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When I started this podcast, my inspiration was taken from my own experience with friends having Video Nights at least once a week for a few years at one of those friends’ houses. That friend is this episode’s guest, and it’s been a long time coming. But you ARE somewhat familiar with previous guest/co-host Jon Bjorling. Jon was among those that joined us for said Video Nights…but he’s the only one to join me from that motley bunch, until now. Enter Lorin Reed, he of ONE instagram post, and scant social media presence. He’s an artist, a producer/DJ, a hopeful game developer and is arguably the most resented among us for literally being too damn sexy. No joke. It was at Lorin’s house where we had these Video Nights and where I gained the reputation of having the “weird movies”, a role I gladly fell into. I wish I could have included more Video Night alumn, but life would not permit such. So here we have Lorin joining me to talk about Nothing, that is, Vincento Natali‘s Nothing. As you’ll hear in the show, Nothing is about two misfit friends who wish away all their woes only to be left with Nothing. Well, they are left with only themselves, no city, no police, no surroundings but for their weird dilapidated house. They must contend with their own insecurities as well as learn what exactly happened to put them in their maddening situation. Please, join Lorin and me for this, very final episode* of WDWJW?!? You can watch Nothing here: *I’m tired and stretched among many projects, most of which is working on Grumpire.com, be it the artwork for the site or producing the Grumpire podcast, and frankly, it’s just time I lighten my load. To those of you who have stuck with me all these years, I am forever grateful. And to all who have guested on this show (Rob Godinez, Manny Montejano, Travis Trapp, Elbee, Jon Bjorling, George Dean, Monica Torres, Ken Reid, Eduard Cantu, Michael Cool, P.J. Finn, Justin Lore, Liam O’Donnell, Courtney Penley, Mitcha Ansara, Shaun Robare, Erich Hall, Adrianna Gober, The Mike, Dan Pullen, Stephanie Crawford, Tom Nix, Ron Nelson, Mike Delaney, Andrew Hawkins, Jay Alary, & Lorin Reed) you each believed in the show and helped make it work and for that too I am forever grateful. And who knows, perhaps one day I will revive this show. As for now, WDWJW?!?! is dead. LONG LIVE WDWJW?!? The post Nothing by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

Finally, we get to talk about Motorama. This 1991 film was a solitary staple for me in my late high school years. I knew no one who had talked of seeing it. It had a good run on HBO or Cinemax (both since they are owned by the same folks swap movies all the time). And while we’ve dipped into ‘kid-centric weirdo flicks here, here, here, and here, we’ve never covered one that was a surreal road trip through an America that never truly existed. Here with me on this journey is velvet-voiced Erich Hall, who is one year younger than me, but had never seen Motorama, even though he too watched cable in the early 90s when this film was released. Please seek out this film, watch it & enjoy this episode of WDWJW The post Motorama by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

There’s really not much to preface this episode with as far as show notes goes. This movie title “I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle” is as good a summary of the film as ever, though you’ll hear Jon contest this as a demon bike rather than a vampire bike. Anyway, it’s fun, sloppy, super low budget, […] The post I bought a vampire Motorcycle by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

Hot on the heels of our discussion about nutsoid sci-fi horror teen farce Detention, comes an episode about another teen film, but one that’s mostly forgotten, in spite of Criterion reissuing a super deluxe version on blu-ray: Frances Ford Coppola’s direction of S.E. Hinton’s Rumble Fish. When we think of teen movies, we think of John Hughes & his imitators, a night in the life of horny teen boys, or teen girl’s magical adventures in procuring a date to the prom. But nary do we consider Rumble Fish a teen movie, though it most certainly is. The story centers on Rusty James’ attempt to live up to the legend that is his brother The Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke), a once gang leader, now enlightened free wheeler who is trying to live down his violent past. Rusty James (Matt Dillon) desperately wants the respect and status that his brother once had, but is not equipped for the task. Rusty James’s plight takes him from wayward ne’er-do-well, to an all at once compassionate kid via a story line that pushes toward a ticking time bomb of a seemingly tragic conclusion… Written while directing the Outsiders, and directed immediately after the Outsiders wrapped, Rumble Fish is an avant-garde approach to what could have been just another mundane teen tale. Shot in stark black and white and populated with deft themes, symbolism and surrealism, Rumble Fish shakes the teen flick trappings and becomes something all the more special. And here to talk about Rumble Fish with me is Elbee who pretty much swoons at the sight of the Motorcycle Boy, as he is indeed dreamy. But worry not, we dig into the strangeness a bit and try to see what sets this apart from the rest of those 80s teen movies out there. The post Rumble Fish by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

