Recommend or Refute | Terrifier (2016), Buddy (2026), Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Don't google this movie title without additional keywords like "plot", "film" or "netflix". Otherwise you'll just get a hotline number and some consolation. What's spookier in the spooky season than a fever dream trip to visit your current dating partner's parents? Well, there's plenty of existential concepts that Charlie Kaufman wants you to consider. Join Dixon, Ryan, and John as they attempt to navigate I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020), the unsettling Charlie Kaufman horror / thriller / existential head trip adapted from a novel of the same name.

Welcome to a spooky edition of Recommend or Refute. Ryan tackles another horror franchise with Terrifier (2016), Dixon reviews a scary twist on Barney and Friends with Casper Kelly's new film Buddy (2026), and John delves into the existential dread of Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York (2008).

Spooky Season is upon us and Ryan has hand picked a lesser known horror film to share with the crew. The simplistically titled Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971) is about exactly what it sounds like, but is there more to it than that? What would compel a studio to name it with such bluntness? What kind of budget does it have? Is it actually scary? Should you add it to your Spooky Season watch list? Dixon, John, and Ryan are here to help you determine that and dig a little deeper while we're at it.

Welcome to another Recommend or Refute episode!  Dixon discusses Jane Schoenbrun's meditative sexual take on horror reboots Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026), Ryan breaks down the independent anime film Milky Subway: The Galactic Limited Express (2026), and John delves into his family history with the Dolly Parton classic The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982).

This week we're discussing the 1976 stone cold classic Network written by Paddy Chayefsky, directed by Sidney Lumet, and starring Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, and Robert Duvall.  Undoubtedly the smartest and funniest dissection of television ever put on film, Network predicted Fox News, MSNBC, Alex Jones, and countless other for-profit programs pretending to be news.  It feels more relevant with each passing day as the increasing absurdity of national news coverage leaves us with little choice but to laugh or despair.

On this episode of Recommend or Refute, Ryan bring his Marvel Movie of the Week™ with Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026), John brings an ambling, amusing indie feature with Person to Person (2017), and Dixon revisits a classic and pivotal Jim Carrey film about the surveillance state and reality tv with The Truman Show (1998). Who's recommending what? Is anyone refuting? Is anyone abstaining? Guess you'll have to listen to find out.

On this episode of Afterthoughts, John brings Dixon and Ryan an overlooked, under-seen period piece romance/thriller with a southern drawl and a Texas attitude --it's Carolina Caroline (2026)!

Cars: They're just like us.  They eat.  They use the bathroom.  They have sex.  They raise children.  Are these anthropomorphized monstrosities born or manufactured?  Why do they never open their doors?  What's inside them?  Why do they consume gasoline through both their gas tanks and their mouths?  Buckle your seatbelt for a hilarious discussion of one of the most unhinged franchises in the history of motion pictures.  It's gonna be a bumpy ride.

On this episode of Recommend or Refute, John honors the fallen with a tribute watch of Event Horizon for the recently departed Sam Neil, Ryan stumbles upon the filmography of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead with Resolution (2012), and Dixon gives the masses want they want with his review of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey (2026).

AFTERTHOUGHTS ARE DOING THEIR PART, ARE YOU? Their part being the discussion of a film that was divisive at release, now seen as ever-prescient, action packed, and clearly tongue-in-cheek. Join the crew as they enlist to help fight the misconceptions against Paul Verhoeven's satirical adaptation of a military-strong sci-fi story. That's right, this episode we're talking about Starship Troopers (1997). Would you like to know more?