Archive for the Favorite Films Category

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Favorite Films: FLOOD Managing Editor and Film Buff Mike LeSeur Shares His Favorite ‘Most Metal’ Movies Ever

Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews with tags , , on 11/14/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
Raiders of the Lost Ark - Face Melting Scene on Make a GIF

Mike LeSeur, the managing editor of FLOOD website/magazine and one of the best editor for whom this editor has ever contributed, obviously knows his shit when it comes to music. Turns out he’s also a brainiac when it comes to movies. (He turned yours truly on to Coherence, if memory serves.)

This writer has had the good fortune of working for Mike since he took on his role at FLOOD some years ago, after more than a decade of contributing for two decades for FLOOD and its predecessor, FILTER. In short, the Bad Penny archives would be weaker than the knee-trembling members of the Trump cabinet were it not for those publications, Mike and chief Randy Bookasta.

When approached to contribute to The Bad Penny‘s self-evidently titled Favorite Films, he perhaps rather cheekily replied with “the 11 most metal movies I’ve ever seen (well, the good ones, anyway).” (Mike knows very well that I’m as much into indie-rock as metal, but that doesn’t diminish my appreciation of his stellar contribution.)

Without further do, here are Mike’s picks. To his credit, yours truly has only seen five of these … let’s make a pact to check them all, shall we?

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Favorite Films: Trabants Frontman Picks ‘They Live,’ ‘Blade Runner,’ ‘Miracle Mile’ and a Host of Crazy Cult Movies You Haven’t Seen

Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews, Lists with tags , , , , , , , , , on 11/07/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

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Portland, Oregon’s Trabants (pronounced Truh-bonts) are most likely the best surf/garage/psych band you’ve never heard of. The dedicatedly obscure and kitschy group led by multi-instrumentalist Eric Penna put out their first record 15 years ago and released their latest one, Mirage – the final installment in a triptych of trippy psych records – in June.

Penna named his band after a German car that debuted in 1957 and achieved popularity but was eventually discontinued in 1991. Trabants is a fitting moniker for the project of a musician and his revolving cast of cohorts who celebrate nostalgia – the quirkier the better. Taste the title track of their new record, and you’ll get the drift:

Penna also relishes cult films, so much so that he describes Trabants in part as a band that plays “soundtrack music from around the world.” To that end, Penna is a perfect candidate to participate in The Bad Penny‘s ongoing Favorite Films series, in which we pick musicians’ brains about the movies they like most. With that in mind, let’s delve into the 19th installment of our ongoing feature.

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Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin to Spook the Bloody Hell Out of Boise Tonight as They Play Live Score at ‘Tenebre’ Viewing

Posted in Concert Previews, Favorite Films, Features with tags , , , on 11/05/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Halloween may be over, but that isn’t stopping a special event touring the country in which a legendary Italian prog band best known for their collaborations with Dario Argento are playing a live score to the screening of the cult giallo horror director’s film Tenebre. Considered to be one of Argento’s top three best films, this 4K-remastered version is a must-attend screening and performance for fans of horror movies.

Tonight, Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin land in Boise to creep the hell out of everyone at the Egyptian Theatre, the most fitting venue for such a performance. The band is also known also known as Daemonia and not to be confused with offshoots Goblin Legacy, Goblin Rebirth and Cherry Five (internal strife – or, more gently put, disagreements – have led to Goblin’s splintering over the years.)

If you’re on the fence about going, here’s a taste of what will be in store for you if you choose to attend:

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Favorite Films: Radio Karma Dig ‘Evil Dead,’ ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll High School,’ Multiple Tim Burton Flicks, ‘Stopmotion’

Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews, Videos with tags , , , , , , , , , on 10/11/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Welcome to the latest installment in our Favorite Films series, in which we chat up musicians about the movies they treasure the most. Today we host Radio Karma, a power-pop/rock project led by lyricist/songwriter Richard Rossi and multi-instrumentalist Joe Giddings, who was previously a member of Star Collector and has his own solo material to boot. Radio Karma recently released a three-song EP, We Were Gods, which we’ll tell you more about in the near future. But as it’s the weekend, when we bring you new installments of Favorite Films, we’re rolling out this part of our conversation with the gentlemen first.

Enjoy learning about Rossi’s and Giddings’ most treasured movies … we can virtually guarantee at least a couple of them will be new to you.

Joe Giddings’ Favorite Films

Evil Dead (1981): “I watched that in the theater 13 or 14 times. I started doing call-outs during the movie, like The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In one scene, the lady’s being dragged across the floor, drenched and covered in blood. And you see her from top to bottom, and there’s barely any blood on her. So there’s a continuity [issue] there, and as that’s happening, I’m yelling, “Got a tough stain?” which at the time was [a commonly used phrase in laundry detergent] commercials. Everybody in the theater cracked up. (2:45) Apart from that silliness, I appreciated the practical effects, the stop motion and the comedy that was involved.”

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Favorite Films: Nightrage Frontman Marios Iliopoulos Is Enthralled by King Kong, ‘Dark Knight,’ ‘Wild at Heart’

Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/13/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

“It’s a difficult thing to be an artist, man. You use your brain and a lot of energy. It’s the same with us musicians. We are working a lot with our mind. Some people think we are lazy or that actors do nothing, but it’s a lot of mental work.”

-Nightrage’s Marios Iliopoulos

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One of The Bad Penny‘s favorite people in the whole wide world is Marios Iliopoulos, a rare human being who has a heart so big that it’s perplexing how his body can contain it, who has zero ego even though he fronts the best Greek metal band of all time, and who has generously donated hours of his time to speak with us about everything under the sun.

Previously, we brought you our conversations with Marios about his band Nightrage, the scourge of authoritarianism and fascism spreading across the world and his heartwarming friendship with sorely missed At the Gates frontman Tomas Lindberg.

Now we present you with what might our most entertaining chat with Señor Iliopoulos, as part of The Bad Penny‘s ongoing Favorite Films series. In case it’s not already obvious, the feature revolves around us speaking with musicians about movies that have won them over.

Without further ado, here’s our exchange with Nightrage innovator Iliopoulos about his flicks of choice.

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Favorite Films: Daedric’s Kristyn Hope Digs ‘Godzilla,’ ‘Companion,’ ‘Halloween,’ Rob Schneider ‘Comedy’

Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews with tags , , , , , , , , , on 08/22/2026 by Kurt Orzeck


When we recently caught up with alt/metal frontwoman Kristyn Hope of Deadric to inquire about her favorite films, she responded immediately: “To give you a bit of background, I grew up on VHSs. We had about 200 movies and I’d watch the same ones over and over and over. It was very unhealthy.”

Sounds like a true movie aficionado to us.

She continued: “So anyway, my list of favorite movies is largely based on the ones we had. Because I grew up pretty poor, we didn’t rent movies often. I would go to the) library and get the free movies – you know, like C-level movies.

The proof of Hope’s testimony can be found in the ensuing rundown of her favorite flicks of all time;

Godzilla (1998)

The 1998 version of Godzilla was one of my favorites. I know it shouldn’t even count as a Godzilla movie, but it was the only monster movie I had [available to watch at home]. And I was so into monsters. The idea of a giant kaiju was so cool to me. It was just such an interesting creature. Also, the CGI – for the time – was good.

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Favorite Films: Soulburn Are Passionate About ‘Silence of the Lambs,’ ‘Shining,’ ‘Lighthouse’ and 2 Flicks Starring Denzel and Depp

Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews with tags , , , , , , , , , on 08/16/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

It was all the way back in 1996 that Dutch deviants Soulburn lit embers that eventually became a full-blown blaze of death metal and black-doom, lighting the path for legions of like-minded bands in the years ever since. As is so often the case, the band wasn’t initially appreciated, and they split just three years later. But as the metal world at large eventually caught up to their masterful melange of black, death and doom metal, guitarist Eric Daniels (also of Asphyx) reignited the project in 2013, and Soulburn have burned bright ever since.

The latest evidence of the Netherland band’s brilliance is found in Quantifying Cosmic Doom, which is jam-packed with bangers as complex and rich as the album’s title suggests. Testimony put out the album – which arguably underscores Soulburn’s black-metal bona fides more than any of their previous four studio efforts – roughly two months ago. Get a taste of the record via the below video, then check out movies that each member of the badass band graciously shared with The Bad Penny for the latest installment in our ongoing Favorite Films series.

And now, here are Soulburn’s movie picks:

Twan van Geel (bass, vocals):

Antichrist (2009)

Of the many movies I like, this one [written and directed by provocative auteur Lars von Trier] popped up as being one that really intrigued me. The whole atmosphere, the depth, the tone, the colouring, the pace, the unsettling creepy ungrabbable vibe, I just love it immensely. Also Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg are incredible here. Antichrist is unsettling not just because of what it shows, but because of the deeper ideas it disturbs. Its unease comes from a fusion of psychological, symbolic and existential themes that never fully resolve. That’s also why I keep coming back to this one. It creeps under your skin.

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Favorite Films: If You Loved ‘Backrooms,’ You’ll Probably Dig ‘The Cell’ Too

Posted in Essays, Favorite Films, Features with tags , , , , , , , , , on 07/28/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

To the surprise of no one, the summer blockbuster to beat is Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey which, based on the reactions of critics and average-joe moviegoers alike, seems to be the best movie of all time ever made ever in the history of all times. But there’s still a curious mid-card match taking place far more unexpectedly: the jostling between two very low-budget psychological horror flicks, Obsession and Backrooms. Both are very unnerving, mostly sparing in the use of violence, and tap into Americans’ widespread fear these days of psychological insanity and not knowing what’s real (cough, MAGA, cough) versus physical violence.

The Bad Penny highly recommends both films – and one more, although it dates back 26 years. The Cell was a thoroughly original horror movie (more so than sci-fi, the genre in which it was primarily marketed and classified). It starred Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn and Vincent D’Onofrio, who didn’t make for the strongest acting ensemble, but that issue was mitigated by the fact that visionary Indian director Tarsem Singh helmed The Cell.

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Favorite Films: Musicians Who Like the Bad Penny Adore ‘The Thing,’ ‘The Big Lebowski,’ ‘No Country for Old Men’

Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Lists with tags , , , , , , , , , on 07/25/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Fourteen editions deep in The Bad Penny‘s probe into movies that musicians enjoy the most – they’re usually watching them on the tour bus – we’ve been utterly blown away by the response. The number of bands eager to participate surprised us at many turns. Hell, some musicians seemed to only wanna talk about a movie in which they appeared as opposing to discussing an album they created.

Because we had amassed enough movie recommendations from the artists with whom we spoke, we took a time-out and compiled the selections of the artists. Participants include Napalm Death, Fireball Ministry’s Emily Burton (catch her here too!), Pigace’s Martin Atkins, Kilter, The New Loud, Meltt, Dez Dare, Oathbound, Dummy, Jacob the Horse, Dying Remains, Heavy Heavy Low Low and Point Break 2 (who had never foreseen this mayhem coming).

Among the 52 repeated picks, there are only three, hard as it may be to believe: The Thing (also Stephen Colbert’s favorite movie ever), The Big Lebowski and Big Trouble in Little China. Even more remarkable is that those films were low-budget and geared to niche audience. Let’s check out what the other band members deduced to be their favorite movies.

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Favorite Films: Fireball Ministry’s Emily Burton Digs ‘Jackie Brown’ ‘Aliens,’ ‘Big Trouble in Little Lebowski’ … and a Pick You’d Never Guess

Posted in Favorite Films, Features, Interviews, Videos with tags , , , , , , , , , on 07/25/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

It was only a month ago that Fireball Ministry co-founder and guitar virtuoso Emily Burton graciously set aside some of her busy schedule to talk about her and all the current developments that are making her beam at the status of her influential, 27-year-old stoner rock band. (Read all about her successful litigation here.)

When we checked in with her for part two of our conversation, she was in much better spirits and game for talking about some of her movies of all time. For those who don’t live in the loop, musicians have extraordinarily long stretches between †venues, affording them some time to cozy up in a band, rewrite and rewrite and rewrite once again the band’s set list. Burton prefers the latter.

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