Rough Cut 26: The Substance (2024)

🎵 What about your friends? Will they stand their ground? Will they let you down again? 🎵 We're looking at friendship dynamics and betrayal in The Descent (2005), directed by Neil Marshall and starring Shauna Macdonald, Natalia Mendoza, and Alex Reid. The Descent follows 6 women who become stranded in a uncharted cave system and have to survive cannibals and each other. If you can't fight together against strange cavemen 2 miles underground, are you even friends? In this episode: The Nutty Putty Cave, claustrophobia, narcissistic friends, should we explore caves? (answer: NO!) Our recommendations: Girl Trip (2017), 80 For Brady (2023), 127 Hours (2010), Triangle of Sadness (2022) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

1, 2, 3, 4! This is a movie that we adore! 📣🏳️‍🌈 We're going on another trip — this time to New Directions in Jamie Babbit's But I'm a Cheerleader (1999). A satirical look at the horrors of conversion therapy, But I'm a Cheerleader follows Megan (Natasha Lyonne), an All-American cheerleader who's sent to a local rehab camp to learn about to be a Happy Heterosexual™ when her friends and family suspect that she's a lesbian. But I'm A Cheerleader also stars Clea DuVall, Melanie Lynskey, RuPaul, and Cathy Moriarty. In this episode: AI influencer Natasha Lyonne; straight people and American values; Britney realizing RuPaul was a man; biphobia in film. Our recommendations: Bottoms (2023), Edward Scissorhands (1990) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

Happy Pride, film club listeners! 🏳️‍🌈 It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single podcast in possession of 2 microphones, must be in want of a of good ass movie. But enough hetero nonsense! In this episode we take a trip to Fire Island (2022) directed by Andrew Ahn and starring Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang, Conrad Ricamora, James Scully, and Margaret Cho. Fire Island is a modern queer retelling of Jane Austen's classic, Pride & Prejudice, set during a chaotic trip to the infamous gay getaway. In this episode: Ashley details her love of P&P; cliques, racism, stratification in the gay community; Joel Kim Booster's cheekbones; making cheese in the hotub; what counts as high society in the IG thirst trap era. Our recommendations: Clueless (1995), Emma (1996), The Wedding Banquet (2025) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

For a very special edition of In the Studio With, we have director Destiny Cox with us to talk about her short film You Were Dead Yesterday (2025), an Afro-Gothic take on living through, and surviving a zombie apocalypse. In addition to directing, Destiny is the co-founder of Wano Studios, a Philadelphia-based production company. During this interview, asked Destiny about the rewards of running her own studio, her film influences and layered storytelling, the politics of horror, and why Black stories perfect for the sci-fi/horror genres! Catch You Were Only Dead Yesterday when it releases in August 2025. You can follow Destiny on Instagram @/destinyjcox or at Wano Studios @/wanostudiosllc. Visit Wano Studios at https://www.wanostudios.com/. Our recommendations: Ashley - Night of the Living Dead (1968), Alien (1979) Britney - Dawn of the Dead (1978) Destiny - Black Summer (2019-2021), Attack on Titan (2013-2023) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

Silencio! We finally get lost in David Lynch's walking daydream Mulholland Dr. (2001) starring Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, and Justin Theroux. Lynch, as usual, declined to explain the meaning of the film and we here at Black Girl Film Club can little more than offer our musing and interpretations including: the Hollywood machine, the sinister nature of LA, shaping your identity, Ellen Degeneres wigs, and the Blue Box Theory. We miss you, David and thank you for everything. Our recommendations: Persona (1966), 3 Women (1977), Black Swan (2010), Perfect Blue (1997)

You guys........we miss David Lynch. A lot. In part 1 of our David Lynch double feature, we discuss Eraserhead (1977), starring Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Jeanne Bates, and Jack Fisk. In this film, factory worker Henry Cooper becomes a father while living in an industrial wasteland. Lynch famously called Eraserhead his most spiritual film but, even more famously, declined to explain why. He also hated when people tried to explain his films with words, but that's exactly what we're doing in this episode. Also in this episode: what makes art Art, Lynch's filmography and early family life, the curse of CinemaSins, the uncertainty of parenthood, and the comfort of the unknown in Lynch's films. 🗣️ FIX YOUR HEARTS OR DIE! Our recommendations: Wanda (1970), Nightbitch (2024), Beau Is Afraid (2023) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

Heavy spoilers ahead! Welcome back to the Rough Cut! Along with literally everybody else in the world, we share our initial reactions of the most talked about movie of the year, Sinners (2025). Directed by Ryan Coogler, Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan as twins Smoke and Stack, who return to the Mississippi Delta to open a juke joint and are attacked by vampires in process. In this extended episode: we hate on Variety and analyze music and the thinning veil, racial dynamics in the Jim Crow South and address the discourse on sex and trauma in Black movies. Our recommendations: Interview with the Vampire (2022-), Blade (1998) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

BOO YOW! 👸🏾👸🏾 On today's episode, we look back to another 90s Black Movie Classic – B.A.P.S. (1997) directed by Robert Townsend and starring Halle Berry, Natalie Desselle-Reid, and Martin Landau. In this film, Nisi (Berry) and Mickey (Desselle-Reid) make the big jump from Atlanta to L.A. and attempt to make their dreams come true but get caught up in a scam involving an aging multi-millionaire and his sinister nephew. B.A.P.S. is iconic for few reasons but how does it hold up in 2025? We try to get to the bottom of some alleged script changes, talk about Black girl glamour, and plead for Halle Berry to take more comedic roles! Our recommendations: Disorderlies (1987), Romy and MIchelle's High School Reunion (1997), Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

Like phoenixes rising from the littered ashes of Oscars discourse‬ and Russo Brothers slop, we've triumphantly emerged from Cinema Purgatory™ for our 7th year to, once again, fill the internet airwaves with our hot takes on film. In this week's episode we're talking friendship, heart chakras, and bra money in One of Them Days (2025), directed by Lawrence Lamont and starring Keke Palmer and SZA in her film debut. In the grand tradition of 1 day buddy comedies, this movie follows Dreux and Alyssa as they try to recover their stolen rent money before they're evicted. Also in this episode: we wonder when we'll get more mid-budget comedies, and would we wear a Cucci t-shirt? Our recommendations: Friday (1995), Friday After Next (2002), After Hours (1985) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

In this edition of the Rough Cut, we talk horny Christmas movies with Netflix's Hot Frosty (2024). In this episode: more investigations into the Holiday Movie Industrial Complex, Lacy Chabert: Queen of Christmas, snowman nipples, horny old people, and why every Christmas movie is based in trauma (thanks Charles Dickens!). Our recommendations: Falling For Christmas (2022), The Holdovers (2023), Gremlins (1984), Looney Tunes "The Abominable Snow Rabbit" (1961) Support the show with a Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub