The Horror Returns - THR - E. #536: The Year in Horror 1993, part 1: Needful Things & The Dark Half

Episode Date: September 10, 2026

This week, we go to 1993 to salute the King. Cool of the week includes vacationing at Lake Bass, Pinocchio Unstrung, playing guitar, and The Vampire Lestat. Trailers are Bloody Tennis and Goody Goody. The podcast spotlight shines on Throbbing With Horror. And we get feedback from Pat Caruso, Non-Binary Artist Puppy, Steve Carleton, Mark Komarzynski, Vin Visconi, Rhys, Kethryn Cavender, Devin Smock, and Jay Black. Thanks for listening!       

Greetings, victims, for those of you who delight and dread, who fantasize about fear, who glorify gore, welcome. You have found the place where the horror returns. Listeners beware, this podcast contains major plot spoilers, and the foulest, of language. Join us in celebrating the old and the new, the best, and the worst in horror. Welcome back, everyone, to The Horror Returns. I'm Lance and tonight's host, Philip will be here. Philip will absolutely be here.

I got the text from him, but meanwhile, we got our host, Brian and Pedro. What's up, guys? All none much. It's 1990. Horror Week here and it's going to be very obvious that it was early 90s horror when we get to these films because they looked every bit of it. So yeah, I'm excited to be here with you guys once again, tagging in and let's talk some 90s horror and whatever else is happening in the world of horror. All right. So they earn their 1993 badge, huh? Oh, definitely.

Special effects and dialogue, et cetera, right? The pre-Jurassic Park Special Effects and the wonky camera work, all that stuff. Oh, and we'll learn tonight if Stephen King's hatred of all religious people continues with either of these films, right? And I think it does. Spoiler alert on that. Yeah, not much of a spoiler on that, is it, Brian? I think once he got hit by a car, though, I think he found a little bit of God in him. So he's not as out there as he used to be when he was younger as far as being like,

he was never like anti-God. It's just mostly like anti-religion, which is a difference. Yeah, I think definitely, definitely anti-religion, right? Like, man, you could just, every film, right? It's got somebody like that. Like the Bible, the Bible salesman from Who Made Who? I'm calling Who Made Who? Maximum.

Maximum. Okay. Which we did a commentary on in the archives. That's right. I think it's having heard it. You got crazy Miss Carmody from the mist, right? Yeah. I guess the list goes on.

But what about the stand, though? The stand is very, it has a lot of religious undertones. Yeah, but much more spiritual. But no, you're right. Yeah. Mother Abigail. Mother, 150-year-old black lady from Boulder, Colorado, you know. Yeah.

Lots of Jesus talk, right? And then you had one of our favorites, all the Randall Flag walking around. That's right. The walking dude. Oh, man. All right.

So we got the year-end horror. How did you pick these, Brian? What led you to pick these two particular films? Went down a list in 93 horror movies and made sure the best I could that we didn't cover them already. Why didn't you pick out a, Corbyn-Burdensen's the dentist.

We did. We did that. Oh, shit. Okay. Yep, that we did. All right. Cool of the week. Pedro, you want to go first? Yeah. I'm thinking some wine. I'll put it down. I've been, I went out to the lake this,

I gave myself a couple of days off from work. You know, I work in a very intense setting, you know, mental health. So many times for self-care purposes and self-preservation, I do give myself an extended time off. And so I went out to the lake and had a great time. We rented a boat. We got an Airbnb. Nice.

We grilled on the old barbecue. We did have a couple bears show up on us, which is not fun when we're grilling. But it's all good. Come on, man. Really? Yeah. Where were you? We were up in a place called Lake Bass is over by Oswald.

Somity. It's about five hours from where I live. I got you. The sequoias are out there. Beautiful. I mean, one thing about California, I know, I know, you know, you red staters like to hate on our state a lot, but one thing, one thing about this, California is that is never a dull moment here. You know, you want to go hike at the desert. We got the desert here. We got the beaches, which are beautiful. We got the mountains. We got awesome weather. Yes, do we have a homeless every other?

100 feet, sure, but I'll take that trade. I'll take that trade in over what we have, you know, nature-wise. So we went out there, again, had a great time, just kind of disconnected from society, the world. Sometimes we need that detox, you know? Oh, yeah. And just kind of, and the cool thing about that is that I'm a very introspective person. So I was thinking about, I got a chance to think about, you know, what my goals are for the

following year. What are the things I want to accomplish? You know, what do I want to work on? Because the drive back is about five hours on the on the highway. So it gives you a lot of time just to, and I drove back by myself. So it gives me, it gave me some time to just reflect on some of my upcoming goals and whatnot. So yeah, that's pretty much it. Just had a great time, relaxing. Like I said, we rented a boat, got out there, parked in the middle of the lake and just hung out, drank some beer, some coronas. Fast and furious style. Yeah, yeah. These are the low-carb ones because we're also trying to watch our diet.

And they just brought them out this year, I think. They're brand new. Okay. So they're trying to challenge. What was the famous one? Mickelope Ultra, I think, are the ones that everybody. Yeah, that's the healthy, the healthy beer. Right, the healthy beer.

Athletes drink it. Athletes and women, let that, you know. Let's that seek in. Yes. So, yeah, so I did that. And it was just fun and just getting back this week, this week, you know, just kind of get, one of the things is that, as, you know, when you're part of the rat race, as anybody in a developed country is, for the most part, once you get back from vacation, there's always a lot of catching up, right?

So, so this week in particular, I've had a lot of just catching up with a lot of my clients and notes and all that stuff. So it's been a little intense, but I did give myself tomorrow off as well. So I'm going to have a four-day weekend because Monday is a holiday. That's right. So, yeah, so it's like I was talking to people at work. I'm going to have a vacation from my vacation, you know, because I was surrounded by a lot of people out in the lake, you know, France and whatnot. And now it's like I get just just to chill. I'm the kind of person that needs to be alone for a couple of days.

You know, both of you having families. I don't know. When was the last time you guys were like like 100% alone, like 100% for up? But if it's a good feeling, I think. from time to time I need it I need it yeah I definitely need it

so this weekend that's what I'm looking forward to that just kind of watching movies I'm actually gonna go to the movies because there's a lot of there's a lot of small films that I need to catch up on so I'll be going out there

catching up on some of these films and yeah I'm gonna have a good time so I have a past cool of the week which is the lake and a future cool of the week which is my next four day weekend coming up here like right now so

We good. How about you guys? So have you seen Buddy? Before we move on, Pedro, did you see Buddy? No, no, no. That's one of the ones that I got to catch up on it. I got to do it fast because I know that was a limited theatrical. So if I don't catch it this weekend, I'm going to have the way to rent it. And I want to see it on the big screen. Yeah, there's quite a few, actually. There's a couple of like, I didn't.

Yeah, there's quite a few, but I forget the names, but Buddy was one of them for sure. Okay. So what's the name of the lake, the lake you were on, Pedro? A lake bass. Just like a fish. Yeah. Or like Lance Bass, right? If you want to go on that... I don't know why your brain will go to Lance Bass, but okay.

That's a very... And you're not even from that generation either, so this is interesting. My kids are. My kids are. Okay, there you go. Okay. What's you got, Brian? Okay.

First, I checked out a move... Well, first, I'm still working my way through me and my daughter working our way through Supernatural. Okay. We're on Season 4 now. well you're moving moving around along then because i think last week you guys were just halfway through two that's a task i mean that's it is a task 15 seasons at 24 hours per i mean not 24 hours 24 episodes per god damn yeah they move they go quick though

they'd have to go really quick wouldn't they pay we're having a good time watching me all right first up with movies Pedro, you talked about this one A few weeks ago when you were on Her Private Hell Oh yeah, that's in my bottom 10, spoiler alert Mm-hmm Yeah, visually

It was good But I couldn't honestly tell you what the fuck was happening I don't know what the fuck was going on But you know what Brian, you brought up a good point This is what I tell people And it's weird because I had no idea what was happening But I can't say I was ever bored either like I was watching

I mean I would space out from time to time because I saw it in the theater I would space out like I started thinking about my own shit because there was nothing there to captivate me story wise because I don't understand what the fuck was happening but visually but I can't sit here and tell you that I regret watching it because visually it was

definitely something to see yeah it was interesting but it was just it was a waste of time at the end of the day I think anyway. Did you feel like stuff was just happening just to happen? Yes Yes. And then Nicholas Wendon Reffin, one of Lance's favorites, he stated that he had the inspiration because I believe he had a heart attack or something.

I think that's the story. And when he was in the middle of that, you know, the euphoria, I guess you could say of a heart attack, all these images came to him. And that's what he, you know, that's what brought the film on. Well, I believe it, because this is just a random collection of images and things happening for no reason. That seems terrible. Is it a Nicholas Wending Griffin film? Yes. Oh, no.

I'm out. Her own private howl. Yeah, I'm not going to, I've got access to it, but I'm not going to include that one in my 31 days this year, Brian. Sorry. Yeah, it has a good cast, and like I said, the visuals are good, but the story, if there is a story, I couldn't follow it. Because like Pedro said, there are times.

when you kind of check out for a second and then something random would happen and then you go back to this movie and yeah, I can't really recommend this one. Something about her dad, the girl's dad, and then the girl's dad wears like a leather outfit and he's like a villain. The leatherman.

The leatherman. And he pops out at the end. Does he rape them or what? I don't know why you always go there, Lance? No, no, I'm just asking. I was curious if they, That was the trajectory. Supernatural killer.

Oh, jeez. I think. Okay. And then, yeah, and then they have a, then there's like a young version of the leather man, but he's like a detective and it's a weird, it's a weird movie. Yeah. I'm sure it may. I'm sure there's a lot to it that we just don't get, right?

But I don't like when they do that shit. I know. That's so pretentious. It means a lot to him, but no, literally nobody else, right? Right. It's just like that one movie I just saw the other day. The one of, what's it called? The one from, I watched the TV glow, the same director. Oh, teenage sex and tested. That was happy, they did either of you have, have you guys caught it? Brian's seen it. It's kind of the same thing. I mean, it's a little more linear. Don't get me wrong. We could kind of make sense of what, but it's still within the same realm of like, what the fuck is happening here. Not as bad, but still there. And I'm like, these films are just done for an audio. of one and that's them. Masturbation.

And so, yeah. Okay. That's why, that's why, and I know what I'm about to say, it's sacrilege with the audience that we, but that's why I've never really dug David Lynch, you know, because David Lynch was the same way. He's throwing off, but at the very least, like, they gave you, he gave you enough to make sense of what,

kind of what's happening, whereas some of these other films are just throwing everything out there and only they know. And to top it up, they'll never say, right? What do you think is happening? Yeah, exactly. That's their out. That's their out. Well, what do you?

Well, how do you interpret it? What do you think? And then they go, hmm, maybe. Maybe. Yeah, maybe. That's what. You asshole. Oh, man.

All right. What else I got? On Shutter, I checked out Penny Lane is dead. Okay. I saw that one. That's also on the list for me in my upcoming, a free weekend coming up here i'm going to check that one out as well yeah i won't spoil anything essentially it's set in the 80s in australia a group of girls are having like a little get-together

and one of them gets in a fight with the group and is asked to leave and then she calls her ride and some guys show up and then things get crazy after that okay is it kind of like a slasher brian would you call it a slasher? A little bit. Okay. That means lands are, it already lost like three stars. No, not necessarily. Not necessarily.

