HORROR 101 with Dr. AC

THE EXORCIST (1973) d. William Friedkin (USA) EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC (1977) d. John Boorman (USA) EXORCIST III (1990) d. William Peter Blatty (USA) EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING (2004) d. Renny Harlin (USA) DOMINION: THE PREQUEL TO THE EXORCIST (2005) d. Paul Schrader (USA) (originally broadcast Aug 2023) It's amazing to believe that THE EXORCIST has been in our lives for a half century, because for m...

BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974) d. Bob Clark (Canada) SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT (1984) d. Charles Sellier (USA) It's time to celebrate the Happy HorrorDays with two Christmas classics, both of which are celebrating milestone anniversaries! Director Bob Clark's effective (and underrated) holiday thriller BLACK CHRISTMAS pre-dates the slasher film craze and its influence is felt in Halloween, When a Stranger...

THE MUMMY (1932) d. Karl Freund (USA) THE MUMMY (1959) d. Terence Fisher (UK) THE MUMMY (1999) d. Stephen Sommers (USA) One of the most enduring classic horror archetypes, The Mummy has appeared on film almost since the inception of cinema, with numerous silent efforts preceding Universal's landmark production in 1932 starring Boris Karloff. Since then, there have been a surprising number of seque...

NIGHT OF THE DEMONS (1988) d. Kevin Tenney (USA) DEAD HEAT (1988) d. Mark Goldblatt (USA) Tonight's episode is entitled "The Class of 1988," even if "class" may not be the first word that springs to mind when describing these two horror/comedy titles. Both enjoyed limited theatrical releases, but by and large, home video was where most fans encountered them for the first time. DEAD HEAT, starring...

AT MIDNIGHT I'LL TAKE YOUR SOUL (1964) d. Jose Mojica Marins (Brazil) THIS NIGHT I'LL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE (1967) d. Jose Mojica Marins (Brazil) EMBODIMENT OF EVIL (2008) d. Jose Mojica Marins (Brazil) In 1964, Brazil's democratically elected government was forcefully overthrown, with the new authoritarian regime enacting new laws that stifled freedom of speech and increased censorship of all media...

PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1957) d. Edward D. Wood, Jr. (USA) THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH (1964) d. Del Tenney (USA) THINGS (1989) d. Andrew Jordan (Canada) Tonight, we celebrate that special kind of horror film that lurks in the shadows, often feeling put-upon and unappreciated. Some people call them "bad movies" and deride them with such titles as The Raspberry Awards, but we know that, really, they...

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1939) d. Sidney Lanfield (USA) THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1959) d. Terence Fisher (UK) Though not the first fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes is arguably the best-known. Over 25,000 stage adaptations, films, television productions, and publications have featured the detective, and Guinness World Records lists him as the most portrayed human literary character...

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (1994) d. Neil Jordan (USA) Anne Rice's celebrated novel, originally published in 1976, took nearly two decades to make it to the big screen. When it finally arrived, amidst a wave of controversy over its casting of Tom Cruise in the pivotal role of Lestat, INTERVIEW fared well with critics and boosted the profiles of co-stars Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, and 11-year-old...

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) d. Wes Craven (USA)  Horror Hall-of Famer Wes Craven created this hugely successful fright flick, which spawned multiple sequels, launched New Line Cinema, and introduced the moniker of "Freddy Krueger" into pop culture consciousness. Heather Langenkamp plays a teenager plagued by dreams of a horribly scarred figure wearing a distinctive red-striped sweater, batter...

A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959) d. Roger Corman (1959) THE WASP WOMAN (1959) d. Roger Corman (1959)  The year before he became the American rival to Hammer Studios in the Gothic Horror department with The Fall of the House of Usher (1960), Roger Corman was the reigning "King of the B's" at the drive-ins across the USA, delivering thrills and chills to teenagers young and old. Tonight, we celebrate two pr...

LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE (aka THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE) (1974)d. Jorge Grau (Spain/Italy) A hidden gem overshadowed by the myriad flesh-eating flicks that followed in its wake, director Jorge Grau took his given assignment of creating a spiritual sequel to George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead and conjured a minor classic all its own. Blending social commentary (environmentalism)...

HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959) d. William Castle (USA) THE TINGLER (1959) d. William Castle (USA)  Words like "Emergo" and "Percepto" may not be common knowledge for younger horror aficionados, but for classic horror fans, they instantly bring a smile to our faces as we remember the first time we heard the names of producer/director William Castle and actor Vincent Price. Both approached their work...

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (2007/09) d. Oren Peli (USA) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 (2010) d. Tod Williams (USA) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 (2011) d. Henry Joost/Ariel Schulman (USA) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (2012) d. Henry Joost/Ariel Schulman (USA) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES (2014) d. Christopher Landon (USA) PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION (2015) d. Gregory Plotkin (USA) Paramount's plucking of t...

AUDITION (1999) d. Takashi Miike (Japan/S. Korea) After seven years of mourning and encouraged by his teenage son to find a new wife, widower Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) seeks the advice of a colleague within the film company for which they both work. Together, they hit upon the perfect plan: Staging an audition for actresses, ostensibly for a new feature project, but in reality hoping to find the new...

PONTYPOOL (2008) d. Bruce McDonald (Canada) Pontypool , celebrating its 15th anniversary, is a fiercely intelligent variation on the "zombie/infected hordes" theme, indelibly anchored by film/TV veteran Stephen McHattie's charismatic central performance. Exiled to the wastelands of rural Ontario, former shock jock radio personality Grant Mazzy finds himself caught up in increasingly bizarre circum...

SAW (2004) d. James Wan (USA) SAW II (2005) d. Darren Lynn Bousman (USA) SAW III (2006) d. Darren Lynn Bousman (USA) SAW IV (2007) d. Darren Lynn Bousman (USA) SAW V (2008) d. David Hackl (USA) SAW VI (2009) d. Kevin Greutert (USA) SAW 3D (2010) d. Kevin Greutert (USA) JIGSAW (2017) d. Michael Spierig / Peter Spierig (USA) SPIRAL (2021) d. Darren Lynn Bousman (USA) SAW X (2023) d. Kevin Greutert (...

LEFT BANK (aka LINKEROEVER) (2008) d. Pieter Van Hees (Belgium) CUB (aka WELP) (2014) d. Jonas Govaerts (Belgium) Tonight's double feature takes us across the ocean to Belgium, a land renowned for lace, beer, chocolate, waffles, and a small but notable number of horror titles, including two films we're going to be discussing tonight: Pieter Van Hees' Left Bank from 2008 and Jonas Govaerts' Cub (ak...

SHATTER DEAD (1994) d. Scooter McCrae (USA) When the Angel of Death impregnates a mortal woman, people stop being able to die. As the living human population dwindles, the line begins to blur as to which is considered the dominant race and who are the monstrous aberrations. Tonight's selection, SHATTER DEAD, is a shining example of why "Shot-on-Video" horror films are, as author S.A. Bradley puts...

BLACK SABBATH (1963) d. Mario Bava (Italy) Following the success of Roger Corman's comic exploration of Edgar Allan Poe's  The Raven  in 1963, Boris Karloff found himself in high demand with American International Pictures. In addition to  The Terror , notoriously shot in two days on the  Raven's  sets, the horror icon appeared in  The Comedy of Terrors  for Jacques Tourneur (alongside  Raven  co-...

FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER (1984) d. Joseph Zito (USA)  One of the most influential modern horror films, 1980's surprise hit from producer/director Sean S. Cunningham, FRIDAY THE 13th, spurred a spate of sequels and imitators. By 1984, however, interest in the slasher genre seemed to be fading (only to be reinvigorated by a certain resident of Elm Street, but that's another show), and so t...

GODZILLA (2014) d. Gareth Edwards (USA) GODZILLA MINUS ONE (2023) d. Takashi Yamazaki (Japan) Join AC and his awesome panel of guests (Dan Caffrey, Barry Kaufman, Michelle Kisner, Mark Matzke, Lee Price) for the second half of our special TWO-PART EPISODE celebrating 70 years of Godzilla! Tonight, we'll discuss the first installment of what would come to be known as the Legendary Monsterverse, 201...

GOJIRA (aka GODZILLA) (1954) d. Ishiro Honda (Japan) SHIN GODZILLA (2016) d. Hideaki Anno (Japan) From his dark and imposing origins in 1954 to the rambunctious, bellowing, drop-kicking superhero of the 1970s to his resurgence on both sides of the Pacific in the 1990s and 2000s, Godzilla's significance to the giant monster genre cannot be understated. 70 years, 30 official Toho films, and five Hol...

THE BLOB (1958) d. Irwin J. Yeaworth (USA) THE BLOB (1988) d. Chuck Russell (USA) By the 1950s, sci-fi had taken Hollywood by storm, with all manner of tales involving Man exploring the galaxy, or various intergalactic neighbors swinging down to our neck of the woods for a visit. Meanwhile, juvenile delinquent pics became all the rage following the 1955 smash Rebel Without a Cause. Misunderstood t...

THE TOXIC AVENGER (1984) d. Lloyd Kaufman/Michael Herz (USA) THE TOXIC AVENGER PART 2 (1989) d. Lloyd Kaufman/Michael Herz (USA) THE TOXIC AVENGER III: THE LAST TEMPTATION OF TOXIE (1989) d. Lloyd Kaufman/Michael Herz (USA) CITIZEN TOXIE: THE TOXIC AVENGER IV (2001) d. Lloyd Kaufman (USA) Neither celebrated for their subtle nuance nor held in high regard by the critical cognoscenti, Troma Studios...

DOG SOLDIERS (2002) d. Neil Marshall (UK) Dispatched to the Scottish Highlands, a half-dozen soldiers find their special training maneuver exercises interrupted by an S.O.S. signal flare. Upon arrival at the distress site, they discover the sole remaining member of a Special Ops team, Captain Ryan, raving and bleeding profusely. Moments later, the team is besieged by mysterious, snarling assailant...