158 | The Vast of Night

Directed by Andrew Patterson

Written by Andrew Patterson and Craig W. Sanger (teleplay)

Stars Sierra McCormick, Jake Horowitz, Gail Cronauer, and Bruce Davis

Premiered at The Slamdance Film Festival January 26, 2019, Released May 15, 2020

Rated PG-13

Runtime: 1hr 31min

RT: 92% critics, 65% audience

Almost the entire town of Cayuga, New Mexico is attending a basketball game, but Everett, the local radio DJ and Fay, the switchboard operator, have to work instead. They investigate a strange sound that has broken onto the airwaves and it leads to an extraterrestrial discovery that might put their lives in danger.

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Next up is a film that has been categorized as a “horror comedy thriller.” Trailers can be deceiving but judging by this one it doesn’t seem all that funny to me. If you want to be ready for our next episode you’ll rent She Dies Tomorrow and meet us back here in two weeks. I’ve seen it for $3.99 everywhere, so not bad.

157 | Come to Daddy

Directed by Ant Timpson

Written by Toby Harvard

Stars Elijah Wood, Stephen McHattie, Martin Donovan and Michael Smiley

Premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival April 25, 2019, Released February 7, 2020

Rated R

Runtime: 1hr 36min

RT: 87% critics, 75% audience

A fussy, dorky little man receives a letter from his long lost father seeking to make amends for abandoning the family. He travels to his father’s secluded cabin to reconnect with him, but now that he’s there his father seems to have forgotten he ever invited him. Plus he’s a real asshole. Not that his son is much more palatable himself.

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We were so pleased with the number of listeners who voted for our next movie we decided to thank you by reviewing the runner-up as well. The Vast of Night is a period piece that wears its Twilight Zone influence on its sleeve. Check it out on Prime and join us in two weeks to discuss.

156 | Host

Directed by Rob Savage

Written by Gemma Hurley, Rob Savage & Jed Shepherd

Stars Haley Bishop, Gemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb

Premiered July 30, 2020 (Shudder exclusive)

Rated NR

Runtime: 57 min

RT: 100% critics, 79% audience (finally over 50%!)

A group of college friends quarantining in their respectives homes participate in a seance over Zoom and it somehow works.

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For next time we’re leaving it up to you - which of these four movies should we review next? Clicking the posters will take you to each trailer. We’ll tally your votes here and across our various social accounts and let you know the winner on Friday, 8/28.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

155 | The Rental

Directed by Dave Franco

Written by Dave Franco & Joe Swanberg

Stars Dan Stevens, Alison Brie, Jeremy Allen White, Sheila Vand & Toby Huss

Premiered July 24, 2020

Rated R

Runtime: 1hr 28 min

RT: 73% critics, 44% audience 

Two brothers and their respective partners rent a gorgeous vacation home with some extra audio/visual features they don’t discover until it’s too late. Who has the incriminating footage and how far will they need to go to get it back? 

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Next up, the quarantine-filmed Host, about a seance conducted over Zoom. Yes, I agree that it sounds preposterous, but it’s currently sitting at 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s also 56 minutes long, so if you hate it you’re not out too much time.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

154 | Relic

Written by Natalie Erika James & Christian White

Directed by Natalie Erika James

Stars Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin, Bella Heathcote

Premiered at Sundance January 25, 2020; available to rent

Rated R

Runtime: 1hr 29 min

When family matriarch Edna goes missing her daughter Kay and granddaughter Sam come back to the crumbling family home to look for her. When Edna shows back up she seems different somehow. Could this be the start of dementia or something more supernatural?

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From the episode: Our answers to the round-table question, “who was/is your horror movie crush?” (in order from left to right: Eddie’s, Karen’s, Jamie’s and Amy’s).

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Next up, a film featuring two of the above celebrity crushes. I swear it was a coincidence. The Rental is available to rent meow.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

153 | Antrum

Written/Directed by David Amito, Michael Laicini

Stars Nicole Tompkins, Rowan Smyth, Dan Istrate

Premiered at Brooklyn Horror Film Festival October 14, 2018 released on VOD November 12, 2019

Not rated

Runtime: 1hr 35 min

Antrum is an alleged cursed film made in the late 70s about a sister and brother who journey to an ominous forest to dig a hole to hell in order to contact their deceased dog. The film is presented in its entirety and is bookended with documentary footage regarding the deaths connected with previous screenings.

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Next up, a film about Emily Mortimer’s character in 30 Rock who had Avian Bone Syndrome (hollow bones). Just kidding, but Emily Mortimer does star. It’s available on demand now.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Bloodlust Bites | Shirley

Directed by Josephine Decker

Written by Sarah Gubbins, based on the novel by Susan Scarf Merrell

Stars Elizabeth Moss, Odessa Young, Michael Stuhlbarg and Logan Lerman

Rated R

Runtime of 1hr 47min

Synopsis: In this period drama, young marrieds Fred and Rose move in with real life literary couple Stanley Hyman and Shirley Jackson after the publication of Jackson’s iconic short story “The Lottery.” In addition to finding herself as Jackson’s de facto personal assistant/housekeeper, Rose also becomes Jackson’s window into a new story she’s working on.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

152 | The Wretched

Written/Directed by Brett Pierce & Drew T. Pierce

Stars John-Paul Howard, Piper Curda & Jamison Jones

Premiered at Fantasia Film Festival July 19, 2019, opened in limited drive-ins and on demand May 1 2020,

Not rated

Runtime: 1hr 35 min

16yr old Ben is spending the summer with his father, his parents having recently divorced. He begins to suspect that something sinister is going on at the house next door, but because he’d gotten in trouble recently his dad doesn’t believe him. Will he be able to get to the bottom of the mystery before it’s too late? 

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Next up, the alleged cursed film that’s been sneaking into Amazon Prime viewers’ nightmares, Antrum. Fans of found footage will want to check this one out, as well as lovers of occult horror.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

151 | The Lodge

Horror fans have long understood that horrific things don't only happen in the movies. In fact, 2020 has felt as if it's single-handedly showing us just how horrible the real world can be. While our podcast is a platform for us to discuss the horror genre, we can't ignore the fact that it's this same genre that often provides a catharsis for many of those real-world horrors. 

We at Bloodlust Ventures are troubled by the seemingly endless instances of murder and violence towards POC. We want our black listeners to know that we see you, we hear you, and we will NOT forget about this after the hashtags stop trending.

If you want to support BLM, and have the financial means to do so, please consider joining us in donating.

Directed by Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz

Written by Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz and Sergio Casci

Stars Riley Keough, Alicia Silverstone, Jaeden Martell and Lia McHugh

Rated R

Runtime of 1hr 48 min

“a constant barrage of bad parenting decisions”

— Jamie

Synopsis: A father insists on taking his two children to spend Christmas at their cabin with his new fiance shortly after the death of their mother, then promptly leaves the three of them there together to get to know each other. Already a profoundly stupid idea, right? But it gets so much worse - turns out dad’s fiance is the lone survivor of a Heaven’s Gate-like cult that committed mass suicide not long ago. Why wouldn’t you want to leave her alone with your kids in a remote cabin?

NOTES FROM THE EPISODE:

Okay listeners, which of these two do you think looks more like the cult leader from The Lodge? Let us know in the comments.

Here’s a fun thing I didn’t think of while we were recording - Jamie’s pick for who the cult leader looked like was The Six-Fingered Man (aka Christopher Guest), who played opposite my pick, Chris Sarandon. Ain’t life funny.

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Jim Can’t Swim - True Crime/Police Interrogation videos

Check out his videos and if you find them interesting, you may want to check out his Patreon, where you can subscribe for a very reasonable $1/month and get additional videos.

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Next up, The Wretched, now available for rent on Amazon as well as showing at select drive-in theaters. This movie is real hot right now and probably owes a lot of that success to the fact that times are crazy and one of the few escapes for folks is to head to the the drive-in.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/