Daily Grindhouse Podcast

Heather Drain (@MondoHeather) joins Jon & Freeman to talk about underrated vampire movies! ANKLE BITERS! SUBSPECIES! COUNT YORGA! MARTIN! THE TRANSFIGURATION! THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES! BLADE! THE HUNGER! NEAR DARK! VAMPIRE DOG!    Also: Heather's adventures at pro-wrestling events; everyone's love for Roddy Piper, Christopher Lee, and George Romero; the unsung talents of John Amplas, Robert Quarry, William Smith, and James Lorinz; hopping vampires, DRACULA en español. and Jonny's stunningly off-topic discussion of his highly secret, completely stupid superpower.

Mike, Jon, and Freeman apologize for ghosting on you, our beloved listening audience, for so long, and then return to talking about movies, with a vengeance. Discussed herein: THE FLORIDA PROJECT, TANGERINE, THREE BILLBOARDS, MOLLY'S GAME, LOWLIFE, MOHAWK, THOR: RAGNAROK, ELIMINATORS (1986), and for some reason, THE MANITOU (1977).

Daily Grindhouse assistant editor Mike Vanderbilt is joined by news editor Matt Wedge, contributors Johnny Donaldson and Raul Benitez, Trey Hilburn of iHorror, and Fantastic Fest mainstay, Alyssa Vidales to discuss their favorite films from the first half of this year's Fantastic Fest.

On this episode Freeman and Jon are joined by Danny Bowes (@bybowes on Twitter) to talk about the loss of Sam Shepard, as great an actor as he was a writer. And all three of us saw VALERIAN & THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS this past week, so we get into that whole song & dance too, just to lighten things up.   Please join Daily Grindhouse in remembering our friend Dustin Pace, and please contribute to the GoFundMe for his family if you can.   Links: https://twitter.com/duddyinmotion?lang=en https://www.gofundme.com/dustin-pace-memorial-fund  

This week, Mike invites collaborator (and one of his best friends) Pat O'Sullivan into the basement to explore the soundtrack to Kevin Smith's feature debut, CLERKS. O'Sullivan is an award winning independent filmmaker and musician from Chicago who's films have played TROMADANCE & Chicago's world famous MUSIC BOX THEATER; he also contributes blurbs to horror fansite, BLOODY DISGUSTING.  Released on October 11, 1994, the album features songs from Love Amongst Freaks, Golden Smog, Soul Asylum, Bash & Pop, as well as alternagrunge luminaries, Alice In Chains. The hosts discuss their favorite songs on the record as well as provide historical context for the songs that Miramax chose to include on the collection of tunes.

Mike, Jon, & Freeman share their memories of seeing NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD for the first time. The hosts also discuss the maligned KNIGHTRIDERS and arguably Romero's finest work, DAWN OF THE DEAD.

In the first volume of GRINDHOUSE GROOVES, assistant editor Mike Vanderbilt A.V CLUB news editor Katie Rife take a listen to the RESERVOIR DOGS soundtrack.   Released in 1992, this collection of songs (and excerpts of dialogue) was a touchstone for many a young cinephile. After diving into what was in theaters and on the charts in October of '92, the hosts go track by track, offering fun facts on the tunes as well as some nostalgic waxing on where they were the first time they heard them. They also may or may not have just polished off two bottles of wine.  You can also check Mike and Katie out on their REVENGE OF THE POD PEOPLE podcast, available on iTunes & Stitcher. Please, listen and share the premiere episode of GRINDHOUSE GROOVES! There’s more to come. Contact Mike Vanderbilt at Mavanderbilt@gmail.com if you’re interested in coming on.

Mike, Jon, and Freeman get together for one more job and their joined by demolitions expert Wendi Freeman of Double Page Spread. With the release of BABY DRIVER, the team explores the art of the heist film. Michael Mann's THIEF and HEAT are on the agenda as well as RIFIFI, THE GETAWAY, and THE DOBERMAN GANG. This crack team of master criminals also attempt to answer the question what is the difference between a heist and a caper.

This weekend, Jon, Mike, and Freeman are opening up the beaches and ringing the dinner bell as they discuss the glut of post JAWS ripoffs: JAWSPLOITATION. On the menu tonight are ALLIGATOR, THE CAR, GRIZZLY, UP FROM THE DEPTHS, ORCA, GUMS, and of course...   NIGHTBEAST?   The guys also discuss Edgar Wright's BABY DRIVER and Sophia Coppola's THE BEGUILED as well as the varied career of Clint Eastwood.    

"In this very special Pride Month special, Wendi Freeman hosts a roundtable of some of the LGBT writers at Daily Grindhouse- Jeremy Lowe, Paul Freitag-Frey and Jovy Skol. Together they chat about the importance of gay themes in genre film, such as "Nightmare on Elm St 2", "Hellbent", the controversial "Cruising", and the balance of bare butts to plot. They also tackle why Elvira is a better gay horror icon than the Babadook, horror and the AIDS crisis, and so much more!

The usual suspects have the week off as the “Grindhouse Gals” sound off on DC’s WONDER WOMAN! Wendi Freeman of the Double Page Spread podcast, A.V. Club news editor Katie Rife, and Scream Squad podcast host Jaime Righetti sit in for the guys as they discuss the year’s latest big screen comic book adaption. The trio also dive into female directors in Hollywood, pitch a BLACK BEAUTY/WONDER WOMAN crossover prequel, and touch on the loyalty of the DC fan base.

Jon, Mike, and Freeman tackle a slew of topics including THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, Universal's new "Dark Universe," WONDER WOMAN, and Joel Schumacher's THE LOST BOYS.

Jon, Freeman, and Mike are joined by Daily Grindhouse contributor Anya Novak to discuss the glut of ALIEN ripoffs that flooded theaters post-1979. Anya shares her particular expertise on the Italian ALIEN CONTAMINATION from director Luigi Cozzi as its one of the infamous "video nasties" banned from the U.K. in the early '80s.

This week, Mike, Jon, and Freeman celebrate #MayTheFourth with a look at some of their favorite STAR WARS inspired films, rip-offs, & knock-offs with the arbitrary genre of Lucasploitation. The DAILY GRINDHOUSE team discuss such cult-classics as MESSAGE FROM SPACE, STARCRASH, BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, STARCHASER: THE LEGEND OF ORIN, Disney's THE BLACK HOLE, THE ICE PIRATES, WAR IN SPACE, and of course TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE & MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE.

Jon Abrams and Freeman Williams are joined by Danielle Sinay, granddaughter (or is it great-granddaughter) of Jack Harris, the producer of the original 1958 BLOB as well as the arbitrary genre of BLOBSPLOITATION. 

This week on the Daily Grindhouse Podcast, Jon, Mike & Freeman discuss the controversy surrounding the big-budget remake of 1995's anime classic, GHOST IN THE SHELL. The just released film has come under fire, accused of "white washing" the main character of the original by casting Scarlett Johansson in the part and like everybody else, the Daily Grindhouse team have opinions on this. Is it whitewashing or is it regionalization. Lest you fear that the show has gotten too serious, the boys also dive into 1983's MICROWAVE MASSACRE, MALIBU HIGH, and Macon Blair's directorial debut I DON'T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE as well as MACROSS and Syfy Network's THE EXPANSE.

With KONG: SKULL ISLAND hitting theaters this past weekend, Jon Abrams, Freeman Williams, and Mike Vanderbilt decide to look back at APESPLOITATION in the '70s when a slew of filmmakers attempted to cash in on Dino De Laurentiis' 1976 KING KONG remake starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange. The Grindhouse squad discuss the Korean cheapie A*P*E, The Shaw Brothers MIGHTY PEKING MAN, and KING KUNG FU. In addition to monkey movies, the guys discuss ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM, DANGEROUS MEN, HAP & LEONARD, and Ken Russell's THE DEVILS which made its way to Shudder's streaming service this past week.

The Daily Grindhouse podcast is back! This week, EIC Jon Abrams, Assistant Editor Mike Vanderbilt and contributor Freeman Williams discuss The Wailing, social horror such as GET OUT and TARGETS and slither into the arbitrary genre of Sssnakesploitation. How drunk was Oliver Reed on the set of VENOM? Why was there even a snake in HARD TICKET TO HAWAII? How much did SSSSSS influence Kevin Smith's TUSK? Listen to find out! Don't say it. Hiss it.