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📞 EPISODE 152 — PHONES ARE TERRIFYING ☎️
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It’s ringing… and it won’t stop. 👀📱
From SCREAM to THE BLACK PHONE, we’re answering the call and diving deep into why our phones might just be the most terrifying thing in our lives.
💀 HORROR IN REAL LIFE: The death of the smartphone and the rise of wearable AI—are we entering a world where our devices know us better than we know ourselves?
🎬 FILMS: 🔪 SCREAM (1996) & 📞 THE BLACK PHONE (2022)
💬 WHATCHA BEEN WATCHIN’, BITCH?! features HOUSE OF DYNAMITE, BUGONIA, and VHS HALLOWEEN.
So pick up the phone… if you dare.
Now streaming wherever you get your podcasts.
🎧 Listen + support at friGay13.com
🩸 Patreon | Merch | Episodes
#FriGayThe13th #HorrorPodcast #PhonesAreTerrifying #Scream #TheBlackPhone #HorrorInRealLife #QueerHorror #PodcastLife #SpookySeason #WesCraven #EthanHawke #MetaHorror #HorrorCommunity
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Fri-Gay the 13th Horror Podcast is a proud independent podcast. To learn more about the show, visit Fri-Gay13.com.
00:00:14
Speaker
Andrew, do you hear that? It's been ringing for like five minutes. Maddie, are you sure it's not your Grindr notifications? Hardy har har. That's a completely different tone. Well, you're gonna have to answer it. We need to record and we can't have that in the background. Fine. But if it's a scam call, you're paying for my therapy.
Humor and Horror with Phones
00:00:33
Speaker
Hello? Well, who is it? Andrew, it's... It's... What? Just spit it out. Who is it?
00:00:44
Speaker
It's you. Okay, funny, funny. Really convincing. I'm not kidding. it's It's your voice. And and it just said... ah What did it say?
00:00:55
Speaker
you said... It's episode 152. Phones are terrifying. i am the writing on the wall the whisper in the
00:01:08
Speaker
I'm Marjorie Greene, and I approve this message. To save America, stop socialism, and stop China. Faith and five, we ought to be from life to death to rise. Horror in real life.
00:01:23
Speaker
Doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters, they are going to get it wrong. Horror in the movies. Where are you going go? Where are going to run?
00:01:34
Speaker
Where are going to hide? Nowhere.
00:01:50
Speaker
Sometimes. you to know that the movement we started is only just beginning sometimes that is what I bet sometimes you feel a little addicted to these are
Evolution of Phones in Society
00:02:04
Speaker
smartphones. All the time. Do you remember a time that we didn't have them?
00:02:07
Speaker
I kind of do actually. A long, long time ago? It was a simpler time, wasn't it? I know, so simple. You just made calls, maybe you texted, the phone had a little cord. You just had more in-person conversations with people. Yeah, that was it.
00:02:19
Speaker
Yeah. Heartfelt. Well, some Gen Zers may not remember that time, but they do want to go back to it. So in search of a digital detox, the smartphone generation is turning to dumb phones?
00:02:30
Speaker
Oh, that's what they're calling those old Nokia bricks. So the razor you had about 20 years old. Welcome back to another episode of Fry Gay, the 13th horror podcast.
00:02:42
Speaker
Guess what? My name is Maddie. And guess what? My name is Andrew. done it that way before. It felt kind of exhilarating. um But I did it because it's episode 152, friends. my friends um Look dudes, we're coming at you from the podcast land.
00:02:58
Speaker
We are the podcast that brings you horror in real life and horror in the movies from an LGBT perspective. Andrew, this episode, we are talking all about phones, which is important for gay people because without phones, we wouldn't have Grindr.
00:03:14
Speaker
And frankly, you wouldn't be married. I mean, it's kind of true, but. ah So look, yeah, it's gonna be a great episode. Got some some fun stuff to talk about.
Phones in Gay Culture and Horror Films
00:03:25
Speaker
And we're talking about two films that wouldn't exist without phones.
00:03:29
Speaker
Scream, the OG Scream, which we have not yet talked about on this podcast, believe it or not. And The Black Phone, um which, Andrew, by the way, there's a sequel coming out of that one.
00:03:40
Speaker
um It's already out. Oh, is it already out right now? Yeah, it came out in October. Oh, did have you seen that? No, I actually was considering maybe going and seeing it this afternoon if I didn't have anything going on.
00:03:51
Speaker
You know, maybe, well, maybe I'll stream it later. um Yeah, interesting. Anyways, so look, Andrew, you got a phone. I've got a phone. um We've had phones for a long time.
00:04:02
Speaker
um Phones drive me up the fucking wall. ah But phones are also fun. Phones are addictive. um i don't know about you, but like no matter what has happened in the day, like the greatest solace is always phone in bed. do you know what I mean? Like you just lay there until you fall asleep with your fucking stupid phone.
00:04:21
Speaker
um I don't know. You know, like, without the advent of phones as they are now, my job wouldn't exist.
00:04:32
Speaker
Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? And that's kind of weird to think about, but yeah. So when you think about it, did you... so you know, we're of an age, if you will. um Say it we're in our 40s.
00:04:44
Speaker
God. Yeah. yeah did you ah Did anybody in your family ever ever have a rotary phone? Oh, yeah. I grew up with a rotary phone. Okay. but i but i We had the rotary phone until I was probably...
Historical Evolution of Phones
00:04:57
Speaker
God, I don't know, probably like eight or nine, I want to say. Okay. my head Possibly. And then did your parents ever have the bag a cellular phone that I had in like the car? Yeah, yeah, my dad did.
00:05:14
Speaker
Yeah, so my my so my stepfather did. Matt's dad had a it literally was like a leather bag, and you had to, like, set it up before you yeah i got to use it. I remember that.
00:05:27
Speaker
yeah um And then, i guess, when was your first cellular phone? When did you first get a phone? ah i rule It wasn't in, I think it must have been,
00:05:42
Speaker
college i but i don't really i don't remember what year and it would have been just like a little nokia i remember that and um uh i remember like the first cool phone that i got like phone that i thought was cool it was like a samsung and it was gray and it had like a flip down thing but it wasn't like it wasn't even like functional it just like flipped down And i just thought it was a cool phone. I can see it in my head right now. I can't remember what model it was.
00:06:13
Speaker
But yeah, I don't think I really got one until my freshman year at college, maybe sophomore year. Yeah, I had a Nokia that was um emergency only.
00:06:26
Speaker
but Fair. um Like it it lived in my glove box of my my my. What was that? The Chevy Corsica that I had at the time classic classic car. And um it only could dial 911 or collect.
00:06:39
Speaker
So I didn't even have like a plan. what And then when I was a I guess I would have been a senior in high school when I worked at Best Buy, I got my first phone. It was, a it was, this it was through Sprint. I don't remember what brand it was or anything, but I thought it was pretty cool because it was like color.
00:06:58
Speaker
Yeah. I remember the first provider that I had was called TrackPhone. It was like... Oh, yeah, remember that. I remember that T-R-A-C. And I mean, probably because I just didn't know any better or probably because I couldn't get credit to get a phone, I would imagine.
00:07:14
Speaker
Yeah. But those... God, that thing was fucking expensive. See, like, you would run out of minutes in a fucking heartbeat. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. then you have to load it back up and like that... Like looking back on it, that was not cheap.
00:07:25
Speaker
What was that brand of phone that kind of functioned like a walkie talkie? Do you remember that? ah track Track phone. Was that what it was? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What did I just say the thing was?
00:07:36
Speaker
Track phone. Oh, shit. Hold on. Was mine like track mobile or something like that? Do you know what i'm talking about, though? It used to like be like, yeah um what was it called? ah Walkie. i'm I'm literally Googling this right now. Walkie talkie phones.
00:07:52
Speaker
1990s. I remember it was next. Nextel. God damn it. I fucking hated those people. yeah and And they were they were Motorola's. They were motor. I'm looking at it right now. Oh, my God. I totally forgot about that shit. Holy shit.
00:08:07
Speaker
It's funny because ah i have my same number I've had my entire life. Oh, man. I'd say when I moved here, I i i id still actually have the number. I ported it over to Google Voice.
00:08:20
Speaker
um But I wish I still had it on like my phone phone because I had a number for a long time, too.
Technology's Social Impact
00:08:26
Speaker
Well, let's talk a little bit about the history of the phone. Oh, my goodness.
00:08:31
Speaker
So, the you know, most people know in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invented the phone and was awarded the patent for the first telephone. um In 1877, the commercial telephone became ah serviceable in the United States.
00:08:47
Speaker
And then 1946, so that's kind of thing the that's kind of weird to think about. 1946 is the first commercial mobile telephone services launched, linking mobile objects to a network via radio. That's so crazy.
00:09:02
Speaker
We haven't even been 100 years yet. ah phones yeah Isn't that weird to think about? well ah Well, I mean, also what's weird to think about is that Alexander Graham Bell did that in 1876. Like, that is, ah the Civil War ended in what, I'm pretty sure, or something like that.
00:09:20
Speaker
like That's that that like the the phone was invented at the Civil War, right? Like I mean, think about how fucking crazy that is basically. And like when people the still the very idea that there is a device upon which I can just like call somebody around the world and they can hear me.
00:09:40
Speaker
Right. Is insane. That's absolutely fucking insane. Like how, how, how, how. yeah And then launching forward, 1983 is when the first commercially available handheld mobile phone was. So the ones that we you know know of today, it's only been since
Smartphones and Mental Health
00:09:58
Speaker
1983. And think about how fast that technology has been like accelerated.
00:10:04
Speaker
That's kind of insane. like And think about where it's going. I don't want to. It's it's true. you know but i'm going to talk a little bit about that later. But like, yeah, it's it's it just keeps rocketing forward.
00:10:16
Speaker
Yeah. And then between 1993 2024, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions have grown to over 9.1 billion subscriptions. So that's all around the world. it's It's kind of crazy to think that, you know,
00:10:31
Speaker
not to like wax poetically, but like when we were younger, you would just get on your home phone. And ah i don't know about you, but we had one of those ones with like the super long cord that would go totally like and and knock over everything in the kitchen, basically.
00:10:47
Speaker
um But you would call your friends and be like, hey, we're going to go to the 845 showing of Mortal Kombat. Do you want to come? And you would just and then you would just show up.
00:10:58
Speaker
Yeah, you would. Hopefully everyone would show up. um But like it's just kind of crazy to think about how and I want to talk a little bit about this, like how connected we all are, but how how how that connection ah can sometimes make you feel so unconnected.
00:11:17
Speaker
Sure. You know what mean? i I do. And, you know, like, look, we're we are coming to people right now, most likely on their phone. There aren't that many people that listen to us on like, you know, their fucking computer or whatever.
00:11:29
Speaker
So like there, there is, that there are, there's a light side and a dark side. There's, there's connection, like the kind of connection that we provide and there's, you know, information and, and education and fun and whatever.
00:11:43
Speaker
And then there's all this other shit too. Yeah. There's the, there's the side that humans always love to do and that's exploit technology for sure bad stuff. Yeah. or Or allow it to rule us yeah and in in so many ways. And and yeah that that's that's the part that I almost think is worse, is that there's just so many of us that don't even understand how addicted we are.
Phones in Social Settings
00:12:06
Speaker
Oh, I know. Yeah. It's, it's, well, now it's just second nature to like, yeah it's one of those things that like, if you leave the house and you like, didn't, you know, God forbid you didn't grab your phone, you feel like a ah limb is gone. Yeah. I mean, you, you would likely go back for it. Like there are some things that you would leave and some things like a phone that you're like, no, I got to have it.
00:12:29
Speaker
Have to have it. That is one thing that I will, um, applaud myself for is that i can turn it off like yeah i like when i go on vacation like almost almost all my vacations if i'm not relying on my phone for like directions yeah or something i can put it in a drawer the entire vacation and not look at it like i think i've i think i've gotten a lot better about it you know it's it's sex it's funny that you say it that way i i And not to not to interrupt before we go on to the next thing, but no i I had um i had ah my friend Emily over last night and we watched ah we we watched The Black Phone last night.
00:13:03
Speaker
And it had some wine and some stuff and we were talking about you know phones and everything. And you know she's single like I am and we both do you know our own solo travel but quite a bit. yeah and And Emily is just back from um from a place called Formentera where she goes all the time in Spain.
00:13:19
Speaker
and And she was talking about like how she, I i forget the whole story, but she had met some somebody, as you know as you do when you're single and on a trip, you talk to very random people.
00:13:30
Speaker
yeah and And she met a woman and like the woman like, like was going kind of nuts with her phone like was like showing her all this like all these photos and like all these videos and like she's in a restaurant you know what i mean oh god and like and then she's like you know like she's like facetiming her her her daughter or something like that and emily's like stop like i know but like how but how do you say it and and we were we were but we were talking about how like i promise i have a point in here um we were talking about how like if i was with
00:14:02
Speaker
like, like a friend on a trip, like, like when John was here, for example, when one of our best friends and I took John out to the ring of Carrie and we had, that we had a really lovely road trip. It was a really fun time. Like we both did really good not being on our phones.
00:14:14
Speaker
And like we we both, you know, we, we, we, we decided that we weren't going to work that entire time. Thank God. And we were able just kind of look out the window and yeah, you know, take photos and shit. But like, other than that, like we just like talked to each other and hung out and had a great time.
00:14:28
Speaker
And, you know, when I'm when I'm traveling on my own, it does change a lot because it's just me, you know, like it's mean yeah, there's sometimes you talk to people, but like sometimes like, yeah, I don't want to talk to strangers all the time. Like I i just don't know you like it.
00:14:43
Speaker
and And so, you know, I'll be in a restaurant or I'll be in a museum or on a thing or whatever. And like, yeah, I get on my fucking phone because like, frankly, yeah, it's beautiful and it's pretty, but like, I'm also bored or am I taking a photo or whatever?
00:14:54
Speaker
So yeah, it's, it's weird. It's like, it's, it's, it's always like a, like a strange, it's strange to like ever figure out for me, like how much do I really need this thing to be out and how much am I even aware of how much it is out? Yeah. You know, like it's, it's, it's kind of weird that way.
00:15:12
Speaker
Yeah, I will tell you two places that I think that phones should be outlawed. I think that they should be put in a basket before you enter these places.
00:15:24
Speaker
And that's that's the movie theater. Oh, 100%. And that's concerts. I think that enjoy the concert. And you know if you want to take like a picture of yourself at the concert, great. But like people that...
00:15:37
Speaker
People that take videos of the entire concert, will never understand because you're never going to watch them. You know, like like i ah I, so I go to a lot of concerts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will take like maximum two videos. That's it. I try to keep them really short, like 10 seconds or so, put my phone back away and then I get back into the concert and I don't do it again.
00:15:59
Speaker
And like, and like, valy that's fine. But like the people who have them out the entire time, it's like, dude, what are you doing, and man? Come on. Any, any time that I've taken a photo or a video at a concert, it was because it reminded me of someone else and I wanted to send it to them.
00:16:16
Speaker
Yeah. Like that's like, oh, this is your favorite song. I want to send it to you. Yeah. Like it's not, and it's not these people that like do like entire concerts on their phone. Like, what are you doing that for?
Anxiety and Phone Dependency
00:16:27
Speaker
it's like usually i usually i am sending that video to like courtney or my brother michael like yeah exactly you know or a quick one up up on instagram kind of thing yeah um and then the ah one more thing i just remembered there too um you know do you know the dj fred again i think so hes he sounds familiar he's really popular now but he just did a pop-up show in dublin yesterday and i did i didn't get to go although i wish i could have gone
00:16:52
Speaker
And I did see on there that you had to check your phones when you go there. well Yeah. I like that. Yeah. We went to one show. What was it it? was a, Oh, we, when we went to, um, uh, John Mulaney, you had to put your phone in like a bag, like a, a weird, like checked bag thing. Oh, so it's, it's like a, a Faraday bag.
00:17:14
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. um But I look, I think that that's kind of freeing to me. And like, i i mean, oh, yeah, do whatever you want. But I think like, enjoy your life. Like it's now you're not going to be looking back on it through your videos on your phone. completely agree. I agree with you on this.
00:17:29
Speaker
Um, and so I want to talk a little bit about, um, what phones have done as far as like, you know, we've talked a lot about like the good of phones, like connection and like how we can, you know, do this or how we can, you know, reach out to people that we normally wouldn't be able to. I mean, there's a lot of people that obviously both of us, we've moved far away from that. We, you know, use our phones to connect back to, but I also want to talk about kind of like the,
00:17:54
Speaker
the dark side of phone usage and sure what it's done to people. Because I don't think that we can downplay like the amount of anxiety that's, that's phones have added to our culture.
00:18:10
Speaker
um You know, that the fact that you are always expected to be, quote unquote, on, like whether that's through your job, but whether that's through your friendships, whether that's through, you know ah you know, personal relationships, you're always asked to be like available and what that does to like um your psychosis.
00:18:30
Speaker
You know what I mean? i do know what you mean. Yep, absolutely. um So I looked up like a little bit about this comes from psychology.com. It's like such a, that sounds like a psychology.com.
00:18:41
Speaker
um But um they just talked about how phones have contributed to the, the, the continued anxiety of the world. And like, yeah when you think about anxiety, like when we were younger and I don't know about you, like there was talk about ADHD, but that was kind of it.
00:18:59
Speaker
And now like, like ah because of pharmaceuticals and because of everything in the world and because there's so many people in the world now, there's so many more anxiety disorders. And like, yeah,
00:19:12
Speaker
I'm sorry, but if you live in this world and you don't have anxiety, ah what are you well what what is your magic? Because i don't know how
Social Media Addiction
00:19:19
Speaker
you do it. Well, you know, i I think it's like it reminds me. I've probably told the story before, but ah my the best therapist I've ever had, her name was Carrie.
00:19:28
Speaker
God, she was fucking the best. um When she told me that I did not have an anxiety disorder, it really rocked my world. Because everyone was always telling me what a problem I have with anxiety and this and But it's because like they they didn't know how to handle me.
00:19:42
Speaker
and um Which is unfair. But whatever. like it's it's It's the point that I i actually don't have one. And I think that... And look, I'm not a doctor, though I play one on TV.
00:19:53
Speaker
um i I do wonder. Do you all... do is Do so many people actually have anxiety disorders or do they just have anxiety about things yeah where it's normal to have anxiety and they don't know how to deal with that?
00:20:14
Speaker
Does that make sense? That's correct. No, you're correct in thinking that. I think too many people self-diagnose themselves with quote-unquote disorder or problem. Now I've got to take a pill.
00:20:25
Speaker
Yeah. Well, when it's really no, you need to learn how to cope with what you're dealing with. Amen. that's what I'm talking about that right now. Bingo. Yes. ah But um so some of the things that psychology.com said. Psychology.com. phones contributing to anxiety is ah really the psychological dependency. So the constant notifications can lead to a cycle where the brain expects a dopamine hit.
00:20:50
Speaker
I mean, this is, this is social media in a nutshell. if This is why social media exists. It's why we post things. It's why we post things about the podcast, for instance, like, yeah because we, we want to make like ah podcasting is a very weird thing. And I'm not going to harp on this for very long because it's kind of like, it is.
00:21:09
Speaker
um But like, this is a conversation between you and me that we're having where we have some like loose notes to talk about. You're doing a podcast. Yeah. But, ah but then we expect to put it out to like the universe and for people to listen to it. And then we don't know if they listen to it, but maybe they do. And sometimes we get a little bit of feedback, but like,
00:21:33
Speaker
it's kind of a weird relationship that we have with people that listen to the podcast because we don't really know like how they're absorbing it. Are they actively listening? Are they just putting it on in the background? do it even matter? And also just so like people know, like, like a peek behind the curtain.
00:21:48
Speaker
Um, Fucking analytics around podcasts are terrible. Like don't care. It's awful. How has it not gotten better? 100%. don't care what anyone tells you about like anything with analytics. Like you barely know anything about your audience and what they do.
00:22:04
Speaker
And that is the truth. And anyone who tells you different, I'm sorry, they are lying to you. They're lying. in That's it. Trust me. we've We have done this now for 7.95 years.
00:22:16
Speaker
we know we know um Some other things about ah phones and anxiety. So sleep disruption. Obviously, the blue light from the phone screens can interfere with the brain's production of melatonin, making it harder to fall asleep. but fuck you know You just talked about phone in bed. Phone in bed.
00:22:31
Speaker
Phone in bed. Phone in bed. um Thankfully, we, you know, ah our phones have gotten a little smarter to where we can turn on like sleep mode or like, you know. Yeah, which which is good.
00:22:43
Speaker
Yeah, i I completely agree with that. But I have I have mine. like it's like It's like automatic. So it goes on at 11. And it turns off at 630 every morning. Yeah. And that that that has been a big help for me, I have to say. That's that's very smart. And I think that it will contribute to your long term health.
00:22:59
Speaker
Phone in bed. Phone in bed. um You know, part of our phones is social media and social comparison can be really tough on people. it can lead to anxiety and depression. I mean,
00:23:11
Speaker
I think, you know, what we've all come to understand, I think now, I think we've gotten past a little bit of this is like people are only putting their best selves on, you know, the social media. 100%. And remember that, like, obviously, if somebody, there are like people out there that if they're going through a tough time, they'll document their tough time. And that's really brave of people. But like, for the most part, it's it's when people are on their like best behavior. Yeah.
00:23:39
Speaker
ah yeah i mean like like look that's what you and i do right yeah i mean like and like look the i used to post some cringy shit about stuff that i was going through but like that was when it was cool to do that like it was that there was a time when there was an emo time and yeah where it was like it was like expected and cool that you put your trials and tribulations on on all of it and like i I did it plenty. ah Probably 95% of the people listening right now did the same thing at one point.
00:24:09
Speaker
But like now it's super cringe. So you don't do that. you know and so think Thank goodness I don't have access to my old MySpace Live. Oh my God. If if my live journal is out there, God, destroy it. Please destroy it.
00:24:21
Speaker
um But like I mean, you know yeah, I'm not going to like post a fucking photo when I'm like depressed and hungover. you know what mean? Yeah, I'm going to post a photo when like I look good.
00:24:33
Speaker
And like, I'm fucking, I don't know, in Germany or some shit. You know what I mean? like Like, yeah, that's what I'm going to post anymore. And like, if I'm being real, thank God. Like, that's a good thing. I don't need to post the other shit.
The Future of Smartphones
00:24:44
Speaker
Yeah, I I've really, um you know, ever since this new um last eight months or so, i i find it really hard to be on social media um just because there's a lot of really, really negative shit out there. And I I just I have to, like, put it away. And so I really haven't posted. i don't think I've posted on anything for like, well, you're you're not missing someun so much. I can tell you that you're missing. You're missing very little.
00:25:11
Speaker
What's interesting about, I mean i know we're kind of talking about social media now, but like you're doing it on your phone. i I think what's interesting now is how much social media, like Facebook, for example, is not even about connection anymore. It's all about ads.
00:25:24
Speaker
Oh, it's all ads. It's all ads. And it's all stuff that you're like, why am I even seeing this? And like, really what I use Facebook for most now is just marketplace. Like if I, if there's something like, if I'm like thinking about like, Oh, i but I might want to get a new desk or like, you know, that I'm weird. I collect typewriters.
00:25:41
Speaker
Like I go to marketplace and I search for typewriters once a week just to see if anybody's put a new, you know, used one out there that I want to buy or like weird shit like that. But like the idea of like like i I post on Facebook like when I'm coming back to the States so that I can just say, hey, I'm going to be there.
00:25:58
Speaker
Come see me. But that's basically it. Yeah. it's it's interesting it's It is really interesting because of my job. I you know i work in marketing and we we do do some um work with Meta.
00:26:10
Speaker
Of course, you you have to. You don't have a choice. And but but it's getting less and less like it's but meta is not the powerhouse that it once was. And yeah it people are getting really sick of it. And like I can tell you right now, if I logged on to my Facebook literally right now, I think I would have to go through about 12 ads before I would even see anyone that I knew.
00:26:33
Speaker
It's true. and Like their post. it's It's kind of insane. um and And, you know, I just have two other facts about the anxiety and phones is, you know, just when we kind of just talked about it and we just got distracted by our own own little conversation. But like the distraction and loss of focus, you know, excessive use can make it harder to focus on tasks and lead to lower academic performance, which, you know, we we talk a lot about in our household about how,
00:27:00
Speaker
And i I don't want to challenge anyone that's you know younger than us. ah but I do. But but like people are getting really dumb. And it's because that is true of phones. It is absolutely true. it's it Look, I think it's two things. I do think that technology is part of it I think that AI is part of it too. And the other part of it is that there is anti-intellectualism is cool now. yeah it is It is no longer cool to be smart. It's cool to have it it's cool to have like a trade.
00:27:27
Speaker
It's cool to like, oh, I know how to do this. but like It's not cool to know things anymore or to be to be fascinated by by knowledge and information seeking.
00:27:40
Speaker
That's longer cool. Intellectualism is not cool anymore. and that's is And that is really scary in my eyes. Look, you want to know why Trump fucking won?
00:27:50
Speaker
that That's the fucking reason. Anti-intellectualism, baby. It is not cool to know things. Dumb people want to be surrounded by other dumb people. That's it. it's really so It's really crazy because, you know, and i'm i'm like I'm going to stop like saying that we're old, but like, um you know, in in our generation, it was like cool to like go to college. It was cool to like, you know, figure things out and like...
00:28:14
Speaker
ah you know, get out of your parents' household, you know, as soon as you could, do you like move on with your life and try to figure things out. And now it's like, it's so codependent that like, there's, there's people saying that like, they're going, like, ah people are bringing their parents to their job interviews.
00:28:30
Speaker
People are bringing parents to their college interviews. Like it's insane to me. You bring it like I hire people regularly. If you bring your parent with you, I'm immediately saying no to you right away. Exactly. You you like you you weirdo.
00:28:43
Speaker
You absolute weirdo. My goodness. And then the last one, and I think that this one is fading a little bit, um is the FOMO effect. So always being connected to your phone can foster a fear of missing out on what others are doing.
00:28:55
Speaker
I think we're getting beyond this now in culture. i really do. hope so. I think that FOMO is starting to fade away because we have, you know, as long as you live in like an area where there are things to do, like other than like going in the woods, like you, there's no reason to have FOMO because there's so much out in the world to do.
00:29:16
Speaker
And I really do think that this one's going to fade away um just because i think that, you know, we're always going to have these influencers that always feel like they're always traveling like every day of the year.
00:29:29
Speaker
But that's going to get tired after a while. And I do think that people are going to have to like make their own their own lives and their own worlds. So i'm I'm hoping that that one will fade away. um i think you have a little bit about smartphones and the like what like what is the smartphone now and what is it going to be in 10 years or something?
AI and Technological Evolution
00:29:47
Speaker
I mean, so listen, yeah the the smartphone that you have now, you know what it is and you know you know how it's evolved. um But the smartphone that you have now, you will have nothing like it in 10 years. that That is...
00:29:58
Speaker
nearly a fact and it may be hard to imagine but like think about it this way think about the phones you were talking about earlier think about the phone that you are probably holding in your hand right now did you ever think you would have a device like this ever a computer a computer in your hands ever in your life and this this is not just for communicating with people this is for like i mean it's for romance it's for porn it's for shopping it's for information It's photography. Photography. It's for your credit card. It's for everything, right?
00:30:29
Speaker
But it it the the reality is that it just will not continue to exist in this way. And so there's an article. there's' There's a lot of articles out there about about this kind of thing. But i i ah the the one that I thought was probably just the best to kind of sum up was it's called The Death of the Smartphone. What's Coming Next? It's from CEO Today. I'm not a CEO. I don't read that very often.
00:30:51
Speaker
um But just imagine like actual CEOs being like, I need to read say today. What's in the latest edition of CEO today? I don't know. um Anyways, the article argues that the smartphone era may be coming to an end, not because phones will disappear entirely, but because what we call a phone will change radically. There are six major trends.
00:31:13
Speaker
that might replace or transform smartphones. Frankly, they're already doing it. The last one is one that I know is going to happen for sure. um The first one is wearable AI assistance. Guess what? You're probably wearing a smartwatch right now, most likely.
00:31:28
Speaker
But we've all seen the new glasses that have come out. And look, some of them are really, really good. I've seen a couple of people testing them online before. And like the cameras are really good. The things you can do with them are actually kind of wild.
00:31:41
Speaker
And they they're creating new versions of these things. like Like Oakley, for example, has like new ones that you can wear while you do sports. Which like, you know, that's actually kind of cool when you think about it. You're going on a, you know, i you're doing like a huge bike race or something. or you're...
00:31:55
Speaker
fucking, I don't know, sailing or some goddamn shit or you're running a marathon. Skiing down Mount Everest. or Or you're skiing on something. like You have you have a not an okay camera. You've got an amazing camera embedded in the glasses that takes care of all that shit for you.
00:32:10
Speaker
And if you want to be connected at the same time, you can. There it is. So devices like that are rings or smart clothing that anticipate users' needs and remove the need to constantly hold a phone.
00:32:22
Speaker
So, I mean, like think about that. The... the the The possibility of even like a smart shirt or smart jeans or smart underwear, like that stuff is coming.
00:32:33
Speaker
And everything is data. Everything is data. So all that data that they collect on your body and other people's bodies will allow them to provide you with something that you're going to buy.
