The Really Awful Movies Podcast

Not a horror per se (however defined), A Perfect Getaway is a 2009 release that’s perhaps more of a thriller (but why quibble?) On this episode of the Podcast, a discussion of the David Twohy-directed flick. Twohy also responsible for GI Jane and The Chronicles of Riddick with Vin Diesel, and he acquits himself quite nicely as a horror/thriller director despite an action pedigree. In the film, we get a terrific cast: Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood/The Crazies), Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element/Resident Evil), Steve Zahn (Reality Bites) and Marvel and Cabin in the Woods’ Chris Hemsworth. They play different couples on vacation in Hawaii (ah, vacations…remember them?). They’re trekking about in the sublime islands, when word gets out about a murder perpetrated by a couple on a neighbouring island. Who did it? Zahn is a nerdy screenwriter, with Jovovich his square wife. They encounter a tough-talking military special forces guy (Olyphant) and his hippie girlfriend, and things take quite the turn. Join us!  

This week on the Really Awful Movies Podcast: Urban Legend. The inspiration for discussing the late 90s film is three-fold: One, the famous series of books by Professor Jan Harold Brunvand (The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings, The Choking Doberman, Encyclopedia of Urban Legends – these books were instrumental in getting one of the hosts of this podcast, into the world of mainstream publishing). Two, one of the protagonists of this film, played by Jared Leto, is a journalist, again, the profession of one of the co-hosts of this podcast… and Finally, three the setting: the Alma mater of one of the co-hosts of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, the University of Toronto, which is where this one is set. Join us for a discussion of Urban Legend, featuring an all-star cast (Tara Reid, Robert Englund, of Nightmare on Elm Street fame, the aforementioned Jared Leto, Joshua Jackson and more) and lots of 90s irony and silliness, but also a great concept around which to base a horror film.

This week, co-host Chris of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, ventures into the backwoods for some hicksploitation in the form of Wrong Turn. This effort from 2003, has spawned countless sequels for reasons that are a bit tough to justify. There’s even a 2021 version of the flick, internationally known as Wrong Turn: The Foundation. It’s really tough to keep track of all of these. The first one, follows a template that countless horrors have exploited: people with car trouble, who run into other people they shouldn’t, typically way off the beaten path. Desmond Harrington (best known for Dexter) plays a doc who’s running late, and who takes a short cut through West Virginia. Bad move. He barrels into a car that’s stuck in the middle of the road, left there because traps were set that flayed its tires. The groups come together (no doubt they should’ve exchanged insurance info) and try and hike their way to safety. And it’s much more challenging than it would appear. Join the podcast, and don’t forget to subscribe!

Two brothers and their significant others rent a sprawling seaside mansion, Air B’n’B-style. In this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, Dave Franco’s The Rental. In his directorial debut, Franco, who also co-wrote the script, casts wife Alison Brie (Community/Mad Men) in one of the leads. She plays Michelle, and her beau Charlie (Dan Stevens) is a startup superstar entrepreneur. Charlie’s brother (Jeremy Allen White from Shameless) is a bit of a loser with a criminal past, who feels like he isn’t good enough for his love, Mina (Sheila Vand). She’s also his bro’s business partner in the Bay Area. The trip gets off to a rocky start when Mina suspects the home’s caretaker of being an Islamophobe and all-around a-hole. However, the foursome has invested time and money in this weekend getaway, and figure it’s best to let things lie. Before too long, Mina and her boss get a bit too close for comfort when their partners pass out early. And that is when tensions really ratchet up. The Rental is pretty damn good as a directorial debut, with good characterizations and atmosphere, marred by a bit of a goofy antagonist. Still, sharp, surprising and with enough twists to more than warrant a recommendation. Join us on the latest episode of the show.

On this, the latest episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast: The Invitation and Doctor Sleep. There’s not some sort of hidden link between the two, but these are recent horrors (released within the last five years) that caused quite a stir in some circles, with outlets like the Village Voice saying this of the social convention horror The Invitation, “you won’t see a more shocking thriller all year.” Hmm, that’s high praise indeed, especially for a year that gave us The Witch, Green Room, and Bone Tomahawk (all of which we podcasted on Really Awful Movies – check out those episodes at your own volition). Still, there’s enough meat to warrant a discussion. Also on the podcast: Doctor Sleep. The de facto sequel to the indelible The Shining, it features Ewen McGregor as Danny Torrance, all grown up, but suffering from the aftereffects of his stint visiting the Overlook. You could say this is an easy movie to…overlook…especially if you have a set of expectations from the Kubrick epic. There’s something to this film, even if it comes up short. Tune in, folks!

In advance of St Patrick’s Day, a foray into Irish horror movies with Citadel, a psychological effort set in Glasgow Scotland. For this, there’s a terrific IMDb description: “an agoraphobic father teams up with a renegade priest to save his daughter from the clutches of a gang of twisted feral children who committed.” If you don’t find that enticing as a premise, you’re reading the wrong website! Astute viewers will notice similarities between the antagonists here, and those in David Cronenberg’s The Brood. This is one film that won’t do wonders for Glasgow Tourism! A bit of a shorter entry for this week’s podcast. We will be coming back strong next week, complete with both hosts, as we dive into different flavours of genre film.  

Oh, we are back with Seagal! It’s been a year or more since we covered a Steven Seagal movie on the show, thanks to a moratorium due to the crappiness of his output. Now, it’s lifted. And we are back, with General Commander. This one is a real doozy. CIA agents must avenge the death of one of their colleagues. So, lead by Jake (Seagal) they go rogue. And this takes the team through Southeast Asia, all to take out a badass Neapolitan Mafia goon. Pretty standard stuff. It’s an action flick, so you got choppers, warehouses, beat downs, dumb proclamations, and zingers. What else do you need?

The title says it all: Bats. In this animal attack flick from the late 1990s, La Bamba Lou Diamond Phillips stars as a small town Arizona sheriff called in to investigate a strange homicide. The coroner is befuddled during the post-mortem. A chiropterologist is on the case too, as the deaths are linked to the flying furry mammals. Soon, we find out there’s some sinister scientist up to no good that’s caused this mess to happen. Surprised? No? After all, this is a pretty popular cliché of the genre. Still, there are some decent enough performances in this. And it’s smarter than it appears, even if it’s not the greatest in terms of execution. Tune in!  

On this week’s podcast episode, perhaps the 7th most notable axe murderer horror film of all time, Edge of the Axe. Sure, this Michael Myers-visaged villain swings an axe, yet he remains far less well known than those maniacs in Silent Night, Deadly Night, Madman, Silent Night, Bloody Night and the granddaddy of all axe murderin’ movies, The Shining. Still, this Spanish / American co-production has its defenders (namely, us). Edge of the Axe is a rip-roaring good time, variously filmed in Big Bear, California, and Madrid Spain, with a bunch of townsfolk being picked off one by one by a figure cloaked in black and wearing a white mask. And the police are dumbfounded as to who could possibly be committing these heinous acts. This one was released near the very tail-end of the slasher boom, and it shows. It’s definitely quite unique and there’s a lot going for it, particularly the quirky characters, the strange Gothic Euro feel, and much more. Tune in!  

Ah, the City of Angels…La-La Land…Whatever you wanna call it, Los Angeles conjures up a lot of images in people’s minds, whether it’s Charles Bukowski, Hollywood movie stars, hair metal, smog, plastic surgery, the nascent gangsta rap scene of the 90s, urban sprawl/decay…and of course…Latino stereotypes! Angel Town is all about the latter two, and stars Olivier Gruner, real-life French kickboxer extraordinaire as Jacques, a would-be engineering grad student who finds himself experiencing the ultimate culture shock when he arrives to hit the books (and finds out he’s hitting more than that!) Lacking local campus student accommodation, Jacques has to go further afield, and on two feet to boot in a city not exactly known for its highly developed wonderful public transit. He eventually rents a room in the middle of the barrio/hood, and soon finds himself battling Chicano gangsters threatening his landlord and her family with uzis, firecrackers, knives, fists, you name it. Scary stuff! Luckily, Jacques is not your ordinary number crunching booksmart grad school nerd. He can spin kick with the best of them. Soon, he’s mopping the floor with a bunch of t-shirt wearing “ese” and “homes”-dropping ethnic stereotypes. And this Frenchman is not to be trifled with. The French haven’t kicked this much arse since Napoleon Bonaparte. Today on the podcast, a look at Angel Town, it’s debits and the film’s considerable charms. At least to us. You gotta love Gruner, eh? Given that this is an action film, there’s a crappy dojo, a tearjerker subplot, but of course at its heart, people getting punched and kicked in the face. What more could you ask for?

Mystifying, beguiling. These are just a few terms which could accurately use to describe the bonkers 1990s Italian horror, Night Killer. Directed by two giants of Italian crap cinema, Claudio Fragasso (Troll 2) and Bruno Mattei (Rats/Hell of the Living Dead/Shocking Dark) Night Killer features an antagonist who is a bit of a cross between the Toxic Avenger, Klaus Kinski’s Nosferatu and Freddy Kruger, with none of the charm or scariness of any of them. Quite a feat. The killer in question, who it should be pointed out, doesn’t kill at night, hunts down a bunch of dance students in a pathetic third-rate theatre. He also murders a woman in an aquarium for the sole purpose of her being there, and this being filmed in Virginia Beach. She seems to have been a complete afterthought. Much like the script. Or the plot. Or the mise en scene. Night Killer is really really bizarre stuff. But of course, it’s right up our alley as hosts of the Really Awful Movies Podcast. Be sure to subscribe, and pick up our books to support the show.

On this week’s episode of the podcast, BMX Bandits! This one has a VERY young Nicole Kidman (in her second role, but first major one) and is directed by friend of the site, director Brian Trenchard-Smith. In BMX Bandits, three kids happen upon some hidden walkie talkies/police scanners, stashed by some seedy bank robbers. Soon, the Bandits find themselves being chased on two fronts: by the thieves, but also by the cops, who need to get their hands on the devices as well. BMX Bandits is a silly joy ride, full of bike chases through Sydney Harbour. The dialogue is whip-smart, the villains suitably bumbling, and the direction, action-packed. Join us, and don’t forget to pick up a copy of our latest book, Mine’s Bigger than Yours! The 100 Wackiest Action Movies.

With the pandemic in the second wave, we figured we’d venture inside a location people are frequenting less and less of late: the grocery store. Intruder is a terrific 1989 slasher, and one of two movies we know about with such a setting (the other being, The Mist). Much like The Burning and Burnt Offerings it’s very very criminally underrated. We get the Raimi brothers, Ted and Sam, plus the iconic chin himself Bruce Campbell in a small role. But there are no small roles, only large chins. Intruder takes liberties with the conventional slasher format, and is incredibly fun and silly with loads of great kills. So many, in fact, we could’ve easily included some in the sequel to our book, Death by Umbrella! The 100 Weirdest Horror Movie Weapons (pick up a copy and support the show if you like what you are hearing). So…clean up in aisle six. Let’s do this, shall we? On this episode, the grocery store as a setting for horror, our experience writing about the grocery space in journalism, working in grocery, the Evil Dead films, red herrings, trick endings, and of course, lots and lots of gore.

Stone Cold Steve Austin stars in Recoil, a Canadian-lensed revenge action film. And to up the glowering ante, there’s also Danny Trejo as the chief antagonists. Somebody quick, flash a smile! Austin is Ryan, a Texas cop (what else?) whose family has been murdered in ostentatious fashion (basically, a shootout with five gang members bedecked in clown masks firing hundreds of rounds into a suburban home. Talk about overkill!). He tracks down the culprits, a North American biker gang stupidly called The Circle. They’re holed up in Washington State, because British Columbia is a cheap place to film bad action movies like this. There’s an almost-love interest, a crooked cop, some people who are the eyes and the ears of the gang (who seemingly run the whole show in the town of Hope, Washington), as well as some goofy explosions, one-liners, and scores to settle. You gotta love those scores. And when they’re settled. The WWE star Austin gets a chance to show off his brawn and ability to beat down bikers in this entertaining enough production. And there’s someone thrown through a plate glass window. Plus, an explosion where the protagonist walks away like a badass. Join us, subscribe to the Really Awful Movies podcast, and don’t forget to grab a copy of our book about bizarro action movies, Mine’s Bigger Than Yours! The 100 Wackiest Action Movies.

On this week’s episode of the podcast, CRAP OF THE WEEK! This is a recurring segment, a review of things one-half of the Really Awful Movies team has seen recently. On today’s show, Ghostkeeper, Rituals, Imposters and Bride of Re-Animator. Ghostkeeper is an 80s Canadian / Canuxploitation tax shelter movie based on the Wendigo legend. It’s about a group of snowmobilers who find themselves stranded in a sprawling, mountain lodge not unlike the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. Directed by James Makichuk, the creative force behind the awesome Hamilton and Toronto-lensed green energy (!) horror The Tower, Ghostkeeper has…a surfeit of the white stuff. This is one, snowy-ass movie. Canadian horror completists need to check it out. Also, Rituals. An oft-discussed film on the Really Awful Movies Podcast, this Hal Holbrook starrer is about bickering docs on a campaign trip in Northern Ontario. Go see it, it’s awesome. It’s tense and well written and a total Bechdel Test failure. On this episode, we deviate slightly and tackle a TV series on Netflix called Imposters. It’s about a trio of people who find one another after being swindled by the same woman, a femme fatale-type named Maddy (who has various aliases, natch). They eventually become embroiled in the scam-artist lifestyle themselves. Lastly, a revisiting of Bride of Re-Animator, an Amazon Prime watch which sees Dr. Herbert West back to his body-robbing shenanigans. Join us, and subscribe to the podcast!      

On today’s episode of the podcast, Happy Death Day! It’s a mix between Groundhog Day, D.O.A. and Scream, leaning heavily on the former, the Harold Ramis-directed undeniable classic. Is HDD a classic too, that can be mentioned in the same breath? Um, no, but for a Blumhouse production, it’s fairly watchable. On this episode of the podcast, “you load 16 tonnes, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt.” What do birthdays mean to you? Putting slasher flicks like this in the context of occasion-based horror flicks like April Fool’s Day, New Year’s Evil, Halloween, Silent Night, Deadly Night, etc, etc. Also, where does this fit into the Blumhouse catalogue? What’s up with that production studio anyway? How Christopher Landon sets up red herrings and his aesthetic approach to the story…Jessica Rothe’s performance, and much more! Tune into the Really Awful Movies Podcast and subscribe.

Christmas is around the corner. That means, for horror heads, Santa slashers! On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, all things holiday-related when it comes to horror. Christopher, one-half of the Really Awful Movies team, chronicles some of the more popular entries in the canon, from Christmas Evil to Santa’s Slay, All through the House, Night Train Murders, Rabid, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Silent Night, Bloody Night, and much more! Tune into the show, and don’t forget to pick up a copy of the books, Mine’s Bigger Than Yours! The 100 Wackiest Action Movies and Death by Umbrella! The 100 Weirdest Horror Movie Weapons. Both books make great Christmas gifts, and they have forwards by genre people we’re really fond of: Brian Trenchard-Smith and Lloyd Kaufman. Buy a few copies, and support the show (as we will never go cap-in-hand to our listeners with Patreon). Happy Holidays…have a very scary and merry Christmas.  

Their lives are literally hanging in the balance…from a chair lift. Frozen is a ski-themed horror that’s capably put together. A bunch of friends try and get in one more run (maybe courtesy of one of those ominous Black Diamond-designated hills that puts the fear of god into the authors of this site) and a staffing screw up results in the lift being shut down and them stranded amidst the icy coldness. On this episode of the podcast….Winter…is…here. And much of Canada is already blanketed by the stuff. Horror films set in winter are numerous, and there’s a cottage industry of Santa-related horrors like Silent Night, Deadly Night and Santa’s Slay. Frozen is a survivalist / animal attack hybrid that fails when it comes to the latter and eminently succeeds as the former. Anyway, stay warm, grab an extra blanket and enjoy the latest episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast!

JCVD! Jean Claude Van Damme is another focus once again on the podcast, one of our favorites. Here he is, portraying French Foreign Legion AWOL-er, Lyon. The flick has one of our favorite action movie themes: the furtive underground world of unsanctioned fisticuffs! Hardscrabble men gather under bridges, in dismal urban locales (and occasionally in squash courts!) to battle it out, pre-UFC. And all to earn an honest buck. If you define honest as under the table black market highly illegal and amoral activity. It’s like Fight Club, but with a Don King-esque fixer chick in a little black dress! Lionheart builds on Van Damme’s uber charisma, and truth be told, there’s not too much of a story arc to this. Still, there’s ass kicking aplenty. And that’s key, right? On this episode, discussion on who the best actor is among the one-named action superstars your Arnolds, Chuck Norrises, etc, etc. Join us! And don’t forget to pick up a copy of our action movie book, Mine’s Bigger Than Yours! The 100 Wackiest Action Movies. If you’re a fan of Cannon films, Steven Seagal, bizarre Philippines-lensed chop socky, you’ll love this tome!  

There’s only one Chuck Norris. And before Delta Force and Invasion USA (or for that matter, Good Guys Wear Black) there was A Force of One. Chuck plays Matt Logan here, a sensei who runs a dojo, and is of course, a champion kickboxer. Logan is hired on as a consultant when members of the San Diego Police Department end up dead, their windpipes cracked by practitioners of a certain deadly art. Three guesses as to which one. The lieutenant and coroner suspect that the cop-killer (or killers) are proficient in the deadliest of the deadly martial arts, in this case, karate, which was exploding in popularity thanks to the likes of Enter the Dragon and the Chuck Norris co-starrer, Way of the Dragon. And it’s up to Chuck as Logan to find out which end is up, and how detectives keep ending up in San Diego Bay as fish food. This one features an inane criminal drug syndicate subplot, and also b movie genre stalwarts like Clu Gulager (The Return of the Living Dead) and Jennifer O’Neill (Lucio Fulci’s The Psychic). And we can’t forget Super Fly himself, Ron O’Neal (no relation to Shaq…that we know of) portraying a sleazy on-the-take cop. Join us on this special edition of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, as we once again jump into the turgid waters of the action movie ocean. And for those who are interested in some of the nuttier offerings in the genre, be sure and check out Mine’s Bigger Than Yours! The 100 Wackiest Action Movies, which features a foreword by Ozploitation kingpin Brian Trenchard-Smith. The book spans 9 chapters, variously covering categories like Covert Ops, Kick Ass Women, Dystopian Action and much more, but also spanning the globe, featuring many a Filipino-lensed Rambo knock-off. If we do say so ourselves, it makes a mighty fine Christmas gift.  

Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight, sounds much like the golden-era (though not necessarily golden in quality) Don’t Go in the Woods! There are a bunch of camp counsellors a la Friday the 13th, and a bunch of nubiles being hunted down by some mysterious entity, though in this one, a bit of a supernatural deus ex machina. And it should be noted that Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight that is a Polish horror film, a region of Europe that unlike Italy or France, is not exactly known for having a well-developed horror scene (that we know of. Maybe there is?) On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, join us in the deep dark woods of Western Europe, and see what’s up with this flick, available for viewing on Netflix.  

On this week’s episode of the podcast, a new book for action movie enthusiasts: Mine’s Bigger Than Yours! The 100 Wackiest Action Movies. If you’re a fan of any of the following…Steven Seagal, Cannon Films, Chuck Norris, JCVD, Reb Brown, Brian Bosworth or the films Miami Connection, Dangerous Men, Road House or Gymkata, we have a Christmas gift for you. On this episode of the podcast, how we came to our love of terrible action movies, genre clichés like the inevitable abandoned warehouse shoot-em-up, why goons always attack one at a time instead of all at once, and how it is that Cameron Mitchell seems to appear in so many of these crappy efforts. Also, how we came to work with Brian Trenchard-Smith, the Aussie director who wrote our book foreword and directed Strike of the Panther; the glacial, barrel-shaped Steven Seagal and his direct-to-video Euro-oeuvre and how it influenced this tome; and the Golden Era of the muscle-bound taciturn action hero. Finally, we explore less-than-stellar super hero movies, and how the genre has come to particular prominence now, courtesy The Avengers, but how back in the day…all people had at multiplexes was the dismal Pumaman, but also a made-for-TV pile of dung Captain America II: Death Too Soon. Grab your bandolier, your hunting knife, another pal (especially if you’re a cop as you need a cop buddy for many of these movies) and get ready for an incredibly restorative action movie training montage as you go head-to-head with an international heroin dealer holed up on an island. With choppers. And machine guns. The book is available in physical retailers November 18, in the United States, Canada, the UK, and Australia (that we know of. Much like the action genre, it probably spans the globe with a particular presence in The Philippines for all we know).      

Lucio Fulci’s Zombie, aka Zombi 2 (and a whole whack of other things) is a 1979 Italian zombie film adapted from an original screenplay by Dardano Sacchetti to serve as some kind of sequel to George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978), though it strays pretty far from that source material. Zombie stars Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, and Richard Johnson, and features a score by frequent Fulci collaborator and dynamite horror scorer Fabio Frizzi. The film features a boat mysteriously abandoned and drifting around lower Manhattan. When NYPD tries to board, they’re met with a disgusting, desiccated undead thing. How that thing got there, is how McCulloch gets involved, portraying journalist Peter West. The vessel is registered to a guy traced back to the island of Matul, somewhere in the Caribbean. What was he doing there? What nefarious goings on were taking place? How did that gross creature end up in New York? These and a whole host of other questions are answered this week, as the Really Awful Movies Podcast takes you to Italian horror territory and this classic gut-muncher, Zombi 2.

Haunt is a 2019 American slasher film written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the writing duo behind A Quiet Place. It’s set in one of those haunted house Halloween attractions. And surprisingly, this is one of the better films set on Halloween, along with John Carpenter’s Halloween, House of 1,000 Corpses, Sinister, and Murder Party, which we podcasted not long ago. The premise: a bunch of college co-eds are out and about in small town Illinois, a bit like the Michael Myers classic. They’re bar-hopping, and after growing weary of it, hop in their vehicle in search of one of those spooky haunted houses. They drive up to what is not so much a house, but more of a haunted warehouse. And the doorman is a creepy clown, holding out two hands to choose their own adventure inside, in a way. Haunt is creepy as hell. There are two extraordinarily intense scenes, and it’s quiet, eschewing cheap jump scares. The performances are dynamite too, and there’s some nice backstory for the lead. In the podcast, contextualizing the Halloween haunted house experience, Tobe Hooper’s Funhouse, Hell Fest, and Toronto’s Casa Loma Halloween experience.

Sleep Tight aka Mientras duermes is a 2011 Spanish psychological thriller directed by REC director, Jaume Balagueró. REC is a handheld/found footage film that’s one of the best of its type, and Sleep Tight, while a different style of filmmaking, brings the chills as well. Cesar is a building concierge/superintendent tasked to do repairs, maintenance in a Barcelona building. And he’s consumed with one of the tenants, Clara, sending her gross texts and letters and even sneaking into her unit, making excuses for extra repairs that need to be done there. Sleep Tight is a, well…”tight” little horror film. There are a few definite surprises and the performances are top-notch. And the cast of characters in the building helps build atmosphere and intrigue, particularly the little girl who is on to Cesar. On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, maintenance man horror movies put in context, with references to the Val Kilmer vehicle, The Super, but also the slasher series, 13 Cameras. Also, the Spanish horror scene and how there was a period in North American where horror filmmakers dropped the ball, only to be picked up again abroad.  

Halloween is approaching. Here’s a bit of a twist: My Top 20 Favorite Horror Movies. What will appear on the list? There are just so many a seasoned viewer can possibly choose from. Will we see the likes of The Exorcist? That one really gets under the skin of Catholics and rightly so. What about Get Out? Jordan Peele is a real up and comer and someone to watch. Perhaps The Last House on the Left? A true exploitation classic. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? A low budget effort that continues to reverberate. Scanners? The Fly? A new term was coined just for Cronenberg’s oeuvre. What about Halloween, or perhaps Evil Dead? And you gotta figure George Romero has to be in here somewhere, right? Tune in and check out the latest episode of the podcast.

On this episode of the really Awful Movies Podcast, some more Jack the Ripper fodder! Today, it’s Murder by Decree. And we invite interested parties to check out our accompanying podcast we recorded while visiting London, Hands of the Ripper. This one is a fictionalized account of what it would’ve been like if Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigated the infamous Whitechapel murders back in 1888. And this is not too far-fetched a premise, as at least the novels were popular at the time. Christopher Plummer, that good ol’ Canadian icon stars as Holmes, with James Mason as Watson. And for more Canadian content, Donald Sutherland plays a psychic. The film was an early favorite of one of the hosts of the Really Awful Movies podcast, even if the film takes significant artistic license and deviates far off course from known Ripper facts. Still, a fun one. Listen!

Let’s just call Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile the Ted Bundy movie, k? What a mouthful of a title. But unlike other depraved lunatics, for some reason Lady Killer and The Campus Killer never stuck with Terrible Ted the way that similar monikers have to BTK, The Green River Killer, Jack the Ripper, etc. Any way you slice it (not a pun as that was not his MO) this falls into the sub genre of horror known as “serial killer drama”, into watch falls the likes of David Fincher’s Zodiac, Doctor Sleep, Se7en, and a few dozen others. And that’s excluding fictional serial killers or movies inspired by them (Psycho, for example). So, what’s this one all about? It stays true to conventional storytelling/narrative, and has a few eyebrow raising scenes, as well as eyebrow raisers in the credits (Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory as a prosecuting attorney? James Hetfield from Metallica as a cop?). On this episode of the Podcast, Ted Bundy, actors taking on challenging roles or going against type, David Fincher, the police and how they handled this case, the Bundy MO, and then at the end, a brief discussion about the Top 25 Horror Movies of All Time and where Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, would fit on that list. Tune in folks, and don’t forget…Holiday shopping season is here. We have authored two books together, including Death by Umbrella! The 100 Weirdest Horror Movie Weapons but also Mine’s Bigger Than Yours: the 100 Wackiest Action Movies. The latter is coming to stores in November, and the former is available through Amazon. Pick ’em up and support the show!

Our second TV series Really Awful Movies Podcast episode, after You. This episode focuses on the thrilling UK TV series, The Stranger, currently available on Netflix. This one is non-stop action, and all based on the tagline / premise that “we all have secrets.” And these secrets are being exploited by the title character, a woman in a ballcap and a track suit who appears to unsuspecting citizens, revealing an envelope full of damning information they would not want publicly disclosed. One such citizens is Adam Price, a partner in a law firm. The Stranger accosts the barrister at his son’s soccer game, providing numerous clues to what his wife has been up to, and her furtive dealings online. And that’s just the start. Soon, The Stranger’s target is a coffee shop proprietor, whose daughter is paying her way through university in a most unbecoming way. What’s The Stranger’s motivation? What’s behind the extortion/blackmail attempts? It’s up to the barrister to get to the bottom of it. The Stranger is 8 episodes of pure twists and turns. Subscribe to the podcast and check out the latest episode.

Look out, Sorority House Massacre, stand aside, Splatter University, watch out Graduation Day…you get the gist. Here comes Sorority Row, a middling remake of the underrated House on Sorority Row from the slasher Golden Era. Like the orginal, Sorority Row is propelled by an accidental death, one of those sorority / frat pranks that went a little too far. And someone has to pay! That means, the viewer has to sit through this slog. Actually, that’s a bit unfair. It’s not THAT bad. Bad, but not ungodly bad. On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, we are in remake territory again, not to mention accidental death territory too…back to back weeks with similar themes. Welcome back all those new and returning university students returning to (possibly) school during a pandemic. It’s all Greek to us. Be sure to sign up to the podcast, and get our latest episodes, uploaded Friday for your listening pleasure.

A remake of the 1982 video nasty ‘Unhinged,‘ which we podcasted in an earlier episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast. In this one, four best friends, young women, decide to take the back roads travelling to a wedding in the English countryside, much to their peril. Dah da dum! The foursome is off to enjoy fun and frivolity, but finds anything but at a local gas station, where a farm hand is giving them the stink eye and behaving in a way that’s all sorts of creepy. When he meets up with them on a deserted “short cut,” (don’t you just hate those?) later, all things go haywire and the girls put up quite the fight. This is NOT the new Russell Crowe thriller, people. This is a rebooting/reworking of a regional Pacific Northwest horror film that most people have no clue about. But c’mon, a bride, and shears a la The Burning? What’s not to like! This one is a doozy, dumb, but undeniably well acted for what it is, with a dynamite score to boot. So is Unhinged a revenge thriller a la The Last House on the Left? Is this a barely sober Oliver Reed wandering around a big sprawling creepy mansion in Burnt Offerings? Not quite, to both. Stay tuned for more fun genre films and subscribe to the podcast!

Directed by the team behind the reboot of Pet Sematary, Starry Eyes (Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer) is an ambitious fantasy horror offering about a young starlet and part time waitress at a tacky restaurant, who gets a big break in a role of a lifetime – provided she does something unseemly first. Set in LA, and featuring a bunch of Hollywood wannabes in competition with one another, there’s one among them whose drive and determination stands out: Sarah Walker (Alexandra Essoe). After Walker disappoints in a lead role for The Silver Scream, the young woman has a complete meltdown in the bathroom shortly thereafter, only to be spotted by one of the casting agents, who is so impressed by her psychological breakdown, she asks Walker to recreate it in a second audition (before meeting the film’s degenerate producer, a Harvey Weinstein-esque figure, at his mansion for the third). Starry Eyes has atmosphere and ambition to spare (appropriately). And Essoe in the lead is the driving force behind the interest in this one. Check it out, as it’s a solid effort and subscribe to the Really Awful Movies Podcast!    

On this week’s episode of the podcast, a short podcast for a short movie! The Slumber Party Massacre has a speedy run time of 76 minutes, a lean, mean stalk-and-slash machine. The plot isn’t actually Chinatown. It’s pretty straightforward. I mean, the title says it all, right? There’s a girls’ basketball team and they decide to throw a slumber party one night and to even invite one of the less popular girls. Unfortunately, there’s a power tool-wielding deviant interrupting the proceedings. Don’t you just hate it when that happens? The Slumber Party Massacre is one of those 80s horror gems. Join us this week on the podcast, and be sure to subscribe.    

This week on the podcast, Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral. Unlike most virus / outbreak / contagion films, where there’s a security breach at a lab and the virus gets loose, turning the populace into rampaging drooling creatures, the horror in Antiviral comes from a rogue employee who is smuggling out pathogens to sell on the black market. And the viruses in question are ones derived from celebrities, so that people can experience “biological communion” with them. As you might gather from the surname and subject matter, this one is an icky body horror effort, directed by David Cronenberg’s son, Brandon. It’s quiet, discomfiting, and claustrophobic with an austere bichromatic colour palette. The performances, especially by the very gaunt and captivating Caleb Landry Jones, are top-drawer. On this episode of the podcast, putting both Cronenberg’s work in context, and exploring interior/body horror in Crash, The Brood, Shivers, and Dead Ringers.

On this week’s episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, the underrated, quiet contagion/outbreak film, Containment. Though lost in what was a banner year for horror (The Witch, Bone Tomahawk, Tag, We Are Still Here) there’s enough to commend Containment to give it a watch five years later. The film is set in a dismal, concrete high rise housing complex in the Southern UK city of Southampton. Mark, wakes up to find he has been trapped in his apartment, and cannot get out. There is no electricity or water, and piped in through the intercom, a voice from the authorities to “please remain calm, the situation is under control,” this as figures in Hazmat suits roam around the grounds. And they have set up those MASH-type tents to deal with victims of an mysterious outbreak. Soon, the complex residents have to bandy together in order to survive, and find that kidnapping a member of the government forces doesn’t lead to the desired effect of finding out what the hell is going on. Director Neil Mcenery-West keeps everything…well…contained, and Containment is largely dialogue and character-driven, and he makes use of the setting quite well. How does it compare with others of its ilk? It’s hard to say, as the likes of Contagion and George A. Romero’s The Crazies are bigger, more sprawling products, while Mcenery-West keeps things focused on the small moments. In that respect, Containment is closer to the likes of Pontypool than Outbreak. As we emerge from the pandemic, pathogen movies seem to be all the rage on Amazon Prime (hell, The Rage itself is a fun virus movie too). Tune into the Really Awful Movies Podcast, with new episodes uploaded every Friday. And be sure to support the show by picking up a copy of our acclaimed book (foreword, Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman), Death by Umbrella! The 100 Weirdest Horror Movie Weapons.

On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, The Killing of a Sacred Deer. As you may gather, from the poster/marketing creative, this one is an ART FILM. So, caveat emptor…depending on your affinity for such things, in the horror realm, you’ll either dive right in or head for the hills for much more straightforward offerings (The Hills Have Eyes, perhaps?) Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman star as married doctors in a loveless marriage in a spacious house that could be a cover feature in Architectural Digest. They have an odd stilted relationship (or that could be the performances) with one another, as well as with their kids. The Farrell character, Dr. Murphy, begins to engage in furtive meetings with a young boy, Martin. What’s Martin up to, what are his motivations, what’s his deal? Well, The Killing of a Sacred Deer spends a lot of time letting the viewer consider all the options (too much, according to some). Soon, we find out that Martin’s dad was a victim of medical malpractice, the result of Dr. Murphy knocking back a few too many whiskeys before his surgery. Martin wants answers, and he wants them now. The rest of the film explains the hows and the whats of what take place, frequently off-putting, unsettling, silly, and illogical, yet impossible to casually dismiss outright. Sort of like the hosts of the podcast….sorta. Tune into the Really Awful Movies Podcast, and listen to new episodes of the show every Friday!

