It’s not easy being a leading man in a genre that is primarily known for Scream Queens and masked maniacs. But Thom Mathews is truly one of the great leading men of horror.

As Freddy in the beloved zombie classic Return of the Living Dead (Joey in its sequel) and Friday the 13th series hero Tommy Jarvis in franchise favorite Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, Thom has managed the difficult balance of being both heroic and vulnerable in films that are often thought to be populated by stock characters.

Thom and I chat about his experience on Return of the Living Dead, learning comedic timing from heavyweights like James Karen and Clu Gulager; his days running around LA auditioning while rooming with pal George Clooney; making a huge rock designed to drag Jason Vorhees to the bottom of Crystal Lake NOT look like it was made of Styrofoam; and his love of being creative not just as an actor, but also building homes for the who’s who of Hollywood.

For Kevin Lane, one of the joys of hosting this show is getting to meet the icons of his childhood, and Thom is certainly one of them. He brings a ton of heart to his work and plenty of BRRRAAAIIINNNSSS. Yep, we went there.

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Horror writer Soren Narnia is a bit of a mystery. Not just because as an author and podcaster he keeps his personal life completely tucked away, but also because there’s an enigmatic quality to him as a horror writer and voice over performer that makes him so incredibly compelling to listen to.

In fact, Soren’s beloved podcast Knifepoint Horror was the reason Kevin Lane fell in love with the podcast medium to begin with. On Knifepoint, Soren writes and performs all his stories told by a single voice from a first person perspective. There’s a stripped down simplicity to the presentation of his stories that works beautifully, even if though the stories themselves are often far from simple. There’s a campfire tale quality to Soren’s writing and storytelling that elicits a reaction in the listener that reminds us of the great story tellers of our formative years. That and that Soren is a writer whose stories are so often just plain scary. They crawl into your head and have you thinking about them for days, the way most great horror stories do. 

Soren also has a wickedly dry and droll sense of humor and has you on the edge of your seat one moment and laughing out loud the next. He and host Kevin Lane talk about why he allows people to use his stories without having to pay him anything, his love of 70’s filmmaking and even do a bit of acting.

We’re also joined by another star of the narrative horror podcast world, my trusty supervising producer Jason Hill.

So, grab yourself a slice of pie and let’s get a glimpse into the wild and wicked mind of Soren Narnia.

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Steven Kostanski is one of the most exciting directors currently working in the genre. He’s one of those guys whose love and respect for genre films is absolutely infectious. He began his career like a lot of young filmmakers - rounding up his friends, grabbing a camera, a few gallons of fake blood and just shooting. But horror wasn't his first passion. He tells Kevin Lane that as a kid he was scared just going into the horror section of his local video store. His love of the movies really began with fantasy films, which you can still see the influence of in the horror films he’s made. Specifically Psycho Goreman!

The influence of iconic studios like Troma and Full Moon Entertainment (which he and Kevin geek out about a fair bit) is all over his films. Films that capture the spirit and batshit craziness of movies like “The Toxic Avenger” and the “Trancers” series. Steven’s work always demonstrates not just a filmmaker with great skill and a keen eye for the absurd, but characters you really like, so even if they are a melting, depressive “Bio Cop”, you’re rooting for them.

Steven Kostanski is a much watch horror director!

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In this episode we do something a little different. Kevin Lane finds himself on the other side of the table as it’s him who is the one being interviewed. And interviewed by one of the greatest of interviewers - a prolific filmmaker, writer, journalist and former Fangoria editor-in-chief - the great Chris Alexander.

We thought it might be informative and fun for you to get a sense of the beginnings of this show and Kevin's own personal journey into the realm of horror.

Thanks again to Chris Alexander for doing this. Chris has been a tremendous supporter of this show and I think he’s one of the greatest spokesmen for the horror genre. We’re very fortunate to have him!

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In 2009, Kevin Lane's friend, the brilliant Stuart Gordon, invited him to see his new play, a one man show playing at the Steve Allen Theater in Los Angeles called Nevermore. The star of the show, was the great character actor and star of Re-Animator, Jeffrey Combs.

Sitting in the theater, Kevin watched as Jeffrey not just captured Edgar Allan Poe, but as one critic put it “seemed to be channeling him”. It was remarkable to see Jeffrey in the role. As tortured and tragic as he was funny. But that’s the thing with Jeffrey, he’s very much that chameleon actor. We never know what we’re going to get with Jeffrey but we always know it’ll be a hell of a show.

From his iconic role as Herbert West in Re-Animator to his bravura performance as the nutty Milton Dammers in Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners, Jeffrey has become one of the most recognizable actors in the genre, something he didn’t really set out to do but has certainly earned.

Jeffrey Combs is not just one of the greatest actors working in the horror genre, but one of the greatest actors working period. His work has always excited and inspired us because as you’ll hear, Jeffrey doesn’t just play a part… he gives them life.

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In this episode of Kevin Lane's Spill Your Guts, we delve into the varied and often surprising career of one of the original queens of scream, Adrienne Barbeau. It’s a bit of a misnomer to call Adrienne a scream queen, because Adrienne prides herself on playing women in horror who aren’t victims. With iconic characters like Stevie Wayne in the The Fog and Maggie in Escape from New York for master of horror John Carpenter (and former husband, but more on that later), Adrienne has never been comfortable portraying women who run from the evil. She prefers to come at it guns a blazing as she did in the The Convent, playing tough as nails survivor Christine.

Adrienne’s early career didn’t point to a specialty in films of the macabre as she began on stage with roles like her Tony nominated role as Rizzo in the original Broadway production of Grease. Plenty of other roles on stage followed before Norman Lear choose her to star opposite Bea Arthur in the television classic Maude.

Her casting in John Carpenter’s Someone Is Watching Me, playing one of television’s first lesbian characters (played sensitively and free of the clichés that often-marred early television portrayals of gay characters) began her journey down the road of becoming an icon of horror.

And working for many of the masters of horror is another highlight of Adrienne’s body of work. From Wes Craven’s Swamp Thing (which during production, Adrienne thought was going to be a total bomb) to George Romero’s Creep Show (playing the delightfully vile Wilma) and Two Evil Eyes to Rob Zombie in his remake of Halloween, Adrienne has truly earned her role in the horror hall of fame.

Adrienne and I dig into all these films as well as the role she cherished playing on HBO’s masterful (and unbelievably canceled!) Carnivale and why she thinks every actor is deeply insecure at heart.

So, keep an eye out for those fog banks and listen in. 

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