The Reel '96 Podcast

And here's the capper! We finish off JINGLE ALL THE WAY with a happy ending and a Merry Christmas to all. You haven't lived until you've survived four hours of movie talk with Mike, Bob & Jeff. The dream team of The Reel '96 Podcast to be sure!

Happy Holidays everyone!

This is the one you've all been waiting for! Part one of an epic, insane, unhinged, very NSFW 4-hour descent into madness! We tackle the batshit crazy Christmas movie from 1996, the one and only Jingle All the Way. Schwarzennegger at his finest, y'all. Strap in for some tasty tangents and off-the-wall movie talk from filmmakers Jeff Frumess (Romeo's Distress), Mike Lombardo (I'm Dreaming of a White Doomsday), and Bob Rose (The Transformations of the Transformations of the Drs. Jenkins). It must be heard to be fully believed.

The big finale of our week-long binge of 1996 horror movies for Halloween is here! We summoned filmmaker and actor Rakefet Abergel (Boo, Jax in Love) as well as horror author Summer Feaker (the Haven Manor Trilogy) for a super in-depth look at The Craft. Does it stand on a pedestal as high as Scream or Clueless? Is it faux feminism? An ad for Lilith Fair? An excuse to sell soundtracks? All of the above? Is she wearing a wig? Dive in and join us as we answer all of these questions and more!

Peter Jackson's THE FRIGHTENERS is now a cult classic 25 years later and these three sweet boys - filmmakers Jeff Frumess, Bob Rose, and Mike Lombardo - tear down a path of unconditional love and wild tangents to bring us one of the funniest and most energetic episodes of Reel '96 yet. Prepare yourself and get ready to feel the unfiltered force of three unabashed movie lovers in their final forms!

Werewolf movies! You love 'em but they're still not as popular as vampire and zombie movies. Why's that? Not sexy enough? We disagree! Come back with us to November 1st, 1996 as we sit front row in an empty theater for the opening night of BAD MOON - an underrated 90s werewolf flick with gnarly gore FX and a killer werewolf suit. Don't take this paragraph's word for it, jump in and listen as fest programmer Chad Farmer and filmmaker John Hale (The Conduit, Worst Laid Plans) take to the furry streets and let us know why this movie is near and dear to their hairy hearts. Awooooo!

A whole week of Halloween episodes of Reel '96 kicks off today as we summon the otherworldly knowledge of director and makeup fx artist Mike Lombardo (I'm Dreaming of a White Doomsday) to help us become cenobite aficionados  as we exhume the body of Hellraiser IV: Bloodline. It's a film with a troubled production history close to the heights of Alien3 (but not quite) and has an ambitious centuries-spanning narrative from Revolutionary France to present day (1996 y'all) to futuristic deep space. Does it live on as the last good Hellraiser movie? Let's find out!

Movies mentioned: Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, Hellraiser V: Inferno, Bordello of Blood, The Thing, Midnight Meat Train, Books of Blood, Lord of Illusions, Nightbreed, Rawhead Rex, Dread, Hellraiser: Revelations, Hellraiser: Hellworld, The Stepfather, Wishmaster, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, Tremors 2: Aftershocks, and so much more!

(whispering) Mary Reilly...

Spooked yet? Prepare yourself for our deep dive into this relic of 1996, an odd Jekyll & Hyde flick starring Julia Roberts and John Malkovich. Their chemistry mixes like oil and water and it shows up right there on the silver screen! Le Monkey House proprietor and GenreBlast marketing manager Raygan Ketterer stops in to see what all the creepy fuss is about. Does it hold up twenty-five years later? Jump in and find out!

Movies mentioned: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Seven, Scream, and so much more!

This is an EPIC ninety minute plunge into John Dahl's worst movie by far. Director Josh Stifter (Greywood's Plot) tags along to plumb the depths of this mid-90s oddity. Part thriller, part noir, part horror? It's like Crank meets Inception without any of the fun of either one!

Movies mentioned: American Movie, No Escape, Turbulence and so much more!

There's nothing like 90s action cinema and John Woo brings us one of the four pillars of action moviemaking of that decade with BROKEN ARROW! Join us as we revisit this somewhat underappreciated masterpiece of blow-em-up, shoot-em-up goodness with out guest, director and cinematographer extraordinaire Zane Hershberger (Treaters, Force to Fear).

Movies mentioned:
Mission: Impossible 2, Face/Off, The Rock, Con Air, Hard Target, Paycheck, Bullet in the Head, A Better Tomorrow, Windtalkers, The Killer, Hard Boiled, Nightbreed, Lord of Illusions, Pump Up the Volume, Pulp Fiction, True Romance, Get Shorty, Michael, Executive Decision, Last Man Standing, Chain Reaction, Fled, Assassins, Desperado, and so much more!

Join us for the most in-depth convo you're going to find out there for SCREAMER, starring the man himself PETER WELLER. We talk to sci-fi nerd, actor, and GenreBlast volunteer Bryan L. Nuri about this mid-90s sci-fi horror gem and end up in Star Trek territory near the end. Shocker.

Movies mentioned: Screamers 2, Of Unknown Origin, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Bio-Dome, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Impostor, Star Trek: First Contact, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, and so much more!

In this episode, we talk to Nooga Underground Film Fest Director Chad Farmer and grindhouse filmmaker Josh Stephenson (Deathtrip!) about the Tarantino/Rodriguez vampires and crooks mashup FROM DUSK TILL DAWN!

Movies mentioned: Death Proof, Planet Terror, Grindhouse, Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money, From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Machete, Machete Kills, Sin City, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, The Spirit, 300, El Mariachi, Desperado, Total Recall, Ghosts of Mars and so much more!

It's a special double feature episode as actor, writer, filmmaker extraordinaire Rakefet Abergel stops by to revisit BED OF ROSES and TWO IF BY SEA. Two 1996 romance flicks that have very different legacies all these years later. Does Denis Leary's act hold up outside of the 90s? How stalker-ish can Christian Slater get in one movie? These questions and more are answered in this laugh-packed, head-scratching look at a pait of mid-90s misfires. 

Episode 5 brings us the super exploitive Hollywood thriller EYE FOR AN EYE. A movie that probably had high hopes for 1995 but instead got kicked to the January '96 curb of release dates. A stellar cast is sized up by GenreBlast Film Fest producer Raygan Ketterer and UK filmmaker Mark A.C. Brown (GUARDIANS). How does this super icky rape/murder/revenge/vigilante bouillabaisse hold up 25 years later? Come on in and find out!

Oh boy. Talk about a black hole of coherent thought. Filmmaker Mike Lombardo (I'm Dreaming of a White Doomsday) attempts to help us make sense of Lawnmower Man 2. Yeah. They made two of these. We try to fill an hour talking about this movie, but eventually we wander into Hellraiser territory and then just start shopping on Amazon. Yeah. What do you expect with this movie? They can't all be winners. Welcome to the dead of winter at the movies in 1996! Yay!

The third installment of the Reel '96 podcast sees filmmakers John Hale (The Conduit) and Nic Champeaux (Lieutenant Jangles) join forces to reassess the 90s urban spoof DON'T BE A MENACE TO SOUTH CENTRAL WHILE DRINKING YOUR JUICE IN THE HOOD. Does it still hold up as a comedy? Are the themes underneath the laughs still relevant? What do Australians think of American 90s Black crime and coming-of-age films? We also talk about selective racism when it came to programming white suburban theaters in the 90s. All that and more in just forty fast minutes. Enjoy!

The second episode of the Reel '96 Podcast brings forth a return appearance by Jeff Frumess (Romeo's Distress) along with author and screenwriter James Fox to address the elephant in the room. Bio-Dome. Turd or cult classic? At least one of us is an ardent defender of the film as one of the best films of the 90s. Seriously. Also, we delve into all kinds of wild tangents including sexuality in Reservoir Dogs, cracking up your castmates on Saturday Night Live, and so much more. Who do we cast in the outer space remake of Bio-Dome? Listen to find out!

Nathan summons indie filmmakers Jeff Frumess (Romeo's Distress) and Bob Rose (Timecrowave) to pick apart and reminisce about the lost 90s gem Dunston Checks In. Jason Alexander, an orangutan, and Faye Dunaway. So much to unpack here...

We also get into the Salieri Effect, the rewatchability of Congo and Van Helsing, as well as the pitfalls of public domain characters. Lots of fun tangents lie within. Strap in and enjoy!