Episode 123 - The Man-Cavian Candidate

We have two very disparate yet similar films this time in the cave. We start off with 1986's Hands of Steel, from Italian maestro Sergio Martino. It tells the story of Paco Queruak, a cyborg who begins to break from governmental control and rediscover his humanity. It is a quintessential 80's sci-fi movie and ultimately completely satisfying. We follow that up with a real mind-bender, the jaw-dropping Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning from 2012. Directed by John Hyams, it continues the story of the Universal Soldier franchise in a surreal, vicious, and completely over-the-top way.  This is dark, and shocking stuff, and WOW is it good!  Let us know what you thought of the show and send recommendations for future episodes by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com. You can also tweet at us @cavewalls, message us on our Facebook page, or follow our sparkling new instagram page.

 

Episode 122 - Sax-on Sax-off

There is no point in trying to deny it...we LOVE John Saxon! We look at two of his films this time, and, thanks to podcast-listener George, one of the films is his sole directorial effort! We start off with the legendary 1980 movie, Cannibal Apocalypse, which stars Saxon and Giovanni Radice in a tale of flesh-eating vietnam vets, running from the police in Atlanta, Georgia. We had heard about this one for years but it largely left us unimpressed. We follow this up with 1988's Zombie Death House, which was directed by Saxon, impressively! It is a total blast and it completely took us by surprise! Thank you George for the recommendation!  Please send YOUR suggestions for films to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com. You can also get ahold of us on our Facebook page or tweet at us @cavewalls.

Episode 121 - Above the Deadly Ground

Julie took over the film-selection this week, so we ended up watching two from Mr. Steven Seagal. We start off with his first, Above the Law from 1988, which is directed by the reliable Andrew Davis. It tells a very boilerplate story, but it tells it VERY successfully and really established Seagal as a new type of action star. We follow that up with his only directorial effort, 1994's On Deadly Ground. In this story, Seagal plays a native American who works for an evil oil tycoon, played by Sir Michael Caine in one of the most over-the-top performances we've seen. It is totally nuts.  Though there was dissension about the directorial efforts, we all agree that the movie is totally entertaining. Please let us know what you thought of the episode by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com. You can also post a message to us on our Facebook page or on Twitter @cavewalls.

 

Episode 120 - Ya Heard?

We decided to watch two films that feature the multi-faceted actor John Heard, starting off with 1981's Cutter's Way and following up with 1977's Between the Lines. None of us really "enjoyed" either movie, and we struggled in some cases to even make it through them. We bit both bullets though and pushed through for our podcasting art and we present our summation here. Even though the movies weren't fun, the conversations that they inspired are excellent and we DO recommend that you listen to those.  Please let us know what you thought of the show by writing to us at flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com.  You can also message us on Facebook or Twitter, where you can find us @cavewalls.

Episode 119 - Franciscus-Fest

We're not sure it's fair to call these movies "rip-offs" but...they are kinda rip-offs, but really, really entertaining ones! Both of the movies this time feature James Franciscus in the lead role, and deadly animals underneath the water!  We start off with 1979's "Killer Fish", which also stars Lee Majors, Karen Black and a lagoon full of hungry piranha! We follow that up with a 1981 "tribute" to Jaws that went by a million titles but we watched a copy called "L'Ultimo Squalo" ( The Last Shark ).  It adds Vic Morrow to the mix as a sort of Irish Captain Quint, with the emphasis on "sort of Irish".  We enjoyed both of these movies a lot and recommend them fully, just don't go in expecting them to be good in any sort of traditional way.  Let us know what you thought of the show by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com, leave us a message on Facebook or find us on Twitter @cavewalls.

Episode 118 - All Ages Show

Netflix! It brings us so many things, so often, that it can be overwhelming at times. For this show we decided to look at two films that are newly on Netflix that seemed like a good fit for the cave. Both are from 2017, but from opposite sides of the "pond". We start with "Bad Day for the Cut", an Irish production that tells a very twisty story of revenge where a quiet, unassuming farmer has to find out the reason his elderly mother is brutally murdered one night. It has moments of humor and surprising plot developments and, we think, is well worth your time. We follow that up with "Super Dark Times" which is set in a gray town in the US in the 1990s and follows a group of teens who get into some situations where things go VERY wrong and we see the extremely bad way they deal with it. The movie starts off strong but ends up losing it's way about halfway through and the ending is completely out of step with what happens prior. It's interesting, but not as entertaining as Bad Day for the Cut.  If you've seen these, let us know what you thought by writing to us at flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com. You could also post a message on our Facebook page or Tweet us @cavewalls.

 

Episode 117 - Jacked Up

Happy New Year and welcome back to the cave!  We have wanted to look at the Billy Jack series of films since before the podcast started, and it seemed like the 117th episode was a perfect place to finally do it! These are legendary low-budget movies and there is no question why...they are great! We start off with 1967's The Born Losers and follow that up with the masterpiece Billy Jack from 1971. Both films were directed by and star Tom Laughlin as Mr. Jack ( he directed both under the pseudonym T.C. Frank ).  There is a kinetic energy, and a vibrating core of danger in both films, with some amazing cinematography and powerful dialogue. Calling these "message films" is valid but the messages are relayed with such a high degree of craft that they rarely seem preachy. Both are fascinating studies of the 60's and 70's counter-culture movement, from within and without.  Mostly-excellent acting and some stirring music really round-out the packages and now we find ourselves eager to watch the 3rd and 4th films in the Billy Jack canon. Let us know what you thought of the show by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com or just leave us a message on our Facebook page.

Episode 116 - Where in the World is Cirio Santiago

We all fell in love with Trina Parks when we watched Darktown Strutters, so we went in search of more of her films.  That lead us to Cirio Santiago, a legendary Filipino director who was a major inspiration to Quentin Tarantino, so we chose two of his films for this episode. We start off with 1974's T.N.T. Jackson, starring Jeannie Bell as the titular ( very apropos ) character who is searching for her missing brother in the dark, sinister world of Filipino crime.  It costars Stan Shaw, who was also in Darktown Strutters, as Charlie, a charming bad guy.  We follow that up with the fantastic movie "The Muthers" from 1976, also starring Jeannie Bell as Kelly, a ruthless but soft-hearted pirate, leading a crew of other women as she looks for her sister, who has gone missing in the dank jungles of the Philippines. One of her crew is Marcie, played by Trina Parks.  These ladies fight and shoot and even swing from vines! They are gorgeous, powerful, and totally badass!  These are great exploitation films and both are on YouTube for you to watch at your leisure, and we recommend that you do! Let us know what you thought of the show by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com. You can also message us through our Facebook page or our Twitter.

 

Episode 115 - Going Deep

We go deep this time, and everybody gets wet as we examine two EXTREMELY similar films, both from 1989. First up is Leviathan, from show-favorite George P. Cosmatos and starring Peter Weller and some other fairly big names. It is set in a deep-sea mining and research rig that encounters a mysterious monster in a sunken Russian ship. We follow that up with DeepStar Six from Sean S. Cunningham with Greg Evigan in the lead.  It is also set in a deep sea mining and research rig that encounters a mysterious monster, but this time it comes from an underwater cavern.  These are both really fun little celluloid treats that disappear in your mind like cotton candy does on your lips.  We also ramble at great length about lots of other movie-stuff ( shocker, right? ). So listen in as the misinformation and fake-news flies! Let us know what you thought of the show by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com. You can also leave us a message on our Facebook page.

Episode 114 - Cavey Van

Back in the 70's the van became an important way for people to express themselves.  They would modify their "shaggin' wagon" with elaborate murals, shag carpeting, wide wheels and big V8 engines. We look at two less-than-stellar examples of a genre known simply as vansploitation. First off, we look at 1977's Supervan, which basically stars an incredible creation from the wizard George Barris, a "solar powered" van, called Vandora.  This is not a good film, but does feature the notorious writer George Bukowski as a wet t-shirt water boy. The music is bad, the acting is sub-par, and the pacing is glacial, but that van is really, really awesome.  We follow that up with a slightly better movie from 1979 called Van Nuys Blvd. The lead character also drives a van and decides to leave his home and girlfriend to pursue the wild night-life of cruising up and down the titular Van Nuys Blvd in California. You've likely seen this story a thousand times, and chances are that every time was better than it is in this film.  We didn't love either of these movies, but Van Nuys Blvd is, at least, entertaining on a certain basic level.  Let us know about your van experiences or send us film suggestions to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com. You can also leave a message on our Facebook page or tweet us @cavewalls.