The Horror Podcast

Our 3-part tour of Italy continues with a look at influential genre director MARIO BAVA! 

Our Core Three Films:

1960 - BLACK SUNDAY

1963 - BLACK SABBATH

1965 - PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES

Additional Recommendations:

1964 - BLOOD AND BLACK LACE

1968 - DANGER DIABOLIK

1971 - A BAY OF BLOOD 

Also Mentioned:

1986 - Demons

The Horror Podcast crawls out of the grave once again, this time to kick off season 2!  We begin with part one of our 3-part "Tour of Italy" by looking at 3 films of the grand-master of gore, Lucio Fulci. 

We will be looking at other directors beyond our core three, as well as additional films from all of them.  Grab your pasta and your popcorn, it's going to be a wild ride! 

Our Core Three Films:

City of the Living Dead (Streaming) aka The Gates of Hell

The Beyond (Streaming) aka The 7 Doors of Death

The House by the Cemetery (Streaming)

Additional Recommendations:

Zombi 2 (Streaming) aka Zombie

Fulci for Fake (documentary about Fulci, featuring interviews with his daughters and colleagues)

Conceptually, the "Gates of Hell" have many interpretations. I may explore this further in a future episode since it's the same idea as the "hellmouth" and inspired films like The Gate. 

I'm joined by Rev. Peter Laws (Creepy Cove Community Church, Matt Hunter series, YouTube) to discuss the often maligned but fascinating entry in the Halloween movie series, Halloween III: Season of the Witch.  If you remember this movie as just being the one that annoyed people because it didn't have Michael Myers in it, I'd urge you to give this a listen.  

There was a lot more going on behind this film and I found myself as fascinated by the film it wanted to be as I was by the film it actually is. With influences of "Witch Cults of Western Europe," the Satanic Panic, fear of technology, and many other horror tropes, this film combines extraordinary kills with (perhaps overly) ambitious goals and is certainly memorable for many of its particulars. 

I was amused to notice that in my haste to try and squeeze a fresh episode out for the show here, I forgot to mention my own name??  I'm Blake Smith. It's probably more important that you know the show exists than that you know my name - but on the other hand it's a bit weird to not at least give my name in the episode... But hey - I GOT THE EPISODE OUT DIDN'T I?

Mentioned in this episode:

The Music of John Carpenter 

Synthwave Music (Documentary)

The rest of the Halloween Series 

Nigel Kneale's incredible Quatermass Series 

Margaret Murray's Witch Cult in Western Europe 

Not mentioned - but probably SHOULD have been - Ronald Hutton's superb historic look at Murray's theory and the rise of Neo-Paganism in Europe, The Triumph of the Moon 

Can confirm that Michael Myers does show up in Halloween 3 - around the 21 min mark on the bar TV:

 

AIPT Comics - is putting on a free online convention Sunday July 18th. 

The online convention starts at 10 am and I'll be participating in a couple of ways if you're interested. At noon, I've got a special interview with Stephen R. Bissette.  You might know him as a key artist on Alan Moore's run of Swamp Thing in the 80s - but if you've been subscribing to BIG FOOTAGE the Patreon bonus cast, you'll know him as the author of CRYPTID CINEMA.

I'll also be on at 3:30 pm with Jeb Card to discuss conspiracies and comics.

Other guests include paleontologist Jim Lehane, psychologist Craig Foster, paranormal investigator Kenny Biddle, artist Celestia World, archaeologist David Anderson, and Matt Brady. author of THE SCIENCE OF RICK AND MORTY.

 

A link to Cryptid Cinemais here:  http://bit.ly/CryptidCinema

 

The convention details are here: 

https://aiptcomics.com/2021/06/28/aipt-sciphi-fest-science-skepticism/

 

The direct ZOOM link is here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86109451697

 

I hope you can catch the show tomorrow but if you can't, I know that many of the interviews will end up on YouTube and I'm happy to report that Steve Bissette and I talked quite a while longer and the full version of that discussion will be up on YouTube *AND* will drop as a regular episode because it's all right up your alley, dear audience.  Fun and informative stuff indeed - and chock full of monsters.

 

Also chock full of monsters is also my favorite imaginary coffee.

At long last, Episode 5 crawls out of the subway tube to wreak havoc on your podcast feed. I'm joined by Dr. Jeb Card (co-host of another show I do called In reSearch Of...) to discuss this amazing horror/sci-fi hybrid film. And that's not the only hybrids we'll be discussing.

There will be more show notes soon. I just want to get this beast out the door! :)

My old friend Mike Harris returns to talk about a beautiful and disturbing French film from 1960 - Eyes Without A Face.  (AMZ Affiliate Link)

Directed by Georges Franju 

Pierre Brasseur  as  Dr Génessier

Alida Valli  as  Louise, the assistant (more on this in our Suspiria coverage)

and 

Yvette Etiévant   as the daughter in the expressionless mask...

 

The filming locations for the "clinic" and the "residence" were both outside of Paris, but 9 miles away from each other.

Music by Maurice Jarre

(father of Jean-Michel Jarre but Maurice left Jean-Michel's mother in France when he was only a lad, and later even disinherited JMJ from his estate!)

View of the "clinic" in the time of the movie and today:

Make Your Case - The Flesh & The Fiends (1960) - Affiliate Link

I'm delighted to be joined by Ronn Bauman (Scaramouche of the Tortuga Twins) to talk about the 1964 horror film The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price. Based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, this is one of several film versions and we'll actually end up talking about all of them during this episode.

For what I can only assume are US copyright reasons, the entire Price movie is available in a lovely transfer streaming directly off of Wikipedia. 

And if you want to throw some pocket change our way, you can watch these on Amazon (or purchase the book) via affiliate links:

The original novel 

Last Man on Earth (prime) <-- this is the colorized digital version

The Omega Man (prime) 

I Am Legend (prime) 

And we're not recommending it, but here is a link to The Asylum's knock-off version: I Am Omega 

 

Finally - a link to last episode's "Make Your Case" winner: NOMADS (starring Pierce Brosnan)

Ronn and I have a wide-ranging discussion, including a good bit about The Thing (1982) and the rumor that Blumhouse is making something new of this material.

Additional: The Danny Elfman film we discussed was Forbidden Zone.  I still haven't seen it but Ronn did warn us that it contains some scenes of blackface.

 Reefer Madness: The Musical is available streaming on Amazon.

The comic-book sequel to Carpenter's The Thing was a 2-issue special from Dark Horse and versions of Issue #1 and Issue #2 are available online for varying prices.

Welcome to The Horror Podcast - TheHorrorPod.com - a show whose title should tell you what you need to know.

My name is Blake Smith and I'll be your horror host for this show. I've been a fan of horror for as long as I can remember, and I want to take you on a journey through some of the strange creations that helped make me who I am today.  

if you're new to my work, I am the host of a couple of very science and history focused podcasts - the venerable MonsterTalk: The Science Show About Monsters, which has been going on for a decade as I record this, and the relatively new podcast In reSearch Of... a podcast where an idiot and an archaeologist watch old episodes of IN SEARCH OF and try to add in missing information and context for modern audiences.

Like some vampire in a horror movie, The Horror Podcast rises yet again - this time to take on one of the best made for TV horror movies ever made: The Night Stalker. Our guest for this one is screenwriter Richard Hatem! (The Mothman Prophecies)   (Ep#5 is delayed - but is being excavated in an obscure Tube stop in London.)   Is the titular character the vampire? Is it the intrepid reporter? Will there be inebriation and unbridled effusion for this film? Tune in and find out!   SO MANY STAR TREK CONNECTIONS! This is a jam-packed "6 Degrees," Jim! You can find this movie in full on YouTube.   Rich and I are big fans of the TV series as well.  You can find that streaming on Amazon.   If you haven't seen Rich's movie The Mothman Prophecies you're missing out. Watch it alone in the dark - if you can!   Season 1 and Season 2 of Titans are streaming on Amazon.  And you can get the latest episodes on DC Universe.

Chuck Porterfield joins me to discuss this amazing hybrid offering from Hammer and the Shaw Brothers Studios. When Hong Kong action meets British Horror what we get is one of the most unusual hybrid films of the period.

Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (wikipedia)

You can snag this classic on BluRay here.

Very detailed article about the history of this film from Diabolique Magazine .

Horror! Action! Romance! Hopping! Giant Golden Bat necklaces!  This film has it all.

This is the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of Action/Horror of the 70s.

We discuss The Wilhelm Scream a bit. That audio is not in this film despite the IMDB trivia - but here is a list of movies that are supposed to feature the clip.

I mentioned actress Pik Sen Lim who helped make the Hammer/Shaw Bros connection. She is actually still working at 75. Good for her!

Chuck makes the case for the 1980 film Alligator starring the late, great Robert Forster. The film is hard to find  in high quality release, but is on YouTube. (Patrons can vote HERE on whether Chuck made his case.)

Also mentioned: Mister Vampire (the Chinese hopping vampire movie)

Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind

Link to Chuck's project Be a Better Geek.