Flickers from the Cave
104 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 9 ratingscult cinema, horror film, genre film, horror cinema, genre cinema, cult film, cult movies, horror movies, genre movies, podcast, blog, b movies
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Episodes
Episode 186 - Joe Mama
March 07, 2021 15:22We look at two films that feature the martial arts legend Joe Lewis this time on the podcast. We were not familiar with him but he popped up on our radar and seemed perfect for the show. We start off with his debut starring role in 1979's "Jaguar Lives" which also features a sizeable cast of legendary actors. It's a fun combination of martial arts and James Bond, with globe-trotting, intrigue and an inscrutable plot. We follow that up with 1981's "Force Five" from show-favorite director Robe...
Episode 185 - Sexually Transmitted Demons
February 21, 2021 16:54We recorded this episode on Valentine's Day, with love and romance filling our hearts and minds as we looked at two disparate films where sex and demons are connected. We start off with the light hearted goofiness of 1987's "My Demon Lover" where a woman in New York City is struggling to find the right man until she meets a weirdo who's possessed with a demon that presents itself any time he becomes sexually aroused. It's dumb, but fun, and completely forgettable. We follow that up with a mo...
Episode 184 - Assemble the Cave
February 06, 2021 17:13We turn our attention back to one of our favorite genres, the big dumb action-movie! We talk about two obscure flicks from the 80s that have had a bit of a renaissance lately. We start off with 1982's "Kill Squad" where a team of martial artists team up to find out who attacked their leader. It's fantastic low-budget fun. We follow that up with "Action USA" from 1989 which recently got a blu-ray release from Vinegar Syndrome. It's surprisingly coherent and has a great cast of favorite faces...
Episode 183 - Rage in the Cave
January 24, 2021 14:27Welcome to 2021! We kick off the new year with a look at a dark side of human behavior...road rage! First up is 2004's "Highwaymen", from the director of the 80's classic "The Hitcher" Robert Harmon. Starring Jim Caviezel and Rhona Mitra, it's a big, noisy action movie, that tells a story of revenge between two men who have fast, dangerous cars. There is smashing, crashing, flipping and exploding action throughout and it's a fun bit of escapist entertainment. We follow that with 2020's "Unhi...
Episode 182 - Rikki Tikki Davi
December 26, 2020 20:57We wrap up this shitty year with two VERY entertaining action films from the 90's that both feature the always-fun Robert Davi and also have plots that remind us VERY much of our favorite Christmas movie...a little flick called "Die Hard". We start off with "The Taking of Beverly Hills" from 1991, directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Ken Wahl and Matt Frewer, with several good people in supporting roles. The plot revolves around a group of disgruntled cops who fake a chemical spill in Be...
Episode 181 - Jiu Shitsu
December 16, 2020 23:57We had REALLY high hopes for our two movies this time on the podcast, but to say that they both weren't winners would be a HUGE understatement. Both films are directed by Dimitri Logothetis and feature enormous dudes beating the crap out of each other. We start off with 2018's "Kickboxer: Retaliation" which continues the story that started with Jean-Claude Van Damme's hit film from 1989. VanDamme even reprises his role and serves as a mentor to the film's lead, played by Alain Moussi. It tel...
Episode 180 - What in the Sam Hill?
November 29, 2020 18:45This time, in the cave, we take a look at two films from VERY manly men. We start off with 1972's "The Getaway" from iconic director Sam Peckinpah. It stars another icon, Steve McQueen as an ex-con who gets back into a life of crime, only to have everything go wrong and he's left trying to get away from everyone who's out to get him. The movie was written by show-favorite Walter Hill, who also wrote AND directed our second film, 1978's "The Driver". It stars Ryan O'Neal as an unnamed wheelma...
Episode 179 - Flickered Not Stirred
November 15, 2020 15:43On October 31st, we were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of the legendary actor Sean Connery. He was someone that was held in high esteem by all of us in the cave. We decided to do a special show in his honor so we did a bit of a search for some less popular starring vehicles to look at for the podcast. We start off with 1966's "A Fine Madness", from director Irvin Kershner, which intends to be a comedy but unfortunately fell VERY flat for us. It DOES have a great supporting cast, and...
Episode 178 - Flickers from Witch Mountain
November 01, 2020 21:01It's another sausage party on the podcast as we look at two Disney movies from our childhoods that meant a lot to us. Featuring psychic power, gangs of children, flying saucers and more than a few screen legends, these two films left very large marks in our young, malleable brains! We start off with 1975's "Escape to Witch Mountain" where the villains are played by Donald Pleasance and Ray Milland! We follow that up with 1978's "Return from Witch Mountain" where the bad guys are Christopher ...
Episode 177 - What Scares You - Volume 3
October 18, 2020 14:33We continue our Halloween tradition of looking at films that hit our personal phobias...this time, it's the idea of "eye trauma". We start off with 1975's appropriately titled "Eyeball" from Italian director Umberto Lenzi. A fairly boilerplate giallo with a gloved killer and tons of misdirects, but it is fun and moves along quickly. It also features a number of off-camera eye gouging incidents that makes it a fairly decent choice for this theme. We follow that up with an absolute masterpiece...
Episode 176 - He's No Hack...Man!
September 29, 2020 22:30We've all missed Gene Hackman since he stopped acting with 2004's Welcome to Mooseport. On this episode of the podcast we look at two of his films from the early 70's and then proceed to dissect them bit by bit. Starting off, we look at 1971's The Hunting Party with a brutal game of cat and mouse between the impossibly rich Hackman and the scoundrel Oliver Reed who has inadvertently kidnapped Hackman's wife, played by Candice Bergen. The relationships and situations in the film are ALL prob...
Episode 175 - Fill in the Blanks
September 07, 2020 19:21The cave is filled, once again, with the furious sounds of martial arts as we are joined by Eli to look at two movies from the 1990s that star Mr. Tae bo himself, Billy Blanks! We start off with 1993's "TC 2000" where Blanks plays part of a "Tracker-Communicator" team in a dystopian future where the elite live underground in secure facilities, while the surface of the earth is populated with roving groups of ne'er-do-wells who are constantly trying to break in. It has shades of Robocop and i...
Episode 174 - Flickers Ahoy
August 26, 2020 23:20We go deep on this episode of the podcast and get soaked in the process. We start off with 1998's "Deep Rising" from director Stephen Sommers, which stars Treat Williams and several other notable big-name Hollywood stars in a tale of a heist gone horribly wrong. It takes place on an ocean liner that meets up with a horrific beastie from the depths with teeth in places you don't expect. It is a big, noisy, dumb movie that is also a total blast to watch. We follow that up with an entirely diffe...
Episode 173 - Soldier On
August 12, 2020 02:03We fight our way back into the 90's action-movie world for this episode of the podcast. Starting off, we look at "Universal Soldier" from 1992. Directed by the typically lousy Roland Emmerich, it stars two genre favorites, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. It tells the story of a group of resurrected soldiers, equipped with high-tech equipment who fix problems that seem to have no possible solution until one of them goes rogue and must be taken out. It's a decent movie, but 100% by-th...
Episode 172 - Hammer Time
July 19, 2020 22:07Fred "The Hammer" Williamson starred in some great films throughout his still-continuing career. We look at a great one, and a...not so great one. We start with a film from 1983 that goes by a handful of names, but we watched it as "The New Gladiators". Directed by show-favorite Lucio Fulci, it is a clunky, goofy, slow-moving slog that is representative of Fulci's worst films. We survived it just to get to our second film, the excellent "Hell Up in Harlem" which was released in 1973. It is f...
Episode 171 - Pixels and Panties
July 04, 2020 17:52We were longing for simpler times, when all you needed to be happy were video games, psychic powers and a few garter belts. We start off with 1983's Joysticks from maestro Greydon Clark. It is enjoyable if you think of it as a parody of the teen-sex-comedy genre, but extremely rough-going if you watch it as a regular movie. We follow that up with the "star"-packed 1982 movie Zapped, with Willie Aames and Scott Baio caught up in basically a Disney movie with boobs...it is not good, but it real...
Episode 170 - Tommy Guns and Roses
June 22, 2020 22:26We finally got the whole gang back together again for a long, drunken, food-filled episode, with a truly apocalyptic amount of rambling. We look at two movies that explore the life of notorious bank robber John Dillinger. First up is 1973's Dillinger, from maverick writer/director John Milius, with Warren Oates playing the titular character. It is a rough and rowdy tale of criminals and the big strong lawmen who are chasing them down. It's violent, and full of that signature Milius dialogue. ...
Episode 169 - Stoned Wheelers
June 08, 2020 16:00We have gotten the gang back together...sort of...for this episode of the podcast. In what can only be described as "The best we can do at the moment" we present a hodge-podge of recordings and a metric ton of rambling as we look at two classic motorcycle movies of the 70s. Thanks to a great recommendation from Craig, we were turned on to the 1974 Australian classic "Stone" which none of us had heard of before. It completely deserves it's legendary status and kicked ass in every way possible....
Episode 168 - Flickers from the Block
May 16, 2020 19:40We're back with another two-seater Covid19 special from the cave, looking at two films with similar storylines but VERY different tones. We start off with 1985's Tenement from director Roberta Findlay. It is a super low budget, exploitation movie that takes place mostly in and around a tenement building in the South Bronx. There are some very rough moments in the movie, and they pack a punch, even with some of the less than perfect acting and very basic special effects. It is a grimy, mean-sp...
Episode 167 - Rothrocking
April 18, 2020 18:04During this global downtime, we wanted to harken back to a simpler period, when all we needed was a little kicking and punching to make us feel better. One of the biggest female martial artists back in the day was Cynthia Rothrock, and we look at two of her films for this show. Mike is struggling with scheduling during the pandemic, so we brought Eli back for a repeat engagement to help us come to grips with the movies. We start off with 1993's Undefeatable, from legendary director Godfrey Ho...
Episode 166 - Robocop-y
March 22, 2020 15:31With all the craziness in the world, we have another two-headed episode for you...this time with Julie and Marty looking at some movies that are ALMOST Robocop. We watch the excellent "The Vindicator" from 1986 ( released BEFORE Robocop ) and "The Demolitionist" from 1995. We both agree that The Vindicator is excellent, from director Jean-Claude Lord, with a great suit-design from Stan Winston Studios. It does a lot with a small budget and is filled with great ideas. The Demolitionist, though...
Episode 165 - White Line Ballin'
March 14, 2020 20:20Truckers were HUGE when Mike and Marty were growing up. They were featured on TV shows, on songs on the radio and were big business on the movie screen. We've been dying to cover this topic and finally got around to it on this show. Unfortunately, Julie was tied up and could join us, but she'll be back soon. We start off with 1978's High Ballin' which stars Jerry Reed and Peter Fonda as two long-time friends facing off against a band of hijackers who are attacking truckers and stealing their ...
Episode 164 - Flickers De Breen
February 29, 2020 20:48Surely no one can argue that some movies are better than others...does it not logically follow that there must be one movie somewhere that is objectively the worst one ever made? Tastes being what they are, it's really not possible to make that overall judgement, but we dare anyone to challenge the statement that we cover two of the very worst ones on this episode of the podcast. Joined in the cave by friend-of-the-show Eli ( click on his name to see some of his truly awesome work ), we look ...
Episode 163 - Slashers and Stalkers and Flickers...Oh My
February 15, 2020 15:45It is time to go back to the 80's AGAIN for more of that good, crunchy, slashery goodness. We start off with 1981's Happy Birthday to Me, with a stellar cast, a big-deal director and SFX from a legendary artist. We follow that with 1982's The House on Sorority Row, from director Mark Rosman. Packed with nubile co-eds, and a series of mysteries killings, it was a real surprise. Listen in to the podcast to find out what we thought of each and to hear what we've all been up to. Let us know what ...
Episode 162 - The Angel Angle
January 31, 2020 00:33High school honor student by day...and Hollywood hooker by night! This phrase is the central conceit of three films from the 1980s. Starting off with the very successful "Angel" from 1984, writer director Robert Vincent O'Neil created a rose-colored view of the life of a VERY young girl in Hollywood, California who had to turn to street-walking to pay the bills after her mother abandons her. We meet a wonderful cast of misfits who share the nighttime streets with her and also a sinister kille...
Episode 161 - Band Together
January 11, 2020 17:26It was Julie's turn to pick this time and she set her sites squarely on director Charles Band! We watched two great movies from him, starting off with 1984's Trancers, starring Tim Thomerson and Helen Hunt. Borrowing heavily from a variety of sources, this is an ambitious and largely successful story that combines time travel, mind control, humor and even a little romance. This is good, entertaining stuff. We follow that up with 1990's Crash and Burn, which wants you to believe it's a story a...
Episode 160 - The Mankiwian Candidate
December 14, 2019 17:35We head far far away to the land of middle earth for this episode, with two movies chosen by Mike. We start off with 1981's Strange Behavior, from director Michael Laughlin. Filmed in Auckland NZ, it is set in Illinois, with a mostly American cast. It tells the story of a university that is doing experiments on people to enhance their mental abilities, but which actually makes them exhibit the titular strange behavior. Some of that behavior even stretches into MURDER...the strangest behavior ...
Episode 159 - Toys Are Not for Mr Soames
November 30, 2019 01:21We entered into this show without the guidance of Julie...and we felt her absence...but we persevered and made it through the fire of two VERY problematic and interesting films. We start off with 1970's "The Mind of Mr. Soames" with a great lead performance from Terrence Stamp and directed with flair by Alan Cooke. Based on a novel of the same name, it tells the story of a 30 year old man who's been in a coma since birth who is awoken after a surgery is performed. We then follow the titular c...
Episode 158 - Mo Meta Mo Betta
November 16, 2019 14:45Julie picked some interesting and obscure films for the podcast this time. We start off with 1988's Destroyer with the late, football superstar Lyle Alzado playing a terrible criminal who is executed for his long list of crimes, but who may not actually be dead. The cast has some other familiar faces from the 80s in it, even Norman Bates himself, Anthony Perkins, who is clearly having a great time hamming it up. We follow that up with 1990's Invasion Force, from low budget powerhouse David A....
Episode 157 - What Scares You - Volume 2
October 30, 2019 21:56We return to our Halloween theme of "what scares you", this time focusing on Mike's fear of his home being invaded. We look at two movies that are similar on the surface, but very different once you dig into them. First up is 2008's "The Strangers", directed by Bryan Bertino and starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman. They play a couple that has VERY bad things happen "because they were home". We follow that up with one of our very favorite movies, 2011's "You're Next", from director Adam Wing...
Episode 156 - Down the Hatch
October 19, 2019 14:02We're back after an extended break while Julie is moving to her new digs. This time we look at two movies starring the late, great Richard Hatch. These are maybe not the two best movies to examine though if you want to prove that he truly was "great". We start off with 1983's Prisoners of the Lost Universe, which is staggeringly inept on many levels but still fun in a RiffTrax kind of way. We follow that up with 1985's Heated Vengeance, which was directed by Edward D. Murphy who had previousl...
Episode 155 - Orphans and Eye Trauma
September 21, 2019 16:34From out of the blue, came TWO movies that star Vic Tayback AND Gloria Grahame, so we had to feature them on the podcast this time. We start off with 1976's Mansion of the Doomed, which stars Richard Basehart as a CRAZY eye surgeon who's lovely young daughter has gone blind following a car accident. He makes it his mission to restore her sight, no matter how high the karmic debt is. It is dark and twisted and exceedingly grim...we loved it! We follow that up with 1971's Blood and Lace, which ...
Episode 154 - Land Choppers
September 08, 2019 15:47Two cinematic EPICS! are showing in the cave this time, as selected by our stalwart member, Julie. We start off with 1989's Chopper Chicks in Zombietown, which has a cast filled with familiar faces. There was some disagreement in the cave about just how good this one was, but there was NO disagreement about film number two, 1991's Stone Cold, starting the Boz himself, Brian Bosworth. Directed by former stunt coordinator Craig R. Baxley, this one is 100% 80's action at it's cheesiest and most...
Episode 153 - Flickers from the Thunderdome
August 24, 2019 23:42Last episode we spontaneously decided to come up with a bunch of top 5 lists, so we did, and on this episode we whip-em out and compare'em...Tune in to find out what we each put on our own lists and hear how bummed we were to have to leave certain awesome movies off our lists and how some of us completely forgot the entire catalogs of some of our favorite filmmakers due to utter dumbness. Please send us your lists, and let us know your thoughts by writing to [email protected] or flickers...
Episode 152 - Shake and Bake
August 17, 2019 18:58It seems fitting that the show where we focus on two of the most famous disaster epics from the 70s, would be the show where we experience disasters in the production. Our entire first section, where we spoke in depth about 1974's Earthquake, was TOTALLY lost due to a recording issue, so we recorded a doubled-up section where we tried to cover that film as well as 1974's The Towering Inferno...that recording only lasted about 30 minutes before it ALSO screwed up when the machine we were recor...
Episode 151 - Flickers S Cavingham
July 18, 2019 23:59We chose two movies from Mr. Sean S. Cunnigham for this episode, starting with 1982's A Stranger is Watching, from best selling author Mary Higgins Clark. Starring the late Rip Torn as a truly despicable monster who rapes and murders a woman in front of her young daughter at the very beginning of the film...this one is ROUGH! Though effectively tense, it felt slightly overlong, but it's impressive on many levels, most notably is Rip Torn's performance. Worth your time, but be warned that he i...
Episode 150 - Hip-Mo-Tized!
July 05, 2019 18:16The movies this time were picked by Julie and both feature stories where reality becomes unreliable. We start off with 1981's Looker from writer-director Michael Crichton and starring the fantastic Albert Finney. It is a great sci-fi story that looks at a world where advertisers strive to present perfect images to help them sell products, and they use computers and doctored images to fool the populace...what a weird and highly unlikely situation THAT is. We follow that up with 1994's Brains...
Episode 149 - Beep Beep Zip Tang!
June 08, 2019 14:56We LOVE the original Cannonball Run movie from Hal Needham, so when we found these two movies that came out in 1976 ( 5 years BEFORE Cannonball Run ) that tell similar, fictionalized tales of the true story that inspired that later film...we had to cover them on the podcast! We start of with Cannonball from show-favorite Paul Bartel, with a great cast of regulars from the Roger Corman camp that focuses on David Carradine as Cannonball Buckman, who's trying to get from California to New York ...
Episode 148 - Glick In House
May 11, 2019 18:37We return to one of our favorites this time as we look at two films from director James Glickenhaus. We start off with the Jackie Chan vehicle The Protector from 1985. It co-stars Danny Aiello and casts Jackie as super-cop Billy Wong, a New York city cop with connections in Hong Kong. It is a crazy international story that has Chan and Aiello punching and shooting in a variety of exotic locales as they try to stop a sinister crime lord and rescue a socialite he had kidnapped. It has moments o...
Episode 147 - Hit the Highway
April 27, 2019 18:29Julie ( with an assist from Eli ) suggested two great movies this time, where the characters take to the roadways in pursuit of love and happiness. Along the way they face darkly weird challenges and tests...do they succeed? We'll never tell, but we WILL tell you that you should track down both of these excellent flicks and put them into your eye holes. We start off with 1991's Highway to Hell, from director Ate de Jong, which stars Chad Lowe and Kristy Swanson, with tons of surprise guests. ...
Episode 146 - Canadian Cave
April 14, 2019 15:40We head north this time for two really great Canadian slashers. We start off with Bob Clark's legendary Black Christmas from 1974 which is considered by many to be one of the proto-slashers that established many of the things we would come to expect from the genre. It has a great cast, and a tightly told story and is packed with genuinely creepy and dark moments. It truly deserves it's classic status. We follow that up with the notorious My Bloody Valentine from 1981. We had only seen a heav...
Episode 145 - Thunder Crap
March 30, 2019 18:18Thanks to Eli for pointing us in the direction of a series of films that had somehow flow under our collective radars...we are focusing on the "Thunder Warrior" series, starring Trash himself, mister Mark Gregory! Borrowing liberally from movies like Billy Jack, First Blood, Cool Hand Luke, and lots of others, the "plots" focus on lead-character "Thunder" who is a descendant from a great warrior chief who is trying to right various wrongs for his tribe and for himself. He runs up against ton...
Episode 144 - When Subs Fly
March 16, 2019 18:04Back to Japan for this episode! We look at two movies from the father of Godzilla, Mr. Ishiro Honda, starting off with 1963's Atragon which tells a complicated story of toxic masculinity and intrigue. Featuring a miraculous flying sub that is sent to defend the earth from a lost undersea kingdom that has it's eyes set on conquering the world! It is delightfully cheesy and full of signature Tsuburaya effects. We follow that up with 1969's Latitude Zero, which raises the bar in every conceivabl...
Episode 143 - Night of the Flickers
February 23, 2019 22:10We got really lucky once again as we feature two extremely enjoyable movies in the cave this time. We start off with the thoroughly delightful 1984 movie "Night of the Comet" which is a charming spin on the post-apocalyptic genre, with two teeenage sisters in southern California finding themselves two of few survivors after a mysterious comet passes close to earth and starts all sorts of trouble. This is a lightweight, fluffy little movie with some surprising twists and turns and a satisfying...
Episode 142 - Phantom of the Angry Inch
February 13, 2019 00:59Settle in for some seriously good stuff this time in the cave...we are going to rock out with some visionary, risky, brave and thoroughly entertaining films. We start off with 1974's The Phantom of the Paradise from legendary filmmaker Brian DePalma, which takes several sources and mixes them together with the music ( and solid acting ) of Paul Williams, to create a truly incredible combination. It is partly the story of Faust with some Dorian Gray and a whole lot of the Phantom of the Opera...
Episode 141 - Never Too Young to Flicker
February 02, 2019 16:05It was the best of caves, it was the worst of caves...this is truly the tale of two movies. We start off with a hollow thud by focusing on 1987's Deadly Illusion, a film written and partly-directed by show-favorite Larry Cohen. It stars Lando Calrissian...I mean Billy Dee Williams, as Detective Hamburger ( please no jokes about the name ) and Vanity as his stalwart girl-friday. We also get Morgan Fairchild in a sort of dual role ( sort of ) and a brief glimpse of Joe Spinell. This is a wanna...
Episode 140 - Ninjas are Mammals
January 19, 2019 01:55We decided to come racing into the new year, kicking and punching and shooting. Welcome to the wild and dangerous world of the legendary ninja! We start off with 1985's Nine Deaths of the Ninja, which stars Sho Kosugi as a member of an anti-terrorist force who hates watermelons but loves kittens. His team is sent up against an evil group that includes Colonel Honeyhump and the father of the lead-singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers...it's as weird, and wonderful as you are thinking it is. We...
Episode 139 - Christmas in the Cave
December 21, 2018 22:58Ho Ho No!!! It's that time of year again, so we have strung tinsel and lights all over the cave. Listen in as we raise a glass of nog and crunch roasted chestnuts as we discuss two twisted tales about that little old elf known as Santa Claus. We start off with 1984's "Don't Open Till Christmas", from the team that brought us the movie Pieces, this yule log barely floats, but does feature a surprisingly high kill-count and a decidedly family-unfriendly amount of nudity. The film had a trouble...
Episode 138 - Mermaids and Murderers
December 10, 2018 02:23We focus on noted genre filmmaker, Curtis Harrington on the podcast this time. We start off with his first feature, 1961's Night Tide, starring a very young Dennis Hopper as a young sailor that falls in love with a mysterious woman who seems to leave a trail of bodies in her wake. We follow that up with 1973's The Killing Kind which features a bravura performance by John Savage as Terry, the son of legendary actress Ann Southern. Terry is finally out of prison for a horrific crime, and is fin...
Episode 137 - Cult Potential
November 10, 2018 01:17With Julie gone this time, on assignment for "Action News from the Cave", we went for some older, weirder, more obscure selections for the podcast this time. Both films are focused on cults, but there's not a single blue oyster anywhere to be found. We start off with 1972's Enter the Devil, from director Frank Q. Dobbs. It is set in south-western US border town where strange lights and the sound of chanting are disturbing the locals. So they call in an expert who's studying strange cults to g...