The Classic Horror Cast

This month, because it seems very much in the zeitgeist of late, the fellas have decided to discuss Robert Aldrich's 1962 thriller, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, a movie almost more famous for the rivalry between co-stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford than for anything artistic. Is this right? Does the movie count as horror? Does it make sense for this film to have become a camp icon? Let's get into the birth of the Psycho Bitty genre!

Direct download: What_Ever_Happened_to_Baby_Jane_1962.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 5:45pm EDT

This month, Kyle, Erik, and Sean hole up in a shopping mall to escape the hordes of bad people running the world and decide to talk about one of the best and most influential horror movies ever made, George A. Romero's 1978 adventure gore-fest, Dawn of the Dead. Is there more to it than simply marauding zombies and weird muzak? Let's find out together!

Direct download: Dawn_of_the_Dead_1978.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 1:48pm EDT

36 - Phantasm (1979) Boooooooy!!!!

Is it a dream, a curse, or just a weird movie we can't fully explain? This month, Erik, Sean, and Kyle look at Don Coscarelli's 1979 film Phantasm, the movie that gave the world the tertiary horror icon The Tall Man, and a shiny flying ball that drills into people's skulls. But is this movie worth remembering or just shaking off like a bad nightmare?

Direct download: Phantasm_1979.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 2:32pm EDT

35 - Hellraiser (1987) - Some Kind of Sublime Pain

Let it never be said that the fellas of the Classic Horror Cast don't start a year with a bang. Our 35th episode, and the first of 2017, features what many consider a tentpole horror flick from the 1980s, creating an icon up there with Freddy and Jason... if only any of his movies were good! That's right, we're taking our first (and likely ONLY) foray into the psychosexual realms of Clive Barker with his first film as a director, 1987's Hellraiser, which features that Cenobite porcupine known as Pinhead. Is the movie worthy of such a villain? Join us!

Direct download: Hellraiser_1987.mp3
Category:Horror -- posted at: 6:43pm EDT

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