Tag: Horror

Jul 12 2019

Episode 133 – Bride of Frankenstein

, with special guest:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

The Bride of FrankensteinOur latest episode continues our exploration of Frankenstein with Bride of Frankenstein. Alison Anderson joins us to watch the sequel to James Whale’s Frankenstein with this film, that may actually be better. James Whale directs the sequel to his classic monster movie and Boris Karloff returns as the monster. Elsa Lanchester plays one of the most recognized women in the history of film and she’s on screen for something like five minutes! Go Elsa!

Next up, we are going to finish our Frankenstein series with Gods and Monsters!

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Bride of Frankenstein poster Rating: 7.8/10 (53,024 votes)
Director: James Whale
Writer: Mary Shelley, William Hurlbut, John L. Balderston
Stars: Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive
Runtime: 75 min
Rated: Not Rated
Genre: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Released: 06 May 1935
Plot: Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Baron Henry Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.

May 21 2019

Episode 131 – Frankenstein

, with special guest:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

FrankensteinWell after promising to get to this film for a few months, we finally managed to watch the 1931 Frankenstein! Adapted from Mary Shelly’s book, this movie basically defines what Frankenstein’s Monster will look like for the rest of film history. Boris Karloff has the star making role in this James Whale directed classic. Alison Anderson joins us after having watched Young Frankenstein so she can finally get where a whole bunch of the jokes came from!

Next up, we are going to follow Boris Karloff (sort of) to  Arsenic and Old Lace!

Frankenstein (1931)
Frankenstein poster Rating: 7.8/10 (79,208 votes)
Director: James Whale
Writer: John L. Balderston, Mary Shelley, Peggy Webling
Stars: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, Boris Karloff
Runtime: 70 min
Rated: Passed
Genre: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Released: 21 Nov 1931
Plot: Dr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.

Oct 01 2016

Episode 78 – Halloween

, with special guest:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

HalloweenThis week, Susanne Becker joins us to watch the horror classic Halloween!  Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence star in a movie that pretty much served as the source for every masked killer horror trope from the 1980’s.  Make no mistake, though, this film did them all first and, in many ways, it is still the best.  While the film may not have aged as well as some of the other classic titles we’ve watched, it is still some very impressive work by Horror virtuoso John Carpenter.

Next up, we will be watching The Shining!

Note: You may be wondering where our episode of Bringing up Baby has gone.  Sadly, we had severe technical difficulties with the recording and we were unable to salvage anything.  Sorry.

Halloween (1978)
Halloween poster Rating: 7.7/10 (305,432 votes)
Director: John Carpenter
Writer: John Carpenter, Debra Hill
Stars: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran
Runtime: 91 min
Rated: R
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Released: 27 Oct 1978
Plot: Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.

Aug 01 2016

Episode 75 – The Silence of the Lambs

, with special guest:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

The Silence of the LambsThis week’s episode explores the only horror film to win an Oscar for best picture, The Silence of the Lambs!  It took some work to find someone who hadn’t seen the film but Chelsea Okey was good enough to join us even though she really doesn’t like horror.  We spend a lot of time talking about the acting work of Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, which is superb.  But we also look at how well constructed this film is as a thriller and we observe that perhaps we should not have recorded the podcast in a basement for this particular episode.

For our next podcast, we’ll follow Jodie Foster to Taxi Driver!

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
The Silence of the Lambs poster Rating: 8.6/10 (1,540,994 votes)
Director: Jonathan Demme
Writer: Thomas Harris, Ted Tally
Stars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn
Runtime: 118 min
Rated: R
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Released: 14 Feb 1991
Plot: A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.

Dec 01 2013

Episode 12 – John Carpenter’s The Thing

, with special guest: ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

The ThingOnce again, we recorded live at Pepito’s Parkway Theatre in Minneapolis.  This time, we were joined by Matt Allex from the Horror Show Hot Dog.  We returned to the magical year of 1982 with Matt’s favorit movie: John Carpenter’s The Thing.  The print was absolutely phenomenal and the movie is one of the great horror films of all time.  We were joined by an enthusiastic audience for an ejoyable afternoon of death and nihilism.

Note: We had a few issues with the microphones when we were recording this episode so there are some lengthy silences.  Sorry about that!

Our next episode will be a very special Christmas episode where we watch just about the only Christmas movie Jena has never seen – Trading Places.

The Thing (1982)
The Thing poster Rating: 8.2/10 (464,155 votes)
Director: John Carpenter
Writer: Bill Lancaster, John W. Campbell Jr.
Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David
Runtime: 109 min
Rated: R
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Released: 25 Jun 1982
Plot: A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

Nov 01 2013

Episode 10 – The Abominable Dr. Phibes

, with special guest:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

The Abominable Dr. PhibesThis episode will air on the day after Halloween so we decided that it was time to show Jena a bizarre horror film starring Vicent Price.  Much like The Matrix, nobody can tell you what The Abominable Dr. Phibes is – you have to see it for yourself.  Jena was clearly still unsure what she’d seen when the movie was over and that reaction was just about perfect.  If you haven’t seen the movie yet – go ahead and listen to the episode.  We promised that there is no way to spoil the cinematic experience that is The Abominable Dr. Phibes!

Our next episode airs on the 15th of November and it will be about Jaques Tati’s Playtime!

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes poster Rating: 7.1/10 (16,527 votes)
Director: Robert Fuest
Writer: James Whiton, William Goldstein
Stars: Vincent Price, Joseph Cotten, Virginia North
Runtime: 94 min
Rated: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Released: 18 May 1971
Plot: Doctor, scientist, organist, and biblical scholar Anton Phibes seeks revenge on the nine doctors he considers responsible for the death of his wife.