Low-budget LA-set crime movies starring also-rans and never-weres are pretty much the death and taxes of Why Does It Exist? They’re plentiful (if not downright plague-like), dependable and almost always exactly as bad and soul-sucking as they look. This week’s culprit is Venice Underground, a kind of Melrose-Place-meets-Miami-Vice turdburger that sees five hotshot young recruits attempt to dismantle a convoluted and poorly-sketched drug empire in Venice Beach. There’s a mole, a hardass captain, Danny Trejo as a guy named Uncle Papi, a particularly haggard stripclub scene and various disorenting shootouts. The usual, basically.

Joining me this week is Cult MTL screen editor (AKA boss lady and Alex puppeteer) and comics artist Kayla Marie Hillier. You can read some her musings here, her Cult MTL material here and see her Twitter here.

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The song this week is provided by The Hydrothermal Vents. The song Inside a Movie can be found here. Keep your eyes peeled for their appearance at the POP Montreal festival as well as their upcoming full-length due out later this year.