Hey hey movie lovers and fascism haters! Listen in as Neighbor Sai and Neighbor Phil join Kelly and Brandon in discussing the infamously horrific movie A Serbian Film.

TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING

Seriously, before we go on, please know there aren't enough trigger warnings for this episode. Themes include sexual assault, femicide, pedophilia, necrophilia, and family annihilation. We actually can't recommend watching this one before you listen. And, honestly, if any of the themes bring up trauma for you, don't even listen. Now that that's out of the way ... 

A Serbian Film is a 2010 horror movie about an aging porn star that gets a job offer for a movie that will set up his family--and his son--for life. The catch? He can't see a script or know anything about the film before he commits. He loves his family and wants to be a provider, so he agrees. 

This goes about as well as you'd expect. 

This film has been banned in numerous countries, including Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and Norway. In order to be released in the UK and US, the filmmakers had to remove 6 minutes of footage, and even then received an NC-17 rating. We had to buy a physical copy in order to watch it, and honestly? It's okay that it's hard to find and nearly impossible to stream. Buying it likely put us on a list somewhere, and you know what? That's fine by us. It should be hard to get your hands on this one. 

Because of the infamous nature of this movie, we recorded this episode in three parts: the intro is before watching the film, the middle section was recorded right after viewing, and the meat of the discussion was recorded ten days later. As such, we have 3 cocktail pairings. 

• Part 1: a shot of Malort. 
  • Much like this movie, Malort is a one-time-only experience for a most people. 
• Part 2: a shot of Navip Slivovitz, a Serbian plum brandy 
  • We felt it was important to highlight Serbia and toast using a classic drink from the region. 
• Part 3: a riff on an Aviation subbing out the cherry liqueur with the Serbian plum brandy. 
  • 2 oz gin
  • 1 oz plum brandy
  • 1 oz lemon juice
  • 1/4 oz creme de violette (we tried a version with apricot liqueur, but we like the classic better)
  • Shake all ingredients in a shaker tin with ice and pour into a chilled glass. Cheers! 

*Production note: the third section was recorded on a Hot Day In Chicago, and as such, we couldn't fully edit out the air conditioner noise ... so the first and last part of the third section is a bit choppy on the ears. Bear with us! 

**Musical interludes: "Industrial Beat (Reconnaissance)" by Dylan Kelk/SilverIllusionist (Freesound)

Hey hey movies lovers and fascism haters! Filmmaker, writer, and all around great guy Bryan Young joins co-hosts Kelly Swails and Brandon Wilhelm to discuss a few movies directed by and featuring two silent-era giants: Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin. Topics include: 

• How fast the movie industry changed during the silent era
• How without Normand, we wouldn't have Chaplin
• Why each of these filmmakers saw their movies get banned during their career
• Who gets to be forgiven and who gets to have a legacy (hint: it's usually not women creatives)
• The last time Kelly bought sloe gin 

On that note, let's discuss the cocktail we paired with our discussion. When Charlie Chaplin exploded onto the Hollywood scene, the famed Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City created his namesake cocktail. It's surprisingly light, refreshing, not too sweet, and fairly low-ABV as cocktails go. We would totally batch this for a silent movie viewing party. We may rename it The Mabel Normand when and if we do that. 

You know what? There are no rules. This cocktail is called the Mabel Normand now. 

The Mabel Normand

• 1 oz sloe gin
• 1 oz apricot liqueur
• 1 oz lime juice

Add all ingredients to a shaker tin with ice. Shake until frosty and pour into a chilled glass. Garnish with a dried lime wheel or a lime twist, if you like. 

Hey movie lovers and fascism haters! Our latest episode of Barred Movies isn't a movie at all but an episode of the original Twilight Zone series. Join hosts Brandon Wilhelm and Kelly Swails and guest Dacey Arashiba as they discuss "The Encounter." This episode first aired on May 1st, 1964 and features Neville Brand as a WWII veteran, George Takei as a Japanese-American man looking for landscaping work, and a stolen katana that may or may not be out for revenge. 

We paired our chat with a bottle of Moon on the Water sake; we chose this one because it was brewed using water from Hiroshima. Cheers! 

Also, a production note: we recently upgraded our audio equipment (yay!) but the new microphones are quite sensitive, which resulted in interference when we hit the table for emphasis. Please be patient as we work out the kinks. 

Hey hey movie lovers and fascism haters!! Our latest Barred Movies episode features Kelly Swails, Brandon Wilhelm, and movie nerd extraordinaire Brice Puls discussing the not-banned-but-very-controversial 80's movie Twilight Zone: the Movie, including the tragic helicopter accident that killed two children and one adult during filming. Highlights include:

• Cocaine-fueled New Hollywood directors
• Auteur theory
• The genius of the original Twilight Zone series
• Powerful rich men getting away with literal murder

We paired this one with two cocktails. In "honor" of John Landis and the rampant cocaine use in 1980s Hollywood, we chose a cocktail called California Cocaine. We left out the pineapple juice and poured it as a shot. It's terrible and we can't recommend it.

1/2 oz blue curacao

1/2 oz light rum

1/2 oz Southern Comfort

1/2 oz amaretto

Shake over ice and pour into a shot glass. Drink at your own peril.

And since caffeine is our current stimulant of choice now, we went with an Espresso Martini. There are literally dozens of recipes for this out there in cocktail land, but ours is as follows:

1 oz espresso (decaf is fine here!)

1 oz Mr. Black coffee liquer

1 oz vodka

dash of chocolate bitters

Shake over ice and pour into a chilled coupe glass. This can be endlessly modified. Want a bit more body? Add 1/2 oz amaro. Sweetness? Add a bit of simple syrup. Into licorice? Sub out the vodka with ouzo and use orange bitters instead of chocolate. Don't have an espresso machine? Use strong cold brew. You get the idea. 

Welcome, friends, to our discussion of Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. Join Brandon Wilhelm, Kelly Swails, and guest Bartender Riley as we dissect the story of Christ. Discussion points include (but are not limited to): 

• Judas: friend or foe?
• Mary Magdalene: whore, disciple, or somewhere in between? 
• Jesus's carpentry work for the Romans 
• Harvey Keitel's Brooklyn accent

and more! 

Oh, and if you'd like to drink with us, Bartender Riley created a drink! It's a riff on the Corpse Reviver no. 2 (heh heh) dubbed The Resurrection. If you can't source the Koval, you can likely sub in another ginger liqueur. And if you can't find Malort, near you, never fear: you can order it straight from the source. London dry gin will absolutely work, but if you have a gin with citrus/grapefruit notes, use that. 

The Resurrection

1 oz gin 

1 oz Malort (trust us)

1 oz Koval Ginger

1/4 oz demerara syrup

Add all ingredients to a shaker tin filled with ice; shake until the tin is frosty. Strain into a chilled coupe glass and enjoy. 

Hello world! The first Banned Movies podcast is here. Our guest is alcohol professional Ambrosia Borowski, and the movie is Birth of a Nation. If you'd like to make the cocktail we've paired with this discussion to drink along with us, here it is. 

White Lady

The Savoy Cocktail Book version:

1/4 part lemon juice

1/4 part Cointreau

1/2 part dry gin

Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass. 

The Barred Movies version:

1/2 ounce of lemon juice 

3/4 ounce of Cointreau

1-1/2 ounces of dry gin

Shake well and strain (double strain, if you're particular about lemon pulp) into a chilled Nick and Nora and garnish with a lemon peel. 

Take a sip, kick back, and listen to our wide-ranging discussion about this racist-as-fuck movie.