NinetyForChill: The #Podcast: Vicious Virus Videos: Shivers, The Crazies (1973), and Mayhem

 NinetyForChill.com: The #Podcast

Episode 94: Vicious Virus Videos: Shivers, The Crazies (1973), and Mayhem.

Vicious Virus Videos: Shivers, The Crazies (1973), and Mayhem

November 14, 2022

Outbreak films have been around as early as the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" to say the very least, but most of these features focus on humanity being absolutely lost. Lost via body theft by aliens or demons. Individuality vanished due to a disease taking over the body and conscience. What happens when a virus removes your inhibitions and replaces it with madness? Cool Movies Darth investigates this idea as presented in the 1970s and the 2010s by reviewing Romero's "The Crazies", Cronenberg's "Shivers", and Joe Lynch's "Mayhem".

Allow me to get out of third-person. Are we happy Prof. Shurtleff of Illinois Central College? I (CM Darth) will try not to make so much light of violent death in this summation. This is my declaration of changing perspective.

My introduction to horror movies as art came with Dario Argento. With his greatest works being associated with the 1970s, it was not much a stretch to find myself being fascinated by the ideas of his legendary friend George A. Romero. As I am discovering these artists, Cronenberg was making waves with his relatively down to Earth features "A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises". Obviously, this Canuck gained my attention if wanting to see the film with the most famous exploding head was not enough.

There was also the release of Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later", but Boyle narratives got a little long in the tooth after the success of "Trainspotting". Fortunately, I have seen another member of the Great North get inspired by that "zombie" film, so do not hold it against me not covering the Rage virus in this episode.

When it comes to zombies, of course I have seen all of Romero's films about the undead. But surely there is more than that when it comes to the auteur. "Bruiser" was fun, but it does not make a case for him having range. Fortunately, "The Crazies" received a remake in 2010. Gut reaction is to consider that an insult. To make sure of that, the original has been on my queue for a while.

A pathogen driving people crazy, I knew that was the plot of "Shivers" and that brings us to why I got around to this feature (aside from viewing it for the "Gen X and Scorsese V. Millenials and Marvel" episode with ThePoeticCritic). When I think back to "28 Days Later", the realization that there are two extremes to viral madness. The sides are excessive violence or excessive sexuality. Inhibitions stop those from occurring.

So the narrative of this blog post should end with Rob Jabbaz's "The Sadness" where the violence and sex intermingle, but that is for next weeks episode. Plus, I feel I got to add some genuine fun into this episode. You can enjoy the ride that are "The Crazies" and "Shivers", but they are not meant to receive out loud laughter. "The Sadness" may also still be to serious for its own good.

Gregory Carl will return to "NinetyForChill" next week to discuss this crescendo. So to get my relatively guilt-free kicks in, I got around to "Mayhem". Samara Weaving has been a sign of great sub 100-minute cinema on this podcast, and I wanted to see the office place purge film that "The Belko Experiment" sold itself as. It did not disappoint.

With all this said, the next episode that I need a guest for will need to be recorded by December 4th, 2022. There are not too many Christmas movies, so I do not expect anyone too feel restricted to a seasonal theme. The Twitter migration to Mastodon is not as grand as Neil Gaiman has implied, so I need to call for assistance on any platform I can find.

Follow me on Twitter @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.

Thanksgiving and #Movies to Distract from the #Racism

 

*This blog post was started on November 26, 2021.

I hope everyone has had a good Thank the Naive Natives for Giving their land to us holiday. This year, we had our first political argument, and I am proud to say, as the only uncle present (My brother-in-law supplied the only kids.), the instigator was not me. At least I hope that is how it is remembered. The parent I call to check in on may need to be the one who did not try to encourage Kyle Rittenhouse suing the president for defamation because he was accurately called a white supremacist. If the video showing him embracing Proud Boys was not shown on Fox News, it could not have happened, is their logic.

The last time that parent was called out for being racist, they took a week to collect their thoughts and come up with a story of why the other parent wanted to cut me off for standing my ground. If they remember Thanksgiving correctly, they will know it was my nastier younger sibling who lead the charge. I may have backed their facts, like the other parent would if their spouse was flailing despite a valid argument, but I had learned not to offer a counter proposal instead of leaving them feeling betrayed.

If anything, this should have inspired me to try and pursue money over happiness just so I shan't be afraid of pissing them off. That is the lesson or I just need to knock some girl up so I have a grandchild to hold as collateral. Either angle does not seem fun. Since I am staring down $15 an hour and a month to get at least one shag in this year, neither seems feasible.

I know the standard tale of the holiday season kick off is the uncle to start strife at the holidays, but how are you suppose to handle things when its the host being close minded? If you follow my blogs, I am thankful for that and I presume you know who I am talking about. If that is the most pressing memory, the "Due Date" review I inferred in "@WWERomanReign at Least Ranks Higher than Kyle Rittenhouse" that I would transcribe at some point would be posted, is not going to be this blog.

So what to write about this week? I did not mention professional wrestling till the last sentence. My ranking for that sport seems to be a little too fresh. I suppose I could just focus on women's wrestling, but the year is winding down. With that said, my immediate concern should be ranking the movies of "NinetyForChill.com - The #Podcast". There are still some movies I need to watch before this year ends, but when I am dealing with scores of movies too judge against each other, best to get this exercise started now.

2021 Discoveries for NinetyForChill.com:
"2001 Maniacs" to "Judge Dredd"

Please pardon the lack of films that have "The" at the beginning of their title. Here are the top 23 in alphabetical order (down from 46).

1. 2001 Maniacs (2005) - Robert Englund
2. Bedtime Stories (2008): Adam Sandler
3. Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020): Keanu Reeves
4. Bit (2019): Teenage Vampire Girls 
   
5. Bloodsucking Bastards (2015): Pedro Pascal
6. Bottle Rocket (1996): Wilson Bros.
7. Castle Freak (1995): S. Gordon
8. Class Action Park (2020): Documentary
9. Cobra (1986): Sylvester Stallone
10. Dagon (2001): Stuart Gordon
11. Dark Star (1974): John Carpenter
12. Death Race 2000 (1975): D. Carradine
13. Dracula/Horror of Dracula (1958): Christopher Lee
14. Dreamland (2019): Stephen McHattie
15. DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990)
16. Evangelion 1.01: You Are (Not) Alone (2007): Anime
17. Event Horizon (1997): L. Fishburne
18. eXistenZ (1999): David Cronenberg
19. Hellraiser (1987): Clive Barker
20. Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988): Clive Barker
    
21. Hotel Transylvania (2012): Adam Sandler
22. House on Haunted Hill (1959): Vincent Price 
23. John Dies at the End (2012): Don Coscarelli

NinetyForChill - The Podcast: Bust'n Meatballs at the Caddyshack

Films Researched for this Episode: Meatballs (1979), Caddyshack (1980), and Killer Movie (2008).     

NinetyForChill.com: The Podcast

Episode 21: Bust'n Meatballs at the Caddyshack

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This week, my flexibility is demonstrated when it comes to coming up with content as I invite Andrew Tiede to the pod. He let me know what Ivan Reitman directed and Harold Ramis penned feature he wanted to gush over, so we talk about the sub 100-minute movies that got us to that paranormal comedy from 1984. And then we gush about the battle with the marshmallow behemoth.

 

@The_Couch_Man on TikTok and I do our best to get from the original "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" to "Ghostbusters". The focus was intended to be about Harold Ramis's directorial debut "Caddyshack" and Ivan Reitman's minimal effort that Bill Murray carried, "Meatballs", but you cannot dismiss the features surrounding Dan Aykroyd rise which allowed him to sell a space janitor movie that nearly had a German-themed John Candy. This leads to reminiscing about the power of John Belushi that John Landis facilitated.

 

And how can we overlook "Stripes" and how parents would let the kids of the early 80's watch anything? We discuss what you could get away with in comedies, but we do our best to provide context to all of the rapiness of "Porky's" and "Revenge of the Nerds". That seemed to be an easier topic to chat up than the weirdness that was 1989 cinema with its normalization of PG-13. I think I may owe Andrew a formal apology for that tangent bringing up "Nothing But Trouble".

We take the time to chat about the apparent lack of appreciation for Ernie Hudson. All of the features in the "Ghostbusters" franchise get a piece of the pod. More importantly, the timelessness of the original "Ghostbusters" is celebrated by trying to find out what movies are even comparable to the concept. Maybe "Roger Rabbit"...

If we get negative about anything, it is the realization that Ivan Reitman may not be the director that his son is. Since a comic was the guest and an aspiring writer is your host, maybe that is a win. This leads me to be further excited about "Ghostbusters: Afterlife". With Jason Reitman being one of the best five North American directors out there, how could this feature go wrong?

We also go back to Ally's Accessories Shop on Etsy's Trash Feature Reviews. This week I review "Killer Movie". Is Kaley Cuoco dropping the C-word worth $3.33 from Disc Replay?

I hope I am impressing or at the very least amusing you with this podcast and I am open to any and all criticism. My biggest want is more guests and more suggestions on what to chat about (@catbusruss, russthebus07@gmail.com, @coolmoviesdarth). If we can get 3 hours out of "Little Nicky", the possibilities are endless. Thanks for visiting.

After WrestleMania Backlash, I will tell you that we need to take zombie pro wrestling back. My suggestion is that we finally get my low-budget zombie movie, "Main Event of the Dead" off the ground. The script lacks a lumberjack match, so you know it has got to be better than the "Army of the Dead" advertisement. Ask for a treatment or give me suggestions on how to get it to a crowd-sourcing stage with an email to russthebus07@gmail.com.

 

NinetyForChill.com: The Podcast Episode 11 - Do You Want To Scan a Skimble? (Just Press Play)

Film's Researched for this Episode: Rabid (1977), Naked Lunch (1991), The Pit and the Pendulum (1991), A History of Violence (2005), Rabid 2019, and Frankenstein (2015).

NinetyForChill.com: The Podcast

Episode 11: Do You Want To Scan a Skimble?  (Just Press Play)

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After finally finding a PlayStation 5 (Meijer's hides them) and getting a COVID-19 vaccination, I really cannot complain about not being able to secure a guest for this week's episode of the podcast. Believe me. I tried (To rant and secure a guest). It took recording three introductions, and by the third one, the societal anger had all but worn out.

Which is sad, because Tubi really needs the negative press for promoting Fox News even though these ads showed up while I was watching Stuart Gordon's adaptation of "The Pit and the Pendulum". If you wanted an appropriate feature to advertise Christian hate, a film about the Spanish Inquisition would be the ironic choice.

But is it not bad enough for Tubi to promote an anti-vaxxer's show. Here is to hoping Ken Jeoung can correct her politics. He is still a doctor, right?

I could go on about other anti-democratic propaganda like where am I going to eat breakfast, which I will rant on about at the bottom of this post. When my podcast involves the "adaptation" of William S. Burroughs's "Naked Lunch" and the ironic take on Middle America that is "A History of Violence", to continue ranting about politics to promote this blog seems pointless.

This blog explores David Cronenberg films I have watched or rewatched recently. It actually turns out to be quite poignant when I investigate 1977's "Rabid" and the Soska Sister's re-imagining from 2019. They both serve as accurate prediction's of the American response to COVID-19. You end up admiring the Canadians for learning from their art. They do not have the mess that is occurring to their southern neighbors.

And to further investigate the American attitude, "Ally's Accessories Shop's Trash Film Reviews" provides us with a take on "Candyman" director Bernard Rose's modern re-imagining of "Frankenstein". With Tony Todd on board for that ride for some racial abuse, you know you have an intriguing feature concept that only wretched monster makeup may hinder.

I hope you enjoy this brief edition to NinetyForChill.com - The Podcast. A guest has been lined up for next Tuesday's episode, so the migration to Spotify will definitely be worth it. Thanks for visiting and listening.

No cats were scanned in the making of this episode.

 

Buzzfeed - 15 Mensajes de texto que nadie quiere recibir

Georgia businesses need to take a hit for their state's racist voting laws, but all the best fast food places serve Simply Orange Juice which is a Coca-Cola subsidiary. There comes a point where I can no longer eat Chick-fil-A's delicious hate chicken. Of course when you look at the states that fast food chicken represents (Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky) this fowl may deserves Lance Henriksen's wrath. It is almost like these birds are the spawn of Satan. If only I was not an atheist, then I would lack the guilt for funding the fascism.

 

The Criterion Collection -   David Cronenberg Naked Lunch

 

Religious and Technological Head Trips: "Angel Heart" and "eXistenZ"

 *Blog post started on December 21, 2020.

Regarded as a horror classic by some, this is a mess of a picture, but to see how they sweep it up is worth a view. Brooklyn PI Harold Angel is hired by the aloof and religious Louis Cyphre to find a crooner who skipped out on his fame and fortune arrangement just before WWII. Every time Angel gets a clue, a brutal off camera murder follows. Why he would introduce a 17 year-old Voodoo priestess to it is barely comprehend-able, especially with “Fight Club” parallels.

 Check out the visceral movie review for "Angel Heart" by visiting MainEventoftheDead.com.

From 13 days of work in a row to three days off this week (including Sunday), I am still trying to get my bearings. Eva The Queen Kitty is looking after me, which is the reason I give for why people say she has a resting bitch face, so that leads me to think I am an emotional wreck. If anything, I feel like I am on Zoloft. There are no worries, but no motivation. Perhaps a trip to my folks on Christmas Eve will get me excited. COVID had already ravaged the residence, so it should be safe.

I have just inspired myself to write a "Funny or Die" replacing Tyler Durden and the Narrator with the protagonists from "The Karate Kid". An improv team is what I need to sell my subtle art of talking too much.

I guess it is now obvious that I am just spending too much time in my head. This is the reason for revisiting "Angel Heart", a flick I watched during the best times of 2004. My brain was a wreck then, and it seemed to work out fine. The dilemma for Sunday became trying to find a Redbox movie that was not a cheap psychological drama or horror. Ironically, when I was going through my unwatched iTunes, David Cronenberg's "eXistenZ" was among them. It just means that I trust those ideas when it comes from Canada's Master of Horror.

 

eXistenZ (1999, 1:37)

Allegra Geller is considered by most to be the best video game designer since video games have become bio-technological. Her talent is so great, that competitors to her company think it would best serve them to have her eliminated. The first demonstration of her newest game, "eXistenZ" was infiltrated by an assassin who wounds Allegra and kills the host of the presentation just as people were being hooked up to the newest biopod. Only marketing representative in training, Ted Pikul, is quick to act and whisk Allegra from the chaos.

Paranoid, Allegra decides it is best to find friendly people of the grid to protect her and Pikul. With no means of contacting her, she will have the time to examine her game and see if the attack resulted in any damage to it. The difficulty in doing this is that she needs a friend to explore the game with. Pikul is the only person she can trust, but he is a bit paranoid of games that tap directly into the nervous systems of the players. He may also just be afraid of piercings since he does not have the input slot installed into his spine.

The conditions are less than ideal. Time is not on their side, and her newbie is obviously going to have difficulty determining what is real and only a game. But if the software is damaged, how will either of them truly understand their existence be it reality or existence spelled with a big X and Z.

Centered around video game consoles with the same texture and color of sex toys, "eXistenZ" must have been intended to be Cronenberg's spiritual successor to "Videodrome". Like the prior feature, it definitely feels like a product of its time, but when you consider what video games have become, it still resonates with today's audiences. This film is what every pre-Matrix internet film wanted to be, aside from also being PG-13.

This feature has some body horror elements, but not the make up effects that audiences had grown accustomed to with Cronenberg's works like "Videodrome", "Scanners", and "The Fly". There are plenty of revolting images like the mutant reptiles and amphibians that Jude Law has to eat in order to create a gun constructed of bone, but the true horror revolves around needing to connect umbilical chords from the console to the base of their spine. Can any video game be worth genuine trauma to play? I will say yes, but with 28 years of combat sport experience and clinical depression on top of that, I may be an exception.

The thing that would deter me from wanting to be essentially feeding my life force to a PlayStation is that the game "eXistenZ" leaves it users grounded to its rules. Pikul and Geller have to follow the dialogue trees to progress and the decisions are never as challenging as we hope. I would love to know how many hours of gaming the then 57 year-old director had to put in to know exactly how they work. It turns out as an anti-gaming theme because it shows some of us are so desperate to escape reality, that we will anchor ourselves to not needing to make tough decisions just to be somebody else.

The cast plays all there parts brilliantly, and with the exception of Jude Law's flat tone (at least he did not try to go full on American accent), every quirk is justified by the conclusion that is very reminiscent of the "Twilight Zone". It is almost a shame that Cronenberg has only written one other film since this feature.

If anything else is lacking, it might be action. This is a video game after all. I guess you can say that it emulates those from the horror genre before Capcom and Paul W.S. Anderson screwed up the "Resident Evil" franchise. You get to be disturbed, but the narrative lacks intensity for our characters. But, again, this is not really much of a stretch from where video games have ended up today, so you have to appreciate Cronenberg having his finger on the pulse.

With the lack of "Fangoria" worthy imagery, "eXistenZ" does not seem like your standard Cronenberg, but it still delivers a story that is right up his fans' alley. Add in a "Twilight Zone" vibe, it is surprisingly accessible. Society would probably benefit from a reissue of this feature just to stop and think about the technological escapism and where it may lead...limited dialogue selection.

Денис Бернхардт - Pinterest

 

 

NinetyForChill.com: The Podcast Episode 7: Gen X and Scorsese V. Millenials and Marvel

Films Researched for this Episode: Lady Snowblood (1973), Shivers (1975), and Dark Ride (2006)

NinetyForChill.com: The Podcast

Episode 7: Gen X and Scorsese V. Millenials and Marvel

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The Poetic Critic had granted me a favor by being this week's guest. Her reward...she gets to address a big hullabaloo that over took #FilmTwitter. This poor taste insurrection started with some twat saying how they broke their own rules of not watching any features released before 1975. I guess this was to prove their belief that cinema was not worth anything prior to the year of "Jaws" because they found "Citizen Kane" to be a poor attempt at art.

It was not solely the stance that films were bad before the special effect shark. The lyrical assessor brought up a recent article that the legendary Martin Scorsese (I think I have now finally memorized the spelling.) about the art of Federico Fellini. In this work (per ThePoeticCritic [TPC]), he again discusses how he feels that corporations are more interested in delivering content to amuse instead of art to challenge.

#FilmTwitter's Response To the Most Under Rewarded Director (to paraphrase): What does he know about art? All his films are about white males. The Marvel Cinematic Universe considers all cultures and races unlike the cinema before 1975 which was nothing but the celebration of white men.

So this is the episode where I truly show my age as I shout at "kids" for trying to feel better about themselves by being keyboard "activists". I thank TPC for her patience as I compare the yearning for only woke features to "woke" wrestling fans wanting more time and respect shown to still blossoming women's wrestling. If you are looking for controversy, I take the stance thantcontext warnings should allow Disney+ to finally air "Song of the South". One can be curious...right?

As for individual movie talk, TPC provides great launch points into films of each decade as far back as the 1920's. I get to mention my experiences with my viewings of David Cronenberg's "Shivers" and the Japanese revenge feature that surely inspired the crimson splashes featured in "Kill Bill", "Lady Snowblood". "Ally's Accessories Shop's Trash Cinema" offers up another low-budget feature. "Dark Ride" from the "8 Films to Die For" series was crammed in just before the editing process. Why could it not be Ham from "The Sandlot" to be featured in the film's head bisection scene?

Hope you enjoy and thank for the support.

 

 

Nathanael Marsh Designs - Shivers

NinetyForChill.com: The Podcast Episode 6: Henry Never Died

Films Researched for this Episode: Wrong Turn 2 (2007), The Colony (2013), Antibirth (2016), and Dreamland (2019).

NinetyForChill.com: The Podcast

Episode 6: Henry Never Died

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We are back this week with a new full episode of NinetyForChill.com - The Podcast. This week, I talk with my friend Kodiak Thompson about the under appreciated talent and presence of Henry Rollins. When I said we were going to address Kodiak's favorite feature (and my second best discovery of 2019) "He Never Died", Mr. Thompson was ready to binge.

This ended up being a bigger challenge than I expected. Not many of the former Black Flag front man's sub 100-minute efforts are currently available streaming at a reasonable (free) rate. It seems that his debut performance in the Charlie Sheen take on the O.J. Simpson white Bronco affair, "The Chase" may be lost. Fortunately, it is not overly difficult to find montages of his performance in that flick, and my DVD collection allowed me to let him see the 2005 Project Greenlight feature, "Feast".

This was a pricier week for the podcast. Whenever I lend out a DVD, I use it as an excuse to purchase the film in HD. Then, discussing "He Never Died" made resisting purchasing that flick a pointless act. If I am going to buy the number two flick from 2019, it only makes sense to buy the number one ("Brigsby Bear") as well. But, those consequences were worth the great content that Kodiak provided.

A long with "He Never Died" and "Feast", we were both able to share our experiences with the "Pontypool Universe" when we watched the fever dream that is "Dreamland". I also get to discuss my Vudu freebie feature, "Wrong Turn 2: Dead End" and how it has lead me to seek out assistance in producing a podcast episode dedicated to Sean Bean (I am looking for volunteers to talk about the man who always dies. Email russthebus07@gmail.com).

And this episode also fulfills all my goals thus far. My review for the Natasha Lyonne starring horror flick, "Antibirth", covered my Cronenbergian suggestions. There is also a review for Stuart Gordon's aquatic horror effort (per Screen Drafts), "Dagon" that also mentions the body horror master. And "Ally's Accessories Shop's Trash Cinema" finally delivers an acceptable feature with the Lawrence Fishburne and Bill Paxton in "The Colony".

Hope you enjoy and thank for the support.

www.henryrollins.com

NinetyForChill dot Com: The Podcast - Episode 4: Capital B-Fest and Capital C*-Fest

Films Researched for the Episode: Antisocial (2013).

NinetyForChill.com: The Podcast

Episode 4: Capital B-Fest and Capital C*-Fest

*Cronenberg

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And of course the text layout makes it look like I meant the actual capital C-word. So went the production of this episode.

The initial plan for this episode was just to get some quips from previous guests Ally from AllysAccessoriesShop on Etsy and Letterboxd's ThePoeticCritic. In other words, I did not have a new guest lined up. If you want to chat about sub 100-minute movies for 35 minutes over Zoom, shoot an email to russthebus07@gmail.com.

It was supposed to be as simple as press play in Audacity and get 20 or so minutes of us chatting about movies. The laptop was opened and the mic was out, so neither should have been caught by surprised, but I just started recording. And then...

ThePoeticCritic became more laser focused than I have seen her and gave me over an hour of material. Oh how the tables had turned.

 

This seems to be the only promotional material B-Fest.com had to offer.

 

I cannot say that my older sister is overly empathetic, but damn can she be passionate, especially towards her friends and their pandemic plight.

The first weekend of February is usually the weekend of B-Fest, an annual 24-hour movie marathon of the finest B-movies that are available to the students and staff at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Being in Chicagoland, her friends from all over the country would fly in to take part in this extended:

audience-participation version of an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000; viewers are encouraged to voice their opinions of onscreen events, especially if such comments provide entertainment for the other festival attendees. (B-Fest.com)

Big sis has yet to attend the festival, and with the current state of world affairs, romanticizing any nerdy gathering cannot be helped. The result of this is her giving us quite the oral history of an event she has only dreamed about. If we do not get our shit together about COVID-19, she can only dream about shouting out her original riffs towards Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space".

Take it from experience, one can only dream so much before that dream becomes a chip on one's shoulder. Christian teachings (not practices) and Eastern philosophies has kept me from flinging that boulder at the world, but my sister has never attended a martial arts class to develop that discipline. I would hate to see her go Cobra Kai on some anti-maskers who denies her the simple pleasures and escapes.

Fortunately, she has not finished the Stuart Gordon and David Cronenberg filmographies, so she can still maintain a cinematic zen-like state. We explore Gordon's work like every movie podcast should and take an even deeper dive into Cronenberg's "The Fly". We even ebate whether "A History of Violence" is more heartwarming than the Goldblum flick.

To further the length of this podcast, Ally lets me bullshit with her about cinema and life. That went on for 10-minutes, so I cut the cat and tat chat from this pod's intro. But who does not want to hear about cats destroying condos? Stick around till after David Tenant calls for a "Woo Hoo" to get all of the Realtek audio.

I think it sounds alright (thanks Audacity), I just need to be a little more attentive to the input setting to assure that Blue quality is what I provide every week. Thanks for your patience.

NinetyForChill dot Com: The Podcast - Episode 3: @Quidpro_Joe and Jigsaw Games

 Films Researched for this Episode: Dark Star (1974), Saw (2004), Saw II (2005), Saw III (2006), Saw IV (2007), Saw V (2008), Saw VI (2009), Saw 3D: The Final Chapter (2010), Jigsaw (2017), and Hellboy (2019).

NinetyForChill.com: The Podcast

Episode 3: @Quidpro_Joe and Jigsaw Games

 

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"Sometimes I even amaze myself."

Imagine if that franchise could have had a flick that was under 97 minutes long. As I write that, I realize how that explains the confusion in the series's use of parsec. Distance. Time. Both of their measurements are length.

At this point, the only "Star Wars" feature that would qualify for NinetyForChill.com - The Website (or the Blogger since I am taking a few shortcuts despite my Web-Designer Certification) is 2008's animated feature "The Clone Wars". IMDb says it clocks in at 1 hour 38 minutes, but I will bet a digit or my left ball ("That it ain't no good until the good are appalled". I cannot resist a Supersuckers reference.) that the length will be rounded down on the DVD box.

Perhaps a podcast for a later date should be about cinematic features for animated TV shows. Is "DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp" on Disney+? It has always been tempting to just grab a copy from my retailer since Disney is not overly proud of that one (Just like the mid 80's films, the way they treat pre-renascence is criminal).

As much as I would love to talk about Ziro the Hutt and Stinky the Huttlet, that is not what I and Joe Golwitzer (@quidpro_joe on Twitter and Instagram) chatted about yesterday.

 

Buzzfeed - 19 Movies That Would Be Hilarious Backwards

 

The "Saw" Franchise

Joe use to be my manager at the retailer I work at, and thanks to Amazon, we probably had more times than we should to talk about movies. He is a fan of cinema who is doing his damnedest to own and/or watch all of the Best Picture Academy Award winners, so his taste in features maybe considered better than mine or he is more dedicated to becoming a more respectable cinephile than I. He is quite the respectful horror movie fan with "Halloween" being introduction to horror and he had recently seen and loved "The Thing". This lead to our original intention to do a podcast about John Carpenter's sub 99-minute movies.

I decided for the sake of the podcast and my guests not being nearly as anal as I to up the NinetyForChill.com ceiling to 1 hour 39 minutes. This only applies to the podcast.

When it comes to 99-minute Carpenter, Joe realized that he was not as verse in that filmography as I was. So we decided to go with the second suggestion that I offered which was the "Saw" franchise, the sequels more specifically. Only "Saw III" runs too long for the pod's parameters, but with that being my least favorite, I figured it would not get too much love.

We still swoon over Carpenter, which makes my late Saturday viewing of "Dark Star" and related drunkenness worthwhile, and work in the issues with how computer generated gore simply will not do. It allows us to transition to some David Cronenberg chat and my pitch for Jeff Goldblum to be the next Jigsaw apprentice. 

With the original feature being released at the peak of "The Boondock Saints" fandom, we do reminisce about how that has aged poorly. We also discuss the need for these frequent sequel franchises. I also slip in a visceral "Castle Freak" review and tell the audience from "Jurassic Jeff Jezebel Owes Me Eight Bucks" how my experience with Neil Marshall's "Hellboy" turned out.

We are both big fans of the last great horror franchise and we are happy to do all the excess thinking that the "Saw" audience should avoid. Hope you enjoy.

NinetyForChill.com: The Podcast - Episode 2: Jurassic Jeff Jezebel Owes Me Eight Bucks

Films Researched for this Podcast: The Fly (1986), Shooting Elizabeth (1992), Mad Dog Time (1996), and The Great White Hype (1996).

NinetyForChill.com: The Podcast

Episode 2: Jurassic Jeff Jezebel Owes Me Eight Bucks

Read more: https://html.com/media/#ixzz6jIeBsAn5

My only frustration about the finished product this week is that I cannot figure out how Skimbleshanks managed to get a picture that was easier to edit with Snapchat (@catbusruss) than my queen kitty Evangeline. My best offerings never seem to get the respect that they truly deserve. Should I really be selling that chip on my shoulder?

Judging that I decided to promote my Letterboxd account on this edition of "NinetyForChill.com: The Podcast", perhaps. My handle on that site is cmdarth, so despite the focus on the world of sub 97-minute features, the wrestling businesses always seeps in. I may need to a CM Punk and Soska Sisters' combination podcast. After the Colt Cabana drama, someone should take his initials away. If CM Venom is not going to step up...

To Punk's credit, he knows how long a movie's runtime should be. His 2019 starring roles both fit into the NinetyForChill.com time standards. I guess I still cannot help but to admire him. But he is not what professional wrestling needs right now. What it needs is a "No Holds Barred" remake with Jurassic Jeff Goldblum.

This week, I chat with my older sister ThePoeticCritic to talk about her favorite (living) actor, Jeff Goldblum and his features that range from 91 to 96 minutes. Her immense knowledge and research (Thanks Mike and Mike at "Now and Then Movie Podcast") allowed her to give me a lot of incite into the story of one of the best character actors of the past 45 years. She also explains why half of my four-day Goldblum binge required some means of chemical escape.

Tje features that are discussed in depth on this podcast are the David Cronenberg classic "The Fly", Larry Bishop's mess of a debut feature "Mad Dog Time", "Shooting Elizabeth" from his European excursions, and "The Great White Hype" a funny fighting film featuring the fresh from "Pulp Fiction" Samuel L. Jackson. ThePoeticCritic also provides opinions about every other Goldblum feature that qualify for the NinetyForChill.com standards.

We also discuss the idea of raising the ceiling of 97 minutes to 99 minutes. I have made it clear that a three-figure film length will not be considered. A little editing never hurts.

Then again, a little editing is what "ThePoeticCritic" might ask for when it comes to a joke about David Cronenberg's role as Geena Davis's gynecologists in "The Fly". It may also apply to my reminiscing about Stuart Gordon's "Robot Jox", a film that places Michael Bays attempts at robotic comedy to shame.

And as always, I do take the time to mention the feature I have been trying to get out of development hell "Main Event off the Dead" a no to low-budget flick about indie wrestlers versus 80's gimmicked zombies. If you want a treatment or have any pointers on how to pull it out of development hell, send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com.

Who Wore It Better - https://ifunny.co/

James Gunn's "Slither" - A Cronenbergian Successor to "Gremlins"

 

 

Racism Can Play in Peoria. What About Your Local Wrestling?

 *Blog post started on November 24, 2020.

I think we will get into the post's movie review rather quickly. Yes, Trump is starting to accept reality, but it has only been a day since I knocked out my review for the tragic misuse of the North American treasure, Keanu Reeves, in "Siberia". If there is a video game titled with the same pronunciation of your movie title (As I verified that on Wikipedia, I found out that "Cyberia" was also the title of a UK-based industrial act called Cubanate. At least one positive came out of that $0.55 rental.), we are not expecting romance to trump the diamond smuggling drama.

It is actually appropriate that I finally opened my first Netflix DVD of the billing cycle, "Slither", because I just got word today of a COVID-19 outbreak at my parents' house. At least Mom (Negative while older sister and Dad are positive.) will appreciate that this feature is from the guy who brought Rocket and Groot to the big screen.

MoviePosters2.com

If I would have gotten the news about yesterday, "Slither" would have been the ideal, ironic distraction. But, it is Tuesday. "AEW Dark" just cannot muster a card up to take the edge off and you know my unwatched movies are all a little too far on the dark side to relax to. Did I enjoy "Slither" enough to purchase it on iTunes (It was $4.99 and yes, it was purchased)?

Slither (2006)

Wheelsy, South Carolina is so busy getting ready for deer hunting season, no one notices a meteorite that crashes in the nearby woods. If there is any noticeable drama, it is the gossip about the relationship between the prettiest biology teacher at the high school, Starla, and her wealthy, older husband, Grant. Sheriff and codependent childhood friend of Starla, Bill suspects and accepts that it is a marriage of convenience, and trusts she made the best decision while he still longs for her.

Unfortunately, if there was any flame, it is waning. Feeling rejected, Grant decides to go out to a bar and flirts with Brenda, a fellow classmate of Starla. They drunkenly end up in the woods. He thinks better of pursuing an affair, and had the perfect way out of the situation. The two have stumbled upon the meteorite, and Grant chooses to investigate the slime that is trailing away from it. In an inebriated state, Grant ends up to close to the larva like organism and is stung. After regaining consciousness, he has only one thing on his mind. Meat.

Beyond Grant's carnivorous obsession, everything seems normal and perhaps better in terms of his marriage. That is until his cravings lead to him skipping out on the Deer Cheer Dance, a celebration to kickoff hunting season. It turns out he skipped out to kidnap and impregnate Brenda with his parasite. When Starla finds him at home after the dance, he is starting to mutate into something alien as well.

Bill is investigating the disappearance of Brenda while Starla is trying to figure out what Grant is hiding. After Grant catches Starla snooping around, he seems intent on killing her, but Bill and his fellow deputies arrive on the scene. Grant transforms into something that is halfway between squid and man and escapes. Three days pass, and there are a lot of dead live stock and pets littering Wheelsy. The impatient mayor and Bill gather a posse to hunt down Grant, but it turns out Grant was laying a trap for them.

When they locate an alive but beyond bloated Brenda, she explodes into thousands of slugs. These slugs enter their victims through the mouth and allow Grant to control them. The town is quickly infected, and wanting to reconcile with his wife, Starla is kidnapped. It is up to Bill and Kylie, a high schooler who seems to have success fighting these slugs off to save the day. Here is hoping a grenade compensated from some passing fishermen will be enough to end this nightmare.

"Slither" is a close to perfect horror comedy for adults. It features the body horror you typically see in David Cronenberg features while always being aware that you may just need to laugh in the face of the ridiculous, no matter how horrific it maybe. In a way, this feature is "Gremlins" without the constraint of a PG rating. The story has a lot of elements that are laid out wonderfully, leading to a roller coaster scream of joy.

With having so much rising action, the audience may get annoyed that there is not gore through out, but the audience is treated to great performances from Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, and Michael Rooker that give you the expectation that when it hits the fan, it must be spectacular. The only annoying thing about any of the acting is that with the exception of Rooker, the southern accents are not to authentic (What is one to expect from a mostly Canadian cast?). But it is a comedy and James Gunn knows that the audience is coming in feeling smarter than his characters, so this serves to let the audience know they are all in on the joke.

Regardless of the jokes, the gore effects and rejection of the boundaries of good taste allows the audience to still be shocked and horrified. The humor allows any audience to stick with it to the end, but the graphic violence makes sure that horror fans are quite appreciated. The finale is a bit overly drawn out, but if you are horror aficionado you will just admire everything Gunn is playing homage to, including his Troma roots.

If you are trying to introduce someone to horror who swears they have a sturdy their stomach is, "Slither" is the perfect flick. The humor will keep any audience involved while shocking non-genre and amusing the gore hounds. It is almost sad that this cannot cause the damage that "Gremlins" did to 80s' kids. I got over that trauma after 30 years.

Philadelphia’s Underappreciated Championship: Disgruntled Real World Champ - Part 2

 

Horror Galore - Pinterest

 

A Very Merry James Woods Weekend: "Vampires" and "Videodrome"

 *Blog post started on December 14, 2020.

This is a fun vampire flick, but it shows the limitations of John Carpenter. His direction seems stretched by the quest elements of the tale and without one of his go to actors in the lead, it loses some of the feeling his classics have. He was best in the mid 80’s leaning in to his regulars. I wish he would be more insistent on doing that. Still, the FUN is there and James Wood is great. On to Bon Jovi taking over the franchise.

Check out my video visceral reactions to "Vampires" at Main Event of the Dead.

I suppose I am stretching out the weekend technically. This was probably watched on Wednesday, but I am in the midst of a 13-day stretch between both jobs, so time is kind of lost on me. "John Carpenter's Vampires" is almost an appropriate place to start as I am trying to use meal replacement shakes for 50% of my meals (I skip breakfast, unless I wake up before the alarm. Wendy's is killing it.). Sucking the blood out of someone felt like a reasonable means of recovering from the lack of sleep that "Cyberpunk 2077" led to.

It did not help when a coworker goes home because they were not feeling well. I work for a big box store, so you know they have COVID-19 protocols for their employees. If you passed the screening for the day, you got to work your shift. The argument can be made that it is flu season so not everything is corona virus. How you can suddenly change symptoms in two hours is my counter to that?

Fuck food poisoning. That is why I skip breakfast. I need to make the proletariat look good.

When my manager asked me to stay an extra hour (We could not get rid of the customers till a half hour after the Semisonic moment.), it seemed like the ill-feeling one was not a full-time employee. This means they did not have any time to use to make up the lost wages. If your lungs have not been overtaken by the pandemic, that really is the only reason to leave a job early. Use the sick time or lose the sick time. I can understand that proposition.

But on the flip side, at my bank job, we have one employee who uses the time that has been allocated to them while the coworker who should get more than six days of paternity leave cannot use his sick time to spend more time with his child and the kid's worn out mom. Should I rant about the corporate structure (Thank the gods that there is not really any right-leaning charities in Champaign. I would be judged for not participating in casual days for charity because of the not-for-profits that dominate the rest of Downstate Illinois [Christian pregnancy support groups, United Way, etc.].), or management at this location for not covering for the most senior banker here:?

If wanting to drain the employee who left with two opening to closing shifts is the only drama I have right now, things are pretty good. There was some hesitation about reviewing two James Woods movies because of the conservative moron he has become (I wanted to see the Democratic Party be destroyed after the Clinton impeachment trial, but I was an 18 year-old Mortonite. With experience, I learned who the bad guys truly are.), but everyone knows that the works of great directors should take precedence over the whom the producer believes will put butts in seats. Maybe this double-feature will let me get over my reservations and buy the Hades from "Hercules" Funko Pop. You cannot have Zeus without the douche.

And that reminds me, we need to bust our asses to get Tiny Lister into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. We must influence WWE programming some how. The WWE video arena must be conquered. Death to the McMahon family's Videodrome. Long with the new flesh.

Videodrome (1983)

Max Renn is one of the three partners who operated Channel 83 in Toronto. Their goal is to provide viewers with something they cannot get from traditional and regulated television stations. They must not be the only content providers with that goal, so when exploitative foreign entertainment seems to be too tame, Renn begins to search for programming that is down right sleazy and horrific. Luckily for them, their satellite technician Harlan is the master of television piracy and has discovered a show out of Pittsburgh called "Videodrome", an arena for torture, exploitation and murder.

Because of the signal scrambling, Channel 83 cannot just go air it. This leads Renn on a mission to find the people behind the show. With every clue he obtains, he starts experiencing violent hallucinations. Most of these involve his sadomasochistic girlfriend, Nikki, who has also made it her mission to "star" on "Videodrome". As he absorbs more of the shows content, the visions of his body becoming a means of distributing the content are the most prevalent.

He can neither make heads or tails of what is real or not. As far as he can tell, someone is manipulating him into becoming an organic VCR who will act on whatever tapes they insert into him. Is Renn a slave to Videodrome or is he the evolutionary link between television and humanity?

"Videodrome" gives you an almost incomprehensible concept and demands that the viewer sense of it. David Cronenberg is such a talented director that the audience wants to put this puzzle together while the violent and sexual themes suggest that they should be examining who they are.

The casting of James Woods is perfect because of his cynical and self-righteous demeanor many of his previous (and most of his latter) works have had. His characters tend to think that he is smarter than everyone, thus he can handle questionable material without being influenced by it. If you want a person who seems amoral, Woods was the go to. Renn starts out as the caricature of Woods and you become enamored with his journey from being amoral to trying to find meaning in a world that is falling apart.

Cronenberg keeps the atmosphere ambiguous enough that it is even hard for the audience to tell what is suppose to be real in this world and what is only in the head of the lead. By the third act, everything that happens has to be accepted as real if you hope to make any sense of it, but you know in the back of the mind, it cannot be.

Geiger body horror is never going to be a real thing. It is something that is so traumatizing, you want to believe that it cannot be real. This is the feeling that makes this film a classic.

If there is any shortcoming, it could be an under-developed supporting cast. Then again, if you add more characters to muddle Renn, the visceral discomfort might be lost. The impact of the body horror would be stretched so thin that the impact of it might be lost. Debbie Harry as Nikki and Jack Creley as video guide Prof. Brian O'Blivion are great avatars to ground Renn's journey without taking the focus away from the insanity.

"Videodrome" still makes viewers question the impact that visual content has on them and consider what the limits should or should not be. It is an expression of a dream that the audience has to be brave enough to indulge. David Cronenberg is happy to take you by the hand and drag you through it, and he rewards you for it. This definitely makes it one of the top horror films of the 80's, and I would not be surprised if Cronenberg dominates that list.

 

Videodrome (1983) [900x1200] by New Flesh - Reddit