Episode Collection: All Podcasts

Every single publicly available podcast, all on one page

You can also see the episodes in an A-Z List or by individual film in the gallery. Full episodes of previous years are avaliable to all members!

Reverse Order of Release

Where the Art is Hung

Where the Art is Hung

A very special episode of Double Feature. The visual arts – cinematography, style, and finding your voice. Alice has a new project out by NYC based band ACTIVITY. What it’s actually like to shoot on 16mm. Tangible differences between analog and video. A film survival collective you probably didn’t know about. Watch the music video for Activity: Where the Art is Hung. Continue reading

Mom and Dad + The Innocents

Mom and Dad + The Innocents

Two crooked takes on kids with Crank-infused Mom and Dad and the 2021 Norway film The Innocents. Intense and emotionally charged performances. Nicolas Cage is at it again. New reports state: plot is happening. Giving a voice to the voiceless. Genetic psychopaths and how they are sometimes on television. Grappling with the violent urges. Youthful cruelty, the exploration of power, and the emotional violence and conflicts within relationships. Two films that touch on the theme of testing childhood morals and values.

The Keep + The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne

The Keep + The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne

Taking the other path – delving into the two cult horror films with The Keep and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne. It’s a day for very dark secrets on Double Feature.

The Keep, a supernatural horror film set during World War II, follows a group of Nazi soldiers who unknowingly unleash a powerful and ancient evil while stationed in a mysterious castle in Romania. The film explores themes of good and evil, the consequences of tampering with dark forces, and the power of faith.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne” a French-German horror film based on the classic novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, follows the story of Dr. Jekyll, a scientist who becomes obsessed with separating good and evil in the human psyche and ultimately transforms into the monstrous Mr. Hyde in spectacular fashion. The film takes on themes of duality, the dangers of obsession, and the blurred lines between good and evil.

The Keep and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne have been recently re-re-rediscovered as cult dark-genre movies and are known for their exploration of distinct visuals used to exploring deeper, darker secrets.

Both Sides of the Blade + Stars at Noon

Both Sides of the Blade + Stars at Noon

Through the chaos of it all, Double Feature takes on a Claire Denis double feature. As is often the case with Denis, here are two highly regarded films – “Both Sides of the Blade and Stars at Noon. This episode digs into the themes and experience with no previous Claire Denis homework required.

Both Sides of the Blade, a dramatic film about a soldier who returns home after serving in a war-torn country, explores the psychological toll of combat and the challenges of reintegration into civilian life. The film discusses trauma, guilt, and the difficulty of navigating relationships after experiencing intense and life-changing events.

Stars at Noon, a psychological thriller set in weird-future, follows a journalist who becomes embroiled in a conspiracy while investigating the disappearance of a scientist. As she uncovers the truth about the scientist’s research and its connection to a powerful and secretive organization, the journalist is forced to confront her own beliefs and values. The film explores themes of power, corruption, and the manipulation of truth.

Both “Both Sides of the Blade” and “Stars at Noon” have been praised for their thought-provoking themes and the ways in which they challenge audiences to consider deeper questions about the world around us.

Impractical Jokers + Jackass

Impractical Jokers + Jackass

Michael makes Alice watch a movie so you don’t have to. Just what elevates Jackass to such heights? Maybe Impractical Jokers has the answers. In this episode of the podcast, analysis is conducted through the framework of performance theory. Both films considered feature a group of individuals engaging in pranks and stunts for the enjoyment of their audience. By investigating the power dynamics and representation within these performances, this episode engages with the concept of humor and the formation of identity in modern media. The cultural significance of these films is also examined, as they both obscure the distinction between reality and fiction and subvert traditional conceptions of masculinity. Through a thorough analysis of the films’ techniques and themes, this episode endeavors to provide a deeper understanding of the role and impact of prank-based entertainment.

Lady Terminator + Robotrix

Lady Terminator + Robotrix

A larger conversation about the shrinking world and the hidden rip-off cinema within it. In this episode of the podcast, the cultural impact of the films Lady Terminator and Robotrix is examined. Lady Terminator, a horror film about a woman possessed by an ancient spirit, became a cult classic in Indonesia and gained a dedicated following around the world. Robotrix, a science fiction film about a group of scientists who create a group of advanced female robots, was praised for its unique take on the traditional “femme fatale” character. Both films have influenced pop culture and spawned a number of sequels and imitators. Through interviews with fans and experts, this episode explores the enduring appeal of these films and their place in the broader context of horror and science fiction.

Lolita (1997) + My Octopus Teacher

Lolita (1997) + My Octopus Teacher

A film too sexual for audiences to take at its deeper meaning. A film too awards-season for audiences to not want it to be about a sex joke. In this episode of the podcast, wade into the cultural impact of the films Lolita (1997) and My Octopus Teacher. Lolita, a drama film about a man’s obsession with a teenage girl, sparked controversy and debate upon its release for its depiction of pedophilia. The book was similarly not spared… but just what is Lolita? My Octopus Teacher, a documentary about a man’s relationship with an octopus, became a hit on streaming platforms and won numerous awards. Both films explore themes of love, obsession, and the blurred lines between humans and nature. Whether you’re a fan of taboos or tentacles, this episode has something for everyone.

Koyaanisqatsi + Memoria

Koyaanisqatsi + Memoria

Memory, identity, and the human experience. A podcast that just won’t quit. The films Koyaanisqatsi and Memoria are analyzed for their thematic elements. Koyaanisqatsi is a documentary film that explores the relationship between humans and the natural world, and the consequences of technological progress. Memoria is a drama film about a young man struggling to come to terms with his past and build a better future. Both films explore themes of memory, identity, and the human experience. Through a close examination of the films’ plot, characters, and themes, this episode offers a nuanced look at these thought-provoking and emotionally powerful films.

Prey + Orphan First Kill

Prey + Orphan First Kill

The rumors are true. Double Feature has returned. In this episode of the podcast, the cultural climate of streaming-only film releases is examined through a watch of recent movies Prey and Orphan: First Kill. Prey is a horror film about a group of friends who become stranded on a remote island and must fight for survival against a group of cannibalistic predators. Orphan: First Kill is an unlikely sequel to an underrated cult gem. Both films explore themes of survival, trust, and the dark side of human nature. As streaming-only releases have become more common in the film industry, these films and others like them have gained a niche and sometime random following among viewers who appreciate their unique blend of horror, suspense, and drama. This episode discusses the appeal of these films and their place in the broader context of streaming-only releases.

Nope + The Black Phone

Nope + The Black Phone

Double Feature completely resets the show. New listeners, start here. An all-new format – uncut, uncensored, unprovoked. Hosts with emotional stability issues now welcome. Nope is a film that explores the themes of spectacle, violence, and the erasure of Black people in American entertainment history – using science fiction and myth to fill in the gaps in the historical record and confront the grief and violence of that absence! On the other hands… The Black Phone explores the use of horror as a means of cultivating empathy and dealing with real-world trauma, as well as the importance of remembering and acknowledging the victims of evil in order to confront and prevent it.

Double Feature Year 14 Finale

Double Feature Year 14 Finale

Hear EVERY previous episodes at Patreon.com/DoubleFeature – starting new? This is a great 1st episode to download! An all-new reset of the podcast starts next episode. In this episode: a no spoilers retrospective of the entire last year. Also included in this episode, what is next for Double Feature? Continue reading

Dune + Spice World

Dune + Spice World

Spices will flow in the last double feature of Year 14. A discussion of two thought-provoking tales of political intrigue, Dune and Spice World. The recently released Dune: One More Time With Feeling is a science fiction epic that explores themes of politics, religion, and environmentalism through use of a sprawling intergalactic society. Spice World, released in 1997, follows the fictionalize pop group the Spice Girls as they navigate the challenges of fame and friendship while preparing for their first live television special. Double Feature analyzes the cultural significance and lasting impact of both films, drawing connections between their respective genres and the broader context of their respective time periods. They also discuss the enduring appeal of each film and the ways in which they have influenced popular culture. Or with Dune, future-appeal anyways.

Battle Beyond the Stars + Them

Battle Beyond the Stars + Them

The final installment in the French Extreme + Exploitation journey. Also, what has been going on with Double Feature? In this episode, the films Battle Beyond the Stars and Them are analyzed for their underlying themes. Battle Beyond the Stars is a science fiction film that explores the concept of individualism versus collectivism, as the main character must rely on the help of a diverse group of mercenaries in order to defeat a tyrannical ruler. Them, on the other hand, delves into the theme of fear and the power dynamics that can arise when a group is placed in a threatening situation. The film follows a family as they are terrorized by an unseen entity, and the characters’ relationships and sense of security are tested as they fight for survival. Both films ultimately address the ways in which individuals and society as a whole can confront and overcome challenges.

Silent Hill + Super Mario Bros

Silent Hill + Super Mario Bros

Video game otherworlds in Silent Hill and Super Mario Bros. The Morton Jankel cut! focuses on the films Silent Hill and Super Mario Bros. and their themes of alternate realities and the blurred lines between good and evil. In Silent Hill, the protagonist discovers a mysterious town that appears to exist in a parallel universe, where the line between good and evil becomes increasingly unclear as she uncovers the town’s dark past. Similarly, in Super Mario Bros., the titular characters are tasked with rescuing Princess Peach from the evil Bowser, but as they journey through the Mushroom Kingdom, they encounter creatures that challenge their beliefs about what is truly good and evil. Both films explore the idea that there are often multiple perspectives and grey areas in moral dilemmas, and that these can be challenging to navigate. Continue reading

Anatomy of Murder + The Act of Killing

Anatomy of Murder + The Act of Killing

Considering ethics in Anatomy of Murder and The Act of Killing. The podcast episode on the themes of Anatomy of Murder and The Act of Killing explores the disturbing and complex nature of violence and its consequences. The first film, Anatomy of Murder, is a classic crime drama that delves into the motivations and aftermath of a murder, as a defense lawyer tries to prove the innocence of his client. The second film, The Act of Killing, is a documentary that confronts the perpetrators of the Indonesian genocide, as they reenact their crimes for the camera. Through these two films, Double Feature examines how violence can be justified and how it can leave a lasting impact on those involved and society as a whole. The episode also touches on themes of justice, morality, and the power dynamics at play in both films.

The Impostors + Withnail and I

The Impostors + Withnail and I

Actors doing their thing to comedic ends in The Impostors + Withnail and I. The podcast discusses the themes of The Impostors and “Withnail and I”, both of which explore the concept of identity and the performative nature of self. The Impostors, a comedy film about two struggling actors who accidentally become involved in a wealthy socialite’s disappearance, delves into the characters’ desire to escape their mundane lives and fulfill their dreams of fame. Withnail and I, a British black comedy about two unemployed actors living in London, delves into the characters’ struggles with their own sense of self-worth and the influence of societal expectations on their identity. Both films offer a humorous and satirical look at the struggles of trying to navigate the complexities of one’s own identity in the face of societal pressures and expectations.

Swimming Pool + The Vanishing

Swimming Pool + The Vanishing

Swimming Pool, directed by François Ozon, and The Vanishing, directed by George Sluizer, both explore the concept of identity and the lengths to which individuals will go to uncover the truth. In Swimming Pool, author Sarah Morton travels to her publisher’s house in the South of France to finish her latest novel, but becomes embroiled in the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Julie, the publisher’s daughter. As Sarah delves deeper into the investigation, she begins to question her own identity and whether she is capable of committing a crime. The Vanishing follows the story of Rex, a man whose girlfriend disappears while on vacation at a gas station. As he searches for answers, he becomes increasingly obsessed with uncovering the truth and is ultimately faced with the disturbing realization that he may never know what happened to his loved one. Both films examine the complex relationship between perception and reality and the destructive power of obsession.

Open Your Eyes + Never Let Me Go

Open Your Eyes + Never Let Me Go

Identity and reality. Open Your Eyes, a Spanish film recognizable for one weird reason, follows the story of a wealthy young man named César who suffers from a disfiguring accident and begins to question the veracity of his surroundings. The film delves into the concept of identity and the ways in which it can be altered or manipulated. On the other hand, Never Let Me Go, directed by Mark Romanek and based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, explores the theme of reality through the lens of a dystopian society in which human clones are raised for the sole purpose of organ donation. The film delves into the ethical implications of such a society and raises questions about the value of human life. Both films ultimately challenge the viewer to consider the concept of self and the role it plays in shaping our perception of the world.

To Be or Not to Be + Rango

To Be or Not to Be + Rango

Playing with self-image. To Be or Not to Be is a black comedy about a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Poland who use their skills of deception to fool the invading forces and save their country. The film delves into the idea of role-playing and how we present ourselves to the world, as well as the blurred lines between what is real and what is performance. Rango, on the other hand, is an animated film about a chameleon who must confront his own lack of identity and discover his true self in order to save his town. Both films explore the importance of self-discovery and the power of finding one’s place in the world.

Daughter of the Sun + Sheitan

Daughter of the Sun + Sheitan

A podcast episode on the films Daughter of the Sun and Sheitan would explore the themes of identity, transformation, and the blurred lines between good and evil. In Daughter of the Sun, the main character embarks on a journey of self-discovery, learning about their true identity and the power they possess. Sheitan delves into the darker side of human nature, as a group of friends are confronted with the disturbing behavior of their host and must confront the evil within themselves in order to survive. Both films explore the complexities of the human experience and the ways in which our actions can shape our identity.

Snowpiercer + The Favourite

Snowpiercer + The Favourite

Manipulation on a scale from least to most delicious. The podcast episode discusses the themes present in the films Snowpiercer and The Favourite. Snowpiercer follows the story of a rebellion on a train carrying the last remnants of humanity after a failed experiment to stop global warming results in a new ice age. The film explores themes of class struggle and the consequences of greed and power. The Favourite, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, is a historical drama set in early 18th century England that follows the tumultuous relationship between two cousins, Sarah Churchill and Abigail Masham, as they compete for the favor of Queen Anne. The film delves into themes of manipulation, power dynamics, and the corruption of personal relationships. Both films examine the destructive nature of societal hierarchies and the lengths individuals will go to in order to attain and maintain power.

The Grand Budapest Hotel + The Fall

The Grand Budapest Hotel + The Fall

The signature style. In this podcast episode, we will explore the unique styles of the films The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Fall. The Grand Budapest Hotel, directed by Wes Anderson, is known for its visually striking and meticulously crafted sets, as well as its quirky and unconventional narrative structure. The Fall, directed by Tarsem Singh, is known for its visually stunning and surreal imagery, as well as its unconventional and non-linear storytelling. Plus: the crazy rumor of how The Fall was actually made. Both films showcase the distinct and signature styles of their directors, and demonstrate the potential for cinema to be a visually and narratively innovative art form.

Hardcore + Dogs Don’t Wear Pants

Hardcore + Dogs Don’t Wear Pants

Ah, the common themes of submission and dominance present in the films Hardcore (1979) and Dogs Don’t Wear Pants. Individuals will navigate sexually provocative worlds while struggling with their own personal desires. The family vs the dungeon: watch two people try to find their place within a power dynamic. The episode will delve into how these themes are presented and how they relate to the characters’ personal growth and understanding of themselves. Through a discussion of the films’ style and narrative, the episode will delve into how these themes are explored and how they speak to universal human experiences.

Killapalooza 42: Ringu

Killapalooza 42: Ringu

Ringu films 1-4. What films are even in the Ring franchise? As is pretty well known… the Ringu franchise is a Japanese horror film series that revolves around the theme of cursed videotapes that cause the viewer to die within a week of watching them. The films explore the consequences of technology and media on society, as well as the dangers of curiosity and the supernatural. The franchise explores a variety of themes over the course of its several installments. One of the main themes of the franchise is the concept of death and the unknown beyond, as the central plot revolves around a cursed video tape that kills its viewers after seven days. The films delve into the idea of death as an inevitable and unknowable force, and also explore the lengths that people will go to in order to avoid their own mortality. Additionally, the franchise touches on themes of family and relationships, as many of the characters are driven by their love for their loved ones and the desire to protect them from the curse. As the franchise progresses, the films also delve into themes of identity and self-discovery, as the characters uncover the mystery behind the curse and must confront their own fears and traumas in order to survive. Overall, the Ringu franchise uses horror and suspense to delve into complex and thought-provoking themes about death, family, and the human experience. And is spooky.

Nocturama + Monos

Nocturama + Monos

Kids doing bad. Youth and rebellion, and the consequences of violence and the power dynamics within groups. In Nocturama, a group of young people in Paris plan and execute a series of bombings, examining the ideologies and motivations driving their actions. Monos, set in the Colombian jungle, follows a group of child soldiers and their relationships with one another as they are tasked with guarding a kidnapped American engineer. Both films examine the complexities of group dynamics and the blurred lines between right and wrong, as well as the use of violence as a means of resistance or control. The stylish visuals and unique narrative structures of both films add to their exploration of these themes, creating a thought-provoking and memorable viewing experience.

Klute + Cruising

Klute + Cruising

It’s time for a saucy double feature. The podcast episode takes on the themes and cultural impact of the films Klute and Cruising. Klute, a crime thriller released in 1971, centers around the investigation into a missing person case led by detective John Klute, played by Donald Sutherland. Alongside the mystery, the film explores themes of sexuality, gender roles, and power dynamics in relationships. Cruising, released in 1980, follows the story of a detective, played by Al Pacino, who goes undercover in the gay leather scene to solve a string of murders. The film sparked controversy and backlash for its portrayal of the LGBTQ+ community and themes of sexual fetishization and violence. The episode will explore the ways in which these films address and potentially reinforce or challenge societal attitudes towards gender and sexuality at the time of their release and in the present day.

One Hour Photo + Arrebato

One Hour Photo + Arrebato

Isolation, mental illness, and the dangers of obsession. Two films lost to time – one that’s probably in the back of everyone’s DVD box collection somewhere, and another that is just now being released in the United States (40 years later!) Plus: Alice talks about getting into analogue filmmaking in 2022. One Hour Photo is so much different now that everyone is the main character from One Hour Photo. Arrebato (also called Rapture) and the Janus films and that subtle but not subtle gag. Considering the consequences of allowing oneself to become too focused on one thing to the exclusion of all else, and the dangers of allowing obsession to consume one’s life.

Mondo Cane + Twentynine Palms

Mondo Cane + Twentynine Palms

A tour through exploitation and the new french extremity lands on a definitive world episode. Mondo Cane turns out to be more of the exploitation landscape than many realize. Twentynine Palms is THE film to coin the term New French Extremity – or the movie being talked about, anyways. First up – all around the world, there’s free footage! Take a gander and royalty free documentary clips unlikely to be seen anywhere else! Cutting room floor material too hot for no one! Twentynine Palms brings the new french extremity to America. Everyone talks about the ending of Twentynine Palms, but what actually happens in the runtime of this film? Michael presents his most dubious theory of man. How Twentynine Palms earned the name New French Extremity. Where does the new french extreme go from here? Continue reading

All the Colors of the Dark + Messiah of Evil

All the Colors of the Dark + Messiah of Evil

Deepcuts for giallo-lovers. All the Colors of the Dark, a giallo favorite. Dream-giallo. Everything you can do when you’re not worrying about story. The great Edwige Fenech, cult sensation and absolute icon. The makeup! Two covers that did the job. Messiah of Evil as a hypothetical American giallo-adjacent horror film out of California. After the psychological but before the franchises, there was 1970s horror. Wandering through California grocery stores at 3am. Continue reading

Empire Records + High Fidelity

Empire Records + High Fidelity

Physical media day. A very modern look at Empire Records and High Fidelity. Empire Records, the underdog hero (or at least before the collective delusion that the underdog hero is Blockbuster Video or Tower Records). Found family vs the dicey proposition of working somewhere that asks you to “just think of us like family.” Tower Records as a destination venue. Where were you on Rex Manning day? When the independent record store was too much of a raging success that it just couldn’t stay open. High Fidelity brings everyone to Chicago. The top five listicles that signposted the coming of the end time. Movies about terrible people and the terrible people who misunderstand these movies. Feeling like getting back in touch with music? Explore the music map. Continue reading

Thirst + Brotherhood of the Wolf

Thirst + Brotherhood of the Wolf

The not-so-creature-feature. Park Chan-wook, all time genius pervert. Thirst, which is kind of a funny name, really. Here to talk about one thing, and that’s the sensuality of Thirst. How does Thirst make its sex feel more…well, sexy? Subs, dubs, and regional cuts for miles. Hunt down the proper version of Brotherhood of the Wolf and strap in. As a nice little bonus, oth of these movies explore themes of betrayal, power struggles, and the consequences of desire. The “other” is on full display, with all the fear and mistrust of those who are perceived as different or outside of the norm. Continue reading

Brokeback Mountain + The Death of Dick Long

Brokeback Mountain + The Death of Dick Long

Why can’t men just talk about their feelings? Two movies look at wonderful and terrible consequences of the unspoken. First up, everyone’s favorite Brokeback Mountain was a landmark film for American cinema. The lesser cited parts of Brokeback Mountain that fucking rock. What reads differently in this movie today. Brokeback Mountain as an example of real positive change in the fight for equality. Some men can discuss their feelings, but only if they’re also having sex sex. And now, for something different. A controversial film explains a very real criminal act. The Death of Dick Long is a story from another planet, but it really did happen here. At the heart of the conflict? Still some men not talking about what’s going on. Some taboos should never be eradicated – but should they remain taboos? A light film about a heavy story about a light headline. Or maybe it’s all dark. Why does this happen in small towns? Continue reading

Frailty + Where the Green Ants Dream

Frailty + Where the Green Ants Dream

Absurd beliefs disrupt society. Bill Paxton’s Frailty as a truly bizarre piece of 20001 filmmaking. What sets Frailty apart from everything that was coming out at the time. Religion obviously hurt Michael as a child. Who’s perspective is it, and does the film believe what its saying? The era of the twist further frays the possible reads of the plot. True Detective head cannon. Werner Herzog brings the strange docufeature Where the Green Ants Dream. Fake story, real activism. Or real story, fake actors? Fake acting, real activists? A more curious take on the previously discussed corporate destruction template. Continue reading

The American Friend + The White Ribbon

The American Friend + The White Ribbon

German bleakhause. A taste of German nuwave and cultural revolution. After a year chasing films like Possession and the Luca Guadagnino Suspiria, Double Feature goes on a quest to uncover the real German deep cuts. The low key insanity of The American Friend. Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz is enough, but it’s really only beginning. Who doesn’t love a West German Contax Zeiss prime? As long as it’s an MMG, we don’t need any ninja star bokeh over here. Sorry, forgot what this show was about for a second. Everything is terrible all the time and it’s not even World War 1 yet. How telling you exactly what to get from the film makes it even more puzzling. Is Michael Haneke a pain in the ass? Finally, someone sees this cold dark place for what it really is. When mastery allows you to fuck about in a way people wouldn’t accept otherwise. Continue reading

Phantom Thread + In Fabric

Phantom Thread + In Fabric

Spooky threads and haunted people. Sophisticated looks at various points in the fashion industry – first up, it’s high fashion houses and haute couture in Phantom Thread. The deviant lifestyle of Paul Thomas Anderson’s characters. Craftsmanship, the crunch, and doing literally anything for a break. What is Phantom Thread really about? What a time for strange and complicated fetishes. The work of Peter Strickland, a name that should be in everyone’s rolodex. The straight premise of In Fabric and the various themes discovered as it’s exercised. Various reads on dry britishisms. Continue reading

Man From Deep River + In My Skin

Man From Deep River + In My Skin

Exploitation meets the New French Extremity. Surprisingly little skin will be eaten in this not-exactly-cannible double feature. Is it Man from Deep River, The Man from Deep River, Sacrifice!, Il paese del sesso selvaggio, or The Land of Wild Sex? Why not all? In My Skin, a beautiful and weird film by writer / director / actress Marina de Van. See the Sea gets another namecheck, people really need to find See the Sea. For fans of Lucky Mckee’s May, In My Skin (or Dans Ma Peau in French) talks about some weird stuff. Continue reading

Once Upon a Time in America + Pee-wee’s Big Holiday

Once Upon a Time in America + Pee-wee’s Big Holiday

An unfamiliar New York. Navigating the dangerous waters of Once Upon a Time in America. Sergio Leone’s gory fairytales. The fear of a film swinging immoral. The impossibility of Pee-wee’s Big Holiday. Paul Reubens performs the magic trick. Is Pee-wee reading weirder or are we? Lost to time: 42nd start and geographic places that no longer exist on this earth. Continue reading

The Proposition + I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead

The Proposition + I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead

Fraternal revenge! Decidedly foreign takes of crime genres typically reserved for American cinema! Pairing up a listener pick! Release the bats is a real song and it’s actually good? The Birthday Party is not The Birthday Massacre. Also, El-P has a really good album called I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead. Anyways, who are the characters in The Proposition and what do they tell us about the themes of the film? DVDs: you wouldn’t steal car, would you? The brutality of the western and why American westerns never showcased it. From Michael Koester’s extensive Clive Owen collection comes I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead. An alternate angle to cover the rape revenge film from. Continue reading

Vampire’s Kiss + Repo Man

Vampire’s Kiss + Repo Man

Rediscovering cult movies. A tiny bit of genre, because who can help themselves. Michael is tricked into Vampire’s Kiss with the word vampire. Of every frame that is shocking in Vampire’s Kiss, which is the most shocking? What that accent actually does accomplish. Alice tries not to get fired while delivering some Nicolas Cage insight. The Cage performance is crazy, but it does make sense once you get it. Vampire’s Kiss as the story of a how a person becomes one of those New Yorkers who screams random things on the street. Repo Man is as a very out there film that stays very out there. Repossession is very cool, depending on whether or not you are presently employed as a repo man. The low-fi punk-a-fuck. Things you see, in a graveyard. Assassin murder monster! Enough time has passed that we can safely allow two cult Repo films to exist. Continue reading

Killapalooza 41: VHS

Killapalooza 41: VHS

V/H/S films 1-4. Breaking down every single segment of every single VHS movie in under an hour! The names behind each and every VHS film. Bonus Adam Wingard announcement – Alice Xandra Thirteen’s new documentary on the look of The Guest called Light and Fog. Creativity birthed through the fear of comparison. One word loglines for each V/H/S short. The alternative, darkwave, goth, post-punk & emo kids of Adam Wingard films. VHS segments, one by one. The VHS spin-off called Siren. The lost VHS segment. When the cheap look of an era moves from worst to chique. Repeat producer Roxanne Benjamin! Which is the lightest VHS segment? Which is the heaviest VHS segment? Michael makes a call for techno-horror. What ultimately makes V/H/S work. Continue reading

Summer of 84 + As the Gods Will

Summer of 84 + As the Gods Will

Adolescents faces the threat of imminent demise. Childhood games go very, very wrong. Summer of 84 taps into the ongoing 80s-kids-on-bikes genre. The overwhelming sense of dread. When the twist is simply delivering on the promise. Adults, and how they basically fuck everything up for everyone. The oppression of daily life before legal coming-of-age. Films getting the hooks in. Takashi Miike plays a dangerous squid-less game with As the Gods Will. Earth’s new obsession with bottle films revives this prior unsceen WTF film. Soviet Montage Theory inspires Japanese CGI theory. Asian cinema – is it weird, or is it cultural ignorance? Even on the podcast, two Americans can’t put together enough collective knowledge of childhood games to make sense of it all. Continue reading

Cure + Zodiac

Cure + Zodiac

Mysterious crimes and the people who are obsessed with them. Also, mandatory darkwave jokes. People are sucking for The Cure Ending Explained. Agreeing on a premise for Cure. The so-called killer – what he does and how the role is played. Trying to work backwards from the concept of the sleeper cell. Checking in to see how science-based skeptic and resident critical-thinker Michael feels about hypnosis. The mind virus comes for us all. Sound design in Cure and the impact on the audience’s feeling. The most and least supernatural interpretations of Cure. Many audience wanted the film Zodiac to solve the Zodiac Murders. The built-in problem with all true crime, be it documentary or fiction. Zodiac as a precursor to David Fincher’s Mindhunter. Continue reading

Death Becomes Her + So I Married an Axe Murderer

Death Becomes Her + So I Married an Axe Murderer

The Halloween punchline no one asked for. Creating a synopsis for the indescribal Death Becomes Her. Special guest Zemeckis expert Michael Koester. Uncovering one of the truly great Bruce Willis performances that allowed him to then phone it in several times a year until the end of time. Who is truly the star of Death Becomes Her? So I Married an Axe Murderer as an early Mike Myers work. What makes Axe Murderer unique against the other Myers films. Keeping the audience guessing, even when they don’t know they’re doing it. A complete retrospective on the career of a unique breed. The death of celebrity. Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue comes to its final resting place. But for how long? Continue reading

Blacula + Pola X

Blacula + Pola X

Wrestling with the history of exploitation film. Film is wonderful worker exploitation is bad, and adding race makes everything more complicated. Can we still celebrate the art of those who were exploited? Film as historical documents. The additional context provided by Horror Noir. French Extreme was not a planned movement! How the New French Extremity came to be by accident. French extreme films still call for directors to make work that is very much their own. New French Extremity became horror because horror directors starting making New French Extremity. Cinéma du look and what France considers an “over-stylized film.” Leos Carax is Mr. X. Introducing real sex: unstimulated sex in French brings on a wave of actual sex acts captured between actors on film. Finally, the bleak truth of human existence is confronted in one of Alice’s favorite all-time scenes. Continue reading

Deep Rising + Dagon

Deep Rising + Dagon

Something blue. What is aquatic horror? How Deep Rising under-sells what’s special about it, and what a proper logline of the actual movie would look like. The rag-tag crew trope. What fears does aquatic horror tap in to? The overwhelming size of big. The mystique of the shadow. Old CGI is finally coming into it’s moment. Controversial opinions on the truth behind the best eras of practical effects. When different low budget film makers get larger budgets. The unique films of Stuart Gordon. The character of the independent director. The artist’s hand. Cancel the ocean. Something old, something new, something borrowing, something blue will return. Continue reading

House of Wax (1953) + House of Wax (2005)

House of Wax (1953) + House of Wax (2005)

Something borrowed. A remake of a remake, sort of. In House of Wax (1953), Vincent Price pitches a wax venture. Maintaining purity in artistic intentions. Later, a person who may or may not be Vincent Price’s character shows up to propagate all the ideas he doesn’t stand for. 3D and other cinematic gimmicks throughout the ages. Which gimmicks stick and which send audiences fleeing the theater. The 2005 House of Wax remake borrows even less from House of Wax 1953 than that version borrows from previous source material. The bizarre reaction to Paris Hilton’s appearance in this very of-the-time horror film. Continue reading

Upgrade + Malignant

Upgrade + Malignant

Celebrating October with something new. Leigh Whannell and James Wan are back, back to back. Michael divides modern horror intro three groups. Creating a “wow moment.” Exploring the styles of Upgrade and Malignant: into the unique visual and narrative techniques employed by these two films. Upgrade’s utilization of a high-energy, action-packed style to tell the story of a man who receives a mysterious chip implant that grants him superhuman abilities. Malignant and the use of an atmospheric approach. Both films utilize their respective styles to heighten tension and engage the audience, making for an immersive viewing experience. However, the two films differ in their themes and subject matter, with Upgrade exploring themes of technology and the human condition, and Malignant delving into themes of the supernatural and the human psyche. Continue reading

The Hunchback of Notre Dame + What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

The Hunchback of Notre Dame + What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Celebrating October with something old. Two films about people outcasted from society and the roles the are relegated to play. The invention of cinema in Paris. Or Europe. Or, you know, New York. Film was born wherever you want to say it was born. The era of the movie palace. Keeping Americans from watching foreign films. A period within a period within The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Getting to the bottom of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. The often cited rise of television pushed film exhibition along – but, in often overlooked ways, film exhibition caused television to innovate as well. It’s the birth of repertory! (or: the re-run) Continue reading

Dead Man + El Topo

Dead Man + El Topo

The acid western. Jim Jarmusch’s black and white rock western…noir? Cinematographer Rober Müller. The central figure of the western. Tiny Johnny Depp. William Blake has a full time job – as an accountant. As an accountant. Entering the spiritual world. The original midnight movie. The man in black, El Topo, has to kill a bunch of people so that the woman he took advantage of will fall in love with him. Having exclusively covered the old gentle Jodorowsky, it’s time Double Feature talks discusses Jodorowsky the provocateur. Did Alejandro Jodorowsky actually rape his co-star on camera as he said he did? New York #cancels. El Topo as a Jodorowsky myth. Continue reading

Pather Panchali + Kajillionaire

Pather Panchali + Kajillionaire

Differing poverties. Turns out, this is not a cheeky Double Feature. A fresh breath of filmmaking in Pather Panchali, a movie many people are still discovering for the first time. The way current films address diversity is still condescending. The problem of getting audience to accept leaving their confort zone. New countries make movies – seeing the democratization of film making again and again as each country gets its own new wave. The punctuation of Pather Panchali’s impulsive nature & mood inserts. Give due respect to Miranda July. Kajillionaire’s surreal look at the modern day struggle with crony-capitalism. In addition to society, Kajillionaire takes on con artists, parenting, arrested development, isolation, existentialism, second changes, self-love, and so much more. Continue reading

Angst + The Guilty

Angst + The Guilty

Two intense films on opposite sides of the coin. Angst is a truly underground film, even today. Double Feature settles where in the the world these films actually come from. The internet hasn’t yet recognized the banned film Angst, and it’s about time someone gives it a minute. Home invasion from an outrageous new perspective. A movie that appears to be about and also made by mad men. Psychopathic camera. The Guilty – and not the Netflix made for TV movie. Trying to deconstructive the elusive recipe of The Guilty. How does a movie paint so many vivid scenes without ever showing them to the audience? All the amazing places you go in The Guilty without leaving the room. What makes The Guilty unlike any other bottle movie that’s ever appeared on Double Feature. Continue reading

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes + The Love Witch

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes + The Love Witch

A deep dive into Technicolor. The experiment inspired by The Love Witch – what can be learned about technicolor by watch back to back? Plus, how Technicolor became a powerful influence on the style of the 1950s and how it’s remembered today. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, a 1953 movie filmed on three strip technicolor film and processed using Technicolor’s dye imbibition development process. The Love Witch, a 2016 movie painstakingly recreating the feeling of 1950s cinema, using many of the same techniques of the 1950s, and shot on 35mm film – but importantly, without the ability to utility long-obsolete technicolor film or processing. Bonus theme for people who don’t care about any of this nonsense: decade separate contrasts on feminism! First up, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes provides an amazing example of spectacle technicolor Continue reading

The Wild Angels + Baise-moi

The Wild Angels + Baise-moi

The second chapter of the Exploitation + New French Extremity journey. This times, files that can be viewed around the world! Fortune smiles upon Double Feature as a theme of freedom and rebellion ties the parallel film movements together. The Wild Angels as a biker exploitation arthouse film. Roger Corman was a filmmaker’s producer…kind of! The many notable directors and writers that came from the Corman camp. Baise-moi as a misunderstood entry in what would later become known as The New French Extreme. The developing trend in French extremity toward unstimulated sex. What is Baise-moi actually about? Continue reading

Suspiria (2018) + Belladonna of Sadness

Suspiria (2018) + Belladonna of Sadness

Artful witches have an odd way. A coven helps break down the mise-en-scène with Suspiria (2018). The feeling of European arthouse films may have been buried in the 80s but it was resurrected by Suspiria in 2018. Mise-en-scène is a french term from the Cahiers du Cinéma world of criticism, but at least one pretentious fuck uses it in practice and they also host a podcast called Double Feature. If Mise-en-scène can be used to craft an immersive film, it can be used to reverse engineer one. Belladonna of Sadness is an honest and moving story about the stages a rape survivor goes through. It’s also a psychedelic slide show with a bunch of silly dicks. At the same goddamn time. Continue reading

Kiki’s Delivery Service + The House with a Clock in Its Walls

Kiki’s Delivery Service + The House with a Clock in Its Walls

A walk through youthful breezy films with a robust set of interpretive tools. Looking at Kiki’s Delivery Service after everything learned on the grand Ghibli journey. One tiny witch, one big village. Independence, it’s everything you ever wanted and nothing you were prepared for! Eli? Roth? The House with a Clock in Its Walls as an Amblin film. The real secret to immersive filmmaking doesn’t rely on the picture – and actually, it’s not just the sound either! So what is it? It’s inside this podcast, so stop reading this lengthy description and listen to the episode. You’ll have a good time. Really, you will. And you deserve it, don’t you? Don’t you? Continue reading

Ghost World + Wiener Dog

Ghost World + Wiener Dog

Independent, and maybe Independent As Fuck. One of the all-time greatest comic book adaptations, Ghost World. It seems illegal to watch these actors in this film. A debate on whether or not every single person in Ghost World is fucking boring. An extended exercise in writing a logline and what it can tell us about about films that refuse to be put in a box. Todd Solondz’s film Wiener Dog as a collection of stories connected to the presence of the eponymous doggo who goes from owner to owner. Alice refuses to speak french, even for Bresson. The impossibility of Dawn Wiener and the Todd Solondz multiverse. A case for every Solondz film’s gallery-quality. A whimsical anthology gets two wieners out of a possible five. In conversation: a twenty-first century meditation on dick jokes contained within podcast descriptions. In a special bonus chapter, a human continues writing lengthy descriptions for the purposes of robot organization based on outdated assumptions about search engines. Continue reading

Chungking Express + Fallen Angels

Chungking Express + Fallen Angels

Enter the world of Wong Kar-wai with Chungking Express and the spiritual successor Fallen Angels. A day and night Hong Kong pair from a director who should have been on Double Feature a long time ago. The filmsboth explore themes of loneliness and isolation, as well as the search for connection and meaning in a fast-paced and often impersonal urban environment. Both films also employ unconventional narrative structures and use elements of fantasy and surrealism to portray the inner lives and emotional states of their characters. However, while Chungking Express is a romantic and dreamy exploration of love and loss, Fallen Angels is a darker and more cynical look at the dangers of desire and the corrupting influence of money and power. Both films are also notable for their innovative use of music, montage, and non-linear storytelling, as well as their visual and stylistic flourishes, which help to create a unique and immersive cinematic experience. Continue reading

Ready or Not + Would You Rather

Ready or Not + Would You Rather

Bottle films where mad men (of various numbers) make one or more participants play a deadly children’s game. Bonus points: films that are very aesthetically of their moment (or maybe even more specifically, a moment that summarizes the most popular color grades of the prior decade). Ready or Not, a film that gets away with it by surpassing expectations. How the arc, character dynamics and overall writing make Ready or Not stand out from the usual suspects. Samara Weaving is out here winning hearts and minds and everyone knows it. Looking at Would You Rather as a midnight film, which is probably the best way to watch it today. The crushed contrast of the 2000’s hate-film. Torture, abuse, and other fun things we did in the cinemas for some reason. The particular challenges of this kind of high-concept film (and how each movie attempts to overcome them or even use them to their advantage). Continue reading

Cockfighter + A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence

Cockfighter + A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence

The rough and tumble birds of existential cinema. Cockfighter as the rare Corman underdog. The drifter and the road film. Holding strong onto the extended bird metaphor. Don’t call Pigeons sky-rats. The composition of A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence. An easy look at obtuse arthouse that you can try at home. Using a logline to figure out what a film is about (when the film itself isn’t a lot of help). What it’s like to see The Pigeon with people and the strange ambivalence to cruelty when watching in isolation. On the ground reporting: New York City has something hopeful to offer. Continue reading

Tie Me Up Tie Me Down + The Witch Who Came From the Sea

Tie Me Up Tie Me Down + The Witch Who Came From the Sea

Find two movies fucked up enough for each other. An interdisciplinary approach to subverting the issues of equality? Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! or Pedro Almodóvar’s ¡Átame! Representing the world as it is vs as we wish it was. Almodóvar’s observations on the nature of machismo. The storyteller’s lack of moral obligation in observing the world as it is. A mental patient representing himself as pretty normal but also sometimes having a fake mustache. A conversation about the importance of tone vs narrative via The Witch Who Came From the Sea. A cursed film. The very strange ways people come to the film and the eerie sense of mystery it ads. What (still) lurks on channel X? Lowercase double features have returned to the physical world! What difference does watching a beaten 35mm print actually make on the viewing experience?

Marihuana + Criminal Lovers

Marihuana + Criminal Lovers

American Exploitation and The New French Extremity. Want a better understanding of these movements? Start here! Take a deep dive on the entirety of two misunderstood subgeners in this multi-part series, beginning now with Marihuana and Criminal Lovers. The complete who, what, where, when, why of exploitation. Feigned outrage as a cover to enjoy smut. Exploitation films seek to ride a wavelength of some conversation already in the public. They’re looking to hitch themselves to the zeitgeist. Whether they deliver or not, they will become a mile marker on the evolutionary path of various tropes and stories. Future writers will see them in their younger influential years or even just walk by the posters and they’ll become part of the mixture that makes up mainstream tellings of similar stories. Also by being an early form of independent cinema Continue reading

Jupiter Ascending + Alita Battle Angel

Jupiter Ascending + Alita Battle Angel

Failure to launch. Welcome to Double Feature! Giving love to two battle-weathered films with epic ambitions. What is a logline? How can you use loglines to get more out of films you loved? And actually, films you really didn’t? Jupiter Ascending as an underground misfit of multimillion dollar proportions. Chicago gets a moment in the sun. Lazy jokes about cleaning toilets. The (not so) hidden trans themes in Alita: Battle Angel. The possibly unintentional themes of Robert Rodriguez films. Engineering and world building. Why anime so often dabbles in trans motifs where other YA material does not. Continue reading

Double Feature Year 13 Finale

Double Feature Year 13 Finale

Get access to ALL previous episodes at Patreon.com/DoubleFeature – starting fresh? This is a great first episode to listen to! A full reset of Double Feature begins next episode. For now, here’s a spoiler-free retrospective of the entire last year. Each year of Double Feature is a self-contained series. The podcast looks at two movies every week in a quest to determine what’s notable about them. First up, a whole year of loglines. What is a logline, why is it important to film discover, and will this type of analysis continue? Throughout the year, additional themes, motifs, and advertising spins are considered. At the end of the year, the finale episode (this very episode) takes a look back at the entire run. Journeys, marathons, triple features, and more all get one last conclusion before the show takes a fresh start. Continue reading

Tammy and the T-Rex + Behind the Curve

Tammy and the T-Rex + Behind the Curve

Good and evil nonsense. A new release honors the late John Carl Buechler’s original gore effects as the Tammy and the T-Rex Vinegar Syndrome restoration blurs the line between 1994 release and 2019 release. Freshening up an old Double Feature gag. Who will admit that Tammy and the T-Rex actually happened (also, did it?) Denise Richards rides off on a dinosaur. Why do the restoration? Behind the Curve is a flat-earthers documentary, and it’s fun, and is that ok? Why people believe weird things. The power of community, even when the word “community” mostly just means an intangible thing in a sad person’s mind. What’s the harm? Remembering the work of James Randi. Continue reading

Oh, God! + Yes, God, Yes

Oh, God! + Yes, God, Yes

For the last episode of Double Feature, the show declares victory in the war on religion. Mission Accomplished! With religion completely eradicated in the United States, Americans can focus on what really matters: self-pleasure! Double Feature takes a look at god in cinema. Once a prominent figure, god is now such a fringe part of modern life that films almost need to explain what it is. The absurdity of telling an audience what god is supposed to be isn’t much worse than telling them what the true meaning of anything is. Religion poisons everything. Masturbation as a sub-set of masturbation. Double Feature plans a look back. Continue reading

Porco Rosso + My Life as a Zucchini

Porco Rosso + My Life as a Zucchini

The final stop in the Studio Ghibli stop motion adventure. The journey comes to and end as year finale questions are flirted with. What Porco Rosso means to someone who has just watched a string of Studio Ghibli films. A single adventure in a larger world. There are symbolic Studio Ghibli war movies and then there are Studio Ghibli movies wherein the war occurred or is even portrayed. Hayao Miyazaki antagonists. My Life as a Zucchini is called Ma vie de Courgette in French, which sometimes leads to the English version being called My Life as a Courgette. Especially if you’re quite British. A defense of G-rated film for fans of ugly subject matter films. The utility of motifs for visual and meditative storytellers. Various motifs in My Life as a Zucchini. Continue reading

Deerskin + Get Duked!

Deerskin + Get Duked!

Country side gets fucked in to grounded movies that spin into surreal wtf nightmares. Deerskin, also known as Le daim, also known as this weird fucking Quentin Depieux film. One cannot prepare for Depieux weird. What the jacket really wants. The unlikely stars who show up for this bizarre time. Coat-wearing dysmorphia. A horror film for some, a great fantasy about filmmaking for others. Get Duked! as a Danny Brown v Run the Jewels hip-hop megacut. The music videos of Ninian Doff. The D of E! The plot of Get Duked is based on a real, no kidding Duke of Edinburgh award which is a very real thing that very real british kids can all go do. How a fast paced film can go beyond the machine for empathy and become an audiovisual adrenaline shot. Continue reading

Lost in Translation + He Died with a Felafel in His Hand

Lost in Translation + He Died with a Felafel in His Hand

Adrift in the world. Two Americans get Lost in Translation. The midlife crisis is a redux of the 20 something finding their place in the world. 2003, Focus Features, and the rise of the existential indie into the mainstream. It’s ok to be a rude fuck if no one can understand you anyways. It would be nice if Americans learned something about the immigrant experience from Lost In Translation but that’s probably too much to ask. Double Feature takes a trip back to magic time in their lives with He Died with a Felafel in His Hand. Missing out on the present. Alice recalls the most obvious thing he didn’t even think to film during The Birthday Massacre 2006 Bootleg. Continue reading

Sound of Metal + Jacob’s Ladder

Sound of Metal + Jacob’s Ladder

Addiction to normalcy. Moving demanding conversation: the style of the Sound of Metal debut could mark the return of the film festival style release (even if there was no festival). An entire way of life is threatened, and with it goes the sense of normalcy. The denial phase. How drug addition is the unspoken experience looming over Sound of Metal. Avant-garde music is the perfect choice for the film. The pain of audio in a visual-heavy medium. Manipulating language to keep the audience alienated. The notable consciousness-threatening first hour of Jacob’s Ladder. Michael believes the audience’s entire relationship with the film’s madness can be pinpointed to a single critical scene. What was happening in horror when Jacob’s Ladder came out and how it may have secretly helped pay the way for the new tone of the 90s. Continue reading

The Lure + The Untamed

The Lure + The Untamed

Art-smut! Tentacles and sea-foam reign as Double Feature continues to live deliciously. The Lure find another coming of age use for genre metaphor. What are the rules of the world in The Lure and more importantly, to what ends are they used? Alice makes a stretch for trans-themes and honestly give it a go. What the ending of The Lure could me for audiences and also teenage girls. The Untamed from the tentacle’s perspective. Who are the players and how are their stories intermingled? Homophobia, repression, guilt and shame. No one shame this tentacle though, it’s doing its best. Character mysteries once the plot is settled. Continue reading

Booksmart + Moonlight

Booksmart + Moonlight

Mainstream films with the stomach for sexuality identity discourse. Booksmart makes an appeal to both blockbuster and niche audiences. Rewatchability – how editing and pace and reward an audiences many times over. Challenging the far too common trope of sexual identity and experimentation in the college years. Other ways Booksmart pushes narrative to be just a bit more sophisticated. Moonlight is a surprising breakthrough. Why Moonlight should garner attention even before any discussion on its themes or narrative. Picasso’s Bull. Dissecting the relatability of a film you don’t see yourself in. Double minorities and the fracturing of networks of support. Continue reading

Memories of Murder + The House That Jack Built

Memories of Murder + The House That Jack Built

Punishing cinema gets criminal. Memories of a Murder subvert the ringer trope. What makes this Bong Joon-ho film truly upsetting. South Korean cinema creeps up on Double Feature in a retrospective of the films covered so far. The unrated cut of The House That Jack Built and the MPAA fuckery that caused it. A report from the sold-out one-night-only showing of Lars von Trier’s uncut killing spree. Art is Murder. No, you’re thinking of The Smith’s song. Getting away without rolling the eyes. How The House That Jack Built provokes in new ways. The stories about Lars and how they feed into the controversial film. Always remember: fuck Hulu. Continue reading

Chelsea Girls + Bad Girls Go to Hell

Chelsea Girls + Bad Girls Go to Hell

Sex and sexploitation. Artfuck films ask the world to rethink their preconceptions on cinema and smut. Chelsea Girls provides a deep dive into Andy Warhol. What is actually on the screen during the runtime of Chelsea Girls? Why is it there? What does it mean? How Any Warhol films were made. What Any wanted as an artist. The Factory and factory films. Bad Girls Go to Hell causes Alice to take a pause on sexploitation. Exploitation films as a Chicago-based phenomenon. In an era where audiences and consumers are more conscious of their choices than ever, what is the value of programing Bad Girls Go to Hell? Asking hard questions about what audiences give a spotlight to. A new Woody Allen documentary series provides a brutal point of comparison. Continue reading

The Martian + Fermat’s Room

The Martian + Fermat’s Room

Rooting for smart people to solve the room. Matt Damon is making it work on Mars. Building a narrative feature film with a protagonist who has no one to interact with. Charm and charisma is apparently how you avoid 90 minutes of talking to plants. The power of great people doing their best work. Plant-based devastation. Solving Fermat’s Room before grandma’s Facebook feed does it for you. A broader conversation about the solvable bottle movie. Contained puzzle thriller role-call. Triangles not included. Circle and the race to strip down the escape room. Continue reading

Set it Off + Sugar and Spice

Set it Off + Sugar and Spice

Two fills that could nearly get away with the same synopsis. Another music video director turned feature storyteller. Queen Latifah proves to be an amazing on-screen force. Character-drive heisting. Remembering back to the good times. The one scene in Set It Off that should be on every goddamn list. Sugar and Spice is a whiplash change in tone. Speaking to the American Dream. How Sugar & Spice calls out the capitalistic fantasy that is America. Middle class revolt. Alice changes sides on the video-store-guy trope. Continue reading

Tales from Earthsea + Corpse Bride

Tales from Earthsea + Corpse Bride

This stop on the Studio Ghibli meets stop motion adventure takes the infamous final act turn. Two of the most divisive movies in their series. The burden of expectations. First, Tales from Earthsea takes a popular fantasy series of fiction and distills it down until its basic elements before distilling further until it’s not really distilling so much as just creating something entirely different with the same character names. Goro Miyazaki handles the expectations of the family name. Then, Tim Burton fans recon with the lightning in a bottle of previous stop motion films bearing his name. An honest look at Corpse Bride as the show attempts to view it with fresh eyes. Continue reading

Knives Out + 8 Women

Knives Out + 8 Women

Agatha Crispies. A little bit of “if you like American movie, try foreign movie”. Knives Out + 8 Women. First, Kate Hagen brings attention to an alarming trend that’s causing films to be completely lost to new audiences. Knives Out as a very unlikely blockbuster. Making bold choices in a broad movie. Eight Women, also known in as Huit Femmes, was doing Knives Out before Knives Out was doing it. The bizarre comedy in the music and editing of eight women. Continue reading

Pieta + Blue My Mind

Pieta + Blue My Mind

Mysterious family lineages lead to some nightmarish happenings. Pieta is an intense film even before the legacy of the director. How pieta manages to be about not only interpersonal conflict but also class warfare. Blue My Mind becomes a conduit for a larger conversation on genre-lite coming of age films. Is it better to dance around the much desired genre elements or lean in at risk of under-delivering? Why coming of age and fantasy go so well together. In a special Double Feature emergency: something alarming is happening to the films you love (and the future films you might). Kate Hagen wrote about it in her article Continue reading

Dig! + Killing Bono

Dig! + Killing Bono

Truth and fiction are blurred in a look at why some bands make it and some don’t. Dig! as a documentary everyone who cares about art should see (whether they like music or not). Oh hey wait, it’s THAT band. When someone gets several once in a lifetime shots at fame (and throws them away every time). Paul Hewson and the boys. Trying to make it in music when the other band from your small town is U2. That’s Killing Bono for you. Two films compare two bands side to side for a total of four musical acts – three that people have heard of, and one that had a film written about then. Very, very bizarre musical math. Continue reading

Destroyer + You Were Never Really Here

Destroyer + You Were Never Really Here

Two emotionally damaged people go on the warpath. Creating a pitch for Destroyer. The marketing and presentation of Destroyer – which buttons to push? Not the first Karyn Kusama for Double Feature. Taboo sexual encounters for the record books. Elevated police procedurals, a twist on structure, and a different kind of Los Angeles. You Were Never Really Here gets another half-hearted pitch in an attempt to lure out it’s themes. Bizarre structure strikes again. You Were Never Really Here as a picture of toxic masculinity. Continue reading

Killapalooza 40: Maniac Cop

Killapalooza 40: Maniac Cop

Maniac Cop films 1-3. A look at the entire Maniac Cop franchise, William Lustig, Larry Cohen, and Robert Z’Dar’s Maniac Cop! Trying to talk about killer cops after the popular conscious has realized that cops are a self-sorted bunch of killers. Can a killer cop franchise still be fun while we’re recognizing with ACAB? Surprisingly yes, and it might be thanks to the extra layer the conversation has added to otherwise deliciously-fluffy films of 80s VHS violence. The cop, the fire suit, and the ongoing attempt to find plot. Double Feature continues to write loglines, and for the first time, maybe the first loglines a film has ever had written. Continue reading

Elle + The Piano Teacher

Elle + The Piano Teacher

Psychosexual arthouse films are not for everyone. Actually, it could be argued that they’re not for anyone. This is not the most important conversation in cinema – it’s what people who see too many weird movies discuss in the safety of arthouses. However, after nearly a year of arthouses being closed around the country (and everyone having seen too many weird movies at home), the arthouse is very much missed. This episode examines two films of Isabelle Huppert, giving space to these very provocative conversations spurned by the films of directors Paul Verhoeven and Michael Haneke. Is it for everyone? No. Is it for anyone? That remains to be seen. Are there merit to these films? Absolutely. Double Feature gives fair warning, then breaks down Elle and The Piano Teacher. Continue reading

Bullitt + The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Bullitt + The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Double Feature takes a trip to San Francisco to welcome its newest resident. Two films taking place in the city by the bay. Taking on the plot of Bullitt instead of spending twenty minutes talking about the edit of that infamous chase scene. Flying over the SF hills. The bizarre people people Bullitt. What The Last Black Man in San Francisco says about the city. Gentrification as a universal human issue. The ever-changing face of the golden city. The Paris of the West! Fog City, Gay Mecca, The City that Knows How, seriously, how many more of these could one want? American cinema would have you believe all its citizens live on farms and honestly it’s garbage. Continue reading

No Country for Old Men + Yellow Rose

No Country for Old Men + Yellow Rose

Double Feature says goodbye to Texas! Two films with differing takes on Texas. Keeping the film community together. No Country for Old Men and the ever changing world in which we live in. Yellow Rose is a very modern Austin. On the ground insight. While both films are set in Texas and feature strong performances, one is known for its intense atmosphere and sharp dialogue, while the explores themes of immigration, family, and the pursuit of dreams in a more emotionally driven manner. Dig deeper into the unique stylistic choices and themes present in both films and how they contribute to cinema both intimate and broad. Continue reading

Grave of the Fireflies + Kubo and the Two Strings

Grave of the Fireflies + Kubo and the Two Strings

Studio Ghibli meet back up with stop motion! If you must blink, do it now. Pay careful attention to everything you see and hear, no matter how unusual it may seem. And please be warned, if you fidget, if you look away, if you forget any part of what I tell you, even for an instant, then our hero will surely perish. Seriously, stop looking at your phone. Goddamnit, did you hear none of that? Go back and re-read it. Ok, but you can’t let your eyes de-focus. Just one time, try to take in the words. One fucking time. Please. Continue reading

Birdman + Punch-Drunk Love

Birdman + Punch-Drunk Love

Actors breaking free from their shackles. Keaton is back in the rumor mill, and this time it isn’t a Beetlejuice remake. Whether he’s going to play Batman again or not, he will certainly always be the Birdman. Michael Koester insists on calling the 2014 film Birdman “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).” Why would you start the parenthetical after the word “or”? Shouldn’t it be Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)? The single take and how to solve the problem of scene tempo. Adam Sandler, also doing whatever the Adam Sandler version of Beetlejuice 2 is. Punch-Drunk Love is also a weird film for Paul Thomas Anderson. Continue reading

Cooties + Little Monsters

Cooties + Little Monsters

Spontaneous tiny humans zombie double feature. The secret indie film pitch deck. How to see the lookbook for Cooties. The cast and that timing and the reaction. How films with kids can achieve an extra level of subversion. Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion are HONEST. Little Monsters, but not the one that two people are expected to spend 20 minutes breaking down. What is Little Monsters actually about. The pandemic catches up to Double Feature. Being alive is still hard (and it’s not even 2020 anymore). Continue reading

Horse Girl + Possessor

Horse Girl + Possessor

Sneaking in two final movies on the last day of 2020. Prepare for intense rides! It’s time to enter someone else’s mind, and it begins with Horse Girl. Determining how much is real and how much is artistic license. Using the performance of an actor as a tool to sell something in the plot that wouldn’t work otherwise. The level message at the fucked up end of Horse Girl. Possessor, a shock as seen by people who who are new to Brandon Cronenberg. The unexpected delivery. The highest compliment you can pay a film. Searching for an undiscovered sex act. Or really just anything in a film that no one has seen before. The surprising end to 2020: it only takes two movies to discover hope for a year many wrote off. Continue reading

Mank + The Assistant

Mank + The Assistant

Time is running out for 2020. The invisible authority and the roman à clef. David Fincher and Netflix. What the film Mank says it’s about vs what it is actually about. Imagining the story of Mank just 25 years ago. A film torn from today’s headlines, masquerading as a story from the 30s. No one else wants to talk about how gross classic Hollywood was. Why are we still romanticizing this old way of thinking? Nine Inch Nails also released a Ghosts double album this year: [HALO 33] Ghosts V: Together and [HALO 34] Ghosts VI: Locusts. The Assistant as an example of film à clef. When social injustice becomes a cliche. Finding a unique vantage point into a story the audience knows. How long before the whistleblower can blow the whistle? Continue reading

White Girl + King of New York

White Girl + King of New York

Celebrating New York with a random sampling of New York drug crime. Half of Double Feature explores a brand new city! Starting on the streets with White Girl. A disagreement over the privilege of White Girl when also considering she’s the victim of various sex crimes, assault and harassment. Still, look who’s not in jail! The unique position of having to do more of the crime that got you in trouble in order to get out of trouble for that crime. King of New York provides that perfect contrasty 90s NYC mood. Who can believe Christopher Walken, Steve Buschemi, Laurence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes, it’s really just crazy town in here. A city with so much crime, only the criminals can stop it. Continue reading

L.A. Story + Under the Silver Lake

L.A. Story + Under the Silver Lake

Double Feature takes a look at Los Angeles, old and new. Vibes. Alice makes an announcement about the immediate future of 50% of Double Feature. Magic adventures through Hollywood, DTLA, Silver Lake, and not The San Fernando Valley. The personal automobile: the festish Los Angeles just can’t quit. What do people do in the city? Go out to eat and drive around in their car. The most infuriatingly true part of L.A. Story: this thing you’re making isn’t wacky enough! Michael, a guy who didn’t love It Follows, thinks Under the Silver Lake is the best film of the year. The question of personal autonomy. Los Angeles in your twenties. Awful men, drifting through life. Continue reading

Whiskey Mountain + Two Thousand Maniacs

Whiskey Mountain + Two Thousand Maniacs

Another look at exploitation. Newcomer William Grefé meets returning champion Herschell Gordon Lewis. How does southern-fried exploitation film feel after America’s 2020 swing back toward democracy? A look at the broader themes themes of revenge, violence, and the horror of the unknown. Low-budget, lurid films depicting controversial or taboo subjects. Popular with audiences looking for a cheap thrill. The history and significance of southern exploitation films. Lasting influence on popular culture. Continue reading

Scare Me + Creep

Scare Me + Creep

Spending a little quarantine time with friends. Two films that are beyond gimmick. First up, Scare Me is a 2020 film that takes the anthology formula and then makes life even harder for itself. Breaking down the character arcs from the film’s logline. The secret anthology relationship Scare Me still has – hint: it’s not the segments, it’s the other part. Secondly, Creep. Alice struggles to describe Creep without asking if one of the characters is a Creep. An impossibly good found footage film that might be as good or better than all the other found footage films. Admit it already, found footage is interesting and you like it. Secret third double feature theme today: two films that have other films by the same name, and in Scare Me’s case, another film from this very year. What, were there just too many horror movies in 2020 for each one to have a unique title? Continue reading

Whisper of the Heart + Anomalisa

Whisper of the Heart + Anomalisa

The adventure continues as Double Feature pairs up another Studio Ghibli film with a stop motion film. The importance of finding and following one’s passions. Two films that discuss the transformative power of human connection. Digging deep to find the best and worst in yourself. Whisper of the Heart is a Studio Ghibli film like few others. Waiting for a floating what-not. Self discover and ambition. Anomalisa might be stop motion, but that’s only the beginning. Anomalisa’s many devices. The desperate search for something unique and special in a sea of sameness. Continue reading

Joe + His House

Joe + His House

Try watching a movie the week voters in the United States finally defeated the president. After four long years of heartache – and with the pandemic now spiking again – Americans have decided to put someone new in charge. They’ve done so by casting the most votes than any candidate has received in history. Double Feature celebrates the decisive victory by taking an honest look at any otherwise throwaway joke with Joe + His House. First up, Nicholas Cage should be who everyone thinks of when you hear Crazy Joe. Michael has conflicts with the fly-over states. His House is a surprisingly deep and rich film with a multitude of layers. Internal conflict vs external conflict. Past vs future. A schism in the unit. Racism, immigration, ICE and the rest. Britain as a kind of Trojan horse. Continue reading

Slumdog Millionaire + Magic Mike

Slumdog Millionaire + Magic Mike

Even fluff can be painstakingly deconstructed. Slumdog Millionaire and Magic Mike both explore themes of self-discovery and personal growth as their main characters navigate their way through difficult circumstances and unexpected opportunities. Slumdog Millionaire follows the story of Jamal, a young man from the slums of Mumbai who rises to fame as a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Through his journey, Jamal learns about his own history and the true value of love and family. Magic Mike, on the other hand, follows the story of Mike, a male stripper who is struggling to find his place in the world and make a better life for himself. As he becomes more involved in the stripping industry, Mike grapples with his own insecurities and desires, ultimately coming to terms with his true identity. Both films explore themes of love, identity, and the power of self-determination in the face of adversity.

Midsommar + The Lighthouse

Midsommar + The Lighthouse

Happy halloween! An trip through the decades of horror lands in the modern era. For all that is awful in the one, hold on to this one moment where two arthouse horror films had a wide theatrical release. It it utterly insane that Midsommar was a pop phenomenon. People took their nine friends to see Midsommar. It was an actual summer hit. And it’s fucking weird. Midsommar is about grief, it’s about relationships, it has a host of things an audience has never seen before (and a lot of them audiences probably wish they still hadn’t seen) and yet, here it is. A movie everyone saw. Isn’t it a great time to be alive? For those still not convinced, enter The Lighthouse! This poster was in theaters. People saw the trailer infront of the highest performing movies of the year. And it’s a constrained ratio, black and white, kitchen-sink insanity piece about two guys drinking late into the night and doing Continue reading

Valentine + Idle Hands

Valentine + Idle Hands

Y2K Horror: scares at the turn of the millennium. Alice finds something very worth-while in his least favorite era for horror. Valentine was really successful and for some reason people ignore it. A sincere attempt (and a false start) at bringing the slasher genre back. Valentine walked so Adam Green could soar. Idle Hands is pretty fucking good and for some reason people ignore it. Michael over-explains numetal. Will you bite? The hand that feeds you? Will you stay? Down on? Your knees? The various stages of the hand. American Pie presents Idle Hands. There is only one idle hand in the film Idle Hands. What films escaped Y2K alive? Continue reading

Ice Cream Man + The Dentist

Ice Cream Man + The Dentist

Straight into the heart of the 90s video films. Remember strolling through Video Value and taking a look at the covers of Ice Cream Man and The Dentist. Unorthodox Halloween continues! Another VHS, another film with renewed cult status. Clint Howard is the Ice Cream Man. The extended weirdness through sound and light. Reach back into Family Value’s discount section for the last copy of The Dentist. Straight to video does not mean unsuccessful – even financially! When a character just snaps, and then his snaps snaps, and that’s all before we even find out what’s going on with the poolboy. How many people can you fit in a dentist’s office? Continue reading

Chopping Mall + Bloody Birthday

Chopping Mall + Bloody Birthday

Off the beaten path of early 80s slasher films. The weirdest Halloween of our lives continues with two non-traditional halloween horror films. Three robots get together for good old fashion mall-cop brutality. Their victim? No, not the Bloc in Downtown Los Angeles, but instead a mall in the valley that looks suspiciously like the Beverly Center. Bloody Birthday as an experimental slasher film that was released before there were rules for this kind of thing. What happened with the 80s slasher films no one wanted to franchise? Why did some slasher films get franchises and others did not? Continue reading

Da 5 Bloods + Overlord

Da 5 Bloods + Overlord

War with a kink. How many bloods are in Da 5 Bloods? Spike Lee enters the stream. The Five Bloods. Talking about politics by actually talking about politics. How war and other tragic events shape reality for the years to come. Does a war ever truly end? Overlord, Bad Robots, and your favorite Wolfenstein level. Creating a film people will remember in their idle moments through set pieces and production design. The one WW2 element suspiciously absent from Overlord. When Hitler gets in the way of your good time. Continue reading

First Reformed + 8½

First Reformed + 8½

Unconventionally overcoming a person’s station in life. First Reformed and the path of radical activism. Inevitable comparisons to Paul Schrader’s Taxi Driver. Shouldn’t we all get radicalized? Eight and one half. How to decipher a film after you watch it and and aren’t even sure you could say what it’s about. Laying all the pieces of 8 1/2 on the table. French movies that are about something but you’re not sure what that something is. A different (and better?) way to handle the tortured genius trope. Continue reading

Cuties + Drop Dead Gorgeous

Cuties + Drop Dead Gorgeous

A look at pageants, adolescence, and outrage. Cuties, the Sundance film from France, garnered needless controversy when it accidentally became a trending topic. People on Twitter who don’t know what a movie is. Originally titled Mignonnes, Cuties is a sometimes-sweet sometimes-heartbreaking story of an 11 year old girl using dance to break free from her family’s conservative religious values and find her own identity. Save-the-children-gate only seems to go after people who aren’t pedophiles and suspiciously over-targets black female storytellers. Probably just a coincidence. Drop Dead Gorgeous disappears from planet Earth. The ephemeral nature of streaming services. 90s casting and a miraculous group Continue reading

Killapalooza 39: Night of the Demons

Killapalooza 39: Night of the Demons

Night of the Demons films 1-4. Also, there is a brand new episode of Additional Content available for members: Going Back to the Movie Theater! Now, every film from the Night of the Demons franchise (including the remake). Double Feature tries again. What is a Killapalooza? How Night of the Demons fits in the context of slasherdom. 80s horror style, gore, and nudity. A complete breakdown of Night of the Demons from brand new diehard fans. The first film never knows what’s to come. Michael visits Suncoast video. The power of sequels is realized! The approach of watching a series rather than watching individual franchise installments. The glory days of gory 80s makeup effects. Continue reading

Honey Boy + Super Dark Times

Honey Boy + Super Dark Times

And they say, where are the parents? Troubled kids in less-troubled times. Honey Boy has a lot to say about parenthood and what could be looked at as the grey shades of abuse. Pushing the logline further. The film as a secret insight into the mind and method of an actor. Super Dark Times, super good title. The new wave of movies about kids-on-bikes. A return to one of Double Feature’s favorite genres, something about kids and a raft. A single inciting incident creates extremely divergent paths for the two protagonists. The one person in Super Dark Times who just doesn’t get their due credit. Continue reading

Hard Ticket to Hawaii + The Human Tornado

Hard Ticket to Hawaii + The Human Tornado

Exploitation films amidst a time of social justice. Falling in an out of love with exploitation. Chicago’s cult cinema scene in the early 2000s. Hard Ticket to Hawaii, sexploitation, and cringey stuff that’s still part of American football? The dirty feelings talking about the exploitation subgenre “blaxploitation” today. The Human Tornado is an underseen kunfu action comedy. Rap, hiphop, spoken word, jive talk, and whatever it is where you randomly break in rhyme during your action sequences. More than just Dolemite – the life and career of Rudy Ray Moore. When an artist has to die for people to learn about them. The influence of Rudy Ray Moore. Continue reading

Crawl + Train to Busan

Crawl + Train to Busan

Big disaster (bottle?) movies! Plus: a brand new, long-awaited feature for Double Feature members. Crawl gains good faith on the horror by cementing down the emotional character details. Video game level design. Florida as represented here and elsewhere in dark genre. Michael accidentally does a really terrible Sam Raimi impression without knowing it. Revisiting the work of Alexandre Aja. Train to Busan, the secret k-drama. Time to unveil the secondary theme: families torn apart but not by the monsters! Actually, it’s sort of…families put back together by monsters? The virtues of selfishness. A quick moment to consider if morality still exists. The world is cold and bleak. Continue reading

Hunger + If Beale Street Could Talk

Hunger + If Beale Street Could Talk

Fuck the law. The 2008 film Hunger, about the second hunger strike by Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands. Fassbender, not eating, and abusing the audience. After checking his car for bonds, a cop no one wants to hang out with exits the frame so audiences can hang out with Michael Fassbender. Liam Cunningham as a man with a beard sitting at a table talking and talking and talking. How context sets up a long take.The Silent Bob trick. If Beal Street Could Talk it would tell you not to make cheap obnoxious jokes about it’s title. How the non-linear narrative makes the situation even more crushing. Here’s a bunch of really specific bad things, the good time was there but yada yada yada, and then here’s some more really awful things to dwell on. Continue reading

Spirited Away + Isle of Dogs

Spirited Away + Isle of Dogs

A brand new journey begins. This multi-part exploration of Studio Ghibli and stop motion sends Double Feature on an adventure to further understand animation. In the first part, Spirited Away takes a unique look at the coming of age genre by secretly using it as an indictment of soul-crushing capitalism. Then, Isle of Dogs makes a postcard case for Japan’s mostly broadly understood culture and directs it squarely at Americans. Also, the film is kind of gross, right? No one says “I love dogs.” Mainstream audiences respond, but does the film get away with it? Continue reading

Palm Springs + Color Out of Space

Palm Springs + Color Out of Space

Existential dread, modern living and cosmic horror! Palm Springs as more than meets the eye. Copying once is theft, copying many times is a sub-genre. Each step of escalation. Having the cake and then also eating the cake you have (because what we be the point of having a cake if you couldn’t eat it.) Color Out of Space brings on the cosmic horror – but what really is it? The fear of infinite space without the actual space. Actually let’s go back to that cake thing. Who is out there having a cake and not eating it? Isn’t that. waste of a cake? What a stupid phrase. Not in the show: a shaggy dog! Continue reading

First Cow + The Rider

First Cow + The Rider

Animals and poverty. First Cow and the struggle to start without capital. The Rider makes a case for unavoidable metaphor. When a cow is mysteriously the first, two double feature hosts with stumble through a longline exercise. Cookie meets the fugitive. There’s something suspect about this partnership. The best French fashions come into question as a pastry caper shines a new light on the bounds of human friendship. The Rider’s open embrace of southern American youth. Sympathetic masculinity, horse riding machismo, and the feeling when no GF. How modern day problems created added relevancy in a years-old film. Continue reading

Once Upon a Time in the West + Four Flies on Grey Velvet

Once Upon a Time in the West + Four Flies on Grey Velvet

Ennio Morricone through casual viewing. Italy gives exploitation a high-art spin. Totally unintentional: Dario Argento appears everywhere. How Once Upon a Time in the West creates tension differently than the well-cited Mexican stand-off. The Sergio Leone color coded hat system for differentiating protagonists and antagonists. Different films require different musical motifs! A unique byproduct of playing against type. Four Flies on Grey Velvet’s plot cheat allows audiences to live deliciously. To focus on the plot is to miss out on the piece. No colored hat system to be found. Continue reading

Jennifer’s Body + The Bling Ring

Jennifer’s Body + The Bling Ring

Movies that deserve a second look! The secrets overlooked with Jennifer’s Body and The Bling Ring. The creative triangle of Karyn Kusama, Diablo Cody and Megan Fox. What the original theatrical audience missed about Jennifer’s Body. The strongest voice in the room. The true story of The Bling Ring. A secret secret second theme. MySpace or whatever. The world in which this became a story. Who gets away with what. Hanging out in Paris Hilton’s house. While we’re at it, Paris Hilton was great in Repo the Genetic Opera. That’s just a fact. This isn’t an episode about Paris Hilton, though. It just takes place in her house. One of things – Emma Watson’s layered performance. Continue reading

Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse + Bandersnatch

Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse + Bandersnatch

New to the podcast? Start here! In a brand new run of the podcast: considering canon in the multi-verse! How Into the Spider-Verse breathes new life into Spider-Man. Various animation tricks that work in both substantive and stylistic ways. Bringing the team together! Netflix presents Black Mirror presents Bandersnatch: one new clever tick to fight piracy. How long is Bandersnatch? Do you play or watch Bandersnatch, and whichever it is, how much do you have to do before you’ve really experienced it? Self-destruction in the arts. Training an audience to desire chaos. Continue reading

Double Feature Year 12 Finale

Double Feature Year 12 Finale

Go to Patreon.com/DoubleFeature for access to all previous episodes of Double Feature! A brand new run of the show resets next episode. For now, here’s a spoiler-free look back at the twelfth year of Double Feature. Each year of Double Feature is a self-contained podcast. The show looks at two movies every week and tries to find what’s notable about them. Throughout the year, additional themes and motifs are considered. At the end of the year, the finale episode (this one!) takes a look back at the best and worst of the year. Movements are scrutinized, conclusions are reached, and threads are closed before a new year of the show takes a fresh start. Continue reading

Southland Tales + Spider

Southland Tales + Spider

Exasperated final episode of Double Feature. Alice’s relationship with Richard Kelly. The newfound cult status of Southland Tales. Donnie Darko and Michael’s tonal whiplash of seeing Southland Tales for the first time. A movie from another timeline. Why did everyone watch Southland Tales all at once, years after it was release? The current world and the exhausted state of fury. Preparing for an end of the world party. David Cronenberg’s hopeless vision is a perfect feet for a deeper look at the source of modern agony. What is Spider really about? Secret Cronenberg movies that are actually just twenty years old and you’ve been meaning to get around to for so long you forgot they exist. Dissonant mysteries. Continue reading

Sorry to Bother You + Bulworth

Sorry to Bother You + Bulworth

BLM and Capitalism. Americans hold power to account as The Brands cash in. On the seventeenth day of Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, workers and corporations are both forced to find the right framing for returning to work in an economy that hasn’t even found its footing amidst the global pandemic. Sorry to Bother You as a singular force against capitalism and in defense of the worker. Finally, a film addresses the broken pact of work in the modern world. Bulworth is newly relevant as corporations figure out how to advertise in the middle of civil unrest. Is it enough to simple have heart in the right place? The message is the message. Continue reading

Redbelt + Blade Runner 2049

Redbelt + Blade Runner 2049

The final stop in a look at the roles of writer and cinematographer with David Mamet and Roger Deakins. Redbelt as a film not only written but also directed by David Mamet. An alternate to the action path more commonly traveled. Blade Runner 2049 as a film completely alien to the cinema landscape today. Roger Deakins as an invisible hand in a purely visible discipline. Michael and Alice disagree over how uncommon blockbuster sci-fi is today. This is the last episode in the Writer + Cinematographer adventure, but make sure to catch one final look back as conclusions are reached in the upcoming Year 12 Finale. Continue reading

Tomboy + Bubble

Tomboy + Bubble

The non-actor. Complimentary softness in the two films approach of the search for belonging.Tomboy and Bubble are two films that explore similar themes of identity and self-discovery, but through unique approaches. Tomboy tells the story of a young girl named Laure who, after moving to a new neighborhood, begins to present as a boy. Navigating this new identity includes confronting the expectations and judgments of peers and family. Bubble then follows the story of Martha, a middle-aged woman living in a small town in Ohio who works at a toy factory. When a new employee, Kyle, arrives, Martha becomes fascinated by his mysterious past and begins to question the choices she has made in her own life. Both films explore themes of identity, self-acceptance, and the search for belonging, but approach these themes through different characters and settings.

Avatar + Greener Grass

Avatar + Greener Grass

Another world, where things never made sense to begin with. A bizarre world. A more relatable world. Michael is a dog, now, and Double Feature leaves Earth to cover Avatar and Greener Grass. Bending elements. Tweet Michael if you’re not listening from Earth. Doing weird without having to suspend disbelief. James Cameron’s Avatar is one of few films younger Alice [redacted]. The plot of Avatar is not unique. 3D is gone. Mall goth scoffing. Personal mythmaking. The silliness of promoting the technology used to create art. Secret Papyrus correction. Was Greener Grass written by an A.I.? Michael watched Greener Grass in a roomful of people who didn’t know what they were in for. Assuming a film was executed as intended. Finding the things a film did well. Anti-art and anti-film. Filmmaking influences. Fans who will seek out films with no advertising or budget. My kid is a dog as a Continue reading

Barking Dogs Never Bite + Mother

Barking Dogs Never Bite + Mother

A much deserved look at the work of Bong Joon-ho. An update on virtual cinema! Barking Dogs Never Bite as a dark comedy. Investigating the theme of personal frustration and the ways in which individuals cope with their own limitations and failures. The story of a college professor who becomes increasingly desperate and unhinged as he attempts to solve the problem of a neighbor’s barking dog. A series of absurd and humorous events that ultimately reveal the darker! Mother examines the theme of the relationship between a parent and a child and the lengths to which a parent will go to protect their offspring. The film tells the story of a mother who is determined to clear her son’s name after he is accused of murder, and raises questions about loyalty, justice, and the corrupting influence of power.

The Shock of the Future + TFW NO GF

The Shock of the Future + TFW NO GF

Amazon’s SXSW 2020 Film Festival Collection. An isolation Double Feature provides a look into one of the early attempts to recreate some of the film festival experience as most of the world remains on COVID-19 lock down. Le Choc du Futur as a film that celebrates the process of creating electronic music, particularly in the late 1970s. Locked inside, experimenting with new sounds and working on songs. The detailed process of creating music, including false starts, repetition, and distractions. Electronic music as a revolutionary and forward-thinking art form. Vintage electronic equipment and an enveloping orange-brown color palette. Ah, TFW NO GF. Involuntarily celibate men who have rejected societal norms and often engage in violent rhetoric against women and people of color. The perspective of incels, who feel misrepresented by the media and misunderstood by society. A collection of edgelord tweets and 4chan screen grabs. Disaffected and disconnected from society. “Economic opportunities”? Social isolation, economic disenfranchisement, and a lack of positive role models.

The House by the Cemetery + Three Colors Red

The House by the Cemetery + Three Colors Red

A final trip to to the loose-trilogies of Lucio Fulci and Krzysztof Kieślowski. A showcase of how the past can shape the present. The House by the Cemetery delves into the theme of how the past can come back to haunt us, literally and figuratively, and how it is often difficult to escape its grasp. Three Colors: Red focuses on the idea of how the past can shape and define our relationships and how it is possible to connect with others despite our individual histories. Two films that deal with the theme of personal growth and the realization of one’s own limitations and flaws. Finding the ways in which the past can shape and influence present life.

Zombi Child + Extra Ordinary

Zombi Child + Extra Ordinary

Exploring Virtual Cinema with a stay inside and do a virtual séance double feature. What is virtual cinema? How virtual cinema differs from VOD in both spirit and practice. The unspoken blow to independent film in the time of COVID-19. Film Movement releases Zombi Child through arthouse theaters. Other Bertrand Bonello picks. A fresh take on zombies through a very personal and emotional examination of Haitian zombie lore. Zombi Child in the context of French cinema. France’s relationship with horror. Drafthouse brings the Alamo Stay-at-Home experience to Extra Ordinary. What is it like to attend the Alamo Drafthouse? Pre-show and Q&As. The visual and stylistic comedy of Extra Ordinary.

Contagion + Demolition Man

Contagion + Demolition Man

Shelf life. How movies fall in and out of touch with society. Relatability is a circle. Alice’s new film Antrum is the deadliest film ever made and also the number one trending movie on Amazon Prime! In Contagion there’s a global pandemic caused by a deadly virus and people can’t stop watching it. Fear, isolation, and the human cost of scientific advancement. The ways in which the spread of a deadly disease can bring out the best and worst in humanity. Demolition Man as a science fiction action film set in a future society where crime has been virtually eliminated. The film explores the theme of the dangers of totalitarianism and the importance of individual freedom. As the main character, a cryogenically frozen police officer, tries to adjust to a world where all forms of dissent are suppressed, he becomes increasingly aware of the dark side of a seemingly perfect society.

Vanya on 42nd Street + The Village

Vanya on 42nd Street + The Village

David Mamet and Roger Deakins reconvene as Double Feature looks at the guiding hand. A complete deconstruction of what it even means to “write” a film. Also: the secret holy trinity of horror cinematography. In the podcast episode discussing the films Vanya on 42nd Street and The Village, the theme of isolation and its impact on the human psyche will be examined. Both films focus on small communities that are isolated from the rest of the world, either by choice or by circumstance. Through the experiences of the characters, the podcast will delve into the ways in which isolation can lead to both psychological and emotional isolation, as well as how it can foster a sense of community and togetherness. The podcast will also explore the role that the external world plays in shaping the internal experiences of the characters, and how their sense of self is impacted by their isolation. By examining the themes of isolation and community in these two films, the podcast aims to provide a deeper understanding of the human experience in relation to the world around us.

Raging Bull + American History X

Raging Bull + American History X

Tragic masculinity examined as Double Feature covers movies people have actually heard of! Two films that both explore themes of violence and its consequences. Raging Bull follows the story of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose tumultuous personal life and penchant for violence lead to his downfall. American History X tells the story of a former neo-Nazi who grapples with the aftermath of his violent actions and works to reform himself and his ideology. Both films examine the cycle of violence and its impact on individuals and society. Two films that explore themes of redemption and the possibility of change.

The Hunt + Emma

The Hunt + Emma

EMERGENCY EPISODE. Film in the time of Coronavirus. Universal sends their theatrical releases straight to VOID as the country joins a world-wide shut down for COVID 19. Modern and period pieces on class are left in the past by a world wide pandemic.

Uncut Gems + Lowlife

Uncut Gems + Lowlife

Low-fi crime day. Two films with an odd relationship to comedy. Contrasting personal relationships in the lives of similar characters. Why Double Feature is shelving the pandemic for a special emergency episode.

Sweeney Todd + Cold Fish

Sweeney Todd + Cold Fish

A front for murder. Sweeney Todd (The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) finds Mr. Todd and Ms. Lovett making pies. No one asks Anthony Stewart Head to sing. Meanwhile, things are much different in the world of Cold Fish. The ever-changing rules of Sion Sono.

Blindspotting + The Devil’s Candy

Blindspotting + The Devil’s Candy

Music as a weapon. Talking about films that leave you speechless, like Blindspotting and The Devil’s Candy. Blindspotting is more than just a film about a cop shooting a black person. Oakland’s moment in cinema. Presenting conversations through the art of film. Alice and Michael’s bad geography lesson. Gentrification. PTSD. Cultural appropriation. The White Shield. Felony convictions. The difference between armchair philosophy and lived experience. Beat beating. The importance of music bridging the gap between Blindspotting and The Devil’s Candy. A quick watch. Michael can’t every remember what happens in The Devil’s Candy, but loves it. Hating devils in film, unless they’re white. Metal as the anti-devil force for a change. Forgetting Hard Rock Zombies. The challenge of showing a character’s amazing art. Child murder returns to Double Feature. Uncertainty is scary. Being bad at murder. Deconstructing a film murder scene. Why are we still here? Ah, right. The Patreon.

Killapalooza 38: I Know What You Did Last Summer

Killapalooza 38: I Know What You Did Last Summer

Alice and Michael finally dig their hooks into I Know What You Did Last Summer films 1-3. Is it a slasher franchise or a hooker franchise? The fisherman Ben Willis. The plot is largely ignored in service of some broader elements of the franchise, so here’s the spoiler-inclusive run down in case it’s useful. A group of kids hit a man on the road and leave him for dead. One twist later, it turns out he’s alive. The plot thickens as David appears to have committed suicide after he was in an accident in which his girlfriend Susie died. In another stunning development, it wasn’t a suicide at all and David was actually murdered. As it turns out, the murderer is Susie’s father, who was the man the teenagers hit on the road and now THEY’RE NEXT.

Donkey Skin + The Brothers Grimm

Donkey Skin + The Brothers Grimm

Lang’s Fairy Books meet Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Rhyming Doo-wop films, Donkey Skin and The Brothers Grimm. Alice hates fun. You watch Jacques Demy’s Donkey Skin carefully. French New Wave. The phone is fine, but why’s there a helicopter? Flaying a donkey and wearing its skin can be off-putting. Also something about incest. Most importantly, cake-baking. Terry Gilliam’s The Brothers Grimm is very American. Major Hollywood film look and feel. Grim reboots. The evolution of fantasy films into superhero films. Lost franchise potential. Unique inaccessibility. The battle between arthouse and blockbuster franchise choices. Will Johnny Depp have another Killapalooza? Production hell as a film motif. Suggest a film to cover by joining the Patreon.

Blowup + Barry Lyndon

Blowup + Barry Lyndon

A very British double feature. Well, a somewhat British double feature. Ok so like, half a British double feature anyways. The English make bad coffee (sorry, Charles). Double Feature Year 12 is the year of plots that don’t adequately summarize the film. Blowup has intrigue, murder most foul, and a simple plot. Photography, mimes, and controlling a narrative. Leaving Existentialism 101 to discuss murder. A man searching for a literal and metaphorical propeller. Control and powerlessness. Alice finally learns what Barry Lyndon is. The Kubrick photography. Narration. Not being sure if a film is comedy or not. The epic film, but without the typical arc or lessons. Reading situations wrong. Literal temporarily embarrassed millionaires, for a change. Intimate candlelight.

Force Majeure + The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Force Majeure + The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Two tense films about survival in family dynamics in two very different genres. One, Force Majeure, about an impulsive barrel of the gun decision. The other, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, a film at the extreme end of premeditation.

Tangerine + Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Tangerine + Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Living your identity! Tangerine is deeper than you may have heard. At least this once, let’s make sure we all know the full title of Priscilla Queen of the Desert is actually The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Alice cuts Michael’s Dunkacinno jokes. Usually. Tangerine and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. How Hugo Weaving ended up in The Matrix. Tangerine is a Christmas film, shot by Alec Baldwin. The public’s focus on unusual film trivia to the detriment of the actual film. Trans women are just people. Making a genuine, non-exploitation film. A different representation of L.A. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is mostly just trying to be fucking fun. Thinking otherwise misses the point. Australian Rocky Horror Picture Show. Having to be drag queens to exist in 1994. Some gay people sound different and it’s not a big deal. Michael tries not to be problematic. Coming to terms with cultural change and acceptance. Michael does not know anyone in West Virginia. A time before Internet-sanctioned language.

Moneyball + Betting on Zero

Moneyball + Betting on Zero

Narratives vs numbers. Alice uses his tease voice. When you money some ball and win a sport. People who think they’re changing the world versus people who actually have an impact, for better or worse. Segway segue. The Sorkin trope of people working at their peak. Fictionalized reality. The importance of winning the final game. Scrappy revolutions. Betting on Zero and learning about multi-level marketing. The heroic wealthy white hedge fund man. Michael’s summary of Clint Eastwood films. The tragic victim at the top of the victim pyramid. Actual human suffering isn’t funny. Temporarily embarrassed millionaires. Anecdotes are the best friend of survivorship bias. Correctness is irrelevant to successful persuasion.

Climax + The Beach Bum

Climax + The Beach Bum

Maybe Gaspar Noé and Harmony Korine can be friends. Michael Climaxes all over a Beach Bum. The never-ending journey to give Harmony Korine a playmate. Alice has not figured out how to release Disposition. If you’re a Patreon, send in lists of films you want on the show. Climax is not a good time. The alternative to art is sometimes suicide. Building up to hell, then hell. Leaving the audience outside the character’s experience. Dancing. Leaving the alarming things unexplained. Maybe there aren’t drugs in Climax, as opposed to Beach Bum. Finding places in that feel like another planet. Secret wealth, privilege, and accomplishments. Pushing wheelbarrows of weed. Tripping into a Pulitzer without showing any labor. Alice gets upset that others might have wild success without doing much work. (No one tell him about his president.) Not letting the audience see how the character sees the world. Shit’s gonna work out, though. Michael on sharks.

The Verdict + Doubt

The Verdict + Doubt

The writing and cinematography adventure gets difficult! The Verdict and Doubt. The David Mamet, writer, and Roger Deakins, cinematographer, Year 12 journey continues. Even Mamet gets demands for rewrites. Convoluted plots that may not really matter without the core character. Writing a courtroom drama. Classic three-act structure. Deakins does what a film needs him to do. The things that happened on screen. Semi-ambiguous pedophilia returns to Double Feature. Foreground versus background. Subtle camera work allowing the story to advance. Revisiting the hypothesis. Ghosts versus sledgehammers.

Assassination Nation + Hail Satan

Assassination Nation + Hail Satan

Change through antagonism! A delightful experience with Assassination Nation and Hail Satan? Everybody who saw Assassination Nation died. Deliberately antagonizing people without just being a bigot. The trailer for Assassination Nation. A misunderstood teenager of a film. A Trojan horse full of challenging ideas for the audience. Check out this article. Hey Man, Nice Shot. The satanic church. Pink masses and turning the dead gay. The case for and against evangelism. When all your costume just amounts to wearing a fedora. Michael’s glad for the guy dressed as squirtle next to him in the theater, but doesn’t covet him. Satanic panic is dumb, but did lots of harm. On dismantling systems from within. Pigs heads are scary. Sign up for the Patreon and tell Alice and Michael what films you want them to cover.

Space Jam + The World’s End

Space Jam + The World’s End

Double Feature ends the decade with a very personal look at nostalgia. Mike’s Special Episode to close out the Year of Our Lord 2019 feat. the exploitation of nostalgia via Space Jam and The World’s End. The retroactive viewing of Space Jam. The differences 25 years makes. Michael Jordan used to be huge; now he’s just tall. The belief that things were better back when. Alice is still optimistic about the world. And loves Edgar Wright’s The World’s End. Darkwave and New Wave. Wanting to relive your past versus wanting to live forever. Nostalgia and the Internet. Michael’s message of hope: there is no God and it sucks for everyone right now. Death to Double Feature. Chip in a few bucks to keep Double Feature alive.

Blade of the Immortal + L’Atalante

Blade of the Immortal + L’Atalante

1v100. Takashi Miike returns to Double Feature with his hundredth film, Blade of the Immortal. French pronunciation secrets and Jean Vigo’s first and only film, L’Atalante. Alice and Michael ignore Alec Baldwin’s roles in both films and talk about bigger things. Having too much information. Someone who seems to still love his job, 100 films in. Barge life and dull synopses. L’Atalante is about feeling and is fucking amazing as a very early piece of cinema. Actual fucking cats. Michael presents a history of basic things invented after L’Atalante was filmed. Alice explains French New Wave and some of the art that followed in the footsteps of L’Atalante.

A Simple Plan + Logan Lucky

A Simple Plan + Logan Lucky

Crime without gloss. Looking into the heist with A Simple Plan and Logan Lucky. Join the Patreon and suggest some films, maybe have Alice read your name every show. Uncut Gems is notably not part of the Double Feature. Temporarily embarrassed millionaires. Education vs riches. Money doesn’t matter. Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan is full of extremely elaborate plans. Different decades’ notions of how well dumb people can commit crimes. Soderbergh returns to Double Feature with Logan Lucky. The mystery of Rebecca Blunt, who may or may not exist, but definitely got Soderbergh to come out of retirement to direct. CSI KFC. Odd, great performances. Smart films about dumb people. Alice’s crisis about dumb people being wildly successful. When a lack of inhibition helps you get ahead.

The Big Sick + The Lovely Bones

The Big Sick + The Lovely Bones

Supporting casts rally around center stage when these films’ lead characters check out of planet Earth. Smash that Describe. John is writing the show descriptions now. (Hi.) Alice re-crosses the pond. The Double Feature Host Bubble and questions of pairing. The Big Sick’s dramatization of the main character’s real life. Secrets, social discomfort, relationships, and support. Arranged marriages, without and with vetting. Chicago menu spoilers. Moving from the audience-based soft focus to camera-based soft focus. The Lovely Bones costuming may be slightly over the top. Looking like a cartoon of a pedophile lets you have a more interesting acting performance. Peter Jackson’s filmmaking trajectory. Creating a grandiose world out of a small event. Giving the victim a voice. What makes a film hard to revisit? Killers are not fucking interesting. Brian Eno is, though.

The Beyond + Three Colors White

The Beyond + Three Colors White

Spiritual trilogies meet again when Double Feature digs deeper on a new pair of filmmakers. Alice’s crossed the pond and is on a tin can for the first time since Double Feature: The Early Years. Part two of the two parallel trilogy adventure of Year 12. Gracious gratuity in The Beyond. The Gates of Hell cinematic universe that never was. People forgot the lessons of the spider scene. Greatest Hits of gore shots. Also probably a story. Types of deaths in horror. Atmosphere. Kieślowski’s Three Colors: White. The French flag and revenge. Or equality. Heavily underappreciated, superb art, for art’s sake. An unconventional interpretation of equality. Solondz with less cum. Having a less personal story allows for more comedy.

Border + The Princess Bride

Border + The Princess Bride

Border is a fucking perfect film. Double Feature is still not a review show. Double Feature is like a telethon, complete with commemorative plates. Michael on deciding on his favorite film of the year. Film that does more than it has to. Keeping the audience actively assembling, but not confused. Show up, watch Border. Michael’s favorite Cary Elwes films. The Princess Bride is very watchable. Films that hide everything vs nothing. Michael fails to bring up The Congress. Using a framing device to cut to the second tape of Titanic. Never let Michael edit for you. Pathsploitation.

Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure + Pauly Shore is Dead

Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure + Pauly Shore is Dead

A moment in California surfer youth unexpectedly captures the imagination and attention of a nation. One film seizes it with the success of a franchise, the other can’t hold on no matter how many films are made. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is a shaggy dog film. A mall culture time capsule. Actively resisting following any of the interesting threads. British police call boxes and American phone booths are nothing alike. Alice and Michael have seen Pauly Shore is Dead. NüMetal accidentally suiting a film perfectly. Fred Durst is directing films, but not this one. A retrospective that wasn’t ready to be told. VJs as an early example of people who obtained inexplicable fame. The artistic significance of a film that takes a peek inside Pauly Shore’s mind.

American Buffalo + The Company Men

American Buffalo + The Company Men

Taking another step toward understand writing and cinematography! Listening for David Mamet in America Buffalo and looking for Roger Deakins in The Company Men. Michael is proud of his experiment this year. Watching film without worrying what’s going on. You still can’t watch Double Feature. Unless you join the Patreon. American Buffalo is almost a bottle movie, almost written just for Alec Baldwin. Filling in a minimalist film with strong writing. Fucking yourself on a nickel deal. Disenfranchised white collar white men in The Company Men. Ben Affleck as a sad banker who likes boats. A film from the narrow window of time when rich white men weren’t largely hated. Sympathetic visual storytelling. Shooting for dramatic performances versus maximizing comedy.

Bride of Frankenstein + The Haunting

Bride of Frankenstein + The Haunting

Celebrating Halloween with classic horror films, The Bride of Frankenstein and The Haunting. Grand elaborate production versus innovative film techniques. Alice and Michael are still here to highlight the good in cinema. The Bride of Frankenstein gives you more to chew on than you’d expect. When you saw this for the show, you should have seen the 4K restoration. “We belong dead.” Leaving the audience wanting more Bride. The 1963 The Haunting, not one of the others. The many films and franchises that borrowed from The Haunting. Alice gives Michael a sleepy nap time. Dr. Sleep had a prequel. Surprisingly great camera techniques. Michael can’t stop insulting Podmanity, but join the Patreon anyway.

When a Stranger Calls Back + Prom Night 2

When a Stranger Calls Back + Prom Night 2

Sort of made for TV movie day! Two films that are not what they seem. Director Fred Walton returns to Double Feature in When a Stranger Calls Back. Ventriloquist horror. Ideas so stupid they’re amazing. Voice throwing and camouflage. The strangeness of suspension of disbelief. An accidental 2010s horror film made in the early ’90s. Way too good for TV. Prom Night 2: Where’s the Colon? Terminator and The Prophecy ruined sequels being on Double Feature. Double Feature makes up facts. Making a film into a sequel after the fact. No one’s seen Psycho 6. The numbers game of film titling. Subject matter expertise. Horror zeitgeist and genre awareness.

Tickled + Graphic Sexual Horror

Tickled + Graphic Sexual Horror

Warning – Double Feature assumes you just watched these two films. This is not a conversation to provide an introduction to these movies. This episode digs into the most difficult questions posed by two disturbing documentaries. It’s up to an individual audience member to decide if they wish to watch the films, but it’s certainly a bad idea to listen to this episode without having seen them. With that in mind, taking two films of an increasingly extreme subject matter at face value. Having a conversation films ask you to have. When there’s no hope of going back. Using BDSM to trick people into doing farm work (and other low key crimes against humanity). Continue reading

This Must Be the Place + Get Carter

This Must Be the Place + Get Carter

The reckoning. A giant assault of Massive Attack returns to Double Feature with This Must Be The Place and the original Get Carter. Alice tries and fails to not talk about Robert Smith. Using a real-life icon as visual shorthand. Killing Nazis was once normal, then weird, then less weird. Succeeding despite fulfillment. A movie about the character after their interesting story is over. Going back to killing work with Get Carter. The things you learn about Get Carter from Hollywood parties. The lack of violence in a 70s film. Not being able to kill your way to an answer. Watching pornographic films projecting in people’s homes. The Get Carter score and trip-hop. Not wasting time when you plan to kill someone. The inconsistent feel of vigilante justice in cinema. Michael does not advocate killing people, then throws a state execution grenade. Enjoy.

Nocturnal Animals + Stranger Than Fiction

Nocturnal Animals + Stranger Than Fiction

The written word comes to life don’t roll your eyes at me. Writers who specifically hurt one person, with and without malice. Always showing up and actually covering the movies, like Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals and Marc Forster’s Stranger Than Fiction. Curating film. Attacking the wall head on with Nocturnal Animals. Alice’s love of high fashion. Interpreting subtle casting choices. Superficiality, high society, and penetrating the defenses of the untouchable. Super brutal art drama. Stranger Than Fiction, or that one film where Will Ferrell is serious. Like Cold Souls and Waiter, but on Double Feature. Dying at a poetically-appropriate time. Bits from the Fight Club fire sale. Ignoring the question of free will because it’s never interesting. Not explaining the backstory in your meta-comedy. In hindsight, kale smoothies are kind of good.

Killapalooza 37: Species

Killapalooza 37: Species

Species films 1-4. Pronunciation guides courtesy of plingmichael.com. What makes a Killapalooza. Species is more than just green porn. Baby Michele Williams. All great actors started in horror films. ’90s icky creature films. Finding a good human specimen. Director Peter Medak returns to Double Feature for Species 2. Failure due to a lack of mutant rats. When you make things super rapey via gender swap. The Weezer of franchises. The last film when you can get a righteous jerk in. The inverse relationship of nudity and creature effects. Blah blah science. Mad scientists and succubus. Solving all your problems by creating alien harems. Gigantic Assault and Photos of You.

Only Lovers Left Alive + Sun Don’t Shine

Only Lovers Left Alive + Sun Don’t Shine

Couples, long and short. Double Feature, hyping art and Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive and Amy Seimetz’s Sun Don’t Shine. Patrons, hyping Double Feature and not picking this week’s films. When in doubt, Tilda Swinton. The curse of immortality. The non-horror, non-vampire-movie vampire movie. Having a sense of scale. The repetition of everything except art. Companionship, perspective, genius, and nihilism. Comparing any given moment in time to the greatest moments in all human history. People kept together through murder. It’s probably not in our best interest to kill each other. Murder as a relationship test. Florida Man, the movie. Whether you sympathize with the person giving or receiving road head. Making films for little money. Festivals and additional content.

Bokeh + The Signal

Bokeh + The Signal

You wake up, and suddenly everything is different. Kittie is exciting and nü, like Kickstarter, which helped fund Bokeh and used to almost-fund Double Feature. The things that are out-of-focus. What if everyone else just disappeared? Pragmatism versus religion and nihilism. Having a survivable worldview. Michael makes an argument against survival in a world without new films. There is no point in life; Michael’s okay with that and Alice’s panicking about it. The Signal is a nü and interesting horror anthology. The number of directors in your horror anthology. Films showing small pieces of a global event. Bold choices, like male nudity and a secret anthology full of unreliable narrators. Finding something familiar to hold onto in difficult films. The use of tonal shifts in film and improving the overall narrative through the anthology format.

Howl’s Moving Castle + Cronos

Howl’s Moving Castle + Cronos

Adult whimsey, the burden of eternal life, and the vision of Hayao Miyazaki contrasted against Guillermo del Toro. Howl’s Moving Castle. Early use of computers in animation. Animation that looks good has succeeded. Filmmakers should be free to explore, change, and grow. Miyazaki as an anti-war activist. War as background noise to Americans and in Howl’s Moving Castle. Enriching a film with weird characters. Secret Mexican Frankenstein. Unhinged Ron Perlman. ¿Como se dice gravitas en español? The State of American Cinema is … uh, let’s talk about that another time.

For Your Consideration + The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

For Your Consideration + The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

Creating art kills humans. Other things that could be done For Your Consideration. Double Feature gets rained on. The happy warrior spirit of creation vs the nihilism of trying to get art made. Alice Thirteen performs for the patreons. Life on set. The drama of film production. For Your Consideration shows how rumors run wild. Double Feature fucks up Christopher Guest. The non-documentary Christopher Guest movie is the most honest. Terry Gilliam and the frustrating life of an artist. Art is hard. The story outside The Man Who Killed Don Quixote makes a call for not ignoring the real-life artist.

Amadeus + Perfume The Story of a Murderer

Amadeus + Perfume The Story of a Murderer

Two films about innate genius, giggles, and sniffing. Miloš Forman’s Amadeus is one of the greatest films ever made. Using bookends and unreliable narration to tell a more interesting story. Michael’s firsthand experience of being the Mozart and Salieri in his music career. Madness and genius in film. Double Sleepy Nap Time returns. Tom Tykwer’s Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Portraying smell in film with the help of macro shots. How did this film get made? Why didn’t people listen to Roger Ebert and see Perfume? Alice discusses the unusually weird ending of Perfume. Michael discusses the totally normal ending of Perfume.

The Untouchables + The Ladykillers

The Untouchables + The Ladykillers

Considering the voice of the writer and cinematographer. A new journey explores the work of David Mamet and Roger Deakins. Learning about screenwriting through brute force, with and without notes. The Untouchables, seen through the writing of Mamet. Poetics and smart, big, bright light cinema. Watching The Ladykillers and listening for the voice of a film after the Coen Brothers. Telling a story exclusively through the visuals. Alice explains dirtying up the frame.

Berberian Sound Studio + The Picture of Dorian Gray

Berberian Sound Studio + The Picture of Dorian Gray

The art life. The horror of what you don’t see and indirectly hurting others through art. Berberian Sound Studio is the best horror film no one has been yelling at you to watch. Making the viewer uncomfortable without showing the horror. Can horror drive its viewer mad? Elevating an actor from supporting to lead to create more compelling art. Dorian Grey makes a return to Double Feature with Albert Lewin’s 1945 adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Grey. Being able to be kind of a dick, but witty enough that everyone still loves you. Oscar Wilde’s characters as versions of himself, and that’s okay. The horror of making someone else suffer the consequences of your lifestyle.

Invaders from Mars + Heavy Metal

Invaders from Mars + Heavy Metal

Step into a world of child like wonder. Or maybe one is just, like, smut. It’s time for an adults-are-childen Double Feature. Also, an accidental Dan O’Bannon Double Feature. Tobe Hooper’s Invaders from Mars is a children’s film. What happened to children’s films starring children?  Understanding the art of the underappreciated Master of Horror. Weird practical effects and surprise endings. South Park helps keep Michael from having to discuss Heavy Metal directly. Film for horny teenagers and adults who like fun. Further iterations of Heavy Metal and other smutty nonsense. Netflix Non-tent. Defining the lines between nudity, erotica, and porn.

Eden Lake + The Wicker Man

Eden Lake + The Wicker Man

Summer break has arrived. Eden Lake and The Wicker Man: two films about being in the wrong place at the wrong time and doing wrong. Hooded teens and Broken Britain come to your very American hosts with Eden Lake. Alice finally gets to talk about Eden Lake. Fighting children is somehow never considered okay. Machismo, intrusion, escalation of conflict, hopelessness, and razors. The Wicker Man, but not the NOT THE BEES one. Other things notably absent from the horror masterpiece, The Wicker Man: Nicolas Cage, in bear suit, punching an old woman in the face. Purging yourself of Nick Cage so you can enjoy the greatness of the original and the completely different, superior execution of the same story. Mystery cults and being in over one’s head. Religious ritual, sacrifice, and futility of prayer.

Ratatouille + Big Man Japan

Ratatouille + Big Man Japan

Heroes large and small? Michael finally gets to watch Ratatouille. Big Man Japan Bites Dog. Brad Bird returns to the show with Ratatouille, the best Pixar film. Michael attempts to shame Podmanity for never watching the films. The only perfect film is formulaic and entirely predictable. The villain is not really that bad. Hitoshi Matsumoto returns to the show as director and star of Big Man Japan. Getting big to defend Japan from monsters. Legacy superhero and the superhero’s legacy in boredom culture. Using a faux expose documentary to examine aspects of our broader culture. The impact of Man Bites Dog. Careful cultivation of one’s image. Getting your head run over by a film’s ending.

City of the Living Dead + Three Colors Blue

City of the Living Dead + Three Colors Blue

Spiritual trilogies align as Double Feature covers a new pair of filmmakers. A freshly minted episode to begin Lucio Fulchi’s Gates of Hell trilogy and Krzysztof Kieślowski’s colors trilogy. Michael has a high thoughts lists and a silent colon. Giallo, cause that’s what you want. Pretend gore never hurt anybody. Polish director Kieślowski makes his first non-AC appearance on Double Feature. Did you know the French flag consists of three colors? A meditation on freedom, like the kind of freedom when your whole family dies. Art doesn’t need to worry about its audience liking it. Sometimes you know that everyone is going to make fun of your excessively heavy film, but you should make your excessively heavy film because fuck ’em.

Blade Runner + Fargo

Blade Runner + Fargo

It’s finally happening. Year 12 begins here. The perfect introduction for a new Double Feature listener: Blade Runner and Fargo, the most-requested listener films from a decade ago. Alice tries to embrace the fresh start. Michael embraces the show’s deep cuts. The many versions of Blade Runner and which one best captures Ridley Scott’s vision. Double Feature gets some more Dick. What makes something a Fargo story? The Coen Brothers’ Fargo and recent Fargo television series. Coen characters, relatability, Peter Stormare, and something about wood chippers.

Double Feature Year 11 Finale

Double Feature Year 11 Finale

A spoiler-free look back at all of Double Feature Year 11. Are you new to Double Feature? This is a great place to start.

Eighth Grade + A Serbian Film

Eighth Grade + A Serbian Film

Ending the year on the most transgressive films. Those fucking kids Double Feature. The most dangerous film in recent history, Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade. Also, A Serbian Film. If there’s a new year of Double Feature, Alice promises that Michael will stop making ten-year-old self-references. The challenges of subversive art. Pastel subversion. Presenting both parent and child as human beings. Should I be seeing this? Adult discomfort at normal childhood sexuality. School shooting practice is not normal to adults. Dangerous times in cars. A Serbian Film is a doctorate level fucked up film and smarter than its reputation would have you believe. Oh Fuck, this is a real film. The mystery. The discomfort of everyone at the most infamous scene. A Serbian Film: Really Watchable.

Dude Bro Party Massacre 3 + Hamlet 2

Dude Bro Party Massacre 3 + Hamlet 2

This are not really sequels. The craziest episode of the show. Until next week. Depression is exacerbated by the Patreon. The third, first, and only entry in a franchise. The use of deceptive film titles. Video nasties and lost film. Self-awareness in film. Why would anyone who hates dude bro films watch Dude Bro Party Massacre? The overlap of late horror film hours and early straight world hours. Using the joke title to show a gag reel. Hamlet 2 spent over a decade in the secret, mythical Double Feature graveyard. A film about the nonexistent film sequel to the play, Hamlet. Not showing you the meta film or relating to the play. Realizing you’re not good at creating art. The origins of Michael’s Soundcloud rapper career. Starting a film during the fall from grace. Alice’s imaginary friends show up in support of his art.

The Woman in Black + The Princess and the Frog

The Woman in Black + The Princess and the Frog

The Hammer and Disney journey ends with The Woman in Black and The Princess and the Frog. The new face of Hammer and Disney making A modern animated film. A pairing not based on racism. A scary ghost film. Legitimizing scares in horror. Period horror, not to be confused with Carrie. The bizarre genre of early 1900s property litigation paperwork films. The more recent history of Hammer. The Krimsey’s menu. What if Disney made a cartoon about Louisiana? If you make a cartoon character, you’re going to end up with caricatures, and it’s not necessarily racist. Probably. Maybe. A formulaic, classic Disney princess film with a black princess who gets her hands dirty and spends most of the film as a frog. A frog. The strategy of Disney characters, music, and plot. Alice’s sensitivity TED talk. Racism somehow survived two POTUS terms. Attacking individuals when voting doesn’t make a difference. The dangers of propaganda and distinction between hateful caricatures and innocuous ones. Acknowledging the time a film was made, not as an excuse, but to understand them.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno + Mother!

Zack and Miri Make a Porno + Mother!

A sexy Double Feature, courtesy of Kevin Smith and Darren Aronofsky, so strap in and strap on. What’s the opposite of a reward? Hatefucking? The stages and trajectory of Kevin Smith’s film career and audiences. The end of Phase 1 Kevin Smith via Zack and Miri Make a Porno. The impact of a film bombing. One man, one woman, and a porno. Does sex + a camera = porn? Coming down on the wrong side of questions. Snipping and tossing title phrases. Film title punctuation! Mother! Metaphorical actors, metaphorically fucking. Darren Aronofsky has sex with the Earth. Films that cannot work on a literal level. There is no sky pig. Beating Catholics. And beating the audience over the head to differing effects. Aronofsky’s film career trajectory.

Get On the Bus + Chan is Missing

Get On the Bus + Chan is Missing

Road movies with non-white casts. Spike Lee’s Get On the Bus and Wayne Wang’s Chan is Missing. Get on the Patreon. Spike Lee’s contemporaneous Million Man March film is a bottle film and road film. But it’s not a Circle. Spike Lee does not care for subtlety because he’s too busy being right about shit. Resolving your infighting so you can unite to fight the bigger, shared problem. Go watch Chan is Missing. Racism against Asian Americans is probably not getting fixed until we fuck it out of each other. The film that laid the groundwork for terrible, big, dumb Asian American films like Crazy Rich Asians. It was all about the journey. Surpassing Citizen Kane without getting any of the recognition for it. Chan is Missing is a perfect film with imperfect marketing. Forcing yourself to watch incredible films instead of thinking they aren’t relatable for you.

The Changeling + Gothic

The Changeling + Gothic

Horror, old and new. Gothic and The Changeling. Not the 2008 film. Or any of the other Changeling films. The spooky chair one and a definite article. Empty chairs that get lots of attention. Person vs House. Michael learns how to pronounce succession. The solid plots of old horror films. Choosing not to address the spooky stuff. Not giving the audience a release until the climax. Old school and modern risers. Production takes time. There are no answers to Gothic. Michael’s introduction to Gothic and terrible cuts of horror films. Eyeball nipples. Music that’s excited to be in the film. You cannot simply be told what Gothic is.

A Bittersweet Life + The Man Who Wasn’t There

A Bittersweet Life + The Man Who Wasn’t There

Films about characters driven by the absence of agency. Tokyo Drifter returns as Jee-woon Kim’s A Bittersweet Life. A loyal enforcer who fails to do his job by doing the moral thing. Flexing on ’80s street thugs. Dudes be fighting and toxic masculinity. Having the choice to escape and have a better life. Eastern versus Western mob movies. Passing up the chance for redemption. The Coen Brothers’ noir flick, The Man Who Wasn’t There. You know, for kids. A barber who cuts hair well, but does everything else wrong. Thinly-veiled stories about the film industry. Financing films and Alice’s life as a filmmaker. Grifters as inciting incidents. Good old dark grey-blooded Americans. The masculinity of the ’50s. Fate happens regardless of your actions.

Starman + Visitor Q

Starman + Visitor Q

Visitors from afar come to John Carpenter’s Starman and Takashi Miike’s Visitor Q. Observing humanity from a non-human perspective. John Carpenter’s Starman fits right in with his other early films. The original Jeff Bridges uncanny valley. Movies where aliens just try to get back to their spaceships and leave mankind alone. Everyone still remembers Run Fatboy Run. The significance and impact of Carpenter’s career and films. Takashi Miike is the best, even after over 100 films. Visitor Q forces the audience to accept everything it presents to them. Making as many films as Miike forces him to be an experimental filmmaker. Shooting film on early digital cameras to look like a home movie. Has necrophilia been on the show before? Making something as fucked up as possible to get people talking about it.

Ginger and Rosa + How to Talk to Girls at Parties

Ginger and Rosa + How to Talk to Girls at Parties

Rebellion as a way of life. Ginger and Rosa, plus Alice learns How to Talk to Girls at Parties in an Elle Fanning Double Feature. You can’t half-ass activism. Your daddy fucking your best friend is going to be your biggest problem. Is hysteria the more sensible response to impending existential threats? The unsustainability of hysteria. Golden daddy dick. Infighting over the plan when you have the same goal. The power of personal narratives. Everyone would quickly stop caring if aliens landed on Earth. Punks in England. Do The Punkest Thing. Absurd, horrible punk one-liners. How punk is going to be remembered. Resisting authority. When Nicole Kidman shows up, you know it’s a real movie.

Cam + Demonlover

Cam + Demonlover

The internet destroys society despite the magic healing power of sexual intercourse. The horrors of technology in Cam and Japanese anime tentacle sex in Demonlover. Sex for another purpose. Alice just covers the films with things he wants to talk about, like sex positivity. Camming is just a fun thing we do sometimes. Double Feature, like camming, uses Patreon. Michael isn’t actually a cam girl. All movies are bad, except ones that respect the audience’s intelligence. Using the empathy machine to take the audience along with the film. Demonlover makes Michael reflect upon child pornography. We want films to be full of Klaus Kinski, not victims. The Internet and exponential increase in technology. Deepfakes, censorship, and invasive technology. The Congress infiltrates another episode. Technology surpassed everyone’s ability to understand what they’re giving up to tech companies. Alice and Michael are upset about the harmful uses of technology.

Killapalooza 36: Ginger Snaps

Killapalooza 36: Ginger Snaps

Ginger Snaps films 1-3. A comprehensive look at all that is Ginger Snaps. Why Ginger Snaps deserves a Killapalooza despite appearing to be a trilogy. It’s Ginger Snaps Day! Sequels that have seen the original, but not each other. Fuck Kickstarter. Long live the Patreon. Werewolf movies always suck, except for whatever one you’re watching right now. And Ginger Snaps. A non-tired werewolf metaphor: promiscuity. Unassuming aesthetics. Making film about subtext. Not worrying about fanservice. Boldly choosing not to retcon and ending up with an airtight franchise. Is there a line between period remake and prequel?

Keep An Eye Out + An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn

Keep An Eye Out + An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn

Two filmmakers who seem to belong nowhere but are perfectly at home together. Quentin Dupieux’s Rubber 4, aka Keep an Eye Out. How the fuck did this great movie get made? The miracle of making a good movie. Making indescribably weird films. Authorities tripping over their feet in new and interesting ways. Hate fucking the audience because all film is boring. Watch the opening scene of Rubber. Jim Hosking’s An Evening With Beverly Luff Lin. Sometimes the film is just about the journey. Choosing the constraints to use in experimental film. How acting works. Vamping for an entire act. Resisting the standard rules of narrative storytelling. How to still be weird if you make weird film. Get weird.

Dracula AD 1972 + Aladdin

Dracula AD 1972 + Aladdin

Hammer and Disney collide once again in part four of the annual Double Feature journey. The natural pairing of vampires and sneaky peasants. Cartoons can remain timeless, but vampires show their age. Michael messes with time. Titties aren’t in the goddamn sheet, or even the hot tub, but didn’t get snipped and tossed. The history of Hammer vampire films. The instantly-dated modern vampire. Alice’s words are of the time. The childhood Disney films of millennials. Aside from the fact that every story is stolen, Disney classics are Disney as fuck. Studio rising from rock bottom to hit machine. This is actual Disney. The unexpected heroic sacrifice that doesn’t benefit the hero at all. Visit the new Double Feature Geocities site!

Hot Tub Time Machine + Timecrimes

Hot Tub Time Machine + Timecrimes

The global nightmare that is the Hot Tub Time Machine and Timecrimes episode is finally here. When you want to watch a movie you don’t care about. The moment when Michael realized Hot Tub Time Machine was more than just a movie to not care about. You don’t want a squirrel on the field. Making a time travel movie to make fun of time travel movies. When you throw away the straws and graph paper in a time travel film. Nacho Vigalondo returns to Double Feature with Timecrimes. The dark edge to Nacho’s film. Alice Thirteen’s Timecrimes grand theory. Short, easy time loops. Difficult time travel duplicates. Duck it. Rules that don’t apply. Maybe no one understands Timecrimes. Or maybe scientists just like fucking with people.

Toad Road + Here Comes the Devil

Toad Road + Here Comes the Devil

Hell and the parties you can have there. Double Feature goes to hell, again, but with fewer subtitles this time. Still not Timecrimes or Hot Tub Time Machine. Kids (actually?) doing drugs in film and the real-life tragedy of Sara Anne Jones. The tragic nature of drug use and culture. Why don’t hairstyle trends end up in more films? Dismissing the humanity of people who abuse drugs. Local film scenes and groups of people teaching each other how to make film. The devil as a film trope. Everybody’s banging in Here Comes the Devil, but that’s not what should make you uncomfortable. People who ignore the evidence in front of them to protect themselves from acknowledging their failures. Films that don’t explore the mystery location.

The Jerk + The Master

The Jerk + The Master

These fucking guys. On this week’s discussion of Hot Tub Time Machine + Timecrimes, The Jerk and The Master get meta. How can a podcast break the fourth wall? Once you’ve been through Soul Man, nothing seems quite so bad. Steve Martin holds up better than Virginia’s politicians. The comedic influence of The Jerk. The type of comedy and comedian that existed at the time and largely can’t exist now. Adapting a stand-up routine into a film. Dogwhistles and virtue signaling in comedy. Steve Martin is the true master and [name redacted] is the true jerk. Paul Thomas Anderson’s L. Ron Hubbard biopic. The near-silent, timeless voice of Paul Thomas Anderson as a director. How did this get made? (But not in the usual way.) Hollywood is the heart of Scientology. Soft-mindedness, definitely not a problematic term that definitely will not look bad in the future. Cults and pyramid schemes, and the challenge of getting one started. Grifters, spoken walls of sound, and skepticism.

Prep School + Firestarter

Prep School + Firestarter

External and internal pressures. Double Feature covers an audience-directed horror movie, Prep School! After weeks of discussing the difficulties of creating independent film, Prep School offers the opportunity to support one. A discussion on the finer points of fucking up your classmates and doing horrible things. When the protagonist is too sad to be the in the movie. Institutions that protect their members from being punished by the laws and rules the rest of society adheres to. Firestarter, the first and basically only film about starting a fire with your mind. A secret alternate plot within Firestarter. Michael finds joy in murdering some parents. Where the fuck are all the pyrokinesis movies? Continue reading

Tumbbad + Baskin

Tumbbad + Baskin

Folklore, moral tales, satanic torture orgies and other fun life lessons to live by. Embrace the subtitle. Tumbbad, the remake of the film no one has seen called Tumbbad. Greed and the fun things you can do with it. Luring the audience into a moral smackdown. “Please stop talking about short films like anyone watches them” says guy who made short film. What the fucking fuck happened in Baskin? An extended chase in a circle masquerading as constructive conversation. Something bad is going on. Murdering orgies and the ceremonies they murder in. When you don’t understand something in a horror movie, just tell everyone it’s Dante’s Inferno or whatever. Continue reading

Trouble Every Day + A Dangerous Method

Trouble Every Day + A Dangerous Method

Artsy smuthouse. French people create trouble, every day. Looking at Trouble Every Day as a French extreme film. No one trusts Vincent Gallo, even if his character deserves it. Some kind of plot is derailed by sexy times. When the erotic meets splat. Is there a supernatural element? Blood and body parts. How the new French extreme uses violence in a way other horror films do not. Where A Dangerous Method sits in the David Cronenberg lineup. A film about Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud is really about their ideas more than about the men themselves. Ok, actually this film is all about Keira Knightley. A psychotic performance in an arc worthy of give Keira Knightley an auteur label. Continue reading

Swiss Army Man + Harvey

Swiss Army Man + Harvey

Imaginary friends that society just won’t accept. Swiss Army Man, Sundance, and Highland Park, California. Who or what are Daniels? hen the harsh light of day hits at the end of Swiss Army Man. A film 2018 people would be saying is the much-needed conversation about understanding. Accidentally falling in love with monsters. There’s a time and a place for invisible rabbits. The vague mental health issue seen in the film Harvey. How a lack of specificity creates greater inclusion. The massive appeal of cinema classics. Expanding the possible commentary Harvey provides. Despite ongoing attempts at a truce, witches still don’t really like one of the hosts of Double Feature. Continue reading

Halloween + Puppet Master The Littlest Reich

Halloween + Puppet Master The Littlest Reich

Approaching the unapproachable slashers. Halloween and Puppet Master get loaded updates. “Not for everyone” for the masses. When the remake is no longer enough. Deep fan service in production instead of easter eggs. Getting the band back together. What does slasher trauma actually look like? The sad consequence of growing up scream queen. New family dynamics. Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich might not give a fuck. Ok, it’s called The Littlest Reich, clearly it doesn’t. Humor where you would least expect it. When VOD is the preferred medium. Fangoria makes movies! The special effects brutality of the Mortal Kombat style parallel universe. How Puppet Master feels gorier than even possible. The ending of Puppet Master might be the most shocking thing on today’s show. Continue reading

New Jack City + Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song

New Jack City + Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song

Father son pair Mario Van Peebles and Melvin Van Peebles have two movies that tells stories of very different times and places. First up, a trip back to the early 90s. Everyone is worried about crime, crack is a problem, and there’s an issue with the police that isn’t be talked about. Also people hadn’t even seen Pooka yet. Back in the 1970s, Melvin Van Peebles set out to prove there was an audience for a new kind of movie. Looking at the demand Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song capitalized on. What it takes to make in independent film when no one fucking believes in you. Creating an entire decades long genre just to prove your point. Continue reading

Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me + Twilight Zone The Movie

Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me + Twilight Zone The Movie

Television goes to the movies. A very broad conversation bout Twin Peaks, how it fits into David Lynch’s filmography, and various reactions to new entries over time. A conversation about Twin Peaks The Return because it’s basically a movie and someone really likes it. David Lynch and Mark Frost create Twin Peaks, the original series. Twin Peaks without David Lynch and Mark Frost. Lynch returns for a Lynch movie. Twenty five years and one really really long Skype call. Twin Peaks comes back in true form, but will anyone accept that? The Showtime network reacts to a bold power move. Michael wants to talk about something awkward. Twilight Zone: The Movie and the conversation no one is willing to have. How and if a movie survives a very public, very notable, very important news event. Continue reading

The Witches + The Black Cauldron

The Witches + The Black Cauldron

Hammer studios and Disney studios. A fresh look at two unique entities in different spaces. Unique marks on an otherwise crystal clear record. How The Witches is both quintessentially Hammer horror and something completely different. Voodoo vs magic vs whatever the fuck it is Alice’s silly witch friends believe in. The Black Cauldron is an adaptation of The Chronicles of Prydain without many chronicles or much Prydain but definitely still with a magic pig that can see the future or whatever. The evil guy with horns who wants nothing less than to get on everyone’s bad side. Continue reading

The Eyes of My Mother + Don’t Look Now

The Eyes of My Mother + Don’t Look Now

Death in the family. The fallout of grief, loss, loneliness and isolation. It turns out Michael likes Alice’s double feature. The courage of The Eyes of My Mother pays off in a lengthy 2016 festival run covering basically everywhere a film could ever want to play. Making the unsafe bets as a filmmaker (and winning). Grief and the grotesque. How The Eyes of My Mother uses counter-intuitive editing to deliver on horror in an innovative and brutal way. Don’t Look Now and the layers of symbolism. What symbolism feeds the tone and what feeds the narrative. Continue reading

Boxing Helena + Patty Hearst

Boxing Helena + Patty Hearst

A Double Feature Stockholm Syndome double feature. Dangerous cinema returns. When you put Helena in a box like you do (RIP Cubbiebear). The deeper issues actually at work in Boxing Helena are just regular issues but no one comes to movies where they live anymore. Helena the prop and the crazy man who has mommy problems. Between the panes strikes back. The central issues at the heart of the Patty Hearst story. Can Patty Hearst be both the victim of terrorism and herself a terrorist? Don’t miss the all new Additional Content.

Rumble in the Bronx + Skyscraper

Rumble in the Bronx + Skyscraper

A look at secret role China plays in big American films. Double Feature gets into the weeds on how blockbusters are assembled, from the creation of a bankable team to the financing and eventual distribution. America sees a martial arts niche and brings it to the United States. China loves American blockbuster action stars. Fake American films made by China. Imposter fake American films made by China that are actually made by Americans. The fake American companies funded by China that actually make the imposter fake Chinese rip offs of American films. Double Feature talks about The Meg because it’s easier. Where a cause or a symptom, streaming services play a role in the American devaluation of cinema.

