-- And Now The Podcast Starts!

Lee/Cushing, Howard/Dan #1: The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and sequels

To follow-up on Kirsty and Dan’s episode on Christopher Lee/Peter Cushing films and ahead of next week’s new episode with Howard on Horror Express, here is the first of four re-uploads of previously released Howard/Dan chats on Cushing/Lee films.

This episode was recorded in May 2015, a week after the death of Christopher Lee, so Howard and Dan take a moment to pay tribute to the actor and his legacy. They then go on to discuss the film that first made Lee and Cushing horror stars, and then go on to give an overview of the other six Frankenstein films by Hammer, in a section of the discussion originally released as a separate extra.

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

The Curse of Frankenstein is available on Amazon Prime and is periodically shown on the UK Horror Channel.

Lee and Cushing: An Introductory Chat with Dan and Kirsty

*The Satanic Rites of Dracula* (1973) is the film that inspired Brian Gorman’s artwork for this podcast

Howard and Dan will soon resume their epic quest to document in podcasts every filminc collaboration between actors and sometime horror stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. As a curtain-raiser, Kirsty offered to bring her perspective to the table and accept an introductory exploration of this unique filmography from Dan.

As part of this, Kirsty sampled two particular examples from either end of the Lee/Cushing horror pantheon, The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) – the film which inspired our lovely Brian Gorman podcast artwork – and brings her academic perspective to bear on both films.

Howard and Dan’s original 2015 podcast about The Curse of Frankenstein will be added to this podcast feed soon after this episode is uploaded, and will be followed by other previously-available discussions of Dr Terror’s House of Horrors (1965), Scream and Scream Again (1970) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) before our upload of a brand new Howard/Dan Lee/Cushing episode, on Horror Express (1972), next week.

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

Film Reviews: Grimmfest 2019

Hear Stella and Dan’s post-festival chat about five films they saw at Manchester Grimmfest last October: Tone Deaf, Why Don’t You Just Die!, Artik, Extra Ordinary and The Shed.

There’s also a 2020-recorded wraparound with Kirsty and Dan which, let’s be honest, goes off topic a little as they talk extensively about Alex Garland’s TV series Devs and upcoming productions based on Clarice Starling and The Sandman. (We must apologise to the director and sometime-producer of TV’s Hannibal, David Slade, as at one point Dan calls him ‘David Spade’, confusing him with a largely-forgotten Saturday Night Live comedian.)

Visit the Grimmfest website or watch Grimmfest TV on YouTube

Missed Classics: Suspiria (1977)

“The only thing more terrifying than the last twelve minutes of Suspiria… are the first ninety-two.”

In the first of our occasional strand of ‘Missed Classics’ – episodes focusing on a milestone work of horror cinema or TV that one or more of the hosts has just never got around to watching – we are devoting an episode to discussing Dario Argento’s seminal 1977 Italian shocker, Suspiria.

Dan had never seen the film before watching it for this podcast, but Kirsty and Stella, with their academic background, are more familiar with it. The three spend the bulk of the episode discussing Suspiria’s unique stylisation, its story and themes and its place within the horror genre.

It’s also Stella’s first time ‘live’ on the podcast, interacting directly with Kirsty and Dan, so the trio take a few minutes to compare their horror favourites, as well as pick a few recommendations of quality horror currently available to stream in the UK.

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

Halloween Retrospective #3: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

A special, extra-long, extra-in-depth podcast about the reviled non-sequel turned cult classic, which we’ve been working on for some time.

As part of their series of discussions about every single film in the Halloween franchise in 2018, Howard and Dan recorded a chat with returning Halloween review guests, Steve Timms and Spider-Dan, and you can hear that in this episode. But also in 2018, uber-Halloween III fan Dave Moore held a fan screening of the film in Bury, Lancashire, UK. Dan was present to talk to Dave about his love for the film and his merchandise collection, and to talk with a group of fans after the screening about their reactions to seeing the film again on the big screen, and this episode presents those discussions too.

Plus, the show is bookended by a new 2020 chat between Kirsty and Dan, picking out some horror recommendations from UK TV and streaming services, and shining a light on a remarkable new short ‘lockdown horror’ film, currently available to watch for free online, from director Rob Savage.

If you go to our home on YouTube, the Ambidextrous Solutions Limited channel, you can see a short video showing highlights from the screening discussion and from Dave’s Halloween III collection.

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

Halloween Retrospective #2: Halloween II (1981) and the ’80s Slasher Boom

The Nightmare Isn’t Over!

Following yesterday’s upload of our previously-released discussion on 1978’s Halloween, and ahead of tomorrow’s brand new special on 1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch, it made sense to add our show on 1981’s Halloween II to our new podcast feed. The discussion was previously released on YouTube in 2018.

For this chat, which also takes in a broad discussion of the vast genre of slasher films that came into being following the success of Halloween, regular presenters Howard and Dan are joined by actor Rob Stuart-Hudson and, returning from the previous episode, Spider-Dan, of the Spider-Dan and the Secret Bores podcast.

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

Halloween Retrospective #1: Halloween (1978)

Fans and historians of the slasher genre, don’t miss this!

Contents:

00.00 Intro with Dan

03.10 Halloween discussion with Howard, Dan and Spider-Dan

In 2018, accompanied by a number of special guests, Howard and Dan recorded podcast discussions of every single film in the long-running Halloween franchise, but only the first two were actually made public (they’re on our YouTube channel).

Soon all of the remaining discussions will be released as on this podcast feed, so for completion’s sake, it seemed sensible that the YouTube episodes be included too. And so, here is the first.

To discuss director John Carpenter’s 1978 classic Halloween, Howard and Dan are joined by writer/artist Steve Timms and the ‘ever-Amazing, ever-Spectacular’ Spider-Dan (presenter of the comic book podcast Spider-Dan and the Secret Bores). The four of them enjoyed talking at great length and detail about a film close to all of their hearts (this podcast is, after all, significantly longer than the film it’s about). We hope you enjoy it too.

All soundtrack clips from the film are used for the purposes of criticism, in the spirit of Fair Dealing (UK law) and Fair Use (US law). No copyright infringement is intended.

Introducing The Podcast

Welcome to our show!

This is the first ever episode of –And Now The Podcast Starts! And it’s not quite the first episode that we planned.

Kirsty, Stella, Howard and Dan had always hoped that they would all feature together in the first episode of the show, but the UK-wide (indeed, virtually planet-wide) lockdown caused by COVID-19 virus has made that impossible. But luckily, the team have been recording eclectic material for months which means that Kirsty and Dan can be your hosts to introduce the concept of the podcast and play some clips from previously recorded material featuring Stella and Howard, so that you can get to know everybody.

Featuring a discussion between Kirsty and Dan introducing the podcast; then a chat between Stella and Dan about the best short horror films seen at Grimmfest, Manchester’s premiere genre film festival, in 2019; and finally a recording of the first live presentation by The Lee/Cushing Podcast, in which Howard, Dan and a live audience at Stage Fright, the Salford horror theatre festival, discuss Dracula AD 1972.

Brian Gorman’s wonderful painting of Dracula AD 1972 lead characters Count Dracula (Christopher Lee) and Lorrimer Van Helsing (Peter Cushing)

Contents:

0.00 Intro with Kirsty and Dan

32.17 Grimmfest shorts with Stella and Dan

58.00 Lee/Cushing: Dracula AD 1972 with Howard and Dan

Relevant links:

Grimmfest TV on YouTube, where you can watch the short films Bedtime Story and Stop.

The Grimmfest website

Director Rob Savage’s short ‘lockdown’ horror film as posted on Twitter

The Van Helsing Mysteries on YouTube (featuring music and clips from Dracula AD 1972)