Saturday, March 18, 2017

Episode 99 - Creepy Crawly Cave

We left an entire picnic set up in the cave last week, and when we came in to record, the place was totally overrun with creepy-crawlers!  We look at two films, both from 1977, starting off with Empire of the Ants, from director Bert I. Gordon, and featuring Joan Collins as an underhanded real estate developer who finds herself trapped in the Florida Everglades with an oddball group of prospective investors, beset by a horde of enormous and ravenous ants. It is wonderful cheesy fun with a truly astounding twist near the end that caught us both off guard. We follow that up with Kingdom of the Spiders, from director John 'Bud' Cardos and starring the "Shat" himself, Mr. William Shatner. This is a truly exceptional bit of genre film making.  There are stunts, action, peril, thrills, and 5,000 tarantulas, a small portion of which survives until the end of the movie.  Let us know what you thought of the show by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com, or just post a message on our Facebook page.
On another note, for episode 100, we are going to talk about our favorites from the previous shows, and also about those turds we wish we had flushed down.  We'd love to hear your thoughts on movies that we've helped you discover or ones you'd like to punch us over.
 

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Episode 98 - Flickering for Vengeance

Thanks to a recommendation from friend-of-the-show George, we started down a long, twisty path that lead us to the films we discuss on this episode. The through-line on all of them is the idea of revenge.  We start off with 2004's Dead Man's Shoes, from director Shane Meadows.  Paddy Considine plays Richard, who has come back to his hometown to settle a score that involves his brother Anthony.  At first, we do not know exactly what has set him on this path, but the film reveals it in a masterful way. It is powerful and dark, yet surprisingly comic at times. We follow that up with 2013's Blue Ruin, from director Jeremy Saulnier who had also helmed Green Room. We follow Dwight, who is also locked into getting revenge for something, which we only really learn the full details of, late in the proceedings. The incredible lead-performance is from Macon Blair, who has gone on to write and direct a film that was just featured on Netflix titled I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore.  With two great lead performances from Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood, this is yet another revenge tale, but this one is wonderfully offbeat and unique. An excellent aperitif after the heavy double-whammy of Blue Ruin and Dead Man's Shoes.  We went far afield with episode 98 and we hope you enjoy the show as much as we enjoyed recording it. Let us know your thoughts by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com, or just post a message on our Facebook page.