TFH Presents
The Movies That Made Me
with your hosts Josh Olson & Joe Dante

Stephen Bissette
Famed comic book artist Stephen Bissette (Swamp Thing) chats with Josh and Joe about the movies that made him! Below, check out Steven Spielberg’s letter to Julie Simmons, Heavy Metal Books editor, about Stephen Bissette’s 1941 graphic novel referenced in the episode:
Show Notes:
Movies Referenced In This Episode
Infested (2002)
Gremlins (1984)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
A History of Violence (2005)
1941 (1979)
Animal House (1978)
From Hell (2001)
The Movie Orgy (1968)
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954)
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962)
Little Aurore’s Tragedy (1952)
The Sadist (1963)
The Cape Canaveral Monsters (1960)
The Intruder (1962)
Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)
The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1952)
The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
Them! (1954)
The Colossus of New York (1958)
The Giant Behemoth (1959)
Gorgo (1961)
Crack in the World (1965)
My Fair Lady (1964)
First Blood (1982)
Rodan (1956)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Reign of Terror (1949)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Fools’ Parade (1971)
Attack (1956)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Black Sunday (1960)
The Devils (1971)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
Kill, Baby, Kill (1966)
Horror of Dracula (1958)
Scars of Dracula (1970)
Psycho (1960)
Diabolique (1955)
Reptilicus (1961)
The Stranglers of Bombay (1960)
The Brides of Dracula (1960)
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Eyes Without A Face (1960)
Au Coeur De La Vie a.k.a. In the Midst of Life (1963)
The Mockingbird (1962), a short film from In the Midst of Life (1963)
An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge (1962) a short film from In the Midst of Life (1963)
Chickamagua (1962) a short film from In the Midst of Life (1963)
The Last Adventure (1967)
The Old Gun (1975)
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Invisible Invaders (1959)
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
Night Tide (1961)
The Devil’s Messenger (1961)
Mickey One (1965)
Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
The Chase (1966)
The Missouri Breaks (1976)
Little Big Man (1970)
Nashville (1975)
Burn! (1969)
Drive, He Said (1971)
Goin’ South (1978)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
For A Few Dollars More (1965)
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966)
Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
Dr. No (1962)
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (2017)
Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966)
The Road To Fort Alamo (1974)
Carnage, a.k.a. Twitch of the Death Nerve, a.k.a. A Bay of Blood (1972)
One Million Years B.C. (1966)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Dutchman (1967)
The Lion in Winter (1968)
Born Free (1966)
The Alphabet (1968)
Eaux d’artifice (1953)
The War Game (1965)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Colossus: The Forbin Project(1970)
The Secret Cinema (1968)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Performance (1970)
Walkabout (1971)
Don’t Look Now (1973)
The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976)
The Act of Seeing with One’s Own Eyes (1971)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Eraserhead (1977)
Hard Times (1975)
The Brood (1979)Other Notable Items
Joe’s 1962 dissertation on horrible movies, “Dante’s Inferno”, in Famous Monsters of Filmland
Zach Galligan
John Landis podcast episode
Heavy Metal magazine
The 1941 graphic novel (1979)
The Animal House graphic novel (1978)
Taboo comics anthology
From Hell graphic novel
Stephen Bissette’s Midnight Movie Monograph on The Brood
American Horror Project 2 box set from Arrow Films
Swamp Thing
“Still Waters” issue of Swamp Thing, Volume 2, Issue 38
Robert D. Krzykowski podcast episode
Them! star James Whitmore
Novelist Davis Grubb
The films of Mario Bava
Gorgo, the Charlton Comics series (1961-1965)
The filthy Gorgo paperback from Monarch Books (1961)
The filthy Reptilicus paperback from Monarch Books (1961)
The filthy Stranglers of Bombay paperback from Monarch Books (1960)
The filthy Brides of Dracula paperback from Monarch Books (1960)
The films of Robert Enrico
“The Hitch-Hiker” Twilight Zone episode (1963)
The films of Arthur Penn
The films of Sergio Leone
The films of Ray Harryhausen
The films of Mouly Surya
A Method of Lighting the Stage by Stanley McCandless (1932)
Mario Bava: All The Colors of the Dark by Tim Lucas
Dutchman play by Leroi Jones (1964)
“The Anatomy Lesson” issue of Swamp Thing, Volume 2, Issue 21
Stephen Bissette’s upcoming 600-page book on The BroodThis list is also available on Letterboxd.
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About the Podcast
Filmmakers and entertainers discuss the movies that inspired them. Hosted by Oscar nominated screenwriter and TFH Guru Josh Olson and TFH Fearless Leader Joe Dante.
The Movies That Made Me is recorded live in Hollywood and engineered by film composer Don Barrett.
About The Hosts
Josh Olson was the only student in his second grade class to see The House That Dripped Blood. Many years later, he wrote and directed the no-budget horror film, INFESTED, a brutal assault on The Big Chill, with zombies. He went on to write the screenplay for A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE and was nominated for the WGA, BAFTA and Academy Awards for Best Screenplay. He kept losing to Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, but that’s okay.
He has written features and TV shows with Harlan Ellison, Walter Hill, Slash, Willie Nelson, and Mick Jagger. His Village Voice essay “I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script” became an internet phenomenon, getting upwards of five million hits.
The ten-part audio drama BRONZEVILLE which he wrote, starring Laurence Fishburne, Larenz Tate, Tracee Ellis Ross, Omari Harwicke and Tika Sumpter was a popular and critical hit, and is currently being developed for TV. He and John Brancato (THE GAME) recently wrote and sold the feature spec TRIGGER WARNING, which is being produced by Thunder Road.
Joe Dante is a director known for his satirical blend of horror and comedy viewed through the lens of grounded, relatable American life. his career in film began as a movie critic at age 12. A few years later, he conspired with Jon Davison to produce The Movie Orgy, an experimental exploration of ‘50s pop culture that metamorphosed into a hit phenomenon bringing Dante to college campus showings nationwide.
Soon after, he followed Jon to Hollywood where he edited trailers for producer Roger Corman before co-directing his first feature, Hollywood Boulevard. His first solo film, Piranha, successfully kickstarted his legendary career with titles like The Howling, Gremlins, The ‘Burbs, Innerspace, and more.
Joe’s dedication to preserving the history of cinema and his near encyclopedic knowledge of movies led to the creation of Trailers From Hell, a web series offering viewers a brief history lesson of movies discussed through their respective trailers.