Suffice to say it throws out all the usual rules about what characters are safe, and is really entertainingly harrowing as a consequence.

The teen victims' characterization is indeed paper thin (hardly uncommon for a horror movie, especially in the '80s). What really distinguishes it is that it's really barely about them. Lots of monster/slasher films have had killers with tragic and/or morally justified "enablers", but this one really focuses on…

Neff, the demon lord who kidnapped Zeus’ daughter, Athena

Kate Beckinsale—a gifted comic actress who somehow ended up in a latex-fetish vampire franchise

I'm specifically thinking of the scene where the German fighters are more-or-less stalking Indy and Henry on the ground, peaking at the point where one of them gets its wings clipped off flying into the tunnel — pilot and heroes exchanging glances before the plane hurtles on and explodes. It's really less of a "they…

I think Birdie was merely meant to represent breakfast generally, rather than just the egg-based foods, but given that the McMuffin is pretty much synonymous with McDonald's breakfast, the association was unavoidable.

Grimace was even originally referred to as "The Evil Grimace" back in the old, more adversarial days, which also made his name less arbitrary and more directly descriptive.

In fairness, sex was only one of the many products and services that camp followers provided back in the day, and yet, somehow they're not remembered for sewing ripped pants…

Shot you down again, huh?

All written by Thomas Dolby, as I recall.

Feed the birds. Trumpence a bag…

And he more than recovered the cost of that sphere by renaming it… The Death Star.

Well, that was pretty much the Puritans' understanding, as it remains that of many contemporary Christians. Satan's power is ultimately a pale second to God's, and he ultimately stands no chance in an open test of power. All Satan can do is tempt and bully, and the only thing better than winning a soul via temptation…

As the sort of "spooky story" reading that might appeal to 17th century teens, it makes a lot of sense, and for the girls to have gotten a mind to play with some of the ideas — finding them appealingly transgressive and "empowering", also rings true, though whether the Malleus Maleficaru was actually involved here is,…

The way in which the event has been remodeled to suit later generations' political agendas (see also Arthur Miller, or the neo-Pagan reading of the victims as martyrs for religious liberty) is interesting in its own right. In the case of Tituba, though, the person at the core of the events is particularly enigmatic.…

This is certainly the first I've heard it.

Sad that so little is known about Tituba… Surely there'd be a heck of a story behind how she came to be taught to read, and happened to have a copy of Malleus Maleficarum around…

Spielberg seemed to want to push the edge of action ridiculousness with a scene or two in each of those films (e.g., the raft bailout from the plane and the track-to-track mine car jump in Temple of Doom) as an homage to the more absurd moments of the original serials. Supposedly he cut out a bit with Indy clinging to…

Really? That's a bit of public cluelessness I was completely unaware of.

Did the game buy into the Civil War being about States' Rights, or was it reflecting the idea that people at the time claimed that?