Midnight Murderama
Welcome to the eighth circle of podcast hell. This is Midnight Murderama, the weekly podcast where I, Jamie, resident undead expert, and my two friends, JT and Russell, take a deep, lonely dive into the dark recesses of Hollywood.
Join us as we meticulously research, argue over, and finally rate and review the most horrific and terrifying films ever made — with the ultimate goal to hilariously examine exactly what it is about ourselves that makes us love the horror movies that define us, and to determine which of these legendaries films deserve a place in the pantheon of horror, blasted onto the twisted face of Mount Murdermore.
Hosts
Episode 43 / Apr 13th 2021
Return of the Living Dead III
What is love? Baby, don’t hurt me. This week our hosts dive into Romantic Horror with a look at 1993’s Return of the Living Dead III, Brian Yuzna‘s stab at Romeo and Juliet if zombies were the Montagues and the military were the Capulets. It also features a stunning performance by Melinda Clarke, who would …
Episode 42 / Apr 6th 2021
The Void
This week our hosts watch “The Void“, the 2016 love letter to practical effects, John Carpenter, and the action creature films of the 1980s. The final chapter in the “Cosmic Horror” block of episodes, The Void shows us that Lovecraftian themes are still intriguing filmmakers, even today. But instead of existential dread like with The …
Episode 41 / Mar 30th 2021
The Endless
Our hosts watch The Endless, the low-budget film from Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead that taught us the repetitive feeling we got in quarantine may just be an Old God messing with us. This film shows a more modern interpretation of how filmmakers are tackling Cosmic Horror, creating a slower, more meditative approach to unpacking …
Episode 40 / Mar 23rd 2021
Jacob's Ladder
Continuing their dive into Cosmic Horror, this week our hosts watched Jacob’s Ladder. Decades ahead of its time, this film pioneered the “mind-blowing ending” that would later be done to death in the late 90s / early 00s. While it left many critics scratching their heads at the time, its disturbing and imagery and ambiguity …
Episode 39 / Mar 16th 2021
In the Mouth of Madness
Do you read Sutter Cane? This week our hosts watched In the Mouth of Madness, the 1994 film that answers the question: “What if Twilight fans turned their focus to Stephen King?”. This kicks off a section on Cosmic Horror, diving into the the films that explore sanity, the universe, and all the fun tentacle …
Episode 38 / Mar 9th 2021
Friday the 13th Part 2
“Pod-Pod-Pod Cast-Cast-Cast” This week our hosts watch Friday the 13th Part 2, the sequel that finally introduced adult-sized Jason to the world (just not as hockey themed… yet). This film marks one of the definitive departures from slasher films as “mysteries”, and establishes many of the tropes that would follow the genre through the decades. …
Episode 37 / Mar 2nd 2021
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
“We’ve got the podcast, and you’ve got the ears.” This week our hosts continue digging into the slasher genre with 1985’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, the black sheep of the Nightmare franchise. Originally dismissed for not following the format established by fan-favorite part 3, it has since been looked at with …
Episode 36 / Feb 23rd 2021
It Follows
As they continue digging into the slasher genre, our hosts examine the 2014 film It Follows, a post-slasher film that lives firmly in the world of (80’s? 90’s? 00’s?) slasher movies, but just never really gets around to the slashing. So, is It Follows a condemnation of teenage sex? A rumination on getting older? Or …
Episode 35 / Feb 16th 2021
The Purge: Election Year
“This is your Emergency Broadcast System announcing the commencement of the annual Purge.” This week our hosts watch The Purge: Election Year, the film that imagines a world where the U.S. politicians are lying to the public in order to screw over the poor. Could you even imagine such a thing?? The Purge series has …
Episode 34 / Feb 9th 2021
Scream
Do you like scary movies? No examination of the slasher genre would be complete without talking about Scream, a film that made horror “cool” again in the 1990s. Scream defined its own subgenre full of big named stars and snappy, self-aware dialog, and finally established a world in which the protagonists had watched a horror …
Episode 33 / Feb 2nd 2021
Predator
GET TO THE PODCAST! This week our hosts watch Predator, the movie that sees how many muscular guys you can cram into a jungle before something explodes. It also does a great job of using the traditional slasher framework that had been growing in the 80s, but instead of having a superhuman killer descend on …
Episode 32 / Jan 26th 2021
Sleepaway Camp
This week our hosts continue to explore the slasher genre by looking at some of the outliers that slipped out of the slasher boom of the 80s. In this case it’s Sleepaway Camp (1983), the film that starts as a derivative camp slasher but has an unforgettable ending. What does this film tell us about …
Episode 31 / Jan 19th 2021
Halloween
You can’t kill the boogeyman, but you can sure as hell poke him in the eye with a coat hanger! This week our hosts brave the suburbs to watch Halloween, the quintessential slasher movie from 1978 that spawned both a franchise and a genre. Not to mention it launched the careers of John Carpenter and …
Episode 30 / Jan 12th 2021
Psycho
“We all go a little mad sometimes.” This week our hosts watch Psycho, the movie that established horror movies didn’t just have to feature Universal Monsters, and ushered in the era of the slasher film. Does it live up to the hype? Will our hosts overcome the shock of seeing a toilet flush on screen? …
Episode 29 / Jan 5th 2021
The Faculty
This week our hosts watch The Faculty, where they ask: “What if The Breakfast Club fought The Thing?” The answer is a strange blend of pro-drug, pro-conformity, Kevin Williamson-penned slice of 90s. But is this film actually a little more subversive? Check out the full episode details
Episode 28.5 / Jan 3rd 2021
Bonus Commentary - La Llorona (2019)
Saturday Night Commentary Series: As 2020 thankfully comes to a close, our hosts take some time to revisit one of the better regarded films to hit the US last year: La Llorona. This Guatemalan ghost story tells the story of a house-bound dictator whose new housekeeper seems to be more than she’s letting on. This …
Episode 28 / Dec 29th 2020
2020 Murderama Awards
This week our hosts take some time to reflect on the movies reviewed in 2020. After asking the community to contribute their own rankings, they’ve crunched the numbers and created a definitive ranking of the movies they watched this year. Who was voted best final girl? Who was crowned best director? What songs did JT …
Episode 27 / Dec 22nd 2020
Mandy
This week our hosts watched Mandy, the hyper-stylized revenge flick from Panos Cosmatos, or: “The film where Nicolas Cage transforms into Nicolas Cage.” But is the inventive cinematography and over-the-top violence enough to make up for a by-the-numbers premise? Listen and find out! Also discussed in this week’s episode: Ghosts of War (2020) “A New …
Episode 26 / Dec 15th 2020
Tremors
“I felt the earth move under my feet, I felt Bacon tumbling down!” This week our hosts watch Tremors. If Jaws made you afraid to go in the water, Tremors will make you afraid to even step outside. Is this the perfect creature B-movie? At the very least, it’s a wonderful swan song to the …
Episode 25 / Dec 8th 2020
High Tension
Sacré bleu! This week our hosts venture to land of love, art, cigarettes, baguettes and… problematic plots twists! They watched the French film High Tension (Haute Tension), the 2003 debut of director Alexandre Aja. They discuss the early-2000’s French Extreme film movement, of which High Tension helped define. The big questions with this film: can …