Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
DigiGods Episode 266: 2024 Halloween Special!
275 Plays1 month ago
A Halloween haul! Including anniversary 4k releases of 70s slasher classics, 80s horror hits and vintage grindhouse glory from the ‘60s, ‘70s and more! #4k #UHD #DVD #Bluray #4k #TV #Movies #madeonzencastr
In this podcast episode, the Gods discuss:
- Black Circle (Blu-ray)
- The Black Demon (DVD)
- Blackout (Blu-ray)
- Cocaine Werewolf (Blu-ray)
- The Coffee Table (DVD)
- The Convent (4k UHD Blu-ray)
- The Creature (Blu-ray)
- Creature from Black Lake (Blu-ray)
- Creature With the Blue Hand (Blu-ray)
- Crocodile (Blu-ray)
- Daiei Gothic (Blu-ray)
- Dark Night of the Scarecrows:
- Ultimate Collector's Edition Double Feature (4k UHD Blu-ray)
- Deer Camp '86 (Blu-ray)
- Destroy all Neighbors (DVD)
- Devi Danger (Blu-ray)
- Devilreaux (DVD)
- A Dog Called... Vengeance (Blu-ray)
- The Eurocine Collection: Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
- Founders Day (Blu-ray)
- Hellraiser: Quartet of Torment [Pinhead Slipcase Limited Edition] (4k UHD Blu-ray)
- Impulse (Blu-ray)
- In a Violent Nature (DVD)
- J-Horror Rising [Limited Edition] (Blu-ray)
- Killers (Blu-ray)
- Late Night with the Devil (Blu-ray)
- Massacre at Central High (Blu-ray)
- The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals (Blu-ray)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street (4k UHD Blu-ray)
- No Way Up (DVD)
- Paramount Scares Vol. 2 (Friday the 13th Part II, Orphan: First Kill, World War Z, Breakdown) (4k UHD Blu-ray)
- Phantoms [Collector's Edition] (4k UHD Blu-ray)
- Private Parts (Blu-ray)
- The Profane Exhibit (Blu-ray)
- A Quiet Place: Day One (4k UHD Blu-ray)
- Satan's Little Helper (Blu-ray)
- The Savage Hunt of King Stakh (Blu-ray)
- Stopmotion (Blu-ray)
- The Strangers - Chapter 1 (4k UHD Blu-ray)
- Tarot (Blu-ray)
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre 50th Anniversary Chainsaw Edition (4k UHD Blu-ray)
- The Threat [Limited Edition] (Blu-ray)
- Thriller: A Cruel Picture (Special Edition) (Blu-ray)
- Tombs of the Blind Dead (Blu-ray)
- Torso [Limited Edition] (4k UHD Blu-ray)
- Trick 'r Treat [Limited Edition] (4k UHD Blu-ray)
- Voodoo Passion - Collector's Edition (Blu-ray)
- You'll Never Find Me (Blu-ray)
Recommended
Transcript
Halloween Plans and Decline of Trick-or-Treating
00:00:26
Speaker
And it's Halloween and we got a bunch we got a bunch of spooky movies and and classic exploitation films and all kinds of fun stuff. So we're going to roll through it pretty quickly. Tim, you going trick or treating? What's your costume? I'm wearing it right now, my brother. yeah i've been I've been wearing it since I turned 50.
00:00:50
Speaker
you not a while You know what's really funny? So our daughter has been Hermione for a number of years. goodley She looks like Hermione. She's got to be with the glasses and the and the hair and i mean and the costume. And we spent a pretty penny on the costume. So it's like amortizing it over several years. But this year she said, I want to go as mommy.
00:01:13
Speaker
which was immediately vetoed. yeah But I thought that was really, really funny. I thought it was very sweet and cute. yeah good but no i can ta and I can understand why Christie would like it. Oh no. Yeah, it was it was very funny. Christie's like, ah no, not going to happen. and i got not Not going to happen. Anyway.
00:01:35
Speaker
No, do you get trick or treaters over there? You get any? dude of did you When I first moved to the spot, we did, but slowly but surely they just dwindled away. And post pandemic, they have not come back. um I only have ah one you know child living in the entire complex. duly you know I mean, this is a little fancy, it's a complex area. There's only one child in this complex now. Used to be kids all over the joint. Could hear kids laughing and playing and stuff all the time. One kid in the whole joint now.
00:02:03
Speaker
i don't know I don't know if that says anything about anything other than this neighborhood, but no more trick-or-treaters. Well, they'll come back. I think they will. Yeah, I think they will. I think they will.
Halloween Decorations and Paramount Scares
00:02:13
Speaker
Give it give it a minute. Give it a minute. um Yeah, we we've got you know a few spots around here where people go crazy with decorations. and I mean, there's a house in Santa Monica. I haven't been there in years. There's a house in Santa Monica.
00:02:29
Speaker
They pull out the car, the blood is on the car, the bloody dummies are in the car, their recording is coming out of it. I mean, you know, people go nuts on on Halloween. Some people will really, they take it to the nth degree. Some of them have, I mean, in Pacific Palisades, they have a competition where you actually, for the local paper, you actually can fill out a ballot. You walk past a house, you're like, oh, their decorations are aces and you fill out a little ballot for the thing. It's crazy. It's insane. Just to win one. To be honest, it's foreign away, a more favorite holiday, if that's the thing that one can have, of mine than Christmas, Thanksgiving, which are all, you know, just in terms of just raw holiday enjoyment and fun. Give me Halloween.
00:03:19
Speaker
any day of the week. Give me that. Give me that. Give me that give me that run up to and through Halloween. Yeah. any Anytime. That's my favorite holiday. No question. We're gonna get right into it here. We've got the volume two of the Paramount Scares collection.
00:03:35
Speaker
which ah has an interesting quartet of movies. It includes Friday the 13th, part two. So they had Friday the 13th in the first one. Friday the 13th, part two is in this one, as well as World War Z from 2013, good solid zombie film with a with Brad Pitt. brad ah Orphan First Kill from a couple of years ago. I thought that was interesting. These are all in 4K. All nice 4K releases. Really, really nice. And then 1997's Breakdown, I thought was really interesting. I yeah i had almost forgotten about that movie. per kurtta
00:04:12
Speaker
Kurt, right? Goldie's selling. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ah So, you know, that's that's good solid. That's a good solid one. Anyway, it includes a collectible poster. ah It's a nice, big, beautiful green spooky box set. Lots of discs here, you know, Blu-ray and 4K. Includes a collector's edition of Fangoria from friday with the Friday the 13th, part two on the cover.
00:04:37
Speaker
iron-on patches and a a sticker and a collectible logo pin with the Paramount logo all kind of spookied out. So yeah, it's a nice set, but ultimately it's it's the 4K stuff. You want to get it because it's ah you're you're you're able to watch all the blood and the gore in much higher resolution. Ultimately, that's sort of what's going on. We we also have a whole bunch of stuff from ah Arrow.
00:05:02
Speaker
And let me kind of dive into it here.
Arrow Film Releases and Daie Gothic Boxset
00:05:05
Speaker
um We've got The Threat on Blu-ray, Torso on 4K. I'm just going to go through these real quick. Tell me if any of these are among your favorites. Trick R Treat in 4K. You remember that? Trick R Treat? Yeah. The original Hellraiser, along with all of its sequels in a 4K boxed set.
00:05:31
Speaker
And then this really, really interesting box set, a J-horror rising with a bunch of really ah kind of unheard of, j you know, mostly with J-horror. We think of a handful of Japanese films, right? The Grudge, um The Ring, right? There's like three or four that are that are all sort of part of it. And these are these are other ones, so you get a much richer exposure to them. You've got Inugami, St. John's Worn,
00:05:55
Speaker
um a movie called Chico Quisola and a carved persona and ah Noroey. So these are the these are the film cosmic worms. Noroey. Oh, see you've Yeah, there you go. So so I have again, I have watched a little bit of these have not had a chance to really dig into all of them. But it it is a super cool box set. Really, really interesting stuff. J horror a much more diverse genre than I think a lot of people give it credit for.
00:06:31
Speaker
And then ah more sophisticated Japanese horror. We wouldn't call this J-horror. We're talking about ghost stories here. oh Japanese ghost stories are kind of ah kind of a big deal. And they've they've been treated in movies a number of occasions. This is a box set called Daie Gothic. D-A-I-E-I. Daie Gothic. And this is from Radiance.
00:06:55
Speaker
And it's these are much artier, but still super, super cool. ah It's three films by Kenji Misumi, Tokuzo Tanaka, and Satsuo Yamamoto. All of them made in the 1950s and 60s. And ah beautiful stuff, really, really cool. The the best one here for for my money is ah Bride from Hades.
00:07:20
Speaker
includes an amazing common area commentary by this guy Jasper Sharp. um Really, really terrific. I'm a big fan of The Snow Woman. and that's that's that's a That's a gorgeous movie. just that is why it's It's cool. And the other the third film here is The Ghost of Yotsuya. So ah The Snow Woman, the bride from ah from Hades and The Ghost of Yotsuya from the filmmakers Kenji Misumi, Tokuzo Tanaka and Satsuo Yamamoto. If you love so sophisticated Japanese ghost movies, artsy ghost movies, you will absolutely love
A Quiet Place Prequel and Renny Harlan's Filmmaking
00:07:52
Speaker
it. The the the the standard for my money in all this is ah is ah ah quite on. Quite on is just one of the great movies of all time. It's kind of an anthology of ghost movies, but it's one of the great, Ohichi the Earless is one of the most amazing pieces of cinema ever created, ever created, absolutely great. Also, timely out for Halloween,
00:08:15
Speaker
is a beautiful 4K Ultra HD steelbook release of A Quiet Place Day One, which is the prequel to the Quiet Place movies, sets sets up everything that happened that led in. Effectively, generally speaking, don't care for prequels, but this was effective.
00:08:34
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I thought this was really, really nice. i I mean, nice is not really the right word, but I like the fact that it's not the family anymore. it's it's it's These are just regular people. It's a whole new cast. Lupita Nyong'o hasn't really done a genre film yet, so she gets to kind of stretch her her chops here. I think she's terrific. I thought this was just really, really ah very, very interesting. that This guy, Joseph Quinn, not really familiar with Joseph Quinn, he's alls super cool, is the guy that kind of hooks up with her to fight the the monsters.
00:09:03
Speaker
um Yeah, i thought I thought this was a really interesting prequel. It it did what prequels should do, right? it it It reinvents, it fills in the story, but it does it in a way that doesn't feel anticlimactic. So yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Answers a lot of questions without without without saying, hey, here's the answer to that question. jail but the yeah So it's like, yeah, thank you very much for that. I appreciate it. ah The Strangers, chapter one. Did did you see this?
00:09:32
Speaker
I did. I did. How many more chapters can we expect? I'm just curious. ah because what a ah yeah I that first film, oh, that first one goes back a ways, then chapter two. Yeah, I mean, was there a chapter two? ah did you ever yeah This is a Renny Harlan, this is a Renny Harlan movie. Renny Harlan stuff, yeah yeah. Yeah, well, it's a good question. um because I never, I didn't hear about it. Chapter two. So I'm just wondering, did did we, are we, are we one and done with chapter one? Oh, no, no, no. There's, there, there's another one of these. Okay. Yeah. Uh, anyway, I don't know. I, I, Renny used to be, man, I see. I look, I'm not going to kid you. I do. I big Renny Harlan fan for a long time.
00:10:16
Speaker
in the 90s. Renny and Paul Verhoeven and those guys, yeah Joe Ester, they took up a a certain space. yeah And then I don't know, um ah yeah I guess time moves with John McTiernan and youll all those guys. He made some really, really great friends, ah movies. ah And I was a big, huge fan of like, I don't know, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Gina Davis and Sam Jackson film. So Renny has chops. Renny knows how to make these films. The content, you know it's the material.
00:10:42
Speaker
You know, I don't know if something's sort of been made before. the The story here, you know, a car breaks down in a creepy small little, little village and um this couple, they have to, you know, they're like, well, all right, let's go. ah We're in a creepy small town. So why not just go to the creepiest little cabin that we can find so the horror movie can break out? And and they do. And it's just, you know, my lesson to these people is don't go anywhere that looks like a horror movie set.
Shutter Originals and Dean Koontz's 'Phantoms'
00:11:16
Speaker
Just stay away from those villages, those campsites, those houses. If you look around you and anything looks like it could be a setting for a horror movie, go somewhere else.
00:11:28
Speaker
Absolutely. Absolutely. If you feel like you're in a horror movie, it's because you are. That's why you got that feeling. Oh, dear. Shutter original here, you'll never find me. ah Some of these shutter originals, they they they make these things on a dime, but man, they they some of them are really, really effective. Effective is the exact right word. Effective. Yeah. Yeah. yeah you'll You'll never find me is one of the better ones. Really is. ah Once again,
00:11:58
Speaker
There's a, you know, the the whole thing here is like, oh, you gotta, there's a storm. Where are we going to go to hide from the storm? Well, obviously. the creepy freaking trailer park where it looks like the setting for a horror film. Anyway, yeah, there's a, you know. The Aussies, this is an Australian film. The Aussies are good at these. They have been for, you know. They really are. I mean, ever since the 80s. The 80s, the 70s and 80s is when Ozploitation and Oz horror films really, really exploded. Richard Franklin made a whole bunch of them. Obviously, you know, Peter Jackson did a lot in New Zealand and Australia.
00:12:34
Speaker
So, 4K release here, and there's a bunch of more 4K releases here, there's a lot of cool stuff on 4K, but this is an interesting one to put on 4K. I think it's ah it's a Joe Chappelle film, Joe Chappelle, good solid genre guy. Scream Factory version of, or a subsidiary of Shout Factory. Dean Coons' Phantoms.
00:12:54
Speaker
Remember when every commercial on TV was for a Dean Coons book? You knew from Dean Coons. Stephen King didn't need TV commercials for his books. ah Anyway, ah no, this is ah this is this is not bad. ah Peter O'Toole shows up in this. So, you know, all right, it's it's got a little, it's got a little cachet. So yeah, it's a Dean Coons book.
