Nature Trail to Hell

After the travesty of Bates Motel, we're going back – back to Anthony Perkins (and Henry Thomas) as Norman Bates, back to Robert Bloch as screenwriter, and back to Herrmann's Psycho string section. Strangely, we're still watching a TV movie – though it's a Showtime one so maybe it's classier than a failed TV pilot? Jordan and Stefan find out.

We interrupt our main line Psycho series to bring you this oddball entry, a TV movie from 1987 starring Bud Cort and Lori Petty. Or is it a failed TV pilot? What the f is this thing? And why is Jason Bateman here? Jordan and Stefan investigate this strange, strange duck.

The Norman Bates saga continues with the last of the main line theatrical releases! Jordan and Stefan were pleasantly surprised by the second installment – will their enthusiasm hold up as the series continues into the 1980s?

How do you follow up a stone-cold classic like Psycho? This better-than-it-has-to-be legacy sequel, arriving 23 years later in the midst of slasher-crazy 1983, attempts to answer this question, with surprising results. Stefan & Jordan dig into it.

It's a brand-new season of Nature Trail to Hell! Jordan and Stefan are going to dive into the Psycho series, beginning with Alfred Hitchcock's iconic original from 1960. Yes, Stefan has seen it, but only once and like, six years ago. But who's counting?

At long last, Jordan and Stefan watch the 2007 Spanish found footage film, REC – which may as well be a bonus episode for our Night of the Living Dead series! This is the final episode of our Paranormal Activity run, and we reveal which series we'll watch next for our upcoming season.

In 1992, seven years before the Blair Witch Project, the BBC aired a fictional ghost-hunting program – but didn't tell the British viewing audience that it was all staged. The show caused a real-life panic over the paranormal events that it depicted. Jordan and Stefan visit this haunted house for the first time – will they also lose their minds with fear? Also, boy is there a lot of talk about gloryholes, for mostly very innocent reasons.

For many, this is the grandaddy of all found footage films. While not the first, it certainly kickstarted the raft of films that followed in it. This time, Stefan has seen it but Jordan has not. Let's get lost in the woods!

Jordan and Stefan watch the Unknown Dimension documentary on the entire Paranormal Activity series and discuss the pleasures and frustrations of this highly uneven franchise. Plus a preview of the upcoming bonus episodes. Spoiler: there might be even more found footage in their future.

The series reboots (?) with an pandemic-era streaming movie. And maybe, just maybe, with a whole new visual language, setting, and mythology. Jordan and Stefan try to figure just what makes a Paranormal Activity movie a Paranormal Activity movie. Does this one count? Let's find out.