Dismembering Horror

Happy Thanksgiving! What better way to give thanks than to watch a classic that the whole family can enjoy? This week we got a jolt of energy with “Shocker.” With a plot that’s a little half-baked, it’s not one of Wes Craven’s best works, and earned a double “stream” from us. That’s not to say there wasn’t some wonderfully nutso moments, including an original and unmatched final fracas. Needless t...

The hat always knows (as proven by the miraculous event of Ryan wishing for 1922’s “Häxan” to be this week’s film and Tim actually pulling it from the hat)! And boy oh boy, what a wonderful, witchy, delight this film was. Grabbing the brand new Criterion Blu-ray gave us all we could ask for. The brilliant imagery and masterful art direction of this haunting cinematic experience earned an unwaverin...

“It’s called ‘Trench 11,’ not ‘Underground Base 11.’” Need we say more for this week’s episode? A meandering, lackluster, derivative film that failed to live up to its potential. Despite some fun “squidges and squooshes” from the “angel hair pasta” parasite, and a few standout, gory, special-fx moments, Tim and Ryan just couldn’t muster up any real praise for “Trench 11.” Rating it with a lower-ti...

Existential dread? The allure of the sea? The impending madness of isolation? The mercy of the wind? Or just “two guys inside a giant phallus?” Whichever way you want to kill the one-eyed seagull, you better have gone to the theater to see (sea) “The Lighthouse,” because Ryan and Tim dive deep with the merfolk for this week’s film. Earning a double “buy,” Robert Eggers’ follow up to “The Witch” di...

IT’S HALLOWEEN! What better way to celebrate the greatest holiday then by watching (arguably) the greatest horror film? After a month of slashing up the sequels to the famed original, we finally arrive back at where it all started with Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece, “Psycho.” Among all the explorations and analyses of “Psycho,” Tim and Ryan attempt to pull something new from it by (inherently) vi...

We made it to the fourth installment of the Psycho franchise, and it was quite the bookend. Exploring the origin as well as the ultimate fate of our beloved Norman, this combination sequel-prequel was a fun way to transition us back to the original film. The guys had their differences on this one, but were able to agree that Psycho IV gives the audience an appropriate conclusion. With a “stream” a...

What a whirlwind this has been so far! Coming off the heels of "Psycho II," we jump right back in with Norman trying to turn over a new leaf, and find that he’s gone and turned that leaf right back over. With the exhilarating discovery that this third installment was, directed by none other than Anthony Perkins himself (and with beautiful results) the guys really enjoyed the blend of Mr. Perkins’...

October is here, and for the first time the guys at Dismembering Horror are covering a full series: The “ Psycho ” movies! Here’s the twist: we are starting with “ Psycho II” (this week’s film) and continuing the whole month until we circle back to the original for our Halloween episode. So how did the guys take to the sequel of Hitchcock’s masterpiece? Ryan just went all in with a “buy” for the w...

DEAD ALERT! Double “avoid” film from Tim and Ryan! A rarity for the pair, how this week’s K-Horror installment made it onto a top horror list proved an even harder problem to solve than the incoherent riddles of " Death Bell "’s killer. Don’t fret though, fellow horror fiends: there’s always some sweet ore to mine even in the face of “mysteries with no mystery.” The guys do pick apart the failings...

“ The Eyes Of My Mother ” lulled us into a sweet and delectable, American-gothic horror story, and explores the effects of nature vs. nurture when the nurture goes away. With haunting performances and immaculate visuals, Tim and Ryan couldn’t help but be entranced by nearly every aspect of this black-and-white beauty. Earning a “rent” from both of them, there was plenty of praise to go around. The...

What is the titular “phenomena” to which our favorite Italian director Dario Argento is referring in this week’s film? Your guess is as good as ours, but one thing is for sure: Ryan and Tim get right to the point in discussing the true power of “ Phenomena:” chimpanzee acting. Could the extraordinary work of a primate and her relationship with both Donald Pleasence and Jennifer Connelly save the d...

Ready or not, here we come ... to make a deal with Satan to give us back the time we lost watching this movie. Ok, maybe that’s a little harsh, because we really, really loved Samara Weaving in it (from our very first episode, “ The Babysitter” )! For all the “promises of the premise” that “ Ready Or Not” did deliver on, it was only able to earn a “stream” from the guys. Either way, join us as we...

If you buy a dilapidated hotel in Louisiana with a giant, creepy, flooded basement, rest assured some cosmic stuff is gonna go down. In this case it means opening a portal to " The Beyond." With deaths that involve a lot of eyes being mutilated, and a sweet funky bass line keeping us in rhythm, Ryan and Tim couldn’t resist the novelty of this week’s film. Don’t be deceived by the double “stream:”...

