Despite the success of the first A Nightmare on Elm Street , New Line Cinema didn't walk away with a very big piece of the proverbial pie. They did, however, hold sole ownership over something that was potentially a lot more valuable - a franchisable character. They rushed A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge into production and decided to jettison the original writer/director, lead actress, and established rules of the previous film. And somehow, that's only scratching the surface of w...
Jun 17, 2020•2 hr 39 min
When the filmmakers behind Species needed a creature that had to be as sexy as it was scary, H.R. Giger's name understandably shot to the top of their list. His Academy Award-winning work on Alien was exactly the aesthetic they were chasing. As the project evolved, however, Giger realized that there was perhaps too much reverence for (and adherence to) his previous efforts. Species is a mixed bag of largely unrealized potential, but it's not without its merits. On this episode, we investigate th...
Jun 03, 2020•2 hr 31 min
For all of its accomplishments, Phase I of the MCU was somewhat marred by what numerous critics referred to as "The Marvel Villain Problem" - and depending on who you ask, Red Skull was either the answer to that complaint or the epitome of it. So we're opening up a case file on one of Captain America's greatest foes to see if this character can help us understand whether or not The First Avenger ultimately succeeds because of its pulpy charm and throwback approach to serialized storytelling... o...
May 20, 2020•2 hr 36 min
The evolution of Little Shop of Horrors is not dissimilar from that of the killer plant at the center of it. It began life as a strange, little oddity - a quick, low-budget film that was shot in a couple of days by legendary B-movie producer Roger Corman. From those inauspicious beginnings, it transformed into a bigger and bolder off-Broadway musical. The success of that show paved the way for this more lavish feature film production, which firmly entrenched these characters (and songs) into pop...
Apr 22, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Godzilla meets The Blair Witch Project . That high-concept premise for Cloverfield was pretty straightforward, but the execution of it was anything but. These days, it's probably remembered as much for the elaborate and immersive ARG campaign as the film itself. It arguably stands as one of the most effective examples of J.J. Abrams' infamous "mystery box" marketing, but it might also represent the point where a backlash to that approach started to emerge. From its top secret development to the ...
Apr 08, 2020•2 hr 37 min
Like many of you, we're all practicing self-isolation for a couple of weeks and that made recording a regular episode a bit of a challenge. So instead, we're making the best of a less than ideal situation and doing our first mailbag episode instead. We asked our listeners to submit their questions via social media and they provided us with some amazing topics to cover. So we go over the story of how the podcast came to be, some of our favorite antiheroes, which horror franchise we'd reboot and h...
Mar 25, 2020•1 hr 9 min
We didn't expect to be heading back to Crystal Lake so soon, but we took a look at the calendar and couldn't resist. Plus, watching Part 2 in such close proximity to the original wound up being really beneficial when it came to comparing and contrasting them. The evolution of the Friday the 13th series is a fascinating one and although this represents an important step in its development, this entry still stands apart from subsequent sequels in several key ways. Topics include: the original crea...
Mar 11, 2020•1 hr 24 min
We're back! And to celebrate our return, we're shaking things up with an investigation into our first antihero - Blade. It's a deep dive on the Daywalker's comic book origins, how he was updated for the first film, the highs and lows of the sequels, other paths not taken, and where it all goes from here now that Marvel has reacquired the rights to the character. Other topics include: the state of comic book movies when the first film hit theaters in 1998, alternate casting choices for the title ...
Feb 26, 2020•2 hr 45 min
No hockey mask. No machete. No Jason (at least not the way we're used to seeing him). Despite the fact that it kicked off one of the most popular horror franchises of all-time, the most notable thing about the original Friday the 13th is how little it has in common with the glut of sequels that followed it. The filmmakers have never been shy about the fact that this was quickly cobbled together to capitalize on the success of Halloween - and it certainly did. Considering what this series evolved...
Dec 18, 2019•1 hr 19 min
On this episode, we're checking into The Overlook Hotel and investigating all of the different interpretations of The Shining and its sequel, Doctor Sleep . We cover all of it - Stephen King's original novel, Stanley Kubrick's wildly divergent film adaptation, the more faithful (and somewhat maligned) 1997 miniseries, and the incredible hat trick that Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan pulled off by crafting a new movie that somehow honors all of these disparate iterations. Topics include: our ...
Dec 04, 2019•2 hr 35 min
With Annie's arrival on the second season of Castle Rock , it wound up being a great time to revisit Stephen King's novel Misery and Rob Reiner's 1990 film adaptation. Topics include: the real life rogue who may have indirectly influenced King's book, how that came back to haunt him many years later, key differences between the novel and the movie, what creators actually owe their fans, and much more! Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play | Spotify Chris' Instagr...
Nov 20, 2019•1 hr 29 min
This week we're opening a case file on one of the greatest criminal minds of our time. But... is he? Gene Hackman's take on Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie is markedly different from the way he'd been depicted in the comics up to that point, but also a far cry from how the character would continue to evolve. Topics include: this iteration's inferiority complex and how Hackman's refusal to shave his head wound up playing into that, why Christopher Reeve's pitch-perfect portrayal of the man of s...
Nov 06, 2019•2 hr 32 min
The Shape. The Bogeyman. Michael Myers. Whatever you want to call him, he's the reason for the season and on this episode we're investigating John Carpenter's 1978 classic Halloween . From the production's inauspicious beginnings to the film's now-legendary status, we track the incredible journey of a ragtag group of filmmakers who set out to make a low budget horror flick and wound up changing the modern movie landscape. Topics include: Carpenter's somewhat contentious relationship with the lab...
Oct 23, 2019•2 hr 31 min
Slasher movies were certainly de rigueur in the early 80s, but when writer/director Wes Craven created A Nightmare on Elm Street , he had more on his mind than simply churning out another Halloween ripoff. This wasn't just a paradigm shift in the established formula for this sub-genre, it also birthed one of the most iconic horror villains of all-time. On this episode, we're focusing exclusively on the first entry in the franchise and investigating how Craven, Robert Englund, and the rest of the...
Oct 09, 2019•1 hr 29 min
When you're dealing with a franchise as beloved as Back to the Future , there aren't many unexplored avenues left to cover. There is, however, an unsung hero of this series who often gets overshadowed. So on this episode, we're shining a much-deserved spotlight on actor Thomas F. Wilson and putting together a case file on his most iconic role... Biff Tannen. Join us as we investigate the deceptively simple exterior of Biff and all the clues that hint at a much more layered character, why Wilson ...
Sep 25, 2019•1 hr 23 min
On this episode, we're comparing and contrasting three very different iterations of one of Star Trek 's most iconic villains - Khaaaaan! Although Space Seed is certainly a beloved episode of the original series, it was really the feature film The Wrath of Khan that established this character as one of the franchise's most formidable (and memorable) foes. Since then, there have been numerous attempts to recapture that same lightning in a bottle with other Trek adversaries and the results have bee...
Sep 11, 2019•2 hr 35 min
Candyman was one of the first rogues on our list when we started this podcast and with the reboot hitting theaters next year, this seemed like an ideal time to go back to where it all began. We delve into the character's first appearance in Clive Barker's short story The Forbidden , how Bernard Rose expanded upon that mythology for his feature film adaptation, the reason some of those changes were controversial, and why Candyman comes across like more of a straightforward boogeyman in the sequel...
Aug 28, 2019•2 hr 31 min
After Quantum of Solace took some of the wind out of the newly rebooted Bond franchise's sails, the pressure was on for Skyfall to deliver a return-to-form just in time for the series' 50th anniversary. To say the film was a success would be a massive understatement. Skyfall remains the highest grossing James Bond movie to date and many critics heralded it as one of the top-tier installments. A lot of that praise was directed at Javier Bardem's portrayal of Raoul Silva - a villain carefully cons...
Aug 14, 2019•2 hr 33 min
Gillian Flynn's novel Gone Girl grabbed the zeitgeist by the throat and David Fincher's film adaptation proved to be just as popular... and controversial. On this episode, we're opening a case file on one of the most provocative new rogues in contemporary fiction - Amy Dunne. Join us we discuss our initial reactions to the material and all of its twists and turns, examine some of the key differences between the novel and the film and how those changes effect how we feel about Amy as a character,...
Jul 31, 2019•1 hr 16 min
Welcome to Rogues Gallery ! Kristen, Mike, and Chris are investigating pop culture’s most memorable villains, antiheroes, and misunderstood monsters to find out how they make being bad look so good. On this debut episode, we’re opening a case file on all four iterations of the masked killer from the Scream franchise - Ghostface. Join us as we explore each killer’s motive, compare and contrast the opening set pieces, dig into alternate versions of Scream 2 , explain how outside forces influenced ...
Jul 17, 2019•2 hr 46 min
Kristen and Mike from The Sunnydale Stacks have teamed up with Chris from Hey, Do You Remember...? for a brand new podcast from 27th Letter Productions! On each episode of Rogues Gallery , we'll investigate a different villain, antihero, or misunderstood monster from pop-culture to find out how they make being bad look so good. Subscribe now and then join us here on Wednesday, July 17th as we crack open our first case file....
Jun 30, 2019•4 min
