"A24: Horror Goes Art House", GalaxyCon St. Louis 2025, and "Galaxy Warriors"

  

I Dig Crazy Flicks with @CatBusRuss

Episode 240: Skies of Fortune Presents: A24 - Horror Goes to the Arthouse

It was ⁠CatBusRuss⁠'s pleasure to be invited to be a panelist on ⁠Jess McCord⁠'s panel at ⁠GalaxyCon Des Moines⁠. The topic of said panel, ⁠A24⁠'s rich horror movie history and influence. But, perhaps, more importantly, is calling it "elevated horror" a good thing?

One half of the "⁠Skies of Fortune⁠" tabletop, role-playing game team put on quite a presentation, and must have his finger on the pulse of what nerds wants to chat about. The crowd of 40 people is not something a ⁠CatBus⁠ panel is accustomed to. In other words, if you have issues with the audio from the panel, that and a powerful air conditioning system are to blame.

Jess offers up clips and ⁠Joe Bob Briggs⁠ commentary to try and do away with the term of elevated horror. Russ is there to defend those who think certain horror movies are high brow, like A24 offerings, when compared to the horror movies that Gen-Xers and Millennials group up with. Our podcast host also offers reasons why arthouse does not equal box office since A24 has yet to distribute a feature that has made over 100 million dollars when other studios are desperate for one billion dollar box offices.

Elevated. Emo. Neuro-Spicy. After this panel, hopefully we can all determine what kind of horror A24 truly offers.

Bonus - 'Galaxy Warriors' & GalaxyCon St. Louis - Day 2

CatBusRuss⁠ was given the honor to be a panelist at the first ⁠GalaxyCon St. Louis⁠. For the second day of the convention, our podcast host is joined by '⁠Cinema Shitshow's' Nix Eclips⁠ to have another go at "⁠Ninety For Chill: The Panel⁠". And this time, they come sporting punch and pie.

Nix dedicated the day to worship at the altar of ⁠Bruce Campbell⁠, but the queue was so long that he tried to cut some deals with those stranded in the line to get him some merch. ⁠Russ⁠ on the other hand was able to finish much of his Christmas shopping, reconnecting with the associate producer of "⁠Galaxy Warriors⁠", and bugging "⁠KPop Demon Hunter's⁠" ⁠Danny Chung⁠ on behalf of his niece.

And of course, the two podcasters did check out some panels like another installment of the "⁠None of this Matters⁠" podcast and the psychological draw towards "⁠The Boys⁠". CatBus tells his tales of the day while trying to deal with the Cubs efforts in the final game of the NLDS.

Hopefully, the crowd was impressed enough to come to Day 3's "1985 Triple Threat Match". They will need it since it was scheduled in the "let's beat traffic time slot".

 

Follow me on Bluesky @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.

The "Best of the Best" Eric Roberts's Love Letters & 19th Century Tales of Vengeance

  

I Dig Crazy Flicks with @CatBusRuss

Episode 238: 'Best of the Best' with Atlanta Film Chat's Chuck Thomas

After the small audience at the Indiana Comic Convention "⁠Ninety For Chill: The Panel⁠", circumstances prevented screenwriter ⁠Chuck Thomas⁠ from "⁠Atlanta Film Chat⁠" meeting with ⁠CatBusRuss⁠ for a panel at ⁠ATL Comic Convention⁠.Russ still wanted a chance to chat with one of Atlanta's best movie podcasters. So, it is only fitting for Chuck's cinematic wisdom to select a feature that fits the "⁠Ninety For Chill⁠" parameters and star an actor with quite the outrageous career, ⁠Eric Roberts⁠. Throw in ⁠James Earl Jones⁠ and ⁠Chris Penn⁠, and you have to call this a crazy flick. This film is Taekwondo's answer to Karate's box office dominance, 1989's "⁠Best of the Best⁠".

These two podcasters had a ball to start since ⁠Chuck⁠ wanted to find out about what he may have missed from the convention, and ⁠Russ⁠ was fascinated by his guest's PROPER football scarf selection. It serves as a preview of what will become of this year's Devil's Night's podcast with the cast and creator of "⁠The Crow⁠". With so many similar interests, the language is a lot looser than usual, so ear muffs for the kids, please.

Despite the similarities of these talking heads, CatBus was not impressed by this feature. It may have brought up past trauma from "⁠Over the Top⁠". But again, Chuck has a great mind for movies, and like our host, raised on "⁠Mystery Science Theater 3000⁠". Thus, it may not be too challenging to turn Russ's opinion around on the first chapter of ⁠Phillip Rhee⁠'s franchise.

Episode 239 - Josh Nealis's 19th Century Vengeance Double Feature: The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) & Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter (2012)

Comic book writer and novelist ⁠Josh Nealis⁠ is on a virtual promotional tour for his latest book, "Cocaine-Stripper Stronghold: Issue 2", so a podcast called "⁠I Dig Crazy Flicks⁠" seems an obvious production to reach out to. His project's wild premise makes him seem like the ideal guest for ⁠CatBusRuss⁠, but can these two demented minds talk about films that can reach the lofty expectations they carry with themselves?

Josh is obviously a passionate man, and that took priority when he offered the podcast's host one of his favorite films, 2002's "⁠The Count of Monte Cristo⁠", ⁠Alexandre Dumas⁠'s tale of long-gestating revenge in post Napoleonic France. The film has many supporters, but it is a half hour too long for "⁠Ninety For Chill⁠" and is pretty grounded in the historic environment. Director ⁠Kevin Reynolds⁠ may have given us "⁠Waterworld⁠", but this podcast needs some insane idea(s) like that Kevin Costner flick to work.

⁠Russ⁠ still has his skills that will allow anyone to talk about any movie they want on the podcast, so he decided to offer up a movie with similar themes, but with monsters and a manageable runtime. Someday, he would love to discuss ⁠Timur Bekmambetov⁠'s Russian action-monster movie hybrids that got him to the Stateside attention, but "⁠Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter⁠" may be a great jumping off point to this director's filmography.

CatBusRuss met the founder of ⁠Cutthroat Comics & Publishing⁠ at ⁠Capital City Comic Con 2025⁠ in Lansing, Michigan. Josh's table on artist alley featured comic books and novels with titles that will grab your attention like "Pedoman and Kid Friendly" and "Stuffed Squirrels & Porcelain Angels", so our host could not resist talking shop with this talent. Comics were bought and information was exchanged. And now its Russ's turn to make something from this new friendship.

 

Follow me on Bluesky @catbusruss. If you want to be on the show, contact me on Twitter or send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com. All we need is a theme, movie, director, or actor and a focus on sub 100-minute material. As long as the credits start before the 1:39:59 mark on the runtime bar, the movie qualifies.

Bonus: Scary Cinema 6-Pack: Sinners, Jared "Ares" Leto, Puppet Master, Quench, The Reaping, Faustian Weller

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Bonus: Scary Cinema 6-Pack: Sinners, Jared "Ares" Leto, Puppet Master, Quench, The Reaping, Faustian Weller

⁠CatBusRuss had a four-movie marathon of sub 100-minute features that he intended to kick off the last week of spooky month. But since he currently has only one retailer to be responsible to, he had time to watch a longer flick or two. Lets just say ⁠Ryan Coogler⁠'s vision changed that plan. And our host had promised to go back to the Grid while it was still in theaters.

It cannot be the "⁠Ninety For Chill: Discovery of 2025⁠" with its extra 37 minutes, but ⁠Russ⁠ will be very disappointed in the Academy if "⁠Sinners⁠" does not take home best picture. He needs to see "One Battle After Another", but there are just three too many Oscar winners to tell me that they should receive one more. Never mind that it is 24 minutes longer than Coogler's film while lacking a time-traveling musical number, and, most importantly, anti-Klan vampires.

"⁠TRON: Ares⁠" also lacks the vampires, but a ⁠Nine Inch Nails⁠ soundtrack and a love for Depeche Mode checks off all the boxes to amuse this CatBus. It does what "⁠TRON: Legacy⁠" forgot to do, play to the nerds. ⁠Jared Leto⁠ is no Michael Sheen, but he does not mess up, and the geeky fanservice made it a fun two hours. And since it is the son of "⁠TRON⁠" (runtime 1:36), it does qualify to be the NFC D25.

The idea of Jared Leto is scary, but to make sure this bonus episode of "⁠I Dig Crazy Flicks⁠" fits the spooky tone, Russ revisits four movies that he covered in 2022. We will transition to more fun special effects with "⁠Puppet Master (1989)⁠" and then maintain a no budget vibe with emo-vampire flick "⁠Quench (2007)⁠".

And to test your threshold of pain (Let's see how long you last.), the podcast will conclude with movies our host may have misunderstood. He doubts it, but you cannot hate the idea of a ⁠Hilary Swank⁠ and ⁠Idris Elba⁠ movie on paper. Not be the religious type, "⁠The Reaping (2007)⁠" may never have been up his alley. On the other hand, ⁠Peter Weller⁠ possibly portraying the devil, is a premise that you cannot deny the potential. Does "⁠Shadow Hours (2000)⁠" deliver?