GalaxyCon Des Moines 2025: An A24 Horror Crash Course & 'Making MegaForce' with Barry Bostwick

   

I Dig Crazy Flicks with @CatBusRuss

Episode 236: The 5:40 A24 Elevated Horror Marathon in Alphabetical Order (Death of a Unicorn, Heretic, Men, Midsommar)

For ⁠GalaxyCon Des Moines⁠, ⁠CatBusRuss⁠ and the ⁠Dread Pirate Syzer⁠ from ⁠Skies of Fortune⁠ are going to be guests on each others' panels. Our podcast host thinks that maybe DPS got the easier assignment since he will just have to argue that the best movies are over 100 minutes in length at the "⁠I Dig Crazy Flicks Presents: Ninety For Chill - The Panel⁠" (2 pm, Saturday, September 13). ⁠Russ⁠, on the other hand, needs to quickly become an expert in ⁠A24⁠ movies for the Dread Pirate's "A24: HORROR GOES TO THE ARTHOUSE" (8 pm, Saturday, September 13). Thus, this episode of "⁠I Dig Crazy Flicks⁠" (only one feature fits the ideal runtime between 70 and 100 minutes) focuses on his four-movie, preparation binge.

After receiving a list of movies from the panel host, CatBus was relieved that he had covered many of these films on this podcast ("⁠Saint Maud⁠", "⁠X⁠", "⁠Pearl⁠", "⁠MaXXXine⁠", "⁠We're All Going to the World's Fair⁠"). He also saw "⁠The Witch⁠" when it arrived at RedBox and you know he has seen every Kevin Smith movie, so "⁠Tusk⁠" did not need to be re-queued.

The films that he picked for this binge all had something to entice him except for one. ⁠Ari Aster⁠ maybe the name best associated with elevated horror, but CatBusRuss was always suspicious of this. When it comes to elevated, Russ thought it meant the runtime in Aster's case. Therefore, he chose to watch "⁠Midsommar⁠", the one with the middle range of his features (148 minutes).

As for the three enticing flicks, the cast of "⁠Death of a Unicorn⁠" is stacked. CatBusRuss has yet to see a bad ⁠Alex Garland⁠ movie, so "⁠Men⁠" felt like a wise choice. (We may speak about "⁠Ex Machina⁠" at the panel.) Who does not like ⁠Hugh Grant⁠'s other forays into horror (like "⁠The Lair of the White Worm⁠")? "⁠Heretic⁠" (directed by the Iowan duo of ⁠Scott Beck⁠⁠ & Bryan Woods⁠) was his final movie choice.

CatBusRuss will come into the capital of Iowa with 11 movies from the studio seared into his brain. That is nearly one per year of A24's existence. Will that be enough to gain the rank of expert?

As for his two panels at GalaxyCon, he will be providing punch and pie to as many audience members as possible. His first panel will be "1985 TRIPLE THREAT MATCH: STALLONE V. SCHWARZENEGGER V. CANNON GROUP" (Friday, September 12, 7 pm). Will we actually declare a winner or will this be another draw like ⁠ATL Comic Convention⁠?

Bonus Episode - Making MegaForce @ GalaxyCon Des Moines - Day 1

Barry Bostwick⁠ debuts "⁠Making Megaforce⁠", a documentary/love letter about a bomb of his from 1982.

Standout Adult Swim actors ⁠MC Chris⁠ & ⁠Dana Snyder⁠ gain a learning experience from their first attempt to record their podcast, "⁠None of This Matters⁠".

Out podcast host learns he may have to keep up with what the kids love after a well conceived panel, "Eternal Love: Vampire Media Renaissance", out draws those celebrities.

⁠CatBusRuss⁠ is putting up his best fight to keep pushing "⁠I Dig Crazy Flicks⁠" to recognition. There has been a lot of drama in his life recently with the state of Illinois, a sibling who is not as cool as ThePoeticCritic, and losing his primary job due to a typing error. That is a lot of stress to leave at home for a short notice opportunity to take part in ⁠GalaxyCon Des Moines 2025⁠.

This resulted in a tougher drive to a new convention center which took half an hour to figure out the layout of. No time for the show floor, so the panels better deliver. Thankfully, they have, and he had a decent sized audience for the 1985 Triple Threat Rematch. Things may finally be looking up for the ⁠CatBus⁠.

 

Follow me on Bluesky @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.

90 Min. Netflix DVD - "Castle Freak" (1995) - All the Gore with Fewer Bodies

  *Blog post started on January 22, 2021.

It is a good thing that I have started "NinetyForChill.com - The Podcast" because I have blown my annual resolution of eating something with Buffalo seasoning everyday. The main issue with this is that it throws off my diet. I did not buy much food because I would need to eat out every other day to make it work.

Without the resolution, I come home and want to make food because the fictional rule has been abolished. This is really just an issue on Thursdays and Fridays, the days that AEW does not offer content. My apologies for not finding "A Shot of Brandy" to be must watch content. When I leave work at 6:15 pm, there is not really a lot of time to prepare food in time to watch wrestling. Those are good times for Glucerna and cereal.

Thursday's trouble is that I do not have that wrestling to discourage cooking. On top of that, ramen is my Wednesday lunch because I have made it a tradition to watch AEW Dynamite with Buffalo wings as my meal. This means I am eating out during lunch and then making something fatty that night because what else am I going to do with that night? If you miss out on playing video games for a couple of weeks due to podcast work, remembering that they are available can be troublesome.

Friday's dilemma is that I usually need to take longer lunches to ensure that I am not getting overtime. The flexibility of the new part-time crews schedule prevents leaving early on that day to remedy that. Of course you should expect me to be out and about for those 70 minutes. Errands prevent me from sitting around for a half hour. Watching Smackdown (I should just say supporting the WWE), is not a priority, so the wrestling programming does not inspire me to sit in front of the TV.

I think all of my readers realize I am just bullshitting here. It is fair for them to expect me to have at least a dozen wrestling DVD's (more than likely a score) to watch and with the New Japan Pro-Wrestling World, I could just make myself a wrestling schedule. If anything, I am showing my age by wanting appointment TV. The point is, I need something to do, so I eat. The real issue that I have is that I can handle nearly any kind of body horror, so my late night movies will not allow me to purge my previous sins.

Stuart Gordon could be waistline savior for those who have a weaker stomach. Maybe after seeing a hole carved out of my wrist with pins sticking out of it (WRESTLING! YAY!!!), I can take about anything visually. Perhaps I need to rent some more French Extremism to shake this invulnerability, or I just need to stop cheering for directors to go for the bad taste reactions. Being a direct-to-video feature, "Castle Freaks" is a limited experience for fans of "Re-nimator" and "From Beyond", but makes sure to give the audience the shocks that you expect and push the boundaries of what they are allowed to enjoy. That does not necessarily mean the feature has is good, but if cat and boob mutilation perk your ears up, this film may be worth a view.

Castle Freak (1995, 1 hour 35 minutes).

The Riley family has fallen on hard times. It has been nine months since the patriarch, John, was drunk behind the wheel and was involved in an accident that took his five year-old son's life and blinded his 16 year-old daughter Rebecca. They may have gotten a break when they are informed that they had just inherited a castle in Italy.

Of course, this castle is considered haunted. The duchess who lived their never left the premises after her five year-old son died. This was shortly after John's father left her and returned to the United States with her younger sister. Stories of wailing at night that can be heard through the castle halls do not help the properties reputation.

John does not plan to relocate to Italy, he is just looking to liquidate the assets. The simplicity of this task is quickly lost after Rebecca wonders off during his inventory to follow a cat into the dungeon and crypt. Believing she heard someone, her investigation inadvertently unleashes the Castle Freak.

The home is quickly cursed by strange occurrences mainly centering around Rebecca. John's overbearing wife believes her daughter has an overly active imagination, but as John investigates these happenings, he starts to unravel a dark tale about his parentage and how the duchess's son never died even presuming that she kept him alive to torture the past 40 years. One can only imagine the anger and vengeance that seethe in the mind of this newly freed monster. 

The title delivers exactly what it promises. "Castle Freak's" story really expounds upon the simple premise and is a classic in terms of body horror and the family-related horror that is becoming the current rage in cinema. Like the Italian horror legends, Stuart Gordon captures everything he wants you to see despite the 4:3 aspect ratio.

