Happy hauntings, listeners – it’s Horror Octorbor once again at Alcohollywood! This year, we’re doing something a little different: taking the major Universal monster movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood and comparing them to a modern adaptation/reimagining and seeing how they stack up. We’re starting out this week with everyone’s favorite stitched-up modern Prometheus, Frankenstein – along with guest Nathan of The Right Brain Project, we resurrect both the 1931 James Whale classic (starring Boris Karloff) and the melodramatic, big-budget costume drama Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, directed by and starring Thor’s Kenneth Branagh (and Robert De Niro as the creature)! Take a listen to the episode to find out what we thought, and be sure to make our drink and follow our rules!
This week on Alcohollywood, we're getting groovy with 1968's Dino de Laurentiis-produced Italian spy-sploitation flick Danger: Diabolik! Adapted from the Italian comic, the film sees Barbarella's John Philip Law as a leather-clad super thief with a hot girlfriend/accomplice, spending the movie stealing more and more elaborate goods while being chased by Italian policeman Jenko and gangster Valmont (played by Thunderball's Largo, Adolfo Celi).
The whole thing is delightfully wacky, if a little empty, and Mario Bava's broad, energetic style is quite interesting to behold. Not only that, we get a wonderfully groovy Ennio Morricone score and appropriately lavish production design. This film is the very last one Mystery Science Theater 3000 ever covered, and it's one of the few that is actually not a complete disaster. Check out our thoughts on it, along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules
Eat our shorts, listeners – this week, we’re headed to detention with The Breakfast Club!
One of John Hughes’ most well-known efforts, this adolescent dramedy follows five teen stereotypes (played by Brat Pack regulars Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy) as they while away a Saturday afternoon in detention. While avoiding the bitter Vice Principal Vernon (John Gleeson), they cause trouble, learn more about each other, and mostly just smoke a lot of pot.
Love it or hate it, it’s a seminal film in 1980s pop culture, and we’ve got a cavalcade of guests (previous guests Julia, Grant of Chip & Ironicus and LP13A fame, and Our Fair City’s Kat, along with newbie Alaina) to join us in the discussion. We’ve also got our signature custom cocktail and drinking rules for it, so give us a listen and subscribe
This week on Alcohollywood, we dive headfirst (along with guest Emily) into the madness that is Dr. Seuss’ first and only live-action creative work, The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T! A 1950s mix of musical comedy, Disneyesque whimsy and horrifying Seussian allegory, the film follows young Bart, an unfortunately untalented child who daydreams a nightmarish world run by his tyrannical piano teacher, Dr. Terwilliker. His scheme is to keep his mother captive and schemes to hold a music concert for his 500-kid piano!
It’s only with the help of his all-American wimp father figure Mr. Zabladowski, some insanely Seussian production design, and a thinly veiled A-bomb metaphor that he can free himself from his dream and figure out how to just be a kid. Luckily, we help you navigate this interesting, labyrinthian failure with the help of our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
This week on Alcohollywood, we (along with guest Derek) saddle up for the Hollywood historical western Sunset, starring Bruce Willis and James Garner (and directed by Blake Edwards of Breakfast at Tiffany’s fame)! This half-cocked whodunit sees an older Wyatt Earp (Garner) serving as a technical consultant for an early silent Western starring cocky Tom Mix (Willis), only for the two to get embroiled in a seedy murder mystery at the heart of the Golden Age’s seedy underbelly. Malcolm McDowell also stars as a sneering, Bizarro Charlie Chaplin, and Mariel Hemingway as The Girl of the Movie.
The movie brought in some Razzies when it came out, and it’s easy to see why – it’s a strange, pedestrian mess that is disappointingly toothless and dull. Come on, Blake Edwards, you can do better! Whatever you think of this interesting failure, we’ve got the drink and rules to get you through the film, so be sure to check out our episode below!
This week on Alcohollywood, Our Fair City’s Lise ‘Kat’ Evans joins us as we hitch a ride on a phallic-looking spaceship to watch the 80s camp classic Flash Gordon!
Adapted from the comic strips and film serials of the 1930s and 40s, this Dino De Laurentiis-produced bit of cheese follows intrepid football player/space adventurer Flash Gordon (Sam J. Jones) and his erstwhile girlfriend Dale Arden (Melody Anderson) as they battle the forces of Ming the Merciless (Max Von Sydow) and befriend the Errol Flynn-esque Prince Barin (Timothy Dalton) and blustering hawkman Prince Vultan (BRIAN BLESSED!).
The result is a ridiculous but campy bit of fun that drags a bit, but is nonetheless entertaining – due in no small part to Queen’s rock-infused score we all know and love. Check out our drinking game and custom cocktail below, along with the episode!
This week, we’re kicking it up a notch with the 2005 Thai action flick The Protector (original name: Tom Yum Goong), starring Asian action sensation Tony Jaa! Jaa plays Kham, the last member of a tribe of elephant protectors, who must brave the big city of Sydney, Australia to rescue a pair of elephants that were cruelly stolen from him by the mob that controls an exotic food restaurant named Tom Yum Goong. The plot’s extremely thin and drags on way too long, but the real highlights of the film are Tony Jaa’s intricately choreographed fight scenes – minute after minute of Jaa completely throwing his body into visceral, brilliant fight choreography.
It may be a bit of weirdness sitting through the poorly-written dialogue and paper thin characters to get to them, but boy, are they worth it. Luckily, we’ve got some drinking rules and a custom cocktail to tide you over until the next time Tony Jaa launches himself at someone!
We’ve made it to 100 (official) episodes! First of all, we want to thank each and every one of you for tuning in, giving us feedback, listening to the podcast and telling your friends – we hope for at least another 100 episodes of awesome drinking games and film breakdowns!
This week, we’ve got a special COMMENTARY EPISODE for you – 1962’s Dr. No! In our ongoing quest to cover all the James Bond films, we chose this special episode to give a blow-by-blow commentary for the superspy’s very first outing, starring Sean Connery, Ursula Andress’s seashells, Joseph Wiseman’s half-Asian makeup, and Jack Lord's granny shades. We’ve still got our special cocktail and drinking rules, but this time we’ll be playing right along with you. The film’s on Netflix Streaming, so there’s no problem keeping up with us!
(If you’d like to donate to the show and support the podcast, this special episode is also available for download on Bandcamp for $2. Support from our listeners helps us pay for hosting, equipment, and the like, so if you’d like to buy the episode we’d be really appreciative! All donors will receive a nice, slick eBook version of our first 100 recipes complete with hi-res pictures, so you can make all of our drinks from the comfort of your home. It's a special treat for those of you who wish to support the podcast!)
This week on Alcohollywood, Jared and Clint (with guest Theo) take a peek at the 1985 ensemble board-game comedy Clue!
Decades before Battleship, this board game adaptation sees the classic murder mystery game adapted into an Agatha Christie-esque murder-in-a-house whodunit. Headed by an ensemble of fantastic comedic actors from the 80s (Michael McKean, Christopher Lloyd, Madeline Kahn, Tim Curry, Leslie Ann Warren, Martin Mull and others), Clue is a hilarious and surprisingly bawdy caper with quite a bit of surprising Red Scare subtext.
Join us as we discuss the sexual politics of McCarthy-era America, the alternate names of Clue around the globe, who could have played Miss Scarlet, and what movies we think would be fun with multiple endings. Check out our multiple custom cocktails, tailored for each of the characters, grab your favorite turn-of-the-century weapon, and take a listen!
Happy Shark Week everyone! This week, our chum Derek joins us for the Syfy Original Movie/Asylum creature feature Sharknado, featuring a killer cyclone full of sharks…and little else!
This movie checks off all the boxes on the Asylum checklist:D-list stars/celebrities (Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, John Heard), sketchy/rubbery CGI, a nonsensical script that just exists to deliver the gimmick, and so much more. Luckily, to survive these shark-infested waters, we’ve got a custom cocktail and drinking game rules that will keep us afloat through this whirlwind of awfulness. Check out the podcast and drinking game below!
Holy libation*! This week on Alcohollywood, we set atomic batteries to power and turbines to speed with the 1966 film companion to the camp TV classic, Batman: The Movie!
Join the Caped Crusader (Adam West) and his trusty sidekick Robin (Burt Ward) as they foil a dastardly plot to kidnap the world’s leaders, perpetrated by their combined Rogue’s Gallery of villains! Mark of Blastropodcast joins us as we take a closer look at this bit of 60s silliness, discussing such trenchant topics as the logistics of Batman’s equipment, the selective prosopagnosia of superheroes and supervillains, and the importance of clear labeling when creating world-saving (or ending) gadgets. Along the way, you can cure your dehydration with our Bat-cocktail and Bat-rules!
*I was originally going to go with "Holy spirits!" but I realized that would probably get confusing.
This week on Alcohollywood, we head back into the 90s, land of Weezer, plaid shirts, and ripped jeans as we (along with guest Nick) revisit the 1995 mall comedy Mallrats!
This flawed throwback to hard-R teen sex comedies is the second film from Kevin Smith, and his first (and only) attempt to write and direct a major studio picture. Watching the film, it’s not hard to see why – Smith’s overly verbose dialogue is mumbled out by an ensemble of half-baked ‘90s actors, the director’s limited visual style makes the whole film look ugly, and it’s hard to watch all the comic book/film references that exist for their own sake. (Don’t even get us started on Jay and Silent Bob.)
Nonetheless, we manage to take a good look at this flawed-even-for-Kevin-Smith-standards flick along with our custom cocktail and drinking game. Take a listen!
This week, Nick from Consequence of Sound joins us once again as we check out the 1991 dog-and-kid flick Bingo! When a preternaturally intelligent dog is run off the circus and makes friends with a precocious kid, only to have to chase him from Denver to Green Bay, Wisconsin after the family moves - it's Homeward Bound without the celebrity voices, and with a whole lot of prison shank fights and dog slaughter!
A strange, baffling movie that represents everything weird about kid’s movies from the 90s, Bingo takes place in an oddball world where dogs can track the scent of urine cross-country, the family of a professional football player lives like the Cleavers, and people on both sides of a court case can not only be sent to prison, but to the same prison. It’s a real treat, folks, so strap in and enjoy our review along with our signature cocktail and drinking rules!
Happy birthday, America! It’s Independence Day once more, kids, and to usher in our nation’s birthday, we talk about (and drink to) Air Force One, along with guest Nick (from our NeverEnding Story and Independence Day episodes)!
Wolfgang Petersen’s Die Hard on a Plane follows President James Marshall (Harrison Ford) being the only person who can stop a group of Kazakh hijackers from killing his family and the world in the process. In the meantime, we’re treated to a rollicking ride featuring a great cast (including a scenery-chewing Gary Oldman), great tension and Ford at his square-jawed best. Take in our nation’s holiday in the right way with our custom cocktail and drinking rules below!
This week on Alcohollywood, we’re joined by Nina and Bryan of Broken Brush Entertainment (along with fellow guest Edwina) to take a look at the 1979 sci-fi comedy/thriller Time After Time!
Directed by The Wrath of Khan’s Nicholas Meyer, the film follows famed science fiction author H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) as he chases Jack the Ripper (David Warner) to modern-day 1979 San Francisco. There, the two of them engage in a battle of wits to bring the Ripper to justice, all the while getting a smitten bank teller (Mary Steenburgen)thrown into the mix. The film is equal parts goofy and charming, with great performances by genre stalwarts and a ton of quirky fish-out-of-water comedy. The result is a phenomenally fun film that’s worth checking out.
Take a listen to our thoughts, along with our drinking rules and custom cocktail, below!
This week on Alcohollywood, we honor the greatest playwright in literary history with the Shakespeare themed slasher-comedy Theatre of Blood! This 1973 comedy of terrors features horror icon Vincent Price as crazed Shakespearean actor Edward Lionheart, who (along with daughter Diana Rigg and an army of loyal meths drinkers) unleashes a series of elaborate murders against the group of critics who spurned him for an award.
The result is a fantastically campy, yet effortlessly stylish piece of 70s Gothic horror that’s just ridiculous enough to be fantastic. Lionheart’s traps are equal parts Seven, Saw and Snidely Whiplash, and Price’s performance is a must-watch. Come check it out with our custom cocktail and drinking rules below!
We’re prepping for Man of Steel with Zack Snyder’s previous film, the divisive Sucker Punch! A group of young girls (Emily Browning, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish) try to escape a nightmarish brothel and mental asylum by escaping into their imaginations to fight CGI monsters that… represent patriarchy, I guess?
The film is a highly stylized exercise in half-satire. It feels like Snyder and crew threw every juvenile fetish a Hot Topic customer might want (skimpy schoolgirl outfits, Japanese anime, cyberpunk, WWII Nazi chic) into some concept art and filmed it. Join Clint and Jared (along with guests Julia and returning guest Grant of Chip and Ironicus) as we dissect this fascinating bit of cinema, along with our drinking rules and custom cocktail!
This week on Alcohollywood, Jared and Clint (and returning guest Craig) break down the whys, wheres and whos of John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing!
This gory spin on the 1950s monster movie The Thing from Another World, the film follows a group of Antarctic researchers (including Kurt Russell’s gruff MacReady) as they encounter a creature that can imitate them perfectly and wants to murder them, turning into all manner of grotesque beings along the way. The practical effects by Rob Bottin are incredible, and the uniformly great cast is a wonder to watch – if you haven’t seen it, there’s no excuse: it’s on Netflix. Watch it along with our drinking game and custom cocktail!
(Special thanks to our friend Gavin for tracking down Wilford Brimley and having him record a special message for us.)
This week the two of us round out Mystery Month with Nick of the music blog Consequence of Sound as we roll up for the 1967 TV special Magical Mystery Tour, written/directed by and starring The Beatles! One of the most misguided moves I've ever seen in my life, this day tripper is 52 minutes long, long, long of complete and utter nonsense; I've got a feeling the Fab Four just bedazzled a bus, gave a bunch of extras a ticket to ride and went on the long and winding road hoping the movie would start getting better.
The results are helter-skelter, as the movie goes here, there and everywhere without a paperback writer to help organize the chaos. For the script, they just said to themselves, "Why don't we do it in the road?" You can't do that. It really goes nowhere, man, I should have known better than to watch this film. It's such a rarity I had to find it with a little help from my friends, but we've got help! for you in the form of our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
This week on Alcohollywood’s Mystery Month, we travel back in time to the days before the Hays code for 1933’s horror film Mystery of the Wax Museum!
Intrepid reporter Florence (a speed-talking yet adorable Fay Wray) attempts to work out the secret behind a series of mysterious deaths in New York City. Her journey leads her to the newly opened wax museum led by the ever-so-tragic villain Dr. Ivan Igor (Lionel Atwill), and the thrills keep coming! The last major motion picture filmed in the rare two-strip Technicolor process, the film has a strange quality to it, as the color is effectively painted on artificially, creating a pastel world that only slightly approximates color.
In our review, we chat it up about the film, this process, and our custom cocktail and drinking game rules – check it out!
This week on Alcohollywood, Mystery Month continues with the 1999 superhero comedy Mystery Men!
This campy tale of a group of misfit superheroes who attempt to save Champion City from the evil Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush) is definitely interesting in concept - and helped by a great cast - but the script is incredibly spotty. Director Kinka Usher's schizophrenic direction and the poorly aged music and song choices don't help, but the film manages to find quite a few moments of self aware superhero comedy. However, none of this leads o a film that add up to more than the sum of its parts. Guest Jesse joins us for our review and drinking game, along with a quiz - check it out!
This week, we continue Mystery Month with the 2010 wire-fu historical action flick Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame!
In 7th century China, in the wake of a series of mysterious spontaneous combustions, Detective Dee (Andy Lau) is brought in to stop an assassination attempt of Empress Wu on the eve of her coronation. Director Tsui Hark and fight director Sammo Hung provide some great wire-fu action sequences among the convoluted plot that is typical of these kinds of Chinese epic modern films.
Despite the sometimes-confusing nature of the plot and the dry characters, there’s plenty of great action choreography and some insane images (watch for some deer-on-man kung fu action) to make it worth a watch. It’s available on Netflix, so be sure to watch with our review and drinking game below!
This week on Alcohollywood, we start Mystery Month, where all the movies have ‘mystery’ in the title! Starting off, we talk about 1989’s Jim Jarmusch film Mystery Train, a strange and hip anthology film featuring three stories of people (both native and tourist) navigating Memphis, Tennessee on the same night.
From a disaffected young Japanese couple seeking the home of rock stars, to a lost Italian woman trying to find her way, to a trio of locals out on a night of crime, the movie is an exercise in effortless meanderings. Throughout, Jim Jarmusch’s underplayed style out in full force, along with a great rock 'n roll soundtrack. Musicians like Joe Strummer and Screamin' Jay Hawkins interact with great character actors (Steve Buscemi, Rick Aviles) to create a weird soup of rock history homage and quirky character study. Check out our review and drinking game here!
This week on Alcohollywood, we take on one of David Fincher’s lesser-known films, the 1997 thriller The Game! Uptight investment banker Nicholas Van Orton (a wonderful Michael Douglas) receives a 48th birthday present from his ne’er-do-well brother Conrad (Sean Penn) to participate in a service that turns his life into a thrilling ‘game.’ When the game starts to go too far, Nicholas is forced to fight for his life, while also trying to track down who’s behind these dangerous pranks. The film is wonderfully made, with very strong performances, crisp, slick direction from Fincher, and enough twists and turns to keep you genuinely guessing until the very end. Furthermore, we’ve got our own ‘game’ for you to play to The Game, along with our custom cocktail!
This week on Alcohollywood, we grab our zithers and wander back to post-WWII Vienna for Carol Reed’s noir classic The Third Man! Starring Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles, the film follows writer Holly Martins (Cotten) who works to unravel the mystery behind the assumed death of his friend Harry Lime (Welles), finding romance, mystery and intrigue along the way. The film’s cinematography is second to none, and Anton Karas’ inimitable zither score has become one of the most recognizable pieces of music in cinema history; Welles, Cotten and the rest of the cast are equally superb. If you haven’t seen it, the film is well worth a watch. When you do, be sure to listen to our review and try out our custom cocktail and drinking rules!