After the Hype

This week we wrap up our month of "Horror B-Sides" with John Carpenter's Ghost of Mars. Okay, cards on the table. When we first thought about doing a month of movies like this, we were hoping to find some hidden gems or uncover some inexplicable blind spots. That was not the case and it's clear to see why this film - and the others that came before it - are considered "b-sides." There's stuff to like in this movie, don't get us wrong. It's just...well...you'll have to listen for yourselves.

Growing tired of our lackluster choices so far this month, we here at Behind the Hype decided to try out a different horror filmmaker's b-sides to see if we might be able to turn this ship around. We chose Sam Raimi's "The Gift," which unfortunately was nowhere near as good as we had hoped and featured almost nothing that we could recognize as a Raimi'ism. It wasn't completely terrible and had some interesting bright spots, but it's certainly an odd duck in our month of odd duck films.

A creature feature with human-sized bugs eating people in subways seems like it was tailor-made for the talents of Guillermo Del Toro, but alas, that is not what we got. Mimic should have been so much better than it was, but its parts did not work together to create a cohesive whole. We break down all the things that didn't work, and point out some of the Del Toro staples that could have been so much more if...well...there had been so much more.

After a bit of a forced hiatus, we're back and excited to take a deep dive into what we think will be an awesome month of films. The theme is Horror B-Sides, and what that means is we're discussing some of the most famous horror directors and their "not-so-popular" fare. This week it's Wes Craven and his Voodoo Zombie Horror Film "The Serpent and the Rainbow." Is it a long-forgotten treasure or should it be dusted into oblivion and buried alive? Join us to find out.

This week on our show we brought in everyone's favorite "Zombie Dog" Matt Dykes to talk about the next film in our Richard Donner retrospective: "Lethal Weapon 2." We had a lot to talk about with this one, from the shoddy police work on display to the scene stealing/chewing Joe Pesci to the very nebulous villains hiding behind their diplomatic immunity. Fun film and equally fun conversation so let's get right to it.

For many of the millennial persuasion, Richard Donner is the guy who directed Superman, which in turn introduced us to the great Christopher Reeve.  Due to a lot of bullshit that is well-documented elsewhere, he was removed from the sequel and Richard Lester was brought in to take his place as director. That version of the film is the version we all grew up with and for the most part loved. And then The Donner Cut came along and gave us insight into what could have been and the results are...also very damn good. We go into all of this and more so let's not waste another minute.

Richard Donner had quite the film career in his lifetime and we wanted to honor that by spending a month reflecting on some of his best films (and one film he got to re-edit after it was cruelly taken away from him). We kick things off with his first critical and commercial breakthrough, "The Omen," starring Gregory Peck as a diplomat / ambassador whose son may or may not be (but totally is) the Antichrist. It's a well-paced horror film that never overstays its welcome, and it manages to pepper a few shocking kills throughout its runtime. That's not to say the film is without its share of flaws, and we go into those as well. An overall compelling start to our month honoring the late Richard Donner.

Ending our month of Jackie Chan is the film "Rush Hour," which totally doesn't hold up after all these years and is a bit of a frustrating watch. Probably would have been better to go with something like "The Foreigner" or literally anything else in his filmography. That said, there were a few things that we liked and it brought about a great wrap up discussion about the actor and just how diverse his body of work is.

Our Jackie Chan retrospective resumes with the absolutely goofball "Rumble in the Bronx," and we mean that in the most positive way possible. Sure, the plot is awful, but you're not watching one of these for the plot. You are? Really? Anyway, the action is top notch and thoroughly exciting and the third act is absolutely hilarious, if nonsensical. You owe it to yourself to check out this movie (and our episode on it) if you haven't.

This week we continue our month on Jackie Chan with the film that fans consider to be one of his best: Police Story. Chan himself also considers it to be one of his best in terms of action and stunts, and the film itself launched many sequels. We have a bit more nuanced of a take on the film, finding some of the plotting to be ridiculous and a frustrating distraction from the truly great action scenes. Specifically, we take some umbrage with the court scenes and the appalling acceptance of shady evidence. We have a lot of fun getting into the particulars of this fun movie so hit that play button and join us for a look behind the hype of Jackie Chan's Police Story.