Nov. 11, 2025

This Week in Horror History | Creepshow, Dracula & Ravenholm

This Week in Horror History | Creepshow, Dracula & Ravenholm
This Week in Horror History dives into a loaded week: Creepshow hits wide release, Interview with the Vampire and Bram Stoker’s Dracula redefine luxe gothic on the big screen, Half-Life 2’s Ravenholm sneaks survival horror into AAA gaming, and Stephen King’s Cycle of the Werewolf howls through November. We spotlight Supernatural’s early heart-stopper “Home,” roll birthdays for genre icons, compare ’90s velvet vampires to today’s, and cap it with a cult-classic pick: Slumber Party Massacre. Perfect for spooky season’s afterglow—queue these up and feast.

Inside this episode
  • Creepshow (Nov 10, 1982): Romero + King bring EC-comics mayhem to multiplexes. 
  • Interview with the Vampire (Nov 11, 1994): Velvet-and-venom epic opens #1 and rewrites vampire melodrama.
  • Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Nov 13, 1992): Coppola’s operatic, in-camera sorcery storms the box office. 
  • Half-Life 2 — Ravenholm (Nov 16, 2004): A masterclass in atmosphere; survival-horror vibes inside a shooter. 
  • Cycle of the Werewolf (Nov 1983): King + Wrightson’s lean, illustrated lunar calendar of carnage.
  • Duel (Nov 13, 1971): Spielberg’s white-knuckle TV thriller turns the highway into a hunting ground.
  • Deep-Cut Spotlight — Supernatural “Home” (Nov 15, 2005): Intimate, grief-haunted return to the Winchesters’ house. 
  • Birthday roll: Roy Scheider, Radha Mitchell, Robert Louis Stevenson, Burgess Meredith.
  • Then & Now — Velvet Vampires: ’90s baroque romance vs. prestige-TV reinventions.
  • Weekly Recommendation — Slumber Party Massacre: A sharp, subversive slasher to cleanse the palate.
Get comfy, my spookies! 41% off at CozyEarth.com with code SPOOKY — supports the show!

🎧 LISTEN NOW and subscribe for spine-tingling horror stories every week!

🎉 Unlock exclusive bonus episodes and support the show on Patreon!
👉 WeeklySpooky.com/Join

📬 Contact Us / Submit Your Horror Story!

🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨‍💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
🌐 Explore more terrifying tales at: WeeklySpooky.com
WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:05.639
Welcome back to the long dark of November, where the

2
00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:11.359
leaves are gone, but the shadows stick around. This week

3
00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:16.559
is drenched in gothic blood and neon bite, a lavish

4
00:00:16.679 --> 00:00:21.239
vampire double bill that ruled the nineties box office, a

5
00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:26.359
comics to screen creep show that made anthology horror cool again,

6
00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:31.399
a TV thriller that launched a superstar director, a landmark

7
00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:35.840
PC game that quietly snuck a classic Haunted Town chapter

8
00:00:36.359 --> 00:00:40.799
into sci fi, and a slim Stephen King novella that

9
00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:45.920
became a howling calendar of carnage. We'll sprint through the

10
00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:50.000
big anniversaries, giving you tidbits and trivia along the way,

11
00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:54.479
then dive into a TV deep cut that still makes

12
00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:58.520
home feel haunted. So keep your earbuds in and your

13
00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:02.479
car stereo rockin, because the calendar is coming and knocking.

14
00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:16.239
You're listening to this Week in Horror History. I'm your host,

15
00:01:16.359 --> 00:01:20.519
Enrique Kuto, and we're covering the week of November tenth

16
00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:24.879
through sixteenth. So let's rattle the crypt and see what

17
00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:30.840
climbs out on deck. Creep show cracks wide. Interview with

18
00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:36.480
the Vampire premieres Bram Stoker's Dracula seduces opening weekend records,

19
00:01:36.920 --> 00:01:40.319
a duel on ABC that made a career and the

20
00:01:40.439 --> 00:01:44.200
game that sent us to Ravenholm after the Break, a

21
00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:50.159
TV deep cut spotlight on Supernatural's Home, a birthday roll call,

22
00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:54.680
a quick then and Now on Lush, nineties, vampire Cinema

23
00:01:55.040 --> 00:02:02.840
Versus Today, and of course your Watch Now recommendation. November tenth,

24
00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:07.079
nineteen eighty two, Night of the Living Dead's George Romero

25
00:02:07.400 --> 00:02:11.520
and the legend himself, Stephen King joined forces to bring

26
00:02:11.639 --> 00:02:15.400
us some delightful comic book macabre on the big screen.

27
00:02:16.039 --> 00:02:19.840
After a July test run in Boston, Creep Show rolled

28
00:02:19.879 --> 00:02:23.960
into wide release the week of November tenth, nineteen eighty two,

29
00:02:24.039 --> 00:02:27.159
topping the box office with a five day haul and

30
00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:33.319
cementing the EC style anthology as crowd pleasing horror, garish colors,

31
00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:37.479
cockroach nightmares, and a Father's Day cake that well, no

32
00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:41.479
one should eat. File it under proof that short, punchy

33
00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:46.840
horror plays like Gangbusters between Halloween and Thanksgiving, and it

34
00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:51.000
makes sense. I mean, they even brought cake. Creep Show

35
00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:53.280
is one of those films that really sticks with you

36
00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:58.560
because every story has that thick ec comic style which

37
00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:02.599
would later become extreamly famous and a part of popular

38
00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:06.800
culture when the Tales from the Crypt TV series debuted

39
00:03:06.840 --> 00:03:10.319
on HBO about a decade later. Tales from the Crypt,

40
00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:13.360
of course, based directly on the EC comic of the

41
00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:16.639
same name and its sister comics like Vault of Horror,

42
00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:20.919
Haunt of Fear, and Two Fisted Tales. Stephen King and

43
00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:24.479
George Romero wanted to make creep Show as a homage

44
00:03:24.919 --> 00:03:28.199
to EC comics because they both read them when they

45
00:03:28.199 --> 00:03:32.639
were definitely way too young, and to suggest it warped

46
00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:35.360
them would be a little bit of an understatement, I

47
00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:38.039
would say, but still a great bit of fun. And

48
00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:42.319
I personally have a massive soft spot for creep Show

49
00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:45.240
two as well, And if you don't, well, fair enough,

50
00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:48.360
but I have them both on four K and in

51
00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:51.159
the late twenty tens, it kind of came full circle

52
00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:55.319
when creep Show the series hit Shutter and AMC Plus,

53
00:03:55.800 --> 00:04:00.199
helmed by makeup effects master Greg Nikoto, who came an

54
00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:04.599
even bigger horror icon after becoming an indispensable part of

55
00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:08.240
the Walking Dead production team. That all to say, if

56
00:04:08.280 --> 00:04:11.120
you want to revisit or check out creep Show for

57
00:04:11.159 --> 00:04:15.479
the first time, well it's available to rent on YouTube.

58
00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:18.839
It's available to rent on Fandango at Home, Amazon Prime Video,

59
00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:21.759
and Apple TV, and of course the TV series is

60
00:04:21.800 --> 00:04:30.560
on AMC Plus and Shutter. Absolutely worth a watch. November eleventh,

61
00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:36.000
nineteen ninety four, Interview with the Vampire Neil Jordan's Velvet

62
00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:41.120
and Venom epic premieres, a lush and melancholy ride that

63
00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:45.240
takes you through all of the beauty and romance as

64
00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:50.720
well as the absolute despair of being a vampire. It

65
00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:54.079
opens at number one with a November record at the time,

66
00:04:54.399 --> 00:04:58.319
helped of course, by the stars Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt

67
00:04:58.360 --> 00:05:03.480
and Kirsten Duntz and Anne Rice's sensuous theology of immortality

68
00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:08.360
The Candles Gutter. The candles may have faded, but the

69
00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:12.519
box office did not. In nineteen ninety four, I was

70
00:05:12.680 --> 00:05:15.560
eight years old, but I had a teenage sister, so

71
00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:18.920
you better believe Interview with the Vampire was just about

72
00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:23.040
the most important film on the planet. And I saw

73
00:05:23.079 --> 00:05:27.040
it so many times on VHS over and over as

74
00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:32.040
my sister had her little lestat fantasy fulfilled at least

75
00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:35.079
for a little while. But I have to admit the

76
00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:38.279
film really does hold up. After all, these years, I

77
00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:42.920
still enjoy the moroseness of the film as much as anything.

78
00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:45.519
I think as you get older you start to appreciate

79
00:05:46.040 --> 00:05:49.000
moroseness a little bit more. As weird as that is

80
00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:51.439
to say, but hey, if you want to get your

81
00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:54.360
moroseness on, I'm not going to stop you. You can

82
00:05:54.360 --> 00:05:57.519
watch Interview with the Vampire on Amazon Prime, although you'll

83
00:05:57.519 --> 00:05:59.480
have to rent it. You can also rent it on

84
00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:03.240
Apple TV, Fandango at Home. A bunch of good places

85
00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:11.399
and the blood sucking just will not stop. November thirteenth,

86
00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:17.639
nineteen ninety two Bram Stoker's Dracula. Two years earlier, Coppola's

87
00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:22.600
baroque Dracula explodes into US theaters on November third, nineteen

88
00:06:22.680 --> 00:06:27.120
ninety two, marrying stagecraft in camera tricks and there is

89
00:06:27.639 --> 00:06:31.839
no shortage of them, and operatic performances from Gary Oldman,

90
00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:36.959
Winona Ryder and Anthony Hopkins to a maximalist tragic romance.

91
00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:41.079
The capes swirl, the blood pops, and the film stakes

92
00:06:41.079 --> 00:06:44.879
a monster opening for the season. So come on, Hollywood,

93
00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:48.560
where's our big horror opening in November this year? You

94
00:06:48.600 --> 00:06:51.560
guys gotta get your stuff together. I swear I actually

95
00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:54.279
revisited this one for the first time in a very

96
00:06:54.360 --> 00:06:58.199
long time. Again, teenage sister made me watch a ton

97
00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:01.240
of Bram Stoker's Dracula, and it holds up to this

98
00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:05.480
very day. It is a feast for your eyes. The

99
00:07:05.480 --> 00:07:08.800
sheer amount of trick photography and special effects in the

100
00:07:08.839 --> 00:07:14.240
movie is almost dizzying. It's almost insulting and offensive. The

101
00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:18.319
sheer amount of masterful gags and effects, and of course

102
00:07:18.360 --> 00:07:22.240
my sister's favorite part being Jianu Reeves and in four

103
00:07:22.360 --> 00:07:27.040
k it is truly Chef's kiss. And right now it's available,

104
00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:29.680
of course to rent on Amazon Prime, to rent on

105
00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:32.720
Apple TV or Fandango at home, but you can watch

106
00:07:32.759 --> 00:07:36.920
it right now with your Netflix subscription. So chop, chop,

107
00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:44.279
and get to slurp in that blood. November sixteenth, two

108
00:07:44.360 --> 00:07:50.360
thousand and four, Half Life two launched on Steam November sixteenth,

109
00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:54.560
two thousand and four. Half Life two redefined first person

110
00:07:54.680 --> 00:07:59.839
narrative and physics, but horror fans still whisper about Raven,

111
00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:04.959
the saw blades, the head crabs, and of course, who

112
00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:11.040
could forget Father Grigory's sermons in a town that feels cursed?

