Castle Of Horror Podcast

We discuss the 2017 film "IT," one of the most anticipated Stephen King films ever.

A chat with Patrick Hemstreet, the author of the new Harper Voyager book The God Peak, a thriller in which humanity's fate hinges on the actions of test subjects named the Alphas. It's an explosive tale of how expanding the mind to godlike levels can lead to our ultimate annihilation.

We discuss Part 2 of the classic miniseries IT. (Early episode-- there may be ambient noise!)

We discuss Part 1 of the miniseries that influenced everyone's fear of Tim Curry in clown makeup: IT. (Note: Early Episode; there may be ambient noise!)

We kick off our latest Stephen King retrospective with an ode to youth in America and car culture, John Carpenter’s 1983 film based on Stephen King’s novel CHRISTINE.

Bushwick is a new thriller starring Brittany Snow and Dave Bautista in which the pair must navigate through the invasion of New York by a new rebellion: a Southern Army launching a second Civil War. We chat about the making of this scary, fast-moving film. 

There are few writers as prolific and successful as Kevin J. Anderson, publisher at Wordfire Press and author of over 130 books, 54 of which have appeared on national or international bestseller lists. With lots of his own books as well as hit Star Wars, X-Files and Dune novels. Kevin has won or been nominated for the Bram Stoker, Shamus, Hugo, Nebula, Scribe, and Colorado Book Award. We chat about Kevin's new releases: Tales of Dune, an anthology in the Dune world, and the zombie-PI collection Zomnibus.

WARNING: Contains Content and Frank Discussions Not Suitable For All Ages (No Video) LIVE! From Dallas, Texas for our second year, we record on stage at the Animefest of 2017. Our subject: Wicked City, a 1987 Japanese anime about a pair of cops, one human and one demon, tasked with protecting a key figure in an upcoming human/demon treaty signing. But what really drives this conversation is a frank discussion of sexual assault in anime, and how we are to take such art. Lots of audience participation in this one!

We discuss the third JAWS movie and ponder: what is this movie? A bad horror movie? An excellent disaster film? Something else?

UNION FURNACE is a new horror film out on Blu-Ray this month, a terrifying tale that evokes the grinding economic realities of the Rustbelt . The story involves a young crook who's given a chance at wealth that involves gambling with his life amidst a horde of masked sadists. Our guests today are Union Furnace's director and writer Nicholas Bushman and co-writer-producer-star Mike Dwyer. They talk about the inspirations of Union Furnace and share wisdom for new filmmakers.

Best-selling author Jonathan Maberry of the Dead of Night series talks about the brand-new anthology in the world of George Romero's zombie films, Nights of the Living Dead (St. Martins/Griffin).

We continue our celebration of Summer with the best killer-fish movie that wasn't Jaws ever: Piranha (1978), directed by Joe Dante.

Kevin Murphy portrayed Tom Servo on Mystery Science Theater 3000 for 10 years, has written bestselling books on films, and contributes to NPR as a movie commentator. Now as a member of Rifftrax, he's doing a live show in August, a comedy show built around the 1983 special episode of Doctor Who, "The Five Doctors." We chat about riffing, respect for Doctor Who, and being known as Tom Servo.

We discuss the strange, melodrama-with-a-monster third and final entry in the series that brought us the last Universal monster: the Creature From the Black Lagoon.

GRAVEYARD SHIFT is the debut novel of Michael Haspil, a hard-boiled noir about an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh masquerading as a detective and investigating supernatural crimes. We talk about the book and entering the writing world.

Leanna Renee Hieber returns to the show to talk about her Victorian Supernatural Adventure series Strangely Beautiful and the new book in the series, Perilous Prophecy, about a team she calls "Victorian Ghostbusters."

We return to the Black Lagoon for the 1955 REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, in which our creature goes on the loose at an Ocean Park in Florida.

We talk to the author of Flashmob, the latest in a series we describe as "Reacher with ESP," about an ex-military troubleshooter who can read minds-- and what he reads is often terrifying.

We RETURN with a look at the 1954 CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. Then, in honor of George Romero, we recommend our favorite Romero features including the upcoming October 2017 Romero series at the SIE Center in Denver.

Jason checks in from sabbatical to chat with Andrew Pyper, whose new book from Simon & Schuster, The Only Child, features a psychiatrist investigating a killer who may have a personal connection to the great gothic novels Frankenstein, Dracula and Doctor Jekyll & Mister Hyde.