Rotten Horror Picture Show

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda are letting the winner of their recent horror movie trivia game choose the next film for them to cover! The winning selection? Lamberto Bava’s 1985 Italian horror classic Demons, a blood-soaked nightmare about moviegoers trapped inside a theater with some particularly unfriendly monsters. It’s the perfect movie to get the gang back together for another round of screaming, splattering, and wondering why anyone would ever go to a movie theater again. So settle in, horror fans, because this week we’re celebrating trivia, terrifying Italian cinema, and th...

The countdown to Crystal Lake is officially underway on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast! With the upcoming series set to return audiences to the world of Camp Crystal Lake, Clay and Amanda are preparing by digging back into the franchise’s history. And what better way to get ready for Crystal Lake than by bringing one of their Friday the 13th Patreon episodes to the main feed? This week, they’re releasing their discussion of Friday the 13th Part 2 from 1981, giving everyone a chance to revisit the movie that introduced Jason Voorhees as the franchise’s signature killer before...

Welcome back to The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, where this week Clay and Amanda take on The Wailing, the acclaimed 2016 Korean horror mystery that has earned a spot at #3 on Rotten Tomatoes’ Best Horror Movies of All Time list. Directed by Na Hong-jin, this sprawling, unsettling nightmare follows a small-town police officer investigating a series of bizarre illnesses, violent incidents, and increasingly disturbing supernatural events after a mysterious stranger arrives in the area. It’s creepy, atmospheric, occasionally darkly funny, and packed with enough ambiguity to keep you questioning what you’ve actually witnessed long after the credits roll.<...

Welcome back to The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, where Clay and Amanda are getting ready for their upcoming coverage of Crystal Lake by bringing some classic slasher mayhem back to the main feed! Before they dive into the new series, they’re opening up the vault and releasing their previously Patreon-exclusive episodes covering the Friday the 13th franchise. That means hockey masks, summer camps, creative kills, questionable decisions, and enough teenage counselors wandering into dark woods to make you wonder how Camp Crystal Lake ever passed an inspection.

Now, I know everybody says Friday the 13th is...

Welcome back to The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, where this week Clay and Amanda sink their teeth into the stone-cold horror classic Dracula from 1931! Starring Bela Lugosi as the legendary Count Dracula, this foundational Universal monster movie helped establish the look, mood, and mythology of the cinematic vampire for generations to come. Clay and Amanda are here to talk about Lugosi’s iconic performance, Tod Browning’s direction, the gothic atmosphere, and all the creepy, atmospheric business that made this movie an essential piece of horror history.

Now, I was very excited when I heard the podc...

Welcome to a special edition of The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, where Clay and Amanda have done something truly shocking: they have left the comfort of their homes and ventured into the legitimate theater to see the new Paranormal Activity stage play. That’s right—actual actors, a real stage, a live audience, and presumably at least one person coughing directly into their hand before touching every surface in the building. Clay and Amanda report back from their theatrical expedition to discuss the experience of seeing one of horror’s biggest found-footage franchises transformed into a live performance. How do...

Welcome back to The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, where this week Clay and Amanda sink their teeth into one of the greatest vampire films of the 21st century: Let the Right One In. The acclaimed 2008 Swedish horror drama blends coming-of-age heartbreak with icy Scandinavian atmosphere, telling the story of a lonely young boy who befriends an equally lonely girl who just so happens to be a vampire. Clay and Amanda explore the film's delicate balance of tenderness and terror, its unforgettable performances, and why its quiet, snow-covered approach to horror has made it a modern classic. It's a...

Welcome back to The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, where this week Clay and Amanda sink their teeth into one of the defining horror films of the 1970s: The Omen. Richard Donner's chilling classic follows diplomat Robert Thorn as he slowly realizes that his adopted son Damien may not just be a troublesome child, but the literal Antichrist. Along the way, there are mysterious deaths, creepy priests, prophetic photographers, and one of cinema's all-time great scores by Jerry Goldsmith. Clay and Amanda unpack the film's lasting legacy, its influence on religious horror, and why The Omen remains every bit...

Welcome back to The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast! Things are a little different this week, as Amanda is out of town, leaving Clay to hold down the fort all by himself. But don't worry—he's not completely alone. Joining him are two longtime friends of the show, Grim Santo, proprietor of the horror-themed bakery Grim Delights, and Listener Kyle, who will no doubt remind everyone that he is the "co-creator" of The Rotten Horror Picture Show—a claim that is enthusiastic, persistent, and, as always, entirely non-legally binding. Together, the trio square off in a heated game of Horr...

Welcome back to The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, where this week Clay and Amanda set sail for one of the strangest, most influential horror films of the 1930s: Island of Lost Souls, the classic adaptation of H.G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau. Starring Charles Laughton as the delightfully unsettling Doctor Moreau, the film tells the story of a remote tropical outpost where science has gone horribly, horribly wrong. Human-animal hybrids roam the jungle, strange laws govern the land, and civilization is hanging by the thinnest of threads. Clay and Amanda dig into the film's legacy, its...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda are giving listeners a special sample of their Patreon sequel coverage with a deep dive into the gloriously chaotic Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Directed by Joe Dante, this sequel takes everything from the original Gremlins and cranks it to absolute cartoon insanity—mutant gremlins, fourth-wall breaks, satire of corporate America, and enough anarchic energy to short-circuit an entire skyscraper. Clay and Amanda unpack why Gremlins 2 has gone from misunderstood oddity to beloved cult comedy, and how Dante basically used a studio sequel to make fun of studio se...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda take on Death Becomes Her (1992)—the glossy, macabre comedy from Robert Zemeckis that turns vanity, immortality, and Hollywood rivalry into a deliciously twisted spectacle. Starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and Bruce Willis, the film follows two women who discover a magical potion promising eternal youth… with some *very* visible side effects. Clay and Amanda break down the film’s ahead-of-its-time visual effects, its biting satire of beauty culture, and why it’s become such a beloved cult favorite over the years.

Now, I’ll be honest—I d...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda revisit the sleek, anxiety-inducing franchise starter Final Destination (2000), the film that taught an entire generation that death doesn’t need a face—just a plan. Centered on a premonition of a catastrophic plane crash and the survivors who think they’ve cheated fate, the movie spins a clever web of inevitability, paranoia, and elaborate, Rube Goldberg-style demises. Clay and Amanda dig into what makes the concept so enduring, how it launched a long-running series, and why everyday objects have never felt quite as trustworthy since.

Now, I...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda dive into the twisted, candy-colored nightmare that is The Loved Ones (2009), the Australian horror gem that takes the idea of prom night and turns it into something deeply, deeply wrong. Directed by Sean Byrne, the film follows a teenage boy who makes the unfortunate mistake of turning down a classmate’s prom invitation—only to find himself at a very different kind of dance, complete with power tools, forced smiles, and a whole lot of family bonding gone off the rails. Clay and Amanda break down the film...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda turn their attention to one of the most haunting and elegant horror films ever made: Eyes Without a Face (1960). The French classic from Georges Franju is a chilling blend of poetic beauty and surgical nightmare, telling the story of a brilliant but unhinged doctor determined to restore his daughter’s disfigured face—no matter the cost. Clay and Amanda dig into the film’s eerie atmosphere, its delicate balance of tenderness and terror, and the unforgettable imagery that has influenced decades of horror filmmakers. It’s a quiet, u...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda travel into the haunting, melancholic world of Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone. Set during the final days of the Spanish Civil War, the film blends ghost story, historical tragedy, and gothic atmosphere into one of del Toro’s most emotionally powerful works. Clay and Amanda explore the film’s themes of memory, loss, and the lingering scars of violence, as well as its unforgettable imagery—from the lonely orphanage to the pale, sorrowful ghost of Santi drifting through dark hallways. It’s a beautiful, eerie medita...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda hit the gas with a discussion of Duel (1971), the lean, mean thriller that marked the feature debut of a young Steven Spielberg. Originally produced as a television movie, Duel was so effective, so tightly constructed, that it was later expanded and released theatrically—launching Spielberg’s career with a simple but terrifying premise: one man, one car, and one relentless, faceless truck driver who refuses to let him go. Clay and Amanda break down how Spielberg builds unbearable tension out of open highways, sparse dialogue, and pure cine...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda sink their teeth into one of the most intriguing and offbeat horror releases of the year: Sinners (2025), the blues-soaked vampire film that blends supernatural horror with Southern gothic vibes and music steeped in sweat, sorrow, and soul. They’re joined by special guest Wes from The Pensky File, who helps unpack the film’s bloodsucking mythology, musical backbone, and what happens when vampires stop lurking in castles and start haunting juke joints. Together, they dig into how Sinners uses blues music not just as atmosphere, but as the...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda are creeping back to one of the most influential horror hits of the 21st century: Paranormal Activity (2009). The low-budget found-footage phenomenon changed the genre overnight, proving you didn’t need monsters, gore, or even much movement to terrify audiences—just a quiet house, a static camera, and the creeping feeling that something is very wrong at 3:00 a.m. Clay and Amanda break down why the film worked so well, how it built tension through silence and suggestion, and how it launched an entire franchise of late-night door-slamming terr...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda are taking a trip into the strange, dreamlike world of Dario Argento’s 1985 cult oddity Phenomena. It’s one of Argento’s most notorious films from his wildly experimental ’80s era — full of surreal imagery, pulsing Goblin music, murder mysteries, and a young Jennifer Connelly wandering through the Swiss countryside. Clay and Amanda break down the film’s off-the-wall tone, its place in Argento’s career, and why Phenomena stands out even among the director’s already very weird filmography. It’s stylish, confusing, beautiful, and deeply unsettling in ways...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda tackle one of the more controversial entries in modern holiday horror: the 2019 remake of Black Christmas. It’s a film that takes the bones of the 1974 slasher classic and retools them for a new generation, leaning hard into social commentary, glossy production, and a very different kind of menace lurking on a snow-covered college campus. Clay and Amanda break down what works, what doesn’t, how it compares to the original, and why this remake sparked so much debate among horror fans. It’s festive, furious, and defini...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda are celebrating a major milestone in horror history: the 100th anniversary of the 1925 silent film classic The Phantom of the Opera. Starring the legendary Lon Chaney in one of the most iconic monster performances ever put on film, this adaptation helped define cinematic horror, gothic atmosphere, and studio-era spectacle. Clay and Amanda dig into the film’s legacy, its influence on everything from Universal’s monster cycle to modern horror aesthetics, and why Chaney’s Phantom remains haunting a full century later. It’s a birthday worth celebrat...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show, Clay and Amanda turn their attention to one of the freshest cult sensations of the decade: Late Night With the Devil — the stylish, sinister, ‘70s-soaked horror throwback that asks, “What if Johnny Carson accidentally unleashed a demon on live television?” Directed by Cameron and Colin Cairnes, the film recreates the world of late-night TV with uncanny detail, following a desperate talk-show host whose Halloween special goes catastrophically, supernaturally wrong. Clay and Amanda dive into its practical effects, its pitch-perfect retro aesthetic, its creeping dread, and its weaponization of the sleazy charm of vinta...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda are diving deep into one of the most haunting, beautifully crafted horror films of the 2000s: A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), the South Korean psychological masterpiece from director Kim Jee-woon. It’s a chilling, twisty story about two sisters returning home after time away in a mental institution — only to find their house filled with secrets, ghosts, and a deeply unsettling stepmother. Clay and Amanda explore its stunning cinematography, emotional depth, and how its story of grief and trauma slowly unravels into something much darker. It’s elegan...

Gee whiz, folks, it’s time for a brand-new episode of The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, and this week Clay and Amanda are talking about one of the all-time greats of old-school creature features — The Blob from 1958! You know the one — that big ol’ red goo from outer space that slurps its way through small-town America, eating everything (and everyone) in its path. It’s the movie that made a young Steve McQueen a star and gave teenagers everywhere another reason not to trust meteorites. Clay and Amanda dig into the film’s low-budget charm, its clever special effects, and...

his week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda dive into one of the wildest, weirdest experiments in modern cinema: 2007’s Grindhouse, the double-feature mashup from Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. On one side you’ve got Rodriguez’s gooey, gonzo Planet Terror, a zombie-action extravaganza filled with melting bodies, exploding heads, and a machine gun leg. On the other, Tarantino’s Death Proof, a talky, tense, and brutal slasher on wheels starring Kurt Russell as a stuntman with murderous intentions. Throw in some fake trailers from the likes of Edgar Wright, Rob Zombie, and Eli Roth, an...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, Clay and Amanda are tackling a film that might just be the most confusing sequel in horror history: Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep (2019). Now, don’t get me wrong — it’s a solid, spooky ride with Ewan McGregor as an older Danny Torrance, still haunted by the Overlook and trying to cope with his powers. But here’s the thing: is this a sequel to *The Shining* the book? Or *The Shining* the movie? Or some strange in-between hybrid stitched together with ghostly typewriters and whiskey breath? Because I swear, every time...

This week on The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, things are going to sound a little different. Amanda’s not here, which means Clay is flying solo — and that alone has me feeling… well, a little nervous. Don’t get me wrong, Clay knows his horror inside and out. He’s got the knowledge, the wit, and the enthusiasm to carry a show, no doubt about it. But Amanda’s the one who keeps things balanced. She’s the counterpoint, the voice of reason, the one who’ll call Clay out when he gets too deep into some cinematic rabbit hole abou...

Clay and Amanda are back with a brand-new episode of The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast, and this time they’re diving into Candyman (2021), the haunting remake-slash-sequel directed by Nia DaCosta. This isn’t just a rehash of the original 1992 horror classic — it’s a smart, visually stunning continuation that weaves in the legend of Candyman with new layers of social commentary about art, trauma, race, and gentrification. Featuring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in a chilling lead performance, some inventive shadow-puppet storytelling, and a tone that’s equal parts eerie and poetic, it’s a film that honors its roots while creati...

Oh sure, “Men,” they said. “It’s called Men,” they said. So naturally, I thought, great! A big ol’ movie full of guys! Dudes being dudes, maybe grilling something, maybe building a shed, emotionally repressing themselves — you know, men things. But no. Turns out “Men,” the 2022 psychological folk horror film from Alex Garland, doesn’t mean *many* men, it means *one* man... **many times.** And that man is Rory Kinnear. Rory at the pub. Rory as the vicar. Rory as a naked forest sprite with a leaf stuck in his nether region. Honestly, at one point I started to feel like *I* was Ro...

This week on *The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast*, Clay and Amanda venture into the shimmer—no, not a drag revue (though that would also be excellent)—but the terrifying alien zone at the center of Alex Garland’s 2018 sci-fi horror epic, *Annihilation*. They unpack the film’s eerie, mind-bending blend of science fiction and psychological terror, its themes of identity and self-destruction, and how grief mutates not just the body, but the mind. With a cast led by Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, and Oscar Isaac (sort of), and unforgettable sequences involving crystal trees, creepy doubles, and *that bear*, *Annihila...

This week on *The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast*, Clay and Amanda sink their teeth into Neil Marshall’s cult classic *Dog Soldiers*—a gnarly, fast-paced werewolf flick that delivers equal parts horror, action, and black comedy. They’re talking about everything from the practical effects that bring those towering werewolves to life, to the surprisingly heartfelt camaraderie between the doomed soldiers, to how this little low-budget movie became a cult favorite. It’s all set in the Scottish Highlands, where the fog is thick, the wolves are huge, and nobody’s throwing a tennis ball.

I’ve been sayi...

You ever just miss video stores? Like really miss them? The smell of plastic cases, the hum of fluorescent lights, that little “thunk” sound when you dropped your tape in the return slot. I used to go every Friday night, no matter what. And there was this one movie I used to rent all the time — had monsters, dirt flying everywhere, maybe Kevin Bacon? It was funny, and scary, and it had these giant worm things under the ground… and—wait. Hang on. That’s it. That’s the one! It was Tremors! Oh my god. I loved that movie. And thi...

Right, so I sat down all cozy, cup of tea in hand, ready for the new episode of *The Rotten Horror Picture Show Podcast*, where Clay and Amanda are diving into the *original* 1973 classic of British folk horror, *The Wicker Man* — and I’m thinking, “Alright, here we go. The bees. Where are the bees?” But then the movie ends, and guess what? *No bees.* Not a single bee. No buzzing, no screaming, no Nicolas Cage in a cage yelling “NOT THE BEES.” Just Christopher Lee in a big ol’ wig and a bunch of cheerful pagans singing folk tunes about co...

Okay so *wait a second*—*Nosferatu* is *back* again? This time in 2024? Look, I’ve been trying to follow this for like fifteen years now, and I’m still not sure how we got here. First there was *Dracula*, right? Bram Stoker writes that, full of bats and aristocratic bloodsucking and all that. Then Germany goes rogue in the 1920s and makes *Nosferatu*, but it’s not called *Dracula*, even though it’s *clearly* Dracula, because they didn’t *ask permission*. So they change the names and hope nobody notices. Spoiler: the Stoker estate noticed. *Hard.* Lawsuits happen. Copies get burned...

Wait… wait a minute. *They’re real?* Like, actual people? With arms and legs and vocal cords and the whole thing?? I thought Clay and Amanda were just really well-programmed horror podcasting AIs, beamed directly into my headphones by some cursed Spotify algorithm designed to recommend creepy movies and make me question my life choices. But no—apparently they’re corporeal, walking around like real humans, and this week they’ve gone LIVE, baby! That’s right, this is *The Rotten Horror Picture Show*’s first-ever live episode, recorded at the Waltham Public Library! I mean… a library? Full of people? And n...

This week on *The Rotten Horror Picture Show*, Clay and Amanda are doing nothing to help my steadily worsening vampire confusion by taking a big ol’ bite out of Werner Herzog’s 1979 classic Nosferatu the Vampyre, starring Klaus Kinski as maybe the creepiest Dracula/Nosferatu/Count Orlok hybrid ever filmed. It’s moody, it’s beautiful, and it’s got rats. So many rats. 

Okay. Look. I’m just gonna say it: I think we’ve officially hit critical mass on Nosferatus and Draculas. I mean, how many pasty bald guys with capes and long fingernails named “Count Something”...

When there’s no more room in Hell…THE DEAD WILL PODCAST!

This week on *The Rotten Horror Picture Show*, Clay and Amanda are taking a trip to the Monroeville Mall to talk about George A. Romero’s 1978 horror classic *Dawn of the Dead*, a movie that changed Clay himself, and zombie cinema, forever. It’s got biting social satire, gruesome practical effects, and an absolutely relentless sense of dread. And, of course, it takes place in a shopping mall—one that might as well be *Hell on Earth* as far as I’m concerned. You think I’m walking...

Alright, listen up—This week on *The Rotten Horror Picture Show*, Clay and Amanda are diving into F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent horror classic *Nosferatu*, the original unauthorized adaptation of *Dracula* that introduced the world to Max Schreck’s eerie, claw-fingered, sunken-eyed Count Orlok. They’ll talk about the film’s German Expressionist style, its haunting atmosphere, and its place in horror history. And yeah, that’s all great—but can we take a second to talk about the *rats*? No one warned me there’d be *this many rats*. Scurrying all over the place, spreading the plague, being generally shifty...

Alright, I gotta be honest—I showed up for this episode of The Rotten Horror Picture Show thinking we were gonna be talking about The Mothers. You know, Frank Zappa’s band? The weird, experimental, genre-bending legends? I figured Clay and Amanda were finally gonna dig into some real avant-garde madness. Maybe talk about Freak Out! or We’re Only In It for the Money. But no. No Zappa. No Mothers. Instead, we’re talking about The Others.

Don’t get me wrong, The Others is great. It’s a modern Gothic horror masterpiece, full of all the hallmark...