Casting The Net

There's really no way to talk about Nicholas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon without REALLY talking about it, so make sure you've already watched it (or not), because this episode is a SPOILER SUPREME!!!!! Celebrating its tenth anniversary as Refn is set to release his first feature since its release, Her Private Hell, later this summer, The Adorable Lil Hypebeast and I are discussing this dark and wildly ambitious thriller starring Elle Fanning as Jesse, a young girl who's come out to LA to pursue her dream of becoming a model and realizing how coveted her natural beauty truly is.  

An underseen gem of the post-Scream horror boom of the late 90s/early 2000s, we're diving into the Brittany Murphy starring slasher film Cherry Falls this week, as teenagers of a sleepy Virginia town find themselves at the mercy of a ruthless killer who seemingly only targets virgins. Deprived of a theatrical release, ultimately premiering on the USA Network, we discuss whether or not this particular slasher was too smart for its own good. 

We decided to keep the video game adaptation train rolling and cover an underseen "classic" from the mid-aughts, based on the popular Tecmo series Dead or Alive. When the best fighters in the world are invited to compete in a martial arts tournament, five of its female combatants will team up to get to discover their host's ulterior motives. Strap in for a whole lotta fighting, flirting, and just enough volleyball to keep things interesting! 

We knew we'd have to cover it at some point, as original Silent Hill director Christophe Gans returns with a new entry in the cinematic adaptation franchise based on the popular video game series after 20 whole-ass years with Return To Silent Hill. This time around, James Sunderland finds his way back to the mysterious town of Silent Hill on a search to reunite with his lost love Mary. It's not long before secrets of the past give way to supernatural horrors that James will  have to endure and overcome. 

The time has come for our Mark Dacascos Retrospective to come to an end (For now!), as we get to talking about what was meant to be his breakout role in Only The Strong. After being stationed in Brazil, soldier Louis Stevens returns to the inner city Florida high school he graduated from to teach a class of wayward youths about the dance-infused martial art of capoeira. Not only will he have to teach them to look past their differences, but he'll also have to content with the ruthless gangs influencing their lives. 

We're still showing love to Mark Dacascos as we discuss the 1997 action comedy Drive. As a Chinese super soldier on the run, Dacascos teams up with A Different World star Kadeem Hardison to face off agents the ruthless operatives of the corporation behind the technology that's turned him into an absolute badass. Throw in the chaotic energy of 90s era Brittany Murphy and a running gag involving a television show starring a super intelligent frog, and you've got one of the best straight-to-video action movies of the late 90s. 

The Mark Dacascos Retrospective continues this week, as we discuss the anime/manga adaptation Crying Freeman. In the directorial debut of French director Christophe Gans, Dacascos stars as Yoh, a brainwashed assassin who sheds a tear after every kill. Tasked with killing a young woman who's witnessed his latest contract, Yoh instead falls in love with her, and hopes to evade his enemies as well as those who are controlling him. 

For the first time since Clarissa (aka The Adorable Lil' Hypebeast) joined the podcast, your intrepid hosts have finally recorded an episode in person, to kick off 2026 right! We tried to hit up as many Philly cheesesteak spots as we could in the city of Brotherly Love, but we quickly learned our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. In any event, we're starting the new year by doing a series on the direct-to-video classics of Mister Mark Dacascos, starting with the 1996 film Sabotage; After being severely wounded during a rescue mission gone wrong, former Navy SEAL Mike Bishop finds himself caught in a conspiracy involving arms dealers, the CIA, and the mercenary who shot him during said rescue mission. 

We're closing out 2025 with a Netflix original film, as director Guillermo Del Toro brings Mary Shelley's science fiction/horror masterpiece Frankenstein to life like you've never seen it before. Oscar Issac stars as as the titular mad scientist, obsessed with creating life from death, only to succeed and ultimately regret his choices, while Jacob Elordi plays his creation, who wrestles with having no choice but to live seemingly without end and potentially alone. 

Covering a movie that surprisingly didn't have a wide release when it came out 20 years ago, we're talking about a movie instrumental in Robert Downey Jr's comeback, and the directorial debut of the screenwriter behind Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. After barging in on a movie audition to escape the police, New York City burglar Harry Lockhart is flown out to LA and paired with a private detective to learn the craft for his role, only to be roped up in a murder mystery while also connecting with an unrequited love from his past. Naturally. . . hilarity ensues as the bullets fly a-fancy free!  

Remember when the director of all those Saw sequels directed a dystopian sci-fi/horror nu-metal musical starring Paul Sorvino, Bill Mosley, Sarah Brightman, Giles from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and PARIS HILTON?!?!? This week, we're talking about Repo! The Genetic Opera, a fitting movie given our current healthcare woes, as the story posits a future where countless citizens suffer from organ failure, and have to get replacement organs from the megacorporation GeneCo on predatory payment plans. And should they even miss one payment . . . they'll send the Repo Man to collect their property violently . . . but with a song! 

The week, we're discussing the maybe-controversial Japanese action thriller from 2000, Battle Royale. Based on the novel by Koushun Takami, a group of high school students believing they're on a class trip are instead taken to an evacuated island and forced to engage in a brutal game of survival over a three-day period. Loyalties and friendships are tested as the classmates must fight each other to the death, for the privilege of being the last student standing, or be killed as well. **TW: This episode features discussion about suicide and sexual assault relating to underage characters .**

You have to hand it to the trailer for War of the Worlds informing audiences of its quality by including the line, "It's worse than you think." We finally got around to discussing one of the most talked about streaming releases of the year, and that talk has not been good, as Ice Cube stars in the latest adaptation of H.G. Wells' classic science fiction tale, as aliens descend upon our planet. Clearly shot during Covid in the style of movies like Searching and Unfriended, this new version of War of the Worlds shows us all the action through computer and mobile phone screens, as Ice Cube's Homeland Security surveillance tech character is on lockdown in his office while extraterrestrial attacks ravage the planet. 

Cast aside by Sony Pictures and rescued by Netflix, we're talking about the monster hit that is K-Pop Demon Hunters, bringing together vibrant animation, surprisingly catchy k-pop tunes and . . . a supernatural battle to protect the souls of all mankind from a horde of demons?!?! K-Pop superstars Rumi, Mira, and Zoey split their time between selling out stadiums and taking don't demons when they're faced with a whole new challenge, a rival K-Pop boyband, the secretly demonic Saja Boys, who are looking to beat them on the charts and the battlefield. 

Our resident Adorable Lil' Hypebeast Clarissa has us venturing back to Tubi to discuss the 2009 "horror" anthology film, The Telling, starring former Playboy Playmate Holly Madison and produced by fellow Playmate Bridget Marquardt. Forced to change their rules after the suicide of a previous pledge, a vain and vapid sorority forces their current pledges to tell them a collection of scary stories to see who will be worthy of joining their ranks. 

There's been a ton of stops and restarts along the way, times when I thought it would probably be best just to shut the whole thing down, but we finally made it to 200 episodes of Casting The Net! And to celebrate this momentous occasion, we're talking about the sequel to The Guyver, Guyver 2: Dark Hero! Sean Barker is back, facing off against a new army of zoanoids that threaten a team of archeologists who have made a discovery that may provide him with answers to the origins of the Guyver unit. 

An early 90s anime adaptation starring Mark Hamill as a biomechanical suit wearing superhero?!!? NOPE!!! but the movie cover sure tried to trick folks into thinking that! Other than Mark Hamill NOT being the actual hero of The Guyver, this is one of those straight-to-video adaptations of a Japanese IP that comes courtesy of the folks behind films like Society, Re-Animator, and Faust: Love of the Damned. After finding an alien weapon sought after by the nefarious Cronos Corporation, Sean Barker is inadvertently turned into The Guyver, and forced to face off against Cronos' monstrous cohorts, the Zoanoids. 

The Fear Street Saga continues! Following up on the success of the Fear Street Trilogy from 2021, Fear Street: Prom Queen sees a new group of teens, this time in 1988, having to contend with a savage killer looking to slay the competition for Shadyside High School's Prom Queen. There's plenty of blood and mayhem to go around, but maybe we could have done with a few more dance routines? 

We're finally diving deep into Netflix's Fear Street Trilogy and it is long overdue. Beginning in 1994, we're introduced to the rival towns of Shadyside and Sunnyvale, as a group of high schoolers are being terrorized by ghostly spirits tied the legends of a vengeful witch from the towns' shared history, Sarah Fier. This eventually puts them in contact with a survivor from a camp massacre in 1978 who witnessed a similar attack, with their shared horrors tying back to the origins of Sarah Fier in 1666. We had plenty to talk about when it came to this adaptation of the works of RL Stine, from the music to the fashion, and the surprisingly graphic kills. From start to finish, the team behind these three films did not pull any punches!

I guess it was only a matter of time before we covered some good old fashioned Japanese splatterpunk on the show, as we discuss Psycho Gothic Lolita this week. Led on a path for revenge by her father, Yuki hunts down an assortment and formidable foes, dispatching them in increasingly absurd and gory fashion, all while dressed to the nines and carrying a handy parasol. 

Gone far too soon, Val Kilmer recently passed away at the age of 65, and we thought it only fitting to  cover one of his most underrated performances in the David Mamet-directed film Spartan. After the president's daughter is abducted, military instructor Robert Scott is called in to investigate, leading to a series of events uncovering possible corruption within the Secret Service in addition to stumbling upon an international network of human traffickers.

We've been threatening to cover the Netflix film Uglies for month, and now it's time to make good. Based on the YA dystopian future novel, Joey King stars in this film where all teenagers get operations on their 16th birthday to look more physically attractive and be elevated to a higher societal status, and not be deemed "ugly". But there are those who choose not to have the operation and live out in the woods away from the cold conformist rule of the city. Thankfully, most of them are already ridiculously attractive even without the benefit of surgical enhancement. Trust me, we get into it with this one! 

Realized we had this one in the archives since last fall, but we're finally putting out our episode on Sophia Coppola's The Bling Ring, a dramatization of the true story of a group of teenagers who decided to break into the homes of a handful of young celebrities, seemingly out of sheer boredom. As you can probably guess, the recommendation to cover this came courtesy of the Adorable Lil' Hypebeast herself, who loves her a good "Be Gay, Do Crime" flick! 

So how does this straight-to-streaming reboot of the Dark Horse Comics character Hellboy measure up against its two previous theatrically released interpretations? I'm joined on the podcast by my good friend and Hellboy fan Will Austin to discuss Hellboy: The Crooked Man, as our favorite demonic paranormal investigator crosses paths with witches and demons in 1950s Appalachia. Teamed with a rookie agent from the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, and a young war veteran, the trio will have to face off against a sinister entity known as The Crooked Man, and make no mistake, he is as creepy as he is crooked . . . 

In the wake of The Matrix, A LOT of virtual reality-themed movies went overlooked in the late 90s/early 2000s, but this week we're talking about one of the strangest which came courtesy of one of Canada's most certified freaks David Cronenberg. eXistenZ takes gaming to a new level, but when its game designer and her security detail are targeted by anti-virtual reality extremists, they'll have to go inside her game to find out the truth behind the attempt on her life. And because it's Cronenberg, there's gonna be a lot of weird stuff with orifices . . . just warning you right now!  

I know some of us out there have been hating this winter season, so allow us to heat things up as we talk about the Netflix original holiday romance film Hot Frosty. Lacey Chabert plays a widowed diner owner who inexplicably transforms a snowman in the center of her town into a living, breathing hunk who just wants to make her life easier. It's certainly something we don't usually see from the Holiday Movie Industrial Complex. 