A new entry in the Old Hollywood/Path-to-Fame/Demon Cult subgenre?! This week Ryan and Tim explore their relationship with living (and dying) in Tinseltown and the pitfalls of pursuing a career in the entertainment industry. Starry Eyes hit particularly close to home for Tim and his past life as an actor, while Ryan was compelled to explore a more esoteric, philosophical, hypothesis, and wonders i...

This week “S#!$ GETS REAL” as we enter the " Demon House." Tim’s guilty pleasures were on full display when the opening credits rolled and we discovered that we were about to watch a Zak Bagans film. The host of the Ghost Adventures series continues his “work” with a feature length documentary covering one of the more recent and high profile exorcism cases, spurring Ryan to ask Tim “why do you lov...

No, not the 2015 Sisters with Tina Fey… the 1973 Sisters with Margot Kidder! Even as a clear homage to the work of Alfred Hitchcock (complete with Bernard Herrmann score), Brian DePalma puts his own stamp on it as only DePalma can. With a winding plot and psychedelic third act, Sisters earned a “rent” from both Ryan and Tim, in spite of Ryan needing a little help clarifying the nuances of the stor...

For episode 50 of our show, we eschew our usual hat pull due to circumstances beyond our control and go with a listener recommendation: and boy did we choose a doozy. Ryan and Tim do their best to define “camp” when discussing this week’s body-melding, skin-tastic “Society,” earning an astonishing “buy” rating from Ryan, and an all-too-common “stream” from Tim who just couldn’t get behind the hoki...

Del Toro really dropped a bomb on this week’s episode with his second major feature . Going off the reviews and high praise, as well as the mystique that surrounds Guillermo as a filmmaker, Ryan and Tim were surprised by how much they disliked " The Devil’s Backbone." Earning it an “avoid” and a “stream,” the guys explore the elements that make a movie “del Toran,” ultimately deciding that even wi...

“Go to see the 90-year Hårga Midsommar Festival” they said, “it’ll be the trip of a lifetime” they said, “you could even become the May Queen” they said… Well, “they” were quite right, and then some. This week we drank the tea and entered another twisted reality from the mind of Ari Aster. With a double “rent” and possible future double “buy,” Ryan and Tim really dive head-first off the cliff into...

Hope you like needles, because this week we go “deeper and deeper” and take a poke at the modern classic, Audition . A revisit for Ryan, and Tim’s first time, it did not disappoint in either case, earning a double “rent.” The guys explore the film’s dual misogynistic and feminist readings, as well as the complete mind bender of a final act that set the stage for a decade’s worth of influence. Audi...

For Poltergeist II we had the pleasure of the presence of a Polter-guest: none other than Peter Warden, from the podcast Retro Reviews! We crossed over into “the other side” and had a consensus of “rent it” for this endearing-enough sequel to one of our favorite horror movies. Join us as we talk mess monsters, evil mezcal worms, the merits of Steven and Taylor’s rivalry, and finally settle the sco...

People say the titular Martin is a vampire, but he insists there’s no “magic stuff,” just “sexy stuff.” This week we got an injection from George A. Romero’s take on Nosferatu, and boy oh boy did Tim and Ryan get a full dose! Both giving it a “rent,” the guys couldn’t get enough of the late 70’s vibes dripping from Martin, even leading Tim to take the nostalgia train to his smoke-filled childhood....

In true Jarmusch style, we peel back the layers of reality with a zombie movie that repeatedly reminds us “You gotta kill the head.” And also... Bill Murray! You gotta just give a listen as we do our best to dismember as much as possible, including a topic very near and dear to Tim: theater etiquette; or “What it’s like to sit next to the worst human being on the planet.” Where we watched: AMC Bur...

“It's time to play!” Nothing quite says horrifying like the spawn of a Satanic cult possessing multiple dolls, and by proxy, Denise Crosby’s daughter… (except maybe Rip Torn’s attempt at a mexican accent). Ryan and Tim had a surprisingly fun time with “Dolly Dearest,” despite its inherent, low-budget trappings. It really hit the sweet spot for Ryan’s sensibilities, and as Tim said: “This movie suc...

Oh 1973… yes, you gave us "The Exorcist", but you also gave us "Arnold." So how did 1973 fare for this week’s haunted house film? Not even Roddy McDowall could save "The Legend of Hell House" (nor an overexcited pyrotechnics guy). Tim settled on an eventual “avoid” while Ryan was able to channel his inner demon-cat and rate it a “rent.” Where we watched: Shudder The Legend of Hell House (1973) Dir...