Second Breakfast with Cam & Maggie

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Jennifer's Body asks the moviegoing audience an important question: what if Regina George was a Deadite? In this episode, we explore the Mean Girls & Evil Dead roots of this movie, before going deeper into its clear influence on modern horror hits like Obsession. Cam makes a detour to investigate the Faustian lineage of most of these films. Maggie explores the innovations that Jennifer's Body brings to half a dozen horror subgenres. We work together to analyze the fascinating choice to make a horror movie's signature creature design just be Megan Fox, which leads us into a larger discussion about both the horror of beauty and even the (often queer) horror of female friendship. Finally, we consider the potential and pitfalls of legacy sequels.

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00:00 Introduction 03:35 Rewatch Impressions 08:17 Mean Girls Meets Evil Dead 10:24 Obsession 16:58 Doctor Faustus 21:58 Subgenre Innovations 32:38 Creature Design 34:45 The Horror of Beauty 43:23 Female Friendship & Queer Horror 01:02:09 Closing (Sequel) Thoughts

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Doom: Revelations is so much more than an expansion. In this episode, we passionately argue that this is in fact the fifth modern Doom game in the last decade, an endlessly inventive, engaging, and replayable game in its own right that officially elevates the modern era of Doom into the same conversation as Halo during the Bungie years. Topics include: an ever-evolving endgame, signature weapons, the challenges of FPS boss fights, the secret to replayable campaigns, and how this game is a sequel to every single modern Doom game at the same time.

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00:00 Thesis / Impressions 04:10 Late Stage God of War 07:13 Destiny 2 (Art Direction) 08:30 Dark Souls (Difficulty) 10:59 The Ethos of Modern Doom 14:02 Signature Weapons 17:03 Uniquely Good Boss Fights 18:51 The Secrets of Replayability 21:25 Endless Endgame 27:18 Sequel to Eternal / Ancient Gods 29:41 Sequel to The Dark Ages 33:47 The Elephant in the Room 37:09 The Successor to Halo 40:09 Episode 666 / Closing Thoughts

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This episode is one of our 'white whales'. Possum is a bonafide masterpiece of indie horror, one of the most haunting, symbolically-dense, and unnerving movies we've ever seen — and we think we're finally up to the task of analyzing it properly. In this episode we're diving deep into every single one of the film's veiled metaphors: what is the puppet? who is the puppet? what does the title mean? We're also exploring creature design, paradoxical runtimes, genre fusions, and a string of outlandish comparisons ranging from The Babadook to Wuthering Heights.

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00:00 Intro / Outline 04:07 Second Impressions 11:56 Paradoxical Runtime 17:29 The Babadook 19:44 The Lighthouse 20:20 Hell House LLC 21:14 Wuthering Heights 23:25 Enemy 24:28 Grief Horror 27:00 Folk Horror 28:04 Classic Monster Movies 29:36 Creature Design 36:06 Who Kidnapped the Kid? 40:30 What is the Puppet? 51:44 What Does the Title Mean? 54:58 What is the Fox? 57:27 Punctum 01:01:47 Closing Thoughts

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We have argued for a number of months now that A Clash of Kings was written in thematic couplets, and that has never been more true than it is in this discussion, which juxtaposes Jon and Catelyn to reveal their striking similarities. GRRM also uses the repeated structure of these two chapters to draw out some shocking implications: equating Stannis with the White Walkers and interrogating Catelyn's treatment of Jon. Maggie investigates the endless blame game that stretches across these pages alongside a worryingly widespread trend of deferred responsibility. Cam revisits our "living ghosts" theory to figure out why all of our would-be kings feel like they've already lost the war.

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00:00 Dunk & Egg 02:20 Recap of Chapters 20:46 Combative Couplets 28:31 Implication & Accusation 35:13 Deferred Responsibility 42:21 A Parade of Dead Kings 45:11 Five Faustian Bargains 50:15 Closing Thoughts

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Evil Dead Burn is one of the best directed horror movies of the year. It's gnarly, it's fast, and it feels like it has something to prove. In this episode, we're exploring every aspect of the gloriously mean-spirited hunger at the heart of this movie, as well as some problems with runtime, fear factor, and creature design. We also work through some unorthodox comparisons, ranging all the way from Krampus to Succession, before forming some theories about "half deadites" and then zooming out to consider the past and future of this beloved franchise.

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00:00 Intro / Outline 02:03 First Impressions 10:07 Horror Sequels 13:25 Fear Factor 13:57 Runtime Problems 20:53 Krampus 22:15 Final Destination Bloodlines 22:53 Ready Or Not 23:41 Succession 25:42 Passenger 26:51 Inside 28:33 Genre Fusion 30:38 Franchise Innovations 33:10 Creature Design Woes 36:26 Will's Final Form 37:55 Theory: The Half Deadite 42:43 Theory: Victim Blaming 47:07 Post Credits Scene 50:05 The Future of the Franchise 52:44 Is This Movie Funny? 54:14 Punctum 58:36 Closing Thoughts

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Live service games are finicky and inconsistent, almost by definition. Unfortunately, this fourteenth season of Diablo IV is a major disappointment that feels consistently underbaked. In this episode, we're doing our full "State of the Game" check-in covering everything from fun factor to the reliquary system, discussing the Helltide-heavy and narrative-light seasonal campaign, revisiting the Barbarian and Spiritborn classes, and then spitballing some ways that Diablo 4 could improve its topsy turvy seasonal model.

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00:00 Intro / Outline 02:28 State of the Game 14:50 Seasonal Campaign 26:41 Class Update: Barbarian 29:28 Class Update: Spiritborn 33:20 Fixing The Seasonal Model 39:08 Closing Thoughts

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At one point during this episode, Maggie calls Evil Dead (2013) a miracle. It's a remake of one of the best and most influential horror movies of all time that has somehow itself become one of the best and most influential horror movies of this century. Topics include: the film's reverential remixes of the source material, the art of ninety minute horror movies, what makes gore memorable / effective, the best creature design since The Exorcist, provocative comparisons to a few modern classics, and some tricky theories about cursed families and talking metaphors.

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00:00 Intro / Context 05:58 Second Impressions 22:55 Runtime 28:35 The Evil Dead 31:29 Terrifier 32:51 Obsession 34:52 Talk To Me / Bring Her Back 36:03 Subgenre Smoothie 38:34 Creature Design 47:34 Theory: Hereditary Possession 51:40 Theory: Addiction Personified 54:08 Punctum 01:01:42 Closing Thoughts

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Wildfire is the central, most consequential plot device of A Clash of Kings, a book that is primarily about death. Does that mean that wildfire is death incarnate? In this episode, we are continuing to evolve our running theories about the "God of Death" in Westeros, the ongoing riddles about real and metaphorical Stark werewolves, and the increasingly conflicted affection that we feel for Tyrion Lannister. Maggie takes a closer look at Howland Reed and discovers some long-buried secrets. Cam investigates the wild contrast between these chapters and uncovers some striking similarities. We work together to ponder the role of the supernatural in this world: how much is magic and how much is metaphor?

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00:00 House of the Dragon 02:00 Recap of Chapters 16:07 The Quiet Couplet 23:08 Wargs & Weirwolves 26:28 The Magic of House Reed 32:31 Magic Or Metaphor? 40:04 Wildfire: Death Incarnate 47:14 Demystifying Tyrion 52:03 Closing Thoughts

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The House That Jack Built is — by a country mile — the most messed up movie we've ever seen. Oddly, it might also be the funniest. In this long-gestating episode, we're finally doing a deep dive investigation into one of the trickiest, densest, and most provocative movies ever made. It's a crime thriller. It's a black comedy. It's an unbearably grisly horror movie. But then again, you could also argue that it's the foremost (albeit nontraditional) adaptation of Dante's Divine Comedy. Topics include: the rudest needle drop of all time, an uncomfortably apt comparison to It's A Wonderful Life, the terror of temporary found footage, the potency of simplistic creature design in depicting pure evil, Lars Von Trier's use of the color red, and the boundless talent of Matt Dillon.

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00:00 Introduction 05:26 Impressions 17:39 Runtime 27:26 Funny Games 29:07 American Psycho 32:02 It's A Wonderful Life 35:37 Yorgos Lanthimos 37:01 Eugene Delacroix 40:24 True Crime 42:57 Crime Fiction 51:03 Horror 55:48 Comedy 01:02:28 Creature Design 01:11:18 Theory: The Color Red 01:18:14 Theory: Misdirection 01:26:00 Punctum 01:33:48 Closing Thoughts

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The Death of Robin Hood is a stunning, hypnotic, and gruesome collage of some of our favorite works of art ever made. In this episode, we're exploring in depth comparisons between Michael Sarnoski's latest film and the work of Robert Eggers, From Software's Elden Ring, Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part III, and Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher.

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00:00 Pattern Recognition 04:48 Impressions 06:42 Robert Eggers 21:04 Elden Ring 34:28 The Godfather: Part 3 38:26 The Witcher 47:14 Closing Thoughts