Roland Klick's Deadlock (1978) strips the spaghetti western down to its bones — no horses, no heroism, just three men and a suitcase in the Negev. When the wounded Kid (Marquard Bohm) staggers out of the desert clutching stolen cash, Charles Dump (Mario Adorf) sees an opportunity. When the cold-eyed Mr. Sunshine (Anthony Dawson) arrives to collect, the triangle tightens. Klick shoots it all like a fever dream, backed by a Can soundtrack that makes the heat feel alive.
Jessica Shires, and Spencer Parsons join Mike to dig into this criminally underseen West German neo-western — its debt to Leone, its surreal humor, its nihilist gut-punch of an ending, and why it deserves to stand alongside the genre's best.
Special Guests: Rob King, Lina Mannheimer Guest Co-Hosts: Jessica Shires, Heather Drain
Radley Metzger pushes the boundaries of erotic cinema with The Image (1975), a film that treats desire as ritual, performance, and provocation. Adapted from the infamous novel by Catherine Robbe-Grillet-—writing under the name Jean de Berg—-the film unfolds as a stylized confession. Carl Parker plays Jean, the author surrogate recounting a charged encounter with his estranged friend Claire (Marilyn Roberts) and the young woman who becomes the focus of his controlled cruelties, Anne (Mary Mendum).
Joining Mike are Jessica Shires and Heather Drain, as the conversation situates The Image alongside Metzger’s other works and within a broader lineage of European erotic literature and BDSM aesthetics. The episode interrogates authorship, consent, power, and the uneasy space between fantasy and autobiography that defines Robbe-Grillet’s writing and Metzger’s adaptation.
Special Guests: Pola Rapaport, Maya Gallus Guest Co-Hosts: Samm Deighan, Jessica Shires
Jessica Shires and Samm Deighan join Mike for a deep, unflinching look at Just Jaeckin’s Story of O (1975), the adaptation of Pauline Réage’s notorious novel. Corinne Cléry embodies O with startling vulnerability as she’s led by her lover René (Udo Kier) into the secretive Chateau at Roissy -- an isolated world of ritual, discipline, and erotic power exchange.
The conversation opens up the film’s legacy, its aesthetics, and its complicated relationship to the source text’s authorship and mythology. The episode also features two illuminating interviews: Pola Rapaport, director of The Writer of O, discusses the real story behind Dominique Aury and the creation of the literary sensation; and Maya Gallus, director of Erotica: A Journey Into Female Sexuality (1997), explores the film’s place in a broader lineage of women’s erotic expression, taboo-breaking, and cinematic desire.
When cult cinema maestro Jess Franco turns his lens to noir with Downtown (1975), you know you're in for a sleazy, surreal ride! Join Mike White, Heather Drain, and Jessica Shires as they unravel the tangled web of private eyes, femme fatales, and Franco’s unmistakable flair.
This Patreon-requested episode, brought to you by the fabulous Pat Radke, dives deep into one of Franco’s lesser-seen gems. Is Downtown a gritty noir, an erotic fever dream, or something in between? Tune in to find out as the crew discusses its place in Franco's prolific filmography, its unique style, and why it deserves more love.
Special Guest: Harry Kümel Guest Co-Hosts: Jessica Shires, Matthew Asprey Gear
Also known as Legend of Doom House, Malpertuis1971 is a gothic horror film starring Mathieu Carrière as Jan, a sailor back at his home port where he visits the estate known as Malpertuis where he encounters a group of colorful kooks including the formidable Cassavius (Orson Welles).
Jessica Shires joins Mike White and Heather Drain to discuss her Patreon request: Jesús Franco's 1973 film A Virgin Among the Living Dead. It’s the story of Christina ("Christina von Blanc"), a young woman who is summoned to her family’s mansion after the suicide of her father. There we meet her odd family. The film plays out somewhere between a dream and a nightmare following its own pace and logic.
We discuss the film's strange pedigree (and the directorial additions by Pierre Quérut and Jean Rollin), how difficult it was tracking down genre films in the Video Search of Miami days, and the seductive power of Carmen Yazalde.
Guest Co-Hosts: Jessica Shires, Spencer Parsons
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