Genre Grinder

THE SUMMER OF LOVE GIVES WAY TO PERVERSE MELODRAMAS, BLOODY HOME INVASIONS, NECROPHILIC HOUSEWIVES, AND…CARNIVOROUS BEDS?   After Night of the Living Dead (1968), but before the slasher boom of the early '80s, American horror went through one of its most creative and influential eras. But, for every Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Carrie (1976), and Halloween (1978), there were dozens of under-th...

HO HO OH NO!! OL' SAINT NICK HAS A HOLLY JOLLY AX!!   You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why – Santa Claus is coming to town. And he's out for blood! Join Gabe and first time co-host Daniel Baldwin, aka: The Schlocketeer, as they make a list, check it twice, and decide which murderous Santas are naughty and which are nice. Titles include Lewis Jackson's...

TO AVOID FAINTING KEEP REPEATING IT'S ONLY A PODCAST…ONLY A PODCAST…ONLY A PODCAST!   This is it, everyone – the Top 20 ACTUAL Scariest Movie Moments of all time. Put on a sweater to avoid chills! Fasten your seatbelt to avoid thrills! Use a tea saucer to avoid spills! Join Gabe and Patrick for the 4th and Final part of this impossibly long look at scary movie moments they didn't already cover on...

IT'S GETTING HELLA SCARY AND DANG UNNERVING IN HERE!   It's time for Part 3 of THE event of Spooky Season, covering picks 45 to 21. Once again, this is the official 101 ACTUAL Scariest Movie Moments. Those previous Bravo and Shudder shows aren't the real deal. Actually, I have to admit that even WE lied during Parts 1 and 2, because those picks weren't nearly as scary. I still want you to listen t...

On the afternoon of Friday October 30th, 1992, an unexplained phenomenon struck the suburban community of Dunwich, New England. The local authorities described it as an unprovoked, spontaneous explosion of homicidal violence, but the actual cause has been shrouded in mystery, following a brisk cover-up by unknown government agencies. By some accounts, more than 300 people lost their lives that day...

IT'S TWO TIMES THE TERROR AND DOUBLE THE DREAD!   We're back with part two of THE event of Spooky Season. Once again, this is the official 101 ACTUAL Scariest Movie Moments. Don't be fooled by imitators, even if they are professional filmmakers and scholars paid by the deep pockets at Bravo and Shudder. Actually, watch those shows, too, then listen to Part 1 of our list, then come back here and ch...

STEP ASIDE PAID EXPERTS, IT'S TIME TO HEAR FROM THE REAL EXPERTS – TWO GUYS WITH A PODCAST!   Inspired by the classic Bravo TV countdown documentary and its improved Shudder-branded follow-up, Gabe and returning guest Patrick Ripoll of Tracks of the Damned and 96 Greers have compiled the official Genre Grinder list of the Top 101 ACTUAL Scariest Movie Moments. That title is a joke, of course, beca...

YEAH, PUSH IT! PUSH IT REAL GOOD! WITH YOUR MIND, THOUGH, NOT YOUR HANDS.   It's mind over matter as Gabe and returning guest Jim Laczkowski take a look at more movies about the potential power of the human brain. This time, we're focusing on something a little less esoteric than Existential State Manipulation: telekinesis. But we're not covering the big names – no Carrie, no superhero movies, no...

LOVE WILL HAVE ITS SACRIFICES. NO SACRIFICE WITHOUT BLOOD. BEWARE THE NIGHT AND YOUR OWN GAY PANIC, BUT, ALSO, HUBBA HUBBA!   Wash your neck, prep your veins, and get ready to donate your plasma to the blood-sucking daughters of Sappho. It's time to explore the sexy, violent world of lesbian, pan, and bisexual vampires on film. Join Gabe and returning guest Luana Saitta of the Defend Your Trash Mo...

TAKE ANOTHER LOOK UNDER THE BED AND DOUBLE-CHECK THE CLOSET, BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING SCARIER THAN BEING A CHILD!   What could possibly be worse than zombies, chainsaw-wielding maniacs, and blood sucking vampires? Puberty, bullies, cruel teachers, stranger danger, and childhood illness, of course. Join Gabe and returning guest Betsy Jorgensen of Your Favorite Monsters as they take a look at a group...

COVER VERSIONS OF YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES! NOW AVAILABLE IN MULTIPLE LANGUAGES FROM MULTIPLE COUNTRIES!   Don't worry, you didn't select the wrong language track on your DVD Player, you're just watching familiar movies with an unfamiliar twist. You've seen plenty of Hollywood remakes of Hollywood hits – The Ring, The Grudge, One Missed Call, Pulse, other examples that aren't Japanese horror movies –...

SHARPEN YOUR STRAIGHT RAZORS AND POLISH YOUR BLACK LEATHER, WE'RE NOT QUITE DONE WITH ITALIAN THRILLERS JUST YET!!   Welcome back to Genre Grinder's look back on the gialli of 1971. In part one, Gabe (the fan) and Patrick (the skeptic) covered Sergio Martino's The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (Italian: Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh), Dario Argento's Cat O' Nine Tails (Italian: Il gatto a nove...

MAD KILLERS! ANXIOUS WOMEN! TWISTED CRIMINAL PLOTS! CHIC INTERIOR DECORATING! PSYCHEDELIC FLASHBACKS! NEEDLESSLY LONG TITLES!!   Giallo – plural gialli – so-named for the cover color of pulp crime novels in Italy is a stylish world of psychosis and murder that has existed in some capacity since the early 1960s, but it wasn't until Dario Argento's 1970 classic, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage , b...

CALLING ALL CARS! CALLING ALL CARS! BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR POINTED PROFANITY, SUGGESTIVE NUDITY, AND RIDICULE OF THE CLERGY!    Before the MPAA ratings board, there was the Production Code and, before that, there was the Hays Code, which was more of a series of nagging demands than an actual code. Film historians tend to refer to the five-year period between the widespread adoption of sound (1929)...

THERE'S A CHILL UPON THE AIR AS THE WIND CARRIES THE CRIES OF A WEEPING WOMAN. MIS HIJOS! MIS HIJOS!    Once upon a time, there was a poor woman who murdered her children after being slighted by her wealthy lover. Or was it an indigenous woman who had her child stolen by colonizers? Or maybe it was an accidental pregnancy that was secretly terminated? However the story goes, the woman died and her...

Between canceled episodes, personal scheduling conflicts, and a secret project, we here at Genre Grinder have been very busy. But we don't want to shirk our spooky season music mix responsibilities, so, please, enjoy this special all Goblin experience. Every one of the songs and sound effects used to create this moody mix (with one exception) were produced by some iteration of Italy's great prog-r...

FORTIFY THE TORNADO SHELTER, STAY CLEAR OF THE WINDOWS & STOCK UP ON FIRE EXTINGUISHERS, IT'S DISASTER-O-CLOCK!   Do you hear earthquakes and lightning? Do you hear hurricanes blowing and fear the rivers overflowing? Well, don't we all – it's called climate change. The end is coming for us all. Why not spend what time you have left listening to Gabe and returning guest Justin Clark chat about the...

LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH! OUR BLOODSTREAMS ARE ANALOG DATA! OUR SKIN IS TEXTURED PLASTIC! OUR INTESTINES ARE RIBBONS OF MAGNETIC TAPE!! Welcome back to SOV hell! Your hosts Gabe and Patrick Ripoll of Tracks of the Damned and Uptown Song Club have nine more movies to talk about, seven of which at least one of them was able to see. This includes a homemade homage to Italian horror, a surprisingly sop...

YOU THOUGHT WE WERE DONE EXPLORING THE DEPTHS OF DO-IT-YOURSELF ANALOG HORROR? YOU FOOL!! Remember when Gabe and always special guest Patrick Ripoll spent almost eight hours talking about the weird, wonderful, and horrible world of Shot-on-Video (SOV) Horror? Well, there have been some developments since then. More of these movies have been dug up by boutique home video labels and maniacs on YouTu...

IT'S WRANGLERS VS. DINOSAURS, BUCKAROOS VS. WEREWOLVES, AND DISGRACED SOLDIERS VS. WESTWARD EXPANDING CANNIBALS!   Howdy, cowpoke, did you just hear a spooky coyote howl? Catch a glimpse of a ghostly cow, maybe? That's probably because Gabe and returning guest Luana Saitta are talking about westerns with a horror slant this month. Well, that was the idea, at least. We ended up covering classic din...

DON A BIG, BLINKY SCI-FI HELMET, DIVE INTO THE NEAREST SENSORY DEPRIVATION TANK, AND GIRD YOURSELF FOR A TRIPLE-FEATURE EXPERIENCE THAT WILL BEND THE MIND AND REALITY WITH IT!   What if you could change your physical form with the power of your mind? What if you knew a guy that could alter reality with his dreams? What if you could record your life and death to a virtual reality cassette tape? Wor...

SURE, YOU'VE SEEN THE SHINING AND PET SEMATARY , BUT HAVE YOU SEEN ANY OF THE DOLLAR BABIES? THAT FAMOUS FAILED BROADWAY SHOW? THAT MOTION COMIC SPONSORED BY A MOBILE COMPANY?    It would be futile to think anyone would come to us at Genre Grinder for a Stephen King episode, especially considering how many fantastic podcasts are already devoted exclusively to the author's work, but what about thos...

COME WITH US AS WE CONTINUE OUR CROSS-COUNTRY TREK THROUGH THE DARKEST BOULEVARDS AND ALLEYWAYS OF THE 'ME DECADE' UNDERGROUND!   After Night of the Living Dead (1968) and before the slasher boom of the early '80s, American horror went through one of its most creative and influential eras. But, for every Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Carrie (1976), and Halloween (1978), there were dozens of und...

WELCOME TO THE END OF THE SUMMER OF LOVE AND THE BEGINNING OF A COUNTERCULTURE DEATHTRIP THAT WILL SCARE YOU TO DEATH!   After Night of the Living Dead (1968) and before the slasher boom of the early '80s, American horror went through one of its most creative and influential eras. But, for every Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Carrie (1976), and Halloween (1978), there were dozens of under-the-ra...

LEAVE THE SPOOKY SIDE OF DEATH BEHIND THIS MONTH AND JOIN US ON A JOURNEY INTO THE ROMANCE, COMEDY, AND BUREAUCRACY OF THE AFTERLIFE.   We'll get back to scary things next month, because this month is all about the wholesome possibilities of death stories. Gabe and returning guest Tyler Foster explore a surprisingly prevalent subgenre of romantic comedies concerning the processes of the afterlife....