Cult film talk with teeth.
The gist
Measuring Flicks treats cult and genre films as objects worth arguing over at full length. Episodes move from vampire movies and director control to recording logistics, Patreon riffs, and sudden detours into independent film, horror, nihilism, socialism, and cyberpunk.
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About Measuring Flicks
Measuring Flicks is a film appreciation show for people who want the conversation to keep going past the point where most reviews stop. It is loose, profane in spirit, and deeply invested in the strange machinery of movies. The show spends time with cult films, horror, genre oddities, and canon titles without sanding off the arguments. Recent episodes move through Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht, High and Low, Cure, and Tongan Ninja with the patience of people who would rather circle a scene for twenty minutes than reduce it to a take. The analysis is often about control. Werner Herzog becomes a case study in vision, detachment, cynicism, and the uneasy feeling that a director can place himself above the story. Vampire movies become a way to talk about rot, sensuality, fear, contagion, and why an uncanny body can feel more frightening than a stylish monster. Cure opens the door to hypnosis, social discomfort, conversational power, and a character whose calmness makes other people reveal themselves. High and Low sits beside anecdotes about stalled production, rural internet, and the practical strain of getting guests to a microphone. The show does not hide the life around the recording. It lets the listener hear Patreon thanks, house repairs, art-rock demos, bonus-commentary plans, and the grind of keeping an independent project alive. That messiness is part of the texture. So is the humor. A serious point about film history can sit next to a riff on Hollywood sequels, old franchises, low-budget cameras, or a Lovecraftian submarine movie. Jeff Morgan appears as a recurring guest and director, often pushing the conversation toward filmmaking practice, horror, and independent production. The exchanges can feel like criticism, therapy, and shop talk braided together. Measuring Flicks is strongest when it treats movies as lived objects: things people love, quote, fund, imitate, and argue with for years. It has little interest in consumer-guide neatness. The show prefers friction. It makes space for admiration and irritation to share the same sentence, especially when the film is ambitious, grotesque, handmade, or difficult. For cult-film listeners, that is the point: the movie matters enough to fight with.
Made for: Measuring Flicks is for cult-film devotees, horror fans, independent-film watchers, and cinephiles who enjoy long, argumentative conversations. It best suits listeners comfortable with adult humor, digressions, and blunt criticism.
What sets it apart: The show mixes close film analysis with the visible reality of independent creative life: funding, rural recording constraints, guest logistics, side projects, and homemade art. Its conversations feel less like packaged reviews than extended arguments among film people who keep finding new doors inside the same movie.
In their own words
The longest, hardest, most impressive film appreciation podcast you'll ever cram in your ear. If not, it happens to lots of podcasts. We're not ashamed.
As heard by us
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Measuring Flicks pairs close attention to screen craft with lively, personal arguments about cult films, horror, directors, and misunderstood favorites.
Measuring Flicks turns film appreciation into an animated conversation where close reading and personal conviction share the microphone. The host and guests linger over individual choices, from the unnerving social staging of Cure to the physical menace of Nosferatu, while…
Why you'd press play
From a 240p kung fu parody to rotting vampires, your movie night gets wonderfully sidetracked.
Press play if you want
- to hear Max and Jeff Morgan pick apart why Mamiya's calm feels so threatening
- to enjoy a warm defense of Elizabethtown when you're tired of reflexive cynicism
Talks about
Podcasts like Measuring Flicks
Episodes
- 1
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979) Part II
Hidden gem["Measuring Flicks uses Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979) Part II to frame Werner Herzog as a director in the same orbit as David Bowie, Tom Waits, Jim Jarmusch, and David Lynch, then lands on the line 'the birds don't sing, they scream in pain.'", "Jeff and Max connect Herzog's coldness to World War Two, postwar Germany, and a generation that rebuilt after seeing 'gray and dark' humanity.", "The middle of the episode compares Klaus Kinski's Orlok with the 1922, Coppola, and Eggers versions, arguing that the rat-like corpse is more disturbing than a seductive old-money vampire.", "The conversation also moves through Zeiss lens coatings, 1979's Halloween and 1980's Alien, Gen Z drinking less, and Left Foot's Cinnamon Girl as examples of how authenticity beats trend-chasing."]
Mar 2, 2026·1h 9m·2 clips - 2
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979) Part I
A film critic discusses his issues with Werner Herzog's directorial style, using Nosferatu (1979) and Grizzly Man as examples.
Feb 4, 2026·1h 8m - 3
S5E26: High and Low (1963) Part II
The host explains the long gap between episodes due to moving to a rural area and recording challenges, then continues the analysis of the 1963 film High and Low.
Jan 9, 2026·1h 41m - 4
S5E25: High and Low (1963)
A podcast episode analyzing the 1963 Akira Kurosawa film High and Low.
Jan 25, 2025·1h 39m - 5
S5E24.5: Cure (1997) feat. Jeff Morgan Part II
Part two of a discussion on Kyoshi Kurosawa's psychological horror film Cure, with guest Jeff Morgan.
Nov 9, 2024·1h 15m - 6
S5E24: Cure (1997) feat. Jeff Morgan Part I
Hidden gemJeff Morgan and the hosts frame Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 1997 Cure as a slow-burn Japanese psychological horror film built around memory loss, interrogation, and hypnotic conversation.
Nov 4, 2024·1h 12m·5 clips - 7
S5E23.5: Tongan Ninja (2002) feat. Jeff Morgan Part II
Hidden gemMeasuring Flicks returns for part two with Jeff Morgan to discuss Tongan Ninja, a 2002 New Zealand kung fu parody the host calls a “240p” YouTube-era movie.
Sep 21, 2024·1h 9m·4 clips - 8
S5E23: Tongan Ninja (2002) feat. Jeff Morgan Part I
Hidden gemMax opens S5E23 of Measuring Flicks by teasing Jeff Morgan's submarine-based Lovecraftian horror feature and saying the conversation is split into two parts.
Sep 17, 2024·1h 37m·5 clips - 9
S5E22.5: Interstellar (2014) Part II
Apr 30, 2024·2h 6m - 10
S5E22: Interstellar (2014) Part I
Apr 26, 2024·1h 45m - 11
S5E21.5: Elizabethtown (2005) - Manic Pixie Dream Girls! with Cassandra Crose Part II
Hidden gemMeasuring Flicks' part two uses Elizabethtown's Rusty's Learning to Listen tape, a house-explosion demo with termites and plastic explosives, as the episode's sharpest image.
Apr 22, 2024·1h 16m·2 clips - 12
S5E21: Elizabethtown (2005) - Manic Pixie Dream Girls! with Cassandra Crose Part I
A crossover podcast episode discussing the 2005 film Elizabethtown as part of a series on Manic Pixie Dream Girls.
Apr 18, 2024·1h 18m - 13
S5E20: Burning (2018) feat. Alex
Feb 19, 2024·1h 48m - 14
S5E19: Garden State (2004) - Manic Pixie Dream Girls! with Cassandra Crose
Feb 7, 2024·1h 53m - 15
S5E18.5: Underwater (2020) feat. Connor Sweeney Part II
Jan 23, 2024·1h 10m - 16
S5E18: Underwater (2020) feat. Connor Sweeney, Part I
Jan 13, 2024·1h 30m - 17
S5E17: Half Nelson (2006) feat. Cassandra Crose
Dec 19, 2023·1h 50m - 18
S5E16.5: Metropolis (1927) feat. Jeff Morgan Part II
Oct 20, 2023·1h 20m - 19
S5E16: Metropolis (1927) feat. Jeff Morgan, Part I
Oct 15, 2023·1h 36m - 20
S5E15.5: 12 Monkeys (1995) feat. Jeff Morgan, Part II
Aug 14, 2023·54m - 21
S5E15: 12 Monkeys (1995) feat. Jeff Morgan, Part I
Aug 10, 2023·1h 2m - 22
S5E14: La Jetée (1962) with Jeff Morgan
Carl and Jeff discuss the 1962 film La Jetée, its influence on Dark City and 12 Monkeys, and the magic of editing in creating space and time.
Aug 3, 2023·1h 11m - 23
S5E13.5: Yojimbo (1961) feat. Jeff Morgan, Part II
Jun 24, 2023·1h 20m - 24
S5E13: Yojimbo (1961) feat. Jeff Morgan, Part I
Jun 20, 2023·1h 26m - 25
S5E12.5: Dark City (1998) feat. Jeff Morgan, Part II
May 18, 2023·41m - 26
S5E12: Dark City (1998) feat. Jeff Morgan, Part I
Apr 17, 2023·2h 1m - 27
S5E11: Drive (2011)
Mar 20, 2023·2h 1m - 28
S5 Bonus: The Iron Town (2022) with John Scheibe
An interview with filmmaker John Scheibe about his documentary 'The Irontown' on iron mining in northern Michigan.
Mar 12, 2023·1h - 29
S5 Bonus: Perhaps We Wrong Them (2022) with John Scheibe
Max Peterson and guest John Scheibe discuss films on the podcast Measuring Flicks, channeling the absent host Carl.
Mar 10, 2023·1h 27m - 30
S5E10: The Believer (2001)
Feb 4, 2023·2h 13m - 31
S5E9.5: Lars and the Real Girl (2007) Part II
Dec 25, 2022·1h 11m - 32
S5E9: Lars and the Real Girl (2007) Part I
Dec 24, 2022·1h 12m - 33
S5E8.5: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) Part II
Dec 21, 2022·2h 6m - 34
S5E8: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) Part I
Nov 29, 2022·1h 13m - 35
S5E7.5: Pig (2021) Part II
Nov 4, 2022·1h 22m - 36
S5E7: Pig (2021) Part I
Oct 12, 2022·1h 22m - 37
S5E6: Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
Aug 21, 2022·2h 13m - 38
S5E5.5: Con Air (1997) Part II
Jul 12, 2022·1h 7m - 39
S5E5: Con Air (1997) Part I
Jul 8, 2022·1h 42m - 40
S5E4: The General (1927)
Jun 17, 2022·1h 43m - 41
S5E3.5: Modern Times (1936) Part II
Jun 2, 2022·2h 10m - 42
S5E3.1: When Life Boots You In the Lemons
May 20, 2022·17m - 43
S5E3: Modern Times (1936) Part I
Apr 18, 2022·1h 33m - 44
S5E1.5: The Maltese Falcon (1941) Part II
Feb 1, 2022·1h 46m - 45
S5E1: The Maltese Falcon (1941) Part I
Jan 28, 2022·1h 53m - 46
A Death in the Family or: Anatomy of a Life in Libraries
Dec 22, 2021·9m - 47
S4E22: The Last Starfighter (1984) feat. Sara Hartley
Nov 16, 2021·2h 4m - 48
S4E21.5: K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) Part II
Oct 11, 2021·1h 15m - 49
S4E21: K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) Part I
Oct 10, 2021·1h 39m - 50
S4E18.5: Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
Sep 30, 2021·1h