Flickers from the Cave

We head north this time for two really great Canadian slashers. We start off with  Bob Clark's  legendary  Black Christmas  from 1974 which is considered by many to be one of the  proto-slashers  that established many of the things we would come to expect from the genre. It has a great cast, and a tightly told story and is packed with genuinely creepy and dark moments. It truly deserves it's class...

Thanks to Eli for pointing us in the direction of a series of films that had somehow flow under our collective radars...we are focusing on the " Thunder Warrior " series, starring Trash himself, mister  Mark Gregory !  Borrowing liberally from movies like  Billy Jack ,  First Blood ,  Cool Hand Luke , and lots of others, the "plots" focus on lead-character "Thunder" who is a descendant from a grea...

Back to Japan for this episode! We look at two movies from the father of Godzilla, Mr.  Ishiro Honda , starting off with 1963's  Atragon  which tells a complicated story of toxic masculinity and intrigue. Featuring a miraculous flying sub that is sent to defend the earth from a lost undersea kingdom that has it's eyes set on conquering the world! It is delightfully cheesy and full of signature  Ts...

We got really lucky once again as we feature two extremely enjoyable movies in the cave this time. We start off with the thoroughly delightful 1984 movie " Night of the Comet " which is a charming spin on the post-apocalyptic genre, with two teeenage sisters in southern California finding themselves two of few survivors after a mysterious comet passes close to earth and starts all sorts of trouble...

Settle in for some seriously good stuff this time in the cave...we are going to rock out with some visionary, risky, brave and thoroughly entertaining films. We start off with 1974's T he Phantom of the Paradise  from legendary filmmaker  Brian DePalma , which takes several sources and mixes them together with the music ( and solid acting ) of  Paul Williams , to create a truly incredible combinat...

It was the best of caves, it was the worst of caves...this is truly the tale of two movies. We start off with a hollow thud by focusing on 1987's  Deadly Illusion , a film written and partly-directed by show-favorite  Larry Cohen . It stars  Lando Calrissian ...I mean  Billy Dee Williams , as Detective  Hamburger  ( please no jokes about the name ) and  Vanity  as his stalwart girl-friday. We also...

We decided to come racing into the new year, kicking and punching and shooting. Welcome to the wild and dangerous world of the legendary  ninja ! We start off with 1985's  Nine Deaths of the Ninja , which stars  Sho Kosugi  as a member of an anti-terrorist force who hates watermelons but loves kittens.  His team is sent up against an evil group that includes  Colonel Honeyhump  and the  father  of...

Ho Ho No!!! It's that time of year again, so we have strung tinsel and lights all over the cave. Listen in as we raise a glass of nog and crunch roasted chestnuts as we discuss two twisted tales about that little old elf known as  Santa Claus .  We start off with 1984's " Don't Open Till Christmas ", from the team that brought us the movie  Pieces , this yule log barely floats, but does feature a...

We focus on noted genre filmmaker,  Curtis Harrington  on the podcast this time. We start off with his first feature, 1961's  Night Tide , starring a very young  Dennis Hopper  as a young sailor that falls in love with a mysterious woman who seems to leave a trail of bodies in her wake. We follow that up with 1973's  The Killing Kind  which features a bravura performance by  John Savage  as Terry,...

With Julie gone this time, on assignment for "Action News from the Cave", we went for some older, weirder, more obscure selections for the podcast this time. Both films are focused on cults, but there's not a single blue oyster anywhere to be found. We start off with 1972's  Enter the Devil , from director  Frank Q. Dobbs . It is set in south-western US border town where strange lights and the sou...

We are going to do a Halloween-themed series of shows, focused on each host's personal fears. The first focuses on Julie's  fear of clowns ! The rest of us totally understand her fear and we found two very disparate films that feature clowns. We start off with 1989's  Clownhouse  from convicted child molester  Victor Salva ...The conversation breezes through the film itself and then settles in to...

Thank you Julie for this awesome pairing of 90s action movies! We start off with 1992's  Rapid Fire , starring the late  Brandon Lee  in a totally fun tale of crooked good guys, and sneaky bad guys and lots and lots of breaking glass. It completely satisfies the craving for mindless action. We follow up with the surprisingly-good  The Perfect Weapon  from 1991 which stars  Jeff Speakman  as a tota...

Our goal this time was to bid farewell to a legend. The world recently lost the ground-breaking  Burt Reynolds  and we could not let that moment pass without honoring him. We decided to celebrate Burt by focusing on two films where he was both the director AND the lead. We start off with 1985's  Stick , which is based on a novel by another legend, Mr.  Elmore Leonard . It's a tale of an ex-con, tr...

We delve into dark corners of the cave this time as we look at two films from the 70s that focus on conspiracy theories. We start off with a TV movie from 1970 called " The Brotherhood of the Bell " which stars  Glenn Ford  and many other big names. It borrows from the legends of the  Skull and Bones  group at Yale that has given us multiple US presidents. The movie had enormous potential but we d...

We ALL love  Jamie Lee Curtis , and it was in the 1980s when she cemented her status as the ultimate " scream queen ". We look at two films released in 1980 where she is the lead and where young adults and "teens" are carved, and sliced, and diced...We start off with  Prom Night  which is a familiar tale of a prank-gone-wrong and the eventual, bloody, revenge for that prank. A largely-great suppor...

We happily ran back into the arms of legendary Arkansas film-maker,  Charles B. Pierce  this time on the podcast, choosing two of the films that he directed. We start of with " The Evictors " from 1979. With a great cast featuring  Jessica Harper ,  Michael Parks  and  Vic Morrow , it is an effective tale of mysterious goings-on at a house in the 1940s. We follow it up with probably his second-mos...

Back in the 80s,  Grace Jones  was turning up everywhere. A striking and interesting person, she put out records, modeled and tried her hand at acting in a variety of films. We decided to look at two somewhat-random ones this time for the podcast. We start off with 1986's  Vamp , which stars  Chris Makepeace  in a fairly standard tale of college students who get in over their heads at a strip club...

We can NOT stay out of the sewers, maybe it's because we spend so much time in the dark and stanky confines of the cave. This time we're hunting rats...or are THEY hunting US!?!?!?!  We start off with 1982's  Deadly Eyes  from Mr.  Gymkata ,  Robert Clouse . This is a solid thriller about a city being overrun by large rats ( that are actually dachshunds in costumes ) and it still packs lots of fun...

With Julie "away on assignment", we decided to head back to Italy to look at a couple of films from a genre that is decidely unfriendly to women, the notorious " giallo ".  We start with " What Have You Done To Solange " from 1972 which totally blew us both away. This was a really strong and well-told tale with tons of intrigue and mystery and some very unsavory moments. We use the word " masterpi...

We kick and punch and resurrect the dead this time in the cave. We start off with a staggeringly inept film from 1988 called  Robo Vampire  which really has to be  seen  to be believed. If you are a fan of really bad cinema, this one deserves to be seen. We follow that up with a truly entertaining film from 1982 called  Raw Force . It is packed with nudity and wacky comedy which serves to soften a...

It's like a bag of  flamin' hot cheetos  in the cave this time...things are soooo EXTREME!!!  We start off with an amazing little movie from 1993 called " Extreme Justice " starring  Lou Diamond Phillips  and  Scott Glenn  ( and lots of others ) in a story of a secret team inside the  LAPD  with a mission to stop certain repeat offenders...permanently!  We follow that up with a movie from 1987 fro...

There are all sorts of  martial arts , but we picked two particularly interesting ones that were featured in films from 1985. We start of with the legendarily sketchy  Gymkata , starring olympic gymnast  Kurt Thomas  who is recruited by the US government to take part in a dangerous game in central Europe, to win favor with the  Khan . It is not good, but still, tons of fun to watch. We follow that...

We are getting all up in some manholes this time for the podcast.  Down in the darkness, under the city streets, there are things moving around in a very spooky way in both of the movies we talk about. We start with 1980's  Scared to Death , from  Bill Malone . It features a big humanoid monster known as the  Syngenor  that is killing people left and right. Only one former alcoholic, former cop ha...

We have two very disparate yet similar films this time in the cave. We start off with 1986's  Hands of Steel , from Italian maestro  Sergio Martino . It tells the story of  Paco Queruak , a cyborg who begins to break from governmental control and rediscover his humanity. It is a quintessential 80's sci-fi movie and ultimately completely satisfying. We follow that up with a real mind-bender, the ja...

There is no point in trying to deny it...we LOVE  John Saxon ! We look at two of his films this time, and, thanks to podcast-listener George, one of the films is his sole directorial effort! We start off with the legendary 1980 movie,  Cannibal Apocalypse , which stars Saxon and  Giovanni Radice  in a tale of flesh-eating vietnam vets, running from the police in Atlanta, Georgia. We had heard abou...