The Gen X Files

Join your ol' stepdads as we discuss more cosmic horror, including an incredible modern cosmic horror movie, a ton of TV, a new cosmic horror video game, and books! Yes! Jim can read! Adam is working on it. All this and more!

Grab your didgeridoo and start stalking Richard Chamberlain, because it's time for the most thought-provoking, conversation-inducing '70s Cosmic Horror film of the month: The Last Wave. From Australian film auteur Peter Weir, is it the end of the world? Is Richard Chamberlain immortal? Does the David Gulpilil's hotness ever stop? Find out as we discuss The Last Wave, starring Richard Chamberlain, David Gulpilil, and Olivia Hamnett.

Another weird little '70s cosmic horror movie. But this one has God! And naked ladies going into spaceships! And Tony Lo Bianco! And Sandy Dennis! And Debra Raffin! And Steven Lynch! And the amazing Sylvia Sidney (not Sydney Sweeney like I just tried to type). From the twisted mind of Larry Cohen, God Told Me To is a great send-up of faith and what blind devotion really means.

Our second '70s cosmic horror movie is Messiah of Evil, a low-budget flick about a woman trying to find her missing father in a tiny coastal California town. It's written and directed by the couple that would eventually write and direct Howard the Duck, so you KNOW we're in for some insanity. It has a really strange production story and gnaws at your brain after you see it.

Happy October! Why not indulge in some '70s cosmic horror? First up, Phase IV, the only feature-length film that Saul Bass, graphic artist extraordinaire, about ants taking over the world. Ants are already incredibly intelligent, so this is horrifying. Starring Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, and Lynne Frederick.

We finally answer the burning question, is Gene Simmons the greatest '80s villain? We also talk about what movies and TV we've been watching, along with wondering what in the hell Sony is doing with itself.

To end our Gene Simmons, Greatest Villain of the '80s? month, we swing that pendulum so far back from the brilliance that was Never Too Young to Die, that we land firmly in the camp of Gene Simmons is a terrible actor. It's sad, after the brilliance that was Velvet Von Ragnar. Wanted Dead or Alive is based on a TV show from the late '50s, starring Steve McQueen. Along with Gene Simmons, the movie stars Rutger Hauer, Robert Guillame, Mel Harris, and William Russ.

We can't believe we're saying this, but this movie may be the best move of our Gene Simmons: Ultimate '80s Villain? month. The brainchild of Steven Paul, the movie stars John Stamos, Vanity, Peter Kwong, George Lazenby, Robert Englund, and the most insane and possibly best performance from Gene Simmons, as the intersex Velvet Von Ragnar. It's a movie that you have to see to believe.

Is Gene Simmons the greatest '80s villain? We try to find out with Gene's first movie, Runaway, a film set in the 'future' where domestic robots can be easily manipulated by nefarious people. Written and directed by Michael Crichton, starring Tom Selleck, Cynthia Rhodes, Stan Shaw, and Kirstie Alley.

Join your ol' Stepdads as we discuss how incredible the King adaptations are, the movies and TV we've been watching, and whether or not Rockstar screwed the ol' pooch with how they've been handling GTA IV.