Movie Oubliette

Oscar-winning special effects genius Tom Woodruff, Jr joins us and takes us on a whirlwind tour of his first steps into the wonderful world of monster movies via The Thing With Two Heads (1972) – a blaxploitation sci-fi adventure starring Ray Milland as a racist mad scientist hellbent on perfecting his head transplanting technique before he succumbs to a terminal illness, and Rosey Grier as the innocent death row inmate who unwittingly volunteers for his experiments. The result? About three reels of cars chases with Grier gamefully dirt biking with Milland's head sellotaped to his shoulder. The film itself might not be a masterpiece, but it has a surprising number of connections to Tom's career... and many of them involve gorilla suits! Follow Tom on Instagram! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

Mikey Neumann and Zoe Wells of FilmJoy join us as we scoop up Kevin Costner's sci-fi action adventure Waterworld (1995) from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Yes, it's the film that reunited him with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) director Kevin Reynolds and then, $175 million dollars and a box office bomb later, caused their second acrimonious split. But can a film with Dennis Hopper in an eye patch be all that bad? Is Jeanne Tripplehorn playing a character or is she merely extant? Is a central character irredeemable if he hurls a small child into the ocean? Find out! Check out FilmJoy on the YouTubes and follow Zoe and Mikey on the Tweets! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

Conrad shows Dan the little-seen supernatural psychological drama, The Sender (1982) – a British production starring Kathryn Harrold, Željko Ivanek, Shirley Knight and Paul 'Belloq' Freeman, and directed by Oscar-winning production designer Roger Christian. Ivanek plays John Doe 83, a mysterious young man admitted to a psychiatric hospital after walking into the sea with rocks in his pockets. Suffering from amnesia, but obviously the victim of some trauma, Doe fascinates Dr Gail Farmer (Harrold), who discovers the boy is able to project his nightmares into other people's minds. Who is he? Who is the mysterious woman who keeps appearing randomly and claiming to be his mother? And is this film obscure for a good reason? Find out!   Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

Dan and Conrad slip into some chunky knit sweaters and go underground to explore City of Ember (2008), a post-apocalyptic science fantasy starring Harry Treadaway, Saoirse Ronan, Bill Murray and Tim Robbins. Based on a popular series of novels by Jeanne DuPrau, which became the focus of an intense bidding war when it came time for the film adaptation, the film seems to presage the explosion of young adult dystopian adventures that would follow in the wake of The Hunger Games in the 2010s. But should the film be rekindled, or should the ember be extinguished in the oubliette forever? Find out!   Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

Matt Swaford of the Endless Bullets: The Action Movie Podcast joins us for this special Iconicon 2022 crossover event, and brings with him a buddy cop zombie action movie we've never heard of: Dead Heat (1988). It stars Treat Williams, Joe Piscopo, Lindsay Frost and Vincent Price – yes, you read that right – is directed by legendary editor Mark Goldblatt (The Terminator) and written by Terry Black (brother of Shane 'Die Hard' Black), with incredible special effects by Steve Johnson. But is it a gem that should be reanimated in Vincent's resurrection machine, or a deservedly forgotten relic that should dissolve into human slime? Find out! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

In a childhood nostalgia special, Dan revisits Johnny Mnemonic (1995) – the other cyberpunk action thriller Keanu Reeves made in the 90s after hitting the big time in Speed (1994). It's the one everyone forgets. Maybe our cybernetic implants were loaded with more than 320GB of data, like Keanu's black market data courier, Johnny? Directed by artist Robert Longo in his debut (and so far only) mainstream film and based on a short story and screenplay by cyberpunk grandaddy William Gibson, this bizarre footnote features Dolph Lundgren as an evangelical street preacher/cybernetically enhanced assassin, Takeshi Kitano as a big Pharma bad guy, Dina Meyer as a streetsmart bodyguard and Ice-T as the leader of an underground organisation called the 'Lo-Teks'. Oh, and Henry Rollins is a doctor, Udo Kier is a small time crime boss and there's a cybernetic dolphin in the mix somewhere. It's the kind of thing that could only have happened in 1995... but is that a bad thing? Find out! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Ins

Melinda Mock of RetroBlasting joins us to revisit one of her teenage favourites: Wes Craven's Shocker (1989) – a bizarre attempt to create a new slasher franchise with The X-Files' Mitch Pileggi as psychotic serial killer Horace Pinker, who gains supernatural possession abilities after being executed in the electric chair. Future director Peter Berg plays a college football star player whose adoptive family and girlfriend fall victim to Pinker's homicidal urges. Can he figure out how to stop the electrically charged menace before he strikes again? Can he do it with a late 80s hair metal soundtrack raging in the background? And is this a hidden gem overshadowed by Craven's monumental franchises? Find out! Follow RetroBlasting at www.retroblasting.com, on YouTube or Twitter. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

Dan and Conrad were spelunking in the oubliette's indoor pool and resurfaced M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water (2006), a fairy tale for adults starring Paul Giamatti as a melancholy caretaker in an apartment building who discovers a 'narf' in the community swimming pool. That might sound like a euphemism for something revolting, but it turns out to be an ethereal nymph-like creature played by Bryce Dallas Howard, whose mission is to inspire a great writer to create a work that will change the world before she is ravaged by magical wolves called 'scrunts'. In a questionable move, the director casts himself in the role of the inspirational writer, and various fantasy hijinks ensue. The film is widely regarded as part of Shyamalan's precipitous downfall after his smash hit The Sixth Sense (1999), but is it as bad as people think, or does it deserve a re-evaluation? Find out!  Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

For our 101st episode, we're covering our oldest film yet: 1955's Conquest of Space, the speculative science fiction adventure from the producer/director team that brought us the seminal War of the Worlds two years before. It's widely thought that George Pal and Byron Haskin's depiction of the first manned mission to Mars – crucially brought to the screen 6 years before we got off the planet and 14 years before we got to the moon – was a heavy influence on the sci-fi genre and Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in particular. But is it any good? Find out! The film for this episode was graciously donated by Via Vision, who Imprint label releases amazing special editions of cult classics for collectors to enjoy. Check them out! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

We celebrated our 100th episode with a special livestream extravaganza where, for the very first time, we review a film that one of us worked on: The Witches Hammer (2006), a no-budget British vampire action movie starring Stephanie Beacham and graced with Conrad's music. And if that wasn't enough, we were joined by two wonderful special guests: Isaac Sutton, who brings the infectious joy to the Moublie Awards, and Serge Bodnarchuk of Cold Crash Pictures, who hosts an 'ask us anything' chat. It was an amazing morning/day/night (delete as per continent) and you can watch it on our Youtube channel, but if you missed it and you want it in pure audio-only podcast form, here it is! Find out more about Isaac at isaaclastname.com and follow him on Twitter Subscribe to Serge's Youtube channel and follow him on Twitter Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

Conrad and Dan strap on asbestos leggings and propel themselves back in time to 1991 for the nostalgic family action/adventure The Rocketeer. Set in the Art Deco glamour of 1938 Los Angeles, it stars Bill Campbell as the daredevil pilot who stumbles upon a prototype jetpack and puts himself and his partner, Jenny (the breathtaking Jennifer Connolly), in the crosshairs of a mob gang lead by Paul Sorvino and the Nazis, led by secret spy and silver screen icon Neville (dashing but dangerous Timothy Dalton, in one of his first post-Bond roles). It has an adventuresome score by James Horner, VFX by ILM and is helmed by ILM-alumni and future Captain America director Joe Johnston. But why didn't it take off in 1991? And does it soar now? Find out! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

Heather Wixson, Managing Editor of Daily Dead and author of Monsters, Makeup and Effects – Volume 1, joins us on a tour of Clive Barker's sophomore film Nightbreed, a dark fantasy horror film based on his novella Cabal and starring Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby, director David Cronenberg as a suave serial killer (!), Hugh Quarshie and Doug Bradley. The film notoriously flopped on release in 1990, largely thanks to studio malarkey, reshoots and a compromised theatrical cut... but does the recently restored director's cut reveal a hidden gem of a movie? Is it a mysterious but beautiful freak living undiscovered in an underground city? Find out! Check out Heather Wixson on Twitter, buy her book Monsters, Makeup and Effects and get all your horror entertainment news from Daily Dead.   Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

Dan and Conrad don their tightest neon cycling outfits and strap themselves into a gyroscope to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Lawnmower Man. Directed by Brett Leonard and starring a pre-Bond Pierce Brosnan as a neuro-scientist and Jeff Fahey as his gardener and unwitting lab rat, the film is most definitely not based on anything written by one of the most famous horror authors of all time. Certainly not after the lawsuit. It's a classic tale of a well-intentioned scientist  whose combination of nootropic drugs and virtual reality gaming sessions results in a vengeful telekinetic cyber god. But do its ground-breaking CGI sequences and subtle character development stand the test of time, or should it be relegated to a landfill in China, alongside floppy disc drives and novelty mice? Find out!   Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

Dan and Conrad retreat back to their comfort zone of 80s cheese, only to be confronted by the relentless exuberant strangeness of W.D. Richter's The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984). It has an incredible cast. Peter Weller stars the titular Buckaroo – a daredevil neuroscientist particle physicist new romantic rock star and secret agent – with none other than Jeff Goldblum and Clancy Brown in his A-Team like crew. Ranged against them are John Lithgow as an alien-possessed Italian scientist and Christopher Lloyd as his side-kick John Bigbooty (it's pronounced Bigbooté!). Nothing could prepare them for the dense, unfathomable world building of this anarchic sci-fi romp, but crucially... is it actually any good? Or it is just a relic of the cocaine-fuelled 80s? Find out!   Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

We're delving into new territory, thanks to our Patrons' nominations of a wide selection of pre-80s films! In this episode, we're looking at Crypt of the Vampire – a 1964 Italian/Spanish gothic horror movie based on Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 novel Carmilla and starring the iconic Christopher Lee in a fetching dressing gown. It's got castles, thunderstorms, suits of armour, drippy candles, satanic rituals that involve lying naked face down on a marble floor (not great for the nips), lesbian eroticism, decidedly 60s eyeliner and some fantastic dream sequences. But does it make any sense? Does it actually have in vampires in it? Find out!   Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

Director Mark Pellington joins us to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of The Mothman Prophecies, a quietly disturbing supernatural thriller starring Richard Gere as a grief-stricken journalist who finds himself in a small West Virginia town helping a local police officer, Laura Linney, investigate a series of escalating unexplainable events. Based on a true account of a tragic disaster in Point Pleasant, the film's unique visual and audio style was hugely influential, but how does it hold up 20 years later? Find out! Follow Mark Pellington on Twitter and be sure to check out his new dance film The Severing, with premieres at the Slamdance Film Festival this week!   Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

We're celebrating the New Year with literal fireworks, re-igniting the smouldering embers of Firestarter (1984). It stars a very young Drew Barrymore as a pyrokinetic super child on the run with her psychic 'pusher' dad (David Keith... definitely not to be confused with Keith David). They're trying to escape shady government types like Martin Sheen, reprising his role from The Dead Zone as a power-crazed authoritarian, who wants to turn little Charlie into a weapon, and ethnically inappropriate George C. Scott as John 'Rain Bird', who wants to karate chop her nose into her brain while stealing her powers or something. Because he's native. Erm... Thank goodness we're joined by Felicia Lobo of the Girly Gore YouTube channel and Sinister Sisters podcast to help us navigate the conflagration of this often-overlooked Stephen King adaptation! But is it a hot classic or a dumpster fire? Find out! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus

Duncan Skiles, director of The Clovehitch Killer, returns for our special festive episode, in which we review a yuletide tale of a plucky kid who uses booby traps to repel a home invasion. No – not that one! It's the French horror/thriller Deadly Games (1989) – also known as 3615 code Père Noël and about a dozen other titles. It was released a year before Home Alone and is a lot darker. As in 'irreparable child trauma' darker. But bizarrely, it also features a cute grandpa and a gauzy montage set to an original Bonnie Tyler Christmas song. But is it a delightful, previously unwrapped Christmas gift or is it a bag of coal? Find out! And have yourself a happy, happy holiday season and a fantastic New Year! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

What if the classic fairy tale were laced with complex psycho-sexual drama between the king, the stepmother and the child cosplaying as her dead mum? What if the dwarves were mostly full-sized, scarred outlaws fleeing religious persecution?   What if it starred Sigourney Weaver and Sam Neill and was full of 90s gothic intensity? We're about to find out as we explore 1997's Snow White: A Tale of Terror – an attempt to cash in on the success of Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) that got eviscerated in post-production and dumped on cable TV. Is it a dark, glistening gem that should be rescued from the oubliette or an unsalvageable train wreck? Find out! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

In a special Patrons' Choice episode, we take a look back at Starman (1984), John Carpenter's romantic sci-fi fable starring Jeff Bridges in an Oscar-nominated role as a visiting alien and Karen Allen as the widow whose husband he impersonates. Kicking off with a disturbing alien birth sequence that showcases the combined talents of Rick Baker, Stan Winston and Dick Smith (yes, you read that right), Starman shifts gears into a road movie with a fish-out-of-water comedy and an odd couple romance thrown into the mix. But does it hold up 37 years later? Does it point towards a more nuanced career for the 'Master of Horror' that was not to be? Or does it collapse under its disturbing abduction romance tropes and reliance on post-ET sentimentality? Find out! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content