It's that time of the year again, and the Heroic Purgatory crew has decided to celebrate the festive season by revisiting John Carpenter's They Live (1988). John and Jason discuss the symbolism, the politics, the style, as well as the balls to the wall action of this 80s classic.

Enjoy the discussion!

Website link: https://www.heroic-purgatory.com/2025/12/xmas-special-they-live-1988.html

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After a longer than usual break, the Heroic Purgatory podcast is back with a Halloween special, covering none other than John Carpenter's Halloween (1978). John and Jason discuss this horror classic's aesthetics, historical significance, and its metaphorical representation of patriarchal norms. We also talk about the sequels.

Enjoy the discussion!

Website link: https://www.heroic-purgatory.com/2025/10/special-halloween-1978.html

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In this episode of Heroic Purgatory, we tackle a classic, Jackie Chan's Project A.

We hope you enjoy our discussion.

Website link: https://www.heroic-purgatory.com/2025/07/s5e8-project-1983.html

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In this episode of Heroic Purgatory, John and Jason travel to the Kingdom of Joseon to witness the Qing invasion of Korea in the War of the Arrows (2011). Both hosts characterized this film as a fairly straightforward historical action flick, albeit one with excellent action scenes, pacing, and historical accuracy.

We hope you enjoy our discussion.

Website link: https://www.heroic-purgatory.com/2025/07/s5e7-war-of-arrows.html

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In this episode of Heroic Purgatory, John, Jason, and invited guest Jack (Optimism Vaccine) discuss Hideo Gosha's 1965 chanbara film, The Sword of the Beast. Far from a simple minded samurai flick, the film reflects the anxieties, tensions, and complex politics of the time by deconstructing the faux nobility of a past era.

We hope you enjoy our discussion.

Website link: https://www.heroic-purgatory.com/2025/07/s5e6-sword-of-beast-with-guest-jack.htmIn

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In this episode of Heroic Purgatory we put on our wuxia hats and EastmanColor glasses for King Hu's 1967 iconic piece, Dragon Inn. It is a film of many influences coalesced into a Ming dynasty tale of brave warriors standing up to an evil eunuch's army, with beautiful action pieces and big emotional swings. We discuss how the film holds up today and how it compares with the more recent Tsui Hark produce New Dragon Gate Inn (1992).

We hope you enjoy our discussion.

Website link: https://www.heroic-purgatory.com/2025/05/s5e5-dragon-inn.html

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This week in the Heroic Purgatory podcast, we talk about Zhang Yimou's 2002 wuxia film, Hero, staring Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, and Tony Leung. A film as beautiful as it is controversial, Hero is one of the director's best known works, toping both Chinese and international box offices and catapulting the filmmaker into the world of commercial mainstream filmmaking.

We hope you enjoy our discussion.

Website link: https://www.heroic-purgatory.com/2025/05/s5e4-hero-2002.html

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This week, the Heroic Purgatory team travel to Edo period Japan to witness the bravery of 13 warriors against a tyrannical and sadistic lord. That's right, in this double whammy of an episode we discuss 13 Assassins, both the 1963 version directed by Eiichi Kudo and the 2010 version directed by Takashi Miike (with a light sprinkling of the 1990 version also thrown into the mix). Listen to the heated debate between John and Jason about which version is the better film.

We hope you enjoy our discussion.

Website link: https://www.heroic-purgatory.com/2025/05/s5e3-13-assassins.html

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