Puppet Masters / Castle Freaks

This is the big one, folks! Not only does this week mark our 100th episode, but we're also talking about one of the canonical best horror films ever made: Stuart Gordon's RE-ANIMATOR! If that wasn't enough of an honor, we are also joined by one of our favorite guests, horror historian Michael Gingold, and one of the stars of the film itself, the iconic Barbara Crampton! Why are you still reading t...

Perhaps the crowning achievement of the entire Moonbeam universe, Ted Nicolaou's DRAGONWORLD is as close to a legit blockbuster as Full Moon gets. We're chatting about this engaging kids movie with Lowell Greenblatt of Macabre Daily!  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck  Logo by Doug McCambridge  Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com Instagram/Threads: @pup...

CRYPTZ follows an aspiring rap group into the world's grossest looking club, where they must fight against sexy stripper vampires in a film that is in no way like FROM DUSK TILL DAWN! We're joined this week by the amazing Xero Gravity from Blerdy Massacre, who helps us explore the history of low-budget Black horror and where CRYPTZ fits into that lineage.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntl...

The devilish doughboy is back for another exercise in low-taste gore gags with the impeccably titled GINGERDEAD MAN 3: SATURDAY NIGHT CLEAVER! Brad Hanson from Evolution of Horror has completed his internship at the Scientific Research Institute for the Study of Homicidal Baked Goods and is back to offer his specific expertise on just what makes this creepy cookie tick.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck...

It's long overdue, but for this episode we're taking a step back and just enjoying a chill hang, talking about our lives and our various obsessions and the weird road that took us to the world of Full Moon.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck  Logo by Doug McCambridge  Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com Instagram/Threads: @puppetmasters_castlefreaks  Yo...

Crank up the sexy sax because we're heading back to Torchlight with what may be the sublabel's crowning artistic achievement, HUNTRESS: SPIRIT OF THE NIGHT! Erin Dawn of the Manic Movie Monday podcast returns to guide us through the sensuously-lit world of B-movie erotica with this tale of werewolves and literal bodice-ripping.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song by Kyle Hornbe...

It's a trio of films that seems specifically designed to torture one of your intrepid co-hosts, but William Butler's BABY OOPSIE trilogy has a few surprises in store. The singularly irritating Demonic Toy takes center stage this week for BABY OOPSIE, MURDERDOLLS, and BURN BABY BURN, three films adapted from a two-season web series. The titular Kelly of Kelly's Taboo Terrors joins us this week to h...

ENEMY TERRITORY is the first film bold enough to ask: what if the guy who sang the GHOSTBUSTERS theme was in ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13? Turns out the answer is a pretty rad underground action flick. Returning guest Eric Walkuski joins us as we talk about this wild piece of late-80s urban paranoia, as a milquetoast insurance salesman and a cable repairman try to survive a night in a tenement building...

In the early 90s, "HOME ALONE rip-off" was a legit genre, and there's no way Charles Band was going to let a zeitgeist go unexploited. This week we're talking about the 1993 Moonbeam romp REMOTE, where a resourceful young kid and his remote control toys take on a trio of bumbling burglars. We're joined this week by one half of Video Villa Entertainment, Logan, who helps us explore this odd little...

LASER BLAST gets an unofficial remake in the surprisingly dark and upsetting DEADLY WEAPON. Starring NIGHTMARE 3's Rodney Eastman as a bullied teen who acquires an ultra-powerful ray gun, this nearly-lost cult movie goes to some heavy places, both for better and for worse. Michael Cucinotta joins us to weigh in on this Empire-era weirdo.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song by K...

Hollywood: land of big dreams, big stars, and big... cam girls. It's time for ATTACK OF THE 50-FT. CAM GIRL and GIANTESS BATTLE ATTACK, a pair of ultra-trashy T&A comedies from schlockmeister Jim Wynorski. We're joined by the iconic Cayley of "Once-Over With Cayley" (@OnceOverwithCayley on YouTube), who talks us through all the radioactive nonsense of this gleefully sleazy pair.  Hosted by Jar...

We're back in the twisted world of Clive Barker for UNDERWORLD, released stateside as TRANSMUTATIONS! This 1985 fantasy neo-noir is Barker's first screenplay and his first collaboration with RAWHEAD REX director George Pavlou, but it bears a lot of his cinematic hallmarks, albeit in a very early form. We're delighted to be joined on this weird little concoction by multi-hyphenates Marc Gottlieb an...

