Saturday Night Freak Show

It's that time of year again where we compile our lists of the Best and Worst Movies of 2020, except this year there was a dearth of new movies so we went a little broader for this special episode, tackling Best TV Show, Best New to You Movie or TV Show, Most Unexpected/Guilty Pleasure, Best/Favorite Movie of 2020, and Biggest Disappointment/Worst Movie of 2020! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly goes hunting a Sasquatch who maims his victims with his Night Claws (2012), a sub-low budget horror flick from prolific C-grade action movie helmer David A. Prior, pitting sheriff Reb Brown (Yor: The Hunter From the Future) against the titular rampaging beast. Listen as we reminisce about the direct-to-VHS rental days, try to get Sean to sing the film's "Legend of Cooter Brown" ballad, and the bizarre twist-upon-a-twist inclusion of Frank Stallone, all on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean tries to break reality itself (and the brains of the Freak Show crew) with Bloodbeat (1983), a rightfully forgotten Christmas horror pic, shot in rural Wisconsin, which features a woman possessed by the spirit of a vengeful Samurai. Because...why not? Listen as we explore the phenomena of mystical boinging, the sonic landscapes of the Wisconsin farmland, and collectively lose our minds on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin think's Peter Cushing's doctor is the monster in The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Hammer Films full-color, blood and guts version of the classic tale, which made a star out of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee and launched a revitalized interest in Gothic horror in the age of sci-fi and atomic monsters. Listen as we deep dive into stuntman safety, punchable faces, child murder and more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela wants to believe the truth is out there about the Fire in the Sky (1993), a dramatization of the supposedly true story of Travis Walton, a forester who was allegedly abducted by a UFO in 1975. We've got an all-star cast including Robert Patrick, D.B. Sweeny and James Garner and one of the most nightmarish sequences ever conducted on an alien operating table. Listen as we talk belief in extra-terrestrials, anal probes, hot magma, flannel, and the secret origin of Wonder Woman, all on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly discovers every body tells a story in the morgue of John Carpenter's Body Bags (1993), a made-for-TV anthology film which was intended to be Showtime's answer to HBO's Tales From the Crypt...but never took off. The Horror Master uses his wit and ghoulish panache to introduce three terrifying tales. How do they stack up? Listen as we talk serial killer slashers, horrifying hair histrionics, and Mark Hamill at his craziest on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We felt bad that Holly missed out when we discovered the greatest Thanksgiving slasher movie ever made, Blood Rage (1987), last year, so we threw our pumpkin pie at the wall, declared "it's not cranberry sauce" and headed back to relive the nightmare at Shadow Woods and get her wrap up. You can find our original, full length Blood Rage episode here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean confronts the terror of going insane trying to rid his home of a giant rat in Of Unknown Origin (1983), which stars Peter Weller as a fellow in the same predicament. On the cusp of having it all, a trust fund manager finds his home under siege by a creature hellbent on destroying everything he's built for himself. Listen as we explore obsession, cat-killing rats, the career of Shannon Tweed, and find some of our membership is more pro-rat than pro-human on this week's exciting episode!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin overstimulates his pineal gland for the ability to see creatures From Beyond (1986), director Stuart Gordon's follow-up to Re-Animator, which reteams him with Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton for another gonzo, over-the-top slime, sex and splatter extravaganza. Listen as we talk about dangling brain stalks emerging from glistening, pulsating orifices and other gory delights on this week's revolting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela learns to be careful what she wishes for after tangling with the Wishmaster (1997), a movie featuring a who's who of horror movie all-stars in the story of an evil genie who wanders around modern day L.A., twisting people's desires into gory, FX-driven deaths. Listen as we talk of djinn, 90's horror, the long shadow of Freddy Krueger, those Wes Craven Presents movies, and more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly celebrates Halloween with the Yuletide set Night Killer (1990), an Italian-made flick, from the director of Troll 2, that was advertised there as the 3rd Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, despite having no relation. A woman suffers a psychological trauma at the hands of a mask-wearing nutjob, suffers amnesia, and undergoes even more derangement while cops try to catch the killer. Listen as we wonder what the hell was going through the minds of the makers of this movie as we howl with uncontrollable laughter on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean finds vampires in the Wild West in Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966), a drive-in classic that was shot in 8 days and features John Carradine, reprising his interpretation of the vampire count, this time trying to steal Billy the Kid's girlfriend. Listen as we talk vampire Westerns, bats with top hats, questionable Wolfsbane, and watch one of the West's famous outlaws save America from a bloodsucking menace on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin opens his copy of the Necronomicon to summon the Great Old Ones alongside Vincent Price in The Haunted Palace (1963), one of the big screen's earliest adaptations of the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and possibly the first time the name C'thulhu is uttered aloud in a movie. The movie was sold as an Edgar Allan Poe adaptation, but we know better, don't we? Listen as we talk smoking jackets, possessed portraits, and Bill Hader's Vincent Price impression, all on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela gets into the Halloween spirit with the backwoods-folktale-monster movie Pumpkinhead (1988), in which a grieving father summons the demon of vengeance to hunt and kill the big city interlopers responsible for a family tragedy. Listen as we worship at the majesty of effects creator-turned-director Stan Winston, swamp witches, thick atmosphere, and more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly tries to adapt to Ye Olde English and other rules of The Village (2004), the movie that effectively ended the promise of writer-director M. Night Shyamalan, who predicates the entire enterprise on a revelation that brought scorn, dismay, and much head wringing from audiences everywhere. Listen as we go on a deep dive into a spoiler-filled analysis of the truth behind The Village on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean wanders into the bog of cheap-o 80's slasher films and finds Offerings (1989), a movie that rips off so much of Halloween that royalties might be necessary. You know the story: kids push a mentally challenged kid down a well; 10 years later he escapes from a sanitarium, disfigured but supernaturally empowered to seek out and murder each of them. But, have you seen it done in Oklahoma? Listen as we go varmint hunting "ground squirrels," eat pizza with Questionable Sausage, and decry the sad state of crappy streaming apps on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Colin can't believe there's a vampire dog movie called Zoltan: Hound of Dracula (aka Dracula's Dog, 1978), a drive-in cheapie in which the titular vampire mutt travels to America in search of Dracula's last living descendant: a guy named Mike Dracula. You may think we're kidding, but we're not! Listen as we talk vampire puppies, Dracula Motors, flashbacks from the point of view of a dog, and more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Listen as we celebrate our 400th episode with Michaela's nostalgia pick of Ghost (1990), yes, the Patrick Swayze/Demi Moore/Whoopi Goldberg romantic-comedy-fantasy-thriller which put a premium on at-home pottery kits and landed the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody" on the Billboard Top 100. Listen as we tunnel through eight years of Freak Show history and lore and get appropriately high on our own supply on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly doesn't know what's worse: that we've lost the nuclear weapon, or that it happens so often they call it a Broken Arrow (1996). John Travolta plays a crazy Air Force pilot who steals two of them; Christian Slater is the good guy who has to get them back. Current SAG-AFTRA president Samantha Mathis is a park ranger who helps him out. Ain't it cool? You know it is. Listen as we go all in on John Woo and the Golden Age of the American Action Movie on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean discovers that "sometimes, the original is better" after a return trip to Pet Sematary 2 (1992). The sequel finds a sullen Edward Furlong with mommy issues discovering the sinister power of a cursed Indian burial ground, while Clancy Brown stops around as a clownish undead sheriff. Listen as we talk dead kittens, zombie rape, dog-headed sex, pug taxidermy and more on this week's episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.