Tag: exploitation

Really Awful Movies: Ep 177 – Grizzly and The Car with Scott Drebit of Daily Dead

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On this special episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast…two movies “inspired” by the great JAWS, The Car and Grizzly.

We’re gonna need a bigger boat…and we’re going to need a special guest too.

We decided to bring back one of our favorite people in the horror community, a gentleman and a scholar, Scott Drebit from Daily Dead (who’s previously joined us to talk about all sorts of terrific eco-horror films) to chat about these two very similar films.

If there’s ANY type of creature, from the slimiest little protozoa to the largest blow-hole spewing whale, that’s going around killing people…SIGN US UP.

We really dig animal attack fare, and yes, The Car is a a killer sentient vehicle…but in the film, the title car still adopts the mannerisms of a predatory creature…huffing and stalking its human prey. And both films feature the killer POV as a car/grizzly hunts down victims.

The 70s was a fertile time for horror, and it’s easy to forget just how weird and undeniably fun the films were.

On this episode of the podcast, we delve into these topics:

  • Blumhouse offerings, from Get Out to Split and Sinister
  • The Editor
  • The Void
  • Why it is that certain creatures in the animal kingdom are frequently depicted, while others not
  • The excellent square-chin presence of iconic Christopher George
  • The similarities between the characters chasing the giant bear in Grizzly, to the cast in Jaws
  • The awesome force that was the late William Girdler
  • The predatory instincts of sentient vehicles
  • The fantastic facial hair of James Brolin
  • How everyone does not love a parade
  • How it is that someone playing a French horn met their demise
  • Ratings and how films were violent and yet easily accessible to the (younger) masses in the 70s.
  • What’s up with John Carpenter
  • The upcoming summer blockbuster season

And much much more!

Really Awful Movies: Ep 173 – Don’t Look in the Basement

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Don’t Look in the Basement, aka, The Forgotten, is a 1973 independent horror, shot on a shoe-string budget.

The film is set on the secluded grounds of Stephens Sanitarium, an insane asylum that’s considerably understaffed.

Its chief psychiatrist (Dr. Stephens) employs treatment methods which are not altogether useful.

One of the patients (known as “Judge”) hacks the good doc with an axe when they’re out in the wilderness chopping wood (one of the odd therapeutic techniques).

That’s when Nurse Beale arrives on the scene, a staffer hired by Dr. Stephens. She’s made aware that doc is stone dead, and it’s her interactions with the various patients at the facility that drives this pretty much plot-less film.

So, what to make of Don’t Look in the Basement? Because this is a 1973 horror movie, you get lots of Freudian weirdness, and the exploitation dial is ratcheted up.

On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, your genial hosts Chris and Jeff explore:

-why so many Ramones songs are about the psychiatric profession

-life expectancy and what’s a good age to conk out

-the prevalence of axe murderers in horror movies, when it’s not exactly the most easily-wielded weapon (you know, it’s heavy, and blows aren’t often fatal).

-the grotesque practice of lobotomies

-the promise of, and the of late lackluster offerings, by director M. Night Shyamalan

-twist endings, and finally…

-basements

A reminder: episodes of the Really Awful Movies Podcast are uploaded every Friday for your listening enjoyment, and we delve into genre films of all stripes, including vetsploitation, kung fu, horror movies, post-apocalyptic wasteland films, run-of-the-mill musicals, robot monster movies, Italian cannibal fare, you name it.

And of course, if you’d like to have us chat about a particular genre film, don’t hesitate to contact us. Our contact info is freely available. We’ll give you a shout out as well. And don’t forget to review us on iTunes if you appreciate what we’re doing.

Really Awful Movies: Ep 163 – Psychomania

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This week, a look at the odd British cult horror, Psychomania.

Tom is a shaggy-haired and quite amiable psychopath and the leader of a violent British teen gang, a la the Droogs from A Clockwork Orange.

Tom barrels around on his motorcycle with his girlfriend and loves his doting mother. The gang, The Living Dead, dabble in black magic. Meanwhile, in a similar vein, his mother and her sinister butler Shadwell get their jollies out of holding seances in their home. With her help (and following in his deceased father’s footsteps) Tom returns from the dead, after driving his bike into a local river. One by one, he and his fellow bikers commit suicide with the goal of returning as one of the “undead”.