Screaming Soup!

Howdy there, Scream Freaks! It’s that sappy time o’ year ‘gain when folks reflect on everythin’ worth reminiscin’ ’bout and what better place to vent our tear jerkin’ thanks than here with y’all?

Most recent stuff first, we’re super thankful to the fine fellas at our favorite toy chest of yesteryear and today’s playful plastics, Toy Federation, and had an incredible time at their momentous event this past weekend, Retro Toy Con. It was a full weekend cuttin’ up with ol’ friends, networkin’ with new talents, and meetin’ excited Scream Freaks in person. 

We drew doodles of fans with their favorite pop icons from Michael Myers to G.I. Joe, haggled fer a buncha new wall art to hang at the Howl Inn Grub & Spirits, and had fun makin’ joke announcements over the intercom like requestin’ Sgt. Slaughter move his Sherman tank ‘fore it’s towed for bein’ double parked. The most memorable moments, however, had to be the accidental encounters we had sittin’ down with the celebrity guests over lunches. We got to shoot the breeze with Sgt. Slaughter fer a bite while talkin’ ’bout his amazin’ career from cameos on Super Mario Bros. Super Show to bein’ a He-Man figure this past year, then later found ourselves discussin’ the value of takin’ an actin’ class over pizza with Dan Gilvezan (voice of the original Transformers’ Bumblebee and Spider-Man from Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends) and François Chau (Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Secret of the Ooze). Freakin’ awesome!

One truly amazin’ thing we saw that could be a new trend on the horizon for cons is a mobile service that turns folks into their own action figure size statues! Yup, a little company called Shrunk 3D hauls a trailer ’round the country containin’ this sophisticated camera booth, and when someone steps inside, it instantly snaps every visible nook and cranny of their essence. Feedin’ that info into a super computer, the photos are then crunched into a 3D image over the next few weeks that’s eventually spit out of a 3D printer in uber detail, colors and all, and shipped back to its life-size doppelganger. Jumpin’ jack-o-lanterns, that’s cool as hell! With six different size figures to choose from, we so badly wanted to create our first ever Deadwest figure but ultimately decided our miniature lifelike double would come out a little too fragile and misshapen compared to the sweet hand sculpted look we imagine in our heads. Still though, a fantastic idea fer anyone who ever wants to immortalize themselves in plastic, so look this travelin’ business up in time fer the holidays!

We’re also thankful ‘gain fer the Silver Bolo Award we received from Joe Bob Briggs on Shudder’s The Last Drive-In. The announcement was made back in April this year durin’ the premier of The Last Drive-In‘s third season, but we just now got the silver painted bolo and certificate in the mail which was just as excitin’! We value this win so much, we made a copy of the certificate to show off at Retro Toy Con and proudly wore the Silver Bolo from our necks for all to see over the weekend. It’s now a permanent accessory with our attire!    

Somethin’ else we’re thankful fer is the new Ghostbusters flick not suckin’ and stickin’ with the canon of the first two movies which would have made up fer a lot of the problems we had with the 2016 version. Granted, we still had issues with the filmmakers recyclin’ the whole Gozer storyline, but it was still a fun and satisfyin’ return to a childhood favorite of ours.

GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE (2021)

Ditchin’ the Ghostbusters decades ago, Egon passes away on a dirt farm and leaves his inheritance to his grand young’ns he haunts into continin’ his fight as junior Ghostbusters’ gainst Gozer’s apocalyptic return. A fantastic sequel in spirit that keeps within the canon of the first two Ghostbuster flicks, this amazin’ lookin’ film boasts heartfelt actin’, stellar effects, one of the best scores since Back to the Future, and the triumphant return of the original paranormal eliminators I know and love for one brief moment. My only gripes with this sucker is I wish the filmmakers had come up with a whole new big bad to threaten the world ‘stead of recyclin’ Gozer and all his/her predictable plot points. I also didn’t like how quickly the story rushes to the final fight with Gozer as soon as the young’ns encounter their first free floatin’ booger, and the inclusion of Ivo Shandor was cool but pretty pointless overall. Spook chasin’, RC car ghost traps, spirit photography, possessions, spectral comets, ghost traps galore, CGI Egon, ghost chess, hidey hole puzzles, proton stream crossin’, slammer sequences, metal munchin’ boogers, terror dogs, mini-Marshmallow Men antics, Real Ghostbuster toy nods, soul pits, and ancient ruins! 4/5!

And finally, we’re thankful fer everyone who gave our show an opportunity this past year. We’re thankful fer Mr. Lobo, Sluggo, and Uncle Pete fer sharin’ it on their platforms. Thankful fer the fine folks at HorrorHound Magazine fer includin’ us as guest hosts at their virtual film festival. And most importantly, thankful to all you Scream Freaks fer watchin’ our show and sharin’ it with whoever would listen. All this has helped the show grow and fuel the creative fires fer us to continue doin’ what we love.  

Other than that, please show your support fer our show with donations through Patreon, Buy Me A Coffee, and Ko-fi, catch up on all past Screaming Soup! Seasons, check out this week’s Howl’n Hottie, read recent reviews for the newer horror films and comics we’re checkin’ out in our blogs, R-Rated Reviews and Sequential Slime, and help us get the word out about the web’s #1 animated horror host show! Please use our social buttons in the upper right corner of the site and follow our tweets, subscribe to our video channels, like our Facebook, watch and share all our vids, and keep that fan mail comin’. You can also warm up some Screaming Soup! leftovers with reruns currently playin’ on Beta Max TV, Sluggo’s The Vortexx, and Mr. Lobo’s OSI 74!

See ya later, Scream Freaks!