Caliber 9 From Outer Space

Crime and transgression from the golden age of Italian exploitation cinema this week, as Sammy from the Gentlemen's Guide to Midnite Cinema pops in to discuss Cry of a Prostitute (1974), directed by Andrea Bianchi, followed by To Be Twenty (1978), directed by Fernando Di Leo. We discuss the amazing second act of Henry Silva's career as a genuine star of Italian cinema, and delve into the deeper th...

It's time to watch some fast cars on film, driving dangerously around narrow streets by square-jawed men (and women) tortured by the existential horror of modern life. Sakana joins us to discuss John Frankenheimer's high octane epic, Grand Prix (1966), followed by Hairpin Circus (1972), directed by Kiyoshi Nishimura. We will be announcing a Spoiler Territory section for both films, so if you haven...

From the sublime to the ridiculous, we're getting esoteric this week. Not to mention erotic. And not a little neurotic to boot. Jerry drops in to discuss Mandala (1971), directed by Akio Jissoji and Things To Come (1976), directed by Derek Todd. Buddhism! Politics! Pleasurebots! Pissville! It's all happening this week! We will be announcing a Spoiler Territory section for both films, so if you hav...

He was a stranger... and a killer! In this impromptu and somewhat shambolic bonus episode, Ted and Sammy catch up with Rob and Joe to try and remember as much as possible from the previous night's drunken watchalong of Psycho From Texas (1975), directed by Jim Feazell - an obscure piece of cinema trash which Ted found on an old VHS but which is also available on YouTube. Smalltown oil tycoons, und...

Yes, we had a hankering to delve back into gritty, seedy, 1970's police thrillers! Our partner in crime, Nick Langdon, stops by to discuss The Offence (1973), directed by Sidney Lumet and The Laughing Policeman (1973), directed by Stuart Rosenberg. From the sleazy underbelly of San Francisco to the mean streets of, er, Bracknell, the fear and loathing is everywhere and we wouldn't have it any othe...

What would summer be without cheesy 80's rock, swimming in the lake, lounging on the pontoon, non-marital sex in a rickety cabin and brutal, bloody death? Al drops by to discuss seminal slasher, Friday the 13th (1980), directed by Sean S. Cunningham and Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985), directed by Danny Steinmann. We discuss the phenomenon of how the original film became arguably the singl...

An episode 5000 years in the making! Heather Drain joins us at the bloodsoaked shrine of Ishtar (or is that Sheetar?) to discuss Herschell Gordon Lewis' seminal splatterfest, Blood Feast (1963), and its bonkers cult favourite homage, Blood Diner (1987), directed by Jackie Kong. Tune in for this audio feast, or you'll have to eat hamburgers for dinner tonight. Let's just say, plot is not really the...

In this brief revival of the Sundance Film Festival's Midnight program, Mike Willden from Watch Skip Plus swings by to discuss Space Truckers (1996), directed by Stuart Gordon, and The Convent (2000), directed by Mike Mendez. Join us as we regale you with tales of Charles Dance and his low energy wang, George Wendt getting his butt sucked into space, Dennis Hopper trapping women into marriage and...

And the truth is, he didn’t die an ordinary man. In this bonus episode, Rob and Joe welcome Sammy from The Gentlemen’s Guide to Midnite Cinema back on the show to pay tribute to the troubled genius of Ozzy Osbourne , a man whose life encompassed precipitous highs and very dark lows, but whose impact on the worlds of music and, indirectly, film  - not to mention pop culture at large - was immeasura...

Red sky in morning, brutal prison guards' warning. Red sky at night, there'll be trouble in flight! Mike White from The Projection Booth podcast joins us to discuss a couple of Japanese exploitation classics: Prisoner Female Scorpion: #701 (1972), directed by Shunya Ito, and Goké, Body Snatcher From Hell (1968), directed by Hajime Sato. Gorgeous visuals and heinous humanity will be the twin themes...

It's business up front and party at the back this week - as long as the business up front is Silly-Beggars and the party involves hogs, testosterone and a psychotic Lance Henrickson making alarming threats. We're joined this week by film-maker Ted Bennett ( Reel Terror ) to conduct a frequently irreverent discussion on bizarre Jackie Chan vehicle City Hunter (1993), directed by Wong Jing, followed...

Justin Kerswell from The Hysteria Lives and The Hysteria Continues pops in to discuss Patrick (1978), directed by Richard Franklin, followed by its notorious and wholly unexpected Italian rip-off, Patrick Still Lives (1980), directed by Mario Landi. Toxic masculinity, screaming cat-fights, Holly Hockeysticks cheer in the face of psychic assault and full body impalement: these movies have similar t...

What the bloody hell is going on?!?! Curses flying thick and fast all over the place. Adam drops by to talk A Chinese Ghost Story (1987), directed by Tony Ching, and Kadaicha (1988), directed by James Bogle. Dark magic and people getting engulfed by giant tongues (or is that just the biggest eel I've ever seen in my life?) Also, Tom Cruise's messiah complex, Sonny Chiba's cowboy yakuza, Australia'...

We love a mismatched double feature, and this is a doozy. Charlie Adlard is back to discuss a couple of films that couldn't be more different. We reflect on Dario Argento's masterpiece of phantasmagoric horror, Suspiria (1977), followed by Gerry Anderson's own childlike dream of mecha joy: Thunderbirds Are GO (1966), directed by David Lane. One thing these films have in common? Plot is entirely se...

Computer game adaptations: perhaps the least respected form of film-making around. And let's face it, the ratio of good films to bad films is pretty darn low. This week, we team up with the guys from the Grandad and Mr Tech gaming podcast to have a close look at two much maligned entries in this subgenre: Street Fighter (1994), directed by Steven E. de Souza, and Mortal Kombat (1995), directed by...

Just which cop is the biggest bastard? Lieutenant Crow or Inspector Cliff? Bryce joins us to discuss a couple of tales of cops gone off the rails. First up: Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989), directed by J. Lee Thompson, and Mafia Junction a.k.a. Super Bitch (1973), directed by Massimo Dallamano. We will be announcing a Spoiler Territory section for both films, so if you haven't seen them before...

This week, we are trapped inside and beset by unnameable horrors in a dark corner of the Great White North. Sammy from the Gentlemen's Guide to Midnite Cinema pops in to discuss Pontypool (2008), directed by Bruce McDonald, followed by the notorious SOV act of lunacy, Things (1989), directed (if that's what you can call it?) by Andrew Jordan. As well as pondering the profound cultural influence of...

It's another director spotlight this week, as Al stops by to discuss a couple of Riccardo Freda joints. Freda was a diverse journeyman of the Italian film industry who produced most of his output before the heyday of Italsploitation, but his late career tilts at giallo and horror were... unusual, to put it mildly. We dive deep into his Dublin-set giallo, The Iguana With the Tongue of Fire (1971),...

This week we are talking about one of the great directors of the New Hollywood era, George Roy Hill. Sakana joins us once again to celebrate the work of this master storyteller: we will check out his divisive box office failure, The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), and his raucous, subversive sports comedy Slap Shot (1977). Death defying air stunts, stunted pretty boys, and ultraviolence on the ice rink...

War is hell. Vive le revolution! Conflict is on the menu this week as Nick Langdon drops by to discuss The Battle of Algiers (1966), directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, and Battle of the Commandos (1969), directed by Umberto Lenzi. A legendary treatise on how to both wage a guerilla resistance and combat one, plus an object lesson in how NOT to conduct a commando mission - even if you are Jack Palance w...

It's a week for tough cops who chafe under the soft libertarian justice system of modern democracy, dammit! And no cop is tougher than Maurizio Merli. Unless it's Charles Bronson, obviously. Bryce swings by to shoot the breeze and a whole heap of scumbag criminals, as we discuss 10 to Midnight (1983), directed by J. Lee Thompson, followed by Rome, Armed to the Teeth (1976), directed by Umberto Len...

We are very late to the wake, but better late than never. Earlier this year, in close succession, we lost a couple of legends of film: Gene Hackman and Wings Hauser. In this bonus episode, Rob and Joe talk about the contrasting careers of these two great talents: one of them widely celebrated, the other probably underappreciated. Then we have a close look at the only film collaboration between the...

I dunno, man - I think this mutually-agreed arrangement is a little undercooked. Mike White drops by again to discuss Raw Deal (1948), directed by Anthony Mann, and then, you guessed it, Raw Deal (1986), directed by John Irvin. Listen as we gasp in wonder at Mann's sumptuous shadowy cinematography and Arnie's enormous pectorals. What do these films have in common other than their names? Probably n...

The horror genre exists to probe our latent fears, and the so-called "Duality of Man" has been a huge theme across so much film and literature. This week, writer and video artist Graham Williamson joins us to discuss a couple of interesting meditations on transformation and duality: Ginger Snaps (2000) directed by John Fawcett and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne (1981), directed by...

Forget the threat of AI to our livelihoods... what about the murderous CYBORGS that countless B-movies have taught us are coming to get us any moment now?! This week, Al (the person, not the AI) joins us to check out Steel and Lace (1991), directed by Ernest D. Farino, and American Cyborg: Steel Warrior (1994), directed by Boaz Davidson. We will be announcing a Spoiler Territory section for both f...