The Really Awful Movies Podcast

Merry Christmas, everyone. On this episode, the bad, but not overly bad 2006 iteration of Black Christmas. Of course, the Bob Clark 1974 version is a bona fide classic, and slashers of today owe it a debt. How does this compare? Well, on this show, a breakdown of stylistic differences and artistic choices that make the first Black Christmas so good…and this one…not so much.  

On this episode of the show, Halloween 2018 (what, no name?) and Halloween Kills and what could’ve been done to properly honour the legacy of the iconic John Carpenter flick. Which characters should’ve been excised? What could’ve improved? Where does Halloween go from here? What’s with the retcon stuff? Does David Gordon Green have what it takes to be a legit horror directo...

On this week’s podcast, Hostel , part of a polarizing movement of horror that came to prominence in the mid 2000s with the likes of Saw et al. This Eli Roth written and directed effort (with some cash and probably creative input from Quentin Tarantino) follows two backpackers from Western to Central Europe, and the hijinks they get up to, before things take a turn for the worse. On the podca...

What happens when a male bonding hunting trip goes horribly awry? This week, on the Really Awful Movies Podcast, the gripping Scottish thriller, Calibre . Great performances, solid city/rural dynamics, a thick air of menace and lots to commend it overall. Tune in for a contextual discussion of folk horror, urban / pastoral loggerheads, Scotland as a setting for horror, the importance of character-...

Halloween Kills, the latest edition of the Really Awful Movies Podcast. Another installment, another wasted opportunity, and more evidence David Gordon Green can’t really direct horror, and only marginally improved on the 2018 flick. There are a few decent bits, which we’ll get into on this episode of the show, but largely – this one is unnecessary and sullies the legacy of the C...

On today’s podcast, The Babysitter!  This one is one of those home invasion-styled horrors, a bit like Home Alone but sending up some of the genre conventions. It’s glossy, tongue in cheek, and occasionally funny. If this is your thing. There are hot babes, a game of Truth or Dare, some juicy quips, and a bit of atmosphere. Nothing earth-shattering, but not too bad, actually.

On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, what do you do when creative juices have run dry? You tap weird, 70s TV properties of course! Fantasy Island aka Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island is one such film. The Jeff Wadlow-directed effort starts Michael Pena as the Svengali Mr Rourke (the movie’s version of the Ricardo Montalban character from the 1977 TV Show), Maggie Q, and a bunc...

On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, the very capable psychological thriller, Fractured . It’s directed by Brad Anderson, who’s done movies we’re quite fond of, including The Machinist and the somewhat underrated Session 9. Here, a family returning from a Thanksgiving road trip runs into trouble at a Minnesota rest stop. And the dad has to seek medical attention fo...

On this week’s episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, a bit more Italian horror for ya. Welcome to a discussion of Absurd, which goes variously by Anthropophagus 2, Zombie 6: Monster Hunter, Horrible and The Grim Reaper 2 in keeping with the title multiplication common to Italian exploitation genre cinema. It’s a batty 1981 slasher directed by multi-talented director Joe D’A...

On this week’s episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, not enough sax and violins together, but plenty of the latter, as we visit Italian horror and Paganini Horror . The plot revolves around a failing female rock band, whose manager is beside herself about their inability to drum up, so to speak, a hit. Desperate, she solicits a strange piece of music, via the group’s producer cal...

This week on the Really Awful Movies Podcast, perennial favorite, Steven Seagal. The portly aikido master has been a prominent fixture of our show, whether it’s efforts (if you’ll forgive the term) such as Submerged or Half Past Dead, or flicks made during the action star’s (widow) peak. In Exit Wounds , lensed in Canada, Seagal portrays a world-weary (though isn’t he alway...

On this episode of the podcast, a little bit of Italian horror – but not THAT kind of Italian Horror. Usually on the Really Awful Movies Podcast, we dive into the work of Bava, Fulci and Argento. This time around, it’s 2021’s A Classic Horror Story, a modern Italian horror flick that’s a hicksploitation/folk horror hybrid that’s moderately effective. The plot? A rides...

On today’s episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, Sorority House Massacre. Talk about a title steeped in straightforwardness. Truth in marketing, right there. There’s a sorority, a sorority house, and yes, a massacre. And of course, an escaped killer from a lunatic asylum. What more could you ask for, especially in the 80s? That, and so many more questions answered in this episode...

On today’s edition of the Really Awful Movies podcast, the Shudder-produced low budget, Superhost. Superhost refers to a duo, Claire and Teddy, who are travel vloggers who occupy an Air BnB style sprawling home, a quid pro quo arrangement in exchange for a very positive review of the rental property. Soon, they find out their host is not so super… In today’s episode: the travel v...

David Fincher co-produced and directed a bunch of episodes of this popular series on Netflix, Mindhunter. It’s about the FBI’s nascent behavioral sciences unit from the 70s, which came about to investigate serial killers and build a standardized questionnaire to better understand them. This is a dark, foreboding series filmed in Rust Belt Pennsylvania, with terrific performances across...

In The Boy Behind the Door, two young boys are kidnapped and taken to a remote farmhouse near some oil rigs. And terror awaits! Actually, lots of terror at least for the first hour, before things take a turn for the cheesy. Join the podcast, and subscribe as we delve into this thriller from 2020, which stars the awesome Lonnie Chavis (This is Us) as Bobby. This is a film produced by streaming serv...

A quick one this week, while we reboot and get back to regularly scheduled programming. On the Really Awful Movies Podcast, a mini discussion starter: overrated films, or rather, films we didn’t quite warm to in the horror movie realm. This includes, Train to Busan, Get Out/Us, Suspiria 2018 and Scream. Tune in. Or don’t. We don’t care!

Back in business! This week, after a bit of a summer hiatus, The Really Awful Movies Podcast is back. On this episode: Black Summer, a Walking Dead-like US TV series currently streaming on Netflix, and also Adoration, a small, quirky, Belgian-lensed and French language thriller. Black Summer, filmed in the Calgary, Alberta area, has all the hallmarks of a zombie series: the macho alpha leader, the...

Alone is a thriller / survivalist horror set in Oregon. A widow is on the move. She’s packing a U-Haul and heading to Washington State. Before too long, she’s being tailed by a creep out on a deserted mountain underpass. The jeep is on her, lead footing around dangerous twists and turns. She manages to extricate herself from the road menace, only to meet up with him again at the local...

On this episode of the podcast, Color Out of Space , an adaptation of the HP Lovecraft short story, The Colour Out of Space, from 1927. This one stars Nicolas Cage, as well as Joely Richardson, and is a really stellar throwback to 1950s space-horror. A family, who has just moved out of the big city (presumably, Boston) takes to Alpaca farming and remote work in the form of investment advising. A m...

On this week’s episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, a listener-generated discussion about Lake Mungo. Lake Mungo is a 2008 Aussie supernatural horror, that’s unique in that it’s structured POV/documentary-style. It flew kind of under the radar, as has its director, even though it really shouldn’t have: this is a really well-done film and worth a watch.

#Alive (Korean: #살아있다; RR: #Saraitda) is a 2020 South Korean contagion / zombie film directed by Cho Il-hyung and Starring Yoo Ah-in and Park Shin-hye. The flick is based on the 2019 script Alone by Matt Naylor (which co-stars Donald Sutherland, Canadian legend from Invasion of the Body Snatchers). Naylor co-adapted his script with Cho for a Korean production, and #Alive revolves around a lazy...

Be careful what you wish for. We return to 90s horror on the podcast, with a discussion of the somewhat under-the-radar (despite numerous sequels) fantasy horror, WISHMASTER. We’ve got an ancient statue, inside of which is a cursed gemstone. And inside of THAT, is a Djinn, one of those pre-Islamic, demon-type creatures that is pretty nasty, and isn’t one of those wish-granting ineffect...

On a previous podcast, we chatted about Burnt Offerings. Now, it’s Offerings! This is a 1989 ripoff / regional horror, heavily influenced (ahem) by Halloween. There’s an escaped lunatic, and an 80s-style prologue about how he grew up to be the vengeful antagonist he is. This is guerilla film-making at its finest! And it comes complete with a John Carpenter knock-off score. Enjoy!

This week on the podcast, the 2021 version of Wrong Turn. This film is quite the update from the 2003 original (and you can compare our discussion for both). It’s hugely ambitious, though falls flat on numerous occasions. This one should be (and somewhat is) a bit polarizing. A bunch of hikers are going to spend a few nights in the woods along the Appalachian Trail. On this episode: The orig...