Essential Scares

Following up a movie we all loved on this show is Hell House LLC 2: The Abaddon Hotel!  This show we talk much more about the negatives of this film than we do the positives, but truly understand we all did thoroughly enjoy this film.  Actually scary found footage movies are hard enough to come by, and this may just be the scariest of them all.  How well does this sequel hold up to...

Ghoulies 4 certainly is a movie.  That's about the extent of the positive things to say about it.  This podcast is a slow decent into madness and welcome dear listener to the center stage.  Is Ghoulies 4 essential, is Ghoulies as a whole essential?  We answer these questions and raise many more in today's episode.   ************************************************** TIMECO...

Ghoulies 3 is exactly what you think it is.  A movie will little to no effort that feels as if it is just phoning in most if not all of the production.  Does this mean the movie is bad?  Oh, certainly.  However, there are bits and pieces of fun to be had throughout the film, but they by no means outweigh the malaise that is the rest of this movie.  We often laud bad films...

I cannot explain just how unironically good Ghoulies 2 is in the written medium.  It makes zero sense that this ridiculous movie is a blast from start to finish.  The antics of the Ghoulies are better, the puppets are better, the horror is better, quite literally everything about Ghoulies 2 is better than Ghoulies.  This is so profound this episode may be the first existential crisi...

If you ever wanted to know how the events of an aspiring sorcerer is like, Ghoulies is absolutely the movie for you.  Is Ghoulies funny?  Absolutely.  Is Ghoulies and overacted, plotless, time lost movie?  Yes to ALL of these descriptors.  At the end of the day Ghoulies is a romp of ridiculous proportions and tomfoolery.  Frankly, we love it for that HOWEVER.  Ju...

Back from our holiday break to finish the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Remake Duology with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)! Does this movie recycle elements from The 2003 Remake? Absolutely, does it do them better though?  Maybe.  All in all this movie is not great, however it does give us the one thing we all want out of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie.  LOTS of gore a...

Be ready to get spooky in 2023! ************************************************** Rate and subscribe!  Follow us below for more from us and join our Discord for a chat.  We're always open to suggestions on future movies, games, shows, or books to review. ************************************************** Discord: https://discord.gg/mAhMCcvQGk Socials: @EssentialScares | Linktree *******...

WOAH Essential Scares on SATURDAY?!?!?! Slight scheduling issues aside, this week we are sitting down to talk about the remake of the classic film the Texas Chainsaw Massacre!  Often times coming into an episode we talk about how we think each other will enjoy or not enjoy the movie of the week.  This is a situation where that discussion was not exactly correct.  Allen hates this fi...

If there was ever a duology that benefits from viewing close to each other, The Shining and Doctor Sleep benefit GREATLY by watching in close succession.  Doctor Sleep is unironically the sequel no one asked for, but its great that it exists to bring life to this level of the Tower in Stephen Kings universe.  If you enjoy a Bobby and Allen gush fest well this is the second episode in a r...

The Shining (1980) is one of the most lauded movies that we have ever covered for the show.  There are entire documentaries to go into the smallest possible details about this film.  We do not even attempt to go that in depth on the show, but if you enjoy a massive Bobby and Allen gush fest this is the episode for you! ************************************************** TIMECODES 0:00 - I...

We have finally made it through the Insidious Franchise? At least, we made it through the movies that are currently out.  If you love an episode where Bobby gets very angry at Corbin and Allen this is one HELL of an episode for you!  Wrapping up and connecting the stories of the Insidious Franchise as a whole, The Last Key is a surprising bright spot for the franchise.  I say surpri...

Insidious Chapter 3 did not do what we wanted it to do.  Long story short, we expected the shark to be fully jumped and absolute old lady fighting ghost madness would ensue.  It didn't.  Instead, we are let with this ham-fisted origin story of Specs and Tucker.  All in all, Insidious Chapter 3 is one you can skip out on.  Regardless though, we as a group do need to answer...

Moving right on through the Insidious Franchise, we are discussing Insidious Chapter 2 today!  Did Insidious really need to be a whole franchise?  Honestly, we are not entirely sure yet, but given how the end of both of these film ends there is clearly a goal to make it a whole universe in and of itself.  How well does this work?  Does this franchise still rely on jump/music sc...

Insidious probably has the most jump scares per capita compared to just about any other movie that exists.  It does heavily rely on these for the core crux of the horror, which is one of the larger issues with this film.  There is nothing really scary in this film minus the jump scares and MAYBE the sound track. All in all, Insidious is one of those films that is more known for what the...

Rounding out the month of new release we have our thoughts on VHS 99!  How well does this one live up to the rest of the franchise?  Its certainly not the worst, however it is distinctly in the lower half.  That does not mean this movie is without its moments though.  Hell and Back is one of the shorts we spoke a length about, and Ozzy's Dungeon also has a wonderful  VHS t...

EVIL DIES TONIGHT, but like for real this time!  Halloween Ends (2022) is the conclusion to the HallowGreen Requel trilogy.  Was this the conclusion any of us were expecting?  Not at all, was it the conclusion we needed that is yet to be determined.  While this movie certainly is divisive, there are some great Halloween moments throughout that will stick with you through time....

Bobby has such sights to show you all this week on Essential Scares! This week we were graced with all the sensations that Hellraiser (2022) had to give.  This entry into the Hellraiser franchise was special in part due to Doug Bradley no longer playing Pinhead.  Did it work out well for this film?   You will have to tune in to find out! TIMECODES 0:00 - Intro 1:05 - Spoiler Wa...

This week we had the misfortune of experiencing My Best Friend's Exorcism (2022)!  I cannot lie, this movie is a mess of wasted opportunities and cowardice galore.  This movie is the softest R rated movie we have seen in a very long time, minus the language this film does NOTHING to earn an R rating.  The reason I even bring this up is because it shows that this film completely miss...

We have made it back around to the Horror Anthology classic, V/H/S (2012).  One of the films in part responsible for a revival in short form horror, VHS manages to set the tone of both the film itself and the franchise it would become from it's very first short.  The 5 short stories all told with some connecting fibers in between all have a common feel of horror more than many other movi...

In our backfill month, it only seemed appropriate to sit down and talk about the alternate history classic The Purge (2013)!   This franchise has one of the most recognizable aesthetics in recent memory.  This movie does the leg work for the birth of a massively popular franchise, its amazing it took us this long to finally go back and cover it.  A movie sent in an alternate America...

The Exorcist (1973) is a movie without reproach.  A vast majority of this show is purely Bobby and Allen gushing about just how much they loved the film.  There are times in the show were we keep the wall up in terms of our opinions on the movie too early on.  This is not one of them.  Whether its the perfect pacing, horrifying imagery, or ominous soundtrack The Exorcist is the...

This week on Essential Scares we dig into the vault to pull out our thoughts on an often referenced movie, Possessor (2020)!  Brandon Cronenberg, following in the footsteps of this father, brings an absolute masterpiece of body and techno horror that we still reference on the show.  Listen in and dive into the deep lore of Essential Scares and see just how blown away we are by this beautifully hor...

We have another entry in the Resident Evil franchise and this one was certainly something.  Corbin and Allen are massive fans of the absurdity that is Resident Evil, and this show left us wanting.  It's hard to pin down just how badly this show misses the mark.  Whether its the bad writing, massive plot holes, or young adult inspired fan fiction Resident Evil (2022) just consistentl...

Here on Essential Scares we try to stay on top of release as much as possible, however VHS 94 slipped through the cracks last year.  Now, we are going to remedy that with our thoughts on the anthology horror film!  This film is comprised of 4 ideas for horror that don't necessarily have enough to be full fledged movies, but end up being solidly paced short films.  Does this film hav...

This week we join a party in progress in the form of Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)!  This movie aimed directly into the veins of Zoomers nationwide, and it certainly is a valiant attempt however whether or not it manages to stick the landing is up for debate.  Our cast of Twitter caricatures decide that they want to play their favorite game, Bodies Bodies Bodies. It's basically Werewolf, o...