Saturday Night Freak Show

Sean dons the red, white and blue with Captain America (1990), the first attempt to bring Marvel's comic book character to the big screen. Imbued with super powers in a secret WWII experiment, Steve Rogers (Matt Salinger) teams up with the daughter of his one-time love to track down the villainous Red Skull (Scott Paulin), and stop a villainous plan to take over the United States. Listen as we talk about the career of director Albert (Mean Guns) Pyun, the downfall of Cannon Films, and inevitably compare this incarnation of the character to it's big budget brother, Captain America: The First Avenger. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Travis takes us on a spiritual journey with Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984), a Japanese fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic future. A princess has to stop an aggressive neighboring kingdom from using a powerful weapon to eradicate a toxic jungle of giant insects. Listen as our good intentions snowball into absolute confusion, chaos and incoherence as we try to decipher this acclaimed film, directed by acclaimed animator Hayao Miyazaki, on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jenny gets lost in the Bermuda Triangle with her pick of Triangle (2009), which finds Melissa (Alias, 30 Days of Night) George experiencing what we refer to as the "Groundhog Day effect" (only with much bloodier consequences) while aboard an adrift ocean liner. This podcast is marked S for SPOILERS as we dive deep into the temporal mechanics of writer/director Christopher Smith's ocean-set mind bender. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin uses his black belt to combat black magic as he summons The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) on this week's show. Genre stalwart Peter Cushing travels to China to aid villagers under siege from the titular undead plague; he's assisted by 7 kung fu-wielding brothers (and their 1 sister) in this bizarre co-production between Britain's Hammer Films and the Chinese Shaw Brothers studios. Does Count Dracula show up? You betcha (the movie was released as 7 Brothers Meet Dracula in the U.S.) Listen in as we spend a lot of time talking about the career of Christopher Lee (who does not appear in this movie!) on this week's exciting program! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Brent swims us out to The Beach (2000), as Leonardo DiCaprio discovers a paradise on a tropical island off the coast of Thailand, then discovers that the only threat to perfection is man himself. Listen as we talk entitled youth, shark attacks, hippie communes, mercy killings, forbidden romance, and bear witness to Travis' tirade against "liberals" on this week's exciting show! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean was having a good day until every machine on the planet went into Maximum Overdrive (1986), horror author Stephen King's first (and only) directorial effort. Earth passes through the tail of a rogue comet which imbues all machines with sentient life. Their first order of business: exterminate mankind! A bunch of murderous semi trucks converge on the Dixie Boy truck stop and only Emilio Estevez and a band of dim-witted rednecks stand between us and oblivion! Listen as we try to name-drop as many Stephen King related titles as we can on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Travis becomes the night with a look at Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), a big screen edition of the Batman: The Animated Series TV show, which finds Batman (Kevin Conroy) dealing with the appearance of a new costumed vigilante in Gotham, and battling conflicting emotions stirred up by the re-appearance of the girl who got away, Andrea Beaumont (Dana Delaney). Listen as we track the evolution of the Dark Knight character through comics, TV and movies all the way to his latest incarnation in Batman v Superman on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jenny celebrates her birthday with a re-visitation of the childhood staple The Princess Bride (1987), a sweet-natured spoof of fairy tales directed by Rob (Misery, A Few Good Men) Reiner. Is one of the most beloved movies of all time beloved by the Internet Radio Superstars of the Saturday Night Freak Show? You'll have to listen to find out! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin tries to make sense of Nicolas Winding Refn's Only God Forgives (2013), in which Ryan Gosling stars as a psychologically damaged drug smuggler, living in Bangkok, who plows a path of revenge after his brother is killed. Things get complicated with the arrival of his monster of a mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) and a seemingly supernatural policeman. Listen as we analyze the meaning of symbolism and metaphor in the film, and discuss cinema as art on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Brent explores the neurotic world of Woody Allen with Celebrity (1998), in which Kenneth Branagh does an spot on Allen impersonation as a celebrity journalist going through a divorce, and the gamut of sexual encounters he stumbles into while searching for meaning in life, while his wife (Judy Davis) suffers a a series of meltdowns in search of the same. Join us as we talk infidelity, celebrity, writing and relationship drama on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean celebrates Santa's arrival with the holiday classic Black Christmas (1974) - one of the first "slasher" movies - a Canadian import which arrived 4 years before Halloween (1978). A group of girls get murdered one-by-one, by a demented psycho named "Billy" who makes obscene phone calls to their sorority house on Christmas Eve. Director Bob Clark is also responsible for the Yuletide favorite, A Christmas Story (1983). Listen as we toss back some holiday cheer and sit under the tree to discover Black Christmas' place in the horror history! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Travis digs up the forgotten horror flick Spookies (1986), which finds a group of 30-something teenagers choosing an old mansion in which to party, and ultimately end up summoning a bunch of monsters who kill them off one-by-one. Listen as we discover the thrills of farting muck-men, shriveled sorcerers, spider-women, Gremlin-like demons, zombies and more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jenny relives her childhood fascination with Macaulay Culkin's screaming fits and proclivities towards violent mayhem in Home Alone (1990). In the film, the pint-sized terror scalds, stabs, shatters, and mangles a couple of bumbling, ne'er-do-well burglars who mistakenly target his home for their Christmastime plundering. Listen as we try to sort through the rich, multi-layered meanings of this oft overlooked, feel-good holiday classic. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin says "long live the new flesh!" and unleashes David Cronenberg's Videodrome (1983) signal upon unsuspecting minds in this week's episode. James Woods stars as a fringe-TV programmer whose reality begins to unravel after he becomes obsessed with pirate transmissions of a torture reality show. Pull up a chair and listen as we talk prophetic visions, insidious political agendas, and discuss the best course of action when you grow (and then feed videotapes to) a lower abdominal slit. All on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Brent concludes a year celebrating Back to the Future and time-travel movies with Back to the Future Part III (1990), which sees Marty and Doc transported to 1885, where they run afoul of 'Mad Dog' Tannen, a disabled DeLorean, and an unexpected love affair, in this sweet-natured conclusion to the classic fantasy trilogy. Gather 'round as we discover why Brent loves this movie (and why Travis hates it) on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean comes back for a second course of furry extraterrestrial troublemakers with Critters 2 (1988), which finds more of the small creatures hatching and causing havoc in a small town, while series holdovers Scott Grimes and town-drunk-turned-alien-bountyhunter Charlie (Don Opper) try to stop them. Listen in as we talk about monster movies, the perils of sequels, the career of director Mick Garris, and the soothing effect of giant boobies, on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Travis takes us on a magical mystery tour of American Pop (1982), an animated feature from Ralph Bakshi, director of Fritz the Cat, The Lord of the Rings and Cool World. The film is an ambitious, multi-generational saga; an immigrant story that traces its lineage through the world of 20th century music and the lives of four men. Listen as we talk a bit about Bakshi's career, the controversial animation technique called 'rotoscoping', and revel of the world of American animation for adults on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Jenny gets her freak on with Would You Rather (2012), in which Re-Animator's Jeffrey Combs stars as the sadistic host of a dinner party, who puts his desperate guests through a deadly game, with the promise that the winner will take home a tidy sum of money. Listen as we challenge each other to drinking games, celebrate the acting career of Combs, belittle the talent-free porn star-turned-mainstream actress Sasha Grey, and evaluate the current state of torture-based horror movies on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, we celebrate Halloween with Colin's seasonal pick of Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem (2013) in which a cursed record album conjures up a centuries old witches' curse to haunt a modern day rock DJ (Sherri Moon Zombie). Listen as we talk cinematic witchcraft through the ages, demon babies, demon lovers, the film career of Robert Wolfgang Zombie, and more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Sean officially returns to the Freak Show with a look back at cult item Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1983), an anomaly in the Halloween movie series that does not feature boogeyman Michael Myers. Instead, we get a plot to sacrifice millions of children, conducted by a novelty mask manufacturer, aided by technology gleaned from the druids. Does Halloween III deserve its current day renaissance? Tune in to this week's episode and find out the verdict of the Internet Radio Superstars! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.