The Flop House - FH Mini #111 - Film Programming, with Cristina Cacioppo

Episode Date: September 7, 2024

Director of Programming at Brooklyn's Nitehawk Cinema and longtime friend of the show Cristina Cacioppo drops by, to answer all of our questions about being a film programmer.Season 2 of FlopTV, all about BAD SEQUELS, debuts tonight! Individual episodes and season pass tickets are available here! And hey, while you’re clicking on stuff, why not subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets?!”Head to factormeals.com/flop50 and use code flop50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month while your subscription is active!

Hey everybody, remember Flop TV, the one hour online video version of the Flophouse podcast that we produced last year? Well, I'm excited to tell you it is coming back. Flop TV 2, the sequel, will be broadcasting live to your computer screen the first Saturday of every month from September through February. We're talking only about sequels this season. RoboCop 2, Break-In 2, Highlander 2, Caddyshack 2, Ski School 2, and Ninja Turtles 2, The Secret of the U's. It's going to be all new jokes, all new presentations, movies

we have never covered on the show before, all in a tight one hour-ish package. Can't join us the night of the show? That's okay. The videos for every episode will remain online through the end of February, so you can binge them or dole them out as you prefer. So that's FlopTV2, the first Saturday of every month from September through February. For tickets and more information go to flophousepodcast.com events. Again that's flophousepodcast.com events. FlopTV2, everything you loved about FlopTV, but again. Hey everyone and welcome to another Flophouse Mini. I'm Dan McCoy. I'm Stuart Wellington.

And I'm Elliot Cailin, I'm floating away, sorry guys. Let him go. I turn around but I don't know how it works. You know, I always thought Elliot was full of hot air. Okay, I'm coming back down now to face these allegations. Okay, well, today we have our special guest, Christina Caccioppo, director of programming at Nighthawk. I'm only laughing because Dan had this told to him a moment ago and then had it reminded

to him a moment ago. Yeah. Yeah, and you could hear and you could see in my face that I had already forgotten the specifics of the title and that is one of the many short-term memory problems that have happened to me. What I was imagining was you as a pith helmeted explorer with a machete hacking your way through all the commercial jingles and TV theme songs you do remember instantly to get to the information that you

just found out and needed to see. Yeah, he got through that intro like he had a driving instructor right off his shoulder. Anyway welcome Christina, we haven't even let you say anything. Welcome. Hello. Hello. Thank you for having me. Yes, thank you for being here.

Now regular listeners, of course, will know that we've referenced you a lot. You've been a friend to the pod for a long time. As we said, you're a programmer at Nighthawk. You've programmed movies a lot of different places, but're gonna start off with personal history and personal history I mean personal history with the flop yeah what's it tell me about your history but how it's important to me yeah Christina for anyone who is not part of the New York film scene and especially New York film theater revival scene and and screening scene. You want to, Christina is a very important kind of staple, linchpin kind of central figure in, I feel like that New York scene and has been for many years.

So I'm very excited to have her. Thank you. That's very kind of you to say. Yes, and a very important place in Flophouse lore because- Keep bringing it back to the Flophouse. There's no compliment that... Keep bringing it back to the Flophouse. There's no compliment that can't be tied back to the Flophouse. Yeah, we're talking about New York film stuff. We're like, what? Did you have a Kim's Video membership card?

That's how you check somebody's film bonafides in New York? Elliott, you saw my list of questions. You know how they're arranged. That's true. There will be non-Flophouse questions later. Eventually how they're arranged. That's true. There will be non-flophouse questions later. Eventually, we'll get to the other stuff. But I just wanted to acknowledge that Christina was the first person to sort of get us to do live shows.

I think that she programmed us first. And I was going to ask, can you remember which was the very first one and how it came about? Why? Well, I did have to study and cheat a little bit. So luckily, because I was like, do I remember this? You know, was the first one, don't tell her it's me. But you know, luckily I have access to my old 92i Tribeca calendar. Oh, cool.

And also spoke to Matt and Ksenia. So yes, I think our first thing was Twin Sitters. Oh, right. Yeah, I think you're right. And, you know, thinking about how it came about, you know, Elliot, we had your series and... That was what? Closely Watched Films?

Closely Watched Films. I had met Christina because I... 92i Tribeca, which used to be at downtown film screening Space and live show space Christina you were the programmer there and I'm trying to remember who matched us up But I went over and I met you we had like kind of like a cold meeting just about like yeah You had pitched me on that series and I really liked the idea of it And so we had started out that way and I think at the same time Matt and Ksenia were doing I Love Bad Movies.

Yes. And so you know you guys can film the gaps for me from your point of view because I sort of remember maybe talking to Matt and Ksenia first like I don't really even remember when I met Dan and Stuart. Because they're eternal. They just like... Oh yeah I've always been with you. Let's introduce the listening audience to Matt and Ksenia. Because they're eternal. Yeah, I've always been with you.

Let's introduce the listening audience to Matt and Ksenia, these characters who have been mentioned. Matt... Carmen. Matt Carmen is known to people, but not known to people who listen to the show as our man behind the scenes. You have enjoyed his work without knowing it probably because he does a lot of tech stuff for us. He helps assemble like the presentation decks

for our live show. He runs flop TV. Any streaming show we've ever done where we're doing live over the internet, Matt is heavily involved in the tech. And his wife, Xenia Roche, who I would have introduced first because I've known her longer. she's one of my oldest friends,

is also an incredibly valued member of the kind of, this flop house adjacent, let's say, kind of New York film community. And the two of them, they put out a zine called I Love Bad Movies for quite some time, and they would do bad movie screenings also. And so there are people who have had a big impact on this podcast in particular,

even if the audience is not fully aware of them. I thought you were gonna say, like incredibly important to sort of like the nerd world in New York, because that's true. I decided to take a page out of the Dan McCoy playbook and only relate things to the Flophouse and the Flophouse's history. Well, they ran the Brooklyn Zine Fest for several years.

You know, creative folks. Wait, are zines for nerds, Dan? Is that what you're implying? Yes. Okay. I'm not even implying it. Zines used to be for cool people, but now they're for nerds. Yeah. I don't use that pejoratively, anyway.

So, yeah, from your point of view, do you remember how the show got pitched? I feel like, because Twin Sitters seemed to really be kind of Matt and Ksenia's thing. So yeah, what do you guys remember about that? Because I just remember it was like, yeah, I was into the idea because we talked about doing this kind of show. Because you did do the live commentary right off the bat. Yeah. Yeah.

So the idea was that we were going to do this show that would have this sort of presentation element, which I think ended up being kind of babysitter related maybe. And then you guys were going to do the commentary. So yeah, what are your memories? Well, I mean, it was a riff show, like you say. Like our early shows were usually us cracking wise over the movies. Which is hard. Mystery Science Theater or Riff Tracks.

Because you weren't scripting it, right? No. You were being off the cuff. Yeah. And we put that aside partly because it was hard, but partly because when we started touring with shows, like when you do that kind of show, you have to clear the screening. You have to do it with a movie theater usually

who has a programmer like you who can do all this stuff for us. And we wanted to be more mobile than that. I don't know. And it was in what, like a 70 seat theater? Really small, yeah. And the thing that they reminded me of, because I forgot that we eventually moved to that big, not really movie theater space for Jaws of Revenge.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This last show. And the joke was that it, because that capacity I think we maybe could seat like 150 or something. And the joke was that it sold out before an event we had with Peter Bogdanovich. Do you remember that? Oh, that's right. I forgot about that. Oh, man. Sold out before an event we had with Peter Bogdanovich There's a long history of the flop house fucking over Peter Yeah, yeah, we're really the ones who have been wrecking hit who were wrecking his life for decades Yeah, yeah, I feel like you guys met someone at the jaws. Was there Adam Rifkin?

Was that this Adam resnick res? names with the co-creator of get a Life and someone who was a very important kind of like comedy writer figure for me. Yeah, Cabin Boy. We had hosted him for Cabin Boy. So he had brought maybe his daughter? His daughter was a listener. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I think he wasn't familiar with the show. And it was really cool to meet him afterwards. And he was like, that was a really funny show. You guys obviously put a lot of thought into the jokes and I want to be like, no, we didn't. Barely. So we did a couple of, how many shows? We did like two or three shows in that smaller venue

because we did. Maybe even more because I was looking it over and so it was twin sitters, it was 12 rounds. Bratz at some point. We did Quiet Cool. Don't tell her it's me. Quiet cool. It might have been like five or six.

That was fun. Then we moved up to the big leagues. The bigger room in the same... And then the venue closed. One of the things that I remember most about when we made the move to the larger venue there was every time we did one of those shows, I was bartending and for me to do a show,

I would have to take a night off work. And that's not like, oh, I'm still getting paid, I'm getting sick pay. It's like, no, I'm just not making money that night. You were taking a financial hit to do this. Yeah, because I think 92i never let us pay anybody anything. So sorry about that. I feel like that was the...

I could be wrong, but I feel like that might have been the first time where I'm like, oh, no, I basically made the same amount of money I might have made if I'd been bartending for eight hours that night, which was... I mean, as a performer is huge. That's a huge deal to be like, oh, this I'm making more doing this than my day, like literally than my day job in this thing. Yeah, although your day job was technically a night job. Yeah, oh wow.

Makes you think, right? Well you were- It's like that whole thing, why do we park on a driveway but we drive on a parkway, you know? You referred to this kind of in passing, but- What? Oh God, he broke his brain. But I wanted to ask more outright, you know, you talked about the

Baghdad thing. I know that when Elliot had close to watch films, he would complain about like, I can't get people to come to this good movie, but they'll come out in droves for a bad movie. Does that ever frustrate you as a programmer? Or what are your feelings on those things? Yeah, I mean, it's definitely a funny thing because it's like, I know there are audiences for more intense stuff, like other venues. I think the thing is when you try to do so many things, you get known for one thing and

then not the other. So when you're a venue that only shows experimental film, you're probably getting your audience. But if you try to do a lot of different types of things. Experimental film like what, like Memento or Forrest Gump or something? Yes. Yeah, experimental. Shown together with one soundtrack over the other.

Oh, wow. Slowed down so it takes 24 hours to watch the entire movie. Exactly. But I think it's definitely always been a thing where it's the movie that you covet and love the, like less people are going to come out for it. And it was a lesson I learned very early into doing all this. And I kind of learned to just stop having my heart broken by stuff like that. Because sometimes there's a good win, you know, and it's not always that way.

So yeah, I think that when that happens is kind of frustrating, but it's just about kind of like building your audience and knowing who you're reaching and having some consistency. You know? This is totally off topic, but sorry. Speaking of 24 hour movies, did you happen to see the Letterboxd Pulsarator review where he talked about he went to see the clock and he's like, I decided I'm going to stay here until I see one of my own movies. And he was rewarded after 45 minutes.

He finally saw American Gigolo. So that's pretty good. That's really good. I mean, the clock is a, for anyone who's not familiar with it, it is a 24 hour movie made up of scenes from other movies where you see the time and it is timed so that when you are watching it,

it functions as a clock. So like you are watching it and it is timed so that when you are watching it, it functions as a clock. So like you are watching it and you're like, oh, it's 10, 11 a.m. and you look on screen and it's the clock say 10, 11 a.m. and whatever scene. And I remember when that was when that finally made it to New York, I was playing at Lincoln Center for a certain amount of time. I was like, I went to see like an hour and a half of it before work one day. And I was like, if I was in college right now, I would stay for 24 hours. I'd watch this whole thing.

I want to see all the nighttime clock scenes, but it's hard to do. I have to find... Someone has to send me a bootleg of it so I can watch it in chunks at the wrong times. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. So I'm going to close out this solipsistic section of it with the most self-serving question in the section. Yeah, I want to... How are we to work with?

You know, you kept inviting us back back just because we put butts in seats and you're like, these three goobers or did you, what's our goober quotient? It's funny because you kindly sent me these questions in advance so that I could be prepared. And I feel like this should have been one that you just sprung on me, put Like put me on the spot. No, of course you were wonderful to work with. Like, you know, there was, it's not like there were demands or drama or anything. Like it was always like, you know, we would maybe have a little bit of a back and forth about what movie to do. But yeah, of course, like it was always an event that I looked forward to.

Even once we moved over to Alamo, like, you know, I was always an event that I looked forward to, even once we moved over to Alamo. I was always really glad. I mean, you guys even made it up to Yonkers, which... Multiple times. Yeah, so, yeah. That's right. After, because after 9.2, I closed. Yeah, you were programming the Yonkers, Alamo,

because there wasn't Alamo in New York City yet, right? Yeah, yeah. I got a little bait and switch and had to be in Yonkers for three dark years that I try not to think about. But yeah, it was a very bright spot to be able to bring you guys up there and then even continue into Brooklyn. You organized that screening of Castle Freak.

Yeah, and I was thinking about that too. Yeah, Jonathan came up and he was an awesome guest. Yeah, I mean, I drove him around. I got him from the airport, I brought him from Birmingham, Alabama. And yeah, I was thinking about that too, in addition to, you know, the like, you know, commentary events that doing something like that was just like, because it was just kind of a lark to be like, we're going to show Castle Freak

because I could get a film print and I could get just like, for some reason, Alamo let me fly this guy out. You know, like, I don't know how that... This was the titular Castle Freak. Yeah, Georgia, yeah. Who played Georgia the Castle Freak. And yeah, it was amazing to have him there. And he was a sweetheart and like I remember...

Nothing like the character. Yeah, I drove Dan and Elliot up there. It was the middle of a snowstorm and it was like... The theater was like half full, but he was such a sweetheart and he had so many good stories about like the makeup effects and like just running around Charles Band's castle. Yeah, so having an excuse to do something like that was definitely great. So yes, of course, if anyone's looking to book you guys, I sign off on you.

Thank you. Like that time we did the Don't Tell Her It's Me screening and the print was in Italian. Yeah, that's something worth bringing up. That's worth bringing up because it is such a funny detail that, you know, when you get a film print, like normally you're checking it out and there's, you know, we, we just didn't have the luxury of looking at stuff that far in advance. So we had only kind of put it on screen right before the show was about

to start. And then, you know, I was like, something is wrong here. And realized it was Italian, dubbed in Italian. But luckily Matt had like a file or something. So we just like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He had it on the go. Yeah. Luckily we didn't have to stream it. He had a thumb drive with it. Yeah.

But. Attached to his keychain. Yeah, such a weird detail. He just always happens to carry a thumb drive with don't tell her it's me on him at all times. In case of emergency, yeah. But that's the thing that I always think about now when I get a film print that I know probably hasn't screened in forever.

I'm always like, it might look good, but I want to see it on screen because it might be dubbed in Italian. We riffed in Italian. So. So, moving into more just general film programming, I think that this is sort of a dream job for a lot of movie nerds because there's something in the movie nerd DNA that makes us want to share movies we love or force them on people because I think the most annoying version of that is like me being like, Audrey, Audrey, let's watch this. And her being like, I have my own things. But yours is sort of the best case scenario of that impulse.

And I don't know, it seems like such a rarefied great job. How did you get here? Like what led you here? No little girl is like, I want to grow up to be a programmer. But I'm assuming a bunch of our listeners do want to be programmers. So keep back a key piece of information so you don't have to fight them. First of all, there's probably only like a hundred of those jobs in the entire country. So, you know, maybe think about... And all those people are going to do them until they die.

So, yeah, don't pursue it. It's like film criticism that way. It's like, oh, I'd love to be a film reviewer. It's like, OK, well, there's 10 people who do it and they're never going to go away. And they get paid nothing. Yeah. I don't know. Dan has a pretty good letterbox to everybody. Yeah, and that draws him what? It's no Paul Schrader's letterbox, but still, yeah.

So yeah, I was actually kind of lucky. I was going to school for film in Florida and it was sort of a vague degree I was pursuing in film studies, but we had a campus cinema. And when I first started going to school, the campus cinema was great. Like I actually had come up to see Pink Flamingos before I was even going to school there. I had seen Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant. And then all of a sudden, it was, it was, something was off. And it's funny because this being sort of the 25th anniversary of the Mummy, this is like when I was programming,

the Mummy showing in second run to me was like the epitome of the theatre going downhill. It's so funny because I know it's kind of a classic now, but back then it was like, why are they showing the Mummy? And so I came to find that it was student run and that you could join this thing. And so I joined it probably my junior year and then by my senior year, I became the director of the programming for that cinema. And that's where I learned about working with distributors and getting catalogs.

Back then you would get sort of a printed catalog from the distributor and you would book movies and I would learn about booking 35 millimeter because that's basically all there. Maybe you could get a DVD or something. So you took it over just in time to program The Mummy Returns. The superior of The Mummy series. I mean, it's crazy to think of that time because, you know, it was like, they came to us with a preview screening of this movie called Velvet Gold Mine and we were like, what is this thing, you know?

Yeah, so and that's also... There's no gold mine in this movie called Velvet Gold Mine and we were like, what is this thing? You know? Yeah, so, and that's also- There's no gold mine in this movie. You're thinking of gold with Roger Moore. Yeah, yeah. Just the title sequence, I think about it a lot. So that's where I started to learn about programming, like, you know, some for them, some for yourself, you know, where you would, you know,

the idea was that you didn't want to lose money, but you didn't want it to just be sort of like the mummy in second run. So that's kind of where I was learning about that. And when I moved to New York, I moved right after I graduated, and I wasn't really sure that programming was a job. I was kind of like, I had started by, I was interning at Killer Films. I was thinking I was going to devote myself to indie productions. And that very quickly proved to just be a terrible idea. So at the same time, I was volunteering with this collective called Ocularis that used

to do screenings that were largely experimental or local filmmaker things. And from them I learned about building community and stuff like that. And then yeah, I just was like, wait, maybe this can be a living. And it took a while and a lot of volunteering and stuff, but eventually it proved to be something that I could actually get paid for.

Well that leads into the next question because of course like we said, we first knew you at 92YTribeca, sort of follows you through the Alamo to Nighthawk, where like, you know, Elliot's out of town, but occasionally Stuart and I will be half the pleasure of introducing something. It seems like half, we're there all the time. Okay, because I was be half the pleasure of introducing something. We're there all the time.

Yeah, you guys are there more than me, I think. Yeah, I'm there all the time. Half the Flophouse text chain is the two of you talking about the movie you just saw at Nighthawk together or the movie you're about to go see at Nighthawk together. Or when we go on a hot dog date. Dane and I have a lot of fun, okay? I like this hot dog date.

Really confused, Elliot. Yeah, because nobody explained anything about it to me. Just all you said was how you weaner-fied Dan and I have a lot of fun, okay? That hot dog date really confused Elliot. Yeah, because nobody explained anything about it to me. Just all you said was how you wienerfied each other. Yeah, we wienerfied our life, yeah. Honestly, there's not much more to it than we got some hot dogs together. But I got Dan to admit that a Chicago-style hot dog has value. I was never a fan.

Too many veggies for me. I was like, give me the unadorned hot dog with a little mustard and maybe some onions. But anyway, it was good. He was singing a different tune after that wiener, let me tell you. You're talking about Dog Day? Yeah, we went to Dog Day afternoon, yeah. Right down the street from the Nighthawk. Well, I think that started out as a question about, are there other places sort of along the way that you were working as a programmer or that I missed in your...

It took some time. Like I said, I was doing the volunteer thing in New York with Oculus that was at a space called Galapagos, which was in Williamsburg on 96. Oh yeah. I remember Galapagos, which was in Williamsburg on 96. Oh, yeah. I remember Galapagos for sure. And they were sort of like a, you know, it was all volunteer run. And then, you know, the thing is, I moved to Boston for a few years. And so I was kind of trying to get something going there.

And I had this job at this like women in film organization, which it was sort of I was kind of the only employee. And I worked with the board, but they let me do programming. So I just would sort of do programming wherever I could because we didn't have a venue, so I'd do programming at the library or in an outdoor garden or at a gallery. And then I also got a job with the Boston Jewish Film Festival and that was sort of, you know, like an assistant to the main programmer doing like watching submissions and stuff like that. And then yeah, I moved back to New York and you know, pretty much just got kind of lucky as you know,

92nd Street Y was going to open this venue in Tribeca and had posted this job that was like film related. So that was sort of like my trajectory over those years. Just to interrupt, is there, outside of obviously scheduling relief on Flophouse related shows, do you have any highlights from your careers, like any screenings that you're particularly proud of for organizing? Yeah, yeah, I mean I know that Dan wanted to get there

eventually, so I don't know if you want to just jump. Oh, do I jump in there, sorry. Well, I don't I know that Dan wanted to get there eventually, so I don't know if you want to just jump. Oh, do I jump in there? Sorry. Well, I don't know what the question was. There's one layer on that kind of relates to that, but you can answer now. Yeah. I mean, the funny thing is that I remember a lot of the 92Y stuff, like kind of most fondly, you know, there was a show that we did where we invited Amy Sedaris

to watch the 70s drug scare movie, Go Ask Alice. Oh, wow. It was based on the famous anonymous book. They had made a TV movie. And I knew there was this 16 million year print and I was like, I wanna show it. And I bet that she is into it because of Strangers with Candy.

And it turns out she's like, yeah, we stole from that. And she was happy to come. And then because she came, the actress who was in the movie as like the main star like flew herself to New York. You know, I think she had become like an interior designer to the stars or something, like, you know, but she was like so psyched that Amy Sedaris was going to do this show, so she ended up coming.

And so that was a really fun one because Amy Sedaris was sitting behind me watching the movie and just cracking up the whole time. And then we just kind of did the Q&A with them, which Tom Blunt had hosted. Yeah, there are so many other things that I've done over the years that were really fun. You know, even more recently at Nighthawk, doing the screening of Book of Shadows, Blair Witch 2 with the director Joe Berlinger was really great because, you know, it was a movie that was like really obviously like disliked when it came out.

And, you know, Joe Berlinger was a famous documentary filmmaker and this was his foray into fiction. And the movies actually got a lot of good stuff in it. It got taken away from him. And doing a screening like that because he came for the Q&A and he felt it was sort of cathartic for him. And I really like when you invite a director and they're actually into it because so many directors

have to do so many Q&As and they're kind of over it. But he actually was really into revisiting it and feeling sort of like, it was validated in a way. That would have been interesting. I I missed that screen, but I saw it for the first time recently. I knew that it was taken away from him. So it's not exactly what he would have wanted per se.

But I feel like at the time people were mad at it for not being the first movie. I'm like, well, that's a trick you can play once, you know, like, I think. Yeah. And the whole idea for him was to play on that. Yeah, exactly. That it wasn't going to be like that. Yeah, what else? I mean... I remember, I think he programmed this,

but it was a screening with Don Cascarelli. It was a screening of Phantasm and John Dies at the end, the double feature. And Don Cascarelli came out and I was like so psyched. And in between screenings, I like went to go get an autograph on a Phantasm poster. And I was behind, I was in line behind like dudes that were getting like Japanese VHS tapes of like Phantasm 2 autograph. And I'm like, I can't measure up to these guys.

They're too nerdy for me. Yeah. I mean, I also, you know, I got Hal Needham out for a screening. Wow. Which was really great. You know, he, I think he died like only a year or two after that, because I remember I was, you know, switching over to Alamo. You had nothing to do with his death.

Nothing, yeah. He hadn't seen me for years. I could prove it. It was a very slow acting poison. Very slow. Yeah, I mean, there's just kind of so many that it's sort of hard to pinpoint, I could prove it. It was a very slow acting poison, very slow. Yeah, I mean, there's just kind of so many that it's sort of hard to pinpoint, but I feel lucky that I got to do any of it.

So if I can interrupt for a second. When you were programming at 92i Tribeca, it felt like such a special place, and I'm sure Nighthawk does now too, but I remember at that time it felt like there was special place. And I'm sure Nighthawk does now too. But I remember at that time, it felt like there was a real, there was such a cool sense of community around there that you were creating with the way you were programming it. And like Kevin Marr would do his show,

would do his Kevin Geeks Out shows there. And we could do stuff there. And I was hosting my screening stuff and Max Suny would do I Love Bad Movie stuff. And it felt like it was a, this, it became such a beautiful combination of like a theater that was showing really fun, interesting stuff and like a clubhouse that like people really felt comfortable being at and hanging out at.

And it was just great. There was one screening, I don't know if you remember when we showed Little Murders and Jules Pfeiffer came and talked about efforts and it was amazing. That was, I think about that all the time. It was such an amazing thing to get to talk to him and to have him there for that. It was so cool. Yeah, I mean, sometimes it was kind of miraculous because again, we didn't pay anybody to do anything. So, you know, getting people to come out

just by me saying like, hey, we're showing this movie. Will you do this? You know, and yeah, Little Murders is definitely one of the more memorable ones too. That was amazing. And I do remember that one of the first things you said to me I think when I met you, when we first started talking about me hosting something there, you were like, by the way, we don't pay any money.

And I was like, uh, you were like, if you really demanded it, maybe we could come up with some kind of like very small honorarium. And me being a young dumb person, I was like, but you don't need to pay me money to do it. I don't even want that as opposed to being like, yeah, yeah, give me whatever I can get. You know, I mean, it was crazy because when I first started the job, I was kind of like, what's my budget? And they were like, well, nothing.

And I was like, well, but I have to pay for films. Like, you know, you have to pay for film rights and to get films. And they were like, but we're a nonprofit. And I was like, that doesn't matter. So, I mean, that's the thing. Even in that small room, if we were paying for film rights and film shipping, we were not breaking even.

So it's not even like we were raking it in and just not sharing money. It just didn't break even. You did a great job of shielding, I think, the people doing shows and hosting things there from all of that stuff. Yeah. I mean, it was kind of ridiculous. and hosting things there from all of that stuff. Yeah.

I mean, it was kind of ridiculous, you know? But yeah, eventually, when I got to Alamo, it was like, yes, I could pay people. So I tried to continue working with whoever I had worked with so that there was some compensation finally. We did, and I feel like one of the first shows we did up in Yonkers was the Flophouse Prom where we rented a couple of buses to take people from Charlene's up to Yonkers and then back.

Yeah, was that Sleepwalkers? It might have been Sleepwalkers. I think it was Sleepwalkers, that was really fun. Yeah, maybe, I mean, we've had arguably bigger successes since then, but to me, that was the peak of like, we've rented two buses, like school buses, we're taking people up to... We put garbage bags with ice and Coors Light in them

and put them in the back of the bus. And you're going, guess what? You're going on an expenses paid trip to Yonkers. Beautiful Yonkers as immortalized, and hello Dolly as a place you want to leave. Yeah. Or if you're in Lost in Yonkers, a place you can get lost in. Yeah. This is kind of a broad question, but after so many years, do you have like an idea of

like what like audiences respond to, like get people out? Like what puts butts in seat? What's like the hook, whether it's like something beyond the movie or just a certain type of thing. She's just gonna say Deadpool. Listen if you notice that's also the second question Dan has asked that involves putting butts in seats. I think we detect a theme there for Dan. I mean it's it's kind of hard to say you know like for me it's like I feel like if I'm excited about something somebody else is bound to be excited about

it. So that's sort of the first approach. I'm somebody who abhors marketing and I hate the idea that you have to figure out how to market something. I feel like if it's just good, people will figure it out and come. So yeah, when it comes to hooks, for a time I was doing things like sing-alongs and stuff like that, and I think that was really appealing and having movies that have like a nostalgic value is nice,

but I think the bottom line is that it has to be something that just seems fun or interesting. I don't wanna think about like, oh, people are gonna be excited because they're gonna like have a food special or something, you know, like that's sort of not the line of thinking that I like to be on. Well, we're going to take a little break

to talk about Flop TV Season Two and possibly a couple of other things. And we'll be back in just a little bit. ["Floop Song Contest"] Hey everybody, I'm Jeremy. I'm Oscar. I'm Demetri. And we are the Eurovangelists.

Or a weekly podcast spreading the word of the Eurovision Song Contest, the most important music competition in the world. Maybe you already heard Glenn Weldon of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour talk up our coverage of this year's contest, but what do we talk about in the offseason? The rest of Eurovision, duh.

There are nearly seven decades of pop music history to cover. Mm-hmm. We've got thousands of amazing songs, inspiring competitors, and so much drama to discuss. And let me tell you, the drama is juicy. Plus, all the gorillas and bread-baking grandmas that make Eurovision so special. Check out Eurovangelist available everywhere you get podcasts

and you could be at Eurovangelist too. Ooh, I wanna be one. You already are, it's that easy. Oh, okay, cool. Most of the plants humans eat are technically grass. Most of the asphalt we drive on is almost a liquid. The formula of WD-40 is San Diego's greatest secret. Zippers were invented by a Swedish immigrant love story.

On the podcast Secretly Incredibly Fascinating, we explore this type of amazing stuff. Stuff about ordinary topics like cabbage and batteries and socks. Topics you'd never expect to be. The title of the podcast, Secretly Incredibly Fascinating. Find us by searching for the word, secretly in your podcast app. And at maximumfun.org. Hey, it's Dan popping in here

with a word from our sponsors and some words from us. So please don't skip all of it or any of it. Who knows? Hey, we're sponsored in part this week by Factor. When the weather's been this hot, you don't wanna do a lot of cooking, so why not use Factor's no prep, no mess meals that are ready to eat in just two minutes.

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And now the Flophouse business. We've promoted FlopTV a lot, so I'll make it short, from September 2024, that is this year, to February 2025, that is early next. On the first Saturday of each month, we are going to be broadcasting live with a series of shows about bad movie sequels. These will be video streams, ticketed video streams. If you go to theflophouse.simpleticks.com, you can get individual show tickets for $7 plus fees or $35 for the whole season,

which is the equivalent of getting an extra episode for free. Well, not an extra episode, just one of the six episodes. And the shows will all stay up, available to watch on demand until the end of February. So if you want to catch up later in the run, you can get a season pass at any point during the flop TV run and get access to everything you missed in the past. So again, more details and tickets are available at theflophouse.simple takes.com. And if you want to know about stuff like this, but also our side projects plus some silly extra writing that I throw in there and get that in your inbox a couple of times a month, why not hop over to Flophousepodcast.com and put your email in the email box on the front page so you can get our newsletter, Flop Secrets.

And also, on top of that, I have my own newsletter that I launched a little ways back now called Dan McCoy's Special Interests, named after the tendency for neurodivergent people to have interests that they hyper-focus on, a group I only learned I was a member of myself late in life. And over there, I write a couple of installments per month that are a combination of pop culture commentary, personal essay, and of course humor. So if you're curious to read those, you can sign up for that over at danmccoyinterest.com. Now let us get back to the show.

And we're back with Christina Caccioppo, Nighthawk programmer. I love Dan that you said, we'll be back and then we'll be back as if the ads are not also done by us. Yeah, I mean, specifically probably me. But you know, I don't know, it's an invention of the form. Maybe you'll do a silly voice.

Yeah. You'll play one of those characters, because you're a man who has a lot of different characters, little character voices, stuff like that. Dan, do one of your characters... Attentional voice acting, casting directors. Dan, do one of your characters. Attentional voice acting, casting directors. Dan, do one of your famous characters. Hey, it's me, the guy who talks like this.

I don't really have another hook. It's just that I talk like this. I really talk about pretty normal things like tax breaks that you can get, or, you know, city planning. Oh shit, I just got an email from DreamWorks animation. Now normally they only hire big-name stars to play these roles but I feel like they want to take a chance with you. Oh wait, Stuart you

haven't responded yet so they're texting me and they said they want to do at least a four film franchise for guy who talks like this. Well, that's great. So getting back to- Dan very casually dismisses the offer of a lifetime. Yeah, Steve Carell will take it, I guess. I'll franchise it out. My real passion is asking questions here on The Flophouse. And the next one is this one. Christina, some people love Q&As with filmmakers, but even though I've seen some great ones

that I have enjoyed, I always kind of dread them because they are so dependent on the speakers being good and engaging in the audiences, not getting up and doing a lot of comments rather than questions. Do you have tips for good Q and A's? Like what do you think heads off those issues? Yeah, I mean, let me say that I agree with you. I tend to kind of be the person that's like running out

before the Q and A. Like I don't, I'm not usually, it has to be just sort of like the most exciting thing, which recently one that I went to was the new Lee Daniels movie. Lee Daniels was in conversation with Bradley Cooper. So I feel like that sort of stunt moderators maybe is a tip.

Yeah, I think for me it's like, you know, the moderator should mostly let the, the, you know, director or cast do the talking. That's not how I do it. When a broadcaster is talking too much, it's kind of like, yeah, you don't want to hear from that person, you want to hear from the talent. And if they're kind of stalling, because sometimes you do get talent

who maybe aren't necessarily that psyched about it, I think it's just like making sure that you know the movie and you're not asking the most generic questions. You know, we do this shorts festival at Nighthawk and... Everybody wears shorts? Yes, everybody wears short shorts. And you know, I've actually gotten complimented on my questioning because I think all these shorts filmmakers go to other festivals where people are just kind of like,

uh, tell us why you made this. And I actually try to sit down and write something very tailored to each movie, you know, because otherwise it's just kind of like, you know, I mean, this Q&A, it'll be like, there's like 10 people and you have 20 minutes, so you're kind of going down the line and it has to be pretty compact. But people have compliment have 20 minutes, so you're kind of going down the line and it has to be pretty compact.

