Hi everyone and welcome back to the Pod of the Damned.

I'm your host Ian and joining me this week is, as always, my Co host.

Candy, how are you?

I'm good, glad to be here.

How are you?

I'll be, I'll be good if my Internet stops shitting the fucking bed.

I tell, being kind.

That's always the way being before we came on air saying it can't be my Internet.

It's been absolutely fine all day until about 10 minutes before we came on this call to do the recording.

So hopefully it manages to just see us through this episode.

That would be quite nice.

Great.

But but yes, thank you very much for every to everyone for joining us.

We have a special episode today.

This isn't one of our regular episodes.

We do do one of these every single year.

We usually release it either at the very, very end of the year or the very start of the year.

But just because of the way the schedule kind of worked and our timings and everything, we're going to release this just ever so slightly earlier than normal.

But in today's episode, we're giving you guys our preview of all the horror movies or all the big hitters of horror movies that will be coming out in 2026.

And as I was saying to you earlier, you were saying earlier kind of, you know, I was doing the same.

I will start compiling my list of, you know, movies that are coming out next year.

And I didn't realize like 2026 could be a big year for horror.

I think so I.

Think so I think and it and we'll obviously get into it and we'll get into specific movies as well 2026, the year of horror movie video game adaptations as well.

There's a lot of them and I'm I'm, you know, we've historically talked about video game adaptations in the horror movies and they don't always hit the mark.

And sometimes they hit the mark a lot worse than ones that hit the mark well.

So it'll be really.

Spoiler alert as to one of them.

I already have tickets and I'll get into that later, but I'll let people wonder until I get to that.

But but yeah, before we get into that very, very quickly, we'll do the housekeeping.

If you would like to support Pod of the Damned across our social media platforms, you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook Threads, Blue Sky, TikTok, YouTube, all of those places.

It's all Pod of the Damned.

You can e-mail us at podofthedamned@gmail.com and you can subscribe to us on Patreon.

patreon.com/pod of the Damned Candy, where can you be found?

I'm Candy the final girl.

You can find me on Instagram threads, blue sky, all of the usual places besides X basically.

But if you go to my Instagram or my link tree, link tree slash Candy the final girl, you're going to find everything that you need.

Also, I want to plug ghouls magazine.

We, I used to write for ghouls and we all kind of went off on our separate projects a couple of years ago.

Schools Magazine is coming back in a big way in 2026, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

I will keep you updated, but I'm back on staff and I have quite a bit to say.

You have a bit to say.

I would never.

I know.

So I think, I think the only person that does have more to say is usually Nico, to be fair and start writing.

On that note, there is no Nico tonight.

He is working, unfortunately.

He is going to be back for our next episode though, because our next three episodes after this will be our Christmas movie picks.

We've already announced what they are.

They're up on our we, we did a poll, we've done some polls and things like that about who favorite, who everyone's favorite picks are.

We're going to be reviewing Violent Night, which is Nico's pick, the OG Black Christmas, which is Candy's pick and await further instructions, which is my pick across the polls.

Candy Black Christmas kind of ran away with it across all of the polls, so I tend I.

Tend to do well with the polls.

You do do well with the polls.

You, you, you know what, You know what?

The people and Nico just knows what he wants and I know what the people don't want.

And that seems to kind of be how how we go about these things.

So I'm sure I'm sure all three episodes and all three movies are definitely going to be worth watching.

And they're all What I love about the pics this year is they're all vastly different styles of.

Hollywood, amazingly.

Different, you know, we've got we've got, you know, the slasher classic of Black Christmas.

You've got that sort of more modern take on it with Violent Night.

And then you have this like, I don't know if you've watched await further instructions yet.

I'm aware of it, but I haven't watched it yet.

I, I need to watch it because we're going to be covering it, but I, I'm kind of new to it.

OK, I'm not, I'm not going to say too much on it, but it is a very different style.

There's a, there's a couple of really famous faces in there, a couple of people you will recognise, but it's a I, I described it.

I think it was to Newman.

Was it to Newman?

I think it was to Newman on Instagram.

And I was like, it is possibly one of the bleakest Christmas films I've ever seen in my entire life.

So you know this.

Is a bleak time.

We've got to be honest about that.

It is a.

Rough time like mental health wise?

Yeah, I think that's something that, you know, we, we, we we should probably make a bit of a more of an effort to be at because, you know, we are also a podcast that promotes, you know, positive mental health and mental health support and things, things like that.

And Christmas, Christmas can be probably one of the worst times of years for a lot of people, you know, especially people who maybe don't earn a lot of money, you know, down to the commercialization of Christmas.

It's so commercialized and, you know, people are left feeling under a lot of strain and pressure to be able to provide for the people in their love that their loved ones.

So it is, it's a difficult, it's a difficult time for people.

And so, you know, if people should reach out to local charities and Samaritans and all of these things if they feel like they need help as well.

And you know that that goes for us if.

You were in a position to do even the slightest bit to help others.

Give to a food bank, you know, choose a child off a Christmas tree that they have at stores to buy for those kids.

They really need it.

And you know, this is the time of year if you have just a little extra give.

Yeah.

And we, you know, the, the, the, the especially like the Christmas trees and that we do that here in the UK as well, up and down the country.

So yeah, definitely go and do that.

And I can tell you when I left my first husband with my life and my children, my kids were on those Christmas trees.

And it was thankful to these nameless strangers that my kids had Christmas that year.

And luckily things turned around for us and got better.

And we do have extra and we get back because it it's so it meant everything to them and to me.

So absolutely, if you can do it, do it.

Yeah, 100 percent, 100%.

Right.

On that note, let's start talking about some of these movies.

Candy, would you like me to take the lead?

You know which one I'm going to pick first.

Oh.

OK, because I think we're probably going to pick the same one first, shall we say?

Should we say?

It's Terrifier 4 I think.

You do it, sorry.

Normally, right?

So every year, right, I always have, I would say like one movie that I'm like, right, that is going to be like the highlight of my year.

That is what I am looking forward to the most.

And you know, when Terrified 3 came out, it was Terrified 3.

When Terrified 2 came out was Terrified 2.

And you know, and like in previous years, it's been one thing or another.

And like normally I'd be.

So I mean, don't get me wrong, I am super stoked for Terrifier 4I.

It's apparently the conclusion to this this story as it is right now.

I don't believe that this is going to be the final terror fire film.

That makes too much money.

That's that's ever going to be made.

But in terms of, you know, Damian Leone and his part of the story, and this is the final movie wrapping up the story that's been told so far.

However, we're finally going to get the mythos of like what you know about art, and I think all of us have been clamoring for that for a long time.

So we're going to get some answers.

I hope we'll like the answers, though, that could be the problem.

Well, that's the thing now, isn't it?

Because it's now been built up over 3 movies and right for most people, I think they would say 3 movies of improving quality as well.

You know, I, I'll, I love all three movies, but you know, there's no denying that the first movie is the the weakest of them all, yes.

Then it gets better with the second and then it gets better again with the 3rd.

And so I think that pressure then comes, doesn't it, with that because people will be expecting for this to be better yet again and.

Bar is going to be so fucking high, people are going to nitkick it to death is what I'm worried about.

Yeah.

And I don't want to do that myself, but you know it.

I do have such a deep love and high expectations.

I can't lower that bar because it's set the bar, you know, It's really difficult.

It normally, you know, this isn't a bar that is set by us as the viewers, which, you know, tends to kind of be the case really.

This bar has been set by its own success.

And so is Terra Fire 4 potentially going to be a victim of its own success?

You know, and one other thing as well as you know, we're and, and this one maybe is but a bit more on us as a viewer, because we're all clamoring now, like you said, for the back story.

We're all clamoring to know the mythos, the war around Art the Clown.

But how many times, you know, over the years have there been a movie, a slasher movie or whatever?

You know, let's let's take Halloween as an example, right?

That first Halloween movie tells us so little really about Michael Myers.

And then in in movies coming after it, they start exploring storylines and they start exploring plot and it just gets worse and worse, doesn't it?

Yeah, it just really kept getting shittier and shittier.

We're just like I liked it better when I didn't know so and see that is my concern.

That is also a concern for me.

What I will say as well is I feel like a little bit of shine has been taken off of the terror fire franchise because of Damian Leone over the past over the past year or so, he's put.

My faith in David Howard Gordon.

David Howard Thornton, you know, is just like.

He's a good one.

He's a wholeheartedly good guy.

I I hope the the controversy do we are we call is it a controversy?

Is that a full on controversy around Damien Leone?

I don't I.

Don't know.

I mean, I think that it's.

Just, he said.

Everybody's looking a stance at him.

Yeah, You know, like we really didn't need to say that shit.

You're you're fucking stupid for saying it.

Why would you say that?

He.

He this is the thing, right?

Because everyone is entitled to their political stance, right, whether you agree with it or not.

And you know, so right now, you know, across not just the US, but in the UK as well, politics has never been more divided, right?

It's, it's, it's, it's there is no middle ground.

You know, back, you know, even just say 1520 years ago, whether you were left-leaning or right reading, there was usually quite a lot of middle ground that people could sort of come together there seems.

To be no centrist anymore.

No, absolutely not.

And he felt really, I think the problem was with Damian Noni, because he obviously took a, he took a bit of a stand, didn't he?

And he sort of picked a side, but there was no real need for him to do that.

No, You know, I don't think he would.

I can't really remember the specifics of what going on.

And maybe that probably should answer my question as well as whether it's a controversy if I can't even relatively remember the exact specifics.

Completely what he said.

But I know David Howard Thornton was like, absolutely not.

Yeah, which again was.

Something about, you know, the different sides of.

I see.

I can't recall exactly either, but it was unsavory.

And I can tell you from meeting Damien Leone in person, he's not a very nice person to meet.

I had a bad experience with him.

He's a very gruff, not very nice person.

Like basically, give me the fucking money and get out of my face.

And that really sucked.

But David Howard Thornton, on the other hand, he's, you know, he's a good guy.

So for that reason.

And I've also heard, you know, like, really good things obviously, about Lauren Lavera as well.

Oh yeah, you know, so.

Everybody else is stellar.

So we will put our faith in that and obviously we'll put those things to one side for the purposes of, you know, I listen, I am I.

Still love the Terrifier movies, I'm not going to lie.

Will I be there day one in the cinema?

Absolutely.

I'm going to be there.

I'm going to, you know, I'm going to be there.

I'm going to absolutely love it.

I'm it is going to be one of the highlights of of the year really for me and building.

Up to it on the show.

How do you think?

Because obviously, like you say, Damian Looney himself has pretty much come out and confirmed that this is his last time, his last movie in the terrified franchise.

And we've both we both agree that that it won't be the last one.

Do you think David Howard Thornton in particular continues on with the franchise beyond that?

Because obviously you know you.

Know it?

It depends.

I think whoever takes the reins over because I mean, come on, this isn't going to be the last terrified movie.

It makes too much money.

Even if they let it sit for a while, they'll they're going to do something else.

And I would hope that they would continue because David Howard Thornton, without saying a word, steals the show.

I would really, really hope that he would continue to be involved because I, I, I mean, we've seen someone else who isn't David Howard Thornton play this role and did not do it justice.

David Howard Thornton steals the fucking show and.

Like when you sometimes, like when you look at the ball box office, it doesn't necessarily look like a huge amount of money in comparison to some of your huge AAA titles as well.

But when you think like Terrifier 3 had a budget of 2 million gross $90,000,000.

They also had like Terrifier 3 got a slightly wider release, but by and large a relatively limited theatre run as well.

You know, and if you go back to Terrifier 2 and you and like you'll remember when Terrifier 2 was released and I'll remember it because it was just like every day on things like Bloody Disgusting and other sort of horror outlets just constantly being like, this fucking film is still in the cinema.

This fucking films just been renewed for like another seven days in theaters and people are still watching.

It I saw at the drive in and it played the whole drive in season.

Yeah, all the way up until the drive in is closed, which is, you know, the beginning of November.

Yeah.

So that was before I started going to the Alamo and got season passes there, but we didn't have the Alamo then.

But like, yeah, I mean, I saw it a couple times.

And if and if and if you go think about it as well, like I'm, I'm talking like stats, you know, that movie, The second movie quarter of a million was that budget and it made 15, you know, so.

You have to, like, consider what a success this is on the scale of what kind of film it is.

It's not your typical slasher.

This is a straight.

They're straight gore films.

Yeah.

And gore films to do money like that, that's a big deal.

You know, unless you're David Cronenberg or something, you know.

Yeah.

And, you know, we, we've said that these movies have really led to the credibility once again, of independent horror, you know, because.

Yeah, and, and practical facts and, and all of the good things that we love.

So, yeah, so 10 fire 4 then I think that I think we can safely say that that is pretty much at the top of our wish list this year.

First one I wrote down.

OK.

Right.

So we kind of both picked that one.

Do you want to pick next or do you want me to pick next or?

I'm gonna pick one that I don't know that you would pick.

OK, It's Iron Lung, based off an indie horror film, a horror game, I should say Markiplier.

Now, OK, my kids, I'm not a huge YouTube, but my kids, they love YouTube.

So my daughter's really into game prompts and my son's really into Markiplier.

And because of them, I watch these things and I, I've grown to love Markiplier and I've grown to love game prompts, whatever.

But Markiplier has really loved the game and he directed and he did Iron Lung.

It's in a very limited release but my my kids and I already have tickets to see it when it comes.

Out.

Is this the one that you already have tickets for?

That's not what I thought it would be.

That's not what I thought it would be.

Yeah, surprise, surprise.

So that's why I wanted to bring up Iron Lung.

It's if you haven't played the game, it's basically they're they're on this moon and it's just like an ocean of blood and it's in a very cramped space and all the things that I'm terrified of.

And just knowing that what a marker player like really this was like a passion project for him.

And he finally gets to direct the film and and beat in the film.

And we got Jacksepticeye the Irish a YouTube he's he's as a voice because they're really good friends.

And I don't know, my kids are very, very excited about it.

And I'm I'm just I'm excited to see it.

I have high hopes.

Yeah.

So this is one that like obviously kind of goes under the radar a little bit really because.

Yeah, it's not going to get a big release.

Yeah, exactly.

But you know, IA very, very, very small.

You know, YouTube as well, who, you know, has been heavily inspired by people like Mark Markiplier and Jacksepticeye and Daz Black and Queso and, you know, all these kinds of people.

And yeah, like he, he, he is someone who has huge, huge passion specifically for short indie horror games, you know, and he does a series on his YouTube channel where he plays the, you know, three indie horror games.

And it's a very highly successful YouTube series.

And he is someone who has huge passion for the genre.

So I'm quite excited for this one.

I normally probably wouldn't even if it was by like a YouTuber that I really cared for and I really liked and I watched like Markiplier normally wouldn't really pay it too much note because you know, some things don't really translate very well.

I think though I think Markiplier could do a really good job with this it looks.

I don't know if you've seen the trailers, but they're it looks fantastic it.

Looks good on the trailers.

I will say on that that stuff the trailers definitely really work to hype this up and I think The thing is like with that game, it's such a simple premise the game as well.

So I'm I'm really excited for this one.

So and like you say, it's out very, very sure.

If it was going to be like on your list or not.

So it's like, I'm going to lead with that way.

It's it's yeah, that's the one we already have tickets for.

My son was so excited.

He's like, I already got the tickets for us.

I'm like, fuck yeah.

Because they're actually showing it at a local cinema here.

So.

So we're all ready to to just go see this fucking thing when?

It it's also out very soon, it's January 30th it's out.

So there's not really not that long to wait.

It's out in about six weeks time.

So could be what I think if you.

Can find it, get your tickets.

100% I'm not sure how big a release this is getting in the UK for UK audiences.

That is maybe something that we need to look up because again, things that tend to get limited release in the US tend to not get released in the UK.

So this could be maybe a North American exclusive, but I'm sure we will get our hands on it one way or the other.

So yeah, very exciting.

Well, I'm going to continue on with the video game theme because there's a, there's a video game that I'm, I don't even know what to think about it.

It's the Backrooms because there's a Backroom movie coming out in 2026 that's on my list.

And I love the Backrooms as a as a concept.

It freaks me out.

Liminal spaces freak me the fuck out because I have a borophobia and that's fear of huge open spaces.

And so the backrooms is something like, that's another thing that my my 18 year old, my youngest showed me.

And I was like, fuck this, fuck this shit.

And age 24 is doing it.

So I kind of, it's not because I was thinking, oh, it's going to be like as shitty as Slender Man or whatever, but no, it's age 24 is doing it.

So I do have some high hopes.

That's the mid hopes.

That's the thing that's giving me the hopes for it is the fact that this is backed by such a reputable studio such as a 24 and it is also directed by another YouTube as well, Kane Parsons, who's known as Kane Pixels, you know, so again, this is people who are passionate about these.

I, I, I, I sometimes really bothers me.

I think this is something that throughout history, especially with video games, you know, when you look back and we'll maybe get onto this franchise in a little bit, but when you look back at things like the Resident Evil franchise that came out with Mia Yorovich, you know, it was, it was not well received.

They went on to make huge amounts of money and that was.

Well, you know, the first Resident Evil movie was 1, and it was, it was up there with Freddy versus Jason.

My friend, when I went to see you, when we we left the first Resident Evil movie, we were fucking angry.

Yeah.

Like, are you kidding me?

Exactly.

It was bullshit.

You know, and sometimes I just feel like these franchises are not necessarily in the hands who people of people who care about them as franchises, you know, so that's one thing that's giving me hope for these movies as well.

Things like Iron Lung, because, you know, it's in the hands of Markiplier because this one's in the hands of Kate Pixel, you know, so like that, that that to me makes a huge difference.

A 24 being involved definitely makes a huge difference.

I love the bathrooms anyway as a concept.

My one concern is because one of the big things about, you know, liminal space kind of games and that is that there is no lore.

There is no real story there.

And my concern is it's like.

A pretty pasta type thing.

Yeah, yeah, like, exactly.

But my concern is they're either going to try to put some lore into this which I don't think will work.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

So like, I think the Backrooms is a really difficult, it's a really difficult property to get right in terms of like a movie, games can do it.

Like I feel like it's possibly a relatively easy thing to do for games because there's so many liminal space games out there now because yeah, because of the success of the Backrooms.

But as a movie concept, I'm really interested in in how.

I'm hoping it's going to be really avant-garde and I hope it's going to be, you know, like what age 24 does.

I really hope that there's a strong guiding in there to say, hey, you know, we can do this and we don't have to explain this.

We can do this.

I mean, there's the possibilities are really endless, but it's like if we start, I don't know, making it subliminal, then it's going to lose something.

That's it.

Isn't it?

So it's really like I'm excited, but I'm also a little wary, you know what I mean?

I don't know exactly how to feel yet.

Yeah, I'm really excited for it.

I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it.

I'm definitely going to see it.

Oh, I'm 100% going to see it like again, it's one of those things.

So definitely the backroom should be on everyone's list to go and see this year.

And it's got a decent budget as well.

You know, it's reportedly, yeah, they're putting a bit of money into it, so and you'll be interested to see what they do.

With that, I was shocked when I started looking more into like the behind the scenes of it.

I'm like, oh, oh, OK, so make the list.

Yeah.

And if we should, we should continue on the video game thing.

I feel like we might return.

To Silent Hill.

Oh that, That was going to be my next pick.

So OK, now when the first Silent Hill came out, I remember my mom and I playing it on the original PlayStation and we were like, what the fuck?

And when I played Dead by Daylight, I like to play as as certain characters from when I'm playing survivor of Silent Hill.

My kids are super into Silent Hill because they've been redoing them.

And so this one is finally they're doing one about the most popular game in the franchise.

Yeah, no argument that Silent Hill 2 is the most popular game in the franchise.

We've got Pyramid Head and stuff, and the other Silent Hill movies have been utter garbage.

Wow.

So I'm gonna take slight issue here because I right so the big issue I'm like again, going back to that like Resident Evil movie, right.

One of the big issues with people these these people love these franchises.

People love these intellectual properties.

Silent Hill as a gaming property is one of the most popular horror franchises of all time.

