262 Clash of the Titans (1982)

Matt and Mark get around to cranking out another podcast with our review of Ray Harryhausen's classic stop-motion masterstroke Clash of the Titans. An end of an era, Clash attempts the high concept marketing of Star Wars but using the public domain creatures of Greek Myth. Despite the clunkiness of the composite special effects, Harryhausen brings real menace to the likes of Calibos and Medusa. With the venerable chops of Laurence Olivier and Burgess Meredith, Clash delivers its epic suite of Saturday matinee melodrama. Perhaps not timeless, it is a classic.

Download: 262 Clash of the Titans (1981)

261 Holy Motors

Matt and Mark review the 2012 French film "Holy Motors" this go around. A very Jodorosky-esque film, its filled with cut-up non-sequiturs loosely tied together by a vaguely metaphoric limousine and it's enigmatic passenger. Perhaps too reference heavy for average American Joe, Holy Motors nods to all that is cinema, providing a meta-landscape where its denizens are in fact incarnations of film themselves. Beyond it's context-free acting indulgences, Holy Motors is a striking film to look at and absorb. But if you're looking for anything resembling a plot, move along.

Download: 261 Holy Motors 

260 Phantasm

A flying metal baseball with razor blades, shrunken human undead slaves, a portal to another planet.... all typical horror move tropes, right? While in essence a typical horror flick, complete with your menacing preternatural bad guy, Phantasm throws in some "special sauce" that breaks the mold of your typical archetypes. What Phantasm doesn't show you is almost as brilliant as what it portrays. From it's subtle hints of weirdness, the viewer is left to build out a conspiratorial world of interplanetary servitude. While a little discombobulated, we as the viewer don't seem to mind.

Download:  260 Phantasm

259 Blown Away (1993)

Matt and Mark review a lesser known offering from the 80's child actor duo The Coreys Haim and Feldman. Set to get on our Samurai Cop/The Room bad movie mojo, we find ourselves oddly enjoying 1992's Blown Away. Yes! Nicoel Eggert is naked a lot in the movie, but the plot does keep you kind of guessing and there is a bit of attention getting intrigue. It fails in its ending, but that's a common sin among stronger fair. Mark and Matt admittedly didn't mind this film. It's not bad and watchable. So as sad and tragic as the true life stories of both Fledman and Haim, you have to give them an 'A' for effort here.

Download: 259 Blown Away (1993)

258 The Wolf Man (1941)

Mark is stunned and amazed this week to learn there's an old timey film that Matt actually appreciates and has chosen for the ultimate end to our mini werewolf marathon leading up to Halloween. The best offering of the werewolf films so far, The Wolf Man pipes in the smoke to enhance the gothic atmosphere of this classic tale. Pioneering the silver bullet and full moon tropes of the werewolf, The film deftly handles the the ying-yang schizophrenic themes of the beast man unlike lesser later offerings. Unfortunately, the theme of male stalkers fails to transcend the film's era and the Lon Cheney Jr character, making him more of a menace as a man than perhaps a wolf.

Download: 258 The Wolf Man (1941)

257 The Beast Must Die

The third werewolf film in our three film Halloween run-up. A quirky Hammer-style exploitation schlock-fest, The Beast Must Die starts out with a great "whodunnit" set-up but in Matt's opinion, squanders it with overly long action/chase scenes and hokey non-menacing werewolves. While the acting is solid, and the characters have promise, there is no M.Night twist/suprise after the werewolf-break reveal. Mark liked this movie more than Matt, but all-in-all a German Shepard shot with a night-lens fails to bring out the visceral horror of later special affects offerings.

Download: 257 The Beast Must Die

256 The Howling

Are werewolves just lesser vampires? Is that why there's such a dearth of werewolf fair when compared to the vast catalog of vampire films? Perhaps. While they share many of the same traits, werewolves lack the sexy urbane sophistication of a vampires, because they're basically just ... well... dogs. The Howling from 1981 is a notable film, at least in its modern depiction of the werewolf/wolfman transformation. While out-competed by American Werewolf in London at the time, its blend of camp and horror, combined with eerie tones make it enjoyable. However, due to the previous comments, Matt and Mark are only review three (or so) werewolf movies in our run up to Halloween.

Download: 256 The Howling