The Classic Horror Cast
34 - Gremlins (1984) - Who is This For?

Happy Holidays, good friends and listeners! For our final Classic Horror Cast of the bag of shattered dreams that was 2016, we're looking at one of the more upbeat horror movies we're likely to ever watch for the show: Joe Dante's 1984 creature feature, GremlinsWe talk about if the horror bits are effective, if the comedy is too over-the-top, and ultimately try to figure out who this damn movie was even for. Everyone, apparently, since it made a metric poop-ton of money. Let's discuss!

Direct download: Gremlins.mp3
Category:Movies -- posted at: 12:15pm EDT

Poltergeist (1982) They're heeeeeeere...

This month, amid some horrors happening in the real world, Erik, Sean, and Kyle take to the supernatural to discuss a seminal work of ghost fiction, the 1982 film Poltergeist directed by Tobe Hooper (or possibly Steven Spielberg, if you believe certain reports). Can something that inspired so many other films and tropes remain scary? Was it ever scary in the first place? We find out together!

Direct download: Poltergeist_1982.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 4:42pm EDT

32 - Peeping Tom (1960)

Happy Halloween, everyone! It's another year into the podcast and another movie to discuss. This month, Kyle and Erik are without a Sean, but they still have plenty to say about Michael Powell's career-destroying treatise on childhood trauma manifesting as psychosexual compulsions. The Red Shoes.... Just kidding, it's Peeping Tom from 1960, a movie that got buried under the weight of Hitchcock's Psycho but that might actually be a richer, more disturbing, and possibly scarier flick. DISCUSS!

Direct download: Peeping_Tom_1960.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 11:40pm EDT

31 - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) - Horror Wakes Up

This month, minus one Erik who's having to get a new laptop, Kyle and Sean are back to discuss one of the very pillars of the horror film: 1920's silent masterpiece of German Expressionism, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, directed by Robert Weine. Many point to this film as the very birth of horror in the movies, and nearly 100 years later, it's still incredibly effective. But is it scary? 

Direct download: The_Cabinet_of_Dr_Caligari_1920.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 7:40pm EDT

30 - Scream (1996) - What's Your Favorite Scary Movie?

This month, it's just Kyle and Erik, but we're hitting a big one: Wes Craven's 1996 comeback film (he had several comeback films), Scream, which revived the flagging horror film industry, introduced the idea of postmodernism and cinephilia into the genre, and is a pretty damn scary movie in and of itself!

Direct download: Scream_1997.mp3
Category:Movies -- posted at: 6:55pm EDT

29 - The Exorcist (1973) and Throwing Up in the Aisles

This month, it's another heavy hitter in the realm of classic horror as Kyle, Erik, and Sean discuss what many (at the time) consider(ed) the scariest movie ever made, William Friedkin's 1973 film, The Exorcist. Is it actually the scariest movie ever, or is it just a movie with a lot of swearing and a little girl made to blaspheme. What scares us about "The power of Christ compels you!"?? Does anything? We get to the bottom of it here.

Direct download: The_Exorcist_1973.mp3
Category:Movies -- posted at: 2:56am EDT

28 - John Carpenter's The Thing (1982)

This month, Kyle and Sean take a trip to the frigid south pole to hole up with a crew of guys (what do they DO?) and an alien that can look like anything. That's right, we're talking about the masterpiece that is John Carpenter's The Thing, made in 1982. Discussion of plot, pacing, performance, and p-creature design (couldn't continue the p trend). Enjoy!

Direct download: The_Thing_1982.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 9:08pm EDT

27 - M (1931)

This month, Kyle and Sean discuss Fritz Lang's 1931 sound film M which has a lot of the trappings of being a horror movie, but is it in fact a horror movie? We'll find out! Discussion topics include whistling creepy songs, balloons, kangaroo courts, real-life murderers, Peter Lorre's acting abilities, and shifting messages. It's a good ol' time.

Direct download: M_1931.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 3:06am EDT

26 - The Shining (1980): Is it scary or just weird?

This is a long-awaited episode, not just because it's about Stanley Kubrick's 1980 Stephen King "adaptation" The Shining, but because you thought you'd get it in December and now it's mid-January and it's finally in your earholes. After a busy holiday season, Erik, Kyle, and Sean finally reconvene their own auditory Midnight Society to discuss Jack Torrence, scary twins, hallways full of nothing, and whether or not this movie's actually any good at all. Get into it!

Next month: Fritz Lang's M!

Direct download: The_Shining.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 7:28pm EDT

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