Libsyn Directory

The Long Walk: A Faust Fable

Release Date: 09/23/2025

Second Breakfast with Cam & Maggie

There's so much to love about Terrifier: The ARTcade Game, but after playing through the demo a few times, there's a lot that makes us nervous too. In this episode, we're breaking down all these conflicted reactions. Topics include: signature weapons, enemy variety, hit detection, and the always-important fun factor. LINKS: , , , Feedback & Theories:

The Bear: The Many Deaths of Mikey Berzatto

Second Breakfast with Cam & Maggie

The death of Michael Berzatto is The Bear’s inciting incident, but the character remains a regular part of the story through flashbacks and cutaways. What is the narrative effect of these repeated resurrections and deaths? In this episode, we’re continuing our exploration of grief art with a discussion of story structure, repetition, memory, and Carmy’s frighteningly familiar existential spiral. LINKS: , , , Feedback & Theories:

Black Phone 2

Second Breakfast with Cam & Maggie

Black Phone 2 is an exceedingly strange sequel: shuffling up the narrative prominence of all the central characters, switching horror subgenres, and tossing out the first film’s winning formula. These are all admirably big swings for the creative team to take, but the real sticking point for us is the ending, which breaks the cardinal rule of grief art. LINKS: , , , Feedback & Theories:

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Second Breakfast with Cam & Maggie

A year after its debut, we’re taking an in-depth look at Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Beneath all the good faith (and bad faith) controversies, there’s an interesting, immersive fantasy world here that is worth exploring. Topics include: character customization, combat expression, role playing, conflicting art styles, and the difference between writing good plot and writing good dialogue. LINKS: , , , Feedback & Theories:

Interview: Stephen Cognetti [Creator of Hell House LLC]

Second Breakfast with Cam & Maggie

We’re honored to be joined by Hell House LLC creator Stephen Cognetti for this wide-ranging interview celebrating the release of his final film in the franchise. Topics include: ambiguous endings, creative closure, the sequel business, audience expectations, continuing the franchise in a new medium, and fascinating deep dives into the structure and pacing of a good horror movie. Hell House LLC Lineage is available to stream now on Shudder. Happy Halloween! LINKS: , , , Feedback & Theories:

Frankenstein (2025)

Second Breakfast with Cam & Maggie

For die-hard fans of horror and fantasy like us, Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein might just be the perfect film — and it’s also almost certainly the best adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel ever made. In this episode, Cam leads us on a whirlwind tour through the source material’s intimate relationship with Doctor Faustus and some of this rendition’s most thrilling and thoughtful additions to that proud lineage. We also explore the film’s kaleidoscopic structure within the frame of a familiar favorite, analyze Del Toro’s sumptuous directorial style, and take a closer look at...

Halloween (1978)

Second Breakfast with Cam & Maggie

In this time traveling episode of Second Breakfast, we're finally tackling the godfather of the slasher genre, John Carpenter's Halloween. We start with a simple question: why is this the best slasher movie? The answer involves gestural structure and a paradoxical approach to pacing. We also get into a spirited debate about the mysterious motive of our beloved Michael Myers. Is he supernatural? Are his crimes random? What roles do sexuality and cultural puritanism play in this story? Finally, we revisit some of the best analysis of the film that we've done over the past five (!) years....

Deathstalker

Second Breakfast with Cam & Maggie

This has gotta be the most entertaining film of the year; a bombastic, aggressively old-school high fantasy adventure full of glorious practical effects and tongue in cheek humor. In this episode, we’re exploring the fantasy and horror roots of Deathstalker, the boundless joy of episodic structure, and the delicate balancing act that is required to make a movie this relentlessly entertaining. LINKS: , , , Feedback & Theories:

When Evil Lurks

Second Breakfast with Cam & Maggie

Demián Rugna's “When Evil Lurks” is a relentlessly creative and upsetting indie horror film from Argentina. It’s also one of the very best possession movies ever made. In this episode, we’re using comparisons to Robert Eggers’ “The Witch” and Zach Cregger’s “Weapons” to analyze the film’s folk horror reckoning about children and evil. We also examine the film’s paradoxical reliance on excess and restraint by doing close readings of both the most memorable moments of violence and the unnamed monster’s ever-evolving creature design. LINKS: , , , ...

Destiny: Rising

Second Breakfast with Cam & Maggie

Destiny: Rising is like a phenomenal cover band of Destiny 2, a spirited revival playing all the hits and reminding you of better times. And with Destiny 2 currently in such a dreadful state, it is genuinely remarkable how well NetEase has curated this game as a greatest hits of everything Bungie has ever done well. Does this spinoff mobile game somehow manage to surpass its namesake? LINKS: , , , Feedback & Theories:

More Episodes

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here!

Ask and you shall receive! Here’s our analysis of The Long Walk through the evergreen lens of Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus. This one’s got some fascinating remixes: dozens of Faustuses, a rare foregrounding of the lesser demons, and possibly the most unfair Faustian deal we’ve ever seen put to screen.

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