*SPECIAL EPISODE* HOPPED UP II: HOPPERWEEN

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SPECIAL EPISODE: DENNIS HOPPER'S PAYCHECK ERA IN HORROR

Note: We apologize for the title "Hopperween".

Earlier in 2022 we released an episode called HOPPED UP covering Dennis Hopper's "madman" period as director, covering Easy Rider, American Dreamer (erroneously called American Movie in the episode by one of our dumber hosts), The Last Movie and, finally, early 80s masterpiece Out of the Blue. For some reason it has become our most popular episode so when contemplating a Halloween episode this year we decided to make a disappointing sequel!

Horror expert and screenwriter Erik joins us for THREE horror movies featuring our favorite reformed madman, Dennis Hopper! Hell yeah. 

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE II from 1986 starts us off. Now a cult classic that guest Erik can quote at length. But it was a sharp turn from the grim, somber original that hints at gore it never really shows. For this sequel, returning director Tobe Hooper decides on a... slightly different approach. He also claims the original was funny (ok, yeah...) but that didn't come through so he made sure it was at the forefront here. What results is a bizarre artifact of the 80s, part day-glo, part coke-fueled insanity. Hopper does not look happy here as Lefty but he wields three chainsaws at one point so maybe it evens out?

CROW: WICKER PRAYER, or CR4W as we call it, from 2005 is Lance Mungia's follow-up to no-budget cult classic SIX-STRING SAMURAI.  Other than what amounts to a cameo by Hopper, the film features Edward Furlong, David Boreanz, Danny Trejo and podcast legend, Tara Reid. If those actors give you pause about getting within 4,000 feet of this toxic turd, you are correct! This film on the roster almost broke the podcast. If the worst movies make for the best content on our pod, then this may be the greatest segment we have ever recorded.

LAND OF THE DEAD, also from 2005 but filmed a few years after CR4W but released a few weeks afterwards, is George Romero's return to the cinematic world of zombies. Class struggles are sadly evergreen in modern society and, sadly, nothing seems to change after the zombie apocalypse. Hopper plays a man Large and in Charge of Fiddler's Green, a Pittsburgh, PA closed-society surrounded by zombies. Romero's patented satire is in full force in what amounts to a minor zombie film in his filmography.  How does it hold up 17 years later?

THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.

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