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Yeah but it fails at world building in such spectacular fashion while those have found the right formula to excel exceptionally well. That's only if she can take him "Higher." I never saw this film but have seen the others in the series and I realize that the prequel is easily the best of the series because it's Michael Sheen acting the fuck out of a horrible story and making it palatable. The first one is insane for how quickly they try to create a world filled with lore and backstory but try to focus on Kate Beckinsale being in a skin tight bodysuit. There are interesting ideas like getting memories from a person's blood, which was an idea introduced in the first one when the vampires are going to bring their next leader up to speed on current events after a hibernation period, but then they started using it every 10 minutes in the sequel and it was quick diminishing returns.

I was OBSESSED with the first movie, Queen of the Damned and Buffy as a nerdy tween girl. Honestly these movies are what a 2000's Hot Topic would be if it could be a movie and I love them (and Queen of the Damned) for that ridiculous fact. I'm not even going to touch how stupid crazy the prequel movie was.

This for the win! I just realized: Underworld is like John Wick for goths, or Fast & Furious for manic depressives.

The second is pretty great. I think my least favorite is Awakening, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen it. The point is: these are perfect movies and anyone who disagrees with us are dumb-dumb wrongheads. Oh, and Scott Speedman and Scott Stapp are 1000% the same person, right

Rise of the Lycans is still my favorite. I’m not sure why...

I did this watch before Unspooled started a few years ago, and watching it again sort of surrounded by all the "great" films made me like it more. I could see the cinematic language and what Murnau was developing and pioneering. I am curious - I did consider some of the scenes in the city to be almost filling space. Like why was the dress strap guy there? Even the drunk pig: is there a symbolism there I missed? But I feel like Murnau knew what he was doing and maybe had a reason for these things. Any theories?

See, I was the opposite - loved S2 of Legion and didn't love S3 as much as I thought I would. What I should do is rewatch the whole series and all of Fargo, just to be safe.

I haven’t listened to the episode yet, but I’m with you. I probably watch these once a year () or so. I also agree, that it’s weird to pick this movie over the first one. There’s nothing in this movie that’s particularly crazy that isn’t present in the other movies, and you know they’re going to have questions about the universe (all of which is pretty well established in the first movie). It just seems to be making it needlessly harder on themselves. So, yeah, the movies are garbage, but I enjoy them. And if they make another one, I will buy it gleefully.

Sadly... me. I have no idea why I like these joyless, excessively dark (read: nearly impossible to actually see), self-serious, and impenetrably plotted Underworld films. I remember Patton Oswalt once saying, “I don’t believe in ‘guilty pleasures.’ If it makes you happy, you shouldn’t feel guilty about it,” and immediately flashing on watching this series of movies (repeatedly) and feeling nothing but inner shameful guilt. This shit is like something an ADD-riddled teenager would come up with. I dunno why I do this to myself, honestly. This film is like Chicken McNuggets: comfort food for the soulless. I’m truly surprised that Jason, Tall and June picked the 4th film in the franchise for the podcast when the first film is brimming with so, so, SO much batshitfullness. Besides establishing this world, the first Underworld film is simply a hot fuckin’ guilty pleasure mess: Michael Sheen as the head lycan; Selene shooting out the floor beneath her in a circular fashion to make an escape that would take longer than simply jumping out a window; the introduction of bullets that contain “sun light”; the entire movie takes place at night—all the time—in a weird, constantly wet hybrid American-Eastern European city; one of the writers of this film appears prominently as a hulking lycan with a vocal range so deep it can drop panties the next village over; vampires using plaster busts for shooting practice; Bill Nighy as a vampire elder in a sewer claw fight with a vampire-lycan hybrid; lead actor Shane Brolly’s painfully awful line delivery; the term “death dealer”; etc. So, yeah...

This joke took at least an hour off my life, well done Cameron

The Witcher is very clearly made with women at the helm I feel like. It knows what we want and that's women who want to be powerful and fucking feral sometimes and for Henry Cavill to fight shit in obscenely tight clothes. It makes no sense, has no proper timeline, and refuses to explain itself... and I *loved* it. also you Will get Toss A Coin To Your Witcher stuck in your head because that song's a certified bop. Just accept it.

Sure, he’d greet her with “Arms Wide Open.”

Would Felicity move across the country for Scott Stapp? I think not! They are totally different!

My primary theory would be that they were there for comedic effect. But if there is something deeper with the dress strap guy, I think it's somewhat notable that this was occurring during the peasant dance, as it served to give a bit of juxtaposition between country folks and city folks. While the couple from the country is having carefree fun dancing, this city dude is completely concerned with appearance, what should be worn, and how. Like the Man and the Wife, the pig is also out of its natural habitat in the city. As a farmer, it makes sense that the Man would be able to catch the pig when no one else can. So again, I think both these things are used to show that they are outsiders in the city, so although they can have some fun in the city, they belong on the farm together.

The first one is my favorite, but I did enjoy the Rube Goldbergian sideways helicopter death scene from the second film. I remember think that was almost too clever for this series.

I have no idea what the allure of these films is, but I’ll never hesitate to watch one. I remember sheepishly introducing my wife to this series, and to my surprise, she really likes it, too. Underworld: spellbindingly “bad in a good way.”

Agree 100% with the health sentiments here. the last season of The Good place was great. Wrapped it up really well, I thought. i also really enjoyed the last season of Legion. I know the show doesn’t appeal to everybody—and I wasn’t really a fan of season 2—but it does a fairly good job of wrapping up and is a unique show. Plus you get to see Jason and Jemaine Clement have a rap battle!

Since we are all stuck at home, I propose that they make all old HDTGM episodes available for everyone to download and listen to to help pass the time.

The reveal that June never saw Harry Potter made me laugh. I would love if you guys did a watch-along episode like on NEWCOMERS. When June is confused and asks all kinds of questions and Jason just seethes.

I do not like her in that blouse, I do not want her in my house! Your Grandma peed all over my floor and she's not welcome here anymore!

As the person charged with cleaning up the mess when real trolls show up here, OP's criticism of the show is pretty mild. HDTGM has unquestionably gotten more political since 2016, going so far as to publish minisodes about June's book and an interview with a local politician. I skipped those, not because they don't align with my politics—I'm an atheist feminist who would be delighted by either a Warren (sigh) or Sanders presidency—but because my podcast time is increasingly rare these days and I can barely keep up with the main episodes, let alone side missions. When this thread was started, I hoped it would be met with the stony silence it deserves and then forgotten, since it doesn't violate any of the stated forum rules or warrant deletion. Some of the responses are getting close, though.