In part 3 of the Live at TanoshiiCon Panels Matt and his guest Scott Roger (of Survivor Girl and Reddit Horror Club) ruin as many of your favorite childhood movies as possible. Nothing is Sacred in this hour rampage of rage. Enjoy!

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There are two ways to feel about the passing of Dusty “The American Dream” Rhodes. One way to feel about it is, well, sad. Grieving the loss of one of the greatest men to ever enter the squared circle. The other feeling is confused; “Who is Dusty Rhodes?” Until three years ago, I’d have been that second feeling.

As a child I was a WWE kid. I was a Hulkamaniac, I loved Bret Hart, I had my Ultimate Warrior and Rowdy Piper toys. Then one day I just stopped liking wrestling. I genuinely don’t remember what made me walk away, but I did.

I missed the entire Attitude era. My friends were wrestling fans so I was aware of the characters through No Mercy on the Nintendo 64 and Saturday morning wrestling on a trampoline. It was Dusty Rhodes that got me back into wrestling… or more so, an impression of Dusty Rhodes.

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Being from Philly I’ve been a fan of Kidd Chris from the second he hit the Philadelphia airwaves. Over the years he bounced from city to city and I’ve followed him every step of the way. It was in his newest (and current home) WEBN that his new co-host Meat began impersonating Dusty Rhodes. If you haven’t heard the impression, it’s hilarious, spot-on, but also an impression that can only exist from a passionate fan playing an homage (never has it seemed to be a mockery of The American Dream).

I loved the impression so much that I began to research Dusty and watching his promos and his matches. I realized the appeal almost immediately. Hulkamania ran wild for the little Hulkamaniacs, Ric Flair would style and profile his high class lifestyle but Dusty was the every-man. The Son of Plumber.

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That’s what made Dusty the jive-talker with a lisp a hero to countless wrestling fans. He existed beyond his gimmicks. It didn’t matter if he was wearing polka-dots or dancing around the ring, when he opened his mouth you listened. Every word was important, uplifting and powerful. I’m sure every posting about Dusty Rhodes has ended with this Hard Times promo, but there’s a reason for it. It is the best promo in wrestling history, bar none.

Hard Times is the type of speech every writer dreams of writing and every speaker dreams of speaking. In the promo Dusty begins thanking people showing his humbleness and genuine love of his fans. Immediately he begins cutting into Ric Flair and begins speaking to people’s fears and struggles. The message is clear. Ric Flair doesn’t understand your struggles… but Dusty does. He understands that sometimes you’ll get a watch, a kick in the butt, and your job given to a computer.

Dusty didn’t have the body of a wrestler, he wasn’t an attractive man. He had a bad lisp and was frequently forced to wear outrageous outfits. But he could talk. No one has and no one ever will speak with more authority, passion and sincerity like The American Dream Dusty Rhodes. He will be missed.

This week Matt is joined by the band Danger Club. Together they discuss Taco Bell, Wilfred and how the band came to be. In the end they even play a song. Good times are had by all and hopefully you have a good time too!

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This week’s episode is the second of four live panels recorded at last months TanoshiiCon in West Chester, PA. The second panel is “Ranking the Slashers'” featuring Scott Roger (of Survivor Girl & Reddit Horror Club) and Will Ball. The three of us rank the slasher sequels from best to worst (specifically Nightmare, Friday, Halloween, Child’s Play and TCM). Enjoy!

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Recorded at Atlantic City Boardwalk Con last weekend I got a chance to sit down with Rich Arons and talk about his career working on such cartoons as He-Man and Ghostbusters, writing/directing Tiny Toons Adventures and Animaniacs and producing Freakazoid. We also discuss the new series he’s been working on at his website http://twostupidrobots.com

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This week I attended Atlantic City Boardwalk Con to do some interviews for The Saint Mort Show, and to help my friends at Ashen Phoenix with their booth. Whenever attending a first time show, you never really know just what you’re about to partake in, but I can honestly say that this was the most fun I’ve had attending a convention in a long time.

The show was easy to navigate, even with a great turnout. I was hugged by Jason Mewes after talking to him about sobriety, got to interview the writer/director of Animaniacs (podcast coming this weekend), watched DMC rap ‘It’s Tricky’ from not more than 15 feet from me, and I took a picture of Xavier Woods not realizing it was him until much much later (more on this below).

At the con I befriend Marvin Cruz of Hero Hotties Photography, I’d like to thank Marvin for providing me with hese pictures so that I wasn’t posting cell phone photos.

There was definitely a lot of great cosplay at the convention, and these were some of the standouts!

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Okay so Marvin didn’t take this last photo. It was pulled from Xavier Woods’ Instagram, but it comes with a story. In wrestling there has been a faction called New Day that people HATED. About 2-3 months ago I began telling people that I genuinely think they were about to turn a corner and become must watch TV. Everyone made fun of me. Now they’re still getting booed … but because they’re heels. They’re hilarious and people have seemed to embrace them more.

So at the booth a guy dressed as the black ranger came over to get a photograph, and I thought he looked familiar but I couldn’t place a name to the face. He wanted a picture with one of the models dressed as Kraven (who was his friends favorite Spider-Man villain). We took the photo and about an hour later another fan came by the booth and noticed my Dolph Ziggler shirt and said “Did you see Xavier Woods was cos-playing as the Black Ranger?”

I checked Instagram and lo and behold… I failed at a chance to tell Xavier Woods how much I love the New Day gimmick (for evidence look no further than this weeks episode of the Saint Mort Show podcast).

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This week’s episode is the first of four live panels recorded at last months TanoshiiCon in West Chester, PA. The first panel is “Let’s Talk Wrasslin'” featuring the co-hosts of the We Want Blood: A Wrestling Podcast show. The gang discusses WWE, the future of the characters, the rising awesomeness of New Day and take questions from the crowd.

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Veronica Batter was my old art-school teacher. After she was forced into resigning due to a disease which made her unable to work. Instead of giving up she started her own art center which opens this Thursday. 

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This week’s Nostalgia Nightmare involves Saint Mort cracking down a list of 10 movies that desperately need to be on DVD/Blu-Ray as well as two movies that I want to see made available on these formats… but I’m sure no one else does. Let’s start the countdown!

In recent years there’s been an underground movement of VHS collectors. The movement was popular
enough to get not one but two documentaries (Adjust Your Tracking and Rewind This). While some
people write this off as “hipster bullshit,” what they fail to see is that people are collecting these VHS
tapes is because it’s the only way they’re able to see some of their favorite films.

These films are classics (in their own right) but have yet to see the light of Blu-Ray, and many of them have just barely received a DVD release. One of the weirdest moments in organizing this list was knowing that I was going to make Society my number 1 only to discover that next month we’re finally getting a double disc release. Here’s 10 films we all hope will get a Blu-Ray/DVD release (and 2 that only I hope for).

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10. The Mutilator

Right off the bat… The Mutilator is not a good movie. It’s easily the worst film on this list. During the peak of the slasher bomb in the 80’s tons of low-budget horror films got quick and easy VHS releases. The Mutilator was just one of the many to come out but its incredible VHS cover made it more memorable than the others.

9. Fright Night 2

I thought for sure that with the release of the Fright Night remake that we’d finally get a Fright Night 2 release. But it never came. The movie was briefly on DVD which most used copies going for $40+ on sites like Amazon and eBay. Fright Night 2 is a fun movie, but it’s not $40 fun. It’d be nice to get a good solid release of this entertaining sequel.

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8. Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park

This is a pipe dream wish for a lot of people. It was VERY briefly released on DVD and now goes for $40 on used DVD traders. The chances of this coming out are slim. The members of KISS (usually known for grabbing at any cash-in possible) have very actively tried to make sure this movie is wiped from the world’s memory banks. Sorry guys, but you can’t just forget a TV Movie that plays out like an episode of Scooby-Doo starring Kiss.

7. Tales from the Hood

Anthology films are tough. Usually the best you can get is 50% of the stories being good. I can’t even think of how many anthology films I’ve owned simply because of one really great story. Even when the stories are pretty decent the movie has painfully bad wrap-arounds. Tales from the Hood is the exception to the rule. Not only does it have a brilliantly crafted wrap-around story but each individual story is smart, satirical and spooky. However after its first DVD release it fell out of print and has yet to be saved. While not as pricey as Fright Night or Kiss a used copy will still run you $25-$30 and that’s for a very bare-bones DVD. I’d love for someone like Scream Factory to give this movie the beautiful Blu-Ray release it deserves.

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6. Mr. T’s Be Somebody… or Be Somebody’s Fool

I spent a long time trying to decide if I wanted to go with this Mr. T special about self-esteem or the classic anti-drug PSA Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue. I decided to go with the more absurd of the two (of course Cartoon All-Stars is an honorable mention). This Mr. T special has a ton of classic moments (including a charming rap song about mothers) but my favorite segment has always been “Recoup” which is 2 minutes of Mr. T-isms that you and your friends won’t be able to not quote.

5. The Applegates

The Applegates (also known as Meet The Applegates) is a bizarre movie. It was Michael Lehmann’s very unsuccessful follow up to Heathers. It tells of a family of shift-shaping Giant Praying Mantis’ that disguise themselves as a typical American family in hopes of creating a nuclear holocaust leaving only bugs to role the world. It’s got a pretty impressive cast, some biting social commentary, some laugh out loud moments and it’s a genuine shame that the film is yet to get a proper DVD/Blu-Ray release.

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4. Suburbia

Richard Linklater is one of my favorite directors. He shines when he’s making dialogue heavy films be it the experimental Slacker, the nostalgic Dazed and Confused or the romantic Before Trilogy. Suburbia was Linklater’s adaptation of a play about Generation X and in a lot of ways it’s probably his best film. Everyone (Linklater included) wants to see this movie get a proper release but for some reason we always get hints and promises followed by nothing.

3. Arena

If you grew up on the early days of HBO, Showtime and Cinemax then you know Arena. It’s that film that can only be described as Rocky in outer space. It’s an underdog story of a human being fighting his way up the Intergalactic Boxing ranks. Every so often this film will pop up on instant watch and it was made available as part of a 4 movies on one disc release but this movie deserves its own special Scream Factory treatment.

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2. Dead of Night

Dead of Night may be one of the most popular and cliche’d movie titles in horror history. There’s at least 6 movies that are (or were) titled this at one point or another. But the original (and arguably best) of the Dead of Night movies is the 1945 anthology film. The whole film is worth your attention for the final story The Ventriloquists Dummy. It’s a story you’ve heard before (a puppeteer and his dummy… is the dummy alive) but this was the telling of the story that set the standard for all to follow. The film has been praised repeatedly and constantly ranked one of the greatest horror movies ever made and yet it’s still not received the Blu-Ray/DVD release every horror buff knows it deserves.

1. Fade To Black

This is one of the most unique takes on the slasher genre. Pushed to the edge a young film-buff takes his revenge on the people who torture by becoming the villains of his favorite movies. He dresses himself up as Dracula, the Mummy and countless others and kill all those who wrong him. Meanwhile he’s in love with a girl who looks exactly like Marilyn Monroe. It was released on DVD by Anchor Bay in 1999 but now the cheapest copy is a used double feature release for $60+ used. I imagine that the biggest hold up on this cult classic getting the release it deserves is the countless clips from other films scattered all over it.

Beyond these 10 great films that I’m sure everyone would love, there are two movies that desperately need to get re-released on DVD for a customer of one… me.

Alligator 2 – The first Alligator movie is one of my favorite films of all time. I adore every weird second of it. I grew up watching both movies repeatedly on a VHS tape. It saddens me that Alligator 2 isn’t available on DVD (despite how lackluster it might be)

Special Dead – Not many people know of Special Dead and that’s a pity because it’s a genuinely hilarious movie. It’s about a group of special needs kids on a  camping trip forced to fight off a horde of Zombies. it’s a small but funny little indie film. Sadly if you (or more important if I) want to own it you better have $4,000 because that’s what the used copies are going for online right now.

Honorable Mentions: The Brain, Invasion of the Saucer Men, Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, The Star Wars Holiday Special, Possession, The Poughkeepsie Tapes and Noroi: The Curse

Last month I attended Cecil Con in Maryland and was part of a Star Wars panel with David and Matt. We discussed all things star wars including fan films, parodies and the infamous christmas special. Enjoy!

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Until today I had never seen this movie. In fact, I only vaguely remember its box art. I trust that if Scream Factory went up to bat for this release that it must be pretty damn good, so I’m quite excited to see what I’m in for. As opposed to a normal review this will be a stream of consciousness write-up as I watch the film.

Right off the bat the movie feels like a weird episode of Tales from the Crypt. The music has that anthology feel and I believe it is in fact an anthology movie starring Vincent Price as Mr. White (who I assume is our Crypt Keeper).

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The film begins with a lethal injection execution which makes me question if this is an anthology film. Currently a reporter is asking Vincent Price (which is what I’ll refer to him as throughout this write up) about his niece’s history (turns out his niece is the one who was executed). I think I see where this is going. Price is discussing how his niece is just one in a long line of people born to be murderers in the town of Oldfield. I think I could really dig this movie.

Our first story is about Stanley. The Tales from the Crypt vibe I felt earlier is only stronger this time around. There’s a multi-layered dream sequence, bizarre imagery and comic-book level sex jokes. However anything that could be moderately seen as light-hearted disappears after the second death. It’s one of the more disturbing and depressing things I’ve seen in a horror film. Not because of gore or shock but because of the relationship between victim and murderer and the victim just yelling “why” over and over again. Sadly this darkness is offset by a really confusing ending.

Apparently this film was released under the name “The Offspring” inspired by this first segment. Personally I don’ think it’s a very good title but if you like it the Blu-Ray comes with a reversible cover.

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The second story is absolutely a Tales from the Crypt episode. It’s dark, gritty and has some creative edits as well as an ending that’ll freak you out. Whatever I disliked in the first story is completely gone in this second story.

The third story takes place at a carnival, so I automatically like it. I’m obsessed with carnival themed horror movies. I think it’s because of an unhealthy obsession with the movie Freaks. Who knows. My biggest issue with this story is that it’s two voodoo/witchcraft inspired tales back to back which is the most boring thing to do in anthology horror if you ask me.

The fourth story didn’t really hold my attention at all. It takes place during civil war times with a bunch of soldiers being tortured by war orphans. It’s bizarre but not as interesting as the other stories.

Also I’m questioning Mr. Price’s reliability as a storyteller and how big the town of Oldfield is exactly. I’m having trouble accepting that all 3 of locations so far are all in the same town.

All in all I’m glad I watched this movie. While I didn’t adore it, the whole film is worth watching just for that second story. The rest of the stories are decent enough but the second story is definitely the highlight of the film.

Pick up your copy of From a Whisper to a Scream from Scream Factory. While there check out some of their other films (like the Ghoulies double feature)

Matt Kelly is the host of the Saint Mort Show Podcast and co-host of the Reddit Horror Club. He also runs the Every Damn DVD blog and why not get him something off his Amazon Wishlist to watch.

The first of multiple TanoshiiCon episodes involves me interviewing Donna Swafford who produced the film Now Hiring. We talk about Clerks 2, Comic Books, Producing Indie Films and Texas’ Film Community.

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Kevin Sitars returns to the podcast to promote the In Case It Rains EP release and we discuss music, Rivers Monroe and the recent announcement that he’s gonna be on the Warped Tour. 

Check out The Saint Mort Show Live at TanoshiiCon on April 25th

Pick up your copy of the Ghoulies Double Feature from Scream Factory.

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Get your tampons ready because today we’re reviewing Scream Factory’s Carrie Double Feature. Filled with more fire and menstruation than a burning sorority house and more crucifix’s then a church this double feature will have you warning everyone you know that they’re gonna be laughed at. Let’s watch!

Show of hands, who remembers The Rage: Carrie 2? Okay, so only the kids of the 90’s. How about the Made For TV adaptation of Carrie? No one? Okay then, you’re in luck… sorta. Scream Factory have brought both of these carrie adaptations onto the same disc.

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When I first received the package in the mail I thought it was Brian De Palma’s adaptation, so I was a little disappointed when I realized it was the made-for-tv movie starring Angela Bettis. It’s unfair to compare 1976’s Carrie to this TV movie. De Palma’s original is a masterpiece and even 30 years later remains one of the better King adaptations. Before I talk about the things working against this version I’ll focus on what it does right.

Angela Bettis is a great Carrie. It’s basically impossible to outdo Sissy Spacek’s career-defining performance but she steps up to the challenge and creates an equally (but very different) Carietta White. Also quick shout-out to Katharine Isabelle, not because she has anything important to do, but I’m always excited to see Isabelle in anything.

It was also written by Bryan Fuller who is the television genius behind cult shows like Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me and Hannibal. As far as adaptations of novels go this does an applaudable job. The book’s “retro-active story-telling” style is presented in a series of interview segments between Detective Mulchaey (David Keith) with a handful of survivors.

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The issue is the direction. Despite my absolute love of David Carson’s previous mini-series The 10th Kingdom this film just feels sloppy and rushed. The camera moves too chaotically in sequences, the performances feel like first (and only) takes and the camera stock seems off. I wouldn’t be shocked if this was one of the earliest TV movies made with a digital cameras. It has that early 2000’s digital film look.

It’s weird because this movie isn’t good, but it’s not offensively bad either. It’s just disappointing. On paper you have a bunch of people I like remaking a book that I like and it just doesn’t work. However I’d still say it’s worth watching because the whole movie feels like an experiment that didn’t work. I have to give the filmmakers credit for trying to do something new with a very well known and respected property.

Now while this was my second time watching the Carrie TV-Movie this was the first time I watched The Rage: Carrie 2 even though I specifically remember seeing the trailers on TV and the posters all over my local mall.

Everyone warned me that The Rage: Carrie 2 was a terrible movie. Now I’m not saying it’s NOT a terrible movie, but what I am saying is that with how low they made my expectations I ended up really enjoying this movie.

Right off the bat I’m loving the fact that in the first 10 minutes we have two cast members of American Pie (Mena Suvari & Eddie Kaye Thomas), Jason London and a soundtrack featuring Far Behind by The Hippos.

Now don’t get me wrong, this film is pretty terrible. The dialogue, the plot, the acting and the direction are all just slightly off. But I enjoyed it.

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The Rage: Carrie 2 is written by the man who penned the masterpiece known as Hackers and directed by the woman behind Poison Ivy… so you kinda know what you’re in for from the start. However going into this movie with nothing behind a memory of the trailer and everyone’s word that it was complete garbage left me pretty surprised that I was entertained.

The film has all the 90’s cliches. Diners, convos about Sharon Manson, asshole jocks keeping score of girls they’ve slept with, prank phone calls, huge party sequence, Brad from Home Improvement… the list goes on. It’s goofy as all hell but done in such a serious tone.

The film does this weird thing where every time Rachel (on yea… there’s no Carrie in this movie) uses her powers it cuts to black and white. It’s doesn’t achieve anything and is more distracting than anything.

There’s a bunch of logic leaps throughout, the movie is super slow in the middle and it basically plays out as a weird high school version of Romeo & Juliet (with Juliet having the ability to murder with her mind) but I honestly enjoyed it.

The slow-burn is really worth it for the final massacre at the party. It’s really is a collection of great practical effects, some cringe deaths and solid gore. If it was a little shorter and had better direction I think The Rage: Carrie 2 would actually be a pretty well liked cult film from the 90’s. No Bullshit.

The Blu-ray comes with a bunch of special features including commentary tracks for both features. Pick up your copy from Scream Factory today!

Matt Kelly is the host of the Saint Mort Show Podcast and co-host of the Reddit Horror Club. He also runs the Every Damn DVD blog. Watching both of these movies back to back reminded Matt of the time he was pelted with Tampons cheer him up by getting him something off his Amazon Wishlist to watch.

Once again Matt joins some of the people behind TanoshiiCon to discuss what excitement is ahead of us this year at the con. We also get into our geek history, our geek knowledge and think back to how awesome local music used to be. Make sure to check out TanoshiiCon on April 25th

Pick up your copy of the Carrie Double Feature from Scream Factory.

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When I was a child I discovered “Weird Al” Yankovic. Being the innocent youngster that I was I asked my grandfather if he had any Weird Al records. He didn’t mock me, he didn’t say “that’s not really my cup of tea”… my eternally awesome grandfather said “I don’t but I think I have something you’ll like”.

The next week when we visited my grandfather he handed me a cassette tape. I don’t think there exists a cassette that I’ve listened to as much as that one. Every day I’d liken to it and absorb it. It was a mix of music from Benny Bell, Spike Jonze and my favorite of the three, Stan Freberg. Some of you might be saying “who’s that?” Allow me to explain.

In the 50’s Freberg started his career at Capitol records doing parody sketches. These included classics like John and Marsha (a parody on bad soap operas), his classic Dragnet parodies and my personal favorite his “musical interruption” series.

“What was that?” I’m sure you’re thinking. To be fair I made up the name, I’m not sure if there was ever an official title for these skits but the general idea was that Freberg would cover famous songs in a spot on impression of the original singer. These performances would however be interrupted. Sometimes it’d be too much drumming (Yellow Rose of Texas), too much echo (Heartbreak Hotel) or a beatnik who hated the music (in Great Pretender and Banana Boat song).

These songs still hold up today, although having a little knowledge of music history or at the very least an awareness of the original songs goes a long way.

He continued in his popular with a satirical radio show, Ed Sullivan appearances, voice work for Garfield & Friends and even an appearance on the 1997 Saturday Morning show The Weird Al Show. He was even approached by George Lucas to voice C3P0 (despite false rumors of it being Mel Blanc) and it was Freberg who suggested Lucas look into Anthony Daniels.

Freberg never stopped working, he continued to voice numerous characters in the new CGI Garfield series.

Yesterday, at the age of 88 years old Stan Freberg passed away from Pneumonia. He will always be one of those links to the grandfather I miss so dearly.

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After a brief break Saint Mort’s Nostalgia Nightmare is back! This week we’re reviewing the Scream Factory release of Invaders From Mars. I’ve seen it once before this Blu-Ray came in the mail and raises the question if I’m the wrong audience for this movie.

Before I talk about Invaders from Mars I want to discuss the fact that I’ve thought it was directed by Joe Dante for a long time. I guess it just feels like something Dante would make, a fairly innocent and non-offensive movie about a child in a weird situation with occasionally adult moments. It’d felt right in with Gremlins and Small Soldiers, but instead this movie is directed by Tobe Hooper which might not work to it’s advantage.

Tobe Hooper has had an uneven career and that’s speaking as someone who defends more of his movies than most people. It’s undeniable that Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a masterpiece and whether or not Poltergeist was directed by him or Spielberg it’s still a great movie. That being said, I’ve also defended The Funhouse as an unappreciated masterpiece, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was a brilliant ‘fuck you’ to people forcing him to make a gorier sequel, I found Lifeforce to be a complete blast, and I don’t even completely hate Eaten Alive.

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Somehow I never knew this movie existed until I was in college. The peak of my horror fandom was in Junior High during the very early years of the internet. I had no clue what IMDb was back then so I wasn’t checking into filmmaker’s filmographies and even then Tobe Hooper wasn’t really at the top of the list of directors whose filmographies I felt I needed to see anyway.

Anyways, when I worked at a video store I stumbled upon the VHS of this and watched it. It was okay, nothing to write home about. I remember thinking it was probably Joe Dante’s worst movie (see first paragraph). This might sound like an insult but Joe Dante has had a pretty solid career and even at his worst he’s still damn good.

Invaders From Mars isn’t a great movie, but I don’t think anyone is pretending that it is. Not even Scream Factory. But it is a fun movie. It’s that awkward combination of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Monster Squad that makes this movie more fun than I originally remembered. The screenplay was written by Dan O’Bannon and follows in line with Return of the Living Dead’s subplot about the Army coming in and handling the situation.

There’s plenty of great performances in this movie (including a great role from Bud Cort) but the star of the show is Stan Winston’s monster designs.  The creatures look so cool in that super 80’s way (specifically one alien who looks like Krang from TMNT).

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What hurts this movie is its undecided tone. The movie keeps trying to be a genuine horror movie and a kids movie at the exact time, since it never seems to settle on a tone it constantly feels awkward and uneven. The ending is cliche’d and infuriating

I also can’t believe how many times they say the name David Gardener in this movie. This movie should be shown to writing students as a reminder to limit how often people refer to each other by name.

Invaders From Mars is available on Blu-Ray from Scream Factory today. Beyond a beautiful transfer of the film it also contains a commentary track from Tobe Hooper and an amazing behind the scenes feature. Pick up your copy today!

Matt Kelly is the host of the Saint Mort Show Podcast and co-host of the Reddit Horror Club. He also runs the Every Damn DVD blog. Instead of eating Ham and Mashed Potatoes with his family on Sunday he watched Invaders from Mars FOR YOU! Show up how much you appreciate his handwork by getting him something off his Amazon Wishlist to watch.

Matt joins the Ashen Phoenix Team at Galactic Con to talk about small conventions, failed date rape attempts, penis pics and butts. No… I’m not kidding.

Pick up your copy of Invaders From Mars from Scream Factory.

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This is another wrestling packed episode. Once again I’m joined by some Geekscape Games co-hosts. This time Wrestling fans (and gaming enthusiasts) Juan Carlos and Joshua Jackson join me to discuss what we think is gonna happen at Wrestlemania, Who should be moving up the roster from NXT and who in general deserves more crowd reactions. Worry not non-Wrestling fans, next week it’ll be back to the same old bullshit that you know and love from the Saint Mort Show.

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This is a wrestling packed episode. Brian Soscia is a former indie wrestler (who’s tag team The Legendary Trio of Chick Magnets is being inducted into the Right Coast Pro Hall of Fame. He’s also a DJ on Philadelphia’s Mix 106.1. Matt and Brian discuss indie wrestling, WWE, Wrestlemania, Roman Reigns, giving Daniel Bryan a ride to Ring of Honor, interviewing wrestlers on the radio and dealing with hip-hop producer/rapper’s egos behind the scenes.

Visit RightCoastPro for tickets to the Legendary Chick Magnet’s Hall of Fame induction on April 11th.

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Matt sat down with the men in charge of Cecil Con. Cecil Con is April 4th in North East, MD at Cecil college. It’s a free event. They discuss the creation of the convention, the guests, the panels and all things geeky.

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Today in my blog Every Damn DVD I did a write-up of the forgettable (but still fun) redneck slasher movie American Gothic. In my write-up I mention that the VHS cover was great but the DVD cover definitely lost something. I provided a shitty side-by-side comparison below for a better example:

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As you can see, the original cover had small little details, and those details made the cover all the more terrifying. you throw in some blood, a knife, a different facial expressions and the screaming teens in the window and you’ve got a classic VHS cover.

This isn’t the first DVD that completely destroyed the magic of the original VHS cover. The VHS cover for Alligator used to stare at my from the Blockbuster shelf. I obsessed over it trying to build up the courage to rent it one day. If the VHS cover was the same as the DVD version,  I’d have never had an interest in it.

AlligatorCompare The VHS shows us that frightening beast just staring right into you. It’s far more effective than this shitty cartoon of an Alligator tearing up the sewer. It just doesn’t have the same impact.

For well over a decade, VHS was king. There was something magical about going to the video store and looking at all those beautiful covers staring back at you. I was a member at so many video stores growing up. First there was Movie King (which didn’t last very long), followed by a Blockbuster, and beyond.

I was absolutely terrified of horror movies as a kid. I didn’t want anything to do with them; I refused to watch them as I knew they’d give me nightmares. Clearly this was bullshit though. My parents did a great job of instilling fear into me, but even as a kid I loved the morbid. My favorite movies were things like Beetlejuice, Monster Squad and Ghostbusters. My favorite cartoon was Toxic Crusaders. I loved monsters and mutants and ghosts and  ghouls.

The horror fan that was inside of me was constantly trying to break free. This is probably the reason why every trip to Blockbuster included me roaming the horror section and just looking at VHS tapes. I’d obsessively tough boxes and stare at the covers. How can you just walk past this as a kid and not want to know more.

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Then came West Coast Video. I don’t know why this video store randomly popped up in my town. They didn’t have a fighting chance against the Blockbuster (made evident by their life span of roughly a year, maybe two). But by the time West Coast Video appeared I had see Scream and accepted that I was a horror movie fan.

Last Year I decided to watch wrestling. I found that I really enjoyed it. A year later I have a subscription to the WWE Network, over 20 Wrestling DVDs, merch for my favorite wrestlers and an extensive knowledge of wrestling history so vast that a lot of people think I’ve been watching since I was a kid. I tell this story so that you understand something about me. When I find something I like, I dive in head first. Horror was no different.

I went to west coast video every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I  would just work my way through the aisles and rent anything my heart desired. So many of those VHS tape covers are forever burnt into my retinas.

The thing about VHS covers is they were the biggest liars. The better the cover the more likely the film was garbage. That’s something anyone who was tricked by this…

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or this…

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could tell you.

These are bad movies, some would even call them terrible movies. But I would gladly hang posters of those covers on my wall. They’re works of art.

When DVD rolled around this art form died. Instead of a well planned photoshoot, or a beautiful artistic drawing we get photoshopped heads. So many photo-shopped heads. There’s a handful of companies like Arrow and Scream Factory that get it. They still appreciate the that these were a lost art, something from childhood we didn’t appreciate it until it was gone.

VHS TAPE COVERS! I SALUTE YOU!

Matt Kelly is the host of the Saint Mort Show Podcast and co-host of the Reddit Horror Club. He also runs the Every Damn DVD blog. Matt will be crying about the loss of his local video stores for years to come but something off his Amazon Wishlist will always cheer him up.

This week on Saint Mort’s Nostalgia Nightmare Matt watches and reviews Scream Factory’s Blu-Ray release of Exterminators of the Year 3000. It’s a Mad Max Rip-Off done in a way that only Italian cinema could successfully get away with. Let’s watch!

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Before I discuss this movie I have to address the minor elephant in the room about its release. When Scream first announced plans of releasing this it was to be a double feature with Cruel Jaws. When this was first announced I flipped my shit. I literally posted on a ton of websites and forums losing my mind about this. I couldn’t believe I lived in a world where something as mind-glowingly amazing (and terrible) as Cruel Jaws was going to be released on Blu-Ray. For those of you who don’t know, Cruel Jaws is a wanna be Jaws rip-off (sometimes even advertised as Jaws 5) that skipped the whole annoying “building a shark” thing in favor of stealing footage from various Jaws movies and Jaws rip-off films like Great White/The Last Shark. I couldn’t even wrap my head around how Scream Factory was going to legally release it… turns out they couldn’t either. A few days later they announced that due to the multiple pieces of copyright infringement they were just going to release Exterminators of the Year 3000 on a solo Blu-Ray. It hurt… but I’ve learned to live with it.

I would like to take this moment to just say to whoever is reading this from Scream Factory that you can totally make up for this by finding a way to put Great White/The Last Shark on Blu-Ray. Thanks!

So what is Exterminators of the Year 3000? Well take Mad Max and slash the budget down to roughly $500 and you have this incredible piece of Italian cinema. The film takes place in the Year 3000 (as the title suggests). After nuclear war has turned Earth into a massive desert, water is a rare commodity (sounding sorta familiar yet). The film follows Tommy (a young boy with a bionic arm) and a loner (named Alien) as they search for a well while avoiding bikers and Crazy Bull (their blood-thirsty leader).

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I had no clue what to expect from this movie, if I’m honest I kept putting it off… but within the first 5 minutes I knew I was in for a movie I was genuinely going to enjoy. The film is packed with solid special effects, well done chase sequences, a dark sense of a humor and a boy with a bionic arm. I know I mentioned it once already but I mean, that’s pretty off the wall and amazing.

If you’re like me and enjoy having movie nights with friends filled with beer, pizza and B-movies than you’re in luck. That is 100% what Exterminators of the Year 3000 is.

Exterminators is now available on Scream Factory’s website. The release comes with an interview and a commentary track from actor Robert Iannucci. Also out today is the double feature of Blacula/Scream Blacula Scream

Matt Kelly is the host of the Saint Mort Show Podcast and co-host of the Reddit Horror Club. He also runs the Every Damn DVD blog. Tax season was not kind to Matt os cheer him up and get him something off his Amazon Wishlist to watch.

This week for Saint Mort’s Nostalgia Nightmare we’re going to be discussing New Year’s Evil which is now available on Blu-Ray from our friends at Scream Factory. Let’s see if this one drops the ball or not (ZING!)

I love Slasher films. LOVE them. Scream was my first major introduction to horror movies and turned me into someone who NEEDED to feed on horror movie content. I’ve made it a goal to see as many slasher films as possible and even own an unreasonably large amount of documentaries and text books on the subject.

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New Year’s Evil managed to avoid my sights for years. I didn’t even know it existed until it was briefly mentioned in Going To Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (a must have for any serious horror fan). It wasn’t until last year I finally got to see it when it was briefly on Netflix Instant watch. I really wasn’t blown away by it, but at the time I watched it I was also in the middle of moving into my house so I had it on but I didn’t have my full attention on it.

This time I did all the chores I needed to have done, turned off the phone and really focused on the film. It is still one of the lesser 80’s slasher films, but it is however not a terrible movie.

The plot centers around Diane (aka Blaze), a TV personality hosting a televised New Years Eve Punk Rawk party. While taking callers on the air she begins talking to a man going by the name Evil. Evil threatens to kill a “Naughty Girl” she loves every time it strikes midnight in a different time zone. The cops are reluctant to take the threats seriously, assuming it’s a dark prank from the creepy crowd her shows tend to draw in. After each murder he calls back in and plays the recording of the murder over the air.

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The film is unique as we know what Evil looks like within roughly 20 minutes of the movie. It’s not so much a mysterious whodunnit as much as it’s a WhoIsItAndWhy? The movie does contain some clever editing, some enjoyably cheesy music (specifically it’s theme song and the song Dumb Blondes), a cool mask for the killer to wear and a fairly unique premise. Even by 1980 the slasher film had already established itself as the “unknown, masked killer stalking high school girls from the trees”. This took a slightly more suspenseful twist which is interesting at least.

The biggest problem with the movie is how overwhelmingly mediocre it is. It’ll never be a movie good enough to recommend to a friend, or bad enough to watch with a group of friends. Dread Central’s Matt Serafini’s review reference to it as an ideal “late night horror fix” and I think that’s exactly the way to watch it. This would be a fun movie to have randomly discovered on USA in the 90’s.

Now as you’ve probably figured out I’m a Scream Factory fanboy. Even if I wasn’t being asked to review movies for them I’d still be a fanboy. I don’t think anyone at Scream Factory thinks that this is a masterpiece of slasher cinema but they still celebrate it as if it were by throwing in a new commentary track and a new collection of interviews with some of creators and stars behind the film.

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While I’m not the biggest fan of New Year’s Evil, it’s still an interesting definitely worth watching if you’re a horror fan. Scream Factory has really put out a handful of other good (but painfully underrated slashers) like Terror Train, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, The Burning and Sleepaway Camp.

Matt Kelly is the host of the Saint Mort Show Podcast and co-host of the Reddit Horror Club. He also runs the Every Damn DVD blog. Since Philadelphia just got slammed with a little bit of snow he’s going to probably spend the next weekend inside staying warm watching TV and dreaming of summer. Get him something off his Amazon Wishlist to watch.

This week Matt is Joined by Shane O’hare of the Geekscape Games podcast. We discuss the origins of the podcast, the Amiibo addictions of his co-hosts, his DJ career, getting his cohosts drunk and breakdancing at San Diego Comic Con.

This episode is powered by the Phantom of the Opera blu-ray available from Scream Factory. Pick up a copy at www.screamfactorydvd.com

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Welcome to another edition of Saint Mort’s Nostalgia Nightmare. This week I’ll be reviewing Phantom of the Opera from 1989 now available on Blu-Ray from my friends at Scream Factory. Much like last week, I’d never seen this film prior to this viewing but I sure as hell remembered it’s box-cover. Let’s see how it is.

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I’ve always had a weird obsession with Phantom of the Opera. I blame it on Gremlins 2: A New Batch, as well as an old book of classic horror movie moments that my grandfather had in his basement. I loved the look of Lon Chaney’s original make-up and would frequently imagine the iconic music and the moment when the mask is lifted off revealing his true face.

That being said, it’s rare that I find a version of Phantom that I genuinely love. I like the classic Lon Chaney film and I can appreciate the musical, but I definitely don’t love it. For some reason nothing has reached that unattainable excitement for the original film (that I didn’t even see until after college). I do however love gory 80s/90s horror movies, so I went into 1989’s Phantom of the Opera with high hopes.

I can recall the box cover from my younger days of wandering video stores, but for one reason or another I never rented it (I’m willing to assume it’s because I still hadn’t seen the original). I can’t say that this movie’s transfer has never looked better (since I have no previous viewing experience) but what I can say is that this doesn’t look like a movie that’s 25 years old. The transfer gives it the picture quality of a movie released in the last 2-3 years.

That being said, I walked away from this movie not knowing how to feel about it. Robert England puts in a great performance and while I’m not a fan of the Phantom’s make-up Kevin Yagher’s other effects are pretty impressive. There are definitely things here, however, that don’t work for me.

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I started off kind of confused; the movie does a sudden flip from modern day to the victorian era that occurs so suddenly that if you sneeze or blink you’ll miss it. The movie is slowly paced but when it gets good it’s “severed head in a soup pot” good.

There’s a lot to like hidden within the movie but the actual journey to those moments can be tedious and boring at times. The movie also ends in an awkward abruptness, it’s obvious that they were setting up a sequel (which despite my lukewarm opinion of this movie I would have loved to have seen) that never came to fruition due to its poor box office performance.

However, since this is a Scream Factory release it doesn’t matter the quality of the film because the Behind the Mask Retrospective making of documentary on the DVD is packed with interesting stories about the history of the Phantom. If you’re a fan of this adaptation you’d be doing yourself a disservice not picking up this up for that making of and commentary track alone.

If you haven’t seen this adaptation but you’re a fan of 80’s gore and/or the Phantom of the Opera story than this might be worth checking out, but I think you’re actually better off checking out Phantom of the Paradise (also from Scream Factory). In fact, the screenplay writer even mentions watching Phantom of the Paradise for inspiration while writing. Both have extremely similar plot-lines (both being inspired by both Phantom of the Opera AND the story of Faust) but Phantom of the Paradise has the tongue-in-cheek fun (and memorable musical numbers) that this adaptation is lacking.

Saint Mort is the host of The Saint Mort Show and Reddit Horror Club podcasts. He also posts reviews in his Every Damn DVD blog every single week. He’s also the Phantom of his Apartment and attacks anyone who speaks ill of his DVD collection. If you’re generous enough give him some more DVDs to defend from his Amazon Wishlist.

 This week Saint Mort is joined by Neil Katcher one of the co-founders of the Mortified Movement and co- producer of the Mortified Podcast (now available on iTunes). We discuss Mortified origins and even dive into some of Matt’s own childhood memories, while Neil psychoanalysis Matt. 

This episode is powered by the Vampire Kiss/High Spirits blu-ray available from Scream Factory. Pick up a copy at www.screamfactorydvd.com

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Welcome Back to Saint Mort’s Nostalgia Nightmare. Glad to see you enjoyed it enough last week to revisit. Continuing in my Scream Factory Blu-Ray reviews I’ve got another double feature. Today you can own their double feature release of Vampire’s Kiss and High Spirits. Let’s dive in!

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Not only have I never seen either of these films prior to this Blu-Ray appearing on my doorstep, I’ve never even heard of one of them. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into it. Over the course of 5 hours I watched Vampire’s Kiss twice (once normally and once with commentary) and High Spirits.

Let’s start with Vampire’s Kiss. I’d heard many things about this movie, specifically that it’s one of the most Cage-iest of Nicholas Cage movies. I was not lied to in the least. The movie is bizarre, confusing, unintentionally funny at parts and a chore to watch at others.

The movie tells the story of Peter Loew, a womanizing literary agent who spends all day in the office and all night at the clubs and having one night stands. One night he takes home a vampire named Rachel who begins feeding on him nightly. Or does he?

Vampire’s Kiss is all about questioning what is reality while following an unhinged businessman that’s wrapped up in all the sleeze, culture and status of the 80s. Basically it’s American Psycho if Nicholas Cage played Patrick Bateman.

It’s got some fantastic moments in it and has notoriety for a infamous still which has become a meme (Scream Factory was smart to include that still on the back of the Blu-Ray). The commentary track between director Robert Bierman and Nicholas Cage is interesting to say the least. The two think highly of the movie and Bierman makes a few references to stylistic choices but then saying things like “I think I did that consciously”.

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If you can get past Cage’s awkward accent choice (he sounds like he’s doing a bad Keanu Reeves impression) and the dark comedic cruelness it’s not a bad film to watch… once. You’ll most likely never watch it again (unless you listen to the commentary track)… the same can’t be said for High Spirits.

I had a lot of fun experiencing High Spirits for the first time. I’m willing to believe that if I saw this movie when I was a child I’d hold it with the same level of nostalgic praise that I hold movies like Monster Squad and The Goonies.

Looking at this cast it’s amazing that I’ve never heard of this film. It’s a fantastic ensemble featuring such infamous actors as Peter O’Toole, Daryl Hannah, Liam Neeson, Jennifer Tilly, Steve Guttenberg and Beverly D’Angelo.

The movie follows Peter Plunkett who’s about to have his castle repossessed. In order to keep his property he tries to claim it’s haunted to scare the Americans that are visting the castle (including the daughter of the man repossessed the castle). When their fake ghost stories are discovered, real ghosts begin haunting the castle including Mary and Martin.

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Many centuries ago when Mary and Martin were married, Martin murdered Mary for infidelity. Every night the two are forced to re-enact that night. That is until one of the Americans Jack (Guttenberg) stops Martin, putting an end to cycle and causing Mary to fall in love with him.

I hope this film finds a decent resurgence from this Blu-Ray, as it’s a fantastic Halloween movie with ghosts, romance, comedy and a handful of good jump scares.

The most baffling thing about this film is that it’s written and directed by Neil Jordan, a man known for films of more adult nature like The Company of Wolves, The Crying Game and Interview with the Vampire.

Doing research to do these reviews/writeups I can’t understand how Vampire’s Kiss was more critically well received. It’s an interesting film but for very unintentional reasons. High Spirits is a much more enjoyable film overall.

Pick up a copy of the Vampire’s Kiss/High Spirits Blu-ray Today!

Matt Kelly hosts The Saint Mort Show and the Reddit Horror Club as well as writes for Geekscape and his blog Every Damn DVD. He’s also going to spend Valentine’s Day night in the basement watching horror movies while his roommate has sex. He’d love it if you bought him something on his Amazon Wishlist to convince him to take that shotgun barrel out of his mouth. 

Welcome to Saint Mort’s Nostalgia Nightmare. Every week, Matthew “Saint Mort” Kelly will either review an upcoming release that he’s been sent or ramble about some of his horror favorites that you should revisit. This week, Matt reviews the upcoming Scream Factory release of the Love At First Bite/Once Bitten double feature Blu-Ray. Let’s begin!

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The first thing that I noticed about this particular Blu-Ray release is its lack of special features. Essentially, there aren’t any (aside from some vintage movie trailers or radio spots). It’s understandable given that it’s two movies on one disc and space is limited, but it didn’t stop me from feeling a little let down given how incredible Scream Factory’s special features usually are.

Prior to this release I’d never even heard of Love at First Bite so of course I started with that. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but based on its title and its placement beside Once Bitten I assumed it was another teenage vampire movie. I was wrong.

The story follow Count Dracula (George Hamilton) after he has his castle repossessed and is forced to move to New York. He falls in love with famous model Cindy Sondheim (Susan Saint James) and begins to date her despite her crazy ex Dr. Jeffery Rosenberg (grandson of Van Helsing). The movie’s humor is just as wacky and irreverent as that description seems.

It’s a pretty unique twist on the Dracula mythology by flipping roles. The count is now our hopeless romantic hero and Van Helsing is the villain that we want to see fail. While I love that twist the film is still far perfect. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have some great comedic moments; I particularly enjoyed a reoccurring joke involving Rosenberg’s (Richard Benjamin) clueless attempts to expose Dracula which include (but are not limited to) shooting him with silver bullets and holding a Star of David to the vampire’s face.

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I’d also be doing a disservice to the movie to not praise the fantastic performance from Arte Johnson as Reinfeld. Moments like him cackling with glee while watching a movie about rats attacking a women or crying while watching a commercial for Raid are just the right level of absurdist comedy to make this an enjoyable experience.

I don’t know how frequently I’ll rewatch Love at First Bite, but I’m certainly glad Scream Factory gave me the ability to experience this movie for the first time. However I think the main reason many people will be getting this Blu-Ray is for the second feature the 80’s vampire/teen flick classic Once Bitten.

I remember hearing about Once Bitten back in 1993 just as Ace Ventura was making Jim Carrey a household name to kids my age who couldn’t watch In Living Color. It became a fairly regular feature film on Comedy Central. I’d always seen the film in its TV-edited version. Maybe it’s because of this that I don’t remember how much homophobic humor is in the movie.

I think there will be a ton of critics who point to these moments (specifically the ‘Fags in the Shower’ sequence) as a reason to dislike or avoid revisiting it. I’m not one of those critics. I was raised on movies like Porky’s, Revenge of the Nerds and Hollywood Knights. We as a society have come and a long way and that’s great… but I still find something super charming about the close minded 80’s teen humor and like it or not homophobia is a big part of that.

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Most people only really think about Once Bitten because it’s a pre-famous Jim Carrey vehicle, but there’s more to the movie than that. It’s basically American Pie with Vampires. In order to maintain her eternal beauty and vampire countess must drink the blood of a virgin. Cut to Mark Kendall (Jim Carrey) and his group of friends trying to get laid. Mark believes he’s struck a sexual goldmine with the seductive Countess but he begins having weird cravings, an inability to sleep and weird dreams. It’s up to his on and off girlfriend Robin Pierce to take his virginity before the Countess drains him of all is blood.

This movie is way funnier than I remembered it. I still am a firm believer that in general My Best Friend is a Vampire (released two years after Once Bitten) is the superior Vampire Teenage film, but it’s undeniable that Once Bitten is a classic for a reason.

After watching this double feature I immediately felt like there should be another double feature from Scream Factory of Rockula and My Best Friend is a Vampire. So if anyone from Scream Factory is reading you should get on that for Saint Mort. Thanks in advance!

Get your own copy of Love at First Bite/Once Bitten from Scream Factory. It’ll be released February 10th, but you can pre-order right now! Also released the same day is the double feature of Vampire’s Kiss/High Spirits (look out for more about this next release next week).

Matt Kelly is the host of The Saint Mort Show, the co-host of the Reddit Horror Club and the blogger behind Every Damn DVD. He has an unhealthy love for horror movies, wrestling and punk music and wants you to buy him something nice off his Amazon Wishlist because free stuff is always nice. We at Geekscape can not support giving Matt free stuff but you can do what you want with your money. But that money would be better spent buying stuff from Scream Factory for yourself.

I’ve been trying to get Awaking Mercury on the show for about two years but we finally got our schedules to sync up. The band came over and we talked music, get into a long discussion about early christian rock and they perform two songs.

This episode is powered by Scream Factory pick up some DVDs from www.screamfactorydvd.com

 

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