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It's 1980 and with the help of filmmaker James Raynor we are covering when flamboyant and controversial British Director Ken Russell went Hollywood and directed a science-fiction horror film based on a Oscar award winning writer Paddy Chayefsky's novel and screenplay, Altered States. A film which was dogged by disagreements on the set. It tells the story of a research scientist experiments, played by William Hurt, on altered states of human consciousness using hallucinogenic drugs. But soon his mind-altering experiments get out of control and begin affecting the physical world. It's real trip.
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Start a new miniseries! Swallow this! We are going to explore the 1980s in film and to start us off we have a special bonus episode looking at, for us, the most influential horror movie franchise of the 80s. The Evil Dead was the brain child of director Sam Raimi, producer Rob Tapert, and actor Bruce Campbell, who fought to generate financing to create their horror film where a group of teens go to stay at a cabin in the woods and unbeknownst to them let out a supernatural evil which unleashes pure horror on the cabin and takes them out one by one. Despite censoring It was such huge hit that in 1987 they did a sequel, Evil Dead 2 which took this horror movie and turned it on it's head, fully embraced slapstick horror and turned the hero Ash into a Deadite killing, chainsaw wielding, shotgun blasting, quipping action hero of the 80s. Groovy! These two films would create a huge franchise which is still beloved now and we couldn't wait to chat about it.
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It's our decade round up episode, the Trackies! Where we give out awards for the films we watched on this miniseries and as always we are joined by our friend Brandon Kahn to chat about what we learnt from this selection of films, the 50s in films and what we liked best. Also we announce our next miniseries.
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In the 1950s Alfred Hitchcock was hitting the height of him fame and yet again teaming up with James Stewart and Grace Kelly he made Rear Window a film where a professional photographer is stuck in his apartment, recuperating from a broken leg and this boredom, leads him to spy on his neighbours and comes to the realisation that one of them was responsible for the murder of his wife, and sets out to convince his girlfriend to help him bring justice. It explores neighbourhood paranoia, voyeurism in cinema and the male gaze and cemented Hitchcock as a master of cinema, pathing the way for him to become the worlds best known film maker.
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The only film that Charles Laughton ever directed as 1955's The Night of the Hunter, starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, and Lillian Gish. The plot focuses on the relentless pursuit of two children from a serial-killing preacher who wants to steal the $10,000 hidden by their executed bank-robbing father. A critical and commercial failure on it's release, it is now considered an incredibly influential and highly accomplished film, taking inspiration from German Expressionism from the silent era, it stands apart and gives it a unique and terrifying fairy-tale aspect to it. We also discuss Zack Snyder Justice League and the DCEU.
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Comedian and Podcaster Lorcan Mullan joins us to discuss the French New Wave classic The 400 Blows starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, and Claire Maurier. The film was directed by former critic and ‘Gravedigger of Cinema’ François Truffaut who directed the film in 1959 after he was banned from Cannes festival for his overly harsh reviews of current French cinema and as a reaction was encouraged to put his theory of the auteur into practice. The result was a sensation which was not only an international success but also set the tone and ushered in the arrival of the French New Wave, which would change world cinema. The film tells the story of Antoine Doinel, a misunderstood adolescent in Paris who struggles with his parents and teachers due to his rebellious behaviour, a wonderful coming of age story which still resonates today.
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Ollie invites James Raynor back on the show to talk about one of the most seminal films of all time in Godzilla, Ishirō Honda didn't just make an iconic monster film he invented a total worldwide pop culture icon, including thirty-two films produced by Toho, four Hollywood films and numerous video games, novels, comic books and television shows. All stemming from this 1954 classic, join us as we are introduced to Godzilla an enormous, destructive, prehistoric sea monster awakened and empowered by nuclear weapons and our new best friend.
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Orson is back! 1958's Touch of Evil was considered for a long time the most forgettable film of Orson Welles' career, he had been removed from the final edit of the film and eventually the studio dumped the film into a b-picture release and it was largely forgotten by critics and audiences alike. That is until an earlier cut was found, and a 58 page memo written by Orson at the time detailing the edits he wanted the studio to make for the film. The re-edit of this film, based around Orson Welles' memo, was released in 1998 and the film quickly started being re-evaluated as a forgotten masterpiece and the original being yet another product of studio interference in the auteur's career. Natalie Gardner returns to help us talk about this film and unravel this fascinating film and marvel at one of the best opening shots in a film, ever.
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The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish historical fantasy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, it has become an icon in cinema becoming a veritable shorthand for arthouse cinema and inspiring countless homages and parodies, meaning it has cemented itself in social consciousness. The film itself tells the story of a medieval knight (Max von Sydow), who after returning from the Crusades finds his homeland devastated from the Black Death, and when finding Death (Bengt Ekerot) waiting for him undergoes a crisis of faith and challenges him to a literal game of chess. We also spend sometime talking about Sound of Metal, the Meg, Sliding Doors, Minari, Adam Curtis and the Lady and the Dale. 
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If there are two names that are synonymous with the western it is John Ford and John Wayne, who over their career together made countless Westerns that came to define the genre, and American film making. The Searchers, from 1956 is possibly not only their most epic but the most defining film of each of their career. It has come to be seen as one of the most influential films of all time, and has a list of accolades sees it on lists for greatest film ever made by the American Film Institute, Entertainment Weekly, The British Film Institute's Sight & Sound and Cahiers du Cinéma, plus many others. This week we try and find out it is it worthy of this accolade and delve into what it actually a rather stark and uncomfortable portrayal of racism on the American frontier. We also talk Golden Girls, Disney and Netflix's The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel. 
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