I revisited Parasite after first seeing it around 2020 when all the Oscar hype surrounding it was everywhere.

It’s Bong Joon-ho’s story of a family slowly working their way into the lives of a wealthy household, with the incredible house itself almost becoming a character in the film.

In this episode I revisit my first impressions, the rewatch, the performances, and whether this hugely acclaimed film landed any differently for me second time around — while also talking about wanting to explore more of Bong Joon-ho’s other films like Memories of Murder and Mickey 17.

A revisit of Halloween and a reminder of why John Carpenter created one of the most influential horror films ever made. More than just a slasher film, Halloween remains a masterclass in suspense, atmosphere, and making everyday suburbia feel genuinely terrifying.

This episode is on Chopper (2000), directed by Andrew Dominik and starring Eric Bana in his breakout role as Melbourne criminal Mark “Chopper” Read.

It follows Chopper after his release from prison in the mid-1980s as he tries to navigate life outside, but quickly falls back into the same world of violence, manipulation, and criminal dealings that defined his earlier life.

What unfolds is a series of darkly comic, often unsettling episodes involving old associates, extortion attempts, and increasingly unstable behaviour.

This episode is about Opening Night, John Cassavetes’ fascinating backstage drama starring an extraordinary Gena Rowlands as an actress spiralling under the pressure of ageing, identity and performance. A raw, emotionally volatile film full of remarkable acting, long intimate close-ups, and a reminder of just how fearless Cassavetes was as a filmmaker. One of the most challenging and rewarding watches I’ve had in quite a while.

This episode is on The Doors. I first saw this around the time it came out, when I was heavily into both The Doors and Jim Morrison after reading No One Here Gets Out Alive. Oliver Stone captures the band’s rise through the late 60s brilliantly, while exploring Morrison’s creativity, intellect, self-destructive streak, and the chaotic energy that made both him and the band so fascinating.

This episode is about Terms of Endearment, a beautifully written family drama based on a novel by Larry McMurtry and directed by the always impressive James L. Brooks. Featuring wonderful performances from Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine and an effortlessly charismatic Jack Nicholson, it’s a film full of warmth, humour, emotional honesty and characters that feel remarkably true to life.

This episode is about The Cell (2000). I remember it at the time as one of the more visually striking and disturbing films I’d seen, built around the idea of entering a serial killer’s unconscious mind in order to locate a missing victim. It blends psychological thriller elements with surreal dreamlike imagery and a race-against-time investigation led by Jennifer Lopez’s character and Vincent D’Onofrio’s haunting performance.

This episode is on Magazine Dreams (2023), an intensely uncomfortable film about obsession, loneliness, and what happens when someone builds their entire identity around a single dream. Featuring an extraordinary performance from Jonathan Majors, it’s a powerful but deeply unsettling look at ambition in its most destructive form.

This episode is on Interiors (1978), a film I hadn’t seen in nearly 30 years and remembered as one of Woody Allen’s more serious departures from his usual style. Revisiting it now gave me a chance to look again at its striking visual style, the family dynamics at its centre, and a very different side of Allen as a filmmaker.

This episode is on The Sixth Sense (1999), a film I first saw in cinemas back when twists like this could still genuinely surprise audiences. Rewatching it now, I was struck by how well it still holds up — extraordinary performances from Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette and Bruce Willis, plus a brilliantly original script that remains just as rewarding even when you know exactly where it’s going.