Still Up All Night

It's a surprisingly deep debut for Grindhouse-obsessed director Frank Henenlotter, who pulls off a horror movie miracle with a micro-budget and an unknown cast. Travis and Rob discuss the sexual desires of the half-man/half-creature antagonist and the ethical dilemmas created when a deformed conjoined twin is forcibly removed from your person in Episode 25: Basket Case!

What better way to wrap up the 1980s than with Heather Locklear's attempt to move from TV to movies? It's a messy narrative with the villain as the film's protagonist and the sequel to 1982's Swamp Thing looks a lot different than Wes Craven's original vision of the DC Comics superhero. Travis and Rob discuss how a former Bond villain saves the movie in Episode 24: The Return of Swamp Thing!

We hit the trails for an obscure mid-80s Western comedy starring "the filthiest person alive" and People magazine's Drag Queen of the Century, Divine. The rest of the cast features a blend of aging stars and not-yet-famous names you'll surely recognize. Travis and Rob discuss how John Waters could have saved the film and why 1985 might have been the last great year society will ever have in Episode 23: Lust in the Dust!

It's probably the least-known of the "Two Coreys" filmography, with a bizarre supporting cast that includes several veterans and an "Out of This World" co-star! Travis and Rob try their best to make sense of this comedy/parody/satire, even if it kills them! They explain why they love the premise but hate the execution in Episode 22: National Lampoon's Last Resort!

It's one of Troma's early sex comedy tetralogy and a tribute to Mel Brooks! Travis and Rob examine the complicated life of "The Professor" Irwin Corey, question what happened to the movie's stars, and discuss the effectiveness of chicken porn in Episode 21 Stuck on You!

This low-budget cult classic packs a mighty punch while paving the way for future satire that includes Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! With a long-awaited sequel just released now is the perfect time to revisit this USA Up All Night staple. Travis and Rob introduce you to the formidable trio of Scream Queens that team up for the first time ever and discuss why making the most of a limited budget isn't always a good thing in Episode 20: Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama!

It's a two-for-one holiday special in a special Halloween episode, a horror movie set on Valentine's Day! Travis and Rob explain the "holiday serial killer trend" of the early 1980s, discuss exactly why this film could and should have been so much better, and introduce you to quite possibly the best horror-inspired folk song of all time in Episode 19: My Bloody Valentine!

Cannon caught lightning in a bottle with the first Kickboxer, so of course, they made eight of them, and it all starts going downhill with this one. The film tries to tackle the global issue of sex trafficking using a dumbed-down protagonist and ridiculous narrative. Travis and Rob discuss the bad early-90s fashion, video game-inspired fight scenes, and question why a movie with kickboxing in the name has so much gunplay in Episode 18: Kickboxer 3!

Are we daring to say this bizarre B movie released by Troma set the stage for Thelma & Louise two years later? Co-host and resident Still Up All Night film professor Travis Yates argues that yes it does! So why isn't it talked about more? Travis and Rob dive into a strange narrative filled with so many oddities that the message gets lost in translation and explain how the feminist meaning behind the film is hidden amidst the spectacle of blind orphans and battery-powered zombies in Episode 17: Chopper Chicks in Zombietown!

It's the movie that put Troma Entertainment on the map and created a B movie superhero for the ages, The Toxic Avenger! With a remake on the horizon, Travis and Rob give a history of Troma and how Toxie spawned a franchise that includes three sequels, an animated series, and a musical. They also discuss Troma's ties to Oliver Stone and what served as inspiration for the Toxie character in Still Up All Night: The Toxic Avenger!

Can a silly B movie embed a serious message if you look deep enough? Travis and Rob analyze the sell-your-soul-to-the-devil narrative of Hunk, reveal the film's ties to the Golden Age of Hollywood, and discuss the curious case of writer/director Lawrence Bassoff in Still Up All Night: Hunk!

It's The Cannon Group's first attempt at a big blockbuster movie! They had the director of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the cinematographer from Return of the Jedi, so what went wrong? Travis and Rob explain how space vampires almost worked and how Cannon could have changed the face of Hollywood forever if they only played by the rules in Episode 14: Lifeforce!

It's an obscure 1980s teen sex comedy with no sex and little comedy. Travis and Rob explain why this film was a terrible fit for USA Up All Night, try to do some basic math to make sense of the plot, and make the case for why we need more Bonnie Hellman in Episode 13: Snowballing!

It's our one-year super radical bodacious anniversary episode! There's so much to unpack in this episode, it's as if the filmmaker decided to take the best from each teen movie genre and cram it all into one nonsensical movie! Travis and Rob try to crack the code and discover the formula used for the movie, including borrowing from some classics like The Breakfast Club and Can't Buy Me Love. It's a treasure trove of unnamed actors and some insane IMDB reviews in Episode 12: Hot Times at Montclair High!

It's a John Hughes-esque film on a shoestring budget! Travis and Rob debate on if the film should be considered a holiday movie, explain how the film almost wasn't made, and discuss if girlfriends are a better purchase than telescopes (or microscopes) in Episode 11: Can't Buy Me Love! 

There's so much to say about this movie, yet somehow it left both Travis and Rob speechless. Seemingly inspired by The Warriors, A Clockwork Orange, and Mad Max yet looking nothing like any of them, Surf Nazis Must Die struggles to find a plot. When it finally does, it comes from the unlikeliest of places! Travis and Rob explain why surfing might be the next great mode of transportation in Episode 10: Surf Nazis Must Die!  

Terror awaits a group of partiers that stumble across an abandoned home of a sorcerer. For some reason, the horrors include flatulent muck men, a spider lady, and a werecat. It's a movie so good (bad) it took almost four years and two separate film crews to make! The story behind the film is better than the movie itself, and Travis and Rob postulate the film served as inspiration for future classics such as Seven and Stepbrothers. Find out why in Still Up All Night: Spookies. 

Scientists searching for a way to feed the world instead create a formula that makes beer irresistible to everyone. They're faced with the existential crisis of taking the money for their discovery or stealing it back for the good of society. The filmmakers that also brought us the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes franchise are conducting their own experiment, seeking to discover if B-level comedies can also include influential social messaging. Rob and Travis attempt to make sense of a convoluted narrative and tell you which two actors absolutely steal the show in Still Up All Night: Sour Grapes.

A film crew returns to the scene where gruesome murders took place inside a school to re-enact the killings for a horror film. What they don't know is that they are not alone. What the audience doesn't know is that this B-movie produced by New World Pictures was way ahead of its time. A Scream-like homage to B-horror films with a Christopher Nolan-esque narrative, Return to Horror High has all the ambition of a major motion picture, but the shoestring budget means it doesn't all translate to the screen. Travis and Rob make sense of it all and try to figure out if it's the Citizen Kane of B-movies, or just more New World Pictures schlock in Still Up All Night: Return to Horror High.

Iowa frat boys descend upon Palm Springs, California, for a week of debauchery. They eventually make a bet over who can "get" a girl first...what could go wrong? Travis and Rob break down this early Tim Robbins film and discuss how it went from endearing to cringe-worthy through the lens of age and changing times in Still Up All Night: Fraternity Vacation.

It may be Roddy Piper's first starring role in Hollywood, but the girls steal the show in New World Pictures' Hell Comes to Frogtown! Travis and Rob explain how the film's directors and writer have ties to Ron Howard and James Cameron, discuss an actor's motivation when playing a mutant frog, and argue why this might be the best B movie in the entire USA Up All Night lineup in Still Up All Night: Hell Comes to Frogtown!

The first of six B movies in the Vice Academy series, made famous largely in part to a former adult film star going mainstream. So much hair, makeup, and bad acting! Vice Academy also features the first band to ever be streamed live online! Travis and Rob examine the film's scream queens, sad graduation scene, and odd stakeout habits in Still Up All Night: Vice Academy!

This whopper of a B movie mixes elements from all sorts of 80s movies, features a Seinfeld alum, and ended up being a staple of USA Up All Night. Travis and Rob get their hands dirty trying to explain the incoherent narrative, odd character behaviors, and why they still think it's a movie worth staying up all night for in Still Up All Night: Sorority Girls and the Creature from Hell!

Just after almost hitting it big with the role of Kelly Bundy on Married With Children, Tina Caspary was busy chasing her mom around town in My Mom's A Werewolf. Travis and Rob discuss the strange case of Caspary's acting career, inconsistencies of werewolf lore in the film's narrative, and the disgusting toe-sucking scene in Still Up All Night: My Mom's A Werewolf!

Travis and Rob celebrate the films of USA Up All Night, beginning with the 1983 movie Joysticks! How did this sexploitation film secure the rights to Pacman? What scene potentially inspired Footloose? And what minor character deserves a sequel? We answer these questions and more in Still Up All Night: Joysticks!