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Optimism Vaccine’s panel of experts and idiots explore the dingy crevices between pop culture and forgotten trash in a never-ending quest to celebrate your guilty pleasures in the world of cinema and beyond.
430 Episodes
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THIS WEEK: Memories Within Miss Aggie (1974), Through The Looking Glass (1976), A Woman's Torment (1977)Does something need to be erotic to be pornographic? Do some folks just get off on misery? Maybe! Nothing says HOT AND STEAMY like isolation, grief, psychological meltdowns, art house horror, and a carrot in your butt.Welcome to the wonderful world of feel-bad films in the golden age of pornography.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: Nude on the Moon (1961), Bad Girls Go to Hell (1965) and Deadly Weapons (1974)Pornography is a different beast in the hot Florida sun, where everyone is melting and there's no infrastructure to support a competent film industry.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: Nightdreams (1981), Café Flesh (1982) and Dr. Caligari (1989)Our finest theme month returns as we examine a pair of Hustler ad men who donned the monikers Rinse Dream and F.X. Pope in the noble effort to push pornography past its gonzo, counter-culture breaking point. Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: The Woman in the Yard (2025), Bring Her Back (2025), Weapons (2025) and 28 Years Later (2025)I mean, the title is just as applicable to this episode of our dumb podcast as it is to Zach Cregger's film, amiright?Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), The Invisible Man (1933), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), The Wolf Man (1941) and The Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)We're breaking format for the (permanent?) finale of Shawntober, as we take a wide-ranging look at the origins of the American horror film.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: Society (1989), Bride of Re-Animator (1990), and The Dentist (1996)Shawn can't stop flapping his gums about The Substance, so we figured it was time to show him some real films of substance.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: An American Werewolf in London (1981), Innocent Blood (1992), Deer Woman (2005) and Family (2006)This week we really wanted to test Shawn's mettle by exposing him to the twisted mind behind some of the most sickening works of the 20th century: Beverly Hills Cop III and Max Landis.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: The Devil (1972), Possession (1981) and Under the Silver Globe (1988)For some unholy reason, Steve demanded that we kick off spooky season with the ultimate downer, as we expose Shawn Glinis to the verbose filmography of Polish philosopher king Andrzej Zulawski. You won't find any treats here. Or tricks, really. Just a great many agonized shouts.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: Disclosure (1994), Virtuosity (1995) and The Thirteenth Floor (1999)With the end of days imminent, we're jacking back in to look at another trio of bonkers 90s VR films and yearn for the future that wasn't.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: The Midnight Meat Train (2008), No One Lives (2012), Downrange (2017) and The Price We Pay (2022)What happens when a Japanese ADHD-addled wunderkind with zero interest in boring filmmaking minutiae like performance, pacing and screen geography heads to Hollywood? Redbox magic, baby!Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and I Want to Be Neenja! The Movie (2024)Ostensibly, we're still discussing the uncomfortable marriage of Japanese culture and 1990s Hollywood production. In actuality, we have gazed deep into the snarling panther's maw and emerged lesser.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: Black Rain (1989), Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1990) and Rising Sun (1993)This week, we're revisiting the brief period of time in post-Cold War America when our great nation affixed its racist, paranoid gaze on the shores of Japan. The result was some very strange cinema.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: Assault on Devil's Island (1997), McCinsey's Island (1998) and The Ultimate Weapon (1998)There's no Hulkamaniacs here! Yet here we are, combing through the Hulkster's brief run as a cable crossover star. Was the big heel turn enough to awaken Terry's latent potential as a leading man? Results vary.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: No Holds Barred (1989), Mr. Nanny (1993) and Thunder in Paradise (1993)With the recent passing of Hulk Hogan, Steve and I felt duty bound as Real Americans to educate Jack on the phenomenon of Hulkamania. I'm not sure if his film career was particularly illustrative.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: Baby Geniuses (1999) and Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004)Having given the Baby Assassins a deserved spotlight, it seemed only appropriate to discuss Baby Geniuses, the passion project of OV supervillain Steven Paul. In 1999, one man dared to ask the question: What if babies possessed the cognitive capacity to mentally dominate Dom DeLuise?Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: Baby Assassins (2021), Baby Assassins: 2 Babies (2023) and Baby Assassins: Nice Days (2024)Jack already spends 10% of any given episode talking about Baby Assassins, so we thought we'd let him get it out of his system.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: Enthiran (2010) and 2.0 (2018)Why settle for Hollywood when Kollywood exists? Join us this week as we're dazzled by Rajinikanth and baffled by 5G conspiracies.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: XX: Beautiful Weapon (1993), XX: Beautiful Target (1995) and XX: Beautiful Beast (1995)Like the rest of the internet, we just couldn't get enough Japanese perversion. So this week we've opted to crack open the fridge and dish up a second helping of the V-Cinema franchise XX.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: XX: Beautiful Hunter (1994), XX: Beautiful Prey (1996), and XX: Beautiful Killing Machine (1996)Having already covered the adventures of Xander Cage and Ti West's misguided stab at franchise horror, it was inevitable that a sage Patron would point us toward the Japanese film series XX. It promises to be a beautiful time.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
THIS WEEK: Jingle All the Way 2 (2014), Kindergarten Cop 2 (2016), and Eraser: Reborn (2022)It was suggested that this episode was below even us, but once an idiotic idea has been introduced, you can trust that Optimism Vaccine will follow through. So here we are, discussing films had the audacity to attempt the impossible: Replacing Arnold Schwarzenegger.Donate to Palestinian Medical Aid Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon
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