Category: Episodes

185 – The Frighteners

Heeeeeere’s Mikey!

Tim and Jen look at Peter Jackson’s transition from splatter king to mainstream whizbang effects filmmaker, The Frighteners.

For just $5 a month, hear it and over 80 more episodes on our Patreon!

Check out part one of The Frighteners blooper reel! Part two may be viewed here. Damn, that’s a lot of blooperin’, Doc!

In 2018, Germain Lussier wrote a positive reappraisal of the film for Gizmodo. 

Lussier does not appear to be alone in liking the film, since a recent post from MSN claims that Universal intends to remake The Frighteners. Maybe we’ll get that franchise after all!

If you can’t get enough of movies that are ‘spiritually’ about Ghostbusters, check out our review of Return of the Ghostbusters.

184 – Clifford

Pure evil or sublime comedy? The two are closer than you might think.

Jen and Tim come to a tenuous agreement about a once universally loathed Martin Short comedy, Clifford. Also, Tim punches down ruthlessly on a twenty pound miniature pinscher [who could lose a little weight].

Reggie, an asshole minpin
This dog is an asshole.

For just $5 a month, get two additional episodes a month over on our Patreon!

The Slate article about Martin Short that riled everyone up may be found here, but if you want to skip right to the synchronized swimming sketch from SNL, you can watch it on Vimeo. 

The Vulture oral history of the making, the release, and the eventual cult fandom around Clifford is as exhaustive a history of the film as one may be expected to tolerate.

DNA specialists identified the Boy in the Box as Joseph Augustus Zarelli, 65 years after his death (be careful if you search for info on the case; the police distributed postmortem photos shortly after he was found in an attempt to generate leads).

Tim is beside himself that Clifford is not this movie.

While Clifford is the exception, why not check out one of our several other episodes about traumatizing children? Or look at this awful little kid from Woodchipper Massacre?

183 – Perversions of Science

Perversions of Science
She perverted me… with science!

Tim and Jen head back to the pre-prestige-TV cable well with a failed spinoff of Tales From the Crypt called Perversions of Science. Throughout, you can really tell that your hosts would rather be watching a certain Canadian/German co-production.

For just $5 a month, hear it and over 80 more episodes on our Patreon!

Jen was slightly off when she said that HBO has existed since “the mid-to-late 70s”—it launched in 1972.

Mic mentions the Dan Quayle/Murphy Brown kerfuffle in this article about depictions of abortion on American television. And then there’s Maude!

In 1992, Vanity Fair covered the speculation around the circumstances of the death of Hitler’s niece. (Jen thinks he did it.)

If you love Skinemax Farscape as much as we do, listen to our Lexx episode! 

182 – Goat Story: The Old Prague Legends

A grotesque woman produces a cabbage from her massive cleavage while a goat looks on
Only in Prague!

Jen enlists show stalwart Bitter Karella to help offend nearly every single person in the Czech Republic by providing an honest review of Goat Story: The Old Prague Legends.

For just $5 a month, hear it and over 80 more episodes on our Patreon!

See the intro for the show Jen and Karella saw in Switzerland, Kommissar Rex. That’s what I call a good friend!

If you would like to see the “Roy Orbison in clingfilm” stories for yourself, you can do so here, but keep in mind that the site owner has “ceased answering mail” because of “weirdos.” However, the film and television rights to his long-awaited Roy Orbison in clingfilm novel are still up for grabs!

Hear our Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure episode, also featuring Bitter Karella!

181 – Shakes the Clown

“But…” cries the patient, “I am the writer and the director!”

Jen and Tim quibble over Bobcat Goldthwait’s directorial debut, the seedy comic tale of Shakes the Clown. Also, Jen drops some hard truths about Robin Williams.

Patton Oswalt tells his story about the world’s worst party clown to Conan O’Brien.

Are you new to Have You Seen This? Have you yet to hear the good news about Pervy the Clown? Tune your Roku to B-Movie TV every Friday at midnight!…if you dare.

Or, if you’re subscribed to our Patreon at $5 and up, direct your Pervy-related questions to your hosts in the show Discord!

Apropos of nothing, apparently the children’s show Little Clowns of Happytown was developed by Chuck Lorre, the guy who went on to runaway success with a bunch of sitcoms that Jen hates with every fiber of her being.

Can’t get enough clownin’? Listen to our episode about the Terrifier franchise! 

180 – Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects

He’s not even in the FBI!

Tim and Jen look at the creepiest Charles Bronson film not directed by Michael Winner, Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects.

