Half Price Horror

Sometimes the best things hit when you don't expect them. Everyone pretty much thought the Predator franchise was done and dusted after the failure of 2018's 'The Predator', but sometimes all it takes is one good creator with a good idea, and a ton of talented people who come along and hold that creator to an authentic and respectful vision of Comanche life set into a dazzling sci-fi story with plenty of twists and thrills. You know, easy, right? And if you'll listen to this episode, you'll find out what made it all work!

It's pretty much universally agreed on that 2018's 'The Predator', from action auteur Shane Black, is a hot goddamn mess. But what made it such a hot mess? Is it the uncomfortable ableism? Black's decision to heavily involve his buddy Fred Dekker in the screenwriting? The big revelations about the reasons behind the Predators' visits to Earth that absolutely nobody liked? The reshot and reworked third act? That disastrous MCU-style stinger? There's so much to discuss here... and lucky you, HPH is here to cover all of it!

And so the Star Trekkification of the 'Alien' franchise is complete, with a movie that's named after the ship it's set on and a plot that's straight out of the first season TNG episode "Datalore". But does that make it bad? Can those two tones be merged successfully? Is there a reason why they cast James Franco in this movie? Listen to this episode and find out!

Ridley Scott had no way of knowing when he selected this title that fans of the short-lived animated comedy "The Critic" would see it and immediately think, "Oh no! Promootheus!" But--Well, actually he did have a way of knowing, because "The Critic" originally aired between 1994 and 1995 so he could fully have anticipated this reaction. So honestly it's entirely his fault that this whole movie inadvertently references an old episode of "The Critic". He should really have known better. This information isn't brought up much in my episode on the film, but I had to talk about it somewhere so this is the place.But yes, 'Alien' prequel, return to the franchise for legendary director Ridley Scott, controversial film with a complicated legacy, we'll touch on it all. Just... "Oh no! Promootheus!"

Featuring a surprising number of Oscar winners for the fifth installment in the 'Predator' franchise, this latest movie takes us off-world and onto an alien game reserve stocked by the titular Predators for their special hunts. But are the predators the alien hunters... or the people they've come here to hunt? That's the question the movie asks, so let's dig in together and see if it answers it!

If there's a single entry in the 'Alien' and 'Predator' franchises it's acceptable to simply dump on, this would probably be the one. But what are the actual problems with this movie? Why does it fail, and what can we learn from its artistic struggles? There is value in discussing these things... all of which is a very nice way of saying that this movie is nine miles of rough road and we're going to talk about every bump.

That's right, folks, it's time for the main event! We've gone through four installments of the 'Alien' franchise, two installments of the 'Predator' franchise, and it was all to get to the moment where they fight! So how does it go? Is it exciting? Is it plausible? Does Lance Henriksen get to say that his experts tell him... it's a pyramid? Well, listen on and find out!

It's never truly over when it comes to the world of horror franchises, so even though Ellen Ripley took a swan dive into a blast furnace she's still back for Part Four! How? Why? What does it have to do with disgraced sex pest Joss Whedon?All the answers are in this week's episode!

You could instead call it "Alien 3", or "Alien Cubed", or "Alien^3"... but I think what you could mainly call it is 'troubled', as everyone who took a crack at this script over the course of the late 1980s eventually did. That's right, we are tackling the Assembly Cut of a movie whose director disowns it, and why? Well, you'll find out when you listen and get the wild, bizarre story behind the production of the third movie in the 'Alien' franchise.

The 80s were the decade of the sequel in many ways, but 1990 was just past the end of an era when it came to launching big sci-fi horror franchises. So when 'Predator 2' came along, offering its audiences no Schwarzenegger and no John McTiernan, a lot of people wrote it off sight unseen... but as a reflection of a very important transition in American culture, it's got a lot to offer for film scholars. And all you need to do to find out what is to press 'Play'!

Get to the choppah, everybody, because we don't have time to bleed--there's just too much to talk about in this episode! That's right, it's time to tackle one of the biggest triumphs for one of the biggest stars of the 80s, Arnold Schwarzenegger and his action-horror-science-fiction movie 'Predator'! So everybody give your buddy a big sweaty handclasp, because here we go!

Time to finally dive back into the franchise I've been waiting to cover for almost five years now, as we take a look at the sequel to Ridley Scott and Dan O'Bannon's groundbreaking sci-fi horror film and all the ways it made James Cameron a legend. It's a movie that had a real cultural impact, one might say, and we're going to get into each and every detail of it!