In our newest Untapped Potentials discussion, The Rad Revival House explores the criminally-underrated intensity of comedy legend Eddie Murphy!

Joining us is filmmaker and African-American cinema specialist Mike Dennis of Reelblack, as we analyze two specific films in Murphy’s illustrious acting career: the 1982 buddy-cop classic 48 HRS, and the 1997 action thriller METRO. We look at Murphy’s explosive debut in 48 HRS, where he portrays wisecracking convict Reggie Hammond who’s forced to team up with boozy but tough San Francisco cop Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) in order to nail two dangerous killers. We also discuss Murphy’s venture into more Wesley Snipes territory in METRO as slick SFPD hostage negotiator Scott Roper and his quest to capture a deadly professional thief.

Plus, both Cesare and Mike delve into how they first discovered Eddie Murphy’s works, his grand leap into cinema after his hilarious time on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, and just how effective he truly is as an actor as well as a comedian. They particularly analyze Eddie’s untapped potential for intensity and unpredictability, something that Hollywood has ruefully not taken advantage of!

Let’s face it, class, you haven’t lived until you see Eddie Murphy make mincemeat out of some very deserving rednecks in the now-legendary bar roust-up scene in 48 HRS!

The Rad Revival House returns to the Land of the Rising Sun, with Akira Kurosawa's magnificently gritty police thriller, STRAY DOG!

Offering his great film insight is Rob of the fabulous film review podcast, The Cinemegos. Rob and our host, Professor Cesare Augusto, analyze this classic detective procedural set in Japan, where rookie cop Murakami (the great Toshiro Mifune) finds himself in the professional hot seat when his police-issued pistol is stolen by an unknown yet violent thief. When the gun thief goes on a killing spree with the pilfered gun, Murakami is forced to partner with a veteran detective (the cool and collected Takashi Shimura) to hunt the perpetrator.

Rob and Cesare look into Kurosawa's bleak captures of post-war Japan, where the ravaged landscape proves to be an effective backdrop for a crime thriller. Plus, our lecturers discuss how STRAY DOG is, in all intents and purposes, the precursor to the buddy-cop film as they point out the dynamic between Mifune & Shimura and how it would lead to such later similar films as 48 HRS, LETHAL WEAPON, and even SE7EN.

Budding film enthusiasts looking for a segue into Japanese cinema, especially for Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece library, are greatly encouraged to watch STRAY DOG for a true vintage crime thriller experience!

Get ready for a ghoulishly fun review as the RRH analyzes its first Horror film of Season 2: THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE!

Joining tonight’s analysis are Gabby & Boomer of the great Horror review podcast, Podcast in The Woods, as we take a look at this cult teen slasher flick from 1982. Unlike other, more prominent editions to the slasher subgenre, THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE is credited for its more feminist perspective. Directed by Amy Jones (writer of MYSTIC PIZZA) and mystery novelist Rita Mae Brown, THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE surrounds a group of adolescent high school girls who find themselves stalked by a murderous psychopath armed with a deadly, blood-trenched power drill!

Our three hosts tackle SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE’s unique take on a popular genre, with the writers’ heavy emphasis on female empowerment in the face of a deadly killer. And, adding a generous helping of Slasher movie tropes such as nudity, gore, and clever black humor SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE will win the hearts of even devoted slasher fans. SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE has something for damn near everyone!

The RRH returns to the wild Italian west with THE BIG GUNDOWN!

Our host, Professor Cesare Augusto, explores this action-packed, yet deeply provocative Spaghetti Western starring two of the sub-genre’s most prolific stars, Lee Van Cleef and Tomas Milian. Van Cleef plays Jonathan Corbett, a veteran bounty hunter hired to bring down a cackling, wiley outlaw named Cuchillo (Milian) accused of raping and killing a young girl. What starts out as a routine chase becomes a pursuit for the truth, as Cuchillo insists on his innocence, and Corbett begins questioning his rich employee’s motives.

Cult film distribution company Grindhouse Releasing deemed THE BIG GUNDOWN as “The Ultimate Spaghetti Western” on their Blu-Ray release of this film, and they may be right! THE BIG GUNDOWN is more than a mere shoot-em-up western; it explores the morality of the bounty hunting profession, as well as race relations in the Old West. THE BIG GUNDOWN is a brilliant marriage of the Revisionist Western and the Spaghetti West, with plenty of gunplay and action to spin your mind and spurs!

The Rad Revival House is thrilled to explore a brand-new Untapped Potentials episode that will tickle the curious bones of all tough guy cinema fanatics: what if martial arts god Bruce Lee met bombastic screenwriter John Milius?

Joining our discussion are Wayne and Liam of the great film review podcast, In Film We Trust. Here, our guest lecturers unite with Professor Cesare Augusto for the first time on this thought-provoking mash-up of tough guy cinema minds! Our three analysts wonder: what if Bruce Lee did not die in 1973, and wound up meeting John Milius, the screenwriter impresario known for his sharp dialogue skills and emphasis on manly movie machismo?

Join Cesare, Wayne, and Liam as they discuss such crazy topics as what would have happened if Lee and Milius met for the first time, what projects would they have bought tackled, how their respective attitudes gel or clash, and how cinema as we know it would have turned out, in this insane alternate universe?

On this special edition of the Rad Revival House, we promote the special film festival event: the Haydenfilms 5.0 Online Film Festival!

Joining our discussion is Special Guest Lecturer, Hayden Craddolph, founder of the organization behind this great film festival, Haydenfilms Institute (HFI). Here, we promote a very special film festival featuring unique and inspiring short and feature-length films, courtesy of some very brilliant up-and-coming filmmakers.

We encourage our listeners to take part in the film festival by viewing the films during its special ongoing Encore presentation through HFI's website. After viewing, listeners can then vote for the best films they've seen via an easy to use star rating system. The winning filmmaker will take home a sweet $25,000 cash grand prize!

The Film Festival itself is an in-person event taking place in Reading, PA on the weekend of October 25-27, 2024, for screenings, panel discussions, and special guest appearances! For more details and to view the films, please visit haydenfilmsinstitute.org.

Welcome to Season 2 of THE RAD REVIVAL HOUSE! And what better film to premiere our 2nd season than Francis Ford Copolla's nightmarish war epic, APOCALYPSE NOW?

Shot in the Philippines, APOCALYPSE NOW surrounds one soldier's quest to find and kill a madman who has transformed the dense Asian jungle into his own blood-soaked kingdom. Set in the Vietnam War, disturbed Army captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is assigned by military brass to "terminate with extreme prejudice" Kurtz (a scary, brooding Marlon Brando), who sees himself as a demigod among the indigenous tribes of Cambodia. Willard travels upriver and encounters hungry tigers, gung-ho surf enthusiast soldier Kilgore (a fabulous Robert Duvall), and a myriad of other dangers before finally coming face to face with Colonel Kurtz himself. Can Willard complete his mission before losing his own soul in the process?

APOCALYPSE NOW is a fever dream of grand-scale, bloody proportions. Filled with bloody visuals, great monologues (performed masterfully by Sheen and written with great efficiency by master screenwriter John Milius), and exciting battle sequences, Copolla takes his audiences on a quest to test our own limits.

If the Rad Revival House were a true revival theater, our first movie to be scheduled would be APOCALYPSE NOW. Because you haven't lived until you've seen this picture's fantastic helicopter raid on the BIG SCREEN. No CGI used in that fabulous sequence, folks!

On our big SEASON FINALE of The Rad Revival House, we review the grim yet great 1970s revenge classic, ROLLING THUNDER!

Legendary screenwriters Paul Schrader and Heywood Gould presents this hard-hitting tale of returning Vietnam Vet Major Charles Rane (the great William Devane) who, after 7 years of captivity in a Hanoi POW camp, returns home to San Antonio, TX to a hero's welcome, yet without the loving embrace of his wife and young son. Things take a drastic turn for the worse when a brutal gang of thieves invade Major Rane's home, kill his family, and destroy his right hand in a garbage disposal.

Now, armed with a small arsenal (including a razor-sharp prosthetic hook where his hand once was), and backed by a freewheeling young Texas gal (the beautiful Linda Haynes), and his friend/fellow POW (the young, epic Tommy Lee Jones), Major Rane will get his revenge against the bastards who ruined his life!

On our 2nd to last episode of Season 1, The Rad Revival House returns to Horror with the 1987 cult classic DOLLS!

Directed by Stuart Gordon (RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND), takes audiences on a silly yet exciting fantasy thrill ride, as a dysfunctional vacationing American family encounters a creepy old house inhabited by a kindly if eccentric couple, and their homicidal living dolls.

Using the power of stop motion animation by special effects wiz David W. Allen, DOLLS offers a wholly unique and different approach to the killer doll horror cliche, giving a more demented fairy tale feel designed to give you nightmares for weeks!

On our 38th episode, The Rad Revival House returns to the Land of the Rising Sun with the excellent Samurai thriller THE TALE OF ZATOICHI!

Legendary vintage Japanese actor Shintaro Katsu portrays the now iconic titular character, a master swordsman who happens to be blind as a bat. Despite his lack of vision, Zatoichi is one of cinemadom's deadliest warriors, thanks to amplified senses of hearing and touch, and a well-concealed Katana blade hidden in his cane.

In this very first installment in a 26 edition-long film series, Zatoichi is drawn to a gang war between feuding clans, as he heads to a showdown with another expert Samurai who happens to have a brutally-hindering weakness of his own.

Join our host, the Professor Cesare Augusto, as he analyzes this fabulous example of "Chanbara", or sword-fighting cinema, that is a real "cut" above the rest!