But I dug this one. Okay. I don't know if it was the time it was set in, the music or what was going on, but I dug this one. So you can check this one out on Shutter. Okay. And my cool of the week will probably have to go to Pinocchio Unstrong. All right. Right. I love that movie. That's another one I just cut it. I loved it too.

Really? This movie was super entertaining. I dug the practical effects, the kills. And I, who was in this? Robert England, of course. Are you kidding me? The cricket. Jiminy Cricket.

They didn't say Jiminy. They just called him the cricket. They don't want to get in trouble. They don't want to get in trouble like that. And Richard Brake was Geppetto. Oh, wow. How have I not seen this? Lance, this is a good movie. I can you not. Like, even it's, it doesn't take itself too seriously, of course.

But it also has a good story. It also has a good story about, and I'm not going to give it away because you haven't seen it. Okay. I kind of want you. That would be a good one for your 31 days. Oh, no, I might have to watch it this weekend. I mean, you guys are selling me. Yeah.

But it does have a nice little turn. I don't want to say twist, but it has a turn. And the last stack that I thought was pretty cool. Because it's kind of hard to like hate Pinocchio because Pinocchio itself is inherently a victim. You know, even in the original story, just what they go through and whatnot. So it's always hard to hate Pinot. But the way they do it here, I thought was very clever. Interesting.

Okay. There's a scene with the cricket when that turn happens, how Pinocchio just, let's just say deals with the cricket that had me laughing because. Smushes him. Steps on him. Okay. Well, yeah, we'll spoil that one. Yeah, he just matches the fuck off. of them. And then of course

it's Robert, remember, it's Robert England begging off. So that's even funnier. Okay. And yeah, it's cool. It's a really good movie. I was very surprised. But I knew it was going to be good because it's been getting good reviews as well. So this Poonieverse is really picking it up. Because it is part of the Poonieverse. Okay. So do they have, does it, is it

kind of lockstep with the Pinocchio film? Like, do they have the island with the boys on it? The No, no. Okay, not the little boys smoking cigars and gambling and that kind of stuff. No, there is like a high school scene with a bunch of like bullies and stuff. But other than that, okay. Yeah, because the original Pinocchio animated film is pretty fucking creepy. If you all haven't watched it in a while, it goes nuts toward the end.

I think a lot of those like early 30s Disney like animated films were all fucking weird as fuck, you know. Of course, yeah. Very surreal, creepy. Yeah, they were all done for kids, and it was just weird because this is like heavy themes, you know? Mm-hmm. So, but yeah, definitely check out Pinocchio on Strong or whatever. I'm going to check it out. I'll watch it this weekend.

Let you guys know what I think. Because I get an extra day off this weekend, too, Pedro. From the director of winning the pool part two, the pool, whatever the fuck. Blood and honey. Yeah. Blood and honey. Okay. All right.

Pinocchio Unstrung. We got Lake Bass. We have vacation time. All right, I got a couple that I'll burn through real quick before I get to my cool of the week. I did see, I did finally see Disclosure Day. I think you have both seen it, right? No, I saw it. I saw it when it came out. I thought they were going to tell us that aliens are real. That's what Philip thought. I'm just joking. I'm giving Philip a hard time. What side of the camp were you on Pedro? Because I was on the more like Meshclosure Day. Yes, that was definitely Yon Closure Day is what I called. Yeah, unfortunately, right?

It was a movie that came out about 20 years too late. Okay. And I cut a promo on it when I was on here when I had just seen it. Some of the dumbest decisions by a lot of these people, he made a film not understanding that we have technology where that third act would be completely irrelevant

because why are they trying to like upload things to the new station when we have the internet now, you know, stuff like that. And then the one that really got me mad, right? This is the one that really got me. The one that I was like, is this amateur hour? It's like, is Steven Spielberg too old now? Should we retire him permanently? When they had that scene in the daylight where the guy is running away and he's got,

he's literally going through a bunch of like a secret service people, right? people that are trained to catch people trying to sneak out. Right. And he's just willing-nilly walking behind them. I know. AJ called that out too. I was waiting for the, I was waiting for a lap track during that entire scene because it was so ridiculous.

All right. In defense of Spielberg, maybe the aliens were kind of hiding him. Maybe they were using their technology. That's the only thing that makes any sense because there was a scene later where they were inside of a building and they made themselves invisible. No, no, there was a scene where there was a wand, a magic wand. on that anything the story required gave it to you, which was fucking bullshit.

That's a good point. It was lazy writing is what it was. It was pretty bad. It was pretty bad. Not bottom 10 for me, though. I don't think. Well, I didn't say bottom. I mean, I don't know.

We'll see, but we'll see. Yeah. To be seen. It was just very upsetting because, again, there was a lot of hype with that movie. It was a summer movie. Yes. It was Steven Spielberg.

But it just goes to show you, man. When you get old, you're out of touch. You know, and that film wreaked the being out of touch. Very true. Very true. You can't argue that. You guys talk about it. I still don't want to watch it.

Yeah, you might pass. And it's fucking two and a half hours long, and it feels like it's four. Man, this thing drag. Jesus. You can watch Pinocchio on Strung twice. Yeah, I could too. All right. Another one that you guys are probably going to kill me about,

because I've heard some hatred for this movie, but God damn it, I had a good time. And that was super great. What did you guys think of Supergirl? Oh, horrible film. I didn't hate it. I think it's not as bad as people make it out. No, I didn't think it was. Okay, here's a deal. Here's what's happening.

I'm going to tell you guys what's happening. And this is why a lot of people are upset. All right. We don't have an attachment to these characters, like a lot of people, like a lot of the vocal people that were very upset. Okay. And they really disrespected a lot of the legend or the, you know, the legacy of Supergirl. Yeah, the mythos. Yeah, that's the word I'm looking for.

And so there was a lot of things that they changed. But even forget all that. Let's say, because I'm assuming all three of us, we're not really comic book nerds. We don't really keep up with that stuff. I was in the day in high school. But as a cinefire, right, as a person that enjoys good cinema, it was still a bad movie. Like, how do you have that kind of budget? And every fucking world, every world looks the same.

Like, she went to the same fucking place about five times. And it was three, like five different worlds. and stuff. And, you know, at least it wasn't a pure ice planet, a pure desert planet. It was the director trying to make a James Gunn film. Yes. Absolutely. The music and everything, right?

Right. Oh, and that, yeah, the, what was it? The song, the middle, I think it was the middle. Right. And it was sung by that girl. It was a cover of that song. And it was horrific. It was, what a dumb choice for a needle drop.

And then, of course, they had that. You can't remember what the song. song was I can't either. Yeah, it's called the middle. That's the name of the song. Oh, the middle. Yeah, I'm not about us. Come on here and sing it for free now. Sing it for me, dude. I can't, I can't remember it. Anyways, stuck in the middle with you. Is that it? No, I wish. That would have been, I wish. No, no. And then so, so they do that scene, right, that played out trope that James Gunn loves to do where the

superhero is doing some wacky shit from the point of view of the person that's, you know, from a point of view of another person like the victim. Yes. And the, and the heroes going in and out of the screen and they're throwing people against the screen and all that shit. You know, and he did that same thing in the new Superman movie. Yeah, he did, didn't he? And so they try to do that. Jason Momoa's Lobo was whatever, you know, he came in. He was trying to be funny a couple of times.

None of the jokes landed with me. Yeah. And for whatever reason, he shows up in the third act for like literally no reason other than to just Gilma, you know, extended cameo, I guess. I guess so. Yeah. I guess so. Yeah, and then just the whole thing of like, like, you, how the hell, they never explained how she found her ship.

Like, like, she's been, you know, I thought she's been on Earth forever. Like, she just has a ship from like another world in the beginning of the movie. Right. And it's just, yeah, it was just, I don't know. It was one of those movies that also you could tell had a lot of bad editing choices and whatnot. Okay. Pedro, was it a bottom 10, you think? Oh, for me it is.

For me, it is. It's already set in stone, right? Well, we don't know because we got three months left, but, you know. All right. Yeah. I had to bring that up because I knew I was going to get some flak. I just kind of had fun watching it. But you know what?

Thinking about it the second for a minute, second thoughts, I did have to watch it over two nights. Like I kind of fell asleep. You know one thing we don't bring up here that I think it plays a huge role in how we see movies. What's that? Is the investment factor. Like when we're seeing it in the theater, obviously there's more investment, right? We took the time to get in our car, go to the theaters. And so walk the mile and a half. There you go. And so the expectations are always going to be higher, like to, you know, to have something impressive, right? Or to meet expectations. Whereas when you're just kind of renting it and you're just watching it on your TV and you kind of go to

your phone a couple of times, like even if the movie sucks, it's not, the impact's not going to feel is bad because it's like there's no investment. So other than time, of course. So yeah, so I saw that movie in the theater. So I was pissed because it was like, you know. And so somebody like yourself that rented it, I'm sure. Or maybe it's on HBO. I don't know, but whatever you did.

But it was, it's available for rent. I'll put it that way. So you rented it. The investment wasn't as much, right? You had the option to leave your seat, turn it out. You actually did turn it on. You saw it in two nights. Literally. You know what? To bring this full circle with the

old Stephen King conversation, you did what they did back in the day where they showed his movie in two nights. Yes, exactly. Brian, are you ready to put it at the bottom 10 now after having listened to Pedro? No, I didn't hate it. Okay. I liked her as Supergirl. Should she have got her on? No.

If they was going to do a Supergirl movie, they should brought her back for the second Superman movie that's coming out next year. Agreed. So I heard everybody and their mother is going to be in that Superman, whatever, Man of Tomorrow movie next year. So we'll see. Yeah, because I hear they're not even going to call the Superman Manit Tomorrow. They're just going to call it Manit Tomorrow.

That's cool. All right. Is Batman going to be in it? No. Probably not. Okay. That's the one. They're kind of, and I don't think Wonder Woman's in it either.

Well, there's rumors that, Pedro, what's that movie coming up, Onslaught? Yeah, that Jason Mamo's girl. Yeah, she's going to be Wonder Woman. I heard that. Okay. And unless James Gunn does some pickups later on, because the film just wrapped like two weeks ago. Mm-hmm. And there was no reports of her being on set or they could always hide him, put a soundstage or whatever.

But as of right now, she's not scheduled to be part of this movie. but who knows, you never know now because they have so much. He's under the gun, no pun intended. No pun intended. To deliver a good movie, you know, because. And then we'll see how Clayface does. But Clayface, I mean, it's a smaller movie, though. You know, it's a so.

So the risk is not as bad as something like Supergirl, like sucking. Yeah. Fair enough. All right. Well, that's a lot to talk about two movies that aren't my cool of the week. All right. I'm going to go with, well, some people might call it season three of interview with a vampire, but let's call it what it is.

And they're calling this on AMC Plus now, but the vampire Lestat. Have you checked any out, Pedro, or any desire? No, never got into this, let's start, fellow. Yeah, see, I'm a huge fan. And this was actually my favorite book. Well, actually, I think Queen of the Dam was my favorite, which will be the season after this. But I like the way they're doing it because they're like breaking it down.

And they're like the first two seasons where the first two seasons were the first, book this one's the second and you got seven episodes so it doesn't like Antonio Banderos in this movie no no they use different they use different actors it's a much younger I'm sure there was a taller less that than Tom Cruise though which is always good yeah and he's actually a natural blonde too right he didn't have to oh okay so that character is a natural blonde then yeah yeah oh yeah let's thought that there's a lot of talk about that in the book it's pretty obvious so yeah I'm loving it because it's not linear at all like it it moves around a lot and it it captures the spirit

of the book but it does it in a weird way because it's all about rock and roll right like he's a he's basically a rock star like he was um put under the ground after the events from interview of the vampire and he was down there like in the mud because they had tried to kill him and probably 50 or 60 years and then he he hears some rock and roll there's like a what the hell yeah there's like a band No, get this, dude. This is how the book starts. There's a band practicing, and he hears the music. He's kind of starting to come back around again. But when he hears that rock and roll music, it kind of does something to him, right? So he starts off kind of a fledgling musician, find some people he hooks up with and starts a band. And then before you know it, he's like the biggest thing ever. So a lot of it, like is very drug-fueled. Like, you know, he's- Oh, wait a minute. So he was, he was buried for 60 years. And there's a lot of things that could go through his mind. There's women. there's money. You know, there's prestige. Revenge, right?

Revenge, but it's rock and roll. Rock and roll music, baby. Now, here's another thing where the disconnect might be for the younger generation. Rock and roll is not a thing anymore. It was a thing when me and you were younger and even like in our teenage years. But there's no rock and roll bands anymore. There are. No, there are, man.

You just got to hunt for them. A lot of them, you get to listen to podcasts. It's all about these Korean boy bands now. That's what's what's in. There's a lot of country. You got to admit there's a. Yeah, country. That's a lot of country.

Since the 90s. So I don't know how a young person could resonate with the awesomeness of Lesztab being taken out of their tomb by rock and roll. See, that sounds awesome for us. I kind of enjoyed it, man. No, that's cool. I mean, it's your perspective. So as long as it work for you, that's how that matters.

Yeah. Well, I just, one of the things that I like is that, you know, obviously he, he, to survive, he has to, you know, suck the blood of his victims, right? So he's got one chick that's a groupie that goes backstages. He's real high on ecstasy and LSD. So he kind of gets on that trip too. And then you've got all the band members that are kind of like starting to become vampires too. And it's just a lot of, I don't know what the word would be for it, Pedro.

But, you know, kind of like people that were innocent at one time. And he kind of makes them wicked. Okay. I mean, you explained that. Yeah, there's a lot of that going on. So I'm kind of enjoying it, but you're right. It was probably made more for me than a millennial, I would think, right? Yeah.

And that's already, it's at finishing, that they already dropped all the episodes. Are you in the middle of it? They finished it only seven episodes. They're probably about 45 minutes each, right? So it's about like a long movie, I would say. And then we're going to have Queen of the Damned after this. And then they plan to keep going with all the books. and there's like probably 12 of them.

Oh, shit. She wrote. Yeah, and then there's also the Mayfair Witches, which that show's not nearly as good. But I don't know. I think they got the casting right on this one. The dialogue is kind of like right out of the book. And I think they're doing a good job.

It's just kind of a shame Anne Rice is not still around anymore to see this being done with her works, you know? Yeah, she was only around for a really good movie and a really sucky movie. Yeah, no doubt. Maybe two sucky movies, right? Was there another bad one? I thought there was. No, I think there's only two movies.

Queen of the Dam was horrible. I think that's the one, yeah. That's where he's a rock star. Stuart Copeland, right? Yeah, that's what this is, but they're doing it right in the TV show. And that one was Stuart Copeland. He was kind of like a nine-inch nails type musician. Alia was the Twin of the Dam, right?

Alia. That's right. Which was a bad casting, really. you know, when you think about where she came from and what she would probably be like. But I don't know. I mean, I'm curious to see what they do, what they do with it next season.

But we'll find out because they've already announced it. All right. So that's your cool of the week. Yeah, that's it, man. So you guys are not going to, because going back to James Gunn and his horrible mess of, you know, the DCU, you guys are not going to watch the lanterns because that's getting good reviews. I'm watching it.

Yeah, I'm not watching it yet, because I'm going to try to binge it. Is it staying consistent, Brian? Yeah, there was, I'm doing air quotes. Controversy with the third episode. Okay. With some things talked about. And I know there's some comic book fans that are upset

because they're kind of changing things, but. There we go. Inevitable. I'm enjoying it so far. All right. Yeah. Well, do we have any horror headlines tonight, Brian? Yeah, Aliens Earth Season 2 is officially in production.

All right. And I bring this up because do you guys think Ridley Scott, do you guys want another Ridley Scott Alien movie? No. Not really, especially not what they're talking about, right? He's like Steven Spielberg. He needs to be retired permanently. Put out to pasture.

Because he is doing the next alien movie, according to him. According to him. he brought up Alien Romulus and he said he felt like the movie was just okay well that's well he did right that was his vision so I guess he's

putting himself down no he's exactly oh no not Alien Romano he did the other one that's right not alien Romulus that was Fred Alvarez and I'm gonna assume that he thinks Alien

Earth season one was just okay because he didn't have Nothing to do with it. Kind of man, huh? Well, he's been trying to do an aliens movie without aliens for a long time. So maybe he'll go back to that. Yeah. His whole thing is like exploring like an existential, you know, human store.

Like, where do we come from and who's our God and all that stuff? That's what he wants to do. That's right. And when he did Prometheus, like people were like, where the fuck are the aliens, you know? And so even though I like that movie. And so then he did the sequel, which was aliens. What was it called? Alien. Covenant.

Which people didn't like, and it was a little bit of a flop. That's what got him away from the franchise for years. And now he's back. And I think he also announced that the Fassbender is going to be with him on this one as well. Oh, Lord. So they're going to continue that whole thing. Great. I like that guy.

I used to, man. I don't like some of the stuff. he's in lately that much, man. Do you guys remember when Neil Blomkamp was going to do a direct sequel to aliens? Yep. That was a big story. And Riddle, Ridley Scott put an end of that.

Well, that's too bad. Yep. And I guess now he's finally going to do his version of it. Yeah. So Blom camp is out, huh? It's not going to happen. No way, no how? Oh, they killed that a long time ago. No, because then it got replaced by Romulus. And

Romulus was in between alien and aliens. Oh, that's right. And Ridley Scott came out and said that Alien Romulus was just okay. I think that was one of Phillips' favorite, wasn't it? Or Covenant was Phillips' favorite? What was?

Oh, shit. You don't remember Alien Romulus? Vaguely. Very vaguely. I get real confused. I remember the first three really well. Like, I like that third one, the David Fincher movie at the prison with rock in it. But how do you remember those well when Romulus

was like two years ago. You know, they all kind of run together. Romulus is the one that has the black dude that's going to be the new King Tashallah. He was the android. You remember the android? Oh, that was Romulus. The guy from the Long Walk. The Long Walk.

He's also in the Long Walk. David Johnson. Yeah, he's a good actor. And that's the one that had like the leapfrogging facehuggers. Remember they had that scene where they're all trying to jump into their face? Yeah. So anyways, that was Romulus. But maybe there's something to be said that Romulus is a little forgettable, right? Because if you can, it's not your, it's not really your fault.

It's like, it is hard to remember specific plot points from that movie. And it's only two years old. So what does that say? Whereas we remember shit from alien and aliens and. Oh, yeah, that's a really good point. Yeah. Game over, man. Right.

Right. That's course. Yeah. Rest in peace. Oh, man. And Sigourney Weaver with those hard nipples. in that shirt she was wearing. That's definitely unforgettable.

Don't forget about get away from her, you bitch. All right. And then that one guy, wasn't they Neil Blaining Camp? He actually, yeah, Brian, I don't know if you remember this. Remember, he had gotten an agreement from, from what's her name, to come back? Sigourney.

So that was going to be a team right there. And then, and then. I think he was going to bring Michael Bean back. Right. Old. Wow. What's her name was going to be a grown, new? New, yeah.

I'd see that movie. But we never will now, will we? No. Let's see. Focus features is pushing forward with the Oscar campaign for obsession. Well, they should, yeah. That's the big question, right? Are there going to be any Oscar Dombs for that?

There have to be, right, Pedro? I mean, for Indie Navarred, I mean, I mean, her performance was out of this world. I mean, look, it made her a millionaire overnight, you know? So good for her. And, yeah, I hope that, I mean, she won't, you know, just because they never really pay attention to those kind of films. We've seen it time and time again, but it was still a great performance.

Yeah, I think it was wrong that Tony Collette wasn't nominated for Hereditary. That's right. That was an amazing job. Even the guy that played Bear was really good, you know? He was really good in that film. Not too bad. According to this, they are pushing for 15 different categories for obsession. Why not?

I mean, yeah, throw them all in their shit. Throw them in there. I don't know about best picture. That's a little exaggerated. That might be a rough one for them to get. Yeah, but Bear and Nikki both deserve their flowers. Mm-hmm. Yeah, he's got a big role coming up too because he's in talks to join the Mummy 4.

That movie still hasn't got a much. off the ground shit we've been hearing about that one for years i think brandon fredger gained 400 pounds lost 300 pounds and then get another 200 and they're still having gotten this movie off the ground think if i remember it's supposed to go into production this month well good because it's about time that's one of those i don't know how that's going to connect to a younger audience because that's such a like from another generation i don't know i don't know man i i think they can pull it off you know

They would have to hire like a young actor or performer that connects with the younger audience. Like a Timothy Shalame or something like that. I don't know. It's a little too expensive for a film like that. He's like a real actor. Right. But who knows? Who knows?

But hey, they get like maybe indie noverette in her right now that she's hot and she's the in-go. That could work. That would bring him in. Or have it directed by the pixels guy, right, that did backrooms. just going to try to find the mummy like an hour and a half of walking through hallways inside a pyramid they've tried everything else except give us a mummy in other movies so might as well true i think i think the mummy is the only movie franchise where like there's never really any mummy you know what i'm saying like they try to get around it

with anything except a mummy there's the mummy spirit there's the ghost of a mummy there's beetles running around. God whips. But there's never an actual mummy going after people, and I want that. Right. What's your cool of the week, Philip? Oh, man, I wish I had one. I have not watched anything. You haven't seen anything? No, like, I literally haven't watched anything. I've been like taking care of the chickens and playing guitar, man. That's a cool of the week right there. Well, that's a cool of the week. Playing the guitar. Yeah. Is there any particular song that you've mastered or gotten better at? I'm working on the base stuff

I'm working on the trooper right now finger speed up on on base some Iron Maiden stuff plus I got a show coming up a little into their music A couple of weeks away now Philip Yeah Damn I didn't think about that shit Yeah I bought tickets to a Cowboys game

The day after Halloween. Of course you did Because this is going to be their year, right? Yeah. I truly believe it this year. Okay. But I think I've heard you say that the last five, six years. Yeah, that sounds bad right.

We'll see how it goes. But I'm stoked about it. $40 standing room only tickets. That's good. That's a good deal. Yeah. Not bad at all. I think the Rams here are still hovering around 200 standing room.

So you got a good deal with. Man. Oh. Yeah, the Rams are also favorites, right? Yeah, Rams are going to be real good this year. Yeah, so to go see them, yeah, the cheapest is about $200. Yeah, Aaron Donald coming back. The cheap seats.

The guy looks jacked. All right, Brian. We are going to finish off with Dan Stevens' once Prime Video's Robocop series to preserve the original extreme violence and satire. Yeah, he was. Is he going to be the Robocop or is he going to be like just like he was cast in the show? Yeah, he's going to be Murphy. Okay.

