Dystopian Films and Horror

Steeped in period details and puritan theology, Robert Eggers’s first feature takes us back to a time when the human imagination allowed such fanciful notions as the devil taking the time to appear to humans in the form of a goat and witches using the blood of un-baptized babies for anti-gravity spells. Yet it's all grounded in the timeless truth that the worst horrors always originate in human frailty.

When you think about it, an astronaut crash landing on a planet ruled by intelligent apes sounds like the premise for either the worst movie ever made or the best movie ever made. Thankfully, everybody involved with the project delivered and created a sci-fi masterpiece that continues to resonate through popular culture. We delve deep into some of the satirical and thematic implications with a special guest.

Kubrick was never one to respect convention, and his one horror film resolutely defies genre staples with its brightly lit interiors, low body count, and lack of explanation. Yet it is widely hailed as one of the most terrifying horror movies ever made. We get into Kubrick’s achievements with this film while carefully navigating the hedge maze of extravagant interpretations that the work has inspired.

James Cameron’s original sci-fi action thriller launched a franchise that is still going strong (or at least still going), but in our opinion none of the sequels come close to matching the intensity, low-tech bravura, and humanist core of the first movie (yes, we’re including the second one in that assessment). It’s well worth a re-watch if you haven’t seen it in a while.

A blockbuster before anybody had heard the name Star Wars. A meditation on faith and doubt conceived by a devout Catholic. A film that regularly shows up on short lists for the best horror movies of all time. The Exorcist manages to be all these things and more. It also rewards multiple viewings, and if you think you’ve explored every aspect of this rich film, we may surprise you with this episode.

We take on one of the heaviest hitters on this episode, a movie widely regarded as one of the best action films ever made and one of the most imaginative and fully realized depictions of a future dystopia. It’s so big that we needed to bring in two special guests to do it justice.