Split Tooth Media

Make More Movies is a podcast where Aaron Bartuska asks DIY filmmakers what keeps them creating. This episode is with guest Anthony Leroy. Anthony Leroy turned 30 earlier this year. In a post commemorating this milestone while simultaneously promoting his newest film, the filmmaker said that he had never really felt sure of himself as an artist until the past year. Now that he has found his voice, the decade ahead looks promising. “I’m ready for every challenge, every hiccup and I feel so honoured to be able to make tasty trash,” he wrote on Letterboxd. This particular brand of tasty trash also happens to be consistent. Since December 2023, Leroy has released five short horror films — four of which were shot on video in that same span of time. I came across one of Leroy’s shorts toward the end of last year and was shocked to discover just how productive Leroy had been in a 12-month span: not only had he made an entire SOV trilogy following the same murderous antagonist, he had also released an impressive high-concept horror short that achieved widespread praise and popularity on YouTube. When I checked up on his progress only a week later, he had already announced BUM (2025), an ambitious new found-footage film that would clock in as his longest project to date. The guy showed no signs of slowing down. Read Aaron's written profile of Leroy and his work here: https://www.splittoothmedia.com/anthony-leroy/

A new podcast from Split Tooth Media about independent filmmakers where Aaron Bartuska interviews various DIY filmmakers about what keeps them creating. In this episode, we dive deep into Avalon Fast's career, covering topics like what happens after your film sees festival success and why warm weather is overrated. If you were to stumble upon Avalon Fast’s website knowing nothing about the filmmaker, the first things you would see are her name and credentials, a picture of her on set with her friends, and the words “GIRL HORROR” in boldface font. There’s perhaps no better thesis statement for Fast’s body of work than that initial welcome. This past weekend, her sophomore feature CAMP (2025) screened as the centerpiece film at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. The festival is known for defying audience expectation, but you’d think it safe to surmise that all of the films screening in their lineup would at the very least fall within the general confines of the horror genre. When I spoke to Fast a few weeks before the screening, she seemed uncertain how her film would be received in regard to its supposed genre — despite the bold proclamation on her homepage. “I’m curious to see if the world will define CAMP that way," Fast said. "It definitely seems like that’s where it’s been programmed. CAMP is fantasy. It’s genre. Is it horror? I don’t know.” She feels the same about Honeycomb (2022), her debut feature and her most widely seen work. The film, a DIY surrealist dreamscape about a group of girls who take to the woods to start their own society, premiered at the 2022 Slamdance Film Festival and was quickly pigeonholed in a similar way. The majority of Fast’s short films also tend to lean toward the macabre, but the complex themes they explore make them hard to classify as run-of-the-mill genre fare. She has embraced the label, but that doesn’t mean she won’t challenge it. “I like stories that are dark in that way. I think I’m just naturally attracted to that. Why? That’s something that I’m asking myself every time I make a movie.” Be sure to read Aaron's full career overview of Fast's work: https://www.splittoothmedia.com/avalon-fast/ Hosted and produced by Aaron Bartuska Music by Will DiNola

From The Norwegian Drillbit Massacre through Oslo Terror, Xposure Video's debut release collects Møller's films together for the first time. At age 15, Jon Christian Møller and some friends created a shot-on-video splatter film about a power-tool-wielding zombie's murder spree called The Norwegian Drillbit Massacre (1988). The short is full of stomach-busting practical effects and a firecracker-loaded climax. It has since become his best known film, but over a prolific two-year stretch, Møller and his friends made three short films — Drillbit, Cannibal Massacre, and I Hate You (Kill or Die) — and one feature film, The Oslo Terror. These films are exercises in homemade gore effects, stolen soundtracks, and stunts that are more extreme than they probably needed to be. For the first time, these four films are available together on DVD as Videogore: The films of J.C. Møller through Xposure Video, the new label founded by C.B. Cobb and Split Tooth's Vincent Albarano. Craig Wright, Aaron Bartuska, and Albarano team up for another October Horror Split Picks episode to discuss these Norwegian splatter films, and, more specifically, Albarano's direct role in bringing these films to a new audience. As Albarano describes, these are "four jaw droppingly sick dispatches so vile they only could have been made by jovial adolescents." Listen to hear the origin story behind Xposure Video, the common threads running through each of J.C. Møller's films, and what it took to track down and release these films.

Frank Henenlotter is no stranger to capturing misfits, oddballs, and mutated figures on film, but he always manages to find the humanity in each of them. His unique avant-gutter exploitation cinema has resulted in memorable characters and brutal moments, but he embraces the deadly and unpredictable sides that his creations offer. Duane and Belial, the once-conjoined twins who shocked Times Square in Basket Case (1982), are back in Basket Case 2 (1990). They find a new home in a mansion of misfits, but the press is after them and closing in. Bad Biology (2008) follows a woman with seven clitori and an insatiable — sometimes murderous — sex drive, and has mutant babies moments after the act; her path collides with a man who has an uncontrollable, brain-controlling, drug-addled penis. This is a genuine weird film for those seeking something they've never seen before — or could even imagine exists. Our host Jim Hickcox is joined by filmmakers and film teachers Steve Collins and film Spencer Parsons. Maybe don't listen to this episode at work...

Split Picks reemerges to sift through two classic SOV horrors from director Gary P. Cohen. A mysterious tape left in a small town video store's dropbox leads to the shop's owner becoming immersed in an underground ring of homemade murder tapes in Gary P. Cohen's Video Violence (1987). The town's love for violence only grows more outlandish in the 1988 sequel, Video Violence 2. The chief killers, Howard and Eli, invade the airwaves with pirate broadcasts that show submitted tapes of gruesome killings from their most loyal viewers. Vincent Albarano and Aaron Bartuska make their Split Picks debuts to talk about all things Cohen and shot-on-video horror. Albarano is the author of Aesthetic Deviations, A Critical View of American Shot-On-Video horror, 1984-1994. Bartuska, a filmmaker (watch The Yardley Boys) and film teacher, recently spoke with Cohen for a career-spanning interview. With host Craig Wright, they spend some time with the hosts of the Howard and Eli Show and their gruesome tape collection.

Rather than bore listeners with the details of their miraculous escape, Bennett and Jim share their end-of-season reflections and rankings of the entire first season of Showtime's Masters of Horror. Created by Mick Garris, Masters of Horror was a two-season series on Showtime that challenged genre legends to create an hour-long horror film. Follow along as Bennett and Jim are forced to spend no more than 20 minutes discussing each episode from the first season of the series or face a room full of poisonous gas.

Split Picks is back to venture into dream worlds and nightmares from one of the modern master of horror's great franchises. Well, Split Picks aimed to record an episode every month this year. But things got busy, OK? So Jim Hickcox is once again in the host throne to field Split Picks' first international call. Terry Chiu (Open Doom Crescendo and Mangoshake director), and Mark Hanson of the Bay Street Video Podcast call in from Canada. Together, Split Picks heads into the Further to talk about the first two Insidious films. When Jim and Terry spoke earlier this year, Terry promised watching Insidious and Insidious 2 back-to-back was the ultimate cinematic experience. The narratives collide in ways that few franchises manage to achieve successfully. So everyone watched them as a pair and have gathered to report back to see if Terry's promises holds up. The creator of the Saw, Conjuring and Insidious franchises, plus Malignant and Dead Silence (and don't forget Aquaman and Furious 7), James Wan has earned his title as the most influential modern director of horror. With Insidious and Insidious 2, Wan follows a family that comes to realize their new house may be haunted. Along the way they encounter mysterious dream worlds, lost souls, and a team of paranormal experts who may help them escape their situation. Throughout, the crew debate Wan's standing in horror by diving deep into how his strengths — and his lesser tendencies — became so influential.

Imprint scared Showtime’s censors enough to pull it from the release schedule. Even our seasoned podcasters have to admit it’s pretty grim. Takashi Miike is back to his old tricks with Imprint. It’s got gore, grotesqueries, and all sorts of torture. Bennett and Jim also found it far more atmospheric than your average Season 1 episode.  As with last year’s look at Miike on Split Picks, our hosts admire Miike’s craft while occasionally wincing at some of his more excessive decisions. Imprint has plenty of images that still surprise in 2024 and must’ve been utterly scandalous almost 20 years ago.  Not sure you can handle Imprint? Skip watching it and listen to Bennett and Jim’s discussion instead. Created by Mick Garris, Masters of Horror was a two-season series on Showtime that challenged genre legends to create an hour-long horror film. Follow along as Bennett and Jim are forced to spend no more than 20 minutes discussing each episode from the first season of the series or face a room full of poisonous gas.

It’s an undead orgy on this fun yet frivolous episode which sees John McNaughton fill in for George Romero in the director’s chair. The penultimate episode of Season 1 finds 'Masters of Horror' looking more like “Goosebumps for adults” than ever. Its title character finds himself confronting horrible truths about the ways love and lust can endure after death.  Bennett and Jim wonder what the Haeckel estate must think of this strange tale, ask which periods Jon Polito could realistically live in, and discuss McNaughton’s classic 'Wild Things.' Created by Mick Garris, Masters of Horror was a two-season series on Showtime that challenged genre legends to create an hour-long horror film. Follow along as Bennett and Jim are forced to spend no more than 20 minutes discussing each episode from the first season of the series or face a room full of poisonous gas.

"Pick Me Up" isn’t just a great episode of TV, it’s an underrated gem that Bennett and Jim both recommend highly to all genre fans. Michael Moriarty delivers a performance for the ages in Larry Cohen’s final directorial effort, the high-concept thrill ride, 'Pick Me Up.' Moriarty is one of two roving killers who menace a bus full of passengers before trailing our final girl (The Waterboy’s Fairuza Balk). One killer’s a trucker who picks up passengers before dispatching them. The other’s a drifter who thumbs rides to make his kills. Come for that can’t-miss premise and stay for the inventive kills and one-of-a-kind acting choices. Created by Mick Garris, Masters of Horror was a two-season series on Showtime that challenged genre legends to create an hour-long horror film. Follow along as Bennett and Jim are forced to spend no more than 20 minutes discussing each episode from the first season of the series or face a room full of poisonous gas.

An unusually sweet episode of Masters of Horror with two eccentric central performances wows your hosts. Don’t let all the goop, slime, and creepy critters fool you, Lucky McKee’s 'Sick Girl' is remarkably tender for an episode of 'Masters of Horror.' Angela Bettis returns from Mckee’s 'May' (2001) in a superficially similar story of an eccentric loner searching for love. Here, she’s an entomologist whose field of study tends to send partners packing. Bettis affects cartoon voices throughout. Some viewers may find her performance grating, but Jim and Bennett agreed it was a series highlight while also cheering the performance of Erin “Misty Mae” Brown. Will your host’s survive this latest ordeal? Who knows!?!

The podcast enters a stretch of top-notch episodes with William Malone’s visually distinct and genuinely creepy installment. Throughout the season, the boys have made plenty of jokes at the expense of directors like William Malone. “Really, he’s a master of horror?” Like feardotcom and House on Haunted Hill, The Fair Haired Child proves that William Malone definitely deserves that distinction.  With strange flashbacks and an occult mystery plot, the episode has some of the most arresting images and performances of the whole series. Despite some Nu Metal styling and a sometimes exposition-heavy script, this is one episode that could hopefully encourage viewers to give its director’s output a second look. Created by Mick Garris, Masters of Horror was a two-season series on Showtime that challenged genre legends to create an hour-long horror film. Follow along as Bennett and Jim are forced to spend no more than 20 minutes discussing each episode from the first season of the series or face a room full of poisonous gas.

Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em! The boys are lighting up and taking a drag on the latest episode as they discuss John Carpenter’s first contribution to Masters of Horror. If you’ve seen one episode of Masters of Horror, it’s probably this entry from the master himself, John Carpenter. It’s often regarded as the best and the presence of Udo Kier in the cast goes a long way in helping establish its atmosphere. Otherwise, it’s a pretty standard episode of the show. Your hosts discuss the dangers of depicting “art that kills you” and the highs and lows of its masterful director’s career, and the strange angel in Udo Kier's house.  Give it a listen, if you dare. Created by Mick Garris, Masters of Horror was a two-season series on Showtime that challenged genre legends to create an hour-long horror film. Follow along as Bennett and Jim are forced to spend no more than 20 minutes discussing each episode from the first season of the series or face a room full of poisonous gas.

John Landis’ horny horror-comedy indulges many of the series’ worst impulses with its tale of a seductive cryptid. Max Landis earned his first screenwriting credit with his father’s entry in Masters of Horror’s first season. It’s an auteurist effort in the worst sense, blending plenty of misogyny into its tonal soup.  Bennett offers a hot take for the ages about the genre mashups and the boys weigh the merits of Landis’ careers in both horror and comedy. Put on your hunting vests and check it out.  Created by Mick Garris, Masters of Horror was a two-season series on Showtime that challenged genre legends to create an hour-long horror film. Follow along as Bennett and Jim are forced to spend no more than 20 minutes discussing each episode from the first season of the series or face a room full of poisonous gas.

