December 11, 2024 • 47 mins
We're closing out the year once again with our top 5 new-to-me watches of the year. Not much horror on these lists, but you'll get a sense of what we love outside of our primary genre. Silent films, Mexican and Hong Kong action, heartfelt dramas, and more. We hope you find something new to add to your watchlist. We'll be back mid-January 2025.
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Join our discord! https://discord.gg/F8WsTzE9qt
Follow this podcast on Instagram and Facebook @unsunghorrors.
Follow Lance on Instagram and Letterboxd @lschibi
Lance’s shop: https://lanceschibi.bigcartel.com/
Follow Erica on Letterboxd or Instagram @hexmassacre
Logo by Cody Schibi
Part of Someone’s Favorite Productions Podcast Network: https://linktr.ee/someonesfavoriteproductions
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Prepare yourself for the terror the prison of madness. We
have a few inter and Nonritter.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to Unsung Horrors with LUNs and Denica. Leave all
your sanity behind. It can't help you. Now.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Welcome to another episode of Unsung Horrors, the podcast where
we discuss underseeing horror films, specifically those with fewer than
one thousand views on Letterboxed. I'm Erica, I'm Lance, and
this is our end of year Discoveries New to Me,
non twenty twenty four release, whatever you want to call
(00:56):
it episode. We're each going to share five of new
movies that we watched this year that we want to
share with y'all. We'll also share some Letterbox stats like
most watched, director and actor, and we'll probably have a
few honorable mentions at the end of this too. Yes,
so I concentrated my list this year specifically on ones
(01:21):
that we hadn't really talked about in other episodes, like
they may have come up in an episode as like, oh,
I watch this for this episode, but for the most part,
I'm I'm sticking with ones that that we haven't discussed
I haven't discussed at all. June'sploitation horror gives back.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Well, I'm opposite. I think everybody might have heard me
talk about some of the most of these.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Focus so you're going to talk about Bell from Hell.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
And that's an honorable Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I don't even have any horror movies on my list. Actually, wow. Yeah,
I have a couple with like horror elements. But yeah,
this year was very like non horror for me, which
is fine, you.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Know, that's awesome. Yeah, I mean I think I have actually, yeah,
I think I only have one horror film.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah, I mean we talked about horror movies all year.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
We do. I think it's like, yeah, I think we
really enjoy watching a different genre and those are stand out, yeah,
because they're not particularly specific to the podcast.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Yes, So now I do want to say that normally
we have Lindsay and Anthony on, but this year has
been very rough for both Lance and I and we
still wanted to do this episode, but we needed to
do just like a you know, quick and dirty one.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Dirty this is gonna be.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
It's gonna be super dirty. Lindsay and Anthony are always
on other Best of New to Me episodes on other podcasts,
so we'll let you all know in the discord when
when those come up, if you guys want to hear
their picks as well, There'll also be plenty of other
podcasts that are doing this type of thing as well.
Not nearly as fun as.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Ours though, No, just a good, guaranteed good time.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Yeah, let's kick it off then, Lance Letterbox stats, who
is your most watched actor this year?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Okay, so, as per usual with our last stats, my
actor and director is usually tied to the podcast.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Same.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, in this case it's Veronica Heart. Okay, I mean
I've been seeing her praises since Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh.
I watched ten films which included Veronica Hart and this
diem from covering Deranged for the podcast in March. As
I've stated in the Deranged episode, and probably like in
(03:39):
June'splitation episod, that's probably a lot of episodes. How much
I love Veronica Heart. She's an adult film actor, film
star who does you know, kind of started doing non
hardcore stuff, and I'm always completely sold in her performances.
She's fully committed delivering what the character should be for
that role. I just love her so much. But yeah,
(04:01):
I watched tons of her films for Durranged Cleo Leo,
New York's finist Roommates, which is amazing. Yeah, I just
love her. Anka Hearts. Who's your most watched actor?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Mine is actually not tied to the podcast, which I
was at first surprise, but then I was like, actually, no,
that makes sense because Vinegar Syndrome their last sale that
they had at the end of November, their Black Friday sale.
One of their announcements that they had was for the
corey Un movie Women on the Run, and I have
(04:36):
a booklet essay in there, and it's all about the
Hong Kong girls with guns genre. So I went ham.
I watched a fucking shit ton of girls with guns
movies this year, and most of them had Moonley in them.
And that's who my top actor is this year ten films.
Right behind her is John Saxon with eight nice but
(04:57):
Moonley was my watched I watch Angel Terminators, Too Serious, Shock, Yes,
Madam Princess, Madam Iron, Angels one, two and three, Devil Hunter.
I mean, I just watched a ton with her this year, so,
and it's a lot of fun. I love that sub genre.
It's super fun. A lot of them do blend together.
(05:20):
But I do have one that's actually on my list
for this year that I'm going to talk about that
I highly recommend.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I also have a Veronica Heart on my list.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
And if we're doing runner ups, I watched eight films
with Howard Vernon. He was next up on. He always
pops up.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah, what about your director?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
So my director again, back to the Deranged episode. Chuck
Vincent directed pretty much every he did. He directed every
film that I watched, all ten films with Veronica Heart,
So obviously he's my most watched director. I watched eleven
of his films he did, Yeah, all the ones I
had already mentioned, Cleo Leo, New York's finest roommates Deranged. Obviously,
(06:07):
I watched Warrior Queen starring Sybil Danning and Donald Pleasance
all for the Deranged episode. Another guy who began his
career as an adult film director moved to non hardcore films,
And yeah, I think if you haven't already, I recommend
everybody check out the Deranged episode because we really dive
deep into his filmography as well as Veronica Hearts, and
(06:30):
I'm proud of that episode. I think there's a lot
of research and discussion.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
It is the origin of cowjuice.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
It is the origin of cow juice. Milk is no
longer called milk in this house. It is called cow juice.
So I do think Chuck Vincent for that term, love
all his films. I mean not all of them, but
I do I respect all this film.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
So my most watched director, it's actually a tie, and
they are both podcast related and they are both for
episodes that were your picks. So first is Hal Needham,
which no complaints there, Like everything I watched with him
was fun that I think that was the episode where
I had the most fun with all the stuff that
(07:15):
I watched.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
For that episode that was full on of no pants episode.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yes, oh holy pants on episode though was for Alberto
di Martino, not not no, no real reason to take
off pants in that episode.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Well not even pa man no ooh man.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Run okay, I.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Kind of close out the episode.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
So yeah, Alberto di Martino was second or tied, I
guess for first because they both had I watched six
of their films this year, so not not super high
numbers for the directors, and I have you know, my
runner ups for that or five films and then four films.
I had a bunch of those, so yeah, I didn't
really like dive deep too much into like one specific
(08:05):
director this year.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
But yeah, Chuck Vincent was kind of the only one
I did. Right behind him for me is eight films
from Alberto di Martinez, okay, and then I have Aheno
Martine with six films. So yeah, all podcasts related, but
I feel like, yeah, some years I'm watching sixteen nineteen
films of a certain director, so.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Not this year. This year was rough.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, Actually my total films watched is a lot lower
than it's ever been.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yeah, mine dropped down to like normal, I remember, Well, no,
I'm at like five point fifteen, which isn't bad.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
I guess I haven't even hit three sixty five yet.
I will hit a film a day, yeah, but yeah,
it's it's been low for me.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Well, most of like my big numbers come from when
you know, John still does like his marathons, and like, yeah,
I get sometimes I get forced into marathons where I'm
not like, eh, yeah, okay, fine, i can watch four.
You know, he's like four, like he's used to like
eight movie marathons. I'm like, I have an old lady
all right, like just yeah, dil it back a little
(09:09):
bit here.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Yeah, and I didn't do I did south By, but
I worked it this year, yes, and then I didn't
do Fantastic. Yeah, there's Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
The festivals generally would like definitely pad them five.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
A day or so. Yeah, you know five days at least.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Which you know is fine because you think about normal people.
If you tell them you watched one hundred movies in
a year, their mouth would drop.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, because usually it's like, I want to try and
watch three hundred and sixty five movies. That's like, wow,
that's a lot of fucking movies. Yeah, but you know,
some years I'll hit eight hundred.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I don't think twenty twenty five is gonna I think
I'm probably going to drop down again in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I think I think I'm going.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
To be a little bit more measured and I'm probably
going to have a new job where I'm actually going
to have to work.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yes, that's where I'm at, and that's what's been. It's been,
you know, it's been good to keep me busy. But
at the same time it's interviewing, or it's interviewing, it's
interfering with my movie watching and yeah, I don't know.
We'll see, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah, we'll still get all of our homework done, but
oh yeah, I think it's going to be a lot
more crammed into. Like one day, I watched five movies
yesterday for this director. Luckily, we're not going to start
off that year this way, because you know, we're starting
off twenty twenty five with another a Henio Martin movie.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
So yeah, and I already watched what was it? Six? Yeah,
I love it, So maybe I should pick. I wonder
if did Chuck Vincent do a Giallo?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
I mean, you know, just look for one that has
a yellow poster, black gloves. It counts.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Okay, there you go.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
All right, let's get into some of our favorites for
this year. What was your first one?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Lance? Okay, I'm going to kick off with I'm just
gonna go ahead and get out of the way. A
Chuck Vincent Ronica Haart film. Okay, And this is one
that I've I've discussed a couple of times on past episodes,
and I even think I mentioned it. As soon as
I watched it, I immediately knew it was probably going
to be on my best of list and I watched it.
I don't know January or February. Bad Blood from nineteen eight,
(11:11):
also known as a Woman Obsessed. It's written by the
Chuck Vincent collaborator Craig Horrel, who wrote fifteen films that
Truck Vincent directed, including Deranged in New York's Finest. It
stars Linda Blair and adult film star Randy Spears. Veronica Hart.
She makes an appearance in a flashback scene where she
(11:33):
blows her husband away with the shotgun. Very awesome stuff,
but this is the Georgina Spelvin show. She plays Randy
Spears's mother in this. Like I said, I've talked about
Bad Blood, but it's about a married couple played by
Blair and Spears who discover a painting at an art
gallery and it's a portrait of a man who looks
(11:55):
exactly like the Randy Spears character, and they learned that
the art is this wealthy recluse, a woman who turns
out to be Spears's real mother. He was adopted, but
he finds out this is his biological mother, so him
and Linda Blair's character they go and visit and meet
his real mother, who's played by Spelvin, who is so
(12:19):
unhinged and this performance. Her character is like incredibly obsessed
with her dead husband, and her son, played by Randy Spears,
looks exactly like her husband, so she ends up kind
of falling in love with him while torturing his wife,
and just a very interesting, humorous but also unsettling like plot.
(12:43):
I've mentioned that I think I've talked about Svelvin a
lot quite in past episodes, but her performance in this
is it's like mind boggling, like it's I think more
people should be talking about it. She also starred in
Gerard Domiano's The Devil and Miss Jones, Miss Jones putting
in an equally awesome performance, but her in Bad Blood
(13:05):
is just amazing. I think this might also be my
favorite Linda Blair performance, even though she's not used that much.
I think it's I mean, I love Savage Streets and
of course The Exorcist is great, but she really stands out.
Even Randy Spears, who is an adult film star who
started doing you know, kind of roles like kind of
make shifting gears to non hardcore like Veronica Hart, He's
(13:26):
equally as captivating. I mean, everybody in here, I think
is perfectly cast, but like most Chuck Vincent movies, you're
going to see a boom mic from time to time.
There's budget issues, some odd cuts which I just found endearing.
And yeah, there's no release of this anywhere yet, but
it's on YouTube yet. This is a movie that I think, Yeah,
(13:47):
I've read some reviews and after I watched it, I
was like, Okay, I gotta buy this, Like I feel
like I can't be the only one that is just
completely sold in love with this movie and just hoping
and wishing, Yeah, yeah, it'll, it'll, It'll get released soon.
I think. I think Chuck Vincent box set would be amazing. Yeah,
but yeah, Bad Blood. As soon as I watched it,
(14:09):
I knew and it is one of my favorite new
demies of this year. Nice.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
So my first one is a Japanese movie called The
Third Shadow Warrior from nineteen sixty three. It's directed by
Umetsugu in O Ui in o ui I n o
u e. It's yeah, I'm sorry. It's about a young
peasant named Kyono Suke. He dreams of being a samurai
(14:40):
and so his wish sort of comes true when he's
tapped to be one of three doubles or shadows for
the Lord Yasutaka. Now it turns into an extremely brutal
and haunting story about identity and upper and lower class
(15:00):
and destiny. It's beautifully shot in black and white by
Shozo Honda, who was a DP on a few Zadawichi films.
Kyonosuke is played by Raizo Ichikawa, and he is so
good in this. He begins a film as this wide eyed,
innocent yet overly ambitious young man who yearns to move
(15:23):
outside of his social status, and then as a film
goes on, he starts to slowly lose who he is,
just getting beaten down emotionally and physically. I'll give one example,
but I don't want to spoil it more than this.
At one point, the warlord loses an eye, so obviously
his shadows have to have an eye removed as well,
(15:45):
because they're the ones who are taking his place or
being his doubles.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
That sounds great.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Ichikawa is also playing the role of the warlord, so
that's why I like So it's kind of like a
twins situation where one person is playing two roles, and
so he's definitely got a ton of range in this.
So this is the only film I've seen from this director,
despite him having written and directed over one hundred films
and working with all of the major Japanese film studios.
(16:14):
I'm really looking forward to watching more from him. If
the plot sounds familiar, it's probably because a Kiara Corsala
made his own version called Kajamusha. I probably pronounce that
in correctly from nineteen eighty which I haven't seen, but
I'll be reminding that hopefully standing maybe in twenty twenty five.
But the Third Shadow Warrior nineteen sixty three is currently
(16:38):
streaming on the Criterion Channel for anybody who wants to
watch it, so I would expect that it would get
some kind of release at some point, especially because of
the Corosawa connection.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Yeah, and if it's on Criterion like channel usually that's
a good good indicator. Yeah, ex great, Yeah, Okay, So
my next pick is one that I watched in the
theater back in January for Weird Ones Day at the
album draft House. You were there. I didn't know you
were there until like we got home and we talked
like you later, I was like, oh, you were there.
(17:08):
Blonde Death from nineteen eighty three.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
This was going to be on my list as well,
and then I saw your rating and I was like, ah,
this might be on Lances, so I don't want to
double up. So this is considered. This an honorable mention
for me.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Oh yeah, yeah, I think it's This was a theatrical
theatrical programming to celebrate Bleeding Skulls first release as a label. Yeah,
you know, they have a lot of like something weird stuff,
but this is their first single release, which I picked
up of course there at the at the program at
the film. But my letterbox review after watching it for
(17:40):
the first time was simply a movie that I'll think
about daily for the rest of my life, which, in
part it's mostly true. I've thought about it pretty much
every day this year. Okay, because it is. It's unforgettable.
It's this very ambitious you know, quoted as arguably the
best shot on video movie ever made. Made for just
two thousand dollars, director James Robert Baker, who went by
(18:03):
James Dillinger. It's about an eighteen year old named Tammy
who was once a bubbly teen, but she and her
redneck parents moved to Orange County and she's fed up
with suburban life, so she spends a summer of lethal excess,
involving this in your face rampage of sex, drugs, and
(18:23):
violence that climaxes with scenes that were secretly filmed inside Disneyland.
I mean that alone is just like it's got to
get you interested. I loved every second of this movie.
How it kind of continuously surprised me with the number
of memorable characters that popped up, the kind of you know,
just the plot twists and ideas thrown in. Like I mentioned,
(18:46):
it's very ambitious, and director James Baker, he totally follows
through on his vision amazing edits and callbacks. I mean't,
I just couldn't get over how impressed I was watching this.
I mean, obviously there's budget limitations two thousand dollars, so
knowing those limitations were in place in present I mean
(19:07):
this and then considering all that, looking at the film
in its final, overall completed state, it made it a
five star watch for me, and the Bleeding Skull release
is totally worth picking up. It includes cast and crew
interviews as a commentary with Liz Purchell and kJ Shephard,
which is great. The film's considered an essential chapter of
(19:28):
queer cinema history, and I mean, I think it was
just a really perfect way for Bleeding Skull to like
kick off their label. Yeah, it's also I don't know
when we're going to drop this episode, but it's going
to be after Black Friday. But it's fifty percent off
right now, it's all sold out. I don't think it was.
I ordered the Other Dimension in the films of Fabio Salerno. Yeah,
(19:51):
I don't know if.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
I'm pretty sure Blonde Death sold out like immediately, like
when you bought it it weird Wednesday. Those were like
the last copies.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah, I remember that. But it says fifty percent off
on Vinegar Syndrome site.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Oh maybe they printed more. I didn't think they did
that with partner labels.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
It says there's two hundred and sixty six left in
the stock.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Well, shit, get on it, people.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Eighteen dollars and forty nine cents. There you go, totally
worth it.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
I sit corrected now.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
I do remember it was sold out. Yeah, maybe just
the pre orders and then they held.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
I don't know, yeah, maybe they held yeah, or maybe
it was just like the special edition, which you know
for all the cardboard.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
It's probably the slip covers. Yeah, for all the freaks
out there, I have the slip covers. If you guys
want it, you can just message me. I'll for like
eight hundred bucks, all right.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
So my next pick is Requiem for a Heavyweight from
nineteen sixty two, directed by Ralph Nelson and written by
Rod Serling. So the director, Ralph Nelson has made this
film multiple times. So the first time was a nineteen
fifty six movie on Playhouse ninety with Jack Palance playing
(21:04):
Harlan Mountain McClintock. I haven't seen that version yet, but
it is on two B, so I'm going to try
to get that in probably next year. I didn't want
to watch it like right away after this one because
it's the same movie. Then in fifty seven, Nelson made
a TV movie called Blood Money aka Wrequiem for a
(21:24):
Heavyweight and that stars Sean Connery and Michael Kane. This
version from nineteen sixty two. It is streaming on Prime
and it stars Anthony Quinn as Mountain Rivera, Jackie Gleeson
as his manager Mash, Mickey Rooney as his trainer Army,
and Julie Harris as a love interest. So Rivera is
(21:47):
a washed up veteran heavyweight and near champion, and the
only way he can make his living is as a
prize fighter because that's all he knows is boxing. So
his manager gets him into some debt and the only
way out of it is for Rivera to participate in
a fixed wrestling match that seems redundant because all wrestling
is fixed.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yeah, anyways, I mean, yeah, there's some last call moments,
but yeah, yeah, there's yeah. Okay, wrestling is real though,
That's why I'm hesitant on saying okay.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Anyway, Rivera thinks that both of these things, the fact
that it's wrestling and that it's fixed, are beneath him,
and he wants to find another way to earn money,
which is where Amy comes in as a way to
get him on sort of a new path.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Now.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Apparently, the first version with Jack Palance is considered the
best one with Palence's performance in it, But I was
completely sold on this one because it was one hundred
percent about Quinn's performance. The story is so tragic, like
you can't help but feel for him, I think. And
so speaking of Anthony, our previous guest, Anthony Quinn for
(23:01):
these episodes, I think he said in a previous one
of these episodes that he hates boxing movies. I feel
like that came up in conversation at some point, but
I think he would like this, and probably the other version,
earlier version, which again a lot of people apparently think
is the superior version. I still think this one's really good.
(23:22):
So I did steal something from the always reliable Sampanico.
His review said that Nelson was critical of Quinn's performance,
as he wrote to Life magazine to say, quote as written,
the hero was a lonely, sensitive human being, a prize
fighter who had worked out his hostilities in the ring.
Jack Palance won an Emmy for his hauntingly gentle performance
(23:45):
on Playhouse ninety. Quinn was afraid that gentleness would reflect
upon his image of masculinity, so he chose to play
Sonny Liston instead. I believe Palence's concept was truer to
the role and fulfilled the concept of the script more
effect actively than Quinn's attempt to dominate it. And you know, again,
not having seen the Palance version, I mean, maybe it
(24:09):
is better, but I was still really moved by Quinn's
performance in this. It did still feel like really heartfelt
and tragic to me, So I really liked it.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah, it's interesting of Nelson to kind of not really,
I'm not going to say it was picking apart Anthony
Quinn's performance, but comparing the two when he's just remaking
the same film, it's interesting. That's odd. Yeah, Like, yeah,
he should. I'm sure he loves the all the versions,
but it's weird to continuously make the different versions and
then compare them to others. Yeah. I love Anthony Quinn,
(24:40):
me too. Okay. My next favorite watch at twenty twenty
four a nineteen twenty six silent film from the Soviet
Union called By the Law. And I'm actually surprised that
this film only has about twenty five hundred views on
Letterboxed because I think it's a masterpiece, and I think
a lot of people will agree with me saying that
(25:01):
if they watched it or have already watched Its Written
and directed by Lev Kohlishov, It's based on Jack London's
short stories The Unexpected and Just Meet from the early
nineteen hundreds and By the Law It's about a group
of gold prospectors in the Yukon region of Canada during
the Klondike Gold Rush and there's this married couple who
(25:24):
are leading the expedition and a few other men part
of the campaign, and they all become frustrated and plotting about,
you know, the time spent together and the gold that
they're seeking. So there's this dissent and the madness from
each of them as the weather turns and there's some
grizzly murders and decisions unfolding, which leads to this very
(25:46):
dark Frontier justice sort of finale. Again it's silent. You know.
I love silent movies when the actors obviously can present
their emotions and the plot extremely well, you know, like
Chapter and Investor Keaton and all that stuff, and the
performances in here kind of like amazing. And director Lev Koleyschov,
(26:08):
he was already a well known director at the time,
after trying his filmmaking skills on different genres I read,
he decided to make a film using minimal resources and
a strictly limited number of actors in a completely natural environment.
And he's known for the Koleshov effect, which is a
film editing or montage effect that he used in the
(26:29):
nineteen tens and twenties, and it's quote a mental phenomenon
by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of
two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation.
So the basic principle is that the audience derives a
new new interpretations from composition and sequences of what's presented
(26:51):
the interaction between shots. They can change the meaning of
a scene and message altogether. So it's very interesting because yeah,
this is it's very very well put together. Like I said,
they kind of descend into madness. It kind of reminded
me of I think it's called a page a Page
of Madness, the Japanese film I watched. It bleeds so
well together that it's very thought provoking, but you don't know,
(27:14):
it's kind of reality and dream state. Yeah, and it
was recently released on Blu Ray with the four K
restoration just a few years ago that I read, I
think due to a Indiegogo Indiegogo campaign. I forgot who
released it though, but it's on YouTube. There's a bunch
of cuts on YouTube. This was another five star movie
(27:34):
film for me for the year. Okay, by the law,
check it out.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Okay, my next pick. And I'm going to preface this
by saying, I know this is supposed to be like
our best new to me I'm going like or like
favorite new to me watches for the year, This wasn't
technically one of my favorite. I gave it three and
a half stars, but you know, there were quite a
few that I gave four and a half stars that
were first time watches, like you know, but again these
(28:04):
were ones that I've mentioned in other episodes, like ghost Watch.
I gave four and a half stars to or Gives
Back Young Girls of Rochefort, which I can't remember what
that came up for, but I know I watched it.
It was like it was podcast adjacent watching goddamn delightful movie,
completely like out of left field for me to be like,
(28:24):
oh look at this like bright, colorful love story and
I fucking love it. This one I'm bringing up because
no one that I follow on letterbox has this one logged,
and it's one of the most memorable films that I
watched this year, So that's why I'm including it here now. Unfortunately,
I think I had to find this one on Legal
(28:45):
adjacent since nothing come up came up when I searched
for it when I was getting my notes together for this,
So you may have to, you know, find find your
way to find this movie. But I do suspect that
it will get a release at some point because the
director is going to be familiar to some people. So
this is the passage from nineteen eighty six, directed by
(29:07):
Renee Manzoor. It stars Elaine de Lane as an animated
filmmaker named Jean Diez. Jean dies in a car accident
that is provoked by Death. Here it's portrayed like a
grim reaper character, but Death just kind of sits in
(29:28):
front of a wall of TV screens all day, kind
of moving knobs around and making things happen. Jean's son David,
ends up in a coma after the accident, and Death
tells Jean that he will wake David up from the
coma if Jean agrees to make an animated movie against
violence for him. So Delon ends up in this like
(29:53):
purgatory cell while Death is in the other room like
watching TV, turning knobs and stuff, making an animated feature.
And you see him like on I don't know the
technical terms for like all of this, but he's like
drawing things on like a lit up board and stuff
like that. Like you see him actually making the film,
and then you actually see the film itself, which is
(30:16):
really cool. Animation. The animated movie within the movie is
really where this one shines, you know, other than DeLong.
Of course, you don't get to see his penis in
this one though, for that you need to watch Shock Treatment.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Yes, but the tone.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Is very odd in this, like it could be a
children's movie, but the themes and the animation, like of
the animated film don't really make sense for that. But
the tone does make sense if you have seen this
director's most popular film, which is Dial Code Santa Claus, right,
which is on the surface, you're like, oh, it's about
(30:54):
this kid and he like fights off a you know,
Santa Claus. But it's like the movie is actually pretty
gnarly as far as like what this kid is going through. Yeah,
so it's this is kind of another like is this
for kids type movie? But I really, I really thought
it was unique and I think it's got a lot
of really cool aspects. I would not be surprised if
(31:16):
this ended up getting to release for all of those elements,
like same director's Dial Santa Claus, Like it's got this
like weird element to it. Elain Delon's in it. The
animated part of it is really cool. This I could see.
I know we're not doing like a Blu Ray wish
List episode, but I could see this being either like
(31:37):
vinegar syndrome or.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Deaf deaf crocodile. Yeah, because the plumptin. I was thinking
that too. Yeah, I had this one. This was my
on my list for horror gives back for a memoriam
for DeLong. Oh, but I couldn't find it. Like you said,
I couldn't find it streaming anywhere because the whole Yeah.
When I read the summary, Yeah, it seemed to meazing.
It's a short eighty minutes. Yeah, this one sounds really great.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Let me, I'm gonna see if I still have file.
If it is, I will put it in Google Drive
and put it in our discord. Another reason y'all should
join our discord.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Hell yeah, yeah, I really want to watch that one.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Yeah. So that's the Passage nineteen eighty six, directed by
Renee Menzor.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Okay, we're already on four. Yeah, flying along hair. Okay,
my next pick is it I've talked about. It's a
jewie's' plitation watch. I like your idea. I'm gonna do
that next year. Well, it's films we haven't really discussed
on the podcast. I think that's cool. It's a good idea.
Trouble Man from nineteen seventy two, Hell Yeah, directed by
Ivan Dixon, who also directed The Spook Who Sat by
(32:35):
the Door. This is a super tight script with some
of my personal favorite dialogue presented in a black exploitation film.
It's just written so well. Every character is completely established
and they it's perfectly cast. It has this great crime
double cross plot in the June's Plitation episode, I mentioned
(32:55):
that to me, it has a similar kind of across
one hundred and tenth Street going on with you know
a lot of the cops that are involved, and you
know the actual gang wars that are happening. The editing
and trouble Man is amazing. There's never any lulls. It
just moves along, keeping you fully engaged. And I learned
that it's one of Michael Kahn's first films as director,
(33:19):
and he went on to pretty much work specifically for Spielberg.
He did all this film, Chandler's List, Jurassic Parks, The
Indiana Jones, most recently The Fableman's So it's very well
put together, very well edited. It stars Robert Hooks as
mister T Troubleman, and he's a respected all purpose quote
ghetto fixer and he gets pulled in by others into
(33:42):
this ongoing gang war and he is just smooth as
hell and so captivating to watch, just a blast of
a character. I wish we had sequels and Ivan Dixon did, like,
I don't know, at least five more of these films.
Great cast, like I already said, Paul Winfield's in it,
Julius Harris, and the soundtrack is especially amazing. Marvin gay
(34:04):
is doing the songs and music. This is the only
film he ever provided music for, which is interesting to read.
I remember there's a busted version on YouTube that I
had first started watching in June where someone probably for Rights,
replaced all of Marvin Gaye's music with like more recent
R and B songs, So stay away from that if
you can. I think Keino has a Blu ray.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Yeah, it's on my shelf. It's still in the wrapping.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Open it up it is. I think I gave it
four and a half stars, and I think I mentioned
in the episode it was my favorite of the month.
So trouble Man nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
Nice, Okay, So this is my pick. That was a
Moonly movie that was in the hundreds of girls with
Guns movies that I watched. A serious shock exclamation point, yes, Madam,
exclamation point from nineteen ninety three, directed by Albert Lai
gin Quak, starring Moonley, of course, Cynthia Kahn, and Yukari Oshima.
(35:05):
So I mentioned I did a recent booklet essay for
the Vinegerson Germ release of Corey Ewen's Women on the Run,
and having watched so many of those Girls with Guns
movies as they all blend together, like I said, this
one stood out though, because Moonlee typically plays this sort
of innocent faced badass like she's introduced and she's very
(35:27):
sweet and whatever, but then she'll, like you, beat the
shit out of somebody, typically a cop or like a
Charlie's Angels type agent. But in this one, Okay, yeah,
she's still a cop in this one. But she's also
a complete fucking psychopath in this movie, which is not
normal for her. So her best friend and partner played
by Cynthia Kahn, is getting married. CON's fiance is having
(35:50):
an affair with Moonlee, but he tries to break it
off before the wedding, also because they're planning to move
to England after they get married. So this rages Moonly
and she ends up framing Cynthia Kahn for murder. She's
going like full like Glenn Close fatal attraction in this
film nice, So Cynthia Khn gets framed. She then has
(36:13):
to team up with a car thief played by Yukari
Oshima to clear her name. This one was a ton
of fun, especially getting to see Moonley play like something
a little different than she normally does. Would play great
with a crowd or by yourself, which is you know
how I watched it. It is kind of messy, but
the action is great, The story is ridiculous, a ton
(36:35):
of fun. Highly recommend it. Serious shock, Yes, madam, it's
in the universe of all of the yes, madam, in
sort of in the line of duty. They all blend
together because they all star at least one of these
women the three I mentioned, or like Sybil Hugh, there's
a few others, but it gets exhausting. They all really
(37:00):
kind of blend together. But this one was a lot
of fun.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Nice. Okay, last pick, Yeah, Okay, I'm going for some
deeply emotional stuff. Oh boy, Like it's this one. It's
easy to recommend, but it's also it's like a tough rewatch.
I think more people should see it if they haven't already,
so that's kind of why I'm picking it. It's Buddies
from nineteen eighty five. This is Doctor, directed by Arthur J.
(37:26):
Breston Jr. And I had picked this up from Vinegar
Syndrome years and years and years ago and finally watched
it this year. It's one of the first films to
address the AIDS pandemic. It was made and released in
nineteen eighty five. It's about a young twenty five year
old man named David who volunteers to be a bedside
companion of a guy named Robert who is in the
(37:48):
hospital and dying of AIDS and the program David is
involved in is called the Buddy Program. He's also a
gay man, and he learns about Robert's life and his
relationships with his past life and his family and friends
and how they react to him being sick and this
new disease, and David begins to kind of evaluate his
(38:10):
own life with his longtime boyfriend and how his views
towards gay activism begins to take hold. You know, he
responds and reacts to how the government is handling the
AIDS pandemic and it all comes to light for him
and changes who he is and definitely so it's it's
just this very kind of engrossing, very emotional film. And
(38:32):
the director of Breston Jr. He passed away from AIDS
two years after Buddies was released, as well as a
lead actor, Jeff Edholm, who played Robert, the man with AIDS,
who puts in this unforgettably amazing performance. Heartbreaking, it very
uplifting at the same time because the Robert character, he
has hope and desire for the future. Yet you you
(38:53):
and he know that he's going to die, you know,
from this disease, and it's just I don't know, it
just really sticks with you after viewing it, and I
feel like more people should watch it. It is very
low budget. It feels more like a minimally staged live
play at times, more souther than a feature, which I
think it benefits from actually because it's kind of raw
(39:15):
and the blu ray is definitely worth picking up. Like
I said, I picked up years and years ago. It
took me too long to watch it. I think it
is streaming somewhere, but it does have some interesting interviews
and extras on it, and I think vinegar syndrome for
all you slipcover fanatics out there, they just re released
a new slipcover for it, or a couple maybe a
year ago or so. I have the standard edition, but yeah,
(39:38):
buddies is It's another one I've mentioned in past episodes too,
I think on June's pilitation. But it's a great film,
nice emotional.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
I'm going to go in a very different direction here
with a nineteen eighties Mexican action film called ar fifteen
Relentless Command from you.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
Got good titles going on?
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Oh yeah? Directed by alejandroz Hodd. This one has been
on my watch us for a long time after reading
about it on Armando's Trash mex website, which, by the way,
if you're not listening to the Trash Mechs podcast, you
definitely should. So Armando described it as death wishes ruthless
(40:23):
Mexican cousin, and he is not wrong. So we have
the Cat Gang or the Gatto Gang, led by Hugo Stieglitz,
who at one point does actually have a large cat
on a chain like a panther. He also blows up
a helicopter with a bazuka, so I had to message
(40:44):
well from exploiting helicopter to let him know. So the
gang they rob, they rape, they kill, and after they
killed the family of the police medical examiner and rape
his fiance, he rejoins the AR fifteen squad in order
to get back on the street and get revenge. So
like he doesn't want to be doing the autopsies or
anything like that. He's like, no, no, I gotta get revenge.
(41:06):
So he leathers up, gets a huge fucking gun, and
he starts killing like anybody that's committing crime, especially men
who are like going after women. Okay, so I know
this sounds like a very standard action revenge film, but
what happens after the death of his family. Besides, you know,
(41:29):
all the revenge is a very familiar horror trope that
sets this one over the top absolute must see. Like
I was not expecting what happened with his you know,
after the death of his family. I was like, Okay, yeah,
he's gonna, like, you know, gear up and go go
kill some baddies. You know, He's just going to bronzen
(41:50):
it up. Yes, but the added horror trope element to
this fantastic. So thank you to Armando for putting this
on my radar. Bless the person in Sam Degan's discord
who ripped and subbed this and put this on YouTube
for all to watch. I don't know if they want
to be called out by name, so I won't, but
(42:11):
bless you know who you are. Find it on YouTube
bookmarket for June'sploitation if you can wait that long to
watch it Ar fifteen Relentless Command, nineteen eighty eight.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
Yeah, I mean that title alone screens Judent'sploitation.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
Yes, awesome, all right, honorable mentions?
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Yeah, I have a few. I mean obviously the hundreds, sure,
even though I've only watched a few hundred movies. But
I saw Tarkowski's Nostalgia in the theater earlier this year,
which I'd never seen before, blew me away. Saw that
at AFS, which was great. Toys are not for children?
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Oh well, yeah, that was the first time watching.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
That. One really stuck with me. I recommend that one
undred percent. Jess Franco is the Other Side of the
Mirror from nineteen seventy three. I loved that one. More recently,
it might have been a or no as a Horror
gives Back Frozen Scream with Renee Harmon. I think Frank
Roach got the directing credit for that, but she admitted
to directing, writing, starring in it, producing it. That one
(43:17):
was a lot of fun. That was one if I
remember correctly. It ends on Halloween nights, so it's great
for an October watch list if I haven't seen it. Yeah,
those are four of my honorable mentions.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
Okay, speaking of, like, you know, holiday adjacent I just
watched Denie Villenueve's Prisoners. Yeah, and that starts on Thanksgiving,
So there you go. If you guys want to uplifting
movie for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
It's very very uplifting. It is good. It's good to
watch with the family.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
Yeah, I think so. So my honorable mentions. I already
kind of mentioned a couple like ghost watching the Girls
of Rochefort, but a weird Wednesday watch. It's a group
of stage dancers who want to make a musical about
street cats. And yes, there are real cats in this
(44:07):
that are being herded around. There's a cat riding a
skateboard in this cats On Park Avenue nineteen eighty nine.
That one was a lot of fun. I saw the
Scorsese documentary about Powell and Pressburger, so I went on
a binge of their films and this one was by
far my favorite. Though I have not seen The Red
Shoes yet. I am saving that one for when I
(44:29):
am on like a massive streak of you know, shit movies.
I'm like, I'm going to watch The Red Shoes because
that'll bring me back up. But this one was a
matter of Life and Death from nineteen forty six. Absolutely
loved it.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
I saw that ifs as well.
Speaker 3 (44:43):
Yeah, it's great, so good. And then my last one
is a thanks to Josh Hurtado for putting this one
on my radar. It is a Predator Returns from twenty
twenty one aka Stalker's Pray three. This is a Lifetime
movie with Shark. Yes, it's like Fear starring Marky Mark,
but he has trained sharks to go after people who
(45:06):
are interfering with like the girl he's going after. It's fantastic.
It's exactly like my kind of shit.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
Go kill her mom for me? Huh, that sounds amazing.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
They're all amazing. Yes, I watched all three of Stalker's
Parree movies, but this one was my favorite because you know,
just I couldn't it's so good. I did suggest the
trilogy to Nate from I hope you suffer. So hopefully
they will get around to doing that one day, because
(45:41):
it's more in their wheelhouse than ours.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Yeah, that'd be a good episode.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Yeah, all right, So that's a wrap on twenty twenty four.
Good lord, this year needs to end.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Yeah, now it's shut. Let's let's get on. Let's try
twenty twenty five out see what's in store?
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Yes, please, we are looking forward to all the stuff
we've got in store for next year, kicking it off
once again with Jallo January. That'll be I don't remember
the exact date, but it'll be mid January. We're coming
back for that, and that will be the fourth Victim, Yes,
directed by a Henniel Martine. But in the meantime, you
(46:20):
can always catch up on back episodes if you haven't
listened to them, or always re listened, you know, if
you please check out trash Max's podcast if you haven't.
That's a good way to fill some time as well
if you have not listened to that yet. But otherwise
if you're not already, you can follow this podcast on
Instagram and Facebook at Unsung Horrors, and you can follow
(46:42):
me on Instagram or letterbox at Hex Massacre.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
And you can follow me on Instagram or letterbox to
l Shiby.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
Thanks everyone for listening, and Happy New Year, y'all. Bye bye,
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
To hear more shows from the Someone's Favorite Productions podcast network,
please select the link in the description.
Speaker 4 (47:10):
Hey, this is Jason Kleeberg from the Force five podcast,
a show that forces a guest to come up with
a movie themed top five list topic and then we
reveal our picks on air. Top five heist Films, top
five Tier Jerkers, Top five movie Dogs. Every show you'll
be asking yourself what would be on my list. Guests
include directors, screenwriters, actors, podcasters, musicians, authors, and even a
(47:32):
professional wrestler. Subscribe to the Force five podcast and you
won't just be a listener, you'll be a list nerd
The Force five podcast available wherever you are listening now
Prepare yourself for the terror the prison of madness. We
have a few inter and Nonritter.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to Unsung Horrors with LUNs and Denica. Leave all
your sanity behind. It can't help you. Now.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Welcome to another episode of Unsung Horrors, the podcast where
we discuss underseeing horror films, specifically those with fewer than
one thousand views on Letterboxed. I'm Erica, I'm Lance, and
this is our end of year Discoveries New to Me,
non twenty twenty four release, whatever you want to call
(00:56):
it episode. We're each going to share five of new
movies that we watched this year that we want to
share with y'all. We'll also share some Letterbox stats like
most watched, director and actor, and we'll probably have a
few honorable mentions at the end of this too. Yes,
so I concentrated my list this year specifically on ones
(01:21):
that we hadn't really talked about in other episodes, like
they may have come up in an episode as like, oh,
I watch this for this episode, but for the most part,
I'm I'm sticking with ones that that we haven't discussed
I haven't discussed at all. June'sploitation horror gives back.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Well, I'm opposite. I think everybody might have heard me
talk about some of the most of these.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Focus so you're going to talk about Bell from Hell.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
And that's an honorable Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
I don't even have any horror movies on my list. Actually, wow. Yeah,
I have a couple with like horror elements. But yeah,
this year was very like non horror for me, which
is fine, you.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Know, that's awesome. Yeah, I mean I think I have actually, yeah,
I think I only have one horror film.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah, I mean we talked about horror movies all year.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
We do. I think it's like, yeah, I think we
really enjoy watching a different genre and those are stand out, yeah,
because they're not particularly specific to the podcast.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Yes, So now I do want to say that normally
we have Lindsay and Anthony on, but this year has
been very rough for both Lance and I and we
still wanted to do this episode, but we needed to
do just like a you know, quick and dirty one.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Dirty this is gonna be.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
It's gonna be super dirty. Lindsay and Anthony are always
on other Best of New to Me episodes on other podcasts,
so we'll let you all know in the discord when
when those come up, if you guys want to hear
their picks as well, There'll also be plenty of other
podcasts that are doing this type of thing as well.
Not nearly as fun as.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Ours though, No, just a good, guaranteed good time.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Yeah, let's kick it off then, Lance Letterbox stats, who
is your most watched actor this year?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Okay, so, as per usual with our last stats, my
actor and director is usually tied to the podcast.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Same.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, in this case it's Veronica Heart. Okay, I mean
I've been seeing her praises since Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh.
I watched ten films which included Veronica Hart and this
diem from covering Deranged for the podcast in March. As
I've stated in the Deranged episode, and probably like in
(03:39):
June'splitation episod, that's probably a lot of episodes. How much
I love Veronica Heart. She's an adult film actor, film
star who does you know, kind of started doing non
hardcore stuff, and I'm always completely sold in her performances.
She's fully committed delivering what the character should be for
that role. I just love her so much. But yeah,
(04:01):
I watched tons of her films for Durranged Cleo Leo,
New York's finist Roommates, which is amazing. Yeah, I just
love her. Anka Hearts. Who's your most watched actor?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Mine is actually not tied to the podcast, which I
was at first surprise, but then I was like, actually, no,
that makes sense because Vinegar Syndrome their last sale that
they had at the end of November, their Black Friday sale.
One of their announcements that they had was for the
corey Un movie Women on the Run, and I have
(04:36):
a booklet essay in there, and it's all about the
Hong Kong girls with guns genre. So I went ham.
I watched a fucking shit ton of girls with guns
movies this year, and most of them had Moonley in them.
And that's who my top actor is this year ten films.
Right behind her is John Saxon with eight nice but
(04:57):
Moonley was my watched I watch Angel Terminators, Too Serious, Shock, Yes,
Madam Princess, Madam Iron, Angels one, two and three, Devil Hunter.
I mean, I just watched a ton with her this year, so,
and it's a lot of fun. I love that sub genre.
It's super fun. A lot of them do blend together.
(05:20):
But I do have one that's actually on my list
for this year that I'm going to talk about that
I highly recommend.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I also have a Veronica Heart on my list.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
And if we're doing runner ups, I watched eight films
with Howard Vernon. He was next up on. He always
pops up.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah, what about your director?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
So my director again, back to the Deranged episode. Chuck
Vincent directed pretty much every he did. He directed every
film that I watched, all ten films with Veronica Heart,
So obviously he's my most watched director. I watched eleven
of his films he did, Yeah, all the ones I
had already mentioned, Cleo Leo, New York's finest roommates Deranged. Obviously,
(06:07):
I watched Warrior Queen starring Sybil Danning and Donald Pleasance
all for the Deranged episode. Another guy who began his
career as an adult film director moved to non hardcore films,
And yeah, I think if you haven't already, I recommend
everybody check out the Deranged episode because we really dive
deep into his filmography as well as Veronica Hearts, and
(06:30):
I'm proud of that episode. I think there's a lot
of research and discussion.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
It is the origin of cowjuice.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
It is the origin of cow juice. Milk is no
longer called milk in this house. It is called cow juice.
So I do think Chuck Vincent for that term, love
all his films. I mean not all of them, but
I do I respect all this film.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
So my most watched director, it's actually a tie, and
they are both podcast related and they are both for
episodes that were your picks. So first is Hal Needham,
which no complaints there, Like everything I watched with him
was fun that I think that was the episode where
I had the most fun with all the stuff that
(07:15):
I watched.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
For that episode that was full on of no pants episode.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yes, oh holy pants on episode though was for Alberto
di Martino, not not no, no real reason to take
off pants in that episode.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Well not even pa man no ooh man.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Run okay, I.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Kind of close out the episode.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
So yeah, Alberto di Martino was second or tied, I
guess for first because they both had I watched six
of their films this year, so not not super high
numbers for the directors, and I have you know, my
runner ups for that or five films and then four films.
I had a bunch of those, so yeah, I didn't
really like dive deep too much into like one specific
(08:05):
director this year.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
But yeah, Chuck Vincent was kind of the only one
I did. Right behind him for me is eight films
from Alberto di Martinez, okay, and then I have Aheno
Martine with six films. So yeah, all podcasts related, but
I feel like, yeah, some years I'm watching sixteen nineteen
films of a certain director, so.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Not this year. This year was rough.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, Actually my total films watched is a lot lower
than it's ever been.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yeah, mine dropped down to like normal, I remember, Well, no,
I'm at like five point fifteen, which isn't bad.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
I guess I haven't even hit three sixty five yet.
I will hit a film a day, yeah, but yeah,
it's it's been low for me.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Well, most of like my big numbers come from when
you know, John still does like his marathons, and like, yeah,
I get sometimes I get forced into marathons where I'm
not like, eh, yeah, okay, fine, i can watch four.
You know, he's like four, like he's used to like
eight movie marathons. I'm like, I have an old lady
all right, like just yeah, dil it back a little
(09:09):
bit here.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Yeah, and I didn't do I did south By, but
I worked it this year, yes, and then I didn't
do Fantastic. Yeah, there's Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
The festivals generally would like definitely pad them five.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
A day or so. Yeah, you know five days at least.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Which you know is fine because you think about normal people.
If you tell them you watched one hundred movies in
a year, their mouth would drop.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, because usually it's like, I want to try and
watch three hundred and sixty five movies. That's like, wow,
that's a lot of fucking movies. Yeah, but you know,
some years I'll hit eight hundred.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I don't think twenty twenty five is gonna I think
I'm probably going to drop down again in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I think I think I'm going.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
To be a little bit more measured and I'm probably
going to have a new job where I'm actually going
to have to work.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yes, that's where I'm at, and that's what's been. It's been,
you know, it's been good to keep me busy. But
at the same time it's interviewing, or it's interviewing, it's
interfering with my movie watching and yeah, I don't know.
We'll see, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah, we'll still get all of our homework done, but
oh yeah, I think it's going to be a lot
more crammed into. Like one day, I watched five movies
yesterday for this director. Luckily, we're not going to start
off that year this way, because you know, we're starting
off twenty twenty five with another a Henio Martin movie.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
So yeah, and I already watched what was it? Six? Yeah,
I love it, So maybe I should pick. I wonder
if did Chuck Vincent do a Giallo?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
I mean, you know, just look for one that has
a yellow poster, black gloves. It counts.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Okay, there you go.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
All right, let's get into some of our favorites for
this year. What was your first one?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Lance? Okay, I'm going to kick off with I'm just
gonna go ahead and get out of the way. A
Chuck Vincent Ronica Haart film. Okay, And this is one
that I've I've discussed a couple of times on past episodes,
and I even think I mentioned it. As soon as
I watched it, I immediately knew it was probably going
to be on my best of list and I watched it.
I don't know January or February. Bad Blood from nineteen eight,
(11:11):
also known as a Woman Obsessed. It's written by the
Chuck Vincent collaborator Craig Horrel, who wrote fifteen films that
Truck Vincent directed, including Deranged in New York's Finest. It
stars Linda Blair and adult film star Randy Spears. Veronica Hart.
She makes an appearance in a flashback scene where she
(11:33):
blows her husband away with the shotgun. Very awesome stuff,
but this is the Georgina Spelvin show. She plays Randy
Spears's mother in this. Like I said, I've talked about
Bad Blood, but it's about a married couple played by
Blair and Spears who discover a painting at an art
gallery and it's a portrait of a man who looks
(11:55):
exactly like the Randy Spears character, and they learned that
the art is this wealthy recluse, a woman who turns
out to be Spears's real mother. He was adopted, but
he finds out this is his biological mother, so him
and Linda Blair's character they go and visit and meet
his real mother, who's played by Spelvin, who is so
(12:19):
unhinged and this performance. Her character is like incredibly obsessed
with her dead husband, and her son, played by Randy Spears,
looks exactly like her husband, so she ends up kind
of falling in love with him while torturing his wife,
and just a very interesting, humorous but also unsettling like plot.
(12:43):
I've mentioned that I think I've talked about Svelvin a
lot quite in past episodes, but her performance in this
is it's like mind boggling, like it's I think more
people should be talking about it. She also starred in
Gerard Domiano's The Devil and Miss Jones, Miss Jones putting
in an equally awesome performance, but her in Bad Blood
(13:05):
is just amazing. I think this might also be my
favorite Linda Blair performance, even though she's not used that much.
I think it's I mean, I love Savage Streets and
of course The Exorcist is great, but she really stands out.
Even Randy Spears, who is an adult film star who
started doing you know, kind of roles like kind of
make shifting gears to non hardcore like Veronica Hart, He's
(13:26):
equally as captivating. I mean, everybody in here, I think
is perfectly cast, but like most Chuck Vincent movies, you're
going to see a boom mic from time to time.
There's budget issues, some odd cuts which I just found endearing.
And yeah, there's no release of this anywhere yet, but
it's on YouTube yet. This is a movie that I think, Yeah,
(13:47):
I've read some reviews and after I watched it, I
was like, Okay, I gotta buy this, Like I feel
like I can't be the only one that is just
completely sold in love with this movie and just hoping
and wishing, Yeah, yeah, it'll, it'll, It'll get released soon.
I think. I think Chuck Vincent box set would be amazing. Yeah,
but yeah, Bad Blood. As soon as I watched it,
(14:09):
I knew and it is one of my favorite new
demies of this year. Nice.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
So my first one is a Japanese movie called The
Third Shadow Warrior from nineteen sixty three. It's directed by
Umetsugu in O Ui in o ui I n o
u e. It's yeah, I'm sorry. It's about a young
peasant named Kyono Suke. He dreams of being a samurai
(14:40):
and so his wish sort of comes true when he's
tapped to be one of three doubles or shadows for
the Lord Yasutaka. Now it turns into an extremely brutal
and haunting story about identity and upper and lower class
(15:00):
and destiny. It's beautifully shot in black and white by
Shozo Honda, who was a DP on a few Zadawichi films.
Kyonosuke is played by Raizo Ichikawa, and he is so
good in this. He begins a film as this wide eyed,
innocent yet overly ambitious young man who yearns to move
(15:23):
outside of his social status, and then as a film
goes on, he starts to slowly lose who he is,
just getting beaten down emotionally and physically. I'll give one example,
but I don't want to spoil it more than this.
At one point, the warlord loses an eye, so obviously
his shadows have to have an eye removed as well,
(15:45):
because they're the ones who are taking his place or
being his doubles.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
That sounds great.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Ichikawa is also playing the role of the warlord, so
that's why I like So it's kind of like a
twins situation where one person is playing two roles, and
so he's definitely got a ton of range in this.
So this is the only film I've seen from this director,
despite him having written and directed over one hundred films
and working with all of the major Japanese film studios.
(16:14):
I'm really looking forward to watching more from him. If
the plot sounds familiar, it's probably because a Kiara Corsala
made his own version called Kajamusha. I probably pronounce that
in correctly from nineteen eighty which I haven't seen, but
I'll be reminding that hopefully standing maybe in twenty twenty five.
But the Third Shadow Warrior nineteen sixty three is currently
(16:38):
streaming on the Criterion Channel for anybody who wants to
watch it, so I would expect that it would get
some kind of release at some point, especially because of
the Corosawa connection.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Yeah, and if it's on Criterion like channel usually that's
a good good indicator. Yeah, ex great, Yeah, Okay, So
my next pick is one that I watched in the
theater back in January for Weird Ones Day at the
album draft House. You were there. I didn't know you
were there until like we got home and we talked
like you later, I was like, oh, you were there.
(17:08):
Blonde Death from nineteen eighty three.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
This was going to be on my list as well,
and then I saw your rating and I was like, ah,
this might be on Lances, so I don't want to
double up. So this is considered. This an honorable mention
for me.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Oh yeah, yeah, I think it's This was a theatrical
theatrical programming to celebrate Bleeding Skulls first release as a label. Yeah,
you know, they have a lot of like something weird stuff,
but this is their first single release, which I picked
up of course there at the at the program at
the film. But my letterbox review after watching it for
(17:40):
the first time was simply a movie that I'll think
about daily for the rest of my life, which, in
part it's mostly true. I've thought about it pretty much
every day this year. Okay, because it is. It's unforgettable.
It's this very ambitious you know, quoted as arguably the
best shot on video movie ever made. Made for just
two thousand dollars, director James Robert Baker, who went by
(18:03):
James Dillinger. It's about an eighteen year old named Tammy
who was once a bubbly teen, but she and her
redneck parents moved to Orange County and she's fed up
with suburban life, so she spends a summer of lethal excess,
involving this in your face rampage of sex, drugs, and
(18:23):
violence that climaxes with scenes that were secretly filmed inside Disneyland.
I mean that alone is just like it's got to
get you interested. I loved every second of this movie.
How it kind of continuously surprised me with the number
of memorable characters that popped up, the kind of you know,
just the plot twists and ideas thrown in. Like I mentioned,
(18:46):
it's very ambitious, and director James Baker, he totally follows
through on his vision amazing edits and callbacks. I mean't,
I just couldn't get over how impressed I was watching this.
I mean, obviously there's budget limitations two thousand dollars, so
knowing those limitations were in place in present I mean
(19:07):
this and then considering all that, looking at the film
in its final, overall completed state, it made it a
five star watch for me, and the Bleeding Skull release
is totally worth picking up. It includes cast and crew
interviews as a commentary with Liz Purchell and kJ Shephard,
which is great. The film's considered an essential chapter of
(19:28):
queer cinema history, and I mean, I think it was
just a really perfect way for Bleeding Skull to like
kick off their label. Yeah, it's also I don't know
when we're going to drop this episode, but it's going
to be after Black Friday. But it's fifty percent off
right now, it's all sold out. I don't think it was.
I ordered the Other Dimension in the films of Fabio Salerno. Yeah,
(19:51):
I don't know if.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
I'm pretty sure Blonde Death sold out like immediately, like
when you bought it it weird Wednesday. Those were like
the last copies.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah, I remember that. But it says fifty percent off
on Vinegar Syndrome site.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Oh maybe they printed more. I didn't think they did
that with partner labels.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
It says there's two hundred and sixty six left in
the stock.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Well, shit, get on it, people.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Eighteen dollars and forty nine cents. There you go, totally
worth it.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
I sit corrected now.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
I do remember it was sold out. Yeah, maybe just
the pre orders and then they held.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
I don't know, yeah, maybe they held yeah, or maybe
it was just like the special edition, which you know
for all the cardboard.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
It's probably the slip covers. Yeah, for all the freaks
out there, I have the slip covers. If you guys
want it, you can just message me. I'll for like
eight hundred bucks, all right.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
So my next pick is Requiem for a Heavyweight from
nineteen sixty two, directed by Ralph Nelson and written by
Rod Serling. So the director, Ralph Nelson has made this
film multiple times. So the first time was a nineteen
fifty six movie on Playhouse ninety with Jack Palance playing
(21:04):
Harlan Mountain McClintock. I haven't seen that version yet, but
it is on two B, so I'm going to try
to get that in probably next year. I didn't want
to watch it like right away after this one because
it's the same movie. Then in fifty seven, Nelson made
a TV movie called Blood Money aka Wrequiem for a
(21:24):
Heavyweight and that stars Sean Connery and Michael Kane. This
version from nineteen sixty two. It is streaming on Prime
and it stars Anthony Quinn as Mountain Rivera, Jackie Gleeson
as his manager Mash, Mickey Rooney as his trainer Army,
and Julie Harris as a love interest. So Rivera is
(21:47):
a washed up veteran heavyweight and near champion, and the
only way he can make his living is as a
prize fighter because that's all he knows is boxing. So
his manager gets him into some debt and the only
way out of it is for Rivera to participate in
a fixed wrestling match that seems redundant because all wrestling
is fixed.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yeah, anyways, I mean, yeah, there's some last call moments,
but yeah, yeah, there's yeah. Okay, wrestling is real though,
That's why I'm hesitant on saying okay.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Anyway, Rivera thinks that both of these things, the fact
that it's wrestling and that it's fixed, are beneath him,
and he wants to find another way to earn money,
which is where Amy comes in as a way to
get him on sort of a new path.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Now.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Apparently, the first version with Jack Palance is considered the
best one with Palence's performance in it, But I was
completely sold on this one because it was one hundred
percent about Quinn's performance. The story is so tragic, like
you can't help but feel for him, I think. And
so speaking of Anthony, our previous guest, Anthony Quinn for
(23:01):
these episodes, I think he said in a previous one
of these episodes that he hates boxing movies. I feel
like that came up in conversation at some point, but
I think he would like this, and probably the other version,
earlier version, which again a lot of people apparently think
is the superior version. I still think this one's really good.
(23:22):
So I did steal something from the always reliable Sampanico.
His review said that Nelson was critical of Quinn's performance,
as he wrote to Life magazine to say, quote as written,
the hero was a lonely, sensitive human being, a prize
fighter who had worked out his hostilities in the ring.
Jack Palance won an Emmy for his hauntingly gentle performance
(23:45):
on Playhouse ninety. Quinn was afraid that gentleness would reflect
upon his image of masculinity, so he chose to play
Sonny Liston instead. I believe Palence's concept was truer to
the role and fulfilled the concept of the script more
effect actively than Quinn's attempt to dominate it. And you know, again,
not having seen the Palance version, I mean, maybe it
(24:09):
is better, but I was still really moved by Quinn's
performance in this. It did still feel like really heartfelt
and tragic to me, So I really liked it.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah, it's interesting of Nelson to kind of not really,
I'm not going to say it was picking apart Anthony
Quinn's performance, but comparing the two when he's just remaking
the same film, it's interesting. That's odd. Yeah, Like, yeah,
he should. I'm sure he loves the all the versions,
but it's weird to continuously make the different versions and
then compare them to others. Yeah. I love Anthony Quinn,
(24:40):
me too. Okay. My next favorite watch at twenty twenty
four a nineteen twenty six silent film from the Soviet
Union called By the Law. And I'm actually surprised that
this film only has about twenty five hundred views on
Letterboxed because I think it's a masterpiece, and I think
a lot of people will agree with me saying that
(25:01):
if they watched it or have already watched Its Written
and directed by Lev Kohlishov, It's based on Jack London's
short stories The Unexpected and Just Meet from the early
nineteen hundreds and By the Law It's about a group
of gold prospectors in the Yukon region of Canada during
the Klondike Gold Rush and there's this married couple who
(25:24):
are leading the expedition and a few other men part
of the campaign, and they all become frustrated and plotting about,
you know, the time spent together and the gold that
they're seeking. So there's this dissent and the madness from
each of them as the weather turns and there's some
grizzly murders and decisions unfolding, which leads to this very
(25:46):
dark Frontier justice sort of finale. Again it's silent. You know.
I love silent movies when the actors obviously can present
their emotions and the plot extremely well, you know, like
Chapter and Investor Keaton and all that stuff, and the
performances in here kind of like amazing. And director Lev Koleyschov,
(26:08):
he was already a well known director at the time,
after trying his filmmaking skills on different genres I read,
he decided to make a film using minimal resources and
a strictly limited number of actors in a completely natural environment.
And he's known for the Koleshov effect, which is a
film editing or montage effect that he used in the
(26:29):
nineteen tens and twenties, and it's quote a mental phenomenon
by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of
two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation.
So the basic principle is that the audience derives a
new new interpretations from composition and sequences of what's presented
(26:51):
the interaction between shots. They can change the meaning of
a scene and message altogether. So it's very interesting because yeah,
this is it's very very well put together. Like I said,
they kind of descend into madness. It kind of reminded
me of I think it's called a page a Page
of Madness, the Japanese film I watched. It bleeds so
well together that it's very thought provoking, but you don't know,
(27:14):
it's kind of reality and dream state. Yeah, and it
was recently released on Blu Ray with the four K
restoration just a few years ago that I read, I
think due to a Indiegogo Indiegogo campaign. I forgot who
released it though, but it's on YouTube. There's a bunch
of cuts on YouTube. This was another five star movie
(27:34):
film for me for the year. Okay, by the law,
check it out.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Okay, my next pick. And I'm going to preface this
by saying, I know this is supposed to be like
our best new to me I'm going like or like
favorite new to me watches for the year, This wasn't
technically one of my favorite. I gave it three and
a half stars, but you know, there were quite a
few that I gave four and a half stars that
were first time watches, like you know, but again these
(28:04):
were ones that I've mentioned in other episodes, like ghost Watch.
I gave four and a half stars to or Gives
Back Young Girls of Rochefort, which I can't remember what
that came up for, but I know I watched it.
It was like it was podcast adjacent watching goddamn delightful movie,
completely like out of left field for me to be like,
(28:24):
oh look at this like bright, colorful love story and
I fucking love it. This one I'm bringing up because
no one that I follow on letterbox has this one logged,
and it's one of the most memorable films that I
watched this year, So that's why I'm including it here now. Unfortunately,
I think I had to find this one on Legal
(28:45):
adjacent since nothing come up came up when I searched
for it when I was getting my notes together for this,
So you may have to, you know, find find your
way to find this movie. But I do suspect that
it will get a release at some point because the
director is going to be familiar to some people. So
this is the passage from nineteen eighty six, directed by
(29:07):
Renee Manzoor. It stars Elaine de Lane as an animated
filmmaker named Jean Diez. Jean dies in a car accident
that is provoked by Death. Here it's portrayed like a
grim reaper character, but Death just kind of sits in
(29:28):
front of a wall of TV screens all day, kind
of moving knobs around and making things happen. Jean's son David,
ends up in a coma after the accident, and Death
tells Jean that he will wake David up from the
coma if Jean agrees to make an animated movie against
violence for him. So Delon ends up in this like
(29:53):
purgatory cell while Death is in the other room like
watching TV, turning knobs and stuff, making an animated feature.
And you see him like on I don't know the
technical terms for like all of this, but he's like
drawing things on like a lit up board and stuff
like that. Like you see him actually making the film,
and then you actually see the film itself, which is
(30:16):
really cool. Animation. The animated movie within the movie is
really where this one shines, you know, other than DeLong.
Of course, you don't get to see his penis in
this one though, for that you need to watch Shock Treatment.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Yes, but the tone.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Is very odd in this, like it could be a
children's movie, but the themes and the animation, like of
the animated film don't really make sense for that. But
the tone does make sense if you have seen this
director's most popular film, which is Dial Code Santa Claus, right,
which is on the surface, you're like, oh, it's about
(30:54):
this kid and he like fights off a you know,
Santa Claus. But it's like the movie is actually pretty
gnarly as far as like what this kid is going through. Yeah,
so it's this is kind of another like is this
for kids type movie? But I really, I really thought
it was unique and I think it's got a lot
of really cool aspects. I would not be surprised if
(31:16):
this ended up getting to release for all of those elements,
like same director's Dial Santa Claus, Like it's got this
like weird element to it. Elain Delon's in it. The
animated part of it is really cool. This I could see.
I know we're not doing like a Blu Ray wish
List episode, but I could see this being either like
(31:37):
vinegar syndrome or.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Deaf deaf crocodile. Yeah, because the plumptin. I was thinking
that too. Yeah, I had this one. This was my
on my list for horror gives back for a memoriam
for DeLong. Oh, but I couldn't find it. Like you said,
I couldn't find it streaming anywhere because the whole Yeah.
When I read the summary, Yeah, it seemed to meazing.
It's a short eighty minutes. Yeah, this one sounds really great.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Let me, I'm gonna see if I still have file.
If it is, I will put it in Google Drive
and put it in our discord. Another reason y'all should
join our discord.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Hell yeah, yeah, I really want to watch that one.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
Yeah. So that's the Passage nineteen eighty six, directed by
Renee Menzor.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Okay, we're already on four. Yeah, flying along hair. Okay,
my next pick is it I've talked about. It's a
jewie's' plitation watch. I like your idea. I'm gonna do
that next year. Well, it's films we haven't really discussed
on the podcast. I think that's cool. It's a good idea.
Trouble Man from nineteen seventy two, Hell Yeah, directed by
Ivan Dixon, who also directed The Spook Who Sat by
(32:35):
the Door. This is a super tight script with some
of my personal favorite dialogue presented in a black exploitation film.
It's just written so well. Every character is completely established
and they it's perfectly cast. It has this great crime
double cross plot in the June's Plitation episode, I mentioned
(32:55):
that to me, it has a similar kind of across
one hundred and tenth Street going on with you know
a lot of the cops that are involved, and you
know the actual gang wars that are happening. The editing
and trouble Man is amazing. There's never any lulls. It
just moves along, keeping you fully engaged. And I learned
that it's one of Michael Kahn's first films as director,
(33:19):
and he went on to pretty much work specifically for Spielberg.
He did all this film, Chandler's List, Jurassic Parks, The
Indiana Jones, most recently The Fableman's So it's very well
put together, very well edited. It stars Robert Hooks as
mister T Troubleman, and he's a respected all purpose quote
ghetto fixer and he gets pulled in by others into
(33:42):
this ongoing gang war and he is just smooth as
hell and so captivating to watch, just a blast of
a character. I wish we had sequels and Ivan Dixon did, like,
I don't know, at least five more of these films.
Great cast, like I already said, Paul Winfield's in it,
Julius Harris, and the soundtrack is especially amazing. Marvin gay
(34:04):
is doing the songs and music. This is the only
film he ever provided music for, which is interesting to read.
I remember there's a busted version on YouTube that I
had first started watching in June where someone probably for Rights,
replaced all of Marvin Gaye's music with like more recent
R and B songs, So stay away from that if
you can. I think Keino has a Blu ray.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Yeah, it's on my shelf. It's still in the wrapping.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Open it up it is. I think I gave it
four and a half stars, and I think I mentioned
in the episode it was my favorite of the month.
So trouble Man nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
Nice, Okay, So this is my pick. That was a
Moonly movie that was in the hundreds of girls with
Guns movies that I watched. A serious shock exclamation point, yes, Madam,
exclamation point from nineteen ninety three, directed by Albert Lai
gin Quak, starring Moonley, of course, Cynthia Kahn, and Yukari Oshima.
(35:05):
So I mentioned I did a recent booklet essay for
the Vinegerson Germ release of Corey Ewen's Women on the Run,
and having watched so many of those Girls with Guns
movies as they all blend together, like I said, this
one stood out though, because Moonlee typically plays this sort
of innocent faced badass like she's introduced and she's very
(35:27):
sweet and whatever, but then she'll, like you, beat the
shit out of somebody, typically a cop or like a
Charlie's Angels type agent. But in this one, Okay, yeah,
she's still a cop in this one. But she's also
a complete fucking psychopath in this movie, which is not
normal for her. So her best friend and partner played
by Cynthia Kahn, is getting married. CON's fiance is having
(35:50):
an affair with Moonlee, but he tries to break it
off before the wedding, also because they're planning to move
to England after they get married. So this rages Moonly
and she ends up framing Cynthia Kahn for murder. She's
going like full like Glenn Close fatal attraction in this
film nice, So Cynthia Khn gets framed. She then has
(36:13):
to team up with a car thief played by Yukari
Oshima to clear her name. This one was a ton
of fun, especially getting to see Moonley play like something
a little different than she normally does. Would play great
with a crowd or by yourself, which is you know
how I watched it. It is kind of messy, but
the action is great, The story is ridiculous, a ton
(36:35):
of fun. Highly recommend it. Serious shock, Yes, madam, it's
in the universe of all of the yes, madam, in
sort of in the line of duty. They all blend
together because they all star at least one of these
women the three I mentioned, or like Sybil Hugh, there's
a few others, but it gets exhausting. They all really
(37:00):
kind of blend together. But this one was a lot
of fun.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Nice. Okay, last pick, Yeah, Okay, I'm going for some
deeply emotional stuff. Oh boy, Like it's this one. It's
easy to recommend, but it's also it's like a tough rewatch.
I think more people should see it if they haven't already,
so that's kind of why I'm picking it. It's Buddies
from nineteen eighty five. This is Doctor, directed by Arthur J.
(37:26):
Breston Jr. And I had picked this up from Vinegar
Syndrome years and years and years ago and finally watched
it this year. It's one of the first films to
address the AIDS pandemic. It was made and released in
nineteen eighty five. It's about a young twenty five year
old man named David who volunteers to be a bedside
companion of a guy named Robert who is in the
(37:48):
hospital and dying of AIDS and the program David is
involved in is called the Buddy Program. He's also a
gay man, and he learns about Robert's life and his
relationships with his past life and his family and friends
and how they react to him being sick and this
new disease, and David begins to kind of evaluate his
(38:10):
own life with his longtime boyfriend and how his views
towards gay activism begins to take hold. You know, he
responds and reacts to how the government is handling the
AIDS pandemic and it all comes to light for him
and changes who he is and definitely so it's it's
just this very kind of engrossing, very emotional film. And
(38:32):
the director of Breston Jr. He passed away from AIDS
two years after Buddies was released, as well as a
lead actor, Jeff Edholm, who played Robert, the man with AIDS,
who puts in this unforgettably amazing performance. Heartbreaking, it very
uplifting at the same time because the Robert character, he
has hope and desire for the future. Yet you you
(38:53):
and he know that he's going to die, you know,
from this disease, and it's just I don't know, it
just really sticks with you after viewing it, and I
feel like more people should watch it. It is very
low budget. It feels more like a minimally staged live
play at times, more souther than a feature, which I
think it benefits from actually because it's kind of raw
(39:15):
and the blu ray is definitely worth picking up. Like
I said, I picked up years and years ago. It
took me too long to watch it. I think it
is streaming somewhere, but it does have some interesting interviews
and extras on it, and I think vinegar syndrome for
all you slipcover fanatics out there, they just re released
a new slipcover for it, or a couple maybe a
year ago or so. I have the standard edition, but yeah,
(39:38):
buddies is It's another one I've mentioned in past episodes too,
I think on June's pilitation. But it's a great film,
nice emotional.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
I'm going to go in a very different direction here
with a nineteen eighties Mexican action film called ar fifteen
Relentless Command from you.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
Got good titles going on?
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Oh yeah? Directed by alejandroz Hodd. This one has been
on my watch us for a long time after reading
about it on Armando's Trash mex website, which, by the way,
if you're not listening to the Trash Mechs podcast, you
definitely should. So Armando described it as death wishes ruthless
(40:23):
Mexican cousin, and he is not wrong. So we have
the Cat Gang or the Gatto Gang, led by Hugo Stieglitz,
who at one point does actually have a large cat
on a chain like a panther. He also blows up
a helicopter with a bazuka, so I had to message
(40:44):
well from exploiting helicopter to let him know. So the
gang they rob, they rape, they kill, and after they
killed the family of the police medical examiner and rape
his fiance, he rejoins the AR fifteen squad in order
to get back on the street and get revenge. So
like he doesn't want to be doing the autopsies or
anything like that. He's like, no, no, I gotta get revenge.
(41:06):
So he leathers up, gets a huge fucking gun, and
he starts killing like anybody that's committing crime, especially men
who are like going after women. Okay, so I know
this sounds like a very standard action revenge film, but
what happens after the death of his family. Besides, you know,
(41:29):
all the revenge is a very familiar horror trope that
sets this one over the top absolute must see. Like
I was not expecting what happened with his you know,
after the death of his family. I was like, Okay, yeah,
he's gonna, like, you know, gear up and go go
kill some baddies. You know, He's just going to bronzen
(41:50):
it up. Yes, but the added horror trope element to
this fantastic. So thank you to Armando for putting this
on my radar. Bless the person in Sam Degan's discord
who ripped and subbed this and put this on YouTube
for all to watch. I don't know if they want
to be called out by name, so I won't, but
(42:11):
bless you know who you are. Find it on YouTube
bookmarket for June'sploitation if you can wait that long to
watch it Ar fifteen Relentless Command, nineteen eighty eight.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
Yeah, I mean that title alone screens Judent'sploitation.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
Yes, awesome, all right, honorable mentions?
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Yeah, I have a few. I mean obviously the hundreds, sure,
even though I've only watched a few hundred movies. But
I saw Tarkowski's Nostalgia in the theater earlier this year,
which I'd never seen before, blew me away. Saw that
at AFS, which was great. Toys are not for children?
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Oh well, yeah, that was the first time watching.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
That. One really stuck with me. I recommend that one
undred percent. Jess Franco is the Other Side of the
Mirror from nineteen seventy three. I loved that one. More recently,
it might have been a or no as a Horror
gives Back Frozen Scream with Renee Harmon. I think Frank
Roach got the directing credit for that, but she admitted
to directing, writing, starring in it, producing it. That one
(43:17):
was a lot of fun. That was one if I
remember correctly. It ends on Halloween nights, so it's great
for an October watch list if I haven't seen it. Yeah,
those are four of my honorable mentions.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
Okay, speaking of, like, you know, holiday adjacent I just
watched Denie Villenueve's Prisoners. Yeah, and that starts on Thanksgiving,
So there you go. If you guys want to uplifting
movie for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
It's very very uplifting. It is good. It's good to
watch with the family.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
Yeah, I think so. So my honorable mentions. I already
kind of mentioned a couple like ghost watching the Girls
of Rochefort, but a weird Wednesday watch. It's a group
of stage dancers who want to make a musical about
street cats. And yes, there are real cats in this
(44:07):
that are being herded around. There's a cat riding a
skateboard in this cats On Park Avenue nineteen eighty nine.
That one was a lot of fun. I saw the
Scorsese documentary about Powell and Pressburger, so I went on
a binge of their films and this one was by
far my favorite. Though I have not seen The Red
Shoes yet. I am saving that one for when I
(44:29):
am on like a massive streak of you know, shit movies.
I'm like, I'm going to watch The Red Shoes because
that'll bring me back up. But this one was a
matter of Life and Death from nineteen forty six. Absolutely
loved it.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
I saw that ifs as well.
Speaker 3 (44:43):
Yeah, it's great, so good. And then my last one
is a thanks to Josh Hurtado for putting this one
on my radar. It is a Predator Returns from twenty
twenty one aka Stalker's Pray three. This is a Lifetime
movie with Shark. Yes, it's like Fear starring Marky Mark,
but he has trained sharks to go after people who
(45:06):
are interfering with like the girl he's going after. It's fantastic.
It's exactly like my kind of shit.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
Go kill her mom for me? Huh, that sounds amazing.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
They're all amazing. Yes, I watched all three of Stalker's
Parree movies, but this one was my favorite because you know,
just I couldn't it's so good. I did suggest the
trilogy to Nate from I hope you suffer. So hopefully
they will get around to doing that one day, because
(45:41):
it's more in their wheelhouse than ours.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Yeah, that'd be a good episode.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Yeah, all right, So that's a wrap on twenty twenty four.
Good lord, this year needs to end.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Yeah, now it's shut. Let's let's get on. Let's try
twenty twenty five out see what's in store?
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Yes, please, we are looking forward to all the stuff
we've got in store for next year, kicking it off
once again with Jallo January. That'll be I don't remember
the exact date, but it'll be mid January. We're coming
back for that, and that will be the fourth Victim, Yes,
directed by a Henniel Martine. But in the meantime, you
(46:20):
can always catch up on back episodes if you haven't
listened to them, or always re listened, you know, if
you please check out trash Max's podcast if you haven't.
That's a good way to fill some time as well
if you have not listened to that yet. But otherwise
if you're not already, you can follow this podcast on
Instagram and Facebook at Unsung Horrors, and you can follow
(46:42):
me on Instagram or letterbox at Hex Massacre.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
And you can follow me on Instagram or letterbox to
l Shiby.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
Thanks everyone for listening, and Happy New Year, y'all. Bye bye,
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
To hear more shows from the Someone's Favorite Productions podcast network,
please select the link in the description.
Speaker 4 (47:10):
Hey, this is Jason Kleeberg from the Force five podcast,
a show that forces a guest to come up with
a movie themed top five list topic and then we
reveal our picks on air. Top five heist Films, top
five Tier Jerkers, Top five movie Dogs. Every show you'll
be asking yourself what would be on my list. Guests
include directors, screenwriters, actors, podcasters, musicians, authors, and even a
(47:32):
professional wrestler. Subscribe to the Force five podcast and you
won't just be a listener, you'll be a list nerd
The Force five podcast available wherever you are listening now
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