Special Guest: James B. Harris Guest Co-Hosts: Andrew Nette, Rod Lott
Noirvember 2025 closes out with a hard-edged dive into Cop (1988)
, James B. Harris’s blistering adaptation of James Ellroy's novel Blood on the Moon. Mike teams up with Andrew Nette and Rod Lott to unpack this gritty Los Angeles thriller, led by one of James Woods’s most volatile performances as Detective Lloyd Hopkins-—a cop who bulldozes every rule on the hunt for a killer.-
We dig into the film’s tangled lineage: how Harris reshaped Ellroy’s novel for the screen, how Woods weaponizes charisma and menace in equal measure, how Blood on the Moon compares to the earlier L.A. Death Trap, and how Cop fits into the larger landscape of late-’80s neo-noir. Along the way, expect conversations about Ellroy’s amoral universe, the film’s sleazy-sunset L.A. atmosphere, and why Lloyd Hopkins may be one of the most unnerving Reagan-era "hero" of crime cinema.
Special Guest: Charles Haid Guest Co-Hosts: Samm Deighan, Tim Luz
On this special episode we’re looking at Clive Barker's Nightbreed (1990). It’s the story of Aaron Boone (Craig Scheffer) who dreams of a place called Midian, an underground world of monsters. His psychiatrist, Doctor Decker (David Cronenberg) also wants to go there but to destroy all the monster life.
Tim Luz and Samm Deighan join Mike to look at the various cuts of the film and its storied history. Actor Charles Haid talks about his role as Captain Eigerman (as well as his role in the pilot episode of Barney Miller.
Special Guests: Bob Balaban & Charles Haid Guest Co-Host: Scott Clickers
Based on the book by and adapted for the screen by Paddy Chayefsky, Ken Russell's Altered States tells the tale of Edward Jessup (William Hurt), a scientist who’s looking for answers to some of the big questions of life, memory, spirituality, and more. He meets, marries, divorces, and reconciles with Emily (Blair Brown) over the course of a decade of study where he ingests some questionable substances while subjecting himself to sensory deprivation. Here Eddie finds a way to travel back in time through his own body’s chemistry to the days of primeval man.
We talk to two of the co-stars of Altered States and we're joined in our discussion by Scott Clickers from the podcast Married with Clickers.
Special Guest: James B. Harris
Special Guest: 
Special Guests: