The Schlock Pit is the home of film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain who, for the past decade, have parlayed their shared, lifelong obsession with horror, B-movies, and direct-to-video shenanigans into a writing career. At The Schlock Pit, you’ll find reviews, retrospectives, essays, musings, and a whole lot more.

With their Gary Graver biography available now from Amazon UK and Amazon US, every spare moment of Matty and Dave’s waking lives is spent penning the upcoming Schlock & Awe: The Forgotten Films of the ’90s Rental Realm.

When they do break free from the sultry shackles of hardcore Robert McCallum flicks and Nu Image action extravaganzas, they like nothing better than to chat about the world of barely acknowledged movies on their Schlock & Awe podcast. Season One, Natural Selection, slithered through straight-to-DVD-and-cable creature features, while the currently paused Season Two, Flesh Noir, is devoted to the sauce and smoulder the of the DTV erotic thriller.

With two dozen audio commentaries under their belt for labels like Arrow Video and 88 Films, they’re regulars in the boutique Blu-ray business, and are continually hard at work on a whole host of projects that they’re sworn to secrecy over — though it’s definitely worth checking out their yack-tracks for the lavish editions of Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1992) and Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995); Tobe Hooper’s The Mangler (1995); Van Damme favourites Replicant (2001), Legionnaire (1998) and Universal Soldier: The Return (1999); Gary Graver and Fred Olen Ray’s oddball ’80s shocker Moon in Scorpio (1987); the much-maligned straight-to-DVD sequel, I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006); Nico Mastorakis’ potent, skin-laden thriller In the Cold of the Night (1990); and Mary Lambert’s Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005), which they moderated alongside Lambert herself.

However, Matty and Dave regard their work on Arrow Video’s critically acclaimed Enter the Video Store: Empire of Screams as their magnum opus. An epic boxset devoted to iconic ’80s stable Empire Pictures, Matty and Dave produced a visual essay-cum-valentine to FX wiz John Carl Buechler and moderated three audio commentaries with guests/Empire alumni Jeffrey Byron, Mike Deak, and Peter Manoogian. They even got their hero-turned-friend, David DeCoteau, to record a commentary of his own for the set’s disc of Stuart Gordon’s Dolls (1987)!

Originally conceived for 88 Films’ aforementioned release of Replicant, Matty and Dave’s feature-length documentary, Transfixed by Light — which spends seventy-six minutes in the company of cinematographer Mike Southon as he discusses his fascinating career — is now available for free on YouTube.

Matty and Dave contributed a guest essay to Troy Howarth’s book, Assault on the System: The Nonconformist Cinema of John Carpenter: a stunningly exhaustive text that was given the full JC seal of approval. And if you rewind a little bit, you can still snag the Rondo-nominated It Came From the Video Aisle!: Inside Charles Band’s Full Moon Entertainment Studio: an excellent, doorstop-sized tome that features their meaty, interview-packed chapters on the Killjoy, Gingerdead Man, and Evil Bong franchises.

Want to hire ’em?

Drop the lads a line via The Schlock Pit contact form.

Or, y’know, find Matty and Dave on Bluesky and slide into their DMs.