Puppet Masters / Castle Freaks
This is the definitive Full Moon Features podcast! Each week, we’re going to watch a different film from Charles Band’s madcap universe of low-budget horror thrillers, encompassing not only the Full Moon films but also the earlier stable of Empire International Pictures and sub-labels like Moonbeam and Torchlight!
Episodes
At long last, we're closing the book (for now) on Full Moon's most prestigious series: SUBSPECIES! And we couldn't have asked for a better guest to close it out: series star and one of our favorite people, the great Denice Duff! Denice joins us to talk about the oft-maligned 1998 entry SUBSPECIES 4: BLOODSTORM, which was the last film in the series until the vamps made a triumphant surprise return (to theaters, no less!) with 2023'...
Charles Band makes his unofficial directorial debut with this bizarre spin on the car-crash craze of the 70s, the directly-titled 1976 flick CRASH! Critic and author Edward Douglas joins us for this very Band-ified take on the classic auto chaos genre, as an injured woman learns she can psychically control a killer car and uses this talent to seek revenge.
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck
Lo...
This week, we're covering the strange and compelling midwest mannequin melodrama JIGSAW! A group of art students are tasked with assembling an "exquisite corpse" in the form of a piecemeal mannequin called Jigsaw, and chaos, eventually, ensues, but not before some baffling bar orders, traumatic flashbacks, and a whole lot of loaded conversation. It's an odd little piece, but weirdly watchable.
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Gu...
Lock yourself into the castle... sorry, I mean PRISON OF THE DEAD, an early 2000's David DeCoteau joint about a group of dumb teens who shack up in a haunted dungeon for a night of gore and arguably one too many twists. We're joined this week by author Nathaniel Tolle!
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck
Logo by Doug McCambridge
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: @pu...
We have a special bonus episode for you this week! John Torrani returns to the show to help moderate an interview with Joe Haldeman, the legendary sci-fi author of THE FOREVER WAR and the screenwriter of Stuart Gordon's ROBOT JOX!
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck
Logo by Doug McCambridge
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: @puppetmasters_castlefreaks
YouTube: @Pup...
Author Clay McLeod Chapman joins us this week for an absolutely bizarre sci-fi thriller, TRANSFORMATIONS! Featuring tons of sex and gloppy gore, the movie tells the tale of the hapless victim of an evil space succubus who tries to implant an alien seed inside her victims.
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck
Logo by Doug McCambridge
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: ...
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck
Logo by Doug McCambridge
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: @puppetmasters_castlefreaks
YouTube: @PuppetMastersCastleFreaks
Next week's episode: Transformations
A group of curious kids accidentally unleash an ancient demon from Middle Eastern mythology in the fun effects-driven Moonbeam film DEMON IN THE BOTTLE! Cameron Chaney of Library Macabre joins us for a film discussion, and continues with us as we rhapsodize about the GOOSEBUMPS era of YA horror.
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck
Logo by Doug McCambridge
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail...
As a special treat, we sat down with a literal member of the Full Moon family: composer Richard Band! Band has scored dozens of Full Moon and Empire films, and we're looking back over his long and storied career!
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck
Logo by Doug McCambridge
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: @puppetmasters_castlefreaks
YouTube: @PuppetMastersCastleFre...
Tony Todd was a giant of the genre, and his death last November was deeply felt. So it's nice that we get one more film from him, thanks to CUTTER'S CLUB, a 2005 film long thought lost, but finally recovered and released just this year! Not only do we get some unseen work from Todd at his most deliciously over-the-top, we also get to see one last film from late Full Moon greats like Mac Ahlberg and John Carl Buechler!
Hosted by Ja...
We're committing ourselves to discussing HELL ASYLUM, Danny Draven's 2002 reality TV ghost flick! A surprisingly gory, effectively shot micro budgeted gem, HELL ASYLUM hearkens back to the brief craze of haunted reality shows like MTV's "Fear" in a fun little thriller. Writer, critic, and all around amazing human Jerry J. Sampson returns to the show!
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck
Logo by D...
Enroll this semester in the VOODOO ACADEMY, David DeCoteau's quietly groundbreaking queer softcore opus. Considered too risky for most major video store chains, the film still found a devoted cult audience and remains a fascinating piece of queer horror history. We're joined by the amazing writer-filmmaker-urban mystic Sarah Lyons to talk about the film and it's long-delayed sequel 2: VOODOO ACADEMY!
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and ...
Roll them bones! We're taking a chance on THE HAUNTED CASINO, aka DEAD MAN'S HAND, a movie that, believe it or not, takes place in a haunted casino. We're joined by the awesome Katie Hettenbach, aka Katie Afraidy, for this campy old-west throwback that features genre icons like Sid Haig and Michael Berryman!
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck
Logo by Doug McCambridge
Email: puppetmasterscastle...
This week, we're checking in to the RAVENWOLF TOWERS from 2016! This bizarre little flick was repurposed from a Full Moon streaming series, that unfortunately was cancelled abruptly in the middle of it's season, just as it was setting itself as a kind of Kushner-Locke era AVENGERS.
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck
Logo by Doug McCambridge
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram...
We're hitting the streets this week for a double-dose of mid-80s Linda Blair exploitation flicks! We're covering SAVAGE ISLAND, a cobbled-together amalgam of two sleazy women-in-prison movies with a tacked-on Blair wraparound, and as a bonus, we're covering the non-Empire film SAVAGE STREETS, a teen revenge flick that encapsulates the state of Blair's post-EXORCIST career. We're joined this week by the delightful Sean O'Connor of M...
This week we're joined by B-movie (I'm sorry, B-Plus) icon Tiffany Shepis! Tiffany started her career in James Gunn's TROMEO AND JULIET and has gone on to appear in nearly 200 projects, including Full Moon favorite DELTA DELTA DIE! We catch up with Tiffany for a delightful conversation about coming up in the microbudget horror scene and our own double-feature mixed tapes.
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli
Theme song by K...
Step right up! This week we're stepping into the SIDESHOW, Fred Olen Ray's loving homage to Tod Browning's FREAKS! Filmmaker Frank Sabatella joins us on our tour through the horrors of this carnival treat.
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck
Logo by Doug McCambridge
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: @puppetmasters_castlefreaks
YouTube: @PuppetMastersCastleFreaks
N...
We're back with the PUPPET MASTER series, and the franchise has entered a bumpy transitional period. We're talking about CURSE OF THE PUPPETMASTER, an odd side adventure starring the puppets and a crew of entirely new characters, and RETRO PUPPETMASTER, which takes us all the way back to the beginning of the timeline with Greg Sestero as young Toulon! Author and PM expert is back to walk us through the weird and tortured production...
Two movies for the price of one! This week we're lumping two flicks together for one high-quality episode, with returning guest Jed Shepherd (HOST)! We're talking about 1992's BODY SNATCHERS knockoff SEEDPEOPLE, one of our last films from Full Moon's golden era, and then we're transitioning to an oddball Kushner-Locke era film from David DeCoteau, 1997's SHRIEKER!
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli
Theme song by Kyle Hornb...
Pew pew! This week, friend of the show Adam Torkel returns to talk about one of Charlie Band's earliest hits, the sci-fi thriller LASERBLAST from 1978! This film not only looms large in Band's pre-Full Moon catalogue, it also inspired one of the best "Mystery Science Theater 3000" episodes ever!
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck
Logo by Doug McCambridge
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail...
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