Originally released in 2023, we’re re-publishing this episode to celebrate the 50th anniversary of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW — the longest-running continuous theatrical release of all time and one of the most iconic cult films in cinema history.

What began as a fringe stage production in a tiny experimental theater space in London evolved into a global phenomenon — complete with costumes, callbacks, and midnight screenings that are still going strong half a century later.

In this episode, we trace ROCKY HORROR’s full journey: from its origins on the London stage to its ill-fated original release, its rise through the midnight movie circuit, and its ultimate legacy as a defining piece of cult cinema.

Whether you’ve done the Time Warp a thousand times or you’re just discovering it, this is the story behind THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW.

Theme Song: "There's Still a Little Bit of Time, If We Hurry and I Mean Hurry" by Slasher Film Festival Strategy.

This episode was written, produced and edited by Gary Horne, Justin Bishop & Todd A. Davis.

For episode archives, merch, show notes, and more, visit cinemashock.net

“Memories are meant to fade. They're designed that way for a reason.”

In the second half of our STRANGE DAYS deep dive, we pick up with the music—both on screen and behind the scenes—that gives the film its pulse. We explore how a soundtrack packed with industrial rock helps build the film’s atmosphere, and how composer Graeme Revell stepped in at the eleventh hour to pull it all together.

Then we dig into the film’s release, its disastrous box office performance, and the confused marketing campaign that helped sink it. We look at how critics received it at the time and how STRANGE DAYS slowly earned a second life as a cult classic in the years that followed.

Finally, we reflect on the film’s legacy—how it predicted everything from reality TV and social media to police body cams and memory-as-entertainment. We talk about what it gets right, what still makes us uncomfortable, and why it might just be Kathryn Bigelow’s most visionary film.

This is STRANGE DAYS, Part 2: the downfall, the rediscovery, and the relevance that still hits hard thirty years later.

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ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS:

Andy Lancaster | asotirov | Benjamin Yates | Caverly | courtland ashley | curtcake5k | Elton Novara | Hunter D Mackenzie | Jackson_Baker | LillymckY | Lucy Lawson | MagicBloat | Nate Izod | Nathan Kelley | Robert Stinson | Spacemonkey73

Theme Song: "There's Still a Little Bit of Time, If We Hurry and I Mean Hurry" by Slasher Film Festival Strategy.

This episode was written, produced and edited by Gary Horne, Justin Bishop & Todd A. Davis.

For episode archives, merch, show notes, and more, visit cinemashock.net

“This is your life. Right here. Right now.”

Before it became one of the most underrated sci-fi films of the 1990s, STRANGE DAYS was just a few scribbles in a notebook. In Part 1 of our deep dive, we trace the film’s journey from James Cameron’s original 1985 concept through its years in development and the real-world chaos that helped inspire Kathryn Bigelow’s vision of a crumbling millennium.

We explore how Cameron and Bigelow collaborated with screenwriter Jay Cocks to shape the film’s story, how Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett were cast, and how Bigelow brought the gritty streets of Los Angeles to life—shooting almost entirely on location and inventing new camera rigs to create groundbreaking first-person POV sequences. We’ll take you all the way through the final days of production, including the now-legendary New Year’s Eve shoot involving 10,000 extras, 50 cops, and at least a few rave casualties.

This is Strange Days, Part 1: the story of how a bold, unclassifiable, and wildly ahead-of-its-time film came to be.

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Join now at cinemashock.net/plus

ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS:

Andy Lancaster | asotirov | Benjamin Yates | Caverly | courtland ashley | curtcake5k | Elton Novara | Hunter D Mackenzie | Jackson_Baker | LillymckY | Lucy Lawson | MagicBloat | Nate Izod | Nathan Kelley | Robert Stinson | Spacemonkey73

Theme Song: "There's Still a Little Bit of Time, If We Hurry and I Mean Hurry" by Slasher Film Festival Strategy.

This episode was written, produced and edited by Gary Horne, Justin Bishop & Todd A. Davis.

For episode archives, merch, show notes, and more, visit cinemashock.net

They did it again! The boys saw Fantastic Four this weekend and they're giving their Spoiler Free thoughts! (There will be spoilers at the end, but we'll give you a heads up). 

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In the second half of our deep dive into Mamoru Oshii’s GHOST IN THE SHELL, we pick up with the film’s release and the surprising reception that followed. Despite high expectations, GHOST IN THE SHELL underperformed at the box office, but quickly found a second life on home video, where it became a breakout hit in the West and helped bring anime into the cultural mainstream.

We share our own thoughts on the film, from its unforgettable visuals to its haunting score, and dig into the philosophical questions it raises about technology, consciousness, and identity. Finally, we explore the movie’s enduring legacy—not just in its own ever-expanding franchise, but in the countless films and creators it inspired.

Join us as we wrap up our exploration of a landmark work that forever changed how the world saw animation—and what animation could say.

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ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS:

Andy Lancaster | asotirov | Benjamin Yates | Caverly | courtland ashley | curtcake5k | Elton Novara | Hunter D Mackenzie | Jackson_Baker | LillymckY | Lucy Lawson | MagicBloat | Nate Izod | Nathan Kelley | Robert Stinson | Spacemonkey73

Theme Song: "There's Still a Little Bit of Time, If We Hurry and I Mean Hurry" by Slasher Film Festival Strategy.

This episode was written, produced and edited by Gary Horne, Justin Bishop & Todd A. Davis.

For episode archives, merch, show notes, and more, visit cinemashock.net

For the next film in our Virtual Insanity series, we’re headed to the land of the rising sun to uncover the story behind one of the most iconic animes ever made: Mamoru Oshii’s GHOST IN THE SHELL.

In this episode, we trace the origins of the cyberpunk classic, starting with Masamune Shirow’s original manga and following the career of visionary director Mamoru Oshii up through his groundbreaking work on GHOST IN THE SHELL. We dig into the film’s production process—from its innovative animation techniques to the challenges of bringing such a complex story to the screen—and look at how it was marketed ahead of release. Along the way, we explore how anime began to make waves beyond Japan’s borders, and how landmark films like AKIRA helped pave the way for a global audience hungry for ambitious, adult animation.

Join us as we set the stage for a film that forever changed the conversation about technology, identity, and what it means to be alive.

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ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS:

Andy Lancaster | asotirov | Benjamin Yates | Caverly | courtland ashley | curtcake5k | Elton Novara | Hunter D Mackenzie | Jackson_Baker | LillymckY | Lucy Lawson | MagicBloat | Nate Izod | Nathan Kelley | Robert Stinson | Spacemonkey73

Theme Song: "There's Still a Little Bit of Time, If We Hurry and I Mean Hurry" by Slasher Film Festival Strategy.

This episode was written, produced and edited by Gary Horne, Justin Bishop & Todd A. Davis.

For episode archives, merch, show notes, and more, visit cinemashock.net

We finally did it. The gang got together, including some of YOU, the subscribers, and we saw James Gunn's SUPERMAN! Join us as Justin, Todd and Gary break down their thoughts on this new movie and where we think the DCEU can go from here. 

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"You could sit at home, and do like absolutely nothing, and your name goes through like 17 computers a day. 1984? Yeah right, man. That's a typo. Orwell is here now. He's livin' large. We have no names, man. No names. We are nameless!"

HACKERS hit theaters in 1995—and mostly flatlined. But before it became a cult phenomenon, it was a risky production that blended cutting-edge visual effects, rave culture aesthetics, and a sincere belief that the digital frontier was worth fighting for. In this episode, we dive into the making of the film, the marketing missteps that doomed its initial release, and the slow rise of HACKERS as a touchstone for cyberpunk cinema and internet culture. We’ll also share our own thoughts on its uncanny prescience, its unforgettable style, and why it still resonates with audiences today.

Suit up, grab your laptop, and join us as we trace how Hackers went from box-office flop to a beloved artifact of the wired age.

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ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS:

Andy Lancaster | asotirov | Benjamin Yates | Caverly | courtland ashley | curtcake5k | Elton Novara | Hunter D Mackenzie | Interzone78 | Jackson_Baker | Jvance325 | LillymckY | Lucy Lawson | MagicBloat | Nate Izod | Nathan Kelley | Robert Stinson

Theme Song: "There's Still a Little Bit of Time, If We Hurry and I Mean Hurry" by Slasher Film Festival Strategy.

This episode was written, produced and edited by Gary Horne, Justin Bishop & Todd A. Davis.

For episode archives, merch, show notes, and more, visit cinemashock.net

"This is our world now. The world of the electron and the switch; the beauty of the baud. We exist without nationality, skin color, or religious bias. You wage wars, murder, cheat, lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals. Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto."

Before HACKERS became a neon-drenched cult classic, it was the brainchild of screenwriter Rafael Moreu, who embedded himself in the early hacker underground to capture the real pulse of digital rebellion. In this episode, we trace the film’s roots in the authentic hacker culture of the early ’90s — from clandestine meetups and phone phreaking to the media frenzy that turned hackers into urban legends. You’ll hear how director Iain Softley joined the project, why the production aimed for subcultural credibility over Hollywood cliché, and how a young cast — led by Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller — brought this wired world to life.

Jack in with us as we uncover the origin story of HACKERS, where fact, fiction, and cyberpunk style collided.

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ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS:

Andy Lancaster | asotirov | Benjamin Yates | Caverly | courtland ashley | curtcake5k | Elton Novara | Hunter D Mackenzie | Interzone78 | Jackson_Baker | Jvance325 | LillymckY | Lucy Lawson | MagicBloat | Nate Izod | Nathan Kelley | Robert Stinson

Theme Song: "There's Still a Little Bit of Time, If We Hurry and I Mean Hurry" by Slasher Film Festival Strategy.

This episode was written, produced and edited by Gary Horne, Justin Bishop & Todd A. Davis.

For episode archives, merch, show notes, and more, visit cinemashock.net

"That's reality for you. No saving, no resetting."

For the next entry in our Virtual Insanity series, we’re diving headfirst into the world of early virtual reality—and the filmmaker who helped bring it to the big screen. This week, we're going behind the scenes on VIRTUOSITY, the 1995 cyber thriller starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.

In our last episode, we explored how THE LAWNMOWER MAN came to be—and how its unexpected success paved the way for VIRTUOSITY, a film already deep in development before Brett Leonard came aboard. This time, we’re zeroing in on VIRTUOSITY itself: its chaotic production, its failure to replicate Leonard’s earlier success, and how that shaped the trajectory of his career. We’ll also dig into the film’s surprisingly sharp take on Artificial Intelligence and consider where it fits within the broader legacy of cyberpunk fiction.

Want to support the show?

ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS:

Andy Lancaster | asotirov | Benjamin Yates | Caverly | courtland ashley | curtcake5k | Elton Novara | Hunter D Mackenzie | Interzone78 | Jackson_Baker | Jvance325 | Lucy Lawson | MagicBloat | Nate Izod | Nathan Kelley | Robert Stinson

Theme Song: "There's Still a Little Bit of Time, If We Hurry and I Mean Hurry" by Slasher Film Festival Strategy.

This episode was written, produced and edited by Gary Horne, Justin Bishop & Todd A. Davis.

For episode archives, merch, show notes, and more, visit cinemashock.net