ThunderamaDome

Ep 08.5 - "The Non-Exploitative Exploitation of the Sidarisverse" - a BEYOND THUNDERAMADOME segment

What is non-exploitative exploitation? Malibu Bay Films Producer Arlene Sidaris, film partner and widow to legendary "B-movie" writer and director, Andy Sidaris, joins ThunderamaDome to explain what their attitudes were towards nudity and violence and what it was like working on films such as "Hard Ticket To Hawaii" with Andy. Find out how their type of filmmaking both embraced the action movie stereotypes of the '80's and also played against them. Listen to Arlene explain what it was like working as one of the first female TV producers in Hollywood and what kind of obstacles she faced. So come Beyond ThunderamaDome with us and Arlene for this very special segment!

Ep 08: Hard Ticket To Die Young pt 1 - HARD TICKET TO HAWAII

Over-the-top action B-movies occupy a unique space in the mid 80’s - and in our hearts! With the advent of VHS, video stores and cable channels, kids were introduced to cheaper movies that added two scoops of their own exploitation formula: blood, explosions and…gasp…nudity!  In this episode, we punch our ticket with Andy Sidaris’s "Hard Ticket to Hawaii." Was this an exploitation film? Or did it add something more to the action genre by cleverly inverting some of the male-oriented clichés?  Maybe it did both? Join us as we hop aboard this highly entertaining movie that stars Playboy Playmates in the lead roles, bold and beautiful Ron Moss, bad guys named Shades and Skater, airborne blowup dolls and a deadly snake straight outta your toilet. And if you can remember the very first movie you saw with nudity, well, we do too. We talk about that and a whole lot more on this episode - so come on down to the 'Dome with us and say, Aloha!

Ep 07.5 - "The Last American Movie House" - a BEYOND THUNDERAMADOME segment

Meet Judy Kim, owner and operator of the Gardena Cinema - the last single-screen movie theater in Los Angeles that's run by a family. Or at least, what's left of her family. It's really just Judy now and despite her love and commitment, the cost of keeping a single-screen theater alive is not without its challenges. Covid. Strikes. Decreasing movie audiences. Most people would have given up by now, but not Judy. By making huge sacrifices and adapting her business model, she's turned the small community theater into a larger communal destination movie house for cinema fans all across Los Angeles and Orange County. Her optimistic attitude has even inspired a small army of volunteers, all trying to help save Gardena Cinema. So grab your popcorn, and let's all go to the movies.

Ep 07: Athazagoraphobia pt 2 - PLANET TERROR

The world punched a gift horse in the mouth when Quentin Tarantino's and Robert Rodriguez's double-feature release of GRINDHOUSE sadly flopped at the box office in 2007. But it really was a gift to cinema fans since the release was just as much about the theatrical experience as it was about the actual movies. Why the heck did it fail? And why the heck does Tarantino's slowburn DEATH PROOF still seem to get more accolades than Rodriguez's action-packed PLANET TERROR?  As we continue on with our "fear of being forgotten" theme for this episode, we focus on the gravitational pull of PLANET TERROR being so strong it can now graduate from the yearly Halloween watch list and reclassify itself as a...Thanksgiving movie!  Listen and find out why on our special holiday-themed episode!

Ep 06: Athazagoraphobia pt 1 - ARACHNOPHOBIA

We face our fears as we examine Frank Marshall's "Arachnophobia" - eek! But what does athazagoraphobia mean?  It's the fear of being forgotten!  We jabber on about how not-talked-about-films can still matter. Along the way, we throw in the fear of pooping in public, past fears of dying before the Star Wars prequels finished, Peter Cushing Cornflakes boxes, the digital hologram tour of Dio, and saved prints of Nosferatu. And if you're afraid this makes no sense, just listen, because we tie it all together before web-slinging our way through one of our favorite horror-starter films, "Arachnophobia"....actually, scratch that. It's not a horror, it's a thrillomedy!