Episode Collection: All Podcasts

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 →

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 →

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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.

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 →

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 →

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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.

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.

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →