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Going on a Brutal Trip in the Hellscapes of ‘Cruelty Squad’ [Safe Room Podcast]

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Style over substance is often a worry of mine when it comes to oddball indie games. 

While a game’s main draw might be a unique aesthetic or art style, I’m always cautious of whether the same amount of attention has been applied to the game’s mechanics themselves. And as we all know, there’s nothing more deflating than leaping into a game that barely makes a splash after a few hours. 

And to be honest, I was initially skeptical about picking up Cruelty Squad from Consumer Softproducts. Sure, the game’s acidic Windows 95 screensaver graphics are arresting, but is there more to it than the specticality of it all?

Fortunately, I’m able to answer that with a resounding, “HELL YES!” Cruelty Squad shocks and continually surprises with its depth, being a wild and weird hellscape of an immersive sim that would make JC Denton smile (or lose his mind). 

And helping Neil and I unpack this one-of-a-kind experience is Rue Morgue Magazine’s video game editor and friend of the show Evan Millar (@evanjmillar)!


Safe Room is a weekly horror video game discussion podcast, premiering on all major platforms every Monday. Feel free to browse our LinkTree for a complete list of services here.

Feel free to follow the show and hosts on Twitter:

Safe Room – @SafeRoomPod

Neil – @Nezzko

Jay – @NotFunnyJ

Podcasts

‘Death Becomes Her’ and the Horror of Aging [The Lady Killers Podcast]

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“This is life’s ultimate cruelty. It offers us a taste of youth and vitality, and then it makes us witness our own decay.”

Is there anything more terrifying than the relentless passage of time? It’s a bitter truth that just when we’ve become accustomed to our bodies, the sands of time turn and we’re forced to watch them slowly break down in a cruel march towards inevitable death. But what if there were a way to stop the aging process – a potion that would return us to our peak physical condition and hold us there until the end of time? Would we take it? And would we eventually find that the blessing of perpetual life is actually a curse? No film explores this dilemma quite like Death Becomes Her. Robert Zemeckis’ 1992 horror comedy pits two showstopping divas against each other for a single spotlight while asking what they would do for eternal youth – and what will be the hidden cost?

Madeline (Meryl Streep) and Helen (Goldie Hawn) are old frenemies with a history of vicious competition. Madeline seems to have won the most recent battle and married Helen’s fiance Ernest (Bruce Willis), but decades later, their marriage is on the rocks and Madeline’s once thriving career is now a thing of the past. When Helen returns with a stunning new look, Madeline turns to unorthodox methods to maintain her feminine dominance. She drinks a potion designed to give her eternal youth, but returns home to find her life turned upside down by her downtrodden husband and jealous “friend.” Having both taken the potion, “Mad” and “Hel” engage in a bitter fight to the death over years of petty snipes and the right to claim the title of Most Desirable Woman.

In their latest episode, The Lady Killers dissect these two glamorous killers and the hidden social commentary in Zemeckis’ iconic film. Co-hosts Jenn AdamsMae Shults, Rocco T. Thompson, and Sammie Kuykendall dish over their own fears of aging, choose their favorite diva, and decide whether they would take the potion should they ever find themselves in Lisle’s (Isabella Rossellini) lavish home. How does the film hit differently when watching as an adult? Could Madeline, Helen, and Ernest ever make a polycule work? Is Lisle a hero or a villain and how does she keep that gorgeous necklace in place? They’ll wrestle with these questions and more in a podcasting shovel battle to the death on this unique horror comedy and one of the most glamorous casts of all time.

Stream below and subscribe now via Apple Podcasts and Spotify for future episodes that drop every Thursday.

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