Hi Link, what horror movies would you recommend? I haven’t seen that many, but after watching Videodrome, I think I love body horror, and a little mix of sci-fi wouldn’t hurt.
- Arny, Los Angeles

As much as it pains me, The Thing actually does meet both requirements. It’s sci-fi, and it’s chock full of body horror. But this is the last time I recommend it, that movie is pretty intense. If you sat through something as intense as Videodrome, you’ll be fine.

Hey Link, can you recommend any arctic movies? I love movies that take place in the snow.
- Yusef, Grand Rapids

Hmm. I know there’s a lot of them but I haven’t really seen that many. I saw The Revenant but it’s not good, don’t watch it. It’s supposed to be a bear documentary and it’s totally not. I guess watching The Thing is better than that.

Hello, Link. I hear my dad talk about Wilford Brimley all the time. I’m not really a movie person, but I want to surprise him by watching one and then bringing it up to him, all casual like. I know he’s in The Natural but my husband won’t watch it with me because he thinks it’s boring. Is there another movie with Brimley that you recommend?
- Inez, New York

Aw, I was about to recommended The Natural until I finished reading. Wilford Brimley is in a lot of old stuff, I don’t know what. He’s in The Thing actually. He’s actually in it. It’s a movie. If you have to watch a movie, and it has to have him in it, and it has to not be The Natural…

Hi Link. Can you recommend any movies where a dog turns out to not be a dog at all? Doesn’t have to be a bit part of the movie. I was watching The Shaggy Dog (the 1959 one, not the dumb one) with my friends and, it would take too long to explain, but I’m trying to win a bet.

- Hanna, Spokane

That is extremely specific. I know the internet can be spotty after the Lizard Apocalypse, but did you trying googling it? At the beginning of The Thing there’s a dog who — on second though, as much as I hate the movie, I don’t like to give spoilers. You don’t have to watch it, right? I can just tell you The Thing meets the category, but you’re not going to watch it are you?

Link, I’m working on a school project about conspiracy theories, and I need a movie where alien spacecraft is being discovered. I have to show the scene in class. I was going to show Alien but we just watched a clip of that last week. Plus, I go to a pretty pretentious liberal arts university. Last time I showed a movie clip, it was from one of the new Star Wars movies. Everybody booed, and threw things at me. They said new Star Wars is all Disney commercial shill, and my professor gave me the letter grade G because “F isn’t low enough for a megacorp pandering smellfungus like you.” So it needs to be something older by a respectable director.

- Kyle, Irvine

It sounds like you got what you deserved, thank you for sharing that. There aren’t very many movies about aliens out there, and even less about discovering alien spacecraft. I can think of one, but I’m trying to think of another one. Any other one. I’ll get back to you if I think of any.

Hi Link. Ever since my nephew began studying biology, he’s insufferable. When we watch movies he has to point out all the scientific implausibilities in portrayals of human anatomy. I want to show him something absurd, to annoy him. Something that takes the human body to impossible extremes.
- Josie, Montreal

I can’t suggest The Fly anymore, because every single thing in that movie happened exactly, to that poor scientist in Milwaukee last year. It was all over the news, your nephew probably saw it.

Link, my man! Can you recommend any good Kurt Russell vehicles? Something from the 80s. I’ve already seen Tango & Cash, Winter People, Tequila Sunrise, Overboard, Big Trouble in Little China, The Best of Times, The Mean Season, Swing Shift, Silkwood, The Fox and the Hound, Escape From New York, Used Cars, and Amber Waves. Has to be 80s.
- Cindy, Indianapolis

What the hell, this is literally every 1980s credit from his IMDb page except The Thing. What is wrong with you.

Hi Link. I’ve seen every John Carpenter movie except The Thing, but I can’t get ahold of a copy. No streaming services have it. I think my local video rental store does, but it was transported to a dimension outside of time to eliminate the need for late fees, and the last person who went there came back as a floating fetus. I wouldn’t mind so long as I could watch the movie, but my girlfriend said she’d leave me if I was a fetus. I think she means it this time. You’ve watched it though. Can I borrow your copy?
- Brandon, Coeur d’Alene

No.