Still Up All Night

It's a two-for-one holiday special in a special Halloween episode, a horror movie set on Valentine's Day! Travis and Rob explain the "holiday serial killer trend" of the early 1980s, discuss exactly why this film could and should have been so much better, and introduce you to quite possibly the best horror-inspired folk song of all time in Episode 19: My Bloody Valentine!

Cannon caught lightning in a bottle with the first Kickboxer, so of course, they made eight of them, and it all starts going downhill with this one. The film tries to tackle the global issue of sex trafficking using a dumbed-down protagonist and ridiculous narrative. Travis and Rob discuss the bad early-90s fashion, video game-inspired fight scenes, and question why a movie with kickboxing in the name has so much gunplay in Episode 18: Kickboxer 3!

Are we daring to say this bizarre B movie released by Troma set the stage for Thelma & Louise two years later? Co-host and resident Still Up All Night film professor Travis Yates argues that yes it does! So why isn't it talked about more? Travis and Rob dive into a strange narrative filled with so many oddities that the message gets lost in translation and explain how the feminist meaning behind the film is hidden amidst the spectacle of blind orphans and battery-powered zombies in Episode 17: Chopper Chicks in Zombietown!

It's the movie that put Troma Entertainment on the map and created a B movie superhero for the ages, The Toxic Avenger! With a remake on the horizon, Travis and Rob give a history of Troma and how Toxie spawned a franchise that includes three sequels, an animated series, and a musical. They also discuss Troma's ties to Oliver Stone and what served as inspiration for the Toxie character in Still Up All Night: The Toxic Avenger!

Can a silly B movie embed a serious message if you look deep enough? Travis and Rob analyze the sell-your-soul-to-the-devil narrative of Hunk, reveal the film's ties to the Golden Age of Hollywood, and discuss the curious case of writer/director Lawrence Bassoff in Still Up All Night: Hunk!

It's The Cannon Group's first attempt at a big blockbuster movie! They had the director of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the cinematographer from Return of the Jedi, so what went wrong? Travis and Rob explain how space vampires almost worked and how Cannon could have changed the face of Hollywood forever if they only played by the rules in Episode 14: Lifeforce!

It's an obscure 1980s teen sex comedy with no sex and little comedy. Travis and Rob explain why this film was a terrible fit for USA Up All Night, try to do some basic math to make sense of the plot, and make the case for why we need more Bonnie Hellman in Episode 13: Snowballing!

It's our one-year super radical bodacious anniversary episode! There's so much to unpack in this episode, it's as if the filmmaker decided to take the best from each teen movie genre and cram it all into one nonsensical movie! Travis and Rob try to crack the code and discover the formula used for the movie, including borrowing from some classics like The Breakfast Club and Can't Buy Me Love. It's a treasure trove of unnamed actors and some insane IMDB reviews in Episode 12: Hot Times at Montclair High!

It's a John Hughes-esque film on a shoestring budget! Travis and Rob debate on if the film should be considered a holiday movie, explain how the film almost wasn't made, and discuss if girlfriends are a better purchase than telescopes (or microscopes) in Episode 11: Can't Buy Me Love! 

There's so much to say about this movie, yet somehow it left both Travis and Rob speechless. Seemingly inspired by The Warriors, A Clockwork Orange, and Mad Max yet looking nothing like any of them, Surf Nazis Must Die struggles to find a plot. When it finally does, it comes from the unlikeliest of places! Travis and Rob explain why surfing might be the next great mode of transportation in Episode 10: Surf Nazis Must Die!