087 – Serial

Screenwriter Josh Olson brings us a movie that he swears is actually funny and good! It’s the little-seen Serial from 1980! Featuring Martin Mull, Tuesday Weld, violent gay bikers, Sally Kellerman’s boobs, casual homophobia, Tommy Smothers in a headband, hot tubs, est probably, psychologically disturbed children whose acting out is played for laughs, etc.

Hear the whole episode at our Patreon and get access to more than 50 bonus episodes!

For the curious, here is the full Kevin Thomas review of Serial from 1980 that we mentioned on the episode:

Kevin Thomas shreds Serial

You can also hear more of Josh with Dave Anthony on The West Wing Thing, or with Joe Dante on The Movies That Made Me, or check out our episode on Beyond the Valley of the Dolls!

086 – Wild Side

Jen and Tim discuss Donald Cammell’s posthumous thriller, Wild Side from 1995.

Hear the whole episode at our Patreon and get access to more than 50 bonus episodes!

Wild Side went straight to video. Sadly, director Cammell committed suicide in 1996. However, while some have connected his death to the failure of his last project, we found that the story wasn’t quite so pat.

We were indebted to the only definitive biography on the man and his work. Get a copy of Donald Cammell: A Life on the Wild Side by Rebecca Umland on Alibris.

For another frank flick from the 90s, try our episode on David Cronenberg’s Crash!

084 – Vile Pervert: The Sequel and Guilty

Jen and show MVP Bitter Karella dissect some disgusting works by a disgusting person, Jonathan King. That’s right, he won’t go the fuck away! Hear the whole episode at our Patreon and get access to more than 50 bonus episodes!

Hear the whole episode at our Patreon and get access to more than 50 bonus episodes!

If you can stomach it, here are our earlier episodes about Jonathan King’s revolting outsider works: we looked at the original Vile Pervert in episode 009, and the unasked-for sequel in episode 38!

083 – Verotika

Jen and Tim rewrite Glenn Danzig’s stupefying horror anthology, Verotika! Only Glenn could give us dialogue like “Your titties are looking at me!”

Verotika may be viewed on the Shudder streaming service.

“Yeah, I got A Rebours, The Young Poisoner’s Handbook, The Night Circus…all the spookiest shit.”

For more head-scratching horror, listen to our episode about Canadian micro-budgeter Things!

078 – The Doomsday Machine

You know how sometimes a movie just sucks and is lazy and stupid and sexist? That’s The Doomsday Machine, all right! Bitter Karella joins us to discuss!

Hear the whole episode at our Patreon and get access to more than 50 bonus episodes!

You can watch The Doomsday Machine in its entirety on YouTube, but why would you? Try the very funny Cinematic Titanic version instead!

This is actually the second movie starring Bobby Van (a favorite actor of Jen’s) we’ve covered on the show. The first was lumbering musical Lost Horizon—listen to our episode about it here.

076 – Jacob’s Ladder

Jen and Tim bring you another extra-stuft episode! This one’s about a haunting psychological thriller that 100% blames the US government: Jacob’s Ladder!

Hear the whole episode at our Patreon and get access to more than 50 bonus episodes!

To see Joel Peter Witkin’s remarkable photographic work, view this gallery at Artnet.

For more cult horror, listen to our episode about John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness!

075 – The Day After and Special Bulletin

Tim and Jen return to the fevered nuclear paranoia of the 80s! We look at one of the most important TV events of the era, The Day After. We also stick to the show mission statement by highlighting a lesser known nuclear horror telefilm: Special Bulletin.

Subscribe to HYST on Patreon to hear the full episode and get two bonus episodes every month!

You can watch Special Bulletin in its entirety here. We recommend it! Also: David Clennon, if you’re out there, come on the show, king.

Michael Madsen in a small role in Special Bulletin (1983)
Hey, this guy who has a bit part in Special Bulletin…does he have a sister?

Following the broadcast of The Day After, ABC aired a panel discussion moderated by Ted Koppel on nuclear proliferation. If you would like to see absolute ghouls like William F. Buckley Jr. and Henry Kissinger argue for “robust defense,” check it out. But really, we watched it for the much-missed Carl Sagan.

For discussion of a movie that makes The Day After look like an episode of Steven Universe, listen to our episode about landmark British telefilm Threads.

073 – Crocodile Fury

Tim saves Jen’s bacon by explaining a Frankenstein’s monster of a thriller: Crocodile Fury! And this one was brought to you by cut-and-paste filmmaker Godfrey Ho. Explains a lot, doesn’t it?

Hear the whole episode at our Patreon and get access to more than 50 bonus episodes!

If you’re curious about the auteur, read the interview we mentioned in the episode, in which Mr. Ho/Hall/Chan/Cheung/Lee/Kingsbrook explains himself. 

For more head-scratching horror, listen to our episode about Canadian home-brew weirdness Things!