Big names, big budget, and big story. Though its a film that was released in New York City and Los Angeles late 2015 to qualify for the Oscars, The Revenant, the new film by Academy Award winning director Alejandro G. Iñárritu starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, spread to all theaters early January 2016. And interestingly, the reviews mostly positive have a bit of mixed feel. 83% positive reviews on RottenTomatoes seems pretty sweet for any film. But for a film that received more Oscar nominations than all the rest?

Based on the non-fiction novel, The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge, by Michael Punke, the story is about the true escapades of frontiersman Hugh Glass and his journey of deliverance after his trapping party is massacred by Arikara, his body is broken by a grizzly bear, and his life is turned upside down from betrayal and treachery in a time that was uncultivated and a place that was remote.

The film has become a huge success with audiences and continues to be a top ten performer at the box office. Dark Discussions talks about numerous things: the controversial grizzly bear scene; are the award nominations valid?; what was some of the symbolism in the film?; changes between actual events and what we see in the book and further in the movie. With a heated debate and a wide range of opinions, this episode become topsy-turvy. Also, author Patrick Lacey offers a new segment to the podcast giving a quick review in his Terror Tantrums.