Recovered

Dan and Keith head down once more into the lair of the Phantoms and their various operas, if not of the box office. One made-for-TV movie sets Jane Seymour and Michael York against a Phantom whose motives go from sympathetic to sinister on a dime, while another stretched the story to a full miniseries to soft-launch a rival Phantom musical. In between, an animated version tries to speed-run the original novel with Hanna-Barbera level animation. Finally, Dario Argento enters the opera house with some wild swings, including the prettiest Phantom and way more of a specific character than anyone would expect. How to the Phantoms hold up? Which one is wildly popular with viewers? Find out!

Dan and Keith head to Germany for two movies on three key things: dance, magic, dance! In 1977, Italian director Dario Argento told the tale of an American ballerina caught up in a German dance academy secretly run by witches... witches that go from zero to murder alarmingly quickly. The visuals were sharp and colourful, but the story seemed thin... then in 2017, Luca Guadagnino went with starker greys, more dance, and so much story Dan and Keith need shovels to unpack it all. Which Suspiria succeeded in which ways? Is the original Argento's best movie? Is the remake Dakota Johnson's? Find out our thoughts.

And we're back into the Phantoms & Operas sagas, seeing how two distinct film eras take on the Phantom: the auteur era of the 70s, and the slasher horror era of the 80s! In the time when creative vision was king, two Phantoms emerge. Wicked, Wicked attempts a new cinematic technique called DuoVision as a Phantom haunts a mid-range hotel, while Brian De Palma and Paul Williams unite for the rock opera Phantom of the Paradise, blending the Phantom with Faust and a lot of great tunes. But once Andrew Lloyd Webber made the Phantom a Broadway smash, there was only one thing to do: cheap knock-off horror movies! Robert Englund tries to break away from Freddy Krueger in the more book-accurate Phantom of the Opera, while a competing film in the same year goes another way in Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge, both brining the key elements of terror: blood, gore, and... Pauly Shore? Which is the best adaptation? Join us and find out!

'Tis the season to embrace, be merry, and hope the rich jerks in your life get haunted, and to celebrate, Dan and Keith take on a Curated Selection of Christmas Carols. Trying to cover every version of Dickens' classic holiday haunting would be an act of madness, so after travelling back to 1901 for the first ever film Scrooge, the boys examine ways Scrooge cinema tried to add elements to the story, be it meta-commentary, modernization, Muppetization, and more. Bill Murray, Michael Caine, Some Bloke From Eastenders, and Miscellaneous learn the errors of their ways on Christmas Eve, and we break down what errors they may have missed. God bless them, (almost) every one! Join in!

At last it arrives! In sleep it sang to you, in dreams it came... the Phantoms of the Operas Mega-Saga begins! Dan and Keith head way, way back to the silent era for the first film adaptation of Gaston Leroux's gothic horror novel the Phantom of the Opera, with Lon Chaney as the signature Phantom. Then it's off to China for Chinese cinema's first ever horror movie, the loose Phantom remake Song at Midnight, which may have added an element to Phantom lore? Back in America, the 40s tried a version that was too little Phantom, too much Opera, while in the 60s Hammer Horror asked "But what if the Phantom WEREN'T the villain?" Dan and Keith debate unmaskings, which even count as horror movies, and how some were held back by their eras as the Phantom Journey begins!

It's the big 100th episode, and to celebrate, our hosts (or are they?) dig into our lords and saviours, the RoboCops! In 1987, Paul Verhoeven satirized capitalism through a hero that was part man, part machine, and all cop, and John Tebbutt explains what got lost from the later director's cut, while Emma Gallaher relates her first-time-viewing experience. Then, 27 years, two sequels, a TV show, and at least one cartoon later, a star-studded remake was attempted that came close to touching on big topics, but like the robotic cop at the center of the story, it stops working when emotions are involved. Dan and Keith have thoughts... wait, who's hosting this again? Listen in and find out!

Wrapping up our dissection of Fantastic Four cinema with two polar opposite takes on Marvel's First Family. In 2015, Josh Trank attempted a more grounded, body-horror-infused take that met with severe studio notes and mandated reshoots, leading to a bunch of grey corridors and one action beat before the credits. It did not go over great. This very year, the MCU finally got their crack at the characters, and presents a whimsical, retro-futuristic world where an established Fantastic Four takes on Galactus for the fate of their world, and moreso, their family. Have we hit the best and worst of the Fours Fantastic? Find out!

The Fantastic Four! Once dubbed "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine," they've struggled to make it on the big screen, split between earnest attempts at blockbusters and quickie attempts to retain the film rights. And Dan and Keith are here to tackle one of each as the road to First Steps begins. Roger Corman produced the first attempt, a low-budget B-movie never intended to see the light of day, but which didn't account for the nascent internet's ability to spread a video file. Eleven years later, Tim Story made it into theatres with, at present, the only Fantastic Four movie to earn a sequel. Who did best with Dr. Doom? Which source material should Tim Story NOT have referenced? Can The Thing look good on screen? All this and more, with the Fantastic Four(s)!

Dan drags Keith into his film history brainrot in order to answer a question: do the biggest hits of the 20th century need or warrant a remake? We look at the biggest hit of each year from 1927 until 1999, from the dawn of the silent era to the birth of Jar Jar Binks and ask which of these hit films should be made again, which should stay lost to film history, and which will never stop being remade. Join in!

John Carpenter September continues as Dan and Keith crack open 1976's Assault on Precinct 13, and its 2005 remake, the same year as The Fog's remake. Carpenter's version favours simplicity, as the soon-to-close precinct is besieged by a seemingly unending and unstoppable horde of nigh-inhuman gang members on a vendetta, until only a handful remain. 2005, however, takes a different spin, as this titular precinct is under siege from corrupt cops, meaning the simple menace of the original is replaced by being massively out-gunned and out-armoured by an elite squad... but damned if Laurence Fishburne and Ethan Hawke aren't worth watching. Who plotted the better assault? Find out!