This Week in Horror History | Cult Classics & Body Horror Nightmares — June 22–28

Summer horror is supposed to be fun. You get the big screens, the loud crowds, the popcorn, the monster you can point at and say, well, clearly that's the problem. But this Week in Horror History doesn't play fair like that. This week evil comes in the shape of a child. A hotel room turns memory into a weapon. A London street becomes the first warning sign of the end of the world. And somewhere in Antarctica, a group of men realize the monster isn't just outside in the cold, it might already be one of them. So check the nursery, count the exits, and maybe don't trust the guy sitting next to you.

Welcome back to this Week in Horror History, your weekly time machine through the creepiest anniversaries in film, TV, books, and games. I'm your host, Henrique Couto, and tonight we're talking about June twenty second through twenty eighth. Coming up, a Stephen King hotel room that does not want you to leave. The Antichrist arrives with one of the best horror marketing hooks of the nineteen seventies. A rage virus turns empty city streets into modern nightmare fuel, and a landmark horror tinged video game opens a slipgate into gothic castles, industrial nightmares, and full three D terror. Then, after the break our deep Cut Spotlight goes to the coldest place on Earth for one of Horror's greatest paranoia machines.

June twenty second to two thousand and seven, fourteen oh eight checks into theaters and proves Stephen King Horror does not need a giant monster when it has a locked door, a bad room, and John Cusack slowly realizing skepticism is not the same thing as armor. It's a haunted hotel story, but it plays like a psychological pressure cooker. The room doesn't just scare him, It studies him, It finds the wounds and keeps pressing. And audiences showed up about one hundred and thirty three million dollars worldwide on a reported twenty five million dollar budget. A strong hit for a movie built around one man, one room, and the worst night of your life, and it holds up to this day.

I promise you, so make your reservation and check in by renting or buying it on Prime Video, Apple TV, or Fandango at home. June twenty fifth, nineteen seventy six, The omen opens and the Evil Child movie gets one of its classiest, creepiest landmarks. Gregory Peck and Lee Remick play parents slowly realizing their adopted son may not just be unusual, he may be the Antichrist. The movie had that perfect nineteen seventies religious horror vibe, elegant holmes, formal clothes, whispered panic and death scenes that feel like Fate setting up a Rube Goldberg machine. It was, in a lot of ways final destination before final destination, except with a creepy kid at the helm.

It was a major hit, about sixty point nine million dollars in the United States and Canada, with a worldwide theatrical gross around forty six point three million, all against a two point eight million dollar budget. Definitely a film that if you've somehow missed it, you need to watch it, and if it's been a while since you put it on, now is definitely a good time. I mean, there's never a bad time for a creepy, murderous kid horror film, right at least that's my two cents. It's available to rent or buy on Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango, at home, or really wherever you buy or rent your films digitally.

June twenty seventh, two thousand and three, twenty eight days later, hits United States theaters and the zombie movie suddenly feels fast, raw, digital and a bit close to home. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland don't technically call them zo bombies, but the effect is the same. Empty London infected humans sprinting like rabid wolves who are insatiably hungry, and survivors discovering that civilization is thinner than anybody wants to believe. And it became a surprise hit, earning about seventy five million dollars worldwide on an estimated budget of eight million. And not only did it help reshape the twenty first century outbreak horror motifs, but it changed cinema in a lot of ways by being shot on videotape, on digital videotape, but videotape nonetheless, And this was a very big deal and a huge risk at the time, something that really hadn't been done at this level, aside from George Lucas doing it on Star Wars films, and of course those cameras were very, very different from the somewhat more affordable cameras they used.

I revisited the film right before I went to see the new sequels, the twenty eight years Later and twenty eight years later Bone Temple, which I both both of those. I really enjoyed. It still holds up twenty eight days later. Is a lot of fun. It has great scares, great characters. It's definitely worthy of its legend status in my opinion, and if you want to check it out, whether you've never seen it before or you're revisiting it, it's available to rent or buy on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home. June twenty second, nineteen ninety six, Quake releases for PC and gaming gets dragged into a darker, colder, more gothic kind of first person nightmare.

After the massive success of doom It software could have given players more demons, more corridors, and more heavy metal carnage. Instead, Quake feels like something older and stranger clawing its way out of the machine. Medieval castles, slip gates, rusted weapons, and shambling monsters with a touch of Lovecraftian names, and a world that seems less designed than Unearthed. It's not horror in the slow candlelit sense its horror as architecture, brown stone, wet tunnels, screaming enemies, empty halls, and a Trent Resnor soundscape that makes the whole thing feel diseased, industrial and haunted. Historically, it was huge too, helping push fully three D first person shooters forward while leaving a shadow across PC gaming, modding, multiplayer and horror tinged shooters for decades.

So if you've never played Quake. I mean it is a absolute classic and it's available digitally on Steam, Goog, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. Our summer horror event continues tomorrow on the weekly Spooky Feed with Summer of the Demon, which has turned Football Camp into a blood soaked nightmare, with our hero surviving the impossible again and again, but now he may finally know how to stop the Demon. After being nearly crushed, hospitalized, and pushed to the edge, Edie realizes the monster's power may not come from the body wearing it, but from the jersey that cursed Double zero jersey, the one worn by Mick the Demon night, the one that transformed Greg Branlake, the one that has left a trail of bodies across the camp in Part four, Eddie returns to the camp injured but determined, convinced that if the team can get the demon down and rip that jersey off, they can finally expose who or what has been hiding underneath.

But the truth is worse than anyone could have expected, because when the Demon strikes again during another scrimmage, the team makes its stand, players pile on, bodies hit the field, and when the jersey finally comes off, the face beneath changes everything. But the nightmare doesn't end there, because once that jersey is loose, once its power is out in the open, someone else reaches for it, someone trusted, someone close, someone who can feel exactly how much power is waiting inside. Summer of the Demon Part four drops tomorrow Wednesday on Weekly Spooky, the fourth part of our summer mini series.

Make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss it tomorrow, and if you haven't heard the other three parts, just take a look back on our feed or go to Weeklyspooky dot com. Because the Demon can be beaten, the jersey can be taken, but the curse it still wants a player. All right, spookies, let's take a quick break, But when we come back We're going to June twenty fifth, nineteen eighty two, The Summer of E. T. Hope, Wonder, Glowing Fingers, and Reese's Pieces, but also John Carpenter dropping the nastiest, coldest, most distrustful alien nightmare imaginable. Welcome back, my spookies.

Things are about to get chilly in here. June twenty fifth, nineteen eighty two. John Carpenter's The Thing opens in theaters and the world isn't ready for it. This isn't a friendly alien movie. This is not a spaceship full of wonder. This is a frozen station at the edge of the world, a group of exhausted men, and a creature that does not conquer by blasting through the door. No, it imitates. That's the hook that makes the Thing immortal. The monster is not just out there. It can become your friend, your coworker, the guy you trusted just five minutes ago.

Every conversation turns into a test, every glance becomes suspicious. Even blood could be lying, and Rob Botein's effects still feel slimy and dangerous because they look like bodies refusing to obey any kind of rules or laws natural physical. Any of them teeth where teeth shouldn't be, limbs splitting and extending, flesh blooming into something that can't be understood. At the time, it struggled, which you may not know if you're a little on the younger side. It made roughly twenty point nine million dollars worldwide on a reported fifteen million dollar budget, and in nineteen eighty two, that was not a triumph the studio had hoped for.

But home video, cable critics and horror fans did what horror fans often do. They rescued the monster from the wreckage. So now the Thing isn't a failure, it's a warning. Trust is fragile groups collapse fast, and when fear gets cold enough, nobody needs to be infected to turn on each other. I feel it would be trite for me to say that the Thing still holds up, because it's always been ahead of its time, and even now it still feels that way in a lot of ways. But every single time I put the thing on, I'm still startled by the big scares.

I'm still worried by the intrigue and mystery, even though I know how it's going to turn out. That's a very special thing that ha, see what I did there that this film carries. I can't recommend it enough. If you've never seen it, that's bizarre and you need to drop what you're doing right now and check it out. It's available to rent or buy on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at home, and there's a gorgeous four K release by Screen Factory that you could own if you are the kind of person who does that sort of thing.

The thing is a classic, and if you've never seen it, I'm angry at you. Now for some horror related birthdays, we're starting off this week with one of the true greats and a definite legend. Born on June twenty sixth, the nineteen fifty eight Bruce Campbell, the Chin, the boomstick, the chainsaw handed soul of evil, dead cold horror. The man completely redefined the anti hero in basically every horror common or horror movie with a dark sense of humor that came after it. A very happy birthday, Bruce Campbell born June twenty six, nineteen oh four. It's Peter Laurie, one of cinema's great haunted faces from m to countless shadowy genre roles.

He was one of the first horror actors to really upset you with just an expression, especially a smile. Happy birthday, Peter Lourie born on June twenty seventh, nineteen fifty five. Isabelle Adjhanni. While she has appeared in several memorable horror films like Nosferatu the Vampire, I think people would be hard to forget her in Possession, as she gave one of horror's most emotionally volcanic performances I've ever seen. That's a film you should seek out if you haven't seen it already. A very happy birthday to Isabella Johnny and Finally born on June twenty eighth, nineteen forty eight.

Kathy Bates Miseri's Annie Wilkes proof that a friendly smile can be more terrifying than any mask, and another great example of a hyper talented character actress who brings everything to their roles, so much so that even a brief glancing blow to horror will make her memorable for decades to come. I mean, would misery even be misery without Kathy Bates? I think not A very happy birthday to Kathy Bates for are then and now This week is horror, learning to distrust the obvious. The Omen says evil can smile from a child's face, fourteen oh eight says a room can know you better than you know yourself.

Twenty eight days later says the Apocalypse might not crawl so much as sprint Quake turns horror into architecture, dragging players through gothic corridors, slipgates, industrial dread, and a fully three D nightmare that helped reshape PC gaming. And of course, the Thing asks the simplest and cruelest question of all, who is still human? And for our weekly recommendation, if you want a follow up that keeps the anthology spirit alive, this one will hit just right. June twenty fourth, nineteen eighty three, Twilight Zone. The movie opens in theaters, bringing Rod Serling's world to the big screen through four directors John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller.

The movie is uneven, although in some ways I think that's part of the charm and its real world production tragedy is impossible to separate from its legacy, but as a genre artifact, it's still fascinating and it is a great watch. The opening road scene, the It's a Good Life nightmare house energy and George Miller's Nightmare at twenty thousand Feet remake with John Lithgow absolutely burns the place down. It is a phenomenal performance and phenomenally directed. It made about forty two million dollars on a ten million dollar budget, so a commercial success wrapped in a complicated shadow.

If you've never seen the Twilight Zone movie, it is a lot of fun. It really is, albeit it's a complicated relationship I have with the film. I do like it. I think it's a solid movie, and it's free to watch right now with ads on tub and Plex and of course available to rent or buy on Prime Video, Apple TV or Fandango at home. Well, my spookies, that's your trip through June twenty second to twenty eighth in horror history. Don't forget Tomorrow Wednesday, there's a brand new installment of our summer mini series, Summer of the Demon, and every single day of the week there's something spooky to keep you engaged and keep Halloween alive all summer long and beyond.

I look forward to seeing you all right back here next Tuesday for another peek at the creepy calendar. Until then, remember our days are numbered because that's how we tell them apart. See you next week.