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 Sense), what makes its hypnosis sequence one of the most effective in horror, where the film stumbles, and why — twenty-plus years later — it deserves so much better than being a footnote to another ghost movie.

If you want the spoiler-free case for this one first, check out my article in the latest issue of AFH (@wellthatsucksreviews).

New episode every two weeks — defending overlooked and underrated horror, one movie at a time.

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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 Better episode I've made yet. No franchise name. No recognisable face on the poster. Just a really good film that got completely buried and deserves to be found.

Five years before Scream got all the credit for being self aware about horror, Popcorn was already there — paying tribute to the golden age of William Castle showmanship with three original films within the film, gimmicks that become weapons, and a villain reveal in the third act that is simultaneously intense and absolutely unhinged.

Full history of the troubled production, scene by scene breakdown, where it stumbles, and the full case for why Popcorn deserved a proper audience in 1991 and a proper champion in 2026.

This Movie Deserves Better is a solo horror podcast championing the overlooked, the misunderstood, and the unfairly buried. Reviews and follows mean everything.

Find us on socials @tmdbpodcast

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 visually extraordinary horror film with one of the best protagonists in the entire franchise, dream sequences that actually feel like dreams, practical effects kills that belong in the 1980s horror hall of fame, and a soundtrack that is genuinely one of the greatest ever assembled for a horror film.

Full history of how Renny Harlin, a virtually unknown Finnish director was handed the most commercially pressured horror sequel of the decade and delivered something extraordinary.

Scene by scene breakdown including the beach sequence, the cockroach transformation, chef Freddy's soul pizza. Where it stumbles. And the full defence of why The Dream Master deserved better than thirty seven years of middling scores.

Plus the DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince story that nobody talks about. And an award for Kincaid's dog who was frankly the smartest person in the film.

Don't fall asleep.

This Movie Deserves Better is a solo horror podcast championing the overlooked, the misunderstood, and the unfairly buried. Reviews and follows mean everything.

Follow us @tmdbpodcast

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 nobody talks about it.

The nightclub sequence is one of the great horror set pieces of the 1990s and nobody acknowledges it. We're fixing that.

Full history of how the film got made, scene by scene breakdown, where it stumbles, and the full defence of why Hellraiser 3 deserved better than the reputation it's been saddled with.

Plus the behind the scenes chaos — six weeks to shoot, North Carolina standing in for New York, Clive Barker's complicated involvement, and a Motörhead music video that nobody asked for and everyone needed.

No tears please. It's a waste of good suffering.

This Movie Deserves Better is a solo horror podcast championing the overlooked, the misunderstood, and the unfairly buried.

Reviews and follows mean everything. Follow @tmdbpodcast on Instagram/Threads/YT/TikTok

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 it's good episode. This is not a guilty pleasure defence. Creep 2004 is a genuinely good horror film with a real atmosphere, a villain performance that deserved far more attention than it received, and an ending that stays with you long after the credits roll.

Full history and context of where British horror was in 2004, scene by scene breakdown, the stumbles — including a word about Transport for London's frankly alarming staff levels — and the full case for why Creep deserved better than the obscurity it's been sitting in.

Plus the awards. Including a special mention for Ray the Jack Russell who came out of this completely unscathed and frankly deserves his own spin off.

See it. Say it. Sorted. 🚇🔪

This Movie Deserves Better is a solo horror podcast championing the overlooked, the misunderstood, and the unfairly buried. New episodes every two weeks. Reviews and follows mean everything. 🎙️

Find us on socials: @tmdbpodcast

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 the 13th fanbase has been pretending it is for twenty four years. It knew exactly what it was. It committed completely. And it contains some of the most inventive kills in the entire franchise.

Full history of where the Friday the 13th franchise was by 2001, full scene by scene breakdown, the stumbles, and the complete defence of why Jason X deserves better than the punchline it became.

Plus Kane Hodder's most physical performance in the role, the greatest thirty seconds in horror history, and a very specific award for Professor Lowe's unexpected self discovery.

Episode 13. Unlucky for some. Not for Jason.

This Movie Deserves Better is a solo horror podcast championing the overlooked, the misunderstood, and the unfairly buried. Reviews and follows mean everything.

Follow us on socials: @tmdbpodcast

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 deserves far more recognition than it ever got.

Full breakdown, full defence, deeply unserious awards.

For Bill Paxton. 🌴🔪🥥

This Movie Deserves Better drops every two weeks. Reviews and follows mean everything.

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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 context, the greatest horror cameo line-up ever assembled on a single budget, and the full defence of why the Djinn deserved better.

Thank you to everyone who voted — you chose well. If you enjoy the episode please leave a rating/review on and tell someone who still thinks this is straight-to-video trash. It isn't.

Be careful what you wish for.

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