Messed Up Movies

Today Griffey and Dandino find love, dirty scrolls and money in The Handmaiden. They unravel a tale told multiple times from different POV's and the rich tapestry it creates, the use of steamy romance to add much needed flesh to the victorian story, and the films many shocking reveals. This is truly one of the finest movies ever made. A true masterclass in filmmaking that would be MESSED UP to ignore.  Synopsis: In 1930s Korea, a girl is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress who lives a secluded life on a countryside estate. But the m...

Zach Cregger's Resident Evil drops Austin Abrams into a nightmare, and we can't agree on when the laughs start getting in the way of the scares. Recording from Austin during Fantastic Fest, the Messed Up Movies crew breaks down Resident Evil (2026), from its vicious opening and brilliantly staged jump scares to a bigger, louder finale that doesn't land equally for everyone. We get into Abrams' panicked everyman performance, Paul Walter Hauser, the chaos of Raccoon City and whether this reboot captures the feeling of playing survival horror. Plus: the difference between a resourceful survivor and...

The Craft. Suspiria. The Witch. We're drafting the best witch movies, and apparently agreeing on what counts as a witch movie is half the battle. Griffey, Heath and the combined forces of Sam and Sophia compete to build the ultimate four-movie witch lineup. With Weapons, The Blair Witch Project and other favorites off the board, things get competitive fast. We get into the childhood trauma of The Witches, the nasty magic of Sleepy Hollow, the contained horror of The Autopsy of Jane Doe and the pure chaos of Drag Me to Hell. Meanwhile, Griffey fights...

Today Griffey and Dandino bang the drum and face the zombie apocalypse in The Night Eats the World. They crack open the more somber/introspective tone of the film which makes it such a rewardind film in a watered down genre, the small moments of human truth in this lonely apartment, and unpack the true horror of at the root of the zombie story that this film brings back beautifully. This movie should be a modern Messed Up classic, which has criminally fallen between the cracks. So pull up a drum stool and join us in celebrating a zombie...

Everyone seems to be dunking on Hope for claims of poor CGI. We don't care how messed up the VFX look as long as the movie messes up our minds! Luckily, Hope mostly delivers! On this New Movie Monday, Griffey, Heath and Sam get into HOPE's incredible opening, chaotic creature attacks, surprisingly hilarious characters and an ending that leaves plenty to argue about. Griffey makes the case for its sheer filmmaking ambition. Heath questions the plot armor and repeated action beats. Sam thinks the whole thing might work better as a series. FULL SPOILERS, including...

One actor. One director. One existing franchise. One wild card. Who can build the Messed Up Movie you'd most want to see? We're practicing our best Hollywood pitch for our dream movies we'd love to make real. In this new kind of draft, Griffey, Heath, Sam and Sophia draft battle over who's movie would make the best blockbuster. On the imaginary release calendar: • Yorgos Lanthimos tackles Batman: The Killing Joke. • Guillermo del Toro reinvents A Nightmare on Elm Street with Robert Pattinson as Freddy. • Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe enter Lars von Trier...

Today Griffey and Dandino fight to save what little we have from a Mutant Fish Creature in The Host. They dive deep into the film's incredible Monster introduction set piece, how Bong Joon Ho uses everyday life to sink his fangs into the audience more than the monster, and the film's suprisingly funny tonality. This movie was an early harbinger of the amazing work we all had in store from a now master of Modern Messed Up cinema.  Synopsis: A monster emerges from Seoul's Han River and begins attacking people. One victim's loving family does what it c...

What happens when one ridiculous movie idea grows into a genuine cult phenomenon? On this episode of the Messed Up Movies Podcast, we sit down with Costa Dillon, the creator and co-writer of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!, to discuss the story behind one of the most recognizable cult movies ever made. Costa takes us inside the creation of Killer Tomatoes, the independent filmmaking spirit behind the original movie, and the unexpected life the franchise developed after its release. We talk about its famously absurd premise, its lasting reputation, and what it is like to...

How super should super soldiers behave? That's the burning question for Griffey and Sam as Heath does his best to fend off this onslaught of critiques against his favorite movie of the year. This week on the Messed Up Movies Podcast, we're digging into Adam Wingard's ONSLAUGHT, a slick, violent collision of military conspiracy, Nazi super soldiers, trailer-park survival horror and pure Rule of Cool filmmaking. Adam Wingard is back in the bloody, stripped-down genre territory that gave us YOU'RE NEXT and THE GUEST. So is ONSLAUGHT the return horror fans have been...

Stephen King has given us some of the greatest horror stories ever written and some of them even became great movies! This week on our Messed Up Movies Draft, Griffey, Heath, Sam and Sophia go head-to-head to build the ultimate four-movie Stephen King lineup. There is, however, one problem: THE SHINING and CARRIE are BANNED. We've picked them too many times, so we are locking them in Room 237 until further notice. That leaves everything else on the board, from The Mist, Misery, The Shawshank Redemption, Pet Sematary and Creepshow to IT...

