JT HORROR

Somebody’s slicing through the optic nerves of hapless holidaymakers on a package tour of Barcelona. Amazingly, the cops say ‘play on!’ Yes, it’s campy fun of the highest order, courtesy of Umberto Lenzi’s ‘Eyeball.’ So join your host JT in ruminating on the abundance of sleazy priests in giallo films and Switzerland’s monopoly on the world’s finest lagers. In all, JT’s take on ‘Eyeball’ is a feast for the ears.
(Podcast contains spoilers!)

A carnival of carnivorous delights this week with Gary Sherman’s blood-blasted cannibal classic, ‘Death Line’ (1973). As an inbred fiend stalks the lonely platforms of the London Underground, moon-eyed copper Donald Pleasance investigates the disappearance of a government big-wig. JT takes a look at this funfest-cum-bloodfest and also considers the film’s political subtext. It’s fair to say that, for all the film's flesh-shredding hijinks, ‘Death Line’s’ appeal is much more than skin-deep…

All aboard for slasher shenanigans! This time it’s Jamie Lee Curtis fending off a killer with a fetish for fancy-dress in Roger Spottiswoode’s ‘Terror Train’ (1980). Your host JT considers the pros and cons, the perks and pratfalls, of this eerie little thriller before rounding things off with a look at Carol J Clover’s famous ‘final girl’ theory and its particular relevance to this slasher classic. 

It’s Luciano Ercoli’s bankable giallo ‘Death Walks On High Heels’ this week, a favourite of JT’s, not least because it’s filmed on the delightfully sinister Kent coastline. Besides lamenting the premature death of male lead, Frank Wolff, JT ponders the dangers of mixing heavy drinking with knotty plotting. Plus, he rolls out solid reasoning behind giallo’s tendency to take advantage of British locations.  Best foot forward for the finest giallo on two legs!

This time JT runs his rheumy eye over nutter-with-a-necktie giallo gem, ‘Torso’ (1973). Besides warning young women off men who collect dolls, JT draws attention to the many merits and occasional misfires peppering Sergio Martino’s memorably dismembering movie. He even explains how  ‘Torso’- and giallo in general- perfectly exemplify the notion of paradox! Plus, as ever, he brings things to a low-brow close with a quick ‘n’ quirky look at his Beer of the Week! 

With a strong whiff of your average ‘Scooby-Doo’ episode about it, Murder Mansion (1972) is a low-gore, fun ‘n’ frothy entry into the ‘old dark house’ genre. Besides arguing that a certain blend of scotch eclipses all single malts, your host JT casts an indulgent eye over this Spanish slab of euro-horror and wonders at what age you can introduce your children to the gaudy delights of genre cinema without traumatising them for life!

(This podcast contains spoilers)

It’s gold-standard giallo, this week: Mario Bava’s luridly lensed spectacular, ‘Blood and Black Lace’ (1964).  Join your host, JT, in picking apart Bava’s genius and pondering the relative merits of golden ale, on-screen sadism and tax-dodging Hollywood export, Cameron Mitchell.  
(Warning: this podcast contains spoilers)

We’re partying like it’s 1981 in honour of fine throwback slasher, The Sleeper (2012). Alongside his reflections on the film’s campus-based carnage, your host JT throws in his usual moon-eyed reverence for his beer of the week, takes pot-shots at modern universities and plays about with a film theory linking directly to giallo and slashers. Entertaining AND educational? Double threat, this JT lad!

(Warning: this podcast contains spoilers)

Ho-Ho-Horror, this one. Light-hearted gorefest ‘Horror Hospital’ (1973) trowels on the red stuff as Michael Gough's mad scientist lobotomises hippies for his own fruity motives! Throw in helmeted psycho biker-boys, gloopy-mutant monsters and Robin Askwith, and you’ve one of the finest doses of campy British horror-hijinks to ever spring out of the 1970s! As ever, your host JT picks apart its appeal with a glass of good beer to hand.

(Warning: this podcast contains spoilers)

Although temporarily eschewing beer on medical grounds, JT’s thirst for gold-standard horror films remains at full throttle. This week, it’s Jorge Grau’s ‘The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue’ that gets its innards picked at. Plus there’s comment on topics as diverse as General Franco and Vimto (two phenomenon never cited before in the same sentence)! So join JT for his slightly serious, slightly silly foray into the best zombie flick ever to come out of Cheadle!

(The film's also known as 'Let Sleeping Corpses Lie;' this podcast contains spoilers)