Castle Of Horror Podcast

Jordi O'Dael is one of the co-founders of Aberrant Theatre, a brand-new horror-centric theatre company, and the director of The Ghost Light Anthology - Aberrant's first major Toronto production. A life-long horror fan with years of experience both on stage and behind the scenes, they co-founded Aberrant earlier this year as a way of bringing horror to the stage through the lens of social responsibility. Find the theater at https://www.facebook.com/AberrantTheatre/, get tickets at https://ghost-light-anthology-2018.brownpapertickets.com/.

We continue our Halloween Retrospective, focusing on the strangest continuity of the Halloween franchise, with Halloween: The Curse of Michael Meyers AKA Halloween 6 or Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers. The movie features the screen debut of Paul Rudd-- who gives a truly odd performance as the obsessed Tommy Doyle--  and the final screen performance of Donald Pleasence, who once again portrays the equally-obsessed Sam Loomis. We are barreling towards this month’s release of the 2018 reboot Halloween, which we'll have an episode on later this month.

Amy Lukavics is the author of Daughters unto Devils, The Women in the Walls, The Ravenous and now NIGHTINGALE from Harlequin Teen, new out now in hardback. NIGHTINGALE is a bout a teenage girl and budding writer in 1951 who chafes at the demands of her family until she finds herself committed to an asylum, where she suspects something evil and otherworldly is going on. 

We continue our countdown to the Halloween reboot with the second part of the continuity-crazed "Thorn Trilogy" of the original series: Halloween 5, which continues the strange psychic connection between Michael Meyers and his young niece.

Jason chats with reliable tough-guy-and-villain actor Michael Ironside on his new film Knuckleball, in which Ironside plays a grandfather taking care of his grandson during a visit. After Ironside imparts some wisdom, the visit takes a deadly turn when the grandfather suddenly dies, leaving the boy to fend off a dangerous attacker in a movie nicknamed "an R-Rated Home Alone."

This week we kick off a return to our Halloween Retrospective with Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Meyers. In anticipation of the 2018 reboot which we'll be covering when it comes out, we're doing the deepest cut in Halloween continuity-- the so-called "Thorn Trilogy" of Halloween 4, 5 and 6. Join us!

Christian Parkes and Grant Moninger are the founders of Beyond Fest - the highest-attended genre film festival in the country - running in Los Angeles from Wednesday, September 26 to Tuesday, October 9th. We talk about the Cronenberg Retrospective they're hosting which is bringing in luminaries such as Debbie Harry and Jennifer Jason Leigh, Halloween Day featuring the new film plus a free tattoo, and more. 

This week we jump straight to the brand-new reboot of The Predator from director Shane Black, who had a role in the 1987 original. 

This week we have the first part of a two-part Predator retrospective with the John McTiernan’s 1987 film Predator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Next week we'll be back with the Shane Black's 2018 The Predator.

We chat with Boaz Yakin, director of Now You See Me, on his new thriller Boarding School. From the producers of American Honey and Freak Show, Boarding School was written and directed by Boaz Yakin(Now You See Me, Remember the Titans) and stars Will Patton (Halloween, Armageddon), Samantha Mathis (The Punisher, American Psycho), Luke Prael (Eighth Grade),Sterling Jerins (The Conjuring, World War Z) and Nadia Alexander (Blame, Netflix's "Seven Seconds").

The Castle of Horror Podcast returns to AnimeFest in Dallas with another live podcast! This year we're tackling The Empire of Corpses, Wit Studio's steampunk take on zombies and the Frankenstein myth! Is this film a sci-fi epic or just another tired excuse in mash-up fiction? NOTE-- This Episode has a lot of noise because the ballroom we recorded was right next to a live concert in the next room, so we apologize for the sound. 

Jason talks to Tom Defalco, writer of Spider-Girl: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (new in trade paperback from Marvel) on the popularity of his story of a female super-hero "fifteen years in the future." We also talk about different formats and attempts to get new readers into comics, such as when Spider-girl successfully sold for years in a special manga-sized format just for schools.

We continue our look at 50s teen horror with 1957's I Was A Teenage Werewolf. This movie is best known for its makeup effects, but at its heart is a surprisingly dark and sadistic performance by Whit Bissell as the narcissistic Professor Frankenstein, who will lie, cheat, steal and murder to build a man from teenager parts.

In observance of the release of the new Blu-Ray release of The Changeling on Tuesday, August 7, we present our classic episode on The Changeling. NOTE: this is an older episode, before we upgraded our recording, so you may expect some pops and hisses. Thank you!

We spin off the Atomic Age Horror Retrospective with a Summer retrospective on Teenage Horror of the Mid-century, starting with I Was a Teenage Werewolf, the 1957 horror classic starring Michael Landon as a troubled teenager, Yvonne Lime and Whit Bissell. 

Jennifer Ziegler talks about REVENGE OF THE TEACHER'S PETS, the latest in her very funny, engaging series about the misadventures of a set of Texas Triplets, in this fourth book entering the seventh grade. We talk about letters from fans, writing the wrong thing to get to the right thing, and juggling narrative voices.

Tiki Culture was all about creating a frozen-in-time, idyllic wonder that bore curious resemblance to the World War II Pacific Theater. The crucial work of the 20th century to understand Tiki is The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, which explored soldiers' return home while haunted by the pain of the ugliest and most mesmerizing moments of the war. We discuss this key film with an eye towards Tiki Culture. 

LUKE SPARKE is the writer and director of  OCCUPATION, in theaters and on VOD and Digital HD on July 20, 2018. In Occupation, the inhabitants of a small town in Australia realize they must band together for a chance to strike back at an massive alien invasion. The film features a really big cast including Dan Ewing (“Home and Away,” “Power Rangers R.P.M.”), the always amazing Temuera Morrison (Aquaman, Green Lantern), Stephany Jacobsen (Alex Cross, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”), and a heck of a lot more. We talk about making great indy movies and juggling characters. 

Professors Guadalupe Garcia McCall and David Bowles discuss their new translation of McCall's book Summer of the Mariposas-- a magical Mexican American retelling of The Odyssey about four sisters traveling from Texas through Mexico. 

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) stands as a film in dialogue with 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still with two main points: aliens are not to be trusted and monuments look amazing when being blown up.