Published by Zach Wincik, Danny Salemme, Casey Brewer
Film Reviews
TV & Film
Film History
How I Met Your Monster is the horror-comedy podcast that explores the introductions of your favorite movie monsters! Join Zach, Danny, and Casey as they break down how iconic monsters — from Freddy and Jason to Leatherface and Chucky — made their terrifying first impressions on screen. In each episode, we dive into the art of the perfect horror debut that turned these horror movie monsters into cinematic legends. Whether you’re a hardcore horror buff or just here for the fun, How I Met Your Monster delivers a perfect mix of spooky nostalgia and comedic commentary on the monsters you know and love. Subscribe now and never miss an episode. Now, let’s go meet some monsters!
THE FRIGHTENERS is 30 years old this year, and to celebrate we're re-releasing over coverage of the Peter Jackson horror comedy from Episode 142! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
We wrap up our TOO HOT TO ROT triple feature with Peter Jackson's gooey gonzo gorefest. Moms are nitpicking, priests are ass-kicking, and one love-struck mama's boy just brought a lawnmower to a zombie fight as we visit the Wellington Zoo to meet its newest addition: a deadly Rat Zombie and its pustulating zombie horde in DEAD ALIVE. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
We continue our "Too Hot to Rot" triple feature with Robert Eggers' 2024 Nosferatu, joined by returning guest Chris Cooney of Dead Noise Media. We dig into Bill Skarsgård's Count Orlok (the voice training, the prosthetics, the hat debate) and compare this version to the 1922 original and Bram Stoker's Dracula. In this episode: Why this Nosferatu shares so much DNA with Bram Stoker's Dracula, the 1922 original, and Shadow of the Vampire Robert Eggers' practical-effects obsession: 2,000 real trained rats, real wolves, and potato-flakes for snow Bill Skarsgård's transformation into Count Orlok: an opera coach, a lowered vocal register, and 4-6 hours in prosthetics designed by David White The mustache and hat debate: why Orlok looks so different from past versions The Lost Boys on Broadway Make sure to follow Dead Noise Media on Instagram and YouTube Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
Episode 158: Return of the Living Dead 3 — We're kicking off our "Too Hot to Rot" triple feature with Brian Yuzna's gory, surprisingly romantic zombie classic. Joined by special guest Steven from The Nightmare Trials podcast, we dig into the practical effects work of Steve Johnson, the franchise's tonal shift from satire to tragic love story, and why these unkillable, conscious zombies are some of the most genuinely unsettling in the genre. Find The Nightmare Trials on Spotify and Apple Podcasts . Support The Nightmare Trials on Patreon , and follow on Instagram and TikTok ! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
We wrap up our IT'S VOODOO, BABY triple feature with Wes Craven’s voodoo-doomed descent into near-death delirium. Zombies are real, the dead still feel, and we're traveling to Haiti at the height of the regime-ending anti-Duvalier protests to meet the soul-snatching bokor Captain Peytraud in THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
In this Patreon-exclusive episode of How I Met Your Monster, where we’re switching things up by turning our attention from movie monsters, to TV terrors. In today’s episode, we’ll be meeting the monster in the Boy Meets World season 5 episode, “And Then There Was Shawn,” a love letter to the genre, with a self-referential emphasis on teen slashers. The killer's a meanie, the first suspect is Feeny, and we're getting ourselves stuck in detention with Cory, Shawn, and Topanga to meet the John Adams High slasher in… A SCARY SPECIAL EPISODE presents: “And Then There Was Shawn” Enjoy the preview of this Patreon-exclusive episode! Want to hear the whole thing? Check out our Patreon page (https://patreon.com/howimetyourmonster) and become a member for only $3/month! You'll get access to our first 50 episodes, as well as monthly bonus episodes including feature-length commentaries, new monsters, and TV episodes like this one! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
Returning guest Don Campbell joins us as we meet Charles Lee Ray in episode 156, tackling Tom Holland's 1988 classic Child's Play as the second entry in the "It's Voodoo Baby" triple feature. We break down all eight of Chucky's major reveals, from the voodoo soul transfer that opens the film to the battery scene confrontation between Karen Barclay and the Good Guy doll, to the fiery finale in the apartment. Along the way we explore Don Mancini's original "Blood Buddy" script, the Cabbage Patch doll craze that inspired the film, the raised soundstage set and practical puppet work that brought Chucky to life, and why Catherine Hicks' performance makes Child's Play as much a story about a struggling single mother as it is a slasher. The episode closes with our favorite reveals ranking, real monsters, and a round of "would you survive Chucky?" Next up: Wes Craven's The Serpent and the Rainbow closes out the triple feature. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
IT'S VOODOO, BABY kicks off with Kate Hudson and Gena Rowlands as we dig into Ian Softley's The Skeleton Key (2005), one of the most slept-on horror films of the 2000s. We break down all five monster reveals, the Hoodoo vs. Voodoo distinction, and why Kate Hudson's Caroline belongs in the conversation for smartest horror protagonist ever. Plus: the film's touchy racial subtext, it's comparison to Get Out , and the ending that had us shook. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
We wrap up our MINDF*CKS triple feature with David Lynch's surrealist sensory experience through celebrity success and self-destruction. Everybody wants to be somebody, every somebody is someone else, and the Hollywood elite are anything but sweet, as we follow our dreams to the outer limits of La-La land, to meet the mysterious Mr. Roque and his army of dreamers, schemers and doppelgangers in Mulholland Drive. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
We dive into the industrial hellscape of David Lynch's debut feature, Eraserhead (1977), for the second film in our MINDF*CKS triple feature. In this episode: How Lynch's black-and-white nightmare was made over six years on a shoestring budget at the American Film Institute Why the film hits different with three distinct life perspectives: a father, someone who wants kids, and someone who doesn't The film's core anxieties: unwanted parenthood, the suffocating weight of domestic life, and the fear of losing yourself to a role you didn't choose Lynch's well-documented philosophy of letting audiences bring their own feelings to his films rather than seeking logical interpretation How his practice of transcendental meditation fed the film's dreamlike, subconscious imagery Monster reveals covered include: The Man in the Planet The little chickens at the dinner table The iconic mutant baby Henry's mailbox sperm-worm The Lady in the Radiator Henry's head-in-the-pencil-factory The giant alien baby Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island is one of the most rewatchable psychological thrillers of the 2000s, and on this episode of How I Met Your Monster, we break down exactly why. Set in 1954 at Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, Shutter Island follows U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he investigates the disappearance of a patient from a remote island asylum and slowly loses his grip on what's real. It's a film built on clues hidden in plain sight, unreliable narration, and one of the most satisfying twist endings in modern horror and thriller cinema. We cover the film's five monster reveals, the symbolism of fire and water throughout the story, Scorsese's visual references to Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss," and the real history of trans-orbital lobotomies that gives the film's ending its gut-punch weight. We also dig into the film's place in the Scorsese/DiCaprio collaboration, how it compares to Inception (also released in 2010), and why Shutter Island deserves more awards recognition than it ever received. Other topics include the psychology of trauma and repressed memory, the history of mental health treatment in mid-century America, the true crime case of Andrea Yates, the literary legacy of Dennis Lehane ( Mystic River , Gone Baby Gone ), and how Scorsese uses classic filmmaking techniques — from Hitchcock-inspired direction to old-school rear projection — to build dread. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
The DEVILS & DICKS triple feature wraps up with Jean-Jacques Annaud’s medieval monk murder mystery. The friars are repressed, but their hairdos are blessed, and God help us, James Bond is giving Sherlock Holmes as we sin our way through a secret library labyrinth to meet a joy-hating holy man in THE NAME OF THE ROSE. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
THE BRIDE! hits theaters this week, so we wanted to enjoy the original 1935 film THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN in anticipation of the upcoming adaptation. Zach and Danny sit down to watch and yap (it's meaningful yapping, so it's ok) over James Whale's classic story of outsiders looking for acceptance in a cruel, cruel world. Enjoy this intro to our PATREON EXCLUSIVE commentary on THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and join for only $3/month at patreon.com/howimetyourmonster for the full episode! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
The DEVILS & DICKS triple feature continues with David Fincher’s rain-soaked race against a one-man judge, jury, and executioner. Sinners are being hunted, a perfect crime’s constructed, and we can’t help but ask “WHAT’S IN THE BOX?!” as we count down a septet of deadly sins to meet the serial killer, John Doe, in SE7EN. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
The Exorcist III (1990) kicks off our Devils & Dicks triple feature! We dive into William Peter Blatty's underrated horror sequel that trades demonic possession for police procedural tension - well, mostly. Lieutenant Kinderman (George C. Scott) investigates a series of brutal murders that match the M.O. of the Gemini Killer, who died in the electric chair 15 years ago. His investigation leads him to a psychiatric ward and a mysterious patient who claims to be both the Gemini Killer and Father Damien Karras. What We Cover: Director's Cut vs. Theatrical Cut: The battle between Blatty's vision and studio interference. Brad Dourif's bone-chilling performance and how he almost lost the role to Jason Miller. THAT jump scare—the famous Nurse Keating hallway scene that's considered one of horror's best. Why the forced exorcism ending works (or doesn't). The confusing K-name pattern and what it means. George C. Scott's intensity and whether he should've been kinder, man. Celebrity cameos you probably missed (Samuel L. Jackson! Patrick Ewing! Larry King!). The dream sequence with Fabio and whether it's too much. The Debate: Is The Exorcist III better than the original? We discuss why this film's dreadful tone and procedural approach might actually make it superior, even if it doesn't have the cultural impact of Friedkin's classic. Behind the Scenes Drama: We unpack the production chaos—how Jason Miller's health issues led to Brad Dourif's casting (then recasting), why Father Morning was added for the theatrical cut, and whether the director's cut ending would've been more powerful. Eight Official Reveals : From Father Kanavan's confessional booth murder to Mrs. Clelia crawling on the ceiling, we rank all eight monster introductions and pick our favorites. Next Time: We continue Devils & Dicks with Se7en (1995) - David Fincher's masterpiece of detective horror! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
In anticipation for SCREAM 7, Zach sits down with two SCREAM super fans (co-host Danny and special guest Laron Chapman) to discuss the original film and it's upcoming sequel. To hear new commentary episodes each month, check out Patreon and become a How I Met Your Monster MENACE for only $3! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
We wrap up our SCARYTALES triple feature with Guillermo Del Toro’s war-torn journey through the horrors of fascism. The Pale Man sees you, but fantasy frees you, and it turns out that the real monsters are the fascist fuck-heads we met along the way as we travel back to Francoist Spain in 1944 to meet Captain Vidal and a fairy-filled forest in PAN’S LABYRINTH. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
Return to Oz might be marketed as a fantasy sequel—but rewatching it as adults reveals something far darker. From electroshock therapy and abandoned children to the Wheelers, Princess Mombi’s Hall of Heads, and the terrifying Nome King, this Disney film feels more like a full-blown horror movie than a family classic. In this episode of How I Met Your Monster , we continue our Scarytales triple feature by breaking down Return to Oz through the lens of monster introductions, childhood trauma, and nightmare fuel imagery. We explore why this movie terrified so many of us as kids, how it stays unsettling as adults, and why it might be Disney’s most disturbing film. We also dive into behind-the-scenes facts, Walter Murch’s direction, the film’s connection to the original Oz books, and how Return to Oz embraces darker fantasy in the tradition of The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth . Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
In this episode of How I Met Your Monster , we kick off our Scary Tales triple feature by diving into Neil Jordan’s 1984 horror film The Company of Wolves . Inspired by Angela Carter’s reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood, this surreal fairy-tale nightmare blends werewolves, dream logic, and body-horror transformations into one of the strangest films of the decade. We break down the film’s seven monster reveals, unsettling werewolf transformation effects, and its controversial themes around puberty, repression, folklore, and gender roles. From wolves peeling out of human skin to dream-within-a-dream storytelling, The Company of Wolves challenges traditional fairy tales and refuses simple interpretations. Along the way, we connect the film to classic werewolf lore, fairy-tale history (Charles Perrault), and other surreal horror films that prioritize vibes over clarity. Is The Company of Wolves a feminist fairy tale? A disturbing coming-of-age story? Or just an aggressively weird werewolf movie? We don’t fully agree—and that’s the point. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
In this holiday-themed episode of How I Met Your Monster , Zach, Danny, and Casey unwrap Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3 , a Christmas-set descent into extreme horror led once again by Art the Clown. What begins as festive fun quickly turns into a debate about gore limits, audience intent, and what horror is supposed to make us feel. The hosts explore whether Terrifier 3 is simply a showcase for increasingly elaborate kills or a continuation of the franchise’s growing mythos. While Casey celebrates the film as peak fan service and Art’s strongest performance yet, Zach and Danny wrestle with visceral reactions, lingering violence, and the physical toll of watching the movie. Along the way, the conversation touches on Christmas horror traditions, MPAA censorship history, Freddy Krueger comparisons, and why Art the Clown has become one of modern horror’s most recognizable icons. Love it or hate it, Terrifier 3 sparks exactly the kind of reaction it sets out to provoke—and this episode captures that tension in real time. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , and YouTube For bonus content and commentaries, check out our Patreon Follow the show on Instagram , TikTok , and Facebook Want to support the show and save 20% on Fangoria? Visit Fangoria and enter PROMO CODE: HOWIMETYOURMONSTER at checkout! Looking for How I Met Your Monster merch? Check out TeePublic for shirts, stickers, mugs, and more! Questions and comments: howimetyourmonsterpodcast@gmail.com
