Beer and a Movie

Our surprise series of All Horror October episodes comes to a close with guest Adam Beam and a look at the state of horror in 2026. We highlight a handful of the year's standout films before diving into reviews of Obsession and Backrooms. Which movies have delivered the goods, which have benefited from the hype, and which are likely to stick with us long after the Halloween decorations come down?

Along the way, we discuss the year's horror landscape, the films worth seeking out, and what 2026 might be telling us about the genre's current direction.

We're pairing the conversation with Sierra Nevada's West Ghost IPA and Charro Mexican Pilsner as we bring four weeks of All Horror October to a close.

Four episodes. A whole lot of horror. One final round of beers.

Happy Halloween, horror fans! 🎃🍻

OG co-host Ethan Thompson returns for an All Horror October deep dive into four classics of science fiction and horror, with a twist: we're watching the originals and the remakes.

We revisit The Thing from Another World (1951) and John Carpenter's The Thing (1982), then compare the two adaptations of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 and 1978). Remakes are a horror staple, though too often they leave us wondering why anyone bothered. But these four films are the exception: all are wonderful, each bringing something distinctive to stories of paranoia, invasion, and the terrifying possibility that the people around us aren't who they seem.

Joe, Dave, and Ethan explore what changes between versions, what gets improved, what gets lost, and why these particular films have endured. It's a celebration of great horror filmmaking, a look at how the genre evolves across generations, and a reminder that sometimes Hollywood really can get a remake right.

Four films. Two legendary stories. One OG co-host back in the fold. Classics with a twist!

Horror anthologies have been terrifying audiences for decades, packing multiple tales of terror into a single film. From supernatural folklore and gothic nightmares to comic-book carnage, sometimes one monster just isn't enough.

Joe and Dave welcome Josh DeLeon for a discussion of three very different entries in the anthology conversation: Mario Bava's Black Sunday (1960), Masaki Kobayashi's Kwaidan (1964), and George A. Romero's Creepshow (1982).

For our Oktoberfest offering, we're pouring Shiner Festbier from Spoetzl Brewery, a traditional German-style lager brewed for the season. And to honor the ghost ships of Kwaidan, we're cracking open Ghost Ship Gose from Galveston Bay Brewing. Two beers, three films, and plenty of horror history to unpack.

Welcome to the second special episode of All Horror October!

WE’RE BACK, BABY!

We said we were done. Then All Horror October happened, and apparently, that was enough to drag us back into the studio for a surprise four-episode series! All horror every Wednesday this October. 

BaaM OG co-host Carlos Cooper joins us for a trip back to 1960 and two films that helped lay the groundwork for the modern slasher flick: Peeping Tom (1960) and Eyes Without a Face (1960).

We’ll dig into these two wildly different horror classics, their influence, their unsettling approach to horror, and why both deserve a place in the conversation about the movies that helped shape what horror would become.

And because Oktoberfests are an All Horror October tradition, we're keeping that part alive, too! This episode features Live Oak Brewing's Oaktoberfest and a very special 2022 St. Arnold Brewing Pumpkinator.

Four surprise episodes. Classic horror. Great beer. Old friends back around the microphones.

After 8 years, 900 beers, and more movie debates than we can possibly count…this is it — the final episode of Beer and a Movie.

Our last film — the one we could not end without reviewing — is The Legend of Billie Jean: the definitive film review of this underrated masterpiece and our love letter to Corpus Christi, the city where BaaM was created. The takes on Billie Jean get surprisingly heated

For the beers, we keep it meaningful. We start with Martin House Brewing’s Peace Be the Journey — a toast to the 8-year journey we’ve all been on together. Then Joe pulls out something truly special: Barreled Souls Brewing's Honey Pot, a gift from Dave over a decade ago, saved for exactly the right moment.

And because it’s the last one, we lean into it. We talk about what Beer and a Movie might’ve looked like if COVID hadn’t changed everything, shout out the many recurring guests who became part of the fabric of the show, and take time to say a genuine thank you to everyone who listened, supported, and shared a beer with us along the way.

Carlos is here to help send us off the right way, and in a perfect bit of full-circle timing, Joe’s long-dreamed-of guest finally makes an appearance: Dave’s wife, Errin, with a surprise pop-in that feels like it was always meant to happen.

It’s the end — so we let it be. One last conversation, one last round, and the only way we knew how to go out.

PS: Fair is fair.

It's our 400th (and penultimate) episode!! So we floor it into the chaos with a full-blown In The Cage episode—the sacred, unhinged tradition where every pick is pure, uncut Nicolas Cage energy. And for a moment this big, you bring back family: Carlos Cooper returns—our one-time permanent co-host turned every-50-episode chaos agent—to ride shotgun one more time before the finale.

Three hosts. Three Cage movies. No brakes.

Joe comes in hot with Gone in 60 Seconds—chrome, speed, and that mythical Eleanor gliding through traffic like a fever dream. Carlos zag-picks with Joe—gritty, stripped down, and proof that Cage can burn just as slow as he explodes. And Dave…Dave chooses violence with USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage—a war story soaked in sweat, sharks, and sheer Cage intensity.

The beers match the moment: we kick things off with Martin House Brewing Company’s Roadhouse Coffee, roll into the heavy artillery with Firestone Walker Brewing Company’s Firestone XXI Anniversary Ale, and finish like kings with the Bourbon County Reserve Brand Blanton’s Stout (2021)—because if you’re going to do #400, you go big, bold, and a little unhinged.

It’s loud. It’s loose. It’s everything BaaM has been for 400 episodes—movies, beer, and just enough chaos to keep it dangerous.

One episode left. Let’s burn it down.

Only 3 BaaM episodes left, and now it’s getting classy…dangerous classy.

Local film enthusiast and cheerleader Heidi Hovda finally pulls up and programs a double feature straight outta the early-40s screwball playbook: The Philadelphia Story and Ball of Fire.

We start things proper—popping champagne alongside The Philadelphia Story like we’ve got Cary Grant money—and then slide into a 2024 Bourbon County Vanilla Rye Brand Stout in an attempt to compete with the heat of Ball of Fire.

Expect rapid-fire 40s slang, high society burns, and enough verbal gymnastics to make Jimmy Stewart stutter and Gary Cooper lean back and nod.

And make no mistake—Heidi brings the Barbara Stanwyck energy.

The real question: can Joe and Dave keep up? Or are they about to get left at the train station holding the luggage while Heidi runs the whole picture?

Three episodes left. No fillers. All killers.

With only 4 episodes left, Comedian Blake Trevino returns one last time taking the wheel to program a double feature that’s been living rent-free in his head every time he’s on the show: Grandma's Boy and Zorro, the Gay Blade.

For the first half, we lean all the way into chaos with Soul Sips THC 10mg Iced Tea—because if you’re diving into Grandma’s Boy, you might as well meet it on its level. It’s loose, it’s ridiculous, and the laughs hit a little differently when your drink is doing… extra credit.

Then we pivot hard. Like, silk cape and secret identity hard. Out comes David’s Magic Bag of Beer with a 2020 Bourbon County Kentucky Fog Stout—a rich, tea-infused beast that pairs surprisingly well with the offbeat, ahead-of-its-time weirdness of Zorro, the Gay Blade. Two teas, wildly different missions.

Blake brings the comedy brain, we bring the drinks, and somewhere in the middle we try to figure out why these two movies kept coming up—and why they actually make perfect sense together.

It’s stoner nonsense, swashbuckling absurdity, and drinks that range from “what is happening” to “oh wow, okay… that’s happening.”

Forget the Oscars…this is the real main event.

It’s The BaaMies! — our biggest Beer and a Movie episode of the year, where we wrap up everything that mattered in 2025: the best films, the worst disasters, standout performances, and of course… the beer.

And we didn’t come light.

For the first time ever, dream guest and Patron Saint of Beer for BaaM Daniel Benavidez brings his magic bag of beer — loaded with four incredible brews (and yeah… things may or may not get a little whiskey involved).

New Glarus Brewing Co.'s Strawberry Rhubarb
Jester King's Fēn Táo Blend Eleven (2025)
Jester King's Atrial Rubicite
Dogfish Head's Czech-Spresso

Dave and Joe break down their Top 5 Movies, Top 3 Beers, and everything in between in an episode that goes bigger, looser, and a little boozier than usual.

This isn’t awards season.
This is BaaMies season.

Only six episodes left, so we’re bringing in one of our favorite reinforcements. Kailey Diaz joins the gang for one last hurrah, and we almost go as off the rails as the final new-release movie we’ll ever review: The Bride!, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s strange, ambitious, full-tilt fever dream of a film.

To pair with it, we go back to the movie that helped launch Gyllenhaal into the spotlight—Secretary—a performance that announced her as one of the most fearless and unconventional actors of her generation. 

We also hear from a listener who’s thrilled that David’s Magic Bag of Beer has been leading to longer beer discussions. In response, we reach into the bag twice. First up is Jester King’s Aurelian Lure bottled in 2018, followed by a Bourbon County Brand Stout from 2018. One of these beers has aged beautifully. The other…has not.

With Kailey in the studio, the beers flowing, and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s wild cinematic vision on the table, the conversation swings from thoughtful film talk to complete chaos—exactly the way we like it.