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Sci-Fi films based on stories by famous writers? Arnold Schwarzenegger films? Last century's cheese science fiction movies? There's so many ways to describe this pairing, but however you label it, these are two films that were both predictive of the future and much deeper than a surface analysis would suggest! Directed by Paul Michael Glaser, 1987's "The Running Man" is a film based on a Richard Bachman (a.k.a. Stephen King) story. Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a former helicopter pilot who is arrested after refusing to fire on a group of unarmed civilians. After escaping from a prison work camp, he is seen on the news by showrunner Damon Killian (Richard Dawson), head of the most popular TV show in the country, "The Running Man!" After Ben is re-captured, Damon gets Ben assigned to be a contestant on the show, and pairs him with the two other prisoners who escaped with him, Harold Weiss (Marvin J. McIntyre) and William Laughlin (Yaphet Kotto). Now the three, along with Amber Mendez (Maria Conchita Alonso), a woman Ben kidnapped while on the run, must survive both the physical race track and the various hunters, professional players each with their own gimmick, and reach the end of the course to earn their freedom! Also starring Jim Brown, Erland van Lidth, Gus Rethwisch, Professor Toru Tanaka, and Jesse Ventura!

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The second film in our Conjuring universe pairing is the second film released by director James Wan and his crew. In 2016's "The Conjuring 2," we are shown Ed and Lorraine Warren, played once more by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, and their part in the infamous Amityville incident. After that, they are called to investigate a spiritual disruption happening in Enfield, England, by the Catholic church in the person of Father Gordon (Steve Coulter). They travel overseas and meet the Peggy Hodgson (Frances O'Connor) and her daughters Janet (Madison Wolfe) and Margaret (Lauren Esposito), and her sons Billy (Benjamin Haigh) and Johnny (Patrick McAuley). There they also meet two other paranormal investigators who have been working with the Hodgsons for some time, Maurice Gross (Simon McBurney) and Anita Gregory (Franka Potente). Together they learn that Janet has been terrorized by a malevolent spirit in the house who, upon investigation, they believe is the former occupant. After a few days, Janet is caught faking an incident and the investigators leave, although it turns out that Janet was told that if she didn't get rid of the team, the spirit would kill her siblings. Ultimately, Ed & Lorraine return and to help Janet and face off against the demon who has been tormenting the family all this time! Plus, the guys unveil the intersection of famous horror, famous sci-fi, and Arnold Schwarzenegger that created the next two films they'll review!

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Our next pairing focuses on what one Geek has labeled as the horror franchise thus far in the 21st century! In 2013's "The Conjuring," director James Wan introduces the audience to the life and times of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a married couple who were paranormal investigators in the latter half of the 20th century. In this first film, Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) respond to a plea from Roger (Ron Livingston) and Carolyn Perron (Lili Taylor) who have moved into a Rhode Island fixer-upper with their five daughters Andrea (Shanley Caswell), Nancy (Hayley McFarland), Christine (Joey King), Cindy (Mackenzie Foy), and April (Kyla Deaver), only to be tormented by some sort of spiritual manifestation. During the course of their investigation, the Warrens, along with police officer Brad Hamilton (John Brotherton) and their assistant Drew Thomas (Shannon Kook), find out that the whole area has a haunted history and end up in a fight with the spirit of a 19th century witch who is trying to possess Carolyn. The Warrens and their helpers must use every weapon they have to defeat this spiritual menace and save the lives of the entire Perron family!

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Our second film was the first stop-action animated film to ever win the "Best Animated Film" Oscar, and introduced American audiences to a franchise much beloved in the United Kingdom! Directed by Steve Box and Nick Park, and written by that duo and Mark Burton, 2005's "Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" tells the story of absent-minded inventor Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) and his dog Gromit (who doesn't ever speak), proprietors of Anti-Pesto, a company dedicated to protecting vegetable crops from hungry bunnies! They've been very successful, thanks to Wallace's inventions, but when Lady Campanula Tottington (voiced by Helena Bonham Carter) calls on the pair, it's time to up their game! At the same time, we also meet Lady Tottington's unwanted suitor, Victor Quartermain (voiced by Ralph Fiennes), whose solution is much more violent, and permanent, than she's comfortable with. Wallace hits on an idea to use his latest invention, the Mind Manipulation-O-Matic, to reprogram the bunnies to avoid eating the town's vegetables. Unfortunately, the experiment goes a bit wrong and, shortly thereafter, a giant Were-Rabbit is terrorizing gardens all through the community! It's up to Wallace and Gromit to solve the problem, save the day, and keep Lord Quartermain from marrying Lady Tottington! But even that task isn't as simple as our duo might hope, as the Were-Rabbit turns out to be especially problematic in several ways! Plus, the guys reveal which two films, from what Jeff describes as "the best horror franchise of the 21st century," will make up the next pairing!

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