Introduction and Southern California Fires Discussion
00:00:19
Kevin Dougherty
 right, welcome back to Fright Central. I'm Doc back here again as always with Keck. And again, we are here doing a podcast and LA is on fire again.
00:00:29
Kevin Dougherty
 I feel like we're repeating ourselves again.
00:00:34
Kevin Dougherty
 ah Yeah, so but we're not gonna talk about that.
00:00:37
Keck
 Well, I mean I guess we should talk about it for maybe a minute or two because ah Right before doing this cast.
00:00:38
Kevin Dougherty
 We're gonna
00:00:47
Keck
 I was listening to the PBS News Hour and Those are pretty like level-headed Journalists that give you like the facts like objectively as they see them and and they described this in a word I've never heard really used before but they said apocalyptic and they said before records or since records were capped so what's happening right now especially directly in your area not just all of California but southern California this shit has like never really been recorded happening like this
00:01:32
Kevin Dougherty
 No, now the Palisades are gone. Altadena's gone.
00:01:35
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, and it's threatening Pasadena now.
00:01:36
Keck
 Yeah, so we need to acknowledge this, you know, we're not going to turn this into like a political global warming podcast on the fly, but we need to.
00:01:48
Keck
 We need to. I wasn't trying to be that funny, but um we need to acknowledge that this is some fucking biblical fucking ah way not usual shit that's happening in California and lives are being lost right now and um parts of southern California as you said um are just gone gone they were there for a very long time they're now gone so
00:02:17
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, entire series.
00:02:21
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, it like less than 24 hours, just, yeah.
00:02:24
Keck
 Yeah, I'm not going to say like like have a moment of silence and go real dramatic, but the shit that's happening in Southern California is fucking dramatic. And if you are not totally appraised on the situation, you should get appraised and you should ah fucking do anything in your ability to either donate, whether it's monetary or um even volunteering yourself if you have the ability to get there as a volunteer do whatever you can to help the people of Southern California and that's all I got on that yeah that you may have to leave at any moment you're probably like yeah for now
00:03:05
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, that was well put. Well, let's get back into the fantasy realm so we can I don't have to think about the ah fire since ah they're pretty much surrounding me. ah right
00:03:19
Kevin Dougherty
 im say I'm safe down here. We're not ah we're at least 33 miles from it. Yeah, it's it'd have to be a ah lot worse than it is now. which It's already terrible, but it seems to be going up into the mountains over the brush.
00:03:31
Kevin Dougherty
 and It would really have to come down to the city for, for all the way down to Redondo for me to be in trouble.
00:03:39
Kevin Dougherty
 I'm okay right now. So, uh, yes.
00:03:41
Keck
 Being near to the ocean is always a good thing. ah Investing in a boat right now, yeah, investing in a boat like even just a rowboat is not like a considerably bad idea for you actually just to have.
00:03:44
Kevin Dougherty
 Air quality is much higher down here too. and
00:03:58
Keck
 But yeah, again, going back into the
Transition to Fantasy and Horror Discussions
00:04:04
Keck
 our purview of this cast.
00:04:05
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, so let's ah talk about the best horror movies of 2024, in our opinion that is, and no one else's.
00:04:13
Keck
 So a lot of content to cover.
00:04:15
Keck
 um you know This may be a slightly longer than normal cast because of the vast amount of stuff we have to cover. One thing I just want to say before getting into the body of this is ah The thing I like to do before every cast is crystal lake news.
Crystal Lake and Welcome to Derry Series Updates
00:04:35
Keck
 walked 24 hours before this and again there is no crystal lake news. So your crystal lake news is there is no crystal lake news.
00:04:41
Kevin Dougherty
 i actually I actually found some Crystal Lake news.
00:04:45
Keck
 You have something to add on that Kevin?
00:04:48
Keck
 Really? It slipped me by.
00:04:51
Keck
 When did you find this?
00:04:53
Kevin Dougherty
 I found it the other day when I had looked for it and apparently this was published December 24th so it missed us both in the last couple casts.
00:05:01
Keck
 I searched this morning. I must have missed this.
00:05:05
Kevin Dougherty
 Yes, it's ah it's just a ah brief update. ah of This is from the showrunner of Brad Caleb Kane. He had posted on Instagram that ah the um he wished I could give a more substantial update, but mum's the word.
00:05:21
Kevin Dougherty
 Suffice to say, the story's been broken, scripts have been and are being written, and the goal is to give the fans, including myself, a tense, scary, bloody, and satisfying ride that's well worth the wait.
00:05:32
Kevin Dougherty
 More news to come in the new year, unless, you know, unless you know we're all doomed.
00:05:35
Keck
 It's not getting made. It's not getting made. It's not getting made. It's not getting made.
00:05:41
Kevin Dougherty
 That's currently being written.
00:05:44
Keck
 Currently not getting made. It could be currently getting written. ah My prediction is that this series will never air.
00:05:53
Kevin Dougherty
 it's It's currently not being filmed, but it is being written, and and so far so good. so
00:05:58
Keck
 Is it if it hasn't already had like a substantial like written draft at least like I'm talking about going back to Before the whole like a suspicion of possible embezzlement and money laundering and rather thing Yeah
00:06:10
Kevin Dougherty
 Well, they didn't like the original script, so they're starting from scratch since they rehired them. so
00:06:20
Keck
 Yeah, got I'm just saying my prediction is this is never happening. And I've thought this pretty much the whole time.
00:06:28
Kevin Dougherty
 OK, well, ah according to the other show that I believe he's also show running with ah the Machete's is the Welcome the Dairy HBO series.
00:06:42
Keck
 Oh, yeah, that's cool. Yeah.
00:06:44
Kevin Dougherty
 They already have one season complete and the studio is happy with it. And if it's does well they already have an outline for the next two seasons and they want to do three seasons total and they're basing each of the three seasons on like the catastrophes that start off before it appears. So the first season is going to be set in 1962, the second season is going to be set in 1935, and the third season is going to be set in 1908.
00:07:12
Keck
 See, I have a lot of questions and I could get into a big ass conversation about this right now because I have questions about it, I have expectations for it and all that, but because of the ah amount of content that we have to cover tonight, I'm going to say I'm going to make a note of that and save it for another cast.
00:07:36
Kevin Dougherty
 Okay. Well, I don't have any more updates for you besides what they just said right there.
00:07:39
Keck
 Alright, so let's dive into it.
00:07:42
Keck
 ah We're going to be talking about the um best of 2024 in terms of horror sci-fi content.
Best Sci-Fi and Horror TV Shows of 2024
00:07:53
Keck
 um I don't have any literature that I have personally picked for 2024 if you do by all means mention it. um But we're going to be covering all of the films and television shows that in our opinion are worth mentioning. um Now one thing to note and this is like a little bit difficult
00:08:19
Keck
 For me, and I guess you'd have to speak to it, Kev, a little bit more, um there are two shows ah that took place that started in 2024 that we do not have a conclusion for. And one of them is the newest Dexter. And the other one is something that we've mentioned on the cast before called Silo. um Now,
00:08:45
Keck
 ah I'm going to say though, even though I have not seen ah all of them, I'm caught up on episodes and barring a total, oh, and ah Doom Prophecy, which you told me already finished,
00:09:02
Keck
 But barring a complete collapse of the writing, acting, and direction of those shows, I'm going to say that I've seen enough of them where I can rate them as being the best or worst of 2024. So I'm going to act as though I've seen the full seasons. I'm just going based on that because I've seen at least half two, three quarters of all of them. So i'm I'm going to go off of that. So I just want that full disclosure. That's where my mindset is.
00:09:44
Kevin Dougherty
 OK, well, then what other teams since we're starting with TV, ah ah what else did you have on here? Because I would agree. I mean, both ah ah Dexter, Dune and Silo have been fantastic shows.
00:09:56
Kevin Dougherty
 ah Some of the other ones I mean, Fallout, which we talked about.
00:09:56
Keck
 Well, no yeah, I was going to say Fallout was my number one. But what I was going to ask first is, OK, you're doing ah your ah best of 24 television in the horror sci-fi genre. What do you how many um do you have on that list?
00:10:21
Keck
 Do you have a top five, a top 10, a top 20? How many do you have on there?
00:10:28
Kevin Dougherty
 I just wrote out a bunch of ones that I had saw last year, and I didn't really organize them into a list.
00:10:34
Keck
 Oh, so you didn't organize them in terms...
00:10:37
Keck
 Well, could you briefly in your mind organize them into a top five?
00:10:43
Kevin Dougherty
 Well, yeah, I mean, Fallout would be number one, probably.
00:10:46
Keck
 Yeah, Fallout for me is also number one.
00:10:49
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah. I mean, I'm not counting. I mean, Ooh, Dune was really good, though. But I would say Fallout.
00:10:58
Kevin Dougherty
 Fallout would still be...
00:11:00
Keck
 ah I'm going to say, and this is bold, and I might be forgetting something, but my number two, I think, might be Sila.
00:11:12
Kevin Dougherty
 okay so Yeah, Sila's been really good as well.
00:11:14
Keck
 Yeah, I mean, that would be in your top five, right?
00:11:18
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:11:19
Keck
 Yeah. what would you Do you have another, what would your second pick be if it's not Sila?
00:11:27
Kevin Dougherty
 If it's not silo or my first pick's not doing prophecy. yeah
00:11:31
Keck
 doing profits you would say had on the is higher up the on your western silo is so doing profits you would be your number though well you know you had asked me to watch it i got to see three episodes i'm
00:11:41
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, I mean, just because it was a shorter season, I think we're getting 10 for silo and and Dune was sit only six. So it was a little more compact. oh
00:11:57
Keck
 it doom prophecy got very very mixed reviews that's safe to say um it it did not get the reception especially on the imdb that uh people had thought it would get that said i totally agree with you like i think it is hg incredibly underrated compared to
00:12:04
Kevin Dougherty
 I don't care about other people's reviews.
00:12:23
Kevin Dougherty
 I mean, it's got 7.3 for the season, so.
00:12:25
Keck
 Yeah, and ah I think it should be like an 8.0, 8.0 to 8.5, I would say, would be my rating.
00:12:33
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, I just the way you were making it sound like people were giving it like as fours and fives or whatever like You're saying it should be right higher than it is yeah Yeah
00:12:39
Keck
 No, no, but I mean, in terms of, I'm just saying, for me, anything below 7.5, I don't even pay attention to. So that that that's how I am.
00:12:52
Keck
 So like a 7.3 and understand too that they hired like the actors that are doing all the cool sci-fi shit.
00:13:03
Keck
 Like that one soldier dude from Vikings and ah from ah Raised by Wolves.
00:13:10
Kevin Dougherty
 That's my walls, yeah
00:13:12
Keck
 Dude, he is a phenomenal actor that is just made for science fiction horror. like he was i mean i think he like Aside from that one other actor and raised by wolves, he's single-handedly carried.
00:13:31
Keck
 the first and second seasons on his back. Without him, that show would have gone considerably worse. So, I mean, yeah. Whenever he's in something like this shit, that's very commanding. um The other actor in ah ah Doom Prophecy,
00:13:52
Keck
 that I thought was incredible, and is why Dune made it so high on my list, was ah oh the woman that made ah the last Adam Sandler film I saw somewhat tolerable, which was Punch-Drunk Love,
00:14:11
Keck
 She played like Adam Sandler's like love interest and then she graduated from there to horror and she played Ray Fiennes' love interest in Red Dragon and I thought she would she's Mother Superior, the one that takes over.
00:14:26
Kevin Dougherty
 Okay. Who is she? Who is she in this? Is it um the the main mother, superior? Okay.
00:14:36
Keck
 Yeah, the the new the living Mother Superior.
00:14:40
Keck
 There's only one Mother Superior, the head of Third Covenant, alive at one time.
00:14:46
Kevin Dougherty
 Yes. Yeah.
00:14:48
Keck
 So she's currently yeah one of the lead actors in the series.
00:14:53
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, because I also like i really like the the woman who plays her sister as well. I think she's phenomenal as well.
00:15:00
Keck
 yeah i'm not as for familiar because again um i'm three episodes missing from this so i'm wanting three episodes um but yeah i mean the duo between the two of them uh has been fantastic so yeah i mean i i My whole thing is I just expect it Dune because Dune the movies both films have done extremely well both at the box offices and ah in terms of ah critic and user reviews.
00:15:09
Kevin Dougherty
 yeah. yeah
00:15:38
Keck
 They've done intensely well, so I assumed a Dune television series produced by HBO would be, you know, just at least like 7.8 or 9 or beyond 8 in ratings and I was shocked to see that it was this low.
00:15:58
Keck
 and watching with it I just totally disagree with the critic and user reviews. that That's where I'm at. Don't want to spend any more time on this. ah Moving on.
TV Shows: Hits and Misses of 2024
00:16:11
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, um the second season of Squid Games, which was just released around Christmas, I thought that was phenomenal as well. I was a little upset that it was only seven episodes, but we should begin another season this year, ah hopefully soon, so because it it ended on a cliffhanger and I was like, God damn it.
00:16:28
Kevin Dougherty
 like yeah like So I thought that was really well done. I mean, I binged that in like a weekend. um
00:16:34
Keck
 I tried to binge it. um I finished yesterday, um but I only got to five and a half, um no excuse me, four and a half. So I saw four and a half of the fifth episode.
00:16:55
Keck
 i root I thought it started off strong, I liked it. um I got to the point where I really don't think I'm going to continue it. um I really disliked what I saw this season, so we're kind of on opposite sides of this. Would watching the final two and a half episodes changed my mind.
00:17:17
Keck
 I really don't think so. um We will probably talk a little bit more about Squid Game season one and two in another cast. But for me, ah yeah, I wasn't ah a big fan of that.
00:17:32
Keck
 That wouldn't have been one of my top shows of 2024. But back to you.
00:17:38
Kevin Dougherty
 Okay. um Then maybe the series cross based on the Alex Cross books. It's more of a like a seven type of style.
00:17:51
Kevin Dougherty
 um It was originally played by Morgan Freeman and ah along came a spider and kissed the girls.
00:17:57
Keck
 oh I saw along came a spider recently kissed the girls.
00:18:02
Keck
 I'm a bit removed from Yeah, yeah, oh so it's the same character he's the tracker he's uh, he's basically playing the character that Tommy Lee Jones plays on like 90% of his roles and
00:18:04
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, that's ah both. both ah He beat plays the same character, Detective Alex Cross, that hunts like serial killers. And that, yeah.
00:18:22
Kevin Dougherty
 yeah So yeah, Alex Cross, this Detective series ah is you know hunting a killer and ah hunting a serial killer. That's actually like, um He's um recreating other famous ah serial killers' kills.
00:18:39
Kevin Dougherty
 or he's making he's Sorry, he's making people look like famous serial killers, you know left the you know, their final shot before they were like on death row and stuff.
00:18:50
Kevin Dougherty
 So he's like doing reconstructive surgery to these victims to make them look like famous serial killers.
00:18:57
Keck
 And is Morgan Freeman, does he play Alex Cross in this series or another?
00:19:02
Kevin Dougherty
 No, not in this. This is a rebooted series. Yeah.
00:19:06
Keck
 And what it where did that come out? What is that available on?
00:19:11
Kevin Dougherty
 It's all not Amazon Prime.
00:19:11
Keck
 is that Okay. And how was that received? Do you have numbers that you look at like a a critic user ah reception?
00:19:22
Kevin Dougherty
 i IMDBSA has a 7.2 out of 10.
00:19:28
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, it stars Aldous Hodge.
00:19:32
Keck
 ah Yeah, i'm I'm not familiar with that particular actor, and anybody else side I know from anything else, or...
00:19:39
Kevin Dougherty
 Uh, he had a small bit roll and die hard with a vengeance.
00:19:44
Kevin Dougherty
 When he was like younger, cause he's, uh, yeah, I mean, he's only about five years younger than me.
00:19:49
Keck
 What's your opinion of it? I have not seen it, so I can't.
00:19:52
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, I thought it was good. I mean, it's in my top five, I would say.
00:19:55
Keck
 in your top so that's so this is your one in your top fives of 2024 and then the name of it again was
00:20:05
Kevin Dougherty
 Just, just cross.
00:20:06
Keck
 cross okay okay okay so that it so that is that is your fifth pack right you've already gone through four um now do you have uh before you do notable mentions and stuff like that do you have any shows of 2024 that um
00:20:07
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah. Yeah.
00:20:14
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, we might get back here. yeah
00:20:29
Keck
 you would consider were things that you were looking forward to, but um just were very mediocre, ran well below your expectations.
00:20:40
Keck
 Not to do, I don't want to like stack up like a worst of 2024, but are there, is there a title or two in like your repertoire that you felt were like, eh, man, you know, that really could have been good, but no, or nah.
00:20:58
Kevin Dougherty
 I don't know if I mean, there's some that are they're definitely not as good. Like, I don't think from season three as is as good as one and two. ah Now, ah I know you
00:21:08
Keck
 yeah but it wasn't like a total disappointment yeah i wouldn't it was one of my more disappointing but like yeah i wouldn't rate it when someone said like oh from season three like i wouldn't be like oh god it was terrible don't even watch it like uh clamps to your testicles like nah um yeah
00:21:29
Kevin Dougherty
 I know you hate it. True Detective Night Country. ah of I didn't hate it as much as you did, but it is like um down there with probably like the one of the worst, one of the worst worst seasons of of the anthology.
00:21:44
Keck
 That's number one for me. That's a good point. I'm glad you pointed that out because I would say that is the um true tech of season four. I would say that not only did I have the highest expectation for it.
00:22:00
Keck
 it also disappointed me the most based on that expectation. like I thought, I mean, it just, it fell so far below the bar. Yeah, that would be like my number one and like probably only mentionable in terms of like expectations to what I got in terms of like entertainment value.
00:22:23
Keck
 So yeah, that would be my number one. That's a good point.
00:22:25
Kevin Dougherty
 i I think some other ones that ah I don't I mean, they definitely I think they definitely would make the list if we were talking about ah if Ripley if we consider Ripley in the thriller horror genre, I would say that would that would.
00:22:39
Keck
 but Are we talking about the same Ripley?
00:22:40
Kevin Dougherty
 bu The one that came on Netflix, it was black and white.
00:22:43
Keck
 are we Yeah, it was about to it was about Rip, like the talented Mr.
00:22:51
Kevin Dougherty
 Yes, yes.
00:22:52
Keck
 Because I thought that was phenomenal. And if that fits into our purview, that would be my number one.
00:22:59
Kevin Dougherty
 That'd be your number one.
00:22:59
Keck
 For yes, I thought that the acting because the acting came from I mean aside from Who was that was that the code of fanning that played Marge?
00:23:00
Kevin Dougherty
 Okay. Yeah.
00:23:13
Keck
 Yeah, because I don't know believe we ever discussed this show in the cast and like for me
00:23:20
Kevin Dougherty
 Did we not do a whole episode on Ripley?
00:23:22
Keck
 I don't believe we did. if If we did, then I'm totally like reminisce.
00:23:28
Keck
 I totally forget. I am totally forgetful of it.
00:23:31
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, I don't listen to the podcast again. So once we do this, I don't remember what we talked about half the time.
00:23:34
Keck
 I don't believe we ever did. I don't believe we did. I could be wrong though. You know, I could be wrong.
00:23:41
Keck
 Um, full disclosure. I had an edible a while ago. So like, well,
00:23:46
Kevin Dougherty
 I know we've talked about it. I don't know if we talked about it on the cast and recorded it.
00:23:50
Keck
 Yeah, I guess we should just like shut the fuck up because like I'll go on a long as sidebar About Ripley and I'm trying to move right along So I'm gonna play it as though we did already do a cast about it
00:24:05
Keck
 I thought Ripley was the, if it is considered to be in the sci-fi horror because I sent you a text about and I had said, well, you know, I was like, I, I saw, uh, you know, talented Mr.
00:24:14
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, that's what reminded me.
00:24:20
Keck
 Ripley as like, you know, just a, uh, drama. And then I thought about, and I'm like, well, he also was a mass murderer.
00:24:31
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, he's kind of a con man serial killer, yeah.
00:24:34
Keck
 Yeah, I mean he he like, you know like killing was like his second response Like if he saw for a second that his con wasn't working.
00:24:45
Keck
 He went in the kill mode So yeah, and it was pretty fucked up.
00:24:47
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah. yeah
00:24:50
Keck
 Yeah, he would pretty much kill anybody ah and so if it is in there that would be my number one That'd be
00:25:00
Kevin Dougherty
 Okay. all allow Yeah.
00:25:04
Kevin Dougherty
 I thought it was fantastic as well. And one other one that I just wanted to mention before we move on to our movies is ah I just watched it ah recently, but um they came out last year was a Hysteria came out to Peacock.
00:25:17
Kevin Dougherty
 and It stars Bruce Campbell. And it has it's basically about um this ah
00:25:23
Keck
 Yeah I'm I miss this entirely
00:25:27
Kevin Dougherty
 It was basically about this like um something happens in this town where this kid goes missing and like they think a satanic cult did it. And so these kids who are like in a struggling band kind of take that whole like imagery and stuff and they kind of run with it to become more popular. And i'm like so like the townsfolk are thinking that that the band is the cause of this the satanic ah shit happening in the town with the with the kid missing and everything. but It was really good. it's like ah It's like a horror comedy, for sure. You know, because Bruce Campbell's in it, so it's got to be. But oh yeah, I thought it was a surprise and I thought it was really well done. It like takes place in the late 80s. So it kind of captures that whole like satanic panic error.
00:26:16
Keck
 If you can, um during this cast, send me a link through the message message um you know ah feature and so I can check this out. because um yeah i mean I do remember you telling me about um a new horror her comedy that ah Bruce Campbell is going to be in.
00:26:41
Keck
 But i don't i don't remember I don't remember what it was at all. I don't remember what it was named or that had already come out or not. um Yeah, that that's probably a gem that I missed.
00:26:55
Keck
 But um what is that for you? So that does that like pretty much conclude like your top shows for 2024?
00:27:04
Kevin Dougherty
 Yes, absolutely, yeah.
00:27:05
Kevin Dougherty
 I mean, I definitely enjoyed a bunch of other ones, like the final season of what we do in the shadows. Sad to see it go, but I thought it'd end it really well. So I thought that'd be better to mention as well.
00:27:16
Kevin Dougherty
 But yeah, I mean, I didn't see anything else.
00:27:17
Keck
 but That's the one from New Zealand, right?
00:27:18
Kevin Dougherty
 It was terrible. Yeah, yeah, but I mean the...
00:27:21
Keck
 Okay. Oh, yeah. So that's been a long time. That ran for about a decade, right?
00:27:26
Kevin Dougherty
 So let me say, it had six seasons.
00:27:29
Keck
 Seven seasons, but it went it went for about 10 years.
00:27:33
Kevin Dougherty
 Six seasons, no, um for about, yeah.
00:27:34
Keck
 Oh, six seasons. So it was just a a year per season. that I thought it had gone on longer than that.
00:27:41
Kevin Dougherty
 I think they might have, ah you know, got that one season pushed back because of the pandemic. So, but I think the original movie came out a few years before that too.
00:27:46
Keck
 Yeah, ah yeah that that kind of yes he there's like a two year gap for a lot of seasons during the pandemic.
00:27:52
Kevin Dougherty
 So I think from, yeah, yeah.
00:27:58
Keck
 so Yeah, that cut that's gonna always kind of make it a little bit more confusing for you know us to like go through because you know ah Hopefully like in in the historical records, I guess they'll put asterisks During those years because I mean everything was shut down for at at least 12 months.
00:28:19
Keck
 So at least one year ah everything was completely shut down so that always fucks things up and But yeah, I mean, I can't think of anything else in 2024 in terms of series that I would mention.
00:28:35
Keck
 So, are moving on to films.
00:28:36
Kevin Dougherty
 There was a there was two animated shows that I thought I won't mention real quick would be ah the Terminator zero animated series that was that came out on Netflix I thought that was really well done and The secret level which came out recently on Amazon that's ah based ah on each episodes based on a different video game and they're all different there are different styles and stuff and like the Pac-Man episode is like a pure horror show like it so I think the there's There's definitely ones in there worth mentioning and worth checking out.
00:29:11
Kevin Dougherty
 so ah But moving on to movies. What do you what do you got? you ah Do you have a top five movies for this year? Or last year, I mean?
00:29:22
Kevin Dougherty
 I think we have the same exact top
Top Movie Picks and Discussions
00:29:24
Kevin Dougherty
 three, but I don't think you've seen Nosferatu yet, have you?
00:29:29
Keck
 I have not seen this Ratu yet.
00:29:31
Kevin Dougherty
 But OK, other than that, we're we're definitely your your top three, I think, are probably the same.
00:29:37
Keck
 Well, there's a thing. I'm not sure if it was 2024 or not, but someone who um is very close to me told me about um this. I don't know what it's on. It might be Netflix um called something like The Revenge of Becky.
00:30:02
Keck
 and it's the wrath of Becky and apparently yes yes there was a thing and uh someone who is also named Becky had told me that like she had seen them uh I guess a while back right around the time the second of the two movies came out
00:30:02
Kevin Dougherty
 Oh, Wrath of Becky. You have to watch Becky first, and then Wrath of Becky. Yeah, yeah.
00:30:28
Kevin Dougherty
 That's I watched it as well.
00:30:29
Keck
 not was that in 2024 or well either way um that's something that i'm like supposed to watch and was supposed to mention so yeah um ah apparently the first one had a very low production value that
00:30:34
Kevin Dougherty
 I think Wrath of Becky might have been 2023, but...
00:30:46
Kevin Dougherty
 It was 2023.
00:30:50
Kevin Dougherty
 You should watch them both, yes. They're excellent.
00:30:57
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, yeah, they're both pretty low budget.
00:30:58
Keck
 And the second one had like double or triple or over that. So I was told to expect like not too much from the first one, but the second one was apparently like real badass.
00:31:04
Kevin Dougherty
 They're both still pretty low budget though, yeah.
00:31:14
Keck
 So I'm just mentioning that and film wise, I mean, I don't know. I wouldn't go in any order. um Just throwing out there, obviously, the substance. You know, I know everybody assumed that you're gonna say number one. But for me, also Strange Darling, um which, you know, I talked about in length, um was up there. Aside from that,
00:31:49
Keck
 god damn I put on a list that was supposed to be right next to me as I read these off, which is totally gone. I'm fucked Switch over I Had I had seven total I
00:31:58
Kevin Dougherty
 Well, I'll listen to mine, and and yeah then if you recognize one of the movies, then you can have a good one. Okay, my number one is the substance, guaranteed.
00:32:12
Keck
 me Yeah, well I wasn't doing it.
00:32:14
Keck
 All right. So you're saying number one subs.
00:32:15
Kevin Dougherty
 I'm saying number one is substance.
00:32:17
Keck
 I don't think the substance was my number one, but yeah.
00:32:20
Kevin Dougherty
 Okay, well, ah number two for me was Nosferatu. Even though that came very late at the end of the year, so not everybody has seen that yet.
00:32:28
Kevin Dougherty
 ah Still my number two.
00:32:30
Kevin Dougherty
 I do want to go back and watch the Werner Hausog version ah before we actually do a cast. You know, rewatch the original silent film, rewatch that one, and watch the other one again.
00:32:41
Keck
 Well, you know... ah put Put a plug in it. I'm assuming if I saw this for up to based on the reception that it got from critics and users from ah Another friend of mine who has seen it plus your glowing recommendation I'm going to say that it's very Unlikely that I would not have probably ranked it like at least in my top five Like even if I didn't like it as much as you guys it would probably be in my top five
00:33:13
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, I mean, especially if you like, yeah.
00:33:13
Keck
 So we're gonna do a more extensive cast. So let's just say Hypothetically put a plug in it that would that would have been one of my Yes
00:33:22
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, especially if you like his other films, you'll like this one too. um my think like My Third Favorite was Strange Darling. I think that's easily in top five. ah Smile 2 was my number four.
00:33:41
Keck
 ah I feel like there should be something else that fits in there but like not one that not one other that I can think of wait which which was the one that was above that that we just discussed strange darling um
00:33:52
Kevin Dougherty
 I just think it's strange darling.
00:34:02
Keck
 Yeah, um the only thing that I had realized about Strange Darling that I was going to bring up when you had mentioned it was that um the actress that played the electrical lady that I could not figure out where I had seen her before in the ah series and I don't believe this was 2024.
00:34:28
Keck
 which is fall house of the usher we confirm that's 2023 right she played the young version of his sister
00:34:32
Kevin Dougherty
 Yes, yes.
00:34:39
Kevin Dougherty
 Oh, okay.
00:34:40
Keck
 That is the same actress that played the electrically. I knew because I thought she was phenomenal in ah her role as the young version of his sister.
00:34:53
Keck
 She was really fucking ruthless, just as bad as anyone. and uh yeah and uh when i saw i was like oh shit that was her so um yeah she gave a great performance so uh yeah i just want to uh mention that that was where i had remembered her from i said i'd mention it in another cast if i had ever so i'm using this opportunity to do that but yes so your three
00:35:18
Kevin Dougherty
 When you remembered, yeah, yeah.
00:35:22
Kevin Dougherty
 What about Smile 2? Does the Smile 2 fit in your top five?
00:35:26
Keck
 i feel like there's so it's in my I feel like there's something else I'm missing, like a film or two or three. But right now, yeah, I would say in horror, in horror, I mean, because what it's it it's
00:35:45
Kevin Dougherty
 I wasn't expecting it to be good
00:35:48
Keck
 No, I'm saying in pure horror, which it was, it was pure horror, psychological horror, psychological terror. Um, yeah, I think it would be my number four or five. Yeah.
00:36:04
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, I was not expecting it to to be good at all. And then so I was not only pleasantly surprised, I was very surprised how good it was.
00:36:08
Keck
 Yeah. That's what you said. You were like, what the fuck? Yeah.
00:36:13
Kevin Dougherty
 ah And now like the but like the rest of my ah picks, i ah at least the next three are probably interchangeable here, depending on my mood. I really liked them.
00:36:25
Kevin Dougherty
 So those top four are dead set. I don't think anything else is better than those four. And while Sure, they could like, depending on the mood I'm in, like could swap.
00:36:37
Kevin Dougherty
 I don't think I think substance is definitely number one for me. But ah below that, I would have I'd add Alien Romulus, which we just talked about on the last cast. So we're not going to get into much more detail than that.
00:36:47
Keck
 that wouldn't yeah That wouldn't make my top five.
00:36:50
Kevin Dougherty
 Then I had Maxine, which I think is the not the best in the X trilogy, but I still thought it was good and I still enjoyed it. And I definitely it's definitely my top 10.
00:37:00
Keck
 tense Can't speak to it, can't speak to it, so.
00:37:04
Kevin Dougherty
 Oh, you haven't seen it yet. Okay.
00:37:06
Keck
 No, can't speak to it, so.
00:37:06
Kevin Dougherty
 yeah Okay.
00:37:09
Kevin Dougherty
 And then I had ah Abigail, the vampire ballerina movie that came out earlier last year with ah Dan Stevens by the guys who did ah Ready or Not.
00:37:22
Keck
 It is a ah film that I had queued up about four, maybe five times and just never hit play. um Something just came up either sleep or I just had it queued and got up to do something and sat back down and just didn't have time to watch it. um But yeah, I missed that one. and I'm sorry because i that would definitely be something I heard it was different than like your you know typical vampire movie.
00:38:00
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, yeah. And if you like Red, you're not.
00:38:01
Keck
 and i'm sorry I'm sorry that I can't bring anything to this discussion.
00:38:06
Kevin Dougherty
 That's fine. If if you like Red or not, it's definitely worth ah checking out. so that Yeah, horror comedy style.
00:38:10
Keck
 ah I loved Reddy or not. that It was a film that um exceeded my expectations.
00:38:17
Kevin Dougherty
 Yes, yes, absolutely. ah Yeah, I mean, there's definitely some parts in that where in Abigail, where it's kind of a little like, they're going through like what everybody does and kind of you know exposition drop a little like yeah but it's like it's fine because it moves the story along and like it gets gets things moving faster.
00:38:36
Keck
 Well, I also saw a trailer for it. um And they played, ah I believe ah it was Jillian Welsh. And it was Abigail. I had a daughter, they called her Abigail. It was like one of the like um leading country songs at the time it came out.
00:38:59
Keck
 this was years and years and years ago but like i was just like oh dude i love that song and you know so like immediate you know ah hey a good trailer and uh yeah but yeah i had heard it was very very uh unique to like you know your standard like uh vampire movie like yeah like
00:39:21
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, it's it's not a horny Dracula movie.
00:39:24
Keck
 Yeah, it was like, ah that like, Dracula, the dirty old man, 1969.
00:39:29
Kevin Dougherty
 yeah yeah Or the or the ah Dracula with an iPad. The Dracula TV series.
00:39:36
Keck
 Yeah, or or yeah, or just all the I mean, there's so
00:39:40
Kevin Dougherty
 Or every Dracula is a horny Dracula.
00:39:42
Keck
 yeah but there's yeah for every like genuine dracula movie there's like two like soft core dracula movies that have been made in its wake yeah love stories but i mean it's yeah but it's not like soft core pornographic
00:39:53
Kevin Dougherty
 Well, I mean, even bras Bram Dracula and Nosferatu are both, you know, the whole story is like a, lot it's a love story. It's all, he's horny.
00:40:07
Kevin Dougherty
 No, but no, I just mean he's horny. He's trying to get the girl. I'm not talking about it.
00:40:12
Keck
 Yeah, welltting dr trick well that's the story of Dracula.
00:40:13
Kevin Dougherty
 ah corporate
00:40:16
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, yeah.
00:40:16
Keck
 He always has like you know female problems.
00:40:20
Keck
 That's the thing. It's yeah it's basically a ah vampire. I mean, you could argue, is he horny or does he just want a companion? Is he like is he the same as Frankenstein's creation?
00:40:36
Keck
 who is not really like looking for a sexual relationship, but he wants like a fellow immortal, you know what I mean? But yeah, you get the vampire thing, I get a much more sexual vibe to it.
00:40:49
Kevin Dougherty
 yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah, I was after watching this for out to I was like, oh man, I feel like it's a missed opportunity Not not releasing this on Valentine's Day
00:41:00
Keck
 yeah you said that i think that's ridiculous there's no way that you would wait a whole fucking other like what month and a half yes yeah yeah no this is like the peak time to be releasing movies like yeah
00:41:08
Kevin Dougherty
 Like two months. Yeah, month and a half. Yeah, why not?
00:41:16
Kevin Dougherty
 Well, normally January, February isn't, but Christmas was ah ah was the perfect time to release that movie. It's making some good money.
00:41:26
Keck
 This is a good time to release films, though, because more people are indoors than outdoors.
00:41:32
Keck
 More people are seeing movies in the winter than they are in the spring or summer. I mean, right?
00:41:40
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, but ah notoriously, notoriously, ah the early of the months are usually um where you dump movies.
00:41:40
Keck
 I mean, am I incorrect?
00:41:49
Keck
 Oh, you're just going by time of the month.
00:41:50
Kevin Dougherty
 nobody Yeah, yeah. ah You normally January, February, March is usually like
00:41:56
Kevin Dougherty
 but you're not dropping blockbusters in those three months. That's what I'm basically saying. You get more of your smaller art house films around this time. ah You don't get as many big blockbusters. I mean, Marvel obviously releases one every like three months. So yeah, but like, you know, yeah you have the summer blockbuster and then you have like, you know, your fall horror and like Oscar bait movies is usually when those come out at the end of the year.
00:42:25
Kevin Dougherty
 But moving on, my last three picks were late.
00:42:25
Keck
 around. Yeah, I wasn't like trying to say like I was I was just like using deductive logic that I figured people would be more apt to see films in the winter when there were less outdoor activities.
00:42:42
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, yeah.
00:42:42
Keck
 I wasn't like trying to like get into like trends and algorithms and shit like that.
00:42:47
Kevin Dougherty
 I'm just telling you when, like, that's what the studio is doing.