It is difficult to pin down anything this film does wrong. This is not high art nor is it cinema with a capital C. This feature is a solid, brief story which does harken back to the concepts of H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft would give you a scenario and left the story to the audience's imagination. "Castle Freak" is not a Lovecraft adaptation like his two undeniable classics, but Gordon flushed this out from only seeing a poster in the producer's office (that producer being Charles Band of "Arena" fame). He saw a freak locked in a dungeon, and created a marvelous narrative.

The film benefits from the established chemistry between the lead actors, Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton (who were also leads in the classics) and I think it is a shame that this is the last performance of Jessica Dollarhide who portrays the confident and caring Rebecca. You may complain about the Italian cast being there solely to become corpses, but that means no chemistry required. This is how no budget cinema thrives.

The most intriguing chemistry may come from how the Freak interacts with the starring cast. This maybe more of a story element, but from the beginning of the feature, you know the Freak has a reason for his actions. What is most important is the Freak trying to be human. It never works out, but he is not entirely evil.

He is definitely somewhat evil. I know why the cat has an awful fate, but killing our mewing masters will always tick me off. At least Dario Argento gives the felines vengeance.

If mutilated pets is not going to upset you, the Freak actions might. This feature likes to mix all kinds of vices, and the mixture is always messy. It may come off at chauvinistic, but I do not think you can argue the realism of the monster's actions. This would just be a French monster story that can be romanticized without them. Renting this title must mean you are here for the horrific. Do not complain about it.

"Castle Freak" is a horror movie for fans of the genre. Those who do not like graphic and nearly unthinkable violence need not view. That is sad because it is a brilliant take on stories like the Hunchback and the Phantom. Stuart Gordan could take any classic story premise and flush it out into something all his own.

This is a display of gore horror fans want without any unnecessary narrative to endure. "Castle Freak" is a classic from a horror master that fans of the genre owe to themselves to view.

Pinterest - Kev @cultmem

ATL Comic Convention: Revenge of the Sith (and Lucas Fanatics) & Brick (from the Best Star Wars Director)

   

I Dig Crazy Flicks with @CatBusRuss

Episode 234: ATL Comic Convention: 20 Years of Revenge of the Sith (with Bryan Young, Holly Frey and Maggie Lovitt)

At ⁠ATL Comic Convention⁠, ⁠CatBusRuss⁠ attempted to hold his own with "Star Wars" experts by being a panelist on "⁠20 Years of Revenge of the Sith⁠". He seemed to have held his own when discussing "⁠The Last Jedi⁠", but this third prequel of the Skywalker Saga may have held a more personal place in the hearts of his fellow panelists.

⁠CatBus⁠ was joined by the hosts of the "⁠Full of Sith⁠" podcast, Bryan Young (writer for ⁠StarWars.com⁠) and Holly Frey (an executive producer for the ⁠iHeartRadio⁠ podcast network), and ⁠Maggie Lovitt⁠ (deputy editor at Collider). After their resumes, Russ acknowledged that he may have only been on the panel for the hot takes. Since he is a pro-35mm film fan and his topical comparisons to current events in the 2nd Trump administration were shutdown, perhaps he served his role.

He felt like he was up against the cult of Lucas, but he could not help but admire the passion for the sixth best "Star Wars" feature (per ⁠Screen Drafts⁠). Is the CatBus just another jaded, childless Gen Xer?

Episode 235 - ATL Comic Convention: Knives in My Eyes - 20 Years of 'Brick' with Tim Avers

CatBusRuss was able to participate in a lot of panels at ⁠ATL Comic Convention⁠ for movies that he loves, but one of those panels was for a feature not enough people have seen. He was honored to get to chat with the co-creator of the comic "⁠Blood Orange⁠", ⁠Tim Avers⁠ about ⁠Rian Johnson⁠'s 2005 debut feature, "⁠Brick⁠". Hopefully, the two were able to convince those who were early for the anime voice actor panel that followed them that they were missing out on a classic.

There was no audience to start, but since the two had a movie that they both adore, who needed them. Johnson sold this story as "A Detective Story", but if you were combing the aisles of Blockbuster in 2005, was ⁠Joseph Gordon-Levitt ⁠name enough to get you to rent this flick? ⁠CatBus⁠ really thinks that the ad campaign for this Sundance darling should have really pushed that this is film noir for high schoolers. Both panelist agree that this is a feature that soon-to-be freshmen should watch to better understand the drama of high school.

 

Follow me on Bluesky @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.