This week we’re recapping the chaos of Round 2 in Monster Madness 2025, and preview what awaits us in Round 3. We break down the battle of brute strength versus supernatural torment, analyze the mind games that could tip the scales, and question...
This week we’re recapping the chaos of Round 2 in Monster Madness 2025, and preview what awaits us in Round 3. We break down the battle of brute strength versus supernatural torment, analyze the mind games that could tip the scales, and question whether even the King of Monsters can survive a nightmare.
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Monster Madness - Discord Discussion
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Music Credits
"Hack or Slash" by Daniel Stapleton
Greetings and salutations, ladies and gentlemen, fiends and freaks and horror hounds, welcome to our 2025 Monster Madness Tournament. If you missed it, we here at Hackerslash have traded hoops for horror, brackets for brutality, and free throws for fatal blows. While the world is locked into the March Madness basketball frenzy, we're locked into something even better and even deadlier: the battle to crown the greatest horror villain of all time. Subjectively, of course. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast, and this week I'm joined by the Monster Madness Mastermind and Demonic Darling, Joe.
SPEAKER_00Don't hate the player, hate the game.
SPEAKER_01Round two is over, the battlefield is littered with the fallen, and only 16 of the deadliest, most iconic horror villains remain. Some matchups were absolute blowouts, others came down to the wire, and a few results are already stirring up some controversy in the Discord.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Is that the savory 16?
SPEAKER_00Ooh, the savory 16.
SPEAKER_01The salt of the blood. Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_00Anywho. The salty 16.
SPEAKER_01Ooh, damn, that's good. Now, if you thought the first two rounds were rough, buckle up, folks, enjoy the ride, because it only gets nastier from here. Let's take a look back, Chell, at what went down in round two.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Dozens of people came out again after that first round, uh, emboldened by seeing maybe some of their favorites fall or some of their favorites move on. And we really started to see people solidify around their teams and who they were rooting for this time around. It was a lot less respecting the game of everyone and really starting to realize that they needed to hone in on their players, on their people, and making sure their teams got the votes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, honestly, the smear campaigns, they're wild.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely bananas. We had talk of nuclear war. Uh, you know, there were conversations about women's history month. We had everything thrown into the chat on this, and points were made, Chris. Points were made.
SPEAKER_01Listen, I looked at some of these arguments, I'm like, damn, okay. Did I vote maybe an incorrect way objectively? Sure. But also, fucking art the clown is still a king.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And art the clown is definitely going to be one that has really struck a cord with a lot of people, and I think he's gonna start upsetting more people.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. I think the further we go on, you have this battle of the tried and trude, the the old hat, the old guard, and then you have some up-and-coming newcomers. I think of this, not that I know shit about sports, but I think about this as like, okay, let's do like a Michael Jordan or LeBron James versus some kid who's been smoking up the NBA draft and is now like domineering as a rookie or maybe in their sophomore season.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. It's the Tom Brady versus the Patrick Mahomes, it's the old guard versus the new guard, both have their merits, but it's a really a matter of time and place.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So it'll be exciting to see to see what how the generational divide one of the things that really stood out to me was there's discussion when we thought about like Gremlins versus Predator, and I think you pointed this out on the blog, there's like mashups of the critters joining the fun.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. The just barely missed critters. Uh yeah, they got brought into the fold, and yeah, we're still we're still waiting to see that crossover and see how that works.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. One of the things that really surprised me, and I didn't notice this until Spooky Bitch brought it up in the Discord. Jennifer Chach is really just going up against the classic monsters.
SPEAKER_00One after the other. Again, modern day heroine slash villainous slash anti anti-hero, going out against some of the most classic and iconic legacy monsters in the horror realm.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh hot succubus woman or crusty dusty old man. I think these are the comparisons that you make.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, absolutely. And the irony of it is, unfortunately, um, she won't be facing up against her predecessor, Dracula, because Dracula fell this week to Freddy Krueger.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Okay. So this was, I remember one of those things that we talked about in our round one recap. Freddy Krueger owns the dream world, but Dracula owned the night, and it looks like Dracula got owned.
SPEAKER_00He he absolutely did. It was good night for Dracula pretty quick and pretty swiftly, too. I mean, uh just short of Freddy Krueger shouting, Welcome to Primetime Bitch. And I Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know what? How must it have felt for Dracula to not have even been in the best Dracula movie last year?
SPEAKER_00Tragic. Tragic. And that definitely, I think, took a hit.
SPEAKER_01And now stomped by Freddy Kruger. It's ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00It's you know, that's gonna be hard to come back from. I will tell you. It'll be a question of if he even makes the the bracket next year. I'm gonna be honest. A lot of these folks, are they gonna even be seen next year? Are they gonna have uh the stones to make it to the bracket?
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna be honest, he should be embarrassed.
SPEAKER_00He should be absolutely, he should think about what he did. Maybe in some 700 years or so, we'll we'll bring him back.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this would be like the ultimate hero from Earth Realm losing in Mortal Kombat.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Now, one that really did surprise me, and again, I love them both. I was really surprised to see that the Xenomorph is not among us tonight.
SPEAKER_00You know, I I was surprised in the same. I truly, truly thought Ghostface would put up a good fight, but I did not think that they would make it through.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00And there's gonna be a lot of fans in Ghostface stands that are gonna be very mad about that. But yes, it was it was a shocker to us here in the studio.
SPEAKER_01Listen, we have xenomorph spitz acid against Ghostface, and we don't even know which ghost face it is. It's like the legacy of the city. Half of them can't stand up. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Half of them can't stand on their own.
SPEAKER_01They really can't. Half of them are just covers for someone else. It's kind of absurd when you really think about it. Now, shout out to Nathan, who obviously stands Ghostface, and I believe you had a great, a great quote from Nathan in the chat, acknowledging our newest Oscar winner among Ghost Faces.
SPEAKER_00Props to Mikey Madison, who yes was an iconic ghost face. And I th I do think that that definitely helped catapult uh Ghostface into that next round just past Xenomorph.
SPEAKER_01I want to point out, first off, I didn't really like her ghost face. Second, again, takes were made. I may have a ghost face tattoo, but I really had Xenomorph winning that one all around.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. No, no question. Um, kind of along those those lines. I I was really rooting for Leatherface and the Leatherface Godzilla matchup. I I I have been fooled once again, mistaken, that I doubted the King of the Monsters in Godzilla. But truly, after the momentum and the exciting win Leatherface had last round over Sam, I I thought it was gonna propel him at least into the Sweet 16.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what I think is hilarious about this is Sam somehow the spirit of Halloween lost out to Leatherface, which is shocking to me. I know, listen, Trick or Treat is one movie. I think Sam is just heavily underrated. I think if more people knew about Trick or Treat, the film, I think he would have absolutely had to buy it in the next round. But what struggles where I struggle in this is looking at Leatherface beating up on a child-sized creature, and now all of a sudden, what's he got? Godzilla.
SPEAKER_00Godzilla. There's always a bigger monster, there's always a bigger fish.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00And kind of speaking of um kind of the the bigger, bigger fish to fry, Jason Voorhees has had it pretty easy. He he hasn't had much competition, I would say, these last two rounds. He had a little bit of fight in Angela in the first round, but the the minor from my bloody valentine was not even, it was hardly even a fight this round against Jason. So he's gonna have to really step it up in this next round because he is going to be facing off Art the Clown.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Who, again, like we said, that old guard versus new guard, so he is not gonna be able to coast on his laurels and his franchise anymore.
SPEAKER_01100%. Listen, the brand recognition, okay? You have or you have the hockey mask, you have instant fame there with Jason Voorhees. But the problem is I think he got complacent. I think he's getting complacent. I think he's not putting in the effort that he should. Sure, his franchise has been on ice since Freddie versus Jason, or really even from the Friday the 13th reboot in 2009. But we have some things in the mix, right? We have the Crystal Lake prequel that has been in turmoil and is on the road to production. But the question is, is it is it too little too late? And I think that's what we'll see here round three.
SPEAKER_00Definitely agree. Voorhees has been on his heels this whole time, again, coasting on that facial recognition. But our art the clown is not to be fucked with. Art the Clown has made its way up the ranks just as identifiable as Pennywise or Jason. So absolutely, and I do think art brings a scrappiness and a hard scrabble spirit to it, being one of those independent films as opposed to a long-standing franchise. And I I do think Jason is gonna have to be on his absolute game. He cannot rest on his laurels anymore, even if he moves on. That it is going to be a fight for him.
SPEAKER_01100%. And I actually think this is a great time for us to start picking up and uh making our predictions on the salty 16.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, let's do it.
SPEAKER_01Listen, I want to dive a little bit more into this, right? Because we have Jason Voorhees, the relentless tank, but he's been stopped. Arthur Clown has barely been stopped. And I think there's some things to compare there. Arthur Clown has gumption, where Jason just has fierce brutality. Jason's raw strength, I think, gives him this edge in direct combat, but art has a willingness to go grotesque and to extremely grotesque extremes that make this feel like a bloodbath waiting to happen. But again, who's really stopping him? This guy is out of control. He fucking killed Santa Claus.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Art has some skills and some moves that we have not seen in the horror world, maybe even ever. And I don't think those old guards know what to do with it. They're used to the normal play, the you know, the plug and chug and slash and dash. Art's a whole new ball game that I think they will struggle to to go to to meet.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think listen, we had nitrogen used by Jason and Jason X, which we'll be reviewing later this week here on the podcast. But also, we had Arthur Clown doing that shit on rats. So listen, if if Jason underestimates Art's sadistic creativity, he might find himself in a situation where he can't fucking get out of it, right? He's gonna be drowning in the lake yet again. But art's supernatural nature, obviously, we know is a wild card. So the question is, can he truly kill or thwart Jason or will he just make him angry? I got my money on Art the Clown in this round.
SPEAKER_00I do think even though Art did ice out the thing this round, who I was really pulling for again with the Carpenter coach, I thought he had it, but Art the Clown has earned my respect, and I I do think that this could be a crushing blow for Jason, not only this year, but in future brackets. I think Jason has a lot to lose in credibility and toughness losing to Art the Clown. So we just gotta hope he's gotta show up and give us some Friday the 13th, part one, part two energy and not Jason X energy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I mean, honestly, here I am talking about Ghostface, here I am talking about Jason, both of whom are tattooed on my arm, but I also have obviously Art the Clown. Let's talk about next up in the core piece of my tattoo sleeve. We have Michael Myers versus Pinhead. What are your thoughts?
SPEAKER_00I'll tell you what, again, I have underestimated Pinhead. I thought that the Babaduke versus Pinhead, I'm still reeling from that loss of the Babaduke, just the swift and cutting blow that Pinhead gave to the Babaduke. And even in this round with Chucky, I thought he'd have a you know a little bit of a tougher time, which I guess he did, but I do think that Pinhead will meet its match in Michael Myers. Uh I I think this is where Pinhead is stopped. I don't think he'll go lightly, but I do think Myers has it in him to punt him out of out of the next round.
SPEAKER_01100%. Because when you think about it, this is like the ultimate battle between silent brute force and cerebral shit talking, a little bit kinky, a little bit horny, otherworldly torment. Michael Myers is an unstoppable killing machine. We get it. Pinhead, though, thrives on suffering. And that's where Pinhead might have an edge. Except he would have needed a different opponent because Michael Myers has plenty of suffering buried deep inside to fuel him straight to the next round. Listen, if the fight stays physical, I think Myers has the upper hand completely. But if Pinhead gives even a moment to manipulate the battlefield, he could drag Michael obviously fucking straight to hell. But I think we're okay because I think Michael can resist opening the Lament configuration.
SPEAKER_00I agree. I think Pinhead's skill set is just a little too niche. I think it was able to pull him past in the couple rounds, but again, I think just that brute force, that Goliath presence of Myers is it it's too niche, the pinhead side of things. So I do think Myers quickly and swiftly moves to the next round.
SPEAKER_01I need to stop fucking around though, because the more I wrote for Art the Clown and Michael Myers, the more I'm gonna have to give a prediction on either of them potentially together. So this train has got to get off these tracks at some point.
SPEAKER_00It is the beauty of sports. Go team.
SPEAKER_01Ooh. Okay, so now we're thinking we're thinking about a couple options here. We had Godzilla, who came over with triumph over Leatherface. We have Freddie Kruger who owned and stole the knight from Dracula, now facing off head to head. And I think honestly, this matchup is pure spectacle.
SPEAKER_00I absolutely think that this is this is going to be a show. There's a lot of people out there that have the nostalgia of Freddy Kruger, but again, Godzilla is king of the monsters. Uh, as I've said before, I have a lot of friends in the cursory horror community that have been voting and they are rooting for Godzilla. And I think that groundswell, that ground roots groundswell, is going to really serve Godzilla in a way that I think Freddy Krueger might not quite get.
SPEAKER_01100%. And shout out to Perfect Organism who has joined our Discord to bring the Godzilla campaigning to life. Welcome, welcome. Oh yeah, we love to see it. Now, here's an interesting conundrum. One, I think brand recognition, Godzilla is just cultural phenomena all around the world. Whereas Freddie Krueger, okay, how far does his reach go? Granted, he's iconic, don't get me wrong, he's a slasher, but he's not even my favorite slasher, and I eat this shit up. Because here's the thing in the waking world, we know objectively Godzilla would obliterate Freddie without even noticing, right? In order for this to be a semi-fair fight, Freddy would have to pull Godzilla into the dream world. And Freddy thrives on fear, but I don't think Godzilla even feels fear. So, I mean, listen, he just doesn't have a clear path. This, I think, it's screaming block. Because I think if if Freddy could use his dream world creativity to maybe shrink Godzilla, uh, maybe he'd have a chance, but honestly, Godzilla's gonna stomp his ass to consciousness, and uh, I think it's gonna be atomic breath. I think it's gonna be ashes here.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there there's not even a question. I I would even go so far as to say I do think Godzilla can take the crown this year. I am making a prediction. I do think Godzilla could be the ultimate this year. I'd love to see a lot of people try to unseat him, but I do think Godzilla is going to be the one to beat this season.
SPEAKER_01Wow, wow, wow, wow, I hadn't even thought that far. Okay, I'm gonna say it's gonna either be Myers and Art versus Godzilla, and I don't know, I'll come up with my next one here as we go down in the rest of the Swede 16, because holy shit, chell. I don't know, could I vote Godzilla over my boys? Maybe, maybe.
SPEAKER_00Maybe that is that is the beauty of of monster madness. It it is madness. It starts making you question everything, everything you held dear, and you start wondering why. And if if you if you can't have a little fun and a little madness during this time of year, when can you?
SPEAKER_01100%. And listen, you talk about questioning why. Let's talk about a matchup featuring a woman who has had many people questioning their sexuality over the years. Let's go Jennifer Check versus Frankenstein's monster from Frankenstein. What you got?
