Cinema Yūgen

On the final Cinema Yugen of the year, Kent Hill and his spirit animal Con Christopoulos trade the usual plugs for a fireside chat: rain on the tin roof, festive banter, and a quiet magic born of luck and persistence. Con takes us from weekend short films and inflatable Godzilla props to an unexpected fitting on the Gold Coast and a paycheck from Netflix — a small, human triumph that strips celebr...

On a sunlit Balinese terrace, Matthias Hues unspools a life that reads like an action script — arriving in Hollywood with nothing but a shirt on his back, surviving dizzying highs and desperate lows, crashing celebrity parties, rubbing elbows with icons, and even losing a phone to a mischievous rescue monkey. His anecdotes leap from Venice Beach to Moscow, jungle sets to black sites, each scene st...

Step into a gleaming, outrageous world where swords sing, sorcery smolders, and the joy of cinema is unabashedly pure. In this episode of Cinema Yugen, Kent Hill celebrates Lawrie Brewster’s The Slave and The Sorcerer — a handcrafted valentine to 80s sword-and-sorcery that revels in bravado, practical effects, and larger-than-life performances. From the gloriously eccentric Arlo the Torturer to Me...

When Bryan Kristopowitz drags you behind the velvet curtain of late‑night video stores — the hum of fluorescent lights and the scent of worn VHS — you discover that direct‑to‑video films are not failures but secret adventures. In this episode of Cinema Yugen, Bryan tells the improbable story of how a trove of rescued reviews became a book celebrating fifty explosive action movies that skipped thea...

He answers the phone and immediately calms a fan who calls him a hero — and from that small, human moment this episode unfurls into a lively, unguarded portrait of Joe R. Lansdale . Listen as a nervous admirer becomes a collaborator in a conversation that moves from Roadkill chapbooks to martial arts, audio books, and the strange, funny lines that make Lansdale’s characters leap off the page. Thro...

When Todd ( LeJon ) happens across a high-tech fortune‑teller booth, he thinks he's just here for an interview. But Athena ( Dawna Lee Heising ), the AI within, begins to pry at the corners of his life, unspooling a past he has tried to bury. What starts as a routine application becomes a delicate reckoning between human frailty and machine insight. This is The Job . Director Craig Railsback weave...

When a once‑lost B‑movie resurfaces, it doesn’t just cough up footage — it tells a life story. In this episode Kent Hill sits down with director Mark Terry to trace the strange, gritty odyssey of Samurai Priest Vampire Hunter : a 2009 release that vanished into the HD transition, only to be resurrected years later through obsessive restoration, new scenes, and the magnetic presence of Tim Thomerso...

Step into a fever dream of 90s action-movie nostalgia where earnest heroes, mismatched villains with eye-patches, and frozen raccoon minions collide in a Christmas of chaos. This episode follows filmmaker Travis Irvine as he traces the wild, booze-soaked origins of Killer Raccoons! 2!: Dark Christmas in the Dark! and how a college prank evolved into a full-blown homage to the gloriously bad sequel...

Step into a night where cameras never stop and the line between performance and terror blurs. Host Kent Hill guides you through Raymond Wallace’s dizzying found-footage chiller, Paranormal Investigations , then sits down with star Jamie Bernadette to unravel the movie’s meticulous craft, the pulse‑quickening scares, and the real-life brushes with the uncanny that shaped the film. Between backstage...

It’s October — the spooky season — and we take you straight into Paranormal Investigations where a reality TV crew doesn't know they’re shooting their final episode. What starts as slick promos, backstage banter, and the familiar theatrics of ghost hunting show slowly peels back into something far darker: a night of blood, shocking revelations, and razor‑sharp satire that wants you to question wha...

From a torrentially wet first day to a 2 a.m. pool fall, this episode tears the curtain back on The Handyman — a scrappy, action-packed film that evolves from cheeky home-invasion slapstick into full-throttle, wrench-and-hammer mayhem. Hear the writer, director and the film’s grunting, boxer-short-clad hero recount broken props, improvised cameos, midnight shoots and the brutal crowbar-and-hammer...

When Kent Hill sits down with Mike Caravella , the conversation becomes a road trip through late-night video stores, desert skies and a low-budget dream that refused to die. From a cancer scare to COVID isolation, Mike's journey into the Mojave gave birth to Astral Plane Drifter — a ragged, hilarious and hallucinatory mashup of westerns, kung fu, and space-horror. Listen as Mike traces the films s...

