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Texas Frightmare Weekend's ⁠⁠website⁠⁠

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They told me. I listened but never internalized it. Saturdays at Texas Frightmare Weekend are a madhouse. You can't fart and someone be unable to recognize what you've had for breakfast. The line to ride the ESCALATOR winds around like at Six Flags (The escalator actually broke halfway through the day.)

Naturally, this day was the most packed. I and my producer/cameraman/best friend Dakota traversed like sardines through vendors, met Steve-O of JACKASS fame (who signs ass cheeks and regales curious onlookers with tales of his fake tooth that's removable at will) and checked out some decked-out hearses.

Once the sun set, the convention kicked into high gear. First, the world premiere of Full Moon Features' MODELS VS. WEREWOLVES (AI slop). The movie wasted no time in contextualizing producer Charles Band's claim that Full Moon would release 10 films in 2026. How? AI. AI slathered on the screen like dirty Vaseline. There's no visual language developed, no direction, just the vomiting of pre-existing assets. I'd even grant it the moniker of 'collage' if I believed the placement of said elements extended beyond a Copy-Paste prompt.

Operating as a salve to MODELS VS WEREWOLVES was the Fake Horror Trailer Showcase, presented by "Bloody" Bill Pon and Kelley Wilson (CIRCUS OF THE DEAD 1 & 2). Here is where anyone, of any skill level or experience, can submit a trailer for a fake horror movie. It flexes creative muscles and made for a riotous celebration of scrappy independence. Mixed in with the fake trailers were real trailers for GOLDILOCKS (twisted fairytale masked slasher)

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Texas Frightmare Weekend's ⁠website⁠

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Coming to you live outside the Grand Ballroom of the Irving Convention Center, The Movies trucks along through Texas Frightmare Weekend 2026!

It's Day 2, Saturday, as I record this, but we're gonna be talking about Day 1, Friday.

Friday was a learning curve. I had a massive headache, almost - almost - as equally massive anxiety and I struggled to put myself out there to chat with people and share my experience with you lovely people.

But I, with the help of a pharmaceutical rapscallion who handed me Tylenol and ibuprofen, persevered. I ended Friday utterly exhausted but grateful at all I was able to see.

We're talking exhibits, sweet-ass merch, Joe "Holy shit, he's the first person I see once I enter the building" Dante. For a scary-movie-loving nerd, Texas Frightmare is nirvana. Seriously.

If you're still to attend Texas Frightmare Weekend and want some more tips on how to be and do your best there, do yourself a favor and check out Scarah Screamcast's episode on the 10 Commandments of Texas Frightmare. It's gonna save your ass.

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Texas Frightmare Weekend's website

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PAPERTOWN refers to the town of Canton, North Carolina, whose economy revolves around a local paper mill, owned by Pactiv Evergreen. The town's got less than 4,500 people and 1,200 of them work for the mill. When Pactiv unceremoniously announces the mill's closure within a few months, the town reels, scrambling to understand how their lives, businesses, schools will be affected by the ripple of the mill's absence.

Director Jeremy Seifert d. oesn't harp on an elegy to this way of life, rather focusing on the communal bonds that remain. It strips away the bond of coworkers into something more human, something stemmed out of common culture and neighborliness. As America increasingly becomes a post-industrial nation, what is to come of these often rural manufacturing centers? How does economy influence sociology?

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PAPERTOWN is currently playing at Mountainfilm 2026 in Telluride, Colorado.

Listen to my interview with director Jeremy Seifert here

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I'm the luckiest duck to be able to attend this year's Texas Frightmare Weekend as press! Gonna be at the Irving Convention Center from May 22-24, alongside other greats such as Matthew Lillard, Joe Dante, Tom Atkins, Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith - it's a buffet of horror movie royalty.

From panels to midnight screenings to "Scaryoke" and exhibitor tents, there's a wealth for any gorehound to embrace and be entertained by.

This episode previews the convention schedule, as well as provides a list of TFW do's and don'ts (spoiler alert: water. drink it.)

If you're going to Texas Frightmare and you spot me there, feel free to say hi!

Download the TFW app for all updates

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NATCHEZ is a documentary set in Natchez, Mississippi, a town whose main economic source is tourism. What kind of tourism? Antebellum-era mansions. If you're an old, white boomer looking to travel back to an era wherein you could bask in the sun-kissed mansions draped in Spanish moss, where ladies wore hoop skirts and glided across opulent dining halls, these house tours were made for you.

But as is with all things Southern, there's a seedier underbelly. There's no way to get that level of rich through cotton without exploitation. without abuse, without slavery.

And as more recent generations trend to back away from these kinds of tours, the town starts to reckon with the ways it presents its history, what image they present to the world. Are they willing to weave back in difficult truths regarding slavery and its long-term effects into these historical presentations or will they reject truth?

Shot intimately (like where I swear, some of theses subjects are close enough to breath on the lens), Herbert's award-winning documentary (Tribeca 2025, Best Documentary Feature) looks to mix in spoonfuls of Southern charm & wit to make the medicine go down. It's punk as fuck: one of my favorite discoveries of 2026.

NATCHEZ is now available to watch for free as part of PBS' INDEPENDENT LENS series.

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If you're at Mountainfilm Festival, you've got two chances to catch PAPERTOWN:

1. Fri, May 22nd, 5:30 PM @ Masons

2. Sat, May 23rd, 12:15 PM @ High Camp

Find more details here

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For this episode of the 31 Days of Halloween, we got a special guest!

Jay Burleson, director/writer of the THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER franchise, joins The Movies to chat about the duology.

What's up with all the cats? Will Johnny Stevens return? What's next for the franchise? If you're a War Damn Seahawk, this is NO conversation to miss!

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Watch the THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER movies on Tubi!

Watch Jay Burleson's newest movie KENNELED on Screambox!

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The second half of Jay Burleson's THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER duology is here! It's also the first movie in the franchise! Let's hear it for out-of-order storytelling!

This movie's better than PART V. Where the latter specializes in Troma-style camp and gore effects, this movie's got a stronger sense of atmosphere and foreboding, as it borrows more from '70s horror flicks like THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE.

The death-row-inmate Jakkariah Harding is freshly barbecued via electric chair and pissed the fuck off, hunting the parents of his latest victims. But as slashers do, he'll just nab any-and-everybody he finds cause I guess he's going for a killstreak, 30 years before CALL OF DUTY went modern.

I've yet to mention Kelvin Wooten's (also known as Wu10) score. It's one of my all-time favorite horror scores, resemblent of the haunting, ominous sounds of Halloween, perfect for driving slowly down a sleepy hometown road. In the dark, with this music on, you'll swear you can spot any creep behind a cloud of fog. Its blend of synths, jazz, funk and orchestral tinges give this a flavor that you can simultaneously vibe, dance and recoil to. Put this on at your next Halloween party; it's just gonna slap.

And then "Meow Meow Meow Meow" will kick on. Hehehehehe. I love a franchise that loves cats.

SURPRISE! I'm not quite done with THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER movies because on the next episode of The Movies, Jay Burleson comes onto the show to talk about his slasher combo masterpiece, as well as his new film, KENNELED, which is now available to stream on Screambox. Stick around, friends; we got a special interview coming!

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If you're gonna get me to talk about the same movie on the podcast twice, it simply must be a banger, right?

In a way, this duology (surprise!) is the reason I even conceived of the 31 Days of Halloween series for The Movies: I wanted to highlight movies that were seasonal classics to me but maybe not yet for everyone else.

Jay Burleson's THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER films exist as beautiful snapshots, not only of the eras in which they take influence but also the eras in which they were discovered by Gen Xers/Millennials.

If THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER is billed as this undervalued, previously discarded horror franchise about a death-row-inmate-turned-boogeyman stalking & hunting denizens of a sleepy Alabama town, then PART V reflects a campier, cheaper entry. Think HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS or FRIDAY THE 13TH: A NEW BEGINNING.

It's at this point in the "franchise" you're supposed to enter, because when you grew up in the '80s/'90s, your film education depended on the local video store's stock. Sure, they'd have copies of the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET movies, but it was nearly inevitable that somebody had rented the first film. Another guy probably has DREAM WARRIORS sitting on his shelf with the Blockbuster packaging on the VHS rented so long ago, the late fees surpass the value of a brand new copy.

So, as a burgeoning preteen, you take what you can get (or what you can sneak past the clerk and your parents).

Burleson nails the atmosphere. I can almost feel the crispness of the fall air, the crunch of amber-paletted leaves under my feet. Football season is in full swing and the excitement of trick-or-treaters and scary movies are just around the corner. It's a magical time of year for us weirdos. What better place and time to set a slasher film?

Hit up Tubi and check this movie out immediately. Speaking of immediately, the other half of this duology review is out as I type. Once you finish PART V, come back to the 1st: THE THIRD SATURDAY IN OCTOBER.

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