Hollywood director Darren Lynn Bousman has especially good reason to love Halloween. His past three movies, "Saw II," "Saw III" and "Saw IV" opened on All Hallows Eve and debuted at number one, he got engaged in mid-October as the pagan holiday approached and his new movie, "Repo! The Genetic Opera," debuts the week after Halloween.

Unlike the vicious boobytrap deathfests of the "Saw" series, "Repo!" is a mindwarped flick that combines graphic violence with a campy storyline, resulting in a rock n' roll musical that's part "Ichi the Killer" (Takashi Miike), part "Rocky Horror Picture Show." In the movie, people are dying from an epidemic of organ failures and a ruthless multi-billion dollar biotech company, GeneCo, discovers a way to benefit from the suffering by conducting organ transplants en-masse. If you think the current housing crisis is bad, picture a similar scenario with patients who default on their organ loans. And when the "organ repo men" drop in to extract what isn't paid for, things really get messy.

Throw in an insane ensemble cast that includes Broadway star Sarah Brightman ("The Phantom of the Opera"), Paris Hilton, Skinny Puppy singer Nivek Ogre, and veteran horror actor Bill Moseley ("House of 1000 Corpses," "The Devil's Rejects," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2") and mix with absinthe until everything takes on a incandescent glow, and the absurd vision of "Repo!" starts to take form.

During our Halloween podcast interview, Bousman talks about why he turned down "Saw V" to direct "Repo!"; how he picked the cast; what happens when you put Paris Hilton in the same room with Ogre; what caused the actors to burst out in tears on set; and the headbanging soundtrack, which was performed by members of Korn, Filter, Slipknot and others.

Bousman also discusses how he got into horror, how a script he wrote earned him the "Saw II" gig, the value of plot over splatter, how far is too far when it comes to graphic violence, true crime exploitation movies like "Faces of Death" and "Traces of Death," why his "Saw" party was raided by a SWAT team and the influence of directors like Takashi Miike, Ruggero Deodato and Dario Argento. Fasten your straitjacket and click "more" to stream or download the bloodcurdling podcast. Read more...

The Red Chord frontman Guy Kozowyk has a big mouth, and it's one of his greatest attributes. Here's a dude who speaks his mind and just doesn't give a shit, insulting friends, bands he's on tour with and crowd members who could be wearing his band's t-shirts instead of those by Suicide Silence and Job For a Cowboy. During an interview with MetalInjection.net that went down at this year's Rockstar Energy Mayhem Fest show in Long Island, Kozowyk was in rare form, bantering about diehard Machine Head and Pantera followers, teenage Underoath fans who somehow found their way into his audience and scratchy logo deathcore bands influenced by Korn. In one of the highpoints, Kozowyk busts on the followers of Mayhem bands: "Slipknot has maggots, Five Finger Death Punch has knuckleheads, Suicide Silence has wiggers and we decided that our fans are gonna be called Chordians and that quickly changed to Chodians."

It's way funnier when you see it yourself. Click "more" to check it out. Read more...

One of the most criminally under appreciated metal bands of the ‘90s, New York's Prong played thrashy, jarring songs that featured barbed, staccato guitar riffs, tumbling beats and screamy call-and-response vocals. Fronted by Tommy Victor, the original lineup also included ex-Swans drummer Ted Parsons, who later played with Godflesh and is currently in Jesu. Over the years, ex-Killing Joke members, bassist Paul Raven and keyboardist John Bechdel, would also swim in and out of Prong's shark-infested waters.

As they evolved, Prong experimented with industrial textures, alternative rhythms and sludge metal riffs, but the band's first two major label albums, 1990's Beg to Differ and 1991's Prove You Wrong, remain their greatest achievements, influencing a slew of bands, including Korn, Limp Bizkit, Helmet, and Cannibal Corpse (just kidding about that one).

In 2003, Victor reformed Prong with a new lineup and recorded Scorpio Rising. He later toured as a guitarist with Danzig, and most recently, Ministry, but is currently shopping for a new deal. Two new songs, "Third Option" and "Looking For Them" can be streamed at Prong's MySpace page (www.myspace.com/Prong).

This weekend, Headbangers Ball will air the band's brutally catchy "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck" video from 1994. And now, here's "Beg to Differ from 1990."

Dying Fetus -- War of Attrition (Relapse) On their seventh disc, this Baltimore grindcore band belches and vomits about war, corruption and hypocrisy, while laying down a fortress of jackhammer blast beats and buzzsaw riffs. Vvvrrrrrooooommmmm!!!!

Binea Reach -- Monument Bineothan (Candlelight) They're from Oslo, Norway, but, surprise, surprise, they're not a black metal band. This sextet plays crushing music that's reminiscent of Mastodon or even Meshuggah. Check out their debut before everyone else discovers ‘em.

Korn — MTV Unplugged (Virgin) You've watched the show, now check out the record. In a transformation that's gotta be heard to be believed, these nu metal pioneers perform radically different versions of all their hits, as well as Radiohead's "Creep." Special guests include the Cure, Evanescence singer, Amy Lee and Al Gore. Just kidding about that last one.

Sevendust -- Alpha (Asylum) Atlanta's finest are no longer writing songs for Creed fans. Instead, they've returned to the kind of soulful, melodic thrash that made their first two discs so damn good. Catch them on tour, through April 29 in Pt St. Lucie, Florida.

Chimaira -- Resurrection (Ferret) Many critics insist the fourth record by this Cleveland outfit lives up to its name. We'd have to agree. Gone are the experimental musings of their last album, replaced by short-sharp bursts of chaos that leave little room for overthinking. And that don't mean they're dumb, neither.

Alabama Thunderpussy — Open Fire (Relapse) They're not from Alabama, but don't let the lie scare you off. This Richmond, Virginia band delivers greasy, garagey metal that makes the perfect soundtrack for truck and tractor pulls. This, their sixth disc, marks the debut of new vocalist Kyle Thomas. Let ‘er rip!

Stooges — The Weirdness (Virgin) The band that predated punk and metal returns almost 25 years after their disbanded to deliver a new disc of thundering, sneering rock. The album features bassist Mike Watt (ex-Minutemen, Firehose) and was produced by Steve Albini, who'll pretty much produce anything for five bucks and a bottle of cheap wine.