In 1985, at the height of the Satanic Panic and PMRC hearings, Italian horror masters Lamberto Bava and Dario Argento delivered the ultimate middle finger to media censorship: a film where watching a horror movie literally transforms you into a demon. Shot in nine weeks in Cold War-era West Berlin, "Demons" is part meta-cinema commentary, part gore-soaked thrill ride, and entirely unapologetic.

With a pounding Claudio Simonetti synth score colliding with a heavy metal soundtrack featuring Mötley Crüe, Accept, and Billy Idol, the film literalizes every fear the moral panic warriors had about horror and metal corrupting youth - and then cranks it to eleven with a guy on a motorcycle slicing demons with a samurai sword. For Lamberto Bava, this was his one moment to step out of his legendary father Mario's shadow and create something uniquely his own.

This is the story of how a claustrophobic Italian splatter film became a cultural statement, a technical achievement in practical effects, and a love letter to everyone who was told that horror movies and heavy metal would destroy their souls. Spoiler alert: we survived. The demons didn't.

Dave explores Ken Russell's Altered States (1980) as #14 on his top-20 1980s horror countdown, summarizing the plot, key performances, and the tumultuous creative team behind the film.

He examines the movie's central themes — sensory deprivation, psychedelic experiments, evolutionary regression, and the inward search for meaning — ties them to real-world science and personal experience, and closes with a reflection on love and human connection as the film's emotional anchor.

The 1982 horror blockbuster that made America afraid of its own homes. We explore Spielberg's (or was it Hooper's?) masterpiece of suburban terror, the tragic deaths that haunted the production, and why the ghost story moved from Gothic castles to tract housing. From white flight to TV static, from swimming pool graves to the bodies buried under the American Dream—this is Poltergeist, the film that said: you're not safe at home. You never were.

Content warning: Discussion of domestic violence, child death, and suburban existential dread.

In this episode Dave explores Halloween III: Season of the Witch — John Carpenter and Deborah Hill’s controversial attempt to turn the franchise into an anthology and the film’s dark fusion of Celtic myth and corporate control.

He summarizes the plot (Dr. Dan Chalice and Ellie Grimbridge uncover Silver Shamrock’s plan to use Stonehenge-embedded chips in Halloween masks), explains why audiences rejected the film in 1982, and highlights its themes of commercialization, media manipulation, and nostalgia weaponized.

Finally, Dave traces the film’s cult rediscovery on VHS and DVD and argues that Halloween III’s ambition and prescience deserve a second look.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of graphic body horror, sexual violence, and disturbing imagery.

In 1983, David Cronenberg released a film that seemed like pure science fiction. Today, we're living in it.

When sleazy cable TV programmer Max Renn discovers a pirate broadcast featuring real torture and murder, his investigation leads him into a world of corporate conspiracy, body horror, and the literal fusion of flesh and technology. Starring James Woods and Debbie Harry, Videodrome transformed Marshall McLuhan's media theories into visceral nightmare - and accidentally predicted our algorithmic age.

We explore Cronenberg's prophetic vision: how the film anticipated social media addiction, reality distortion, and corporate mind control; why Rick Baker's groundbreaking practical effects still disturb audiences; and how this controversial masterpiece has become more relevant each year. From personal VCR memories to Canadian media theory to the deliberate collapse of reality itself - this is Videodrome.

"Death to Videodrome! Long live the new flesh!" But are we the new flesh?

Part of our Top 20 Horror Films of the 1980s countdown. Next: Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

Listen with headphones. Question your screen time. Welcome to the Videodrome.

A deeply personal dive into "Trick or Treat" (1986) and my teenage metalhead years during the Satanic Panic. From Marc Price's heartfelt performance to Tony Fields' mesmerizing Sammi Curr, this film understood what it meant to be an outsider finding identity through heavy metal.

Dave continues the countdown with Dead and Buried — a chilling small-town nightmare at #19 on his Top 20 Horror Movies of the 1980s.

Dave kicks off My Bloody Love Letter with Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond — the first step into his Top 20 Horror Movies of the 1980s.