Nerdly » ‘The Murder Podcast’ Review

12th Oct2022

‘The Murder Podcast’ Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Andrew McDermott, Cooper Bucha, Levi Burdick, Luke Williams | Written and Directed by William Bagley

Chad Thadwick (Andrew McDermott) lives in his sister’s basement and whiles away the days creating a ramen review podcast with his best friend Eddie (Cooper Bucha). When they peak at just over a hundred listeners Chad realises his goal of fame and fortune coming from podcasting is not going to happen, especially with a podcast about Japanese noodles – no matter how passionate he is about the subject! So, desperate to get more listeners, Chad decides he needs a new topic…But what subject to focus on? After a murder in his hometown, the answer is clear: a true crime podcast! After all, everyone’s listening to true crime podcasts these days thanks to the pandemic; plus having a murder to investigate on his doorstep means Chad can still be the slacker he always has been, whilst trying to make it big. Unfortunately for Chad and Eddie though the hometown murder they’re investigating isn’t JUST a murder, it is in fact connected to a mysterious gold coin that brings with it something more… supernatural.

I’ll be honest, I went into The Murder Podcast with no expectations but to my surprise what I got from the film was a scary AND funny movie that is honestly one of the better horror comedies I’ve seen this year. And whilst it’s definitely a film that is going to pass a lot of folks by, yet it’s one that really should be on every genre fan’s radar.

The Murder Podcast‘s success is mainly thanks to its two central characters and the actors who portray them. Chad and Eddie are stoners… Of course they are, who other than a pair of stoners would think a podcast about ramen would be a good idea? But there’s an innocence to the pair too, they don’t want to grow up, they just want to hang out as grown-ups like they obviously would as children. Which is why Chad lives in his sister’s basement and shirks responsibility as much as possible. Yet for all that, the pair are a loveable duo in much the same way Shaggy is in Scooby-Doo. And that aspect of the characters comes directly from the performances of the two actors behind Chad and Eddie, Andrew McDermott and Cooper Bucha respectively. Stoner characters typically don’t really generate empathy with the audience, we laugh AT them instead of WITH them, but here it’s the opposite. Our lead duo, McDermott in particular, really manage to not only capture the audience’s attention and get us invested in their character’s story but also make us feel for them too… and that’s despite their character’s obvious flaws!

It also helps that the script manages to be goofy and scary in equal measure, walking a fine line between the two through its 90-minute running time and never straying too far in either direction. Which is remarkable for a big-budget film, never mind a low-budget independent movie! The Murder Podcast feels very much in the vein of Tucker and Dale Versus Evil, with the perfect blend of laughs and frights and two characters that feel genuine and real – even in the ridiculous supernatural situation they’re in! The film does veer into the farcical at times but never so far as to take you out of this film’s own universe, instead it just feels like the insight into the mind of a stoner.

Like the aforementioned Scooby-Doo, The Murder Podcast‘s characters almost stumble into resolving this story, yet there’s a great sub-text regarding Chad’s father and one of the local police officers, Officer Stacheburn (Levi Burdick), which contributes an extra depth to this tale and helps our stoners Chad and Eddie figure out a) what’s going on and b) manage to succeed in overcoming the monsters on their doorstep… The fact they do it whilst essentially having no clue what they’re doing only makes The Murder Podcast even more hilarious!