Dark Discussions Podcast

Welcome to Cortana's Communiques: The Halo Podcast, a weekly podcast to discuss each episode of the Paramount+ televisions series based off the XBOX video game franchise, HALO. This introduction tells you all you need to know about us and how you can listen.

Small foreign films seem to appear out of nowhere at times.  Some do get a little buzz.  And when the filmmakers decide to use English as the language of the choice, these movies even get more notice.  The small film, A PERFECT ENEMY, jointly produced by France, Spain, and Germany, while having an international cast which includes Polish and South African performers, has English as the spoken language of the picture, getting it to a wider audience.

Polish architect Jeremy (Tomasz Kot) lost his wife years ago when she suddenly disappeared.  Weighing heavily upon him ever since, he’s focused his life upon his work.  While waiting for his flight at the airport, a mysterious girl named Texel (Athena Strates) begins to show interest in him.  When her topics begin to sound somewhat unhinged, Jeremy begins to wonder if Texel is more than she says she is.

The film is directed by Kike Maillo and written by Cristina Clemente, Kike Maillo, and Fernando Navarro.  Found wherever VOD movies are found, the film is readily available to view including free on some paid services.  Dark Discussions takes a look at this interesting film and gives their thoughts.

The journey of finding oneself can be a very stressful, a very long, and even a sad journey.  Behavioral health can even be an issue for those who seem to have all their sh*t together.  Even popular people have their so called “demons” or damage.  The knew indy film that IMDB calls a horror comedy, KING KNIGHT (2022), follows a group of such folk who seem to be just that … lost.

From IMDB:  Thorn and Willow appear to have it all as the revered high priest and priestess of a coven of new age witches. But a secret from Thorn's past throws their lives into turmoil and sends them on a trippy, hilarious journey.

The film is the latest from director Richard Bates, Jr. who is probably best known for his 2012 film EXCISION.  KING KNIGHT stars Matthew Gray Gubler (CRIMINAL MINDS) and Angela Sarafyan (Westworld).  After doing the festival circuit, the movie was released everywhere in Q1 of 2022 getting some decent buzz by those critics who saw it.  Your co-hosts take a look at this interesting film and give their thoughts.

The 1974 horror film, THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, is arguably one of the most iconic psychological thrillers of all time.  It is considered a classic film in this day and age.  The movie had a supporting character breakout in the iconic villain Leatherface.  Since its original release there has been numerous sequels and even remakes.  Now in 2022, the latest in the series, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2022), was dropped on Netflix.

Lila and her sister Melody follow their friends, Dante and Ruth, travel to an old deserted town that has been bought up by Dante.  His plans are to make it a commune and home to similar progressive thinking people.  When Dante discovers a handful of people that still live in the town, he tries to evict them which leads to a chain reaction that sets off a murder spree reminiscent to the one from the original film in the franchise.

The movie is directed by David Blue Garcia from a script by Chris Thomas Devlin.  Fede Alvarez, the director of EVIL DEAD (2013), produces.  The film brings back the iconic  characters of both Leatherface and Sally Hardesty from the original 1974 movie.  Dark Discussions takes a look at this new movie and gives their thoughts.

Welcome to A Discovery of Witches, Demons, and Vampires Podcast – A weekly discussion of the Sky One, Now TV, Shudder, and Sundance television series A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES based on the ALL SOULS trilogy of novels by Deborah Harkness.  Starring Teresa Palmer and Matthew Goode.

Series synopsis:

Diana Bishop, historian and witch, accesses the old tome Ashmole 782 and knows she must solve its mysteries. She is offered help by the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, but he’s a vampire and witches should never trust vampires.

Welcome to Jason Unleashed Episode #02, a scene by scene review of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022). The film is better than a lot of people give it credit for. Maybe i can convince you to appreciate it a little more, or at least entertain you for the next hour or so. Thanks again for listening and join my Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MyBloodyPodcast

High school angst films were the big thing back in the day.  They still hold some power in today's world.  Some of the most memorable are films like CLUELESS (1995), JAWBREAKER (1999), or MEAN GIRLS (2004).  One of the biggest cult films of them all, HEATHERS, came out in 1989.  With its social dystopia along with its dreamlike results took Generation X by storm.  Though a failure at the box office, the movie became a success on video tape.

Veronica (Winona Ryder) goes to Westerburg High School in Sherwood, Ohio.  When she is accepted into the popular clique Heathers lead by Heather Chandler (Kim Walker), she thinks she’s finally find her identity.  When she discovers that being a Heather isn’t all what its was built up to, she finds solace in J.D. Dean (Christian Slater), an outsider rebel who gives her hope.   Soon the two of them start going down a dark path that leads to worse things than high school politics.

The movie was directed by Michael Lehmann and written by Daniel Waters.  Besides Christian Slater and Winona Ryder, the film co-stars Shannen Doherty, Kim Waters, and Lisanne Falk.  The movie helped jettison Slater, Ryder, and Doherty to stardom, and laid out the way future high school films would be made.  Dark Discussions takes a look at this Patreon pick and gives their thoughts on this cult classic.

It's been a while, but Amy is back to discuss the best horror films of last year. The group is eclectic but all fantastic films that everyone should see.

Welcome to A Discovery of Witches, Demons, and Vampires Podcast – A weekly discussion of the Sky One, Now TV, Shudder, and Sundance television series A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES based on the ALL SOULS trilogy of novels by Deborah Harkness.  Starring Teresa Palmer and Matthew Goode.

Series synopsis:

Diana Bishop, historian and witch, accesses the old tome Ashmole 782 and knows she must solve its mysteries. She is offered help by the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, but he’s a vampire and witches should never trust vampires.

The video game series, RESIDENT EVIL, may be one of the if not the most popular horror video game franchise of all time.  Having eight official games, plus a number of spinoffs, the series has been one of the video game maker Capcom’s biggest sellers.  Soon a movie franchise was born starring Milla Jovovich which at first followed the game story line but soon later completely left its source material.  In Q4 of 2021, the new film RESIDENT EVIL:  WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY promised to get back to the origin of the story (as a prequel).

Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario) returns to Raccoon City to rekindle her relationship with her brother Chris (Robbie Amell) as well as to dig into their history as orphans.  When residents begin to start acting strangely and the Umbrella Corporation, the biggest city’s employer, locks down the city.  Claire, among the local police force, are locked in and have to find out what is going on and how to get out.

The film is directed and written by Johannes Roberts, known for such films as 47 METERS DOWN (2017), 47 METERS DOWN: UNCAGED (2019) and THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT (2018).  The film stars Kaya Scodelario, Tom Hooper, Neal McDonough, Avan Jogia, among others.  Dark Discussions Podcast takes a look at this new film in the series franchise and gives their thoughts.