A woman arrives in a sleepy California beach town looking for her missing father and finds the locals waiting for the blood moon. Ben is joined by Danielle Aubuchon and Kathryn Horan to kick off the Halloween season with Messiah of Evil (1973), the surreal, Lovecraftian cult oddity from the husband-and-wife team who went on to write American Graffiti.

Paired with Peet's Big Bang, the medium roast Peet's built for their 50th anniversary in honor of founder Alfred Peet. Another stranger who turned up on the California coast with something nobody there had tasted before, with considerably better results for the locals.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Welcome to the Halloween Party 2:50 Exploring Recent Films and Nostalgia 6:04 Diving into Messiah of Evil 8:58 Initial Reactions and Confusions 12:00 Cinematography and Visual Style 14:55 Plot Analysis and Character Development 17:58 Soundtrack and Its Impact 21:11 Setting and Atmosphere 23:57 Character Dynamics and Relationships 32:23 Unraveling the Mystery of the Diary 39:13 The Ominous Journey to Town 49:44 The Horror Unfolds in the Grocery Store 55:50 The Tension Builds in the Movie Theater 57:35 The Transformation Begins 1:00:19 Confronting the Past 1:02:05 The Climax at the Beach House 1:04:31 The Aftermath and Reflection 1:06:50 The Artistic Choices and Production Challenges 1:08:52 Exploring the Cast and Their Backgrounds 1:13:22 Final Thoughts and Future Discussions 1:14:36 Coffee Pairing: Peet's Big Bang 1:19:31 What's Next: Vampire & Halloween Specials

THE COFFEE

https://www.peets.com/products/big-bang

GUESTS

Danielle Aubuchon: https://www.danielleaubuchon.com/ Kathryn Horan, Cine Scare Horror: https://cinescarehorror.com/

RESOURCES

Messiah of Evil is in the public domain, so you can watch it free: https://archive.org/details/messiah-of-evil-1973_202404

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_of_Evil Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/messiah_of_evil Radiance Films Blu-ray, with Kim Newman and Stephen Thrower commentary: https://www.radiancefilms.co.uk/products/messiah-of-evil-se The History of Peet's Coffee: https://peets.com/blogs/peets/the-history-of-peets-coffee

REEL BEANS

Website: https://reelbeans.com Episodes: https://reelbeans.com/podcast Merch: https://reelbeans.com/merch Support the show: https://reelbeans.com/support Instagram: https://instagram.com/reel_beans YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@reelbeans

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Ben is joined by Danielle Aubuchon for Shadow of a Doubt (1943), paired with Land and Water Coffee's Godspeed Blend.

Charlie Newton wishes for something to shake up sleepy Santa Rosa, and gets her beloved Uncle Charlie, the man she was named for, who may also be the Merry Widow Murderer. Ben and Danielle get into Hitchcock's gift for turning a safe small town menacing, what kind of man Uncle Charlie actually is, the dark comedy running underneath the tension, and how one bad summer can end a girl's childhood for good.

The pairing fits three ways. Land and Water roasts in Santa Rosa, about two miles from the house Hitchcock shot in. Godspeed is a 50/50 blend of Zambia and Honduras, two origins under one name, which is the two Charlies exactly. And Godspeed is what you say to someone leaving on a hard journey, which this film has plenty of.

The Coffee Godspeed Blend: https://landandwater.coffee/products/godspeed About the roaster: https://landandwater.coffee/pages/about

Resources AFI Catalog: https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/657 Deep Focus Review: https://www.deepfocusreview.com/definitives/shadow-of-a-doubt/ Press Democrat on Hitchcock's Santa Rosa: https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/05/20/in-shadow-of-a-doubt-hitchcock-found-evil-in-small-town-santa-rosa/ The Alfred Hitchcock Wiki: https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Shadow_of_a_Doubt_(1943) Brenton Film on the Wilder collaboration: https://brentonfilm.com/writing-on-a-classic-shadow-of-a-doubt-1943 Beyond Doubt: The Making of Hitchcock's Favorite Film (Blu-ray)

Our Guest Danielle Aubuchon: https://danielleaubuchon.com

Reel Beans https://reelbeans.com https://instagram.com/reel_beans https://youtube.com/@reelbeans Merch: https://reelbeans.com/merch Support: https://reelbeans.com/support

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What happens when a spoiled heiress finds a "forgotten man" at the city dump and hires him as the family butler? In 1936, it made for one of the sharpest, funniest, and most quietly radical comedies of the Depression era.

This week, classic film expert Josh Rozett joins Ben to dig into MY MAN GODFREY (1936), Gregory La Cava's screwball classic starring William Powell as the mysterious Godfrey and Carole Lombard, the reigning queen of screwball, as the madcap Irene who can't stop meddling in his life. We get into what makes the film tick, why it still stings as class satire nearly a century later, and how a movie this funny smuggled in such a pointed message about wealth and inequality.

In the cup: Stumptown Ethiopia, brewed in the moka pot, the humble, everyman's coffee maker that makes a bold, honest cup with no fuss and no frills. A fitting brew for a film about what's really hiding under the surface.

Dig deeper:

My Man Godfrey at the Criterion Collection: https://www.criterion.com/films/653-my-man-godfrey

"My Man Godfrey: The Right Kind of People" (Criterion essay): https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5928-my-man-godfrey-the-right-kind-of-people

Bialetti Moka Express (Seattle Coffee Gear): https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/products/bialetti-moka-express-stovetop-espresso-maker

The History of the Moka Pot (Sunday Baker): https://sundaybaker.co/the-history-of-the-moka-pot/

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Available now on all podcast platforms, or visit reelbeans.com/podcast.

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