00:32:45
Speaker
That's just the reality. um Augmented reality, so AR or virtual reality, VR. ah Next wave of interface, AR glasses, or even contact lenses that overlay digital info onto the real world so that you don't have to rely on a screen.
00:33:00
Speaker
That's already happening. um And like, you know, in some ways, I think about how cool that is. You're out in the world. You're in another country. You don't speak the language. You've got people talking to you. The device hears it.
00:33:12
Speaker
And then... in your eyes, whether it's contact lenses or on you know glasses once again, it tells you what to say back or translates it for you. Like that's absolutely it'ss astonishing to be honest.
00:33:25
Speaker
The Internet of Things or IoT, an ecosystem of connected devices where the phone isn't the hub, but only one of many nodes. Control via voice, gesture, biometrics becomes more common.
00:33:39
Speaker
So we already see this in a lot of ways. Like, you know, you you can use your hand to do things with your watch, for example. yeah And that you don't have to rely on actually tapping the glass. AI assistants, they're already out there. And guess what?
00:33:50
Speaker
They're taking jobs. ah AI assistants, no matter what anybody says, that is true. Smarter, personalized, embedded, independent of the phone. Tasks like managing schedules, finances, communications become proactive.
00:34:03
Speaker
Yeah, the AI assistant thing is probably the most terrifying one to me, um just because I do think that this is going to put a lot of people out of work.
00:34:16
Speaker
um The reality is that it already is. I know. And it's it's terrifying for i think it's really terrifying for like the arts and for like that arena of things. um But I will I will tell you this, Andrew, as someone who works in tech.
00:34:31
Speaker
If you do not learn how to use AI right now, you will not be employable in five years. so No, I know that. But I'm just it's it's one of those things that like i i i am still wrestling in my mind about how I feel about AI and how I interact with it and how it is um inevitable.
00:34:50
Speaker
<unk> And I understand that. um But do I think that our government should be looking at it and should be regulating it? Yeah, of course. My God. Yeah, absolutely. But yeah, it's it's it's it is if the word you use is perfect. It is inevitable.
00:35:05
Speaker
And i mean, look, I was a very slow convert to it and I'm not some sort of zealous convert now. Don't get me wrong. But you know i've I've learned now how to use it for certain things in my life. And and those things is just to make my life a little bit easier. yeah and Thankfully, it is still really annoying.
00:35:22
Speaker
Yeah, fair. It asks way too many questions. Right, right. But, you know, like like, for example, like I made i made a GPT on ChatGPT and it's just called a horror movie research.
00:35:33
Speaker
And so for the parts of our worksheets where I do my the stuff about the the movies that we watch, the GPT that I set up, all I have to do is type in the name of of the movie and then it does it all for me.
00:35:44
Speaker
And like, that's great. Like, I mean, look, all I was doing before was fucking going on Google, Google name of it, and then going to four different websites and having to copy and paste so this way. It's done in like 10 seconds. And then I just copy it over to the worksheet, you know, voila, like that's a great use of AI, right? It's, it's making something that I do all the time a lot easier.
00:36:05
Speaker
What's not maybe so good is all this agentic AI where it i mean it really is taking the role away from somebody. We see this in in the most recent layoff from Amazon where they just let go 14,000 people. right and And most of that, what they were support people for the most part. and and and that's the the other hip And not to go off on AI because there's more I'll talk about more in a minute.
00:36:28
Speaker
this The scary thing about it. And I was talking to somebody about this last week is i was is like, look, here's the deal, man. In like a year, you you might think you will, but you won't know the difference between a real person and an AI agent.
00:36:42
Speaker
Like that's how that's how good it's getting.
Future Tech Trends
00:36:45
Speaker
That's what's so fucking scary. Yeah. Like they they do tests on this shit all the time. And people cannot tell the difference between that's a robot, that's a human.
00:36:54
Speaker
Well, it's only going to make eat it so much easier to just lie. Like, you know what I mean? it's Because we know we won't use it for good. right Now, the other things, brain-computer interfaces, this is stuff that... um ah So it's it's very early stuff, but this is the idea of controlling devices with your thoughts.
00:37:15
Speaker
So, I'm kind of shit, right? But look, I mean... Telekinesis for real. It is absolutely coming. um Holographic displays. This is absolutely in the future. Screens will vanish. They will be replaced by projected 3D interfaces.
00:37:30
Speaker
Interaction in midair rather than by a phone in hand. that's on and That is absolutely on the way. So the article concludes that, of course, you know, look, smartphones aren't going to disappear overnight. We might in the next decade look back on them as we now view landlines. The old rotary phone, once revolutionary, but now completely obsolete.
00:37:49
Speaker
So yeah the takeaway from this article was really just if it's not it's not if but when and what that successor is actually going to be. So it's really interesting stuff, you know, whether we like it or not, know, back to the word inevitable. It's all going to keep changing. we none not None of us right now on this podcast can stop it.
00:38:08
Speaker
So it's going to be interesting to see how it just keeps on ongoing. And, you know, like it's. You know, I, I, Andrew and I were just talking about, uh, before we started recording and Joe was like, Oh, was nice to hear about the election in in Ireland because we, we just had the presidential election here. And I, I wasn't able to vote yet because I'm not a citizen. Only citizens can vote in that kind of election.
00:38:29
Speaker
Um, but a woman named Catherine Connolly won, uh, won one president or Unachtron as we call it here. Um, and,
00:38:41
Speaker
The president here is, sarah is it's you know, they're like the head of state it's it the because we have we have a prime minister called the Taoiseach and then a prime minister called the Taunista. But that a woman won the presidency and especially a woman like Catherine Connolly, who is kind of like the Bernie Sanders of of Ireland, if you think about her that way. Sure.
00:39:01
Speaker
like She's a really good woman. she's She's been a lawyer for a long time. She she was was Kim Corley of the of the the doll, which is like the Speaker of the House kind of thing. she She's been an activist for her whole life. um she's just like She's a really good woman. and And like you know the reality is that without a great social media campaign and without you know really cool videos of her out on the street talking to people and you know, being kind so that people could really see that and having some fun out there too. Like she's actually, like she's like, like she's really good at soccer.
00:39:32
Speaker
So like there's this great video of her like fucking like bouncing the fucking ball up with her feet and shit. And it's actually like fucking cool. And like, that's the kind of stuff that if people didn't have a phone, you wouldn't know about her.
00:39:43
Speaker
Yeah. But then at the same time, am at the same time in America, right? Look at the big difference. Donald Trump wouldn't have won without social media. Absolutely no fucking way. And well all much so much of it is because people on their phones, they've just been completely brainwashed by by the stuff that he and his campaign did.
00:40:03
Speaker
And they just keep it going because that's that's like where they live now. You know what I mean? It's it's fucked up, dude. Well, we're starting to see it too now on the other side, you know, specifically it was around Mamdani out of New York um who has just learned that if you actually go to where the people are and tell them exactly what you plan to do, you can get shit done.
00:40:26
Speaker
You know, and I'm hopeful hopefully I'm not eating my words because they're, you know, their election is next week. But like if he wins, I think that we, know, as a society win little bit back and i think that we have a chance to turn the tables i hope so literally becoming the catholic state of all right guess i should say the invalid the evangelical yeah it's like it's absolutely so so fucked up i i think that he will win by that think he'll win on a landslide
00:40:56
Speaker
I think i think what's what's interesting to watch in that let election, too, is who wins in Virginia for the governor. yeah and um and And then, you know, look, 2026 around the corner.
00:41:08
Speaker
Will there be an election? Who knows? We're not sure. And you know, we have some hot contested races in Maine. And, like, there's there's a lot there's a lot going on. And I'm thankful that people are starting to understand that, like,
00:41:23
Speaker
Literally, our government lies to us every single fucking day. And like, you have to be thoughtful and you have to like really like not just listen to what people do, but look at what they do. Not listen.
00:41:36
Speaker
Look, look at what they do and make sure that you're aligned with what they're doing daily. I know it's little off topic for phones, but no no that's what we're looking at it. But but yeah that's just it is that it's not off topic for phones.
00:41:48
Speaker
Like, you know, once again, back to, you know, back to Chicago, right? With all the insane ice raids going on right now, which are immoral. They are wrong. They are illegal and they are disgusting. They are absolutely immoral. And if you are listening to this right now and you support them in any way, i want you to press stop and never listen to us again.
00:42:10
Speaker
Don't yeah get out of here. You're not welcome here. You are, you are part of the evil that is taking over America right now. Cause it's, it's disgusting watching those things happen.
00:42:21
Speaker
And when you ask, and when I saw that video, of that reporter from WGN in Lincoln Square, right? Literally around the corner from my house, right around the corner from your house and right around the corner from where I used to live.
00:42:32
Speaker
I saw that video and I, I mean, I i just cried, Andrew, just cried watching. It was so sad. And if it's not that and I just watched a video this weekend of an old lady, an old lady getting body slammed by an ice fucking goon.
00:42:48
Speaker
Like, and once again, that's stuff that we wouldn't see unless what somebody had a phone. Yeah. recording So, I mean, at least we have some evidence of when when people look back on this time in the world and they can at least say i was either on the right side of history or on the wrong side of history. You make the choice.
00:43:07
Speaker
nu Nasty ass fucking thugs. Listen, yeah. and look we If we've made it clear over the past eight years of recording, that's not our kind of fucking shit, man. No. So don't don't bring that over here, dude. I don't think so.
00:43:19
Speaker
Well, I think that does it. free and real Ring, ring. psychology.com. Psychology. sponsor all is coming from inside the house sponsored by psychology dot com <unk>ology I don't know why that's so fun for me to say, but psychology.com. CEO Today.
00:43:36
Speaker
Who are you guys sponsored by now? Well, we're really proud that CEO Today and psychology.com sponsor us. But yes, would we will now take a break and we'll be right back with What You Been Watching, Bitch.
00:43:52
Speaker
Let's all go to the lobby, let's all go to the lobby, let's all go to the lobby to get ourselves a treat.
00:44:04
Speaker
It's that time. It's that time again. It's time for what you've been watching, bitch. What you've been watching, you telephone, dialing, fucking texting bitch. Yeah, you tell them.
00:44:16
Speaker
but But this is the part of the episode where we talk about what we've been watching. Sometimes it's what we've been reading. Sometimes it's what we've been listening to. But for the most part, it's what you've been watching. So, Maddie, tell me all about what you've been watching, Butch? We both have one that is similar. So actually, Andrew, we're going to do that one first today. Okay. so Perfect. It is called The Perfect Neighbor and it is on Netflix.
00:44:40
Speaker
um This is really good. i ah Wait, but do you know what year the thing happened? Do you remember that? i was trying to think. twenty It was over 2023 and 2024.
00:44:51
Speaker
Got it. So it's recent. So ah The Perfect Neighbor is about a neighborhood in Florida, right? Florida. Yes. Yep. And um it's, you know, it looks like any other fucking suburban neighborhood. I can't remember exactly where it was. Maybe you remember.
00:45:04
Speaker
But it's, you know, it's a bunch of ranch houses and people with yards with front yards and like driveways like that. Yeah. And like a cul-de-sac kind of thing. So on this cul-de-sac or um in this like little, you know, suburb neighborhood subdivision, that that's what I'm looking for.
00:45:21
Speaker
In this subdivision, a bunch of, you know, typical, normal, working class, middle class families. um And then there's this one woman who's like older, but not super old.
00:45:34
Speaker
And like there are kids that play in the neighborhood and the kids sometimes play around her yard. And this woman gets really bitchy about it. And so she, she like constantly calls the cops or she'll like run out there and yell at them and call them names. And then stuff starts ratcheting up and she starts to like use the N word and she starts to do this and she starts to get a little crazier. And the police are like, you got to stop fucking calling us all the fucking time.
00:46:04
Speaker
And like, they're trying to reason with everybody. They're like, you know, look, you know, look, we know she's a fucking crazy ass fucking cunt, but like just stay out of her yard, stay away from her, like that kind of thing. And then one night something really terrible happens, really terrible happens.
00:46:22
Speaker
And, um, it's awful. It's hard because we can't really we can't really do a spoiler right now, can we? No, it's okay. it's It's the fallout from that incident, basically.
00:46:32
Speaker
and And it's awful because what you see after that is lies and and just somebody who is absolutely fucking disgusting. Like, it will disgust you.
00:46:45
Speaker
And it knows how to manipulate the system. What a nasty, nasty fucking bitch. I mean, I really, I mean, every, every bad word I can use against that woman. I mean it and I'll say it because she deserves it. She's a fucking cunt.
00:46:59
Speaker
I hope she burns for it. I really mean that. Like, I cannot believe the damage that this person did because she's a hateful racist bitch. There I said it.
00:47:10
Speaker
I think that what's interesting about this documentary is that it's all told through body cam footage. Yeah. um more more like Or like ring cameras or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it's not it's not a documentary that serves you the story. You have to make up your own mind about the story, um which I find really interesting because in most documentaries you would hear like a talking head or like a like a.
00:47:35
Speaker
uh, narrator, like kind of like leading you through the story and like leading you kind of to understand what the story they're trying to tell, like dateline type of type of thing. But what this documentary does really interesting is it just shows you the footage. It just shows you the footage. It gives you dates.
00:47:50
Speaker
Um, and like what happened and like real people talking to, to put mostly police officers, but some, you know, recorded like security footage and whatnot. um But you have to make up your own mind. And I think that that's a really interesting way to tell a story um in in this kind of way, like ah a real story, because I guarantee that there's more footage out there of like um the neighbors probably recording on their phones or like.
00:48:14
Speaker
recording other things but like they really rely just on this one like one thing tell you this very complicated story and I thought it was a really interesting way to do it so if that sounds like something you're interested in I would definitely check this out I found it fascinating um i kind of knew where it was going from the very beginning so it's not like a it's not one of those documentaries that's like the huge twist but like it is like very interesting to just see like I don't know, something happening in real time that you have to kind of make make up your own mind about. Well, does that make sense? It does. I'll i'll tell you, ah i i told my sister and my brother-in-law about this because the the the police that are envar ah that are involved are sheriffs. So they're sheriff's police. And my brother-in-law is a sheriff.
00:49:01
Speaker
And so I said, oh, you got to watch this. I was thinking about you and your guys the whole time. And so they watched it and like, look, you know, my brother-in-law my sister are are conservative. That's just the reason we love each other. We've learned how to deal with politics.
00:49:13
Speaker
um But ah they think about the world differently than I do. And um it was really interesting that their reaction to it was the same as mine.
00:49:24
Speaker
Cool. And that was honestly really good to hear. ah Yeah. Oh, this this actually might be a bit of a universal disgust story. And I really appreciate that.
00:49:36
Speaker
Well, and I think that that is why the way they tell the story is so important is because it's not someone trying to convince you of something. It's literally just showing you this and you have to make up your own mind about it.
00:49:48
Speaker
You know what i mean? Agreed. So definitely watch it if you're interested in that. We'll leave it there. But it is called The Perfect Neighbor on Netflix. All right. My second one is on Shudder currently. It was a Halloween release.
00:50:02
Speaker
And this is VHS Halloween. um If you're not familiar with the VHS. The VHS. ah ubra It's basically like, I don't know. I would say like between five and seven shorts that are kind of played intermittently through like some, maybe a, a story that goes all the way through. it kind of depends on which one you watch.
00:50:23
Speaker
um Listen, I'm kind of over these movies. I think that this one's pretty lazy, if I'm being honest. I think that there's one good short in here. There's a short in here where um a family ah has like ah a haunt every year.
00:50:42
Speaker
And this year their haunt um comes alive. And like ah like ah like everything that's fake comes alive. And that's probably pretty it's a pretty cool little segment. But like it's surrounded by these other segments that are just I don't know. Maybe I'm just like this. Maybe this is just not for me anymore.
00:51:00
Speaker
But like they just feel so nonsensical and like just so lazy. i mean, I've not made a motion picture, so I can't really speak to it. But like from an entertainment standpoint and from a watching standpoint, I'll never watch this again.
00:51:16
Speaker
Like ah some of this stuff just needs to end already. Like come up with something new now. um My next one ah is called a House of Dynamite. I saw this in the cinema. it was released in cinema in in in select cinemas, but it's also on Netflix. That's how Netflix is doing things now.
00:51:33
Speaker
It's kind of cool. i think I think it's a great idea because they' they've done the same thing with Frankenstein. And I'm going to make i I got to see that next week before it leaves the theater. Anyways, House of Dynamite. and So I read a book um called um called Nuclear War by Annie Jacobson. And I i talked about it before on the show.
00:51:53
Speaker
And it is a great book. um It is literally walking you through what would happen in the likely what would likely happen in the event of somebody launching a nuclear missile against the United States.
00:52:07
Speaker
And she takes you through 18 minutes that happen after the launch is detected until the very end. um when it, guess what, explodes as it hits America.
00:52:21
Speaker
And it is a terrifying book. and And she takes you through literally like second by second what would happen. um It's terrifying because, you and and it's supposed to be terrifying, because you should be walking away from that book understanding what ought to be an elementary thing to know And it is this, if a nuclear war ever happens, everyone dies.
00:52:43
Speaker
That's the end of the story. Anyone who thinks differently, that there's some other future outside of that, you're wrong. but know that that's That's just the end of the story.
00:52:55
Speaker
um So it's a wonderful book. And then they made this movie called House of Dynamite. and House of Dynamite is a term that that refers to the current state that we live in now with so many countries, including us holding, um including America, I should say, holding um nuclear weapons in, in a very, very big number.
00:53:15
Speaker
Also kind of scary because Donald Trump does mention that he was going to start testing nuclear weapons again, which is really great. um That's awful. You shouldn't be doing that. And how's the dynamite? ah ah You know, it's, it's,
00:53:28
Speaker
that The book is is book is definitely better. um ah Rose the Hat is in it, right? Ooh. She plays ah like kind of like one of the main women. um And there's it's it's got to actually it's got a really great cast. um Lots of great people in it. You can go look it up.
00:53:44
Speaker
My problem with the movie is that a lot of the dialogue is corny. I'm just not going to lie. it's corny dialogue and there are some things that like they put in to kind of humanize it like, Oh, this person's wife is pregnant. And Oh, his wife is in Africa. Like that's kind of stuff where I'm like, okay, bro. yeah like it's It doesn't really work if I'm being honest, but like whatever, they got to find a way to do it. And, and it just, some parts of that just seem a little silly at the end of the day though. Like it is still, it is still, you know, it is, um,
00:54:17
Speaker
It is anxiety-inducing to watch in the same way that reading the book was anxiety-inducing because you know how it's going to end. You know where it's going. And yeah, it may be a little bit of a spoiler for you, but like what do you think? It's going to be a happy ending at the end of that? Come on, it's not.
00:54:32
Speaker
So like I think it was really good. um i don't think you have to see it in the cinema. I think you're okay seeing it seeing it at home. um But you know yeah, even with the corny dialogue and some parts that weren't that great, I still recommend seeing it.
00:54:44
Speaker
Cool. Yeah, sounds interesting. I think I'm more apt to maybe read the book, but yeah, cool. It's good that people are talking about this because it's a real reality that could happen, so which is insane to think, but it is what it Yeah, fair, fair.
00:55:01
Speaker
All right, my next one is on Netflix. It's called True Haunting. Have you watched this yet? I have not yet. You're going to love it. and This is basically ah I think it's six episodes, but um I recommend watching the first four and then maybe skipping the last two, um because the first four are all one story about this guy who went to college in the 80s and in in like, I think like upper New York, if I remember correctly.
00:55:29
Speaker
um And it's just all about him like basically being haunted in his dorm room for like years. wow um And like the effect that it took on his friends and his friendships at the time.
00:55:41
Speaker
And it's his story is really, really interesting. The last two episodes are about a whole a completely different story. And it's more of like a haunted house type of thing, which I think is kind of...
00:55:54
Speaker
if you know If you've watched a ah haunted you know show, documentary, you've seen this before. But the the first four about the guy at college are really interesting. That's so good.
00:56:06
Speaker
They interview him. um They interview his friends at the time. And they all have a very consistent story about like what happened. And I don't want to give anything away. But if you like like kind of documentary-type style of...
00:56:22
Speaker
ah telling these haunted stories, I would definitely check this out. I think Netflix did a really good job. They, they did a, an excellent job of the, um what do you call when they retell it?
00:56:33
Speaker
Look, what, with actors, what is that? Why am I blanking? I can't think of it but but we all know what you're doing. Reenactments. Yeah, there you go. Yes. Yeah. They do an excellent job with the reenactments. And I thought I ah listen, we watched this mostly in a hotel room and being in a hotel room watching this and it being about dorm rooms. It was creepy.
00:56:55
Speaker
So I would watch it definitely. And I think, Maddie, I think you would really enjoy this because I know we have similar agreements when it comes to kind of like these haunted stories. Love it. Can't wait to watch it.
00:57:08
Speaker
ah My next one is called After the Hunt. This is the latest film from Luca Guadagnino. um Great cast. Julia Roberts, Ayo Edabiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg, Chloe Sevigny.
00:57:24
Speaker
um Great cast, um great director, and really great actors. um This is, ah so i i really enjoyed this film. It is about, here's the the the thing.
00:57:37
Speaker
A college professor finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil leaves and levels an accusation against one of her colleagues and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.
00:57:51
Speaker
So this is about, it's just, it's about that, right? It's about a student who says something happened against one of who, but from one of her friends, who's also a professor.
00:58:01
Speaker
um The friend is Andrew Garfield. Julia Roberts is the main professor here. Michael Stuhlbarg is Julia Roberts's husband. And Io Etabiri is the student at question here.
00:58:12
Speaker
And so they are at Yale and um it becomes a big thing as these things do, right? And, it you're left going back and forth the whole movie on what actually happened.
00:58:27
Speaker
Like what, what actually went down? What was it? What is it? Is it overblown? Is it not overblown? Is it this? Is it that? The film does a really good job. but i think of of, of, like playing out the good archetypal, like, um,
00:58:52
Speaker
like roles that people play when these things happen. Okay. And I, it took me a while to really think about how to get that out. Um, but like, and that's what I think the movie is about.
00:59:04
Speaker
It's about like, what people, like thought like the the the performance that you think you need to give when you when you hear about something something happening, whether it's a sexual assault or whether it's a rape or whether it's a um a murder or whether it's you know somebody talking about trans people or this thing or that thing.
00:59:24
Speaker
We all have these performances in mind that we need to give right away. And like, I think and like, it to a certain degree, that's like expected. And like, that's actually a good thing. Like we know how to perform when something goes on, because we have experience telling us about that.
00:59:39
Speaker
This is getting really heady. I know. But like, at the same time, like, any performance is ready to be criticized. Right? Yeah. And that's what this movie is kind of about. And, and it's in, in, ah in some ways it's a bit of a comedy in that way, like a very, very dark comedy.
00:59:55
Speaker
But like, i I think it's a, I think it's really a genius movie. I really do. And I, I'm a big fan, fan of Luca Guadagnino, whether it's, um, call me by your name or ah the, the reboot that I still think is one of the finest reboots of all time.
01:00:10
Speaker
Suspiria. I fucking love that reboot. Um, he is good at what he fucking does. The soundtrack in this is off the chain incredible. It's so good. And he just does a great job of telling a story about a bunch of rich kids at fucking Yale that don't know how to fucking tie their shoes. um but but know But know how to perform, don't they? They know how to perform.
01:00:34
Speaker
And that's what it's about. So, you know, look, I think people have a lot of differing opinions about this. I think you're either going to love this movie or you're going to hate it, to be honest. But I really enjoyed it. And if that's the kind of thing that you get into is having a bit of a heady movie to really think about, you should watch it.
01:00:51
Speaker
um It's ah maybe a little long. It's 140 minutes, basically. But um I really enjoyed it. So that's it. After the hunt. Cool. Yeah. and I can tell you for sure that this is not getting much fanfare over here.
01:01:03
Speaker
Oh, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. I when you said Julie Roberts, I was like, Julie Roberts is in a movie. Yeah. yeah um But cool. I'll check. those I mean, I've liked ah I've liked almost all of his movies, ah but there are there are a couple of them there that I ah did. he He did challengers, right?
01:01:19
Speaker
Yeah, which actually I didn't see yet. Which is crazy. I did not like that movie. I don't know how I haven't seen that yet, but yeah. ah Anyway, all right. My last one is The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. Oh, man.
01:01:32
Speaker
haven't seen that in ages. ah No, this is the remake. What?! Yes, there's a remake on Hulu. You may have not heard about it. That's crazy. um But this like so this one was a little bit of a mixed bag for me because like I was very excited that we were getting a remake of. I mean, we we did the hand that rocks a cradle in episode five. long time ago. keyzos Yeah.
01:01:54
Speaker
Um, and I, I am a sucker for this kind of movie, like, um, single white female, the hand, the rocks, the cradle, like all these movies. Like, it's just what I grew up with, with my mom. And so I'm like a sucker for these.
01:02:08
Speaker
What I will say about this new, um, version is that the cast is great. It's, um, Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays the mom ok and Micah Monroe plays the, you know, uh, the nanny, if you will.
01:02:22
Speaker
And I think that I think that all the cast is really good. and I think maybe where my expectations going into it were deceived is that it's it's not campy at all.
01:02:34
Speaker
It's played very dark and very serious. Oh, that's interesting. And so I think that like what I wanted was like a campy, like almost like lifetime style movie should be original.
01:02:48
Speaker
And when I was met with this very serious version that's talking about like childhood trauma and talking about, you know, like abuse and a lot of like very, like very serious topics. yeah I think I was ah I think I was a little thrown off.
01:03:04
Speaker
And so like upon like initial watch and like thinking about it, I didn't think I liked it. But then the next day I woke up and I was like, you know what? That actually was pretty good.
01:03:15
Speaker
That's great to hear. And so like, I think I just needed a little bit of like self expectation check. You know what i mean? And maybe, maybe, maybe if they didn't call it the hand that rocks the cradle and I just called it like, I don't know, nanny murder. I don't know. I don't know. Nanny murder. Um, but like maybe if they just called it something different, it would subvert some people's expectations and they would be able to enjoy it. But like, if you can go into it with like a fresh mind and I, this is on Hulu, but so that I think that also means it's on Disney plus. I think that's how these things work now. Um,
01:03:45
Speaker
But I would go into it with just like, you know, turn off those expectations and just kind of absorb the movie because it's actually better than I thought it was. So I really liked it.
01:03:57
Speaker
I don't know. I haven't heard anybody talk about it yet. So I'm eager to hear from our listeners if they enjoyed this remake or if they thought it was maybe unnecessary. I don't know. And I i would love for you to watch it because I think that I think that you would really like it. Actually, I think that you would enjoy the more serious tone that they took with it.
01:04:13
Speaker
so i will I'll definitely watch it. um yeah As usual, fucking Hulu shit is hard to get over here in one way or another. um But that sounds really great. It's wonderful. Um, my last one is called Bougonia.
01:04:27
Speaker
i can't believe you already saw this. I know. Well, you know, but because at White House, we get, we get stuff pretty, like we get some things quick. A lot of art house-y stuff like this. Yeah, this literally came out, yes, two days ago here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, also I saw a preview. I should, I should have said that. so And I saw that's why okay a 35 millimeter preview, which is really cool. Cool.
01:04:47
Speaker
Um, and the first 100 people got a little film strip, which was really neat too. Like a little 35 millimeter, and I'll tell you from the previews, it looks like a pretty crazy movie. this So this is the new one from Yorgos Lanthimos, another director that I really, really admire quite a bit. I don't like all of his stuff, um but I do like most of it, I would say.
01:05:07
Speaker
And this is the new one that has ah another great cast. Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons. um Those are people that you find in Yorgos films. Also, another one that you find in his films, Alicia Silverstone Returns. Ooh.
01:05:21
Speaker
um And she's so good in fucking um the deer one, killing of a sacred deer. Anyways, Pagonia is fucking insane.
01:05:31
Speaker
Absolutely fucking nuts. I don't even know what to say about it. Like, the number one, the just you you need to see it. ah you You absolutely have to see it. It is astounding. It's absolutely astounding.
01:05:45
Speaker
And ah what did I say on Letterboxd? What did I say? I said, let me go to edit review. I will say while you while you look this up, I will say that like I I have not really enjoyed this director, but I will say that this movie looks pretty fun. I think you'll like this one.
01:06:02
Speaker
Here's what I said about it. I said bizarre, wild, terrifying, sad coming soon. That's what I would say about it. the the and And it'll make sense after you see it, I think. um But the the basic gist of it is two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnapped the high-powered CEO of a major company convinced that she is an alien on ah intent on destroying planet Earth.
01:06:26
Speaker
There you go. and don't Don't Google anything. Just go see it. And it is yeah it's fucking wild. It's one of the craziest things I've seen. And I really enjoyed it. I thought it was great.
01:06:37
Speaker
Cool. No, I'm, I'm, I'm, we'll definitely see this one. This is at the top of my list. See it in the theater. Do not wait. Go see it on a giant screen. It needs to be seen that way. Can I ask you one thing? Yes.
01:06:49
Speaker
And it's not a spoiler at all, but like does he clean up his dialogue in this one more? like is it Or is it still weird? Because it's like what I always find about his movies is that like the dialogue doesn't sound like real humans. i said well and And that's the thing. is like I think that for Yagros Lanthimos, the stories that he creates, that is deliberate on his part.
01:07:13
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I know. You know, it's like it's like thinking about, for example, like Killing of a Sacred Deer. Killing of a Sacred Deer, ah which, which which i you know, I know that you're you're not a fan of it. ah Yeah, we we differ on that one. It's fine. yeah it But like it is, that is Greek theater.
01:07:28
Speaker
Like it is, there is a chorus. There are there are Greek components to it. It is insane. it is, it is, it's it's designed to be that way because it it puts you like listening to that dialogue puts you into a particular mode of being as it happens around you.
01:07:47
Speaker
And so I think in this one, there is a bit of that. I'm not going to lie, but I think it, but I, but I do think it's different though. It's not quite the same. And it was the same. Um, it was the same, you know, kind of thing with whatever that last one was poor things.
01:08:00
Speaker
i think I think it was the title. Which, like you know to be fair, like that one I actually wasn't a big fan of. port Yeah. Sure. And but and and what what I'm trying to say is that this one is different from Killing of a Sacred Deer in terms of dialogue.
01:08:13
Speaker
it's It's not the same kind of thing. Yeah. I mean, I just like, I'm not going to belabor this, but like with Killing of Sacred Deer, I just couldn't get into it because I was constantly like, what what are, people don't talk like this.
01:08:27
Speaker
ah but Honestly, barr Barry Keoghan's finest. God, he was so good in that. Jesus fucking Christ. salt burn all right well that does it for what you've been watching bitch maddie brought us uh well we both brought uh the perfect neighbor on netflix house of dynamite which you can watch on netflix or go see in the ah cinema begonia which is currently now available in the united states of america and After the Hunt, which is also in theaters.
01:08:56
Speaker
Andrew brought us VHS Halloween on Shudder, True Haunting on Netflix, and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle on Hulu. Cool. That does it for what you've been watching, bitch. We'll be right back with our first movie of the episode.
01:09:08
Speaker
It's an epic one. It's one we haven't covered. We should have a long time ago, but it finally fits our little weird scheme of doing movies, and that Scream.
01:09:21
Speaker
Hello? Hello? Hello? Who is this? you tell me your name, I'll tell you mine. I don't think so. What's that noise? Popcorn. You're making popcorn? Well, I'm getting ready to watch a video.
01:09:34
Speaker
Really? What? Oh, just some scary movie. You like scary movies? Uh-huh. You never told me your name.
Scream Movie Analysis
01:09:41
Speaker
Why do you want to know my name? I want to know who I'm looking at. Someone is playing a deadly game. It all began with a scream over 911. Someone who's seen one too many scary movies.
01:09:57
Speaker
Now, he's taken his love of fear. Hello? Hello, Sidney. One step too far. you like scary movies? What's the point? They're all the same. Some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who who can't act, who's always running up the stairs, and she should be going out the front door. It's insulting. There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a scary movie.
01:10:22
Speaker
Number one, you can never have sex. big world Just me. ever, ever under any circumstances say, I'll be right back. Because you won't be back. Get another the beer. You want one?
01:10:36
Speaker
Yeah, sure. I'll be right back.
01:10:40
Speaker
He didn't make the rules. Police are always off track. If they watch prom night, they save time. He just kills by them. Don't answer the phone. Don't open the door.
01:10:54
Speaker
Don't try to hide. wow
01:11:00
Speaker
everybody does not go
01:11:07
Speaker
You're not scared, are you? Scream.
01:11:12
Speaker
It's a scream, baby. Yes, it's time to do Scream. Maddie tells all about Scream. Someone has taken their love of scary movies one step too far.
01:11:24
Speaker
Solving this mystery is going to be murder. In the quiet town of Woodsboro, masked killer known as Ghostface begins a string of gruesome murders targeting a high school students.
01:11:36
Speaker
As bodies pile up, horror movie-loving teens realize they may be living inside their own slasher flick, and survival depends on knowing the rules. A meta-twist on the genre, Scream both satirizes and revitalizes the slasher film with razor-sharp wit and brutal suspense.
01:11:56
Speaker
Directed by Wes Craven. Rest in peace. Written by Kevin Williamson. ah Produced and distributed. Well, produced by Woods Entertainment, Four Dimension Films.
01:12:07
Speaker
Distributed by Miramax and Dimension. Sidney Prescott, played by Neve Campbell. Gail Weathers, played by Courtney Cox. Is it Nev Campbell or Neve Campbell? Why did I just do that?
01:12:18
Speaker
I've always said Nev. It's Nev. What's wrong with that? why did i You know why? Because I live in Ireland. That's why. geez. Dewey Riley played by David Arquette. Funny story about him coming up.
01:12:29
Speaker
Billy Loomis played by Skeet Ulrich. Stu Macher played by Matthew Lillard. Randy played by Jamie Kennedy. And Tatum played by Rose McGowan. Scream is rated R. It was released December 1996. It's 111 minutes it's a hundred and eleven minutes long Filmed mostly in Sonoma County, Northern California, in Santa Rosa, Helzberg, and Tomales.
01:12:51
Speaker
ah Standing, of course, for the fictional Woodsboro, California. The budget was $14 million and it grossed $173 million. Andrew, this of course not is this is not the the first watch. Could you imagine if it was?
01:13:06
Speaker
um we would we have to be out of we We should just quit if it was the first one. um And, Angelus, before we go into it, I do want to tell everybody a funny story about David Arquette. Do you know which one I'm going to tell?
01:13:16
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I think we've told it before. but Let's tell it again just for fun. So, wait what where was which one was that? Was that – what was that one called? That convention? Yeah. horror something or or it was i don't know it was in indianapolis and uh it think was indie right that one yeah yeah so me michael and andrew when i think it was 20 i don't know 19 17 17 yeah 17 no no no like 2019 probably jesus god 2017 anyways uh we went to this horror convention and we were just goofing around as always and you know i had some drinks
01:13:51
Speaker
And I don't remember exactly why, but like we were on this couch that was they were on on a landing. Yeah, it was a couch on a landing of like a staircase.
01:14:02
Speaker
And like we just sat there because I don't know, we were tired or something. I don't know, or drunk. And David Arquette just walked up the stairs in front of us. And I think, I don't know why I said, but I went, David Arquette, you're fired. and And he laughed and we laughed and that was and it. was really funny.
01:14:20
Speaker
It's stupid. I hate it. And I think he came up to us and he was like, ah he said something like, ah hey, boys. Yeah, something like that. Right. It was so funny. um He's a nice guy. Anyways. Okay. Andrew, tell us all about what is probably your 8,000th viewing of Scream.
01:14:38
Speaker
Much like Casey Becker played by Drew Barrymore, I've seen this movie 20 goddamn times. ah No, um this is one of those movies that I could turn on probably at any time and enjoy.
01:14:52
Speaker
i think that this was kind of a weird reawakening for a lot of my horror loving self and maybe... but You know, this and probably Candyman are responsible for me being a horror like person.
01:15:07
Speaker
um And so listen, I'm going I'm going to praise this a lot, but I'm not. We do. We do kind of consider Andrew to be a scream expert, to be fair. but I'm not afraid to criticize it. And I, I will tell you some of the things that I have to criticize it. But, um, for the most part, I mean, scream is quintessential. Like you can't be canon.
01:15:26
Speaker
You can't be a horror person in this day and age and not have seen scream if if you like it or not. I don't, sure I don't really care. that you It's, it's necessary watching it's nightmare on Elm street. It's Halloween. It's, you know, the Friday the 13th. It's, it's these movies that you, sorry, if you like horror, you got to watch them completely agree. Um,
01:15:44
Speaker
um But, you know, this one is it's it's quintessential and it's, you know, probably one of the best openings to a movie maybe ever. um Just because the the opening with, you know, Drew Barrymore, Casey Becker and Steve and and, ah you know, Ghostface, whoever we think it is at the beginning. Maybe it's both. We don't know. We really don't know. it never is revealed like but who's the killer when. um And yes, we are spoiling a movie that came out in 1996. deal with it.
01:16:14
Speaker
yeah Yeah, for real. um And so, like, listen, I think that this is ah a brilliant movie ah by a mostly brilliant filmmaker. I think he has like a couple of hiccups in his in his oeuvre. But you cannot deny the ah ah the power that Wes Craven has over the horror community and to a lesser extent, the power of Kevin Williamson, who's still literally working today in horror. Agreed.
01:16:39
Speaker
and and And I just think that, you know, Scream is what it is. You know, we can talk about like the the beat by beat. And, you know, it's always weird when I look at Scream movies and I realize how long they are because almost all of them are almost two hours long.
01:16:53
Speaker
Yeah. And ah most of the time we scoff at that. Most of the time we're like, Jesus Christ, get to the point. And, you know, I do have a section of this movie that I think it could be cut out completely and it would still be the same movie and we can talk about it. But for the most part, this movie clips along with real quick. Like you're never bored when watching scream.
01:17:11
Speaker
um And I think that it it just set up such a, a series that we're still existing in today. yeah I mean, screams, the scream seven trailer literally just dropped like three days ago.
01:17:24
Speaker
um And so the fact that it could have that longevity is just like, it shows that this was needed ah to keep horror alive And I just I really do love it.
01:17:37
Speaker
um Do I think the first one is my favorite? I don't know. um i waver on that depending on what I've watched most recently. But I will tell you the first two are my favorite and we can kind of leave it at that. Makes sense.
01:17:52
Speaker
um But Maddie, tell me a little bit about and what was your first experience watching Scream? Oh, God, I think I would have seen it in the theaters in 96. I was too young. We had to rent it.
01:18:03
Speaker
I mean, I'm sure I would i'm sure i would have gone with with one of my friends. At least I think I did. um But yeah, I mean, i was like every other 90s kid that we all loved Scream. Like, that's just that's just what it was. And it was fun and it was different and it was...
01:18:19
Speaker
It was scary back then, you know? um i don't it you know Now you watch it and it's a little less scary and more more fun. It's more nostalgic. and it's um And it's also still interesting to watch, I think.
01:18:33
Speaker
There's so many self-referential things in it from Wes Craven that are really... interesting you know like like this time i really caught um ah when when it's drew barrymore and um uh and she says what does she say andrew she says like well the first one was great but but but the rest sucked about about yeah on elm street yeah and like i remember that line but i kind of forgot about it and i was like oh yeah that's that's kind of fun you know what i said to her i said dream mad the dream dream warriors is a great movie there you go right
01:19:08
Speaker
But I mean, like, there there are so many things in here that are just, you know, magical for horror film lovers. um And that's, you know, because, of course, Wes Craven directed it and and Kevin Williamson wrote it.
01:19:19
Speaker
And, you know, they they made this for, they made it for everybody, but they also made it for, I think, people who really love horror movies. du Absolutely. That's what this movie hinges on is what are the rules of a horror in a movie and a bunch of horror movie nerds.
01:19:35
Speaker
And like, that's the fucking plot, man. So like, it is it's such a great film for that, of course. But it's also great because like, there's not a bad performance in this movie.
01:19:47
Speaker
There's really not. Everyone from the principal, whatever his fucking name is, to um to to Courtney Cox, to David Arquette, to all the other people that that have names that you know, to all the random people that are in the movie. like Everyone is great in this.
01:20:03
Speaker
And everyone... go ahead. The two women in the bathroom are like yeah my absolute favorite. When she's like Sidney and her bubble butt boyfriend, Billy... ah I mean, it's just like, it's fun. It's scary. It's a slasher. It's sexy.
01:20:19
Speaker
It's bloody. It's gory. And like, and it and it believes in itself. It believes in itself without beating you over the head. So you can still have fun, but it's also a movie that you take seriously at the same time.
01:20:32
Speaker
and And that is a hard line to keep. You know, some of the Scream sequels haven't done as good of a job at that, I don't think. But, you know, for the most part, it's been a universe created that's actually, you know, it it is still going now.
01:20:46
Speaker
It's actually pretty good still. You know, like, I don't know. it's it It's this created a universe for us all to live in in the same way that you just said earlier. And I think we're pretty lucky for that. So it was yeah it was a lot of fun to watch this again, especially for the episode.
01:21:00
Speaker
um I had a great time with it. Yeah, I think like when it really comes down to it, there's not a screen movie that I hate. Like there are ones that I like less, but there are not any of them that I wouldn't turn on. You know what i mean? Yeah, that makes total sense.
01:21:13
Speaker
Whereas i I unfortunately found out that there are some really bad Halloween movies that I'll never watch again. Unfortunately, I found that thing in it. No, you know I think that's actually a really great point is that there there are other franchises who have not managed to do it as well.
01:21:28
Speaker
yeah And that is absolutely clear. And you know whether it's franchises that have just gone on way too long or franchises where they have a sequel that is just just fucking stupid. like Like, you know, like you said, none of these have been that.
01:21:42
Speaker
Thank God. Right. Yeah, that's how I feel. um A couple of things that um i I there are a couple of things that I will criticize about the movie. I think that there is a period in the middle of the movie, ah partly when Tatum and um Sydney are on her porch just kind of discussing like what's going on and then we cut to like a scene of like Ghostface in the woods and then like we go to the grocery store and Ghostface is in the grocery store and you're like so you're meaning to tell me that this guy had dressed head to toe in a Ghostface costume is just running around town and nobody's saying anything and I'm like okay that's a little silly if you ask me yeah completely
01:22:26
Speaker
Yeah, but that those are like the parts that I'm just like, well, you know, we we had to like ratchet up the the the tenseness and and whatnot and be like, well, they're always at risk. But i I really don't think they're that much at risk when they're picking out chips at the ah at the grocery store.
01:22:42
Speaker
I think, you know, in that vein, too, one of the things that surprised me on this watch, and it's kind of an elementary thing, but, like, is, okay, Sidney gets attacked by this ghost face killer.
01:22:54
Speaker
Yep. And, like, everyone knows it. And everyone just fucking continues to joke their asses off about it. I know. and And, like, I don't know why, but for whatever reason, this time around, it really hit me, like, goddamn, everyone is really mean.
01:23:08
Speaker
Like, everyone is just so mean there. Jesus. Yeah. Yeah, that that is a part of it. And even like with Billy is like criticizing her literally the day after he gets out of jail. Yes. Like, well, your mom died a year ago. Can you not get over it and i was like,
01:23:23
Speaker
No. no just on On this watch, I was like, oh, yeah, that was only a year. For some reason, i I thought it was maybe a little bit longer. But yeah, only a year later. Yeah, she's not over it yet, dude. Fuck.
01:23:35
Speaker
Yeah. And goddamn, if you need to get your rocks off, go masturbate somewhere. Jesus Christ. It's not responsibility. One thousand fucking percent. Jesus. um A couple of things on this watch. I think that the...
01:23:49
Speaker
and I say this with all kindness to um ah Henry Winkler. I think that's his name. Henry Winkler. Thank you. I think that he's completely unnecessary to the movie.
01:23:59
Speaker
um I think that his whole angle of like, and, and, and and the, and the reason he is killed is why because he's not really part of the movie. He's like a, he's like a loudspeaker announcer and he punishes those two kids for being bullies, which cool.
