Genre Grinder Gabe Powers

DON A BIG, BLINKY SCI-FI HELMET, DIVE INTO THE NEAREST SENSORY DEPRIVATION TANK, AND GIRD YOURSELF FOR A TRIPLE-FEATURE EXPERIENCE THAT WILL BEND THE MIND AND REALITY WITH IT!
 
What if you could change your physical form with the power of your mind? What if you knew a guy that could alter reality with his dreams? What if you could record your life and death to a virtual reality cassette tape? Worry not, dear friends, because, this month, Gabe and returning guest Jim Laczkowski of the Director’s Club Podcast watched three movies that will answer these and many more questions – Ken Russell’s Altered States (1980), David Loxton & Fred Barzy’s Lathe of Heaven (1980), and Douglas Trumbull’s Brainstorm (1983). Then Gabe found a cool sounding phrase to describe the whole thing: Existential State Manipulation. It only ended up applying to two of the movies, but just go with it, alright? Cool.
 
00:00 – Intro
06:32 – Altered States
43:03 – Lathe of Heaven
1:12:52 – Brainstorm
1:41:07 – Outro
 
Please consider donating to the following charities/fundraisers if you have any spare cash:
Equality Texas (trans youth resources): https://www.equalitytexas.org/
North Texas Giving Day Trans Kids and Families: https://www.northtexasgivingday.org/transkidsandfamiliesoftexas
Alight (Afghan refugee fund for the MPLS/SP area): https://wearealight1857.ac-page.com/alight-welcome-home-landing-pg
International Rescue Committee Ukraine Crisis Action: https://www.rescue.org/article/ukraine-russia-crisis-what-happening

SURE, YOU’VE SEEN THE SHINING AND PET SEMATARY, BUT HAVE YOU SEEN ANY OF THE DOLLAR BABIES? THAT FAMOUS FAILED BROADWAY SHOW? THAT MOTION COMIC SPONSORED BY A MOBILE COMPANY? 
 
It would be futile to think anyone would come to us at Genre Grinder for a Stephen King episode, especially considering how many fantastic podcasts are already devoted exclusively to the author’s work, but what about those oddball adaptations that didn’t get an international theatrical release? Join Gabe and returning guest Betsy Jorgensen of Your Favorite Monsters podcast as they take a look at four truly unique King adaptations, including John Woodward’s Disciples of the Crow (one of the earliest of King’s Dollar Babies, 1985), Michael Gore/Dean Pitchford’s Carrie: The Musical (or at least a combination of filmed versions), a 25-episode motion comic micro-series based on Stephen King’s N. (2008), and Anurag Kashyap’s surrealistic, Bollywood black comedy No Smoking (2007).
 
00:00 – Intro
06:31 – Disciples of the Crow (and other Dollar Babies)
30:27 – Carrie: The Musical
1:12:05 – Stephen King’s N.
1:33:31 – No Smoking
1:53:09 – Outro
 
Check out Shawn S. Lealos' book Dollar Deal: The Stephen King Dollar Baby Filmmakers.
 
Please consider donating to the following charities/fundraisers if you have any spare cash:
Equality Texas (trans youth resources): https://www.equalitytexas.org/
Alight (Afghan refugee fund for the MPLS/SP area): https://wearealight1857.ac-page.com/alight-welcome-home-landing-pg
International Rescue Committee Ukraine Crisis Action: https://www.rescue.org/article/ukraine-russia-crisis-what-happening

COME WITH US AS WE CONTINUE OUR CROSS-COUNTRY TREK THROUGH THE DARKEST BOULEVARDS AND ALLEYWAYS OF THE ‘ME DECADE’ UNDERGROUND!
 
After Night of the Living Dead (1968) and before the slasher boom of the early ‘80s, American horror went through one of its most creative and influential eras. But, for every Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Carrie (1976), and Halloween (1978), there were dozens of under-the-radar oddities that took years – sometimes decades – to be recognized by cult audiences for their unique contributions to American horror. Join Gabe and special guest Bill Ackerman of the Supporting Characters podcast and numerous Blu-ray commentary tracks as they explore another collection of independent horror films from the period, including George A. Romero’s Season of the Witch (aka: Jack’s Wife and Hungry Wives, 1973), Gloria Katz & Willard Huyck’s Messiah of Evil (1973), Bob Clark’s Deathdream (aka: Dead of Night, 1972), Matt Cimber’s The Witch Who Came from the Sea (1976), Martin Goldman’s Dark August (1976), and S.F. Brownrigg’s Keep My Grave Open (1976). 
 
00:00 – Intro
00:53 – Season of the Witch (and other George Romero movies)
16:08 – Messiah of Evil
31:59 – Deathdream (and other Bob Clark & Alan Ormsby movies)
49:10 – The Witch Who Came from the Sea
1:06:40 – Dark August
1:23:13 – Keep My Grave Open (and other S.F. Brownrigg movies)
1:35:07 – Outro
 
Please consider donating to the following charities/fundraisers if you have any spare cash:
Minnesota Freedom Fund: https://mnfreedomfund.org/bailbond-referral
Sanctuary Supply Depot Minneapolis: https://linktr.ee/sanctuarysupplydepot
Alight (Afghan refugee fund for the MPLS/SP area): https://wearealight1857.ac-page.com/alight-welcome-home-landing-pg
Documenting MN (Black youth community-led journalism internship program): https://linktr.ee/DocumentingMN

WELCOME TO THE END OF THE SUMMER OF LOVE AND THE BEGINNING OF A COUNTERCULTURE DEATHTRIP THAT WILL SCARE YOU TO DEATH!
 
After Night of the Living Dead (1968) and before the slasher boom of the early ‘80s, American horror went through one of its most creative and influential eras. But, for every Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Carrie (1976), and Halloween (1978), there were dozens of under-the-radar oddities that took years – sometimes decades – to be recognized by cult audiences for their unique contributions to American horror. Join Gabe and special guest Bill Ackerman of the Supporting Characters podcast and numerous Blu-ray commentary tracks as they explore a collection of independent horror films from the era, including John Hayes’ Dream No Evil (1970), John Hancock’s Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971), Alan Rudolph’s Premonition (1972), Robert Altman’s Images (1972), and Richard Blackburn’s Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural (1973). Stay tuned for Part 2 next month.
 
00:00 – Intro
11:15 – Dream No Evil
25:17 – Let’s Scare Jessica to Death
43:45 – Premonition
55:36 – Images
1:11:51 – Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural
Outro song – “Let’s Scare Jessica to Death” by Left Hand Black: ​​https://lefthandblack1.bandcamp.com/track/lets-scare-jessica-to-death
 
Please consider donating to the following charities/fundraisers if you have any spare cash:
Abortion Access Fund, Inc: https://abortionaccessfund.org/
Solidarity Fund for striking Apple and Netflix employees: https://coworkerfund.org/contribute/
ACER: African Career, Education, and Resources, Inc. (nonprofit support for African immigrant communities in Minneapolis suburbs): https://acerinc.org/
National Center for Transgender Equality: https://transequality.org/

LEAVE THE SPOOKY SIDE OF DEATH BEHIND THIS MONTH AND JOIN US ON A JOURNEY INTO THE ROMANCE, COMEDY, AND BUREAUCRACY OF THE AFTERLIFE.
 
We’ll get back to scary things next month, because this month is all about the wholesome possibilities of death stories. Gabe and returning guest Tyler Foster explore a surprisingly prevalent subgenre of romantic comedies concerning the processes of the afterlife. Avoiding movies that focused too much on haunting or possession, we still ended up with a list of seven movies that share a curious number of concepts and tropes in common – Alexander Hall’s Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), Victor Fleming’s A Guy Named Joe (1943), Vincente Minnelli’s Cabin in the Sky (1943), Ernst Lubitsch’s Heaven Can Wait (1943), Powell & Pressburger’s A Matter of Life and Death (aka: Stairway to Heaven, 1946), Warren Beatty & Buck Henry’s Here Comes Mr. Jordan remake, Heaven Can Wait (not otherwise related to the Lubitsch movie, 1978), and Albert Brooks’ Defending Your Life (1991). In the process of breaking these films down, we also talk briefly about Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (1947), Steven Spielberg’s A Guy Named Joe remake (Always [1989]), and Paul & Chris Weitz’ Here Comes Mr. Jordan remake (Down to Earth [2001]).
 
00:00 – Intro
7:13 – Here Comes Mr. Jordan
19:36 – A Guy Named Joe
36:01 – Cabin in the Sky
47:12 – Heaven Can Wait (1943)
56:36 – A Matter of Life and Death
1:14:06 – Heaven Can Wait (1978)
1:31:15 – Defending Your Life
1:46:03 – Outro
 
Please consider donating to the following charities/fundraisers if you have any spare cash:
Abortion Access Fund, Inc:​​ https://abortionaccessfund.org/
UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) Gaza Crisis Appeal: https://donate.unrwa.org/gaza/
Lilith Fund (Texas abortion access): https://www.lilithfund.org/
National Center for Transgender Equality: https://transequality.org/

RETURN TO THE GREATEST YEAR IN HORROR HISTORY FOR MORE IRONIC PUNISHMENTS, FIERY INFERNOS, CURSED TOWNS, BLOODTHIRSTY WITCHES, AND SEXY LIBRARIANS!
 
Happy Halloween hangover, everyone! Welcome back to 1960 and a deep dive into three more stone cold classics. Well, more like two classics and a movie that has an awful lot in common with some stone cold classics. Gabe and returning guest Patrick Ripoll of Tracks of the Damned had already talked about Georges Franju’s Eyes without a Face, Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom, and Roger Corman’s (Fall of the) House of Usher in part one and, this time, they’re covering Nobuo Nakagawa’s Jigoku, Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, and John Llewellyn Moxey’s City of the Dead.
 
00:00 – Jigoku
18:42 – Black Sunday
50:05 – Interlude (other 1960 horror movies)
54:09 – City of the Dead
1:21:07 – Outro
 
Here’s the complete Letterboxd list that we were originally working from: https://letterboxd.com/gabepowers/list/1960s-horror-movies/