Well we’ve made it through all 3 Popeye related horror IPs this year now (so far) and this is by far not only the worst but one of the worst films I’ve seen in some time.

Set in 1986 we follow a group of teens (Olive Oyl and her brother Castor) as they head to the beach to witness Halley’s Comet. After almost hitting an unnamed old sailor looking man they meet up with their friends to watch the comet. A piece of it falls in the sailors pipe though making him a mutated like monster who goes on a killing spree.

From here we get some horrible looking kills mixed with some that look low budget but fine. The real crime here is the CGI which is horrendous. Our Popeye is an all CGI looking face that seems like it couldn’t be edited to move at times even with the frame. It looks cheap and somewhat broken at times.

Characters have nothing going for them with most not even getting their name known until they die. Let alone that for a film set in 86 they take no care at keeping it in that time period with cars being seen and characters quoting films that aren’t released. Thats not even mentioning scenes transitioning from night to day and back between camera cuts.

There is cheap IP rip offs then there is this. In a world of films that are already bad, Shiver Me Timber does stand out, as the worst.

Score :

.5 / 5

Cloakroom Release New Album
Last Leg of the Human Table Today via Closed Casket Activities
Listen / Share / Buy

Headlining North American Tour Starts Next Month – Dates Added

Cloakroom’s latest studio album Last Leg of the Human Table arrives today via Closed Casket Activities, their debut for the label. Pop, shoegaze, doom, post-punk, folk only scratch the surface on Cloakroom’s shortest, yet most essential release to date. Each song showcases the trio’s genre-bending capabilities and seemingly vast array of influences; whether it be the sampling of the post-disco Detroit group Was (Not Was) or the lifted NASA recording of the humming of Saturn’s rings. Recorded in December of 2023 at Electrical Audio in Chicago and Rec Room Recording in Des Plaines, Illinois, engineer Zac Montez (Whirr, Turnover) aided in smoothing out the rough and turning up the quiet.

Cloakroom’s headlining North American tour kicks off in the Midwest next month. The run hits both coasts and includes dates with support from Null and performances at Slide Away 2025 in Los Angeles and New York City. Tickets are on sale here. For a full list of dates, see below and to keep up with updates, follow Cloakroom on Instagram here.

Cloakroom Live Dates:

Mar 21: Paw Paw, MI – Lucky Wolf
Mar 22: Detroit, MI – Edgemen
Mar 23: Toronto, ON – Monarch
Mar 24: Montreal, QC – Bar le Ritz PDB
Mar 25: Kingston, NY – Tubby’s
Mar 26: Boston, MA – Deep Cuts
Mar 28: Philadelphia, PA – Ukie Club
Mar 29: Washington, DC – DC9
Mar 30: Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506
Apr 01: Asheville, NC – Eulogy
Apr 02: Atlanta, GA – The Earl
Apr 03: Pensacola, FL – The Handlebar
Apr 05: Birmingham, AL – Saturn #
Apr 06: Knoxville, TN – Pilot Light #
Apr 08: Louisville, KY – Nachbar #
Apr 09: Columbus, OH – Ace of Cups #
Apr 10: Indianapolis, IN – Sequence #
Apr 11: Milwaukee, WI – Cactus Club #
Apr 12: Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle # (Album Release Show)
Apr 25: Brooklyn, NY – Slide Away 2025 at Market Hotel (Opening Show)
May 25: Los Angeles, CA – Slide Away 2025 at The Echoplex (Closing Show)

# w/ Null

Cloakroom on Instagram & Facebook

By Dave Parsons

40 some years ago, well 43 of them to be exact, I got to play disc jockey every day Monday through Friday.  My high school had the only actual broadcasting radio station for those wanting to go into the field.  It was 91.9 FM and we despite only having 100 watts of radio power, (we did reach a few miles away as we were on a hill!), the station was on the mailing list for a few major record labels.  

I grew up on country music, and tried to slip some into my show whenever I could.  One day a single that the Atco record label had sent to the station arrived, by this group named McGuffey Lane.  I did this “make it or break it” segment, and being we had very few listeners, I would decide the fate of the song.  I still remember putting this record on the turntable, hitting the play knob, and hearing

“I was in Austin when you called me…..I noticed your voice it sounded strange.”

and then came the harmonica, and the steel guitar.  Despite being on a mostly rock label, this was what country music sounded like in the 1970’s and 1980’s and there was hardly a show of mine until I graduated in 1983, that I didn’t play Long Time Lovin’ You.  I remember playing the flip side of that single, People Like You, a few times.  It took the commercial radio stations a few weeks before they played them both, and after seeing advertisements that McGuffey Lane were opening for acts like Alabama and Charlie Daniels, I thought they were on their way to the top.  I bought all their music available and waited for them to play my hometown.    

(The history on that first single and album is they released both on their own Paradise Island Records label in 1980, and sold like 40,000 records, which is unheard of in those days for an independent act. Atco Records signed them and re-issued the album, and it sold another 175,000 copies.)

Over the next 40 some years, I would have that song come up on my YouTube feed from time to time.  I did research on them and wished desperately I had gone to Ohio State to party in my college years.  It seems that they were THE band in the High Street circuit of bars in those days, and built a huge fan base. 

Earlier this year, they announced their 50^th Anniversary tour, and I was happy to see a show scheduled in Zanesville, Ohio. Secrest Auditorium is a great old refurbished venue, and a throwback to what was always great about a sit-down concert show before the new places crammed as many seats as possible, into rooms with no acoustics, and charge $9.00 for a pretzel and cola!  It is also the only venue that ever made me my own media credential with my name and the show date on it!!!

Bands change a lot in 50 years, and moreso the audience that knows the music.  I have seen audiences talk through the first hour of a band on a 50^th tour, until they get to that string of hits at the end of the set. This group almost seemed like they had been part of that OSU crowd and were coming back around for one more round.

McGuffey Lane has three original members, and they took the stage to a welcoming round of applause and from the first notes of I’m in Jamaica, the party was on.  The mix was good, allowing the vocals and harmony to lead the music, and the band members looked at each other with that smile and nod that says it’s going to be a good evening.

They went seamless from one song to another from their album releases.  Giving past singles like What’ll You Do About Me? and Bartender  another play, like you would puling a box of records out of the closet and one at a time tell stories about them. Although most of the set list were originals from their career, they brought in some covers like Steve Earle’s Copperhead Road ,  and Linda Ronstadt’s When Will I Be Loved? 

In an age when a theater concert is 13 songs and an hour or so, McGuffey Lane declared it was intermission, and would be back for a second half in 20 minutes.  For the record, my 20 oz bottle of Pepsi and soft pretzel only set me back $5.00 total.  You have to love a venue like this.

True to their word, McGuffey Lane started the second half with their 1982 Top 50 country hit, Making a Living’s Been Killing Me, 20 minutes later. The crowd who was still filing back in from the lobby, enjoyed the handclapper, and found a little room to dance to The Legend.  As the band was moving into the songs they danced to on High Street, the audience was finding a partner, and turning the side sections of the theater into a dance hall.

Long Time Loving You led into Stay in Love with You with an extended jam session of the band. People Like You, was next and brought the biggest response and sing along from the crowd.  The two-hour performance was capped withAin’t No One (To Love You Like I Do).  

After two hours and 24 songs, McGuffey Lane let it be known they would be in the lobby to meet everyone, until the last person went home.  For well over another hour, stories were being shared, pictures taken and these folks got to make another memory with the band these folks had loved for 50 years.

There are a rash of 50^th Anniversary Tours these days, and some of them are a letdown.  The songs are a good bit slower, and a good key or two lower.  However, may it be known that the band McGuffey Lane is still going strong and giving their audience what they came to hear and see….and you can’t ask for more than that!   

McGuffey Lane Setlist:

1.) Jamaica In My Mind

2.) I Want to Be a Bartender

3.) Copperhead Road

4.) Let Me Take You to The Rodeo

5.) Breakaway

6.) Sunshine

7.) Melissa

8.) Old Taylor

9.) What’ll You Do About Me

10.) Music Man

11.) Bert

12.) When Will I Be Loved

13.) Rocky Top

Set 2

14.) Making a Living’s Been Killing Me

15.) The Legend

16.) Railroad Song

17.) Tennessee

18.)Don’t You Think About Me (When I’m Gone)

19.) It’s a Good Day

20.) Long Time Lovin’ You

21.) Stagecoach

22.) Stay In Love With You

23.) People Like You

24.) Ain’t No One (To Love You Like I Do)