Episode Collection: Year 2

Double Feature Year 2 Finale

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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. Eric 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!

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on June 24, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on June 17, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on June 10, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on June 3, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on May 27, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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. Eric 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

Posted on May 20, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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). Eric 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

Posted on May 13, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on May 6, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on April 29, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on April 22, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on April 15, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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. Eric still loves micro-skirts and knee-high boots. Once again, what the fuck does a producer do? Continue reading →

Serenity + Barbarella

Posted on April 1, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on March 18, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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 Eric Thirteen confession. Double Feature hosts as test subjects. Continue reading →

Polyester + Secretary

Posted on March 4, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on February 25, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on February 18, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on February 4, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on January 28, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on January 21, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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. Eric’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

Posted on January 14, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on January 7, 2010 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on December 31, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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. Eric goes to the ER. Continue reading →

True Romance + Natural Born Killers

Posted on December 24, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on December 17, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on December 10, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on December 3, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on November 26, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on November 19, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on November 12, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

The work of director Darren Aronofsky. Eric’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

Posted on November 5, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on October 29, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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 Eric 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

Posted on October 22, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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. Eric’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

Posted on October 15, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on October 1, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on September 17, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on September 10, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on September 3, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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? Eric’s sleeping disorder and lack of memory. TV movie aesthetic. Continue reading →

Shorts + Inglourious Basterds

Posted on August 27, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on August 20, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on August 13, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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. Eric 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

Posted on August 6, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

Fish out of water double billing. Eric’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

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Eric Thirteen

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 →

Episode Collection: Year 2

David Lynch Weather Reports

What?

Bag Cat

/tv/Film Accessibility Levels

Members