It's time for one of the most infamous entries in the 80s dark fantasy canon - Disney's boldly ambitious animated epic, The Black Cauldron. Joining our discussion of the film's merits and shortcomings is actor, writer and horror icon James Swanton.

Three wayward witches, an oracular pig, green mist, Welsh mythology, Elmer Bernstein's ondes martenot-heavy score, and one bonechilling villain in the Horned King await.

We share our thoughts on the movie and its themes, some behind the scenes gossip, delve into the nightmarish moments and dream up some ridiculous merch.

How do we feel about Gurgi? Listen and find out!

Art by Ashleigh Jane Cosgrove. Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio.

https://linktr.ee/onceuponavhs

Join our Clamshell Club on Patreon to support the show and gain access to exclusive Once Upon A VHS bonus episodes updated monthly:

• Boxset - reviewing 80s and 90s fantasy TV (including Jim Henson's The Storyteller)
• Rewind - looking back at fantasy films from before 1980 (including Star Wars)
• Fast Forward - our thoughts on fantasy movies from 2000 onwards (including The Lord of the Rings)

https://patreon.com/onceuponavhs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anything can happen on Halloween... Celebrating Once Upon A VHS icon Fairuza Balk, we have a special double-dunter!

First up, an addendum to last year's episode about our beloved Return to Oz. We saw the 40th anniversary screening of Return to Oz at the DCA in Dundee as part of the Dundead horror and cult film festival lineup, and give our reactions to seeing on the big screen as well as expanding on our thoughts and theories about this gothic and gorgeous movie.

Then we join Mildred Hubble for a whole lot of trouble in The Worst Witch, a TV movie adaptation of Jill Murphy's book series set at a magic boarding school with a wild cast including Charlotte Rae, Diana Rigg and Tim Curry. Oh, and some "remarkable" songs and visual effects.

We share our thoughts on the movie and its themes, some behind the scenes gossip, delve into the nightmarish moments and dream up some ridiculous merch.

Has anybody seen my tambourine? Listen and find out!

Art by Ashleigh Jane Cosgrove. Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio.

https://linktr.ee/onceuponavhs

Join our Clamshell Club on Patreon to support the show and gain access to exclusive Once Upon A VHS bonus episodes updated monthly:

• Boxset - reviewing 80s and 90s fantasy TV (including Jim Henson's The Storyteller)
• Rewind - looking back at fantasy films from before 1980 (including Star Wars)
• Fast Forward - our thoughts on fantasy movies from 2000 onwards (including The Lord of the Rings)

https://patreon.com/onceuponavhs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As you're pretty, so be wise - wolves may lurk in every guise...

Rachel Lydia Barker, film critic, video essayist and creator of the Girl on Film YouTube channel joins us in straying from the path to discuss a truly wild film. It's not just a dark and edgy reworking of Little Red Riding Hood, but a surreal and sensual gothic fairytale overflowing with symbolism, feminist allegory and sharp commentary about gender and power dynamics.

Literary trailblazer Angela Carter and The Bloody Chamber, roadtrips with a Brothers Grimm soundtrack, a boy named Howell, having a Sylvia Plath phase, Una's Becoming Unbecoming and the shadow of the Yorkshire Ripper, the truly baffling filmography of Neil Jordan, production designer Anton Furst's trees on wheels, a beautiful but flimsy puppet theatre, the unmade medieval musical fantasy MidKnight, the darker elements of coming of age narratives, The Village People, cyclical mother-daughter relationships, Rachel's Rat King Halloween costume, a very Doctor Who meets Skeksis banquet, a basketball court made of Sprite, Terence Stamp in an anachronistic Rolls Royce, Alison dressing up as Lady Gaga on Pretty Little Liars, a hedgehog running around the house, Grandmother Angela Lansbury's smashed porcelain head and puppet ermine, a very Jareth from Labyrinth bedazzled jacket, sexual transformation, Rose Tyler being chased by Bad Wolf, Amanda Seyfried, an Evanesence music video, a frightening picture of Oliver Reed as a werewolf, the ITV player, forbidden Nesquik, pink knickerbockers, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, food colouring magic, glamorous day beds, gorgeous art direction, the 80s fantasy dream logic prelude to A Nightmare on Elm Street, the eroticism of passing script notes back and forward and plenty of wig discussion await.

We share our thoughts on the movie and its themes, some behind the scenes gossip, delve into the nightmarish moments and dream up some ridiculous merch.

How many references to The Life of a Showgirl will be made? Listen and find out!

Art by Ashleigh Jane Cosgrove. Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio.

https://linktr.ee/onceuponavhs

Join our Clamshell Club on Patreon to support the show and gain access to exclusive Once Upon A VHS bonus episodes updated monthly:

• Boxset - reviewing 80s and 90s fantasy TV (including Jim Henson's The Storyteller)
• Rewind - looking back at fantasy films from before 1980 (including Star Wars)
• Fast Forward - our thoughts on fantasy movies from 2000 onwards (including The Lord of the Rings)

https://patreon.com/onceuponavhs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Michael lost in the woods, Callum calls upon returning guest co-hosts Pete and Scott from the fabulous Movies That Made Us Gay podcast to dive into discussion, dissection and dissemination of the Cannon Films "package" of fairy tale films, focusing in on Hansel and Gretel - it is the season of the witch, after all!

We also discuss a few other adaptations of Hansel and Gretel including Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre, Tim Burton's kung fu influenced 1983 short, the 2020 horror film Gretel and Hansel from Osgood Perkins and a nightmare-inducing episode of the 1987 anime Grimm's Fairytale Classics.

The SurLaLune Fairytales website, the documentary Electric Boogaloo, being gauche at the Cannes Film Festival, briefly revisiting Masters of the Universe, the dinosaur puppets in the Super Mario Brothers Movie, Chuck Norris, Ninja III: The Domination, Cannon's bizarre expansion of Red Riding Hood, more than one Engelbert Humperdinck, mother giving us kitchen sink drama, Simon and the Witch, the hazards of leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, Ariana Grande in a donut shop, a notably awful bowl cut, David Warner's bag of meat, Griselda's disgusting carpet, red licorice wigs on the gingerbread child fence, Cloris Leachman being dunked in batter, the importance of a good magical staff, an Ibiza foam party explosion, Debbie Harry in Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, a pioneer woman in the woods, Gandalf taking out his pipe and popping in a crystal, Meg Mucklebones, spooky voices, aspic salads, and Michael's visceral reaction to styrofoam await.

We share our thoughts on the movie and its themes, some behind the scenes gossip, delve into the nightmarish moments and dream up some ridiculous merch.

How many deep cut RuPaul's Drag Race references do we manage to squeeze in? Listen and find out!

Art by Ashleigh Jane Cosgrove. Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio.

https://linktr.ee/onceuponavhs

Join our Clamshell Club on Patreon to support the show and gain access to exclusive Once Upon A VHS bonus episodes updated monthly:

• Boxset - reviewing 80s and 90s fantasy TV (including Jim Henson's The Storyteller)
• Rewind - looking back at fantasy films from before 1980 (including Star Wars)
• Fast Forward - our thoughts on fantasy movies from 2000 onwards (including The Lord of the Rings)

https://patreon.com/onceuponavhs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Witches of England... you are a disgrace!

Robert Berg, writer and copy editorial director of Bona Books, a queer press specialising in fantasy, science fiction and horror, joins us to peel back the layers of weirdness with this unsettling adaptation.

The complicated legacy of Roald Dahl, loving a sad wash, the performance of gender, gay gasps at the long list of women who might have played the Grand High Witch, feminist filmmaking pioneer Mai Zetterling and her missing finger, feelings about the different endings of the book and film, the children's horror space, Jim Henson's mouse unit, bad ADR dubbing giving a giallo feel, Anne Hathaway saying "gooorlic" in the remake, British seaside hotels, being a grandma's boy, Chicken and Mushroom Pot Noodle, a girl being stuck in a painting, purple eyes, another snake, Creature Shop excellence, a monstrous striptease, distressing transformations, wet puppets, cock-a-leekie or cress soup preferences, and of course Anjelica Huston doing everything.

We share our thoughts on the movie and its themes, some behind the scenes gossip, delve into the nightmarish moments and dream up some ridiculous merch.

Who loved the mum's shawl and who hated it? Listen and find out!

Art by Ashleigh Jane Cosgrove. Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio.

https://linktr.ee/onceuponavhs

Join our Clamshell Club on Patreon to support the show and gain access to exclusive Once Upon A VHS bonus episodes updated monthly:

• Boxset - reviewing 80s and 90s fantasy TV (including Jim Henson's The Storyteller)
• Rewind - looking back at fantasy films from before 1980 (including Star Wars)
• Fast Forward - our thoughts on fantasy movies from 2000 onwards (including The Lord of the Rings)

https://patreon.com/onceuponavhs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are the weirdos, mister. Light as a feather, stiff as a board. I bind you, Nancy, from doing harm... It's October, it's an iconic performance from Fairuza Balk, it's time to celebrate Fairuzaween with THE millennial mall-goth high school witch horror, 1996's The Craft. 

Our special guest Juno Dawson, bestselling author of the bewitching Her Majesty's Royal Coven series, screenwriter, actress and cohost of So I Got To Thinking podcast, joins us to call the corners.

Sarah's cement-front wig, invoking Manon from KATSEYE, comparisons between The Craft: Legacy and The L Word: Generation Q, a pearl of wisdom from Rita Ora, living in a "Spanish", music video DVDs, Rachel True appreciation, queerness radiating out no matter what, Sex and the City, girl group chemistry, inconsistent elemental coding, Kath & Kim, cyberpunk earrings, sleepover shenanigans, Doctor Who companions, Neve Campbell's hideous satin blouse, giving the gays more than they wanted, multiple Buffy the Vampire Slayer tangents, the Jezebel Etsy witch curse, gaslighting, Heidi Klum, finger-snakes, young Hollywood in the 90s, the pronunciation of athame, manifesting a Bratz dolls collaboration and the best outro we've ever recorded await.

We share our thoughts on the movie and its themes, some behind the scenes gossip, delve into the nightmarish moments and dream up some ridiculous merch.

"Then why are you still bleeding?!" Listen and find out!

Art by Ashleigh Jane Cosgrove. Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio.

https://linktr.ee/onceuponavhs

Join our Clamshell Club on Patreon to support the show and gain access to exclusive Once Upon A VHS bonus episodes updated monthly:

• Boxset - reviewing 80s and 90s fantasy TV (including Jim Henson's The Storyteller)
• Rewind - looking back at fantasy films from before 1980 (including Star Wars)
• Fast Forward - our thoughts on fantasy movies from 2000 onwards (including The Lord of the Rings)

https://patreon.com/onceuponavhs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before the hugely popular 90s sitcom, Sabrina the Teenage Witch had something of a trial run with this tonally very different TV movie. The delightful Alice Boyd-Leslie of Drunken Horror and Not Another Teen Podcast joins us for a trip down Memory Lane in enchanted super-fast sneakers. We also discuss other incarnations from her 60s Archie Comics origin to the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix.

Melissa Joan Hart portraying two of the greatest teen girl characters of all time, Channel 5 vibes, Ryan Reynolds' butt, Filmation's proposed Bewitched cartoon, Salem being gay, the Paul Lynde Halloween special, Spice Girls Impulse body spray, the failed Elvira sitcom pilot, a lot of chat about clothes, comparisons to Spider-Man and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a white-and-silver prom, aunt Hilda having the personality of aunt Zelda and the wig of Tori Amos, shoplifting, Hilary Duff as Isabella of Paolo and Isabella, a dough boy getting baked, Peppa Pig being horrible, an app where a woman is running with ever-growing platform heels, the Britney Spears music video for "(You Drive Me) Crazy (The Stop! Remix)" and gaslighting someone you've just flown across the moon with await.

We share our thoughts on the movie and its themes, some behind the scenes gossip, delve into the nightmarish moments and dream up some ridiculous merch.

Do we sing the Clarissa Explains It All theme tune? Listen and find out! 

Art by Ashleigh Jane Cosgrove. Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio.

https://linktr.ee/onceuponavhs

Join our Clamshell Club on Patreon to support the show and gain access to exclusive Once Upon A VHS bonus episodes updated monthly:

• Boxset - reviewing 80s and 90s fantasy TV (including Jim Henson's The Storyteller)
• Rewind - looking back at fantasy films from before 1980 (including Star Wars)
• Fast Forward - our thoughts on fantasy movies from 2000 onwards (including The Lord of the Rings)

https://patreon.com/onceuponavhs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Come on, you poor unfortunate souls! We've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty, and our first Disney animated classic deep dive brings us a real Renaissance woman for the season of the witch - Divine meets Joan Collins, the diva doll herself, Ursula. We have a sincere love for this one - just don't ask us to give up our voices for it.

