Second Breakfast with Cam & Maggie

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! The thing you really notice about Pennywise during a rewatch is the startling, impressive amount of DROOL he's got going on in every scene. In this episode, we're revisiting both movies (and the book) to discuss the intangible magic of creature design, the original sin of adaptation, and more than anything — the controversial topic of bad endings. L...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! Imagine if The Lord of The Rings ended with Frodo deciding to keep the Ring for himself — and the film presented that as a happy ending! That's more or less what happens in the latest Mission: Impossible film. Let's explore every side of this strange ending, play devil's advocate, and once again ponder whether or not a bad ending can ruin a great mo...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! The original Friday the 13th is not only the blueprint for the slasher genre, it might just be the best execution of that tried and true formula. This episode is a critical reevaluation of the classic film and the massive influence it has had on the genre for more than 45 years. LINKS:   Patreon ,  YouTube ,  Spotify ,  Instagram Feedback & Theories...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! This might be the Frenchest movie ever made. To describe it at all is to spoil it, but the thrust of this episode is about Titane's relationship to one of our favorite melancholy body horror freakouts: Rosemary's Baby. LINKS:   Patreon ,  YouTube ,  Spotify ,  Instagram Feedback & Theories:  secondbreakfastpod@gmail.com

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! Diablo IV is nothing if not inconsistent, and Season 9 is yet another moment of whiplash for the game. In our State of the Game segment, we discuss seasonal powers, the evolving reliquary system, bugs and crashes, difficulty balancing, the latest gear system, and fun factor. Moving onto the Seasonal Campaign, we celebrate the revitalization of Night...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! Beneath the roar of the engines, F1 is hiding an intense study of human nature — a pointedly Faustian story of obsession that feels equally cautionary and aspirational. The film asks a simple question about Marlowe's classic story: how does the infamous 'bargain' change Faustus? What does it enable and break within him? Come for the vroom vroom, sta...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! This goofy, earnest indie horror movie left us with one big question — why isn't Frendo scary? Our discussion trails through the pantheon of scary clowns and masked killers into the abstract alchemy of creature design. LINKS:   Patreon ,  YouTube ,  Spotify ,  Instagram Feedback & Theories:  secondbreakfastpod@gmail.com

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! Materialists is our favorite film of the year, and not just because we love Dakota Johnson. Celine Song has basically created The Jane Austen Singularity, remixing and weaving in the best parts of Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, and Emma into a totally fresh modern classic. We laughed, we cried, we theorized — let's get into it! LINKS:   Pat...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! This is a bucket list episode for us, as we finally discuss one of the boldest, gnarliest, most affecting works of female body horror ever made. As a longtime fan, Cam reflects on this film's formative role in his love of provocative art and the timeless power of a great ending. Maggie analyzes her first viewing of the film and its blisteringly nove...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! Does a sequel know that it is a sequel? What about a spinoff? How about a successor series? These are the identity crises swirling in the background of the latest delightfully entertaining film "From the World of John Wick: Ballerina" -- let's break it all down! LINKS:   Patreon ,  YouTube ,  Spotify ,  Instagram Feedback & Theories:  secondbreakfas...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! Once we escaped the boundless oceans that are Cillian Murphy's eyes, a few things occurred to us about 28 Days Later — namely, all of the fascinatingly direct plot parallels with The Walking Dead. We also zoom out to analyze the titanic differences in theme and metaphor between fast zombies and slow zombies. LINKS:   Patreon ,  YouTube ,  Spotify , ...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! This might be the most fully realized "Faust Fable" we've ever discussed on the show. Wes Anderson not only successfully reverses the Faustus / Mephistopheles dynamic, he also inverts the ending and explores the play's often overlooked supporting cast, implied backstory, and deep sense of yearning. What a picture! LINKS:   Patreon ,  YouTube ,  Spot...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! In a twist that might be even more shocking than this terrifying film, this latest Faust Fable discussion is actually built around one of Maggie's theories — not Cam's — as she deep dives into that perennial horror question: why don't they just run away from the scary monsters? The answer is a wild journey of muffled fragments and out-of-focus bread...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! Hell House, LLC. is one of the most terrifying films ever made. We have wanted to discuss it for years now, and that day has finally come. In this first of two breakdown episodes, Cam offers a theory about the painstaking way the film presents all those devastating creature designs to game the audience's memory and so savagely weaponize the power of...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! Dangerous Animals is a summer horror movie with big scary sharks, but we think it has MUCH more in common with our beloved Saw than it does with Jaws. In this episode, we run through the six essential elements that could make Bruce Tucker the next Jigsaw. Happy Summerween! LINKS:   Patreon ,  YouTube ,  Spotify ,  Instagram Feedback & Theories:  sec...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! Bring Her Back builds to an almost unbearable fever pitch that evokes both Jordan Peele and Alfred Hitchcock. This episode chases down those comparisons to explore the film's fractal, fascinating riffs on the theatrical tradition of "doubling" up actors to play multiple roles within the same production. LINKS:   Patreon ,  YouTube ,  Spotify ,  Inst...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! We have been itching to do this episode FOREVER, and it's finally here! Is the Big Mac a work of art? We explore this provocative question and the million questions that follow. In the same way that a painting exists in a museum, and a movie in a theater, where does the Big Mac exist? When is it a work of art — when it's being made, when it was desi...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! Season Eight finds Diablo IV in a pretty rough place. This episode is a frank discussion of live service grind, difficulty balancing, aggressive monetization, and the limits of class design. In every way, 'Belial Rising' is more and less Diablo IV, and it might just be time to get off the hamster wheel. LINKS:   Patreon ,  YouTube ,  Spotify ,  Inst...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! Prepping the notes for this episode was unusually difficult. Cam said that he's never felt this conflicted about a game before. Doom: The Dark Ages lives in the shadow of multiple, inescapable influences — from Halo to Gears of War to God of War and even the other modern Doom sequels — but it's also a great standalone game. After discussing all the...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! How has it taken us five years to do an episode on an Elder Scrolls game? Luckily, the new Oblivion Remaster has arrived to fix all that. Cam reflects on the heroic fantasy ideal, Bethesda's charming jank, the pitfalls of modern gaming, accidental vampirism, and the collaborative wonder of a game that makes the audience feel like they're simultaneou...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! We're diving back into the MCU to analyze Thunderbolts* as an allegorical pandemic-era period piece. This is an unusually personal discussion of mental health, lost time, and the unironic power of friendship. LINKS:   Patreon ,  YouTube ,  Spotify ,  Instagram Feedback & Theories:  secondbreakfastpod@gmail.com

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! What's this? A polarizing story about art and excess starring the Weeknd that is equally self-indulgent and self-loathing? That's right, as the world's foremost defenders of The Idol, we're back to discuss Hurry Up Tomorrow. In this episode, Cam wrestles with Abel's self-sabotaging self-promotion, toys with that ambiguous ending, unpacks an avalanch...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! What's the best Doom game? Well, that might be a trick question. In this episode, Cam argues that 'The Ancient Gods' — the overlooked two-part expansion to Doom Eternal — might just be the best entry in the franchise. With massive story implications, fascinating gameplay evolutions, and a running length that rivals all the modern mainline entries, T...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! Five years after the wildly divisive 'Doom Eternal' was released, Cam has given the game a second chance — and fallen in love with it. This discussion charts his history with the franchise, the frustrations of that first playthrough, and the unique combat rhythm that turned a simple demon killing formula into a wildly addictive white knuckle chess m...

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! Don't believe the marketing, this body horror remix of Cinderella has a lot more in common with our favorite Jane Austen adaptations than it does with The Substance. Our discussion of The Ugly Stepsister centers around the tragic, almost universal sympathy that the film imbues within the central cast. How does this character focus affect the film's...