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Our fourth bonus preview of forthcoming attractions that Conrad and Joe Lipsett caught at TIFF focuses on two British thrillers with a similar theme: children being locked in basements! The first, Good Boy (no, not the haunted house film told through the eyes of a dog), sees an aimless and hedonistic teenager (Anson Boon) get abducted by Chris (Stephen Graham) and Kathryn (Andrea Riseborough), and subjected to their unorthodox approach to parenting. The second, Bad Apples, stars Saoirse Ronan as a primary school teacher in the UK who, though an unfortunate sequence of events, ends up trapping a foul-mouthed, disruptive student in her basement. One is a compelling character drama that recognises and eschews genre conventions, the other is a cuttingly satirical black comedy. Did we like them? Find out!
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Our TIFF coverage continues with two horror-inflected films centring indigenous characters, and using hauntings as a method of exploring generational and personal trauma. In Taratoa Stappard's Mārama, a Māori woman travels from freshly colonised New Zealand to a creepily gothic English manor in the Yorkshire moors to uncover secrets about her family's past. Meanwhile, Bretten Hannam's At the Place of Ghosts (Sk+te'kmujue'katik) follows two estranged Mi’kmaw brothers' quest into the Canadian woods to avenge spirits that haunt them from their childhood.
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Happy Halloween! Writer, actor and producer Amanda Jane Stern returns for spooky season to introduce us to Don’t Look Under the Bed (1999), the Disney Channel’s first real foray into horror. It was a made-for-TV Halloween treat that prompted a parental backlash so strong it was quietly buried after a few years, only to recently resurface on Disney+! Directed by Kenneth Johnson (the creator of the 'V' science fiction franchise), it follows a sceptical teen (Erin Chambers) who reluctantly teams with a wisecracking imaginary friend (Eric “Ty” Hodges II) to stop the encroaching Boogeyman before he claims another victim. Should this family terror be sprung from the oubliette or be left to rattle around half-forgotten in the shadows under the bed? Find out!
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Our second preview of coming attractions from TIFF 2025 focuses on Genki Kawamura's psychological horror Exit 8, in which a commuter finds himself struggling to escape a seemingly endless loop of subway passages. Conrad joined Joe Lipsett, friend of the pod and co-host of the excellent Horror Queers podcast, in Toronto to discuss this liminal, time-loop terror, based on a popular video game.
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Horror Queers co-host and Toronto native Joe Lipsett joins Conrad for the first in a series of reviews of sci-fi, fantasy and horror films featured in this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). First up: Obsession, a darkly comedic relationship horror written, directed and edited by Curry Barker. It stars Michael Johnston as a hapless music store employee who makes a ill-fated wish that his secret crush, Nikki (Inde Navarette), would fall hopelessly in love with him. Be careful what you wish for...
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Joe Lipsett joings us to celebrate the imminent release of Tron: Ares by taking a look back at the original Tron (1982), a sci-fi action adventure arguably remembered best for its groundbreaking visuals and concepts rather than its storytelling and characters. Starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Cindy Morgan and David Warner, the film takes us inside an alternate reality within the rapidly emerging and little understood digital domain – which seems quaint in retrospect – to tell a tale of a society under threat of subjugation by an all-powerful and unchecked AI – which seems anything but quaint in our current context! But should this one be remastered in neon HDR 4K (hint: it already has been) and worshipped, or should it be de-rezzed and deleted? Find out!
Check out our guest Joe Lipsett on Instagram, Horror Queers and The Queer Gaze.
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Isaac Sutton takes on guest hosting duties with Dan to explore Charlie McDowell's The One I Love (2014) – an offbeat romantic mystery starring Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss, with the director's step-dad, Ted Danson, in a small but pivotal role. Shot largely at a single location over 15 days, it follows a troubled married couple who retreat to a secluded estate for therapy — only to discover a bizarre phenomenon that presents them with eerily perfect duplicates of themselves. As the surreal premise deepens, the boundaries between love, identity, and self-delusion begin to unravel. Should it be hailed as a clever indie gem about self-acceptance, or quietly left to vanish like a partner who didn’t make it out of the Twilight Zone?
Check out Isaac's YouTube channel for more of his movie hot takes and rankings!
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John D. Hancock’s Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971) is a moody, low-budget psychological horror shot in Connecticut, emerging at the uneasy dawn of the 1970s when American genre cinema was shifting toward ambiguity and dread rather than monsters and gore. Starring Zohra Lampert as the fragile Jessica, supported by Barton Heyman and Mariclare Costello, the film follows a small group retreating to a rural farmhouse where whispers of the past mingle with Jessica’s precarious mental state. Should this eerie curio languish in obscurity like a ghost no one believes in, or should it be acknowledged as a living, breathing classic of psychological horror?
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Dan returns to explore The Hidden (1987), a sci-fi horror directed with slick B-movie flair by Nightmare on Elm Street 2 veteran Jack Sholder! An alien parasite with a love of fast cars and automatic weapons is jumping from body to body in the neon-lit streets of L.A., pursued by Kyle MacLachlan's eerily blank FBI agent. Flashdance love interest Michael Nouri plays the increasingly confused detective trying to make sense of exploding boomboxes, possessed bank robbers, and his new partner's alarming method of taking alka seltzer. With a synth-heavy score, gory mayhem, and Reagan-era cynicism oozing through every scene, should The Hidden be unhidden to the world? Or was it hidden for a reason? Find out!
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Serge Bodnarchuk of Cold Crash Pictures joins Conrad to take on guest co-hosting duties while Dan goes on vacation – ironically, when we pull an Australian 80s sci-fi movie out of the Patreons' Choice nominations! It's another day, another ridiculous sci-fi bra for Carrie Fisher. The Time Guardian (1987) is an Ozploitation oddity directed by Mad Max (aka The Road Warrior) co-writer Brian Hannant, featuring a giant time-travelling dome, 'hoards' of menacing cyborgs, and a modern-day geologist trying to help a soldier from the future protect humanity's last hope. It's been largely overlooked and often difficult to find since its release. Even witty memoirist Carrie Fisher failed to mention it in her self-deprecating autobiographies. Should it be preserved for the ages in a time dome, or should it be blissfully forgotten? Find out!
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In this clip from our Patreon exclusive episode this month, we review the direct-to-video (DTV) sequel to The Secret of NIMH – often referred to as the worst sequel to an animated film and "every NIMH fan's worst nightmare" – and explore the DTV trend of the 90s.
If you like what you hear, head on over to Patreon where you can get access to bonus content, vote on future films and join our amazing community!
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Zoe Wells and Mikey Neumann of FilmJoy join us to revisit Tim Story's superhero sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). Released 2 years after Fox's surprising box office success with the original, the film marks a transitional moment in superhero cinema. Neither beloved or entirely dismissed, it's a sequel that manages to improve on its predecessor with world-ending stakes while still feeling oddly weightless and safe. Arriving just before the Marvel juggernaut truly found its stride with the release of Iron Man the following year, it flirted with cosmic grandeur (reimagining Galactus as an ominous V'ger style space cloud) while keeping one foot firmly planted in the PG, family-friendly camp with its will-they-won't-they wedding B-plot. As a second attempt at a reboot tops the box office, is it worth revisiting this one and enjoying its strengths? Or is it rightly consigned to oblivion? Find out!
Check out Movies With Mikey and Deep Dive to hear more of Mikey and Zoe's insights, and look out for Borderlands 4 while being nice to Sam Winkler!
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Jonathan McIntosh, creator of the excellent Pop Culture Detective Agency, joins us to uncover The Secret of NIMH (1982). Often remembered as an example of the surprisingly dark and sombre animated children's films of the 70s and 80s, alongside Watership Down (1978) and Disney's own The Black Cauldron (1985), The Secret of NIMH lacks musical numbers, but is filled with striking imagery, glorious hand-animated effects, memorable characters and a sumptuously rich Jerry Goldsmith score. The film made an indelible mark among those 80s kids who caught it on VHS or TV back in the day. But were they scarred for life by a morbid oddity or forever elevated by a magical piece of storytelling? Find out!
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In this clip from our Patreon exclusive episode this month, we continue our Superman coverage by making Dan watch Superman II (1980), which he only vaguely remembered from childhood! Does it hold up? How does it sit with Superman Returns (2006) as an intended sequel? And why are there two cuts of it? We discuss all of this and more in our 1-hour bonus episode.
If you like what you hear, head on over to www.patreon.com/movieoubliette and become a Patron to get hours of exclusive bonus content, nominate films for us to cover and vote on the final verdict – all for $10 or less!
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Oliver Harper joins us to celebrate James Gunn's reboot of the Superman franchise by looking back at Bryan Singer's Superman Returns (2006), which tends to get lost in the mix when discussing previous attempts to revive the DC superhero. It boldly attempted to pick up the thread of the Christopher Reeve/Richard Donner era Superman and act as a sequel to Superman II (1980), with the charming (then unknown) Brandon Routh channeling Reeve in his portrayal of the man of steel and his bumbling alter ego. Despite its stellar casting, John Williams musical themes, and lavish production values, it failed to soar at the box office, leading to the cancellation of its sequel and a rethink that led us to Zack Snyder's series 7 years later. But is it a nostalgia pandering misfire or a misunderstood gem that deserves to return? Find out!
Check out Oliver Harper's retrospectives and reviews on YouTube, including his recent look back at Man of Steel!
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Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo joins us to revisit his standalone sequel to Danny Boyle's iconic post-apocalyptic horror film. 28 Weeks Later (2007) focuses on the challenges of rebuilding a family and a society in the wake of the rage virus outbreak, while upping the stakes and the scale of the infected onslaught. In a sense, we get to see the things Jim slept through in the original. But despite a strong box office performance and positive reviews, it's often been overlooked since its release – even going unmentioned in the publicity around Boyle's own forthcoming sequel. Is it a under-appreciated entry in the series that deserves to be released from the Oubliette? Find out!
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Pascal Laugier's follow-up to Martyrs (2008) is a Canadian-French horror/thriller, set in a small, poverty-stricken town in Washington where local nurse Julia (Jessica Biel) gets caught up in a string of child abductions, which the townsfolk blame on a legendary boogeyman figure, The Tall Man (2012). The result is a twisty, turny tale full of surprises and stinger-highlighted jump scares. But is it an underrated classic of sociological terror or a muddle of deceptive plot contrivances? Find out!
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