SPEAKER_00It is going to be the third classic universal monster that Jennifer has come up against. And she's made pretty quick work of the last two Wolfman and the Mummy. Really didn't stand much of a chance. But Frankenstein is the OG. Frankenstein's monster has been scaring people and haunting nightmares for decades. And I I do think that there is enough of an old guard there that Jennifer Check will have to put up quite a fight.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I could see, hmm. This could be a really tough one. And on the one hand, we talked about this in the Discord server. If Jennifer Check loses against Frankenstein in this women's history month, what the fuck is happening? But then also Frankenstein famously written by Mary Shelley. I think there's a few factors to consider. Jennifer Check has speed. She has charm, she has a hunger for boys and blood. And Frankenstein's monster has raw power and tragic resilience. So, what it comes down to, can Jennifer seduce or outmaneuver him, right, with this new era of horror? Okay, maybe. Also, if he fucking gets a hit in, lights out. So you have this again that brand recognition. We have a Frankenstein movie coming out later this year. He could be really on a rise. I think though, where this comes down to it, I'm gonna make a bold prediction here. I think Jennifer Chuck takes it, but I think she takes it in the name of that little girl he drowned in his film. It's a vengeance lap.
SPEAKER_00It I I love that. I do think that uh all Frankenstein needs is one gap in the game to again just kind of bust through, and I think it's all over. I do think Frankenstein, he still got some rage from the bride falling in the first round. I mean, he had no problem wiping the floor with known mama's boy, Norman Bates. I I don't think Frankenstein he has that, he doesn't have that paralysis by analysis. All he is thinking is game and madness, and I think that's going to be the best thing for him because Jennifer's gonna try the mind games because she's cunning and she's witty. I don't think those are gonna work with Frankenstein, and I think she's gonna find a lot of her wiles are powerless.
SPEAKER_01Ooh, damn. Okay, we'll see how the next round goes. I'm so excited. Now, our next matchup in the Salty 16 is an interesting one because I voted Hannibal Lecter to take the round last week, and I didn't think Ghostface would make it through. But now that Ghostface has some momentum, I think I gotta throw my vote their way. Obviously, we have Ghostface being deadly with a knife, but Hannibal is fucking playing chess while everyone on the ghostface costume is playing checkers.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. I think the question is going to be is Ghostface going to be able to recover in time? Because again, Ghostface had a hard-fought battle, whereas Hannibal Lecter pretty easily uh flew past Samara through her back in the well, no problem. Hannibal Lecter has really not, I think, had to turn on um, you know, the jets yet and really bear down and really start to fight. So if it becomes a game of endurance, I do think Hannibal Lecter can can hang on, but if Ghostface can kind of dig down deep and be a little bit scrappy, I think it could be either side's game.
SPEAKER_01100%. And listen, from an objective perspective, I mentioned it in the last round. I think Hannibal could reach Samara's inner child. Hannibal Lecter has a slew of Ghostface who all have like daddy issues or just societal rejection. There's a lot of psychology there where he can make quick work of them, but then I think of just the way the momentum is carrying Ghostface through this competition, maybe fighting tooth and nail, but I I think Ghostface has a chance.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. I do think it's either his game. I don't think they're out. But yeah, it it'll be a matter of mind games versus sheer will to win and sheer spite that is going to be fueling Ghostface in this game.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. How about our next matchup?
SPEAKER_00Speaking of spite, Jigsaw versus the Predator. Tell you what, this is one that I haven't thought as much about. Just but because it's so apples to oranges, I don't even know where to begin.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, okay, well, let's break it down this way. Predator. Predator thrives on hunting, predator thrives on combat. Jigsaw is all about psychological hunting, maybe some emotional combat. And Jigsaw is more so I think about the long game and elaborate traps. But Predator, Predator be trap. And I don't think Jigsaw can pull it out on this. If this were about like just outsmarting people, stri sure, straight up, Jigsaw might have an argument. But against a highly intelligent, against a fucking intergalactic warrior, and I'm not talking about Leprechaun in space, Predator has thermal vision and advanced weaponry. He's badass, and I think Jigsaw is honestly hopeless. Unless he can somehow trick the predator into a game of survival, which even then I don't think so. I think this is gonna easily end with Billy the Puppet as a new trophy on the Predator's wall.
SPEAKER_00I definitely can see where you're going with that. Again, Jigsaw focuses so much on the past. They are going to be taking the last two rounds with them, some of them stronger than others. If he gets too bogged down in the past and forgets the game in front of him, there is ample opportunity for the predator to just absolutely come in and annihilate him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm gonna cue a bunch of fucking flashback scenes to the beginning of all the predator movies and then say, oh, it was here all along.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say a lot of people want to play games here, Jigsaw, and you're not the only game master anymore.
SPEAKER_01Hell no. Now, what is interesting is when you say a lot of people want to play games, we got a lot of fuck around and find out energy in the next round. And this one is gonna be the Deade versus Pearl. Pearl, who obviously has a t drive for fame, a penchant for murder, but the deade are a whole different level of nightmare.
SPEAKER_00This is this is the batshit matchup I would say of the entire tournament. Just the Deadeites who don't care. Their strength is in their numbers, and they're just not giving a fuck. Where you have Pearl who gives so much of a fuck. She is a star, and she is not going to let anyone forget it, even if it means losing. She will make sure that she goes down. It's such a blaze of glory.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. I think, I mean, listen, a blaze of glory is damn right, but I think Pearl will need a boomstick and a chainsaw to really fight her way through these like Kendorian demons. These things fucking possess bodies, they twist minds. These fuckers never stay down. It drove Ash crazy, so minded they had to redo the whole first movie. I think her rage is gonna carry her longer than most people would go against the Deadites. But those fuckers play dirty, and I think she's just another soul for them to torment. So I'm voting Deadites on this one.
SPEAKER_00I think that's a really, really clear winner in this one.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. Now, our last one to wrap up the Salty 16, and I think this is honestly so poetic. We have the entire Amityville House versus Billy from Black Christmas. What's your take, Chill?
SPEAKER_00I I I was a doubter from round one of the Amityville House, and here they are in round three, and I I do think it has a leg up over Black Christmas Billy. It's just it just the the presence of it, the new notoriety of it. I I just don't think Billy has quite what it takes to really stand up to that.
SPEAKER_01Hmm. Interesting. Let me tell you my logic here. This is a very rare location versus straight up slasher matchup. This this one's all about control. This matchup is about who can fucking have the staying power. The Emneyville house, those windows ain't even there anymore. The iconic features of the house, long gone. The question is, can the house amplify Billy's chaos? Or would it swallow him whole? And we know that stepping inside that house is never a good idea. So you would think Billy may not walk out. But the problem here that folks are underestimating, Billy's fucking unpredictable. And the Amdeville house, sure, he doesn't need a knife. It gets inside your head, warping reality, driving people to madness, but Billy's already fucking unhinged, which makes this interesting. I'm still taking Billy from Black Christmas straight past the Amityville house.
SPEAKER_00It's the classic question: who is trapped inside of who?
SPEAKER_01Honestly. Again, Billy could bring that madness to any house. I think he goes to Amityville, I think he's like, oh, this is cozy. Thanks for setting this up and making this uniquely for me. I think he thrives at hits next level inside the confines of the house.
SPEAKER_00I tell you, uh, if Billy makes it out of this round, I think he takes that chaos from his time against Amityville, and I think that propels him pretty freaking far. I think that turns him into a tornado of chaos and unpredictability that I don't think many of the players here are going to be able to match, especially not this long into the game. So I do think a win here for Billy guarantees him at least a couple more trips to the to the winner circle.
SPEAKER_01All right. Well, I can't wait to see how everyone's vote shakes out. Chill, I can't wait to see if your predictions shake out. But for now, there you have it, folks. Our sweet 16, our salty 16 of Monster Madness matchups are locked in, and it's up to you to decide who moves on. Voting starts at midnight tonight, Thursday, March 13th, and runs until noon on Saturday, March 15th. So you can follow the link in our show notes to cast your vote.
SPEAKER_00And don't forget to join the conversation in our Monster Madness Discord. We've got people fighting for their favorites, making their cases, sharing their passion for these results. And there is no stone that is going unturned. Every team has someone cheering for them.
SPEAKER_01Believe, folks. We'll see you next time. And remember, may the best monster win.
SPEAKER_00What team?













