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Have you ever noticed how horror doesn't just come out,
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It arrives like a date on a calendar you can't
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tear off fast enough. Some nights, the genre doesn't knock,
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It just shows up, chainsaw, revving coffin, creaking neon cross
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glowing in the rain. This week, we've got a perfect
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little sampler of the horror spectrum. A haunted house party
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where the real gimmick is human greed, a medieval Dadite
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war that plays like a splatter fantasy fever dream, a
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rock star vampire era that's pure early two thousand's goth adrenaline,
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And a plastic toy factory nightmare that turns childhood nostalgia
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into teeth. So, if you've ever wondered why February always
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feels a little cursed, congrats you're right back open this
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week and see what crawls out. Welcome to this week
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in Horror History. I'm your host, Enrique Kuto. This is
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the show where we time travel by release date and
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celebrate the genre's best and sometimes weirdest anniversaries. This is
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our week in horror History for February sixteenth through twenty second.
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This week, we have a haunted house party, that weaponizes money,
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a chainsaw handed hero getting dropped into the Middle Ages,
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a vampire rock star waking, an ancient queen, and a
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bright plastic nightmare where childhood smiles hide teeth. And when
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we come back from the break, our deep cut Spotlight
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is going all the way back to nineteen thirty two
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for one of the most infamous studio horror films ever
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released February seventeenth, nineteen fifty nine, House on Haunted Hill
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hits United States theaters. William Castle and Vincent Price basically
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bottled the entire Haunted attraction experience and sell it as
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a movie ticket. Five strangers, one mansion, ten thousand dollars
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if you can make it through the night with inflation,
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by the way, that would be roughly one hundred and
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eleven thousand dollars in today's money. And the genius part
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it isn't just about ghosts. It's the psychology, the way
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money makes people brave, reckless, paranoid and cruel. I just
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revisited this one because Joe Bob Briggs showed it on
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the last drive in over on Shutter a week or
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two ago, and it still holds up. It's got great performances,
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excellent atmosphere, and a few scares that they'll get you
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if you let them. As far as where to watch
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this classic film, well, it's basically everywhere due to being
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public domains, so you can find it on to BTV,
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the Roku channel, anywhere you watch movies free with ads, YouTube,
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or you can rent it on Amazon Prime Video, Fandango
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at Home, or Apple TV. It's worth a visit because
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there will be food and drink and ghosts and perhaps
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even a few murders. You're all invited. February eighteenth, twoenty
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twenty six. That's right, going a little ways into the future.
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Depending on when you listen to this. Poppy Playtime Chapter
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five drops on PC. If you like your horror with
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puzzle box tension and toy factory dread well, this one
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is for you. Poppy Playtime's fifth chapter pushes deeper into
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Playtime Co's nightmare machinery, more shadows, more chases, more don't
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look behind You moments as the mystery titans around the prototype.
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It's a very modern kind of horror history, a franchise
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that grew online, evolved chapter by chapter, and turned a
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children's mascot into a full lawn Boogeyman. The game can
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be found on Steam or just about anywhere you buy
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digital games on PC, with consoles coming later. February nineteenth,
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nineteen ninety three, Army of Darkness storms into theaters. The
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third Evil Dead film goes full splatter fantasy. Ash gets
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flung back to thirteen hundred AD, straps a chainsaw back
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to his arm, and accidentally turns the Necronomicon into a
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medieval weapon of mass destruction. It's not so much a
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cabin in the Woods terror filled film as it is
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Looney Tunes meets Well Jason and the Argonauts. Honestly, if
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you've never seen it, I would be shocked. The Dead
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Heights are still nasty, and the Sam Raimi camera is
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still possessed. If you've ever wondered why people quote this
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film like it's scripture, it's because Ramie and Bruce Campbell
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found that sweet spot a hero who's both the badass
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and the punchline. And this was a film that was
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massive when I was growing up because, unlike Evil Dead
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one and two, Army of Darkness could play on USA
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on a Saturday morning or a Sunday afternoon without causing
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a lot of angry letters to be written, so it
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played ad nauseum. I actually saw Army of Darkness before
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I saw the other Evil Dead films because it was
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so proliferated on television. As far as box office goes,
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it didn't really set the world on fire. It made
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about twenty one point five million dollars worldwide on an
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eleven million dollar budget, but it did become a long
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term cult win. A lot of people think it's probably
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because of Universal Studio's brilliant decision to not include the
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title Evil Dead. You know, the title from the super
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successful other two films in the title of this one.
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I guess they were ashamed to be involved, but well,
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that shame cost them a lot of money. As far
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as where to watch Army of Darkness, if you haven't
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seen it in a while, it is worth a revisit.
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And I can't imagine you've never seen it at all,
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but stranger things have happened. You can find it rentable
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or for purchase on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and
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Fandango at Home. February twenty second. In two thousand and two,
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Queen of the Damned arrives. You can almost hear the
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early two thousand soundtracks start the second this movie boots up,
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Lestat goes Rockstar, the Vampire Underground panics, and Akasha wakes
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up ready to rewrite the entire rule set. It was
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panned at release and never quite found its footing as
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an adaptation, but as a product of its time, Oh
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it can't be beat. It's basically a time capsule of
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that goth MTV era, and a Leah's presence is the
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gravitational center. The film plays like the genre colliding with
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music video esthetics, slick, loud and drenched in attitude. Even
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if it isn't the book, it's still kind of a
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vibe in and of itself. As far as the box
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office goes forty five point million dollars worldwide on a
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thirty five five million dollar budget, So it was a
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commercial disappointment, but it's found a lot of audience ever since,
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and I do think it's worth watching. It's been a
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while since I revisited it, but I remember not loving
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it when I was younger, and then really appreciating it
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in the last ten years or so. You can rent
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or buy it on Amazon, Prime Video, Apple TV, and
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Fandango at home tomorrow right here on the Weekly Spooky Feed.
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We're cracking open road trip from the case files of
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Caroline Quinn. Caroline's not running from a monster. She's running
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from herself, heartbreak, guilt, and the one sentence she couldn't
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say out loud. She points the car west, chases bad
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weather and bad decisions, and ends up in a nowhere
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Michigan town with one bar, one traffic light, and a
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whole lot of eyes that don't feel human. She wanted
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to disappear, but something else wants to keep her. Check
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that out tomorrow right here on the Weekly Spooky Feed
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and enjoy a scary story to get through your hump day.
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All right, we're gonna take a quick breather here, spookies,
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and when we come back, we're going deep cut all
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the way to February twentieth, nineteen thirty two, a studio
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horror film so controversial it basically got pushed into the
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margins for decades. You won't want to miss it when
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we come back. Okay, my spookies, we are back, and
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for our deep cut spotlight, we're heading to February twentieth,
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nineteen thirty two, when Todd Browning Things Freaks hits theaters
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and changes horror history forever. Todd Browning's Freaks isn't just
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a pre code horror film. It's a studio era nightmare
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that feels like it shouldn't exist MGM of all places,
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putting a spotlight on a sideshow world and building a
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story around betrayal, exploitation, and revenge. Here's what makes Freaks
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still click with audiences today, even with all the context
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and discomfort that comes with the nineteen thirty two production.
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It's relatively short, sharp and mean. It wastes no time
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letting you know who is using whom. The horror is
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not just the freaks. The horror is the so called
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normal people who see human beings as paychecks. And then
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when the movie flips, it flips hard. Now, on paper,
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it didn't win. In nineteen thirty two, Freaks ran straight
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into moral panic and pressure campaigns, and the industry was
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already sliding toward stricter control that would soon become what
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was known as the production code era, basically a type
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of censorship for feature films, especially in the major studio system.
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This film was described very often as a shocker that
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the mainstream was simply not ready for. Directed by the
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man who brought the world Bela Lagosi's Dracula. The guy
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had serious studio panache behind him and a fat box
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office to go with it, but unfortunately that did not
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translate to freaks. Financially, it's nearly a stalemate. The reported
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budget was around three hundred and ten thousand dollars with
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a gross of around three hundred and forty one thousand.
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A triumph but not a crater either, just enough to
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maybe survive, and in nineteen thirty two, three hundred and
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ten thousand dollars was the equivalent of seven point thirty
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three million dollars in today's money. But the film had
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no problem haunting the margins until the cult reputation it
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gained did what the original release couldn't, and that is
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the real horror history lesson here. Sometimes the genre's most
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influential titles don't arrive as hits. They arrive as problems.
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They arrive as controversies, and then years later we're still
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talking about them, which is wild to think with a
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film that's nearly one hundred years old. As far as
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where to watch it, you can rent it at all
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the usual suspects like YouTube, Amazon, Prime Video, Fandango at Home, Apple, TV,
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et cetera, and I do really recommend you check out
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Todd Browning's Freaks. It will leave an impression on you. Now,
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let's light some creepy candles for our birthdays. On February sixteenth,
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nineteen thirty, Ricou Browning was born, the underwater gill man,
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performer in the legendary Creature from the Black Lagoon, plus
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a key figure in basically all the underwater cinematic moments
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you've come to know and love from that era. Happy
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birthday to Ricau Browning. February sixteenth, nineteen sixty four. Christopher
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eccleston is born. He brought the Raw Dread to twenty
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eight days later and haunted House, Chill to the others,
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and a whole lot of other great genre work besides
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those two, which is saying something because those two are
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pretty big, heavy hitters. So we want to wish a
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very happy birthday to Christopher eccleston. February twenty second, nineteen
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sixty nine. Thomas Jane is born Fog Shrouded, Terror in
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the midst, Shark Chaos, and Deep Blue Sea. The guy's
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got a long streak of genre grit and he's still
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making memorable films to this very day. Happy Birthday, Thomas
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Jane and born on February twenty second, nineteen seventy five,
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Drew Barrymore in many ways horror's Forever Kid, with Firestarter
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and Poison Ivy, just to name a few, and then
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of course her shocking role as the first victim in
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the original Scream by Wes Craven. Happy Birthday, Drew Barrymore.
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We'll make sure when we light the candles, we try
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and use our minds first for our then and now
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this week. Then, in the early nineteen thirties, a studio
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horror film could be made, released and then socially quarantined
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by outrage and censorship pressure. Now, controversy travels faster than ever,
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and so does rediscovery. A movie can be buried on
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Friday and become a cult phenomenon by Monday, thanks in
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part to streaming, social media and the horror community's favorite pastime,
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which is of course rescuing and appreciating weird stuff. As
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much as I miss the movie rental store, this really
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is a golden era for watching lost gems and sharing
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them with the world, and for our weekly recommendation. If
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you want something that lands dead center in this week's
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time frame and feels like an open road turning into
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a nightmare. I cannot recommend enough this film. Released on
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February twenty second, nineteen eighty six, The Hitcher. Rudger Hower
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plays a walking void of menace, and the film keeps
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tightening its grip until it feels like the highway itself
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is hunting you. It wasn't a box office winner at
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the time, about five point eight million dollars in gross
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on a reported seven point nine million dollar budget, but
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it's been reappraised as a full on cult classic, and
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it totally earns that status. It is a wild and
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wacky ride, but it's also scary. It's also unsettling, and
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Rudger Hower is great in literally anything you put him in.
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But when you add c. Thomas Howell to the film
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as the protagonist, well you are in for, pardon the pun,
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a very fun ride, a film that manages to keep
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you on the edge of your seat while also weirding
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you out and confusing you a little along the way.
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There's nothing quite like The Hitcher in my opinion, and
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I love the hell as far as where to watch it.
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If you've never seen it. You need to make this
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a priority, and if you've already seen it, well, the
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revisit is a good idea. It's currently streaming with a
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Cinemax subscription on multiple channels like Hulu and Amazon Prime,
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or of course, you can buy or rent it digitally
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on Amazon Prime, Fandango at Home, or Apple TV. You
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can also grab phenomenal physical media releases which took a
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very long time to come and I'm so glad to
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have mine on my shelf. Well, my spookies, that's your
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week February sixteenth through twenty second, packed with Haunted House, Hustle,
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Demon noir, Medieval Dead, Heites, and vampire rock opera. Just
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to spice things up. If you're listening on Tuesday, the
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day this comes out, tomorrow, make sure you come back
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for Weekly Spooky's brand new story all about a road
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trip that goes for a be wrong and a vampire
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hunter just trying to get by. And on Friday, well
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there'll be a little surprise waiting for you, so make
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sure you check it out. And of course next Monday,
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we'll have a brand new episode of Monthly Spooky where
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we talk about all the strange news and funny moments
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on the scarier side of life. Until next time, keep
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your lights low, your door's locked, and remember our days
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are number because that's how we tell them apart
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