Really Awful Movies: Ep 379 – Gutshot Straight

Today’s podcast is Gutshot Straight.

We are on the Strip in Las Vegas. And Jack is a degenerate gambler, whose losses are mounting to the point where he can’t pay his bar tab. Uh oh. We’ve all been there.

He’s hooked up with a mover and shaker, Duffy, who offers him wagers of increasing magnitude. And soon…well, things go south.

An intriguing plot, right? Plus, Vinnie Jones and Steven Seagal are in this – however briefly! However, don’t be fooled: this is an often languid, dialogue-driven affair. When it comes times to beat down unibrows, Stevie is nowhere to be found (probably off at the buffet table). Check out the latest installment of the podcast, as we dive into Vegas movies, appearances by b-listers like Tia Carrere, the UFC, Seagal’s later direct-to-video (DTV) “efforts.”

Really Awful Movies: Ep 371 – Zola

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

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.