Retrospective reviewer extraordinaire, documentary filmmaker and action movie editor Oliver Harper joins us to probe the dark recesses of The Shadow (1994) – Russell Mulcahy's would-be summer blockbuster superhero adventure starring Alec Baldwin, Penelope Ann Miller, Jone Lone, Peter Boyle, Tim Curry and Ian McKellan (pre-Sir!). It has an action packed soundtrack from Jerry Goldsmith, a hero with mind control abilities locked in mortal combat with the last descendent of Genghis Khan, and a Taylor Dayne end title power ballad. What more could you want?! Well, moviegoers in 1994 who were hooked on Speed wanted a lot more, and stayed away in droves. But were they wrong? Who knows? The Shadow knows!

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We're delving into Disney's Dark Period in the late 70s/early 80s in this childhood nostalgia episode on none other than the cult curiosity The Watcher in the Woods. Directed by John "Legend of Hell House" Hough and featuring Bette Davis in scowling hag mode, this tale of an American family experiencing spooky goings on in an Olde English house is surprisingly effective and perfect gateway horror for 80s kids. But it was also a troubled production, featuring on-set battles, a dramatic rethink after its premiere and reshoots to 'fix' the ending, as the House of Mouse struggled to come to terms with making PG-rated material. Does the end result stand the test of time for Conrad and does it work for newcomers like Dan? Find out!

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Writer/director and cryptid enthusiast Serge Bodnarchuk of Cold Crash Pictures joins us for a expedition into previous unexplored territory for Movie Oubliette: 1950s Hammer Horror! But The Abominable Snowman (1957) isn't a gothic horror or even a monster movie. It's an atmospheric thriller starring Peter Cushing as a sweetheart botanist with a thing for yetis who foolishly joins a brash American expedition into the Himalayas to find the eponymous beast, despite the protests of his wife and sage warnings from the local Lama. Sort of The Blair Witch Project meets The Thing with a dash of Wolfen? But, crucially, does this largely forgotten gem from the famous studio deserve to be carried back to civilisation? Or should it be used as monster bait with an unloaded gun? Find out!

Follow Serge's Youtube channel Cold Crash Pictures for excellent film essays – including one on cryptids!

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The spice must flow! And we have a feeling all kinds of spices were flowing during the making of Dune (1984), David Lynch's first faltering steps into the Hollywood mainstream. An ambitious attempt to realise Frank Herbert's seminal science fiction novel as a baroque, epic, intelligent, space opera, blockbuster yielded some indelible images – Sting naked except for a winged codpiece springs to mind – and flounders in the uncanny valley between a true Lynchian vision of a world some 8000 years in the future and a cleansed, PG-rated family film for the cinemagoing masses. The result is fascinating and curious – not least for having a jaw-dropping cast – but, crucially, does it deserve to leave the oubliette on its 40th anniversary? Or should it be left as a footnote in the great director's career, its memory erased in favour of Denis Villeneuve's box office smash hit remakes? Find out!

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Rob Hill, author of The Bad Movie Bible, joins us on a medieval adventure into the solo directorial debut of Terry Gilliam: Jabberwocky (1977). The comedy fantasy features a veritable 'who's who' of British comedy: three Pythons, music hall star Max Wall, Harry H. Corbett of 'Steptoe and Son', John Le Mesurier of 'Dad's Army', Warren Mitchell of 'In Sickness and In Health', and Carry On's Bernard Bresslaw. It also has everything you want in a hero's quest: a terrifying monster, brave knights, a beautiful princess... and public urination. It sits somewhere between the Gilliam we came to know and love, and the Monty Python traditions he was trying to leave behind. But does it work? Find out!

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Dan and Conrad are invited to join Roddy McDowall's live action role play of 'Donkey Kong' – complete with homicidal primate and princess at the top level – as they check out Shakma (1990), thanks to our patrons' choice nomination! In it, McDowall plays a professor who experiments on baboons with mind-altering substances by day, but stages elaborate LARP-ing sessions with his students in the college building by night. In their latest game, Sam (Christopher Atkins), Tracy (Amanda Wyss), Kim (Ari Meyers) and their friends get more than they bargained for when one baboon goes berserk and starts to pick them off one by one. How will they defeat the primal rage of Shakma? Will pushing cutlery out of the window alert passers by? And why is the hero obsessed with moving around dead bodies? Find out if this is a hidden treasure or an experiment gone wrong!

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We're back at last! And what better way to start the year than being reunited with FilmJoy's Mikey Neumann and Zoe Wells for another Kevin Costner apocalypse movie? This time it's 1997's The Postman – the tale of a travelling one-man-and-one-mule Shakespeare company who, after his acting partner is killed and turned into paste by a roving fascist militia, accidentally starts a religion around a basic infrastructure service that brings hope to the ragged survivors of the third world war. It's heartfelt. It's three hours long. It strangely features most of Kevin's children – in one case, as a townsperson who makes a pass at him. But is it a bloated vanity project or a hidden gem that's more relevant now than it was in the 90s? Find out!

Follow FilmJoy on YouTube and, if you're brave, Mikey and Zoe on the smouldering wreckage of Twitter!

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Happy holidays! Writer Dan Wells joins us for our festive finale for the year to discuss the adaptation of his novel I Am Not a Serial Killer. The film stars Max Records as John Wayne Cleaver, a serial-killer-obsessed teenager who works in his mother's mortuary and has been diagnosed with sociopathy, and Christopher Lloyd as Bill Crowley, John's gentle old neighbour... who harbours a dark secret. When a killer terrorises John's snowbound midwestern town from Halloween to the holiday season, what begins as a hobbyist's investigation turns into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with a monster even John struggles to understand. Can he stop the slasher before his family becomes the next target? Will he be able to keep his own dark impulses under control? And will his absentee father send him a decent gift this year? Find out!

Check out Dan Wells' website to find out about his books, public appearances and gaming retreats!

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