Red Rose Film Club

For this episode, we did a double-feature of horror(ish) movies dealing with the Chile in the shadow of Pinochet's coup. First up: Pablo Larrain's 2023 horror-comedy El Conde, which sees Pinochet, as an undead vampire, wrestling with his own legacy. And then we watched The Wolf House by directors Cristobal Leon and Joaquín Cociña, a surreal stop-motion fable about the infampis Colonia Dignidad cult. Discussion also includes: Recent watches, including a slate of 2025 movies: Weapons, Together, and Caught Stealing; Marc Maron's anti-anti-woke crusade; and Rafael Schacter, the Jewish composer who conduced Verdi's Requiem at the concentration camp in Terezin. Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd

Costa-Gavras' 1982 political thriller MISSING tells the true story of Charles Horman, an American in Chile who was disappeared during the days after Augusto Pinochet's 1973 coup. While his wife (Sissy Spacek) and father (Jack Lemmon) search Santiago, they uncover American involvement in the overthrow of Chile's democratically elected President Salvador Allende. This is the first movie in our new series about the Chilean coup and Augusto Pinochet. Discussions also include: Our recent watches, including THUNDERBOLTS, SUPERMAN, and LADY SNOWBLOOD 2: LOVE SONG OF VENGEANCE Hal went to the Beyonce concert in Atlanta; LET GOD SORT 'EM OUT, the newest album from Clipse; The return of one of our most hated historic figures: Milton Friedman Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd

We watched Ryan Coogler's 2025 horror hit SINNERS, starring Michael B. Jordan (twice), Hailee Steinfeld, and Delroy Lindo. We discuss Coogler's career trajectory from the modest success of his first film, FRUITVALE STATION, to the massive studio hits (CREED and BLACK PANTHER) which paved the way for him to make Sinners, Coogler's ambitious, genre-blending, passion project. Discussions also include: Our other recent watches, including 28 YEARS LATER (2025), MATERIALISTS (2025), SUBURBIA (1983), and the TV show MOBLAND (2025); Trump's War in Iran; The odyssey of Joe Rogan and the Liver King; Blues music as an expression of black pain and joy; Favorite movies with actors playing their own twin. Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd

After a hiatus, we are back! And we're finishing our series on the Spanish Civil War. We watched the 1996 film Libertarias (dir. Vicente Aranda) about the Free Women of Spain, an all-female column of anarchist resistance fighters who fought on the frontline of the Spanish Civil War. We discuss the Catholic Church and its role in the revolution and how anarchism rose from leftist movements in Spain. Discussion also includes: Our recent watches: including THE SURFER (2024), FRIENDSHIP (2024), FINAL DESTINATION BLOODLINE (2025), THE ACCOUNTANT 2 (2025), DANGEROUS ANIMALS (2025), BRING HER BACK (2025), LA HAINE (1996), MORVERN CALLER (2002), and GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953); Craig brought some fun props to discuss; The recent mass shooting at Florida State University by a white a supremacist; And the complete failure (but done with a lot of enthusiasm and sparkle) that was the 1906 assassination attempt of King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria. Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd We were recently on the Load Bearing Beams podcast with Matt and Laci and we discussed AMERICAN PSYCHO! Check it ou here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/load-bearing-beams-a-movie-podcast/id1236196018?i=1000703135484. 

The 1942 film RAZA is a Spanish propaganda film written by THE Fascist Supreme himself Francisco Franco, showcasing the rise of Spain's Nationalist Movement through the eyes of a single family. RAZA checks all the boxes of fascist propaganda: an obsession with a "noble death" in the name of empire, ahistorical interpretations of rival political movements, and absolute terrible filmmaking. We discussed Franco's forray into film as well as: What qualifies as propaganda; Recent viewings: THE MONKEY (2025), BLACK BAG (2025), and PINK NARCISSUS (1971); Wrestling talk, including John Cena's recent heel turn; ICE disappearing protestors; Craig's embarassing encounter with Catholicism and its rituals. Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd  

We start a three episode series discussing movies that depict the Spanish Civil War and Francisco Franco's fascist rule in Spain. First up is Guillermo Del Toro's 2006 fantasy Pan's Labyrinth. Discussion includes: Recent watches: Wolf Man (2025), Heart Eyes (2025), Presence (2024), Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954), Let's Start a Cult (2024), and The Tarnished Angels (1957); The brave people in federal government resisting Trump and Elon's fascist takeover; The beauty of resistance and fantasy as an escape from political upheaval; And how many characters in Mel Gibson's new film FLIGHT RISK talk about pooping themselves? Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd SOURCES https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/26/altgov-elon-musk-doge-federal-workers Mercedes Penalba-Sotorrio’s chapter “Of Fascist Heroes and Martyrs: Death and Violence in the Falanage Espanola” in the 2021 book The Crucible of Francoism: Combat, Violence, and Ideology in the Spanish Civil War  Michael Parenti’s 1997 book Blackshirts & Reds: Rational Fascism & the Overthrow of Communism and his 2007 essay “Fascism the Real Story”  Hugh Thomas’ 1961 book The Spanish Civil War The University of Warwick’s illustrated timeline of the Spanish Civil War: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/archives_online/digital/scw/timeline/ 

For our fiftieth episode, we welcomed burlesque and sideshow performer extraordinaire Indie Sinclair to discuss THE cult film of all cult films: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. We discuss the film's lasting legacy and the community its builr over the last fifty years. Discussion also includes: This year's Oscar nominations; The passing of David Lynch; Indie Sinclair gives us some behind the scenes views of hosting Rocky Horror midnight screenings; And our comfort movies. Find Indie Sinclair online: https://linktr.ee/indiesinclairhome  Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd SOURCES & LINKS: https://transreads.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2019-03-17_5c8eb1ebaced4_susan-stryker-transgender-history2.pdf

In our first episode of 2025, we discuss the Godfather of Filth John Waters and his rollicking 1988 film about integration in Baltimore: Hairspray. Discussion also includes: Other recent watches: NOSFERATU (Robert Eggers), THE LAST SHOWGIRL (Gia Coppola), FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! (Russ Meyer), and ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ (Don Siegel); Farm labor in Florida; Craig's New Year's Resolution Watchlist; Lots of Coppola talk: Francis, Gia, Sofia, and Nic! Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd SOURCES & LINKS: https://www.tampabay.com/investigations/2024/12/27/migrant-farmworkers-came-florida-stability-they-found-danger/?utm_campaign=feed&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=later-linkinbio https://www.wusf.org/politics-issues/2024-07-12/florida-heat-law-biden-administration-outdoor-worker-heat-protections https://www.ocala.com/story/news/local/2024/06/18/farmworkers-need-more-protection-advocates-say/74123319007/ https://www.newsweek.com/florida-teen-posted-speeding-tiktok-videos-killing-six-jailed-2011604 https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2025/142

It's the end of the year, so it's our end of the year wrap-up special! Hal and Craig discuss their favorite new movies of 2024, as well as some of their favorite first time watches! Discussion also includes: A new entry in Hal's favorite sub-genre: NUN movies! Kendrick Lamar's new album "GNX"; Shotime's excellent series Yellowjackets; Quentin Tarantino's book Cinema Speculation (and his unfotunate blaccent) Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd  

We did one of Craig's favorite kind of episodes: making Hal watch a terrible conservative movie! This time, we watched Sean McNamara's 2024 film, and shameless hagiography, REAGAN. Discussion also includes: Recent watches: CONCLAVE (2024), HERETIC (2024), ANORA (2024), KAMIKAZE HEARTS (1986), ALTERED STATES (1980), and THE NIGHT PORTER (1975) Matt Gaetz nomination for (and subsequent withdrawal) Attorney General Alex Jones losing Infowars to the Onion Is notorious Republican monster Dana Rohrbacher actually a cool surfer guy? (no) Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd   SOURCES & LINKS: Debord’s the Society of the Spectacle on Marxists.org: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/debord/society.htm

Spooky season concludes with Nia DaCosta's 2021 sequel Candyman. We discuss America's legacy of violence against black bodies and the undue burden put on black artists to represent black pain "the right way".  Discussions also include: Our two-year pod-iversary. Hal's book club reading of D.H. Lawrence's WOMEN IN LOVE; Craig saw Damien Leone's Christmastime masterpiece: TERRIFIER 3; How Candyman builds on the original film, while staking its own place in horror history. NOTE: We recorded this episode on November 5th, just three days before the news of Tony Todd's untimely passing. Rest in peace to horror icon Tony Todd. Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd SOURCES & LINKS: Amendment 4 financial impact statement: https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/florida-supreme-court-allows-financial-impact-statement-next-to-abortion-amendment/  Stop Cop City ballot measure: https://theintercept.com/2024/11/04/atlanta-cop-city-voter-turnout-democrats/  Kara Walker: https://art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s2/kara-walker-in-stories-segment/  Kara Walker: https://mcachicago.org/collection/items/kara-walker/2695-presenting-negro-scenes-drawn-upon-my-passage-through-the-south-and-reconfigured-for-the-benefit-of-enlightened-audiences-wherever-such-may-be-found-by-myself-missus-k-e-b-walker-colored

We had a delay recording our next episode. So in lieu of a new episode (coming soon, but after the election...), here's Hal encouraging you to VOTE YES ON 4 for REPRODUCTIVE JUSTIVE in Florida. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/desantis-administration-florida-amendment-4-abortion  https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article294142144.html https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/florida-desantis-abortion-ad-amendment-4-john-wilson-rcna176580 https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/florida-surgeon-general-restraining-order-abortion-ad-tv-stations-rcna176124  John Wilson affidavit: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flnd.527759/gov.uscourts.flnd.527759.29.1.pdf 

Spooky season continues and Hal and Craig watched Wes Craven's 1991 horror-comedy The People Under the Stairs. We discuss how the economic policies of Ronald Reagan (and his putrid Wormtongue Milton Friedman) led to our current housing crisis. Discussion also includes: Our favorite Wes Craven films; The bombing of the Al-Aqsa hospital in Gaza and Palestinian martyr Shaban Al-Dalou; Some books we're reading: "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein and "When the Clock Broke" by John Ganz; Other recent viewings including "The Apprentice", "The Substance", and "Wolfs"; and Ving Rhames' all-time great lines. Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd Sources & Links https://www.sfweekly.com/archives/the-great-eliminator-how-ronald-reagan-made-homelessness-permanent/article_92c9b2ac-e881-502a-ae9d-5266cac03404.html https://archives.hud.gov/hud50/hud50.hud.gov/hud_history_timeline/index.html https://www.thezebra.com/resources/home/housing-trends-visualized/ https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/remarks-annual-meeting-national-alliance-business https://nlihc.org/explore-issues/why-we-care/problem https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/15/shaban-al-dalou-the-palestinian-teen-burned-to-death-in-israeli-bombing    

We start spooky season by discussing Brian Yuzna's 1989 body-horror satire SOCIETY. We use this film (where a man's face emerges from his own butthole) to have a serious discussion about Reaganomics and how America subsidizes the rich at the expense of the poor. Discussion also includes: Our other recent watches: The Substance, Rebel Ridge, Blink Twice, and Oddity; Feeling collective despair over the recent climate disasters in Florida; Hal's trip to the High Museum in Atlanta; The Batman and Robin of hating poor people: Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman; and Some of our other favorite body horror films and gags. Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Jared on Twitter at @jjoconno  Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd   Sources & Links Hal's Art Discussion Links: Titus Kaphar A Puzzled Revolution 2021: https://gagosian.com/artists/titus-kaphar Nina Chanel Abney: Catfish 2017: https://ninachanel.com/exhibitions/ Nabil Kanso's America series: https://www.instagram.com/nabilkanso/p/C1MlYHjuFjN/?img_index=1 https://jacobin.com/2023/04/trickle-down-economics-arthur-laffer-wealth-inequality-ronald-reagan-margaret-thatcher https://www.reaganfoundation.org/ronald-reagan/the-presidency/economic-policy/?srsltid=AfmBOopneyw43jqnuR4WiB5ZU1-QcSIqecxLP1_NFYuxvsIB2v7yjzjW https://www.levernews.com/rise-of-the-insurance-apocalypse/

For the final episode in our series on Fasicsm and Italian Filmmakers, we watched Pier Paolo Pasolini's controversial 1975 film SALO, OR 120 DAYS OF SODOM, and discuss the depravity of 1940s fascist Italy. (TW: this film, and our discussion of it, features graphic depictions of sexual assault and human degradation). Discussion also includes: How does Paosolini define fascism; Fascism and Nietzche; Salò as both atrocious and sublime; Art that is antithetical to capitalism.   Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Jared on Twitter at @jjoconno  Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd Sources & Links Gideon Bachmann. 1975. “Pasolini and the Marquis de Sade” originally published in Sight & Sound; included as part of the Criterion DVD  Roland Barthes. 1971. “The Life of Sade.” https://supervert.com/elibrary/marquis-de-sade/roland-barthes-life-of-sade H. James Burgwyn. 2018. Mussolini and the Salo Republic, 1943-1945: The Failure of Puppet Regime. Springer.  Naomi Green. “Breaking the Rules” included as part of the Criterion DVD  https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche-moral-political/  Mario Sznajder. 2002. “Nietzsche, Mussolini, and Italian Fascism” in Nietzsche, Godfather of Fascism? On the Uses and Abuses of a Philosophy. Princeton University Press.  https://archives.evergreen.edu/webpages/curricular/2005-2006/sacredmonsters/readings/sade.pdf Fabio Vighi. 2007. “Liberation Hurts: Violence, Masochism and AntiCapitalism According to Pasolini” Italian Studies, 62:1, 61-77  

It's the second episode in our series about fascism and Italian filmmakers. This time, we watched Bernardo Bertolucci's THE CONFORMIST. We discussed the fascist desire for "normalcy" and the fascist's urge to supress their sexuality. Discussion also includes: Tallahassee Film Fest; Ecuadorian AG attempts to blame leftists for a cartel assassination; Terrible A.I. in ALIEN: ROMULUS; and Why does Nic Cage look like Miss Piggy in the new horror film LONGLEGS? Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd Sources and Links Escape from Freedom (1941) by Erich Fromm  Gramsci, Antonio. (1921) “The Two Fascisms” https://www.marxists.org/archive/gramsci/1921/08/two_fascisms.htm  Italian Fascism: Its Origins and Development (1982) by Alexander J. De Grande  Fascism, Vulnerability, and the Escape from Freedom: Readings to Repair Democracy (2022) by C. Jon Delogu The Anatomy of Fascism (2004) by Robert Paxton  McLaughlin, Neil. 1996. “Nazism, Nationalism, and the Sociology of Emotions: Escape from Freedom Revisited” in Sociological Theory 14(3): 241-261.  https://www.intercept.com.br/2024/08/29/ecuador-us-backed-prosecutor-attacks-left/  

We begin a new three episode series on Italian filmmakers and their depictions of fascism. We start with Luchino Visconti's 1969 film THE DAMNED about an industrialist German family and the depravity they engage in as they navigate a working relationship with the ascendant Third Reich. Discussion also includes: Homosexuality during the rise of the Nazis; The United Auto Workers who are suing Trump and Elon; Alachua County's efforts to divest from corporate interests; The Alien franchise and why it's great. Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd Sources and Links Robert Beachy’s 2010 article “The German Invention of Homosexuality” in the Journal of Modern History Samuel Clowes Huneke’s 2019 article “Death Wish: Suicide and Stereotype in the Gay Discourses of Imperial and Weimar Germany” in New German Critique Susan Sontag’s 1989s chapter “Fascinating Fascism” from Under the Sign of Saturn Erich Fromm’s 1964 article “Creators and Destroyers” in The Saturday Review Eleanor Hancock’s 1998 article “'Only the Real, the True, the Masculine Held Its Value": Ernst Rohm, Masculinity, and Male Homosexuality” in  Journal of the History of Sexuality. https://uaw.org/uaw-files-federal-labor-charges-against-donald-trump-and-elon-musk-for-attempting-to-intimidate-and-threaten-workers/  

For our final episode discussing films about Ernest "Che" Guevara, we watched Walter Salles 2004 film The Motorcycle Diaries, an acount of Guevara's eye-opening journey through South America that inspired the revolutionary ideals Che would soon bring to all of Latin America. Also: Other recent watches: Love Lies Bleeding (2024), Dune II (2024), Bones and All (2022), Jodorowsky's Dune (2013), and RATS! (2024); Packing the supreme court; Craig celebrates a personal achievement! Vanguardism and its importance to a revolution. Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd Sources & Links A Revolutionary Life by John Lee Anderson The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto Guevara https://amp.theguardian.com/film/2004/aug/26/features https://thefilmstage.com/claire-denis-ryusuke-hamaguchi-kiyoshi-kurosawa-christian-petzold-apichatpong-weerasethakul-more-sign-demand-for-ceasefire-in-gaza/

Hal and Craig watched Steven Soderberg's Che: Part Two (2008), chronicling Che Guevara's time fighting in the Bolivian Revolution and his eventual capture and execution. Discussion also includes: Craig's recent trip to Chicago (lots of Cubs and White Sox talk!); The Black Panther Cubs and Fred Hampton's legacy of community action; Hal's letterboxd list of movies about artistes;  Our recent movie watches: IN A VIOLENT NATURE (2024), MARAT/SADE (1967), SLAVE PLAY. NOT A MOVIE. A PLAY. (2024); Why the Bolivian Revolution failed, where the Cuban Revolution did not; Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd Sources & Links A Revolutionary Life by John Lee Anderson The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto Guevara Blowback Podcast Season 2 Guerilla Warfare by Ernesto Guevara  “Why Che?" by Amy Taubin "On the Record With Hamas" by Jeremy Scahill Blasier, Cole. 1967. “Studies of Social Revolution: Origins in Mexico, Bolivia, and Cuba.” Latin American Research Review 2(3): 28-64. Dominguez, Jorge I. and Christopher N. Mitchell. 1977. “The Roads Not Taken: Institutionalization and Political Parties in Cuba and Bolivia. Comparative Politics. 9(2): 173-195. Eckstein, Susan. 1985. “Revolutions and the Restructuring of National Economies: The Latin American Experience.” Comparative Politics. 17(4): 473-494. Wickham-Crowley, Timothy P. 1992. Guerillas & Revolution in Latin America: A Comparative Study of Insurgents and Regimes Since 1956.  

Hal and Craig watch Steven Soderbergh's Che: Part One (2008), chronicling the life of Argentine Revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his time leading guerilla fighters in the Cuban Revolution. Discussions also include: Kendrick Lamar's Pop-Out Concert; Yorgos Lanthimos' new film KINDS OF KINDNESS; Paul Schrader and his sad, broken men; Hal breaks down some troubling new legislation regarding SNAP benefits and food access; Book talk! (TENDER IS THE FLESH by Augustina Bazterrica & WHEN THE CLOCK BROKE by John Ganz) Follow us online! Follow us on Twitter at @RedRoseFilmPod Follow our Facebook Group Follow Hal on Twitter at @shestructured Follow Craig on Twitter at @KegFreighter Follow Hal's Letterboxd Follow Craig's Letterboxd Sources & Links A Revolutionary Life by John Lee Anderson The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto Guevara Blowback Podcast Season 2 Guerilla Warfare by Ernesto Guevara  “Why Che?" by Amy Taubin