Half Price Horror

"Shark attack". Is there any phrase more thrilling to the horror fan's spirit? There's a never-ending bonanza of shark movies out there, but this one is notorious for its use of real sharks and the real-life Australian incident that inspired it. So join HPH for a deep dive--no pun intended--into crafty no-budget thriller 'The Reef'!

(Not to be confused with 'The Ref'. Denis Leary does not appear in this movie.)

When audiences found out they were going to get a movie about aliens from Jordan Peele, a lot of people jumped to a lot of conclusions about what they were going to get--but nobody imagined a heady, action-horror-Western that serves as a meditation on the exploitative nature of Hollywood and a joyous celebration of the power of cinema. Join HPH as we do our level best to dig into all the messages of Peele's most ambitious work, and join the celebration, too!

It's time to finish our tour of the Conjuring Universe, as we return to Valak the demonic nun and her sworn enemies Frenchie and Irene! Get ready for Wan and Safran's version of 'The DaVinci Code', with a lost relic and an ancient mystery and a third act surprise demon goat, as we put this franchise to bed once and for all.

It may not get as much discussion as it did seventy years ago when it first premiered, but 'Les Diaboliques' (or as it was known in America, 'Diabolique') is one of the most profoundly influential thrillers in cinematic history. So let's dig in for a discussion of the plot twist you've probably seen a dozen times the way it was done originally, by Hitchcock's French rival Henri-Georges Clouzot, and discuss a classic tale of the perfect crime gone wrong.

It's the final installment of the main Conjuring franchise (for now) and a case that tests the very limits... of Peter Safran and James Wan's ability to spin the Warrens' nonsense into a supernatural horror story. Can they take the tale of a guy who got drunk and committed manslaughter into a courtroom drama about demonic possession? Or will they have to cut away before the judge gets a single line? Find out in this installment of Half Price Horror!

What do you get when you take the gothic, queer romance sensibilities of Anne Rice and filter them through hit-making director Tony Scott and arthouse actors like Susan Sarandon, Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie? You get a unique vampire movie that blends beauty and horror in equal measures, with bold and experimental stylistic choices, and you get a whole episode of HPH discussing it! Let's dive in.

We’re in the home stretch now for the Conjuring Universe, with just one film from each franchise left to go! But it turns out Annabelle the haunted doll doesn’t want to be put away for good—so let’s see whether the third time’s the charm for this spinoff franchise with 2019’s “Annabelle Comes Home”!

When Steven Kostanski announced a follow-up to 'Psycho Goreman' that promised more of that same weird, day-glo 90s aesthetic combined with the outrageous prank-filled attitude of the 80s "little monster" subgenre, it was almost a foregone conclusion that his film was going to wind up on this podcast as soon as possible. And that's today! So lucky you, you get to hear about all the shotgun traps, dials of doom, and gun colleges in 2024's future cult classic 'Frankie Freako'!

What do you get when you take an authentic Mexican folk legend and give it a thick coat of whitewash? You get the latest "unofficial" Conjuring spin-off, complete with lots of jumpscares, plenty of tracking shots, and all the cultural appropriation you could ever want and then some! Join HPH for a deep dive into everything that makes this film so problematic.

Mario Bava is a legend, an icon both as a director and as a special effects artist, but he didn't work in science fiction very often. So when he did, is it any real surprise that he made a movie that put its stamp on everything from 'Alien' to 'Event Horizon'? Join HPH for a deep dive into his cult classic, the low-budget but immensely clever movie 'Planet of the Vampires'!

(We'll even explain why it has that title.)