00:13:18
Speaker
Phantoms, Good Solid Cast, Peter O'Toole, Rose McGowan, Liev Schreiber, Ben Affleck, rather much younger from 1998, so everybody's everybody's a good 25 years younger.
John Carpenter's Achievements and Favorite Films
00:13:32
Speaker
and um Yeah, I think this this has some really good good little small town scares, right? It takes place in this little tiny Colorado town where something is happening. yeah And it's like the end of the world is emerging from this little Colorado town. And ah Joanna Goering, who's kind of disappeared, I always thought she was just absolutely gorgeous. oh my She and Rose McGowan play sisters.
00:13:57
Speaker
And, you know, they go to the town and there's nobody left. And then everything kind of emerges from there. And that's where everything kind of blows up. Joe Chappelle, Joe Chappelle film. Yeah, Joe Chappelle, good song guy. Ben Affleck plays the town sheriff. It's I mean, it's a it's a nice, good, solid build, right? It really, really ramps up. And eventually, you know, it kind of then it just turns into a John Carpenter film at the end. Speaking of speaking of John Carpenter,
00:14:24
Speaker
Um, you weren't there at the vote, but yeah, the LA film critics have given their career achievement award to John Carpenter. Yeah. Yeah. Which I thought was really nice. Yeah. they're Perfectly loved. I got no problem. You look, we talk about this all the time. Of course, the LA film critics, the career achievement award every year, every year.
00:14:38
Speaker
And there's this thing, these things that go back and forth. And these people are and and as I say, yeah you know it's it's a ah conversation that I don't get too deeply into. ah you know Because we all have our choices. The problem is, there are no bad choices. yeah Arturo, Epstein, all kinds of people. I will say this. I will say this what's really interesting. And we're not supposed to talk about any of the runner-ups and all stuff like that. So I will say this.
00:15:00
Speaker
The two who were runner-ups last year were runner-ups again this year. yeah you Carpenter just kind of came out came out from behind and and there was this sudden surge for John Carpenter. And it was weird because nobody really talked about John Carpenter in the emails.
00:15:16
Speaker
And nobody really brought him up in the meeting per se, just somebody sort of mentioned it. And then one person voted and then another voted. And it's just like, son of a gun. There's like a Carpenter thing happening here. And what's, and at the end of the vote, this is what was really, really nice. Cause Carpenter has, you know, his comment was sweet. He said, it's so nice to to realize that, you know, people take horror seriously and I'm being taken seriously as a horror filmmaker. But Myron reminded all of us cause Myron is our, is our resident historian. yeah He said, this is the first time.
00:15:47
Speaker
We have given Career Achievement Award to a filmmaker who also once received the New Generation Award. The full gamut, right? So one generation of LAFCA critics of of whom like maybe there's maybe one or two still in the group. Maybe Myron. Back in the 70s. Myron, he remembers from the 70s. They gave him a new generation at the time. And here we are, another generation of Lafkafilm critics, 50 some years later, or nearly 50 years later, have given him career achievement. I think that is really poetic. I think that's not- Well, and look, again, I can't argue with John Carpenter at all in any case, but that little added sort of notion there just makes it all the more sort of poignant and there he is. Favorite John Carpenter film, putting you on the spot.
00:16:36
Speaker
Um, you know, um, I, look, it would be, it would be real easy to go with the sort of biggies, uh, but, uh, the emotion in Starman. with ah with with Jeff and Karen. The emotion in that film is crippling. It's just, you look like you're just watching this sort of alien. You're like this, but no. That film's not ah her her dead husband and everyone. Are you kidding me? ah that That film ah pins me to my knees right this second. And then you got this this little alien movie going on yeah ah too. But no, that that film is so beautiful and emotional. And his performance is so good. It's so good. He figured out a thing.
00:17:13
Speaker
that that's a beautiful thing. yeah Everybody's really wonderful in the movie. None of them were were really super big movie stars at at the time. Jeff had been around yeah ah doing stuff and in in in Karen. But yeah, that that now, yeah. How long? All that great stuff. Great stuff. ah I am going to go with ah Escape from New York. Yeah.
00:17:32
Speaker
And and for for almost more of a nostalgic reason, I saw Escape from New York with my mother, believe it or not. God god god bless her. you know After my father had passed away, my mother decided, like you know that when there were there were R-rated movies that I really wanted to see and I was too young to see him, well, she she took me to see him. Starting with Good Guys Wear Black, right the Chuck Norris movie. So my mother was taking me to all of these just R-rated movies. And you would think like, oh my mother, this little German lady, like what and and the crazy thing, she wound up liking Escape from New York more than I did. That's what was, it was so telling. I was like, this is amazing. Mom's so cool. She's like totally digging Escape from New York. Do you know what she loved about Escape from New York? take in my gut i In my gut, I think I know exactly what she identifies with an Escape from New York, but you say it anyway.
00:18:19
Speaker
She loved Isaac Hayes's Cadillac with the chandeliers on the front. That's what she loved. That's not what I had in mind, but nevertheless, I love that. she I asked her, I was like, well what'd you like to do? She goes, I really like that Cadillac with the chandeliers and and the and that man that that that man with all the jewelry who was who was driving. and i i really like I thought that was that was really interesting. I'm like, i don't I have no idea why, but there it is. my mother My mother connected to Isaac Hayes and the caddy with the chandeliers. And I'm with Black Moses. Gotta love it. Oh, it's too funny. It's just too funny. Anyway, great, great memories.
Jess Franco's Erotic Horror and 'Impulse'
00:18:59
Speaker
We got a Jess Franco film on Blu-ray here. Voodoo Passion. Tim, tell us about Jess Franco and why we should keep cutting him slack.
00:19:06
Speaker
ah few have each ah Oh, dear ah look, for one thing, just as just just got to be creeping up on 100 years old that that at at this point. And Vampirals Lesbos. I got to tell you that that film is still atop my list.
00:19:26
Speaker
of uh you know for a whole bunch of different reasons but but but but uh i i just kind of dug those films uh yeah his his his his Dracula uh who was in his Dracula was that Christopher Lee in his Dracula i think it's great yeah yeah i think so and his Dracula was actually a very effective film and you know look Uh, uh, just knew how to take a hot, uh, chick and, and, and, and, and wrap her up in something, uh, scantily clad and put some vampire teeth in their mouths and, and, and, and man, you had yourself a movie. I liked, I love that about Jeff. Well, here's the thing about, here's the thing about this movie. Okay. It's it, it, look, it.
00:20:01
Speaker
A woman, an actress named Ada Taller goes to Haiti ah to live with her husband, played by Jack Taylor, who's in a ton of Franco movies. And um there' the he's he's a little tweet because he's kind of, you know, maybe having something going on with his sister Olga, has to be named Olga. And then it's just a whole lot of voodoo. and it's just a lot of and And what I think is really, really funny is the way they the the way that they describe this in the marketing.
00:20:31
Speaker
more coherent than many of Franco's dream state erotic horror films. Oh yeah, just left left us in 2013. I thought he was still in around. He was 82 though. He'd be about a hundred now, but yeah but yeah that is funny. That is funny. That's the selling point. It's like, no, no, no, no. Take a look. Because it's actually more coherent than the other stuff. It actually makes sense. Anyway, Private Parts has a little bit of a, this is from Scream Factory as well, Paul Barthel film. ah Paul Barthel, you know, great cult filmmaker.
00:21:02
Speaker
ah one you know It takes place in the the King Edward Hotel in Los Angeles, and it's just all about the nightmarish things that happened at this runaway girl in the in the hotel. it's It's a little funny, it's a little cheesy, but it's Paul Bartel's private parts, and you know that's out there for you.
00:21:20
Speaker
I do wanna recommend that people make every effort, every conceivable effort to expose themselves to the movie Impulse. Impulse how impulse is crucial. Impulse is, this is a new 4K restoration from archival film elements on Blu-ray. You will not believe how terrifying William Shatner is as a psychopath.
00:21:47
Speaker
This is post-Star Trek. This is not a pre-Star Trek thing. This is post-Star Trek. and he he plays it he plays a basically Imagine if we're watching American Gigolo and instead of being just kind of a hot hunk, Richard Gere was like a murderous lunatic. That is this movie. That's this movie. And William Shatter plays the Gigolo.
00:22:10
Speaker
and um I'll tell you, it's just, ah it it's beyond belief, this performance to see him do this. I mean, you you think he chewed the scenery before? Oh, no, no, no. He really, he lays it out. He lays it out hard here. It's fantastic. um So anyway, there's a, there's a William Shatner interview in here from 2022 called kingdom of the Shatner and a whole bunch of other great stuff on here, including an audio commentary from the director, William. cove rivey Yeah. Yeah. um Yeah. It's great. It's really, really great.
00:22:42
Speaker
A lot of fun. So definitely check that out if you want to get yourself some chat. from the 70s, impulse will scratch that itch in a big, disgusting way. ah The coffee table is a DVD from Cinephobia, and it's pretty solid. ah you know This is a Spanish horror film from just made a couple of years ago, and it's a little it's a little tweaked. it's kind of It's kind of comedy horror, but it's more horror, I think, than than comedy.
Spanish Horror Films and Cult Classics
00:23:10
Speaker
um Really, really creepy. ah
00:23:13
Speaker
there's it's it so It reminds me of like a tweaked version of a part of a Christmas story a little bit, because remember in Christmas story, he had that lamp? but and lamp Okay, so in here, this is this couple has a baby and um there's this really awful coffee table.
00:23:34
Speaker
That has for that has those tacky tacky topless women like that lamp in Christmas story, right? Yeah, and oh my gosh, but it's it's just it's not a it's not a nice coffee table it's an old guy tell buy that coffee table It is evil it is evil ah Got some really cool stuff here from synapse. Let me let me roll through the sinners titles and really quickly because they are of a piece. I think I got them all here. There is Christina Lindberg in Black Circle, which is by Adrian Garcia Boliano. This is, what year was this made? 2019. So this is, this it feels like the 60s, but ah it's, it's ah it you know, it it has, because it has like a, the evil of the vinyl record, right? but Backward masking and all of that stuff.
00:24:25
Speaker
that's where this is at. It's sort of like the ring, what the ring does with VHS, this does with vinyl. A little bit of that. It hypnotizes them. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. It's just called a 70 something. Everybody's doing that now. Effectively. That retro thing. But it's very effective.
00:24:45
Speaker
it They look like they are set made when they are set. Absolutely. All those all of those T.I. films Maxine and X and all that kind of stuff. Very effective. Very effective. Got another good solid Spanish one here. This is from the 70s. This is a Tombs of the Blind Dead.
00:25:03
Speaker
Two Disc Blu-ray Special Edition, ah again Spanish, has the US theatrical version, the Blind Dead and the original Spanish ah language version on the first disc. So, ah you know, that's just pretty much straight up ah kind of giallo but done Spanish style. Kind of a cult classic here, Massacre at Central High.
00:25:23
Speaker
This is 1976 and this was one of the original, um it came out in that same moment with Halloween and you know the first Friday the 13th and you know Hills Have Eyes. Everybody was kind of in that same moment, Wes Craven and Carpenter and all the rest of them. This comes from that. um Written and directed by Renee Daldur. So it's in that kind of that same moment and it it has ah it has a following. yeah young young Young Andrew Stevens, young Robert Carradine.
00:25:53
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Roberts in this movie. Not David Roberts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then a young Jack Elam. I love Jack Elam. He's a great director. Creepy with those eyes. In Roy Huck Jr.'s Creature from Black Lake. So not Creature from the Black Lagoon. Creature from Black Lake.
00:26:13
Speaker
Different creature, different body of water, not related. Don't get them confused. This is from 1976 as well. And this is more in the vein of the Legend of Boggy Creek, if you remember those, you know, right? Legend of Boggy Creek was kind of a faux documentary about, you know, and a lot of people thought, oh my gosh, this is about a real thing. No, no, it's a, it means to be kind of a fake documentary. But this is all, ah this is all Bigfoot stuff, man. Oh, Dub Taylor. Yeah. I love Dub.
00:26:43
Speaker
It's fantastic. Uh, we got, uh, Jeff Lieberman's Satan's Little Helper with Amanda Plummer. This was made about 20 years ago. And, uh, yeah, it's, it's a, it's a, you know, video game horror thing, right? That's the Satan's Little Helper is a video game. And you got this kid who just absolutely loves playing the video game. And, oh dear, Halloween comes around and, um, Next thing you know, there's a serial killer and there's a way that that that it all kind of comes together between the video game and the serial killer and it actually winds up being a little bit more campy than I think they may have intended, but I thought it was fun.
00:27:26
Speaker
yeah A thriller, a cruel picture. This is another classic with Christina Lindbergh, with wearing the eye patch and with the double barrel shotgun. ah Written and directed by Beau A. Vibanias, a filmmaker that I don't think made it past 1974, but man, this movie This movie is so horrifyingly
Female Revenge Films and Atomic Era Horror
00:27:48
Speaker
bloody. it has been it It became an instant cult classic even though it has basically no story. But it is it it truly is just off the chart.
00:27:58
Speaker
it i mean just the the the yeah Look, in all of these, all of the movies back in the day, a young woman rendered mute after a childhood sexual assault is trained to seek violent revenge on those who kidnapped and forced her into prostitution. Seriously? All of that? All that, man. All of that? These are, these are people. So, so in fact, look, it's a revenge. It's a a female revenge film. I spit on your grave kind of thing. That's right. These are people who looked at I spit on your grave and they thought, yeah, way too tame.
00:28:28
Speaker
Way too tame, way too tame. We gotta crank that one up. And then of course, you know, ah Jaws begat a lot of stuff right there after Piranha. And the Piranha series gave us, of course, both Joe Dante and James Cameron. And and pretty much it was like, well, you know, ah what else can we do? what What else can eat you in the water? Well, crocodile. So we get crocodile. ah Crocodile from 1979.
