Episode 427: The Secret of NIMH (1982)

Special Guests: Gary Goldman
Guest Co-Hosts: El Goro, Kat Ellinger

Based on a book by Richard C. O'Brien, Don Bluth's The Secret of NIMH (1982) is the animated tale of Mrs. Brisby (Elizabeth Hartman), the widow with several children, one of whom is very sick and can not be moved. This is a problem as the Brisby family needs to move due to the impending destruction of their home.

El Goro and Kat Ellinger join Mike to discuss this gorgeous and compelling film along with the horrible straight-to-video sequel, The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue (1998). Producer/animator Gary Goldman shares some of the secrets behind The Secret of NIMH.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 427: The Secret of NIMH (1982)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy The Secret of NIMH on Region B Blu-Ray
Buy Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Richard C. O'Brien

Music:
"Flying Dreams" - Paul Williams/Jerry Goldsmith

Watch:

Episode 387: The Mr. Vampire Series

Guest Co-Hosts: Samm Deighan, El Goro

Released in 1985, the original Mr. Vampire was directed by Ricky Lau and stars Lam Ching Ying as a Taoist priest who battles the forces of evil along with his two inept students. This became a blueprint for dozens of other films -- some of them under the Mr. Vampire moniker and others not. We discuss the “official” Mr. Vampire movies as well as the unofficial entries, some copycat films, and many other jiangshi movies along the way.

Samm Deighan (Daughters of Darkness) and El Goro (Talk Without Rhythm) join Mike to discuss all manner of hopping vampires, beautiful ghosts, bad subtitles, and Taoist magic. Get your sticky rice ready!

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 387: Mr. Vampire (1985)" on Spreaker.

Movies Discussed

Movie Title	Chinese Title	Year
Mr. Vampire	Geung si sin sang	1985
Mr. Vampire 2	Jiang shi jia zu: Jiang shi xian sheng xu ji	1986
Mr Vampire 3	Ling huan xian sheng	1987
Mr. Vampire Saga	Jiang shi shu shu	1988
Shy Spirit	Pa xiu gui	1988
Vampire vs. Vampire	Yi mei dao ren	1989
Magic Cop	Qu mo jing cha	1990
The Ultimate Vampire	Jiang shi zhi zun	1991
Crazy Safari	Fei zhou he shang	1991
Mad Mad Ghost	Huang jin dao shi	1992
Mr. Vampire 1992	Xin jiang shi xian sheng	1992
The Musical Vampire	Yin yue jiang shi	1992
Exorcist Master	Qu mo dao zhang	1993
Vampire Expert	Geung Si Dou Cheung	1995
Rigor Mortis	Geung si	2014

Links:
Get an amazing Mr. Vampire t-shirt from Shelf Life clothing
Read Hopping Vampires and the Unibrowed Priest Who Hates Them by Wes Black

Music:
"Mr. Vampire OST Guitar Cover" - TK Viper
"Mr. Vampire" - Glen Porter

Watch:

Guest Spots: Talk Without Rhythm & Kulturecast

This week on the Talk Without Rhythm Podcast I'm joined by the great Mike White of the Projection Booth to discuss two films that deal with the dehumanization of women in modern society in very, VERY different ways - 1981's The Incredible Shrinking Woman and 1995's Safe.

Kulturecast
Chris is joined by The Projection Booth's Mike White to start Documentary Month with a look at Jesus Camp, a documentary described by some as "the scariest movie ever made". The film follows pastor Becky Fischer as she puts on the Kids on Fire summer camp in North Dakota to preach her message to evangelical children from across the country. It's an interesting look at the religious base in America as they attempt to indoctrinate the youth into their mindset both politically and spiritually.

Listen to "Jesus Camp" on Spreaker.

Chris is joined by The Projection Booth's Mike White once again to finish out Documentary Month with a look at This Film is Not Yet Rated, a look at the secretive Motion Picture Association of America (the MPAA). The film takes a look at the inherent hypocrisy and censorship that the association levels against filmmakers who want their films released. It's a lighter film than any of the month's previous films and one drives a dagger straight into the heart of film censorship.

Listen to "This Film is Not Yet Rated" on Spreaker.

Episode 366: The Dark Crystal (1982)

Special Guest: Brian Jay Jones
Guest Co-Hosts: Kat Ellinger, El Goro

Jim Henson and Frank Oz's The Dark Crystal (1982) is a dark fantasy story of Jen, one of two remaining gelflings in the world of Mithra. He goes on a quest to reunite a shard with the titular Dark Crystal in order to restore balance to his world.

El Goro of the Talk Without Rhythm podcast and Kat Ellinger of Diabolique Magazine discuss all the various versions of the revolutionary film with Mike while guest Brian Jay Jones -- author of Jim Henson: The Biography -- talks about Henson's career from his early days of puppeteering to his experimental films and beyond.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 366: The Dark Crystal (1982)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy The Dark Crystal: The Ultimate Visual History by Caseen Gaines
Download The Darker Crystal fan edit
Download The Dark Crystal workprint
Read about The Third Eye TV series
Read about Lidsville

Music:
"Overture" - Trevor Jones
"Trip Like I Do" - The Crystal Method

Watch:

Episode 333: Akira (1988)

Special Guest: Jonathan Clements
Guest Co-Hosts: El Goro, Chris Cummins

Based on his manga of the same name and released two years before the end of the comic series Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira (1988) tells the tale of Kaneda -- a teenage punk in a motorcycle gang -- and Kei -- a member of an underground resistance -- and their adventures in NeoTokyo. They enter into a world of psychics including the titular Akira, the little boy with incredible powers that lead to the devastating explosion that opens the film.

Special guest Jonathan Clements, author of Anime: A History, provides Mike with some much-needed background on Japanese animation while co-hosts El Goro and Chris Cummins describe their love of Otomo's groundbreaking film.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 333: Akira (1988)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Akira on Blu-Ray
Buy Akira, the manga
Visit the School Girl Milky Crisis blog
Check out the books of Jonathan Clements
Visit the Akira wiki
Visit the Talk Without Rhythm podcast
Read Chris Cummins's articles on Den of Geek

Music:
"Battle Against The Clowns" - Geinoh Yamashirogumi
"The Capsule's Pride (Bikes)" - Bwana

Watch:

Special Report: The Thing (1982)

Special Guests: John Kenneth Muir, Jez Conolly, Dean Cundey, Joel Polis, Thomas G. Waites
Guest Co-Hosts: El Goro, Patrick Bromley

Initially lambasted by critics, John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) was a brilliant adaptation of John W. Campbell's novella Who Goes There?. The film tells the story of a dozen men in Antarctica who are infiltrated by an alien shapeshifter.

Interviews include authors John Kenneth Muir (The Films of John Carpenter), Jez Conolly (Devil’s Advocates: The Thing), actors Joel Polis (Fuchs), Thomas G. Waites (Windows), and cinematographer Dean Cundey.

Patrick Bromley of the F This Movie podcast and El Goro of the Talk Without Rhythm podcast join Mike on this very special episode.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Special Report: The Thing (1982)" on Spreaker.

Bonus Interview with Stuart Cohen:
Direct Link

Links:
Buy The Thing on Blu-Ray with a commentary from El Goro, Patrick Bromley, and Mike White (UK Release)
Buy The Thing on Blu-Ray (US Release)
Buy The Films of John Carpenter by John Kenneth Muir
Buy Devil's Advocates: The Thing by Jez Connelly
Buy The Thing (BFI Modern Classics) by Anne Billson
Visit Stuart Cohen's website
Visit the Joel Polis website
Visit the Thomas G. Waites website
Visit Jez Conolly's official website
Visit John Kenneth Muir's blog
Watch ‘Big John’: A 75-Minute Precious Exploration of John Carpenter’s Life, Work and Ways
Read John Carpenter's The Thing had an Icy Critical Reception
Visit Outpost31.com
Read Ennio Morricone’s unused score for The Thing ended up in The Hateful Eight by Ben Kaye
Listen to Special "The Thing" Commentary for Patricia Stevens by The After Movie Diner
Read The Men Who Were 'The Thing' Look Back on a Modern Horror Classic by Simon Abrams and Matt Zoller Seitz
Listen to the The Thing Read Along Book
Here more from Dean Cundey on The Projection Booth
Listen to our interview with Keith David
Hear more Patrick Bromley on F This Movie!
Hear more El Goro on Talk Without Rhythm

Music:
"Burn It" - Ennio Morricone
"Bestiality" - Ennio Morricone
"Fuchs" - Ennio Morricone
"The Thing that was Bennings" - Ennio Morricone
"Desolation (Main Theme)" - Ennio Morricone
That Thing" - Who Ha
"I Know I'm Human" - Beckett

Watch:

The Hateful Thing from KINO on Vimeo.

Episode 207: Conan the Barbarian (1982)

Special Guests: Edward R. Pressman, Sven-Ole Thorsen, Gerry Lopez, Roy Thomas, Paul M. Sammon, Mark Finn, Sean Hood, Josh Adkins
Guest Co-Hosts: Josh Hadley & El Goro

Let us tell you of the days of high adventure....
In a truly epic episode of The Projection Booth, we look at John Milius's Conan the Barbarian. The film put Arnold Schwarzenegger on the map and kicked-off years of sword & sorcery imitators.

Along with El Goro of Talk without Rhythm and Josh Hadley of Radiodrome, we explore the fiction of Robert E. Howard, the Marvel Comics version of the Barbarian and the subsequent sequels and reboot to the 1982 film.

Clocking in at seven hours, this is not a podcast for the weak.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "TPB: Conan The Barbarian" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard
Buy Conan the Barbarian on Blu-Ray
Buy Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard by Mark Finn
Buy Conan The Phenomenon by Paul M. Sammon
Buy Conan the Barbarian: The Horn of Azoth by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas
Buy Savage Sword of Conan by Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith, and John Buscema
Buy The Dark Barbarian That Towers Over All by Don Herron
Be sure to listen to The Cromcast
Read "I Had No Idea he was a Racist Douchebag" by Mark Finn
Read What's it like to have your film flop at the box office? by Sean Hood
Read Nine Days in Cimmeria by Paul M. Sammon
Visit the Robert E. Howard Foundation
Visit the Conan Completist website
Visit the official Frank Frazetta website
Visit the official Mark Finn blog
Visit the official Sean Hood blog
Visit the official William Smith website
Visit the official Sandahl Bergman Facebook page
Visit the official Arnold Schwarzenegger website
Visit the official Gerry Lopez website
Read Mondo Justin's interview with Ernie Reyes Jr.
Read Everything You Never Knew About The Making of Conan The Barbarian
Read 33 Things We Learned From the Conan the Barbarian Commentary
Listen to our episode on Milius
Listen to our episode on The Big Wednesday

Music:
"Wheel of Pain" - Basil Poledouris
"Riders of Doom" - Basil Poledouris
"Battle of the Mounds" - Basil Poledouris
"Kalidor's Theme" - Ennio Morricone
"Anvil Of Crom" - Basil Poledouris
"Conan: The Musical" - Jon & Al Kaplan

Listen to the Cromcast's Conan Vs. Heavy Metal Mix:


Watch:

Episode 162: Santo vs. the Diabolical Hatchet

Special Guest: Bobb Cotter
Guest Co-Host: El Goro

A run for the border is in order. We're talking about the Mexican icon, El Santo, and his thirteenth film, El hacha diabólica with El Goro of the Talk Without Rhythm podcast.

Plus, we discuss the idea of luchadores (Mexican masked wrestlers) with Bobb Cotter, author of The Mexican Masked Wrestler and Monster Filmography.

Listen/Download Now:
Listen to "TPB: Santo Vs The Diabolical Hatchet" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Santo vs. the Diabolical Hatchet on DVD
Buy Bobb Cotter's The Mexican Masked Wrestler and Monster Filmography
Buy Doyle Green's Mexploitation Cinema: A Critical History Of Mexican Vampire, Wrestler, Ape-man And Similar Films, 1957-1977
Check out the Talk Without Rhythm Podcast
Subscribe to TWORP
Listen to the Diabolical Hatchet episode of TWORP

Music:
"Double Shot" - Southern Culture on the Skids
"Mexican Radio" - Wall of Voodoo
"Viva Del Santo!" - Southern Culture on the Skids
"The Crusher" - The Novas


Watch: