While it's true we could have done Rocky for any holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year) we decided that the perfect time for this classic pugilist film was for a New Year's Day special due to the epic fight with Apollo Creed. We talk about the character study, the romance with Adrian, and of course the finale's 15-round bout. We're also drinking Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter!
Approximate timeline
0:00-8:00 Intro
8:00-16:00 Beer talk
16:00-end Rocky
We'll see you back in 2026!
The Ref is something of a Christmas outlier; its title does not suggest a holiday-themed topic, the poster artwork fails to spread any holiday cheer, and overall it's a strange culmination of ideas. However, it was also a Martin holiday tradition,so it made sense to finally tackle this Denis Leary-starring vehicle for our final film in 2025's Festivus Series.
We're also drinking Modelo's Noche Especial lager for this festive occasion!
Approximate timeline
0:00-12:00 Intro
12:00-20:00 Beer talk
20:00-end The Ref
We hope you enjoyed our Festivus Series this year! We will be back - either for a New Year's episode if we get the chance, or else we'll be seeing you in 2026 for standard film coverage!
What conjures memories of the festive season more than neon lights and a killer robot santa? Christmas Bloody Christmas is effectively Silent Night, Deadly Night crossed with The Terminator and a grindhouse aesthetic, but it never really reaches any of those heights. We talk about the grating dialogue, the film's extended finale, the lack of creativity in the kills, and a lot more in this yuletide episode on Joe Begos' film!
We're also drinking Zero Gravity's Green State Evergreen Winter Lager.
Approximate timeline
0:00-12:00 Intro
12:00-18:00 Beer talk
18:00-end Christmas Bloody Christmas
Festivus Series continues all holiday season!
We've done a lot of killer Santa films, but we've never done the extremely French Deadly Games: Dial Code Santa Claus, the precursor to Home Alone's "kid on Christmas setting traps for bad guys" idea. Here we talk about the MINITEL, if the idea for Home Alone was stolen, and how closely this film hews to Christmas Evil (another movie we've done previously). We're also drinking Sam Adams' new winter seasonal White Winter Ale!
Approximate timeline
0:00-12:00 Intro
12:00-20:00 Beer talk
20:00-end Deadly Games: Dial Code Santa Claus
Festivus Series continues all Christmas season!
As Buffalo Bills fans, we couldn't resist checking out Hallmark's new holiday movie based around the Bills mafia. And of course, with our track record of covering Christmas Hallmark films, it only made sense to "tackle" this nauseatingly naive movie of yuletide cheer. Tune in to see what we say, and hear Martin reminisce about Bills teams of old.
We're also drinking DuClaw's Pastryarchy: Peppermint Imperial Stout!
Approximate timeline
0:00-15:00 Intro
15:00-25:00 Beer talk
25:00-end Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story
Festivus Series continues all holiday season!
While we technically missed Thanksgiving, it's okay, because we planned it all along - this episode drops on Black Friday and we're celebrating that hellish consumer holiday with the 2021 film Black Friday! This Devon Sawa/Bruce Campbell vehicle was actually a pleasant surprise considering the lack of fanfare and poor reviews - it's a fun, zombie- and Thing-adjacent holiday horror that brings both the joy of Thanksgiving and the terror of Christmas shopping. We're also drinking Founders' Red Sweater IPA!
Approximate timeline
0:00-14:00 Intro/Thanksgiving talk
14:00-20:00 Beer talk
20:00-end Black Friday
Coming up: our Festivus Series begins!
We've covered most of Wes Anderson's recent output, but we missed The Phoenician Scheme when it released in theaters. So we wanted to rectify that in between our holiday coverage, and give this espionage/business caper its proper due. Here we talk about the overly complicated scheme, Benicio del Toro as frontman, the phoenix rising of Michael Cera, and a whole lot more as we try to parse the symmetrical orientation of Anderson's film. We're also drinking Ommegang's Ommegeddon, a Brett Saison Ale!
Approximate timeline
0:00-12:00 Intro
12:00-20:00 Beer talk
20:00-end The Phoenician Scheme
Next up: we head into Thanksgiving with a look at 2021's Black Friday!
In our final episode of HaHaHalloween, we discuss the iconic film Ghostbusters, exploring its cultural impact, memorable scenes, and the nostalgia it evokes. We delve into the film's humor, its place in Halloween traditions, and the performances of its cast, including Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. We're also drinking Community Beer Works' Lets Go Pils pilsner!
Approximate timeline
0:00-14:00 Intro
14:00-20:00 Beer talk
20:00-end Ghostbusters
That's the final treat in our goodie bag for HaHaHalloween. We hope you enjoyed this season and we'll be back in a couple weeks for a Thanksgiving-themed episode before we move on to the Christmas holiday. Find us on any podcast app or at bloodandblackrumpodcast.cultsploitation.com!
Similar to Student Bodies, Wacko is a 1982 horror parody that primarily satirizes the slasher genre, all while cracking jokes at other popular horror movies of the time. This one centers around a Lawnmower Killer with an irreverent brand of comedy that basically throws jokes at the viewer in rapid-fire succession. We talk about how successful this is, the killer reveal, and whether Wacko deserves the multiple cast talents at its disposal!
We're also drinking Tree House Brewing's Halloween beer, the Evil Julius triple IPA!
Approximate timeline
0:00-13:00 Intro
13:00-21:00 Beer talk
21:00-end Wacko
HaHaHalloween comes to an end next week, so stick with us! We might have a few tricks and treats up our sleeve.
One of the most important slasher parodies is also relatively little-known. For HaHaHalloween we had to be sure to take on 1981's Student Bodies, released in the heyday of the slasher movement and mostly satirizing Halloween and Friday the 13th. We talk about the jokes, the Airplane!-esque comedy, and how inspirational this film would be on a new line of horror comedies.
Approximate timeline
0:00-8:00 Intro
8:00-16:00 Beer talk
16:00-end Student Bodies
HaHaHalloween continues all Halloween season!
We can't have a horror parody series without possibly the most popular one in the genre. We're talking Scary Movie in this episode, from the best jokes, to how it holds up today, and its surprising success at coming quite close to shot-for-shot matches of Scream. Check it out and let us know if you still watch this one, even with the dated references!
Approximate timeline
0:00-11:00 Intro
11:00-15:00 Tea(!) talk
15:00-end Scary Movie
HaHaHalloween continues all Halloween season!
For this episode of HaHaHalloween, we wanted to throw things back a ways to some of the earliest horror parodies. What better than Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, a monster mashup that started the craze of the comedy duo meeting various Universal monsters. We talk about the appeal of this Avengers of horror, the slapstick comedy the two perfected, and Martin's disdain for Bela Lugosi?!
Approximate timeline
0:00-15:00 Intro
15:00-25:00 Beer talk
25:00-end Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
HaHaHalloween continues all Halloween season!
We return to the slasher format for our fourth episode in our Halloween horror parody series. Here we tackle Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, which attempts to see the slasher film from the killer's perspective, giving some pointed examples of the reasoning behind slasher films with its meta commentary while at the same time offering up half of a real slasher film in its own right. We talk about the jokes, the allure of a killer like Leslie Vernon, and how well the films plays off the slasher tropes. We're also drinking Sierra Nevada's 2025 Bigfoot barleywine-style ale!
Approximate timeline
0:00-10:00 Intro
10:00-20:00 Beer talk
20:00-end Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
HaHaHalloween continues all Halloween season!
Continuing our horror parody/comedy Halloween season, we move from slasher films to zombies as we take a look at The Dead Don't Die from 2019. This was a particular divisive movie when it released, pairing the sardonic sensibilities of a Wes Anderson movie with the more traditional undead tropes. We talk about how well this works out, if the theme is too heavy-handed, and a whole lot more in this appreciation of Bill Murray and Adam Driver. We're also drinking Wicked Grove (Aldi) Black Cherry Imperial Hard Cider!
Approximate timeline
0:00-10:00 Intro
10:00-20:00 Beer talk
20:00-end The Dead Don't Die
HaHaHalloween continues all Halloween season!
If Club Dread was a traditional slasher parody, Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil takes things in a different direction by upending the usual formulas; instead of college co-eds being the targets, they become the killers in this comedy about a giant misunderstanding. We talk about the hilarious circumventing of tropes, the great 2010s feel, and how well the conceit orks over a full-length film. We're also drinking Southern Tier's new Buffalo Bills-themed IPA can!
Approximate timeline
0:00-7:00 Intro
7:00-14:00 Beer talk
14:00-end Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil
HaHaHalloween continues all Halloween season!
We're starting the Halloween season off with our first horror parody, and we wanted a soft start - and what better way than to lead out of the summer season with Club Dread, set at a resort and satirizing slasher tropes. While neither of us were completely enamored with Broken Lizard's attempt at spoofing the usual stalker cliches, we did enjoy Bill Paxton's antics as a Jimmy Buffet-lite musician. We're also drinking Sierra Nevada's new Oktoberfest collaboration with Stortebeker in this spookified episode!
Approximate timeline
0:00-10:00 Intro
10:00-18:00 Beer talk
18:00-end Club Dread
HaHaHalloween continues all September and October, weekly!
We end this '90s action summer with The Matrix, a film that hit at the tail end of the decade just before the millennium. In this episode, we talk about the lasting impression, the inspirations behind the movie including anime and science fiction (some of which we've already covered), and how the film holds up after almost 30 years. We're also drinking Benediktiner's Weissbier!
Approximate timeline
0:00-11:00 Intro
11:00-20:00 Beer talk
20:00-end The Matrix
Up next: we start our Halloween shenanigans and the theme is: Horror Parodies!
Continuing Red Hot Action Summer, we take a look at John Carpenter's less-revered sequel Escape from L.A., which returns to Snake 15 years later and adds a whole lot more bad CGI to the mix. We talk about the unnecessary plot twists in the film, Bruce Campbell being a shining star, and Pam Grier making an appearance! We're also drinking Prison City's Mass Riot New England IPA.
Approximate timeline
0:00-11:00 Intro
11:00-20:00 Beer talk
20:00-end Escape from L.A.
Next up: The Matrix!
Continuing our '90s action summer, we're taking on something with a bit more of a science fiction atmosphere with Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall. It's great to have Arnold back on the show and here we discuss whether we're all just living in a dream, whether we'd partake in a recall memory, and the unequivocal hotness of '90s Sharon Stone. We're also drinking Sloop Brewing's Jungle Juice sour with tart cherry and pineapple.
Approximate timeline
0:00-8:00 Intro
8:00-16:00 Beer talk
16:00-end Total Recall
Next up: Escape from LA!
Red Hot '90s Action Summer is back, baby! We've got some fun picks for this year, and we're starting things off with the Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker buddy cop movie Rush Hour! We talk about how nice this mashup of Hong Kong martial arts and American crime dramas feels, the stunts, the laughs, and a whole lot more. We're also drinking Adirondack Brewing Co.'s Lake George's IPA!
Approximate timeline
0:00-8:00 Intro
8:00-17:00 Beer talk
17:00-end Rush Hour
Next up: Total Recall!