When Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released in 1984, many audiences and critics felt it was too dark and too weird in comparison to its predecessor. But for a whole other subset of the fandom, those elements were precisely what made this one so special. In this episode, we investigate the behind the scenes circumstances that led to an Indy sequel that zigged instead of zagged and see how the most divisive entry in the franchise holds up nearly forty years later. Facebook | Twitter | I...
May 19, 2023•2 hr 51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gird your loins! The Devil Wears Prada gave Meryl Streep an opportunity to sink her teeth into a deliciously villainous character, but you might be surprised to discover how different the film is from the bestselling novel it's based on. In this episode, we investigate the real-life inspiration for the character of Miranda, how that bolstered and hindered the development of the movie, a major subplot from the book the filmmakers decided to excise, why so many fans dislike Andy's boyfriend, how t...
May 03, 2023•2 hr 47 min•Transcript available on Metacast When it was announced that Heath Ledger would be playing the Joker, a firestorm of controversy erupted. But when The Dark Knight hit theaters in the summer of 2008, naysayers found themselves with a whole heaping plate of crow to eat. This isn't just the best villain in a Batman movie, it's one of the great movie villains PERIOD. In this episode, we're investigating the way Christopher Nolan and his team radically reinterpreted this iconic character and forever changed the perception of what com...
Apr 19, 2023•2 hr 25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Although it's one of the most beloved movies of all time, The Wizard of Oz was also nightmare fuel for a lot of us when we were kids. But while The Wicked Witch and her flying monkeys terrorized Dorothy and her friends on screen, it turns out the real nightmares were taking place behind the scenes. Join us as we investigate the troubled production of one of Hollywood's most iconic films, the tragic life of its leading lady, and the enduring legacy of a magical land that exists somewhere over the...
Apr 05, 2023•2 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Try as they will and try as they might, whoever steals his gold won't live through the night! Join us for a (slightly belated) St. Patrick's Day celebration as we revisit the 1993 horror/comedy Leprechaun . We discuss the reasons behind the bizarre tonal shifts in the film, the vaguely defined powers of the title character, how Jennifer Aniston really feels about her big-screen debut, the savage reviews, its box office success, the wild ride the sequels take viewers on, and much more! Facebook |...
Mar 22, 2023•2 hr 38 min•Transcript available on Metacast We're back! And on this episode, we're putting together a case file on the ghost with the most - Beetlejuice... Beetlejuice... Beetlejuice! Our investigation digs into the original (and much darker) version of this script, the pivotal point Tim Burton's career was at, the unusual first choice for the title role, our favorite sequences, other media Beetlejuice has appeared in, whether or not the proposed sequel could still work, and much more! Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Apple Podcasts | Stitc...
Mar 08, 2023•2 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week we've got a Thanksgiving Turkey Triple Play! Each of us has chosen a movie that was critically maligned upon its original release and we're going to debate whether or not they've earned a reappraisal. On the chopping block we've got Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Volcano, and Alien 3! The RG gang is going to be taking a brief break for the holidays, but follow us on social media using the links below to stay up to date with the show and our other endeavors. Facebook | Twitter | Instagram A...
Nov 23, 2022•2 hr 40 min•Transcript available on Metacast We're going all the way back to 1933 to investigate one of the most influential films of all-time: the original King Kong . The technical innovations employed here catapulted the entire industry forward by leaps and bounds, but Kong also set the template for the structure and pacing of modern action/adventure films. We explore the cinematic landscape it was released in, some interesting alternate versions of the script, the special effects wizardry that brought Kong to life, their revolutionary ...
Nov 09, 2022•2 hr 35 min•Transcript available on Metacast As part of our ongoing retrospective of the Halloween franchise, we're heading back to Haddonfield for 1988's Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers . After the lackluster box office performance of the Myers-less Halloween III , the mandate for this installment was simple: back to basics. Too basic? Maybe. But at the time, Return 's adherence to a tried-and-true formula was what fans were looking for and the film's success helped get the series back on track... temporarily, at least. Topics in...
Oct 24, 2022•2 hr 18 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's Fall Verhoeven on Rogues Gallery! This is the magical time of year where we revisit the films of Paul Verhoeven. And WOW is this one a doozy. Showgirls was a critical and commercial failure when it was released in the fall of 1995, but the film found new life as a midnight movie and went on to become a cult favorite. So what's going on here? Is this so bad it's good? A misunderstood masterpiece? Or is it just as terrible as everyone seemed to think at the time? Let's find out. Topics includ...
Oct 05, 2022•2 hr 58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Domestic thrillers were all the rage after the success of Fatal Attraction in 1987, but it was the early 90s that marked the zenith of the subgenre’s popularity. Which made 1992’s The Hand That Rocks The Cradle a perfect choice for revisiting this particular trend and unpacking all of its conventions. Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play | Spotify Chris's Instagram & Twitter | Kristen's Instagram Chris & Kristen's Web Series: The Strange Case of Lucy Chandler Ch...
Sep 21, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Transcript available on Metacast The title alone made Snakes on a Plane an internet sensation, but by the time it finally hit theaters the whole thing had become more meme than movie. And by that point, the joke was pretty played out. So instead of the blockbuster the studio had been anticipating, Snakes became a cautionary tale about online hype not always translating to actual ticket sales. On this episode, we're investigating the origins of this absurd premise, how the internet took hold of it, the last minute attempt to tra...
Aug 31, 2022•2 hr 51 min•Transcript available on Metacast After an unbelievable two-year hot streak where every Jim Carrey movie was doing bang-up business at the box office, The Cable Guy became a sobering reminder that nothing lasts forever. The film was not a bomb by any means, but when compared to the performance of his previous hits, it was unquestionably a major disappointment. And there's no shortage of theories as to why - it was too dark, the marketing campaign was misleading, there was cynicism about Carrey's $20 million payday, etc. So the f...
Aug 17, 2022•2 hr 41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of A Clockwork Orange is now regarded as an incredibly accomplished and influential film, but it was a lot more divisive upon its original release in 1971. And one of its biggest detractors wound up being the original novella's author, Anthony Burgess. Burgess wasn't just critical of the movie, he had very complicated feelings about his own book. This wasn't like Stephen King's misgivings over The Shining , though. Burgess's relationship with A Clockwork Orange was s...
Jul 27, 2022•1 hr 27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Throughout the 80s and 90s, a lot of top-tier genre filmmakers took a crack at developing a modern update of The Mummy. In the end, it was writer/director Stephen Sommers who landed the gig by reimagining the story as a family-friendly Indiana Jones -esque adventure as opposed to a more straightforward horror film. In this episode, we examine the earlier iterations that were considered, why Universal Pictures ultimately went with this version, the franchise that it spawned, and how we feel about...
Jul 13, 2022•2 hr 49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Whoever wins... we lose. That's what the poster for AVP: Alien Vs Predator proclaimed and that's certainly how most audiences probably felt walking out of the theater. That was almost two decades ago though and now that we've sat through some of the subsequent entries in both of these franchises... is this one really that bad? We decided to investigate. Topics include: the original Dark Horse Comics mini-series, why it took over ten years to bring this concept to the big screen, how AvP disrupte...
Jun 29, 2022•2 hr 22 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this episode, we're investigating Stanton Carlisle's rise and fall in all three versions of Nightmare Alley : the original novel, the 1947 movie, and Guillermo del Toro's 2021 adaptation. Topics include: the eerie way in which William Lindsay Gresham's book almost foreshadowed his own demise, the incident in del Toro's past that made him connect so deeply with the source material, notable differences between each iteration, some pushback on the criticism that the most recent version favors st...
Jun 15, 2022•2 hr 37 min•Transcript available on Metacast When you consider all of the obstacles it was up against, it's sort of a miracle that Coraline even exists. Stop-motion animation was considered a dead art form, the director's previous film was a notorious critical & commercial failure, and there were concerns that the subject matter was too dark for kids and too tame for adults. And yet... Like the Neil Gaiman novella it's based on, Coraline was embraced by audiences of all ages (and often precisely for the reasons that the studio was initiall...
Jun 02, 2022•2 hr 32 min•Transcript available on Metacast When describing the reaction to Bret Easton Ellis's 1991 novel American Psycho , the word "controversial" seems hilariously inadequate. The backlash to this transgressive tale of a Wall Street stockbroker who moonlights as a sadistic serial killer was intense . So when the film adaptation hit theaters in 2000, it was anticipated with a great deal of trepidation and skepticism. As it turns out, director Mary Harron brought the satirical elements of the book front and center in a way that not only...
May 18, 2022•2 hr 50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Well, we did it. We made it to the very last Friday the 13th movie ever! Kudos to everyone involved for going out on a high note instead of overstaying their welcome with a conveyor belt of sequels. Jokes aside, the fact of the matter is that The Final Chapter is still a pretty significant entry in the franchise. In fact, a lot of fans would argue it’s the best one (including one of your hosts). Is it deserving of that title? And did they really intend for this to be the big finale or was it jus...
May 04, 2022•1 hr 27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Get in losers, we're going podcasting! We've been to Elm Street, Crystal Lake, and Haddonfield, but this week we're visiting the most terrifying location of all... high school. No one's more surprised by the success of Mean Girls or the scope of its pop culture imprint than the people who made it. So we wanted to go back to the beginning and investigate how a modest teen comedy based on a self-help book became a perennial favorite and one of the most quotable films of all-time. Topics include: t...
Apr 20, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Transcript available on Metacast The marketing campaign for Sam Raimi's 1990 action/horror movie tantalized moviegoers with the question: "Who is Darkman?" But from the studio's point of view, the bigger mystery was probably what is Darkman? From pre-production all the way to release, there was quite a bit of confusion over the tone Raimi was aiming for. As a result, the film found itself in a tug-of-war between a director who was trying to deliver something more transgressive and executives who were attempting to turn this int...
Apr 06, 2022•2 hr 59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Back in the early aughts, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez were enjoying an overwhelming level of success. They decided to use their clout to launch an ambitious cinematic experiment - each of them would direct one half of a double feature designed to pay homage to the exploitation flicks they grew up watching. The result was 2007's Grindhouse and the response to it was... largely apathetic. It fizzled out at the box office and Tarantino's entry in particular seemed to divide even his most...
Mar 23, 2022•2 hr 31 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Dream Master is sort of the dividing line between the first six films in the Elm Street franchise, but the question is: which side does it fall on? Is this the last good entry or the first bad one? Let’s find out! Topics include: Wes Craven’s original pitch for the film, how a writer’s strike forced them to make a lot of this up as they went along, director Renny Harlin’s incredible persistence when it came to landing this gig and the methods he employed to separate this one from past instal...
Mar 09, 2022•2 hr 32 min•Transcript available on Metacast As controversial as it was influential, Taxi Driver remains an unflinchingly uncomfortable portrait of how one man's self-imposed loneliness spirals out into explosive violence. On this episode, we're taking a closer look at Rober DeNiro's iconic performance as Travis Bickle and investigating how he became one of cinema's defining antiheroes. Topics include: the low point in screenwriter Paul Schrader's own life that laid the foundation for this story, why Martin Scorsese responded so strongly t...
Dec 16, 2021•2 hr 40 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this episode, we're heading to the idyllic town of Cradle Bay to investigate their mysterious Blue Ribbon program. Although its participants initially showed promising results, a few of them have recently been exhibiting some... Disturbing Behavior . But the more sinister story here might be what happened to this film in post-production. The director delivered a psychological thriller in the vein of The X-Files , but the studio decided they wanted something more along the lines of Scream . As...
Nov 24, 2021•2 hr 45 min•Transcript available on Metacast We're not quite ready to put Halloween behind us, so we decided to take a look at a story about one that seemingly never ends. On this episode, we're opening up a case file on The Holiday Killer from Batman: The Long Halloween and investigating the origins of this seminal comic book and the recent animated adaptation. Topics include: the previous collaborations between writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale that set the stage for The Long Halloween , why getting into comic books can sometimes feel...
Nov 10, 2021•2 hr 48 min•Transcript available on Metacast The final moments of Halloween II had been intended to kill off Michael Myers for good, but the film's box office success all but guaranteed another sequel. The only way creators John Carpenter and Debra Hill could be lured back for another entry was with the promise that they could come up with an entirely new story that had no ties whatsoever to the previous films. Unfortunately, their attempt to transition into an anthology format didn't sit well with audiences and Halloween III: Season of th...
Oct 27, 2021•2 hr 48 min•Transcript available on Metacast The popularity of occult horror had been on the rise since the late 60s, but it was the success of The Exorcist in 1973 that led to a slew of other films attempting to cash in on that craze. One of the more notable efforts was Richard Donner's debut feature The Omen . On this episode, we're investigating how Donner took a slightly garish horror script that no studio was interested in making and transformed it into a more grounded mystery/thriller that attracted A-list talent and became a pop cul...
Oct 06, 2021•2 hr 33 min•Transcript available on Metacast In some ways, this entire podcast is built around the idea that a hero is only as good as their villain. Looking at the original RoboCop through that lens, it's easy to understand why it's still held in such high esteem. There's A LOT to gush over in this film (and we do), but Kurtwood Smith's performance as Clarence Boddicker is unquestionably one of its highlights. Topics include: our introductions to the film and the jarring mismatch between its ridiculous title and the actual content, how so...
Sep 22, 2021•2 hr 40 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
