Saturday Night Freak Show

Kolin kontends with Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)! In this pastiche of 1950's-era alien invasion flicks, clown-like creatures from space arrive in a small American town and begin luring and trapping the citizenry using circus-inspired gags including cotton candy cocoons and lethal popcorn guns, while two lovebirds try to get the authorities to believe and assist them in stopping the killer clowns before it's too late. Listen as we prattle on about the Chidodo Brothers, clown gags, old school special effects and 50's sci-fi movies on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela parts the continents, brings down the wrath of the gods, and tosses bears into space alongside Hercules (1983), starring Lou ("The Incredible Hulk") Ferrigno as the musclebound hero. In this unholy alliance between Cannon Films and Italian genre cinema, Starcrash director Luigi Cozzi guides Hercules through his 12 labors, complete with power swords, laser beams, robot monsters, scantily clad ladies, and feats of strength. Listen as we marvel at the adventures of the mighty Hercules on this week's exciting show! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly tries to cast out the Devil (and his junior partner Abalam) using The Last Exorcism (2010). A documentary film crew follows a charismatic preacher who has fallen from grace and now intends to expose exorcism as hokum; but, of course, the remote farm he's summoned to may be home to real demonic evil after all. Listen as we dive in to the Freak Show's first found-footage movie and talk about demons, religion, and giant sharks on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean uses the word "nostalgia" one time too many in his review of I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) as a quartet of Hollywood up-and-comers, including Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar, appear in this Scream-style "diet" slasher movie in which they are each stalked by a killer in a fisherman's getup as payback for a murder they covered up the year before. Listen as we try to work out some slasher-movie logic, connect dots between performers in 1990's TV shows, and admire J Love's stylish cleavage-enhancing ensembles on this week's exciting show!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin discovers there really are giant alligators living in the sewers in the monster movie Alligator (1980), which finds cop Robert Forster hunting down the 25 foot long beast that ate his partner. Said gator had been down in the sewers eating disposed of test animals from a pharmaceutical company, and all hell breaks loose when it comes above ground and starts chomping its way through the mean streets of the city! Listen as we talk about receding hairlines, live animals on miniature sets, horror movies for dogs, and get gleeful about monsters eating kids on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly thinks the only actor good enough to star opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme is Jean-Claude Van Damme in Double Impact (1991), which finds the action star stretching his acting muscles to play two brothers - separated at birth - who meet up in Hong Kong to get revenge for their parents' murder. Listen as we talk about Hollywood's history of actors acting opposite themselves, the weirdness of neon-lit sex dreams, and reluctantly (accidentally?) add JCVD to the SNFS Wall of Fame, on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela's chases her Cannon Films fixation directly into a chainsaw duel against The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986). It's 13 years later and the cannibalistic clan of psychos prowl the back roads of Texas, selling their own brand of BBQ and stalking a radio DJ while a vengeful ex-Texas Ranger named "Lefty" pursues them in order to meet out his own brand of justice. Listen as we ponder the cultural significance of the official sequel to one of the greatest horror films of all time, bask in awe and wonder at Bill Mosely's Chop-Top character, and try to kill the composer to one of the worst movie scores ever recorded on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean gives up on life and happiness by subjecting himself and to the Italian-made Aliens/Terminator ripoff Shocking Dark (1989). Borrowing so liberally from James Cameron's films as so we're sure there was a lawsuit involved, a group of soldiers get trapped in a tunnel underneath futuristic Venice where slimy creatures are out to get them. And, there might be a Terminator. And time travel, too. Listen as we analyze the new Halloween trailer! But first, you have to listen to us talk about Italian rip-off artists and the films they've made, all on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin celebrates the 30th anniversary of the practical effects monster movie The Blob (1988). A meteor falls to earth carrying a sentient, gooey substance that grows larger by absorbing living organisms and soon grows large enough to threaten a small town. Only The Lesser Dillon and that girl from the Saw movies stand between humanity and a killer glob of alien goo in this sci-fi remake of the 50's classic. Listen as we talk about remakes, practical effects magic, and mullets on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela finds the soul for getting down to Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984) a Cannon-produced cash-grab sequel with one of the most memorable titles in all of filmdom. In this musical adventure, our heroes Special K, Ozone and Turbo find that an evil corporate developer wants to install a shopping mall (gasp!) on the site of their community performance hall. What can be done to save the day? Put on a dance show, of course! Listen as we begin 2018's Summer of Cannon with our own sequel show of sorts; invent a movie called Turntable Time Machine; and Sean nearly passes out from a summer cold, all on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly is pretty sure the makers of Samurai Cop (1991) don't know anything about samurai, police procedure or the fundamentals of filmmaking. In a film that's become a cult classic because of its enthusiastic ineptitude, man-of-action and chick-magnet L.A. cop Joe "Samurai" Marshall becomes the target of the Japanese mob and leaves a trail of bodies across the city on a crusade to wipe out "drugs and destruction". Listen as we marvel at the lack of samurai cops, badly staged chase scenes, cheap production value, corny dialogue, and paper-mache lion head trophies on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean begins to think that tiny, ear-burrowing aliens are taking over the world in The Faculty (1998), as director Robert Rodriguez assembles a who's-who of 1990's screen talent to perform in Scream-writer Kevin Williamson's mashup of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Thing. Listen as we bring in a real-life teacher to confirm or deny the accuracy of onscreen events, talk about alien invasion movies, the curse of indie cinema directors, 90's wallpaper soundtracks and more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin breaks his Bowie knife, explosive tipped arrowheads, and red bandanna out of mothballs in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Rambo III (1988). This time, Rambo has to go bail Colonel Trautman out of a Soviet jail in Afghanistan and along the way he blows stuff up so much he sets the silver screen on fire! Listen as we talk at length about shearing sheep, the tipping point of 80's action movies, Rambomania, and more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela keeps one eye on the clock all through In Time (2011), a futuristic sci-fi yarn in which time has replaced money as the world's currency. Justin Timberlake finds he has all the time he needs once he's gifted 100 years by a random stranger. Soon, he's watching his time tick away while on the run from the Time Keepers as he tries to punch the clock of the rich and powerful masters of society. Listen as we declare "it's about time someone made Justin Timberlake an action hero!", debate the mechanics of how the movie's central premise actually works, and do our best to explore the film's subtext on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly discovers where the wild things are when ventures into the jungle to watch The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), the legendary Hollywood debacle that featured the combustible on-screen pairing of egomaniacs Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer, and obliterated the career of earnest-but-in-over-his-head director Richard Stanley. Listen as we try to determine why it's taken so long for us to review the movie, talk about the tortured behind the scenes chaos, and wonder aloud why Marlon Brando is considered one of the movies' greatest actors. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean sees a need for law enforcement to police renegade Roombas in Runaway (1984), a what-if futuristic scenario from writer/director Michael Crichton that finds domestic robots turned homicidal killers. TV's Magnum P.I. Tom Selleck leads the charge against evil chip manufacturer Gene Simmons, who does look very sinister in a suit and tie. Listen as we dog on the movie for where its future technological prognostications went wrong, recall the dread of being called on in class, and we pledge to mindwipe Howard the Duck from the collective memory, all on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Colin doubts interspecies fishsex is anything but gross after watching Humanoids from the Deep (1980), a Roger Corman-produced schlockfest in which mutant fishmen attack a small seaside community to kill the men and rape the women in an attempt to further their biological evolution. Listen as we dive deep into the flipside of the Shape of Water and say NO to merman intercourse while finding joy in rubber monster suits, splattery gore, and find time to name our celebrity crushes, all on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Michaela remembers what it was like to be a teen girl in the 90's when she catches Fear (1997). Cute-as-a-button Reese Witherspoon falls in love with unhinged sociopath Mark Wahlberg who displays increasingly aggressive behavior until her father (William Petersen) gets into the mix, triggering a violent showdown between her family and Wahlberg's gang of thugs. Listen as we talk a walk on the wildside with the Funky Bunch and decide Wahlberg's definitely not giving off good vibrations in this coming-of-age home invasion thriller by way of a gender-flipped Fatal Attraction. All aboard! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holly ventures deep into the Amazon and gets wrapped up in the giant snake movie Anaconda (1997)! Jennifer Lopez and company set sail down the river and pick up Great Snake Hunter Jon Voight who proceeds to imperil the crew and chew scenery in his search for the biggest snake that ever lived. Listen as we take the wayback machine to the glory days of big budget, big studio creature features and face off against an animatronic snake and his CGI stunt double on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sean is heaven-sent and hell on wheels after choosing to watch The Wraith (1986)! A murdered teen exacts revenge from beyond the grave on the street-racing gang who killed him after the netherworld outfits him with a sleek black racing suit and a Dodge Interceptor. Listen as we take a look back at one of the 80's-iest of 80's movies, fawn over the rock n' roll soundtrack, explosions, drag racing, and ghosts on this week's exciting show! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.