195 w/ Jessie J - House (1977) & Midsommar (2019) →

CW: Suicide

The Best of 2021 - #5 Midsommar

It’s Guest Week on Pod Sematary! Chris & Kelsey invite one of the Jessies back for some seriously great and bonkers movies!

Read our afterthoughts for this episode here!

The Classic Film: House/Hausu (1977)
"A schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt's country home, which turns out to be haunted” (IMDb.com). House may be—and this isn't a joke—just about the most bonkers horror movie ever made. And it's magnificent.

The Modern Film: Midsommar (2019)
"A couple travels to Scandinavia to visit a rural hometown's fabled Swedish mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult” (IMDb.com). You might already know what we think of Ari Aster as a horror filmmaker from our episode on Hereditary, and we get more of his signature auteur style with Midsommar. But is his sophomore feature film more or less evocative than his first?

Audio Sources:
"Fanta Commercial - Fantanas" via Brian Friedman @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F614uU3DsqM
"House" (1977) produced by PSC & Toho Company
"House (1977) Monster Madness X movie review #19" via Cinemassacre @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp_ZCuZHVtk
"I Know an Old Lady" performed by Burl Ives
"Midsommar" produced by A24, et al.
"Pet Sematary" written by Dee Dee Ramone & Daniel Rey and performed by The Ramones

136 w/ Eileen - Perfect Blue (1997) & Black Swan (2010) →

CW: Rape, Child Abuse, Suicide, Mental Illness

Best of 2020 - #4 Perfect Blue; #7 (Tied) Black Swan

Read our afterthoughts for this episode here!

It’s Fractured Identities Week on Pod Sematary! Chris & Kelsey can't tell if this episode is real or not. Does Special Guest Eileen even exist?

The Classic Film: Perfect Blue (1997)
"A retired pop singer turned actress[, Mima's] sense of reality is shaken when she is stalked by an obsessed fan and seemingly a ghost of her past” (IMDb.com). Prolific Japanese writer and artist Satoshi Kon got his directorial film debut with this adaptation of Yoshikazu Takeuchi's novel, Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis. He never did anything quite like it again, and even though our next entry owes a lot to it, you'll probably never see anything quite like Perfect Blue anywhere else.

The Modern Film: Black Swan (2010)
"A committed dancer struggles to maintain her sanity after winning the lead role in a production of Tchaikovsky's 'Swan Lake'” (IMDb.com). Based on a pre-existing script about something else, featuring thematic similarities and homages to other movies, and focusing on an all-time classic ballet, Black Swan manages to be wholly unique and fascinating. Intriguingly, it's more fantastical than our animated entry.

Audio Sources:
"Black Swan" produced by Fox Searchlight Pictures, et al.
"Girlfriendklok" (Metalocalypse S01E18) produced by Titmouse & Williams Street
"Perfect Blue" produced by Rex Entertainment, et al.
"Pet Sematary" written by Dee Dee Ramone & Daniel Rey and performed by The Ramones
"Split" produced by Universal Pictures, et al.
"Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace" produced by Lucasfilm
"Tune Up #1" (from Rent -- Original Broadway Cast Recording) written by Jonathan Larson and performed by Anthony Rapp & Adam Pascal

096 - Double Feature - Ringu (1998) & The Ring (2002) →

CW: Suicide, Filicide, Distressing Sequences involving Animals (Horses)

It’s a Double Feature Week on Pod Sematary! Chris & Kelsey only have seven days left since they watched two films with ticking death clocks! Thanks for the recommendation, Lou!

The Original: Ringu (1998)
“A reporter and her ex-husband investigate a cursed video tape that is rumored to kill the viewer seven days after watching it” (IMDb.com). With much more subtle storytelling than it's famous gaijin remake (if you discount all of the psychic stuff), this incredible original might have you wondering why they bothered remaking it in the first place.

The Remake: The Ring (2002)
“A journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death of anyone one week to the day after they view it” (IMDb.com). This very Americanized remake cuts the fat but adds on more mystery and visual flair. Is it more your cup of tea?

Get more at podsematary.com! Read our afterthoughts for this episode at https://twitter.com/PodSematary/status/1158569361973448704

Audio Sources:
"Bitch" (Key and Peele S01E01) produced by Monkeypaw Productions, et al.
"Feels Like 'Heaven'" written and performed by HIIH
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" produced by Python (Monty) Pictures, et al.
"Pet Sematary" written by Dee Dee Ramone & Daniel Rey and performed by The Ramones
"Pete's Dragon" produced by Walt Disney Productions
“The Ring” produced by Dreamworks, et al.
“Ringu” produced by Basara Pictures, et al.
"Science Fiction/Double Feature" written by Richard O'Brien & Richard Hartley and performed by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
"Split" produced by Universal Pictures, et al.
"Tune Up #1" written by Jonathan Larson and performed by Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal
"Tune Up #2" written by Jonathan Larson and performed by Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal
"Urban Legend" produced by Phoenix Pictures, et al.
"Weird Satanist Guy" via BowserVids @ www.youtube.com/watch?v=YErFwJX0HKE
"Why So Serious?" composed by Hans W. Zimmer