Video Monsters

Video Monsters

By Video MonstersTV & Film
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Video Monsters episodes

  • ep321: Merry Gen-Xmas - History of Cinema (1990s) Christmas Spectadequate, part 3
    It’s become something of an annual tradition now for the Video Monsters to try something really ambitious for our Christmas coverage and put so much extra work on ourselves that we end up releasing our Christmas episodes at some point in the new year, well after Santa Claus has come and gone. That tradition continues this year with our MERRY GEN-XMAS: HISTORY OF CINEMA CHRISTMAS SPECTADEQUATE - 90S EDITION series! This epic(?) trilogy of episodes is all about, you guessed it, 90s cinema! Particularly films that we feel have a distinctly Gen-X flavor to them. And the best part is it has almost nothing to do with Christmas (we just really like the pun)! In hindsight, the benefit of doing a Christmas series where almost none of the movies are about Christmas is that you can release the episodes AFTER Christmas and it still works. Right? Right?!
    Part 3 concludes our Gen X trilogy with ART VS THE MAN. The inevitable byproduct of the independent film movement is that you start to see a lot more films that are about artistic expression, individuality, and the creative process; how human desires are often suppressed by capitalism and the people in power. You’re seeing more movies about the crushing tedium of your typical 9-5 job, the high cost of living, and the desire to rebel against the excess of the 80s conventions that hold people back from being their true selves. Nathan, Dan, and Eric have each come up with four double features as a jumping off point to look at how filmmakers used their art to contend with what may be the most prevalent theme of the decade.
    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
    2 hr 14 min
  • ep320: Merry Gen-Xmas - History of Cinema (1990s) Christmas Spectadequate, part 2
    It’s become something of an annual tradition now for the Video Monsters to try something really ambitious for our Christmas coverage and put so much extra work on ourselves that we end up releasing our Christmas episodes at some point in the new year, well after Santa Claus has come and gone. That tradition continues this year with our MERRY GEN-XMAS: HISTORY OF CINEMA CHRISTMAS SPECTADEQUATE - 90S EDITION series! This epic(?) trilogy of episodes is all about, you guessed it, 90s cinema! Particularly films that we feel have a distinctly Gen-X flavor to them. And the best part is it has almost nothing to do with Christmas (we just really like the pun)! In hindsight, the benefit of doing a Christmas series where almost none of the movies are about Christmas is that you can release the episodes AFTER Christmas and it still works. Right? Right?!
    In Part 2 of our Gen X trilogy, the Video Monsters will be examining some of the social justice issues that were prevalent in the 90s, and how those issues were reflected in the films of the time. Racial justice, LGBTQIA+ representation, the War on Drugs, feminism, abortion, environmental activism, workplace harassment, poverty, income inequality, teen suicide, political corruption, and war in the Middle East are just a handful of the many different themes that cropped up in the films of this decade, and it’s fascinating to view these from a modern lens to see both the progress that’s been made and how much work is left to be done. Once again, Nathan, Dan, and Eric have each selected four films as a starting point to dig into some of these themes. The holiday twist for this one is Nathan’s catastrophic spin on “Oh, Holy Night” that I can promise you do NOT want to miss.
    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
    2 hr 21 min
  • ep319: Merry Gen-Xmas - History of Cinema (1990s) Christmas Spectadequate, part 1
    It’s become something of an annual tradition now for the Video Monsters to try something really ambitious for our Christmas coverage and put so much extra work on ourselves that we end up releasing our Christmas episodes at some point in the new year, well after Santa Claus has come and gone. That tradition continues this year with our MERRY GEN-XMAS: HISTORY OF CINEMA CHRISTMAS SPECTADEQUATE - 90S EDITION series! This epic(?) trilogy of episodes is all about, you guessed it, 90s cinema! Particularly films that we feel have a distinctly Gen-X flavor to them. And the best part is it has almost nothing to do with Christmas (we just really like the pun)! In hindsight, the benefit of doing a Christmas series where almost none of the movies are about Christmas is that you can release the episodes AFTER Christmas and it still works. Right? Right?!
    Anyway… Part 1 is all about Gen X romance and relationships. We kick off the series by discussing how we decided on this theme and what criteria we used to define Gen X movies. Nathan, Dan, and Eric have each chosen four films to discuss that we feel exemplify romance in the 90s. And to shoehorn in some holiday fun, we count down these films with our own little spin on the “12 Days of Christmas.” So pull the tree out of the garage, light a fire in the chimney, and warm up some hot cocoa because Christmas isn’t over until the Video Monsters wish you a Merry Gen-Xmas!
    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
    2 hr 38 min
  • ep318: Adams Family Interview - Hellbender (2021)

    Nathan, Dan, and Eric are thrilled to be joined by filmmakers John Adams, Toby Poser, and Zelda Adams to discuss their latest film, HELLBENDER (2021)! Known professionally as the Adams family, John and Toby are the parents of Zelda and together the trio have crafted some of the most exciting, creative, and technically accomplished independent films of the past few years. An especially impressive feat considering they also take on almost every single role both in front of and behind the camera as well. From acting to writing to music to cinematography to costuming to sound design and almost everything in between, this family does it all and they do it pretty damn well. So, naturally, we just had to have them on the podcast to talk us through their creative processes, how they embrace the unique family dynamic (you could even call it, their Adams Family values...) that they bring to their work, and really dig deep into the fascinating mythology and affecting family horror-drama they’ve conjured up for HELLBENDER. But be warned… there will be spoilers in this episode so tread carefully. The film is currently making the rounds on the festival circuit and is due to hit Shudder in early 2022. We highly recommend checking it out as soon as you can (and also scrolling back to our last episode for our in-depth review!) Then be sure to come back for this lively, incredibly fun chat with the absolutely awesome Adams family!


    Stay up to date with all Adams Family news at https://wonderwheelproductions.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

    1 hr 55 min
  • ep317: Hellbender (2021)

    Now that the table has been cleared from HANKSgiving but before we dive into the rest of our holiday fare, we are taking a break from festivities to highlight one of our favorite movies of 2021! Winner of the Knoxville Horror Film Festival’s “Palme D’Gore” (as well as Best Direction, Screenplay, and the Audience Award), HELLBENDER is the story of a mother and daughter living in seclusion in the Catskill mountains as the mother attempts to protect her daughter from the truth of their witchy heritage. This micro-budget indie film puts a unique, visually-arresting, and deeply emotional coming-of-age spin on your typical witchcraft lore by centering it around a parent-child relationship (and some kickass music!), and was written/directed/starring/practically everything else-ed by real-life family Toby Poser, Zelda Adams, and John Adams (https://wonderwheelproductions.com). We highly recommend checking out HELLBENDER on the festival circuit, if you get it a chance, or when it hits Shudder in early 2022. If you enjoy this review then stay tuned because we're very excited to announce that we’ll be interviewing the Adams family on our next episode! So wrap up that bass solo, finish your grubs, and be careful where you trespass because it’s time to dust off our review of HELLBENDER! 


