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[Rec]
41 Plays13 days ago
Join Nicholas and Mercedes as they embark on a NEW SEASON! They're covering, not only their first set of found footage films, but also their first Spanish language film! They dive into what the subgenre of horror means to them, if they even like it or not, and everything they love and/or hate about this film!
Be sure to stick around to the very end, where your hosts discuss their (spoiler free) thoughs on Osgood Perkins' latest movie, Keeper!
Remember to follow us on Instagram @morbid_curiosities_pod
Email us at morbidcuriosities10@gmail.com with comments/questions/concerns/recommendations
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Transcript
Introduction to Morbid Curiosities Podcast
00:01:12
Speaker
What's up, everybody? we are back here today at Morbid Curiosities bringing you another horror movie episode. I'm Mercedes Martinez and with me is my awesome co-host, the nefarious necromancer of Nightmares himself.
00:01:27
Speaker
Nicholas Ewers. How's it going today, Mercedes? How are you doing? It's not bad today. It's a gloomy day. A gloomy day to, you know, stay inside. It's 49 degrees, so it's warm outside today. At least for where we live, it was like fucking freezing throughout this whole week. I can't deal with ah the cold. I don't know about you, but the cold will kill me. I am not made for cold weather, so i don't know why I, it's like I anticipate it but I'm never ready for it, so I will swear up and down on how much I hate the cold while drinking an iced coffee.
00:02:08
Speaker
I do like that. This podcast has been reduced to us talking about the weather. and how How's the weather over by you today? that That's great. Listeners, how's the weather by you? Are you keeping warm out there? Make sure you wear a jacket. we' We're the podcast that cares for
Release and Remake of 'Wreck' and 'Quarantine'
00:02:25
Speaker
you guys. just Just keep that in mind. So without further ado, Wreck from 2007, the found footage film.
00:02:35
Speaker
nick what did you think about this film? So yeah, this was a pick that I made for the podcast. I had been waiting to do this movie or this series of movies, I should say, for a while.
00:02:48
Speaker
I mean, I quite enjoyed this movie on rewatch. I think I enjoyed it more than I ever had. My relationship with this movie, I guess I'd seen Quarantine first. I don't know about you, Mercedes. You've seen Quarantine, right?
00:03:02
Speaker
I have, but I believe I watched it after i watched Wreck. Okay. Yeah. So I was doing a little bit of research online and the release of quarantine actually seems actively antagonistic towards Wreck.
00:03:18
Speaker
Wreck was released in Spain, November 23rd, 2007. Shout out to my childhood friend, Tony. He was probably my best friend in 2007. That's his birthday. So good for him. Wreck came out on his birthday.
00:03:32
Speaker
It got a limited release in the U.S. October 17th of 2008. So it took almost a full year to basically get here. So now keep that in mind. October 17th. A full week before that, quarantine comes out in American theaters. So not only did Wreck come out and whatever studio was thinking, we need to remake this movie so people can get it it. It seemed like a blatant cash grab in order. And I could be wrong. I didn't do much research. I'm go to save it for the quarantine episode where I really dive deep into this, all of this nonsense and controversy I'm stirring up.
00:04:15
Speaker
It seems so weird to not only remake it immediately, but to put out your American remake a week before Wreck comes out in theaters in America. So it almost seems as if they wanted to tank the box office for a Wreck. I could be wrong. It could all be coincidence. But I'm excited to eventually dive deeper into that when we inevitably cover quarantine.
00:04:42
Speaker
That's enough of quarantine. We'll save that for later. I'm going to talk about Wreck more so going forward. Before I fully get into my thoughts, Mercedes, what's your relationship with found footage horror?
Appreciation for Found Footage Films
00:04:55
Speaker
How do you feel about it? Is it something you hate? I know people like they will revolt on found footage horror. Where where do your alliances stand with it?
00:05:06
Speaker
I actually like it. um I didn't mind it at first. I did pick up on a lot of people not really being fans of found footage. And I guess the main reason why is, you know, the shaky camera view. But over time, I grew to really like it The first found footage film that I did see was the Blair Witch Project, which is funny because I actually keep rewatching it. I don't know. It just has like...
00:05:35
Speaker
That movie itself just has like a little sweet spot in my heart because my sister loved it. And when that craze was going on, like you could just like remember the big hype and the little like stick figure signs everywhere. So that was a good time. Some other films that I like are um Lake Mungo.
00:05:56
Speaker
You could say like the Visit from Night Shyamalan. That's totally fine footage. Hell yeah. That's a great movie too. Yeah, it is. I love that movie. And that one's just fresh in my mind too because I was watching Better Watch Out the other night. Have you seen that one? i haven't. When did that come out? It wasn't that long after The Visit because the two actors who play the siblings in The Visit, they're also playing in this film. They're not siblings, but it's cool to see them in there.
00:06:29
Speaker
Okay, yeah, I know one of them takes a poopy diaper to the face in The Visit. Spoilers for The Visit. oh Yeah. Deep spoilers. Yeah, that was some interesting times. But yeah, that one is another little Christmas film too. Better watch out, so I recommend it. Oh, I didn't pick up from the title.
00:06:47
Speaker
Damn, okay. yeah I might put that in my Christmas watch list. i yeah i watched Gremlins not too long ago, so ah you know I'll throw that in there. Yeah, definitely. i think you'll like it. With this, those are like some films I like. I'm not a fan of, I would say, some of the Paranormal Activity movies. i can kind of like them because my mom really liked them when they came out.
00:07:14
Speaker
But those are where it gets kind of... boring to me because, you know, we're anticipating some type of supernatural event to occur. And obviously, the only thing that happens is like a door moving, like everything happens off camera. So that's when it just begins to bother me. I want to see everything. But um yeah, that's my little background on found footage films. Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the Paranormal Activity movies. I wasn't crazy about the first one. There was a lot of hype. i
00:07:50
Speaker
What I love about found footage movies are, in the way that Weapons was able to have this big viral marketing campaign and create a fictional website and frame everything around, where are the children?
