The Friday Nightmares Podcast

Hello, everyone, and welcome to The Friday Nightmares Podcasts Awards Show of 2025, and also the bittersweet final episode that we will be recording.

But I am one half of your hosting team this evening, Mr.

Smoke Show Crawford, coming to you from the town of Swartz Creek, in the county of Genesee, in the state of Michigan, in the United States of America, in the North American continent, in the Western Hemisphere, on the planet Earth, in the Milky Way Galaxy.

I'm fully faxed, boosted and waxed, and ready to climax, and if you can, please get me wet and feed me after midnight.

I'm the man with the glorious beard, aka the mother of cats, aka the man with the humongous ego, aka Scott Howzen, aka Scotty Tew Hotty, aka Spanky, and aka still one-half of the premium podcasting duo that is and will always forever be The Friday Nightmares Podcast.

And with me as always is...

Heather Powell coming to you today from Waterdown, Ontario, Canada.

And Scott and I have always opened this podcast with Good Evening, but the cat's out of the bag.

I don't know when the last time was that Scott and I recorded it in the evening.

We just all assume you listen at night, I guess, is what the assumption we made for the past five years is that no one listens during the day.

That we're more of a dirty secret that you don't want anyone to know about.

Exactly.

You're listening quietly in your room late at night with the lights off.

No one can judge me.

Hiding your shame.

That's well, which is what Scott and I have done for many years now when it comes to all the movies we've watched and though it's been such a flex, I don't know about you, but there's been many times I'm like, oh, well, have you seen Enter random found footage film that I watched in 2022?

Then I'm like, I see.

I guess you're not really a horror fan.

I always get the one at work.

Hey, have you seen this insert horror film?

Oh yeah, years ago.

You're like, please, peasant.

Do you not know who I fucking am?

You know, I am the smoke show.

Come on now.

Right.

And it's, I don't know if this has happened to you, but over the years people, it comes out that I have a podcast.

I don't lead with it.

I'll be very honest.

I don't.

SPEAKER_3: It is like our dirty little secret.

And they'll be like, oh, about what?

And I'm like, oh, horror movies.

And they're like, horror movies?

I'm like, no.

Well, that would be fun to talk about too.

But no, horror, because I don't always pronounce things well.

And they're like, oh, like, you know, that Jason guy and like, you know, the Halloween shit.

I'm like, yeah, yeah, like like that.

And they're like, oh, and like, it changes how people look at you.

They're kind of like, oh, like either they're really interested or they're like, something's fucking wrong with you.

Pretty much.

That's so much.

But it's funny, because, yeah, most of the time I would not even like you said, lead in with the podcast thing.

I talk about it very rarely.

But I come to find out my mom talked about it quite a bit.

Oh, no.

Yeah, my son does a podcast.

You should go check it out.

This is that if you're in the horror movies, I'm going, oh, no, you should check it out.

SPEAKER_3: We're like, actually, you should not check it out.

Just be prepared for no shame and unfiltered.

Really inappropriate conversation.

Well, here we are.

I believe we recorded our first episode January 3rd, was it?

I believe so, yes.

In 2020, and we are finishing off today on New Year's Day.

It just happened to work out that way.

That wasn't planned.

Scott and I don't plan to shave our heads when we're doing the podcast.

We were actually trying to record like right after Christmas.

We were, but fucking family commitments, you know, fucking family.

Damn holidays.

Fucking holidays.

So this is almost six years to the day that we started this journey.

By the time they hear this, it will be six years because-

It will be seven years, yeah.

Probably seven years.

Well, actually, just because I have an extended vacation, or not vacation, but extended holiday break, it will probably come out just a couple of days after we finish the recording because I have extra time right now.

Well, there you go.

So people will actually hear this on our six-year anniversary to which we're breaking up, which makes sense.

We're not getting married.

Scott married someone else.

SPEAKER_4: Yep.

So, you know, we've we put our time in and, you know, this just isn't for us anymore.

We've lost that love and feeling for 2025 more movies.

Yeah.

And my numbers show.

I know.

You know, we talk about numbers.

It makes us sound like how many people we banged, right?

Oh, sometimes sometimes I think I'll like moving forward.

I may just be like, yeah, my numbers for this year is 80 to just see how people react.

Do you know what I mean?

To be that number or what?

I'll be like, if you know, you know.

Oh, I love it.

But yes.

Sorry.

Go ahead.

I'll say it's funny that you said 80 because yeah, I hit seventy nine.

See, I told you, you weren't going to make 100.

You're like, I'm seventy two.

I'm going to make 100.

I'm like, you are not.

No, no, no.

You are not going to do that.

I think I made it to one hundred and five.

Let me double check.

Letterboxd had some up and also Letterboxd stopped doing fucking updates.

I'm really I got comfortable with you.

I knew how you worked.

Well, I knew that we were ending the show.

So it's like, let's just finish this off so they don't have to worry about dealing with this crap anymore, even though I'm still going to log my stuff in.

Oh, yeah, me too, because you never stop being a premium podcaster even when you stop podcasting.

Exactly.

And plus, I'm just a list nerd.

So of course, I'll be doing this.

Totally right.

Yeah, I did 105 films compared to 170 in 2024, compared to 189 in 2023.

And then our first year, what did we do?

Oh, gee, God, 230.

SPEAKER_3: How the fuck did I even watch 230 films?

SPEAKER_3: COVID pandemic.

That's why.

SPEAKER_4: Yeah.

Let me see if I can find mine.

SPEAKER_4: Oops.

Let's go on back in time.

SPEAKER_4: All right.

So I started my letterbox lists started in 2019.

So I had 50 films in 2019.

Baby numbers, baby numbers.

233 in 2020.

I think we're trying to beat each other, weren't we?

SPEAKER_4: Yep.

Yeah.

SPEAKER_4: Yeah.

Yeah, we were trying to see who could get the most.

What losers?

Anyway.

2021 had 189.

Yeah, same.

Yeah.

Damn.

2022 had 208.

Yeah.

2023, 137, 2024, 114, and then yep, 79 for 2025.

You've been dropping for a while.

Yeah, I dropped, went up, then dropped steadily from there because I think I was just like, yeah, I don't have the time and I don't want to put myself through the torment of watching some of these movies.

Well, some of those times you're putting your torment yourself through dating.

So we're doing a different kind of poor movie until we met Erika and then we were like, thank god I found you.

That was me singing to her.

Though I feel bad that she's had to put up with some of the films.

I feel a little bad.

But she married you.

She fucking knew.

So you know, at this point, that's not bad.

SPEAKER_4: Exactly.

I was going to say, she already, like I said, I can't trust her judgment because she chose me.

Well, she chose the best.

Let's be realistic here, right?

Maybe not the best at selecting films, but one of the best men that exist in this planet.

SPEAKER_4: So she did.

You're one in a million, Scotty.

One in a million.

Even as we're breaking up today, I still know we can be friends.

Yeah, I was going to say, it's just not working out like it used to.

So yeah, just want to be friends.

SPEAKER_3: We've just lost that magic podcast feeling.

But hey, man, cheers to you for six years.

Yes.

Never thought we would do this for six years.

We started this just for fun, just for entertainment and a way to keep in touch.

And so blessed to have watched these films with you, discussed them with you, gone through all our personal stuff together as well.

Yes.

Good and bad, good and bad.

But we got us to where we are today.

So I'm excited to do these awards.

And I'll be honest, my top 10 this year was some low hanging fruit for some of those bottom ones.

Oh, really?

Well, Bambi, The Reckoning is one of my honorable mentions to give you an idea on how this year was.

But that was a good movie.

I liked it.

It was.

Yeah, I actually had like a like when I did my top 10 last night, I was like, Oh, I actually got a top 10 I'm very happy with.

Oh, I'm happy.

I just think other years, if I had watched more, it would have been more.

I don't know, like maybe this is the snobby part of me.

More unique, more, you know, posh posh.

And for me, I'm always like, for me, I always do the basic, I have a lot of the basic theatrical runs and then like maybe us two unique ones.

But one thing I did notice is, don't think I really had like a standout foreign film this year.

You know, I struggled with that if it hadn't been for me having Netflix.

Oh, yeah.

Right.

And I think that does is where, you know, one of the few times Netflix shines.

Actually, it's the only time Netflix shines.

Because they do a good job of picking up foreign films.

So there was one on Shudder that I'm surprised that you didn't rank, that you really liked.

Which one?

It was subtitled, Stepsister, The Ugly Stepsister.

Oh, I'll definitely be talking about that one because, yeah, I was just looking through my list and it's not in my top 10, but it definitely gets some love.

Okay.

Well, we'll start.

Let's, you know, enough of us ending.

Let's celebrate the times we have together and this year in 2025 horror.

And what a year it was.

It really was.

A year of sequels that didn't need to be made.

And some, yeah, I was going to say this year was interesting.

Have you seen the preview for Bone Temple 28 years ago?

Jesus fucking Christ.

I'm so glad we're not podcasting anymore because I'm not watching that.

I kind of want to watch it just to see where this dumpster fire goes.

Dumpster fire, like I pictured the meme in my head and it just says like 28 years later, rolling down the street because it's so like the last one was OK.

But when you're like, they're making more.

I'm like, they're making more.

Why are they fucking making more of this?

Like, it's just anyway.

Yeah.

Money be money, right?

Oh, 100 percent.

They apparently did well.

So yeah, lots of things did well this year.

Doesn't necessarily mean they're good.

Right.

No, you're not wrong there.

All right.

Let's get into this.

Oh, right.

Best.

Okay.

Well, our 2025 Horror Awards, Scott and I have different categories.

If you've listened to the years, we are creative with some of our categories.

Other categories are pretty basic bitch.

And then we do a top 10.

We do this to kind of give love out to other movies.

So we're not just talking about 10 movies.

We're talking about other movies that came out this year that may not make our top 10, but we feel need to be acknowledged for whatever reason.

Yeah, yeah, I was going to say, we kind of just go the gamut of horror films throughout the year and just give love to all sorts.

Yeah, and there's some some on here that probably people have forgotten about, not seen, that we like to give a little shout out to.

So best Shudder film of 2025.

Would you like to go first or would you like me to go first?

I'm curious.

I'll let you go first.

Well, I saw this movie at the beginning of the year.

You will hear about it again.

John Lithgow, Gregory Rush, fucking amazing performance.

I can't say enough about this film.

The Rule of Jenny Penn was my favorite Shudder release, and that came out in January or February of last year.

And my follow up was the creature feature Monster Island.

Oh, I very much enjoyed this film.

I thought the practical effects were mint, so to say.

And those were the two that stood out for me, though.

There was some other good stuff on Shudder this year.

Shudder actually had some really good movies that came out.

Those were just the two that were the highlights for me.

Yeah.

And I think this one, like, my big one, or my award, was not available on Canadian Shudder.

But I'll start off with my runner-up, which was The Rule of Jetty Penn, because...

Very nice.

Yeah.

It took me a while to watch, just because, you know, my stepdad has dementia and kind of going through a lot of the stuff that I've seen, a lot of these characters we're going through.

And it was a tough watch, so I didn't want to watch it right away.

But yeah, the performances alone make this movie stand out.

But my number one, my best Shudder film, though, and this is the one I think that Canadian Shudder did not get, but I know you would have probably put it on yours.

And that's good boy.

Yeah, we did get it eventually.

Oh, we did.

Yeah.

But yeah, and I like the other two more in what was offered on Shudder, right?

Yeah, but that's fair.

Yeah.

But a very good film.

Like not, well, we'll talk about it later, but like such a good indie, like indie, because that's the name of the dog, but also like indie film, like such a good film this year.

Oh, it definitely was.

Right.

Fuck you, Skin and Meringue.