Podcasts
‘Bioshock: Infinite’ is 10! [Safe Room Podcast]
It’s Bioshock Infinite on Safe Room this week, but be sure to check out our look at a selection of bite-sized horror games in the March edition of Horror Bytes.
Few franchises have cemented themselves into the pantheon of spiritual successors that expand upon their influences with such staggering visual and thematic language as Bioshock has. From the underwater dystopian of Rapture to the militantly theocratic and fascist society in the skies of Columbia, the Bioshock brand has never shied away from exploring the unfettered abuses of power by man. And ten years later, Irrational Games’ most controversial entry in the series, Bioshock: Infinite, proves that there is plenty of conversation still to be had.
So for this week’s lengthy chat, we’re joined by returning friend Michael Sandal to unpack Infinite’s inclusion of a fully voiced protagonist, how the game avoids feeling like one long escort mission, and how it maneuvers its handling of political and taboo subject matter.
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Want more chat on the Bioshock series after this Bioshock Infinite Safe Room episode? Last August, we had Bloody Disgusting contributor Michael Pementel on the show to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the original Bioshock.
Next week, Safe Room reviews HBO’s first season of The Last of Us. We’ll be discussing those central performances, missing pieces, those big moments , and more. If you have any strong opinions on the first season, please let us know on the above Twitter handles!
It’s been a busy month on Murder Made Fiction podcast. In addition to introducing a new co-host (Perfectly Good Moment‘s Amanda Jane Stern), we spent Pride Month tackling a wide variety of Leopold and Loeb fictional adaptations.
In 1924 Chicago, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb plotted to commit the perfect murder when they abducted and killed 14-year-old Bobby Franks. As Amanda outlines in her primer on the case, the men were caught almost immediately and the media circus that followed was billed “the trial of the century”.
Listen to Leopold and Loeb mini primer.
The fallout has reverberated throughout the last century as countless books, plays, musicals, and films have drawn on the case for inspiration. Some are more faithful than others, such as Richard Fleischer‘s 1959 drama Compulsion, which stars a young Dean Stockwell as Leopold and Orson Welles as the boys’ lawyer, John Darrow (named Jonathan Wilk in the film).
Listen to Leopold and Loeb: Compulsion (1959).
Then there are the texts that use the idea of queer-coded killers as a jumping off point, but confuse (or flat-out disregard) the details of the real life case in favour of jumbled fiction. That’s what happens in Barbet Schroeder‘s Murder by Numbers, which awkwardly introduces a tortured backstory for lead actress (and executive producer) Sandra Bullock. The result is an uneven film that misunderstands which of its two competing storylines are actually interesting (hint: it’s the Leopold and Loeb stuff with Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt).
Listen to Leopold and Loeb: Murder by Numbers (2002).
We ended up discussing other (often more successful) titles on Patreon, including 1992’s Swoon (a New Queer Cinema art-house take on the crime), Michael Haneke‘s 2007 Funny Games remake, and gay screenwriter Kevin Williamson‘s Scream, which proved to be a much more reverent and sly interpretation of L&L than we anticipated.
We wrapped up the month with a final summary episode about our favorite adaptations before chatting with author and archivist Erik Rebain, who literally wrote the book on Leopold (Arrested Adolescence) and maintains one of the foremost websites on the crime.
Watch our discussion on YouTube below (or listen here):
Next month: For July, we’re turning our attention to the Boston Strangler, with a look at films from 1964 and 1968, as well as the most contemporary version from 2023, starring Kiera Knightley and Carrie Coon.
Want even more true crime adaptations and Murder Made Fiction? Support the show on Patreon to listen to the aforementioned episodes, as well as a full-length primer on the case and 160+ hours of bonus content.
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