Well-Adjusted Horror

This week the boys look at Interview with a Vampire (1994), the adaptation that introduced movie goers to the world of Anne Rice's vampire chronicles. 

Brad Pitt is beautiful and sad. Tom Cruise is beautiful and angry. Antonio Banderas is beautiful and confused about consent.

Also, theater kids are insufferable.

This week Johnathon tries once again to convince Levi that the 80s were the best decade ever. 

And this week's movie has it all — switchblades, strippers, albino street thugs, asian stereotypes, and oh yeah, VAMPIRES.

This week the boys struggle to appreciate Werner Herzog's Nosferatu and come away with mostly questions. Is it a horror movie? Is is an art house dreamscape? Should lead actor Klaus Kinski have spent his life in a psychiatric hospital?

One thing is certain: Werner Herzog is a genius, even when the boys struggle to follow his vision.

Also, check out the trailer for Levi's short film on YouTube:

This week the boys examine their favorite fictional serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lector. From the the movie Silence of the Lambs to TV's Hannibal — as well as the books that inspired them — the boys try to figure out what makes the well mannered doctor so attractive. (Other than the fact that he mostly eats the rude).

In a world beset by people punching flight attendants, screaming at waiters, and otherwise making asses of themselves, is Hannibal the hero we deserve?

Also discussed: the purpose of manners and etiquette, the taboo of cannibalism, and the importance of aesthetics.

This week the boys are glad to bring some sex positivity to the podcast with an old-fashioned American Christmas slasher, To All A Good Night (1980).

Sure, multiple killers are running around in Santa suits, but at least the young ladies in the cast get to sneak their boyfriends into their boarding school for a fun filled weekend.

Also discussed: Twitter trolls, hiring assassins online, why Americans are losing their minds in record numbers, and why we need more insane asylums. 

Before this episode, Johnathon was certain there was no horror movie he couldn't enjoy on some, however limited, level. But then Levi made him watch this.

Some terrible movies we forgive because of budget constraints. Some terrible movies we forgive because of the heroic efforts of the cast. Some terrible movies we forgive because the movie is in on the joke. 

And some we forgive because cocaine is one hell of a drug.

Not this one. 

It's the Christmas season. And Gary Busey is still beyond the help of the sweet baby Jesus. 

This week the boys and special guest Lindsey Brown discuss The Awakening (2011), possibly the most British horror movie ever created. 

Emotional repression, psychological oppression, sexual oppression, bad weather ... you get the idea.

Oh, and ghosts. 

This week's movie triggers all of the nostalgia for lovers of 80s horror and VHS tapes — and that of course includes our boys. 

Levi admires the stiff upper lip Brits display under duress, while Johnathon finds himself reluctantly admiring the censor board (sort of). 

Questions asked : What rate of change can a culture endure before the wheels come off? Is there a non-authoritarian way of slowing things down? How many seconds of an eye gouging scene does a movie need? And why is Levi obsessed with the Brits?

Bonus follow up discussion of The Monster Squad.

In this episode Levi is finally unleashed to go full nerd on Hammer horror films — and specifically on the 1957 classic The Curse of Frankenstein.

But don't worry, Johnathon immediately derails him with a mini rant on cancel culture. You can't cancel Frankenstein!

If you have something bad to say about this movie, we don't want to hear it.

John Carpenter's The Fog (1980) starts with an old man scaring the hell out of some little kids with a campfire ghost story, and it only gets better from there.

Levi  celebrates the scream queen royalty in the cast, as well as the creepy New England lighthouse vibe (despite the movie being set in California).

Johnathon is convinced he and Adrian Barbeau could be happy together. Johnathon is also convinced he would have made a decent priest. Johnathon has issues.