Too much blood? Or not enough? That's the questions we're asking on this week's episode, as we cover one of the most "2000s" indie genre movies of the year 2000 based on a cult indie comic from the 80s, Faust: Love of the Damned. Contemplating suicide after the murder of his lover, John Jasper's is given the power to exact bloody revenge, and all it will cost him is . . . HIS IMMORTAL SOUL!!!! Make no mistake, even if you think you know what you're gonna get from a movie directed by the guy who produced Re-Animator and a special effects lead named "Screaming Mad George", trust me you have no idea! Definitely don't play this episode, or watch this movie around children! 

When people talk about hidden gems, you really don't get more hidden of a gem than a 1940s supernatural crime noir thriller from 1991, starring Fred Ward, Clancy Brown, David Warner, and Julianne Moore, produced by Gale Anne Hurd, directed by Goldeneye and Casino Royale's Martin Campbell, and we an HBO original movie! This week, we dove deep into Cast A Deadly Spell, as Fred Ward plays private detective Harry P. Lovecraft, who's been hired to find a sacred text known as the Necronomicon. And being one of the few people in the city who doesn't use magic nor is he a supernatural creature, it may just be his toughest case yet. 

It's the week after Thanksgiving, but we hope you're all still hungry. This week we're covering the Blumhouse Prime Original House of Spoils, as Ariana Debose plays an ambitious chef looking to make a name for herself. Hoping to turn a cozy inn into a fine dining restaurant, she quickly finds inspiration in the woods around the property, but also finds herself plagued by haunting visions that may threaten to drive her mad. 

Haven't done a Tangent episode in a minute! And what better time to do one for Early 2000s horror than . . . three weeks AFTER Halloween! In any event, We dive as deep as we can with this week's ep, and we'll make sure to pick up the slack on some glaring omissions, in future episodes. But whether you're a fan of supernatural thrillers, torture porn, horror remakes, or foreign horror, we've got you covered for the most part! 

After 30 years, Axel Foley as at it again, as Eddie Murphy returns to arguably his most famous role for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. This time Detroit's "finest" must return to the west coast after his daughter is threatened and Billy Rosewood goes missing after they start digging into a drug case. But after all this time, can Axel's old tricks still get the job done? And can Eddie Murphy still bring the funny while balancing the thrills we remember from the earlier entries in the franchise? 

From the director of Dead Alive and Meet The Feebles comes . . . the true crime tale of two teenage girls' burgeoning friendship leading to straight up matricide in 1950s New Zealand? This week, I'm correcting a major blind spot the films directed by Peter Jackson that I've seen, with Clarissa's first recommendation for the show, 1994's Heavenly Creatures. The cinematic debut for both Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey, this is easily one of the most fascinating biopics that I've seen in a while, and definitely one of the most imaginatively shot films of the 90s. 

Nice to see a new spin on the "I have to do '(X) Task' to keep my ex-wife from moving her and our child out of state!" trop, as Jamie Foxx plays a freelance vampire hunter in the Netflix action movie Day Shift. In need of some fast cash, Foxx's Bud Jablonsky begs his way back into the vampire hunters' union, but things get complicated when he runs afoul of an ambitious uber-vampire who's hatched a real-estate scheme to benefit her kind in a big way. Me and guest host Glenn Lawrence of Level Up Comedy also found time in this episode to address Marvel Studios' own issues in rebooting a certain vampire hunting character of their own. (Deadpool & Wolverine cameos notwithstanding). 

Who doesn't want to watch J.Lo fight self-aware androids in a mech suit?!?! This week, we're covering the Netflix original Atlas, as Jennifer Lopez has to form an unlikely bond with an AI program, in the hopes of stopping another AI program from wiping out all humanity! Honestly, this is a surprisingly straightforward premise! 

When you wanted to cover a specific film for its 25th anniversary, but it's not available on streaming, so you cover another film for its 25th anniversary . . . that's only available (unofficially) on YouTube! Joining us once again, and most likely for the foreseeable future, Clarissa Westphal Nogueira is back on the pod to talk about Kevin Smith's irreverent faith-based comedy Dogma and Hollywood's weird fascination with religious thrillers in the late 90s and early aughts. And after 25 years, how does the film hold up, as it tells the story of two wayward angels trying to re-enter Heaven, not realizing that it could unmake all existence?

With the 30th anniversary of The Crow this year coinciding with the long-gestating reboot finally seeing release later this summer, I thought I'd be "fun" to bring back my good friend Clarissa to discuss the direct-to-video entries in the original Crow franchise, and the franchise as a whole. We certainly had our opinions on these films, and some of those opinions surprised even me! 

What better way to celebrate Christmas . . . then by covering a Halloween horror movie!!! This week, I'm joined by my good friend and fellow horror fiend, Jen Johns, to discuss the latest from director David Slade (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night, Hannibal) Dark Harvest. In a sleepy midwestern town in the early 1960s, there is an annual tradition where the teenage boys of the town are tasked with hunting down the demonic Sawtooth Jack. If one boy manages to stop Jack before he can enter the town church on Halloween night, his family will be rewarded with a new home in a more prosperous neighborhood. But if all the boys fail, the entire town will have to suffer. And when Ritchie, the younger brother of the previous year's winner sets out to hunt down Sawtooth Jack himself, he'll have to overcome more than a few hurdles, before even factoring in the chances of Sawtooth Jack tearing him to pieces, should he not prove to be a worthy competitor. 

Did we really leave y'all without any new episodes for a whole year?!?! There really is no excuse that's gonna cut it, but hopefully you'll fix your ears to check out this brand new episode on David Fincher's latest, The Killer. Join me and guest host Chris Farmer, as we discuss this taut cerebral globetrotting thriller, as Michael Fassbender plays a hitman who's good at his job . . . until he isn't, leading him on a path for revenge, while trying to stick to his many rules and routines. 

What better way to follow up our episode on the Hulu Hellraiser reboot, than finally subjecting myself to the Dimension Films direct-to-video era of the franchise! Inspired by my fellow horror fan Clarissa Westphal Nogueira,  I took on this daunting task so we could discuss the films, from Inferno to . . . . Revelations, and figure out if any of them had any redeeming qualities, or of they were all the piles of garbage the horror community has tried to convince us they are. Even I have to admit, I was a little surprised by some of our final thoughts. 

What's your pleasure, listeners? The classic tale by Clive Barker gets a much needed reboot with Hulu's new interpretation of Hellraiser. My good friend (and a far bigger Clive Barker fan in general than me) Sasha Munro joins me to talk about this new film, that follows troubled young Riley as she comes into possession of a puzzle box that threatens to take her down an even darker path than she could have ever imagined, opening a  doorway to a supernatural realm, where strange and grotesque beings have such sights to show her.  Sasha Munro on YouTubeSasha Munro on TwitterSasha Munro On Facebook

 The Predator franchise is back to top form with the release of Prey, which released straight to Hulu recently, so you know we had to talk about it. This week, I'm joined by my good friend Philip A. Henery from the In The Black Podcast, to talk about the Prey, the Predator Franchise in general, and discuss why this new film has had the impact it's had. Taking place in the 1700s, Prey follows Naru, a younger hunter looking to prove herself within her tribe, only to be faced with the ultimate challenge, as an alien hunter has come to Earth to stalk its own prey. Check out more from In The Black Podcast here: https://www.intheblackpodcast.com/And follow In The Black Podcast on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InTheBlackPdcst

Every now and then, you just need to talk about a movie that actually had a wide theatrical release in theaters, especially when it's already been released on streaming after six weeks! Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is already available on Disney +, so there's definitely wiggle room to discuss the Marvel Studios sequel and return of genre director Sam Raimi, after almost a decade. Joining me on this episode, I brought on my good friends Stephanie Jordan and fellow podcaster/voiceover actor Sabrina Mapp, to get into all the spoilery goodness of Doctor Strange's latest adventure. Plagued by nightmares of the multiverse, Stephen Strange discovers a young girl with the power to travel between universes, and that there's a malevolent force trying to steal that power for themselves. As you can imagine, things get pretty weird from there!Check out Sabrina Mapp's website here: http://www.sabrinamappvo.com/Check out Stephanie Jordan's Black History Cosplay Project here: https://www.facebook.com/dopequeensproject

This week, we've got a special guest in the form of metal vocalist Nina Osegueda from the band, A Sound of Thunder, and we're talking about Phil Tippett's 30-year passion project, Mad God. One of film's foremost stop-motion wizards, Phil Tippett's contributions to film can be seen in everything from the original Star Wars Trilogy, to Robocop, and Jurassic Park. Having put the project on the back burner for over two decades, he finally finished the project in the 2010s, and dammit if this isn't one of the most beautifully grotesque films I've seen in recent memory. Support A Sound of Thunder by visiting their website: http://asoundofthunderband.comWatch KeN-K's short film "Painkiller" on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vq1t3kL8OY

Cohen and I covering a film we watched together?! In an indie theater?!?! This week, we're talking about the 1950s noir crime thriller The Outfit, which is now available on Peacock, as of this posting. Allowing his suit shop to be utilized by nefarious characters in Chicago's criminal underworld, a mild-mannered cutter named Leonard will have to figure out how to keep him and his assistant alive, when a piece of sensitive information threatens to kick off an all out gang war. 

Ever wanted to go back in time and give your younger self advice on the future? This week, we're getting into the Netflix family sci-fi adventure, The Adam Project. Guest host Mark Irving Phillips joins me to talk about this new Ryan Reynolds Netflix offering, as he plays a displaced time traveler hoping to repair a deviation in the space-time continuum, only to confront a 12 year-old version of himself. . . and things only get more complicated from there.

Make no mistake, these ladies are gonna make some noise. This week, we're covering the Netflix original, Gunpowder Milkshake, as Karen Gillan stars as a ruthless assassin forced to protect a young girl from her even more ruthless employers. With her back against the wall, she'll have to turn to a trio of librarians that offer more than just books, as well as her absentee mother, and fellow assassin. 

We are back, people! We took way too long off last year, but we've returned with a brand new episode, as we discuss the Netflix western, The Harder They Fall. The bullets fly with reckless abandon in this film, as two rival outlaws prepare to cross paths with one another for a second time, with their respective gangs riding along with them, while a determined lawman is looking to dispense his own signature brand of justice. This sure isn't your granddaddy's western! 

It's the battle we've all been waiting for since it was teased in the post-credit scene for Kong: Skull Island! In one corner, the undisputed champion, a heavyweight with a record of 3 wins (5 if you count all three of Ghidorah's heads!), this building-sized lizard stays juiced and jacked on nuclear radiation, and will spit an atomic lougie down your throat until your head comes off at the neck . . . GODZILLA! And in the other corner, the scrapin'est scrape ape in the jungle, who wished folks would just leave him the hell alone . . . KONG!!!! Who's gonna come out on top? And seriously, was this joint scored by Tangerine Dream?!? 

Yes, this episode is two and a half hours long , and I apologize for nothing.  I brought back friend and up and coming indie filmmaker Chris Farmer to talk about one of this most talked about superhero films in recent memory, whether you like it or not, Zack Snyder's Justice League. Some were convinced it would never happen, and even as he's proven to be a reality, the folks who were staunchly against it, still can't stop talking about it. And I knew we had to do a deep dive and consequently go on a few tangents to provide the necessary context, but what was our final verdict? Listen and find out!Also be sure to check out Chris' short, "Bacon",  fresh off its film festival run, on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZRrwQ41Wws

This week, we're looking at Studio Ghibli's first foray into 3D animation with Earwig and the Witch. Growing up in an orphanage, young earwig is prone to mischief, almost to a fault, but is eventually adopted by a rather strange couple, who Earwig almost immediate discovers are not entire what they seem. Witchcraft and classic rock collide with fairytale hijinks ensuing.