Episode 21: "One Big Maze; And I'm The Rat" (Buried Alive)

A TECHNICAL NOTE: Some of y'all may notice it's been longer than usual since our last show, and it's been very heartwarming to hear from listeners checking in to make sure that we're okay, what with general and specific chaos that is currently reshaping the world. The episode on Buried Alive was marked by a catastrophic technical situation that affected the entire second half of Jason's audio track, and while we reconstructed what we could, if things seem a tad 'off' or imbalanced, this is why. We thank you for your patience with this and hope that you are as well as possible.

Join Sam and Jason and special guest film critic Liam McCloud as they talk about Frank Darabont’s 1990 directorial debut Buried Alive. You’ll also hear about ‘90s neonoir, the wrong time to decide to be fully honest, the comedy of tension and the tension of comedy, the many varieties of bastardry, a return of Blue Fang, William Atherton and unctuousness, tropical fishcraft, some Shawshank heresy, abortion judgments, the moral foundations of Gremlins, power imbalances in male friendships, buried alive cinema, inescapable Nashville movies, “Tasty Fish,” what unfinished homes and communities signify, Scooby-Doo villainy, malign smarm, Chekhov’s Rottweiler, getting real about Fantasia, buried accents, the art of the dawdle, the shameful legacy of Walter Peck and the enduring sins of Ghostbusters, the difference between compromise and acquiescence, heart attacks, how resurrection makes you inherently interesting, noble fat guys, an unexpected Emperor’s New Groove reference, trap cinema, and intense color coordination.