The Kulturecast

We continue Indian Cinema Month, this year to coincide with launch of the B ollywood Cinema Club, our first all Indian cinema biweekly podcast , with a film that features Aamir Khan doing his best E.T. impersonation: PK . Starring the aforementioned Khan, he plays the titular PK who lands on Earth only to have the remote control that calls his spaceship stolen off his naked body. This sends PK on...

We take a break from Indian Cinema Month to take a look at a lo-fi horror film that took 2022 social media by storm: Skinamarink. Focused on two children whose dad disappears on the same evening the doors and windows in their house suddenly vanish as well. It's one of the most exciting, unsettling, bizarre, obtuse, and atmospheric horror films of the last decade; the less you know going in, the be...

We kick off Indian Cinema Month this year to coincide with launch of the B ollywood Cinema Club, our first all Indian cinema biweekly podcast , with a look at a Tamil classic: Muthu. Starring superstar Rajnikanth as the titular Muthu, it follows him as he is tasked with babysitting his boss' fiancee which causes him to learn the truth about his entire life. It's a story that's Shakespearean in sco...

We end Universal Monsters Abroad, a month where we look at movies featuring the classic monsters that aren't made by Universal, with one of the most disappointing films ever watched for this podcast: The Awakening . Starring Charlton Heston as an obsessed Egyptologist who finds the tomb of a cursed ancient Egyptian queen that may be trying to come back to life. It sounds way more entertaining than...

We near the end of Universal Monsters Abroad, a month where we look at movies featuring the classic monsters that aren't made by Universal, with a vampire film as offensive as it is unfunny, Love at First Bite. Starring George Hamilton as Dracula, he leaves Transylvania for the shores of New York City to find love, blood, and so much more. The laughs barely come if they come Astounding Tales of th...

We continue Universal Monsters Abroad, a month where we look at movies featuring the classic monsters that aren't made by Universal, with an adaptation of Frankenstein that tries to do something different, to varying degrees of success: Frankenstein Unbound. Starring John Hurt and Raul Julia, it follows Hurt as a doctor sent back in time by accident to the time of Frankenstein and his monster who...

We kick off Universal Monsters Abroad, a month where we look at movies featuring the classic monsters that aren't made by Universal, with a look at a film that is based on a Stephen King calendar turned novella, Silver Bullet. Starring Gary Busey and Corey Haim, the film follows young Marty Coslaw as he attempts to convince his family and friends that a killer werewolf has taken up residence in th...

We near the end of Grab Bag Month with a film that is much more topical than it has any right to be, unfortunately, especially regarding American politics: Bob Roberts. Written, directed, and starring Tim Robbins, it is shot cinema-verite style as it follows the titular Roberts, a businessman turned folk singer, who is attempting to run for Pennslyvania senator. It's a horrifying and sobering look...

We continue Grab Bag month with a film whose cast, poster, and true story are more interesting than anything we got on screen, White Mischief. Starring Charles Dance and Greta Scacchi, they play two expatriates in Kenya who get into some of the titular white mischiefs which ends in tragedy. It sounds much more interesting than it actually is, but hey, it has John Hurt, so there's that. Mondo Heath...

We continue Grab Bag month with a film that Chris said he would never watch again for some painfully obvious reasons, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Starring Michael Rooker as the titular character, it follows his exploits as he and his accomplice Otis go on a killing spree in Chicago. It's cinema verite at its finest with a heaping helping of some truly shocking imagery. Dark Destination's F...

We continue Grab Bag month with a film that has two titles, three leading men, and zero chances of being as good as the sum of its parts: Deceiver. Starring Chris Penn, Michael Rooker, and Tim Roth, the three men find themselves at the heart of a murder mystery involving Renee Zellweger cut in half and dumped around NYC. It sounds exciting but it falters under the weight of its own twists and turn...

We kick off a month without a theme, a first for us here at the Kulturecast, with a film that features Art Carney going west with his faithful cat Tonto, "Harry and Tonto". Along with Art Carney, there is a veritable whos-who of '70s stars who he encounters along his journey from New York to the sunny beaches of LA. It's a road movie with a lot of heart and a truly stand-out performance from Carne...

We end Horrortober with another bonus episode, this time looking at the often-maligned sequel to the original Blair Witch Project: Books of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. Starring an ensemble cast of twenty-somethings, these curious Gen-Xers go to Burkittsville in search of the titular Blair Witch only to get more than they bargained for. The director's cut is better; trust us. On Seagal's Trevor Gumbel...

We end Horrortober 8: The Horrors of Netflix with a little bit of a cheat, it's a streaming horror movie that goes sideways, it just happens to be on Peacock+: Halloween Ends. Starring Jamie Lee Curtis one last time as Laurie Strode, she must contend with the inevitable return of her nemesis, Michael Myers. Along the way, horror manbabies get trolled, and the franchise comes to a hilarious, bizarr...

We continue Horrortober with a bonus episode all about a haunted asylum in South Korea that becomes the centerpiece of a spooky live-stream gone awry, Gongjiam Haunted Asylum. Starring a group of young SK actors, the group of intrepid ghost hunters go to the Gongjiam Asylum looking to get footage of ghosts that supposedly inhabit the asylum only for things to go horribly wrong. Haunting Season's J...

In this bonus episode, we reappraise three movies from the king of twist endings M. Night Shymalan, his first three films actually: The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs. If you've never seen any of the movies, they're all worth watching, and all feature some form of twist or twist ending. Wake Up Heavy's Mark Begley joins Chris to talk about the films, Shymalan's writing style, and his filmogra...

We continue Horrortober 8: The Horrors of Netflix with another horror film that goes places you totally wouldn't expect, almost to an insane point: Eli. Starring Charlie Shotwell as the titular character, he is taken to a private healthcare facility to begin treatment for an auto-immune disease that keeps him in a bubble. All is not what it seems though. Goodnight, Mr. Walters' Harris Porter joins...

We continue Horrortober 8: The Horrors of Netflix with a thriller whose cast doesn't deserve to be in something this genuinely bizarre, The Woman in the Window. Starring Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, and a whole bunch of rather talented A-listers, it follows Adams an agoraphobe who thinks her across-the-way neighbor has been murdered. If it sounds like a better movie made by a director named Hitchcock,...

We take a break from Horrortober to look at a film reboot that's been twenty-plus years in the making, and it also just happens to be a follow-up to one of Chris' favorite films, Confess, Fletch. Starring Jon Hamm as the titular Fletch, he finds himself at the center of a murder mystery that involves stolen paintings, a dead woman in his Airbnb, and a dead Italian millionaire. It's much better tha...

In this bonus episode, we reappraise two and watch anew the first three horror films from writer/director Jordan Peele: Get Out, Us, and Nope. Starring everyone from Daniel Kaluuya to Bradley Whitford along with Tim Heidecker and Keith David, the three films tackle race, aliens, and identity politics through the mind of one of horror's hottest directors. Wake Up Heavy's Mark Begley joins Chris to...

We continue Horrortober with a bonus episode on a film that's been in development hell for over 20 years but it's finally here Hocus Pocus 2. Starring Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker, the trio return as the Sanderson Sisters to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting Salem, Massachusetts. This time, another group of teens is tasked with stopping them, or ya know, trying to redeem child...

We kick off Horrortober 8: The Horrors of Netflix with a look at a film that utilizes sexual assault in a way that feels as icky as the movie itself, The Perfection. Starring Allison Williams and Logan Browning, the two play cellists who take it upon themselves to get revenge on a music school from hell. DC Titan's Richard Hatem joins Chris to talk all about the film, the lead's performances, and...

We end Father Malone Month, talking about preparatory school films, with a film that's completely different in every way, including in quality: Toy Soldiers. Starring Sean Astin as a "bad boy", he along with his friends must stop a terrorist group who has taken over their boarding school. If you've ever wanted to see what it would be like for young teens to fight hardened criminals, this theoretic...

We are near Father Malone Month's end, talking about preparatory school films, with yet another film showing the dark side of religious education: The Chocolate War. Starring a who's who of '80s teen actors, it follows their trials and tribulations at what can only be described as the Catholic school from hell. It starts with selling chocolate but spins into something much more sinister and nihili...

We continue Father Malone Month, talking about preparatory school films, with a film that shows the dark side of a boy's Catholic school, Heaven Help Us. Starring a veritable who's who of 80s teen actors, it follows a group of boys who must contend with overbearing Brothers at a 1965 Brooklyn Catholic school. It's tonally all over the place but manages to be charming in spite of it. Dark Destinati...