One of the most acclaimed Masters of Horror installments, Joe Dante’s political satire takes Jim and Bennett back to the 2004 election Jim and Bennett are reporting for duty on the latest (pod)Casters of Horror to discuss Joe Dante’s acclaimed entry in Masters of Horror’s first season.  Slain servicemen rise from the grave in Homecoming to cast their ballots against an unnamed (and poorly imitated) George W. Bush. Your hosts discuss Small Soldiers, their memories of Bush-era America, and much more. Created by Mick Garris, Masters of Horror was a two-season series on Showtime that challenged genre legends to create an hour-long horror film. Follow along as Bennett and Jim are forced to spend no more than 20 minutes discussing each episode from the first season of the series or face a room full of poisonous gas.

Series maestro Mick Garris tries his hand at writing and directing in this series lowlight. Bennett and Jim don’t break from consensus here Gangs of New York’s Henry Thomas appears in Mick Garris’ high-concept romance as a food scientist with a psychic connection to a mysterious woman. With an abysmal soundtrack and a “you’re probably wondering how I got here” framing device, Chocolate doesn’t offer much to recommend.  Jim and Bennett try their best to see the best in Chocolate. If nothing else, they agree that Matt Frewer is having fun. Save yourself half an hour. Skip watching Chocolate and listen to (Pod)Casters of Horror instead.  Created by Mick Garris, Masters of Horror was a two-season series on Showtime that challenged genre legends to create an hour-long horror film. Follow along as Bennett and Jim are forced to spend no more than 20 minutes discussing each episode from the first season of the series or face a room full of poisonous gas.

Yowza! Put the kids to bed before you check out the latest (pod)Casters of Horror. Dario Argento keeps it spooky and sexy in his underrated installment Steven Weber (Dracula: Dead and Loving It) gets in way over his head during Dario Argento’s Jenifer. After saving a young girl's life, he finds she has a unique appetite that puts everyone around her in danger. With queasy sexuality and relentless momentum, the giallo master proves that his mid-aughts are just as interesting as any period in his career. All that’s missing is an appearance from Asia Argento! Listen to the conversation before you check out the episode for yourself. Created by Mick Garris, Masters of Horror was a two-season series on Showtime that challenged genre legends to create an hour-long horror film. Follow along as Bennett and Jim are forced to spend no more than 20 minutes discussing each episode from the first season of the series or face a room full of poisonous gas.

Tobe Hooper has done it again. On the latest (Pod)Casters of Horror, Bennett and Jim argue that Dance of the Dead is a late-career triumph. Masters of Horror doesn’t have the best reputation and perhaps no episode has attracted more derision than Tobe Hooper’s post-apocalyptic Dance of the Dead. Among the most nü-metal pieces of media ever created, Dance of the Dead follows a post-nuclear war town with drugged-up teenagers looking for thrills. Featuring Robert Englund as a twisted night club emcee, it’s the first episode of the series to truly feel like a nightmare that you can’t see on network TV. Unsurprisingly, Bennett and Jim find plenty to love in the episode. They sing the praises of Robert Englund’s go-for-broke performance, the scuzzy mise-en-scene, and Hooper’s total disinterest in narrative. It’s another late-career triumph from one of the best to ever do it.  Listen for yourself.

It’s not Stuart Gordon’s best Lovecraft adaptation, but Masters of Horror’s sophomore efforts gives your favorite sophomoric podcasters plenty to discuss. It’s time for a trip to ye olde Rhode Island on the latest (Pod)Casters of Horror as Bennett and Jim discuss the first of Stuart Gordon’s episodes, an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's The Dreams in the Witch House. Walter (Ezra Godden) begins having horrible dreams of a witch and a rat-faced man. Give it a listen to hear Bennett’s thoughts on the difference between hitting yourself in the head versus hitting your head on something and much, much more. Created by Mick Garris, Masters of Horror was a two-season series on Showtime that challenged genre legends to create an hour-long horror film. Follow along as Bennett and Jim are forced to spend no more than 20 minutes discussing each episode from the first season of the series or face a room full of poisonous gas.

Bennett and Jim tackle Don Coscarelli’s series premiere, a trip through familiar genre territory The first episode of Masters of Horror reflects the predicament Bennett and Jim find themselves in. Bree Turner stars as a woman who takes an ill-fated trip down the titular pass. She encounters a backwoods murderer whose whole shtick is a touch too familiar. Don Coscarelli directed the first four 'Phantasm' films, 'Bubba Ho-Tep,' and 'John Dies at the End,' among others. With only 20 minutes on the clock, the duo discuss topics that include survivalism, horror comics, and indie rock. Will they find the brevity to power them through to the next episode (Stuart Gordon's Dreams In The Witch House), or will the time constraint prove too challenging to succeed? Find the whole series here: https://www.splittoothmedia.com/podcasters-of-horror/