Rotten Rewind

It's election day and we're here to momentarily distract you from the hell we live in by discussing two rotten political films of the Bush era. First up is Chris Rock's forgotten 2003 directorial debut "Head of State" featuring Bernie Mac and a lot of old white people dancing to Nelly . After that, we're covering George W. Bush himself, by re-examining Oliver Stone's shockingly toothless biopic fe...

When podcast guest Jake Ures told us about his theory that the 2003 horror mash-up "Freddy vs Jason" was a 9/11 allegory, we knew we had to sit down and talk to him. As a bonus discussion this week, we'll be talking about the post 9/11 effect on pop culture - specifically, the horror genre. From "Freddy vs Jason" to the gritty reboots of "The Hills Have Eyes" and Rob Zombie's "Halloween" films, we...

Our finale of the Rotten Horrors series was originally intended to focus on a pair "threequels" in two of the most beloved horror franchises of all time: "The Exorcist" and "Halloween." Due to some technical difficulties, we had to redo the episode, this time focusing on just the third installment of John Carpenter's prolific series, "Halloween: Season of the Witch." Sitting down with first time g...

In 1998, Gus Van Sant was riding the wave of acclaim after his first Academy Award nomination and had studios knocking at his door. What did he decide to do? Well, he decided to remake Alfred Hitchock's iconic 1960 thriller "Psycho." Not only that, he decided to do it shot for shot. Starring Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates and Anne Heche as Marion Crane, featuring Julianne Moore, Viggo Mortensen and...

It's week 2 of Rotten Horrors and we're paying tribute two of the most iconic feminist horror allegories in recent memory: the 1996 cult favorite "The Craft" featuring Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, Rachel True and Robin Tunney as teenage witches, and the 2009 Karyn Kusama/Diablo Cody body horror comedy "Jennifer's Body" featuring Megan Fox as the titular 'Jennifer,' as well as Amanda Seyfried and a...

All month long, we'll be immersed in some of the most rotten horror films we could get our hands on. For our first installment, we'll be taking a look back at one of the most influential and underrated cinematographers of his time, Ernest Dickerson. The man who helped cultivate the iconic Spike Lee look of the late 80s and early 90s turned to directing with his breakout 1992 hit "Juice," before tu...

For our first double feature, we'll be diving into two notorious sci-fi bombs of the 2000s: Neveldine/Taylor's "Gamer" and Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales." Both films captured the post-9/11 zeitgeist, yet were frighteningly ahead of their time in how...

One of the most unpredictable and exciting leading men to come around in a generation, Tom Hardy has delivered some of the most unforgettable and daring performances of the last decade. This week, we're diving into two of the English actor's most divisive performances: his gonzo turn in the long-awaited buddy comedy/body horror superhero flick "Venom" and his most physically committed performance...

In 2010, Lee Daniels became the second Black director in history to be nominated for the Best Director Academy Award. That's right, the second in eight decades. Today on the podcast, we're diving into two of the history making director's two more critically maligned films: the 2005 assassin-cum-incestuous romance thriller "Shadowboxer" starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Helen Mirren as assassins/lover...

It’s Joel Schumacher Day on the podcast! That means we’re taking a look back at two of his most maligned films that aren’t “Batman Forever” and “Batman & Robin.” First up is the 1990 medical thriller “Flatliners,” featuring the best looking med school students you’ve ever seen in Julia Roberts, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon and William Baldwin. After that, we’re switching reels to the 1999 Nicola...

In our first episode back from a nine week descent into erotic madness, we're switching gears and looking back at two workplace romantic comedies featuring two superstars. First up is the 1992 classic "Boomerang," starring Eddie Murphy as a successful womanizer who meets his match in Robin Givens , followed by the 2018 "Working Girl" homage "Second Act," starring Jennifer Lopez, Leah Remini and Va...

After nine long weeks submerged in the sweaty, sultry cinematic underworld of Erotic Thrillers, we've decided to host our the very first ever ICE PICK AWARDS. Dedicated to the very best and worst of Erotic Thrillers, we've asked you -- the FANS -- to help us pick the winners. So live from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood... we present the first annual Ice Picks.

All good things must come to an end. After nine sweaty weeks of motiveless femme fatales, cucked husbands, cage fucking and nipple clamps, we're ready to say goodbye to our Erotic Thriller Summer. Thankfully, we can't think of a better film to go out on than Jane Campion's criminally underrated, misunderstood masterpiece, "In the Cut." Starring Meg Ryan in a role that was supposed to catapult her...

In our penultimate episode in the Erotic Thriller Summer series, we're tackling one movie this episode, but it's a special one. We're joined by special guest Olivia Willke to talk about David Cronenberg's controversial 1996 erotic thriller "Crash," a.k.a. The Car Fucking Movie. A refreshingly bonkers break from the previous films we've been discussing on the series, "Crash" was met with boo's at t...

We're making our way into the dog days of summer, which means we're at the tail-end of the Erotic Thriller Summer series. For our latest, we're gonna be traveling to the wrong side of the tracks to see what a couple of 90s bad boy hunks are up to. First up, we're diving into the lesser-known Rebecca DeMornay stalker thriller, "Never Talk to Strangers," featuring a shirtless, ponytailed Antonio Ban...

In 1983, director Jim McBride set his sights on remaking one of the most iconic and influential films of all time - Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 gangster romance "Breathless." Updating the film to a seedy Los Angeles of the early 1980s, McBride teamed with Richard Gere to reimagine the classic through the tropes of erotic thrillers, using a colorful, Robby Muller inspired palette. We're teaming that up...

At the halfway point of our Erotic Thriller Summer series, we're taking a deeply uncomfortable dive into the teenage canon of the erotic thriller genre. Starting with Katt Shea's 1992 grunge thriller "Poison Ivy," starring a young Drew Barrymore and finishing with the 1993 Alicia Silverstone breakout "The Crush," we'll be discussing drunk dads, fake tattoos, the obliviousness of young male directo...

This week, we're joined by SUNY film professor Macy Todd to discuss two infamous -- for very different reasons -- 90s female in distress thrillers: Barbet Schroeder's "Single White Female" starring Bridget Fonda and podcast MVP Jennifer Jason Leigh, as well as another Joe Eszterhas/Sharon Stone 90s collab, "Slither." Would you risk it all for your gorgeous, rent-controlled apartment in New York? I...

What would you do for a million dollars? Would you listen to this entire episode from start to finish and write a five star review for us on Apple Podcasts? Hell yeah, we knew you would. Thank you, fans. In our third chapter in the Erotic Thriller Summer series, we're looking at two films from one of the pioneers of the genre, Adrian Lyne. First up, his 1992 zeitgeist capturing melodrama, "Indecen...

We're following up the mega-successful "Basic Instinct" with two of the most notorious erotic thriller flops: Udi Edel's "Body of Evidence"   starring a very naked Madonna and a very horny Willem Dafoe, followed up by William Friedkin's "Jade," starring David Caruso and Linda Fiorentino. These two films are barely held together by their own convoluted plots, but we managed to make it through...

We're kicking of our Erotic Thriller Summer Series with two of the most successful of the genre, starring the King of the genre: Michael Douglas. We'll be taking a look back at Paul Verhoeven's genre-defining, high-class trash classic "Basic Instinct," featuring a star-making performance from Sharon Stone, as well as Barry Levinson's bonkers reverse sexual-harassment tale, "Disclosure," with Demi...

In honor of Pride month, we're celebrating two queer teenage romances, Jamie Babbit's 1999 conversion camp satire "But I'm a Cheerleader" and Angela Robinson's send-up of girl power spy movies, "D.E.B.S." We're joined by special guest Erica Iannitti,...

This Father's Day, we're paying tribute to two cinematic Daddies -- podcast favorite  Keanu Reeves and Sir Michael Caine. Reeves stars in Eli Roth's home invasion thriller "Knock Knock" as a loving husband and father, who is unexpectedly propositioned with the hottest cinematic three-way since  "Wild Things."  Rewinding back to the Reagan 80s, we'll be looking back in horror at&nbsp...

This week, we'll be taking a look back at two raunchy teen sex dramas featuring some extremely rich and incredibly horny teens gone wild. First up, is the 1999 teen classic "Cruel Intentions," starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Reese...

A reoccurring trend in the 90s was the Road Trip Romance movie: a sub-genre birthed from classics like "Badlands, "Bonnie & Clyde" and "Thelma & Louise" that gave us a whole decade's worth of opposites attract romances on the open road. This...