M3GAN and Malignant screenwriter Akela Cooper returns to The Kingcast to take a deep dive into Cycle of the Werewolf and its often and unfairly maligned 1985 movie adaptation. Up for discussion: what makes a good creature feature? Why are those werewolf movies where the werewolf just ends up being a dog so disappointing? How important are Uncle Red types to childhood development? What bug crawled up Roger Ebert's ass? Why didn't Reverend Lowe just yeet Marty off that bridge? Y'know, important stuff like that.

159: Cycle of the Werewolf with Akela Cooper

A Stephen King Podcast For Stephen King Obsessives

TV & Film

We're just as surprised as you are, but our guest this week is Renny Harlin, the insane director behind A Nightmare On Elm Street 4, Cliffhanger, Deep Blue Sea, and the upcoming The Strangers Trilogy, Chapter 1 of which debuts in theaters this coming weekend. Renny joins us to talk about how Stephen King impacted him as a creative and how Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is an all-time favorite. Be forewarned: this is a wildly entertaining conversation that bounces between topics every few minutes, so be prepared for some chaos! And a good time. That, too.

231: The Shining with Renny Harlin

Writer/Director Mike P. Nelson (Wrong Turn, The Domestics, V/H/S/85) joins Wampler and Vespe to chat a bit about the oddball killer rat/bat movie Graveyard Shift as well as the original Stephen King short story that it is based on. This episode is chock full of talk about outrageous Maine accents, a wasted Brad Dourif, late '80s/early '90s nostalgia, and a whole lot of seemingly random Monster Squad love that is actually on topic thanks to the scene-chewing performance by one Stephen Macht.

230: Graveyard Shift with Mike P. Nelson

Writer/Director John Rosman (New Life) joins Vespe and Wampler to discuss his new film, how it is heavily influenced by Stephen King, and also break down what really works in both the novella and the feature film adaptation of The Running Man. How successful would The Running Man be in today's America? And which version would be more popular, the one portrayed in the book which spans the entirety of the country, or the one shown in the movie, which is more like American Gladiators made with even more cocaine. We may never know, but we have a few good guesses...

229: The Running Man with John Rosman

When you have a story featuring timeaters that may or may not resemble flying meatballs with metal teeth you have to bring in the best of the best to break it down. Lucky for us Elan Gale (The Bachelor, FBOY Island, and the upcoming Stephen King adaptation The Life of Chuck) answered the call to come chat The Langoliers with the Kingcast Boys. 

What was Elan's take on the mini-series? Why is Bronson Pinchot so damn cool? What would Wampler do if he found himself in the Langoliers's dimension and why is Elan pressing him on his empty world daydreams? All these questions and more will be answered in this episode!

228: The Langoliers with Elan Gale

Kotaku's Alyssa Mercante joins Wampler and Vespe for an interesting thought experiment: What would you do if you could design your own Stephen King video game? Would you make a AAA giant budget title or something smaller and more indie? You have the entire Stephen King oeuvre at your disposal, what do you do? Alyssa kicks things off with her pitch, Vespe follows, and Wampler closes the loop. All radically different, all something we'd actually play if it existed. Come play with us!

159: Cycle of the Werewolf with Akela Cooper

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