Pop Vultures

Murder, cannibalism, and furniture made out of people are just a few of the reasons Tobe Hooper’s horror classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre gets under our skin. The movie spawned 8 sequels/remakes/prequels, including the 2003 remake from Marcus Nispel. Hitchhike with the Vultures as they compare and contrast the original with the remake, and debate among themselves what works and what doesn’t. Put on your best face, and join us for this delicious episode.

Who drew the dicks? Who is the Turd Burglar? These are some of the most important questions of our time. American Vandal is a Netflix true crime mockumentary series in its second season. In this Scraps, the Pop Vultures delve into the seedy world of dick jokes and poop humor to get to the bottom of why this crass mockumentary delivers the twists and turns with laughs and humanity. Grab some lemonade and join us!

Few films helped to define the hyper-masculine action films of the 80s like Predator (1987), which saw Arnold Schwarzenegger and his elite team of soldiers become prey for an alien hunter. The genre bending, self-aware film spawned three sequels, including the latest entry, The Predator (2018). The Vultures join the hunt to look at why the first film is a classic, and to see how far the simple premise can be stretched for its sequels. Get to the choppa (or wherever you listen to podcasts) and enjoy this episode.

Pop quiz, hot shots! In this scraps episode the Vultures take on their first ever Pop Quiz, in which they respond to listener-submitted questions from Instagram. Join the conversation and answer these questions along with the Pop Vultures. Follow us @popvultures on Instagram to participate in the next Pop Quiz, and we'll give you a shout-out on the episode – anything goes!

Touch of Evil (1958) would be any other filmmaker’s masterpiece, but for Orson Welles this classic has always lived in the shadow of Citizen Kane, and has been marred by its unfortunate post production issues — namely being taken away from Welles by the studio, resulting in three different cuts of the movie. The Vultures take a look back at this phenomenal piece of work from one of the all time greats. Also Charlton Heston plays a Mexican.

Many thousands of nerds, fans, and the culture curious attended FanX (previously know as Salt Lake Comic Con prior to a lawsuit) this past weekend. These conventions are for fans of every niche, where people can be themselves and celebrate whatever they love – but is this Utah iteration worthy of their support? In this short episode the Vultures set their sights on a local issue with universal resonance – FanX’s ugly track record with sexual harassment.

The Pop Vultures are turning one! Eli, Chris, and Pat answer eleven questions in an attempt to reflect on their first year of podcasting, what the future may hold, and their gratitude toward the ever growing Pop Vultures community. Join us as we celebrate a year of talking movies with some hot giveaways... and maybe even a few laughs.

While Jaws is widely considered a masterpiece, no shark film made since has been able to swim in its wake. Jaws spawned three sequels, the 90’s gave us Deep Blue Sea and more recently we’ve seen the likes of The Shallows and The Meg — but why have none of these movies been able to do what Jaws accomplished? Will there ever be another great shark movie? Dive into this mystery with Vultures in this episode.

Michael Mann’s film HEAT (1995) is many things – an epic crime drama, a canvas for the paring of acting legends Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, an existential meditation on the cause and effect of choices, a modern tragedy, and the movie with arguably the best shootout in cinema history. Join the Vultures as they dive into this seminal 90’s classic. Have nothing in your life you cannot walk out on in 30 seconds flat if it prevents you from listening to this episode.

We all make mistakes folks. Several of you wrote in about something we said in a previous episode – something we got wrong. Dead wrong. In this minisode, we come clean. Forgive us. We'll do better.