Gabe Powers

The turn of the century was an unprecedented moment for Japanese horror. Once restricted to its home country and a sprinkling of European and North American arthouses, post-Ringu ghost stories were now seeing international success in theaters and especially on home video. This period, generally remembered as the J-horror era, inspired distributors to pick up similar films from Korea, eventually leading to a glut of mostly subpar Hollywood J-horror/K-horror...

The Polonia Brothers are perhaps the ultimate ‘if you know, you know’ figures in the annals of cult film fandom. Twins Mark & John rose to indie horror prominence as teenagers when their inscrutably strange, shot-on-video slasher Splatter Farm somehow got a nationwide VHS release in 1987. Their biggest hit was Feeders (1996), an alien invasion movie that was miraculously carried by Blockbuster Video. The rental giant was desperate to put anything vaguely resembling Roland Emmerich’s summer hit..

TWIN WARRIORS, MUSCLEBOUND BARBARIANS, UNDEAD HORDES, EVIL KINGS, ENSLAVED PEASANTS, MYSTICAL WARFARE, BLOODTHIRSTY GODS & PLAYBOY PLAYMATES…ALL ON A BUDGET!! In the wake of John Milius’ Conan the Barbarian (1982)   and the dawn of home video’s dominance in genre filmmaking spaces, independent studios kicked off a short-lived, but prolific series of B-to-Z grade sword & sorcery, fantasy, and barbarian movies. Join Gabe and returning guest Luana Saitta as we look at three films from the usual...