Today Griffey and Dandino parachute in on a war torn nightmare in Overlord. They discuss the spectacle of seeing a horror film of this scale set in an actual war, how the film utilizes its setting to make the real world even more terrifying that the eventual Nazi Science Monsters, and if the political reality of the moment has changed the way we follow the journey of this film. Overlord is long and oppressive, but damn does it drops some of the most spectacular set pieces on the audience.  Synopsis: A small group of American soldiers find h...

What if Barney was actually a child-eating demon? This week on the Messed Up Movies Podcast, we're diving headfirst into BUDDY, Casper Kelly's completely deranged horror-comedy about a magical children's-show unicorn whose wholesome world of songs, friendship and life lessons rapidly descends into murder, mutilation and absolute chaos. And we are VERY divided on this one. For Griffey, BUDDY is the most fun he's had in a theater all year and his favorite movie of 2026. For Heath and Sam? A hilarious idea stretched into a gimmicky feature that never quite finds the characters...

Is Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma a slasher movie, an art film, a psychosexual fever dream, a two-hour therapy session about making movies... or one of the best films of 2026? Jane Schoenbrun's follow-up to I Saw the TV Glow takes the bones of an '80s summer-camp slasher and uses them to dig into sex, death, nostalgia, identity, fandom, filmmaking and our increasingly complicated relationship with the movies that shaped us. And blissfully, Gillian Anderson is at the center of all of it giving one of our favorite performances of the year.  <p...

We've been holding back on this one for awhile, but the time has finally come... we are drafting the greatest, the raddest, the most totally Messed Up Movies from the decade DEFINED by horror - THE 1980s! It's the decade that gave us Freddy Kreuger, Jason Vorhees, Tony Montana, Marty McFly, and on and on and on! Join Griffey, Heath, Sam and Sophia as they travel back to the most iconic era in horror and battle it out to pick the ultimate list of Messed Up 80s flicks. Vote for the winner on Instragram and...

Today Griffey and Dandino return to Camp Bloodbath in The Final Girls. They cut open the movies blend of 80's sleepaway camp horror riffs and powerful emotional core, the dynamics of horror fans entering their favorite slasher flick, and if the movie would have been served better by attempting to further deconstruct the genre. This movie is so funny and had an enomrous heart that fills this comedic riff into much more than it's peers.  Synopsis: A young woman grieving the loss of her mother, a famous scream queen from the 1980s, finds herself pulled into the w...

We thought the Insidious franchise was dead. Turns out The Further had other plans. This week on New Movie Monday, we're diving into INSIDIOUS: OUT OF THE FURTHER, the sixth entry in a franchise that has spent years desperately trying to recapture the nightmare fuel of James Wan's original. And somehow... this one almost pulls it off. We're talking grotesque dental horror, nightmare pillow forts, creepy old cultists, some surprisingly effective scares, an absolutely bonkers expansion of The Further's mythology and a third act that threatens to undo almost everything the movie gets...

Relax, this episode if fully spoken in English... and whatever language Sam speaks. No subtitles necessary (looking at you, Sophia)! But if you don't like subtitles, you're missing out on some of the most Messed Up Movies ever made! That's why Griffey, Heath and Sopha-Sam are going to Google translate to find the best movies from around the globe! We're going J-Horror, Mexican-horror, even French-Canadian! As long as the majority of the movie is spoken in a foreign language, it's getting picked. So grab your baguettes, your sushi or your poutine and enjoy a messed...

Today Griffey and Dandino clock in for the final time with Last Shift. They discuss the film's abilty to generate dread on such a small budget, the haunted ghost that fill this police station and rookie cop's heart, and the wild Manson Family wanna be cult. This film achieves a lot with a little making it a MESSED UP movie to watch.  Synopsis: A rookie cop is tasked with taking the last shift at a police station before it is permanently closed, but it turns into a living nightmare. Starring: Juliana Harkavy, Josh Mikel, Hank S...

This week, Griffey, Heath and Sam review the new dinosaur thriller from It Follows director David Robert Mitchell, starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor. It is a big, dumb, expensive throwback packed with plenty of violence, dinosaurs with feathers and a sex scene you have to see to believe. Is this the dinosaur movie we've been waiting for, or a Spielberg imitation powered entirely by human idiocy? We debate Anne Hathaway carrying the movie on her back, Ewan McGregor swinging a sledgehammer at a T. rex, a gigantic prehistoric snake, and mountains of dinosaur shit. ...

What makes the perfect gateway horror movie? Is it a family-friendly introduction to the genre, the movie that personally traumatized you as a kid, or simply something so fun that it leaves you craving another scare? Griffey, Sam, Heath and Sophia draft the movies they believe create lifelong horror fans. The picks range from The Lost Boys, The Monster Squad and Hocus Pocus to Pinocchio, Beetlejuice and Poltergeist. Along the way, they debate whether Disney movies count as horror, revisit the VHS covers and childhood nightmares that warped their young minds, and discover that Sam may only...