Optimism Vaccine

THIS WEEK: Black Christmas (1974), When A Stranger Calls (1979), When A Stranger Calls Back (1993)

Jake just moved into a new house so it seems like a great time to remind him that psychopaths are always hiding in your attic so they can do terrible shit and then call you up and tell you about it. As a bonus, we got to watch a couple of classic horror flicks and a long gap made-for-tv sequel that is inexplicably great.

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THIS WEEK: A Letter From Death Row (1998) and No Code of Conduct (1998)

Wassa goin' on? Our Patrons have spoken. That's wassa goin' on. And by "spoken" we mean they voted in a cryptic poll that lead to us watching the films of Bret Michaels this week. From singing for the 80s hair metal band Poison to winning Celebrity Apprentice and starring in his own reality TV dating show, Bret Michaels has done it all. He even formed his own film production company with Charlie Sheen in the 90s to show the world what a true Oscar-caliber performance looks like. Behold the power of cinema.

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THIS WEEK: Daisies (1966) and Freddy Got Fingered (2001)

When it comes to films that are dialed in on extreme provocation and destruction, it's hard to beat Věra Chytilová's landmark Czech New Wave classic, Daises or Tom Green's unfairly maligned 2001 magnum opus, Freddy Got Fingered. One is a complex takedown of patriarchal norms and authoritarianism. The other has Rip Torn getting covered in elephant cum. Tune in to figure out which one is which!

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THIS WEEK: One Cut of the Dead (2017) and Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2020)

Ace producer Colin steps in for Adam "The Absent Father" Miros this week as we cover a pair of single shot (or pseudo-single shot) micro-budget films from Japan: Junta Yamaguchi's criminally underseen Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes and Shin'ichirô Ueda's acclaimed meta-zombie comedy, One Cut of the Dead.

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THIS WEEK: Brainscan (1994), Virtual Seduction AKA Cybersex (1995), Cyber Vengeance (1995)

What would you do if you had access to the power of true, immersive 90's VR? Would you call tech support to complain about a video game? Would you become a virtual prison guard? Would you try to sleep with your dead ex-wife? Or maybe you'd just hang out with Edward Furlong (hopefully not). The choice is yours to make.

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THIS WEEK: The Lawnmower Man (1992) and Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace AKA Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe's War (1996)

It seemed downright irresponsible to engage in hollow awards discourse while the world is in the midst of a VR apocalypse, so we've instead opted to delve into the prophetic Books of Jobe in the hopes of uncovering the genesis of the sinister Net.

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THIS WEEK: A Knock at The Cabin (2023) and The Outwaters (2022)

A lesser podcast trying to cover some new horror films for an episode would have probably jumped on the Scream VI bandwagon. We opted instead to watch the latest M. Night Shyamalan joint and a surreal indie found footage film.

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THIS WEEK: Best Seller (1987), Nails (1992), Scam (1993)

If you google director John Flynn the first thing you'll see is people saying "why aren't more people talking about John Flynn?" And that's a great question. You should be talking about John Flynn, or at least watching something he's made other than Rolling Thunder and your third favorite Steve Seagal movie.

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THIS WEEK: Clerks 3 (2022)

The 90s gifted us with a wealth of great independent filmmakers. Tarantino! Soderbergh! Rodriguez! Linklater! And... Kevin Smith. Thirty years after the original Clerks, Kevin was kind enough to make a third Clerks film that just might be his new career low point. Not bad for the guy who gave us Yoga Hosers!

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THIS WEEK: Plane (2023), Ambulance (2022), and Taxi (2004)

The perplexing existence of the latest Gerard Butler actioner Plane inspired a truly terrible idea. We ventured through three of the century's finest films named after vehicles. We were not prepared for Jimmy Fallon. No one is prepared for Jimmy Fallon.

Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine