Really Awful Movies: Ep 371 – Zola

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On this week’s episode of the Really Awful Movies podcast, a bit of a departure: modern exploitation. Ya’ll wanna hear a story?

It’s hard to categorize Zola, a 2020 American black comedy crime film directed by Janicza Bravo and written by Bravo and Jeremy O. Harris. It is based on a strange idea that absolutely, positively should not work: a viral Twitter thread from 2015 by Aziah “Zola” King and the resulting Rolling Stone article “Zola Tells All: The Real Story Behind the Greatest Stripper Saga Ever Tweeted” by David Kushner.

Zola stars Taylour Paige as Zola, a part-time stripper who works at a Hooters restaurant, who is convinced by her new friend (Riley Keough) to travel to Tampa, Florida, in order to earn quick and easy money, only to get in over her head. That’s the premise to something pretty enticing.

Really Awful Movies: Ep 370 – Knife of Ice

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On this episode of the podcast, venturing into giallo territory with Knife of Ice.

Il coltello di ghiaccio, as it’s also known, is directed by site favorite Umberto Lenzi, who gifted us Nightmare City, Cannibal Ferox and many others.

In this one, there’s the conceit of a mute character, a woman who is traumatized by the death of her parents in a train crash and who cannot speak at all as a result. Which makes for a nifty, albeit silly, plot device. No matter! In a Spanish hillside town, a black gloved assailant is laying waste to the townsfolk. And cops need to investigate, in this fun, spirited who done it.

Really Awful Movies: Ep 369 – Wendigo and Psycho Cop

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Two wholly different subgenres of horror, two totally different films. On this week’s episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, Wendigo and Psycho Cop.

The former is a supernatural offering from the early 2000s, inspired by Indigenous legends. It’s directed by genre actor and stalwart, Larry Fessenden.

A family of three goes to a rural New York state home to get some respite from work and to bond together as a family. Things take a turn, after the young son meets a man at the local pharmacy, bearing a unique gift.

Wendigo is remote, wintry, gloomy and at times surreal, with clear elements of guerilla style filmmaking.

By total contrast, the direct-to-video 80s flick Psycho Cop is a Ten Little Indians stalk-and-slash. It’s set in sunny California.

And it’s your typical “college students getting away from it all to go party,” style of slasher flick. There are quite a few like these, including The Mutilator, Spring Break Massacre, Cabin Fever, April Fool’s Day. You get the drift. The major difference? It’s a member of law enforcement.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the show, and pick up a copy of our book, Death by Umbrella! The 100 Weirdest Horror Movie Weapons.