The Flick Lab

Bedtime Stories is a Youtube channel that tells spooky tales of the paranormal and supernatural – popular and unknown stories. Their videos consists of beautiful and haunting hand-drawn artwork, accompanied by a wonderful narrator. But how true are the stories, or more importantly, are there some concerns with dramatization of real-life-based events? Or are these simply fun stories which ought to be treated as quality entertainment? Listen here if the player applet above is not working

Bedtime Stories episodes covered in this episode:
The Mysterious Pentyrch Incident
There is Something in the Forest
The Curse of the Dab Tsog
The Lost Girls of Panama
Secrets of Celle Neues Rathaus; A Nazi Occult Tale?

This episode contains music by:
Billy Murray (Take Your Girlie to the Movies, 1919; public domain)
Kevin MacLeod (Creative Commons)
Marc van der Meulen 

Hosted by Karri Ojala and Henrik Telkki. Edited by Karri Ojala. The Flick Lab theme tune written and performed by Nick Grivell.

What really happened at Camp 14 in North Korea to prisoner Shin Dong-Hyuk? Camp 14 is the hermit nation’s most notorious concentration camp. We have a documentary and a book to tell the story of his escape into freedom, but Shin later changed some details of his story, surely much to the chagrin of the book’s author, Blaine Harden, and to Shin’s fellow North Korean escapees. Why did Shin change details of his story? What is the truth and do the details matter? And finally, which one is a better product, the film or the book?

Films covered in this episode:
Camp 14: Total Control Zone (2012)

Hosted by Karri Ojala and Henrik Telkki. Edited by Karri Ojala. The Flick Lab theme tune written and performed by Nick Grivell.

In this episode of the podcast, Karri and Henrik analyze 8 creepy stories of the horror anthology film The Field Guide to Evil. Each film is from a different country and is supposed to tell a tale of dark folklore. Is that true though and how well do the films gel together in this anthology?

Hosted by Karri Ojala and Henrik Telkki. Edited by Karri Ojala. The Flick Lab theme tune written and performed by Nick Grivell.

The title ‘Robocop’ may sound cheesy, but is descriptive. The first movie is often celebrated by critics and mortals alike, but the sequels are in a downward spiral. Here’s why.

Films covered in this episode:
Robocop (1987)
Robocop 2 (1990)
Robocop 3 (1993)
Robocop (2014)

Hosted by Karri Ojala and Henrik Telkki. Edited by Karri Ojala. The Flick Lab theme tune written and performed by Nick Grivell.

Wong Kar-wai, the pivotal Hong Kong -based film director is known around the world for his distinct non-linear storytelling, gangster films and artistic love stories. We now venture into his love trilogy, a film recommendation by podcast listener Kimmo. We have previously looked at the director’s other work Chungking Express (1994) with guest Mitch Tam, which can be listened here.

Films covered in this episode:
Days of Being Wild (1990)
In the Mood for Love (2000)
2046 (2004)

Hosted by Karri Ojala and Henrik Telkki. Edited by Karri Ojala. The Flick Lab theme tune written and performed by Nick Grivell.

What went wrong with the Terminator sequels after the two original James Cameron movies? Karri and Henrik touch on the constant changes of studios, the revolving doors of actors, repeating story lines, poor dialogue, the difficulties of playing a terminator, the excess nature of modern action film-making, and other topics.

Films covered in this episode:
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
Terminator: Salvation (2009)
Terminator Genisys (2015)
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

Apologies for some audio issues on this episode.

Hosted by Karri Ojala and Henrik Telkki. Edited by Karri Ojala. The Flick Lab theme tune written and performed by Nick Grivell.

Bela Tarr’s over 7-hour film is one of the longest movies in the world. The Hungarian director’s work is based on the novel by Laszlo Krasznahorkai. Karri and Henrik are investigating the footsteps of Chinese director Hu Bo’s “godfather”. Why is the film so long and is the length justified? Is it one of the greatest films ever seen? Is the film seen merely as a challenge not so much for its artistic merits but for its runtime? 

Hosted by Karri Ojala and Henrik Telkki. Edited by Karri Ojala. The Flick Lab theme tune written and performed by Nick Grivell.

It’s episode #150 and it’s time for some celebration with mostly non-movie topics. Zachary Pen joins us to discuss mass shootings in the US, NATO and Finland, social media, paper vs. digital, language quirks, the future of The Lab, all kinds of indecent things, and more.

Hosted by Karri Ojala and Henrik Telkki. Edited by Karri Ojala. The Flick Lab theme tune written and performed by Nick Grivell.

What have Karri and Henrik been watching for the last years? What to recommend, what to avoid? We’ve never stopped to discuss the films we’ve watched on our ‘own time’, outside the podcast analyses. Here’s our recommendations and grievances.

Hosted by Karri Ojala and Henrik Telkki. Edited by Karri Ojala. The Flick Lab theme tune written and performed by Nick Grivell.

Better late than never. Here’s our long overdue recap of the 94th Academy Awards. Who won? Does it matter? Did Will Smith inadvertently slap the Oscars back into relevancy? Is there any value in even discussing the Oscars? Was the Jada Pinkett Smith joke a step too far? Is the Ukraine War detrimental to trans people specifically? Is Jennifer Lawrence fat? To be brutally honest with you, we can assure you we don’t give a damn.

Hosted by Karri Ojala and Henrik Telkki. Edited by Karri Ojala. The Flick Lab theme tune written and performed by Nick Grivell.