Caliber 9 From Outer Space

Graham Humphreys programs a sacrilicious double feature for our latest Creepy Spooky Month episode! First up, Hammer horror goes all Satanic Panic and espionage thriller at the same time with The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973), directed by Alan Gibson. Following this, we explore the deeply weird and also weirdly seminal The Devil's Rain (1975), directed by Robert Fuest. This month is scary enough...

Creepy Spooky Month continues as we revisit that most terrifying of horror subgenres: the airborne threat of malevolent birds! OK, maybe it's not THE most terrifying horror trope, but that won't stop us watching films promising such dubious delights. Ted Bennett is in the house to check out the relatively yet-to-be-discovered Shaw Brothers gem that is Bloody Parrot (1981), directed by Hua Shan, an...

Hell is other people. Apartment living means being close to your neighbours - way too close, in some instances - leading to all sort of psychological horrors and possible silliness. This week, Dallas Norvell stops by to discuss a couple of apartment horror stories like only the 1970's could turn out. First up: The Tenant (1976), directed by Roman Polanski, followed by The Sentinel (1977), directed...

The days are cooling down, the leaves are changing colour, and the nights are drawing in. It must be Creepy Spooky Month! Bryan Davidson joins us for the first of a series of episodes all devoted to horror this October - and we start with ZOMBIES. Or at least, zombie adjacency. First up, we discuss Stewart Gordon's absolute cult classic, Re-Animator (1985), and follow that up with a jaunt into som...

The fabulous Samm Deighan is back with us this week to delve into a couple of great, underseen French films - and also to tell us all about her new book on the work of that great master of cinema insanity, Andrzej Żuławski. Exciting! We kick off our double feature with Żuławski's frantic ode to mad French mobsters, L'Amour Braque (1985) and we follow that up with La Cérémonie (1995), directed by C...

It's high culture vs low culture this week! Rob St Mary drops in to discuss the great Surrealist Luis Bunuel's final film, That Obscure Object of Desire (1977) before descending into the quasi-giallo, early 80's Canuxploitation slasher jam, Happy Birthday To Me (1981), directed by J. Lee Thompson. We may have planned a female duality theme, or we may have just thrown these two contrasting flicks t...

Birds. Eggs. An unusual basis for a horror-thriller, but it can be done. Marek Turner joins us to discuss a double feature of avian dread starting with what is arguably ground zero for the animal attack horror sub-genre, The Birds (1963), directed by Alfred Hitchcock. We follow that up with bizarre Italian proto-giallo, Death Laid An Egg (1968), directed by Giulio Questi. The Birds is a classic wh...

The sea was angry that day, my friends. And... a little bit rapey... Nothing beats aquatic horror - we love movies where nasties from the depths spend 80-90 minutes wreaking havoc among shrieking B-movie actors, so we've lined up a fin-tastic double feature to scratch that itch. Bryce stops by to discuss Humanoids from the Deep (1980), directed by Barbara Peeters, and Killer Fish (1979), directed...

As devoted fans of Hollywood genre and crime cinema of the 60's and 70's, we have a high appreciation for the copious output of director John Frankenheimer . Our resident Frankenfanatic, Nick Langdon, joins us this week to discuss Frankenheimer's late-career return to form, Ronin (1998), along with French Connection 2 (1975) his largely forgotten and woefully underseen sequel to William Friedkin's...

What do you do when your horror franchise is running out of ideas? Well, you could send your horror villain into space. Or you could team him up with another famous horror villain for an old-fashioned monster mash. But of course, the Friday the 13th franchise would never resort to such desperate measures... would they? Al is back in the house this week as we check out Jason X (2001), directed by J...

Actual rabid dogs would be much better behaved than these people. Sammy from the Gentlemen's Guide to Midnite Cinema comes over to our place with a sleazy movie under each arm, as is his wont. This week, we check out Rabid Dogs (1974), directed by Mario Bava and (not a sequel), Like Rabid Dogs (1976), directed by Mario Imperoli. These are two fever dreams of rampant criminality and amorality, of a...

It's the end of the world as we know it and we feel... well, you can't complain, can you? Author and publisher AM Belsey joins us today to discuss a couple of films about the end of the world... or ARE they??? We check out Danny Boyle's Sunshine (2007), and follow it up with cult New Zealand curio, The Quiet Earth (1985), directed by Geoff Murphy. Sexy scientists, solar edging and a New Zealand wi...

We said James Bond would return... and he did! We continue our series checking out the lesser loved entries from the 007 franchise. This week, it's time to discuss George Lazenby's sole outing as the famous spy, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), directed by Peter Hunt, and follow it up with one of the most maligned films in the series, Octopussy (1983), directed by John Glen. We discuss the...

Two very different genre exercises today: one an essential masterpiece of its idiom, the other a true exploitation cash-in of a much more polished and successful film. Rich Fox is with us to discuss Tenebrae (1982), directed by Dario Argento and Tentacles (1977), directed by Ovidio G. Assonitis. From the sublime to the ridiculous, perhaps, but both films are fascinating in their own way. Tentacles...

Wings Hauser brings out the lunatic in us, so this week we have a suitably chaotic episode to cover a Wings double feature where the sleaze and violence are dialled right up - without skimping on the quality of film-making. Heather Drain and Ted Bennett join us this week to review Vice Squad (1982), directed by Gary Sherman and The Wind (1986), directed by Nico Mastorakis. You'll laugh, you'll cry...

Sakana drops in this week to discuss a couple of early films directed by American exploitation legend, Jack Hill. First up: Pit Stop (1969), a film marketed as a demolition derby thrill ride which nevertheless contains surprising character depth and drama. Then we follow it up with cult favourite, Spider Baby (1967) which, despite its weirdo horror comedy approach, has some emotional depth of its...

Why do we love movies set on trains so much? Is it morally OK to love sleazy exploitation films? Both of these essential philosophical conundrums come together in a clash of tearing metal and ripping undergarments in this week's double feature. Sammy from the GGTMC joins us to discuss Night Train Murders (1975), directed by Aldo Lado and Terror Express (1980), directed by Ferdinando Baldi. It's no...

This week, we're all about seminal indie horror movies - that grindhouse crackle and pop - ah, there's nothing like it. Justin Kerswell is in the house to check out a couple of lo-fi horror gems. We start off with the recently rediscovered indie experimental mind-melter Effects (1979), directed by Dusty Nelson, a film which features a whole bunch of George A. Romero's Pittsburgh indie-horror colle...

When Mr Tech is in town, it's time to dust off some computer game adaptations. Unfortunately, we are fast running out of game adaptations that we're all collectively willing to watch, so this week we're instead exploring a couple of films in which characters are transported into a game. We start off with the film that pioneered this sort of cinema concept, Tron (1982), directed by Steve Lisberger,...

Nothing compares to the horror of a lycanthropic female family member. The 80's knew that and so do this week's guests, Ted Bennett and Heather Drain, who are both back to talk about some more of that decade's pop film culture detritus. Under-appreciated gems or trash best forgotten? We've never been more polarised! First up, rather odd teen comedy, My Mom's a Werewolf (1989), directed by Michael...

It's a high speed episode this week, whether that's horses and stagecoaches sprinting across Apache territory or Fiats and vans driving dangerously around the narrow streets of Milan. Actor and film maker Greg Furman joins us to discuss a couple of classics from two different worlds of cinema. We start off with the seminal Hollywood western blockbuster, Stagecoach (1939), directed by John Ford and...

Trains of DOOM! Horror artist extraordinaire, Graham Humphreys, is in the house to talk about a couple of railbound cult horror classics. First up: Eugenio Martin's classic Hammer-adjacent gem, Horror Express (1972) - an absolute delight of the sci-fi-horror subgenre. Our B movie is famed act of cinematic weirdness, Night Train to Terror (1985), ostensibly directed by Jay Schlossberg-Cohen but inc...

Violence and dread on the mean streets of New York and Milan. Mike White stops by to discuss a hard-boiled double feature from two very different crime cinema traditions. First up: Across 110th Street (1972), directed by Barry Shear, followed by Gambling City (1975), directed by Sergio Martino. We will be announcing a Spoiler Territory section for both films, so if you haven't seen them before you...

Stories about lovers on the run have been captivating audiences since the classic years of Hollywood - although it feels like a long time since we've seen many notable examples. Graham Williamson of the Pop Screen podcast pops in to talk about the history of the sub-genre and also to discuss a couple of contrasting examples. First up, seminal New Hollywood classic, Bonnie and Clyde (1967), directe...

We're checking out a couple of weird riffs on the vampire from Eastern Europe this week. Jonathan Owen joins us to discuss the beautiful and bizarre Czech New Wave classic, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970), directed by Jaromil Jireš and then a curious blend of vampire and car racing, Juraj Herz's Ferat Vampire (1982). Both films explore weird psychoerotic territory both grotesque and beautif...