Puppet Masters / Castle Freaks

David DeCoteau takes on SCREAM with the rare Full Moon slasher film FINAL STAB! Borrowing elements from pop slashers of the time, as well as older movies like APRIL FOOLS DAY, this flick pits a bunch of savvy twentysomethings against a masked killer. We're joined once again by the great Richard Newby, who helps us try to unravel and make sense of the film's many twists.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck...

NYC horror icon and FANGORIA cover model Xero Gravity is back to help us crack open THE VAULT, a 2001 haunted house thriller from Big City Pictures! We have a fascinating discussion about the overuse of slavery images in black-led horror films, and chart the rise and fall of Alchemy/Big City Pictures as the sublabel moves to shut down forever.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme son...

Space vampires invade a small Romanian... sorry, Californian town, and Moonbeam struggles to find its footing in the Kushner-Locke era, in TEENAGE SPACE VAMPIRES from 1998! We're joined this week by New York horror icon Avery Coffey, who helps us break down the baffling production decisions and impossibly terrible sound editing of this odd little tween flick.   Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve...

The PUPPET MASTER series hits an inflection point this week as we cover the 2003 compilation film PUPPET MASTER: THE LEGACY and the 2004 made-for-Sci Fi-channel crossover PUPPET MASTER VS. DEMONIC TOYS! PM expert and author Nat Brehmer returns once again to lend his expertise to two of the most anomalous entries in the series to date as the franchise tries to reclaim its identity. Plus, tons of ta...

Park it, mister! This week, Erin Dawn of the Manic Movie Monday podcast returns to help us tackle the sweetly sleazy, deeply 80's showbiz satire VALET GIRLS! By all appearances a dumb T&A comedy, this movie managed to surprise us by having a lot more going on under the hood than it's lowbrow premise suggests, and we had a ball digging into it.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme...

For our 150th episode extravaganza, we're bringing together two of Full Moon's signature characters for the crossover event of our lifetime: GINGERDEAD MAN VS. EVIL BONG! Writer and filmmaker Mary Beth McAndrews joins us for this crusty and stoney horror comedy that dares you to ask the question: huh?  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck  Logo by Doug McCambridg...

A 16th-century samurai is frozen and awakens in 1980s Los Angeles in GHOST WARRIOR (aka SWORDKILL), a fun and strangely beautiful Empire actioner! Alex Ayling of the Mates From Hell and Evolution of Horror is back to help us unpack this semi-lost treat, which features the sole American film performance from Japanese TV star Hiroshi Fujioka.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song b...

Critic and podcaster Scott Weinberg joins the prestigious three-timers club as we roll the clock back to the early 1980s for THE ALCHEMIST! This long-shelved supernatural thriller had a troubled production and struggles from a decided lack of energy, but it gives us the opportunity to talk about a few weird pockets of early 80s B-cinema, including the late-career action turn of Robert Ginty and ot...

Get ready for some good old-fashioned early-80s grime with the violent revenge thriller WALKING THE EDGE! The amazing Caroline Johnson from Terror Terroir joins us to wade through this gleefully sleazy Robert Forster/Nancy Kwan/Joe Spinell vehicle, and helps us find the perfect wine pairing for the occasion.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck  Logo by Doug McC...

We're going on a bit of a side quest this week, because why not? For this special bonus episode, we sit down with Michael Felsher from Red Shirt Pictures, which produces documentaries and bonus features for DVDs! We nerd out with Michael about how he got into the industry, some of our favorite DVD extras, and some of his favorite Empire projects.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme...

Saddle up, cowgirls, because we're heading off to the distant and sexy world of PETTICOAT PLANET, one of the last true Torchlight films. Kolleen Carney-Hoepfner is back to talk about this erotic journey into the old west of outer space (it's complicated), and why this might be one of the most fun movies in the Torchlight canon. Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song by Kyle Hornbec...

Author John Collins joins this week for a little slice of deep film history. FILMGORE is part of a nearly-dead genre of compilation films, in this case splicing together the goriest scenes from movies like BLOOD FEAST, DRILLER KILLER and THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE into bite-sized chunks, all hosted by yours cruelly, Elvira Mistress of the Dark! We get to talk about some fascinating little pocket...

We're ripping the band-aid with this one, folks. This week is all about the... let's say racially insensitive killer doll movie OOGA BOOGA, a riff on the classic "Trilogy of Terror" sequence that feels deeply out of place in 2013. It's a bit of a tough sit for your well-meaning hosts, but it was made much more enjoyable thanks to our special guest, actor and writer Rigo Garay, who lends his wit an...

This week, multi-thousand-year-old creature from beneath the streets of Brooklyn Martin Monster joins us for a double-dose (or is that doll-ble dose?) of tiny action with DOLL GRAVEYARD and DANGEROUS WORRY DOLLS! The former is a noble attempt to relaunch Full Moon with a new line of killer toys, while the latter is truly one of the strangest films we've covered on this show, a latter-day women-in-...

A new generation of tiny terrors stalks an old Italian castle and the weirdos that reside within in 2009's SKULL HEADS! We're joined this week by the great Diana Goodman of the Thirty Twenty Ten podcast for the prurient thrills of this dysfunctional family drama, featuring a standout turn from the Queen of Full Moon Robin Sydney!  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song by Kyle Horn...

HG Wells' classic sci-fi story gets a pseudo-sequel, and Charles Band goes back to shooting on film with DR. MOREAU'S HOUSE OF PAIN! Austin-based actor Brennan Patrick joins us for a discussion of this odd little movie which served as something of a last gasp of the classic era of Full Moon before the Evil Bongs and Gingerdead Men starting running the joint.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Gu...

Writer and filmmaker Sean Redlitz joins us this week for one of our most recent releases, 2024's AI-powered thriller QUADRANT! This stylish little thriller reteams Charles Band and one of his most reliable collaborators, screenwriter C. Courtney Joyner, but does the AI of it all impact the enjoyability? Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck  Logo by Doug McCambrid...

We're going guestless this week to discuss one of Full Moon's all-timers, the gleefully batshit southern gothic noir meets freakshow HEAD OF THE FAMILY! It's one of our very favorite Full Moon movies, and we're excited to be celebrating the film, and ushering in our theme month of Noirvember, in which we watch the "Noir" versions" of classic Full Moon favorites!  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Stev...

Devin Hamilton (BLEED, DELTA DELTA DIE) unleashes his distinctly entertaining vision of teenage witchcraft with BIRTH RITE! We're joined this week by the incredible Angel Melanson of Fangoria to chat all about the history of the teen witch trend and some of the deeply batshit choices this movie embraces.  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck  Logo by Doug McCambr...

Horror streamer and podcaster queerdem0n joins us this week for BAD CGI GATOR, a paragon of truth in advertising if there ever was one. This goofy recent Full Moon joint has a lot of fun with it's fourth-wall breaking concept, but does it go silly enough?  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck  Logo by Doug McCambridge  Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com I...

For this special mini bonus episode, we're recounting the magical weekend we spent in the Cleve attending Charles Band's Church of Chills 3 event! We got to meet some old friends face-to-face, watch SUBSPECIES II with a room full of fans, and finally got to meet Charles Band in person!  Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli  Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck  Logo by Doug McCambridge  Email: puppet...

Shot at the tail end of the Tempe era, DEAD AND ROTTING is a nasty little witchcraft thriller that feels tonally far removed from the typical Full Moon fare.  It's a bold and interesting flick with some real talent behind it, including our guest Jeffrey Sisson, who appears in the film and has worked a range of odd jobs for Full Moon over the years! NOTE: This is the first of a small run of episode...

Doug McCambridge is back on the show for what may be our hardest-to-find movie yet: 1988's CATACOMBS! David Schmoeller's demonic horror film had the misfortune of being completed around the time Empire Films shuttered. It spent years in limbo before eventually being released as CURSE IV: THE ULTIMATE SACRIFIC, an unrelated sequel to an obscure 1987 Wil Wheaton movie. We dig into the movie's fascin...

This week we're thrilled to be joined by underground horror icon Debbie Rochon! Debbie has been in dozens of classic B-movies from Troma, Full Moon and everyone in between. We talk to Debbie about her experience coming up in the industry, recognizing the talent of a young James Gunn in TROMEO & JULIET, and of course all about her experience working with Full Moon. She's every bit as awesome as...

We're digging way into the archives this week for one of Empire's semi-lost treasures: the anthology film PULSE POUNDERS! Shot in 1987, the film was intended to be a package of three short films, two of which would mark the first returns to previous Empire favorites; sadly, when the company went under, the unfinished 35MM print was destroyed, and the film was thought lost until 2011, when VHS prin...