You know, you go back to Silent Hill two first.

Silent Hill 2 is the game that I credit with what got me into horror, whether that is movies, whether that is a.

Game such an iconic.

Game, you know and I.

Think that's also an age thing because I was already in my 20s when it came out, you know?

Yeah.

So it's it's a game that's important to me, and I do think it's the best Silent Hill game.

It is, it is, you know, is, is 1.

It is by far and away one of the best Silent Hill games.

And, and the problem is that when they were adapted to movies, they made new stories.

They didn't involve the characters from the games.

And so when I find out that Return to Silent Hill is based, it is fully based around Silent Hill too.

And so that to me gives me so much hope and joy about coming to see this movie.

It's by the same director as the original Silent Hill movie, which again, I think is a good thing because he's coming back to the franchise.

He's maybe going to have learned from some mistakes that you'd maybe made in that first movie.

I don't think that first Silent Hill movie is particularly bad.

I, I give it some credit.

It's.

Not bad bad, it's just not good.

There's quite, there's quite a lot I think in there to like it's maybe not put together.

It is, but I think the problem is when you're adapting anything like video game to screen.

The problem is, is I think when they do the the film, they're trying, trying to pull in a different audience than your gamers who are the ones that like made the thing popular.

And I think you've got to do a little bit of fan service to your gamers instead of trying to to do a wide thing that's going to grab everybody.

You're losing your fan base and then when your fan base hates it, everything's shit.

Yeah, that's the thing.

People are like, people are constantly trying to take these franchises and just go mainstream with them and it doesn't work.

Conversely, you've got to, you've just got to strike that ballot.

Alienate your fan base.

You've got to strike that balance.

Then you can't go and do, you know, welcome to Raccoon City, which is pretty much all lip service, and then expect it to be a good movie, you know, so.

And it's one of those things.

It's a balance.

It's so hard to do.

And when I, I, I liked a lot of people who can do it.

And we've got a lot of and there, and there's yet more there's there's Zach Cragger's Resident Evil, the guy who did, I hated Barbarian.

Everybody knows that.

I loved weapons.

Everybody knows that or and if you don't know, you know now, but him doing Resident Evil actually after weapon, if it would have been after barbarian, I would have been like, fuck you.

But after weapons, I'm like, all right, I can fuck with this.

It's got to be better than the garbage that we had before.

That's fucking Resident Evil shit.

Because I do this is the thing, right?

So like I personally, personally, you know, we talked about I think the first Silent Hill movie is decent.

I don't think it's great.

I think it's decent.

It's a nice watch.

I will revisit it from time to time.

The last we say about the seat, Silent Hill, I think the better, I think for everyone involved.

Has there been a movie, a Resident Evil movie that's apart maybe aside from, you know, some of the animated ones because you know some of them are are OK.

Has there been a good Resident Evil movie?

No.

And and that's, there's been so many of them and that's so disappointing.

And like, who is wanting this?

Who's asking for these movies?

I mean, it's not that I have a problem with Mila Jovovich because I she's hot and she's awesome, you know, but it's, it's like, I just, it's the fact of like they took what was great about the games and then they just, I don't know, shit it out.

It just it, it didn't matter.

They kind of just, it was like an aside and it's like, OK, I came to see this because I'm a fan of the game and you're just going to take all that and shit it out like it's, it doesn't matter.

It's all this computer hologram little girl and this thing.

Oh no, no, no.

I was so angry.

But like, I think that you can do something awesome.

I mean, there's a reason so many games have been so successful in this franchise.

For the most part, they've almost all been successful.

There's there's.

Something there, there's storylines there that matter and it's like, so take that and do something with it.

Don't just make up your own shit because then you alienate your fan base and other people like I don't know what the fuck's going on.

That's it.

And like, like you say, I, you know, I am, I talked about Silent Hill being one of the most popular horror franchises of all time, and it kind of pales in comparison really, to Resident Evil's levels of success.

I'm just doing a quick Google search there, right?

The Resident Evil franchise across all its games has made $8 billion from game sales alone.

Just game sales.

That's not a.

Lot of them have been me.

You know that, but that's not.

Included I'm a huge Resident Evil fan.

Exactly.

Yeah, 100% and same here.

But that also doesn't include the merchandise and film rights and things like that this franchise makes.

So it's how can you have a franchise franchise that is so wildly successful and just shit the bed with it so fucking.

Much movies are so bad, it's.

Utterly insane to me.

So I'm hopeful that we maybe get a slightly better Resident Evil movie, but out of the two, I'm much more hopeful that Return to Silent Hill is going to be a success than the Resident Evil movie.

I really hope so because it's it's focusing on the best of the the Silent Hill games.

It's one I'm I'm excited to see.

I'm much more excited to see it than than the Resident Evil movie.

But because Resident Evil movies have burned me, so we've done.

So.

I'm I'm.

I'm wary.

Yeah, so this one's not technically on my list because there's not a huge amount of information out there for it and I'm not sure if it's even slated for a 2026 release.

It might end up coming out later.

But I do want to quickly mention considering because whilst we're still on the topic of video games, there's a Dead by Daylight horror movie coming.

I'm not sure if this was on your list.

No, no, I don't know a huge amount.

Of I'm in denial at the moment, I don't want this because like no, the best parts of Dead by Daylight are in the game.

It's an online multiplayer game.

It's they have some original characters, but it's much more fun to play the licensed characters and you're not going to be able to have those.

Yeah, but that's like I'm really.

So I'm assuming this is going to be based with the sort of base characters in terms.

Of yeah, I'm just like, how are you going to take a multiplayer online game?

Like I just, I just really feel like it's grasping for straws and I really don't think it's necessary.

I think I'd be more excited as well if it wasn't Blumhouse that was involved.

Exactly, Blum House is like means the worst movies in the world to me.

I fucking hate Blum House movies so much.

Like so fucking much.

So much.

I see.

I recently rewatched Malignant.

That was fun.

So I don't, I don't every once in a while.

I don't necessarily hate Blum house movies, I just think Blum house movies are horror movies for beginners.

Yeah, I think they're movies for people who aren't us.

Yeah, they're for non horror nerds.

Yeah, exactly.

So I I don't want to say too much about Dead by Daylight.

It's just, I just don't know what they're going to do with it.

Yeah, I'm not.

I just thought I'm not.

Feeling.

That one convention, right, Candy?

What's up next?

Ready or not too?

Yes, I think this could be one of the big ones.

This is definitely going to be one of the big ones, one of the.

Excitements.

And I I mean, I love Samara weaving.

We talked about that in the past, I think, when we did our final girls.

I fucking love Samara Weaving.

Yeah.

And so seeing her back in this role is going to be so much fun.

And we've got Sarah Michelle Gellar's in there, and I love her.

Elijah, Elijah Boots is in there.

You've got just just running down.

You've got Kevin Durant in there.

David Cronenberg is is involved is in here as well.

Just, you know, just to name a few names.

The cast is incredible.

And you know, there's there's lots of other really familiar faces in there as well.

Who They're the kind of actors who you know, but you don't necessarily know they're oh, that.

Guy, Yeah.

So I know this is I think this is what Nico is most excited for this year.

Just from talking to him, I think he mentioned that this is his movie that he is most excited to see.

We did put a thread up across our social media platforms asking people what they were most excited for and ready or not Here I come was kind of the kind of the the leading pick.

This is, you know, we're in award season.

I think, you know, if you if we were to have odds on our on the movies, I think ready or not, here I come would probably be the odds on favorite to sort of be the horror movie of the year.

And that's saying something because there's that we've still got a couple of really, really interesting big horror.

Movies to talk about heavy hitters still in my pocket right now.

So, but just like you said, like Samara weaving, the first Ready or Not film is incredible.

It's so different.

It's so funny as well and I think.

And it's a fun movie.

It's real in a fun.

Way you know.

100% and I, I'm super excited for this one.

It feels like it feels like the kind of the premise of this movie where you can do sequels to, you know, how many times have we gotten sequels to horror movies when you're like, did we really need a sequel?

Do we?

Really need, yeah.

But this one feels like it's the right kind of premise for sequels because you can kind of do pretty much anything you want with this.

You know, the I, I know obviously it's called ready or not, and that's kind of the game.

But you could branch it out into, you know, other games and, you know, you could do so much with it.

So I'm really excited.

And if this movie is a success, I, I hope we get, you know, quite a bit more of these movies in the franchise.

Yeah, I think there's a lot you can do there.

And you know, yeah, this cast just looks so fun.

And I'm just, I'm excited for this one.

Yeah, I'm super excited for it.

Well, I'm going to steal one of the big heavy hitters next.

There's there's still a couple and this is definitely the other one that I'm super excited for a candy.

You probably already know what I'm going to say.

The same one I am.

Evil Dead Burn is coming out in 2026 and there's nothing that gets me more excited other than maybe a new Terrifier movie than a new Evil Dead movie.

I know I'm.

So.

Excited.

We talk about this.

We talk about the Evil Dead franchise all the time.

We've only actually covered a couple of the movies in the franchise, but we talk about the Evil Dead franchise all the time.

And I always say, pound for pound, Evil Dead is the greatest horror franchise of all time.

There is no wall.

It's amazing all the way through.

Even the ones where you are like this is the weakest and I think it's.

Army of.

Darkness, Army of Darkness and I really enjoy it, but I think Evil Dead Rise for a lot of people is probably like they're like the two that are like down there.

So they're both still great movies.

They're both still great movies and that's the difference of the franchise.

I think there are other franchises who might have higher highs than the greatest evil dead movie.

And this is again where we also contrast because, you know, I think you, you say Evil Dead 2 isn't it is your favorite.

And I, I, I'm, I'm controversial.

Also told me that it's his favorite.

Of course.

I mean, of course he would, wouldn't he?

I shook my boobs in his face though.

It was like, excuse me, Mr.

Campbell, I was really working every.

And you would do it again.

I would fucking do it again.

Whereas I I slightly controversially think that Evil Dead 2013 is the best movie in the franchise.

But again, this the, I think the margins in this franchise are so fine.

You know that's that's not me shitting on Evil Dead too, because Evil Dead too is still one of.

Those because, like, they're all good.

And I, I said something about Army of Darkness.

That is my husband and my son's favorite.

Yeah.

And I got to see it live with Bruce Campbell, but I was like, too bad it wasn't even lit too though, you know?

But I, I still enjoyed it.

So it's still fun.

And I have the socks of 1's evil ash and one's ash, you know, and it's, it's, I have a huge poster of it on my wall.

You know what I mean?

It's I still love it.

So I, one of mine that I wanted to bring up is Werewolf by Robert Eggers.

I'm excited for this one because Robert Eggers only does period pieces and he does them well.

And not only that, it's really hard to do a werewolf film well.

Like think about how few good werewolf films we have, and a lot of them fail.

I mean one of the best is probably Dog Soldiers.

I was to say, if you think about it like if someone says to you name some good werewolf films to me, I would go in London.

American Wolf in London Dog Soldiers, Ginger snaps.

Yeah, I mean, there's really.

And there are so many of them, and so many are bad.

There are there are probably a couple more out there I may be being like quite.

I mean, for the most part, I mean, you're right.

Those are the ones people would mention because they're really not done super well.

Yeah, and.

I think that's a fucking shame.

Not American Werewolf in Paris.

No, fuck.

No, God, that movie isn't real.

I feel.

Like I feel that came out, I think when I was in high school and I was like, what the fuck is this?

I was high too and that didn't make it any better.

And what I really, you know, Robert Eggers is one of the hottest prospects in terms of directors in horror.

You know he, like you say he only does P repeat the everything.

He touches is fantastic.

The Witch, The Lighthouse, Nosferatu, you know, these are all utterly incredible movies.

And I think, I think we've only actually covered Nosferatu on on on that list.

You've got the Northmen on there as well.

You know this, this is the Northmen.

And what I love about him as well is, and we talk about this with certain directors, he has his people.

He has his cast of people that he trusts, yes, and the people that he likes and they very clearly have.

What they call a stable.

Yeah, like like Mike Flanagan has a stable.

Yeah, you know, John Carpenter had a stable of people, you know.

And you know, Robert Eggers, you have Willem Dafoe is one of his staples.

And Willem Dafoe, in my opinion, is is one of the finest actors of his generation.

He.

Willem Dafoe.

And and he is notoriously such like a nice kind person as well.

So you're just immediately rooting for it.

You've got Alan Adam Taylor Johnson in this movie.

You've got Lily Rose Dak, who's another one of sort of Robert Eggers's stables.

I'm super excited for Werewolf again.

I think it's because it's been done so poorly so, so often throughout the history of horror movies.

I generally don't get that excited for horror movies, but I really feel this one's in the right hands.

Right, you know, and and he said it would be boring to make modern movies.

And so we know it's going to be a period piece, which I think will add to it.

And the way that he is realistic to that time period will add to it.

And, you know, using folklore and things because he he has like a folklore that he brings to every movie.

Like he really gets into the folklore of like, you know, like in the witch and and inlet has all these things that he brings to it.

So I really feel like this could be a great where.

Wolf movie that we're finally going to get for that We we haven't had one in a long time.

No, we haven't really.

We really haven't ever.

Well.

I'm excited here.

I, I, I kind of want to move.

I want to move us slightly.

And I want to talk about a couple of things because there's a couple of movies coming out this year that Harkins us back to the Universal monster movies of old, because we have a movie coming out this year called The Bride.

Oh, I'm so excited for that.

Which obviously is a take from Bride of Frankenstein.

And we've got Maggie Gyllenhaal directing, writing and directing this, which I think is going to be really interesting.

You've got Christian Bale in this as Frankenstein's monster.

So the cast is there.

Jake Gyllenhaal is in this as well.

penélope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, The cast's really good.

Listen, I, Frankenstein and Brad Frankenstein are like, if you're talking about universal monster movies, that they're like the two for me.

They I, I love those.

Movies and you know, the Toros Frankenstein was amazing.

So we're getting a lot of these themes.

We, we tend, but we tend to go through this in Hollywood where it's like, OK, Frankenstein is the theme.

And so we're we're getting a lot.

I mean, the Del Toros like version of it was fantastic.

And then now we're getting this 1930s updated, very stylistic from the trailers version from Maggie Gyllenhaal.

I'm very excited to to check it out.

I really like the looks of it and I like the cast.

Cast, you know, her brother, her husband, something like that.

But they're good actors, so I'm excited to see it.

Yeah, the Christian Bale is again, one of one of the greatest, like finest actors of his time, you know, in terms of complete.

Con, but he's a great actor.

That's it.

That's it.

Yeah, 100%, You know, And, you know, but you've got people in here as well who are really familiar with horror.

You know, Christian Bale is really familiar with horror as a franchise.

You know, Pierre Sarsgaard is familiar with horror as a franchise.

So, you know, I'm, I'm really excited for this.

I I again, like I again, it's something that we've not covered enough on the show that we'll probably look to fix in 2026.

But, you know, universal monster movies paved the way.

They're they're.

Universal and Hammer Horror are some of my staples.

You know, but they but they paved the way for horror to be.

Talk more about Christopher Lee and talk more about James Wales movies and the Lago see and shit like that.

Yeah, they paved the way for horror to be where it is now.

And with that, absolutely with Cheney, Yeah.

Without these movies, you know, we wouldn't have what we have right now.

So I absolutely am super excited for this.

And if I can just, if I can just jump in because there's another one.

There's another Universal monster movie.

Harkin Back because Lee Cronin, who is another director who we're very familiar with, is releasing a version of The Mummy in 2026 as well.

I think there's maybe a little bit less known about this one, but again, it looks.

Like I couldn't find a lot of info on it.

It's got like, again, it's got a really big class has got Jack Rayner in it, I think is our main character who, if people don't know the name, he plays Christian at Midsummer.

And I think we can all agree that for as much as we fucking despise the character of Christian at Midsummer, Jack Rayner did a really good job of making us despise him, you know?

So I'm really excited that this one's coming out.

The only reservations that I have about The Mummy is that it is once again a Blum House movie.

Yeah, see, that's The thing is, is Blum House Movies Now I re I recently rewatched Malignant because it's one of my son's favorite movies.

We're rewatching it and Blum House did that one and they knocked it out of the park, so every once in a while there's one for me in there.

So maybe the Mummy needs to.

Be a little bit more like pedestrian.

And I don't mean that in an insulting way.

It's just, you know, for us who are nerds and do this all the time, it's a little bit not our taste.

Yeah.

100% I think it's, it's not like.

A Megan movies and shit like that.

Not for us.

Well, we might get on to that franchise in a little bit.

I.

Forgot.

But yeah, I'm, I'm super I'm excited for the Mummy.

This is not as no connections to the Mummy front like sort of series of movies that came out in the mid 90s in the early 90s with Brendan.

Fraser.

Which by the way, that I think growing up The Mummy with Brent, the first one with Brent Fraser, Rachel Weiss and John Hannah and all that, probably one of my most watched movies going up.

I fucking love that movie.

I.

Saw at the drive in I saw the first one I was like I'm good.

I'm OK because.

I grew up on the Universal, like, you know, Oh my God, why is his name with me?

Boris Karloff version, My mom, that's her favorite Universal film, and that's the one that's for me.

Fair.

Fair, right, Candy?

Let's go.

What's still on your list?

One for you, actually, Pinocchio, unstrung in the twisted childhood.

I know you're going to make AI know you're going to make me watch this, so I'm going to just fucking rip the Band-Aid off now.

I have quite a cast to it.

Robert England's in it.

You know, at this point, Robert England seems to be taking any job.

I was just going to say Robert England being in it.

I adore Robert England.

Horror fans adore Robert England.

He is one of the most popular horror people of all time.

Just because he's in your horror movie doth not make it a good horror.

Movie does not make it good.

But.

I mean, but you're the one who loves these movies.

That's why I brought it up like because I know you're going to make me watch it and I.

Really, I just want to say love might be a strong word.

The fact.

That you make me watch it must mean something.

Or just maybe, you like to torture me.

I mean, I do like to torture us a little bit and I will be, we will be reviewing Popeye the Slayer Man in 2026 as well.

It's also, it's also got a Richard Brake in this, which again, you know, yeah.

John, the big Richard Break fan.

Richard Briggs, great, he did a lot of work with Rob Zombie, which who I know you are not a fan of, but he.

I am a fan of Rob Zombie, just not his movies.

Yeah, he was.

Also.

What else is Richard Break done?

He was in Mandy.

Yeah, he was a Mandy.

I was going to say he was a Mandy, and I'm so excited.

He's like Richard Bragg.

He was in Game of Thrones as well.

Yeah, he's done.

He.

Was the Ice King.

He was the ice king, He's done huge amounts of work in his career and quite often.

For the night King, the ice king is from fucking Adventure Climb.

Listen to me.

I love cartoons so I watch a lot of cartoons, but no, Ice King is from Adventure Time.

The Night King is from Game of Thrones.

I'm also a Game of Thrones fan and I I completely conflated them.

You know what I'm saying guys?

Maybe we get there with me if we could get an Adventure Time horror movie.

Yeah, that'd be great actually.

But but yeah, I'm not going to lie to you, Candy, you didn't need to mention this.

It wasn't on my list.

But now that you've mentioned it, because we also we also still have to cover Bambi the reckoning and I'm relatively confident there is a blood and honey I'm.

Gonna start pulling out the Hershel Gordon Lewis movies and you will hate me.

I'm pretty sure there's a Blood and Honey 3 coming relatively soon as well, which if there is, we will.

And actually I've just quickly looked up that's also coming out.

It's 2026.

So there you go.

Maybe.

Maybe.

Get ready for Hershel Gordon Lewis.

So much of it.

You're going to hate me if you thought pieces was bad, just wait.

But but no, see, The thing is though, about these movies, I feel like they really they just kind of scratch an itch for me, right?

And it's not necessarily an itch that anyone wants scratched, but I don't know what it is like.

See, see, if someone was to turn around to me right now and say, Ian, do you want to watch Blood and Honey with me, I'd be like, yeah, fuck yeah, let's get the popcorn on.

Oh.

My God, no.

Let's get it watched.

It's.

Apparently just the second one I had, I had to go to the hospital because I popped my back and they gave me a shot of like something really strong, like like stronger than morphine because I'm allergic to morphine.

And I came home and watched it and it, it didn't even make the movie better.

I was so stoned off my ass and I was just like, is this over yet?

Is it over yet?

I think that for me, in my definition, these movies transfer into the realm of so bad they're good.

No, they're just bad.

No, see, I disagree.

I disagree.

I think they're so bad that they are good.

I think they crossed that line.

I really really.

Do you're a special boy?

It's.

Funny, that's what my mom tells me.

But but yeah, you know what?

I probably will make us make us watch Pinocchio and Armstrong.

As great I got, I got the reckoning for me coming, so that's fine.

That's fine.

Our listeners are going to be like, what the fuck are they doing to us?

We we still have a few big headers to talk about, but before, before before we get to them, do we?

Do Scream 7 now.

Ah, let's go for it then.

Let's, let's do it.

Scream 7, it's going to be, I'm going to just say it right now.

I'm going to say it right now.

Scream 7 It's going to be shit.

You know why it's?

Going to be shit.

Because the other like, you know who is in it, who is in it.

Matthew Lillard Matthew Lillard is loving the Matthew Lillard renaissance.

Everybody knows that I love Matthew Lillard.

I have a big SLC Punk Pictures signed from him, which is one of my favorite movies of all time, and we're having a Matthew Lillard renaissance.

Well, not if you listen to a certain.

He's in.

Not if you listen to a Mr.

Certain Tarantino.

Fuck, fuck Quentin Tarantino.

Fuck him.

He's a fucking creep.

Sorry.

I'm not sorry to him, but I'm sorry that I yelled.

I'm just saying he's a fucking creep.

And it's and when Matthews said it hurt his feelings, I was like, oh, I'll hug you.

He's like the nicest guy ever.

He's so sweet.

He is absolutely a wonderful human.

And to hear that Quentin Tarantino, that fucking cock who makes great movies, but I hate him and he's a creep but like to say that and hurt that poor man's feelings.

I'm just, it's like, what did Matthew Willard do to you, man?

And fans of Matthew Lillard, all of us on, on the Instagram, we fucking blew up.

I, I posted some shit.

I posted some things that I do not regret.

But anyway, yeah, I'm loving the Matthew Lillard renaissance.

Yeah.

And I'm gonna see Five Nights at Freddy's, dude.

I haven't seen it yet.

I am also gonna.

Probably because I was, I was ill for a bit.

But I am going to see it.

And my kids, they like, laugh at it and it's bad and, and so do I, but I see it.

That's like Matthew Lillard in particular, like he is horror royalty now at this point.

He has crossed, I think he's, yeah, he has crossed that line, isn't he into or whether that is the original screen movie, you know, Five Nights at Freddy's, 13 Ghosts, all of these things that he has been in.

And that's just to name a few.

And you know.

And it and outside of horror he did a great movie called SLC Punk that is completely underrated.

It is one of my favorite movies of all time, and if you haven't seen it, do yourself a fucking favour.

Talking of people coming, talking of people coming back, David Arquette is also cast in this movie to come back.

I'm just gonna assume that that's maybe in some sort of flashback form.

And spoilers.

Sorry for anyone for Screen 5.

They screwed themselves by getting by with the the whole Melissa Barrera thing.

Yeah, So there is no Melissa Barrera, there is no Jenna Ortega in the.

Yeah, because she got, she didn't, she backed Melissa Barrera and said fuck you because of, you know, them being like, hey, there's genocide going on in Palestine.

Like that's just a fact.

And and to get political and fire somebody for that, like she's like, they're lucky she didn't fucking sue their asses.

She could have.

Does that make a statement then from the fact that Neve Campbell is back for this movie?

Cox is still signed on to this movie.

You know, Mason Gooding is still signed on to this movie.

Does that say anything about them or are we reading too much?

I don't know, maybe them because Neve Campbell didn't do the wasn't going to do another one because they weren't, but they weren't going to pay her what she thought she was worth.

Now considering she survived all of them, I guess you know she can't command a fee.

But I guess they decided to part with the money because nobody was going to see Scream 7 because of the uproar.

This is the thing as well, like so I'm not like I'm not not a Nef Campbell fan, right, Nef Campbell perfectly.

She's fine, whatever, she's not one of my favorite.

Final world in terms, yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Like Scream is also another thing.

Nef Campbell, though, she she is kind of she is Scream, right?

She is the franchise.

Yeah, I mean, she's iconic.

She but like the the it's not just a case, you know.

Heather Lang Camp is Nightmare is Nightmare on Elm Street.

But Heather Lang Camp only did 3 movies.

You know, Jamie Lee Curtis was Halloween, but after Halloween too, Jamie Lee Curtis didn't appear again until, you know, H2H20.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So like Neph Campbell's been there.

Barring, you know, Scream 6.

Neph Campbell's been there the whole way.

And as has Courtney Cox, to be fair, she is.

She's all, she has really been there the whole way.

So they are kind of the franchise, aren't they?

Listen, I'm not excited for Scream 7.

I don't think I'll ever get excited for I'm not.

Excited for it, but I saw Scream 5 and I saw Scream 6 because they were teasing something about Stu and it didn't happen.

I was angry and the movies weren't good.

I'm not a huge Scream fan.

I liked the first movie, that's it.

And I don't even like the second one like most people do.

I really just only like the first.

But I went back because I was like, Stu was Stew and Tatum were my favorite from the first movie.

And of course Tatum dies and so does Stew.

And but I'm like, there's they're teasing Stew and now they're like, hey, Matthew Lillard's going to be in this.

So we're definitely.

Going to get how, how pissed would you be?

If it is just like a like Skeet Ulrich coming back in Scream 5 and he's just like a little ghosty flashback kind of thing, How pissed would you be?

Extremely pissed because it made me want a Scream movie.

I'm going to see it reluctantly but luckily I have passes so I can go see a movie a day if I want and I you know, for free.

So I I just pay like a monthly fee.

I just don't very much believe it or not.

I just don't think there's not much left to do with this franchise as well like I think the the franchise is it's.

How much more meta can you get?

You've already caught up to like modernist.

Like are you trying to be pre meda?

Like you gotta?

I mean, at this point, they're grasping at straws and you can tell because they finally decided to pony up the money to get Neve Campbell because they fucked themselves with the other two sisters with, with Melissa Barrera, with, you know, Jenna Ortega, which was a big fuck up in my opinion.

And the reasons were bad.

So it looks bad on them, but I don't think it necessarily represents the the views of the other people, the other actors involved.

So I can't do that.

I I can't hold it against the production company, though.

Yeah, yeah.

What they did that was shitty.

Yeah, 100%.

But hey, you got Matthew Lillard back, and boy, are we happy to see him.

I'm always happy to see him.

OK, I'm gonna, well, speaking since we've talked about Scream, I'm gonna slightly change tact now, OK?

But it's kind of similar because we've got Scary Movie 6 coming out in 2026, and it's a return of the cast essentially of the best.

Scary.

Movies you know we've we've reviewed the first two scary movies on the podcast already I highly doubt we're going to review any between 3-4 and five I.

Don't think we need to.

Do that.

There's nothing else necessary.

I and this one seems to be kind of amalgamating like obviously scary movies take spoofs out lots of different kinds of horror movies.

The very the original Scary movie was a massive spoof on Scream, as well as lots of other references in there.

Scary Movie 2 was a spoof on The Haunting, which it was a really odd choice I thought, but you know, it ended up somehow ended up it.

Was better than the haunting is.

Well, I've had turds that were better.

Than say I've taken shits better than.

That, you know, Scary Movie 3 was Signs, I think was Scary Movie three.

I think 4 was War of the Worlds, I want to say.

And then I kind of lose track of them after that, to be honest.

Yeah, there was.

One of them had something with the ring.

Yeah, and but anyways, so there there.

I think there is no doubt that one and two are the the best two in the franchise.

And that's because we have the this original cast, the the Wyons brothers are involved.

You've got Anna Faris, you've got Regina Hall, who's incredibly funny.

Chris Elliott is back for this one as well, because Chris.

Elliott stole the show into We still watch Scary Movie too all the time.

Yeah, 100% is something the character Doofy is back in this one as well.

So I'm really actually quite interested to know what they're going to do with this movie.

Now.

The rumours are that it's going to be it's going to be kind of a return of the the kind of Scream references, but there is rumour to being a bit of a terrify bit of terrifier in here as well.

So it'll be really interesting to see what the central storyline for this one is and what other references they make to it.

Because that was one of the best things about, you know, those previous movies was all those great, great references they made and.

And they did it in a in the most hilarious way.

There were other spoofs that didn't do great and and it was, by the way, hands brothers when they did a haunted house and stuff like that.

It just wasn't as good.

Scary Movie was kind of like the best of the spoofs.

And so yeah, I'm, I'm actually excited to see.

I think Anna Faris is hilarious.

I think Brazilian is hilarious.

Regina Hall is hilarious.

I I really think this could be like the funny movie that we need.

Yeah, 100%.

And you know, this cast clearly like they have so much chemistry as well, don't they?

So I think that makes a huge difference.

So I did.

I kind of just, I wanted to throw that in there.

There's not a huge amount to say about it.

Everyone kind of knows what we're going to get with a scary movie movie out of these guys.

It's just going to be really interesting to see what they eventually decide to do.

But Candy I.

Have one that you haven't you haven't brought up.

And I'm surprised.

OK, 28 years later, Bone Temple.

OK, right.

OK, so this is on my list as well.

I was, I was coming round to it.

I'm I couldn't give a fuck about this movie.

Thank you.

I was wondering listen, I, I 28 days later to me is one of the finest horror zombie movies out there.

I think Danny Boyle did such an incredible job in that movie.

Killian Murphy is is utterly incredible in that movie.

Brandon Brandon Fraser in that movie is incredible.

Christopher Eccleston in that movie is incredible and I think tonally it was utterly perfect.

It was really heart wrenching at points.

You know, when Brendan Fraser's character gets the drop in his eye and like it's yeah, he paid.

28 Weeks Later was not a patch on days.

It's a site to that opening scene.

That opening scene was incredible.

Really fantastic opening scene.

I think Robert Carlyle is good in it.

A lot of fondness for.

Robert Carlyle.

I have a lot of fondness for Robert Carlyle, but it was, it was still a decent movie, but it became a lot more, I don't want, no offence, but it felt like it became all really Americanized, you know, in that sort of way.

It did.

I mean, we got Jeremy Renner in there and.

Yeah, I mean, there are still the.

1st movie was the best.

Yeah, but they're still good movies 28 years later.

I just, I don't think it needed, like we've all been clamouring for a return to this franchise for a long time, but then they kind of gave us a a movie that had nothing to do with the franchise really like this.

Yeah, this could have just been a generic other IP movie and.

Right.

I think people would have enjoyed it because I don't necessarily think 28 Years Later is a bad movie.

I think it's a decent movie.

I think it's a good movie.

It's an OK watch.

It's it's a much more slow burn.

It's a very slow burn all.

Right.

Like, I don't know, Sean and I were both kind of like, I don't, you know, we just didn't really have any strong type of emotion, any type of way about it.

Like, OK, that was a movie.

Yeah.

I, I, I think they, I think they just very much capitalized on the, the sort of name value of the franchise for it though, didn't they?

I think Ralph Finance is, I think the people in it are fine.

I love Ralph finance and, and and almost everything, but it's like I just, I've seen the preview for this movie for the Bone Temple a million times because I go to the movies all the time and I'm just kind of like, I don't care though.

I don't care.

That's it.

And, you know, I feel bad because we've got Naida Costa who is directing this and you know, she she directed Candy.

Great job with Candyman.

Yeah, 100%.

And you know, she's she's done a good for Ralph finds his back.

You've got Jack Connell in here.

I think I don't know, like because obviously the end of 28 years later was really bizarre as well.

You had that sort of like kidnapping finale and this movie does pick up with that.

Like that is where this movie goes.

I'm really just not, this is the thing.

I'm really just not that interested in figuring out what happens.

It's not one of those things where I was like, oh, I need to go see the next movie and find out what happened.

Yeah.

I'm just not that interested.

I wasn't happy with how they ended it and the fact that they're like, oh, and here's this.

I'm like, I just don't care.

I don't care anymore.

I'm just gonna go back and watch 28 Days Later and just go on with my life.

And The thing is as well, 2828 days later for such a long time wasn't available on any streaming service, right?

You could only watch it if you had a physical copy, but it started.

And you had to buy it.

It started to make appearances now on streaming services.

I think so.

Finally.

Which is great for us to watch.

I mean, I have physical copy of it.

I'm sure you have probably.

Everything that I like, I have a physical copy of because one I collect.

Most, most horror fans, we collect because, you know, with streaming, I don't know, a lot of us are just collectors.

Like it's when I find really cool horror media, like in the wild, I'm so excited.

But I know somebody dumped their collection for for sad reasons because we usually don't let go of them.

If I like something, I own it because I don't want to trust that when I want to watch it, it's I got to find it on streaming.

I usually can't find Lucio Fulci's, you know, Cat in the brain or something like that.

You know, I have to buy it.

So yeah, most of us own it.

And if you don't, then you're kind of stuck with, well, it's not streaming anywhere.

What the fuck am I going to do?

Yeah, 100%.

OK, moving on, I still have a couple of things that I want to talk about.

I think that's probably all the big hitters out the way in terms of movies, you know, Evil Dead Tenafire, 4 Scream, 728 years later.

These are like the big hitters for the year.

These are the ones that people are.

Going to lot of lot of sequel stuff.

They're raising sequel, but there are a couple original movies out there.

You know, return to Silent Hill, but then we have that video game influence as well.

Things like the Backrooms, things like Iron Lung that we've already talked about as well.

I want to move focus a little bit because we're getting ADC horror movie in 2026.

We've got Clayface coming out this year.

And Mike Flanagan was supposed to direct it, and he switched over because he was working on The Exorcist film.

Which is also.

Start working on on the the Carrie film.

So I don't I don't really don't know what's going on with the Exorcist film.

It seems to be like confused.

I mean, I feel like they should.

I, I know you're a huge Mike Flanagan fan, and I think they should.

I think they just need to leave The Exorcist.

Alone, Yeah, I really, I really I'll see anything that he does, but I didn't care that he was going to be doing it.

I would, I would see if he did it.

But since he's doing the carry thing, I think that's his focus right now.

And I also think David Gordon Green has done some irreparable damage to that franchise, at least for the immediate future.

They kind of want to wreck on that.

Yeah, I I just just to be honest.

But yeah, we're getting Clayface.

Mike Flanagan is still listed as a writer for this movie as well.

So you did still have some involvement.

I don't know a huge amount about it.

I think it's just interesting that we're fine.

I feel like this is something that, you know, DC and Marvel should have went into such a long time ago, and they kind of did.

We're going.

To start doing it with some Marvel stuff too.

There's like some zombie stuff that happened.

As far as comic book nerd stuff, I know more about Marvel because my brother was really into it when we were kids and I would read it because he had nobody to talk about with comic books.

Trust me, I didn't want to.

I just did it for him.

But I know more about Marvel.

So there's more horror stuff in both and I think it would be smart it you know, and from what I understand, that's what they're Marvel is also going to be doing is some some horror.

But I think this is a good move for DC because DC is always flagged behind Marvel as far as like making money and.

Well, yeah, putting.

Up good content.

Other than that, like Christopher Nolan's Batman movies.

Really.

Yeah.

Which made huge amounts of money and was incredibly successful.

I think Robert Pattinson's Batman was was relatively well received as well, to be fair.

Yeah, I actually liked it.

It was a little too long, but I liked.

It so did I, and I forget the actor's name.

It's the other one that Quentin Tarantino doesn't like, who played the Riddler in Batman with.

Jim Carrey.

No, no, no, no with Oh.

Paul Dano.

Paul Dano, that's the one I can.

Dinner is such a good actor.

He is incredible in that movie.

He is incredible in that.

In every movie he's.

In like I feel.

Tarantino.

Outside of Batman properties, DC doesn't seem to do anything else really well, you know, So it'll be interesting.

I think, you know, I mean, Marvel kind of sat on their path because of a movie that was mildly horror based in Blade with Wesley Snipes all those years ago, which is a great movie and a great.

I love Blade.

I love blade.

I love Blade too as well to be fair.

I like Blade Trinity as well.

I'm one of those weirdos.

I don't know if I'd go that far to be.

Honest, I actually like it and I can't defend it, but I do like it.

OK.

But yeah, so I just think this is something that we should have been getting such a long time ago.

So it'll be interesting to see what Clayface brings and I.

Think the tide is turning against those huge blockbuster?

Oh, it's gone.

It's gone.

Think like there will never be another end game.

There will never be another Infinity War, Those games.

It's over and they have to realize the tide has turned and people don't care about that anymore because all these movies are losing money.

Actually, we installed the Fantastic Four movie because it was Sean's pick.

I make him see stuff sometimes.

So I went with them and that movie lost money.

But you know, it was an alright movie and Deidre Pascal was in it, so yes.

Yeah, but that.

But that's the thing, like people, people don't realize, right?

They're actually not very good movies.

They're not.

And like, and they get all the money and then that's why you go to more indie places like a 24 and stuff.

Less money, but more on the acting, more on, on on the pathos and everything else.

And so that's why we go there because we're tired of this mainstream pushing this stuff on this that's not very well written.

And it's, it's just, it's, it's all about the effects.

Like, no, we're over that now.

Thank you.

We're done.

Yeah, but like I say, I'm kind of hopeful, right?

I feel like we're probably starting to reach the end of our lists because I just.

Wanted to bring up one more psycho killer.

It looks super exciting.

It's from the same person who wrote 7 and 8 Millimeter, which were great fucking movies, and it's dealing with like Satanic Panic and it looks dark and fucked up and and just like more like a thriller type, more like in the Seven vein.

It looks really fucking good and I hadn't heard much about it till I started researching.

But yeah, keep that on your radar.

Psycho killer.

Yeah, I feel like that might be one of the sort of underrated pics of this year.

You've got Malcolm McDowell in there as well, who, you know, is such a recognizable voice, isn't he?

You know and.

I love him.

Yeah.

So definitely, I think check that one out.

There's a couple, there's a couple of ones that I quickly, just want to mention quickly before we go out here.

We we we did mention the Megan franchise earlier in the episode.

So there's a movie coming out called Soulmate, which is, it's essentially, it's essentially the people think we're going to do with robots, isn't it?

It's like people are going to find robots to replace their partners.

I listen, I don't like, I think me and you.

But hasn't this been done before?

Oh, I mean better.

Probably.

Companion.

Yeah, exactly.

And I think Nico kind of likes Megan as in the first movie.

I think it we're we're pretty well documented in our distaste and our hatred for these movies.

I saw it for free and wanted my money back.

I shit you not though it I really did.

I was like, I wanted my free money back.

Fuck this.

But they they seem to be popular, so I'd probably be a bit remiss if I didn't kind of mention that I.

Want to know who these people are?

I want to.

Question them.

We've got a new, and I know you're not necessarily a fan of this one either.

We've got a new Eli Roth movie coming in 2026.

Fuck Eli.

Roth.

Ice Cream Man is coming out in 2026.

It also stars Eli Roth.

It also stars Snoop Dogg.

So I, I, I don't have much to say other than that that is going to happen.

To be honest, the last one that I, the last one I want to mention.

And again, this one will probably go under the radar a little bit, but it's got an OK cast in there and it's got a director that I really like, movie called Other Mommy.

Oh yeah, yeah.

Which is directed by Rob Savage, who if you don't know who that is, he directed the Zoom horror movie host that was probably the biggest horror movie over COVID.

It's so brilliantly done.

Yeah, it's a short horror.

I was just rewatching that the other day.

It's such a like a good movie just to put on like, hey, I'm going to eat dinner in front of the TV and fucking watch this movie or something.

You.

Know, and you know, we we we got really kind of close with a couple of the people involved in that movie, you know, Emily's Webb, who we were I had on the old show quite a few times to be fair.

Nothing to do with the fact that, you know, I probably had quite a small crush on her, but adorable.

I know you know, we also had one of the writers on the show.

We were also in touch at times with Rob Savage himself and other people who were involved.

So, you know, he he is a director that I have a lot of time for.

Jessica Trastain is in this movie as well, who, you know, obviously will be very well known to movie fans, not just horror fans.

You've got Karen Allen in this movie as well.

Yeah, which which I think is going to be really interesting.

So definitely something to keep an eye on.

I think this is going to be one that I think there's it's, it's kind of supernatural, but it also deals a lot with like growing up in a broken home from what I've been reading, you know, and people who are like kids involved with parents who are having marital issues and stuff like that.

So I feel like there might be some deep emotional stuff on there as well.

So I think that's definitely a movie to be watched out for as well.

Yeah, it sounds good.

Well, that is my list.

And listen, our lists are not exhaustive.

There are plenty of other horror movies coming out over the course of the year.

There might be things we've missed, There's probably something huge that we've missed as well.

But these probably, this is just a snapshot of what is coming in 2026.

And I, we've been saying this for a number probably for a decade now.

I really think sort of 2016 was kind of the time where this new age of horror kind of started.

And we've kind of now we're at that point where we've kind of had a decade, which I think is the new golden age of horror.

And in my opinion, it looks like it's going to continue into 2026.

There's stuff there that I'm really excited about.

We're now at the end of 2025.

Let's have just a little bit and we'll talk probably a bit more about this sort of stuff when we do the award show.

But maybe a moment for reflection on 2025 as a year for horror.

What, what do you think about this year as a whole in what we got just in sort of general, just briefly?

I'm flipping through movies in my mind.

My problem is, is with at the Alamo, they do a lot of revivals, and it was the 40th anniversary of a lot of movies.

So I was thinking of all the movies I saw.

I keep thinking of the revivals.

So you're gonna have to give me a second.

Like Reanimator.

No, no, no, wait, no.

No, I bet you wish we had a new Reanimator movie.

Yeah, I do always see a Reanimator movie.

They're fun.

So just just.

I do.

I do think there was some great stuff.

Weapons surprised me because I hated barbarian, so going into weapons I really had the bar so fucking low and it blew me away.

I really loved weapons.

The long walk was amazing.

It was, it was really, I, I wanted it to be good and it was good there.

There was, there was a lot of great movies this year and there was some disappointments as usual, but I think it wasn't like the banner year.

But I do think what we got was, you know, there was some really, really great stuff there and we talked about a lot of it this year.

We we did get to talk about a lot of newer movies like and and imports like the Ugly Step Sister.

I mean, it's still being buzzed about.

It's a great film.

It's still in shutter.

Check it out.

That was good.

I do think we got a lot of good stuff this year.

Yeah, I think we did as well.

You've mentioned a few.

They're not for R2.

We also got this year, which I thought was incredible.

Sinners, I think.

I don't know.

Sinners Yes, for as much as Blackphone 2 came out this year as well, I.

Actually, like the Blackphone 2, it didn't do as well as I thought it would have.

I think because maybe some people have the mindset that I did like does this need a sequel?

But when I watched it, it made sense and I enjoyed it.

I think that's the important thing, isn't it?

As long as you can watch it and it makes sense.

Yeah.

And you kind of forgive any.

Other yeah, I really, I really did like it.

There's a bit of a Freddy Krueger element to it, which I really enjoyed.

But if you haven't seen Blackphone 2 because you didn't think it needed a sequel, trust me, it's worth watching.

It really is.

It's not like you're going to think about it for the rest of your life.

Like that's one of the greatest movies I've ever seen.

But it is really good though.

It's really enjoyable.

Bring her back as well we got this year I love.

To bring her back Which?

I know you were a big.

Fan Theaters.

But we did, like you say, we did have a lot of things that were about as thinkers, Megan 2 point O, for example, we got Final Destination Bloodlines, which probably isn't a great movie, but you know it.

Wasn't great, but it it was.

I think it tickles a big spot for a lot of hardcore horror fans because of our love for Tony Todd.

He was very, like, in jokey.

And then they let Tony Todd pick what he wanted to say, and it felt it was very heartfelt.

And, you know, he knew it was his last movie, and he knew it was the last time he'd be on screen.

The last thing, yeah, fans would hear him say.

And so I I actually cried.

And I, I also, I also cried in this in the cinema and I, I, I adore the fact that like, you know, you're making a final destination review, right?

You know, you're not making something that's like.

You're not making a masterpiece.

You know, you know, so you're not talking, you're not making Shawshank Redemption.

You know, you're not making these kinds of movies, right?

I love the fact and I give huge props to the director and the cat big to to allow Tony Todd to essentially go off script and just say what you wanted to say in that final moments that he was on screen, because Tony Todd is possibly one of the most beloved people in horror.

He is such a kind man.

He was.

I met him in 2015 and, and he's just this big, sweet giant of a man.

He was, he was just a wonderful man.

And he as he was walking to his booth, my daughter, who was 15 at the time, ramped him.

Mr.

Todd, can I hug?

And he said of course.

And she was just like disappeared in his arms.

He's so cute, but he's absolutely just the sweetest.

He signed stuff for me and, and he was really sweet to my daughter.

And I have signed stuff from him and he was just just incredible to me.

He is one of those sort of like few people that everyone can have bad experiences with certain people, right?

Everyone can have catch someone on an off day, you know, whatever, right?

And they'll go, oh, so and so they're they're a piece of fucking shit.

And actually they're probably not.

You know, we we can all be guilty of that sometimes.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone have a bad word to say about Tony Todd.

And he said only the nicest things.

He was very kind.

He didn't have to pay that much attention to his, to my daughter.

When he was getting ready to go to his booth, he, he sat and talked to her and hugged her and did all this stuff because she's, she grew up with like Candyman and all that stuff.

I mean, she's my kid.

And it was just so sweet to take time out for my, my, my girl and just the, the kindness and, and he would respond to people on on social media and he'd give you a playlist to listen to.

I mean, he was just.

A nicest guy.

And so for him to say, you know, I'm gonna go live what life I have left and I'm gonna enjoy it, So I'm just like, please stop.

I remember back when Twitter was still Twitter.

Yeah, Tony Todd, the day that Tony Todd followed me on Twitter.

Oh my God I got lost my shit when it happened.

To me, I yeah, yeah, I kind of had a.

Moment Tony Todd follows.

Me Tony Todd's Candy Man could be one of the most attractive characters in honor I just.

Saw they did the revival and that's where we won that big thing for answering what projects.

You know, I always say it was what projects and we went we went Cabrini Green Sean.

I did it immediately and he was like, I didn't even say the whole question.

But you guys are right.

We won the stuff because they showed it and it just seen it on the big screen.

I'm like God damn he is sexy as.

Fuck, he just like exudes.

And that fucking, that Cape and the coat thing and and the he just, he was sexy.

The the whisper talking, Yeah, it was just sexy.

Yeah, he was, wasn't he?

But yeah, absolutely.

But.

And of course, is in our Horror Hall of Fame as well, you know, quite as he deserves, quite rightfully so.

He takes his place there.

And absolutely, rest in peace to Tony Todd as well.

Because yes, so yeah, I, I, I that because of that, I kind of have a lot of love for bloodlines, even though it's not.

Yeah, I mean, I enjoyed it.

It wasn't like a masterpiece, but just for that moment alone, I'm grateful.

Exactly, we also got a new Conjuring movie.

There is rumour to be a new Conjuring movie coming in 2026 as well with The Return.

Yeah that's OK with the Returnal and Shay when Shay is apparently back attached to the project.

There's also apparently a spin off movie.

Coming.

I think it's called.

It's called.

I think it's Freds, it's called.

Fred or Fred, something like that.

That's also.

That's also coming to listen.

I don't mind.

I actually don't mind like those first 3 Insidious movies again, they're not great movies and they're very much I feel like I.

Watched anything with Patrick Wilson in it though.

Yeah, I.

Actually think Insidious chapter 3 is pretty decent and it doesn't have any of the cast in it.

I actually think it's.

Pretty, but it's all right.

I think it's actually a pretty decent movie.

I like this front first three.

Since then everything's been fucking shit.

I love Lynn Shea.

I talked about it recently, but I've just recently finished playing The Quarry, which has Lynchy in it, and it has Lance Hendrickson in it and Ted Ramey and David Arquette and anyone who's out there who hasn't done it already, go and play The Quarry because it's an incredible game.

It's an RTE game, real time event game.

So it's one of those games, you know, where you're pushing buttons to react to things that are happening in the storyline.

It's much kind.

Of like Until Dawn, yeah.

Yeah, very much like Until Dawn, Very cinematic until.

Dawn was actually kind of a fun movie, by the way.

I still haven't.

I still haven't.

Seen it, it wasn't great, it wasn't like a masterpiece, but it was it's more enjoyable than you think.

So it's on Netflix currently.

Check it out.

My kids who play the game were like, I'm going to hate it.

And I'm like, no, you won't, you actually will like it.

And they did like it.

They're like, it's better than the game.

Yeah, you also got the monkey, which did did pretty well.

I was a bit.

I didn't like it as much as I like long legs.

Yeah, Bambi.

The Reckoning, of course, which easily horror movie of the year.

But yeah, so I would say All in all, we got some really good movies.

Sinners, Weapons, Long Walk, Bring Her Back, Ugly Step Sister, things like that.

We.

Haven't talked about the long walk, but we still need to do that.

We do because I want to talk to people.

It's also it's it's also, it's a movie.

I'm not actually, I don't, I don't want to say that I loved it, but I, you know, I think, I think we can kind of tell, right?

I'm I'm so not in a hurry to go and watch it again if that makes sense.

It does.

It does.

Because it's, it's a, it's a difficult watch at certain points, it's a tough watch at times, but it's, it's fantastic.

It is.

It's so good.

It's one of those movies that's so good, but you got to give it a minute because it's it's hard.

So with all that sort of being said, I would say 2025 in terms of like the past ten years or so, I actually think it's been a bit of a mid year.

I don't.

Think, I think it's been mid.

I think we've had better years, 2026 maybe better.

Let's see.

2026 maybe better that's sold out hopes, but it still wasn't a bad year for horror.

It was still a great year for.

Horror.

There was some gems in there.

Some.

Really good ones and let's.

Hope I'm so curious what our listeners are going to pick.

I'm dying to know the results, so I'm ready for our award show.

Our award show is coming up very, very fast and there's been some interesting developments.

Let's just say there's been some interesting movies.

There's been some interesting movies that have been eliminated.

There's been some interesting movies and people who have been eliminated.

I'm jealous because you know, and I don't.

That's always the best part because I know because Nico, Nico Nico is really good at hiding it, but I know for a fact that he hates the fact that he doesn't know what what, who is what.

I'm very open about like, God damn it, I don't know.

And I really like to fuck with you guys with it as well.

You're me.

But yeah, so we've.

Got unusual punishment?

Our 4th Annual Horror Awards will be coming up very, very shortly.

At the end of the year, we'll also.

Decide on a name for them.

I think we just called them the Damned Horror Awards, which, you know, it's open for a renaming.

If anyone, the dummies, if anyone, if any, any of our avid listeners out there wants to come up with a good name for our horror Awards, then feel free to do so.

It's probably about time that it got a proper name, to be fair.

But yes, always a really fun episode to record where we reflect more in depth on 2025 as a year.

Just just like quick to sort of mention as well actually, because I didn't really talk about it.

I recently finally got round to watching Alien Earth, which also came out this year.

And you know, it was, it's also actually in the voting for some of our awards.

It's up for a couple of things.

I don't know if you've seen it yet.

Sean saw it, I'll say that much.

OK, That's more his thing.

That's not really a game.

I I think it's a really interesting thing to watch.

It's a bit of a slow burn.

It's quite a slow burn at times.

He had favourable things to say.

I am looking forward to Season 2.

That's, that's where it's left me, right?

It's I maybe I'm not sitting there thinking that this is going to be the greatest thing in the world, but I am looking forward to Season 2.

So we have this thing like I sleep in, I'm usually up around 10:11, sometimes noon.

I because you know, my kids are grown up and I fucking earn this.

I used to get up at 5:00 in the morning and get people to school, but those times are past.

My kids are grown.

So I sleep in and he's always an early riser.

So he gets up 6:00, drinks his coffee and watches his shit.

So I'll get up and he's like, oh, I just watched.

You know, this is so that he did that while I was sleeping in.

Yeah, what what I will say without giving anything away, why would why?

One thing I really did like about franchise and because Alien, obviously we're always focused on the Xenomorphs and they're the big bats, the franchise introduces new creatures.

Okay.

And I really love the fact that we find it because of course there's not just xenomorphs out there, you know?

So I, I would give it a watch.

I know it's not massively your thing.

I know obviously like it's maybe not.

Oh, I can fuck with it.

I just have to be in the food.

And when Sean watches the shit while I'm asleep, it kind of like ruins it for me.

I'm like, you watched it without me, You know, one of those couple of things.

But we have been watching Welcome to Dairy.

We meant to watch the episode last night and our power went out.

So I don't know if you've been watching that.

I'm not watching it at the moment.

Again, what I normally do, I usually wait, try and wait.

Until OK, so I just want to say it's worth watching.

OK, I've heard.

I've heard some really good things about it.

I've heard.

I have nothing but good things to say for.

The one thing I have heard, I've heard it is more brutal than the two IT movies that we got.

That's one thing.

I've heard and I I like more of what they're doing with it, I'll say that.

Awesome awesome.

The other thing I've been watching, and not because it's new, but it's in in anticipation because season 2 is coming out very very shortly and it's kind of horror adjacent.

I've been re watching Fallout I think Fallout the fallout season 2.

I love the games.

I haven't watched the show.

Oh, interesting.

I.

Yeah, that's see, Sean watches the show, but he doesn't play the games.

I play games.

So I play the games I that's.

One of my favorite games of all.

Time.

I fucking love the games.

I I well.

New Vegas is probably my favorite game of all.

Time well, I really love I really love season 1 not not necessarily because it's like the best thing since sliced bread, but it I think it really captures that sort of good Phoenix that fallout has while still being serious at times you know as well.

So I really enjoyed it.

I'm not that's.

The one I need to.

Watch, I'm not going to give anything away about Season 1 or Season 2.

I think you will really fuck with it.

I think that could be something I think.

I highly recommend.

I think you will.

Even like my house is decorated in a mixture of horror and fallout.

Yeah, because I'm like, when Fallout 4 came out, I, I ordered immediately after E3 when they announced it.

The I have the set with the pit boy that works and all this shit.

Like, I'm a huge Fallout fan.

So yeah, I, I should watch it.

Sean's watched it.

I just haven't done that yet, You know, I I'm just such a big fan.

But I guess I was nervous because I love the game so much that I was afraid that I wouldn't, that the show would ruin it for me.

Yeah, I don't know.

So we have like a cocktail bar in Edinburgh here in Scotland, it's called the Cocktail Geeks.

And basically what they do is every month or every other month they have they theme their their cocktail bar and they redecorate.

They completely redecorate their bar and it's something different every couple of months.

And at the start of 2025 it was Fallout themes.

Oh wow, did.

You have to pay caps.

No kidding.

Well, so I actually, we weren't technically allowed to steal this, but I stole it anyway.

So I have the the cocktail survival guide which is the cocktail.

Menu.

And and like, I don't know how well you can see this because I've got like a back like let me turn my background off actually briefly so maybe you guys can can see this a little bit better.

You just bear with me for a moment.

Video settings.

This is really good audio for people who are listening to right.

There we go right.

My background is off right so it has, you know, it's got everything in there as well and oh wow, these these so these were the cocktails.

So they had the special cocktails, which was obviously.

All the different.

Things and then they also had cans and consumables as well.

The only thing, because we were talking to our waitress, the only thing they weren't allowed to do, they weren't allowed to have Nuka Cola.

Bethesda refused to let them use the name Nuka Cola because obviously these are the themes.

They do.

They're officially licensed.

I think.

I can't, I don't know which one it is now, but they've had like Jurassic, Jurassic Park themed.

There's been Mario themed.

It's always on something to do with sort of cult like pop culture like that as well.

So they weren't allowed to use Nuka Cola.

So they, they created Vault Cola as well.

So yeah, it was just a really amazing experience.

And like they were telling bits of the story and like the waiters, they were all they, they all had scripts and they would, they would talk to you in like vault text speak.

It was an amazing thing.

And so probably like really nerdy of me, but I went dressed as a vault dweller because I have like a vault dweller.

That would be really cool.

I would go with my fucking tip boy that works and I have like the fucking helmet and shit.

And it was, it was, it was a really, it was a really great time that that was, that was fantastic.

So I just thought I'd throw that.

At the end of the games and you like the show, then I'm gonna take your advice and watch it.

OK, OK.

Don't, don't, don't hurt me if you don't like it.

No, I'm sure I will.

Like that's The thing is like I was so worried this fall.

It's like my favorite game series of all time.

I was so afraid that it was gonna and I hate Fallout 76.

I'll just say that, but it it ruined everything that was great about fall.

But that's OK.

We'll just not.

That's OK.

That's not real to me.

We'll fix it all when Fallout 5 eventually comes out.

Ready for Fallout 5, but they're working on Elder Scrolls first.

So yeah, yeah, I'll wait as long as it's going to be good.

But yeah, I've been a fault fan since way back and it's it's just like I was so afraid it would ruin my game.

What what what it did as well, I think in that first season is that it obviously introduces us to a lot of creatures and sort of character types and things that you see, but it held a little bit back and there's there's still so much for them to explore in future seasons as well.

Again, I'm not going to ruin anything about season 2, but I think I I genuinely.

Something about New Vegas to me.

And I was like, what?

OK, OK, I'm I can either confirm.

It's my favorite.

I can either.

The first time I went to Las Vegas, I was taking pictures of things that were in the game.

I shit you not, that's how much of A nerd I am.

I was like, oh shit, there's Biggest Vic.

Well, I can neither confirm nor deny that New Vegas is a setting for Season 2.

Right?

On that note, then, let's get out of here, because as per usual, this is the part.

I have video games to play.

This is this is the part of the show where we start to rabbit on a little bit.

So guys, thank you very, very, very much to everyone who's tuned in and listened to this episode.

We appreciate you guys greatly.

Let's hope 26 is a stellar year for horror.

If you would like to support this podcast, please go to our social media platforms, threads, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, blue sky, TikTok.

It's all part of the damned.

You can e-mail us at part of the Damned, gmail.com, and you can subscribe to us on patreonpatreon.com/part of the Damned.

A shameless plug for me.

If you like horror video games, we've talked about quite a few of them in today's show.

Please check out my own YouTube channel, it's Forest Horror Gaming.

I also stream live on Twitch.

I'm also on Threads and Instagram under Forest Horror Gaming.

I play a lot of indie horror games on there as well.

Just like your favorites like Markiplier and Daz Black and Queso and all these guys, except I'm better.

I'm better than all them.

Easy here to scare too.

I know, right?

Candy, where can you be found?

I'm Candy, the final grill.

You can find me on Instagram, on Threads, on Blue Sky, on the Slasher app, generally those places and coming up soon, the return of Ghouls magazine.

So go to ghoulsmagazine.com and it'll keep you updated as to our big relaunch and yours truly will be featured.

So appreciate the reading.

Awesome, awesome.

Up next on the show, as I said earlier, it is our Christmas episodes kicking things off with Violent Night, which is Nico's pick.

That is coming very, very shortly.

That'll be followed by the OG Black Christmas, which is Candy's pick and then finally await further instructions, which is my pick.

And then we will close out 2025 with the Horror awards.

And then after that, that is it.

We are into a brand new year and we have, I've got some huge movies lined up to review in the first couple of months of 2026.

So I can't wait to share all of that with everyone.

We will have more guests, We'll have returning guests, we'll have new guests, friends of the show, We'll maybe introduce some new segments.

There'll be lots and lots coming in 2026, so stay tuned.

Hopefully it's a big year for horror and a big year for the Pod of the Dam.

So thank you once again to everyone.

Candy, thank you for joining me.

Thank you for having me.

And as always on the pod of the damned, just remember, you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.