Christopher Media

Special Guest: Stephen D. Youngkin Guest Co-Hosts: Maitland McDonagh, Samm Deighan Directed by Boris Ingster with a screenplay by Frank Partos , Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) defines the stylistic conventions that would come to be known as film noir. The movie stars John McGuire as a hot shot reporter and Margaret Tallichet as his best gal (who eventually becomes the protagonist). He’s framed for a murder committed by the man only known as “The Stranger” (Peter Lorre). Maitland McDonagh and Samm Deighan join Mike to discuss this first entry in the film noir pantheon as well as what it helped spawn. Author Stephen D. Youngkin joins the program to talk about the captivating Peter Lorre. Links: Buy Stranger on the Third Floor on DVD Buy The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre by Stephen D. Youngkin Buy books from Maitland McDonagh Hear more from Samm Deighan on the Daughters of Darkness podcast Visit the Diabolique Magazine website

Guest Co-Hosts: Maitland McDonagh, Christa Faust Difficult to find on home video for many years, Jack Bernhard’s Decoy (1946) stands as a highly off-beat film noir in which Margot Shelby (Jean Gillie) plays the consummate femme fatale with designs on the $400,000 her lover, Frankie (Robert Armstrong), has hidden. She needs to break him out of jail in order to get her hands on the money and does so by allowing him to be executed, only to bring him back from the dead… Writers Christa Faust and Maitland McDonagh join Mike to discuss this usual film. Links: Buy Decoy on DVD (Film Noir Set) Buy Decoy on DVD (Double Feature) Read a great article about Decoy Buy Maitland McDonagh’s books Visit the official Christa Faust website

The Frontier (2015) is a retro neo-noir in which Laine (Jocelin Donahue), a woman on the run, finds her way to a diner/hotel where the owner, Luanne (Kelly Lynch) hosts an amalgam of shady characters.

Film archivist Jared Case joins Mike to speak to director Oren Shai and co-writer Webb Wilcoxen about this new film.

One of the most delightfully unusual movies of the decade, Jim Hosking‘s The Greasy Strangler (2016) is the tale of Big Ronnie (Michael St. Michaels) and Big Brayden (Sky Elobar), a father and son with a tense and greasy relationship. Trouble starts when Janet ( Elizabeth De Razzo), a disco tourist, enters the picture…

Skizz Cyzyk joins Mike to talk about this hilarious film.

David Lynch‘s Mulholland Drive (2001) lived a double life as a television pilot and feature film. A neo-noir that plays with themes of identity, roleplaying, and obsession, the film stars Naomi Watts as innocent ingénue Betty Elms and Laura Elena Harring as Rita, a woman with a past hidden from herself.

Mike talks to Patrick Fischler and Laura Harring about their roles in Mulholland Drive (and a lot more). Professor Erik Marshall and author Jedidiah Ayres help elucidate the mystery of Mulholland Drive.

In Coke Sams‘s Existo (1999), the Moral Majority runs the U.S. while artists like Existo (Bruce Arntson) and Maxine (Jackie Welch) hide out in The Sewer, an underground club run by Colette Watchuwill (Gailard Sartain).

Brought to us by some of the folks behind the Ernest films, Bruce Arntson, Coke Sams, and J. Clarke Gallivan, Existo is a hyperbolic, hysterical musical that is perfect viewing for this election cycle.

Skizz Cyzyk and Scott Calonico join Mike to discuss Existo as well as the Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney) phenomenon.

Special Guests: Bruce McDonald, Tony Burgess Guest Co-Host: Maurice Bursztynski Mrs. French’s cat is missing. In a rather different take on the typical zombie story, Bruce McDonald’s Pontypool (2008) has the English language as the infectious agent which drives people mad. Written by Tony Burgess (and based on his novel, Pontypool Changes Everything), the film stars Stephen McHattie as Grant Mazzy, a shock jock from the big city now working in backwater Ontario with his audio engineer Laurel-Ann (Georgina Reilly) and producer Syndey Briar (Lisa Houle). Mike discusses Pontypool with See Hear’s Maurice Bursztynski. Buy Pontypool on DVD Buy Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess Buy the audio version of Pontypool Changes Everything Listen to the CBC Radio Play Visit the official Claude Foisy website Visit the official Bruce McDonald website Follow Tony Burgess on Twitter Follow Bruce McDonald on Twitter Listen to Maurice’s band, the Ice Haloes Listen to the I’m In Love With That Song podcast