Ep. 05-16: The Fog (1980)

Strange things occur as a tiny California coastal town prepares to commemorate its centennial. Inanimate objects spring eerily to life. The Reverand Malone (Hal Holbrook) stumbles upon a dark secret regarding the town’s founding. A radio announcer, Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau), witnesses a mystical fire. A hitchhiker (Jamie Lee Curtis) discovers the mutilated corpse of a fisherman. Accompanying these occurrences is a mysterious, iridescent fog that descends upon the village. Soon, people die.

John Carpenter’s THE FOG

Happy Carpenter Christmas to us all. The Fog (1980) is a keeper. This one is steeped in nostalgia for both David and me and, though it has flaws, it is a lushly shot mood piece that remains suspenseful even today. Join us as we discuss the reasons Carpenter was so good in his early days and speculate why his brilliance has dissipated with more current films. Listen, as Johnny Has the Keys prepares to celebrate the forty-two-year-old classic for the holidays, hopefully avoiding angry wronged ghosts (or the director himself) seeking vengeance.

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Ep. 05-15: In the Mouth of Madness (1995)

When horror novelist Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow) goes missing, insurance investigator John Trent (Sam Neill) scrutinizes the claim made by his publisher, Jackson Harglow (Charlton Heston), and endeavors to retrieve a yet-to-be-released manuscript and find out the writer’s whereabouts. Accompanied by the novelist’s editor, Linda Styles (Julie Carmen), and disturbed by nightmares from reading Cane’s other novels, Trent makes an eerie nighttime trek to a supernatural town in New Hampshire.

In The Mouth of Madness

John Carpenter has made some wonderful movies. In the Mouth of Madness (1995) is not one of them. Join us as we discuss the many reasons this third entry into Carpenter’s self-proclaimed “apocalypse trilogy” falls short of his past brilliance. Listen as Johnny Has the Keys travels to the creepy little hamlet of Hobb’s End where, though awful things lurk, there is much more to dread than Lovecraftian monstrosities.

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Ep. 05-10: Alone in the Dark (1982)

Four psychopaths, Hawkes (Jack Palance), a former prisoner of war, Sutcliff (Martin Landau), a pyromaniac evangelist, Elster (Erland van Lidth), an obese child molester and Skagg (Phillip Clark), a serial killer are permanent residents of a psychiatric hospital administered by Dr. Leo Bain (Donald Pleasence). When the security system fails and they escape the facility, their target is their new psychiatrist (Dwight Schultz), who, they believe, killed their previous doctor.

ALONE IN THE DARK

This forgotten gem is an early slasher movie from New Line Cinema. It has its flaws, but the incredible ensemble cast (Palance, Pleasence, and Landau, in particular) make it an entertaining film well worth a watch. Join us as we discuss the memorable cast and history of this early film from the House Freddy (Krueger) built. Listen as Johnny Has the Keys hides from not one but four psychopaths stalking us alone… in the dark.

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Ep. 04-16: Creepshow (1982)

A classic anthology from two horrors masters, George A. Romero and Stephen King, this film is made up of five stories, held together with 50’s style comic imagery. A murdered man returns from the grave demanding his Father’s Day cake, a meteor’ discharge causes anything and anyone to grow into otherworldly plants, a vengeful husband buries his wife and her lover to await death at high tide, a professor uses his nagging wife as a tasty snack for a strange crated monster, and finally, an evil millionaire and germaphobe becomes prey to an army of cockroaches.

CREEPSHOW

Happy Holidays and welcome to the last segment in our three-part classic Stephen King celebration! This one is a two-for, folks. Not only are you getting a literary giant, but the visionary genius of director George A. Romero (Dawn of the Dead (1978) as well. Join us as we discuss why this movie is a classic including the phenomenal cast, expert direction and script, gruesome special effects, and delightful music and animation. Listen as Johnny Has the Keys journeys back for this loving tribute to EC Comics (Tales from the Crypt; Vault of Horror), clearly childhood inspiration for two of the masters.