Really Awful Movies: Ep 299 – Poltergeist

We’re BAAAAAA-CK. We had a brief book-related hiatus and are back to our regularly scheduled programming. So, here goes. Poltergeist. 

The Tobe Hooper-directed (with lots of help from Steven Spielberg) effort from the early 80s is one many of us hold in very high regard, despite it being from a horror sub-genre that’s personally not our cup of tea.

It’s undoubtedly memorable, especially young Heather O’Rourke as the iconic kid who is sucked into a television, a portal to some nether-region. With Craig T Nelson as the uber-dad, this is a solid ensemble effort, acting wise, and the twin directorial team (har har) pull out some pretty choice practical effects and imbue this with a lot of heart and story.

Apologies in advance for some technical difficulties on this discussion of the Really Awful Movies Podcast. Thanks to the global pandemic, we have not been able to get together and don’t have our fantastic equipment at our disposal (big shout-out to Yeti mics). The quasi-new show is a work in progress as we try various means to record ourselves without sounding too too lousy.

Join us for new episodes of the show, to which we will return with full gusto now that Mine’s Bigger Than Yours! The 100 Wackiest Action Movies is in the can.

Really Awful Movies: Ep 287 – Touch of Death

Lucio Fulci is one of our favourites. With Touch of Death, however, he’s not exactly in his finest form. Still, lousy Fulci is a bit like lousy pizza: it’s still pretty darn good.

Lester Parson is a cannibal psychopath (uh oh!) who abducts and mutilates women in the Tuscan hills, eating certain cuts and disposing the rest in his back yard to his pigs.

And he thinks the radio is talking to him.

Parson is a degenerate gambler as well. Why? To bad out the run time of course!

Over the course of a scant 80 minutes, Fulci strings together a bunch of largely unrelated set pieces, largely as an excuse to show off some gore and gallows humor. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all!

So, join us on the Really Awful Movies Podcast as we talk about our favorite Fulci films, the oddball appeal of horseracing, the work of genre actor Brett Halsey, HG Lewis, our love of all things Italian horror, and much, much more. Subscribe, folks!

Really Awful Movies: Ep 280 – Shallow Grave

On this episode of the Really Awful Movies Podcast: Danny Boyle’s Shallow Grave, starring Christopher Eccleston, Kerry Fox, and Ewan McGregor.

The “what to do with a body?” scenario is oft-played in film noir films. This is a tribute to those kinds of films. Three flat-mates are seeking a fourth roommate to share their grand-looking apartment in Glasgow, Scotland. They put a bunch of candidates through their paces, making fun of several of them very cruelly, before finally settling on a fellow named Hugo (Keith Allen). Hugo, however, doesn’t last too long in the flat. You see, he dies of a drug overdose almost instantly. And he’s left behind a mysterious suit-case stuffed with money.

The roommates decide that they can make off like bandits if they simply dispose of Hugo.

That sets the ball rolling in this darkly funny, consistently engaging tale. Join us for Shallow Grave, and don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast!