Not Quite Dead

Let's give a round of applause to the finale of the Independent Horror Film season! We hope you enjoyed the byzantine plot structures, artistic cinematography, and wild allegory conjecture as much as Megan and Cate did. Make sure to check out our Instagram @notquitedead_podcast and follow our blog for extras! Edited by Megan Prior-Pfeifer and Cate Smith. Music by Zach Pfeifer .

The most terrifying tale of all: motherhood! The Babadook (2014), directed by Jennifer Kent, is ostensibly a story of a boogeyman plaguing a single Australian mother and her spirited son. But as Megan and Cate get into it, it's a gruesome, difficult to watch tale of unchecked grief, parenthood, and PTSD. Edited by Cate Smith. Music by Zach Pfeifer .

Dancing, endless sunshine, tea that makes you feel funny. Sounds like a good time, right? Well, if you’re an American in the 2019 film Midsommar, it could really go either way! Listen to the penultimate movie of Season 3 and debate with us - would you rather have a shitty boyfriend or a slightly murderous Swedish cult family? Edited by Cate Smith. Music by Zach Pfeifer .

What is "It"? In this minisode, Megan and Cate discuss whether "It" is sexual shame, AIDS, general trauma - and strongly disagree with director David Robert Mitchell's intention. It Follows (2014) tracks a group of teenagers as they resist a slow-moving yet consistent apparition. Listen to this short episode and debate along with us - the interpretation is most of the fun! Edited by Megan Prior-Pf...

A broke punk band, a sketchy gig in the Pacific Northwest, and a Nazi gang cover-up conspiracy. What could go wrong? Jeremy Saulnier's 2015 horror-thriller Green Room has all of the tension and surprising gore you could ask for. Megan and Cate debate about effective techniques for fighting against dumb-yet-strong white supremacists and discuss what our desert island band would be. Edited by Megan...

We thought we'd break up season 3 with a family-friendly movie - Hereditary (2018)! Do some arts and crafts alongside mom Annie, play with dolls with Charlie, go for a joyride with Peter, and share a nice meal with dad Steve. Whatever you do, don't look too closely at grandma's scrapbooks. Join the Not Quite Dead gals as they get into Ari Aster's psychologically horrifying debut feature-length fil...

A tale of two giant wooden effigies, painstakingly crafted by rural island cultspeople. A tale of two protagonists, deeply unlikeable in their own ways. A tale as old as time: the original and the remake. Megan and Cate get into The Wicker Man (1973) and The Wicker Man (2006) to analyze what makes the original so great, and what makes the remake so, so bizarre. Watch both, watch one, or watch neit...

Join the gals as they get deep on one of their all-time favorite horror movies The VVitch: A New England Folktale (2015). The debut film from director Robert Eggers uses dialog pulled directly from 1600s documents to build the religiously fervent, tightly coiled with paranoia atmosphere. Patriarch William gets his family excommunicated from their Puritan village because he won't play nice with the...

What are the elements of an indie movie, besides, of course, being produced by an independent film studio? Avant-garde plot structure, shoestring budgets, characters stoically looking off-camera into the distance while a plinky piano plays? Sure, some of those elements are present in the horror comedy/satire film Rubber (2010), but it also has a healthy dose of fourth-wall breaking meta commentary...

In the last two decades, no film has wrought more confusion, fear, and satire than The Blair Witch Project (1999). Written and directed by Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick, the advertised-as-real found footage documentary taps into our most primal fears and paranoia. The gals dig deep into this one, looking at American horror roots and how the phenomenon of the newly weaponized Internet catapulte...

That’s a wrap on Season 2! Join us for a medley season finale episode where we chat about our ranking of the series, make a Purge bingo game, look at how people on the Internet would handle the Purge, and, of course, do some arts and crafts. Happy hunting!

It was about time for a prequel. After three chronological entries in The Purge series, we have been flung back in time to see how, exactly, the New Founding Fathers of America were able to launch what they called "the experiment." Gerard McMurray helms The First Purge (2018) in a tonally and narratively compelling direction, elevating the series to new heights. Megan and Cate talk soundtrack, scr...

“I turned myself into a minisode, Morty! I’m minisode Riiiiiiiick!” Join the gals for our Season 2 minisode all about the classic Rick and Morty season 2 episode “Look Who’s Purging Now.” Released in 2015 after the first two Purge movies came out, the episode is a satire of all our favorite Purge cliches. Get meta with us and check your candy for Purgenol! Music by Zach Pfeifer . Episode edited by...

Did YOU vote for The Purge? We know WE sure didn't, but here it is in Election Year, the bleakest of all Purge years. Join Cate and Megan as they follow a sexy she-Bernie through the blood soaked streets of DC in The Purge: Election Year! Music by Zach Pfeifer . Edited by Megan Prior-Pfeifer.

Ready for a little chaos? Season 2 Episode 2 drops the gals off in Downtown Los Angeles to experience one night of the purge. Director James DeMonaco is back at the helm for The Purge: Anarchy (2014) to give us a thriller/action/horror sequel that is a genuine improvement on the first entry. Former police sergeant Leo Barnes has an axe to grind on Purge night, but when he runs into an innocent gro...

Season 2, you wild kids! Join us in the second season as we break down the first movie in the Purge series. The original movie, released in 2013 and directed by James DeMonaco, is an accomplished horror thriller (and sometimes near-satire) film with a great cast on a relatively lean budget. All crime - including murder! - is legal for one 12 hour period per year. A wealthy suburban family goes int...

Welcome to the Season 1 Finale of Not Quite Dead! To cap off the season, we have a Very Special Episode™ with fun segments all about our favorite aspects of the Saw series. Thanks to the creators of the Saw movies and to all of our listeners for making the first season so great.

You thought it had ended with Saw 3D (ironically AKA Saw: The Final Chapter), but alas, one decade later we were back at the theaters in to watch the 2017 installment of the series directed by The Spierig Brothers and written by Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger. Jigsaw has been dead for ten years but a new crop of victims in vicious torture traps have been discovered. The det...

This time it's Saw...in your face! The movie of many names - Saw 3D, Saw VII, Saw: The Final Chapter - is here. The (ostensible) end of the franchise has Kevin Greutert back at the helm to have a little fun while fulfilling his duty to see to the ends of Detective Hoffman, hapless Jill Tuck, and another cadre of unwitting victims. Listen to Megan and Cate's breakdown of the 2010 horror movie and a...

Oh my! In Saw VI, most of our main characters are dead, except for our gruesome twosome. Detective Hoffman and Jill Tuck are bound to continue carrying on Jigsaw's demented legacy in this 2009 jaunt from first-time director Kevin Greutert. Join us as we plunge into the depths of the Saw series to encounter typical Saw fare: flashbacks, traps that are feats of mechanical engineering, and a handful...

The first Saw movie has been frequently accused of ripping off David Fincher's 1995 psychological thriller Se7en. Megan and Cate review the differences and similarities between the two movies, including weighing on Jigsaw vs John Doe's motivations as serial killers. Listen in and and judge for yourself - these two villains definitely would! Intro and outro music by Zach Pfeifer .

If you need more Costas Mandylor in your life, look no further than the back half of the SCU franchise. The 2008 gore-fest directed by David Hackl ticks all the Saw boxes: detective cat-and-mouse, brutal torture devices, and extolling the virtue of teamwork. Megan claims this is her favorite of the Saw series, but really she just loves a good story about friendship. Cate is here for the blood and...

Bonus content! To promote Saw II, IDW Publishing released the one-shot comic Saw: Rebirth in 2005. This prequel dives into John Kramer the man before he becomes the Jigsaw Killer. Listen in on this short episode as we cover the differences in John’s backstory between the prequel and the later Saw movies in the series. Intro and outro music by Zach Pfeifer .

The hits just keep coming! Jigsaw and pals have another adventure in the 2007 Scott Patterson vehicle Saw IV. Director Bousman is back at the helm to tell the tale of SWAT Lt. Rigg, a victim of Jigsaw’s latest torturous games. Megan and Cate are at the edge of their seats as the story unfolds: Will Rigg get jigsawed? Or will he truly sees as John Kramer sees and become the Jigsaw himself? Only a d...

The third episode of Not Quite Dead covers the third installment of the series, the 2006 venture that was the highest grossing film of the whole Saw franchise. Tobin Bell earns his 2007 MTV Movie Award nomination for "Best Villain" as he demeans medical professionals and sets up another convoluted series of tests and traps, all while lying in a bed dying for the entire movie. This movie has it all...