Movie Oubliette

Actor, writer and producer Amanda Jane Stern – whose psychosexual thriller Perfectly Good Moment has launched on Tubi this month – joins us to discuss David O. Selznick's production of Portrait of Jennie. Based on a popular novella by Robert Nathan that Ray Bradbury said "touched and frightened" him, the romantic fantasy won an Oscar for Best Special Effects in 1948, but was not a success. Set in depression-era New York, it starred Jennifer Jones as the titular Jennie, an enigmatic young woman who inspires an impoverished painter, played by Joseph Cotton. The film is well regarded among those who remember it or have rediscovered it, but it's not easy to come by on streaming services or physical media. Unless you stumble upon it on Youtube, of course. But does it deserve to escape the oubliette and be immortalised? Find out!

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Dan and Conrad find themselves exiled to a leafy island that looks suspiciously like Queensland in this episode, where they explore Martin Campbell's No Escape (1994) – an airy, outdoor adventure set in the distant future of 2022. It stars Ray Liotta as the scarred military vet convicted for shooting his CO after he covered up a war crime, who teams up with fellow inmates Lance Henriksen, Ernie Hudson and Kevin Dillon to defeat the evil Stuart Wilson's 'tribe' of sadistic killers and expose the greater evils of private prisons. Produced on a $20 million budget by Gale Anne Hurd, the movie got Campbell the gig directing GoldenEye (1995), but quickly vanished from theatres. But does it deserve early release from the oubliette to ease 90s prison movie overcrowding? Or should it be hurled back in with no chance of parole? Find out!

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Happy Halloween! Duncan Skiles, director of the chilling The Clovehitch Killer and the forthcoming comedy thriller Neighborhood Watch, went trick or treating into the oubliette and brought back a Peeping Tom. This proto-slasher from Michael Powell, one half of the famous British duo Powell and Pressburger, emerged in the same year as Hitchcock's Psycho and explores similar territory: a handsome, unassuming man with a homicidal compulsion spurred by parental abuse.

But while one film was an instant box office sensation that became a landmark in horror history, the other was savaged by scandalised critics and destroyed its director's career. Rescued from obscurity over a decade later by Martin Scorsese, Peeping Tom has become an influential cult favourite. But does it deserve to escape the oubliette with a fulsome sack of calorific treats? Or should it be thrown back with some candy corn and a rotten apple? Find out!

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Stuart Gordon's post-apocalyptic sci-fi featuring gladiatorial battles between giant mechs has to be one of Empire Pictures' most instantly recognisable titles, sitting proudly on video rental stores worldwide. Starring Gary Graham and Anne-Marie Johnson as the brave robot jockeys and Paul Koslo as their ruthless enemy, Robot Jox could be the brightest and breeziest dystopian action movie ever made. It was also one of the most ambitious film Charles Band's mini-major studio ever attempted, and may have precipitated the fall of his Empire! But does it live up to our childhood memories? Or is it as cringe-inducing as a fondly remembered Saturday morning cartoon? Find out!

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In our third and final bonus episode covering highlights from the Toronto International Film Festival, friend of the pod Joe Lipsett joins Conrad to review three haunted house movies from this year's programme: Steven Soderbergh's bold ghost P.O.V. mystery Presence, Karrie Crouse and Will Joines' dusty western Hold Your Breath, and Nick Toti and Rachel Kempf's rarely screened found footage chiller It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This. Conrad also reports on Mike Flanagan's latest Stephen King adaptation, the warm-hearted but oddly structured The Life of Chuck.

Check out Joe Lipsett on Instagram and the Horror Queers podcast for more of his reviews from the festival and other fabulousness.

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For our second round-up reviews of horror films that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, special guest Joe Lipsett and I cover four more horror films. We start with two ghost stories: the frosty New Zealand drama Went Up the Hill, directed by Samuel Van Grinsven and starring Dacre Montgomery and Vicky Krieps; and the rambunctious Taiwanese horror comedy Dead Talents Society, directed by John Hsu and starring Gingle Wang. We also take a look at Scott Beck and Bryan Woods' psychological puzzle box thriller, Heretic, featuring a charmingly sinister Hugh Grant, as well as Joseph Kahn's monster-on-the-loose horror comedy Ick, starring Brandon Routh and Malina Weissman.

Check out Joe Lipsett on Instagram and the Horror Queers podcast for more of his reviews from the festival and other fabulousness.

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Saurian cinema connoisseur Serge Bodnarchuk of Cold Crash Pictures joins Dan as guest co-host for a dinosaur sci-fi horror adventure from 1993. No, not that one. This is Movie Oubliette! It's the low-budget Roger Corman production Carnosaur, starring Laura Dern's mom, Diane Ladd, and Bryce Dallas Howard's uncle, Clint Howard! This adaptation of John Brosnan's novel hit 65 theatres a few weeks before Spielberg's blockbuster romped into box office history. Featuring astonishing special effects from Troll director John Carl Buechler, this alleged mockbuster is without doubt the scrappy underdog, but is it a charming creature feature that deserves to be rescued? Find out!

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Conrad is joined by Joe Lipsett live and in-person at the Toronto International Film Festival to give early reviews of the horror, sci-fi and fantasy films that premiered at TIFF this year. In this first bonus episode, we're looking at the body horror films on the programme: including Coralie Fargeat's The Substance (winner of the People's Choice Award), Max Minghella's Shell, Marielle Heller's Nightbitch and Thibault Emin's debut Else.

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Vincenzo Natali (director of Cube, Splice, Haunter) introduces us to the little known sword and sorcery film, Conquest, directed by splatter gore master, Lucio Fulci. We deliberate over Mace's nunchucks, magical laser bows, bargain bin wolfmen and Ocron's wardrobe choices to decide whether Conquest is an ethereal journey into a ritualistic ruthless fantasy world or rather a fever dream you can't wake up from. Also there's buckets of blood! Conquest awaits!

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We're exploring the twisted underbelly of suburbia in Wes Craven's 1991 horror comedy The People Under the Stairs. Much like Craven's other non-Nightmare and non-Scream franchise-related outings, this one has remained hidden from popular consciousness despite a warm reception in the box office on its first release and an ardent cult following ever since then. Should The People be freed from their cruel incarceration and allowed to roam free in the daylight? Or should it remain an embarrassing secret in Craven's basement? Find out!

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