Hans Christian Andersen crying on Charles Dickens' lawn, the queer genius of Howard Ashman, desire, the gorgeous art of Kay Nielsen, soft masculinity, a surprise appearance by Ambrosius from Labyrinth, reasons why we don't like the Broadway musical, a handheld LCD game, Queen Latifah, a garden of truly disgusting little freaks aka polyps, thoughts on the live-action remake, McDonalds tie-in toys, shrimp lipstick, and flowers for Nightmare Nail Animation Queen Kathy Zielinski and Live Action Reference Footage Queen Sherri "Voice of Slappy Squirrel" Stoner await.

We share our thoughts on the movie and its themes, some behind the scenes gossip, delve into the nightmarish moments and dream up some ridiculous merch.

Why does the statue in Copenhagen keep losing her head? Listen and find out!

Art by Ashleigh Jane Cosgrove. Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio.

https://linktr.ee/onceuponavhs

Join our Clamshell Club on Patreon to support the show and gain access to exclusive Once Upon A VHS bonus episodes updated monthly:

• Boxset - reviewing 80s and 90s fantasy TV (including Jim Henson's The Storyteller)
• Rewind - looking back at fantasy films from before 1980 (including Star Wars)
• Fast Forward - our thoughts on fantasy movies from 2000 onwards (including The Lord of the Rings)

https://patreon.com/onceuponavhs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Kiki is a party for calming all your nerves, and we have a special delivery coming!

The Pippi Longstocking connection, Hayao Miyazaki's perfectionism, coming of age, British publishing jargon, the origins of Ursula's painting, San Francisco apparently being a European city, Totoro on stage, variations between dubs, His Dark Materials, grief, geese, not being the baby any more, herring and pumpkin pie, built-in obselence, etiquette, neurodiverse readings, freelancer burnout, women mentoring women, Jiji and Miss Puss, the value of community, mutual aid, various pronunciations of Ghibli, a dusty as hell bedroom, an ungrateful mean girl, a dirigible, branded mooncups, resistance and resilience await.

Does this episode set a record for number of the uses of the word "melancholy"? Listen and find out!

Art by Ashleigh Jane Cosgrove. Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio.

https://linktr.ee/onceuponavhs

Join our Clamshell Club on Patreon to support the show and gain access to exclusive Once Upon A VHS bonus episodes updated monthly:

• Boxset - reviewing 80s and 90s fantasy TV (including Jim Henson's The Storyteller)
• Rewind - looking back at fantasy films from before 1980 (including Star Wars)
• Fast Forward - our thoughts on fantasy movies from 2000 onwards (including The Lord of the Rings)

https://patreon.com/onceuponavhs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pick your soul pumpkin and grab a corner of a cape as we hurtle into the second part of our Ray Bradbury double bill with this Hanna-Barbera animated treat.

Lollygagging, the Roseanne Halloween special, TV quality animation, "that mortician woman on YouTube" (Caitlin Doughty), edutainment, a slingshot on a sarcophagus, purple prose readings, Carmen Sandiego, the gargoyles of Notre Dame, transatlantic traditions, a big sombrero for Dia de Los Muertos, a beastly kite with lots of eyes and fangs, Mari Lwyd, collars for bin bag Dracula capes, Samhain, the categorisation of Hard Magic and Soft Magic, don't be fooled by the rocks that she's got - she's still Jenny from the block, candy skull ASMR, the weathervane agenda, and the Cartoon Network of it all await.

What were our own notable childhood Hallowe'en costumes? Listen and find out!

Art by Ashleigh Jane Cosgrove. Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio.

https://linktr.ee/onceuponavhs

Join our Clamshell Club on Patreon to support the show and gain access to exclusive Once Upon A VHS bonus episodes updated monthly:

• Boxset - reviewing 80s and 90s fantasy TV (including Jim Henson's The Storyteller)
• Rewind - looking back at fantasy films from before 1980 (including Star Wars)
• Fast Forward - our thoughts on fantasy movies from 2000 onwards (including The Lord of the Rings)

https://patreon.com/onceuponavhs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.