The Murder Podcast
**Seen at the 2022 Atlanta Film Festival.
When making a horror comedy, the most important thing is to know what, exactly, you’re setting out to make. In coming up with “The Murder Podcast,” writer-director William Bagley shoots his shot early when his main characters, Chad Thadwick (Andrew McDermott) and Eddie (Cooper Bucha), are recording a podcast…about ramen. Ok, yes, there are other indicators in the first murder we see in the film, but that moment is when we realize what we’re in to. The miracle of this film is its ability to maintain that pitch for 92 minutes without getting too goofy, and staying just scary enough to keep us interesting in that angle.
Chad and Eddie are fairly typical 20-something slackers, enjoying weed a little too much, keeping themselves busy with silly hobbies, and they’ll need to figure out something soon with which to make a living, because while they’re getting decent numbers with Ramen Reviews with Chad Thadwick, it’s not elevating in popularity the way they’d hope. Maybe another idea. When the first potential murders happen in their town in almost 30 years, they decide, “How about a murder podcast?” What do these two know about solving murders, though? And does Chad’s father, a radio DJ who had a break with reality around the time of the first murders, hold the key to solving them this time around?
The audience reaction was so raucous to this homegrown film that you can’t help but wonder whether your reaction is goosed by the audience, which included a lot of crew and family. Honestly, I think this was a genuine one. In much of the same way “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil” and “Bubba Ho-Tep” skirted that line between being scary and being silly, so to does “The Murder Podcast,” and I think a big part of that comes from not only the characters feeling both broad and genuine, but because the whole idea is predicated on the notion that anyone thinks they can talk about anything, and people will want to listen. I’m not talking about the ramen podcast, either- I’m genuinely curious what anyone could talk about when it comes to ramen for any amount of time; there’s an endearing arrogance to Chad in setting out to do a true crime podcast that you honestly want to see them succeed. Of course, they have to survive first. The horror story is solid, and just enough to keep our interest; this one rests on our ability to care about the characters, and the insane situation they find themselves in. Bagley and co. hit that one out of the park.
