Friday, December 28, 2018

2018 WUHrap Up



It's a last minute pseudo-year-end wrap up. Keeping things confusing by offering this up before the season finale episode 'cuz that's how I roll. Plus, it's stuff I was going to include in that EP anyway, but thought it better to pull it out to knock down the run time and get this stuff out there before year's end.

Included herein are thank yous, podcast suggestions, ratings & reviews*, Patreon possibilities (and other $$$ talk), those damn stickers, the goal of WUH, a quick episode recap, and a preview of the season finale. Kind of. 😉

Below are the websites of the podcasts mentioned in the episode. All are also available thru iTunes and other platforms.


*If you've left a review you'll get a shout out from moi. And if that ain't incentive enough to leave a review in the future then you're dead inside. Thanks to yinz who've left one, to anyone who's given a rating, and to every single person and bot who has pricked up their ears to listen to me gab about weird movies. You rock!

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

S1E5. FE2-0880: Black Christmas (1974)


It's that time of year! You know the time, when we watch Bob Clark's Holiday Classic for 24 hours. No, not THAT Holiday Classic, THIS classic! That's right, Clark's Black Christmas, the proto-slasher that, according to many, inspired John Carpenter's Halloween, and laid the bloody groundwork for one of the most popular horror sub-genres. I explore the similarities and differences between the two films, and offer up some potentially controversial theories

This is overall a shorter episode, with some talk toward the end about listeners, corrections, and other fun stuff. Next month will bring the season finale on Eraserhead, with WUH's first real, live guest, which should make it the longest episode to date. 

LANGUAGE WARNING: Please note, the obscene phone calls from the film are exactly that. Only one of the clips contains this language, and it plays between 15:17-15:40


[EPISODE CORRECTION: The murder that the urban legend of The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs is supposedly based on actually took place in 1950 in Missouri.]

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

WUH Hot Take: Mandy



Hot take on a current movie I really dug, cuz why not? Trying to dig up the article about watching movies alone I mentioned in the episode, will post when/if I find it. CHEDDAR GOBLIN RULES!! And so do The Carpenters.


Tuesday, October 30, 2018

S1E4. Welcome to Potter's Bluff: Dead & Buried (1981)


If I ever start a band (which, to be honest, will never happen) I already have a name for it: The Regular Rentals. Back in the '80s my sister and I would watch the same movies again and again and rarely tire of them. If we liked something we really liked something. One of the movies that made it into heavy rotation was Dead & Buried, which remains a favorite of mine to this day. Atmospheric yet violent, confusing as all get-out, with an amazing cast including Grandpa Joe, Dale Arden, a future Horror Icon, and possibly more people that have appeared on Murder, She Wrote than any other movie.* Listen and witness the moment my brain implodes with questions. Oh so many questions.


*This is most likely not true.--MB

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

S1E3. A joke on the children: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)


October is always a special time for Horror Enthusiasts and it is no different for this guy. I watch horror movies all year long, but once October hits the juices really start flowing. Something about the change in weather--the shorter, colder, drearier days--makes warming up to a good spooky flick all the more enjoyable. I had planned to talk about Dead & Buried for October, but left it up to listeners and Halloween III won out hands down. I had fun doing this one because heck, it's a fun movie and there's a lot to talk about. Listen to find out where I rank this among the Halloween franchise, what I think about Tom Atkins as a leading man, and some thoughts on filmmaker Tommy Lee Wallace. And if you count how many times I say "clunky" or one of its derivatives you can win some stickers! Post the number on any platform for your chance to win. Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to Wake Up Heavy! (I made an error when I called Jamie Lloyd Laurie Strode's niece, she's her daughter, and therefore Michael Myers' niece.--MB)

Friday, September 14, 2018

S1E2. You're so pretty: Tourist Trap (1979)


It's time for a new, full episode of Wake Up Heavy. This time I tackle David Schmoeller's classic freakfest Tourist Trap. Starring pre-The Beastmaster Tanya Roberts and post-The Rifleman Chuck Connors. Do mannequins creep you out? Then you're in for a bumpy ride with this one!

Pseudo-slasher? A wax museum? Telekinesis? Nominal aphasia? An episode in under an hour? What exactly is going on here? One thing I know for sure, there is no nude scene in this movie.

Monday, September 3, 2018

MIniSode #2: Favorite Modern Horror


In which Mark, your Horror Host, rattles off another list of movies that are good and that you should watch. If your mom will let you! This time though it's the newer stuff, and it's the shortest episode yet. 😀

There's also some techie talk, pleas for donations, suggestions, ratings, and comments, and a coughing attack. What more could you ask for in a Horror Movie Podcast?! Nothing, that's what!

Also: A story about a comic book I read over 35 years ago. And coming soon, another full episode by the middle of September on Tourist Trap. Holy poop, the year is three-fourths over already!

Stickers are here! Hit the link to get yours now and help fund WUH.

(Garage Cast™ by Mark Begley)

Something Different: The Pull of Nostalgia, Ghosts (1976)

If you have come looking for the entry on my search for an old comic book, I have moved it to its own page. You can read it here: Something Different: The Pull of Nostalgia, Ghosts (1976).



Thursday, August 23, 2018

MiniSode #1: Favorite Horror Sub-Genres

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I like lists! In this mini-sode I list my favorite horror sub-genres, and I list examples of each. It's List-o-mania! I mention the book House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films by Kier-La Janisse. The description from Amazon relates to my self-created sub-genre, "Hysterical Women."
Cinema is full of neurotic personalities, but few things are more transfixing than a woman losing her mind onscreen. Horror as a genre provides the most welcoming platform for these histrionics: crippling paranoia, desperate loneliness, masochistic death-wishes, dangerous obsessiveness, apocalyptic hysteria. Unlike her male counterpart - 'the eccentric' - the female neurotic lives a shamed existence, making these films those rare places where her destructive emotions get to play...
I think I should read this book! And credit where credit is due, thanks to the Faculty of Horror for mentioning the book in one of their early episodes.

A couple other movies that were left out that I would like to mention here are Alice, Sweet Alice for the, "Killer Kids," sub-genre, and The Nesting for, "Hysterical Women." I'm sure I will have to do another list at some point to catch all the ones I will think of later!

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

S1E1. Warning shots are bullshit: Phantasm (1979)


Welcome to the first official episode of Wake Up Heavy! This is Mark, your Horror Host, with one of my all-time favorite movies, Don Coscarelli's Phantasm. Give a listen and find out what it is that makes this gem from 1979 so darn special and why it has stuck with me for over 35 years!

Happy listening! --Mark

(Please see the About Spoilers page for general spoiler info.)

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Do horror movies still scare you??



Hello and welcome to Wake Up Heavy: Recollections of Horror. My name is Mark and I will be your Horror Host! Please join me as I muse about treasured memories of watching strangely curious horror films from my past that I still love to this day.

In this introductory episode my daughter helps me tackle some questions about the podcast and offer some insight into why horror movies intrigued me when I was young and why I still love them now.

Please scroll down for important links mentioned in the podcast. Thanks! --Mark

And enjoy this creepfest, one of the scariest things a 9-year-old could possibly see!