260 – The Velvet Vampire

In SoCal you have to know about sun protection

Jen and Tim brave the harsh California desert in search of a truly obscure female-focused vampire chiller, The Velvet Vampire!

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Watch The Velvet Vampire on Shudder, and accept no substitutes! This is the best version of the film currently available, as the most recent blu-ray release is extremely difficult to find.

No joke, if you know where we can get a copy of this exact Shout Factory edition of The Velvet Vampire blu-ray for a reasonable (or at most mildly unreasonable) price, please let us know.

Read an exhaustive interview with Stephanie Rothman covering her entire life and career as a filmmaker, courtesy of the UCLA Center for Oral History Research.

259 – Video Violence

The late fees… are murder!

Tim and Jen reach deep into the spooky season remainder bin and pull out one of the better shot-on-video horror movies… but regular listeners know just how low that bar can really go.

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Video Violence filmmaker Gary P. Cohen has a website!

Forbes has the rundown on the guy who got banned for like two seconds for posting one of the worst things you can find online.

Want more shot-on-video horror? We’ve talked about some of the hard(est to watch) stuff— check out our SOV episode collection!

258 – Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Better de-aging of DeNiro than in The Irishman

Jen and Tim look back at “the Cybertruck of prestige novel adaptations,” Kenneth Branagh’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein!

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Most of this interview with Frank Darabont is about The Shawshank Redemption, but at the tail end he gives his unvarnished thoughts on what a hash Branagh made of his screenplay for Frankenstein.

“That movie was his vision entirely. If you love that movie you can throw all your roses at Ken Branagh’s feet. If you hated it, throw your spears there too, because that was his movie.”

-Frank Darabont

Branagh spoke in-depth about the film with a pre-cancellation Charlie Rose, if you’re interested in hearing him explain himself.

257 – Trick ‘r Treat

Trick ‘R-word Treat

Tim and Jen haze Bitter Karella over her inexplicable defense of a Halloween-themed anthology film, Trick ‘r Treat!

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As of 2024, filmmaker Michael Dougherty is threatening a sequel to Trick ‘r Treat. Be still my heart.

See What’s Your Problem? (What is Wrong With You?), one of Jen’s favorite pieces of public television ephemera.

Want a horror anthology that’s actually good? Check out our episode on Ghost Stories!

251 – Dr. Caligari

Putting the “psycho” in psycho-sexual (also the “sexual”)

Tim and Jen host the freakiest guest they know, the lovable Bitter Karella of Midnight Pals fame, to chat about one of the freakiest movies she knows, Dr. Caligari!

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Screen Anarchy has a wonderful gallery of Caligari director Stephen Sayadian’s work, going all the way back to his earliest days as an editorial illustrator. Included are some reminisces about Dr. Caligari!

Read a 2024 interview with Caligari co-writer Jerry Stahl, in which he speaks candidly about sobriety and being an artist in a world ruled by money.

241 – The Black Hole

Stare into the abyss and two big googly eyes stare back

A mysterious stranger returns to the show to evaluate a weak Disney stab at a dark sci-fi blockbuster: The Black Hole!

Zencastr gives you flawless audio, crystal-clear video, and effortless editing. Spend less time juggling tools, more time making great slo— uhh, content!

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The Hollywood Reporter looked back on the production of The Black Hole in 2019, including interviews with Joseph Bottoms, director Gary Nelson, and Robert Forster.

Wayne Barlowe‘s Hell is so fucking cool that even James Cameron, Clive Barker, and Guillermo del Toro have raved about it. See it at the artist’s website.

239 – Blood Diner

You’ll horrifically bust a gut laughing!

Jen welcomes musician and poster par excellence Patrick Cosmos to chat about a fun little movie with tongue firmly in cheek, Blood Diner!

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Find Patrick at veryimportant.lawyer on Bandcamp and Bluesky, and get his Tonal Rotors album at Big Sleep Records.

Sadly, Carl Crew’s California Institute of Abnormalarts is no more. Read an archived article from LA Bizarro about the venue.

Keyboardist Don Preston just wrapped up a tour at age 91! Read an interview with him at It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine.

233 – A Cure For Wellness

Good for what ails you… or is it??

Jen welcomes show regular Bitter Karella and wild card Moodyferret to evangelize a Gore Verbinski flop that didn’t deserve the massive shrug it got from the public: the 2016 psychological thriller A Cure For Wellness.

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Errata: we all say in the episode that this movie came out in 2016, but it actually arrived in theaters on February 17, 2017 before almost immediately disappearing. Oops! That said, the movie was originally slated for an October 2016 release, which seems to indicate that 20th Century Fox lost their nerve and dumped the film in Fuck-You February.

Fox made a last-ditch effort to hype the film with this Super Bowl teaser, mimicking a pharma company ad. This is the one that Jen vaguely described in the episode.

Every previous Bitter Karella appearance on the show may be found in our collection!

229 – Christmas Evil

Jolly ol’ Saint Flick-knife

Tim and Jen cover an unusual holiday movie that features a man beaten down by an uncaring society enough to become a self-appointed assassin. Wait, what year is this? It’s 1980 and this is Christmas Evil!

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There is a whole ass website about Whamageddon with the ruleset and everything, if you’d like to play or simply to inform yourself. We won’t be participating, though, because we love Wham! too much to refrain from listening to them. You could also listen to this “Last Christmas”-free megamix!

Need more gimmicky costumed killers? Listen to our episode on the Terrifier movies, but be warned: we don’t care for that clown at all.

227 – Sleepwalkers

I fed you ten minutes ago!!

Tim and Jen rope old friend Paul Jay into talking about a very stupid Stephen King shapeshifting energy vampires vs. kitties flick, Sleepwalkers.

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Errata: Newsies actually came out April 8th, 1992, but it’s probably safe to assume that no one wanted to see it on that date, either.

IGN has a very good interview with director Mick Garris, in which he talks about his work on much better horror properties like The Stand.

Can’t get enough of Paul? Listen to the episode where he joined us to discuss Warren Beatty’s singular mania, Dick Tracy! Or just mainline all of his guest appearances via this collection!