Now Playing Podcast announced its Spring 2016 Donation Series last week, a lineup of film reviews bookended by two highly requested comedy franchises along with a motley crew of cult classics from the summer of 1986. The latter series, dubbed “Sci-Fi of Summer 1986” should appeal to some of the show’s longtime fans who have been lobbying for those films that they may have missed in theaters but grew up watching on USA “Saturday Nightmares” or Joe Bob Briggs’ “Monstervision.”
As is tradition, donors will get to choose between Silver, Gold, and Platinum tiers.
Silver
The Silver Level series ($10 or more) features Will Smith in his prime, headlining Now Playing Podcast reviews of the Men In Black franchise, along with Independence Day and its upcoming sequel.
Gold
“Invaders from Mars” ad from 1986.
The Gold Level series ($25 or more) is where things get really interesting. For the first time, the Now Playing hosts will dissect a series of non-franchise releases with no connection to one another: Critters, Tobe Hooper’s Invaders From Mars, SpaceCamp, Labyrinth (starring Jennifer Connelly and the late, great David Bowie), John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China, and Night of the Creeps. While none were blockbusters in 1986, they still have their fans, most notably Big Trouble and Creeps, which listeners have long requested Now Playing review.
While there is no official Carpenter retrospective, the Big Trouble review will check off another title in the director’s filmography. The Now Playing hosts have previously reviewed Halloween, The Thing, Prince of Darkness, and They Live, with Christine somewhere on the show’s future calendar as part of the Stephen King retrospective. We can all cross our fingers for The Fog or Escape from New York someday, but in the meantime it’s more than a gift to have the director writing the foreword to Now Playing’s first book, “Underrated Movies We Recommend.”
Platinum
When the summer is in full swing, the donation series will focus on one of the greatest comedies of all-time, its pretty great sequel, and the controversial remake/reboot that arrives July 15. A Platinum Level donation of $35 or more will deliver all of the aforementioned reviews, and the Ghostbusters retrospective. The director of Bridesmaids and Spy helms the latest incarnation of the New York-based paranormal investigators and eliminators, and following a mixed reception to the first trailer, it will be fascinating to see if this new Ghostbusters can amass the kind of fan following the first films earned.
The Now Playing Podcast Spring Donation Drive runs from April 1 to July 31, with the first review scheduled for release on April 22. Sign up now to get all of these bonus shows!
