Now Playing - The Movie Review Podcast

Jigsaw puts a New Kid on the Ice Block! At the end of Saw III, Jigsaw was dead. So how does the game continue in Saw IV? This fourth installment rewinds, overlaps, and twists the timeline as Detective Rigg becomes the latest player forced to navigate a deadly moral maze. Meanwhile, Donnie Wahlberg finds himself in serious jeopardy, hanging in the balance as Rigg (Skinwalkers' Lyriq Bent) races aga...

Jigsaw's brain is exposed in a room THAT dirty? Even if it helps the tumor, the infection will be terrible! Now Playing Podcast continues its descent into Jigsaw’s world with Saw III. John Kramer, played by Tobin Bell, is dying from a brain tumor, but that doesn’t mean the games stop. This time, Dr. Lynn Denlon (Crash's Bahar Soomekh) is forced to keep him alive while another victim, Jeff (Bravehe...

You throw me the novel, I'll throw you the whip! Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into the...

Wouldn't you try to find a mirror before slicing off a piece of your own neck? Now Playing Podcast continues its dive into Jigsaw’s world with Saw II, the sequel that expands the game from one grimy bathroom to an entire house full of traps. This time, Detective Matthews (Dreamcatcher's Donnie Wahlberg) finds himself pulled into Jigsaw’s latest test, while a group of strangers scramble to survive...

Somehow, I don't see the Betty Ford clinic adopting Jigsaw's methods for "curing" drug addicts. When Saw hit theaters in 2004, few predicted it would ignite one of the defining horror franchises of the 21st century. Yet within a few short years, Saw had staked its claim on Halloween, launching an annual tradition of increasingly elaborate traps and moral games. It all begins with Cary Elwes and Le...

White horses could drag me away... White horses. "Knights in White Satin." Sherri Moon Zombie drifting through dream imagery. Halloween II is Rob Zombie at his most stylized and divisive, a sequel to his 2007 remake that doubles down on brutality, trauma, and surreal symbolism. Abandoning much of the structure of Halloween, this follow-up pushes deeper into psychological horror, fractured identiti...

If there are no doors, how do you get in? Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into the main N...

A podcast about a novel written by a podcaster. Huh. Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into...

If you are a character in a Rob Zombie movie, you might be a redneck After a long run of sequels with wildly inconsistent results, Michael Myers gets a 21st-century overhaul in 2007's Halloween, directed by Rob Zombie. Blending Zombie’s grimy, exploitation-influenced style, previously seen in House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects, with the framework of John Carpenter’s 1978 classic, this v...

Tony Stark versus three assassins. What could possibly go wrong? Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those e...

Dangertainment Tonight What happens when you throw reality TV, early-2000s internet culture, martial arts, and Michael Myers into a blender? You get Halloween: Resurrection. Despite the previous film's seemingly definitive ending, The Shape is back again, this time stalking a live-streamed haunted house event designed to cash in on Haddonfield's bloody history. Featuring Busta Rhymes (Higher Learn...

With an interview with author Jamie Estes Books & Nachos is now part of Now Playing Podcast. Before our book reviews were branded as Now Playing Podcast Book Reviews, they were released under a separate show called Books & Nachos. That podcast focused on book discussions, most of which tied directly into films we were covering on Now Playing. We’ve now merged those episodes into the main N...

Nobody doesn't like Jamie Lee! Twenty years after the night he came home, Jamie Lee Curtis reprises her iconic Laurie Strode role in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. Ignoring several previous sequels, this entry aims to reset the timeline and give Laurie a final confrontation with her masked brother. With the late-'90s slasher revival in full swing and the influence of hotshot screenwriter Kevin Wil...

Given the pattern of these subtitles, shouldn't the next one be titled "The Trail of Michael Myers"? Michael Myers returns yet again in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, and this time the franchise dives headfirst into ancient curses, secret cults, and the mysterious Man in Black teased in the previous film. The infamous Thorn storyline attempts to explain the unexplainable, layering druids a...

This time it's personal. Wait, wait, so was the last time... and the time before that. Michael Myers returns once again in Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, the fifth chapter in the long-running franchise. Picking up after the events of Halloween 4, the film promises answers about Jamie Lloyd, Michael's masked rampage, and the mysterious figures lurking in the shadows. But instead of clar...

Michael Myers is going after his niece. Will she cry uncle? After the detour of a Halloween film without Michael Myers, the franchise makes its intentions crystal clear with Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. The title says it all: the Shatner-masked icon is back, front and center, and the series is once again betting everything on The Shape stalking Haddonfield. But does bringing Myers bac...

This movie gives a whole new meaning to the term 'bugging out'. Join Now Playing Podcast this week as we count down the days until Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. Silver Shamrock! This episode tackles Halloween III: Season of the Witch, the bold franchise detour that dares to remove Michael Myers, Dr. Loomis, and just about every element audiences associated with the series. Instead of The Shape,...

Think of the bright side. If he does attack you here, you are already in the hospital! Join Now Playing Podcast this week as we continue our Halloween retrospective with Halloween II. Picking up right where the 1978 classic left off, Michael Myers, aka The Shape, is still on the hunt, still wearing that infamous Captain Kirk mask, and still turning quiet suburban spaces into a killing ground. Does...

It's a nice 3-bedroom, 2-bath. A bit of a fixer-upper. The gutters are falling down, and there's a murderer living inside. But you can't beat the payment! With the release of Halloween II, Now Playing Podcast begins a deep dive into the entire Halloween franchise, revisiting all ten films in the series. It all starts with Halloween, the low-budget shocker from John Carpenter that introduced the wo...

You're gonna teach me to do what with that chicken? Now Playing Podcast continues its look back at Rob Zombie’s early horror films with The Devil's Rejects, the gritty follow-up to House of 1000 Corpses. This time, the Firefly family is on the run, trading haunted-house madness for a dusty, grindhouse road movie soaked in violence and moral decay. Stripped of some of the carnival surrealism of the...

What do Billy Joel, Ric Ocasek, Chris Robinson, and Rob Zombie have in common? In anticipation of Halloween II, Now Playing Podcast looks back at director Rob Zombie’s first plunge into feature-film horror: House of 1000 Corpses and its sequel, The Devil's Rejects. The journey begins with House of 1000 Corpses, Zombie’s fever-dream introduction to the twisted Firefly family. Blending grindhouse ae...

If I only had a heart! Today, the Now Playing Podcast Terminator Retrospective Series concludes (for now) with Terminator Salvation. With a new director, a new leading man, and the story shifting fully into the post-apocalyptic future war, this installment attempts to reinvent the franchise by showing the world audiences had only glimpsed before. Featuring Christian Bale as John Connor and a confl...

When playing with your Terminatrix, always remember the safe word. This episode of the Now Playing Podcast Terminator Retrospective Series jumps ahead twelve years to Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as the T-101, now facing off against a new model assassin, the deadly T-X, while protecting an adult John Connor and his future wife as Judgment Day once again looms. ...

Time for a Pepsi and a five-dollar footlong! This episode of the Now Playing Podcast Terminator Retrospective Series takes on Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the biggest movie of 1991, and the sequel that redefined what blockbuster visual effects could achieve. James Cameron raises the stakes, flips the premise, and unleashes the groundbreaking liquid-metal T-1000 against a reprogrammed T-101 now swor...

The only things that can make it through the time machine are organic materials and hair gel. Welcome to the Now Playing Podcast Terminator Retrospective Series, where we revisit every film in the killer-cyborg saga. We begin with The Terminator, James Cameron’s lean, relentless sci-fi thriller that fused time travel, slasher tension, and gritty action into something audiences hadn’t quite seen be...