Best of Liminal Space Movies
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Welcome to this bonus episode of Shoot the Hostage, where we are lingering in the hallways of our favourite moments from our Liminal Spaces season. If you’ve ever felt like you’re trapped in a dreamlike transitory space between a swimming pool and a never-ending warehouse, you’ve come to the right place for some Liminal Space cinema chat. We’re crossing over from the uncanny to the absurd as we revisit the movies that made Dan question Sarah’s sanity and his own grasp on geometry.
In this best of compilation, we dive back into the eerie, sparsely populated worlds of some of the best movies with liminal spaces. We revisit Christopher Smith’s time-loop feature Triangle, where Dan finally learns how many points a triangle has. We also tackle the art-house vibes of 70s cult horror like Messiah of Evil, which Dan argues isn’t a movie but rather a collection of images that would be vastly improved by a guest appearance from Mr Blobby.
The journey continues with Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock, featuring a magic rock that may or may not be solar powered for your 1900s toaster. We also get a pinch of Lynch with Jamie from Final Transmission as we attempt to decode David Lynch’s Lost Highway and the rising star power of Balthazar Getty. From the slow march to death in David Robert Mitchell’s, It Follows to the aggressive hospitality of Wake in Fright, we’ve curated a lineup that is definitely more vibes that linear narrative.
We also touch on Alex Garland’s Annihilation, the dessert of the season and John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness, featuring the legendary Dondald Pleasence and a very large, very secure wooden door. Whether you’re a fan of liminal space horror or just here for the film criticism and humour, this episode has it all – including a discussion on whether a crab is technically a “floor fish”
What to expect from this episode:
- Dan tries to convince Sarah to pivot the season into movies featuring basic geometric shapes.
- A definitive (and possible incorrect) explanation of what actually constitutes a liminal space.
- The revelation that the Messiah of Evil might have been a piny, yellow spotted ghoulish figure from 90s British TV.
- The logistics of plugging a laptop into a 6 million year old magic rock in the year 1900
- Dan’s theory that the size of the church key is directly proportional to how much evil you’re hiding in the basement.
- A debate about some of the Brian Johnsons and whether they hold the key to ancestral immortality.
- A sneak peek at our upcoming season where we finally prove once and for all that size doesn’t matter.
We shall return!
On August 3rd we're back with a brand new season. This time chosen by Dan. The new theme is "Size Doesn't Matter" and the first film we're sizing up is Ant-Man (2015).
Would you like to see the full lineup for season 16? The only place you can see it is on Patreon but you don't need to be a paying member. Sign up for a free membership and get access to the lineup when it drops any day now.
