155 | The Rental

Directed by Dave Franco

Written by Dave Franco & Joe Swanberg

Stars Dan Stevens, Alison Brie, Jeremy Allen White, Sheila Vand & Toby Huss

Premiered July 24, 2020

Rated R

Runtime: 1hr 28 min

RT: 73% critics, 44% audience 

Two brothers and their respective partners rent a gorgeous vacation home with some extra audio/visual features they don’t discover until it’s too late. Who has the incriminating footage and how far will they need to go to get it back? 

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Next up, the quarantine-filmed Host, about a seance conducted over Zoom. Yes, I agree that it sounds preposterous, but it’s currently sitting at 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s also 56 minutes long, so if you hate it you’re not out too much time.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

154 | Relic

Written by Natalie Erika James & Christian White

Directed by Natalie Erika James

Stars Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin, Bella Heathcote

Premiered at Sundance January 25, 2020; available to rent

Rated R

Runtime: 1hr 29 min

When family matriarch Edna goes missing her daughter Kay and granddaughter Sam come back to the crumbling family home to look for her. When Edna shows back up she seems different somehow. Could this be the start of dementia or something more supernatural?

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From the episode: Our answers to the round-table question, “who was/is your horror movie crush?” (in order from left to right: Eddie’s, Karen’s, Jamie’s and Amy’s).

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Next up, a film featuring two of the above celebrity crushes. I swear it was a coincidence. The Rental is available to rent meow.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

153 | Antrum

Written/Directed by David Amito, Michael Laicini

Stars Nicole Tompkins, Rowan Smyth, Dan Istrate

Premiered at Brooklyn Horror Film Festival October 14, 2018 released on VOD November 12, 2019

Not rated

Runtime: 1hr 35 min

Antrum is an alleged cursed film made in the late 70s about a sister and brother who journey to an ominous forest to dig a hole to hell in order to contact their deceased dog. The film is presented in its entirety and is bookended with documentary footage regarding the deaths connected with previous screenings.

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Next up, a film about Emily Mortimer’s character in 30 Rock who had Avian Bone Syndrome (hollow bones). Just kidding, but Emily Mortimer does star. It’s available on demand now.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

152 | The Wretched

Written/Directed by Brett Pierce & Drew T. Pierce

Stars John-Paul Howard, Piper Curda & Jamison Jones

Premiered at Fantasia Film Festival July 19, 2019, opened in limited drive-ins and on demand May 1 2020,

Not rated

Runtime: 1hr 35 min

16yr old Ben is spending the summer with his father, his parents having recently divorced. He begins to suspect that something sinister is going on at the house next door, but because he’d gotten in trouble recently his dad doesn’t believe him. Will he be able to get to the bottom of the mystery before it’s too late? 

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Next up, the alleged cursed film that’s been sneaking into Amazon Prime viewers’ nightmares, Antrum. Fans of found footage will want to check this one out, as well as lovers of occult horror.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

151 | The Lodge

Horror fans have long understood that horrific things don't only happen in the movies. In fact, 2020 has felt as if it's single-handedly showing us just how horrible the real world can be. While our podcast is a platform for us to discuss the horror genre, we can't ignore the fact that it's this same genre that often provides a catharsis for many of those real-world horrors. 

We at Bloodlust Ventures are troubled by the seemingly endless instances of murder and violence towards POC. We want our black listeners to know that we see you, we hear you, and we will NOT forget about this after the hashtags stop trending.

If you want to support BLM, and have the financial means to do so, please consider joining us in donating.

Directed by Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz

Written by Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz and Sergio Casci

Stars Riley Keough, Alicia Silverstone, Jaeden Martell and Lia McHugh

Rated R

Runtime of 1hr 48 min

“a constant barrage of bad parenting decisions”

— Jamie

Synopsis: A father insists on taking his two children to spend Christmas at their cabin with his new fiance shortly after the death of their mother, then promptly leaves the three of them there together to get to know each other. Already a profoundly stupid idea, right? But it gets so much worse - turns out dad’s fiance is the lone survivor of a Heaven’s Gate-like cult that committed mass suicide not long ago. Why wouldn’t you want to leave her alone with your kids in a remote cabin?

NOTES FROM THE EPISODE:

Okay listeners, which of these two do you think looks more like the cult leader from The Lodge? Let us know in the comments.

Here’s a fun thing I didn’t think of while we were recording - Jamie’s pick for who the cult leader looked like was The Six-Fingered Man (aka Christopher Guest), who played opposite my pick, Chris Sarandon. Ain’t life funny.

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Jim Can’t Swim - True Crime/Police Interrogation videos

Check out his videos and if you find them interesting, you may want to check out his Patreon, where you can subscribe for a very reasonable $1/month and get additional videos.

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Next up, The Wretched, now available for rent on Amazon as well as showing at select drive-in theaters. This movie is real hot right now and probably owes a lot of that success to the fact that times are crazy and one of the few escapes for folks is to head to the the drive-in.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

150 | Abominable

Directed by Ryan Schifrin

Written by Ryan Schifrin and James Morrison

Stars Matt McCoy, Haley Joel and Christien Tinsley

Rated R

Runtime of 1hr 34 min

A writer returns to his cottage to convalesce after a climbing accident that crippled him and killed his wife. He finds to his delight a gaggle of lovely co-eds are staying at the cabin next door, so naturally he begins to peep on the women with binoculars. What follows is a film in the grand tradition of Rear Window. But, you know, with bigfoot.

NOTES FROM THE EPISODE:

Our dear Edward, catching a catnap during our virtual movie party:

Troma’s The Monster in the Closet (aka the movie that scared Jamie):

Trailer for Her Story (thanks, Curt!)

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Next up, The Lodge, now available on Hulu for free and elsewhere for $$. I was all set to see this one right as the theaters in Michigan were closing down and had been anxiously awaiting it for probably a year before that. Why? Because its from the duo who brought you Goodnight Mommy.

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

21 | Lake Mungo

I’m going to be real with you, dear listeners - a couple of your hosts are going through some family stuff right now and haven’t been able to record. We’ve been around since 2014 and have never skipped an episode, but I knew it had to happen eventually. We hope you accept our apologies and enjoy this episode from way, way back when we were wee podcasting babes. It originally aired five years ago today, as a matter of fact.

We promise to be back with an all new episode next time. Thanks for sticking with us, guys. -Amy

Director/Writer: Joel Anderson 
Stars: Rosie Traynor, David Pledger, Martin Sharpe
Synopsis: Who killed Alice Palmer? Just kidding...sort of...
This is a Fauxdoc-style film, covering the events surrounding the death of 16-year old Alice Palmer. After going missing (we presume she drowned) during a family trip, Alice's body is eventually discovered floating in the water. Once this happens, the movie jumps from one subplot to the next as it attempts to discover what happened to her. The ending may not be exactly what you'd expect.

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Next up, it’s our 150th episode! That right, our Sasquatchcentennial. In honor of the occasion we’ll be checking out a bigfoot movie that’s currently on Amazon Prime, Abominable. Join us next time to celebrate another pointless milestone, won’t you?

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

149.5 | Girl on the Third Floor

Premiered: SXSW March 10, 2019

Released: October 25, 2019

Director: Travis Stevens

Writers: Paul Johnstone, Ben Parker and Travis Stevens

Stars: CM Punk, Trieste Kelly Dunn, Sarah Brooks

Rated: not?

Runtime: 1hr 33 min

Synopsis: Reformed white collar criminal Don purchases an old house in the country with the intention of fixing it up as a peace offering to his pregnant wife. When he begins hearing strange noises and getting visits from even stranger neighbors he begins to rethink his decision.

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Next up, it’s our 150th episode! That right, our Sasquatchcentennial. In honor of the occasion we’ll be checking out a bigfoot movie that’s currently on Amazon Prime, Abominable. Join us next time to celebrate another pointless milestone, won’t you?

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

149 | The Hunt

Directed by Craig Zobel

Written by Nick Cuse & Damon Lindelof

Stars: Betty Gilpin & Hillary Swank

Rated: R; Runtime: 1hr 30min

Where to find: Currently available for purchase on streaming providers

Synopsis: A bunch of middle Americans wake up in a field and are soon picked off one by one at the hands of wealthy elites who want to take out their political frustration on them. Will any of these true Americans survive?

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Next up, it’s our 150th episode! That right, our Sasquatchcentennial. In honor of the occasion we’ll be checking out a bigfoot movie that’s currently on Amazon Prime, Abominable. Join us next time to celebrate another pointless milestone, won’t you?

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/