Check the Gate

About Check the Gate

Hosts Martin and Gretchen talk movies. Each episode we choose one movie to start the conversation. From there, all movies, genres and topics could come up. It's about the love of films and the love of talking about films with the people we most want to talk with. No criticism. Not reviews. We just love movies and we hope you love the ones we choose to talk about.

Publisher

Martin Vavra

Category

tv & film

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

1 Feb 2025

Latest episode

28 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

34 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   28 Jul 2026

   Check the Gate - Blood Diner

   Gretchen and Martin are excited to have been consistant enough to release on their two week schedule that they brought you a treat of an episode. Maybe. Blood Diner, a schlockfest of a movie that has its passionate fans in the cult classic underground. This film has cannibals, vegan restaurants, a ventriliquist that may have a corpse dummy. Nazi wrestlers. Nazi rockabilly bands. All topped off by what can only be described as a volva mouth on an ancient Egyptian goddess. See, we told you it was a treat of an episode. checkthegatepodcast  (https://www.instagram.com/checkthegatepodcast/) https://www.checkthegatepodcast.com/

2. 

   20 Jul 2026

   Check the Gate - Invaders from Mars

   Hey everyone. Gretchen and I watched the 1986 Tobe Hooper attempt at a kid's movie, Invaders from Mars. When the guy who gives you Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Poltergeist tries to go family friendly, the old ways of filmmaking don't go away quietly. High budget price tag with low budget looks and B-movie acting make this a Tobe Hooper movie for the light weekend viewer. checkthegatepodcast  (https://www.instagram.com/checkthegatepodcast/) https://www.checkthegatepodcast.com/

3. 

   19 Jun 2026

   Check the Gate - Akira Kurosawa's Ran

   Hey everyone. Unfortunately, this episode is a mess. I deleted one of the audio tracks on accident. I tried to edit with the remain audio track but it was really bad. In the end, I was only able to salvage audio from the cameras, so this episode is full of room noise that I can't clean up. It's too bad because this is one of my favorite films [Martin] and talking about it with Gretchen is something I have wanted to do for years. I hope that I make up for it in future episodes and that this never happens again. If you want to skip this episode, I understand. https://www.instagram.com/checkthegatepodcast/ https://www.checkthegatepodcast.com/

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

54,215

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 39 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

35

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

32

Contact Check the Gate

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Check the Gate