Saturday Night Freak Show

This week, Colin subjects us to Tobe Hooper's 1985 sci-fi horror opus Lifeforce, in which astronauts discover a spaceship in the tail of Halley's comet and subsequently bring back a trio of energy-sucking vampires to Earth, who then proceed to terrorize all of London. We talk Gothic vampires, space vampires, and alien invasions, all while we worship the naked presense of Lifeforce star Mathilda Ma...

This week, Tom subjects us to Reign of Fire (2002), which pits Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey against fire breathing dragons in a post-apocalyptic England. We learn about the Reign of Fire Scale, what constitutes high-brow comedy, and disingenuous movie posters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Brent brings us Tango and Cash (1989), a buddy-cop movie that teams Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell in an action-packed romp that sees them framed, thrown in prison, and then setting out on an explosive odyssey to clear their names...and take down evil kingpin, Jack Palance. We talk about the glorious excesses of 80's action films, plus the importance of monster trucks, stunt men, b...

On this week's episode, Travis pits us against Paul Verhoeven's 1987 sci-fi classic, Robocop, in which a Detroit police officer is murdered and then resurrected by a soulless corporation as the "perfect" law enforcement cyborg. But his programming soon comes into conflict with his supposedly 'wiped clean' memories of his prior life. Join us, won't you, for an hour and a half of fun in which we ans...

Sean finally gets to pick Tremors (1990), an affectionate updating of 1950's giant monster movies that pits Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward, as two handymen in the small town of Perfection, Nevada, against giant, killer worms! We talk about the movie, go off on wild tangents including: is Bryan Singer's Superman gay; does Johnny Depp only play one character; we discover Travis' war on love; and talk abo...

This week, Colin offers up for study Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974), a film from England's Hammer Films studios, in which an unflappable vampire hunter (Horst Janson) and his hunchbacked assistant track a new breed of vampire across the English countryside. The beautiful Caroline Munro (The Spy Who Loved Me, Starcrash) also stars. We talk about the legacy of Hammer films, including the Drac...

This week, Brent insists asks "who you gonna call?" and we answer with a resounding: Ghostbusters (1984). As it nears it's 30th birthday, the Ghostbusters phenomenon shows no sign of slowing down, with a recent release of a video game, featuring the voices of all the lead actors, and the continued threat of a Ghostbusters 3. We go after Ghostbusters' cinematic lineage, featuring appearances by The...

On this week's episode, Tom rolls out a staple of fantasy cinema - the George Lucas-produced, Ron Howard-directed Willow (1988), about a young Hobbit-like fellow named Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis) who undertakes a task to escort a baby of prophesied birth to her destiny and end the rule of a wicked queen. He's aided by the likes of roguish swordsman Mad Mardigan (Val Kilmer) and a host of fairies...

This week, Travis takes us on a trip down memory lane via The Last Starfighter (1984), and we relive a simpler time when video games were played at arcades and every boy wanted to be a space fighter. Alex Rogan (Halloween II's Lance Guest) lives at a Californian trailer park with his mom and brother; he's an ace at an arcade game called Starfighter, and one night he's recruited by alien Centauri (...

On this week's episode, Colin takes us into the colorful world of a supercriminal named Diabolik who originated in Italian comic strips with Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik (1968). Diabolik (John Phillip Law) is a master thief in a black leather getup who robs from the mob or the government with equal enthusiasm, usually to impress his superfoxy girlfriend Eva (Marissa Mell). Join us as we try to st...

On this week's episode, Brent chooses the pioneering, live action/animation hybrid Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) for us to watch. The film takes place in an alternate reality 1940's Hollywood in which animated characters co-exist with human beings; when Roger Rabbit is framed for murder, a down-on-his-luck gumshoe (Bob Hoskins) finds himself reluctantly trying to clear his name. The film inspires...

On this week's episode, Tom takes us for a stroll down memory lane with his selection of Wreck-It Ralph (2012), in which an old school, 8-bit game character ventures outside of his own arcade game, in which he's condemned to eternally be the bad guy, to achieve hero status in a neighboring game. The Freak Show contributors remember trips to the old arcade, and we go on a trip through home video ga...

This week Sean chooses to revisit Sam Raimi's 1981 classic, The Evil Dead. The film, made by college students, went on to become hailed as a classic of the horror genre, inspiring sequels (Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness), video games, action figures, comics, and a remake in 2013. The story is simple: a group of 20-somethings spend a weekend in a cabin in the woods, read incantations from an ancient...

This week, we watch Travis' pick: Porco Rosso (1992), from Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle). The plot revolves around an WWI ex-fighter ace, now living as a freelance bounty hunter chasing "air pirates", who lives with an unusual curse which has transformed him to pig. We also go in depth into trends in Japanese anime and video games, and th...

On this week's episode, Colin subjects the group to the Goth/sci-fi/horror/gore/punk rock musical, Repo: The Genetic Opera, which takes place in a futuristic world where organ transplants are commonplace, and repossessions occur all-too frequently. A crazy cast includes Buffy's Anthony Stewart Head, Paris Hilton, Paul Sorvino, Sarah Brightman and Ogre from Skinny Puppy. We talk opera (or, what we...

On a special, bonus podcast this week, Brent, Tom and Colin recount their adventures of watching the 1954 classic, Creature from the Black Lagoon, the way it was meant to be seen - in jaw dropping 3-D. The story's a familiar one - a scientific expedition to the Amazon discovers a primordial fish-man, and their efforts to capture it and bring it back to civilization; and the creature's attraction t...

This week, Brent places Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy (1997) on the block. Pre-Good Will Hunting/Bennifer/Argo-director, Ben Affleck, stars as a comic book writer who falls in love with a cute lesbian comic book author (Joey Lauren Adams), and the hilarious hijinks that ensue in this unconventional love story. We argue about the cinematic oeuvre of former filmmaker-turned-podcast-impresario-and-stand-...

This week, Brent sits the episode out while Tom brings us Sam Fuller's The Big Red One (1980), starring Lee Marvin (The Dirty Dozen), Mark Hamill (Sushi Girl), and Robert Carradine (Revenge of the Nerds) as an Army squad during World War II. The film follows their exploits from the end of World War I through D-Day and beyond, and was based on writer/director Fuller's personal military experiences....

In this episode, Travis chooses to watch Deathtrap, a 1982 adaptation of Ira (Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives) Levin's Broadway thriller, which stars Michael Caine as a failing playwright who plots to murder his protege (Christopher Reeve) and steal his sure-hit play while his nervous wife (Dyan Cannon) looks on. Things get twisty and we recommend you seek out the movie on iTunes, Vudu, Amazon...

On this episode, resident horror buff Colin subjects the group to The Beyond (1981, aka The Seven Doors of Death) from "the Godfather of Italian Gore", Lucio Fulci. No eyeball is safe as a woman inherits a New Orleans hotel that's been built on one of the Seven Gateways to Hell. Plus, there's face-eating tarantulas, exploding heads, and a full on surprise zombie apocalypse! Special guest Sean join...

On this week's episode, true-pirate afficionado Tom unleashes The Island (1980), which stars Michael Caine as a reporter who runs afoul of real-life pirates forgotten on an island in the Bermuda triangle for 300 years. Film was based on a novel by Peter Benchley (Jaws, The Deep, The Beast) and also stars David Warner. We talk about the long cinematic history of pirates, American ninjas, the long s...

This week: Brent picks Tony Scott's True Romance (1993), a movie that often gets lumped into Quentin Tarantino's filmography (he did write the original screenplay), but clearly exhibits the late director's sleek, neon-lit, sun-kissed visual style. Our usual co-conspirator, Tom, sits this episode out, so we bring in pitch-hitter Sean to talk about True Romance and the people who made it, plus those...

This week, Travis chooses Idiots and Angels (2008), a film from animator Bill Plympton, known for his distinctive art style and early-year MTV interstitials. In Idiots and Angels, a curmudgeonly fellow awakens one day to find he's grown a pair of wings which prevent him from indulging himself in bad deeds. Plympton, an iconoclastic animator, undertakes the entire process of animating a feature fil...

This week, Colin chooses Jean-Pierre Jeunet's The City of Lost Children (1995), a visionary tale of a dystopian, steampunk-ish fantasy world filled with clever visual design reminiscent of the work of Terry Gilliam. We also talk about dark children's fairy tales, modern day cynicism in kids movies, and Tom commits a cardinal sin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Tom chose David Fincher's Fight Club (1999). In our most professional podcast yet, we analyze the film's messages, and discuss whether the film would be able to be made today. Plus, we talk about author Chuck Palahniuk, discuss David Fincher's oeuvre and opine about a select group of actors who lose themselves in a part. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.