House of Manson is frightfully accurate

A gloomy day here in the magnificent Splutt Building, headquarters of The Horror Movie Show. Hosted as ever by weeping Mark & Jerry, the entire staff is grieving the loss of Antonin Scalia, heroic champion of women’s reproductive health rights & the little guy vs. corporations. No, wait… he was the opposite. To hell with the fat swine.

This week’s episode begins with House of Manson, Brandon Slagle‘s excellent retelling of the infamous & gruesome Manson Family murder spree. Starring Ryan Kiser, Devanny Pinn, Vancouver’s own Tristan Risk, Reid Warner & Julie Rose — among others in a very good ensemble cast — this true-crime movie had no need to make up story elements. It is riveting.

For something Silly, try the New Zealand flick Deathgasm, about some metal-heads & their quest for doom. Following that is Contracted: Phase II, yet another mediocre sequel that is actually a little bit better than its mediocre original.

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is also pretty darned silly, though well made. And Turbo Kid is very, very silly — though this Mad Max parody is also very entertaining.

Phantasm. Written & directed by Don Coscarelli, the story of two brothers battling the Tall Man (played by the recently deceased Angus Scrimm) is loads of fun, if obviously dated. Coscarelli has continued the story over the last few decades, with a new sequel on its way.

Jerry would like to apologize to our friend Gina Penman Dearing for mispronouncing her surname as Davis in this episode. Perhaps because Geena Davis & GPD are both tall, willowy model types, their names were mashed together. Thank you, Gina, for letting us know about the very funny British zombie series Dead Town. Cheers!