The Cinemania Society Podcast

Before we get on with Season 3, we're taking a final dip into the Memory Hole for one of our better Profiles in Cinemania, this time on everyone's favorite typecast space wizard. New material drops next week!   Written by Ethan Ireland, Andy Slack, and Andrea Palladino Performed by Ethan Ireland Production and sound design by Ethan Ireland Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Caricature art by Andy Slack Comics   Legal notice: this is a work of parody and should not be construed as making allegations or statements of fact.

Since it pains us that so much of our Season 1 has been memory-holed, we thought you folks would enjoy this Profile we did on the late (late late late late) Sir John Hurt.   Hang in there, new material is coming! Big things are afoot!   (You'll find this profile has a lot to do with the pending 1st Conclave of Season 3)   Written by Ethan Ireland Performed by Alessa Luz Martinez as Andre Martinez Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Legal notice: This is a work of parody. LEGAL NOTICE: This is a work of parody and should not be construed as making statements or allegations of fact.

So, so much of our early work has disappeared from the internet. If you're GenX or a Millennial, and you grew up with home video, it's a good chance you heard music performed by Vangelis, master of synthesized scores. Here's our memorial take on the guy. Hang in there, new stuff is coming. Written by Ethan Ireland & Andy Slack Performed by Andre Luc Martinez & Zacharia Berks Mixed & Mastered by Ethan Ireland Music track: "Heart of Night" and "Alien Ruins" courtesy of Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio LEGAL NOTICE: This is a work of parody and should not be construed as making statements or allegations of fact.

This is the last of our S1 re-runs, which means we're getting toward the end of our S2-S3 hiatus folks. Just in case you didn't already know, we're re-running all the S1 Conclaves during our hiatus because a few uncouth podcast aggregators refuse to make our back episodes available. In this, the final episode of Season 1, Cinquisitor Ethan holds a Conclave examining Ralph Bakshi's 1977 ALLEGEDLY drug-fueled and definitely-not-for-kids feature-length cartoon epic of fairies versus neo-Nazis, "Wizards." Honestly one of the weirdest films of all time.   Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio

Hi! It's Atus. Hi Atus! Get it? Yeah, okay. Dad joke over. You probably know the drill by now, but just in case you don't we're re-running all the S1 Conclaves during our S2-S3 hiatus because CERTAIN podcast aggregators won't make our back episodes available. In this one, Auntie Hope joins us in earnest and forces us all to scrutinize Ridley Scott's brother Tony's directorial debut, the lesbian vampire movie from 1984 "The Hunger." Get out the popcorn, folks. It's going to be a live one. Er, that is, an un-live one. Whatever.    Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio

Hiatus continues. Not for much longer, though. Just long enough to catch people up on our old material so they can understand the full flower of the story we're trying to tell since Big Streaming wanted to deny you all. Here's Conclave #6, featuring Professor Andrea taking us on a journey through time and space as we explore her favorite fantasy film, 1981's "Time Bandits" -- otherwise known as "the film that made Terry Gilliam and almost broke George Harrison."   Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio

Guess what? Chicken butt! ...and our hiatus continues. We're re-running the complete set of Conclaves from Season 1, since SOMEONE at Spotify and other podcast aggregators decided to un-list our first season. Here's Conclave #5, wherein Daniel Scribner takes us on a journey through John Carpenter's tribute to both Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft, 1994's "In the Mouth of Madness."    Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio

Yep, we're still on hiatus. Good new stuff is coming, don't worry. Just relax and enjoy the complete run of Conclaves from Season 1, since Spotify and other podcast aggregators haven't been listing our first season. To that end, here's Conclave #4, featuring Alessa Luz Martinez playing André Luc Martinez, when we took a deep dive into the landmark 1956 sci-fi epic, "Forbidden Planet." This film was a major source of inspiration for Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek and launched the hardest-working robot in showbiz, Robby the Robot. This conclave concludes with an interview of a very special guest: Tim Russ, best known for his role as "Tuvok" on Star Trek: Voyager.   Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio

We're still on hiatus, which means we're keeping our promise to re-post the complete run of Conclaves from Season 1, since they haven't been appearing on many major podcast aggregators. Anyhow, here's Conclave #3, where Verifier Andy took us on a deep dive into the 1978 film "The Shout," Jerzy Skolimowski's *exceedingly* British psychosexual drama based on Robert Graves' short story of the same name. We conclude the conclave by interviewing our special guest Alex, a/k/a The Trash Shaman, a real-life student of the occult who has had experience with applying shamanic practices himself, with people escaping cults, and has dealt with charismatic con-men of the type portrayed in the film.   Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio

Continuing our post Season 2 hiatus, we're bringing you our complete run of Conclaves from Season 1, since they don't appear on a lot of major podcast aggregation services. Here's Conclave #2, held to scrutinize the Japanese Punk Zombie film from 2000, "WILD ZERO!"   Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio 

It has been brought to our attention that our *entire* Season 1 run of episodes doesn't appear on a lot of different podcast aggregators. Well! We're going to fix that! Since we're on hiatus after Season 2 (Season 3 is coming, folks, don't worry!), let's get everyone caught up on Season 1, shall we?   Here, for your listenting pleasure, is the Compleat Naked Lunch.    Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio

Ever wonder how we got where we are? Recent events have caused Cinquisitor Ethan to reflect upon how we may have gotten there in a Field Report that examines one of the vilest sources of CINEMANIA yet encountered, Stanley Kubrick's 1972 film "A Clockwork Orange."  Trigger warning: rape, abuse, fascism, psychological manipulation   Written and performed by Ethan Ireland Audio engineering, sound design, and editing by Ethan Ireland Incidental music and sound courtesy of Epidemic Sound Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Tracks used: "Slasher," "Violence," "Safe House"  

Verifier Andy presents a profile on the recently-deceased David Lynch, Hollywood's Avatar of Ambiguity, Master of the Mysterious Metaphor, and Señor of Sinister Symbolism.    Farewell David, we hardly knew ye -- which is exactly the way you wanted it. Written & performed by Andy Slack Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Incidental Music & Sound Effects courtesy of Epidemic Sound Caricature art by andyslackcomics.com

For the conclusion of our Season 2 Lens Friend series, Daniel Scribner sits down with Alessa Luz Martinez to discuss  her pick for Season 2, "Total Recall." These were some of the most popular and highly-rated episodes we've done to date, and Alessa explores her use of the framing story of those episodes as a tool to facilitate her public coming out as trans. Daniel also asks Alessa the same questions we asked one another in Part 1 of Lens Friends, and teases her pick for Season 3.   Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Incidental Music & Sound Courtesy of Epidemic Sound Directed by Daniel Scribner Editing & Sound Design by Ethan Ireland

The members of The Cinemania Society step out of character to do a wrap up of Season 2,  where they talk about the how the podcast has evolved over Season 2 (which was released over 2 full years!), how they've evolved & improved, which movies and episodes from the past season were their favorites, and give the listeners a few teasers about Season 3...   Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Incidental music and sound effects courtesy of Epidemic Sound  

This episode compiles all of our episodes comprising Conclave 16, our final Conclave of Season 2, wherein we analyze Lance Mungia's 1998 post-a'rockalypse move "Six String Samurai."   Sound design by Ethan Ireland Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Incidental music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

Just in time for Christmukkah, we bring you our 2024 Holiday Special! Scrutinizer Zacharia helps us ring in our own pending apocalypse with a Cinemania Field Report on the exceedingly British Christmas / Zombie Apocalpyse mash-up feature from 2017, "Anna and the Apocalypse." And remember! Ask not for whom the Christmas Bell tolls. It tolls for we...   Written by Zacharia Berks and Andy Slack Performed by Zacharia Berks Directed by Daniel Scribner Mixing and Sound Design by Ethan Ireland Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio - Tracks Used: "Wrath" and "Full Metal Jacket" Incidental music and sound effects courtesy of Epidemic Sound   Image used courtesy of Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Image has had text alterations.

In this episode, the Society wraps up its review of 1998's "Six String Samurai" and has its final showdown with Death Themself (tm). Will the Society survive? More importantly, will our sanity and sense of good taste survive? Find out in this, our Season 2 finale... FEATURING SPECIAL GUEST STAR KEITH LOWELL JENSEN   The Cinemania Society will return later in 2025. We will have a few more miscellaneous episodes to wrap things up before the break, and then the occasional tidbit to tide you over until Season 3. Thanks to everyone for the support and for sharing this with friends. And if you haven't shared with your friends, why the hell haven't you already?! We've got over 100 episodes for them, so tie 'em to a chair* and make 'em listen to all!   Sound design by Ethan Ireland Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Incidental music courtesy of Epidemic Sound   *This is a joke, not incitement, please do not actually tie anyone to a chair. At least not without consent. We're not kink-shaming.

Given that two of our recent field reports have remarked upon films from a particular year, Auntie Hope decided to take an extended dive into the year 1979 to present a Cinemania Field Report on what turned out to be a landmark year for CINEMANIA.    This is a work of parody / satire and should not be construed as a statement of fact.   Written by Ethan Ireland, Andy Slack, and Hope Bravo; and performed by Hope Bravo   Music by Meteor at meteormusic.bandcamp.com Tracks used: The Spell, Saints and Demons, Thaumogenesis, Suspended in Time, Smoke Trails, Emptiness   Image used courtesy of Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Image has had text alterations.

Lost within the world's largest smallest model of New York City, the outcasts find themselves on the run from their Final Destination. But not even Death Themself can stop a Conclave once the Clave's gotten Conning! The heretic rogues continue their analysis of Lance Mungia's "Six-String Samurai," a style-over-substance post-a'rockalypse samurai musical from the late '90s, starring Jeffrey Falcon (no, really!) and featuring a soundtrack by Russian Rokenrol group The Red Elvises.    WITH SPECIAL GUEST STAR KEITH LOWELL JENSEN

Verifier Andy, Master Illuminator, presents a Cinemania Field Report examining Disney's 1979 foray into live-action sci-fi horror, "The Black Hole," and his own experience suffering a case of creeping CINEMANIA from (of all sources) a book about this film.   Written and performed by Andy Slack Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio   LEGAL NOTICE: This is a work of satire / parody and statements made herein should not be construed as making allegations or statements of fact.   Cassette tape stock image by WayneStock provided courtesy of WikiMedia Commons and appears under the Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Image has been modified to include text. Deed: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Waynestock_Mixed_Tape_Shirt_Design.png Source site: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Waynestock_Mixed_Tape_Shirt_Design.png    

The remaining survivors exiled from the Strip Mall of the Damned find themselves in the world's smallest largest model of New York City. The place is in ruins, which leads Scrutinizer Zacharia to take the lead by proposing the latest conclave: Lance Mungia's 1998 film "Six-String Samurai," a rockin' and rollin' post-apocalyptic alternate future where a Buddy Holly lookalike strides across the ruins of the Old World seeking to claim the mantle of King. 

Cinquisitor Ethan submits a field report about the 1979 film Lucio Fulci's "Zombie," a/k/a "Zombi 2," a/k/a "Zombie Flesh Eaters." This knock-off-slash-sort-of-sequel to George A. Romero's 1978 film, "Dawn of the Dead," isn't widely known, yet it's highly influential and features some grave sources of CINEMANIA. Listen at your own risk.   Written and performed by Ethan Ireland Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio. Tracks featured: "The Wraith," "Dark Thriller Theme," "Dark Thriller Loop 1," "From the Deep," and "Boarding Nostromo." Extract from "Zombi 2 Theme" by Fabio Frizzi (appearing between 11m56s and 12m48s of this program) is presented here as non-profit /educational "Fair Use," for purposes of criticism / comment as provided under U.S.C. Section 107. LEGAL NOTICE: This is a work of satire / parody and any statements should not be construed as statements or allegations of fact. Cassette tape stock image by Thegreenj provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, and appears here under CC By SA 3.0 "Share Alike" license. This image was modified to remove brand logos and to add text. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Compactcassette.jpg    

The Cinemania Society's 16th Conclave begins with a peek into the deliberations of the Cinemania High Council, who call upon the unthinkable to implement the ultimate sanction...

The Cinemania Society's 2024 Halloween Special is a piece of new fiction by frequent contributor and friend of the pod, Patrick Ireland. In this spooky story, a bibliophile finds herself trapped in a bookstore after hours.    Written by Patrick Ireland Performed by Andrea Palladino Editing & sound design by Alessa Luz Martinez   Opening / closing title music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Track used: "Black Lotus."  

Professor Andrea presents a report from the field about a source of CINEMANIA she recently encountered, Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film "The Birds." Not only can this film cause CINEMANIA in the viewers, but upon viewing, it is obvious the filmmakers themselves suffered its debilitating effects during the course of production.    LEGAL NOTICE: This is a work of satire / parody and should not be construed as making statements of fact.   Written and performed by Andrea Palladino, with additional material by Andy Slack and Ethan Ireland. Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Tracks used: "Patrol Bot," "Alliance," and "Tyrell Corporation."   Cassette tape stock image by Thegreenj provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, and appears here under CC By SA 3.0 "Share Alike" license. This image was modified to remove brand logos and to add text. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Compactcassette.jpg          

As Halloween approaches, The Society re-runs on one of our favorite profiles: one taking a look at the hardest-working automaton in showbiz, Robbie the emmeffin Robot. British Robocop and Kraftwerk's Vacuum Cleaner ain't got nothin on the OG of cinematic androids. Come have a listen.    More original content next week -- and stay tuned for our 2024 Halloween Special on October 30. Episodes of the Season 2 finale begin in November...

Andy Slack presents an original story of his. Among human relationships, relations with neighbors are often overlooked in favor of closer, more "emotionally important" people in our lives. But sometimes those individuals whom blind chance has deemed that we must live beside can open our minds to all sorts of new and different possibilities...   Written and performed by Andy Slack Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Tracks used: "Black Lotus" and "Prey" Incidental music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

Our own Hope Bravo honors the memory the recently-passed Dame Maggie Smith, a woman who had the rarest of talents, enough that she earned of the "Triple Crown" of acting: a Tony, an Emmy, and an Oscar.   Written by Andy Slack Performed by Hope Bravo Editing & Sound Design by Ethan Ireland Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Tracks used: "Millennium" and "Monolith." Caricature art by Andy Slack Comics

Verifier Andy brings us the first in our "In Celebram" series of Profiles in Cinemania, wherein we *urp* celebrate an individual for their contributions, instead of excoriating them for being a cause of CINEMANIA. This episode is about cinematic and television standby, the fan favorite Jeffrey Combs.   DISCLAIMER: This is a work of satire and/or parody, and should not be construed as fact.   Written and performed by Andy Slack Caricature art by Andy Slack Comics Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Tracks used: "The Witness" and "Undercover"

After ordering numerous failed assassination attempts, the Cinemania High Council holds its penultimate meeting to decide the fates of our protagonists...

The man with the most distinctive voice of the past century, an actor of supreme skill and talent, James Earl Jones, has left us. Vale.   The peerless Andy Slack provides you, the listener, with the man's requiem.   Written and performed by Andy Slack Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Tracks used: "Dead or Alive" and "Vintage."

Presented here for your listening convenience is all three parts of Conclave No. 15, wherein the society analyzes the 2010 film "Rubber."

Cinquisitor Ethan explores the trope of depicting exploding heads on screen. Where the hell did this come from, anyhow? Why did it become such a thing? Well, listen to find out...   Written and performed by Ethan Ireland and Daniel Scribner Music by Meteor at meteormusic.bandcamp.com Incidental music by Epidemic Sound   Meteor tracks used: "Manhattan 2019," "The Dark Side of the Sun," "The Streets of Hell," and "Unbreakable."

In our final episode of this conclave, the Cinemania Society is on the run from a pack of biker assassins, and arrives at a roadhouse to conclude its analysis of Quentin Dupieux's 2010 magical realist / neo-impressionist film about a psychic car tire, "Rubber." Pull up a stool, get a beer in your hand, and listen along...

Professor Andrea takes us on a foray into the cinematic genre of Magical Realism, into which fall films such as Amélie, Like Water for Chocolate, and Pan's Labyrinth. What is "magical realism," anyhow? Well, Andrea tells us...   Written & Performed by Andrea Palladino Mixing, Mastering, and Sound Design by Ethan Ireland Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Tracks used: "Atlantis" and "Lavender Haze."

Having evaded a group of biker-assassins by slipping into a seedy motel, the gang gets back on the road to continue their analysis of a film from 2010 about a (no, really) psychic killer tire: "Rubber."   

From Ferris Bueller to Deadpool, it seems that "breaking the fourth wall" has become all the rage these days. In this week's Profile in Cinemania, Verifier Andy digs into the history, breaks down fourth wall breaks, and examines why this trope might be far older than you'd imagine... 

When their stolen Popemobile breaks down, the gang finds themselves lost somewhere in the American Southwest. Naturally, Cinquistor Ethan declares that this is *the* perfect time to hold a Conclave to analyze Quentin Dupieux's surreal offering "Rubber" from 2010...   

The Cinemania Society Presents a story about an elderly hippie who has an otherworldly experience while making some baked goods. The Society takes no responsibility for how its listeners might use the contents of this podcast.   Written by Patrick Ireland, (C) 2024 Performed by Andy Slack Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Incidental music and sound effects courtesy of Epidemic Sound  

In honor of the passing of one of the 20th Century's greatest actresses today, the Cinemania Society is re-running the Profile in Cinemania our own Andrea Palladino produced on Shelley Duvall.

Presented here for listening convenience is the entirety of our Conclave #14 examining the 1999 film "Dogma" by Kevin Smith.  Note for our regular Omnibus episode listeners: there are some bits from the individual shows that end up getting trimmed out so we can get these into a single file. Feel free to go back and see what you've missed.

Profligator Daniel reads from the apocrypha: the Book of the Prophet of New Jersey, Saint Kevin Smith, Patron of Jersey Girl-Rilla Film-Making.   DISCLAIMER: This is a work of satire and/or parody, and should not be construed as fact.   Written by Daniel Scribner Performed by Daniel Scribner and Ethan Ireland Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

Herein Profligator Daniel presents a Profile in Cinemania on one of the most consequential actors of the 20th Century, a man who starred in over 200 film roles and sired a dynasty of actors and producers: Donald Sutherland   LEGAL NOTICE: This is a work of parody and/or satire and should not be construed as a statement of fact.   Written & performed by Daniel Scribner Caricature art by Andy Slack Comics Music by Meteor at meteormusic.bandcamp.com Tracks used: "The World I Left Behind" and "Horizons."

The heretic renegades of The Cinemania Society concludes its conclave on Kevin Smith's 1999 film "Dogma," while dodging the murderous Knights of Continuity. Analysis under fire! 

For this week's Profile, Scrutinizer Zacharia brings us a deep dive into one of the 20th Century's most revolutionary and influential comedians, George Carlin: the man who brought us the "Seven Deadly Words" sketch.   PARENTAL ADVISORY: CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE. LISTENER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. LEGAL ADVISORY: This is protected as a work of satire / parody and should not be construed as a statement of fact.   Caricature art by Andy Slack Comics Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio Tracks used: "Paradigm Shift," "Cold Fire," "Out of Sight," and "Innocence."  

The heretic renegades of the Cinemania Society, shacked up in an abandoned church in New Jersey, continues the conclave analyzing Kevin Smith's 1999 film "Dogma," while Auntie Hope has flashbacks to Catholic School... 

Verifier Andy, Master Illuminator, presents a Profile in Cinemania on one of the most publicly-respected and well spoken-of sources of CINEMANIA, Alan Rickman. Millennials and GenZ knew Rickman best for his role as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies; whereas GenX knew him best for his role as Hans Gruber in 1988's "Die Hard" (and to a somewhat lesser extent, his role as Alexander Dane / Dr. Lazarus in "Galaxy Quest). Rickman was a consummate practitioner of his craft and as word would have it, an all-around decent chap.   Written and performed by Andy Slack Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio (Tracks used: "Diamond Eyes" and "Waiting for Sunset") Caricature art by Andy Slack Comics

The heretic renegades of the Cinemania Society, having escaped maroonment (is that even a word?) on a deserted island Puerto Rico, have finally made their way to a corner of Earth so vile and hated that nobody would want to go, in the desperate hopes that the Cinemassassins on their trail would not dare to follow. As they rest and recuperate in an abandoned church, Auntie Hope, Keeper of the Books Booze, is reminded of her Catholic School education, which reminds her in turn of Kevin Smith's 1999 film "Dogma," and calls a conclave to order.

We celebrate the life and times of Patient Zero for CINEMANIA, the King of Schlock, Roger Corman, a man who shaped the modern cinema landscape far more than anyone would have ever believed. Listen and be astounded.   Written by Ethan Ireland and Andy Slack, and performed by Ethan Ireland Caricature Art by Andy Slack Comics Music by Meteor at meteormusic.bandcamp.com Tracks used: "J-70" and "Richtofen." This work is protected as work of satire and/or parody and should not be construed as fact.

Not long ago was the second death-iversary of the world's greatest irritainer, Gilbert Gottfried. We treat our listeners, new and old, to our Profile in Cinemania on the man. For those fans of Frank Herbert's Dune, this includes Gottfried's rendition of "The Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear," originally commissioned by Cinquisitor Ethan in 2021.  Stay tuned: next Wednesday begins an entirely new run of content...