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PODCAST

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC

Aaron Christensen

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC is a horror movie podcast that revisits classic horror films on milestone anniversaries (20, 30, 40, 50 years, and more). Each episode features a lively rotating panel of horror fans discussing the film’s legacy, personal memories, cultural impact, and what makes it a lasting favorite. If you love deep dives into horror movies like The Exorcist, A Nightmare on Elm Street, or Frankenstein, this podcast is for you. Come celebrate horror history—one anniversary at a time.

tv & film film interviews

All Episodes

01:09:49

Ep 118 - Tobe Hooper’s LIFEFORCE (1985) Turns 40:...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/10/24

LIFEFORCE (1985) d. Tobe Hooper (USA/UK) Based on Colin Wilson’s novel, The Space Vampires, a team of astronauts encounter a ship lodged within the head of Halley’s Comet and discover three impossibly beautiful humanoid creatures, two male, one female, encased in coffin-like crystalline blocks. And, as any genre film fan can predict, as soon as they get these strange creatures back to earth, blocks are going to crack and heads are going to roll. Working with a spirited screenplay by Dan O’Bannon

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01:31:10

Ep 117 - BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN & WEREWOLF OF LONDON:...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/10/17

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935) d. James Whale (USA) WEREWOLF OF LONDON (1935) d. Stuart Walker (USA) Tonight, we open the creaking doors to celebrate a pair of Universal classics that both turn 90 this year—Werewolf of London and Bride of Frankenstein, released in that golden year of genre cinema, 1935. While not always mentioned in the same breath, these two films mark an important moment in Universal Pictures’ legendary horror cycle, one building on an already iconic legacy, and the other

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01:02:14

Ep 116 - THE CHANGELING (1980): ONE OF THE BEST GHOST...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/10/10

THE CHANGELING (1980) d. Peter Medak (Canada) (Apologies for the tech issues during the last 4-5 minutes! We were battling the ghost of Joseph Carmichael!) Tonight we’re discussing The Changeling (1980), Peter Medak’s stellar haunted house tale which usually takes a back seat to the big-budget envisioning of Stephen King’s The Shining, released the same year. But in many ways, this small Canadian film, loaded with creepy atmosphere and tightly fashioned suspense sequences, surpasses the

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01:16:22

Ep 115 - Mario Bava’s BLACK SUNDAY (1960) Unmasked –...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/10/03

BLACK SUNDAY (1960) d. Mario Bava (Italy) Tonight we’re discussing Mario Bava’s Black Sunday (aka The Mask of Satan) (1960), one of the most atmosphere-drenched cinematic forays into the supernatural. Marrying the feel of the Universal classics with the darkness of a Grimm fairy tale, and adding in the gorier and sexier feel of the rising Hammer color Gothics, this tour-de-force directorial debut introduced the world to Italian DP Mario Bava and scream queen in the making Barbara Steele, both

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01:18:48

Ep 114 - FRIGHT NIGHT (1985) 40th ANNIVERSARY –...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/09/25

FRIGHT NIGHT (1985) d. Tom Holland (USA) FRIGHT NIGHT PART II (1988) d. Tommy Lee Wallace (USA) FRIGHT NIGHT (2011) d. Craig Gillespie (USA) FRIGHT NIGHT 2 (2013) d. Eduardo Rodriguez (USA) Written and directed by Tom Holland, 1985’s Fright Night is a genre-blending horror-comedy that combines classic vampire lore with 1980s suburban paranoia. The story follows teenager Charley Brewster, who suspects his suave new neighbor, Jerry Dandrige, is a vampire. When his girlfriend Amy and best friend Ed

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01:15:45

Ep 113 - 40 Years of DAY OF THE DEAD (1985): The...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/09/19

DAY OF THE DEAD (1985) d. George A. Romero (USA) Celebrate the 40th anniversary of George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead, the dark, post-apocalyptic chapter of his legendary zombie trilogy. We explore the film’s unforgettable gore, chilling atmosphere, and its place in horror history. Perfect for fans of classic zombie movies, 80s horror, and cult cinema! In this episode, we dive into: 🔹 Romero’s vision of the undead 🔹 Tom Savini’s groundbreaking special effects 🔹 Bub the zombie & other iconic

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01:30:43

Ep 112 - GIANT MONSTERS OF 1955: TARANTULA, IT CAME...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/09/12

TARANTULA (1955) d. Jack Arnold (USA) IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1955) d. Robert Gordon (USA) KING DINOSAUR (1955) d. Bert I. Gordon (USA) Tonight, we step back seventy years to 1955—the cusp of the golden age for giant monster cinema, as atomic anxiety crept from the headlines onto the silver screen, mutating into monstrous metaphors that stomped, crawled, and slithered into our collective imagination. In this episode, we’ll look at three emblematic 1955 films—Tarantula, It Came from Beneath

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01:17:03

Ep 111 - HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986) |...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/09/04

HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986/1990) d. John McNaughton (USA) Tonight we take a look back at one of the most disturbing and uncompromising horror films ever made: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Loosely inspired by the real-life confessions of Henry Lee Lucas, John McNaughton’s debut feature is relentless in its refusal to offer comfort, catharsis, or a triumphant finale of good over evil. Originally slapped with an X rating, which made it nearly inaccessible for years, Henry is no

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01:50:16

Ep 110 - MASTERS OF HORROR: SEASON 1 - LOOKING BACK...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/08/29

MASTERS OF HORROR was a horror anthology series like none before, making its small-screen bow on the cable channel Showtime in October 2005. Created by Mick Garris, the show brought together some of the most renowned names in horror filmmaking to direct hour-long episodes that showcased their unique visions. Predating the wave of multi-voiced anthology films like V/H/S and ABCs of Death, each episode was a self-contained story, with genre icons such as John Carpenter, Dario Argento, Tobe Hooper,

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01:42:36

Ep 109 - JAWS (1975) TURNS 50: THE GREATEST (FISH)...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/08/22

JAWS (1975) d. Steven Spielberg (USA) JAWS 2 (1978) d. Jeannot Szwarc (USA) JAWS 3D (1983) d. Joe Alves (USA) JAWS: THE REVENGE (1987) d. Joseph Sargent (USA) From its harrowing opening sequence to the breathtaking climax, Steven Spielberg’s hugely successful masterpiece of suspense and thrills, JAWS (1975), scared audiences out of the water and into theaters in record-breaking numbers. On the surface, the plot is simplicity itself: The locals of the northeastern island town of Amity start turning

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01:26:42

RE-ANIMATOR (1985) AT 40: GREEN, GOO, GUTS, AND GAGS!!

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/08/14

RE-ANIMATOR (1985) d. Stuart Gordon (USA) BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR (1990) d. Brian Yuzna (USA) BEYOND RE-ANIMATOR (2003) d. Brian Yuzna (Spain) Stuart Gordon’s debut feature Re-Animator is a fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek blend of horror, sci-fi, and dark comedy that helped define the splatter subgenre of the 1980s. Loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft’s serialized novella and set at the fabled Miskatonic University, the wildly intense Herbert West (deliciously played by Jeffrey Combs) embarks on a series of

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01:00:05

Ep 107 - FULCI'S FINEST? CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD aka...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/08/08

CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (aka THE GATES OF HELL) (1980) d. Lucio Fulci (Italy) Tonight we're returning to the eerie and bonkers world of Italian horror with a film that defies conventional storytelling — Lucio Fulci’s City of the Living Dead, known to American audiences as The Gates of Hell. Following up on the success of Zombie the year before, City of the Living Dead marked a turning point in Fulci’s career, steering him away from the multitude of genres he had previously worked in, into the

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55:40

Ep 106 - PEEPING TOM (1960) – THE CONTROVERSIAL...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/08/01

PEEPING TOM (1960) d. Michael Powell (UK) A provocative psychological thriller and a daring exploration of voyeurism, Michael Powell’s PEEPING TOM tells the story of Mark Lewis, a withdrawn cameraman filled with deep pain and dark secrets. Powell’s brilliant examination of the human urge to look—but not be seen looking—turns Mark’s camera into both weapon and mirror. Peeping Tom is a film about watching, made in a medium built for being watched. Powell, fully aware of cinema’s voyeuristic nature,

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01:21:24

Ep 105 - MANIAC (1980): 45 YEARS OF SWEAT, SPLATTER,...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/07/24

MANIAC (1980) d. William Lustig (USA) Celebrating 45 years of William Lustig’s Maniac (1980) — a cult horror classic that’s part slasher, part psychological descent, and all Joe Spinell. Wildly controversial and undeniably influential, Maniac (1980) is one of the most unsettling slasher films of the early 1980s. Directed by William Lustig and starring Joe Spinell—who also co-wrote the screenplay—Maniac follows Frank Zito, a deeply disturbed and isolated man driven by trauma, navigating the grim

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01:07:45

Ep 104 - BATTLE ROYALE (2000) – THE LEGACY OF...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/07/17

BATTLE ROYALE (2000) d. Kinji Fukasaku (Japan) How did Battle Royale become one of the most influential survival horror films of all time? In this HORROR 101 panel, we dive into Kinji Fukasaku’s controversial cult classic—an ultra-violent dystopian thriller where 42 students are forced to kill or be killed. Based on Koushun Takami’s novel, Battle Royale blends brutal action with haunting emotion, earning its place as a defining work of J-horror and 2000s cinema. Join AC and his incredible panel

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01:45:15

Ep. 103 – THE VAMPIRE FILMS OF 1970 | Count Yorga,...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/07/10

1970 was a breakthrough year for vampire cinema — sexier, bloodier, and bolder than ever before. In this episode of HORROR 101, Dr. AC and his panel explore five iconic films that redefined the vampire mythos for a new era: COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE (USA) – A modern bloodsucker stalks the streets of Los Angeles. HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (USA) – Barnabas Collins goes full Gothic on the big screen. THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (UK) – Hammer Horror leans into eroticism with Ingrid Pitt as Carmilla. COUNT DRACULA

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01:31:33

ROMAN POLANSKI'S REPULSION (1965): MADNESS, SEX, AND...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/07/04

REPULSION (1965) d. Roman Polanski (UK) Co-written and directed by Roman Polanski, Repulsion (1965) is a landmark psychological horror film that explores the mental disintegration of a young woman, Carole (expertly played by Catherine Deneuve), living alone in London. Polanski's first English-language feature—and the first in his iconic “Apartment Trilogy,” followed by Rosemary’s Baby and The Tenant—Repulsion dives deep into themes of isolation, sexual repression, and psychological trauma. When

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56:26

DARIO ARGENTO'S PHENOMENA (AKA CREEPERS) (1985) TURNS...

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/06/30

PHENOMENA (1985) d. Dario Argento (Italy) Perhaps the only “insect detective” movie out there on the shelves, featuring a very young Jennifer Connelly (released one year before Labyrinth) as the daughter of a famous American movie star sent away to study at an exclusive Swiss girl’s academy, whose students just happen to be falling victim to a homicidal killer. But as this is an Argento movie, things are hardly what they seem. Those familiar with Donald Pleasance primarily for his increasingly

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01:11:34

MOTEL HELL (1980): CHAINSAWS, CANNIBALS, AND COMEDY!!

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/06/25

MOTEL HELL (1980) d. Kevin Connor (USA) “It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent’s Fritters.” So runs the tagline for 1980’s Motel Hell, an endearing oddball combo of black humor and horror, featuring veteran character actor Rory Calhoun as Vincent, the proprietor of the Motel Hello, where the O on the neon sign keeps going on the blink. Vincent and his equally wacky sister Ida (a pre-Porky’s Nancy Parsons) make their living by ensnaring unsuspecting motorists to fill up the skins of

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01:20:44

DEAD OF NIGHT (1945) STILL HAUNTS US 80 YEARS LATER!!

HORROR 101 with Dr. AC ·

2025/06/19

DEAD OF NIGHT (1945) d. Various (UK) A landmark horror film, 1945’s Dead of Night was produced by Britain’s famed Ealing Studios and directed by a team of mostly younger upstarts including Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, and Robert Hamer, with veteran Alberto Cavalcanti and producer Michael Balcon marshaling their forces. Widely regarded as one of the earliest and most influential horror anthology films, Dead of Night presents a quintet of eerie and imaginative stories linked by a chilling

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