Podcaster Steve Turek issued the challenge and I accepted. Now, as Steve and I take the Puppet Master quest, I’m on another journey to discover, and rediscover in some cases, films starring horror legend Barbara Crampton. Once Barbara returns to the Puppet Master series, my journey will come to an end. Next up…

Tales of Halloween
Release date: October 16, 2015

Cast:
Adrienne Barbeau as DJ
Barry Bostwick as Mr. Abbadon
Barbara Crampton as The Witch
Greg Grunberg as Alex Mathis
Caroline Williams as Mrs. Blake
Tiffany Shepis as Maria
Lin Shaye as Lynn’s Mother
Mick Garris as The Phantom
Stuart Gordon as Sherlock Holmes

Created by Axelle Carolyn
Written by Dave Parker, Clint Sears, Greg Commons, Axelle Carolyn, Lucky McKee, Molly Millions, Billy Jackson, John Skipp, Andrew Kasch, Mike Mendez,Ryan Schifrin & Neil Marshall 
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, Axelle Carolyn, Adam Gierasch, Andrew Kasch, Neil Marshall, Lucky McKee, Mike Mendez, Dave Parker, Ryan Schifrin, John Skipp & Paul Solet  

Plot:
10 tales of fright are interconnected by a radio DJ and terrorizing events in a suburban neighborhood on Halloween night.

My Thoughts:
Let’s establish right out of the gate that Barbara Crampton’s participation in this film is really nothing more than a glorified cameo. She plays a witch (wearing a red wig that was her idea) at a Halloween party and manages to get a very convincing cackle in. Unfortunately, as quickly as she appears, she’s gone. However, that can be said of most of the cast considering there are 10 stories in this anthology with a total running time of 1 hour and 37 minutes. Needless to say, there isn’t much time for character development.

With 10 different stories, I won’t go into my thoughts for each. Suffice to say, some stories fare better than others but the movie is enjoyable overall. I’ve definitely seen worse anthologies. However, I wish they would have cut down the stories to a more manageable number of 5 and reduce the running time to a solid 90 minutes. That would have given time for the stories and characters to breathe a little. You want to feel for the various villains and heroes but it’s hard when we barely get to know them before the story is done.

The biggest missed opportunity here is not being able to see Adrienne Barbeau on screen. Her radio DJ is an obvious homage to her character from The Fog (1980) but why didn’t they show her at least once or twice? Nonetheless, it was still cool to hear her “Stevie Wayne” voice.

Overall, they accomplished a lot with a very low budget and a rushed production schedule (most of the segments were filmed in 10 days). It’s not perfect but well worth checking out. Just don’t blink or you’ll miss Barbara’s appearance in this one. 

Trivia:
Greg Grunberg and Claire Kramer are playing the same characters as they did in Big Ass Spider! (2013). Grunberg is even wearing the same shirt.

Availability:
Tales of Halloween is available on Blu-ray from Epic Pictures.

Our Puppet Master journey continues and we’re continuing a trilogy that takes the franchise back to the 1940s where Nazi and Japanese spies are lurking everywhere!

In episode 348 of the Diecast Movie Podcast, host Steve Turek and I take a look at the next film in the series, Puppet Master: Axis Rising (2012).

You can listen to the podcast through Apple, Spotify or wherever fine podcasts can be downloaded!

As always, tell ’em Monster Movie Kid sent ya!

The Puppet Master series is currently available on Blu-ray from Full Moon Features courtesy of Charles Band!

My dear friend Steve Turek, host of the DieCast Movie Podcast, recently invited my Classic Horrors Club Podcast partner-in-crime Jeff Owens to discuss their favorite movies of 2025. The criteria was easy…it had to be new and play in a movie theater during the course of the year and they had to watch them either in a theater or on streaming.

Steve also invited me to share my top personal favorite films and while I did not see enough new films to compile a top ten list, I do share my top five. So, please tune into episode 345 of the DieCast Movie Podcast and maybe you’ll discover some new films that you want to add to your watch list in 2026!

You can listen to the podcast through Apple, Spotify or wherever fine podcasts can be downloaded!

As always, tell ’em Monster Movie Kid sent ya!

Podcaster Steve Turek issued the challenge and I accepted. Now, as Steve and I take the Puppet Master quest, I’m on another journey to discover, and rediscover in some cases, films starring horror legend Barbara Crampton. Once Barbara returns to the Puppet Master series, my journey will come to an end. Next up…

Castle Freak
Release date: November 14, 1995

Cast:
Jeffrey Combs as John Reilly
Barbara Crampton as Susan Reilly
Jessica Dollarhide as Rebecca Reilly
Jonathan Fuller as Giorgio d’Orsino

Based on The Outsider by H.P. Lovecraft
Screenplay by Dennis Paoli
Story by Stuart Gordon & Dennis Paoli
Directed by Stuart Gordon

Plot:
John and Susan Reilly, along with their daughter Rebecca, inherit a 12th century castle but when mutilated bodies are discovered, they soon discover the secrets hidden within the castle walls.

My Thoughts:
Barbara Crampton and Jeffrey Combs reunite for their third film with director Stuart Gordon and it’s another very loose adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story. Once again, the violence and gore is ramped up to 11 but this time, instead of dealing with scientific experiments gone wrong, we go with a good old fashioned mutated freak living within a castle. While the real Italian castle, actually owned at the time by Charles Band, added to the atmosphere and provided some great visuals, the overall presentation seemed a step down to me.

Jeffrey Combs turns in another solid performance but it isn’t quite as entertaining as Re-Animator or From Beyond. I’d have to say the same about Barbara Crampton. She does fine in her role as Susan but the marriage troubles between her character and husband John left me struggling to like either character too much. Susan is almost aggravating in the way she over protects her blind daughter. While I understand the reasons why she acted the way she did, it was just a little too oftputting for me.

While the make-up work on the freak character was quite good, there were certainly some disturbing scenes that left me feeling like I needed to take a shower. I’ve never been fond of freak movies but the ones that leave you feeling sympathy towards them work better in the end over a film like this where the sympathy is overshadowed by repulsiveness towards the freaks actions. That said, the story was compelling enough, just not overly entertaining for my personal tastes.

Castle Freak isn’t a bad film, it’s just not something that I would return to time and again. It’s definitely my least favorite of Barbara Crampton’s three films with Jeffrey Combs.   

Trivia:
In the original script, Barbara Crampton’s character of Susan was supposed to be totally naked for the climactic scene where she lures the creature away from her daughter. However, Barbara felt it was too cold and only agreed to remove her blouse and bra. 

Availability:
Castle Freak is available on Blu-ray from Wizard Entertainment.