Video Monsters

Sadly, with today’s episode we have reached the terminal point in our journey through the underappreciated works of the one and only Tom Hanks. Though the sun must set on our HANKSgiving series, REJOICE, because the moon rises with this final film! A film that we believe just might be the keystone text that binds together everything that Hanks has ever been in. It’s JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO (1990)!...

Video Monsters presents our inaugural episode of a very special occasional series that we’re calling CARDBOARD MONSTERS! In these episodes we’ll be reviewing board games from a movie lover’s perspective. First up, Nathan and Eric are joined by Adam Collins and Jon Meek (Cardboard of the Rings) to talk about BACK TO THE FUTURE: BACK IN TIME, a cooperative strategy game from Funko Games based on a m...

We’re pushing our HANKSgiving plate aside today for a special Thanksgiving bonus episode. Three years ago — in the early days when we were still the Gargyle Podcast — Nathan and Eric reviewed what is objectively the greatest Thanksgiving horror movie of all time, and we felt like it was finally time to pull that plate out of the back of the fridge, rip off the tin foil, and heat up some of BLOOD R...

Last week, the podcast was headed in one direction. This week, it is headed in another. When we initially came up with HANKSgiving as our theme for November, I don’t think any of us ever expected CLOUD ATLAS (2012) to be one of the films covered in our series on underappreciated Tom Hanks films. But the hand of fate has pushed us into the path of what is arguably the most ambitious and polarizing...

When does a joke become a dad joke? When the punchline becomes apparent. But that begs the question... When does a punchline become apparent? When the Video Monsters review the movie PUNCHLINE, of course! Apparently, PUNCHLINE (1988) is a film starring Tom Hanks and Sally Field as two as two stand up comedians working the nightclub circuit in New York City. We’re discussing this film today as part...

Halloween is over. The days are growing colder as the nights grow longer. The leaves change and fall and it feels like the winter season is upon before they even hit the ground. The holidays approach and suddenly we’re spending more time at home, bundled up with our loved ones, taking time to reflect on what really matters to us: friendship, charity, art, a pair of cozy socks, a warm cup of coffee...

The Video Monsters share their thoughts on the 13th annual Knoxville Horror Film Festival, which was hosted Oct. 21st - 24th at the Parkway Drive-In and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Sadly, only one-third of our Monster triumvirate were able to make it down for a day of the festival.  But, Nathan is happy to report that his return to the cinema -- after an almost two-year absence -- was even mo...

Hangout episode with Nathan, Eric, and Dan. Recorded live on the Video Monsters Discord server, 10/19/2021. On this episode, the Video Monsters are talking ALL THE SPOILERS!!! Nathan ponders the question “Can a movie really be spoiled?” Eric and Dan answer with an unequivocal “Yes” before digging into what it actually means for something to be “spoiled” and how that affects the way we experience a...

Film producer -and Mayor of Video Monsters- David Lawson Jr (SHE DIES TOMORROW, SYNCHRONIC, AFTER MIDNIGHT) boards the Video Monsters express to discuss his pick for our Transportationsploitation series, TRAIN TO BUSAN (2016). This South Korean horror film from director Sang-ho Yeon is widely regarded as one of the best zombie movies of the past decade; no small feat considering how much the undea...

Bill Fulkerson (co-writer/co-director of SURVIVAL OF THE FILM FREAKS and host of the OUTSIDE THE CINEMA podcast), joins the Video Monsters to discuss his TRANSPORTATIONSPLOITATION pick, Richard Franklin’s ROADGAMES (1981). This early Ozploitation flick is a pitch-perfect Hitchcock pastiche about a charming truck driver (Stacy Keach) who unintentionally gets swept up in the hunt for a serial killer...

Hangout episode with Nathan, Dan, and special guest Corey Simpson. Recorded live on the Video Monsters Discord server, 10/5/2021. Eric is MIA in Florida this week because he’s the worst. Nathan and Dan perform their civic duties and rightfully give Eric the grief he deserves before moving on to this week’s movies. Dan’s picks include Italian Lovecraftian nunsploitation classic, DARK WATERS (1993),...

The Video Monsters are once again joined by friend and fellow film freak, Kyle Kuchta (co-director, SURVIVAL OF THE FILM FREAKS), to discuss CREEP (2004) as we keep moving right along with our Horror in Motion (or, Transportationsploitation) series.  This feature-film directorial debut of Christopher Smith harkens back to gothic horror (with a splash of 80s creature features) as it presents an inc...

Hangout episode with Nathan, Eric, and Dan. Recorded live on the Video Monsters Discord server, 9/21/2021. The Video Monsters pay tribute to our lord and savior, Stephen King, on the most holy occasion of his birthday before jumping into what we’ve been watching lately. Movies discussed include transportationsploitation picks like DEATH SHIP, SOUTHBOUND, BELOW, and DEAD CALM plus a few non-vehicul...

It may sound like a trick, but we have a very special treat for our listeners. For the first time ever, the Video Monsters are joined by an actual video monster. Hailing all the way from Transylvania, we’re interviewing the one, the only, the immortal… Count Dracula! This is not a joke. The ACTUAL Dracula is stopping in to promote his new TV show DRACULA’S KUNG-FU THEATRE, where he shows a variety...

Eric Pennycoff (writer/director of SADISTIC INTENTIONS) joins the Video Monsters to discuss Jonathan Mostow’s underrated 90s action thriller BREAKDOWN (1997). We’re absolutely thrilled that he picked this for our TRANSPORTATIONSPLOITATION: or HORROR IN MOTION series because this flick rocked our engine blocks and deserves far more love than it’s received over the years. In this episode, we lament...

Hangout episode with Nathan and Eric, recorded live on the Video Monsters Discord server, 9/7/2021. Since Eric missed the 300th episode spectacular -- our review of Steven Spielberg’s DUEL with special guest Matt Mercer -- we spend a little time reminiscing about the three years we’ve spent together as podcast pals, then get Eric’s quick thoughts on DUEL. We also spend some time talking about what...

The Video Monsters’ Halloween series this year is TRANSPORTATIONSPLOITATION: HORROR IN MOTION, where we’ll be discussing tales of automotive terror! For our first full review in the series, we’re hitting the road with Steven Spielberg’s ferocious debut film, DUEL (1971); the deceptively simple story of a nice guy salesman pursued by a murderous monster of a truck driver across a seemingly endless...

Spooky season is upon us, and the Video Monsters are shaking things up a bit with our Halloween coverage this year! In addition to our reviews, we will also be recording weekly live hangout episodes on Tuesday nights in our Discord channel and releasing them later in the main feed. This is the first of those episodes, in which Nathan and Eric announce this year’s Halloween theme: TRANSPORTATIONSPL...

Fare thee well to our ERICSISTENTIALISM series because it’s all coming full circle today with a film about a down-and-out folk singer who, no matter how hard he tries,  just can’t seem to land on his feet. Joel and Ethan Coens’ INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (2013) is a movie that Eric has been dying to cover for years and he may or may not have contrived this series, in part, just to have an excuse to talk...

On the second episode of our ERICSISTENTIALISM series -- where Eric confronts his quarter-life crisis through film -- we’re switching channels from THE TRUMAN SHOW to a very different kind of show altogether. THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (1971) is a film made in the 1970s, set in the 1950s, about the banality of life in small-town Texas, directed by a man from the big city in New York. Peter Bogdanovich’...

Now that the month of August is coming to a close, it’s time to finally kick off our August coverage! Because that’s how we do things here at Video Monsters. In all seriousness, with the start of school, an increased workload at our day jobs, and a distressing rise in COVID cases (especially at our headquarters in good ole Tennessee) we’ve had a hell of a time staying on track this month, but we’r...

The Chattanooga Film Festival’s 2021 lineup was excellent this year, and one of the standout flicks of the fest was a hugely entertaining little Australian genre hybrid called AN IDEAL HOST. We loved it so much that it even inspired (and, of course, won) Video Monsters’s inaugural “Scrappy as F**k” Award on our Chatt Film Fest wrap-up episode. So, we were delighted to have the film’s director, Rob...

We sadly must bid a fond farewell to the United States of Emmericha this week. But we are definitely going out on a high note by going down to the White House with WHITE HOUSE DOWN (2013)! A big, fun, goofy action flick about domestic terrorists taking over the White House. Which, uh, maybe plays a little differently now than it did 8 years ago. Nathan, Eric, and Dan will dig into that as well as...

On the penultimate episode of our United State of Emmericha series, we’re covering a film about a global crisis made worse by the people in charge who refuse to listen to scientists because they’re more concerned about the economic strain of addressing the problem than they are with saving people’s lives. You know, the kind of story that could only exist in the realm of science fiction….  of cours...

We’re continuing our United States of Emmericha series with Roland Emmerich’s fascinating attempt to simultaneously go back to his roots and try his hand at something entirely different. This week we turn our attention to the origin of Independence Day with the Revolutionary War epic, THE PATRIOT (2000). On this episode, Nathan, Eric, and Dan discuss the malice and magnetism of Mel Gibson, the gen...