Dracula AD 1972 + Aladdin

Dracula AD 1972 + Aladdin

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

Hot Tub Time Machine + Timecrimes

Hot Tub Time Machine + Timecrimes

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

Toad Road + Here Comes the Devil

Toad Road + Here Comes the Devil

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

The Jerk + The Master

The Jerk + The Master

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

Prep School + Firestarter

Prep School + Firestarter

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

Tumbbad + Baskin

Tumbbad + Baskin

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

Trouble Every Day + A Dangerous Method

Trouble Every Day + A Dangerous Method

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

Swiss Army Man + Harvey

Swiss Army Man + Harvey

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

Halloween + Puppet Master The Littlest Reich

Halloween + Puppet Master The Littlest Reich

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

New Jack City + Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song

New Jack City + Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song

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