Optimism Vaccine

THIS WEEK: Jason and the Argonauts (1963), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), and Clash of the Titans (1981) Ray Harryhausen was the king of stop-motion animation, the inventor of countless special effect techniques like DYNAMATION, and the only man who can claim to have influenced Killer Instinct and Stephen Spielberg while paving the way for future innovators like Phil Tippet. He also made some...

THIS WEEK: Hercules in the Haunted World (1961), Hercules, Prisoner of Evil (1964), Hercules (1983) Hercules is the buffest hunk in classical Roman mythology so it makes sense that the Italians made roughly one billion cheap movies about him. We chose three. The best three? It's difficult to say, but we were able to squeeze in Mario Bava, Ruggero Deodato, and Luigi Cozzi, which is an all-star line...

THIS WEEK: Conan the Barbarian (1982), Conan the Destroyer (1984), Red Sonja (1985) Like Christ before us, Optimism Vaccine is wandering the desert this month. Will we succumb to the temptations of the flesh? Almost certainly. Our journey begins with an able guide: Arnold Schwarzenegger. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Who Wants to Kill Jessie (1966), Happy End (1967), Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea (1977) One film runs in reverse, one has a man who brings superheroes to life with his horny dreams, and a third has sort of sci-fi disco Hitler time travel thing going on. What do they all have in common? They're all Czech comedies in a Patreon-request episode (and they're damn good movie...

THIS WEEK: The Witches of Eastwick (1987), The Witches of Breastwick (2005), Popatopolis (2009) Jim Wynorski and George Miller have a lot in common when you really stop to think about it. Just a couple of guys making little movies about witches with a few stars in them. Although, only one of these filmmakers has worked with future president sex haver, Stormy Daniels. Tune in to find out which one!...

THIS WEEK: Violent Cop (1989), Boiling Point (1990), A Scene at the Sea (1991) We take a look at Takeshi Kitano's transition from TV funnyman to impromptu director to one of the greatest filmmakers of the 1990s. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Cobra (1986) and Tombstone (1993) Depending on who you ask, George P. Cosmatos is either a master of blockbuster action and horror cinema or just a yes man for Sly Stallone. Only Optimism Vaccine knows the truth. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Sonatine (1993), Kids Return (1996) and Hana-bi (1997) The third time is the charm in our exploration of Takeshi Kitano. We've finally ventured beyond his odd late career dalliances and into the 90s, when Kitano felt like the most vital filmmaker on the goddamn planet. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Hellzapoppin' (1941) and Date Movie (2006) When a Patreon subscriber requests one of the best slapstick meta-comedy musicals of all time we are contractually obliged to pair it with one of the most maligned comedies of all time. If this were a video podcast you'd see us whipping ourselves like Flagellant Christians looking for penance. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Outrage (2010), Beyond Outrage (2012), Outrage Coda (2017) Takeshi Kitano does an about-face from his self destructive introspection and returns to the world of stone-faced Yakuza violence and double crosses. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Gone With The Pope (2010), Grizzly II: Revenge (2020), and New York Ninja (2021) We have plenty of stories of dusty 35mm film reels rescued from obscurity and finally given the reverence and restoration they deserve. It's far rarer when a film that was never completed is rescued and reconstructed. This week, we're looking at three unique approaches to film reconstruction. From Bob Muraw...

THIS WEEK: Takeshis' (2005), Glory to the Filmmaker (2007), Achilles and the Tortoise (2008) What do you do when you’re Takeshi Kitano, Japan’s ubiquitous, wildly successful TV and film star, and you begin questioning your own value as an artist? You get introspective introspective and try your best to self-destruct in the most interesting way possible. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: The Hand (1981), Body Parts (1991), Idle Hands (1999) What do Oliver Stone, the guy who wrote The Hitcher and Timothée Chalamet’s uncle have in common? They’ve all made films about killer limbs. Is this loose theme enough to carry an episode? Maybe! Or maybe this was just an excuse to watch another movie starring Jeff Fahey. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: House (1985), House II: The Second Story (1987), House III: The Horror Show (1989), House IV (1992) You might remember House as the dusty VHS tape at your local video store with the creepy finger ringing a doorbell. Maybe you remember House II because of the brilliant subtitle, THE SECOND STORY. Perhaps you caught House III on TV years ago because you spent a solid 20 minutes believing...

THIS WEEK: Ringmaster (1998) and Citizen Verdict (2003) Jerry Springer survived the Holocaust and then grew up to become a sleazy, salacious gift who graced our TV screens and local multiplex/dvd bargain bin. Jerry taught us that you shouldn't pay for a prostitute with a personal check, but if you do, you can still be mayor of Cincinnati. He also taught us that it's cool to punch your mom in front...

THIS WEEK: Ghosthouse (1988), Witchery (1988), Beyond Darkness (1990) While noted coward and layabout Sam Raimi was busy not making Army of Darkness , the brave and noble Italian film industry stepped in with three Evil Dead sequels of their own. The La Casa series proves once and for all that with the power of Claudio Fragasso, Umberto Lenzi, Fabrizio Laurenti, and Joe D'Amato, anything is possib...

THIS WEEK: Fuck The Devil (1990), Frostbiter: Wrath of the Wendigo (1995), and Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell Adam Miros returns from his heroic effort to boost Renfield's box office by seeing the film 5 times a day and demands we watch the new Evil Dead film, Evil Dead Rise . Instead, OV takes on three Evil Dead knock-offs from around the globe: A german SOV amateur nightmare, A Japanese supe...

THIS WEEK: Black Christmas (1974), When A Stranger Calls (1979), When A Stranger Calls Back (1993) Jake just moved into a new house so it seems like a great time to remind him that psychopaths are always hiding in your attic so they can do terrible shit and then call you up and tell you about it. As a bonus, we got to watch a couple of classic horror flicks and a long gap made-for-tv sequel that i...

THIS WEEK: A Letter From Death Row (1998) and No Code of Conduct (1998) Wassa goin' on? Our Patrons have spoken. That's wassa goin' on. And by "spoken" we mean they voted in a cryptic poll that lead to us watching the films of Bret Michaels this week. From singing for the 80s hair metal band Poison to winning Celebrity Apprentice and starring in his own reality TV dating show, Bret Michaels has do...

THIS WEEK: Daisies (1966) and Freddy Got Fingered (2001) When it comes to films that are dialed in on extreme provocation and destruction, it's hard to beat Věra Chytilová's landmark Czech New Wave classic, Daises or Tom Green's unfairly maligned 2001 magnum opus, Freddy Got Fingered. One is a complex takedown of patriarchal norms and authoritarianism. The other has Rip Torn getting covered in ele...

THIS WEEK: One Cut of the Dead (2017) and Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2020) Ace producer Colin steps in for Adam "The Absent Father" Miros this week as we cover a pair of single shot (or pseudo-single shot) micro-budget films from Japan: Junta Yamaguchi's criminally underseen Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes and Shin'ichirô Ueda's acclaimed meta-zombie comedy, One Cut of the Dead. Support Opti...

THIS WEEK: Brainscan (1994), Virtual Seduction AKA Cybersex (1995), Cyber Vengeance (1995) What would you do if you had access to the power of true, immersive 90's VR? Would you call tech support to complain about a video game? Would you become a virtual prison guard? Would you try to sleep with your dead ex-wife? Or maybe you'd just hang out with Edward Furlong (hopefully not). The choice is your...

THIS WEEK: The Lawnmower Man (1992) and Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace AKA Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe's War (1996) It seemed downright irresponsible to engage in hollow awards discourse while the world is in the midst of a VR apocalypse, so we've instead opted to delve into the prophetic Books of Jobe in the hopes of uncovering the genesis of the sinister Net. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon:&n...

THIS WEEK: A Knock at The Cabin (2023) and The Outwaters (2022) A lesser podcast trying to cover some new horror films for an episode would have probably jumped on the Scream VI bandwagon. We opted instead to watch the latest M. Night Shyamalan joint and a surreal indie found footage film. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine

THIS WEEK: Best Seller (1987), Nails (1992), Scam (1993) If you google director John Flynn the first thing you'll see is people saying "why aren't more people talking about John Flynn?" And that's a great question. You should be talking about John Flynn, or at least watching something he's made other than Rolling Thunder and your third favorite Steve Seagal movie. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patre...