Matt's Movie Reviews Podcast · Matthew Pejkovic

Saturday Conversation - Danny Stewart

February 7, 2026·1 hr·4 clips

Denny Stewart calls The Funeral an “underseen film” and says it may be “as good or if not better” than King of New York.

1. Matt's Movie Reviews Saturday Conversation focuses on Denny Stewart and his book about Abel Ferrara's The Funeral. 2. Matt hosts the episode, and Denny Stewart joins as a producer, actor, writer, and archivist who writes about cult cinema. 3. The episode asks why The Funeral, a 1996 crime film, deserves more attention than it gets. 4. Matt says he watched The Funeral after reading Stewart's book and now ranks it with King of New York. 5. Stewart says The Funeral is “underseen,” “under the radar,” and worth seeing for its cast, style, and themes. 6. Stewart names Christopher Walken, Chris Penn, Isabella Rossellini, Annabella Sciorra, Gretchen Mol, Benicio del Toro, and Vincent Gallo. 7. The conversation also covers Abel Ferrara, Nicky St. John, and the idea that the film deals with life and death. 8. Matt and Stewart discuss Chris Penn's angry energy, his singing scene in a 1930s bar, and the character's mental illness. 9. Stewart describes the film as a “masterpiece of the genre” and places it beside King of New York and Bad Lieutenant. 10. Matt brings up production design and costumes, and Stewart names Charlie Legola as the designer behind the film's period look. 11. Stewart says the film cost about five or six million dollars, not the 12 million listed on Wikipedia. 12. He compares the scale of the production to what a similar cast and period setting would cost today. 13. Stewart also frames Abel Ferrara as a punk-rock version of Martin Scorsese. 14. He points to Ferrara's work with Harvey Keitel on Bad Lieutenant and Dangerous Game as part of that comparison. 15. Stewart explains that he writes about films like Hellraiser 3, Soldier, Silent Trigger, and Salute of the Jugger to keep their histories alive. 16. He says the 1990s were the “halcyon days of independent film,” and mentions how the industry has changed since COVID. 17. The tone is conversational, affectionate, and detail-heavy, with long answers and frequent title checking. 18. The format shifts from interview discussion into sponsor reads and then into a rapid-fire question game. 19. People who like cult-film production stories and 1990s genre cinema will get the most from this episode. 20. People looking for a short, tightly edited film review may skip it.

As heard by us

A film-literate conversation about preserving genre cinema and the stories that give it lasting value.

Matt's Movie Reviews Saturday Conversation presents Denny Stewart as a producer, actor, writer, and archivist, with his work tied closely to preserving genre cinema and its history.

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Press play for a candid chat about genre cinema, archiving, and the people behind the films.

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