Not Now in Theaters: A Retro and Cult Film Podcast

How did Scanners Hack Into the Criterion Collection? David Cronenberg's Scanners is infamous for a scene where a psychic's head explodes. But it's not all mindless destruction here. This science-fiction horror, that I would argue is a thriller, holds plenty of conspiracy and a mystery to solve. A film that helped put Canadian moviemakers on the map, the practical effects and eerie v...

How Does S. Craig Zahler's filmmaking stand apart? S. Craig Zahler's (Bone Tomahawk) Dragged Across Concrete is aptly named. This 159-minute neo-noir crime thriller is a slow burner that explodes into violence at a pin drop. Join me for this episode discussing the film's gift for dialogue, its complicated characters, and unflinching attitude toward controversy. Written and directed...

Hi Listeners, This episode is a quick update to let you know the show is taking a break for the holidays but coming back in December, as well as what content will be coming down the line. Thank you for listening, Will Connect with us on Bluesky : @not-ni-theaters.bsky.social And to read more of Will's writing or check out more podcast episodes, you can visit him at: willturntale.com

Why is John Carpenter's Vampires Such a Mixed Bag? John Carpenter's Vampires ditches all the goth and drama of the genre for a pulpy, no-nonsense, slay-some-bloodsuckers affair. And while the horror western essentially broke even at the domestic box office, it made money overseas and was a reportedly $40 million hit on video. But critics were mixed, and the film has some uncomfortable ba...

How is Bullet in the Head like John Woo's Apocalypse Now? John Woo's Bullet in the Head didn't do well in Hong Kong theaters and flies under the radar compared to his action films of the same period A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, or Hard Boiled. Yet many consider it his underseen masterpiece. By far his "most personal film," John Woo wrote, directed, produced, edited, and...

Why do horror fans keep coming back to Prince of Darkness ? Prince of Darkness  sounds like the biopic of Ozzy Osbourne that wasn't. It's actually a John Carpenter film, the second of his so-called "apocalypse trilogy," where a liquid version of satan tries to escape from its containment cylinder. And spoiler alert -- like an old-school Starburst commercial, the juice is loose....

Why do John Carpenter and H.P. Lovecraft fans love In the Mouth of Madness? John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness didn't win acclaim or box office dollars, but it has gone on to become a horror fan favorite. The film pays tribute to the works of writer H.P. Lovecraft, and while it has some scary visuals, the trick here is about psychological horror. When the most famous horror author,...

Does John Carpenter's Christine live up to the horror fan hype? From the novel by Stephen King, Christine is the story of a nerdy teen who decides to fix up a broken-down 1958 Plymouth Fury. But instead of Arnie's flashy new ride, Christine becomes the engine of his revenge on the bullies who have taunted him. With her powers of self-repair, she begins to slay those not kind to her newfo...

Why did Flesh and Blood  fail at the box office but find fans with time? Paul Verhoeven's ( RoboCop ) first English-language film, Flesh and Blood  is an erotic historical adventure that bombed on release but has found some fan appreciation with time. Audiences winced at its unflinching depiction of the Middle Ages, a world ravaged by plague, bands of mercenaries, betrayals, and religious zea...

Why does  Assault on Precinct 13 still hold up today? John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 was made for $100,000, written in eight days, scored by Carpenter in three, and shot in twenty. Yet its status as a classic endures, and its influence still ripples through filmmakers we celebrate today. A siege movie that combines the elements of Rio Bravo and Night of the Living Dead , the film is...

Why was  Escape From New York an influential science-fiction film? Now we're talking --   Escape From New York  is the next movie in my John Carpenter series, and it's one of my favorites from his filmography. Teaming up with collaborators like actor Kurt Russell, producer Debra Hill, cinematographer Dean Cundey, and many more, Carpenter presents a bleak vision of a future that seems all...

Why do horror fans still love ghost story  The Fog? The first of a fall series on the films of John Carpenter, The Fog is a seaside, small-town ghost story with all the spooky touches from the horror master. Atmospheric and with a swirling score (composed by Carpenter himself), the film is yet another cult classic in the John Carpenter canon. When Antonio Bay hits the 100th anniversary of a shipwr...

In a head-to-head battle of early 90s gangster movies, will King of New York  or  New Jack City  come out on top? Abel Ferrara's King of New York  and Mario Van Peebles's New Jack City are New York gangster films released just six months apart. While King of New York  didn't find success at release, it gained appreciation on the home rental market and has undergone re-appraisal as o...

What Makes Luc Besson's Subway  Like an Extended Music Video? Luc Besson's Subway is unlike the Luc Besson movies I know. Growing up on his films The Fifth Element  or Leon: The Professional, I thought this was going to be another quirky action film. I got something completely different, but I loved it. The movie tells the story of Fred, an aimless miscreant, who flees the people he has...

What makes Silverado a VHS-Era Comfort Watch? Lawrence and Mark Kasdan's Silverado revives the old western genre tropes when the cowboy stuff had gone out of style. Screenwriter of Raiders of the Lost Ark  and co-writer of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi , Lawrence Kasdan (with help from his brother, Mark) brings the pulpy action and quickstep pacing he honed in those all-timer...

How Did The Shooting  Journey from Obscurity to Criterion Classic? The Shooting, a so-called "anti-western" or "acid western," is compelling literally and figuratively. A Criterion classic and a film with, at the time of writing, a 100% critical score on the website Rotten Tomatoes, the movie never had a widespread American theatrical release but survived thanks to its acclaim....

What Makes the Science-Fiction Action of Fortress a Campy, Cheesy Watch? Stuart Gordon's Fortress is a science-fiction and action film that feels like a B-movie, even with its theatrical release. Well-remembered by many who saw it, it's a somewhat popular pick among video-store era enthusiasts. There are warnings in here about one-child policies, dangerous AI robots, and the nature of in...

Why Did Rolling Thunder   Shock 1970s Audiences? Rolling Thunder is a cult classic revenge film with notable fans, including being an all-time favorite of writer/director Quentin Tarantino. Written by Paul Schrader ( Taxi Driver ) and rewritten by Heywood Gould ( Cocktail ), it's about a Vietnam prisoner of war's return home only to find a new conflict in suburbia. When his family is kil...

Is  Runaway Train the best film The Cannon Group ever made? Runaway Train is the only "philosophical" action thriller I've ever heard of.  Based on an original script by the legendary Akira Kurosawa, it combines American action thrills with Eastern existential questions. This unique blend was a critical darling, but it didn't sell many tickets at the box office. But it's r...

How Does Living in Oblivion Take All the Glamour Out of Filmmaking?   Writer/director Tom DiCillo's Living in Oblivion is an independent 1990s cult classic comedy about the perils of making films. Starting off as a tipsy rant by DiCillo, then written into a script, then to a short made by DiCillo and his actor friends, the jokes kept flowing so well it rolled into a three-part takedown of the...

Does  Dog Soldiers Have the Most Kickass Werewolf Costumes in Film History? Neil Marshall's Dog Soldiers (2002) is an action/horror movie that really gets the slash part of the equation correct.  Well balanced between the two genres, this lower-budget British film is about a squad of soldiers squaring off against a pack of bloodthirsty werewolves. It ditches the melodrama of many werewolf fil...

What Makes S. Craig Zahler's Brawl in Cell Block 99 s o Raw?  Writer/Director (and sometimes comic book maker) S. Craig Zahler's Brawl in Cell Block 99 is a neo-noir prison action thriller film. If that sounds like trying to stuff way too many genres into one movie, fear not: it's violent and compelling, plain and simple. With his churning style, Zahler makes a slow-roasted film tha...

What makes John Woo's  The Killer a Hong Kong action classic? One of John Woo's action masterpieces, The Killer is a standout work of classic Hong Kong cinema. A film that sent ripples through Hollywood, it grabbed international attention for Woo and star Chow Yun-fat, forever changing the action genre. Mixing melodramatic neo-noir with fluid action set pieces, the film further explores...

Is  Year of the Dragon a controversial mess or an overlooked masterpiece? An action thriller, Year of the Dragon is, at times, shocking and still controversial. After the failure of the epic western Heaven's Gate , which nearly ruined Academy Award-winning director Michael Cimino's ( The Deer Hunter ) career, Year of the Dragon was set to be his comeback. But it wasn't really to be....

What Makes Independent Film The Love Witch  so Unique? Filmmaker Anna Biller's labor of...comedy/horror, The Love Witch is unlike most any movie you'd see in the 2010s. Shot on 35mm film, it's an homage to 1960s horror and Technicolor pictures. This time, the serial killer is no male -- it's a witch named Elaine, out for love. And her kind of love? Well, it kills. The film&apos...