WDIRT V3: E1-E3

And finally the third volume of WDIRT episodes is now available as separate episodes. Again.

WDIRT V3E1: Eyes of Fire (1983)
Here's another instance of my stupidity: I saw the very intriguing video box image for Eyes of Fire probably 50 million times back in my teens and never took a chance on renting it. Dumb, Mark, just plain dumb! This is one fascinating oddity that has never really gotten its chance to shine. The film didn't get very positive reviews when it came out, died at the box office, and wasn't given a VHS release until 1987. At that point it gained a cult following, but once again got buried in obscurity. If you like The Witch you should definitely check this one out!

 

WDIRT V3E2: Xtro (1982)
WUH came back from hiatus with a new WDIRT episode on Harry Bromley Davenport's nutso early-80s Alien rip-off that's actually so much more than that. Filled with too many WTF moments to count, and some of the most inspired and gloopy SFX from the era, Xtro would have damaged my brain as a kid. Now that I'm older I can soak in this odd-ball treasure with wild abandon.

 

WDIRT V3E3: Alone in the Dark (1982)
The last WDIRT in Volume 3 is on Jack Sholder's quirky slasher-home-invasion hybrid Alone in the Dark. It's got Martin Landau as a pyromaniac ex-preacher, Jack Palance as a paranoid POW, Erlind van Lidth as a hulking child-molester, and the mysterious hockey-mask-wearing killer known as The Bleeder. Donald Pleasence rounds out the cast as the equally nutty psychiatrist Dr. Leo Bain.

S5E4. I died for you: Deathdream (1974)

Welcome to the finale of WUH's series on the early horror films of Alan Ormsby and Bob Clark. The series-long co-host is Mike White, from The Projection Booth Podcast, with Heather Drain, Chris Stachiw, and Samm Deighan joining us for one of the three episodes, respectively. Also included in each episode is a portion of an interview with Simon Fitzjohn, who wrote I'm Going to Kill You, a book on the films of Bob Clark.

On this final episode Samm Deighan joins Mike and me to discuss Deathdream, which was filmed on the heels of CSPWDT in 1972, but not released until 1974, after Deranged. Bob Clark directed from a script by Ormsby, who once again created the make-up effects with help of first-timer Tom Savini. 

Deathdream aka Dead of Night et al, is the story of Andy Brooks (Richard Backus) who is killed in Viet Nam, but willed back to life and back home by his grief-stricken mother. As with most "Monkey's Paw" inspired tales, this does not bode well for Andy or those he cares about. Also starring John Marley and Lynn Carlin as Andy's parents, Anya Ormsby as his sister, and Jane Daly (both from CSPWDT) as his old girlfriend. Ormsby, Clark, and Jeff Gillen all have cameos. 

Where to watch • IMDb listing • Wikipedia page

S5E3. Deranged: Confessions of a Necrophile (1974)

Welcome to the second in a three-episode series on the early horror films of Alan Ormsby and Bob Clark. The series-long co-host is Mike White, from The Projection Booth Podcast, with Heather Drain, Chris Stachiw, and Samm Deighan joining us for one of the three episodes, respectively. Also included in each episode is a portion of an interview with Simon Fitzjohn, who wrote I'm Going to Kill You, a book on the films of Bob Clark. 

On this episode Chris Stachiw joins Mike and me to discuss Deranged: Confessions of a Necrophile, a very faithful telling of the Ed Gein story. Ormsby wrote the script and co-directed the film with Jeff Gillen (an Ormsby/Clark regular), with Bob Clark acting as (an uncredited) producer. As with CSPWDT and Deathdream Ormsby also supplied much of the special make-up effects, with help from a young up-and-comer named Tom Savini.

Roberts Blossom plays Ezra Cobb, a middle-aged mid-westerner who has been sheltered and coddled by his domineering religious zealot of a mother. When she dies, Ezra is left to his own warped devices and starts to lose what little he had left of his sanity. This leads to grave-robbing, morbid arts and crafts, and, ultimately, murder. With Clark regulars Leslie Carlson, as an intrepid news correspondent, and Marian Waldman, as a potential love-interest for Ezra.

Why yes, I have talked about Deranged before. Might be interesting to see what I said back on this early WDIRT episode.

Where to watch • IMDb listing • Wikipedia page

WUH x TPB + Cronenberg = An Awesome October! (Part 1)

I've teamed up with Mike White yet again, this time for a crossover event between WUH and TPB on two films by acclaimed director David Cronenberg. First up is Shivers (1975). 

After directing two experimental films (Stereo and Crimes of the Future) David Cronenberg realized that if making movies would be his vocation he would need to do something "commercial." And at the time commercial, more often than not, meant exploitation. Inspired in part by a nightmare he'd had Cronenberg set about to write a screenplay for the Canuxploitation Pioneers at Cinepix. What emerged was Shivers, which introduced audiences and critics to a new kind of horror film and courted controversy not only for its subject matter but also for its manner of funding. In Shivers Cronenberg's secular world view and body, or venereal, horror is present from the start. 

Shivers stars Paul Hampton as Dr. Roger St. Luc, Lynn Lowry as Nurse Forsythe, Susan Petrie as Janine Tudor, Allan Kolman as Nick Tudor, and Barbara Steele as Betts, all residents of the luxury apartment complex Starliner Tower. The film also features the inimitable Joe Silver as Rollo Linsky. Dr. Emil Hobbes’ experiment with "helpful" parasites has gone awry and now the tenants of the Starliner are under attack by the polyamorous creatures. Can the residents of the Starliner stop the infection from spreading to nearby Montreal and beyond? Or do they even want to?

This episode also features an interview with Luke Aspell, author of the Shivers monograph from Auteur Publishing. Purchase your copy here. 

Music: "Shivers"-Boys Next Door

Where to watch • IMDb listing • Wikipedia page

WUH: Cronenberg Clinic

No, I'm not giving a clinic on Cronenberg (I wouldn't presume to be an expert all of a sudden) although, since March of this year I think I've taken one myself! This is more of a primer for the upcoming Cronenberg Crossover event with The Projection Booth Podcast. Having read, watched, and absorbed so much Cronenberg over the last seven months it only seems natural that all the connections in his work would settle in and demand exploring. Plus, the title is a nice little pun since so many of his early films feature a Clinic of one sort or another. And I like puns! AND I get to use this awesome player image again! Win, win.

Where to watch • IMDb listing • Wikipedia page

WDIRT V4E1: Visiting Hours (1982)

When is a WDIRT entry not really a WDIRT entry? When you realize half-way through the movie that you HAVE seen it before. That was the case when I finally tracked down Visiting Hours a few years back. Thinking I would remember having seen a horror movie with William Shatner in it I watched it in hopes of discovering a new old favorite. But then I started getting the strangest feeling of déjà vu, and finally realized I had watched this at some point back in the VHS days of my youth.

Decimated by critics upon release, and currently standing with a 15% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I, for one, really dig this one. Michael Ironside adds some sympathy to his sleazy stalker and Lee Grant gets to kick some butt. What's not to like?

Where to watch • IMDb listing • Wikipedia page

Why do I hate slashers?

Well, I don't actually! In past episodes I have made mention that during the VHS glory days (which has supplied much of the grist for this podcast's mill) slashers weren't on the top of my watch list. Yes, when I was younger I watched and very much enjoyed the original Halloween (and Halloween II for that matter), and catching F13: The Final Chapter was a watershed moment, but it's always been the weird oddities that I gravitated toward. When my passion for horror was reinvigorated back in 2012 I decided I needed to finally dig into all those slice-and-dice classics I passed in the racks of my local video store.

I was recently asked by Sam Panico to submit a Top Ten Slashers list for his site B & S About Movies, and it got me to thinking about a series I had considered awhile back (and probably mentioned on the show at one point or another) called Why Do I Hate Slashers (I Don't Actually)? Some of the films from my top ten list have been discussed on the show (Black Christmas, Alice, Sweet Alice, etc.) so we'll skip those for this series. Everything else is fair game, starting with the gonzo Pieces (1982).

[All WDIHS (IDA) episodes will be posted to this entry.]

Where to watch • IMDb listing • Wikipedia page

MBV is a Canadian entry into the slasher genre (you can really hear the accents in this one) and a prime example of Holiday Horror (still waiting for a Flag Day Slasher). We’ve got all the staples of an ‘80s slasher—a masked killer, decent amounts of gore (in the uncut version), misdirection, and humor—but instead of teenage babysitters or camp counselors we’ve got 20-something coal miners, and I like that divergence from the norm.

Where to watch • IMDb listing • Wikipedia page

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is MY Friday the 13th. As well as being my favorite of that franchise, it is one of my favorite slashers (I placed it at #3 on my Slasher Top Ten list) AND one of my favorite horror films in general. The film's similarities to Halloween, something I hadn't really thought much about prior to doing this episode, may play a big part in that. What could have been a quick cash-grab ended up being one of the more humorous, human, and effective entries in the series. There's certainly no hate her for this one!

Where to watch • IMDb listing • Wikipedia page

A lot of Slasher fans don’t like Happy Birthday to Me, but I dig it. Directed by J. Lee Thompson (best known, by me at least, for his sleazy flicks with Charles Bronson) and starring Glen Ford, Susan Acker, and Melissa Sue Anderson this one is kind of a mess. The ending was changed at the last minute and makes no sense, but for me that’s part of the charm. The set-piece kills are fun, there are red herrings galore, and it’s Canadian! Minus points for having a plethora of asshole characters, but I'll let it slide for this one.

Where to watch • IMDb listing • Wikipedia page

One of a BAJILLION campground Slashers from the early ‘80s The Burning is most famous for ONE scene that features some stellar Savini wet works. What stands out for me is the great cast: Jason Alexander (with HAIR), Fisher Stevens, Brian Backer, and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-her Holly Hunter. It’s also one of the few Summer Camp films that shows the counselors and kids actually doing Summer Camp stuff!

Where to watch • IMDb listing • Wikipedia page • Paste magazine

S1E5. FE2-0880: Black Christmas (1974)

It's that time of year! You know the time, when we watch Bob Clark's Holiday Classic for 24 hours. No, not THAT Holiday Classic, THIS classic! That's right, Clark's Black Christmas, the proto-slasher that, according to many, inspired John Carpenter's Halloween, and laid the bloody groundwork for one of the most popular horror sub-genres. I explore the similarities and differences between the two films, and offer up some potentially controversial theories

This is overall a shorter episode, with some talk toward the end about listeners, corrections, and other fun stuff. Next month will bring the season finale on Eraserhead, with WUH's first real, live guest, which should make it the longest episode to date. 

LANGUAGE WARNING: Please note, the obscene phone calls from the film are exactly that. Only one of the clips contains this language, and it plays between 15:17-15:40

Where to watch • IMDb listing • Wikipedia page • Halloween Connections • Ad Campaign

[EPISODE CORRECTION: The murder that the urban legend of The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs is supposedly based on actually took place in 1950 in Missouri.]