The Rad Revival House

Happy yee-haw Holidays! The Rad Revival House begins its Unlikely Holiday Films movement with back-to-back reviews of the most unlikely movies to watch before Christmas! First on our list is DAY OF THE OUTLAW, the 1959 wintry Western thriller from genre master Andre De Toth. Our host, Professor Cesare Augusto, analyzes this what he calls a “Hitchockian suspense Western”. In an isolated Wyoming tow...

The Rad Revival House is proud to present our Double Feature Tribute to the late great Diane Keaton. Joining our discussion is Jeanne Marie Denizard, “The Sleepless Critic,” one of New England’s most revered and esteemed film critics. She and our host, Professor Cesare, analyze two of Keaton’s most notable yet notably underrated pictures, LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR, and BABY BOOM. Both films were cri...

The Rad Revival House is back with a vengeance in its 3rd Season! We are thrilled to open Season 3 with quite the lethal combination: a dual look at the unique 1971 vigilante thriller BILLY JACK, and the gritty hard-boiled Native American mystery thriller novel WINTER COUNTS. Our Special Guest Lecturer is David Heska Wanbli Weiden, the author and brilliant mastermind behind WINTER COUNTS! Weiden a...

An RRH Exclusive! For our Season 2 finale, we’re focusing on our very first documentary feature, where we explore the often brutal and bombastic 1970s Italian cop and gangster subgenre of action cinema, with EUROCRIME! In another Rad Revival House first, we’ve invited an honest-to-God member of the filmmaking crew behind this week’s review as Special Guest Lecturer, professional VFX creator and EU...

The Rad Revival House explores the mind of a violent, trigger-happy psychopath in filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich’s 1968 debut, TARGETS! Joining us for the very first time is cinephile, podcast producer, and kid brother to our host, Professor Cesare Augusto, Gabe Mara. Horror legend Byron Orlok (played by the magnificent Boris Karloff) is contemplating retirement after decades in the movie business. O...

The RRH returns to the bloodsoaked American Old West with ULZANA’S RAID! Returning to our show is Cinema Studies Professor Peter Mascuch to offer his sharp insight upon this notoriously violent but artistically great Revisionist Western. ULZANA’S RAID stars Hollywood legend Burt Lancaster and up-and-coming Bruce Davison as Macintosh and DeBuin respectively, two officers of the United States Cavalr...

When it comes to reviewing underrated great movies…NOTHING IS OVER! NOTHING! Because this week’s episode is an academic deep dive in the 1982 action classic FIRST BLOOD! Joining us this week is Wayne of the excellent film review podcast In Film We Trust. Together, Wayne and our host, Professor Cesare Augusto tackle just what makes FIRST BLOOD so unique and memorable. We all know John Rambo the man...

This week’s review cuts like a Katana with THREE OUTLAW SAMURAI! Repeat Special Guest Lecturer Jay Corso returns to lend an insightful hand on this fabulous 1960s Japanese Chanbara (sword-fighting) tale. A trio of Samurai warriors, all of which with intriguing and clashing personal backstories, become embroiled in a tense power struggle between desperate peasant farmers and a corrupt magistrate. D...

The Rad Revival House visits the land of India for the very first time with a look at the legendary Satyajit Ray’s stunning debut film, PATHER PANCHALI! Joining our discussion is host Professor Cesare Augusto’s old friend and fellow cinephile Sam B. Levy. Together, Cesare and Sam analyze what makes this black and white Indian cinematic pearl so special.  PATHER PANCHALI tells the tale of an impove...

The Rad Revival House revisits its classic Criminally Forgotten Actors segment with a special showcase on the ultra-cool Spaghetti Western star, Peter Lee Lawrence! German by origin, Lawrence had a different approach as a SW icon. Rather than being a rugged gunfighter by the likes of Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Franco Nero, Lawrence was a strikingly handsome young man whose good looks maske...

Check it: the RRH reviews the 1985 hip-hop drama KRUSH GROOVE! Our host, Professor Cesare Augusto, be kickin’ it old-school style as he reviews this great piece of 80s pop culture. KRUSH GROOVE tells the tale of Russell Walker (Blair Underwood in his debut film role), a fictionalized take on Russell Simmons, the real-life founder of the legendary hip hop label Def Jam Recordings. When his rap band...

The Rad Revival House is "burning" up with excitement about our newest Horror review on WITCHFINDER GENERAL!We're joined by London-based cinephile and author Jennifer Upton, who provides some very shrewd insight on this unusual 1968 folk horror chiller. Vincent Price stars as Matthew Hopkins, a sadistic witch hunter who apprehends and tortures innocent people he wrongfully accuses of...

Screen legend Robert Mitchum returns to the Rad Revival House in his classic grumbling, high-intensity fashion with his 1973 Boston-based gangster drama THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE! Based on the novel by attorney-turned crime author George V. Higgins, THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE tells the tale of Eddie “Fingers” Coyle, an aging low-level gun-dealer doing whatever it takes to stay out of prison. Even...

Tuesday Night’s a great time for action cinema as the RRH reviews the 1991 cult classic THE LAST BOY SCOUT! This doozy of a thriller stars Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans as a disgraced ex-Secret Service agent turned private eye and a fallen-from-grace ex-quarterback respectively, thrown together when a murder hits close to home. Enemies at first, the unlikely duo must naturally put their difference...

This St. Patrick’s Day week, the Rad Revival House explores the working-class Irish immigrant historical thriller, THE MOLLY MAGUIRES! Our host, Professor Cesare Augusto, takes the solo reins in this episode to review a film that is near and dear to his heart. A fellow immigrant himself, Professor Augusto analyzes what makes THE MOLLY MAGUIRES such an endearing film which centers upon the plight o...

The Rad Revival House pays tribute to the late great Gene Hackman and his most underrated performances. Returning to our show is noted film critic Jeanne Marie Denizard of “The Sleepless Critic”, as she and our host, Professor Cesare Augusto, take turns in exploring Hackman’s greatest and yet, woefully underseen roles, at least underseen by the mainstream masses. Together, they look at Hackman’s p...

The Rad Revival House explores a true cinematic point of new return with the Mexican surrealist classic, THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL! Directed by Spanish cinematic master Luis Buñuel, the film is a nightmarish combination of metaphysical madness, and class warfare satire. A dinner party attended by Mexico's rich elite find themselves inexplicably trapped in the dining room of their party. The part...

They’re coming for you, Barbara…again!  The Rad Revival House returns to the Horror subgenre of zombie flicks with the low-budget undead masterpiece FLESHEATER! Stephen Tumolo, aka The Analog Man (and old Penn State buddy to our host, Professor Cesare Augusto), returns to lend a helping hand in analyzing this 1988 gore-fest that combines the classic George A. Romero zombie flick with the decade’s...

The creepy, spellbinding 1956 science fiction classic INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is this week’s newest RRH review! Really strange things are happening in a small California town. Seemingly-ordinary folks are acting weird. Rather than being their usual selves, they’ve become sullen, withdrawn, and emotionless, almost like living zombies. Dr. Miles Bennell (star Kevin McCarthy) and his girlfrien...

On this special Black History Month/Valentine’s Day hybrid episode, the Rad Revival House reviews the underrated cultural romantic drama MISSISSIPPI MASALA! Starring a young Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury(THE HUNGRY GAMES: MOCKINGJAY), MISSISSIPPI MASALA is a heartfelt, emotionally-charged tale about interracial romance set in the American Deep South. Washington plays Demetrius, a young ca...

February is Black History Month, and the Rad Revival House is celebrating this momentous yearly observance our own way with a tribute to two iconic Blaxploitation classics, COTTON COMES TO HARLEM and COME BACK, CHARLESTON BLUE! Master filmmaker Mike D of the African-American cinematic movement Reelblack makes his triumphant return to the RRH as he provides his grand film expertise to this week’s b...

The Rad Revival House brings back the enigmatically great Marlon Brando with our review of 1966’s THE CHASE! Joining us is Newman, host of the excellent podcast Movies 4 Dayz as this week’s Special Guest Lecturer. Newman and our host, Professor Cesare August, put their heads together to review this socially-powerful mid-60s drama. Set in a small Texas town before the pre-Civil Rights Movement, THE...

On our newest episode, the Rad Revival House explores quite possibly the most BIZARRE film we’ve ever reviewed: 1977’s surrealistic nightmare, ERASERHEAD! George Davison, a longtime friend of the RRH (and composer to our theme song!), returns as Special Guest Lecturer to lend a much-needed helping hand in analyzing this bonkers picture. Making his celebrated debut in ERASERHEAD, iconic filmmaker D...

On the VERY FIRST Rad Revival House review of 2025, we're ushering the new year with a literal BOOM with our review of the 1955 film noir classic, KISS ME DEADLY! Returning to the RRH is our old friend, tough guy cinema aficionado, and author Fred Schaefer. Together, we analyze the grim bleakness that is KISS ME DEADLY. Criminally-underrated 50s actor Ralph Meeker is Mike Hammer, the world's tough...

Happy New Years Eve from the Rad Revival House! We’re ending 2024 with quite the bang with the 1992 Mexican-American action classic EL MARIACHI! This picture is the debut of the now-legendary filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (DESPERADO, FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, SPY KIDS, MACHETE), and what a hell of a debut it is. Utilizing a whopping-low budget of only $7,000, Rodriguez crudely yet lovingly tells the tale...