00:08:06
Speaker
Weapons was able to get away with it in a particularly special way, but usually it's found footage like Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, that kind of trick you into... it It really blurs the lines between fiction and reality, especially if you have believable camera work and good actors. I don't know if the Paranormal Activity movies have either of those. i haven't watched them in a very long time. The first one I didn't see in theaters, so that might be a reason...
00:08:35
Speaker
why I wasn't so crazy about it at the time, but that was a huge hit, as I was saying. But Paranormal Activity 2 going forward, basically, i think up until the marked ones, I'd seen all of them in theaters.
00:08:50
Speaker
I'd seen all of them with mostly the same group of friends, some variation possibly. And some of my friends are saying these movies are garbage and me and a couple other friends are just having the time of our lives, laughing, having a blast.
00:09:06
Speaker
When we inevitably cover them, I may think differently, but
Discussion on 'Paranormal Activity' and Found Footage Realism
00:09:10
Speaker
I have a very fond relationship with the Paranormal Activities, but they might be awful movies. We'll have to see.
00:09:19
Speaker
Cloverfield is really my bread and butter when it comes to found footage, though. that's What Blair Witch is to you Cloverfield, i think, is to me. but Wreck would probably be a good second.
00:09:34
Speaker
It's very believable to me. I feel like in the way Blair Witch successfully blurred the lines of fiction and reality, Cloverfield, I mean, we know a monster didn't attack New York, but the marketing I thought was incredible.
00:09:49
Speaker
They created so much hype around this movie that I think also carried over into the sequel. They had a really good thing going for two movies. But Wreck, I don't know what the marketing campaign was, but this movie is just such a functionally good horror movie. I'll wrap up everything there and save my love for this movie when we really get into it. But I think this movie rules. What do you what do you think of Wreck? What's your relationship with this movie?
00:10:16
Speaker
So I think I saw it when it came on TV whenever it did. um i didn't know about its release and i actually remember just seeing the quarantine poster around everywhere, but I never even paid attention to that either. But once it was on TV, I think it was um the part with the staircase. So when that occurred, I locked in on it and was just like, wait, what is this movie? And then just continue to watch it. But watching it now, I wasn't disappointed. I was still thoroughly aggravated throughout all of it because of one character in particular. Yeah, I think it still holds up well. I like this film. i have no idea how the next ones are going to be, so I'm going to hold on to the just the good feeling that this film brings me compared to how the other ones are because I anticipate I'm not going to feel the same about them. You're anticipating not liking the next couple rec movies? I am. i don't know why. I just feel like I'm not going to like them. The posters for 2 and 3 are very trashy B-movie.
00:11:31
Speaker
But they're also very late-entry Resident Evil, kind of. They give off those vibes. So I saw the trailer for 3 a long time ago and thought, this one is off the rails.
00:11:43
Speaker
But it seems like... And I'll do a bit more research as we get further into these movies. It seems like for 2 and 3, the directors split off and they each made their own... Or not 2 and 3, 3 and 4. I apologize.
00:11:58
Speaker
I apologize. the directors split off and made their own entries into the series. So I have no idea. I'm excited to see, even if these movies are bad, they seem ambitious at the very least. And I think these are our first found footage movies that we're covering. Yeah, I think so. That's awesome. It's cool that we're starting here. We're starting in ah potentially obscurity. I wouldn't say Wreck is an obscure movie, but I think as you get deeper into the series, they become more obscure and a bit more niche probably. i don't know if many people have seen them.
00:12:36
Speaker
Spoilers ahead for the movie Wreck. Hopefully everyone has watched it. Before we get into that, have you been watching this? ah Did you watch this on Tubi?
00:12:47
Speaker
I did, actually. I'm so excited to have all of the Spanish ads for the next four to three weeks of watching these things. I was watching it with my girlfriend and she was like, oh, because it's a Spanish movie, the ads are in Spanish then. I was like, yeah I kind of don't hate it. It is almost more tolerable than ads that are in English. I kind of more compelled to look at the screen when they're on. Things just sound better in Spanish. Yeah, so, okay, spoilers for the Tubi experience out of the way. Now, real spoilers for the movie.
00:13:24
Speaker
Yeah, this movie has...
Deep Dive into 'Wreck's Storyline
00:13:26
Speaker
I really like the entryway into this movie. We start off with this news reporter, Angela, and her cameraman, Pablo. They're filming for the show while you're so while you're sleeping or while you were sleeping,
00:13:41
Speaker
It's a late night news show that my guess is it's a part of a segment on, let's say, their version of what we have, like Good Morning America or something.
00:13:55
Speaker
maybe a small segment on that. I really like the framing device. Angela, I think, is a pretty charming character right out of the gate. Her interaction with Pablo, they're kind of figuring out the framing of the shot, doing a couple takes of the intro, and they're going to be basically shadowing firemen on the night shift, so you get to learn about what they do. It reminds me of something that I would see as a kid, or or ah Like, so when we were in high school, we had a TV show that would play every morning. It reminds me of a segment you would see on that or a segment that I would just watch as I was getting ready for school one morning. It it feels like a very comforting place to start this movie off. What are your thoughts about the framing device?
00:14:45
Speaker
i feel the complete opposite of how you feel. Angela, I do not like her at all. As soon as she starts talking, like i mean she sounds like us when we're trying to you know get ourselves ready to start our intro for each episode. Yes, so relatable. There's airs. It's like, hold on, let me get another take.
00:15:08
Speaker
I know. Take the deep breath, like shake it off and everything. But it was just, I don't know, something about her. I was like, I'm not going to like this character. I can already tell. and you see her. She's trying to put on like the perfect show in a way. She's kind of giving me Gail Weathers vibes. And then...
00:15:29
Speaker
As she's introducing them, they're following like these ah firemen like a day or a night in the life of them. I think it was like the head honcho at the firehouse, or is it firehouse, fire station? what is that both it would be correct, I think. Okay. Yeah, she is about to interview him and she even whispers to her cameraman, basically, if this guy's a jerk, just cut it out. i don't want to waste footage.
00:16:00
Speaker
And that alone, I'm just thinking, damn, so you're one of those. like Someone could be like explaining their life story to you and so enthusiastic about it or just really into your interview. But if you don't like what they say, you're just going to cut them out of your documentary.
00:16:20
Speaker
That's rude. i did not enjoy her performance in here at all. Just, well, I shouldn't say performance. It's not that. I just do not like this character at all.
00:16:32
Speaker
I did like that it was a setup for, okay, they're they're shooting on film. There's a limited amount of this. They don't really do anything with that narrative. Narratively, I don't think there's a point where the camera is running out of film. And I was paying attention for that on this rewatch because that was a detail I noticed too. I thought, okay, that's kind of rude. That's a bit funny. that So there's ah some scenes of comedy in this movie.
00:17:03
Speaker
that I don't know if it's because of the language barrier, but it makes Angela come off as a very rude character. There's another interview scene where she kind of lashes out at the mom when she's interviewing and her daughter. the mom search i hated that part.
00:17:18
Speaker
Yeah, the mom starts speaking to her and she's just like, OK,
Character Critique: Angela's Obsession
00:17:23
Speaker
you're off camera. You're not on mic. We can't hear you. I was thinking she sounds so anal and kind of crazy right now.
00:17:34
Speaker
But I think that's meant to be a joke. Maybe I thought it was kind of funny the way she behaves as she snaps into reporter mode where in circumstances where it's like a lady.
00:17:47
Speaker
You don't need to be doing this right now. People are dying. Exactly, because you see her just, she wants to stir up trouble essentially. She wants something to happen, not so anybody can get hurt or not so there's actual danger around them, but she just wants to see the firemen in action. Yeah, just with that attitude, you're going into it like, I want to get the best story out of this. Understandable. I know. Yeah, when she kind of snapped at the the mom um after and well while she was interviewing her her daughter, oh my God, that annoyed me so much. It's like, okay, now you're talking to the mom as if she's a child. like You're not on camera. you know We can't hear you. We're going have to do this and this because it's going to mess up the audio. like
00:18:38
Speaker
Shut up. Oh my God. they're Throughout the film, she was just asking questions or making remarks that were ridiculous.
00:18:50
Speaker
And I'll touch upon that later. i'm going to just be like talking so much smack about this character. The performance was great by the actress herself. But yeah, the character, she's one of the ones that I want to go play in traffic.
00:19:08
Speaker
In regard to the mom character, I kind of felt your feelings towards Angela. I don't feel them so intensely towards the mom, but there were points where I was thinking, she's in the way. We need to get her out of here. and Then they actually get her out of the way, literally, and handcuff her to some stairs. and Then I just felt bad for her because she's just left there to be munched on by these- yeah why did you have to say munch on i'm numm num num by these zombie people. Wow, you're douche for that. What about zombies? Certain words, you know how some people, they get they cringe when they hear the word like moist or certain words like that? Yeah, I don't think I have a situation with a word like that.
00:19:57
Speaker
I don't either. like I can say the word munch, but just in that context, the way you said it, just gave me like goosebumps right now. so Your favorite Pokemon is not Munchlax then, the the baby version of Snorlax. I don't know Pokemon world like that.
00:20:15
Speaker
I just know that there was ah a story, creepypasta when Pokemon Go was out and this person was paying too much attention to his phone and not paying attention to where he was walking. And apparently someone had been stalking him that entire time and he didn't realize that until he finally pulled his face out of his phone. So, yeah, be aware of your surroundings, people. That's a good tip. And stay off of Pokemon Go. Go play the original handheld games like an adult. No, I'm kidding. Pokemon Go. ah A lot of adults play Pokemon Go. I'm just kidding. Don't want to offend any of our Pokemon fans out there. Oh my God. But just a quick side tangent, just because it's fresh on my mind.
00:21:01
Speaker
The other day at work, I was asking one of my coworkers, oh, do you need anything else before I leave? But I also said, Madame LaBouche, like Madame LaBouche, do you need anything else? And she looked at me and she's in her early 20s. And she just looked at me like,
00:21:20
Speaker
Madame La Bouche, this isn't the 1800s. And I looked at her like, excuse you, that is from the Rugrats movie. What are you talking about? She's like, the Rugrats movie, same thing. I was like two when that came out.
00:21:36
Speaker
I wanted to strangle her for that. she She was too busy watching Phineas and Ferb or something lame like that to be watching the Rugrats movie. It was just like, wow, are we really at that age now where people are just insulting my childhood? Yeah, dude, this generation thinks we're lame. I know, it drives me crazy. I do wonder how found footage movies, especially ones made before digital technology really took advances and everybody had a camera in their pocket. I wonder how found footage plays for them.
00:22:16
Speaker
I know there was one time. So when I was in rehab, there was this girl who was like probably 19 or 20 and I was in the middle of speaking and I mentioned, i was talking to somebody and I mentioned a movie being on Blu-ray and she was like, yo, Blu-ray, what are you, 30? And i was like,
00:22:35
Speaker
Yeah, kind of. Well, not kind of. Yeah, I am 30. And ah then she went on a whole tirade about how nobody buys Blu-rays anymore and nobody buys movies. And i was thinking, okay, okay. There are still a few people out there who buy Blu-rays. If I had a Blu-ray player, i would buy Blu-rays, maybe. I like to own the physical thing, especially if it's a movie that I truly love or if it's off the Criterion Collection. I'll own anything off of there.
00:23:06
Speaker
back to the Back to the movie. Yeah, when it comes to the... Just to touch on the framing device just a little bit more, the fireman aspect of it all really worked for me.
00:23:16
Speaker
I don't know if I've said this on the podcast before. My dad was a fireman. He's retired now. So growing up, I spent a lot of time in different fire stations, like a lot of time. And it's kind of nice to see a fire station depicted pretty realistically. There wasn't a basketball court in my dad's fire station. There was a small gym, basically, and you could take a shower and sleep and cook there.
00:23:46
Speaker
But it felt very lived in, very believable. What I imagine maybe an inner city fire department would look like a fire department in New York or Chicago, something along those lines. So, yeah, I really enjoyed that framing device. And...
00:24:03
Speaker
Angela, as you mentioned, she's wishing for something to happen, but not too awful.
Intense Scenes and Translation Discrepancies in 'Wreck'
00:24:08
Speaker
It's a very monkey paw situation when she says she wishes something would happen.
00:24:14
Speaker
One of the fingers curls, an alarm goes off. She gets what she wants, but it's incredibly awful. I think a woman fell. That's a call that they're responding to. They say that they don't get many four fires at night, which also felt pretty believable.
00:24:31
Speaker
Yeah, they're off and on their way to this apartment and they get there. And, you know, all the residents are in the lobby and they keep filming everything. And again, I'm completely bought into the setup.
00:24:46
Speaker
I was surprised at how many authority figures let Angela and her cameraman into the building with this going on when they saw, you know, a camera. Everyone was asking the firemen, like,
00:25:02
Speaker
why do you have like a new station with you? And you would think everyone outside who's, who is um in on what's happening in the building, you would think they want, they would want to keep that whole story contained from the outside world for however long. So why would they allow someone with a camera to go in there? I don't know. That was just a pet peeve of mine.
00:25:30
Speaker
Following them upstairs, you just hear Angela telling her cameraman, record everything. And this is where I really begin to get frustrated with her.
00:25:45
Speaker
Every single time something happens, like It needs to be caught on film. it needs to be her way. There's even a point where, you know, something drastic happens and her cameraman Pablo did record everything.
00:26:01
Speaker
But then she's like looking at him. Let me see it. and even yells at him that she wants to see it. Well, certain death could be directly behind them. But you're too worried about catching it on film. I get it. You want to be able to expose everything that happens later. But it brings you to that whole theme of how far is a new a news broadcaster willing to go to get the story that they need. Yeah, I was joking to my girlfriend while watching that scene when she's like, show me the footage, show me the footage. I was saying, i was like, she's she's addicted to the kill already. She got a moment of violence and it gave her a rush and now she needs her fix again. She can't get off without seeing a footage of a murder happening now.
00:26:52
Speaker
But yeah, it was pretty aggressive. She's like, I want to see it. I want to see it. And the scene itself is pretty upsetting. i mean, the cop really didn't have any other choice. So let me jump back a little bit.
00:27:08
Speaker
They basically, when they answer the call, they go upstairs and this like old lady is covered in blood. I really like how it's framed.
00:27:18
Speaker
She's, This movie, I assume it's filmed with a low budget just because a lot of found footage films are made ah on a low budget. And judging from the makeup, it seems like the camera work was pretty perfect to cover up any real budgetary restraints.
00:27:38
Speaker
So ah I was a big fan of the camera work in this movie in particular, even though like found footage camera work doesn't bother me usually. I just think it really works hard in this one.
00:27:51
Speaker
But so they get up there. It's two of the firemen, a cop, Angela and Pablo. Pablo's filming. hmm. And he ends up turning on the light. This lady starts freaking out. So we learn, OK, these people or this person has a reaction to light. They don't like it. It'll trigger them.
00:28:12
Speaker
And the cop ends up getting a little too close. He's trying to take her downstairs. She ends up biting his cheek and ripping it off. It's it's pretty crazy. It's pretty upsetting. They rush him downstairs. It's a super intense scene.
00:28:29
Speaker
So then what Mercedes had referenced with the cameraman and the footage we're talking about, later they go back upstairs and the cop comes in, gun drawn after this other lady had been attacked. They had heard screams and he lets off like three bullets in this lady as she's running at him.
00:28:47
Speaker
It is just kind of upsetting to see the actress who plays this lady is fantastic, I think. And when she lays there dead, it's pretty great. She's got a good fall and is really good just being a creepy, still body.
00:29:03
Speaker
But then what makes it a bit more upsetting is I don't know what happened in the room beforehand, but the cop immediately starts corroborating with the fireman. He's like, you saw what happened. She jumped on me. I had to do it.
00:29:15
Speaker
And it's like, I don't know. From what I saw, I don't think she jumped on you. She was kind of further down in the hallway before you unloaded. And I do like that, even though he doesn't have to corroborate, he's desperate. This is probably the first time he's discharged his firearm. And he's thinking, OK, I've got to have a story to what just happened here. I couldn't have just unloaded on a lady in an apartment complex. That's pretty serious.
00:29:40
Speaker
um I like how believably that all played out. i like how throughout all of this, how everything is just unfolding. Nothing obviously is making sense to these people. Something bad is going on. And then they find out that they are just locked in the building when they're trying to, you know, get help, get an ambulance for the woman or not for the woman, for um the guy whose face was bitten. They're just trying to figure out what's going on. and Is this the part where the person falls from the from the sky by the stairwell? Yeah, Alex. he
00:30:23
Speaker
well This happens in between the dude's face getting bit and the shooting. I want to say, because the dude's face gets bit, they end up going back downstairs to try to treat him, but this guy's lost like so much blood. And then in the chaos of all that, that's when they make the announcement that you're kind of talking about, where they refer to the cop as or the police officers as agents.
00:30:50
Speaker
That's at least what they translated it into. I don't know exactly what it translates into in Spanish. My girlfriend, who... does have a pretty good grip on the Spanish language I'm learning throughout the course of our relationship. It was telling me different areas where the translation was wrong. Even there's a point where they say shit.
00:31:10
Speaker
And she was like, that was clearly shit, but they translated it into fuck. she Yeah, there's there's a lot of parts where they just translate something incorrectly and it bothers me.
00:31:22
Speaker
Yeah, there's one character who's kind of flamboyant and I think is maybe supposed to be gay. And there's a scene where he's being interviewed. He goes on a pretty racist rant about Chinese and or Japanese people. And then at the end of that, he starts flirting with the cameraman. And I guess he says, oh, you like that, Pablo? But they translated it into...
00:31:48
Speaker
like this Pablo, almost as if they were changing it to a camera direction instead of him flirting with the camera guy. So weird decisions like that happen in both directions with translations, English going into translating into other films and vice versa.
00:32:06
Speaker
It is just weird. It's like, give me the gay character in this movie. Why are we watering down his gayness? is it because American audiences couldn't handle homosexuality in two thousand and I don't know what that's about So, yeah, they're telling him to follow directions from the agents.
00:32:26
Speaker
One thing we also find out throughout the course of this movie is that, like, the health department gave these orders, and it's revealed that this is a, it's like Bayer Nuclear Chemical or something. Those are, that's the classification of this quarantine.
00:32:44
Speaker
I want to say in quarantine, someone tries to break out and they shoot him. I could be wrong, but I vaguely remember something like that. Yeah, the movie really kicks it up a notch, not only after the face bite, but when, as you mentioned, the fireman Alex falls from whatever floor straight down into the ground. I mean, this whole movie looks like it's shot in one long take, even though there are moments where the camera stops. That scene looks like it's all one take. I think I found the cut because the camera goes a little wild.
00:33:18
Speaker
But it's just so well done and so well shot, well realized on, again, what seems like it would be a pretty small budget. I mean, what did you think about Alex falling? It seemed like a pretty it was a pretty big moment for me every time I watch it. It's a bit of a jump scare, but it's also when the movie begins to become way more propulsive on a horror and thriller level.
00:33:45
Speaker
That scene scared the shit out of me when I first saw it. I never anticipate someone falling like that. um So that one is a ah good jump scare. and you just start to see everyone just trying to figure out what the fuck is happening here. And They're all kind of like pointing fingers because they find out a doctor is going to come in to, you know, take blood samples of everybody throughout the whole scene. Once you start seeing everyone in the building, you see the one mom that we were talking about earlier holding her daughter. Then you find out the daughter's sick. You know, she has tonsillitis and i guess her dad was outside going to get her medicine. Did you catch like pick up on that? Like, oh, that's probably the reason why all of this is going down, because of course, like everything else, I did not.
00:34:41
Speaker
I picked up on the fact that she was sick and it had something to do with all of this. But I don't think she's patient zero, maybe human patient zero. but So, yeah, let's get into a bit of the ending details and maybe we can like hop back around a little bit now that you mentioned it.
00:35:01
Speaker
um Around this time, the scene where we're meeting all these other characters, there's like a doctor intern that kind of becomes... a pretty important character in the middle chunk of this thing, but they dropped that someone owned a dog named Max.
00:35:17
Speaker
Did you catch that? Yeah, I did actually. Yeah, and the little girl had been playing with Max or something along those lines, and Max got sick and was at the vet. And later on through the... therere Whatever Spain's version of the CDC is, when that guy comes in in his hazmat suit and he starts to break down everything that he knows, he mentions the vet and that there was a dog and one of them was named... like Angela was like was the dog named Max the dog that was super aggressive I want to say this is the CDC guy who drops all of this so the idea is Max got sick in some way and Max spread it to the little girl and the little girl may have spread spread it to the old man there's an old ah man that's living upstairs and
00:36:14
Speaker
My impression is that whatever was going on in the penthouse was the reason behind all of this happening. is Was that your takeaway? Yeah, once I finally watched it all the way through, then everything made sense to me. I kind of knew that a little bit from Quarantine, too, because I think Quarantine has a similar framing device where they go to the penthouse, and I want to say it's rabies. They change it to rabies.
00:36:41
Speaker
This movie has the framing device on the newspapers. It's almost like there was a possessed girl, and I'm under the impression that They thought it was a possessed girl, but maybe it's actually some type of zombie virus or vice versa. They thought it was a zombie virus, but it actually turns out to be a possession. I don't know what it is, but it can spread. It it reminds me of the movie When Evil Lurks, the another Spanish language horror film that's pretty great, but it's about like the spreading of a possession.
00:37:11
Speaker
I didn't pick up on anything until later on, like obviously until i had to watch it a couple of times. Oh, I forgot the old lady had it too. She's in this equation as well. So they mentioned that different blood types determine how fast it'll take for you to react to it. That little girl, she's been sick for a while. They keep saying it's tonsillitis. It seems like the girl got it pretty early, got it around the same time Max did, but her blood type allowed her to go a longer time without showing any symptoms or fully taking hold
00:37:46
Speaker
At some point, the old lady gets it. I want to say in quarantine, rats maybe have it and they're spreading it throughout the apartment. ah Yeah, I'm not too sure how exactly it gets from the little girl to the person living in the apartment to the old lady. But i I still enjoy all of it. I just don't know how to track the spread of it. There's probably somebody online who has it all figured out.
00:38:13
Speaker
I mean, even the cop and the fireman, they turn before the little girl and they get bit. Maybe there's something about a bite and the little girl maybe got it through the saliva of the dog. They don't fully get into transferring how it works outside of you get bit and then you turn. It's pretty basic zombie logic. And we know as much as the characters know. And it's honestly too intense and too small of an area for the characters to really
00:38:43
Speaker
take a breath and figure out what's happening.
Transformation of Characters and Infection Portrayal
00:38:46
Speaker
But I really like the doctor intern character and I like his sequence and how he turns. The guy in the hazmat suit comes in and basically is... Injecting shots in the fireman Alex, I don't think he injects any shot in the police officer at all. But I really like that the camera is kind of peeking into the room.
00:39:10
Speaker
And then these two handcuffed people get up and just start attacking him. And it's a pretty wild scene. Everybody except for the doctor in turn makes it out of the room. And I start to feel bad for him. I feel bad for a guy who's trapped in a room and he's saying, I'm not bit. I'm not bit.
00:39:26
Speaker
And they're telling him, okay, well, they're handcuffed to the chair, so you should be good. And then the doctor turns, or the doctor in turn turns immediately. So he turns faster than anybody else. So, again, they don't really get into that outside of just mentioning the blood type. And I guess that is enough to explain why the little girl would be affected so late. But I really did enjoy...
00:39:52
Speaker
that whole, the way that all went down and the intern having his fate, I felt bad for him. I felt bad for everybody who dies in this movie, honestly. Nobody, i don't think anybody really deserves what happened to them in this thing, but My God. i mean you I could see you arguing Angela deserves it. I feel like that might be coming.
00:40:15
Speaker
yeah i was waiting for you to say something like that. um you know As much as she... really annoys me. i wouldn't wish these type of deaths on anyone, even the fate that she got. Like, she didn't deserve that. um But now that you mention it, this is again, where her character is just...
00:40:42
Speaker
I wanted to just reach into the screen and fucking choke her because during that whole sequence when, you know, they're chaining the the two bitten to like those tables, you have Angela and Pablo on the other side. and you know, he's trying to be quiet and he's...
00:41:04
Speaker
That whole time, Angela's like, what's going on? Tell me what's going on. What's happening? It's like, bitch, two seconds passed. Let things happen. Like he's starting to tell her little by little and she will not shut up. And then even throughout the rest of the film, she's like Pablo why is this happening or what's going on or like this and this it's like how the fuck is he supposed to know how is how how does anyone know what is going on why are you asking these dumb ass questions oh my goodness she drove me crazy watching this film I could not stand her
00:41:44
Speaker
Usually a character yelling constantly off screen really annoys me, especially in these found footage movies. But I ah kind of, I don't know, I didn't have a problem with her yelling Pablo's name. There were points where I thought it was funny, just her being like, Pablo!
00:42:03
Speaker
Pablo! In the dark. i i don't know why. I just found it pretty entertaining. It didn't bother me in the way that these type of things usually do bother me. But I mean, I would be screaming my head off too. ah I mean, I feel bad for Pablo. He's getting the brunt of
Night Vision and Fear Factor in Final Scenes
00:42:22
Speaker
all of this. But when they make it into the penthouse at the end and we're getting the night vision of that creepy person who's up there, creepy long arm person. And then there's like a kid in the attic.
00:42:37
Speaker
I don't know if it's the same thing, but, and it's also, I don't think that kid was a girl. It looked kind of like a boy, but ah in the newspapers, it's all this possession stuff about a girl.
00:42:51
Speaker
I think two might make this all a little bit more clear. I think two probably gets into the backstory, if I remember correctly.
00:43:02
Speaker
But, I mean, it's when they go into night vision and we're seeing that creepy lady, I'm feeling bad for Pablo. And Pablo is not telling Angela anything that's happening. He kind of keeps her in the dark about a lot of it. It's fucking scary. I was scared watching it this time around, genuinely. there were like When you see her silhouette ah the first time, I think you have night vision on, it it might not even be night vision yet. I think it might be before the light right before the light goes out. Even at that point, Pablo's saying that the light is broken and this bitch is still telling him, turn the light on. He's like, I can't. but um I mean, I would be doing the same thing, I think. I'd be like, well, fuck it, figure out how to fix it. What the fuck? It can't be dark forever. i mean, I would just be swearing in general, not repeating stupid questions like this. Well, I don't know. Maybe I would. Apparently, yeah I don't know. But embarrassing enough, this was one of the films where, you know, I finally figured out how night vision works because when I saw the Blair Witch Project, I didn't understand why certain scenes just looked funny. It just looked black and white or something. And then in this one, I was like, why the fuck is everything green? Like I knew night vision was a thing. i just didn't know how the lens looked for it. So when I was watching it for the first time, i'm just wondering why is Angela like having her arms all out all stupid? Why is she acting even more stupid in here? and yeah. Yeah.
00:44:43
Speaker
Yeah, and I think my mom was the one to tell me, like, because they can't see anything. That's just through the camera. I like, oh, okay. I know a lot more about nightma that night vision now, but still, just an embarrassing fact.
00:44:55
Speaker
Yeah, Don't Breathe has a good night vision scene that... Actually, when i when the trailer would play in theaters and they would show the night vision scene in the trailer, people would actively laugh at it. It did come off as pretty ridiculous seeing everybody looking around in the dark. if you know People can't see, but I just did a flawless imitation of what it's like to yeah to feel around in the dark.
00:45:23
Speaker
But yeah, and their eyes looking all wonky in that it it played as a funny bit in the trailer when I saw it in theaters. But when the movie itself was actually in theaters, people, it really worked on people. And there is something inherently terrifying about watching somebody stumble through the dark. We got to see a little bit of it in 28 Weeks Later, too. I think you maybe hated that scene. I can't remember. up.
00:45:51
Speaker
when ah the chick gets, spoilers for 28 weeks later, when the chick gets beat to death with a gun. Yeah, good times, good times. Night vision will maybe always work on me, though, seeing somebody stumble in the dark. It's fucking terrifying, so realistically terrifying.
00:46:10
Speaker
um once they do start seeing figure, the silhouette of the creature in there. The monster from Barbarian, think. Right, that's what thought. It's the same Yeah. I did really like when she fed Pablo a bottle. That was probably my favorite scene of the movie. And it's the first time we get to see Pablo.
00:46:32
Speaker
There was a part in there too when they were looking for the keys in the penthouse and I'm just thinking why the fuck isn't the cameraman helping? And then it finally dawned on me oh yeah he has the fucking light that he's trying to use to help this girl but she's still fucking asking dumbass questions like where are the keys?
00:46:52
Speaker
And then even says which one is the key? How the fuck is this man supposed to know? my Maybe she did deserve to go out the way she did. Pablo's just like, take all the keys, take all the keys. He's the brains behind this whole operation. And he's the one you feel bad for the most. He's just a cameraman doing his job. And maybe cameramen shouldn't just be so much of yes men. Maybe that's a bit of the lesson here. If you're a camera guy, just learn to say no.
00:47:25
Speaker
Learn to say, I'm not doing that. I'm not not going there and filming that. How about that? Justice for Pablo. Justice for Kenny from Scream. Yeah, learn from Joel in Scream 2. Once he knew that shit was happening, he he was out. So yeah, just learn to say no. So Pablo basically gets a hammer to the face. Also, before like they even get into the penthouse, you learn that the fireman got turned. You get the awesome shout of the stairwell seeing that, oh, they're fucked. Everybody's running for them. It's...
00:47:59
Speaker
So well done. i fucking love this ending.
Analyzing 'Wreck's Ending and Marketing Strategies
00:48:04
Speaker
It's like shit really does hit the fan and it's one of ah I think the more effective zombie endings even though it's not satisfying in a certain kind of way. It's just it's complete madness in the nightmarish kind of way you would hope it would be. Everything feels truly hopeless and Yeah, they're in the penthouse. Pablo gets fucking beat with a hammer of some kind.
00:48:33
Speaker
We were talking about it being pitch black. He's just getting beat to death in complete darkness. That sucks. That's an awful fate. And then the last shot of the movie is the girl facing the camera. Angela, she's facing the camera.
00:48:47
Speaker
I mean, she's, I'm assuming in darkness, the camera's looking at her. It's very Blair Witch 2016-esque.
00:48:57
Speaker
I'm just like, oh, that sucks. The camera's right in your face. You can't even see in front of you. It's just darkness and camera. So it's pretty awful. We hear a bunch of sounds. It almost sounds like there's a little girl in there.
00:49:12
Speaker
Did you catch that in the darkness? I think I did, yeah. Yeah. So part of me was thinking, oh, is is the little girl in there and these are people who were involved with this? like maybe there i don't i don't know what the deal is. I like the ambiguity and I want to really dive deeper into the movie itself and what's actually going on.
00:49:36
Speaker
I don't know. Then, yeah, we hear what sounds like the voice of a little girl and maybe a bunch of other zombified people. And then she gets dragged away. And it's a pretty upsetting shot. That's the end of the movie. It's a great way to end a found footage film.
00:49:54
Speaker
I'd say it's pretty iconic. And Quarantine had the balls to have that shot be in the fucking trailer and all over the marketing and on the poster. It's an insane move that they did that. Again, it feels actively antagonistic to the movie Wreck to have the ending of their movie all over the place.
00:50:17
Speaker
Now that I think about that, that adds up because, yeah, why would you why would you include that in all of the marketing?
00:50:28
Speaker
Yeah, maybe if we find more research on that, we could touch upon that again. Yeah, we'll definitely do that on the quarantine episode. Maybe as we get deeper into these movies, I'll do a bit more research and provide it for you guys.
Final Scores and Social Media Interaction
00:50:42
Speaker
But I mean, what are your thoughts on the ending? And is there anything about the movie you'd like to discuss further? Once they get up to the penthouse and they start to see all the religious symbols and all of the newspaper articles that are discussing possession or possible cases of possession, that's where I really started to freak out because Any movie where it has to do with the paranormal, things like that, never sits well with me.
00:51:16
Speaker
Obviously, in a good way when I'm watching a film and I'm having fun with it. But when it's a new movie that I'm watching that clearly has set the stage for me to be in an uncomfortable state throughout the entire watch, Then it's like, okay, there really is no escape for these people. They're just pretty much fucked. Yeah, they were fucked because they weren't being let out of the building. But now it's like, okay, if they do escape, they're possessed in some type of way. So that, it's just so, it's so difficult to watch because you
00:51:55
Speaker
You can look at a religious symbol and find comfort in it when it's just a singular symbol or, you know, if you're in a church setting or, um you know, certain cemeteries, you know, you can find comfort in it. But when you see it all clustered together like that and obviously what it's about, it just makes it look even creepier Yeah, it doesn't send you out of the theater feeling too great, but the demonic stuff, the crosses, and even the tape player, it feels very Evil Dead to me.
00:52:35
Speaker
and want to say so specifically Evil Dead 2. Mm-hmm. Yeah, even Evil Dead Rise, I want to say, has a record player, too, where the Book of the Dead gets read.
00:52:47
Speaker
It feels yeah feels very Evil Dead to me. feels almost like a priest or a scientist went to do some kind of research in a further away land and ended up coming back with something awful, and now it's here. Yeah.
00:53:02
Speaker
I think it's possession disguising itself as zombie infection. I guess we'll see where things go. But yeah, I truly have a blast with this movie. And I think it's top tier found footage horror.
00:53:16
Speaker
I'm intrigued to see what's coming next, but it's also, I know there's not a way to top this film in this franchise, so my hopes aren't high for the next few films. Hopefully there's one that I do like, but I don't see that happening.
00:53:34
Speaker
I'm just hoping we get something that's pretty interesting going forward. I don't anticipate that I'll like any of the later entries more than this one, but I think there's going to be i think they're going to be rich conversationally.
00:53:50
Speaker
Any final thoughts on Rick? Five out of five. Perfect found footage movie, i think. I really... There's nothing about it that ignores that annoys me.
00:54:01
Speaker
Nothing that I find really boring. Makes you feel bad that this shit is happening to the characters. I sympathize with almost everybody involved. This thing just works for me on so many levels. You know, it doesn't make me cry or move me emotionally, but it's a very propulsive and entertaining and scary horror film that I think of fondly. It's doing some of the best work in the found footage genre, I think.
00:54:32
Speaker
Yeah, I like this film as a found footage film, and it just covers all bases for me. You know, you have the scare factors in here. There's not cheesy jump scares, I would say. It's a good ah like full circle for me. I like this film. um It makes me want to watch more found footage films. Just not looking forward to the rest of the franchise, but... We'll see. I'm pretty sure we'll still have some good conversations with the upcoming films.
00:55:06
Speaker
And guys, if you're looking for a place to stream the next three movies we're covering, these next three rec movies, they're all on Tubi. You can find them all on there. So you can watch them for free.
