Saturday Night Freak Show

Sean takes us on a Freak Show Field Trip to the sewers of Derry, Maine to scrutinize not one but two screen adaptations of Stephen King's IT - both the 2017 theatrical feature and the television mini-series from 1990. Listen to our IT overindulgence as we compare and contrast the novel, the mini-series, the screenplay for the aborted Cary Fukunaga-directed version, and the final Andy Muschietti-helmed version and talk Deadlights and cosmic turtles, compare both Tim Curry and Bill Skarsgard's takes on Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and discuss what's been added or removed from both attempts to bring King's gargantuan final thesis of horror to the screen! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly doesn't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary (1989), especially not one that once belonged to Micmac Indians and has the power to bring the dead back to life! Louis Creed and his family soon find out that "sometimes, dead is better" after moving into an adjacent home and taking advantage of its evil magic, once tragedy strikes. Listen as we discuss zombie kittens, Zelda, ghostly harbingers, and wonder what Pet Sematary would have been like directed by George Romero and starring Bruce Campbell, all on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin prays for daylight after hanging with the grimy vampires of Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark (1987), which follows a farmhand named Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) who is seduced by a sexy Southern belle (Jenny Wright) into joining a group of fangless, hillbilly vampires who prowl the American Southwest. Listen as we spend way too much time talking about the Twilight movies, contrast Near Dark with it's similarly-themed cousin The Lost Boys, and invent plots for half a dozen vampire movies on this week's exciting show! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela kits up, heads into the brush, and howls at the moon with Dog Soldiers (2002), which sees a squad of British squaddies (that's soldiers to you) who, during training exercises in the wilderness of the Scottish highlands, come under siege from a pack of werewolves. Listen as we discuss the career of director Neil (Game of Thrones) Marshall, learn new English slang, rate the surprise villains, and generally cause mischief on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly is bitten by a Sumatran Rat-Monkey and finds herself Dead Alive (aka Braindead, 1992)! After his overprotective mother is bitten by the aforementioned rat-monkey, her grown son, Lionel, finds himself over his head in a pile of zombies, romance, zombie babies, and anthropomorphic entrails in what has been called "the goriest movie ever made". Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson shovels on the blood and guts by the bucketload with a side helping of comedy in this splatstick classic. Listen as we blame Jackson for the de-evolution of practical effects magic to computer animation, and eulogize the splatter movie genre, on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean refuses his right to remain silent after choosing to watch Maniac Cop (1988)! As brutal murders shake New York City, a jaded detective (Tom Atkins) begins to suspect a uniformed cop is the suspect, while another officer (Bruce Campbell) unwittingly finds himself the number one suspect. Can these two team up to stop the Maniac Cop?? Listen as we marvel at the historic team-up of two of modern horror's biggest icons, discuss the political ramifications of remaking Maniac Cop, and invent rules for Tom Atkins Bingo on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin squirts 3-D hallucinogenic acid in the eyes of his Freak Show family with Charles Band's Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn (1983)! On a remote planet, a ranger named Dogen (Jeffrey Byron) teams up with a plucky blonde (Kelly Preston) and a washed up soldier (Tim Thomerson) to hunt down an evil magician (Mike Preston) who is leading the indigenous cyclops population (lead by Night Court's Richard Moll) into an uprising, all while dodging laser blasts, tree branches, lightning golems, and Graboids, all in mind-blowing 3-D! Join us as we wonder if the journey is worth the trouble on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela goes for a ride along with the cure for crime himself: Cobra (1986)! When the mysterious Night Slasher begins terrorizing Los Angeles, the only man who can get things done is an officer from the L.A.P.D.'s "Zombie Squad", Marion "Cobra" Cobretti (Sylvester Stallone). Here, he's charged with protecting the only witness (Stallone's wife-at-the-time, Danish model Brigitte Nielsen) who can identify the killer. Listen as we try to quote (or sing, in Sean's case) every single one of Stallone's one-liners; come to learn how Cobra's origins tie in to Beverly Hills Cop; and debate the civility of cutting a slice of pizza with a pair of scissors; all this and more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly turns to the life aquatic with this week's pick of Waterworld (1995), the notoriously expensive Kevin Costner spectacle. Here, he plays a half-man/half-fish mutant loner who lives on a flooded, futuristic Earth, pursued by evil Smokers (literally - they smoke at least a pack and a half a day) while ferrying his charges - a woman and the mysterious child she cares for - in search of a mythical place called Dryland. Listen as we contemplate the egos involved in the creation of the movie, fashions in a world without leather, ecology-minded message movies, and Sean gets lost down a hole in this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean says it's open season on Predator 2 (1990) as Danny Glover subs for Arnold Schwarzenegger, fighting a technologically advanced killer from another world through the concrete jungle of L.A. This time, the cops - already fighting Mexican and Jamaican gangs - find themselves being chased by an alien trophy hunter who's in town with a few days to kill. Listen as we imagine the pre-safari Predator gearing up at the alien Gander Mountain, postulate that cocaine fueled the making of the movie, and Sean makes a bet that could cost him his luxurious beard... all that and more on this week's exciting show! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin wishes he was as cool as The Lost Boys (1987), a vampire classic that finds brothers Sam and Michael relocating to the beachfront community of Santa Carla with their mother, only to discover that its the hunting ground for a pack of ultra-chic teenage vampires; only with the help of the vampire-hunting Frog Brothers does humanity stand a chance. Listen as we celebrate the film's 30th anniversary by charting the history of the cinematic vampire, revel in the cinematic team up of the two Coreys (Haim and Feldman), ponder the film's connection to the Curse of Sergio, and more on this week's exciting episode!   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela hopes many kicks to the head will cure her hunger for Bloodsport (1988), the movie that unleashed Jean-Claude Van Damme upon the world. Here, JCVD portrays a martial artist who sneaks into a forbidden, underground tournament known as the Kumite to compete to become the World Heavy Weight Full Contact Kumite Champion! There, he must fight the formidable Bolo (Enter the Dragon) Yeung! Listen as we horribly mispronounce Asian names, imagine a better version of Bloodsport, discuss the art of acting blind, and wonder how JCVD managed not to tear open his scrotum while doing the splits, on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly hopes exposure to spider-men will help cure her Arachnophobia (1990). When the residents of a friendly small town start dropping dead, the newly arrived doctor with an acute fear of spiders (Jeff Daniels) suspects the worst - that they are victims of a never-before-seen, super-poisonous species of arachnid. Listen as we discuss childhood enthusiasm for entomology, the importance of spider love, how to coax an Oscar-worthy performance from an insect, and more, on this week's exiting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin unwraps 85 years of Universal horror with The Mummy (1932). Members of an expedition to Egypt accidentally bring to life a 3,700-year-old priest named Imhotep (Boris Karloff), who immediately sets to work on resurrecting his forbidden love. We'll have you shouting "Show me the mummy!" as we guide you through Universal Studios' Dark Universe (old and new) and address at least a dozen mummy movies from over the years, from Hammer Films Gothic chillers with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, to the action spectacles of Brendan Fraser and Tom Cruise on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela continues to celebrate the Summer of Cannon Films with her choice of Breakin' (1984), a movie about a formally trained dancer (Ninja III: The Domination's Lucinda Dickey) who befriends a crew of street trained break dancers (Adolpho "Shabba-Doo" Quinones and Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers) and teams with them to compete in a dance competition. Listen as we choose our own street names and discuss 80's break dancing movies, witness Jean-Claude Van Damme's hardcore affection for dance-offs, discover Ice-T's first screen performance, and try to determine how to distinguish "good" break dancing from "bad" break dancing, on this week's exciting show! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly keeps repeating "my head is like a shark's fin" after becoming trapped in the Deep Blue Sea (1999), an aquatic tale of terror which finds a group of scientists trapped inside an underwater research station with super-intelligent, genetically modified mako sharks. Listen as we wonder what happened to former blockbuster director Renny Harlin, and name-drop every killer shark movie ever made, wrestle with movie logic, tell tales of meeting LL Cool J and both "jump the shark" and "grow the beard" on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean sits ringside for the epic Busta Rhymes vs. Michael Audrey Myers kung fu smackdown called Halloween: Resurrection (2002). This final entry in the long running horror franchise (it was followed in 2009 by Rob Zombie's series reset) not only brings to a close Jamie Lee Curtis' involvement in the storyline, but also introduces Mr. Rhymes as the unstoppable, unkillable proprietor of an Internet webcam horror show who discovers his true inner power as The Shape's ultimate foe. Listen as we extol the virtues of the most misunderstood entry in the Halloween movie series, including its topical treatment of the sociological pitfalls of "reality" TV, and discuss potential sequel possibilities, all on this week's exciting show! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin's brain is invaded by alien slugs when we watch Night of the Creeps (1986), a comedy-horror film from writer/director Fred Dekker (House, The Monster Squad, Robocop 3), which finds two college guys, their dream girl, and a hard-boiled cop teaming up to protect sorority girls from brain burrowing alien parasites which turn fraternity bros into zombies. Listen as Brandon from Sock Monkey Sound joins Colin, Holly and Michaela as we talk about what defines a fun horror movie; the career of B movie screen legend Tom Atkins; and reminisce about the horrors of college dorm life on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela promises an entire summer dedicated to the output of cheese-factory Cannon Films, which starts with Sylvester Stallone's Over the Top (1987), a movie that finds our hero cast as a truck driver trying to win back his estranged son's heart, on a road trip. Along the way, said son discovers dad is a semi-pro, semi-famous arm wrestler who's gotta get to Vegas to win the International Arm Wrestling Championship! Listen as we debate the merits of Cannon, Stallone, and movies about arm wrestling. And, yes - we arm wrestle each other, live on the air - in what could possibly be the most spectacular Saturday Night Freak Show ever recorded. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly advocates against zombie prejudice by taking a cadaver to the prom in My Boyfriend's Back (1993). All Johnny Dingle wants to do is win the heart of his longtime crush, Missy McCloud, but his plan goes awry and he ends up a inexplicably re-animated corpse! Will his high school sweetheart still want to go with him to the dance? Listen as we: examine this rom-zom-com from the creative team behind Jason Goes To Hell; tell tales of ordering Edward Herrmann a scotch; and find out why Colin doesn't like comedies, all on this week's exciting show! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.