Never Repeats

In our final episode of 2017 we watch Other Halves, a "dangerous love story" from novelist Sue McCauley and director John Laing. With McCauley adapting her own story for the screen and Laing having proved his directing chops with Beyond Reasonable Doubt, Other Halves looks like it has all the ingredients for a successful drama but commercial compromises threaten to send it off the rails. Hayden and L.J. sit down to discuss a movie that turns out to be more bizarre than either of them could have expected.

On this episode of Never Repeats we're joined for the very first time by some guest hosts! Our friends Sarah and Cara drop by to help us discuss Trial Run, a thriller about a photographer menaced by an unseen presence while working at a secluded cottage. We talk about feminism, penguins, and red herrings, and argue about the effectiveness of the film's bonkers twist ending.

In this special episode of Never Repeats we're watching three horror/thriller films that were shot in New Zealand during the '80s but aimed squarely at the American market. None of these are films we'd normally cover on this podcast, but we found an excuse to talk about them anyway! First up is Dead Kids, a tale of gruesome murders and shocking experiments in a small American town; next is Mesmerized, in which a young woman's unhappy marriage descends into hypnotism and murder; then comes Restless, about a bored, rich socialite who falls in love with the wrong man. We discuss horror conventions, bad accents, bonkers plot twists, and the perils of writing fiction with an historical setting.

Arriba! When two hapless con artists attempt to run a horse-racing scam in the small provicial town of Tainuia they end up in far more trouble than they bargained for. A fast-paced and raucous comedy, Ian Mune's Came A Hot Friday brings another Ronald Hugh Morrieson story to the screen with style and creates one of the most indelible New Zealand movie characters in the process. Hayden and L.J. hold back their giggling long enough to talk about the craft behind the film's comedic set-pieces, the way the adaptation streamlines (and sanitises) Morrieson's novel, and Billy T. James' iconic performance as The Tainuia Kid.

Do you enjoy puerile comedy, gratuitous nudity, and forced sentimentality? Oh boy do we have a film for you! When the Devil makes a bet with God that humanity would once again fall from grace if given a second chance, two college students find themselves propelled through history in the ultimate contest of Good vs. Evil. Designed to ride a wave of raunchy (and profitable) comedies produced in North America in the early '80s, Second Time Lucky imports an experienced British director and young American lead actors, and attempts to recreate the Garden of Eden near Thames.