2025 - R - 2/10 - Some buttons Aren’t pushed for a reason.

Easily the worst VHS, just when I thought they were hitting a stride. The wrap around is fine, the first segment starts off promising but then drags on and that becomes a theme here. There are a few moments that are good in the 2 hour runtime but it is all overshadowed by one segment that is not only long but also deals with some taboo subjects that are taboo for a reason. Taking all the wrong lessons from Terrifier and combining them with things that are better left implied than explored, hard pass.

2025 - PG-13 - 7/10 - A Nine Inch Nails fueled neon thrill ride.

This movie feels more like a theme park ride than a movie. Thanks mostly to the Nine Inch Nails soundtrack that grabs you and provides a driving force through even the slower parts of the movie, it feels like the movie never lets up. On top of that, the visuals and inventiveness of the art department flood every frame. Yes, there are flaws. No, I don’t know why Jared Leto is in this. Thankfully, none of that becomes enough of a distraction to take away from the brilliant way the synths and neon are woven together.

2025 - R - 9/10 - Suspense! Horror! Humor! Heart! Filmmaking!

In the running for my favorite movie of the year. I love how lean this movie is. It establishes a premise early on, reveals the plot from multiple angles, and sticks to that premise. Without getting into spoilers, the major plot point here is something that would be obvious but “hidden” in a lesser film. Here, it is out in the open and the central driving force of the plot. This no-frills approach keeps things from getting too messy, unfocused, or bogged down as things unfold. Oh, and that end is satisfying.

2023 - R - 8/10 - Punk rock filmmaking like it should be!

Wow. Yeah, this was a surprise. Went into it hoping that there would be some over-the-top Toxie fun but was prepared for this to have some rough edges. Instead, what we got was a movie that actually managed to have some heart and make Toxie a lovable character underneath the punk rock surface. This movie is also packed to the brim with a unique style and humor like classic Troma polished up. You can feel that they had a blast making this movie and it is a blast to watch. We need more big swings like this!

Did you miss us? After a long hiatus, we are back. But where were we and what were we up to? Well, I am happy to report that we were working, some behind the scenes and some visible to get some new things going in the world of Thrills Ville.

The most obvious is probably that we have been leaning in to doing more video content, including doing some instant reactions after movies in the parking lot of our local AMC. Keep an eye on our channel as we continue to dial in all the things.

We also now have a RedBubble store that we have started up and an Ebay store where we are putting some select items you won’t find in the shop.

The easiest way to find them is from the website at https://www.thrillsville618.com/the-store

We also just had the first meeting of Thrills Ville Presents: The Edwardsville Public Library’s Cult Movie Club. Stay tuned here and on our instagram for the next one and come hang out.

So, we have been busy and now we are ramping The Thrilling Times back up to help you stay plugged in to all of those channels. Look for updates next month as we roll out some new spotlights and ways to engage here in the newsletter and on the website.

Thrills Ville Presents: Cult Movie Club

This month, we had the first meeting of the Cult Movie Club, presented by Thrills Ville, and hosted by the Edwardsville Public Library. We weren’t sure how many people to expect, given the relatively contained amount of advertising we did for it but we were pleasantly surprised to have a decent group for our first viewing.

This month we watched The Gate from 1987. We started off chatting a bit beforehand about trivia we knew about the movie and how long it had been since people had seen it. Next thing we knew, we were mid-movie giving it a group MST3K treatment and cracking each other up.

Overall, it was a great first outing and is something we hope gains some momentum and grows. Come join us, help grow our community and see some weird and wonderful cult classics.

The next movie up is the Emilio Estevez classic Repo Man. Join us November 21st at 6pm at the Edwardsville Public Library. We hope you’ll be part of it for a great discussion and some laughs!

A New Way to Support Thrills Ville

As we mentioned above, we now have a RedBubble shop and an Ebay store up and running. We are starting to scale up efforts in those areas but we could use your help.

That is why we are announcing the initial rollout of the Thrills Ville Patreon.

Whether you want to support the podcast, parking lot reviews, brick and mortar store, online efforts, weird short skits, or you just like the fact that we are here building a community and spicing up Edwardsville, you can now support us via Patreon.

We are starting small with a couple of tiers, starting at $5/month. Check the specifics on https://www.patreon.com/ThrillsVille618

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

If you sign up for either of our starting tiers, one of the perks is a 6.66% discount on every purchase you make at the brick and mortar store and we will be making discount codes available for our RedBubble store as well.

As always, we appreciate your support!

Halloween is obviously one of our favorite holidays here at Thrills Ville and, if you don’t know, we are a half block off the Edwardsville Halloween Parade route, perfect for killing time after staking out your spot and setting up your chairs! Stop in on 10/31 from 6 - 9 and get your photo taken with our special guests Michael M. and Jason V., exclusive discounts and some other surprises! Stop by and get spooky!

After the parade, we will be out and about in Downtown Edwardsville so say hi if you see us and you can score a coupon for a future Thrills Ville visit! Stay tuned to our socials for more updates and see you on Halloween!

This March, if you have been following along on our Instagram, we have been doing a March Movie Madness bracket. Our criteria here are not based on which are the “better” movies but which are better at selling the madness and / or giving you the feeling that you are losing it.

We had 32 movies we started from. In the first round, we lost 16 of them. In round 2, the competition heated up and we lost a couple of surprises. Let’s look a bit more at who we lost:

• The depraved “artist” of House that Jack Built lost to mother!.

• Melancholia, with its stunningly accurate portrayal of depression, lost out to Black Swan’s study of the line between genius and madness.

• Fight Club’s inner struggle lost to The Shining, a favorite to win it all.

• Evil Dead is the better movie but Smile 2 won for driving us mad.

• Requiem for a Dream dropped to the now Oscar-winning Substance

• Dark City couldn’t compete with the unrelenting Mad God.

• Lovecraftian vibes battled as The Endless dropped to The Lighthouse.

• Finally, Cage took down Cruise as Vanilla Sky dropped to Mandy.

This gets us to our Elite Eight. But let’s get this down to our Final Four we will discuss on the podcast. First up:

• mother! vs Black Swan. In this match up, mother! gives us a great rollercoaster of a nightmare but Black Swan ultimately wins out with with its dream-like blending of reality and madness.

• The Shining vs Smile 2. Smile 2 puts up a good fight with its unreliable narrator but ultimately, The Shining’s Jack’s madness affecting both himself and the audience is hard to top.

• The Substance vs Mad God. If you want to peer into the mind of a madman, watch the Mad God. However, The Substance wins out for dragging us along on someone’s path to detachment from reality.

• The Lighthouse vs Mandy. as a character study of two men pushing each other to the brink and beyond vs one man’s journey for revenge. Madness wins as The Lighthouse takes this battle.

We are down to Black Swan vs The Shining and The Substance vs The Lighthouse. To see who wins, check out this month’s podcast! 

Too much cash, not enough shelf space? PROBLEM SOLVED!

Introducing Thought-Merch™: the first collectibles you pay full price for but never have to find room for! With our Mind’s Eye™ Technology, you can now purchase ultra-rare merch that exists purely in thought! Just like real collecting, but with less clutter! FULL PRICE FOR THE FULL EXPERIENCE!

It’s even better than NFTs!

No blockchain! No screenshots!

Just cold hard cash in exchange for the idea of ownership! IT’S ULTRA-PORTABLE!!

Want a Thought-Exclusive Figure? A Thought-Poster? An Exclusive Rare Timed Box Set™?

Just hand over your money and rest easy knowing you “own” them. Bragging rights included. Available April 1st… IF YOU CAN BELIEVE IT!

2021 - NR (but R) - 10/10 - A descent into some version of Hell.

A weird, repulsive, grimy, gritty, oozing, festering, decaying mess of a movie. Filmed over decades with Tippet and an unending descent into madness being the only constants. All done with stop motion and real photography, there is a visceral quality you can’t shake. If I had to make a comparison, I would say this is like the movie version of the Saturn Devouring His Son painting. Possessed, hard to look at, harder to look away. Amazing challenging art. 10/10 BUT if you are not sure this is for you, it isn’t.

2024 - R - 7/10 - Another Caveat-like puzzle box.

Heretic is a claustrophobic little movie with a couple of Mormon missionaries being asked to question their faith. To get them to do this, they are locked in a house with a would-be convert played by Hugh Grant whose challenges puts them through a harrowing experience. The excellent use of the square footage of the house is reminiscent of Caveat as we find out what is behind every door. I am a sucker for great production design and this one-location puzzle-box house subgenre is winning me over.

2025 - R - 6/10 - Not a live action Charlie the Unicorn.

It is hard to not give any movie with Paul Rudd a couple of bonus points for his likability alone but, ultimately, this movie was just alright. Light on the jokes and themes and characters… there is fun to be had here but it feels like more fluff than substance. Not bad but not something I can’t see us rewatching a lot. That is basically all I have to say about DoaU so, while I have space, you should really check out Wanderlust if you haven’t seen it. Great R-rated comedy with Rudd at his best.

2024 - PG - 8/10 - Another great Pattinson project.

While some of Mickey 17 is predictable given the premise, it is hard to describe this movie as anything but suprising. Given some of Bong Joon Ho’s movies you may not expect this to be as silly as it is. Putting in another “I can’t imagine anyone else as this character” performance, Pattinson owns this role with a surprising amount of physical comedy, heart, and humanity. Spoilers but, I have to say, having Pattinson confirm a scene that reminded me of Ren and Stimpy was inspired by the duo was hilarious.

1997 - PG-13 - 9/10 - Leo’s Big Boat Adventure.

Let’s get this out of the way: James Cameron knows how to make a big-budget crowd pleaser. It is easy to see why this is one of the biggest movies of all time. The movie is about 3 hours long and the ship hits the iceberg right at halfway through. That gives you two movies: the first half is a competently written and shot movie of a crowd-pleasing love story. The second half is a harrowing spectacle that brings the tragedy and horror of The Titanic to life. If you only know this movie from the memes, fix that!

1985 - PG - 10/10 - One boy’s quest to get his bike back.

Considered a classic by most Millenials, this movie holds up as an ode to the name calling, oversized sliverware, and scary Large Marge moments of childhood. The character of Pee-wee is not an adult but is a 5-year old boy’s idea of the coolest adult: cool bike, can go to the magic shop alone, has a house full of toys and wacky devices… Once you see the movie through those eyes, the story of this rebel loner’s cross-country quest to get his bike back feels like the biggest adventure a kid could imagine.

2020 - R - 8/10 - Oddity’s bigger, badder brother.

This movie is built on a premise that would ruin it if it wasn’t the title and spoiled in the trailer. The main character agrees to a task that has a caveat that no sane person would agree to BUT once you grant the movie that one thing, the rest of the character’s actions are believable as we descend into a nightmare. Tense, frightening, and filled with foreshadowing as the director pays off every inch of the unique setting of the film. Whiile Oddity felt claustrophobic, this movie builds throughout, adding layers as it goes.

2024 - R - 9/10 - Yeah… this one was… yup.

This is a movie about relationships that exist in an almost unspoken way. One where both men say a lot but neither man says much verbally about their relationship as they communicate through the shared experience of the journey. Without commenting on whether or not they have a healthy relationship, it feels very true-to-life. The movie explores the pros and cons of each character’s outlook. While it is very understated, this is a movie that forces you to think about how you approach the world and why.

This is our newsletter so I am going to allow us to nerd out for a minute. Late last year, Joe and I were lucky enough to catch Rhys Darby’s stand up at Helium in St. Louis. After the set, there was no time for a meet and greet but Rhys hung around for just a minute shaking hands. As Joe cut through the tables, he caught Rhys just before he retreated to the green room. Joe gave Rhys a Thrills Ville shirt said a few things and walked away with a huge smile.

Now, fast forward 3 months to the other day when, to our surprise, Joe caught a glimpse of something on a recent episode of Rhys’s podcast The Cryptid Factor. Rhys was sporting the Thrills Ville shirt! Our little logo made it all the way to New Zealand and probably caused more than one or two people watching Cryptid Factor to go “huh, wonder what that shirt is?” Joking aside, it was really cool to see the shirt make an appearance. But enough about that, let’s talk cryptids!

So, if you don’t know what a cryptid is, from Wikipedia:

Cryptids are animals or other beings that cryptozoologists believe may exist somewhere in the wild, but whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated by science.

A cryptozoologist is, basically, someone who searches for or studies cryptids. The Cryptid Factor is a podcast they describe as “Three best buddies dedicated to all things weird that are yet to be defined by science.” Basically, it is three pleasant kiwis talking about whatever and being pleasant. You shoud really do yourself a favor and check it out. They started in 2013, so there is plenty of backlog to chew on if are looking for something new to listen to for several hours a week!

Back in our part of the globe, if you don’t know, the Piasa Bird is a famous local cryptid. Originally discovered as a Native American painting on the bluffs outside of Alton, Illinois, the Piasa Bird is a legendary dragon that patrolled the Mississippi. If you haven’t, head to the Great River Road and behold the restored painting on the bluffs. 

Speaking of cryptids, did you know that Thrills Ville has a wide selection of cryptid merch? And not just Bigfoot-related. Stop on by for all your “not yet confirmed by science” merch needs or maybe just a Thrills Ville shirt to match your new favorite podcaster!

Joe got older! To celebrate, we threw a party at the store complete with snacks, balloons, and a band!

Thanks to Low Water Mark for Ghosts rocking the store and all those who came out throughout the day to celebrate! If you missed it, don’t worry, we are already scheming on another appearance for the band in the coming months.

Checkout a live performance video for Low Water Mark for Ghosts’s single Collision Course filmed during the party and edited by our friend Byron from Hotson Media on our YouTube channel!

2019 - R - 10/10 - Eggers’ slow-burn Lovecraftian masterpiece.

In The Lighthouse, Eggers perfected a stunning vision of madness. His second film found him fixing the small pacing, editing, and narrative flaws that divided people on The Witch. The movie is hard to categorize as it is a weird intense character study focusing on two men stranded in a lighthouse until they (or something unseen) drive them insane. It is extremely entertaining to ride along as Dafoe and Pattinson turn in tour-de-force performances becoming increasingly unhinged and detached from reality.

2023 - R - 7/10 - Nic Cage in another ‘good but not great’ movie.

Lately Cage can be hit-or-miss. This is very nearly another hidden gem. His character starts appearing in everyone’s dreams which leads to a plot loosely about cancel culture but missing a clear opinion. The result is unfocused as the main premise branches off to several ideas, none explored too deeply. By the end, it feels like watching part of 4 decent movies but fails to fully tie things together in a satisfying way. This is one that others will say I am too harsh on but it is frustratingly close to being a great film.