Movie Meltdown

Movie Meltdown - Episode 648 (For our Patreon "Horror Club") This episode we discuss Mario Bava's Kill, Baby... Kill! And as we bask in the weird fog, we also address… Final Destination Bloodlines, Death of a Unicorn, Weapons, No Such Thing, vintage CSI skills, human arm sconces, 60s eyeliner, Burgomeister, old-timey superstitious people, dumb names for ghost, music, the spiral staircase, Tony Todd, you are your own ghost child, green lights, Sarah Polley, murdering a guy in an alley and ghost child with a bouncy ball. Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers for "Kill, Baby... Kill!", so go watch the movie before you listen. “It happened so nonchalantly.”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 647 Join us for a prehistoric-packed episode as we welcome special guest "Dino" Don Lessem. He is an author, journalist, and was a scientific advisor for Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park! Not to mention building giant, robotic dinosaurs, befriending Michael Crichton and having a dinosaur named after him!  Then we discuss some of our favorite dinosaurs in movies. And then more specifically... our favorite dinosaurs from the Jurassic Park series of films.  And while we all try to figure out what our dinosaur names would be - we also mention… The Valley of Gwangi, getting a loan from Mark Cuban, the fake dinosaur dig, Troodon, Vince Vaughn, different things about dinosaurs impressed me, fire-breathing stripper dinosaurs, The Golden Age of Dinosaurs, apparently there's a lot of nudity, exotic places, a dinosaur head infested with wasps, paleontologist Jack Horner, an iguana dressed as a dinosaur, we're Disney… this is what we do… we traumatize children, the real Indiana Jones, opening a Mexican restaurant, The Boston Globe, the scavenger hunt for pieces, windshield wiper motors, the movie set is filled with suckups, it’s a very 19th century kind of technology, low budget David Attenborough, if you can find the bootleg unedited version I highly recommend it, it’s all about funding, lighting the desert in daytime, gorillas, could E.T. happen and where do I get amber? “I had a great Aunt who took me every Sunday to meet T-Rex… and it was like - love at first sight.”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 646 (For our Patreon "Horror Club") This episode we discuss the 2022 film Soft & Quiet, written and directed by Beth de Araújo. And while we critique certain people’s pie skills, we also cover… Barbarian, Sinners, Naked Lunch, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Crystal Lake, David Cronenberg, dalliance, Zach Cregger, Linda Cardellini, the director’s perspective and making people very upset and very uncomfortable. Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers for the “Soft & Quiet”, so watch the movie before you listen.   “I will say, immediately… you get bad vibes from that lady.”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 645 This episode we’re coming to you “live” from WonderFest as we hang out and talk about movies, toys, models and eventually a bonus, full horror club discussion of Fear Street: Prom Queen directed by Matt Palmer.  And while we determine the specifics of how you know you are in the 80s, we also bring up… Godzilla Minus One, Midnight Mass, Summer of 69, Empire of the Dark, Demon City, Chris Klein, using profanity, hugging Tiffany, Stuck in the Middle, everyone's a suspect, the kills, Space: 1999, comedies that should be traumatic but are just fun, monsters called up from hell and murderous ninja assassins, the dance off, time-appropriate clothes and hair and make-up, being attacked by angels, a satanic cult from another dimension, the bloody crown, a dude wearing a scrunchie, changing the mascot, trying to open the door, Mike Flanagan, there was a lot of sword fighting going on and where’s the street?! Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers for “Fear Street: Prom Queen” so go watch the movie before you listen.  “If I have to tell somebody that this movie’s taking place in the 80s - then you are not doing the 80s correctly.” For more on WonderFest, go to: https://www.wonderfest.com/

Movie Meltdown - Episode 644 (For our Patreon "Horror Club") A talking teddy bear, a hole full of murderous beasts, a random ghost and a horned up 12-year-old with boundary issues… what could go wrong? Find out as we discuss Lew Lehman’s 1981 classic The Pit.  And while we have cake on Halloween, we also delve into… The Rule of Jenny Pen, Easter Bunny, Kill! Kill!, Strange Darling, making food, Teddy, a very complicated family, two amazing over-actors, emotional gazebo, leading a cow, ghosts, eating soup, Buckaroo Banzai, keeping your purse in a drawer, just shrug and go on with your life, Brooke Shields, insanity or sheer brilliance, creative nude photography, getting fired making your movie, an interactive sitcom, using a pay phone, going to the discos, Easter-related horror, the most awkward child alive, go back to where you came from funny person, hey you wanna direct a feature film, John Lithgow, going to a farmer’s market, sad and intense, a frog riding on a snake and cute little kids eating people. Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers for the 1981 movie “The Pit”, so go watch the movie before you listen. “There are a lot of questions, that I have..”      “That should be the tagline for this movie!”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 643 Sam Drog returns as we try to decide just what it is that’s trying to kill Hollywood. And while we try to mimic the Magnum P.I. lifestyle, we also address… Minecraft, Andor, The Studio, The Da Vinci Code, Gods of Egypt, Black Mirror, Cherry 2000, Barry, Eyeborgs, RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Viy, religious discussions over the internet, Barbenheimer, Seth Rogen, parent your kid, Dracula 2000, Godzilla Minus One, content creation, sacrilege, Gerard Butler, Phil Tippett, Starship Troopers, Adam Wingard, watching money being spent, a shorthand for starting geek conversations, Rob Bottin real estate agent, don't patronize me robot, flying around the room in her coffin, getting into a relationship with an AI character, Tubi ads, bringing a live chicken, Tom Hanks’ haircut, secrets under the pyramids, The Running Man, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Tim Thomerson, taking selfies, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, being a shill for other people, Paul Verhoeven and a practical effects feast. “All the sacred cows have already been slaughtered.”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 642 (For our Patreon "Horror Club") Listen as the Meltdown Horror Club comes together to discuss Dead & Buried directed by Gary Sherman and featuring James Farentino, Melody Anderson, Jack Albertson and Robert Englund.  And while we’re dropping off our film, we also mention… The Dead Don't Die, Mikey Madison,  Longlegs, The Banana Splits, Slugs, filming people, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, Scream 7, witchcraft/voodoo teacher, Superbad meets Shaun of the Dead, Oscar-winning slashers, Christopher Lee, taking photos, public domain horror, Grandpa Joe, wrapped up like a mummy, Jim Jarmusch, putting things through the telefax, Chico and the Man, knock-off markers and what the hell is wrong with Christopher Robin.  Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers for the 1981 movie “Dead & Buried”, so go watch the movie before you listen. “Yeah this movie makes sense as long as you don't think about it.”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 641 Join us as we drop in to the Lexington Comic and Toy Convention and talk about celebrities, cool merchandise, watching movies and how returning to skateboarding as an adult makes you the most interesting man in the world.  And as we attempt to rock the fakie, we also cover… Baymax dancing around, the monkeys have brown eyes, Tom Savini, H-Street’s Hokus Pokus, Soleil Moon Frye, cheesy '80s slasher movies, a muscled version of Borat, combative training, Lost Highway, the Gmork is the most amazing creature that's ever existed, Tony Curtis, tattoo size and placement, Bastian yells a lot, spoilers for the original run of Twin Peaks, going to Camp David, The Mummy, a street skater, Muay Thai, Tony Hawk's CoQ10, Jonathan Goldsmith, putting a lot of trust in spandex, a ramp skater, the Boston Strangler, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firewalker, Zero team board, Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge, Patricia Arquette, kettlebell training, Allan Quatermain, plantar fasciitis, Riddick movies, busted a couple ollies and experiencing The Swamps of Sadness.  “Maybe I just had a religious experience at the Comic-Con?” For more on the convention, go to: lexingtoncomiccon.com

Movie Meltdown - Episode 640 This episode, Sam Drog returns as we try to wrap our heads around just how ahead of its time David Cronenberg's Videodrome truly was back in 1983. And as we plug into the network of idiots, we also bring up… the evolutionary chart of man, Mick Garris, American Ultra, Scanners, YouTube rabbit holes, The Franchise, Debbie Harry, a movie every night on the UHF channels, the rubber reality and all the latex, Robert Pattinson, a cyber doppelganger of ourselves, The Lawnmower Man, Canadian tax shelter horror movies, Stan Winston, Crash, moving meat on a skeleton, Marshall McLuhan, an electrified clay wall, just give in to the technology, Rob Bottin, incubating your gun, I’m just a monkey, Spider, taking a normal person to a weird movie, talking to the TV, manifold expanded, propaganda films, you got Jim Henson on one end and Rick Baker on the other, mechanical extensions of humanity, Personal Shopper, I gave you guys the best movie I knew how to make and you didn’t show up,  shelter-in-place, the world is so big and overwhelming when I'm outside, Stephen Lack, being attached to our phones, we were so obsessed with super realistic puppets, you know a guy that works at the slaughterhouse that's all you need, when you take out the filter of humanity, the Ashton Kutcher of directors,  we're kind of like cyborgs, getting your fix of television and the flesh gun.  Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers for "Videodrome"… I mean, as much as you can spoil "Videodrome".  “The technology came and I think our brains are still trying to catch up with all this connectivity.”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 639 (For our Patreon "Horror Club") The horror club gets together to discuss ghosts, monsters and the immigrant horror stories contained in Santiago Menghini’s No One Gets Out Alive. And while we try to figure out which attempted murders are real and which are fake, we also delve into… slacker pioneers, weird residual ghost pains, Aztec weaponry, Bed Bath & Beyond coupons, dream logic, the new Property Brothers, Willem Dafoe, I gotta good work ethic, he’s having death, how much of the budget was candles, experimental camera moves, goddess in the box, they only did the murders to get out of school, spooky fingers, you should be out the door by now, things that could be happening in the basement, that’s a nice coat, snow sucks, a ghost story, sacrificing the little people to the corporations, the ancestors that gave up, it weaves this way into her memories, interchangeable horror titles, someone give this poor girl a break for once, the monster can’t fix your mental health problems, her second mouth, dealing with family trauma and Nosferatu's facial hair.  Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers for “No One Gets Out Alive”, so watch it before you listen. Oh yeah, also spoilers for the entire "Scream" franchise. “It just seems like monsters are eating ghosts… and that's not fun for anyone.”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 638 This episode Sam Drog returns and we discuss Tim Burton’s return to his early feature with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. We remember our response to the original and dig into the characters and plotlines of the new entry.  We also address… legacy sequel, It's a Wonderful Life: Abridged Edition, Wednesday, Willem Dafoe, Heathers, latchkey kids versus helicopter parents, practical effects, math and it's cruel cruel hand on reality, people need restrictions, the animated series, I don’t think kids care about movies either, Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian, Jimmy Durante, Furiosa, a victim of it’s own problem, old man Leatherface, Jenna Ortega, the most fan service, editing important elements out of movies, creepy old guys, weird 80s kids fandom, The Incredibles, ghost hunter shows, working with your partner, Catherine O'Hara, ghost musical numbers, the return of Batman, Monica Bellucci, Beetlejuice The Musical, Joe Dante's house and Mars Attacks! Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, so watch it before you listen. “It’s kind of like we got… all the antagonists from all the unmade Beetlejuice sequels.”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 637 (For our Patreon "Horror Club") Gather around the empty dinner table at Grandma's house as The Meltdown Horror Club comes together to discuss the 1989 holiday "classic" - Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! And even more interesting than the movie itself, we also talk about the fascinating life of the director Monte Hellman. And while we plan our trip to the mall, we also mention... The Night of the Hunter, Demon Seed, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, an abnormally large hat, buying gift sets, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Krang, Mulholland Drive, John Larroquette, the brain dome, orange groves, Jack Nicholson, Friday the 13th: Part 7, other brothers' flashbacks, a tie that lights up, Robert Mitchum, a car phone sales pitch, Paul Rudd, psychic grandma, Finn Wolfhard and flatscreen TVs.  Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers for "Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!", so watch it before you listen. "First of all, I was like - who's funding this experiment?"  

Movie Meltdown - Episode 636 (For our Patreon "Horror Club") Come celebrate the holiday as we make pizza and discuss Eli Roth's Thanksgiving. And while we try to pick our favorite unnecessary pizza toppings, also cover… The People Under the Stairs, Stopmotion, Woman of the Hour, Night of the Living Dead… the stage production, the later Nightmare on Elm Street films, retail PTSD flashbacks, John Carver, the trampoline scene, the Brothers Quay, silent stairs, Grindhouse, Nell Verlaque, Plymouth, Springwood Ohio, Piranha 3D, she E.T.’d herself, gnarly is a good way to describe that film, slumping dead bodies, Patrick Dempsey, a lot of body stuff, cooking people, Gina Gershon and Detroit that place is great, right? Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers for 2023’s “Thanksgiving”, so go watch the movie before you listen.  “I’m not sure where it stops sounding appealing and starts sounding upsetting.”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 635 Join us as we recap our day at Scarefest. And as we make a point to not annoy celebrities at their table, we also bring up… Clive Barker, Don Coscarelli, The Midnight Meat Train, Rose McGowan, cenobite girl, Cyborg, The Fanatic, Gregory Nicotero, Billy Zane sportin' a look, The Wolf has a line, Felissa Rose, the Gorton's fisherman, sexy sax man, the Mandela effect, Skeet Ulrich, pyramid heads, the creeper truck, Kung Fu Hustle, CG effects, Nightbreed, Velma vs Daphne, getting married to Roach, Hellraiser, showing a movie on your backpack, Devon Sawa, I Know What You Did Last Summer, 3D printed toys, John Travolta, Matthew Lillard, Candyman and being a nerd hero.   “Conventions in general are not a Fred crowd.” For more on Scarefest, go to: https://scarefestweekend.com/

Movie Meltdown - Episode 634 Come join the party… as we celebrate Halloween by watching Late Night with the Devil, directed by Cameron and Colin Cairnes and starring David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss and Ingrid Torelli.  And while we toast with glasses of blood, we also delve into… Oddity, Ghostwatch, the Bohemian Grove, Sleepaway Camp 2 and 3, Agatha All Along, weird jelly beans, getting bumped, Abraxas, weird musical instruments, I don’t know a moments peace, Doug Jones, drinking blood, making a sequel, the reality of hypnotism, 1977, production company intros, black licorice, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, Lego Halloween costumes, the owl statue, Gary Busey: Pet Judge, we’ll be right back title cards, pumpkin patch update, getting monkey pawed, turning on the Hadron Collider, you can't fight Snoop, a neat little ghost story, he don’t come back right and a demon pyramid scheme. Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers for “Late Night with the Devil”, so watch the movie before you listen. “How did we lose the theremin?!”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 633 This episode Sam Drog returns as we delve into our own history with the original movie The Crow, give a recap of all the failed incarnations in-between and then get into an honest discussion of our thoughts on the new film directed by Rupert Sanders.    And while we comprise our ultimate anti-social movie experience, we also address… Bill Skarsgård, Brandon Lee, James O'Barr, wearing your aluminum foil hat, enabling bad behavior, Michael Wincott, hanging out with a squirrel, Ridley Scott, making a deal with the devil, panel layout, David Patrick Kelly, John Waters’ zombies, a dystopian future, not Tilda Swinton, limbo world, cg blood, having crow-powers, Cold Cave, the power of credit cards, I want to go back to that well of heartbreak and bankruptcy, Jon Polito, this concentrated version of every bad decision they’ve made, I want to go back to that well of heartbreak and bankruptcy, Tony Todd, Hellraiser 2, a nuclear-powered Chicken Biscuit, Jon Polito, the closest I’ve gotten to love, The Veils, action sequences, the furry lifestyle, John Wick, dirty rice and a coffee, Alien: Resurrection, being a moody teen, I like breakin’ stuff, Ghost in the Shell, then it’s not consumerism - it’s culture, nostalgia grab, the culture has become a deep-fried Twinkie, the finer things in life, a gothic landmark, an interesting trainwreck, Blue Ruin and juicy out on the town.      Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers for "The Crow", both the 2024 and 1994 versions. And pretty much everything else Crow-related.  “It's not like the fans are just going out and seeing whatever's got a crow on it.”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 632 (For our Patreon "Horror Club") Join us as the horror club discusses She Beast, directed by Michael Reeves and starring Barbara Steele, John Karlsen and Ian Ogilvy. And while we try to decide our favorite thing about Ghost Toast, we also mention… Sarah Squirm, pumpkins, Longlegs, Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, Alien: Romulus, Halloween encroachment, a dunking chair, because Communism, terrible fashion choices, The Thing with Two Heads, he creeped me the hell out, fake grilled cheese sandwiches, British accents, Witchfinder General, my circadian rhythms were screwed up just watching this, who designed your kitchen, it never got dark that day, you don’t look for your wife, special popcorn buckets… doing things, the screaming was really distracting, is this Back to the Future, Osgood Perkins, Black Sunday, torches at noon, the thematic through line of Communism, alcohol and barbiturates, I expected at some point to have raw meat thrown at me, slow atmospheric and bleak, about spending about 90% of the movie unconscious, state fair fun and we ask, do Volkswagen Beetles actually float? Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers for She Beast (aka Revenge of the Blood Beast) so watch the movie before you listen.  “That should be the tagline… what was the point of any of this?!”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 631 This episode we sit down with Max Neace, a writer, director and producer originally from our neighborhood. So listen as we find out how he took his interest in film from shooting YouTube videos to getting his own feature films made. Plus we discuss the conception and challenging execution that is his most recent movie - Shift.  And while our guest may wish he was conversing with a chair, regardless we still discuss… comic strips, self-storage facilities, horror, outlining, Connor McGill, we are losing our minds, self-distribution, writing, Alfred Hitchcock, changing the frame rate, physical media, Garfield, eight sequence breakdown, shooting with no budget, Rio Bravo, embracing limitations, festival circuit, Longlegs, continuity, Twister, a lot of monitor footage, the first watchable cut of the movie, Don’t Tell a Soul, acquiring music, moving to L.A., audience imagination, editing, Watchmen, our voyeuristic culture, finding mentors, storytelling and Rear Window. “There was a method to the madness. And it was really gratifying to get to that point because it was complicated.”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 630  (For our Patreon "Horror Club") The Horror Club is back with Mario Bava's giallo classic - Blood and Black Lace. And as we narrow down where we want to put our secret bookcase/door, we also bring up… When Evil Lurks, The Exorcist, Shaun of the Dead, The Ninth Configuration, Dick Tracy, her hair, her makeup, the eyeliner, the outfits, I was like - I love her, I wanna look like you, Frankenstein in every room, Peter Lorre, sitting in the dark, messing with mom’s purse, the question of the masked killer, whoever gets possessed gets… gross, cinematography, demon hunters, working at night, being a sex maniac, Jersey Shore meets fancy Italian architecture, Edgar Wright, it was gnarly, luckily they didn't base World War II on a fashion show, affordable reproductive rights, epileptic or possessed by a demon, the third act monologue, if you came to this movie for dialogue, being a DJ, Cameron Mitchell, gorgeous in the same way, the pettiness of Warren Beatty and a faceless supernatural entity the likes of which we have never seen. Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers for "Blood and Black Lace", so go watch the movie before you listen. “It's like the Melrose Place of 60s Italy.”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 629 Sam Drog returns… and this time we kick things off with a book club discussion on how reexamining children’s books as an adult can ruin your life. Or perspective of it? Then eventually we also discuss some movies we’ve watched.  And as we decontextualize someone's feelings, we also delve into… Bucket of Blood, Abigail, Charles Beaumont, The Million Eyes of Sumuru, Roger Corman, Damon Packard, Venom, The Girl from Rio, 1984, Dom DeLuise, Tobe Hooper, The Giving Tree, keep making art, beatniks, the Scream sequels, Dick Miller, unconditional love, Green Eggs and Ham, A Day in the Life of John Carpenter, this is a very codependent relationship, with a wrench and a bucket, a killer snake, the dancing scene, becoming part of the system, Death Race 2050, unfulfilled expectations and disillusionment, Beyond the Valley of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and everything's become a metaphor. “You are sort of like a children’s book… a weird, crazy children’s book.”