Not Quite Dead

Cate and Meg discuss colors, social justice, corny writing, and of course, our guy Patrick Wilson!

NQD is kicking off an all-new season focusing on the horror scream king Patrick Wilson! The modern horror icon stars in our first movie of the year: The Conjuring (2013). Director James Wan kicks off this horror movie franchise with Patrick Wilson alongside Vera Farmiga playing real-life paranormal investigator couple Ed and Lorraine Warren. They're skeptical of the haunting at the Perron house...until they get there. Discussion points include: 1970s sideburns, vintage real estate, mother/daughter relationships.

NQD tackles their first Uwe Boll-directed movie, and it lives up to his reputation! House of the Dead (2003) is a zombie movie of contradictions - so much death, yet so very boring. A group of friends are going to a rave on a remote rainforest island, but quickly discover zombies are on the rampage. With help from the smuggling boat crewmen that took them to the island, a handful of ravers, and a harbor patrolwoman, the friends attempt to kill as many zombies as they can. Discussion points include: video game cut scenes, immortal Spanish priests, movie references or ripoffs?

Don't say his name a third time! Tim Burton is back 30ish years later with the long-awaited sequel to Beetlejuice. Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O'Hara from the original are back too, joined by newcomers Jenna Ortega, Monica Bellucci and Justin Theroux. Beetlejuice is surprisingly helpful in this jaunt to get Lydia's daughter out of the underworld. Discussion points include: stitching fetishes, unnecessary B-plots, the excellent Catherine O'Hara.

Is this our silliest episode yet? You tell us! To cap off the 2024 year and our zombie season, we're bringing you Dead Snow. The 2009 flick Dead Snow delivers exactly what's on the label: a Nazi zombie campy horror movie. Come for the cheesy plot, stay for the copious blood and guts. Discussion points include: Nazi zombies (duh), snowmobile skiing, a disgusting outhouse rendezvous.

Planet Terror introduces NQD to yet another type of zombie: the biochemical-warfare induced mutant! Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror was released as one-half of the Grindhouse production alongside Quentin Tarantino's Deathproof. Arguably and demonstrably the more successful of the two, Planet Terror follows a ragtag group just trying to survive: a go-go dancer, her ex-lover, an unhappily married pair of doctors, the town sheriff, and the sheriff's BBQ-joint running brother. Discussion points include: tongue abscesses, campy quantities of blood, unnecessary director self-inserts.

The Girl with all the Gifts is a beautiful, thought-provoking zombie movie. We loved it and we think you will too! It's a criminally under-watched film, so make sure to add it to your rental queue! Melanie, a zombie-human hybrid child, escapes the military compound she's lived her whole life in and helps guide a group of humans across London. Discussion points include: alignment charts, military compounds, next-generation zombies.

Milla Jovovich, how we love you. NQD is bringing you the original 2002 Resident Evil, the very first in a five movie franchise. Special guest David Celarie from the horror movie podcast Knight Light joins us to discuss all of the gruesome action and play a special game! Jovovich fights off amnesia, zombies, and a shady tech company in this horror-action flick. Discussion points include: video game adaptations, memory loss, evil mega-corporations.

It’s World War Z, the blockbuster sensation filled with the fastest zombies we’ve ever seen.  Based on a global best-selling book, WWZ is an action-packed jaunt around the world with Brad Pitt at the helm as UN special investigator.  Discussion points include: plane crash scenes, traumatized spare children, unnecessary family plot. 

Lupita Nyong'o stars as the cutest zombie killing teacher ever in the Hulu-released horror-comedy flick Little Monsters (2019). Slacker Dave joins his young nephew on a field trip strictly to get closer to his cute teacher, Miss Audrey. Dave quickly learns he needs to take at least a little responsibility when the field trip has to face a horde of zombies. Discussion points include: disrespectful houseguests, the slacker-to-hero storyline, children's entertainers.

Edgar Wright wraps his love of the zombie genre in many layers of era-specific humor in the buddy horror comedy Shaun of the Dead! Guest Jason Burk from Hemispheric Views joins us again to reminisce on this not-so-cult classic. Shaun is your typical Gen X slacker who shirks responsibility at every available opportunity. That is, until a zombie apocalypse arrives in his garden. With the help of his equally lame best friend, Shaun embarks on a quest to save his mum and ex-girlfriend, and maybe do a little bit of growing up along the way (but, probably not). Discussion points include: the loser hero's journey, hot skeletons, witty dialog, and - oh, wait, you've got red on you.

Director Danny Boyle reinvigorated the zombie genre with 2002's 28 Days Later. Cillian Murphy wakes up alone and naked in a hospital bed 28 days after a rage virus decimates England. Zombies, lack of resources, and some really gross military dudes round out some real horror in this episode! Discussion points include: how quickly men become terrible in a disaster, falling in love in an apocalypse, how to flag down help.

NQD couldn't kick off a Zombies season without George Romero's classic Night of the Living Dead! Bringing the zombie genre to life, Romero shocked 1960s audiences with his tale of the undead. It's gruesome, it's seminal, it's a ghoulish good time! Discussion points include: earlier zombie movies, a useless woman, space radiation.

A remake that’s…pretty good! Dawn of the Dead is already a zombie classic, and while this version doesn’t update much, it does place us squarely in the early 2000s. Special guests High on Film’s Brad Davis and Chris Maxwell join us for this action-packed episode!  Before he was releasing cuts of DC movies, Zack Snyder directed the remake of Dawn of the Dead. Featuring the iconic mall setting and a creepy little zombie baby, it’s a modern classic!  Discussion points include: mall theft, power-tripping security guards, and the saddest chess game ever. 

Train to Busan was director Yeon Sang-ho's gift to the world in 2016. Edgar Wright of Shaun of the Dead fame calls it the best zombie film ever made - and who are we to disagree? Gong Yoo (known now for Squid Game) plays Seok-woo, a hedge fund manager who prioritized work over his family - until a zombie apocalypse traps him and his young daughter on a high speed train. They are up against zombies and the selfishness of their fellow passengers, making for a thrilling horror film. Discussion points include: undead animals, Korean horror themes, multiple villains.

The Grudge came out hot on the heels of global interest in J-horror, and is one of the better American adaptations! Sarah Michelle Gellar stars in Sam Raimi's 2004 ghost horror story as an American exchange student attempting to solve a haunting. Discussion points include: Japanese horror history, onryo, the ghosts' rules.

Are you ready for a Saw X-travaganza?! We here at NQD certainly are! Join us as we talk all things prequel, play the drinking game we came up with way back in Season 1 of the podcast, test each other's Saw trivia knowledge, and re-rank the films in the franchise. It's a blast, and not just the kind that makes you lose a limb. Discussion points include: what makes a critically acclaimed Saw film, the return of director Kevin Greutert, John Kramer's doodling.

Smile (2022) may be director Parker Finn's feature length film debut, but it has the style and scares to feel like a veteran effort. Psychiatric therapist Laura already has a lot of baggage - workaholic, abusive childhood, a strained relationship with her sister - when a delusional patient seems to transmit a terrifying curse onto her. Is it all in her head, or is there an entity really after her? Discussion points include: homages to other horror films, a useless fiancé, poor trauma processing. 

The 2007 Spanish film The Orphanage has horrors of multiple levels: a missing child, playful ghosts, and home renovations. The J.A. Bayona horror flick was a smash hit internationally, bringing acclaim to the Spanish film industry. Not Quite Dead gets into the details of a woman buying the orphanage she grew up in with her family, only to be plagued by ghosts and the loss of her son. Discussion points include: abandoned beach-front real estate, watching the wrong movie, Peter Pan references. Episode edited by Megan Prior-Pfeifer. Music by Zach Pfeifer. 

Not Quite Dead? More like "Not So Scary" when we cover nostalgic classics like the 1995 movie Casper! Fan favorites Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman and Devon Sawa star in the kid-friendly film about a dead child ghost falling in love with a living teen.  Discussion points include: terrible uncle poltergeists, the CGI of the 90s, and dead wives.