Sunday, November 16, 2025

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


Sunday, November 9, 2025

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


Sunday, November 2, 2025

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?