Month: April 2018

True Crime Podcasts I’m Listening To

Once upon a time, I had an obsession with pulp novels and Film Noir movies… hold on… wait one darn minute… Ok. Ok! I still do. What’s with this once upon a time crap. It’s true, I love reading trashy 1940s and 50s pulp fiction and there is a beautiful satisfaction watching a femme fatale get some dark and dirty revenge on the person who wronged her. Oh. Yes. There. Is. I rarely read or watch modern books or movies, unless they independent. I’d rather drift off into another era and enjoy the masters at their craft. Give me a pre-code or film noir movie any day or a novella from the 1920s. During my commutes to work, I would always have a book to read and eventually I started getting into podcasts. I’m now obsessed with them. I am a full-time writer now and no longer take that daunting trip via transit on a daily basis any longer. The only thing I missed was that time I had to read or listen to a podcast. Now I listen to them before I begin writing. It helps to wake up my creative juices.

Over the last few years, True Crime Podcasts have become increasingly popular. There are chatty podcasts like My Favorite Murder or ones that more news-driven, including having experts on their shows like Murder Was the Case. The beauty of a podcast is that you don’t always need access to WiFi to stream them. Many podcast apps will let you download them so you can listen to them at your leisure. I currently use PlayerFM. They have an extensive list of podcasts that pretty much cover everyone’s interests. I was thankful to have that app during my recent, fours hours both way, trip to my parent’s house.

Whether or not you want to personally admit it, as humans, we are all interested in hearing or reading about the darker side of humanity. I honestly feel like this is the reason there has been an explosion of True Crime podcasts, blogs and YouTube channels of late. Podcasts are also an alternative to books on tape. It’s less of a commitment when the story may only take up an hour of your time.

I have compiled a list of my favourites below. There is a mix of real life and fiction. The link will take you into PlayerFM. I’m not saying you should use that particular app, it’s just a fast way for you to access the podcast and information if you are intrigued by the title. There are descriptions of what the podcast is about for each individual podcast on their website.

What podcasts are you listening to? Do you have any True Crime Podcasts you’d like to suggest? Please let us know.

Alice Isn’t Dead

Bloody Murder – A True Crime Podcast

Canadian True Crime

Darker Projects: Night Terrors

Final Girls Horrorcast

Hollywood & Crime

Last Podcast On The Left

Murder Was The Case

Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

Once Upon A Crime | True Crime

Post Mortem with Mick Garris

Serial Killer Documentary Podcast

Serial Killers

The Minds of Madness – True Crime Stories

The Serial Killer Podcast

The Strange and Unusual Podcast

This Podcast Will Kill You

True Crime Garage

True Crime Historian

Undone

Unsolved Murders: True Crime Stories

Welcome to Night Vale

Owen Sound Twin Drive-in Theatre

I just found out that the Twin Drive-in Theatre, just outside of Owen Sound, is being torn down. My heart sunk a little when I saw these words, that was immediately followed by a torrent of childhood memories. Good memories. Flushed with nostalgia, I began to reminisce about hot summer nights, curled up in the back seat of the white, Pontiac station wagon, dressed in our PJs. Anticipating dusk so the movie would begin.

In the summer and even early fall, we spent many Saturday nights at the Owen Sound Twin Drive-in Theatre. With no air conditioning at home, it was an escape from the stifling heat of the century-old, badly insulated Victorian house we lived in. My Dad would pack up the Igloo cooler with bottles of Pop Shoppe cream soda and root beer and it would be one of the few occasions our Mom would allow us to have junk food. We grew up in a household free of it. Fresh popcorn, sugar controlled Freshie and homemade cookies were her snacks of choice for us. Occasionally, our parents would let us buy something from the concession stand.

Before heading out for our night of movie entertainment; we were put into our pajama’s, our parents knowing we would never make it through the second movie. We tried, oh trust me, we tried.

