Sharks, Slashers, And Sequels

Send us a text

Salt spray, shark lore, and the thin line between fear and fandom—this conversation dives straight into the craft that gives horror its bite. We open with Tom Morton’s vivid memories from Jaws second-unit work on Catalina: underwater setups, safety puzzles, and the gritty logistics that made the original feel so real you can taste the brine. Those details set the stage for a bigger question we keep returning to: why do some sequels become legends while others wash out?

We explore the rare alchemy of a sequel like Aliens, which flips from slow-burn terror to high-stakes survival without breaking the emotional spine of the story. From there, we test the limits of escalation across Pirates and Blade, where charm can buckle under lore and noise when “bigger” crowds out character. Slashers add a different tension: brand identity. Fans who want the “real” Jason or Michael often bristle at detours, yet time can turn a maligned entry into a cult favorite once the shock of difference fades. Tom shares how a copycat twist was slammed on release but later found defenders who appreciated its sly humor and craft.

Nostalgia frames the second half. We remember the electricity of 80s hype—the Thriller premiere, Tyson fights, midnight lines—and how that communal build-up amplified every scare. That lens helps explain why remakes stumble: a shot-for-shot Psycho can mimic the frame but not the era’s pulse. We talk Nosferatu echoes and why reinterpretation beats replication, especially when a story returns with a fresh thematic heartbeat rather than brand gravity alone. Through it all runs one thread: practical realism and purposeful reinvention outlast spectacle. When a film preserves texture, honors character, and evolves its idea, it earns its place in the canon.

If the craft behind your favorite scares fascinates you—and if you’ve ever argued about which sequel is secretly the best—press play, then tell us where a franchise won you back or finally lost you. Subscribe, share with a fellow horror fan, and leave a review with your most controversial sequel take.

Support the show

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
Tom Morton on the Fishboard.
Welcome.
At Horror Round Time 2025.
That's right, here we are.
Thank you for taking the time toswim in the bowl with me.
Alright.
Here we go.
Yeah, I am hoping thetemperature's just right.
Excellent, excellent.

(00:22):
We were just starting to talkabout uh your your your work on
Jaws phone, and I think that'suh that's appropriate since uh
we're done on dun on.

SPEAKER_01 (00:33):
That's true, yeah.
I did some uh some Jaws work andit was different.
I I I went to Catalina Islandwith uh second unit guys and and
shot some of the stuffunderwater when there were uh
screw divers and sharks on thebody has been burned and we all
go to the surface and embolize.
That was my first experiencewith Jaws, and then I did uh the

(00:56):
revenge and dumping uh guest onthe uh ship when the uh jaws
were with the water.
So I've had a few uh experienceson Jaws.
It was great.

SPEAKER_02 (01:11):
Awesome, awesome.
Uh I I'm uh I'm a fan of all theJaws.
Uh I I the first of course isclassic.
Oh yeah.
You know, secret now.

SPEAKER_01 (01:24):
Right, right.
It's like that with a lot offolks with a set.

SPEAKER_02 (01:32):
Right.
I mean the the one that I willsay is the one that sequel is
better, in my opinion, isAliens.
Aliens?
Yeah.
I think Aliens is the best inthe the entire franchise.
Uh Alien probably stuck in thatfoot for me between Aliens 3 and

(01:54):
Resurrection.

SPEAKER_01 (01:55):
I'm not sure.
I'd have to look at them againto make that evaluation, but I
like Alien.
It was it was pretty good.
I I have to see that againbecause you might be right with
that.
I know when we did Pirates,Pirates the First were really
it's it's it was like that kindof movie where you set the toad
and who's this who's this youknow, captain and it's pirate,
you know, and he and what's hedoing is kind of fun to figure

(02:17):
it out as you go along.
Right, right.
Because uh it it was veryinteresting on the whole show
and hike of movies that coursewas and the others were okay,
but you know, they sometimes goover the top because they try to
make it bigger and bettersequence.
Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 (02:34):
Sometimes that worked out.
Yeah, I mean another one that uhthat I'll throw out really it's
like the 80s and 90s more timeand me for this, but they like
the first and the second arereally good, but the third might
have like black.

(02:55):
Yeah.
Uh and they didn't reallyrectify that till I guess Mark
and May, you know, kind of kindof took over.
Yeah, um, because it could evenbe seen with like blade number
one really good.
Blade number two pretty decent.
Blade number three.

SPEAKER_01 (03:16):
Uh I like blade.
Yeah, blade one is is the best.
I mean that they're then you'reseeing the character set the
whole action.
Right, right.
You're playing off each other'sshow.
Right, right.
I agree, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 (03:30):
Uh uh as well as goes with uh Halloween and uh
Friday 13th with the both uhI've done a lot of that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (03:40):
And these these shows, there's so many of them,
they kind of go up and down.
You like this one, and there's alot of fans that like one over
the other.
Right.
And and when I did five, I I youknow, I I did a a copycat burn,
you know.
So it wasn't liked at firstbecause they wanted to see
Jason.
Right.
When you think about it, Jason'sjust an imaginary character

(04:03):
anyway.
Exactly.
So if you're looking at a horrormovie and there's a killer,
there he is, but it wasn't thereal Jason, you know.
Right.
So anyway, but as years go on,people look back and see them,
and there's some people comehere, you know, I really enjoyed
this.
Yeah, you see a little comedy init.
So they you know, it gets moreappreciation.

(04:26):
But when you have such a longseries of films, right, right.

SPEAKER_02 (04:31):
Right.
I mean it it you know, some arebetter than I mean I I I I I was
born in '88, grew up in thenineties, so I was like in the
age, the the like you know, andalso like all the movies were
totally still relevant.
And I remember I was in highschool when Freddie Burke was

(04:53):
based on the and that was likeuh big deal.
It was a big, very big deal,right?
Uh we've been waiting for itsince uh uh uh Facebook's L set
up and um same thing for KVT.

SPEAKER_01 (05:11):
I think the 80s were a really unique time because
they had so much stuff that waswaiting for.
I remember waiting for thethriller was gonna come out.
Uh and Tyson was fighting, andhis fights every time you go see
one of his fights.
I think I think the 80s were aspecial time for me because I'm
a lot older.
My uh my heroes were in the 50s,and I look back at a plastic

(05:34):
Frankenstein, Wolfman, and thosethings were like, oh wow, those
are really killer people.
I remember seeing the thing whenit first came out.
Yeah.
I got out of my seat and Iwalked to the curtain.
I watched the moon from behindit.
You know, I wanted to do this.
I was gonna leave it.
No, I can't leave, but I thoughtI'd better thank you.

SPEAKER_02 (05:58):
I I I definitely think uh uh the original style
is still better than the onethat just came out.

SPEAKER_01 (06:08):
Yeah, there's something about that classic
thing that we got.
It's probably it's like tryingto remake your cycle.
Right.
Right.
And they did it at building.
Yeah, it doesn't work.
I think that's why it it's likein 50 if they pulled all the
stories and done on the phone,so like the still we gotta keep

(06:28):
thinking of something in.

SPEAKER_02 (06:30):
Right.
I mean, uh the the the only likeiteration of no sparatu that
isn't really Nels Garatu withhis own movie is uh The Shadow
of the Vampire.
Oh uh William DeF William Defoeplayed uh supposed to be like a
real vampire.
Um it was like the film he wasgratuit, but like the vampire

(06:54):
wasn't real.
Um abstract or whatever.
But uh I think I see we'restarting to uh get a little uh
crowded here, so I guess wegotta crap up.
Uh it's been a pleasure havingyou uh the bowl.
Yeah.
Uh again, you know, dun-un sothis temperature was just right.

(07:20):
Thank you, thank you.
Awesome, thank you so much.