This week's guest got his start - as so many other great talents did - working for Roger Corman during the heyday of New World Pictures, first with the spastic comedy Hollywood Boulevard (1976) and later with the ferocious killer fish classic Piranha (1978). He chased this early success with 1981's The Howling (1981), widely considered the greatest werewolf movie ever made. And then came Gremlins (1984) in 1984, the blockbuster film that almost single handedly spurred on the invention of the PG-13 rating. He's one of the greatest horror and weird fantasy directors in history, he's Joe Dante and we are honored to have him in the Freakshow.

This week, Charlie welcomes William Lustig - one of cult cinema's real deal heroes - to the Freakshow. As a director, Lustig made an instant splash in his early 20's helming the still shocking and controversial 1980 psychological slasher Maniac (1980), featuring gory effects by Tom Savini, and then continued evolving his craft with pictures like the MANIAC COP trilogy, the violent revenge thriller Vigilante (1982) and Relentless (1989). He also founded and still serves as the CEO of legendary home video label Blue Underground where he has spent decades rescuing and restoring some of the weirdest and coolest horror movies ever made.