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Matt Belinkie, Pete Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matt Wrather broke the One Wish Willow and it paid off, as a slate of fresh horror comedy has captured the attention of the moviegoing public and the zeitgeist at large… but to what end?

Following on Matt and Jordan’s recent two-hander on Backrooms, Belinkie shares his take on Obsession, which has become not just the hit film of the day, but something of a popular moment of connection, speaking to something deep and current in the culture, especially among young people, and particularly young women. To bring folks back into movie theaters together, the current moment in horror comedy seems to speak to not just shared fears, but shared relationships with fear, and a need to mirror to one another an understanding of a fearful reality that might be too seldom honestly discussed in good faith in society at large.

The Overthinkers propose candidates for this resonance, particularly in contrast to the broad cultural distaste for recent power fantasy tentpoles The Mandalorian and Grogu and Masters of the Universe, as well as a nadir for tentpole comedy that seems to accompany this zenith in tentpole horror.

Do you worry about problems? Yearn toward solutions? Veer toward thrill or safety? Listen to the episode, and make your One WIsh come true.

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Episode 938: Living in the Problem originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]