Devin & James are back in the Den to celebrate the 50th anniversary of some fantastic and influential films coming from Asia in 1975! We start with one of our favorite monsters in the Kaiju classic THE TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA! We then take to the streets with Kinji Kukasaku's brutal yakuza tale COPS VS. THUGS. Then things get more kung fu classical in the origin story of one of cinema's coolest weapons, THE FLYING GUILLOTINE. After that, we hop on THE BULLET TRAIN (No, not the Brad Pitt one....
Aug 26, 2025•2 hr 49 min•Season 6Ep. 71
Devin & James are back, and they're gonna need a bigger podcast. That's why they've brought back special guest CASEY O'CONNOR to discuss the blockbusters and award nominees of 1975! We start with a little film called JAWS, which some of you may have heard of before. We then move on to the Best Picture winner, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, followed by the Kubrick comedy (that's right, I'm calling it a comedy), BARRY LYNDON. We then take a turn toward Altman's NASHVILLE, before ending up in...
Aug 04, 2025•3 hr 20 min
Devin & James are back in the Den with special returning guest star, CASEY O'CONNOR!! We needed an extra hand to take on the first episode of a new ongoing series about the cinema of 1975, with our first deep dive being into all the huge CULT FILMS of '75, celebrating their 50th anniversary this year! We start at the top with the iconic ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. We then take that time warp back to visit MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. Next are a couple of exploitation classics from two gri...
Jul 21, 2025•2 hr 59 min•Season 6Ep. 69
Devin & James are back in the DEN to conclude their discussion about one of the greatest American actors ever to hit the screen, GENE HACKMAN! This time around, we reach into some slightly more obscure territory. We get into his early Western work, in THE HUNTING PARTY and BITE THE BULLET. We also discuss two films he made with a frequent collaborator, Arthur Penn: the underappreciated TARGET and the stone-cold neo-noir masterpiece, NIGHT MOVES. Actress Joanna Cassidy shows up as a match for...
Jun 03, 2025•2 hr 27 min•Season 6Ep. 68
Devin & James are back in the DEN to pay tribute to one of the greatest performers of all time, GENE HACKMAN! Gene Hackman may have retired from acting 20 years before his unfortunate passing earlier this year, but in his five decades of filmmaking, he created a filmography that's impossible to match. In fact, we had to extend this out to two episodes. In this first of two, we discuss some of Hackman's earlier work, such as MAROONED and CISCO PIKE. We get into some of his heavy hitters, like...
Apr 15, 2025•2 hr 27 min•Season 6Ep. 67
Devin & James are back in the Den, and it's full of bats! In this episode, we are covering a very specific type of vampire... OFF-BRAND DRACULAS! These vampires may have castles in Transylvania, look hot in a cape, or have an unnatural interest in foreign real estate, but they all owe their cinematic existence to the literary existence of Bram Stoker's Dracula. We start with NOSFERATU, covering Murnau's 1922 silent classic, through Herzog in 1979, and to Eggers in 2024. We then move on to a ...
Mar 18, 2025•2 hr 30 min•Season 6Ep. 66
Devin & James are back in the Den to bid a final "ciao" to the TOUR OF ITALY series with a look at the violent world of POLIZIOTTESCHI movies! (or Eurocrime, for the pronunciation challenged.) Italy had a special touch with crime thrillers during their politically tumultuous "Years of Lead," and we go over some of the genre's highest points, starting with Enzo G. Castellari's HIGH CRIME (1973), starring Franco Nero, and Franco Nero's mustache. We follow that with Lucio Fulci's only crime fil...
Feb 25, 2025•3 hr 23 min•Season 6Ep. 65
Devin & James are back in the Den with their penultimate visit to Italy! This time we shift from focusing on one genre to examining a type of film that is not uniquely Italian, but they sure put their own style on: THE KNOCK-OFF. Low-budget films ripping off box office hits has always been a popular way for Producers to make a buck. Still, the filmmakers themselves can sometimes bring their own spin to a popular trope or trend and create works that rise above being called simply imitations. ...
Dec 10, 2024•3 hr 2 min•Season 5Ep. 64
Devin & James are back in the Den, and are go for launch! As we return to our Tour of Italy, this time the action will take us right into the stratosphere with ITALIAN SCIENCE FICTION! We start with the doomed visitors to Mario Bava's PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, a still underappreciated film that inspired a generation of Sci-Fi writers and directors. We then swing into more action with the utterly bizarre, early body horror, Antonio Margheriti's WILD, WILD PLANET (it's wild enough to deserve it ...
Nov 22, 2024•2 hr 47 min•Season 5Ep. 63
Devin & James are back, and we've brought fun size candy! We're taking a short detour from our Tour of Italy to celebrate Halloween, and what better way than by running a movie marathon? We take on one of the most unique series in film history: All four of the INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS films! The pod people first invade in 1956, then make an even more gruesome return in 1978, creating two undisputably beloved and influential Sci-Fi Horror classics. Then things stray from the storyline w...
Oct 30, 2024•3 hr 4 min•Season 5Ep. 62
Devin & James are back in the DEN OF CIN, and it's getting a little spooky in here as we continue our TOUR OF ITALY. This time we are taking on SUPERNATURAL HORROR. There were a lot of ghouls, goblins, ghosts, and witches lurking around Italy during their classic horror period, and we get things started with one of the first: Mario Bava's iconic BLACK SABBATH, starring Boris Karloff! We follow that up with the Dario Argento oddity PHENOMENA (known here in the U.S. as CREEPERS, with about 34 ...
Sep 18, 2024•2 hr 55 min•Season 5Ep. 61
Devin & James are back in the saddle for another roundup of Italian flicks. A sampling of the cultiest of all cult genres, the SPAGHETTI WESTERNS! When Clint Eastwood rode through Spain and called it Mexico in 1964's Fistful of Dollars, it started a legit European phenomenon that would produce over 600 titles in barely over ten years! Whereas the American Westerns often whitewashed and mythologized its own westward history, the idea of the good guys always wearing white was losing steam by t...
Aug 20, 2024•2 hr 36 min•Season 5Ep. 60
Devin & James are back in the Den for more Italian scares! This time our focus is on RELIGIOUS HORROR, which has been possessing Italian horror since nearly the beginning of the genre during the sound era. We start with the immortal masterpiece, Mario Bava's BLACK SUNDAY (without which Tim Burton movies would have been very different). We then move on to our first legacy film of the series, DEMONS, the ultimate what-the-fuck popcorn demon movie by Lamberto Bava (Mario's son). Then we swing t...
Aug 06, 2024•2 hr 41 min•Season 5Ep. 59
Devin & James are back in the Den, and this time they brought their leather vests and switchblade boots cause they're ready for the Italian POST-APOCALYPSE. The post-atomic wasteland became all the rage globally after the success of films like Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior and Escape from New York, and clever (and not-so-clever) copycats began to pop up everywhere. But, as usual, the Italian filmmakers did take the proverbial yellowcake. In this episode we focus on Enzo Castellari's 1990: THE ...
Jul 09, 2024•2 hr 43 min•Season 5Ep. 58
Devin and James are back in the Den, and ready to take you on an Italian picnic! (If you can stomach it.) As we continue our sampling of Italian genre films, we finally hit on a few legit Video Nasties with two of the most popular and trigger warning-worthy subgenres, CANNIBALS and ZOMBIES. We start things off with scandal right away in Ruggero Deodato's CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, followed by a visit to Umberto Lenzi's NIGHTMARE CITY (Don't you dare call them zombies!). Then we move from living flesh e...
Jul 01, 2024•2 hr 45 min•Season 5Ep. 57
Devin & James are back in the Den, and the Den is still in Italy! In our second Tour of Italy episode, we are going back to the roots of the Italian genre/cult film era with the SWORD & SANDAL films of the 1950s and 60s, introducing film fans to the hero Hercules for the first time, and giving us our first film of the evening, Mario Bava's colorful HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD. From there, we move to the SWORD & SORCERY era of the 1980's, where we examine some films that owe an awfu...
Jun 05, 2024•2 hr 12 min•Season 5Ep. 53
Devin & James are back in the Den with a new topic! We are taking a TOUR OF ITALY, an 8-episode long series, each featuring a different sub-genre created or perfected by Italian filmmakers. We begin with a journey through the shadowy dream territory of GIALLO films. These films are highly stylized murder mysteries, most with a heaping helping of gore. We offer up a sample of some great specimens, and specifically some of the great directors, in this uniquely Italian movement, with a focus on...
May 20, 2024•2 hr 23 min•Season 5Ep. 55
DO YOU LIKE SCARY MOVIES? Devin & James are back in THE DEN to finish their four-part series on the career of WES CRAVEN! We review the final films we ever got from him as a director, deep dive into CURSED and RED EYE, and top it all off with a discussion on his second major franchise, the SCREAM series. A lot of highs and lows in this period, and we go over a lot of the studio drama that resulted in a couple of these films being far less than what they could have been, but we end on a high ...
May 02, 2024•2 hr 23 min•Season 5Ep. 54
Devin & James are back in the Den with the third in their series on the career of writer/director Wes Craven. This time they turn their focus to the period between Freddy and Ghostface (1985-1995). We discuss all of his theatrical films during this era but put a spotlight on THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW, SHOCKER, and THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS. Not so much "lost" as underappreciated, Craven shows that in many ways he was at a certain creative peak during this time, and being unfairly held up...
Apr 16, 2024•2 hr 1 min•Season 5Ep. 53
Devin & James are back in the Den for the second episode in their series on WES CRAVEN, and this time we are taking on one of the most influential villains of all time... Freddy Krueger from A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. We are focusing on the series installments that Craven participated in, covering the story arc of his ultimate Final Girl, Nancy (played by Heather Langenkamp). We'll dive into the original NIGHTMARE from 1984, as well as 1987's NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS, and 19...
Mar 28, 2024•2 hr 36 min•Season 5Ep. 52
Devin and James are back in the Den with a new topic! This time we'll explore the career of horror pioneer WES CRAVEN! And, of course, we are starting at the beginning with Craven's roughest films, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and THE HILLS HAVE EYES. (TRIGGER WARNING: These films are very graphic.) Then we follow the course of his career into writing/directing one of the first comic book adaptations of the post-Donner's Superman era, DC's SWAMP THING! And this is just the beginning, as we'll have...
Mar 13, 2024•2 hr 46 min•Season 5Ep. 51
Devin & James are back in the DEN OF CIN to wrap up their series on the year in cinema that was 1994. This time we take a more personal approach. Rather than one theme tying them together, Devin & James have each picked 2 movies from 1994 that they want to discuss... just because. James gives us a backstory on why 1994 was such an important year for Hong Kong action movies becoming popular in the United States with Jet Li's FIST OF LEGEND and Jackie Chan's epic DRUNKEN MASTER 2 (aka Lege...
Feb 25, 2024•2 hr 59 min•Season 5Ep. 50
Devin & James are back in the Den of Cin for another installment of our series on the year 1994! And there is no way to discuss this year without bringing up the rising star of Jim Carrey! Not only was he still the hot comic from In Living Color on TV, but he was having one of those "best year ever" scenarios on the silver screen as well, with gigantic hits ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE, THE MASK, and DUMB AND DUMBER. Join us as we dive into these three comedy fan favorites, and to track this r...
Feb 10, 2024•1 hr 38 min•Season 5Ep. 49
Devin & James are back in the Den to take another look at the films of 1994! 1994 gave us some of the most notable contenders for the Oscar race we've ever seen. This week, we take a look specifically at the Best Picture race at the Academy Awards. Forrest Gump took the top award, but we dive into some of the other films that were nominated and didn't take home statues, specifically THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and QUIZ SHOW. What do you think should have taken the top prize in a year like this?...
Jan 26, 2024•1 hr 57 min•Season 5Ep. 48
Devin & James are back with something new for 2024! In our FIRST of FOUR episodes covering the year in cinema that was 1994, we are taking on a handful of the indie films that changed the cinematic world forever: Kevin Smith's CLERKS, Terry Zwigoff's CRUMB, and Quentin Tarantino's PULP FICTION! It's a great way to ring in the new year with some movie gods before they were movie gods.
Jan 14, 2024•2 hr 37 min•Season 5Ep. 47
Happy Halloween and Merry Friday the 13th! To celebrate the rare occasion of double horror holidays this October, Devin & James have invited pal Casey O'Connor back to the show to discuss some of their favorite scary two-fers, three-fers, and... you get the idea. From the classic Universal Monster days, through the slasher and splatstick evolutions of the 80's, and ever after, sequels have always been something of a specialty for the horror genre. In this freewheeling conversation, the guys ...
Oct 13, 2023•2 hr 33 min•Season 4Ep. 46
We're back in the Den of Cin to celebrate the fantastic streak of artistic triumphs of director Hal Ashby in the 1970s! A complicated man with a gentle soul, Hal Ashby has seemed to fall out of the conversation of being one of the most vital filmmakers of all time, based on this run of films alone. Not even most of the modern greats can stake claim to this kind of hot streak. While not always box office hits, every one of the films we discuss here has had an influence on everything that's come s...
Aug 08, 2023•3 hr 9 min•Season 4Ep. 45
Devin and James are back in the Den for another episode! This time we are deep diving into the FRENCH CONNECTION films of the 1970's! We examine whether NYPD detective Popeye Doyle (masterfully played by Gene Hackman) was ever intended to be seen as a hero in the Oscar-winning 1971 original based on the true story of a rough, racist cop's obsession to thwart a French drug kingpin. We also dig into its totally fictional sequel, released in 1975, and discuss whether it's a worthy watch to see Pope...
Jul 18, 2023•2 hr•Season 4Ep. 44
Devin & James are back in the Den of Cin with another action-packed double feature! This time, we are taking on the classic Italian crime films, VIOLENT CITY (1970), starring Charles Bronson & Telly Savalas, and CALIBER 9 (1972), known as one of the greatest crime films ever produced! Both of these films are prime examples of the Italian sub-genre, Poliziotteschi, and we dive a bit into the intense political movements behind these films, as well as what this genre represents to Italian a...
Jun 05, 2023•1 hr 55 min•Season 4Ep. 43
Devin & James are finally back in the DEN OF CIN! We've been gone a while, but we have a great topic being covered in a double-length episode to make it up. A grab bag of movies about KILLER COUPLES! We each picked 5 films about people in love, who just also happen to make people die. From recognized masterpieces like BONNIE & CLYDE, through controversial classics like HEATHERS, and well beyond, we found that this underlooked sub-genre really packs a punch in pop culture! Whether our cou...
Mar 07, 2023•4 hr 11 min•Season 4Ep. 42
