Caliber 9 From Outer Space

In the future, it's 2100. But it used to be 2027. But then, 70 years later, some people time travelled back to 1980. And after 20 years passed, our story begins. Don't worry, it doesn't matter what year it is. Just know that a very muscly lady needs to run around in the African desert while Chad Stahelski struggles not to die of heat exhaustion in a very top-heavy robot suit. In this bonus episode, we continue Project Nemeses with the first of many sequels, Nemesis 2: Nebula (1995), directed again by Albert Pyun. Ted is with Rob and Joe again, and they all struggle valiantly (or not so valiantly, as the case may be) to make sense of what should be pretty straightforward but somehow isn't. Luckily, no one really watches one of these movies for its plot. Given all that, we don't bother with Spoiler Territory this week. We don't even know what year it is, so don't worry about being too well informed by this episode. Want to get in touch? You can reach us on caliber9fromouterspace@gmail.com Theme music: "The Cold Light of Day" by HKM. Check out HKM on #SoundCloud or Bandcamp "Search and Destroy" by Peaches

Stephen Frears is not an habitual purveyor of the sort of cult cinema we usually cover on this show. But we do love our noir, and Frears does have two outstanding neo-noirs in his filmography, so why not knock them both off the list in one episode? Bryce joins us to discuss The Grifters (1990), along with Frears' earlier effort, The Hit (1984). This is noir with an emphasis on existential. And his Oscar-nominated Grifters may have been an establishment darling, but adapted by Donald Westlake from a Jim Thompson novel, it has a hell of a crime fiction pedigree, and goes to some incredibly dark places. We will be announcing a Spoiler Territory section for both films, so if you haven't seen them before you listen, you can nevertheless avoid spoilers for The Grifters by skipping ahead to the 1:30:59 mark, and for The Hit by skipping ahead to 2:29:02. Want to get in touch? You can reach us on caliber9fromouterspace@gmail.com Theme music: "The Cold Light of Day" by HKM. Check out HKM on #SoundCloud or Bandcamp "Magdalena 318" by the Pixies

Primordial legends from the mists of time and fever dreams of imminent apocalypse. Our good friend Dallas Norvell drops by Casa Calibro to discuss Excalibur (1981), directed by John Boorman and Holocaust 2000 (1977), directed by Alberto de Martino (this film is sometimes also known as The Chosen or Rain of Fire). Boorman's passion project based on Mallory's La Morte d'Artur is a heady mix of magic, myth and just a hint of disco. Meanwhile, Kirk Douglas goes completely out of his mind in an attempt to ward off the end of the world. It's a bit of a trip this week, is what I'm trying to say. We don't think it's really possible to spoil a movie based on a 500 year old text concerning a legend more than a thousand years old, so no Spoiler Territory for Excalibur. We do, however, call out Spoiler Territory for Holocaust 2000 (although honestly, it probably doesn't matter). If you want to skip ahead from that point, you can rejoin the conversation at the 2:29:14 mark to avoid spoilers. Want to get in touch? You can reach us on caliber9fromouterspace@gmail.com Theme music: "The Cold Light of Day" by HKM. Check out HKM on #SoundCloud or Bandcamp "Albion" by Pearls

Bird season is OVER, butthorns!!! This week, we have lined up two films which tried to establish Gary Busey as the action movie hero du jour. Unfortunately, they kinda flopped, but we think they're more fun than leaping onto Danny Trejo from the top of a building. First up: Eye of the Tiger (1986), directed by Richard C. Sarafian, and then the wonder of Bulletproof (1988), directed by Steve Carver. We have a full house to discuss these movies, with not one, not two, but three guests: Bryce, Dr Ethan and Sammy all drop in to take part in the fun. Let's just say, plot is not really the reason to watch either of these films. so we won't be announcing a Spoiler Territory section for either of them. Want to get in touch? You can reach us on caliber9fromouterspace@gmail.com Theme music: "The Cold Light of Day" by HKM. Check out HKM on #SoundCloud or Bandcamp "Edge of Seventeen" by Stevie Nicks

Have ya paid your dues, Jack? Yessir, the check is in the mail. It must be Conflict-in-Asian-Enclave Week this week, as Andy joins us in checking out a couple of well paired and much loved cult classics: Big Trouble in Little China (1986), directed by the great John Carpenter, and Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), directed by Mark L. Lester. More bromance than romance but more than enough ass-kicking to satisfy anyone. Get ready to rumble! Fair warning: we go into the plots of both films in some detail, including the endings, but we feel like these movies are somewhat unspoilable, so we won't be announcing a Spoiler Territory section for either of them. Want to get in touch? You can reach us on caliber9fromouterspace@gmail.com Theme music: "The Cold Light of Day" by HKM. Check out HKM on #SoundCloud or Bandcamp "China Girl" by Iggy Pop

Another bumper episode, another double feature of lesser-loved James Bond movies. This week we check out a Connery and a Brosnan: Diamonds Are Forever (1971), directed by Guy Hamilton, and The World is Not Enough (1999), directed by Michael Apted. Sean Connery was getting a little tired of Bond at this point (to say the least), and Pierce Brosnan's Bond films seemed tired almost before they got started... but are these films as bad as their reputations suggest? Stick around for our Bond Tropewatch segment, where we rate each of these films against the checklist of standard Bond tropes to see which fares best! Fair warning: we go into the plots of both films in some detail, including the endings, but we feel like James Bond is somewhat unspoilable in general, so we won't be announcing a Spoiler Territory section for either of these films. Want to get in touch? You can reach us on caliber9fromouterspace@gmail.com Theme music: "The Cold Light of Day" by HKM. Check out HKM on #SoundCloud or Bandcamp "The World is Not Enough" by Straw

Forgive us for posting a slightly ramshackle bonus episode, but we thought some of you might like to hear how this year's Joefest was going! Joefest is a private film festival we run every year in the depths of the British wintertime, when there's nothing better to do than sit inside and watch weird movies from the wilder side of cinema. In this episode, Al and Ali join us to quickly run over the films we've watched and what we thought of them. Want to get in touch? You can reach us on caliber9fromouterspace@gmail.com Here's the full list of this year's feature films: Twisted Pair (2018), dir. Neil Breen The Outwaters (2022), dir. Robbie Banfitch Alucarda (1977), dir. Juan Lopez Moctezuma Champagne and Bullets (1993), dir. John De Hart Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), dir. John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, George Miller The Cassandra Crossing (1976), dir. George P. Cosmatos Flesh Feast (1970), dir. Brad F. Grinter Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself With Tea (1977), dir. Jindrich Polak Death Run (1987), dir. Michael J. Murphy Junk Head (2017) dir. Takahide Hori The Kindred (1987), dir. Stephen Carpenter & Jeffrey Obrow Angel Dust (1994), dir. Gakuryu Ishii Night of Death (1980), dir. Raphael Delpard Night Angel (1990), dir. Dominique Othenin-Girard Angel in the Night (1988), dir. Hernando Name Take a Hard Ride (1975). dir. Antonio Margheriti The Hourglass Sanatorium (1973), dir. Wojcech Has The Demon's Baby (1998), dir. Kant Leung Theme music: "The Cold Light of Day" by HKM. Check out HKM on #SoundCloud or Bandcamp "Nightcall" by Kavinsky

In the future... it pays to be more than human. And it also pays quite well to be more than machine. What can I tell you, the future is highly discriminatory. In this bonus episode, Ted joins Rob and Joe to make a bit of a mess of explaining the plot of Nemesis (1992), directed by Albert Pyun. Cyborgs, bullets, bottoms, and dusters with shades - it's the quintessence of dystopian trashy sci-fi action. Given how challenged we were by the impenetrable plot, which is of secondary importance at best, anyway, we simply don't bother with Spoiler Territory this week. Meaning, we do talk about the whole plot, but honestly it doesn't really matter. Want to get in touch? You can reach us on caliber9fromouterspace@gmail.com Theme music: "The Cold Light of Day" by HKM. Check out HKM on #SoundCloud or Bandcamp "Killer" by CHVRCHES

We're chock full of punk energy this week! RP Fox joins us as we check out Hard Core Logo (1996) directed by Bruce McDonald, and Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979) directed by Allan Arkush. A tragicomic road trip across western Canada with thrashing guitars, personal demons, toxic masculinity and lots of gobbing, followed by an absurdist slice of Greaseploitation from the house of Corman, but with added Ramones - which doesn't make much sense but is of course a wonderful thing regardless. It's not really possible to spoil Rock 'n' Roll High School, but we will call out Spoiler Territory for Hard Core Logo. If you want to skip ahead from that point, you can rejoin the conversation at the 1:34:07 mark to avoid spoilers. Want to get in touch? You can reach us on caliber9fromouterspace@gmail.com Theme music: "The Cold Light of Day" by HKM. Check out HKM on #SoundCloud or Bandcamp "I Just Want to Have Something to Do" by The Ramones

We revisit the dream of the freakadelic 60's this week with a couple of films which both celebrate and mourn the spirit of the age. Mark Evans of Sonic Coins + Icons joins us to discuss Easy Rider (1969), directed by Dennis Hopper and The Trip (1967), directed by Roger Corman. Bikes, weed, LSD, hippies and rednecks abound. Tune in, turn on, and drop out. We don't think you can really spoil The Trip, which is literally too tripped out to bother with a storyline, but we will call out Spoiler Territory for Easy Rider. If you want to skip ahead from that point, you can rejoin the conversation at the 1:21:16 mark to avoid spoilers. Want to get in touch? You can reach us on caliber9fromouterspace@gmail.com Theme music: "The Cold Light of Day" by HKM. Check out HKM on #SoundCloud or Bandcamp Our closing music this week comes courtesy of Sonic Coins + Icons and their track "Beneath the Veil" (M. Evans) © 2025. Their new album Sohar is available at all the usual places: iTunes, Spotify, etc Mark's great music can also be explored via the following links: https://scicons.co.uk/ https://soniccoinsicons.bandcamp.com Threads Instagram Facebook Soundcloud

Days of future past - in the total utopia of 2026, we can now look back and laugh fondly at the dystopic cyberpunk visions of the 1990's... OR CAN WE??? Nick Langdon drops in this week to check out a pair of high-tech / low life visions from the mid-90s, when William Gibson's words weighed heavy on the sci-fi genre. We start with Strange Days (1995) directed by Kathryn Bigelow, and follow it up with Johnny Mnemonic (1995) directed by Robert Longo. Download, plug your SQUID in, and tune out... It's not really possible to spoil Johnny Mnemonic, but we will call out Spoiler Territory for Strange Days (although it's possible Rob does heavily hint who the killer is early on). If you want to skip ahead from that point, you can rejoin the conversation at the 1:31:37 mark to avoid spoilers. Want to get in touch? You can reach us on caliber9fromouterspace@gmail.com Theme music: "The Cold Light of Day" by HKM. Check out HKM on #SoundCloud or Bandcamp "Wires" by Athlete

Happy New Year, folks! The party's heating up at our place: Luigi Pistilli is still looking a little moody, but Steve James is benchpressing Geoffrey Keen (much to his chagrin), Henry Silva and Lance Henriksen are grinning evilly at each other, and Andrea Bianchi is getting a bit gropey (I think Charles Bronson has noticed and he's about to do something violent). So we figured we'd duck out of the festivities long enough to count down our Top 5 first-time watches of 2025 for you. Just a quick episode before we head back and launch into Auld Lang Syne. See you later this week for the first episode of Season 3!!! Want to get in touch? You can reach us on caliber9fromouterspace@gmail.com Theme music: "The Cold Light of Day" by HKM. Check out HKM on #SoundCloud or Bandcamp

It's absolute chaos here this week, as Ted Bennett stands in for Joe and we welcome Heather Drain back to talk about some truly insane 1980's cult comedies. First up, little-known John Cusack and Tim Robbins vehicle, Tapeheads (1988), directed by Bill Fishman and then, hold on to your coffee cups and look out for holes in the wall, because we collectively lose our shit while discussing Jackie Kong's Night Patrol (1984).... and that may or may not be because the film is any good. Let's just say, plot is not really the reason to watch either of these films, so we won't be announcing a Spoiler Territory section for either of them. Obviously, you can always expect a little blue language on our show, but fair warning: we get a little... how you say?... ribald, on this one. Want to get in touch? You can reach us on caliber9fromouterspace@gmail.com Theme music: "The Cold Light of Day" by HKM. Check out HKM on #SoundCloud or Bandcamp "Baby Doll" by Devo