113
00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:14.720
Proof that the scariest level in a sci fi Shooter

114
00:08:15.160 --> 00:08:18.879
can be pure survival horror tone, and I have to

115
00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:21.920
admit this one brought back a lot of memories. I

116
00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:25.839
played so much Half Life and even attended a couple

117
00:08:25.879 --> 00:08:29.439
of land parties. I know, I know, I fly my

118
00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:33.320
NERD flag proudly, but that one is a deep one,

119
00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:36.080
even for me. But you can play Half Life two

120
00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:41.399
via PC with Steam and the twentieth anniversary edition includes

121
00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:45.360
a little episode's menu. Head on back to Ravenholm and

122
00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:48.720
meet up with Father Grigory. I'm sure he'd love for

123
00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:58.240
you to confess your sins. November nineteen eighty three. Cycle

124
00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:03.799
of the Werewolf by King. Stephen King's illustrated novella with

125
00:09:03.960 --> 00:09:07.600
art by Bernie Wrightsen, landed in November of nineteen eighty

126
00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:12.399
three as a limited hardcover twelve months, twelve full moons,

127
00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:16.919
a small town gnawd to the bone, lean visual and

128
00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:21.159
built like a calendar. It later morphs into Silver Bullet

129
00:09:21.399 --> 00:09:25.440
from nineteen eighty five with Corey Haym and well the

130
00:09:25.559 --> 00:09:29.879
incomparable Gary Busey. But that's a story for another time

131
00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:33.600
but Horn. But as far as the book goes, it's

132
00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:36.440
a tight read and you can finish it before midnight,

133
00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:42.240
which is probably a good idea. Don't mind me, I'll

134
00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:47.200
be up late tonight shopping for silver bullets on Amazon. God,

135
00:09:47.240 --> 00:09:50.879
this Prime shipping better not fail me this time. Cycle

136
00:09:50.919 --> 00:09:54.320
of the Werewolf is currently in print. There's a paperback

137
00:09:54.360 --> 00:09:58.200
available via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and just about anywhere

138
00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:07.559
you get your books. November thirteenth, nineteen seventy one brings

139
00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:11.799
us Duel, a TV movie from a director you might

140
00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:16.519
have heard of before Jaws. Steven Spielberg delivers a white

141
00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:20.720
knuckle ABC movie of the Week, a commuter hunted by

142
00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:26.399
a faceless trucker. It aired on November thirteenth, nineteen seventy one.

143
00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:30.879
Minimal premise, maximum dread, camera and sound design, do the

144
00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:34.240
stalking See what I did there. It's a masterclass in

145
00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:40.440
making the ordinary feel predatory. It's basically Jaws, except well,

146
00:10:40.919 --> 00:10:44.799
the shark is a truck and the victim is any

147
00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:47.960
of us who dare to head out on the highway.

148
00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:53.159
That is a scary prospect. And you can rent Duel

149
00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:56.120
at Amazon Prime. You can rent it on Apple TV,

150
00:10:56.240 --> 00:10:59.399
Fandango at home. It's definitely worth a watch if you've

151
00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:02.360
never seen it, especially if you're a Jaws fan, because

152
00:11:02.360 --> 00:11:05.879
there's so many elements he would hone in on in

153
00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:11.120
the making of Jaws. I want to take a quick

154
00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:14.080
moment to thank our sponsor on tonight's episode of This

155
00:11:14.200 --> 00:11:18.480
Week in Horror History, Cozy Earth. I know you spookies

156
00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:21.759
out there love to kick back and relax after a long,

157
00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:26.759
hard day of something really scary working for a living,

158
00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:31.080
and nothing helps you relax quite like something comfy to

159
00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:35.480
wear or cover yourself with. Cozy Earth has some of

160
00:11:35.480 --> 00:11:40.559
the softest, most delightful bedding and loungewear you could ever

161
00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:44.159
hope to purchase, and they have a very special deal

162
00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:47.039
going on just for you spookies. If you had to

163
00:11:47.080 --> 00:11:50.879
cozyearth dot com and use promo code Spooky, you get

164
00:11:51.080 --> 00:11:56.159
forty one percent off. That is a bargain, and every

165
00:11:56.200 --> 00:11:59.480
time you purchase from Cozy Earth using our promo code

166
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:03.960
by it helps us directly keep the show going and

167
00:12:04.120 --> 00:12:07.440
going and maybe even growing. I used to be the

168
00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:10.639
kind of guy that didn't have special loungewear and sleepwear,

169
00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:15.000
but after one high quality bathrobe, I've become a convert.

170
00:12:15.159 --> 00:12:19.279
So head to cozyearth dot com find yourself something really,

171
00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:23.399
really comfy use promo code Spooky save forty one percent

172
00:12:23.960 --> 00:12:27.399
and help support the show. And huge thanks to Cozi

173
00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:31.840
Earth for their support. When we come back, a haunted house,

174
00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:36.279
a psychic named Missouri, and the episode that proves the

175
00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:55.519
Winchesters never really left home Like any good slasher villain,

176
00:12:55.879 --> 00:13:00.919
We're back and it's deep cut spotlight time. I guarantee

177
00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:03.879
a lot of you spookies are big fans of Supernatural.

178
00:13:04.279 --> 00:13:08.120
While on November fifteenth, two thousand and five, season one,

179
00:13:08.200 --> 00:13:13.919
episode nine aired, titled Home, nine episodes in Supernatural stops

180
00:13:13.960 --> 00:13:18.159
the road trip and makes the destination a little more personal.

181
00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:22.879
Home takes Sam's vision back to Lawrence, Kansas, to the

182
00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:26.559
house where his mother died, and turns a monster of

183
00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:31.559
the week into more of a family affair. Director Ken

184
00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:36.279
Garotti keeps the camera small and close, basement crawl spaces,

185
00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:40.960
hallway angles that feel just wrong, a gas line that

186
00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:46.759
hisses like a ghost breathing if ghosts actually breathe. It's

187
00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:51.879
probably more ornamental than anything. Loretta Divine arrives as Missouri Moseley,

188
00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:57.000
the show's first great psychic, anchoring the mythology with warmth

189
00:13:57.080 --> 00:14:02.279
and righteous side eye. The scarceyequences snap into place with appliance,

190
00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:06.679
Poltergeist's closet doors that hand through the crib. But the

191
00:14:06.759 --> 00:14:11.519
real chill, the real part that gets to you, is

192
00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:16.200
grief turning the floor plan into a crime scene. I am,

193
00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:20.000
by no means a supernatural super fan, but I have

194
00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:23.720
seen quite a few episodes, and of them all, this

195
00:14:23.799 --> 00:14:26.759
one has always stood out to me. It aired on

196
00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:30.320
November fifteenth, two thousand and five, and shows how TV

197
00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:35.600
horror can earn longevity, not through bigger monsters, but by

198
00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:39.679
pointing its little flashlight at the family photo on the

199
00:14:39.720 --> 00:14:44.120
Mantle home is where the Winchester's quest stops looking like

200
00:14:44.200 --> 00:14:49.000
a gig and starts feeling like destiny. If you only

201
00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:53.519
sample one early episode, start there. It tells you how

202
00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:57.679
the series will keep hurting and healing its characters for

203
00:14:57.799 --> 00:15:03.080
fifteen seasons. And it's available to watch right now on Netflix.

204
00:15:06.840 --> 00:15:10.080
But enough about deaths. We got four candles for you

205
00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:13.480
this week on our birthday role. November tenth is Roy

206
00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:17.519
Scheider's birthday. Not strictly a horror guy, but he was

207
00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:21.200
Chief Brodie in the genre defining film Jaws, which we

208
00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:24.039
talked about a little bit before, and of course, he

209
00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:27.320
had the iconic line You're gonna need a bigger boat.

210
00:15:28.200 --> 00:15:31.519
Unfortunately we lost Roy Scheider back in two thousand and eight,

211
00:15:31.960 --> 00:15:35.519
but he had an incredible career and he helped us

212
00:15:35.559 --> 00:15:41.840
realize that summer could be very, very scary. November twelfth,

213
00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:46.080
Rada Mitchell. She showed all the final girl grit you

214
00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:49.440
could possibly have in Silent Hill from two thousand and

215
00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:53.919
six and had a lot of genre versatility from Pitch

216
00:15:54.000 --> 00:16:01.399
Black to Haunted Town Motherhood. November thirteenth, Robert Lewis Stevenson,

217
00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:05.879
the man behind Jekyl and Hyde, handed us a Victorian

218
00:16:05.960 --> 00:16:10.879
horror as a split screen of appetite and reputation. It

219
00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:15.000
still serves as a blueprint of duality today, whether it's

220
00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:20.399
a horror film, a comedy, or just about anything in between. Really,

221
00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:28.799
and finally, on November sixteenth, Burgess Meredith was born. Two

222
00:16:28.919 --> 00:16:33.559
Immortal Twilight Zone turns Time Enough at Last and Printer's Devil,

223
00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:37.960
plus a career of charming menace I mean, Burgess Meredith.

224
00:16:38.279 --> 00:16:40.960
He's in Time Enough at Last, which is honestly like

225
00:16:41.039 --> 00:16:44.840
the perfect Twilight Zone meme, what with the breaking glasses

226
00:16:44.840 --> 00:16:46.799
in the fact that we all wish we could read more.

227
00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:51.080
But he also cemented himself as the penguin on the

228
00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:55.639
original Adam West Batman, which is mind boggling when you

229
00:16:55.679 --> 00:17:00.120
consider that. Then later on he would play Mick in Rocky,

230
00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:03.279
which Rocky is one of the greatest films of all time.

231
00:17:03.320 --> 00:17:05.839
It's not horror, but but I'll be damned if I

232
00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:09.079
don't show my love and appreciation for it. He also

233
00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:12.400
played the elderly father to Jack Lemon in Grumpy Old Men.

234
00:17:12.920 --> 00:17:16.599
The guy had just a monster of a career. Unfortunately

235
00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:19.599
we lost him in nineteen ninety seven and he was

236
00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:26.759
at ninety years old. Incredible career. Now let's look at

237
00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:31.079
then and now velvet vampires from nineteen ninety two to now.

238
00:17:31.920 --> 00:17:35.880
Back then, in the span of two novembers, opulent vampire

239
00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:40.960
cinema storms, the multiplex Copolas Bramstoker's Dracula as we mentioned,

240
00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:47.400
and Jordan's interview with the Vampire, expensive adult, unapologetically romantic,

241
00:17:47.960 --> 00:17:54.400
featuring chandeliers, blood is perfume, immortality as addiction. These concepts

242
00:17:54.440 --> 00:17:59.680
all really changed the way we understand and appreciate vampires.

243
00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:04.680
In me, whether it's movies, televisions, books, you name it.

244
00:18:05.240 --> 00:18:09.079
Vampires were never quite the same after the early nineties,

245
00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:12.279
and sometimes I don't think the early nineties gets enough

246
00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:16.480
love for the contributions it made to the horror genre.

247
00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:20.759
As we move our eyes to the now, Prestige Television

248
00:18:20.839 --> 00:18:25.119
redraws the bite, and AMC's Interview with the Vampire, a

249
00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:28.640
TV series based on the same novel by Ann Rice,

250
00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:34.559
leans more into the queer longing and trauma. It's extremely

251
00:18:34.599 --> 00:18:37.759
well thought out and it fits beautifully with the film

252
00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:44.160
while being very very different. Streaming favors these long arcs

253
00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:47.799
on TV shows, and of course the massive, lush production

254
00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:54.960
without sacrificing the bloodshed. The lesson isn't that vampires changed

255
00:18:55.039 --> 00:18:58.559
so much as that culture loves to keep rewriting the

256
00:18:58.680 --> 00:19:05.039
contract between beauty and appetite. Plus, let's just be real

257
00:19:05.079 --> 00:19:09.119
for a second, Dracula is one thousand percent a metaphor

258
00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:13.759
for sexually transmitted diseases. You can't change my mind on

259
00:19:13.799 --> 00:19:17.880
that one. Now, Before I get out of here and

260
00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:20.400
let you get back to your week, of course, I

261
00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:24.480
can't leave without giving you my weekly recommendation. And this

262
00:19:24.519 --> 00:19:29.319
one is a lifelong love of mine. The Slumber Party

263
00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:35.799
Massacre from nineteen eighty two, Ugh, just the keyboard theme

264
00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:43.200
from this movie alone makes me so very happy. That

265
00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:50.559
is just such beautiful late seventies early eighties synth joy

266
00:19:50.759 --> 00:19:54.920
right there, and that really describes the entire film. With

267
00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:59.279
a lean seventy seven minute runtime, It's a cult classic

268
00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:03.680
directed by Amy Holden Jones from Rita may Brown's script.

269
00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:08.200
It's fast, it's funny, and it's feral. And it opened

270
00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:12.640
in Los Angeles on September tenth, which is my birthday,

271
00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:17.839
go figure. But the New York release was the week

272
00:20:17.880 --> 00:20:23.240
of November twelfth, nineteen eighty two, so I'm counting it.

273
00:20:23.240 --> 00:20:29.119
It really is the perfect post Halloween comfort, garbage food

274
00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:31.799
kind of fun time, and it has a lot of

275
00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:36.400
very subversive winks in it. Rita may Brown wrote the screenplay,

276
00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:40.200
and she was famous for writing feminist books, a ton

277
00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:43.480
of them. In fact, she's always claimed that the screenplay

278
00:20:43.480 --> 00:20:48.160
for Slumber Party Massacre, which was originally titled Sleepless Nights,

279
00:20:48.759 --> 00:20:52.000
was meant to be a kind of parody of slasher

280
00:20:52.039 --> 00:20:58.480
films featuring gratuitous nudity, violence, and general debauchery and horniness

281
00:20:58.519 --> 00:21:01.640
of teenagers. I've always felt like maybe that was a

282
00:21:01.640 --> 00:21:04.200
little bit of a cop out, only because By the

283
00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:07.319
time she wrote the screenplay, there had barely been any

284
00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:10.559
slasher movies made. I mean, I think Friday the Thirteenth

285
00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:13.880
wasn't even a big thing when she was writing the script.

286
00:21:13.960 --> 00:21:17.920
You basically only had Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But

287
00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:20.960
maybe I'm wrong, and Amy Holden Jones has had an

288
00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:25.079
incredible career directing so many films outside of the horror genre.

289
00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:29.960
But it all started with this Roger Corman produced feature

290
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.359
film with a perfect title, and that title is Slumber

291
00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:39.200
Party Massacre, with its phone repair woman gags, pizza box punchlines,

292
00:21:39.400 --> 00:21:42.599
and the most infamous power tool in all of horror.

293
00:21:43.079 --> 00:21:46.440
Queue it up after the Velvet Vampires for a fun

294
00:21:46.519 --> 00:21:51.440
and frisky midnight movie to cleanse your palette. And best

295
00:21:51.480 --> 00:21:54.920
of all, Slumber Party Massacre is available just about everywhere

296
00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:57.799
you could want to watch movies for free. Two BTV

297
00:21:57.920 --> 00:22:00.680
has it, Zumo has it, Pluto TV has it, The

298
00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:03.440
Roku channel has it, Fandango at Home has it. To

299
00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:07.680
watch for free. It's on shutter AMC plus Filo Plex.

300
00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:11.839
The sky is the limit. You have no excuse to

301
00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:16.480
not give Slumber Party Massacre a spin, unless, of course,

302
00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:20.319
it's not your kind of thing. No shame in that. Well,

303
00:22:20.359 --> 00:22:23.640
that's it for this week in Horror History for November

304
00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:26.640
tenth through sixteenth. If you're enjoying what we're doing here

305
00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:29.799
on Tuesdays, leave us a rating on your favorite podcasting

306
00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:33.039
app like Spotify or Apple Podcasts and share it with

307
00:22:33.079 --> 00:22:37.359
your nearest spooky friend. And don't forget Tomorrow. Weekly Spooky

308
00:22:37.480 --> 00:22:40.880
drops a brand new episode featuring a story by a

309
00:22:40.920 --> 00:22:43.759
brand new author. You won't want to miss it. And

310
00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:46.839
this Friday we might just have something special for you

311
00:22:47.400 --> 00:22:51.960
on cutting deep into horror. So until next time, my friends,

312
00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:57.119
keep that porch light lit and pack some silver bullets

313
00:22:57.559 --> 00:23:10.880
just to be saved.