The Stacks

This week, we continue this year's Spooky Stacks - in part one (0:00-1:20:12), we discuss the 1988 Dario Piana giallo Too Beautiful to Die (released in Italy as a sequel to Nothing Underneath), in addition to "Habeas Corpus" - the second episode of Castle Rock. In part two (1:20:13-2:43:14) we talk in shorter form about around a dozen additional features: Len Wiseman's 2003 goth drama Underworld, the 2010 Christopher Ray Asylum picture Mega Shark Vs. Crocosaurus, the 1988 Mario Bianchi 'Presented by Lucio Fulci' giallo The Murder Secret, Larry Fessenden's early shorts White Trash and Habit, a revisit and furry-casting of Caye Casas' 2022 black comedy/horror The Coffee Table, the 1990 Frank Marshall family horror classic Arachnophobia, Martin Scorsese's episode of Amazing Stories ("Mirror Mirror") and his 1986 legasequel to The Hustler, The Color of Money, the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "How Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth" and "A Matter of Time" from Star Trek: The Next Generation, the ridiculous 1996 Gregory Hoblit legal drama Primal Fear, and a furry-casting of Panos Cosmatos' 2018 surrealist horror masterpiece Mandy. In part three, we talk briefly about everything else we've watched since last time, and make our picks for next week.

The live list of The Spooky Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-spooky-stacks-1/

This week, we kick off this year's Spooky Stacks - in part one (0:00-1:22:47), we talk about the 1988 (ish) wacky direct-to-video Greydon Clark killer cat on a boat movie Uninvited, in addition to "Severance" - the first episode of Castle Rock. In part two (1:22:48-2:26:05) we talk in shorter form about 9 additional features: Martin Scorsese's 1984 black comedy After Hours, Simon West's 2012 Nic Cage Takensploitation flick Stolen, Karyn Kusama's 2005 dystopian sci-fi Æon Flux, Brian Trenchard-Smith's 1996 DTV franchise entry Leprechaun 4: In Space, Zack Snyder's 2010 animated owl feature Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, the 2013 Mikael Håfström Arnold and Sly action team-up Escape Plan, Tallulah H. Schwab's 2024 Kafka homage Mr. K, the 1996 David Twohy alien encounter thriller The Arrival, and a furry-casting for the 1989 Tim Burton Batman. In part three, we talk briefly about everything else we've watched since last time, and make our picks for next week.

The live list of The Spooky Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-spooky-stacks-1/

This week on The Stacks, in part one (0:00-1:38:04), we talk about the non-canonical 1965 Dr Who film adaptation, Gordon Flemyng's Dr. Who and the Daleks, in addition to "The Hobo Code" - the eighth episode of Mad Men's first season. In part two (1:38:05-2:32:55) we talk in shorter form about 7 additional features: the horrible 2017 Tony Leondis animated feature The Emoji Movie, the 2013 Taylor Hackford Jason Statham-starring pulp action thriller Harper, the 2026 Bleeding Skull mixtape Phantasmatapes II (directed by Annie Choi and Joseph A. Ziemba), a furry-casting for Martin Scorsese's 1982 picture The King of Comedy, the hated 2006 sci-fi Kurt Wimmer gun kata picture Ultraviolet, the 1970 Claude Fournier 'maple syrup porno' Quebecois sex comedy Two Women in Gold (Deux femmes en or), and the 1977 John Badham downbeat slice of disco life classic Saturday Night Fever. In part three, we talk briefly about everything else we've watched since last time, and make our picks to kick off this year's spooky season.

The live list of The Spooky Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-spooky-stacks-1/

This week on The Stacks, in part one (0:00-1:38:01), we talk about the concluding film in the Sartana spaghetti western series, Giuliano Carnimeo's 1970 picture, Light the Fuse... Sartana Is Coming, in addition to "Red in the Face" - the seventh episode of Mad Men's first season. In part two (1:38:02-2:23:55) we talk in shorter form about 8 additional features: Martin Scorsese's legendary 1980 sports biopic Raging Bull, the 1988 Penny Marshall wish-fulfilment comedy Big, Abel Ferrara's 1993 army base-set version of Body Snatchers, Tim Burton's 1988 gothic comedy breakthrough Beetlejuice, Martin Scorsese's 1978 music documentary The Last Waltz, the bleak 1980 Brian G. Hutton police procedural The First Deadly Sin, the 1967 Ishiro Honda Rankin/Bass / Tsuburaya tokusatsu collab King Kong Escapes, and the 1994 Paul Flaherty evil kid comedy Clifford. In part three, we talk briefly about everything else we've watched since last time, and make our picks for next week.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week on The Stacks, in part one (0:00-1:23:15), we talk about the classic 1953 Howard Hawks musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell), in addition to "Babylon" - the sixth episode of Mad Men. In part two (1:23:16-2:09:38) we chat in shorter form about 7 additional features: the 2014 Paco Cabezas Nic Cage Takensploitation film Rage (aka Tokarev), Steven Spielberg's 2016 animated Roald Dahl adaptation The BFG, the silly 1976 James Frawley disaster movie parody The Big Bus, 1961 Robert Rossen pool shark bummer classic The Hustler, the ridiculous 1989 Andrei Konchalovsky buddy action comedy Tango & Cash, the 2014 Adam Wingard super-soldier quasi-slasher The Guest, and the 1977 Martin Scorsese New Hollywood musical New York, New York. In part three, we talk briefly about everything else we've watched since last time, and make our picks for next week.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week on The Stacks, in part one (0:00-1:27:46), we talk about Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1961 surrealist debut Fando y Lis, in addition to "5G" - the fifth episode of Mad Men. In part two (1:27:47-2:29:31) we chat in shorter form about 9ish additional features: Michael G. Heagle's satirical 1989 SOV slasher short Toga Party Massacre, Léonard Keigel's 1970 magical realist mystery Qui? (aka The Sensuous Assassin), Scott Walker's 2013 true crime picture The Frozen Ground, Norman Apstein's low budget kid-horror Ice Cream Man, Simon Glassman's 2025 Backrooms-adjacent ad-horror Buffet Infinity, a furry-casting for Martin Scorsese's 1976 classic Taxi Driver, the 2009 Graham Reznick 3D POV horror short The Viewer, Tony Scott's 1998 paranoia thriller Enemy of the State, Steven Spielberg's 2015 based-on-fact Cold War film Bridge of Spies, Frank LaLoggia's painterly 1988 gothic horror Lady in White, and Carl Schultz's shaggy 1983 Gold Coast conspiracy procedural Goodbye Paradise. In part three, we talk briefly about everything else we've watched since last time, and make our picks for next week.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week on The Stacks, in part one (0:00-1:22:19), we talk about the (circa) 1970 Al Adamson biker intrigue patchwork Hell's Bloody Devils, in addition to "New Amsterdam" - the fourth episode of Mad Men. In part two (1:22:20-2:37:15) we chat in shorter form about 8ish additional features: Teruo Ishii's brisk 1993 v-cinema entry Hitman: Blood Smells Like Roses, the peculiar 1985 Hoite C. Caston-directed and Peter Billingsley-starring children's film The Dirt Bike Kid, the 2026 Kane Parsons liminal horror film Backrooms, Barry Levinson's 1994 Michael Crichton 'what if a man was sexually harassed by a woman?' tech-thriller novel adaptation Disclosure, Martin Scorsese's 1973 New Hollywood romance / road picture Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, the 1994 Steve Miner remake of Gerard Depardieu's weird coming-of-age comedy My Father the Hero, James Bryan's 1984 goofballs biker movie Hell Riders, the 7th and 8th episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 ("Unification" parts one and two), and Steven Spielberg's 2012 historical epic Lincoln. In part three, we talk briefly about everything else we've watched since last time, and make our picks for next week.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week on The Stacks, in part one (0:00-1:19:30), we talk about the 1957 Allan Dwan desert noir The River's Edge, in addition to "The Marriage of Figaro" - the third episode of Mad Men. In part two (1:19:31-2:16:56) we chat in shorter form about 8 additional features: Fernando Trueba's 1989 weird erotic thriller The Mad Monkey (aka Twisted Obsession), the Ultimate Cut of Zack Snyder's 2009 comic adaptation Watchmen, Joseph-Gordon Levitt's 2013 sole directorial feature Don Jon, the 2017 Steven C. Miller DTV Nic Cage sequel Arsenal, Rob Cohen's 2002 Vin Diesel extreme sports spy film xXx, the 1996 John Woo action blockbuster Broken Arrow, the 1981 Oliver Stone psychological horror film The Hand, and Martin Scorsese's 1973 breakthrough picture Mean Streets. In part three, we talk briefly about everything else we've watched since last time, and make our picks for next week.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week on The Stacks, in part one (0:00-1:54:22), we talk about Tim Hunter's 1986 loosely-based-on-fact teen crime bummer River's Edge, in addition to "Ladies Room" - the second episode of Mad Men. In part two (1:54:23-2:51:48) we chat in shorter form about 8 additional features (battling low-flying aircraft noise for the first few): Paul Verhoeven's 1990 sci-fi dystopia classic Total Recall, Martin Scorsese's 1972 grindhouse exploitation picture Boxcar Bertha, the 1984 James Bryan fake sequel Death Wish variant The Executioner Part II, Christopher Nolan's 2000 breakthrough film Memento, the 1976 Serge Moati French crime fantasia Nuit d'or (Golden Night), the 1975 Terry Ohlsson Australian crime procedural Scobie Malone, the 2016 Alex Proyas cgi spectacle Gods of Egypt, and Quentin Tarantino's sprawling 1995 abstracted grindhouse film Pulp Fiction. In part three, we talk briefly about everything else we've watched since last time, and make our picks for next week.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week on The Stacks, in part one (0:00-1:29:34), we talk about the 1969 Robert Downey (Sr) advertising satire Putney Swope, in addition to celebrating the 10th through 13th episodes of Wayne Spitzer's Dead of Night, concluding our coverage of the series. In part two (1:29:35-2:27:46) we suffer through some technical difficulties while we talk in shorter form about 8-ish additional features: Youssef Chebbi's 2012 supernatural crime procedural Ashkal: The Tunisian Investigation, the 1961 Chang Ying Taiwanese furry fable Fantasy of the Deer Warrior, Hisayasu Sato's 1988 pink film Survey Map of a Paradise Lost, Christopher Coppola's 1993 silly crime film Deadfall, Martin Scorsese's 1969 feature debut Who's That Knocking at My Door?, Sam Raimi's notorious superhero slurry Spider-Man 3, the early Martin Scorsese short films (What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This, It's Not Just You Murray, The Big Shave, ItalianAmerican, and An American Boy), and Ang Lee's 1994 international breakthrough Eat Drink Man Woman. In part three, we talk briefly about everything else we've watched since last time, and make our picks for next week.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/