01:24:16
Speaker
But like, Why does he get killed? Like he's not essential to the plot like everyone else is. You know what i mean?
01:24:25
Speaker
Well, why do you think they did it? Well, I kind of know. I'm kind of leading the witness here. But um they did initial screenings and people said that they're not enough people. There wasn't a high enough body count. So they added.
01:24:38
Speaker
is that is that why? yeah um You know what? I'll tell you what. I didn't know that. um And I think like, and like, that's where like, i think that this movie gets a little too cheesy in parts. Like I think the, the reverent things like when Tatum says like, Oh, you're in some Wes Carpenter movie. Like, I think those are kind of funny. Yeah. I think, yeah you know, but like when we show the principal being like, Oh, you little shits. And it's like Wes Craven dressed up as Freddy Krueger as the janitor. i was like, what are we doing?
01:25:09
Speaker
like This is so stupid. Yeah. I mean, you know, like but also, ah kind of, like, I don't know, maybe in other things I would mind that more.
01:25:20
Speaker
Yeah. but for whatever reason in this, I don't mind it as much. it's it's not that ah It's not that it bothers me. It just sticks out. Okay, that's fair. You know what i mean? um ah But like they're on the other hand... You know what? Actually, i'm now I'm trying to think about about the movie without those things in it.
01:25:36
Speaker
Huh. It's better. ive yeah you know i've just I've never really thought about that before. But yeah i I don't think that you're wrong. I don't think you're wrong. Yeah. But then on the other hand, though, there's like little things that I think they do really well, like Linda Blair as one of the reporters. my God. I think that that's that's really smart to sneak Linda Blair in there as like a non like a non person. You know, she's just kind like she really is snuck in. It's not super obvious.
01:26:03
Speaker
No, it's not like she's like reporting from the exorcist. This is... Reporting from the Georgetown stairs. Here I am. Yeah. um I'm trying to think like what other things that... I i love... ah i think Rose McGowan is a standout in this movie. And I i think that she...
01:26:24
Speaker
If was allowed to go to a sequel would have been a very nice thing to take on to another movie because I love that the character of Tatum O'Neill and like what she stands for um and like how she is a good friend and sticks up for her friend no matter what.
01:26:39
Speaker
um I love her line. Bam, bitch went down. Bam. Sid's super bitch. Like that's like, that's like my favorite part. Um, I think that her relationship with Dewey is really interesting just because they're brothers or brother and sister, excuse me.
01:26:54
Speaker
Um, and how they interact. And, um, I, I just think that that character is really well-rounded. um whereas like, You know, there's some characters that we don't get a lot of information about, you know, the camera guy. i mean, obviously, it's a two hour movie. We can't go into everyone's backstory. But like the camera guy that Gail Weathers just insults through the entire movie until even after his death when she's like, Kenny, I love you, but you got to get off of my windshield. Oh, my God. It was sad when she was like...
01:27:23
Speaker
it was sad when she was like She just like calls him fat. Jesus. I know. God. I realize they're about 20 pounds over rape. But when I tell you to get the camera, I mean, get the fucking camera now.
01:27:35
Speaker
um He does have a little bit of a throwaway line that I thought was pretty funny. And it's kind of one of those, it's kind of one of those ones that you kind of hear in the background. But I've seen this movie so many times. I've just, I hear everything now.
01:27:45
Speaker
But when, um, ah Gail Weathers shows up to right after Sydney is attacked for the first time. um She goes, Jesus, the camera now. And he just goes, my name's not Jesus. That's really funny.
01:28:00
Speaker
um Andrew, but yes, let me ask you this. What are the rules? What are the horror movie rules? Tell us. So you're not allowed to have sex and everyone hates that. um You're not allowed to drink or do drugs and you're not allowed to say, I'll be right back.
01:28:14
Speaker
Okay. So what do you think? Do you think those rules still stand today? I think because of this movie, no. Okay. right. What do you, what do you think if you were to like make like a couple of rules on your own, what do you think they would be?
01:28:32
Speaker
Don't split up. That's rule. number f No, that's a great one. Yes. Don't don't take things on yourself. And then also arm yourself with whatever possible.
01:28:43
Speaker
I don't care if it's a backpack, a baseball bat or a knife. Get something that you can swing as hard as you can. 100%. 100%. Those would be my two biggest ones. And then also, like, if you're if you're going anywhere where spooky things are going to happen, don't take pets.
01:29:01
Speaker
Don't take dogs, cats, birds, lizards. None of them. They don't belong there. That's good. as This is the new Frege the 13th rules of horror movies. You know, I would agree with you. i think I think you're absolutely right because this movie came out. I hadn't even thought about it that way.
01:29:16
Speaker
That's probably a bit of why the rules change so much. How are you going to keep making movies based on the screen rules? Come on. Oh, and hit forever. Just hit forever. Don't host until they're dead. Yes.
01:29:28
Speaker
Until they are gone. um But yeah, those would be my my big rules. I'm trying to think like what else in this movie that I... ah This time around... Because you know we you Scream has been talked to death. Of course. But um I'm trying to think of like what this time around I noticed that's a little bit ah different. I think that... um one of my i think one of the like the most uh off-putting funny moments is right after sydney gets the call at tatum's house and dewey riley comes up to the phone i realized that i just said tatum o'neill a long time ago it's tatum riley i don't know why said that um but um not because tatum o'neill is like your type yeah uh but uh he comes up to the phone after it's already been hung up and everything and he's just like
01:30:12
Speaker
Hello. And I just thought that was really funny for some reason. but um And, you know, i think that Courtney Cox is another. i know she ah she goes on. good she She goes on to become a hero of the franchise. yeah But like in this initial movie, you kind of don't know which way going to go.
01:30:29
Speaker
with the Gail Weathers character, whether she's going to be um you know part of the problem or part of the solution. And you know thankfully, she becomes part of the solution and would go on to be in all of the movies. um But I think that this is a really good establishing movie for her because she is kind of still like...
01:30:46
Speaker
I don't know. What's the right word? Like, she's still like the tenacious reporter, yeah but like almost kind of ditzy in a way, but kind of her and her and with her and Dewey.
01:30:56
Speaker
And like, she kind of is like, well, she's she's manipulative. Well, she's playing this line of like being manipulative, but also kind of falling for him at the same time. So it's it's yeah it's a weird dynamic. but um you know And we we see them go on to to other movies. and i And from what I remember correctly, they dated right after this movie, her and and David Arquette. So that just shows that the the on-screen chemistry is not unseen by by viewers. they had They had to take it off screen, too. Yeah, I will say this time around, i kind of had to tell myself, like, how did you not know that Stu was in on this? Because I think Billy is the more blatant one that they kind of shove in your face of like. But Stu is a fucking freak.
01:31:38
Speaker
Yeah. But if you watch the movie, where does the last half of the movie take place at Stu's house? How does ghost face know how to get around that house so easily? If it's not Stu, you know what I mean? Yeah.
01:31:50
Speaker
Um, there's just a lot of things this time around that I was like, duh, why did I not think that Stu was in on this? Like, And obviously he's not the principal of it. You know, Billy Loomis is kind of the principal, you know, quote unquote bad guy that we, that we all like remember and, and share kind of goes on and still.
01:32:09
Speaker
So I wanted to ask you something about their dynamic. Because I've seen this float around the internet every couple of years, and then it kind of goes away and nobody really talks about it. So I thought here at Fraggy the 13th, we needed to talk about it.
01:32:21
Speaker
And that is, is there a relationship between Stu and Billy that goes beyond friendship? What do you think? I don't know. um I've heard this before too. Yeah.
01:32:37
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know, given that it's 96, that that's happening. It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me for for that for that particular time. And i think that they're i think that they're both i mean they're both clearly mentally disturbed people.
01:32:54
Speaker
who have a, who somehow have a bond over that. I mean, is the, is the theory that like, I mean, Billy has a very clear motive. Duh. Yeah. But Stu doesn't have as clear of a motive. And he even says as much that it's just, you know, like it's just peer pressure.
01:33:11
Speaker
Like is, is, is the main thrust of the theory. Do you think, or do you know that Stu is doing this for Billy because he's in love with Billy? I think that that's part of it for sure.
01:33:24
Speaker
um i think my theory, if I had to like have a running theory about this, which we we don't have to, but like if I had to have, but it's interesting. um I think that because Billy is so sexually frustrated with Sidney Prescott, fair I think maybe they get drunk sometimes and make out and maybe touch penises, but maybe, maybe they, you know, maybe they jerk each other off that kind of thing.
01:33:49
Speaker
I mean, know, maybe. i mean, look, I think the thing about that, too, though, i think what people need to understand is that that happens more often than you think in real life. Right. yeah This is that is not that uncommon for young guys to do because they are horny as fuck.
01:34:05
Speaker
Like that is that that is the reality. And so if you talk to you and they don't have to be gay, i think that is that is also the reality. doesn't have to be romantic. Exactly. Like if you if you talk to a random sample of guys, both straight and gay or and by for that matter, you will you will find a collection of stories from either their teenage years or their young adult years where like, yeah, that happened.
01:34:28
Speaker
Like, where you know, some drunk night or some super horny night. They're staying in each other's houses or whatever. They just fucking jerk each other off or whatever. Like that is a normal thing. So, you know, in the case of Stu and Billy, maybe that's the case there, too.
01:34:41
Speaker
I could I could see that. I don't say don't see why not. And in that, if that is the reality, I would say I don't see Billy as like like ending up gay. you know what i mean?
01:34:52
Speaker
no, no. Stu. Maybe maybe with Stu. Yeah, I think Stu maybe has more inclination to be bisexual. And Billy. but yeah Yeah, fair. or Or even just gay. he could He could just end up that way, too. I could kind of see that.
01:35:07
Speaker
He's really horny for Tatum, too, though. so I mean, come on. It's Rose McGowan. How could you not be? yeah But, I mean, maybe maybe even we are. But, like, I could definitely see him like, you know what? Dick is actually my thing.
01:35:18
Speaker
Yeah. Do you have a favorite kill in this movie? A favorite death? Uh... That's question. I think, I mean, honestly, watching this one this time, it's actually Billy dying.
01:35:30
Speaker
and the reason And the reason why I say that is because he actually, like it's dumb to say this way, but like he dies really well. like like though like it it's It's a bit of a drawn out death to get there. But once like he's shot for the final time, like he really takes a little time to expire.
01:35:46
Speaker
And it was pretty authentic looking on film. that was, I, I love Courtney Cox's line reading of, I guess the safety work. Yeah. Right. Asshole. But then then, but then the other one that I would mention too, like, and not to like go off of your question, but is i I mean, yeah, we, I've seen this so many, so many times, but like I, it's, it's amazing how you forget nearly every time, honestly, how gruesome Drew Barrymore's character dying is.
01:36:10
Speaker
Yeah. When she is hanging with her guts, hanging out, it is fucking gruesome, like truly gruesome. And I, I forget that each and every time. i i about you but I'm glad that you reminded me of that because ah there was one line read that I wanted to call out. yeah It's where the dad says to the mom, and they discover that Casey is you know on the phone. yeah And he says, I want you to drive down to the McKenzie's and dooooo to do it. Do you know what that's from?
01:36:35
Speaker
No. What is it? It's from it's from Halloween. That's what Laurie Strode tells the kids to to. You're absolutely right. Fuck. Oh, my God. That's so good. um I like caught that. Yeah. And so, yeah i have agree and go to the mackenzie yeah, I have to agree with you. i think Casey Becker's death is most devastating. It never leaves my brain. Jesus. That part of the movie where she calls out to her mom, but because her yeah because her throat is collapsed, she can't.
01:37:01
Speaker
And, you know, they're just talking about the flowers or whatever, walking into the house. And she's literally right there. They could save her right there. So cool. i Also, another fun fact is that that actress is not actually an actress.
01:37:15
Speaker
um That was, I think, the town's mayor's wife. No Yeah. It's either the governor the mayor. Oh, that's so interesting. It was his wife. Wow. Okay. That was kind like a little bit of a cameo, if you will. It was kind of like a make good for Wes Craven, I think for tax purposes. Oh, they probably got a nice tax break out of that too, didn't they? Yeah. Wow.
01:37:37
Speaker
I cannot play up enough how much I love and, you know, we'll we'll score it after this, but those two bathroom girls, I have been waiting for them to reemerge in the Scream universe since Scream like three, like need them back.
01:37:50
Speaker
Yeah. I need them to be the killers in Scream 7. Would that not be a riot? Are you excited for the new Scream? I don't know yet. um i'm I'm really, really um not happy with how um Melissa, right? Barrera?
01:38:08
Speaker
yeah Yeah. How how her she's being abandoned by the franchise and and and why. i think It's Palestine stuff. it's really strange that I don't know.
01:38:21
Speaker
I think that we're going to look back on this time and a lot of people are going to be like, what did we, why did we do that? That's kind of silly. It's a shame. It is. it's It's a real shame.
01:38:31
Speaker
After seeing the, after seeing the preview and after seeing that it's still written by Kevin Williamson, gotta admit, I am kind of excited. Yeah. I don't know. yeah Where are you? Where are you standing with it Yeah. You know, i'm I'm excited to look. I mean, it's for me on these things, whether whether they're good or not, the going to the cinema to go see it is a blast.
01:38:53
Speaker
It's fun. And trying to figure out who the killer is. Exactly. again like and And like, you know, it brings you back to being young, man. Like, that's how it feels for me. So like, you know, the last one. yeah it wasn't the best one for sure.
01:39:04
Speaker
But you know what? I went to the cinema. I bought two seats so no one could sit next to me. And you know what? It was great. I had a great time and it was fun. And I laughed and I even cried a little bit. Like when it when it when it started, because I was just like, God, ah you know, like you were saying, it's been going. This has been going on forever. This yeah fucking series.
01:39:21
Speaker
I tell you what, whenever I it's going to be fun. Whenever I see the Dimension logo yeah show up on the screen, that's when I know I'm watching a Scream movie. You know, it won't be good. You know, fuck. All right.
01:39:33
Speaker
Well, here at Friday the 13th Horror Podcast, we grade on a seven-stripe scale for the seven stripes of the rainbow. Matty, what do you give Scream? I gave Scream a six, and I said, come on, it's a classic.
01:39:46
Speaker
Yeah, I also gave it a six. I'm i'm i'm i'm really wanting it to give it a 6.5, but I do remember there are a couple couple of clunky parts have to dock it for. ah But I said, this was an awakening of slasher movies that we've never really recovered from.
01:40:01
Speaker
um Are there some goofy things? Yes, but it's still Scream, baby.
The Black Phone Movie Review
01:40:05
Speaker
Well, folks, that does it for Scream. Stay tuned. We'll be right back with our next film of the episode, The Black Phone.
01:40:20
Speaker
Would you like to see a magic trick? Yeah. Tell me your name. Taylor.
01:40:41
Speaker
tell me your name
01:40:44
Speaker
tell
01:40:50
Speaker
I was really starting to like you, Finny. I almost let you go.
01:41:05
Speaker
hang up. Who are you? You know all our names? It doesn't work. Hang it up.
01:41:25
Speaker
I made you some breakfast. What'd you put in that? Salt and pepper.
01:41:34
Speaker
Have you seen this boy? My brother, he was taken. By man with black balloons.
01:41:44
Speaker
I
01:41:47
Speaker
had a dream about it. Please let the dream be real.
01:41:56
Speaker
you're getting out of here oh There's a combination lock. What's the combination?
01:42:07
Speaker
You don't have much time.
01:42:16
Speaker
You are special, Vinny.
01:42:25
Speaker
The creepiest damn thing.
01:42:31
Speaker
It's not the red phone. That's the nuclear phone. This is the black phone. And this is the one in the basement that you don't want to be around. um Andrew, tell us about the black phone. In the late 1970s Denver, shy 13-year-old Finney Blake becomes the latest victim of a masked kidnapper and known only as the Grabber.
01:42:51
Speaker
Trapped in a soundproof basement with no way out, Finney discovers that and ah discovers an old, disconnected black rotary phone on the wall. When it mysteriously begins to ring, he hears the voices of the killer's past victims guiding him toward a desperate...
01:43:05
Speaker
plan to escape before he becomes the next ghost on the line. This is directed by Scott Derrickson, written by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, but based on the short story by Joe Hill. and production distribution will handled by Blumhouse Productions and Crooked Highway distributed by Universal Pictures.
01:43:25
Speaker
Finney Blake is played by Mason Thames, who is having a huge year right now. We'll talk about that in a little bit. Gwen Blake is played by Madeline McGraw. The Grabber played by Ethan Hawke. Terrence Blake played by Jeremy Davies and Max played by James Ranson.
01:43:40
Speaker
This is rated R. It comes in 103 minutes, ah released on June 24th of 2022. Locations for filming were Williamton, Williamton, Williamington.
01:43:51
Speaker
I can i not say that. North Carolina. could not get that g in there. um The budget was $16 million, and this had a gross of $161 million. So, Maddie, I don't think this was a first watch for either of us, but maybe it was a a rewatch just because we maybe haven't seen it in a while. But what did you think about the black phone?
01:44:10
Speaker
You know, I was I was telling Andrew before we started this part of the recording. um I watched this, ah you know, when it came out. And I remember talking about on on on the on ah during, you know, what you've watching bitch and say, oh, yeah, it was really good. um And this time you know it's not that it wasn't good, but this time for me, that maybe it was just not quite the same experience um this time around.
01:44:33
Speaker
Which i just once again does not mean that it's bad. Just want to point that out. um i I think it's a really great story. It's a really great story. And i I like stories that where where kids learn how to become strong and learn how to to fight back and learn how to like stand up for themselves. It's it's the reason we all love it. You know what i mean?
01:44:53
Speaker
Mm hmm. amongst you know many other um many other horror films um about children where they are in terrible circumstances. um And this is definitely one of those. you know it's It's such a cool idea to have these voices come in over this phone and you know that's you know and each of the things that they tried become part of the whole puzzle that he needs to put together in order to you know defeat ah Ethan Hawke's character, the Grabber.
01:45:21
Speaker
And, and it's, you know, it's, it's wonderful, the relationship that he has with his sister, and, you know, some of the friendships that he has at the friendship with, um with what's his name, Ariana, Robin with with Robin, Ariana.
01:45:33
Speaker
yeah That's, that was something that really stood out to me in this one. um Maybe also a little, a little lovey dovey, kind of just a little bit, kind of just saying that out there. um I felt that way a little bit.
01:45:44
Speaker
um Also, that kid is cool as fuck. Like, could you imagine like having that kid as your friend in school? he's ah He's a fucking like karate master. Oh, God. It was it was it's like if that was your friend, like you were you had it when he when he does that roundhouse. Totally. I was holy shit. fuck Yeah. Oh, my God. Yes. Jesus Christ.
01:46:02
Speaker
um So, yeah, i you know I think this time around, you know, i i I said earlier, I watch this with my friend Emily. Right. And Emily is not a big horror movie fan, so she doesn't watch a lot of them. and um And, you know, having a friend over and, you know, drinking a little wine, all that kind of stuff.
01:46:17
Speaker
You know, we're we're talking back and forth watching it. We're not, you know, just being totally silent watching it. And so it was really interesting to have Emily, you know, go, well, why isn't he doing this? Or why would you do that? And I was like, oh, yeah, she's actually kind of right. Like, that kind of makes sense.
01:46:32
Speaker
And, you know, that there there were... and i you know There's not a lot of that in here, but so maybe there's some things that just kind of like you know they kind of make themselves a little bit known upon a second watch. and but like One of those things I will say is in the um is in the relationship with the dad.
01:46:51
Speaker
And watching watching it this time around and like, look, it's, it's a really fraught relationship. So the dad is played by Jeremy Davis and, um, who, you know, from a lot of things, if you don't know the name, he's, he was in, he was in, ah what's the stuff that he's been in before? Roseanne got what else?
01:47:07
Speaker
I mean, he's so one of those character actors that show up in a ton of things. He's in everything. So like, you you know who he is. um But the relationship with the kids so ah is is such that, with Gwenny and Finney, is such that he is an abusive alcoholic.
01:47:21
Speaker
And this is clearly stemming from but the their their mother, we find out later in the film, killing herself. And she was a ah psychic kind of thing in the same way that her daughter seems to be too. Kind of like The Shining little bit. Fair enough. Fair enough.
01:47:37
Speaker
So this gift continues on in their daughter and ah that his name is Terrence. Terrence believes that, you know, if the daughter continues with this, then, you know, naturally he's, she's going to, you know, kill herself too.
01:47:52
Speaker
Also he's an alcoholic, just like Jack Torrance. um Also his name is Terrence Torrance. Go figure. um So, you know, lots of things there that are similar on this watch.
01:48:04
Speaker
there's There's a scene where Finny wakes up in his bed and he wakes up to the sound of Terrence beating Gwen with a belt. And they're in the kitchen and he's like, what are your dreams? Blah, blah, blah, blah. Why did they get the kingdom? I work and blah, blah, blah, blah. And then he's you know whipping the shit out of her.
01:48:22
Speaker
And of course, you know, like any kid would, she's screaming and crying and all the and all the rest of it. I just kind of feel like the dynamics of that scene weren't great this time watching it.
01:48:34
Speaker
There's something about it this time where I felt like something feels off about the scene. Did you feel that way too? How did you feel about that?
01:48:45
Speaker
it i I agree with you. I think it's one of the scenes in the movie that feels more performative than um than like prescriptive to story. because ah ah in in its And I think that it plays that way be because of the end.
01:49:02
Speaker
And because the end when the dad comes up and is like crying, he's like, oh, please forgive me. And I'm so sorry. I'm just like, fuck off. You just like like but you your kids like two days ago. Like, shut up. but it was I think that part of it is just so heavy handed.
01:49:18
Speaker
It's yeah so like, how can we show that he's a really bad father? Like, OK, we'll make him a bad alcoholic. And the kid has to take care of him. And he beats his daughter with a belt. But then they turn around and have him um ah cart her around to different houses to like go look for her brother. And I'm like, this doesn't match. I don't know like what you're trying to do. Completely. Completely agree. It is very inconsistent with that.
01:49:45
Speaker
And look, you can't have a scene where somebody is getting beat with a fucking belt. So it's a very visceral scene that your brain is going to remember because of of the visceral nature of it.
01:49:57
Speaker
You can't have that going on and and then get inconsistent about that character later on. yeah And like i'm i'm like Jeremy Davis is just... He's not the person you're going to cast if you're going to cast an abusive father. I'm sorry, but you're not.
01:50:10
Speaker
and And he doesn't make a lot of sense with it. i I really wish that that that that they could go back and either recast it if they insist on having that scene or take that scene out, rewrite it,
01:50:23
Speaker
And have it be something more subtle. have him be Have him be really depressed and sinister in different ways that are also scary, which you can do. And don't get me wrong. like If he needs to be abusive, you know none of us want to see that. But if he needs to be abusive, you can still do that.
01:50:39
Speaker
But that scene just didn't work. And that's that's the big reason for me on this watch where I was like, nah, that didn't sit right with me, I'll be honest. I think that I think you're on to something there because I think that you don't have to come from a broken home to be abducted by the grabber. Like, you know what i mean? yeah so That's a great point.
01:50:57
Speaker
Completely. so I think that if we would have had a little bit more of an endearing character with the father, we would maybe feel a little bit more for when um when ah Finney gets abducted.
01:51:09
Speaker
Completely agree. It would have been sadder. Yeah, because and at this point with him and his kids, if one of them goes missing, it's kind of like, well, at least I don't have to discipline another one.
01:51:19
Speaker
You know what i mean i mean? Sure. but But then also in terms of like like the plot of the film, like, I mean, the grabber is going to grab like that. Yeah, that's what he's going to do. So it's going to be somebody. And at a certain point, you don't even care.
01:51:31
Speaker
but and you And like honestly, like within the constraints of, you know, and maybe we're being – I've never read the short story, maybe we're being constrained by it like the the writing of the short story. But like you can be a depressed alcoholic and still not beat your kids. You know what mean?
01:51:46
Speaker
you know, look, if you're going to have a scene where you fucking beat kids, you better fucking do it. and and you And honestly, you better commit to it. you know you know look let's So let's think about about you know Stephen King, who's joe's hill Joe Hill's dad, right?
01:51:59
Speaker
Let's think about Doctor Sleep for minute. The scene in Doctor Sleep, directed by Mike Flanagan, where the kid that plays baseball is tortured by the ah the true not, right? Yeah, horrible. That is one of the most gruesome things I've ever seen on screen. Put on film. yeah Oh my God.
01:52:17
Speaker
it is it's so It's so disturbing. That honestly, when you first see Dr. Sleep, you you don't expect it. ah You know there's going to be bad stuff. But up until that point, like the true not is still kind of fun.
01:52:32
Speaker
right And then you see that and you're like, oh, actually, they are actually they are fucking demons. They are fucking demons. In the same way here, like if you're going to fucking do shit with kids, man, it's not good.
01:52:42
Speaker
But you better commit to it. And they didn't commit to it. Yeah, I agree. i I didn't even think about it that way, but i I'm in agreement with your assessment of that character specifically. now that i did I did go off on that. So, you know, besides that, the rest of it really does work.
01:52:57
Speaker
I think that um Ethan Hawke, ah in a role very different for him, um does something, you know, really kind of crazy. And I think it works.
01:53:08
Speaker
I'll be really interested to see how he returns to that character in part two. um I think that that the kids are really good in this. The sister is really good. Oh, she's fantastic. When she goes in there to to defend her brother in that fight, she's fucking awesome.
01:53:23
Speaker
And like when she's praying, especially when she prays to Jesus and she's like, what the fuck is wrong with you? like What a great scene that is. She did great. Finny, like what a little sweetie. like What an absolute little sweetheart. You can't help but just love that kid.
01:53:38
Speaker
And and like like we already said, and some of the other the the other young guys that got that got taken by the grabber, like they they do such a great job at the kid who whoever plays Robin Arellano. He's fucking fantastic. Like talk about somebody who like completely gave it over to his role.
01:53:52
Speaker
He was great, man. Fuck. Yeah. If I'm recasting the never ending story, he is my tree. Oh, God. Andrew. Great catch. Oh, my God. Sorry, I've got a cough drop in my mouth too. if um So this one was, ah it's only a second watch for me. had seen it.
01:54:11
Speaker
I had seen it when it went, when it came to streaming. i don't know why I missed it in the theater. I just did. i think it's 2022, right? So maybe we weren't really ah acclimated to theaters yet again.
01:54:23
Speaker
oh but point yeah, good point. And so upon first watch, I kind of threw this movie kind of, In the bucket of like, well, I've seen it. Like, you know what i mean? Like, I don't know. It's it's fine.
01:54:34
Speaker
This time around, I actually liked it a little bit more. um I thought that the kids all were really good. does this suffer from a little bit of like... Stephen King isms like with like beat them up kids all the time. And yeah, sure. Every every kid is a fucking crazy like racist and a crazy. look I don't know.
01:54:56
Speaker
Like that part of it kind of gets a little bit boring. Yeah. If that's the right word, but like it got down to like the the last kid before Robin, the kid who plays pinball.
01:55:11
Speaker
And like it got to that scene where he beats up those two kids in the in the convenience mart. And I was like, Jesus fucking Christ, is every kid need to beat up every kid? And I'm like, come on. Yeah, I agree.
01:55:22
Speaker
yeah um So I think it suffers from that a little bit, but I think it saves itself in some of the things that it does with Finney and his sister, their connection, and then also when Finney is down in the basement and his ah various attempts to get out.
01:55:39
Speaker
And I really, really like how they handled the ghosts in this and like yeah how he can't see them, but they're like next to him and how they... like i I read this is like a very small thing, but I really liked it is the way that they talk through the phone.
01:55:55
Speaker
It's the phone voice, but they're actually like talking it. I thought that that was a really nice touch. Yeah, they didn't need to do, but it really added to like kind of the eeriness of what what the black phone is. Great.
01:56:08
Speaker
I do agree with you. I think that Finney, maybe because he doesn't believe in himself quite yet, maybe probably could have done things a little more um ah streamlined to get out of the basement. But, um you know, that's why you need the story. Like you you need him to be kind of like bleak about his life in order to build himself up to kind of the ending, you know?
01:56:30
Speaker
yeah And so I think it works. I think that Mason Thames, I don't know if it Thames or Thames, so I apologize, but um he's having a stellar year. He's in like three of like the biggest movies this year. So, you know, good for him. And I'm excited to see the sequel.
01:56:45
Speaker
um I think he does a great job in this of of of playing, you know, that character. um i think like i said earlier i think his sister is delightful um i really hope that she's in the second one as well and i hope we get a little bit more about her powers and and honestly finney's powers because finney has something too like they he wouldn't just be talking to ghosts because they're doing it and he's obviously have to have something you know kind of like the shine um if you will um so i'm eager to see how they're going to take that um
01:57:16
Speaker
I think that's ah the way that they do kind of the playbacks of the um kids being abducted is pretty cool how it's kind of like um i almost like VHS footage. Yeah, um that was a that was a fun little device that you kind of know when you know you're in that that when that plays I think that the filmmaker did a really great job of kind of depicting that.
01:57:37
Speaker
um And so like overall, I had a good time with this movie. I i do agree with you I think there's some pretty big flaws that that happen. um But overall, I just had a good time rewatching it and it did get me excited for a sequel. So um I forgot completely about the brother. i completely forgot that that was even like a thing in the movie. Yeah.
01:57:58
Speaker
um And when he gets axed in the head, I thought that that was pretty crazy. um A couple of things. There's like the one thing that if I had to like criticize this movie is don't why? Why do we always have to put these things in like a cul-de-sac or like a neighborhood? Yeah, sure.
01:58:17
Speaker
Like, honestly, the way that this guy abducts kids and the fact that no police, no people, no nothing have seen anything is is a is beyond me. With a giant black van that says Abracadabra on it?
01:58:32
Speaker
Right. I'm like, how? Come on. this is either This is either really bad neighbors or really bad police. And I don't know which one it is, but... I mean, i great well, I mean, look, and that is one of the flaws of the movie. And I thought I thought the same watching it this time, especially when it's in broad daylight. My God. yeah Like, i mean, yeah ah remember, i grew up in a neighborhood like that. So did you. Yeah.
01:58:56
Speaker
I mean, come on. Everybody's always watching out their door, especially when it's nice weather. If it's winter, maybe a little bit different. But like, come on How do you how do you not see this? And what's crazy to me is when Finney breaks out of the um the first time when he runs out into the neighborhood and is running and screaming and a van pulls up on somebody's lawn and like screeches through the neighborhood and everyone turns on their lights, but nobody sees anything. Nobody comes out. like Those are the parts that that don't make any sense in this. They they they just don't. I'm sorry.
01:59:28
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's kind of like you just have to turn your brain off a little bit for those things. know but That's fine. You know, that's sometimes that that's part of how a movie has to work. But that is just the truth. I did think it was funny, um the scene where the cops come to the the the house and the brother answers the door and he's got like a whole murder board about it. And the the one cop is like, okay. yeah remember remember Remember he said, okay, you keep working on that. Yeah. Well, and then he also says like, I think you might want to clean up before your brother gets home. And it's like cocaine.
02:00:00
Speaker
I'm like, that I guess this is the seventies. Okay. So let's talk about how, And, you know, look, I'm sure we'll find out more in in the second movie. But the the grabber says, yeah, the phone hasn't worked since I was a kid.
02:00:13
Speaker
So what do you think is going on with that? Well, I don't know exactly, but there is another line in the movie where one of the ghosts says something along the lines of, he can hear it too. He just chooses not to or something like that.
02:00:27
Speaker
So I'm thinking that he maybe has a little, maybe has been driven a little insane by his gifts as well. um I'm assuming that he was probably abused as a kid because he talks about being locked in that basement as well.
02:00:41
Speaker
um And so I'm hoping that we get a little bit more history on the grabber like what his parents were like how he came to be because we don't really get anything beyond like the naughty boy game where he hides at the top of the stairs and basically won't harm anyone until they misbehave and to him misbehaving is just trying to get away but like yeah it's an interesting backstory that maybe we'll get a little bit more about. But um it's, it's' in it you know, that is part of the film that that that actually does really well.
02:01:13
Speaker
Is, you know, like, I mean, look, these are things that no one likes to talk about, but he's fucking creepy, man. He's very creepy. And, you know, one of the creepiest parts is when he's down there and i forget what Finney says, but he's like, why are you down here? And he's like, I just wanted to look at you.
02:01:27
Speaker
yeah and then he he goes back upstairs and you see finney recoil on the bed and we do the same thing as the audience because that's a that's a terrifying thing to hear and you you know we are left with as the audience until we find out about naughty boy we're left wondering well does he like want to does he want to molest the kid Does he want to torture the kid? Does he want to do whatever?
02:01:49
Speaker
And so it plays in your head like, oh my God, what is he going to do? Like, is he like, what are we going to see on film that we are forced to witness? and And all those things add to the fear of the movie. And I think the movie does that very, very well.
02:02:03
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there's even a line that, we'll probably stick with me for a while. And it's when he's like, I will strangle you with your own intestines. was like Jesus. Hey, thank you. um But yeah. And I think that like the I think that the thing that this movie does really well, mostly takes place in that basement and with ah the ghosts and how they, how there's like an accumulation of things that needs to happen to be able to get him out of the basement for real.
02:02:32
Speaker
And it's even so much as when he breaks into that freezer and you see all those stakes, like he, like that's how he gets rid of the dog. Like there's, there's really good storytelling there about like all these little things that line up to like the perfect way to get out of this. And so I, I thought that that was really well done.
02:02:50
Speaker
I think you're right though. In some of the character work, it's the character work is not, um, on some of the, on some of the people maybe is not, um, uh, thought out enough. Agreed. And and to it to a degree that it that it it hurts the film.
02:03:06
Speaker
That's my problem. is like um It's not just like in a side character. It's in the dad. and And it's in a scene that like, it it it reminds me of um it reminds me of the book A Little Life, which is a weird connection. i get it.
02:03:22
Speaker
But I remember after reading a Little Life, and I really loved it when I first read it. And if you've never read it before, it's a harrowing fucking novel. and And I read it, and then I read an interview with the author, Hanya Yanagihara. That's a hard one to say.
02:03:38
Speaker
And Yanagihara said, and because in the movie in the book, it's ah it's ah it's a lot about abuse. And they ask her, like, you know, did you do a lot of research on abuse and blah, blah, blah? And she was like, nope, I just made it up.
02:03:51
Speaker
Oh, and, and I read that and I got to tell you my respect for her instantly went, bam, you're gone. See ya. You did not treat that with respect. And I, I, and I don't mean to make a big deal Cause look, like I said, I really do enjoy the movie.
02:04:05
Speaker
I just think that when you deal with things like child abuse, you need to actually take that seriously. You do. Yeah, i agree. And it's not that they didn't take it seriously. Don't get me wrong. I just mean commit to it and make it, you know,
02:04:18
Speaker
it either needs to be a part of the entire narrative or nothing at all. Like you can't, yeah you can't ride the line. Um, but like, even like, even though with the cop characters, like the cop characters are, are a very strange part of this movie because they come in as like skeptics and like typical cops. But by the end of the movie, they're like following the leads of a dream like a, of a little kid. and I'm like, what? what i and not Not even by the end, like but actually like pretty early in the film, they're like, they're latched on. They're like, well, Hey, can we talk, can we talk to her?
02:04:49
Speaker
And like that, that that's a pretty I do think that they do kind of a good job of playing halfway between Keystone cops and like serious cops. And like you know, because they're not like full on bumbling at all. And that that wouldn't have worked.
02:05:03
Speaker
Right. Like they're just they're just what's word I'm looking for? Relatable enough that you that you believe in them a little bit. I don't know. yeah it's so It's a weird character, like those two characters, because they're like, are you the solution? Are you the problem?
02:05:19
Speaker
They're not really either. And so it's kind of just like a weird in-between of like, well, you don't really matter that much. Because like, if you take the cops out of it and you just say like, oh yeah, there's an ongoing investigation...
02:05:32
Speaker
And you just have the little girl, Gwen, just like her doing kind of like the the solving. That works, too. So they're inconsequential to like the ending of the movie.
02:05:44
Speaker
You know what i mean? Yeah, yeah, I do. So anyway. Well, listen, Andrew, we could talk about this film all day, but we do have to stop eventually. husband what are you going to rate this movie? You know, i mean we I know we gave it a lot of criticism, this movie, but I still gave it a five. And I said, um I still like this one quite a bit, but the suburban settings started to eat away at me at the believability of the film.
02:06:04
Speaker
Fair. I'm going to go up a little bit on mine. was maybe a little too harsh. I'm to give it a four and a half. I'd given it a four before. and And I said what i've what I've already said here, which is, you know, the first watch of of the film really did fare better for me. But, you know, to some of the film's shakier parts made themselves evident. But...
02:06:20
Speaker
Look, as often happens when we have a discussion on the show, i'm reminded of the things that I also really did like. And so, yeah. You know what? You know what it is, Andrew? It's a great reminder to all of our listeners that having a good conversation about films with a friend is a great thing to do.
02:06:35
Speaker
Absolutely. So look, guys, that does it for our final film of the episode. But stay tuned. We'll be right back with a little game. Are you looking for me?
02:06:46
Speaker
looking for someone.
02:06:54
Speaker
Okay, early to bed, early to rise makes a woman healthy, wealthy, and wise. That's why you're wiser than me. It's Stephen. Hi, I'm Maurice.
02:07:05
Speaker
I'm an executive by day and a wild man by night. Hi, my name's Monroe. ah You've probably already noticed that I have incredibly blue eyes. Well, folks, that's it for episode 152 of Friday the 13th Horror Podcast. But before we go, as always, Andrew has a game for us. But this game is one you've definitely heard before.
02:07:24
Speaker
And this one... In honor of phones is slice left and slice right. That's right, folks. It's the terrifying version of Tinder right here, baby. Andrew, tell us how to play the game.
02:07:36
Speaker
So i'm I'm going to try to explain it, but you you check me if I get it wrong. Yeah. We are going to take characters from our movies today and we're going to say whether we would slice left or slice right.
02:07:48
Speaker
Slice left is if you like them. No, right. Slice right is if you like them. Slice left is if you pass on them. Oh, it's so funny.
02:07:59
Speaker
Okay, Andrew, give it to me. Go. All right. The first one, listen, and a lot of these are going to be from Scream because there's not a lot of adults in the Black Foam. That is true. yeah So ah the first one up on our list is Billy Loomis. Do you slice left or slice right?
02:08:18
Speaker
This is a hard one for you. I guess I slice right. Absolutely. Slice right. Skeetle, Richard. You know, as much as a brooding idiot is in Scream, I'm still going to do it. Yeah, fair. That is true. Okay. Okay. So I'm slicing right. I'm guessing you're slicing right here, too.
02:08:37
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. Okay. Andrew Stumacher, played by Matthew Lillard. Listen, he's a little too goofy for me. I'm slicing left. You know, I'm going to slice right. Okay.
02:08:48
Speaker
Okay. Listen, I feel like Stu is a very divisive character when it comes to this fan base. You're either like a huge Stu fan or a huge, huge Stu hater. So I get it.
02:08:59
Speaker
Yeah. all right. The next one on our list is Deputy Dewey Riley. are you slicing right or slicing left? you know what i'm slicing right yeah i mean listen if you like if you're if you're looking at deputy dewey in the movie i'm probably still gonna slice right but i'm hesitant but if you look at david arquette and ever since i saw him in person slice right baby absolutely and like do we such a nice guy are you kidding me come on please okay all right randy played by jamie kennedy too annoying slice left he's saying he's always talking jesus shut up and like i don't know like it's jamie kennedy's not ugly don't get me wrong but like he's i don't know he's not my type but as the character of randy in the first movie listen if you had to listen to his diatribes about horror movies all day long like people listen to this show wouldn't she's hide he's he's he's as annoying as a horror podcaster for god's sake seriously
02:09:54
Speaker
All right. The last one, and maybe the most controversial is the grabber played by Ethan Hawke. Uh, it's a slice left for me. Um, he's, he's just too old for me.
02:10:06
Speaker
That is not the reason why I'm saying slice left. But I'm going to slice left in this case because close-up magic. Come on. Nobody wants that. mean i I will say, like, Ethan Hawke's body in this is pretty... Oh, he got pumped. Yeah, for sure. He's pretty rocking. Like, it's it's a weird thing to say, I know, but, like, it's... it's ah he He worked out for this.
02:10:27
Speaker
Yeah, but when I think about his situation and all those masks and everything, no thanks. Oh, Christ almighty, no way. and Well... Andrew, that's another episode done. But look, before we let you go, folks, something that we want to remind you of is what we remind you of all the time is that we are a proud independent podcast.
02:10:46
Speaker
That's right, folks. We are on no network. We have no ads. Did you hear any during this episode? You did not. Did you have to plus 30 seconds forward at any point in this? I hope not. Yeah, you better not be. And isn't that great?
02:11:02
Speaker
Isn't that wonderful like that you don't have to do that? And think about all the podcasts that you do. Seriously. And like, think about the ones that maybe you even pay for so that you don't have those ads, right?
02:11:13
Speaker
um We're not that for you. Instead, we just produced a nearly two hour episode for you that was free. And so if you like that, which we hope you do, One of the ways that you can support us is because i'm by becoming a patron.
02:11:26
Speaker
You can do that really easy. Just go to frygay13.com slash support. And once you're there, yeah there's different levels, but just join the dollar. There you go. Join the dollar a month. And dollar a month, there's enough of you guys out there that do that. It scales out that we can break even on the show, which is fan fantastic.
02:11:44
Speaker
What do we break even on? Well, let me tell you. yeah So Andrew and I have to rent films all the time. And look, it's not that expensive. I know. But it does add up after a while. Trust me. It does. We have three ninety three ninety nine times so whatever. What? Twenty four movies that we watch a year or or some sometimes more than that.
02:12:01
Speaker
um And our Web site costs a lot of money. And like you might say, you don't need a Web site. Actually, you do. Because we have to have a place where all the episodes like can live in one place. And also, like, we just have to have a place where, like, we kind of live. It just makes sense.
02:12:15
Speaker
um Also, the thing that we're recording on right now, that costs money every month. Sometimes we have to run ads on social. to Make people people, you know, make sure that people know about it. That costs money. I could go on and on and on, right?
02:12:27
Speaker
So, listen. It costs money to do a podcast. And if you help us, that means that it doesn't cost anything. And for for us, thank God, except the time that we put into it. And a dollar a month, that's not all that much, right?
02:12:40
Speaker
Now, listen, 50 cents an episode. Exactly. Now, listen, if you can't do that, that's also fine. We're not saying that you have to. But if you don't do that, then leave a review at least. Andrew, tell them how to do that. Yeah, for heaven's sakes, you can just go on and either Spotify or Apple Podcasts and leave a five-star review. Sorry, we only accept five stars. There's no other way. you don't do that, you're a jerk.
02:13:01
Speaker
Yeah. And um also, a cool thing that we see every once in a while is you can leave comments on Spotify on the episodes. So you ever... If you ever have like questions or want to you know you know speak back to us, that's a good way to do it. But also on social media, we are active on um Facebook, Instagram, and Blue Sky. um ah And threads, but but I don't really know what that's for. So you can interact with us there. um Please don't send a DM. Just comment on something. It's really hard to keep up with DMs sometimes. And I apologize if I miss them. DMs, I can barely keep up with text messages. Do you know what I mean?
02:13:39
Speaker
so But if you comment directly at us or at or at us on any of those programs, we'll definitely see it. and you Well, the other great thing about that too, Andrew, is that that actually brings more people into the discussion. you know what I mean? So like try to do it that way instead, dude.
02:13:52
Speaker
You don't have to be anonymous you to interact Friday the 13th. You don't. And at the end of the day, we hope you're enjoying the smooth transition into fall and and eventually winter.
02:14:04
Speaker
And by the end of it, we hope that you really do go out there and get slayed.