Cinema Yūgen

When the lights dim and the cameras stop rolling, Sylvain Despretz returns to reveal the price of artistic freedom: obsession, psychological warfare, and the small mercies that keep a lonely vision alive. This episode pulls back the theater curtain for a raw, intimate conversation about the mess, the magic, and the merciless grind of making a film that refuses to compromise. From blistering takes...

Sylvain Despretz : a brilliant visual storyteller whose fingerprints are on Hollywood’s biggest films and whose true obsession has always been making his own. In this episode we ride shotgun through decades of illustration, design and on-set myths as a lifelong craftsman confronts the risk, sacrifice and stubborn joy of turning a private dream into a movie. From late-night experiments with image A...

Step into a sun-bleached Las Vegas where the forgotten are vanishing and something mechanical is taking their place. Bag Lady follows two brothers and mismatched outsiders — the wary conspiracist Skee and the everyman Bender — as a strange discovery about an elderly recycler pulls them into a fast, furious battle against an unseen invasion. Part homage to They Live and Terminator and part reckless...

Return to the interrogation room (or the confessional) with Kent Hill as Andrew Leavold — aka Alby Wrangler — drags you into a chaotic DIY odyssey — The Taller They Come — like Hearts of Darkness if it were filmed on a shoestring and powered by chicken feathers. From a 30‑kilo suitcase of props and a hired farting monkey to night shoots in a stoned cemetery, this episode cracks open the messy, glo...

Kick back with host Kent Hill as he drags you headfirst into the chaotic, hilarious, and deeply human world of Andrew Leavold 's (aka Alby Wrangler) latest no‑budget fever dream, The Taller They Come . From miniature guard towers that explode like B‑movie dreams to improvised kung‑fu on West African streets, this episode reads like a travelogue written by a mad director — equal parts gonzo satire...

Step into a room full of fiberglass monsters, childhood ambitions and the hum of old projectors as Bob Lindenmayer and host Kent Hill trade stories that feel like scenes from an undiscovered film. From hand-built Maximilians to the surreal final shot of a classic sci‑fi, this episode unfolds like a director’s scrapbook — nostalgic, candid and full of the small, stubborn choices that make cinema al...

Join host Kent Hill as he sits down with Paul MacDonald, the Scottish schoolboy whose childhood obsession with Highlander led him to become a master swordsmith and the official blade-maker for the new Hollywood remake. From metal-detecting relics at original locations to piping on set and crafting a screen-accurate MacLeod sword, Paul’s journey reads like mythology made real. With Chad Stahelski ’...

Step into a tale that unfolds like a beautiful lie: a grieving woman, a magnetic stranger, and a romance that peels back layer after layer until the heart of darkness is revealed. In this episode we celebrate Cruel Love — Nick Lyon ’s sleek, suspenseful film — and the luminous final performance of Christian Oliver , whose presence animates every scene. Through candid conversation with the leads El...

When the CGI giants sleep, a handful of stubborn artists crawled back into the dungeon to resurrect a blood‑stained kind of fantasy. In this episode Kent Hill sits down with Richard Pate — the unforgettable, self‑styled King Gerind — and trades stories of Scottish moors, giant spiders, practical effects, and the fierce, ridiculous joy of making movies on a shoestring. Listen as laughter and nostal...

Step behind the velvet ropes with Matthew "Matty" Greenberg — the mind behind Reign of Fire, 1408 and Pet Sematary — as he tells the story of a life lived inside Hollywood’s beautiful madness. Kent and Matty trade outrageous set anecdotes, heartbreaking moments like Wilson drifting away, run-ins with legends, and the brutal, hilarious craft of rewrites, lost projects and improbable comebacks. It’s...

Step into a late-night conversation where two friends-turned-filmmakers unpack how a quiet, bullied teenager became the centerpiece of a fiercely original horror film. On this episode, Cinema Yugen welcomes back Quinton “Q” Macari and his co-director and writer Nat Brehmer to tell the story of Julie : a movie born from a decade of obsession, shot in just eleven relentless days, and polished into s...

Step into a torchlit kingdom where ambition becomes a plague and a single gaze can summon destiny. In this episode, host Kent Hill sits down with Megan Tremethick — the hypnotic queen at the heart of The Reign of Queen Ginnarra — to unravel a film that feels like an operatic dream of blood, dragons and dark sorcery. Through breezy anecdotes and sharp behind-the-scenes detail, Megan reveals how Law...

G'day, Earthlings — a warning siren sounds and the aliens have arrived. In this episode, we ride shotgun with Scott Bateman , the dry-humored auteur behind the cult phenomenon 5000 Space Aliens, as he unveils a new, stranger wave: 5002 Space Aliens . Born from rotoscoped found footage, hand-drawn oddities, and a narrator so deadpan it could dehydrate a cactus, the film refuses to be just watched —...

Lock the doors and pull up a chair: this episode peels back the wallpaper on Rich Interior Lives , a claustrophobic, sweaty indie thriller that starts with an awkward car ride and detonates into the dinner party from hell. An eccentric woman invites her childhood crush—now an arrogant megachurch pastor—into a cramped living room and a darker belief: that his power is sexually contagious. Director...

The sky goes dark, the sirens wail, and Anthony C. Ferrante is right in the middle of the storm — not by accident but by design. This episode drops you into the ragged, electric world that forged Sharknado : a small‑town kid turned Fangoria scribe, special effects maverick, and relentless problem‑solver who learned to make movies with whatever he could beg, borrow, or jury‑rig. Listen as Ferrante...

Having known Alexander Nevsky now for nearly a decade, I know him to be a perfectionist for quality indie action cinema. But though he may not appear in Prey of Wrath, his professional fingerprints are all over it as he now lets his lady love and leading lady, Tatiana Neva (who co-writes, produces and edits) take center stage in an explosive tale of revenge and redemption that refuses to let budge...

Step into a tense, shadowed Oregon town where a man named Jake tries to outrun his past—only to be pulled into a private investigation that unravels his grip on reality. In this episode, filmmaker and actor Patrick D. Green guides listeners through the making of Beau Ideal , revealing how childhood trauma, real-life CPS experience, and a haunting location near Mount Hood shaped a film that creeps...

Smoke and sun paint the town into legend as a lone dark man follows a trail of footsteps across broken boards and barren streets. In a half-ruined room of maps and dried blood he finds the echoes of a last hope, then watches the place burn—waiting for one last prey to flee into the desert. A tense, relentless chase unfolds across days and dunes: a cat-and-mouse of cunning and will, where tracks ru...

Kent Hill might have been a poet in another life, but here he crafts the whispered reason a man finally broke. Burt Benton narrates the landscape, a world stripped bare by violence, one cold-eyed killer rides a volcanic mule across an endless, dusty road — until he meets Chet the Firewalker, whose last breath and stolen sandals mark a grim turning. As night falls, the killer feasts, sleeps, and is...

In a sleepy North Queensland town, a young geology enthusiast sees a dormant mountain stir while everyone else looks the other way. When the volcano finally blows, lava, collapse and sentimental chaos sweep through an unlikely ensemble of townspeople — men’s shed legends, feuding twins, a retired science teacher and a stubborn nursing‑home resident — in a relentless old‑school disaster story with...

Board Cinema Yugen for a crackling time with Ozploitation icon Roger Ward , who spills dirty, funny and unforgettable stories from Mad Max, Man From Hong Kong and the riotous sets of 1970s–80s Australian cinema. He remembers the rough camaraderie, on-set chaos and the fierce pride of actors who built an industry with grit, petrol and sheer nerve. Then feel the heat as Travis Bain’s Cradle of Flame...

A glance turns into an unfixable collision: Carter and Lisa’s illicit spark blooms into a dangerous, irresistible entanglement that forces everyone around them to choose sides. In this episode Kent Hill sits down with writer/director Deborah Markowitz to unpack Wait list: A Love-ish Story — a daring indie that balances razor-sharp dialogue, slow-burning longing, and the messy cost of wanting what...

When Anthony Frith signs on to make Mockbuster , he doesn’t just accept a job—he volunteers for a war. Six days, no safety net, a tiny budget and an impossible studio clock: this episode follows a filmmaker who bets everything on one chaotic, brilliant shot. Through blown costumes, last-minute rewrites and actors pushed to the edge, the documentary becomes a survival story. From Herzog-taught conf...

Step into a world where a quest for clicks becomes a descent into something far older and far darker. In this episode of Cinema Yugen, host Kent Hill sits down with writer-director Jerry Artukovich and star-producer Scott Hamm Duenas to unravel Kat Crime: Tales of the Occult — a taut, single-location horror about a true-crime YouTuber chasing relevance until a missing girl, a whispered secret, and...

G'day — Kent Hill drags listeners into the wild heart of indie cinema with Chris Grega , the gritty filmmaker behind Red Night at Skye's . From a decade-long grind and personal loss to a pandemic-forced pivot, Chris reveals how a small pawn-shop score explodes into a brutal siege, where alliances crumble, bullets tear through walls, and something far darker waits below. They unpack the film’s wild...