Video Monsters

Our series on International Horror films kicks off with… A MOVIE HOUSE (1977)! AKA HAUSU. This delightfully deranged film from director Nobuhiko Obayashi is an unhinged (get it?! Because houses have doors… and doors have hinges!) exercise in unbridled creative enthusiasm, with more manic experimental energy in a single shot than most films have in their entire runtime. It’s the kind of film that t...

The Video Monsters are going global with International Horror films! But first we must decide which three films we’re going to focus on with a maddeningly addictive game we like to call the POPCORN PUNCHOUT! Nathan, Dan, and Eric will use our not-quite patented Video Rack Attack Bracket technology to let our votes (and a big bucket of chaos) decide what films we’ll discuss over the next few episod...

Recently, we had time to spare, And saw THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE. Every shot was black and gray, And by the end, we had much to say. When we gathered, just us three, The Video Monsters erupted with glee. We shared our thoughts and had a ball. The Coens had us all in thrall. So grab your wig and meet us at the store Be sure to tip your barber before heading out the door. For now it seems it’s time...

The Video Monsters step into the ring to contend with the fact that this is the first time we have reviewed a movie by one of our greatest living filmmakers, Martin Scorsese. We also process our feelings on unsympathetic protagonists, subjective cinematography, the dark side of the triumphant underdog sports narrative, and the (toxic) masculine urge to utterly demolish everything that you are afra...

The Video Monsters are kicking off our series on modern black-and-white films with a surreal Japanese cult body horror film that inspires awe and disgust in equal measure. So grab your drill bit, wipe that sweat off your brow, and fire up your ankle rockets because it’s time to rust this pod into the dust of the universe with our review of Shin’ya Tsukamoto’s TETSUO: THE IRON MAN (1989)! If you en...

This month, the Video Monsters set their sights on modern monochrome masterpieces! The topic is black-and-white films made after 1966, when most American film and television studios shifted to predominantly color programming. Our mission is to decide which three films to review this month. So how do we do that? With a little game we like to call the POPCORN PUNCHOUT! Nathan, Dan, Eric, and Corey w...

Our South Korean cinema series comes to a satisfying climax with a twisty erotic con thriller from legendary director, Park Chan-Wook. So grab your thimble, bookmark your page in “Bells and Balls,” and meet us in the library because it’s time to test the bounds of knowledge with our review of THE HANDMAIDEN (2016)! If you enjoy this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord (https://di...

We love trashy movies here at Video Monsters. You might even say we’re connoisseurs of it. But we do occasionally like to *ahem* cross the line into more prestigious territory. And, well, it doesn’t get any more prestigious than Bong Joon-Ho’s PARASITE. In 2019, it won the Palme d’Or and went on to become the first non-English language Best Picture winner in the history of the Academy Awards (and,...

Baby, it’s cold outside. So warm yourself up with another heated Popcorn Punchout! The Video Monsters are once depending on the chaos of our Video Rack Attack Bracket technology to determine our themes for the winter months of December, January, and February.  As usual Nathan, Eric, and Dan each have at least one darling that they want to go the distance. And if we have learned anything from this...

The Video Monsters kick the doors in on our South Korean Cinema series with an in-depth discussion of the action-packed crime drama, THE OUTLAWS (2017)! The film follows a detective (played by cuddly human wrecking ball, Ma Dong-seok AKA Don Lee) caught in the middle of a Chinese-Korean gang war in the criminal underbelly of Seoul. Nathan, Dan, and Eric discuss how such a fast-paced, plot-driven f...

The Video Monsters are once again looking for cinematic pleasures abroad. And, for our money, there are few countries with a cinematic output as diverse, exciting, and consistently high quality as South Korea. The only question is, how do we decide which movies to talk about when there are so many all-time classics to choose from?! Why, with a POPCORN PUNCHOUT, of course! Nathan, Dan, and Eric wil...

The Video Monsters share their thoughts on the 14th annual Knoxville Horror Film Festival, which ran from Oct. 20th - 23rd at the Parkway Drive-In and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. From canonical classics like CREEPSHOW, FRIGHT NIGHT (1985), ARMY OF DARKNESS, RE-ANIMATOR, and FROM BEYOND; to the FULCI LIVES triple feature; to some of  biggest genre hits on this year’s festival circuit like KIDS...

This is IT. It’s all been building up to this. Two months (and some change) of Stephen King coverage comes to a Fire(starter)y conclusion with our STEPHEN KING POPCORN PUNCHOUT! Nathan, Dan, and Eric duke it out using our Video Rack Attack Bracket technology to determine the official Video Monsters-approved top three Stephen King film/TV adaptations. The three of us are Apt Pupils and have been st...

Actor/Filmmaker Matt Mercer rides shotgun with the Video Monsters to talk about the greatest Stephen King movie of all time… depending on how you define “Stephen King movie.” In this case, the movie could also be described as the *only* Stephen King movie of all time. That’s right, let’s get the obvious pun out of the way and shift into MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE (1986)! So grab yourself a can of soda, gob...

Filmmaker Andrew Austin (THE POWER OF GLOVE) boards the Video Monsters airwaves to talk about the Stephen King miniseries with the flying meatballs that, like, eat the past or something. It’s THE LANGOLIERS (1995), from director Tom Holland! Nathan flies solo on this one (get it? because they’re on a plane) because Eric and Dan fell into a hole in space-time, I guess? I don’t know guys, it’s hard...

The Video Monsters are joined by Travis Knight – illustrator, designer, art director for the Chattanooga Film Festival, and NOT the director of BUMBLEBEE – to discuss the very first Stephen King TV miniseries, SALEM’S LOT (1979), directed by the legendary Tobe Hooper! We also brought on Corey Simpson to fill in for Eric and Dan, who were conspicuously absent after visiting an antique furniture sto...

The Video Monsters are joined by actor/writer/director Shane Brady (BREATHING HAPPY) to discuss the seemingly-ill-advised-but-miraculously-pulled-off sequel to THE SHINING: Mike Flanagan’s DOCTOR SLEEP (2019)! We’re especially excited for this episode because Shane is actually IN the film we’re discussing as the magician at Abra’s birthday party! He tells us all about what it was like on set and s...

Filmmaker Robert Woods (AN IDEAL HOST) bundles up with the Video Monsters to discuss the absolute bugnuts insanity of one of the more infamously loathed Stephen King adaptations, Lawrence Kasdan’s DREAMCATCHER (2003)! Where to begin with this one… look, it’s a $70 million prestige genre picture, it stars Morgan Freeman, and it’s about aliens that explode out of your butt. What more do I need to sa...

Filmmaker/Podcaster Bill Fulkerson (OTC Industries - Outside the Cinema podcast, SURVIVAL OF THE FILM FREAKS, SAFER SPACES) returns to share a byline with the Video Monsters and chat about about one of the most severely underappreciated Stephen King adaptations, THE NIGHT FLIER (1997)! The film is about a craven bloodsucker who flies along the east coast preying on juicy, unsuspecting witnesses. O...

Filmmaker Anthony Cousins (SCARE PACKAGE, EVERYTIME WE MEET FOR ICE CREAM YOUR WHOLE FUCKING FACE EXPLODES, and the upcoming SCARE PACKAGE II: RAD CHAD’S REVENGE) joins the Video Monsters to discuss what we believe is one of the most undervalued entries in the Stephen King film canon, David Cronenberg’s THE DEAD ZONE (1983). The film notably eschews the overt body horror that Cronenberg was known...

Theodore Schaefer (director, co-writer, producer for GIVING BIRTH TO A BUTTERFLY) joins the Video Monsters to discuss the Stephen King film that started it all, Brian De Palma’s CARRIE (1976)! It’s been noted often, including by King himself, that the surprise success of this film is the reason why King rocketed into superstardom. CARRIE is often cited as not only one of the greatest King adaptati...

Writer/Director Douglas Wicker (WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHERS) joins the Video Monsters to discuss an enjoyably kooky Stephen King adaptation that can best be described as, “what if JAWS, but werewolf?” Tonight we’re sinking our teeth into SILVER BULLET (1985), based on King’s calendar-inspired novelette (whatever that is) “Cycle of the Werewolf!” Featuring a lovable but characteristically batty Gar...

Writer/Director Kyle Kuchta (SURVIVAL OF THE FILM FREAKS, THE WOODSMAN) comes back… again… for more… of our Stephen King Halloween coverage! Kyle has selected a film about a teacher who has to relocate his wife and son to a remote part of the country for a new job after an outburst of anger causes him to lose his teaching position. That’s right! Tonight we’re talking about THE SHINI… oh, wait a mi...

Writer/Director Wolfe MacReady checks into the Overlook Hotel with the Video Monsters to passionately defend the oft-maligned ABC television miniseries version of THE SHINING (1997), directed by Mick Garris and written by King himself. The series is clearly a product of its time and suffers from the limitations of 90s network television but – despite its shortcomings – it is an earnest, emotional...

Spooky Season is upon us once again, which means it is FINALLY time to kick off our Halloween series for 2022! This is a big one for us. One that we have literally had planned out for well over a year in advance and we could not be more excited about it. So much so that we had to dedicate this entire episode to talking about the subject of our series, why he is so important to us, and what we are...