Optimism Vaccine

THIS WEEK: Takeshis' (2005), Glory to the Filmmaker (2007), Achilles and the Tortoise (2008) What do you do when you’re Takeshi Kitano, Japan’s ubiquitous, wildly successful TV and film star, and you begin questioning your own value as an artist? You get introspective introspective and try your best to self-destruct in the most interesting way possible. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: The Hand (1981), Body Parts (1991), Idle Hands (1999) What do Oliver Stone, the guy who wrote The Hitcher and Timothée Chalamet’s uncle have in common? They’ve all made films about killer limbs. Is this loose theme enough to carry an episode? Maybe! Or maybe this was just an excuse to watch another movie starring Jeff Fahey. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: House (1985), House II: The Second Story (1987), House III: The Horror Show (1989), House IV (1992) You might remember House as the dusty VHS tape at your local video store with the creepy finger ringing a doorbell. Maybe you remember House II because of the brilliant subtitle, THE SECOND STORY. Perhaps you caught House III on TV years ago because you spent a solid 20 minutes believing...

THIS WEEK: Ringmaster (1998) and Citizen Verdict (2003) Jerry Springer survived the Holocaust and then grew up to become a sleazy, salacious gift who graced our TV screens and local multiplex/dvd bargain bin. Jerry taught us that you shouldn't pay for a prostitute with a personal check, but if you do, you can still be mayor of Cincinnati. He also taught us that it's cool to punch your mom in front...

THIS WEEK: Ghosthouse (1988), Witchery (1988), Beyond Darkness (1990) While noted coward and layabout Sam Raimi was busy not making Army of Darkness , the brave and noble Italian film industry stepped in with three Evil Dead sequels of their own. The La Casa series proves once and for all that with the power of Claudio Fragasso, Umberto Lenzi, Fabrizio Laurenti, and Joe D'Amato, anything is possib...

THIS WEEK: Fuck The Devil (1990), Frostbiter: Wrath of the Wendigo (1995), and Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell Adam Miros returns from his heroic effort to boost Renfield's box office by seeing the film 5 times a day and demands we watch the new Evil Dead film, Evil Dead Rise . Instead, OV takes on three Evil Dead knock-offs from around the globe: A german SOV amateur nightmare, A Japanese supe...

THIS WEEK: Black Christmas (1974), When A Stranger Calls (1979), When A Stranger Calls Back (1993) Jake just moved into a new house so it seems like a great time to remind him that psychopaths are always hiding in your attic so they can do terrible shit and then call you up and tell you about it. As a bonus, we got to watch a couple of classic horror flicks and a long gap made-for-tv sequel that i...

THIS WEEK: A Letter From Death Row (1998) and No Code of Conduct (1998) Wassa goin' on? Our Patrons have spoken. That's wassa goin' on. And by "spoken" we mean they voted in a cryptic poll that lead to us watching the films of Bret Michaels this week. From singing for the 80s hair metal band Poison to winning Celebrity Apprentice and starring in his own reality TV dating show, Bret Michaels has do...

THIS WEEK: Daisies (1966) and Freddy Got Fingered (2001) When it comes to films that are dialed in on extreme provocation and destruction, it's hard to beat Věra Chytilová's landmark Czech New Wave classic, Daises or Tom Green's unfairly maligned 2001 magnum opus, Freddy Got Fingered. One is a complex takedown of patriarchal norms and authoritarianism. The other has Rip Torn getting covered in ele...

THIS WEEK: One Cut of the Dead (2017) and Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2020) Ace producer Colin steps in for Adam "The Absent Father" Miros this week as we cover a pair of single shot (or pseudo-single shot) micro-budget films from Japan: Junta Yamaguchi's criminally underseen Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes and Shin'ichirô Ueda's acclaimed meta-zombie comedy, One Cut of the Dead. Support Opti...

THIS WEEK: Brainscan (1994), Virtual Seduction AKA Cybersex (1995), Cyber Vengeance (1995) What would you do if you had access to the power of true, immersive 90's VR? Would you call tech support to complain about a video game? Would you become a virtual prison guard? Would you try to sleep with your dead ex-wife? Or maybe you'd just hang out with Edward Furlong (hopefully not). The choice is your...

THIS WEEK: The Lawnmower Man (1992) and Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace AKA Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe's War (1996) It seemed downright irresponsible to engage in hollow awards discourse while the world is in the midst of a VR apocalypse, so we've instead opted to delve into the prophetic Books of Jobe in the hopes of uncovering the genesis of the sinister Net. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon:&n...

THIS WEEK: A Knock at The Cabin (2023) and The Outwaters (2022) A lesser podcast trying to cover some new horror films for an episode would have probably jumped on the Scream VI bandwagon. We opted instead to watch the latest M. Night Shyamalan joint and a surreal indie found footage film. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine

THIS WEEK: Best Seller (1987), Nails (1992), Scam (1993) If you google director John Flynn the first thing you'll see is people saying "why aren't more people talking about John Flynn?" And that's a great question. You should be talking about John Flynn, or at least watching something he's made other than Rolling Thunder and your third favorite Steve Seagal movie. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patre...

THIS WEEK: Clerks 3 (2022) The 90s gifted us with a wealth of great independent filmmakers. Tarantino! Soderbergh! Rodriguez! Linklater! And... Kevin Smith. Thirty years after the original Clerks , Kevin was kind enough to make a third Clerks film that just might be his new career low point. Not bad for the guy who gave us Yoga Hosers ! Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon:  https://www.patreo...

THIS WEEK: Plane (2023), Ambulance (2022), and Taxi (2004) The perplexing existence of the latest Gerard Butler actioner Plane inspired a truly terrible idea. We ventured through three of the century's finest films named after vehicles. We were not prepared for Jimmy Fallon. No one is prepared for Jimmy Fallon. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine

THIS WEEK: Deliverance (1972), Zardoz (1974), and Excalibur (1981) There are two types of people in this world. Those who love and respect Zardoz, and the foolish charlatans who can't see a masterpiece when it's right in front of them. Join us this week as we celebrate one of the greatest (and most underrated) filmmakers of all time: John Boorman. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon:  https:/...

THIS WEEK: Tales Beyond Madness (2018), Reflections of Evil (2002), and Fatal Pulse (2018) Genius. Visionary. Degenerate. Maybe all of the above. For 30+ years, Damon Packard has been creating antagonistic independent cinema without any regard for genre conventions, copyright law or good taste. Which of course makes him a perfect fit for Optimism Vaccine. Join us as we celebrate the only director...

THIS WEEK: Blackbird (2018... or maybe 2022 depending on who you ask) In the 90s Michael Flatley donned his best pleather pants and seductive plunging neckline shirt so he could set the dancing world (and your mother's heart) on fire. But once the traditional Irish music fades and you hang up your river dancin' shoes, what is the lord of the dance to do? There's only one option: dump millions of d...

THIS WEEK: Waves of Lust (1975), Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976), Raiders of Atlantis (1983), The Washing Machine (1993) We're back at it with more pre and post-Cannibal Holocaust Deodato, covering everything from art house softcore, to Mad Max ripoffs, poliziottesco, and something that might qualify as an erotic thriller under the loosest definition. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon:&nb...

THIS WEEK: The House on The Edge of the Park (1980), Body Count (1986), and Dial Help (1988) Sure, you know him because you've watched Cannibal Holocaust, but have you fully baptized yourself in the cool waters of Ruggero Deodato? This week, we're celebrating one of the late, great auteurs of Italian genre cinema. Come for the discussion of his classic shocker, The House on The Edge of the Park. S...

THIS WEEK: Dead Bang (1989), The Hot Spot (1990), and Harley Davidson and The Marlboro Man (1991) While fans of nepo babies doing adaptations of Z-grade erotica might be crying out for more Dakota Johnson, real film heads know you can't beat the cinema of daddy Don. Sure you know him from the beaches of Miami Vice and the... nashy bridges of Nash Bridges, but what about the great movies Don Johnso...

THIS WEEK: Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991) and Silent Night (2012) Oh, wow. They just kept making these, huh? Once again the beloved Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise swerves into another totally unrelated story about how Mickey Rooney is a weird little creep who looks like someone tried to make an obese baby out of a sponge. And there's a robot this time and some Freudian MI...

THIS WEEK: Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! (1989) and Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation After Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 was reduced to an underfunded clip show, you would think more sequels to the beloved holiday slasher would be unlikely. Shows what you know. As a testament to unexplained franchise resiliency, two more sequels quickly followed from the legendary Monte He...

THIS WEEK: Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) and Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987) This year, you made it through David Gordon Green's Halloween. But can you survive three decades of Silent Night, Deadly Night? Probably! The first two movies are pretty great, actually. Find out why one is a stone-cold second-wave slasher classic and the other transcends meme-ification and a money-grab clip...