Tracks Of The Damned

  He went to development hell and stayed there but now Jason is escaping to the one place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism: SPAAAACE.   Yes, since "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman but slasher" was apparently too monumental a task for New Line to tackle Sean S. Cunningham once again delayed Freddy Vs. Jason to boldly go where Hellraiser, Leprechaun AND Critters had already gone before, none of them successfully. But would Jason X be the film to crack that "Horror Franchise In Space" nut?   No, it sucks.   But I meant what I said and I said what I meant, a podcaster's faithful One Hundred Percent, so we're doing a commentary track for Jason X anyway, watching Jason kill 24 people, an entire space station, and more than a few careers. Let me give you an upload!   0:00 - 3:31  -  Intro 3:32 - 1:37:30  -  Commentary 1:37:31 - 1:46:40  -  Outro

After Paramount squeezed all of the blood they could from their stone they sold that dry-ass stone to New Line with a shrug and a smile. They say the plan was always Freddy vs. Jason, but when Wes Craven threw a monkey wrench into the spokes of his old friend Sean Cunningham and, with no ideas and no real interest in anything but money, Cunningham went the dirt cheap route of hiring a bunch of college kids, including his son's old best friend Adam, to radically alter the massive film franchise he didn't quite intend to create. Did this gambit pay off and redefine the beloved series? Or did they make Jason Goes To Hell? On the latest episode of Tracks of the Damned, Patrick takes a look at the misbegotten sequel and asks important questions such as: What adored horror icon gave a blessing to this rip-off of his work? What does Kane Hodder do all day on the set of a Jason movie with little to no Jason? And why the hell is this movie so fucking hard to watch? Also featuring an introduction from indie wrestling s

If the quintessential quarantine experience is walking around your house bored doing nothing as you wait for the pizza you ordered to arrive, than The House of the Devil is the quintessential quarantine movie. Alternately thought of as brilliant and a total waste of time, Ti West's divisive modern classic may not have a quick pace but will it quicken your pulse? To find out we got Jim and Patrick to take a look and debate it's relative merits as horror and as art, time capsule and post-modern riff, homage and parody. And also complain a lot because THIS MOVIE IS BORING AS SHIT. Or at least, so sayeth Patrick. But Jim forsooth sayeth thy atmosphere et thee pace is interesting. Or something. 0:00 - 3:40 - 2020 Intro 3:41 - 9:07 - 2017 Intro 9:08 - 1:46:31 - Commentary 1:46:32 - 1:48:05 - 2020 Outro

Parting can be such sweet sorrow, but it can also just be sorrow, no sweetness, nothing good about it whatsoever. As we close the book on the Paramount years of the Friday the 13th series we see that Frank Mancuso Jr. opted to go out not with a bang, or even a whimper, just a shrug, a gimmicky ad campaign and no fucks given whatsoever. Welcome to Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan, where the ideas ran out long before the money did. But if we are to continue down the thankless path to hell, chronicling the remaining years of Jason Voorhees, we need not do it alone. On this episode of Tracks of the Damned, the horror film commentary track podcast, Patrick is joined by Louisa Herron of Hack the Net to watch this execrable mess and ask the big questions, like: Did Rob Hedden have any ideas to begin with? What type of Pokemon is Jason? And would you rather live without potatoes or onions? Punch it up! 0:00 - 6:17 - Intro 6:18 - 1:49:30 - Commentary 1:49:31 - 2:01:59 - Outro

So you get your X-Ray Vision but the truth is that after a week of staring at everyone's boobs and dongs nudity fails to do anything for you anymore. What are you going to use it for? Cheating at cards? Curing the sick? Hiding in a dingy Long Beach boardwalk doing insult comedy while dressed lake a blindfolded Pharaoh? If you said all three you might be Dr. James Xavier, star of Roger Corman's 1963 classic X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes. On the latest episode of Tracks of the Damned we take a look at a pivotal AIP sci-fi shocker and ask the big questions like: How did this movie change the career of Roger Corman? What classic novel does it resemble? And is that really any way to test a monkey? All this and more! Pluck em out! 0:00 - 4:35 - Intro 4:36 - 1:24:40 - Commentary 1:24:41 - 1:30:00 - Outro

https://chicagobond.org/ https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd    Just when you thought it was safe to have a psychic freakout at your parent's summer home! Some say this movie started as Freddy Vs. Jason, or as a Jaws rip-off, an attempt at an Oscar or an attempt to meet Federico Fellini but if there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that it's neutered!  Yes, they cut out all the gore, but that does mean they cut out all the fun? To find out Patrick enlisted the help of Bill Ackerman of Supporting Characters to take a look at this controversial sequel and ask the big questions like: Just how gay is this movie really? Is Danny Steinman getting a bad rap? And did we accidentally trick ourselves into like Kane Hodder? All this and more on the latest episode of Tracks of the Damned, the horror film commentary podcast! Space mummy!   https://chicagobond.org/ https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd  0:00 - 7:54  -  Intro 7:55 - 1:34:45  -  Commentary 1:34:46 - 1:

Before Boyle cleared out London, before Snyder tacked a mediocre remake onto a strong opening sequence, before Cronenberg went beyond the green door to ask for Marilyn Chamber's phone number, David Durston was there, making zombies who ran hella fast. Raconteur, TV writer, actor and possible gigantic liar (seriously, some of his life stories are wild), Durston was a cuddly madman who saw news footage of caged children foaming at the mouth and thought "that'd make for a fun movie, if only you could squeeze Charles Manson in there".   So it is on this episode of Tracks of the Damned, the horror film commentary track podcast, that we look at one of the gnarliest and most fun horror trash epics of the 1970's, I Drink Your Blood. But why is it that a movie about Satanist Murder Cult Real-Live-Chicken-Sacrificing Hippies Who Eat Tampered Meat Pies And Decapitate A Small Town's Worth of Upstate New York Bumpkins so much fun to us? Is it because we're sick weirdos or is it because seeing the lines of good taste cross

Here's some real truth for you: every time your neighbor is loud and annoys you through the walls, what they are doing is making a deposit. It's a deposit in your "be as loud and obnoxious as you want guilt-free" bank. You don't have to feel guilty about shouting at the TV while watching The Americans or for stomping around as you dance. When neighbors are aspiring DJ's that's the world telling you: don't worry about being polite all the time. It is in that spirit that on the latest episode of Tracks of the Damned, the horror film commentary track podcast, host Patrick welcomes not only Jim Laczkowski of the Director's Club Podcast but also his downstairs neighbors, who played loud gabber music through the whole episode. The more the merrier, it's a party when you watch Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, Paramount's celebration of the return of Jason Voorhees and one of the all-time great horror-comedy slashers. Patrick and Jim watch the fan favorite and ask the big questions, like: What kind of horror i

1, 2, Patrick's coming for you...4, 3, check your RSS feed.   That's right, Tracks of the Damned is back with another bonus episode, this one of the rare 2017 vintage. In it Patrick is joined by Tessa Racked of Consistent Panda Bear Shape to talk about the controversial and oh-so delightful A Nightmare on Elm Street Part Two. You take a newly-successful studio like New Line and ask them what to do with all that Freddy Money (tm), it's no surprise they didn't exactly know what the future of the franchise should be. But a movie like this only raises questions, like: Who's responsibility is all this subtext anyway? What Errol Morris documentary is lurking just in the margins? And does Rhonda ever get called? All this and more on this episode of Tracks of the Damned! Sweat it out!   0:00 - 6:25  -  2020 Intro 6:26 - 8:47  -  2017 Intro 8:48 - 1:35:53  -  Commentary 1:35:54 - 1:40:43  -  2020 Outro

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end, it's true, but when that other beginning's end was the high point of the series since the beginning's beginning what can you expect from the new beginning, particularly it's end? Why, one of the most controversial choices of the franchise, of course!   We've reached the love-it-or-hate-it section of the series, so we made sure to have both sides represented. On the love it side we have Gabe Powers, proprietor of GenreGrinder.com and host of the Genre Grinder podcast, whose delight in the film's drug-fueled sleaze is only matched by his interest in it's Eurocult vibes. On the hate it side, Patrick Ripoll, who wishes they did something, ANYTHING, with the premise of a halfway house slasher. Together they come together and ask the big questions like: What alternate reality 1990's does this exist in? What does director Danny Steinman have to say about Ronald Reagan's repeal of The Mental Health Systems Act of 1980? And just how much does he like boobs?  

So you saw Night of the Living Dead when you were 8, you brag to all your high school buddies about how your parents let you watch Martyrs, but trust me you aren't ready for this. Gnarly onscreen violence is one thing, but violent architecture? There's only one classic horror film that can make art deco scary: The Black Cat.   Lugosi and Karloff together, now you know you in trouble. Ain't nothin but Ulmer thing baby, two horror star legends so it's crazy. Released a mere month and a half before they started enforcing the Hayes Code, this deep dive in sadism, necrophilia, torture, Satanism and sexual assault is every bad taste horror idea you can think of rolled into one very classy old-dark-but-actually-extremely-clean-and-well-lit-house horror movie. Let's get into it!   0:00 - 2:23 - Intro 2:24 - 1:12:00 - Commentary

Well it took us several weeks but we're finally here. We've had decapitations and double impalements and 3D yo-yos and now we've reached the thrilling conclusion of the Friday the 13th series and, with it, our commentary tracks. (Wait, they made HOW many more after this? Oh geez.) Yes, on this episode of Tracks of the Damned, the horror film commentary track podcast, we take a look at the least accurately titled slasher movie since Jason took Vancouver. But even if it wasn't the end of the series it was probably the series' peak, a perfect cocktail of sleaze, outlandish special effects and bombast, the kind that tastes great and fucks up your liver. Plus we ask the hard questions like: What's the first rule of film-making? Why is that weird sexy aerobics in so many movies? And how long would it take you to learn Crispin Glover's impeccable choreography? Rip it up! 0:00 - 3:41 - Intro 3:42 - 1:36:49 - Commentary Track 1:36:50 - 1:38:52 - Outro

Look there's nothing wrong with an overgrown octopus pulling down the Golden Gate Bridge, there's nothing wrong with adorable giant bunnies gobbling up the townsfolk, but what if you got something more? What if you saw a killer animal movie that really got under your skin?   An early 70's AIP cheapie directed by someone mostly known for TV work seems like an unlikely candidate, but sometimes life surprises you. On this episode of Tracks of the Damned, the horror film commentary track podcast, Patrick revisits a track he recorded back in the halcyon days of 2017. Christ, you ever thought you'd be nostalgic for that first Trump year?   Armed with a six pack and a mortal fear of climate change he took a long look at this movie and asked the hard questions like: How weird is it that Sam Elliot was young(ish) once? Just who is responsible for all these wonderful squelching electronic sounds? And once and for all he lays out a massive rant about the concept of "so bad it's good" and how it's the realm of the coward

Once, twice, three times a dopey slasher series but how are you gonna get the kids coming back to pay to see the same movie they already paid to twice before? The real answer is "Twice? Wait til you realize we can do this 8 more times!" but it's 1982, they don't know what they're sitting on yet. Instead they find a solution fitting their respect for the franchise: stick a bunch of goofy 3D gimmick shit in it! Yes, it's time to talk about Friday the 13th: Part 3, the film that launched the series into what it would become. This is where they get the mask, this is where they up the body count, this is where they looked at all the critics complaining about the depraved violence in the first two films and decided to produce something that no one could possibly take seriously. If you like the cartoonish tone of later films, if you like the elaborate kills, if you like that this series eventually became the kind of thing they could cross over with The Evil Dead (in comic books, anyway) then you have this movie to t

It's an age-old question. Why do we keep pushing on that bruise, tonguing that sore, why do we watch movies we know we hate, movies we know hate us? We don't know, but there are few more mainstream horror films more hateful than Rob Zombie's Halloween. Yes, kids, it's time to gaze into the abyss. Patrick may not like Rob Zombie's divisive 2007 remake of the Carpenter classic, but that hasn't stopped him from trying to figure it out, like some kind of Film Crit Sam Loomis trying to see what lurks behind the blackest eyes, the devil's eyes. So back in 2017, armed with a six pack of beer, he decided to dive deep in and ask really hard questions like Why does no one in Haddonfield think Michael is coming back? What exactly is motivating this Michael Myers anyway? And how did Dee Wallace manage to walk into the movie and pull off it's only really good performance? All that and more on this episode of Tracks of the Damned, the horror film commentary track podcast! TIME STAMPS 0:00 - 2:20 - 2020 Intro 2:21 - 4:36 -

It's slower than we'd like but the days are finally getting warmer, the clouds are beginning to part and that first lonesome call of the loon cracking across the valley indicates the summer must soon be here. Time for camp! Yes Tracks of the Damned, the horror film commentary track podcast, is returning with this bonus episode recorded in 2019 that goes deep into the heart of New Jersey to Camp Crystal Lake with the indeliable Friday the 13th: Part 2. We're here to ask the really hard questions, like: What else did this movie rip-off from The Town That Dreaded Sundown besides the mask? Just how big is Crystal Lake anyway? And how many slasher movies have a final girl who is canonically menstruating for it's entire runtime? All this and more as we watch the scariest Jason movie of all. Just like a Shih Tzu this podcast mysteriously vanished, but now it's back! 0:00 - 3:04 - 2020 intro 3:05 - 5:07 - 2019 intro 5:08 - 1:32:45 - Commentary 1:32:46 - 1:34:17 - 2020 outro

Tracks of the Damned is back? We must truly be living in the end of days. Oh. Right. Well regardless, if we're all gonna be stuck in front of our TVs for the next two months than we might as well watch some movies together. So the plan right now is to go back into the crypt and dig up some old unreleased episodes and other archival material to release on a weekly basis. And to start off, a real doozy: Martin! In this episode, originally recorded in 2017, Patrick is joined by Gabe Powers of Genre Grinder to talk about the little-seen but oft-revered vampire flick by Pittsburgh's own George Romero. We talk about everything from the film's small-town Pennsylvania locale to Romero's work as an industrial filmmaker to whether or not this film was made prior to Tom Savini's nosejob! (Actually I'll give ya that one for free, it was.) And if you don't own a copy of Martin (who does?), psst, it's probably on YouTube, hint hint.   On top of that we go through the rest of Romero's filmography and parse out what of hi

Hey all, Jim here. I wish I could explain what you're about to hear, but I really can't. But Patrick is recovering in the hospital after 40% of his body was eaten away by insects, so all I can do is direct you to this sound file, which captures his final moments before he succumbed to a demonic force. So listen, but listen with caution, lest the same happen to you... TRACKLIST 1. Skeletons in the Closet - Louis Armstrong 2. Everyday is Halloween - Ministry 3a. "Help Me!" from The Fly (1958) 3b. Human Fly - The Cramps 4a. Graveyard Sounds - corfen 4b. Screaming Skull trailer 4c. Rattlin Bones - Preservation Jazz Hall Band 5. Nightmare at 20,000 feet - Black Market 6a. Siskel & Ebert review of Friday the 13th Part 2 6b. Intro/Cabin theme to Friday the 13th NES game (strings remix) - 7a. Resident Evil zombie sound effects 7b. I Walked With A Zombie - Roky Erickson 8a. Media Home Entertainment's retailer promo for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors 8b. Freddy Krueger 900 Number Commercial 8c. Freddy

I've spent the past 2 weeks making this special Halloween mix for you all to enjoy. Novelty songs, soundtrack cuts, horrorcore, horror-punk, horror surf, trailers, and other assorted bits and bobs. A creeptastic spooktacular! 1. Dark Dark Dark from "Spooky Scary Stories", read by Robert Dryden (1973) 2. Spooks! by Louis Armstrong and Gordon Jenkins (1954) 3a. The Graveyard Shift by Nature Sounds DJ (2013) 3b. Main Title from "Carnival of Souls" by Gene Moore (1962) 4a. Screams and Groans from "Disney's Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House" (1964) 4b. Living Dead Girl (Subliminal Seduction Mix) from "American Music To Strip By" by Rob Zombie (1999) 5a. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre trailer (1974) 5b. Chain Saw from "The Ramones" by The Ramones (1976) 6. Main Title from "House with The Laughing Windows" by Amedeo Tommasi (1976) 7a. Power Glove scene from Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) 7b. Main Title from A Nightmare On Elm Street (NES) by David Wise (1990) 8a. Three On A Meathook trailer

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, so why does the past seem like such a nightmare? In the world of pre-Vatican Patterson, NJ the Catholic communities are trapped, shamed, guilty, frustrated, and unhappy. And that's before a maniac in a mask starts burying butcher knives into the tops of people's feet. Alice, Sweet Alice is one of the greatest slashers of all-time and unforgivably forgotten by too many people, but on this episode of Tracks of the Damned, the horror film commentary track podcast, two lapsed Catholics from New Jersey (host Patrick Ripoll and Bill Ackerman of the Supporting Characters podcast) try to tackle what makes this film so deep, satisfying and scary. In addition to the commentary Bill Ackerman brings with him an exclusive interview he did with Alice, Sweet Alice director Alfred Sole, getting into his career, the joys and pains of low-budget film-making, and what the hold up is on Alice, Sweet Alice coming out on blu-ray. Even if you know the story of Alice, Sweet Alice, t