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Welcome to Kicking the Seat!

Ian Simmons launched Kicking the Seat in 2009, one week after seeing Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia. His wife proposed blogging as a healthier outlet for his anger than red-faced, twenty-minute tirades (Ian is no longer allowed to drive home from the movies).

The Kicking the Seat Podcast followed three years later and, despite its “undiscovered gem” status, Ian thoroughly enjoys hosting film critic discussions, creating themed shows, and interviewing such luminaries as Gaspar NoéRachel BrosnahanAmy Seimetz, and Richard Dreyfuss.

Ian is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. He also has a family, a day job, and conflicted feelings about referring to himself in the third person.

Ep781: THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE: 40th Anniversary Review w/ Chad Hawks

Ep781: THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE: 40th Anniversary Review w/ Chad Hawks

Ian welcomes longtime friend and first-time guest Chad Hawks to the show for a 40th-anniversary look at Amy Holden Jones' influential slasher, The Slumber Party Massacre!

After escaping from a mental institution, a power drill-obsessed killer sets his sights on an unsuspecting group of high school girls. Of course, their fun Friday night of Twinkies, gossip, and weed turns into a blood-soaked nightmare--but this smart, darkly funny, and imaginatively sequenced thriller rises above the rest.

Ian and Chad look at what sets this female-helmed horror movie apart from other films of the day (despite sharing several features of its contemporaries), as well as its deft handling of sexual politics and symbolism.

Plus: Chad talks about the new Kickstarter campaign he's producing for a frightfully delightful new book called "Poems of Grave Importance" by Ridley Mortis (with art by Mitch O'Connell, Jeff Carlson, and others)!

Learn about the tome, the tiers, and the tons of super-cool add-ons available in the final days of the project!

Show Links:

  • Watch Slumber Party Massacre (1982) trailer.

  • Support Chad's Kickstarter for "Poems of Grave Importance" by Ridley Mortis!

Timestamps:

  • Intro: 0:00 - 4:08

  • The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) Review: 4:09 - 1:01:12

  • About "Poems of Grave Importance" Kickstarter Project: 1:01:13 - 1:19:08

  • Outro: 1:19:09 - 1:20:45

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Ep782: There's No Stalgia Like Nostalgia: SHAFT (1971)

Ep782: There's No Stalgia Like Nostalgia: SHAFT (1971)

Ep780: Son of Hammerland: THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES / THE REPTILE (1966)

Ep780: Son of Hammerland: THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES / THE REPTILE (1966)