Really Awful Movies: Ep 19 – House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects

We look at two Rob Zombie classics, House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects in this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast.

Zombie is a polarizing figure, and some of his later work has been underwhelming. Still, the man knows his horror and showed some incredible talent with these two films.

On the show, we talk about how House of 1000 Corpses is a bit of an unofficial sequel to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. They have a very similar aesthetic sensibility.

It has a lot of detractors, people who say it’s a self-indulgent music video-style production, but it’s really incredible in our estimation.

Discussion also focuses on how the Marx brothers vaudeville comedy troupe influenced the character names.

Also, our talk focuses on the cast: genre legend Sid Haig, who’s been in Foxy Brown, House on Haunted Hill and The Big Bird Cage; and Karen Black who starred in Easy Rider and Nashville. And many don’t know that Rainn Wilson (aka Dwight from American version of The Office) was in House of 1000 Corpses.

Zombie’s wife, Sheri Moon and the absolutely incomparable Bill Mosely discussed as well.

The Devil’s Rejects is way more vicious. The film features an incredible performance by William Forsythe (who played murderer John Wayne Gacy in another film, as well as a bad bad biker in Stone Cold, starring Brian Bosworth). He portrays a psychopathic cop here who’s nearly as nuts as the murdering family. Bill Mosely undergoes a big physical transformation and there’s a tonal shift between his performance in House VS Devil’s.

Really Awful Movies: Ep 18b – Animal attack movies with author / broadcaster Mike Mayo

Mike Mayo joins us on the program. He is one-half of Max and Mike On the Movies and the author of American Murder: Criminals, Crime and the Media, VideoHound’s Video Premieres and Really Awful Movies’ favorite reference, The Horror Show Guide: The Ultimate Frightfest of Movies.

Whether it’s Jaws, Sharknado or Piranha, everyone loves a good animals run amok movie.

We talk about how we got into horror, why people are drawn to the genre and naturally (no pun intended) eco horror.

The RAM guys and Mike explore The Swarm, Piranha, The Nest, Jaws, Alligator, Rogue, Sharknado, Lake Placid and the truly awful killer bunny movie, Night of the Lepus.

We discuss why creature features are made and their appeal. And we also look at what scares us personally, the work of David Cronenberg, horror generally and where the genre is heading.

 

Really Awful Movies: Ep 18 – Basket Case

On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, Basket Case! 

Basket Case is a 1982 American horror-comedy-monster movie written and directed by Frank Henenlotter. It has two sequels, Basket Case 2 (1990) and Basket Case 3: The Progeny (1991), both of which were directed by Henenlotter.

The film is definitely one of our absolute favorites, low budget, off-beat and gory. The film gained an audience in the 1980s due to the proliferation of VHS and has become a bona fide cult classic.

Kevin Van Hentenryck stars as Duane, an average, everyday dude who seeks vengeance for the unwanted surgery that separated him from his deformed conjoined twin brother, who was unceremoniously tossed in the trash.

Belial is left for dead but the grey misshapen lump of flesh is very much alive. Soon, it’s stuffed into a basket carrying case by its protective brother, Duane.

The duo make their way to the mean streets of New York City (42nd street, aka The Deuce) and take up residence in a very sleazy hotel. They then seek vengeance against doctors who performed the surgery and separated the inseparable “twins.”