Eros + Massacre

For the second part of my ongoing series about Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Clara from Angura Research Center was kind enough to return to the show. You might remember her from the episode we did together on Shuji Terayama, but she’s also a huge Kurosawa fan. We had a lot to say about the horror films and thrillers he made at the beginning of the 2000s: Séance (2000), Pulse (2001), Bright Future (2002), Doppelganger (2003), and the short film Matasaburo the Wind Imp (2003). I think you can tell from the episode that we could truly have just kept talking about Kurosawa forever and are both dazzled by him. There are also some shout outs to Seijun Suzuki, Koji Wakamatsu, Masao Adachi, and a free Palestine. You can find Clara’s important work as a writer and translator at her Angura Research Center site and YouTube channel! Here’s a direct link to the interview she mentions where Terayama discusses the influence of Surrealist Rene Magritte. And I say this in the very end of the episode, but Kurosawa’s new film, The Samurai and the Prisoner, will be out in select theaters in the US on July 31!

The greatest of all time, Meiko Kaji, recently came to NYC for a retrospective of her work at Japan Society, so naturally I had to celebrate with a podcast episode in her honor. This is a solo outing, where I discuss the Stray Cat Rock series, which Kaji made for Nikkatsu. It launched her to countercultural stardom and was her last major project for the studio before departing for Toei in 1972 where she went on to greater heights with a series of crime and revenge films. I discuss the five film series: Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss (1970), Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo (1970), Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter (1970), Stray Cat Rock: Machine Animal (1970), and Stray Cat Rock: Beat ’71 (1971). These are incredibly stylish and often whimsical, though only loosely connected stories of girl gangs, their battles with rival male gangs, racism, the American occupation in Japan, drug use, the Tokyo nightclub scene, and freewheeling hippies. Kaji doesn’t play a recurring character (as in the better known Female Prisoner Scorpion series), but different iterations of a cool, charismatic gang boss and juvenile delinquent with a heart of gold. In the episode, I mention that my live interview with Kaji from March 28 will hopefully be up on Japan Society’s YouTube page soon (but there is a ton of great Japanese cinema content there already). I also mentioned this Meiko Kaji-inspired playlist which you can find here; I made this a few months ago for my Patreon, but it is a public playlist and perfect for spring weather.

I missed this podcast so much, but finishing a book while keeping on top of my commentary deadlines has been brutal. The episode title — as some of you have probably guessed — is a bit deceptive. This is all about my favorite new-to-me films of 2025 and it skews heavily towards East Asian cinema and towards crime thrillers. There are actually more contemporary films on here than I would have guessed, as well as some real wild cards (especially in the runners up section), but they are ALL BANGERS. Fair warning that a number of them are heavy on the violence, sexual violence, and/or gore. Some show notes! As mentioned in the episode, here is Kevin’s incredible list of all movies mentioned on Eros + Massacre. And in case you missed the news that there’s a new Discord, here is another invite (these links are only good for 24 hours, but just comment if you need a new one or email me at samm.deighan at gmail). Americans, please join in the nationwide general strike tomorrow (no work, no school, no shopping) to stop ICE. If you aren’t American, you can help by not buying from any US companies tomorrow.

It took me YEARS to make this episode happen, but I am finally triumphant, thanks to my generous and tolerant co-host, Keith Allison. You might remember him as my guest for our episode last year on beach party movies, or know him from his many years writing about cinema, including his book Cocktails and Capers: Cult Cinema, Cocktails, Crime, & Cool. Keith joined me to talk about one of my favorite things in the entire world, the Hammer Dracula series: Dracula (1958), The Brides of Dracula (1960), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), Scars of Dracula (1970), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973), and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974). As you might imagine, we have a LOT to say about the series, the evolution of Hammer horror, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, our favorite entries, lots of hot takes, and so on. Here is the trailer Keith mentioned for a fake TV show called The Van Helsing Mysteries.

This is an extra special episode near and dear to my heart, since Kenji Misumi has become one of my favorite directors, largely because of the Sword trilogy. Though his name may be unfamiliar to many of you, you have likely seen a few of his films: he directed most of the Lone Wolf and Cub series and many Zatoichi films. Longtime Criterion producer Curtis Tsui — who worked on both of those sets — joined me to discuss some of Misumi’s less frequently seen or discussed masterpieces. We briefly discuss the great Satan’s Sword (1960) trilogy, but focus mostly on his loosely connected Sword trilogy starring the wonderful Raizo Ichikawa, which includes Kiru (Destiny’s Son, 1962), the Yukio Mishima adaptation Ken (The Sword, 1964), and the supernatural-tinged Kenki (Sword Devil, 1965). We also spend a fair amount of time in the second half of the episode talking about his gothic, apocalyptic Devil’s Temple (1969), an adaptation of a play from ero guro master Jun’ichiro Tanizaki starring Shintaro Katsu (Zatoichi) as a horny, blood-soaked hedonist; and Internal Sleuth (1973), starring Katsu’s real-life brother Tomisaburo Wakayama (star of the Lone Wolf and Cub series) as a beleaguered detective up against a chaotic yakuza syndicate. We also very briefly bring up Misumi’s final film, the epic The Last Samurai (1974), which I wish we had more time to dive into. All of these films are incredible and come with the HIGHEST possible recommendation. Even if you’re not frothing at the mouth over chanbara films the way I am, all of these are masterclasses in filmmaking. I’m begging all of you to watch at least one of them.

Since we’re on the verge of summer, it seemed like the perfect time for my first episode on American sex comedies. After years of asking, I finally listened to reason and sat down with gentleman pervert Shawn Porter, who has been proselytizing to me about the joys of Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1986) for far too long. You might remember Shawn from the Jamie Gillis episode of Twitch of the Death Nerve, but he also runs the body modification archive Sacred Debris, an important resource documenting the history of tattooing, piercing, other body mods, which focuses on a lot of folks in the queer and leather communities. But he’s also the world’s biggest Hamburger: The Motion Picture fan. We spend most of the episode talking about just how surreal, absurd, and incredible it is — it follows a class of hopefuls who attend a fast food university and is part sex comedy and part satire of American capitalism. We also discuss Hot Dog… The Movie (1984) and the connections between the two, Tarot cards, Road House, Porky’s, Hard Bodies, The Mutilator, Cheech and Chong’s Nice Dreams, Summer School, Waterpower, Better Off Dead, my hatred for John Hughes, and so much more. This episode is tasty, by God, though I should warn you that there’s a lot of laughing (and I actually cried with laughter while trying to edit it). If you have trouble finding Hamburger: The Motion Picture, I will help you out of that pickle.

Ditch class, rev your engines, sharpen your switchblades, and roll up some reefer! Extremely patient friend of the show Byron Lueders joined me for this episode that we recorded four score and seven years ago (or at least that’s how long it feels), all about American teenage girl gang films in the 1950s and ’60s. In the episode, we focus primarily on Girl Gang (1954), Teenage Crime Wave (1955), One Way Ticket to Hell (1955), The Violent Years (1956), Teenage Doll (1957), The Delinquents (1957), Live Fast, Die Young (1958), and Teenage Gang Debs (1966). We discuss: the rise of “teenager” culture in postwar America and how many of these films suggest that the America dream is toxic garbage; class warfare; the horrors of the Hays Code; teen partying and drug use on screen; proto-exploitation cinema; directors like Robert Altman, Roger Corman, and Paul Henreid (?!); and of course we have a lot of say about eyeliner, custom biker jackets, and 1950s hairstyles. Follow Byron on Instagram at @byronlueders and check out his new bootleg shirt shop here!

It’s spring equinox and Eros + Massacre is emerging from hibernation! This first episode of 2025 is a discussion with cinema historian Tom Mes. He’s an international treasure and many of you were likely introduced to some incredible Japanese films due to his exhaustive writing and research and his site Midnight Eye. He just released a new book, Japanese Film and the Challenge of Video, and works with blu-ray companies like Arrow and Radiance as a producer on many of their Japanese cinema releases. Be sure to check out his latest lovechild with Arrow, V-Cinema Essentials: Bullets & Betrayal (for which I was honored to contribute a video essay), and Radiance releases like Elegant Beast and A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness (immense thanks to Tom for hiring me to do the commentary!), among many more. Needless to say, this episode is all about Japanese V-cinema, a really underrated direct-to-video subgenre that emerged in Japan in the late ’80s and throughout the ’90s and spanned everything from crime and horror films to romances and comedies. I wanted to list out some of the names and titles we talk about in the episode, to make them easier to find. Directors we mention: Yasuharu Hasebe, Toshiharu Ikeda, Shunichi Nagasaki, Sogo Ishii, Kazuhiro Kiuchi, Takashi Miike, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Banmei Takahashi, Rokurō Mochizuki; also actors Yūsaku Matsuda, Shô Aikawa, and Riki Takeuchi. Some key films/series mentioned: Carlos (1991), Stranger (1991), Crime Hunter (1989), Neo Chinpira: Zoom Goes the Bullet (1990), Suit Yourself or Shoot Yourself series, The King of Minami series, The Outer Way (1998), and Yakuza Taxi (1994).

My sweet Yuletide angels, here is the other two-part episode I’m shoehorning into this December. I’ll have the second part up later this week (though it will be on my Patreon earlier) so you all have something to listen to when you’re driving to and fro family holiday events this week. I have been absolutely dying to do an episode on the BBC’s original Ghost Stories for Christmas series. I’m grateful it finally happened because this was such a joy and I was thankful to find a cohost insane enough to agree to watch and discuss everything on my list, Will Dodson. Will is an academic focusing on film and media studies and some of you might know him from his special features work on various blu-rays with Ryan Verril (find a complete list of their work here). He’s also edited a number of film books, namely American Twilight: The Cinema of Tobe Hooper. In this first part, we discuss the precursor film, Whistle and I’ll Come to You (1968), as well as the first five official Ghost Stories for Christmas episodes: The Stalls of Barchester (1971), A Warning to the Curious (1972), Lost Hearts (1973), The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974), and The Ash Tree (1975). All of these are adaptations of M.R. James stories, so we talk a lot about him as well — ghost stories and folk horror would not be the same without him. Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and I hope Santa brings you a lot of ghost stories this year!

After a much needed break, I’m back! I have been DYING to do a few podcast episodes on underrated Japanese master Teruo Ishii and Chris Haskell (from the They Live By Film and Punk Vacation podcasts) was kind enough to agree to my insane demand that we cover all the films in Ishii’s Joys of Torture series. Ishii directed seven films in 1968 and 1969 for Toei that explore torture, sexual obsession, sadism, toxic relationships, crime, and debauchery in a series of movies that are only thematically connected (plus one loose “sequel” made by Yuji Makiguchi in 1976). Some of these are anthology films, others are standalone tales; most are period set, while a few are contemporary. I decided to split this in two parts because we had so much to say, so this first episode is an introduction to the series and Ishii, and covers Tokugawa: Women’s Genealogy (1968), Shogun’s Joy of Torture (1968), and Orgies of Edo (1969). If you want to watch along but are struggling with where to locate some of these, email me at samm.deighan@gmail.com and I can help you out. Thanks as always to Cinepunx and please rate, review, follow, and share! And stay tuned for part 2 of this Ishii episode in just a few days.

Andrew Nette, my co-editor on Revolution in 35mm, joined me for this rather intense episode about Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers (1966). We talk a lot about the film’s powerful impact, the Algerian struggle for independence from French colonial occupation, the cost and effectiveness of violence, Pontecorvo’s time in the Italian resistance during WWII, his career more broadly, and the use of The Battle of Algiers as a training tool for political radicals. We also discuss films made around the same time that addressed the war, particularly Youssef Chahine’s incredible Jamila, The Algerian (1958). In addition to being one of the only films in cinema history to focus on a female freedom fighter as central to a battle for independence, it was also one of the only film actually made during the Algerian War and from a North African country. And Jean-Luc Godard’s forgotten and neglected Le petit soldat (1960) also makes an appearance. You can find Andrew at @pulpcurry on social media and here on his website! And of course you can find our book here from PM Press. Thanks as always to Cinepunx and please rate, review, follow, and share!

It broke my heart that the absolutely wonderful Donald Sutherland died this summer, even though he lived a long, extremely full life, so I knew I needed to do an episode on some aspect of his sprawling career. Robert Skvarla was kind enough to join me to talk about some of Sutherland’s thriller films from the 1970s and ’80s. We focused primarily on Alan Pakula’s Klute (1971), but also discussed Bob Clark’s Murder By Decree (1979), Richard Marquand’s Eye of the Needle (1981), and naturally brought up a host of other related films like Don’t Look Now and my new favorite, The Disappearance (1977). One of my love languages is listening to Rob talk about conspiracy theories, so there is a lot of that in here, ranging from Sutherland’s own experience with radical politics and activism in the ’70s, as well as a broader history of FBI surveillance. You can find Rob here on Twitter (where he is famous) and here on Instagram. And you can see us together for the Revolution in 35mm book launch in Philadelphia at PhilaMOCA later this month on September 25. Here’s an obligatory reminder that my upcoming book Revolution in 35mm is up for preorder through PM Press and is on its way out in the world this September! Thanks as always to Cinepunx and please rate, review, follow, and share!

I have been wanting to do an episode on American International Pictures’ beach party series with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello FOR YEARS. I absolutely love these films and I’m so grateful to my pal Keith Allison, a film and pop culture writer, for going on this long and very sandy journey with me. We talk about what I consider the main films in the series — Beach Party (1963), Muscle Beach Party (1964), Bikini Beach (1964), Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965), and Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966) — and a lot of related topics like teen culture, surfer music, the innovations of American International Pictures, America in the ’60s, the ARKOFF formula, why Frankie and Annette do not remotely belong on a beach in California, and much much more. Keith wrote a great book that you should check out, Cocktails and Capers: Cult Cinema, Cocktails, Crime, & Cool, and you can find him here on Instagram. Here’s an obligatory reminder that my upcoming book Revolution in 35mm is up for preorder through PM Press and will be out in the world next week (!!!), so please spread the word! Thanks as always to Cinepunx and since this is a brand new show and it needs all the help it can get, please rate, review, follow, and share!