Podcasts
Pet Sematary 2 Turns 30: Revisiting Mary Lambert’s Underrated Stephen King Sequel [The Losers’ Club Podcast]
After conquering the box office in 1989 with Pet Sematary, director Mary Lambert returned to Ludlow, Maine in 1992 to dig up another ghastly tale deep within the Micmac burial grounds. This one would not be penned by Stephen King, but Little Nemo and Lionheart scribe Richard Outten, who strayed far, far away from the path of King’s grisly 1983 novel.
Starring Edward Furlong, Anthony Edwards, and Clancy Brown, Pet Sematary Two received mixed to negative reviews upon its arrival in August 1992. Since then, however, the sequel has amassed a cult following, namely from horror hounds who praise Clancy’s out-of-control turn and Lambert’s stylish touch that carries much of the film.
Join Losers’ Club co-host Michael Roffman over the deadfall as he presides over a star-studded assembly of guests, specifically Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting, Rachel Reeves of Rue Morgue, and Brett Arnold of The New Flesh Podcast. Together, they discuss the ’90s appeal of Furlong, the leading man qualities (?) of Edwards, the mashed potatoes coming out of Brown’s mouth, and why Lambert’s original idea would have fared better.
Stream the episode below and return next week when the Losers dust off all the uncollected stories that wound up in Creepshow. For further adventures, join the Club over long days and pleasant nights via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS. You can also unlock hundreds of hours of content in The Barrens (Patreon).
After winding down June with discussions of our vey first William Castle film Homicidal (listen) and queer director Roland Emmerich’s summer tentpole Independence Day (listen), we’re heading back to 1981 to check out Joe Dante‘s seminal werewolf film The Howling.
The Howling sees television journalist Karen White (Dee Wallace) attend a psychiatric retreat with her husband Bill (Christopher Stone) after being attacked and traumatized by local serial killer Eddie Quist (Robert Picardo). It isn’t long before Karen realizes that the retreat is actually a secret cult of werewolves, and they’ve already got their sights set on Bill.
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Episode 394: The Howling (1981)
Make note of that smiley face sticker and snag that conveniently-placed jar of acid because we’re talking Joe Dante’s stealth werewolf classic The Howling (1981)!
Join us as we discuss the film’s deviations from its source material before doing a deep dive into this very tongue-in-cheek, self-aware horror film. It honestly feels like a precursor to Scream, in many ways!
Plus: Roger Corman (again!) those incredible special effects, differentiating “color movies” from “movies in color,” and why queer icon Elisabeth Brooks has us going “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!”
Cross out The Howling!
Coming Up Next: We’re tackling our very first Ken Russell film with a look at his controversial 1984 erotic thriller Crimes of Passion!
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 508 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Forbidden Fruits, Saccharine, Evil Dead Burn, an audio commentary on Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (aka Howling II: Stirba – Werewolf Bitch), and the conclusion of our coverage of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat on the Requel Tier.