Podcasts
Stephen King’s ‘Cell’ Dials Up the Gore and Calls Back to Familiar Hits [The Losers’ Club Podcast]
“Man has come to dominate the planet thanks to two essential traits. One is intelligence. The other has been the absolute willingness to kill anyone and anything that gets in his way.”
The Losers are taking that to heart as they run out of Boston Common. All around them, The Pulse has turned the world upside down: mothers are gnawing at their daughters, trucks are crashing into stores, explosions are deafening. Luckily, they find a peaceful retreat at Gaiten Academy, where they catch their breath to discuss Stephen King‘s Cell.
Join Losers Randall Colburn, Michael Roffman, Ana Marie Cox, and Jenn Adams as they revisit King’s 2006 novel. Together, they meditate on the reverberations of 9/11, the parallels to H.G. Wells and Richard Matheson, the hilarious digital marketing campaign around its release, and why this often feels like King’s version of a Greatest Hits album.
Stream the book episode below and be sure to keep your phone on silent. Then return next week when the Losers speak to a very special guest who knows a thing or two about love. For further adventures, join the Losers’ Club over long days and pleasant nights via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS.
You can also unlock hundreds upon hundreds of hours of exclusive content in The Barrens (Patreon) — from deep dives into uncollected King works to Dark Tower detours to feature-length King commentaries to exclusive interviews to spinoff podcasts centered around Stranger Things, Michael Crichton, and spooky real-life stuff.
Game Loop.
Trace and I inadvertently bookended our April discussions of John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London (listen) and Ciarán Foy’s Eli (listen) with Jude Law films. At the start of the month, we tackled Matt Damon’s Italian grifter in The Talented Mr. Ripley (listen) and now we’re closing out April with David Cronenberg‘s eXistenZ (1999).
The unofficial sequel to Videodrome (listen) and precursor to Crimes of the Future, eXistenZ takes place in the world of virtual reality and simulation. Game goddess Allegra Gellar (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is forced to go on the run with PR nerd Ted Pikul (Jude Law) through the Canadian backwoods when ‘Realist’ terrorists declare open season on her life.
Featuring no shortage of strange encounters and oddball characters, including Willem Dafoe‘s queer-coded Gas and Canadian film royalty like Don McKellar and Sarah Polley, Allegra and Ted must travel between the real world and the game world, all the while keeping track of who is friendly…and who is foe.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS.
Episode 279: eXistenZ (1999) feat Vannah Taylor
Lube up your industry standard bio-port because we’re playing David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (1999) with someone friendly: Vannah Taylor!
David Cronenberg’s meditation on the dangers of gaming and simulation is the middle entry of an unofficial trilogy. It’s also a film that gets real confusing, real fast, so good luck figuring out if we’re still in the game!
Plus: criticisms of a “bland” game world, praise for Jennifer Jason Leigh, Canadian royalty, comparisons to Serenity, disgusting gristle guns, and Pikul getting his back blown out (several times!)
Cross out eXistenZ!
Coming up on Wednesday: We’re continuing our celebration of 1999 films with a look at Stephen Sommers’ bisexual awakening, action adventure film, The Mummy (1999).
P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 306 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Hannibal S01E04, Late Night with the Devil, The First Omen, Femme, Abigail and a brand new audio commentary on the original The Omen (1976).
‘Infested’ Review – One of the Best Spiders Attack Horror Movies in Years
‘The King Tide’: An Island Town Rots with Moral Decay in Canadian Folk Horror Fable [Review]
Rated “R” ‘The Little Mermaid’ Horror Movie Coming Soon; Watch the Trailer
Limited Edition Morticia & Wednesday Addams ‘Monster High’ Dolls Releasing Next Week!
TWO New ‘Evil Dead’ Movies Now in the Works; Sébastien Vaniček & Francis Galluppi Directing
