99 Cent Rental

This week Bryan and Dave take in David Cronenberg's digest of divorce horror, The Brood. Samantha Eggar spawns killer munchkins, Art Hindle isn't very good at anything he does, Oliver Reed is a condescending jerk. It's a movie possessed of a terrible anger and frustration as Cronenberg, emotionally exhausted and unable to process his feelings put it all on the page and the result is the hard divorce horror movie that meant to spit in the face of Kramer vs. Kramer. Not for the faint of heart, The Brood is often like looking into the affairs of a person who chose to confide in you specifically in order to get something heavy off their chest but are you up to the task?

This week, Bryan and Dave are ready for their close-up as they address a listener request to explore Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard through the lens of horror and cult and, well, they don't exactly pull it off but they do turn in a deep dive into Hollywood's silent era, the golden age of sound, and how it manages to keep up the fabulous illusion of fantasy with a ruthless stranglehold on every piece of machinery that surrounds it and supports it, including the very people that make it all possible.

Sunset Boulevard is a drag queen's dream come true. Silent star, Gloria Swanson returns to the screen to portray the larger-than-life fallen star, Norma Desmond with grand sweeping gestures and some of the most quotable dialog in Hollywood history. Every aspect of this movie is lifted up and supported by every other piece. From Billy Wilder's writing and direction, to the photography of John Seitz, to the costuming of Edith Head, to the score provided by Franz Waxman.

Join us for a deep dive into one of the greatest movies ever produced by Hollywood.

This week Bryan and Dave take a look at the criminally horror movie by Tobe Hooper, The Funhouse from 1981. Tobe Hooper caught everyone's attention with the absolutely legendary horror movie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and continued to toy with the tropes established in that movie through his other killer hillbilly movie, Eaten Alive, and straight into this one when he finally seems to get it all out of his system.

Listen to the rest of the episode here

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This week Dave and Bryan take a look at Allan Arkush's follow up to Rock n Roll High School, the rock musical Looney Tunes mayhem of Get Crazy. It's a story of three filmmakers butting heads over the movie they were trying to make. Arkush intended for a nostalgia-drenched tribute to his teenage years at The Fillmore East in the style of Scorcese's The Last Waltz, the producer wanted a fast and stupid visual comedy in the style of Airplane! and the Executive Producer wanted a movie that was going to fail and fail badly so his tax shelter investors could turn a healthy profit. Somehow, they all got what they wanted in the end.

Here's a taste of this week's episode of Bring Me The Axe, looking at Fred Dekker's 1986 drive-in zombie pastiche, Night of the Creeps. It's a cult favorite that's just wall-to-wall tropes that Bryan and Dave loved to death when they were kids but have things aged well with the passing of time? Some of them, sure. Others, not so much. Subscribe, listen, and find out why.

Subscribe to Bring Me The Axe! so you never miss an episode: https://open.spotify.com/show/143VD2m2wUwWe90MA7j9NZ?si=6266b02b5f1c477c

Bryan and Dave get ready to break the ice and take a trip back to 1986 to relive BMX madness in the form of Rad, a sports movie that fails on every front and still manages to command a significant cult movie presence in history.

It's the story of Cru Jones, a small-town kid with a dream who just need one chance to prove to the world that he's best BMX rider in the world, to prove that he's rad. Fortunately, the world is ready to just hand over the glory as he doesn't really have to work or struggle very hard to realize his dreams.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iLuySHQkPU&t=8s

Bryan and Dave celebrate one year of podcasting at Bring Me The Axe with a deep dive into George Romero's iconic, game changing piece of zombie armageddon, Dawn of the Dead. Dave makes an observation about the movie beyond its consumerist criticism that hasn't yet been explored and Bryan gets a little carried away while gaming out the grim truth about how the world would end amidst a slow-moving zombie plague.

Get the full episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2X1mp466Z1wtcaTEVsGsLU?si=71831496f77f4d62

This week, Dave and Bryan celebrate Black History Month with a look at Bill Gunn's delirious 1973 vampire movie, Ganja & Hess, which stars Gunns, Marlene Clark, and Duane Jones from Night of the Living Dead. It's a sleepy, dreamy art film about black identity, gender, class, and the loneliness of a man without ancestry as damaged people deal with themes of blackness in America through the gauzy lens of a vampire movie. Often lumped in with blaxploitation movies like Blacula and Shaft, it is anything but.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEM9oEKC1Ow

Dave and Bryan take a look at a staple of the cult movie circuit, Brian De Palma's bizarre pop music opera and riff on gothic horror, Phantom of the Paradise. It's a wild ride through the nostalgia wave of the 1970's, standout performances from a bright cast, and the music of the movie's villain, Paul Williams, whose hair is just magnificent!

Trailer: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9yof8cwli4⁠

This week Bryan and Dave take a trip to Baltimore for a look at John Waters' transitional picture, Polyester, bridging the gap between his combative, confrontational midnight shockers of the 1970s and his commercial breakthrough in the 1980s. This tour de force let the world know that Divine was more than just an art terrorist in drag but a real, capable comedic actor. When it comes to Polyester, it's the best of both worlds for John Waters fans: An overwrought domestic melodrama in the style of Douglas Sirk and the pure movie chicanery of William Castle. See it in Odorama!

Trailer: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lNlEp5qH3E⁠