Stephen King month concludes with this week’s movie Firestarter!  It’s kind of like if Stephen created the Xmen but instead just gave each character vague powers to suite the plot.

Our story follow Andy McGee, a man who gained psychic powers after a government funded experiment. He can force other people to do or see whatever he wants….and he can control payphones to spit out quarters for some reason. Andy and his wife after leaving the experiment have a child, a little girl named Charlie (A young Drew Barrymore) who is our titular fire starter. As the name would suggest Charlie can start fires with her mind whenever she gets angry or frustrated but she has little control over her powers and the government isn’t too happy about that.

The plot is more or less a game of cat and mouse with Andy and Charlie running from the government agents and a native american assassin name Rainbird  who wants to kill Charlie to absorb her powers in the next life (?)

The movie suffers from the same problem a lot Stephen King movies do with a ton of expositional scenes that don’t really answer the questions you have. However what makes the film so much fun is the last five to ten minutes where Charlie loses all control and just torches the government facility. It really is a thing of beauty complete with Drew Barrymore shooting Hadouken blasts at agents and helicopters.

While I can’t say I whole heartedly suggest you watch the movie in full, give our episode a listen and I’ll include a link to the epic final scene for your viewing pleasure.

powered by podcast garden

Cat’s Eye

This week we continued our month of Stephen King movies with one of his weirder anthology movies: Cat’s Eye. Three short horror(?) vignettes that are all loosely tied together by the worlds best cat actor.

Our first episode is “Quitters Inc” which follows James Woods as a cigarette addict who undergoes a radical new addiction program in hopes of quitting smoking…If only he had read the fine print.

Next up is “The Ledge” where a gambler catches his wife’s lover and puts him through a deadly game, forcing him to walk a ledge stories above the pavement. This story contains the most vicious pigeon you will ever seen as well as the most satisfying pigeon punt.

Last segment is “The General” where our titular cat come’s across a young Drew Barrymore‘s house which just so happens to be infested by a tiny goblin like creature in a jester’s hat. This is the craziest of the segments and involves the cat trying to defend the little girl in a fight to the death with the goblin. It culminates with the cat becoming the world’s cutest DJ and literally shredding the goblin in a fan…It’s quite the scene.

This movie is possibly the most fun we’ve had recently and by far our best cat based banter.  If that’s not enough stick around for one of the catchiest movie theme songs you’ve ever heard.

powered by podcast garden

The Mangler

So there a few constants in the world: Death, Taxes, and that Jonathan and Alex will always disagree on the movies we review….. until today. Today we watched Stephen King’s “The Mangler” and we both agree, this movie is trash.

Robert Englund owns an industrial dry cleaning plant where the town’s elite sacrifice their children to a demon that inhabits the plant’s dry cleaning machine. The machine isn’t picky though and when it’s not being fed virgins it will lash out and workers and anyone foolish enough to put their hands too close to the press (and that’s A LOT of people). Ted Levine plays a detective with a demonologist brother in law that is set to prove the machine is possessed (NOT HAUNTED! There’s a difference!) and stop it’s bloodlust.

So yeah Buffalo Bill is trying to keep Freddy Krueger from murdering virgins…

The movie is pushing towards 2 hours long and is mostly filler. In contrast our episode is only 50 minutes long and includes puns. Make the right decision.

powered by podcast garden

Silver Bullet

If you enjoy bad Gary Busey impressions then this is the episode for you. This week we decided to watch the iconic(?) Stephen King adaptation Silver Bullet in which an evil train…. I mean a local psychopath….. no wait a werewolf attacks a small Maine town.

This movie comes complete with all the Stephen King tropes so PLEASE do not play the Stephen King drinking game while watching because you will most definitely die. Normal tropes aside this movie does include some wonderful scenes including:

  • A motorcycle/ wheelchair hybrid built for a child
  • A werewolf that wields a baseball bat as a weapon on not one but two occasions
  • Gary Busey as an alcoholic uncle (Shocking we know)
  • An awesome shot of a werewolf getting an eye pierced by a firework

This is just the tip of the Stephen King campy iceberg so stick with us the rest of the month as we highlight some of the biggest duds he’s put out over the years

Also please stick around after the episode because we’re premiering a new song by friend of the show Ray Tango titled “Stranger Flings” which we’re sure you’ll enjoy.

powered by podcast garden