108 | What Keeps You Alive

Director/Writer: Colin Minihan

Synopsis: Jules & Jackie are a couple celebrating their one-year anniversary by spending the weekend at Jackie’s family’s isolated lake house. An unexpected meeting causes a rift between the couple, as one of them begins to discover that the other is not who she says she is, & may have ulterior motives.

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You’re gonna want to strap in for this next movie; you may find yourself blown away by any number of things: the EPIC score, the trippy camera work and use of color, or Nic Cage’s awesome performance as the axe-wielding husband (a self-forged axe, no less), hell-bent on revenge. Do yourself a favor and join us next time when we sit down to review Mandy.

Into/outro music courtesy of Peter Perfect. Check him out on Instagram | Soundcloud 

All other music this episode by Forest Swords

We briefly talk about the book The Indifferent Stars Above, by Daniel James Brown, which tells the story of one of the members of the ill-fated Donner party.

107 | Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich

Directors: Sonny Laguna & Tommy Wiklund

Writer: S. Craig Zahler

Synopsis: Thomas Lennon plays Edgar, a somewhat pathetic dude who is forced to move back in with his parents after a divorce. He decides to sell his murdered brother’s doll at a convention celebrating the 30th anniversary of the original puppet massacre, which turns out to be a very bad idea. As fans & collectors converge on the site of the murders, a mysterious force begins to animate the dolls once again.

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If you count yourself among the group of folks who love the movie Grave Encounters, then you'll want to join us next time as we discuss writer/director Colin Miniham's latest contribution to the horror genre, What Keeps You Alive.

Into/outro music courtesy of Peter Perfect. Check him out on Instagram | Soundcloud 

All over music this episode by Hudson Mohawke

106 | The Meg

Director: Jon Turtletaub

Writers: Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber. Based on the novel by Steve Alten.

Synopsis: Jason Statham plays a diver who is still reeling from a tragic mission in which his split-second decision resulted in the death of his best friend. He is called out of retirement to rescue his ex wife, whose craft is stuck in the deepest part of the ocean & is under threat from a mysterious giant creature. There he must not only contend with the Megalodon, but also his former colleagues who believe he made the wrong choice in his last mission.

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Join us next time as we discuss the newest Puppet Master movie, written by the guy who brought you Bone Tomahawk & featuring Lt. Jim Dangle. Sounds like a hoot, right?

All music courtesy of Peter Perfect. Check him out on Instagram | Soundcloud 

105 | Tragedy Girls

Director: Tyler MacIntyre

Writers: Tyler MacIntyre & Chris Lee Hill

Synopsis: Two midwestern high school seniors, Sadie & McKayla, are obsessed with true crime, & run their own blog, Tragedy Girls. Much to their delight, a series of killings in their small town seem to be the work of one psychopath. The girls figure this will be just the thing to get their blog to blow up, if only the police would stop ruling the deaths accidental. So they decide to become more proactive, catching the killer themselves, & keeping him captive while they continue his work.

We mention artist Kristen Liu-Wong in this episode. Check out her work here.

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It's finally time for The Meg! Join us next time as we discuss the obvious winner in the fight between Jason Statham and Megalodon.

Intro/outro music courtesy of Peter Perfect. Check him out on Instagram | Soundcloud 

All other music in this episode is by Kai Engel & licensed under an Attribution License. 

104 | Revenge

Written/Directed: Coralie Fargeat

Synopsis: A young woman named Jen is enjoying a trip with her wealthy, married boyfriend to his impressive desert vacation home, when his two hunting buddies drop in on them a day earlier than scheduled. Jen tries to be a good sport, gamely interacting with the other men, but when her boyfriend leaves her alone with them, one of the men violently attacks & rapes her. When her boyfriend fails to take her side in the matter, & she refuses to accept his payoff, the men throw her off a cliff & leave her for dead, going about their hunting trip as if nothing happened. But when they return to collect her body, it’s gone. That’s when the hunters…. BECOME THE HUNTED.

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Next time, another listener request! Join us in two weeks to discuss Tragedy Girls.

Music courtesy of Peter Perfect. Check him out on Instagram | Soundcloud

103 | I Remember You

Director: Oskar Thor Axelsson

Writers: Oskar Thor Axelsson, Otto Geir Borg, [novel by] Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Synopsis: A psychiatrist mourning the mysterious disappearance of his son is caught up in another mystery, when he is called in to assist a detective in the investigation of a suicide. An old woman has hung herself, but her body showed clear signs of abuse, which didn’t seem to come from her husband. Together they uncover her connection to another missing boy, one who disappeared decades ago, & whose apparition has begun to appear to the psychiatrist. Could these events somehow be connected to his own missing son?

Another plot line follows an uneasy trio who travel to the same area in Iceland to renovate an old cabin. The husband & wife have recently patched things up after a separation following the loss of their child. They are accompanied by a female friend, & there are clear unspoken conflicts at the heart of each person’s relationship with the other, though the nature of those conflicts aren’t revealed right away. Amidst the renovation montages & tense interactions with her husband & friend, the wife also begins to have visions of the mysterious boy.

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Next movie will be the aptly-named rape revenge thriller, Revenge.

Music courtesy of Peter Perfect. Check him out on Instagram | Soundcloud

102 | The Poughkeepsie Tapes

Writer: Drew & John Erick Dowdle

Director: John Erick Dowdle

Synopsis: When police discover a trove of video tapes in an abandoned house they learn that a serial killer has been living in their town, & is responsible for dozens of what they had thought to be unrelated murders. The killer is an expert at throwing investigators off his scent, constantly varying his MO to baffle profilers. It is only through the killer’s meticulously catalogued tape library that authorities are finally able to connect the pieces, but by this time the mysterious figure is long gone.

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Next movie will be Icelandic horror flick, I Remember You (currently streaming on US Netflix).

Intro/Outro music courtesy Peter Perfect. Check him out on Instagram | Soundcloud

101 | Hereditary

Writer/Director: Ari Aster

Stars: Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff & Milly Shapiro

Synopsis: We meet the Graham family shortly after the death of Annie’s mother, a strange & private old woman who had been living with the family during her illness. Annie is conflicted over her mother’s death, since they had been estranged on & off. Days after the funeral a horrible accident happens, & there is another loss in the family. This one hits everyone much harder, & they also have to contend with horrible nightmares & terrifying visions & sounds. As Annie copes with her grief she starts to suspect that unseen forces might be at work, guiding the events in their lives for some mysterious purpose.

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For our next episode, we're dipping into our bag of listener suggestions and reviewing The Poughkeepsie Tapes. Join us in a couple weeks to discuss this cult classic found footage flick.

Intro/Outro music courtesy Peter Perfect. Check him out on Instagram | Soundcloud

100 | Jaws

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writers: Peter Benchley (based on his novel, Jaws) & Carl Gottlieb 

Stars: Roy Schneider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw

Synopsis: You know what this one’s about, I’d wager, but just in case - Roy Scheider plays police chief Martin Brody, who is learning the hard way what a pain in the ass it can be living in a tourist town. It’s Chief Brody’s first Fourth of July on Amity island, & he’s stuck between a rock & a hard place, because this 20’+ great white shark keeps picking people off the beaches & eating them, but they can’t close the beaches down, because the town will lose so much moneeeeeeeey. So the town hires salty old dog Quint (Robert Shaw) to hunt the giant shark. Quint & the Chief set out to kill the beast with the help of a fresh-faced marine biologist, played by Richard Dreyfuss.

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Up next, it's A24's new joint, Hereditary. We've been waiting for this one since it scared the pants off Sundance audiences back in January. Will it live up to the hype? 

Intro/Outro music courtesy Peter Perfect. Check him out on Instagram | Soundcloud