Hit Factory

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We're joined by film writer and filmmaker Jonah Koslofsky to go long on the 1997 neo-noir mindbender Lost Highway, a turning point in the career of David Lynch which would lay the stylistic groundwork that would come to define his output through the next 20+ years. We discuss the filmmaker's singular (and unexpectedly humanist) aesthetic, the futile endeavor of talking about David Lynch literally, and how the director's ideological influences propagate art that antagonizes the thresholds of the neoliberal imaginary.

Follow Jonah Koslofsky on Twitter

Read Jonah's Philip Seymour Hoffman column 'P.S.H. I Love You' at The Spool

Read Nick Pinkerton's 'Lost Highway' piece "Switchback" on Substack (Subscriber read only)
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

We're guestless first the first time in a while to discuss Wes Anderson's feature directorial debut, 'Bottle Rocket'. We detail the film's turbulent origins from a 16mm short film that played Sundance to a DOA box office dud, praise the breakout performances from fledgling stars Owen & Luke Wilson, and position the movie adjacent to other 90s indie breakouts about the listlessness of youth at The End of History. Then, we briefly consider the case of Anderson's staunchest detractors and try to articulate a case in defense of those left cold by the director's storytelling.

Consider becoming a Hit Factory Patron to get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

What's your favorite scary movie? Culture writer Lindsay Lee Wallace joins us to revisit Wes Craven's slasher-reinvention "SCREAM" as it nears its 25th anniversary. We discuss the film's sensational cast of rising stars, its brilliant subversion of well-worn (and fundamentally conservative) slasher tropes, and the distinctively personal meditation on grief and loss that elevate the film beyond its genre constraints. We also talk the most recent developments in the ongoing IATSE negotiations and the recent tragedy on the set of "Rust".

Follow Lindsay Lee Wallace on Twitter.

Read Lindsay's piece "Why Women Watch Horror" for Blood Knife Mag

Read Lindsay's piece "Culture of Fear: 10 TV and Film Workers Call Out Hollywood Exploitation" for Bitch Media

Some Resources to support IATSE and its members (courtesy of Lindsay):

- Fundraiser for Halyna Hutchins’ family, from IATSE Local 600: https://gofund.me/4ed44435

- The Halyna Hutchins Memorial Scholarship Fund at the American Film Institute: https://afi.com/halyna-hutchins-scholarship-fund/…

- Aggregated petitions related to IATSE worker issues: https://iatse.net/take-action/

- IATSE Safety Hotline: If you are on a film set, you can call to report unsafe conduct on any set with an IATSE contract, even if you’re not a union worker: 844-422-9273 (IATSE safety hotline also has an app, IATSE Safety Info, available for Apple and android devices)

- Follow the @ia_stories Instagram account to read firsthand accounts of experiences people have had working in the industry

For the month of October, we are donating all of our Patreon proceeds to the UAWD Reform fund for John Deere workers on strike. Please also consider donating to the fund directly. John Deere workers are already being arrested, going without health insurance, medical care & need picket line provisions. Solidarity with all workers!
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

We recently joined our friends Forrest Miller and J. Andrew World on their livestream podcast Movie Night Extravaganza to revisit the 'The Blair Witch Project'. 

In this audio of our livestream episode, we watch extensive media and interviews released near the film's 1999 Sundance and theatrical premieres, and expand upon some key points from our original 2020 episode, including the film's legacy as a vanguard of viral marketing and found-footage cinema, its appeal to a greater sense of millennial malaise and other concepts popularized by Adam Curtis's 'HyperNormalisation', and the intrinsic horror that lies in the origin stories of our nation's founding.

Listen to our original 2020 episode on The Blair Witch Project.

Watch the full video of our livestream HERE.

Support Movie Night Extravaganza on Patreon. 

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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For the month of October, we are donating all of our Patreon proceeds to the UAWD Reform fund for John Deere workers on strike. Please also consider donating to the fund directly. John Deere workers are already being arrested, going without health insurance, medical care & need picket line provisions. Solidarity with all workers!

Mattie Lewis is a St. Louis-based writer and co-host of The PodHand - a podcast delving into Kentaro Miura's Berserk, dark fantasy, horror and all things grimdark. She joins us to discuss a singular work in the sci-fi/horror canon, Paul W.S. Anderson's 'Event Horizon'. We chart the film's troubled production history, extol the virtues of Anderson's workmanlike approach to his craft, and explain why attempts at film comparisons fail to capture the potency of the movie's brilliant idiosyncrasies.

Apologies for the audio issues on this one! Sometimes we record onto a grapefruit instead of a computer.

Follow Mattie Lewis on Twitter.

Read Mattie's stories "The Dark and Drowning Sea" and "Iron and Ashes" on Gumroad.

Listen and Subscribe to The PodHand

Read "Hell is Only a Word: The Enduring Terror of Event Horizon" by Miles Surrey at The Ringer.

Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.