Cinema Shock

For our first official inductee into the new Psychotronic Hall of Fame, we could think of no one better than Joe Dante, a director who embodies everything that psychotronic cinema stands for, from his roots as a Monster Kid and graduate of the Corman school, through his later mainstream breakthrough, which he achieved without ever abandoning his love of classic genre cinema. For the entire month of December, we'll be exploring the films and career of Joe Dante.

This week, we're going back to where it all (basically) began: with Dante's first solo directing effort, the Corman-produced JAWS rip-off, PIRANHA (1978)!

What could have easily ended up being the cheap cash grab that it was intended to be, Dante's natural filmmaking ability couldn't help but shine through, creating a film that's still being discussed with fondness 40 years later.

We'll dive into Dante's early career and how it lead to his work with Corman and ultimately, this film.

Does its placement as a stepping stone for Dante's career make it an eligible part of the Psychotronic Canon? Let us know by voting in this week's poll!

VOTE: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K6KLB87

Visit our website at www.psychotronicfilmsociety.com. There you'll find all of our past episodes and our full list of Psychotronic Hall of Famers!

Theme song: “Foreign Body” by the Slasher Film Festival Strategy from their album PSYCHIC SHIELD. More info: http://slasherfilmfestivalstrategy.bandcamp.com

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Gary celebrated his birthday in August by programming the entire month of films for the podcast, so it only stands to reason that Justin would get to do the same for his birth month of November. All month long, we'll be showcasing films that he's personally chosen, all films he's wanted to talk about on the show for a long time, but has never had the chance...until now!

On the fourth and final week of this series, we're taking a look at yet another essential genre that we've yet to fully dive into here on the podcast: the martial arts movie!

And to do so, we're going back to the film that essentially brought the genre to the United States and the man responsible for it, ENTER THE DRAGON starring the legendary Bruce Lee.

How did Lee go from a relative unknown in America to a major movie star in Hong Kong before making the film that was set to turn him into an international star? We'll discuss the creation of ENTER THE DRAGON as well as how its legacy has been affected by the untimely death of its star.

Is ENTER THE DRAGON an essential cult film, worthy of inclusion in the Psychotronic Canon? Let us know by voting in this week's poll!

VOTE: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TQRGB2H

Visit our website at www.psychotronicfilmsociety.com. There you'll find all of our past episodes and our full list of Psychotronic Hall of Famers!

Theme song: “Foreign Body” by the Slasher Film Festival Strategy from their album PSYCHIC SHIELD. More info: http://slasherfilmfestivalstrategy.bandcamp.com

Join our Discord server! https://discord.gg/5Q3uUDv

Follow the show: 

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Please rate review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts!

Gary celebrated his birthday in August by programming the entire month of films for the podcast, so it only stands to reason that Justin would get to do the same for his birth month of November. All month long, we'll be showcasing films that he's personally chosen, all films he's wanted to talk about on the show for a long time, but has never had the chance...until now!

On this week's episode, we're moving forward a bit to 1969 to a groundbreaking film, one that helped to kickstart a new era in Hollywood and set a new bar for independent cinema.

This week, we're discussing EASY RIDER, directed by Dennis Hopper. We'll dive into its history and origin as a Roger Corman film and how it was transformed into the symbol of the counterculture that it would eventually become.

We're joined by special guest Brittany Brock on this episode!

Is EASY RIDER a movie that should go into the Psychotronic Canon? Is it one of the essential cult films?

VOTE: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6X5VZRP

Visit our website at www.psychotronicfilmsociety.com. There you'll find all of our past episodes and our full list of Psychotronic Hall of Famers!

Theme song: “Foreign Body” by the Slasher Film Festival Strategy from their album PSYCHIC SHIELD. More info: http://slasherfilmfestivalstrategy.bandcamp.com

Join our Discord server! https://discord.gg/5Q3uUDv

Follow the show: 

Follow Justin: 

Follow Gary:

Please rate review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts!

Gary celebrated his birthday in August by programming the entire month of films for the podcast, so it only stands to reason that Justin would get to do the same for his birth month of November. All month long, we'll be showcasing films that he's personally chosen, all films he's wanted to talk about on the show for a long time, but has never had the chance...until now!

This week, we're covering a genre that, somehow, we've never touched on before on the show: the western. Specifically, the Spaghetti Western.

And we figured, if we're going to cover a Spaghetti Western, we should cover a film by the director who defined the genre, the maestro Sergio Leone

Although his Man With No Name Trilogy were the films that solidified the rules of what made a Spaghetti Western, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968) is considered by many to be the apex of the subgenere, one of Leone's best films and one of the greatest westerns of all time.

We'll track its history in this episode, discuss its creation, and try to decide if it's a film that should be a part of the Psychotronic Canon.

That last part is up to you! Let us know what you think by voting in our poll!

VOTE: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XQCM77C

Visit our website at www.psychotronicfilmsociety.com. There you'll find all of our past episodes and our full list of Psychotronic Hall of Famers!

Theme song: “Foreign Body” by the Slasher Film Festival Strategy from their album PSYCHIC SHIELD. More info: http://slasherfilmfestivalstrategy.bandcamp.com

Join our Discord server! https://discord.gg/5Q3uUDv

Follow the show: 

Follow Justin: 

Follow Gary:

Please rate review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts!

Gary celebrated his birthday in August by programming the entire month of films for the podcast, so it only stands to reason that Justin would get to do the same for his birth month of November. All month long, we'll be showcasing films that he's personally chosen, all films he's wanted to talk about on the show for a long time, but has never had the chance...until now!

For week one, we're starting with a film by Justin's favorite director — and one we've covered on the show in the past — the great Stanley Kubrick. We're joined by special guest Chris Phillips this week to discuss Kubrick's Cold War black comedy DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB.

The story behind this film is a fascinating one and we'll talk about how the film went from its original concept as a straight forward thriller about impending nuclear annihilation to its final form as a hilarious and prescient comedy classic.

Does DR. STRANGELOVE deserve to be a part of the Psychotronic Canon? Let us know by voting in this week's poll!

VOTE: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TWBDN53

Visit our website at www.psychotronicfilmsociety.com. There you'll find all of our past episodes and our full list of Psychotronic Hall of Famers!

Theme song: “Foreign Body” by the Slasher Film Festival Strategy from their album PSYCHIC SHIELD. More info: http://slasherfilmfestivalstrategy.bandcamp.com

Join our Discord server! https://discord.gg/5Q3uUDv

Follow the show: 

Follow Justin: 

Follow Gary:

Please rate review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts!

“To paraphrase Pauline Kael, the movies are so rarely great art that if we cannot appreciate great trash, there is no reason to go. I'd draw a distinction, however, between the classic horror genre, which has produced masterpieces from NOSFERATUto SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, and the Dead Teenager Movie, which I define as a movie that starts out with a lot of teenagers, and kills them all, except one to populate the sequel.” —Roger Ebert

For the month of October, we're celebrating Halloween the only way we know how: by watching a whole bunch of horror movies! Specifically, this October, we're taking a look at a small piece of horror film history by diving into the post-SCREAM teen horror revival of the late 90s and early 00s!

For our fifth and final week of this series, we're taking a look at the film that may very well have been the nail in the coffin for the genre, 2001's VALENTINE.

How did VALENTINEmake the huge changes from the source material (a novel, published in 1996) to the final film that hit screens? We'll go over all the dirty details on this week's episode!

Thanks for joining us for this Halloween series! We'd love to know what you thought of it! Drop us a line on any of the social media accounts listed below and we'll see you next week for the start of a whole new series for November!

Visit our website at www.psychotronicfilmsociety.com. There you'll find all of our past episodes and our full list of Psychotronic Hall of Famers!

Theme song: “Foreign Body” by the Slasher Film Festival Strategy from their album PSYCHIC SHIELD. More info: http://slasherfilmfestivalstrategy.bandcamp.com

Join our Discord server! https://discord.gg/5Q3uUDv

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Please rate review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts!

If you listened to our recent CHERRY FALLS episode, you heard us mention the creation of something called the Psychotronic Canon.

In this episode, we discuss in detail exactly what the Psychotronic Canon is and what the status of the Psychotronic Hall of Fame will be going forward.

Let us know what you think of this change! We're excited about the possibilities it opens up for us going forward.

Visit our website at www.psychotronicfilmsociety.com. There you'll find all of our past episodes and our full list of Psychotronic Hall of Famers!

Theme song: “Foreign Body” by the Slasher Film Festival Strategy from their album PSYCHIC SHIELD. More info: http://slasherfilmfestivalstrategy.bandcamp.com

Join our Discord server! https://discord.gg/5Q3uUDv

Follow the show: 

Follow Justin: 

Follow Gary:

Please rate review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts!

For the month of October, we're celebrating Halloween the only way we know how: by watching a whole bunch of horror movies! Specifically, this October, we're taking a look at a small piece of horror film history by diving into the post-SCREAM teen horror revival of the late 90s and early 00s!

This week, we’re focusing on a lesser known film of the era, although one that’s starting to gain a bit of a cult following, largely thanks to a recent blu-ray release from Scream Factory. CHERRY FALLS was a film directed by an up-and-coming indie director from Australia who was poised to be the next big thing. But cold feet from the studio, spawned by a series of battles with the MPAA, lead to the film being dumped on the USA Network in a highly edited form.

On this episode, we’ll discuss the film’s creation, as well as all of the issues surrounding its release, plus a discussion of what might have been.

We’re joined once again by guests Craig Carson and Myles Griffin, both of whom were passionate enough about this film to get it a nomination for the Psychotronic Canon!

Wait, the Psychotronic Canon, you say? Not the Hall of Fame? That’s right, this week marks what could be considered a bit of a reboot of this podcast, or at least a slight restructuring. It’ll all be explained in this week’s ONE SHOT episode, so be sure to check that one out so you’ll know the state of the podcast going forward!

VOTE: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZJGHQQM

Visit our website at www.psychotronicfilmsociety.com. There you'll find all of our past episodes and our full list of Psychotronic Hall of Famers!

Theme song: “Foreign Body” by the Slasher Film Festival Strategy from their album PSYCHIC SHIELD. More info: http://slasherfilmfestivalstrategy.bandcamp.com

Join our Discord server! https://discord.gg/5Q3uUDv

Follow the show: 

Follow Justin: 

Follow Gary:

Please rate review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts!

For the month of October, we're celebrating Halloween the only way we know how: by watching a whole bunch of horror movies! Specifically, this October, we're taking a look at a small piece of horror film history by diving into the post-SCREAM teen horror revival of the late 90s and early 00s!

Our next entry: Robert Rodriguez’s THE FACULTY!

Hoping to cash in on the success of SCREAM, Dimension Films (who’d released that movie) began work on a new horror film, this one an homage to classic sci-fi horror such as INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and THE THING. Hoping to bring a bit of self-awareness to it a la SCREAM, Dimension hired that film’s screenwriter Kevin Williamson, hoping to strike gold again.

We’ll get into all the details on how that came about, including how Dimension talked the film’s original writers into giving away their credit, and how Robert Rodriguez — hot off the success of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN — came to direct the film.

And this week, we’re also nominating the film for the Psychotronic Hall of Fame!

VOTE: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9DFZ2VH

Visit our website at www.psychotronicfilmsociety.com. There you'll find all of our past episodes and our full list of Psychotronic Hall of Famers!

Theme song: “Foreign Body” by the Slasher Film Festival Strategy from their album PSYCHIC SHIELD. More info: http://slasherfilmfestivalstrategy.bandcamp.com

Join our Discord server! https://discord.gg/5Q3uUDv

Follow the show: 

Follow Justin: 

Follow Gary:

Please rate review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts!

For the month of October, we're celebrating Halloween the only way we know how: by watching a whole bunch of horror movies! Specifically, this October, we're taking a look at a small piece of horror film history by diving into the post-SCREAM teen horror revival of the late 90s and early 00s!

Our second entry in this series is URBAN LEGEND, and we’re joined on this episode by guests Craig Carson and Myles Griffin!

Released only a year and a half into he new slasher movie craze, URBAN LEGEND attempted to capitalize on the success of SCREAM by creating another self-aware horror flick, this one steeped in the lore of famous urban legends instead of horror movie tropes. Was it successful?

From an artistic point, that’s for the audience to decide, but from a financial point? Yeah, it made a boatload of money, thus ensuring that this new slasher trend would continue.

In this episode, we’ll dive into the creation of the film and discuss its ongoing reputation as a late era slasher flick.

Visit our website at www.psychotronicfilmsociety.com. There you'll find all of our past episodes and our full list of Psychotronic Hall of Famers!

Theme song: “Foreign Body” by the Slasher Film Festival Strategy from their album PSYCHIC SHIELD. More info: http://slasherfilmfestivalstrategy.bandcamp.com

Join our Discord server! https://discord.gg/5Q3uUDv

Follow the show: 

Follow Justin: 

Follow Gary:

Please rate review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts!