Episodes 1980-1989 — Screams & Streams Podcast

Ep. 34: Ken Russell’s “Altered States” (1980)

We kick off our foray into horror of the 1980s with a discussion about the trippy successes and the frightening failures of “Altered States.”

Episode 35: Emmett Alston’s “New Year’s Evil” (1980)

Talking about how bad this movie is was much more fun that watching it. There are definitely moments that stand out, but is that because they were good, or laughably bad?

Episodes 36 & 37: Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” (1980)

TJ Herd joins us in the studio to walk the haunted hallways of the Overlook hotel. Stephen King hated the adaptation, we loved it!

Episode 38: John Landis’s “An American Werewolf in London” (1981)

Chad watched this film for the first time in order to discuss it. Mike watched it when he was ten. Part dark comedy, part werewolf horror. Tune in to fund out what we thought of this classic film.

Episode 39: Jimmy Huston’s “Final Exam” (1981)

Chad and Mike’s patience is tested by this quasi college comedy/slasher film. Some key points are worth watching, but can you make it through all of the faults of “Final Exam”?

Ep. 40: Sam Raimi's "The Evil Dead" (1981)

Sam Raimi’s debut has it all. Campy humor, inventive camera work, gore, demons, gore, comedy, and even more gore.

Ep. 41: Andrzej Zulawski's "Possession" (1981)

For Sam Neill, and Isabelle Adjani, it was a struggle to make this film. For Chad, Mike, and their guest Sam, it was a struggle to watch. This film confounded us, and left us with many questions by the time the end credits began rolling.

Ep. 42: Tobe Hooper’s "Poltergeist" (1982)

Come with us as we explore the things that frightened us, and Steven Spielberg, as children.

Ep. 43: Steve Miner's "Friday the 13th Part 3" (1982)

This film was enjoyable 30 minutes of slasher horror greatness. Unfortunately, you have to sit through an hour of stale character development to get to it.

Ep. 44: David Cronenberg's "The Dead Zone" (1983)

Seeing a film with Christopher Walken before he became “Walken” was enjoyable. A lot goes on in this film, but not a lot of it is developed to an enjoyable level.

Ep. 45: Joe Alves's "Jaws 3D" (1983)

Unpack the underwater chaos of Jaws3D with us! From awkward character choices to outdated 3D effects,

Ep. 48: Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984)

We go back to the film that started it all. The film that saved New Line Cinema. And the movie that scared the bejeezus out of two of our hosts.

Ep. 49: John Cardos's "Mutant" (1984)

This movie has it all. Pus, ooze, slime, teeth!

Ep. 50: Peter Medak's "The Changeling" (1980)

None had ever seen this movie before we watched it for the podcast. But, this film is so iconic it was on all of our radars since we were young fans of horrors and thrillers.

Ep. 51: John-Claude Lord's "Visiting Hours" (1982)

Michael Ironsides thrills, and tropes abound in this 1982 slasher!

Ep. 52: Stuart Gordon's "Re-Animator" (1985)

This was probably one of the most loved films by all three of us. Shockingly, none of us had ever seen it before, but we’d all watched it more than once by the time the episode was published.

Ep. 53: Luca Bercovici's "Ghoulies" (1985)

What was once a much loved film from Mike’s child became a practice in tedium.

Ep. 54: David Cronenberg's "The Fly" (1986)

As far as Cronenberg’s signature body horror goes, this one dances on the line of almost going too far. Nearly 40 years later, the themes, story, and effects all stand up.

Ep. 55: Stephen King's "Maximum Overdrive" (1986)

Was 14% on Rotten Tomatoes justified? Or, was it too high of a rating?

Ep. 56: Sydney J. Furie's "The Entity" (1982)

At around a 2 hour run-time, we found this film both upsetting, and a bit too long. The tension and suspense work, but the formula feels tiresome by the 90 minute mark.

Ep. 57: John Carpenter's "The Thing" (1982)

What is it about this film that keeps it feeling fresh and tense more than 40 years after its release?

Ep. 58: David Cronenberg's "Videodrome" (1983)

This film is David Cronenberg at his body-horror best. We were fascinated, intrigued, repulsed, and confounded by this film.

Ep. 59: Tobe Hooper's "Lifeforce" (1985)

We had so many unanswerable questions as we watched Tobe Hooper’s final feature film as a director. One question that was easy to answer: Why did Hooper never direct again?

Ep. 60: Arch Nicholson's "Dark Age" (1987)

We finally did it. We finally found the film that truly made us question whether to Tomatometer was the best way to determine which films we are looking at for the podcast.

Ep. 61: Bill Froehlich's "Return to Horror High" (1987)

Was this movie laughably bad? Or, was it terribly done? While we found moments in the movie that we could enjoy, it became harder and harder to watch as the attempts at spoofing became over-the-top crude and uncomfortable jokes.

Ep. 62: Kevin Tenney's "Witchboard" (1986)

It’s not a good sign when one of the best compliments we can give a film is: “it’s a movie that I watched.” While this film had a couple of good moments, we all agreed there wasn’t much there to enjoy.

Ep. 63: Chuck Russell's "The Blob" (1988)

We found this film to be an enjoyable watch. Between the bookends of the now-cheesy 1950 original, to the b-movie bomb of the sequel comes an enjoyably fun watch!

Ep. 64: John Carpenter’s "They Live" (1988)

With plenty of one-liners, a 6-minute long fight scene, and tons of aliens, there was something for everyone. Despite a slow start, we all felt it was an enjoyable watch. Don’t forget your bubblegum!

Ep. 65: Jon Hess's "Watchers" (1988)

Despite some good deaths, realistic blood, and an adorable four-legged friend, we were left with a whole lot of questions and not a single answer to be found. However, there is no question that this film missed the mark for all of us.

Ep. 66: Sam Raimi’s "Evil Dead II" (1987)

Was this film as good as the first? We decided we needed to stop comparing the two and enjoy this one for what it was. We were able to look past the confusing beginning, and in the end gave it three thumbs up.

Ep. 67: Charles E. Sellier, Jr.’s “Silent Night, Deadly Night” (1984)

Despite some gruesome, creative deaths and lots of gore, we just couldn’t get over some of the major flaws and unnecessary nudity/sex scenes. Ultimately we came up with 3 separate ratings as to how ho-ho-horrible this film was.

Ep. 68: Alejandro Jodorowsky’s “Santa Sangre” (1989)

This film required a discussion to answer the questions we had, but we thoroughly enjoyed discussing it. Because of this, and how unique the movie was, it was difficult for us to place it on our watchability scale.

Ep. 69: Rob Heddon’s “Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan” (1989)

We had a such a fun time discussing this film. Laugh along with us as we go through our long lists of tropes and things that just didn’t hold up for us. You let us know if you think it should be renamed “Manhattan Takes Jason” or “Jason Takes a Cruise”!

Ep. 70: Dominque Othenin-Girard’s “Halloween 5” (1989)

How does a classic horror film miss the mark so badly? We were left with so many questions and very few answers after watching the fifth instalment in this franchise.

Ep. 71: George A. Romero’s “Monkey Shines” (1988)

Despite some disturbing scenes and facts discovered through our research, we had a great time discussing this fun, and unique, movie. Plus it was paired with a delicious cocktail!

Ep. 72: ‘80 - ‘89 A Decade of Horror

Our second decade of films is coming to a close. Sam, Chad, and Mike reflect back on the statistics of the era. We look at the box office winners and losers. We pick our favorites, and least favorites from the ‘80s, and we finish off by making some adjustments to our scale.

Ep. 73: Jeannot Szwarc’s “Bug” (1975)

Before starting our next decade, we decided to visit movies that scared us as kids. This week we looked at Mike’s scare '‘Bug”. Mike and Sam had different reasons for not being able to get through this one - one due to extreme phobia and the other due to extreme boredom. Littered with exploding cars, sweat stains, and tons of close ups of cockroaches, including a random erotic scene, join us as we dissect this film.

Ep. 74: Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.” (1982)

How does a film described as “family, science fiction” give Sam recurring nightmares for years? Tune in for this week’s episode where we look at both the creepy and the wholesome in this well-loved classic.

Ep. 75: Steve Miner’s “Friday the 13th Part 2” (1981)

This episode dives into one of Chad’s childhood scares, one he hasn’t revisited since he watched it as a kid. Despite the tropes and the typical slasher-flick predictability, some jump scares and the film’s fast-pace led us to enjoy our trip back to Camp Crystal Lake.

Ep. 75: Steve Miner’s “Friday the 13th Part 2” (1981)

This episode dives into one of Chad’s childhood scares, one he hasn’t revisited since he watched it as a kid. Despite the tropes and the typical slasher-flick predictability, some jump scares and the film’s fast-pace led us to enjoy our trip back to Camp Crystal Lake.