Monday, August 5, 2013

F This Movie! - The State of Horror

Patrick welcomes Dread Central's Heather Wixson (aka The Horror Chick) for a discussion of horror movies, the future of the genre and the merits of The Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf.



Download this episode here. (52 MB)

Email F This Movie! at fthismoviepodcast(at)gmail.com.

Subscribe to F This Movie! in iTunes.

Like F This Movie! on Facebook and follow F This Movie! on Twitter.

Follow Heather Wixson on Twitter @thehorrorchick and find her writing here and here.

30 comments:

  1. Hola guys! Just finished the "Can't Hardly Wait" podcast last night. Great stuff, except I can't believe you spent a good five or so minutes rattling off all the great and memorable films of 1999, yet didn't once mention The Mummy, which is still the second-best Indiana Jones movie ever! Also, were you aware that Seth Green was considered for the quasi-Anthony Michael Hall role in the Weird Science TV show, didn't get it, but still cameod in an early episode? I, uh, realize that that information is probably of little to no interest to just about anyone besides myself.

    Also, having not heard the podcast, I hope you give a shout-out to perhaps the best horror movie of recent years, HBO's Game Change. With today's GOP, who needs netherworldly demons, amirite?

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  2. Good catch -- I like The Mummy (1999)!

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  3. Jesus, this episode just gave me a childhood memory flashback when Heather mentioned the ashtrays in the Prospect Theater; I went there a lot as a kid and I remember playing with those too while watching things like Christmas Story and Princess Bride! It closed 1991 and was torn down in 1999; the site is condos now. Then there was the Mt. Prospect Cinema up the road an Rand a little north of Central, next to the old Thunderbird Lanes (now Brunswick) bowling alley; it's now the Bristol Court banquet halls.

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    1. One of those theaters had a balcony (I think ti was the Mt. Prospect?), because we went to see Star Trek III there when I was a kid and sat in the balcony and I was VERY STRESSED because I had just learned about the Lincoln assassination and was convinced I was going to be shot and killed, not understanding that I would have had to ended slavery first. It was the slavery thing, not the balcony, that got Lincoln killed.

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    2. Yeah, I'm pretty sure the Prospect did not have a balcony and one of the Mt. Prospect's three screens did. Then there was the old Randhurst cinemas which I remember sneaking into an R-rated movie for the first time (at least I had the taste for it to be Fish Called Wanda; the second, I think, was Robocop).

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    3. The Mount Prospect Theater, the one with three screens across from the bowling alley on Rand Road, was razed and a banquet hall was built there. That banquet hall was later the sight of my brother's wedding reception. The Prospect Theater, which was very small and on Elmhurst Road, was razed and is now a parking lot. The Prospect Theater had a balcony!

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    4. So THAT'S where I was assassinated.

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    5. Now assuming I'm not completely nuts, Prospect was the one next to the lighting store and across from the library, right?

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    6. Yes, the Prospect was across the street from the library and the Continental Bakery. I remember seeing MOONRAKER in that theatre.

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    7. And now I want a box of Pączkis from Continental Bakery.

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  4. Great discussion! It's not that I don't love the regular contributors to this podcast (I do), but I hope we can hear more special guests like Heather on the show every now and then with these more general topics to add some greater variety to the voices.

    This is not related to horror, but I was with you in mourning the demise of physical media, especially as it relates to bonus features. I had the idea, though, that maybe a service like Netflix could include those bonus features as extra things to click on or alternate options when you go to a certain movie's Netflix page, i.e.: "click here to watch with commentary, click here to view deletes scenes, click here to watch this documentary, click here to read this essay, etc." I think that would be cool. There are probably rights issues associated with that stuff, though. Either way, I won't give up on physical media without a fight.

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  5. @Doug: Excellent! I eagerly await the 15th Anniversary-commemorating Mummy '99 podcast, then. This will have the added bonus of rectifying FTM's apparent dearth of Rachel Weisz commentary and praise. Speaking of which, check out this entirely germane supercut of mine:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibEdwT31G5k

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    1. Sir, I am not. If I ever get the chance to make movies, they will not make people feel horrible (on purpose, that is).

      By the by, if I ever get married, and decide to cast my own wife in a movie about a dying woman, kindly punch me in the head until I no longer want to do that.

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  6. You really ought to give Howling 2 a second chance. It's best to treat it as a separate entity from the first one, because it really is not even close to the same. But as Heather says, Christopher Lee is great and Sybil Danning owns it (she's kind of crazy in person, though). It's a lot of fun, and even if you don't like the movie, I think the end credits redeem the whole thing.

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    1. I get where it could be fun, but not where it could be good. In any sense. Maybe it would make a good choice for our October commentary...

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    2. Yeah, it would make a good group commentary for October.

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  7. Excellent episode so far. I'll listen to more on the drive home. For now, I'll leave you with an Erich Asperschlager Fun Fact: back in high school I was part of a Rocky Horror live show for a few weeks. I was brought on to play what would have been a horribly out-of-shape Rocky but was downgraded (thankfully) to Criminologist. The other people were older and in college. It was weird. I still can't eat or throw toast.

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    1. From now on I only want to watch Rocky Horror Picture Show with an Erich shadowcast.

      I made the mistake of saying I was a Rocky virgin the first time I went. I regretted it.

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    2. If anyone could bring me out of retirement, Adam, it's you.

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  8. It's nice to hear another point of view on the podcast, More often that not I'm on the same page as Patrick and the crew. When Heather came on, she immediately grabbed my attention with her passion for horror movies and wrestling... That's the foundation of my childhood! She started lose me on the Platinum Dunes discussion, with Ryan Reynolds angry abs and ass kicking Jessica Biel.

    Having said that, I liked her short film Paper Rock, Scissors and look forward to more of her interesting takes @thehorrorchick.

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    1. If she'll have us, we hope to get her back soon and for SURE during Scary Movie Month.

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  9. Nice discussion on Horror, I have seen so much over the years that nowadays even when I see a good horror movie at the theatres I tend to go into Sportscenter mode "That was a nice scare their from James Wan in The Conjuring oh he just threw out an unnecessary bit of CG effects, you hate to see that" I think the horror movie that has the biggest hold on me has to be Cronenberg's The Fly, which was the first horror movie I ever saw that SPOILER ALERT had a really downer ending and was different than the standard Jason and Freddy slasher.

    Can't wait for next week's podcast (Elysium?!) and I know its early but I think the Child's Play series would be a great podcast for scary movie month since the new Child's Play movie is coming out in a couple months.

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  10. Fantastic podcast - really enjoyed it - Heather's great - I could listen to you two talk forever (and you almost did)! Scary Movie Month can't come soon enough - definitely have some new entries on my to-watch list that I'm going to try to save until October!

    I had no idea The Descent was SO well-regarded by people who matter (e.g. you and Heather) - boy oh boy that movie had an impact on me when I first saw it - I don't think I've ever had so much trouble watching a movie I couldn't stop watching. And I had a similar experience watching The Devil's Rejects a couple years later. Definitely two of the best horror movies of the Oughts.

    Patrick, I implore you to give The Martyrs a shot - yes, it can be incredibly difficult to get through and for awhile it makes you feel kinda awful, but once you get through it (and I mean, it's very gory and violent, but I'd never call it gratuitous and it's well-made) the ending is actually very interesting and leaves an impression. Seriously man, give it a try this Scary Movie Month - as uncomfortable as it will probably make you for awhile, I wouldn't say it has anything you haven't gotten through before and it pays off in the end. What's wrong, Bromley? CHICKEN?

    My 7-word review for this podcast: Horrorgirl, will you be my second wife?

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  11. Great episode. I love horror and I'm just now getting back into it after a few years (I had girlfriends who hated horror flicks, which makes it very difficult to keep up.), and this definitely gave me some great suggestions. I just caught Kill List on Netflix, and really liked it, even despite being put off by the WTF ending; I definitly plan to check out the rest of Ben Wheatley's filmography.

    I was wondering if you guys had seen Excision. I'm not a hundred percent sure I liked it, but it really stayed with me and made me feel like shit for a good day or two.

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  12. Great podcast...I will go see "you're next" at a midnight showing when it opens now. I only saw half of the trailer a couple of days ago when I was walking by my tv and remember thinking, "oh, another horror movie with dudes in masks trying to get in a house". Pretty excited now...

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  13. I was really excited when you mentioned Scream Queens. It probably says a lot about my life and choices but I love that show in all its craziness. Shawnee Smith was SO BORED. The challenges were SO DUMB.

    I love how they made the contestants go through so much and have them show so much versatility, only to have the second winner scream for a few seconds in Saw 3D and then get her face smashed in by a car. So mean!

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  14. And I kind of wish i hadn't heard Heather's You're Next praise. My excitement was at such a perfect manageable level and now it's through the roof.

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  15. i was only 45 minutes through when i wrote my last comment. just finished and loved it. i will say that i am only a "rupley" kid, but if i wasn't happily married and a proud father of three, i would track this horror chick down and marry her :)
    good times.

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  16. Martyrs is tough, but is a film that has something to say--about life, death, horror, religion, etc.

    I usually won't watch films like this either, but after hearing from enough people I respect, I checked it out.

    It was well worth my time.

    http://obnoxiousandanonymous.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/martyrs-film-review/

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