281 | The Damned

• Rated R

• Runtime: 1hr 29min

• Directed by Thordur Palsson

• Written by Jamie Hannigan

• Stars: Odessa Young, Joe Cole and Siobhan Finneran

• Premiered at Tribeca Film Festival June 6, 2024

• Released in US January 3, 2025

• RT: 90% critics / 47% audience

• Currently Streaming on Hulu

  Synopsis

  A widow is tasked with running an isolated fishing outpost in Iceland at the end of the 19th century. When a ship wrecks on some rocks off the coast, she makes the decision not to rescue the passengers, dooming her crew to madness and danger.

Join us again in two weeks when we will be reviewing The Rule of Jenny Pen, currently streaming on Shudder and AMC+

Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

280 | 28 Years Later

• Rated R

• Runtime: 1hr 55min

• Directed by Danny Boyle

• Written by Alex Garland

• Stars: Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes

• Release in US theaters June 20, 2025

• RT: 88% critics / 63% audience

  Synopsis

  12yr old Spike lives with his domineering father and mysteriously ill mother on a small island less than a mile away from mainland northern England. While safe there from the infected, the citizens uphold a tradition that sees their young people escorted to the mainland to kill infected as a rite of passage. Disillusioned after his outing and determined to locate the rumored doctor there, Spike sneaks out of the compound with his mother in tow in an attempt to cure her illness.

Join us again in two weeks when we will be reviewing The Damned, currently streaming on Hulu

Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

175 | Army of the Dead

Directed by Zack Snyder

Stars Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Ana de la Reguera

Released 5/21/2021

Available on Netflix

Rated R

Runtime: 2hrs 28mins 

RT: 69% critics, 75% audience

Synopsis: An army transport accident leads to a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas. Many people are killed but the city is eventually walled off, the outbreak contained within Vegas. Scott Ward (Dave Bautista) was a hero in the outbreak, but now works as a line cook in a diner, having become estranged from his daughter. One day a mysterious millionaire offers him a heist job that will pay big. The only catch? The vault is in Las Vegas, of course. Can Ward and his team get the money and get out alive? And can they do it before a nuclear bomb is dropped, annihilating the city?

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Join us next time when we’ll be reviewing A Quiet Place part deux. Let’s see if they came up with an interesting follow-up to the first film, without her having another baby…

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Theme music: "Secret of Tiki Island" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

72 | Train to Busan

Writer/Director: Yeon Sang-ho

Synopsis: A busy hedge fund manager agrees to take his young daughter to visit her mother on her birthday. On the way to the train station they notice lots of emergency & army vehicles, but don’t pay much attention. Too bad, b/c a viral outbreak is causing people to rise from the dead & go after the living. And one of them just got on the train with them. In addition to the father-daughter team we meet a very pregnant woman & her husband, a high school baseball team & their one cheerleader, & two elderly sisters, among others. Will they make it to their destination, & what will be waiting for them when they get there?

Director Yeon Sang-ho made an earlier, animated prequel to Train to Busan called Seoul Station, which is said to take place one day prior to the events in Train to Busan.

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For our next episode we'll be reviewing Irish film A Dark Song, about Aleister Crowley-style magic rituals. Sounds intriguing, right? Check it out on VOD & join us back here in two weeks to discuss.

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