Alexandra Hay might not be a name that means much to you, but for todays guest, Dylan Dean Staley, it’s been the focus of his creative endeavours for the better part of a decade. So today he’s on the show to tell us all about this enigmatic figure, with special focus on one of her most highly regarded movies: Model Shop. A clear influence on Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, its freewheeling, subtle, character focused style alienated many at the time, including much of the critical elite, but its now regarded as one of the most accurate snapshots of Los Angeles at the tail end of the 60s.So jump into that overpriced sports car that you can barely afford and join us on a trip around Tinseltown to visit the Model Shop and learn all about why Alexandra Hay and her career, as it deserves more attention than it currently gets.
We welcome punk filmmaker Charles Pinion onto the show for the first part of a mini-series diving into the shot-on-video works of Charles.
Pinion made his mark on the shot-on-video scene of the 1980s with his debut feature Twisted Issues in 1988 - an experimental psychotronic story of a bullied skater who is killed and resurrected, attached to his skateboard(!!!), to enact bloody revenge on his perpetrators.
But it wouldn't be right to just dive into Twisted Issues. We wanna know his story! his formative years, his influences, how he came to make Twisted Issues, and the Cinema of Transgression scene he soon found himself a part of.
The Vanishing stands as one of the most highly regarded European films ever made films, and on this episode we’re inviting on a guest who, quite literally, wrote the book on it. Writer and film critic Christina Brennan, author of The Vanishing (Spoorloos), is going to guide us through the production history, behind the scenes dramas and all the fascinating ins and outs that revolve around what some regarded as one of the scariest and most unsettling films ever made. But what makes it so disturbing? Join us as we discuss, dissect and deep dive the characters, story structure, symbolism and legendary ending, all of which have put this movie on the highest and most deserving of pedestals.
We welcome back to the show, author, filmmaker and musician Nikolas Schreck, who has dropped by to discuss the 2024 revised and updated edition of his 2001 book The Satanic Screen: An Illustrated Guide To The Devil In Cinema.
Nikolas has a first hand vantage of the material, as in a former life, he was a practicing black magician, steeped in the occult and was associated with The Church of Satan. It's with this knowledge that he details the cinematic history of the Devil on screen, and even dating the Devil's image back to the proto-cinema of the magic lantern.
We touch upon many eras, films and depictions in this episode, but of course, for a a more expansive look into this topic, make sure to pick up his book at publisher Headpress.com, and also available wherever you buy books.
For his daily musings and art, make sure to check out his instagram: @nikolas_schreck_official
It’s time for us to travel forward in time to the futuristic world of … 2000!? Death Race 2000 is one of the most famous films to come from the world of B-movie legend Roger Corman, and with an illustrious cast including David Carradine, Mary Woronov and a pre-super stardom Sylvester Stallone, it’s also one of the most well-regarded. There’s lots for us to pick apart here, including the dystopian world, the political landscape, the racers, the cars, the moral implications of violent spectacle and whether or not the ending means a happier world for its citizens, or simply the same old misery in a different costume. Start your engines folks, cos we’re going full speed ahead on this one!
Wayne is off gallivanting round Poland, so Liam, has recruited good friend of the podcast, Phil, of Flixology 101, to fill the co-host seat, and Liam introduces Phil to Scottish filmmaker Donald Cammell's completely bonkers movie White of the Eye.
Starring a returning Cathy Moriarty, who after suffering a horrific car crash, was out of movies for 5 years, and also starring a magnetic David Keith .
Is it a giallo? Is it a slasher? I mean, it could be all these things, or none, but by God, we're here to make a argument for the merits of this hypnotic masterpiece(??)
The French Connection was a departure for director William Friedkin. After the BO failure of The Boys in the Band, he pivoted, and put his learned skills to the emerging zeitgeist grabbing action and car chase film.
But this film, is more than its infamous chase scene, it's a terrifically gritty tale of urban decay, set amongst the backdrop of the NYPD and the drug underworld. And lucky for us, we're joined by writer Jason Allison, a retired NYPD narcotics, and homicide detective with over 20 years in the field, so you know he's gonna bring the goods!
We're joined by friend of the show Carmelita McKoy, who brings us John Huston's 1964 adaptation of Tennessee Williams's play The Night of the Iguana, and we here at IFWT are spoiled, as Carmelita is a wealth of Tennessee Williams knowledge, so it's only fitting she join us for the dive into a film that bridges that old and new Hollywood.
It’s time for us to return to the delightfully sordid world of Giallo with Death Walks On High Heels. Luciano Ercoli might not be the biggest name ever to grace the genre, but as we’ll prove today, he earned a distinctive position in the world of Italian murder mystery. Alongside long time friend of the podcast, author Marek Z. Turner aka Polizio T Turner, we’ll give this little gem our customary deep dive, and chat a little about the world of giallo cinema in general. Get out your telescope and finest leather gloves, because were about to solve a murder mystery, giallo style.
We're taking our first trip into the world of short films on this podcast, and could think of no better way than to dive into the works of Kenneth Anger - a filmmaker of 'cine-poems' who has not only influenced cinema in general, but has arguably produced the first aeon of music video with his film Scorpio Rising.
We discuss potentially his magnum opus in Lucifer Rising - a magick ritual put to celluloid and a film with an extremely complicated history.
It’s Baseball Opening Day, and what better what to celebrate this most American of occasions than by bring back a good friend of ours from across the pond to discuss what he considers to be the finest Baseball film of all time: The Bad News Bears. Released in 1976 (and boy you can tell!), it’s a simple yet powerful tale of friendship, camaraderie, wasted potential and the harm that comes from the single-minded pursuit of victory. Joining us for this deep dive is former guest Dan Epstein, an author, pop culture explorer and Baseball afficionado whose work includes the books Stars & Strikes, Big Hair & Plastics Trees and Now You’re One Of Us: The Incredible Story Of Red Kross.With a certified Baseball expert and self-proclaimed movie buff joining us, we’ll talk about the setting, the time period, the characters and enjoy the unique insight into the film that our guest so generously provides.
IFWT is finally diving into the world of Spanish cult filmmaker Jose Ramon Larraz.
1974 was an important one for the filmmaker, releasing two seminal horror movies, Vampyres, and the psych-horror slow burn Symptoms, starring daughter of horror icon Donald Pleasence, Angele Pleasence.
And it is Symptoms we'll be giving the deep dive, but with two films sharing many similarities, we'll be sure to talk about Vampyres, too.
Before he had multimillion dollar budgets, before he had IMAX cameras, before he had some of the biggest names in Hollywood beating down his door, Christopher Nolan was just a plucky young student who dreamed of being a director. So in 1998 he gathered a bunch of friends, scraped a few thousand quid together and made Following, a neo-noir crime thriller that announced him as a talent to watch out for.We’ll be giving our thoughts on Nolan’s career as a whole, his merits as a filmmaker as well as diving into Following’s story, its non-linear timeline, its cast of characters, and the themes it explores
Yes, yes. David Fincher's film Zodiac may be the definitive film covering the Zodiac killer, but what it cannot boast is the title of the only film made with the sole intention of capturing an active serial killer, which Tom Hanson's 1971 thriller The Zodiac Killer can.
In October 2023 we invited Scottish indie filmmaker David Wilde on to the show to talk about his influences, his background in film and, most tantalisingly, the next project he was working on. On this week’s episode, we’re talking about that very film: Psycho Sex Dolls. We’ll ask David all manner of questions regarding the films plot, its characters, themes and all the fascinating background information on both the production itself and the Kickstarter campaign that made it possible. Ready to get your freak on? Then what are you waiting for!?
We're dipping our toes into our very first dive into the world of sword and sorcery, as we take on John Boorman's 1981 classic Excalibur - a favourite of our guest, Cesare Augusto, of the terrific film podcast The Rad Revival House.
Over the last few months, we’ve had author and James Ellory biographer Steven Powell on the show to discuss both the man himself, and the cinematic adaptations of his work. We’ve talked about Cop & L.A. Confidential, but today we’re getting to possibly the most divisive film born from Ellroy’s work: The Black Dahlia. Based on the infamous murder mystery from 1947, the film failed to find an audience when it was released in 2006, despite the big names both in front of and behind the camera, and effectively ended De Palma’s studio funded movie career. We’ll discuss the film’s time period, its cast of characters, the infamous Elizabeth Short murder and of course, the James Ellroy novel on which the film is based.
We're back for another year at IFWT! And for our inaugural episode of the year, we're diving into the Charles Bronson sleaze-fest for Cannon, 10 to Midnight. Ebert may have called this film 'garbage', but is it so bad? Is it reactionary? These are questions that are raised in this appropriately fun episode that deals with a film that has maybe the most ludicrously insane 'jack-off' machine.
This episode contains contributions from the following people:
Gringo Fantastico( @realfantastico on X)
Shane Templeton (@wshane23 on X)
The Bad Movie Cult podcast (@BadMovieCult on X)
@Peteypops82.bsky.social
And so we come to the end of 2024, and in the spirit of the holiday season we’re getting some good friends together, cracking open a few delicious drinks and breaking down a cult classic. Christmas Evil may live in the shadow of its more notorious younger cousin Silent Night Deadly Night, lacking its controversy or increasingly ridiculous follow ups, but we’re out to prove that it’s a film that’s more than worth a viewing this December. Complex characters, interesting themes and a wealth of behind the scene stories make it perfect for a festive In Film We Trust deep dive. So chuck a few logs on the fire, pour yourself an eggnog and join us in welcoming our good buddies Phil DeGlass, Matt Rotman and Scott West onto the show to round out the year. Merry Christmas everyone.
We've arrived at the penultimate film in our James Ellroy adaptation series. And luckily for us, we're joined by author of Love Me Fierce In Danger: The Life of James Ellroy, Steven Powell, as we take on Curtis Hanson's 1997 masterpiece(?) LA Confidential - a film that many believe that have been robbed of the Best Picture Oscar by James Cameron's disastrous romance behemoth Titanic.
