Back Row's Fourth Year in Movie Reviews, Podcasts & Lists
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!
We can’t believe Back Row is already four! And what a year that was… last year almost feels like four years in itself. This past year, we tried to get our Back Row shit into gear best we could. We gave the logo a refresh and shifted focus a bit more to reviewing new films as they came out (keep sending us screeners, we love them!), but judging from our most popular articles it seems the audience wants what their hearts want: MORE BLOOD. Alright, alright, we hear ya’, more I Watched It So You Don’t Have To on its way. Yes, forgotten ‘80s - ‘90s horror films too.
While we struggled a bit keeping up with our written content last year, we positively soared with our podcast. Our subscriber feed is up immensely; Hoser Horror not only carried Notes From the Back Row, it kind of carried the entire site last year. So if you’re not already listening to Dan and Carlo hipping you to the greatest Canada has to offer, what are you waiting for?!
Speaking of carrying the site, this was the first year of our Patreon launch and within a matter of months we hit our first goal of keeping the site afloat. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your generosity, we literally couldn’t have done it without you! Besides exclusive content, Patreons received some unique end of year swag for their troubles as well–including an enamel Hoser Horror pins, sticker sheets starring everybody from Oliver Reed to Cynthia Rothrock, a Johnny B. Goodman the lost California Raisin keychain and an exclusive Psycho Pike t-shirt! We didn’t skimp, this is some solid swag people. Join up and see what we’re giving away next December!
So without further ado, I present to you our top articles and podcasts of the past year:
Gaspar Noé’s Irreversible is known for its unflinchingly brutal rape scene, but what Veronica found more unforgivable was how boring the whole movie was.
Dan sits down to chat with Jesse D’Angelo, step-son of writer-director John Fasano and son of screenwriter/author Cindy Cirile (who wrote Rapid Fire and Black Roses as well as produced Fasono’s The Jitters.)
Carlo and Jenna focus on two wild and wacky films that have nothing in common except for their supremely cartoonish appearances.
The experience of seeing Cats, especially at a late-night or rowdy screenings, is like trying to solve a brain-teaser in a karaoke bar on a rollercoaster. Guest contributor PJ Kryfko lays out who, what, and how of Cats, as well as why he will be watching it for the rest of his life.
Carlo, Dan and Shea Mossefin of Compañeros Radio Network's podcast Movie Melt, take another look into the filmography of Paul Lynch as they watch his island-set slasher Humongous and the cross-country sleaze-o-rama... Cross Country.
Jenna watched every Mission Impossible movie while under quarantine and she was shocked to find that, instead of the nationalistic action-schlock she had anticipated, the entire franchise is actually an unwitting call to true anarchistic revolution.
Ruthlessly bloody, indulgent and like watching Lars Von Trier primp in the mirror for two-and-a-half hours, Veronica found The House That Jack Built surprisingly watchable. A little insufferable, big time pretentious, but darkly funny and strangely digestible.
Put down that copy of Die Hard, toss aside that Gremlins tape! Here’s Dan’s list of some alternatively festive (or creepy or funny or somewhere in-between) Christmas picks for you to watch this year.
Carlo, Dan and Jenna discuss two more Canadian horror movies about fantastical murderers–Bob Clark’s anti-war classic Deathdream and Oliver Stone’s home invasion Seizure.
It’s a meaty episode of Franchise Frenzy as Dan and Carlo dig deep down into a hearty plate of the Meatballs movies–the Canadian teen-sex comedy series that launched Bill Murray to stardom.
