Raiders of the Podcast

      This week three films about moral panics, the imagined threats lurking to upset social order from morality police happy to stoke public fear for a payout.

     A harmless game played by a group of college students. Nothing wrong with any of it... except... what if the game goes too far? What if an obviously schizophrenic player with a history of unresolved family trauma has a sudden and immediate break from reality while playing? It MUST be the game's fault and not anything else. I said, NOT ANYTHING ELSE, okay? Tom Hanks, in the brief period between Bosom Buddies and Splash, acts his little TV movie loving heart out while being corrupted by MAZES & MONSTERS.
     A fictionalized account of the rise of Norwegian Black Metal. Euronymous and his band Mayhem create a new subgenre that is eagerly devoured, by not just local youth, but globally. When the band is derailed by a tragedy, they regroup opening a record shop that is also a social hub for their growing brand of music. It isn't long until everything goes wrong and the dark edge of their music leads to arson and murder. Based on the book of the same name, titled after a group not connected to the events depicted here, Lords of Chaos.
     Billy Tipton was a jazz musician, talent agent, caring husband and doting father. When Billy died, a closely guarded secret was revealed, and his life was spun and reframed by tabloids and talk shows in the very LGBT unfriendly late-1980s. A meta-biographical documentary about both Tipton and some more modern trans masculine experiences. Layered revelations and personal interpretations try to reframe Billy's life and legacy from the sensationalist view that has dominated it in the decades after his death. A film about trying to have an ordinary life while being No Ordinary Man.
     All that and Tyler wears corpse paint, Dave gets his musical theater on, and Kevin casts a wide net in the cinematic ocean. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 314- Perturbing Behaviour