The Classic Horror Cast
Videodrome (1983) - Long Live the New Flesh

This month, your intrepid horror hosts take a hard look at television and its effects on people's brains, bodies, and chest cavities when they dive into David Cronenberg's 1983 film Videodrome, which many consider to be one of the Canadian filmmaker's crowning achievements. Is Cronenberg holding up a mirror to the Cathode Ray-obsessed populace, or to himself for making gory, sexy films that might be corrupting someone's head? Or maybe it's both. But the line between what's real and what's just an image are more blurred than ever before.

Direct download: Videodrome.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 10:25am EDT

Eyes Without a Face (1960) - Clinical Gore and French Lyricism

In French, the title of this month's movie is Les yeux sans visage, but we hear in the English-speaking world call it Rebel Yell. Sorry, wrong Billy Idol song. It's actually Eyes Without a Face, the moody and creepy 1960 film by Georges Franju, concerning a surgeon who will go to any lengths to replace his disfigured daughter's face, however until he does, the daughter is stuck at home wearing a form-fitting featureless mask. Did we mention it's creepy? Erik, Kyle, and Sean delve into the film's German expressionist and Italian Neo-Realist tendencies as well as its incredibly graphic surgical scenes. And caliope music, too.

Direct download: Eyes_Without_a_Face.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 4:03pm EDT

Carrie (1976) - They're All Going to Laugh at You!

This month, Sean, Erik, and Kyle head to the prom to dance, drink punch, and run in horror from a girl with pig's blood on her face and telekenetic powers in her brain. That's right, we're talking about Brian De Palma's 1976 adaptation of Stephen King's first published novel. Discussion topics include girls coming of age, locker room antics, religious zealotry, acting virtuosity, how terrible people are, and whether or not split screen adds anything at all.

Direct download: Carrie.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 8:58pm EDT

The Evil Dead (1981) - Misogyny and Patience-Testing

This month, Erik, Kyle, and Sean travel into a cabin in the woods for one of the first films to use that familiar location, Sam Raimi's 1981 feature debut, the immortal The Evil Dead, starring Bruce Campbell. Topics of discussion include the inherent misogyny of being violated by a tree, the relative realism of the Ash character, and a whether testing the stamina of the audience works in the film's favor or not.

Direct download: The_Evil_Dead.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 11:10pm EDT

The Wicker Man (1973) - The Terror of Belief

This month, Erik, Kyle and Sean take a pleasant journey to Summerisle to sample some of the fine cuisine, native culture, and ritual sacrifice. That's right, the film in question this time around is Robin Hardy's 1973 paranoid pagan masterpiece, The Wicker Man, and the discussion delves into questions of false piety, open copulation, and whether or not it matters if the founder of a religion actually believes in it. 

Direct download: The_Wicker_Man.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 12:29pm EDT

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

This month, Erik, Kyle, and Sean discuss one of the most disturbing, influential, and most misunderstood horror films ever made, Tobe Hooper's 1974 masterpiece The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. In particular, they talk about the impact the movie had on the slasher genre, the methods Hooper employed to get the creepy and uneasy feeling throughout, and what the "family unit" truly means.

Direct download: The_Texas_Chain_Saw_Massacre.mp3
Category:Movies -- posted at: 7:15pm EDT

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) - It's Not Alive

In an extension of our episode last month, we (that is Erik, Kyle, and Sean) take a look at what is arguably the first Hammer horror film: 1957's The Curse of Frankenstein starring Peter Cushing and (kind of) Christopher Lee. We discuss what it means to be a "Hammer" movie, the nature of having a villain for a protagonist, and whether a movie about Frankenstein really needs the Creature.

Direct download: The_Curse_of_Frankenstein.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 4:26am EDT

Frankenstein (1931) & Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

This month, you get two films discussed for the price of one - James Whale's two Universal classics, Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935), both based very loosely on Mary Shelley's novel. From the writing-by-committee of the first film to the camp allegory of the second one, Erik, Kyle, and Sean trundle along after the thick-booted Boris Karloff with the torches of knowledge. 

Direct download: Frankenstein.mp3
Category:Movies -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Suspiria (1977) Murder as High Art

This month, we tackle the divisive Italian horror masterpiece Suspiria by maestro Dario Argento. The film was a departure at the time for Argento, being his first to deal with the supernatural and not strictly a knife-wielding murderer. There's still plenty of knife murders, of course. We discuss the film's visuals, the director's penchant for cinematic logic versus narrative logic, and whether or not we can truly be driven mad by the music of Goblin.

Direct download: Suspiria.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:47pm EDT

Ringu (1998) - Video Age, Telephone Game, and Casual Psychics

This month, Erik, Kyle, and Sean discuss Hideo Nakata's 1998 J-Horror classic, Ringu, which was remade in America as The Ring. The fellows discuss Asian horror sensibilities, creepy girls with stringy hair, how to immediately date a movie, and why it's apparently no big deal for people to be psychic.

Next month: Dario Argento's Suspiria

Direct download: Ring_CHC.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 1:34pm EDT

Episode 4 - John Carpenter's Halloween (1978); the boogeyman

This month, we take a look at our first film in color, believe it or not. It's a movie that made a star out of its director, lead actor, and white-masked murderer and finally brought fear to the scariest day of the year. Of course, we're talking about John Carpenter's 1978 masterpiece Halloween. Is it as scary as people say? Does it scare Erik, Kyle, and Sean? Or is it, like Night of the Living Dead, more important than good. Listen to find out.

Direct download: Episode_4_Halloween.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 12:04am EDT

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Before "walkers," "undead," or even "zombies," there were the ghouls of George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead. On the surface, the 1968 film is just an independent horror picture with uneven pacing and more realisitic gore, but in the 45 years since its release, it's become everything from a political and social allegory to the beginning of a cultural phenomenon. This month (Happy New Year!), Erik, Sean, and Kyle sink their teeth into a modern horror icon.

Direct download: Episode_3_-_Night_of_the_Living_Dead.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 9:44pm EDT

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