    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

    2 hr
  • ep316: Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) - HANKSgiving
    Sadly, with today’s episode we have reached the terminal point in our journey through the underappreciated works of the one and only Tom Hanks. Though the sun must set on our HANKSgiving series, REJOICE, because the moon rises with this final film! A film that we believe just might be the keystone text that binds together everything that Hanks has ever been in. It’s JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO (1990)! Nathan, Eric, and Dan break down this existential fairy tale to discuss its four wildly different acts and what each step in Joe’s journey may represent emotionally for both its protagonist and the viewers along for the ride. We’ll also discuss the polarized reactions to the film and how its unique stylings make it a fascinating litmus test for an audience. Is it a life-affirming film about appreciating what little time you have on earth? A satirical take on white privilege? A cynical dark comedy about the crushing inescapability of capitalistic exploitation of the working class? All of the above? All this plus remarkable production design, an exceptional supporting cast, a wickedly strange sense of humor, endless quotability, and three(!) bravura Meg Ryan performances?! What more could you want out of a movie? So max out those Gold cards, pack up your comically oversized trunks, watch out for rogue Hammerheads, and crack open a nice cold can of Jump Soda because it’s time to step into the ring of fire with JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO!
    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
    2 hr 16 min
  • ep315: Back to the Future: Back in Time - Cardboard Monsters
    Video Monsters presents our inaugural episode of a very special occasional series that we’re calling CARDBOARD MONSTERS! In these episodes we’ll be reviewing board games from a movie lover’s perspective. First up, Nathan and Eric are joined by Adam Collins and Jon Meek (Cardboard of the Rings) to talk about BACK TO THE FUTURE: BACK IN TIME, a cooperative strategy game from Funko Games based on a movie that surely needs no introduction. The idea is to discuss the game in relation to the film, so we start the conversation by discussing our prior history with BACK TO THE FUTURE before digging into the game itself to answer questions like: How good is the presentation? Are the components of high quality? How difficult is it to play? Do the gameplay mechanics effectively capture the feeling of playing through the movie? And, most importantly, is it actually any fun to play? So flux that capacitor, gather some friends around the Town Square, make like a tree to get out of Biff’s way, and feel the Power of Love with our special CARDBOARD MONSTERS presentation of BACK TO THE FUTURE: BACK IN TIME!
    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!  And be sure to check out Cardboard of the Rings at cardboardoftherings.com and join their discord at https://discord.gg/m8NT2Dy
    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
    1 hr 6 min
  • ep314: Blood Rage
    We’re pushing our HANKSgiving plate aside today for a special Thanksgiving bonus episode. Three years ago — in the early days when we were still the Gargyle Podcast — Nathan and Eric reviewed what is objectively the greatest Thanksgiving horror movie of all time, and we felt like it was finally time to pull that plate out of the back of the fridge, rip off the tin foil, and heat up some of BLOOD RAGE (1987) leftovers! This time Dan joins us to give us his impressions after watching the movie for the first time. We also talk about how much we love the score by Richard Einhorn, Ed French’s outstanding makeup, why we think Louise Lasser’s performance is actually great, why the shock ending is genuinely devastating, and how the movie just seems to get better and better the more you watch it. So finish up your game of touch football, pop open a can of Old Style beer, and take a seat in front of the refrigerator because you know you can’t wait another second to dig into our BLOOD RAGE leftovers!
    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
    2 hr 6 min
  • ep313: Cloud Atlas (2012) - HANKSgiving
    Last week, the podcast was headed in one direction. This week, it is headed in another. When we initially came up with HANKSgiving as our theme for November, I don’t think any of us ever expected CLOUD ATLAS (2012) to be one of the films covered in our series on underappreciated Tom Hanks films. But the hand of fate has pushed us into the path of what is arguably the most ambitious and polarizing film Hanks has ever been a part of. Nathan, Eric, and Dan yibber about how we ended up covering this film, the brilliant approach it takes to adapting the novel, how well it blends together so many different genres and tones, and the controversial decision to have the cast play multiple characters of varying age/race/gender. We’ll also highlight some of the themes that resonated with us: fate vs free will, how personal prejudice stems from systemic oppression, the power that art/storytelling has over us, and so much more. So button up your vest, grab your journal, take a big swig of soap, and ear up close because today the Video Monsters are going to yarn you about the time we met eye to eye with CLOUD ATLAS.
    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
    2 hr 23 min
  • ep312: Punchline (1988) - HANKSgiving
    When does a joke become a dad joke?
    When the punchline becomes apparent.
    But that begs the question... When does a punchline become apparent? When the Video Monsters review the movie PUNCHLINE, of course! Apparently, PUNCHLINE (1988) is a film starring Tom Hanks and Sally Field as two as two stand up comedians working the nightclub circuit in New York City. We’re discussing this film today as part of our HANKSGIVING series, where we express our everlasting gratitude for the one and only Tom Hanks by highlighting the Hanks films that we feel are underseen or underappreciated. And we dare say that there are few films in his filmography overlooked as often as this one. Nathan, Eric, and Dan will ponder why most movies about stand up comedians tend to be more dramatic than funny, if the film successfully navigates those tonal shifts within its dual narrative structure, why Hanks’s and Field’s performances hold up so well even if the stand up routines do not, and how the movie explores the idea of comedy as a coping mechanism. So hold on to your poop shoot, do the Sabre Dance, and…. Get ready…. Wait for it….. Here comes the PUNCHLINE.
    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
    1 hr 59 min

About Video Monsters

From the publisher's feed

In-depth movie analysis podcast with hosts Nathan, Eric, and Dan where we take movies seriously, but we don't take ourselves seriously. Sponsored by Chattanooga Film Festival, and Central Cinema…