Oct 23, 2026 · 1h 42m
Three films test the limits of genre, grief, and invention
‘Clayface,’ ‘Wicker,’ and ‘Wildwood’
Joanna Robinson and Mallory Rubin use three sharply different films to examine how body horror, dark romance, and stop-motion fantasy turn outsiderhood and grief into spectacle.
- 1Clayface makes tragic villainy inseparable from body horror, romantic obsession, and the DCU’s appetite for harder genre risks.
- 2Wicker transforms an unsettling premise into a dark fable about desire, patriarchy, decay, and the possibility of emotional renewal.
- 3Wildwood pairs extraordinary Laika craftsmanship with a sprawling story about grief, sacrifice, mortality, and endangered children.
Don't miss
The hosts’ examination of Wicker’s wicker husband turns an absurdly practical sexual premise into a revealing discussion of desire, vulnerability, and patriarchy.
The brief
Joanna Robinson and Mallory Rubin frame the episode around an unusually busy movie weekend, moving from DC body horror to a dark romantic fable and Laika’s stop-motion fantasy.
Clayface emerges as a fundamentally good actor whose betrayal, disfigurement, and desperation turn tragic villainy into a showcase for grotesque effects and romantic obsession.
Wicker’s strange premise—a woman creating a wicker husband—opens onto questions of desire, patriarchal cruelty, decay, and whether an artificial relationship can become emotionally real.
Wildwood earns admiration for Laika’s painstaking craft and richly imagined Pacific Northwest world, even as its ambitious plotting sometimes struggles to match its visual splendor.
Across all three films, the hosts find inventive ways to make outsiderhood, grief, violence, and romance theatrical subjects rather than familiar genre decoration.
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