Dark Discussions Podcast

Scary old manor houses and doors to another world; that’s the theme of many horror films.  Even authors such as H.P. Lovecraft focused his tales upon such menaces.  The new joint Irish/Belgian film, THE CELLAR (2022), popped up on the television station Shudder as VOD on April 15th, 2022.  With its haunted house theme and a possible door to hell, the movie was a throwback to the 1970’s films.

Keira Woods (Elisha Cuthbert) and her family move to the Irish countryside for a new job as social media agents.  The home purchased is a giant manor home that was got on the cheap.  With its mysterious fully furnished rooms and its bizarre history, things begin to happen that may be more than just simple creaks of an old settling house.

Canadian actress Elisha Cuthbert stars as the mother/wife of the family.  The cast includes Eoin Macken and Abby Fitz.  Irish director Brendan Muldowney also wrote the screenplay.  Dark Discussions takes a look at this new film and gives their thoughts.

Australian actress Teresa Palmer has made a great career playing horror and genre films.  Her starring roles include the movies RESTRAINT (2008), WARM BODIES (2013), LIGHTS OUT (2016), and BERLIN SYNDROME (2017).  She also was the lead for the well received television series A DISCOVERY OF WITHCES that just ended its run this year.  Now she’s starring in the new film THE TWIN (2022).

When Rachel (Teresa Palmer) and Anthony (Steven Cree) have a car accident, one of their twin sons Nathan (Tristan Ruggeri) dies.  As grief holds its ugly cloud over the family, they decide to move back to Anthony’s home of Finland.  As they try to make a new life for themselves, Elliot, their other son, says that Nathan has returned to them.  Soon strange things begin to occur around their new house.

Shot in Finland and Estonia, the movie was directed Taneli Mustonen and co-written by him and producer Aleksi Hyvarinen.  The cast also includes Barbar Marten.  The movie made its debut in North America on the television channel Shudder May 6th, 2022.  Dark Discussions takes a look at this highly anticipated film and give their thoughts.

Welcome to Cortana’s Communiques – A weekly discussion of the Paramount+ television series HALO based on the video game series and the universe created by XBox.  Starring Pablo Schreiber and Natascha McElhone.

Series synopsis:

Aliens threaten human existence in an epic 26th-century showdown. TV series based on the video game ‘Halo’.

Welcome to Cortana’s Communiques – A weekly discussion of the Paramount+ television series HALO based on the video game series and the universe created by XBox.  Starring Pablo Schreiber and Natascha McElhone.

Series synopsis:

Aliens threaten human existence in an epic 26th-century showdown. TV series based on the video game ‘Halo’.

H.P. Lovecraft being adapted to the big screen has been mixed to say the least.  And in many cases, such movies are part of his “universe” he created rather than based off any specific story that he has written.  The movie THE DEEP ONES (2021) appeared late last year and got some notice with its title alone – about a group of monsters that appeared or were mentioned in numerous tales of his.

Alex and Petri are on vacation for some good old relaxation.   The property they are renting is owned by Russell Marsh, a local mover-and-shaker that runs a small colony of the beach town that the couple vacations in.  When a mysterious woman warns the couple about a mysterious cult, Alex especially becomes concerned when changes begin to happen with Petri’s behavior.

The film is written and directed by long time indy horror filmmaker Chad Ferrin.   THE DEEP ONES stars Gina La Piana, Johann Urb, Robert Miano, Silvia Spross, Jackie Debatin, and Kelli Maroney.  Dark Discussions takes a look at this midnight movie and gives their thoughts on this Lovecraft adaptation. 

Period piece horror films can be tough.  Especially when the film isn’t by a large production company.  The film, THE CURSED (2022), originally premiered at Sundance in 2021.  With a very positive response, the filmmakers updated the score, returned many of the practical effects, changed the films title, and smoothed out the CGI.  A year from its film festival premiere, the movie received a theatrical (if limited release) with some success.

In 1882, a group of Romany gypsies return to their property in a small village of France to settle.  The local village elders lead by Seamus Laurent aren’t happy.  With the gypsies having proof of ownership of the land, mercenaries are sent to frighten them away.  Unfortunately things go wrong, many die, and a gypsy woman sets a curse upon the village until justice has been received.

THE CURSED seems to have been missed by many.  Now, however, it has been released to VOD for rental and purchase.  The movie was written and directed by Sean Ellis (THE BROKEN (2008)) and stars Boyd Holbrook (THE PREDATOR (2018)).  The movie was filmed entirely on location in France.  Dark Discussions Podcast takes a look at this new movie and gives their thoughts.

Welcome to Cortana’s Communiques – A weekly discussion of the Paramount+ television series HALO based on the video game series and the universe created by XBox. Starring Pablo Schreiber and Natascha McElhone.

Series synopsis:

Aliens threaten human existence in an epic 26th-century showdown. TV series based on the video game ‘Halo’.

Welcome to Cortana’s Communiques – A weekly discussion of the Paramount+ television series HALO based on the video game series and the universe created by XBox.  Starring Pablo Schreiber and Natascha McElhone.

Series synopsis:

Aliens threaten human existence in an epic 26th-century showdown. TV series based on the video game ‘Halo’.

When extraterrestrial contact mixes with a commune environment, what usually occurs isn’t considered healthy.  The commune usually turns into something more, specifically a cult.  Individuality and freedoms fade away and connection with family and old friends dissolves.  The new film, COSMIC DAWN (2022) from Canada, gives us a tale that is both a science fiction story of first contact but also the harm of what cults may be.

Aurora (Camille Rowe) has fled from an alien abduction cult four years earlier.  When she was a child her mother disappeared where she believed the woman was abducted by the greys.  As she got older, she found a group of similar folk led by Elyse (Antonia Zegers) and soon fell into their sect.  After tragic events, she was able to escape but is still haunted by both them and the fear of being once more found.

Director Jefferson Moneo also wrote the film.  The cast includes Camille Rowe, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Antonia Zegers, Joshua Burge, Miho Suzuki, and Philip Granger.  Released earlier this year, the Dark Discussions crew decided to take a look at the movie and give their thoughts and discuss the film’s many topics.

Welcome to Cortana’s Communiques – A weekly discussion of the Paramount+ television series HALO based on the video game series and the universe created by XBox. Starring Pablo Schreiber and Natascha McElhone.

Series synopsis:

Aliens threaten human existence in an epic 26th-century showdown. TV series based on the video game ‘Halo’.