When a fearless young writer pitched a daring idea — “Mad Max on water” — no one expected the epic that followed. In this episode Kent Hill sits down with Peter Rader , the screenwriter whose audacious debut became Waterworld : the practical-stunt spectacle that weathered critic storms, inspired theme-park spectacles, and now gleams in a definitive 4K restoration. Rader walks us through the mythic...

In this episode we ride alongside a rediscovered film and the people who refused to let it die: Riverbend , a daring 1989 drama about three Black Vietnam veterans who confront a racist sheriff and reclaim their town. From the thrill of finding untouched 35mm prints in a forgotten vault to the intimate memories of cast and crew, the conversation unfolds like a detective story and a love letter to o...

Join Kent Hill and special guests as they peel back the curtain on President Down , a lean, high-energy Asylum original that punches far above its budget. With director Nick Lyon’s theater-like block shooting and a cast led by G. Anthony Joseph and Lorenzo Lamas, the film stitches together intense ensemble set pieces, surprising twists, and a chilling premise about technology, control, and vulnera...

When filmmaker Sean Cisterna adapts a creepy short and assembles an unlikely crew, eight retirees answer the call — drawn by curiosity, camaraderie and the promise of free snacks. What begins as a cheeky invitation to play with fake blood becomes a transformative adventure that rekindles purpose, sparks new friendships and proves creativity has no age limit. Silver Screamers weaves on-set chaos wi...

Join Kent Hill for a freewheeling conversation with cult auteur Richard Stanley as he celebrates restored classics, teases a new British shoot he finally controls, and reveals how public‑domain mischief and indie grit are fueling his next outrageous project. From the psychedelic rebirth of Dust Devil to a chainsaw‑wielding take on Winnie the Pooh, Stanley navigates synchronicity, AI anxieties, and...

Join Kent Hill as Cinema Yugen unwraps Part Two of an unfiltered conversation with film sleuth Paul Rowlands. From laugh-out-loud oddities like Ghost Shark and the misnamed Ice Road Vengeance to the bittersweet art of sequels and the magic behind Top Gun Maverick, this episode moves like a midnight double-feature — surprising, nostalgic and wildly entertaining. Through sharp anecdotes, offbeat mov...

Step into the raw, dust-swept world of Black Pearl, where two now-legendary filmmakers set off in a busted RV with $35,000 and a story that felt bigger than them. This episode unfolds like a road movie turned hero’s quest — late-night edits by candlelight, real fights and real sacrifices, and the moment a young filmmaker severs his dreads on camera to become the character he believes in. We trace...

Host Kent Hill invites fellow cinephile Paul Rowlands into the studio for an unfiltered, laugh-lined conversation that wanders from the blockbuster battleground to the intimate corners of film history. Over coffee and candid asides they pick apart a divisive summer at the box office, question the fate of franchises, and trace how our movie-going rituals have changed. They leap from dinosaur island...

Step into the chaotic, bittersweet world of an indie filmmaker who delivers pizzas by day and chases movie dreams by night. In this episode, Mel House narrates the surreal moments — from a pop-star phone call at a teen pool party to dozing on a park train — that became the heartbeat of his film Inbetweening. Through animated interludes, puppets, and candid memories, the conversation unfolds like a...

Join us on Cinema Yugen as we dive deep into the mind of Joe Hollow, the visionary behind the acclaimed horror film, Flesh of the Unforgiven. With over 74 international awards to his name, Hollow offers an exclusive peek into his fascinating journey from musician to award-winning filmmaker. Known for his unique ability to deliver spine-chilling narratives, he navigates the turbulent landscape of i...

Join us in an engaging episode of Cinema Yugen as host Kent Hill sits down with the esteemed filmmaker Danny Bilson to delve into his iconic journey in the movie industry. Born into a family deeply rooted in Hollywood, Bilson shares remarkable tales from the film sets of his youth to his collaborations with renowned figures like Paul De Meo. Discover how a love for storytelling and a knack for cra...

Join us for a captivating dive into the world of 90s cinema as Kent Hill sits down with acclaimed director Russell Mulcahy to unravel the mystique of The Shadow. In this engaging episode, explore the rich tapestry of a pre-Marvel era when comic book adaptations were rare gems. Delve into the production tales of this beloved classic, featuring an exceptional cast led by Alec Baldwin, alongside scre...

Join us for an exhilarating episode of Cinema Yugen as we dive into the world of budget filmmaking with the ingenious Todd Sheets. Known for his remarkable ability to create epic films without extravagant resources, Todd shares the inspiration and challenges behind his latest venture, "Wolf Moon Rising." This episode is a must-listen for fans of werewolves, space adventures, and classic horror fil...