Split Picks

Split Picks wrestles with an all-time great concert film from Neil Young and a comedy with a complicated history. When he's not behind the camera, director Bernard Shakey spends his time as a Canadian-born rock 'n' roll star who goes by the name Neil Young. Split Picks returns to look at two films directed by Shakey, with Breanna McCann stopping by for the first time, and Bennett Glace returning for yet another episode. They discuss all things Neil Young, Crazy Horse, and the passion projects Young directed as his alter-ego.

Rust Never Sleeps (1979) stands tall among the finest concert films ever made. With a stage full of comically oversized props set by Roadeyes, Young begins solo and runs through the highs of his career before Crazy Horse joins him to debut some classic songs. Each shot of the film is near-iconic and its setlist will fulfill any Young fan's requests.

Taking cues from Japanese horror films, The Wizard of Oz, and Jerry Lewis, Human Highway follows a small group of workers at an auto shop and diner who all have dreams of getting out, or at least winning the local talent show at the nuclear power plant. It just so happens to be the last day on Earth. Human Highway flopped when it came out, but a vastly improved director's cut has given it new life.

Listen to the episode to see which film reigns supreme, and why after all this Bennett's biggest question is why didn't Neil Young star in more comedies?

Split Picks: Bernard Shakey's 'Rust Never Sleeps' Vs. 'Human Highway'

For this year's Split Picks horror series, we look at some of the finest horror films and director's that Japan has to offer.

Each year for October Horror, Split Picks takes a virtual field trip to a different country to find some of the best horror films and directors from around the world. In 2021 we started at home and looked at what we determined to be the Mt. Rushmore of American horror with Tobe Hooper, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, and George A. Romero. Last year we put on our black gloves and fell in with the Italian greats — Dario Argento, Sergio Martino, Lucio Fulci — to talk all things giallo.

This year we are talking about Japan and some of their famous ghosts, grudges, and gothic imagery. Obviously, Japan has a huge cultural history with horror films that dates back to the dawn of the medium. We are not covering the history of Japanese horror in this series, and will instead focus on a few signature works from select directors.

For this series we are going to be looking at a mix of classic and lesser-heralded films from some of Japan’s greatest horror filmmakers. This is only a quick survey of what Japan has to offer, and we picked three filmmakers for a combination of styles that complement each other, hint at the country’s vast film history, and also how their particular styles of horror compare to the rest of the world. With that in mind, we decided to kick off this series with Takashi Shimizu and his world-famous series 'The Grudge.' In this first episode we will be looking at his first theatrical version of 'Ju-On: The Grudge.'  Then we will discuss the 2004 American remake, which he also directed, and contrast it with the 2020 US sequel, also simply called 'The Grudge,' and directed by Nicholas Pesce.

Featuring Split Picks regulars Bennett Glace, Jim Hickcox, and Frankie Vanaria, the series begins here and will run through most of the month! Listen to hear all about The Grudge and how it developed from two initial short films into an international sensation.

Split Picks: Japanese Horror

Split Picks: 'Ju-On: The Grudge' (Takashi Shimizu, 2002)

What happens when a US studio remakes a Japanese film with the original director still behind the camera?

After an extended talk about Takashi Shimizu's 2002 breakout film, Ju-On: The Grudge, the Split Picks crew — Bennett Glace, Jim Hickcox, Frankie Vanaria and host Craig Wright — picks up with The Grudge franchise making its way to the US. After the US remake of Ringu (as The Ring) became a global sensation, The Grudge was tapped as the next film up and confirmed that J-horror was ready for primetime.

Shimizu was asked to direct the remake, and he said he would do so only if he could bring his ghosts with him in Kayako (Takako Fuji) and Toshio (Yuya Ozeki). But with Sarah Michelle Gellar in the lead role and a brief Bill Pullman appearance as Americans abroad, the film is fundamentally different from the suburban Japanese original. Through the episode they debate whether the remake is stronger than the original Ju-On: The Grudge — or if the trailer is stronger than the film itself. Namely, they talk about how the US remake softens most of the previous version's best scares, and wonder if Americans are truly as unintelligent as studios would like to believe.

In 2020 director Nicolas Pesce revived the franchise with The Grudge, a film set in the same universe that is not a direct sequel or remake. It is also an American work produced by Sam Raimi, and it asks what happens if the curse could spread to a different location. The discussion follows what happens when the original creator loses control of a franchise, and whether the films were too slow to evolve their brand of horror.

Also in the episode: Jim hypothesizes what it might be like to take his short horror film Slow Creep from a short to an international big-budget adaptation; Bennett swears the 2020 Grudge is the finest offering of the series. Frankie enjoys none of the Grudges. Craig reveals which film put him to sleep. Who tests ramen packaging that way? And how exactly does the WWE predict the state of horror and culture at large? Tune in to find out!

Split Picks: 'The Grudge' Goes America (2004 Vs. 2020)

Split Picks looks at an absolute masterwork of horror and a later haunted romance from Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

Split Picks continues its special October series on Japanese Horror with a look at two films from Kiyoshi Kurosawa. After a string of seemingly unrelated murders with undeniable similarities, Detective Takabe begins to link the odd details of the killings together. It leads him to Mamiya, a man who claims to have no memory, no idea who he is, or even what he looks like. He speaks almost exclusively in question, and his nonchalance proves to be the entrance to his unique form of hypnosis.

In 2016's Daguerrotype, Jean is hired to help Stephane operate a daguerreotype, an obsolete form of photography that requires subjects to remain motionless for hours to capture the image. Jean falls in love with Stephane's daughter, Marie, but their romance raises questions of whether Marie is actually alive.

Together, we get a look at what many deem to be Kurosawa's masterpiece, and a later film that features many of the hallmarks of his style. Bennett, Craig, and Lucille also weigh in on if they believe in ghosts, what it means to ask questions, and whether great art truly does equate to immortality.

Japanese Horror

Split Picks: Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 'Cure' (1997) Vs. 'Daguerrotype' (2016)

To close out the series on Japanese Horror, Spit Picks looks at a director known for testing the limits of violence on film.Takashi Miike is best known for three things: He is prolific, versatile, and is no stranger to using extreme gore. With 115 directorial credits listed on his IMDb page (at time of publishing), he has made films in just about every genre imaginable. But from blood-soaked epics like Ichi The Killer and 13 Assassins to a glut of Yakuza films, and even a death-centric musical comedy in The Happiness of the Katakuris, Miike's films are never shy to show off fountains of gore with no sense of shyness. But through them all, Miike always injects his unique style, no matter the genre.

With Bennett Glace and Jim Hickcox, Split Picks finishes its special series on Japanese Horror by comparing Miike's masterwork to one of his most extreme depictions of violence — an almost hour-long school shooting. With Audition, Miike follows a widowed man, Shigeharu (Ryo Ishibashi), after his friend suggests they set up a film audition to help him find a new wife. When he meets Asami (Eihi Shiina), they quickly fall in love, but everyone around Shigeharu tells him to notice the red flags, which he gleefully overlooks, until he finds himself in a scenario that ranks among the most infamous torture scenes on film. It's a testament to Audition that, in an era when most successful Asian films were remade by Americans, still no one has remade this tale of revenge.

Lesson of the Evil finds a popular and handsome teacher on a path to violence against his own students. With a code of morals that makes sense to only him, he tries to stop his students from cheating on tests and uncovers various scandals in the school. As his background comes into focus, he doubles down on what he learned during his time in the United States and. with the assistance of a talking shotgun, he decides to solve his problems in the worst way possible.

The pairing of films provides some fascinating contrasts in tone, and some striking similarities in their overall structure. In this episode, the gang discusses how Audition bends time, if Lesson of the Evil crosses the limits of acceptable violence on film, and how As The Gods Will might be the spiritual sequel to Lesson of the Evil that makes black humor work in a similarly morbid scenario.

Split Picks: Takashi Miike's 'Audition' Vs. 'Lesson of the Evil'

Split Picks finds the holiday spirit with a look at two episodes from the BBC's A Ghost Story For Christmas tradition.

No one would actually take something from a grave with an ominous warning written on it and then proceed to put said item in their mouth, right? Split Picks is back to give a definitive answer: no. But as author M.R. James and the BBC would have you believe, there is at least one person who would risk it all in the name of disbelieving superstition. Though ghosts and Christmas time may conjure images of A Christmas Carol, in the 1960s and 1970s, the BBC aired a yearly ghost story, often adapted from James stories at the holidays. With Bennett Glace and special guest, director of Mickey Dogface, Zach Fleming, they discuss the classic A Ghost Story For Christmas entires Whistle And I'll Come To You (1968) and The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974).

In Whistle, a growling professor on holiday finds some souvenirs come with risks. It also proves that horror is sometimes at its most effective when at its simplest and most elemental. In Abbot Thomas, a clergyman and his student seek the hidden treasure from an alchemist who left behind clues about his alleged fortune. Once discovered, the clergyman meets the goopiest entity in the BBC ghost canon.

Are the M.R. James original stories superior to their adaptations? Did the series reboot in the 2010s live up to the originals? Will Bennett's streak of saying "Lynchian" in every episode finally come to an end?

Split Picks: 'Whistle And I'll Come To You' Vs. 'The Treasure of Abbot Thomas'

What is a bad movie? When does the fun start? How did David Cronenberg make a room full of nineteen-year-olds cry? Who *really* killed Abraham Lincoln? Why do birds suddenly appear every time Tippi Hedren is near? The Cinesthesia Boys answer virtually none of these questions, in any way, at all. Who are the Cinesthesia Boys? They’re Jim Hickcox and Jason Michelitch! That was an easy one.

THE CINESTHESIA PODCAST

CHAPTER ONE: TOMMY WISEAU'S LINCOLN

Time travel, mouths covered in plastic, fish-based revenge and another drive-by Cronenberg mention. Join the Cinesthesia Boys, Jim Cine and Jason Sthesia, as they get more talking done about bad movies, ironic appreciation, which Nolan brother is Mama Nolan’s favorite and the ideal iteration of Jaws V: Sharks Hold a Grudge. It’s another certified classic fresh from the presses (we call our mouths “presses” because we press them against each other, when we kiss!)!!

CHAPTER TWO: KILL ME WITH YOUR FISH

The Boys have been missing in action — wandering through the submerged depths of spacetime, the dead zones of material consciousness — but they ride the bathyscaphe up through the cracks in reality's sidewalk and surface with brain bubbles full of hot takes on Cyborgs and Spielbergs. Welcome back to Cinesthesia. Get your surfboards ready: This tide is only rising. Coming Monday, Feb. 24: HALLOWEEN HANGOVER!

CHAPTER THREE: MUCH LOVE, THE SLOPPY JUSTICE ROBOTS

"Some people never got over Vietnam or the night their band opened for Nirvana. I guess Cinesthesia never got over Halloween." 
- Rob Fidelity
They just can't stop! Jim and Jason could talk about literally anything they want, but their brains are permanently trapped in the world of tricks and treats. This week, The Boys take a scattershot look at the convoluted history of one Michael "Halloween is my middle name" Halloween Myers, the once and future king of slashers, who is also maybe a puppet of Celtic witchcraft and an absentee father? Carve those pumpkins, kids, it's time for a Halloween Hangover. NEXT EPISODE: More Halloween Hangover!!! Part 2 of [??!?] WHEN WILL THE MADNESS STOP P P PPP

CHAPTER FOUR: MICHAEL MYERS SHEDS A TEAR

Split Tooth Media is an independent publication based in Portland, Oregon, that still believes in long-form journalism and in-depth podcasts about music and film. Home of "Split Picks," a head-to-head showdown series about the career trajectories of filmmakers and musicians, created by Craig Wright; Jim Hickcox and Jason Michelitch's film criticism series "Cinesthesia;" and Rob Delany and 'T' Trimble's guide to exploring the world of art cinema with "Arthouse Drive-In."

Split Picks: Bernard Shakey's 'Rust Never Sleeps' Vs. 'Human Highway'

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