JonBenet Ramsey Murder - DragonKing Dark - Episode 322

This Edgar Allen Poe themed dark drama debuted on Netflix in November starring, among other people, Mark Hamill... yes, Luke Skywalker as an evil attorney if you can believe it. Drawing from the Sackler family and the opioid crisis, this is the tale of the fall of a billionaire family who made their fortune off selling a deadly medication with no moral compass, sprinkled with a bit of the supernatural and told by the framework of Edgar Allen Poe. It doesn't sound like it should work, but it does.

Karl and Tonya from When It Was Cool takes a look back at the psychological thriller Knock at the Cabin starring former pro wrestling and MCU star Dave Batista. A mysterious foursome appear at a cabin where a family of three are staying with a strange and dark request- choose to kill a member of their family or the world will end. When they refuse, apocalyptic events begin unfolding.

Karl and Tonya from When It Was Cool return to discuss the new video game inspired horror movie Five Nights at Freddy's. While fans seem to love it and it has made a ton of money, critics have brutalized it. The truth, at least in our opinion, stands somewhere in-between! This also falls right into our pop culture wheelhouse as the animatronics in the movie (and game) are based on the old Showbiz Pizza animatronics which leads to some great fun. Is it creepy or is it fun? Let's talk Five Nights at Freddy's (There are spoilers aplenty so be warned!)

On this edition of When It Was Cool Dark Podcast, hosts Karl and Tonya discuss the latest prequel for the Stephen King Pet Semetary franchise: Bloodline. The seeds for this story were planted in the original 1989 movie/book where we learn about a young Judd, Timmy, his dog, and the origin of the pet cemetery. This movie has seen some harsh criticism and we will discuss why. So, grab some popcorn and come prepare for Halloween with us as we journey to the Pet Semetary.

When It Was Cool Dark looks back at 1939's Universal Monster movie Son of Frankenstein where the son of the original Dr. Frankenstein comes to claim his family estate and discovers The Monster has been saved by Ygor (played by Bela Lugosi of Dracula fame) and is being used as a weapon against Ygor's enemies. Karl and Tonya (from When It Was Cool website) discuss the movie and the changes in macabre films over the years and what are the modern equivalents of this type cinema.

Our 100 darkest moments in pop culture series concludes with a trio of scandals involving WWE head honcho Vince K. McMahon. Host Karl Stern takes a look at the assault of Rita Chatterton, the 1990s steroid trial, and the multiple payoffs scandal which, temporarily, removed him from power... only to come back richer. Vince McMahon is not only Teflon when it comes to scandals, he somehow escapes any karma and comes back more powerful and wealthy. A supervillain Lex Luthor would be proud of.

The band Fishbone quickly became one of the most influential and inventive bands in all of popular music during the 1980s. However, the bizarre story of band member Kendall Jones threatened to derail this eclectic group. Not only did he allegedly join a cult but another band member, determined to save him from himself, launched a plot to kidnap him. This is the strange journey of Fishbone.

Have you ever seen a show with fellas on the mic with one minute rhymes that don't come out right? Well, pioneering rapper Slick Rick had a lot of things that didn't come out right. Mostly, the U.S. government hated him and sought him out at every turn. This is the story of Slick Rick and he makes the 100 darkest moments in pop culture history because, well, his bodyguard tried to kill him so Slick Rick grabbed a gun, as rappers sometimes do, and went out and managed to shoot a couple of the wrong people. The government then spent decades trying to deport him like Tony the Tiger. Word. 

Thomas Ince was the father of the Western movie genre. During his career in the pioneer days of film making he produced around 800 movies. Thomas Ince also was the first person to build their own movie studio. So how did this influential and pioneering film maker end up on the list of 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history? Because of legendary historical figure and media mogul William Randolph Hearst, legendary actor Charlie Chaplin and a hole that, may or may not, have been in the head of Thomas Ince. 

Continuing our 100 darkest moments in pop culture history, this week we look at the shocking and tragic death of actor Chadwick Boseman who appeared as the Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, including his own critically acclaimed Black Panther solo movie. The world was shocked when, unknown to virtually everyone, the actor died from complications of colon cancer. Today we remember Chadwick Boseman.