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Missed Classics? #12: Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) with Neil Young

Exorcist II: The Heretic has been called “the worst film ever made” (by Mark Kermode) and has attracted derision ever since its release in 1977, not least by the makers of the original The Exorcist (1973). Our Ian, who worships The Exorcist, has always avoided it. But esteemed critic Neil Young, our special guest on this episode, insists The Heretic is a more interesting film than its progenitor. Listen as Neil explains while he feels this way, Ian and Stella react to The Heretic for the first time, and Dan tries to chart the middle ground!

(Regular listeners will be aware that our schedule is still up the spout. This episode has leapfrogged the promised episode on Quatermass [1979] with Simon Clark, ostensibly to coincide with the cinema release of The Exorcist: Believer, but then we missed the date anyway – and don’t mention the new film here cos this episode was recorded months ago. Our podcast schedule is going to remain random for a while, unfortunately, due to Dan’s complicated life.)

Relevant links

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) is available for rental streaming via YouTube and Amazon

The bonkers trailer is also on YouTube

Read more of Neil Young’s film criticism at his website

Todd McCarthy’s Film Comment article about the film is available to students and academics with a JSTOR subscription here.

Follow us on Mastodon and Twitter (yes, we’re still calling it Twitter – everyone is except Elon Musk) @AndNowPodcast, Instagram (and Threads) and_now_the_podcast_starts.

All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK law) and Fair Use (US law). No copyright infringement intended.

Simon Clark on the Quatermass scripts

We return to an unplanned irregular release schedule (Dan explains all on the pod) with the first in a series of long-envisioned specials in which horror maestro Simon Clark explains to Dan why the scripts of Nigel Kneale’s 1950s trilogy of TV terror about Professor Bernard Quatermass are such an inspirational read. 2023 is the 70th anniversary of the transmission of the first serial, The Quatermass Experiment, and a very special live reading of the original scripts is to be performed for one night only at Alexandra Palace on Saturday 9th September.

The existing episodes of The Quatermass Experiment (1953) are on YouTube.

James Swanton discusses The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) on The Evolution of Horror podcast

Missed Classics #10: Addams Family Values (1993)

At Stella’s urging, Dan has finally checked out the ghoulish comedy sequel, Addams Family Values, and it’s fair to say he loves it. Hear them rhapsodise, with spoilers throughout. It’s the second Missed Classic in a row in which the team are called to praise Carol Kane (the previous one being When A Stranger Calls), but Dan feels bad that they never mention Jimmy Workman, who’s stuck in the least interesting Addams role of Pugsley, but gives a perfect performance.

Relevant Links

Addams Family Values (and 1991’s The Addams Family) are streaming via Paramount+ and can be rented from YouTube and Amazon in the UK

Wednesday is streaming via Netflix

Follow us on Mastodon and Twitter (or ‘X’, or whatever the hell it now is) @AndNowPodcast, Instagram (and Threads) and_now_the_podcast_starts.

All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK law) and Fair Use (US law). No copyright infringement intended.

Scream VI (2023)

Welcome to our hot-take review of a movie that was released six months ago (and a discussion recorded four months ago)… In what will hopefully become an annual tradition, Stella and Dan get to talk about the new Scream movie. Just in case you still haven’t seen it, the discussion is divided into spoiler-free and spoiler-filled sections.

00.00.00 Intro and our adventures getting into cinema screenings

00.19.06 Scream VI review – non spoiler

00.43.22 Spoilers ahoy!

Missed Classics #10: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

A long while after our last Missed Classic on When A Stranger Calls (1979), Ian Winterton confronts another feted movie he has heretofore avoided, 1984’s iconic Wes Craven slasher, A Nightmare on Elm Street. Dan joins him for the discussion and there are spoilers from the start.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984 version) is available to rent on Amazon.

Since this chat was recorded, RedLetterMedia‘s two-part Re:View video on the Elm Street series has sadly become unavailable.

Follow us on Mastodon and Twitter (or ‘X’, or whatever the hell it now is) @AndNowPodcast, Instagram (and Threads) and_now_the_podcast_starts.

All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK law) and Fair Use (US law). No copyright infringement intended.

Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass (2021)

WARNING – SPOILERS FOR MIDNIGHT MASS ARE COMING IN THE VERY NEXT PARAGRAPH – AND THIS IS ONE (HUGELY RECOMMENDED) SERIES THAT’S BEST ENJOYED ENTIRELY UNSPOILED!

Or, “Vampire In A Cardigan”.

Kirsty, Stella, Ian and Dan are reunited to discuss a real masterpiece of recent years, Mike Flanagan’s seven-part Netflix drama, Midnight Mass. We’ve already discussed Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House and Doctor Sleep on the podcast; hear how this measures up.

Midnight Mass is streaming via Netflix

Also check out:

Collider‘s interview with Mike Flanagan

The Leading Podcast‘s interview with Hillary Clinton

Visit out website, andnowpodcast.com, and follow us on Mastodon and Twitter @AndNowPodcast, Instagram (and Threads) and_now_the_podcast_starts.

All music and trailer clips are used in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK law) and Fair Use (US law). No copyright infringement intended.

Omen Trilogy Retrospective #1: The Omen (1976)

“It’s a bit like The Beatles…”

Returning after a long delay, Dan, Stella, Ian and (in a surprise telephone cameo) Howard commence their latest series with a discussion of 1976’s The Omen, the first in a series of retrospectives on The Omen Trilogy, inspired by the fact that all three films (plus the 2006 remake of the original) are now on Disney+. (However, Omen IV: The Awakening, 1991’s forgotten TV movie continuation, is nowhere to be seen, and won’t be discussed.)

Go to Disney+ to watch the 1976 film and the remake, both discussed here.

To watch’s Dan’s short film Terror of the Many-Coloured Slinky (2003), go here.

Like that film (and, indeed, The Omen), this episode is absolutely lathered in the gorgeous musical score of composer Jerry Goldsmith, conducted by Lionel Newman, just for fun. No copyright infringement is intended, of course.

Kirsty will be back in our next episode, which will focus on Mike Barker’s Midnight Mass.

Revisitations #11: The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920)

Cesare (Conrad Veidt) carrries Jane (Lil Dagover) across the town’s rooftops in the chase sequence

Kirsty wanted to talk about one of her true loves, Robert Wiene’s 1920 Expressionist masterpiece, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, and Dan was only too happy to indulge. Although he drew the line at pronouncing the film’s German title (‘Das Cabinet des Dr Caligari’) because he was chicken about pronouncing two syllables wrong.

The restored Blu-Ray version of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari to which Dan and Kirsty frequently refer is this release.

Kirsty’s essay about Caligari and Hannbal is here.

Revisitations #10: Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-jrhxx-1395322

We’re fishing some unreleased content from the vault this week, to present a 2021 discussion between Stella, Ian and Dan about Rosemary’s Baby, Roman Polanski’s still-powerful 1968 tale of inner-city Satanism, from the novel by Ira Levin.

We discuss how the film draws satirical parallels between fears of Satanism and anti-Semitism, how its meaning has changed for us since we first watched it 20-some years ago, and a little about the stigma of its criminally-convicted director. (Unfortunately the recording was interrupted at this point – that’s why we never released it before – but for a discussion between Dan and Ian about problematic creators, listen to our episode on Alien Resurrection.)

Warning: spoilers from the start, so if you’ve never seen the film, make sure you watch it before listening to this.

Rosemary’s Baby is available for rental streaming via YouTube and Amazon.

All soundtrack and music clips are used for the purposes of criticism under Fair Use (US law) and Fair Dealing (UK law). No copyright infringement intended.

Visit our website, andnowpodcast.com

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022): the Academy’s Favourite Cult Film

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-vg6xs-137437f

Not horror, but in many ways horror-adjacent, 2022’s extremely quirky sci-fi comedy-drama Everything Everywhere All At Once was announced this week to be the unlikely recipient of 11 Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Lead Actress, Best Supporting Actress (twice), Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Score, Best Song, Best Film Editing and Best Costume Design. Kirsty and Dan wanted to talk about it. And they don’t mention Short Round once. Although I just did, typing this.

Links

Everything Everywhere All At Once is available for rental streaming on YouTube and is free with Amazon Prime

The video essay Kirsty references is The Terror of Everything Everywhere All At Once

The Daniels’ podcast interview is with Scriptnotes on Spotify

Visit our website, www.andnowpodcast.com