Delicatessen + Paddington

Delicatessen + Paddington

Bear and Long Pig, together at last. Outrageously whimsically characters disrupt the system. No negative jokes about Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s art direction suffering after 1995. Michael feels the need to rant about his top ten list and then randomly namecheck Black Panther. Has Alice Thirteen’s heart changed in 2018? Delicatessen disrupts the system. A kindly speaking bear takes over England in Paddington. Only on Double Feature is Paddington the weirder movie. Continue reading

Lo and Behold + Idiocracy

Lo and Behold + Idiocracy

A cynical look at technological progress. Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World. Just what kind of reveries is this about? A guy from Austin talks to an ex-Silicon Valley programmer about Werner Herzog questioning digital pioneers – and none of them have any answers. The problem of how to talk about future technological problems. An entire conversation about Idiocracy beyond “oh my god, it’s basically a documentary.” A society painted in shitty advertisements. The insane basic-income type ideas that will rule the future and how they compete with the vision presented in Idiocracy. Continue reading

A Ghost Story + What We Do In the Shadows

A Ghost Story + What We Do In the Shadows

Horror non-horrors (which, it should be noted, is different than non-horror horrors). Alice Thirteen spares everyone else his own depression. Addressing the brilliant, frustrating, vital experience of A Ghost Story. Time’s flat circle doesn’t make it any less fucking sad. Michael Koester is the guy at the party who ate all the pie. It turns out there’s other stuff in A Ghost Story besides self-indulgent millennials and vegan pie. Maybe not on this podcast, but at least in the movie. What We Do In the Shadows: ok, so what is it we do in the shadows then? The many types of vampires, all living in harmony. Making special effects special again. Layers of comedy. Continue reading

Blown Away + Fatal Attraction

Blown Away + Fatal Attraction

The contagion of madness. Blow Away, a film from a parallel universe where Jeff Bridges stars in Big Trouble In Little China and Tommy Lee Jones did time at The Rock. zMacro shots, they’re fucking everywhere. Being right inside the very bomb itself. Try to tell Blown Away it’s not getting away with exactly what it thinks it is. Go on, try it. Fatal Attraction spreads its wings. It varies but the smallest things. You never know how anything will change. The 90s erotic thriller by way of 1987’s Fatal Attraction. Warning: beware of falling mania. Unique traits of the erotic thriller genre, where that audience was before, and where the audience lives today. Continue reading

Forrest Gump + The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Forrest Gump + The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The lives of individual men as told through bizarre high-concept epics! Double Feature talks about the films of Alice Roth. An examination of the lives of others and what can be learned from them. Indulging the wild premise hooks of Forrest Gump and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. What does Forrest Gump look like without the historical cameos? Robert Zemeckis has high-tech dreams. Remembering the popular introduction to arthouse via the discovery of David Fincher. Michael refuses to believe a film is actually about what it claims to be about. What can be learned from aging backwards? A midpoint turn brought about through the fantasy mechanic. Continue reading

Scream of Fear + Bambi

Scream of Fear + Bambi

Hammer meets Disney. The second step in a deep drive on two studios. Scream of Fear is probably actually called Taste of Fear. Where does Scream of Fear sit in 1960s horror? Hammer aside from the more commonly known Universal-Monsters style Hammer Horror. It turns out it was an insurance scam the whole decade. Bambi in reputation and actuality. Animals are innocent! Hunting is terrible and ruins everyone’s sweet party. Seriously, why are people still eating meat? It’s gross. This isn’t really part of the episode or anything, but while you’re reading this, stop eating meat. Just stop. There’s no point. It’s terrible for you, it’s expensive, and it’s barbaric Continue reading

Killapalooza 35: Jaws

Killapalooza 35: Jaws

Jaws films 1-4. A look at the entire Jaws franchise as if it’s the true horror property people say it is. What’s refreshing about Jaws if it is a horror film. Aquatic horror and the Miskatonic Institute. Seriously, go if you have the chance. Jaws 2 as the second in a series of slasher films. Jaws 3-D: everything is better in three dimensions, maybe. Jaws 3-DD: wrong franchise. No one can agree who the people in Jaws 3 are, including their friends or even the characters own motivations. Sea World was probably happy, though. The dilemma all aquatic horror movies face: to embrace the Jaws franchise or run away from it? The dilemma Jurassic World for some reason felt inclined to face. The longest two people have ever indulged Jaws 4: The Return. Putting aside psychic sharks, what are Continue reading

Tales from the Hood + XX

Tales from the Hood + XX

Anthology films as a mechanism for inducing social change. XX is not the band The XX. Tales from the Hood as a group of segments with one coherent vision. How specific is Tales form the Hood to mid-nineties Los Angeles? Which parts of Tales form the Hood are just as relevant today? Portraying the big green monster of domestic abuse. The range of anthology film interstitials. XX as a group of segments with a diversity of voices. The amount of power directing XX is insane. Annie Clark, first time long time. St. Vincent music videos. This is not Roxanne Benjamin’s first anthology film. Double Feature favorite Karyn Kusama. Everyone should watch Jovanka Vuckovic’s short films. Continue reading

The Monster Squad + Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl

The Monster Squad + Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl

Missing out! How great films have become further hidden by the difficult moral absolutism of modern times. The Monster Squad, warts and all. Discovering The Monster Squad today. Looking past the foul-mouth dressings of some 80s kids. How The Monster Squad actually held up an underrepresented segment of society. Box office tragedy turns into heartwarming cult success. Bringing the outsiders together. Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl’s much harder to defend content. The Japanese Gore film. How Japanese fashion makes a mess of social issues. What the fuck is going on with all the blackface in this movie? Impossible to believe, Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl might just be accidentally racist. Lolita, Ganguro, and the right side of overly tan Japanese girls with permanent Continue reading

Hocus Pocus + Slice

Hocus Pocus + Slice

October kicks in with the full force of mystic green Halloween energy. Two fantastical spooky-delights with very different receptions. Horror outsiders then and now. Hocus Pocus hits 25. Alice Thirteen’s film Disposition plays in a theater and heads for the Brooklyn Horror Film Fest. Could Hocus Pocus be made today? Of course it WILL be made today, but CAN it be? Of all the normal elements in Hocus Pocus, what happens to be horror community’s favorite? Who is Mick Garris and why does he never show up on Double Feature? An actual answer to that question (hint: it has nothing to do with how much Double Feature loves spooky vegan Mick Garris, which is plenty). Why it’s ok for everything to just be a horror movie. Slice drops unexpectedly. World building, fresh faces, and an unexacting public! Continue reading

Mandy + Revenge

Mandy + Revenge

Basic melts minds. Two films with straight-forward plots to different dramatic ends. How can something so basic become so mind blowing? Celebrating the return of The New French Extreme to Double Feature. But first: Mandy should be seen big and seen loud. Nicolas Cage is crazy, but that’s really selling the film short. The cheddar goblin, also meme-worthy. Revenge as a soul-filling temple of artistic glory. The impossible task of a rape revenge film not only working in 2018, but actually being critically essential. Underpromise, overdeliver. The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin Texas and Hollywood’s The Egyptian Theater. Some words on transgression. Continue reading

Coherence + 10 Cloverfield Lane

Coherence + 10 Cloverfield Lane

Take it and run. Sitting down to have dinner with friends. Back to back mind-benders. How Coherence under-promises before over-delivering. The little film you just don’t expect. When that things that always happens starts happening. Turning the tables on expectation. Hitting a mind fuck and then pressing forward. Why it’s impossible to to talk about 10 Cloverfield Lane without talking about Cloverfield – no matter how much the film deserves that conversation. Cinematic-world baggage. Audiences watch television like Double Feature watches franchises. Don’t forget, it’s Patreon time! Continue reading

Unbreakable + The Beach

Unbreakable + The Beach

A new look at two infamous directors. Michael for some reason believes people don’t really know who Danny Boyle. An update on Alice Thirteen’s new film Disposition, with a new round of theatrical dates in the upcoming weeks. Everything is broken, part nine thousand. The movies of M. Night Shyamalan. The entire world was wrong about M. Night Shyamalan and owes him an apology. People are also wrong about Rob Zombie but they’re not quite ready to accept that yet. Does the public narrative regarding “the guy who does the movies with the twists” match reality? Was this real or imagined? Movies ruined by how strangely complicated movies have become. How The Beach uses secrets every step of the way to push forward its plot. The extreme highs and lows of Danny Boyle. People who check out Sunshine again, just saying. Continue reading

Perfect Blue + Enemy

Perfect Blue + Enemy

Identity, duality, and the public eye. Reflections and persona. What is personhood? Alice Thirteen’s new film Disposition now has a trailer! Disposition (2018) Trailer. Perfect Blue as an insight to an Asia-centric phenomena. Working Perfect Blue backwards. The psychological thrills of Denis Villeneuve. What’s up with the spiders? Enemy’s secret deeper meaning. Do people still have the stamina for puzzle solving? Working though a complex, layered narrative. Rearranging beats to solve a mystery. Find Disposition showtimes at https://dispositionfilm.com. Continue reading

Thoroughbreds + The Craft

Thoroughbreds + The Craft

The outsider’s need to belong and the influence of the spooky peer-group. Wearing an aesthetic to sneak past the gate. Three fantastic performances. The public face and the private face. The role of score in Thoroughbreds. Well check out the first time feature director over here! Two halves make a oh no jesus christ don’t do that come back downstairs. The aesthetic of high society. Privilege, wealth, and using the institution to take down the institution. The Craft as a…visual effects buffet! 90s teen horror. The spooky teen film. Bad influences. Cult films and sub-divided communities. The aesthetic of witchy goth kids. Using Trojan horses to bring opposing communities together. Continue reading

Hereditary + Kill List

Hereditary + Kill List

Two movies with a secret in common. Some people have heard of this little film called Hereditary. Stanley Kubrick, Ben Wheatley and the non-submersible unit. Creating icons before even starting on the plot. The boldest icons of Hereditary. That infamous scene with the thing that happens after the other terrible thing. Then things get worse by not getting better, and finally worse by getting much worse. The greatest all-time shock cut? What people seem to miss – the top line, broad-stroke metaphor of the film. Michael gets upset at a screening of Hereditary. Kill List finally makes its appearance on Double Feature. What the two films share in common: spoilers! The decision that hard-turns Kill List toward horror territory. Not all things need be revealed. A breakdown in carefully choosing which elements shall remain a mystery. Continue reading

Dogtooth + Picnic at Hanging Rock

Dogtooth + Picnic at Hanging Rock

Dangers of growing up with a single source of knowledge. The films of Yorgos Lanthimos. Dogtooth as a comedy. Licking the keyboard. Kynodontas is Dog tooth in…Greek? Is Greek a language? Teenage isolation. Beware of cats. Kill is kiss. Growing up homeschool. A unique thing that only happens with a Yorgos Lanthimos film. It’s the Panic at Hanging Rock. Anticipating the thing. The things that happen up at Hanging Rock. Trying to piece together the mystery. The ending of Picnic at Hanging Rock as a mystery – if only more people had actually seen Picnic at Hanging Rock. That infamous thing that happens, how people feel about it, and why that thing is an interesting thing to do. Continue reading

Good Time + Nice Dreams

Good Time + Nice Dreams

From hijinks to devastation, Double Feature does some drugs. Good Time, a film from a parallel universe. Robert Pattinson is not fucking around. Settle down, synthesizers. When bad times get worse. It’s getting harder not to just classify all of humanity in harsh black and white. The accountability of Connie Nikas vs the accountability of Nick Nikas. Who is the true Nice Dreams? Cheech and Chong run from the law and everyone loves it. What the legalization of pot can illustrate about counterculture films. A tasty Sprite to go with your ice cream. Explaining the short shelf life of comedy. How comedy cuts to the heart of the zeitgeist and why this should continue to be the North Star. Continue reading

Black Swan + Patti Cakes

Black Swan + Patti Cakes

Female fame in different games at different levels. Black Swan as a mainstream arthouse horror film. Why the horror elements of Black Swan are worthy of callout – body horror! A fight between avoiding the most obvious conversation and avoiding the most delicate conversation. The lengths an artist goes through to achieve success, revisited. How Black Swan mostly avoids being rape-y when it basically is. Patti Cakes. Patti Cake$. Patti Cake Dollar Sign. A stunning turn in the plot when someone turns out to not be a cartoon villain. Who actually has talent or promises n Patti Cake$? Living the art life. Escaping the suburbs. Arrested development, lower-case d. Patti Cake$ and the simple art of never giving up. A suspicious lack of conversation around Black Swan’s portrayal of oral sex. Continue reading

Horror of Dracula + Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Horror of Dracula + Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Horror of Dracula, very much not the same as original Dracula. Jonathan Harker upsets Dracula after after accepting a job at the vampire’s castle under false pretenses. Legends of hammer horror. The Universal Monsters and the Dark Universe reboot. What was happening in horror in 1958. Later, in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: exiled into the dangerous forest by her wicked stepmother, a princess is rescued by seven dwarf miners who make her part of their household. Disney’s place in the modern world. Dwarfs is more commonly spelled Dwarves now. Thanks, Tolkien. The intersection of Disney and angry progressives on Twitter. A case for ladies being chased around by mad men or what the fuck ever. The world as it could be vs living in the world as it is. Princess problems. Continue reading

Blood and Black Lace + School of the Holy Beast

Blood and Black Lace + School of the Holy Beast

Yellow and Pink films. Italian giallo pulp films and a requisite number of Dario Argento jokes. Japanese pink films – pinku, pinky violence, and nunsploitation. Blood and Black Lace in high definition. A masked, shadowy killer brutally murders the models of a scandalous fashion house in Rome. That goddamn Suspiria 4k remaster. Putting on a play or opera or whatever behind the scene thing. The giallo fixation on props. School of the Holy Beast aka The Transgressor. What is a pink film? Japense pinku. Finding the canonical pinku and pinky violence films. In order to investigate her mother’s strange death, a woman enters a sacred convent run by hypocritical, perverse nuns. Peeing on Jesus. One of the most incredible things Double Feature has ever seen. Continue reading

Bad Boys + Rush Hour

Bad Boys + Rush Hour

Double Feature does the bare-minimum to look at two 90s blockbuster buddy-cop movies. Bad Boys is an unlikely film in an unlikely time, all before you consider Michael Bay. Even stranger still, it didn’t look or feel weird at the time! Representation in big movies. Are buddy cop culture-clash films problematic? Is everyone tired of using the phrase problematic? Everything is easier when you can dismiss it out of hand. The self-conscious anxiety that projects mainstream problems onto obscure movies. Bad Boys was far to easy to defend, time to watch Rush Hour. A Los Angeles film totally lost on a Texan. Chris Tucker was loud and that was fine. Jackie Chan was a weirdly-gazed asian commodity and that was probably also fine. People saw these goddamn movies. For all the ill, there’s unsung power in tropes and clichés. Continue reading

Road Games + Body Double

Road Games + Body Double

Contrasty Hitchcock covers. Tributes? Ripoffs? Probably not ripoffs, right? Road Games: two words. Although sometimes Roadgames, one word. The open road and how not to tune your guitar. Murder death. Murder death is how not to. A suspicious lack of jokes about dingos. Americans in the outback. The temporary towns that exist on road trips. What Illinois, California, Austin, and some random part of Australia all share in common. How a placement of extreme violence in one specific location can impact the entire viewing experience. Body Double, two words. One half of this episode, still featuring Barbara Crampton. Brian De Palma finally gets some air time on Double Feature. Voyeurism to the next level. Under the surface – what else do audiences get out of voyeurism? Another option for placing your extreme violence. Continue reading

Victor Crowley + The Endless

Victor Crowley + The Endless

New listener? Start here! A brand new year of Double Feature starts a fresh run with returning local heroes. Pay to rent these films! Victor Crowley as Hatchet 4. Returning to form. The slasher trajectory. The most misunderstood element of the Hatchet franchise – the humor! Top secret Hatchet 10 year anniversary. The impact of Adam Green’s series on two young horror fans. Felissa Rose gets the spotlight she deserves! The Endless is better if you’ve seen previous Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead films. Remembering back to Resolution. 2018 makes joining a cult super easy. One of the most mind-blowing moments in Double Feature history. Intentional or not, The Endless as a metaphor for filmmaking. Expanding on an interpretation from previous Benson / Moorhead work. Continue reading

Double Feature Year 10 Finale

Double Feature Year 10 Finale

A spoiler-free look back at all of Double Feature Year 10. New to Double Feature? Fuck it, start here! The best pairs, the best movies. A secret thing Alice is overly diplomatic about but needs to let loose on. Michael has feelings about 2018. Hang on to tomorrow because tonight the stars revolt! Do you believe and will you learn to scream..like me? There’s nothing to it. When stars revolt. They’re only doing what they’re told. Dun nun nun. Dun nun nun. What’s the mystery? The lights of death and fame. Shine. On. Invaders from inside can easily replace you now. Hang on tomorrow because tonight, the stars. You know. Target Earth for me because tonight, the stars. Sing your favorite song because tonight, the stars…revolt? Death to Double Feature, long live the new flesh. Continue reading

The Shawshank Redemption + The Human Centipede 3

The Shawshank Redemption + The Human Centipede 3

Double Feature year 10 comes to its logical conclusion. The Shawshank Redemption and a quick word on Stephen King. Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, but not in a prison-bondage centipede kind of way. It turns out the Shawshank Redemption isn’t a movie about standing outside in the rain. Timeless elements of films with and without centipedes. The minimalistic appeal of a prison film. The Human Centipede 3 as the final sequence! A warden finds inspiration in cinema. Michael Koester, Human Centipede expert. Using a sequel to bring real world elects of a film’s reception and legend into the fictional canon. The percentage of American in the prison system, prison system, has doubled since 1985 they’re trying to build a prison! Continue reading

Legend + Krampus

Legend + Krampus

Monster worlds on sound stages! A young man must stop the Lord of Darkness from both destroying daylight and marrying the woman he loves. Well, pretty much that. How Legend is unlike anything else and maybe – just maybe – what it’s about at all. A magical place called Spooky Burbank that is actually called Magnolia Park. The former glory of Creature Feature and the always-glory of Tim Curry. Who needs an audience surrogate? Krampus and the inevitable countdown until Trick r Treat talk begins. A boy who has a bad Christmas ends up accidentally summoning a festive demon to his family home. The audience’s inexplicable need to try their hardest not to understand the tone of Krampus. Continue reading

Jackie + The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Reifenstahl

Jackie + The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Reifenstahl

Presidents and propaganda gets an epilogue! Discovers from looking at fictional adaptations of presidents’ lives and documentaries that are implied to carry the truth. People around the president. Finding more truth in fictional accountings. The desire of fictional narratives to find what feels like “the Truth.” Closer study reveals just how large gaps in knowledge are. Just what is propaganda? Judging an entire person’s life based on one thing they did decades ago. The power of filmmaking. Demanding moral choices from artists. Art that is clear on moral grounds vs art that is a valid use of time and resources. Film as the least rewarding bang-for-buck on the question of resources. Continue reading

Director’s Cut + Everybody Wants Some

Director’s Cut + Everybody Wants Some

Double Feature goes behind the movies! A look at the making, production, and intention of two movies with the name Michael Koester somewhere buried in the credits. Spot the hosts of this podcast within the background of these two movies. Alice Thirteen, executive producer of Director’s Cut, talks about a bunch of work other people did on Director’s Cut. After years of waiting for Penn Jillette and Adam Rifkin’s film, countless behind the scenes streams and footage, a multitude of festivals and various interviews, what’s still left uncovered? Results of the Director’s Cut experiment that you would never know by simply watching the film. Interesting artistic results discovered in editing. Michael explains what it’s like to be hired on as an extra for a movie. Petty film set issues that make it not that much different from your own job. The parts of film making that are truly magic, and how working a 16 hour day threatens to destroy them. Continue reading

Scent of a Woman + S1M0NE

Scent of a Woman + S1M0NE

Two Al Pacino films that tell us about humanity. Scent of a Woman as a film that was definitely of the time. Taking a stop down for the question of “how did this get made?” A prep school student needing money agrees to “babysit” a blind man, but the job is not at all what he anticipated. That’s right, Scent of a Woman is just The House of the Devil. In Simone, styled as S1M0NE – a producer’s film is endangered when his star walks off, so he decides to digitally create an actress to substitute for the star, becoming an overnight sensation that everyone thinks is a real person. How Simone predicts the 45th presidency and, perhaps more usefully, its supporters. Continue reading

Basket Case + The Funeral

Basket Case + The Funeral

Films about brotherhood from notorious 42nd street directors. What is (or was) 42nd street? The revival theater. Audience consent and the church of unacceptable behavior. A young man carrying a big basket that contains his extremely deformed Siamese-twin brother seeks vengeance on the doctors who separated them against their will. New York City, the 1930s. A powerful crime family is caught in a lethal crossfire between union organizers and brutal corporate bosses. Against this turbulent backdrop, the family’s three street-hardened brothers and the women they love are about to be plunged into a deadly confrontation with their enemies, with each other, and with their own dark heritage of violence, madness and murder. Continue reading

Charley Varrick + The Nice Guys

Charley Varrick + The Nice Guys

Rooting for bad people. How human conflict helps audiences enjoy the bad acts of bad people. Charley Varrick is a self interested man who doesn’t seem too bothered by everyone around him being shot, tortured, or meeting an otherwise terrible fate. When a small immoral act turns out to have been a big one, how does the responsibility of having committed it respond? Shane Black’s history of pulp’d fiction. The little American Pulp novel and the little Italian yellow novel. People love conflict! Successful conflict and its relationship to the fuck-you-ending. Rolling the bolder up Franz Kafka Hill. Continue reading

Glen or Glenda + Fear of a Black Hat

Glen or Glenda + Fear of a Black Hat

Yesterday’s movies with today’s progressive ideas. Two films that may have found an exploitation hook and used it for something socially positive. Edward D. Wood Jr.’s Glen or Glenda. LGBTQ politics from the 50s, as viewed today. An anthology film with several extra narrative devices and no short-form content. Repetitious stock footage and repetitious stock footage. Idea that think they’re clever and repetitious stock footage. The infectious enthusiasm and inspirations of a series of public failures. Who’s Afraid of a Black Hat? Not the Sundance film festival. Fear of a Black Hat and Public Enemies’ Fear of a Black Planet. The accidental dog whistle that keeps white folks dancing. Criticism that’s kept in-house. The case of public face and private face strikes again. How far can and should metaphor go? Continue reading

Matador + The Apartment

Matador + The Apartment

Problematic sex gets more problematic. First up is Pedro Almodovar’s film Matador! An ex-bullfighter who gets turned on by killing, a lady lawyer with the same fetish and a young man driven insane by his religious upbringing – these are the main characters in this stylish black comedy about dark sides of human nature. Second up, Billy Wilder’s movie The Apartment. The heat is turned up on office politics when a man allows his boss to use his apartment for romantic encounters. Sex ones. An apartment to have sex in. Continue reading

Tragedy Girls + Ingrid Goes West

Tragedy Girls + Ingrid Goes West

Exploring two very different aspects of social media in modern society. Tragedy Girls as a commentary on branding. Set up a humorous device, overcome audience expectations. The narcissism potentially illuminated by social media as told through absurd extremes. Best of friends, stick together! Be your best self, even if that means stabbing your peers to death. Ok, maybe don’t do that. Ingrid Goes West, audience is hash-tag-blessed. The annoying sounds of Instagram. The evolution of the word “stalker.” Exposing the somewhat creepy Hollywood networking strategies no one is supposed to talk about. Begging to be literally followed. Society needs a stop-down two think deeper on wanted attention vs unwanted attention. Continue reading

Killapalooza 34: Return of the Living Dead

Killapalooza 34: Return of the Living Dead

Return of the Living Dead films 1-5. What separates Return of the Living Dead from Night of the Living Dead. Glory be to Dan O’Bannon, legal action be to John A. Russo! Return of the Living Dead II as a redux. Look who’s talking too. Return of the Living Dead III as a meditation on self-harm as a coping mechanism. Expanding on the need for brains. Brian Yuzna lives deliciously. Midnight movies need not be devoid of intellectual content. Return of the Living Dead IV: Necropolis as a tax haven. The killapalooza phenomena of European back to back filming. Return of the Living Dead V: Rave to the Grave as a swell party. A film that definitely takes place in America which no one is questioning. Continue reading

Raw + The Bad Batch

Raw + The Bad Batch

Violent cannibal films with female directors released in the spring of 2017. A reverse-meta sense of humor. Women-in-film retrospective: Alice makes a thing with Ama Lea for the Soska Sisters! The sensibility and wonderful icky-ness of Raw. Eli Roth’s problematic but still extremely useful term “chick-vision.” Normal is uncomfortable, cannibalism is home. Surreal imagery with a physical anchor. Who even wants to go to French-night? The family unit stand-in and horror film community. ZEF ZEF ZEF. Michael goes to the stunt ranch for some long-pig. Living the Dream, or whatever. Basically Die Antwoord the movie, part nine. Continue reading

Frost Nixon + Hearts and Minds

Frost Nixon + Hearts and Minds

The climax in the series of Presidents and Propaganda double features. In Ron Howard’s film Frost/Nixon – not to be confused with Japanese monster film Frost vs Nixon – audiences get a dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon. Then, Peter Davis’ Hearts and Minds documentary presents an examination of the conflicting attitudes of the opponents of the Vietnam War. Just what is propaganda? What are audiences looking for in a documentary? There are not two equal sides. The new role audiences can and must play in viewing both documentaries and news coverage. Continue reading

Wind River + Bug

Wind River + Bug

Human beings consumed by answers! An update on Double Feature’s status. The last critical moments that determine’s this podcast’s fate. First up in writer/director Taylor Sheridan’s film Wind River: a veteran tracker with the Fish and Wildlife Service helps to investigate the murder of a young Native American woman, and uses the case as a means of seeking redemption for an earlier act of irresponsibility which ended in tragedy. Then, in the 2006 mania of William Friedkin’s movie Bug: an unhinged war veteran holes up with a lonely woman in a spooky Oklahoma motel room. The line between reality and delusion is blurred as they discover a bug infestation. Mania, conspiracy, and so much more. Continue reading

Heat + Training Day

Heat + Training Day

Cops, but first: it’s time to make an announcement in the dark days of Double Feature. Floating bad ideas. Up first in the Michael Mann film Heat: a group of no-fucking-around professional bank robbers start to feel the heat from police when they unknowingly leave a clue at their latest heist, while both sides attempt to find balance between their personal and professional lives. Also, can you believe who’s in this goddamn. movie? Then, in Training Day: on his first day on the job as a Los Angeles narcotics officer, a rookie cop goes beyond a full work day in training within the narcotics division of the LAPD with a rogue detective who isn’t what he appears to be. Continue reading

Brigsby Bear + Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond

Brigsby Bear + Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond

Deeper into the questions posed when making films with less than perfect humans. Exploring the magic, therapy, complexities, and baggage of making a movie through a fictional narrative. How Brigsby Bear turns the boy-in-a-bubble template into something new. Sidestepping predictable conflict-ends in favor or wonderment. Mark Hamill in his first of two major audience-challenging roles. Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond. Jim Carrey method acting Andy Kaufman and Tony Clifton. Spending time with Jim Carrey terrorizing a set, making everyone really uncomfortable, and creating a really negative work environment by refusing to break character. Spending time with Jim Carrey showing how therapeutic his method acting was for those around him who knew Andy Kaufman, including Kaufman’s own parents. A director that won’t call the safe word. Set magic that the people watching movies never experience. Continue reading

Society + La Grande Bouffe

Society + La Grande Bouffe

Spending a night with high society. Eat the rich. Fuck the rich. Eat yourself? Also: melting, death, fatalism, nihilism, and Double Feature gets a cold. Spending an hour making bad decisions. Two movies that were spoiled by their representation over the passage of time. There should be a joke about soiled food here but the hosts are too sick to write one. Enter Bryan Yuzna! Stuart Gordon, Reanimator, and a carefully told story that maybe isn’t real. Screaming Mad George’s name isn’t George. What do these fistful of slasher franchises have in common? This 60 year old Japanese guy. A movie with enough gastrointestinal foley to get into the Cannes film festival. Swell party, but where’s all the sex workers? A-B-C method faults back to A. An all vegan remake of La Grande Bouffee. Just kidding, but actually someone please make that. Continue reading

Nashville + Wild Style

Nashville + Wild Style

Music culture through different filters. Country mets hip hop. How Nashville might be more about showbiz than about country western music. What the interpretations of Nashville say about the film (that Robert Altman won’t). How Wild Style was embraced by the developing rap scene in opposition to Nashville. What does it take to earn a communities support? When the artist goes pop. The similarity between hip-hop and horror cinema. Film’s simple, beautiful ability to empower through representation. Continue reading

Risk + Ghost in the Shell

Risk + Ghost in the Shell

Separating ideas from personhood. The attempts and failures to separate Julian Assange from Wikileaks. An alternate angle of Citizenfour. Differentiating factors between Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning. Laura Poitras’ attempts and failures to separate making the documentary Risk from her own human life. The reluctant voice over. How The Matrix picked up the conversation started by Ghost in the Shell and ran with it. Embracing Ghost in the Shell’s post-sexuality, post-gender and most of all post-humanism. Moving past gender identity and perhaps past the very notion of identity itself. Humans crave identity, society eradicates identity. Forget “robot overloads” and AI pop-culture – the real unnoticed threat of autonomy, where it will strike first, and how much sooner it’s coming than anyone is acknowledging. Continue reading

Mayhem + Brawl in Cell Block 99

Mayhem + Brawl in Cell Block 99

Midnight movies back characters into corners with disastrous results. Exploitation in all its promises and everything you thought it could never be. Climbing the tower of Joe Lynch’s Mayhem. An action movie with all the horror bits. Contender for highest concentration of satisfying payoffs. Promise office supply closet mayhem, over-deliver on office supply closet mayhem. The fucking corporate world and serious fucking need for more heavy metal face-smashing there. Here come the icons! An exploitation Brawl in Cell Block 99. Cell block? Cellblock? Spoiler, happy surprise party, here have this delicious torture porn. Breaking faces and the fear of more broken faces. Continue reading

Industrial Symphony No. 1 + Lucifer Rising

Industrial Symphony No. 1 + Lucifer Rising

Double Feature’s 500th episode celebrates by trying to figure out what a film is. David Lynch directs the something like a a Julee Cruise nightmare called Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Brokenhearted. Stripping away elements, adding to horrors. Isolating the elements of a nightmare – what makes it tick? The meat man. Or woman. Or break-up personification thing. Sawing logs and the best time signatures to do it in. Knock Knock kids watch Lucifer Rising. The county pole and its capacity limitations. Best locations for a honey pie. Various jams. In the twenty first century, screaming is no longer gender restrictive. To be nothing. Continue reading

25th Hour + Fruitvale Station

25th Hour + Fruitvale Station

Socially imposed guilt, the failures and successes of the penal system, and colorblind justice in the United States of America. Or none of that. New York, San Francisco, and the texture of location. There’s one show left and it’s time to do a good job. There’s an entire previous deep dive of Spike Lee shows you can find on Double Feature. New York and one of the first post-9/11 films. Fighting the article. Double Feature listeners get some free Shudder. White dude’s going to prison. Slanted snuff. Activism and death on film. When activism rushes in – an overwhelming avalanche of terrible images we should all so but fuck are there a lot of them oh god help. From Sundance to Marvel – the incredible success story of Ryan Coogler. Continue reading

Kuso + Reality

Kuso + Reality

Auteurism beyond control. Kuso’s graphic depictions of graphic something. The artistic merit of creating the most horrible man-made experiences. Vulgar imagery and its place in the arthouse. Sundance movie Kuso and the power of credentials. Putting in the work / trusting the author. Double Feature midnight jelly. Reality (2015) or Réalité. Or maybe Reality (2014) depending on timezones or whatever. Higher level Hollywood satire (or: inside baseball). Things producers get stuck on. The greatest groan in cinema history? Music, film, and the race to an impossibly original idea. Continue reading

Truman + The Atomic Cafe

Truman + The Atomic Cafe

Presidents and propaganda continue. Boy, do they continue. Harry S Truman (basically considered unqualified for the job, hahaha) is elected president because America. Revolution Number 33 Franklin D. Roosevelt is dead man miss him miss him. Ok, reel it back in here. Was the bomb a good idea? Well, no, but there’s a controversy. A pretty fucked up set of 40s and 50 US propaganda, this time made by the actual United States of America government. Everything is fine, don’t fear the bomb, it’s all ok, also get under that desk, kid. The government’s response to fear it apparently to throw more commas into the sentence. Mistaking propaganda for the real thing. Continue reading

Solaris + Galaxy of Terror

Solaris + Galaxy of Terror

Two space films of completely equal merit and in fact equal in every direction and one of them is not total fucking nonsense. Hey, actually, maybe both of them or total nonsense? Wade through an existential crisis and find out. Jokes about the size of a Solaris. An entire Galaxy of Terror. Galaxy of Terror: larger than Planet Terror? Not an actual question anyone asked or cares about or even makes sense. The question Double Feature is most prepared to answer – what’s going on with all this monster rape? Seriously, what’s with the monster rape in Galaxy of Terror? And furthermore, why is monster rape even a trope? Can’t people just be naked in film? Is there a reason this happens? Will Michael’s Roger Corman impression Continue reading

Blue Ruin + Let Me Make You a Martyr

Blue Ruin + Let Me Make You a Martyr

Southern hospitality as crime heads into the American, well, south. Blue Ruin, Green Room, and Double Feature’s other favorite colors. A man is naked. Why is this man naked. Wait, where is this man going. On no, that poor man’s head. Marilyn Manson is only in Let Me Make You a Martyr for about ten minutes, but because of the Hollywood advertising machine his face must be on every part of the film or no one will see it (and maybe that’s true). How to pitch Let Me Make You a Martyr a bit more honestly. Opening up the untold tales of the American opioid epidemic. If you haven’t heard of this thing called Shudder, you should go take a test-drive. Seriously, you’ll fall in love. Continue reading

The Blues Brothers + Thelma and Louise

The Blues Brothers + Thelma and Louise

Iconic pairs of mis-understood law breakers speed away from long arm of the law. Or, it’s the end of the year, time for a really obvious double feature. First, The Blues Brothers as the ultimate Chicago movie. Cultural appropriation and the real life, no fucking kidding blues. Carrie Fisher is the fucking greatest and humanity is worse off without her. Not nearly enough can be said about her. She was in the beginning of a new act in the last few years because of Star Wars and people are now discovering all the work she did since the original series and she was just wonderful.Anyways, the musical comedy act. Is Thelma and Louise the feministic movie for 2017 or does 2017’s feminism not allow it? A debate. How audiences want to treat gross people of all walks of life (and why maybe that’s ok for a little while). Continue reading

Get Out + Colossal

Get Out + Colossal

Social issue genre films. Trojan horsing social issues. How Get Out keeps it subtle by riding the elephant in the room. Having a conversation with the audience that’s actually showing up. Jesus Christ Get Out is scary, what the fucking hell. Cultural appropriation. Hey, you didn’t know it, but you’ve actually show up for a conversation about emotional manipulation. Welcome. Oh, don’t bother with that door, it locked from the other side. So glad you’re here. Why don’t you just have a seat? A seat. Sit. Down. Now, where to begin – were you paying attention to those monsters? Yeah, pretty complicated. Hope you don’t think you’re going to sit there thinking about trying to find science fiction plot holes in Colossal, there’ still this whole dump drunk you’re about to drown in. Hang on a second, let’s Continue reading

Better Watch Out + Prevenge

Better Watch Out + Prevenge

Slash slash! Two films that take a departure from their initial advertised concepts. Spending the afternoon on Shudder. Halloween Phase 3, or as some call it, Xmas. Better Watch out is kind of a misleading title. Over-lit sets as the oxy-filled murder playgrounds of Chris Peckover’s mind. The lazy Sunday film hits modern day. Prevenge is kind of a misleading title. One woman, one vision! Director, writer, producer, star, host for human life. Prevenge as a filmmaking success story. Talking to Samuel Zimmerman, curator of Shudder. How to live deliciously. Continue reading

The Beguiled + Thriller: A Cruel Picture

The Beguiled + Thriller: A Cruel Picture

Lady problems. Shudder update: Double Feature no longer has a promo code but you should check out Shudder anyways. Search online and maybe you can find one. The Beguiled is too morally clear, let’s add the confederacy! On Side A, Clint Eastwood is a lady problem. A genius use of flashback and unreliable narrator. What it takes to add a turn to the rape revenge film. Can rape revenge invert gender? On Side B, everything else is a lady problem. Thriller: A Cruel Picture: They Call Her One Eye. The mother of all exploitation films. Double Feature reaches for new levels of offensive. A notable eye-poke! Grindhouse cinema’s half-hearted revenge. A defense of Thriller: A Cruel Picture (but no one is going to defend “They Call Her One Eye”). Continue reading

Tanna + Beasts of the Southern Wild

Tanna + Beasts of the Southern Wild

Impending doom and the humans who shall not be oppressed by it. Martin Butler and Bentley Dean bring Tanna to cinema and maybe cinema to Tanna. Is it possible to tell if actors are good in a movie if you couldn’t imagine what they would be like otherwise? Certain destruction hangs over us all. An incredible use for film as an empathic tool – The Benh Zeitlin film Beasts of the Southern Wild explains with art what logic fails to. Why do humans cling to their homes when their homes are so clearly bound for destruction? One engineer who doesn’t actually understand how levees work. There’s basically no reason for anything and seriously what’s even the point. Also, love. Continue reading

Falling Down + Man on Fire

Falling Down + Man on Fire

A 90s-industrial-fueled burn-it-all-down double feature. The carnage both finally clocking out and ending a hiatus to clock the fuck back in. Two action films that are more subtle than they really know what to do with. Is the lead of Falling Down an anti-hero? Does the film think he’s an anti-hero? And are those two questions necessarily linked? Falling Down is sampled throughout the 90s industrial album Millennium by Front Line Assembly. Break neck edits in a long form narrative. The symbolism, intentional or not, in Man on Fire. Who is the real man on fire? Ok, no one really asks that. How the 2004 film relates to the 90s industrial scene through Nine Inch Nails’s “Fixed” EP. The void in cinema left by Tony Scott’s suicide. Continue reading

The Day Reagan Was Shot + In the Face of Evil

The Day Reagan Was Shot + In the Face of Evil

The second visit in a look at presidents and propaganda. The Day Reagan Was Shot, a film that says much about Ronald Reagan by knocking him the fuck out. Richard Dreyfuss as: some old white government type with lots of power and an overinflated sense of self-worth (to put it mildly). Audience demand facts. Fun fact: celebrity YouTuber Stephen Bannon once worked in the actual White House. An entire segment about Bannon that doesn’t make fun of how fucking poorly he dresses. Seriously, what a goddamn slob, doesn’t the White House have a bouncer? In the Face of Evil: Reagan’s War in Word and Deed: A bloated title from a bloated man. Bannon’s actual aims – what lurks under his racist Nazi skin suit. How the nupopulist movement is like some kind of cult (or one of the later Harry Potter books). Continue reading

Jigsaw + Cult of Chucky

Jigsaw + Cult of Chucky

If it’s almost still October, it must almost still be Saw, again. Plus: Chucky, the unbeatable. First up, not everyone is Jigsaw. Tobin Bell and company walk the red carpet, but some one does not proceed to the latest Saw film. John Kramer is both dead and committing crimes, how can this be!? The Curse of the Chucky. Everyone is Charles Lee Ray. Not really but actually kind of or whatever. Finding a compelling story this late in a franchise. Don Mancini is just so so good. Where other franchise sell out, Child’s Play doubles down. Continue reading

Killapalooza 33: Resident Evil

Killapalooza 33: Resident Evil

Resident Evil films 1-6. A lengthy analysis of an otherwise un-touched horror juggernaut. Power-couple Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich. Much like Resident Evil, people need to cherish the Michelle Rodriguezs they have. Resident Evil: Apocolypse, Extinction, Afterlive, Retribution, and The Final Chapter. Marilyn Manson writes some score, Charlie Clouser picks up where he left off, and A Perfect Circle somehow gets involved. Resident Evil has incredible icons. Some past-due respect for production and costume design. Six theatrical releases and more than 1.2 billion at the box office, and somehow ignored by genre fans. Continue reading

The Purge 2: Anarchy + The Belko Experiment

The Purge 2: Anarchy + The Belko Experiment

Experiments in extreme survival. Alice has seen MAYHEM! Contrary to appearance, there is probably no office Battle Royale zeitgeist moment happening right now. Horror as a funhouse mirror to society. Being a genre fan in the wake of actual no-kidding US massacres. The little big film. People really really wanted The Purge to go outside for some reason. What is The Belko Experiment? The trolley problem. When most would save five lives instead of saving four, the concept of intervention creates a wrinkle. Raise your hand if you’ve seen Circle. Continue reading

Don’t Breathe + The Good Neighbor

Don’t Breathe + The Good Neighbor

Suburban crime: breaking into the old man’s house edition. Crime on the victim’s turf. A secret basement double feature! The morality pendulum swings! When you get too close to the antagonist, horror happens. If you’re too far away from the antagonist, horror happens. Horror often creates a fantasy world where the audience can be threatened by forces they will never encounter in real life. These two movies show the horrors when those fantasy rules are assumed but do not apply. High concept horror. The most intense, what the fuck scene in the last year of horror. Candy corn lasts forever. Warning: do not put candy corn in your stomach as only bad will come of it. Continue reading

It + Nosferatu the Vampyre

It + Nosferatu the Vampyre

Embracing the increasingly popular month-long October horror obsession. A celebration of classic remakes gone double classic. New Line Cinema releases IT, completing their rags to riches story with an incredible moment in the mainstream popularization of horror. Creating a new cult icon does not undo the original cult icon. It as a pop-culture carnivale ride. What’s good for the industry’s good for the genre. Looking back at the impossible creation of Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu. By vampire, they mean Dracula. Rats Rats Rats. Is Nosferatu the Vampyre more Nosferatu or more Bram Stoker’s Dracula? A return to the macabre. Announce Double Feature’s big 2017 surprise. Continue reading

I’m a Cyborg But That’s Ok + Heartbeeps

I’m a Cyborg But That’s Ok + Heartbeeps

Love and Bots. Double Feature is about to release something HUGE – sign up on Patreon before the next episode and find out what. https://patreon.com/doublefeature Even more news? Alice Thirteen has a new film, DISPOSITION, and it’s playing all fifty states and around the world. Get notified when it plays near you at http://dispositionfilm.com. Finally, humans need ice cream. I’m a Cyborg But That’s Ok tackles care through mutual instability. The title hypothesizes a stance on fantasy vs delusion in recovery and coping. People don’t let people believe delusion. Also, separate topic, what the fuck is Heartbeeps? Stan Winston receives an award, Andy Kaufman gives a final performance, an this is the film that disappears into obscurity? The state of robotics in the 21st century and it’s impact on film. And on jokebots. Also important. Continue reading

Buffalo 66 + Chinatown

Buffalo 66 + Chinatown

When sketchy individuals make great films – what is the moral imperative of an audience in reaction to the art of those alleged to have done wrong, both well after the film and on the set of the very art itself. Using these two films as a launching point for a conversation about “problematic artists,” it should be noted that these specific individuals may be complete innocent. But if they weren’t (and other artists aren’t), how far can art go to produce results? In Buffalo 66, controversial director Vincent Gallo is alleged to have abused Christina Ricci on set. Together they created something amazing, although it certainly has an unintentional factor to it. Should the film be boycotted? How should it be presented in the future? Does this all hang on the opinions of the person abused? A note about A Continue reading

The Raid 2 + Crank 2: High Voltage

The Raid 2 + Crank 2: High Voltage

How to double down. Two undeniable action films get equally influential sequels (which is to say, why the fuck did these not influence everything that followed?) The Raid: Redemption: Two: 2: Berandal. Crank (2) High Voltage. Fuck you, Chellios! Alice plants seeds; a beautiful tree grows. Why there are no eyeballs being drilled out in Die Hard. Something that makes breaking out of the mold that much more more difficult. Crank 2: Beind Belief. Listen to movies, they know the world they take place in. Where has the action hero gone? Mike Patton is The Darkness (and one thousand other sounds). Continue reading

When Harry Met Sally + That Obscure Object of Desire

When Harry Met Sally + That Obscure Object of Desire

Romantic entanglements aren’t helped by toxic masculinity. Alice’s ex-girlfriends present: anti-romance! Double Feature has survivor’s guilt in Austin, Texas and Los Angeles, California. Drafthouse personally apologizes for a hurricane. Rob Reiner introduces Harry and Sally and ellipses. A man thinks men and women can’t be friends but that was back when there were only two genders no seriously. Is When Harry Met Sally… about people or relationships or humanity? The infamous fake orgasm diner scene. Luis Buñuel, or as he is more commonly known, the Spanish Rob Reiner. Buñuel wants you to know: we do not live in the best possible universe. Strangers on a train…also talk about orgasms. Who is the true obscure object of desire? Continue reading

Yoga Hosers + Theater of Blood

Yoga Hosers + Theater of Blood

Fuck the critics! Films resist the people who watch them, and get off on tormenting the people who judge them. First: Two teenage yoga enthusiasts team up with a legendary man-hunter to battle with an ancient evil presence that is threatening their major party plans. Kevin Smith will do anything he fucking wants. What was that? A convenience store? For the true fans? Oh totally, not a problem at all. Actually, what about three of them? Great, three convenience store movies. Wait, you guys were asking about these Degrassi movies, right? Then: A Shakespearean actor takes poetic revenge on the critics who denied him recognition! I mean, probably a Shakespearean actor. Vincent Price in sandwhich-face-face. Continue reading

Soul Man + It Happened Here

Soul Man + It Happened Here

Why art? Bad art, tasteless art, controversial art. Should some art not exist? Racism and dystopia. A poorly timed double feature – thanks, American. Soul Man, a movie that should probably be seen before heard. Seriously, do it. Double Feature can’t be responsible. Order is in debate. Straddling a thin line for an impossible amount of time. One man’s historic atrocity is another man’s first black steps on the moon. Once indefensibility is exhausted. It Happened Here – and it totally can, and actually sort of has. 2016’s Nazi-Sympathizers are 2017’s Nazis. Collaboration in the United States of America. The place dystopian literature earned in cinema. Why paint cruel words? What can be gained from brutal fiction. Playing devil’s advocate to the even less defensible. Continue reading

Barbershop + Wall Street

Barbershop + Wall Street

Differing economic headaches. Decade-specific economic problems. Tangible goods and services and abstract investment. Black ownership as depicted on the south side of beautiful Chicago, Illinois. Ice Cube returns in another great movie that no one expects to be great. Well, no one on Double Feature. Well, ok, no one on half of Double Feature. Never underestimate Cedric the Entertainer. Easy money and hard times. Money, sleeping, and Oliver Stone’s 1987 film Wall Street. What do the economic representatives have in common? No no, besides being white. Gordon Gecko is not to be idolized. Making money moving pieces around a spreadsheet. Oliver Stone running around a…call center, or whatever Continue reading

The Breakfast Club + The Hateful Eight

The Breakfast Club + The Hateful Eight

Two writer directors take on social interactions trapped in a room. A pack of individuals spend that day together, learning to rise above their own differences in sharing the human experience with their fellow man. Or killing each other maybe. These high school cliques certainly have a very white thing in common. Learning about John Hughes through one of his most popular and lasting films, The Breakfast Club. Everyone gets punched by their father and no one really likes it. When adults talk. The greater purpose of learning to live and love your peers regardless of class – to distract yourself from how fucking terrible growing up is. The eighth Tarantino film: The Hateful Eight. Big black cock. Double Feature finds a fresh new appalling. Quentin Tarantino gets better and better. Story telling Continue reading

W. + Fahrenheit 9/11

W. + Fahrenheit 9/11

Double Feature begins a Year 10 journey into American presidents and propaganda. The presidency of George W. Bush through fact and fiction. Well, probably more of the second one. Oilver’s Stone’s W. from 2008. That’s the letter “w” and then a period. What an awful name for internet searchability. No one really though about that back then. Anyways, an Iraq-critical film revolving around Oil and not so much 9/11. Speaking of not so searchable, how do internet search engine’s treat 9/11 vs 911 or 9-11? iTunes tried to name the file with a 9_11. These are the things that fill Alice’s nightmares. As if that weren’t enough – Michael Moore’s films are embarrassing. Continue reading

The Greasy Strangler + The Happiness of the Katakuris

The Greasy Strangler + The Happiness of the Katakuris

Absurd films with horror bents. The Greasy Strangler pounds it in. Just pounding. Just hitting that point over and over. And over. By pounding. The point. Pounding it in. Until pounding looks strong on the display. Pounding. Is that even how it’s spelled? Pounding? What does that word really even mean? What’s even happening here? Michael learns all the secrets of The Greasy Strangler and it turns out nothing is going to help. Jim Hosking is a bullshit artist. The Happiness of the Katakuris and the happiness of Takashi Miike. Doing a film on a sort of dare. An alternative to funding. Humanism: it’s probably in there! The Katakuris live on (until everyone dies). Continue reading

Nights of Cabiria + American Honey

Nights of Cabiria + American Honey

Women making their way through life with men, and maybe better without them. Slice of life films focusing on finding individualism and a sense of self in uncommon communities. Two release weekends separated by fifty-nine years. Women in Nights of Cabiria has plenty of fun nighttime activities, and they’ve gotten even better since the fifties. Do the characters of American Honey deserve sympathy? So not the point of the film, but let’s explore for a minute anyways. Michael tried to get Alice to kill himself again. Alice out-poverties Michael. Continue reading

Pacific Rim + InnerSpace

Pacific Rim + InnerSpace

Size and scale in cinema. How do you keep perspective when everyone’s face is the size of a television? How IMAX impacts filmmaking, or at least the future vision of a movie. Do not miss Charlie Day and Ron Perlman together. Just don’t do that to yourself. Cancel the apocalypse! Saul Williams not appearing in Pacific Rim. InnerSpace, have you seen this? Coffee with Joe Dante. Reversing Pacific Rim does not suddenly make InnerSpace. Joe Dante movies might be as much about Joe Dante as anything else, and that’s actually really fucking cool. Continue reading

The Autopsy of Jane Doe + The Witch

The Autopsy of Jane Doe + The Witch

The new series begins right here. Two recent horror efforts answer “why horror” in spectacular fashion. A slow decent from the reality of tonight’s theme to the extremes of it. The straight concept mystery that keeps on giving. Another oven full of witches. Evil in practice and in metaphors. A movie not about the Salem witch trials (and a whole lot that is). The subtitles can’t save you now. Scares upon repeat viewing.When your best friend is actually a goat. This episode is dedicated to Black Phillip. The era of delicious begins, deliciously. Continue reading

Double Feature Year 9 Finale

Double Feature Year 9 Finale

SPOILER FREE SHOW! The reality of 2017 catches up with the bunker and it goes…not well. An extra long look back at the 2016-2017 year of Double Feature. Episode provides a snapshot of the time and also what’s changed in society since the episodes have aired. Additional Content runs full force! The extracurricular accomplishments of Double Feature outside the main run of shows. Bringing listeners and members further behind the scenes. The one film franchise Michael still ins’t getting. A new use of the machine for empathy. The pairs that were fucked and the pairs that were the opposite of that. Also, really really really great movies. These unpredicted results of this year’s Double Feature marathon / journey / whatever. Continue reading

Love + Nymphomaniac

Love + Nymphomaniac

The longest orgasm in podcast history. What is the line between art and pornography? An unpopular opinion. Sex is a dangerous thing. It changes your life. Consent, monogamy, a depression trilogy fuck-epic and the intersection of love and sex. Sexual exclusivity as the default. Nymphomaniac’s two parts should be viewed as a single film. Biological acceptance versus emotional consent. Starting with consent and finishing without it. Infidelity and experimentation. Continue reading

White Dog + Blazing Saddles

White Dog + Blazing Saddles

A conversation on race in America from the last two people to learn the results of the disastrous election. Like, actually. Also, an art problem: Racial satire + enough time = film that just looks racist. Can racists in 2017 be saved or is it time to move on to more productive challenges? Racist dogs, on the surface and far below. Double Feature Year 9: The year of rape, sexual assault, blurry lines in erotica and also dogs. Just regular type dogs. When the racism pendulum swings the back the other direction. The inevitability of human hatred – to channel or ignore? Natural, nurture, and who is to blame for a person’s racism. How Blazing Saddles suffers (or triumphs) from today’s freshly racist America. Does the intention of art matter? The notion of not considering the artist and only considering the art is a complete fantasy. Continue reading

The Deer Hunter + Trainspotting

The Deer Hunter + Trainspotting

The final episode of war and peace. Or rather, Vietnam and drugs. How to win at Russian roulette. This show happens in a bunker and there shall not be any jokes about the Kremlin. The adrenaline junkie, head on. Is war a drug? Come on, an addiction at least. Speaking of, let’s talk about America’s heroine thing. And Danny Boyle. When you give up drugs, sometimes there’s nothing left. This show happens in a bunker and there shall not be any foreknowledge of Trainspotting sequels. NOTHING. LEFT. Continue reading

The Skeleton Twins + Inside Llewyn Davis

The Skeleton Twins + Inside Llewyn Davis

A bunch of sad times on Double Feature. 2014, what people used to think was a dismal time. The Skeleton Twins are Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, and…Luke Wilson? Siblings cheating death. Mending family relationships and digging up the past. When the actor relationships show. Craig Johnson returns! Inside Llewyn Davis as interpreted present day. Art and keeping at it. Speaking of, now would be a good time to check out that Patreon. What’s wrong with the Plan of Llewyn Davis anyways? Twisting the gallows-humor knife. Oscar Isaac is suddenly everywhere and it’s great. Continue reading

Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter + The Human Centipede 2

Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter + The Human Centipede 2

TIME IS RUNNING OUT! Double Feature Year 10 needs you or it can’t happen. https://patreon.com/doublefeature Impressionable loners who take fiction seriously, fictionally. Real fake stories. What lurks inside the bunker (not a casper mattress). Kumiko THE Treasure Hunter. Old wounds, old centipedes. John Oliver stole John McCain’s joke he stole from Michael Koester. Basted on the true, or lies, or neither, or hey are you watching the new season of Fargo? Fuck ads. THE Human Centipede 2: Arthouse as fuck. Expanding on the brand as an conversational art piece. A retraction on Fargo where no one needs to acknowledge blame. Continue reading

The Handmaiden + Basic Instinct

The Handmaiden + Basic Instinct

Vaginal thrillers! The erotic thriller. Twice the smut, twice the class. Well, maybe. Park Chan-wook’s master film “The Handmaiden.” Handmaidens before The Handmaid’s Tale was cinematic cool. Things you could not possibly believe are portrayed tactfully. Basic Instinct, the prototypical 90s erotic thriller. Flesh seduces, passion kills! A-list actors used to get naked and that was great. Sharon Stone’s lady parts. Paul Verhoeven’s infamous leg cross. Incoherent sex stabs. Twenty years ago, when rape was totally cool. #JadeGate Continue reading

Murder By Death + Burying the Ex

Murder By Death + Burying the Ex

By the end of this episode, one will not make it out alive: The victim from Murder By Death, the Suicide Girl in Burying the Ex, or DOUBLE FEATURE itself! Actually, let’s address the Double Feature coffin first – then on to murder with friends! Understand yellow face, one of those conversations you only seem to hear on this show. Is it important cultural satire, is it tasteless cheap grab satire, or is it another thing entirely? Joe Dante paints the perfect world for the Los Angeles horror enthusiast in Burying the Ex. There are supposed to be a bunch of great pictures and lists and stuff on here, but let’s stay focused. It’s time: Continue reading

Footloose + Fantastic Planet

Footloose + Fantastic Planet

It’s time for REBELLION. Kevin Back way back in Herbert Ross’ Footloose. The “foot” is the bottom of a sail: a sail that is footloose is free to move whichever way the wind blows.” Small town rebellion. Outside influences. Rock music, dancing, and the end of the individual. The great rebellious spirit. Fuck the status quo. Fantastic Planet, a film from René Laloux. The human rebellion. Resist the leader. A sort of future on a play where large blue creatures are in charge, but now spoilers are approaching. Continue reading

In a Valley of Violence + The Devil’s Backbone

In a Valley of Violence + The Devil’s Backbone

From the Spanish Civil War to the 2016 Valley. But the other way around. Also, probably not 2016. Ti West returns, and inevitably there’s going to be some conversation about horror. The term ‘slow burn’ is sort of getting annoying. Ethan Hawke, John Travolta, and some other people your parents would recognize. Jakup’s imprisonment in The Devil’s Backbone. Wait, the Devil’s Backbone isn’t entirely in the Spanish civil war is it? Guillermo del Toro strikes back, but more like before. The constant reminder of peril. Also, drones! Continue reading

Nightcrawler + Smash and Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers

Nightcrawler + Smash and Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers

Prowlers meet up in a pairing of Nightcrawler with Smash and Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers. In Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler, Louis Bloom (a driven man desperate for work) muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism. There he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Havana Marking’s Smash & Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers. The world’s most successful diamond thieves take us into the dark world of the international jewel trade. Continue reading

Killapalooza 30: Ghoulies

Killapalooza 30: Ghoulies

Slasher marathon number thirty! Ghoulies 1-4. In the first Ghoulies, a young man and his girl friend move into an old mansion home, where he becomes possessed by a desire to control ancient demons. Then in Ghoulies 2 (Ghoulies II), the Ghoulies wreak havoc at an amusement park, disposing of those who mistake them for mere fairground attractions. Also, toilets. Ghoulies 3: Ghoulies Go to College (Ghoulies III) is a real movie. Well, mostly. John Carl Buechler directs a college teacher brings the little creatures back to his campus, where they proceed to terrorize the faculty and students. Finally, in Ghoulies 4 (Ghoulies IV) a retired occultist turned police officer must battle a former lover as she attempts to summon forth demonic forces after escaping an asylum. Continue reading

Billy Jack + Aguirre, Wrath of God

Billy Jack + Aguirre, Wrath of God

Pairing Tom Laughlin’s Billy Jack and Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, Wrath of God. In Biily Jack, ex-Green Beret hapkido expert saves wild horses from being slaughtered for dog food and helps protect a desert “freedom school” for runaway. Aguirre, Wrath of God! Everyone’s friend Werner Herzog. Do yourself a favor and follow @WernerHerzbot on Twitter. In the 16th century, the ruthless and insane Don Lope de Aguirre leads a Spanish expedition in search of El Dorado. This is the plot of Aguirre, the Wrath of God, but it really doesn’t prepare you for this shipwreck. Oh wait, that was the last Herzog movie. Spending some no-fucking-kidding time with Klaus Kinski. Continue reading

American Sniper + The Man with the Golden Arm

American Sniper + The Man with the Golden Arm

The ongoing war and peace series continues with American Sniper and The Man with the Golden Arm. Clint Eastwood brings the story of Chris Kyle in American Sniper. Navy S.E.A.L. sniper Chris Kyle’s pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and turns him into a legend. Back home to his wife and kids after four tours of duty, however, Chris finds that it is the war he can’t leave behind. Michael lives in Texas and has feelings about American Sniper. Otto Preminger’s The Man with the Golden Arm talks about the impact of drugs in a time when that wasn’t talked about. A strung-out junkie deals with a demoralizing drug addiction while his crippled wife and card sharks pull him down. Continue reading

R100 + Bringing Out the Dead

R100 + Bringing Out the Dead

Two really strange rides when R100 meets Brining Out the Dead. Hitoshi Matsumoto’s weird movie R100. Someone tried to describe R100 like this: An ordinary man with an ordinary life joins a mysterious club. The membership lasts for one year only and there is one rule: no cancellation under any circumstance. The man enters into a whole new exciting world he never before experienced where crazy love goes wilder and crazier. Is it an illusion or is it real? Welcome to the world no one has dared to explore until now! Martin Scorsese’s weird EMT movie Brining Out the Dead. Haunted by the patients he failed to save, an extremely burned-out Manhattan ambulance paramedic fights to maintain his sanity over three fraught and turbulent nights. Some real information from a real nurse might not be the expected. Continue reading

Fast Food Nation + Taxidermia

Fast Food Nation + Taxidermia

Definitely eat while watching this double feature. Fast Food Nation tastes delicious with Taxidermia. Michael has lots of questions about Alice being a vegetarian. Pseudo-veganism. In Richard Linklater’s Fast Food Nation, an ensemble piece examining the health risks involved in the fast food industry and its environmental and social consequences as well. Propaganda films. About Taxidermia: Three generations of men, including a pervert that constantly seeks for new kinds of satisfaction, an obese speed eater and a passionate embalmer. It’s a folktale. Sort of? Continue reading

Knock Knock + All Cheerleaders Die

Knock Knock + All Cheerleaders Die

Horror filmmaker who keep audiences waiting. Michael: We’ve got two movies today by two directors who made me like movies. Alice: Very truly so. That is Lucky McKee and the great Eli Roth. I should say the great Lucky McKee and, you know I just get giddy. Michael: Right, right. Alice: When it turns out Eli Roth has a movie…but both of these guys are guys who put a good length of time between their masterpieces. Michael: This is true. So to start off, there’s a couple places you could start to really get the most out of the show today. The first place you could start is where the show started, which is the beginning of this year at Citizen Kane and The Godfather. That will teach you, here’s what that will teach you. That will teach you what the fuck we do and how we do it. That’s what you’ll learn from that. Continue reading

Henry Fool + Trash Humpers

Henry Fool + Trash Humpers

Works of art some some believe should not be available to other humans. Double Feature dives into the obscene and tasteless in a variety of ways in a conversation on the contrasting films Henry Fool and Harmony Korine’s Trash Humpers. What is cult and what is subversive? Where is the Underground? The people on these towns are asleep. We wake them up. Dirty, tasteless, taboo riddled cinema- Why does it exist and why is tasteless film vital to society? Continue reading

Cold in July + The Trouble with Harry

Cold in July + The Trouble with Harry

Come on, step inside, dead bodies everywhere. An hour long discussion about the problems those pesky corpses cause in one classic and one contemporary film. Explaining it only makes it worse. Exploring two movies with a common theme: whoops, I guess there’s a body now. Jim Mickle realized what you need. What’s the vision and what is expected. So, neo-noir and probably zombies. Sick mom, fucked dad, dealing with life. Nick Damici! Sam Shepard! Hedwig! Close one door, open the next. Hate. Alfred Hitchcock avoids prison as a good son. Strip the plain – not giving in. What is the Trouble with Harry? Probably unrelated: dreams never achieved and being fucked at dealing with your life. Still convinced no one reads episodes notes. “You want me to be something I can never ever be.” Free me of your life, inside my heart dies. Continue reading

Inland Empire + My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done

Inland Empire + My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done

Violence and Maternity. Inside and something else. Alice: It’s ok, you’re in a safe place. This is Double Feature. Michael: Is our show fairly traded? Alice: And uh…oh, I remember that. That’s good, that’s a good…Michael: Thank you. Thanks. Alice: I think that is the same voice actually. My name is Alice, and I’m in my last hope for a happy place, with Michael Koester. Michael: Yeah, well I’m sure these two movies helped you find that happy place. Alice: They really did, they really did. You’re referring to the David Lynch coffee commercial. Michael: I am. Yeah, David Lynch signature cup coffee. Continue reading

House + Burnt Offerings

House + Burnt Offerings

Man vs Lamp Double Feature. Alice: You feel that? There’s some spook in here. Feels like some spook in here Michael: A little bit yeah, little chilly. Little ghostly chill. Alice: Yeah. Some Ghost Cold. I feel that. I know what you’re talking about there. We’re doing a couple spooky fucking movies today – and you know, sometimes we talk about some themes on this show. Sometimes before we record I go: are there any specific points we’d like to make sure we hit? And then we just start doing the show before we record. Michael: I know, that’s the problem. Alice: I don’t know…Michael: And this Banshee Breeze in here just really like fired me up, we needed to talk about it. The Spirit Chill. Alice: There’s another one, isn’t there? It’s spirit something. There’s a third one. Michael: Spirit Chill. Alice: Ahh, is it? Banshee… Continue reading

John Wick + Hardcore Henry

John Wick + Hardcore Henry

Today in action. Can John Wick reclaim Keanu Reeves, or is he the property of the other six really hip movies he’s made this year? Those comic book poses have a name. How many dogs have to die before Double Feature being summoned to talk about the trope? Build a world, build a hotel to stay in, and invite Willem Dafoe. Maybe Willem Dafoe appears on set like some kind of summoned genie. It’s like Beetlejuice. Hardcore Henry leaps forward in action experimentation. Strap that GoPro into your mouth, it’s time for a ride. Ilya Naishuller teams up with hardcore Russians. Sharlto Copley, Sharlto Copley, Sharlto Copley, Sharlto Copley, Sharlto Copley – cue the music. You are the first person. Exploring Moscow with friends. Some crowdfunding later, two million dollars to change the world. An hour on the internet where no one regurgitates completes about handheld movies as if they’re some kind of unique voice in the critic world. Continue reading

The Voices + Tyrannosaur

The Voices + Tyrannosaur

Not everyone defeats their inner demons. Oswin Suicide kicks the fuck out of some recordings. A look at destruction and self destruction with the scapegoat of mental illness. Who or what is Adi Shankar? Finally, some answers. Unlikely color keys in The Voices. Finding yourself in the place of the psychopath. Ryan Reynolds does Deadpool before Deadpool is Deadpool. Tyrannosaur is not Rob Zombie’s ill-fated Tyrannosaurus Rex. One half of a really good Peter Mullan feature. Hurting animals is still a line in the sand with audiences. Joseph has a hard time with violence. Reality check on character flaws. Continue reading

Room + My Dinner with Andre

Room + My Dinner with Andre

Taking a break from civic duty to come in from the cold. The barrier between dystopian fiction and one of the darkest weeks in American history. Horror fans loved the fuck out of Room (2016), despite it’s non-horror trappings. Or was that Room (20156)? The brutality before and after Room. Lenny Abrahamson creates a world out of tiny details. My Dinner with Andre is decimating in a way you probably didn’t plan for. Look at your fucking life, kid. That meme where My Dinner with Andrew predicts modern times or whatever. Things stay warm and fuzzy as Double Feature re-ups the promise to delivery a safe haven every week. Continue reading

Platoon + Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Platoon + Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

War and peace goes a step further. Herem Suicide clears up the previous Russian message. All Additional Content is now publicly available AND there is a brand new Double Feature store! Peace – still just a codeword for drugs. Two sober pacifist atheists talk about a war they weren’t alive for, then about drugs. Iraq crops up again. Taking the war home (some more). Oliver Stone gets a pass for helping tell the story of Edward Snowden. Obama still has a few days to fix that mess, by the way. Manning was a good start, come on POTUS. Platoon further reveals the emerging pattern in war films. Taking a trip with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Michael does zero drugs and then freaks the fuck out. Alice’s adventures in bat country. Who was Hunter S Thompson? A primer on Gonzo journalism that Double Feature hopefully didn’t fuck up. Mmmm, Annathesia. Continue reading

Intolerable Cruelty + How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days

Intolerable Cruelty + How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days

The cinematic legitimacy of the romantic comedy. Ivylina Suicide brings an important message from on the ground in Russia. Don’t forget Intolerable Cruelty! Joel and Ethan Coen do a film noir (is what you can tell your friends when you watch their rom-com). What Billy Bob Thornton shares in common with a screaming goat. Was Double Indemnity a date movie? Soft motion chase montage! The psuedo-Cosmo magazine column How to Lost a Guy in 10 Days for Composure magazine. Fashion girls and sports guys. Films representing reality. The nightmarish cover of Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain. Politics and news coverage have basically become reduced to headlines Cosmopolitan would even take a pass on. Continue reading

The Great Santini + A Little Princess

The Great Santini + A Little Princess

Growing up in the empty shadow of military fathers. The great Alicea Fett (aka Phecda Suicide) claims the role of happy warrior. What if the military was thought of as a job? Throwing yourself into something. Whiplash’s obsession in the name of greatness vs The Great Santini’s achievement of greatness. The consequences of leaving normal life behind. The most unnecessarily evil scene in Double Feature history. Everyone loves Vincent,A Little Princes as the unsuspecting film of now-colossal filmmakers. What an adult sees when childlike wonder fills the room. What kind of movie is A little Princess and what do those movies look like now? Alicea Fett promises something is coming…but what is it? Continue reading

Computer Chess + Alphaville

Computer Chess + Alphaville

Man vs machine is never really about machines. Machines always teach us about humanity. Lots of details from Sid Suicide. One theme spirals into many trains of thought. The continuing history of struggles in art, technology, and humanity. Computer chess is what everyone but Michael thinks it is – or, the elaborate hoax of Andrew Bujalski. Old technology is funny whether it wants to be or not. People make terrible predictions about the future. Just your everyday average dystopia with Jean-Luc Godard. Lemmy Caution visits the distant space city of Alphaville. Von Braun hates what makes society feel alive. Parts of society, anyways. Machines teach us about ourselves. Continue reading

Giuseppe Makes A Movie + Gold Diggers of 1933

Giuseppe Makes A Movie + Gold Diggers of 1933

Alternative filmmaking through fact and fiction. The real, no fucking kidding Luci Suicide. A new quest for information. Who is Giuseppe, and isn’t it Adam Rifkin making a movie? Giuseppe Andrews as the unlikely horror folklore hero. Film making ethics, for fun and fix. A voice for the voiceless via no-hold exploitation. Is Giuseppe Makes a Movie celebration or tragedy or all of the above? Getting the shot at all costs. Gold Diggers of 1933. Gold Diggers of 1993. Gold Diggers of 1399. Gold Diggers of nineteen twenty, nineteen twenty-nine, nineteen Paris and other nineteens. London After Midnight and lost films. Petting in the Park and Who You Calling Ma’am! Continue reading

Dead Ringers + Bad Biology

Dead Ringers + Bad Biology

A completely serious look at two unsexy films about sex. Or sex-parts, at least. LuFae Suicide makes things feel like home again. Dead Ringers sets the level for subtle right at the title. Jeffrey Irons, alone with you. Love, drugs, and sex. Partner sharing somehow makes things whole again. Obsession, however far away. What’s the best one you’ve ever seen? Can’t spoil whatever words you say. Twenty four minutes later and clean again. The basket case. Frank Henelotter makes the audience feel young again. A single level of tact, however long it stays. Promising the best. Bad Biology feels like being free again. The producer’s end credits rap song. …howeverfaraway I will alway love you. Continue reading

Open Windows + End of Watch

Open Windows + End of Watch

The unique point of view kills it once again. Dallas Suicide puts the real world on hold to talk about what could have been the zeitgeist. An important public service announcement regarding beavers and whether or not they are good. Celebrity, privacy, and the second porn start on today’s episode of Double Feature: Sasha Grey! Elijah Wood makes more horror films. What’s justified, as if that matters? The internet destroys humanity, nihilism ensues. Everyone’s naked on the internet, so now what? A commentary about cops in America that doesn’t even seem possible today. Sympathy for the officer, lives of blue, and things End of Watch thankful got away with. The right time and place for preserving a conversation. The timeline of police brutality in the United States. This is still happening, even though everyone’s preoccupied with other forms of terrible now. Continue reading

Rope + The Exterminating Angel

Rope + The Exterminating Angel

Bottle films are starting to get a little ridiculous. Annasthesia Suicide begrudgingly delivers the episode and a few updates. No one is allowed to talk about Rope’s camera work today. What actually happen in Alfred Hitchcock’s film Rope, besides close ups of people backs? People fall off the dinner party bandwagon. Trapped forever by your own mind – bottle films go psychosomatic. Everything (that was) wrong with the world (before November 8th) can be solved with The Exterminating Angel. Double Feature delivers a fifty year old film that’s telling us how to move humanity forward but no one is listening. Watch The Exterminating angel, humanity. Please watch it. Please. Continue reading

After Life + The Lobster

After Life + The Lobster

Two movies to pause for personal reflection. Ruby True Suicide has some things to say about Double Feature. This episode contains spoilers. Alice says perhaps the single saddest thing in near decade history of the show. Michael helps find the best memories, all of which are made during the episode itself. A world so large you could live in it forever. Is becoming a lobster such a bad thing, just because of how your body is horrifically mutilated? A resistance that isn’t very good at being The Resistance. Continue reading

White God + The Tribe (Plemya)

White God + The Tribe (Plemya)

Storytelling without dialogue. Alice and Michael go underground in fear (or maybe denial) of the apocalypse. White God is the not the only movie about dogs, or even white dogs, this year on Double Feature. A first time event caused by the discovery of an all new empathy-box. How a non-human protagonist may be easier to relate to. The Tribe (also called Plemya) is entirely in sign language. There are no subtitles, do don’t look for them. Michael knows sign language, providing zero insight. Alice learns SDH captions are not the same as subtitles. Experiencing the must talked about ‘heightened senses.’ Continue reading

Full Metal Jacket + Head

Full Metal Jacket + Head

The next stage in war and peace accelerates the conversation at an alarming rate. Stanley Kubrick makes the best films. of at the best things, turn out. The two halves of Full Metal Jacket. Goddamnit Vincent D’Onofrio, you keep doing this. Two parts of the brain…are competing? Compartmentalization in war time. Winning over hearts and minds by shooting children in their hearts and minds. Where has the peace movement gone? That brief periods when all was quiet on the warfront of the United States of America. The Monkey find. their inner struggles running parallels to the endless cycles of Vietnams and Iraqs. Staying true to the art. Continue reading

Killapalooza 29: Pumpkinhead

Killapalooza 29: Pumpkinhead

Pumpkinhead films 1-4. Much much better than your ready for. The quick pre-30 run-throughs of Killapaloozas. A much quicker run through of how many pumpkinheads are in the Pumpkinhead franchise. Now playing: directorial debut of SFX artist Stan Winston! The shaft in KNB. A Quentin Tarantino effects secret. What Hodder? Kane Hodder! Lance Henriksen IS Ed Harley. Getting those Blood Wings. Some guy(s) made a Blood Wings video game! Has anyone played it? Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes back to back with Pumpkin Blood Feud. Two films made for the Syfy channel. The release of the automobile. What fucking year is Blood Feud? Continue reading

Hausu + Sisters

Hausu + Sisters

Fever dreaming! Hausu goes back to back with Sisters! Look at that adorable orange cat. How serious is Katsuya Yorita with Hausu, or what kind of serious, or what the fuck. Getting the keys to the playground (or, the lunatics run the asylum). Revisiting The Room! Hausu is House but not The Room which is not Room. Who is the real Brian De Palma? Unrecognizing Alfred Hitchcock. Famous directors with an underground collection of early horror cult work. Yes, there’s several of them. Hot on the case of the plot of Sisters. What happens in Sisters is really complicated or really obvious. Continue reading

Pet Sematary + Atomic Zombies

Pet Sematary + Atomic Zombies

Monstertoberbloddyfeature. What is Atomic Zombies!!!? Pet Sematary as seen through various shared world’s. Michael’s retirement plan is not do go on that there hill, there’s a death curse. Alice is mean to children. Do the thing in the movie that would be the most interesting, unless it would make the movie worse. Performing experiments in the world of Pet Sematary – good science or bad science? Talking about sky pig. Everyone is entitled to their own false reality that you should blindly respect! Where did Atomic Zombies!!! even come from? Finally, someone does the thing we’ve been baiting. More independent than independent. This movie has more heart than half of the top grossing films this year. And it’s pretty late in the year. Continue reading

Three O’Clock High + Ken Park

Three O’Clock High + Ken Park

An ongoing discussion of dangerous art impacts a younger generation. Three O’Clock High turns out to be more challenging than it even knows it is. #blacklivesmatter, because why not push some more people’s buttons. From the western to modern politics. Solving injustice outside (or just within the boundary of) the law. Larry Clark continues to challenge with the highly controversial film Ken Park. The sketchy Terry Richardson debate. Audiences cringe as they find themselves witness to a crime. It’s probably not a crime though, everyone definitely signed a certified SAG waiver which has been filed in accordance with related paperwork. Also, on-screen masturbation. Continue reading

All About Eve + The Neon Demon

All About Eve + The Neon Demon

Women make their way into the spotlight with destructive results. The female force in cinema, then and now. The guerrilla skepticism effort to improve Wikipedia. Update on The Double Feature Movie. The flying Tom Tom returns in possibly the best use of the “how we got here” device. Obsessive, grinding repetition waiting for an opportunity. Mortality by way of performance. Art that vanishes like sand to time. Woah. What it takes to get to the circle. One more, with clarity! Nicolas Winding Refn finds a place in The Neon Demon. Gender roles are not what you think. Cats be hungry. An important moment in tearing open the year’s discussion on art and rape culture. Safe words on set. Art is not safe. Continue reading

31 + Blair Witch

31 + Blair Witch

New midnight movie Double Feature! Blood, guts, gore, scares and maybe a witch. Alice Thirteen, Double Feature host and executive producer of 31. More Zombie than Zombie. Seriously, maybe the most Rob Zombie film ever made. The 70s, a time when insane directors got away from the suits and made insane movies. The extremely memorable man of the hour in 31, and the rare memorable villain in recent films. Rolling around in the pit – the reason to go back to 31 and other Rob Zombie movies time and time again. It turns out Blair Witch is fucking amazing. Critics, proving to be full of it, now universally celebrate The Blair Witch Project when they just made their usual stupid puns at the time. Adam Wingard rules the universe. Blair Witch as probably the scariest fucking thing ever. See great horror being made today. Continue reading

Cloud Atlas + Her

Cloud Atlas + Her

A late night study session on human consciousness. The interactions between minds, the interactions between humans and machines, and the unnoticed social implications of each. The Wachowskis are probably into the Opera (or at least The Hunger Games), and thinking in those terms changes everything. An audience’s acceptance of mixing race and gender on screen. Double Feature goes even more broad into some heavy territory. What it’s like to spend every day two years in the future. Trends in personal technology and where it’s going. Her as an exceptional piece of both vision and prediction. Continue reading

Leave it to Beavers + Village of the Damned

Leave it to Beavers + Village of the Damned

One species manipulates another to do its bidding! The most important information presented in the PBS documentary Leave it To Beavers. Thinking about engineering. Complex questions at the end of evolution. Understanding animal lovers. Stop fucking eating fucking cows, you’re all killing the planet. John Carpenter unplugged in Village of the Damned. An alternate debatably cooler name for Village of the Damned. Imagining a world where this is a franchise – maybe even an AMC television series! John Carpenters interest in stories with great premises. Continue reading

Green Room + Night of the Creeps

Green Room + Night of the Creeps

Freethinkers are suddenly faced with mindless masses. Green Room is pretty much the greatest goddamn thing. The traveling punk band. When Nazis hijack your organization. Talking about punk rock, obviously. Generally mindless genre plus unique character equals suddenly amazing film. The niche need not apply to the audience. Needing to talk about Slither. Where and how does Night of the Creeps fit into the 50’s, the 80’s, and genre flicks? Iconography, lasting image, and how to ensure no one steals you icon. Connections to classic and modern horror. Today’s audiences like Night of the Creeps even if they don’t know they like Night of the Creeps. Knock knock, who’s there SCARE CAT. Continue reading

Hands on a Hardbody + They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

Hands on a Hardbody + They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

The bleaker (potentially advantageous) traits of human evolution as elicited by nefarious marathons. People do things for a long time and it goes bad. A great place to get Hands on a Hardbody. Hardbody is one word, probably. Just keep your hands on a truck, what could go wrong? Karl Pilkington rears his bald head again. What happens after Hands on a Hardbody – an update rarely discussed. Dark turns darker in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? A movie that’s probably set in the time it says it is. How about two most awkward titles to type out double feature. Street Sweeper Social Club really wants to text you updates. Continue reading

Session 9 + Sun Choke

Session 9 + Sun Choke

Alternative therapy disproven through tapes as emotional disturbances reach violent conclusions. Or something else that’s made up. Brad Anderson returns as a pocket sized monster. Asbestos lead asbestos! Who’s crazy and what’s wrong with them? Confirmed: the audience of Session 9 is crazy. The sun and fresh air are terrifying. The unveiling of the formerly secret best film ever, Sun Choke. Is Barbara Crampton leading a new wave of horror revival? Sex and violence and going outside and bad times. Another opportunity to play Who’s the Worst? All of the goddamn imagery. Sara Malakul Lane rocks Sun Choke, but also rocks this other movie. Some information on Alice Thirteen’s new film. Continue reading

As Above, So Below + Horns

As Above, So Below + Horns

Christianity’s Satan mythology as riffed on by great new horror films. The Birthday Massacre plugs TBMChicago and The Birthday Massacre Broken Minds 2006 Bootleg! As Above, So Below’s terrifying equation. It’s time to fact check this found footage reception. The images, oh God the images. Things you see in a graveyard. Ok, that was just a Repo lyric. That guy with Horns. Backhanded compliments to the director! What Horns shares with Cosmopolis. Talking about the horns in the room. Bear or no bear, another chat about Kafka, and getting priorities straight. Hey, Alex Aja is back! Next time on Double Feature: the end of the tease. Continue reading

Top Gun + Dazed and Confused

Top Gun + Dazed and Confused

The first in a series of War + Peace. Drugs might as well be synonymous with peace, say two people who have never done recreational drugs. The bizarre army government war something propaganda film that is Top Gun. The early look at Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer and Tom Skerritt. Seriously, this Michael Ironside thing is ridiculous. How far back does this go?! America has the greatest flight schools. Really, top notch. The central conflict in Top Gun – like My Neighbor Totoro, remember? Dazed and Confused (a great precursor for any Additional Content listeners. A nostalgia movie masquerades as a drug movie. The messages in My Neighbor Totoro. Continue reading

Blue Jasmine + The Congress

Blue Jasmine + The Congress

Unforeseen changes threaten women of long-held power. A return to Woody Allen with Blue Jasmine. A female-led Woody Allen film living outside of many exceptions. Andrew Dice Clay was a thing. Blue Jasmine’s portrait of mental illness. A particularly devastating moment. The Congress is more animated than the US cover wants you to know. Robin Wright as Robin Wright. The target-rich environment of Hollywood studios. The Congress does an acid trip. Maybe a few acid trips. Futurism and post-modernism make their first argument for running threads of Double Feature Year 9. Continue reading

Waiting for Guffman + A Town Called Panic

Waiting for Guffman + A Town Called Panic

Small towns with large personalities. The beginning of Christopher Guest, kind of sort of. Spinal Tap and the Guestmen. Guffman. Guestmen? Either way, what’s up with Waiting for Guffman’s Windows 95 looking cover? A cult following of a whole different kind. Who is really Waiting for Guffman? Living moment to moment in A Town Called Panic. The undertaking in creating a feature length film based on a season of five minute shorts. What’s the central conflict of A Town Called Panic? Change of scenery change of scenery change of scenery. Oh no, good news! Continue reading

The Invitation + The Overnight

The Invitation + The Overnight

Unexpected revelations while staying with friends in LA! Hey, you, don’t listen to this episode first. Go back and listen to the one before this, that’s a better episode to start on. Seriously, don’t just start here. Female directors and gender fluidity. Who gets to claim transgender bragging rights? The Invitation and the Los Angeles dinner party scene. Killing coyotes to kill time. Ethnic cleansing! Which one is insane (and is ‘all of the above’ an option?) Gas lighting and the Invitation. Ok, not really. Those people from television are in The Overnight! Of buttholes and art. Putting the kids to bed. Los Angeles Sex parties, or something more sinister? Or less sinister? Or a third option? Twenty-first century family values. Making friends with neighbors. Leaving the Overnight unscathed? Continue reading

Citizen Kane + The Godfather

Citizen Kane + The Godfather

The American Film institute’s top two films. Double Feature begins – The first episode in this year’s series, and the perfect place to start listening. Don’t be afraid of daunting films. Double Feature updates on the Year 8 Kickstarter for Year 9, the Double Feature Movie, and guidelines for Year 9 of the show. Citizen Kane as a meta commentary on film. Upping the ante on cinema. The infamous ending of Citizen Kane. What’s so special about The Godfather? Things to look for on a first time viewing. Appreciation can start on the surface. How great acting in The Godfather helps explain the craft of acting to people who don’t have the first clue about it. Continue reading

Double Feature Year 8 Finale

Double Feature Year 8 Finale

SPOILER FREE SHOW! Double Feature faces themes as real-world issues collide with fiction. Fuck count-downs. An episode with Little to no plot details. An episode not requiring having seen any Year 8 movies. As requested – a completely uncut live episode! How people get information in 2016. Everyone has a bubble. Reinforcing beliefs. The political result of the LA/Austin schism. 2016 US presidential politics. Racism is alive in we’ll in America. Michael has decided to embrace the Oscars. Alice learns the alternate title for “The Oscars.” Continue reading

The Brave Little Toaster + The Green Inferno

The Brave Little Toaster + The Green Inferno

Outside your element on this very special end of the year episode. Boldly leaping into unknown territory. The Brave Little Toaster, our little secret. At long last Michael becomes a test case. Looking back on an animated cult film. Unintentional character and notability. How the Pixar talent has changed as popular animation grows. The outstandingly successful Pixar formula. The most anticipated movie of Double Feature history. After ten long years, Eli Roth strikes back with The Green Inferno. The new iconography. The original impact of Hostel and the incoming impact of The Green Inferno. Perhaps the most inventive element of The Green Inferno, a brand new handle of feminism without the baggage of modern society. Continue reading

An American Werewolf in London + Clown

An American Werewolf in London + Clown

Two horror films tied by a secret thread. The last ever episode of Double Feature. Seminal werewolf film An American Werewolf in London. People said he brain was infected by devils. There’s probably Nazi wolves all over the place. Nightmarish prosthetics. The must-have werewolf transformation scene. An American Werewolf in London as a comedy, by way of music. Other werewolf movies covered by Double Feature. Clown destroys Alice’s cinematic legacy. An American Werewolf in Paris. Defying the odds. The history of scary clown films. Jon Watts takes over the world. Humor in premise, dead serious execution. The story of how Clown came to be, told using details that might be true. Convincing your audience you have a real movie! If you’re reading this, go watch the new 31 trailer. It’s such a good movie. It really is. The various forms of Clown! Child imagery that is not at Chuck E Cheese’s. A heavy decision required by legend. Continue reading

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit + Casino Royale

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit + Casino Royale

The final chapter in the saga of Jack Ryan and James Bond. Maybe not the final chapter in Double Feature, hopefully. Upon completion of Jack Ryan: Show Recruit, who is the real Jack Ryan? Continuity is finally solved. The long awaited information on Jack’s analytical character arc. Action where action is due. Casino Royale, the clearly best James Bond movie in the entire series come on really it is you know it don’t front. Hey look, it’s that guy from Hannibal again. James Bond in the 21st century. The much needed self loathing. Alice Thirteen on the set of an Eli Roth Clown thing. Continue reading

Thief + Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

Thief + Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

Concentrating on skill sets. Similar themes with differing points of voice on auteur theory. Disturbing news on the Double Feature Year 9 Kickstarter. Who creates a film? Holly on-set secrets. The hierarchy in a movie production. Thief compared to related films, both director and producer. What does Bruce Willis think about all this? Why auteurism matters (and why it can’t be ‘solved.’) The insane threads in the fabric of Thief. Enter Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai! When the insane name of insane movie does not serve to make it any more sane. Acting as a label and measure of a film. Filmset’s as playgrounds. Speculation on Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. Continue reading

Taxi Driver + I Stand Alone

Taxi Driver + I Stand Alone

Pst. Get secret Double Feature episodes you didn’t know even existed. Tonight: heavy films on breaking points. A look at the psychotic from inside and outside. Keep that bagcat close by. News to no one but Michael Koester: Taxi Drive is fucking amazing! Robert De Niro doesn’t just put movie tickets on his face. As usual, the techniques of filmmaking area useful in making great films. A bit of a character study on Travis. What does Travis want, besides being a Taxi Driver? To clean up the streets or to accidentally clean up the streets, that is the exploitation-biased question. Hoping that no one else hears the fucking Godsmack song when they read the title I Stand Alone. Alice does not ask for an impression. What does Gasper really think? That goddamn Placebo video. Naked is good. Continue reading

Fitzcarraldo + Used Cars

Fitzcarraldo + Used Cars

A look into the headspace of those who are a little…off. Double Feature releases THE DOUBLE FEATURE MOVIE alongside the Year 9 Kickstarter. Out now! https://doublefeature.fm/members Fitzcarraldo in the making. Every film is also a documentary of the making of that film. Metaphors that aren’t metaphors. The line between crazy and genius (or, maybe there’s one). Fitzcarraldo could have just eaten a gum ball and avoided this whole mess. Used Cars as a screwball comedy. The time of Robert Zemekis that didn’t get enough breathing room. Getting down and dirty. The cringey feeling of watching screwball comedies (which have all but disappeared) at the height of the politically correctness in the last several decades. Revisiting – was it ok for people in backwards times to think backwards things? Staving off the full transition into socially conservative old person. Continue reading

Killapalooza 28: The Exorcist

Killapalooza 28: The Exorcist

The Exorcist films 1-5. A fresh, outsider’s guide to the Exorcist franchise. Five films, right? How many? A case for the popular appeal of a film that isn’t immediately effective to views out of the moment. Bloody Disgusting has a great series on slowing getting non-horror audiences into horror films. Rooting for the Devil in the Exorcist. Sad endings un stories about losing faith. A series of memorable set pieces. A tradition of single mother horror films. Defending the wrong underdogs. One more with strange feelings!` A horridly flawed and side-barred Alien comparison. The greatest Exorcist 3 that’s ever been. One of the greatest stand-alone films in Killapalooza history. Two films fight for forth film in the Exorcist franchise, but only one will win. Or maybe really neither will win. Continue reading

Stand By Me + Sleepers

Stand By Me + Sleepers

Kids on a rafter and what happens next. Trigger Warning: The last sentence about rafts was misleading because there are no rafts. If you are sensitive to audio programs that promote themselves as including rafts when they in fact do not include said rafts, there is a small possibility you will be negatively impacted by listening to the full show. To skip Stand By Me, skip to the twenty-four minute mark of the show and move directly to the film Sleepers. If you have not seen Sleepers, skip another 23.5 minutes to the so-called discussion regarding next week’s episode. Trigger Warning: if you are sensitive to upcoming episode discussions that are not really discussions but more a casual name drop of an upcoming special episode covering a horror franchise, blah blah trigger warning go fuck yourself. Continue reading

Honeymoon + The Taking of Deborah Logan

Honeymoon + The Taking of Deborah Logan

Degeneration and the need to overcome it. Really really no-kidding scary movies. Honeymoon: what the hell? A nice peaceful vacation into a terrible place. The hidden gem of Honeymoon. When things happen at the end, they are also very bad. A summary that refuses to spoil Honeymoon. The ending of Honeymoon, and that thing you seriously can’t believe (or understand). A time for scary faces – and that time is during The Taking of Deborah Logan. Deborah Logan is not Deborah Morgan (sorry about that!) Learning about Alzheimer’s. Determinations of a canonical natural in The Taking of Deborah Logan. Documentary handy-cam style spooky something. Credit where credit is due. The thing in that cave that is the worst thing. Continue reading

Super Fly + Dope

Super Fly + Dope

Contrasting portraits of success between decades. Super Fly and Shaft. One more job? There’s always one more job. A actual case of trying to get out of the business. Well, ‘a’ business anyways. Super Fly and the infamous score. Or Superfly soundtrack or whatever. If the Taco emoji wouldn’t destroy the feed or website or whatever, there would probably be one here. People who never update their phone wouldn’t be able to see the taco, so there’s also that to consider. HEY. What didn’t you see Dope? It was really, really great. The inevitability and unlikeliness of Dope. That 90s throwback film sort of happened, hooray! Michael defends a non-existant claim in an attempt to see what it all means. Continue reading

Gone Girl + Rachel Getting Married

Gone Girl + Rachel Getting Married

Stains on the American dream. Family life in the twenty-first century. The Gone Girl on David Fincher, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross down to a science. A terrible marathon of awful. Compliments to Tyler Perry. Missi Pyle on Fox News on Gone Girl. Selling the turns. No one will believe Rachel Getting Married is not awful, and, in fact, is a great Dogma95 style film. Blame the terrible cover. Not this cover, the one with Anne Hathaway’s smudged uncanny-valley face. The tragedy of no one seeing Rachel Getting Married because of this cover. Box office numbers that could have been better (had someone not fucked up the cover of Rachel Getting Married). Alright, really, look up the cover to this movie. You won’t believe it. Revisiting a conversation from Melancholia. Making time for twelve-step. Continue reading

Daisies + Bad Education

Daisies + Bad Education

Gender in the sixties and in the twenty-sixties. Daisies: not on the tv/film obscurity chart, but probably should be. Maybe it fell off the bottom. Black and white, definition, war and colors. Maybe-Robot girls do all the (bad?) things. Something about Daisies ladies and newspapers. Daisies provokes a very different kind of conversation about film, and Double Feature likes it. Bad Education requires taking notes, and then throwing them out and writing new notes. Fuck it, why not ditch these notes. Let’s Play Identity! Who does what as who and why are they doing that? Also, don’t forget, boohiss religion. Every time you squirm, known that’s because someone bumped the pretension knob. Really though, how about that Year 1? Continue reading

The Sum of All Fears + Goldeneye

The Sum of All Fears + Goldeneye

Jack Ryan and James Bond return with new faces. Trying to place The Sum of All Fears in the Jack Ryan universe. A movie that actually contains a sum of all of the fears. The continued look at analysts. The inner circles of analytics. Movie presidents then and now. The nuclear football. What happens with the bomb. Does mutually assured destruction still work? James Bond’s Goldeneye 64. Finally, actual hard evidence for the James Bond fan theory – it has to be one or the other. Or a third option. Pierce Brosnan becomes James Bond. Much love for the Alan Cumming. I’m invincible! Xena fills up her Hot Topic punch card (that’s ten skulls, by the way). Goldeneye as a progress Bond. Continue reading

Watchmen + Iron Sky

Watchmen + Iron Sky

Alternate history with very different backgrounds. The key differences between the multiple versions of Zach Snyder’s Watchmen. Another unlikely film. Watchmen at the perfect time a place. A perfect zeitgeist film that is unfortunately always in the zeitgeist. Extending the metaphor of mutually assured destruction. What does the end of Watchmen mean? Three term Nixon. Alternate history in the minds and hearts of the audience. Ah, that great ultra violence. Iron Sky. Nazis on the moon! Enabling WWII alternate fiction. How has Double Feature not see Iron Sky? Whoops Netflix. Choosing your racism carefully. The one and only excuse for anyone on earth to be racist. Alternate fiction as a writing tool. Iron Sky and the Internet! Be nice to Zach Snyder, maybe. Continue reading

Calvary + Philomena

Calvary + Philomena

Communities of faith. Finding Calvary in a sea of Calvaries. Bang! Introduction! The opening fiasco. Seven days in town. An excuse for slice-of-life. Is everyone a suspect? How suspicion taints perspective (or at least demands engagement and a careful eye). Calvary, beloved by atheists. Philomena and the weekly kick in the nuts. Hey, let’s go on a road trip! A different kind of brutality. A side of Steve Coogan we’ve actually always seen. Judi Dench wins everything always. Never trust a nun. An update on where all those Double Feature episodes went. Continue reading

Magic Magic + A Field in England

Magic Magic + A Field in England

Something is very wrong. How the comedy works. Anxiety, confusion, and an exercise in…what, exactly? How Magic Magic twists the audience in its palm. The birds, oh god the birds. Puppy metaphors, maybe. Michael makes many comparisons, none of which involve bead. To address Michael Cera in Magic Magic. A Field in England opens with an dark and amusing joke only Double Feature listeners get to experience. Stupefying through minimalism. Everything you need to know upfront doesn’t help you. A Field in England, the devil, and drugs. Two editors eat some evil. Continue reading

Crimson Peak + The Elephant Man

Crimson Peak + The Elephant Man

Four hundred episodes, one Elephant Man, and a Crimson Peak. One of those David Lynch episodes! Guillermo del Toro finally appears on Double Feature. The directors who forged your taste. Who is the true Guillermo del Toro? Crimson Peak as just the greatest. Is Crimson Peak a great example of the director’s work or some other odd thing? Finding love in a brand new thing. The ceremony of film. Death in cinema. Just how weird is The Elephant Man? How David Lynch is it? Are those things related? The time and place The Elephant Man came out.An extended sandwich metaphor. An unlikely recommendation. Joseph Merrick. Man’s inhumanity to man. No kidding class warfare. Don’t forget, food for thought: Frankenstein. Continue reading

Melancholia + Persona

Melancholia + Persona

Considering identity and withdrawal. Finally, a trip through Melancholia in another chapter of Lars von Trier’s Depression Trilogy. Hopefully that one guy still listens. Sometimes the obvious metaphor is the right metaphor. Who’s the real victim of the swell party? What Melancholia shows regarding the cognitive divide between those with depression and those without depression. Different backgrounds create different knee-jerk reactions. Naked Kirsten Dunst wins everything. Keifer Sutherland jumps into a tree. The von Trier kinship. Persona as that one film that inspired all student films. Just how obscure is Ingmar Bergman? An early example of taking advantage of / completely subverting the media of film. Persona as described to another human – or attempted, anyways. Continue reading

Big Bad Wolves + Prisoners

Big Bad Wolves + Prisoners

Taking the law into your own hands. Child abduction films. People may or may not listen to The Prodigy, but they totally should. Big Bad Wolves, from an unexpected place. Keeping up with the good old brutality. The jokes, they’re coming for you. Dark dark times, and things are only getting worse. The first films from the creators of Big Bad Wolves. Prisoners, a film that is really fucking good. Seriously, see Prisoners! Come on. A terrifying performance with interesting choices. Running those circles. The gift from an actor. Buy one Prisoners, get one Prisoners for free. Continue reading

Eyes Without a Face + American Mary

Eyes Without a Face + American Mary

Surgery, both domestic and foreign. #babysfirstsoska! Where does Eyes Without a Face fit into the history of cinema, and how can you know? Looking to more recent films that drew inspiration. True horror, even today. Timeless effects techniques. Eyes Without a Face and identity. Why the filmmaker’s intent is valuable, even if you don’t care about the filmmakers intent. American Mary. A personal journey through The Soska Sisters. Twisted Twins and Katherine Isabelle. American Mary and attempting to steal from the Canadians. The rest of the Soska twins’ discography. Continue reading

Phantom of the Paradise + Forbidden Zone

Phantom of the Paradise + Forbidden Zone

Some musical midnight movies that aren’t asking for approval. Another look at the Phantom of the Paradise. Returning to Chicago’s own Music Box Massacre. Death, Inc. A monster, a veiled threat and a whiney if not eclectic piano player. The Phantom of the Paradise’s iconography and depth as compared to Phantom of the Opera or Faust or other well-known works. Heading to the Forbidden Zone. Something something blackface! Richard Elfman hands down the Mystic Nights of Oingo Boingo. Danny Elfman borrows from his own Forbidden Zone pieces. The Oogie Boogie song originally appears in Forbidden Zone. Danny ELfman’s very first film score, sort of. Pseudo Satan, Oogie Boogie’s song and Dilbert Zone. The Freeway connection. The conspiracy of Forbidden Zone. Is Forbidden Zone satirical or just odd? Oh, also, the crowdfunding campaign for Forbidden Zone 2. Continue reading

A Tale of Two Sisters + Calvaire

A Tale of Two Sisters + Calvaire

Surreal tales of fear from a place that you dare not spoil. Alice goes to Sundance with his films Director’s Cut and 31. New details about Rob Zombie’s 31. The infamy of A Tale of Two Sisters. Spoilers and jokes about spoilers. Deconstructing a unforeseen development in the plot. Korea reveals things. Name that film. No, please, name that film. The era of Japanese ghost stories or some such country. Calvaire, also known at The Ordeal. Michael forgets what the fuck is going on. Double features that accidentally work anyways. Horrible, terrible things and the wonderful people who love them. Listeners do the craziest things. Continue reading

SLC Punk + The Fountainhead

SLC Punk + The Fountainhead

Rugged individuals resist society. The time and place of SLC Punk. Who to follow and how to follow them. Punks in Salt Lake City an Punks in the suburbs of Chicago. A young punk’s relationship with his parents. St. Charles Mall Goth. Selling out! Heroine Bob, heroine in general, and that awful social circle. SLC Punk as a companion to the film Mean Girls. How to pronounce Ayn Rand. the Ayn Rand controversy. Someone else’s problem. Comparing The Fountainhead to Atlas Shrugged. The pain and pleasure of long speeches regarding ideals. Books about architecture can be movies about architecture. Continue reading

Clear and Present Danger + The Living Daylights

Clear and Present Danger + The Living Daylights

Coming back to new and old faces in the worlds of Jack Ryan and James Bond. What a raw show without notes is like. Still an analyst at heart! Answering the cliffhanger you forgot about from Jack Ryan’s last film, Patriot Games. Obtuse and lingering danger. Batman as Jack Ryan. Respect the oval office. Is this a win for the hero? A new James Bond and the missing James Bond. The awareness of The Living Daylights. 007 and the other double-0’s. Michael Koester says some ridiculous things and some profound things. Well, maybe just one profound thing. The debunked James Bond fan theory. A little more behind the curtain talk on Double Feature. Continue reading

Citizenfour + Mysterious Skin

Citizenfour + Mysterious Skin

Coping with unbearable weight in both fact and fiction. Crime and awful. A newly discovered use of the great empathy machine. The privacy myth – it’s not what you think it is. Encrypt your business and fuck that Google! Avoiding services that steal your data as the center of their business model. The US government doesn’t realize Edward Snowden is a patriot. President Obama as a total jerk. Mysterious Skin may be the toughest film Double Feature has ever tried to cover. More pedophile jokes than you can shake a prison sentence at. Continue reading

Romancing the Stone + Sorcerer

Romancing the Stone + Sorcerer

Smuggling-ish adventure thing! Romantic adventures. Wait, what? Robert Zemekis shocks many by making more than one kind of film. Well actually, look at all this stuff. Where Romancing the Stone falls in the Zemekis chronology. Kurt Russell wants to sell you a car. Get that stone! That time Danny DeVito didn’t play that guy from that one film that isn’t real anyways. Sorcerer as a maybe-remake of The Wages of Fear. Is Sorcerer a remake and why does that matter? The end of auteurism. A broader conversation about studios, money, directors and the death of art. Is the video market to blame, or did video invent cult? The answers to everything are yes and no, all the time.. Continue reading

Happy Accidents + K-PAX

Happy Accidents + K-PAX

Personal stories through the bending of time and space, maybe. You probably don’t see Happy Accidents coming. What the fuck, this film. Vincent D’Onofrio does all of the things. Various ways to interpret the plot of the film. This description can’t contain spoilers. There’s another movie on the show. In K-Pax, Kevin Spacey is not Bono. Bono is not Bono. No one is Bono. Jeff Bridges has a fourth of July celebration with the family. Saul Williams is Gunshots by Computer on sunday, bloody sunday. More various ways to interpret a film, this time regarding a different film. Something happens at the end and it’s probably great. I hope you’re happy. Continue reading

Killapalooza 27: The Omen

Killapalooza 27: The Omen

The Omen films 1-4. Damien! The Killapalooza returns. The most insane listener thing yet. One take! Where does the name Damiem come from? That was the original Omen going for and where is it now? 20th Centuary Fox. The most horrible thing ever. The music in the Omen franchise. Characters embracing the mythology. Is watching Omen as a slasher franchise a good thing or a bad thing? Taking it to the next level, and then not pretending it didn’t happen. Omen 2: Less title articles. Puberty is a satanist’s best friend. Help out your local demon. Coming into power, which makes for a great film about having come into power. What billionaires what. What’s dogs got to do with it? Killing all the babies: a hole in your plan. Let’s just make more Omens. Come on everyone, to the manatee tank! Continue reading

Last Action Hero + This is the End

Last Action Hero + This is the End

Movies looking inside themselves. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the Last Action Hero.Wait a second, John McTernan? A criticism of the action genre by masters of the action genre. The little boy that could. Calling out escapism. Animated buddy cops and factual fiction characters. A-listers commit atrocities in This is the End. Calling into question the behind-the-scenes buddy element. How much of a real look into celebrity life is This is the End? The change in celebrity over time. The ‘what the fuck’ angle. So bizarre it’s hard to believe it is really a film. Hey James Franco, want to talk about Jesus? Continue reading

Vertigo + In the Mouth of Madness

Vertigo + In the Mouth of Madness

Gargantuan directors examine head problems. Untouchable darkness. Hitchcock and Vertigo. I’m demon speeding.Not talking about the shot by talking about the shot. It’s been a while, so just what are these Hitchcock things? A dirty black river to get you through this. A run down on Vertigo. An argument for madness. Hey, do you love me I’m a devil machine? Get into my world, all-american dream. John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness. Down in the darkness there is no more tomorrow. Sam Neil gets locked in the hallow. Steven King shows up somehow. What really makes authors go crazy in the woods. Hey, do you love it when the kids are screaming? Wrecking on the road violate their dreaming. Hey, do you love to see the filth in the clean? Get into the gone, all american. Dream. Continue reading

The Insider + Wag the Dog

The Insider + Wag the Dog

Backdoor meetings and the powers that be. Catch that wikileak! Don’t steal movies. Michael Mann shows an insider getting out. Wag the Dog makes shines light into the darkness. Fist bumps a plenty. An incredible introduction to the risks of telling the truth. The lesser of two fucks. A return to the question of friend or pet. Speaking of pets, Wag the Dog is not about a dog. The president you want to changes horses in a stream with. The Internet both destroys and fosters insane lies. A real Hollywood conspiracy. The farce for the truth! Continue reading

Mad Max: Fury Road + The End of August at the Hotel Ozone

Mad Max: Fury Road + The End of August at the Hotel Ozone

Let’s spend a day in the wasteland! Boy there sure are a lot of women here. I hope they’re not savages. Then again, what is a savage when you really get down to it? Aren’t we all the future savages of the past, just living in the present? Progressive thinkers doomed to be made retroactively intolerant by a rapidly liberated society? All these questions are making me hungry. Say, you guys don’t have any pets do you? Man is there a lot of walking in the wasteland. It’s just so sandy for so long. You could really run out of things to talk about. So, has anybody here seen the new Mad Max? Continue reading

The Shootist + Bone Tomahawk

The Shootist + Bone Tomahawk

Making something of your final days in the west. Westerns where life outside the film has implication on the movie itself. John Wayne had cancer, but did 1890 have cancer? The large star of The Shootist fights for his role. Could The Shootist exist without John Wayne? Other self-referential fiction. Ron Howard has been around for a long time. Bone Tomahawk is the greatest fucking thing. Westerns for horror movie fans. Ultra violent westerns. Fuck you, foreshadowing. Foreshadowing as a crutch and foreshowing as a red herring. Continue reading

Patriot Games + Moonraker

Patriot Games + Moonraker

A unfamiliar return to the world of Jack Ryan and James Bond. People flipping out about actors playing characters. Jack Ryan comes back, sort of. The differences between the Jack Ryan of Patriot Games and the Jack Ryan of The Hunt for Red October. Samuel L Jackson pins things on people. What kind of Ted Raimi?! Why the change from A View to a Kill. James Bond goes to space in Moonraker. Exploitation! Bondsploitation! Star Warsploitation! Roger Moore. The most ridiculous moments of the James Bond franchise. Jaws and the return of Jaws. Action sequences then and now. Of gadgets and hamsters. #standWithDaniel Continue reading

Belle de Jour + Moebius

Belle de Jour + Moebius

Weird sex things. Some sex things are weirder than others. The treat that is Belle de Jour. The deal with these Luis Bunuel films. Double Feature wants more belle movies. Mixing fantasy and reality until you can’t tell the difference. Displaying an arc in more than just character. The never-failing allure of what goes on behind closed doors. Alright, it’s time to enter Moebius. Do you have your Bag Cat ready? The snip-and-toss festival. Slapping and talking and slapping. Narrative? Fuck that! Delivering a message without telling a story. Ok, I guess you could call that a story. Relentless commitment to the insanity at hand. Moebius showing an adorable amount of restraint. Michael has a dirty secret about Kim’s movies. Continue reading

The Babadook + We Need to Talk About Kevin

The Babadook + We Need to Talk About Kevin

Mothers and Monsters. Inter-relationship terror or something. Don’t get spoiled on We Need to Talk About Kevin or you will be the true monster. Alice finished directing his short film and will now become a crazy person. Female directed films! Jennifer Kent and Lars von Trier. How The Babadook terrifies. Children as warnings and also as annoyances both minor and major. The power of metaphor carries on. Don’t find out what We Need to Talk About Kevin is About. The impact of that moment. A difference in reads. Unraveling a mystery. Seeing red. Who holds the responsibility and what is to be done? The increased relevance of We Need to Talk About Kevin in the years since its release Continue reading

It Follows + The American Scream

It Follows + The American Scream

A celebration of the all-consuming spooky. ArieScope Pictures celebrates seventeen years! Alice attempts (and fails) to not worry about his film for one hour. Starting October with the festival favorite It Follows. Why people mention It Follows in the same breath as The Babadook. Creating tension out of nothing. Fighting production for a creepy, slow pace. The American Scream via American Movie. Are these Halloween enthusiasts crazy? The passionate genre fanatics of both metal and horror. Filmmaking as a project launch. Halloween down to the last perfect detail. Pragmatism vs idealism. Perfection in film vs perfection in music. Parkinson’s Principle: why you never have enough of what you need when you plan to do a thing. Continue reading

Brain Damage + The Stuff

Brain Damage + The Stuff

Off the 1980’s VHS shelf. Beloved filmmakers who very much love themselves. Special effects artists Sheila Mia Seifi and Rob Burman. Unraveling the magic of Brain Damage. An order of magnitude longer than necessary. Is there a secret meaning buried in Brain Damage? (Probably not). Getting right into The Stuff. What is the Stuff made of? More secrets never uncovered. I mean, sure, just light it on fire I guess. The cult appeal! The beauty of surface value. New information on why Paul Sorvino might be a thing. Those goddamn faces though. Continue reading

Straight Outta Compton + Cop Car

Straight Outta Compton + Cop Car

America’s evolving relationship with the police. The slasher documentaries. Buz Wallick joins Alice’s upcoming film. Straight Outta Compton is oddly relevant today. The theater experience. That goddamn Alamo Drafthouse. Knowing the NWA today. Dr. Dre’s new album Compton. Revisiting the ideal trailer. Cop Car builds the suspense out of nothing and it’s fabulous. Holy fucking awesome filmmaking. Where is this going? A return to mystery. Hey why not, let’s get some Director’s Cut news. Continue reading

Frances Ha + Ninotchka

Frances Ha + Ninotchka

A show about communism. Alice Thirteen announces the cinematographer of his next project, and it’s kind of unreal. No, really, that thing about communism from before is actually in there. Ok, fine, a show about women knowing what they want, not what they need. See, you don’t like that theme any better. So, communistic living in two female led films separated by the decades. Also, Gretta. Frances Ha, the most widely accepted totally-not-a-mumblecore-movie of all time. Joe Swanberg and Ti West. People who wander aimlessly through their 20s will soon be running the world. Ninotchka – don’t pronounce it, see it! Or you could do both, there’s really no harm in that. Melting the icy heart. Continue reading

Maps to the Stars + Peeping Tom

Maps to the Stars + Peeping Tom

The perils of human watching. Alice Thirteen is directing a new film. Finding the funding for your movie. David Cronenberg returns with Maps to the Stars. Actors who go for it without fear. Maps to the Stars is not a satire of Los Angeles. What makes LA tick? Determining the motivation of a crazy person. Or maybe she’s not crazy. No, she’s crazy either way. The curious case of LA’s medium income in a large number of neighborhoods. Voyeurism, or: Everything is a slasher film. The Alec Baldwin in the room. Peeping Tom, career destroyer. The impression of a pornographer. Continue reading

Hits + God Bless America

Hits + God Bless America

Waaah, American culture. Two comedians help audiences let it all out. Something’s happening and it shall not be talked about. The long overdue conversation about piracy, distribution, and the financial state of film. What is the David Cross directed film Hits actually about? Also, the value of Likes. The waxed mustached Etsy crowd. The price of fame. Does God Bless America represent Bobcat’s views? Surprise! Zero conversations about religion! Is reality TV still destroying everything or are we done with that? The next step in counterculture. Continue reading

After Hours + A Serious Man

After Hours + A Serious Man

Physical vs emotional character journeys, as brought to you by gigantic directors. A step outside the expected. Michael’s evolving relationship with Eyes Wide Shut. After Hours as a day in the life of. Everyone’s favorite third host of Double Feature, Franz Kafka. Martin Scorsese makes movies that aren’t After Hours. Citizens of Los Angeles tell each other secrets about Tim Burton. An odd time for the Coen brothers to make A Serious Man. Front-loaded magic and made up stories. A chain of character-driven events. The greatest trailer of all trailers. An introduction to the work of Roger Deakins. Attempting to explain cinematography without visual aids. Continue reading

Under the Skin + Spring

Under the Skin + Spring

Lady enigmas. Under the Skin, the challenging arthouse film staring a naked A-list celebrity. Like, actually. Impossible star power and the counterintuitive nature of film investment. What is Under the Skin even about? Surreal somethings. Contrast at many levels. ALEC BALDWIN FUN FACT. You’ve seen the Spring directors before, and they’re still amazing. The animal sacrifice no one has ever been able to pull off (until now). When hot Italian girls are suspect. Oh hi, skepticism. Using the language of science to take a crazy ride. Speculative fiction from by the science literature. Spring as a strange kind of HP Lovecraft romance film. Continue reading

Zombeavers + They Came Together

Zombeavers + They Came Together

Genres as plot points. Matthew Donnelly, the bucket machine. A common funding tactic that worked for Zombeavers. Also, come on, Zombeavers: the triumphant face-value monster horror feature! Animated zombie beavers. Animatronic zombie beavers. He came. She came. They came together. Is that even the tagline? David Wain makes more sense. Is it good to follow up? Michael falls in love with Paul Rudd. I’ll fucking say it until it becomes funny! An afterthought changes the entire movie, and probably for the better! Tearing apart in the edit. Alice Thirteen begins to open up about the thing that is happening. Continue reading

Papillon + Night at the Golden Eagle

Papillon + Night at the Golden Eagle

Finding a way out of your current life (from opposite sides of the bars). Alice reports in from downtown Los Angeles. Papillon, based on something that happened somewhere at some point, probably. Papillon’s instincts. The will to survive. The bad gets worse. To be labeled a survivor. Using money while in prison. Adam Rifkin has a Night at the Golden Eagle. More on Downtown Los Angeles. The financial district, the jewelry district, skid row and tent city. An old look for a new film. Fresh voyeuristic perspective. Miles Dougal’s yet to be made Night at the Golden Eagle spinoff. Finding an excuse for the b-story. A large, rapid update on Adam Rifkin and Penn Jillette’s film Director’s Cut. Continue reading

The Hunt for Red October + Dr. No

The Hunt for Red October + Dr. No

The beginnings of the Jack Ryan and James Bond universes. The Hunt for Red October as the first in a loose series of films. Another chance to talk about director John McTiernan. The unfortunate McTiernan incident. Continuing to ponder a director’s signature. Of sentimentality and submarines. The reluctant hero Jack Ryan! Dr. No in the first consideration of James Bond. The accidental Sean Connery double feature. Another book, another hero. The ability to geek out on Bond. Doctor No is not Blofeld. Another origin for petting the white cat. The dubbing of Dr. No. Talking about the ladies in the Bond franchise. An array of patriotism on display. What does the future hold for James Bond? Continue reading

Wet Hot American Summer + What Have I Done to Deserve This

Wet Hot American Summer + What Have I Done to Deserve This

Notable casts in absurd comedies. Seriously though everyone, The Movie Crypt. The moments before the Netflix series Wet Hot American Summer: The First Day at Camp. Older playing younger. An unremarkable reception. Two crazy approaches to humor. The shotgun method. The machine gun method. Foreign film invasion! Imagine Wet Hot American Summer with Jason Voorhees. What Have I Done to Deserve This? The blood lizard. Putting up the wallpaper. Spanish film trends and their influence on American films. Taking guess on What Have I Done to Deserve This? Continue reading

Oldboy + The Hunt

Oldboy + The Hunt

Unnecessary life-changing altercations as man hunt meets witch hunt! Pretending to understanding the impact Oldboy had on American cinema. Oldeuboi! The video market, or new video nasty, or the Nu-Nasty, or whatever it’s called. America looks to Asia. Something about a hammer. Alice and Michael’s nonexistant Sick and Twisted cinemation festival. It’s never too late for Spike Lee jokes. Hannibal is not the subject of The Hunt. Another secret episode theme. Where did things go wrong? Placing blame. Can a terrible deed go without fault? The game of telephone. The meaning behind the ending of The Hunt. Continue reading

Straw Dogs + The Perfect Host

Straw Dogs + The Perfect Host

Terror on the inside. Now Available: Double Feature Year 1 on iTunes. Remastered for iTunes, Year 1 of Double Feature is now available on the iTunes Store and Apple Music. The complete Let’s Play Alien Isolation is also online! Straw Dogs, Sam Peckinpah, and a checkmark on John Water’s Cecil B Demented list. That infamous complicated rape scene. Siege on the house. Gender roles! Straw Dogs and the censors. Human beings as animals. The star of the show in The Perfect Host. A Netflix survivor! Actors taking chances. Do we want to be surprised or pat on the head? Managing audience expectations. Let’s talk about Battleship Pretension. Even more Alien. Continue reading

Everly + Digging Up the Marrow

Everly + Digging Up the Marrow

Kicking off a fresh year with ArieScope pictures. Adam Green and Joe Lynch release brand new movies outside the Hollywood machine. Everly as a sample of 2015 independent film. It’s time to solve Joe Lynch. Basing your impression of a film maker on a new sample of work. Building your set and breaking your set. The return of the bottle film. Alex Pardee helps Adam Green uncover the marrow. Follow a bunch of real people who are interesting characters. Digging Up the Marrow as old school American horror. Double Feature teams up with the Battleship Pretension network. Continue reading

Double Feature Year 7 Finale

Double Feature Year 7 Finale

SPOILER FREE SHOW! The Year Seven retrospective. A new, chapter-less world. A more fluid, conversational year end format. Listener feedback, brought to you by tweets. What was the secret subtext 2014 and 2015 brought to Double Feature? Police and the black community by way of Spike Lee and Woody Allen. Feminism, the redefinition or rape, Repulsion and Compliance. Post-episode shockers. The best double features, supposedly. Films to revisit. The additional content reigns supreme. All the information you ever wanted about Double Feature: The Movie. Meeting people in Austin Texas. Continue reading

The Lego Movie + The Human Centipede

The Lego Movie + The Human Centipede

Relax and enjoy the last episode of the year. Building blocks! Not sorry. Well, a little sorry. How to get a movie on Double Feature if your name is Michael Koester and the movie is The Human Centipede. A movie everyone knows (and Rotten Tomatoes claims mostly love). Minds are blown. What do you make a Lego movie about? Think different. Tom Six has an obsession for obsessions (but can it match Michael’s?) The first sequence. When a Human Centipede finds itself on the wrong side of the law, it must think like a centipede in order to survive. That sweet three-dog. So you’ve got what you always wanted – now what? Continue reading

Whatever Works + Red Hook Summer

Whatever Works + Red Hook Summer

The final episode in the Woody Allen meets Spike Lee series. The journey’s conclusion begins with Whatever Works, the 2009 Woody Allen film with some head-on fourth wall crazy. Larry David as Boris as Woody Allen Himself as a guy who still loves that one girl at that one age. Evan Rachel Wood’s character Melody is a character unlike the others from the series, and at the same time most like those characters. A criticism of art, sort of, maybe. Spike Lee brings back Mookie for Red Hook Summer. A wooden horse painted with young Atlanta kid finding that good old time religion. Old time religion proves to be less about altruism and values, and more about covering up child rape conspiracies. How raping children has proven to actually be a bad thing for religion. The new 35%: millennials don’t have a god. Atheism doesn’t destroy religion (apathy is the greater cause). Continue reading

Bad Lieutenant + The Limey

Bad Lieutenant + The Limey

Bad men doing bad…for justice, or something. Revising the Double Feature format. What should change for next year? There is a force, and that force’s name is Harvey Keitel. Ms 45 herself, Zoe Lund. Abel Ferrara’s filmmaking secret: drugs! How does one make a film on drugs? Who secretly directed Bad Lieutenant. The Limey’s disjointed editing style. Soviet montage theory. Russian editing! Terence Stamp meets Peter Fonda. Barry Newman and the great roadsploitation. Steven Sodobergh teaches us Russian. Sodobergh’s recut of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Just who is this guy? Continue reading

Killapalooza 26: Scream

Killapalooza 26: Scream

Scream films 1-4. Ghostface: the knife, the mask, and nineties television. Last hours to Kickstart Double Feature Year 8. A new spin on the slasher. The rules one must abide by. The Rose McGowan who won’t abide by the rules. Unexpectedly favorite characters. Coming back for the sequel. Let’s all pretend slasher trilogies are a real thing. Coming back later. No new information: studio executives are fucking liars. The idea of making Scream scary again. The return of slasher trivia! Remakes tell you which originals to go watch. Four new Wes Craven films have made it on the show. Continue reading

Bad Grandpa + The Imposter

Bad Grandpa + The Imposter

Fakers teach us about reality. The Kickstarter counts down! Bad Grandpa, a fictional film taking place in our reality. Johnny Knoxville and the award worthy makeup effects department. A continuation and possible reversal of ethics from The Idiots. Something more extreme than french extreme – or, “french extreme with giggles.” How to be an honest liar. The Imposter, a documentary using the visual and storytelling clues of narrative fiction. Checkerboard lighting. Cinematography makes a metaphor. The audience hires a private investigator. Filmmakers as storytellers. Drama versus reality. Continue reading

The Celebration + The Idiots

The Celebration + The Idiots

The Dogme95 primer pays off! Two films from an obscure movement. Official Dogme95 No. 1: The Celebration. A film that refuses to tell you how to feel. Fear of the unreliable victim. Justified breakfast. What happens when Dogme95 plays by the rules. The perfect conclusion. By the way, there’s totally spoilers in this show. Official Dogme95 No. 2: The Idiots. Lars von Trier re-enters a trilogy. Life with the soft of mind. A defense of being obnoxious. The future of America’s culture wars. If it feels good, do it. Attempting to evaluate someone’s life with minimal context. No one should suffer (an apparently controversial opinion). Let people do what they need to do. Continue reading

Tim’s Vermeer + Resurrect Dead

Tim’s Vermeer + Resurrect Dead

Uncover two documentary mysteries! Also – the Double Feature Year 8 Kickstarter launches! Tim’s Vermeer makes audiences wonder if Tim Jenison is an artist. What is painting, what is engineering, and what is art? Why Tim-As-An-Artist is an important question. Disruption in the art community, and the emotion that causes some artists to resist a leading theory. The art of engineering. User experience and the consequences of design. Tim Jenison is the greatest engineer ever filmed. Luddites in the art community. Is technology cheating? (No.) It is not invalid to enjoy art digitally! Resurrect Dead and the should be spooky but isn’t mystery of the Toynbee Tiles. Plan Jupiter from outer space. Continue reading

Zombi 2 + The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

Zombi 2 + The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

Old Italy meets some more oldish Italy. Gaillo exists outside of a bubble. Why Tarantino meets Rodriguez. Zombie, Zombie 2, Zombi 2, Zombie Flesh Eaters, and whatever else the fuck this movie is called. What is the makeup effects impact of Zombi 2? Choose your own sequel. Dario Argento returns with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage with a teeth a. Starting in your skin. A new voice defies Italian horror. Who wrote the title of this film? Continue reading

Spring Breakers + Dark Horse

Spring Breakers + Dark Horse

Harmony Korine and Todd Solondz come together again (whether they like it or not). Spring Breakers is a seriously amazing intellectual piece, even though you’d never believe it. News on the Cage Match, as the massive Nicolas Cage project draws to a close. Spring Breaks demonstrates criticism of a culture by letting the culture speak for itself. The most horrifying vantage point may be inside the party. Classics vs songs of the summer. The relatively short shelf life of particular artists and singles. Call for a dubstep do-over. Alice’s favorite film opening uses self-discovery to work on multiple levels. Who’s riding the Dark Horse? Todd Solondz makes a kid-friendly film. Not that kind of kid-friendly. Michael wants people to do things with their lives, for their own good at the good of those who surround them. Continue reading

Starcrash + Orca: The Killer Whale

Starcrash + Orca: The Killer Whale

What can you learn about writing method from exploitation films? Turns out, a lot. An unorthodox approach to writing theory. And Then vs Thereforre/But. The midpoint shift. Better knowledge of Star Wars through Starcrash. Spectacle films. Why ignoring all common thought regarding plot and character development was a great idea for Starcrash. The hero’s journey. Another stab at sword and sorcery. One thing leads to another. Orca: The Brutal Whale. Different take, same ends. Grotesque, mishandled imagery leads to profound feeling. Exploitation’s unintended consequences. All films are cash-ins (and that’s ok). Continue reading

Manhattan Murder Mystery + He Got Game

Manhattan Murder Mystery + He Got Game

Woody Allen and Spike Lee consider New York and the people who live there! Do you use chapters? Do you ignore chapters? Send an email! Dense apartments and nosey neighbors. Dull hobbies vs strange kinks. Immorality and its benefits! Suspicions before suspicions pay off. Drag the audience into an absurd game, then show them how absurd they are. Ermahgerd, wur mah durguns? Spike Lee watches people play basketball. The glorious 90s, a time of the Chicago Bulls dynasty and also Milla Jovovich. There’s magic in that there basketball. Who is the real he who hath game? Continue reading

The Cottage + Sightseers

The Cottage + Sightseers

Where comedy meets violence. Paul Andrew Williams’s The Cottage. Wait, what’s a cottage? Mutants fuck with people enjoying a perfectly good heist film. Shifting the scales – all film protagonists are not created equally. A series of proficient, grade-A maulings. Andy Serkis is going to be who Andy Serkis is going to be. The much popular Kill List and whispers on the films of Ben Wheatley. Finding a creative angle for an obvious scene. Continue reading

Chronicle + Even Dwarfs Started Small

Chronicle + Even Dwarfs Started Small

Territories familiar and not. Tonight: an exciting announcement! Heroes larger than expected…unless you were expecting superheroes and dwarfs, then heroes exactly the size you expected.First, who or what is Charles Crawford? Podmanity challenges Double Feature. The end of a six month full-time podcast job. The Marvel Studios release schedule. Why Chronicle is unlike the rest of the superhero genre. Independent directors making it big. Turn off the powers! Start small, get astronomical. We can watch any movie, as long as that movie is Even Dwarfs Started Small. When the obscure really is obscure. A thought experiment in the world of the film. Continue reading

Killapalooza 25: Wrong Turn

Killapalooza 25: Wrong Turn

Wrong Turn films 1-6. Mutant, possibly-cannibalistic types in various quantities fuck up your fun time in the woods. Finding the venue for a Wrong Turn 2 / Joe Lynch conversation. Rob Schmidt’s original Wrong Turn. All Eliza Dushku films could potentially be extensions of Dollhouse. The era of Jeremy Sisto. Wrong Turn 2: Dead end and the return of the Pepto-Bismol. The Declan O’Brien stretch. Prison Break, sometimes called Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead. Origin story, prequel, or other? Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings. Doug Bradley and his rag-tag miscreants in Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines. A new group takes over the franchise in Wrong Turn 6: Last Resort. Continue reading

Dune + Jodorowsky’s Dune

Dune + Jodorowsky’s Dune

Dune from the prospective of cinema. Considering the two Dunes. A film many wish never made it through production and a beloved film so crazy it never even went into production. Is cinema better off for these films taking the paths they did? When David Lynch doesn’t look like David Lynch. Wild speculation on how Dune was handled. A freshly-insider perspective on why movies are so goddamn difficult to get right. Who really controlled Dune. A conversation around the real Dune auteurs. Skepticism regarding Jodorowky’s version of Dune. Why Jodorowsky actually got what he wanted, even if he doesn’t realize it himself. How cinema benefited greatly from a film that never made it into theaters. Continue reading

Baby Blood + Race with the Devil

Baby Blood + Race with the Devil

The devil conjures up the single most random episode of Double Feature ever recorded. Did Gary Oldman really record the demon voice for the American dub of Baby Blood? What do Jennifer Tilly and Gary Oldman have in common? Hint: One more thing today than they did yesterday. Real time on-air detective work yields nearly the same results as the control group. A bunch of things about Race with the Devil that aren’t the ending. Peter Fonda and those goddamn expectations. Exploitation and the occult. The ending of Race with the Devil. Continue reading

Antichrist + Red White and Blue

Antichrist + Red White and Blue

Sex and violence double feature! The beginning of Lars von Trier’s depression trilogy. Joy and suffering. Shock value and what remains hidden under the surface. Notes on talking animals. Art as therapy. Willem Dafoe is once again a character that’s terrible at his job. Red White and Blue, straight out of Austin Texas. People in Los Angeles are bored of other people in Los Angeles. A different kind of color theory. Use a fucking condom! Meta through inventive filmmaking. The new crop of horror-inspired independent films. A brief followup on Lexi Love. Continue reading

The Tenant + The Guest

The Tenant + The Guest

The leading man is not who he seems. Why film lovers with film-love Alien: Isolation. The life and pronunciation of Adam Wingard. Roman Polanski’s The Tenant. Another look at Rosemary’s Baby and Repulsion. How does The Tenant fit into The Apartment Trilogy? Alice and Michael tell the story of The Man Upstairs. Invading sacred ground. Adam Wingard’s perfect mix tape known as The Guest. Commitment to brutality. 247 more days till Halloween. Drop the subtlety and take no prisoners. Continue reading

Night of the Comet + Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Night of the Comet + Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Cult films that disrespect their elders. Watch two movies that would otherwise be described as paying tribute completely disregard what has come before. Alice Thirteen spends time talking to Michael Koester. Los Angeles is destroying the film makers that work and live inside of it. A Double Feature fantasy. That goddamn red filter: who it has harmed and why it must be stopped. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes makes filmmaking look easy. What you can do vs what you should do. Tomatoes don’t have teeth, no matter how much you want them to. The tradition of Airplane before the tradition of airplane. Special thanks to Ben Last for helping edit this week’s episode! Continue reading

Crimes and Misdemeanors + Clockers

Crimes and Misdemeanors + Clockers

The Woody Allen meets Spike Lee journey continues with Crimes and Misdemeanors and Clockers. Breaking Woody Allen news! Only several weeks old! Amazon becomes Netflix. Leaving your audience no room for deviation. How Woody Allen has progressed in contrast with his New York centerfolds. Learning more about producers. Is Allen aware how dry the dry philosopher character is? Getting away with murder. A world where divorce hasn’t been invented. Why don’t the cops give a fuck in Clockers? White people problems and a disservice to Woody Allen on the part of Double Feature. Hipsters take Manhattan. Brick communities and the yard. Continue reading

Windy City Heat + Tusk

Windy City Heat + Tusk

Fantasy collides head first with reality. Watch Windy City Heat on YouTube. Who is Perry Caravello, really? Attempting to disassemble a single aspect of a film while determining if that aspect is even worth disassembling. Likability in reality. Roman Polanski’s demotion to hack comedian. Who’s in on it? That stupid summary thing film reviews do. Kevin Smith takes over the world with Tusk. How did we get here? Further proof of the all powerful low-brow director turned super villain. Podcasts are making films now. How Tusk’s very existence argues for a golden age of independent film making. Continue reading

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf + Desperate Living

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf + Desperate Living

And just who is Virginia Woolf, anyways? Being afraid of Virginia Woolf – you’re already talking about it and you don’t even know it. Classic Hollywood actresses terrify Michael Koester. Sex then, sex now. The power play. Oh, what language! What Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf has in common with Mortal Kombat 2. John Waters returns for Desperate Living! Eat some rats, change some sex, and roll around in garbage. Who’s having the most fun? A reminder on the topic of despicable cinema and human progress. A John Waters film without John Waters. Continue reading

Tokyo Drifter + The Departed

Tokyo Drifter + The Departed

A Double Feature episode for the records. Seriously, this is one of the best episodes. Go read Reunion at the Birthday Massacre on Medium. Tokyo Drifter’s punk rock style. The shifting landscape of the asian mafia film. The day petting the white cat doesn’t work like it should. Meanwhile, back in North America: the western. Competing ideas across an ocean. The look of the stage. Martin, the departed, and that big fluffy cat again. The infamous camera work. Who’s in the Departed, and what do they want? Ladies and the academy. Adam Rifkin shows Alice Director’s Cut. Continue reading

The Earrings of Madame de… + Paths of Glory

The Earrings of Madame de… + Paths of Glory

The Birthday Massacre! Alice has a new old concert film out now. The Earrings of Madame de who? The crazy adventures of two earrings that surprisingly doesn’t revolve around an absurd comedy plot. Let’s play Paris Wife Swap! The magical power real people give to real world objects. A shocking reversal on the Kubrick film you didn’t expect. Background on the real events that inspired Paths of Glory. Convincing insane people of their own insanity when lives are at stake. A repulsive, sad, beautiful scene to shake an audience to its core. Attempting to put a positive little button on World War 1. Continue reading

Manhunter + Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Manhunter + Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Films that prompted tremendous television. Forcing movies onto viewers using the old DVD bundle trick. A comparison of Hannibals throughout tv and film. Los Angeles changes light bulbs. Michael Mann as a genius amature? Tom Noonan. Hannibal Lector teaches moviegoers how hacking actually works. Who is Will Graham? Looking back on Manhunter from the vantage point of a modern Hannibal television introduction. A better fleshed-out version of the supernatural detective. Whedon’s well-known opinion on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Subverting a cliche. Underestimating the television series Buffy like underestimating Buffy Summers herself. Buffy as the ultimate trojan horse. Mythology, lore and retcons. Breaking Bad style character development over a series. Continue reading

Breaking the Waves + Julien Donkey-Boy

Breaking the Waves + Julien Donkey-Boy

An exploration of Dogme95. The rules of Dogme95 are crucial. The rules of Dogme95 are as follows.
1. Very locate. Much local prop.
2. Wow! Such location. Very sounds.
3. Much shaky.
4. So colour! Wow. Much basics light.
5. Not filter. Much forbid.
6. Not action. Such no murder. Wow!
7. So forbid temporal displacement! Very believe.
8. Much not genre.
9. Wow! Very millimeters. Such 35.
10. Much direct. Not credit. Wow. Continue reading

Looper + The Thirteenth Floor

Looper + The Thirteenth Floor

Gateways to other worlds! Two films about world building – or are they? Programming, philosophy, and the late 90s zeitgeist. Shane Carruth’s participation in Looper remains a mystery. Joseph Gordon Levitt as Bruce Willis. Bruce Willis as Bruce Willis. Using an audience’s collective memory to pad extra detail into your film. The Hollywood makeup fx industry. What’s on the Thirteenth Floor? The results of going in cold. Michael’s Y2K theory. Globalization for the common man. René Descartes (because why the fuck not). Continue reading

Hannah and Her Sisters + Crooklyn

Hannah and Her Sisters + Crooklyn

Woody Allen meets Spike Lee in an ongoing conversation about New York…by two people who haven’t really been there. Tragedy propelling fulfilling lives. When a score conveys the entire movie. Nuwave b-sides. Religious parody. This is what atheists actually believe. What the fuck happened to feminism? Double Feature visits dating morality in its hosts. The brain tumor responsible for going out and living life. Spike Lee’s New York catches up to Woody Allen’s New York. Fun with aspect ratios. No one saw that coming. Continue reading

Catch 22 + Cross of Iron

Catch 22 + Cross of Iron

War commentary films. Covering war: satire, brutality, or a completely separate third thing. Two people try to have the world’s first conversation about Catch 22 without defining the term catch 22. Primary education in the United States of America. Mandatory reading! Young Martin Sheen returns to the government, once again. Portraying absurdity in wartime. Expect gore when armies are fighting! Sam Peckinpah taps in to exploitation for the sake of arthouse. The hidden secret of Orson Welles and Quentin Tarantino. Nazi bad guys make more interesting humans than cartoons. The cautious act of learning from the mistakes of the past. Continue reading

Tesis + Transsiberian

Tesis + Transsiberian

An unintentional double feature. Tesis: it probably means thesis! What is snuff film? Where does it come from? The mono exploitation film. Faces of Death and Mondo Cane (cah-nay). Who watches snuff, and why? Study as portrayed in film. Brad Anderson’s body of work. Trapped on a train, in the middle of trouble. Alice apologies says wonderful things about Kate Mara before accidentally ruining it all. A complicated more-than-reversal of gender roles. Upping the stakes. Continue reading

The Third Man + North By Northwest

The Third Man + North By Northwest

Cold war noir-era mystery thriller double feature. Alice Thirteen announces his new role as executive producer on Rob Zombie’s upcoming film 31. The Third Man’s deception. Orson Welles as the face and name of The Third Man. Everyone’s favorite ferris wheel speech. The impact of Alfred Hitchcock. The effect on expectations when repeatidly told someone is the master. A bizarre note in the career of an iconic filmmaker. North by Northwest and Richie Rich. Mount fucking Rushmore! Using a trope against the audience. Hitchcock, claustrophobia, and the wide open playground. Continue reading

Killapalooza 24: Puppet Master

Killapalooza 24: Puppet Master

Puppet Master films 1-10. Charles Band as the Puppet Master of Full Moon Features. The Bongy Westphall universe. What’s Demonic Toys have to do with this? Home video! Andre Toulon’s unexpected returns. The reluctant centerpiece. Nazi origin points. Toulon’s Revenge. Good guys and the demon. Deeper back in time. What is Puppet Master: The Legacy, and what’s the real reason it should upset everyone? Alice and Michael discuss the clipshow. A return to form. Once more, with Nazis. The greatest reason for the Puppet Master’s existence. Continue reading

Repulsion + Compliance

Repulsion + Compliance

Two films trap their lead actors. Forgotten tactics for portraying insanity in your movie. Roman Polanski’s apartment series. Rotting away in your own skin. Ms 45 makes an inevitable appearance. The new creepy-internet-dudes wave of feminism. Craig Zobel and all the information about Homestar Runner you never asked for. How an unbelievable story drivers viewers into blind rage. A film centering around actors’ reactions (and Pat Healy making sandwiches). Continue reading

The Lion King + Escape from Tomorrow

The Lion King + Escape from Tomorrow

Two very different looks at Disney. The Lion King as the pop-culture champion. How The Lion King stayed in popular consciousness. Disney creates a Top 40 soundtrack. How you remember films from your childhood differently. Escape from Tomorrow as the counter-culture Disney companion. The how-it-was-made story everyone wants to know. Is it possible not to have the viewing experience trained by knowing how a guerrilla film is made? What does the mouse actually think of Escape from Tomorrow? Continue reading

The Mist + The Dead Zone

The Mist + The Dead Zone

Stephen King vs the the visionary director. Two notable pin points in an ongoing discussion on auteurist director vs famous writer. Alice talks about the end of production on Director’s Cut (and the wrap party!) Working with Lin Shaye and Gilbert Gottfried. Thomas Jane strikes back! The gut punch that is The Mist. Expanding on John Carpenter’s The Thing. What the film says about religion probably isn’t what you expect it to say about religion. Martin Sheen plays the president in The Dead Zone, what more do you need? The irony in the final conclusion. Continue reading

Demon Seed + Cache

Demon Seed + Cache

Not even your home is safe from the terrors of techno horror. Michael meets James Gunn in Texas. Teller’s time on the set in Director’s Cut (featuring Nestor Carbonell). Donald Cammell’s “artificial intelligence” film Demon Seed. Science fiction as a community of homage. Impregnation, technology, and what’s changed since the 70s. Small device horror. Michael Haneke’s film Caché. Long takes as an invitation to study. Letting trouble into your home. Is the ending of Caché really up for debate? More interesting than “who.” Continue reading

You’re Next + The Children

You’re Next + The Children

New school slashers get you right where you least expect them. Two horror classic horror sub-genres. The creepiest moment of Alice’s life just happened on the set of Director’s Cut. You’re Next tackles home invasion. Independent horror that goes to the theater instead of direct to video. Getting to the bottom of the Adam Wingard, Ti West, Joe Swanberg, AJ Bowen, Lena Dunham, indie horror community. Hope for the future of horror. The Children as an exercise in movies about being murdered by packs of children. Continue reading

Absentia + Satan’s Little Helper

Absentia + Satan’s Little Helper

Netflix horror gems with misleading covers. Nearly trampled by Penn Jillette: A report on the first week of Director’s Cut. Seriously, there’s a lot of Director’s Cut stuff. Finally, someone will talk to Alice about religion. Could it be ? A fresh theme no film has tackled before! Coming to terms with ‘death in absentia.’ When someone goes missing. Back to the good old metaphorical horror monster. Satan’s Little Helper, a meme-worthy film of Garbage Day proportions. Finding signs of intention in cult film without a wink. Continue reading

Manhattan + Do the Right Thing

Manhattan + Do the Right Thing

An adventure through New York through two different perspectives – this time, the adventure continues with the poster-child of the Woody Allen meets Spike Lee journey. Attempting to separate the art from the artists. A love letter to Manhattan. Double Feature has a very frank discussion about the public perception of two controversial film makers, and how their personal lives may be viewed in connection with the previous films. Is Spike Lee a racist, or is it just his Twitter feed? The difference between a racially charged Do the Right Thing and a potentially racist film maker. Beats released a Do the Right Thing documentary and no one noticed. Continue reading

Big Fan + Against the Wall

Big Fan + Against the Wall

Individuals who are entirely consumed by their obsessions. Pursuing passions despite naysayers. Who and what is Patton Oswalt? An extended discussion on sports narrative. Magic thinking in sports. A dark turn fitting of the characters and story. Against the Wall aka Quality of Life. Just trying to make art, but the man’s keeping artists down. What is a quality of life charge? Two skeptics take on broken window theory. Everything everywhere ends. Continue reading

Blood Simple + Shallow Grave

Blood Simple + Shallow Grave

Popular first films from award-winning directors. Does the signature shine through this early in their careers? Blood simple as part noir, part movie that goes with Red Rock West. The Coen Brothers making a film before audiences knew and trusted them. A treasure trove of character actors in leading parts. The depressing comedy of Danny Boyle’s movie Shallow Grave. Just what is murder, anyways? Friends form units, but only one will win! Familiar questions of morality. Continue reading

Sonny + The Night of the Hunter

Sonny + The Night of the Hunter

Actors turned single-time-directors. What brings an actor to directing. The conventional wisdom on actors who direct (and reasons it’s not always accurate). The insane Nicolas Cage indie film you never knew existed. Changing who you are vs where you came from. Reform and the desire to go back to bad. Where do you see Nicolas Cage come through in Sonny? The Night of the Hunter as a tremendous monster film. Expressionism, scares, and religion. Child abuse may be hard to watch today, which makes our civilization a better place to exist. Continue reading

Killapalooza 23: The Howling

Killapalooza 23: The Howling

The Howling films 1-8. Alice shoots a scene from The Arisocrats in another Director’s Cut update. Joe Dante’s original Howling film. You didn’t know it, but these ridiculous movies are based on a series of three Howling novels. Christopher Lee apologizes to Joe Dante for making The Howling 2. Australia buys The Howling franchise, leading to the creation of the most insane movie you’ve never heard of. Finding value in seemingly impossible places. Themes covered by three of the most difficult movies to talk about in monster horror history. Werewolf line dancing. YouTube weighs in on The Howling. Present day! Present time! Spider-Man webs up another Howling sequel. Continue reading

Willow Creek + Grizzly Man

Willow Creek + Grizzly Man

Double Feature goes camping. The dangers of the great outdoors. Alice talks about filming screen tests for the upcoming movie Director’s Cut. Bobcat Goldthwait’s Willow Creek. Michael wants to talk about bigfoot. The emerging docudrama comeback. Horror based on audio. Why Willow Creek is much more upsetting the second time through. Don’t blame the victim. Grizzly Man as a nature documentary. Bears don’t care about you. Bears will totally eat you. Connecting to a nature enthusiast. Werner Herzog cuts through the magic. Continue reading

Matinee + Looney Tunes: Back in Action

Matinee + Looney Tunes: Back in Action

The two submarine keys to unlocking Joe Dante. One Joe Dante fanatic explains where his passion originated. Matinee, a film that’s totally not about William castle! Finally, a challenger to the Purge theory of why horror exists. William Castle and Alfred Hitchcock. Joe Dante’s present to cinema. Looney Tunes Back In Action, the sort of follow up to Space Jam. The little we know about the director’s opinion of Back in Action. Endless speculation: how do you know? Warner Brothers in the 90s. Branding, merchandise, and toys! Acme, the WB, and corporate culture. Joe Dante loves the Looney Tunes but did not enjoy making Back in Action. Continue reading

Resolution + They Live

Resolution + They Live

Conspiratorial yarns with cause for much introspection. Hot seventies grind house burns. Finding your ending. Jumping from plot to plot and checking in with the audience. Hate the crack, love the addict. Don’t fear the audience. Explain the ending of Resolution. Who or what is the monster? A string of viral mysteries. The revelation of John Carpenter’s They Live. Being predisposed to a cult film’s legacy legacy. Impact vs Futura Oblique Condensed. Shepard Fairey and Barbara Kruger. Andrew the Giant has a posse. OBEY. Roddy Piper, Keith David, and a totally bizarre Meg Foster. The infamous long fight scene in They Live. David Ike and the reptilian agenda. Also, David Ike is a fuckwad. Continue reading

Hanna + The Raid: Redemption

Hanna + The Raid: Redemption

Two sonic action sneak attacks. Hanna as more than you expect. The little details make all the difference. Hanna’s unexpectedly light town. The level of reality in Hanna. The Chemical Brothers and musical themes. Bone crunching action in The Raid: Redepmtion. The characters and unexpected turns. Chino and Deftones. Dredd vs The Raid: Redemption. How could the new Judge Dredd film have so much in common with The Raid? Wile speculation and a suspicious lack of information. Continue reading

Hot Rod + Alan Partridge Alpha Papa

Hot Rod + Alan Partridge Alpha Papa

New-beat comedies starting long running television personalities. Memes, YouTube and the age of Internet video. Clueless protagonists or masters of their craft? Hot Rod and The Lonely Island. A revisit on Saturday Night Live and SNL films. Digital shorts, whatever the fuck that means. Steve Coogan plays Alan Partridge. Creating tension by placing the audience in a siege. Stockholm syndrome as a film-goer. A twenty year running character makes his film premiere in Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. Isn’t this the ending from Falling Down? Continue reading

Annie Hall + She’s Gotta Have It

Annie Hall + She’s Gotta Have It

The beginning of an adventure through New York through two different perspectives. Culture and generation. An extended consideration of the new adventure. Woody Allen’s nearly first film, Annie Hall – or first enough for Double Feature. First impressions of a well-known film maker. Asking the right questions. If you can’t spot the neurotic, you’re the neurotic. Spike Lee’s probably first film, She’s Gotta Have It. Challenging racial clichés of the era. Empowerment in more places than you’d expect. Have sex with whoever you want, as often as you want! Continue reading

The Purge + We Are What We Are

The Purge + We Are What We Are

Horrific family bonding time double feature. Do horror movies help us work out dark urges to rape and slaughter? The alterior motives of directors who claim they do. One man’s unexpected plans during The Purge. What James Gunn teaches us about Purging. What is the right thing to do, given the fiction of the world? We Are What We Are. The delicate balance of preserving a suprising viewing while enticing an audience into seeing the film in the first place. The road less traveled! Religion, dogma, and elders who command respect. Michael refuses to be desensitized. Common ground with The Lords of Salem. Continue reading

Cosmopolis + Holy Motors

Cosmopolis + Holy Motors

Character arcs despite their narratives! Narratives as complications of vignettes! Robert Pattinson, the obvious choice for David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis. Pop fiction fans read cerebral novels and everyone wins. Following a movie with indecipherable dialogue. The relationship to Videodrome. When master lose grip. Economies collapse, characters collapse. The currency of dogecoin, er, rats. Economics and philosophy, with your host Paul Giamatti. Crypto-currency and Snapchat. What is to be gained through watching Holy Motors? Big questions, out of the gate. Monsieur Oscar is losing the fire. Drifting into the abstract. Trying on masks, metaphorically. Trying to pin down the jobs and tasks of characters in Holy Motors. Continue reading

Double Feature Year 6 Finale

Double Feature Year 6 Finale

SPOILER FREE SHOW! The Year Six retrospective. A look back at the last 52 double feature pairs. Taking a break from Filmspotting jokes to make love to Battleship Pretension. Revising the official position on movie reviews. A tangent on the insightful career of Roger Ebert. Double Feature made a short film (without the help of Russ Meyer). The challenges of making a six chapter short film for Kickstarter. More regarding Alice’s involvement in Director’s Cut. Hannah Carter’s prop magic. The growing genre of films designed by the Internet. A defense for the most unexpected film-of-the-year choice. A conversation around this year’s Additional Content. Continue reading

The Lords of Salem + Machete Kills

The Lords of Salem + Machete Kills

Auteurs just outside the arthouse. Grindhouse contributors Rob Zombie and Robert Rodirugez! Audiences clamoring: It’s not the way I would have done it!! Stop looking for validation and start appreciating surprise. See inside the minds of insane people. The hidden alternate history of The Lords of Salem. Why Rob Zombie is a fascinating human. Films changing as they’re being filmed. The Rodriguez-Box-Office relationship. Using Machete Kills as the control for the experiment Machete conducted. A different approach. One unique idea to recreate the trailer magic. A a cure for cinema predictibility. Continue reading

Wrong + Upstream Color

Wrong + Upstream Color

The desperate methods audiences go to when attempting to fit the bizarre into a neat little box. Art, humanity, mystery and animals. Determining the world of Quentin Dupieux (Mr. Oizo)’s Wrong. How Upstream Color differs from the complex mathematics of Primer. Films you need to take notes or maybe draw a little flowchart to follow. Intentionally crafting rewards for repeat viewings. A rare love letter to found sound, sampling, and ambience. Using sound to help an audience link scenes. Building a motif – from notable scene to rewarding callback to critical theme. The thief, the sampled, and other double meanings. Alice Thirteen just wants to give Shane Carruth money to produce movies. Continue reading

Storytelling + Mister Lonely

Storytelling + Mister Lonely

Two filmmakers who love similar themes but don’t get along with each other. Pretending all films are totally approachable and that you’re not worried people on the internet will think you’re an idiot. Every week, Double Feature talks about two films as if they’re the best films ever made. Truth and fiction in Storytelling. Every story-writing workshop that ever happened. Sexuality and youth. The return of American Movie. A life of impersonation in Mister Lonely. Looking too deeply into a film. Harmony Korine at face value. When a movie takes the right path. Continue reading

Killapalooza 22: The Evil Dead

Killapalooza 22: The Evil Dead

The Evil Dead films 1-4. How an indie film that wouldn’t pass the film-class final became one of the most ifluential horror properties of all time. The power of rhythm and repitition. Aggrivated industrial loops (and other secrets Trent Reznor already knows). Continuity. When and why a film would strive to make sure the audience is uncomfortable – even as far as actively having a bad time. The possessed camera. Evil Dead and the nature of evil. How do you reconcile Evil Dead 2 with the original Evil Dead? What’s canonical. An unpopular opinion on Army of Darkness. The Ash Factor. Wild horses. Using the power of the remake for good. Continue reading

Akira + The Sky Crawlers

Akira + The Sky Crawlers

Double Feature and anime. A continued attempt to learn about film purely through immersion. What Akira has in common with previous films Double Feature has covered. The influence of Akira on live-action American storytelling. Biological technology in a cyberpunk way instead of a body horror way. Doing new and unfamiliar things with body horror. The introduction of commercial Japanese animation to the American youth market. An obsession with power. Changing forms. Future Tokyo, animated. The animation breakthroughs unleashed by Akira. Keyframes, limited animation and sound. The Sky Crawler’s vision of corporate-sponsored warfare. Quenching the (probably not real) human need for violence. Modern-day gladiators. A surprisingly realistic depiction of a type of warfare not often seen. An element of mystery is revealed. Anime’s fixation on childhood. Inspecting youth in military. Foreign animation and eroticism. Continue reading

Prom Night + The House on Sorority Row

Prom Night + The House on Sorority Row

Slasher one-off (non-franchise) films with cult standing. Year One of Double Feature is returning! Details within! Studios marketing a film differently with each home video release, essentially telling audiences it’s about something different now. Prom Night is watching a slasher film before “slasher” became a genre. The red herring. Consider: if it’s worth doing, it’s worth over-doing. How the 80s slasher film disrespects its audience, and how its audience came to love that. Horror films based on events and holidays. Another return of Mean Creek kids being mean as pranks go wrong. Revising the group lie / cover-up. Peer pressure and the pack mentality. Why the memorable slashers (Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, etc) are the least personal characters in their films. The all female cast of The House on Sorority Row. When you call for the police. Continue reading

Showgirls + Meet the Feebles

Showgirls + Meet the Feebles

Double Feature’s big announcement unveiled – an all new Kickstarter featuring a narrative Double Feature mini-series! An examination of show business through broken lenses. The success of Showgirls. Funneling the audience through embarrassment. NC17’s impact on marketability. The amazing things about Showgirls lost to time. How an audience boils a movie down to a single idea as years pass. A totally different perspective – why other audiences defend Showgirls today. Peter Jackson’s love of filth. Why Meet the Feebles should exist. The artistic role of an extreme. Making sacrifices to live at the end of a specturm. Continue reading

Ghosts of Mars + Giallo

Ghosts of Mars + Giallo

Blacksheep comebacks from horror giants. Continuing to find insight on two directors Double Feature knows front to back. John Carpenter’s enemies that can not be reasoned with. Loving a film the director himself can’t stand. Secret things you can do to get more fun out of a film. Pretending there’s a hidden scene where Jason Statham was put in a timeout. The space frigate genre. Pretending there’s an unreliable narrator. A flashback within a flashback. Audiences cheering on protagonists without thinking. Applauding for martian genocide. The real secret reason Ghosts of Mars is notable – Ghosts of Mars is the most accurate adaptation of the gaming franchise Doom. Revisiting Dario Argento’s influence on the giallo genre. Skeptics approach the elements of giallo, including the paranormal. Is Dario Argento’s film Giallo self-referential? A conversation about the sexual theme (or lack of) in the film. Where this killer falls in the pantheon of movie killers. The purpose Linda serves. Continue reading

John Dies at the End + The Man with the Iron Fists

John Dies at the End + The Man with the Iron Fists

Fuck you, rules! Convention-defying movies for the internet age. Trickle down auteurism. Going into a movie knowing nothing – how do you pitch films to people who don’t want to know about them before seeing them? The tendency of frequent movie-goes to develop a taste for the strange and extreme. Double Feature’s unconventional opinion is every movie is a “see it.” Revisiting Franz Kafka. Spoiling John Dies at the End. Appreciating the weirder path (scenic route!) to plot resolution. The Theseus Paradox. There’s no time to explain, aka Bear or no bear. Play along goddamnit; looking for plot holes ruins movies. The Balducci Levitation, SETI, and Deepak Chopra – tipping your hand to the Skeptical movement. Using the powers of skepticism for evil. The Internet is starting to write films. Eli Roth as a producer. Filmmakers pay filmmakers to proliferate auteurism. Hollywood gets out of the artist’s way. Larry Bishop, Quentin Tarantino, and The Man with the Iron Fists. The RZA plays pretend. The various clans and styles. Continue reading

The Wolf Man + Soylent Green

The Wolf Man + Soylent Green

The last of the Year 6 Universal horror and classic science fiction pairs. The cautious release of The Wolf Man in a post-war cinema. What did genre-horror look like the better part of 100 years ago? The metaphores of the Wolfman. An unlikely celebration of the inherit sexism in Universal monster films. Lon Chaney Jr, the lovable creep. Unintended meaning added over time. Today’s hippy fad-diets of California drive a culture to look more like the world of Soylent Green – no apocolyptic circumstances required. Human invention solves overpopulation. Nostalgia ruins human progress. Look forward. Things did not used to be better. Was the 70s better than today? No. No, it wasn’t. Celebrating cheery-picked memories. Modern cynacism is still cynacism. Continue reading

American Movie + Mean Creek

American Movie + Mean Creek

The consequences and triumphs of reducing human beings to caricatures. Fears of the midwest. Mark Borchardt’s process in American Movie. How first impressions, language, and appearance impact your impression of someone’s intelligence. Is Mark a skilled filmmaker or a hack? The best take-aways from filming Coven. What prevents Mark and Mike from being more noticed or successful? Mean Creek creates a challenging conversation. Alice would still turn Michael in to the police. Listeners request a reconsideration of the national bullying dialogue. Where is the line crossed in Mean Creek? What’s the morally correct position and why is it so hard to identify? Double Feature agrees to have an uncensored thought experiment that could change the fate of the podcast forever. Continue reading

Paranorman + Fantastic Mr. Fox

Paranorman + Fantastic Mr. Fox

Child-friendly stop-motion films that trick adults into being more succeptable. New and unexpected experiences adults can have while their guard is down. Appealing to adults without being a “dark” children’s film. Dark sensibilities and humor vs difficult subject matter. Paranorman tackles the salem witch trials. Tell a person they’re something often enough, they may just turn into that thing. The avoidance of stock characters in Paranorman. Judging books by covers (and other expansions on the Aesop learnings from Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D). Shooting on a Canon 5D DSLR camera. The next biggest innovation in filmmaking: 3D printing. The difference in filmmaking stop-motion techniques between Paranorman and Fantastic Mr. Fox. Wild speculation on Tim Burton and Roald Dahl. Exploring the theme of wild animals being true to themselves. Continue reading

Sharkboy and Lavagirl + Mulholland Drive

Sharkboy and Lavagirl + Mulholland Drive

On the 300th episode of Double Feature, Sharkboy and Lavagirl finally solve Mulholland Drive. First, a conversation about the Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl (In 3D). Aesop’s fables! How to have the best conversation about Mulholland Drive. Right or wrong, do most people have the impression they understand this film? The David Lynch journey up to this point. Ground rules for the conversation. Bringing your prerequisits to the conversation. The alley person / the dumpster person / the bum behind the wall at Winkie’s. The tiny people. What we can learn from the espresso scene – do these guys know what they’re talking about? Shut it all down. The cowboy in a bible analogy. Seperating 50s loving David Lynch from a plot involving things from 1950. Challenging the endless loop / möbius strip conclusion. Rita and the most forgiven introduction of an amnesia device ever made. El silenco and the key. The vanish / switch scene. Revisiting the Sylvia North story. Michael proposes a theory. Using the film’s own rules mathematically for solving unknowns. A return to the dumpster person. Secular uses for biblical imagery in mysery solving. The David Lynch top ten clues. Another look at Club Silencio. Can Adam throw a wrench into an otherwise plausible theory? Adam is blow away by the world’s most talented actress, but other forces tie his hands. The ordered hit. Support for the fantasy. Continue reading

Conan the Barbarian + Blood and Bone

Conan the Barbarian + Blood and Bone

Men who are tanks box their way through cult genres when the original Conan the Barbarian squares off against Blood and Bone. Sword and sorcery takes on underground fighting! Arnold Schwarzenegger meets Michael Jai White! Exploring the early career of Arnold Schwarzenegger, bodybuilding governor extraordinaire. An earlier, stranger Arnold. Going on a quest to battle your way from orgy to orgy. When the time is right for Sword and Sorcery to return. Michael Jai White needs to take over the world. Viral acting and the YouTube generation. Blood and Bone as a genre experiment. Film writing games you can play at home. Continue reading

Hatchet 3 + Curse of Chucky

Hatchet 3 + Curse of Chucky

Two sequels from previous Double Feature franchises. Adam Green and all your friends from Hatchet return in Hatchet 3. Cameos become roles. The constant slasher resurrection. Adam Green’s thing (beside throwing blood on trees). Chucky out-lives the original slashers of the 80s. Surviving the remakes. The Curse of Chucky alternate realities. Choose your own adventure. Brad Dourif and franchise newbie Fiona Dourif. Modern horror in a conversation with classics. The practical doll. Chucky’s disadvantage. Gaining the upper hand. A scarier Chucky with each passing scene. Bold words about Curse of Chucky. No theatrical release. Continue reading

From Beyond + Class of 1999

From Beyond + Class of 1999

Midnight movies once again illuminate the room with their pale blue light. A listener request makes Michael sneaky. Stuart Gordon and the true third wheel. What about the lighting makes From Beyond feel like a midnight movie? Late night cinema warms the collective human heart. What we choose to address (and the importance of what is not addressed). Class of 1999, the followup to that other movie you didn’t see called Class of 1984. A future that never was. Double Feature considers what mankind’s bleak view of the future reveals now that we can look back on it. Continue reading

The Machinist + Dogville

The Machinist + Dogville

Darker dramas featuring protagonists played by actors Double Feature likes (but doesn’t often think about), who are in this particular instance obscured on the covers of their respective films by a thin brown material that is likely a fabric of some kind. Note: those are not necessarily the covers associated with this episode of Double Feature, as better selections may have been made. It’s also possible that this is being read in the future where cover art has somehow been deprecated, or in an environment that does not use art for some reason. Well, really the future is a kind of environment, so perhaps that’s redundant. If this is being listened to in a grim future where art is no longer a human concept, or is in some way banned, we’re glad you still have Double Feature. Hey, wasn’t Christian Bale in a movie like that? Continue reading

Killapalooza 21: Paranormal Activity

Killapalooza 21: Paranormal Activity

Paranormal Activity films 1-4. A premature Killapalooza, in hopes everyone comes along for the ride. The first in an already notable franchise. Another look at the low budget. The mysterious pool bots of Paranormal Activity 2. There is no Dunkin Donuts in California. Science and skepticism when facing ghosts and the sort. The amusing exercise of Imagining an actual demon. The Paranormal Activity Demand it! campaign. Prequels upon prequels. What are the scariest moments from the scariest installment? Back to the future. How to tell if the person using that MacBook is insane, every time. A somewhat spoiler-inclusive summary, and what the future holds. Continue reading

Near Dark + Wayne’s World

Near Dark + Wayne’s World

Cult films by female directors – two of them! Vampires and, well, Wayne’s World. A look at the non-romantic vampire movie. Trying to stay focused with so much Wayne’s World ahead. What’s so interesting about the absence of romance? The wile west, the road, and the Devil’s Rejects. Gangs. Teenagers and the family unit. The director of Near Dark. A look at the most successful SNL film of all time. Wayne’s World is pretty fucking fantastic, in all actuality. Everyone respects Garth, as they should. Building a setting you’d want to live in. An abundance of material. Continue reading

The Host + Monsters

The Host + Monsters

The internet’s favorite monster films! The Host, as in the Korean 2006 The Host. Pushing aside the usual monster treatment talk for politics and humanism. The confusing relationship between pacifists and the military. Understanding cultural comedy. Agent Orange and a more modern look into cautionary atomic commentary. Gareth Edwards’s 2010 shoe-string budget picture Monsters. Unintentional immigration commentary proves obvious to everyone but the filmmaker. How a tiny independent film dressed up as a blockbuster. Something you may have missed from the end of Monsters. Continue reading

Elvira’s Haunted Hills + Big Top Pee-Wee

Elvira’s Haunted Hills + Big Top Pee-Wee

Two television-first stars return in their back to back sequels. Unlikely stars for just as unlikely conversations about metaphysics and humanism. Cassandra Peterson refuses to take credit as Elvia in Elvira’s Haunted Hills, all these years later. Putting your newfound Universal Monster knowledge to the test. In the other feature, Paul Reubens follows up Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure just a few years later with Big Top Pee-Wee. Also, Penn and Teller Get Killed is on iTunes and Brendan Vance has things to talk about. Double Feature returns to the carnie with a non-drinking game and a variety of other more interesting things are discussed. How’s that sentence for a spoiler free plot synopsis? Continue reading

Drive Angry + The Weather Man

Drive Angry + The Weather Man

This insane thing called Cage Match brings you two Nicolas Cage films! Is Nicolas Cage a good actor? Is he in good films? Are bad films his fault? Someone does humanity a service by performing the experiment. Drive Angry and the death of 3D movies. The relationship between Drive Angry and Shoot em Up. The level of awareness. The less considered level of not giving a fuck about awareness. The Weather Man – even more subtle in context. Product placement and general airborne fast food items. What you’ve become while you weren’t looking. Can people amount to more than one thing? Continue reading

The Mummy + Logan’s Run

The Mummy + Logan’s Run

The Universal Monster and Classic Sci-Fi adventure continues! A longevity pair featuring two films about human vitality. What The Mummy’s really about. Boris Karloff and the skeptical eye. What a curse really means, and who’s afraid of it anyways. What sets The Mummy apart from Universal’s other classic monster films. Logan’s run, which is different than Silent Running and Blade Runner. The sex, the edits, and the Barbarella. Mortality and religion. There is no afterlife! A popular audience once again ignores the overt religious metaphor. Without God, who brings Cats to the Internet (answer: atheists). Continue reading

2001: A Space Odyssey + 2010: The Year We Make Contact

2001: A Space Odyssey + 2010: The Year We Make Contact

An icon of cinema gets paired up with the sequel you didn’t even know existed. Can what started as a cruel crowd-funding joke become more than Stanley Kubrick blasphemy? Spoiler: Yes! A newcomer’s take on 2001: A Space Odyssey. A contender for most parodied film of all time. Hal and Siri. Beauty, perfection, simplicity. The monolith as everyone’s favorite object. Everyone is afraid to talk about what the fuck happens at the end of 2001 – or, Double Feature is stupid enough to talk about what the fuck happens at the end of 2001. Analysis of the fetal acid trip. Previous, on what’s now a franchise. 2010: Is this really happening? Your options in creating the impossible. Popular opinion and the one line film review. Continue reading

The Brood + Xtro

The Brood + Xtro

Creepy monster science fiction. What lurks on Channel X? David Cronenberg’s early film The Brood. Psychoplasmatics. Where’s the scam? How Cronenberg creeps differently in The Brood. Another pause to consider body horror. Motherly themes. A creative and fitting take on the hero test. The thing is Xtro is funky scary. What else is Xtro up to? A collection of memorable what-the-fuck television moments. A world without that protagonist! Pre-internet viral speculation (ask your friends about that one). Other installments of the Xtro franchise. Yes, franchise. A past Double Feature connection. Continue reading

Friday + Metropolitan

Friday + Metropolitan

Surprisingly tasteful culture shock! Challenging yourself to expand your horizons. How Michael got into the Friday franchise. An only somewhat related conversation about Quentin Tarantino’s favorite films. Admitting an embarrassing truth to yourself. High society, deb parties, and places Alice could never go. Someone in 2014 references Deadsy. Who doesn’t love preschool? We need to talk about board games. How Cards Against Humanity manages to be awesome and the worst fucking on planet Earth. Apples to Apples speaks on behalf of all wasted time at every gathering that’s ever happened. Unique individuals with fascinating backgrounds based on difficult choices they’ve made all walk into a room, then miss the opportunity to share about any of that. The painful normality of the 1%. Continue reading

Django Unchained + Only God Forgives

Django Unchained + Only God Forgives

A new-ish movie double feature from two returning director/writers. The multitude of Django Unchained actors, including Quentin Tarantino himself. Everything about Django Unchained people miss while they’re thinking about how racially progressive they are. A look at Django in three character-centric episodes. Tarantino pulls out mid-orgasm. No one talks about Tarainto’s new man-filled universe. Nicolas Winding Refn returns to the insane. How to do you find the right questions for Only God Forgives? Inevitable comparisons to David Lynch. The visual style of Only God Forgives. The quiet man. The east and west have their own single feature. A conversation in themes. Making sense of the ending. Continue reading

Network + Pump Up the Volume

Network + Pump Up the Volume

Double Feature speaks to the masses. The resistance sticks it to the man. Sidney Lumet’s Network. Talking Aaron Sorkin and David Mammet. Sensationalism and the Death Hour. What would Diana’s vision truly look like? Articulating rage. The Mao Zedong hour. The corporate cosmology of Arthur Jensen. A downward path and striking close to home. The battle cry! The dry assassination via television. Fuck the FCC! Pump Up the Volume! Listening to people masturbate. The death of brand loyalty. The misunderstanding of intention. The responsibility of celebrity. The moral battle lines. High school pressure. High school fucking sucks, and the point really is just to get through it so you can start your actual life. Continue reading

The Frighteners + Memoirs of an Invisible Man

The Frighteners + Memoirs of an Invisible Man

Comedy does horror and horror does comedy. Two bizarre offshoots from unexpected directors. Peter Jackson, Robert Zemekis, and Marty McFly. Part Beetlejuice, part Drag Me to Hell. Jeffrey Combs of not just The Attic Expeditions. Long-haired Michael J Fox plays baseball. Psychics never really see it coming. What a real world with real paranormal would look like. The terror reaper. John Carpenter does a comedy with Memoirs of an Invisible Man. Handover the gimmick! The bubblegum. Stephen Tobolowsky chats with Sam Neil. Hiding the building and showing Chevy Chase. Once collective audiences have exhausted the vanishing exercise. The mind games you play as a child. Moving deeper into the theoretical. The heavy downsides of invisibility. Even food is depressing. Carpenter and the studios. Continue reading

Killapalooza 20: The Living Dead

Killapalooza 20: The Living Dead

The Living Dead film. George A. Romero’s six zombie films. Night of the Living Dead. The undead and the inevitability of human demise. Dawn of the Dead. Consumers and their shopping. Things people didn’t steal from Romero’s films. Day of the Dead. Man plays science. The next evolutionary step. Metaphores for metaphors. Land of the Dead. The dead strike back! An unpopular opinion. Shock and awe. Class warfare. Romero’s back with Diary of the Dead. Handicam vs found footage. In what universe? Film criticism via film. Media and news coverage. Romero does The Newsroom. Survival of the Dead. Educated horses. One of those wrong decisions. Finding a cure. Rebuilding society. What’s the point of living during the zombie apocalypse? Continue reading

The Muppet Movie + Follow That Bird

The Muppet Movie + Follow That Bird

The Muppets meet Sesame Street. A set of Jim Henson and Frank Oz classics. An unedited bit on Scientology. The Muppet Movie is not The Muppets (2011). Keeping a sense of timeless-ness. Celebrity appearances and musical numbers. A variety act. Representing The Muppets. A symptom of core values. Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird! Differences between the Muppets and Sesame Street. Subversive child programming. Great news – civil rights are inevitable! Being with your own kind. Taking the conversational bait. Opening a conversation on the evils of tribalism. A different take on tribal mentality. What Follow That Bird shares in common with South Park. The longest running thread on Double Feature. Not such a bad journey. The seedy carnival. A long awaiting up-next. Continue reading

Office Space + The Wages of Fear

Office Space + The Wages of Fear

A mundane workplace pair for all the Zachs out there. An exploration of all things Mike Judge. Someone please cast Aubrey Plaza as Daria. A higher-brow look at King of the Hill and Beavis and Butthead. Your life as a fantasy epic. Special effects in a vanilla world. The low-brow surface of a commentary laced package. Everybody wants to talk about Idiocracy! A passing dismissal of hypnotheaphy. Someone does a Rebecca Watson impression. An extra careful treading of the suspension of disbelief. Combing the best of humanity. Strip the subtlety, then add another layer. Where you see respect for the audience. Revising a Richard Riehle classic. If Office Space really a parody of the office? The intersection of Clerks and cynicism. Cynical misunderstandings. Does Office Space create offices? Why do people cartoon cutouts exist in the real world? The common exercise in relativism is mostly useless. The Wages of Fear. Things that happen before the driving part you remember. Life before the oil company. Trapped and trying to get out. The infamous tension. Your looming fate. Continue reading

The Driver + Ms. 45

The Driver + Ms. 45

Two exploitation landmarks with quiet protagonists. Unintentional Double Feature themes. The Man Who Killed God. The Driver and colors. Obligatory Drive conversation. Bruce Dern strikes back. The Driver, The Player, and The Detective. What tips you off? Authority, and those who resist it. A criminal adherence to the law. Us or them! The Briefcase of Failure. A fearless chase. Walter Hill and The Warriors. Heroes of franchises past. The man and the silence. Ms. 45 and Abel Ferrara. Those dirty New York films. Punk fucking rock. Thana also strikes back. Miss forty-five as the strong silent type. How to get the entire audience off the boat. Phil doesn’t need to come back. Men, everywhere. Arguments about whether rape is better or worse than death are frivolous. When is the line drawn? Ok, right away, but when is the cinematic line drawn? Continue reading

Gone with the Wind + The Wizard of Oz

Gone with the Wind + The Wizard of Oz

A modern look at two classic Victor Flemming films. Brienna Krueger almost brought you a very different pair. One man’s involvement in two colossal cinema juggernauts. Gone With the Wind as an epic. Defining popularity in gross international profit adjusted for inflation. Maintaining precision and care for each individual scene. The color palette in Gone With the Wind. Scarlet O’Hara fights for independence – but will she know what to do with it when she gets it? Attempting to find themes in an epic. Independence, southern culture, and the evolution of struggles for equality. Ladies and land ownership. The imagination of the Wizard of Oz. The part no one talks about (but should). Creative first. Ignorance of the impossible. Painted backgrounds, practice effects, and a legacy still untouched today, the Flickchart problem. The perverse and dark humor. Munchkins! A perfect grindhouse film. The man behind the curtain. George Orwell meets Objectivism. Help your friends through a common cause by empowering yourself. Continue reading

Class of 1984 + Prince of Darkness

Class of 1984 + Prince of Darkness

Students discover the hidden truths of future and past. Alex Pardee, EL-P and Killer Mike. When things happened in 1984. Guns in the school! Why 1984 won’t be like 1984. A nation of criminals. Forgetting the growing left to do. Pacifists who don’t like spanking. Today’s children are tomorrow’s future. Where does a modern audience find the shock? The great twenty-first century bully awakening. Everyone was bullied, no one was the bully. Why kids are such little fucking assholes. Who is bad, and what kind of bad they are. Slipping into violence. Corruption via environment. How the ethical meet the unjustifiable. Marilyn Manson samples Prince of Darkness for his cover of Down in the Park. Alice Cooper gets more air time than Marilyn Manson. The old rock and roll. Classic carpenter? What you thought and what you get. Technology and religion. Donald Pleasence brings the gravity. Theoretical science for scams. Michael talks about quantum mechanics at a level he’s not supposed to comprehend. The quantum check. Counter-intuitive religious coverups. What’s the end game? Another bonus episode coming your way! Continue reading

The Prowler + When a Stranger Calls

The Prowler + When a Stranger Calls

Franchises be damned! The one-off slasher films. Michael does an awful thing. No one understands Double Feature. Joseph Zito. The Roger Corman Marvel films. Keeping the lights on (and other excuses to make art). World War 2. Advertising after the war. Parties? Not in my town! The identity of the slasher. How to not have a slasher franchise. The Prowler as a proper noun. Weapons. The look of The Prowler. When a Stranger Calls. The call is coming from inside the house, again. Karol Cane answers the phone. Implications of the camera. A breakdown of one of the most memorable and influential slasher scenes in the genre. A breed of scary films without scares. Alice finds yet another source of anxiety. Please, no one ruin vibration. When a Stranger Calls and genre-bending. The slow creep. Learning about your killer. Children return to ruin everything, but are thwarted the psychopathic anti-hero. The old cop and the sequel. Continue reading

Frankenstein + The Stepford Wives

Frankenstein + The Stepford Wives

Universal Monsters once again meet Classic Science Fiction. Creation, control, and man made monsters. Alice Thirteen talks about being the Executive Producer of the upcoming horror film Director’s Cut. Two incredible names and one never before seen project. Just what are the Universal Monsters films – and why are they important? James Whale and Universal Studios. Hammer Horror. The great depression. Franchise, franchise, franchise! Boris Karloff vs Bela Lugosi, round three! Humanity and style. The design of Frankenstein’s monster. German expression rears its 45 degree head. Directors you see in a graveyard. Creating size. Crushed by the monster. Double Feature revisits man playing god, only to discover Frankenstein is actually doing something more interesting. What you already know about The Stepford Wives. 1975 means an absence of jokes on the top of Nicole Kidman’s forehead. Katherine Ross, independent female. The Stepford Wives and activist feminism. Creating a monster and changing public opinion. An ending to do seventies sci-fi proud. Continue reading

Invincible + Mister Frost

Invincible + Mister Frost

A Werner Herzog warning. Trying to maintain accessibility. Invincible. Why Werner Herozog should be on Michael’s radar. A new troop. Someone listens to Alice about Udo Kier. Mixing Truth, fiction and documentary.. The New German Cinema via The French New Wave. Ah yes, the tv/film accessibility levels graphic! Can The Splat Pack teach us something about classy German cinema? What is Herzog known for? Unfair comparisons to filmmakers Double Feature is familiar with. The powerhouse that is Tim Roth. Another source of villainy. A unique look at pre-Hitler Germany on the cusp of WW2. Considering another aspect of are the sideshow. The supernatural! The important differences between frauds and the self-delusional. What if German had been lead by the occult? The VHS legend that is Mister Frost. What happens in the missing 1/3? Midnight video. Vincent Schiavelli! The brand new Double Feature Jeff Goldblum Crazy Chart graphic! Jennifer Jilbert, Jeff Goldblum historian. How crazy does the Goldblum get – and when. The devil or not. How do you know when the supernatural is real in a fictional world? Mr. Frost, tension, and the absence of violence. Science gets better, nonsense goes away, and the Earth is a better place for everyone. Continue reading

Creepshow + The Specials

Creepshow + The Specials

Comic book tributes by horror legends. The Additional Content is out! Getting in front of the camera. George A Romero and Stephen King. Tom Savini, comic books, and trashcan metaphors. The aesthetic. The lasting impression of Creepshow. Horror anthologies. The legacy. Alice talks about his time work on Marvel’s comics! Deciphering the relationship between Creepshow and Tales from the Crypt. A sequel, a bastard child, and 2009’s Creepshow Raw. Alex Pardee does things. The Specials. The increasingly popular works of James Gunn. Lollilove. Rob Lowe and Thomas Haden Church as people you recognize. Getting to the bottom of Doug. What’s up with the world’s smartest man? Comedic timing. Action figure unveiling. The state of superhero audiences. The game of heroes without powers. Continue reading

Cecil B Demented + The Royal Tenenbaums

Cecil B Demented + The Royal Tenenbaums

Diving right in to the pairing experiment. John Waters and Wes Anderson, best friends forever. Michael and Alice get excited about introduction to color theory! Cecil B Demented takes back the cinema. That punk metal resistance. The man who fought dogma and taboo sets his sights on the film industry. Kidnap, torture, and farce. The problems of cinema yesterday. Don’t hold back! John Waters raps songs. Go on, read that sentence again. Jerome Dillon. The Royal Tenenbaums introduces the cast. This time, with Baldwin. Redemption, take two. The Wes Anderson color palette. How to learn. Why color is more important than how important you probably think it is. Color coded characters. Break your rules and make your point. Continue reading

Tenebre + Secret Beyond the Door

Tenebre + Secret Beyond the Door

Two films that dramatize secrets. Dario Argento does something different with Tenebre. The music! The meta! The future! Commentary on horror cinema and literature. Invoking themes. Inspired by Fritz Lang. Secret Beyond the Door’s real secret is how to remember the fucking title. When the truth begins. The Bluebird fable. Alice tells the real Bluebird tale. A cautionary fable of feminine curiosity. Double Feature hosts struggle to emulate terrible women jokes, only to makes themselves too sick to go on. You know what else is sick? The bible. Rooms + Psychology. Helping the audience open their minds. Encouraging critical thinking in a crowd. Continue reading

Alice in Wonderland + It’s Such a Beautiful Day

Alice in Wonderland + It’s Such a Beautiful Day

Strange worlds via animation. The various versions of Alice in Wonderland. Inventing icons: how does Disney do it? Defining classics. The vault. Everything is a musical. Yesterday’s animation today. How escapism was once represented in animation. Former conventions in modern times. Franz Kafka. Being surrounded by death at all times. Building your blueprint around encounters. The pointlessness of living. Growing into adolescence. Appeasing a tyrant. American McGee’s Alice. Alice: The Madness Returns. Don Hertzfeldt’s It’s Such a Beautiful Day. Resistance to identification. The medium and the message. Do things with stick figures. Simplify! The intersection of minimalism and animation. What minimalism demonstrates. Changing perception instead of content. Continue reading

Killapalooza 19: Critters

Killapalooza 19: Critters

Critters films 1-4. The Crites. New quickest time to space record. Prison Asteroid Sector 17. The Chiodo brothers mystery. Emmet Walsh, Men in White, and the NuWave. Scott Levy returns. Charlie and the kid. Lep in the proverbial hood. That fuzzy family feeling. Close Up on a Photo and Photos of You. Critters 2: Not Quite the New Batch. Jokes written after filming wrapped. Critters subtitles. Terrance Mann, Lin Shaye, and Playboy. Critters 3. The Leonardo Dicaprio moment. The evolution of Charlie the hero. New weapons, same LA. Eat your heart out, Manhattan. Shadows of the Empire for Critters. Speculation on the sheriff. Kanas, Brad Douriff, Space and the Future. A ragtag group of characters trapped aboard a space frigate. Less Critters equals better Critters. Independent space dreams continue. Revising the highly demanded Killapalooza recap. Continue reading

Klown + Safety Not Guaranteed

Klown + Safety Not Guaranteed

Independent comedies with no Internet presence. Kids are the fucking worst. Casper, Frank, and Klown. Dirty men and dirty things. The Danish sitcom. Getting away with things in films. When is it so awkward that you might as well just end your own life. Crossing the lines. Safety Not Guaranteed. Some meme background. The tonight show, filling space, and the creation of a legend. That thing we’re not supposed to talk about. We’re all wondering. Enter Aubrey Plaza. Sincerity has become more unique than irony. Orchestrating a comedy without errors. Other films, please take note. Continue reading

Sneakers + eXistenZ

Sneakers + eXistenZ

Hacking and the spy genre. The influence of the film known as Sneakers. What Sneakers should be known for vs what it’s actually known for. Tron, Wargames, and the introduction of the home arcade. Life in the valley. Palo Alto and sound. Guess who’s coming to dinner! David Strathairn, Mary McDonnell, Ben Kingsley, and…Stephen Tobolowsky? Anagrams and the polygraph. Dan Ackroyd Unplugged on UFOs. A guide to eXistenZ. A new classic has been uncovered! If David Cronenberg design electronics. Questioning reality as par for the course. Red herrings and other causes for suspicion. Jude Law under David Cronenberg (although not literally). Willem Dafoe, born to Gas. Naked Lunch 2: The Popular Videodrome. Double Feature tumbles down the meta rabbit hole. Continue reading

The FP + Hobo with a Shotgun

The FP + Hobo with a Shotgun

2011 Canadian exploitation films The FP and Hobo with a Shotgun. Robocop, Blooddragon, and 1980. An early thing Alice was wrong about. Trailers and comedy. Do it for the ducks. Reservations about The FP. The most impressive terrible dialogue. One intense asian hype man. Rambo, Rocky, and real fans. Grindhouse and Hobo with a Shotgun. A trailer unlike Machete. The Rodriguez inspiration. The Plague. Alternate history. Continue reading

Dancer in the Dark + Purple Rain

Dancer in the Dark + Purple Rain

A music heavy episode with Björk and Prince! The strange relationship a listener has with an artist. The brand Björk vs the person Björk. Artist packaging. A singer’s voice. Lars von Trier as a director and as a co-worker. Tension. Why handheld? Why not really handheld. The box. Direct instructions: put Udo Kier in everything, and do it now. Peter Stormare sings. Another Björk mystery! David Morse. The money, the lie, and the ethicacy. Dancer in the Dark is amazing, and, separately, a consideration on principles and message. Purple Rain has Prince in it! Just your normal, average guy. Morris Day and The Time. The ultimate foil. Sexism and genres. Rebecca Romijn, especially where you don’t expect her. What kind of heavy is Purple Rain. Making a movie to promote your album. Continue reading

Bartleby + Rebel Without a Cause

Bartleby + Rebel Without a Cause

Troubled individuals who can’t help be mix things up. Jonathan Parky, Herman Melville, and Bartleby the Scrivener. What’s the deal with Moby Dick? Phrases in American English. How was your weekend: I’d prefer not to. The office of Dead Letters. Dead letters as a metaphor. Forcing thought experiments into reality. Double Feature finally finds a real ghost. Crispin goddamn Glover. Morality, responsibility, and those that can not help themselves. Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause – or, as it is perhaps better known – James Dean’s Rebel Without a Cause. Making friends in new places. Influence on everyone’s favorite road-based exploitation sub-genre, Roadsploitation. Dennis goddamn Hopper. A speculative conversation regarding the work of Robert Rodirguez. Playing chicken, even in Fast and the Furious. The parental units. Police and the general role of authority. Considerations of the 1950s. A quick word on repressed memories – you don’t have any. Continue reading

Clerks + Super 8

Clerks + Super 8

Two writer/directors return on Double Feature. Clerks as the beginning of the Kevin Smith catalogue. The Jersey films. Dante Hicks: some man’s every man. The independence…oh god, the independence. Dante’s terrible day gets worse. One hundred thousand films worth of dialogue. Unnatural chats with natural characters. The Smith writing style. Punk rock film making. Thirty seven dicks…in a row? The immense power of a filmmaker. Earned power, and what you can use it for. Clerks the Animated series. John Dahl, JJ Abrams, and Super 8. The long history of JJ Abrams. The television landscape. Where does the star power come from? The magic of childhood filmmaking. The magnificent train wreck. Watching kids make films. Production values! The tiny quiet performance. The alternate reality game. Spielberg, production, and the inevitable comparison. A short short film called “The Case.” Continue reading

The Killing Room + Triangle

The Killing Room + Triangle

Bottle films. In fact, fluorescent bottle films. Not the Triangle miniseries! Project MK-ULTRA. The Men Who Stare at Goats. The unwilling participant. Drugs, torture, and LSD. Clea Duvall, at it again. Double Feature reunites with Peter Stormir and Cloe Sevini. Once you’re in, there’s no way out. The test inside the bottle. An appeal to minimalism. Puzzle pieces. The differences between this and other bottle films. Standing out in a genre. Mystery over characters vs mystery over plot. An elaborate excuse. Increasing the feeling of mystery. Going into Triangle without knowing anything. Just what kind of Triangle is this? Unseeing what you’ve seen. A familiar film like no other. Hitchcock, but also The Shining! Corridors and mirrors. Piles of Sally. Record players, metaphors, images and more piles. Repetition and revisits. Birdies. Where the fuck did Heather go? Greek myth. What’s happening in Triangle. A chronological breakdown. All 70 something. How many loops, and which loop is which? Continue reading

Dracula + Silent Running

Dracula + Silent Running

A Universal monster film meets an influential science fiction film. A new adventure begins a new year of Double Feature. The very last holdover. Monte Legaspi is doing something interesting. Bella Lugosi’s dead. Before the days of don’t show the monster. What made Dracula an icon, and what made Bella Lugosi Dracula. The legacy of Tod Browning’s Dracula. Creep factor. Michael’s newfound love of Silent Running. Hanging out with the bunnies in the park. Bruce Dern: crazy person? Just how insane is nature? Sacrificing humanity. Every person’s limit. Tiny droids with tiny connections to To Browning. Finding out what makes the character tick. Relationship development and motivation. Caring about the environment. Double Feature finally gets some real producers! Continue reading

Double Feature Year 5 Finale

Double Feature Year 5 Finale

SPOILER FREE SHOW! The Year Five retrospective. Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails return with Came Back Haunted. Double Feature discontinues the mp3 feed, but will anyone seriously give a fuck? Making this show possible again. Pairs that were great, even if you don’t remember them. A followup on the Double Feature Kickstarter. Fears, coming to terms, and a lack of contingency plans. Enter the future! Completely fucking up the simple pairing of two films. A recent mistake. The very first 3D film. Lost films. Some answers regarding Ronda Bryne, Sean Bryne, The Secret and The Loved Ones. You didn’t see that coming. Eraserhead and other successes. Several invocations of David Lynch without a single additional mention of the Came Back Haunted video. Michael Koester does a great job. Emails: read some. The best films of all time of any film ever in so long as those films were on the show in the last 365 days. Alice forgets what his favorite movie of the year was. The Lexicon finally exists (and, although not talked about, you’ll notice Year 1 has vanished). Continue reading

RoboCop + Bicentennial Man

RoboCop + Bicentennial Man

Pauly’s Robot memorial show. Double Feature does whatever it wants. A rare look into Double Feature final episode runners up. Half man, half machine, all RoboCob. I’ll buy that for a dollar! Twitter. The life and times of the 1980s. Matt black police cars. The world of RoboCop. Far Cry Blood Dragon! How to Destroy Angels. Dystopia. Cars on Fire! The strengths and weaknesses of stop motion bot. ED-209. Robots replacing cops. Boardroom accessories. Murphy’s gore. A valuable lesson from RoboCop. The three directives. The three laws. Bicentennial Man. EL-P’s Stepfather Factory: Building Tomorrow’s Fathers Today. Everything Isaac Asimov. The fictional inventions of Isaac Asimov. Biochemical fiction. Why Robin Williams? The impact drill. Assigning a robot to make art. The ambition of Bicentennial Man. Why the machines should replace us. Continue reading

The Sessions + Moonrise Kingdom

The Sessions + Moonrise Kingdom

Opposing development. The one and only William H Macey solves a Double Feature problem. Ben Lewin, Mark O’Brien, and The Sessions. A serious conversation about this outlandish plot. John Hawks, humor, and playing someone with a disability. Sex surrogates. How is a sex surrogate different than a prostitute? Not the answer you were expecting. More tales from the sex industry. Double Feature finally talks about Wes Anderson. The selection of Moonrise Kingdom. Avoiding Wes Anderson. Roman Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola, and Double Feature past. Michael’s take on visual treatment. Style, signature, substance. Camera rigs and a fond remembrance of handheld film. The mini-plays of Wes Anderson. Music – what’s happening here? Professional music consultant Michael Koester. An observation regarding John Waters. Continue reading

The Skin I Live In + The Future

The Skin I Live In + The Future

Refuse to let go! Antonio Banderas leads The Skin I Live In. Fixate on items, ask questions. Discovery and tiger men. Attention to detail. What will happen vs what has happened. The iconography of Eyes Without a Face. Surgery, abduction, intrigue! Awakening to villainy. Pedro Almodovar. Miranda July’s The Future. Miranda July revisited! Books, articles and nut jobs. Two people on a couch typing into their notebooks. Relatable. No matter how widely accepted, anthropomorphizing animals is crazy. A tough pill to swallow. Why resist? The greatest human invention of recent note. Never ever unplug. Continue reading

Palindromes + Female Trouble

Palindromes + Female Trouble

A completely fucked look at pregnancy and sexuality in America. Super young kids having sex. Dawn. Aviva. Henrietta Aviva. Many actors playing one character! Talking about the thing you’re supposed to talk about. Mama Sunshine’s house of horrors. Where to buy zip disks. Palindromes are like characters are like Palindromes. Jesus music and true believers. Richard is back! Are abortion picketers monsters? Divine creates some Female Trouble. Literally fucking yourself. The Female Trouble theme song! What this one should be known for. Mink Stole, Edith Massey, and the glorious Dreamlanders. Spending some time in the backyard. An ending you’d never expect unless you thought about it literally at all. Continue reading

Excision + The Loved Ones

Excision + The Loved Ones

Deceptively light-hearted naturalistic horror films. Accidental Mother’s Day double feature. Richard Bates Jr gets credit for creating Excision. Catching up with old friends. More old friends than you know what to do with. The return of the priest. Finish your equations! The deaf girl is ok being the deaf girl. How Michael finds these goddamn movies. Dream sequences. Pauline as an outcast. Why do we feel for Pauline? Identifying with the psycho. Parental unites. Surgery on stage. Holy fuck, The Secret. The Loved Ones and Sean Bryne’s debt to society. The saw is family. Australia, Wolf Creek and the splat pack. Heart-pounding tension. Sadism. Meanwhile, in the basement. Continue reading

Suspiria + John Carpenter’s Vampires

Suspiria + John Carpenter’s Vampires

Double spook-show. Living in a pitch black vacuum. Another satisfied cinematic customer. Dario Argento’s leading ladies. Reexamination of female empowerment? Associations between space and horror. Not that kind of space. Colored light and Dario Argento’s stage love. Camera work with a sense of humor. Using camera pans for laughs. The most notable Goblin score yet. Some insight into Argento and skepticism. James Woods in John Carpenter’s Vampires! A new era of Carpenter. Ongoing musical developments. The Baldwin role. Action, action, cross-dissolve. Vampires that shoot fireworks. What brand of unique vampire mythology? Favorite vampire death. The mother-fucker of all climaxes. Sure-fire ending. Continue reading

The Cell + Valhalla Rising

The Cell + Valhalla Rising

Two tense, emotionally strung out human beings discuss some trippy films. The last chance for the Double Feature Kickstarter. The Cell. Who’s a New Line Cinema actor and who’s a Tarsem Singh actor? The unsung heroes of The Cell. Dylan Baker rocks. Impressions of The Cell over time. The visuals. The Marilyn Manson. A permanently lingering scene. The masturbation cut. Mortal Kombat! BDSM suspension. Acid trips, deprivation tanks, and an invocation of Altered States. Tape sped time shifting. Grunge, paintings, and surrealism. Two people fail to pronounce Nicolas Winding Refn. Michael explains what the fuck is going on in Valhalla Rising. Two people who aren’t on acid, but might as well be. UFOs…or something. Blasphemy and spaceships. Alice pretends to understand Michael on Valhalla Rising. A Double Feature first, and perhaps a Double Feature last. Continue reading

Black Snake Moan + Monster’s Ball

Black Snake Moan + Monster’s Ball

Sex-fueld southern movies with racial components of varying degrees. Hip hop stars. What Double Feature can give you. Finally, the Double Feature secret. Who is this Craig Brewer guy? How do you describe Black Snake Moan? Not a tribute, not a throwback. Deceptive marketing that’s unexpected for not being THAT kind of deceptive. Morality, where’s the goddamn morality. Terriers died too quickly. Chaining your white ladies up in the house. Christina Ricci and the sex. What are the racial issues? Are there racial issues? Is the issues that Alice can’t see the racism? The infamous electric guitar thunderstorm scene. Why people have actually seen Monster’s Ball. The thing no one wants to admin to. Strip ’em naked! Marc Forster has made films. Terrible father movies. Letting it all roll off. Death row films (unfairly) support pacifism. Racial overtones. Undertones? Overtones? The ending of Monster’s Ball is so fucking cool. Continue reading

Maniac + Intruder

Maniac + Intruder

One-off slasher films. Horror movie comfort food. Additional content! Maniac. The old HGL blood feel. The first person look into a killer’s mind. Waking up in the bedroom of a murderer. Psychology, the real killer! The long con and a lengthy disguise. Behind the scenes as Tom Savini does it again. In a world of terrible 80s slasher films ending, a defense of Maniac’s final act. Intruder. Scott Spiegel. The Sam Raimi relationship. Influence. Things Ted Raimi tells you without telling you anything. Deaths in style! The first girl, the final girl. Something you never see anywhere else. Continue reading

The Warriors + Red Dawn

The Warriors + Red Dawn

Groups of kids who have no business kicking ass. Can you dig it is sampled on the song “The Rape” by the hip hop artist Cubbiebear. Warriors, come out and play! The all gang truce. Cops, troublemakers, and the DJ. The Baseball Furies and vest-infused dance-offs. Double Feature talks about the chase scene. What does The Warriors have to say about women in their universe? An excuse for violence and a reminder about romanticization. Red Dawn wastes no time. Why post-apocalyptica? Gorilla warfare. World War 2, the Cold War, and the fictional war. Do the toughest kids on the block really have to fight? Lack of close-ups. Continue reading

Eraserhead + Wild at Heart

Eraserhead + Wild at Heart

Extra long double David Lynch Kickstarter launch show number 250 party! Becoming Double Feature. Double Feature year six chat. The Kickstarter has a video! Eraserhead is the very thing you fear when talking about petting the white cat. Before David Lynch was verified. Not knowing if there’s an answer. Looking up era appropriate director photos. Comfort in ambience. Where does Eraserhead take place? The advantages of abstract storytelling. Interpretation of setting. Enjoying the ability to be put-off. A dream? It’s always a dream! Youth, death and sex. Young boys seduced by older women. What the pencil eraser factory means. The relationship between plot points and symbolism. How to decipher enigmatic movies. Wild at Heart and extroverted symbolism. Subtle characters. Inspiration from the time of Elvis. Metal. The changing portrayal of spending time in prison. Nicolas Cage does some kind of Nicolas Cage thing. The David Lynch type of woman. Subverting iconography. Irreverent editing! How you look when you change the ending. Continue reading

Moon + The Trip

Moon + The Trip

The friends you take on journeys through solitude. Moon, a film by Duncan Jones. David Bowie’s secret son. A look at Clint Mansell’s past. Accessible, catch pop scores. Moon as a tiny personal space film. Doing space differently. Space is fucking bright! The whatever device leads to enigmatic science fiction. Unraveling the twists. Sam Rockwell’s acting range. Siri, HAL, and the growing public interest in artificial intelligence. The HAL problem. What actors bring to a film before the first frame. Gerty, another example of a different take to a familiar sci-fi convention. The Trip invokes a culture shock on Double Feature. Unfairly lumping all british films together as if that’s helpful in the slightest. Starting at the surface. More than impressions. The treatment of food and life in The Trip vs food and life in Sideways. Returning home. Continue reading

Elvira: Mistress of the Dark + Sleepy Hollow

Elvira: Mistress of the Dark + Sleepy Hollow

Last will and testament films. Tributes to monsters of sound-stage cinema. Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. Rebel against that morality club. Alice and Michael finally talk to each other about Elvira. The reality of goth chick valley girl. A deeper look at Elvir’s character. Another look at Vampire. Cassandra Peterson. Movie Macabre and horror hosting. Shock value. Elvira’s sex appeal and how she gets away with it. The misunderstood teenager. Michael met Alice at an IHOP. Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow. Six degrees of Tim Burton. A darker, more sinister exception. The one off Christina Ricci. The cast. The Christopher Lee metal album. The origins of the Sleepy Hollow film. Film noir levels of convoluted plot. A more honest intentioned look at the Burton rehashing. Where it gets no better. The Headless Horseman. All things beheading. Science vs faith, I guess. Continue reading

Shame + I Saw the Devil

Shame + I Saw the Devil

Two sides of the same coin. Kickstarter incentives. Shame. One sheets! Aesthetics, subtlety and subtext. Sex clubs and violence. Speculate on all the things! Acting challenges. Differing accounts of what may have happened. The facts. Sissy and Brandon. Interpretation of characters and conflicts. Reading into it too much. Family and companionship. New York and The Standard. I Saw the Devil shows the killer. Blood in the snow. Contrast. Kim and Jang. What makes a monster? Moral ambiguity. Conditioning. Capital punishment. Alive enough to kill again. What are the important differences between a man out for revenge and the killer who wronged him in the first place? The spectrum of monsters. Humanism’s take on revenge and murder. Murder and rape are both terrible, but people will still argue about which is worse. Who saw the devil? Did revenge satisfy? Continue reading

American Beauty + Adaptation

American Beauty + Adaptation

Insecurity, self indulgence, and flowers. American Beauty. Seeing the hand of the writer. Icons. Rose pedals. Mena Suvari as Angela Hayes. The American Dream. I will sell this house today. The relationship between Carolyn Burnham and the audience. Homoeroticism. What happens at night. Lester’s new life. The family unit and the survival of the individualist’s dream. Unexpected optimism. Revelations on an island. Inspirational statutory rape. Ignoring statutory rape. Possible insights to Lester’s decision. Double Feature can’t overlook the floating bag. When an audience’s mass interpretation of a film change’s the film’s emphasis. Adaptation writer Donald Kaufman. Speculation on the Being John Malkovich tie-in. Donald Kaufman solves a longstanding Double Feature question. Machine vs Horse. Lower your standards. Adaptation proves the book is not always better than the goddamn movie. John Laroche is the most amazing thing ever. Why John Laroche is the most amazing thing ever. The Orchid Thief. Where is Charlie Kaufman? Unspooling in the hyper-meta final act of Adaptation. Where else do you end? Send us your Kickstarter incentive requests! Continue reading

Dirty Work + Pootie Tang

Dirty Work + Pootie Tang

Stand up comedians turned directors! An update on All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. Have people actually seen these films? Cliches that disappeared from popular consciousness. Note to self: you get raped in prison. Christopher MacDonald won’t leave Double Feature alone. Who or what is Norm MacDonald? The marketplace of sketch comedy. Chris Farley, Chevy Chase, and a strange new premise. Norm MacDonald Reacts to Things. Bob Saget completes dirty works. Heavy realizations. Fear of coping out in a dark comedy. Another idea for a Dirty Work double feature. Pootie Tang: Sine Your Pitty on the Runny Kine. Understanding Pootie Tang. Starting in accessibility. Who made Pootie Tang and why? Getting harder before it gets easier. Louis CK background, including a primer on Louie. What the studio did to the movie in editing. What’s Chris Rock all about? Satirization without mimicry. Where did the idea come from? Ebonics, Jivetalk, and none of that. What we can learn from Pootie Tangs’ silent song. What a movie in jibberish shows us about language and communication. Anti-Comedy, anti-humor, and the death of the punchline. Alice tells the Shaggy Dog joke. Continue reading

Duck Soup + Indie Game

Duck Soup + Indie Game

The four Marx brothers. The difference HD actually makes. The iconography of Groucho Marx. Where did the musical comedy go? The modern comedy troupe. The infamous face. Playing off Groucho. The influence of Duck Soup on comedy. Moments paid tribute to countless times. Why fixate on war? Indie Game: The Movie and digital distribution. The gaming economy. What’s exciting about small teams. Distinct art styles foster buzz and name recognition. The C Word. Sincere emotional connection to pixel art. Multiple roles you wouldn’t expect one individual to carry. Art in a vacuum, revisited. Great films aren’t the same as Favorite Films. The anxiety and stress that goes with small team development. The greatest feeling imaginable. Success and the inevitable return. Continue reading

Humanoids from the Deep + Mars Needs Women

Humanoids from the Deep + Mars Needs Women

Double Feature faces women in cult film, sci-fi and exploitation. The final hours of Michael’s Kickstarter. Monster or Humanoids from the Deep? Re-release and cash in! Dead dogs and dead humans. How to ruin a party, fill time, and get fucked. Ventriloquism as an aphrodisiac. The mysterious harp score. Keeping your audience in the dark. Barbara Peters, female director! Justifying a serious conversation about women for a movie that shouldn’t be taken seriously. How a target audience informs film analysis. The Bechdel test. What criteria do you use? The message is: Mars Needs Women. Larry Buchanan. Similarities and differences between the films of Edward D Wood Jr. Stock fucking footage. Ed Wood’s flower shop. A serious drama. What does Mars Needs Women think about Earth’s most desirable women? Coming for your women. Having sex with your women. Making babies with your women. What is this genre really talking about? Continue reading

Spy Kids 2 + Gremlins 2

Spy Kids 2 + Gremlins 2

Genetic experiments and incredible post-colon titles. Two films of unrestrained imagination. Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams. Alice gets his own correction. Reintroductions. Special effects. Returning actors, tupperware Banderas, and Ricardo Montalban. The progressive political system of Spy Kids 2. Humanity’s relationship with technology. Where Machete exists in the Spy Kids universe. The first digitally filmed movies. The main handful of digital camera you need to know. Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Michael’s evening at The Music Box. Why you should get to know directors. The themes of Gremlins 2. Breaking the 4th wall. Joe Dante’s blank check. Pleasing the critics. Continue reading

Freeway + Nothing

Freeway + Nothing

Better learning through coupling. Answering for Ghostbusters. Freeway: A perfect film for Double Feature. A weird film, and why it is what it is. Even more on Richard Elfman, Danny Elfman and The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. Robert Crumb and Little Red Riding Hood. Before Spider-Man and after Spider-Man. Matthew Bright and Artsploitation. Doing it the hard way. First time director, incredible cast. Executive producer Oliver Stone. The return of Keifer Sutherland. Keifer Sutherland’s biggest sell. Beautiful trashy Vanessa! Giving the benefit of the doubt. Always be yourself. How to determine if someone is a serial killer. How to never jump the shark. Freeway 2 and the oddity of totally authorized sequels. From the makers of Cube…Nothing. Where audiences will accept all forms of exposition. Star Wars tales. Science fiction dealing with the implications of it’s own devices. How infinite white space is done. Special effects exclusively through sound. Not telling The Story of Gary. Agoraphobia and the terror of the outside world. Learning vs escapism. If you could forget, would you? Should you? Drink your problems away. Continue reading

Kindergarten Cop + Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot

Kindergarten Cop + Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot

Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ivan Reitman produces every film, and Linda Hunt isn’t really in any of them. The humor of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop. Weird Arnold faces. Cullen Crisp. 90s moms, up to no good. Mommy and daddy issues. Who is you daddy and what does he do? A PG-13 take on R rated subject matter. The moral responsibility of Hollywood. If You Seek Amy. Detective John Kimball’s Ferret. Revisiting twenty year old franchises. Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot! An action comedy with action. A bit of Golden Girls History. Demasculinizing the Man’s Man. Standing up for a movie that’s no one’s favorite. THE THREE POINT SCALE. Before films could talk about gangs as more complex than simple monsters. Double Feature tries to figure out a real man. Mocking your role model. As I say, not as I do. The evolving role of masculinity in film and television. Continue reading

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly + Godzilla: Final Wars

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly + Godzilla: Final Wars

The final chapter in a series where Double Feature takes on two genres it was not prepared for. Years later, the return to Spaghetti westerns and kaiju (Japanese monster films)! The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Remembering where the dollars trilogy started. Michael pets the white cat. The approachability of film analysis. A defense of popular art films. The emotions the character defining titles take an audience though. What motivates western gunslingers? Who do they feel accountable to? Rugged individualism and the concept of trust. The unholy alliance. A getting away with pacifism in a violent western. Cowboys are allowed to cry. Appeal to the popular classic western genre. The most iconic standoff in cinema history. A anniversary monster world tour. Godzilla: Final Wars. Portraying Godzilla decades later. Double Feature discovers a secret Scientology allegory. Sure, why not add mutants. Japan destroys New York. The most destroyed cities in film. Atragon! Mothra, Anguirus, Rodan, Zilla, King Caesar, Hedorah, Ebirah, Kamacuras, Kumonga, Manda, Gigan, Monster X and Nilla. Where did Nilla come from?! Too cute to be bad. The future of Godzilla. Continue reading

Killer Klowns from Outer Space + Blood Feast 2

Killer Klowns from Outer Space + Blood Feast 2

Camp from the greatest of enthusiasts. Finding reality! An accidental revisit of year 1 format. The Chiodo Brothers. Big top guitar riff. Halley’s comet, Hale-Bopp, and the Heaven’s Gate cult. Two types of skepticism. Where’s our sequel? Making the difficult look easy. Making the easy look difficult. Shadowplay and magic effects. Selling simple effects. The horror! Floods of creativity. Making your audience think about your movie. A lightning quick Herschel Gordon Lewis primer. Strip away an era, remove a variable in understanding. The guts of Blood Feast 2: All You Can Eat. Understanding the comedy of Herschel Gordon Lewis. A breakthrough in understanding. An understanding, but perhaps not a full understanding. A more redeemable look at gender. Is HGL becoming a better filmmaker? The towel of greater disappointment. Making John Waters work for you. The final chapter of a three year adventure. Continue reading

Thinner + Fright Night

Thinner + Fright Night

A Tom Holland double feature! One of the coolest things Stephen King ever did. Richard Bachman and Stephen King. Tiny kids and Godfathers. Getting Thinner in an elevator. High concept elevator pitch. Road head gypsy curse. Horror for regular people. The acne potato guy. The white man from town. Is it possible to create a serious treatment of the Thinner story? The moral of the story. A roadhead cover-up conspiracy. The ambiguous rules of Curse Pie. Fright Night shows sexy vampires are only part of the equation. The popularity of Fright Night in 1985. For the Nintendo Entertainment System! 8 bit score. Franchise stoppers. Vampire powers of seduction are honed skills, not super powers! If all else fails… Monsters and cannon. Terror in the Suburbs: It Never Gets Old Edition. Peter Vincent! Terrible old person makeup that gets worse upon each viewing. Successfully celebrating camp while becoming camp yourself. An evolving view on vampires. Mother skeptic. New Wave with guitars! Synth music cues. Ed Evil. Ghost cuddle. Continue reading

Paycheck + Next

Paycheck + Next

A spontaneous Phillip K Dick double feature looks into the past and into the future. Podcasting in an artistic vacuum. Back at Chicago’s Edgewater Beach Hotel. An all-star cast for what could have been a sci-fi blockbuster. Ben Affleck runs from a puzzle. John Woo and Hong Kong action films. HAMSTER DANCE. Buying into the objects. Positive looks at film continues with a potential future direction for Double Feature. Silly Hong Kong meets American Tech-Heavy Sci Fi. The influence of Minority Report. The lesser emphasized Phillip K Dick themes. Are you guilty before you commit a crime? Fixed destiny time travel. The Sacco and Vanzetti case. How you pitch Next to your friends. Going nuclear. Las Vegas magicians. Is next for you? The point of no return. At the heart of Next. Revisiting how long you can spend in a dream. An FBI agent in the real world. Designed to cop-out. Continue reading

The Ward + Darkon

The Ward + Darkon

A day in fantasy to help Alice think he’s not crazy. A modern John Carpenter film in The Ward. A familiar director and a band new writer. Seeing the style and technique again. Immediately identifiable as modern and 70s. The pulsing heartbeat of John Carpenter. One prolific director’s influence on films of today’s. Where’d the Casio keyboard go? Quick, pretend you were already a fan of Rob Zombie’s latest inspiration. Unnerving commentary. Another visual movie watching experiment you can try at home! Michael overcomes a pet peeve. Sweet Amber Heard. The Id, the Artist, the Seductress, the Aggressor, the Infant and the Protector. Another way to approach the twist. Every horror movie should have one good joke. Break your own rules to create scares. The kill room. Modern violence. A professional crew surrounding amateurs. Filming a documentary as a gift to your subject. The wench from Medieval Times. Humanizing the subject you thought was strange enough to film. A universe where your choices effect everything. Is being born in the wrong time nonsense? Being boring (and other qualities of world leaders). The actual skills Darkon sharpens. In character and out of character. Is it ok to check out from the real world? Continue reading

The Faculty + Jackie Brown

The Faculty + Jackie Brown

Black sheep, back to back: Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez direct two strange selections. The Faculty and the 90s. Teenage wasteland. What makes The Faculty edgy. Film making as a job. Why did Robert Rodriguez do The Faculty? Rebellion. Aliens and effects. Naked tentacle wonderment. The beginning of the CGI. Developing Planet Terror. Super 90s soundtrack, featuring a cast inclusive video from The Class of 99. The hyper 70s blacksploitation introduction of Jackie Brown. Quentin Tarantino, bringing people back. Another look at Tarantino’s dialogue. Chicks with Guns. Atypical casting and acting choices. Pam Grier! Forty year old ass-kicker. Ordell the weasel. Earning the boss. The strange line walked by a bail bondsman. Continue reading

Gummo + Pink Flamingos

Gummo + Pink Flamingos

Competing looks at trash culture. Gummo and Harmony Korine. Comparisons to Larry Clark and Kids. What are the similarities and why do they exist? Storytelling sans story. Michael tries to add artistic credibility to mumblecore. Filmmaking nihilism. Making an audience ask “Why?” Answering the dangerous question. Humanists consider the opposition. The best of the worst, the making of a hero. The power of your surroundings. Self-image. Finding Gummo in reality. The Zef side! Die Antwoord. South Africa. Pink Flamingos is sooo mainstream. The classic John Waters dreamlanders. The infamy of Pink Flamingos. An incredible film-generating attic. The allure of poop. Prime lenses fix your poor filmmaking. Stop giving a fuck and start making films. Moments of genius amongst the filth. The filthiest filth. Fucking a chicken to death o-screen. Surprise trial! Continue reading

Haywire + Centurion

Haywire + Centurion

The pre-existing Soderbergh narrative on Haywire. Why Alice is in love with Haywire. Amateur spy video. Gina Carano is out of everyone’s league. MMA fighters. Soderbergh’s casting methodology and why it rocks. Feminism and a man’s world. Spy film don’t give a fuck! Without training wheels. Why the camera does what it does. Neil Marshall still has more films. The items needed for Centurion. The Invisible Gorilla experiment. Alternate history. The flying tom tom flies back, bleeds on the snow. Brand new: Michael Fassbender! Olga Kurylenko as Etain. Etain as pure emotion. The fog, what’s in the fog!? Roman myth. Continue reading

Killapalooza 18: The Eye

Killapalooza 18: The Eye

The Eye films 1-5. Ghost stories. No Indian remake of The Eye. A big announcement from Double Feature – then, another announcement from Double Feature! Revisiting the historic Edgewater Beach Hotel. The Panic Room. What Killapalooza is about. The Eye. The Pang Brothers. The Chinese culture divide. Subtle treatment of ghosts. Unexpected types of suspense and horror. Sight. Making someone doubt their senses. Seeing for the first time. What do we really know about China? The Eye 2 walks it off. Why explain something if everyone’s already aware of it? The horror of what’s always been. The last necessary birth scene has already been filmed. Ghost drama. Putting the ghost shoe on the other foot. The Eye 3: The Eye 10: Is this even The Eye? Road maps and attention spans. A list of fables to try at home. The 2008 American remake of The Eye. American remakes of recent horror films. Remakes do not ruin the original. What the United States did with the Chinese source. Spontaneous Double Feature generation. The Child’s Eye – clearly part of The Eye franchise. What is this series about? Anxiously waiting for confirmation. The special abilities of children and dogs. Dog boys. Ghost dogs. Ghost Minecraft dog boys. A crack at 3D! Animal reaction shots. Cellular Memory pseudoscience. Continue reading

This Is Spinal Tap + Rock N Roll High School

This Is Spinal Tap + Rock N Roll High School

Live music that causes things to explode. This Is Spinal Tap as a Christopher Guest cult film. Faux-Documentary-Epic. All your bass are belong to us. Big bottom. Live Spinal Tap shows. Rob Reiner. it’s just like where you work! Band experience. Making it up, for real. Theories on born artists. Industry backed rock. The Ramones relationship with punk rock. Rock N Roll High School, accessibility and exploitation. The KKK took my baby away. A precursors to 80s scoundrel comedy. Whatever happened to P.J. Soles? Continue reading

Bellflower + Crash

Bellflower + Crash

The indie circuit show. Michael’s favorite spoiler from Bellflower. Oscilloscope Films. Adam Yauch. Purchase your own Bellflower car. The truth about the director/camera relationship. The SI-2k Evan Glodell built his custom DIY camera on top of. Mumblecore and back yard films. A generation of young filmmakers. What are we doing with our lives? Subjective armageddon. Bring your own apocalypse. David Cronenberg’s Crash. Cronenberg’s version of an adaptation. James Spader sex. Similarities in leads. Coming into our reality. A series of questions no one wants to ask. Dark sexuality, fun time sexuality, and sex in Crash. Contrasting the sex in Crash with it’s treatment in Bound. What does Cronenberg think about his audience? Passing up the acknowledgment of the outside world.  Continue reading

Dementia 13 + One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Dementia 13 + One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

A night with the crazies. Dementia 13. Psychosploitation. Roger Corman, Francis Ford Coppola and New World Pictures. Jack Hill’s involvement. Commentary infographic exploitation idea. WHITE CAT. Francis Coppola is a secret Double Feature director. Michael counts down the Psycho comparisons. The influence of Dementia 13 on slasher films. Early instances of female voice over narration. Pull of the Weaseling your way into the will. Why One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is such a hard show to do. Refusing the power of Jack Nicholson. Nurse Ratched and McMurphy. Why McMurphy always loses. What motivates Nurse Ratched. The role of women in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Oppressive women and women in prison. Electroshock, lobotomy, therapy and punishment. Questioning behaviorism. Gone fishing. The effect of the institution on the crazies. Continue reading

Galaxy Quest + The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai

Galaxy Quest + The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai

Double Feature returns to space! Galaxy Quest. Star Trek. Fandom. The human advantage. Michael appreciates humanity. I am not Spock. When skepticism brushes against cynicism. An appeal to excitement. My people make crazy choices in movies. Happenstance fame. The mind of Will Wheton. Irwin Allen’s Rock n Roll. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. Buckaroo Bonzai isn’t a real person. THE SAND BEETLE. Using the new JEFF GOLDBLUM SANITY METER to rate Jeff Goldblum in Buckaroo Bonzai. The end credits / the trailer. Who’s in on the joke? Continue reading

The Artist + Barton Fink

The Artist + Barton Fink

Hollywood and the artistic process in an accidental John Goodman double feature. The awards. The wager of holding up silent films. Modern romance. Revisiting silent technique. How silent films are watched differently. Score as an alternative to the highly distracting sounds of your own body. How foley has changed score. Sound induced anxiety. How the transition to talkies is was different than trendy 3D. The role of women in comedy post-silent era. Barton Fink and the continuing understanding. Pulling the lid off s symbolism and significance in Coen Brothers movies. Steve Buscemi and Hotel Coen. From the gut. Hollywood. Barton and Charlie. Barton Fink and the common man. Mad Man Munt. Continue reading

Orphan + Insidious

Orphan + Insidious

Two horror films of the same era using children to incite fear. The magic that is Orphan. Piano moms. Scenes from the arthouse. Some people don’t like eye balls being squished…Alice doesn’t like children. Genuine relationships. Ghost cold and the skeptical father. Alcoholics Anonymous. The world’s most beautiful house. Bathroom mirrors. Defying expectation. Paintings. Esther is amazing. Sexuality and youth. Manipulating children. Using maturity to dodge cliches. A discussion on twists. Insidious and the sideshow. Patrick Wilson. Hammer Horror. Tongue-in-cheek-score. Coming back to scare shots! Yer kid is haunted. Mixing a mythos. Wide angle, wide shots. The visual of Insidious. EVP and modern technology. Continue reading

Jack Brooks Monster Slayer + Tucker and Dale vs Evil

Jack Brooks Monster Slayer + Tucker and Dale vs Evil

Old school…Canadian horror? Jack Brooks Monster Slayer and the Music Box Massacre. The meaning of “Canadian-American” film. The jungles of Canada. First time director Jon Knautz. Robert England could do anything, and he does horror. Foreshadowing via an actor’s known work. Score, for jokes and mysterious adventure! Eating the heart. Using practical effects to pay tribute. A unique distribution of action. Alan Tudyk as Tucker in Tucker and Dale vs Evil. Real tales from the south. The most interesting place in a scene. Confirmatory evidence. EVIL TEA. Cinematic elements that make a slasher movie scary. Why some people see a cabin and think vacation homes, while others see the same cabin and fear their lives. Continue reading

Buried + Pontypool

Buried + Pontypool

Trapped in a place. Micro budgets, micro titles. Different takes on the immersion of Buried. Film making exercises. How anyone can make a 90 minute film. The Buried title sequence. Getting the audience to tell the story. The tools. What is the root of the cynicism? Questioning motives. Pontypool. Stephen McHattie as Grant Mazzy. Shock Jocks. Sydney Briar is alive. The love of memes. Rebecca Black and the power of exploitation. Missing cat. Alternate takes post-viewing. Things that could be clues. Are you meant to solve Pontypool? Practical skepticism in real time. Breaking down. It’s terrifying, and it has to get worse before it gets better. THE MORPHEOUS EFFECT. Language. Continue reading

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari + The Cabin in the Woods

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari + The Cabin in the Woods

Double Feature barley makes it. Last minute from a tiny closet in the historic Edgewater Beach Hotel. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a silent film. German Expressionism through the eyes of Time Buton. Surreal, gravity defying sets. Explaining the Mystery Spot. An asylum for the cartoonishly insane. The origins of the twist, and the lesser cited origins of bookends. The mundane work environment of Cabin in the Woods. The physical layers of the film and what they represent. Dark art wolf make out party games. Mythology and roles. Joss Whedon’s refusal to throw away characters. Playing What-If. The bike looks like something it’s not. Commenting on the cynicism. Breaking the perfect ten, over and over. Nine Inch Nails’ Last. Continue reading

Spy Kids + Honey I Shrunk the Kids

Spy Kids + Honey I Shrunk the Kids

Film makers who you would think have no business making children’s films. The insane amount of star power in the original Spy Kids. Robert Rodriguez writing children’s movies for children. How to create an abundance of new sub-genres in a single stroke. Computer animation! Why a children’s film? A new Danny Elfman / Oingo Boingo song! The message of spy kids. Evil in disagreement: a fresh antagonist dynamic. Uncle Machete? How do you convince your friends to watch Spy Kids? Honey, I Shrunk the Kids! What ever happened to mad science? What the change in sci-fi and fantasy films tells us about science literacy. The terror in the backyard. Suspension of disbelief and the audience member that can’t play along. Rick Moranis as Wayne Szalinski. Honey I Blew Up the Kid. Honey We Shrunk Ourselves. The Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Premarital sex! Continue reading

Irreversible + The Woman

Irreversible + The Woman

Ladies night. Gaspar Noe’s Placebo video. The enthusiasm in eccentric filmmaking. Michael’s theory of self-indulgent French movies. Realizations in reverse. Cinematic mechanics in backwards storytelling. French extremism and, as always, brutality. Commentary on homophobia. When you know what’s coming.The last good thing you will ever know. Teaching the audience a humanistic lesson about murder. It’s so very good to have Lucky McKee back. Tension already. The Woman and the family. Where you don’t belong. Rooting for someone you’re afraid of. Finally, a case of justified violence? Forced alignment with uncomfortably terrible characters. Sexually shaming an audience. Bad gets worse, again. After the credits. The Woman’s a sequel?! Continue reading

Real Steel + World’s Greatest Dad

Real Steel + World’s Greatest Dad

Terrible dads. Two adults have a vulgar conversation about Real Steel. Characters and Lost reunions. A showcase of well used cliches. Misleading marketing. Down and out underdogs among underdogs. Some answers: what the fuck is going on with the “secret” in Real Steel. Late 90s soundtrack. Robot design. Who is Bobcat Goldthwait? World’s Greatest Dad. Writing to the lowest common denominator. Michael really hates Kyle. Bad made worse as a dark humor tactic. An audience’s sadomasochism. Smaller films filmed within the larger film. Vignettes and musical type videos. The return of MANDY LANE. A skeptically infused rant about Oprah, enabler of all terrible things. Where are the moral boundaries? The hard in justifying the means. Continue reading

Killapalooza 17: Piranha

Killapalooza 17: Piranha

Piranha films 1-5. Killer fish! An announcement that changes Double Feature forever. Another announcement that’s even more important than that. Double Feature: The longest running consecutive week-after-week show on the internet. The Edgewater Beach Hotel (is not haunted). The Double Feature lexicon goes online! The original Joe Dante Piranha. Eighties horror in the seventies. Nudity in the Piranha franchise. Joe Dante at the Music Box. The alternate takes on science in 80s science fiction films. Piranha, from lady parts to kiddie parts. James Cameron’s Piranha 2: The Spawning. Characters? Characters! Raising the stakes. The hokiest scene in the entire franchise. Recreating Piranha as a made for TV movie. Roger Corman making his own remake. Splat splat splat. Alexander Aja takes you from zero to bro in Piranha 3D. Alice reconsiders 3D. The flower duet. Love to hate. Girls Gone Wild. Christopher Lloyd! Piranha massacre. Immediate deaths and comedic timing. Water certified strippers in Piranha 3DD. Terrible sinful dirty. This misunderstood John Gulager. TV relics. Continue reading

The Iron Giant + My Neighbor Totoro

The Iron Giant + My Neighbor Totoro

Fantasy worlds that use giant friends to different means. Brad Bird and The Iron Giant. Trends in animation over time. A call for more interesting animation. Alice somehow thinks it’s a good idea to credit David Fincher for all 2:35:1 movies. Why you always end up following the Hogarth character. The family unit. Not just a stand-in for dad. The government doesn’t know everything. Alarmism throughout the decades. The lessons from a terrifying death robot. Rallying behind Vin Disel. Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, and Toho films. Tromo’s involvement in My Neighbor Totoro. Revisiting dubbing. What makes Totoro Alice’s favorite Miyazaki. Sickness in animation. The girls’ reality. Conventions of escapism. A fantasy world without conflict. Totoros, the Catbus, and various other creatures. Deconstructing the allure of the King Totoro. Continue reading

Bound + Strangers on a Train

Bound + Strangers on a Train

Symbiotic murder and crime. Murder, mystery and intrigue in noirland. More information about Larry Wachowski becoming Lana Wachowski. Why Double Feature is interested in Lana Wachowski. Bound contains the shortest Flying Tom Tom yet. Bound is goddamn sexy, and that’s awesome. Commendable boundary pushing. Voluntary sadomasochism, both metaphorical and literal. The afterglow. Do characters have to be realistic? Using sex to define a relationship. Montages in heist films. The Wachowski attention to detail. Object oriented filmmaking. Parallels with The Matrix. What’s Raymond Chandler doing on Strangers on a Train? Femme fatales in a movie that may not have femme fatales. Finding Hitcock’s signature. Humanism: why the wrongly accused works so well. What Alfred Hitchcock’s success says about the good in humanity. Thought experiments at parties. Twins, doubles, and dopple-gangers. Moral obligations. When do you call the police? Continue reading

Dark Star + Sunshine

Dark Star + Sunshine

Celestial bodies that aren’t Jane Fonda. Double Feature in space! John Carpenter’s first film, Dark Star. Who knows Dark Star is supposed to be funny? Carpenter and comedy. Making a film out of your trash can. Remembering the flower children. What if we sent spaced-out hippies into space? What Star Trek took from Dark Star. The director’s cut. Methodological skepticism. Skepticism vs paradoxes. Journeyman filmmaking. How Sunshine makes space feel massive. Giving life back to space. The living components of dying space. Overwhelming, inspiring awe. Democracy isn’t always the right answer. A breakdown of decisions and consequences. In defense of Trey. Suicide or murder? Sunshine’s Bear or No Bear moment that transition in to all anyone remembers about the film. Pinback and Pinbacker. Let’s talk about the core problems of a religious mindset! Is God really the problem? Why things are blurry. What created Pinbacker and what he represents. Continue reading

Rogue + The Innkeepers

Rogue + The Innkeepers

Splat time at Graceland Cemetery. Greg Mclean, Dimension Extreme. Movies in the cloud! Giant crocodile as the slasher. Television and horror. Adam Green and Rob Zombie have TV shows. Creating red herrings through overwhelming exposition. An unexpected cast has something unexpected happen to it. Coming up with your own problems when the killer won’t do it for you. Getting to know your characters as they make life harder for each other. Trigonomical death. Who is Ti West, really? The Innkeepers alongside The House of the Devil. What actually happened after Cabin Fever? The worst kind of horror movie. Alice and Michael have this skill. The 90’s aesthetic. Another use for humor. Oh hey skepticism! The unfalsifiable. Doing something different in the context of doing the same old thing. So glad to have that Ti West back. Continue reading

Cry-Baby + Roadracers

Cry-Baby + Roadracers

50’s throw-back films! Greasers. John Waters after Devine. A bit on Iggy Pop. Who is Traci Lords? A confused opinion on hatchet-face. Johnny Depp?! Entire budget of Cry-Baby: $12 Million. Depp’s average Pirates salary: $88 Million per film. Faux jazz lounge scene! Coupling and single characters. Drapes and squares. Bases and religious tattoos. The alphabet bomber movie. Is Cry-Baby a musical? Adaptations of adaptations. Courtroom scenes. Use the manhole! Roadracers: The Making of a Degenerate Hot Rod Flick. Showtime’s Rebel Highway series. An Invasion of the Body Snatchers metaphor. John Hawkes’ character. Building around icons. The long-awaited Roadracers DVD release! Continue reading

Party Monster + Heavenly Creatures

Party Monster + Heavenly Creatures

Friendships that famously end in murder. Party Monster, the real fake meta documentary story thing. A better reference for what became THE FLYING TOM TOM. The unreliable narrator in a meta universe. Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland. Iconic fictional personas and club drama. DJing. A living attraction. The perpetual motion machine of celebrity. The controversy that is Chloe Sevigny. The life and times of Marilyn Manson. The party monsters today. Heavenly Creatures against other Peter Jackson films. How Double Feature feels about Peter Jackson. Young girls and old girls. Men as the unappealing minority. Peer pressure vs enabling. The humanity of famous killers. What does the sexual relationship communicate about the characters? Violence without glory. Continue reading

Drive + Collateral

Drive + Collateral

The heroes and villains of LA crime. What Double Feature already knew about Drive. Nicolas Winding Refn: crazy person. The precision of Drive. Roadsploitation. A protagonist with no name. Modern day nuwave musicians and composer Cliff Martinez. Stripped down plot. Unconventional (and more realistic) relationships. The alpha male. The role of minimalism. The mysterious man’s actual past. Drive as a superhero film. Ill intentions. The superhero mentor. Violence! Bordering on surrealism. What audiences can handle. Collateral as an introduction to Michael Mann. Real people. The beginning of digital filmmaking. Why don’t people like Tom Cruise? A different look at jazz. Rooting for the villain. Who is Max? Continue reading

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane + The Poughkeepsie Tapes

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane + The Poughkeepsie Tapes

Starting year five with two films you can’t see! It’s true – All the Boys Love Many Lane. Why wasn’t this released? What would the boys do for Mandy Lane? Out of the closet atheist actor Amber Heard. Using the blunt force of a gun as your weapon. When no one else is around. When do you know? Manipulation. A found footage film that actually does what we always just pretend found footage films do. Predicting the financial success and critical reaction of The Poughkeepsie Tapes based on nothing but wild speculation. Characteristics of the water street butcher. B-stories. Continue reading

Double Feature Year 4 Finale

Double Feature Year 4 Finale

SPOILER FREE SHOW! The Year Four retrospective. An actual conversation about Filmspotting. All that could have been. Alice is on IMDB.com! The study on spoilers. Spoiler extermism. The Louis spoiler tiers. More on japanese pornography. A discussion on chapters. Fucking up on The Little Shop of Horrors. Behind the scenes getting Freaks on the show. The best pairs on year 4 of Double Feature. The worst pairs. A look back at Coffy + Foxy Brown. Feminism and female empowerment. The urgent red square. Don’t tape off your FaceTime camera, that was a joke. Christopher fixes Troll Hunter. A series of paraphrased emails. Times we were completely wrong. Clarification on what Double Feature doesn’t know. Unstated knowns about Double Feature. Michael using Happiness as a prank. Alice explains his time in psychosis. Potential movies for Year 5. Covering more foreign films. Talking about music. DRC Music, EL-P’s Cancer4Cure. Glittermouse. Evil lesser than two evils biohazard team. The best films anyone saw all year. A story about street art. Banana guy. The aftermath of Rocky + Asia. Checking back in on the Free State Project. The Trick ‘r Treat shorts. TV Shows. The Lexicon and Year 1 vanishing. Continue reading

Happiness + Kids

Happiness + Kids

NC-17 films. Perhaps not the optimistic double feature you hoped for. Would it be ok if the notes just said “bag cat?” Todd Solondz returns! Michael uses a mentally unstable Alice for his own amusement. Happiness is not just a trick. The title Happiness. Jon Lovitz. Actual childhood obsessions. Manipulation through sound. Aren’t you going to eat the sandwich? Difficult questions about pedophilia. Kids. Larry Clark, old man photographer. Tulsa. Harmony Korine. Finding hooligans. Rosario Dawson and Chloe Sevigny. Returning to the human experience. Bad people. And dirt. Telly. What creates an adolescent monster? Fast acting bag cat! Continue reading

Rocky 6 + Tokyo Gore Police

Rocky 6 + Tokyo Gore Police

Rocky meets Asia comes to a close with a late Rocky film and a great piece of the new asian extreme. Rocky 6, Rocky Balboa. A modern looking Rocky film. The unspoken problems in the six film timeline. Rocky Balboa and Spinner Dunn. The insanely good looking gritty rainbow of color in the film. Pure white backlight and ugly Chicago streets. The tragedy of Paulie Pennino. A lesson about suspension of disbelief. What does it mean to still have stuff in the basement? Why Rocky goes back to fighting. What is Rocky’s responsibility to now adult Rocky Jr. Potential ICE TRUCK. What it takes to win in this series. Bam, Tokyo Gore Police! Throw down title card. Finally, a great split-down-the-middle. Japanese Gore Films. Tokyo Gore Police and The Machine Girl. Let’s talk anime. Ruka is the only honest cop. Japan explains it all. Privatizing the police – too extreme even for Double Feature! Mitsua Super Asian Marketplace. Heavy guitar score. A brief history of japanese gore cinema using a complicated web of Kevin Bacon. Revisiting Michael’s spaghetti western question. Tokyo Gore Police introduces the Engineer. Asian extreme WET LENS. Not so weird anymore. De-weirding japanese gore films. Unintentional results. Continue reading

Sucker Punch + Switchblade Sisters

Sucker Punch + Switchblade Sisters

Gangs of ladies and imprisoned female empowerment. Zach Snyder’s Sucker Punch as an original film. The Wizard of Oz fantasy movie template. Hamster style comes back again and again. The many layers of Sucker Punch. A fantasy so bad it necessitates it’s own fantasy. Making you want to see the dance. How Sucker Punch delivers on several promises you expect from all-female casts. Sucker Punch as a commentary on objectification via reality checks. Is the film pro-feminist or anti-feminist? How music adds its own story. Female covers. Male soundtrack perversion. Bjork’s new versions of Army of Me. The visuals of Alex Pardee. Speculation on the R rated version of the film. Late night film watching with Switchblade Sisters. Quentin Tarantino’s Rolling Thunder Pictures. Director Jack Hill. A women in prison film outside of prison. Men in Switchblade Sisters. Writing better than you intend to shoot. Continue reading

The Tingler + A Bucket of Blood

The Tingler + A Bucket of Blood

It was a dark and stormy night! Another rainy day double feature. Public domain and excellent introductory black and white films. Vincent Price is the man you came to see. The Tingler is the tiny rubber monster that lives inside all of us. Is William Castle responsible for found footage and the alternate reality game? The many gimmicks of The Tingler. Black and white and red. Scream, scream for your lives! Percepto. Experiencing William Castle gimmicks today. The fright certificate and the coward’s corner. Roger Corman (without Vincent Price!) in A Bucket of Blood. William Castle inspires someone already. The Little Shop of Horrors after A Bucket of Blood. Walter Paisley and Dick Miller the leading man. Beatnicks still exist, and they’re at Whole Foods. A world where no one plays it straight. The accidental artist. Self esteem and the fear of inadequacy artists face. Murder, murder! Continue reading

Killapalooza 16: Final Destination

Killapalooza 16: Final Destination

Final Destination films 1-5. The fate killer. Religion and craigslist. Final Destination 1. An unstudied era of horror films. Horror films of the early 2000s. A small hole will not blow people out of a fuselage. Does Final Destination have a sense of humor? Tony Todd. Finding skepticism in Final Destination. Liquid damage. The rules of Final Destination. Keeping the audience guessing. The first sequel. Rube Goldberg deaths. The concept of “What if?” Alice burns his hands on Michael’s taco. The magic negro. Pictures of Abe in Final Destination 3. Three point lighting carnival and commercial breaks. The rights of women. Ladies in fights. The first time Final Destination is fucked up. Giving up on staying safe. David R. Ellis. Paying tribute with the opening credits sequence of Final Destination 4. Love Lays Dying 3D. Commenting on 3D. Water is not covered by your warranty. Sadism. Impress us, Final Destination 5! Kill substitution. In a universe without god or the soul, is fate real? Questions about free will. Survivor’s guilt. An incredible spoiler ending. Continue reading

Videodrome + Amazon Women on the Moon

Videodrome + Amazon Women on the Moon

A 2:00am channel surfing double feature. Alice’s unbelievable secret confession. Scan lines, static, and vertical sync: the awful look of the footage found in David Cronenberg’s Videodrome. Betamax looks as bad as vinyl sounds. James Woods hasn’t always been there. Max Renn is the sponge for crazy. Debbie Harry is a hot trap. The emotional rescue show. Is violent fiction actually an outlet for frustration and homicidal tendencies? The old age of mystery television, before the internet. Technology to sync older CRT displays so they don’t flicker in your movie. Insert the tape! Amazon Women on the Moon – a place to go for the lost experience of channel surfing. Film critics, life critics. Overlapping sketches. Short and punchy. Amazon Women on the Moon and The Twilight Zone. Planned Parenthood. Continue reading

Willow + MirrorMask

Willow + MirrorMask

Fantasy films by the likes of Ron Howard, George Lucas, Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman. Warwick Davis is Willow, but who is Ron Howard? THX, 1138 and otherwise. The Deep Note. Industrial Light and Magic, Lucasfilm, and Lucasart. The role of an effects crew in the creative process. The life and times of Warwick Davis. The day to day living of a dwarf actor. How Return of the Jedi is like Dancing With the Stars. An honest conversation about casting dwarves in films. Tony Cox, Kevin Pollack, and Val Kilmer. Hamster Tokens! A unique way to film a magic fight. Real magic! Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman…and Richard Dawkins? McKean’s work for Fear Factory, Stabbing Westward, and in other places. The Sandman. Zen film score. Alice spends an extensive amount of time reading Neil Gaiman in preparation of MirrorMask. Trying to figure out Neil Gaiman’s sense of humor. Punctuated endings. MirrorMask Close to You Carpenters cover. Continue reading

My Bloody Valentine + Poltergeist

My Bloody Valentine + Poltergeist

An 80s horror show! Is the Double Feature studio haunted? A definitive answer. The longstanding released version of My Bloody Valentine vs the legendary uncut version. Non-franchise 80s slasher films. Valentine’s day as an exploitable holiday for horror films. Slow tracking shots. Harry Warden. The infrequently used “mining town” setting. Pre-genre slasher. Music and canadians. Eyeline matching. The shame once associated with creating a slasher film. Alice steals an accidentally post apocalyptic scene from Poltergeist. The Steven Spielberg vs Toby Hooper debate. Toby Hooper’s style. Conspiracy. Strobe light television and eye shine. Diane and Steve, world’s most undetected adolescent parents. A vertigo shot. The oldest rolling reverse delay? Ghost hunters are kind of terrible human beings. How ghost hunters con people. Zelda Rubinstein! The curse of Poltergeist. Continue reading

Freaks + The Straight Story

Freaks + The Straight Story

David Lynch is back on show number 200! Double Feature choices – why pair these two films? Getting to the truth of Tod Browning’s Freaks. Who director Tod Browning is and what else he’s known for. The lewd and taboo. The lost film London After Midnight. Freakshows as exploitation. Freakshows as empowerment. Olga Baclanova has a rough time. Pillow man. What a sideshow display illustrates to us about humanity. Modern side shows. Jim Rose Circus. Walt Disney presents a film by David Lynch. The Straight Story. David Lynch does the morning weather! Why and how The Straight Story exists. Mary Sweeney. Editing digitally vs editing on film. Avid and Final Cut. Still expecting terrible things to happen. Signature, shining through. Theories on how David Lynch starts his day. The normal life of a crazy director. Getting picked up by Disney. Common Ground. Continue reading

For a Few Dollars More + Gamera: Guardian of the Universe

For a Few Dollars More + Gamera: Guardian of the Universe

A return to two genres Double Feature was not prepared for. Spaghetti westerns and kaiju (Japanese monster films) return! For a Few Dollars More following A Fistful of Dollars. Lee Van Cleef as Douglas Mortimer. Ridiculous weapons. American McGee’s Alice. Unintentional smash cut humor. Sergio Leone’s signature. Spaghetti bank heist! Finally arriving at the formula for the lazy Sunday movie. Gamera: Gaurdian of the Universe as an example of the Heisei era of kaiju. Non-toho kaiju. Gamera before the reset. The difference in special effects. Still not supernatural. Well, mostly. Why is Gamera so bizarre? The Lost Continent of Mu. Atlantis. Coming up: Number Two Hundred! Continue reading

Red Rock West + Burn After Reading

Red Rock West + Burn After Reading

Two noir bent directors get double featured. Who is John Dahl? Red Rock West and Arizona-Noir. Playing with the lie. When to bail. Lara Flynn Boyle’s Suzanne. A cowardly femme fatale. Keeping the mystery magic. Dennis Hopper being a scary motherfucker. Surprises without twists. Weak allegiance. The intensity of Dennis Hopper and Nicholas Cage. Alice’s love of movie one-sheets. Burn After Reading and the influence of Saul Bass. A story of idiots. Hyperrealism. Carter Burwell, Roger Deakins and Emmanuel Lubezki. Tilda Swinton has to model. Has to. Voice work. Cave Johnson. The dangling plot thread of Double Feature. Continue reading

Troll Hunter + Rare Exports

Troll Hunter + Rare Exports

Fake terror from fake children’s tales. Make fun of Jesus far away from X-Mas. Troll Hunter is not the same as Trollhunter but is probably ok as The Troll Hunter. What the fuck happened with goblin backwards? Show me that goddamn monster. The creature is kinda terrible, but it’s going to be ok. All the trolls! Talking you out of the big troll. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. There is no God. There is no Jesus. Do times of danger make people more or less religious? Using the Troll Hunter to explain why conspiracies fall apart. Social Engineering. How you make silly Troll myths seem real. Showing off your work. Atheists mocking X-Mas. Hey, you downloaded this show. The look of Rare Exports. Rare Exports as a Christmas movies. The butcher. The mystery. Building fantasy into reality. Pedophilia imagery. Continue reading

Red State + Stake Land

Red State + Stake Land

No one expects these two movies to be this good. Dangerous places, even more dangerous directors! What does the Double Feature studio look like? Religious crazies shot on Red One cameras. Red State isn’t even Kevin Smith’s second chance. Popculture out, Waco and Fred Phelps in. A very Kevin Smith movie is also a very good movie! Charismatic characters. Rolling Shutter put to use! Kevin Pollack, Anna Gunn, John Goodman. What was so great about the TV show Roseanne? Michael Parks. Not just dabbling in horror, but adding to it. The charm and demeanor of Michael Parks as Reverend Cooper. Crazy religious nut jobs. Executions. Personalizing death. Why Red State has the best of possible endings. Another surprize, Stake Land! Written by it’s director Jim Mickle, but also it’s star Nick Damici. The ultimate apocalypse weapon: a pistol-grip sawed off shotgun with a shoulder strap. Finding subtlety in a place you don’t expect it. Color palette between day and night. Danielle Harris. Building an apocalypse film. Voiceover narration performance. Chin-up fiddle score! How is this movie doing this?! Continue reading

Rocky 5 + The Machine Girl

Rocky 5 + The Machine Girl

Rocky 5 and the early 1990s. 90s rap and hip hop. Joey Ellis – Go for It (Heart and Fire). Urban Blight. Back to America. Real retirement. Reconnecting with Rocky’s roots. But actually, this time. The lazy route the film could have gone. How the fifth film betrays the formula. The last Rocky movie isn’t the last one. The dark side of the ring. Redemption sequel. The third wave of Double Feature’s asian films and asian extreme. Camp and style in The Machine Girl. How Kill Bill paid off. Hattori Hanzo, all over the goddamn place. The ambiguity of references and inspiration. Deep fried arm. The blood soaked lens. Absurdist cartoon violence? The commonality of America’s favorite asian horror films. Burst of violence. The grotesque in The Machine Girl. Japan and strange weapons. Continue reading

Attack the Block + Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Attack the Block + Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Brand new sci-fi films! Humans, defend yourselves! Feel free to listen if you haven’t seen any other Planet of the Apes films. Get that snitch. Get the strap. Don’t give a fuck – brap, brap, brap! Joe Cornish. Basement Jaxx! Kids? Adults? Teenage violence. The age of gang members. The Hippocratic Oath and aiding your attackers. Matte black sonic toothed creature design. Conspiracy is all throughout civilization. Muir Woods National Monument, Big Basin State Park, California, and filming in Redwoods. The apes! How the apes could rise. Hubarus and the downfall. An art snob defends CG. The actual main character. Surprise, Rise of the Planet of the Apes actually loves science! Slaughtering baby apes would have saved humanity. Further animal testing would have saved humanity. Continue reading

Welcome to the Dollhouse + Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Welcome to the Dollhouse + Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Dollhouses on cult film day. Heather Matarazzo. There’s apparently titular songs too. What the fuck is going on with that cover? Contrasting the dark humor in Welcome to the Dollhouse with Re-Animator. Subtle comedy. Music. Steve’s band. Worse than worse: mundane! Todd Solondz loves the suburbs. Directors fascinated with suburbia and the themes typically addressed in these films. Kids are having sex, they just don’t know what the fuck they’re doing. The repercussions of sheltering children from sex. Dealing in extremes. What Roger Ebert’s doing headlining the credits of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Other Russ Meyer films Roger Ebert has worked on. Studio project selection. The marketing concept. Differences from Russ Meyer’s other work. Genre bending. The editing. The fucking editing. The moral of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls as opposed to The Valley of the Dolls. Continue reading

Chillerama + Super

Chillerama + Super

Piles of horror directors. Chillerama is Adam Rifkin, Tim Sullivan, Adam Green, and Joe Lynch. Why one of Michael’s films still hasn’t made it on the show. Richard Reily. The secret secondary theme. Wadzilla. Understanding Stoned Age. A 1950’s Grindhouse style throwback! The world’s shortest conversation on I was a Teenage Werebear. The Diary of Anne Frankenstein. Joel David Moore and Adam Green, back together at last. Hammer Horror! Deathacation. Zom B Movie and Joe Lynch.Spending some time in the real world. What’s the deal with Kick-Ass and Super? James Gunn and Mark Miller. Video On Demand release. Unrated. Actors Double Feature didn’t know it cared about. Troma and Juno. Sex, rape and comedy. The Crimson Bolt costume. The real violence. Things get worse. Continue reading

Exit Through the Gift Shop + The Last Exorcism

Exit Through the Gift Shop + The Last Exorcism

Documentaries of questionable integrity is kind of a stretch. Exit Through the Gift Shop: The Banksy Documentary! First impressions of a new art form. Making out with street artists. Anonymity. Kinkos. TBMChicago and The Birthday Massacre. Implied power and the influence of perception. Don’t fuck with the mouse. When the mood strikes. Monetization. Showing your hand. Proving and transcending street art. Mr. Brainwash. The return of Karl Pilkington. Modern art and those who hate it. Talking about your art. Using skepticism to consider hoaxes. A return to prankumentaries. What is Mr. Brainwash up to now? The exorcist Reverend Cotton Marcus. The power of charisma. Banana bread. Believing in character of truth. Eli Roth. Truth via fiction. Atheism! Curing mentally ill people through fake exorcism. The ends still doesn’t justify the means. The ethical responsibility of representing reality and not leaving an audience with a false impression of the world. First person cat beatings. The power of theatrics. What magic teaches us. The ending of The Last Exorcism. Continue reading

The Blob + Mars Attacks

The Blob + Mars Attacks

Double Feature sci-fi day, featuring…two David Cronenberg cinematographers or something. Rob Zombie’s The Blob. Chuck Russell’s The Blob. Mark Irwin. The rebellious youth! Sleigh Bells 2010 album Treats. How critics and mothers responded to slashers in the 80s. Garden Till Massacre. Why Alice is in love with the character of The Blob. Eavesdropping on exposition. The Evil Hazmat Team. Leaving somewhere to go. Peter Suschitzky. Danny Elfman returns. Damon Albarn and DRC. Michael J Fox, Pierce Brosnan, Glenn Close and ten other names you haven’t seen in fifteen years. Obvious similarities and obvious differences between Mars Attacks and Edward D Wood Jr movies. Mars Attacks trading cards. Stop motion and all that could have been. Continue reading

Killapalooza 15: Saw

Killapalooza 15: Saw

Saw films 1-7. The Jigsaw Killer. John Kramer. An uncut episode of Double Feature! The still kinda new website and the giant Saw database. The Double Feature AppleTV Server project. Raw humanity. Society stripped away. Finding out about a stranger. Competition. Leigh Wanell as Adam. Editing. Charlie Clouser, the series composer. James Wan. Bily the Puppet. The reverse bear trap. Shawnee Smith. Michael Emerson as Zep. Hello Zepp! Double Feature favorite. The original Saw twist. The parking garage pig. The original ten minute Saw short. The rise of Lionsgate. Getting more of Jigsaw. John Kramer, the legend. John Kramer’s sippy cup and floral pattern oatmeal. Who is Darren Lynn Bousman? Bousman’s original script before it was a Saw movie. The sins of our fathers. It’s not my fault! Don’t Forget the Rules and the changing sound of Saw 2. Detective Allison Kelly. The Survivor pack and the group dynamic. Needle pit. The numbers. Reveal montage. The titles of the Saw films. The incredible evolution of Amanda Young. Jigsaw’s ragtag team. One honest humanist’s view of the traps. The behind the scenes operations within the fiction. Saw is FUCKING COMPLICATED. Retroactive continuity (retcons). You done got pigged! Pig juicer. How to keep track of songs you love in a lengthy score. Brain surgery vs vicious gore traps. The three versions of Saw III, including the director’s cut. Actual dead. Saw trusts you to figure it out. Cross film hamster style! Setups and payoffs. Bousman’s transitions get crazy. The big head read clock chair shot. Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. The great do-anythings of horror. The Evolutino Music Partners website. Where can I find the Saw IV score? Continue reading

The Wrestler + Rolling Thunder

The Wrestler + Rolling Thunder

Down-and-out aging warriors (with under appreciated female cohorts!). The title credits in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler. The visual differences between The Wrestler and Aronofsky’s last film. 16mm. Taking the hard way and making it look easy. Your lasting impression. Clint Mansell and Slash. Marisa Tomei as Cassidy. Keeping it real…naked. Why Alice thinks people who don’t like wrestling probably should. A highbrow take on professional wrestling. Reimagining wrestling as horror franchises. Wrestling as exploitation. A bit on the history of WWE, WWF, WCW and ECW. Mickey Rourke at the deli counter. Mick Foley on making up for his physical prowess by falling from higher places. Vulgar art as a substitute for proficient art. Prisoners of war. Talking to your pals about the darkest of personal tragedy. Anysploitation. Linda defies convention. Straight to the point. Continue reading

Audition + Blood Feast

Audition + Blood Feast

Takashi Miike and Herschell Gordon Lewis, super names in horror. Chapters: Learn to use a search engine. Audition (Odishon) as another side of Takashi Miike. Romantic comedy. Nightmares in dating. Letting the horror be a surprise. Committing to your setup. When do you know? The infamous bag. What makes the bag so effective? Things get weirder. Making torture uncomfortable again! Another reason the Music Box Massacre episodes were a terrible idea. Blood Feast, Herschell Gordon Lewis, and minimalism? What makes you watch Blood Feast. What’s remembered about Fuad Ramses. Hair coloring. Who is Herschell Gordon Lewis and what did he do? Nudie Cutie films and Russ Meyer. David F. Friedman and the miscellaneous crate of obscure films! Descending into obscurity. The strange evolution of HGL’s work. Connie Mason. EGGGGYYYYYPPPPTTTT. Buying time. The minimum length for a movie. Continue reading

The Ledge + Cemetery Junction

The Ledge + Cemetery Junction

Director/writers take on girlfriend-stealing and skypigs. Two films with very real characters. Oil refinery time lapse?! Work, responsibility, and letting your guard down. Learning who your characters really are. Scheming and conniving. Agreements and disagreements with Gavin. Imperfect heroes. Why two atheists think evangelizing is the right thing to do. God, No! Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales. Patrick Wilson. A bit on lighting and eye shine. Getting away with anything. A very different direction for Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Come of age in Britian, Karl Pilkington. The market for a coming of age throw-back film. Power in ideas. Julie’s feminine power. Having your eyes opened. Cemetery Junction and the Ghosts of Christmas. Meatcart on a train. A separate conversation about Karl Pilkington and An Idiot Abroad. Continue reading

Gattaca + Re-Animator

Gattaca + Re-Animator

Science comments on things you might not expect! In years past. High school biology. Natural vs modified. What Gattaca is actually about. The vision of the future. The more futuristic vision of the future. Focused storytelling without distraction. Jeffry Combs as Herbert West in Re-Animator. Extreme academics. Hans Gruber. An alternative to “that’s what you want!” Special Effects. Finally using the Frankenstein story to ask a different set of philosophical questions. Where does the will reside? Giving back life or animated the dead. Out with the old, in with the new! A specific breed of dark humor. Rectifying humanism and dark humor. Continue reading

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein + Up in Smoke

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein + Up in Smoke

Comedy duos that Double Feature needs to cover. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello have never met frankenstein. Universal Studios monster movies. Studio bookkeeping on verses films. Who’s on first? How to enjoy a classic monster movie. Cheech and Chong and Dave. Comic style hypothesis. Punk rock rebellion. Being detained in customs. Watching Up in Smoke without being high. Earache My Eye. A long held Double Feature secret. Disaster climax. Continue reading

Rocky 4 + Kill Bill 2

Rocky 4 + Kill Bill 2

Wait, what are chapters? Paulie’s Robot. Adding new characters to the Rocky franchise. Once again revisiting internet memes. The Tiger 2-XL quizbot. You’re the Man Now, Dog. Dolph Lundgren. Who is Ivan Drago and what is he all about? Talking about technology. Revisiting the cold war. Is Rocky IV against technology? What does it say about technology’s role in the Cold War? Man vs Machine and the secret message of the film. Nationalism and tribalism. The unfair but inevitable question: which Kill Bill is better? Kill Bill as a novel. Tell the story, assume the audience gets the timeline. Tarantino and film noir. Accidental study guide. Surprise action (the best kind of action). Defending the light as a character. Jokes via camera work. Film scores you’re not allowed to have. Where’s the nudity? Continue reading

Rocky 3 + Kill Bill

Rocky 3 + Kill Bill

Eye of the Tiger. How aware of the Rocky franchise are the people in the Rocky movies? The origins of Hulk Hogan. Being loaded. Off the snow cones. Mick adapting to Rocky’s fame. Something juvenile. Rocky and Apolla are close. Real close. Mr T is an asshole. Kill Bill, Tarantino, and color. Color correction vs color grading. A showy long take. The bittersweet discover of Quentin Tarantino’s longtime editor Sally Menke. Censorship. The Whole Bloody Affair. Finally, an extended conversation on Tarantino and alleged plagiarism. Actually how bad is the borrowing? What Alice wants in life. Continue reading

A History of Violence + Out of the Past

A History of Violence + Out of the Past

Men with questionable pasts. Coffee and Pie. Multiple interpretations of the title. Joey and Tom. The longer a film is great, the harder you expect it to fail. Edie Stall is making it happen. The action and brutality in A History of Violence, and how it stands out against other movies. Breaking the tension. Techniques, old and new, of David Cronenberg. High shots and other camera work. How Cronenberg uses the rule of thirds. Using prolonged violence to create tensions. William Hurt shows off. An extended conversation about sex. A movie for pacifists! Out of the Past and old school Double Feature. Different types of noir fans. Storytelling. Jane Greer as Kathie Moffat. The 80s noir remakes. Jane Greer as Rose Mcgowan. Double crosses and ultimate fatales! The convoluted plots of film noir. Historical context for the crazy. Continue reading

Coffy + Foxy Brown

Coffy + Foxy Brown

Two films separated at birth: Coffee and Foxy Brown! Alice’s hidden ability. The American Internation blacksploitation race. What violence looks like in a Jack Hill movie. The original Coffee soundtrack. Musical talk back. How Coffee and Foxy Brown stack up against the rest of the genre. Racism! Feminism and female empowerment. Where Foxy Brown came from. Taglines. Outfits and fashion. The Foxy Brown drinking game. Willie Hutch and Motown. Pam Grier, the first badass American action woman. A cinematic milestone. Are Coffee and Foxy Brown sequels? Continue reading

Hairspray + The Little Shop of Horrors

Hairspray + The Little Shop of Horrors

Cult films that later spawned colossal musicals. Chicago violently floods. John Waters, Hairspray (1988), and Hypnotherapy. What inspires John Waters? The last John Waters Divine film. John Waters without Divine. Competing counterculture. A different type of parent. Finally, other people can understand! MTV’s The Grind. Racism! Double Feature gets super political. Leslie Gore and Leslie Powers. The colorized version of The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)! Public domain. Roger Corman. The Little Shop of Horrors relationship with Bucket of Blood. Budget. Chiropractors and faith healors. Man eating chicken! Continue reading

Assault on Precinct 13 + The Wrong Man

Assault on Precinct 13 + The Wrong Man

John Carpenter and Alfred Hitchcock are two directors with something to say about the police. Assault on Precinct 13 blah blah Rio Bravo blah blah. Things AoP13 has inspired. Defining action as its own genre. Vanilla twist. The innocent years of John Carpenter. Deborah Hill. Super wide composition. Whatever device lights. An anonymous, faceless enemy. How to play Potatoes. John Carpenter’s take on the police. Silent violence. Alfred Hitchcock knows how good he is. The wrongly accused in Hitchcock movies. That Wrong Man as not a film noir! Finally covering the hard boiled detective on a movie with no hard boiled detective. Who’s actually to blame? Your ultimate fears, realized. Continue reading

Ravenous + Jonestown

Ravenous + Jonestown

Two failed utopias! Bag cat buzzkill. Ravenous’ effect on the human body. Examine Damon Albarn’s score for Ravenous. When what’s fucked up is how not fucked up something is. UNRELIABLE ALBARN. A creepy secret trick, being played on only you. Antonia Bird! Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple. Arriving at the tragedy. Jim Jones as…an upstanding human being? Lies and ethics. Where Jones went wrong. Wait, why aren’t we talking to that guy? Knowing what’s to come. One of the all time greatest pieces of audio. The terror. Continue reading

Killapalooza 14: Phantasm

Killapalooza 14: Phantasm

Phantasm films 1-4. Michael and New Orleans. Reverend Zombie’s house of voodoo. Phantasm and the Man with No Neck. Characters and convenient names. Angus Scrimm as the Tall Man. The design of the house. Muscle car hand-me-downs and vintage synthesizers. The use of weapons. A Killapalooza first. Another memorable ending. Phantasm 2. The objectives of phantasm. Science fiction and horror. A franchise about a group of heroes rather than an iconic villain. Ladies. What’s so great about horror? The connection between Sam Raimi and Phantasm. Don Coscarelli. Incest let down. Phantasm 3 and the retcons. Lord of the Dead. Letting your characters age while hanging on to your demographic. Using your previous work. Phantasm 4: Oblivion. A Star Wars intervention. Jawas, Tusken Raiders, Tatooine and dual suns. The legend of the tall man. Where would you take the Phantasm series? Continue reading

12 Angry Men + Predators

12 Angry Men + Predators

Team work, here on Double Feature! Trojan Horsing films on the audience. Twelve Angry Men. Jury Duty. No courts! Back in your day, everything was less awesome than it is now. Jurors and hamster sweat. Claustrophobia. The ideas behind the camera work. Beyond a reasonable doubt. Wanting to help. What did Robert Rodriguez actually do on Predators? The terror that is the AA-12 automatic shotgun. The relationship between Predators and Machete. Defending Predators using 12 Angry Men. The spectacular marketing and casting plan. Instant icons. Continue reading

The Big Lebowski + Sideways

The Big Lebowski + Sideways

Men in robes and boxers optionally teach you Philosophy and/or English. The epic cult masterpiece that is The Big Lebowski. A true era. Two sober atheists talk white russians. Lebowski lore. Created characters to bounce off each other. Julianne Moore as Maude. Feminism and jokes. Philip Seymour Hoffman breathing life into a non-role. Michael’s reaction to The Big Lebowski. The last man standing. The Coen Brothers and accessibility. Schtick brought to reality. Optional philosophy. Acid trips! An awakening to independent film. Deconstructing the infamous wine tasting scene. Both sides of the debate! Virginia Madsen vs Sandra Oh. Sexual ethics, part 2. Which parts are the funny parts? Goddamn metaphors! Continue reading

Ichi the Killer + Opera

Ichi the Killer + Opera

Pet the white cat! A secret to making Starbucks Frappuccinos at home. Horror in the years before and after Ichi the Killer. Blowjob Foley. Using sex in horror when you can’t show the sex parts. Ambitious violence. A contender for worst CD scene in Double Feature history. What inspired Takashi Miike? Karen! Misdirection via overwhelming. Attacking the senses. How do you not talk about psychic Animals? Dario Argento and the opera. Brian Eno, David Bowie, and I’m Afriad of Americans. Backwards Diva walkout. Betty, the hot little 80s final girl. Buying into the needles. The best bit of action violence in Opera. The worst plan ever. Slasher deaths and ending fake-outs. The Year 4 theme revealed. Continue reading

Glengarry Glen Ross + Shaun of the Dead

Glengarry Glen Ross + Shaun of the Dead

Wake up from your 9-5 coma. A Double Feature for the working class. Glengarry Glen Ross and the rat race. Colored light. Tension. Capitalists call out sales people. Boring war stories that add nothing to humanity. Sales people should be replaced by robots. Conmen will attempt to con each other, even if unintentionally. Shaun of the Dead and the waking dead. Physically clock in, mentally check out. Where you can find a LOT more Edgar Wright. The Blood and Ice Cream trilogy. Using sound to sell your action. Minimalistic effects. Enhancing jokes via clever directing. Continue reading

The Matrix + Rollerball

The Matrix + Rollerball

Two giant sci-fi films dealing with earth-bound overloads in terrifying futures. The Matrix. Making code cool. The look and feel of 90s films. Things you’ve never noticed before. The supporting characters. Leaving reality. Philosophy, destiny, free will, and other heavy lifting. A great fisheye lens! Getting to the bottom of The Wachowskis. The music in Rollerball. The rules of Rollerball. Government requests. What the future looks like. Future fashion! Jonathan E. A dystopian sports film. TRIPLE ZOOM. The psychology behind the capitalistic masters of Rollerball. Continue reading

Rocky 2 + Sex and Fury

Rocky 2 + Sex and Fury

Rocky vs Asia, Part 2. Simultaneous journeys. A very sexy day of Double Feature. Rock 2 is aware of it’s place in the world. Rocky calls bullshit on itself. A strategy for starting your sequel. Directed by Sylvester Stalone! Fixing past mistakes. Humanity and heart. Actually rooting for a protagonist. Defining a character by their faults. Unable to sell out. Real life optimism. Character evolution. Provoking a reaction. Sex and Fury + Lady Snowblood. Japanese Pink Films. How do pink films compare to American sexploitation? Poker showdown. What’s the difference between sex cinema and pornography? Censorship in Japanese pornography. Urabon and the resistance! Continue reading

The Toxic Avenger + Troll 2

The Toxic Avenger + Troll 2

Highlighting Toxic Avenger by using Troll 2, the best worst movie of all time. Two people who don’t know anything about Troll 2 watching it for the first time. Double Feature is not a shot about bad films! Learning more about Troma. Redbox and Asylum. Michael’s not even sure what’s on his own show. Toxie is probably canon. Lloyd Kaufman. What you can hide with background music. Dubbing. Wheezing! The voice of the Toxic Avenger. Year 4, headcrush four! Three sure fire endings. Slowly bailing on the movie. Milking the cash cow. John Carl Buechler? Gobilns vs Trolls. Covering a movie in a different way. Argento Goblin, Londer After Midnight, and Sega Genesis. True scares. Preempting Troll 2’s bad excuses. Sex scenes with pop corn. Potted friends. Staring into the camera. Hamster sandwich. Continue reading

The Trial + Naked Lunch

The Trial + Naked Lunch

A Franz Kafka and William S Burroughs double feature. The double feature itself is Kafkaesque. Orson Well’s The Trial. Spoken word credits! Kafka and grammar. Bleak, hopeless, confusing and everyone hates you. There are no breaks in surrealism! Before the law. Deciphering the indecipherable. Using Atlas Shrugged to wrap your head around the most complicated parables and paradoxes. Kafka’s appeal to minimalism. Children at play. The advocate. Camera work and lighting! The Metamorphosis. William S Burroughs and Naked Lunch. The film vs the book. Real life tales. An autobiography by someone else. Mugwump reveal. A proof of the effect of depth of field. Another method of shooting car scenes. Real life 1950s. Body horror on a switch. Continue reading

Two-Lane Blacktop + Rubber

Two-Lane Blacktop + Rubber

The beginning and end of the road. Nihilism. Where did all that protesting get us? The antithesis of roadsploitation. Warren Oats and the spirit of the road. Kris Kristofferson. You don’t make a movie this different than all other roadsploitation without yourself commenting on the genre. The girl isn’t really any better. Living in the moment, to the extreme. A return to the Music Box and the worst seven and a half minutes of Alice’s life. Rubber, a movie about Bear or No Bear. Codename Oizo. Addressing the meta. Left out in the CG vs models debate? Composites! Brutality. How to film and edit a composite. DSLR film making. The Canon 5D Mark II. Advantages and disadvantages of using a DSLR. Follow focus and the AC. Continue reading

Closer + Happy Go Lucky

Closer + Happy Go Lucky

Learning about human kind! Closer. Outside your comfort zone, everything is original and exciting! Keeping scenes to two characters. The four people who all have sex with each other (before one of them wins). 2004, that bizarre year in history. Let’s talk about sex. Disasters could have been averted! Smack my bitch up. Sex and ethics. Mike Leigh and Happy Go Lucky. The human experience. Happy without tuning out. First impressions – or why Alice takes pride in looking like some immature kid. Optimistic, not an airhead. What would actually happen if you were never upset about anything? Driving instructions. Is there a downside to living like Poppy? Continue reading

Killapalooza 13: Silent Night, Deadly Night

Killapalooza 13: Silent Night, Deadly Night

Silent Night, Deadly Night 1-5. Donate to Double Feature. Please. Controversy. Fucking with Santa. What’s truly different about Silent Night, Deadly Night. Billy Chapman. There is no hard evidence to support the conclusion that The Pizza Factory in Uptown Chicago was a drug front. The warm side of the door montage. There is no Santa. The longest recap of all time. Alice Freeman, baby storyteller. Ricky Chapman. KnowYourMeme.com. Garbage Day! Better Watch Out. Enter the supernatural. Why blind? Bill Mosley and the brain bowl. The initiation and Clint Howard’s film library. Deep into obscurity. Buy The McVeigh Tapes. CHEESE WHEEL. The Toy Maker. Which Ricky is Ricky? Yearly X-Mas horror. Teenage dry humping. Sex toys. Not those kind of sex toys. The meat cart is in more films than Mickey Rooney. Continue reading

The Conversation + Rear Window

The Conversation + Rear Window

Movies about voyeurism by heavy directors. Also, a good double feature! The first Francis Ford Corpula film on the show. Studios and audio equipment. Convenient release timing. The shot of The Quad. Deconstructing a single event. Laboring over one scene. Discover and revelations. Fighting the neo-noir. A profession you don’t know much about. Being a creeper. Swell shop party. Paranoia through plot reveals and camera work. Bernie is second best, you guys. The religious element of The Conversation. Where did Bernie go? Classy downtrodden piano score. Score in Rear Window. Single room, environment, and angle. What was Hitchcock up to? A great decade for Hitchcock, a terrible decade for women. Women’s intuition. Humanity. Grace Kelly has the adventure! Who are the vampires in Rear Window? People watching as a taboo. The Chicago loop at night. Alfred Hitchcock’s brand of suspense. Acceptable browsers. Continue reading

Four Rooms + From Dusk Till Dawn

Four Rooms + From Dusk Till Dawn

Tarantino and Rodriguez, back to back! And then Rodriguez and Tarantino! Found film. Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell…Marisa Tomei? Combustible Edison and Vertigogo. Time Roth, resident weirdo. The Missing Ingredient. The Wrong Man. The Misbehavers. The Man from Hollywood. Swell parties. Michael’s Titanic sequel. The bathroom shot. The in-between inside outside wall shot. Camera pull away super far out Tim Roth’s character is here pointing shot. Jennifer Beals. Antonio Banderas. The Robert Rodriguez boss shot, as seen in both films. Long takes. POV. The Man from the South. Spot the Hodder?! Robert Kurtzman. Are you ready for vampires? Rodriguez’s early style. Fred Williiam’s spot at the bar. Who the fuck is Tom Savani? Filmmakers and friends. Continue reading

Deep Red + The Gore Gore Girls

Deep Red + The Gore Gore Girls

Petting the white cat. Deep Red (Profondo Rosso) requires subtitles. Previous Dario Argento recap. Goblin is kicking ass on the case. The color of blood. Running over heads. Dario Argento, psychic animals, and investigating murders. Red herrings. The most terrifying scenes. Gimmicks holding up upon rewatching. Were you thrown off here? The eyeliner clue. Flying Tom Tom vs bookends. Chicago in films! Herschell Gordon Lewis. The invention of the splatter films. Under and over exposed? The joys of poorly made film. Herschell’s gore. Chocolate milk nipples. Breaking the fourth wall. Continue reading

Crank + Shoot ‘Em Up

Crank + Shoot ‘Em Up

Double Feature’s apologetic action films? Chev Chelios, the nonexistent legend. 16 bit! First impressions. The look of Crank. An all black room of with all black walls and all black men and smoke. Online maps! Video taped on a Canon XL-2 and a Sony CineAlta HDC-F950. Editing and unorthodox camera rigs. The treatment of exposition. The comic relief character! Why Crank makes you watch Crank 2. Sitting at the bus stop in Shoot ‘Em Up. The Chicago Wilson CTA stop. Using the environment in shoot-outs. When a film markets itself. Shoot ‘Em Up’s viral campaign “Bullet Proof Baby.” Bonsai Kitten. Rube Goldberg traps. Bitter:Sweet. How much does Donna (Monica Bellucci) make as a prostitute? Guesses at Shoot ‘Em Up’s motivation. Continue reading

American Psycho + Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

American Psycho + Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

Michael’s underhanded double feature. Murderous character studies in transgressive fiction. American Psycho and director Mary Harron. Female directors. Covering Christian Bale. Miles Fisher’s video for This Must Be the Place. What’s terrifying about American Psycho? Ending revelations and how they inform characters who aren’t Patrick Bateman. Characters in shared fiction. Empire Magazine 20th Anniversary Pictures. Gmail. Chicago diner chains. How Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer was made. Henry Lee Lucas. Voyeurism and long takes. Rebecca Watson and Team Human. Cynacism. Us or them. Selling agony: the worst thing that could possibly happen to a human being. Continue reading

Rocky + Shogun Assassin

Rocky + Shogun Assassin

Rocky vs Asia. Simultaneous journeys. Misguided east vs west double features. Learning about something new via marathons. The characters in Rocky. What the fuck, Paulie? Talia Shire as Adrian. Mickey Goldmill is a crazy person. What makes Rocky a great character (and an unusual one for Sylvester Stallone). Apollo Creed and his influence on the other characters. How Apollo stands out from the usual interesting villain variations. The mother of all montages! More than you actually wanted to know about Stedicam. Lone Wolf and Cub. Roger Corman’s talking baby. Narration via infant. Samurai Stroller. Child abuse vs honor! The fantasy you expect from foley. Hip Hop? Continue reading

Hatchet 2 + Cabin Fever 2

Hatchet 2 + Cabin Fever 2

Blood and sex feature! Old School American Horror Blasphemy. Alice’s horrible, horrible confession. Hatchet 2 after the first Hatchet. Danielle Harris replacing Tamara Feldman as Marybeth. The ending of Hatchet. Who comes back and how? Supernatural: bear or no bear! Joel David Moore. In-world references. Hatchet 2’s unrated release. The return of the belt sander. Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever. The first impression moment. This is really Ti West! The animated credit sequence. Super wide angle fisheye lenses. Giuseppe Andrews is at it again. Expanding on Deputy Winston. Cum – the ultimate cinematic taboo? More on the Cabin Fever rabbit. Fight for the quarantined? Continue reading

Double Feature Year 3 Finale

Double Feature Year 3 Finale

SPOILER FREE SHOW! The Year Three retrospective. Listener emails. Favorite pairings. Worst pairings. Things Double Feature was wrong about. Surprises. Nude listeners. Microsoft ends the Zune. Bag cat. Tremors and Family Ties! Accessibility. Double Feature and the topic of religion. Why talk positively about all films? Alice does not own a cell phone. A spoiler free conversation about the last 15 minutes of High Tension. Double Feature Show Ripoff and Film Shack. Double Feature’s RSS feed and the mp3 version of the show. The future of the old shows. Revisiting the first date rings. Sky friend or sky pig? Why nudity is the most insane taboo. Continue reading

Mary and Max + The Killing

Mary and Max + The Killing

Listener picked Double Feature! How did the listeners do? If you didn’t win, you still kinda win. What did we learn about podmanity? Stop motion, claymation, and tricks! Mary and Max and the portrayal of the United States. Loving your characterization. The context of your medium. Anxiety and depression. Appropriate fear. Evaluating what’s off the table. Old men talking to little girls. Societal standards. Is there spite behind the humor? The inability to overlook a powerful medium. Character design. Which killing is The Killing? Finally solving Stanley Kuberick and fullscreen or widescreen. A different kind of voiceover. Crime! Art Gilmore. The purity of watching film noir over neo-noir. Marie Windsor as Sherry. Extremes in lighting. Visible light sources. Black canvas. Early looks at a director’s signature. Shadows and guilt! Continue reading

Harry Brown + Children of Men

Harry Brown + Children of Men

Double bleak Feature. Finally, Children of Men has found a film to partner with! Evil people in the world – this evil? Minimal score emphasizing desolation in both tone and melody. Violence isn’t fun, it’s fucking sad. How Harry Brown differs from Death Wish. The non-disguise of Harry Brown. Vigilante justice: what is the movie’s stance? Two pacifists talk about when vigilantism is justified. Why Children of Men matters so much to Double Feature. Things you can get away with in the documentary style of cinematography. Following a single character. Propaganda posters. Immigration. Continue reading

To Die For + Serial Mom

To Die For + Serial Mom

So-called “true stories” of women and crimes. To Die For and Pamela Smart. Gus Van Sant. What was Danny Elfman up to? Tonal shifts. Documentary/mockumentary style. Wait, we’re killing? Idolizing TV life. Questioning motivation. David Cronenberg?! Pretending things are dark comedies. References to horror and exploitation films. More on housewife exploitation. More somewhat harmless fun. John Waters brings new sexual terms to middle America! Soundbank. Capital Punishment. Patty Hearst: convicted felon and John Waters actor. Trials, court rooms and a fetish for trials. It’s finally happening! Continue reading

Killapalooza 12: Sleepaway Camp

Killapalooza 12: Sleepaway Camp

Sleepaway Camp films 1-5. A return to true 80s slashers. Covering a film that doesn’t exist. Feminism. The original 1983 Sleepaway Camp. Paul Deangelo as background Ronnie. Covering up the deaths. The essential elements of camp. Homosexuality in the 80s. What is Sleepaway Camp saying about gay parents? What’s going on with the weird aunt? Desiree Gould as Aunt Martha. Ten minutes of softball! Inventive kills. The formula misleads! Alice is in love with Felissa Rose. One of the all time greatest slasher endings. What’s interesting about the infamous ending in retrospect. Unhappy Campers, and the beginning of Double Feature friendly naming conventions. The happy campers song. Pamela Springsteen. The burden of creating the icon. POV shots. Teenage Wasteland. Slasher theme songs. Are team building exercises bullshit? Fluoride in the drinking water. Female slasher fun! You have to censor the gore: Do you polish the edits, or make them as abrasive as possible? Slasher with a gun. Reporting on Sleepaway Camp 4: The Survivor (the unreleased film) – what’s it about, what does the footage look like? Return to Sleepaway Camp as an 80s return. Stealing Chef and Ned from South Park. The career of Felissa Rose. Michael fears Alice’s excitement. What makes this franchise notable. New website! Continue reading

Tron + Scott Pilgrim

Tron + Scott Pilgrim

Beep boop beep boop. Synthesizers, videogames, and hairspray. Disney, Double Feature style. Tron. What exactly Disney had to do with the original Tron. Where does the cult appeal of Tron come from? The beginnings of computer generated imagery. Tron in HD! Alice is the only person in the universe who likes the non-computer, real world parts of Tron more than being inside. South Park and Tron Guy. Notable for CG, notable for sound stage, notable for a movie studio pretending it never happened. Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Edgar Wright, Michael Cera, and the greatest fucking editing of all time. Colored lighting. 8bit. Zelda over Photos of You. The Clash at Demonhead. Gloomrock. Sadcore. Music and fighting! Continue reading

Girl, Interrupted + Reform School Girls

Girl, Interrupted + Reform School Girls

Late night double feature. Crazy girl slumber party. Girl, Interrupted. The six degrees of Bacon Brittany. Understanding the very public, very international obsession with Angelina Jolie. Using crazy to break up heavy. Social nonconformity vs complete sociopath. Eccentric vs insane. How taboos change over time. Does being around crazies make you crazy? Reform School Girls. Wendy O Williams. Anarchy and feminism. What’s sexploitation and what’s pornography? Is sexploitation sexy? Go out with a bang. Continue reading

Lost Highway + Psycho

Lost Highway + Psycho

Double Feature makes two intimidating films by even more intimidating directors completely approachable. David Lynch and Lost Highway. Where you’ve heard Angelo Badalamenti. The return of Trent Reznor. Did David Lynch write The Perfect Drug? The look of Lost Highway. Focal point in the most shallow depth of all fields. Putting your camera in creepy places. Minimalistic home design and it’s impact on implied lighting. The 1950s. The tapes. Lens Whacking. Bear or No Bear film making. Driver down. Psycho. Alfred Hitchcock’s distrust of the police. The Hayes code. Toliet outrage. Playing clue. Do not tell your friends. Alfred Hitchcock thinks you’re a fucking dolt. Continue reading

The Exorcism of Emily Rose + The Fourth Kind

The Exorcism of Emily Rose + The Fourth Kind

Pseudoscience is only the beginning of the odd choices in The Exorcism of Emily Rose and The Fourth Kind. Can movies about nonsense hold up intellectually outside of their immediate premise? Jennifer Carpenter. An awful lawyer. Written by a skeptic and a true believer. Writing and directing a fair and realistic story about demons. The demon defense. How to pronounce Milla Jovovich. Again. The internet hates The Fourth Kind. Don’t throw an experiment out because you don’t like the results. Alice loves Alaska! Plant your own skeptic. Richard Dawkin’s take on Arthur C. Clarke’s “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” The alien creation myth. The Fourth Kind hoax. Continue reading

A Night in Casablanca + The Great Dictator

A Night in Casablanca + The Great Dictator

World War II as portrayed by cinema of the early 40s. Describing the Marx Brothers and A Night in Casablanca. Groucho, Harpo, and Chico. Harpo and Teller (of Penn and Teller). Musical entertainment. The role of women in Marx Brothers films. Making fun of Nazis! Why is A Night in Casablanca too easy on the Nazis? The Great Dictator: written, produced, staring, directed, and music by Charlie Chaplin. The haunted mustache. Talkies and sound! New technology. Chaplin’s depiction of Hitler. Interpreting the final speech. Continue reading

High Tension + Wolf Creek

High Tension + Wolf Creek

Vital splat pack! Horror at the peak of it’s class. The early 2000’s era of bullshit horror films. The Splat Pack vs Old School American Horror. The mission of spot-lit aesthetics. The flying tom tom! Lighting a pitch black scene. The infamous horror movie neck slice. Feeling used. The truck. An intervention with the end of High Tension. Greg McLean and Wolf Creek. Building a supernatural killer story arc around a regular man. Cars on the road in Australia. Deserted road car lotto. Goddamnit, not again! Continue reading

The Room + The Happening

The Room + The Happening

Two fucking terrible movies. What separates cult film from shit film? What separates so bad that it’s good from just bad? Toom Wiseau writes, directs and stores in The Room. Who’s to be mocked for this disaster? Opposing views of the willing accomplices. The bright side! The best worst scene. Theories. What if it’s all true? Is it ok to like The Room? Genre defined by intentions vs reception. Don’t go up in them plants, there’s a death curse! THE HOTDOG GUY. The Happening is phenomenally ignorant of anything even remotely resembling science. Colony Collapse Disorder. Debunking kirlian cameras. How is The Happening this bad? An alternate ending. M. Night Shyamalan’s hoax documentary “The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan.” Continue reading

Shaft + Enter the Dragon

Shaft + Enter the Dragon

Kung Fu and Blaxploitation. 1971. Shaft trailer. There’s art in Shaft! Exploitation where someone actually gives a shit. First person fights. Richard Roundtree vs Fred Williamson. Racial gravity community. Tanks on Broadway. Noir pretending to be blaxploitation. Drew Bundini Brown and the reverse mohawk. The Shaft sequels and (sort of) remake. Enter the Dragon: a time when nudity was still ok. The sound of kung fu. Jim Kelly. Bruce Lee. 70s slow motion at the proper frame rate. Kung fu as an artform. FIGHTING TOURNAMENT BLUEPRINT. A challenge to Podmanity. IT PETS THE WHITE CAT. Smoke and mirrors. Continue reading

Bubba Ho-tep + Trick ‘r Treat

Bubba Ho-tep + Trick ‘r Treat

Old school American horror! Elvis, Don Coscarelli and the crew from Phantasm. Glitchy edits ala J-Horror! What gave Bubba Ho-tep its cult status? Everyone knows who Bruce Campbell is. Making exposition not just ok, but enjoyable. Bubba Ho-tep’s opinion of real life Elvis. Michael Dougherty’s Trick or Treat. Halloween block party! THE A-B-C- METHOD. Marilyn Manson’s cover of Sweet Dreams! Creature effects. A call for yearly Trick ‘r Treats. Continue reading

Smokey and the Bandit + Thunder and Lightning

Smokey and the Bandit + Thunder and Lightning

Southern American, alcohol, and the goddamn road. Burt Reynolds. Giving your film visual depth. Smokey and the Bandit for Dummies. What we’re dealing with here is a total lack of respect for the law! Bandits. Snowman. Racism in the south. The Prodigy song Their Law uses a quote (not a sample). Pontiac Trans Am. Is this roadsploitation? Whiskey running. Coors being illegal in the 70s. Blocking. Who is David Carradine, really? Thunder and Lightning and Roger Corman. Cheap 70s filmmaking. Christian gator wrestling. 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air hard top (second generation). Rotgut whiskey. What should be icons! Continue reading

Django + Sukiyaki Western Django

Django + Sukiyaki Western Django

Spaghetti westerns and Sukiyaki Western spaghetti westerns! A better example of italian exploitation. Dialogue so bad you shouldn’t even bother dubbing. A gunslinger who mad libs. Exploitation theme songs. The coffin reveal. The wort dubbing gets worse. Opening the package. Is it a good trade? Contrasting Django with The Man With No Name. Unauthorized sequels. New to Takashi Miike! What the fuck is Sukiyaki Western Django doing? Japanese fashion hybrids. Sergeant Hugo Stiglitz and Bloody Benton. Making the cartoonish violence. The better gun. Michael says something insane. Continue reading

Killapalooza 11: The Amityville Horror

Killapalooza 11: The Amityville Horror

The Amityville Horror films 1-8. The Amitville hoax. FINALLY – Alice and Michael make a video! The Lutz family. James Randi. How the Amityville Horror story was fabricated. What’s the worst thing the house did? The possession! Incest as a franchise staple? Asking critical thinking questions about incest. SKYPIG. 3-D is even more lame if you put it in the title. Stephen Kaplan the skeptical true-believer. Ed and Lorraine Warren. GHOST COLD. Testing for ghosts. The evil escapes. Haunted antiques and some additional skepticism. Where does the haunting reside? The Amityville curse. Fireside haunted slumber party mystery. When porn reigns fire. It’s about time. When has ‘wake up from a dream’ ever worked? Mature stories in immature settings. If Jeremy Kasten directed The Amityville Horror. Sage Francis. Shitty art mocking well known art. Accidental miniature shot! Sequel or tax write-off? Roger’s Corman’s The Fantastic Four. A lesson about incest using The Brady Bunch. Continue reading

Ed Wood + Shadow of the Vampire

Ed Wood + Shadow of the Vampire

A show about old films disguised as a show about new films. Glen or Glenda! Credit movies. Why are Edward D Wood Jr movies so bad? Surrounding yourself with weirdos. Jeffrey Jones and The Amazing Criswell. Juliet Landau is amazing. Martin Landau. Elvira. A different look at Ed Wood. An honest look at Bela Lugosi. Honoring an old technique. Maurice Lamarche. Writings and pornography. The Church of Ed Wood. EDWJ writes your movie! Nosferatu, Dracula, and Shadow of the Vampire. John Malkovich plays F W Murnau like he’s Count Orlok. When conspiracy is ok! Questioning what’s real. Directors narrate silent films. Why people should care about german expressionism. Vampires then and now. The original “don’t show the monster.” Icons. Udo Kier. Continue reading

Cannibal Holocaust + The Big Bird Cage

Cannibal Holocaust + The Big Bird Cage

Two not-yet-covered exploitation films about people getting massacred in the jungle. Double Feature tries a new approach to pairing difficult films. Cannibal exploitation in Cannibal Holocaust. Animal cruelty. The trial of director Ruggero Deodato for the murder of his actors. Distributors’ moral stance. Do you keep the footage? The influence of Cannibal Holocaust on the decades to follow. Eli Roth. Cannibal Holocaust sequel! Finally, there’s BAG CAT. The good time to be had with Roger Corman and The Big Bird Cage. Some people actually don’t care for breasts. Women in prison films. Conventions of the genre. Sid Haig. Pam Grier. What sets The Big Bird Cage apart. Continue reading

Look + Pecker

Look + Pecker

Photography and voyeurism. Where are the cameras?! What people do when no one is looking. The misadventures of Adam Rifkin. The average person vs one example of a person. If you could see the big picture. Events you missed out on. Giuseppe Andrews is getting electrocuted. Original music. Sony CineAlta cameras. Unnatural cinematography. Defying the rule of thirds. Wide open depth of field and heightened senses. Lying. Morality. Look is also a TV series on Showtime (you can watch it here: Look TV Series). Pecker as the last of the first mainstream John Waters films. Which is the real John Waters underdog? Christina Ricci. The career of Martha Plimpto. Women in Pecker. Go out to stores and take photos of unsuspecting customers. Children and ADHD. Critics are fucking idiots. Continue reading

Doomsday + Equilibrium

Doomsday + Equilibrium

Movies that best their source material. The splat pack. Neil Marshall. What does Doomsday steal from? The cannibal dance. Rhona Mitra Major Eden Sinclair. Craig Conway as Sol (not Saul). Shifts in setting. Sacrificing signature for wider acceptance. Weird things directors do that make them stand out. A twist on roadsploitation. Stealing John Murphy’s 28 Weeks Later score. Norman Borlaug has saved over one billion human lives. Search for him. The two reasons population control is a silly cliche. Equilibirum and 1984. Sean Bean. Taye Diggs refill. Emily Watson. William Fichtner’s own story. Creating action without action. Blended split focus. Alternatives to Meat Cart! Gun Kata. Making violence more violent – with glass! Playing the comedy straight. Just a formally. Continue reading

The Social Network + The Hudsucker Proxy

The Social Network + The Hudsucker Proxy

Titans of industry! The awards. Skeptical of The Social Network? Having nostalgia for the first time. AwesomeStart.com. Apache, Perl, Livejournal, Firefox! A look into the actual life of a teenage programmer. How do we monetize? How the movie treats Mark Zuckerburg. Thinking out loud and living in a bubble. The relationship between Mark Zuckerberg and Sean Parker. Justin Timberlake. Tilt shift photography. Trent Reznor. Atticus Ross. Rob Sheridan. What the movie doesn’t do! What is a hudsucker proxy? Making a film for laughs. The opposite of The Social Network. Art Deco. Time capsule…of the 90s. The Coen Brothers and Sam Raimi? Dark Humor in The Hudsucker Proxy. Continue reading

May + Teeth

May + Teeth

Violent girls! Guess who’s sick? ALL HAIL HONEY BEAR. People who spoil May. Who is Lucky McKee, besides the director of May? An effective flying Tom Tom! May with an eye patch. Angela Bettis and Jeremy Sisto. Adam and May, together. Come back to our side Anna Faris. James Duval and the icy nipples. Normal people making fucking up movies. A skeptical look at on-screen chemistry. Smoking in cinema. Things that are wrong. Soundtrack. The Breeders. Scarling. Score and foley. Dark humor. Suzie the doll. Subtlety vs a movie where you have teeth in your vagina. Vagina Dentata. Promise rings. Have more sex. But not with your family. A film where every guy is a creep. Saving it for the one you marry. Does Mitchell Lichtenstein’s movie Teeth understand evolution? What is the evolutionary advantage of having a vagina with teeth? Teeth as a superhero film. Continue reading

Planet of the Apes + Colossus: The Forbin Project

Planet of the Apes + Colossus: The Forbin Project

Classic sci-fi day. See Colossus: The Forbin Project! Arthur P. Jacobs. Rod Serling. The original ideas for Planet of the Apes and all that could have been. Jerry Goldsmith. Sci-Fi allegories vs over-interpretations. Who sneaks symbolism into the film? Religion: just how ridiculous is it? Intellectual hypocrisy. Class warfare. Social inequality. The ending of The Planet of the Apes. Respecting your audience more than they even deserve. Computer voice. Cold War history. Mutually assured destruction. Unanswered questions. Continue reading

Mulberry Street + Frozen

Mulberry Street + Frozen

Old School American Horror! Mulberry Street. Eight Films to Die For. The After Dark Horror Fest. Jim Mickle as writer, director, editor. The advantages of total control. Mood and tone. Identifying budget. Lo-Fi film making! Close knit living. Laid back angry distortion. Room ambience. A stab in the dark at character relationships. Adam Green’s Frozen and Adam Greens Old School American Horror. Explaining the reception. New horror IP. Spot the Hodder. A more specific subgener of trapped in a single place (bottle) films. Try this at home! Alternating desperation with victory. The idea behind not showing violence. Continue reading

Catfish + The Girlfriend Experience

Catfish + The Girlfriend Experience

Unorthodox relationship day! Corresponding with children. When society forces incorrect reactions. The facts have not been redacted. Privacy of documentary film subjects. Jumping the gun. The Catfish trailer. Applying skepticism to the claims of hoax and the idea of “too good to be true.” Suspicions. Is Catfish a hoax? Prank-u-documentaries. Camera work. Steven Soderbergh and The Girlfriend Experience. TGE. What does it mean to purchase a girlfriend experience? Steven Soderbergh’s career. Red One. What Red cameras and DSLRs mean for the future of film. Why show the two stories? Fucking gym memberships. Personal anecdotes about the inner works of the call girl industry. Continue reading

Pulp Fiction + Sin City

Pulp Fiction + Sin City

Tarantino and Rodriguez, back to back! Pulp Fiction and Tarantino’s chapters. The popular appeal of Pulp Fiction. What nonlinear storytelling accomplishes. Separating character development from overall narrative. Simultaneous stories. Building up Marsellus Wallace. Quentin Tarantino and race relations! Soundtrack. The life and work of Julia Sweeney. Atheism! Learning through conversation. Noir characters in the modern world. The MacGuffin, The Maltese Falcon, and Plot Coupons. Robert Rodriguez and Sin City. Quest director Quentin Tarantino! Getting Frank Miller to sign off. The characters in Basin City. Do it cheap, do it smart, and fuck film school. Continue reading

Killapalooza 10: Wishmaster

Killapalooza 10: Wishmaster

Wishmaster films 1-4. The return of Killapalooza! Where did it ever go, again? Further exploration of always being nice to films. An abstract conversation about Wes Craven using a film he produced as a symbol for his greater style on a whole. Where did they get all the answers? Robert Kurtzman. The greatest scene in Wishmasterdom. Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, Robert Englund. Lazy wish-granting. Why “be careful what you wish for” is a bad supernatural plot. Green shirt guy. Photos of you. Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies. Andrew Divoff as the Wishmaster. Wish-lines. Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell. Shitty Acid drumloops. Embarrassing. Getting sick. Wish specificity. An opportunity to freshly exploit an old power. The magic of the paradox. Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled. Using a campy mythos to talk about a serious subject. Where should the franchise go from here? Continue reading

Altered States + The Fly

Altered States + The Fly

Mad scientists! Dubious science. What’s a spoiler? https://bing.com/images?q=ken+russell is what you need to know. Trying to figure out Ken Russell’s Altered States from 1980. Behind the scenes at Double Feature. Michael doesn’t know what to do! William Hurt. Blair Brown. Actors who could be your mom, naked when they were younger. LSD. Timothy Leary. John C. Lilly. What was the point of the LSD deprivation experiments? The longest WTF scene yet. Be afraid, be very afraid. David Cronenberg is Jeff Goldblum as The Fly! 1986 and the relationship between man and machine. Body horror – what is it, what is it used for? The fly as a metaphor for aging. The mental and physical transformation. Films without mercy. Continue reading

Amelie + Martyrs

Amelie + Martyrs

Alice struggles to do the show. Why the sadistic pairing? Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Amelie. Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain. Learning about the french via film. Living your quirks. Genre bending and classification. A comfortable distortion of physics. The influence and absence of Marc Caro. Dominique Pinon and Ron Perlman. A different sense of dark comedy. Fucking and the french. Fucking is ok! The American taboo. Are the things Amelie is doing right? Is it ok to lie for good? The best use of the Amelie garden gnome. The influence of American horror on the french. French extreme revisited. Smashcuts! The Flying Tom Tom. Uncertainty. What does the ending of Martyrs mean? Rape/Revenge. Continue reading

Stuck + The House of the Devil

Stuck + The House of the Devil

City dangerous vs suburb dangerous. Two films, each a play on the trapped-in-one-place mechanic. Michael Koester is not actually an exorcist. Based on actual events? Zeitgeist contributing to a movie’s success vs basing a movie on the current zeitgeist. Stewart Gordon and new homeless. Intentionally flat characters. Reactions to brutality. Director masturbatory slow motion. Dissection of slow motion violence. Brandi Boski is the worst human being alive (but Mena Suvari is a wonderful person). If you drive drunk, you are the worst human being alive. An example of Stuart Gordon at his best. Another way Ti West’s The House of the Devil could have ended (and why). What is city danger? What is a suburb? The devil. You don’t need any evidence to be based on a true story. You don’t need a true story to be based on a true story. You don’t need a story to be based on a true story. Groups of five. Bring on the tannis! Power plays. Tom Noonan as Mr Ulman. Ti West improves on the throw back. Resisting the urge. Continue reading

A Fistful of Dollars + Gojira

A Fistful of Dollars + Gojira

Two more genres Double Feature will never be fully prepared to cover. Spaghetti westerns and kaiju (japans monster movies). Two foreign films that popularized their genres in west. The dollars trilogy. What is a spaghetti western? How you can tell when something is dubbed, even in the same language as it’s shot. Ambience in recordings. Ennio Morricone (aka Dan Savio) and what makes the score. Setting the tone for a spaghetti western. The town. The solution? Elimination! Mexican border towns. What other westerns were doing at the time. The morality of the man with no name. Toho Company. Ltd. The eras of kaiju. Adapting Gojira for American audiences. Varan the Unbelievable. The worst translations. Godzilla mythology. Continue reading

Misery + Christine

Misery + Christine

Stephen King. Also, this is Double Feature, so Ayn Rand too. Alice’s homework. Misery! Barry Sonnenfeld. Marc Shaiman. Writing what you know. The romanticization of the author. The real world mess that is writing an story. Rituals for both romance and storytelling mechanics. What does Paul Sheldon tell us about Stephen King. Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes. Sheldon disappoints! Fuck honor, give me desperation. Just how crazy is Annie? Killing the Ahab. The Chicago suburbs. Get naked and get in that car. A taste of things to come. High school as seen by Stephen King. Buying cursed items. Explaining your own metaphor. The moment John Carpenter first appears. Radiohead’s Karma Police. Obscured by light. The car’s motivation. Spider-Man 3 is a bad remake of Christine. Continue reading

Die Hard + Man on Wire

Die Hard + Man on Wire

Secret heist films that take place in famous buildings (and are based on books!) A tragic missed opportunity. iPads have chapters, Zunes don’t. Important information you miss out on when you don’t listen to Double Sleepy Naptime. Die Hard as a Christmas mood. The Nakatomi Plaza / Los Angeles Fox Plaza. Bruce Willis as John McClane. The other Die Hard films. Cowboys. The role of the men outside. Driving plot. Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber. Ode to Joy. Man on Wire against American art. Alice’s tattoos and piercings. Philippe Petit, the raconteur. A conversation about that probably shouldn’t be talked about or even acknowledged. Danger! Inspirational events. Creativity. Really smart people. Continue reading

The Last Man on Earth + Deliverance

The Last Man on Earth + Deliverance

Two movies about isolation keep each other company. Logan Swanson and the Last Man on Earth. As good as it gets! The return of the public domain. Zombies in literature. Hanging out with Vincent Price. A bit about Will Smith and I Am Legend. What do you do when you’re the last man on earth? Do artists still create? Alice actually was The Last Man on Earth. The popular icons from Deliverance. The producer says “I bet you can squeal like a pig” has to go in the show notes somewhere. Feuding banjos / Dueling banjos. The survivalist movement seen previously in The McVeigh Tapes. Nature vs modern society. Resisting change. Being “one with nature.” What happened to Drew? Day-for-night in the 1970s. Xenophobia. Killing is still wrong. Continue reading

The Devil’s Rejects + Halloween 2

The Devil’s Rejects + Halloween 2

Rob Zombie hour, here on Double Feature! Rob Zombie for Rob Zombie fans. Halloween 2? Halloween II? Halloween: II? H2? What the fuck is this movie called? The Devil’s Rejects is a goddamn sequel. Deconstructing the motel room. The 1970s. Trailers, dirt and hillbillies. A non-horror perspective. The humor of the film. Charlie Altamont (Ken Foree) as Lando Calrissian. Something all filmmakers could learn from slashers. Danny Trejo is the biggest fucking mexican you’ve ever seen, even if reality doesn’t support that fact. Losing a fight with your own morality. Role reversal. Ignoring the remakes, reboots and restarts. Final chapter be damned – how to kill the franchise instead of just the slasher. What Halloween 2 really is and why it exists. Questionable reality as an alternative to the retcon. Freak outs. Innocent bystanders. Overkill. Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures. The new Dr. Loomis. The director’s cut ending. Continue reading

Willard + The McVeigh Tapes

Willard + The McVeigh Tapes

Domestic terrors…and rats. Not in that order, either. The opening of Willard. No Danny Elfman! Protagonist by comparison. Absurd characters in a mundane world. Uncomfortable camera work. The weirdos. Willard’s Mom. Willard’s boss. Willard’s problems. Crispin Glover. Willard and the rats. Swapping your protagonist. Rachel Maddow and The McVeigh Tapes: Confessions of an American Terrorist. Are today’s protests an early warning sign? A bit on Columbine and Waco. Watering the tree of something with the blood of someone. Continue reading

Cemetery Man + The Addams Family

Cemetery Man + The Addams Family

Macabre celebration day! Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetery Man). What the fuck is going on in italian cinema? The era of Cemetery Man. Exploitation marketing. Learning about the classics via throwback. Trends in Italian horror. Weird! But…sexy. But weird! Comedic elements? Reaction shots from unlikely participants. The mythology of cemetery man. The film’s treatment of rape. Who is She? Enter the detective. Getting snowglobe answers. The Aams Family, spooky TV, and future double features. Just what is so off about The Addams Family? Barry Sonnenfeld. Marc Shaiman. Alice loves Christina Ricci. Fester impostor. A call for weird 90s approachable goth films. Continue reading

Music Box Massacre 5

Music Box Massacre 5

SPOILER FREE episode! What people from the past thought of the future. The silent film excuse. The opening band. Sanctuary. Religious commentary. Scares through sound design. Roger Corman. Bucket of Blood was so awesome that any other information is probably a spoiler. Masters of Horror. When it’s actually ok from characters to wake up from a dream. Pop psychology. Seeing films with an audience. An unexpected reaction. Catching up with each phase of Re-Animator. Exploring the poor choice in Music Box Massacre lineup. A Double Feature first. Deadsy! What the fuck happened in From Beyond? The benefit of a convention-like audience. Alice’s pitch for Pontypool. The MC of The Music Box Massacre is kind of a fuckhead. Poor misunderstood Dark Night of the Scarecrow. A look back at Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Michael gets yelled at. Alice gets sleepy. Steven King’s self-labeled “moron movie,” Maximum Overdrive. Bail! Why Carrie has the reputation it does. Spoiling Carrie’s ending. Remakes and sequels. Notes about Dennis Hopper’s death. Should Double Feature keep doing Music Box Massacre? Continue reading

Young Frankenstein + O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Young Frankenstein + O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Two films that build upon legend. Spoilers, but not really. Gene Wilder is a crazy person. Mel Brooks and Young Frankenstein. Marty Feldman. The signature of Mel Brooks comedy. Post-joke comedic timing. The Roger Corman monster house. The advantages of “a relative to the known hero” over “a retelling of the known hero.” The film itself as the straight man. The Apple Final Cut Studip Color application. Learning about filmmaking for free at the Apple store. How a mall psychic is different than someone with a premonition. Natural explanations, even when you don’t need it. Ulysses Everett, defying expectation. John Goodman is fucking awesome. The infamous soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? Diving your film into episodes. Continue reading

Taken + P2

Taken + P2

Captive situations. A couple of films that do a single thing extremely well. Taken! Luc Besson. High concept and beautiful static characters. Paul David Hewson continues to show up uninvited. Action star requirements. Maggie Grace is not seventeen. Black market vs white market. Vulgar, tact-less conversations about sexual slavery. Gun foley. Studio happy endings. P2 and the parking garage. The Splat Pack. Another flying Tom Tom. Continue reading

Scanners + Eastern Promises

Scanners + Eastern Promises

Two incredible David Cronenberg films. Scanners and the old stuff. Eastern Promises and the new stuff. A bit about Mr. Cronenberg before talking films. Body horror. Sexuality. Medicine, drugs and psychology. Being dropped into a world with no guide. Writing and shooting Scanners. Revisiting Thalidomide. Alice rejects reality. Icons of the film. How the most memorable shot is done. Funny or serious? Mindbeams. When you can’t top it, do something else! The most self-less people Double Feature has ever looked at. How people should talk in every movie. Mob bosses should stop crying. Viggo Mortensen is naked and awesome. The tattoos. Continue reading

The Expendables + Machete

The Expendables + Machete

Let’s go out to the movies! Action films with obscenely huge stars. Why talk about a movie like The Expendables? Misleading, exploitative promotion for The Expendables. David Zayas. Alice Roberts. Sylvester Stallone establishing tone through early moments of gore. Steve Austin and an intellectual defense of professional wrestling. What is Sylvester Stallone’s message behind The Expendables? ShowPlace ICON: Saving the cinema-going experience. Waiting years for a film. How Machete was made. Expanding on a fake trailer. MEXPLOITATION! Insane bigots with backwards ideas about immigration. The lesser known actors in Machete. The legend of Danny Trejo. A defense of Lindsay Lohan. Lindsay Lohan naked. Jessica Alba naked. THE BARBARELLA METHOD. Violence, nudity and tacos. Continue reading

Cold Souls + Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Cold Souls + Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Indie films featuring sketchy sci-fi companies! There is no such thing as the soul. Why Alice doesn’t like “indie” as a genre. Trend scouting and the systematic dehumanization of cool. A random anecdote about the new(ish) studio! How Cold Souls came to be. What do we know about the soul? Lauren Ambrose. A mixture of satire and foreshadowing. Infinite Whitespace and infinite blackspace! What’s in Paul Giamatti’s soul? The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind and Special Effects hair dye. Why Alice has never done pot (in a single scene). Non-linear storytelling. Special effects. A backwards look at a relationship as it decays over time. Eyes. The falling car. Viral advertising. Continue reading

Lord of War + Thank You for Smoking

Lord of War + Thank You for Smoking

Devil’s advocate films. Philosophical discussions wrapped in political messages. Nicolas Cage takes Alice’s money. The only fight Double Feature has ever had. Lord of War as a film about business. Making business personal. Lightening the tone. Pragmatism vs moral absolutes. If I don’t do it, someone else will – is this valid? The whole is greater than the sum of its plane parts. Cynicism without irony. The characters in Thank You for Smoking. Frank Luntz. The origins of the WHATEVER DEVICE. Deus Ex Machina. The role of film as a moral agent. Continue reading

Tremors + The Fog

Tremors + The Fog

Environmental Disasters, Double Feature style. The return of lazy Sunday movies. Graboids, goddamnit! The elevator pitch for Tremors. The people of Pleasant Valley. Why the protagonists stick together. Southwestern Rock. A town full of stereotypes. The least informed weapon treatment to date. The rules of the game. The smartest moron. No Killapalooza. Tremors: The Series. Jamie Lee Curtis continues her reign of awesomeness. John Carpenter tricks you into remember liking his movies days after you’ve seen them. The Fog as a villain. Michael commits to The Happening. Those greedy people who didn’t want leprosy! Changing your movie after you finish filming. Finally: the new donation idea! Continue reading

300 + Rambo 4

300 + Rambo 4

Action films with artistic vision. Why 300 and Rambo are getting Double Featured. Zack Snyder’s 300 needs defending, but from who? If your problem with 300 is historical accuracy, you have a lot bigger problems than 300. Frank Millier and comic book dialogue. How does this compare to Frank Ephialtes as a clever writing device. Totally fake Black 20 300 PG trailer. The actual 300 trailer. Nine Inch Nails 300 fan edit. 300 and Feminism. Dilios is a great warrior, but a terrible poet. Why 300 needs to have such a stupid ending. PREVIOUSLY ON RAMBO. Sylvester Stallone’s career. Sylvester Stallone as a director. One of the goriest films in Double Feature history. Not kidding, we’ll go ahead and type that again. One of the goriest films in Double Feature history. Meat chunks. Why all the gore?! What Alice sees in blood and guts. Continue reading

Stage Fright (Deliria) + Phenomena

Stage Fright (Deliria) + Phenomena

Italian horror, back to back. Artsy slashers. Michele Soavi / Michael Soavi and StageFright / Stage Fright / Deliria. Soavi and Argento. Deliria as a slasher film. Irving Wallace. Slasher naming conventions. Station wagons. Cats in the cupboard. The italian giallo sub-genre. Is Stage Fright a satire? Merging art and stabbing. The comedic scapegoat. Peter the Director (played by Brandon). Why the psychologic and the supernatural so often go hand-in-hand. How do you show a mental breakdown on screen? A humanistic love of crazy people. Do insects have telepathic abilities? No. Easing you into the crazy. Italian dubbing. What a clapboard is for. The pros and cons of dubbing. Music and score. Prog metal. Simon Boswell. What the fuck is happening at the end of Phenomena? Continue reading

Coraline + Little Nemo

Coraline + Little Nemo

Childhood nightmares. Fantasy retreats. The real names behind Coraline. Who is Henry Selleck? What’s a Neil Gaiman? Who killed Amanda Palmer? Building a world and playing around in it. The most rundown theater in Chicago. Grey world. Parallels to MirrorMask. Otherworld (button world). Stageshows! There’s dark, and there’s fucked up. The unexpected. Does Coraline have bad parents? Little Nemo gets a DVD release. The child in a flying bed from the NES generation. Little Nemo Adventures in Slumberland in contrast to Walt Disney. A world without rules…or physics. Anti-authoritarianism. The Nightmare King. Continue reading

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang + The Invention of Lying

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang + The Invention of Lying

Comedies that trick their audience into thinking. Films that flirt with but ultimately mock the lowest common denominator. When your narrator is reliable (but a bad guy). A party of characters. Calling out the hamster style. Calling out film gimmicks using narration gags. Pulp noir. Calling yourself out. Noir satire. Hollywood. Alice still hates LA. Bullets go through stuff. Michael explains Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. Comedy as misdirection. Why The Invention of Lying is actually really amazing (hint: the bullshit low-IQ comedy is just a disguise). The return of the trojan horse. Who is being trojan horsed? What is being trojan horsed? Experiments with lying. Is lying ever morally justified? In a world without lies, religion doesn’t exist. Why Double Feature loves science, skepticism, and atheism. In a world where lying doesn’t exist, is the first lie immoral? All of the listeners are going to die. Continue reading

The Shining + Bright Falls

The Shining + Bright Falls

Secluded environments and the dangers hidden within. No Stephen King! The Shining – a movie so talked about that even preparing to discuss it requires its own conversation. Widescreen vs fullscreen with Stanley Kubrick’s helicopter. The icons of The Shining. Brows, bathrooms and naked parts. A correction on penultimate. Does The Shining have a sense of humor? Various interpretations given to the film over the last several decades. Native Americans. Finding holocaust stuff. Possession vs influence. The cold war and cabin fever. Can it all be in his head? The American family. TV does not actually rot your brain. TWENTY MINUTE PSYCHIC ICE CREAM. Talking house. Justifying the last shot. What the fuck is Bright Falls? Alan Wake. The legacy of Twin Peaks. The small town. Rather than handing the audience answers…what are the best tools for solving the mysteries? Continue reading

Reservoir Dogs + Desperado

Reservoir Dogs + Desperado

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez go back to back, once again! Two incredible films by incredible film makers. Why you always put Quentin Tarantino first. Tarantino’s signature. Quentin’s first scene. Well known strengths. Who is the rat? Non-linear story telling. Spectator cinematography. The trunk shot. The Vega brothers. Desperado, the Mexico trilogy, and the best opening scene of all time. Action set to an imaginary beat. Cheap filmmaking tactics. Accomplishing the impossible. Film school. Robert Rodriguez teaches you film making techniques for FREE. Quentin Tarantino…acts. Some stuff on Predators. What’s next for the carnival? Continue reading

Double Feature Year 2 Finale

Double Feature Year 2 Finale

SPOILER FREE SHOW! The Year Two retrospective. Two fucking years of weekly Double Features. David Stieve has a Behind the Mask prize for you. Facebook chat. Where did all the interviews go? Honorarium. Vulgarity. Other people love The Spirit. More information on Dark City and Sway. How Double Feature is recorded. The Future of the Killapalooza. Alice still thinks the MC of the Music Box Massacre is a Jackass. The purpose of Double Feature. We hate James Cameron and LOVE Joss Whedon! The future of David Lynch on the show. Skeptics, atheists and…sometimes libertarians. Where do you get movies from? Pot and UFOs. Michael’s take on The Human Centipede. A Blair Witch theatre experience. Seriously, that Music Box Theatre host is a jackass. Drugs and birth defects. Repo vs The Rocky Horror Picture Show. A top countdown list from people who hate top countdown lists. Continue reading

Mean Girls + Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Mean Girls + Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Violent angry women! Fuck irony. There is nothing ironic about this Double Feature. These are two awesome films. Done. Why we wouldn’t change a single thing about Mean Girls. The outsider perspective. The absurdities of high school. Why Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron is the ideal conduit. Gossip! Anger! LOHAN VISION. The jungle metaphor. Mean Girls on religion. Abstinence. Becoming everything you hate. Evanston, IL. Russ Meyer’s Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! as an example of everything Russ was about (and none of it at the same time). Meyer and nudity. The myth of Varla’s overwhelming hotness. Lori Williams is Billie, but she’s secretly Bam Bam. Haji is actually the hot one. The trailer. Overwhelming sincerity. Continue reading

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind + Fight Club

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind + Fight Club

Two films about bottoming out. Insomnia. Actors who direct. Chuck Barris, Charlie Kaufman, and the Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. George Clooney likes to play CIA. Set design. Bleach bypass. Old Spice commercial. The Gong Show. Our secret CIA drone war with Pakistan. Is the Fight Club twist OK? A conversation for people who don’t care about the kitsch of Fight Club. Michael finally explains his Fight Club issues. Chuck Palahniuk. Hitting rock bottom. A better side of the Frankenstein myth. Film making techniques used to further the dirty impoverished tone of the movie. Homoeroticism! Continue reading

Hard Candy + Funny Games

Hard Candy + Funny Games

The dark side of humanity. When people are mean to each other. The return of camera chat! Ambiguous characters. Thought experiments. Character studies. The two character dynamic. Why you want natural, ambiguous characters with questionable motivations. Torture scenes from people who know torture films. Revenge film setup, humanizing payoff. One sheet. “Torture porn.” The point of the Aunt Denise story. Ambient sound. Photography. The US shot-for-shot remake of Funny Games. Pacing, framing and suspense. The question of “why?” The killers behind closed doors. Breaking the fourth wall. Don’t forget to watch videos of adorable pets. Continue reading

Starship Troopers + Small Soldiers

Starship Troopers + Small Soldiers

War films, Double Feature style. Paul Verhoeven. A Flying Tom Tom? Animating the bugs. The look and feel of Starship Troopers. War movie cliches. Characters and politics. Maintaining a light feel in a time of war. Censorship. Starship Troopers’ commentary on military recruitment. Wait, what strategy? Various jobs. Class warfare. Privacy. Joe Dante and the tiny. More info than you ever really needed about Eerie, Indiana. Small Soldiers, big voices. Wow, that sentence was lame. Casting. BEAR OR NO BEAR! Artificial Intelligence is apparently not a big deal. Why Small Soldiers is actually darker than Starship Troopers. Science vs one-liners. Continue reading

Blue Velvet + The Game

Blue Velvet + The Game

There’s two films, and something’s not quite right. The beginning of a string of Double Feature celebrations. 100 episodes…and people are still listening. New ones, even! Why we still don’t talk about symbolism. An apology to David Lynch before talking Blue Velvet. Noir without the usual suspects. Making the normal seem bizarre. The horror moments. The lighting and environments in Blue Velvet. The impending darkness. Candles. The role Frank plays. Voyeurism. Imagery. David Fincher and The Game. Why one billion twists are actually ok. What’s actually part of the game? When you actually want a film to wrap up at the end. Anticipating audience questions and pointing them towards the right ones. Continue reading

JCVD + Bronson

JCVD + Bronson

Two people who want to be famous – and don’t mind using violence to accomplish this. A new film podcast experiment! Can you even spoil these films? Some behind-the-scenes Double Feature stuff. Alice doesn’t know who JCVD is. Action movie marathon! JCVD as an intro to Jean-Claude Van Damme. Jump cuts. How long before you pull back the curtain? Dog Day Afternoon parallels. Bank heist cliches. How to get away with a bank robbery. Humor in JCVD. The resurgence of late night gameshows. How JCVD is different than breaking the 4th wall. The commentary of self aware films. Fighting and art. Prison addiction. Hard questions about reform and te prison system. Several takes on the theatrical asides. Continue reading

Rosemary’s Baby + Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Rosemary’s Baby + Invasion of the Body Snatchers

The terror of the times! Two films that embody the horror mindset of the 60s and 70s. Roman Polanski’s apartment trilogy. Fact check: Anton LaVey isn’t in Rosemary’s Baby. How this film differs from Inside. Is there really a connection between the baby boomers and Rosemary’s Baby? Intentional obfuscation through cleverly planned cinematography – and it’s effects! Different interpretations of the ending. Various ways to view the plot of the film (and evidence for each). Alice would be mad if you fucked him in his sleep without prior consent. How Rosemary’s Baby is like a conspiracy theory. Plants don’t have feelings. Invasion of the Body Snatchers remakes. Acupuncture and mud baths have equal medicinal value – which is to say no medicinal value. Leonard Nimoy. Feminism. 70s paranoia. MEATCART. Next week’s highly dubious experiment. Continue reading

Repo: The Genetic Opera + The Blair Witch Project

Repo: The Genetic Opera + The Blair Witch Project

Two misunderstood and under-appreciated horror films. Conversations about filmmaking. Repo: The Genetic Opera is, in fact, an opera. Musicals vs operas. Sarah Brightman, Ogre. Industrial music and opera. The ridiculous cast. Building for cult appeal. Two rational, no-bullshit hosts hold the internets first serious discussion on Paris Hilton. Why Paris Hilton is actually awesome. Shadowcasts. Secret Saw sets. Mag’s eyes. More than you ever wanted to know about soft focus. Digital soft focus vs traditional lens. The budget and equipment for The Blair Witch Project. Audio. What color vs black and white actually does for the film. Scares based on sound. The universal fear of the unknown. What does the ending really mean? Continue reading

Easy Rider + Death Race 2000

Easy Rider + Death Race 2000

Just how spoilable are Easy Rider and Death Race 2000? Easy Rider as a piece of New Hollywood. Where have the communes gone? Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper as Wyatt (Captain America) and Billy. Life lessons via cross country motorcycle journey. UFO stores and pot smoking. Inspirations. The Dennie Hopper vs Rip Torn controversy. The editing and transitions in Easy Rider. What’s the scariest thing about Easy Rider? You kinda have to talk about the Death Race remake. Where has exploitative killing for sport gone? The casual nudity of the time. Continue reading

Dog Day Afternoon + LA Confidential

Dog Day Afternoon + LA Confidential

East coast / west coast crime film double feature. Sidney Lumet and crime dramas. What does based on a “true story” mean? Al Pacino being crazy. 70s Anti-authoritarianism and fighting the man. Anti-hero vs vigilante. When bank heist films became spy movies. Could a movie like Dog Day Afternoon work in today’s political and economic situation? Women in Dog Day Afternoon. The talent behind LA Confidential. Film noir and Hollywood. Bringing character full circle. Continue reading

Killapalooza 9: Hellraiser

Killapalooza 9: Hellraiser

Hellraiser films 1-8. Pinhead. If you haven’t seen Hellraiser, how much of it should you actually commit to? More on Cliver Barker. Doug Bradley. The Hellbound Heart. Pleasure vs pain. How the treatment of BDSM compares in Hellraiser against Secretary. Coercion vs free choice. Recap overkill. Performing mythology experiments. Michael gets uncomfortable. Curiosity. The Cenobites. Finding the point Hellraiser became a slasher franchise. Retroactive continuity as we’ve never been expected to believe it before! A pillar of monster parts. New cenobites. Pinhead loves princess! Spirit fingers. Things start to get bumpy. The most hated you’ve heard expressed for a film in a long time. The downward spiral that is the last four Hellraiser movies. The end of Killapalooza? Let us know! Continue reading

Detroit Rock City + Christmas on Mars

Detroit Rock City + Christmas on Mars

A very musical episode of Double Feature. Kiss and The Flaming Lips. A quick word about the upcoming Killapalooza. A horror director and cast making a 70s Kiss film. Finding the horror moments in Detroit Rock City. Explaining Kiss to a person who couldn’t pick them out of a lineup. The film as a promotional tool. Concert events. Controversial music. Rock and Satanism. The double standard of statutory rape. An examination of Detroit Rock City as a cult film. Why this is relevant to non-Kiss fans. Who or what is The Flaming Lips? Independent science fiction. Making a movie when you don’t know what the fuck you’re doing. When color hurts. Dynamic range in the audioscape of film. What’s going on in Christmas on Mars? More vaginas than ever before. Continue reading

The Prestige + The Wizard of Gore

The Prestige + The Wizard of Gore

INTERVIEW w/ Jeremy Kasten. Two films about the stage (that shouldn’t actually be watched back to back). More than you ever wanted to know about the Bullet Catch. What is “real magic”? Nikola Tesla, the greatest mad scientist of all time. Tesla’s pocket sized earthquake machine. Class warfare. Obsession. Dedication. The natural twist versus the science fiction twist. A crazy fan theory created to eradicate the pseudoscientific plot device. An actual plothole. Justifying the ending using only editing. A different take on The Wizard of Gore. Another great way to get your audience to accept crazy things. Misogyny. The geek show. Robbing Chicago of films. Bijou Phillips and the nameless chinese guy. Jeremy Kasten on misogyny. The suicide girls. Alice still loves micro-skirts and knee-high boots. Once again, what the fuck does a producer do? Continue reading

Serenity + Barbarella

Serenity + Barbarella

Women in space! The sweetspot for new films on Double Feature. Different takes on Joss Whedon. Jargon in space! Shows on Fox. The mixed success story of Firefly’s cancelation and Serenity’s rebirth. Multiple beginnings. Inflicting hara-kiri? The long take. Summer Glau as kill machine River Tam. Inara. Serenity and Firefly pioneering the documentary style CG sequence. Mercenary adventure plots. The best type of villain. Joss Whedon and religion. Jane Fonda is Barbarella – Queen of the Galaxy. Well, not really Queen of the Galaxy, just Barbarella. Jane Fonda doing a zero gravity striptease. Which characters are necessary to Barbarella? Terrifying or sexy? The tongue box. Dildano and the new sex. Continue reading

Inside + Drag Me to Hell

Inside + Drag Me to Hell

How to correctly pronounce the word “homage.” There are spoilers everywhere. No one is safe. Inside (À l’intérieur) as part of the New French Extreme / French Extremism / New French Extremity. American dominance in the horror genre. Using more violence than actually necessary. Identifying and breaking cinematic cliques. A familiar situation with a new feeling. Surprise vs anticipation. New angles for manipulating an audiences’ hopes and expectations. Using sound to torture your audience. An alternative to the horror movie body count vs time quota. The history of pregnant women in horror films. The rare and complicated breed of humor found in in Drag Me to Hell. Sincerity. “So bad it’s good” movies. Tricks to convince yourself to like the lazy parts of Drag Me to Hell. Continue reading

Black Dynamite + Hero

Black Dynamite + Hero

Two genres Double Feature will never be fully prepared to cover. A kung-fu badass double feature. Finally – the blaxploitation primer. The woman’s place in blaxploitation. Creating an intelligent script on an ignorant subject. Writing jokes vs acting jokes. Laugh tracks and music cues. Original soundtracks. Cleaning up the streets. Black Dynamite as a commentary on exploitation throwbacks. Hero / Ying Xiong as an example of the evolution of kung-fu. Wire fights. Interpretative dance. The unreliable color scheme. Unitiy, the empire, and blowing your second chance. Double Feature reaches out to the listeners for a new project. Continue reading

The Million Dollar Hotel + REC

The Million Dollar Hotel + REC

Two films in unfamiliar apartment buildings! Voyeurism. Does Zune have lyrics support? A modern day commune full of crazies. Music, mood, and Paul David Hewson. The tiny blue car revealed: The Corbin Motors Sparrow PTM. Peeking in the window vs wiretapping. A bit about the HBO Voyeur Project. Art scam. I Am The Walrus, as you’ve never heard it before. THE FLYING TOM TOM. The spanish film REC which was later remade in the US as Quarantine. While You’re Asleep. First impressions. Establishing and betraying safety. The doppler scream. Where did it come from? Eli Roth and chick vision. Another Alice Thirteen confession. Double Feature hosts as test subjects. Continue reading

Polyester + Secretary

Polyester + Secretary

Bored women surround themselves with deviants! Two films helping society cope with taboos. John Waters exposes America to the unsettling. A rarely talked about sub-genre of exploitation: Women’s Pictures. Odorama, Smell-O-Vision and William Castle. The smells on the Polyester Odorama card are as follow: Roses, A Fart, Glue, Pizza, Gasoline, Skunk, Gas, New Car Smell, Old Sneakers, Air Freshener. What led to the breakout success of Polyester in comparison to earlier John Waters’ films? The central taboos. Why stomp feet? Secretary and feminism. Maggie Gyllenhaal and the qualities of Lee Holloway. Contrasting James Spader’s character Mr. Grey. The surprising common ground between sub and dom. Secretary and sexploitation. Continue reading

The Crow + Boondock Saints

The Crow + Boondock Saints

90s Vigilante Double Feature! The Crow. What really killed Brandon Lee. The incredible films (and not-so-incredible-films) of Alex Proyas. A color film without colors. The makeup vs the audience. Creative villain names. Revisiting the Kitty Genovese myth. The Boondock Saints and the supernatural detective. Watching Willem Dafoe. Several bizarre editing hypotheses. Replaying the investigations. Is there a God in Boondock Saints? An update from inside the burning studio. Continue reading

Requiem for a Dream + Spun

Requiem for a Dream + Spun

The two most sober hosts on the internet talk about so-called “drug films”. Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream. The evolution of Clint Mansell. When trailers steal the Mansell. Editing tricks. THE ZEMECKIS CREDIT. Is it ok for Marlin Waynes to be famous? The players. The Fargo checklist. The icons of Requiem for a Dream. No one forgets ass-to-ass. The physiological impact. The love/hate relationship to a films ability to induce suicide in the viewer. When the film’s post-trauma wrap up betrays your safety. Michael’s problem with Requiem for a Dream. Jonas Akerlund’s Spun as the antithesis. Billy Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins. Why the term ‘drug film’ is bullshit. A defense of Spun as not just a clone of Requiem. Continue reading

Killapalooza 8: Leprechaun

Killapalooza 8: Leprechaun

Leprechaun films 1-6. Racism. An alternative to Don’t Show the Monster. Is the Leprechaun frightening? An a long enough timeline, all slashers abandon fear for comedy. How mythology is created and used in the franchise. Peer pressure. The role of gold. Tiny men in tiny cars. Hamster style. Faking Robert Smith and The Cure. A data set in which Brian Trenchard-Smith is the least associated with television over film! BEAR OR NO BEAR. Dispelling cynicism with good science. The house doesn’t need to rig gambling, it’s already rigged. SUPERMAN. Deus Ex Machina. Is Back 2 Da Hood blaxploitation? Delicate racial issues. When do these films take place? Slashers as protagonists. The single worst cliche in film – Visiting the psychic. Continue reading

The Man From Earth + The Fifth Element

The Man From Earth + The Fifth Element

Different approaches to science fiction. BitTorrent and file sharing. Why some people just can’t watch sci-fi. Jumping the Shark. Tricks of low budget film making. The effect of living forever (the vampire myth). Film cliques and skepticism. The Man From Earth as an exercise in skepticism. The Fifth Element: A failure on paper. On screen, the greatest sci-fi adventure of all time. Leeloo Minai Lekarariba-Laminai-Tchai Ekbat De Sebat. A look into the future! Continue reading

Theodore Rex + The Secret

Theodore Rex + The Secret

CO-HOSTED by Rebecca Watson. Two abominations of science, back to back! The IMDB Bottom 100. Is there anything to be gained by watching Theodore Rex? Who’s trying the hardest and what fails the most? Speculation on terrible overdubbing. Syncro-Vox. The Theodore Rex wikipedia entry! Other top billed actors staring in bottom barrel films. At what point was this film doomed? If Rebecca Watson directed Theodore Rex. What is The Secret? Checking the credentials. John Gray can go fuck himself. You too, Jack Canfield. The self-help industry. Rebecca Watson lists synonyms for vagina. Women and psuedoscience. Why people fall for The Secret. How The Secret and Alcoholics Anonymous con people. Why skepticism hasn’t dedicated more time to The Secret. Follow Rebecca Watson at Skepchick.org. Continue reading

Beetlejuice + Candyman

Beetlejuice + Candyman

Myth and Legend. More cannon than ever before! More airquotes than any podcast has dared to present! Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice. The Danny Elfman Tim Burton marriage. Alec Baldwin is not a senator. The Amazing Criswell. Why Double Feature doesn’t really do comic book films. Casting against obvious common assumption. The character of Beetlejuice as a combination of Tim Burton’s personal interests. Tax money should not go to the living dead. Stop-motion and other early Burton attractions. Why is a knowledge of magic important in filmmaking? The Beetljuice Animated Series. SAND BEETLE WORMS. Clive Barker and Candyman. Alice’s accidental 3am trips to cabrini green. An update on the state of cabrini green in Chicago. Snopes: The Film. Candyman taking a more professional look at legend. Candyman shows up and…what is he wearing? Creating legend as a scapegoat. Evading responsibility through myth. Continue reading

The Lawnmower Man + Jurassic Park

The Lawnmower Man + Jurassic Park

Two movies that aren’t about men playing God. How CG can make or break a film. Mr. Barbecue. Unrelated: where the Lost term “choppies” came from. When terrible CG is ok – even in legitimate films. A swarm of CG bees. What can we learn from the Lawnmower Man? Things you see in Budget Video. If Lawnmower Man was a slasher film. Why everyone remembers the Lawnmower Man as a serial killer. Total bullshit: Telekinesis, Alchemy, and maybe smoking at the gas station? How to do a Vertigo shot. Ask Neil deGrasse Tyson! Is pseudoscience the appeal of Jurassic Park? Where did the fucking plants come from? Explaining the dinosaurs. Chaos theory. Debunking the butterfly effect. Michael Shermer. What went wrong at Jurassic Park? Bringing the fear home. Continue reading

Hell Ride + The Spirit

Hell Ride + The Spirit

Larry Bishop and Frank Miller – the protégé double feature. Grindhouse revival. Outlaw biker films. The origins of El Pistolero. Deciphering the influences. The evolution of biker films. Larry Bishop. Quentin Tarantino’s role in Hell Ride. Guns. The Badassery of David Carradine. Undeniable badassery. Questionable badassery. The opening of The Spirit. Good or bad, The Spirit is NOT just Sin City. Contrasting the approach and end goal of Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller. You can’t talk Frank Miller without talking Batman. How Samuel L Jackson fits himself into any given movie. Scarlett Johansson gets it. Continue reading

28 Weeks Later + Cloverfield

28 Weeks Later + Cloverfield

The most packed episode ever? Two very important “horror” films that went above and beyond their genre. What makes 28 Weeks Later and Cloverfiend so brilliant? A quick word on 28 Days Later. A twenty minute conversation about the first ten minutes of 28 Weeks Later. Being rapidly forced through the stages of grief. Compassion vs. self preservation. Looking death in the face. The physical zombie. Why the rage virus? Reflecting on the split decisions. What’s important in terms of horror. The original ending of 28 Weeks Later. Complete camera geek out! How to shoot day-for-night (american night). How to accomplish the “infected camera” look in more detail than you really cared for. Slusho? Chese? Cloverfield! Common reasons to not like Cloverfield (and why they’re ALL bullshit). The often overlooked accomplishments of the camera style. The monster as the b-story. The vast list of iconic moments from Cloverfield. Easter eggs. Alice goes to the ER. Continue reading

True Romance + Natural Born Killers

True Romance + Natural Born Killers

Two films written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by directors who aren’t nearly as good. The auteur theory of film. Finding the writer’s signature in True Romance. Elvis. Tarantino’s characters. Dennis Hopper and the tale of the legitimate film. Racial fixation. Which series has the worst ending? How QT writes scenes. The original screenplay and ending. What would True Romance look like if Tarantino directed? Natural Born Killers may be fantastic, but Oliver Stone is still a crazypants. Tarantino’s actual involvement in Natural Born Killers. Abandoning the road film. Comparing Tom Sizemore as Cody Nicholson vs Jack Scagnetti. Charles Whitman. Tarantino’s multitude of movie ideas that will never come to fruition. Varying media and visual aesthetics. Less calypso, more Rage Against the Machine. Continue reading

Slither + Dawn of the Dead

Slither + Dawn of the Dead

A James Gunn zombish double feature. Slither and horror/comedy. They’re not called Slithers! Realism in a crazy situation. Protagonists who are smarter than the audience! Old School American Horror. Serving the comedy audience before the horror audience. Zack Snyder’s 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake. THAT’S WHAT YOU WANT. The original George A. Romero concept. Are originals really better than remakes? Really? Fast zombies. Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine. Three stage zombie makeup. Using amputees. The only way a zombie movie should end. Carnivale sideshow jobs for listeners. Continue reading

Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother + The Postman Always Rings Twice

Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother + The Postman Always Rings Twice

Classic film noir recast with Quentin Tarantino actors! The Kitty Genovese myth. And the money goes to? Sherlock Holmes primer. The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother. Homage or mockery? Comedy in the 70s. Is this rotten or wonderfully brave? Musical and stage. Sight gags. HAMSTER STYLE. James M. Cain and The Postman Always Rings Twice. More than symbolism. Wait, what is the murder plot? Crime in a different light. Cast and characters. The moral of the story always rings twice. The recasting. Continue reading

Killapalooza 7: Alien + Predator

Killapalooza 7: Alien + Predator

The complete Alien and Predator franchise. Alien films 1-4, Predator films 1 and 2, Alien vs Predator films 1 and 2. The amazing variety of directors from the franchise. Riddley Scott. Design. H.R. Giger. Isolation. The ship. Ripley. Secret robots from the future. The work of James Cameron and the IMDB Top Sci Fi films. Terminator 2 and Aliens. What is James Cameron saying in Aliens? Adventure films. Paper thin villains. Argreeing with the bad guy. Should we really wipe out the entire species? Game over man, game over! Irony. Who’s not taking this seriously? The relentless action of Predator. Score clashes, awesome ensues. Jungle sci-fi. Revealing an invisible monster. The Alien vs Predator comicbook. Bringing Alien and Predator together. David Fincher restores order in Alien 3. Quadrilogy is not a real thing. Prison planet. Retclone. Alien Resurrection is bag of crazy. Why people consider Alien 4 Blasphemous. Ripley as a reluctant hero. Kill me. Paul WS Anderson. How do you fuck up the story this hard? A return to the adventure genre. Acid. Looking back at the Alien and Predator franchises. HELP US! Mick is awesome. You can now Donate to help the show. Continue reading

Clue + House on Haunted Hill

Clue + House on Haunted Hill

Double Feature solves the rainy house mysteries. Clue for people who’ve never played Clue. The secret formula Clue uses to make you take it seriously. The multiple endings. Weapon analysis. The hard parts of a…board game adaptation. What breed of comedy is this? How the humor is used. A conversation regarding the legality of blackmail. Once you know the ending, how is the film different the next time through? The final ending. The original theme music for The House on Haunted Hill. Big American party. Background on Vincent Price. The Vincent Price / Roger Corman films. The many wonderful gimmicks of William Castle. Details on life insurance. The most divisive skeleton in cinema history. Things that are still frightening today. The public domain. Continue reading

Up! + The Haunted World of El Superbeasto

Up! + The Haunted World of El Superbeasto

You don’t need to see Up to listen to this. Time for a lighter episode of Double Feature. The Original Up! by Russ Meyer, not the Pixar film! How was there seriously any confusion about that? Rob Zombie uses the chapters. The Russy Meyer body type. Who is this director anyways? Nudie cutie films. Feminism. Sexploitation. Revenge films. What separates Meyer’s films from pornography. Mae West. Was this ever sexy? Screenings of The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. What’s better in the suburbs than the city? 2D film. Rob Zombie’s world. The character, in and out of character. Layers of references. A brief history of Dr. Satan. The songs. Double Feature retires Rob Zombie…for now. Continue reading

Pi + The Fountain

Pi + The Fountain

The work of director Darren Aronofsky. Alice’s ongoing struggle with the caffeine. Don’t actually watch these films back to back. Recognizing the signature of Darren Aronofsky. Come on, Pi is a LITTLE silly. Clint Mansell. How do you even classify this score? Editing. Creating the grainy monochromatic look of Pi. What that look and feel accomplishes. Where does the skeptic come down on all this stuff? A fun game to play at home. Repetition. Having your tools without knowing their best use. Macro effects. Hair loss. Why The Fountain is the most notable film ever featured on this show. Why you ball your eyes out. What the actors have to pull off. Relating to the future. Mayan nonsense. The absence of sound. Color. The part of Aronofsky’s signature that’s been lost. Continue reading

Let the Right One In + Interview With the Vampire

Let the Right One In + Interview With the Vampire

Vampires! Why were these films such outstanding critical successes, and what can we learn from that? Using children as a mechanism to tell a mature story. Vampires as a medium rather than a plot outline. Eli’s guardian Hakan. The brutality of Let the Right One In. How the film treats violence. Vampire lore here and in other movies. Films that use the Let the Right One In philosophy. Unanswered questions. What Interview with the Vampire did for the genre. Anne Rice. What the bookends accomplish. Vampire theatre! No one better say anything about how silly this all is, ok? How scope impacts a film. Roadmap. Continue reading

The Nightmare Before Christmas + The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Nightmare Before Christmas + The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Two films everyone is too pretentious to have a simple conversation about. Why people give you shit for enjoying these two fantastic movies. Stop motion and hand-making every inch of your frame. Why the old Tim Burton Batman films are way better than you remember. Oingo Boingo. Where you can acquire hours and hours of Nightmare Before Christmas music you never knew existed. Contrasting Nightmare with Corpse Bride. Patrick Stewart. A bit on Repo: The Genetic Opera. How Alice and Michael may be reps ensile for getting The Rocky Horror Picture Show booted out of Chicago. Drew Carey is awesome. The relationship between Science Fiction Double Feature and the rest of the film. Saving movies you know will be good for a terrible day. Hammer Horror. A listener comes through. Glittermouse at the Metro! New create feature at AwesomeStart.com. Fringe is fantastic. Continue reading

A Clockwork Orange + Elephant

A Clockwork Orange + Elephant

Ultraviolence! A word on Batman: The Animated Series. The visuals in A Clockwork Orange. Whats interesting about the cinematography, at what that means to the average person. Malcolm Mcdowell. The components of Alex. Alice’s defense of arthouse cinema. The two things good art does. An extended conversations about the thought experiments and moral questions presented. What’s practical, what’s moral, and what’s fucking awful in each turn of the plot. Is fear of God a moral reason to not commit violence? Even this synopsis of conversation about Gus Van Sant’s elephant contains spoilers. Elephant is not a film about real life events! When it’s ok to modify the events of something that actually happened. Rapid fire Elephant info. A really important message for listeners in high school. Why next week’s Double Feature is such a mystery. Continue reading

Escape from LA + Expelled

Escape from LA + Expelled

One of these films invokes Hitler, and you’ll never guess which! Where are they now: Snake Pliskin edition. Why people hate Escape from LA. Sequels made a decade later. The difference between New York and LA’s antagonists. Hampster style. 90s and soundtracks. The three most ridiculous things in Escape from Los Angeles. Intelligent Design is as much Creationism as Ben Stein’s film Expelled is full of shit. Atheism – a pretty solid guess! Dispelling the idea of Why Not Teach Both Sides? ExpelledExposed.com. Disagreeing with tactics rather than message. What’s wrong with the interviews. Did the documentary succeed? Eugenics. ONCE YOU HITLER, YOU LOSE. The worst final showdown of all time. Continue reading

Escape from NY + Religulous

Escape from NY + Religulous

A return to crazy movies and documentaries about irrationality…sorta. Post-apocalyptic dystopia. Potential connections to watergate. Countdown. Steampunk. Where do all these littered newspapers come from? The components of an anti-action movie. The Escape from New York score. Wide shots. Where the personality appears. Play along. Snake Pliskin doesn’t give a fuck. Why continue the war? Seeing Religulous with a packed theatre of atheists. Larry Charles. The founding fathers were not christian. Returning to: Does satanism really exist? The two atheist hosts of Double Feature have a ton of problems with Religious. Big problems. Trying to get laughs anywhere you can. Bill Maher’s solution to religion. Deception and the thin lines of documentary filmmaking. The enemy of your enemy is not Double Feature’s friend. Continue reading

Music Box Massacre 4

Music Box Massacre 4

SPOILER FREE look back at Music Box Massacre 4. The Haunted House, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Old Dark House, Eyes Without a Face, May, The Facts in the Case of Mr. Hollow, Friday the 13th, Midnight Meat Train, Dead Alive, Phantom of the Paradise, Black Sabbath, Pieces, Jack Brooks Monster Slayer, The Exorcist. Arriving. What to expect. When do you bail? Live score! Remakes were just as rampant back then. The audience. Fear of finding out who a director really is. Seeing May again. Johnny Hollow. Finding Midnight Meat Train. Clive Barker. “The Way it Was Meant to Be Seen” is bullshit. Buy a better TV, you cheap fuck. Why people in Chicago boo Lionsgate. Revisiting Friday the 13th (Part 4). Joseph Zito. Brain Dead. The real Peter Jackson trilogy. Sleep Delirium. Ghost Cold. Apologies to Black Sabbath. Pieces and it’s relationship to Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Fake trailers. The ultimate SAND BEETLE. Michael feels the Pull of the Weasel. Death curse! Why the Exorcist is actually a terrible film. Continue reading

A Scanner Darkly + Total Recall

A Scanner Darkly + Total Recall

Philip K. Dick and false reality. Don’t actually watch these films back to back. Drug culture, crazy people, and character studies. Coping mechanisms. Maintaining control. Individual motivation. An explanation of the scene where Connie turns into Donna. Breaking down the end of A Scanner Darkly. The police state. The work of Paul Verhoever. Based on We Can Remember It for You Wholesale. Total Recall’s vision of the future. Cars and weaponry. The connections between Total Recall and Scanners. Examining cult status. Revenge of the sand beetle. Shortest time to WTF. Patching the plot holes. The various twists and eventual ending. Next Time: Music Box Massacre! Continue reading

Duel + Vanishing Point

Duel + Vanishing Point

Car exploitation films: Drivesploitation. Roadsploitation. Carsploitation?? Two road movies back to back. Exploitation 101. High concept. Steven Spielberg’s Duel and the origin of modern road horror. Where exploitation films come from. The 1960 Peterbilt 281 tanker truck. Briefly entertaining the idea of no driver. Getting your talking out of the way. Why driving makes for great suspense. Exploitation endings. The quest for modern road films. A prototypical exploitation example – how Vanishing Point came together. DJ Super Soul! Who is Kowalski? Production tales. THE ending. Coming up: Music Box Massacre. Continue reading

The Dark Crystal + Who Framed Roger Rabbit

The Dark Crystal + Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Children’s films with adult themes. New Studio. Aimlessly wandering through fantasy in Dark Crystal. Puppetry and immersion. Peter Molyneux. Making an audience feel for a character. Subtitles? Attention to detail. B-Roll. Folk or camp? The benefits of using a deceptively child-like medium. The introduction of obscene ideas to each individual child. When and why. More evidence that books are not better than films. More genre blending in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Film Noir in all its glory. Hampster styles. The whatever device. Cartoon shorts before films. The early 20th century Grindhouse. An incredibly well written device. An argument for death set against a cartoon reality. Continue reading

Killapalooza 6: Children of the Corn

Killapalooza 6: Children of the Corn

Children of the Corn films 1-7. So who actually watched these films? What happens when you leave the city. How to do an entire Killapalooza in record time. The danger of remembering Children of the Corn. What’s redeemable about the first film. The not so subtle religious commentary. Is Steven King a bunch of nonsense? Molotov Cocktails. The pros and cons of an awkward ending. New terminology time! THREE POINT SCALE. Switching leaders. Keeping your slasher franchise fresh. Chicago in film. Dramatic cut-in zooms. Screaming Mad George. Unbelievable Edward D Woodian B-Movie effects. The fantastic failure. When your series reboot fucking fails. The wakeup fakeout. Approaching self-aware. Snoricam. Killapalooza: Bail? Alice’s sleeping disorder and lack of memory. TV movie aesthetic. Continue reading

Shorts + Inglourious Basterds

Shorts + Inglourious Basterds

Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, back to back! An Inglourious Basterds conversations during Shorts. Who Robert Rodriguez is and why a fan of movies like Inglourious Basterds should care about his kids films. Actors under Rodriguez. Major actors playing B-roles to children. From Dusk Till Dawn was six years before Spy Kids 2. Gimmicks as an enhancement rather than a crutch. Suspension of disbelief in children’s films. Pool films. Sell out oscar films. What audiences expect from Tarantino. The midnight movie experience. The complexities of the one known as The Bear Jew. Making an audience feel the violence. Spaghetti westerns. Shosanna as a femme fatale. Revenge stories. Women kicking ass. Why Inglourious Basterds is misspelled. Revisiting the Schindler’s List question – Nazis as human beings or creatures of pure evil. Continue reading

Death to Smoochy + The King of Kong

Death to Smoochy + The King of Kong

Zune? Death to Smoochy as a perfect black comedy. The two formulas for dark comedy. The essential ingredients of black humor. Absurdity. So Very wrong. What characters contribute. Film noir influences. Robin Williams. The non-narrative documentary style as seen in The King of Kong. A fist full of quarters and Murderball. Don’t be Billy Mitchell. Sure Mitchell is evil, but is he a cheater? How does a documentary story come together? The sports story blueprint. More than videogames. Holy shit, look what’s finally on the show next week. Continue reading

M + Seven

M + Seven

Noir, Neo Noir, and the secret theme of the show. Fritz Lang’s German pre-noir M. Lighting and iconic imagry. The missing protagonist. Peter Lorre. Silence. Leitmotif and the now standard practice of reoccurring character themes in score. The overblown state of fear regarding stranger danger. Mob justice. The insanity plea. Alice hates endings. Seven – better than those bullshit films you like. An alternate take on buddy cop. Neo noir archetypes. Tracy the femme fatale. Cynicism. Give your audience a little credit. How Seven deals with mystery and clues. David Fincher’s visuals. Seven deadly kills. Building up Jon Doe. It’s just a guy! The pros and cons of the alternate endings. Continue reading

Edward Scissorhands + The Brother From Another Planet

Edward Scissorhands + The Brother From Another Planet

Fish out of water double billing. Alice’s declining health? A controversial stance on Tim Burton. The elements of a Burton film. Danny Elfman. Michael’s Burton-Fantasty-Theory. Vincent Price. The 13th Ghosts of Scooby Doo. Mormonism. Johnny Depp: The Target Superstore of cinema. The classic age of monster and horror films. Building suburbia in Edward Scissorhands. Should men play God? Of course they should. Is The Brother From Another Planet blaxploitation? Cheap and effective special effects. Exposition in science fiction. Silent roles. A collection of characters. Sam the Bellhop. Authenticity. Continue reading

Black Christmas + Behind the Mask

Black Christmas + Behind the Mask

INTERVIEW w/ David Stieve. The beginning and end of the slasher genre. Black Christmas – the first slasher film ever made? The 80s slasher crash course. Parts of Black Christmas the genre ignored. Legitimate terror: the phone calls. A silent killer hypothesis. The advantages of developed characters. Forget the misses, remember the deaths. Picking out your survivor girl. Deaths as a roadmap. The infamous crystal unicorn. Critical tone and mood. Unreliable…camera man? The origins of “The calls are coming from inside the house!” Why doesn’t everyone know about Behind the Mask already? The end of slasher films. Mocumentary. Much needed praise for Angela Goethals. Ahab. Target Group. Red herring. The ongoing quest to pin down the cheap TV horror aesthetic. Symbolism is bullshit. Credits gimmick. The success of Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. Influence. Carol Clover. The origins of survivor girl. The myths of Behind the Mask – what is and isn’t an homage? Why there’s no Texas Chainsaw Massacre references. Robert and Nathan. Insider perspective on slasher symbolism. David Stieve on Rob Zombie and Eli Roth. Old School American Horror. Sequel talk. Hypothetical sequel talk. More sequel talk. Long term franchise talk. The producer bell curve. Continue reading

South Park + The Aristocrats

South Park + The Aristocrats

Skeptical comedy double feature! Saddam Hussein and capital punishment. To bleep or not to bleep. Replacing obscenity with silly phrases. South Park’s relationship with Hollywood. Censorship then and now. Is South Park Bigger Longer and Uncut still relevant? Yes…Yes it is. Censorship in the modern digital age. Musical numbers. Trey’s Band DVDA. When meta works and why. Real life clashes with canonical events. Evolution of characters. Mr. Garrison. Where are Ned and Jimbo? Pip! The Isaac Hayes Chef Scientology incident. The Aristocrats movie theater experience. George Carlin. More on joke format. The thought process as you’re telling the joke. The Aristocrats as a trap. The origins of “Too Soon!” and why Double Feature loves Gilbert Gottfried. Don’t sue us, Joe Franklin. Continue reading

Brazil + Dark City

Brazil + Dark City

Dystopian neo-noir with a twist! The first episode of year 2. Brazil in irish mythology. Michael Shermer. Creating the feeling of Brazil. Trilogy of imagination. Absurdist drama fighting absurdist comedy. A different kind of Big Brother. Terrorism. Consumerism. Theories on the source of terrorism. Who is Tuttle? The ending. Brining your film back to the deep end. Dark City as a combination of science fiction and film noir. A rare under-lit modern movie. Dark City’s director’s cut. What a director’s cut actually is. “Knowing” will probably be the worst movie of 2009. The pros and cons of the opening voiceover. Puzzle pieces. Scifi surprise. Using exposition to your advantage. When the answer is right under your nose. Unanswered questions. The sci-fi magic. What happens next? Continue reading

Double Feature Year 1 Finale

Double Feature Year 1 Finale

SPOILER FREE SHOW! The Year One retrospective. What is a spoiler? A whole year of weekly Double Features. How the show has changed. Random Emails! What makes for a good Double Feature pairing. Another defense of House of 1000 Corpses. A look back at the Waco show. SAND BEETLE! The Best Pairings. The Worst Pairings. The inherent flaw in the previous format of Double Feature. Highway survival Horror. Double Feature’s producer. And the biggest fuck up of the entire show is…? The future of The Prophecy. Feast sequels. Weighing in on the Friday the 13th remake. Becoming exploitation. The Mel Gibson opinion. Stuff that had to go on the show (but shouldn’t have). Michael admits mistakes. The problem with featuring more exploitation on the show. Michael admits more mistakes. Taking back Dr. Horrible. Times Alice and Michael were clearly wrong. Films that aren’t remember as fondly. Which bad actress from Alice’s films annoyed Michael the most? Behind the scenes of Double Feature interviews. Listener homework payoff: A good vs evil epic and a film with a legitimately satisfying Scooby-Doo ending. Paris of Uncle Gamer & Remember When. More listener feedback. Opinion time: Japanese Horror? Alice knows New Zealand isn’t in the UK. A through breakdown of the J-Horror aesthetic. The best films from the first year of Double Feature. Alice’s comfort food films. Next year’s format: Two films that go together! A small “correction” regarding 12 Monkeys. Lost. Double Feature loves Kate. Continue reading

Tank Girl + Schindler’s List

Tank Girl + Schindler’s List

This is really happening. Decaying studio. Gorillaz, comics, Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett. The return of sand beetle. Lori Petty. The return of Cole Porter. Courtney Love and the music of Tank Girl. Exploitation. CHASING THE SEMI – Stealing from Road Warrior. Kangaroo Men. Shitty filmmaking as a purist alternative to homage. The one brilliant thing Tank Girl does, and is it intentional? Blade Runner Syndrome. And all that could have been. How The Aristocrats was made, and what that has to do with Schindler’s List. Alice finally asks Michael why he has so many World War II films. First person shooters. Immersive actors. A bit on black and white. Steven Spielberg. Why films with subtitles are overrated. Too proud? Expecting people to know information outside of what you present. Liam Neeson as a powerhouse. Schindler’s character arc. The omission of Hitler. The scope of your story. Time vault. Nazis as flawed human beings vs mythological monsters. How nazis were convinced to participate in genocide. Continue reading

Battle Royale + The Hills Have Eyes

Battle Royale + The Hills Have Eyes

Grinding brutality. Accidental homework. Things that don’t make any goddamn sense: The 1/3 rule. The players. The game. The weapons. Kids reading maps. The unexpected flaws of a modern exploitation film. Daring to pick at the plot. Killing your girlfriend. Tabboos: Slaughtering children. A bit on Battle Royale 2. Kids have sex. Realistic children in film. Fact check on the bomb tests. Aversion to mutants. An appeal for mutants. The 70s Rottentomatoes factor. One-Uping the original. Pushing past tasteful. The Last Mimzy incident. Treading new ground. Continue reading

Intacto + The Shape of Things

Intacto + The Shape of Things

Manipulation. Dubbing and subtitles. Alice and Max von Sydow. The players. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. 28 Weeks Later. The Prodigy. Drawing your audience in. Danger ahead. Alfred Hitchcock Presents “Man from the South”. The supernatural element. Maybe Intacto thinks luck is a joke and this entire film is actually about realistic games of probability. The invisible B Story. Neil LaBute. The Shape of Things as an adaptation from theater. Obnoxious distracting uncomfortability. Not accepting a given premise. Four person love triangles. How to fix The Shape of Things. Plays are not movies. Continue reading

Killapalooza 5: Child’s Play

Killapalooza 5: Child’s Play

Child’s Play films 1-5. Chucky. Year end slasher review. Films in Chicago. The Lakeshore Strangler. Charles Lee Ray. Ambiguity. Using voodoo for evil. If they only knew! Becoming human. Once the monster’s out of the dark. A great turn in plot. Where the third film came from. Writing backwards from the punch-line. Retcon. Reboot without restarting. Alice’s teenage music soundtrack. Embracing and mocking a subculture at the same time. The difficulty of making references. Finally stopping the slasher (in the most obvious way). The abrupt endings. The new slasher. Hollywood satire: Good or Bad? 12 Step is still a fucking joke. Blaxploitation. Jennifer Tilley. Counter-culture. The most human slasher. Continue reading

Murderball + Monster Man

Murderball + Monster Man

INTERVIEW w/ Dana Adam Shapiro. CRUSH Double Feature SMASH. Hidden secondary theme? Fast action against intentionally slow drama. Making an audience excited about something foreign to them. The forbidden questions. Grounding your audience. Tugging at the heart strings – the easy way and the hard way. How Murderball was made. Journalism. Shooting low budget. Technical specifics on cameras, mics, lights, etc. Planning vs luck. Managing an unexpected ending. Highway survival horror. Crafting a set. The truck. The man behind the truck. The official “show the monster” movement. Death curse. When content outside a movie makes you feel a different way about it. Hamster style. Campy Dialogue. Exploitation. Continue reading

Deliver Us From Evil + Apt Pupil

Deliver Us From Evil + Apt Pupil

Child Manipulation. Amy Berg. Honest ways to make your audience uncomfortable. Good people doing bad things. Bad people. Sam Harris’ Functional Neuroimaging of Belief, Disbelief and Uncertainty. The cause of pedophilia. Why people do bad things. Pull of the weasel. Masturbation and raping children: turns out they’re not the same thing. Forgiveness. Group think. Why this is still a problem. Terminology. Bryan Singer. Editing music to score. Evil for the sake of Evil. Blackmail. Dynamic characters without moral redemption. Where does your story end when there’s so much more to tell? Alternate ending. Continue reading

Rififi + The Triplets of Belleville

Rififi + The Triplets of Belleville

French ragtag double feature. Du Rififi Chez les Hommes. Tesla. Alice tries to pronounce things in french. Jules Dassin and communism. Films better than the book. The titular . . . song? The heist concept. Michael’s heist film. After the heist! Fencing. Heist team stereotypes. They’ve found it – why America doesn’t get along with France. Les triplettes de Belleville as a secret propaganda film. Different types of french films. How to approach a film you don’t understand. Reading too much into art. The gamble of interpretation. Clues. Continue reading

Dog Soldiers + Hostage

Dog Soldiers + Hostage

Neil Marshall. Homages. References. SNATCH SYNDROME. Thirty second summary. Reaction Dog. The numbers game. Werewolf skepticism. Dog Soldiers takes on werewolves. Hamster style. SWORD WOLF. Why do werewolf films suck? Style vs substance. Credits controversy. The arthouse look. Intensity. Viable alternatives to raw intensity. The loose cannon bad guy. Who is the real hostage? When a scene is acceptable vs ridiculous. Continue reading

The Libertine + The Root of All Evil?

The Libertine + The Root of All Evil?

The enemy: sex or god? The trouble with period pieces. Dialogue from an age long ago. The typical components of a period piece. What separates The Libertine from the rest. Long tracking shots. Shifting focus. Arthouse fighting immersion. Acting games. Bookends revisited. Why no one saw this. Sex making people uncomfortable. The title “The Root of All Evil?” The Dawkins visual style. The one camera interview. The Dawkins approach to atheism. Confrontational, hateful, or just fed up? Why religion is not just oppressive but dangerous. Not knowing. Giving up on the quest for answers. Sex Ed. Ted Haggard. Missing footage. Using the Bible as a source of morality. Continue reading

Penn and Teller Get Killed + Pee Wee’s Big Adventure

Penn and Teller Get Killed + Pee Wee’s Big Adventure

Unlikely 80s films / Men in grey suits. David Lynch! Arthur Penn? Calling out nonsense that happens all the time in movies. Penn Jillette’s radio show. High concept dark comedy. The dual role. Buying the trick. VHS quality causes mass confusion. Asking to be killed. Bible salesman. James Randi. Killing your partner every night. Dowsing as a metaphor. Psychic surgery. Desert Bus! Bullshit! Why is this not on DVD? Who is Pee Wee? Tim Burton. Directors who do one-offs. The styles and genres. Theatrical irony. Psychics and hot readings. Films within films. Continue reading

Hard Rock Zombies + Loose Change

Hard Rock Zombies + Loose Change

INTERVIEW w/ Rebecca Watson. Conspiracy day! Walmart’s bargin bin. 80s hair metal exploitation. Accidental bad film making. The fear of accidental bad film making. What we take for granted. How to watch exploitation films. Not realizing where your real plot is. Dylan Avery background. The various Loose Change editions. Retroactively fitting evidence. Anomaly hunting. Argument from ignorance. No unified theory of 9/11 conspiracy. Loose Change as a magic trick. Fire melting steel. Evidence denial. Eye witness testimony. Alice’s conspiracy voiceover. Why deceive? Sylvia Brown. What’s the harm? Are conspiracies ever possible? Continue reading

Death of a President + What Dreams May Come

Death of a President + What Dreams May Come

Alternate Reality. Channel 4. Mockumentary. Do you believe it? The tools of alternate reality story telling. Controversial political motivation. Inspiring real life killers. Alice’s problem with the American legal system. Severity vs evidence. Hinting at a twist. Is racial profiling racist? Is it effective? The Double Feature Year 1 Experiment. Trying not to ignore the bad elements of a film. The WDMC laundry list. Paint world. Bullshit landscape painting. When even the visuals fail. Walking through the art styles and mythologies. Hypocritical predictability. What would you need to do to save this film? Continue reading

Melinda and Melinda + Double Indemnity

Melinda and Melinda + Double Indemnity

New Studio. Casting Your Film Twice. Will Ferrell as an actor vs a centerpiece. Unintentional theatricality and satire. Self examination. Drawing different conclusions from the same elements. Alice takes you back to the black and white days. Billy Wilder. Classic films or XXX? The elements – crafting the look and feel of film noir. Why we don’t do symbolism on the show. The femme fatale. A return to blasphemy: classic film noir Double Indemnity recast by modern cult horror director Rob Zombie. Continue reading

De-Lovely + The God Who Wasn’t There

De-Lovely + The God Who Wasn’t There

INTERVIEW W/ Brian Flemming. Why we don’t do a whole lot of musicals. Musical self examination. The mechanics of setting your musical apart. Defining a life by occupation. If you call out your gimmick, does that make using it ok? Hidden meanings of pop songs. Literal interpretation. The funniest parts of the bible! The bible vs the constitution. Nothing is written in the bible that wasn’t knowable by man at the time it was written. Where’s the divine knowledge? God is infallible, so why are there mistakes and contradictions in the bible? Extreme christian literalists – the more honest approach! Jesus and the underpants gnomes. How you know 40% of Americans don’t actually believe the rapture is coming. Brian Flemming disputes our definition of a snuff film. Copyright, fair use, and creative commons. Continue reading

Killapalooza 4: Halloween

Killapalooza 4: Halloween

Halloween films 1-9. Michael Myers. What is a John Carpenter? The origins of slasher films. Why Michael Myers kills. What makes him unique. Jamie Lee Curtis. The zombie advantage. Dr. Samuel J. Loomis. Things you expect. Things Halloween doesn’t do. The Hospital as a setting. Big man tiny weapon. How Halloween 3 happened. A change of opinion – is recasting acceptable? False Michael Myers. Terror at 35 mph. Does Halloween have to go supernatural? Going off the deep end. Druids and conspiracy. Potential, original intention, and how it ended up. Pulling a series back on track. Writeoff or Retcon? Believable levels of retroactive continuity. Redefining icons. Why the H2O ending is justified. The single most insulting piece of film. Rob Zombie is the man for the job. Learning from the past. The work print? A Rob Zombie lovefest. Endings. Continue reading

Big Trouble in Little China + The Enemies of Reason

Big Trouble in Little China + The Enemies of Reason

Alice does Michael a favor. WTF is Big Trouble in Little China? The exploitation formula. Why Kurt Russell wasn’t high on the set. Brilliant or an accident? The creatures on display. John Carpenter’s effects over the years. The lost dimension of packed theater reactions in the 70s and 80s. Dawkins playing Russell. The look of a Dawkins documentary. Astrology. The Barnum Effect. Cold reading. James Randi. Darren Brown. Sylvia Brown (not related). Michael gives Alice a live psychic reading. Deepak Chopra. How Spiritual leaders beat scientists. It’s hard to hate the gleefully ignorant. Debunking Homeopathy simply by explanation. THE SAND BEETLE. The mystery of therapeutic touch, solved! Continue reading

Me and You and Everyone We Know + Primer

Me and You and Everyone We Know + Primer

Why Spoilers? Funny or artsy? Art and pretension. Child Actors. ASCII. Titular line. Cinema’s first funny poop joke. Being overprotective of your children. Predators and sexuality. Does the film know what it is? How to talk about Primer. Establishing characters. Not dumbing down your film. A new method for creating a puzzle. Clever writing tricks. Breaking down Primer. Comfort film. Creating discovery. Minimalist writing. The mechanics. Ethics. HAMSTER STYLE. Paradoxes. Time lines. Personal gain. Interpretations. You can’t hold back technology. Continue reading

Magnolia + Kinky Boots

Magnolia + Kinky Boots

Addiction. VCR filmmarkers. Challenging scenes to film. Ensemble Casts. Events that didn’t actually happen. Urban legends. Alice ruins the magic. Meta. The performance and character of Tom Cruise. Casting and marketing. Three acts. Incredible pacing. The infamous WTF scene. This shit isn’t a dream. Potential trainwrecks. Drag as a component vs as a freakshow. Romance be damned! MIKE’S MAGIC STUFF. Will feel good films ever mature? Boot making montage. Background characters. Continue reading

House of 1000 Corpses + Waco

House of 1000 Corpses + Waco

A word on Roadracers and Mean Girls. DVD menus. Enthusiastic directors. The first Rob Zombie! The work of Sid Haig and Bill Mosley. Working with and moving on from camp. Rainn Wilson. Good slow zoom? That bizarre sci fi TV style. Comfortable antagonism. No sense of danger. Enthusiastic film making. Who this film is actually for. What people think went wrong. Smaller roles. Music. The infamous scare shot. Rob Zombie’s impending legacy. Assuming prior knowledge. Non narrative, fact based style. Horrifying images. Double Feature gets to the bottom of Waco. An experiment in skepticism. When the severity of crime distracts from the question of guilt. Continue reading

Touch of Evil + The Terminal

Touch of Evil + The Terminal

The film noir game. Directors cuts. The players. Noir takes across the decades. The original noir. Impact on women in cinema. The fat suit that ate Orson Wells. Long tracking shots. Breaking tradition. Only on Double Feature: Film Noir recast with modern director/actor groups. Robert Rodriguez’s Touch of Evil. The Steven Spielberg filmmaking formula. Visuals. Tom Hanks. Art vs Entertainment. Handling a bizarre premise. 9/11. Why the goat really upset Alice. The opposite of the ends justifying the means. Offbeat to feelgood in one scene! Rules. Continue reading

Spiral + Bad Santa

Spiral + Bad Santa

INTERVIEW w/ Joel David More. Adam Green’s blending horror and arthouse! Editing and mood. Something’s off. Score. Minimalism in aesthetics and characters. Friend or pet? Talking about art. Jazz. Creating dicussion. Post modernism. Different interpretations of the ending. The road to Spiral. Filling holes from the Hatchet podcast. What’s intentional. Inspirations. Technique. Taking risks. JDM challenges you to guess his ending. Disecting the ending. Alice discusses the question you’re not allowed to ask. How to get into Jazz. Bad Santa’s charm. Cult appeal. Christmas is a fucking joke. No redemption. No feel-good bullshit. Santa blasphemy. Alice and kids. Santa: Not fooling anyone. Continue reading

Killapalooza 3: Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Killapalooza 3: Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Texas Chainsaw Massacre films 1-6. Leatherface. Iconic imagery. The death curse. Further insight into slow-zoom. Leatherface and The Family. Cannibalism. WWRZD? Bill Mosley saves the day. The chainsaw is my penis. Trannyface. GASOLINE. Transition to slasher. You can’t hold back technology. Feminism. Worse than you (but not the original creators) could have imagined. Best of the worst. What do you do with a remake? The Chainsaw as a weapon. Convention. the biology of scare shots. When scare shots cheat. MEAT CART. Bookends. Who’s bored? The batman factor. Questions you weren’t asking. Exposition. Staples. TCM as directed by Double Feature. Continue reading

Joy Ride + The Attic Expeditions

Joy Ride + The Attic Expeditions

INTERVIEW w/ Jeremy Kasten. Year 2 format changes! Comic relief. Conventional horror X-Mas lighting. Tension. Alice compares Kubrick’s 2001 to Escape from New York. Showing the killer.Camp. THE MEAT CART. Fake-out: The origins of ICE TRUCK. The killer reveal. Multiple ending fiasco. Integrity. Crazy people. Ambition. TAE as a series of experiments. The definitive Attic Expeditions plot explanation. The film that never was. Experimental? What works, what doesn’t. Jeremy Kasten launches into an unprompted verification of the previously mentioned plot synopsis using a humorously mocking tone. Critical reaction to cult films. Continue reading

The Thing + Michael Moore Hates America

The Thing + Michael Moore Hates America

INTERVIEW w/ Mike Wilson. A bit about A Scanner Darkly. Book adaptations. Michael’s John Carpenter crash course. The Thing as a milestone. Space horror. Influence. Keith David. Psychological horror. Desolation. Weapons. How to butcher a family. The greatest scare shot. The bold title. The six degrees of conspiracy. Alice gets nostalgic about Canada. Approaching an interview. An argument for bias. Business owners. Moore’s popularity. Mike Wilson and Mallrats. Ethical boundaries. Alice and Michael get to the bottom of the title! Coverage: old media vs new. Isn’t MSNBC cute? Everything you ever wanted to know about MMHA. Solving the age old producer question. Continue reading

Terminator 3 + The Prophecy 3

Terminator 3 + The Prophecy 3

Sarah Connor. Self Aware. Who’s not pulling their weight here? Models as actors. Believing in the machines. Good films with awful scenes. Laughing with. Laughing at. Using surround to enhance the content of your film. The Goldeneye soundbank. How public opinion of Aronld changed film making. Different grades of humor. Delivering on figurative promises. One-uping the last evil robot. Action that won’t let up. The single most relentless action scene ever. Summing up the franchise. The official worst film on the show award. Replacing Walkin. Figuring out what went wrong. The letdown. Slow motion. Quick zoom. The Bible Montage (Play At Home Edition). Alice calls Michael out. Continue reading

Bedazzled + Gremlins

Bedazzled + Gremlins

Alice’s blueberry drink. Why we do this show. Is this even a film? Harold Ramis. Makeup. The good kind of bad. Poor satire. Who sees bad films? Using mood in comedy. Artsy shots. Dark comedy realization moment. Counter-christmas-culture. Primary vs secondary characters. The single best dark comedy moment yet. Theatrical prop comedy. The road map. A smart screenplay. Three rules. Gremlins as a monster film. The three methods of monster films. Assembling a dark comedy. Smoking. The MPAA. The 1984 backlash against Gremlins. An ironic ratings note. Misbehaving. Our Terminator + The Prophecy progress. Continue reading

Terminator 2 + The Prophecy 2

Terminator 2 + The Prophecy 2

Rob Zombie. Joking or serious? Protagonist surprise. Shotgun 201. Revisiting three sentence dream theory. When people end up in a desert. Alternate ending. Hapster Style strikes back. Action cliches. Special effects. Timelessness. Car scenes. Death of the monster. Shifting protagonists. Angel flashes. Reoccurring Prophecy things. Failing to establish mood. Ruining the mood. Not caring about your protagonists. The need for the monkey. The soap opera feeling. Not bringing the gravity. Arriving at the ending. Continue reading

Northfork + Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Northfork + Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

The Heath Ledger bet. A word on the Untouchables and Pink Flamingos. Weathered actors. Seamless transitions. Multiple stories. Surreal or absurd? Period pieces. Dry humor. Kid Rock as performance art. A bit on Joss Whedon. Independent production. The comedy. How many times can Michael mention Ben Stiller? Live action “The Tick.” The format. Going beyond comedy. Alice defends the film. Dr. Horrible as a flawed character. Avoiding exposition. Going beyond a musical. Special effects that add character. The most heartbreaking sentence ever. Overwhelming creativity. Continue reading

Terminator + The Prophecy

Terminator + The Prophecy

Michael has a million transitions and Alice has a meltdown. James Cameron. Misleading one-liners. Arnold Schwarzenegger. An alternate way to open this film. SHOTGUN 101. Special effects and overachievers. Stop motion. Terminator as a slasher film. Monsters in horror vs sci-fi. Old sci-fi. Alice’s sexy female empowerment theory. Time travel: The Terminator rules. The religious apocalypse genre. THE JAWS FLAW. The prophecy in three sentences. Trilogies and incomplete stories. Comic book dialogue vs monologging. Christopher Walken. Continue reading

Eyes Wide Shut + The United States of Leland

Eyes Wide Shut + The United States of Leland

Unnecessary sets. Undeniably bad Kubrick scenes. The EWS controversy. Kubrick casting. David Lynch story telling. One billion takes. Michael is still sore about the Happening. Building a dream atmosphere. 3 SENTENCE DREAM THEORY. Saul Williams. The infamous sex party. Missing: male nudity! The most offensive thing Michael has said yet. Good slow zoom. Seamless flashbacks. Why Alice saw it coming. Voiceover. Eye-rolling teenage philosophy. We’re only human. Why people do bad things. The ZEP. Ethics. Murder: still wrong. Using a parallel situation to make you question your feelings. Alice’s mall jobs and sex life. Is satanism real? Continue reading

Cube + Reign of Fire

Cube + Reign of Fire

A word about the Happening. Onto Cube! What defines horror? We love Repo; Saw is still lame. The necessity of a psychological breakdown. Clue hunting with your audience. The impact CG has on suspension of disbelief. Character exposition. Remaining unknown. Keeping your head down. Conspiracy theories. Same evidence, different conclusions. What is the cube? Equally fucked. Storyboards and framing in a cube. Blasphemous sequels. Michael’s homework. Dragons in the future. Deceptive marketing. Revisionist history. Treatment of technology. Another take on CG. Combining CG with models. Michael feels silly. Evolution. Science in creature films. Revisiting the LxG challenge. Continue reading

Freddy vs Jason + Steal This Film 2

Freddy vs Jason + Steal This Film 2

Freddy actually versus Jason! Missing the point. Different approaches in the same universe. Equal time. Making the collaboration work. The new Freddy and Jason. The callbacks. The staples. This story is awesome! More Robert Englund talk. How to trap Jason. Abandoning canon. What does this ending mean? The Pirate Bay. Independent film. Digital format. A series of experiments regarding the ethicacy of film watching / buying / stealing / downloading. Law is a fucking decade behind technology. Winamp. What about borrowing? Creative commons. Stealing other types of art. The used market. Sharing a DVD. Why piracy exists. Tivo. Stop making excuses! Continue reading

Downfall + Good Night and Good Luck

Downfall + Good Night and Good Luck

Introducing Hitler. Building anticipation. This is still Double Feature, so let’s compare Downfall to Cloverfield! WWII as a b story. Uncanny Iraq parallels. Socialism. Obeying the leader. Brief moments of violence. Absence of score and foreign films. A different perspective. Why you should love George Clooney more than you already do. Challenging authority. Archive footage. Stories don’t always have two equal sides, goddamnit! New media. What happened to the news? The failures of old media. The Danish cartoons. Blashpemy. Actually letting the terrorists win. You’re not neutral, you’re a failure. The Chicago Zombie March. The titular line. Continue reading

Killapalooza 2: A Nightmare on Elm Street

Killapalooza 2: A Nightmare on Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street films 1-7. Freddy Krueger. Robert Enguld. Let the Jason comparisons begin! Industrial 80s score. A different Freddy. Changing the rules. Enter: possession. Traditional effects. Making the viewer uncomfortable. Reoccurring characters. What to build on. The origin story. Dream powers. The shift? Recasting issues. More powers. Freddy as a slasher. Writers: pay more attention! Bad one liners. HAMSTERSTYLE MONTAGE! ”Red hamsters.” Kanye West. The hunk is not your superstar. Visual effects ego. Fixing the fetus problem. Back to Elm Street. Videogames and Pandora’s Box. Twists and tells. The rhyme. Going 3-D. Anticipation. The atrocity of New Nightmare. Children: act or leave. Making a WTF film. Michael fixes New Nightmare. The lamest gimmick yet. The final word on Wes Craven. A surprising conclusion. Continue reading

Fur + A Dirty Shame

Fur + A Dirty Shame

Arizona Iced Tea. Taboos. Sexual fetishes. Lifestyle fetishes. Non linear story telling. Things you can do with a 50s biopic. Photography. Romanticizing previous eras. 30s sideshows. The 50s family myth. Finding yourself. Flashing back to an even older era in your period film. Robert Downey Jr. Warm and creepy. Establishing a feeling of trust in a technical medium. Further information upon additional viewing. John Waters. Trash films. Censorship. Importance of character names. Blasphemy. 12 Step. The M word. When satire is just reality. A creative way to sidestep pornography! Continue reading

The People vs Larry Flynt + Jesus Camp

The People vs Larry Flynt + Jesus Camp

A Double Feature secret is revealed! CENSORSHIP. JESUS. What is Larry Flynt? How to win Alice’s heart…and body. Jerry Falwell is a douchebag. Using editing to get around bad deliverance. Love for America. Nothing is sacred. Niggy Tardust. Experimental scenes. Time lapse. Handling aids in film. Biopic of political drama? Post film summaries. Uh…censorship! Alice flips out and delivers a super patriotic 1st amendment speech out of nowhere. Michael throws an orange. Save the children! Jerry Falwell is still a douchebag. A perfect explanation of widescreen aspect ration using tits. Substitutes for narration. A religious debate without an atheist voice. Group think. Richard Dawkins. There is no such thing as a christian child. Or a muslim child. Or an atheist child. Children as weapons. Ted Haggard. Is the Rapture a threat? Continue reading

2001 Maniacs + Flock of Dodos

2001 Maniacs + Flock of Dodos

How to pronounce the year. Proper crossover. Scareshot bar raised. New’s new favorite word. More than candy. Taking the high road. Blaxploitation. Racism. Growing up without racism. Using fiction to create hypothetical scenarios and thought experiments. The south isn’t as backwards as people say it is. Being afraid of a racial slur gives it power. No one complained when Alice said cuntpickle! Robert Englund. One liners. Complimentary gimmick scene. Subtlety. Religion and Politics. Skepticality. Titular line. Night vision rabbit. Tangents in documentaries. Muffy Moose. Voting on beer-ability. Evolution’s PR problem. Why creationism wins hearts. The role of art in combating creationism. The free exchange of ideas. Continue reading

The Hitcher + The Punisher

The Hitcher + The Punisher

A word about Iron Man. Kill the rabbit. Trojan horsing Michael Bay. The date audience. Michael reprimands Alice. The turn. Alice is reprimanded again. Best scare shot yet. Filming in car. Snoricam! Taking time to establish your setting. Gore delivery. Something really shocking. Realistic death. A killer’s motivation. Your essential Punisher checklist. Speeches. As an adaptation. Michael derails the podcast. Hampster island. It’s not supernatural. Forced rating. A weak death. Same actors playing different roles in comic book films. Continue reading

Killapalooza 1: Friday the 13th

Killapalooza 1: Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th films 1-10. Jason Voorhees. The longest, most explicit slasher episode yet. Retroactive twist. Fixing a long running problem through exploitation. Recaping in a sequel. 3-D. Showing off. Slasher staples. Tits. Found: Hampster Style. Another use of Scooby Doo. The Twist. The Prankster! Self aware. Titular skepticism. Fixing a train wreck while maintaining continuity. Retroactive continuity. Accepting a power. Even Jason can jump the shark. Music stops. Alice derails Michael. Believe it or not: a case that necessitates gratuitous nipples to preserving artistic integrity. Continue reading

Auto Focus + From Hell

Auto Focus + From Hell

Get Alice’s DVD. Music Box Massacre IV. Michael is assaulted in Uptown Chicago. Radio voice. Jazz clubs. Censorship? Small nipples. Sex as a taboo. Open relationships. A dark and violent shift. How to change the mood. Alternate history…or not. Clarity through ambiguity. Sexual morals and public repercussion. Moving out of your most popular work. Not what you’d expect. Utilizing every possible bad film device. Conspiracies. British accents. Actual alternate history! More on comic book films. Titular and tag lines. A new approach to montages. Get high, solve crime. Absinthe! Slasher interpretation. Visuals. Getting into heaven. Continue reading

Insomnia + The Rock

Insomnia + The Rock

Al Pacino. Being typecast. Alice wrongfully disagrees. Invisible actors. When actors trick you. Putting Michael on the spot. Supernatural detective. Avoiding standard devices. When you walk in on a film. Unnecessary staples. Michael disliked Memento, but still thinks it’s visionary. Visual foreshadowing. Podcast hosts with weird sleeping patterns. Films always get Insomnia wrong. Almost. Finally, a film with an important humanistic message. Alice unknowingly makes puns. Enough with the silly conspiracies! Die Hard is the standard for action films. Smallpox viral, not Survivalism viral. When even suspension of disbelief can’t save you. Character or actors? A film thought experiment – try it at home! Continue reading

Dummy + Walmart

Dummy + Walmart

A few minutes on films before this show accidentally gets super political. Having fun with Dummy. Milla Jovovich: actress and musician. “American Pie Moments.” Alice makes Michael give you the freedom. Awkward does not translate into funny. Another look at dark comedy. Double Feature takes a controversial position on Walmart. Dissecting misinformation. Business in Chicago. Socialism. Minimum wage. Small business. Incase every last listener isn’t already pissed off . . . a rant about greenpeace. Alice teaches you about subsidies. Sweatshops. Safety and Responsibility. Ending this out of place political rant. Continue reading

Being John Malkovich + Hostel 2

Being John Malkovich + Hostel 2

John playing Craig playing John. An awkward disagreement. Funny? Supernatural? What is this film? Describing dark comedy. Coming from the writer. Why people quote movies. Do cute and weird help a film? John Malkovich’s orgasm voice. One of the hosts hates this film – who’s fault is that? Quirky film as a style. A different type of disagreement. Alice guesses Michael’s least favorite scene. Michael says the meanest thing ever. How psychics talk to the dead. The titular line. Viral marketing. Lazy time passage. Alice is really uncomfortable describing his feeling about Hostel 2. Really, really uncomfortable. A segment so fucked up it can’t be synopsized. Continue reading

Hostel + This Film Is Not Yet Rated

Hostel + This Film Is Not Yet Rated

Exploitation. Alice doesn’t have dental insurance. Misleading packaging. The internet has made Saw irrelevant. Karma doesn’t exist. Hostel’s reception in popular culture. “Meatcart.” Betraying the viewer using time and perspective. Slow motion death. Alice is actually in Hostel. Producer? Presenter? Making your destination clear. Documentary gimmicks. Do children really need saving? The ratings board. Legislating taste. Rate real life violence. Double Feature gets really political really fast. Realistic portrayals of violence. Old media is more of a joke than karma. Unrated film. What’s the answer? Continue reading

The Descent + Feast

The Descent + Feast

Where the Double Feature intro song came from. Michael sets up a Double Feature. Horror is scary. Alice practices three sentence dream theory. Japanese Horror. Zombie films vs horror films. Forcing well built characters. Strong female leads. Challenging yourself as a director. Trent didn’t play the Great Destroyer. The environment you watch a movie in. Sparse score. Show the monster? Alternate ending for “The Descent.” How to get away with a twist. What the fuck does a producer do? Meeting the characters. Changing up the hero. You can’t kill the dog/kid…right? Alice’s Pediaphobia. Hampster-style returns. Jokes with several layers. Bad hampster-style. How a film convinces you to like it. Continue reading

Orgazmo + The Matador

Orgazmo + The Matador

A word about Southland Tales and No Country for Old Men. The dream rule. Michael coins the term “candy.” What is and isn’t funny. Paint-by-numbers film. “Hamster style.” Censorship. The beginning of what will surely become a multitude of feminist rants from Alice. Exploitation/empowerment of women in pornography. There isn’t enough male nudity in film. This isn’t a goddamn review. Solid scenes. Missing scenes. An interesting plot mechanic. All about characters. Realistic delivery. Michael does an impression of Alice ranting about camera work. Mexico is badass. How to handle death. The innocence of a child is a fucking myth. Crafting a double feature. Continue reading

Contact + Silence of the Lambs

Contact + Silence of the Lambs

Accidental Double Feature! Something Michael likes! Almost. The Jaws factor. Carl Sagan Awareness moment. Michael Shermer. James Randi. SETI. Accidental Libertarian Experiment. Planet intro or Apple TV glitch? Elevator noises. Good and bad jargon. Missing closure upsets one of the hosts…guess which! Scientific skepticism. Scifi Woodstock. Seriously though, there is no god. Getting into space. Alice is easily excitable. Camerawork that knows what it should do and doesn’t. Why films are in 16×9. Unnerving film vs scare shots. How to use a camera to make people uncomfortable. Does borrowing from a film make your film less good? Crafting a creepy character. The word actress is a little sexist. Why Oscars and awards are worthless. The Scooby Doo ending. Titular lines. What to do with your credits. Continue reading

Chasing Amy + DOA: Dead or Alive

Chasing Amy + DOA: Dead or Alive

Michael has full faith. The shortest Double Feature segment ever. Acupuncture doesn’t work. A confusing distribution release. Gaming history. An advertising hook. Modern day exploitation – what it is, what it should be. The movie roadmap. When montages are acceptable. Marketing mystery. Being along for the ride. Alice does a flip then punches Michael. Sound and attitude. Time bombs are lame. The Fargo checklist: When a film is just a film. Alice thins out his film library. Kevin Smith dialogue. Where does the demand for bad films come from? Just when we were about to excuse montages. Writing a film around a scene. Popular culture dates your movie. The creation of the slasher marathon. Continue reading

Hatchet + Memento

Hatchet + Memento

Adam Green brings on the new breed of horror. The Trio. Acting in horror films. Alice likes dominant leader-type girls. The survivor. Role reversal. The “Fuck You” ending. Everyone on Lost gets eaten by a shark. Alice again describes bloody kills in a oddly sexual tone. Adam Green executes a scare shot. Lola screaming. Religious and supernatural bullshit. A modern Scooby Doo. Michael has an abundance of problems with Memento. How to hurt Alice’s feelings. Betraying your own code. Does the puzzle cheat? How to construct a crazy film. Alice isn’t actually in this movie. So wait, who did it? Continue reading

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen + Constantine

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen + Constantine

LxG. Michael owns a fullscreen movie. Why owning a fullscreen movie makes you a tool. Finding good things in one of the worst movies on this show. OMG, what a twist! Make Alice stop talking about Shaft. Buddy cop films suck. Like, really bad. Comic book excuses. The Rodriguez game. Scenes with surgical precision. Aging CG and CG vs models. Spy Kids is a legitimate series of films. Invisible accuracy. Find a more awful ending? Notable Shia Labeouf impression. The afterlife is silly. Michael hates CG creatures. The worst prop ever conceived (and it’s not the Holy Lance!). Constantine in three sentences. Dealing with psuedoscience in film. Twin parapsychology. Buying into the power. Redemption in a ridiculously good mix. Continue reading

Team America + Cabin Fever

Team America + Cabin Fever

Team America: World Police. The puppet thing. Alice’s blender. Libertarians are awesome. What’s wrong with Matt Damon? Oh yeah, Ben Affleck. Puppets and suspension of disbelief. Michael Moore is a poor film marker and a fucking liar. MONTAGE! More graphic brutality. LOLCats is where humor goes to die. Alice begins horror with Cabin Fever. Eli Roth: genius or oblivious? The return of slow zoom. Zack Snyder thinks that’s what you want. Horrifying banjo score. Stereotypical horror characters. Michael hates the paranormal. The best ass shot in cinema history. Shaving your legs at the end of the world. Trying to talk about scare shots. Jokes about racism that aren’t intellectually bankrupt. Continue reading

12 Monkeys + The Singing Detective

12 Monkeys + The Singing Detective

The very first episode of Double Feature. The amateur recording environment. The origins of the Double Feature idea. Bruce Willis dies in the premiere spoiler warning. Twelve Monkeys, made by some guy who was apparently in Monty Python. Is it too early for hate mail? Michael can not stand slow zoom. Using film terms as short hand. Look at all the crazy people! Alice talks about blood using a very sexual tone. What a twist? The Singing Detective and crazy people on film. That Mel Gibson. Film noir, neo-noir, and important hats. The difference between clues and solutions. People just don’t care about lighting. Double Feature will return with more episodes. Probably. Continue reading