PODCAST

Cinema Yūgen

hill33kjw

A dive into the beautiful, obscure depths of cinema.

tv & film film interviews

All Episodes

36:43

Christmas Extras: From Traffic Control to Netflix...

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/12/14

On the final Cinema Yugen of the year, Kent Hill and his spirit animal Con Christopoulos trade the usual plugs for a fireside chat: rain on the tin roof, festive banter, and a quiet magic born of luck and persistence. Con takes us from weekend short films and inflatable Godzilla props to an unexpected fitting on the Gold Coast and a paycheck from Netflix — a small, human triumph that strips celebrity of its glitter and reveals the worn, sweating people beneath.Between tales of catering tents,

51:32

Shirtless in Hollywood: Matthias Hues' Wild Ride

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/12/14

On a sunlit Balinese terrace, Matthias Hues unspools a life that reads like an action script — arriving in Hollywood with nothing but a shirt on his back, surviving dizzying highs and desperate lows, crashing celebrity parties, rubbing elbows with icons, and even losing a phone to a mischievous rescue monkey. His anecdotes leap from Venice Beach to Moscow, jungle sets to black sites, each scene stitched with humor, danger and the old‑school bravado of an era that refuses to die. This episode is a

38:15

The Slave and The Sorcerer: A Love Letter to Sword &...

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/12/06

Step into a gleaming, outrageous world where swords sing, sorcery smolders, and the joy of cinema is unabashedly pure. In this episode of Cinema Yugen, Kent Hill celebrates Lawrie Brewster’s The Slave and The Sorcerer — a handcrafted valentine to 80s sword-and-sorcery that revels in bravado, practical effects, and larger-than-life performances. From the gloriously eccentric Arlo the Torturer to Megan Tremethick’s Frazetta-wrought sorceress Nemain, the conversation bursts with laughter, reverence,

34:31

B‑Movie Bravado: Bryan Kristopowitz’s Guide to...

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/12/06

When Bryan Kristopowitz drags you behind the velvet curtain of late‑night video stores — the hum of fluorescent lights and the scent of worn VHS — you discover that direct‑to‑video films are not failures but secret adventures. In this episode of Cinema Yugen, Bryan tells the improbable story of how a trove of rescued reviews became a book celebrating fifty explosive action movies that skipped theaters but burned bright in rental aisles and bedrooms.From Mario Van Peebles’ discarded sci‑fi to Rutger

41:05

Cadillac Deserts & Drive‑In Dreams — A Conversation...

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/11/27

He answers the phone and immediately calms a fan who calls him a hero — and from that small, human moment this episode unfurls into a lively, unguarded portrait of Joe R. Lansdale. Listen as a nervous admirer becomes a collaborator in a conversation that moves from Roadkill chapbooks to martial arts, audio books, and the strange, funny lines that make Lansdale’s characters leap off the page.Through quick anecdotes and sharp, comic riffs, Lansdale traces how influence is blended into voice, how

30:21

The Job: When AI Reads Your Soul

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/11/25

When Todd (LeJon) happens across a high-tech fortune‑teller booth, he thinks he's just here for an interview. But Athena (Dawna Lee Heising), the AI within, begins to pry at the corners of his life, unspooling a past he has tried to bury. What starts as a routine application becomes a delicate reckoning between human frailty and machine insight. This is The Job. Director Craig Railsback weaves suspense, tenderness, and a wry optimism into a compact sci‑fi parable — a story that asks whether

28:28

Blood, Swords & Restoration: The Untold Story Behind...

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/11/14

When a once‑lost B‑movie resurfaces, it doesn’t just cough up footage — it tells a life story. In this episode Kent Hill sits down with director Mark Terry to trace the strange, gritty odyssey of Samurai Priest Vampire Hunter: a 2009 release that vanished into the HD transition, only to be resurrected years later through obsessive restoration, new scenes, and the magnetic presence of Tim Thomerson.Listen as Mark recounts scraped budgets, Russian‑arm camera miracles, stunt‑filled car chases,

35:24

Under Siege 2... But With Raccoons: The Madness of...

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/11/07

Step into a fever dream of 90s action-movie nostalgia where earnest heroes, mismatched villains with eye-patches, and frozen raccoon minions collide in a Christmas of chaos. This episode follows filmmaker Travis Irvine as he traces the wild, booze-soaked origins of Killer Raccoons! 2!: Dark Christmas in the Dark! and how a college prank evolved into a full-blown homage to the gloriously bad sequels of the 90s.Through laugh-out-loud anecdotes—dead raccoons repurposed as props, late-night

34:45

Inside the Haunting: Jamie Bernadette on Paranormal...

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/11/07

Step into a night where cameras never stop and the line between performance and terror blurs. Host Kent Hill guides you through Raymond Wallace’s dizzying found-footage chiller, Paranormal Investigations, then sits down with star Jamie Bernadette to unravel the movie’s meticulous craft, the pulse‑quickening scares, and the real-life brushes with the uncanny that shaped the film. Between backstage confessions, haunted childhood stories, and the claustrophobic choreography of multi-camera shoots, this

28:27

From Promos to Poltergeists: The Multi‑Cam Terror of...

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/10/25

It’s October — the spooky season — and we take you straight into Paranormal Investigations where a reality TV crew doesn't know they’re shooting their final episode. What starts as slick promos, backstage banter, and the familiar theatrics of ghost hunting show slowly peels back into something far darker: a night of blood, shocking revelations, and razor‑sharp satire that wants you to question what’s real and what’s produced for the camera.Join host Kent Hill and writer‑director Raymond Wallace as

34:29

Die-Hard in a Mansion: Inside The Handyman

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/10/25

From a torrentially wet first day to a 2 a.m. pool fall, this episode tears the curtain back on The Handyman — a scrappy, action-packed film that evolves from cheeky home-invasion slapstick into full-throttle, wrench-and-hammer mayhem. Hear the writer, director and the film’s grunting, boxer-short-clad hero recount broken props, improvised cameos, midnight shoots and the brutal crowbar-and-hammer kills that had test audiences gasping. They’ll take you through the comedy-rooted rework of the script,

34:00

Mojave, Marijuana and Madness: The Making of Astral...

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/10/24

When Kent Hill sits down with Mike Caravella, the conversation becomes a road trip through late-night video stores, desert skies and a low-budget dream that refused to die. From a cancer scare to COVID isolation, Mike's journey into the Mojave gave birth to Astral Plane Drifter — a ragged, hilarious and hallucinatory mashup of westerns, kung fu, and space-horror.Listen as Mike traces the films strange inspirations, guerrilla shoots under freezing stars, midnight screenings, and the festival run

30:17

Mad Max on Water: The Wild Birth of Waterworld

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/10/18

When a fearless young writer pitched a daring idea — “Mad Max on water” — no one expected the epic that followed. In this episode Kent Hill sits down with Peter Rader, the screenwriter whose audacious debut became Waterworld: the practical-stunt spectacle that weathered critic storms, inspired theme-park spectacles, and now gleams in a definitive 4K restoration.Rader walks us through the mythic drafts, the strange beats that stuck (yes, even the infamous opening), and the scrapped fantasy

31:00

Riverbend Resurrected: The Lost 35mm Premiere

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/10/11

In this episode we ride alongside a rediscovered film and the people who refused to let it die: Riverbend, a daring 1989 drama about three Black Vietnam veterans who confront a racist sheriff and reclaim their town. From the thrill of finding untouched 35mm prints in a forgotten vault to the intimate memories of cast and crew, the conversation unfolds like a detective story and a love letter to overlooked Black cinema.Listen as actors recall the camaraderie, the losses, and the bold vision behind a

31:03

Explosions, Intrigue and Intensity: Inside President...

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/09/20

Join Kent Hill and special guests as they peel back the curtain on President Down, a lean, high-energy Asylum original that punches far above its budget. With director Nick Lyon’s theater-like block shooting and a cast led by G. Anthony Joseph and Lorenzo Lamas, the film stitches together intense ensemble set pieces, surprising twists, and a chilling premise about technology, control, and vulnerability at the highest level.Through candid on-set stories, casting revelations, and reflections on

29:10

Silver Screamers: Golden Years, Bloody Scenes, Big...

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/09/19

When filmmaker Sean Cisterna adapts a creepy short and assembles an unlikely crew, eight retirees answer the call — drawn by curiosity, camaraderie and the promise of free snacks. What begins as a cheeky invitation to play with fake blood becomes a transformative adventure that rekindles purpose, sparks new friendships and proves creativity has no age limit. Silver Screamers weaves on-set chaos with tender interviews, revealing personal histories, laughter between takes and the quiet longing behind

38:03

Richard Stanley: Reclaiming the Macabre — From Dust...

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/09/10

Join Kent Hill for a freewheeling conversation with cult auteur Richard Stanley as he celebrates restored classics, teases a new British shoot he finally controls, and reveals how public‑domain mischief and indie grit are fueling his next outrageous project.From the psychedelic rebirth of Dust Devil to a chainsaw‑wielding take on Winnie the Pooh, Stanley navigates synchronicity, AI anxieties, and the survival of true cinematic art — inviting listeners to ride along on a strange, stylish, and wildly

39:11

Cinema Yugen Unplugged, Part 2 — Deep Cuts, Dead...

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/09/05

Join Kent Hill as Cinema Yugen unwraps Part Two of an unfiltered conversation with film sleuth Paul Rowlands. From laugh-out-loud oddities like Ghost Shark and the misnamed Ice Road Vengeance to the bittersweet art of sequels and the magic behind Top Gun Maverick, this episode moves like a midnight double-feature — surprising, nostalgic and wildly entertaining. Through sharp anecdotes, offbeat movie lore and a shared love of cinema’s strange corners, Kent and Paul guide listeners through a cinematic

32:15

Black Pearl Reborn — The RV, The Dreads, The Revolution

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/09/02

Step into the raw, dust-swept world of Black Pearl, where two now-legendary filmmakers set off in a busted RV with $35,000 and a story that felt bigger than them. This episode unfolds like a road movie turned hero’s quest — late-night edits by candlelight, real fights and real sacrifices, and the moment a young filmmaker severs his dreads on camera to become the character he believes in. We trace the film’s origins from New Zealand campsites to improvised stunt choreography, exploring how urgency,

36:45

Cinema Yugen Unplugged: Shooting the Breeze with Paul...

Cinema Yūgen ·

2025/08/26

Host Kent Hill invites fellow cinephile Paul Rowlands into the studio for an unfiltered, laugh-lined conversation that wanders from the blockbuster battleground to the intimate corners of film history. Over coffee and candid asides they pick apart a divisive summer at the box office, question the fate of franchises, and trace how our movie-going rituals have changed.They leap from dinosaur islands and James Bond’s surprising fate to superhero reboots and the cult afterlives of forgotten ’80s gems,

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