But people have complimented me. I put a lot of thought into it and I think that's part of it too is just, you know the questions to avoid, don't ask about if it was improvised, don't ask about the budget, don't ask if they'll read your script, especially if you're the moderator. And then, yeah, try to keep the audience questions to a minimum. Slip from the script. Does this haircut work for my face? That would be a... I would be so interested in that question.

There was a... This question reminds me of a thing that Stuart and I witnessed, which was not at one of Christina's venues, but this was at a... We went to see a... We went to see when Only God Forgives came out. It was Nicholas Wending Reifen and... Premier at BAM. And why am I forgetting the name?

It was the whole cast, and Ryan Gosling was up there, and Wending Reifen, and the only native, like the only native English speaker was Ryan Gosling. Yeah there and Wendy Griffin. And the only native, like the only native English speaker was Ryan Gosling. Yeah, and it was- Even the moderator I think was French maybe? I think so. And there were two moments that always stuck with me

and one was when a guy got up and he goes, you know, as a young aspiring filmmaker myself, do you have any advice? And the audiences started booing him, booing the questioner, because they did not want to hear it. But then Wending Raven had a really good answer to it. And then someone goes, someone said, I wanted to ask Ryan Gosling,

is there any role that you would like to play that you haven't gotten to play yet? And he just goes, Freddy Krueger. And that was his whole answer. And the audience went crazy. And the audience lost their mind. People were tearing their hair off their heads. Yeah, that guy just bred to be an entertainer.

He just knows what he's doing. I don't have a lot of regrets in my life, but one of them is that I didn't wait in that long line to get my picture taken with Ryan Gosling. Yeah. He was just famous enough that it would have been cool to do it, but it wasn't impossible. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's my impression from talking with you that you rewatched The Prince before you screened them to check various things. Are you ever like, ugh, I thought this was going to be good. I had an impression of like, oh, I liked this. And now rewatching it, I'm not wild about screen this thing.

All the time. Really? I mean, I think it's more of like a self-doubt thing where I'm like, oh, it's not like, do I like this? It's like, oh, is the audience going to be into this? Like, am I crazy that this is good? You know? And it'll just sort of be self-doubt.

And that's even in the room sometimes, you know? Because I do watch things in advance, maybe not necessarily the film print itself, but because I'll write the synopses or something like that. So, but yeah, it's sometimes that or then in the room where I'm kind of like, are people enjoying this? I can't tell. You know?

I have to say that I was so, I forget the details of it, but when we screened The Boyfriend School, AKA Don't Tell Her It's Me, recently, I don't know whether it's Stockholm Syndrome, affection over time, but watching it with a crowd, that movie played so well that I'm like- People were loving it.

Maybe it's good actually. And there was a guy afterwards, was he was from like Australia or something? Do you remember what I'm talking about? Like there's a guy. The guy with like the mullet and like the pink top. He was just got nuts for it. The actual Lobo Marengue was there?

He seemed like that. It was definitely sort of like that. But yeah, he was sitting in the row in front of me and he was loving it. He was losing his mind. And after he's like, you know, I just came here randomly on a date, but that movie was really good.

And it was just so deeply into it. And yeah, you're right, the crowd. Because I think that is one where I was like, especially comedy sometimes, it's like, you just never know. And it really played so well. Yeah, it could have been like the four or five drinks I'd had, but man, that movie rocked.

I had the opposite experience of that in a screening last year or the year before. I was involved in a riff screening of the movie Rotor, the Robocop ripoff, and I think that movie is hilarious. Just the way it's made is so funny. And then watching it with a bunch of people and them all hating it and being so bored and me being like, but isn't it funny the way they did this? Like this whole scene,

you never hear what the characters are saying. It's just a montage of them eating a meal together with music over it. And they, nobody wants to join. I think so much of that, Elliot, honestly, is people like us who have seen so many movies end up valuing such weird things in movies, just because it's like, of course,

if you're a quote unquote normie, you're like, I just want a good movie that I'm gonna enjoy and everyone can agree it's good and that's my movie that I saw this year and we're gonna have fun. Whereas we're like, yeah, yeah, what weird texture is in this thing? Yeah. I feel that too.

And I think the new sort of element in the letterbox stage is that sometimes, against my better judgment, I'll look to see if people review and, you know, and just to kind of see the reaction and, you know, sometimes people even review like my intros which is really like upsetting. But I meanros, which can be really upsetting. But I mean, I just can't help myself. Usually I just want to see what people have to say about the movie. Wait, people say mean shit about women on the internet?

This is the first I'm hearing about this. I recently discovered in Letterboxx that I could search our names within the reviews. That was when I sent you those things. They were all, it was all nice stuff. It was more like, oh, Flop House sent me here, our names within the reviews. It was all nice stuff. It was more like, oh, Flop House sent me here. This is good.

I'm interested in this thing. feature for you yet? So this is sort of a broader thing, thoughts about curation in general. And here is where I'm going to make a question that's more of a comment for a long part of it, but we'll get around to a question. I feel like the world was steering away from curation for a while because there are a couple reasons. One, it was often self-proclaimed experts who are curating these things that looked kind of like, say, the Flophouse. Name names, Dan McCoy. A bunch of white men being like, this is a thing that's important and it could be sort of toxic gatekeeping in its worst form,

and two, the emergence of the algorithm and the idea of like, okay, well, like, computers will figure out what I want and deliver it to me. But I feel like there's sort of more of a resurgence of curation and people appreciating that human beings have all this knowledge and will sort of serve you a thing that they find interesting. I don't know, I guess the question, which is not much of one, is like, do you agree with that sort of road we've taken or not?

And like, what are your thoughts about curation as a thing? I mean, at the theater it's necessary. You know, when you have a streaming service and just sort of like a library, about curation as a thing. I mean, at the theater it's necessary. You know, when you have a streaming service and just sort of like a library, like maybe the algorithm is a thing. But you know, I've never found that any algorithms on any streaming service like DeliverMe,

save for maybe Tubi, which is obviously the exception to everything. Yeah. But yeah, you know, curation I think is important. And especially in, you know, if we didn't have that for movie theaters, you know, you would just end up showing, you know, it's like studios will send you like a list of their DCPs and like, and it would be like, here's a combo drive that has like Forrest Gump and, you know, I mean, I'm bringing that up. Oh man, that's like a DVD, like three pack that you'd get at the gas station.

You're like, OK, I guess I'll watch. I mean, this sort of happened actually, like, you know, movie theaters closed for COVID lockdown. And when they opened, you were able to rent a theater like for a private party. But it was like you could choose from these 10 movies. And like Forrest Gump was one of them. So, yeah, I feel like when it comes, you know, that and that's the idea is that you want people who are diverse And so, you know when I've done screenings like, you know, I'm one person of one type But you know

I also invite other people to pick movies because maybe they'll pick something that's outside of my wheelhouse because of their different background And I think that's kind of an important part of it too, is to make sure that if you sort of have your lane to bring other people in who maybe have a more expansive knowledge or a more particular thing that you maybe haven't, you know, you've overlooked for whatever reason. Yeah. One thing I wanted to ask was knowing that you are

so committed to, as much as you can, showing movies on film, although you were saying, I think earlier before we were recording, that you're loosening up on that. But because of that, are there any sort of white whales of movies that you've wanted to screen and have never been able to because you're like, there's no way to get a print of this thing? There are, you know. I did, the clown cried. because you're like, there's no way to get a print of this thing. There are, you know, and I mean that...

The day the clown cried. That kind of changes over the years, you know, because there have been things that I've found. There's also been things that used to be available and aren't anymore, and that gets super frustrating that there was like a time that I was able to show something like Heavenly Features, like is now there's not a film print of that. Really?

Yeah. Is that because it's unavailable or they've just deteriorated and they haven't struck a new one? So there is kind of like libraries change hands sometimes when they're not, you know, if it's not just Universal or Warner Brothers, like there are these libraries like Miramax and things like that where the libraries kind of move. And like, I don't think that they account for the inventory or the new distributor just doesn't care enough to look into it.

So it's a number of things, you know, or the prints get damaged or go missing or something like that. The movies that I've sort of been... For a long time, the one that I've been after is this French movie called Don't Deliver Us From Evil from 1971. That's like these like evil teenage girl type of movie. Sounds a lot like Heavenly Creatures. It's kind of based on the same true story.

Oh, wow. But yeah, I mean, when I'm talking about my lane and my wheelhouse, it is like specifically teenage girls who kill people type of movies. But yeah, I think I once tracked down a print that was maybe in France, but like it was a bad print and it would be expensive to ship overseas. There's this movie called Thief of Hearts, which isn't the best movie, but it stars Stephen Bauer, if you know who that is. That's his like stage name.

He's the Cuban from Scarface, like the cousin character or whatever. Like super handsome. So this is like a 1980s movie where it's just sort of an erotic thriller of sorts. And then it's kind of topical, but I'm doing a series with the director John McNaughton, who did Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer and Wild Things. And he did this movie called The Borrowerrait of a Serial Killer and Wild Things. And he did this movie called The Borrower. What a career.

Just those two alone. Yes, exactly. And I mean the reason I'm doing it is because he has this other, this body of work that is kind of been overlooked and including this movie called The Borrower, which is sort of a sci-fi movie he did in the early 90s. And you know, when I first talked to him, he was like, if you could find a film print of this, because basically it had a little life at the Music Box in Chicago,

because that's where he's from. And he told me that when they were done with it, they were like, we have this film print, do you want it? And he's like, I didn't feel like it was mine, so I said no, and now there's no film print. So he was like, if you could find it, and I tried actually and the only thing I could find was the Library of Congress has-

Oh wow, there's Ray Don Chong in it. Yeah, it's a great cast, Antonio Vargas. There's a copyright print at the Library of Congress, but that's like unloanable. And then there's a lot of other stuff. Lately, I mean, maybe forever, but I get really deep into these direct-to-video action movies that I believe have film prints.

So there's this director, Joseph Merhi, who had PM Entertainment was his production company. And it's all just a lot of cheap LA action movies. And I'm like, I know's a their film prints of this somewhere I feel like I know that name like what? I'm trying to think of like what would be the the thing that you would know because it was some it was actually like a Very recent discovery for me where I was like, how did I not know about this guy? A lot of these are on

Mer hi. Yeah Yeah, Spartan is a good one. A lot of them, there's a bunch that star Wings Hauser, the sweepers. Oh, I recommended Last Man Standing, the non Arthur Hiller last night. Yes. Walter Hill. Walter Hill.

Yeah, either one. Yeah, I recommended that because- Don't die on that hill, Dan. Tom screened that in person for friends and it was... Bren of the Flop has Tom Silvestre. Yeah, it was so much fun, that movie. There's a lot, like the sweeper you should watch that has C. Thomas Howell and like Jeff Fahey.

Jeff Fahey. But I just have, you know, I'm like- Body parts, Jeff Fahey. And even Doppelganger and other movies by that director, Avi Nescher, like this one, like things that, it's not like they were like in wide circuit on 35 millimeter, but I'm like, you know, I know there is, I know they're out there somewhere. Well, that's the amazing thing about film prints is like,

and I'm sure this is something you come up with, come up against, or maybe it's beneficial a lot in this kind of programming, is like film prints, like they seem to have this mercurial existence where they are either disappeared and deteriorating or they're turning up in places that you wouldn't expect. And so like, I feel like there was this period where every five years they suddenly found a new print of Metropolis that had more footage in it than was available before. And I was just listening to a thing not too long about how there are these film archives in Eastern Europe that have original release, potentially versions

of the Marx Brothers movies with stuff that was cut out from the prints for re-releases and what we don't have anymore. And it's just, there's all these prints floating around around the world everywhere and there's just no systemized way to handle them, and there's no money for someone to go and actually look at everything. So there's constant discoveries. Yeah, you need someone who cares.

I think that one thing that I was chasing for a long time was the movie Trancers, the Charles Band movie. And it took somebody at Full Moon caring enough to look to find it. And so this one guy just finally cared and he found the print and, you know, I was able to show it. And that's another one that I think now you maybe can't really get to. Yeah, I mean, there's it's like that, you know, and even like people are always like every once in a while someone's like,

I want to do a Bollywood series. And I'm like, there's just there's like, there's no repertory for Bollywood. Those movies, they just get cranked out. And then there has to be, it's like, did they really destroy? Can you imagine all the film prints that existed? Where did they go? Are they just landfill? It's amazing how much of this stuff that is objectively

has a financial value to it. Just either got thrown away or mislabeled or mis-shelled. It's just not taken care of and not organized. It's just really as, and maybe it's just because I come from a long line of librarians, but the idea that like a company makes a thing and they're just like, throw it in the, throw it in the room and nobody, it's in cans that are not labeled and things like that. And it's just crazy to me.

Or like, just be like Uh, let's delete it. Let's tape over it. No one cares Yeah, that's that's the bbc way of doing things is you're like, it's expensive to buy videotape Let's let's tape over dudley moore and peter cook's television show. No one will ever want to watch it again, you know that kind of thing Uh, well before we finish I'd like to highlight Ridiculous Sublime, a series we've mentioned a lot in the Flophouse because Stuart and I have gone to multiple installments,

either together or not. Sometimes eating hot dogs also. That's guaranteed entertainment right there. Guaranteed entertainment. These are movies that aren't, they aren't quote unquote bad, but I do think that they're kind of what people who listen to the Flophouse,

like bad movie nuts, really want to see a lot of the time is movies where what is good about them, what genuinely works is sort of inexorably tied to also what is maybe silly about them, and they wouldn't be better if they were like better. So they walk, yeah, they walk this line, and what do you look for when you're programming that? What is your criteria for that? I think that if I've watched something and haven't seen it with an audience, there's

sometimes when I'll watch or re-watch a movie and be like, I want to see this with the crowd. Or just for me, my personal enjoyment is just like when there's something that makes my jaw drop because it's just something I've never seen before. Or when I finally watched Dreamcatcher, there's so much in that movie that I was just like, whose idea was this? What is this? Yeah, Stephen King. It's okay.

You know what I'm saying? It's cocaine. Just knowing that somebody made their own rules or just didn't care about what the status quo was, that's usually what does it for me. I don't think about it as being good or bad. Somebody took a swing here and I'm glad they did and it might not make any sense and it maybe didn't make any money and it maybe lost people jobs know what would have been some of the ridiculous sublime movies. So like the ambulance we saw So that was a prison prison. Yep was the man a two part of that. Yes. Oh hell yeah

Show the man a two you better put it in the ridiculous sublime series Is that the one you described as being the worst print you've ever shown? Yeah, cuz I've shied away from showing like seven stuff from the 70s You better put it in the ridiculous sublime series. Is that the one you described as being the worst print you've ever shown? Yeah, because I've shied away from showing like stuff from the 70s. Because, you know, the usual rule is that it was like anything from 82 or before is probably faded. Just based on the film stock that they used. Yeah, I mean, I started this series, you know, by now it was like over two years ago

with Action Jackson. I think for me, part of this was the idea for the series is that I wanted to encompass action movies, which are some of my favorite things. And any other type of thing that could fit into that. I wanted there to be sort of a broad, I didn't want to narrow it down to just action movies. I had also been doing this erotic thriller series and that felt sort of too narrow. So yeah, it started with Action Jackson, which is, you know, it's just like a ton of fun.

Like just like completely over the top, just like, you know, total nonsense, like crazy stunts, all that, you know? It's one of the few movies that feels like it lives up to the ridiculousness of its title. Yeah. In that kind where they, clearly the title seems to have come first before anything else and they were like, how do we earn the name Action Jackson?

Yes, exactly. That erotic thriller series was great. I have to, I, and it sort of, you were sort of right in tune with the pulse because I feel like you're programming it. Dance pulse. And then there was, well, but then there's like this sort of cultural like like reassessment and like enjoyment of the erotic thriller like like hey like people discovered it again people are like wait there can be sex in movies what I don't think so but there's

that one with a band Eris and wasourning. That one is so wild. Yeah. And I mean that could have been in Ridiculous to Sublime as well. Yeah, I missed doing that series. It didn't get as much of an audience as I would have liked. Some obviously did better than others. And I did really enjoy, I would do this bingo game that was just sort of like, you know, erotic thriller tropes or whatever. But yeah, I, I, Ridiculous to Sublime kind of fit more, you know,

just was a better umbrella. And, you know, I was glad to also fit more comedies, like doing the Boyfriend School as part of that. You know, it just it just works, you know. As we close out, I don't know how far ahead you can say, but like what's up for Ridiculous Sublime in the future? I've got Poltergeist 3 coming up. Ooh.

The Jean-Claude Van Damme hockey movie Sudden Death. That was one of my brother's favorites. How's Booth, baby? And you know, actually, my first experiment in doing something just kind, Turbulence. Are you guys familiar with the Ray Liotta? Yes, of course. It's a Christmas movie, everybody.

I'm trying to do that in December. Yeah, if you haven't seen it, it might not be as good as Turbulence 3 Heavy Metal, but... That's what I was going to say. It's one of those movies that was mildly successful, but then went on to spawn a bunch of direct to video sequels. Yeah, Turbulence 3 is a lot of fun too. Yeah. Turbulence 3 is a lot of fun too? I'm confused, Dan.

What Turbulence is this? Oh, boy. Well, we'll explain off mic. We should close up because we've talked Christina's ear off. She was nice enough to come to my apartment and sit between Stuart and I in the top room. Truly an incredible cost to have to pay to get her message out. Yeah. Well, I mean, she also lives in the neighborhood.

Wow. Don't dox her, Dan. What are you doing? People don't know where I am, I hope. Anyway, I would like to thank Christina so much for being here. This was really interesting. I would like to thank our producer Alex, Alex Smith. Howell Doddy is the name he goes by on the internet.

I'm wearing one of his shirts right now, but it's blocked by the microphone. And most people are listening to this too, so they won't see it. Well, describe the garment so it fits perfectly. Alex does little videos for us. What kind of cotton blend is it? It's a pretty heavy shirt actually as t-shirts go, but if you like that sort of bulkier style, I would recommend it, the design's great.

Anyway, so Alex, thank you for being our producer. Thank you for making shirts. Yeah, thank you for being a friend. As long as we're thanking people, before Christina goes, I want to say, Christina, thank you so much for the work you've been doing for years now, showing movies to people that they wouldn't have otherwise seen, they might not have heard of,

they might not have known it existed. And I know that for one of the things I regret about not living in New York anymore is that I don't have access to the stuff that you're showing. Because over the years, there were so many things that I saw because you programmed it that really meant a lot to me and that opened my eyes a lot. And it's just, I think you're doing something

that you enjoy doing, but what you're also doing is, it's just great. It's spreading kind of new things to people and inspiring them in ways that I don't know if you are fully aware of. So thank you for doing that. Oh, I appreciate it. Thank you, Elliot.

And I also miss having you around to host stuff. So you you for doing that. Oh, I appreciate it. Thank you, Elliot. And, you know, I also miss having you around to host stuff. So, you know, you got to you got to come back sometime. Maybe someday I'll come back and I'll be like, here I am. Nighthawk. And now you're going to watch Scanners. You know, I don't know. Wow. Maybe Scanners 3. Thank you.

Well, thank you all for listening. We'll close up this minute for the Flophouse. I've been Dan McCoy. I've been Stuart Wellington. I've been Elliot Kaelin now sinking into the earth rather than floating into the air. And our special guest has been... Christina Caccioppo. Thank you. Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye!

Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye!

Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye!

Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye!