Saturday Frights Podcast – Pop Culture Retrorama

Friends, we have a very special episode for all three of the podcasts, a bonus episode as it were, that is meant to act as not only my official announcement but explanation for why I am retiring. I hope you will understand that for the past 12 years that I have been fortunate enough to be considered a blogger, writer, and podcaster…I have realized recently that I am very tired. I need more however than just a break or vacation from writing daily articles and producing podcasts – I truly need to step away from the laptop and microphone – it is the appropriate time to look back at what I, as well as my fellow Pop Culture Retrorama colleagues have accomplished.

As I state on the podcast itself, I am very proud of what Allison Venezio-Preston, Ashley Thomas, Rockford Jay, Earl Green, Brett Weiss, IseeRobots, Javier Ojst, Rob O’Hara, and Gary Burton have accomplished with this site. And while I will soon shutter the Pop Culture Retrorama site and step away from writing in general, I am extremely happy to announce that Earl Green has generously offered to host not only the content on this site – but any future articles that the Pop Culture Retrorama colleagues might decide to write – on theLogBook.com. So, while I am slipping into the shadows, Pop Culture Retrorama will most assuredly live on.

I do hope that those of you who have been so kind as to visit this page, or even remember my work on the Retroist, understand that I did not come to the decision to retire lightly. Having said that, it feels like this is right path to take, thanks in no small part to my new career.

Many thanks to all of you. You have made something that I originally tackled as a hobby feel far more important, giving me a desire to write over 6000 articles and produce over 300 podcasts in the past 11 -12 years. I am grateful for your time and support, but more importantly your friendship.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

“Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!”

Feel free to keep in touch with me on Facebook or even Twitter. Or perhaps check out the Saturday Frights Facebook Page, and Diary of an Arcade Employee!

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Friends, although it took much longer than anticipated to deliver the eighteen episodes that made up season three of the Saturday Frights podcast, we have finally reached the end of the line. What better way to celebrate the 100th episode of the show than tackling an important movie that we’ve attempted to cover three or four times in the past. While you might consider it something of a spoiler, I will tell you that the Projectionist and I actually do get to discuss 1984’s Gremlins on this go around. In addition I will give you a heads up that this podcast is far, far longer than the standard show. It just seemed that for the 100th episode of the podcast, a feat that has taken a little over six years to accomplish, that we should attempt to blow the doors off our previous episodes.

Obviously with a film like Gremlins, we are fortunate to have an abundance of information on the making of the movie. In fact there might actually be too much information to share, we ended up cherry picking the trivia we felt would interest you Fright Fans the most. Including a bit of information from the Gremlins reunion for Empire magazine, with Nick De Semlyen chatting with the likes of Joe Dante (The Howling), Zach Galligan (Waxwork), Dick Miller (Chopping Mall), Chris Walas (The Fly), as well as Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London).

As I share in the podcast itself, Gremlins was a movie that I was extremly hyped about seeing, when it was originally released to theaters on June 8th of 1984. As is discussed on the show, the backlash from parent groups over both Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as well as Gremlins, caused none other than Steven Spielberg to help create the PG-13 rating.

There is a lot to cover on this 100th episode of the Saturday Frights podcast, but before we get to show, I thought I should give a huge thank you to some special guests:

Ashley Thomas aka The Nerdy Blogger has her work frequently featured on Fangirlish as well as the Sci-Fi 5 podcast. The daily five minute podcast that provides the best in sci-fi, fantasy, and horror history – produced by Roddenberry Entertainment.

We also are lucky enough to have the esteemed Earl Green join us on this special episode of the podcast. Earl is no stranger to the Sci-Fi 5 podcast himself, as well as running The Log Book.com – one of the longest running sites on the internet focusing on everything pop culture.

Last but certainly not least is Rockford Jay, my co-host on the Saturday Frights Facebook page – who does his level best to help me keep a lid on the madness of the Vault. He manages to share his love of retro horror on a nearly daily basis, and I am sad to add is frequently the target of the Projectionist’s schemes and explosive temper.

Without further ado, please join the Projectionist and myself at the Haunted Drive-In, as we discuss 1984’s Gremlins. As always we want to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to listen to the show, and hope that you have enjoyed season three of the podcast.

If you have any suggestions for topics you would like for us to cover in a future episode – or possibly you have comments on the current show itself, email them to me at [email protected] You can also contact me on Twitter and on Facebook. In addition I certainly hope you will take the time to visit the Saturday Frights Facebook Page. There you can find posts from Rockford Jay, Preston Griffith and myself on a daily basis.

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Friends, it is the start of the work week for many of you, so why not get it off to a fright start? At least we hope you will choose to listen to the brand new episode of the Saturday Frights podcast, with the subject of this episode being a 1985 segment of the CBS The Twilight Zone revival series entitled “Examination Day”. A rather memorable offering from the first attempt at capturing the lightning in the bottle of Rod Serling’s original 1959 television series. One that as I mention in the podcast itself was able to leave me shaken, with the segment itself being talked about in class at school the following Monday.

The Twilight Zone segment “Examination Day” is based on an 1958 short story of the same name by Henry Slesar, who was a prolific author, selling his stories in numerous magazines in the mid-fifties. Although the Projectionist and I discuss it on the show, his writing actually attracted the attention of Alfred Hitchcock himself, which is how Slesar found himself writing for such television series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, in addition to Serling’s The Twilight Zone to name just a few. Which was right in Slesar’s wheelhouse as he was quite fond of delivering ironic twist endings in his work.

“Examination Day” concerns a young boy by the name of Richard “Dickie” Jordan Jr, played by Over the Top‘s David Mendenhall, who is looking forward to taking his Government mandated exam.While the young boy shows no outward signs of being concerned or that anything is amiss, why do his parents Richard (Christopher Allport) and Ruth (Elizabeth Norment) seem so scared?

Without further ado, please join the Projectionist and myself at the Haunted Drive-In, as we discuss “Examination Day” on the Saturday Frights podcast. As always we want to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to listen to the show, and hope that you are enjoying season three of the podcast so far.

If you have any suggestions for topics you would like for us to cover in a future episode – or possibly you have comments on the current show itself, email them to me at [email protected] You can also contact me on Twitter and on Facebook. In addition I certainly hope you will take the time to visit the Saturday Frights Facebook Page. There you can find posts from Rockford Jay, Preston Griffith and myself on a daily basis.

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Friends, I am afraid that yet again we have managed to deliver a new episode of the Saturday Frights podcast a couple of days later than intended. In all honesty it has to do with the new job and the strain of attempting to find the necessary free time to devote to the show. Having said that though, we do have a very special episode of the podcast for you today, as the Projectionist and I are joined by three friends on this show. Fellow PCR authors who were kind enough to share their top 5 horror soundtrack picks with you, focusing on memorable music from all manner of film and television shows. I am willing to bet there are going to be a few on the lists provided today by our guests that you may not be familiar with!

Joining us to share her top 5 horror soundtracks is none other than Ashley Thomas aka The Nerdy Blogger, whose work is frequently featured on Fangirlish as well as the Sci-Fi 5 podcast. The daily five minute podcast that provides the best in sci-fi, fantasy, and horror history – produced by Roddenberry Entertainment.

We also are lucky enough to have the esteemed Earl Green join us on this special episode of the podcast. Earl is no stranger to the Sci-Fi 5 podcast himself, as well as running The Log Book.com – one of the longest running sites on the internet focusing on everything pop culture.

Last but certainly not least is Rockford Jay, my co-host on the Saturday Frights Facebook page – who does his level best to help me keep a lid on the madness of the Vault. He manages to share his love of retro horror on a nearly daily basis, and I am sad to add is frequently the target of the Projectionist’s schemes and explosive temper.

Without further ado, please join the Projectionist and myself at the Haunted Drive-In, as we discuss the top 5 horror soundtracks on the Saturday Frights podcast. As always we want to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to listen to the show, and hope that you are enjoying season three of the podcast so far.

If you have any suggestions for topics you would like for us to cover in a future episode – or possibly you have comments on the current show itself, email them to me at [email protected] You can also contact me on Twitter and on Facebook. In addition I certainly hope you will take the time to visit the Saturday Frights Facebook Page. There you can find posts from Rockford Jay, Preston Griffith and myself on a daily basis.

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Friends, we do apologize about the tardiness of this episode of the Saturday Frights podcast, I am afraid that the new work schedule has thrown a monkey wrench into the usual recording plans. This week though, the Projectionist and I tackle our first episode of The X-Files, that long-running series featuring the exploits of special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. As brought up in the show itself, this episode was suggested by a listener, and after we presented a poll of the Top 5 scary episodes of The X-Files, the Vault staff as well as the Saturday Frights Facebook group picked the 1993 episode entitled “Squeeze”. In all honesty I really thought it was going to be “Home” that won the poll, especially considering that it caused so much controversy when it originally aired that it was banned from being broadcast again for quite some time.

As this is the first time we’ve talked about The X-Files on the podcast, we have a bit of interesting trivia to share about the creation of the series. In addition to some things you might not have know about “Squeeze”, including a little trouble behind the scenes during the production of the episode. Or how the screenwriters, James Wong and Glen Morgan, were inspired to write the episode featuring the mutant serial killer and fan favorite Eugene Victor Tooms (Doug Hutchinson). In addition to how their popular Final Destination film series was based off what originally had been intended to be an episode of The X-Files. In fact I provide a quote in this episode from an interview with Jeffrey Reddick at Den of Geek on how it would have played out if it had been made into an X-Files episode.

Without further ado, please join the Projectionist and myself at the Haunted Drive-In as we discuss 1993’s “Squeeze” on the Saturday Frights podcast. As always we want to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to listen to the show, and hope that you are enjoying season three of the podcast so far.

If you have any suggestions for topics you would like for us to cover in a future episode – or possibly you have comments on the current show itself, email them to me at [email protected] You can also contact me on Twitter and on Facebook. In addition I certainly hope you will take the time to visit the Saturday Frights Facebook Page. There you can find posts from Rockford Jay, Preston Griffith and myself on a daily basis.

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Friends, we have a brand new episode of the Saturday Frights podcast for you this morning, the subject of the show is a listener request. The Projectionist and I talk about the 1985 Amazing Stories episode entitled “Mummy Daddy”, one of the more comedic offerings from that particular TV anthology series. Although on this episode we might not have been unable to uncover quite as much information on “Mummy Daddy” as we did with The Birds, the Projectionist and I found out some surprising information on how long Universal was attempting to reboot 1932’s The Mummy. Including a rather surprising list of talented writers and directors that were approached before Stephen Sommers was tapped to bring 1999’s The Mummy to the big screen.

Although we have tackled Amazing Stories in past podcasts, both “Remote Control Man” and “Mirror, Mirror” as a matter of fact, we do provide a brief history on the television show itself – including its link to the long-running magazine of the same name.

In addition it might surprise you to learn that Amazing Stories wasn’t a huge hit when it was originally aired on NBC. Not even the legion of talented people in front of and behind the camera, attracted to the series thanks to Executive Producers Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall, were able to capture the necessary audience for Universal Television and NBC to support it beyond two seasons. Although having said that, and as we touch upon in the show itself, Amazing Stories did manage to earn quite a few Emmy nominations.

If you happen to be a huge fan of “Mummy Daddy” by the way, I think you will be interested to know that the teleplay written by Earl Pomerantz happens to be available to purchase on eBay at this very moment. Assuming of course that you have the spare change to afford such a unique collectible.

Without further ado, please join the Projectionist and myself at the Haunted Drive-In as we discuss 1985’s “Mummy Daddy” on the Saturday Frights podcast. As always we want to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to listen to the show, and hope that you are enjoying season three of the podcast.

If you have any suggestions for topics you would like for us to cover in a future episode – or possibly you have comments on the current show itself, email them to me at [email protected] You can also contact me on Twitter and on Facebook. In addition I certainly hope you will take the time to visit the Saturday Frights Facebook Page. There you can find posts from Rockford Jay, Preston Griffith and myself on a daily basis.

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Friends, we have a brand new episode of the Saturday Frights podcast for you today, and this time the Projectionist and I are tackling yet another classic picture. Most of you Fright Fans might recall that on the last show we discussed 1981’s The Howling… well… on this episode we are talking about 1963’s The Birds. While Alfred Hitchcock most definitely has legions of fans when it comes to his films and even his popular and long running television series, it kind of seems like a lot of people are rather dismissive of The Birds. That is something that the Projectionist and I bring up in this episode, in addition to possibly providing a little more background information than usual on the making of the film.

Although we do mention it in the episode itself, The Birds wasn’t exactly well regarded when it was originally released on March 29th of 1963. That might have had something to do with the box office success of Psycho in 1960, the popularity of which seems to have also caused Hitchcock to spend a couple of years attempting to find just the right movie to be his next project. And The Birds turned out to be a pretty daunting film to bring to the big screen, with a much bigger cast and lots of special effects.

I think it is safe to say that Alfred Hitchcock was up to the task though, although the film did have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to the cast. From Tippi Hedren (Marnie) as the lead to the likes of Rod Taylor (The Time Machine), Jessica Tandy (Driving Miss Daisy), Veronica Cartwright (Alien), and Suzanne Pleshette (The Bob Newhart Show) to name just a few.

We thank you as always for taking the time out of your busy schedule to listen to the show, so without further ado, let us all take a trip to Bodega Bay… but beware of The Birds!

If you have any suggestions for topics you would like for us to cover in a future episode – or possibly you have comments on the current show itself, email them to me at [email protected] You can also contact me on Twitter and on Facebook. In addition I certainly hope you will take the time to visit the Saturday Frights Facebook Page. There you can find posts from Rockford Jay, Preston Griffith and myself on a daily basis.

