Chopping It Up
A podcast discussing horror movies both new and old. Together, we will compare and contrast two horror movies, connecting them via various through lines including themes, tropes, motifs, actors, and sub genres, among other similarities. The goal is to explore the evolution of the horror genre, and to compare and contrast how these films interact with each other, and where they sit in the cinematic landscape. Each episode we’ll cover everything including remakes, sequels, reimaginings, and reboots of classic films, from slasher flicks to vampire movies to zombie movies to Lovecraftian films to monster movies to psychological horror to just about anything else you can think of.
Episodes
It's every axe murderer's dream: 1988's Edge of the Axe commits to exactly one weapon and never looks back. Jesse, Joel, and Jeannie welcome special guest Gareth "Slasher Trash" Morgan (creator of the Slasher Trash page and an upcoming feature-length slasher documentary) to dig into this Spanish-American slasher obscurity — small-town paranoia, a shockingly prescient "technology will ruin relationships" subplot, tonal whiplas...
A sewer gator raised on hormone-jacked lab dogs takes on a CGI crocodile that cost six times as much and looks half as real. The crew pits 1980's scrappy, John Sayles-penned Alligator against 1999's big-budget, Stan Winston-adjacent Lake Placid — practical effects vs. CGI, indictment of big pharma vs. crazy old lady feeding cows to a lizard, and a fight over crocodile biology the movie's own screenwriters apparently lost. Als...
Freddy's back, but this time he's not avenging anyone — he's just really into leather bars, apparently. The crew chops up A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985), the film that's basically the poster child for queer horror whether the studio wanted it to be or not. We get into writer David Chaskin denying the gay subtext for 25 years (then admitting it — sort of), star Mark Patton's brutal real story, and w...
Sledd's back from his self-imposed "sled season" break with maybe his most personal pairing yet: two movies about mothers who are, in his professional opinion, doing their absolute worst — and somehow still more sympathetic than the demon-summoning grandma in the attic. Jesse and Jeannie both watched The Babadook for the first time this episode and have feelin...
The crew couldn't resist the hype — this week on Prime Cuts, Jesse, Jeannie, Joel, and Sledd dive into Widow's Bay, the new Apple TV+ horror comedy series from Parks and Rec creator Katie Dippold. A cursed New England island, a hapless mayor, folklore that turns out to be terrifyingly real, and commercials that will genuinely unsettle you — it's a lot. Jesse's all in, Jeannie's calling it horror comedy (not comedy horro...
Slasher Season is back, and we're going all the way in on the greatest horror franchise of all time — no, Joel, you don't get a say in that. Jesse pairs Friday the 13th Part III and Jason Takes Manhattan as the alpha and omega of the franchise: the movie that gave Jason his hockey mask, and the movie that sent him packing to the Big Apple. Jeannie watched both for the first time and would like her life back. Sled considers ei...
This week on Prime Cuts, the crew watches a forgotten slice of early Oliver Stone — The Hand (1981), starring a very committed Michael Caine as a comic strip artist who loses his hand in a car accident and slowly loses everything else. His marriage, his sanity, and apparently several people in his vicinity.
This week we're chopping up the second entry in Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy — and we brought backup. Actor Thom Bray joins us to talk about landing the most memorable kill in the film, what it was actually like to get impaled by a bicycle with Alice Cooper, and why Carpenter told him to dial it back on the blood. We also get into the theology, the theoretical physics, the goo, and whether Prince of Darkness deserves a high...
What does it look like to live deliciously on the wrong side of sanity? Jesse brings the crew to 1971 Connecticut for John D. Hancock's haunting folk horror gem. Part psychological thriller, part vampire mythology, part counterculture eulogy — Let's Scare Jessica to Death is the kind of movie that asks you to do the work, and rewards you for it. The CIU crew unpacks Charon and the underworld, the Baudelaire connection, polyam...
We recorded this one back in February to close out Sled dSeason, and we've been sitting on it — but good things are worth the wait. A Black History Month double feature that earns its place: both films follow the same blueprint — a Black vampire dropped into a modern urban landscape, chasing a reincarnated love and dragging a Renfield-type ...
In this episode of Chopping It Up, the crew dives into the origins of found footage horror with The Blair Witch Project and Hell House LLC—and this one hits especially close to home. Literally. Jesse, Joel, and Jeannie all grew up in the Maryland area where Blair Witch was filmed, adding a personal layer to the conversation as they reflect on seeing the film during its original release and the very real confusion around wheth...
The Chopping It Up crew teams up once again with Kellie and Sarah from The Final Girls to dig into the dreamy, unsettling cult oddity Messiah of Evil (1973). What starts as a missing-father mystery in a creepy coastal town quickly turns into a discussion about art-house horror, eerie atmosphere, and some truly unforgettable scenes (looking at you, supermarket). Along the way we debate whether this cult classic is a hidden masterpie...
In this Prime Cuts episode, we sink our teeth into Ryan Coogler’s Sinners (2025) — a Southern gothic vampire tale set in 1932 Mississippi. When twin brothers return home to open a juke joint, the night spirals into bloodshed, forcing us to ask: is this elevated horror with bite, or a beautiful mess?
We debate the film’s themes of race, religion, and cultural theft, argue about its pacing and vampire lore, and wres...
This week on Prime Cuts, we’re talking Heart Eyes (2025) — a Valentine’s Day slasher that mixes rom-com charm with masked-killer chaos. When the “Heart Eyes Killer” targets couples in Seattle, marketing exec Ally and her suspiciously charming coworker Jay find themselves fighting for their lives… and maybe catching feelings along the way.
It’s self-aware, fast-paced, and packed with holida...
This week on Chopping It Up, the crew revisits two ’80s cult favorites with shared DNA but very different execution: Big Trouble in Little China and The Golden Child.
The discussion explores why Big Trouble thrives as a confident genre mash-up—subverting the action hero, embracing mythological chaos, and fully committing to its weirdness—while The Golden Child often feels held back by studio expectations, despite ...
n this Prime Cuts episode, the crew heads back to Derry, Maine to slice into Welcome to Derry, the newest dip into Stephen King’s ever-expanding IT universe—minus Jesse, who we’re told was “busy,” but we assume was avoiding homework and timelines.
The gang breaks down how the show smartly uses Derry’s long history of trauma, structuring the story around past atrocities while keeping the “ev...
This week on Prime Cuts, we tackle Blood Beat—a holiday-adjacent regional horror oddity that defies explanation. Featuring telekinetic samurai armor, psychic trauma, wooden performances, and vibes that feel more manifested than written, this film exists in a category entirely its own.
We break down what Blood Beat is (and definitely isn’t), why it barely functions as a slasher, and how its surreal earnestness somehow ma...
In this episode, the CIU crew plunges into the dark, deliciously deranged imagination of Clive Barker as we pair two of his most iconic cult classics: Hellraiser and Nightbreed. We break down Barker’s singular ability to fuse beauty with brutality, the way his creatures blur the line between monster and misunderstood outcast, and why his worlds feel like nightmares you want to keep dreaming.
From Pinhead’s coldly philos...
On this Prime Cuts mini-episode, the Chopping It Up crew dives beak-first into Robert Eggers’s 2015 Puritan-nightmare masterpiece, The VVitch. The team revisits the bleak New England homestead, unpacking the film’s slow-burn tension, its suffocating dread, and the brutal unraveling of a family exiled for being too devout for the Puritans themselves.
From baby-paste broomstick lore and “wet” witchcraft sequen...
We’re back with a full episode and a double dose of rage. This time, it’s Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later and the long-awaited 28 Years Later. From fast zombies to slow burns, we dig into the fear, the filmmaking, and the very British end of the world.
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