Cinema Shock

In this Cinema Shock Rewind episode, we're re-publishing our episode covering THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN! As was the case with GAME OF DEATH, our previous Rewind episode, the history of THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN has some significant ties with the history of martial arts cinema in Hong Kong, which directly influences the creation of Tsui Hark's ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA. We're providing this epi...

In this Cinema Shock Rewind episode, we're republishing our episode covering Bruce Lee's GAME OF DEATH. The story of Bruce Lee ties in directly to our upcoming episode covering the production of ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA, so we're providing a refresher here for new listeners or longtime listeners who may want to revisit it. GAME OF DEATH was originally published in January 2021 as part of our seri...

In this episode, Justin & Gary take a look at Andrzej Żuławski's controversial 1981 cult film POSSESSION! This existential relationship drama (slash body horror?), inspired by the director's own painful divorce, is an acting showcase for its stars, Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani, and up until the last few years, was almost impossible to find in the US in its original, unedited form. This week,...

Gary and Justin sit down and talk with professional wrestler 'Thrillbilly' Silas Mason about being in the ring with Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White for A24's new film THE IRON CLAW - In theaters now! Check out this interview and let us know what you think! Should we try to do more interviews? Also let us know if you've seen The Iron Claw yet! You can hit us up on all social media - @cinema_shock...

Think SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 2 was the end of the story? Oh, you sweet summer child. In this bonus episode, we take a quick detour through the rest of the franchise — from the incomprehensible SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 3: BETTER WATCH OUT! to the experimental oddity of SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 4: INITIATION, and the toy-obsessed weirdness of SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 5:...

In this holiday-themed installment of Cinema Shock Roulette, we’re decking the halls with blood and sleigh bells as we dive into the yuletide controversy of SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (1984) — the slasher that sparked national outrage and was pulled from theaters after just two weeks. But we don’t stop there. We’re also unwrapping SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 2, the low-budget sequel that reuse...

What if ALIEN had been directed by Clive Barker? In this episode of Cinema Shock Roulette, we’re diving into EVENT HORIZON, Paul W.S. Anderson’s cult sci-fi horror film that famously crashed and burned at the box office before becoming a late-night classic. We’ll explore the troubled production, including studio interference, a rushed edit, and the now-legendary lost footage. We’ll also dig into t...

What if John Hughes movies did murder? In this Roulette episode, we dig into Michael Lehmann’s pitch-black 1989 teen satire, HEATHERS — a film that skewered high school cliques, weaponized sarcasm, and launched a thousand “Dear Diary” imitators. We’ll talk about how Daniel Waters’ script turned every studio exec pale, how Winona Ryder risked her rising career to play Veronica, and how a young Chri...

How do you describe a film like HOUSE? Equal parts haunted house horror, surrealist art film, Looney Tunes cartoon, and experimental cinema, Nobuhiko Obayashi’s HOUSE (HAUSU) is one of the wildest, most unique cult movies ever made. But behind the madness is a fascinating story of how a commercial filmmaker and former ad man channeled the imagination of his 11-year-old daughter into one of the mos...

This Halloween, we’re sinking our teeth into one of the most iconic horror films ever made: NOSFERATU (1922). A few weeks ago, we had the honor of co-hosting the very first Cinema Shock live event — a special screening of F.W. Murnau’s silent horror classic, presented alongside our friends at GUTPUNCH. At the event, we scratched the surface of the film’s eerie legacy… but we knew that Nosferatu de...

After wrapping up our look at John Waters’ early filmography, we’re back for one final spin around the block — this time with HAIRSPRAY (2007), the glossy, big-budget remake of Waters’ most mainstream hit. Adapted from the Broadway musical (which was itself adapted from the 1988 original), this version of HAIRSPRAY featured an all-star cast, splashy production numbers, and a budget big enough to m...

By the late 1980s, John Waters was ready for a change. After a decade of shocking audiences with boundary-pushing midnight movies, he set his sights on something a little more… family-friendly. The result was HAIRSPRAY — a pastel-soaked 1960s dance-party satire that retained Waters’ signature weirdness while appealing to a much broader audience. In this episode, we dig into how Waters transitioned...

With POLYESTER, John Waters cleaned up his act — well, sort of. This 1981 melodrama spoof marked a major turning point in Waters’ career: a bigger budget, a suburban setting, and his first taste of (semi-)mainstream success. It was also the first time he cast 1950s teen idol Tab Hunter, a move that shocked audiences and opened doors. In this episode, we explore how POLYESTER emerged from Waters’ d...

With DESPERATE LIVING, John Waters pushed his vision into wild new territory — a surreal, grotesque fairy tale set in the trash-strewn, totalitarian town of Mortville. Made without Divine for the first and only time in this era, the film instead centers on an unhinged cast of women revolting against a corrupt, fascist queen. In this episode, we explore the chaos and controversy behind the making o...

After the underground success of PINK FLAMINGOS, John Waters and his Dreamlanders set out to make a film that was just as transgressive — but with a more structured narrative and bigger ambitions. The result was FEMALE TROUBLE, a grotesque satire of fame, beauty, and the American obsession with crime. In this episode, we explore how FEMALE TROUBLE pushed the boundaries of taste even further, casti...

In this episode of John Waters: Divine Filth, we’re diving into the depraved, legendary cult classic that made John Waters and Divine underground icons: PINK FLAMINGOS (1972). Shot for just $10,000 on 16mm, PINK FLAMINGOS follows Divine in a grotesque and hilarious battle for the title of “Filthiest Person Alive.” With scenes of chicken sex, foot licking, public indecency, and a now-infamous final...

"One must remember that there is such a thing as good bad taste and bad bad taste." — John Waters The filth hits the fan in the very first entry of our new series John Waters: Divine Filth, as we dive headfirst into the gloriously blasphemous chaos of MULTIPLE MANIACS (1970). Filmed on a shoestring budget with Waters’ early Dreamland crew, MULTIPLE MANIACS is a black-and-white barrage of bad taste...

He seems like the perfect husband. The ideal father. But behind that neatly trimmed mustache and suburban charm… is a body count. In this Cinema Shock Roulette episode, we’re digging into the underrated 1987 psychological slasher THE STEPFATHER, starring the terrifyingly good Terry O’Quinn as a man obsessed with building the “perfect” family — no matter how many lives he has to destroy along the w...

After the massive success of SPIDER-MAN 2, all eyes were on Sam Raimi to deliver an even bigger third chapter. But SPIDER-MAN 3 ended up becoming one of the most divisive superhero films of its era. In this episode, we unpack how SPIDER-MAN 3 spiraled into creative conflict — from studio-mandated villains to an overstuffed narrative that left even Raimi unsatisfied. We’ll trace the production stru...

After the massive success of SPIDER-MAN, expectations for a sequel were sky-high — and somehow, SPIDER-MAN 2managed to soar even higher. In this episode, we dive into the making of what many fans and critics still consider one of the greatest superhero films ever made. We’ll cover the behind-the-scenes drama that almost kept Tobey Maguire from returning, the casting of Alfred Molina as Doc Ock, an...

After decades of false starts, rights battles, and abandoned scripts, SPIDER-MAN finally swung into theaters in 2002 — and changed the superhero genre forever. In this episode, we continue our series on Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man Trilogy by tracing the production of the first film in the series, from how Raimi landed the job (despite not being the studio’s first choice), to casting Tobey Maguire, and...

When we wrapped our Sam Raimi: The Entertainer series, we promised we’d be back to talk about Raimi’s SPIDER-MAN films — and folks, we keep our promises. But before we dive into the production of Raimi’s blockbuster trilogy, we’re kicking things off with something a little different: a look at the decades-long saga that brought Spider-Man to the big screen. From the aborted Cannon Films version in...

For this installment of Cinema Shock Roulette, we’re taking a dive into what might be Shane Black’s most overlooked gem: THE NICE GUYS.   Released in 2016, this hilarious and hardboiled detective flick pairs Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe as mismatched investigators stumbling through a tangled conspiracy involving porn, pollution, and the auto industry — all set against the grimy backdrop of 1970s...

After a nearly decade-long break from filmmaking following THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, Alejandro Jodorowsky returned in 1989 with what many consider his most emotionally resonant film: SANTA SANGRE. Produced by Claudio Argento (brother of Italian horror legend Dario Argento), SANTA SANGRE fuses the surrealism and religious symbolism of Jodorowsky’s earlier work with the lurid style of Italian giallo and ps...

After the underground success of EL TOPO, Alejandro Jodorowsky was given total creative freedom — and a sizable budget courtesy of John Lennon and Yoko Ono — to create a follow-up film. The result was THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, a psychedelic, symbolic, and boundary-smashing spiritual epic. From the opening frames, where Jodorowsky himself plays a mystical Alchemist shaving the heads of two nude women, it’...