CinemaPsych Podcast

Join Alex and friend of the show Dr. Ed Hansen as they discuss the delightfully silly and usefully psychological High Anxiety (1977), Mel Brooks' send-up to the master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. The film stars Brooks as Dr. Richard Thorndyke, a world-renowned psychiatrist who begins a new career at the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous. Joining him are his normal contributors, including Cloris Leachman, Harvey ...

Join Alex in a solo episode as he has some fun with the day this episode goes out to the public: 4/20! The film explored is the oft-ridiculed Reefer Madness (1938), a propaganda film against the drug marijuana. Originally, it was meant to be an education film for parents so that they may notice the warning signs produced by a church group. The film earned cult status when it was shown in the exploitation film circuit in the '30s &...

Join Alex and Prof. Kayla Sargent as they explore the wild web of secrets and gender psychology in the independent film City Island (2009). The film follows the Bronx*-island-of-the-same-name patriarch Vince, played by Andy Garcia, as he attempts to change his career from prison correctional officer to actor, a secret he keeps hidden from his wife and family. Perhaps a much larger issue is that he finds his long-lost son, also unk...

Join Alex in a solo episode as he explores the more overt mother obsession themes in Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). The film released two years after Hitchcock's Vertigo, which had subtler mother obsession themes. In this film, which stars Janet Leigh as Marion Crane and Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, Hitchcock specifically smacks the audience over the head with the overt Oedipal complex and Freudian themes. Hailed as a masterpiece ...

Join Alex and film studies professor Daniel Kieckhefer as they explore the deeper meaning in Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece Vertigo (1958). The film stars James Stewart as a boyish former SFPD detective, haunted by a near-death experience that leaves him with extreme vertigo. He's called on as a private detective to investigate a woman, played by Kim Novak, who is seemingly possessed by a dead relative. This paper-thin mystery (as...

Join Alex and filmmaker Andrew Vogel, director of the new psychological horror/thriller film, Herman (2025), as they discuss the themes and psychological concepts found within his directorial debut! The film follows a harrowing evening experienced by the titular character, Herman, played by Colin Ward. Herman is dealing with the grief and guilt losing his wife 40 years ago and it manifests as some form of darkness. The pair discus...

Join Alex in a solo episode as he explores the Scorsese psychological thriller Shutter Island (2010)! Starring Leonard DiCaprio as a troubled US Marshal, the film follows the Marshal’s investigation into the disappearance of a patient at a psychiatric facility and prison for the criminally insane on a desolate, rocky island in the mid-1950s. However, beneath the surface, sinister forces lurk, and the episode delves into the myster...

Join Alex and Corinne Hobbs as they dive into a headfirst slide in home, exploring the mid-90s Disney hit Angels in the Outfield (1994)! Corinne is working toward her doctoral dissertation about coaching and pregame speeches, and knows all things sports psychology, so this is the perfect film to explore. The pair discuss how George Knox (Danny Glover) evolves as a coach, from curmudgeon to a strong believer in his players and the ...

Join Alex and Celeste Pilegard as they discuss the first of two Keanu Reeves dystopian cyberpunk future films, Johnny Mnemonic (1995). The film was directed by Robert Longo and he quit filmmaking after this one. A film having to do with storing other people's memories in your head while others suffer from a debilitating disease caused by electronics, while set in 2021... you have to wonder if the author of the short story, William...

Join Alex and guest host Dr. Jill Swirsky as they enter the world of musical theater yet again, this time traveling to the land of Oz in Wicked (2024)! The film is an adaptation of the Broadway play, which was an adaptation of the novel by Gregory Maguire. We follow Elphaba, played by Cynthia Erivo, the eventual Wicked Witch of the West, on her journey as a child and young adult. Along the way, she learns about her true magical ab...

Join Alex and guest host Dr. Jon Mandracchia as they become members of the Corleone family discussing Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972). This first part stars Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone, a mafia Don whose life is based on tradition. Also starring Al Pacino as Michael, Vito's son, who unexpectedly, but with his full throat, becomes the new Don. Robert Duvall, James Caan, Diane Keaton, and many others bring an amazing ...

Join Alex and guest host Dr. Katherine Marshall Woods as they explore the psychodynamic themes in Denzel Washington's directorial debut, Antwone Fisher (2002). The film also stars Washington, and in his Hollywood debut, Derek Luke plays the titular character. The film was based on the real Fisher's autobiography, Finding Fish (2001), and is about a man with anger issues on a hair trigger. But as the two psychologists explore in th...

Join Alex and guest host Dr. Brooke Cannon as they explore one of Alfred Hitchcock's brilliant thrillers, Strangers on a Train (1951). The film stars Farley Granger as a tennis pro, Guy Haines, who meets stranger Bruno Antony on... you guessed it, a train! Bruno hates his dad, Guy wants to divorce his wife, and well, Bruno tinks they are going to share a pair of murders — criss-cross! Intrigue erupts as Bruno follows through, but ...

Join Alex and guest host Chad Freidrichs, documentary filmmakers, as they discuss one of Chad's recent releases, The Cinema Within (2024). The documentary cleverly explores and visualizes one of film's greatest mysteries: how humans intuitively process film editing's most basic pieces: the cut! The pair discuss film theory and how it relates to cognitive processes and perception. While documentaries are rare on this show, it's a g...

Join Alex in a celebration of the past six years of CinemaPsych Podcast content and 100 episodes! It's been a journey, with so many films and guests, and so what better way to highlight that time with a clip show! In this double-sized episode, explore some of my favorite moments and discussions, from great films, actors, and directors to awesome psychology content and critical thinking in art. In addition to the past episode clips...

Join Alex and returning guest host Dr. Jordan Wagge as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the first summer blockbuster films, Jaws (1975)! One of Steven Spielberg's great filmmaking achievements, featuring one of the best dolly zoom shots in cinema history, as well as a fully functional animatronic sharks, affectionately named Bruce. Starring Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw, as three very different shark...

Join Alex and guest host Dr. Shlomit Flaisher-Grinberg as they discuss the neuroscience behind Pixar's brilliant Ratatouille (2007), directed by Brad Bird and starring the voices of Patton Oswalt as Remy, Ian Holm as Skinner, Brad Garrett as Gusteau, Janeane Garofalo as Colette, Lou Romano as Linguini, and Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego. This lovely movie about following your dreams has a ton of psychological concepts hidden within, f...

Join Alex and returning guest host Dr. Marc Klippenstine for a personalized discussion on birding, bird-watching, and psychology: The Big Year (2011). The film stars comedy powerhouses Jack Black, Steve Martin, and Owen Wilson, as three men who love birding so much, they all attempt the Audubon Society's "Big Year". Birding is a hobby that relies on bottom-up and top-down processing, cooperation, friendship, and a little bit of in...

Join Alex and guest host Dr. T.R. Brooks as they discuss the intriguing and horrifying implications of a series of pandemics that rob people of their beloved senses in Perfect Sense (2011). The independent sleeper stars Ewan MacGregor, a chef, and Eva Green, an epidemiologist, who embark on a love story in the midst of these catastrophic events. While the doctors and scientists are trying to figure out a pattern to these illnesses...