Flickers from the Cave

In episode 27 of the podcast, we are joined by Leif immediately following our trip to see  Prometheus  at the local  IMAX . We take the opportunity to talk about the  Alien  film  franchise  as a whole, starting with the original 1979 film, and each of the three direct sequels. 1986's  Aliens  from hit-maker  James Cameron , 1992's  Alien 3  from the incredible  David Fincher  and 1997's  Alien Re...

Episode 26 of the podcast looks at two films that surprised us with sudden bouts of total craziness and left us scratching our heads and asking "what the...?" After recently seeing  Joss Whedon 's  The Cabin the Woods , which caused this reaction numerous times, we started talking about other movies that had elicited similar responses and we immediately thought of these two gems. 2003's  Dead End...

Episode 25 of the podcast sees us delve into a danker, mustier and much darker corner of the cave. We return to the days of our youth and watch two films from 1983 that are so similar on the surface that you might think they're the same movies. We start with  Metalstorm - The Destruction of Jaren-Syn  which is another in a long line of mostly disappointing films from  Charles Band . We finish by l...

Welcome to Episode 24 of FFTC. In this episode we celebrate the fine actor  Yaphet Kotto , starring as the titular character in  Larry Cohen 's amazing 1972 film  Bone  and taking a fantastic turn as the villain in 1974's action packed  Truck Turner  starring  Issac Hayes . Although both films were made during the height of the  blaxploitation  era and feature some of the signature tropes of that...

Episode 23 of the podcast features two very divergent films that both fall within the umbrella of  exploitation cinema . The first is 1973's  Ricco the Mean Machine  which stars  Christopher Mitchum  ( son of the legendary Robert Mitchum ). It is a reworking of the classic revenge tale that includes organized crime, youthful rebellion, and soap. Featuring some of the hottest Italian actresses we h...

We start 2012 by looking at three films from director  Gary Sherman . We start with 1973's  Raw Meat  starring  Donald Pleasance  then look at 1981's  Dead and Buried  which stars  James Farentino  and finish up with 1982's  Vice Squad  which features an astounding performance by  Wings Hauser  as the nastiest pimp ever commited to celluloid, Ramrod. Gary Sherman displays his skill at crafting tig...

Episode 21 of the podcast was born from a message from Daniel who got us thinking of covering films from the  Scandinavian  part of the world. We chose two films from 2010,  Troll Hunter  and  Rare Exports . If you listen to the podcast, you will hear that we LOVED both of these movies and put them on the highest of pedestals. If you know of a film from a specific area of the world that might forc...

Episode 20 focuses on some great prison exploitation films from opposite sides of the earth. 1973's  Terminal Island  and 1982's  Turkey Shoot . They both posit a near future situation where socially undesirable types are shipped off to remote locations to protect the masses from either a murderous blood lust or a revolutionary mindset. In both there is violence, sexism and fantastic action set-pi...

Episode 19 of the podcast was spawned by a request from a listener for us to focus on revenge thrillers. The listener suggested 1980's  The Exterminator  and we chose 1988's  Deadbeat at Dawn . These are both low-budget but incredibly well executed examples of the revenge sub-genre. The Exterminator stars  Robert Ginty  and  Christopher George who both turn in respectable performances. Ginty is th...

Episode 18 of the podcast focuses on the two films that bookend  Lucky McKee 's career so far. We start with  May  from 2002 and finish up with his newest film, 2011's  The Woman . Both of these films feature female leads that are trying to make their way in a world where the odds are stacked against them ( lucky indeed ). The incredible  Angela Bettis  stars as the eponymous "May" and also as the...

Episode 17 of the podcast focuses on 1986's  Terrorvision  and 1991's  Shock'em Dead . These two films do not fit the traditional mold of a " good film " but they each hold their own charms. Terrorvision stars the excellent  Gerrit Graham  and  Mary Woronov who turn in fantastic performances as hapless swingers whose happy home is invaded by a monster from another world. Shock'em Dead stars the in...

Episode 16 turns toward the hoary idea of  time travel  by looking at two magnificent examples of that genre in 2004's  Primer  and 2007's  Timecrimes . Both of these excellent films are 100%  flux-capacitor  free, and at no point do  morlocks  enslave any characters. Read as little about these two as you can but rush as fast as possible to watch them. If you enjoy storylines that mess with your h...

In this special episode of Flickers from the Cave, Marty is joined by guest co-hosts  KMO  and Olga to talk about the 2011 version of  Conan the Barbarian . The talk turns frequently to the  1982 version  which of course starred  Arnold Schwarzenegger . Put on your leather corset and/or  thong , grab your sword, make your peace with  Crom  and enjoy this special presentation. Send us your thoughts...

Episode 15 marches once more into the low budget end of the cinematic pool and focuses on 1980's  Without Warning  and 1983's  The Deadly Spawn . They both attempt to tell the story of extraterrestrial entities who are interested in much more than  Reese's Pieces . Without Warning features  Jack Palance  and  Martin Landau  in roles that truly test the bounds of the art of acting. The Deadly Spawn...

Episode 14 delves into the world of inanimate objects that become living vessels of evil as we focus on 1974's  Killdozer  and 2010's  Rubber . Killdozer was a TV movie where a hulking  D9 Bulldozer  mysteriously starts to stalk the isolated team of workers on a tiny island off the coast of Africa. Starring the stoic  Clint Walker  and a team of talented character actors, Killdozer works surprisin...

Lucky episode 13 focuses on an obvious subject, the notorious film-series  Friday the 13th . Beginning with 1980's original  Friday the 13th , and continuing on through the next three films in the series and then we speak briefly about 2009's reboot which was also titled  Friday  the 1 3th . Also included in the discussion is the wonderful retrospective  His Name Was Jason  which includes comments...

Episode 12 swings back towards the lower budget goodness of  Mr. Roger Corman . 1981's  Galaxy of Terror  and 1982's  Forbidden Wo rld . These two were "inspired" by the runaway success of Ridley Scott's 1979 masterpiece  Alien . Featuring competent casts, interesting scripts and surprisingly effective special effects from future oscar-winner  James Cameron , these are two very successful tales of...

Episode 11 of the podcast sees us welcome Doug Lain of the  Diet Soap Podcast  to our show. We look at three films that were written by the legendary  Paddy Chayefsky , 1971's  The Hospital  starring George C. Scott, 1976's  Network  which features a bevy of talent, and 1980's  Altered States  which has entirely too much of William Hurt's naked body. The talk ranges from the  Oedipal Complex  to j...

Marty and Mike talk about 2011's  I Saw the Devil  from Korean director Jee-woon Kim. This bloodthirsty and brutal tale of revenge blew them both away and they talk at some length about how this film is different from others in the genre. The conversation continues and involves the surprisingly good  Piranha  from 2010. Send us your thoughts on the show and recommendations for future episodes to f...

In episode 9 of the podcast, Mike and I attempt to make amends for all the bad things we've said about Lucio Fulci. We talk about two of his films that really impressed us both, 1972's  Don't Torture a Duckling  and 1982's  The New York Ripper . These are both wonderful films that are distinctly and obviously "Fulci-films". These two are very different from each other, and even though "Don't Tortu...

Episode 8 of the podcast features two wonderful films ( this time we aren't putting that word in quotes ). The first film we cover is 1975's  Poor Pretty Eddie , starring Shelley Winters, Leslie Uggams, Slim Pickens and Ted Cassidy. It is an amazingly twisty and twisted story of backwood, hayseed, intrigue that gets into some very surreal and uncomfortable areas. The second movie is 1976's  Alice...

Episode 7 is a full-on Fulci-fest. We talk about two of  Lucio Fulci 's "classic" films.  Zombie  from 1979 and  Gates of Hell  from 1980. You will ask yourself why we subject ourselves to such inhumane situations, but I am afraid that we can not provide a sensible answer. Make sure your clothes have been scotchguarded, or else you might get some on you. Send us your thoughts on the show and recom...

In Episode 6, Mike and Marty discuss two "classics" from the 80s that tried to cash in on the success of Ridley Scott's blockbuster 1979 film  Alien . The films covered are 1980's  Contamination  from italian maestro Luigi Cozzi, and 1985's  Creature  from William Malone and featuring the inimitable  Klaus Kinski . These are both low-budget, earnest efforts from guys who really really love to make...

In Episode 5 of the podcast, Marty and Mike talk about two "epics" of Italian sci-fi, 1979's  The Humanoid  and 1978's  Starcrash . These two are wonderfully bad with some recognizable faces littered amongst the cast. If you were a reader of  Starlog  magazine in the Star Wars era, you are probably familiar with at least Starcrash, and ,if you are like me, all it took was knowing that Richard Kiel...

Episode 4 h as been posted! In this show, Mike and I talk about the 1981 film  My Dinner with Andre  which stars Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory. If you haven't seen this film, or you saw it years ago, I think we'd both urge you to watch it now. The film drips with wonderful bits of philosophy and is a multi-level experience that reveals itself slowly with each subsequent viewing. We hope our conv...