Christopher Media

Guest Co-Host: Samm Deighan Czechtember continues with a look at Juraj Herz’s The Cremator (AKA Spalovac mrtvol). Released in 1968, the year of the Prague Spring, the film stars Rudolf Hrusínský as Karl (or Roman) Kopfrkingl, a man dedicated to the idea of liberating the soul from the body through the practice of cremation. Samm Deighan joins Mike to discuss collaborators and the madness that gripped the world in the 1930s and ’40s.

On this special episode, Mike talks with author Patty Farmer about her work including her latest books, Starring the Plaza and Playboy Laughs. Find out more at www.patty-farmer.com.

Special Guest: Peter Hames Guest Co-Hosts: Kat Ellinger, Kevin Heffernan Czechtember continues with a look at Pavel Jurácek’s Case for a Rookie Hangman (AKA Prípad pro zacínajícího kata) from 1970. Very loosely based on the third part of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, the film tells the tale of Lemuel Gulliver (Lubomír Kostelka) in the land of Balnibarbi, a surrealistic landscape where Lemuel has a hard time finding his footing, literally. Kat Ellinger and Kevin Heffernan join Mike to discuss the malleability of Swift’s satire and The Key to Determining Dwarfs, or The Last Travel of Lemuel Gulliver. Links: Buy Case for a Rookie Hangman on DVD Buy Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift Buy The Czechoslovak New Wave by Peter Hames Buy Avant-garde to New Wave: Czechoslovak Cinema, Surrealism and the Sixties by Jonathan Owen

Special Guests: Steven E. de Souza, Kurt Fuller, George Linder, Rob Cohen Guest Co-Hosts: Andrew Nette, Aaron Peterson Set in the distant year of 2017, The Running Man (1987) is set in a dystopian world where reality television rules the airwaves and the most popular show pits criminals against muscle-bound, spandex-clad “stalkers”. Based loosely on a novella by “Richard Bachman” (AKA Stephen King), the film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Ben Richards, a man framed as “The Butcher of Bakersfield” and thrown Running Man game, hosted by Killian (Richard Dawson), and featuring a cadre of killers including Jesse Ventura, Jim Brown, Professor Toru Tanaka, and more. Andrew Nette and Aaron Peterson join Mike to discuss the film, its odd production history, and the resonance to today’s world. We also discuss the work of Robert Sheckley and his influence on “people hunting people” films including The Million Game, The Price of Peril, The Tenth Victim and Freejack.