“Only pain and suffering will make you realize who you are.”

A Halloween double feature! Hosts John Cribbs and Christopher Funderburg look at a pair of re-marriage thrillers in which the new spouse turns out to be diabolically psychotic: Audition and The Stepfather. Director Takashi Miike and screenwriter Donald E. Westlake (the respective creative forces behind each film) bring a masterful level of artistry and intelligence to the brutality (both physical and emotions) of the movies, taking genre filmmaking to its apex.

The conversation compares the films’ depiction of the differences between feminine and masculine performance, their themes about abuse and exploitation, and what each one has to say about the nature of evil. Beware of your fantasies of a perfect family and a perfect spouse, they might kill you.

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Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea for Two”

Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"