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    Tracks Of The Damned

    Tracks of the Damned is a horror film commentary track podcast hosted by Patrick Ripoll. Finally, some new use for that huge DVD collection you've been ignoring! Informative! Entertaining! Weird! Adjective!
    en57 Episodes

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    Episodes (57)

    S.1 E.16 - Scream 3 (2000)

    S.1 E.16 - Scream 3 (2000)
    Scream once, Scream twice, Scream as loud as you can, but you've got an episode about Scream 3 (2000) in your red right hand. Reviled by many, defended by a few, Scream 3 was the death knell for the new slasher boom. With an assist from Tessa Racked of Consistent Panda Bear Shape, Patrick dives into a movie that dares to ask: are two Gale Weatherses better than one?
     
    If one of those Gales is Parker Posey, the answer is "Yes, hell yes, oh my God yes".
     
    In addition to discussing the troubled production and diminished ingenuity of Scream 3, Patrick and Tessa respond to a listener who asked "What do you think of the horror genre, in regards to it's treatment of women?" and Holy Shit was that a can of worms they opened. Tessa and Patrick ended up speaking for 40 minutes on the topic*. Turns out our status with women and horror films is "It's Complicated".
     
    Next week we conclude the Scream series with the dark horse outlier Scream 4 (coming out Saturday the 29th, instead of the usual Friday), so get caught up now!
     
    *Tessa Racked would like to note that they mispoke during the questions segment. They referred to the article of clothing the main character in A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night wears as a "niqab" when it is in fact a chador.
     
    0:00 - 17:19 - Intro
    17:20 - 2:10:46 - Commentary
    2:10:47 - 2:50:17 - Questions
    2:50:18 - 2:54:57 - Outro
    Tracks Of The Damned
    enOctober 21, 2016

    S.1 E.15 - Scream 2 (1997)

    S.1 E.15 - Scream 2 (1997)
    Oh Jesus Christ, will the internet never leave Scream 2 alone? First there was a script leak before they even started filming. Then an extra brought a camcorder into the opening scene and filmed the whole thing. Then another script leak that made them change the ending. And now, the final indignity, some moron named Patrick Ripoll is gonna release a commentary track and jabber on over the whole thing?
     
    Is there no justice in the world?
     
    There is no justice, there's just us. And what we have for you this week is a dive into the most frenzied shoot of Wes Craven's career, a movie with a tortured production that nonetheless managed to win over crowds and critics alike. A movie that dared to ask: Can a sequel be better than the original?
     
    The answer is: Yes, it's especially common in the horror genre, but not this time.
     
    Still, while Scream 2 might, at times, feel more like Scream: The TV Show (before there was a tv show) there's still plenty of fun to be had and, at one point, Portia De Rossi talks about giving head "harmonica style".
     
    Also, Patrick takes a query from a metal-head and examines the relationship between horror and heavy metal music. No, he hasn't seen Deathgasm yet, but he is a little interested in it.
     
    0:00 - 6:40 - Intro
    6:41 - 2:02:43 - Commentary
    2:02:44 - 2:09:53 - Questions
    2:09:54 - 2:11:25 - Outro
    Tracks Of The Damned
    enOctober 14, 2016

    S.1 E.14 - Scream (1996)

    S.1 E.14 - Scream (1996)
    What's your favorite scary movie? Ok, well what's your favorite scary movie that was originally titled "Scary Movie" but then changed to "Scream" because the Weinsteins thought that first name was box office poison?
     
    Scream (1996) has many die-hard fans and many die-hard detractors, but it's impact on the horror landscape of the late 90's is undeniable and it's status as a slasher movie touchstone is untouchable. To celebrate the greatest month of the year, Patrick decides not just to celebrate one of the greatest slasher movies ever, but also all it's sequels of diminishing quality. Every Friday this month join Patrick on an odyssey down the rabbit hole that is the final years of Wes Craven's career.
     
    For this episode, he wrestles with the cinematic autoclave that was Miramax in the 90's, the "fuck-it" mentality that lead to Wes Craven doing the greatest work of his career, and a culture policed by an MPAA that had all but eradicated old-school horror from the modern landscape.
     
    He also talks about the phenomenon of people laughing while watching horror movies. Are these people just trying to release nervous energy or are they real assholes? I'm not telling you here, dummy, you have to listen to find out!
     
    0:00 - 4:53 - Intro
    4:54 - 1:52:08 - Commentary
    1:52:09 - 2:10:12 - Questions
    2:10:13 - 2:11:58 - Outro
    Tracks Of The Damned
    enOctober 07, 2016

    S.1 E.13 - Jacob's Ladder (1990) feat. Jim Laczkowski of Directors Club

    S.1 E.13 - Jacob's Ladder (1990) feat. Jim Laczkowski of Directors Club

    Who is that on the subway muttering to himself? The shell-shocked vet or the man with the tail or the faces you can't make out. Is it just me or is that bag twitching? Who said that? Who are these people at this party, why can't I breathe and who is my girlfriend dancing with and why can't I breathe and where lurks the Vibroman?

    Natural questions if you're the main character of Jacob's Ladder (1990). For Patrick and guest Jim Laczkowski of Director's Club, the questions are a little more specific: How does a director like Adrian Lyne make a movie like this? What historical basis is there for this film? And can you create a subjective nightmare and still try to ground it in a Oliver Stone styled historically-based paranoia thriller?

    And how cute is Danny Aiello, a year out from Do the Right Thing, as a cherubic guardian angel? Actually, that one I can answer right here: the cutest.
     
    In addition to tackling the many rungs of Jacob's Ladder, Jim and Patrick are offered a rare opportunity to program a horror film festival. This is not one to miss! Anyone who doesn't listen to this is a real chump!
     
    0:00 - 4:30 - Intro
    4:30 - 1:58:38 - Commentary
    1:58:38 - 2:33:07 - Questions
    2:33:08 - 2:35:03 - Outro
    Tracks Of The Damned
    enSeptember 30, 2016
    tim
    vietnam
    robbins
    adrian
    jacobs

    S.1 E.12 - City of the Living Dead (1980) feat. Gabe Powers of DVDActive

    S.1 E.12 - City of the Living Dead (1980) feat. Gabe Powers of DVDActive
    Grab your best blow-up doll and get ready to puke your guts out. You can learn all the horror movies rules, grab a crucifix, holy water, and silver bullets, but none of it will help you. An undying hanged priest don't care about your logic. An undying hanged priest just wants you to suffer. Lucio Fulci really knew how to reach out and squeeze the audience's brain, and there's few films that prove that better than City of the Living Dead (1980).
     
    Bravely in lockstep with DVDActive's Gabe Powers, Patrick explores the finer points of the seminal Italian film and asks the big questions like: What makes Italian film music different than American? Just how the hell did they pull off that drill scene? And what's with that ending? Armed with Gabe's deep knowledge of Italian genre, they dive into Fulci's Gothic/Gates of Hell/Zombie (don't ask) trilogy.
     
    Also, a special listener sends in a question that leads to the pair finally cracking the code on how you can figure out which Friday the 13th movies are the good ones. It turns out there was a secret pattern the whole time!
     
    0:00 - 8:46 - Intro
    8:47 - 1:42:54 - Commentary
    1:42:55 - 1:56:49 - Questions
    1:56:50 - 1:58:23 - Outro
    Tracks Of The Damned
    enSeptember 23, 2016
    fulci

    S.1 E.11 - 1st Annual Tracks of the Damned Short Horror Film Festival

    S.1 E.11 - 1st Annual Tracks of the Damned Short Horror Film Festival
    Did you know the original Halloween is 110 minutes long? I'm sorry, but who's got time for that noise? Maybe back in 1978 when all people had to do was homebrew beer and collect Susan B. Anthony dollars and wait in line for gas that shit would fly, but us modern folks got things to do, places to be, Pokemon to Go.
     
    What the world needs now,
    is films,
    short films.
     
    And we here at Tracks of the Damned are all about fulfilling your needs (hey baby, hit me up at tracksofthedamned@gmail.com ), so here we are with our 1st Annual Tracks of the Damned Short Horror Film Festival. Among the twisted sights you'll witness in these seven films are blood-drinking Barbies, cats hiding in men's bodies, nightmarish altered-states, blood soaked ventriloquist dummies, ants crawling out of hands, and James Mason losing his goddamned mind. With the help of Jim Laczkowski, Daniel Baldwin, Chris Olson, and Samm Deighan, Patrick takes you on a journey through some of the weirdest and wildest short horror films ever made, all of which you can watch right here, on the internet. 
     
    Also, a lot of animation and avant-garde this year. Just turned out that way!
     
    Dream Work (2001)
    The Dummy (1982)
    Pixillation (1970) (scroll all the way to the bottom of the page)
     
    0:00 - 11:08 -  Episode Intro
    11:08 - 12:51 - Psychotic Odyssey of Richard Chase intro
    12:51 - 19:37 - Psychotic Odyssey of Richard Chase commentary
    19:38 - 26:32 - Dreamwork Intro
    26:33 - 37:33 - Dreamwork Commentary
    37:34 - 40:20 - The Cat With Hands Intro
    40:21 - 44:33 - The Cat With Hands Commentary
    44:34 - 50:10 - The Dummy Intro
    50:11 - 58:27 - The Dummy Commentary
    58:28 - 1:00:35 - The Tell Tale Heart Intro
    1:00:36 - 1:09:24 - The Tell Tale Heart Commentary
    1:09:25 - 1:14:00 - Pixillation Intro
    1:14:01 - 1:19:23 - Pixillation Commentary
    1:19:24 - 1:20:55 - Un Chien Andalou Intro
    1:20:56 - 1:39:12 - Un Chien Andalou Commentary
    1:39:13 - 1:41:30 - Outro
    Tracks Of The Damned
    enSeptember 16, 2016

    S.1 E.10 - Troll 2 (1990) feat. a merry band of drunken delinquents

    S.1 E.10 - Troll 2 (1990) feat. a merry band of drunken delinquents
    Ho boy. Ok folks, this one is a little different. Patrick took a five day trip to Salem, Massachusetts with his partner Tessa Racked to visit their friends: actress Jess Conger-Henry and theater programmer Nick Henry. He fully intended to spend all five days steeping in the rich history of Salem to return with a 4 hour lecture on witchcraft, witch hunts, the effects of historical tourism on modern day neo-pagan landscape, and the broader sociological and metaphysical implications of polytheistic cultural preservation in Western society.
     
    But then he got fucking sloshed.
     
    Looking back, Patrick can't really tell where one day started, one day ended, and if he actually saw Lon Chaney drinking a Piña colada at Trader Vic's or if he just did Waren Zevon karaoke at a Boston tiki bar. So, instead of a really smart and well-researched discussion, here's something really stupid: Troll 2 (1990).
     
    So Tessa, Jess, Nick, Patrick and a bottle of absinthe all had a smashing time watching Claudio Fragasso's cult classic, a naive and sometimes sweet middle finger to vegetarianism. For kids. We hope you enjoy it! If not, there will be another slightly more sober episode next week, assuming Patrick's hangover subsides.
     
    Intro: 0:00 - 7:20
    Commentary: 7:21 - 1:42:13
    Outro: 1:42:14 - 1:45:34
    Tracks Of The Damned
    enSeptember 09, 2016

    S.1 E.9 - Doctor X (1932)

    S.1 E.9 - Doctor X (1932)
    You ever see something so ugly it's cute again, like an armadillo or a pangolin? Not to oversell it, but this movie is kind of like that. It has the color of reality, just muted, twisted, slightly broken. Alive but not. That's right: two-strip technicolor is the synthetic flesh of color processes.
     
    On the latest episode of Tracks of the Damned, the horror film commentary track podcast, Patrick dives into the many contradictions of famed director Michael Curtiz truly singular mad-scientist cannibal murder mystery Doctor X (1932). If James Whale's classic The Invisible Man is a perfect cocktail of humor, horror and sci-fi special effects, Doctor X is what happens when you mix that cocktail all wrong, with the proportions all off, leaving a drink that's twice as strong as it has any right to be.
     
    Patrick also answers a listener question about horror films that hit close to home, in one way or another. As one cannibal scientist said to another, you might as well dig in because it isn't getting any warmer!
     
    0:00 - 7:58 - Intro
    7:59 - 1:23:50 - Commentary
    1:23:51 - 1:40:44 - Questions
    1:40:45 - 1:42:14 - Outro
    Tracks Of The Damned
    enSeptember 02, 2016

    S.1 E.8 - Carnival Of Souls (1962) feat. Chris Olson of Pop Culture Lens

    S.1 E.8 - Carnival Of Souls (1962) feat. Chris Olson of Pop Culture Lens
    Sure, Night of the Living Dead is the masterpiece, the one they all fawn over.. But you know what else it is? Wasteful. Did it shock the world, invent a lasting pop cultural icon, and inspire hundreds of low-budget copycats the world over? Certainly. But it also cost 90,000 dollars. Which means, if I do my math correctly (and what is art if not the result of math), George Romero could have taken that same $90,000 and made THREE Carnival of Soulses.
     
    Yes Carnival of Souls (1962), Kansas' greatest gift to the world, the je-ne-sais-quoi incarnate on celluloid. In the latest episode of Tracks of the Damned, the horror film commentary track podcast, Patrick and author/podcaster Christopher Olson of The Pop Culture Lens podcast dive into the weird combination of industrial film ingenuity, otherworldly organ music and rusted out halls of 1920's Americana decadence that is Carnival of Souls, the greatest (the GREATEST) American horror film of the 1960's.
     
    In addition to tracing the roots of copy-cats and the value of a good location, Patrick and Chris also talk about the lasting legacy of the Exorcist and take apart the meaning of the phrase "overrated". Also, Patrick says that a movie you probably think is among the greatest horror flicks of all-time isn't actually that great. He's very very sorry.
     
    0:00 - 10:07 - Intro
    10:08 - 1:28:27 - Commentary
    1:28:28 - 1:43:35 - Questions
    1:43:36 - 1:45:56 - Outro
    Tracks Of The Damned
    enAugust 26, 2016

    S.1 E.7 - Masque of the Red Death (1963)

    S.1 E.7 - Masque of the Red Death (1963)

    Satan. Say it loud and there's music playing. Say it soft and it's almost like praying. The debauchery of the 60's had yet to even really begin when Roger Corman decided to have the final word in colorful horror bachanalia with The Masque of the Red Death (1963).

    In this episode of Tracks of the Damned, the horror commentary track podcast, Patrick dives into the Corman Poe cycle, the advantages of shooting your costume dramas in England, and what Vincent Price means to Patrick as a queer man and more. What better way to celebrate the fact that at any moment any of us can be destroyed by billionaires than to watch Vincent Price as a tyrannical prince get himself, and all his rich friends, infected with a flesh-eating plague? 
     
    No, I will not put a spoiler alert around that. Read a book!
     
    He also gets into his own humble beginnings as a horror fan by answering listener question about the first horror movie he ever saw. Tuck in!
     
