Episode 161 - Band Together

It was Julie's turn to pick this time and she set her sites squarely on director Charles Band! We watched two great movies from him, starting off with 1984's Trancers, starring Tim Thomerson and Helen Hunt. Borrowing heavily from a variety of sources, this is an ambitious and largely successful story that combines time travel, mind control, humor and even a little romance. This is good, entertaining stuff. We follow that up with 1990's Crash and Burn, which wants you to believe it's a story about a giant robot, but is actually a post apocalyptic tale about corporations taking over after financial and environmental disasters ruin the world. It's another successful combination of elements that delivers in a variety of ways. We also ramble, a lot! Let us know what you'd like us to look at next by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com.  You can also reach us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

Episode 160 - The Mankiwian Candidate

We head far far away to the land of middle earth for this episode, with two movies chosen by Mike. We start off with 1981's Strange Behavior, from director Michael Laughlin. Filmed in Auckland NZ, it is set in Illinois, with a mostly American cast. It tells the story of a university that is doing experiments on people to enhance their mental abilities, but which actually makes them exhibit the titular strange behavior. Some of that behavior even stretches into MURDER...the strangest behavior of them all!  It is an effective thriller, with some standout moments and a great 80s vibe. We follow that up with 1984's Death Warmed Over, from David Blyth. This is high-energy, low-budget filmaking with the craziness cranked up to 11! This is another story of experiments designed to control human  minds and, like the first film, those minds are controlled to MURDER!!!  This one is totally nuts and, at times, nonsensical, but sometimes that is exactly what we are looking for! Let us know what you'd like us to look at next by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com.  You can also reach us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

Episode 159 - Toys Are Not for Mr Soames

We entered into this show without the guidance of Julie...and we felt her absence...but we persevered and made it through the fire of two VERY problematic and interesting films. We start off with 1970's "The Mind of Mr. Soames" with a great lead performance from Terrence Stamp and directed with flair by Alan Cooke. Based on a novel of the same name, it tells the story of a 30 year old man who's been in a coma since birth who is awoken after a surgery is performed. We then follow the titular character as he is brought through the various stages of human development at a very rapid pace. It is fascinating science fiction and totally worth your time. We follow that up with the real standout this time, the incredibly twisted and dark "Toys Are Not for Children" from 1972. It is one of only two films from Stanley H. Brassloff and we REALLY wish he had gone on to make more. The story is focused on young Jamie Goddard who's parents SERIOUSLY did a number on her. She is now an adult with an unusual series of connections in her brain that link toys, her father and sexuality. It goes there, and it stays there and it really makes you think. This is a strange combination of grindhouse exploitation and art-film. It blew us away and we recommend it highly, but with warnings...there is some deeply problematic stuff in there, but we do think it's worth your time. Let us know what you'd like us to look at next by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com.  You can also reach us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

Episode 158 - Mo Meta Mo Betta

Julie picked some interesting and obscure films for the podcast this time. We start off with 1988's Destroyer with the late, football superstar Lyle Alzado playing a terrible criminal who is executed for his long list of crimes, but who may not actually be dead. The cast has some other familiar faces from the 80s in it, even Norman Bates himself, Anthony Perkins, who is clearly having a great time hamming it up. We follow that up with 1990's Invasion Force, from low budget powerhouse David A. Prior. The most recognizable person in the film is Richard Lynch who plays and evil military commander who is leading a group of commandos in an invasion of a small southern American town. The connecting thread between the two is that they both focus on a group of filmmakers who get caught up in proceedings they were NOT expecting. They are essentially "films-within-films" and that little twist adds a lot of interest to both. Let us know what you'd like us to look at next by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com.  You can also reach us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

Episode 157 - What Scares You - Volume 2

We return to our Halloween theme of "what scares you", this time focusing on Mike's fear of his home being invaded. We look at two movies that are similar on the surface, but very different once you dig into them. First up is 2008's "The Strangers", directed by Bryan Bertino and starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman. They play a couple that has VERY bad things happen "because they were home". We follow that up with one of our very favorite movies, 2011's "You're Next", from director Adam Wingard. This is a true masterpiece, and not only very scary, but a ton of fun. If you haven't seen it yet, we urge you to drop everything and search it out. We also do our normal rambling with personal stories and asides, so brace yourself for some meandering discussions. Let us know what you'd like us to look at next by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com.  You can also reach us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

Episode 156 - Down the Hatch

We're back after an extended break while Julie is moving to her new digs. This time we look at two movies starring the late, great Richard Hatch. These are maybe not the two best movies to examine though if you want to prove that he truly was "great". We start off with 1983's Prisoners of the Lost Universe, which is staggeringly inept on many levels but still fun in a RiffTrax kind of way. We follow that up with 1985's Heated Vengeance, which was directed by Edward D. Murphy who had previously done one of our all time favorites, Raw Force. It's a pretty boilerplate tale about a Vietnam War veteran who returns to the country in search of a woman he had fallen in love with during his time in battle. It is not great either, but for both films we try to find the good elements where we can. For the second film we have a special guest, Dylan, who has plenty to add to the conversation. Please send us your thoughts by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com. You can also send us messages via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!

Episode 155 - Orphans and Eye Trauma

From out of the blue, came TWO movies that star Vic Tayback AND Gloria Grahame, so we had to feature them on the podcast this time. We start off with 1976's Mansion of the Doomed, which stars Richard Basehart as a CRAZY eye surgeon who's lovely young daughter has gone blind following a car accident. He makes it his mission to restore her sight, no matter how high the karmic debt is. It is dark and twisted and exceedingly grim...we loved it! We follow that up with 1971's Blood and Lace, which stars the gorgeous Melody Patterson as Ellie Masters, who's mother is viciously murdered with a hammer in the opening moments of the film, leading to her becoming and orphan and "ward of the state". She ends up in an orphanage that is more of a prison camp with a lot of sinister stuff going on behind the scenes. Frequently considered the most transgressive PG-rated film ever released, this one is a shocker in the best possible ways. We loved it too!  Please send us your thoughts by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com. You can also send us messages via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!

Episode 154 - Land Choppers

Two cinematic EPICS! are showing in the cave this time, as selected by our stalwart member, Julie.  We start off with 1989's Chopper Chicks in Zombietown, which has a cast filled with familiar faces. There was some disagreement in the cave about just how good this one was, but there was NO disagreement about film number two, 1991's Stone Cold, starting the Boz himself, Brian Bosworth. Directed by former stunt coordinator Craig R. Baxley, this one is 100% 80's action at it's cheesiest and most vicious. It ends in a truly impressive spectacle that blew us all away. Please send us your thoughts by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com. You can also send us messages via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!

Episode 153 - Flickers from the Thunderdome

Last episode we spontaneously decided to come up with a bunch of top 5 lists, so we did, and on this episode we whip-em out and compare'em...Tune in to find out what we each put on our own lists and hear how bummed we were to have to leave certain awesome movies off our lists and how some of us completely forgot the entire catalogs of some of our favorite filmmakers due to utter dumbness. Please send us your lists, and let us know your thoughts by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com. You can also send us messages via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!

Episode 152 - Shake and Bake

It seems fitting that the show where we focus on two of the most famous disaster epics from the 70s, would be the show where we experience disasters in the production. Our entire first section, where we spoke in depth about 1974's Earthquake, was TOTALLY lost due to a recording issue, so we recorded a doubled-up section where we tried to cover that film as well as 1974's The Towering Inferno...that recording only lasted about 30 minutes before it ALSO screwed up when the machine we were recording on, locked-up.  Soooooo, Julie and Marty had to record a THIRD section, where we again tried to summarize and settle all our thoughts on these two titans. It made for a wonky, disjointed show, but there's still plenty to chew on in there, so we hope you enjoy it.  Let us know your thoughts by writing to flickersfrom@yahoo.com or flickersfrom@gmail.com. You can also send us messages via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!