process, so sit back and let your uncles Matt, Scott and Kyle tell you all about DARK ANGEL, aka I COME IN PEACE! In the words of whoever greenlit this insane concept, “let it snow, let it snow, let it snow” and we don’t mean the stuff that falls from the sky when it’s cold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a Friday the 13th in December, so grab your Santa hat and hockey mask because we’re celebrating the holiday with one of the few remaining films from the franchise that hasn’t been covered yet, the 1984 classic FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER! Spoiler alert, it was not the actual final chapter, nor does it occur on a Friday - this is actually Sunday the 15th but really who’s counting? Time for some gratuitous “teen” nudity, Crispin Glover dancing, and some sweet, sweet Savini gore. Who’s ready to go skinny dipping in Crystal Lake? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

December is an month chock FULL of kindertrauma, so what better way to kick it off than get lost in the fever dream Disney classic THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS (1980)? The trailer seemed to pop up on every 80s-era live action Disney VHS and scarred an entire generation of kids who are now all grown up and doing podcasts… Plus it’s got Bette Davis in it! Kyle even went the extra mile and got the original sci-fi ending over to Matt and Scott so they could also enjoy how wild this film’s first cut was before the studio wimped out. Name a stray dog after a missing girl’s name backwards, it’s Horror Movie Night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imagine a new take on Frankenstein’s Monster, but instead of it being a human… it’s a dog. And instead of it being horror, it’s almost pure comedy. Congrats, you’ve successfully pitched MAN’S BEST FRIEND (1993) to a cigar-smoking movie exec hopped up on enough nose candy to greenlight it! This is a very strange movie, and could only have been created in that golden age of horror between the end of second-wave slashers in the early 90s before SCREAM revitalized the genre. They were really scraping for ideas, so a Cujo-meets-Robocop was just the ticket apparently. That said, this movie is an absolute blast… as long as you’ve got your rabies shot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Full Moon didn’t do a compilation called Short Movies For Short Monsters, we may never know, but if Chucky Band wants to get in on that IP, he has our number. And if he does come to his senses, we just know he’ll kick off his comp with 1993’s DOLLMAN VS. DEMONIC TOYS. Coming in at a diminutive 64 minute runtime, with at least half of the scenes pulled from DOLLMAN (1991), DEMONIC TOYS (1992) and BAD CHANNELS (1992), this is barely a feature film, but at least it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Get down on our level and see what a foot-high alien cop does when a foul-mouthed baby doll tries to have its way with his girlfriend (also one foot tall). It’s all very confusing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to deciding on titles, no killer yeti movie has ever gone quite as hard as 1974’s SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED. Come on, that’s bad ass, though the badassery more or less starts and ends at the title, leaving little imagination left for the actual movie it precedes. What follows is a lot of bad acting, a little bit of plot involving college students tracking down a yeti with their professor, and a final scene with more outdated racial stereotypes than you’ve seen all year (hopefully). This one is pure 70s schlock with a surprisingly famous song about popcorn tossed in for good measure. What else would you expect from us at this point? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For some people, Christmas season starts on November 1st, which is legitimately crazy but who are we to yuck Matt’s yum? In honor of the coziest time of year when family is never far, we get familiar with 1988’s guy-talks-to-mannequins classic PIN! This was first discussed in our Reddit Horror Club days, and it was high time it made an appearance on HMN. It’s got enough sleaze to keep even Kyle happy, and Scott went the extra mile and read the book it was adapted from for this episode, so prepare for a double dose of childhood trauma. It’s doctor’s orders! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Halloween, everybody! As in tradition at Horror Movie Night, we are discussing a kid-friendly horror movie with 2009’s incredible stop-motion CORALINE. Beyond the wonderful story and truly creepy Other Mother, the technical prowess on display throughout this movie is just untouchable. Is this a perfect spooky season offering for the whole family? Let’s use our button eyes to see! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s almost Halloween, and it’s been a while since we discussed a Michael Myers movie, so why not tackle 1981’s divisive sequel HALLOWEEN II? This fever dream (literally) of a slasher has some fun kills, Donald Pleasance doing the most, and the introduction of the head-scratching explanation that Laurie is actually Michael’s baby sister from the beginning of the first movie. We never really get to move past that in the rest of the Halloween franchise, so we might as well get into on this week’s episode. Also, look at how red the blood is in this one! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s finally happened… Scott’s lost his head and has run off with the Pickety Witch to SLEEPY HOLLOW (1999)! Celebrating 25 years of sort-of-kid-friendly head trauma, this delightful film is full of blood, humor, and a very problematic cast and director (not you, Christina Ricci, we still love you). Meet us at the Tree of the Dead and we’ll promise not to chew off your tongues when we smooch… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we found our fourth and once we call the corners, we’re gonna make ALL the boys love us! Kyle pulled a string or two and we had the great pleasure of discussing 1996’s THE CRAFT with none other than its writer, Peter Filardi! Listen to hear what Peter’s original ending for the film was, as well as learn about what he and Kyle have been working together on recently. It’s a real October surprise this week on Horror Movie Night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s finally October, the best month of the year! How are we kicking things off, by watching a lot of gun violence, of course! That’s right, we’re discussing 2014’s THE GUEST, which is the most Cannon Films movie that wasn’t actually made by Cannon Films. Sure, there’s a lot of guns, but there’s also a huge Halloween 3 nod in the final act so it definitely qualifies as HMN fodder. Welcome to spooky season, never trust Dan Stevens with your Fireball. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rounding out Listener Submitted Month is an infamous piece of British television history that was almost lost to time until some kind souls brought Mr. Pipes' broadcast seance back from the bin and released 1992’s BBC switcharoo GHOSTWATCH once more! Your always-studious hosts take you through the planning and execution of television’s greatest illusion (sorry David Copperfield), explaining why this tv movie takes the gold when it came to suspending disbelief upon its original airing. Prepare your best Cockney accent as we travel to foggy Londontown on this week’s episode, guv’ner! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re heating things up this Listener Submitted Month with a sexy slice of succubus - the absolute nuts NIGHT ANGEL (1990)! When Lilith is awoken from her millenia-long dirt nap, her first inclination is to get her freak on… and then make the cover of the most popular fashion mag in LA. Thus begins her reign of sticky terror and even baby-faced Doug Jones isn’t safe from her horniness. Prepare to be fearoused this week on Horror Movie Night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listener Submitted Month continues with some delightfully weird giant bug horror, 1987’s confusingly-titled BLUE MONKEY! If you’re in the mood for mantis kills and hapless entomologists, this one’s for you. It’s also got a group of sick children that really help move the plot along, for better or worse. Get sick with us on this week’s episode of Horror Movie Night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Beetlejuice Beetlejuice now out in theaters we thought it'd be fun to re-release our episode on Beetlejuice from way back on Episode 200! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s September so you know what that means… Well, maybe you don’t, so let us just go ahead and tell you it’s LISTENER SUBMITTED MONTH YALL and we’re kicking it off with something truly ridiculous - 1982’s Roger Corman Alien ripoff FORBIDDEN WORLD! What better way to get the party started than to take our sexy spaceship to a sexy desert planet where we do sexy things with the sexy ladies while sexy space clarinet plays sexily? Oh, and everyone is getting eviscerated and/or turned into goop by a xenomorph from Temu. It’s all very sexy, you’ll see. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guilt dragging you down? Feeling a bit buried in the day to day? Dying to visit Paris? Then come along as we descend into the Catacombs in search of redemption with 2014’s AS ABOVE SO BELOW. While we don’t do a ton of found footage on the show, this one works more often than most of its peers, likely due to the fact that it had an actual script instead of a bunch of non-actors running around swearing at each other. It also has some great Hell imagery you might not expect from a low-budget FF entry. Let’s dig deep and face our demons together this week on Horror Movie Night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

School is back in session and boy does it suck! Our blood pressure is through the roof, do you know any way we could blow off some steam? Ok ok, enough vampire puns - we’re discussing Tommy Lee Wallace’s delightfully fun FRIGHT NIGHT PART II (1988) and just can’t believe how little love this movie gets. Hopefully our appreciation for it rubs off on you and resurrects your desire to give it another viewing. And if it doesn’t, well, guess we’ll have to eat these roses all ourselves… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kyle sits down with Colby Holt (Co-Director/Writer) and Sam Probst (Co-Director/Editor) of the recently released queer horror film Ganymede, available on VOD now. We talk about the real-life horror of anti-queer rhetoric, what being a married co-directing couple is like, and hosting a premiere party with drag queen legends among many other things. Ganymede: After a small-town wrestling star develops a crush on an openly gay classmate, he is stalked by a grotesque creature that invades his thoughts as he navigates his feelings and struggles to live up to his legacy-obsessed family. Ganymede is now available on VOD.Instagram: @ganymede_movie@colbysaycheeseplease@samprobst Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the eve of a new Alien sequel, we decide to check in on the franchise’s first financial bomb, 1992’s ALIEN3. Matt might have watched the nearly 2 hour theatrical cut, but Scott and Kyle went big with the “assembly cut” which comes out to a whopping 145 minute runtime and we can all safely say that neither had any reason for running longer than a tight 90. While this film is incredibly divisive amongst Alien fans, none of us have a xenodog in the fight, so we can be a bit more even-keeled in our review of a beautifully-shot but somewhat underwhelming scifi horror. Let’s get spaced! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ll admit, there are a lot of pointless and unnecessary remakes in the world. We will also admit that we’re not particularly fond of the zombie genre to begin with, but all that said, we can ALSO admit that Tom Savini’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1990) is pretty damn good! Beyond some of the specific changes made to the storyline, this seems like a pretty standard, run-of-the-mill remake. While it IS that, it’s also got a ton of interesting history to be discussed, which we dig into in this episode. Did you catch the gravedigging joke there? Just wanted to make sure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you know that there’s more lurking in the briny deep than killer fish, octopi and alien crustaceans? Sometimes, there’s also a seaside convent hiding demonic secrets and a lot of bad ADR, as exemplified by 1994’s DARK WATERS. In a turn of events which surprised no one, Scott picked this Lovecraftian nunsploitation fever dream, replete with odd dialogue, chum-eating weirdos and an incredibly convoluted storyline. All that to say, it’s perfect for the show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You could say we’re pretty thirsty this summer, seeing as how we can’t get enough water…based horror movies, that is! We’re heading back to the deep end with 1977’s cephalopod spree TENTACLES. Of the JAWS ripoffs, this one is pretty entertaining, and certainly brings its own panache to the screen while remaining a bit of a time capsule in a loving way. Hope you like hugs, because these eight slimy arms are ready to squeeze you tight! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the release of Twisters we decided to release our Patreon episode of the original movie that we recorded back in April at Creature Feature Weekend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you thought last week’s pick was grimy, strap in for this week as we clumsily navigate the incredibly socially tone-deaf ORPHAN (2009). Just to get this out of the way, this is objectively a very well-made movie, and both Vera Farmiga and Isabelle Fuhrman shine in their roles… but this is a very uncomfortable movie. The concept of a murderous adult orphan with proportional dwarfism and narcissistic psychopathy is a hard pill to swallow, and that doesn’t even brush the surface of the titular character’s, um, romantic proclivities (thankfully more implied than anything else but still). This movie is late-2000s horror to a bloody T so you just know we were squirming the whole time. Come join our family, why don’t you? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been a long time coming, but your aquatic explorers here at Horror Movie Night have uncovered a genetically-engineered prehistoric fish with freaking tentacles on its butt and it’s not too happy about being made by some horny scientist and his boss’s cheating wife (they were going to make a fortune off of this somehow, but get killed before they quite figure out how). Long story short, we’re talking about Lamberto Bava’s DEVIL FISH (1984), aka MONSTER SHARK, aka DEVOURING WAVES, aka MONSTER FROM THE RED OCEAN, aka SHARK: RED IN THE WATER. We don’t know why it needed so many names, but this goofy Italian sci-fi horror has so many twists that it’s more than a giant killer fish movie, bleeding into giallo and exploitation at times. It needs to be seen to be believed, but we still try our best to convey just how wild this one is! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We recorded this at Creature Feature Weekend LIVE with our friends at Camp Nightmare! I hope you have fun with it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are as shocked as you are that we've been at this for 9 years! Enjoy some clips from some of our favorite moments from Episodes 401-450 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tis the season for aquatic horror, but before we dive in headfirst, we need to dip our toes in on the edge of the beach… the BLOOD BEACH (1980). Is it a monster movie? Is it a cop procedural? Is the monster actually an alien dropped by a spaceship that you only get to see in the Japanese cut of the film?? We have more questions than answers on this one, but there’s a certain charm to its absurdity. Clam up, why dontcha, we’re trying to talk about movies here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back to back Italian horrors? Is this HMN becoming a group of cultured individuals? Well, let’s not go that far, it’s still Argento deep in his heavy metal horror era, but OPERA (1987) might just be his most well-executed film (pun very much intended). And you know, for a movie with a title evoking classical music, it’s almost entirely underscored by metal, which is kind of hilarious in its own right. This was a surprising treat to watch and discuss, so put on your coattails, we’re getting fancy this week on Horror Movie Night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This chat was recorded on April 20th at Creature Feature Weekend. Definitely check out Jordan's podcast Camp Nightmare! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kyle chats with filmmaker and festival programmer Paul Hibbard to rundown the films playing at Hysteria Fest, a three-day film festival in St. Louis, taking place June 27-30, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s time for some religious horror, which coincides with a guest who’s new graphic novel also sees humans fighting demons - what are the odds? We are joined by comedian, writer and all-around swell guy Jordan Morris for our discussion of the insane (not) Demons 3, Dario Argento and Michele Soavi’s THE CHURCH (1989). Beyond its amazingly strange plot and set pieces (even for Italian horror standards), this film also bears the distinction of destroying the relationship between Argento and Soavi. There’s also a sick fish monster that pops out of a bowl of holy water and eats some dude’s face. Jordan’s new book YOUTH GROUP drops this month and is the perfect second half of this week’s discussion - get your holies rollin' with the monastic men of Horror Movie Night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oh look, another Nessie knockoff - who could have ever expected Matt would continue his reign of terror upon his cohosts with more brachiosaurus monster movies? This week, it’s the 1977 headscratcher CRATER LAKE MONSTER, replete with a total of zero day-to-night transitions and a pair of bumbling alcoholics for both comedic relief AND dramatic impact. While it may be a bit much to say this one has to be seen to be believed, it really is a singularly odd film and therefore perfect for the show. Wanna rent one of the alcoholics' boats with us? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Deep space: where you’ll see a lot of purple stuff. Also a bunch of murder. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if the jock in Can’t Hardly Wait is out of his gourd on a spaceship killing people over a galaxy-destroying McGuffin, then look no further than SUPERNOVA (2000), which somehow also had James Spader, Angela Bassett and freaking Francis Ford Coppola attached to it, what? This absolute goose egg waste of $90 million has aged like milk and we’re here to make it into astronaut ice cream for you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on the podcast we go back to the start of the new millenium with one of the most iconic horror franchises of the last two decades. The fact that Final Destination is such a massive series makes it all the more confusing that the person who picked it this week did so because they had never seen it and was curious about it! So hide the steak knives, beware of train trains and consider driving instead of flying because this week we're watching Final Destination! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Why are you guys discussing The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018)?” ”Why not?” This pick definitely breaks the formula for our show, as it’s sort of a home invasion thriller and is less than a decade old, but with the new Strangers prequel is coming out this weekend, we decided it was worth taking a stab at. Thankfully, our assumptions were correct and this movie is due way more praise within the genre than it got upon release! While it starts out as your run-of-the-mill home invasion, it quickly ramps up into wild meta-slasher territory and the ride is definitely worth the price of admission. Come with us to the trailer park and get revenge on the weirdos who hacked up our aunt and uncle on this week’s episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Semi-obscure giant monster movie? Definitely a Matt pick. But THIS time, it’s Denmark’s one and only monster production, REPTILICUS (1961)! The Danes really thought they were going to usurp Japan with their miniatures tech, and the world looked on with something resembling interest at the proceedings. It’s a fun time capsule, and has a lot to love in it, but spoiler alert, it did not lead to a run on Danish-made kaiju movies with superior miniatures. At least we get some cutting-edge green slime wipes when Reptilicus sneezes on this week’s episode of Horror Movie Night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The weather is getting nicer so now is the perfect time to rip the sleeves off your safari shirts and yell “SUN’S OUT, GUNS OUT!” With that kind of brashness in mind, we go swimming in the sandy seas of the Sahara with Brendan Frasier and Rachel Weisz in 1999’s THE MUMMY. If this movie doesn’t get your bi panic going, you might just be a reanimated corpse who gets a charge out of puking beetles on your foes. However you get your jollies, your HMN hosts are here to keep your camels from spitting on you during this newest episode of Horror Movie Night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the Season 3 finale of Chucky airs tomorrow night we compiled all the previous episodes where we talked about the infamous killer doll! This Mega-Episode compiles: Episode 203: Child's Play 2 Episode 257: Child's Play 3 Episode 295: Bride of Chucky In Theaters Now: Child's Play (2019) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It can be hard to separate the artist from the art, especially when it comes to raging douchebags like Lovecraft, but it’s a lot easier when your trusted friend Stuart Gordon takes the helm and sails you into the choppy waters of human/cephalopod hybrids who want to bang their brothers. We dove into DAGON (2000) and thoroughly enjoyed the weirdness (which is also pretty faithful to the source material) while being realistic about how poorly the CGI has aged in this one. Hope you’re not a land lubber, because this week we need all hands on deck for another episode of Horror Movie Night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some movies are destined to not live up to their insane poster art… You would think a poster of a scantily-clad woman being attacked by a 5-foot bug would be a tough promise to deliver upon, but THE NEST (1988) gets surprisingly close and is a pretty solid little flick. It’s got silly characters, improbable situations, some humor and a TON of goop and gore, and we had a blast watching and discussing it this week! It’s time to exterminate your apprehension about a somewhat forgotten creature feature on another episode of Horror Movie Night! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices