Dark Discussions Podcast

Valentine’s Eve: The Horror of Love- News and happenings and the winner of the Horror of Love Poll -Cat People Review.

When a miscellaneous character was added to the DC animated series, BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, in September 1992, no one knew that anti-hero/villain Harley Quinn would take off and become one of their most popular characters. Since then, the character has starred in numerous comic books, spin offs, and was featured in the film SUICIDE SQUAD (2016) and its upcoming sequel. However, a spin off movie now titled HARLEY QUINN: BIRDS OF PREY (2020) was released to excellent reviews.

After Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) is dumped by her longtime boyfriend, the Joker, she is now off on her own. After blowing up a chemical plant as revenge for becoming a woman scorned, all of her enemies are now out to get her. When she discovers that a highly regarded diamond has more value than she original thought, her goal is to give it to Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) so his henchmen will leave her alone.

Originally thought to have high box office potential, the movie surprisingly underperformed quite a lot. Some think it was the R rating while others felt it was the original name not highlighting the main character. Other issues may have been its very odd marketing. Either way co-hosts Mike and Phil along with guests Kevin and Barrett give their thoughts.

We are already 1/6th into 2020 and some good films have come out. Yet did last year start out with bang or a whimper? Dark Discussions puts together their review of all that was good and bad in 2019. Included is the consideration of 84 different films that were worthy enough to be considered as a top 10 film for genre and horror films.

Each of your co-hosts put together a list of movies they thought were good enough to be seen by audiences. This included both a list of horror films and a list of other speculative fiction films. Afterwards we then combined them and came up with Dark Discussions definitive lists of the best of 2019. Some obvious films like Midsommar and Us appear but also little known films like The Dead Center, The Furies, and Satanic Panic were considered.

Also included are some of our listener choices and what they felt were the best of the year. And don’t forget our top and worst scenes, scream queens, breakout star, and anything else you can think of. Dark Discussions wraps up last year in a nice tight bow and gives their listeners a good many films to go out and search for.

Pumpkinhead-News and happenings and a Pumpkinhead review

After A QUIET PLACE (2018), Scott Beck and Bryan Woods were in demand. The wrote that movie and it became a smash hit and listed as one of the top horror films of the year, if not decade. One of their earlier scripts they were able to get funding to co-direct. Produced by the likes of Eli Roth (CABIN FEVER) and Todd Garner (ZOOKEEPER), their latest film, HAUNT (2019), was grabbed by Shudder as an exclusive.

When a group of college students meet up for a Halloween gathering, they all decide to head out to funhouse like most people do during October. Once inside, the group split up and soon find out that what should have been a fun experience may be something else all together.

HAUNT has received quite strong reviews from such aggregate sites as Rotten Tomatoes. With the success of they’ve now had, Beck and Woods may suddenly become a desirable duo for future projects. Dark Discussions takes a look at this new film and gives their thoughts.

With January 2020 underway, it is time to visit what is coming this year to cinemas, video-on-demand platforms, as well as those genre films that are going straight to disc. Last year, genre films seemed to be lacking in quality. There were many gems but not the large amount seen in prior years. This year however there seems to be a lot of great fils coming. Plus also new seasons of some quality TV series.

Dark Discussions once again takes a look at all that’s on the calendar. Some of the more high profile flicks spoken of include GODZILLA VS. KONG, WONDER WOMAN 1984, A QUIET PLACE 2, as well as the sequel to the South Korean movie TRAIN TO BUSAN.

Some other flicks talked about include VFW, THE LODGE, SWALLOW and television series such as SNOWPIERCER and DEVS. And then at the very end we list off what is remaining as well as discuss some of the latest news about movies and genre cinema.

After the 20th Century Fox sale to Disney, there were a number of films that landed up in limbo. Disney had to go through various films and see what they could do with them. One of them was UNDERWATER (2020), a movie that had been sitting on the shelf since 2017. Starring a fairly strong cast, but with no marketable names, the movie remained unreleased for over two years. However, with its fairly expensive budget, Disney decided January of the new year could salvage a film they felt had no real market.

In the year 2050, Tian Industries has built large drilling stations seven miles below the surface. When an unexpected event causes mass casualties at station Kepler 822 leaving only a handful of survivors, the group has to figure a way to survive. Captain Lucien (Vincent Cassel) says that they should suit up and walk across the ocean floor one mile to Roebuck Station 641. With little chance of survival, an unexpected development adds to their dire circumstances.

UNDERWATER was directed by William Eubank in his first major studio film. The cast includes Kristen Stewart (TWILIGHT) back in mainstream films and French superstar Vincent Cassel (IRREVERSIBLE). With its breathtaking cinematography by Bojan Bazelli (A CURE FOR WELLNESS), the film has much to like. Dark Discussions takes a look at this new sci-fi horror film and gives their thoughts.

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 INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978), THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920), GASLIGHT (1944), TOUCH OF EVIL (1958), and THE UFO INCIDENT (1975). 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 2020 to all our listeners and patreon supporters, both new and old, and hope to hear some of the films you folks have never seen and plan to in this new year. Email us and let us know.

Best of Horror 2019-My Best of 2019 horror movie list.

Sometimes low profile films appear that get a bit of buzz. Many times, that buzz is just minimal, but it is usually enough for hardcore horror fans to take a look. THE DEAD CENTER (2019) is one of those. Some notice was brought because the film stars PRIMER (2004) director Shane Carruth.

When the body of a “John Doe” appears with bizarre body wounds, pathologist Edward Graham (Bill Feehely) arrives at the morgue to find the body is missing. An unknown man appears in a random hospital room. He appears to have behavioral health issues so Dr. Daniel Forrester (Shane Carruth) commits him to find out who he is. Dr. Graham continues to investigate what happened to the missing body while Dr. Forrester begins to find things about the mystery patient that become disconcerting.

First time director Billy Senese wrote this new film as well. The film, following a combination of a medical procedural and psychological thriller, spins its yarn in a way that gives only hints at where it will go. Dark Discussions takes a look at the movie and gives their thoughts.