The Substance

One milestone celebration episode deserves another! This week we go from marking the 200th episode of The Substance to the much more impressive achievement of Severin Films hitting 20 years of releasing and restoring (and sometimes rescuing and resurrecting!) cult and genre films.

Co-founders David Gregory and Carl Daft join us to look back at their twenty years at Severin as we talk:

• The pre-Severin days of Blue Underground
• Boutique VHS releases back in the day
• Fighting censorship in the UK and the Video Nasty era
• The love and care that went into the Alan Clarke Blue Underground box set (a favorite of artist Charles Forsman)
• Finding and cultivating an audience that would rather watch A Bay of Blood than Casablanca
• What goes into finding and restoring films that were once thought lost
• How the themes of the nuclear fear movies are unfortunately evergreen
• and MORE!

We hope you enjoy the discussion and be on the lookout on our Instagram page for an upcoming GIVEAWAY 📀

Physical Media Corner:

The War Game

Threads

Siege

Jackie Chan's First Strike

Sugar Cookies

Legend of the Sacred Stone

Demigod: The Legend Begins

Recent Guest Spot: TV & Us The Sopranos Season 3 episode 4

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We did it, Joe. Episode #200 of the show is finally out!

We wanted to pick a special film for 200, and Greta Gerwig's 2017 directorial debut, Lady Bird, has it all. A beautiful coming of age story, tense mother/daughter dynamics, angsty artistic aspirations, first love and first heartbreak, spiritual longing, and more. All in about 90 minutes too! And I am delighted to be joined by my wife, whose life experience mirror Lady Bird's in some wild ways.

Enjoy, and here's to the next two hundred!

Substantive Cinema Episodes

Shoutouts:

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Reel by Kenedy Ryan

Morunas (music)

Fletch

Big Trouble in Little China

Tiki Tiki

Emily Wilson special

Emma M. Lion series

Physical Media Corner:

Identity

Hi, Mom!

Marshmallow

Dead Mountaineer's Hotel

Recent Guest Spot: Rewind and Revive on The Dead Mountaineer's Hotel

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The Road to #200 is almost at an end!

Looking back at the Substantive Cinema episodes we've released this year, we couldn't help but notice an unintentional theme. Southland Tales, 28 Years Later, Team America: World Police, and now Civil War all deal with a troubled society trying to either make things better or simply bring a little order to the chaos. Wonder how we gravitated to these...

Regardless, we are excited to be joined by multitalented filmmaker Chell Stephen to discuss Alex Garland's Civil War (interestingly, the second Garland project this year as he was the writer of 28 Days Later). Being released in 2024, the film was greeted with extremely mixed reviews. The main criticisms often were that the imagery was unhelpful in such a volatile time (right before the Trump 2.0 era), and that Garland somehow wasn't making a strong enough political statement. Genuinely not sure how that seemed to be the case with so many folks.

Either way, it was a great conversation and Chell is wonderful! Her new film Byeeee, starring friend of the show and previous guest Romina D'Ugo (I Like Movies) is playing festivals now and if it's playing near you, we highly recommend you seek it out!

Substantive Cinema Movie Catalogue

Shoutouts:

Bad Influence

Body Double

The Pitt (HBO)

Industry (HBO)

NTBTSTM

Twinless

The Lowdown (FX/Hulu)

Physical Media Corner:

Don't Play with Fire

Who Am I? (Jackie Chan's Breakout Hits!)

Wake in Fright

G. I. Samurai

Recent Guest Spot Episodes:

Cinema on a Shelf

Follow Chell:

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Add Byeeee to your watchlist

Woods Hole Film Festival

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This took a liiiiiitle bit longer to publish than we had intended but we are excited to share our Panic Fest 2026 coverage with you all!

It was a highlight of the year and we met so many incredible people (wish we could have talked with everyone!). Many of these films are hitting the festival circuit or starting to come our on VOD (and we just saw that the Loner Blu-ray is now available), and they are all worth checking out!

List of Movies We Discuss

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Katherine Dudas

Codey S. Wilson

Janine Hogan

Amber Rossi

Guillermo de la Rosa

Scout Taylor-Compton

Physical Media Corner:

The Slime People (Double Feature)

Gutter Auteur: The Lost Legacy of Andy Milligan

Recent Guest Spot Episodes:

Screamboat on Laurie Strode Trap House

The Unwatched Pile #36

TV & Us Sopranos Season 2 Finale

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Panic Fest 2026 is almost upon us! Last year, Panic Fest was one of the highlights of our year. We had an incredible time taking in new features and shorts as well as getting to know and spend time with some wonderful people (Listen to our Recap Episode rom last year for more)!

Hope to see you there, if you're in the neighborhood!

Panic Fest:

Website

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Joe & Becca:

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Greg D:

Nightmare Junkhead Podcast

BlueSky

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Happy Don't Believe Anything You Read On The Internet Day, everyone!

Today we continue our April Fool's Day tradition of covering a silly movie (and then realizing that it's got more substance than audiences may think at first). 20 years ago Trey Parker and Matt Stone were pissed off at how America was recklessly engaging in conflicts around the world and decided to express their frustrations with puppets and some incredible action set pieces. If only that was relevant now...

Joining us this episode is Justin LaLiberty of Vinegar Syndrome, OCN Distribution, and Cinématographe. He's been in and around the film industry for decades and has been a fan of the South Park guys since the beginning so he was the perfect guest for this!

In this episode we discuss:

• Justin's background in film
• His first time seeing the South Park movie at summer camp (at the drive in with American Pie as the double bill)
• How Team America is one of the last big studio action spectacles of its era
• The difference between comedy that's offensive and juvenile vs. mean
• Art as activism
• Puppet sex and puke
• Meeting David Byrne
• and MORE!

Substantive Cinema Episode List

Shoutouts:

Badge 373 (Letterboxd)

Office Killer (Letterboxd)

Follow Justin:

Instagram

Letterboxd

Vinegar Syndrome

New Releases

Physical Media Corner:

The Birthday

Peking Opera Blues

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On this episode we reflect on the reality that we must die, and in order to live we also must love. And it's a discussion on (ostensibly) a zombie movie that a 20+ year later legacy sequel!

When the teaser trailer for 28 Years Later dropped, it seemed clear that the film wouldn't be a safe, mindless retread of previous material looking to cash in on fan nostalgia. It was visually striking, poetic, foreboding, and promised a dark, brutal world that not only has experienced a viral outbreak, but has evolved to, as much as people collectively can, live with it. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland were cooking up something special and we couldn't wait! The result was not only a commercial success but a beautifully touching coming of age story that hits on several substantive themes.

Joining us for this episode is film journalist Brandon Streussnig. Brandon has written for outlets like Vulture, The Ringer, GQ, Inverse, Men's & Women's Health, Letterboxd Journal, The AV Club, The Playlist, Polygon, Fangoria, Paste, The Film Stage, In Review Online, AwardsWatch, and others. He's also contributed to physical media releases from folks like Vinegar Syndrome, Radiance, Umbrella, IFC, Kino, and Arrow Video. In this episode we cover things like

• Brandon's journey into being a full time film journalist
• His experience seeing the film early in order to interview the director
• The incredible soundtrack from Young Fathers
• Anthony Dod Mantle's gorgeous cinematography
• Brandon's real time consideration of the follow up, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
• The way cinema invites us to spiritual considerations regardless of personal beliefs
• Film Twitter's Miami Vice ordeal from a few years ago (that culminated in a screening a listener attended and emailed about!)
• and MORE!

Letterboxd List of Substantive Cinema Episodes

Brandon's interview with Danny Boyle

Shoutout:

Sophy Romvari's Blue Heron

Follow Brandon:

Instagram

Letterboxd

Interview with Undertone director Ian Tuason

The Stunt Man

The Cat

Physical Media Corner:

She Shoots Straight (88 Films)

Song of the Miraculous Hind (Deaf Crocodile)

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We are creeping up on Episode 200 so we sat down with (former) Editor Dave to talk about the State of The Substance as well as doing a bit of a spiritual check in as we look back on the road that has lead us here and look forward to where we are headed post #200!

Shoutouts:

Wake Up Dead Man

The Wild Robot

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

The Weight by Melissa Mendes

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

Laurie Strode Trap House podcast

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Instagram

Substack

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NEXT EPISODE: 28 Years Later featuring Brandon Streussnig

Watch along and use tag "substantive cinema" when logging on Letterboxd and we may read your review on the show!

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***I don't like doing disclaimers on episodes and this one isn't totally filthy or anything but there is some explicit dialogue in the film that we discuss, so if you listen in the car with other people or whatever, you've been warned***

"This is the way the world ends. Not with a whimper, but with a bang."

There are a handful of movies that I've specifically wanted to cover on the show from the very beginning and today we're checking a big one off of the list. Richard Kelly blew up on the scene with his debut feature Donnie Darko. It was a massive cult hit that earned him the attention and favor of both audiences and filmmakers. So much so that he was allowed to make one of the wildest (complimentary) movies of the aughts, with an absolutely stacked cast of stars like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Sean William Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mandy Moore, and Justin Timberlake as well as several SNL alumni (and Will Sasso). The plot of the film is hard to convey briefly (thought Kev does a wonderful job at the top of our discussion) but suffice it to say it's about post 9/11 America and the ways we may destroy ourselves.

Joining us for this discussion are Kev and Anna Ghoul from the phenomenal new podcast Laurie Strode Trap House, a show about friendship and horror in the 21st century. Go check the out!

Blah blah blah follow or subscribe to the show so new episodes pop on your feed and hit the 5 star button if you think we deserve it!

Substantive Cinema Letterboxd List

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Laurie Strode Trap House

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Austin Danger Podcast

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Hey there, we intended to get this episode published last month but life and *waves hands at everything going on in the US* got in the way. HOWEVER! This was an encouraging conversation and a great way to orient ourselves as we kick off a new year under an oppressive, malicious, and very dumb empire.

Kat Armas is is a Cuban American writer, speaker, and theologian from Miami, FL. She holds a ThM from Vanderbilt Divinity School, and a dual MDiv and MAT from Fuller Theological Seminary where she was awarded the Frederick Buechner Award for Excellence in Writing. She is also a very thoughtful writer and a great hang. Topics included on this episode:

• The way Empire trades mystery and memory for conformity
• Her book dedication on LfRE
• Advent and how the Incarnation relates to what she's been thinking and writing about lately
• Her love of reading and horror movies
• and MORE!

Check out her upcoming stops on her book tour and take some friends to see her when she's in your area!

Buy Liturgies For Resisting Empire (30% off & Free Shipping rn!)

Listen on Libby through your local library

Shoutouts:

The Correspondents

Tell Me Everything

Alien series

Small Things Like These

Children of Men

Follow Kat:

Instagram

Website

Substack

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