Recently I’ve come to understand that I like some teen movies. Previous to this realization I claimed that I didn’t like teen movies much at all, but upon examination the opposite would be true. And while there are few titles that could be included on my show here (Bill & Ted, Weird Science, Better Off Dead, My Science Project) not many teen flicks could come close to being in this show, at least not from the 80s. A strange little film from 2011 called Detention is discussed, nay, defended by me on this episode. Detention is a kinetic, hyper, perhaps over stylized teen comedy sci-fi horror film from music video auteur Joseph Khan. Khan had previously directed the much maligned action biker extravaganza Torque. It’s noted in this film, that Khan has a ‘good sport’ sense of humor regarding his previous failure as he worked in one zinger aimed at the bombastic debacle (Torque was a box office bomb after all). But here, as if ignoring the lesson presented by Torque, that restraint may benefit a film, Khan swings for the fences and throws everything at the wall…and most of it sticks. Both starring and executive produced by Josh Hutcherson, the film is populated by young actors of whom you probably haven’t heard: Spencer Locke (Resident Evil: Extinction), Shanley Caswell (The Conjuring)…and one you may have heard of: Dane Cook. I mean, that’s weird enough right? But as you’ll soon hear. Detention is one nutty romp. Join us as we discuss (read: argue about) the absurdity that is presented in this, possibly the greatest high school movie to feature a killer prom queen slasher, a jock with fly blood and a tv hand, time travel within a taxidermied alien bear and Canadian debate enthusiast aliens…Jon doesn’t think it’s the greatest, but I do. The post Detention by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

It’s a rare thing that I’ll accept this deviation from the norm here. Usually we cover strange films that feature mostly practical special effects, sometimes cg animation but never, until now, have we covered a fully animated feature. Belladonna of Sadness isn’t JUST an animated film, but it’s an anime from 1973! And it’s not only an anime, but an extremely artful, fashionable, highly stylized telling of the tragic tale of a young newlywed pushed beyond her limits and the revenge she wrought upon her oppressors via that age old ‘deal with the devil’. Joining me to discuss the erotic and psychedelic splendor of Belladonna of Sadness is Grumpire extraordinaire Elbee! The post Belladonna of Sadness by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

Like Making Contact, our film for this episode, XTRO, desperately wants to be a Speilberg movie. It doesn’t succeed in being that, but it is presented in marketing as a sort of horror response to Close encounters of the Third Kind & even more so, E.T. the Extraterrestrial. My guest on this show is writer Jay Alary , who just so happened to have a special edition copy of Xtro just laying around his flat, brand new and unwatched. So I put him to the task, and this episode is the result. Please join us for our discussion as we dig into, not only the maddening “and then…” nature of this film, the disturbing horror, but accents too! Provided here, is a copy of the film for you to watch. Enjoy! The post Xtro by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

I think I’ll keep this one pretty short. This is the final episode of the year. The film is Hudsucker Proxy and the guest is the old standby, Jon. This is, for both of us, a favorite film from the first time either of us first watched it. It belongs on this show because it is a film of magical realism, steeped in German expressionism and Art Deco and rapid fire dialogue. It’s informed by earlier films like Singing in the Rain & A Matter of Life and Death & Sweet Smell of success. But even though it was made decades after the aformentioned films, it should be considered contemporary to them, as it isn’t a send-up of their sort; rather it’s a film that is as unique and artful as they, set in a similar time, though it remains timeless nonetheless. It’s also the subtlest Christmas movie… This is one of my very favorite films and I very much want you to watch it before you listen to this episode. But whatever you chose to do, please enjoy our episode discussing The Hudsucker Proxy The post Hudsucker Proxy by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

I often skimp on talking about the directors of the films we discuss. I suppose it’s because I’m more interested in the film itself than the behind the scenes trivia, and I don’t exactly like to flex my knowledge on such (whether I have the info or not, and I don’t often consult search engines while recording the show). So with this episode about the 2009 french science fiction survival adventure film Eden Log we don’t get too far into that information, and that’s kind of a shame. I say “shame” because the director, Franck Vestiel, seems to have learned from some of the best in the genre. He’d previously worked as a 1st and/or 2nd assistant director on many films including The Nest, Renegade, House of Voices, Them & Dante 01, all of which I find incredibly well made. Some are straight action or thriller, others are ghost stories or esoteric science fiction, but they are all interesting to say the very least. So, it’s a shame I didn’t mention any of that on this episode, thus I mention it all here. (But who really reads these show notes anyway?) When Vestiel put to work that which he learned while on these projects, the end result is something unique and interesting, if not a little foreign (both because it’s French and because, something executed so well in this genre had yet to be seen on film). And though we do mention the soundtrack , it is literally one of the rarest things, with only 4 tracks available to preview online anywhere. The group behind the music, Seppuku Paradigm is no more, but they had a good run for a few years, scoring films like neo-giallo Red Nights and the cult transgressive thriller Martyrs. (Thankfully the score for Martyrs is currently available on Spotify.) I’m pleased to be joined again by Jon on this episode. We try and unravel the mystery of Eden Log. You can watch the film for free on Tubi TV, and should, and when you’re done, please join us? The post Eden Log by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

It’s that time again, kiddies. The Spookiest time of the year! It’s October and as such it’s time to feature a creepier than usual flick. So, I’ve chosen 1986’s SPOOKIES. Full disclosure, I have seen this one time before this viewing, and that was last year when I first learned of the film. Or should I say “films”? You see, Spookies had a rocky production, and is apparently a cobbled together film of 2 separate picture or something like that. To learn more about that, look no further than HERE, where they really dig into all that behind the scenes stuff. With me on this excursion in Andrew Hawkins of Freaky Fandoms Podcast (among a bunch of other stuff; the man wears a lot of hats). Join us as we dig through this movie that features a Werecat-boy, an Undead Overlord, a Ghost mom, 3 fiji-mirmen, A banshee, a demon possessed yuppie, a ton of zombies. a spider-lady, a phantasm jawa tween, a bunch of poop-dudes & a wind up toy robot. If you haven’t seen the film, do give it a view, I’ve provided the video below. Enjoy! The post SPOOKIES by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

I’m not sure if I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger’s attempt at a meta satire of the Hollywood action movie, the Last Action Hero in the cinema. I probably did. I know I saw Jurassic Park (which came out the same day) but I saw that one much later, and maybe on VHS…and full disclosure, I was mostly unimpressed. I just couldn’t connect to the big dinosaur movie the way one of my closer friends did, but he also worshiped ol’ Speilberg, while I was still experimenting with schlock & art cinema in my 17th year on this dustball we call home. When I did see the Last Action Hero, I thought it was ok, and with a shrug I went on about my day. See, the flick is weird, and seemingly in a similar way that Super Mario Brothers was, a behind the scenes mess and it shows on screen. Here, as with SMB, a lot of the problem lies in the script; a case of too many cooks. Along with the initial writers, Zak Penn and Adam Leff, the film features writers Shane Black and David Arnott, who were credited with screenplay, but also had William Goldman do a one million dollar polish, but even Carrie Fisher had a go at the script! The result is a film that doesn’t quite know what it wants to be, but even then, somehow manages to entertain, if you let it. Which in my old age, I’ve decided to let go and let God, let the dumb movie do it’s thing. If it’s irredeemable I’ll certainly feel it…otherwise maybe we’ll have a neat little conversation about it. And I think we do… So join us, if you please, as we discuss the wildly uneven Hollywood Blockbuster satire that is The Last Action Hero The post the Last Action Hero by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

