Junk Food Dinner: Episode #47


Junk Food Dinner returns with three movies that no one can agree on!

First up, we have 1982's "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains" starring very young Diane Lane and Laura Dern as a punk band that takes the world by storm. The film also co-stars a couple of the Sex Pistols.

Then, we take a look at one of Patrick Bateman's favorite films, "Body Double," from 1984, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Melanie Griffth's boobs. In this one, we find out how house sitting can become dangerous and have sexy results.

Finally, we are completely baffled by 1985's "Night Train to Terror," an anthology of horror stories set around a chess game between God and Satan.


Got a movie suggestion for the show, want to give your opinion on a movie we talked about or just want to tell us we suck? Drop us a line at JFDPodcast@gmail.com. Or hit us up on the hotline: 347-746-JUNK (5865).

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Comments

  1. Good show, interesting mix. I've never heard of L&G, THE FAB. STAINS before and it sounds cool. There seems to be a whole mini-wave of those early 80's raw daily life, aimless teenager, sex, drugs & rock 'n roll movies with cool soundtracks that I've been meaning to check out one day. Stuff like TIMES SQUARE, DOGS IN SPACE, FOXES and CHRISTIANE F. I'll add L&G, THE FAB. STAINS to that list.

    I've got NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR on one of those bargain bin horror sets, but haven't got around to watching it yet. I always knew it would be delicious. You guys really have to check out THE MONSTER CLUB (1981).

    Oh, and not that I keep track of these things, but having seen NIGHT MOVES (1975) recently (because Alan Sharp is one of my favorite screenwriters), I know for a fact that Melanie Griffith was no stranger to nudity by the time she did BODY DOUBLE. It's actually what she kind of got famous for I think. Because of her nymphet/trampy/lolita-esq roles in NIGHT MOVES (1975) and SMILE (1975), both with nudity at age 16, along with her trademark high-pitched voice, she got typecast in those kind of ditzy nymphet roles for a long while. Also, according to IMDB, her mother (Tipi Hedron) let her move in with Don Johnson at age 14! Ok, that's enough Melanie Griffith gossip for the day, but summer afternoon TV reruns of CHERRY 2000 and SOMETHING WILD on USA in the early 90's was really where it was at. Fun times, thanks MG.

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  2. Great show, especially my personal grade-Z favorite, "Night Train to Terror". I work in the film industry in Los Angeles and grew up watching all sorts of horror films and "Night Train to Terror" as bad as it really is, was always one of my favorites. So much so, that I own an original theatrical one-sheet poster for Night Train to Terror in nearly perfect condition and I have spoken with William Messerli, the executive producer of this film on two occasions, who was president of the film's distribution company Visto International, which was owned by screenwriter Phillip Yordan.

    According to Mr. Messerli, Philip Yordan who won an Oscar for Best Screenplay for 1954's "Broken Lance" and had been nominated twice before was blacklisted during the Red Scare in Hollywood and had to move to Paris France. It was there that he began to write these really strange horror scripts and set up Visto International with Mr. Messerli, who was a Minnesota attorney, after he moved back to the states. Visto catered VHS ancillary distribution to Europe and produced a few low-budget features in the 1980's, three of them happened to have been the films "Scream Your Head Off", "Death Wish Club" and "Cataclysm", which all of them remained unfinished due to financial problems.

    They then reworked the three films to incorporate them into what became "Night Train to Terror" after Mr. Yordan moved to San Diego, California and started a film school at San Diego State University and that's where they built sets for the film. In fact in the third segment 'Case of Claire Hansen", you can see one of the weird shape university buildings on the campus.

    According to SEC filings "Night Train to Terror" had a historical cost of over $1 million, but was subsequently devalued to $0 after Visto International folded and its assets were transferred into an old company called Sun Television which now its assets including "Night Train to Terror" are all in the public domain to my understanding.

    All in all, the movie is a great deal of fun, especially if you are someone who loved trashy horror films and works in the industry, which I am.

    Best!

    John Blythe

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