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Welcome to Kicking the Seat!

Ian Simmons launched Kicking the Seat in 2009, one week after seeing Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia. His wife proposed blogging as a healthier outlet for his anger than red-faced, twenty-minute tirades (Ian is no longer allowed to drive home from the movies).

The Kicking the Seat Podcast followed three years later and, despite its “undiscovered gem” status, Ian thoroughly enjoys hosting film critic discussions, creating themed shows, and interviewing such luminaries as Gaspar NoéRachel BrosnahanAmy Seimetz, and Richard Dreyfuss.

Ian is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. He also has a family, a day job, and conflicted feelings about referring to himself in the third person.

Ep364: Scuola Argento: Inga to the Rescue!

The Kicking the Seat Podcast rings the bell on another installment of "Argento School"! Today, Ian sits down with Aaron Christensen of Horror 101 with Dr. A.C. to discuss the 1985 bloody bug thriller, Phenomena, starring Jennifer Connelly and Donald Pleasence. When a killer threatens the community around a European boarding school, the only ones capable of stopping the violence are the daughter of an American movie star who can psychically communicate with insects, a kindly old forensic pathologist who lives in the woods, and his pet ape/servant, Inga. And then things get weird...

Also, Ian and Aaron break a month-long curse in speaking briefly about LucaGuadagnino's remake of Suspiria, and Ian invites film buffs to check out Michael Glover Smith's fifth-annual Oakton Pop Up Film Festival, which runs tomorrow through Friday!

Episode 364 will never look at maggots the same way again!

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Ep365: RENDEZVOUS on Harms

Ep363: Late Screening: Bleeding Gums Murphy