Well-Adjusted Horror

Fall is here, and that means fraternities and sororities are in full swing, and that means ... alien brain slugs! 

This week the boys revisit Night of the Creeps (1986), a hilarious horror mashup that's part detective noir, part zombie film, part college coming-of-age story, and all awesome. Tom Atkins (from John Carpenter's The Fog) gives a performance for the ages as a hard boiled detective investigating a series of mysterious deaths. 

Aliens, an escaped  mental patient, a sorority formal, a flamethrower, and too many one liners to count.

Even Levi liked this one. 

It's back to school month here in the U.S., and there's no better time to revisit the ultimate in high school horror movies — Stephen King's Carrie. Released in 1976, the movie established King as a household name in the horror genre, and the opening shower scene immediately embedded itself as one of the most iconic in cinema history. 

In this episode, we nerd out on all things King, discuss whether the social environment in high schools has improved, and consider mean girls as villains.

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This week the boys celebrate two landmarks: H.P. Lovecraft's birthday and the one year anniversary of the podcast.

Tying them together is the Lovecraft-inspired Don't Breathe, a 2016 movie about a romantic bed and breakfast run by a kindly disabled veteran played by Stephen Lang.

We live in an age of conspiracy theories, and the good news is that John Carpenter's They Live has never been more relevant. The boys and a special guest discuss 80s excess, the American obsession with conspiracies, and all things John Carpenter. Johnathon wonders when we all forgot how dumb we are when it comes to science. Levi decries the lack of sophistication in the broad strokes of dystopian fiction. Special guest David reminds the boys there are good reasons not to trust the government. Also, aliens. 

The boys are 154 feet down in this episode, because the metric system is socialist propaganda. It's the last episode of shark month, and Matthew Modine brings the sketch as a creepy boat captain, although he can't hold a candle to Ryan Adams. Fear of the dark, getting over a bad breakup, shark shields, a pop star at the bottom of the ocean ... what more could you want?

Special guest Caleb returns to the show to help the boys figure out what went wrong (and right) with Deep Blue Sea (1999). 

From Samuel Jackson's shocking and hilarious exit to Michael Rapaport's Shakespearean acting chops, everyone finds something to sink their teeth into. 

Also, some JAWS followup from our previous episode and some belated praise for the late Richard Donner. 

It's the 4th of July holiday, so the boys tackle the leviathan of all monster movies, Steven Spielberg's JAWS (1975). Levi comes prepared with the full compendium of problems that the production faced, revealing it to be a miracle that we got any film at all, much less a genre-defining classic. Johnathon shares his 9-year-old's thoughts on the mayor after watching it together for the first time.

Finally, Levi reveals a scandalous sexual confession. It's gonna be a hot podcaster summer, y'all.

This week finds the boys pondering the intricacies of modern romance with 2019's Midsommar. When does being a bad boyfriend justify being drugged, stuffed inside a dead bear, and burned alive, after the most awkward intimate encounter of your life? Is the burden of magical thinking and the surrender of reason worth the elimination of anxiety and loneliness? Are psychedelics really that much more potent in the Swedish hills? 

Alternate title: Theses rhymes with feces.

This week finds the boys inventing words as they try to understand the ship design in their favorite horror-in-space flick from the 90s, Event Horizon. Sam Neil plays a demented physicist, so a fair amount of time is spent discussing their man crush. Johnathon wants to know why there are no interior decorators in space. Levi goes full Lovecraft (again).

Topics covered: math as demonology, latin as bad news, and what's up with the recent UFO discussions in the mainstream media?

Wes Craven's The People Under the Stairs (1991) was woke before woke was a thing -- but in a good way. The boys  contemplate what we mean when we say something is woke,  punching up versus punching down, context versus subject, and proper hunting attire. If you thought Pulp Fiction had a lock on creepy dudes in a leather gimp suit, think again. 

Discussion of the movie's hero leads to a deep dive on the causes of procrastination and why we so often put off the things that are most important to our well being.