I Stream, You Stream Vol. 18

by Patrick Bromley

Here's some stuff to watch when you've finished not seeing A Dog's Purpose.

Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon (2015, dir. Douglas Tirola) If you're any kind of comedy nerd, this is essential viewing regardless of whether or not you ever read National Lampoon. Completely constructed from interviews and clips from National Lampoon magazines and radio/TV productions, the movie tells a very clear story of the rise and fall of one of the most significant and influential comic institutions of the last 100 years, which doubles as the sad tale of magazine founder Doug Kenney. It's also really, really funny. All the old clips hold up. (Watch on Netflix)

Quigley Down Under (1990, dir. Simon Wincer) I've gone on for years about how much I dig this movie, an underrated western that should have made Tom Selleck into a full-blown movie star. There's gorgeous photography of the Australian outback, a solid villain turn from Alan Rickman (at a time when he was doing a lot of these kinds of parts), an amazing Basil Poledouris score and, of course, Laura San Giacomo. This is one of those movies that I have to watch whenever I stumble upon it on cable, which happens a lot. Simon Wincer is a really under appreciated director, and this is my favorite of his movies. (Watch on Hulu)

Sweet 16 (1983, dir. Jim Sotos) Weird little slasher mystery in which a high school girl (Aleisa Shirley) starts attracting a lot of attention from boys as her 16th birthday approaches, but then each of those boys is brutally killed. Bo Hopkins plays the town sheriff investigating the murders and Dana Kimmell (Friday the 13th Part 3's Final Girl) is his daughter, a mystery junkie who wants in on the case. There's a really weird sexuality to the film, which goes out of its way to tell us the heroine is only 15 and then proceeds to have her naked a whole lot, and the murders are surprisingly brutal for a movie that seems to be more mystery than slasher. The mix is kind of fascinating, though, and the results feel just different enough for the early '80s period to warrant a recommendation. Instead of spending $30 on Code Red's Blu-ray, you can check it out in HD on Amazon Prime. The transfer is great. (Watch on Amazon Prime Video)

Tokyo Drifter (1966, dir. Seijun Suzuki) The work of Japanese cult filmmaker Seijun Suzuki can be an acquired taste, but I feel like even those unfamiliar with his special brand of crazy can appreciate Tokyo Drifter. It's about a former yakuza hitman (Tetsuya Watari) who has given up the life and is now being hunted by assassins. It's super stylized, as most of Suzuki's work is, but also gorgeously colorful and prone to the occasional musical number. Good luck getting the theme song out of your head for the next week. (Watch on Filmstruck)

Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1989, dir. J.F. Lawton) Despite being aware of this movie all my life because it has such a memorable title and played regularly as part of the USA Up All Night lineup, I only recently saw it for the first time. It's legitimately so much funnier than I expected. Shannon Tweed, in a rare fully clothed role (I think this was right before the start of her run as the queen of the erotic thriller), displays solid comic timing and a screen presence that makes me wish she had a different career. This also features a rare starring role for Bill Maher, who is funny as the butt of many jokes and whose smarmy face is as punchable as ever. The movie was written and directed under a pseudonym by J.F. Lawton, a good screenwriter whose later credits include Pretty Woman and both Under Siege movies. That helps explain why it's actually funny instead of just self-satisfied and stupid, which is what I was anticipating. (Watch on Full Moon Streaming)

Knightriders (1981, dir. George A. Romero) I'll be honest: I don't really want to think about the possibility of George Romero ever passing away. But I know he's getting up there in years and that the world seems bent on taking everyone good and leaving us with only human garbage, so it is an inevitability. When that horrible day comes, the first movie I'm going to watch is Knightriders, his inexcusably underrated opus about a group of bikers who act as King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table at Renaissance Fairs. It's the movie that feels like the mission statement of his career and a sad treatise on the passage of time. Ed Harris is the super principled leader -- a stand-in for Romero himself, who has been making movies for 50 years and has refused to sell out -- and Tom Savini gives a really strong dramatic performance as his second in command. The movie is long and has its own unique pace, but really suggests that Romero could have had a career outside the horror genre had things worked out a bit differently. Not that I'm complaining about how they did work out. (Watch on Shout Factory TV)

I Stream, You Stream Vol. 17

by Patrick Bromley

Here's a bunch of stuff to watch this weekend. It's not like there's anything more important going on.

Teenage Cocktail (2016, dir. John Carchietta) The solo directing debut of John Carchietta (a producer on movies like The Hills Run Red and Wicked Lake) casts the great Fabianne Therese and Nichole Bloom as teenage girls who fall in love, start messing around with a webcam and eventually attract the attention of family man Pat Healy. Things don't go well. Shot in bright colors and scored to dreamy pop, Teenage Cocktail is like a modern-day version of Smooth Talk. It takes some sudden shifts that aren't always earned, but it's beautifully put together and says some interesting things about personal responsibility and naiveté in the digital age. (Watch on Netflix)

The Wraith (1986, dir. Mike Marvin) The second half of the '80s saw a lot of teenage monster movies: teen vampires in The Lost Boys, teen witches in Teen Witch, teen wolves in Teen Wolf Too. We didn't get too many teen ghost movies, which is where The Wraith comes in. Charlie Sheen plays a motorcycle riding spirit who appears in a small town to exact revenge against an overacting Nick Cassavettes and his gang and get naked with Sherilyn Fenn, which is worth coming back from the dead for. This unofficial remake of High Plains Drifter is really fun and entertaining but doesn't get mentioned enough in conversations about '80s genre films. After you watch it, you should check out my guest appearance on The Projection Booth's episode on the movie. (Watch on Netflix)

Extreme Justice (1993, dir. Mark L. Lester) This super underrated '90s actioner stars a murderers' row of action character actors -- Scott Glenn, Lou Diamond Phillips, Chelsea Field, Yaphet Kotto, Andrew Divoff, William Lucking, Paul Ben-Victor, Stephen Root and Ed Lauter -- in a story about corrupt LA cops. It either went pretty much straight to DVD or premiered on HBO (which is where I saw it) and it's the kind of movie that had to cut down the crazy violence to avoid an NC-17. So many people get shot. I love it. I just watched Truck Stop Women for the first time and was reminded of what an amazing genre filmmaker Mark L. Lester is: besides that movie and this one, he made Commando and Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw and Firestarter and Showdown in Little Tokyo and Class of 1984 and a whole bunch of others. He's due for career retrospective. Maybe I'm the guy to do it (Watch on Amazon Prime Video)

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999, dir. Anthony Minghella) On the podcast this week, we talked about Matt Damon getting his big break in Good Will Hunting and becoming a huge movie star in the span of one movie. His partner Ben Affleck went a much more commercial route and went to work for Michael Bay while Damon continued to choose interesting projects like this psychological thriller based on Patricia Highsmith's novel. It's brilliantly acted from the likes of Damon, Jude Law (never better), Gwyneth Paltrow, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Cate Blanchett, it's insanely gorgeous to look at and is always tense and interesting. 1999 was an insanely good year for movies and this one stands out as one of the very best. (Watch on Hulu)

Angel of Death (2009, dir. Paul Etheredge) My Girlfriend Zoë Bell made this movie years ago based on a character and a screenplay by Ed Brubaker. She gets stabbed in the head and survives to come back for revenge. There is nothing else you need to know because you really should have been heading over to Crackle (where this originally debuted) and pressing play as soon you read the words My Girlfriend Zoë Bell. (Watch on Crackle)

I Stream, You Stream Vol. 16

by Patrick Bromley

A couple of streaming picks to celebrate today, plus a few more that don't feature a hockey mask!

