THIS WEEK: Salon Kitty AKA Madam Kitty (1976), All Ladies Do It (1992), Cheeky (2000) We're crankin' our nut knob higher this week and checking out the films of brilliant butt enthusiast and Italian ass-teur, Tinto Brass. Producers may have hacked apart his cut of Caligula, but they can never take away the weird bread scene in Salon Kitty. Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965), Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), and Supervixens (1975) We finally got to fulfill our lifelong dream of covering our favorite army combat cameraman turned campy sexploitation and softcore peddler, Russ Meyer. How many filmmakers can say they had a career making the finest big-boobed, square-jawed, action packed movies in the world AND got to collaborate with Roger "Erogenous" Ebert? There's only one, baby. Donate to Palestinian Medical...

THIS WEEK: Emanuelle in America (1977), Star Of David: Beautiful Girl Hunter (1979), Bitter Moon (1992) VOTE ON THE NAME FOR THIS MONTH'S THEME ANOTHER PATRON REQUEST EPISODE! Theres no better way to kick off November than with a trio of movies that would get a more respectable podcast shamed and criticized into oblivion. Lucky for us, most people don't care about which films we cover and those who do hold us to the lowest of standards. We'll be tackling all the hard hitting questions this...

THIS WEEK: Hellraiser (1987), Nightbreed (1990), Lord of Illusions (1995) Clive Barker is a British author, filmmaker, and visual artist known for his contributions to the horror and dark fantasy genres. While his primary claim to fame is as a novelist and short story writer, he also had a brief but impactful career as a film director. Clive Barker made his directorial debut with "Hellraiser," a horror film based on his own novella "The Hellbound Heart." The movie introduced audiences to the...

THIS WEEK: Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama (1988), Nightmare Sisters (1988), Leeches! (2003) Shawn Glinis has never seen a single David DeCoteau movie about shirtless hunks taking showers. We're doing our best to help him live a less shameful and embarrassing life. Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon Steve's Chili Recipe 1 1/2-ish lbs ground beef (nothing too lean you weirdo. 80/20 or better. Usually I just grab a prepackaged 80/20 that’s a...

THIS WEEK: Blood Bath (1966), The Velvet Vampire (1971) Shawntober continues with Roger Corman protégé and criminally underrated New Hollywood auteur, Stephanie Rothman. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Truth or Dare?: A Critical Madness (1986), Killing Spree (1987), and Creep (1995) Shawn Glinis is back for another OpBOOism VacSCREAM October. We're kicking things off this year with a look at regional horror filmmaker and reigning king of Florida gore, Tim Ritter. Join as as we look at his early slasher films, discuss the incomparable Asbestos Felt, and try to keep Miros from howling like a cartoon wolf every time Kathy Willets is on screen. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Dark of the Sun (1968), The Wilby Conspiracy (1975), Raid on Entebbe (1977) Optimism Vaccine sets sail for the mother continent to talk sweat soaked colonizers, blood diamonds, Sidney Poitier and if Yaphet Kotto is a better Idi Amin than Idi Amin. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Undeclared War (1990), Burning Paradise (1994), Full ALert (1997) When people speak glowingly of the Hong Kong New Wave or the great Hong Kong action directors, Ringo Lam is usually the first auteur left on the cutting room floor. Yeah, you've seen City on Fire and know it's great, but some of Lam's greatest films were also his biggest critical and commercial failures. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Bad Cat (2016), First Person Shooter (2022), Cinnamon (2023) Brought to you by our patron poll, it's original films from the best damn streaming platform in the world. Will Tubi offer us the slick style of a Netflix production? Of course not. You will get a Turkish CGI Garfield that smokes and swears though so count your blessings. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Cube (1997), Triangle (2009), Sphere (1998) We're not naming names, but someone with a toddler's brain took too many edibles and thought it would be a great idea to talk about movies about shapes. Or at least movies with shapes in the name? When was the last time you thought about Dustin Hoffman's performance in Sphere? Yeah, we never had either. Anyway, SHAPE CAST. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Pompeii (2014), Hercules (2014), and Gods of Egypt (2016) We've looked at genre classics and Italian knockoffs, but where does the sword and sandals genre stand today? We're not sure, but let's pretend contemporary means "ten years ago" and we'll tell you. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Ator The Fighting Eagle (1982), Ator 2: The Blade Master (1984), Alfonso Brescia's Iron Warrior (1987), Quest For The Mighty Sword (1990) When you're looking for greatness (or maybe just a cheap Italian knockoff of the Conan series) look no further than Joe D'Amato's Ator series. A master class in the power of muscular men in loin cloths interacting with live animals and abysmal special effects. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Jason and the Argonauts (1963), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), and Clash of the Titans (1981) Ray Harryhausen was the king of stop-motion animation, the inventor of countless special effect techniques like DYNAMATION, and the only man who can claim to have influenced Killer Instinct and Stephen Spielberg while paving the way for future innovators like Phil Tippet. He also made some damn good sword and sandals films. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Hercules in the Haunted World (1961), Hercules, Prisoner of Evil (1964), Hercules (1983) Hercules is the buffest hunk in classical Roman mythology so it makes sense that the Italians made roughly one billion cheap movies about him. We chose three. The best three? It's difficult to say, but we were able to squeeze in Mario Bava, Ruggero Deodato, and Luigi Cozzi, which is an all-star lineup by our standards. One of the movies has Lou Ferrigno throwing a bear into space too—the...

THIS WEEK: Conan the Barbarian (1982), Conan the Destroyer (1984), Red Sonja (1985) Like Christ before us, Optimism Vaccine is wandering the desert this month. Will we succumb to the temptations of the flesh? Almost certainly. Our journey begins with an able guide: Arnold Schwarzenegger. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Who Wants to Kill Jessie (1966), Happy End (1967), Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea (1977) One film runs in reverse, one has a man who brings superheroes to life with his horny dreams, and a third has sort of sci-fi disco Hitler time travel thing going on. What do they all have in common? They're all Czech comedies in a Patreon-request episode (and they're damn good movies). Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: The Witches of Eastwick (1987), The Witches of Breastwick (2005), Popatopolis (2009) Jim Wynorski and George Miller have a lot in common when you really stop to think about it. Just a couple of guys making little movies about witches with a few stars in them. Although, only one of these filmmakers has worked with future president sex haver, Stormy Daniels. Tune in to find out which one! Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Violent Cop (1989), Boiling Point (1990), A Scene at the Sea (1991) We take a look at Takeshi Kitano's transition from TV funnyman to impromptu director to one of the greatest filmmakers of the 1990s. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Cobra (1986) and Tombstone (1993) Depending on who you ask, George P. Cosmatos is either a master of blockbuster action and horror cinema or just a yes man for Sly Stallone. Only Optimism Vaccine knows the truth. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Sonatine (1993), Kids Return (1996) and Hana-bi (1997) The third time is the charm in our exploration of Takeshi Kitano. We've finally ventured beyond his odd late career dalliances and into the 90s, when Kitano felt like the most vital filmmaker on the goddamn planet. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Hellzapoppin' (1941) and Date Movie (2006) When a Patreon subscriber requests one of the best slapstick meta-comedy musicals of all time we are contractually obliged to pair it with one of the most maligned comedies of all time. If this were a video podcast you'd see us whipping ourselves like Flagellant Christians looking for penance. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Outrage (2010), Beyond Outrage (2012), Outrage Coda (2017) Takeshi Kitano does an about-face from his self destructive introspection and returns to the world of stone-faced Yakuza violence and double crosses. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon

THIS WEEK: Gone With The Pope (2010), Grizzly II: Revenge (2020), and New York Ninja (2021) We have plenty of stories of dusty 35mm film reels rescued from obscurity and finally given the reverence and restoration they deserve. It's far rarer when a film that was never completed is rescued and reconstructed. This week, we're looking at three unique approaches to film reconstruction. From Bob Murawski's slick editing and commitment to director Duke Mitchell's vision, to a three-decade-long...

THIS WEEK: Takeshis' (2005), Glory to the Filmmaker (2007), Achilles and the Tortoise (2008) What do you do when you’re Takeshi Kitano, Japan’s ubiquitous, wildly successful TV and film star, and you begin questioning your own value as an artist? You get introspective introspective and try your best to self-destruct in the most interesting way possible. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon