Video Monsters

This month the Video Monsters are celebrating the storied acting career of Danish heartthrob, Mads Mikkelsen. Why are we mad for Mads? Well, for starters, he’s one of the most striking, versatile actors of his generation; the rare international star who has managed to crossover into flashy Hollywood supporting roles; while maintaining an acclaimed, eclectic career in European cinema; AND also starred in one of the most celebrated American television shows of the last decade….. but also we just couldn’t resist the pun. ;)

So to kick off our late start to this series, we decided to really lean into the theme and determine which three Mads Mikkelsen movies we are going to cover by using a bracket system… with a twist. Nathan, Eric, and Dan have selected 16 different films from Mads Mikkelsen’s filmography. The match ups are decided by drawing titles at random. A brief debate ensues and a majority vote advances the winners until we have our final two. The third film is a chaos pick decided by a loser’s bracket, a wild card, and a Magic 8 Ball. This little game turned out to be a wild, surprisingly dramatic ride and so much fun that we will absolutely be using this method to decide on the films we discuss for our monthly themes from now on, in a future segment that we’ve decided (at least for now) to call POPCORN PUNCHOUT: The Video Rack Attack Bracket! So brace yourself for ALL the Mads puns… so many bad Mads puns… a few rad Mads puns…. maybe a tad too many Mads puns… but you’ll be glad you had time to add a little Mads to your day. Don’t be a cad! Join us for March MADSness!

If you enjoyed this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

SOMETHING IN THE DIRT, the latest mindbender from directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, premiered at Sundance all the way back at the end of January. So, naturally, we’re finally posting our review mid-March! (We’re very busy and important people, OK?) The film is ostensibly about two neighbors who experience a supernatural phenomenon in one of their apartments shortly after they meet for the first time, and decide to team up to try to find the meaning behind this close encounter. It’s a deceptively simple setup but, if you are familiar with Moorhead’s and Benson’s previous work, it should come as no surprise that that basic plot description barely breaks the surface of this deep, winding rabbit hole of a film. The movie works best the less you know going into it so, in this review, the Video Monsters keep things as spoiler-free as possible for most of the episode before we hit the spoiler wall. Topics discussed by Nathan, Eric, and Dan include how this film compares with other pandemic productions; the sly humor and topical social commentary; the exciting, playful way the film weaves in its narrative twists and turns to constantly shift the viewer’s perspective, and how this film possibly connects to the other entries in the ever-expanding Benson/Moorhead cosmic shared universe. So grab your speargun, fire another editor, and meet us at Ye Rustic Inn. It’s time for us to dig up SOMETHING IN THE DIRT.

If you enjoyed this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

We’re thrilled to have Wolfe MacReady return to the Video Monsters podcast for the final episode of Final February! Our Final Girl Finale, if you will. The topic of today’s episode is “What happens next?” We’ll be taking a look at the current trend of how slasher legacyquels bring back their final girls years later to see how they have coped with their trauma in the time since we last saw them (and, of course, bring them face to face with their tormentors once again). There is a hefty dose of discussion revolving around the latest TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE film on Netflix and how it handles (or, mishandles) many of the themes brought up in tonight's episode, so consider this your official spoiler warning. We will also discuss what we think the future holds for final girl tropes in general, and the ways we see them evolving over the next few years in order to stay relevant. So put your face on, grab the keys to your '70 Dodge Challenger, and meet us in the boiler room for the final showdown as we lay Final February to rest....for now!

If you enjoyed this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

The Video Monsters are once again joined by John Adams and Toby Poser (The Deeper You Dig, Hellbender) as we continue Final February with our discussion of non-traditional final girls.  So buckle your seatbelt, grab your ballet shoes, and get the coven together for tonight's episode as we discuss some of our favorite final girls that hail from horror outside of the slasher sub-genre!

Stay up to date with all Adams Family news at wonderwheelproductions.com and be sure to check out HELLBENDER when it premieres on Shudder on 2/24!!

If you enjoyed this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

If you are a fan of the horror genre, the term “Final Girl” is likely to conjure up a very specific image in your mind. Maybe you think of a character that embodies this archetype. You may see her running through the woods screaming for help; held captive by a homicidal maniac; or quietly cowering in a closet desperately hoping she has evaded her attacker. And of course, there’s a good chance you see her outfoxing her assailant and finishing him off once and for all. She may be battered and bruised, but she’s still the last one standing. For some this character is an inspiration, for others she symbolizes the misogynistic tendencies of a genre that overwhelmingly relies on the imagery of brutalized women.

The Video Monsters are thrilled to be joined by Jill Gevargizian, director of THE STYLIST (2020), to talk about what the term “Final Girl” means to us, shout out some of our favorite Final Girls, and really dig into what the tropes of the character have to say about horror movies, the people who make them, and the people who enjoy them. We also spend some time debating if the Final Girl is exclusive to slashers or if she exists in other horror subgenres as well. So send your boyfriend packing, say no to drugs, and gear up for the final showdown because we’re taking on the patriarchy with our favorite Final Girls.

Submit your films to the Knoxville Horror Film Festival at:

www.knoxhorrorfest.com

If you enjoyed this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

It’s Final February on Video Monsters! We’re piggy-backing off of last month’s SCREAM series by expanding into a series of broader discussions on Final Girl tropes in slasher films. First up is a very special presentation of CARDBOARD MONSTERS, our occasional series where we review board games from a movie-lover’s perspective. This time Nathan and Eric discuss the single-player slasher strategy game FINAL GIRL, published by Van Ryder Games. Players assume the role of – you guessed it – the final girl as she fights her way through various horror-movie scenarios that ultimately culminate in a life-or-death confrontation with a homicidal maniac. The game offers a number of movie-inspired “Feature Film” add-ons with additional gameplay modifications, final girls, locations, and killers that can be mixed and matched for a practically unlimited variety of different scenarios. And since we’re primarily a film podcast, we will not only talk about our enjoyment of the game itself but also how much the gameplay and thematic presentation successfully evokes the feeling of playing out the tropes of your favorite slasher flicks. So clear off the table, grab your chonky dice, and hit play quickly before you run out of time to listen to our CARDBOARD MONSTERS presentation of FINAL GIRL!

Back the Final Girl Series 2 Kickstarter at:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vanrydergames/final-girl-series-2

For more information about Final Girl, as well as other Van Ryder Games projects, visit their website at:

https://www.vanrydergames.com/

If you enjoyed this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

We’re sticking a knife in our SCREAM series (for now) and ending on a high note with the first franchise legacyquel (or, if you're Nathan, legasequel), SCRE4M (2011)! The fourth film brought back creator Kevin Williamson as screenwriter and feels like a redemption of sorts after the disappointing end to the original trilogy. It’s also, sadly, Wes Craven’s final film. But, the three of us at Video Monsters are all in agreement that it’s a fitting swan song for the legendary horror filmmaker because SCRE4M is a complete return to 4orm for the series and easily our favorite of the sequels. The discussion runs the gamut from how much we love the way it uses the STAB franchise diegetically to go more meta than ever and reckon with the SCREAM legacy, to the running commentary of aughts horror tropes, to the clever way it twists the final girl trope, and the prophetic incorporation of social media and online streaming into the motive behind the killings. So grab some lemon squares, step out of darkness, and meet us at Cinema Club because it’s time to talk about SCRE4M!

Purchase the Ghostface Busters shirt by Travis Knight that Nathan describes at:

https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/27127243-ghostface-busters?store_id=426381 

If you enjoyed this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

Scooby-Doo shenanigans meets systemic sex abuse in the unfortunate final chapter of the original Scream trilogy: SCREAM CREE…. *Ahem*.... Excuse me. I mean, SCREAM 3 (2000)! The final part of the original SCREAM trilogy was seen as something of a disappointment upon its initial release at the dawn of the new millennium. Fast forward to 2022 and it seems the film has enjoyed a bit of a critical re-evaluation in light of recent events involving one of the film’s producers. But does its commentary on real-life horror mean that it actually works as a film? Almost! Nathan, Dan, and Eric will dig into the discourse, as well as the tonal tug-of-war between the film’s two big plotlines and how they each undercut the strengths of the other. We’ll also ponder alternate versions of SCREAM 3 in a final “What If” segment that was so much fun it allllllmost makes up for the earworm that we deeply regret putting into your ear. So dry yourself off, fax your rewrites to us, and jump into our arms, and get ready for your cameo because Ghostface is going to Hollywood in our review of SCREAM 3!

If you enjoyed this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

SCREAM 2 (1997) hit theaters just under a year after the first film and is often regarded as one of the best slasher sequels of all time, and 2 out of 3 Video Monsters agree…. that maybe the film isn’t as strong as its reputation suggests, leaving Eric to fight a losing battle for the soul of SCREAM 2. Along the way we’ll discuss how the film doubles down on the meta elements of the first film, the way it addresses the debate over the effect violence in film has on people, whether or not the movie works as a true whodunit, and how bringing back the original characters really sets this series apart from other slasher franchises. So queue up the BROKEN ARROW score, protect those precious earholes, and stay fate’s hand from thee because we have some oozing to do with our review of SCREAM 2!

If you enjoyed this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

Ah, 2022. We began this year so full of hope and ambition but, of course, it was folly to assume things would work out the way we hoped. The plan was to SCREAM IN THE NEW YEAR and cover the entire SCREAM franchise over the course of the month. Instead we spent most of January SCREAM…ing in frustration due to all the setbacks that delayed the release of these episodes. So instead we’ll be SCREAMING OUT JANUARY and dropping all four episodes back-to-back at the end of the month like dead bodies in a slasher movie! So, with that disclaimer out of the way, let’s get into it!

Look… it’s SCREAM (1996). Everyone knows it. So instead of burying the lede with some lengthy preamble about what an iconic, game-changing slasher movie this is, we’re just going to come right and say it: Nathan has historically not been a fan of this movie. Which means that Eric and Dan are on a mission to heap so much praise on this perfect film during our discussion that Nathan has no choice but to succumb to the peer pressure (he’s far too sensitive) and accept his love for SCREAM by the end of the episode. Will Eric and Dan succeed in their mission? There’s only one way to find out! So grab your cellular, hold onto your guts, and put on your best GhOstface because it’s time to go a little mad deconstructing Wes Craven’s SCREAM!

If you enjoyed this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons