Kill It With Fire - Cult Movies and Cult-ure

Do your homework in the dark, and put spoons in your microwave!

In this episode, Peter, Ants, and Paul talk about Allan Moyle’s cult 1990 film Pump up the Volume, which stars Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis.

Topics discussed include late night shock jocks, revisiting old favourites later in adulthood, writer-director Allan Moyle’s career and the origins of the film in Moyle’s unpublished novel, the popularity of soundtrack album CDs during the early 90s, resistance through the use of vulgar language (and comparisons with Lenny Bruce), parasocial relationships and adolescence, free speech and censorship, Christian Slater’s incredible popularity during the early 90s, and depictions of youth subcultures on screen. Plus Paul sings brilliant, pitch-perfect renditions of Bon Jovi’s “Blaze of Glory,” L7’s “Sh*tlist,” and Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows.”

Coming to a basement near you!

In this episode, Ady, Peter, and Paul discuss underseen Genevieve Jolliffe’s 1998 film Urban Ghost Story, starring Jason Connery, Heather Ann Foster, and Billy Boyd.

Topics discussed include ghost stories with present-day settings (including Play for Today’s Vampires and Govan Ghost Story, and of course the BBC’s Ghostwatch), the differences between British and American ghost stories, the influence and impact of the Enfield Poltergeist case (and Paul does an a-m-a-zing impersonation of “Bill,” the ghost from that case), the popularity of urbex videos and explorations of “haunted” buildings on the Tubes of You, the career of Genevieve Jolliffe and collaborator Chris Jones, the book co-authored by Jolliffe and Jones entitled The Guerrilla Filmmakers Handbook, Paul’s ongoing confusion of the American Alex Jones and our Alex Jones (the Welsh telly presenter), and Paul’s experiences in basements.

Bookmaker or bookkeeper? What's the difference? Fuggedaboudit!

Nikki, Peter, and Paul take a look at Bob Giraldi's underseen 2000 film Dinner Rush, which stars Danny Aiello, Kirk Acevedo, Sandra Bernhard, Edoardo Ballerini, and John Corbett.

In this episode, topics discussed include mob movies, director Bob Giraldi's career as a filmmaker-restaurateur, food in films (with a sidebar discussion of the excellent 1996 picture Big Night), Paul's new nickname ("Paulie Puddings"), and Peter's man-crush for John Corbett.

It’s the principal, man

Peter and Paul take a look at Christopher Cain’s 1987 movie The Principal, starring James Belushi, Louis Gossett Jr, and Rae Dawn Chong.

Topics discussed include the intersection of the American high school picture and the vigilante film, depictions of race and ethnicity in these films, the connection between this film and Damian Lee’s Abraxas: Guardian of the Universe (1990), and The Principal’s awkward fusion of gritty urban drama and Jim Belushi goofiness.

Craven some robotic hijinx

In this instalment of the Kill It With Fire – Cult Movies and Cult-ure podcast, Ady and Paul take a look at Wes Craven's oft-neglected 1986 film Deadly Friend.

Topics discussed in this episode include: the origins of the film in Diana Henstell's novel, Friend; the positioning of the film in Craven's career; the film's blending of family-friendly hijinx with graphic horror; the production history of the film; the controversies surrounding the film's final edit.

This episode was recorded prior to Shout! Factory's Blu-ray release of Deadly Friend in 2021.

Tanks for listening

In this instalment of the Kill It With Fire – Cult Movies and Cult-ure podcast, Ady, Peter and Paul discuss Kevin Reynold’s 1988 war film The Beast of War, aka The Beast, based on the play Nanawatai by William Mastrosimone

Topics discussed in this episode include: the films of Kevin Reynolds; the work of playwright William Mastrosimone, and his research in writing the play ‘Nanawatai’ on which The Beast of War is passed; stage-to-screen adaptations; Mitchell and Webb’s ‘Are we the bad guys?’ sketch; the David and Goliath story; a film about Vietnam but set in Afghanistan; a Western in modern dress; realism in language; Russians speaking with American accents; subtitles or not for Pashtun dialogue; American films of the 1980s about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; Paul outing himself as a monstrous raging cinephile (and seeing no shame in this).

Please note that unfortunately, we experienced some technical issues in the recording of this podcast. This resulted in some mental confusion (what’s new, I hear you say) and a couple of abrupt edits. We apologise for this.

Crom!... and Jelly-Baby Monsters

This instalment of the Kill It With Fire – Cult Movies and Cult-ure podcast takes a look at Richard Fleischer’s 1984 sequel to Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer.

Topics discussed in this episode include: 1980s sword and sorcery films; the film’s problematic production; the cuts made to the film; magic versus might; Lovecraftian influences; Robert E Howard adaptations; monsters; the Freudian undertones of a film so focused on men with big choppers; and Peter’s leftover chicken wings.

A podcast so good that we went back in time to record it again… and again… and again!

This instalment of the Kill It With Fire – Cult Movies and Cult-ure podcast focuses on Shane Carruth’s minimalist 2004 science-fiction film Primer.

Topics discussed in this episode include: time travel in cinema; the use of language in the film; Carruth’s approach to narrative; ‘selling’ SF concepts such as time travel; developments in independent filmmaking during the 21st Century; the relationship between indie genre films and mainstream Hollyweird filmmaking.

Subtitle: The 2020s will make the 2010s look like the 1990s… or something

This instalment of the Kill It With Fire – Cult Movies and Cult-ure podcasts takes a look at Franco Amurri’s 1990s road movie/comedy Flashback, starring Dennis Hopper, Keifer Sutherland and Carol Kane.

Topics discussed in this episode include: the road movie and mismatched ‘buddy’ film; 1980s/1990s representations of 60s counterculture; Dennis Hopper’s career; Keifer Sutherland’s screen work; celebrity road safety campaigns; and we have a visit by a very convincing Jon Bon Jovi impersonator.

Subtitle: These podcasts are made for talkin’

For this episode, we must offer our profuse thanks to Delusion’s director, Carl Colpaert; the film’s director of photography, Geza Sinkovics; and the film’s editor, Mark Allan Kaplan, for answering our questions about this motion picture.

Topics discussed in this episode include: the work of the film’s personnel; the production of Delusion, and its absence on digital home video formats; Delusion’s confluence of road movie, neo-noir and Western; the extent to which Delusion may be considered a feminist film; Delusion as a European art movie set in the American West; the theme of transference of identity (and its connection to William Friedkin’s work); the appropriateness of the word ‘floozy’; Robert Ardrey’s The Territorial Imperative; Delusion’s association with the ‘yuppie in peril’ film; the extent to which George’s embezzlement may be considered morally just (or otherwise); and Peter’s itchy pants.