00:28:56
Speaker
Audio commentary with writer and film historian Lee Gambon, just to contextualize why you should care about Crocodile. I will say this. Oh, it's a little bit cheesy. Um, and, and, uh, the whole idea of the Crocodile, like in, in, in this case, the Crocodile, it's not just a regular Crocodile, it's a Crocodile that is mutated because of a atomic explosion. So, so you have atomic era paranoia and post jaws animal paranoia all wrapped up in the same thing, yeah but it it's, it it some of it is really well done.
Practical Effects Resurgence and Eurocine Collection
00:29:28
Speaker
I gotta be honest. Some of it is really, really well done.
00:29:31
Speaker
they they They, you know, like there are moments in Jaws where I'm like, eh, it's a fake shark. There are moments in this one where I'm like, damn, that looks like a real crocodile. Well, you know, it's the it's the practical effects thing. Yeah. I'm sorry. I just, it's always better when they just put a big, big hit right now out of nowhere. Terrifier three. We were on the radio a couple of weeks ago and this, this movie was tracking, tracking to outpace. It was nuts. And that movie made all kinds of money. Why?
00:30:00
Speaker
because it's a practical effects movie. It's everything that was all the movies we're talking about right now, turned up to 11. And you know, the kids are back into that again, they they they have no interest in the digital monster or whatever. so So remember I was saying, don't go to any place looks like it could be a setting for a horror film. Yeah. All right. These idiots in this movie. This is a brand new movie. Actually, this is from Mill Creek. These idiots. This is deer camp 86.
00:30:27
Speaker
Uh, and the tagline is, I don't know if i don't know if this should be is is meant to be an insult or not. They should have stayed in Detroit where it where it was safe. ah Oh, that's a shot. Uh, so anyway, it it it it takes it right it takes place in 1986, but it was just, but it's a brand new film. It takes place in 1986.
00:30:55
Speaker
And it's about a bunch of guys from Detroit who go to like remote Michigan for deer hunting. Oh, dudes, you shouldn't have done that. You you woke something up. yeah It's bad news.
00:31:09
Speaker
Bad news, but you know, it's not bad. It's one of those movies, fun but it's, it's, it's fun. It's fun. yeah The Eurocine collection, volume one, uh, this is, this is not all horror, but some of it counts as horror. So I'm going to, I'm going to count it. This is from, uh, this is from full moon horror.com is where you can go to see all the wizard video, Eurocine and all that kind of stuff. Uh, the movies are angel of death, just Franco.
00:31:36
Speaker
um Panther Squad starring Sybil Danning and her and her her massive cleavage. ah Downtown Heat, Jess Franco.
00:31:46
Speaker
ah ah Countdown to Esmeralda Bay, Jess Franco. And Night of the Eagles, Jess Franco.
00:31:57
Speaker
And ah mania killer with Chuck Connors and Bose Venson. So a lot of Jess Franco here. ah Question is, is it more or less coherent?
00:32:13
Speaker
Which, which which you would, you know, yeah, exactly. Yeah, you know what? I mean, look, it's it's yeah it's it's killers and and hot babes and and Nazis and, you know, there it is. It's it's what you excel what you associate with Jess Frank. Yeah, let' smash it easy you know he smashes things together and then covers them in blood. Yeah, pretty much. Pretty much.
Rare Horror Films and Adoption Stories
00:32:36
Speaker
I got some stuff from Severin here. Severin also, like Synapse, does does some really, really terrific stuff. They do great genre stuff. The mummy and the curse of the jackals. Come on, give it up. it's this ah how How cool is that? this is a This is a mashup. The jackals, of course, are don't confuse them with wolfmen or werewolves. Were jackals are different from werewolves. Different animal entirely.
00:33:05
Speaker
Now I think the other Carradine, John is in this, old man Carradine is in this one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is, this is 1969. Yeah. This is really, this is very early in this particular kind of exploitation thing. So yeah, John Carradine here, um, you know, whom you know, obviously from, from a stage coach was the one that really kind of, you know, put him on the map a little bit anyway.
00:33:29
Speaker
this was uh they found they they apparently found here's the story of this uh they they apparently found the negative in an estate sale if you can believe that so lucky brown uh there was an estate sale for lucky brown in los angeles and they found the negative they scanned it in 4k gave it a nice new uh Nice new pristine look. And here is this movie that everybody kind of thought was lost from Severn, The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals. Yeah, it's a mummy. I think that's just great. I'm sorry. yeah you know I mean, whatever one might think of the film. yeah I think that that that's just fantastic. I love it when that happens. I love it when that happens. you know like I mean, there was a Chaplin film a lot of people, years ago, a lot of people had thought was lost. And they literally discovered it in some tenement basement in Argentina.
00:34:21
Speaker
Oh wow. How great is that? Obviously some print shipped around the world. Yeah. and and and and you know And then boom, boom, boom, ends up in a basement and there it is. And it and it's great now because with our digital restoration technology, yeah that that thing could have been, you know, scratched to hell and rolled over by ah by a ah truck and we'll still make it look pristine. We'll fix it. We'll fix it up. Bring it back. Um, as long as we're getting more back into Spanish stuff from Severn, Eloy de la Iglesia is the director and the movie, The Creature.
00:34:51
Speaker
Not familiar with the Iglesia, but ah this this is literally a Spanish horror film, kind of a horror film. I mean, it it is. It's psychological horror more than anything else, but it this has never been released in the US s before. So this is brand spanking new on Blu-ray, the creature.
00:35:10
Speaker
And yeah, it's ah you know this guy apparently made all kinds of horror films and and other ah ah genre films, including Cannibal Man. You ever heard of Cannibal Man? Don't think I know that one. Yeah, I don't know either. Anyway, well, the whole idea here is, you know we have horror movies where people will adopt a child, and oh, it's a bad seed, and that child you know winds up killing people. In this case,
00:35:34
Speaker
they ah they They adopt a dog. Oh, that's really sweet. No, not really. But the funny thing is that it's it's not about the it's not like the dog is possessed. It's what the adoption of the dog into this kind of fragile relationship does to them. and ah yeah i mean it's it it's a it's It's one of those horror you know horror films very often traffic in the idea of what happens when you introduce an outside element. An outside element. When fish out of water goes wrong or when things, you you just it yeah don't go there, status quo. Maintain the status quo. And this one also, we have another one involving a dog, also never before released in the United States.
00:36:22
Speaker
Uh, is, uh, a dog called vengeance, a dog called dot, dot, dot vengeance. There has to be the, the points of ellipsis there. Uh, yeah, this is i boy. This, this thing is actually kind of, kind of unhinged. The only thing that makes this look like an exploitation film is that the, you ever notice how the blood in movies.
00:36:43
Speaker
Like this is 1978. It's like dark crimson, red like syrupy red. It just, you know, the the formula for for the blood that they mixed up in the seventies, it became something very different in the eighties. I don't know what it was, but man, it just doesn't look like blood that runs in a human being. it's And it's eerie. It's disgusting. It's gnarly. This has just ample amounts of it.
00:37:08
Speaker
ah Yeah, it's just tons and tons of it. So so here's here's the guy. Here's the story here. ah you you you have ah it's You have a military dictatorship. I can't even believe I'm saying that in a horror film. So ah you have a dog that was effectively trained to be a killer um by a military dictatorship.
00:37:34
Speaker
And I think there's supposed to be some kind of a political comment to that, though it doesn't really come out in the film. It's it's just like when Nazis show up in horror films just to have a Nazi. yeah that's sort of the the that's It's not like youre they're trying to make a comment on Franco or Pinochet or anything like that. No, it's just... We're gonna we're just going to have, you know, fascists and dogs because it's a good combo. Fascists and dogs go through it. Leah Masary, who's in this film, yeah um who's ridiculously beautiful, was in Antonioni's La Ventura. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. She's so, so, so, so beautiful. She's in this film. ah you You know, yeah years later, it's still very, very good. Wonderful, wonderful actress.
Shutter Originals and Humorous Horror Films
00:38:19
Speaker
So we got another one here, which is pretty darn funny. Destroy All Neighbors. This is another Shutter original, not on Blu-ray sadly, ah ah but but it actually is very, very funny. And Shutter doesn't do a lot of horror comedy, but this one is this is pretty great.
00:38:33
Speaker
um yeah and Part of it is because Alex Winter is in it. You get a little bit little bit of the Bill and Ted retro vibe in this thing. so yeah with with so Jonah Brown plays this musician who is trying to finish this like symphony, this progressive rock symphony of his.
00:38:55
Speaker
And Alex Winter is all kind of decked out as his creepy neighbor and is really annoyed by all of his, everything that he does. He's just, he cannot, just cannot deal with it. And so- And Alex came from Bill and Ted, of course. Yes, from Bill and Ted. So finally, you know,
00:39:20
Speaker
Jonah Ray character, our musician, he's like, I am sick and tired of my neighbor harassing me. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to have it out with him. So he goes over and he has it out with his neighbor and he cuts his head off. And, uh, and then from there, it just, then it just dovetails into come into just a ridiculous zombie movie. It just, it, it just, it just gets ridiculously hilarious. You cannot, you cannot make up what they do.
00:39:47
Speaker
And there's no reason for it other than the fact that they're just having an awful lot of fun. Yeah. ah Yeah. And, you know, sometimes, I mean, I've never had a bad neighbor like that, but I can imagine if I did, they'd probably want to cut their heads off. So we just had a movie called Cocaine Bear. And, uh, naturally where, where, you know, you have a cocaine bear, the next step up has got to be what? Cocaine werewolf.
00:40:15
Speaker
this was This was made literally this year. um I actually think this is funnier than Cocaine Bear. I was on i was on radio with Christy Lemire. I didn't care for Cocaine Bear. Christy adored it. I think this is hilarious. and it's ah It makes no sense. It all takes place in Pennsylvania. and you know There's no reason for the werewolf to be here, but he is.
00:40:39
Speaker
So there it is. There's a, you know, they're shooting a horror film and a werewolf shows up and yeah, it's cocaine and you got a movie. Yeah. ah That's kind of how it goes. ah In A Violent Nature is just a pretty much straightforward slasher movie. This is also a shutter movie. This is on DVD only not Blu-ray, written and directed by Chris Nash. And yeah it's ah it, it, it, it, it,
00:41:06
Speaker
I mean, it's just, like I mean, there's a there's a whole kind of a ghost story aspect to it, a little ghost story backstory to it. But ultimately, it's a slasher film. It's just a slasher film. Yeah, yeah. old old the Very throwback, very throwback.
00:41:18
Speaker
And I'm going to get to something a little little bit special here in just a moment. So let me just ah push through a couple more of these. ah The Profane exhibit from Unearthed Films. This is ah really very incredibly well done. And I didn't watch the whole thing. I turned it off after like 15 minutes because it was getting too intense. I remember this movie. Ooey Bowl was one of the directors. It was like one of those team of director things.
00:41:43
Speaker
Yeah, it's ah and and a bunch of them bunch of them do the audio commentary on here too. Yeah, it's way way too gory, but very, very well done. It's kind of more in the... in the um Saw vein. It's a little more in the in the same kind of vein as Saw. and Then Blackout by Larry Fessenden. Larry Fessenden, another ah staple of the genre. um so This is ah an interesting werewolf spin because there's ah there's kind of a um an amnesia element to it. right so you know Am I or am I not a monster? Kind of an interesting interesting twist, Blackout. Larry Fessenden, always very interesting.
00:42:21
Speaker
So here's what everybody's really gotta get. They gotta get the unrated director's cut of Killers. Now there are a ton of Killers movies out there, right? My friend David Lat, one of the founders of of the Asylum, the the Sharknado people, he made a movie starring his wife years ago called Killers, um which was pretty good. as I would recommend David Lat's film Killers as well. This film we have to recommend as well because it's Mike Mendez who directed it and his brother Mario Mendez, longtime listener of this podcast.
00:42:48
Speaker
And ah Mike, we have interviewed on this podcast before. He did Big Ass Spider, which is terrific. So a big shout out to Mike Mendez for his film, Killers, which is really, really terrific and really, really well done. ah This is an early film of his. It's from 1996 before Big Ass Spider. But yeah, definitely he wrote it with Dave Larson. And it is it was this is his debut film. Oh, his debut film. And, ah you know, it's ah it The whole, I mean, he gets the tension, right?
Mike Mendez's Debut and Russian Gothic Horror
00:43:21
Speaker
Look, this is what's interesting. Because we happen to be on the eve of this moment when the Menendez brothers got the blah, blah, blah and all. Yeah, I mean, everybody knows. But this film was about these kids, you know, and they go up and get brothers and they go in there and they kill their parents.
00:43:36
Speaker
in 1996. Now the Menendez thing sort of started what 89, 90? Yeah, and it was you kind of took up a big chunk of the early 90s. Yeah, before the 90s completely unraveled. yeah what goes to it Because yeah yeah if I'm not, we had the McMartin situation about the ah yeah yeah you know the the kids and whether or not they were molested. Prosecuted by my old ah scout a leader, by the way.
00:44:03
Speaker
Oh, really? Yeah, that was my. child sco leader who prosecuted Implanted memories and stuff that sort of came out of that McMartin thing, but it was the Menendez thing that kind of knocked the McMartin thing. Yes. Out of the out of the news there. We're 1991, 92 now. And then, of course, ah you know, the the the uprisings down south. And then, of course, the Rodney King thing. And then, of course, the OJ dude.
00:44:29
Speaker
The 90s in L.A., are you kidding me? So anyway, you get up to about 96, and this neat little movie came out, and I talked to myself, this is very, very, very cool. Arboy Quentin was a very, very big fan of of Mike's movie, The Killers. So go check it out, it's terrific. I mean, he gets the tension right, he gets the mood right, everything in it is just really solid. It's a really good solid genre directing debut.
00:44:56
Speaker
So, ah The Savage Hunt of King Stock, S-T-A-K-H. What a bizarre movie this is. Never heard of this film. This is a... um This is one of those kind of ah weird 60s-esque Euro-horror hybrid things. right i mean like like we We oftentimes think of things like The Wicker Man as being out of that. Anyway, this is a Russian genre horror film.
00:45:26
Speaker
And it is apparently has all kinds of cult following, but it is this has not been around for forever. It's a kind of rediscovery based on a novel, very famous Belarusian novel, and um they've restored it. It's 126 minutes long. Def Crocodile really, really went to went to the mat for this thing. First ever release in the United States.
00:45:49
Speaker
And, uh, it really, really is just a lot of Russian weird. It is, it is eerie and Gothic and medieval and very, very strange. But it's, it, it's quite compelling. If you're a genre fan, I think you'll really, really enjoy it. Um, this is a brand new restaurant. The films out of the eighties were like 19, 1980.
00:46:10
Speaker
Uh, but, but set in like 18, whatever. Yes, exactly. It's a, it's a, it's a period setting, but it's, it, check it out the Savage Hunt of King's stock. S T A K H totally weird. Uh, the, uh, we, we got an another shark movie here. Uh, no way up. Uh, it's a plane crash movie and a shark movie. And I know you're thinking, how do you, how do you get that? Well, yeah, this is a plane crashes in the ocean. Yeah.
00:46:38
Speaker
And sharks will travel. It's like snakes on a plane, except it's it's sharks on a crashed plane. And there it is. We also have another shark movie called The Black Demon. This is a big old shark. If you can't, you know they they how do you one up a a really vicious shark? Well, you either you either put them on a plane,
00:46:58
Speaker
Or you make a lot of them, so it's like aliens, yeah yeah like Sharknado, you put them in a tornado, or you just make it huge. You just make the thing like post-apocalypticly enormous. That is just a big ass shark. And Josh Lucas ah is the the lone star of note in this thing. ah It's a big shark movie.
00:47:20
Speaker
that there's I can't tell you anything. There it is. It's just a movie about a big giant shark. And Josh Lucas has to pretend that he's he's Yeah, yeah, there it is. What what are you gonna do? um yeah Kind of a voodoo movie here Devil Row Devil R E A U X with ah Vincent M Ward and Tony
Voodoo Themes and Cult Talk Shows
00:47:45
Speaker
Todd. Tony Todd real kind of a you know, staple of the genre as an actor, because he was Candyman. He was Candyman. Candyman, remake of The Night of the Living Dead in 1990. Yeah. yeah must remmate of night rule so just ah Just a great staple of these of these films. So this is one of those ah kind of zombie ah voodoo-esque things. ah But anyway, ultimately, it's about a bunch of teenagers who who make some very, very bad mistakes and some very bad discoveries. And the the central character here of Devil Row is a zombie, but he's not like a regular zombie. He's like a voodoo zombie, right? he's a He comes back and he's he's
00:48:31
Speaker
not to be dealt with. He's not looking to eat you. He's looking to do you know voodoo things to you, which is pretty horrifying. so um Enter at your own risk. Late night with the devil is now in a in a kind of a steel book. I don't know how funny I still find this to be. i think it's I think it's, you know, a lot of people thought this was just a stone cold great camp. I'm not sure I kind of see it that way.
00:49:05
Speaker
But in any way, it does have a bit of a cult following. um David Dalmastian is really very good in it. He's kind of a hard actor to cast, right? he He's got sort of a look. He's got a look with that but that black hair. and Yeah, he's got a look. He usually plays you know like FBI agents with issues. And in this case, he's yeah he's a talk show host, right? He's like, you know. 70s talk show host. 70s talk show host, right? Yeah.
00:49:31
Speaker
and but He's a talk show host. You just don't want to get anywhere near. He's, he's a bit of a psycho and he's planning something for Halloween 1977.
00:49:43
Speaker
And, um, you know, to get his ratings back up and, uh, boy, are they going to get the ratings back up. yeah So that is what late night with the devil is all about. But this is a nice, uh, steel book.
00:49:56
Speaker
It's got a lot of great collectible stuff in it, cards and stickers and things like that. And, you know, it has a following. um King of Comedy is sometimes more terrifying to me than than movies like that. But anyway, there it is. ah Let's see, I'm gonna hold that back just for a moment. Let's go through the rest of these here. Devee Danger. Not Debbie, like with a B, but Devee, D-E-V-I, like as in the the Indian Debbie.
00:50:25
Speaker
um what ah What an unusual movie this is. I think I'm probably going to recommend this. This is on Blu-ray. um the This is ah kind of a weird cyberpunk a horror thriller that the I guess the music is sort of what you're really yeah gearing into this for. This takes place in the future and the idea is that you have this this this singer who has a very unusual voice. It can sort of take over your brain and it can control you and there's a this gets into this the the
00:51:07
Speaker
It's, it's sort of, it's not a, it's not as, it's like, you know what, there are certain class of futuristic zombie movies. They're not zombie movies, but they're about the same things that happen in zombie movies, but they happen with androids, they happen with aliens..I. is, yeah, A.I. is. A.I. There you go. That's the culprit here. But nevertheless, you end up with a zombie.
00:51:29
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, let's see Founders Day, uh, which I have, uh, I haven't seen in forever, but I know it's out again here on Blu-ray and, uh, it's a, you know, it's a political slasher movie. Um, it's kind of satirical. I don't remember it being that funny, but I know it's got a following stop motion.
00:51:50
Speaker
is ah one of the strangest, um here's the deal, a stop motion animator. I'm just going to read it right off the the back of the box because there's no other there's no other way to kind of explain this story. So you have a stop motion animator who um struggles to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother. So she creates a film that becomes a battleground for her sanity.
00:52:17
Speaker
That's the way they describe it. I don't know that I would necessarily quite describe it that way because it's it's sort of like she creates her own possession. And it it for much of the film, it's not clear what's really going on. it gets It's sur very surreal and very highly stylized. um I don't know why they necessarily chose stop motion. I guess they think stop motion characters are creepy, but there I think there is supposed to be some kind of a subtext here that your creations can take you over, that artists can be taken over by their creations. So there's that. Tarot, yeah, pretty much straightforward Tarot card movie.
Cursed Objects and Klaus Kinski's Thrillers
00:52:57
Speaker
Uh, you know, we have movies where people are, they, they get a Ouija board. Oh, bad decision. Don't play the Ouija board. alllthough what happens i did And the tarot tarot is basically the same thing. This is a Ouija board movie, except they're playing with, you know, uh, the wrong tarot card deck. And next thing, you know, something is unleashed and, uh, it's a lot of screaming teenagers.
00:53:19
Speaker
um And getting close to the end here, we've got a great double feature from Film Master, a special edition of two kind of classic films, totally re-scanned in 4K from the original elements and they look beautiful. Film Master is doing a wonderful job with this. The movies are Creature with the Blue Hand and Web of the Spider. Creature with the Blue Hand is terrific. I'm going to say that right now. It's absolutely terrific.
00:53:47
Speaker
um it it It features Klaus Kinski. it's It's just terrific. It's really, really good. and ah you know these i mean Both of these are Klaus Kinski movies, but the one that is is far and away the best is Creature with the Blue Hand. So cool, so stylish. um His performance is just totally unhinged, as you would hope that it is.
00:54:10
Speaker
And, you know, it's pretty great. I mean, like he's, piece I think, right? Yeah. 1971 and 1967 are the films. So they're, they're right in that, you know, Aguirre Wrath of God moment. And it's pretty great. It's pretty great. I mean, he's, you know, he's, he's a mental patient. Come on, give me a break. um Klaus Kinski playing a mental patient is the best thing in the world. And then we're going to end on four really, really terrific 4Ks.
Scarecrow Horror and 4K Releases
00:54:37
Speaker
First one is Dark Knight of the Scarecrows, one and two double feature in 4K. This comes to us courtesy of VCI. VCI has not really released 4Ks before, so VCI is getting into the 4K game, and Scarecrows are creepy.
00:54:53
Speaker
Yeah, the ladies. Oh my gosh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This they and this is the beginning of the scarecrow horror genre. And that scare. Oh, yeah, no, he's out in the suit. um What was his name? He was in Charles Durning.
00:55:10
Speaker
Charles Durning. Charles Durning is in charles earnings in the original film. Yes, okay. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. yeah so So basically what happened here, the original Scared Night of the Scarecrow is 1981. And the sequel in the sequel is 40 years later and in 2021, just came out three years ago. okay Yeah. yeah and and and And it's great because they go together like, you know, hand in bloody glove. It's really great.
00:55:32
Speaker
And the original was, it was a TV movie. Yeah. Right. I mean, everybody kind of forgets the original. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was, it was good. Uh, it was good, good scare stuff for TV back in the day. So really terrific. Wonderful triple fan commentary here hosted by Heath Holland, uh, who does the serial midnight podcast. And, um, yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a wonderful double feature on 4k. And then we have, uh, another Mike Mendez film.
00:56:00
Speaker
which is from later in his career, the convent, right? He would go on to do the convent. That is also on 4K. So we were doubling, doubling up on Mike Mendez movies here.
00:56:12
Speaker
This is terrific because it also has Coolio in it, and Coolio just left us not long ago. Coolio, I'm going Coolio. Yeah, and so Coolio and Adrian Barbeau, who at one point was married to John Carpenter. John Carpenter, how a man does that. So beautiful we bring it all back around. We're bringing it all back around. So pay tribute to Coolio and paying tribute to John Carpenter. Mike Mendez got to direct John Carpenter's ex-wife.
00:56:39
Speaker
and and And you know what? The convent is ah is is it's a lot of the same stuff that he does in Killers, but he's fine tuning it. It starts with a with a massacre that is ah pretty terrific and in 1960, all at this boarding school for girls and you know the nuns are pretty awful people. Anyway.
00:56:59
Speaker
you know, fill in the blanks. It's ah it's really it's pretty great. It's really pretty great. And then lastly, a couple of 4k total classics.
Iconic Horror Anniversaries and Wrap Up
00:57:08
Speaker
The first one, West Craven's Nightmare on Elm Street on 4k.
00:57:13
Speaker
You know what? It holds up, Tim. Oh, yeah. Really holds up. It really does. I got to be honest. You know, I know they remade it and the remake had like, you know, fancier effects and everything a few years ago. But that's no the the those the effects from 1984, those standard classic practical effects. You put the makeup on the guy. You do. You know, yeah yeah you you get your that's that. That's why yeah oh that's why it still holds up.
00:57:42
Speaker
and Robert robertng england robert enng England just knocks it out of the park here, really knocks it out of the park. i mean its he He just had clearly had so much fun with the makeup and the hands and the thing. and the way that the The way that the dreams are depicted, um it's just it's still really great. It is Wes Craven at his very, very best. Anyway, you get two cuts here. You get the theatrical and the uncut.
00:58:04
Speaker
Uh, director's cut and it's, uh, it's fantastic. Lots of extras, two audio commentaries, alternate endings, a whole bunch of featurettes on making a film. I wish they would have got Johnny to do, to do a commentary. Johnny Depp. Yeah. Yeah. That would have been cool, Johnny. Because Johnny, you know, Johnny got, uh, in the movie. Uh, but so, you know, anyway, nevertheless, cool thing. Cool. And then we have the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 50th anniversary chainsaw edition. This is not to be believed.
00:58:32
Speaker
nineteen You get, you get, and not only do you get a 4k, you get a VHS, you get an eye vintage VHS of the film. Like, I don't know what people are going to do with that. I really don't. And then, and then, do you know what else you get? You get a chainsaw.
00:58:53
Speaker
get yeah You get a chainsaw. That is crazy. It's a great big old box. It includes a chainsaw. Now, it's not a real chainsaw. No, but yeah. But it's a you know it's a it's a it's ah pretty cool you know chainsaw mock-up. And it says 50, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, on its little blood stains. It's something that that ah a nerd can totally put on the mantle. And it's a nice conversation piece. It's a straight up, they did a replica of a chainsaw. I don't know what they're thinking. But I completely forgotten that John Laracette
00:59:25
Speaker
does that that narrator that narrator thing so that's john layer cat uh which i obviously didn't know at the time but but now when i hear it like i'm like um oh my god that's john layer cat it's like you know And and and I'm gonna i'm gonna tell people you pre-order this thing now because this is this is as of this podcast It has not officially been released. It's it's officially out on October 29th So if you if you go to Amazon and you pre-order this thing now, and it is not cheap It's like 400 bucks for this set you up see it's all god yeah yeah well it's ah i mean It's a big deal. It's ah it's a big deal ah And you know if you if you get this now, ah you may get it in time for you may get it in time for Halloween. so just saying Anyway, the extras on this thing, there's just a ton of them. There's the blooper reel, which takes a little bit of the edge it's pretty great. You you get you get you know four commentaries, man. Four commentaries is fantastic.
01:00:35
Speaker
And ah you know, it's still the film that Toby Hooper will forever be known for. I know that Poltergeist kind of has it, but people look at Poltergeist and they're anyway, there it is. That is our rundown of Halloween movies for for this Halloween. And go out and have a great one. Be nice to the kids. Get some scares. We're going to go out. i don't I still don't know what Heroes costume is going to be this year. I have no idea. I don't know. we're still I think it might be the Oogie Boogie man.
01:01:10
Speaker
the Oh, for Halloween. I can tell the folks, look for me. Over on Rotten Tomatoes, Fandango, I did i get one before Halloween. You can hear the little movie pieces that they do over at Fandango. I did one for Halloween. Oh, great. you Bum around Fandango. Bum around Rotten Tomatoes. Awesome. Awesome.
01:01:32
Speaker
Well, and then i also check us out at on Film Week, the Film Week podcast. You can always do that, scpr.org, or just to look up Film Week. And visit me at the my Hollywood heretic space over on Substack, Hollywood heretic dot.substack dot.com. got some good podcasts over there as well the last one we with Tim and Mark we we pulled the gang get back together and talked Hollywood for over an hour so there it is but otherwise have a terrific Halloween and we will be back in a few weeks