That's not terrible. He and Stevens from Legion? Yeah. Piccolo, Piccolo Dan Stevens. Okay. That guy. Yeah, the same guy that was trying to extract the tooth from King Kong. Yeah.

That's right. He damned it up in that one. I liked it. No doubt. They should have a scene where Murphy, you know, when they're trying to reprogram him, He needs to go through all those accent he's done in all the other films, you know, as they're trying to reprogram him to talk English. He needs to go through all the wacky.

He needs to go through the accent from King Kong, the accent in Kuku. Remember he had a wacky accent on the Ku-Koo as well? I think they might. Oh, yeah. So that would be fun. Robocop is not the cheesy action movie. You remember it being. No, that's a really dark film.

Yeah, really dark film. Yeah. It's rough. I hope they do it justice. but I don't know about him making all these demands. I mean, he doesn't have that kind of credibility yet as an actor. He's already here talking about making all these demands. But we'll see.

See how it goes. Because he's also an onslaught. Which officially it is in the guest universe. Yeah, it is. I don't want to, I'm kind of holding hope that they actually connect the character from the guest, which is the Dan Stevens character. with something in onslaught, because he is in that movie as well.

So that would be pretty cool. I think they will. Yeah, I always had a feeling that movie was connected because in the guest, they said that he was a soldier that they did experiments on. Yeah, you mentioned that when we watch the trailer.

Yeah, the premise was always, what happens if Captain America wasn't as good as he should be, and he's the evil. You know, Dan Stevens has almost got like a Sam Rockwell thing going. almost. He dances a lot. Yeah, he does have that kind of charisma.

You're right. I could see it. All right, that's the news. Okay. That means it's time to take a little trip down to the trailer part. Brian is going to bring us the big, the small, and sometimes the very, very weird. What's the first weird one tonight, Brian? The first weird one is the first of two shutter movies.

upcoming Shutter movies and the first one is Bloody Tennis. Okay. Which this is directed by Nicholas Trosso. No, come on now.

Although it does have that weird what the fuck's happening vibe. A little bit. But it reminds me of one of my most hated films of last year. And that's him. One of Lans and Phillips' favorites of the year. I felt the same way.

Philip wasn't a fan. But I kind of feel like it's going to take the concept of him and do it better in this one. I hope so. Well, they do say tennis is really competitive. Like those kids will put X-Lax in each other's water bottles

and all kinds of shit. No, seriously, man, I've heard all kinds of stories. It's so competitive, like to be big in tennis. And it's all these fucking entitled rich kids typically that are playing. So that's a recipe for a lot of abuse, you know? Yeah. Yeah, I never really got the memo on tennis. I mean, I've played it a couple times.

But it's, I don't like, watching it is not even all that. You can't build momentum. Like, it's never the, the, what do they call it, whatever, that, that little part of the game where they go back and forth, it lasts a couple seconds and they got to start over again. Kind of like table tennis. Right. I decided in high school. I don't understand how you hit that little ball that hard and keep it on the court.

Yeah, kind of weird, isn't it? And they have to be quiet when you're watching them. You can't cheer. You can, you know, it's dumb. Yeah, that's what's up with that, man. What an entitled sport tennis is. That's what I think about tennis. That's a good way to put it.

I need a sport. I can get drunk and scream at people. Yeah. Anything else about the trailer? Not really. not super interested. I'll be surprised if it does anything. You know what? I always come on here and we always say, well, we'll watch it

anyway. I think this is one of those movies that I had no interest in. Like it just, it's a skippable movie. If I watch, I don't even have Shudder anymore because they would put not a lot of shit for a while. And then they kept on racing the prices on us on the low. So I just canceled it a month ago. But

this film is, yeah, I'm not really interested in it. I mean, if it gets some good buzz going, but other than that. You know I'll watch it And I will report back to everybody On September 25th

All right We're counting on you, man Anybody that watch us all the Amityville movies They have no bottom They just don't watch anything That's true At that point anything's good It's the Amityville movies are coming back

Yeah, that's what I keep hearing man I'll believe it when I see it, Brian It's coming The show is called the Amityville Returns Ah, makes sense right? That sounds like a torture session. Why are you doing that?

I jump on the grenade for everyone else. Dan Stevenstein. Amityville Karen for once and report back to us. Yeah, that's in there. Yeah. Amityville toilet.

Yeah, we're going to watch. Oh, God. That sounds like some middle school slang. A little bit. All right. Our second shutter trailer is Goody Goody. This is from

director Raymond Kramer. That's his actual last name. Man, I feel bad for this guy in high school. Yeah, he got it. What did you guys think of? What did you guys think of Goody Goody?

It was interesting. It was one of those satanic babies, possibly satanic baby stories that we've seen before and racing against the clock for this thing not to be born. It did tease the old trope of like the mom in the beginning being worried, but towards the end kind of being in line with whatever's going to come out of her. Yes, we've seen it. This is nothing we haven't seen before.

It's very cliche, but it's still, it looked interesting. You know, they just got to find, see the thing about these films, if it is what we think it's going to be with the baby inside being evil, they have to find clever ways for the baby to kill. people while still being in the womb. That's the interesting part to me. Okay. We'll see what happens there.

I thought the scene with the case cutter was kind of good body horror there, you know? Oh, yeah. They're going to cut her open. Reminded me of the one movie, the French extremist movie, extreme movie. Oh, yeah, that's right. I can't think of the name of it. Martyrs? No.

Frontiers. The pregnant chick. Oh, inside. Inside. Inside. Inside. Inside. Oh, there you go.

See, I was thinking the bloody tennis one reminded me of that one where it was like the chick that was eating people. I think it was some sort of French or no, it was like a 820, what I 824's first one? We saw that one together, Philip, where they were kind of like, we thought it was going to be more. No, no, not that. That was a good one. No. This was, this was, this was one where it was, uh, fuck, what was it, man? It was a neon.

Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, damn it. Was it man? No. It was way before that where the chick was like eating blood and eating people or whatever and they were like, yeah, people are going up in the theaters. Yeah, that's the one. That movie's not good. That's the one I was thinking of. That's what the bloody tennis one reminded me of.

Raw kind of. Yeah. That trailer promised something that the movie did not deliver. True. Yeah, that one's overrated like Goodnight Mommy's overrated. But those came on at the same time and they were both very overrated. Yeah, I've been fooled by that, by that scheme before. I'm like, all right.

I'll wait until somebody sees it. Yeah. All right. Goody Goody also comes to shutter this month, September 18th. All right. And that is all the trailers. All right. Awesome.

Listener feedback. Hey, I came back just in time. Here we go. This week, the podcast spotlight. shines on throbbing with horror. Oh my goodness. What the hell is this? Jesus Christ. Throbbing with horror.

A weekly podcast that serves as a one-stop shop for horror fans featuring discussions on the best, worst, and everything in between regarding horror movies. Great name. Okay. Why not? Is there going to be like a reason for the name?

I don't know. I guess we'll find out. They're excited about it. Directed by Creamer, huh? In regards to Jason goes to hell, Pat Caruso says, my goodness, what a bad movie. I don't know what's worse. This flick or Jason takes Manhattan. I don't know about that. That movie has gotten some good rep over the years.

People are starting to really like it. Jason goes to hell or Jason? No, Jason goes to hell. I think for a long time, especially when it's, it came out. We had to get over the fact that you didn't have Jason for the majority of the film. You had his spirit jumping from place to place. Right, right. But I think the cool part about this film is how the director was able to sneak in an evil dead reference, you know, with the Necronomic on and whatnot. And there is a lot of

theories. And of course, these theories are not impossible. They're impossible because it's too different. From what I understand, it's two different studios. But there's a lot of a lot of theories that say that Jason is actually like a deadite because his mom kind of brought him back and made a pack with the necronomic on and whatnot. And that all kind of gets, not explained, but it starts being teased and Jason goes to hell, you know. And of course, it has that great ending that leads into Jason versus Freddie, where Freddie gets the glove and brings the mask into Howl with him, which is like, like, to me, that's like a forerunner of like one of those Marvel, you know, post credit scenes or whatever, you know. Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely. Yeah. And it teases something that wouldn't pay off for 10 years, but still, it's still like we would see Jason versus Freddie, you know, coming up right after Jason X. Well,

some of the, hey, some of the Marvel teases, Pedro are taking 10 or more years to pay off, if at all. Some of them never actually did, which is a problem. Yes.

So I heard a lot of those recent ones. They're just... Alternate universe, Brian? Yeah. Well, a lot of them were directed towards Kang Dynasty, and of course, they canceled that. So that was a big thing. But, yeah, so Jason goes to how it got a pretty good rep. And it's a fun movie, you know, you just have to get over the fact that Jason's not in it.

That's all. Yeah. Well, he's in the first part and the third act. But other than that, he's just not in the middle of the movie. And come on, you got the promoter from Rocky Five eating a heart. That's pretty awesome, you know? George Washington Duke is eating a heart. Sounds like Pat doesn't agree with you on that one though, Pedro.

Well, he's got a new shirt, so good for him. In regards to 2026's horror movies, a non-binary artist puppy says, I love this year of horror movies 100%. Yeah, agreed. Yeah, I mean, we got at least a couple of great ones. So we'll see how to go. been a good year for horror movies.

And it ain't over. Except for the ice cream man and, uh, I guess if you're gonna put her private house, it's a horror movie. That's two, two turkeys right there. Was it that bad? Oh, yeah.

I mean, no, I don't know. It's, what a weird fucking movie that was. I don't even know what to say about it. Yeah, Lance, if you want to watch,

if you got an hour and a half to two hours and you want to watch something weird, where you don't really have to understand the story because there isn't one. right watch it I might really selling me here guys we'll see oh screen 7 was pretty bad right

oh that was horrible that's the bottom 10 I totally forgot that came out this year yeah sorry for bringing it up but but it has that one girl from companion uh this in her private hell it has a what's her name she

Sophie Thatcher she was pretty good in it yeah sofrey catcher so there's always that distraction If you want to space out for a minute, we're trying to make sense of that story. Hmm. Well, probably not. All right. And in regards to the new T-shirt design, Steve Carlton says, he wants you to Malachi.

He wants you to. Yeah, there's been a couple of children of the corn designs, actually. Yeah. They're kind of great. Make one of Isaac. Why does Malachi get all the love? I don't know. That's true.

because it's an awesome name, Malachi. Well, hopefully Steve's listening and he'll take you up on that, Pedro. In regards to the cell, Mark Kobanzinski says, underrated in my opinion, and Donofrio is outstanding.

One of the first three DVDs I purchased as VHS was on its way out. Wow. That's a very specific memory of that movie. My specific memory of that movie was J-Lo and her in her sleepwear.

Yeah. Oh, that tight red thing. And her amplify rear end is what you're trying to say too. I know exactly what you're talking about. Go got it. There's a scene. You can tell where my mind's going.

There was a scene specifically where she's getting something out of the refrigerator. Yes, absolutely. Short things. The shirt is not exactly that long. That doesn't fit all the way. Damn near 60, isn't she? She's in her 50s.

I don't think she's that old. And she is fucking still smoking. Well, no doubt. All right. In regards to cat's eye, Pat Russo says, haven't seen this movie in many years. That little troll guy that lived in the wall used to freak me out.

Oh yeah, that's a fun movie. That's speaking of Stephen King, Pedro. Yeah, but I like the smokers. The guy's trying to quit smoking. Quitters Incorporated. Yeah, the one, the Revenge of the Nerds guy, the one that just passed away, what was it, like two years ago?

That's right. David Carrey. Yeah, he's trying to quit smoking. And then there's that other guy that's also a character actor in a lot of movies. He kind of runs that corporation, quitter. What is it called? Quitters, Quidders Incorporated. Yeah, and then all the shit that he has to do to quit.

But it's more play for comedy, right? It's played for comedy for the most part. Oh, for sure. Um, because, cause they, they, yeah, and then they have the one where the guy has to walk the ledge of the building. Remember that story? Oh, because yeah, because the guy's wife was cheating with him. Yeah, so he has to walk. And then, and then lastly, they have the one with Drew Barrymore with, uh, with the troll that Pat was talking about. Probably a very drunk and high drew Barrymore, right? Because that was right before she got clean. She was kind of a kid, Lance, give her a break. Oh, she was high as a kite, which you read her autobiography. That was when the meat of it was. Yeah.

Well, probably. She had a rough childhood, man. Yeah. Although, a lot of these young actors do. But she seemed like she came out of it, though, whereas like, Corey Feldman is still, you know, nose diving before our eyes. That's right. Great concerts, though. I don't know if you've seen them, but they're fantastic.

He had some extra shit happen to him. Oh, no doubt. Yeah. For sure. I wouldn't doubt that Drew Barrymore did, too. She may not even remember it. Yeah, they were both the Ron Charlie Sheen. That's all I'll say.

Allegedly. Allegedly. Oh, no. All of them. Yeah, I think me and Phil talked about it. Hayden Panettiere recently came out before she died. She had some shit happened to her when she was a young child actress. Yeah.

That's what happens, man. You stick those kids in Hollywood and they eat them up. She writes a book about it and then she passes away. Yeah. Yeah. All right In regards to the insidious dental patient Insidious Dental Patient

Yeah Oh, I remember The guy with the mouth guard or whatever I was like is this a movie? What am I doing? Vin this Connie says that's horrifying Yeah, it's kind of creepy Well that guy was he was throughout A lot of the movie I don't know maybe that was the scene

That really stayed with this guy but he was creepy throughout the entire movie. Yeah, for sure. You know what, man? I did not hate that new insidious movie. It was pretty good. Like, it was a little cheesy. Yeah, we enjoyed it.

Yeah, a little cheesy at the end, but, like, definitely a step up. Yeah, and I like how they try something new, too. Like, it was like a new thing. Like, with them being outside instead of inside or whatever. Yeah, and they got away from the Patrick Wilson family shit. Yeah. All right.

And we have a few. industry emails to catch up on. We got an email from Rice regarding an upcoming sequel for the RIP man. Thanks so much, press release attached in this Insta page. The first

movie is on Plex, Roku, and Tooby for free. No screener. What is it? The RIP man? The RIP man. Have you heard of this one, Pedro? No, I'm not surprised. It's by Jack Hunter the second or anything like that.

No, okay, well, let's keep it moving. I don't think so. A steel trap for a brain, dude. No screener available yet for the sequel, but thanks so much. From Catherine Cavander says, Hi, the Horror Returns team. I'm reaching out with a new release guest pairing that feels right for your horror conversations.

Dark Hollow writer-director Daniel Byers, who I've C-Ced and lead actress June Shriner. The film began as Paradise, winner of Austin Film Festival's 2023 horror screenplay jury prize and became a Southern Gothic creature feature

shot partly in West Virginia mine locations. Oh boy. So there must be math involved, right? You got to kill a few of them to get in there. It follows a young mother entering a collapsed Appalachian

coal mine to rescue her husband and discovering something ancient beneath the mountain. Isn't that where you've got to like, if you live there, you got to, like, close your windows or close the curtains because you're not supposed to look out through windows at night. Oh, really? I don't know. I hadn't heard about that. I think that's someplace in the Appalachian Mountains where it's a superstition.

Like, when it gets dark, you got to close your curtains and not look out the window. and some of those superstitions are there for a reason could be could be I don't know this one sounds interesting yeah production combined

a practical monster with virtual production work for the material that could not be filmed safely Daniel can join solo or pair them with June for a release of a conversation of a creature feature influences

coal country atmosphere combined location filmmaking and anchoring the practical monster in a family story. We can ask them the question about the curtains, Brian. Yeah. Maybe they know. Yeah, I don't know. I think I already reached out,

and I think we're trying to set something up. So we'll see how it goes. See if we can get a screener to watch too. It would have to be paired up with like an Appalachian, like horror movie or something. You got anything in mind? there's got to be several right oh i'm sure there's a ton of them i mean yeah there's a few what's it called the abominable with uh lance henriksen comes to mind oh okay i know exactly what

you're talking yeah that one was done in that part town but there's there's quite a few others yeah so that'll be cool yeah i'm sure we can make it work one more email uh hi the horror returns, I'm Devin Smock, director and producer of holler. An independent post- Don't holler back. An independent post-apocalyptic horror feature currently in production through subterranean sound and vision. Since you guys cover horror news, trailers, and filmmaker interviews,

I wanted to see if you have any interest in having me on to talk about the movie and the process of actually getting an independent horror feature made. Of course. Hauler follows Ray Holly, a self-destructive loner, and Sydney, a pregnant young woman, traveling through a collapsing rural Midwest. While zombies are part of the world, we're approaching the film as a more of a character-driven Midwestern Gothic story about addiction, regret, faith, parenthood, and survival. That's a lot to tackle.

That's a lot to tackle that. Hour and a half of an independent movie. No shit. Wow. Regret, faith. Addiction? Life's purpose. Addiction. Wow. Man, I'm intrigued.

I have to say I'm intrigued. And zombies. Yeah. All right. As a footnote, right? Did he say zombies? It could just be post-apocalyptic when other people are just trying to kill you for your resources. That's also kind of a popular...

He said zombies are part of the world, but it sounds like they're not super focused on it. So like the latter seasons of the walking kid. All right. And hey, we do have some listeners because we got both orders in for our t-shirt contest. Pat Caruso says, hey, fellas, thank you so much for another t-shirt. It's an honor that you guys show appreciation of your fans. The Horror Returns is my favorite podcast to listen to every week. Awesome.

Man, really glazing us for that shirt. Thank you. Send him another one. Okay, so since I already have a t-shirt that I wear regularly, I'd like to give this my buddy Trish, who is a huge horror fan. I even made her listen to a couple of episodes. She lets me use her shutter account, so I thought this would be a cool way to say thanks.

I think she would really like the Friday night design, or the fright night design. Yeah, that's a great one. Yeah, it's on the way. Jay Black says, sorry, gents, for our delayed response. Never enough time in the day. I was listening last week when I heard my name. I won the contest, so I was like,

So yeah, anytime I can wear your merch, I'll show you off. So I'll take 2X, please. Currently, I have what the doctors call a little weight problem. Sorry to blast you, dude. Miss hanging out with, hey, I'm right there with you, man. I got 2X. Miss hanging out with you guys. The next meetup, I'm definitely going to be there.

Keep you all, keep me posted, y'all. It's for comfort purposes, okay? It's not like, I could get away with the next out, but I like 2X for comfort purposes. Yes, I like to be comfortable. Then I feel like the fat guy in a little shirt. Oh, man, I remember that. And just listening to today's episode, I heard that Brian is on Supernatural, and I got about halfway through the series. And then, you know, life got in the way and didn't get a chance to finish it.

But getting very heavy X-Files vibes, which you can tell it is heavily influenced by, It's not a bad thing, but I think you'll enjoy it. Okay. Absolutely. Supernatural is awesome. You agree with that, Brian? X-Files vibes a little bit? Yeah, we're still, I mean, there's still a main storyline going through, but it's very...

Okay. Creature of the week. Yeah, the Negan one, right? The Negan storyline is the... The Nican story. And what's her name has shown up in this part of the show in it? I know. Maggie.

Maggie's shown up. Oh, yeah. Maggie, too. from lost. Oh yeah, she does. She's a demon. Yeah. I remember that.

I thought you met Maggie from the Walking Dead. It is. Yeah, it is. Okay. Yeah, right? Walking Dead or lost? What is it, Brian?

I've never seen Lost. Okay. Oh, so it's from the Walking Dead then. Yeah. Yeah, she's like super young in it, right? Yeah. They end up together again, right? After Nicket kills her.

I still can't figure that out. I wonder because so far during the show, they've never had a scene together. So I wonder if they even knew each other, then. Probably not. That's kind of interesting. Well, they have rap parties and stuff where they all mingle. But as far as scenes on the show, I don't think, yeah, they might not never have had a scene together. He says, by all, time to go.

Got to pick up the pizza for dinner. that is going to contribute to your problem, brother. Yeah. Good coniggett. All right. Let's try to cook from home more often there, Jay. Yeah, or mix in a salad, right? Man, I had pizza for lunch today.

What am I talking about? Did you? If you'd like to help the show, please consider becoming a Patreon patron, and now it's time to go back to 1993 and pay homage to. To the king. Two of Pinterest,

favorite Stephen King movies. Spoiler alert. All right. We're going to start. 1999 was a year for Stephen King. We're going to start with needful things. There are years from Stephen King when you think about it. No doubt.

Yeah. Which are we starting with first? Needful things. Needful things. Okay. A mysterious new shop opens in a small town, which always seems to stock the deepest desires of each shopper with a price far heavier than expected.

Director is Frazier C. Heston, also known for Mother Lode. So we have Creamer and Mother Lode. I thought Mother Lloyd was directed by Creamer. Let your brain wonder on that one. That's all I'll say about that. Oh, but the writer, on the other hand, which, you know, I guess you're, doing a book movie so I don't know how much writing there is but is W.D.

Richter also known for invasion of the body snatchers and big trouble in Little China. Oh, wow. This should be a cinematic masterpiece, Peter. That guy's got a resume. The car driven by Leland Gant is

a 1958 Mercedes-Benz 300D W-189, whatever that means. It was the company's flagship model at the time, and it was equal in features and price, but superior in performance to the rival Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. Favored by statesmen and timeless evil incarnates, it offers options such as glass partition, VHF, mobile telephone, and a dictation machine. That's one, deeds. Yeah, you sound like you're ready to sell one, Philip. Well, who wants a Mercedes when you can buy Rolls Royce?

Yeah, that's true. That's true. All right, Pedro, you want to start us out on needful things? It sounds like it's your favorite. First of all, this movie was pretty boring, and it was the less boring of the two, though. I will say that. In my opinion. They had some heavy hitters in there, though.

It had a good cast. To me, that's what carried it. I thought Ed Harris was really good in this movie. Right. Right. As the sheriff who also, he's also in the dark half, but it's another actor playing him. That same sheriff. Oh.

And I thought, I thought Max, I thought Max Van Seidel or Cittal, whatever, he's always amazing, right? Everything he does, he's a great actor, or was a great actor. And, and, but I thought, I know what they were going for. I know, I know what they, I know what they were trying to do.

they were trying to do this whole the devil's, you know, advocate kind of like, divide and conquer and get everybody to turn bad. But it was so cheesy, and I played the director for this. Like, there was a good film in here.

And from what I did, Lance, is this a short story? Is this an actual novel? It's a novel and it's, it's not my favorite Stephen King novel, dude. It's probably one of my three or four least favorites. But even,

but I was reading some of the reviews and everybody was saying that, the novel was a lot better than the movie. Well, no doubt. Yeah. It's not always the case, though. I mean, there's some films that are like the Sean Chan Redemption, for example. Right, right, which was based in a short story, by the way.

Right. So, but this one, I just thought the director just didn't really understand the material and everything was so cheesy. Yeah. And like when they had the Amanda Plummer character, which I like seeing her turn up because Pulp Fiction is one of my favorite movies of all time, if not my favorite. So it was nice seeing her here. Oh, Lex, you're. every last motherfucker one I got. And it was just like, you know, the bartering of like, I'll give you this, but then you got to go

go clown somebody's backyard, throw tomatoes somewhere. And it was so, it's like, we're dealing with, are we in, is this in high school or is this a town? Right, right. That's what I thought when I was reading it, frankly, man. And then J.T. Wash, having it up the whole way. And, I mean, he tends to do that anyway from time to time, but he's actually a very good actor where he was as well. But here, especially that third act, right, when he has.

the bomb strapped to him. Oh my God. He says, I want to die. I just killed my wife. Is that wrong? Is that wrong? And the material is so dated too because he gets butt hurt because they call him Buster Keaton.

Like that's what God gets a man because his last name's Keaton and he gets accused of stealing money from the town. They could have called him Michael Keaton, right? I would have gotten more insulted after, you know, the morbid. they end in Tormous and him saying yes to that. Anyways, so, so he gets heard

by, by people, the time calling him on Buster Keaton, all right? That's supposed to be this big insult. And it's so, like, of the time,

like, anybody that's like, yeah, Buster. Anybody, no, because from what I understand, there was a time

where the term Buster was like a, like, a slang, like, you know, it was supposed to hurt your feelings, supposedly. Also known as a Buster.

But that was even That was even before our time. You know, that was way, but so that was Stephen. I was thinking, I was like, why is he so upset about Buster? I know, it's kind of similar. You listen here, Buster. See? But that bad.

Isn't Buster Keaton an actor? Yeah, he was. Like the silent movie actor. That's what I'm saying. This was like, this was like a playground joke on him. It was like, because his last thing was Keated. It's like Buster Keaton and Buster Keating. And then I just pictures of the little kid running away.

But anyway, that set up, that set him off. Like he would, He would want to shoot you for that. That's crazy. And then, of course, they did the trope of the little kid knowing what's going on and him being the only one and he wants to kill it. By the way, that scene of the little kid being in that attic and wanted to kill himself. Putting the gun to his head.

That was so cheesy too, especially the climax where they're trying to make you think like something happened. And then Ed Harris is right in the next scene. Oh, he tried to come in so his side. But he failed. Yeah, that was bad. That was really bad. And it's like, we're just supposed to forget about it. You know, they built all this drama.

intention. The dialogue was weird. Yeah, that was weird dialogue too. You tried to eat a bullet. Oh, that's right. He did say that. Yeah, so it added to the cheese. There was a lot of cheese in this movie.

Oh, a lot. A lot. Gouda, cheddar. Like I said, the Amanda Plummer fight with that other lady, it ended in a draw with both, like, decapitating themselves with, like, an axe and a knife and shit, or whatever the fuck it was. At the same exact time, right? At the same exact time.

And then two other people killed themselves, each other at the exact same time, too, didn't they? Like, when I fell out. With the shotguns. That's right. It's so stupid, man. See, yeah, and that turkey lady was just like, such a clownishly bad person, you know?

Right, right. She was just an asshole for being an asshole. And then the love interest for Ed Harris, the sheriff, she was so wooden in this movie. Like, it seemed like everybody else was talking. to shoot a comedy and she was trying to shoot like a like a daytime soap opera like it was she was in what's that right it's holly from diehard she was in a different movie yeah and she had the whole necklace thing because she had arthritis of all things which is supposed to be like a

opium or something right and in stephen king's mind right probably great rack though holy moly i did like i did like that's unexpected i did like that scene where she took the necklace off and her hands immediately cramped up. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It hit her hard, right? Yeah, and I like how Max Van Sidel

he's like, because he's supposed to be like a demon or the devil or whatever, whatever Stephen King's villain of the month is because he's got a bunch of these. Yeah, like Randall Flagg, right? Yeah, he's like fuck it. And then he just sometimes like sleeping with her. That's like what he gets out of her. And I don't blame him honestly, but still, that's kind of

crazy. With his rotten teeth and his long, gnarly fingernails he's got. Yeah, so they don't really explain what he is. They don't even tease anything. Well, they kind of, he makes reference to, he apologizes for the room being hot because he likes it

the heat up. Oh, God. And then one of the preacher, the reverend, he says he knew Jesus. Yeah. Which is such an outdated thing, right? They all say, oh, I say, say a hundred Jesus for me or some dumb shit like that.

And then the preachers was carrying around that bumper sticker that says, get the hell out of here, devil or something. And he goes, oh, no, I'm not going to put that up in my store. I can't remember what it was. He was so offended. Now, Lance, this does continue our tally of Stephen King being a religion-hating person. Absolutely. Right here, he has a priest.

And what is it, a deacon? They hate each other. A reverend. A reverend. The Baptist Reverend. Yeah. And he's buying the div. What does he buy like dildos and naked paintings and all kinds of sexual innuendo?

That's our boy Stephen King Tynos. Don't trust these people ever. Exactly. Yeah. I wonder if he grew up Catholic. Maybe he, uh... I think he did. I think he did.

He's got a record. He's in the Boston area. Yeah. Maybe he had a little problem. I have a good experience with that. Yeah. Probably. Um, the ending was okay.

I thought at the end it was a little action-packed. It finally hit that third gear towards the end a little bit. But it wasn't okay, right? It was dumb. It was kind of, I mean, yeah. Explosions going off everywhere and. But it was real fire, Lance. There was real fire.

I did notice that. I really appreciate it real quick. Yeah, well, it started off silly. But yeah, because he ends up blowing up J.T. Wash, right? They both blow up in the house. Yeah. And he just comes out like, just like nothing happened to him. Oh, we don't, we can't win all of them.

him. He's kind of heartbroken because he couldn't manipulate the town to kill each other. And then he just gets back in that wacky-ass car with the addiction machine and takes off. That was it. Stephen King was raised Methodist. Okay. Yeah, I mean, hey, that says a lot right there. He must have an involved Methodist preacher. You never know.

Away at summer camp, who knows, right? But I do, but I do like the, again, the idea I like, I like this idea of this evil entity coming in and giving people what they want is the devil, right? Because the devil has how the devil works, you know, to get your soul and going against your own morals. But I mean, the way they went about it in this movie was so, like juvenile. It was, it was absurd and funny. It's just dumb. Yeah. It's like here.

I never felt, go ahead. It was like, here, I'm going to give you this. this, you know, racetrack toy if you go skin that fucking dog alive. I know. Like, no,

man, I think I'm good. And then I wonder how we can, I wonder if Max Van Sighto, get some research on the, on the collective IQs of these towns he goes to, because some of these people were so dumb, you know,

okay. Seemed that way, right? You know, I'll give you a Mickey Mantle card if you go throw some tomatoes at this lady's, like lawn or whatever, you know,

her sheets that she's had. right wall. Right. Okay. Like nobody put two together. You know, nobody knows.

That's true. Yeah, nobody played the tape forward, right, Pedro? So yeah, so that's my thoughts. What do you guys think of this movie?

Lance? I'm going to talk more about the book than the movie because Pedro hit all the high points, which is it. Yeah, please, because I like that

because I'm not, you know, I really don't read Stephen King, so I really, like that the book perspective all right so i'm just going to say that by the time i read this book stephen king okay so the period in his life he was going through he had written a lot of his master works right like the shining the stand you know really really phenomenal he'd already i think he'd already written three of the dark tower books by the time by the time he wrote this

one but there was another major event going on in stephen king's life like right before at the at the end of the Tommy Knockers, which was when he was like balls to the wall, completely fried on cocaine and totally drunk all the time. It was the 80s. It was the 80s. But after he finished the Tommy Knockers, he decided to get clean, right? So I don't know if it was because it was, see, the dark half I really enjoyed. And we'll get into that later.

As far as the book, I really enjoyed the book, The Dark Half. I thought that was phenomenal. And I think that was actually the first one that he wrote clean. And then I think this one was like, I think he did one more Dark Tower book and then he did this one. But when I got into this book, I was kind of like, okay, cool, there's going to be a lot to be said about, you know, how you're of two minds like Jacqueline Hyde, kind of like the dark half, right? But he just kind of, I think he went, he went super cheap on this, on the story. Because, yeah, I had no interest at all. When you start reading epic books like The Stand and you start reading really dark books, you know, like,

Salem's lot, which was incredibly dark and incredibly depressing. And then the shining, which was really dark and depressing. And then all of a sudden, you've got this silly fucking childish, you know, just the scene I remember- It's a monkey paw story. Yeah, kind of, but the scene, I remember the most, I just thought it was silly how he would have one person go pull a prank. And then, like, you would think it was this one person

because they had pissed you off in another way, but it was really this person because Leland God had him do it. Like Pedro said, it's like school kid's shit. And the part I do remember in the book was the drunk when he was like in the bar and they told him, you know, you've had enough, get the fuck out of here or whatever.

And then he had somebody write a note that said, you cut me off, you motherfucker and put it on the bar, because it's different than the movie. The note said, you cut me off, you motherfucker. And he put it on the dash or the, or the window underneath the wipers on the bartender's car. And so, yeah, of course it was that drunk, right? So it's like super obvious stuff like that and like throwing the mud and the feces on the white sheets and throwing the apples just because the lady happened to be making apple pies back at the diner.

This was too on the nose for me. Like the book did not impress me. The movie even less so. And yeah, I forgot about that Ed Harris scene where he takes a roll call and everybody says what they did in the town. What did you do? Oh, he made me do this. What did you do? Oh, he made me do that.

And that's in the book, Pedro. That's almost straight out of the book. So, yes, not my favorite. Probably one of my two or three least favorite of all of Stephen King's books. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it either. I agree with most of the things you guys said. The one big critique I will say, because I think we kind of brought up everything about this movie,

was, I wish they did. go more detailed into their connection with these items that they were getting. Okay. Because I think it would have meant more to the story. Yeah, and they might have in the book. I really don't remember that much, you know. I mean, I do remember that obviously the dude that had a gambling problem, right? And owed money to the books.

It just showed him at the racetrack. It didn't tell you what, because it didn't really seem. like the gambling was the connection. It was like the being at the racetrack. So I guess that's a good point. It seemed like there was a story there

and the kid with the Mickey Mantle card. Yeah, there was more backstory. When they did a flashback, they just showed fucking Mickey Mantle. And I was like, there's no way this kid was alive to see Mickey Mantle. Mickey Mantle reincarnated maybe, right? Or the guy with the high

college Letterman jacket. They just showed him riding in a car. They didn't go into detail on what the jacket meant to him. Yeah, that might have added. I agree. That might have added. There is a three-hour cut of this movie that they actually showed on television. They had a three-hour cut stretched out to four hours on television with commercials. I was reading that when I was doing some research on this movie. So I don't know, maybe they add more to the to the whole, the items and stuff, but I doubt it. So yeah, no, I just go ahead.

I was just going to say, I just wanted more on the reason why they would make these deals to get these items. Kind of flesh the story out a little bit more, right? Yeah. Yeah, it does sort of feel like a little bit of a TV movie thing. It kind of did, except for the F words and the writing cock sucker on the one ticket. Yeah, because the dialogue was so bad. Like I said before, Ed Harris, nobody says he ate a bullet. Or he tried to eat a bullet.

someone asked me as like this kid tried to shoot himself that's what I would have said yeah he tried to eat a bullet and I don't know why and they like they had that scene where like the deputy and the mayor were like arguing in the hallway and yes it was like sort of a little bitty tiff and then Ed Harris just like slams them both against the wall with like excessive force oh that's right that's right maybe Ed Harris is awesome That's the take we kept here. Seemed that way, right? Ed Harris must have been supernatural in this.

Well, he does show up in multiple stories. It seems like it came out of nowhere. Sheriff Allen Pangborn, right? But yeah, I think we've said it all, man. I thought it was, uh, it wasn't terrible. I think there was a good story there. It was just early 90s cheese. And, uh, they leaned a little too hard into that section of it.

If they'd have made it maybe a little more gritty, I think they could have done some. See, this is something I would think they would be, it would work more if it was a series. Okay, yeah, a different episode for each item. Like a limited miniseries or something, just one season. Yeah. Scores. Pedro, what do you think? I'm going to go five on ten.

That's not bad. That wasn't the worst thing in the world, but it was, yeah, I'm not going to watch this again. Okay. All right. Lance. I'll give it a three. I'll be a little generous. I'll give it a three.

Generous. That's a three. It's worse. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't give it a two. Brian? Eight on ten.

No, I'm just kidding. I'm right there with Pedro. This wasn't the worst thing I was seeing. It just not everything. Maybe not all his stories work. into film or TV adaptation. That's what I think. I'm going to give it a five.

Well, we know that as a fact, right, Lance? I mean, a lot of those like 90s made for TV movies, like the Langalears and the Tommy Knockers, none of those work for, like, TV, you know, so it just, you just have to read them in book form. Yeah. Like, a lot of those books I really enjoyed, but I didn't like the movie version. Like, the first time I saw The Shining, I hated it because it was so different from the book, right? But I've grown to appreciate that. Well, you and him hated it.

Exactly. I've grown to appreciate it, but this one I don't think I'll ever grow to appreciate it. Or maybe they had the wrong screenwriter. Could be. Adaptive book into a film. That's true. How dare you. Balke was in the Languiliers and he was excellent.

Brompson Pitchcock, he was good in that movie. He was annoying as fuck. That's right. You want espresso? I make it with a little lemon twist. I found the long ago there is the complete, what was it, a series? Yeah, I think it's a two-day. TV movie thing, yeah.

It's on YouTube. That makes sense. Oh, I own it. I own all these movies, by the way, because I used to collect physical media. Actually, both of these were on YouTube. Yeah. That's what I watched, too. Okay.

YouTube free with ads, movies just like Tooby. Yeah. What was Cool? YouTube is that they don't take those three minute breaks I mean at least in my TV you get like a minute break you don't get those three minute ones like those those ads those ads are fast on YouTube when you

watch a movie yeah yeah my YouTube had been fucking with me for the last few weeks where they were like throwing in like twice as many ads and then they kind of cut that out trying to get you I don't know if it was just me or they tried something and people were like

hey what the fuck are you doing and then they stopped, but it seems to be better now. Yeah, I'm going to give it a... I'll give it a five and a half. Okay. And hate it. It was just cheesy. What push you over is the hump for the half?

I don't know. Was it Max Van Sight out's acting or Ed Harris is that? Yeah, I think it was both of those. I think it was the boobies. They were in some nice boobs. Great camera nice, great Castle Rock boobs. Great camera work on

the necklace. Yeah. No doubt. No doubt. Yeah, I think I think the story itself is probably just lends itself to cheese and man, they leaned into it a little too hard. Just a little bit, huh? Have you guys seen her in anything

else because her acting's not the best? because the only thing I've seen her in was Bruce Willis's wife and diehard. No, I can't remember her anything else. Which is a character that is completely in. She looks so familiar, though, like she's been in a whole lot more even than that, right? Bonnie Bedelia, I think. He's got a weird-ass name, Bonnie Badalia. Yeah, it sounds very southern.

I'm Bonnie Bedelia. That sounds very porno. Oh, maybe. All right, we'll move on to. the dark half. A writer's fictional alter ego wants to take over his life at

any price. Dda, da, D. Director and writer George Romero. There you go. Living Dead movies. All of the shooting locations for the film were around the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

area. They were chosen for their close location to George Romero's house in Pittsburgh. He was like, I'll do it, but I'm not driving more in time now. I ain't going far. The dark half was the last novel that Stephen King wrote before becoming completely sober. Ah, okay. I was off then.

It was the last novel he wrote. Well, he probably finished it sober, right? Maybe this was him battling his addiction. What about like Rose Matter? And what's the other one that's the one where the chick is tied up to the bed and the guy dies? What's that name of all? Gerald's game. after. Yeah, he was sober during all that.

But those kind of, they're not that good either. Like, because they're very... Very short, right? Gerald's game was a very short novel. Kind of cut and dry. 40 pages. Yeah, that's all like early to mid-90. He got sober early to mid-90, so he wasn't giving us his best to read that time.

I would agree, man. I would kind of agree. And then it got a little better after that, like when he got toward the end of the, um, the dark tower and all that. But, well, I feel what brought him back. was besides the Dark Tower series because I had a fan base of its own like from a Buick gate

I remember that was some hype behind that one What was under the dome That's the one that really Yeah under the dome that was a good one And that would have been like maybe late 90s At that point where he wrote down Early 2000s it was very epic Very epic in scope

He was trying to like kind of redo one of his epic novels Right yes which is what I think he should do And yeah I remember he had like a second life in the early 2000s with like a lot not just not just his adaptations that's the whole another because he's always you know people are always adapting his stuff so but for him he had a second life like in the early 2000s with stuff like from a buickade um that that trilogy he did about the detective that was pretty popular oh those were awesome yeah mr mercedes mr mercedes that's another one that really brought him back so yeah so he had like a little

low there when he was early in his recovery phase and then now he came back and I would agree. I don't know. I don't know where he's at now as a writer. I mean, I know they're always adapting his stuff, but is he still good? Do you feel like he's still? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think so. He did one called Fairy Tale, maybe four or five years ago. That one was really good. That's getting an adaptation. Yeah, as well it should. And then he does, he does do way too much on this Holly Gibney character, though, for me. Okay. Yeah, you brought that up, Lance. He's done several books with her and she was like a side character in mr les has he ever done a story because i know he likes to like merge his his villains right you'll see his villains show up and different has he ever done

a story where he kind of has like all the all his good guys combined and and like for example the sheriff and like like marvel universe style yeah because he does that with his villains all the time so might not be a bad idea actually that might be a pretty good tv show yeah like this detective you're talking about yeah he hasn't but it's not a bad idea You know, you could have all the kids from it come back one last time and as adults, of course. Oh, well, that one about the guy who went back to stop Kennedy's shooter, right? Right. 11 something, something.

Yeah, whatever day Kennedy died. Yeah, the kids from... Yeah, the kids from it, the kids from it showed up in that. They all showed up in like a cameo when he went back to time. I guess that one TV show that got canceled, Castle Rock was. supposed to give us all these little connections. Oh, that was bad. The first season was okay.

That's second season. I tapped out. I never made it to the second season. You think he ever... Because you're a big fan of his. Oh, yeah. You think you ever ghost rode any smut? Probably.

Probably. Probably. As big as big Batman. Fan fiction. Fan fiction. Well, some like 50 Shades Gray stuff. Remember there was like a... rumor going around that that was like

George R. Martin that wrote that. He probably had his what was the character from this George Stark. Probably had his George Stark moment. That's right. That's what I was thinking. Yes. Doesn't he have another name he writes under? Yeah, Richard Beckman.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, okay. He wrote the Long Walkers. Yeah. And the running man. Mm-hmm. The Running Man. The rage. Right work. And Road Walkman. So just shit that's a little different genre. Yeah, more action, right?

Then, um, well, one of them was about a school shooter, which they'll never make into a movie. Well, they might. Never say never. What was it? What was it?

What was it? Yeah, rage. Rage. And it was from the point of view of the school shooter. Jesus Christ. Maybe you were going to say, what year did you write that? Because like,

right before all the school shootings? No, it was, it was in the 80s. That wasn't like a thing. Yeah, that was pretty crazy. That was pretty crazy. Maybe you or both should do that because he's done about three movies about this crazy-ass shooter, right? Oh, yeah. That's right.

But anyways. I'm trying to avoid talking about the dark half, guys. I know. Let's just jump into it. All right, Pedro. All right. Go first. Yeah, I saw this movie is just, I don't really like it.

I know, I know it's George Romero and, you know, Zachary's to say he does anything bad. But really, the guy was at the telling of his career. He had done monkey shines before this, which wasn't really a good movie. Bruiser's okay. A lot of people don't like Bruiser, but I like it. That one came after the dark half. The guy with a white mask. Yeah, and then he has to get revenge.

And then the more revenge he gets, the more his face kind of reveals itself to go back to normal and shit. I just remember that train scene. Peter Stollmer is in there, which is always a good time. Oh, yeah, of course. So, so. So, no, I mean, this movie is. was, again, was okay. What I remember about it, too, is

the ending with the horrible CGI with the birds. Oh, yeah. Yeah, pretty bad. The pompomorphs or whatever they called him. Yeah, and then Timothy Hutton trying to, like, this was towards the tell end of him kind of being kind of like an it guy, you know. That's true. Yeah. But,

but I do like the concept of it. Again, good story here, but the execution was something, left something to be desired. I do like this idea of having this, alter ego that that that kind of empowers you to be a good writer and then you're trying to retire that that ego or whatever that alter ego and that alter ego coming back we've seen that a couple of times um and so but i just feel that this movie just didn't really work for me you know so

that's kind of that's kind of my thoughts on it but coming back as a separate person is a different thing did he manifested i guess i don't know it's also a thing that doesn't make any sense. Well, it's the problem here, man. It's a story. And by the way, Ed Harris was replaced by Michael Rooker in this movie. That's right. That's right.

She's the same character, different actor. All right. Because there's also something to be said about the town, the town maybe not wanting to rid themselves of that alter ego. You know, so maybe there's some subtext there of the town kind of bringing the alter ego back, you know, and not allowing him to rest or allowing the, you know,

the writers to put them to rest. So there's a lot of things to take away from, but they never really explained that in the movie. You know, it's something you have to just pick up on your own. I feel like I like both of those guys equally, though. Mm-hmm. That makes sense.

Yeah, it does. Makes perfect sense. You're supposed to. Yeah. Yeah, if you read the book, you kind of love both of them for different reasons, right? Yeah, it didn't click that they were the same person. That you said that.

I'm like, oh, okay. That works. Brian, what you think? This was the first time watch for me, so I was excited to get to this one. This one just kind of was one of those movies I just never got to. And I was in for the first 20, 30 minutes, and then there was a fucking lull. That's my problem with this movie. Yeah, man, they could have cut like half an hour out of this movie.

Uh-oh. I think Timothy Hutton did a good job. I think they did a good job of distinguishing Thad Beaumont and George Stark from being different people. And then we have a young Aunt Gladys in there, Amy Madigan. That's right. Academy Award winning. Was she the professor there at the end? She was the wife.

