Exorcism Episode 2: The Exorcist 2: The Heretic (1977)

After the success and massive critical praise earned by The Exorcist, the obvious sequel was produced four years later. The Exorcist 2: The Heretic attempts to rewrite the back story from the original, recasting Regan's possessor as the evil demon Pazuzu rather than Satan himself. With total disregard for this awful sequel, Movie Bonfire instead seeks out the original figure of Pazuzu at the Oriental Institute on the University of Chicago campus and has a conversation with the little guy (shown below).


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The future Zach?

Exorcism Episode 1: The Exorcist (1973)

The understood champion in the competition for "scariest movie of all time" is the first film we take on for our new Exorcism marathon, guaranteeing that the remaining films in this marathon will be anticlimactic. Though The Exorcist itself may be talked to death by various film scholars, movie buffs, and probably even your mom, Movie Bonfire takes a stab at it (with a crucifix, no less). In our longest episode yet, the religious themes of the movie are explored by an atheist, a Catholic, and one guy who can never make up his mind.


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Cronenberg Episode 7: Dead Ringers (1988)

For our final episode in the David Cronenberg marathon, we present the 1988 film Dead Ringers. Here Cronenberg adds his own spin on the true story of twin gynecologists found dead in their apartment in New York. Jeremy Irons plays both brothers and shows his acting chops (take a look at those tools in the picture to the right, he definitely shows some "chops"). By any measure this is a disturbing film, touching on standard Cronenberg themes such as flesh, sexuality, technology, and science, all with a little bit of gore thrown in for good measure. Join us as we sign off on our Cronenberg marathon and each rate our experience with the past seven movies.


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Next Marathon?

Cronenberg Episode 6: The Fly (1986)

The Fly is what happens when Cronenberg gets his hands on a decent story and hires some decent actors. He's back in his element with all the technofear and cartoonish gore. All three of us liked this one and pretty much agree that it's a classic. Goldblum is awesome and the drug metaphor takes this film to the next level artistically. Remake? What? Why? Where? Who? Crazy.


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Cronenberg Episode 5: The Dead Zone (1983)

David Cronenberg alters his standard filmmaking model for a Stephen King adaptation. Like most Stephen King adaptations, The Dead Zone doesn't quite jibe as a film, though Christopher Walken is dead-on as Johnny Smith. For once we all mostly agree, or maybe it's just that Zach and Will agree and Bracken is too agreeable to really start a yelling match. Two more Cronenberg films left in this series.


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A MB Diatribe on Avatar and the State of Movie Theatres in General

In this episode, we started to talk about James Cameron's blockbuster Avatar (we're always there with your up-to-the-minute topics) but got sidetracked into a lengthy, and ultimately much more interesting, discussion on the pros and cons of going to a theatre to see a movie or watching it at home. Is the movie theatre dying? (doubtful) Is Avatar one big gimmick? (blasphemy) Are there any movies that Will Carter actually likes?! (yes, one) Listen to this episode to hear two movie nerds yell at each other and a movie nerd moderator attempt to find middle ground.


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Cronenberg Episode 4: Videodrome (1983)

In the year that one of the Movie Bonfire podcasters was born, David Cronenberg made this twisted indictment of television and media. As a sleazy cable channel executive James Woods is always looking for the next "hot" thing to broadcast to his viewers. When he stumbles upon a bootleg version of a torture show (what many of today's viewers might dub "torture porn") he thinks he might be on to something. Videodrome is a prediction of a future in which reality and television intertwine so that no one knows what's real and what's fabricted any more. In the course of the podcast, we made sure to argue about such important topics as which film critics to trust, Beta vs. VHS, and what the true definition of "art" is.


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