Speaker 1: Welcome to the Nightmare USA Podcast. Using Stephen Thrower's tome
Speaker 1: as our roadmap, join us, this week explored the underbelly
Speaker 1: of America, one regional horror film at a time. I'm
Speaker 1: Adam and I'm Sam, and welcome to episode zero. Who
Speaker 1: wanted to take an opportunity to have an introductory episode
Speaker 1: to tell the listeners, well, help it's listeners, I hope
Speaker 1: it's more than one. A little bit about ourselves and
Speaker 1: talk about our personal history with Nightmare USA or planning
Speaker 1: for making our way through the films covered in this
Speaker 1: massive book. And spoiler alert, it's going to take a while.
Speaker 1: If you include all the films in index, there's over
Speaker 1: four hundred films to discuss. And you've watched all those
Speaker 1: films already, right Sam, there are still holes.
Speaker 2: I have a letterbox list that I go against, and
Speaker 2: every time I look back, I'm like, oh my god.
Speaker 2: That's the joy of Nightmare USA is like there's movies
Speaker 2: in there, like what, how have I not seen this?
Speaker 2: And whether it's either that or it's like I've seen
Speaker 2: this and they didn't give it the proper attention that
Speaker 2: it deserves. That's why I love the book so much
Speaker 2: like I. It's a book that I never put back
Speaker 2: on the shelf, some constantly pulling it back off. And
Speaker 2: it's very large, so you can get a work out
Speaker 2: with it. There's a lot of things you can do
Speaker 2: with it. To no offense that Steven Thrower. I actually
Speaker 2: used it for to keep this carpet down when I
Speaker 2: first got this new carpet. It's very heavy, and then
Speaker 2: my dog tried to eat it. And like police, this
Speaker 2: book is very expensive and hard to get, like let's let's.
Speaker 1: Chill, Well, when did you first get that book?
Speaker 2: I had wanted it for a long time. Uh, and
Speaker 2: it was always like when I'd look online for it, it
Speaker 2: always seemed like so much.
Speaker 3: And uh, Bill, who I do driving a saw home
Speaker 3: with uh? And from Groovy Doom.
Speaker 2: He bought it for me for Christmas, and of course
Speaker 2: he brought it to the Christmas party and I didn't
Speaker 2: interact with anybody because I kept looking through it and
Speaker 2: walking around and showing it to people, like, look, there's
Speaker 2: a whole chapter about, uh the Black Room in it,
Speaker 2: which is a movie like he and I are obsessed about.
Speaker 3: So it's I think.
Speaker 2: Anyone that loves these kind of movies, whether you're just
Speaker 2: starting to discover a regional horror or like secotronic cinema,
Speaker 2: or you're really into it, whatever level you're at, there
Speaker 2: something in this book for you.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I think so. I mean I didn't get
Speaker 1: until I got in twenty twenty, and that's about whenever,
Speaker 1: whenever the pandemic hit is whenever. I really got into
Speaker 1: a lot of these, and a lot of it was
Speaker 1: thanks to like Alamo draft House going online and bringing
Speaker 1: the whole content there. And so I saw Centipede Horror,
Speaker 1: which was I mean, that's not in this book, but
Speaker 1: that's you know, that was one of the first CAT
Speaker 1: three movie.
Speaker 3: That I saw.
Speaker 1: And they showed Spookies, which I had never heard of
Speaker 1: at that time, but I think Godminster of Indian Flats
Speaker 1: was one that they showed, which is in this book,
Speaker 1: and like what is you know, how did I get here?
Speaker 1: And where do those are?
Speaker 3: Three movies?
Speaker 2: So dear to my heart, I remember, like I always
Speaker 2: loved Spookies on some level because it's you know, it's
Speaker 2: the USA Afternoon movie. That's what I always consider it
Speaker 2: a VHS era movie. And uh, there's a group in
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh that does like bad movie Bengo. I don't like
Speaker 2: the name of it because I don't think Spookies is
Speaker 2: a bad movie, but they do a thing, and then
Speaker 2: in between they asked trivia, and they had the Rich
Speaker 2: Corbin poster that's on the cover that they printed. They
Speaker 2: were giving it away, and of course when they started
Speaker 2: the trivia, I answered like the first like three questions
Speaker 2: and they're like, well, we'll just give you the poster.
Speaker 3: Please don't answer any questions, and.
Speaker 2: I'm like, well, some of your questions are wrong because
Speaker 2: I'm obsessed with Spooky's, you know, and Centipede Horror, which
Speaker 2: is I think when people are like, you know, when
Speaker 2: you see those lists online and they're like the most
Speaker 2: disturbing movies. No one ever has Centipede Horror. That movie
Speaker 2: really sometimes, like if I think about it, it just really
Speaker 2: grosses me out. Like it's a movie that I know
Speaker 2: that the special effects were just fill an actress's mouth
Speaker 2: with centipedece and have her throw them up, like that's
Speaker 2: what it.
Speaker 1: Was really dedicated to that role to you.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, it's that Inclamity of Snakes are the
Speaker 2: two Category three ones that I think of where it's
Speaker 2: like these are beyond anything you're ready for.
Speaker 1: I guess Cinnepede Horror looking Back Sandpeede Horry, here's a
Speaker 1: weird one for me to start with them.
Speaker 2: I start right, You're like, oh this is I want
Speaker 2: to get really into these movies, and let's start with
Speaker 2: Centipede Horror.
Speaker 1: I guess it was weirder is that. I'll watch it.
Speaker 1: It's like, yeah, I want more of this.
Speaker 2: I did two though, so I think that's these movies are.
Speaker 2: I always used to call them torture tests. And one
Speaker 2: of the movies in the book, Blood Sucking Freaks, we
Speaker 2: had it at our video store growing up and we've
Speaker 2: rented it. They probably thought we were like budding serial killers, right.
Speaker 2: My brother and I rented Bloodsucking Freaks almost daily because
Speaker 2: when new kids would hang out with us with our
Speaker 2: friend group, they had to make it through that movie
Speaker 2: without getting upset. And there's a lot in that movie
Speaker 2: to really upset people. And now as an adult watching it,
Speaker 2: I'm like boor at eleven, Probably I shouldn't have been
Speaker 2: watching this movie like it's it's rough. And also I
Speaker 2: had not seen Hershel Gordon Lewis before it, so I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: this is as an adult, I'm like, this is just
Speaker 2: a Hershel Gordon Lewis or Bob Made New York. But
Speaker 2: as a kid, this is like the most transgressive, edge
Speaker 2: lord stuff I'd ever seen.
Speaker 1: I remember I didn't say it until the last five
Speaker 1: or six years, but I do remember our town, which
Speaker 1: is this little town in Louisiana, and they had a
Speaker 1: midnight showing a blood Sucking Freaks in the eighties, which
Speaker 1: is crazy to think about now, but and the radio
Speaker 1: station had a contest, you know, seventh caller gets free tickets,
Speaker 1: and I called I won, and they were like.
Speaker 3: How old are you?
Speaker 1: I was probably about ten. I was like eighteen. They said,
Speaker 1: I'm sure, kid, what's your name?
Speaker 3: I gave it.
Speaker 1: I gave my brother's name, and I tell my brother
Speaker 1: was like, hey, if you want to go see this
Speaker 1: Blood Sucking Freaks movie, you know, pick up the tickets
Speaker 1: at the radio station. I think he did, and he
Speaker 1: didn't really talk much about it.
Speaker 2: I would have never been able to stop talking about
Speaker 2: Ralphus and all the characters in it. And I remember
Speaker 2: we had one kid that was definitely too young to
Speaker 2: see it. He was probably like a year or too
Speaker 2: younger than nuts. I remember he was like laying on
Speaker 2: crying and he's like, why did you make me watch
Speaker 2: this movie? This movie is so wrong, Like I'm going
Speaker 2: to go to get in trouble for this movie. And
Speaker 2: I'm like, I don't think you're gonna get in trouble.
Speaker 2: It's just like, yeah, it's upsetting and it's transgressive, but
Speaker 2: it's you know, I always feel like you got to
Speaker 2: go through those movies. It's not like we made them
Speaker 2: watch shallow or something, you know what I mean, I
Speaker 2: don't know. I guess that's today for the kids who
Speaker 2: would be a serbian movie, they're like, that's that's our
Speaker 2: torture test. But that and Toxic avengerw were the first
Speaker 2: two like splattery kind of things that were at my store.
Speaker 3: And that's what's always locked.
Speaker 2: In my head when I think about movies today. Primetime
Speaker 2: Video in my hometown had that horror section with all
Speaker 2: the wizard video cases, and like whenever I'm said, I
Speaker 2: always try to conjure that up in my head of
Speaker 2: like walking through there and seeing what was there like
Speaker 2: and you know, they would hand right things on them
Speaker 2: like must be eighteen to rent faces and death, like what,
Speaker 2: it's not that bad, you know I say that I
Speaker 2: would be the worst parent. This is why I just
Speaker 2: have a dog, because I'd be like, you kids can
Speaker 2: watch you can watch that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I didn't have any it was weird. I'll
Speaker 1: tell stories. My daughter is like you had, Like the
Speaker 1: lines that your parents drew are so we to me
Speaker 1: because it didn't make any sense. Like, sure, kid, you
Speaker 1: can watch Friday thirteenth, but then purple Rain. No, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know. You can't watch that because she jumps
Speaker 1: in the lake or or just just fast forward through
Speaker 1: the lake scene.
Speaker 3: Okay, Sure parents are weird about that.
Speaker 2: Maybe American parents are like, oh, well, violence is.
Speaker 3: Too much, but violence isn't too much. I mean, but nudity.
Speaker 2: You know, we're gonna draw the line if Yeah, and
Speaker 2: now it's like the weird I've told the story for
Speaker 2: another podcast. Like I think a lot of my movie
Speaker 2: watching is Rebellion because my parents first date, they want
Speaker 2: to see Bird with the Crystal plumage, and like they
Speaker 2: would continually bring this movie up as like their barometer
Speaker 2: of what horrible movie is. And like I remember her
Speaker 2: telling me once she's like this movie. They keep hearing
Speaker 2: the sounds of this bird and you don't know who
Speaker 2: the killer is. None of it makes any sense. And
Speaker 2: I was fascinated as a kid. I'm like, I can't
Speaker 2: you know this is in the era when I couldn't
Speaker 2: just get it. And uh then when I finally saw them,
Speaker 2: like this movie's genius.
Speaker 3: And then I thought, is.
Speaker 2: All my Jallo love really come from trying to go
Speaker 2: against my parents? Perhaps, but I know, definitely my regional
Speaker 2: love is. I mean, you can't grow up in Pittsburgh
Speaker 2: without you know, the Romero influence in your life and
Speaker 2: the Romero characters and the you know, the Ramero cinematic
Speaker 2: universe which gets you into the crazies and Marvin effects. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's a great example. And the weird thing now is
Speaker 2: like I've actually talked to most of the crew and
Speaker 2: guys have worked on effects, and every time I got
Speaker 2: a text.
Speaker 3: From from Dusty Nelson thanking me for doing.
Speaker 2: The interview, and I'm like, dude, like, do you know
Speaker 2: have any idea how important that movie is to me?
Speaker 3: Like it's like, you know.
Speaker 2: I nobody in Pittsburgh knows, like the only movie in
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh that people are well, they made Striking Distance and
Speaker 2: that fan damn movie Sudden death here. Those are the
Speaker 2: Gone with the Wind of Pittsburgh Cinema, you know, like
Speaker 2: people love those. I was just at a toy show
Speaker 2: and they had a huge striking distance poster and I'm like,
Speaker 2: I kind of don't have room for that, but I
Speaker 2: need it.
Speaker 3: It's a movie that, like, if you went to a US.
Speaker 2: Store here, it'd be like thirty bucks if you want
Speaker 2: anywhere else. If you want to a US store around,
Speaker 2: you would be like a dollar. So you know, I
Speaker 2: will not claim bloodsucking Pharaohs. I won't claim that movie.
Speaker 2: So hate that movie.
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh right there in the title.
Speaker 2: I know it's in Lawrenceville, but which is like the
Speaker 2: hipster section of Pittsburgh. So it's a It's okay, we'll
Speaker 2: get into it when we get to it. Maybe I
Speaker 2: need to reevaluate it.
Speaker 3: That's well.
Speaker 1: And that's one thing that I'm hoping for with this
Speaker 1: podcast is I want to, you know, revisit the movies
Speaker 1: that I've already watched, see how they hold up. Revisit
Speaker 1: the movies I've seen and didn't like. Maybe I like
Speaker 1: them more now than I did. Then I'll look back
Speaker 1: at stuff maybe I saw and I don't know twenty
Speaker 1: eighteen or so, I watched Don't Go into the Woods
Speaker 1: and I hated it, couldn't it. And now I wonder
Speaker 1: maybe I'll like it more now because I think back
Speaker 1: then eighteen I was still in my you know, I'm
Speaker 1: a centophile. You know, I watched Berdman and Godar and
Speaker 1: Curosawa and I don't, you know, I'm above this this,
Speaker 1: and then I don't some flip, you know, switch flipped
Speaker 1: inside my brain, and you know it's I always say,
Speaker 1: like my taste devolved. Maybe yeah, And but I think
Speaker 1: it's just more I'm open to a lot more than
Speaker 1: I used to be, where I would think, well, this
Speaker 1: is just bad, and now it's like, well, no, no
Speaker 1: one sets out to make a bad movie. I don't think,
Speaker 1: you know, everyone everyone's trying to do their best. And
Speaker 1: one thing I like, especially in exploitation films, is you
Speaker 1: have these you know, you'll have Academy Award winning actors
Speaker 1: and actresses. You'll have you know, Rod Steiger and you'll
Speaker 1: have Shelley Winters, and they are I mean, they're given.
Speaker 1: They're showing up to work every day and they're doing
Speaker 1: they're you know, one hundred percent work and a lot
Speaker 1: of these movies, and it just really adds to it.
Speaker 1: You know, you get something that you know you wouldn't
Speaker 1: get from just maybe someone they pull up the street,
Speaker 1: but then you get stuff whenever they do people pull
Speaker 1: people off the street. You get these amazing things.
Speaker 2: My friends get upset because, like I am like maybe
Speaker 2: the inverse of you where they love great films, and
Speaker 2: they know that I watch a lot of movies, but
Speaker 2: I only watch like really bad or like hard to
Speaker 2: find ones. And they were for like six months begging
Speaker 2: me to watch Centers, and I was like, guys, like,
Speaker 2: they're like, what other.
Speaker 3: Spanish horror movies do you have to watch? Like what
Speaker 3: other like shot on video stuff from the ag You.
Speaker 1: Still have a few Jeff Franco films you have not.
Speaker 3: Seen sixteen now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I just got a copy of Rolls Royce Baby,
Speaker 2: so that's kind of like Christmas here. And they're like,
Speaker 2: you're gonna watch these movies and you're not gonna watch Centers.
Speaker 2: And I watched it and I'm like, it's not gonna
Speaker 2: beat Ganja and hass guys, And they're like, what are
Speaker 2: you talking about? We don't even know what that movie is,
Speaker 2: And I'm like, it's really important.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so that's kind of our hope on this.
Speaker 1: We're going to get into some movies. And I think
Speaker 1: I've seen half of the films that he covers. It's
Speaker 1: about one hundred and fifty ish that he actually is
Speaker 1: either in a chapter or in capsule reviews there at
Speaker 1: the end. So I've seen about half of those, and
Speaker 1: maybe about thirty eight percent of everything if you include
Speaker 1: those films listed in the appendix. So I'm really looking
Speaker 1: forward to see it. Like there's a lot that I
Speaker 1: haven't seen. Like we talked about Martin, I have not
Speaker 1: seen it. Oh, so when we get to it, I'll
Speaker 1: be very excited to see it, for sure.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited for you for you to see it
Speaker 2: because it's like one of the most important movies. I
Speaker 2: just went past Barton this morning where his grave is, Like,
Speaker 2: I just drove across from Braddock and I was like,
Speaker 2: I would think it every morning. So I used to
Speaker 2: live across the river from it, and I'm like, I'm
Speaker 2: in Martin's world, but if he were, he real. So
Speaker 2: it's a movie that really speaks to me. Is someone
Speaker 2: that grew up here in Pittsburgh and went through the
Speaker 2: death of the steel mill and stuff. It's a movie.
Speaker 2: We'll talk about it way more. We finally get to
Speaker 2: this is an intro. This is not the Martin episode.
Speaker 3: I get it.
Speaker 1: So, but our the first movie we're going to cover
Speaker 1: is Don't Go in the House. That is prominently featured
Speaker 1: on the cover of My Mere USA of our boy
Speaker 1: Donnie in his asbestos suit with his flamethrower, and we're
Speaker 1: going to get into that deeply here in our first episode. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so we hope that you come back and stay
Speaker 1: tuned and we'll be getting into Don't Go in the House.
Speaker 1: So join us for the first episode.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you.