066 – Ghostwatch

Jen and Tim discuss a program aired and then disappeared by the BBC for being too spooky. Ghostwatch is one of the most controversial television programs that ever appeared on British television, and it still has the power to creep audiences out.

Hear the entire episode at our Patreon and get access to all our other bonus content!

The good people at the Internet archive have preserved Ghostwatch, but if you prefer physical media and have a region-free player there’s also a DVD available from 101 Films.

If you want to hear about a British production that’s even scarier, why not sample our episode about the terrifying vision of nuclear apocalypse, Threads?

065 – Broken

From the Broken movie by Nine Inch Nails, a black and white medium shot of someone restrained in head-to-toe latex and with a pipe going into their mouth, from which little jets of water are leaking

Tim takes charge in order to bend your ear, and Jen’s, about Trent Reznor’s cute little home movie, Broken! That Nine Inch Nails soundtrack still goes the fuck off, by the way.

Watch the Broken movie at the Internet Archive, or you can hunt on the official Nine Inch Nails website for it!

For another movie that was formative to young angry Tim, here’s our episode on The Lawnmower Man!

063 – The James Nguyen-verse with Conor Lastowka

Jen and Tim are joined by Rifftrax writer/producer and author Conor Lastowka to examine one of the only true auteurs in cinema. He’s James Nguyen, and he’s given us movie masterpieces like Birdemic, Julie and Jack, and Replica, as our guest knows all too well!

Support the show on Patreon!

Tim and Jen are both fans of Conor’s podcast with Rifftrax/MST3k alum Michael J. Nelson. It’s called 372 Pages We’ll Never Get Back, and it’s highly recommended to anyone who’s ever thrown a book across the room because it was so bad.

Rifftrax fans will also want to hear our Captain America episode with Bill Corbett!

060 – Truth or Dare: A Critical Madness

Tim and Jen tell you all about an unironically delightful slasher film made by a literal child! From 1986 and director Tim Ritter, it’s Truth or Dare: A Critical Madness! Hear the whole episode at our Patreon and get access to more than 50 bonus episodes!

Yeah I know I said on Twitter (@HYSTpod if you’re not already following us) that this would drop Sunday, but hey, I got it done a day early. Enjoy!

Tim Ritter on the set of Twisted Illusions in 1985
L’auteur Tim Ritter on the set of Twisted Illusions, 1985

For more homebrew chills and slashers, try our episode on shot-on-video horror from the 80s!

058 – UHF

UHF key art

Tim and Jen make the case for a socialist reading of Weird Al’s lone movie outing, UHF. Hear the whole episode at our Patreon and get access to more than 50 bonus episodes!

So did Current Affairs, as it happens.

Also be sure to read the oral history of the making of UHF at the AV Club!

For more iconic 80s comedy, listen to Tim and guest Mike Rosen discuss the immortal Jim Varney’s Ernest Goes to Camp!

057 – The State of Movie Exhibition, 2019

Jen and Tim ask Josh Lewis of the Sleazoids podcast (@thejoshl on Twitter) to provide his insight as a film programmer in a wide-ranging discussion of the dire state of movie exhbition.

Josh also joined us to discuss an evangelical nightmare of an exploitation film, The Burning Hell!

Hear the whole episode at our Patreon and get access to more than 50 bonus episodes!