Kicking the Seat

For decades, movie studios have struggled to translate Capcom's Resident Evil video games into a consistent and compelling franchise.

Sadly, the quest continues.

Zach Cregger, hot off of Weapons, has lent his...erm, unique horror/comedy sensibilities to this Great Value version of the T-Virus outbreak--wherein a blood-borne infection turns humans into mutants, zombies, and all manner of Stranger Things knock-off monsters.*

Brian (Austin Abrams) is a hapless medical courier tasked with delivering a Top Secret package to Raccoon City. In pure fetch-quest fashion, he's sidetracked by undead dogs, rabid pedestrians, shady scientists, and his own mathematically improbable ineptitude at just about everything.

Resident Evil is a horror game; Cregger's movie is a 90-minute episode of "Ow! My Balls!" wrapped in CGI tentacles.

On this week's show, Ian and Jeff will review this latest "adaptation", as well as Paul W.S. Anderson's 2002 film, which launched too many sequels and too many imitators.

Who did it better?

And how the hell did we get here?

Join us as we take control of the video game discourse and answer your questions and comments in the chat!

*Don't worry: we also talk about the chicken-and-the-egg questions surrounding Resident Evil's relationship to horror media past and present.

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Show Links

• Watch the Resident Evil (2026) trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNd1gb19A-c

• Watch the Resident Evil (2002) trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhBAIDHvRTc

• Keep up with Jeff York's criticism and caricatures at The Establishing Shot and Pipeline Artists.

Note: The opinions and views expressed in this podcast are those of the individual hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Kicking the Seat or any organization, employer, or company.

Ian welcomes back Guido and Lucas Henkel, the father/son powerhouse behind Celluloid Dreams, to talk about their latest 4K release, The Black Belly of the Tarantula!

Continuing our insider's look at what it takes to restore half-century-old gialli and create a comprehensive package that will have genre fans drooling--the guys dig deep into the production of the Limited Edition Black Belly 4K.

They also marvel at the audacious filmmaking and layered storytelling of Paolo Cavara's landmark thriller!

Check the links below to learn where you can pick up your copy, and follow Celluloid Dreams!

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Show Links

• Watch the Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971) trailer.

• Pick up Celluloid Dreams' new Limited Edition 4K of The Black Belly of the Tarantula (standard edition available for pre-order, and available 12/15/26)!

• Follow Celluloid Dreams on:

  • Their website

  • Instagram

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  • Facebook

• Flash back to our Accademia Giallo roundtable review of Black Belly of the Tarantula!

• Continue your education with our "Accademia Giallo" Playlist!

Note: The opinions and views expressed in this podcast are those of the individual hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Kicking the Seat or any organization, employer, or company.

This week's livestream is brought to you by the letter "D", for "Derivative"!

Yes, there's another indie horror movie in theaters with audience buzz, killer marketing, and very little else to recommend it beyond some truly remarkable aesthetics.

Casper Kelly's Buddy centers on a titular late-90s children's program modeled off of Barney the Dinosaur. In this case, our chuckling, anthropomorphic host is an orange unicorn who may also be a demon. In the real world, an overworked mom named Grace (Cristin Milioti) begins hallucinating about a child who's "missing" from her family.

How do these things tie together? Does it matter?

Join Ian and Jeff as we talk Hollywood's newfound love of Child Endangerment Horror (Is it really that new?); elevator-pitch screenwriting; and why Buddy would've been better in the hands of another indie creator who blew up this summer ! We'll also take your questions and comments in the chat!

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Show Links

• Watch the Buddy (2026) trailer.

• Keep up with Jeff York's criticism and caricatures at The Establishing Shot and Pipeline Artists.

Note: The opinions and views expressed in this podcast are those of the individual hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Kicking the Seat or any organization, employer, or company.

It doesn't get more meta than Coyote vs. Acme!

The live-action/animation hybrid was shelved by Warner Bros in 2023, before being picked up by Ketchup Entertainment and released in theaters.

Fittingly, the film centers on a scrappy, small-time attorney (Will Forte) and his aggrieved client, Wile E. Coyote, taking on a mega corporation engaged in shady deeds. Now that it's out, several questions come to mind: Will the target audience show up for it in numbers significant enough to prove that the old WB cartoons are still viable? Who is the target audience for Coyote vs. Acme?

And is the film any good?

This week, Jeff will make a robust case for this being one of the year's best films. Ian, in his official capacity as Conveyor of Wet Blankets, will poke more holes in the defense than a cartoon cactus!

Ultimately, you will deliver the verdict! Join us as we take on this calamitous courtroom cartoon--and take your questions and comments in the chat!

Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, subscribe to us on YouTube, and follow us at:

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Show Links

• Watch the Coyote vs. Acme (2026) trailer.

• Keep up with Jeff York's criticism and caricatures at The Establishing Shot and Pipeline Artists.

Note: The opinions and views expressed in this podcast are those of the individual hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Kicking the Seat or any organization, employer, or company.

Ian and Jeff go positively psycho for William Castle's 1961 fast-follow thriller, Homicidal!

It's easy to write this movie off as a copy/paste cash-in of Alfred Hitchcock's horror classic, Psycho (troubled blonde with a bagful of cash; mysterious references to shocking family events; terrible things happening on a very prominent staircase, etc.). But Castle and screenwriter Robb White present a twisty, twisted thriller that makes up in plot what it lacks in aesthetic originality.

In today's spoilerific episode, the guys cut through the "Castle-as-Gimmick-Guy" narrative to look at an unsung B-Movie masterpiece that stands proudly on its own high heels. Despite some hiccups, nothing should discourage viewers from giving the film a chance.

Plus: Ian and Jeff talk about their phenomenal trip to Chicago's historic Music Box Theatre, where they experienced William Castle's 13 Ghosts--in full Illusion-O! It was part of the theater's recent weeklong series, "The Greatest Showman: 5 By William Castle".

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Show Links

• Watch the Homicidal (1961) trailer.

• Keep up with Jeff York's criticism and caricatures at The Establishing Shot and Pipeline Artists.

• If you're in Chicago (or plan to be), bookmark the Music Box Theatre's website for info on weekly screenings, special events, and immersive movie tributes you won't find anywhere else!

• "Castle Freaks" is the next leg in our classic horror journey. If you're new to the channel, catch up with our 5-year "Hammerland" series, which wrapped up last year!

• If you want to learn more about William Castle's larger-than-life life and times, check out his indispensable autobiography, Step Right Up!

• And check out the wonderful Castle documentary, Spine-Tingler: The William Castle Story, now streaming on Tubi!

Note: The opinions and views expressed in this podcast are those of the individual hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Kicking the Seat or any organization, employer, or company.

Joe Swanberg's new dramedy, The Sun Never Sets, was the closing night event of 2026's Chicago Critics Film Festival. Following the May premiere, Ian and David sat down for a spoilerific look at one of the year's best movies.

Now that the film is in limited release, the guys are ecstatic to share their thoughts with you! Swanberg introduces and dissects an Alaskan love triangle in an effort to disprove the age-old cliché, "If You love someone, let them go".

Jake Johnson stars as Jack, a wealth manager and single dad who's dating the much younger Wendy (Dakota Fanning). His refusal to re-marry has brought their relationship to an impasse. He insists that he and Wendy take a break for the summer so she can decide if she really wants to settle down with him. Enter Wendy's old flame, Chuck (Cory Michael Smith), a rugged, aimless pilot who represents the recklessness and freedom of her disappearing youth.

Join Ian and David as they talk improvisation, inspiration, and the film's surprising (and apparently wholly unintentional) connection to one of the greatest horror movies of all time!

Plus! Stay til the very end to see Ian's CCFF 2026 red carpet interview with writer/director/actor Joe Swanberg and co-star Cory Michael Smith!

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Show Links

• Watch the Sun Never Sets (2026) trailer.

• Follow David Fowlie's film criticism at Keeping It Reel.

Note: The opinions and views expressed in this podcast are those of the individual hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Kicking the Seat or any organization, employer, or company.

Why do June and July get all the fun movie mash-ups?

Nothing says "August" like a new Jason Staham movie and an early-Awards Season contender from A24. So, what do you get when you cross Mutiny with Tony? Mutony, of course!

This week, Ian and Jeff look at two very different films with identical goals: To be the best possible representation of their respective sub-genres! Mutiny is the definition of popcorn-shoveling fun; it's "Under Siege on a Die Hard". But unlike most knock-offs of those action classics, this one doesn't ask the audience to leave their brains at the box office (not too much, anyway).

