Dismembering Horror

Our friend and previous guest Peter Warden (from the podcast Retro Reviews) gives his thoughts on the Scream franchise, specifically why he prefers the third installment over the sequel. Happy Halloween everyone, and thanks for joining us this "Scream-tober!"

Boy oh boy, we are back and nailing it with “Scream 4!” We’ve got a mix of new and old coming together to cause havoc in the little town of Woodsboro, where once again everyone’s favorite Sydney is at the mercy of Ghostface (or as proven time and time again, Ghostface is at the mercy of Sydney). What a great note to end our spooky-Halloween-horror-film-month-Scream-a-thon! Both Ryan and Tim were f...

“Scream” goes Hollywood! …though the trip didn’t quite hit (or stab) the way we had hoped. BUT, that doesn’t mean there still wasn’t plenty to thrill us in this intended-finale of the “Scream” series. Missing the influence of the great Kevin Williamson on writing duties may have largely been a source of our issues, but that doesn’t mean the reigns were in bad hands. We go deep into why “Scream 3”...

Can you believe they put “Scream 2” out just one year after the original? What’s more impressive is that this sequel stays right on track with everything that made the first “Scream” great, plus (as Randy describes), it lives up to being bigger and bloodier. The guys dive into the meta-metaness that drives this film, as well as some nods to wonderful (and ancient) storytelling. No surprise here, i...

AHHHHHHHHH! Let’s really kick off October with the one that started it all (“all” being the modern age slasher), “Scream!” That’s right, for this month of horror we continue our tradition of picking a famous horror series to dismember with Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson’s meta, magnum opuses. You can probably guess that “Scream” rated pretty favorably with Tim and Ryan, so join us to find out why...

Cole’s back, and as sharply dressed as ever! Now don’t get too excited, this sequel to the very first film we covered may not have blown us away as much as we had hoped, but one thing is for sure: “The Babysitter: Killer Queen” is a McG joint through and through. And Ryan took a long drag off that joint and was able to sit back and enjoy the ride. Tim, on the other hand, decided to be the cranky,...

Atmosphere abounds in this creepy, creaky, haunted house horror. The sophomore entry into Ozgood Perkins’ body of work sets a tone but ultimately falls short in it’s inability to lock into a cohesive story that pays off. Nonetheless, “I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House” has fantastic skill in its artistic elements, leading Ryan to fall under the film’s spell, finding substance where Tim...

LET’S GET FRENCH! “Trouble Every Day” was a great departure from the typical, American horror into some fine cuisine of hypnotic, moody-broody-cannibaly-sexy art. A lot of wonderful build-up made the squirmy catharsis that much more satisfying, and plenty of tasty themes to chew on put this in the solid “rent” category for both Ryan and Tim.  Trouble Every Day (2001)  Directed by Claire Denis Writ...

Boy, did we drink “Thirst” right up, and quench every bit of delicious, bloody fun we were craving. Park Chan-wook is so uniquely wonderful and unlike any other filmmaker out there right now, and Ryan and Tim couldn’t get enough. Based on enthusiasm alone, the guys couldn't rate it anything less than a “buy it”. So take a few vampire leaps, turn on your super vampire-hearing, and tune into this we...

Ahhhh those Italians and their wacky horror stories. This week we got treated to some anthology stylings with Boris Karloff, severed heads, nightstalkers, and a cursed ring. Good old Mario Bava and an early Giallo film that we can't help but be endeared to. This being our second Bava film, we compared and contrasted the previous one we watched ("Planet of the Vampires") which was more sci-fi-horro...

Time to get our slither on! So many “slithers” slithering all over the place! It’s fun to think about how many familiar faces came through this slimy, slippery, ooey, gooey, spacey, homage-y, hometown-horror film. Harkening back to so many horror greats of the past such as “The Blob,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “The Thing,” “Night of the Creeps,” and so on, “Slither” delivers, as well as fi...

Let’s head to a Poland for a wedding extravaganza, featuring some buried bones, lots and lots of alcohol, and a possessed groom! What more could you ask for? Well for starters, maybe a better ending (zing)! Actually, there were some really cool things going on in “Demon,” even if it didn’t quite leave us completely satisfied. There was a good creep factor, plus SO MUCH DAMPNESS (something Tim part...

The nostalgia train is coming into the station this episode, carrying an evil carnival from many 80’s children’s imaginations. Now we won’t say that everything holds up from the memories of our own childhoods, but there is some fun stuff and worthwhile moments in “Something Wicked This Way Comes.” A surprisingly spooky Disney outing made when they were trying to darken up their brand, it earned a...

Let’s get wack-a-do with Ken Russell! This week we took some laudanum and tripped our faces off to the tune of a harpsichord and an ever-insane Gabriel Byrne. "Gothic" tells the apparently famous story of the night Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Doctor Polidori, and Mary Shelley all went a little nutso and conceived of some monstrous tales (most noteworthy being of course Mary Shelley’s "Frankenstein"...

And here we go into the 100's! Into a new phase of our show, just like two siblings finding the haunted house of their dreams on a cliffside where they must solve the mystery of the haunting in order to live in peace. Oh, and that just happens to be the premise of this week’s film, " The Uninvited."  In a simpler time before ghosts had ever been depicted as actual entities, this film harkened the...

WE MADE IT TO 100 EPISODES! Can you believe it, fiends? We had so much to cover that we had to split the episode into TWO PARTS! 99 films is a lot of horror, so to celebrate we first check in with the age old question, “Why horror?” Then we really get into it with taking a look back at each of our top nine favorite films, going back in depth over WHAT WORKED and why these nine stood out above the...

PART 2 of our 100th episode retrospective! We go through each of our bottom nine films, really sinking our teeth into why these films did not work for us. Then, for our “Things of Note” section, we see if we can recall the most indelible moments from all of the first 99 films we’ve watched. THEN, we honor our favorite “Scream Queens” as a nod to the wonderful women of horror who have starred in th...

It’s official, the final double digit episode has arrived! This week’s film did not disappoint by allowing us to celebrate in a fittingly horror-centric way…that’s right, we got to visit the “Carnival of Souls!” With some wonderful otherworldly storytelling, rife with creepy dudes, and a hint of twilight zone eeriness, we had as much fun as you’d want from a trip to the carnival. The film’s themes...

Billy Idol said it best: “Now all I can do, Love what was once, So alive in you, But it's gone from your eyes, I better realize…” And that’s exactly what the obsessed doctor in “Eyes Without a Face” needed to realize! You can’t just go around killing people to make your daughter “normal” again! Earning a solid double “rent” from the guys, there was plenty to surgically slice and dice. With fantast...

Lon Chaney stuns as the titular character in the original film adaptation of the french novel. Going all the way back to 1925, or 1929, or 1930 or… well, whichever year the version you watched is listed as, there is no doubt that "The Phantom of the Opera" set the stage for some tremendous horror filmmaking to come, not to mention inspiring a gem of a musical. Ryan and Tim discuss the nuanced elem...

TIM.LOVES.THIS.MOVIE! AND.SO.DOES.RYAN! Guess what that means? DOUBLE “BUY” TIME! Why? Because “Under The Skin” is freeeeeaaaaaky. ScarJo “kills it,” and Jonathan Glazer was insanely dedicated to his vision. The themes are rich and thorough. The visuals are mesmerizing, especially contrasted against the bleak, wet, Scottish landscape as a backdrop. There’s so much more to dismember and praise but...

Who doesn’t love Jake Gyllenhaal, Toni Collette, Rene Russo, and John Malkovich? Well, we do, BUT (and it’s a big but) having all of those very talented people in a movie doesn’t necessarily guarantee a good movie. The Netflix semi-arthouse horror movie about art, “Velvet Buzzsaw” has its moments, some pretty sweet visuals, and the lead actress was really great (if only she had been the true prota...

As gothic horror films go, this one’s certainly firing on all pistons (or candelabras, as the case may be). Wonderful visuals and an eerie mood, coupled with compelling characters, made “The Lodgers” an enjoyable watch. Sadly, a few unclear/underwhelming story aspects kept it from rising to the level of excellence that we felt it had the potential for. Alas, Ryan and Tim settled on a double “strea...

Now THIS is what we’re talking about! This film’s got it all! Fear of nuclear holocaust, fear of military experimentation...cows. Oh, you want more? Well, don’t worry: “Fiend Without A Face” also has invisible, psychokinetic, brain-eating, spinal-fluid-draining, BRAIN MONSTERS. It’s so 50’s sci-fi and so good AND made by British people? We love it, and came around to a double “buy” (our highest pr...

Well, “The Girl Next Door” is a movie (barely), and look, we didn’t like it. In fact, we both wanted to avoid it, but Ryan makes a valid argument that to learn from why it’s so bad constitutes a “stream” from him. Having said that, in Tim’s words: “this is the worst movie I’ve ever seen.” But fear not, loyal listener: Ryan is right, there is value in this dismemberment, and boy do we tear this one...