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PODCAST

Optimism Vaccine

The Optimism Vaccine Network

Optimism Vaccine’s panel of experts and idiots explore the dingy crevices between pop culture and forgotten trash in a never-ending quest to celebrate your guilty pleasures in the world of cinema and beyond.

tv & film film reviews

All Episodes

01:14:38

Choices Were Made (The Films of Soi Cheang - Part 1)

Optimism Vaccine ·

2025/01/30

THIS WEEK: Home Sweet Home (2005), Dog Bite Dog (2006), and Motorway (2012)A generous patron's request brings us back to Hong Kong to look at a more contemporary side of the HK action-industrial complex via the films of Soi Cheung. Unfortunately, Jack has returned from his sabbatical, and decided he'd rather spend the week mired in the soapy melodrama of Cheung's early career. We vow to rectify this injustice very soon.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

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01:20:20

Motion Sickness Episode Three: Help Me Someone, Help...

Optimism Vaccine ·

2025/01/23

THIS WEEK: Cloverfield (2008), Apollo 18 (2011) and The Devil Inside (2012)Life has once again wrought havoc with our schedule, so before we debut the regular format of Motion Sickness, we're bringing you one more genre retrospective. It's a slate featuring some of the least essential films to emerge during the latter days of the format's theatrical viability! And also Cloverfield! What do these things have in common? Their marketing achieved far more notoriety than the films themselves. That's

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01:25:10

Motion Sickness Episode Two: Hiding in the Dark,...

Optimism Vaccine ·

2025/01/16

THIS WEEK: Local 58, Gemini Home Entertainment, The Mandela Catalogue and The Oldest ViewWe're leaving the dusty theater behind, as Motion Sickness looks at what the children and their dang internet have done to the found footage genre. Liminal spaces, analogue oddities, and alternate personages abound in the ever-evolving world of web horror.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

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01:46:17

Motion Sickness Episode One: It's Coming for Me...

Optimism Vaccine ·

2025/01/10

THIS WEEK: Cannibal Holocaust (1980), Guinea Pig: Devil's Experiment (1985), The McPherson Tape (1989), Ghostwatch (1992), The Blair Witch Project (1999) and Paranormal Activity (2007)We're kicking off our new series Motion Sickness by looking at the history of the found footage format in horror, from Ruggero Deodato murdering tortoises in the Amazon, to the micro-budget film that launched Blumhouse.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

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01:05:54

The State of Surveillance (Found Footage in the 2020s)

Optimism Vaccine ·

2025/01/02

THIS WEEK: Unknown Visitor (2019), Host (2020), Dashcam (2021), and Frogman (2023)What do you do when one of your co-hosts requires emergency surgery on Christmas Day? You pivot. And prepare to pivot again. So while Jack recovers from his "back problems", the rest of us are hard at work on our long-gestating exploration of found footage horror: Motion Sickness.Is this that? Not exactly. Consider it a prologue, in which Steve and Miros look at some of the more intriguing recent stabs at the

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01:03:52

A Christmas With Old Friends (David DeCoteau and...

Optimism Vaccine ·

2024/12/25

THIS WEEK: A Magic Christmas (2014), A Christmas Eve Miracle (2015) and A Husband for Christmas (2016)Somewhere along the line, noted shirtless hunk afficionado David DeCoteau was co-opted into the bland holiday film industry. This merits our attention. Steven Paul doesn't merit anyone's attention, but we're still talking about him. The stars are all here: Vivica A. Fox! Eric Roberts! Burt Reynolds! Jon Voight! And half of them are voicing vestigial dog narrators!Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid

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01:00:38

The Cold, the Bad, and the Grey (Late-Stage Liam Neeson)

Optimism Vaccine ·

2024/12/18

THIS WEEK: The Grey (2011), Cold Pursuit (2019) and The Ice Road (2021)This December, we've decided to trudge through the snow with Liam Neeson, charting his curious journey from celebrated thespian to Charles Bronson in a parka along the way.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

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01:13:44

Smile: Day One (2024 Horror Grotesques)

Optimism Vaccine ·

2024/12/12

THIS WEEK: Blink Twice (2024), Smile 2 (2024) and The Substance (2024)We've nearly survived 2024, but subtlety didn't make it out alive. It's cinema via blunt force trauma as we examine an eclectic slate of the year's most interesting horror films.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

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01:12:56

That's Gotta Be Kane

Optimism Vaccine ·

2024/12/05

THIS WEEK: See No Evil (2006) and See No Evil 2 (2014)It doesn't get much worse than this, folks. We're exploring the origins of WWE Films via the limp, senseless misadventures of Jacob Goodnight. Will Vince McMahon's callous attempt to christen Glenn Jacobs the new face of fear succeed? Find out next Sunday at Survivor Series.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

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01:25:59

Cruising the Information Superhighway With Dee Snider...

Optimism Vaccine ·

2024/11/28

THIS WEEK: Dee Snider's Strangeland (1998), Feardotcom (2002) and Cry_Wolf (2005)We’ve traveled down Route 66 and across the Australian outback but one road remains: THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY. Join us as explore the dangers of chat rooms, cyber bullying, and haunted Flash websites.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

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01:16:27

No Rules, Just Fright (Yes Nut Roadvember - Part 3)

Optimism Vaccine ·

2024/11/21

THIS WEEK: The Cars That Ate Paris (1974), Road Games (1981) and Fair Game (1986)Roadvember heads Down Under, where four wheels and thin sheet metal are all that stand between you and imminent, excruciating death.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

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01:18:01

Off the Road Again (Yes Nut Roadvember - Part 2)

Optimism Vaccine ·

2024/11/14

THIS WEEK: Duel (1971), Freeway (1996) and Freeway 2: Confessions of a Trickbaby (1999)It didn't take long for us to foul up our road-centric theme, as the deceptively titled Freeway series sends us hurtling down a winding road toward... Danny Elfman?And we also watched Duel. For some reason.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

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01:30:34

The Cure for the Common Man (Yes Nut Roadvember -...

Optimism Vaccine ·

2024/11/08

THIS WEEK: The Hitcher (1986), The Hitcher II: I've Been Waiting (2003) and The Hitcher (2007)No, we haven't immediately abandoned our proposed annual foray into artful smut... it's just rather overwhelming to curate. So outside circumstances have dictated a temporary pivot to a different sort of pistoning action. And let's face it, Rutger Hauer is steamier than any vintage pornography we were going to dredge up anyhow.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

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53:46

Kaneto Shindo, Samurai Hater (Shawntober 2024 - Part 4)

Optimism Vaccine ·

2024/10/31

THIS WEEK: Onibaba (1964) and Kuroneko (1968)For the final episode of Shawntober 2024, we expose Mr. Glinis to the gorgeous Japanese folk horror of Kaneto Shindo.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

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01:25:39

The Spine-tingling Terror of William Castle...

Optimism Vaccine ·

2024/10/25

THIS WEEK: House on Haunted Hill (1959), The Tingler (1959), Homicidal (1961)Sometimes called the P.T. Barnum of Hollywood, William Castle made his mark in the world of cinema by promoting his kitschy horror films with one of a kind gimmicks.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

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01:18:29

Ken Russell: Very British (Shawntober 2024 - Part 2)

Optimism Vaccine ·

2024/10/17

THIS WEEK: The Devils (1971), Gothic (1986), The Lair of the White Worm (1988)We're taking Shawn on a trip across the pond to discuss transgressive auteur Ken Russell's contributions to the horror genre. Will we cure Shawn of his disdain for grand theatrical hijinks and flat British production? Probably not.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

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01:21:22

Sam Raimi's Evil Dead Trilogy (Shawntober 2024 - Part 1)

Optimism Vaccine ·

2024/10/11

THIS WEEK: The Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead II (1987), Army of Darkness (1982)Like an incurable rash, SHAWNTOBER returns again so we can subject respectable film lover and Wiseman Cast host Shawn Glinis to all the horror films he's managed to avoid watching for decades. This year, we're starting off with a big blind spot: Evil Dead. Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

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01:03:52

SPECIAL EPISODE: Caustic Content Season Premiere

Optimism Vaccine ·

2024/10/04

THIS WEEK: Baby Cat (2023) vs The Towel Man (2021)We're taking a little break from your regularly scheduled OpVac episode to prep for our favorite yearly tradition, Shawntober.But don't worry, we won't leave you hangin'. Enjoy a little treat from the PATRON EXCLUSIVE feed: The debut episode from Caustic Content: Season 2 - The show where Steve and Miros compete head to head to find the absolute worst thing streaming on the internet.And boy do we have a couple of beautiful specimens for you in this

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01:26:13

Dawn of the Demme (Jonathan Demme in the 70s)

Optimism Vaccine ·

2024/09/27

THIS WEEK: Caged Heat (1974), Crazy Mama (1975), Last Embrace (1979)Before Jonathan Demme was hanging out with David Byrne and winning Oscars, he was pumping out exploitation flicks for Roger Corman and doing weird Hitchcock homagesDonate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

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01:34:35

The Late Great Hannibal Lecter (Thomas Harris...

Optimism Vaccine ·

2024/09/19

THIS WEEK: Manhunter (1986), Hannibal (2001), Red Dragon (2002), Hannibal Rising (2007)After covering Jonathan Demme's Silence of The Lambs last week we decided to keep the ball rolling and cover the rest of the film adaptations of Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter novels. Not that any of us need an excuse to watch Manhunter for the 74726587432 time. Maybe we could have done without Bret Ratner, Hannibal's silly Italian hat, and the Samurai training montage though. Oh well. Donate to Palestinian

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