Tony continues the "snapshot" biopic made popular by films like Springsteen: Delivery Me from Nowhere and A Complete Unknown. Dominic Sessa stars as a 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain, taking his first steps in what would become a legendary culinary career. Is there more to this pairing than a cute and convenient marriage of titles?

Join Ian and Jeff as they cook up some scintillating, skull-cracking commentary. They also take your questions and comments in the chat!

Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, subscribe to us on YouTube, and follow us at:

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Show Links

• Watch the Mutiny (2026) trailer.

• Watch the Tony (2026) trailer.

• Keep up with Jeff York's criticism and caricatures at The Establishing Shot and Pipeline Artists.

Note: The opinions and views expressed in this podcast are those of the individual hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Kicking the Seat or any organization, employer, or company.

Summer's almost over...let's go camping!

This week, Ian and Jeff look at the indie-horror meta sensation, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma!

Writer director Jane Schoenbrun follows up 2024's I Saw the TV Glow with a bold, genre-bending psychosexual thriller. When a hot young director (Hannah Einbinder) is tapped to relaunch an 80s slasher franchise with the original film's "Final Girl" (Gillian Anderson), both women plunge headlong down a bloody, reality-bending rabbit hole!

Horror movies about horror movies are nothing new, but arthouse audiences have found something resonant in Schoenbrun's latest. Could this be a "new beginning" for the sub-genre...or will the guys want to punt Camp Miasma into space?

Join Ian and Jeff as they hack and slash their way through a spoilerific analysis--while also taking YOUR questions and comments in the chat!

Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, subscribe to us on YouTube, and follow us at:

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Show Links

• Watch the Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026) trailer.

• Keep up with Jeff York's criticism and caricatures at The Establishing Shot and Pipeline Artists.

Note: The opinions and views expressed in this podcast are those of the individual hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Kicking the Seat or any organization, employer, or company.

Is Eli Roth's Ice Cream Man a scream--or a yawn?

This week, Ian and Jeff scrape the bottom of the pint to find out if the creator of Thanksgiving, Hostel, and Cabin Fever can still get audiences' blood pumping.

When a mysterious Ice Cream Man drives his truck through a sleepy little town, his frozen delights turn children into bloodthirsty monsters. Three adolescent friends (and a couple of obnoxious teen siblings) must uncover the mystery of this modern day Pied Piper, while fighting off an army of limb-ripping, brains-scooping kids!

Can two horror die-hards embrace "Children of the Corn Syrup"? Or will they lack tolerance for the latest in Eli Roth's decades-deep splatter schtick?

And, yes, the guys also sprinkle their discussion with the topic everyone's really talking about regarding Ice Cream Man--Roth's use of AI! Is it further evidence that Skynet is killing creative jobs on the way to wiping out all humanity? Or just the harmless use of a burgeoning technology? Stay tuned for a rainbow cone of opinions!

Join Ian and Jeff as they battle brain-freeze while taking YOUR questions and comments in the chat!

Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, subscribe to us on YouTube, and follow us at:

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Show Links

• Watch the Ice Cream Man (2026) trailer.

• Catch up with our previous AI discussion regarding Late Night with The Devil (2024).

• Read Jeff's review of Ice Cream Man at The Establishing Shot!

• And read his recent Pipeline Artists piece, “AI Needs a Reboot”!

Note: The opinions and views expressed in this podcast are those of the individual hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Kicking the Seat or any organization, employer, or company.

It's a Brand New Day for Spider-Man--and Kicking the Seat!

In a world where everyone has forgotten that Peter Parker is Spider-Man (and in which Peter Parker doesn't technically exist), the wall-crawling web-slinger finds himself immune to a sinister new force that can take control of people's minds! Throw in a series of inconvenient body changes, a Hulk, a Punisher, and unrequited love--and you've got a recipe for the year's biggest blockbuster!

Is this the antidote to "superhero fatigue" fans have been clamoring for? Or is it the same ol' Spidey repackaged in recency bias?

Join Ian and Jeff for a clash of opinions you won't find anywhere else! We'll also take questions and comments in the chat, and pay tribute to Earth's Mightiest Critics!

Support Kicking the Seat on Patreon, subscribe to us on YouTube, and follow us at:

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Show Links

• Watch the Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) trailer.

• Keep up with Jeff York's criticism and caricatures at The Establishing Shot and Pipeline Artists.

Note: The opinions and views expressed in this podcast are those of the individual hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Kicking the Seat or any organization, employer, or company.