Yeah, she was the wife. Oh, okay, okay. Of that bad Beaumont. That's right. Okay. And I knew I recognize you. And when they introduced George Stark, and he's pretty fucking violent in this.

And then after you get it, after you get introduced to that, it just fucking is so slow that I just couldn't keep my eyes on the movie. That's when the phone started coming out, right, Brian? The movie starts coming out and he starts scrolling a little bit. And that's what happened with me It just kind of lose track of the story a little bit Just because it's like there's nothing happening

I was I was focused on it But it was getting late And like I hit paused and there was like Still 20 minutes left And I'm like oh my God It was it was it was after that scene Where he attacks the Baldish dude with the ponytail

He kills him in the hotel hallway Yeah And it was just fucking hilarious He cuts his ponytail off and it sticks to the wall. I was fucking laughing my ass off. But after that, like,

it just slows down so much. Well, and it's such like a, a cheesy rendition of a villain, you know what I mean? Like, he does this with, like,

extreme versions of a character, like this, this person who just has no redeemable qualities, you know? Yeah. He does that and all of them. Lance, what do you think? So,

Again, I'm going to go with the book instead of the movie here because I didn't actually watch this this time, but I've seen it about six times. And I actually kind of enjoyed the movie. I got angry at first. So this is a actual novel, not a novel, a book or a short story? No, it's a full novel. And the only thing that bothered me is that they made the college professor at the end of female, whereas in the book it was a guy that spoke to life and everything. Is that why her name was Reggie? Yeah.

I think so. No, probably that makes sense. But what I remember about this book was I really, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was kind of like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type of story. Yeah. And I thought it was just kind of him. I didn't think the guy, I didn't think there was anything supernatural except the fact that, you know, he's like, well, I'm not going to be this character anymore. And of course, that was Stephen King with Richard Bachman and all that. But I kind of thought it was like literally him, like Dr. and Jekyll and Mr. Hyder. That's how I read the story. because that's how I wanted it to me. Because they kind of in the movie, they kind of made it seem like that way. And then there was, was there a thing that he had an operation, that he had a twin? Yeah, at the very beginning.

Yeah, they talked, they talked about some of that stuff in the book, too, like Elvis, like eating his twin brother and all. Yeah. Yeah, so they made you think it, they made you think it was like a twin thing, or then they made you think it was like a, him.

Wait, what was the story with Elvis? Elvis had a twin, and Elvis' twin died when, at birth. Oh, okay. Yeah, and they, and Stephen King talked to twin. Well, but no, in Stephen King's story, he did. Yeah. That was obviously, right? Well, yeah, because in the book, it was like he, he, like, consumed the twin and ate him.

Okay, so what I really... And then it became like a tumor, right? It's not a tumor. What I really loved about the way King wrote the book was, that Stark had extremely redeeming qualities, because basically the other character was just kind of like a boring-ass milk toast. And he'd become flaccid, basically, in life and with his wife, right? Like, he wasn't doing anything with her.

And then you got this George Stark character that was like super... So he wasn't a creamer's what you're saying. Yeah, exactly. They got this George Stark character that was him, but like all the fun qualities, right? Right. So he would smoke cigarettes. you know, he would be kind of like sexy, be kind of like exciting, you know, kind of like the dark half. But he wasn't like a different person in the book. That was like literally him. I thought it was too,

man. That's the way I was reading it. That was the, maybe the only Stephen King book I've actually read, but it was in high school. So it's been a long time. Yeah, you, that was your takeaway too, right? Like he didn't crawl out of the grave. Yeah. It was literally him, like his alter ego. Yeah, when they were, when they, when they did the face reveal and it was a totally different human being, I was like, well, that doesn't make any sense. No, that's not the book. That's not the book. But the thing, the thing I remember really vividly about the book is I was reading this when I was real heavy into my LSD days. And there was one part in the book that they came to a couple of different times where George Stark would show up in the dreams of the other guy. I can't even remember the milk toast guy. I can't remember his name. The real guy, right? And he would always say, right before he woke up out of the dream, Stark would say, I'm taking you to Innsville, baby, the place where all rail service terminates.

And that just haunted me like that line. And it's used three or four times in the book. But yeah, it was a really good book. I enjoyed it a lot. I don't think the movie did it total justice, but I didn't dislike the movie. I don't think as much as Pedro did. Yeah, I didn't hate it.

I think it was just a little too long. I know what it is. Yeah. I feel like novels are really, at this point, more meant to be, like, really good TV series. Right. Like an HBO series of a novel would be great.

But like a two-hour movie of a book that's like as thick as the Bible is a problem. Doesn't do it justice, doesn't. Even the five-hour Lord of the Rings extended cut, right? Yeah. So, but yeah, I thought it was okay. I mean, it was, it took itself pretty seriously, at least.

The George Stark character was a little cheesy, maybe. Right. Like, as far as just being overly villainous and violent, but I still think they did it justice, you know? It just, it just, they could have cut like half and a, this movie didn't need to be two hours long. If they cut half an hour out of it, it would have been great. Yeah, fair enough.

But it wasn't really lacking on quality and stuff. I think the acting was okay. The quality of the movie was good. It just got a little boring. A lot of them damn bird scenes out of the movie. No, the bird scenes, the quality was really bad with those birds. Pretty bad, yeah. Pretty bad graphics, right? Sparrows are flying again. And this was 1993, so there was no excuse for it to look that bad.

Yeah, true, true. Jurassic Park days. That's right. Big difference, right? That's every time I see some shitty CGI from the 90s, I'm like, well, Jurassic Park didn't do that. Yeah, that's true. I mean, you know.

That was before Steven Spielberg was shit the bad like he did this year. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure they had hell of budget and Steven Spielberg money, but you know all right Pedro what do you give it on scores I'm gonna go same thing five on 10 just because it's really boring

that middle section that middle section is just drags all right Brian yeah I agree with him this is a five but it was still cool to see young Amy Madigan and it's always cool to see Michael

Rooker in there which I think he had a better portray share of Alan Pang War. Okay. And there's. Okay. This was right before he came out in Marats as the dad of what's her name.

Oh, wow. And Ada, and Ada, uh, chocolate covered pretzel or whatever it was. Hmm. Man, I forget about that one. Lance? I'll give it a six and a half.

I, I really enjoyed this movie. Like I said, seen it about six times so I enjoy it not as much as I enjoyed the book but but I've seen it six times yeah you really enjoyed it and he gave it a six and a half six and a half yeah Lance was what's what's the what's the movie that you've enjoyed more than the book Stephen King specifically yeah yeah oh wow so all the books are always better than the movie you try to trick me into saying the dark tower aren't you no oh I mean let's not even talk about that well I mean it would It would either have to be the Shining or Shawshank.

No, because the Shining's a different movie. That Stanley Cooper, he completely changed everything. Pretty much everything. Completely changed. I mean, look, the Andy Mouschetti, it was really good, but still couldn't hold a candle to the book. And as far as Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, that's just a short story. Yeah, it's a short story, so it's kind of hard to compare. So it's hard to say, I can't think of a single one.

What about Dr. Sleep? No, I like Dr. Sleep, the book. I didn't love it, but I liked it. It was very, again, it was very short. It was not the way Stephen King should write books. I think he should write either epics or short stories. He seems to do well in both those things. The Mr. Mercedes television show.

Was that better than the book? No, but it was good. I enjoyed it. Was the Green Mile a short story? No. Oh, yeah, the Green Mile was actually like, Now, that was interesting. When he did the Green Mile, he released each book as its own chapter,

and you'd have to go down to the bookstore on Friday and buy the book, and then a week later you could go by chapter two. So that was like a thing that he used to do. He called it serialized fiction. So at the end, you would have the whole, how long would it take you to get the whole book? It was like 20 weeks or something. What?

I mean, except for the, like, If you take the money situation out of it, I kind of don't hate that. This was in the 90s. Yeah, and it was like watching a TV show, right? It's like watching a TV show, you're getting an episode per week or month or whatever. Yeah, exactly. But you don't have to pay per TV show. That's the thing.

You don't have to pay per episode. But you did have to go buy each thin, thin little book, yes. But it gives you a week to read each trafter and then you can talk about it or whatever and then go get the new in. And you still buy it that way or is it in one book now? I don't know. That's a good question. I'm sure it saw in one book, but the question still stands. If I wanted to buy those little thin books, are they going to be available? I'm looking it up right now.

Those are probably collectors items now. That's kind of what I was thinking. And I had every single one. I've lost them or thrown him away or whatever. Throwing literature away. I know. It's terrible. Well, I probably donated them somewhere to a library. That's a high standard to try to live up to because you build up to the-

signed first edition of all the books, $225 on eight books. But it's signed? That's not a bad deal when it's signed. Yeah, that's signed. It may not be signed by Stephen King. Oh, well, that's what I thought. The Green Mile 30th anniversary collector's edition, $38, but that's a single hardcover book.

Yeah, that's the 30th anniversary. I'm going to give it a 5.5. Here we go. I got a pee or I'm going to die. All right. The most sought after collector's item for Stephen King, the Green Mile is the rare limited edition published by Subterranean Press, which uniquely released the novel across six individual volumes. So it wasn't 20, mirroring its original serialized format. So there you go. It says binders

copies from this can command values upward from $1,000 to $1,500. Okay, that sounds more realistic. Why did I not keep those? I may have some laying around. I'm going to have to go look up in the attic after this. So, okay, so we're in agreement that the Green Miles is a better movie than the book then? No. It's hard for me to say, because I really enjoyed reading that book, man. Tom Hanks is in it.

I know. I know, but I really enjoyed the book. I can't think of a single Stephen King, you know, adaptation film that's better than the book, for my money anyway, you know. What about one more before we get out of here? the one with Carla Gugino which is tied up in the bed

Yeah, what about that one? That was a good movie I like that movie I think you just got me Because I remember That one got good reviews Okay Yeah, I wasn't thrilled with the book

That's the power of Carla Gugino That's exactly what that is The book did not have Carla Gugino In her undies In a bed for an hour to have Yeah Yeah, that one's close You got me on that one

Pedro. That's pretty close. Because yeah, you're right, man. The book was not, like, phenomenal at all. Oh, and it came out. Okay, so he released that one and oh, shit, what was it called? Rolls Matter.

That was the one that was right after. Yeah, it was around that time, but he released Gerald's game, I think, on the same exact day that he released Dolores Claiborne. Oh. And I'll see. That's another movie I liked a lot too. So that movie, have been better than the book. They were both very, very short books. I don't think I've ever even seen that.

What's the movie with, Kathy Bates is in it? Oh, Thomas Jane with the Rats. Oh, yeah, that was kind of recent. I can't, I can't remember. Thomas Jane with the Rats? 1943 or something. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. All right. You guys ready? Yeah. Sign off for tonight. Okay. We want to thank you guys for listening to another episode of the Hore Returns. Congrats to our T-shirt winners. And be sure to

to give us feedback at the horror returns at gmail.com. Check us out at thehorrorreturns.com. Next week, we're going back to the theater for Onslaught. And what is it, Brian, Universal Soldier? Yeah. Oh, I can't wait for either. Is Ned going to join us for that? He has to love that movie.

I will talk to him and try to get him on for some naked Van Damme ass. Yeah, which was about every movie during that time that he made. well all right well we'll figure it out nez has to be on um but philip until lehor returns again good night