The Thing

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2117292/fan_mail/new] Texas, the final frontier.  It's big, bold and a little strange but most of all, don't mess with it.  Well dear listener, that's our new theme for this cycle in a nutshell: "don't mess with Texas". In this episode we will explore some interesting facts and figures about our second largest state,  but mostly we will dig into the phrase "don't mess with Texas"; what it means, where it came from and what it has turned into over time. What better movie to kick things off than what many consider the best horror movie of all time, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072271/].  Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.  This 1974 classic still has staying power and we dig into why and what it means to us as fans.

Runaway Train

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2117292/fan_mail/new] It’s time for another listener pick and this time the submitter is our special guest host for this episode. Loyal listener and good friend Mike wanted us to watch the 1985 film Runaway Train [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089941/] which helped foster his passion for trains.  The film stars Jon Voight and Eric Roberts where two escaped convicts and a female railway worker find themselves trapped on a speeding train with no brakes and nobody driving. Join the MRT crew and guest host Mike on this runaway train of an episode.

Harlequin

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2117292/fan_mail/new] We go down under to close out our theme of “It’s Magic!” with the 1980 Australian fantasy thriller Harlequin [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080842/].  The film, a modern day retelling of the story of Rasputin, is about a magical healer who seemingly cures a senator’s son of leukemia, but gets close enough to the family to make the senator’s handlers uncomfortable.  We also talk about the “Ozploitation” film genre, our overall thoughts about Australia, and what a harlequin really is. And eyebrows. Glorious, majestic eyebrows.

Willow

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2117292/fan_mail/new] We continue our magical theme this week with a fantasy film from 1988: “Willow.”  Directed by Ron Howard, produced by George Lucas, and starring Val Kilmer, Warwick Davis and Joanne Whalley. You want magic?  This movie delivers.  There’s real magic, illusions, fairies, brownies, good and evil sorceresses, magic wands. . . I could go on.  It’s also a personal film favorite of Karl’s (which really helps during the recap.) We also talk about what makes the fantasy films of the 1980s so special.   So join us as we believe in the power, embrace our destiny, fight the scourge of evil and fulfill the prophecy!

Lord of Illusions

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2117292/fan_mail/new] Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls please step right up, give us a moment of your time and be amazed!  We have for you a new theme so fantastic, so incredible that you won't believe your very ears.  Reaching beyond the bounds of your wildest imagination, of everything you thought possible we bring you "It's Magic!".   First on the stage to overwhelm your sense of reality we have the 1995 neo-noir 'Lord of Illusions [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113690/]' brought to us by none other than Clive Barker himself.  NY occult detective Harry D’Amour investigates the death of famed illusionist Philip Swann and gets drawn into a web involving Swann’s wife Dorothea, a resurrected cult leader named Nix, and real magic vs. stage illusions.  Take a look behind the curtain with us and your life may very well never be the same.