The Cinemania Society Podcast
Herein are chronicled the judgements of this not-so-secret society as its members scrutinize, criticize, analyze, brutalize, and otherwise vamp on the weirdest films in cinema history.
Episodes
26 minutes ago
26 minutes ago
14 min
Verifier Andy brings us a field report on a strange and mysterious movie from the heights of the Himalaya.
Written, performed, and sound designed by Andy Slack
Oct 7, 2026
Oct 7, 2026
13 min
Cinquisitor Ethan presents a Field Report on the 1985 cult sci-fi drama "Enemy Mine." He analyzes why this film ended up being one of the biggest box office bombs of the 1980s, despite its having been the best type of science fiction in an era renowned for its sci-fi films.
Written and performed by Ethan Ireland
Music by Meteor at meteormusic.bandcamp.com
Tracks used: "The Man with Silver Wings," "Skybox," and "Remaining Human."
Sep 30, 2026
Sep 30, 2026
19 min
We bring back for your consideration Verifier Andy's delightful short story "River of Babel."
Written and performed by Andy Slack
Sound design & editing by Ethan Ireland
Sep 23, 2026
Sep 23, 2026
9 min
Verifier Andy presents a Field Report on the film "The Time Masters" from French animator René Laloux. Laloux, already notorious within this Society for his his contributions to CINEMANIA thanks to his 1974 film "Fantastic Planet," returns to mind-bending best with this 1982 entry.
Written and performed by Andy Slack
Editing and sound design by Ethan Ireland
Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio
Tracks used: "Ophelia," "Madonna," "Persona," and "Blanket of Stars."
Sep 16, 2026
Sep 16, 2026
4 min
We recently bid goodbye to absolute legend Tim Curry. We re-run our profile on Tim Curry as a way of bidding a final goodbye.
Sep 9, 2026
Sep 9, 2026
22 min
Cinquisitor Ethan presents an analysis of Lucasfilm's made-for-TV Ewok movies "The Ewok Adventure" (a/k/a "Caravan of Courage) and "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor," from 1984 and 1985, respectively. He also provides a retrospective and an analysis of the broader mass marketing campaign surrounding Star Wars and how it contributed to the growth of the Lucasfilm Empire, as well as offers his speculations on the possible effects on culture that campaign may have had.
Written, performed, and edited by Ethan Ireland
Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio
Tracks used: "Floating," "Dreams of 1984," "VHS Memory," "Leaving at Dawn," "Space Dust," "Fantasy," "Eclipse," "Serenity, and "Night Breeze."
LEGAL NOTICE: This is a work of parody and/or satire, and should not be construed as making statements or allegations of actual fact.
Sep 2, 2026
Sep 2, 2026
11 min
Recently, we bid a fond and tearful farewell to the legendary, the iconic, the indelible Tim Curry. Verifier Andy presents a Cinemania Field Report on one of his earliest roles in the 1975 television adaptation of "Three Men in a Boat." Curry played opposite Michael Palin and Stephen Moore and carried (curried?) his own.
Fare ye well, Tim Curry. We hardly knew ye.
Written and performed by Andy Slack
Editing and sound design also by Andy Slack
Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound
Aug 26, 2026
Aug 26, 2026
11 min
Submitted for your approval: a Cinemania Field Report on a filmic phenomenon that emerged during the home video era: film franchise sequels going totally OFF THE RAILS. Why did this happen? What films were affected? Verifier Andy tells us why...
Written & performed by Andy Slack
Editing & sound design by Ethan Ireland
Music by Karl Casey at White Bat Audio
Tracks used: "The Pyramid Mine," "Canon," "Orbital," and "Persona."
Meet The Fellowship of the Lens'd Palm
A list of the members of our Conclave.
Cinquisitor Ethan,
Keeper of the Lenses
Brother Ethan is an award-winning filmmaker who has more than 20 years professional work in film & television production. He has worked on more than a dozen feature films, and has directed & produced several of his own projects: documentary features and short films. He is best recognized for the work he did on four seasons on the hit YouTube comedy series Smosh.
A self-styled intellectual, Cinquisitor Ethan has put many thousands of hours studying cinema apocrypha for interesting tidbits, and combing through the history for cinema for sources of CINEMANIA in order to study the devastating effects of this condition.
CINEMANIA Manifestations: The disorder in Cinquisitor Ethan can be fairly easy to observe. Although he is purportedly a native of California, when CINEMANIA begins to take hold in Cinquisitor Ethan, his accent becomes increasingly elaborate. He will shift into a Midatlantic accent, and even into an RP accent depending on the severity of the episode he is suffering. This can happen multiple times in a given conclave.
Verifier Andy,
Master Illuminator
Perhaps our most mysterious member, Brother Andy lurks somewhere in darkest Albion, magically honing his skills in comedy and illustration to a razor's edge.
Brother Andy's internet comics, including The Wisdom of Leto II and its sequel, FremCops, have achieved notoriety from their appearances in various Facebook shitposting groups such as Dune Sietchposting, Star Trek Shitposting, and others. He has these and numerous other self-published sci-fi & fantasy comics available on at andyslackcomics.com, and for sale on Ko-Fi.
In case you're wondering, no, he is not really Jack Black, so don't ask.
Scrutinizer Zacharia,
Guardian of the Door
A veteran of theater production, Brother Zacharia graduated from film school at California State University, Monterey Bay along with Brother Ethan, who has been his decades-long accomplice in the commission of cinematic crimes.
Brother Zacharia is a third-generation artist, descended from a line of visual artists, and has put much study into the causes and effects of CINEMANIA.
Profligator Daniel,
Possessor of the Word
Hailing from New Jersey, Brother Daniel writes for theater, literature, and cinema esoterica. He is somewhat of an expert on Troma Films, and was trained in writing short fiction by Harlon Ellison.
Profligator Daniel is the primary caregiver of Brother Clark-Nova, who is an unholy amalgamation of equal parts cockroach, manual typewriter, and portions of human anatomy best left unseen.
Arbiter Alessa,
Voice from the Outer World
Our youngest member, Arbiter Alessa attended film school in Los Angeles after producing a feature film of her own while still in high school. She has experience working professionally on features and shorts, and is a working voice actor for several notable anime series including Genshin Impact and Onyx Equinox.
Arbiter Alessa recently went on an extended vacation to Altair IV, where she encountered an atomic super-robot similar to (and more importantly, legally distinct from) Robby the Robot. After taking her new plastic pal on an interstellar pub-crawl, she returned to the Strip Mall of the Damned with the machine in tow, where she has since conducted several experiments on it (including the downloading of the entire internet into the robot's databanks).
Professor Andrea,
Scholar of San Francisco
Professor Andrea holds multiple degrees in film, Spanish, and music; and has taught all three. She has a deep knowledge of film history, and a history of work in film production, including on films with Cinquisitor Ethan.
Auntie Hope,
Keeper of the Books
Hope is a relative newcomer to the Society, and to the field of CINEMANIA as a whole. She granted herself membership status and a title after the Society were responsible for unleashing a horde of cannibalistic humanoid underground mutant people (C.H.U.M.P.s) that destroyed her family-friendly occult bookstore, The Laughing Tome. She intends to be as underfoot as possible until her store is repaired.