Saturday Night Freak Show

Sean puts a team together to track down a sexy alien nymphomaniac with Species (1995). Nasty aliens give humankind their DNA; foolish humans combine it with ours to create Sil, a gorgeous blonde vixen with only one desire: mate and reproduce, to create progeny which will destroy the entire human race! Listen as lament the absence of sex in modern movies, marvel at the dark genius of H.R. Giger, and praise stuntwork and practical effects on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin brings Conan the Barbarian (1982) to the Freak Show, sees them become the most listened to show in the universe, and hears the lamentation of other podcasters! Come with us as we visit the Hyborean age of Robert E. Howard's iconic character, trace the origins of sword and sorcery, and discuss the proper food to cook for orgies and other large parties on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela ditches the zero to get with the hero with Cool as Ice (1991), a starring vehicle for rapper Vanilla Ice, who plays an alien who falls to Earth and tries to mate with an teenage equestrian trainer, but becomes involved in a kidnapping plot. Ok, we're kidding. Listen as we witness bizarre romantic rituals involving ice cubes, motorcycle riding montages, the use of construction projects as jungle gyms, and the career of Robert Van Winkle on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly finds that terror doesn't stop at the page in I, Madman (1989), a movie in which a pretty bookworm finds herself stalked by the deranged antagonist of a pulp horror novel in real life. Listen as we confront the horror of hoarder houses, film noir lighting, stop motion monsters, and fashion faux pas involving berets on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean talks to birds, tigers, bears and ferrets and calls himself The Beastmaster (1982), Phantasm director Don Coscarelli's insanely popular sword and sorcery epic about a warrior born with the ability to communicate with animals, who vows revenge on those who burned down his village. Listen as we become suspect of George R.R. Martin, encounter fleshbats, talk about Dungeons and Dragons, and future adventures in time on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin watches as a movie loses its grip on reality and become an over the top Cannon Films extravaganza, Death Wish 3 (1985) in which architect-turned-vigilante Paul Kersey returns to New York and incites war between a gang of punks and the geriatric residents of a seedy tenement building. Listen as we throw bazookas, pipe guns, booby traps, explosions, girlfriend murder, reverse mohawks and more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela unloads 10,000 bullets in defense of Shoot 'Em Up (2007), a movie with a title that promises exactly what you get, as a robotic Clive Owen plays a purveyor of hot lead trying to protect a lactating prostitute and a baby from an army of gunsmiths led by Paul Giamati. Listen as we encounter Clive Owen worship, slippery black leather trenchcoats, gunkata, Bugs Bunny, and not one person mentions Hard Boiled on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly says we can't live on junkfood alone and serves up the classic ghost story The Others (2001), which finds Nicole Kidman and her two children, who suffer from sunlight photosensitivity, living in a post-WWII English mansion where things go bump in the night. Listen as the Freak Show is reunited live in the dank dark basement to talk about scary ghost stories, creaky doors, spooky whispers, twist endings and more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean ponders the effect of horror movies on both their fans and their creators in Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) a meta-movie in which Freddy Krueger is set free from the Nightmare on Elm Street series to plague Heather Langenkamp in the "real world," a fictionalized version of Hollywood in which New Line Cinema president Robert Shaye even gets a role. Listen as we get all nerdy discussing the moral responsibilities of horror filmmakers and the long standing appeal of one of cinema's iconic boogeymen on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin fears that scientists will develop a parasite as a combination of aphrodisiac and venereal disease that will turn the world into an endless orgy of Shivers (aka They Came From Within, 1975). Canadian madman David Cronenberg put his stamp on the face of horror cinema forever with his story of a icky sexual revolution taking place at a luxury apartment tower where the aforementioned monsters get loose, turning the residents into sex fiends. Listen as we discuss the cautionary side of sexual freedom, define the term "body horror," and discover what types of movies we watch with the blinds closed on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela discovers that roaming bands of L.A. punks are actually Nomads (1985), immortal supernatural entities that have existed since time immemorial, living unnoticed on the fringes of human society. French anthropologist Pierce Brosnan discovers this too, and attracts their ire in future Predator and Die Hard director John McTiernan's metaphysical thriller. Listen as we pin down the origin of "the A24 style," and try to decipher this arty horror film for you on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly brings an immortal bloodsucker roaring back to life in the new millennium with Dracula 2000 (2000), which finds the suave fiend traveling to Louisiana to hunt down a girl with whom he shares a psychic bond, while the still-kickin' Van Helsing and his protégé race to stop him. Listen as we talk about vampire leeches, Biblical secrets, and the Nu-Metal 90's, all on this week's exciting show! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean finds himself trapped on Earth with a space mallard named Howard the Duck (1986), producer George Lucas' big-budget take on the odd Marvel Comics character. Rocker Lea Thompson explores inter-species love with the wisecracking hero as they work to stop a bunch of evil alien creatures from destroying the world. Listen as we talk about traumatic exposure to duck boobs, inappropriate sexual innuendo in a kids movie, and kickass alien scorpion overlords on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin sits ringside for the colossal battle of the swamp monsters alongside Swamp Thing (1982), Wes Craven's adaptation of DC Comic's iconic plant man. When a laboratory incident transforms a scientist into a swamp monster, he finds blossoming love with none other than 80's monster girl Adrienne Barbeau. Listen as we talk helmet hair, bug-eyed rubber monster fights, PG-rated boob shots, and the perils of actors navigating alligator infested swamp water on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela takes to task Frank Oz' comedic reworking of The Stepford Wives (2004), a big budget all-star misfire which turns a chilling 1970's feminist paranoia thriller into a toothless skit show starring Matthew Broderick and Nicole Kidman. Listen as we talk about square dancing gradeschoolers, mandatory fun days, piggy bank robot wives and more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly finds life might be perfect by murdering those who disrupt domestic tranquility along with Serial Mom (1994), director John Waters satirical take on American suburbia and the celebrity culture around serial killers. Kathleen Turner stars as the picture perfect housewife-slash-serial killer. Listen as we talk about Franklin Mint collectibles, having a dog wash your feet, and commit the cardinal sin of not recycling our trash on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean loves slasher sequels just like Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000), a killer-on-the-loose-at-a-college-campus vintage that finds a group of co-ed film students stalked by a demented whacko in a fencing mask. Listen as we wallow in watered down teen horror, try to make sense of nonsensical plots, and then try to make an impassioned-but-illogical defense of the movie for our final act! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin thinks weaponized salt battle trucks should be a no brainer in the fight against Slugs (1988), a gory eco-horror flick from the director of Pieces. When mutant, man-eating slugs ooze up from the earth, a band of working class heroes must unite to stop the slimy suckers before they consume an entire town! Listen as we talk about methane pollution, bloody sex scenes, exploding heads, exploding towns, and more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela thinks there should be more ski resort-set slasher movies like Iced (1988), which transplants the tried-and-true formula to a snowy mountain cabin where several couples are menaced and murdered by a masked skier, probably as retribution for a long-ago death. Listen as we tell tales of killer Jeffs, hot tub electrocutions, ski pole impalements, icicles as murder weapons, and even more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly joins the hunt for an ugly (but sharply-dressed) alien spree killer in Nightbeast (1982). After crash landing on Earth, the titular creature begins alternately vaporizing and eating the residents of a woodsy small town, leading the sheriff, his female deputy, and the town's man-of-action to track it down. Listen as we marvel at the wonders of backyard filmmaking while enduring cinema's most awkward love scene, while an alien lunatic runs around disembowling and beheading the townsfolk, all on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.