Shameful Cinema

We wrap our series on deadly road movies with an examination of two films that star Kurt Russell — 1997’s road thriller BREAKDOWN, and from 2007, Quentin Tarantino’s unique spin on the slasher genre, DEATH PROOF. Russell plays very different characters in the two films — in BREAKDOWN, a yuppie who finds himself the target of kidnappers, and in DEATH PROOF, a psychopath with a penchant for vehicular homicide. We go deep beneath the surface of both films, in search of highbrow takes on these very lowbrow movies, and we come away with some surprising conclusions! The BREAKDOWN discussion begins at (1:26), and the DEATH PROOF discussion begins at (34:28). Note, there are spoilers throughout the episode. You’ve been warned!

We continue our series on hitch-hikers with a look at the 1981 thriller, ROAD GAMES, starring Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis. Often dismissed as “REAR WINDOW on the road,” this dark comedy features Keach as trucker Pat Quid, who ends up playing a dangerous game with a killer on a desolate Australian highway.

In this episode we take a detour into the world of hitch-hiker movies, with a detailed look at one of the early examples of the genre, Ida Lupino’s 1953 film noir masterpiece, THE HITCH-HIKER, starring William Talman as crazed, lazy-eyed killer Emmett Myers.

Psychotic hitch-hikers, motorized murder, crazed truckers and highway killers! In this episode we take a detailed look at the sub-genre of “roadkill” features, from early examples in the 1930s, up to the 1970s, where we highlight the brilliance of Steven Spielberg’s 1971 made-for-TV movie, DUEL.

We conclude our three-part series on the “evil animal” sub-genre with a look at the Australian art film, LONG WEEKEND.

We continue our discussion of the “evil animal” sub-genre with looks at the JAWS knock-off, GRIZZLY, and the made-for-TV supernatural horror, DEVIL DOG: THE HOUND OF HELL.

In this episode, we take a broad look at the “evil animal” sub-genre of films, from the earliest killer animal features to modern “eco horror.” We’ll also examine one of the pioneering “nature’s revenge” films, the 1972 American International Pictures masterpiece, FROGS.