    0:00 - 9:06 - Intro
    9:07 - 1:37:31 - Commentary
    1:37:32 - 1:50:47 - Questions
    1:50:48 - 1:52:30 - Outro
    Tracks Of The Damned
    enAugust 19, 2016

    S.1 E.6 - Messiah of Evil (1973) feat. Bill Ackerman of Supporting Characters

    S.1 E.6 - Messiah of Evil (1973) feat. Bill Ackerman of Supporting Characters
    Patrick's waiting at the edge of the city. He's peering around buildings at night, and he's waiting. Waiting for you! And, with his dear friend Bill Ackerman of the Supporting Characters podcast, he'll take you one by one and noone will hear you scream. Noone will hear you SCREAM!
     
    With joy at this latest episode of Tracks of the Damned, the horror film commentary track podcast! In it, the two take a look at the 1973 cult classic Messiah of Evil and ask the really hard questions like: Did Dario Argento see this or what? Were Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck fans of Antonioni or what? Are these some incredible murals or what? In the commentary they answer (or at least ask) all that about the definitive California horror film of the 20th century.
     
    They also talk about other filmmakers who made great contributions to horror without being strongly associated with the genre, and finally definitively create a real definition for just what people mean when they say "psychological horror". What a great episode! Shovel it in your ear-holes, creeps!
     
    Intro: 0:00 - 14:33
    Commentary: 14:34 - 1:44:29
    Questions: 1:44:30 - 2:20:09
    Outro: 2:20:10 - 2:25:59
    Tracks Of The Damned
    enAugust 12, 2016

    TBT - Friday the 13th (1980) feat. Patricks Mom

    TBT - Friday the 13th (1980) feat. Patricks Mom

    Hey folks, I'm Jim, the owner of the Now Playing Network. Patrick is on vacation in Mexico, looking for a nice seaside town to flee to if Trump becomes president, but that's no reason for the show not to go on! So instead of a proper episode of Tracks of the Damned this week, he's sent us this #ThrowbackThursday blast from the past.

    A white back Patrick was my co-host on our film podcast called Director's Club, where he did all kinds of wacky bonus episodes. One such episode back in 2013 was, in fact, the first audio commentary he ever did: Friday the 13th (1980) with a special guest, his mother. A 50-something year old Catholic woman with no concept of horror films, she was nonetheless an eager student as Patrick used the seminal 80's horror film as a lesson in the techniques and history of the slasher genre. He also decided to see how long it would take her to recognize Kevin Bacon, and the answer was: quite a while.

    It proved to be one of our most popular bonus episodes, so I'm happy to present it again to you here! Patrick will be back next Friday, tanned and recovering from Montezuma's revenge, with a proper episode on Messiah of Evil (1973) featuring guest Bill Ackerman!
     
    0:00 - 4:15 - Intro
    4:15 - 9:14 - Intro #2
    9:15 - 1:52:36 - Commentary
    Tracks Of The Damned
    enAugust 04, 2016

    S.1 E.5 - Lake Mungo (2008)

    S.1 E.5 - Lake Mungo (2008)
    Some ghosts are so effective they don't even need to show up to haunt someone. Is this the case for the Palmers (Twin Peaks reference intentional), a family dealing with their daughter's tragic drowning in some questionable ways? Or is there actually a restless spirit in their house?

    This is the central question proposed in Lake Mungo (2008), an underrated masterpiece of a fictional horror documentary from Australia. In this episode Patrick looks at the detail-driven film and all the smart choices director Joel Anderson makes to really convince the viewer that what they're looking at really happened. 
     
    He also answers some listener questions, including recording a live reaction to the teaser trailer for the upcoming Blair Witch Project sequel! If you want to send any questions, comments, corrections or concerns, direct your e-mail to tracksofthedamned@gmail.com! Special thanks to Jim Laczkowski for the original music!

    0:00 - 15:30: Intro
    15:30 - 1:39:52: Commentary
    1:39:52 - 2:03:08: Questions
    2:03:08 - 2:04:42: Outro
    Tracks Of The Damned
    enJuly 29, 2016

    S.1 E.4 - Oculus (2013)

    S.1 E.4 - Oculus (2013)

    Downer ending? Check. Domestic abuse? Check. Child abuse? You know it. Parricide AND sororicide? Undeniably.

    There's no getting around it, for a movie about a piece of furniture that eats dogs, this is pretty grim. It's also fairly sui generis, a modern horror masterpiece which finds a truly captivating lagrange point between A Woman Under the Influence, Cloud Atlas and The Shining. This week Patrick takes on Oculus (2013) and talks about the exciting career of Mike Flanagan, the value of the "editing brain", and the proper way to throttle a child actor.

    Patrick also takes a question from a listener in Canada and gets into his deepest darkest fears, including but not limited to The GOP and cars. Eat up!

    Tracks Of The Damned
    enJuly 22, 2016

    S.1 E.3 - The Mummy's Tomb (1942)

    S.1 E.3 - The Mummy's Tomb (1942)

    Lon Chaney Jr. may have had to hide bottles of vodka in his bandages to get through some of those later sequels, but this is a fast and breezy episode you'll be able to blaze through with no trouble, as we take on the hour-long Universal B-horror flick The Mummy's Tomb (1942)! 

    In this episode Patrick charts the rise and fall of Universal's classic monster movies, with a rise that began long before Bela Lugosi donned his cape and a fall that began long before Abbot and Costello met anybody. Also track the winding road of Universal's oft-forgotten Mummy series, from an eerie Dracula rip-off in Egypt to a shambling monster strangling Creole people in Louisiana!
     
    Patrick also answers a variety of questions from listeners, including teasing upcoming episodes and movies within movies. DIG IN.

    Intro: 0:00 - 7:34
    Commentary: 7:34 - 1:09:02
    Questions: 1:09:03 - 1:19:06
    Outro: 1:19:06 - 1:20:39
    Tracks Of The Damned
    enJuly 15, 2016

    S.1 E.2 - Fright Night (1985)

    S.1 E.2 - Fright Night (1985)
    Welcome back to another episode of Tracks of the Damned where Patrick asks an important question: If a sexually frustrated teenage girl wants to run away with her geeky boyfriend's hunky next door neighbor, is it really so wrong just because he's a bloodthirsty vampire? This is the sort of adolescent philosophical discourse you get into when you watch Tom Holland's Rear Window meets Dracula classic Fright Night (1985)! 
     
    With a cast full of queer actors and a tone to match, Patrick dives into Tom Holland's Hitchcock-inspired direction, the history of Dracula lore, and just what a good soundtrack full of songs written expressly for the film can accomplish. He also answers a round of listener questions, including finally determining once and for all if An American Werewolf in London is a horror film or a comedy.

    If you want to send in your questions, concerns, corrections or comments, drop a line at tracksofthedamned@gmail.com!
     
    Intro: 0:00 - 4:16
    Commentary: 4:17 - 1:50:34 
    Questions: 1:50:35 - 2:00:50
    Outro: 2:00:51 - 2:02:18
    Tracks Of The Damned
    enJuly 08, 2016

    S.1 E.1 - The Giant Claw (1957)

    S.1 E.1 - The Giant Claw (1957)

    Welcome to the very first episode of Tracks of the Damned, the horror film commentary track podcast! Your host Patrick Ripoll opens this venture somewhat inauspiciously with a track for the cult giant monster movie classic The Giant Claw (1957)! Hear as Patrick explains the giant monster movie craze! Witness what a couple hundred dollars and a Mexican puppet factory can accomplish! Marvel at director Fred F. Sears' saving Columbia Pictures thousands of dollars by blanketing a movie with narration instead of paying actors to speak!

    Also, Patrick answers some listener mail inquiring about his favorite slasher movie kills. You can send all questions, comments and corrections to TracksOfTheDamned@gmail.com!

    Tracks Of The Damned
    enJune 28, 2016
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