Macabre...ish Cults, Classics & Horrors

Robbie Lopez grew up poor and idolized Tom Savini, he always knew he wanted to be an artist. When he was 13 and was accepted into the Tom Savini School of Special FX with a scholarship he was elated but soon, crushed when he realized his family still couldn’t afford the $40,0000. Robbie gave up on that pathway to becoming an artist. But he drew constantly and was supported by his art teacher who k...

Justin’s dad would sneak horror movies home for him to watch on his sick days and it sparked the dream. He started making movies at home, remaking horror film scenes complete with physical effects. He talks about meeting his former writing partner, Kevin Hutchison, who was an FX artist, they met as roommates and began collaborating on projects. But after 10 years, how was gone. Now, Justin has a n...

Duck And Cover by Filmmaker Carlos Ibarra Our own Carlos Ibarra is making his 3rd project after the soon to be released anthology, Pendulum, directed by Mitch Wilson. He is half of the dynamic duo of Fill in the blanks productions with Christina Parker. Who’s also introduced in this episode. Carlos talks a little about how he got to this point and what’s next. This project is a zombedy from the po...

This is our first podcast on a train! Scott Goldberg is a writer and the director of The Forest Hills! This feature is not released yet but will be shown at the Salem Horror Fest on April 30, 2023. It’s a werewolf film with an impressive line up of horror alum, including, Edward Furlong, Shelley Duvall, Dee Wallace, Felissa Rose and Debbie Rochon. With Chiko Mendez in the leading roll. Scott talks...

This is part 2 with Dave Made A Maze filmmaker, William Watterson He explains the ending of Dave Made A Maze and what he would change and why. How the ending credits was an homage to the end credits of Buckaroo Bonzai and it was animated and why. His belief that our society is not encouraged to be creative and that people are far more creative than we think. And that people, especially horror fans...

William had the idea that he’d go into advertising because he could be artistic and make a living. But after a conversation with his best friend’s dad, he decided to be in a band and pursue music. He was in a few bands and life took a different trajectory when he moved to L.A to start over. Because L.A. is where people get paid to be creative. He talks about fighting through decades of disappointm...

Filmmakers, Don Thacker & Adrian Di Giovanni, Motivational Growth | Part 2 Part 2 Motivational Growth Director, Don Thacker and Lead, Adrian Di Giovanni, plus an amazing pep talk for aspiring filmmakers out there. Don Thacker grew up, not rich, in Detroit and escaped into films because for him, movies are places you go and experience. Adrian Di Giovanni never thought about why he liked movies, he...

Carlos and I talked to Don Thacker and Adrian Di Giovanni from Motivation Growth. They became such good friends from working together on that film that they are now business partners at Imagos Films. Mr. Di Giovanni is from Philadelphia and was originally in theatre and comedy improv in Chicago and just before he was about to give up the entertainment business for a career in insurance, he took on...

This is Part 2, Behind the scenes of Erzulie with filmmaker Christine Chen. Christine talks about the making of the film, the pitfalls and struggles, the changes that had to be made and what the cast had to suffer because of the weather/flooding. Erzulie was filmed in a swamp and there was constant flooding, freezing water and cold nights. Christine worker on three other features on the same prope...

Christine Chen has always been in film in some capacity since college. She got her start in documentary filmmaking. Also making a lot of shorts, including A Bird’s Nest. She went to grad school at UT and started hustling in the Austin film scene. She then started making films and submitting them to a Louisiana film festival called Film Prize. All shorts have to be made in Louisiana and the big pri...

Part 2: Bordello of Blood came to be. Another movie was supposed to be made in it’s place but the machinations of Hollywood turned and suddenly everything changed. They had a script called Fat Tuesday, a psychological thriller which was changed to Dead Easy. Gil had no interest in directing Demon Knight, so Ernest Dickerson was brought in. And Gil planned to direct Dead Easy afterward, set in Loui...

A L Katz’s love of film began as a child in Baltimore with Laurel & Hardy and Groucho Marx. He went to college in Vassar and really learned story telling there. After one audition, he decided he didn’t want to act but write. After a high school friend moved to L.A. to be an agent and Mr. Katz was trying to put together a play in New York, she convinced him to write a screenplay and go to L.A., whi...

Steve Merlo is here for a second time with the completion his first full feature a fan film and prequel to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Sawyer Massacre. It takes place 8 years before the original. It was filmed in the Bastrop/Bartlett area of Texas. How long it took for concept to completion? How long it took to film? And the subtleties, set backs and the effort it all took. Steve’s next project a...

Part 3! Jason gives us excellent incite and advice on our own projects. Carlos, the fledgeling filmmaker and his million dollar movie get’s solid info. His respect for filmmakers and the process of editing and reminiscing about Cracked’s youtube channel and all the effort it took. We talk NDA’s, in light if Chris’ secret project and how you know it’s the real deal and great news. The importance of...

Part 2 Jason Pargin’s thought’s about social media, the algorithm and it’s impact and how bizarre it all feels to him. He talks about the thinking behind some of his most famous Cracked articles. His ability to conceptualize what might not be obvious to the rest of us and asking tough but honest questions in list form. He answers the question if there will be another movie. Jason talks his writing...

Jason Pargin aka David Wong began blogging his stories in the 90s and then made his stories, now enough to creat a book, via cafepress for fans who wanted physical copies. After years of working temp office jobs and writing on the side, he got an email from Don Coscarelli who had recently found a copy of his book. After ignoring the email thinking it was a scam, he sold the rights and John Dies At...

Part 2 🚨Adult Language 🚨 Peter Atkins, screenwriter for Hellraiser 2, 3 and 4, The Wishmaster franchise plus acting credits in Hellraiser and Nightbreed and many more. Plus published author, his work includes Morningstar, Big Thunder and Moontown. Tired of the same questions interview after interview, so we had an hours long friendly chat. We start strong with Canadian food and geography. And en...

🚨Swearing🚨. Peter Atkins, screenwriter for Hellraiser 2, 3 and 4, The Wishmaster franchise plus acting credits in Hellraiser and Nightbreed and many more. Plus published author, his work includes Morningstar, Big Thunder and Moontown. Tired of the same questions interview after interview, so we had an hours long friendly chat. We start strong with Canadian food and geography. And end up talking...

Part 2 with Martin Bats Bradford We talk about what kind of movies we’d suggest to a person who’s not really into horror. We mention some works of John Carpenter, The Thing, The Fog, Halloween movies, Christine. All iterations of The Fly. We talk about knowing a horror film is really good if you can remove the horror and the story is still entertaining. Like in the case of the Flemish language mov...

You’ve seen him everywhere even though you might not know his name… Meet Mr. Martin Bats Bradford, he’s known his entire life that he would be in the entertainment business and it started with church. He is classically trained in communications and theatre in Dillard. And his education and hard work is a testament to his popularity and extensive work history. Mr. Bradford explains what college doe...

Dennis is a horror fan and writer who has been writing since he was a kid and has published in publications such as Deadlights and Shotgun Horror Magazine. He has written Brother’s Last Call, The Terrorverse and Fang Bangers: Nocturnal Emissions (all available in audio book format) and is working on new shorts and installments and possibly screenplays. The trials and tribulations of not just writi...

With Musician and Filmmaker, Steve Merlo who decided to create a fan film prequel to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Being a fan of just the original, he wanted to see more story in that vein and with the feel of that time period. After years of working on the screenplay and finally working on the film, it will be complete this summer, August 2022. He explains to us the rules of making a fan...

🚧Warning: Swearing, raunchy 🚧 Todd Jenkins and Billy Blair are veterans in the film industry but this is Todd’s directorial debut. Find out how Todd got into the movie business, where he and Billy met and why he decided wanted to make his own Bigfoot horror movie, how much of a head ache this film turned out to be and what it took to get it finished. The nightmare wasn’t over after production th...

Todd Jenkins and Billy Blair are veterans in the film industry but this is Todd’s directorial debut. Find out how Todd got into the movie business, where he and Billy met and why he decided wanted to make his own Bigfoot horror movie, how much of a head ache this film turned out to be and what it took to get it finished. The nightmare wasn’t over after production though because after being number...

Part 3 He’s a native Texan and gamer that went off to LA and sold his first script a month later! He has written and sold quite a few scripts, some got made, some didn’t but you may recognize some of his work, like Wheelmen on Netflix. Mitch almost got a horror icon on his film but illness got in the way and we talk about his all time favorite franchises and that he’d love to do a remake of one of...