Secret Level: A GeekTyrant Podcast

In Episode 46 of Secret Level, we dig into the demonic hole of doom and talk about the classic 1987 horror film The Gate! This was one of our favorite horror movies as kids, and revisiting this crazy movie was a blast! So, we accidentally summoned demons who used to rule the universe to come and take over the world, and recorded this podcast! There were some fun details we learned about the making of this movie, and we were especia...

In Episode 45 of Secret Level, we jump into the jungle of chaos involving Jean-Claude Van Damme originally being cast as the Predator in the 1987 sci-fi action classic Predator. We dive into all the different sides of the story that led to Van Damme being fired from the movie. It seems everyone involved has their own account of how things went down, and it's fascinating! You may think you know the full story, but we broke it a...

In Episode 44 of Secret Level, we discuss Peter Jackson’s classic 1996 horror comedy The Frighteners, which is a completely bonkers film, but also so much fun to watch! We offer some interesting behind-the-scenes insight on the movie and also have some fun just talking about how freakin’ weird of a film it is! This was the last feature film that Michael J. Fox starred in and it was Jackson’s first big studio film before landing The...

In Episode 43 of Secret Level, we talk about the first and last movie that Stephen King ever directed… the 1986 horror film Maximum Overdrive! This movie is absolutely bonkers and King was completely coked out of his mind while he was making it, which is why the movie must’ve turned out the way it did. It’s been years since we watched this movie and revisiting it was quite the experience of being reminded of the wild madness and ma...

In Episode 42 of Secret Level, we delve into the whimsical world of Tim Burton and Paul Reuben's iconic 1985 comedy, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. A film that never fails to tickle the funny bone, this classic comedy remains a joy to revisit time and again. We uncover the intriguing backstory of its journey to the silver screen, unearthing delightful tidbits that even the most hardcore fans might not know. Join us as we offer ...

In this Episode 41 of Secret Level, we talk about the 1993 alien abduction sci-fi film Fire in the Sky! This movie is based on a true story and contained a ten-minute alien torture sequence the scared the bejeezus out of us when we were kids! That scene is seared  into our brains, it traumatized a generation of kids, and we had to revisit the film and talk about it! We discuss the making of the film, the real story that the film is...

In Episode 40 of Secret Level, we discuss one of our all-time favorite animated movies, Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant. This is such an incredible movie that has found its audience over time, but when it was first released, it bowed at the box office, which is a shame for a film that tells such an amazingly beautiful and emotional story. We talk about the making of the film, the inspiration behind the story, what went wrong with the fi...

In episode 39 of Secret Level, we take a deep dive into the wild history of Count Dante and The Black Dragon Fighting Society! This episode is a little different, but it is tied to geek culture. This story is inspired by an old comic book ad from the late 60s and early 70s that we came across, and we had to know the story behind it! Little did we know how absolutely bonkers and fascinating the story would be! I mean, there were doj...

In Episode 38 of Secret Level, we journey into one of the greatest and most funny comedies of all time, the 1975 film, Monty Python and The Holy Grail. No matter how many times we’ve watched this movie over the years, it never gets old! The movie always makes up bust out in laughter and it’s one that we’ve been very excited to talk about! So, we did some digging and discovered a ton of fascinating details about the making of the fi...

In Episode 37 of Secret Level, we jump in and discuss the classic 1990 sci-fi horror comedy adventure film Tremors, which stars Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Michael Gross, Finn Carter, and Reba McEntire! This movie is so awesome and it’s always a great film to revisit because it’s so much fun! It’s just one of those films from our childhood that still puts a smile on our faces when we watch it. It’s Crazy because Kevin Back originally h...

In Episode 36 of Secret Level, we talk about the crazy 1989 kids' movie Little Monsters and after we rewatched it, we realized how much more inappropriate it was for kids than we remember! This movie is absolutely bonkers and it was so crazy noticing things about the movie that went way over our heads when we were kids. It makes us wonder what our parents were thinking when they were watching it with us! We offer some behind-t...

In Episode 35 of Secret Level! In this episode we have a blast talking about Joe Dante’s 1984 holiday horror classic Gremlins! There was a lot to talk about with this movie including details on how the project came together and information on the absolutely bonkers r-rated version of the film that it was originally going to be! This movie was going to but so much more violent than what was delivered, and we share details on the cra...

In Episode 34 of Secret Level, we celebrate the holidays by talking about the hilarious classic 1988 Bill Murray Christmas movie Scrooged, which was directed by Richard Donner. It's pretty crazy that an adaptation of A Christmas Carol like this actually exists, so it's kind of a Christmas miracle and it's easily one of our favorite movies. We share some behind-the-scenes details on the making of the film including ho...

In Episode 33 of Secret Level, we discuss director Richard Donner and producer Steven Spielberg’s 1985 adventure film The Goonies. This movie played such a big part of our childhoods, it’s one of our all-time favorite movies, and we’ve finally recorded our episode for it! We talk about the making of the film, share some amusing commentary, and even share our pitch for a prequel film or series that we’d love to see get made! We hope...

In Episode 32 of Secret Level, we talk about George Lucas and Ron Howard's iconic 1987 fantasy film Willow. This is one of those movies that we have very fond memories of when we were kids and it’s a film that we’ve enjoyed revisiting over the years. This is just one of those films that take us to our happy place and we wanted to see if we could find some information about the making of it that we never knew before, and we did...

In Episode 31 of Secret Level, we get a little funky as we talk about the making of the greatest music video ever made, Michael Jackson’s Thriller! The music video was released in 1982 and it was helmed by An American Werewolf in London director John Landis. There are actually some interesting details behind the making of this music video and there’s a lot of stuff that we came across in our research that we never knew before! This...

In Episode 30 of Secret Level, we dive into one of our favorite Halloween horror films Lady in White. The 1988 movie was directed by Frank LaLoggia, and it stars Lucas Haas. This is such a beautifully made horror film that not only offers thrills and chills but, it also tells a wonderful story with so many layers to it! We talk about the unconventional way that the movie was made, share our memories of watching it when we were kids...

In Secret Level Episode 29 we sit down to talk about one of the best Halloween horror movies ever made! The Michael Dougherty-directed film Trick ‘r Treat! Joey has been watching the movie every Halloween night since it was released on DVD in 2009, but the first time that Billy watched it was for this podcast episode! This film project had quite an interesting journey getting made and until this year, it never got a wide theatrical...

In Episode 28 of Secret Level, we revisit the 1985 horror comedy House. The movie was directed by Steve Miner from a story by Fred Dekker and a script by Ethan Wiley. This was a wonderfully terrifying haunted house movie that features monstrous elements that stuck with us ever since we were kids! We love this movie and thought it would be fun to dig up some little-known details about it and how it was made! It was also a blast rewa...