A Nihilist and a Dancer Walk into a Bar

     This week- a pair of films with strong female characters and their lovers being caught up in another man's violence. 

     Driving home from a club, Amy and Jordan pick up magnetic drifter X. Soon they find themselves on the run through a deadpan pastiche of early 90s America. The 2023 director's cut of a totally heterosexual film by Gregg Araki that already left a massive transgressive shadow over generations of indie filmmakers, The Doom Generation.

     Violeta, a popular featured dancer at a Mexico City cabaret, rescues a newborn left in a red-light district trash can. Refusing to give up the infant, Violeta starts down a path that will bring violence and loss to those around her. A musical melodrama from the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema with gorgeous cinematography by Gabriel Figuerao, highlighting his incredible handling of chiaroscuro, and a powerhouse performance from Ninón Sevilla, Victimas del Pecado (English title: Victims of Sin).

     All that while Craig and Kevin build a man, Dave tears him apart, and Tyler irons his US flag bed spread. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 439- A Nihilist and a Dancer Walk into a Bar

Pup Tent

     This week the inmates try to run the asylum to varying degrees of success.

     Randle McMurphy is moved from a hard labor prison farm for a psychological evaluation. Nurse Ratched maintains strict control, through fear and intimidation, over the ward he is placed. McMurphy's lively and rebellious nature immediately put them at odd to dire consequences. Winner of Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Adapted Screenplay at the 1976 Academy Awards, inducted into the US Library of Congress National Film Archive in 1993, and widely held as an enduring masterpiece in American cinema- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

     After her brother dies, Kaori teams up with a ridiculously over the top pervert but equally skilled private investigator, Ryo Saeba. As they attempt to figure out who killed her brother and behind the new drug he was investigating, they get caught up in a dangerous life and death struggle. Based on the influential manga by Tsukasa Hojo, City Hunter.

     All that and Kevin and Dave clash over a divorce, Tyler tries to enter the 1st of 36 Chambers, and Craig makes an adjustment. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 438- Pup Tent

Slash Fiction

     This week we bring October to a close with four slashers that did not spawn franchises.

     When students at experimental athletic drug enhancement focused Falcon Academy begin to disappear, no one seems to really think that much of it. They are too focused on Regionals, then Nationals, and finally their shot at the Olympics. Assuming all those drugs are ignored in testing. It's not a quarter as good as that sounds. Our first feature starring Sally Kirkland, take that as you will, Fatal Games.
     A sleezy phone sex line is being targeted by a killer. Bobo does not like it when you lie to him, so he takes matters into his own hands. Lt. Myers believes the killer to be Kevin, the photographer boyfriend of operator, Kristi. No one stops to ask why someone enraged by lies obsessively calls a phone number designed to explicitly lie to you. A mostly forgotten slasher with the greatest late 80s supporting cast possible, Out of the Dark.
     Six friends going to a lakeside weekend get away realize they are hopelessly lost. To correct this mistake, they pick up an on the run hitchhiker. Even their new guide isn't enough to get them where they are going so they decide to stop for the night. Instead of being reasonable and going back to the recently passed through town, they instead decide to break into an obviously still inhabited house. The penultimate film from Spanish erotic horror legend José Ramón Larraz, Deadly Manor.
     Five friends on a road trip find themselves in need of assistance. Enter Mr. Slausen, owner defunct roadside attraction Lost Oasis, offers them assistance and shelter for the night. Unfortunately, Slausen's huge property is also home to a masked murdering telekinetic mannequin maker. Soon the friends find themselves in more than mortal peril. The first feature from director David Schmoeller with a great performance from sports and TV legend Chuck Connors, Tourist Trap.
     All that and David feels the meh, Tyler gets hyped, Craig is still twitterpated, and Kevin begins polishing the buttons on his jacket. Join us, won't you?

   Episode 437- Slash Fiction

Dark Night at the Opera

     This week- Four(ish) tales of terrible men doing terrible things and a tiny little mix-up.

     The lavish Collinswood estate's handyman accidentally unleashes a 175-year-old vampire. The newly freed nocturnal predator takes up residence in an abandoned building on the grounds, insinuates himself back into the family, and begins to target the governess, who bares a striking resemblance to his long lost fiancée. The first feature adaption of a cult classis soap opera and using much of the original series cast reprising their roles- House of Dark Shadows.
     Iemon, a scheming ronin, plots to dispose of his wife, Oiwa, and improve his station by marrying the daughter of a local samurai clan's daimyo. In order to facilitate this someone poisons Oiwa. Soon all will face her terrible revenge as she returns as an onryo. A film based on one of Japan's most popular ghost stories that has been adapted to film over 40 times, including TWO version being released in 1959. Leading to Kevin watching the Kenji Mitsumi version while Dave and Tyler mistakenly watch Nobou Nakagawa's... either way it is titled The Ghost of Yostuya (original Japanese: Yotsuya kaidan).
     In the country of Heaven Valley, a man hunts the murderer of his wife. Finding the country's police force fully corrupt and unwilling to help, he summons a demon to assist in his bloody revenge. An Italian splatter action film that takes its cue from classic 1980s manga to kachu tenshin amaguriken all over the city- Adam Chaplin.
     Dumass Beach, a private prison corporation's founder and CEO, is developing the next generation of law enforcement, AI controlled robots who stop at nothing to keep America safe. In order to better teach the machine how to effectively judge situations and decide on the proper course of action, Beach hires a storytelling funeral director. Portifoy Simms is happy to obligingly deliver four more allegories. A legacy sequel released 23 years after the original, Tales from the Hood 2.
     All that and Dave has a visitor from his TV, Tyler stops resisting the calling in his blood, and Kevin doesn't notice the mistake. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 436- Dark Night at the Opera

Skeleton Gelatin (and Further Tales from the Hood)

     This week- four tales of shivering fright to carry you through a chilly autumn night.

     Kayako Saeki, with her son Toshio and cat Mar, is murdered by her jealous husband. Her anger and sorrow turn them all as onryo and place an insatiable curse on the house. Soon Toshio's teacher Kobayashi, the Murakami family, and all others who venture in will find nothing but misery. The first feature length entry in a thirteen entry franchise with entries on both sides of the globe, Takashi Shimizu's Ju-on: The Curse.
     Three drug dealers try to buy some drugs found by an eccentric funeral director. As they walk to through the building, they are regaled with stories of terror and the supernatural. Rusty Cundieff's second feature is full of pointed social commentaries about police brutality, child abuse, racism, and gang violence. A 90s cult classic, backed by several fantastic performances, which would get a pair of sequels over twenty years later, Tales from the Hood.
     Mark is a wannabe cinematographer living in Los Angeles. He struggles to establish his career, only finding work filming short pornographic scenes for a man he despises, and unable to form connects with women, often ending with brutal violence. All of that may change when he meets Michelle, a young woman he meets at work in a committed relationship with a similar background and interests. A rediscovered psychotronic exploitation that might be among the best of the subgenre. The first and tragically only feature written and directed by Christina Hornisher, Hollywood 90028.
     Professor Hildern returns from an expedition in New Guinea with a remarkable discovery- a giant humanoid skeleton older than any previously recovered and twice as advanced. This is just the beginning of the puzzle as the Professor discovers exposure to water will cause rapid regeneration of tissue and cell which will change everything we know, a similar line of research that his psychiatrist brother is perusing. Directed by Hammer and Amicus regular Freddie Francis and starring the legends of British horror, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, The Creeping Flesh.
     All that and Dave games on, Kevin wallows in the cinema room, Tyler gets his warm fuzzies on, and Craig cackles at the sights he has to show us all. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 435: Skeleton Gelatin (and Further Tales from the Hood)

Womb with a View (And Other Assorted Tales)

     This week- three horror movies about identity and society.

     Corky is a magician and ventriloquist about to break into the mainstream. When the network backing his major debut asks for a standard medical examination for insurance reasons, he fears his deeply held secret will be revealed. Corky flees to his hometown in the Catskills. Will Corky be able to pull himself out of his spiraling mental health crisis? Will the beautiful resort owner, and former classmate, accept Corky as he is or will she choose her loveless home? How many cigars can an elderly man smoke in a day? A quartet of incredible performances in a tale of psychological torment come together as a kinda... Magic.
     Seven college friends reunite together at cabin in the woods to celebrate Juneteenth. Despite lengthy separation, as soon as the majority are together again old dynamics and resentments immediately come back. In the game room, they find a deeply racist board game that addresses them directly. Will they survive the night? What happened to the two who obviously arrived first and decorated? Who is behind this deadly game of trivia and identity? One of the sharpest horror comedies of the last decade, The Blackening.
     In a devastated world, Mariano spends his days making gas for others outside and slowly converting his cavernous space into an actual cave. When siblings Lucio and Fauna invade his space, Mariano presses them into helping him in exchange for food and shelter. Soon the demands become more horrific and extreme. Will the siblings escape the lascivious hermit's clutches? What is Mariano actually doing? What exactly is happening outside? A fiesta of gorgeous and grotesque images that drive to a fever pitch of flesh, We Are the Flesh.
     All that and Dave gets drawn back to the 80s, Tyler takes a tour through a gas station serial killer attraction, Kevin gets back into whittling, and Craig cleans up after us all emotionally. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 435- Womb with a View (And Other Assorted Tales)

Holy Frond and Wholly Desire

     This week- four films about people driven to extremes.
     When Harry Graham learns he had blown through his entire trust fund, he makes a desperate gamble to secure his future. Giving himself only 5 weeks to find, court, and wed a rich woman before he loses everything. Fortunately, he soon meets guileless botany professor Henrietta Lowell, whose only dream is to discover a new species of fern. Will Henrietta realize her dream? Will Harry get away with his nefarious plot? Why isn't there more James Coco? The directorial and screenwriting debut of often brilliant but mostly infamously overbudget Elaine May, A New Leaf.
     Norah, a nightclub DJ, is being harassed by obscene phone calls. The caller has detailed knowledge of her daily life and activities. Soon things escalate and a terrifying object is left in her apartment. Lt. Dave Madden, a cop with an interest in crime inspired by sexual motivations, takes a personal interest in the case. Will the caller escalate their actions before Madden can root them out? An often overlooked cult film that occupies that space between Psycho and gialli, between Peeping Tom and slashers- Who Killed Teddy Bear?
     Eve Stephens is a Los Angeles trial lawyer who has been shortlisted for a judge appointment. Despite her professional appearance, Eve struggles deeply with self-doubt and conforming to what society expects from her as a woman. Eve's carefully balanced world begins to unravel when her doctoral student sister, Maddie, is arrested for shoplifting. The debut feature from Susan Streitfeld, Female Perversions.
     Juvenal, a former monk now working as a live-in councilor at an addiction rehab facility, has the power to cure people with a touch. When former grifter Bill Hill learns of this gift, he enlists the help of a beautiful associate to get Juvenal on board his plans to cash in. Unfortunately, militant fundamentalist group leader August Murray also has plans. Based on the book by Elmore Leonard, Touch.
     All that and Dave gets toxic af, Kevin keeps it sophisticated af, and Tyler makes his smut collection everyone's problem. Join us, won't you?

   Episode 433- Holy Fronds and Wholly Desire