Saturday Night Freak Show

This week Brent tries to determine if Groundhog Day (1993) can be classified as a time-travel movie. Self-centered weatherman Bill Murray gets stuck in Punxsutawney, PA in more ways than one, finding himself reliving the same day, Groundhog Day, over and over again. Is it cosmic punishment for the misdeeds of his life? Or is some other force at work? Listen as we try to figure it out on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Jenny takes us to the the nightmare fantasy world of Return to Oz (1985), a supposed sequel to the much beloved classic film that, in the hands of the maniacs at Disney, becomes a full-fledged freak show. Dorothy gets committed to a mental institution and finds her way back to a ruined Oz, which is now under the command of a shrieking, head swapping witch and an amorphous Gnome King. Join us as we try to unravel just who thought this was a good idea for children's entertainment on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Colin ventures into H.P. Lovecraft territory with a 30th anniversary review of Re-Animator (1985). Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) is a medical student who conducts bizarre experiments on dead tissue, which eventually draws both his roomate (Bruce Abbott) and his roomate's girlfriend (Barbara Crampton) into some of the most gonzo moments in ever seen in horror cinema. Listen as we talk about the horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, film adaptations of his work, the career of director Stuart Gordon and more, on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Brent steps into the ring with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the time-travel epic Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)! Come with us if you want to live, as we evaluate one of sci-fi's enduring action movie franchises, and attempt to wrap our heads around James Cameron's twisted timeline in this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The pesky electronic gremlins have struck again and have devoured our intended review of The Babadook, so this week the power of Christ compels us to watch William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist III (1990). Screen titan George C. Scott battles Satan in this pseudo-sequel to the 1973 original, this time dealing with body-snatching Brad Dourif and homicidal old folks as well as Old Scratch himself. Tune in as we discover what heaven would be like with a big band orchestra and Patrick Ewing as the Angel of Death on this week's short but sweet episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Colin takes us to the Forbidden Planet (1956) where we encounter Robby the Robot, the voluptuous Anne Francis, monsters from the Id, and a very young Leslie Nielsen, who stars as the commander of a starship sent to investigate why Earth has lost contact with a distant colony. Listen as we explore one of sci-fi's most borrowed from classics on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The 2015 Year of Time Travel Movies continues with Brent's selection of Twelve Monkeys (1995), which sees Bruce Willis sent from a post-apocalyptic future back to the modern day to find a pathogen, responsible for wiping out the human race, in its pure form. Along the way he encounters a sympathetic psychiatrist (Madeleine Stowe) and a charismatic schizophrenic (Brad Pitt) in Terry Gilliam's trippy tale. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we evaluate Jenny's selection of 1998's The Big Lebowski by subjecting ourselves to a barrage of trivia questions about the Dude (Jeff Bridges), Walter (John Goodman), Maude (Julliane Moore) and the other assorted odball characters of Joel and Ethan Cohen's slacker ode to film-noir detective mysteries. So get the White Russian mix handy and play along with our Big Lebowski drinking game on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, we take a trip back through 80's nostalgia via Colin's pick of Kung Fury (2015), a Kickstarter-funded short film that sees a Miami cop become a martial arts master, thanks to a simultaneous cobra bite and lightning strike, who travels back in time to defeat Adolph Hitler. Listen as we talk about crowdfunded Internet short films, the logistics of using a Nintendo Power Glove as a time machine, laser raptors, machine gun wielding barbarians, and learn not to hassle the Hoff on this week's exciting (and short) show! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Brent continues the 2015: Year of Time Travel series with the 2010 comedy, Hot Tub Time Machine. John Cusack leads a cadre of his pals back to 1986 via a magical hot tub, where they are afforded the opportunity to right the wrongs of their youth. Shenanigans ensue. Listen as we talk 80's nostalgia, movies that aren't really movies, and generally clown around on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Travis plumbs the dark recesses behind superhero fantasies with James Gunn's Super (2010). Rainn Wilson stars as a short order cook who becomes a costumed crimefighter in order to rescue his wife (Liv Tyler) from a smarmy drug dealer (Kevin Bacon). Listen as we deconstruct the modern superhero myth on this week's exciting podcast! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Colin answers Brent's 'year of time-travel movies' challenge with Shane Carruth's Primer (2004), a low-budget mindbender about two engineers who accidentally invent a time machine in their garage, and the complications that ensue once they begin to use it. Find out how little we know about actual science as we talk causality paradoxes, space, time and perception on this week's epic episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Brent takes us on Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), in which two lovable losers (Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter) embark on a quest to abduct famous figures from history (courtesy of a time machine) in order to pass their high school history exam. Join us at the bar as we continue the Summer of Time-Travel with one of the 80's best known comedy duos on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week marks the Freak Show's first foray into J-horror with Travis' pick of Black Rat (2010). Set in a high school, a killer in a rat mask begins murdering her classmates for revenge for a tragic death which they were all a part of. Join as as we talk J-horror tropes, karate fights, sullen teenagers, breaking-and-entering, and more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, we yap about Colin's pick, I Come In Peace (aka Dark Angel, 1990). Muscleman Dolph Lundgren stars as a rule-breaking cop investigating a series of murders committed by an extraterrestrial drug-dealer. Join us as we talk about the practicality of using compact discs as a murder weapon, handguns that shoots fireballs, the drug empire run by a group of suited up corporate executives, and the futility of putting Dolph Lundgren in a buddy cop movie on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Brent takes us on a voyage through time to the 1960's to watch The Time Machine, in which an inventor and scientist George Wells (Rod Taylor) travels to a distant future where humanity is divided into two groups - the apathetic Eloi and the mutant Morlocks. Based on the novel by H.G. Wells. Listen as we talk time travel, 1960's era special effects and more on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Travis hopes to transform into The Guyver (1991), a suit of bio-boosted space armor from this adaptation of a popular Japanese manga. A kickboxer (Jack Armstrong) discovers an alien artifact (aka "The Unit") which attaches itself to him in the form of a wearable superhero suit, allowing him to fight against the insectoid creatures (led by Michael Berryman of The Hills Have Eyes and David Gale of Re-Animator) who are determined to get it back. Top-billed Mark Hamill co-stars as a rumpled CIA agent. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, we howl at Colin's pick of WolfCop (2014), a tongue-in-cheek monster/comedy that finds an alcoholic policeman finding new ways to battle crime once he's transformed into the world's first werewolf cop! Pull up a seat at the bar and listen in as we talk the modern trend of insta-cult movies and discover whether or not this wolfman's got nards on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Brent steals about 2 hours from the Saturday Night Freak Show irregulars with his pick of Time Bandits (1981), a whimsical British fantasy directed by one-time Monty Python regular, Terry Gilliam. A cadre of dwarf time-travelers abscond with a young boy on an adventure throughout a variety of historical scenarios, putting them in the midst of an ongoing battle between Evil (David Warner) and the Supreme Being. Strap yourselves in for what could be the most exciting Freak Show yet! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Travis asks us to slam evil along with his movie pick, The Phantom (1996). Set in the 1930's, Billy Zane plays a costumed (and possibly immortal) crimefighter who defends a south Asian jungle from a greedy industrialist (Treat Williams) seeking a supernatural doomsday device. One time movie Buffy, Kristy Swanson, and Catherine Zeta-Jones co-star. Join us as we talk about the character's comic book origins and enduring appeal on this week's exciting episode! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.