Kino Royale

Film Lady

0.0 (0)
Film Reviews
Updated Biweekly

Kino Royale is a podcast for those who like their cinema dark, hosted by the Film Lady — a Russian émigré of dubious royal lineage, residing in Australia. Expect horror, horror-adjacent, and the occasional genre detour, alongside book-to-screen explorations when a story demands it.

1d ago

Ep23: American Psycho - 1991 novel

Would you like to have lunch at Dorsia with a fine young man named Patrick Bateman and learn about his business of mergers & aqua sessions? Join Film Lady in exploring one of the darkest, most controversial novels of all time - a 1991 novel by Bret Easton Ellis’s - American Psycho. Content Warning: like all of my eps, this is an explicit episode which is targeted at adults. It is labelled accordingly on your pod platforms with *E* symbol. Please go through the triggers below before jumping in! This ep is also full of spoilers for the novel. Trigger Warning for the novel & this ep: graphic violence, sexual violence (SA & others), animal cruelty, necrophilia and cannibalism, misogyny, child harm, torture and gore, substance abuse, homophobic and racist language, body horror. Cold open: The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist Lyrics I meant DSM not DCM, soz: Psychiatry.org - DSM Warm close: Nelly – Just a Dream Lyrics Picador edition of my book I keep calling Bateman Batman? Some kind of Freudian slip hehehe… Bruce Wayne is played, btw, also by Christian Bale in the movies :) Associations: Ab Fab - Patty Stone YT Dexter Clockwork Orange Wolf of Wall Street Mad Men Lit mentioned: Lost Lambs by Madeleine Cash: Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash | Goodreads Aldous Huxley's Brave New World Pod mentioned: The Book Club Sources: Keeping Up With The Penguins, "American Psycho — Bret Easton Ellis" Dan McNeil, "American Psycho" — The McNeil Variations Literariness, "Analysis of Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho" Panova, O. Yu., "American underground spirit: Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground and 20th century USA literature," Izvestiya Saratov University (2021) — DOAJ link Baltimore Sun review, "'American Psycho' is not merely gruesome, it's also dull" (1991) Music - Free Music Archive - CC License: Andrew R Codeman - Crazy Bot Blank & Kytt - Come Get Some Blank & Kytt - Thursday & Snow (Reprise) Cullah - Ooh Baby You Drive Me Crazy Blues Damiano Baldoni - I'm CrAZy Geoff Harvey - Purple Planet Music - Crazy Town HoliznaRAPS - My Family Thinks I'm Crazy Josh Woodward - Crazy Glue (Instrumental Version) Mise Darling - It's Crazy! Ondrosik - Crazy Paweł Spychała - Crazy parrot.mp3 Find me: @filmladyroyal on Letterboxd, Bluesky & Instagram. Email: kinoroyalepodcast@gmail.com All eps & more on website: kinoroyale.net Don’t forget to vote for November theme - on socials or under the previous ep on Spotify (ep 22) Equipment: JBL Quantum Stream Studio | Quad pattern premium USB microphone for streaming, recording and gaming Audacity - recording & editing by FL Next ep: American Psycho the 2001 movie! Acknowledgement of Country I would like to acknowledge that I live, work, and learn on the traditional lands of the Dharug and Darkinjung peoples. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today.
Sep 5

Ep 22: Psycho Daddies, or Happy Fathers Day!

Let's celebrate Fathers Day 2026 (in Australia) by looking at some Psycho Daddies together! Who doesn't have #daddyissues, right? Not Film Lady, surely…XD Content Warning: like all of my eps, this is an explicit episode which is targeted at adults. It is labelled accordingly on your pod platforms with *E* symbol. Please go through the triggers below before jumping in! Potential Triggers: mentions of suicide, sexual assault, domestic abuse, incest Cold Open: psycho killer song: Talking Heads – Psycho Killer Lyrics Warm Close: Daddy by PSY, translated to English: DADDY (English Translation) – PSY ft. CL | Genius Lyrics Letterboxd list: https://letterboxd.com/filmladyroyal/list/psycho-daddies-in-horror-or-happy-fathers/ Music - via Free Music Archive — CC BY: VADE - Tone Down House - 4_4_25, 3.47 AM JMHBM - Little Looney Ethos - Forever Ending Find me: @filmladyroyal on Letterboxd, Bluesky & Instagram. Email: kinoroyalepodcast@gmail.com Extended show notes & more on the website: Kino Royale Movie blog: The Cinefile Blog Equipment: JBL Quantum Stream Studio | Quad pattern premium USB microphone for streaming, recording and gaming Audacity - recording & editing - free! Seed Talks The Shining ‘Here’s Johny!’ scene: The Shining (1980) - Here's Johnny! Scene (7/7) | Movieclips Acknowledgement of Country I would like to acknowledge that I live, work, and learn on the traditional lands of the Dharug and Darkinjung peoples. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today. Help Film Lady decide on November’s theme! The November poll starts on 5 September and finishes on 6 October. Vote below this episode on or on socials, or email me your vote.
Aug 30

Ep 21 - Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)

Let’s take a night plane from Tangier to Detroit & see how much blood is left for our lovers in our closing August episode! Join Film Lady in exploration of this 2013 gem by Jim Jarmusch. 8/10 Pairs of Sunglasses at Night. Content Warning: like all of my eps, this is an explicit episode which is targeted at adults. It is labelled accordingly on your pod platforms with *E* symbol. However, if you’re listening on my website - take care of yourselves first! Please go through the triggers below before jumping in! Potential Triggers: mentions of suicide. Cold Open: Sunglasses at Night: Corey Hart – Sunglasses at Night Lyrics Warm Close: FL’s own piece of writing ‘Strawberries Dipped in White Choc’. Music: Doctor Turtle - The Talons Of Adventure, The Antlers Of Romance GrW - Alaska 1 Geoff Harvey - Purple Planet Music - Romance of the Isles Kirk Osamayo - (Ambient) Fleur LaFaena - Sexy Find me: @filmladyroyal on Letterboxd, Bluesky & Instagram. Email: kinoroyalepodcast@gmail.com All eps & more on website: kinoroyale.net Equipment: JBL Quantum Stream Studio | Quad pattern premium USB microphone for streaming, recording and gaming Audacity - recording & editing - free! Seed Talks - I did a workshop on Vampires & the Human Psyche with Katie Evans P***y Riot links: P***y Riot added to Russia’s list of terrorists and extremists Maria speaks on Australian TV this week: P***y Riot member Maria Alyokhina escaped from Russia to a life in exile | 7.30 Book mentioned: Political Girl: Life and Fate in Russia by Maria Alyokhina | Goodreads Video that got Maria 13 years of prison sentence: P***y Riot — MAMA, DON’T WATCH TV / МАМА, НЕ СМОТРИ ТЕЛЕВИЗОР (ANTI - WAR SONG) RIOT DAYS Fest of Dangerous Ideas links: Big Ideas with Natasha Mitchell - ABC listen Five Evil Women: Hindley, West, Wuornos, Homolka, Tucker, Bourke The Incredible Afterlives of Dr. Stevenson: One Scientist’s Epic Quest for Evidence of Reincarnation, Apparitions, Poltergeists, and Other Matters of the Soul, Bering Clone Soap Opera links: O Clone - telenovela mentioned: CENAS MARCANTES DE O CLONE: A DANÇA COM A COBRA, O ACIDENTE, A CLONAGEM E MAIS! | NOVELEI The drama: Briga! Jade e Ranya se enfrentam e Said tem que separar as duas! | O Clone | Vale a Pena Ver De Novo Love their dancing: Jade dança para Zein após casamento e lhe dá sonífero | O Clone | Vale a Pena Ver De Novo Movies: We need to talk about Kevin (2011) Interview with Vampire (1994) Antichrist (2009) --- Acknowledgement of Country I would like to acknowledge that I live, work, and learn on the traditional lands of the Dharug and Darkinjung peoples. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today.
Aug 24

Ep 20 - Carrie - part 3 - Monsters in the Archives by Caroline Bicks (2026)

This episode is part 3 (BONUS), ‘Wreckage’, where we peek behind the curtain to see what Monsters hide behind the Archives with Caroline Bicks’s 2026 exploration of Carrie’s earlier drafts & alternative plot twists! Just like the Carrie novel, we have divided our discussion into 3 parts. We’ve even kept the OG names! So you can listen to either or all (or none), depending what you’re most interested in! Previously, in ep19 - part 2 - ‘Prom Night’, we were following Brian de Palma to the epic school night of his 1976 iconic movie adaptation. In the first instalment, in ep18 - part 1 - ‘Blood Sport’, we were dissecting the original 1974 Carrie novel by Stephen King. Expect scary spoilers, deep dives & terrifying tangents! If you’re keen to come along on this bloody ride, make sure to stash some of those sanitary napkins & tampons from the broken vending machine in the bathroom, and get ready to PLUG IT UP! Content Warning: like all of my eps, this is an explicit episode which is targeted at adults. It is labelled accordingly on your pod platforms with *E* symbol. However, if you’re listening on my website - take care of yourselves & your fam first! Please go through the triggers below before jumping in! Potential Triggers: discussion or mentions of blood, menstruation, trauma, parental abuse towards their children, bullying, violence, school systems, sexual assault, religious mania, eating disorders, depression, major depressive episodes. Find me: @filmladyroyal on Letterboxd, Bluesky & Instagram. Email: kinoroyalepodcast@gmail.com All eps & more on website: kinoroyale.net Warm close: Carries poem on p. 71 : that's a five-line poem Carrie wrote as a seventh-grade class assignment, which her teacher kept — it's presented in the "board of inquiry" documentary sections along with background material on Carrie from seventh grade, described as a disturbing poem for a school assignment that her teacher saved. Mentions: Seed Talks - I did a workshop on Vampires & the Human Psyche with Katie Evans Evolution of Horror pod The Losers Club ep on Monsters in the Archives Random Horror Pod Generator #9 - their ep on Carrie Associations & Recs - see show notes from ep18 Research: Menstrual periods are arriving earlier for younger generations, especially among racial minority and lower-income individuals | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Other links from research also in p1 show notes. Music - CC BY - via Free Music Archive : Tiga Maine - Tiga Maine - Uhamba Nami (ft. Bhlaklyn & Lady Kay) Soundwave Sphere - Dark Desires Acknowledgment of Country I would like to acknowledge that I live, work, and learn on the traditional lands of the Dharug and Darkinjung peoples. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today.
Aug 21

Ep 19 - Carrie - part 2 - movie by Brian de Palma (1976)

This episode is part 2, ‘Prom Night’, where we’re following Brian de Palma to the epic school night of his 1976 iconic movie adaptation. 8/10 dirty pillows. Just like the Carrie novel, we have divided our discussion into 3 parts. We’ve even kept the OG names! So you can listen to either or all (or none), depending what you’re most interested in! Previously, in ep18 - part 1 - ‘Blood Sport’, we were dissecting the original 1974 Carrie novel by Stephen King. Expect scary spoilers, deep dives & terrifying tangents! Coming up next, In part 3 - BONUS, ‘Wreckage’, we will peek behind the curtain to see what Monsters hide behind the Archives with Caroline Bicks’s 2026 exploration of Carrie’s earlier drafts & alternative plot twists! If you’re keen to come along on this bloody ride, make sure to stash some of those sanitary napkins & tampons from the broken vending machine in the bathroom, and get ready to PLUG IT UP! Content Warning: like all of my eps, this is an explicit episode which is targeted at adults. It is labelled accordingly on your pod platforms with *E* symbol. However, if you’re listening on my website - take care of yourselves & your fam first! Please go through the triggers below before jumping in! Potential Triggers: discussion or mentions of blood, menstruation, trauma, parental abuse towards their children, bullying, violence, school systems, sexual assault, religious mania. Question to Listeners: Whadya reckon the sound of TK makes? Find me: @filmladyroyal on Letterboxd, Bluesky & Instagram. Email: kinoroyalepodcast@gmail.com All eps & more on website: kinoroyale.net Music - CC BY - royalty-free tracks by Free Music Archive: Soundwave Sphere - Dark Desires.mp3 Tentacles - Dark The Dark Bean - noname The Dark Bean - ts kch tsss Mark Lingard - dead strings Equipment: JBL Quantum Stream Studio | Quad pattern premium USB microphone for streaming, recording and gaming Audacity - recording & editing - free! Acknowledgment of Country I would like to acknowledge that I live, work, and learn on the traditional lands of the Dharug and Darkinjung peoples. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today.
Aug 17

Ep 18: Carrie - Part 1 - Novel by Stephen King (1974 )

This is part 1 of Carrie saga, ‘Blood Sport’, where we dissect the OG novel by SK. Expect scary spoilers, deep dives & terrifying tangents! In part 2 (out soon!), ‘Prom Night’, we follow Brian de Palma to the bloody school dance in his 1976 movie. In BONUS part 3 , ‘Wreckage’, we peek behind the curtain to look at earlier versions of Carrie in the Monsters in the Archives. So, stash some sanitary products from the bathroom vending machine, PLUG IT UP & enjoy this bloody ride! CW: like all of my eps, this is an explicit episode which is targeted at adults. It is labelled accordingly on your pod platforms with *E* symbol. However, if you’re listening on my website - take care of yourselves & your fam first! Please go through the triggers below before jumping in! TW: blood, menstruation, trauma, parental abuse towards their children, bullying, violence, school systems, sexual assault, religious mania. Cold Open: from Monsters in the Archives Music - CC BY- Music Archive: Tiga Maine - Tiga Maine - Uhamba Nami (ft. Bhlaklyn & Lady Kay) Grumplefunk - Questions Pufino - Vibing (Chill Lofi Royalty Free Music) Julia Felix - The Topography of Metaphysics & Actuality Ethos - Forever Ending Mr Smith - Harmonics and the Night Equipment: JBL Quantum Stream Studio | Quad pattern premium USB microphone for streaming, recording and gaming Audacity Lit: Finger & Rainy Season - Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993) Night Shift (1978) Survivor Type & The Jaunt - Skeleton Crew (1985) Good Neighbours (2021) & Trad Wife (2026) - Sarah Langan Yesteryear (2026) - Caro Claire Burke We Sold Our Souls (2018) & Witchcraft for Wayward Girls (2025) - Grady Hendrix Girl Dinner (2025) - Olivie Blake Danse Macabre (1981) , 'Salem's Lot (1975), The Shining (1977), Pet Sematary (1983), It (1986), The Institute (2019), Firestarter (1980), Doctor Sleep (2013) - SK The Dorians (2026) - Nick Cutter Sources: Bicks, Caroline. Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King. New York: Hogarth, 2026. Birzer, Bradley J. "The Haunting of Hill House." The Imaginative Conservative, January 6, 2017 https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2017/01/shirley-jackson-haunting-of-hill-house-bradley-birzer.html "Book Review of Monsters in the Archives by Caroline Bicks." BookPage, April 28, 2026 https://www.bookpage.com/reviews/monsters-in-the-archives-caroline-bicks-book-review/ "Carrie Is Shining: Internal Monologue in Stephen King's Carrie and The Shining." Cool Lima Bean, January 22, 2018. https://coollimabean.wordpress.com/2018/01/22/carrie-is-shining-internal-monologue-in-stephen-kings-carrie-and-the-shining/ Hong, Ze. "The Evolutionary-Cognitive Foundation and Cultural Persistence of Menstrual Taboos in Human Societies." Evolution and Human Behavior 47, no. 4 (2026): 106899 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2026.106899 King, Stephen. Carrie. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2011. Rumel, John E. "Back to the Future: The In Loco Parentis Doctrine and Its Impact on Whether K-12 Schools and Teachers Owe a Fiduciary Duty to Students." Indiana Law Review 46, no. 3 (2013): 711– https://mckinneylaw.iu.edu/practice/law-reviews/ilr/pdf/vol46p711.pdf Sechrest, Jason. "Firestarter and Standing Up to 'The Man.'" Cemetery Dance Online, August 24, 2018 https://www.cemeterydance.com/extras/what-i-learned-stephen-king-firestarter/ "Stephen King's Early Carrie Draft Featured the Telekinetic Teenager Morphing into an Alien Being." Fangoria, April 24, 2026 https://www.fangoria.com/stephen-kings-original-carrie-draft-alien-being/ "UMaine English Professor Caroline Bicks Talks New Book: 'Monsters in the Archives.'" UMaine News, June 8, 2026 https://umaine.edu/news/2026/04/umaine-english-professor-caroline-bicks-talks-new-book-monsters-in-the-archives/ "What Was Found in Stephen King's Private Archive Changes How You'll Read His Books Forever." Yahoo Entertainment, April 21, 2026. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/found-stephen-kings-private-archive-171027031.html
Aug 11

Ep 17 - Winterween Special - My Top 10 Horror Movies

While the Northern Hemisphere is camping it out at SummerWeen, we’re in the Land Down Under getting what chills we can during WinterWeen! Join Film Lady at her debut at production studio discussing her top 10 Horror Hits. Content Warning: Content-related mentions of ED & Suicide. SPOILERS: this ep spoils the plot of 10 horror movies mentioned by the author. Find me: @filmladyroyal on Letterboxd, Bluesky & Instagram. Email: kinoroyalepodcast@gmail.com Extended Show Notes here KR online: https://kinoroyale.net/ Discover Film Lady: https://filmladyproductions.netlify.app/ Letterboxd Top 100 by FL List in full here Mentions: Emsolation pod by Em Rusciano Rode Caster Pro II - recording equipment One of the many disappointing reviews of Eli Roth’s Ice cream man: https://cityhub.com.au/ice-cream-man-review/ EA (owner of the Sims) buyout news: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjejyl34345o Not Malcom’s video on that topic: EA is actually, finally dead. Author of HP, J.K. Rowling, continues to publicly support anti-trans legislation and further targets the asexual community. A Complete Breakdown of the J.K. Rowling Transgender-Comments Controversy | Glamour Movies mentioned: I Saw the TV Glow Teenage Sex & Death at Camp Miasma Seven Hunger Games Battle Royale Escape Room Home Movies (Shudder) Blue Velvet Mulholland Dr Inland Empire Backrooms Novel: Bloody Brick Road (reimagining of Wizard of OZ) Post Soviet phenomena of ‘Who Killed Laura Palmer?’ View of “Kto ubil Loru Palmer?” | Apparatus. Film, Media and Digital Cultures of Central and Eastern Europe What Would You Do? - pod or something like that? SOZ forgot the name So the commode I'm referring to in relation to Oculus & Alice through the Looking Glass actually has 2 meanings: a kind of a mobility-friendly toilet (yes!) & French style antique dressing table. I think I meant the latter, haha :D My grandma's one looked kinda like this but in brown: Large Dressing Table Mirror Home Decor Folding 3 Sided Tri Fold Champagne Vanity | eBay Australia Warm Close: a piece about Winterween generated by Claude AI Music - via Free Music Archive — CC BY: Soularflair - Soundscape 36 (shrill, scary, ghostly, drone) Soularflair - Soundscape 35 (dark, scary, mechanized drone) Soularflair - Call Of The Void (soundtrack, dark, creepy, scary) Amarent - Caught in the Middle (Instrumental) - Remastered Jake Hunter - Scary Cinematic Background Piano Triple5 Here - Creepy Mindseye - Orion - Instrumental Mindseye - Spores - Instrumental Amarent - To the Moon (Instrumental) Acknowledgment of Country I would like to acknowledge that I live, work, and learn on the traditional lands of the Dharug and Darkinjung peoples. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today.
Aug 1

Ep 16: Teenage Sex & Death at Camp Miasma (2026)

To kick off the Bloody Month of August Film Lady travels to Camp Miasma to potentially get together with Gillian Anderson. Little does she know she has to compete not only with Hannah Einbinder, but Little Death too! The new movie Teenage Sex & Death at Camp Miasma (2026) by Jane Schoenbrun gets the blood pumping like nothing else does! 9/10 Little Deaths. Content Warning: Blood, Teenage Sex, Death, Camping and Campiness. SPOILERS: this is an extremely spoilerific episode discussing characters & plot, listen at your own risk. Find me: @filmladyroyal on Letterboxd, Bluesky & Instagram. Email: kinoroyalepodcast@gmail.com Listen to all the eps here: https://kinoroyale.net/ This episode: https://kinoroyale.net/episodes/miasma The Cinefile Blog: https://cinefileblog.com/ Discover Film Lady: https://filmladyproductions.netlify.app/ Mentions & links: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma - Gillian Anderson & Hannah Einbinder Jane Schoenbrun, Gillian Anderson & Hannah Einbinder Talk Queer Horror at Cannes Jane Schoenbrun on Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Jane Schoenbrun pronounced as Jane SHOHN-bruhn , as in this video: Jane Schoenbrun’s Closet Picks Francis Rogerson, May 20, 2026. Independent Magazine, Cannes Review. Don’t Watch Yourself, Watch the Movie: ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ - Independent Magazine ‎‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ review by Joshua Minsoo Kim • Letterboxd Rejectacon Aus (@rejectaconaus26) • Instagram photos and videos Cold Open, Intermissions & Warm Close: Edgar Allan Poe, "A Dream Within a Dream" from The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe, ed. R. W. Griswold. New York: J. S. Redfield, 1850. Public Domain. A Dream Within a Dream | The Poetry Foundation Recs: I Saw the TV Glow (2024) - IMDb We're All Going to the World's Fair (2021) - IMDb Twin Peaks (TV Series 1990–1991) - IMDb The Shining (1980) - IMDb The X Files (1993-2018) Sleepaway Camp (1983) Friday the 13th (1980) - IMDb The Last House on the Left (1972) A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - IMDb American Horror Story/1984 Yellowjackets (TV Series 2021– ) - IMDb Feeding the Monster: Why Horror Has a Hold on Us by Anna Bogutskaya | Goodreads Leviticus & Saccharine movies - check respective eps on KR pod Music - via Free Music Archive — CC BY: Mr Smith - In the Mist YuraSoop - Nature Ambient YuraSoop - Beautiful Ambient Universfield - Mysterious Dark Background tabi fields - WEATHER REPORT 1 Mystery Mammal - A Brief Intermission To Rest the Robots (Instrumental) Universfield - Dark Mystery Atmosphere GrW - Alaska 1 Tea K Pea - light Kirk Osamayo - (Ambient) Fleur Acknowledgment of Country I would like to acknowledge that I live, work, and learn on the traditional lands of the Dharug and Darkinjung peoples. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today.

Kino Royale is a podcast for those who like their cinema dark, hosted by the Film Lady — a Russian émigré of dubious royal lineage, residing in Australia. Expect horror, horror-adjacent, and the occasional genre detour, alongside book-to-screen explorations when a story demands it.

Creator

Film Lady
Years Active

2026
Episodes

24
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© Film Lady
Show Website

Kino Royale