This Movie Deserves Better
by Col Swash
This Movie Deserves Better is for the movies that got done dirty. The sequels, the slashers, the weird little thrillers that critics shrugged off but you couldn’t stop thinking about. We’re here to rewatch, reframe, and rant—sometimes seriously, sometimes not. Expect scene dissections, thematic rabbit holes, and the occasional defence of whatever sequel, slasher, or thriller deserves a second look . Because sometimes, the cult classics haven’t been crowned yet.
Episodes
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Halloween Franchise Ranking
Thirteen Halloween films. One ranking. After the Rob Zombie two-parter, my messages filled up with people sharing their thoughts on the franchise, so I thought I'd drop my ranking. Expect strong opinions on Michael's mask, a very controversial placement for Halloween III, Rob Zombie's 2007 film...
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RZ Halloween Special - Part 2 Halloween II (2009)
The Rob Zombie Halloween special concludes — and this time I've got backup. Joining me for the first ever guest episode of This Movie Deserves Better is Janine from Graeae Horror. We are defending Rob Zombie's Halloween II (2009) together and we are not apologising for a single frame of it. The...
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Rob Zombie Halloween Special - Part 1 Halloween 2007
This is the show we're we dig out the movies that got dropped, dismissed, and written off — and take another look at whether they actually deserved that. Kicking off a two-part special on Rob Zombie's Halloween duology. Today: Part 1, the 2007 reimagining of Carpenter's original. Next time: Part…
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The Haunting (1999) - This is a GOOD Bad Movie
We're back. New house, mic unpacked, and ready to defend a film that absolutely nobody asked me to defend, unless it's a listener vote. The Haunting (1999) won that listener poll and this week I'm making the case for it — not as a secretly great film, not as a misunderstood masterpiece, but as a...
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THESE Movies Deserve Better - 20th Episode Bonanza
This week is something different. No single film. No full breakdown. No awards segment. Instead — twenty horror films that deserve better, grouped into four categories and defended with absolutely no apologies. Deep cut sequels nobody goes to bat for. Reboots and remakes that got a raw deal....
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Event Horizon (1997) - The Greatest Sci-fi Horror Nobody Has Seen
This episode is dedicated to Sam Neill, who passed away recently. Event Horizon is one of his finest and most overlooked performances. A film that got destroyed on release in 1997, written off almost immediately, and has spent nearly thirty years slowly becoming one of the most beloved cult films...
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Stir of Echoes (1999) - The Kevin Bacon Horror Movie You Slept On
This week we're covering Stir of Echoes (1999) — David Koepp's criminally underrated supernatural horror film starring Kevin Bacon in one of the best performances of his career. We dig into why this film got completely overshadowed on release (hint: it came out the same summer as The Sixth…
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Popcorn (1991) - The Horror Love Letter Nobody Saw
This week we're going to the pictures. Popcorn (1991) — a horror film set during an all night horror marathon in a cinema, made by people who genuinely loved the genre, released in February when nobody was looking, and forgotten almost immediately. This is probably the most This Movie Deserves...
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Nightmare on Elm St 4: Dream Master - Don't Fall Asleep On This One
The highest grossing film in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Robert Englund's personal favourite entry in the series. Praised by Wes Craven himself. And somehow it still gets dismissed as the point where everything went wrong. This week I'm making the case that The Dream Master is a…
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Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth - The Fanbase Got This One Wrong
The box. You opened it. We answered. This week I'm making the case that Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth is a genuinely effective horror film that has spent thirty years being unfairly dismissed as franchise decay. Doug Bradley gives one of the greatest horror villain performances of the decade and...
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Creep (2004) - This Isn't The One You're Thinking Of
This week we're going underground. Creep (2004) — not the found footage one. The other one. The really good one. A British horror film set entirely in the London Underground at night that has been buried under a name collision and not enough people have gone looking for it. This is not a so bad...
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Jason X (2001) - Jason Goes to Space And It's Actually Brilliant
This episode exists because I saw a review online that was so wrong about this film I had to do something about it. No names. No drama. Just a podcast episode defending Jason Voorhees in space for forty five minutes. This week I'm making the case that Jason X is not the embarrassment the Friday…
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Club Dread (2004) - The Slasher Comedy That Got Buried
Club Dread (2004) got buried because it wasn't Super Troopers. That's it. That's the whole reason. This week I'm making the case that Broken Lizard's horror comedy is a genuinely effective slasher with a mystery that holds up, a killer reveal that lands, and a Bill Paxton performance that…
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Wishmaster (1997) - The Icon Horror Forgot
You voted, the Djinn answered, and this week I'm making the case that Wishmaster (1997) is one of the most underrated horror films of the 1990s. Andrew Divoff's Djinn had everything required to be a franchise icon. Nobody noticed. We're fixing that. Full scene by scene breakdown, franchise…
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Leprechaun in the Hood - The BEST in the Franchise
This week on This Movie Deserves Better, Col's making the case for Leprechaun in the Hood (2000) — the straight-to-video entry everyone wrote off and nobody defended. Until now. But is it really the bottom of the barrel... or the most complete film in the franchise? Warwick Davis in full hip-hop...
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Scream 3 (2000) - NOT the Worst in the Franchise
This week on This Movie Deserves Better, Col's revisiting Scream 3 (2000) — the most divisive entry in the franchise and the one fans love to rank last. But is it really the weak link… or just misunderstood? Directed by Wes Craven and set against the backdrop of Hollywood and the filming of Stab…
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Valentine (2001) - The Slasher with a Missing Killer?
This week on This Movie Deserves Better, we revisit Valentine (2001) — the early-2000s post-Scream slasher starring Denise Richards, David Boreanaz, and Katherine Heigl. Was it just another glossy teen horror… or did studio edits bury a smarter twist? We break down the full plot (Spoilers!), the...
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Why Listen?
Here's what to expect from This Movie Deserves Better.
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House on Haunted Hill (1999) - Shocks, Screams & Geoffrey Rush Unleashed
This week on This Movie Deserves Better, Col revisits House on Haunted Hill (1999) — the loud, gothic, late-90s Dark Castle remake that critics dismissed but horror fans never quite let go. Directed by William Malone and starring Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Ali Larter, and Peter...
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Blair Witch 2: The Horror Sequel Everyone Hated (But Shouldn't Have)
In this episode of This Movie Deserves Better, Col revisits Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 to unpack what really went wrong — and why the film deserves a serious reappraisal. We dig into the troubled production history, studio interference, and how director Joe Berlinger originally intended the...
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New Years Evil (1980) - One Killer. Every Time Zone -
This week on This Movie Deserves Better, we’re revisiting the overlooked 1980 slasher New Year's Evil — a cult horror oddity built around one killer idea: murders timed to midnight across every U.S. time zone. Set during a live New Year’s Eve telethon, New Year’s Evil mixes punk energy, sleazy…
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Friday the 13th Part V: The One Where Jason… Isn’t Jason?
This episode, Col reopens the case file on Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning — the most chaotic, divisive, and secretly brilliant entry in the Friday the 13th franchise. We break down Tommy Jarvis, the copycat killer twist, the halfway house mayhem, every wild kill, and why this…
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Sleepwalkers (1992) - 90mins of "Wait... What?!"
This week we dive into Stephen King’s Sleepwalkers, the chaotic 90s horror movie filled with shape-shifters, killer cats, practical effects, and some of the wildest moments in any Stephen King adaptation. We cover: Sleepwalkers history + King’s original screenplay. Full plot breakdown. The…
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The Initiation (1984) - This Slasher was Never Trash
Col takes a deep dive into The Initiation (1984) — a slasher dismissed on release but filled with heart, strong performances, psychological ambition, and one of the 80s’ most underrated twists. We explore the plot (spoiler-warning) the dreamlike opening, the unforgettable twist, and why critics...
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Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000)
This is episode one of This Movie Deserves Better — raw, curious, and still finding its feet. I’m Col: and I'm fully committed to rescuing underrated genre films from the bargain bin. For our shaky-but-earnest debut I dig into John Ottman’s underrated slasher, Urban Legend 2: Final Cut. What I do...
About this show
This Movie Deserves Better is for the movies that got done dirty. The sequels, the slashers, the weird little thrillers that critics shrugged off but you couldn’t stop thinking about. We’re here to rewatch, reframe, and rant—sometimes seriously, sometimes not. Expect scene dissections, thematic rabbit holes, and the occasional defence of whatever sequel, slasher, or thriller deserves a second look . Because sometimes, the cult classics haven’t been crowned yet.
Hosted by
Col Swash