00:55:19
Speaker
There's ads. The ads are pretty well placed. It's a great time over there on Tubi. So yeah. Go check those out. Now, I know Mercedes had said that she wanted to do a little bit of talk on Keeper.
00:55:32
Speaker
So thank you guys for checking out our conversation on REC. Next week, we'll be coming back for REC 2. If you don't want to hear our talk on Keeper, make sure to go follow us on Instagram at morbid underscore curiosities underscore pod.
Disappointment in 'Keeper' Compared to Other Films
00:55:48
Speaker
If you have any questions or comments for the show, write into us at morbidcuriosities10 at gmail.com. Leave us a five-star rating if you wouldn't mind. a review would be pretty nice to you on Apple Podcasts.
00:56:00
Speaker
I think it would be great for everybody. It would Help us you know feel a bit more encouraged to do all of this every week. you know Let's get those five stars up there. We we get some good downloads. but Let's take to the streets and start giving out some five-star reviews.
00:56:16
Speaker
Or guys are really making us work for it. I don't understand what what the tactic is here. But yeah, go do all of that if you don't want to hear our ah our Keeper talk. So, Keeper, you had some thoughts on it?
00:56:30
Speaker
Yes. So jumping into Keeper, I saw a trailer for it last week once, forgot about it, saw it again and was planning to go see it in theaters, but I did not know what the hell it was supposed to be about. Usually I haven't been trying to rewatch trailers for anything because a lot of trailers tend to give things away. This one was very stingy with details. I did not know what the fuck the storyline was supposed to be.
00:57:02
Speaker
I figured you had seen it already. And what the fuck did i watch? That none of that, nothing in that movie was appealing to me. So I don't know what your thoughts on it were, but that movie was a waste of time, in my opinion.
00:57:22
Speaker
I won't give any spoilers away because I have a feeling we'll eventually cover Keeper. um i kind of want to try to push to eventually do all the Osgood Perkins directed horror films just because I think that'd be an interesting group of movies to cover.
00:57:40
Speaker
but keeper he's done ah this three movie run with neon it's been long legs the monkey and keeper i gotta say keeper is my least favorite of these three long legs probably being my favorite and monkey i liked significantly more than keeper it's keeper or the keeper one of the two but A couple things I'll say about Keeper, I guess. and I'll try to keep it concise. But I thought Tatiana Misalani was awesome.
00:58:12
Speaker
I think she's great in basically everything I've seen her in. Even She-Hulk I thought she was great in. But like stronger. And she was the mom in the monkey. But I think she was the best part of the movie. I really dig her performance and what she was bringing to the table.
00:58:29
Speaker
She seemed like she really pushed herself, even physically. And I thought the cinematography from Jeremy Cox was really good. Osgood Perkins has really good cinematographers in general that he works with.
00:58:44
Speaker
And this movie, I mean, there's interesting ideas in here, but they don't go that far. I think... For me, anything positive that I take out of it, a lot of the heavy lifting from that is done by Tatiana Mislany and the cinematography. I thought the story, i don't know.
00:59:06
Speaker
Usually I can lock into a movie and kind of pick up what's going on and I don't mind ambiguity. but the story didn't really do enough to keep me interested throughout.
00:59:17
Speaker
As I was watching it, I kept thinking, I wish I was seeing The Running Man. I can't wait to be seeing The Running Man later this weekend. Yeah, I won't go into spoilers. i just, I do not like this film. um I haven't seen the other two films. I still need to watch Long Legs. like I just put on X today, and I know that's been out for however long. I wanted to check it out to see it and that was something. But yeah with this, i I want to see Long Legs because I remember at least the trailer for it freaked me out. So I was a little interested in it. This, it just looked like, okay, it seems like it's going to be a gore fest. And it wasn't even. You have some scenes where they show a little blood here and there, but
01:00:13
Speaker
no, there i don't i don't like the storyline. I feel like they gave a lot away just in the intro scene itself and the couple that's in here, i don't buy their chemistry at all. I would like to see um Tatiana Maslany, how I probably butchered her last name, in other films, but i did not like what she had to work with in here and just all the characters in general. They just there was no time for me to actually like them or give a shit about them if they got hurt or
01:00:56
Speaker
hate any more than I typically hate the average Joe character. yeah I feel like there could have been more added to this film and some taken away out of this film. It was just not worth my time. So I'm kind of disappointed that I saw it.
01:01:14
Speaker
Yeah, the plot really... it leads somewhere, but I don't know. Just watching it, I i wouldn't say I was particularly confused, but I just yeah had a hard time being interested in what was going on. Even the ending, it doesn't...
01:01:31
Speaker
it like I know a lot of films aren't going to give you a happy ending, and that's fine. We just covered one that doesn't. But it doesn't even give you like a good closure ending. It gives you, like, okay, well, this happened. Now, this is happening.
01:01:49
Speaker
to me, it just it didn't tie any loose ends like it was attempting to. It was just, I don't know, to me this was a failed attempt. So i don't know, maybe someone out there will be an advocate for this film and will write in on it. I hope someone does because there is no hope for me to watch this film again willingly just to put it on. I won't even put it on for background noise. It was just ridiculous to me. Yeah, I was hoping for something maybe along the lines of Bring Her Back, but it is really my least favorite of Osgood Perkins movies in general, actually, that I've seen. but ah And yeah, I didn't even care for the lead actor too much. He was kind of charisma-less.
01:02:38
Speaker
Yeah, that's my just brief thoughts on Keeper. Yeah, so guys, if you are wanting to check it out, go check it out for yourself. Like, yeah, it sucks when I don't enjoy a movie and I see it in theaters, but at least the art of going to the movies is still fun for me. But yeah, I would say just wait until it comes out to stream and waste the or no save the few dollars that you can that you would use to watch this film in theaters on maybe a different film or just something else in general.
01:03:17
Speaker
Go buy the $400 seven-foot animatronic Krampus that is now at Spirit Christmas and keep spooky season alive. Yes, Merry Christmas.
01:03:29
Speaker
I endorse that message. We've been more curiosities.