Dark Discussions Podcast

New Year’s resolutions are a big thing for folks. Some want to lose weight, find a spouse, get a new job, work towards completing something; others have goals that they strive for. Co-host Mike said that there are a lot of genre films he hasn’t seen that he wants to get to, so as a New Year’s resolution, why not ask all the co-hosts to see some film they always wanted to see and then discuss. Another year doing so, each co-host chose a genre movie that they had never seen and decided to watch it and give their opinions.

Films we discuss are Lucio Fulci’s 1981 Lovecraftian film THE BEYOND, the 1974 film known as DAN CURTIS' DRACULA starring Jack Palance, Dennis Hopper's neo-noir thriller THE HOT SPOT (1990), and Hammer horror film TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER (1976).  A wide variety of films they are, but also some important ones too that one of your co-hosts finally got to see.

With all that, Dark Discussions would like to say happy 2025 to all of our listeners and extra mention to our Patreon supporters, both new and old, and hope to hear about some of the films you folks have never seen and plan to in this new year. Email us at [email protected] and let us know.

We take a different approach to the podcast today with some genre news. Instead of reviewing a film or book, we instead go through some of the news of the past year and discuss in detail some of the most interesting things we've heard. We talk about some upcoming adaptations of Red Sonja, Tomb Raider, Swan Song, among others. News about Lord of the Rings and the James Gunn DC Universe. Listed also are some "sleeper" science fiction films from the past that may have been overlooked. Take a listen and let us know what you feel.

Religious horror has been around forever.  Obviously much of it has been related to demons, exorcisms, the devil, and vampires.  Much of it has focused upon faith versus nihilism.  Well, the new film HERETIC (2024) takes an interesting twist with this subgenre of horror.  What if filmmakers decided to pursue more a philosophical approach. 

Two Mormon missionaries, young woman Sister Paxton (Chloe East) and Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher), have donated their time to knock on doors to spread the word of God as well as promoting their religion.  Following up on a lead from a man named Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), they leave the downtown area and knock on his door.  He welcomes them in, offers them some blueberry pie that his wife has made, and listens to the young ladies and asks follow up questions.

Scott Beck and Bryan Wood, the screenwriters of A QUIET PLACE (2018), both directed and wrote this new psychological horror film.  Starring Hugh Grant once again in an expected and fabulous performance, the film is heavy on dialogue allowing actresses Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher to play directly against Grant’s Mr. Reed.  Your co-hosts take a look at the movie and give their thoughts.

The new Indian film, SHAITAAN (2024), the Hindi word for demon, follows the home invasion film, but with a twist. The movie is a remake of a 2023 film entitled VASH, oddly starring the same actress Janki Bodiwala. Netflix picked this new version up and released it in March.

When a family of four head to their rural vacation home, they stop at a rest area to grab some food. When the counter clerk can’t take cash, a friendly man in line pays for their meal. Unfortunately the friendly stranger has his eyes upon the teenage daughter. And his kindness soon turns into a nefarious plot.

SHAITAAN stars Janki Bodiwala along with Ajay Devgn, Anngad Raaj, Jyothika, and R. Madhavan as the stranger. The movie has received mixed to low reviews by both critics and audiences alike. However, it has gotten a bit of buzz from horror audiences looking for something different upon an old story line. Your cohosts take a look at this recently released film and gives their thoughts.

So the Halloween Boutique Psychotronic Reviews podcast decided to do an episode on the 2009 movie WATCHMEN but our discussion went a bit long as we discussed the background to the movie, and its source material. So we decided to break it into two episodes. The second is all about the movie itself.

Directed by Zack Snyder, written by David Hayter and Alex Tse, and starring Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Good, Jackie Earle Haley, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, was not the success that the studio had hoped. With the usual debate between the fans of the graphic novel and superheroes in general, backlash and praise were both the norm.

Now fifteen years later, the movie has become somewhat of a cult classic. With its fabulous special effects, splendid acting, and changes to the story to make it fit within a movie length, the film, though polarizing, continues to find audiences through streaming. Your cohosts take a look at the film itself and give their thoughts.

Art the clown shocked audiences with the first film in the franchise, TERRIFIER (2018). With its sequel, adding a true “final girl”, and giving Art a back story, the sequel TERRIFIER 2 (2022) became an instant money grosser. Now 2024, TERRIFIER 3, following our hero and villain from the second film, was released in October for the Halloween season.

Sienna Shaw (Lauren LaVera) has been released from a mental health hospital after the trauma of facing Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) and surviving. She has moved in with her aunt, uncle, and cousin while her brother Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) has gone of to college. When true crime podcaster Mia (Alexa Blair Robertson) tries to get interviews with the two, the past comes crashing back leaving no one safe.

Director and writer Damien Leone is back with the latest in the franchise. Costing only $2M USD to make, the film went on to gross $63.9M USD and became one of the highest grossing films that have been released as unrated. The film, with its great reviews, has solidified Art the Clown as a new horror icon. Your cohosts track to the theater and take a look at the new film and give their thoughts.

In this day and age, not all that surprising, there are sequels to multiple films. One of them that was just released is SMILE 2, the sequel to the 2022 original. SMILE was a bigger success than the studio had expected and so they signed director/writer Parker Finn to a film deal and the first to be produced is SMILE 2.

Pop singer Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is about to go on tour. Its a new beginning for her after a car accident that injured her back and left her boyfriend and actor Paul Hudson (Ray Nicholson) dead. Recovering from drug abuse, no doctor will prescribe her painkillers for her back pain. When she meets up with a drug dealer, he begins freaking out that some sort of entity is following her.

Picking up right where the prior film ended, SMILE 2 follows the same antagonist from the original. Receiving fairly good reviews from critics and audiences alike, the movie almost tripled its $28M USD budget with a profit of close to $110M USD. You cohosts head to the theaters and decide to review the film giving their thoughts.

1975 was the release of Stephen King’s second novel, ‘SALEM’S LOT. It was a huge success. Shortly after the novel was turned into a classic television mini-series (1979), and a sequel (1987), plus a further remake (2004). But Hollywood wasn’t finished yet. The television prequel series CHAPELWAITE (2021) was released. Now finally a third remake has been released straight to VOD on HBO Max.

Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot as he begins to write a tale about an old dark house entitled the Martsten House which overlooks the town. At the same time two European immigrants set up an antiques store on main street. When a boy disappears, the local police chief begins to suspect that one of the new arrivals may be the perpetrator.

Immediately, the film production and what was screened was mediocre at best. As a result, the movie was shelfed as producers tried to decide what to do with it. But still, some big names were involved with the production. James Wan produced and Gary Dauberman wrote and directed. Your co-hosts take a look at this new adaptation and give their thoughts whether the bad rumors were true.

When Moses parted the Red Sea, it was considered to be an obviously miracle. The ocean and the tides have always been part of sea faring life and have had legends and myths follow them throughout history. A king’s tide is those tides that occur at points throughout the year where they are their highest as the moon, sun, and gravity play a part. The new Canadian film THE KING TIDE popped up on VOD recently to some fairly good reviews. But its title is more a metaphor than part of the interesting plot.

Bobby (Clayne Crawford) is the mayor of the only town on an island off the Atlantic Canadian coast. A small dingy appears by the shore with a young baby in it. He and his wife, having just lost a pregnancy, adopt the girl. When she grows up, she begins to show miraculous powers of healing and fortune. Though Bobby tries to hide this from the community, his mother-in-law thinks otherwise leading to great change upon them all.

The movie is directed by Christian Sparkes from a script from four writers. Besides Clayne Crawford, other stars include Frances Fisher and Lara Jean Chorostecki. The film was originally did the festival circuit in 2023 before a full release in 2024. With very good reviews, the movie had a short lived window of note. Your co-hosts take a look at it and give their thoughts.

The 2016 South Korean film, THE WAILING, showed a number of things about Korea. It included the nation’s feelings of the stamp Japan had left from its occupation of Korea during and prior to World War II. It also showed the superstition of some Koreans and how it still remains years later. The new film, EXHUMA (2024), though much different than THE WAILING has both these aspects within its plot as well.

When a wealthy American family of Korean ancestry believes that medicine will not cure a mysterious illness of their new born, they enlist two “Mu” (or shamans) to get to the bottom of what may be a long lasting curse that has followed the Americans from generation to generation.

The film is written and directed by Jae-hyun Jang and the cast includes superstar Min-sik Choi (OLDBOY 2003) in a very different role than some of his previous. The film was a huge success in its native country and appeared on the television station Shudder for North American audiences. Your co-hosts take a look at the film and give their thoughts.