Reel Deep Dive

The 1989 Batman film was one of the most successful films ever released up to that point, so director Tim Burton was given a staggering budget and a great deal of creative autonomy when he was lured back in to direct its sequel. The resulting film remains one of the most idiosyncratic blockbusters ever released by a major American studio. Batman Returns was a major tentpole release that was consciously marketed to small children, but also featured a homicidal protagonist, plenty of kink play, a rapey sewer mutant as the principle bad guy, and a convoluted plot involving a disgraced carnival troupe, a cynical mayoral candidacy, and a shady power plant construction deal.

The surprise success of A Charlie Brown Christmas has led to a deluge of sequels, spin-offs, imitations, parodies, and merchandising tie-ins over the course of the seven decades since its premiere. Despite that, this film remains unique among holiday specials for its sincere, forthright, and unpretentious approach to the seasonal depression, social anxiety, and endless commodification that bears down on us every December.

There are numerous screen versions of Charles Dickens' 1843 holiday fable 'A Christmas Carol', but to many millennials (Ryan included) the definitive take is the 1992 Brian Henson film. The first major Muppet project to be undertaken after the untimely death of Jim Henson, Muppet Christmas Carol stars Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge with Kermit, Gonzo, Miss Piggy, and various other Muppets filling out the bulk of the supporting players.

One of the formative slasher movies, Black Christmas concerns a sorority house accosted by an unknown killer who slaughters young college students from his base in the building's attic. It features an eerie score from Carl Zittrer, grounded direction from Bob Clark, and strong performances from Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder. While only a modest success in its day, Black Christmas gained an enduring cult rep and its stylistic innovations were imitated by many subsequent horror movies, most notably Halloween (1978).

Reel Deep Dive has previously held discussions about how adolescent male power fantasies are transferred to celluloid, but Heavy Metal ranks among the most transparent and shameless attempts to graft a 14-year-old-boy's desires to a feature film. An animated sci-fi/fantasy anthology film based on the popular comics magazine, Heavy Metal is crammed to the gills with superfluous nudity, buckets of gore, psychedelic visuals, and late 70's dad rock.

Some of the episodes for this podcast center on big milestones that are significant to the history of cinema. Others, such as this episode, focus on films that Ryan watched an awful lot as a child. Addams Family Values was one of those movies that Ryan put on at least a couple times a year. His family still plays it on every Thanksgiving, hence the decision to post this episode a few days before the holiday.

A sleepy English village is beset by a strange, alien phenomenon that impregnates every person with a functioning uterus. The resulting children are cold, distant brood parasites with a collective hive mind and terrifying psychic abilities. They soon begin terrorizing the community while British intelligence studies other areas of the world suffering from comparable situations. Many, including the film's main protagonist, conclude that the human race is being invaded by extraterrestrial conquerors.

When a person in the modern day is asked to picture the aesthetic of retro sci-fi, they'll probably conjure imagery rooted in 1956's Forbidden Planet. Loosely based upon Shakespeare's The Tempest, Forbidden Planet was a bold and ambitious attempt to apply MGM's penchant for colorful spectacle to science fiction. Its success affected much of what followed in the genre, including Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, Star Wars, and Futurama. Its music is also noteworthy for being the first Hollywood film score composed exclusively with electronic instruments.

Ryan hosts a movie dork podcast in his spare time. Also, he's the type of guy who writes about himself in the third person while composing its episode descriptions. With those things in mind, it's not shocking to state that he can be an insufferable geek on occasion. However, the apex of his insufferable geekiness lies with the X-Men, a franchise he's been obsessed with since the age of six. Once he gets started, it becomes very difficult for Ryan to shut up about his very important opinions about these very important characters.

There must have been a time when the very existence of Little Shop of Horrors seemed like an oddity. It is, after all, a campy musical about a killer plant whose songbook cribs liberally from mid-20th century R&B music. However, after several decades worth of amateur productions and a steady presence on both cable TV and streaming services, Little Shop of Horrors has established itself as a persistent mainstay in the popular consciousness.