Puppet Masters / Castle Freaks

This is the definitive Full Moon Features podcast! Each week, we’re going to watch a different film from Charles Band’s madcap universe of low-budget horror thrillers, encompassing not only the Full Moon films but also the earlier stable of Empire International Pictures and sub-labels like Moonbeam and Torchlight!

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Episodes

4 days ago

This week, we're checking in to the RAVENWOLF TOWERS from 2016! This bizarre little flick was repurposed from a Full Moon streaming series, that unfortunately was cancelled abruptly in the middle of it's season, just as it was setting itself as a kind of Kushner-Locke era AVENGERS. 
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli 
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck 
Logo by Doug McCambridge 
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: @puppetmasters_castlefreaks 
YouTube: @PuppetMastersCastleFreaks 
Next week's episode: The Haunted Casino 

Friday May 30, 2025

We're hitting the streets this week for a double-dose of mid-80s Linda Blair exploitation flicks! We're covering SAVAGE ISLAND, a cobbled-together amalgam of two sleazy women-in-prison movies with a tacked-on Blair wraparound, and as a bonus, we're covering the non-Empire film SAVAGE STREETS, a teen revenge flick that encapsulates the state of Blair's post-EXORCIST career. We're joined this week by the delightful Sean O'Connor of Macabre Daily! 
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli 
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck 
Logo by Doug McCambridge 
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: @puppetmasters_castlefreaks 
YouTube: @PuppetMastersCastleFreaks 
Next week's episode: Ravenwolf Towers 

Tuesday May 27, 2025

This week we're joined by B-movie (I'm sorry, B-Plus) icon Tiffany Shepis! Tiffany started her career in James Gunn's TROMEO AND JULIET and has gone on to appear in nearly 200 projects, including Full Moon favorite DELTA DELTA DIE! We catch up with Tiffany for a delightful conversation about coming up in the microbudget horror scene and our own double-feature mixed tapes. 
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli 
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck 
Logo by Doug McCambridge 
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: @puppetmasters_castlefreaks 
YouTube: @PuppetMastersCastleFreaks 

Friday May 23, 2025

Step right up! This week we're stepping into the SIDESHOW, Fred Olen Ray's loving homage to Tod Browning's FREAKS! Filmmaker Frank Sabatella joins us on our tour through the horrors of this carnival treat. 
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli 
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck 
Logo by Doug McCambridge 
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: @puppetmasters_castlefreaks 
YouTube: @PuppetMastersCastleFreaks 
Next week's episode: Savage Streets / Savage Island 

Friday May 16, 2025

We're back with the PUPPET MASTER series, and the franchise has entered a bumpy transitional period. We're talking about CURSE OF THE PUPPETMASTER, an odd side adventure starring the puppets and a crew of entirely new characters, and RETRO PUPPETMASTER, which takes us all the way back to the beginning of the timeline with Greg Sestero as young Toulon! Author and PM expert is back to walk us through the weird and tortured production of these films, and their weird fan legacy. 
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli 
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck 
Logo by Doug McCambridge 
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: @puppetmasters_castlefreaks 
YouTube: @PuppetMastersCastleFreaks 
Next week's episode: Sideshow 

Friday May 09, 2025

Two movies for the price of one! This week we're lumping two flicks together for one high-quality episode, with returning guest Jed Shepherd (HOST)! We're talking about 1992's BODY SNATCHERS knockoff SEEDPEOPLE, one of our last films from Full Moon's golden era, and then we're transitioning to an oddball Kushner-Locke era film from David DeCoteau, 1997's SHRIEKER!
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli 
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck 
Logo by Doug McCambridge 
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: @puppetmasters_castlefreaks 
YouTube: @PuppetMastersCastleFreaks 
Next week's episode: Curse of the Puppet Master / Retro Puppetmaster 

Friday May 02, 2025

Pew pew! This week, friend of the show Adam Torkel returns to talk about one of Charlie Band's earliest hits, the sci-fi thriller LASERBLAST from 1978! This film not only looms large in Band's pre-Full Moon catalogue, it also inspired one of the best "Mystery Science Theater 3000" episodes ever! 
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli 
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck 
Logo by Doug McCambridge 
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: @puppetmasters_castlefreaks 
YouTube: @PuppetMastersCastleFreaks 
Next week's episode: Seedpeople/Shrieker

Friday Apr 25, 2025

This week we're talking about AIMEE: THE VISITOR, a title that could refer to either our movie or our guest! Director and writer Aimee Mayumi Kuge (CANNIBAL MUKBANG) joins us for one of Full Moon's most recent entries, a film that introduces cinema's first AI-generated femme fatale! 
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli 
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck 
Logo by Doug McCambridge 
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: @puppetmasters_castlefreaks 
YouTube: @PuppetMastersCastleFreaks 
Next week's episode: Laserblast

Bleed

Friday Apr 18, 2025

Friday Apr 18, 2025

Full Moon takes on the slasher genre for... the first time? Can that possibly be true? We'll dig into it with BLEED, Devin Hamilton's micro-budget SCREAM-a-like that has more twists than they know what to do with. 
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli 
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck 
Logo by Doug McCambridge 
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: @puppetmasters_castlefreaks 
YouTube: @PuppetMastersCastleFreaks 
Next week's episode: AImee: The Visitor 

Deadly Stingers

Friday Apr 11, 2025

Friday Apr 11, 2025

One of the quietly more controversial Full Moon films, the fun giant arachnid flick DEADLY STINGERS marked the contentious end of the Tempe era and sent the studio off on a new path. 
Hosted by Jarrod Hornbeck and Steve Guntli 
Theme song by Kyle Hornbeck 
Logo by Doug McCambridge 
Email: puppetmasterscastlefreaks@gmail.com
Instagram/Threads: @puppetmasters_castlefreaks 
YouTube: @PuppetMastersCastleFreaks 
Next week's episode: Bleed

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