For just $5 a month, hear it and over 80 more episodes on our Patreon!

Regarding Jill Ireland leaving then-husband David McCallum for Bronson, longtime rumor says that Bronson reportedly told McCallum to his face, “I’m going to marry your wife.” However, McCallum disputes this, and apparently didn’t hold a grudge:

“‘I never hated him, Charlie was always a good friend,’ he says. ‘I find that when problems come along, worrying about them and getting anxious and negative is quite unnecessary. You can solve them, usually amicably. That’s what happened.’” 

McCallum to the Daily Mirror, 2016

Whatta guy!

Lateral move, really

CBR has the rundown on Cannon’s ersatz entry in the Macross/Robotech saga, the optimistically titled Robotech: The Movie. This archived Robotech fansite goes into even further detail on what went wrong. Please direct any further questions to our Robotech expert, Tim.

For more Cannon/Bronson (and J. Lee Thompson!), listen to our episode about 10 to Midnight, the movie with a nude serial killer. 

179 – The Terrifier Franchise

Moments before one of Terrifier’s famous kill quips: “…”

Jen and Tim get mad enough to talk about All Hallow’s Eve and Terrifier (the first one) for almost two hours!

For just $5 a month, hear it and over 80 more episodes on our Patreon!

Jen really punted when she said that scary clowns go back to John Wayne Gacy— according to Smithsonian Magazine, clowns have been creepy (and annoying) for centuries!

This Bloom County strip from the story arc Jen mentioned illustrates the one-time societal loathing directed at mimes pretty well.

Tim was also inaccurate: Men, Women, and Chainsaws is 30 years old. Here’s a recap. This and the recommended Offensive Films is on the Internet Archive (however long that is still around).

For that previous mime discussion, listen to our Eat and Run episode with special guest Bitter Karella!

178 – Brainstorm

“Do I really sound like that?”

Tim and Jen review a film of great technical genius and great vacuity of story: Natalie Wood’s final film, Brainstorm. But Jen liked at least half of it. Also, please send Tim all of your uneaten candy corn.

There’s a rundown on the Showscan process originally intended for Brainstorm from Douglas Trumbull himself on YouTube. Too bad it’s in 360p. This fine Japanese documentary on Trumbull is in much higher quality, though.

If you’re super into the dialectic and want to go beyond Noguchi’s and Lambert’s account of the death of Natalie Wood, former prosecutor Sam Perroni has written a well-researched look into the case called…Brainstorm!

And if you want more mind-bending visuals that weren’t appreciated by the public at the time, listen to our episode on the Wachowskis’ update of Speed Racer!

177 – Johnny Mnemonic

Information wants to be free, but entertainment is $5/month.

Jen and Tim struggle to understand the newly-minted cult status of a flop from Keanu Reeves’ himbo era, the cyberpunk thriller Johnny Mnemonic. They also put on hazmat suits and delve into the horror that is the comment section on Dina Meyer’s website. 

For just $5 a month, hear it and over 80 more episodes on our Patreon!

Director Robert Longo talks about the rationale and process that led to his black-and-white edition of Johnny Mnemonic over at Screen Slate. 

Screenwriter and god of cyberpunk William Gibson reflects on the film shortly after its U.S. release.

For more Dina Meyer discussion, listen to our The Evil Within episode!

176 – Witch Hunt

Witch Hunt
Follow @Inflate123 on Twitter for more of… whatever this scene is

Tim and Jen dutifully cover the sequel to Cast a Deadly Spell, the Paul Schrader(!)-directed Witch Hunt.

For just $5 a month, hear it and over 80 more episodes on our Patreon!

Jen erred and called Schrader’s 2022 film Master Gardener “Master.” Was she thinking of the Paul Thomas Anderson film The Master? Who knows!

Be sure to watch Tim’s webseries Assignment Unexplained! And visit his website! And follow timtoonstudio on Instagram!

Discussing Julian Sands’ death, Tim alluded to the disappearance of experienced hiker Bill Ewasko, which you can learn more about in episode 47 of Adam Walks Around.

View the miracle of electrical kitchen appliances as filtered through the horny fixation of a teenage girl in a short riffed for Mystery Science Theater 3000, Young Man’s Fancy. Damn, that girl is SO squishy. Was it even legal to be that squishy in the 1950s?!

Speaking of sexuality and decades long past, here is the paper Jen was talking about that debunks the myth of “hysteria treatments” for women in decades past. Author Hailie Lieberman warns that the spurious paper is “a cautionary tale for how easily falsehoods can become embedded in the humanities.”

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