Episode 121: Horror 101 - Episode 121: Altered States (1980)

Welcome to our 143rd episode!   For the first time ever we flipped a coin with the microphone running and let fate decide the direction for this show.   There's been word that Jordan Peele's company has announced they are remaking this title.  Its not the most celebrated film by Wes Craven but we hope you enjoy as we give the Horror 101 treatment to the bizarre 1991 horror The People Under the Stairs.  

Show Highlights:

01:00 Prelude to Terror...
07:00 The Coin Toss!
11:30  Birthday Tarot Card Reading...
13:30  One last family...
18:00  Break in...
20:00  Robbery Gone Bad...
25:40  Sometimes Out is In...
30:00  Total Spring Cleaning...
40:00  "Tail End of the Craziest Family you ever heard of..."
45:00  Re-Entry
52:40  The People Released...
56:00  Explosives...
60:00  Scoring the Film...
67:30  Conclusion!  Thanks for Listening!

Welcome to our first show of 2024!  We're hoping that you're in the mood for some European 80s sleaze cause that is whats on the docket for this podcast.  Gratuitous nudity.  Horrible dubbing.  Extreme violence and bad acting all wrapped up in a package of camp from a Spanish director.  They cannot make films like this anymore.  We had a lot of fun picking this feature apart and we hope you enjoy as well as we give the Horror 101 treatment to Juan Piquer Simón's Pieces.  Its EXACTLY what you think it is! 

Show Highlights:

01:00 Prelude to Terror...
05:00 Introducing Pieces...
11:30  Porno Puzzle...
14:50  Decapitation on the grounds...
16:00 Edmund Perdom...
17:45  Paul L. Smith (and those looks)...
18:40  Murder at the Pool...
21:00  The Weird Mailing Dilemma...
22:15  "I'm no Pathologist but..."
26:45  Is that a chainsaw behind your back?
32:40  Fung Fu!!
34:25  Waterbed Massacre!
37:00  The Chainsaw Payoff!
41:00  More coffee?
48:00 WTF Ending?!!?
51:40  Scoring the Film...
57:00  Conclusion!  Thanks for Listening!

We're going back to 1980 on this show.  There are 5 movies that made Jamie Lee Curtis one of the most famous scream queens, ever.  Tonight, we bring you another one of those.  Since this show is coming out on New Year's Eve and the setting of this film is also on the same occasion, we're giving the Horror 101 treatment to Roger Spottiswoode's Terror Train.  Happy New Year to all our listeners!

Show Highlights:

01:00  Prelude to Terror...
04:30  60% of our crew has NOT seen this film...
07:50  The remake and its sequel...
11:40  A Macabre Practical Joke...
15:35  Three years later....Train Party!
17:30  Left on the tracks...
22:06  Lizardman death...
26:40  Mitchy gets hers...
29:00  Moe's last magic show...
31:00  What do we have in common?
35:00  A vicious battle...
41:15   A SPOILER WARNING!
46:35  Horky's Call...
50:30  Scoring the Film...
61:00  Conclusion!  Happy New Year!!

You've heard our Nefarious Paul B rip this film to pieces for years!  Now we're rubbing his nose in it!  For our 140th podcast we're celebrating the 40th anniversary of Robert Hiltzik's Sleepaway Camp.  How will Cult Sensation Nick MacPherson react to that shocking conclusion?  Join us and find out!

Show Highlights:

01:00 Prelude to Terror...
04:00  Eye Trauma...
14:00  Boat Massacre...
15:30  Aunt Martha...
19:05  Creeper Chef...
23:30  Scalding of the Century...
27:40  Cracking Angela's Shell...
28:45  Canoe Death...
36:50  The Bees!!
41:00  Deadly Shower...
43:00  Curler in the Box...
46:00  Archery...
48:30  The Worst Mustache...
50:50  The Great Reveal...
59:20  Scoring the Film...
70:00  Conclusion!  Thanks for Listening!

We saw this Friday the 13th in October coming a mile a way and ever since January my crew knew exactly what we were going to cover for this month.   Every horror fan has their favourite Friday the 13th film and God knows there's a lot to choose from.  With masterful photography, great direction, an interesting, well written cast.  The best stuntman playing Jason this side of Kane Hodder and graphic Tom Savini gore we're going to argue that Part 4 should be at the top of everyone's list.  We hope you enjoy this Halloween Horror 101 treatment of Joseph Zito's Friday the 13th The Final Chapter.  

Show Highlights:

01:00  Prelude to Terror...
04:45  All Slashers Want to be This Film...
11:40  The Masterful Opening...
14:00  The Morgue...
17:15  The Jarvises
20:55  The Unlucky Hitchhiker...
23:10  Dancing Glover...
24:30  The Brutal Swim...
27:55  Take an Umbrella...
29:25  Where's the Corkscrew???
33:50  Hunting Jason...
40:00  He's Killing Me!!!
42"30  Jarvis Assault...
48:30  Jason Ex Mortis...
54:00  Tommy Deranged...
59:30  Scoring the Film...
67:00  Final Thoughts...
69:00  Conclusion!  Happy Halloween!!

This has been a guilty pleasure for decades.  Most reviewers either love it or hate it.  As we setup for the end of summer around here we're giving the Horror 101 treatment to William Wesley's Scarecrows.  

Show Highlights:

01:00  Prelude to Terror...
03:45  The Gifts of Stewart...
06:15  Remembering Scarecrows...
13:00  A Double cross...
19:40  Betrayal Unravels...
25:15  Burt's at the House....
32:40  Knife in the Face...
37:15  Midnight Getaway...
41:00  Jack's Back...
45:30  Scoring the Film...
52:40  Final Thoughts!  Thanks for Listening!

Welcome to our 137th show!  In the late 90s a young Paul W.S. Anderson directed a fantastic cast in a Horror/Sci Fi that's main goal was to give you a haunted house in space film.  Test Audiences hated it.  Half an hour was cut from it.  The negative has been neglected and destroyed and although it was a commercial failure this film has since gathered a huge following in the horror community.  Its been a long time since our crew had extremely varied opinions on a title.  We hope you enjoy as we give the Horror 101 treatment to Event Horizon!

We put Nood through the creepy crawler ringer once again!  This show we're going back to 1990 and revisiting the thrillomity of that summer.  Its been confirmed, we lost Julian Sands on Mount Baldy this year.  He was part of this Spielberg produced killer spider film which cuts an even slice of dread and comedy to appeal to all audiences.  Fond memories of this title.  We hope you enjoy our Horror 101 treatment of Frank Marshall's Arachnophobia!  Be sure to shake your shows and check your popcorn!

Show Highlights:

01:00 Prelude to Terror...
04:30  RIP Julian Sands...
12:35  On location in South America...
17:50  Spider hitches a ride...
19:10  The Jennings move to the country...
22:45  Lampshade Spider...
25:25  Goodman's Comic Relief...
27:35  Death on the Playfield...
29:30  Metcalf's Bite...
33:00  Shower of Terror...
36:20  Examining the Specimen...
42:35  Spiders en Masse...
44:50  The Nest..
49:50  Final Thoughts and Production Facts...
53:20  Scoring the Film...
58:00  Conclusion!  Thanks for Listening!

We hope you're feeling Nasty today cause thats exactly what we're covering.  A slasher gore piece from 1981 that was on the UK's Video Nasty list.  Of all the films is the 80s that tried to copy the Friday the 13th formula with a brutal killer in the woods this movie is one of the noteworthy ones.  It has an impressive synth score from Richard Wakeman of Yes.  Tom Savini does the horror effects and this was Bob and Harvey Weinstein's first film for their label Miramax.  The now disgraced movie producers who were just a few years ago titans of the industry began their journey here.  Enjoy our Horror 101 treatment of Tony Maylam’s The Burning.

Show Highlights:

01:00  Prelude to Terror...
07:00 Introducing The Burning...
13:45  The Prank Gone Wrong...
18:30  Rick Wakeman Score...
21:00  Unfortunate Hooker...
23:00 Five Years Later...
27:15  Campfire Tales...
30:00  Skinny Dip Death...
35:45  Raft Massacre...
38:00  Two Pump Dump...
41:20  The Abandoned Mine...
48:00  Scoring the Film...
56:00  Conclusion and Thanks for Listening!

Two days before we convened to run the microphone for this episode Evil Dead Rise was released for stream.  Hot off the press.  We had to strike while the iron was hot.  None of us were fans of the 2013 remake and expectations were low for this entry.  All of us had avoided spoilers and were going in to this cold.  We hope you enjoy our Horror 101 treatment of Lee Cronin's addition to the Evil Dead Universe.

Show Highlights:

01:00  Prelude to Terror
04:45  Remembering our first Evil Dead experience...
11:50  The cabin opening...
14:14  High Rise Family...
18:30  Unearthed Vault...
20:00  Naturum Demento...
23:50  Recitation Passages...
27:30  Stairs are Gone...
29:45  I'm Burning Alive...
32:10  Violence Begins...
36:00  "You Don't Look so Good, Mom...."
37:40  Munching on Glass...
40:00  Air Vent Entry...
43:15  Dead by Dawn...
45:00  Parking Garage Massacre...
50:15  Scoring the Film...
57:40  Conclusion.  Thanks for Listening!