The Substance29 Loka 2023

138: Substantive Cinema | Alien (1979) feat. Sarah Welch-Larson

We hope that you all have had a wonderful Spooky Season and wish you all a Happy Halloween this week! After having Filmspotting's Josh Larsen (no relation to our guest today) on in Episode #135 to talk about a faithful approach to horror and then covering the classic 1942 horror film Cat People, we're closing October out with one of the greatest horror and science fiction films of all time, Ridley Scott's Alien.

Alien tells the story of the crew of the Nostromo, a commercial spaceship that comes across a dangerous and virtually unstoppable lifeform that no one in the crew is prepared for. As a piece of science-fiction/horror it's extremely effective but like many great works of art, you can also have a rich experience when you come it to with different lenses. The viewer can look at it as a piece of social commentary about the plight of the working class people being ground up by the machinery of Capitalism, a gender study and what the films portrayal of men and women says about our prejudices, a theologically significant tale about the nature of evil, and more!

Luckily, we have a guest with us who is qualified to explore all of those facets of the film. Sarah Welch-Larson is a Chicago based film critic, longtime podcaster, and author of a book on the while Alien franchise! She's been on our radar for a while and we're so happy to have her on for this one. This is a film and series that she has dedicated a lot of time and attention to and it was a pleasure to talk Alien with her (next week Substance patrons will get a bonus episode where we cover her book and the other 5 films in the series!).

Happy Halloween and remember to share the show with a friend who would dig it!

⁠Substantive Cinema Library

Buy Sarah's book, Becoming Alien

Shoutouts:

The Night of the Hunter

Buck and the Preacher

The Boy and the Heron

Follow Sarah:

Website

Seeing and Believing Substack

Letterboxd

Instagram

⁠Philip's Letterboxd⁠

Share Your Questions/Suggestions/Feedback With Us:

Email: thesubstancepod@gmail.com

Phone: 913-703-3883

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Jaksot(206)

199: Civil War (2024) feat. Chell Stephen

The Road to #200 is almost at an end!Looking back at the Substantive Cinema episodes we've released this year, we couldn't help but notice an unintentional theme. Southland Tales, 28 Years Later, Team...

8 Heinä 1h 35min

198: Panic Fest 2026 Extravaganza!

This took a liiiiiitle bit longer to publish than we had intended but we are excited to share our Panic Fest 2026 coverage with you all! It was a highlight of the year and we met so many incredible pe...

2 Kesä 1h 50min

197: Panic Fest 2026 Preview

Panic Fest 2026 is almost upon us! Last year, Panic Fest was one of the highlights of our year. We had an incredible time taking in new features and shorts as well as getting to know and spend time wi...

6 Huhti 1h 11min

196: Team America: World Police feat. Justin LaLiberty

Happy Don't Believe Anything You Read On The Internet Day, everyone!Today we continue our April Fool's Day tradition of covering a silly movie (and then realizing that it's got more substance than aud...

1 Huhti 1h 14min

195: Substantive Cinema | 28 Years Later feat. Brandon Streussnig

On this episode we reflect on the reality that we must die, and in order to live we also must love. And it's a discussion on (ostensibly) a zombie movie that a 20+ year later legacy sequel! When the t...

23 Maalis 1h 11min

194: The State of the World, Spiritual Check-Ins, and the Road to 200 feat. Editor Dave

We are creeping up on Episode 200 so we sat down with (former) Editor Dave to talk about the State of The Substance as well as doing a bit of a spiritual check in as we look back on the road that has ...

9 Maalis 1h 6min

193: Substantive Cinema | Southland Tales feat. Laurie Strode Trap House

***I don't like doing disclaimers on episodes and this one isn't totally filthy or anything but there is some explicit dialogue in the film that we discuss, so if you listen in the car with other peop...

11 Helmi 1h 41min

192: Liturgies For Resisting Empire feat. Kat Armas

Hey there, we intended to get this episode published last month but life and *waves hands at everything going on in the US* got in the way. HOWEVER! This was an encouraging conversation and a great wa...

7 Tammi 1h