The Substance

The Road to #200 is almost at an end! Looking back at the Substantive Cinema episodes we've released this year, we couldn't help but notice an unintentional theme. Southland Tales , 28 Years Later , Team America: World Police , and now Civil War all deal with a troubled society trying to either make things better or simply bring a little order to the chaos. Wonder how we gravitated to thes...

This took a liiiiiitle bit longer to publish than we had intended but we are excited to share our Panic Fest 2026 coverage with you all! It was a highlight of the year and we met so many incredible people (wish we could have talked with everyone!). Many of these films are hitting the festival circuit or starting to come our on VOD (and we just saw that the Loner Blu-ray is now available), and they...

Panic Fest 2026 is almost upon us! Last year, Panic Fest was one of the highlights of our year. We had an incredible time taking in new features and shorts as well as getting to know and spend time with some wonderful people (Listen to our Recap Episode rom last year for more)! Hope to see you there, if you're in the neighborhood! Panic Fest: Website Instagram Joe & Becca: YouTube Instagra...

Happy Don't Believe Anything You Read On The Internet Day, everyone! Today we continue our April Fool's Day tradition of covering a silly movie (and then realizing that it's got more substance than audiences may think at first). 20 years ago Trey Parker and Matt Stone were pissed off at how America was recklessly engaging in conflicts around the world and decided to express their frust...

On this episode we reflect on the reality that we must die, and in order to live we also must love. And it's a discussion on (ostensibly) a zombie movie that a 20+ year later legacy sequel! When the teaser trailer for 28 Years Later dropped, it seemed clear that the film wouldn't be a safe, mindless retread of previous material looking to cash in on fan nostalgia. It was visually striking,...

We are creeping up on Episode 200 so we sat down with (former) Editor Dave to talk about the State of The Substance as well as doing a bit of a spiritual check in as we look back on the road that has lead us here and look forward to where we are headed post #200! Shoutouts: Wake Up Dead Man The Wild Robot Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir The Weight by Melissa Mendes 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple L...

***I don't like doing disclaimers on episodes and this one isn't totally filthy or anything but there is some explicit dialogue in the film that we discuss, so if you listen in the car with other people or whatever, you've been warned*** "This is the way the world ends. Not with a whimper, but with a bang." There are a handful of movies that I've specifically wanted to co...

Hey there, we intended to get this episode published last month but life and *waves hands at everything going on in the US* got in the way. HOWEVER! This was an encouraging conversation and a great way to orient ourselves as we kick off a new year under an oppressive, malicious, and very dumb empire. Kat Armas is is a Cuban American writer, speaker, and theologian from Miami, FL. She holds a ThM f...

They said it couldn't be done but here we are, getting in our Christmas episode riiiiight before the big day! A few years ago Alexander Payne's The Holdovers made a big splash and became an instant Christmas classic to many. The film follows professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) as he is forced to look after the students without anywhere to go over Christmas break. Through a series of even...

Enjoy this feed drop from earlier this year when host Philip Marinello joined Mike White and Robert Bellissimo on The Projection Booth to talk about the underseen Palme d'Or winning 1962 film O Pagador de Promessas . Follow Us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Philip's Letterboxd⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BlueSky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Share Your Questions/Suggest...

"Do you read Sutter Cane?!" We're back in your feeds with another underrated banger from one of the all time Masters of Horror™. John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness is an absolute thrill ride and since Arrow Video has released what we hear is a gorgeous new 4K we figured it was time talk about one of his best (and most slept on) movies. We are excited to be joined by Derrick...

We are back! Had big plans for Spooky Season this year but health, vehicle nonsense, family, and general exhaustion at the state of things in the US had other plans. It was an absolute pleasure talking with Clark Collis about his new book Screaming and Conjuring on the last episode and to follow it up we've brought back an incredible guest and we're diving back into the work of one of the...

Happy Spooky Season, all! We're kicking off our October programming this year with a bang and covering two of our favorite things: horror movies and beautiful hardcover books. Clark Collis is a British entertainment journalist and a long time senior writer for Entertainment Weekly along with being a regular contributor to other outlets covering film. He's also a life long horror fan. Moder...

Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver & Raging Bull are widely considered two of the best films of their era that were made in America. He and Robert DeNiro were a powerhouse creative team and they're still considered one of the all-time great collaborations in the history of the medium. This makes it curious that the film that they made together in between these monumental classics, 1977'...

It's been a crazy week, so the show notes will be short and sweet. Brian Recker is a public theologian, has a new book on Hell coming out at the end of the month, and I had a great time talking with him. In our conversation we cover: Our mutual love of movies (and solo theater visits) The extremely conservative colleges we attended Hell as a foundational principle Coercive, fear based spiritua...

When Netflix first expanded from being a mail order DVD/Blu-ray service to starting a streaming video service, it was revolutionary. They had top creators making movies and television series and had a wonderfully full library of titles to offer. Then Amazon Prime, Hulu, AMC+, Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, the many variations of HBO, and more came and the selections of any single given service was...

This week we're talking everybody's favorite topic- local politics! But legitimately, it's something that's becoming more important by the day and actually far more fulfilling and invigorating than you may initially think. We invited our friend Britt (many of you know her as @thebrittbee) to have this conversation with us as she's been such a great example of this since the beg...

It's time to get annihilated! Greg D. of the Nightmare Junkhead, Nerds of Nostalgia & the Screenland podcast (and weekly host of the Friday Night Frigts horror/genre programming at the Screenland Armour theater) joins us to dive into Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's film The World's End . Following Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, The World's End is the third film in what has becom...

A few months ago we had Marta on to discuss Abbas Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry and it was a wonderful conversation! Towards the end we talked about how it's a shame that his film The Wind Will Carry Us is hard to find and that Criterion should put it out on Blu-ray and behold, on one of the next slate of announcements there it was! When we saw that, we knew we were going to have her back to cover...

Bong Joon Ho's second feature film is a challenging watch but it's also a cinematic marvel of incredible substance. Recently, Philip joined Jen and Sarah on Movies & Us to talk about the 2003 film that Criterion calls "a haunting journey into ever-deepening darkness that begins as a black-comic satire and ends as a soul-shattering encounter with the abyss." Enjoy! As of the p...

On the eve of the publishing of his first book of poetry, A Rebellion of Care, we are excited to welcome David Gate to The Substance for the first of what will hopefully be many wonderful conversations (listen through until the end for a teaser of what's to come!). He's blown up on social media as loads of people resonate with his work that's centered around joy and honesty. In this ep...

Hey friends! We are back with a month of new to our feed episodes and are kicking off with a feed drop from our pals over at Cinematic Doctrine. Earlier this year, Philip was invited on to discuss what might be the quintessential American horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and it was a wonderful time. Discussion topics include: How community and traditions shape us The cost of industrializat...

Tyler Huckabee returns to the show and the late, great Hannibal Lecter makes his Substance debut! In 1991, Jonathan Demme shocked critics and audiences alike with his sleek, stylish, unsettling, and genuinely fantastic film The Silence of the Lambs. It went on to be the third film in cinematic history to win all 5 of the big awards come Oscar season. The film won Best Picture, Demme won Best Direc...

Sorry for the publishing delay! And yes, we know it says Tuesday on the intro, etc. It was a holiday weekend and things have been busy. But here we are with a new show and a WONDERFUL conversation with Episcopal priest and author, Reverend Joseph Yoo. Joseph has grown his online platform over the years on an authenticity and decency that feels so refreshing amidst so many spiritual and religious l...

Hey there, film fam! Been working on this for the last few weeks in between life and our regular episodes but Panic Fest 2025 was such a great time that we wanted to highlight some of the wonderful talent from the festival as well as Screenland Armour, the fest's incredible host! Panic Fest is a Kansas City based genre film festival that has been running for over a decade and has been recogniz...