We're continuing our exploration of some French-language favs with Ariane Louis-Seize's feature-length debut, 2023's HUMANIST VAMPIRE SEEKING CONSENTING SUICIDAL PERSON! If you dig any modern vampire story, from Let the Right One In to What We Do in the Shadows, you owe it to yourself to check this film out!

Major trigger warning if the title doesn't give it away: we discuss suicide in this episode! Also, full spoilers.

This is a film of major firsts, from directing through starring and writing, and we're here to track how it does such a great job trading in vampiric mysticism in favour of its thematic material. We're talking poutine, anti-chemistry, Canadian Film & TV regulations, our favourite Québec swears, and the screaming interiority of teen angst. Plus: welcome to swag corner!

Next week we're heading back to France for Jean-Pierre Melville's LE SAMOURAI!

Bonjour and bienvenue au Garbage Film's first installment in a short series on French films, and what better place to start than the film that defined the heist movie, Jules Dassin's 1955 classic RIFIFI! (If you've never seen it, you can check it out on the Internet Archive!)

We're talking Parisian slang, awful crime novels, connections with Jean-Pierre Melville, how you adapt something you hate, pistol-toting authors, and the interpersonal dynamics of France's underworld

More than anything else, we're getting into the clockwork mechanism of Jules Dassin's films, the beauty of the silent 30-minute heist, and how those elements took the world by storm. And a Hooray for Hollywood segment for a French film? It's more likely than you think!

Next week we head to Québec for Ariane Louis-Seize's debut film, the 2023 vampire romcom, HUMANIST VAMPIRE SEEKING CONSENTING SUICIDAL PERSON.

It's a St Patrick's Day spectacular on Gartbage Film with the most Irish movie around: Andrew Davis' THE FUGITIVE!

It's easy to forget now, but THE FUGITIVE was a craze in 1993 and had an outsized impact -- so easy in fact that we forgot about it! So we're reliving Andrew Davis' action heyday, praising the artistry of montage, running down its amazing accolades, and briefly getting into Roy Huggins' original 60's TV series and the real-life fugitive inspiration.

It's an episode about spectacular train crashes, both the literal one and the behind-the-scenes chaos like not having a "script", relying on Tommy Lee Jones' writing chops, and securing the cooperation of the Chicago Plumbers' Union.

The spring showers have begun their annual process of bringing May flowers, and thus we bid goodbye to Carp-winter on this final episode in the series. We're going back to the very beginning with what Carpenter refers to as his first "real" movie, the germ from which his career grew: it's 1976's ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13!

We're discussing Carpenter's humble-yet-cynical beginnings, his love of sieges, and his inspirations to create this movie before we dive into the ASSAULT's path from period western to modern day, how this movie took a village to make, and just how much of it is lovingly lifted from other sources. (Featuring one of Erin's sickest remixes to date.) We go deep on the operations of the multicultural gang Street Thunder, the notorious ice cream scene, and our love for Napoleon Wilson.

And finally, as we wrap up Carp-winter we're taking the opportunity to show how ASSAULT paved the path to Carpenter's future career, and talk about our John Carpenter favourites.

Next time, we leave Carpenter behind for some other genre fare as we revisit the 1993 wrong man classic, THE FUGITIVE.

Carp-winter continues with the final chapter in John Carpenter's Apocalpyse Trilogy: IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS from 1994! We're sorry about the balls! 

Reality is on trial as we explore the obvious and not-so-obvious meta layers of Carpenter's Lovecraftian universe, aided and abetted by Sam Neill's villainous energy (complimentary) and Carpenter's propensity for Wet Evil. We're getting super deep into how the heavy lifting of the narrative's unreality is accomplished through Carpenter's critical reputation, the way Sutter Cane writes, the casting, music, location shooting, budget cuts, and of course, Reaganomics.

We're also taking time to talk about our feelings on pre, current, and post-apocalyptic storytelling as we wrap up discussions on the Apocalypse Trilogy on the whole.

It's week 2 of Carp-winter, our series on John Carpenter and his Apocalpyse Trilogy! Today's mammoth episode likely means excommunication from one or several religious institutions for the podcast. because it's the trilogy's middle-child: 1987's PRINCE OF DARKNESS!

Carpenter is one of our best filmmakers who will notice a thing and make a movie about it, and this one is tied to his discovery of Quantum Mechanics. How much do you need to know about quantum mechanics? According to JC: nothing, it's just a horror movie.

We're discussing how Carpenter gets to PoD after THE THING upset the world, how his efficient visual style is at its peak, Victor Wong's fascinating life, the secrets of the dream and the incamera special effects, our favourite Satan taunts, and the secret to an excellent Donald Pleasence impression.

What does Born Again Christian Alice Cooper think of the theology of this movie? And for that matter, what do we think of it and how it intersects with the unknowability of quantum physics? We answer all this and so much more in our own Debate segment.

Next time, we wrap up the Apocalypse Trilogy with JC's IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS!

It's the 100th episode of Gartbage Film! To celebrate we had to cover one of our very favourite movies from one of our very favourite directors including one of our very favourite dogs: it's John Carpenter's THE THING from 1982!

We're covering it all: how Carpenter set out to create a different type of horror movie than Halloween, Dean Cundey's approach to lighting and framing, Ennio Morricone's 3 soundtracks, our theories of who gets Thing'd and when, and most importantly, Jed the wolfdog. We also discuss how this is a prime example of how to express ambiguity without losing focus in your movie and why it works so well.

Plus, another edition of Hooray for Hollywood to chart the bizarre route THE THING took from getting made to the fallout after it was released. Also, Dick Warlock lore!

2023 is dead; long live 2023!

We're here with our year end wrapup, talking about our favourite performances, movies we saw on airplanes, and our favourite theatrical experiences. But most importantly, we put together our respective top 5s of the year and bestow the 1st annual Trashie award for our favourite of 2023!

And don't worry, we keep it spoiler free, so listen without fear! But just in case you want to be truly blind, here are the 2023 movies discussed:

• Blackberry
• Anatomy of a Fall
• Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
• Oppenheimer
• Late Night with the Devil
• Dream Scenario
• Killers of the Flower Moon
• Concrete Utopia
• 65
• Los Colonos
• Godzilla Minus One
• The Boy and the Heron
• The People's Joker
• The Creator
• The Holdovers
• Barbie

Happy holidays to all! We're here with the trashy counterpart of our holiday episodes, Richard Donner and Bill Murray's SCROOGED!

Stop us if you've heard this one: a curmudgeon doesn't like Christmas and three ghosts want to fix that. Reviews have always been mixed since its 1988 premiere, so we're discussing what works, what doesn't, dapper Bobcats, and why we should thank Elaine May.

Plus: the return of a foundational segment, and we explore whether or not this movie is subliminal propaganda.

Next time on the pod we'll have a super special end of 2023 episode before returning to regular programming!

It's the most sentimental month of the year, so we're turning to one of our most December-themed sentimental comedies: Ernst Lubitsch's classic tale of love and retail nightmares, THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER from 1940!

The Shop Around the Corner gets remade pretty often, and it's easy to see why: the movie's a timeless, breezy delight. We're discussing what makes it timeless, including how the retail experience of the 1940's mostly hasn't changed and the enemies-to-lovers tropes.

We're taking the opportunity to learn lots about Lubitsch, including his "true amorality", his relatively progressive ideas on sex in movies, and why we call it "the Lubitsch Touch." Never has it been more obvious that we did not attend film school.

Thrillvember continues with a title that many will know from its constant looping on cable. Beware what floppy disks you shove in your computer because you might get caught in 1995's THE NET.

Just as last week's episode on THE PARALLAX VIEW captured the anxieties of the 70's, so does this week's dawn-of-the-internet film. Anxieties like: can Sandra Bullock trust pizza.net with her personal information? Where did I put my floppy disk? And is there a modem on the beach?

Despite its airport-paperback feel, there are some intensely prescient topics up for discussion: privacy concerns, corporations controlling the government and our lives, and Sandra Bullock in crop tops.

Plus, Erin and Nick quiz each other on the early internet intersecting with film and the cultural footprint of THE NET!

This month we're spurning classic Noirvember fare for a month devoted to its stressed spawn: the investigative paranoia thriller! We're starting with the middle chapter of Alan J Pakula's paranoia trilogy: THE PARALLAX VIEW from 1974!

Parallax is the least celebrated of Pakula's paranoia trilogy films, but we here on the pod love it: its (unfortunately) timely themes, how it feels about corporations, and its absolutely wild visual presentation. We get into deep discussion on the Parallax test and whether Frady actually fits the profile, Pakula's thoughts on idea of Americana at the time and the lengths he went to to keep politics out of this movie, and we dip our toes into the deep dark waters of 1970's conspiracy theories.

Plus, we LITERALLY define the word parallax. Is it our bleakest episode yet? Maybe! But it's all in good fun. We're not crackpots.

It's showtime! Gartbage Film is back just in time to squeeze in a spooktacular special. Before the main event we're discussing the perennial spooky movies we can't go a year without and new-to-us spooky movies we think you should squeeze into your schedules. But the real reason we're all here: to talk about the ghost with the most, BEETLEJUICE!

Beetlejuice is the movie with something for everyone in its yet-to-be-famous cast and crew: Michael Keaton, goth Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, deceptively handsome Alec Baldwin, whatever's going on with Catherine O'Hara, Michael Keaton, Tim Burton, Danny Elfman, and Michael Keaton.

We're of course getting into the extended Beetlejuice behind-the-scenes but we're also diving into this batty franchise on the whole as we chat the cartoon, its upcoming sequel, and everything in between.

We laughed, we cried, we TIFF’d. We’re here with a mini-episode to discuss what we watched at the Toronto International Film Festival, all spoiler-free. See below for the list of movies discussed, just in case you want to go into any of these blind! 

We’re discussing our favourite performances, what made us laugh the most, and the best soundtracks. We also break down our top 3 movies, along with some similar titles so you can decide if you’d like to see them too! Profit from the distress we put our minds and bodies through by spending every second we could watching movies.

Next time we’ll return to our regularly scheduled programming!

Movies discussed in this episode:

• The Boy and the Heron, directed by Hayao Miyazaki
• Dream Scenario, directed by Kristoffer Borgli
• Los Colonos aka “The Settlers” directed by Felipe Gálvez Haberle
• Wicked Little Letters, directed by Thea Sharrock
• The Movie Emperor, directed by Ning Hao
• Robot Dreams, directed by Pablo Berger
• The Promised Land, aka Bastarden, directed by Nikolaj Arcel
• The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something has Passed, directed by Joanna Arnow
• Smugglers, directed by Ryoo Seung-wan
• The Dead Don't Hurt, directed by Viggo Mortensen
• Concrete Utopia, directed by Um Tae-hwa
• Snow Leopard, directed by Pema Tseden

This week we're heading to where the vampires hang out: it's Matt Johnson's period piece of comedic Canadiana, the 2023 sensation BLACKBERRY!

Come with us on a journey through Canadiana as we discuss Matt Johnson's career and his breakthrough with Nirvanna the Band the Show, Nick's personal Blackberry use, the finer points of Kitchener-Waterloo, the Canadarm, Timbits, Don Cherry, and Jay Baruschel's stranglehold on 90's Canadian kid's lives. It's also the perfect opportunity to ask the question: did you know Canadians invented that?

And we're not just discussing Canada: we're also fawning over Howerton's psychopathic performance and Cary Elwes' perfect comedic chops. Plus, a new segment is born!

And don't worry, we're getting into just why the hell the vampires hang out in Waterloo.

Boyle warning!! It's our final episode of Sunscream, our horror-filled summer, and what says summer more than that flamin' ball in the sky: that's right, it's Danny Boyle's SUNSHINE from 2007!

We're fawning over the insanely stacked cast, how the cast & scientists helped shape the movie, and where we fall on the divisive third act. We're also sharing our general thoughts on the sun, explore this movie's philosophies on science and religion and our favourite depictions of godhood in cinema. And all things considered, it's impressive how little we talked about Oppenheimer.

Plus, Nick breaks Gartbage Law in an unprecedented move! You have to hear it to believe it.

Next time, we're going local with Matt Johnson's BLACKBERRY!

We continue our Sunscream World Tour in South Korea: it’s Yeon Sang-ho's TRAIN TO BUSAN from 2016!

This may be allegedly getting a remake, but BUSAN will always be the genre gamechanger for us. We’re getting into how this changed the zombie movie world without breaking the mold, which video games inspired the zombie design, and what we understand of the South Korean political statements contained within (less than we should, more than we thought!).

And of course, we explore the Hot Dad spectrum, from business dad Gong Yoo to thick dad Ma Dong-seok, all while trying to keep from sounding like conspiracy crackpots.

Next week we’re finishing off Sunscream as summer comes to a close!

This week's Sunscream takes us to THE template for psychological horror: Henri-Georges Clouzot's DIABOLIQUE!

Just as Clouzot was obsessed with his wife, we're obsessed with this movie: It's got cartoonishly awful husbands with wives and mistresses scheming against him, rundown boarding schools, French Columbo, creative hauntings, and suspense by the barrelful! We're discussing it all, including how Clouzot's craft really makes this special.

Plus, find out about the origins of the twist ending and how this movie created a spitewar that changed cinema forever in in the return of Hooray for Hollywood!

Scary Summer, now known as Sunscream, continues with Jordan Peele's summer blockbuster spectacle creature feature: NOPE!

It's a spoiler-full discussion about this high noon horror as we go super deep on creature design, its themes of exploitation and dehumanization, how NOPE rates as a western, and just how they made the sky look like that.

Plus, Erin has a new segment drilling down into what, exactly, spectacle means and how perception defines this movie.

Next time we're going to a classic of French cinema: Henri-Georges Clouzot's LES DIABOLIQUES!

Summer has arrived, a time of sunshine, vacations, and... horror culture!? That's right, it's Scary Summer on Gartbage! And to kick it off we're starting with Dario Argento's ode to colour, the original 1977 SUSPIRIA!

Argento left the giallo behind for this supernatural tale, and we're here to discuss why that shift occurred, how he paid homage to his home-subgenre, and just how powerfully small Jessica Harper can get. Given how ambiguous and narratively loose SUSPIRIA is, we're getting into its underpinnings and our interpretations and off-the-wall head canons.

Plus, we're spending some time learning about fairy tales and how the filming locations enhance the spooky factor!

Scary Summer continues next week as we say yes to Jordan Peele's NOPE!