Eros + Massacre

I missed this podcast so much, but finishing a book while keeping on top of my commentary deadlines has been brutal. The episode title — as some of you have probably guessed — is a bit deceptive. This is all about my favorite new-to-me films of 2025 and it skews heavily towards East Asian cinema and towards crime thrillers. There are actually more contemporary films on here than I would have guessed, as well as some real wild cards (especially in the runners up section), but they are ALL BANGERS. Fair warning that a number of them are heavy on the violence, sexual violence, and/or gore.

Some show notes! As mentioned in the episode, here is Kevin’s incredible list of all movies mentioned on Eros + Massacre. And in case you missed the news that there’s a new Discord, here is another invite (these links are only good for 24 hours, but just comment if you need a new one or email me at samm.deighan at gmail).

Americans, please join in the nationwide general strike tomorrow (no work, no school, no shopping) to stop ICE. If you aren’t American, you can help by not buying from any US companies tomorrow.

Squeezing in one last special episode for the Halloween season, this is another subject I’ve been dying to talk about since I started Eros + Massacre. Erica Shultz was kind enough to join me to discuss about a series of ’70s and ’80s thrillers and horror movies featuring the phone as a source of terror. You probably know Erica from her podcast, Unsung Horrors, and her book, The Sweetest Taboo: An Unapologetic Guide to Child Kills in Film. She has an upcoming Miskatonic lecture on November 18th all about that very subject, so get your tickets here.

We start off mentioning the early classics, like Black Christmas (1974) and When a Stranger Calls (1979), before diving in to more obscure efforts like Someone’s Watching Me! (1978), Don’t Answer the Phone (1980), Eyes of a Stranger (1981), Murder by Phone (1982), Disconnected (1983), Open House (1987), and Out of the Dark (1988). We talk a lot about how the phone and technology function in these films,and the bliss of life before cell phones, among many other things. Answer the phone at your own risk!

Happy Halloween, everyone!!!

It took me YEARS to make this episode happen, but I am finally triumphant, thanks to my generous and tolerant co-host, Keith Allison. You might remember him as my guest for our episode last year on beach party movies, or know him from his many years writing about cinema, including his book Cocktails and Capers: Cult Cinema, Cocktails, Crime, & Cool. Keith joined me to talk about one of my favorite things in the entire world, the Hammer Dracula series: Dracula (1958), The Brides of Dracula (1960), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968), Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), Scars of Dracula (1970), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973), and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974). As you might imagine, we have a LOT to say about the series, the evolution of Hammer horror, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, our favorite entries, lots of hot takes, and so on. Here is the trailer Keith mentioned for a fake TV show called The Van Helsing Mysteries.

It’s officially the beginning of Halloween season and the end of the Japanese celebration of the dead, Obon. Obon is celebrated at different times in different parts of the country, though it is traditionally mid-August. I’m being a little flexible with the dates here, because I want to start doing an annual Obon-themed episode that focuses on Japanese folklore, horror, and the supernatural.

This episode is also an experiment — it’s my first solo episode of Eros + Massacre, which is something I’ve been planning to do for a while. For this one I’m discussing the horror genre’s lord and savior, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, the only person who should be allowed to make new horror movies.

For this episode, which I’m hoping will be the start of a recurring Kurosawa series, I’m discussing the horror movies and thrillers he made between 1989 and 1999: the special effects-driven haunted house romp Sweet Home (1989); his segment in the anthology film Dangerous Stories (1989), about a writer visited by homicidal ghost samurai with a boombox; the absurdist office slasher The Guard from Hell (1992); his effective body horror outing about an insurance saleswoman, Door III (1996); the sublime Cure (1997), contender for scariest film of all time; deconstructed revenge thriller Serpent’s Path (1998) and its wonderful sequel, Eyes of the Spider (1998); his segment about a malevolent tree spirit attacking high school students in the anthology film School Ghost Story G (1998); and his interpretation of absurdist folk horror, Charisma (1999), about a polarizing tree.

This is an extra special episode near and dear to my heart, since Kenji Misumi has become one of my favorite directors, largely because of the Sword trilogy. Though his name may be unfamiliar to many of you, you have likely seen a few of his films: he directed most of the Lone Wolf and Cub series and many Zatoichi films. Longtime Criterion producer Curtis Tsui — who worked on both of those sets — joined me to discuss some of Misumi’s less frequently seen or discussed masterpieces.

We briefly discuss the great Satan’s Sword (1960) trilogy, but focus mostly on his loosely connected Sword trilogy starring the wonderful Raizo Ichikawa, which includes Kiru (Destiny’s Son, 1962), the Yukio Mishima adaptation Ken (The Sword, 1964), and the supernatural-tinged Kenki (Sword Devil, 1965). We also spend a fair amount of time in the second half of the episode talking about his gothic, apocalyptic Devil’s Temple (1969), an adaptation of a play from ero guro master Jun’ichiro Tanizaki starring Shintaro Katsu (Zatoichi) as a horny, blood-soaked hedonist; and Internal Sleuth (1973), starring Katsu’s real-life brother Tomisaburo Wakayama (star of the Lone Wolf and Cub series) as a beleaguered detective up against a chaotic yakuza syndicate. We also very briefly bring up Misumi’s final film, the epic The Last Samurai (1974), which I wish we had more time to dive into.

All of these films are incredible and come with the HIGHEST possible recommendation. Even if you’re not frothing at the mouth over chanbara films the way I am, all of these are masterclasses in filmmaking. I’m begging all of you to watch at least one of them.