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Friends, you might not have realized it but yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of The Howling, the classic werewolf picture directed by the legendary Joe Dante (Gremlins, Small Soldiers). And while I do wish we could have released this latest episode of the Saturday Frights podcast on the actual anniversary, as you will be able to hear for yourself, things at the Haunted Drive-In have kept the Projectionist and I pretty busy. Although considering the running time for this particular episode of the podcast, I feel it is safe to say that we had quite a bit to say about the making of The Howling as well as the embarrassment of riches it possesses in regards to the cast, both newcomers and a staggering number of character actors and surprise cameos.

As mentioned in the episode itself, when The Howling was released on April 10th of 1981, it marked one of four films to play in theaters that year that dealt with werewolves. And it might surprise you to learn that some of the effects for Joe Dante’s modern take on the creatures of lore and legend were begun by Rick Baker (King Kong, Ghost Story) who had to go work on An American Werewolf in London – handing over the job to Rob Bottin of John Carpenter’s The Thing fame.

From classic animated shorts by Ub Iwerks to the fact that many of the characters in The Howling are named after film directors who made their own werewolf films, there is a lot of ground to cover. So without further ado we hope you will grab your favorite snack and beverage and join us as we tackle 1981’s The Howling on the Saturday Frights podcast.

If you have any suggestions for topics you would like for us to cover in a future episode – or possibly you have comments on the current show itself, email them to me at [email protected] You can also contact me on Twitter and on Facebook. In addition I certainly hope you will take the time to visit the Saturday Frights Facebook Page. There you can find posts from Rockford Jay, Preston Griffith and myself on a daily basis.

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Friends, it feels like it has only been just a few days since we uploaded a brand new episode of the Saturday Frights podcast. That is probably because it was actually only three days ago when the Projectionist and I covered the 2006 adaptation of Stephen King’s “Battleground” from the TNT Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King television mini-series. I made mention in the podcast post that we had intended to have a new episode of the podcast out for the just released Godzilla vs. Kong, so we just knuckled down and decided to get another show in the can.

With Godzilla vs. Kong having just been released on HBO Max as well as to theaters, it won’t shock you to learn that we steered from discussing anything that might be considered full spoilers. We did our level best to keep the episode focused on the beginning moments of the film that you can see in the official trailer – although I will have to admit we might have touched on elements that could be considered minor spoilers, such as talking about certain characters.

In this episode you will hear about the special screening we had at the Haunted Drive-In for Godzilla vs. Kong… as well as how wrapped up I got in the confrontation between Kong and Godzilla. In addition I shared a very interesting connection with this movie and the previous Legendary Godzilla films, courtesy of an interview shared by Collider – although you should only check that link out AFTER you have seen the movie for yourself.

As always we truly appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to give the podcast a listen. So without further ado, prepare yourself for a trip to Skull Island and beyond as you get ready for the epic brawl that is Godzilla vs. Kong!

If you have any suggestions for topics you would like for us to cover in a future episode – or possibly you have comments on the current show itself, email them to me at [email protected] You can also contact me on Twitter and on Facebook. In addition I certainly hope you will take the time to visit the Saturday Frights Facebook Page. There you can find posts from Rockford Jay, Preston Griffith and myself on a daily basis.

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Friends, to start off our first Saturday Frights podcast for the month of April, the Projectionist and I have chosen to discuss the 2006 adaptation of Stephen King’s short story entitled “Battleground”. Which as you might already know was one of eight episodes featured in the TNT television mini-series Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King. As we point out in the podcast itself, this 4 week event was a pretty big deal back in the day, a lot of that had to do with the caliber of actors they managed to nab for the episodes. Just a few include Tom Berenger (Platoon), Kim Delaney (NYPD Blue), William H. Macy (Fargo), and for “Battleground” there is the esteemed William Hurt (Altered States).

The story for “Battleground” concerns a hired killer by the name of Jason Renshaw (Hurt) who finds himself under siege in his apartment by a most unlikely army, one made of plastic but bent on dispatching the assassin at all costs.

The teleplay for “Battleground” happens to have been written by Richard Christian Matheson (Masters of Horror) and was directed by Brian Henson (Labyrinth). The episode not only is nearly devoid of any spoken dialogue but features some rather incredible special effects, they were so impressive that they managed to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special. In fact you can see how much work into this episode thanks to this short behind the scenes video.

As always we appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to listen to the Saturday Frights podcast. Especially with the vast number of quality podcasts being offered these days, so without further ado, prepare to enter the “Battleground”!

If you have any suggestions for topics you would like for us to cover in a future episode – or possibly you have comments on the current show itself, email them to me at [email protected] You can also contact me on Twitter and on Facebook. In addition I certainly hope you will take the time to visit the Saturday Frights Facebook Page. There you can find posts from Rockford Jay, Preston Griffith and myself on a daily basis.

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Episode Mirror #1 (MP3)