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Guest Co-Hosts: Alex Winter, Jamey Duvall Shocktober 2017 continues with a the 1976 film from Roman Polanski, The Tenant . Adapted from a book by Roland Topor (Fantastic Planet), the film also stars Polanski as Trelkovsky, a man in need of a new apartment. He finds one where the previous occupant has defenestrated herself. After her death, he’s able to move in and finds that his neighbors don’t like him being noisy… in fact, they don’t like him being him at all. Some put this alongside Polanski’s Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby as his “apartment trilogy” in which explores the terrors of urban paranoia. Jamey Duvall of Movie Geeks United! and writer/director/actor Alex Winter join Mike to discuss what many consider to be Polanski’s most personal film.

Special Guests: Gregory W. Mank, Stephen D. Youngkin Guest Co-Host: Samm Deighan Shocktober 2017 kicks off with Karl Freund’s final film as a director and Peter Lorre’s film film in America, Mad Love (1935). Based upon Maurice Renard ‘s The Hands of Orlac, the film shifts focus from the titular Orlac to Dr. Gogol, a cunning physician who specializes in some questionable procedures. He’s fascinated by the actress Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drake) and, rebuffed in his advances, manages to enter her life after he backhandedly helps her husband, concert pianist Stephen Orlac (Colin Clive), by giving him a new pair of hands after his have been crushed in an accident. But what kind of gift are the hands of a murderer on a master musician? Samm Deighan joins Mike to discuss the unusual American debut from Peter Lorre along with special guests Gregory W. Mank (Hollywood Cauldron: Thirteen Horror Films from the Genre’s Golden Age) and Stephen D. Youngkin (The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre). Buy Mad Love on DVD Buy Mad Love on YouTube Buy The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre by Stephen D. Youngkin Buy Hollywood Cauldron: Thirteen Horror Films from the Genre’s Golden Age by Gregory W. Mank Read Filming the “Lucy” show

Guest Co-Hosts: Ben Buckingham, Kat Ellinger We wrap up the first Czechtember series with a film from director Oldrich Lipský, 1966’s Happy End, an experimental comedy (which is as unusual as that sounds) that puts scenes in opposite order and runs motion backward from the death of our main character (Vladimír Menšík) while he gives the voice-over account of life from birth. Of course, this provides us with constant ironic juxtapositions. The film was co-written by Lipský and Milos Macourek, the screenwriter behind some of the best comedies out of Czechoslovakia in the ’60s and ’70s. Kat Ellinger and Ben Buckingham join Mike to discuss Happy End and other favorite Czech comedies. Buy Happy End on DVD-R Buy Lemonade Joe on DVD Buy other Oldrich Lipsky films

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.

Special Guests: Jiri Menzel, Peter Hames Guest Co-Hosts: Jonathan Owen, Samm Deighan We kick off the first annual “Czechtember” with a look at the most-easily accessible films of the Czech New Wave, the charmingly disarming 1966 film Closely Watched Trains (AKA Ostre Sledované Vlaky or Closely Observed Trains). Co-written and directed by Jirí Menzel and based upon Bohumil Hrabal’s novella, the film stars Václav Neckár as Milos Hrma, a young man from a family of eccentrics. Not wanting to work too hard, he gets a job at the local railway station where he’s mentored by the earthly Hubicka (Josef Somr) and Nazi-sympathizer Zednicek (Vlastimil Brodský). Samm Deighan and Jonathan Owen (author of Avant-garde to New Wave: Czechoslovak Cinema, Surrealism and the Sixties) join Mike to discuss Menzel’s subversive film and the way it plays with “sex comedy” themes against the backdrop of Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Links: Buy Closely Watched Trains on DVD Buy Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal Buy Closely Observed Trains (the script)

Special Guests: Justin Bozung, Kate Buford, Preston Neal Jones Guest Co-Hosts: Rob St. Mary, Elric Kane The 1968 film by Frank and Eleanor Perry, The Swimmer (based on the John Cheever short story of the same name), stars Burt Lancaster as Ned Merrill, a Connecticut executive who decides to head back home by swimming through the pools of his neighbors, a “river” which he names “Lucinda” after his wife. Along the way, Ned is met with drinks, laughs, reminders of his affairs that went sour, and maybe even reminders that what he pretends to be may be no more. Elric Kane and co-host emeritus Rob St. Mary join Mike to discuss the trouble production and ground-breaking ideas of The Swimmer. Links: Buy The Swimmer on Blu-Ray Read The Swimmer: A prophetic modernist fable set in a fading Eden by Michael Atkinson Read An Analysis of “The Swimmer” by John Cheever by Rebekah Nydam Watch Man Fed Up with Commute Swims to Work Read The Swimmer by John Cheever

Special Guest: Andrés M. Koppel Guest Co-Hosts: Jamey Duvall, Heather Drain We’re up all night to get lucky as we discuss the 2001 film from director and co-writer Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Intacto which stars Leonardo Sbaraglia as Tomás, a man who survives a plane crash and who may just be the luckiest man in the world. He’s found by Federico (Eusebio Poncela), who introduces him to an underground world where luck is something of a commodity and the man who rules over this kingdom, Samuel Berg (Max von Sydow). Co-hosts Jamey Duvall and Heather Drain discuss the film as well as other related movies like 13, Fearless, and The Cooler. Buy Intacto on DVD Buy The Cooler on DVD Buy Fearless on Blu-Ray Buy 13 Tzameti on DVD Buy 13 on DVD Visit MondoHeather.com Visit MovieGeeksUnited.com Read about The Mist & The Maiden Watch The Mist & The Maiden teaser (with English subtitles)