Giant glowing orbs are doing body swaps in this cerebral and intriguing episode of Star Trek. Val McKenna rejoins us to talk all about that.By JG McQuarrie and Kev Koeser

Star Trek does a big Vietnam war allegory, only it's muddled by a scheming matriarch, brainwashing plants, and an alien gorilla. Joe DeAngelis returns to talk A Private Little War!By JG McQuarrie and Kev Koeser

Rowan gets a well deserved Cronenbergsmas rest as the helpful spirits of Carli, Kev, and special guest Noel Kirkpatrick discuss Scanners... sort of. We talk about how Scanners is the Cronenberg of past, present, and Cronenbergs yet to come, which actors make the best Scanners face, that one scene (you know the one), plus cool jackets. There’s also …

First time guest and actual scientist Liz Lotsof brings her expertise to help study a giant energy draining space amoeba as we discuss "The Immunity Syndrome"! Listen to us chat about how this is a great episode for everyone, but especially Spock, and how fun it is to see the entire cast act very tired.…

Merry Cronenbergsmas! We're buzzing to bring your our next episode on Cronenberg's classic, THE FLY, a delightfully weird little film about everything that can go wrong when journalists hook up with their sources. Rowan, Carli, and Kev are joined by special guest Carl Garcia to talk about body horror, pacing, Jeff Goldblum's bizarrely perfect deliv…

Television: good, or bad? This and all other questions surrounding the medium of television will be answered by VIDEODROME and the ensuing TOTAL MASSACRE podcast about VIDEODROME, starring Rowan Kaiser, Carli Velocci, Kev Koeser, and special guest Julie Muncy. These questions include: how far would you go for Debbie Harry? James Woods: sleazy or cr…

In this episode of Talking Trek, we discuss Kirk going native as the Enterprise crew encounters a planet imitating 1920s Chicago in "A Piece of the Action". A lot of silliness and commitment to the bit ensues, as we have Chris Dole (Arden, My Big Score) back on the pod to get a piece of THIS action.By JG McQuarrie and Kev Koeser

CRIME LESBIAN Month concludes with BOUND, The Wachowskis before-its-time erotic thriller from 1996. It's a well-loved movie for Rowan, Kev, special guest Alex Welch, and...wait, Carli doesn't like it? Well that just got spicy. Actually we're all very respectful and have a frank exchange of opinions about the Wachowskis' eggness, Gina Gershon and Je…

Critical support to women's wrongs, as Crime Lesbian Month continues with 2024's LOVE LIES BLEEDING. It's a nasty little thriller which shows how far Kristen Stewart has come as a weirdo since her TWILIGHT days, and Rowan, Kev, and Carli with special guest Stella Sacco are entirely on board for it. We talk about how it's a horny movie but not a sex…

What if "Arena" was even more horny? This is the bold question "The Gamesters of Triskelion" asks, with its pop art visuals, constant barrage of stuff happening, and questionable script. David Bednar joins us in discussing an episode that has some of the best and worst Star Trek has to offer all in one package.…

CRIME LESBIAN CRIME LESBIAN CRIME LESBIAN IT'S CRIME LESBIAN MONTH for Rowan's birthday, and we're kicking it off with Park Chan-Wook's lesbian thriller, THE HANDMAIDEN. Did it preface a decade of pop culture lesbians in the way OLDBOY did revenge action scenes in hallways? Is it one of Park's very best, or very worst, or both? How hot is that amat…

Alasdair Wilkins is back on the Klingon beat, as they join Kev and Carl in discussing the seminal episode "The Trouble with Tribbles". Join us as we talk about one of the best comedy episodes the show has done, all the great character moments, and more!By JG McQuarrie and Kev Koeser

October's cosmic horror month concludes with the reason for the season: ANNIHILATION (2018), a film all three hosts and special guest from RogerEbert.com and New York Magazine Matt Zoller Seitz all excited to get into it. We talk about what makes for a pure science fiction experience, differences between the book and the film, ANNIHILATION as the a…

This week, Montgomery Scott is accused of murder, but the real killer is the voice of Piglet is possessed by the spirit of Jack the Ripper. Naturally the only solution is for everyone to get REALLY high. Abbie Phelps and Natalie Marin return to discuss the chaotic, unfortunately sexist, yet also undeniably fun "Wolf in the Fold"!…

TOTAL MASSACRE goes back to Lovecraft as we discuss COLOR OUT OF SPACE. Listen to us discuss how much substance is really beneath the surface of this movie, how this modern take diverges from the very 80s FROM BEYOND, and of course a lot of Nic Cage talk.By TOTAL MASSACRE

Talking Trek is back! While JG had to step away from the pod (we wish him well!) we have a new co-host in previous guest Carl Garcia. This episode, Matt Fink joins us for his outside of Trek perspective on "Obsession". Listen to us talk about introducing people to Trek, a vampiric energy cloud, a great showing from Nurse Chapel, and once again Shat…

Cosmic horror month invades from another dimension, as TOTAL MASSACRE checks out Patreon suggestion FROM BEYOND, a 1986 adaptation of a Lovecraft short story with some of the gnarliest practical effects you've ever seen. Rowan, Kev, and Carli gather to investigate a scary old mansion filled with discussion of what cosmic horror means to us, why it'…

Zombie month concludes with a modern masterpiece of the genre, 2016's TRAIN TO BUSAN. It's a fast-paced, fast-zombie film that went viral in the streaming age, and Rowan, Carli, and special guest Bryant Francis are here to talk about why it totally deserved its acclaim. Uh, also, Kev is here and they didn't like it, so, surprise conflict amongst ou…

Zombie month continues with RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, a nihilist zombie horror-comedy that's both as authentically punk and fake Hollywood punk as you can get. Either way, the energy is good, the special effects are good, the characters are good, and Rowan, Kev, and guest Zack Handlen are all here having a great time.…

It's zombie month over on TOTAL MASSACRE, as Rowan, Carli, and Kev all check out a classic we've never actually seen before, DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978). We invite horror fan Jack McDonald along, and talk about tremendous editing, the rarity of seeing the collapse from the side of the people in authority, capitalism, how cool Ken Foree is, the implicit…

TOTAL MASSACRE's Alien month concludes with the black sheep of the franchise that's the black sheep of franchises. ALIEN: RESURRECTION is widely considered the worst of the series or at least the original run, but what this podcast presupposes is: what if it's actually some weird, icky, goofy fun? Kev, Carli, and Rowan are all in agreement, as is s…

Alien month continues with yet another controversial, wildly visionary, endlessly compromised thriller with tremendous production design -- the first of that batch, David Fincher's ALIEN 3. It's a grim movie but a fun show, as Rowan, Kev, Carli, and new guest El Loughney discuss the massively different cuts, doomed production, how this all relates …

It's Alien month here, and we're having a nice calm episode of TOTAL MASSACRE as we do a leisurely scientific expedition of 2012's PROMETHEUS, where nobody has strong opinions, nobody has an agenda, and definitely nobody dies horribly from excessive arrogance, and DEFINITELY nobody has to have a horrific alien abortion that also removes all subtext…

July is Will Smith month for TOTAL MASSACRE, so of course we have to start with INDEPENDENCE DAY, a film that was completely ubiquitous in 1996 and has kind of shockingly faded from public view given that it was THAT big and also it's pretty damn good? Cities are supposed to blow up, and they blow up. Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, and Will Smith are…

This episode is funny because we spend the first 3/4s of it talking about an incredibly interesting, strange, 70s film starring David Bowie at one of the peaks of his David Bowie-ness, and then also we mention that the movie kinda sucks. It's THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, with Rowan, Kev, Carli, and returning guest Jack McDonald! Assassination crash h…

It's 70s sci-fi month here at TOTAL MASSACRE, as we open with INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, a delightful science fiction take on the paranoid thrillers of the era. How fine is Donald Sutherland's moustache? Is San Francisco an incredibly accurate setting for this film? How are the themes so solid and so amorphous? And ain't it cool with the bodie…

Our formative movie May ends with SPEED RACER, the Wachowskis' then-panned, now cult classic of color and sound and explosion and anti-corporatism. It's Kev's pick for a movie that made them love movies, and they're joined by fellow superfan Grace Robertson, Carli, and Rowan watching it for the very first time, to talk about why it's stuck around, …

Our origin story month continues with BRAZIL, Terry Gilliam's masterpiece of dystopia, satire, fascism, and air ducts that helped inspire Carli and somehow Kev hadn't seen?!? We talk about terrorism, masculinity, production, fantastic British actors, Terry Gilliam's mixed reputation, and so much more.…

TOTAL MASSACRE returns after a quick break with MOON, the Duncan Jones film Rowan selected as the movie important to how and why she's on this podcast. We've got all kinds of Sam Rockwell content as well as Rowan explaining the three main forms of Hollywood science fiction, and how Moon changed her perception of what seemed to be possible. Plus spe…