FH Mini 153 - Tops and Flops

Smalltember winds are blowing in, and this year the currents brought us a doozy. SURFER: TEEN CONFRONTS FEARhas already become a new bad movie classic, and we had a lot of fun(?) confronting this strange object that arrived at Flop House central like a beached whale. It's a metaphysical monologue! It's a stealth religious film! It's a military thriller! It's a surfing movie! It's a dad wasting his kid's time! It's a way to use up old home movies by sneaking them into your narrative film! It's all this and much more!FLOP TV SEASON FOUR'S BIG PREMIERE is tomorrow, 9/5! Go pick up a pass for individual episodes or the whole dang season! And if you live in the Louisville area and want to see us live NOT through your computer screen, come to our show at Whirling Tiger in September!Stay updated on all things Flop House, plus a little extra, with our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets! And please give us a FIVE STAR REVIEW. For an aging show like ours, all the attention truly helps us keep and grow our audience!No Wikipedia page for Surfer: Teen Confronts Fear, but here's a Screen Slate article!Recommended in this episode:Dan: Manhunter: The Final Cut (1986, 2026)Stu: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)Elliott: My Dinner with Andre (1981) Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop

We welcome Ian Grant, who -- in addition to having two Jurassic Park scientist names -- is the owner and proprietor of The Gremlins Museum! We discuss the 3-hour(ish) rough cut he unearthed and cleaned up, gremlin preservation, and all things Gremlins in general. Tickets for FLOP TV SEASON FOUR are now live! Go pick up a pass for individual episodes or the whole dang season! And if you live in the Louisville area and want to see us live NOT through your computer screen, come to our show at Whirling Tiger in September! Subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets! It’s the best way to keep up on all things Flop House! And please leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen). It helps us keep the podcast healthy! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop

Charli XCX is a huge pop star, seems cool, and is a genuine film lover -- but when she decided to make her own movie, were the results any good? That's what we were wondering about THE MOMENT, and we invited star of the show (and bigger Charli XCX-pert than any of us) Hallie Haglund back to the show to help us decide. Tickets for FLOP TV SEASON FOUR are now live! Go pick up a pass for individual episodes or the whole dang season!  And if you live in the Louisville area and want to see us live NOT through your computer screen, come to our show at Whirling Tiger in September! Stay updated on all things Flop House, plus a little extra, with our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets! Wikipedia page for The Moment Recommended in this episode: Dan: Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) Stu: The Furious (2025) Elliott: Last Temptation of Christ (1988) Hallie: The Proposal (2009) Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop

Stuart brings back the world's most popular Flop House after-show, hosted by one of the hosts of The Flop House, and this time Hallie's here (her presence makes more sense when you realize that we taped next week's full episode with her first, but this one was the first to release). This time, Stu asks The Flop House gang about their experiences with live shows, with some diversions into Dan, Elliott, and Hallie's tenure as writers for The Daily Show! Tickets for FLOP TV SEASON FOUR are now live! Go pick up a pass for individual episodes or the whole dang season! And if you live in the Louisville area and want to see us live NOT through your computer screen, come to our show at Whirling Tiger in September! Subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets! It’s the best way to keep up on all things Flop House! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop

Shocktober threatens to break the bounds of the fall, with this unexpected incursion into August. This aggression will not stand! Watch yourself, Shocktober! Anyway, on this episode we discuss The Mummy. The one with Brendan Fraser? No. The one with Tom Cruise? No. The one with Boris Karloff? No, silly, LEE CRONIN'S THE MUMMY. He wrote his name on it with Sharpie before putting it in the fridge! Tickets for FLOP TV SEASON FOUR are now live! Go pick up a pass for individual episodes or the whole dang season! And if you live in the Louisville area and want to see us live NOT through your computer screen, come to our show at Whirling Tiger in September! Stay updated on all things Flop House, plus a little extra, with our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets! Paste https://feeds.simplecast.com/EOAFriME into iTunes (or your favorite podcatching software) to have new episodes of The Flop House delivered to you directly, as they’re released. Wikipedia page for Lee Cronin's The Mummy Recommended in this episode: Dan: Stalker (1979), A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969) Stu: Kill (2023) Elliott: The Secret Agent (2025) Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop

Elliott guides us through an overview of movies with "summer" in the title, and asks us to evaluate them based on our own summertime experiences. Tickets for FLOP TV SEASON FOUR are now live! Go pick up a pass for individual episodes or the whole dang season! And if you live in the Louisville area and want to see us live NOT through your computer screen, come to our show at Whirling Tiger in September! Subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets! It’s the best way to keep up on all things Flop House! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop

Way back in the winter we stopped by SF Sketchfest to discuss the film that gave us the mental image of Dana Carvey in a turtle suit, solemnly remembering the victims of 9/11 -- THE MASTER OF DISGUISE. Join us as we discuss the astounding/sometimes racist adventures of Pistachio Disguisey! And thank you to the wonderful folks at Cobb's Comedy Club for hosting us yet again! Paste https://feeds.simplecast.com/EOAFriME into iTunes (or your favorite podcatching software) to have new episodes of The Flop House delivered to you directly, as they’re released. Wikipedia page for Master of Disguise Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop

Proving that Stuart's not the only one who can do a lore deep dive, Dan takes us on a tour of one of his more oddball obsessions, the 1985 cartoon series Jem, and it's one of our longest minis ever. Truly, truly, truly outrageous! Subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets! It’s the best way to keep up on all things Flop House! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop

Oftentimes on The Flop House we wind up watching Hollywood movies that are just kind of dull or mediocre or unimaginative. The Bride!... is not one of those. For all its flaws, it's at least a bona fide personal vision that also happens to be a fiasco. And you know what? That's kind of heartwarming. We're joined by Kenice Mobley to dissect (ha) the many parts that make up The Bride! And if you like Kenice, check out The Hot Guy Draft in August! Stay updated on all things Flop House, plus a little extra, with our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets! Wikipedia page for The Bride! Recommended in this episode: Dan: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Stu: Exit 8 (2025) Elliott: The Straight Story (1999) Kenice: Lisa Frankenstein (2024) Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop

Stuart takes us on a tour of several significant movie directors, asking Dan and Elliott to guess which of their works are top rated on IMDb and which ones take the bottom slot, and discussing whether the rankings are justified. Subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets! It’s the best way to keep up on all things Flop House! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop