The Playlist Podcast Network

‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’: Rohan Campbell & Mike P. Nelson On Bloody Holiday Romance, Nazi Christmas Parties, & Defending ‘Halloween Ends’ [The Discourse Podcast]

Holiday horror is usually all tinsel and trauma, but the new remake of "Silent Night, Deadly Night" decides it also wants to add a warm hug, a nervous breakdown, and a full-blown Nazi Christmas party for good measure. Director Mike P. Nelson takes the infamous killer Santa premise and rebuilds it as a supernatural slasher with a bruised, endearing Hallmark heart at the center, following a gentler, wounded version of Billy Chapman and the woman who accidentally falls in love with the monster in the red suit. It is romantic, nasty, and weird in exactly the right Christmas-y ways. On this episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo is joined by star Rohan Campbell and director Mike P. Nelson to delve into reinventing a cult slasher, balancing sweetness with splatter, staging set pieces like a Nazi Christmas party and a nightmare ball pit, and exploring where a potential sequel could take Billy and Pam.

‘Dust Bunny’: Bryan Fuller On Monsters, Spielberg’s Notes, Hannibal’s Future, and Creative Differences on Shows [The Discourse Podcast]

Childhood fears, bedtime monsters, and the hazy membrane between imagination and trauma collide in “Dust Bunny,” the feature directorial debut of Bryan Fuller, a filmmaker whose storytelling instincts have always lived in the space between the two B’s - beauty and brutality. It is a film that feels handcrafted out of nightmares and fairy-tale sugar, a creature feature through the eyes of a child who sees the world in magic and menace at the same time. Rich with color, shadows, and emotional ambiguity, it is unmistakably a Bryan Fuller movie, which is to say that it’s tender, violent, mischievous, and sincere in equal measure. Joining The Discourse in today’s episode is Bryan Fuller himself, the writer and director behind shows like “Hannibal,” “Pushing Daisies,” “American Gods,” and “Star Trek: Discovery” (in its early days). Fuller’s signature blend of genre storytelling and emotional excavation finds a new form here as he steps behind the camera for his first feature-length film, crafting a story about a little girl who hires a hitman to kill the monster under her bed and discovers that nothing is simple when your fears have roots. The film stars Mads Mikkelsen, Sigourney Weaver, David Dastmalchian, Sophie Sloan, and Sheila Atim.

‘Fackham Hall’: Thomasin McKenzie & Jim O’Hanlon On Delightfully Stupid Comedy, Visual Mayhem, & Playing It Dead Serious [The Discourse Podcast]

There’s refined British comedy, and then there’s “Fackham Hall,” a movie that waltzes in wearing period-accurate garb on the outside and immediately trips over the furniture. It’s the kind of delightfully silly romp where aristocrats brood, servants scramble, romance simmers, relatives wed, and the background is working twice as hard as the actors to steal every scene, like “Downton Abbey” politely offering you tea while “Airplane” swaps the sugar for gunpowder. Set between the wars, the film follows starry-eyed servant Eric and rebellious aristocrat Rose as their forbidden attraction detonates inside a household already teetering on the edge of absurdity. The ensemble includes Thomasin McKenzie, Damian Lewis, Katherine Waterston, Tom Felton, and a sprawling cast of blissfully serious performers. Joining The Discourse in today’s episode are “Fackham Hall” director Jim O’Hanlon and star Thomasin McKenzie, who break down how the team crafted a period comedy where the jokes never stop multiplying and the sincerity has to be played with absolute conviction.

‘Mayor of Kingstown’ Season 4: Jeremy Renner & Edie Falco On Explosive Internal Chess Matches, Hawkeye, & Whether ‘Nurse Jackie’ Lives Again [Bingeworthy Podcast]

Kingstown never sleeps. It snarls. It churns. It eats the weak. With “Mayor of Kingstown” returning for Season 4, the Paramount+ thriller doubles down on the brutal machinery of power, corruption, and survival that has defined the series from the beginning. But this year, something shifts. A storm hits the city in the form of Edie Falco, who joins the show as Nina Hobbs, the new prison warden and a razor-sharp antagonist to Jeremy Renner’s battered fixer, Mike McLusky. Joining Bingeworthy for this episode are Jeremy Renner and Edie Falco, who break down the fierce chess match between Mike and Nina, the sense of doom that defines their characters, and the existential question haunting this season. READ MORE: ‘IT: Welcome To Derry’: Andy & Barbara Muschietti, Jason Fuchs & Brad Caleb Kane On Pennywise’s Origins, Their Multi-Season Plan, And Their Experience on ‘The Flash’ [Bingeworthy Podcast] [https://theplaylist.net/it-welcome-to-derry-andy-barbara-muschietti-jason-fuchs-brad-caleb-kane-on-pennywises-origins-their-multi-season-plan-and-their-experience-on-the-flash-20251121/] Renner said the fun of their dynamic comes from how quickly civility slips into threat. He explained that their very first exchange set the tone. “From our first scene, it’s like the lightest version of that, but it does just keep going, that chess match. But it’s really good writing and when it’s not, we fix it. And the job’s easy and it becomes fun when you have really talented people to work with. You can really find nuances to things and not be like, it’s not posturing. It becomes a really wonderful dance.” He added that beneath the barbs, both characters genuinely want some level of cooperation. “We are not playing like we hate each other. We want to work through this, but this is what I got to do.”

‘IT: Welcome To Derry’: Andy & Barbara Muschietti, Jason Fuchs & Brad Caleb Kane On Pennywise’s Origins, Their Multi-Season Plan, And Their Experience on ‘The Flash’ [Bingeworthy Podcast]

In Derry, the past never stays buried. Set in 1962, "IT: Welcome to Derry" rewinds Stephen King’s nightmare town to a moment of postcard innocence and slowly peels the veneer off to show the rot underneath. The new HBO series acts as a prequel to "IT" and "IT: Chapter Two", following the Hanlon family as they’re pulled into another brutal cycle of disappearances, hauntings, and a certain grinning figure who feeds beneath the streets. Bill Skarsgård returns as Pennywise, joined by newcomers James Remar, Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, and Chris Chalk. Joining host Mike DeAngelo for the podcast are executive producers Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti, along with co-showrunners Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane, who walk through how this new cycle came to life and why the Kingverse has far deeper corners than the films could ever reach.