Diminishing Returns

This year's three-part Diminishing Returns Halloween special continues with the next two movies in George A. Romero's "Of the Dead" zombie franchise: Survival of the Dead and Dawn of the Dead. We take a look at Zack Snyder's 2004 remake, too.

Diminishing Returns are going big for Halloween, this year, with a three-part "Podcast of Horror" special! We've been wanting to cover George A. Romero's "Of the Dead" zombie franchise for years, now, but we've finally found a solid place to fit them all in in a way that can do them justice. Looking at the films in the order of their internal chronology, we're starting, this week, with Night of the Living Dead, its hundreds of remakes and Diary of the Dead.

It's a particularly exciting week for Diminishing Returns - not because of the films we're covering (definitely not). No, it's an exciting week because we're joined by the one and only Jeff Davis to discuss all things Teen Wolf, including its transition from a questionable Michael J. Fox vehicle into a sexy, teen-drama series on MTV.

Murder, murder, murder! In a Diminishing Returns first (not counting that Diminisode where we covered Knives Out), we take a look at a murder mystery movie! It's Murder on the Orient Express, taking aim at the 1974 Sidney Lumet film starring Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot and the 2017 Kenneth Branagh version in anticipation of its sequel, Death on the Nile, which was due out this week but has since been delayed until December. We considered delaying this episode but figured we couldn't be bothered.

Also covered are the 2001 Alfred Molina version, the 2010 episode of the Poirot TV series and the 2015 Japanese version.

We had arguably the most exciting episode of Diminishing Returns yet all lined up, but our special guest had to postpone at the 11th hour, leaving us scrambling for content. We popped on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and two and a half hours later, we recorded this: an unusually impromptu edition of the podcast. Fret not, though, because we have yet another incredibly special guest coming up two weeks from now...

What is this, a crossover episode? Diminishing Returns are joined by How Didn't This Get Made? (who, confusingly, were going by "Development Hell" when this was recorded), the brand-new podcast from Sol Harris and Conor Murray that examines the history of movie projects that never got made.

Why? To examine one of the most infamous cases of a film that nearly never got made, but eventually fought its way out of Development Hell, only to finally make its way up and onto the big screen: Watchmen.

Is there a legitimate place for Zack Synder? Where does the film fit into the DC universe now that The Flash is going to go all Spider-Verse on us? Is the #SnyderCut better? All this and more in this week's edition of Diminishing Returns / How Didn't This Get Made?!

Find How Didn't This Get Made? on Apple Podcasts, here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/development-hell/id1531690420

Or just search for them on your podcast provider!

In an effort to make the show more woke, Definitely-Not-Racist Liam Neeson takes a look at some never-before-heard, deleted moments from previous Diminishing Returns recording sessions.

It's finally here: Diminishing Returns doing a Nicolas Cage episode! If you've never seen (or heard) of Vampire's Kiss, don't let that put you off as we're going to hold your hand through what is quite an obscure relic. Audio clips abound, along with a Nic Cage quiz and the birth of a new phrase, destined for the Oxford English Dictionary: "Cinematic Concealism".

Bill & Ted Face the Music is finally upon us, after years (followed by additional months of delay-based) waiting! To mark this most excellent of occasions, Sol and Allen are joined by Gareth to discuss Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.

It's the surprise return of #CalvinsSharks, the poorly named sub-series of Diminishing Returns episode where Calvin makes us cover shark movies! Except this time, it's Allen making Calvin do it. "It" being Jason Statham vehicle The Meg. Why? Well, you name another shark movie worth doing that we haven't already covered...