Video Monsters

Eric and I are super excited for tonight's episode, as we continue our pre-coverage of the Chattanooga Film Festival, because tonight we are joined by very special guest - Chris Dortch!!  He's the director, creator, founder, maestro....whatever title you want to use... he is the reason that the Chattanooga Film Festival exists!!  Among other things, Chris shares the story of what led to the creation of CFF.  Hearing Chris talk about why he started CFF really is a testament to the love of cinema and the importance it plays in the lives of so many people.  Also, Chris shares some details about some of the films and events...and even drops a hint or two about this year's Secret Screenings (as if we weren't already excited enough about this year's fest)!!!!  It was an honor (and an absolute blast!!) talking to Chris Dortch!!  If you have even remotely been considering attending the Chattanooga Film Festival this year, we hope that this episode will be the deciding factor that, yes, you do indeed need to go!!

Side note - we were later in getting our previous episode (our CFF 2018 recap) posted than we wanted.  So, even though we just posted an episode yesterday...with just two weeks remaining until the start of the Chattanooga Film Festival, we were too excited about tonight's episode to postpone it any later than we already have!

 For tickets or more information (including complete lists of films screened each year) go to chattfilmfest.org - and be sure to follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter to stay up to date on announcements for CFF 2019.

The Gargyle Podcast is sponsored by Central Cinema and the Knoxville Horror Film Festival!!  Submissions for the Knoxville Horror Film Festival are now open!  Submit your film at filmfreeway.com and be sure to follow KHFF on Facebook for more news and announcements!   View Central Cinema's lineup, showtimes, and purchase tickets at  centralcinema865.com. 

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Eric and I have almost made it to our destination - the Chattanooga Film Festival, 2019!!  Our next stop along the way is our recap of CFF 2018!  And while there have been amazing moments that I will never forget from each of the years that I've attended CFF, 2018 might have been the best year yet!  With so much awesomeness to talk about, this episode is a bit longer than the episodes covering CFF 2016 and 2017.  

Even though this was a longer episode, we still weren't able to cover EVERY film that I saw in 2018.  So, once again, we restricted the films that we focused on using the following criteria:   1) they are movies that I saw during the film festival that year, 2) they are movies that are available online (Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.), 3) they are movies that represented the experience of the film fest, rather than just being a good movie (there are some movies that are great movies, but you could get roughly the same experience seeing them in any movie theater...and there are other movies that might not necessarily be as "good," but it will be an experience that you are not likely to have outside of a film festival).   

 With those criteria in mind, the films from 2018 that are covered in tonight's episode are:  A Prayer Before Dawn, Lowlife, Let the Corpses Tan, Ghost Stories, All the Creatures Were Stirring, and The Ranger, along with some brief highlights about Wolfman's Got Nards, Summer of '84, Tigers are Not Afraid, Dementia: Part II, and my interview with Matt Mercer, Graham Skipper, and Kevin Sluder.  We end the episode by discussing the second wave of films announced for CFF 2019*!!

*We recorded this episode a few days ago, but weren't able to get it posted until tonight.  When discussing the 2nd wave of films, we talk about not being sure if this is the 2nd of many waves, or if it was the 2nd half of two parts (it's the later).  We also talk about not being sure when the schedule will be released.  The schedule is now posted on the CFF website.

For tickets or more information (including complete lists of films screened each year) go to chattfilmfest.org - and be sure to follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter to stay up to date on announcements for CFF 2019.  

And be sure to come back soon for more cinematic discussions on The Gargyle Podcast!!  Up next, we continue our CFF 2019 pre-coverage with a very special guest.  If you are even remotely excited about the Chattanooga Film Festival, you will NOT want to miss our next episode!!

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As we have mentioned on the podcast many times before, Eric and I love analyzing and discussing movies just about as much as we love watching movies, which is part of why we do this podcast.  And one of the best things about doing this podcast is being able to discuss movies with some of the people who actually make them.  So, on tonight's episode, we are super excited to have Bill Fulkerson and Kyle Kuchta, writers and directors of the documentary, Survival of the Film Freaks (which won a Gargyle Award during our Knoxville Horror Film Fest coverage for "movie that I am most excited to share with someone else")!!  Bill and Kyle were informative, entertaining, and just an absolute blast to talk to!  The episode might get a bit silly at times (if you've listened to an episode of The Gargyle Podcast before, that shouldn't be a surprise), but Bill and Kyle also had a lot to say about the role of cult films in cinema!!  We had so much fun recording tonight's episode that our conversation (after the podcast was over) eventually led to The Gargyle Podcast's new motto: "we take movies seriously...just not ourselves."  So, we hope that you enjoy tonight's episode as much as we do!

And if you do enjoy tonight's episode, be sure to support the Survival of the Film Freaks IndieGoGo campaign at:  https://igg.me/at/survivalofthefilmfreaks/x

And be sure to come back soon for more cinematic discussions on The Gargyle Podcast!!  Up next, we return to our Chattanooga Film Festival pre-coverage by discussing some of the films from CFF 2018.

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As the Chattanooga Film Festival draws ever nearer, Eric and I continue on with our pre-coverage of this year's CFF by recounting previous years of CFF.  On tonight's episode, we discuss films from the 2017 Chattanooga Film Festival.  As I mentioned on the previous episode, the Chattanooga Film Festival is so much more than just the movies...it is a cinematic experience and an opportunity to talk with other people who love cinema just as much as you do (including many of the people involved in making the films screened at CFF)...but, obviously the movies are a pretty major part.  And while I wish that each episode leading up to CFF could be a deep-dive into every single movie screened each year, that just isn't possible.  So, instead, each week we will be focusing on a few movies that really highlight the Chattanooga Film Festival experience from each of the previous years that I have attended (this will be the fourth year that I have attended CFF and the first year that Eric has attended) as a way to give Eric (and our listeners) a glimpse of what CFF is like.  The criteria for the movies picked from each year are: 1) they are movies that I saw during the film festival that year, 2) they are movies that are available online (Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.), 3) they are movies that represented the experience of the film fest, rather than just being a good movie (there are some movies that are great movies, but you could get roughly the same experience seeing them in any movie theater...and there are other movies that might not necessarily be as "good," but it will be an experience that you are not likely to have outside of a film festival).  With those criteria in mind, the films from 2017 that are covered in tonight's episode are:  Dave Made A Maze, Feeding Time, Sequence Break, The Dragon Lives Again and The Zodiac Killer(both presented by the American Genre Film Archive), David Lynch: The Art Life, Dayveon, and The Devil's Candy, along with some brief highlights about The Monster Squad and The Void.  We end the episode talking about The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick - by Mallory O'Meara.  The Chattanooga Film Festival will be screening The Creature from the Black Lagoon, pairing it with a talk by Mallory O'Meara.  So, in preparation, Eric and I have both been reading her book (and we both very highly recommend it!)

For tickets or more information (including complete lists of films screened each year) go to chattfilmfest.org - and be sure to follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter to stay up to date on announcements for CFF 2019.  

And be sure to come back soon for more cinematic discussions on The Gargyle Podcast!!  Up next will be a break from our CFF coverage as we interview Bill Fulkerson and Kyle Kuchta on their documentary, Survival of the Film Freaks (which won a Gargyle Award during our Knoxville Horror Film Fest coverage for "movie that I am most excited to share with someone else").  After that, we will return to our CFF pre-coverage by discussing some of the films from CFF 2018.

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With the Chattanooga Film Festival just over a month away, Eric and I have already begun our CFF 2019 coverage...by talking about the previous years of CFF.  The Chattanooga Film Festival is so much more than just the movies...it is a cinematic experience and an opportunity to talk with other people who love cinema just as much as you do (including many of the people involved in making the films screened at CFF)...but, obviously the movies are a pretty major part.  And while I wish that each episode leading up to CFF could be a deep-dive into every single movie screened each year, that just isn't possible (but, I'm sure that Eric and I will eventually be covering all of the movies screened in previous years in future episodes).  So, instead, each week we will be focusing on a few movies that really highlight the Chattanooga Film Festival experience from each of the previous years that I have attended (this will be the fourth year that I have attended CFF and the first year that Eric has attended) as a way to give Eric (and our listeners) a glimpse of what CFF is like, starting with 2016.  The criteria for the movies picked from each year are: 1) they are movies that I saw during the film festival that year, 2) they are movies that are available online (Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.), 3) they are movies that represented the experience of the film fest, rather than just being a good movie (there are some movies that are great movies, but you could get roughly the same experience seeing them in any movie theater...and there are other movies that might not necessarily be as "good," but it will be an experience that you are not likely to have outside of a film festival).  With those criteria in mind, the films from 2016 that are covered in tonight's episode are:  The Wraith, Bad Blood: The Movie, The Blackcoat's Daughter, Demon, The Invitation, and Buddymoon.  We end the episode talking about the wave 1 announcement of the films that will be screening at the Chattanooga Film Festival 2019, including the announcement that Crispin Hellion Glover will be attending for a screening and presentation!!!!  

For tickets or more information (including complete lists of films screened each year) go to chattfilmfest.org - and be sure to follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter to stay up to date on announcements for CFF 2019.  

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 Closing out our Kung Fu-bruary series for 2019 (which was picked by you, the listeners!), tonight's movie is Five Deadly Venoms (a.k.a. The Five Venoms)!  And while I am genuinely a little sad that this series is over for now (don't worry...I'm sure we are going to discuss more kung fu movies in the future!), we are wrapping things up with another one of Chang Cheh's iconic kung fu films!  While there might actually be less fighting in Five Deadly Venoms than there was in the other films we have reviewed this month, the character driven plot and the focus on the five individual fighting styles makes each fight feel unique and draws you in closer to each of the characters!  So, join The Gargyle and The Chimerican as we discuss why we love Five Deadly Venoms as much as we do!!

Since February is both Black History Month as well as Women in Horror Month, each episode in our Kung Fu-bruary series will start with segments honoring African Americans in cinema, as well as women in horror.  For tonight's episode, we honor Eve's Bayou and Get Out in our segment on Black History Month.  For Women in Horror Month, we honor Raw and Jennifer's Body.

Also, as we've done on the last few episodes, we continue to highlight the Chattanooga Film Festival - April 11-14.  There have not been any major announcements regarding CFF since our last episode.  However, on the CFF Facebook page, they have been highlighting some CFF BFFs, including Brian Lonano (creator of BFF Girls and Gwilliam).  So, we give a shout out to some of our CFF BFFs, Graham Skipper, Matt Mercer, and Kevin Sluder!!  We love you guys and cannot thank the Chattanooga Film Festival enough for being the catalyst in our friendship!!  And, as we have mentioned before, that is one of the things that we love so much about CFF...it gives you the opportunity to meet the people involved with making the films you see at the fest, as well as getting to know other cinephiles who are just as passionate about film as you are!!

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Continuing with our Kung Fu-bruary series (which was picked by you, the listeners!), tonight's movie is Men from the Monastery (a.k.a. Disciples of Death)!  I initially picked this movie because of just one scene that a friend told me about during a monthly film discussion - I knew absolutely nothing else about this movie other than that one scene.  And while it is certainly a memorable scene, this movie was so much more awesome than I expected!  There are certainly some flaws (most notably, pacing issues and the fact that the plot does tend to get a bit lost in the action....the awesome, awesome action), but the impressive fight scenes, serious plot (once it gets around to it), and characters that you genuinely care about...it's no wonder why Men from the Monastery (while not perfect) is one of Chang Cheh's stand-out films in the Shaw Bros. catalog!!  So, join The Gargyle and The Chimerican as we discuss why we love Men from the Monastery as much as we do!!

Since February is both Black History Month as well as Women in Horror Month, each episode in our Kung Fu-bruary series will start with segments honoring African Americans in cinema, as well as women in horror.  For tonight's episode, we honor Dope and Dayveon - two coming-of-age movies with drastically different tones (but, both awesome in their own right!!).  For Women in Horror Month, we honor Slumber Party Massacre and Stacy Title, director of... among other things... Hood of Horror (for an additional tie-in with Black History Month) and The Last Supper.

Also, as we've done on the last few episodes, we continue to highlight the Chattanooga Film Festival - April 11-14.  Tonight, we highlight that Mallory O'Meara's book, The Lady from the Black Lagoon, is available for pre-order on Amazon!  We also remind you of the programming that has been announced so far:  Joe Bob Briggs, Everything is Terrible, Shock Waves Podcast, Junkfood Cinema Podcast, a screening of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and a presentation by author Mallory O'Meara.

As a reminder, the CFF fundraiser to be able to provide classes and workshops for free during the festival is still going on!  To donate, click on the following link:  CFF Fundraiser

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Continuing with our Kung Fu-bruary series (which was picked by you, the listeners!), tonight's movie is Enter the Dragon.  While this movie is definitely more Westernized and almost feels more like a traditional James Bond film than it does a traditional kung fu film, it is undeniably a great action movie with one of the greatest martial artist of all time, Bruce Lee!  So, join The Gargyle and The Chimerican as we discuss why we love Enter the Dragon as much as we do (spoiler alert:  it might involve the fact that Bruce Lee smacks a cobra...)!!

Since February is both Black History Month as well as Women in Horror Month, each episode in our Kung Fu-bruary series will start with segments honoring African Americans in cinema, as well as women in horror.  For tonight's episode, we honor Blaxsploitation cinema for Black History Month.  While problematic on the surface (in large part due to the use of racial stereotypes), Blaxsploitation cinema was an an outlet for many African American writers, directors, and actors/actresses to address themes of social injustice, as well as present African American characters as powerful individuals rather than just relegated to comic relief or overlooked side-characters.  For Women in Horror Month, we honor all of the women who have been involved in the horror movies that we have seen in film festivals over the past few years (especially those who were able to attend the film fests as well).  We list as many as we can remember, but we know that it is not an exhaustive list.  We could have spent an entire month just talking about the women who have been involved in recent horror movies that we absolutely love!  So, if we left you off of the list, we deeply apologize and we want you to know that most certainly have not left you out of our hearts!!

Also, as we've done on the last few episodes, we continue to highlight the Chattanooga Film Festival - April 11-14.  Tonight, we specifically address the programming that has been announced so far:  Joe Bob Briggs, Everything is Terrible, Shock Waves Podcast, Junkfood Cinema Podcast, a screening of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and a presentation by author Mallory O'Meara.  As Eric and I both posted as soon as the announcement was made last week - the programming is like it is being tailor made for us and we cannot even begin to explain how excited we are about the Chattanooga Film Festival this year (and this is before any of the movies, other than Creature from the Black Lagoon, have been announced)!!  

As a reminder, the CFF fundraiser to be able to provide classes and workshops for free during the festival is still going on!  To donate, click on the following link:  CFF Fundraiser

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Tonight's episode of The Gargyle Podcast kicks off our series for February which was decided on by you, the listener!  Based on the results of our poll last month on whether February should be Fur-bruary (with episodes focusing on werewolf movies) or Kung Fu-bruary (with episodes focusing on, well, kung fu movies), our series for this month is Kung Fu-bruary!!  As much as we love werewolf movies, we are actually really happy that the listeners decided on Kung Fu, as this is a genre of cinema that Eric does not have as much exposure to.  So, kicking things off is one of the most iconic and classic Kung Fu movies, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin!!  Along with some pretty awesome training and fighting sequences, this movie has a very powerful message of overcoming oppression, which drives the overarching plot of the film.  So, join The Gargyle and The Chimerican as we discuss why The 36th Chamber of Shaolin remains a powerful film to this day!!

Since February is both Black History Month as well as Women in Horror Month, each episode in our Kung Fu-bruary series will start with segments honoring African Americans in cinema, as well as women in horror.  For tonight's episode, we honor Julie Adams (star of Creature from the Black Lagoon) who passed away yesterday - and Geena Davis for her role in The Fly.  We also honor Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing - and Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, a documentary which will soon be available on Shudder and which currently has limited theatrical release across the country, including a showing on Wednesday, 2/6/19 at Knoxville's own Central Cinema.

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Wrapping up our New Year, New You series for 2019 is the movie that made us want to do this little series in the first place - David Cronenberg's The Fly from 1986!!  Not only is this a perfect movie for discussing "New Year, New You"...not only does this film complete our coverage of the trinity of 80'ss body horror remakes of 50's sci-fi/horror films (The Fly, The Blob, and The Thing)...not only is Jeff Goldblum's portrayal of an anthropomorphized fly subtle, but brilliant acting... but this movie is a gut-wrenchingly tragic story of love, hubris, and succumbing to one's inner monster that still holds up today!!  Eric and I differ pretty significantly on a couple aspects of the film.  But, when examining the deeper themes and when taking the movie as a whole, we both agree that The Fly is an absolutely amazing movie!!  So, join The Gargyle and The Chimerican as we bicker about some (pretty important) details while simultaneously praise The Fly as a masterpiece.

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