My Dad would always try to get us there early, like many others, he wanted a prime spot. This would mean waiting extra time for dusk and time to play in the rusting structures of the play area. How we didn’t end up with lead poison or lockjaw still confounds me. Running wild with hoards of other children, our parents hoped we’d exhaust ourselves so they’d be allowed enough peace and quiet to hear the voices through the vintage speaker mounted on the driver’s side window.

Since 1950 and when the Owen Sound Twin Drive-in Theatre first opened up, the long line-up of cars would cruise in, set-up the speaker in their window and then make their way to the concession stand. That drive-in saw many cars filled with young lovers, families with kids in PJs, teenagers excited that they could test their new driver’s license and freedom and older couples enjoying a date night. When I think of drive-in theatres, I often imagine the voice of Wolfman Jack drifting from the radio, in sync with the crunching sounds of popcorn and the release of metal pop bottle lids. We usually parked close to the concession stand, allowing our car to be filled with the smells of food cooking and the sounds of beverages being poured into wax-lined paper cups.

Drive-in-concessions-stand.courtesy-LAPL

One memory that has always stuck with me is that of being scared shitless to go to the bathroom that was attached to the concession stand. It was mere feet away. One of the movies from a double feature that particular evening was The Car. In this movie, the car was possessed and was running people down and starred the very handsome James Brolin. I was so scared of this evil vehicle that I was convinced that it was in the drive-in. I remember begging my mother to take me to the washroom. She was frustrated by this since I’ve never been scared to go on my own before that night. Oh, the 1970s. A time when you’d let your young child wander off to a public washroom all on their own.

It’s sad that drive-in’s and bowling alleys are dying away. They both have filled my heart with so many wonderful memories and I often wonder what could be done to keep them open and popular for today’s society. Would adding fun extras such as live music, trivia contests or some other events to entertain the masses, while they wait for the sun to go down, be enough? I’m afraid it won’t be. Let’s hold onto those wonderful memories and continue to tell others our stories of hot, humid summer nights at a double feature at your local drive-theatre.

Please share your stories in the comments below.

Killer B Cinema Presents Japanese Monster Attack double bill!

May is Japanese Monster Attack month and do we have some monsters for you for you. Frankenstein vs Baragon and Gamera will not disappoint! The perfect double bill and all for the low, low price of $5. That’s right FIVE DOLLARS! And there will be trivia with prizes!

Doors (back performance space) open at 8 pm and the movies begin at 8:30 pm.
Where: The Imperial Pub Performance Space, 54 Dundas Street East
Facebook Invite: https://www.facebook.com/events/158830411451532/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/killerbcinema/

Frankenstein vs. Baragon (also known as Frankenstein Conquers the World ) is a Japanese-American 1965 science fiction kaiju film co-produced by Toho, Henry G. Saperstein Enterprises, and Benedict Productions. The film is directed by Ishirō Honda with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya and stars Nick Adams, Kumi Mizuno, Tadao Takashima, with Koji Furuhata as Frankenstein and Haruo Nakajima as Baragon. The screenplay is credited to Takeshi Kimura, with the story credited to Reuben Bercovitch based on a synopsis by Jerry Sohl.

The film was released theatrically in the United States in the summer of 1966 by American International Pictures. The following year, Toho/UPA produced a sequel titled The War of the Gargantuas.

Gamera is a fictional giant monster or kaiju originating from a series of Japanese tokusatsu films of the same name. He first appeared in Daiei Film’s 1965 film Gamera: The Giant Monster, which was initially produced to rival the success of Toho’s Godzilla; however, Gamera has gained fame and notoriety as a Japanese icon in his own right. The character has appeared in other media such as comic books and video games.

Each month join Lizzie Violet & Zoltan Du Lac for a double bill of B-moves from the 1930s to 1970s!

Thank you to the Imperial Pub and their staff! They make our monthly event extra amazing!

We hope to see you at The Imperial!

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this: