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50. [Blank] in Wonderland Movies, feat. Betsy of Your Favorite Monsters

Release Date: 12/09/2024

Episode 57: Environmental Horror Movies, feat. Justin Clark of Slant Magazine

Genre Grinder

YOU DIDN’T CUT YOUR CARBON EMISSIONS AND NOW WE’RE UP TO OUR EYEBALLS IN SMOG MONSTERS, MUTANT ISOPODS, AND VENGEFUL NATURE SPIRITS!! We’ve already covered natural disasters and killer animals on Genre Grinder, but what about some specifically man-made environmental horrors? Well, that’s where Gabe and returning guest Justin Clark come in. After last month’s epic seven-movie podcast, we’re dialing things back to a more manageable three films, all from different countries and different decades. First up is the Toho kaiju classic, Yoshimitsu Banno and Teruyoshi Nakano’s Godzilla...

56. Shaw Bros. Horror Movies, feat. Stefan Hammond, author of Sex & Zen & A Bullet in the Head

Genre Grinder

WRIGGLING WORMS, CRAWLING BUGS, SLITHERING SNAKES, WITCHCRAFT, RITUALS, AND BODILY FLUIDS OF EVERY COLOR IMAGINABLE!! Once upon a time, three brothers named Shaw started a film studio in Hong Kong. That studio grew into a Southeast Asian powerhouse, building its reputation on wuxia, kung fu, period dramas, comedies, and, in the mid ’70s, horror. The special Shaw brand of horror, defined by black magic rituals, wild visuals, and exploitation spectacle was, in part, spearheaded by two filmmakers – Ho Meng-Hua and Kuei Chih-Hung. Join Gabe and special guest host Stefan Hammond,...

55. Oops, I Married a Witch Movies, feat. Luana Saitta of Defend Your Trash Movie

Genre Grinder

HERE COMES THE BRIDE, ALL DRESSED IN …BLACK!?! RIDING A BROOM AND CLUTCHING A CAT?!? It’s intractable imps, saucy sorceresses, and weird women on this episode of Genre Grinder, all falling in love and putting their spell on unsuspecting men. Join Gabe and returning guest Luana Saitta as they look at three entries in the surprisingly prevalent subgenre of movies where men accidentally marry witches or women, who, unbeknownst to their husbands, become witches. This month’s titles include René Clair’s I Married a Witch (1942), based on the novel The Passionate Witch by Thome Smit...

54. The Dangerous True Crime Women of ‘90s Made-for-TV Movies, feat. Kristine Fisher

Genre Grinder

ADULTERY, MANIPULATION, AND MURDER, RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES AND SLATHERED ACROSS YOUR TELEVISION SCREEN!! In the early days of mainstream cable, on the cusp of the Menendez Brothers and O.J. Simpson trials, the big three American networks struck gold with sensationalistic docudramas – several of which were based on the true crimes of notorious women. Join Gabe and returning guest Kristine Fisher as they take a look at three famous crimes and five made-for-TV movies based on them. The films we’re covering this month include Joyce Chopra’s Murder in New Hampshire: The...

53. Canuxploitation Films, feat. Jim Laczkowski of Director’s Club

Genre Grinder

ALRIGHT, YA HOSERS, GRAB YOUR PLAID TRAPPER HAT, YOUR MOOSEHEAD, AND YOUR BIGGEST BOWL OF POUTINE – WE’RE CHECKING OUT SOME CANADIAN HORROR MOVIES! You can’t talk about the greatest horror and exploitation films of the ‘70s and ‘80s without including our neighbors to the North. Canadian horror – or canuxploitation – is a broad subject that covers several subgenres, so Gabe and returning guest Jim Laczkowski have limited their scope to four favorites that don’t include David Cronenberg or Bob Clark: Alan Ormsb & Jeff Gillen’s Deranged (1974), Peter Carter’s...

51.3: The Spaghetti Westerns of 1968, feat. Patrick Ripoll of 96 Greers (3 of 3)

Genre Grinder

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS. A WINDSWEPT FIELD. TWO SUN-BEATEN MEN IN WIDE-BRIMMED HATS. ITCHY TRIGGER FINGERS. THE MUSIC CRESCENDOS. THE FINAL SHOWDOWN. After a short break and some technical difficulties, Gabe and Patrick are back to finish what they started, looking back at 15 spaghetti westerns released in the year 1968. We saved some the greatest movies and the hottest takes for last – Sergio Corbucci’s The Mercenary (Italian: Il mercenario), Enzo G. Castellari’s Kill Them All and Come Back Alone (Italian: Ammazzali tutti e torna solo), Corbucci’s The Great Silence...