00:42:49
Keck
 Yeah, no, i see yeah I feel yeah, I feel yeah, feel you're on.
00:42:49
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, you know. They don't do it logically, yeah.
00:42:54
Kevin Dougherty
 Uh, yeah, so late night with the devil would be my, uh, like probably like seventh pick. And then, uh, this movie sting, it's basically about like this, uh, little girl. It takes place in like an apartment building where this little girl finds this spider that grows a little too big and starts terrorizing people in the apartment. So it's kind of like a, uh, like a horror comedy, uh, spider movie. Uh, and then, uh,
00:43:21
Kevin Dougherty
 My last one was ah Cuckoo, also with ah Dan Stevens, that came out ah earlier in the year too. And those were those were all my ah those were my top 10, I think.
00:43:33
Keck
 there There was one other film, I actually saw it, well, two other films, but I think the problem is that they're 2023, like, oh wait, 2023s. One was called, well, shit, maybe this is even 2022, maybe you could tell me. One was called ah Crumpus.
00:43:58
Kevin Dougherty
 Crumpets Not Krampus That was from 2015
00:43:58
Keck
 uh... i think it was in theaters it was about like this like uh... evil like uh... anti santa cause that used crampus yeah like it but it was german uh...
00:44:15
Keck
 it was a german evil santa it had um... chrysom it had tony collette in it it had That's from 2015.
00:44:29
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, that was like 10 years ago.
00:44:29
Keck
 <unk> Oh, fuck. Um, and then there was an, oh, um, it was about the ship that, um, took Dracula from like, it was that 2024 2023.
00:44:40
Kevin Dougherty
 ah the Last voice of Demeter. I believe that.
00:44:48
Keck
 That's something I saw recently. Sorry about the crampus. I, I didn't realize of that.
00:44:52
Kevin Dougherty
 That was 2023. Yeah.
00:44:55
Keck
 ah shit all I was trying to add those were just a couple movies I saw recently I thought that they were brand new like I thought they came out like very recently well hey but that that was a cool story and i Don't remember any other movie about the boat that like, you know It's all about like Dracula comes to London you find out like everybody died on the fucking boat like but I never heard this story from like what happened to the people on the vote like from the perspective of the people on the boat like Yeah
00:45:28
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I yeah it' like a it was just missing something for me. I mean, I enjoyed it, but it was it was also like...
00:45:40
Kevin Dougherty
 like it it was like and Yeah, it was kind of like aliens on a boat, but it could have been better.
00:45:40
Keck
 I don't want to waste time on it.
00:45:47
Keck
 and Yeah, you know what it was? I kind of have a fucking hard on for the guy that played the Onion Knight in Game of Thrones.
00:45:54
Kevin Dougherty
 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:45:55
Keck
 And him as the captain, it automatically like raised its stock like 10 to 20% with me. So if it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't have even bothered.
00:46:08
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, ah they spend some time on it in Nosferatu. They go into the boat crossing. I think it's done a little bit better there. I mean, it's obviously shorter too.
00:46:20
Kevin Dougherty
 But um yeah, there's it the way it ties into what was going on at the time. ah Again, we'll talk about that a little at a later point. But a couple of other ones that I didn't quite make the list. So as Azrael, it's almost like a there's almost like no dialogue in that film. ah The Serum Tiger is very well done. But there I think it was just missing something to help explain a couple of things that were happening in that movie. But other than that, I really liked it.
00:46:49
Kevin Dougherty
 Um, long legs kind of fell apart for me at the end. Uh, I think the last like 15, 20 minutes where it kind of went into the, like a supernatural area, uh, with like dolls and shit was real dumb. Um, I, I enjoyed oddity. I liked immaculate and I liked first dome and were a couple of other noteworthy ones I should mention.
00:47:13
Keck
 What's ah the first omen about?
00:47:16
Kevin Dougherty
 The first omen is, you know, have you ever seen the movie omen?
00:47:20
Keck
 Yes, there well there
Movie Insights: The First Omen and More
00:47:23
Kevin Dougherty
 Well, the first the the original omen. And then there's the first omen, which was a about the. um
00:47:34
Kevin Dougherty
 um It's kind of hard to explain because it's ah it's about the mother that gives birth to, you know, Damien, it's like her backstory and like how she became, you know.
00:47:51
Keck
 And then I think there's actual spin-offs of Damien.
00:47:58
Keck
 Aren't there movies that are just called like Damien? So, like...
00:48:03
Kevin Dougherty
 I think they're just part of the regular. I think that was like three or four. It was just called, I think four was just called Damien or something like that.
00:48:09
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah. the Yeah. The first domain was kind of about like,
00:48:11
Keck
 I wasn't sure how many omens there were in total.
00:48:14
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah. I think there was four or five. But the first first one was was worth it was definitely worth watching. It was better than I expected it to be. But it doesn't make my top 10. And then that's all I have for for best of last year.
00:48:30
Keck
 Yeah, I mean, I guess I thought that there was more overall content that was good in the last year, but I can't for the life of me think of anything more than what you referred to.
00:48:47
Keck
 I was like ah on the side while you were talking, looking up to see if there were any um suggestions for ah horror science fiction in the year of 2024, and they didn't really present much than what we had already mentioned, so it had just been redundant.
00:49:10
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, there I mean, I didn't see a bunch of foreign stuff that had came out that I think some other people had ah recommended that I'd have to go back and look on and see their list.
00:49:21
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, I think I think that pretty much and everything.
00:49:23
Keck
 Yeah, but I mean, we weren't trying to, I mean, we were trying to keep it basic simplistic. We weren't trying to do like real deep dives into like underground independent films and stuff like that.
00:49:36
Kevin Dougherty
 Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, if you see it,
00:49:37
Keck
 I mean, it's widely available, like
00:49:43
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah. Well, I mean, most of the, most of the, you know, stuff is like, uh, available on streaming. So, I mean, it's, it is widely available.
00:49:50
Kevin Dougherty
 If you think about it, it's just, I, you know, you can't watch everything. So we move on to the next part?
00:49:54
Keck
 No, no, you yeah, you definitely can't. And, you know, uh... Yeah, I mean... and so it's all I thought overall 2024 seemed to produce some print like maybe not as much content as in other years, but in the good content in terms of like you know series like Fallout and films like Strange Darling and Substance.
00:50:25
Keck
 and ah you know uh things of that nature like i thought it was like very promising because we're all in like it even though like uh you know it's now 2025 in 2024 they were still in a lot of recovery mood from shit that had gotten cancelled probably promising films and series that were never going to say because the pandemic just, you know, cut them in half and they got scrapped this project, which, vi yeah, pandemic, writer strike.
00:50:58
Kevin Dougherty
 Well, the writer's strike from earlier. Yeah. Yeah. earlier that year yeah yeah
00:51:03
Keck
 Yeah, I mean, there's just a lot of shit that we kind of missed out on. So, you know, therere we're we're still kind of in something of a recovery mode.
00:51:13
Keck
 I mean, would you agree or would you say like, yeah,
00:51:15
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, I think 2025 is going to be a good year from the trailers and series that I've heard about that are going to be released in this year. But I just thought I'd mention a couple that I was looking forward to, at least in the next couple of weeks.
00:51:28
Kevin Dougherty
 I'm currently watching the new Goosebumps series Vanishing on
Upcoming Series Excitement and Speculations
00:51:33
Kevin Dougherty
 Hulu. I liked the first series with Justin Long. This one's got David Schwimmer, of all people.
00:51:40
Kevin Dougherty
 But I'm like three episodes in, and I'm enjoying it so far.
00:51:45
Kevin Dougherty
 Then you've got the Wolfman coming up on the 17th by a leader.
00:51:49
Keck
 yeah we spoke of this before, yeah.
00:51:52
Kevin Dougherty
 Ria Whannell, he directed The Invisible Man. I really enjoyed that. So I'm looking forward to his take on on this. ah Then in the end of the month is Companion with um the son of Quaid, Jack Quaid.
00:52:09
Kevin Dougherty
 And um oh, I forget the what is her name?
00:52:15
Keck
 where we're not talking about kuai from total recall right not that i think i might be at a very sad loss here calif well yeah i'm or that's good die gas but i mean
00:52:20
Kevin Dougherty
 yeah No, no, no. Jack Quaid and the boys.
00:52:29
Kevin Dougherty
 it's Well, it's Dennis Quaid's son.
00:52:35
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah. If you saw him, you'd you you know what I was talking about.
00:52:39
Kevin Dougherty
 But ah yeah, it's it's him and ah Sophia Thatcher. who was who is in Yellow Jackets, she plays a teen Natalie. you know um
00:52:51
Kevin Dougherty
 um Juliette Luce is a younger version of Juliette Luce.
00:52:55
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, she's in this new movie um with Jack Quaid called ah companion that the first trailer I saw looked ah pretty interesting. I think the second trailer that I just watched gave a little too much away, but I'm still looking forward to it.
00:53:11
Kevin Dougherty
 And then ah TV wise, I think we what we got coming up next is severance, which I'm really looking forward to.
00:53:18
Keck
 Yeah, that's what I wanted to mention. That was going to be my lead on television. There's probably nothing on television that I'm looking forward to more than the second season of Severance. The only thing I wish is that Ed come out a little bit earlier because this is not for me a, ah well very little is, but this is not a ah a series that I can watch week to week. I have to wait until the entire thing is done
00:54:00
Keck
 And I need to be able to binge it in 48 hours. That's the one, you know, it it it would take away so much like I've watched a few things week to week recently and it really fucking bothered me.
00:54:07
Kevin Dougherty
 understandable.
00:54:20
Keck
 Like even though like some people are like, oh, well, you know, you watch it and then you watch it one more time right before the next episode airs. So you actually get to know more. And I'm like, no, it is way better if you can just keep going episode into episode until, you know, you need a break or, you know, whatever.
00:54:48
Kevin Dougherty
 I don't mind week to week that much because it lets you like, you know, think about that episode, what happened to that episode.
00:54:53
Keck
 Yeah, I don't want to think about the at what happened.
00:54:56
Keck
 I don't want to think about it. I want their goddamn narrative to continue. I want their writing and everything that they did to continue.
00:55:10
Keck
 I don't want my thoughts to enter. I want them to finish their thoughts.
00:55:18
Kevin Dougherty
 And then the only other series we got coming up on the 14th
00:55:21
Keck
 motherfucker yeah no
00:55:25
Kevin Dougherty
 of ah February, so in a month from now, will be Yellowjacket Season 3 as well. So those two will be are the two that have actually announcement dates, you know release dates, everything else is kind of up in limbo, so we'll save those to talk about it another time.
00:55:41
Keck
 Well Kev, just real quick ah on Yellow Jackets, um can you confirm um that Season 3 is going to be the final season of Yellow Jackets?
00:55:54
Kevin Dougherty
 No, I cannot confirm that that's the final season.
00:55:58
Kevin Dougherty
 As far as I know, it's not.
00:56:00
Kevin Dougherty
 So I haven't heard anything yet about that either.
00:56:00
Keck
 Do you do you um know if they were renewed for a fourth season?
00:56:09
Keck
 So we're sort of in a limbo with that. Um, I'm not sure exactly what I read. I was under the impression that this was going to be the final season, but, um, again, uh, I don't know that for certain.
00:56:26
Kevin Dougherty
 Well, maybe I'll look it up for the next cast ah that we do.
00:56:31
Kevin Dougherty
 um So that's it for this today, tonight. And I look forward to talking with you the next cast.
00:56:40
Kevin Dougherty
 Follow us on our social media.
00:56:42
Keck
 Yeah, hell yeah we do. Hell yeah we do. We hope everyone is having a good start to 2025
Conclusion and Outlook for 2025
00:56:52
Keck
 and um we hope that 2025 turns out to be a very good year for science fiction and horror because Like God knows there's enough horror going on in like the normal world and we're gonna need a lot of goddamn distractions So that's all I got to say on that Kev um Any parting words of wisdom or just you know, foul me on this this this and this All right, everybody take care Peace
00:57:20
Kevin Dougherty
 Yeah, that was my final thought was just follow up with all the media. I had nothing more to say. All right, peace.