Hold the Fort Is the Horror Comedy You Need This Summer (And It's Finally on VOD)

Arthur and Meaghan dig into William Bagley's Hold the Fort (2025), now available on VOD. They saw it first at its world premiere at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, loved it enough to re-watch it the second it hit digital, and they're still laughing. This is that kind of movie. HOLD THE FORT — EPISODE SHOWNOTES ABOUT THE FILM ▸ Hold the Fort (2025): written and directed by William Bagley, co-written by Scott Hawkins ▸ Distributed by Sunrise Films (North America); available on Digital HD via Apple TV, Prime Video, and Fandango at Home as of June 23, 2026 ▸ Runtime: 74 minutes · Genre: Horror Comedy ▸ World premiere: Fantasia International Film Festival, Montreal, July 2025, also screened at FrightFest London, Sitges, Beyond Fest, and Toronto After Dark   THE CAST ▸ Chris Mayers (Ozark) as Lucas, the new homeowner who definitely did not read the HOA contract ▸ Haley Leary as Jenny, the more sensible half of the couple, and yes, also a nurse ▸ Julian Smith (social media comedian and producer) as Jerry, HOA president, keeper of the lore, cheese stick casualty ▸ Levi Burdick as Ted and Michelle Lamb as Annette, the neighborhood veterans who've been doing this for years ▸ Tordy Clark as Leslie, the neighborhood's better-living-through-chemistry advocate ▸ Hamid-Reza Benjamin Thompson as McScruffy, the hired weapons expert who gets taken out of commission early ▸ Luke Michael Williams as Marcus, the mechanic who changes everyone's oil for free (this is genuinely nice)   THE MONSTERS ▸ Witches, recurring annual visitors; killable with bullets (magic doesn't stop bullets — remember that) ▸ Spirit Ninjas, possession-based entities that reanimate corpses as kung fu experts; require a peachwood sword to kill ▸ Kamikaze Bats, bats that fly into people and explode. Yes, really. Arthur loves these the most. ▸ The Werewolf, big, campy, old-school practical suit. Excellent snout. ▸ The Stick Man, the final boss. Blue. Gooey. Genuinely unsettling.   THE SHARED UNIVERSE ▸ Hold the Fort is the second feature from William Bagley, following The Murder Podcast (2021) ▸ The films share a universe: a character from The Murder Podcast appears at the very end of Hold the Fort, moving into the neighborhood ▸ The line 'magic doesn't stop bullets' originates in The Murder Podcast as a TV commercial gag; it becomes a recurring rule in Hold the Fort ▸ Arthur and Meaghan watched both films back-to-back, recommended viewing order: Hold the Fort first, then The Murder Podcast   WHAT WE LIKED / WHAT WE DIDN'T ▸ The creature variety is unlike most horror comedies; you're never dealing with just one type of monster ▸ Fight choreography is clean and well-shot for a crowdfunded indie production ▸ Jerry is the MVP, and Julian Smith plays the character with incredible comic timing ▸ The film has genuine emotional moments you won't expect, given how goofy everything else is ▸ McScruffy lands slightly over-the-top compared to the rest of the cast, the writing for that character pushed just past the line ▸ Final ratings: both Arthur and Meaghan sitting around 6.5/10, fun, not perfect, absolutely worth watching Follow us & Subscribe:SpotifyApple PodcastTikTokInstagramThreadsGrave Tone Horror Podcast Website Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.