Episode Two 12-22-25

Good Morning,

we’re back for week two. How’s that for longevity? Of course we can’t hold a candle to the Frankenstein franchise which first premiered in 1910, directed by J. Searle Dawley. Since then 432 other Frankensteins have made the theatrical rounds concluding (so far) with 2025s Guillermo del Toro offering. 115 years of longevity. Frankenstein is a show-off.

On December 26th 1973 The Exorcist opened in 25 theaters.  Despite the studio thinking the movie would not do well, and amid mixed reviews (this is what happens when you ask a non-horror fan to review a horror movie) audiences waited in long lines in cold weather to see Ragan vomit in living color. The cultural conversation around the film led to it being the first horror film nominated for an Academy Award for Best picture as well as nine other nominations. Yep, this one was a real head-turner.

Did you recognize the fabulously decorated house we showed last week? Seems The Bates’ have a flair for dramatic lighting. Enjoy it from afar. Don’t go inside. Even though it’s the holidays, they’re not very hospitable.

Let’s face it, no holiday food is as polarizing as fruitcake. I get it. I’m a hater. But when I was a kid I loved fruitcake.  My Dad was a baker, and I can still remember the first time he told us he was going to make a fruitcake. We didn’t even know what it was, but it sounded wonderful. Just observing the time and care he put into his ingredients had our little mouths watering for weeks before Christmas. And, yes, his fruitcake was fruity, moist and delicious.

But most of the fruitcakes I’ve tried since I’ve grown up have been thick wads of flavorless goo.   So, yeah, I’m a detractor.  Below is our fruitcake poll. I’m curious as to where you come out. I don’t think there’ll be many in the middle. This one is a live poll so check back again at the end of the week. If there’s something more you’d like to add, pop it in an email

This week the YouTube channel again takes on New York City’s most famous Toy store. My advice when holiday-shopping, don’t follow this guy’s lead.

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$60,000

That’s the reported production budget of The Blair Witch Project — a film that went on to earn nearly $250 million worldwide and permanently changed how horror is marketed, monetized, and myth-built.

Why it still matters:
Every viral campaign, found-footage revival, and “is this real?” horror rollout owes something to that number.

Because nothing says “holiday spirit” like a homicidal mime in a Santa suit.

If you’re new to the Terrifier universe — first of all, welcome. Please keep your arms, legs, and sense of security inside the ride at all times. What began as a scrappy indie slasher with a shoestring budget and a killer clown whose dental plan appears to be “rusty hacksaw,” has ballooned into one of horror’s most improbable success stories.

Created by writer/director/special-effects sicko (term of endearment) Damien Leone, the series stars Art the Clown — a silent, smiling, grease-paint gargoyle with the etiquette of a raccoon in your kitchen at 3 AM and the efficiency of a serial killer who actually went to business school.

📀 Terrifier (2016): The Little Slasher That Could

The first Terrifier arrived like a middle-of-the-night knock on your door: unexpected, unwelcome, and still you can’t look away. The plot is thinner than Art’s eyebrows, but what it lacks in story it makes up for in practical gore FX that made seasoned horror fans clutch their pearls (and the MPAA clutch its EpiPen).

🪓 Terrifier 2 (2022): The Sequel That Shouldn’t Have Worked… But Did

Leone doubled the runtime, doubled the budget (still tiny), and tripled the body count. And somehow? It became the word-of-mouth horror sensation of the year, sending audience members running to the restroom while others bought return tickets like they were boarding Space Mountain.

New franchise MVP Sienna Shaw emerged — the angel-winged, cosplay-ready Final Girl who now ranks in the top tier of 21st-century horror heroines.

🎄 Terrifier 3 (2024): Art the Clown Stole Christmas

And now we arrive at the present — literally. Terrifier 3 is a full-blown holiday horror bloodbath, a “Christmas movie” in the same sense that Die Hard is a Christmas movie, if John McClane were a mime with a bone saw.

Leone leans all the way into seasonal carnage: snowy suburbs, twinkling lights, yuletide cheer, and a silent clown Santa who absolutely does not check his list twice. Fans and critics alike have praised the movie for being both the most ambitious and the most spectacularly deranged chapter in the series.

Expect:

🎁 Why We’re Spotlighting It
Because this is indie horror at its most audacious, DIY, and fan-fueled. The Terrifier films aren’t for the timid, but they’ve carved (sorry) out a place in modern genre history by doing things the major studios wouldn’t dare.

Also? A slasher Christmas movie with a killer mime Santa is the kind of unhinged festive energy we at The Grudge can’t resist.

🧨 The Grudge Takeaway

Whether you love the franchise or watch it through the cracks of your fingers, Terrifier 3 proves one thing:

Horror doesn’t need permission — just imagination, practical FX, and a clown with a wildly flexible moral code.

Where to watch:
Stream for free on Tubi or Pluto.

On December 20^th 1996 the most commercially successful, culturally impactful horror movie release opened scaring up loads of holiday horror. Can you name the movie?

Correct answer is at the bottom. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Don’t peek.

Movies & TV — dates noted where unconfirmed

(Availability can vary by region; links point to official platforms or current distributor pages.)

If something follows you out of this issue,
that’s on you.
See you next week.

🎮 The answer to Horror Movie Trivia is: Scream

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