On this week’s episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, Stephen King’s The Mist. Much like John Carpenter’s The Fog, an inclement weather system has residents of a small Maine town perplexed. Residents witness a parade of military trucks heading into town, and soon they find the weather enveloping them all. A few of the townsfolk end up hunkering down in a local grocery store, and soon are at one another’s throats as to what to do. This is compounded by their being under attack by creatures hiding in the mist. One of the better Stephen King adaptations, this one was directed by Frank Darabont, a veteran of classics like The Shawshank Redemption. He clearly knows his King and this one is somewhat inspired by Night of the Living Dead, as well as Alien. Tune into the podcast, new episodes of which are uploaded every Friday!  

This week on the Really Awful Movies Podcast, a solo effort! This is a first (and probably a last, but you never know). On this episode, an underwhelming flick that had a lot of promise and a lot of potential – Pathology. Forensic pathologist residents are doing their rounds. Or is it interns? Always get those two confused. Anyway, they are a boisterous, hard-parting group….and utterly lacking in scruples/morality. The team starts to get talking about committing the perfect murder, and try to test one another’s abilities by actually going through with the killings and testing their classmates. Quite a premise, eh? It’s a pretty great idea for a flick, and the performances are pretty good too. Milo Ventimiglia is the lead, and Alyssa Milano is the girlfriend. Enjoy, and don’t forget to subscribe to the Really Awful Movies Podcast.  

This week on the podcast, another foray into one of our favorite horror sub-genres, Italian horror! The Wax Mask is an olive branch of sorts, extended from one rival to another, Dario Argento to Lucio Fulci, towering giants of Italian horror. The latter was in ill health, so Argento along with long-time Fulci collaborator/effects guru Sergio Stivaletti executed this one for him. A re-imagining of Vincent Price’s horror-thriller House of Wax from 1953, this one also features another evil wax museum curator up to no good in what’s supposed to be Belle Epoque Paris (filmed in Rome). Released in 1997 (Severin released a pristine blu-ray edition of The Wax Mask with a bunch of cool special features). A john from a local brothel turns up dead, not an unusual occurrence in 1900s Paris, but here his cause of death is fright and he turns up belly up in the local wax museum. A journalist, Andrea, begins investigating and poking around the institution to see what’s up. On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, we talk about how we got into Italian horror, how Lucio Fulci worked in different sub-genres, the differences stylistically between Argento and Fulci, the films that scared us as kids, wax museums in Niagara Falls, London and Berlin, and much, much more. Take a listen and subscribe to the podcast, where we focus on genre films of all stripes, particularly horror and action movies.

On this episode of the Really Awful Movies podcast, the directorial debut of Neil Marshall (The Descent) and what a debut it is! Dog Soldiers. Six British soldiers are carrying out a training mission in the wilds of Scotland, and they come across a Special Forces Op with severe gashes to his torso. What could have befallen him? The crew, under the watch of one Sergeant Wells (the outstanding Sean Pertwee) soon finds itself having to deal with what’s lurking in the deep, dark woods. They band together, and with the help of another Highlands denizen, beat back their adversary. Character driven and action packed, Dog Soldiers is an exemplary genre bender that’s really well executed. Join us, and subscribe to the podcast.  

This week on the Really Awful Movies Podcast, the film that launched a somewhat inexplicably popular franchise, kinda like Subway Restaurants…Final Destination! Hey, that’s not quite a slight…every now and then, a meatball sub hits the spot, right? A bunch of kids are boarding a plane for France (or, pre-boarding, the phrase that really irked the late, great George Carlin). One member of the class has a premonition, wigs out, and demands to get off the aircraft causing quite a commotion. A bunch of others soon follow, including a teacher/chaperone and BOOOOOOOM, the jet explodes over JKF Airport. Who is this kid with the horrifying vision? (and with the bad ‘N Sync boy-band ‘do?). That’s what the NTSB wants to find out, that’s what the FBI wants to find out…and that’s what viewers will wanna find out. James Wong (Black Christmas) directs…and Kerr Smith (Dawson’s Creek) plays a good jock villain. Devon Sawa is the kid who can see into the future… So sit back, put your seat in a reclining position….and check out the latest installment of the show. And don’t forget, support us by picking up a copy of either of our books: Death by Umbrella! The 100 Weirdest Horror Movie Weapons and Mine’s Bigger Than Yours! The 100 Wackiest Action Movies. If you’re a fan of the show, the horror film genre, or braindead action movies, you’ll LOVE them. Join us every Friday for brand-spanking new episodes.

Episode 300. Can’t believe we made it this far. On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, we tackle the Arnie muscled classic, PREDATOR! A SWAT team descends on a mythical Central American banana republic to rescue some politicos. The force is led by none other than the Guvernator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with another governor, Jesse “The Body” Ventura. They, along with a crack team battle a rebel army in deep dark jungle…until….they come upon some compadres, skinned alive and left to rot out under the tree canopy. What could’ve committed such atrocities? Surely, no man…Instead, it’s a BEAST and an alien beast to boot. Or is that Alien? The similarities are obvious, plus those to Rambo. Needless to say, Predator is a hoot. It’s well-filmed, the characterizations are simple, yet effective. Join us for some chat, and subscribe!  

We’re BAAAAAA-CK. We had a brief book-related hiatus and are back to our regularly scheduled programming. So, here goes. Poltergeist. The Tobe Hooper-directed (with lots of help from Steven Spielberg) effort from the early 80s is one many of us hold in very high regard, despite it being from a horror sub-genre that’s personally not our cup of tea. It’s undoubtedly memorable, especially young Heather O’Rourke as the iconic kid who is sucked into a television, a portal to some nether-region. With Craig T Nelson as the uber-dad, this is a solid ensemble effort, acting wise, and the twin directorial team (har har) pull out some pretty choice practical effects and imbue this with a lot of heart and story. Apologies in advance for some technical difficulties on this discussion of the Really Awful Movies Podcast. Thanks to the global pandemic, we have not been able to get together and don’t have our fantastic equipment at our disposal (big shout-out to Yeti mics). The quasi-new show is a work in progress as we try various means to record ourselves without sounding too too lousy. Join us for new episodes of the show, to which we will return with full gusto now that Mine’s Bigger Than Yours! The 100 Wackiest Action Movies is in the can.

On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast: Mortuary! This is an underseen 1983 quasi-slasher starring a young Bill Paxton. There’s a mortuary (duh) and two young guys start poking around. One of them goes missing. The other? He goes to the roller rink to ask where he might’ve gone. Ah yes, seeking answers from the oracle that is the disco roller rink His girlfriend’s father was murdered. And she suspects that his demise has something to do with the local mortuary. Meanwhile, back at the ranch… There’s a figure clad in black, skulking around with a trocar, the cannula device used to extract bodily fluid. Jeez, I wonder who the perp could be? Could they be in some way connected to…a mortuary? An all-over-the-map misfire, there are still fun elements to this one. Join us!

Marina is a social outcast at a made-up California university. She sits in the back of her psych class and pulls her hair out, and wears a hoodie and is gothed up – so you know she’s messed up. She’s at the heart of Friend Request, this being just an expression as this is a movie with no heart, or soul, or passion for that matter. What we describe as “aggressively mediocre.” Marina soon starts stalking a popular girl on social media, through a Facebook-like platform (it’s like Facebook and not actual Facebook, as Mark Zuckerberg did not take too kindly to this movie using his copyright). Tied into all this is some witchcraft backstory, some unspectacular deaths, some cyber-bullying. It all amounts to a big, fat zero. Join us for some chat about social media horror movies! And subscribe to the Really Awful Movies Podcast.

Is it Lethal Weapon? Is it Die Hard? More like, tries hard. Crackerjack is a spirited knock-off action flick, complete with a German uber-villain (played by Christopher Plummer, of all people). First off, biases aside, we LOVE Crackerjack III, one of the wackiest, bonkers action flicks of all time. And like that effort, the first installment in the unrelated series, does not disappoint. A hard-boozing Chicago cop is suspended from the force (what? A corrupt Chicago police! Who would’ve thought?) When he’s cooling his heels, resting his jets and doing other cliche things, his sister and brother-in-law figure some R&R is in order, so they book a vacation to a BC mountain resort. Why BC? Because British Columbia is notoriously cheap and offers tax credits. To ITS credit, there are some hilarious action scenes here, some dubious dialogue, and even overt references to other, better movies (there’s a Godfather-esque Fredo) and of course, a Hans Gruber from Die Hard. Yippee-ki-YAAAAAAY! Join us, folks.  

You’re in the bucolic redwood forests of Northern California/Oregon on a camping trip. What could possibly go wrong? The Final Terror answers that question and more… A bunch of forest rangers (including the wonderful Joe Pantoliano) and some gal pals (including Daryl Hannah) are getting away from it all. And is par for the course for these kinds of films, regale one another with scary campfire tales on the first night. Turns out, that far scarier things lurk in the brush and soon, members of their ranks are being depleted. While many people liken this one to Friday the 13th, The Final Terror has more in common with the survivalist horror, Southern Comfort than it does with maniac-in-the-woods movies released during the slasher boom. Join us for this episode of the podcast. Bring your bug spray.    

Slaughter Hotel (in Italian: La bestia uccide a sangue freddo and also known as Asylum Erotica and Cold Blooded Beast) is a 1971 Italian giallo horror film directed by Fernando Di Leo and starring the incomparable Klaus Kinski. The film, a hybrid of exploitation, giallo and slasher, follows a masked killer murdering female patients in a sanitorium. So yes, the title is a bit of a misnomer. Directed by Fernando Di Leo, this 1971 effort is as stylish as they come, and represents a rare foray into horror by the director, more known for his work in Italian crime cinema. There’s an axe-wielding maniac lurking in the shadows, a fun red herring in the form of a leering gardener, and of course, a bevvy of beautiful babes and an assortment of native tongues necessitating ADR. Join us on the Really Awful Movies Podcast!

Now the weather outside is frightful, but 80s teen horrors are so delightful. Join us, as we dive headfirst into Nightmare Beach (also released as Welcome to Spring Break), an American-Italian slasher directed by the incomparable Umberto Lenzi and Harry Kirkpatrick. This might be the fourth Lenzi flick we’ve talked about here on the Really Awful Movies Podcast. He’s just so darned entertaining regardless if he’s tackling giallo, cannibal movies, demented zombie films, or straightforward (to the extent that this is) slashers. Manatee Beach is being plagued by a spate of murders. And it turns out, the local leather-clad bikers aren’t to blame (this time). There’s a killer on the loose. And, to quote Jim Morrison, there’s a killer on the road. His brain may be squirming like a toad. He’s got a helmet, and also an electrified ride that he uses to zap Floridians. This Nightmare Beach has all the makings of…well, something. It’s a turd. But a delightful turd. It’s just so much fun. Subscribe to the podcast, and tell your friends!

On this episode of the podcast, the shaggy dog horror, MADMAN. Yes, it’s a rather paint-by-numbers “maniac in the woods movie”. There are campers. There are counsellors. There are woods. There are tales of things lurking in the shadows. Urban legends. Some unique kills. Still, there’s enough to commend this silly effort, which has drawn unfavourable comparisons to the likes of Friday the 13th and The Burning. Join us!