Christopher Media

The story of Tower Records is one of entrepreneurship. Opening in 1960, the store grew to a six billion dollar company before suddenly crashing and burning in the early 2000s. Was it a victim of digital downloading? Did it grow too big too fast? What did we lose when Tower closed its doors? Those are some of the questions that filmmaker Colin Hanks attempts to answer in the 2015 documentary All Things Must Pass: The Life And Death Of Tower Records.

Shocktober concludes with a look at the 1922 film by director Benjamin Christensen – Häxan, an odd artistic mash-up of what can only be described as a university slide show lecture, a documentary featuring reenactments, and a horror film.

On a special episode of The Projection Booth we look at Amy Berg’s documentary An Open Secret, a hard-hitting expose about the exploitation of children in the entertainment industry

Based on a book by and adapted by Frank De Felitta, The Entity was directed by Sidney J. Furie and stars Barbara Hershey as Carla Moran, a woman haunted by a malevolent spirit that sexually terrorizes her.

Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond stars Catriona MacColl as Liza who opens a hotel built on a hellmouth in Louisiana. This proximity to a center of evil only helps spur some pretty strange occurrences and maybe a few lapses in judgment along the way.

In William Castle’s Homcidal, “Jean Arless” stars as Emily, a murderess who may herself be a victim of abuse. We’re joined by Jeffrey Schwarz, director of Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story, to discuss the film.

Ten Canoes is a story about stories. It tells the multi-layered tale of brothers in an Australian aboriginal tribe. It’s brought to us by director Rolf de Heer and cinematographer Ian Jones, one of several of their collaborations along with actor David Gulpilil.  We’re joined again by Horrible Imaginings festival director Miguel Rodriguez.

Sven-Ole Thorsen has stories to tell. He spoke more with Mike about his work on the Conan films, Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe, Red Heat, and so much more.

When a chauvinist pig (Scott Baker) gets shot for harassing women, he’s reincarnated as a woman (Jane Hamilton) in order to learn a lesson about life. Chuck Vincent’s Cleo/Leo is a terrific look at gender relations and institutional sexism.

The fifth feature Superman film took a dozen years and millions of dollars to come to fruition. Along the way the film was almost made as Superman Lives written by Kevin Smith, Wesley Strick, and Dan Gilroy, directed by Tim Burton and starring Nicolas Cage.  The documentary The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? digs into the production, from conception to the camera almost rolling. It’s a wild tale of creativity, rampant egos, and one of the most eccentric producers Hollywood boasted.  We’re joined by nerdlebrity Chris Cummins along with the producer and director of TDOSLWH, Holly Payne and Jon Schepp.