The Tuesday Morning Screening Room Podcast

Screening Roomers, it might be Thanksgiving in America.... but it's GAMERA DAY in Japan!!! As November 27th is the giant green nuclear turtle's birthday and this year we celebrate his 60th as he made his big screen debut on this date in 1965. So, to help us celebrate we are joined by our resident Kaiju expert, writer/author Todd Ludy, to talk about the towering terrapin's history and take a closer look at his debut film - 1965's GAMERA THE GIANT MONSTER! HAPPY GAMERA DAY, SCREENING ROOMERS!!! [cue the Gamera March]

Screening Roomers, it might be Thanksgiving in America.... but it's GAMERA DAY in Japan!!! As November 27th is the giant green nuclear turtle's birthday and this year we celebrate his 60th as he made his big screen debut on this date in 1965. So, to help us celebrate we are joined by our resident Kaiju expert, writer/author Todd Ludy, to talk about the towering terrapin's history and take a closer look at his debut film - 1965's GAMERA THE GIANT MONSTER! HAPPY GAMERA DAY, SCREENING ROOMERS!!! [cue the Gamera March]

Screening Roomers, the holidays are upon us... and holidays mean houseguests... so, what better time to honor the 40th anniversary of a film about the worst houseguests you could possibly have - demons, monsters and one killer skeleton soldier - this is 1985's HOUSE. And actor Yuri Lowenthal is back in the Screening Room to celebrate this monumental occasion and to also prove why this is one of the most underrated horror-comedies of the last four decades and another certified Cable Box Classic!

Screening Roomers, if you like your midnight movies weird... ponderous... and featuring a shirtless Sean Connery in thigh-high leather boots, ponytail and a red space diaper... then boy do we have the film for you - 1974's ZARDOZ! A heady sci-fi mind trip that is guaranteed to confound and confuse, but also tantalize and titillate while defying all expectation, logic and reason. And joining us this week is the renegade writing team of Kevin Burke and Doc Wyatt, who are determined to meditate on level 2 about the film in the hopes of making some sense out of all this 1970...

Screening Roomers, you wanted the best... you got the best... a special Tribute and Halloween Holdover Episode featuring the biggest rock band in the world - KISS! So, it's time to rock'n'roll all night and party everyday as FM and his guest, writer/producer/director and the creator of the original Celebrity Death Match on MTV - Eric Fogel - head to the Magic Mountain amusement park circa 1978 to ride the rollercoaster of the most important TV movie ever made as the rock band KISS stars in their only feature film - KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK...

We know Predator: Badlands ripped the spine out of the box office this past weekend... smashing records and thrilling audiences alike (congrats!)... but can recent franchise success boost the original 1987 PREDATOR film to take the Tuesday Morning Screening Room championship belt - Unstoppable Galactic Lifeform Division - from its oldest and most hated rival - 1979's ALIEN! Who knows?!? So, joining FM this month for every bite and scratch in a 10-round, no-holds-barred cinematic smackdown of crazy film-relevant categories is someone that knows a little something about the sweet science of deathmatching - director/writer/producer, Eric Fogel...

With PREDATOR: BADLANDS hitting theaters this week... it's time to celebrate one of the most iconic movie monsters in film history and one of our favorite sci-fi/action/horror franchises ever in the TMSR - The Predator and THE PREDATOR MOVIE FRANCHISE! And joining FM this week to tackle all six Predator films... plus two Alien vs Predator films... is TV & comic book writer, Jordan Morris, recent scribe of the new Marvel Comics Anthology - Predator: Black, White & Blood! Well, should you listen, Screening Roomers? To quote Ah-nuld from the '87 original... "C'MON! DO IT NOW!"

Screening Roomers, we have one last Halloween treat for you before we wrap up our month of horror-related episodes... a midnight movie slasher about a midnight movie slasher... a forgotten little gem that might also be one of the better meta-horror-comedies of the last 30-years - 1991's POPCORN! And joining FM in the Screaming Room to help make some new Popcorn '91 fans and discuss his experience on the film is Popcorn's Pvt. Corky Bivens - actor Thom Adcox-Hernandez. Happy Halloween, Screaming Roomers!

Hey, Screening Roomers, have you ever heard of 1980's FADE TO BLACK? Probably not. Should you? Definitely yes! And actor Yuri Lowenthal joins FM in the Screaming Room to make the case to why this is such a criminally underrated Cable Box cult classic and single-handedly the best horror-comedy made in 1980 about a disturbed young man obsessed with old Hollywood films who enacts his revenge through highly theatrical kill fantasies starring Dennis Christopher.

Help us... Help us.... as this month's MOVIE DEATHMATCH has a special Halloween season Creature Feature twist!!! As we pit three revered Creature Classics (1951's THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD, 1958's THE FLY & 1958's THE BLOB &) against their spirited and spunky Remakes (1982's THE THING, 1986's THE FLY & 1988's THE BLOB) - in a 10-round, no-holds-barred, tag-team cinematic smackdown to see who will win the coveted Tuesday Morning Screening Room championship belt - and claim Overall Movie Concept Supremacy! And joining FM for every bite, scratch and evisceration is someone that knows a little something about the sweet science...

1966's WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS... is it a sequel... a reboot... a based on the comedy of... just what the (bleep) is it! Well, whether it is in fact the follow-up to 1965's FRANKENSTEIN VS BARAGON (aka FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD) or not - both films remain two of our favorite monster mashes! So, this week our resident Kaiju expert, writer/author Todd Ludy, returns to the Screening Room to help FM solve this Kaiju conundrum once and for all... and hopefully not break their brains in the process.

The Universal Monsters - Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, The Invisible Man, The Mummy and The Wolfman - are horror and pop culture icons with each starring in their own classic film. But their respective series didn't end at just one. These mighty monsters went on to make a hefty string of sequels that sometimes honored their original films or subverted them completely. So, this week, writers Sam Cherington & Will Morey of Podcast Part 3: The Part 3 Podcast return to the Screaming Room to explore the part 3's of this Fearsome Fivesome! Which ones should you put on your Halloween watch list...

Attenzione amici della sala cinematografica! (very loosely translated: "Attention, Screening Roomers!") This week the TMSR doubles-down on the weird (and wonderful) with a double-feature of two of the goriest, goopiest and gooiest entries in the annals 0f gonzo Italian horror history - 1985's Demons & 1986's Demons 2! So, to help revel in all the glorious goop & gore is award-winning writer/producer & former Italian horror movie actor, Mitch Watson... with a very special appearance by Demon Dog! Preparatevi!!!

BOYYYYYYY (did you see what I did there) do we have quite an episode for you this morning, Screening Roomers... as actor Yuri Lowenthal returns to the TMSR with another of his Cable Box Classics. And this time he has brought along a Halloween season cult classic, a sci-fi horror film that revels in the weird... while also being truly wonderful... a film filled with inter-dimensional portals, shrunken reanimated corpses, killer silver orbs, lots of Mexican beer and one very Tall Man (we told it was weird) - 1979's PHANTASM!

Screening Roomers! Just in time for the weekend release of TRON: ARES, the Geek Buddies podcast returns to the Screening Room for a SURPRISE BONUS EPISODE as they take a trip into the Game Grid with FM to download on the first two films in the Tron movie franchise - 1982's TRON and 2010's TRON: LEGACY. So cue up the Daft Punk, hop on your light cycles and try not to get de-rezzed as we chat all things Tron, Flynn and the dude himself - Jeff Bridges!

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Screaming Roomers - it's time to revisit the early years of the internet and return to Burkittsville, MD for the found-footage classic and viral marketing phenomenon, 1999's THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT with one of the film's stars - actor Michael C. Williams! We'll go behind-the-scenes to talk secrets... fan theories... and memories of the film. Plus celebrate how it still remains one of the creepiest entries of psychological horror to this day. And this time we promise not to make Mike stand in the corner.

It's Halloween Season! And that means that the Tuesday Morning Screening Room is now the Tuesday Morning SCREAMING Room! And what better way to kick off a month of horror related content than with a movie that still scares the pea soup out of me - 1973's THE EXORCIST! But luckily I'm joined by intrepid actor/comedian Carlos Alazraqui for a head-turning conversation on the film - one of his all time favorites! See you in the Screaming Room, Screaming Roomers - wish me luck!

In honor of the start of the baseball playoffs and the upcoming Fall Classic, the TMSR takes you out to the cinema for a Special Bonus Episode on our favorite baseball and baseball-related films with Emmy award winning writer/producer & former Major League Baseball announcer - Ken Levine - calling balls and strikes for us... along with Screening Room regular, writer/author/comedian Mark Hoffmeier creating a formidable battery of baseball and baseball movie knowledge. Find out which films we think are home runs, and which we think are foul balls. So... PLAY BALL!!! AND ROLL THE FILM!!!

"By the Power of Grayskull! I have the power!"... well, sort of... although those iconic words are never uttered in full within the film itself... we still love the plucky earnestness and sci-fi/fantasy silliness of 1987's MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, the first big screen appearance of He-Man and friends (plus, some other movie specific randos) based on the enormously popular Mattel toyline. Now, with years between us and countless adaptations behind us - we are about to return to Eternia once again in summer 2026 for He-Man's second shot at box office power! So, this week FM is joined...

HI-HO, Screening Roomers! It's time to get things started on the TMSR podcast this morning as FM is joined by our good friend - actor/impressionist Piotr Michael - for a little electric mayhem in the Screening Room. They might not be able to answer the question as to why there are so many songs about rainbows... but they can certainly share their favorite Muppet moments and memories from the troupe's first three films - 1979's THE MUPPET MOVIE, 1981'S THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER and 1984's THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN! YAAAAYYYY!

It's time for demon wolves, radiated teenagers and one p-o'd Snake Man as actor Yuri Lowenthal returns to the TMSR with another one of his Cable Box Classics - the 1984 sci-fi horror thriller - DREAMSCAPE. And not only will he and FM try to prove that it is so much better than you remember it being, but also how underrated it is as one of the better political thrillers of the 1980s. But they will spend most of their time extolling the talents of character actor, David Patrick Kelly! Who is playing a version of Freddy Krueger in this...

The heat is on... in this week's Special Bonus Episode... as it's time for our monthly MOVIE DEATHMATCH!!! And in keeping with Eddie Murphy week - we are pitting two Eddie Murphy cop comedy classics - 1982's 48 HRS.. vs 1984's BEVERLY HILLS COP - against each other in a 10-round, no-holds-barred cinematic smackdown of crazy film-relevant categories to see who will claim the Tuesday Morning Screening Room championship belt - 1980s Cop Division (Eddie Murphy Bracket)! and become top cop! And joining FM for every jab and jibe is someone that knows a little something about the sweet science...

It's time to believe the children are our future... and let your Soul Glo... as FM and his special guest this week - actor/comedian, Benni Latham - get delirious over one of Benni's favorite films (and one of ours, too) the hilarious Eddie Murphy multi-character tour-de-force - 1988's COMING TO AMERICA! Which also happens to be a pretty underrated rom-com, as well. So, grab yourself a McDowells Big Mick (not a Big Mac... this one has no seeds) and settle in for a fun conversation about princes, barbershops and basketball games. YES! In the face!

There's an old saying:. "it takes a lot of work to become an overnight success." The same is true for the Hollywood blockbuster as countless people work tirelessly and feverishly behind-the-scenes designing posters... cutting trailers... and creating taglines... to guarantee maximum visibility and subsequent box office success.. So, on this week's SPECIAL BONUS EPISODE we peek behind the curtain at the Hollywood blockbuster machine with former President of Worldwide Marketing at Fox, Universal, Palomar and Embassy - David A. Weitzner - as David shares his stories and experiences behind some of the most iconic and successful films in cinema...

What's funnier than a 90s screwball comedy about two best friends who concoct a scheme to fool their former classmates into believing they are enormous successes by telling everyone at their 10-year high school reunion that they invented Post-Its... the fact that FM thought he had seen this movie hundreds of times. Turns out he had never seen it once. But thanks to actor Cassandra Lee Morris, he's discovering it for the first time on this week's episode of the TMSR as they discuss one of Cassandra's favorite films - 1997's ROMY AND MICHELE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION! Which also...

SCREENING ROOMERS!!! IT'S A SPECIAL EPIC BONUS TWENTIETH EPISODE OF THE TMSR PODCAST that was 2000-years in the making!!! Starring a cast of thousands!!! That's why we needed an extra day to get it to you!!! THE ART OF WAR... MOVIES!!! Join FM and his very special guest - writer, comedian, author & history buff, Mark Hoffmeier, as they discuss some of cinema's most honored & decorated War and War-related films by historical era! Sweeping cinematography! Rousing musical scores! Plus, inspiring stories of bravery, courage... and Daniel Day Lewis and his blazing double-muskets!!!

Happy 20th Episode, Screening Roomers!

Actor Yuri Lowenthal returns to the Screening Room and joins FM to hack into another W.O.P.R. of an episode (you see what I did there)... as they bypass the firewalls and go Defcon-1 on another Cable Box Classic! A techno-thriller as relevant today as it was 42-years ago - 1983's WARGAMES! So..."Shall We Play a Game?"

On this week's Special Bonus Episode... it's the season premiere of a special new monthly segment on the TMSR podcast - MOVIE DEATHMATCH!!! And on this debut episode - two 1980s cyberpunk, sci-fi cult classics go metallic toe-to-metallic toe in a 10-round, no-holds-barred cinematic smackdown of crazy film-relevant categories to see who will claim the Tuesday Morning Screening Room championship belt - Killer Cyborg Division! 1984's THE TERMINATOR vs 1987's ROBOCOP! And FM is joined by someone that knows something about the sweet science of deathmatching - director/writer/producer, Eric Fogel - the creator of the original Celebrity...

What is best in life... a good Arnold Schwarzenegger film and performance - that's what! Arnold is definitely a favorite in the Tuesday Morning Screening Room, so, this week actor/impressionist - Piotr Michael - returns to talk about some of his favorite Schwarzenegger characters and quotes from the Arnold films they have screened together - including 1982's CONAN THE BARBARIAN... 1985's COMMANDO... and 1987's THE RUNNING MAN and PREDATOR... and more! And Piotr will also teach FM and all of us what goes into a great Arnold impression. NOW GET TO YOUR PODCASTING DEVICE... AND THE CHOPPA!!! AUUUUGGHHH!<...

From the lush and mysterious greens of 1958's VERTIGO... to the ominous albeit candy coated pink & purple can of 1985's THE STUFF.. to the sumptuous and evocative color palette of 2002's HERO... to the monochromatic eye-popping oranges of 2017's BLADE RUNNER 2049... color has always been an important part of creating mood, atmosphere and emotion in film. And, on this week's very special Bonus Episode we take a closer look at the history, importance and magic of cinematic color as FM is joined by Jessica Niebel of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures for a very colorful conversation on the...

Whether they're called trilogies... threequels... prequels... or even sometimes squeakquels... movie pt. 3's are a big part of our collective film watching experience. And this week, FM sits down with the podcasting world's leading authorities on the subject of movie pt. 3's - writers Sam Cherington & Will Morey of Podcast Part 3: The Part 3 Podcast to share a trio of their favorite filmic third entries - 1971's ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES... 1985's DAY OF THE DEAD... and 1966's THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY! And this trusted trio will even triple-down and share their criteria for...

On this very special 80s Week Bonus Episode we honor the 40th anniversary of VOLUNTEERS, an early Tom Hanks outing that hit theaters this week back in 1985 - August 16th!!! - and then became a mainstay on cable TV for years to come (in fact, it was on during the recording of this episode - true story) . So, to celebrate this little comedy gem worthy of re-discovery, FM is joined by the film's co-writer - Emmy Award winning writer, producer & sportscaster, Ken Levine - to talk about the long road to getting the film made; as well as a...

When you think of early cable TV... there was one film that reigned supreme... and dominated the airwaves... as it was always on... ALWAYS... 1982's sword & sorcery epic - THE BEASTMASTER! So, this week actor Yuri Lowenthal returns to the Screening Room to help FM prove that the film is not only worthy of its heavy rotation and ubiquitous reputation, but that it also happens to be one of the great films of the 1980s... and a certified CABLE BOX CLASSIC! [insert eagle scream here]

In this week's Special Creature Feature Week Bonus Episode... it's time to go Kaiju crazy for one of our favorite creature features! The rubber suit monster mash - 1968's DESTROY ALL MONSTERS - featuring the King of All Monsters - Godzilla - and all his furry, scaly and fanged friends have come to party, as well! So, join FM and his special guest this week - writer/author and the TMSR's resident Kaiju expert - Todd Ludy - as they sit ringside for all the giant monster mirth, merriment and mayhem! DAMN, KILAAKS!!! (trust me, you'll be saying it...

It's time to RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!!... and also celebrate some of our favorite creatures and creations of stop-motion legend Ray Harryhausen with the creator of Celebrity Death Match - Eric Fogel. So, join FM & Eric for a stop-motion animated conversation about three of their favorite Harryhausen films - 1981's CLASH OF THE TITANS... 1963's JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS... and 1949's MIGHTY JOE YOUNG - plus, all those wonderful mythical creatures that creep, clamber and crawl within!

Grandpa could never stomach all these damn vampires in Santa Carla... but we just love'em! So, cue the shirtless sax player and join FM and his special guest this week - Executive Director of the Vidiots Foundation, Maggie Mackay - as they dig their teeth into one of their favorite films - 1987's THE LOST BOYS, a cult classic 80's vampire teen horror comedy with some real bite! Thou shalt not fall...

Hey, there, true believers... It's time to fire up the Fantasticar and head over to the Negative Zone as this week on a very special San Diego Comic Con related BONUS EPISODE of the Tuesday Morning Screening Room podcast, FM has a super hero team-up with the Geek Buddies podcast to form a fantastic foursome powerful enough to take on the original quartet of Fantastic Four Films... including the legendarily ill-fated 1994 Roger Corman produced Fantastic Four that was never released! EXCELSIOR!!!

Super Hero Movies seem like they have been part of our cinematic lives forever... but there was actually a time not-so-long-ago when dark knights and caped crusaders were not viewed by Hollywood as surefire box office heroes! So, this week Fm is joined by his special guest writer/author/comic book historian & producer of the Batman films - Michael E. Uslan - as they recount the Secret Origin of the Super Hero Film... and the astonishing decade-long journey it took to get the World's Greatest Detective from Gotham City to the big screen with 1989's Batman. HOLY PERSEVERANCE, BATMAN!<...

The name's Screening Room, Tuesday Morning Screening Room... and it's episode #007! So, this week Fm is joined by his special guest actor/comedian/impressionist - Piotr Michael - as they put on their tuxes and grab a martini (shaken... not stirred) to bond over all things James Bond! From DR. NO to NO TIME DIE... and everything in between... on this special 007 episode!

Screening Roomers, it's time to take the plunge over the waterfall ["AAAAHHHH!"] into "The Land of Lost Films" with FM and his special guest this week - actor/writer/producer, Wesley Eure - as they embark on a not-so-routine expedition to rediscover a few of Wesley's cult classic films - THE TOOLBOX MURDERS, JENNIFER and C.H.O.M.P.S. ... and talk a little Land of the Lost, as well!!! ROAAAARRRR!