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Do you love a wacky horror comedy? We mean a really wacky horror comedy. If you answered with an enthusiastic ‘yes,’ we have a Guillermo del Toro-endorsed recommendation that may just be right up your alley. We’re talking about the oddball gore-fest Brain Damage. See directly below for the beloved filmmaker’s endorsement, which comes from a Tweet he sent out a few years back.

The Pacific Rim director is not kidding when he references the film’s twisted sensibilities. It’s about a psychedelic eel-esque monster that feeds on the lead character’s brain. And that’s really just scratching the surface.

The setup for this horror comedy goes as follows:

A young man called Brian discovers a disgusting parasite has attached itself to his brain stem. He becomes addicted to the hallucinogenic euphoria it produces, but in return, he must feed it human victims.

With that added narrative context,...

Beg For My Juice

Trace and I have had another wild month on Horror Queers. We kicked off 2025 with a look at Sophia Takal’s examination of toxic friendships in Into the Dark: “New Year, New You” (listen), then crossed off Quentin Tarantino’s half of the Grindhouse double feature with a discussion of Death Proof (listen). After tackling George Waggner’s 1941 classic The Wolf Man (listen) to tie in to Leigh Whannell’s new film, we’re sucking the juice out of our very first Frank Henenlotter film with 1988’s Brain Damage.

In the film, Brian (Rick Hearst) discovers a parasite named Aylmer (voiced by John Zacherle) has attached itself to his brain stem. Brian becomes addicted to the psychedelic euphoria Aylmer’s blue “juice” gives him, but in return, the slug demands to be fed human victims.

As his (ex) girlfriend Barbara (Jennifer Lowry) and brother Mike (Gordon MacDonald...

These days the horror genre is one of the only ways to get a thoughtful, original story made in Hollywood. But believe it or not, there were those who used to be ashamed to take part in the genre. Basket Case and Frankenhooker director Frank Henenlotter was never one of those people. He basked in it. And though it may not be his most famous film, the film we’re going to cover today might be his grossest, funnest, and most thought provoking of all them. Featuring heavy drug references, a phallic parasite, and a scene so twisted it made some of the crew walk off the set. This is what happened to Brain Damage.

Seasoned 80s horror fans and monster movie aficionados may look back at Basket Case as a decently known cult commodity. Not enough so at the time that its director, Frank Henenlotter was given a huge budget for his next production.

To quote the immortal words of Fidget from John Waters' scathing dark comedy Cecil B. Demented about the movie industry, "Hey, Hey, MPAA, how many movies did you censor today?" While many don't give much thought to the movie rating system, it has long been held in contention by many filmmakers and fans for their controversial choices and obvious biases in what they deem acceptable.

Still, the Motion Picture Association tends to stick to a pretty strict set of rules in their ratings. You have the current system of G, PG, PG-13, R, and Nc-17. So, when a '90s horror comedy that parodied Frankenstein got an "S" rating, it was out of character for the MPAA and angered the director. The movie in question is Frank Henenlotter's Frankenhooker. We will look at what happened with Frankenhooker to earn it an "S" rating, and how the film overcame the...

The creature feature, at its most basic, is simply a horror movie in which a monster plays a prominent role as the primary antagonist; the term says it all. It’s the creature part that’s loose for interpretation, of course. A creature feature could be anything from carnivorous aliens from space to manmade monsters to genetically altered animals run amok.

This week’s streaming picks highlight creature features from the glorious age of practical effects: the ’80s. These five horror titles run the gamut in tone, style, and creature, showcasing just how nebulous and varied the creature feature can be. Whether you’re in the mood for quirky parasites with personality or lust that turns monstrous, these ’80s creature features go big on practical effects. Here’s where you can stream them this week.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

Alligator – AMC+, freevee, Night Flight+, Peacock,...

Joe Flaherty, founding member of “Sctv” and ubiquitous comic actor for decades including a stint as the Dad on “Freaks and Geeks,” has died at the age of 82, according to multiple reports.

The Pittsburgh-born performer (a rare American in the Canadian comedy sphere) got his start with the Chicago-based Second City Theater, first appearing on the “National Lampoon Radio Hour” before resettling in Toronto to become part of Second City’s core in the Great White North. He was one of the initial writer/performers on “Sctv,” a vanguard sketch comedy series co-starring John Candy, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Catherine O’Hara, Harold Ramis (for a little while), Dave Thomas, and, later, Martin Short, that mixed parody programming with behind-the-scenes shenanigans at a low rent television station in “Mellonville.” Indeed, if “Sctv” could be said to have a main character, it would be Flaherty’s Guy Caballero, the corrupt,...

After more than three decades, Frank Henenlotter’s putrid parable for drug addiction hits harder than ever with tons of self-aware bite.

“Splatstick” is an exaggerated horror subgenre that explores grotesque gore that’s so over the top that it begins to border on the point of comedy. Sam Raimi, Peter Jackson, and even more contemporary voices in horror like Sion Sono or Terrifier’s Damien Leone are names that are often associated with this bold, bloody genre. Frank Henenlotter is a pivotal name in splatstick low-budget indie horror whose work often goes overlooked, despite its decidedly more outlandish energy. Henenlotter’s greatest claim to fame is his Basket Case trilogy, but it’s Brain Damage that’s actually the deepest film in his oeuvre.

All of Henenlotter’s horror films have very obvious analogues and they aren’t especially deep in their subtext, but there’s still subtext all the same.

"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" ran from 2010 to 2019, and famously spawned a group of passionate adult fans who dubbed themselves Bronies. During its nine-year run, the show and its spinoff movies remained popular mainstays of children's entertainment. 

Based on a line of Hasbro toys from 1983, the original "My Little Pony" cartoon show was little more than a 30-minute toy commercial, one of many of the era. Despite this, the show became incredibly well-liked by a generation of kids, and the "My Little Pony" shows and toys have continued to be part of the pop consciousness ever since. The original toy line was designed by illustrator Bonnie Zacherle, who also designed the Nurfuls toys in 1985. Incidentally, Bonnie was the niece of legendary horror host John Zacherle.

When "Friendship is Magic" was released in 2010, the ponies themselves were drastically redesigned to have a friendlier, wider-eyed appearance, and the writing on the show just as drastically improved.

We love Cassandra Peterson, a smart woman who made a go of horror host work in the tough Los Angeles TV market, long after the short-lived Vampira and just a few years after the passing of Sinister Seymour. After Elvira’s Movie Macabre she got to make this lively comedy feature, and thus planted her stake in the cinema firmament while at the top of her game. I’d give it an A+ for nostalgic sentiment, a B for quality and a B+ for wit, even if the adult humor does skew a bit infantile. Well, that was part of the Elvira personality too!

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1988 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 96 min. / Street Date April 28, 2020 / 39.95

Starring: Cassandra Peterson, William Morgan Sheppard, Daniel Greene, Susan Kellerman, Jeff Conaway, Edie McClurg, William Duell.

Cinematography: Hanania Baer

Film Editor: Battle Davis

Original Music: James B. Campbell

Written by Sam Egan,...

February’s home media releases are an exceptional bunch, led by Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep adaptation, which is headed to a variety of formats, including 4K Ultra HD. In terms of other recent genre titles making their way to Blu-ray and DVD this Tuesday, horror fans will undoubtedly want to add Rabid (2019), Daniel Isn’t Real, The House That Jack Built, and Mon Mon Mon Monsters! to their collections as well.

We also have a few older titles that are making their way to Blu this week, including Frank Henenlotter’s Brain Damage and Evil Ed, and if you somehow don’t already own them, both the original Halloween and Halloween (2018) are being released on Blu as a double feature from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

Other notable home media titles arriving on February 4th include The Nightingale, Perfect, Ouija Room, Restricted Access, and 10/31 Part II.

Brain Damage: Special Edition

Meet Elmer.

With the season of apple cider-soaked gatherings nearly upon us, Real Gone Music is making sure you have the appropriate tunes for party time with their announcement of four October album releases, including The Return of the Living Dead soundtrack, the Cujo score, and more.

"Real Gone Music announces several Halloween-themed albums available this October including the soundtrack to Stephen King's Cujo, Zacherle's Monster Gallery from the Cool Ghoul, John Zacherle, the sole studio album from one of the great 80s goth/death rock bands, 45 Grave, and another eagerly awaited repress of the cult soundtrack to Return of the Living Dead.

Charles Bernstein

Cujo—Music from the Motion Picture

Available October 6 Limited Edition "St. Bernard" Vinyl First Ever Vinyl Reissue Includes New Cover Art and Production Stills

Ah, life in the country…such bucolic bliss. Until your neighbor’s dog contracts rabies, kills its owner, and then comes after you!

“Uh-oh, Brian! Now you’re really losing your mind!”

It’S A Headache From Hell!

From Frank Henenlotter, the man behind such cult horror favorites as Basket Case and Frankenhooker, comes Brain Damage – the ultimate head-trip, now finally on Blu-ray!

Meet Elmer. He’s your local, friendly parasite with the ability to induce euphoric hallucinations in his hosts. But these LSD-like trips come with a hefty price tag. When young Brian comes under Elmer’s addictive spell, it’s not long before he finds himself scouring the city streets in search of his parasite’s preferred food source – brains!

Featuring late TV horror host John Zacherley as the voice of Elmer, Brain Damage boasts some of the most astonishing bad taste gore-gags ever realized, including the notorious “brain-pulling sequence” and a blow-job that ends with a distinctly unconventional climax.

Limited Edition Contents

High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD...

Stars: Rick Hearst, Jennifer Lowry, Theo Barnes, Gordon MacDonald, Lucille Saint-Peter, Vicki Darnell, Joseph Gonzalez, Bradlee Rhodes | Written and Directed by Frank Henenlotter

If you are a fan of Frank Henenlotter movies then you know how surreal they are. From Basket Case and Frankenhooker to Bad Biology, Henenlotter has a unique vision of horror. One of his most unusual though handles the subject of drug addiction and is one of his best… This is why Brain Damage is a fitting release for Arrow Video.

When Brian (Rick Hearst) wakes up with a small creature attached to his brain stem, things go from odd to odder in no time. Becoming dependant on the narcotic substance that Aylmer (voiced by John Zacherley) the creature pumps into his brain, he soon has to help the creature to obtain living brains.

Henenlotter creates a movie that lives up to what you expect from him,...

For this Tuesday’s Blu-ray and DVD releases, we have an eclectic assortment of titles coming home, including films from the likes of Frank Henenlotter, John Waters, Roland Emmerich, and Gus Van Sant's remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s most iconic film. Scream Factory is keeping busy this week with two different titles—Serial Mom and Psycho (1998)—and Arrow Video has put together an impressive special edition set for Henenlotter’s cult classic Brain Damage.

For those who may have missed it earlier this year, the surreal indie horror flick The Void makes it way to DVD on May 9th, and we have a bunch of other notable titles arriving on Tuesday, too, including Making Contact, American Mummy, The Gorenos, Clown Kill, and The Evangelist.

Brain Damage: 2-Disc Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu-ray)

It’S A Headache From Hell! From Frank Henenlotter, the man behind such cult horror favourites as Basket Case and Frankenhooker,...

After introducing moviegoers to Belial in Basket Case, filmmaker Frank Henenlotter brought another evil entity to the big screen in Brain Damage, one of several horror films coming out on Blu-ray in the Us this spring from Arrow Video, who have now revealed the full list of special features for the 1988 film's high-def home media release.

Press Release: May sees the release of a fantastic slate of cult cinema from Arrow Video, with a healthy mix of giallo, cult crime and gore to keep fans happy.

First comes The Climber, starring cult actor Joe Dallesandro (Flesh for Frankenstein, Blood for Dracula). The Climber is a prime example of Italian crime cinema and follows the rise and fall of Dallesandro's smalltime drug dealer, Aldo. Filled with brawls, fistfights, shootouts and explosions, this is an excellent action-thriller. The other big crime release of May is Cops vs Thugs, Kinji Fukasaku's masterpiece...

Arrow Video will have special treats in store for horror fans this spring with their limited edition Blu-ray releases of Evil Ed and Brain Damage.

Both Evil Ed and Brain Damage will be released on Blu-ray in the Us and the UK this May, and you can check out the impressive lists of bonus features below, as well as the eye-popping cover art for the releases.

Arrow Video has also announced a new UK Blu-ray release of Dario Argento's Phenomena (aka Creepers), which includes the 116-minute Italian cut of the film.

Evil Ed Blu-ray / DVD: "New UK/Us Title: Evil Ed (Dual Format Blu-ray & DVD) Limited Edition

A veritable smorgasbord of flying limbs, exploding heads, busty babes and creepy creatures!

Pre-order your copy via Arrow: http://bit.ly/2kRcxF2

Pre-order via Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/2kRgU2Y

North American pre-orders links should be live soon!

Release Dates: 29/30 May

When His Mind Blows,...

John Zacherle, who delighted horror fans for years as the host of various horror shows on the East Coast, passed away today at the age of 98. The legendar genre favorite passed away at his home in New York City on Thursday. He became well known as one of the first horror hosts to appear on TV programs in the late 1950s, under the moniker "The Cool Ghoul Zacherley."

Deadline reported on The Cool Ghoul's passing, although no details were given about his death. John Zacherle was born September 26, 1918 in Philadelphia, Pa, the youngest of four children. He was raised in the Germantown area, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. During World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served as a quartermaster in North Africa and Europe, and after the war he returned to Philadelphia, joining a local repertory theater company.

He landed his first TV...

John Zacherle, one of the earliest and best known in the wave of horror-show hosts who haunted local TV markets in the 1950s and ’60s, died Thursday at his home in New York City. He was 98. Known primarily as the Cool Ghoul, Zacherle, who sometimes spelled his name Zacherley, debuted his popular, crypt-dwelling undertaker character in Philadelphia before moving to New York City in 1958. As classic Universal horror pictures were re-aired countless times on local TV…...

What we have here is the end of an era. One of the few remaining famed original horror movie hosts, John Zacherle, known affectionately to fans as Zacherley, The Cool Ghoul, has passed on at the age of 98! That’s quite… Continue Reading →

The post Rest in Peace: John Zacherle a.k.a. Zacherley, The Cool Ghoul appeared first on Dread Central.

Every Halloween, Robert George Pickett rises from the grave. (Figuratively.)

The song that made Pickett famous (three times over), “Monster Mash,” spikes to 40 times its regular view and search volume on YouTube every Halloween, and with good reason. It is a uniquely ripe piece of American cheese, a novelty hit that stands among the best of a decade packed with them, and Pickett’s life — and dogged attempts to keep grabbing the brass ring he glimpsed with the song — represent a uniquely American story.

Pickett was in born in Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1938, right in the middle of Universal Studios’ reign atop the horror movie industry.

The Sons of the Desert, the international organization founded to celebrate the works of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, will hold a 50th anniversary banquet at the famed Lambs Club in New York City on August 8. The Sons of the Desert (named after one of Laurel and Hardy's classic feature film comedies) was founded in 1965 with the blessing of Stan Laurel shortly before his death. Since then the organization's local chapters (known as  "tents" ) meet regularly in various locations around the globe. This 50th anniversary celebration is not only open to members of the Sons of the Desert but to the general public as well. Guests will include legendary horror show host John Zacherle ("The Cool Ghoul"), famed comedic actor Larry Storch as well as Jerry Tucker, the last surviving member of the Our Gang comedies. The emcee will be Cinema Retro's own Doug Gerbino, a lifelong historian of Laurel and Hardy.

With Hemlock Grove, Penny Dreadful, Hannibal, The Walking Dead & more, Ron suggests this is a golden age in the history of Us TV horror…

Feature

On April 30th 1954, a Finnish-American actress, showgirl and pin-up named Maila Nurmi sashayed down a dark corridor fogged with dry ice, stopped on cue and unleashed a bloodcurdling scream. She was sporting her best faux-Morticia Addams dress, vampy fingernails, long black hair and an imperious expression. After the introductory trance and shriek that began every episode of Kabc TV’s The Vampira Show, the host would recline on a skull-decorated Victorian couch and mockingly introduce one of any number of low-budget and no-budget horror films for her late-night television audience. Vampira was the first horror host in American television, appearing on the air only five short years after the station first signed on in Los Angeles.

“Screaming relaxes me so”

Though Vampira’s reign as...

Like many film enthusiasts, I love the Criterion Collection. I scoff at some of their selections—I won’t name names—but for the most part, I anticipate new releases with excitement and glee (June’s slate is particularly amazing). Of course, due to lack of finances, I can’t buy as many as I would like – though someday, I will own the entire collection, despite the current economy offering little to no financial opportunity for an individual with my interests and skill set, but I digress.

I do, however, have a minor beef with Criterion. While admiring most of their titles, I’d love to see more emphasis on genre stuff—especially horror. And don’t get me wrong, Criterion boasts some excellent titles—Carnival of Lost Souls, Sisters, The Vanishing, Godzilla, The Devil’s Backbone, Repulsion, plus the highly anticipated release of Scanners being not far off—but they need more.

We return with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes details on The Book, which brings together some of the biggest names in Italian horror, a trailer for Dead of the Nite, new releases from Cavity Colors, and much more:

First Details on The Book: “The Book sees the ultimate collaborative Italian horror film unfold before your very eyes. A one off project of unprecedented scale, The Book brings together, for the very first time, the writers, directors, actors, composers and artists behind the finest Italian genre cinema of the past sixty years. This includes the creative forces behind the Giallo movement, Spaghetti Westerns, Eurocrime and more. Each director will be given the opportunity to showcase their own personal vision of Rome, spread across a dozen episodes. Each segment in this feature film will contain a unique blend of macabre thriller,...

In honor of the Halloween season, we thought we'd chat with one of the genre's most iconic characters, the one and only Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, as portrayed by the lovely Cassandra Peterson. Read on for our ten questions with one of our favorite Scream Queens.

1. How did the Elvira character come about?

Elvira: I was with The Groundlings comedy improv group for four years before Elvira came along. My fellow Groundlings at the time were Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman), the late Phil Hartman of "Saturday Night Live" fame, Lorraine Newman, John Lovitz, Julia Sweeny, etc. etc. Many, many working actors have spawned careers at The Groundlings. (If you're ever in La, check them out at their theatre on Melrose Avenue.)

As budding actresses tend to do, I auditioned nearly every day so when I heard that a local Hollywood TV station was looking for a horror host,...

Horror fans today are spoiled. With the vast array of films available on DVD and Blu-ray via storefronts like Best Buy and Fye, online outlets like Amazon and Deep Discount, and rental/streaming services such as Netflix, there are few films that are unattainable. Virtually anything one might hear of is available some way, somewhere. But it wasn't always so...

Back at a time before disc (or VHS for that matter), the only way - and I mean the Only way - to see classic and not so classic genre pictures was on broadcast television. As a kid, I remember getting the local TV Guide and a yellow highlighter and systematically going through the listings, marking each and every show time of movies I'd heard about either from friends or ones that were obliquely mentioned in Forry Ackerman's Famous Monsters of Filmland . I would meticulously go over each entry...

Have you seen this delightful bit of musical theater? Joe Dante says you must.

Joe Dante’s made his way down to the Steve Allen Theater, where Re-Animator: The Musical continues to shock and splatter audiences with its canny, wit-filled take on Stuart Gordon’s original film. He offers up this review for any of you that have yet to make it:

We’ve already covered this on From Hell It Came, but now that I’ve seen it I wanted to put in another plug for Re-animator: The Musical, which has been extended at Hollywood’s Steve Allen Theater until mid-August and hopefully beyond.

This is simply a joyful night out for horror fans, cleverly directed by Tfh’s own Stuart Gordon and based surprisingly faithfully on his 1985 feature version. William Castle himself would applaud the addition of “The Splash Zone”, in which viewers in the first...

One of the fringe benefits of producing Ghouly Irv’s MovieFrightFare videos is how often I can wax nostalgic—both inside my head and occasionally by way of little nods in our programs—about Dr. Shock.

Remember Dr. Shock? If you’re a monsterfan of a considerably younger vintage, or if you grew up outside the Philadelphia area, you may have no recollection at all of television “horror host” Joseph Zawislak (the Doctor’s “real” name). He was one of my local region’s most beloved TV personalities from 1970-79—the period of time also known as the pre-home-video era, also known as the time of great hardships, when you could see your favorite fear films only when they were broadcast on television. Zawislak, a former stage magician, adopted–some may say inhabited–the creepy-but-charming doc’s skin after being inspired by the success of John Zacherle’s popular “Roland” character.

As a native of Long Island, New York, I can't help but have a strong affinity for the films of fellow New Yorker Frank Henenlotter. Back in junior high, my best friend's mother worked at the same police precinct as Frank's brother and as lifelong horror fanatics we couldn't help but get giddy by that fact that we were two degrees away from the director of Basket Case . On top of two Basket Case sequels, Henenlotter also helmed the trippy yet deranged Brain Damage (which featured a brain parasite voiced by famous horror host Zacherley - the "cool ghoul"!) and the cult horror/comedy classic Frankenhooker , which you can count Bill Murray among one of the films' biggest fans. While keeping busy over the years by helping expand the cult exploitation library of...