Nothing screams summer to me more than ‘teen movies’ made in sunny Southern California. They don’t even have to be set during the summer. California is ideal for year round shooting for a reason after all. So, why not have a guest from So Cal for this episode about Gregg Araki’s Teenage Apocalypse flick NOWHERE? and that’s exactly what we have in Courtney Penley . (She’s also a film student whose whole life is about film, so the qualifications are there). But why Nowhere? It’s a summer flick as per my aforementioned criteria, but it’s also flippin’ weird. Much of it is shot like a music video and it’s cast is populated with both mid 90s IT KIDS (Christina Applgate, Jordan Lad, Rachel True, James Duval, Ryan Phillippe, Heather Graham) and a stunt cast of old timers like Beverly D’Angelo, John Ritter, Joe Isuzu, Christopher Kinight and Eve Plumb. Scenes work more like non-sequitur than story, but there is one here, and it’s nonsensical. Dark (played by James Duval) is having his teen life crisis, worried about everything, daydreaming about whom he should love and be loved by and also maybe he sees reptilian aliens…but whatever is going on with him, he senses a great deal of general foreboding, as if the end of the world will happen and he’s the only one who knows about it. This is a film full of sex, drugs and a mostly really good soundtrack (i say ‘mostly’ because I don’t care for hole) and also joining the conversation is show regular, Elbee as we try to figure out what’s up with Nowhere. The post NOWHERE by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

1989 was not a strong year for conventional film. But for weirdo movies, it did OK. For example, this episode is about Meet the Hollowheads (otherwise known as Life on the edge). Written by Lisa Morton & Tom Burman with Burman directing, Hollowheads is possibly the strangest pg-13 movie to come out of ’89, maybe strangest from any year. I often describe the film as “a live-action Jetsons meets Eraserhead by way of Pee-wee’s playhouse.” Starring John Glover, Nancy Mette, Richard Portnow & Juliette Lewis, Hollowheads tells the tale of “the boss is coming to dinner!” and seems, on paper, to be just that simple. But as the film unfolds, we are witness to the everyday strangeness that is just so commonplace for those living “life on the edge”. You see, the Edge is the setting, the ‘world’ so to speak. We only once venture out into it, and yet nary get a clear glimpse of what the Edge actually looks like. But it seems to be a world populated with tubes and ducts and pipes and plumbing of every sort. There are strange creatures on the periphery, that to those living on the Edge are just as innocuous as a peanut butter & softening jelly sandwich. “What’s softening jelly?”, you ask…Why don’t you watch the film and get back to me about that, because, I really just don’t know. Joining me to discuss the film is Mike Delaney , who also has made a film called Medias Res that is set to be released toward the end of July 2019 via Amazon Prime (more info can be found about it here). Mike also has a podcast (that both Elbee & I have contributed our silly voice acting to from time to time. In fact my input is minimal compared to Mike’s because he’s the HOST of the show) called the Splathouse Podcast. Splathouse is not dissimilar to WDWJW in that they sometimes cover strange films, however, they cover a lot more schlock than I’m willing to. That said, Mike seems to have been the perfect guest to talk Hollowheads with, especially since he has the freshest, most virginal eyes between us. That is to say, He’d never even heard of the movie before. And I’m willing to wager that you haven’t either. So watch the flick (provided below) and then listen to our attempt to make sense of it all! The post Meet the Hollowheads by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

In 65 years since his debut as a metaphor for the dangers of nuclear weapons, Godzilla has gone from terrifying monster to pop culture darling. He has done battle with various Kaiju creatures (including the mighty King Kong,) and even some lesser known foes such as Marvel Comic’s Avengers and even some famous sportsball player named Charles Barkley (for a 1992 Nike commercial of all things.) For his 50th anniversary and to close out the “millennium” era run of Godzilla films, Toho gave the directorial reigns to Ryuhei Kitamura (Versus, Alive, Midnight Meat Train) who certainly has a style all his own. Together they gave us Godzilla: Final Wars. Final Wars is a sort-of remake of 1968’s Destroy All Monsters in which Godzilla’s must fight a gauntlet of his mightiest foes in order to stop the bad guys (regrettably, Barkley did not rank high enough to be present here.) With Devious alien invaders, silly flying vehicles, and mutant super humans, Final Wars is a glorious train wreck of a film. Join Andrew and Jon as they examine the absolute craziest film in a series about men in rubber monster costumes stepping on toys cars and smashing cardboard buildings. The post Godzilla Final Wars by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

We started off the year, and continued, with (four months of) schlocky nonsense. I mean a LOT of it. So it’s high time we have a change around here, if only for one episode, before we jump back to doing silly weirdo movies, let’s dig into 1990’s surreal childhood drama, The Reflecting Skin. Joining me for this episode is Ron Nelson (@acelluloidjam on twitter), who is a kindred kinda fellow to myself when it comes to the way we think about film. No, we don’t like the same exact things, but we do come at films with an appreciation for the difficult, odd & esoteric. Sure, we want the film to feed us, but we don’t mind working for our food, so to speak. Our film this episode is certainly something that we worked for. It’s about a boy living in the 1950 in a rural town, who has flights of fancy regarding vampires and angels. Do try to find this film. Currently it’s on Shudder Canada. I’m unsure how you’ll watch it stateside, but maybe you fancy internet users can figure out a way. Some folks call this film Lynchian, but we don’t quite agree with that assessment. Whatever it is, it’s worth a look, especially if you’re schlock fatigued and fancy trying out a hidden gem art film like The reflecting Skin. The post the Reflecting Skin by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

This episode delves into cinematic territory that we have not quite entered or even entertained here on the show. Tokusatsu: Japanese special effects driven superhero stories. Specifically, Mechanical Violator Hakaider. This film is a mid-90s reboot/spinoff of a villain character from the old 1970s Android Kikaider show. Yet here, he’s presented as a mysterious antihero on an unspoken quest to destroy the oppressive mayor’s fascist regime over Jesus Town. There are plenty of odd things with this film. You have: freedom fighters, lobotomized dissidents, are-they-or-aren’t-they robot soldiers, the world’s most powerful shotgun, semi-gory walls, a few dream sequences featuring a fairy & the grim reaper, Michael the archangel Android, A very flamboyant mayor & even a cameo by kikaider. All this with Hakaider at the center of it all. You can somewhat easily find this online (linked below even!), I implore you to watch the film, it’s short enough, and then join us here as Jon and I discuss Mechanical Violator Hakaider. The post Mechanical Violator Hakaider by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

This episode sees the return of Michael Cook, primary host of all the shows from Retro Rocket Entertainment, & co-host to the first show I’ve ever been a part of, Videonight! On our first go-round here on WDWJW?!? Michael played it relatively safe with Hudson Hawk, a film so ‘normal’ in its plot but so weird in every other way, that it was a relatively successful episode. But now, through months of deliberation, we bring you a truly weird film, 1993’s FREAKED by director, writer, star Alex Winter . Freaked also seems to have a simple enough plot: Waning superstar Ricky Coogan is tapped as a shill for the mega-corporation E.E.S. (Everything Except Shoes) to hock a toxic ‘fertilizer’ to unsuspecting South American farmers. He agrees & sets out on a road trip to the base of operations in Santa Flan. He’s joined by his best pal Ernie and his not-so-best gal Julie. On their trip they stop at a tourist trap , FREEK LAND, owned and operated by Elija C. Skuggs (who is one part P.T. Barnum, one part Dr. Moreau). From there, you can imagine the rest, but you shouldn’t. You should see this film & then enjoy our podcast about the film. Ok? You can view the film (as of this posting) on youtube of all places, so watch it already! The post FREAKED by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

This episode threw me for a loop, rather. Jon Threw me for a loop. You’ll hear how/why in this episode soon enough. But let me just say, Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters is the most Sam Raimi movie that isn’t directed or produced by Sam Raimi. This is a major sticking point with me on this episode. Don’t get me wrong, I do like this film. It’s akin to Snakes On A Plane in that the title delivers on its promise. Here, Jeremy Renner plays Hansel and Gemma Arterton plays Gretel and they are mostly convincing as once traumatized siblings who now hunt…WITCHES! It’s an easy enough plot. But I tell you, there are rarely films like this that bring humor, action & weirdness together with such disregard to so-called logic that it amounts to an ultraviolent big screen cartoon, and I am all for that kinda thing when done well. As usual, I suggest you hunt down a copy of the unrated version of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters so you can follow along with our episode here and hear exactly what Jon said that had me so taken aback. The post Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters by Andrew Bargeron appeared first on Ouch My Ego! - Music, Art, & Culture Blog of the Rio Grande Valley.

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