An in-depth but light-hearted look at the horror films haunting nightmares now and forever. Featuring John Evans (co-creator of the Xs & Ys Podcast), screenwriter Vik Weet & writer/director Mike Kuciak.
Our final two matchups of the bracket are Deathdream vs. The Battery and Train to Busan vs. Savageland. Three American indies, one Korean blockbuster. How greatly is vision limited by budget? As usual, we focus on the eliminated films but highlight what they have to offer.
We've got more zombie movie talk! As the tournament rolls on, the Madmen must vote out either The Beyond or Wyrmwood: Apocalypse. Do we keep Cemetery Man or Deadgirl? Each movie has its merits…
Let's continue our study of the stranger zombie films in the field! Tonight's combatants are Contracted, Peninsula, City of the Living Dead and #Alive.
Our next batch of zombie films to judge are the irregulars and odd ducks of the oeuvre. In Part 1 the Madmen discuss Kingdom: Ashin of the North, Messiah of Evil, Contracted and Peninsula. Interesting, underrated films!
Closing out the bracket, our cinematic combatants under discussion are Re-Animator, Anna and the Apocalypse, Zombieland, Little Monsters (2019), Shaun of the Dead and Dead Snow. See, (un)death IS funny!
The Madmen continue our competition with four more zombie films that sneak in some laughs along with all that stomach-ripping! Tonight's contenders include "I Am a Hero," "Dead Heat," "Dead Alive" and "Sugar Hill." Hahaha-OH GOD! My stomach!
Zombie flicks' fight for supremacy shifts to the division we've dubbed The Funnies, where filmmakers explore the lighter side of the zompocalypse. That's right, we're talkin' zom-coms and ghouls that make us giggle.
Six more matchups in our division devoted to classical zombie movies (lotta Romero goodness in here)! Find out which three flicks get further scrutiny in the next round. More importantly, join in our appreciation of the films laid to rest here. Even the dead die eventually!
The battle begins in what you could easily call the Romero Division, where the competitors are all traditional zombie movies in one key way or another. In this episode "World War Z" faces off with "Night of the Living Dead" (1967) and "The Dead" contends with NOTLD 90.
The March Madmen conclude their tour of the tournament field, giving you an overview of all 32 matchups in our first round. Which zombie flicks do you think will devour their competition? Have we overlooked any of your faves?
If you love the living dead you won't want to miss our exhumation of this great subgenre of horror! Let's go through this season's 64-film field, discuss each pairing, and ensure we have the right movies in the right places.
Let's conclude our bird's eye view of the hellish landscape that is a zombie apocalypse! The Madmen are still bickering about which 64 movies will compete in this season's horror movie tourney... Could get ugly! Once again we are joined by special guest Trevor Stevenson of the Your Story Will Be Different podcast.
After tournaments for haunted house movies and slasher films, it's time to delve deeply into the fertile soil of the grave… Tonight the March Madmen begin their quest to determine what IS the greatest zombie movie ever made? Let's begin to seed the field of 64 films, while discussing what makes this subgenre of horror so powerful and enduring.
And now, the stunning conclusion of our When Evil Lurks autopsy! Join us to dissect the intricacies of a film that will surely be in the conversation whenever it is asked, “What IS the scariest movie ever made?”
Let's switch to spoilers mode as we continue our scene-by-scene discussion of Demian Rugna's instant classic “When Evil Lurks.” What makes this flick so effin' terrifying?! Let's dig into that meat...
For the perfect palate cleanser after a season of slashers, let's look at Demian Rugna's instant classic "When Evil Lurks," shall we? We were already Rugna fans, but what makes this movie so damn special? Sharpen your instruments, folks, we've got an autopsy to perform…
And now, the moment we've all been waiting for... What IS the greatest slasher movie ever made? Tonight, we'll make that fateful decision! And plenty more, as the Stabby Awards reaches its gory climax.
The Stabby Awards roll on with categories like Most "Unintentionally Funny Scene and "Best Incestuous Psychosexual Mother/Son Relationship"! Join the discussion as we reflect on our slasher season in all its bloody glory.
It's awards night in the Madlands! Let's hand out the hardware for the greatest achievements and silliest aspects of the 64 slasher films we've studied this season. Put on your best mechanic's coveralls or green work shirt and join us for this retrospective of the ridiculous and the sublime. It's the Stabby Awards!
Luke Merrick returns to help us tempt fate, judge Laurie's Final Girl cred, count crossed eyes, and speculate endlessly on the inner workings of The Shape. It's the grand finale of our loving autopsy. Scrub in, grab a scalpel and join us at the slab!
Author Luke Merrick is our special guest as we unpack the horrors of Halloween (1978), the blank-faced Shatner mask that launched a thousand ships — or 10,000 slasher movies.
The Madmen talk Ted, kill quality, Jason makeup and “doppelgänger Muffins” for the last time as we wrap up our insanely through analysis of Friday the 13th Part 2!
What does that last perfume squirt reveal about Vickie? Who set the rope snare, and why did Jason bring Terri's body back to his shack? We also reach the regrettable conclusion that this Jason isn't that great at his job yet… All this and much more as we finish our obsessive scrutiny of Mr. Voorhees' first rampage!
We welcome you to the eerie banks of Crystal Lake, where this summer a campfire tale has come true... It's a scene-by-scene examination of what we think is the best Friday the 13th movie ever made!
Our insanely thorough examination of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) concludes! Mike Kuciak is back to help us put this all-time classic in perspective.
Let's take another look at Leatherface and his fam from a bird's eye view — what makes this movie so damn special, and what is its cinematic legacy? Joining us again to figure that out is our good friend the horror filmmaker Mike Kuciak, an authority on the subject. What do we see in Saw? Listen up...
Our magnificent cinematic ordeal concludes with the Sawyer clan's unique brand of “hospitality” and Sally's night of terror in the Texas scrub. It's one of the most grueling third acts ever... Rev up your saws!
Let's keep cutting Tobe Hooper's classic into many little pieces of delicious despair! In this one the Madmen examine the pizzle (don't Google that), the spider house, poor Franklin, the generator, Pam's Cassandra complex and much more.
It's time to venture into the remote corners of Muerto County, Texas, home of a certain family you don't want to have you over for dinner. (Because they'll have you for dinner.) Texas Chain Saw, baby! Our loving autopsy begins now…
John is joined by his former writing partner, Karen Craig, for one last look at Black Christmas. Karen hails from Toronto, where the movie was filmed, and considers it one of her biggest influences. Let's get a fresh perspective on the flick!
In this one the Madmen take a step back from the slab to examine Black Christmas in the larger context of slasher movies, compared to the other three films in our Fatal Four and the subgenre as a whole. It's a pretty influential flick!
This autopsy concludes with analysis of the film's approach to blood and gore, Jess as a Final Girl, the mystery of the MacHenry sisters, and the subtle but overwhelming horror of the ending, among other things!
Our dissection of Black Christmas (1974) continues! Does the whodunit aspect really work? What is Billy's mysterious back-story, and how does it drive him to kill? These questions and more garner careful consideration…
Our bone-deep analysis of Bob Clark's 1974 classic Black Christmas begins! Topics include the remarkable camerawork, chillingly idiosyncratic score, inimitable Margot Kidder and unexpected (but welcome!) laughs everywhere you look.
Big decisions are made as the Madmen conclude their selection of the Fatal Four, our finalists for this season's horror film tournament. What IS the greatest slasher movie ever made? We're working on it!
In this one the March Madmen put their foot on the gas to get through multiple rounds of the tournament in a single night, boiling it down to 10 favorite films apiece. Then they have to hash out which ones make the Fatal Four and get the patented "loving autopsy" (TM) treatment. Not an easy task!
Vik and John conclude their mini-autopsy of the 2022 Texas Chainsaw Massacre, in this one covering the bulk of the movie scene by grisly scene. Where does all that bus butchery fit into the hierarchy of great Leatherface moments? Classic or canceled? You decide...
Vik and John give the latest entry in the Texas Chainsaw franchise an abbreviated autopsy. Where does this polarizing “requel” rank in the pantheon? Let's go scene by scene…
Did the best film win? With the first round behind them, the Madmen consider the tournament field with fresh eyes and even open the door to new blood! A pair of 2022 films, Ti West's X and David Blue Garcia's Texas Chainsaw Massacre, join the fray.
Dario Argento is back in the tournament as his giallo classic Tenebrae must contend with 2019's slasher surprise Haunt, from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. Turns out it's a tough decision for the Madmen to make…
It's another rematch of Freddy vs. Jason, in a sense, as Friday the 13th Part 2 goes toe to toe with A Nightmare on Elm St. 3: Dream Warriors. Which peak franchise flick will pull off the win?
The famed Final Destination 2 (2003) faces little-known gem The Furies (2019) in this meeting of very different meta slashers. Death is here for one of them, at least as far as this tournament is concerned.
Hell Night (1981) receives support from two March Madmen in its case to upset the inimitable Sleepaway Camp (1983) — can its Gothic mashup and “Gorks” stand up to Angela in all her campy glory?
Writer/director/producer Mike Kuciak returns to help us hash out the relative merits of Damien Leone's Terrifier and James Wan's Malignant. In the spirit of March Madmen, both films are pretty bonkers, but in very different ways…
Will the comparatively tasteful and classy Peeping Tom topple Pieces, a guilty pleasure drive-in special?
In this episode Wes (Wezzzz) Craven's Scream (1996) faces an unexpected challenge from The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014). Which movie will earn the votes of at least two March Madmen, allowing it to advance in our slasher movie tournament? Guess you gotta listen to find out…
In a tough break for the underrated Silent Night, Deadly Night, it needs to beat A Nightmare on Elm Street to advance. Did you know these two movies came out on the very same day in 1984? Eerie...
In this remake-laden Part 2 of the pod, the 2005 House of Wax squares off with Sorority Row (2009) and the 2019 Child's Play reimagining faces a formidable foe in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (the only one of those so far).
In this March Madmen matchup, the Bob Clark classic Black Christmas (1974) is compared to another vintage slasher, Terror Train (1980), starring Jamie Lee Curtis. Spoiler: Terror Train is not as good. But that doesn't mean we can't have fun talking about it!
How does Rob Zombie's Halloween 2 stack up against Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2? Is Johannes Roberts' The Strangers Prey at Night better than Jordan Peele's Us? These are the kinds of questions this podcast sets out to answer. But that doesn't mean the Madmen always agree. And they sure don't this time…
Can Victor Crowley out-slash Ghostface? Let's find out as Hatchet and Scream II meet for a cinematic deathmatch! More from the first round of the tournament designed to determine the greatest slasher movie ever made. This convo takes a turn…
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