The Monster (2016, dir. Bryan Bertino) The podcast this week with me and Heather Wixson covers our favorite horror movies of 2016, and while neither of us included this one we both named it as part of our potential honorable mentions. I liked it when I reviewed it late last year mostly for some really heavy emotional stuff and a great performance by Zoe Kazan as a young mother who gets stranded on a highway with her daughter when a monster attacks. I don't think all of it completely works, but it's the kind of film that horror fans should really see because it tries to do something just a little different with the genre. Between this and The Strangers, I really like how Bryan Bertino ties genre stuff into some really devastating emotional dramas. (Watch on Amazon Prime Video)

Under the Shadow (2016, dir. Babak Anvari) I saw this last spring at the Chicago Critics Film Festival and really liked its combination of family drama, political allegory and scary horror -- though it does the first two better than the second. There have been a lot of comparisons to The Babadook, and for good reason: it's a movie about a mother and her child and the horror elements clearly represent something larger. This was another one that didn't make my list of favorite 2016 horror movies on the podcast this week, but it's a really solid film that deserves to be seen. (Watch on Netflix Instant)

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984, dir. Joseph Zito) Celebrate Friday the 13th by watching my favorite entry in the franchise. Then you can head over to Blumhouse.com and read the piece I just wrote about movie's (and the franchise's) most upsetting kill. And then you can be a terrible person and watch Mike's favorite entry. (Watch on Hulu)

Crystal Lake Memories (2012, dir. Daniel Farrands) After you've celebrated this Friday the 13th by watching the best of the Friday movies (and maybe A New Beginning because it's incredible [RIP Joey]), dig deep into the entirety of the franchise with this six hour documentary that covers the whole thing (even the TV series) and features interviews with nearly all of the participants. The doc is a step down from the Nightmare on Elm Street retrospective Never Sleep Again -- still the brass ring of this kind of feature -- and includes a lot of recycled material from His Name Was Jason, but as a fan of the series it's still super entertaining. (Watch on Shudder)

Dreamscape (1984, dir. Joel Ruben) It's been years since I saw this whacked out sci-fi fantasy thriller in which Dennis Quaid projects himself into the dreams of others to influence real-world events (yes, it's the original Inception!). Watching it again recently on Scream Factory's new Blu-ray reminded me that it's the kind of wonderful movie that was only possible in the '80s, when imagination and practical/optical effects collided in way unlike any period before or since. There is so much cool shit going on in Dreamscape, plus a supporting cast that includes Kate Capshaw, Max Von Sydow, Eddie Albert, Christopher Plummer, George Wendt and David Patrick Kelly in one of his best and weirdest roles this side of The Warriors. Oh, and there's a giant snake man. This was only the second movie ever released with a PG-13 rating; it missed being the first by just five days when Red Dawn beat it into theaters. By today's standards, it would probably be an R. Trivia! (Watch on ShoutFactory TV)

Hard Eight (1996, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson) While his last two movies have kept me at arm's length, there was a long period in which I would have called Paul Thomas Anderson maybe the best American filmmaker on his generation, maybe even working today (though probably not with Scorsese still making movies). I love his first five films unequivocally, and while Hard Eight (or Sydney if you're a snob) has many of the markings of a "first movie," it's still an amazing piece of work and presents one of my top five favorite movie characters ever in Phillip Baker Hall's Sydney. The fact that this is available to stream on FilmStruck, which hosts all of the Criterion Collection, makes me so, so hopeful that it will get the Criterion Blu-ray treatment sometime soon. (Watch on FilmStruck)

I Stream, You Stream Vol. 15

by Patrick Bromley

Your first streaming recommendations of 2017!

Tales of Halloween (2015, dir. Axelle Carolyn, Mike Mendez, et. al.) Visitors to F This Movie! already know that I'm a big fan of this horror anthology, released last year and gathering an embarrassment of riches in contemporary indie horror for a movie that's too much goddamn fun. This movie rewards you for being a horror fan, and while you might not be in Halloween mindset in early January, I think it's the kind of film that's fun all year long. When you're done, you can watch it again with the solo commentary I recorded last year. You're welcome. (Watch on Netflix)

The Long Riders (1980, dir. Walter Hill) One of the very first proper westerns the great Walter Hill ever directed, The Long Riders is nowadays most famous for casting of a bunch of real-life brothers: David, Robert and Keith Carradine, Stacy and James Keach (who also co-wrote and produced), Dennis and Randy Quaid and Christopher and Nicholas Guest. It's a gimmick, sure, but one that I love because of how reality informs the familial connections presented in the movie. The movie is a little overstuffed with characters and subplots, but still offers plenty of Walter Hill greatness and the director's first collaboration with composer Ry Cooder, with whom he would work many more times (Watch on Hulu)

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016, dir. Taika Waititi) One of this year's very best comedies has landed on my Top 10 list this week, as well as JB's, Melissa Uhrin's and Erich's. It's really great, and if you haven't seen it yet you now have no excuse. (Watch on Hulu)

Fired Up! (2009, dir. Will Gluck) As stupid teen movies go, this one is pretty smart. That should come as no surprise, as it's written and directed by Will Gluck, who would repeat the same feat to more critical and commercial acclaim with Easy A one year later. Eric Christian Olsen and Nicholas D'Agosto (my wife's college friend!) are both very funny as fast-talking football players who realize that becoming male cheerleaders is a great way to meet girls. The plot is completely predictable and movie relies heavily on familiar teen movie tropes; what makes it worth watching is the interplay between the two leads, who both have clearly studied as the school of early '80s Chevy Chase. I know there are some people who find this movie insufferable, but I like it a lot. (Watch on Crackle)

May (2003, dir. Lucky McKee) The more years go by, the more I'm convinced that May is one of the two or three best horror movies of the 2000s. Lucky McKee, one of my very favorite current directors, wrote and directed this story of a broken girl (Angela Bettis, giving one of my favorite performances in a movie ever) looking for love. There is darkness and weirdness and lots of discomfort and horror, but also beauty and empathy. I can't say enough good things about it, but in case you're not tired of me gushing over the movie you can listen to myself and Adam Riske do more of it on our podcast. (Watch on Shudder)

Apache Woman (1976, dir. Giorgio Mariuzzo) Offbeat Italian western that's more of a love story than anything else between an American soldier (Al Cliver of Zombie fame) and a Native American woman (Clara Hopf). Super low budget and decidedly non-PC, the film actually takes its time and gets us to invest in the romance at the center. It also doesn't really go where you might think. Rudy Maglioni's terrific score helps a lot, which is good because it plays over almost the entire film. Like a lot of titles on Amazon, the quality on this one is a little sketchy (the audio even lapses into the original Italian at points), but if you're at all a fan of spaghetti westerns I think this one is worth a look. (Watch on Amazon Prime Video)

I Stream, You Stream Vol. 14

by Patrick Bromley

Get down and dirty for the New Year!

American Muscle (2014, dir. Ravi Dhar) I have retreated into almost nothing but exploitation films during the last few weeks of the year, maybe to wash out the taste of all the awards bait films I've had to watch in the last month or so or maybe because they skip out on all the bullshit and aim right for the pleasure centers of my brain. They're helping to keep my happy, so I'm not going to fight it. With that in mind, I'm recommending mostly exploitation this week, including this modern-day attempt at an old-school grindhouse revenge flick that is described by on Netflix reviewer as a movie that "feels like a bunch of bouncers and strippers got together and decided to make a movie." I do not disagree with this assessment. This is an ugly, stupid, violent and sexist film that's maybe too concerned with being cool, but which also manages to get to the heart of true exploitation. Plus, you get to see Trent Haaga as a low-level hood, Todd Farmer as the main villain and Robyn Sydney at her most to-die-for. The great Travis Stevens is a producer on this, which is what drew me to it in the first place. (Watch on Netflix)

Terminal Island (1973, dir. Stephanie Rothman) Directed by one of the few great female exploitation directors of the Golden Age, Terminal Island is a legitimately rad prison movie in which a bunch of cons are dumped onto an island (including a young Tom Selleck, playing An Innocent Man) and battle one another for supremacy. Everything about this movie kicks ass, from the performances to the violence to the scene in which a woman seduces one of her enemies and proceeds to smear honey all over his crotch and butt before releasing a bunch of bees on him. It's awesome, like this movie. (Watch on Exploitation.tv)

God Told Me To (1975, dir. Larry Cohen) I only saw this movie a year or so ago thanks to Elric Kane convincing Blue Underground owner Bill Lustig to put it out on Blu-ray. It's probably Larry Cohen's weirdest movie, but also maybe his best. It's about a New York cop investigating a series of murders committed by seemingly random people (including Andy Kaufman in a small role) who all mutter the same phrase after committing these heinous acts. Where it goes from there I won't even begin to explain, because one of the incredible things about this movie is where it ends up versus where it starts. Like most Larry Cohen films, there's no predicting this one. (Watch on Shudder)

Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988, dir. Donald Jackson, R.J. Kizer) I wrote a whole piece about this movie a couple of years back, and while it's no They Live, it's still the second best movie his Rowdiness Roddy Piper (RIP) ever made. It's a crazy movie that knows it's crazy, presenting an original vision of the apocalyptic future and Roddy Piper mugging like crazy. This was the movie I wanted to see on USA Up All Night more than any other growing up and it took me three tries (I fell asleep before it aired the first two times, and I cannot begin to describe the heartbreak I felt upon waking up and realizing I missed it) before I finally caught up with it. I actually think it gets better with age. It's super entertaining. (Watch on Hulu)

Neon Maniacs (1986, dir. Joseph Mangine) I have been wanting to get Code Red's Blu-ray of this one for a long time but haven't yet (belated Christmas gift, anyone? fthismoviepodcast@gmail.com), so for now I'll settle for watching it on Shout Factory TV -- which, unlike these other platforms, requires no subscription and can be watched totally for free. This is basically an '80s slasher movie but with weird monsters doing the slashing; the fact that it never got a sequel is baffling, because the monsters are cool enough to inspire their own franchise. (Watch on Shout Factory TV)

Black Dragon's Revenge (1975, dir. Tommy Loo Chung) Watching Death Machines this week (which everyone should totally see) led me to Ron Van Clief, the original Black Dynamite and a super cool action star who is also not a great actor. This sequel to his breakout hit The Black Dragon is in shockingly poor taste, as he and a friend are hired by a wealthy businessman to investigate the actual death of the actual Bruce Lee (at one point they hold up actual autopsy photos). But, of course, that's one of the things I love about these exploitation movies -- they either don't know or don't care where the line is and just go ahead and do whatever the fuck they want. Amazon Prime Video has a spotty track record when it comes to the transfers on some of these off-the-radar titles, but Black Dragon's Revenge looks terrific. This is one of my favorite film discoveries of the year, so I'm happy to have gotten it in just under the wire. Here's to more exploitation in 2017! (Watch on Amazon Prime Video)

I Stream, You Stream Vol. 13

by Patrick Bromley

Tired of the same old holiday movies? Here are some alternatives to the usual alternative Christmas movie picks for you to stream this weekend!

Uncle Nick (2015, dir. Chris Kasick) Sometimes a great cast can redeem material that's just ok. Case in point: Uncle Nick, a dark comedy from director Chris Kasick that finds black sheep Brian Posehn spending Christmas with his family and burning everything to the ground with his awfulness. Or maybe he's just being honest? There's not much in Uncle Nick that hasn't been covered by a dozen other similar comedies, but Posehn and his fellow cast mates (including Scott Adsit, Missi Pyle, Melia Renee and the incomparable Paget Brewster) elevate every scene. Plus, there's just enough truthful observation about human behavior that it's possible to overlook some of the more unlikely beats. (Watch on Netflix)

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2009, dir. Jalmari Helander) This Finnish import (#youseewhatIdidthere) is one of the very best Christmas horror movies ever made, even though the actual "horror" elements are downplayed and don't really present themselves until about an hour into the 80-minute runtime. It's all about the atmosphere and the sense of cold and the mythological angle director Helander takes; it's fun to see a fairy tale about Santa Clause told from the perspective of another country and culture. Shudder offers a couple of other Christmas horror movies, too, including Black Christmas and the Spanish-produced The Christmas Tale, which I hope to watch in the next few days.  (Watch on Shudder)

White Reindeer (2013, dir. Zack Clark) Here's a comedy-drama much more in the vein of Uncle Nick than, say, Christmas With the Cranks. Anna Margaret Hollyman totally goes for it as a real estate agent who enters a world of debaucherous sex and drug use after her husband suddenly drops dead. Joe Swanberg has a supporting role, which should give you a sense of what kind of comedy this is. Not for everyone, but I like it. Hollyman's performance alone warrants at least one viewing. Anyone looking for an alternative to the regular "alternatives" like Bad Santa should check it out. (Watch on Hulu)

Wind Chill (2007, dir. Gregory Jacobs) Emily Blunt and Ashton Holmes play college students who team up for a ride share to get home on Christmas Eve but then get trapped in their car during a horrible snowstorm. The setup is terrific and there's a lot of good, atmospheric "what the fuck is going on?" stuff that takes place once they're stuck, but all of it is better than the payoff. This isn't quite a home run, but there is so much good in it that it's the kind of movie you wish was just a little better. Still, some good Christmas content and a really strong (and fairly early) performance from Emily Blunt. (Watch on Crackle)

Happy Naked Christmas (2003, dir. Geon-dong Lee) Truth be told, I've never seen this one. But with a title like that you can bet I will be watching it very soon. (Watch on Amazon Prime Video)

Christmas Evil (1980, dir. Lewis Jackson) Another classic Christmas horror isn't at all what you're expecting, provided you're expecting a variation on Silent Night, Deadly Night. While not nearly as grisly or intense, it's got more of a Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer vibe in that it's about a guy (Brandon Maggart, father of Fiona Apple) who is lonely and insane and everything is covered in dirt. It's a sadder movie than you would expect, but then gets weird and crazy every once in a while and becomes fun until it gets dark again. It also has one of the greatest endings in all of cinema. One of the very best of the "exploitation" class of Christmas horror. (Watch on Exploitation.TV)

Happy holidays!!

I Stream, You Stream Vol. 12

by Patrick Bromley

You've gotta have something to watch when you get home from seeing Collateral Beauty Rogue One.

I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016, dir. Billy O'Brien) One of my favorite horror movies of the year hit Netflix this week! Max Records plays a sociopathic teenager who takes it upon himself to investigate a string of murders taking place in his town. I don't want to say anything else. I love the '70s-inspired, shot-on-16mm beauty of this film, and both Max Records and Christopher Lloyd give amazing performances. This movie is so good. (Watch on Netflix)

O.J.: Made in America (2016, dir. Ezra Edelman) Speaking of so good, this five-part 30 for 30 documentary (which has been reedited into three parts for Hulu, but nothing appears to be cut out) is one of the truly great cinematic achievements of the year. Not only does it go into O.J. Simpson's murder trial in painstaking detail -- going all the way back to Simpson's rise to celebrity and his position as maybe the first post-racial figure in popular culture -- but also brings in years' worth of police brutality and civil unrest to paint a picture of just how so many factors conspired to create the media circus and subsequent acquittal. Seriously, this documentary is so comprehensive and so eye opening that I can't imagine there being a better one this year.  (Watch on Hulu)

Vigilante (1983, dir. William Lustig) This is available to stream on Brown Sugar, but I don't know if I would categorize it as "blaxploitation." Yes, Fred Williamson is in it playing the badass leader of a team of vigilantes who reach out to Robert Forster when his family is killed, but the Hammer is just a supporting character in Forster's story. William Lustig knows his way around this kind of gritty, New York-based violent sleaze and the film is incredibly entertaining when you're in the mood for it. I almost always am. (Watch on Brown Sugar)

Stories We Tell (2013, dir. Sarah Polley) This sort-of documentary about the family and lineage of actor/director Sarah Polley was on my list of favorite movies when it came out a few years ago. What reads like a vanity project on paper is actually a fascinating, funny and incredibly human treatise on the nature of storytelling -- the fictions that we pass down and the ways in which we do it. I can't think of another movie quite like it. (Watch on Amazon Prime)

Black Christmas (1973, dir. Bob Clark) 'Tis the season for the best Christmas horror movie ever made (sorry, To All a Goodnight) and a movie that's quickly becoming one of my favorite horror movies period. Debates about its role in helping create the slasher genre will continue for years, but none of that matters; what matters is that this movie is atmospheric and scary and brilliant and everyone needs to watch it this weekend for reasons to be revealed soon. Just saying. (Watch on Shudder)

I Stream, You Stream Vol. 11

by Patrick Bromley

More good (and good-adjacent) movies you may have missed this year hit Netflix!

Too Late (2016, dir. Dennis Hauck) The feature debut of writer/director Dennis Hauck is an insanely ambitious, sprawling neo-noir shot on 35mm and constructed of five scenes shot as uninterrupted single takes. It's a gimmick, sure, and one that's more about proving it can be done than it is about serving the story, but I can't help that I enjoy seeing a filmmaker really flex his or her muscles and pull off something really challenging. It's a movie that gets better as it goes along and the story begins to come into focus, bolstered by a characteristically fantastic turn by John Hawkes as a private investigator looking for a missing girl. Some of the dialogue can be a little yeesh but the stuff I like outweighs the stuff I like less. Thanks to Chaybee for talking it up when it was in limited release earlier this year. (Watch on Netflix)

The Frontier (2016, dir. Oren Shai) Another neo-noir, also shot on film, also a first feature from its writer/director. Adam Riske's girlfriend Jocelin Donahue plays a woman on the lam who arrives at the out-of-the-way Frontier hotel/restaurant, where she finds herself in the middle of some shady characters looking to make a big score. In addition to Joc D, this terrific little crime thriller stars A.J. Bowen, Jim Beaver, Kelly Lynch and Liam Aiken. If you're at all a fan of Southern noir like Blood Simple and Red Rock West, this is the movie for you. It's one of the better surprises of the year. I paid to rent it on iTunes just a couple weeks ago, but now you can already watch it for "free" on Netflix! Also, Shock Waves host/friend of the site/all around hero Elric Kane is a producer on this, so we should all show our support. I wouldn't say that if it wasn't really cool movie. (Watch on Netflix)

Yoga Hosers (2016, dir. Kevin Smith) Yeah, yeah, I know. There's literally not one thing you could complain about when it comes to the latest Kevin Smith movie that I wouldn't agree with, but I also feel like everyone involved is having so much fun -- and it's the kind of infectious fun that comes across on screen -- that I can't help but be charmed by it. This is Smith paying tribute to Charles Band and Full Moon, combining it with a movie about teenage girls that seems to actually like teenage girls instead of portraying them as backstabbing or vapid. Smith's daughter, Harley Quinn Smith, and Lily-Rose Depp are both having the time of their lives in this silly ass movie and have an on screen dynamic that's totally winning. Fun is in short fucking supply in 2016, so I'll take it where I can get it (Watch on Netflix)

Inferno (1979, dir. Dario Argento) So it's not one of Argento's best, but I'd put this in his top five for sure. The middle chapter in his "Three Mothers" trilogy makes absolutely no sense (it has something to do with cats, right?), but it's so beautifully lit and shot and full of so many effective set pieces that I I have to love it. I'd argue that this is one of his most underrated efforts, but there are still a few I haven't seen. This is brand new on Shudder. (Watch on Shudder)

Massacre Mafia Style (1974, dir. Duke Mitchell) I'll admit that I canceled my subscription to Exploitation.TV right after #Junesploitation because it offers mostly vintage porn, which I'm not really into. But it does have this wonderful crime opus from Duke Mitchell, an old-school crooner who made a pair of independent movies in the '70s that define "passion project." I strongly recommend reading up on Mitchell and the history of this movie; better yet, buy the Grindhouse Releasing Blu-ray and work through all of the special features. The movie works on its own if you know how to watch stuff like this, but you can appreciate it even more when you know the story behind it. (Watch on Exploitation.TV)

The Wailing (2016, dir. Hong Jin-na) This first came to my attention when I heard it talked about on Shock Waves several months back, then our own Melissa Uhrin has been talking it up for some time now (in particular the performance by Kwak Do-won). I bought a digital copy on Vudu several weeks ago for under $5, but that requires me to remember that I have a Vudu account. Needless to say, it went unwatched. Then it showed up on Netflix this week and I finally caught up with the movie, which is crazy and completely unpredictable and, at two and a half hours, quite long. There's no predicting where it will go even after its first 90 minutes, which is something not uncommon to Korean cinema. That's one of the things that draws me to it, since that shit will never fly in American movies. I don't love everything in the movie (a trend this week?), but I do love how many different places it's willing to go. Oh, and Melissa is right: Kwak Do-won is awesome. (Watch on Netflix)