52: Anthology Horror, feat. Chloe Waryan (Chloe’s Not Scared)

Genre Grinder

WHAT’S BETTER THAN A SCARY STORY? SEVERAL SCARY STORIES COLLATED INTO A SINGLE MOVIE WITH A SPOOKY WRAPAROUND SEGMENT! Gather ‘round the campfire, boils, ghouls, and non-binary creatures of all ages while we take a look at those little groupings of shorts known as Anthology or Portmanteau Horror. Join Gabe and first time special guest Chloe Warayan () as they take a look at a cavalcade of titles from across the decades – Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, and Robert Hamer’s Dead of Night (1945), Freddie Francis’ Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965), Jeff...

51.2 The Spaghetti Westerns of 1968, feat. Patrick Ripoll of 96 Greers (2 of 3)

Genre Grinder

HOP ALONG, CASSIDY – OR WHATEVER YOUR NAME IS – AND TUCK IN FOR A SECOND HELPING OF PASTA & MEATBALLS WITH A SIDE OF BULLETS & GRIT! Welcome back for part two of Gabe and Patrick’s three-part look back at the Spaghetti Westerns of 1968. This is going to be the longest of the three episodes, because we’re rappin’ about six films – Ferdinando Baldi's Hate Thy Neighbor (Italian: Odia il prossimo tuo), Gianfranco Baldanello's Black Jack, Giulio Petroni's A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof (Italian: ...e per tetto un cielo di stelle), Gianfranco Parolini's If You Meet...

51.1 The Spaghetti Westerns of 1968, feat. Patrick Ripoll of 96 Greers (1 of 3)

Genre Grinder

PREPARE YOUR SIX-GUNS AND YOUR BOLOGNESE AS WE DIG INTO THE TWO-FISTED ITALIAN COWBOY TALES OF THE BIGGEST YEAR IN SPAGHETTI WESTERN HISTORY! Welcome to another multi-part exploration of a single year in genre filmmaking. Join Gabe and returning guest Patrick Ripoll as they follow up their series on the slasher films of 1981, the gialli of 1971, and the giant monster movies of 1957 with a look at the spaghetti westerns of 1968. Gabe, a superfan and massive nerd, narrowed down a list of seventy-seven (that’s 77) films to the 15 he thinks best represent this jam-packed and particularly...

50. [Blank] in Wonderland Movies, feat. Betsy of Your Favorite Monsters

Genre Grinder

COME WITH US AS WE TUMBLE DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE, PASS THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, ENTER THE WARDROBE, AND RIDE A TORNADO TO OZ! It’s time to cover one of my favorite subgenres: movies where people cross over into another world where they learn a lesson and meet a bunch of walking metaphors. This episode’s guest host, Betsy, calls these Portal Fantasies and notes similarities to the popular anime/manga Isekai genre, but I’m afraid that those titles will mess up my search results, so I’m calling them [Blank] in Wonderland Movies. We’re trying to cover some of the rarer...

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COME WITH US AS WE TUMBLE DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE, PASS THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, ENTER THE WARDROBE, AND RIDE A TORNADO TO OZ!

It’s time to cover one of my favorite subgenres: movies where people cross over into another world where they learn a lesson and meet a bunch of walking metaphors. This episode’s guest host, Betsy, calls these Portal Fantasies and notes similarities to the popular anime/manga Isekai genre, but I’m afraid that those titles will mess up my search results, so I’m calling them [Blank] in Wonderland Movies.

We’re trying to cover some of the rarer examples of the genre – specifically Tsui Hark’s Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983), Vladimir Grammatikov’s Mio, Min Mio (aka: Mio in the Land of Faraway, 1987), Hiroyuki Morita’s The Cat Returns (2002), and Gokhan Yorgancigil’s On the Count of Zero (Turkish: Sıfır Dediğimde, 2007) – but we can’t help but also talk about popular classics, like Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Pan’s Labyrinth, Spirited Away, and others.

00:00 – Intro and all the important, great movies we aren’t going to cover

12:29 – Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain

34:04 – Mio, Min Mio

1:07:22 – The Cat Returns

1:29:23 – On the Count of Zero

1:47:55 – Outro and other recommendations

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