Video Monsters

Hello, kiddies (because of course we had to start it this way)! The Video Monsters are closing out our 1995 horror series with the spooky, spine-tingling, and – dare I say – seductive siege flick, TALES FROM THE CRYPT: DEMON KNIGHT! Joining us for this ghastly good time is special guest and master of SCARE-emonies, Brian Salisbury of Junkfood Cinema! Together we’ll discuss childhood Crypt-Keeper n...

The Video Monsters are joined by filmmaker Anthony Cousins (When Susurrus Stirs, The Bloody Ballad of Squirt Reynolds, Scare Package, Scare Package II: Rad Chad's Revenge) to discuss the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Bros.! If you've been following the podcast for a while, you know that Super Mario Bros. holds a very special place in our hearts and we are always excited to discuss it. The troubl...

The Video Monsters Halloween coverage continues as we prepare for October's theme of Folk Horror with our Monthly Movie Madness!! The Monthly Movie Madness episodes are a recent addition to our lineup in which Nathan, Eric, and Dan pick 10 movies each for the monthly theme, resulting in a curated list of daily recommendations of themed movies. We also use these 30 movies to compose the audience su...

The Video Monsters continue their 1995 Horror series with LEPRECHAUN 3!! With Brian Trenchard-Smith at the helm with over 20 years of experience, Warwick Davis bringing a bit more humor and personality to the role, and several seasoned actors that bring cartoonish characters to life with heart, this campy direct to video sequel has rightfully earned its spot as one of the most beloved of the franc...

The Video Monsters continue their Chattanooga Film Festival 2023 coverage by discussing THE HAUNTING OF HYPE HOUSE (2023) - an indie, horror-comedy that answers the question "what if you were haunted by a ghost...and everyone liked the ghost more than they like you?" - all through the lens of influencer culture. Nathan has been singing the praises of this film for months and is, dead ass, extremel...

The Video Monsters are joined by author and orator - with an extensive body of work spanning over two decades - Clay McLeod Chapman!! Clay's writing evokes both Stephen King and Clive Barker as he taps into the dark nature of humanity with heart and humor...all with a dash of southern charm. Join Nathan as he digs into the darkness and joy of Clay's stories, discusses influences and inspiration, a...

Our 1995 Horror Month is off to an auspicious start as we discuss a movie that is nominally a 1995 movie but didn’t actually receive distribution until 1997… but nevermind its questionable eligibility status because we’re gonna talk about it anyway! The movie? Larry Fessenden’s seminal independent vampire film, HABIT (1995 [according to IMDb and Letterboxd])! Speaking of things that are questionab...

Now that you've listened to us discuss our 1995 Horror recommendations in our Video Monsters' Monthly Movie Madness, it's time for hearts to be broken and for chaos to reign as we boot up another Popcorn Punchout: Video Rack Attack Bracket to decide on which three '95 horror movies will be receiving the full Video Monsters' analysis! And what better person to join us for a heated debate of mid-90s...

What happens when an unavoidable cancellation leaves Nathan and Eric without an episode to record? Why, they record anyway! And in the process, they create a whole new segment for the show! Tonight you all get a bit of a peek at how the popcorn gets made with Nathan and Eric deciding in real time exactly what movies will be eligible to be tossed into the Skull of Decisions for our upcoming POPCORN...

Happy Almost-Fall Ya’ll! It’s our favorite time of the year because September is the official start of Spooky Season for the Video Monsters! And a new season means it’s time for another POPCORN PUNCHOUT, where we use our not-quite patented Video Rack Attack Bracket to determine our movie themes for the months of September, October, and November.  We’ve got 30 themes in contention but only three wi...

The Video Monsters are wrapping up our Top 100 Women-Directed Films of the 2010s, Based on Letterboxd Rankings series with TONI ERDMANN (2016) - a heartwarming, German character study centered around the relationship of a very career-focused woman and her independent spirit father who tries to help his daughter find humor in life. While this might sound like the recipe for a quirky comedy about a...

The Video Monsters continue their Chattanooga Film Festival 2023 coverage by discussing AMERICAN MELTDOWN - an indie, dark comedy, buddy hangout movie with plenty of important (and timely) themes that make its "coming of rage" description a perfect encapsulation of the emotional journey you go on with the lead duo. Very special guests Andrew Adams, Jacki Von Preysing, and Mark Evans join us to dis...

The Video Monsters kick off their Chattanooga Film Festival 2023 coverage by discussing the psychological horror relationship drama (that's light on blood, but very heavy on theme) TEARSUCKER! We are joined tonight by director/cinematographer/editor Stephen Vanderpool, writer/producer/actor Sam Brittan, and the star and emotional core of the film Allison Walter. This episode also kicks off TEARSUC...

The Video Monsters are back in the saddle again, out where a movie is a movie. Where the podcasters feed on analysis, yes indeed, we're back in the saddle again. So grab your pet racoon, put on some chaps, and watch out for barbed wire on your way to meet us at the rodeo for tonight's bucking discussion of Chloe Zhao's THE RIDER (2017). If you enjoy this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew...

The Video Monsters are headed back in time to an island in 18th century France to discuss a beautiful, heart-breaking tale of longing, isolation, and finding solace in art. So grab your canvas, turn to page 28, and gather around the campfire as we sing the praises of Céline Sciamma’s PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (2019)! If you enjoy this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord - be a p...

We interrupt your irregularly scheduled programming to bring you a special preview of the 2023 Chattanooga Film Festival with the Founder of the Fest, Executive Director, Lead Programmer, and total mensch Chris Dortch II! Chris chats about the challenges and triumphs of creating a hybrid festival that’s returning to on-ground programming for the first time since 2019, while also maintaining the ac...

The Video Monsters have unlocked the truly unbelievable achievement of releasing 400 episodes of this podcast over the last 6-and-a-half years or so and we wanted to do something extra special for our 400th episode. So we decided to look back on our entire back catalog and resurrect the ghosts of pod’s past by putting together a ranking Popcorn Punchout to decide the top three films that we have c...

The Video Monsters are turning to Letterboxd for a little help with this month’s topic. We’re going to cover three films from their list, “The 2010s—Top Women-Directed Feature Films” (which you can view in full here). We will decide which three films we’re going to focus on with a maddeningly addictive game we like to call the POPCORN PUNCHOUT! (which, by the way, we have been playing for a full y...

The Video Monsters have reached their final destination in their tour of International Horror cinema. This time we will discuss Issa López’s TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID (2017). This Mexican fairy tale about a group of homeless orphaned children who come into conflict with the local drug cartel (and maybe a few ghosts for good measure) is a potent mix of magical realism and urban horror guaranteed to lea...

The Video Monsters are heading to Sweden for the next stop on our tour of International Horror films. This time we will discuss the chilly, isolating vampire film LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (2008), from director Tomas Alfredson. On the way, we’ll make a brief pit stop in New Mexico to talk about Matt Reeves’s American remake LET ME IN (2010), and compare both adaptations to John Ajvide Lindqvist’s origi...

Our series on International Horror films kicks off with… A MOVIE HOUSE (1977)! AKA HAUSU. This delightfully deranged film from director Nobuhiko Obayashi is an unhinged (get it?! Because houses have doors… and doors have hinges!) exercise in unbridled creative enthusiasm, with more manic experimental energy in a single shot than most films have in their entire runtime. It’s the kind of film that t...

The Video Monsters are going global with International Horror films! But first we must decide which three films we’re going to focus on with a maddeningly addictive game we like to call the POPCORN PUNCHOUT! Nathan, Dan, and Eric will use our not-quite patented Video Rack Attack Bracket technology to let our votes (and a big bucket of chaos) decide what films we’ll discuss over the next few episod...

Recently, we had time to spare, And saw THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE. Every shot was black and gray, And by the end, we had much to say. When we gathered, just us three, The Video Monsters erupted with glee. We shared our thoughts and had a ball. The Coens had us all in thrall. So grab your wig and meet us at the store Be sure to tip your barber before heading out the door. For now it seems it’s time...

The Video Monsters step into the ring to contend with the fact that this is the first time we have reviewed a movie by one of our greatest living filmmakers, Martin Scorsese. We also process our feelings on unsympathetic protagonists, subjective cinematography, the dark side of the triumphant underdog sports narrative, and the (toxic) masculine urge to utterly demolish everything that you are afra...

The Video Monsters are kicking off our series on modern black-and-white films with a surreal Japanese cult body horror film that inspires awe and disgust in equal measure. So grab your drill bit, wipe that sweat off your brow, and fire up your ankle rockets because it’s time to rust this pod into the dust of the universe with our review of Shin’ya Tsukamoto’s TETSUO: THE IRON MAN (1989)! If you en...