The Remedial Film Class Podcast

George wasn't sure if he was watching a demonic possession movie or a ghost movie this week. Either way... he was bound to get what he was after. We watched Poltergeist from 1982 and while we my have moved the tombstones... did we move the bodies?    How would a youthful Travis or George have reacted to be a child in a theater in 1982? Will Parent-Travis love the movie as much as Child-Travis and...

George has seen Halloween. Is he ready for John Carpenter's take on Sci-Fi horror splatter? Dan made George watch two movies this week. The Thing From Another World (1951) and the much more well-known remake (and one of Travis's favorite movies) The Thing (1982).   Will George figure out what the F he just watched? Or does he need another prescription for Morning Hollywood? Did Travis ever find re...

Wait, it has only been a week since the last RFCP episode... Did this show just go WEEKLY!? It did, indeed.   Travis takes the lead this week, showing both George and Dan a film they've never seen, and one which is near and dear to his heart: Bruce Willis time-traveling to prevent a pandemic that kills most of the world. Just the kind of lightweight fair you would expect from the director of Monty...

Spring OUTbreak is over and George is all done with zombies... OR IS HE? We get him back on track to the mainstream with a little independent British classic... about zombies. But, like, fast zombies that don't want your brains they are just REALLY MAD at you.   Will George pitch a fit at fast zombies? Did Travis accidentally watch I Am Legend (2007) and is just trying to play it off? Did Dan just...

George had a rough go of the original Night of the Living Dead. "Black and white? What is this, an Absolutist Pythagorean Dualism in video format!?" (he seemed to ask, while casting a wanting gaze at the nuanced relativism of the enlightened Kantian palette of The Walking Dead.) (At least, that is how Dan remembers it...)   Will George overcome his hesitation with the iconic 1968 Night to keep an...

George loves Shaun of the Dead, so he was in for a treat when he sat down for the first time to watch the 80's comedy zombie classic, Return of the Living Dead. And then Tom Savini shows up?   Is George falling for another zombie comedy? Can Travis survive a roasting from his idol? Why is Dan desperately seeking a medium? (Answers. Dan is seeking a medium so he can get answers.)   And after the ep...

George and the guys are back on solid American soil with the third George Romero zombie classic, Day of the Dead. This time around George and Travis's eyes light up to see the name Greg Nicotero, the gore master and director of AMC's The Walking Dead TV series, in the credits.   Can George contain his rampant excitement for all things Nicotero? Does he have Greg's dialog memorized? Can Travis conv...

Sail away with us to the Caribbean, via Italy. And sneak in some guerilla filmmaking in New York! We are loading George into the boat with Travis and Dan (and film historian and audio commentator extraordinaire Troy Howarth) and taking him on an adventure. But will he make it out alive?   Zombie (AKA Zombi 2, AKA Zombie Flesh Eaters, AKA Los Muertos Vivientes) is the first in a wave of Dawn of the...

George needed a break. So we suggested he take a Spring Break. A Spring... Outbreak!! So From Night of the Living Dead we move on to Dawn of the Dead. And we are just getting started on our road to The Walking Dead.   Is George finally seeing the light with these old zombie movies? Is Travis willing to see the Old Testament of zombie movies for what is gave to the genre instead of crapping all ove...

George loves The Walking Dead. He is passionately devoted to it. If he loves it so much, why doesn't he marry it? The question remains unanswered. So Travis and Dan decided it was high time he come to know the Old Testament of zombie lore. Sure the rules may be a little different and it isn't as polished but without Night there would be no walkers for George to appreciate.    Surly George is back...

When we started this journey we put George through the ringer with classics like Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween and Silent Night comma Deadly Night... But little did he know we were just building him up to Scream.    Has George finally been scared by a "scary movie?" Or was he simply frightened by Drew Barrymore? Will Travis finally forgive Wes Craven for the craven offense of... b...

George had so much fun (hashtagsarcasm) in Westworld that Travis and Dan decided to send him to Mars to experience a completely different vacation. Or perhaps it was only a dream the whole time? Nope, definitely not a dream. Unless it was.   Has George finally owned a case of "Be Careful What You Wish For?" How many favors did Travis have to burn to get Arnold to supplant Buffalo Bill as our celeb...

George needed a vacation. He works too hard, and he ain't see any movies, so Travis and Dan sent him with a one-way ticket to Westworld. And not that high-brow HBO Westworld with its CGI and remarkably explicit casting calls, but instead to the simpler and more quaint Michael Crichton effort.   Will George ever acknowledge his own anti-robot bias? Will Travis find nostalgia amongst the faceless co...

Before enrolling in the RFC, George hadn't seen anything. But somehow he managed to see a big chunk of the Quentin Tarantino catalog. Despite that, he had never heard of Jackie Brown! And so it was up to Travis and Dan to fix him once again.   Will George's "fashion tips for dads" result in some real merch? Has Travis finally figured out how to remake Clerks? What did Dan just text to the guys? Tu...

George knew that Dirty Harry makes a speech about not being sure whether he fired five shots, or six at the end of the movie (but he had no idea that speech at the end was a callback to an earlier speech.) And Travis thought this was the one where Harry Callahan says "go ahead... make my day..." (but that's a different one.) Turns out, neither Travis nor George had actually seen Dirty Harry before...

Travis has never seen No Country for Old Men. And of all things, George has seen it! We turn the tables today on the Remedial Film Class and make Travis take the red pill of empathy as we discuss the Cohen Brothers' Oscar Winner. Will Travis offer insight as a first-time viewer? Can George make it through the entire episode without standing on his desk and shouting "NOW YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS, TRAV...

George had never heard of First Blood. He had no idea that it was an action movie until Travis mentioned it in our pre-movie discussion. He didn't realize Rambo was in it until he heard the name in the movie!   Will George find what he was missing with Die Hard in the steely gaze of Sylvester Stallone? Did Travis finally find a movie his kid would like? Did Dan really just profile the author of th...

Join George and the guys as we welcome a special guest, film historian Troy Howarth. Troy literally wrote the book on giallo (three of them, actually) (and another on Argento) (and another on Bava... and you get the picture) and provided the audio commentary for The Bird with the Crystal Plumage for Arrow Films recent Blu-Ray release. In short, George just promoted to next-level film nerdity.   We...

George has never died hard. We know, it was shocking to us as well. Die Hard... the best Christmas movie you can watch all year 'round and George hasn't watched it. Travis and Dan set out to rescue George from the Nakatomi Plaza of ignorance. And they... mostly succeed.   Will George ever figure out which Baldwin brother Travis thinks is handsome? Can Dan borrow someone's MP5A5 to try to recreate...

2020 is finally just... about... o-- Oh no time froze and it is 2020 all over again! Groundhog Year!   To celebrate the end of this horrid year (everything except the podcasting, of course) George is going to revisit Ed Gein's legacy for the third time with The Silence of the Lambs. He has seen Psycho... He has seen The Texas Chainsaw Massacre... But how will George enjoy the "90's Version" of the...

'Tis the season to be merry... But Dan showed George (and Travis) the classic slasher Silent Night, Deadly Night to keep their merriment in check. And then Dan made Travis and George stick around for a quick bounce through the highlights of Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987) just for kicks.    This is a special "Holiday Edition" of the Remedial Film Class, but don't fret, we are back with a...

Season 2 is upon George, and what better way to get him back into the swing of things than to... make him watch a remake of the last 10 movies he watched? We are watching Friday the 13th (2009) and George is getting a full course on how to do a remake (or reboot) well.   Is George finally going to get the Tommy-Jason of his dreams? Can Travis stop gushing over Derek Mears long enough to tell us ho...

George has been to Hell and back with Jason. And that was just in Part 8! (womp womp...) Where else could Jason go after being dragged to Hell by Jim Hinson Demon Hands than directly to space? There were no other options, we asked.    How long into watching this movie did George finally realize that Jason was legitimately going to be in space for the rest of the movie? We're not kidding, he didn't...

The time has come. George has been asking for a body-jumping Jason spirit monster thing for the past few episodes. It is his perfect solution. It explains everything! And now he is going to get that idea served back to him in spades.   Was George regretful for this "spirit Jason" wishes? Did Travis ever get his Van Helsing? Did Dan just join the Undercover Stripper Brigade?   Theme song recorded b...

George is ready to make sure that the Crystal Lake Camp electrical grid is up to code. Travis is ready to pounce on Dan for any ounce of nostalgia. And Dan? He doesn't want less Jason on a boat... it sounds like he is actually arguing for more Jason on a boat!   How would George handle the Vancouver fight with the drug addicts? Does Travis come around to Jason's second attempt a laugh? Will Dan ev...