The Deadly Spawn (1983) & Metamorphosis: The Alien Factor (1990)

A cult fan favorite of the 1980s low-budget monster boom, The Deadly Spawn is best remembered for one of the era's most distinctive creature designs. Its semi-sequel, Metamorphosis: The Alien Factor, is a scrappy and underrated follow-up that's still a lot of fun, and long overdue for a proper Blu-ray upgrade. Behind both films is Ted A. Bohus, a true multi-man of independent genre cinema.

Beyond producing and directing, Bohus has also been a vital chronicler of film history and technique through his magazines SPFX and Candid Monsters, publications that routinely reveal how much there still is to discover about movies we think we already know. In this episode, he sits down with us to talk about The Deadly Spawn, Metamorphosis, and the realities of working in the low-budget, independent filmmaking world, sharing more than a few hard-earned lessons for aspiring filmmakers along the way.

We also dive into his work as a publisher, including the deep-research, damn-near-a-book issues of Candid Monsters, which take exhaustive looks at some of our favorite classic films. So sit back and enjoy a conversation packed with great stories, sharp insights, and a genuine love for the messy, fascinating world of making movies and magazines.

Films mentioned in this episode:

Angry Red Planet (1959), The Alien Factor (1978), The Alligator People (1959), Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025), Black Scorpion (1957), The Blob (1958), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), The Deadly Spawn (1983), Destination Fame (2012), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Fiend (1980), Forbidden Planet (1956), Freaks (1932), Friday the 13th (1980), Gog (1954), Gorgo (1961), Hell on Earth (2010), Hideous Sun Demon (1958), The House of Haunted Hill (1959), The Invisible Boy (1957), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), King Kong (1933), Kronos (1957), The Maze (1953), Metamorphosis (1990), Metamorphosis: The Alien Factor (1990), Mighty Joe Young (1949), The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959), Nightbeast (1982), Primate (2025), Regenerated Man (1994), Son of Kong (1933), Star Wars (1977), Them (1954), The Tingler (1959), Tobor the Great (1954), Vampire Vixens from Venus (1995)

Another year in the books, which means it is time for our annual Wrap Up, where we not only go through our personal favorites of the year, but also some other standout films, as well as some others that came out in the last 12 months. For the second year in a row, it is astounding at some of the high quality pictures that have been getting released. From ones going straight to streaming services, to other wide release pictures, there have been plenty of fantastic titles out there. It really is a great time to be a horror fan.

It's a long episode, so make sure you have a pad and pen, because we cover a LOT here!

Titles mentioned in this episode.

28 Years Later (2025), 5150 Elm's Way (2009), Alien: Earth (2025), Alien: Covenant (2017), Alien: Romulus (2024), American Werewolf in Paris (1997), Barbarian (2022), Born of Fire (1987), The Bride of Hades (1968), Bring Her Back (2025), Buffalo '66 (1998), Clown in a Cornfield (2025), Companion (2025), The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025), Dangerous Animals (2025), The Dark Half (1993), A Dark Song (2016), Dead Ringers (1988), Dracula 3D (2012), Frankenstein (1931), Frankenstein (1994), Frankenstein (2025), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), Good Boy (2025), The Gorge (2025), Green Inferno (2013), Halloween (2018), Heart Eyes (2025), Hell of a Summer (2023), I See You (2019), It Feeds (2025), The Long Walk (2025), Malignant (2021), Maniac (1980), Marshmallow (2025), The Monkey (2025), Monster Island (2024), The Monster of London City (1964), One Cut of the Dead (2017), Prometheus (2012), [REC] (2007), Rosario (2025), The Rule of Jenny Pen (2024), Running Man (2025), Saloum (2021), Shadow of God (2025), Silent Night Deadly Night (2025), Sinners (2025), Snowbeast (1977), Society (1989), Strange Harvest (2024), Talk to Me (2022), Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Together (2025), Trouble Every Day (2001), The Ugly Stepsister (2025), V/H/S/ Halloween (2025), Vicious (2025), The Wailing (2016), Weapons (2025), When Evil Lurks (2023), Wolf Man (2025)

Every now and again, the horror genre produces a film that becomes a bona fide classic. In 1980, director William Lustig and co-writer and star Joe Spinell teamed up to make what may be the defining film of the 42nd Street grindhouse era: Maniac.

The film has it all, a serial-killing protagonist who scalps women while sobbing about his mother, buckets of gore from an early-career Tom Savini, and all the usual suspects of late-'70s Times Square: hookers, drugs, and utter despair.

A remake, directed by Franck Khalfoun, written by Alexandre Aja, and starring Elijah Wood, arrived in 2012. This time, the action shifts to Los Angeles and leans more heavily into the mannequins that served as surrogate girlfriends in the original. Does it rise to the occasion and meet its predecessor on its own terms? We dig into that question, and much more, on this Twice Told Tales edition of the show.

Films mentioned in this episode:

The Avengers (2012), Basket Case (1982), Cannibal Holocaust (1980), Dawn of the Dead (2004), The Fly (1986), Friday the 13th (1980), The Godfather (1972), Halloween (1978), High Tension (2003), Inferno (1980), Jaws (1975), Last Horror Film (1982), Last House on the Left (1972), Maniac (1980), Maniac (2012), Pieces (1982), Taxi Driver (1976), Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), The Thing (1982), The Warriors (1979)

Count Dracula's Great Love (1973), Horror Rises from the Tomb (1973), Panic Beats (1983)

We're finally back to discuss the wonderful cinematic world of Paul Naschy! Back in episode 21, we covered three different entries in Naschy's werewolf films. So this time out, we are covering three of his NON-werewolf titles. It's important to remind fans that while he was known for his Waldemar Daninsky werewolf films, he made plenty of other films, incorporating a bunch of different kind of monsters. And if you are familiar with more of his work, then what better time to revisit some of them, right?

Making over a hundred titles in his career spanning decades, Paul Naschy loved the horror genre and made the kind of films he wanted to, giving fans a wide variety of well-known beasties, as well as ones we'd never seen before. While some might say they vary in quality, Naschy's passion never did, and he always put his heart and soul into each one of them.

Films mentioned in this episode:

Beast and the Magic Sword (1983), Count Dracula (1970), Count Dracula's Great Love (1973), Count Yorga (1970), Curse of the Devil (1973), Dracula (1974), Dr. Jekyll vs the Werewolf (1972), Frankenstein's Bloody Terror (1968), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), The Frenchman's Garden (1978), The Hanging Woman (1973), Horror Rises from the Tomb (1973), Howl of the Devil (1988), Hunchback of the Morgue (1973), The Mummy's Revenge (1975), The Night of the Executioner (1999), Night of the Werewolf (1981), Nightmare Castle (1965), Panic Beats (1983), People Who Own the Dark (1976), Santo vs Doctor Death (1973), She Killed in Ecstasy (1971), Snowbeast (1977), Vampyros Lesbos (1971), Vengeance of the Zombies (1973), The Wolf Man (1941)

Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), Terrorvision (1986), and Uninvited (1988).

That's right, folks! It's Turkey Time again, and we are celebrating our 5th episode dedicated to those wonderous missteps in cinematic history. They aimed for the stars, but dropped like frozen turkey chucked off a building! But as we always say, the only bad movie is a boring one. And these films are definitely not boring. Because once the credits roll, if you've been entertained, then how could it be considered bad???

So sit back and enjoy this episode, where we discuss giant telepathic crabs, a ravenous space creature beamed in through a brand-new state-of-the-art satellite dish, and, finally, a story about an experiment gone horribly wrong that leaves a mutant creature living inside a cat that just happens to end up on a luxury yacht with some criminals and college kids. How could that not spell fun?

Films mentioned in this episode:

A*P*E* (1976), Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), Better Off Dead (1985), Blood Freak (1972), CarousHELL (2016), Creatures from the Abyss aka Plankton (1984), Creepshow 2 (1987), Death Ship (1980), Dracula vs Frankenstein (1971), Dr. Caligari (1989), Dungeonmaster (1984), Feast (2005), Friday the 13th: The New Blood (1988), Fright Night (1985), Fright Night II (1988), From a Whisper to a Scream (1987), From Beyond (1986), The Giant Claw (1957), Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964), Inhumanwich! (2016), Just Before Dawn (1981), Kingdom of the Spiders (1977), Lady Frankenstein (1971), Little Shop of Horrors (1960), The Man with Two Brains (1983), Naked Gun (1988), Napoleon Dynamite (2004), Phantom of the Paradise (1974), Pit Stop (1969), Real Genius (1985), Re-Animator (1985), The Return (1980), Return of the Living Dead (1985), Robot Monster (1953), Running Scared (1986), Satan's Cheerleaders (1977), Satan's Sadists (1969), Sharknado (2013), Terrorvision (1986), Things (1989), The Undead (1957), Uninvited (1988), Videodrome (1983), Without Warning (1980)

Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974)

Continuing our quest to get through the rest of Hammer's Frankenstein films which starred Peter Cushing, we cover the last three titles that Hammer made. Cushing loved to play this character, and he's done it like no one ever had, or ever has. Along with the screenwriters, Cushing made this character his own, and really made him the real monster in this series.

While these films might be well covered by others, sometimes we forget just how good some of these are, as well as what we might be missing the first time or two that we watched it. And as we've mentioned many times before, watching them in sequence in a relatively short time, more things can come to light.

Films mention in this episode:

Brides of Dracula (1960), The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Curse of the Werewolf (1961), The Evil of Frankenstein (1964), The Exorcist (1973), Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974), Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), Horror of Dracula (1958), Horror of Frankenstein (1970), Kiss of the Vampire (1966), The Mummy (1959), Night of the Living Dead (1968), Peeping Tom (1960), Psycho (1960), Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), Rosemary's Baby (1968)

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), and The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)

What can you say about the Hammer Frankenstein films that hasn't been said before?

Well, a lot, actually!

In 1957, a relatively small, mostly unknown studio made a film that would forever change horror and kick off a cycle of sensual, bloody, and atmospheric fright flicks that would dominate the genre for around twenty years. To say that The Curse of Frankenstein is a classic is almost like saying that water is wet, but it is also a film that lives up to it's reputation. It and its sequels are films that not only deserve regular revisits, they also belong in more modern conversations about horror. While nearly all the films shard crewmembers and all but one were directed by Terence Fisher, one constant defined the series: Peter Cushing's mesmerizing take on Victor Frankenstein, equal parts gentleman and ghoul.

On this episode we look at the first three films in the Cushing Frankenstein cycle, and in a very real way, make a pilgrimage to one of horror's holy places. We love these films and we hope that either you do too, or that you will by the time you are done listening.

Films mentioned in this episode:

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Corruption (1968), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), The Devil-Ship Pirates 1964), Dracula vs Frankenstein (1971), The Evil of Frankenstein (1964), Frankenstein (1931), Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), Maniac (1963), Nightmare (1964), Paranoiac (1963), The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), Re-Animator (1985), The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)

No matter what kind of horror fan you are, there's a good chance that you love the monsters. Whether it's from the Universal Classics, Hammer's colorful reinterpretations, the amazing creatures from Ray Harryhausen, to the no-classic aliens in Star Wars, monsters are a backbone of cinema, and arguably, are the backbone of horror. It's one of the things that we horror fans rally around, and love to discuss: from our favorites, to how some are designed, how they move, and everything in between.

Oscar winning special makeup effects artist Howard Berger and author Marshall Julius have a new book out entitled Making Monsters: Inside Stories from the Creators of Hollywood's Most Iconic Creatures, so we asked them to be on our show to talk all about monsters, and those special memories that we all have from the films we love.

Films mentioned in this episode:

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), The Abyss (1989), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), The Fly (1986), Frankenstein (1931), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), Gremlins (1984), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), Jurassic Park (1993), King Kong (1933), King Kong (1976), Night of the Living Dead (1968), Nosferatu (1922), Phantom of the Opera (1925), Planet of the Apes (1968), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Say Anything (1989), Star Wars (1977), The Thing (1982), The Valley of the Gwangi (1969)