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189 - Stay Alive (2006) w/ Ariel Powers-Schaub
107 Plays9 months ago
“Whoever said size doesn’t matter never played a third-person shooter.”
This week, we’re absolutely thrilled to welcome back friend of the show, the Internet’s 2000s Horror Queen, and author of the forthcoming book Millennial Nasties, Ariel Powers-Schaub to discuss the necessary-if-not-inconsistently-executed cinematic confluence of horror and video games! Listen NOW as we dissect such vital topics as whether or not Stay Alive qualifies as a millennial nasty, the power of a Jimmi Simpson performance, and the sheer lack of diversity in mid-aughts horror. Come for the horror talk, stay to hear Stephen reveal his weird hidden talent!
Keep Ariel’s hit points at maximum by giving her a follow on the following social platforms:
- @ari_hellraiser on Instagram, Letterboxd, and Xitter
- @arihellraiser on Bluesky
Ariel’s book, Millennial Nasties, is out September 17, but you can preorder it from Encyclopocalypse Publications HERE: https://www.encyclopocalypse.com/product/millennial-nasties/397?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=false&category_id=39
Make sure you join the Pod & Pendulum Patreon to hear Ari's upcoming coverage of the I Spit on Your Grave franchise: https://www.patreon.com/podandthependulum
Boot up the ol’ gaming PC and give us a follow on these social media platforms:
- @Disenfranchpod on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, Letterboxd, and YouTube.
- Email us your thoughts or requests to disenfranchpod@gmail.com
- Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!
- Find Stephen at @ChewyWalrus on Bluesky, Instagram, and Letterboxd.
- Check out Stephen’s first novel - Check In, Check Out - on Amazon, now available in paperback or ebook: https://amzn.to/44idk8y
- Find Brett at @sus_warlock on Letterboxd.
- Find Tucker at @icenine09 on YouTube and Instagram and @tuck_mugs on Instagram.
- Join our Patreon for exclusive bonus content, including bi-weekly episodes of What Are We Watching? at https://patreon.com/Disenfranchpod
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Guests
00:00:20
Speaker
I'll say good for you. Insert quarter to start The disenfranchised podcast, where that podcast all about those franchises have won those films that fancy themselves, full fledged franchises before falling flat on their face after the first film. I am your host, Stephen Foxworthy. And joining me, as always, the man who's never played a third person shooter, it's Tucker. Hey, Tucker. Hello, Stephen. How are you doing? That's not true. It's extremely not true. Okay.
00:00:53
Speaker
Wow. ah You knew me better than that, Steven. It was I was I was paraphrasing a line from the movie, sir. Well, I quit. Take it later. My send me my last check, if you would, just to my house. Oh, you get checks from this podcast get paid. It feels like something I would know about. um I have my own separate Patreon. It's the stuffers only disenfranchised Patreon. Where I sell my bathwater and pictures of my feet, you know. Good for you, you know. Make that money.
Discussing 'Stay Alive' with Ariel Powers-Shawb
00:01:28
Speaker
Unfortunately, our stalwart co-host Brett Wright had to take the night off due to some very intense video gameplay. Hopefully he doesn't die in the game and thus die in real life. But joining us in his stead is just one of the greatest
00:01:43
Speaker
Literally one of the best. ah We love her, the author of the upcoming book, Millennial Nasties, and really just the the internet's queen of 2000s horror. It's our very good friend, Ariel Powers-Shawb. Ariel, how are you? I'm so great. Thanks for having me. Thanks for coming back. Now, I do want to just peek behind the curtain after we finished our record on Sorority Row. Yes, we sat down and just planned your next two appearances. Yes. ah So like, yeah we, we're not done with our yet for the year. um In fact, we're gonna have her on once more again before right around the time millennial nasties is set to come out, actually. So
00:02:25
Speaker
Yeah, I've just set up shop. I just elbowed my way in here and now I have squatters rights. That's pretty much how I go i did the same thing. I say yeah just never went home at one point. She's gunning for Tucker's spot is really what it is. That's fine. No, we need more people on this. nice There's room for everybody. Absolutely. lee we We run a pretty loose ship here. we're We're all about having a good time. So the more the merrier, let's just get, you know, a panel of ah people with diverse interests and fields of of study.
Overview of 'Stay Alive' Film and Themes
00:02:57
Speaker
um But Ari, you picked this movie in particular to discuss. So what movie are we discussing today at your behest? We are discussing 2006's Stay Alive.
00:03:11
Speaker
if you die in the game you die for real stay aloof yeah what that's That's a good way to stay alive is to stay aloof. Stay Alive, a 2006 film written and directed by William Brent Bell, also written by Matthew Peterman and starring John Foster, Samara Armstrong, Frankie Muniz, Jimmy Simpson, the great Wendell Pierce, Milo Ventimiglia, Sophia Bush, Adam Goldberg, and many others. What a cast, friends. What a picture. What a picture.
00:03:45
Speaker
Boy, it's something. That's how you look. It is. It is certainly a movie. Legally, it is a movie I watched. It is. I have very complicated feelings about this movie, but because I think it's I think that it's not a very good movie, but I also think it's really, really fun. And I am very entertained by it every time I watch it. It is fun. I think I lack the context for the fun. as as a non video game guy. Well, see and part of the fun is like ah like just watching them do all this video game shit that is not a thing. Like that's one of the things I love about this movie is no one that worked on this movie has played a video game. And it's very, very obvious, extremely obvious. And I love watching like it's like it's like you you see those posts like on Reddit where it's like, I show my girlfriend Pokemon and she names them, you know, because she doesn't know what they're actually called. Right.
00:04:36
Speaker
It's kind of that kind of thing. You're like, these guys like have heard of video games. So it's very it's very interesting it's very interesting to see what they think a video game is. And it's very funny and ah very entertaining. I find some of the performances in this movie very entertaining as well. That helps. I was just going to say, I thought it was really funny that there's an entire jump scare that consists of Frankie Muniz in a backwards hat saying, hey, um well, maybe one of my favorite jump scares in cinema. Is that what we're calling this? I thought, so I was just Googling this in real time, because I thought Cliff Blasinski, who worked on The God of War games, consulted on this movie.
00:05:19
Speaker
But me Googling it for three seconds is not telling me that that's true. So I wonder if it was a fever drew my head. And see, I would look and see like who on the the production list has any kind of like connections, but I know nothing about video games. So I would be the last person you should ask that question to. So full disclosure, I actually am. I don't know. I'm not very much of a gamer myself. um But I've pretty much only dated gamers exclusively. And so like, by osmosis, I know more than I would ever probably care to. She has a type is what we're saying. Yeah, yeah. Apparently. Yeah.
00:06:02
Speaker
And like the the games that I can do are like, so I can do all the Zelda games. um I like those. I actively enjoy those. so And um the games that are more like horror movies that you make decisions through, like Until Dawn and the Quarry and that kind of stuff. like I can do those pretty OK. Anything else, I'm like, ah, fuck it. It's too hard. Whereas any video game is one where I'm like, eh, fuck it too hard. I think the one video game I've beaten by myself in my life is the Where's Waldo game for the Sega Genesis. A classic. Yeah, back in, back in their early 90s in the infancy of home video game systems. So. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Home video games Mm. have been available Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. since Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. the Mm. late Mm seventies. Tucker, I'm going to need you to do yourself a favor. Do me a favor right now. I'm going to just give yourself a big old wedgie right now. Oh, come on. This one's about video games. You got to get this right. Cool. Now the nerds gave them to the masses and said, join us.
00:07:16
Speaker
i'm i the I'm the guy today because Brett's not here. I got to fill in for him. Brett's not here. We do need a video game expert and and by default now that position is you. so For one night only. One night only. So Ari, I gotta ask, stay alive. Yeah. Why this one? Oh, come the fuck out. It's so fun. Are you kidding me? Well, no, i mean I'm okay. Like, let me rephrase. Why? Why did you select this movie for us today? Yes, yes. Um,
00:07:49
Speaker
Well, you know me and I love to live in my 2000s horror. That's my wheelhouse. That is where I set up shop. This movie is such, I love a movie that's a time capsule. You know, there are some movies that feel timeless and would work in any time. That is not the movie we're talking about today. No. It's so 2006 and six in the graphics in the language in the interactions between the friends, in the humor that it's using, the social attitude towards video games at the time, and the lack of understanding from most people. Like I would say now in 2024, people understand more about video games in general than they did in 2006. And so it just feels like it's traveling me back to a time. And even on my DVD, it has the
00:08:42
Speaker
You wouldn't steal a car. It's got that to open it up. So like, I'm right there immediately back in 2006, having the time in my life. I liked that ad. Yeah, it's a great ad. So that's why. I also stand by like, like, no, I would like, I'm very against piracy. So like, I unironically enjoy that ad. Okay. I think most people were like, would you download a card? I'm like, no.
00:09:11
Speaker
I mean, maybe. I don't know. Maybe. I mean, I might. I mean, these days you probably could with a 3D printer, right? Oh, yeah, something like that. Sure. God, I hadn't considered how real that became. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, no you're right, though. This is 100% a time capsule movie. It is locked purely within its time and place. how But as a PG-13 horror movie released by the Walt Disney Corporation, Ari, how does it stack up against other millennial nasties? Well, I would say, perhaps, controversially, I wouldn't call this movie a millennial nasty. Ooh, explain.
00:09:58
Speaker
Well, it's definitely a 2000s horror, but it does not have the bleak, hopeless nastiness or the aesthetic of what I would typically call a millennial nasty. And you can make an argument for it probably. And maybe if Disney hadn't made it, maybe it would be. But this movie is much more interested in like the power of friendship and overcoming the odds. Very Disney, yeah. Yeah, and they don't give you that in the end. You know, we get this stinger at the end where like Game Informer magazine stay alive and like Elizabeth Bathory's made out into the universe, but it really gives you this feeling of hope, it's love, it's family, but it's also got some boner jokes thrown in. So it's edgy Disney.
00:10:47
Speaker
Yeah, this i should I should point out this was released under Disney's Hollywood Pictures label, a label that is, as we were discussing prior to recording, that has essentially went and defunct the next year. They basically went out of business the following year. so That was a thing. In the 2000s, a lot of like offshoot like production I don't even I don't know if you call them studios or what you call them, but just like labels would open up release a few movies and then shut down. yeah There's one called raw feed that did like six movies and then disappeared forever. And so it can be really hard to find some of these. This was in a time where like straight to DVD was big too. So like
00:11:32
Speaker
It can be hard to find some stuff that came out at that time, because a lot of those labels just disappeared. Right. And it feels like their last couple of movies were all horror movies. Like they did Stay Alive in 2006, their first film in like five years. um And then Primeval, which is a apparently, according to the poster, inspired by the true story of the most prolific serial killer in history. ah And then a supernatural thriller called The Invisible. Yes. ah Well, they've I mean, they were around for a long time before that, though. I mean, they were, but this is like the tail end of their run is what yeah so look I was. I was kind of in and out of that conversation because I was I was doing the steps between this and Saul and I've guys I got it.
00:12:20
Speaker
I got it. You're showing off your flex and nuts. Yeah. No, no. Look, here's what here's what happened is I once once Ari, once you started talking, I was like, that's that's going to go on for a minute and it's going to be really cool. So I think if I can just not even listening to what our guest is saying, I was totally listening like peripherally. I caught a lot of it. Really, Mr. Are we talking about Hollywood pictures? Well, no, because like I was paying attention enough to know what you're talking about, but I thought you were talking about one of the other- I did mention raw feed and so yeah I'll allow it. that's um That's what my ear heard. Shutting that down. Yeah. ah um But no, I mean, Hollywood Pictures started in 1990 with a ra future episode of this podcast, Arachnophobia. um Oh, I like that. I didn't realize yeah that movie scared the shit out of me as a kid. There you go. Who directed that, Steven? Arachnophobia was directed by the great Frank Marshall.
