Caliber 9 From Outer Space

In the future, it's 2100. But it used to be 2027. But then, 70 years later, some people time travelled back to 1980. And after 20 years passed, our story begins. Don't worry, it doesn't matter what year it is. Just know that a very muscly lady needs to run around in the African desert while Chad Stahelski struggles not to die of heat exhaustion in a very top-heavy robot suit. In this bonus episode...

Friday night's a good night for slashing, so here comes Part 4 of our meandering trip through the Friday the 13th franchise. Al is in the house again as we check out Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988), directed by John Carl Buechler, and then we delve into the inevitable Platinum Dunes remake effort, Friday the 13th (2009), directed by Marcus Nispel. Is it a misunderstood gem? And how...

Stephen Frears is not an habitual purveyor of the sort of cult cinema we usually cover on this show. But we do love our noir, and Frears does have two outstanding neo-noirs in his filmography, so why not knock them both off the list in one episode? Bryce joins us to discuss The Grifters (1990), along with Frears' earlier effort, The Hit (1984). This is noir with an emphasis on existential. And his...

We're all about grimy 1970's New York crime movies this week, as Nick Langdon drops in to discuss The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (2011), directed by Joseph Sargent and The Night of the Juggler (1980), directed by Robert Butler. No two films more perfectly encapsulate the unique cinematic vibe of the crumbling, chaotic metropolis in this era like these do. We will be announcing a Spoiler Territ...

Primordial legends from the mists of time and fever dreams of imminent apocalypse. Our good friend Dallas Norvell drops by Casa Calibro to discuss Excalibur (1981), directed by John Boorman and Holocaust 2000 (1977), directed by Alberto de Martino (this film is sometimes also known as The Chosen or Rain of Fire ). Boorman's passion project based on Mallory's La Morte d'Artur is a heady mix of magi...

Loyal listener and true gent, Bryan joins us this week armed with a couple of underseen gems. We start off with gritty British crime thriller The Squeeze (1977), directed by Michael Apted and follow that up with some choice Philippine exploitation: Cirio H. Santiago's pirate / blaxploitation / women-in-prison mash-up The Muthers (1969). Stacy Keach as a drunk private eye having a really bad week i...

Bird season is OVER, butthorns!!! This week, we have lined up two films which tried to establish Gary Busey as the action movie hero du jour. Unfortunately, they kinda flopped, but we think they're more fun than leaping onto Danny Trejo from the top of a building. First up: Eye of the Tiger (1986), directed by Richard C. Sarafian, and then the wonder of Bulletproof (1988), directed by Steve Carver...

And the final Chuck Norris Fact is: Death has now been sentenced to life with Chuck Norris . In this bonus episode, Rob and Joe pay tribute to one of action hero cinema’s true icons, Carlos Ray “Chuck” Norris. Along with a brief discussion of his life and career, they also dive deep into one of his less celebrated films (even by Chuck Norris fans), the late-cycle Cannon Group production, The Hitma...

Have ya paid your dues, Jack? Yessir, the check is in the mail. It must be Conflict-in-Asian-Enclave Week this week, as Andy joins us in checking out a couple of well paired and much loved cult classics: Big Trouble in Little China (1986), directed by the great John Carpenter, and Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), directed by Mark L. Lester. More bromance than romance but more than enough ass-kicki...

Swords. Magic. Monsters. Muscles. Boobs. Prepare to go full nerd this week (if you haven't already) as we dive headlong into a couple of sword-and-sandal epics - or is that club-and-ugg-boot? Ted Bennett drops in to check out 80's cable TV mainstay, The Beastmaster (1982), directed by Don Coscarelli. Following that, the pecs get even bigger in Ironmaster (1983), directed by Umberto Lenzi. We reall...

Another bumper episode, another double feature of lesser-loved James Bond movies. This week we check out a Connery and a Brosnan: Diamonds Are Forever (1971), directed by Guy Hamilton, and The World is Not Enough (1999), directed by Michael Apted. Sean Connery was getting a little tired of Bond at this point (to say the least), and Pierce Brosnan's Bond films seemed tired almost before they got st...

We love original horror poster art here at Caliber 9 From Outer Space, and this week we are honoured to host one of the true great artists of that idiom. Graham Humphreys is our guest this week, and we delve into a couple of 1960's horror gems. First up, under-seen Hammer horror-adventure-fantasy The Lost Continent (1968), directed by Michael Carreras and then we go full Lovecraft with Die, Monste...

Forgive us for posting a slightly ramshackle bonus episode, but we thought some of you might like to hear how this year's Joefest was going! Joefest is a private film festival we run every year in the depths of the British wintertime, when there's nothing better to do than sit inside and watch weird movies from the wilder side of cinema. In this episode, Al and Ali join us to quickly run over the...

As we bemoan the state of the world today and endure the anxiety of this cryptofascist, post-truth reality, we risk losing sight of the real danger to us all: savage fish men! Today we go right back where it all started, Universal's seminal entry in this monster subgenre, Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), directed by Jack Arnold. We then skip lightly over its first sequel and focus on its und...

In the future... it pays to be more than human. And it also pays quite well to be more than machine. What can I tell you, the future is highly discriminatory. In this bonus episode, Ted joins Rob and Joe to make a bit of a mess of explaining the plot of Nemesis (1992), directed by Albert Pyun. Cyborgs, bullets, bottoms, and dusters with shades - it's the quintessence of dystopian trashy sci-fi act...

We're going back to the 1960's, this time to Swinging London and the Carnaby Street scene. It's not so much groovy, man, as smashing, luv! Justin Kerswell joins us to discuss a couple of near forgotten emanations of this peculiarly British reaction to the spirit of the age. We start off with Smashing Time (1967), directed by Desmond Davis and follow that up with Haunted House of Horror (1969), dir...

We're chock full of punk energy this week! RP Fox joins us as we check out Hard Core Logo (1996) directed by Bruce McDonald, and Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979) directed by Allan Arkush. A tragicomic road trip across western Canada with thrashing guitars, personal demons, toxic masculinity and lots of gobbing, followed by an absurdist slice of Greaseploitation from the house of Corman, but with a...

We take a sharp U-turn into Utah for a very unique cult double feature this week. Jose and Mike from the Watch Skip + podcast drop in to check out Beaver Trilogy (2001), directed by Trent Harris and infamous "bad movie", Troll 2 (1990), directed by Claudio Fragasso. From a moving work of post-modern film art to a bizarre exercise in weird acting and incomprehensible plot, we have plenty to talk ab...

We revisit the dream of the freakadelic 60's this week with a couple of films which both celebrate and mourn the spirit of the age. Mark Evans of Sonic Coins + Icons joins us to discuss Easy Rider (1969), directed by Dennis Hopper and The Trip (1967), directed by Roger Corman. Bikes, weed, LSD, hippies and rednecks abound. Tune in, turn on, and drop out. We don't think you can really spoil The Tri...

It's time for us to go back to Friday the 13th for another mismatched double feature program from the franchise. Al joins us once again, this time on a trip from the sublime to the ridiculous as we start with Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), directed by Tom McLaughlin. This was generally considered a return to form for the franchise and has since been lauded as an exercise in metahorro...

Days of future past - in the total utopia of 2026, we can now look back and laugh fondly at the dystopic cyberpunk visions of the 1990's... OR CAN WE??? Nick Langdon drops in this week to check out a pair of high-tech / low life visions from the mid-90s, when William Gibson's words weighed heavy on the sci-fi genre. We start with Strange Days (1995) directed by Kathryn Bigelow, and follow it up wi...

Classic film noir meets sleazy Italian exploitation this week as Sakana and Dr Ethan drop by to check out The Glass Key (1942), directed by Stuart Heisler, and the magnificently named Strip Nude For Your Killer (1975), directed by Andrea Bianchi. We dive deep into the lives and travails of The Glass Key's wonderful cast (including Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake and Brian Donlevy) and the its striking si...

Happy New Year, folks! The party's heating up at our place: Luigi Pistilli is still looking a little moody, but Steve James is benchpressing Geoffrey Keen (much to his chagrin), Henry Silva and Lance Henriksen are grinning evilly at each other, and Andrea Bianchi is getting a bit gropey (I think Charles Bronson has noticed and he's about to do something violent). So we figured we'd duck out of the...

Peace on Earth. Can it be??? No, apparently not. Angst and dread continue to reign supreme as we enter the death throes of 2025, so let's just embrace it and have a very happy Crisis-mas! We've stuffed the stocking fit to bursting in this year's special Christmas episode. We welcome back Sammy from the Gentlemen's Guide to Midnite Cinema, and habitual Caliber 9'er, Bryce Hamilton (who never says n...

It's absolute chaos here this week, as Ted Bennett stands in for Joe and we welcome Heather Drain back to talk about some truly insane 1980's cult comedies. First up, little-known John Cusack and Tim Robbins vehicle, Tapeheads (1988), directed by Bill Fishman and then, hold on to your coffee cups and look out for holes in the wall, because we collectively lose our shit while discussing Jackie Kong...