The Hip Pocket #307 - Akela Cooper

Did you see Malignant?

If you did, then chances are reading that title immediately brings a certain scene to mind. It does for me. I love it when you see a film and you get blindsided by a moment or a line or a performance. I enjoyed Malignant pretty much all the way through, but there’s a moment in a jail cell that absolutely floored me, and I’ve enjoyed rewatching it just to get to that moment. It is a crazy series of images and ideas, perfectly executed.

It feels like moments like that are important to our guest this week as well. Not only did she write that moment in Malignant, she picked three films that all feature spectacular brain-melting moments that suddenly redefine the thing you’re watching. The result is one of my favorite episodes so far. When we got this guest’s list of movies, Aundria’s immediate reaction was giddy joy, and she decided right away that she had a new best friend.

The conversation proved that to be true, and it was a real thrill to just sit back and watch Aundria go nuts. She is, after all, my co-host, and it’s her show as much as it is mine. A week like this, when she’s so happy to be talking to the guest and the conversation is one favorite after another for her, is exactly why I wanted her to join me on the show. Her love of movies and her joy at doing the show have both energized me, and booking a guest who makes her this happy is a chance to showcase just how much fun she is.

I know we had Scott Derrickson on last week to talk about Black Phone 2 and a whole fistful of super-intense and dark films, and that felt like a pretty darn solid Halloween episode. This week’s show also feels like a great Halloween episode, and I’m so happy it worked out this way.

AKELA COOPER is a writer/producer who basically kicks a ton of ass. She is, after all, the writer of Malignant and M3GAN, and she has brought her exuberant nerd energy to a variety of projects over the years. She wrote Hell Fest and The Nun II, and she’s worked on TV shows like American Horror Story, Luke Cage, The 100, Grimm, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. She has been a horror fan since childhood, and that deeply-seated love of the genre shines through in all of her work.

She picked three delightful films for us, and they were all a delight to discuss with her. Her first choice this week is Stephen Norrington’s Blade, and we dig into the pulp delights of the picture as well as its influence on pop culture. Our second film is Adam Wingard’s The Guest, and we spend a good deal of time talking about Dan Stevens, Professional Freak, and the feelings he stirs up in audiences. Her final pick is the film that Ernest Dickerson made when he got bumped off of Blade, and there is much discussion of just how big a weirdo Billy Zane is in Tales From The Crypt Presents: Demon Knight.

Aundria’s the one who picked our response film, the haunting Luca Guadagnino film Bones and All, a dark, strange film that made a perfect dessert after the very full and fun meal that Akela laid out for us.

Finally, this week’s Hip Pocket Hall of Fame entry is the deranged genre hybrid Brotherhood of the Wolf, a movie that is about class warfare as much as it is about kung-fu and monsters.

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The Hip Pocket is hosted by Drew McWeeny and Aundria Parker.
Craig Ceravolo is the show’s bandleader and producer.
It is a Formerly Dangerous Production.