00:13:20
Speaker
Oh, OK. That's not who like that's not who I was thinking. But ah Spielberg, I think um Spielberg produced, I believe, if I'm not mistaken. So, yeah. Yeah. Amblin, Amblin was a co-producer on this one. So, yeah. Or not on this one, but on arachnophobia. Yes. But yeah, scooping it back around to um to this film, i'm sorry, I just completely, my brain just went blank. You're doing great. Am I? i That remains to be seen, but thank you. You're nailing it. You're doing great. Thank you. I'll fix it in post, Steven. I wish I could believe that.
00:14:04
Speaker
Um, but no, we are, so yeah, stay alive. Uh, now looking at the poster though, it feels like they're trying to evoke the millennial nastiness of like the Saw franchise. Like I'm looking at the poster on Wikipedia here and it looks very Saw-esque. Well, like with the controller and it's all dirty and granny stains everywhere. Yes. The one with the controller definitely looks like, you know, it could fit into the Saw franchise. On the DVD that I have, it reminds me more of Scream. They're doing the um slasher, all the characters are on the DVD. Yes. But there is like, there's a weapon of some kind. Oh, no, that's a controller and some chains. This isn't what's on Wikipedia, is it? No. No. OK.
00:14:54
Speaker
Yeah, so this one is more like invoking of the slashers, I would say. This movie is not sure where it fits. And then I love the island of misfit movies. I think it's trying very hard to be whatever it needs to be to sell the movie. Yes. Well, yeah. and And I think that that's generally a flaw in movies like this is because general because you you're selling it as a like a saw riff with video games, but then you show up to the theater and that's that's not what it is. It's not. It's a lot more like Final Destination. It is. um In that there there's this you can't escape vibe. Mm hmm.
00:15:35
Speaker
And it's also very much what you would expect from a movie produced by Mcgee also.
Exploring Influences and Film Context
00:15:40
Speaker
So I like Mcgee. What? What? I'm the only person who likes Mcgee. Apparently, Mcgee is ah he's a music video director. ah Some of the films he's directed have been the two Charlie's Angels films from the early 2000s. OK, so Terminator Salvation. um He's one of the reasons the series Supernatural exists. OK, that's a big hit. He did the babysitter movies for Netflix as well. Oh, I like those. Those were good, yeah. Yeah, those were pretty fun. And I like Charlie's Angels. Yeah, I like those two movies, too. Yeah. But then he also did like- I haven't registered him recently, but I had a great time with him when they came out, for sure. He also did like We Are Marshall. Yeah, I didn't see that. What's that? I don't care. That's the one about the football team that dies in a plane crash, I think. Oh.
00:16:29
Speaker
Oh yeah, no thanks. yeah like Not only am I not interested, but also I'm like, I don't wanna be depressed. It's got like Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, David Stratharin. What's his T1000 is in there, I think. Robert Patrick. Ian McShane. Oh, yeah I like Ian McShane. You do like Ian McShane. I like him a lot. Anthony Mackie's in there, January Jones. I like her, too. She was in Last Man on Earth. She was. Yeah. And Mad Men. That's one of my that's one of my favorite moments in the series is her her introduction into the series ah hu because.
00:17:10
Speaker
Because Tandy has just has just like devoted himself romantically to Kirsten Shaw. Mm hmm. because because and like, no, nothing is Christian Shaw. i I love her. She's fantastic. His reason as a character for getting with her is because she's the last woman on Earth. Right. Mm hmm. And then as soon as he's like, I promise fucking January Jones shows up looking super hot. Yeah. It's brilliant. It's I just love that show so much. did January Jones will look any other way.
00:17:45
Speaker
No, I will. I will defend the first season as well. People are like, oh, like the first season. I'm like, I really like the whole show. Yeah. They're like, Tandy sucks in the first season. I'm like, yeah. yes Yeah, he does. And then yes, the boy grows as a character. like He has a toilet pool. That's very upsetting to me. I don't care for that at all. I think all of his work, all of his friends that are balls. Yeah. Yeah. But like, what if you were the last person on Earth? Like maybe I would have a toilet pool. I don't know what I would do. probably no I probably wouldn't have a toilet pool, but who knows what would happen? we Well, well here's what we here's what we know definitively. No toilet pool. yeah I feel pretty confident saying that. I don't know. I don't know, guys. I mean, look, there that's the the problem is drainage. And so if you don't have water being you know delivered to the house, that's going to be an issue. Yeah.
00:18:41
Speaker
All types of things. I do this every time I come on the show. I get us off on a silly ass, totally riled up tangent. That's what this show's about. um We do. That's why we're here. Okay, good. We we thrive on tangents. It's half of the pod. It's half of our runtime every week is just the the most inane tangents on the silliest things that have nothing to do with the movie we're discussing. Yeah, but you could consider that doing a super deep dive on a film because not only are we talking about the film,
00:19:12
Speaker
but we're talking about everything the film makes us think of like yeah this actor did and then when he did this movie with this guy but then we're going to talk about this movie only because it was had the same actors the other guy and yeah it's all connected man it's not like random on our on our fifth episode a couple weeks back ari we did an extended riff on eddie murphy and there you go who has nothing to do with the movie fist Well, I'm honestly not even sure how we got off on the Eddie Murphy tension. I really because Stallone was supposed to be ah Beverly Hills Cop. I feel like we were talking about Murphy before that, though. Nope. No, dude. Well, brett our ah Jimmy had to fix his mic, so we were just kind of riffing. Oh, yeah, you and I were just kind of. Yeah.
00:19:54
Speaker
Yeah, riffing on Eddie Murphy, well. Because that new Beverly Hills cops are coming out next month, dude. Wish I were excited for it. I need to rewatch the old ones. I do too. Just watch the first. You don't need to watch the third one. there's probably probably doesn't even It's probably hard to find. Just watch the first two. I just remember, I haven't seen them in years. And I remember them playing a lot in my home growing up. And like my parents really liked them. And like I laughed a lot at them. But I haven't revisited them. You know what holds up super well? 48 hours? No, actually it doesn't. I still love it. It's very nice. I think that was part of our extended riff as how that movie does not hold up well. Oh, it does for me. I'm sorry. No, I was going to go in a different like buddy-cap direction. Please. um
00:20:42
Speaker
Rush Hour holds up super well. Really? Like way better than you think. Rush Hour 2, not as much. I believe that. Yeah, it gets a little off the rails, gets a little... I mean... The whole Jeremy Piven cameo feels very... They just like, they lean into stuff they don't need to lean into to be edgy. The first one, like Immaculate. Go rewatch Rush Hour today. That's my... call to action. I mean, Chris Tucker, ah both of them are not really doing a lot of movies these days. Chris Tucker just did air. I mean, sure. But like, was he the lead of air? No, no, but see I don't know if you know about Chris Tucker tangent, but he he requires a certain amount of money to be in a film. Good for him. Also, also right after right after he did ah Dead Presidents,
00:21:40
Speaker
he became very deeply religious. So that also kind of- That I That I didn't know. So he's only really done, he's done less than 10 movies like in his entire career, maybe 10. Since Rush Hour 3 in 2007, he has made three films yeah and a music video. He did Silver Linings Playbook in 2012. Oh yeah, I saw that. He did Billy Lin's Long Halftime Walk in 2016 and Air in 2023. They did a Jermaine Jackson video. Tito. Tito, ah same thing. No. Because they're brothers. Tucker, no. Bad Tucker. Real brothers, though. Real brother. No Tucker, that's a bad Tucker. Oh, man.
00:22:28
Speaker
I feel like you you put me in that corner. I feel like that was my view. I fix it in post. No, I'm leaving it. Worth it all. Look, I'm growing. I'm a growing man. i'm I'm trying to be better every day. And if I don't recognize what I'm doing wrong, I can't get better. I actually think you were fine there and we just took a chance to shit on you. Yeah, that's really what happened. That's possible too. but it could be a chance for accountability that will make me a better person. You never know. You don't know. You never know. That's why you should always be a little bit sorry forever. Agreed. Agreed. And I will always love Chris Tucker forever for the fifth element. A perfect performance. Yes. ah It's only because you haven't seen dead presidents though.
00:23:16
Speaker
I mean, look, I'm not saying the man can't have more than one perfect performance. I'm just saying Ruby Rod is a perfect yeah performance. Yeah, no, my no, I agree. I agree, but it's very... It's one thing. It's one thing that he's doing, and he's doing it really fucking well. But I'm telling you, in Dead Presidents, he's doing about seven things perfectly in that movie. Like, that character contains fucking multitudes, Steven. I'm gonna do a Hughes Brothers marathon this year that is in my plan. I just need to make sure that I buy Menace to Society on Criterion 4K during the next Criterion sale. Oh yeah, you gotta do that. Yeah. That's right.
00:23:55
Speaker
Cause I got to start there. I got to start with menaces society. Cause I have standards and integrity and other shit. So yeah. Yeah. yeah i'm just saying When you watch, when you watch dead presidents, let me know. Cause I'd like to watch it with you. And maybe we could do some sort of Patreon thing on it or at least talk about it extensively on what are we watching? I, yes. I would i would love to talk about that movie with you, Steven. That's all I'm saying. No, i'm I'm excited to watch it. You've, you've talked it up enough. I question whether or not you can live up to the hype, but yeah. Oh, it's gonna, it's gonna exceed it. I can't hype it up enough is the thing. Fair enough. I can't. Fair enough. um Hey, let's stay alive everybody. I guess. That's why we're here. So, not a millennial nasty.
00:24:42
Speaker
Even if the poster is definitely trying to ape that aesthetic, the movie is definitely not. um Which I respect. um So i guess I guess I won't ask you to do a six degrees of soporation for this one because it's not a millennial nasty. It doesn't really count. Yeah, but I think Tucker wants to show off. Tucker really, I think does. Look, here was my thing before I mentioned it. What I wanted to do was I was going to find a time to put it in the chat and then like give it because look, if if you hadn't been talking and if you had been IMDB and like I was, you would have gotten it faster than me is all I'm saying.
00:25:19
Speaker
But that's very kind of you. But I was like trying to while we were but doing the chit chat before we hit record, I was trying to find it and I didn't find it. And so I'm a big enough woman to say, Hey, man, you found it. And I didn't. I luck I lucked into it, though. I came across a really easy one. Like But you got to tell me because now I'm dying to know. Yes. I mean, just out with it, man. OK, so Jimmy Simpson's in this movie, right? Yeah. We all agree upon that, right? I think we can concur with that statement. Let the record show. And Jimmy Simpson has been in more than a few things with Glenn Howerton. ah One film being um ah Fool's Gold, that terrible movie Charlie Day put out last year. sure Oh, yeah. Are you going to connect this back to The Strangers?
00:26:07
Speaker
And then back to Saw through there? No? Okay. No, I don't need to. Because Glenn Howerton... Fuck me, right? Glenn Howerton was in Blackberry with Carrie Elwes. Me! I don't know if you guys knew this, but he in the Saw movie, he's in the first Saw movie. Blackberry is that, um, it's one of those movies that Hollywood's like obsessed with making now about the like biopics, but about brands, like products. Oh, it's really good though. It's really good. And you all should about Blackberry, like this, the device. yeah Yeah, I had one. It was the first cool thing I ever had. I had a, I had a generic Palm pilot. That's what I had. those were fun I never got to have a beeper.
00:26:58
Speaker
I wanted a beeper. Oh, I had a pager. Those are fun. Yeah. See, you were cool. I wasn't. Well, I don't know about that. I was cool, but. Well, there you go. Too bad you're not anymore. but's No, I'm sorry. I said those days are over. Those days are over. No, I'm impressed that you found that connection. Good job. Yeah. No. Oh, but hey, you guys Blackberry though. Um. I recommend it to everybody and you can watch it as a film that's about two hours long or you can watch it as a miniseries. That is three at three 45 minute episodes that has added stuff because it's more serialized. Where's that at? I think Peacock is who has both of those, I believe. He got a formal plus one of the two. But it's I've watched both of them and it's either one. It just depends on if you want to sit and watch three episodes of a TV show over a certain amount of time or if you want to watch a movie.
00:27:58
Speaker
It's a it's good, though. I can't believe that. I know. I definitely want it's been on my list to see since it came out. So, yeah, I'm totally in for it. Like I knew just based on what I heard about, I'm sorry, Hulu. Hulu is what has the oh okay show and the movie. um I was excited about it because, you know, I like Glenn Howerton. I like Jay Bear Rochelle and a lot of the other people that are in that movie. And so I was excited about it. Plus, I'd heard a lot of good things about it, but it really exceeded my expectations. I was way more into it than I thought I would be. Right on. Yeah. I dig it. Michael Ironside's in it? Hell yeah. Yeah, he showed up. And that was the week that I watched it, like the week that we did, I think, Total Recall. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was just showing up everywhere. And he showed up in something else that week that I was watching. It was a Michael Ironside week. We love Michael Ironside. We stand a legend. He's great.
00:28:53
Speaker
He's the best. absolutely um He's not, however, in Stay Alive. And I probably shouldn't say this, but I'm going to say it here on the disenfranchised pod and we'll see. I don't know. I don't know. It might not be. So I don't think Stay Alive is a millennial nasty, but I think it'll have a place in my second book. Oh, and that is all I'll say for now. You heard it here first, listeners, disenfranchoids and disenfranchites. Disenfranchising news. There's not, there's not, there's not a book deal yet.
00:29:33
Speaker
Not yet. It's it's it's an idea. It's an outline. It's a dream. Stay alive is in there. So I don't know. Maybe you should stay alive to find out what happens with that or something. Look, we're all doing our best. Jesus Christ. And also in September by Ari's book and then like if she sells a whole bunch of them, then publishing company will be like, please, please, please write another one. Sure. to Be like, actually, I got you. Yeah, true. 10 steps ahead. So that's all I'll say for now. I do think Stay Alive has a home in a different micro genre. All right.
Ariel's Work and Insights on 'Stay Alive'
00:30:12
Speaker
Right on. But not one that you're willing to christen at this moment. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That would be bad luck. Fair enough. That's fair. I mean, we're, we're happy to be sitting with the woman that gave us Millennial Nasties. So yeah.
00:30:28
Speaker
But there's more to come is what I'm hearing. And literally, we get the scoop. A thing we have never gotten before. I've never said that anywhere else yet. So there you go. Fuck yeah. Heard it here first. beautiful. Well, let's start talking and do about this movie. This is a movie that we all watched. And it is a movie that has a plot. And usually when that happens, we try to describe that plot in 60 seconds or less and that
00:31:00
Speaker
is what we call the plot in 60 seconds. It is the part of the show where we, as I just said, describe the plot in 60 seconds or less. Usually that is done at the behest of the coin of justice, the D6 of destiny, or the Canadian quarter of indifference. But since we have a guest who is so gracious, she has opted, elected, and volunteered to do the plot for this film in 60 seconds or less. Ari, I have got 60 seconds on the plot. You guys know this makes me so nervous. Here's the thing. I mean 60 seconds is just a benchmark. We'll let you keep going, but I You know how I am. Okay, it's I'm ready though I will give you the 30 and 10 second warnings and your time will start whenever you do Okay, let's give it a 3 2 1
00:31:49
Speaker
It's 2006 and Hollywood producers just learned the term beta testing and they wanna know, how do you do fellow kids? After Loomis is killed horribly playing a quote unquote virgin video game called Stay Alive, his friend group decides to boot it up and get sucked in to honor his memory. You must begin the game with a prayer to Elizabeth Bathory, who is not a Hungarian countess from the 16th century, but just some jerk who abused girls in a Louisiana plantation. But she's a woman in STEM and we love her for that. Anyway, she kills people who play her game and Hutch and the Gang have to try and stop her. But will they stay alive? No, some of them die. But do they stop her? No, they don't. And her game makes it all with Game Inform Magazine.
00:32:31
Speaker
we've got so much time left. See? You didn't even need the full 60 seconds. I know, but I get so nervous and sweaty. And then I like don't say words correctly. So whatever. It's fine. You guys get the gist. Elizabeth Bathory, woman in STEM, coding queen. First of all, I read your letterbox review as I was sitting down to like pull up all my systems. And I The way that I cackled, Ari, when I read your women when you're woman in STEM, God, what a brava can I just say, brava. I mean, she had to learn to code from the grave. Like, talk about going back to school later in life. So late in life she was dead. Right. yeah Like, that's literally late from life, really. The latest in life you can possibly get. Right. Yeah, yeah.
00:33:25
Speaker
God, this this is cut when when Steven gives the description of the plot in 60 seconds, he always says 60 seconds or less. So, yeah, you know, you came in a little early, but it it's fine. I think in the immortal words of a con still counts. Is that a con who says that in the in the Lonely Island song? I just had sex. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a con. Yeah. I thought it was T-Pain, but that must be T-Pain's I'm on a boat. I'm on a boat. Yeah, you're right. You guys, it seems like a good time to bring up the Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast. You guys been listening to that? I have not, no. I barely have time to listen to the podcast anymore. um It's really, really, really, really, really good. if Especially if you are a fan of or were someone who experienced
00:34:13
Speaker
a lot of those digital shorts when they were airing, whether it was on YouTube or like actually watching SNL, it's a really fascinating deep dive. They go episode, every episode that they had a digital short in, they talk about the the digital short and then they talk about the episode in general and they've gotten to the end of the first season and now they're going to do an episode on Hot Rod, which is a fantastic film. future episode of this podcast, Hot Rod. and Really? When? Tomorrow? Can we do it? Hey, I noticed there was some holes in the schedule in a couple of months. Can we do it then? We haven't scheduled already. When? I will tell you this. It will be after Ari's next appearance.
00:34:55
Speaker
You guys, pools are great for holding water. I'm excited. I have never seen Hot Rod. I'm excited. Oh, I'm so excited for you. Ian McShane in that one. on that one, yeah. we are and We have a returning guest for that episode. And c Sissy Spacek as well. Carrie herself. Yeah, dude. do yeah Not to be confused with the rage Carrie too. Which is an incredible film. Girl, you know it. I feel like we're playing pretty fast and loose with the word incredible here, but you know. Oh, it's fantastic. We don't have time. oh So before it's time, that movie, let me say,
00:35:40
Speaker
I like your Rage Carry 2 poster, Tucker. Just got that a couple of weeks ago. He did. That's a new edition. He's got he's got two two previous episodes up there, an episode of Unenfranchised with the Rage Carry 2 and an episode of The Main Feed with Idle Hands. The only episode I was not on. That's true. Yeah. It's about sending a message. Are we going to do an episode on Empire Records? I ah i don't know. You got to put it on straight up. I mean, like. No, I mean, it was one of those flash the pan teen movies, even if it made a lot of money, I couldn't see a sequel being made. It's like I want to fudge. I want to fudge the rules and include it on a regular main feed episode, but I just don't think I could know. It's not obscure enough or weird enough to to be on straight up. Damn. All right, you were saying.
00:36:35
Speaker
I just can I tell you my empire record record story real fast. I would love that. Okay, wait you do. Okay, so I grew up in a pretty small town where we all kind of knew each other like from preschool to through 12th grade pretty much. And a new girl moved in and about 10th grade and she was super cool. We were all hanging out And she was from a different state and she knew a lot of different stuff from us, different movies and things. And so she was like, oh my God, you guys haven't seen Empire Records. You've got to watch Empire Records. It's the best. I always watch it with my friends back home, blah, blah, blah. And so we were like, okay, this is cool. But she was also like, in many ways, a lot more innocent and sheltered than the friend group I was in. And this will become clear soon.
00:37:19
Speaker
so In the scene in Empire Records where Liv Tyler is undressing for Rex Manning, first she takes off her shirt, red bra. Great. Love it. Planned for her day. Yep. Love that. But then she takes off her skirt and it's just white underwear. so yeah and's for sure It's matching color. Like I get it under a skirt. You got to wear full coverage underwear. I get that. But it wasn't even red. It was just white. And so there was the girl who was showing us the movie and like really excited to to like show us this thing that she loved. And then all of us trash heap goblins from the fucking trash. Fucking hood rats.
00:38:00
Speaker
And when she took her skirt off, we all went, oh, like disappointed and live Tyler. And we had to literally pause the movie to explain to this new girl, like, she didn't match her bra to her panties. This is fucked up. Like, why do you think she's gonna and she had like never thought of this before. So ah that's how I know I'm trash. And that is the first episode of my pod. How do you know you're trash? How do you know your trash? Episode one, Empire Records. Yeah. ah Subtitle, The Day I Knew.
00:38:35
Speaker
yeah yeah Anyway. I mean, it feels like now we have to do an episode on Empire Records just so we can have Ari back to tell that story on it. It could be like a Patreon special or I don't know. Yeah. Some kind of something else. Listeners, if you want an Empire Records episode, you're going to have to demand it because it's not going to happen otherwise. So write in the comments down below. you know Do Empire Records. It's Rex Manning Day. Make it happen. And of course, the place to find the comments are on our Patreon, patreon dot.com slash disenfranch pod. If you sign up at the free level, you too can join in the conversation. It's free, you chuckle fucks. Sign up. Free, you chuckle fucks. And we respond to every comment. have ah Is there a comment I haven't responded to? I don't think so.
00:39:25
Speaker
no Test Tucker, leave a hundred comments. See if he can respond to all of them. he and You know what? He'll try and he'll probably succeed. Yeah, see what's up. I mean, Ari's there. ah Yeah, here I am. So there you go.
Media Nostalgia and Game Mechanics Critique
00:39:38
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And then if you want some bonus content, you just throw us five bucks and we'll we'll give you, you can listen to that Rage Carry 2 episode that we've got back behind. The first of many, yeah. Apparently that's a thing we're doing now. Rage Carry 2 comes once a year like Christmas. It's an annual episode, the most wonderful time of the year, the time we talk about the Rage Carry 2. It's my favorite time of the year. I can't even get through that with a straight face. um
00:40:11
Speaker
Yeah, um, so I don't know anything about the PlayStation 2. But when this movie started, I was like, cringing because of how terrible the graphics looked. And then I realized, oh, no, wait, this is supposed to be bad video game ground. This is like, early, like mid 2000s video game graphics. They were pretty good for 2006, weren't they? Yeah, I would say that they were more ah They were more next gen because in 2006, you had things like you had the original Xbox, you had the PlayStation 2 and you had the, well, you had the Dreamcast technically, um but you had the GameCube as well. um but yeah we wouldn't We wouldn't get graphics that looked like the ones in the film until the next generation with like the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 and to a much lesser extent than Nintendo Wii. Yeah.
00:41:03
Speaker
Right. Yeah. So but yeah, I mean, this looks like it kind of looked a little Final Fantasy movie to me. Future episode of this podcast. Final Fantasy, The Spirits Within. I wish that movie didn't look so good because it's so fucking boring. yeah Nothing happens in that movie, but it's so beautiful, like especially at the time, like to see CGI yeah like that. This is at a much lower level than that, Steven, I would say. OK, OK. I I trust you implicitly because I don't have the the foundation of knowledge for this shit. Well, because that final fantasy, that final fantasy movie looked good as hell. And it came out in like 2002, 2001 ish. Yeah, 2001.
00:41:48
Speaker
So yeah, it that is it. Look, it's a future episode of this podcast. It's coming up. We're going to cover it at some point. That's cool. I would i like to talk about how pretty it looks. I like the pretty light else. I don't know anything about Final Fantasy either, so that'll be fun. Hmm. There's ah there's. How much time do you have? You're coming back for that episode, then? No, no. Thank you. Surely there is someone more knowledgeable you could get for that ah than than myself.
00:42:20
Speaker
With Final Fantasy, it's not about the story being convoluted or the story is not being related. Final Fantasy is more of just a world that a whole bunch of different stories take place in. Sometimes they relate to each other. Sometimes they don't, but they all happen in the same world. Sometimes it's the same characters. Sometimes it's not. yeah Final Fantasy VI has a scary clown. That's kind of fun. We do like a scary clown on this podcast. Yeah, absolutely. Now the reason I mentioned ah how kind of discombobulated the whole continuity of the series is, is because the movie has nothing to do with any of the games. um Nothing at all. And it doesn't even take place in the same time period as most of the games that came before the film. It takes place way in the future. it's its It was very weird when that movie came out. I was like, this doesn't look like Final Fantasy at all. There's motorcycles? What's happening? I don't understand. Final Fantasy by way of Akira, maybe? I don't know.
00:43:20
Speaker
Yes. Oh, man. What a what a what a wild thing the movies are. um Stay alive. Tucker, what if any video game touchpoint is there for the stay alive video game within a film? Well, that's a difficult question to answer because the way they present it, it could be interpreted as something that is realistic, but They, they fumble it. Like for example, so when everybody comes over to homeboy's house to play the game, it's set for Adam Goldberg, who's at his office. They have one display monitor or TV, whatever they're using. They have one. They are all holding a controller. and They are all playing, but they're all seeing the same thing. And it's cinematic. It's not, sometimes it's a point of view. Sometimes the camera moves around.
00:44:16
Speaker
It's not how video games work. Even now, you would probably need a split screen or you'd need to be like connected over the internet so that you'd have two instances of the game going on. The cameras in video games don't work that way. You have to focus on something. you know um So there's some stuff that kind of is similar to the way they present it is. Sometimes it's in first person. Sometimes it's in third person. so There are some stuff like Silent Hill and Resident Evil, of course, things that came out ah around, well, before that, but were popular at the time that this definitely takes a lot of influence from thematically and and tonally as far as the game goes.
00:45:03
Speaker
um But there was something actually, I read something that the, no, that was something else. I just got confused with something, another movie that I watched this week that I did kind of a deep dive on after it. so strike that tucker edit that out
00:45:20
Speaker
please you know you can
00:45:24
Speaker
You can think of Stay Alive as a movie about the fear of video games, um and it is. And like video games have have had their time in the sun to be blamed for violence, right? So it has music, so it has movies, so it has books. like All media can get blamed for bad things happening, and there's ah like a good discussion to be had about that. and But stay alive isn't so much a fear of video games as it is a fear of the internet because it's a video game that relies on you connecting to people who aren't there, which is a scary 2006 internet thing. Right. And also this idea of like, if you're using the internet, people can get into your stuff, you're not safe, you're opening, it's almost like using a Ouija board, you open a portal to demons or whatever, it's like, oh, if you hop on a multiplayer game, now any countess can get into your house and kill you. Damn those countesses.
00:46:27
Speaker
And the 2000s were really, there was a lot of like fear of the internet movies that were happening at this time, just kind of like off the top of my head, there was Pulse, which is excellent from 2001. Can you tell me some of this podcast Pulse? Oh, can I please, can I please? I'd say put Ari down for that one, please. Thank you, thank you. I mean, listen, not to invite myself, but I'm gonna invite myself. Ari, if you've got the time, you're Ari. Ari's welcome. Any time, seriously, any time. So yeah, Paul's Fear dot.com. I remember Fear dot.com. It's Jeffrey Combs and ah fucking um ah Stephen Dorff. Could also be called Fear dot.com dot.com because that's the website.
00:47:12
Speaker
aye Dotcom for murder is another one. I feel like I'm forgetting hundreds, but there were so many early 2000s, like the internet's in our home. Our kids are on the internet. what What's bad that they could find? And Stay Alive does that through a video game, but it feels more like an internet fear to me. Well, and that's very it's very um of the time, too, because like the ability of a like a regular standard person to play a video game with someone online, something like a console game or like a real game and such like a flash game or something was pretty new. It was only like, you know, like two, two years since Xbox Xbox Live was a thing. Mm hmm.
00:47:57
Speaker
Of course, you've been able to do it on computers before that, but I'm talking about like mainstream, like everybody was playing games online now, like yeah on their consoles. And that had only been around for a couple of years. So this movie is kind of right, right where it needs to be. Perfect time in the perfect place. Yes, I think it's quite the time capsule. um And it's funny, we were joking earlier, like maybe not joking, that nobody who ever worked on a video game worked on this movie. And there are definitely shades of that. like They all have headsets on when they're in the same room. That seems unnecessary. They're trying to communicate with Adam Goldberg. Well, if they talk i have to talk to Adam Goldberg, yeah, that would be a thing. but I suppose. But do they all need one? um I mean, you just get one big podcast mic in the middle of the room. and
00:48:47
Speaker
Well, now, technically, if they had um the Xbox Kinect, right, they could have done that because it has a mic. And that's a few years later yet. Right. But I'm saying that's a whole bunch of years later. That's like six, seven years later. OK, because that's paranormal activity for. Oh, yeah, they're going to connect in that one. Yeah, man. You see the look. I stopped at the the one that was ah after the third one, the spinoff one. What was that one called? Paranormal Activity 4 is 2012. Okay. So the fifth one is the marked ones. So if you watch, okay. So did you watch four with the Xbox connect? I don't think so. I think the the last main, like the numbered, last main numbered entry that I watched, I think was three. um And I was like, ah, just did by kind of stretching it too thin for me. And so.
00:49:43
Speaker
But then when marked ones came out, I got it for free on digital code. So nice. And I like it. Yeah, a lot. Listen to our pod in the pendulum franchise breakdown on the paranormal activity. Definitely do. It's very, very good. Definitely listen to the marked ones. Absolutely for sure. You should. Yeah. Ari, I have bad news. Oh, no. The 2006 film Pulse did get two sequels. However, the 2001 Japanese film. That's what I want anyway. Did not. OK. I've not seen the remake American. The American pulse got two sequels. You haven't seen. Yes. Pulse two afterlife and pulse three both released in 2008. Direct DVD. Both released. OK, well, I guess I'm going to have to watch those because they sound like exactly my bullshit.
00:50:35
Speaker
probably writing on my little post it here they're probably on to be or free to stream on like voodoo or canopy or something yeah yes oh I love canopy shout out to local libraries fucking a canopy rules also hoopla shout out to hoopla as well Yeah, if you guys don't know, at least in the States for sure, a lot of your local libraries have a free streaming service you can access with your library card. It's called Canopy with K. And if you have a library card, you can use that to like watch movies in your home for free. So like, don't sleep on the library, guys. I'm always telling you this. Yes. sir And you know what? The movie that Tucker and I were talking about earlier, Dead Presidents, is on Hoopla. So there you go. Get it.
00:51:20
Speaker
It's also on my voodoo if you're one of the 35 people who have access to that. Yeah, I am. And well, some of the people that are listening do as well, so I'm just letting them know. I ah maybe we should make that a separate Patreon tier where you like pay us freedom um access to my food and Tucker gives you access to his food. I bet I have different for movies and Tucker on my voodoo. Yo, hey, they used to remember they used to have that thing where you could share your library with somebody. No, I don't remember. You don't do that anymore. Well, Voodoo, you used to have this thing where you could have like three friends that you share your library with and they could watch your movies and you could watch all of theirs. Man, why did they kind of take everything that away? And it was the radish shit ever. I don't know, dude, but it was so cool. I wish I were still around because I'm trying to see what's in your Voodoo library. Yeah. Well, maybe we can work that out. We'll see what happens. See how it goes. I love this for us.
00:52:19
Speaker
we're We're planning all sorts of fun stuff on the on the disenfranchised podcast.
Character Dynamics and Stereotypes in 'Stay Alive'
00:52:23
Speaker
Look, why do people not, why do more people not listen to this podcast? It's the best. um We're great and awesome. um So yeah, um Elizabeth Bathory, actual person, except not this person. Right. It's like they took elements of a historical figure to to go in this story. So she was a Hungarian countess. Right. It's like they forgot to change your name is what I'm saying. It's like they based it on somebody and they were like, wait, are we going to change? We got to change all this stuff. But oh, shit, we forgot to change her name. I was going to say, it feels like they combined aspects of her and then another like serial killer like in Louisiana, who is like the main focus of like one of the seasons of American Horror Story. This is exactly what I was going to say, Steven. You and I had the same brainwave like Madame Lolerie. Yes. And Elizabeth Bathory. They just sort of smashed those two together because Elizabeth Bathory
00:53:19
Speaker
She supposedly did bathe in like blood of younger women to like stay young, which is very LA right now. To help her stay alive. Stay And Madame Lawlery was in Louisiana. And so, yeah, they just kind of like smashed them together. And there's this weird like, okay, so I have to know, I have the director's cut Do you guys know if you watched the director's cut or the theatrical cut? I am positive I watched the theatrical cut. theatrical cut Whichever the one that I was rentable on YouTube is the one I watched. I don't think it was the director's cut. It would have let you know. um yeah and Yeah, you watched the theatrical cut. We watched the theatrical cut. And I have actually never seen. And I've seen this film, which if we hadn't skipped the what's your history with this movie part, you would have known that I've seen this film.
00:54:11
Speaker
A bunch of times like we can always we can always go back to it and we kind of hit a little hit it a little bit anyway. But what I was saying, though, is I've seen this movie probably eight times since it came out because I'm not in love with it. But damn, every time I think about it, I'm like, oh, I should I should I know that because it's fun. Like it's real bad, but like in kind of the best way. And there's actually some stuff that's really good, too. That's what kind of makes it very entertaining is it's real bad. but in a good way, but also sometimes it's real good in a good way as well. Kind of like the Carrie remake. Yes. Yeah. And there's a plot point in the director's cut that really makes it doesn't make the story different. It's not like an escape room to situation, but it's like they so they add a plot point in the director's cut where the game developer is living in the old plantation.
00:55:09
Speaker
Have you ever seen this version, Tucker? Oh, no, I want to, though. Every time I'm yeah like, man, I wish I was watching the director's cut, because I always read about like this extra subplot with the extra character. ah Yeah, yeah. And I didn't realize that wasn't in it, because I think I've maybe only seen this version, or I don't remember seeing the other version. But um I guess in the theatrical cut, it's just sort of like Elizabeth Bathory learns to code. But like in the director's cut, She like influences a game developer to like do this for her and he like lives in her house and they go there. I would be interested to see that for sure. Yeah, you should. You should seek it out. That's what I want to see. Bathory is played by Alice Kriege, no? No. She does not play Elizabeth Bathory. So they go to like they go to like a witchy shop to get more information. Oh, OK.
00:56:07
Speaker
And Alice Krieg is playing like, like a, not like a harbinger, but like a knowledgeable witchy person. And she's trying to sound like, maybe sort of French or like Cajun, but she basically just doesn't pronounce her R's. So she's saying like, Elizabeth Bathooie. Oh, no. And like all this different stuff. where she's just sort of like w-ing over her R's and it's a very odd choice. That is a choice. Um, so that's one reason to buy the DVD. Sounds like, God, that sounds amazing. Um, I just did. Yeah, man. there is no Do you want to know something else about the DVD? Do I? what's that So we've talked about, I think we talked about this before, maybe not, maybe as a fever dream, but
00:56:57
Speaker
I love a good DVD menu, right? Like you guys, oh, DVD menus, they just hit different back in the day. This one has a game. You wake up and it's still going? Yes, that is good shit. I have done that. So when you pop this DVD in, there's a game you can play where you select one one of the characters, like one of the characters from the movie, clothing and a weapon. And if you select the right combination, it takes you to a special features menu. But if you select the wrong combination, you get like a death scene. Yo, I love those little, uh, the little codes they'd put in DVDs. They did it all the time. The Memento DVD. If you do a certain button press. I'm not familiar.
00:57:43
Speaker
Well, on the Memento DVD, the first one that came out that it looks like a patient file and it's like a two disk thing. I used to have that when I'm so mad at you anymore. If you put in if you put in a certain code, like left, right, up, down, A, B, A, B, start or whatever, you can watch the movie in order. Like, re-cut in order. Chronologically. It's like from the beginning to the end instead of the end to the beginning like it is in the film spoilers. That's fucking crazy. Yeah. Yeah, and there was all kinds of shit like that. I remember that on all kinds of DVDs where you would- Final Destination 3 had a death clock. Yes, I do remember that one too, man. I love the DVD menu. This is why we are physical media apologists on this podcast. We don't apologize for it, we celebrate it. No, I mean, like defenders. Don't hate celebrate. No, that's what I'm saying, dude.
00:58:35
Speaker
Yeah, but I like I like to think of it more as like we're just over here being like oh you don't like whole media whatever Original Greek definition. Oh, but you're saying more like we're missionaries like we're going out and spreading the gospel of DVD I mean, no, we're not evangelists. I am paul well, all right what you i'm not i Man, I don't apologize for shit, especially not DVD Stephen So I'm celebrating over no you guys apologize Sorry agreeing I think you guys are agreeing, and I think it's okay. I'm sorry that I said that I don't apologize. I apologize. I'm just being a... um' um My minor was in was in Greek, so I'm being a Greek nerd right now. That's neat. Yeah. That's kind of fun. Eating us a bunch of Greek salad? Is that what you're doing, Steven? No, it was... I love Greek salad. I mean, who doesn't?
00:59:24
Speaker
Greek food in general is amazing. Oh, yeah, man. I was no I was a I was a theology major in college. So I studied New Testament Greek as a minor picked up a minor in New Testament Greek. So flex. yeah i'm it If I you know what, if I knew if I could isn't though any of it maybe but no.
00:59:44
Speaker
More like a party trick, really, that affects. Really, yeah. That's that's more true. like Like my actual stupid human party trick. I'm still impressed, but... Which is what? My actual stupid human party trick? i Should I say it? off the Should I say it? No, because i can stump you I can stump you right now. I can stump you right now. I mean, is it the one you used to stump me last time? What are you talking about? What's happening? I have an uncanny knack. I know, I will say most. I will not say all, but I will say I know most the lyrics to most TV theme songs of shows released between, say, when I was born and even before to like the year 2000. Okay.
01:00:27
Speaker
Like TV, so TV show, themes are and TV Yes. Okay. And the theme songs with lyrics. Right. But yeah, I will say I know most not all really good at it. He's it's it's it's a fun thing to do. It is. And he I think he has managed to stump me once before. What was the stumper? What was it? I don't remember. I don't. I was going to stump you with Roundhouse this time. Oh, yeah. A show you know I've never watched. so Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it counts. It does. What about 227? I know. Did 227 have lyrics? Yeah, I did. Oh, then yeah. I have no idea.
01:01:06
Speaker
okay I but mean, I know to do seven. I just don't look long. I'm not trying to embarrass you, Steven. That's that's all I'm saying. I mean, it just seems really unimpressive to name two shows. You know, I don't know the words to. OK, here's what I want. This will be just because not only do I want to redeem myself and make you look better, but also I want to hear you saying this. Steven, how I wonder if you know the facts of life, what you know about? I mean, I know that. You take the good, you take the bad, you take the both. There you have the facts of life, the facts of life. There's a time you gotta go and show you're grown and now you know about the facts of life, the facts of life. When the world never sees you've been living up to your dreams and suddenly you're finding out the facts of life are all about you, all about you.
01:01:58
Speaker
All about you. who It takes a lot to get a ride when you're learning the facts of life. Yes. Learning the facts of life. Yes. Learning the facts of life. Bravo. Bravo. That was great. Yeah, that's again it's it's a silly thing that I know. Because as a kid, I was obsessed with TV theme songs. And so I went to and learned a lot of them. It's so much fun. It is whenever I go on our friends podcast. um
01:02:36
Speaker
Uh, hi on cartoons. Uh, I invariably will end up doing at least one Disney afternoon song. Um, because they, they're doing DuckTales, the 2017 reboot. oh woohoo to be wo And I'll be on, I'll be on a couple episodes in a row. I hope actually texted me earlier this morning was like, Hey, you want to do two episodes in a row? I'm like, yes. So I'm going to do the gizmo duck episode and the dark wing duck episode. So back to back. You about, you about to get dangerous, Steven. Oh yeah. Oh, you know it. Um, and speaking of getting dangerous, I hear that if you die in the video game, stay alive, you die in real life. What's that about? It's never been done before in cinematic history. BT does never. Right. And it needed to be done. No. Uh, since, uh,
01:03:29
Speaker
No, I think probably not. I mean, this feels like very kind of a once you do it, it's done and you really can't revisit it without people going. Well, haven't we done this already? I was being silly because it had been done like there was that X-Files episode and an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark and like sure, but not a film. That's well. Right. Probably not. Maybe not. I'm going to say probably not. With an asterisk, results may vary after research. I've never seen Tron. Is that how Tron works? If you die in Tron, you die in real life. I don't think anybody dies in Tron. Okay. But if they did. But if they did. Because, I mean, we've done kind of, we've done video game movies before. Like I think our very first episode, we do a deep dive on like video game movies pre 1993. And there aren't a lot of them.
01:04:17
Speaker
I think there is like a made for TV video game movie at one point that's a horror movie that might do something similar to that, but I can't speak because I've never seen it. Well, and I'm certainly not trying to say nay or anything or be a naysayer, but I just I feel like. There was something maybe it wasn't a video game, though, like if you like maybe you go into a movie or a TV show or something, that's definitely something I'd seen. I feel like stay tuned. oh yeah Speaking of movies that start with the word stay. Yes. John Ritter in that one. I like that one. And but then also Pleasantville. The devil is played by Jeffrey. We don't put him in movies anymore for certain reasons. Jones. Yes. There you go. Yeah. Very, very. Jones. Very specific. There's a reason his character dies and then in the upcoming. He did. He did. He very conveniently dead. Yeah, dude's word. Stay stay tuned. That's a good one.
01:05:17
Speaker
You can get the soundtrack on vinyl now. I don't know why, but I keep seeing ads for it. I'm like, well, who wants that? Who cares? um probably Any else? fan I guess. Yeah. Here's the thing. Tim Burton, there's a I feel like there's a cult of personality around Tim Burton. Yeah. But Tim Burton didn't stay tuned. No. You can get the stay tuned soundtrack on vinyl. Yeah, that's what I said. Oh, I thought you were talking Beetlejuice still. Nothing. Oh, I'd get that soundtrack. Yeah, that soundtrack makes sense. But not on vinyl. I get it on CD so I could skip around because I don't like all the tracks. Yeah, that's fair. I mean, you could just always, you know, lift the arm and like lower it in the spot you want. Oh, Steven. What are you trying to do, man? Come on. Kill my ignorance, apparently. I'm just saying the further the further into the center of the record you get, the more difficult it is to do that, the more no matter
01:06:12
Speaker
Then no matter what kind of weight you have on it or any skipped stuff going on there, like you get like past half, you're going to have a bad time trying to do that. It's going to jump around everywhere. Fair enough. Can be kind of a flex if you can do it, though. Yeah, it's true. It's true. So this movie populated almost entirely by TV actors is what I'm what I'm seeing here. um the Adam Goldberg was a film actor. I feel like I feel like he's he's your one
01:06:47
Speaker
easier But it's very much that early 2000s thing or that 2000s horror thing in particular where we take a bunch of like TV actors that are about to pop and we throw them in our movie. That way all the kids that are fans of their WB shows that they tend to be on will come to our movie and watch it. I mean, that's, they did that with Scream. They did that with I Know What You Did Last Summer. Like that was a very, from the from the late 90s on that's kind of been a very popular trope even later in the decade when we get to like the Friday the 13th in my bloody Valentine remakes like you get the kids from supernatural in there and my wind boy
01:07:27
Speaker
get your Get your little Winchester boys, the second time we brought up Supernatural in this episode, that's wild. um But yeah, like you but you have ah John Foster from the short-lived show, Life is We Know It, younger brother of Ben Foster, ah Frankie Muniz, of course, from Malcolm in the Middle, Samir Armstrong. ah from the OC, just kind of finishing up her run on the OC at the time. Mila Ventimiglia, who is like getting ready to do Heroes. yeah Even Wendell Pierce has done like at least three seasons of The Wire up to this point.
01:08:04
Speaker
so like Yeah. A lot of TV actors in this movie. He didn't really have to, you know, stray far from what he was already doing there in this film. No, not at all. He pretty much played the same character, I feel like. I was going to as soon as he showed up, I'm like, it's Bunkmoreland. And that he pretty much plays Bunkmoreland in this. movie So I watched I watched The Wire much later than it aired. So i mine was the opposite. I was like, oh, it's the cop from Stay Alive. It's the same guy. Same fucking guy. yeah I love that he said this. I take it you saw this movie in theaters, then Tucker? I did not see it in theaters, but I did rent it um pretty pretty close to when it came out on DVD. I rented it. Okay. Yeah. I remember how the trailer, thank Frankie Munna saying, if you die in the game, you die for real. That became such a meme for a while. Yeah. And then he doesn't even say it in the movie, at least not in the version I have. No.
01:09:01
Speaker
He doesn't even say it. It's like he's doing this little rant later where he's like, you know, going off about how things are going and what they have to do. And you could feel it coming. You could feel that they you're waiting for it, but they cut it out of the movie for some reason. I don't know why. Yeah. And he feels like the the kind of the Jamie Kennedy in screen yeah kind of character. Like he's the guy who knows all about video games. He feels like he's going to be much more of like a font of information for this movie. and the movie never really delivers on that. like There's not much in this movie that distinguishes his character from that of say, the Jimmy Simpson character, honestly.
01:09:42
Speaker
this is a weird band of friends like it is so you've got spooky chick october which what a great name like if you're named october you're guaranteed to be a spooky person yeah and her nasty horrible brother fin who nobody would want to spend time with and then you've got hutch who's like normal except he's so afraid of fire he can't be even be around like a friend lighting a cigarette right And then you've got Swink, who wears his plastic visor upside down and sideways so you know he's quirky, I guess. you know he's an idiot And then you've got the manic pixie dream girl coming in from out of town. Taking pictures at a funeral, which is a totally normal thing to fucking do.
01:10:25
Speaker
Yeah, taking pictures of strangers. It's like you've got October being the cool girl. And Abigail being the sort of she's not manic, but she is definitely a pixie dream girl. Yeah. And so we have all the different women tropes that we need in this movie. All both of them. Yes. And it's an interesting band of friends as like many slashers of the 90s and 2000s. You're like, Why do you guys hang out? Well, I would I would submit that in gaming culture, especially now, maybe not so much then, but like you pretty much randomly just met people online. And I feel like if this group were not already like didn't already know each other, it would make more sense that they had met online and then became friends in real life, because that's what this group says to me, because they're all so different. They just have like a game in common, you know, that they all played together. So now they're pals.
01:11:24
Speaker
yeah that happens That shit happens all the time in online gaming. That's true. But yeah but it does also feel like they've known each other forever. yeah it's it's It reeks of Saved by the Bell to me. Like where you have the nerdiest kid in school, is best friends with the prepiest kid in school, is best friends with the biggest jock in school, is dating like the political feminist, who's best friends with the head cheerleader, who's also best friends with the most fashionable girl in school. And they all hang out together. like No high school dynamic is like that. And I feel like that's kind of this group of friends, but you're also kind of ticking off these kind of mid 2000s movie archetypes. Like you need the cool girl, you need the manic pixie, you need the normal guy, you need the perv, you need the weirdo. Like we're just ticking the boxes so that we've got, you know, our horror movie archetypes, but we can't make any of them too compelling. Cause then we're not going to want to see these kids we die. We can't make any of them not white.
01:12:23
Speaker
That's certainly not. What are you insane? In 2006? Yeah. Look, we can get to the cops. In the South? Okay, just take it, all right? They're in Louisiana. What are you, you know? I was like, this 2006, we can't just get like one black guy? Right. Come on. We did. He's the cop, okay? Oh, yeah, okay. All right. I meant like as a friend group, you know? Oh, no. Oh, please. The main characters. I mean, yeah. Big. Hmm. Yeah, no, it again, it reeks of that kind of mid 2000s horror thing where you were just like the whitest kids, you know, but not the comedy group. And Scream 2 was like, oh, wait, maybe we should put some blood at least let a few black people die at the beginning. Right. Let them get first ones killed off because it's all slasher movie. Oh, yeah, that's God. I love it. Oh, this racism is killing me inside.
01:13:20
Speaker
Oh, it's the worst. um God, yeah, this. And yeah, but
Exploring Horror Film Tropes and Rules
01:13:27
Speaker
this movie is very indicative of its time and its place in that regard. um Is it is it right? No, fuck no. But is it what the what it is? 2006 and it is a time capsule. I also like that it tries to invent spooky rules that we all just agree we know, even though they're bullshit. Yeah. So the undead can't cross the twig of a wild rose. That's not a thing. That's not a thing. But October says it. Like, it's like, ah, yes, as we all know. With this is such conviction. Yeah. As is well known by all.
01:14:05
Speaker
Right. And so it's just like, that's the only way to survive in the game. And we all just accept that we knew that even though we did that. That's exactly it. Yeah. But and I'm like, okay, well, does she read about this? ski No, this game is a brand new game that none of them have ever heard before. It's not even new. It hasn't even been released yet. Virgin game, they call it. I got Virgin Interactive. Yes. That's what I thought of. I'd be like, oh, so Virgin is distributing this? That's crazy. Cool. Were they in the video game in 2006? That's wild. Also, is Lumis, is it me or is Lumis just like the most used name in horror films? Like just the most homaged name in horror? Romero, Carpenter, Craven are up there as well.
01:14:54
Speaker
Carpenter is in there a lot, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, like, that's a... Loomis is a character name. Like, that's a character from Psycho that gets used in and Halloween, gets used in Scream, gets used here. And there are probably several other instances of it being used that I'm not aware of, but like... Also, what's up with Loomis' living situation? Like, he walks in on... A couple that I guess he rooms with. They're having sex. The man has a pig mask on. Very Saw-esque.
01:15:31
Speaker
Yeah, they just stop having sex to talk to him and like chide him a little bit and he just leaves. I'm like, what is with this? I don't remember that part. That's the beginning of the movie, dude. I remember Meelo. Oh, I was eating though and it was really good. So maybe I got lost. Oh, that might be it. That might be it. What were you eating? It was really good. Look, okay. So I've been good for two weeks. So today I got some Burger King. I got an Impossible Whopper and some mozzarella fries, and it was so fulfilling. And I may have gotten lost in that. Just the pleasure of consuming it. Yeah, I understand sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. Especially when you've been good for so long. Sure. For so long. Are you vegetarian? I am. Right on. I'm vegan.
01:16:22
Speaker
what's up nice I eat whatever will fit down my gullet and that's cool right on if that is cool too what else yeah cuz it's personal hell yeah yeah do yeah anyway anyway feel free to cut this now that everyone knows all of our dietary preferences invite us to your homes for dinner don't do that yes we probably won't come and if you want a challenge um The other thing I like about this movie, okay, so sidebar, two things that are always true in movies. Number one, if a woman pukes, she's pregnant. yes oh yeah Number two, if a woman has to pee, it leads to some horrible tragedy. Men should hold their bladders and not pee because everybody gets murdered. This is a movie where a woman has to pee and nothing bad comes of it. And I love that.
01:17:17
Speaker
You know, you're you're so right about the the woman puking and she's pregnant. It's always every time like it's like parallel to the if you cough blood into a tissue, you're going to die. You're going to die. Yeah. Yes. And I look i like I let you guys know there have been a few times in my life that that I've maybe coughed up a little blood and I'm fine. I've puked a lot and not been pregnant and you have had been pregnant. How long is that? Yeah. movie magic. It's I mean, it's it's a shorthand because filmmakers on some level are inherently lazy. And so we have those short hands kind of built in. but We know, but they like, they become tropes though. Yeah, like, and we can call those out. Like, that's what scream does. It calls out the tropes while reveling in and celebrating and even subverting them. And I don't necessarily think a trope is a bad thing. Right, me either. Well, if it's done, it's like I was just talking earlier about Hot Fuzz. That's all that movie is, is tropes. Yeah. Do it in such a unique way that it's it's fresh again. And it works better and better every time. that That is a contender for an Easter egg heavy movie that I don't mind. Usually Easter egg heavy movies, I'm kind of like, oh, like who is this for?
01:18:31
Speaker
Well, it's a difference between if they're going, hey, look at this. Remember this? Look at that. Hey, guys. Hey, guys. Look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look. Or if they're just like, we're going to work this into the movie in a way that makes sense. And if you get it, that's cool. And if you don't, it doesn't hurt anything. Like a huge difference. Right. Agree. Yeah, they might. It's the difference between what I was doing before and then just kind of like nodding your head in a certain direction and winking at someone. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Hey, you see that? Yeah. Maybe. Maybe not. Who cares? Right. And I feel like the Cornetto trilogy in particular does that very well, whereas other like, say, legacy equals tend to not do that as well. Right. You know, even even Hot Fuzz, um I was actually watching a video about it last night after I finished watching it and they were talking about certain shots from so many different movies. Edgar Wright, like he is the best.
01:19:25
Speaker
plagiarist out there. And I don't mean plagiarist in a bad way because every artist of rips off another artist. Good artists borrow, great artists steal. Yes. And the way that he shoots this movie and the films and the shots that he's pulling from, he's not just pulling themes and references and dialogue, he is pulling a lot of actual shots from not only like action movies and stuff, but other kind of films as well, horror films. Like it's I might, you know, I might, I might send you a link to that video, you guys, because it was really interesting if you're because I didn't realize I didn't realize it was that deep and I love it when it goes that fucking love it. Right on. And transition.
01:20:11
Speaker
Um, yeah, again, don't mind tropes at all. Think tropes can be fun if used well. But I mean, there's there's a reason that shorthand exists. And it's because it's tried and true. um And people get it it. But it can also be a crutch for a lazy filmmaker, which is we maybe be not the best use of it in that instance.
01:20:35
Speaker
I will say the director of this film, his follow-up to this was a little movie called The Devil Inside. Does not make another movie for six years, does The Devil Inside, does where? W-E-R in 2013. And then he directs the entirety of The Boy franchise. Yep. That's a, yeah. I like The Boy. I think the boy is legit fun. I haven't seen Braum's the boy too. I've heard it's not as good. Let's hear it for the boy. Let's hear it for the boy. Let's give the boy a chance. Let's give the boy a hand. Well, I like the boy. I'm so sorry.
01:21:14
Speaker
i don't I don't know what it is. i I've heard about it, but I don't know what it is. It's a movie with, there's like a doll and like, is the doll alive or not? Or are the parents of the doll crazy? This girl's like supposed to be a caretaker for this for this son of this family. And they're like, the son is a doll. Or is he? Or is it? It's very good. It's a lot of fun. The boy is a lot of fun. I've heard the second one is not good. I haven't seen the second one. I'll watch it one
Analyzing 'Stay Alive's' Tension and Execution
01:21:45
Speaker
day. Uh, and then he also directed orphan first kill. Which I've heard good things about, but I have not seen, but pretty much everybody said that was fun. Yeah. That was a big, uh, I think the, uh, I think Mike saw orphan first killings. Like, well, we're doing orphan like, yeah yeah put it on the schedule for pod and pendulum. So yeah, I never got around to seeing the sequel, but I did like, I did like the original. Me too. Yeah.
01:22:07
Speaker
I probably should watch that. I totally fucking forgot about that, actually. Yeah, that that was like in that that weird, like early 2022, it was like that in my three again, like came out and we're kind of like Megan. I can't wait for the sequel, actually. That's that was a fun move. That was a good PG-13 horror movie. Like, wow, they really they they made it like a legitimate horror film and it was PG-13. I haven't seen it. Neither of them. You should. And you should see both versions, too, because the PG-13 version is worth watching because of how how it's still just as fucked up and scary as the unrated version. But then watch the unrated version for all the gore and shit. OK, twist my arm.
01:22:49
Speaker
Yeah, I was going to say, oh, yeah, you're going to you're going to get all ready to watch something with gore and shit. Come on. Who do you think you're talking to? Look, Megan, Megan is what the Chucky remake should have been. Sorry, the Child's Play remake should have been. Oh, OK. Which I didn't dislike that movie either. But I think Megan did the same thing. Just leagues better. See our episode on the pod in the pendulum on the Child's Play remake. Yes, which I thought that was it was basically a ah joint venture between the disenfranchised podcast and the pod in the pendulum. That's funny because I wasn't there. It's because that was before you came on board. OK, well, that's cool. Whatever. Yeah, you know, we did have a life before you came along, Tucker. Wow. No, look, you guys, I am the main character.
01:23:39
Speaker
OK, life starts and ends with when I come into your life. There's nothing for that. What the fuck am I doing here? I don't know. Like you're like Ryan Reynolds in that NPC movie he did. What's that fucking called? Free guy. Yeah, the fall guy. No, fall guy is Ryan Gosling. Oh, I mix up my Ryan's. It's OK. They're both dreamy Canadians. You're forgiven. Different meta commentaries on different entertainment sources. OK. Yeah, there you go. But similar. like Speaking of meta-commentaries, stay alive? Yes. So I think it executes the slasher formula really well through, like it is a fresh take, you know, this part part of the problem near the end is
01:24:30
Speaker
they have to physically go to where the horrors took place at this plantation, but it's also just sort of like a regular house in their town. um And so they're they're trying to kill this character that they can't see. So they have one person playing the game to sort of describe like where to go and what to look for. But then you've just got like homeboy with a hammer and a nail like hammering into random shit. trying to kill Elizabeth Bethry. It's actually like pretty good tension. Because you've got Abigail being swarmed by like these demon undead children. That's actually pretty scary. And like, someone has to come take her out of there. So you've got this
01:25:11
Speaker
you know, they're being killed by things they can't see, they have to try to kill something they can't see. And she's pretty good at staying alive, Miss Bathory. So, you know, she's not easy to kill. um So I do think it's like, it's a very solid slasher and executes the formula. It is very 2000s, you've got to be there for all the nonsense of the 2000s. Which is not everyone's cup of tea. and That's fine. Yeah. And then it gives you this sort of little stinger twist at the end where.
01:25:44
Speaker
You think they've killed her. Everything's going to be fine. But then it like cuts to a video game store later and stay alive. It's the hottest game of the year. So like they couldn't stop her in time. Right. And I think that's where that's where the sequel would come in. And that's that's your back door into a sequel. But this movie i mean spoilers didn't really get one. I feel like it would have that would be a ah much bigger budget on that sequel. But before before I expand expand upon that, are you were saying that there's there's some really scary stuff in this film. And I think that that's what makes it work so well for me is because it can somehow be so dumb to where you're like, what what even the fuck? But still, when scary shit happens, you're like, oh, I'm I kind of feel like they're stakes. I don't know why. Yeah, I feel like they're stakes, but there are somehow. Yeah. It's a really weird movie. And that's why I love it.
01:26:39
Speaker
I care about the characters more than you would think. Like Finn is an absolute piece of shit. They don't deserve it. None of them deserve it. But his death, like Finn's death, like really gets me and it's pretty creepy. And like he's, he's on, you know, they're kind of doing the final destination thing where you see shots of different characters and you're like, which one of them's going to die? And Finn hasn't died in the games. You think he's safe. but then like he crashes his car and he's waiting for his ride to come and it's just like a race against the clock like can he make it until someone comes to get him but he gets killed first and so like I really somehow even with the absolute worst piece of shit character I'm like
01:27:22
Speaker
Man, I didn't want him to die. Well, I think that's the power of Jimmy Simpson, if I can be really honest. Yeah, like we do stand Jimmy Simpson in one of my in my absolute favorite David Lynch film, Zodiac. He's just he's fucking good, man. I like that. David Fincher. I think you mentioned. Yes, and sure. Yeah, I did that. I had watched David Lynch. I was going to say. I'd watch the fuck out of that. Dear friend. Yes. um Yes, I did mean venture, sorry. OK. But no, like David Lynch is Todiak. Don't tell me it was a good time. No, Jimmy, Jimmy Simpson is just such an unbelievable performer. I am. I love everything I see him, and even in like tiny roles where he just like Todiak, where he just kind of pops in at the end of the movie just to throw in some gravitas. His first movie is Amy Heckerling's Loser. Like just.
01:28:20
Speaker
I forgot about that movie. Yeah. Mm. A lot of people do. But I but I watched it. I know it with. Yeah. Yeah. Jason Biggs. Yeah. I saw the movie theater and I was kind of obsessed with it for about six months. Yeah. That's about the right amount of time for that movie. He's also in future episodes of this podcast, Debs and Herbie Fully Loaded, both movies that we can cover on this podcast. Um, but like, yeah, he just, he just shows up and shit. And he's always really good. He's really good at playing just a creepy guy. Just like a really weird skeevy pervy dude. Uh, which is why he's so great as, uh, the McPoyle bro on it's always sunny. Actually, I think went to school with Charlie day, which is why they used to live together. Do what they used to live together. Oh, for a really long time.
01:29:11
Speaker
They're like best buds for real in real life. So yeah, they're they do a lot of stuff together. And yeah, every time I see Jimmy Simpson, it's something I'm like, he's one of those guys where I feel like if he shows up, I can just kind of rest for a little bit because I know I'm in good hands. yeah um yeah No matter the genre to play. Yeah. Which is why I said earlier, like he feels like the kind of guy who should have been in a saw movie because he just like, yeah, he's got the look of someone who got, you know, his body split from end to end in a saw movie or ripped in half or something. Yeah, it's an interesting take. That's how hus these people he's like, now, could this person be split in half in a saw movie or not? There's people in this world, Stephen. that's That's a face that Jigsaw would rip apart. Yeah, that's the face. That's a face that should belong. That belongs in a reverse bear trap. If you ask me, he's like a ah ah medical insurance salesman. That's why I'm not. He works for.
01:30:11
Speaker
It's not where you are like red ah the Blue Cross which i I do not Know but will not you? Yes, I was thinking Jimmy Simpson in the saw movies. is what Oh, there you go. Yeah, there you go. That works That works ah Anything else we have to say on stay alive It's just so much fun. I mean It's a slasher so unless we sort of recap it beat for beat there's not a lot to talk about like and then this person dies and this person dies and then they overcome the killer but it watching it is such popcorn fun like if you haven't seen it give yourself a treat. It's so unique there's not yeah it it does play with a lot of tropes but there's not really anything like it for better or for worse and sometimes for worse but I do appreciate
01:31:01
Speaker
something, I think that's why I keep going back to it, because yeah whenever I'm, I think of pulse, there's nothing else I could watch. It's that some of you think of a certain movie and you're like, Oh, I like the other movie. That's kind of like it. I think I'm gonna watch that instead. But pulse is just pulse. It's its own thing. It kind of exists in this weird little spot by itself. And it's it's not good. It's not great. But damn it. Hey, do you mean and stay alive? Yes. yeah Okay. Every single time. Okay, I'll go out I'll go and edit it and it'll be like stay alive. It'll be very obvious. Very obvious. Yeah, I was like legitimately great though. Well, look, they're the reason I confuse those two and I'm surprised it's taken me this long to confuse them is because they had very similar marketing campaigns. Yeah. Mm hmm. Like very visually very similar like the kind of images they were using and the fonts and stuff. Yes.
01:31:56
Speaker
Yes, that is true. I need to watch the remake of Pulse so that I can and have that. And both of their sequels. Yes, I suppose. I can't even believe their sequels. Now I have to watch them. Okay, well, we'll do it. All right. Well, Stay Alive comes into theaters on March 24th in the year of our Lord 2006. It opens at number three at the box office. That's fair.
Comparative Film Discussions and Critiques
01:32:21
Speaker
It opens to $10.7 million dollars with a production budget of 20. It goes on to earn 23.1 domestic.
01:32:33
Speaker
Another four point five international for a grand worldwide total of twenty seven point six million dollars. ah It opens opposite the number one movie in America this week, a legitimately great movie from one of America's great directors, Spike Lee's Inside Man. Oh, yeah, that one's all right. That one, dude. That's ah that's on the latter half of my Spike Lee list, but I still like it. I think that movie rips. I know it's really good. I'm just saying there's about seven other movies he's done that are better. And number two, the second week of a movie I saw in theaters because I loved the comic. V for Vendetta. Oh, yeah, I never saw that because like by the time I got around to seeing it, like it became like a thing that like bad people reference like people who don't get it, like the people who go get the
01:33:26
Speaker
the tattoos from American History X. Yeah. um Yeah. People who misinterpret films, you know, and so I never I never it just turned me off to the whole thing. I was very nervous going to see that movie because I had read a. um I had read a review on someone pid posted about it on Facebook and said something like the ending was so powerful. All those V's. And I was like, oh, shit, all those V's. There's only one V in the comics. What the fuck is this movie going to do? What do you think Alan Moore felt about it? Oh, he hated it. That was a joke. It was a joke because he hates everything. He hates everything. Yeah, he's everything and everyone, which is really rad. I mean, if you've if you've read some of his later um
01:34:10
Speaker
his later League of Extraordinary Gentlemen work. He pretty much rips apart Harry Potter and the, just like the whole notion of modern franchise filmmaking. And it's great. I love it. It's so fun. In in a very cranky cranky old man, Alan Moore kind of way. In third place, we have stay alive. In fourth place, we have failure to launch. What if a man couldn't launch? I was- What if he failed? What if he failed to do it? ah Could could also be an alternate title for this very podcast failure to launch um Maybe there's somebody out there that has a podcast Called that some or similarly named there too. Yeah, we'll never know
01:34:54
Speaker
um And um but that's Matthew McConaughey during his like rom-com phase, right? Yep. Yeah, dude. Yes. And then in fifth place, ah the remake of The Shaggy Dog with Tim Allen and Academy Award winner Robert Downey Jr. Not interested. No, thanks. um Yeah, Danny. They put the human eyes. They put the human eyes on the poster. No, fuck. No. Sure did. That's upsetting. I saw that. But like, is that a feature of this podcast? Can we do that? Maybe any interest I may have had in that movie, which let me tell you, it was already zero when I saw the human eyes on the dog. I noped the fuck out of everyone to see that movie. I mean, i look, do I blame you? I sure don't. That's fucked up. I've had nightmares about that shit, man. i don't ever Everyone see that poster again.
01:35:44
Speaker
I'm not gonna Google it. Don't look. It's scary. I think you maybe should, Ari. It's mildly hellish. It's one of those things that's fine until I talk about it in that way and then it ruins it for you. Yeah. So, yeah. It's kind of like Yoko singing on the John Lennon Crispin song. People don't notice it until I point it out. And then they're like, oh, fuck, you ruined the song for me. I'm like, yeah, well, welcome to my world, asshole. Yeah, they sure did put human eyes on this dark. Yeah, they photoshopped Tim Allen's eyes on a shaggy dog. boy have Can we stop talking about it, you guys? I'm going to have nightmares about it tonight. This is your fault. Yeah, I know. You know, it's my fault. I'm just I'm doing this. You did this as we as we are friends. I'm requesting not to point fingers, but to maybe move on so they don't have nightmares. All right. All right. I'm not. I'm not saying it's not my fault. Please continue. So after the humanoid shaggy dog we have in sixth place.
01:36:40
Speaker
yeah do We have She's the Man, the Amanda Bynes retelling of that Shakespeare play. um Seventh place opening new this week, Larry Cable Guy, colon, Health Inspector. Oh, one of those. This guy has DVD. No, apparently not. One of those. This guy has this job kind of movies in eighth place movie. Yeah. In eighth place. It totally is a movie that I'm sure Ari really loves. The remake of The Hills Have Eyes in eighth place. I. You specifically asked Ari, so please tell us what you think of it. Yes, it's a millennial nasty. Tucker, what do you think about that sequel, though?
01:37:24
Speaker
How do you feel about that sequel? That sequel's fun as hell, isn't it? The sequel's pretty fun. It's a completely different tone, but boy, it works so well. It's so silly. Alexander Aja did both of those, right? Did he do both of those? Did he do the sequel? I think he only did the first one, but I couldn't go. Yeah, I don't think he did the sequel. I may have hopped timelines in the last couple of weeks. I'm not sure. I mean, you guys might be right. I'm just guessing. I'm just spitballing here. No, I feel like when we when we find out who the director is I'm gonna be like Oh, yeah, because he directed that other thing and that's why I was interested in it. So so um I'm trying to load my computers going real slow right now. I don't know why that's right. I got you
01:38:05
Speaker
In ninth place, we have Walt Disney film eight below um in 10th and in 10th place, ah the Richard Donner film 16 blocks. That's what a late Dickie Donner movie. Oh, and that was a Mos Def and Bruce Willis. And and I think David Morris is in that as well. Yeah, but that doesn't matter. Bruce Willis and Mos Def and boy. Those guys, look, it's not a good movie. In fact, that movie kind of sucks. Low key kind of sucks. But they have the most unexpected and fantastic chemistry as kind of it's kind of a 48 hours kind of thing sort of where like Mos Def is a convict and ah Bruce Willis is a cop and he has to take him 16 blocks to transfer him from one person to another. But so many people are trying to kill him. That, you know, it's it's it's a struggle, but
01:38:58
Speaker
Like. Of most desk character in that movie is almost. He's he's kind of a silly dude. And I'm a silly dude. And Bruce Willis is like super serious. So it's kind of like that 48 hours thing without the racism. There you go. And it's not played for comedy the whole time, like 48 hours. Martin Weiss is the director of The Hills Have Eyes, too. Yeah. So it is not Alexander Harsha. No, no. ah The Tomatometer score is a 10%. The Census, a by the numbers teen horror flick stay alive fails to exploit its premise for any real scares. They had me in the first half.
01:39:47
Speaker
ah Then they lost. ah The meta score is a twenty four generally unfavorable reviews from 17 critics. And Tucker, you want to give a you want to take a shot at the letterbox score. I would love to. I'm going to say it is knowing letterbox. It's a two point six from two point six to three point oh, two point three. Fuck a duck. No, thank you. Gosh, fucking darn it, Steven. I almost actually swore there, did you hear that? I did. Ooh, I gotta cut that out. Tucker cut all this out. So yeah, that is not a critically not beloved, but Ari, out of five stars, how are you ranking 2006's Stay Alive? I
Guest Projects and Social Media Connections
01:40:40
Speaker
give it 3.5 out of five upside down sideways visors. Love it.
01:40:47
Speaker
ah The only way to rate this movie, really. Yes. Tucker, what about yourself? ah Look, it's like I said before, several times this podcast, it is not a good movie, but damn it, if I don't have a good time, pretty much the entire time I'm having a good time, whether it's because of how bad it is or whether because of how surprisingly effective it can be at some points or whether I'm just dunking on these idiots who have never played a video game. It's a great time from start to finish. That's a three for me. All right. Whereas I think I'm going, as much as I want to rank it a little higher, it's it's a one and a half for me. That's fair. Not one I particularly liked. I've seen i've seen better. I've seen worse. But that's that's kind of where I end up landing on this one. I go 1.5. Don't know that I'll revisit it. But you know what? I'm i'm glad we were here to talk about it because
01:41:43
Speaker
Arielle Powershop, it means that I get another chance to talk with you, which is something I always enjoy doing. And so for that, very much worth it. You're too kind. I am not. Thank you so much for joining us. It is always a pleasure, always a pleasure to have you on. um When can we expect to see Millennial Nasties? And what else have you got ah coming up or on the horizon? What else are you working on? Let us let us know. Plug, plug away, please. Yeah, yeah. So
01:42:16
Speaker
You can pre-order my book about certain 2000s horror movies. Stay Alive is not covered in there, but lots of other ones are. um It's called Millennial Nasties, and you can pre-order it from encyclapocalypse.com. It's available, so it'll be out September 17th. And if you're outside the United States, you can get a physical copy. You just have to scroll down a little bit on the page. You'll see the international shipping options. Other than that, if you follow me on socials, I'm on Twitter, Instagram, and Letterboxd at RE underscore Hellraiser. And I'm on blue sky at RE Hellraiser. No underscore. I will link to all my writing and podcasting there. um I have a project coming up that again, this is a scoop for you guys. I haven't announced this yet.
01:43:07
Speaker
But um starting this fall, I will be hosting coverage of the I Spit on Your Grave franchise for the POD and the Pendulum Patreon. Hell yeah. Yes. So that'll be coming soon. it Got lots of good guests lining up for that. i'm Very excited to give those movies the attention they deserve. So if you're not already, check out the POD and the Pendulum Patreon. and watch for my coverage of those nasty, nasty films coming this month. But if you follow me on socials, I'll link to all my stuff so you can find me there. Right on. And you know what? If you're also on the Pod and the Pendulum Patreon, you'll also get to hear, I think Mike's going to put it up, my dramatic reading of Harry Knowles' Blade 2 review for a new film. Well, there you go. You got to do it. One of the most disgusting things I've ever read aloud, but yeah. OK, I'm excited.
01:44:00
Speaker
Um, but yeah, uh, and check out their blade to coverage on pod in the pendulum right now, Devon and Mike are doing a lot of great work over there. So definitely check that out. um But we are the disenfranchised podcast. You can find us wherever podcasts are sold. In fact, where you're listening to us right now, that's a good place. Like, in fact, while you're there, go ahead and leave us a five star rating and review. Please end, thank you. ah Particularly if you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, that goes a very long way to helping us find new listeners. And hey, if you do, well, if you leave us a review, we'll read all five star reviews on the air. So please, please, please do that for us.
01:44:35
Speaker
um and And while you're on the internet, if you want to support us further, you can head on over to the aforementioned patreon dot.com slash disenfranch pod and not only join the official conversation of the disenfranchised podcast, join Tucker, Ari, and myself, because we're all there. um But you could also, if you're feeling a little generous, throw five bucks a month our way and just unlock the doors, the floodgates to all that wonderful, wonderful content, including our unenfranchised episode, apparently our first of many on the Rage Carry 2. And it's gonna be an annual thing. That was our first annual Rage Carry 2 episode. Not a thing I knew at the time, not a thing I would have agreed to at the time.
01:45:17
Speaker
But why what do you do? ah This podcast is no longer mine. It belongs to the world. um It's on mic, it has to be true. and So it is spoken, so it it shall be. So shall it be done. I am ah your host, Stephen Fox. but Oh, you can find the podcast. Sorry, right disenfranchise at disenfranch pod on Blue Sky. Not on Twitter, ah Instagram, Letterboxd, Facebook and YouTube. You can find us in all of those places at disenfranch pod. I am your host, Stephen Foxworthy. You can find me on Instagram, Letterboxd and
01:45:51
Speaker
It's li Instagram letterboxed in blue sky at chewy walrus ah Brett, right I think can sometimes occasionally be found at sus underscore warlock on letterbox Tucker Where can we find you should we be so inclined? Hey, it's me Tucker. I'm on Instagram at ice 909 And also YouTube at Ice 909. You have to forgive me kind of going slow. Steven shook something in front of the camera and I thought he was trying to tell me something. He was waiting. You said hi. Tell me. OK, I had done that like five minutes ago, though. Anyway, that's I.C.E. My fan was blowing a like a bandaid bandaid. Yeah, I was like, what does this mean? Is he telling me to, you know, put a bandit on my mouth and maybe not talk so much? If only that would work.
01:46:45
Speaker
If only it would. Oh, I did get some real good cloth bandaids, though, so it might get a couple of them on there. Ice 909, that's I C E N I N E, the number zero and the number nine on both YouTube and and what's that thing called? Instagram. Also on the Instagrams. Of course, you got the tuck mugs. Tuck mugs is where it's at. ah Ari is a a guest, has been a guest, a guest mug. It was ah with the the logo from the thing on it. Yeah, that was really yeah not the thing. Like John Carpenter is the thing. But I'm saying the thing because I can't remember what the it was. It was amazing. yeah it's magazine Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. Everybody should do a guest mug. Not only just guests on this podcast, but like people look.
01:47:29
Speaker
Uh, fans of the podcast have done guest mugs. Members of
Wrap-up and Personal Reflections
01:47:33
Speaker
my family have done guest mugs. Also true. Uh, friends that I haven't spoken to in 10 years, I've convinced to do guest mugs. Also true. Just because there's an allure to just like a wholesome, positive community. Just talking about mugs. We're just rapping. We're just in the rapping about mugs. It's not a big deal. No big whoop, there's no gatekeeping, like who's gonna gate keep a motherfucking mug? Not this guy, I'll tell you that much. it's just a It's just a positive experience, everybody's having a good time. Tuck mugs, that's tuck underscore mugs. Send me your, what you call it, what's that called? Guest mugs. But also, ah my social media manager, it's crazy because on the last episode, ah I had said that I would have a new post out.
01:48:21
Speaker
by the time that episode dropped. And he got it in. He got it in right under the wire. And I got to say it's impressive. It was good. It was good. It almost felt like a promo for each other. Like they were promoting each other, the podcast and the those synergy there. That's what we call synergy. Yeah. When it dropped and how it dropped. And it's a big one, you guys. Like this one's one that I have been holding off on. This is one of my main mugs. It's a big deal. It's got a cool story, man. I'm just saying it does. I want to mug my that someday. My roommate put coffee in this mug today and she left for work and I said, bitch, you better bring that back or I will kill your roommate a bitch. Yeah, why not? That's rude. We have a special relationship to where I can say that and she's not offended. All right. Yeah. Well, in the future, I'll consider calling her something else for your sake, Ari.
01:49:18
Speaker
I'll be like, listen, listen, the only reason I'm not calling you a bitch right now. That's what I'll say. I made a promise to a friend. and so I made a promise. I'm trying to be better. Try to be better. I thought you were saying that to Ari for a second. I was like, whoa, dude. Maybe a little bit. oh
01:49:43
Speaker
We don't have it like that. no i I do. I do be trying to be better as a person, though, like all the time for real. So like, you know, despite any evidence to the contrary, and i show you guys a mug right now. Oh, my God, I love that. Oh, are you going to guest bug with that? Sure. You want me to absolutely should. Okay. Then I won't describe it. I was going to say, we're not going to describe it. ah Oh my God. That's amazing. You just have to watch tuck mugs on Instagram to see what we are all reacting to. the like That's unbelievable. mu It's toughg on yeah forugg very good. Yeah.
01:50:20
Speaker
where we're always learning and growing as human beings. That's what Tuckmunks is all about. It is. That's what it's all about. The power of mud. Yeah. I mean, well, sometimes when it's funny, yeah.
01:50:34
Speaker
Not all the time, just when it's funny. Only when it's appropriate for the bit, man. Come on. OK. OK. Sure. Yeah. I'm not just like going up to random women and being like, hey, bitch. No, man. I feel like you're protesting a little too much. No, it's kidding.
01:50:51
Speaker
It's always a struggle with me, but eventually I get there. That's what I'm going to say. Okay. I'll get there eventually. It's going to be a struggle. tucker You're doing great. Thank you. I try. I do. You're doing great. and like As long as you don't stop trying, because I, if this is what you look like trying, I would hate to see when you stop. All's we can do is try. That's it. Boy, but if you knew how I was raised, like you'd be surprised how progressive I am. That's all I'm saying. I told you earlier that I was trash, right? We're all from the Midwest. I think we all get it.
01:51:25
Speaker
um Oh, boy. but yeah but are you Are you done, Tucker, or you got more to say on Tuckmugs? I was just going to go over here and just like sit down while we canceled by everyone. just Here's the thing. I can never take it in. Man overreacts being called out. Man's feelings hurt because he can't call a woman a bitch. News at 11. Ari, don't explain the bit. It's not funny if you explain it. Come on.
01:51:56
Speaker
jeez louise oh man we have god i love this man question once can't handle himself oh man Look at tuck mugs, you chuckle fucks. Tuck mugs is great. Oh, boy, am I privileged. All right, let's wrap this sucker up. Let's do it. All right, this has been another rousing, spirited episode of the disenfranchised podcast. Ari, as always, thank you so much for being here. you are thank for having me and a delight. Oh, I forgot to mention by my book. Check in. Check out. You can buy it on Amazon, e-book or physical copy. I have your physical copy, Tucker. it It's coming, I promise. I even signed it. That's funny, Stephen, because I did buy your book. That's crazy. I did buy it, but I don't got it. That's why it's covered. I'm looking. Look, here's the thing. I'm on chapter. I've just finished chapter three of the Brian Wilson autobiography that I'm reading. And I got to tell you, dude,
01:52:56
Speaker
If your book doesn't get here by the time I'm done with it, I'm off to start that dressing files book instead. You do what you got to do. saying I know I want to read your book next. Even do it for me. Get it to me, man. Come on. I didn't know you wrote a book, buddy. How did you write a book? Oh, I was in the podcast.
01:53:16
Speaker
No, I I've I've I've only mentioned it a handful of times. No, it's a ah it's a comedy thriller about kind of a Hunger Games, but it's 20 somethings in a hotel like a check in check out. You can get it on Amazon. Yeah, my partner my it's written by my my partner, Pastor Future Guest, Mandy Gossage and myself wrote that together. And if you're if you're a good enough friend of Stephen's, you can send it to him and he'll sign it and then he'll send it back to you. ah dad Yeah, doing that. Hell yeah. That's how you gauge your friendship level with Steven, is if he will sign it and send it to you. so if if Give it a try, viewers. Give it a try. If I'll give you oh my gosh home address, yeah. This is awesome. There you go. I didn't know this at all. Everybody buys Steven's book. Also worth mentioning, not Steven's first book. What? It was a short story that I released called Henry Jacobs and the Three Nasty Nose Bickers, yeah.
01:54:14
Speaker
bookers That one's only available on e-reader, but yeah. OK, well, let me pop this on the old wish list and get a hold of that. Oh, yeah. Cool. All right. Well, that's all we got for today for our very special guest, Mrs. Ariel Power Shop and for Tucker and the absent Brett Wright. I'm your host, Stephen Foxworthy. Until next time. Whether you're a mother or whether you're a brother, You're staying alive.