Optimism Vaccine

THIS WEEK: Hanging Heart (1989), Moonstalker (1989), and Dead Girls (1990) We dive back into Vinegar Syndrome's Homegrown Horrors. What awaits within? A slasher without any gore, a hard rocking horror without any music, and a homoerotic legal thriller. The fun never ends here on Optimism Vaccine. Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Long Arm of the Law (1984), Long Arm of the Law: Part 2 (1987), Long Arm of the Law: Part 3 (1989), Long Arm of the Law: Part 4 (1990) Before John Woo's stylish action flicks dominated the Hong Kong box office, Johnny Mak Tong-hung gave us his only feature film: Long Arm of the Law . And, like any classic Hong Kong action movie, three totally unrelated sequels were made (by Johnny's bro...

THIS WEEK: Wild Things (1998), Wild Things 2 (2004), Wild Things: Diamonds in the Rough (2005), Wild Things: Foursome (2010) Every red blooded film fanatic knows the original Wild Things is a pulpy sleazy neo-noir classic. BUT did you know that we were also blessed with not one, not two but THREE sequels? Even more puzzling is the fact that they're all basically identical to the original but witho...

THIS WEEK: Saltburn (2023) and Chick Flick (2023) In 2023 we were blessed with a film from one of contemporary cinema's most extraordinary new voices. Oh, and Emerald Fennell made a movie about Barry Keoghan trying to impregnate a pile of dirt. Anyway, it's time to see if either of these bourgeoise girl bosses knocked it out of the park with their sophomore efforts so we can determine once and for...

THIS WEEK: The Boogey Man (1980), Boogeyman (2005), The Boogeyman (2023) A boogeyman (or bogeyman if you're a little freak who can't spell) is a placeholder term for every faceless generic monster living under a bed or in a child's closet. It's only appropriate that when a boogeyman film is made it serves as a catch-all for whatever the hot horror trends of the moment are. Join us as we explore ci...

THIS WEEK: Hard Boiled (1992), Just Heroes AKA Hard Boiled 2 (1989), and The Last Blood AKA Hard Boiled 2 AKA Hard Boiled 3 (1991) If you make the greatest action film of all time before leaving Hong Kong for Hollywood, there's a good chance someone will try to make a quick buck with an in-name-only sequel. If you're really lucky, they'll just slap a new title on an old movie. Maybe even one of yo...

THIS WEEK: New Year's Evil (1980), Bloody New Year (1987) We're true cinephiles around here so our New Year's resolution is to watch more late career Norman J. Warren flicks while simultaneously becoming the most POWERFUL podcast in the universe. Please tune in so we can finish the year strong and force Spotify to pay up. Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Christmas Evil (1980) and Blood Beat (1983) We tried our best to find some things you could watch with the whole family this holiday season. Gather 'round the Yule log and enjoy the classic combination of a glowing Christmas samurai and Santa Claus Travis Bickle. Your mom is going to love this. Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: The Bloody Exorcism of Coffin Joe (1974), The Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures (1976), Embodiment of Evil (2008) We wrap up our coverage of the incomparable Zé do Caixão with the final Coffin Joe films of the 1970s and Jose Mojica Marins' late career resurrection of the character in 2008. Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Awakening of the Beast (1970), The End of Man (1971), When the Gods Fall Asleep (1972) Our Coffin Joe retrospective takes a wild swerve into LSD fueled meta-fiction freakouts and we take a look at Jose Mojica Marins other reoccurring role as Finis Hominis. Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1964), The Strange World of Coffin Joe (1968), This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse (1967) In 1964, Brazillian filmmaker José Mojica Marins introduced the world to an iconic undertaker with disgusting fingernails, a love of sadistic murder and a deep appreciation for children: COFFIN JOE. Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patre...

THIS WEEK: Taboo (1980), Taboo II (1982), Taboo III (1984), Taboo IV: The Younger Generation (1985), Taboo V (1986) We're celebrating Thanksgiving like any good red-blooded American should: By watching some turkeys get STUFFED. Yes Nut November comes to a close with one of the biggest and most controversial X-rated series ever, Taboo. Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on P...

THIS WEEK: Salon Kitty AKA Madam Kitty (1976), All Ladies Do It (1992), Cheeky (2000) We're crankin' our nut knob higher this week and checking out the films of brilliant butt enthusiast and Italian ass-teur, Tinto Brass. Producers may have hacked apart his cut of Caligula, but they can never take away the weird bread scene in Salon Kitty. Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine...

THIS WEEK: Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965), Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), and Supervixens (1975) We finally got to fulfill our lifelong dream of covering our favorite army combat cameraman turned campy sexploitation and softcore peddler, Russ Meyer. How many filmmakers can say they had a career making the finest big-boobed, square-jawed, action packed movies in the world AND got to c...

THIS WEEK: Emanuelle in America (1977), Star Of David: Beautiful Girl Hunter (1979), Bitter Moon (1992) VOTE ON THE NAME FOR THIS MONTH'S THEME ANOTHER PATRON REQUEST EPISODE! Theres no better way to kick off November than with a trio of movies that would get a more respectable podcast shamed and criticized into oblivion. Lucky for us, most people don't care about which films we cover and those wh...

THIS WEEK: Hellraiser (1987), Nightbreed (1990), Lord of Illusions (1995) Clive Barker is a British author, filmmaker, and visual artist known for his contributions to the horror and dark fantasy genres. While his primary claim to fame is as a novelist and short story writer, he also had a brief but impactful career as a film director. Clive Barker made his directorial debut with "Hellraiser," a h...

THIS WEEK: Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama (1988), Nightmare Sisters (1988), Leeches! (2003) Shawn Glinis has never seen a single David DeCoteau movie about shirtless hunks taking showers. We're doing our best to help him live a less shameful and embarrassing life. Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon Steve's Chili Recipe 1 1/2-ish lbs ground...

THIS WEEK: Blood Bath (1966), The Velvet Vampire (1971) Shawntober continues with Roger Corman protégé and criminally underrated New Hollywood auteur, Stephanie Rothman. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Truth or Dare?: A Critical Madness (1986), Killing Spree (1987), and Creep (1995) Shawn Glinis is back for another OpBOOism VacSCREAM October. We're kicking things off this year with a look at regional horror filmmaker and reigning king of Florida gore, Tim Ritter. Join as as we look at his early slasher films, discuss the incomparable Asbestos Felt, and try to keep Miros from howling l...

THIS WEEK: Dark of the Sun (1968), The Wilby Conspiracy (1975), Raid on Entebbe (1977) Optimism Vaccine sets sail for the mother continent to talk sweat soaked colonizers, blood diamonds, Sidney Poitier and if Yaphet Kotto is a better Idi Amin than Idi Amin. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Undeclared War (1990), Burning Paradise (1994), Full ALert (1997) When people speak glowingly of the Hong Kong New Wave or the great Hong Kong action directors, Ringo Lam is usually the first auteur left on the cutting room floor. Yeah, you've seen City on Fire and know it's great, but some of Lam's greatest films were also his biggest critical and commercial failures. Support Optimism...

THIS WEEK: Bad Cat (2016), First Person Shooter (2022), Cinnamon (2023) Brought to you by our patron poll, it's original films from the best damn streaming platform in the world. Will Tubi offer us the slick style of a Netflix production? Of course not. You will get a Turkish CGI Garfield that smokes and swears though so count your blessings. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Cube (1997), Triangle (2009), Sphere (1998) We're not naming names, but someone with a toddler's brain took too many edibles and thought it would be a great idea to talk about movies about shapes. Or at least movies with shapes in the name? When was the last time you thought about Dustin Hoffman's performance in Sphere? Yeah, we never had either. Anyway, SHAPE CAST. Support Optimism Vac...

THIS WEEK: Pompeii (2014), Hercules (2014), and Gods of Egypt (2016) We've looked at genre classics and Italian knockoffs, but where does the sword and sandals genre stand today? We're not sure, but let's pretend contemporary means "ten years ago" and we'll tell you. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Ator The Fighting Eagle (1982), Ator 2: The Blade Master (1984), Alfonso Brescia's Iron Warrior (1987), Quest For The Mighty Sword (1990) When you're looking for greatness (or maybe just a cheap Italian knockoff of the Conan series) look no further than Joe D'Amato's Ator series. A master class in the power of muscular men in loin cloths interacting with live animals and abysmal special...