An event nearly 60 years in the making, THE PRIMEVALS has one of the wildest production stories in Hollywood history. Luckily, we're joined by a special guest who is no stranger to troubled productions: Max Evry, the author of "A Masterpiece in Disarray: David Lynch's Dune - An Oral History!" Max joins us to dissect Dave Allen's long-gestating passion project, a movie that he was developing since...

Tis the season to... buy merch? This week we're talking about Full Moon's only Christmas "film," THE 12 SLAYS OF CHRISTMAS, a compilation of old Full Moon flicks that just so happens to also function as an ad for the Tiny Terrors toy line. We're joined by Mr. Christmas himself, Chris Antista, who lends his expertise into holiday specials to see where this flick lands in the canon. Then, as an extr...

The original KILLJOY was a surprise hit when it debuted in the early 2000s, so it seemed a foregone conclusion that the killer clown would be a new staple in the Full Moon repertoire. But as we see this week, the franchise almost died after the second entry, and was only able to return after a complete reimagining in the early 2010s. We're discussing the next two entries in the KILLJOY saga this w...

Writer Kolleen Carney-Hoepfner joins us this week for HORRORVISION, an underrated entry in one of our favorite sub-subgenres: early internet thrillers. This early Tempe-era thriller is much smarter than you expect, as an evil website starts to tempt and capture LA-area goths.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck  Logo by Doug McCambridge  Email: puppetmasterscas...

Author Dylan James Quarles returns this week as we rustle up a sequel to 1994's OBLIVION, Sam Irvin's BACKLASH: OBLIVION 2! Shot simultaneously with the original but released more than 2 years later, this follow up maintains the fun, goofy tone of the original and allows supporting characters, like Julie Newmar's Miss Kitty, to really shine.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song...

This week, we're taking on DREAMANIAC the mainstream film debut of David DeCoteau, one of Charles Band's most important collaborators and maybe the most prolific filmmaker of all time. Alex Ayling from Evolution of Horror joins us for this weird, murky Wizard Video release about a demonic succubus that features maybe the strangest twist we've yet encountered.   Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve...

We're revisiting the Full Moon Cinematic Universe this week with DOLLMAN VS. DEMONIC TOYS, a crossover event meant to be a soft launch for an attempted shared universe. We're joined by return guest Ivotres Littles of Horror Movies and Beyond as we explore this odd flick that assembles characters from DOLLMAN, DEMONIC TOYS, and BAD CHANNELS. Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song by...

A gaggle of Full Moon's most iconic scream queens come together for the smart and funny satire TROPHY HEADS! Critic Patrick Bromley joins us as we watch Darcy DeMoss, Michelle Bauer, Brinke Stevens, Linnea Quigley, Jaqueline Lovell, and Denice Duff reckon with both an obsessed fan and the ageist movie industry.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck  Logo by Doug...

The boys of the Screams From The Basement podcast join us as we step back into the hotboxed EVIL BONG universe with two more pot-themed horror comedies: the tiny terror comedy WEEDJIES: HALLOWEED NIGHT and the spin-off THE GINGERWEED MAN! Are these a HIT or are we going to PUFF PUFF PASS on them? Sorry, there are a lot of weed puns, it may have broken our brains.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Ste...

Fangoria writer and critic Richard Newby is our guest this week as we look back at the film Charles Band considers his true debut: 1976's grisly MANSION OF THE DOOMED! Starring old Hollywood icons Richard Basehart and Gloria Grahame and an appearance from a young Lance Henricksen, this tale of a mad doctor obsessed with saving his daughter's eyesight is a grim but effective shocker.   Hosted by Ja...

We've got Full Moon / Empire royalty on the show this week! Iconic 80's scream queen Brinke Stevens joins us this week, alongside her friend and superfan Dr. Rhonda Baughman, to discuss Brinke's directorial debut, SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-O-RAMA 2! This 30-years-in-the-making sequel brings a new crop of ditzy college kids into the path of the Imp, and we have the inside scoop from Brin...

Legendary pop culture critic Nathan Rabin is back this week to talk about an icon of 90's indie cinema, and it's oft-overlooked sequel! 1996's FREEWAY is a demented and gritty take on "Little Red Riding Hood" that transcends the sleaze of it's surroundings thanks to a witty script and a star-making turn from a young Reese Witherspoon. The sequel, CONFESSIONS OF A TRICKBABY, was a Full Moon pickup...

The boys of Movie Dumpster are back this week to talk about one of the most intense Empire thrillers: David Schmoeller's CRAWLSPACE! This creepy flick about a lunatic stalking residents of an apartment building stars Klaus Kinski, one of the most famously unpredictable and insane film stars of all time, and the behind-the-scenes stories from this film have become not only legendary, but hugely inf...