Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Episode 41 - Soft as an Easy Chair

The cave has filled with thoughts of love this episode.  We look at two movies where love is in the title AND makes up the core element of the plots. First up is 1969's The Psycho Lover, written and directed by Robert Vincent O'Neill who would later write Vice Squad ( which we covered in episode 22 ).  It is the story of a psychiatrist, who is helping the police with a series of brutal rape/murders, and how he comes up with a nefarious scheme to get himself out of an unhappy marriage.  Really good dialogue and some far-out technology elevate this one above many others of it's ilk.  We follow that up with 1973's Love Me Deadly which stars the one and only Lyle Waggoner.  If you're a fan of this podcast, when you hear the word necrophilia, you might think of Nekromantik, but THIS little beauty covered the same territory 15 years earlier!  A very strange mishmash of Harlequin Romance and Satanic Cultism, this is neither fish nor fowl.  Is it worth your 90 minutes though? Listen in and see if you feel like giving it a shot. Please write to us and let us know what you thought of the show and send along your own suggestions for strange little films that you think more people should see.  You can reach us at flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com or by leaving a message on our Facebook page.


Monday, January 13, 2014

Episode 40 - Domo Deodato

Well well well, we have finally reached a personal landmark for Flickers From the Cave, our 40th episode! We appreciate those of you who have hung with us through this journey and welcome all newcomers. As any regular listeners will be aware, we have a serious soft spot for Italian genre cinema, so it seems only fitting that we celebrate this auspicious occasion with a double hit from director extraordinaire Ruggero Deodato. The man who had the cinematic temerity to unleash Cannibal Holocaust on an unsuspecting public has a long list of accomplishments under his belt and the films on this episode are two of his best. First up is 1980's House On The Edge Of The Park, a vicious home invasion film and, secondly, 1985's Cut And Run, a rollicking action adventure opus with generous dollops of patented Deodato flavor to make it a flick to be reckoned with. We hope you guys enjoy this episode and please feel free to contact us at flickersfrom@gmail.com or flickersfrom@yahoo.com, leave a message on our Facebook page or write a review on Itunes. Thanks again for coming along with us on this ride and stay tuned for more!

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Episode 39 - Best Served Cold

The Rape-Revenge genre is one of the most used of all the various themes in exploitation films.  We chose two from the early 80s to look at for this episode. Starting off with 1981's Ms. 45, directed by Abel Ferrara, which tells the tale of Thana, a young mute woman in New York City, working as a seamstress who suffers two brutal sexual assaults on the same day.  She then sets out to take revenge on multiple random men she encounters over the next week or two. It is a gritty and grimy story, as is common for Ferrara's films, with solid performances and a morally challenging storyline.  We follow that up with 1984's Savage Streets, which stars the sensational Linda Blair as Brenda, leader of a group of teenage "ne'er do wells".  After a run-in with the "Scars", a gang of tough guys led by a very impressive Robert Dryer as Jake,  the Scars decide to seek payback with a truly horrific rape of Brenda's younger, deaf-mute, sister played by screamqueen  Linnea Quiqley. It then falls on Brenda to get revenge for that attack, which she does to a sensational, 80's rock score.  We chose these two films without realizing that both featured victims who were mute. Despite this and many other similarities, they could not be more disparate. Please let us know what you thought of the show by writing to us at flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com or by posting a message on our Facebook page.