Podcast: Mazes & Monsters

Tyler Hyde from That's Spooky joins us for a look at qn 80's scare film that wants you to know about the dangerous world of Dungeons & Dragons!

99 Cent Rental Podcast

Episode 46: Mazes & Monsters w/guest Tyler Hyde

Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon | Goodpods | Youtube | Podcast Addict

99 Cent Rental is a comedy podcast revisiting the low-budget action, comedy, and science fiction films that clogged video store shelves throughout the 1980s and early 90s.

Every other week, hosts Bryan and Dave White, hosts of the Bring Me The Axe! horror podcast, dive deep into the nearly forgotten world of ninjas, breakdancers, skateboarders, action hero knockoffs, and Cold War paranoia that embodied the excess and over-the-top attitude of the 1980s and celebrate them for everything they were and weren’t.

This week we’re joined by Tyler Hyde from the podcast That’s Spooky to discuss the made-for-tv scare film, Mazes & Monsters. The film represents the first lead role for future superstar, Tom Hanks in a movie about the dangers of playing Dungeons and Dragons. No, I’m not making that up.

In the early 1980’s as Dungeons and Dragons became a sensation of tabletops everywhere, it didn’t take long for scolding parent groups to cry foul to every media outlet that would listen and raise a moral panic that rose in tandem with the moral panics around heavy metal music and horror movies. The disappearance of and tragic suicide of James Dallas Egbert III thrust D&D into the headlines and craven opportunists and sensational headlines ignored all the factors that drove him to suicide and placed the blame squarely at D&D, the one thing in his life that brought him joy and provided an escape from the pressures of being a child prodigy. His story informed Rona Jaffe’s book, Mazes and Monsters, which led to the rapid development of this TV movie also starring Chris Makepeace and Wendy Crewson.

The story concerns four friends at university who play Mazes and Monsters, the legally distinct dungeon crawler role playing game that causes one player to lose his shit and fall into a psychotic delirium which leads him to murder, madness, and suicide. It is, without question, one of the most toxic movies we’ve ever seen with a message that seems to be: under no circumstances are you to use your imaginations. You should be thinking about a sensible career now. It’s a real bummer, you guys.

Sample

Support us on Patreon for 5 bonus episodes a month!

Join the Discord to talk movies with us and other listeners!

Get yourself a nice Bring Me The Axe! or 99 Cent Rental shirt or hoodie!