Video Store Nightmares

In this episode, we tackle one of the strangest genre mashups of the 80s - Xtro. You want alien abduction and UFO activity? Check. How about snake egg eating? Check. A woman giving birth to a fully grown man? Check again. As if that wasn't enough, little Toby has developed mind control powers! This is a weird one folks.

In this episode, we revisit the work of Roberta Findlay (Janie) with 1988's Prime Evil. This one involves a coven of Satanic monks living in 1980s New York! Directed by a grungy porn director! It should - as the kids say - slay. Alas, it doesn't. Tune in to hear why.

This week, we dive into the blood-soaked world of H.G. Lewis with his especially nonsensical 1970 venture - the Wizard of Gore. Montag conducts horribly gruesome magic "tricks" on stage (although we disagree on what the audience actually sees), only for the victims to die hours later. You don't want to miss one of America's first true gore films!

This week, we discuss a class of 80s horror that - until now - went somehow unseen by Leland. Tune in to hear how he reacts to this tale of Charlie Brewster, his "evil" friend Ed, a young Marcy Darcy, and the immortal Roddy McDowell. Chris Sarandon is immortal too, in the film at least, as the vampire Jerry Dandridge, out to terrify the suburbs.

This week, we discuss the 1981 cult classic - and rare starring role for Clint Howard - Evilspeak! Poor Stanley Coopersmith, a socially awkward orphan, is bullied at a military academy. Bullied, that is, until he uses an early Apple computer to summon Satan and is possessed by the spirit of Esteban!

This week, we dip our toes in the Satanic Panic with this made-for-tv assault against Dungeons and Dragons". Interestingly, it's not the game's alleged connections to the dark arts that we should worry about. Instead, the film focuses on the risks of a mentally-unstable college student (a young Tom Hanks) losing himself in his fictional character. If you're a fan of after-school specials, you might dig this

One of several collaborations between writer-director Greg Lamberson and star Craig Sabin, 1988's Slime City focuses on a derelict apartment building that may or may not be a cover for a coven of regenerating, reincarnated witches who transfer bodies via the consumption of "Himalayan Yoghurt." It's as bonkers as it sounds!

This week, join us as we explore the dregs of cinema once again, with 1974's Walt Davis-helmed Evil Come, Evil Go. Sister Sarah Jane is a travelling, evangelistic street preacher who spreads the message: "God is love, not sex!" To prove her point, she seduces men and murders them mid-coitus. After recruiting a lesbian acolyte, she begins to dream of even bigger plans.

This week, we revisit the work of Fred Olen Ray with 1988's Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers! Jack Chandler is a private investigator hired to track down a runaway teenager (Linnea Quigley). His search leads him to a cult of chainsaw-worshippers led by Gunnar Hansen himself. Let the gore and wisecracks commence!

This week, we enter the Lovecraftian world of Mariano Baino's Dark Waters. This may have been made after the pinnacle of Italian horror, but it's every bit worth your time. Elizabeth travels from London to a desolate Ukrainian island, to find out why her father donated money to a mysterious convent. Turns out, this convent's home to more than one god.

This week, join us for another visit to the convent. This time, we're back in Mexico. Sister Maria becomes tempted, or maybe possessed, by Satan himself. Is she driven mad? Or does her flirtation with Satan corrupt the entire convent? Check out the flick, and this week's episode, to find out!

This week, we kick off our month of nunsploitation, and revisit the work of Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso, with 1981's the Other Hell. A scientifically-minded priest is sent to investigate a series of mysterious deaths at a convent. Could it be a psychopath or Satan himself to blame? Check out the flick and this week's episode, to find out!

This week, we revisit the work of Stephen Sayadian (Rinse Dream ala Cafe Flesh). This pseudo-sequel to 1920's Cabinet of Dr. Caligari focuses on the famous doctor's granddaughter. She's running an asylum of her own, addressing such psychological maladies as nymphomania and cannibalism. Her treatment involves switching brains and personalities amongst her patients. It all takes place in a surreal, German expressionist wasteland. "Chinchilla Chinchilla Chinchilla!"

This week, join us in discussing one of Charles Band's earliest films - Mansion of the Doomed! Like a grindhouse makeover of Eyes Without a Face, this film follows the exploits of a mad doctor obsessed with restoring the eyesight of his blind daughter. Unfortunately, surgery after surgery proves unsuccessful and the eye-less prisoners start building up in the basement. Featuring Video Store Nightmares alumni such as Gloria Graham and Vic Tayback, as well as a young Lance Henriksen!

This week, join us in watching a private investigator ("Chase") on the tail of a missing lab assistant (read: prostitute) responsible for stealing a resurrection formula suspiciously similar in look and property to that in Re-Animator. This shot-on-video end to director Hugh Gallagher's "Gore Trilogy" is sleazy and silly in equal measure. On this episode: floating black dildos (isn't that enough?).

This week, we visit an obscure 1975 Spanish production, about an orphanage/boarding school secretly lobotomizing teenage girls to send to wealthy men as sex slaves. It sounds sleazy as Hell! Despite its relative tameness, it's still worth it to watch Leonore try to escape the clutches of the evil Dr. Krueger.

This week, we once again travel to the 1970s for a character exhibition of a troubled girl who uses tarantulas to scare her victims - to death! It all starts when she overhears her mother plotting to murder her father. In response, young Susan unleashes her tarantulas and there's no going back. On this episode: lessons on tarantula anatomy, the problem with incestuous uncles, death from fright, tarantula endangerment, character inconsistencies, bullying, and standards of tarantula burial.

Join us this week as we discuss yet another small town under siege by a mutated animal - cockroaches! The town's sheriff, after casually dropping his girlfriend for his ex, must find a way to destroy the roaches and their monstrous queen. To complicate matters, these roaches mutate into the things they've eaten!

This week, we watched one of the most beloved book-to-film adaptations of the 80s: 1988's Slugs - the Movie. Toxic waste has mutated the local slug population. They are now carnivorous - with teeth - and hungry for human flesh! It's up to the town's health inspector and a goofy scientist to save the day. On this episode: fishing on a date, vehicular carelessness, bad dog owners, slime trails, the costs of pre-marital sex, reckless sewer explosions, and eyes exploding with worms!

Greetings little mantis-eggs! This week, we watched Eric Marciano's 1990 obscurity - The Age of Insects. A mad scientist takes unsuspecting young men and - using questionable methods - changes their personalities to those of harmless grubs. One such pupa is trapped between his wimp father, his domineering mother, and the mad doctor Benedict. You've definitely never seen one quite like this before, and it's probably the only film we've covered that was exhibited by New York's Museum of Modern Art. On this episode: a fight with a vacuum cleaner, a lot of insect stock footage, oil massages, insect monologues, the virtues of becoming a drone, queen worship, suspicious parents, questions of paternity,  and the future of Beverly's Hose and Lingerie!