Christmas Evil (1980) / Ep. 10 Projexploitation

It's that time of year again! Nick and Dan sit down in front of the fireplace and reflect on what the holiday season means to Harry Stadling, the protagonist of Lewis Jackson's classic yuletide feature, Christmas Evil (aka You Better Watch Out). Be good to each other, and we'll be back next year. Otherwise, Santa will be coming for you...
TIMECODES:
00:00:00 / An excerpt from "The Fool-Killer" by O. Henry, read by Sharon from Whores Talk Horror
00:02:21 / Theme Song
00:03:40 / Episode Start
00:05:00 / Film discussion: Christmas Evil (1980)
01:06:39 / Intermission
01:08:16 / Film discussion continues
01:47:46 / Segment: The A-List
 
An important correction: at one point Nick makes a boneheaded joke about Harry and Phillip not to be confused with "Diana's children." This is because Nick has seen like 3 episodes of The Crown and recently watched Spencer (twice, actually, it was quite good!), and frankly knows very little about the Royal Family but knew those two names were related to Diana in some capacity. My apologies to the entire country of England for accidentally mixing up her Father-In-Law and her sons. 
 
LINKS
First off, we give much thanks to Sharon, co-host of "Whores Talk Horror", for providing her stupendous vocal talents to this episode’s intro; she's performing a section taken from O Henry's short story "The Fool-Killer". "Whores Talk Horror" is on hiatus as of a few days ago, but they have 126 entertaining &, dare we say it, enriching episodes available to listen to. Sharon & Mindy, besties since 3rd grade, talk about everything from horror movies, the paranormal, true crime, & even "Twin Peaks" & David Lynch, so what are you waiting for? Go get creepy with them!
https://linktr.ee/whorestalkhorror
Sharon is also associate producer (along with her lovely husband Spencer) of "Unplugged", the upcoming full-length animated feature film starring Christina Ricci, Ed Asner, Lou Gossett Jr, Jeri Ryan, Sheryl Lee & Dana Ashbrook (the latter 2 being of "Twin Peaks" fame). Now that's one whole hell of a lot of vocal talent right there! Check it out here:
https://linktr.ee/unpluggedfilm
To read "The Fool-Killer", the original O Henry story that's excerpted in the opening of this episode, click here:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1444/1444-h/1444-h.htm
For the equally worthy Stephen Vincent Benét short story "Johnny Pye & The Fool-Killer", look here:
https://archive.org/details/johnnypyeandthefoolkiller
For more on Jesse Holmes The Fool-Killer, check out Edward Wozniak's "Balladeer's Blog" here:
https://glitternight.com/2019/03/26/fool-killer-neglected-american-folklore/
(One caveat: We don't endorse his politics.)
For Nick's beautiful review of "Christmas Evil", go here:
https://letterboxd.com/affrosponge88/film/christmas-evil/
(No caveat: We definitely endorse his politics, because one of us is him.)
For more on the Niagara Falls "Foolkiller" contraption & its inventor's daredevilry, check out "The Constant" podcast here: https://www.constantpodcast.com/episodes/the-foolkiller-pt-1-tears-falling-from-the-sky
To get your copy of Spectacular Optical Publication's impeccably assembled book "Yuletide Terror: Christmas Horror On Film & Television", go here:
https://www.spectacularoptical.ca/2018/11/yuletide-terror/
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