Episode 46 - The Reich Stuff

Well folks, here we are at episode 46 of Flickers and we're knee deep in the brown stuff. Yep, you got it, shit. Oh and nazis too! We have two landmark, or maybe skid mark, examples of filmaking to throw at you this time. First up, 1968's They Saved Hitler's Brain, a hodge podge patch job of a movie that we thought was maybe the worst thing we had ever seen, however, we stand corrected. Our second feature out-craps any thing you ever seen! 1978's Son Of Hitler couldn't be shittier if the film stock was made of Ex-Lax. With the casting of Peter Cushing and Bud Cort you'd think there would have to be some redeeming quality, right? WRONG! This thing will leave a shit-streak on your soul! Get the Charmin and join us deep inside the cinematic crapper, if you dare!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.

Episode 45 - 12 Years a Cave

Welcome all, to episode 45 of Flickers! This may well be the most politically charged episode we've ever done as we delve into the subject of racial tension in the south during the sixties and seventies. First up, we check out 1962's The Intruder, a superior effort from the legend himself, Roger Corman. This first-rate potboiler stars none other than William Shatner, in what may be his greatest film performance. With a cast rounded out by excellent character actors and some surprisingly solid local talent, this one will make you think and may just make your blood boil! Then there is 1974's Klansman, with Lee Marvin and Richard Burton. With it's own ensemble of familiar faces and solid performances, Klansman's director Terence Young chose to go with a decidedly more exploitation-style presentation of similar material. As seedy and distasteful as it is in parts, it is overall a hell of a romp in the best grindhouse tradition. You may never again get to see O.J. Simpson as a rage driven avenging angel and Big Dick Burton kung-fu fighting in the same sizzling one hundred minutes of celluloid! Gird your loins and come along with us for a trip down a nightmarish version of memory lane.  Let us know what you thought of the movies and the podcast by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com or by posting a message on the Facebook page.

Episode 44 - Who Goes There

Hey friend can you spare some head, er, heads? Well anyway, on episode 44 of Flickers we're talking about parasites. No, this one isn't about congress, these parasites come from outer space! Pull up a chair and sit right down and dig into 1987's “The Hidden”, directed by Jack Sholder and starring Agent Cooper himself, Mr. Kyle MacLachlan. A top notch sci-fi action thriller, it will rock your world. And then there is 1991's “The Borrower” directed by John McNaughton of “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer” fame. There is no evidence on view what so ever of the promise of great things to come, that was Henry, with this limp effort. .Although a brief synopsis of the plots of these two films might read as virtual twins, they are worlds apart in quality. Join us for the in depth discussion and many low brow jokes you have come to expect from FFTC!
Let us know what you thought of the show by sending email to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com or by posting a message on our Facebook page. 

Episode 43 - Like Bunches of Bananas

This time we decided to lighten the tone a bit and focus on two films that depict the END OF CIVILIZATION ON PLANET EARTH!  The post-apocalyptic genre is one of our favorites, and it has produced some standout examples, including Omega Man, Planet of the Apes, Road Warrior and countless others.  We start off by looking at 1977's Damnation Alley, loosely based on a novella by the great Roger Zelazny, which has a band of survivors making a desperate trek across the ruined center of a post-world-war-three America.  They make the trip inside the actual star of the film, the Landmaster, a true engineering marvel and something which still impresses today, decades after it's creation.  Starring George Peppard and Jan-Michael Vincent, with a top-notch supporting cast, this film delivers the goods, along with giant scorpions and killer cockroaches!  Next we travel to Italy, for the 1983 epic from Sergio Martino 2019: After the Fall of New York. In this lazy remake of the incredible Escape from New York,  we have a ruined America, split into two factions, the Euraks and the Federation.  The radioactive fallout from a global nuclear war has rendered every female infertile. The federation's "Genetic Robot" determines there's a lone fertile woman in the ruins of New York, bastion of the Euraks,  so they send in the hero Parsifal and two sidekicks to retrieve her for a rocket ride to Alpha Centauri to continue the human race...this movie is bad, really bad. Is it so bad that you should avoid it, or is it so bad that you should watch it instantly...?  Tune in and hear what we thought of both of these beauties.

Let us know what you thought of the show by sending email to flickersfrom@gmail.com or flickersfrom@yahoo.com.  You can also leave us a message on our Facebook page.

Episode 42 - And Through the Woods

This episode, Mike and Marty took the podcast out into the woods, for a fun camping trip and then things started to go horribly wrong.  We look at two films which follow in the footsteps of many previous films but perhaps most obviously, John Boorman's 1972 classic Deliverance.  The first we look at is Rituals from 1977.  Starring Hal Holbrook and a small group of very talented actors, and featuring a really top notch script, this was a truly delightful surprise.  It is a grueling experience as the viewer follows a group of doctors who are on an expedition to "The Cauldron" and run into something in the woods that clearly wants them to leave.  We follow that up with 1981's Just Before Dawn, directed by Jeff Lieberman who gave us the only "killer earthworm" film we've ever seen, Squirm.  Chris Lemmon and Gregg Henry are the leaders of a group of young people who intend to explore a remote forest area, despite the ominous warnings of both the creepy locals and the resident park ranger, played by the wonderful George Kennedy. There is much disco-dancing and crazy disregard for the dangers that surround the foolhardy campers, as well as the requisite drunken-coot and inbred hill-family, but still the movie falls totally flat.  Listen in to the conversation and see if you want to give either of these a shot, maybe you could watch them on your next camping trip.
Let us know what you thought of the show by sending emails to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com or by posting a message to our Facebook page.

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.

Episode 40 - Domo Deodato

Well well well, we have finally reached a personal landmark for Flickers From the Cave, our 40^th 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!

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.

Episode 38 - Beyond the Cave

Back in 1974, Mike and Marty remember being terrified by the trailer for a little film called Beyond the Door. Admittedly a rip-off of the enormously successful Exorcist with a touch of Rosemary's Baby, the film raked in cash from a public starving for tales of possession and evil fetuses ( feti ? ). Three years later, a Mario Bava film, originally titled "Schock" was released under the misleading title Beyond the Door 2.  The only thing consistent between the two films is one of the actors, but playing an ENTIRELY different part.  This was a total attempt to cash in on the success of the first film.  Over ten years later, producer Ovidio Assanitis had completed a film to be titled "Amok Train" but thought their might still be some value in changing the title to the completely baffling Beyond the Door 3.  There is zero common-ground between that film and the original in the "trilogy" and yet still, it exists.
The first film is solidly entertaining and packed with WTF moments and a few genuinely creepy moments.  The second film is by Mario Bava, one of the true maestros of Italian cinema, and is very much worthy of your time as a solid haunted-house movie with some great twists and turns.  The third film is 100% crap, and yet still entertaining if you don't mind suffering through bad story, acting and special effects.
Let us know what you thought of the show by writing to flickersfrom@gmail.com or flickersfrom@yahoo.com or by posting a message to our Facebook page.

Episode 37 - The Penis is Evil

John Boorman has given us many great films over his illustrious career. Two of our All-Time favorites are Deliverance and Excalibur.  Before he brought us his version of the incredible James Dickey novel though, he gave the world 1967's Point Blank which stars Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson and features the debut of John Vernon.  This is a twisty story of criminals and double-crosses, of organizations and the man who stands up against them. It is the story of Walker, who wants his 93K, no matter what.  A brilliantly realized film, technically excellent and featuring a very challenging narrative.  Played very low-key, this surely set the tone for the world would expect from cinema in the 70s.  After Boorman had given the world Deliverance, he was given free reign for his follow-up, so he wrote and directed a real mind-bender, 1974's Zardoz.  Featuring surreal imagery, subtle technology, and enough satire to choke a horse, this is an unfairly lambasted effort.  Starring James Bond himself, Sean Connery, it is set in a post-apocalyptic world, where armed bands of Exterminators follow the command of huge, floating stone head, to wipe the earth clean of brutals. Your choices with Zardoz are to laugh AT it or to laugh WITH it, as it is both serious and also purposely goofy.  Watch it twice, watch it three times, and show it to others, just to see the WTF look on their faces.
Please let us know what you thought of the show by sending mail to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com or by leaving us a message on our Facebook page.