Raised by Rentals

In the 80s there was a batch of low-budget horror movies based on creepy little monsters running amok. But were any of them actually scary?

In this episode, Josh and Mike improv a story to take the comedy out of horror-comedy and try to actually scare people with a serious take on CRITTERS!

The raunchy teen summer comedy movie was a staple of 80s and 90s cinema, and the legendary Carl Reiner made one of the era's best.

In this episode, Josh and Mike daydream about how rad it would've been to see more of the horror SFX-obsessed duo of Dave and Chainsaw in a genre-bending sequel to SUMMER SCHOOL!

Image Comics exploded onto the comic book scene in the early 90s, quickly becoming the number 3 comics publisher in the US based on the popularity of superstar artist-creators like Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld, and of course Jim Lee!

It didn't take Hollywood long to come calling for characters to bring to life on the screen, big and small...with mixed results.

Putting comics in the spotlight for the first time, Josh and Mike imagine what it would have been like to go to the movies in the 90s for the live-action adaptation of Jim Lee's WILDC.A.T.S!

John Carpenter made some of the most iconic horror and sci-fi movies of the VHS era, and it's obvious he loved having fun mashing up genres.

But what if he'd made a mafia movie? And what if he'd teamed up with Kurt Russell again?

That's a Venn diagram of awesome for 80s fans!

In this episode, Josh and Mike ponder what ol' Jack Burton would do in a silver screen sequel to BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA!

They said it couldn't be done! You can't make a good movie out of a board game...but Hollywood proved them wrong with CLUE.

Then RAISED BY RENTALS proved them wrong again with TROUBLE, the only (completely imaginary) horror movie with a Pop-O-Matic bubble!

But can they do it again?

In the 14th full-length episode, Josh and Mike venture into the karmic dangers of pitching a movie adaptation of...SNAKES AND LADDERS??

In the 80s it seemed like everyone was getting mutated by toxic waste! Of all the horror movies in that sub-genre, the one with the best title was maybe the worst of the bunch. How can a film about cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers end up so boring?! For the 13th improv-improve episode of RAISED BY RENTALS, Josh and Mike imagine how great John Heard and Daniel Stern could have been with a good script for C.H.U.D.!

We've all felt the pain of getting excited when our favorite book or comic gets adapted to film only to walk away bewailing why? WHY?! For the 8th RENTAL RANT, Josh and Mike complain like grumpy old men about piss-poor adaptations and Hollywood alienating a built-in audience when they change things for no good reason.

Plus, a couple of mini-rants about The Wheel of Time and X-Men! Come get angry with us!

G.I. Joe was one of the most successful franchises of the 80s and early 90s. With the one-two punch of a popular cartoon and the greatest toyline of the decade, a hit feature film was surely to follow...yet the animated movie was released straight to home video and Hollywood wouldn't gamble on a live-action film for another 20 years. For the 12th improv-improve episode of RAISED BY RENTALS, Josh and Mike fan-cast and fantasy-direct an in-era blockbuster movie worthy of the REAL AMERICAN HERO.

Once upon a time, G.I. Joe set the standard for perfect playable toys, supported by an animated series, cutting edge comic book, feature film, and loads more that sparked the excitement of kids everywhere. But now it seems kids just don't play with action figures anymore.

This week's RENTAL RANTS is a crossover special with COUNT KREEPYHEAD'S SATURDAY MORNING MONSTER MASH!

Host Mike O'May--our first guest!--joins Josh and the other Mike to lay out the blueprint for how to reinvigorate and relaunch one of the greatest toylines in history.

80s kids rejoiced when Hollywood adapted one of the decade's most popular toy properties to the silver screen in 1987, only to leave the theaters confused at the treatment of He-Man. For the 11th full-length episode of RAISED BY RENTALS, Josh and Mike imagine what could have been if we'd gotten a movie true to the origins of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE.