Grumpy Nostalgia: Second Look Cinema

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The time has come to chuck the pumpkins into the neighbor's yard and get ready for Thanksgiving. A time for family, reflection, and awkward conversations. That's where we come in. We've decided after months of discussing horror and box office bombs, we would finish the year by talking about a better type of turkey. It all starts this week by revisiting the only true Thanksgiving film we could find, John Hughes' Plains Trains & Automobiles. Our two leads are at the top of their games as they trudge their way across the American Midwest to get home for the holidays. A journey riddled with its own versions cyclops, sirens, and other regional terrors.

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We mercifully put Halloween back in the grave with this special episode where we leave the theater and pretend to be social historians. More accurately, we hash up some pretty entertaining, albeit cringy childhood trauma of our trick or treating era back in the 70s. Reflective safety tape? Get out of here! Razor blades in your candy? Bring it!

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The Halloween overkill continues as the gang revisit this film from over 40 (wait, what?) years ago. Groovy ghouls, slime, and a very sultry Sigourney are just a few of the iconic highlights from a beloved movie that deserves all of its generational love. Our wonderful friend, and Ghostbusters superfan @aron_gagliardo jumps in the Ecto1 for this episode as well. So what are you waiting for? Judgment Day?

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Our sprint to the Halloween finish line will be fast and furious. Three episodes and a guest spot on @lisaslounge1 this week will guarantee even our biggest fans will be barfing from overexposure. First off, we revisit one of our favorite movies about bio-exorcism. Young Winona broke all of our hearts as the primordial goth girl and Keaton's amped up jerky performance essentially was the blueprint for your host's personalities.

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One of the greatest movies ever filmed, but only of you get it. Easily the worst if you don't. But we don't want to hang out with those people anyway. In this odd continuation of the Evil Dead series, charismatic Ash is transported back to the 1300's to fight the nasty Deadites, gnarly pit witch hags, and Mr. Pitt's glued on beard. The gruesome action violence is so fast and comical you barely realize what's happening in time for the movie to be over. A formula most horror films would be wise to remember. Hail to the king, Baby.

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The cool thing about 80s horror was...well, everything. However some of these films made their mark in other ways. This one included super cool pre-goth teen vampires wearing full length leather dusters on the beach. Throw in an extremely oily saxophone player and a couple of Coreys and you got yourself and very iconic, yet ultimately cringey, horror classic. Your hosts aren't entirely sure if they were scared by the content, or merely the calendar on this one. WARNING: This episode features one of the most controversial takes on a beloved film in the podcast's history. That is to say, one of the hosts was shocked and depressed by his reaction to the rewatch of this movie. We ask for your thoughts and prayers towards his recovery.

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After a summer full of poopy movies, we decided to do the natural thing and explore the origins of cinematic feces and what better place to start than with Edward D. Wood's masterclass of manure, Plan 9 From Outer Space. But we slowly realize that this is easily more fun to watch than any 2026 summer blockbuster. Super bitchy male aliens, catatonic zombies, and a Swedish pro wrestler Tor Johnson all add to the fun. Not to mention a morphine-riddled Bela Lugosi who steals the show. Especially impressive, given the fact that he was dead. Don't try to understand, just listen.

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With the depressing release of Netflix's Wonka-themed reality show member berry this week, we decided to perform a public service by releasing one of our favorite episodes ever. Listen to this instead of supporting this streaming service AI-generated abomination. Your Snozzberries will thank you.

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We're finally taking our audience's advice and going to Hell. Turns out it's not as nice as advertised. This movie is one we're betting most of you forgot about. Congrats for that. A horribly miscast Arnold heaves his way through this trope-heavy plot but somehow manages to beat the devil's face in a few times before saving the world. A hundred million dollar film featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger fighting the devil to save the world never quite lives up to its potential but neither did we so its all works out.

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This movie is why your parents were laughing so hard in the other room. Easily one of your hosts favorite comedies of all time. This special revisit was a no-brainer (see what we did there?). Nonstop jokes, ridiculous sight gags, and Wilder's performance all remind us that there was a time in American cinema where you could dare to cross a few lines to make people laugh. And we did. A lot. Take a shot every time there's a quotable line in this movie and you might end up telling your family what you really think of them.

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After a brutal summer full of bombs, the gang gleefully review a great 90s thriller that exemplifies why our generation's movies were so much better. This neo film noir classic introduced an original script, laden with mystery and varied interpretations that would make a modern audience over-google themselves. With unique characters, brutal violence, and a story that makes you work a little, these types of movies cant exist anymore and we're proud as hell to put this one on a pedestal this week. In a pretentious and smug manner, we also wrap up this one with a list of movies with the most questions about their endings as determined by Google. The results are both hilarious and horrific.

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GenX boys were strange little creatures (still are by all accounts). Back when you couldn't use the internet to fight your battles, some of us actually had to take matters into our own hands. We personally were not these people, but Ed and Brad certainly were. Criminally misunderstood in it's original run in theaters, this prophetic movie warned us where the world was heading and boy was it spot on. Your hosts live vicariously through these iconic characters once again as they pine for the days when they could take their shirts off and throw down if needed. (Spoiler: They never needed).

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Headbangers Hamlet! Things go crazy this week as Mike's absence throws the Grumpy Nostalgia studios into disarray. But every crisis is also an opportunity. Therefore, the show's resident music expert @aron_gagliardo is called in to cover a movie we know Mike wouldn't touch even with a ten foot Gene Simmons tongue. The ABC Network gave the band KISS two hours of primetime TV in 1978 and the results are as surreal as you think they are. Easily the greatest and worst TV Movie ever made all at the same time.

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Drop by the Double Deuce to see an amazing tale that somehow manages to be wonderful and vile all at the same time. We could not get enough of this one the first time through and neither could our audience so we gladly put this stinky treasure back on the airwaves to help beat the summer heat. Never have ripped out throat scenes been more enjoyable. Oh, and Kelly Lynch! Hell yeah, y'all.

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We wrap up our brutal "Bombs Away" summer series with some real teeth. We travel back to 1983 to revisit the gimmicky, yet somehow still boring, Jaws 3D. Besides the multitude of tiny shorts, trucker hats, and mustaches, there's all the 3D content the producers added in a desperate attempt to get us back in the theater to see another movie about an angry fish. A coked-out Dennis Quaid and the guy from the TV show Manimal lead the charge so you know its good.

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We swear we will cover a good movie eventually, but this week do not. But that doesn't mean for even a second that we didn't completely love revisiting this intergalactic pile of Psychlo Poo. Did we mention its bad? (Grumpy Nostalgia - always first with breaking news)

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Pirate songs and horrible puns litter this podcast as the boys get their peg legs stuck knee high into this infamous pile of poo. When a movie loses $187 million dollars, there's more going on than just a bad script and thankfully we found a lot of it. So hop aboard land lubbers, time to get seasick!

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Before Yellowstone made the gangster western cool, our cowboys from the 90s were shootin', drinkin' and acting all over the place. We go back a few years to revisit one of our favorite episodes that never fully got the attention we truly feel it deserved. Stick around to the end where the boys talk about their favorite cowboys of all time. Its a rootin tootin rodeo of crap.

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If you love duck puns, bad special effects, and crimping irons we have the film for you. It's been 40 years since this turkey (not duck) graced our movie screens courtesy of George Lucas no less. We guess someone told him those annoying Star Wars movies were played out and to focus on an intergalactic duck instead. Well played. This gem kicks off our special summer series called Bombs Away! We my never truly recover. Quack.

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Flash and the gang face off against the glorious villain Ming the Merciless (who could easily take Thanos's lunch money). There's ridiculous special effects, very short Hawk-Men shorts, and a Queen soundtrack that will crush your face. We promise this will be the best 52 min, 28 sec of your day.