June belongs to the monsters! But, not the Video Monsters… the Universal Monsters! Or shall we say, the Juniversal Monsters! This month we’re tackling some of the most beloved, iconic, and influential horror films of all time and, as usual, we’re using our patented Video Rack Attack Bracket technology to determine which three films in the classic Universal Monsters canon we’ll be reviewing this month. It’s time for another Popcorn Punchout!

The rules are simple: the Punchout begins by narrowing the 31 eligible films down to 20. The first 5 are chosen by an audience vote. Nathan, Eric, and Dan then take turns selecting 5 films each to compete in the bracket. These 20 films are then placed into our Skull of Decisions and drawn at random to create our initial round of 8 matchups (which means 4 films won’t even make it out of the Skull to compete!)  Each pairing is briefly discussed, votes are cast, and the film with a majority moves on to the next round. Voting continues until only two films are left. The third film is decided by our chaos bracket. Nathan, Eric, and Dan each have at least one chaos card they can use to “save” a defeated film and advance it the chaos bracket, giving it the potential to be resurrected as the third and final film to be reviewed this month.

The Universal Monsters are near and dear to our hearts and each of us have multiple films within this series that we would consider some of our all-time favorites. These are movies that have shaped who we are and what we love about the art of cinema. It’s only natural that we pit them all against each other in a fight to the death! So wolf down a nice bloody stake, wash it down with a stein of invisibility potion, drop your mummy off at the opera, take a dip with your bride in the Black Lagoon, and gather ‘round the graveyard to watch the Video Monsters take on the Universal Monsters in a POPCORN PUNCHOUT!

If you enjoy this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord (https://discord.gg/sjyUQg8phB)!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons