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EPISODE 127: URBAN LEGENDS ARE TERRIFYING!
1.1k Plays3 months ago
From Bloody Mary to The Hook and everything in between, urban legends continue to mystify and intrigue. Stories from our youth become taller tales each passing year, and we pass these stories down to the next generation. Join Matty and Andrew as they explore urban legends— what makes them legendary, and some of the scariest ones out there!
HORROR IN THE MOVIES
WHEN A STRANGER CALLS and URBAN LEGEND seemed like the perfect fit for this episode
WHATCHA BEEN WATCHIN’, BITCH?!
Listen in to hear what we’ve been watchin’... bitch!
–
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Fry Gay the 13th Horror Podcast is a proud, independent podcast. To learn more about the show, visit frygay13.com. I can't believe we're still lost in Lesby Gay Falls National Park. Yeah, we've been here since last episode. Well, you know, we have a fire, so you know, let's tell some stories. Hmm.
Tales of the Puppet Man
00:00:21
Speaker
Oh, Andrew, have you ever heard the tale of the puppet man of Popper Boulevard? Can't say that I have. um What did he do? Well, it's said that he was a famous ventriloquist that had some nefarious hobbies on the side.
00:00:37
Speaker
but What kind of hobbies? Because I mean, ventralucism is already pretty nefarious. Well, see, after his shows, he would get so little applause that he needed more. So he would stalk the alleys of Popper Boulevard looking for a victim. Typically, a twink out for a smoke, or a twink out for a late night stroll, or a twink...
00:00:57
Speaker
So he had a type. The puppet man was so crazy that his but that it that his barrier between the real world and ventriloquism world was so warped that the twinks were small enough to be mistaken for ventriloquist dummies. Okay, well how do ventriloquists control their dummies?
00:01:16
Speaker
Well, you know, they stick their hands off the back. Oh, God. Yep.
Exploring Urban Legends
00:01:21
Speaker
Depending on who you ask, the great puppet man of Popper Boulevard, some say you can smell him before you see him, and he's never been caught to this day. It's episode 127. Urban legends are terrifying.
00:01:39
Speaker
I am the writing on the wall, the whisper in the classroom.
00:02:01
Speaker
Doubters, the doomsday, the gloomsters, they are going to get it
00:02:20
Speaker
da
00:02:26
Speaker
I want you to know that the movement we started is only just beginning. So the officer and I went out there to take a look at it.
00:02:51
Speaker
I just tried to chew in around the doors. Then you could see a dog print alongside the window there.
Horror in Life and Movies
00:03:03
Speaker
So it was obviously a dog print.
00:03:19
Speaker
Welcome to episode 127 of f Friday gave the 13th Horror Podcast. My name is Andrew. And my name is Maddie. And if this is your first time at Friday the 13th Horror Podcast, we are a podcast that talks all about horror, horror in real life and in the movies. Today, we are talking all about those crazy stories that you grew up with. We're talking urban legends, baby. Let's do it.
00:03:45
Speaker
We've got some fun movies coming up in the episode. We have When a Stranger Calls and the Seminole Urban Legends because ah could we could we not talk about that movie without it? It's sort of right on the nose, you know. Yeah. So um we're going to talk a little bit about some urban legends today. Maddie, it looks like you have kind of a good starting point for us that talks kind of about storytelling and about urban legends in general, do we want to start there and then move into like particular stories or do you have any like what were like the urban legends you grew up with? Like besides what we have here on paper. um There were two that I remember from Northwest Indiana. um There was one called Moody's Light and Moody's Light was somewhere out in the Porter Portage area. So like not too far from Indiana Dunes National Park.
00:04:40
Speaker
but i can't quite recall like where exactly that was there there was a farm kind of thing that you would go to and there would like be a light that would like suddenly pop up in the middle of the night like where there shouldn't have been a light anywhere sure so that was definitely one of them and then there was there was an urban legend that was kind of like yeah It was more about the road than it was about anything else. And like from this road, it's spraying many different stories of like scary, spooky things. sure And there's this there's this road.
Stagecoach Road Mysteries
00:05:10
Speaker
If you were to to go um off, oh what road would that be? I think Route 51 in Northwest Indiana. So you you could take that through Gary and then through Miller and then through like Ogden Dunes and all of that. No, I'm thinking of of Route 12. That's what it is, Route 12.
00:05:26
Speaker
And if you were to turn off of Route 12, or maybe Route 20, whatever, to go kind of like north. Let's just not encourage people to go to Gary. I know, exactly. But if you turn off of Route 20, that's what it was, to go north going towards Route 12, there is this road that's called Stagecoach Road. And Stagecoach Road was really, it's not far from Ogden Dunes and Miller Beach, and so it's pretty close to the beach area of the dunes.
00:05:56
Speaker
And it's this really cool road and it was like a sort of like a side road that just goes to the country um and it it goes through really pretty land and like there's a couple of farms on there and like houses back back in the distance. And like like I said, like there's no like one story for it. It's just sort of like that one spooky, windy road.
00:06:18
Speaker
yeah Yeah dark and you know it's if you were to go on it like at eleven o'clock or midnight it would definitely kind of spook you out that that's one that we had for sure. Cool the one that I always grew up with. I'm growing up in northern Michigan we have the bowers harbor in which was a restaurant sounds nice.
00:06:36
Speaker
Yeah, it used to be a um a bed and breakfast, but then it just turned into a restaurant like in its later days. And since then, it's been bulldozed. It's like no longer. Oh, wow. But um that it was said that a woman hanged herself in the elevator shaft and that she haunted the women's restroom. So if a woman was like kind of like, you know, touching up makeup or like kind of looking at herself in the mirror, she would appear behind them.
00:07:05
Speaker
And my mom went there for dinner, and she was talking with the waitress, and the waitress told her a story about how one night, late at night, she was like she was like the last one there, her and one one cook, and they were like you know closing up and locking up and all the stuff. And um they both went off to their cars, and they both turned around, and every light was on and then in the the the the place. And like that was like the big spooky thing, because they had just closed everything down. and It was crazy. But so that was kind of the one that I grew up with. I would just tell that ghost. That's actually kind of rude. You know, we're all going to conserve energy here. Well, and also like I've just closed this place down. Like, honestly, do you mind? Like, do a carbon footprint's a little big for me. A dead lady.
The Nature of Urban Legends
00:07:50
Speaker
Like, do it during business hours. And like, frankly, if I was a woman in the restroom doing my makeup and some like ghosty, you know, whatever showed up behind me, I would also be like, rude. Like, let me just get my bitch. God.
00:08:02
Speaker
Sorry that you're stuck here for eternity. So why don't you tell us a little bit about why we have urban legends or storytelling in general? Yeah, yeah you know, oh i I haven't done an article like this. Well, I didn't write the article, for God's sake, but you you know what I mean. I haven't brought an article like this to the show for a while, but I thought it might be good because I was sort of thinking like, you know, there's like there's there's a lot of definitions for what an urban legend could be, you know. Yeah.
00:08:31
Speaker
And and what like what makes one an urban legend and what makes one just like a ghost story you know and so i think there's an article it's a little old now it's from twenty fifteen. um It's from the bbc you can read it there and it's called what makes an urban legend.
00:08:45
Speaker
Um, and here it is. So, uh, chilling and often disturbing real life stories are still widely shared, says David Robeson. But why do these tales continue to endure? You may have already met Slender Man, the prematurely tall spectral being, pardon of me, wearing a black suit and tie with a white and featureless face. He is often seen in the shadows of photos stalking small children. And some say that he can drive you insane with terror.
00:09:15
Speaker
One of his first sightings came at an asylum. After a bloody rampage in the hospital, a photo emerged of his ghostly but silent presence hiding in the stairwell while the chaos erupted around him. Hmm. I didn't hear that before. Yeah, right. Rising from a humble internet forums, this modern urban legend has now inspired a slew of fan fiction, best selling computer games and a series of short movies and even more since, of course, that that this was written.
00:09:43
Speaker
Also, I thought about recommending that movie for this episode. It's really bad. so yeah It's ad's not good. ah But the tale has also taken a darker turn as the line between myth and reality became blurred. Some are convinced that they have spotted Slender Man lurking behind trees and scaling the sides of buildings. And in January of 2015, there were more claimed sightings in the UK reported by the British tabloids. Of course, you can always trust those, right?
00:10:10
Speaker
um I find it fascinating because it really shows how folklore is always adapting to new technologies and media rather than being some kind of relic of the past, says anthropologist Jamie Tarani at the University of Durham. The question is, why did this particular story infect people's minds in a profound way?
00:10:31
Speaker
Assuming such widely shared tales are not actually true, what makes them endure? During the last decade, psychologists have started to sift out some of the features that make certain stories contagious, potentially explaining the appeal of everything from urban legends to Little Red Riding Hood.
00:10:48
Speaker
So to understand the appeal of tales like Slender Man, it makes sense to begin with his first outing. Starting on the Something Awful Forum in 2006, a user named Victor Serge posted two photos, doctored with the ghostly figure in the background. Beneath, he wrote some short enigmatic captions implicating the shadowy figure in the mysterious abduction of 14 children.
00:11:16
Speaker
One of the two recovered photographs from the Sterling City Library ablaze, ah notable for being taken on the um ah the day which 14 children vanished for what is referred to as the Slender Man. And there were deformities in this photo cited as film defects by officials. So his descriptions are chilling for sure, but perhaps part of the appeal lay in the gaps of Serge's story, which leaves space for us to project our own imagination.
00:11:44
Speaker
Victor Serge's original post provides tantalizing hits hints of a larger narrative involving a terrifying creature, notes semiatician Jeffrey Tolbert. And semiotics, by the way, if you don't know about that field, it's fascinating.
00:11:58
Speaker
it suggests the being's unique power to induce violence and indicates that the photographers responsible for the images are missing or dead, and thus sets the stage for the processes that would lead to the communal construction of an entire narrative tradition.
00:12:15
Speaker
It's probably no coincidence that, within that skeletal framework, Slender Man also evokes some familiar fairy tale elements. Psychologists are finding that there is good reason that those stories often follow certain set formulae.
Familiarity and the Strange in Urban Legends
00:12:30
Speaker
Firstly, tales of the supernatural may be especially appealing since they are minimally counterintuitive.
00:12:37
Speaker
combining both the familiar and the bizarre. They depart from what's expected and as a result, push us to process the information more deeply, says Anna Norensian at the University of British Columbia. So we remember more and are more likely to retell them.
00:12:56
Speaker
Counterintuitive elements could include a talking animal or a pumpkin that turns into a chariot, but it's not so much the nature as the number of these narrative devices that seems to be crucial. Nerensian's analysis of Grimm's fairy tales, for example, found that the most popular stories, as measured by the number of times they have been cited online,
00:13:16
Speaker
only have two or three supernatural surprises. Our brains, it seems, only have so much room for the bizarre before it becomes too confusing to be enjoyable. So consider Little Red Riding Hood. There are only a couple of things that don't make sense, such as the talking wolf and ah the grandmother being rescued from the stomach, says Tarani. But the idea of a girl visiting her grandmother, that makes perfect sense. Yet the lesser known tales, such as the donkey lettuce, which I have never heard of, flout these constraints. Honestly, if you wanted me to summarize it, I couldn't. But there's just so much weird stuff going on. The same goes for contemporary urban legends. Tarani recently examined the evolution of the Bloody Mary myth.
00:14:03
Speaker
that if you chant an incantation into the mirror, a mutilated face will appear before you. Sounds kind of like the one that you were just talking about, Andrew, right? There are many different variants involving different characters and events, but as with Grimm's fairy tales, the most popular almost always contain just two or three unsettling events.
00:14:24
Speaker
Crucially, Slender Man seems to titillate the brain's sense of surprise in exactly the same way. Slender Man is minimally counterintuitive because, on the one hand, we can attribute psychological motivations to him just as we would any other person, Tarani said. But on the other, he appears to be able to violate the laws of physics by appearing out of thin air and the laws of biology. He can stretch and shrink his body and grow tentacles.
00:14:54
Speaker
In other words, the tale offers just enough hints of the eerie to peak our curiosity without leaving us feeling too alienated. So isn't that just interesting stuff? Like, it's basically saying that as long as there's enough of reality within a speaking tale, we're able to sort of extrapolate that onto our own reality and keep retelling the story over and over again.
Local Urban Legends: Stagecoach Road
00:15:18
Speaker
just because it feels familiar. And link when you dig into, like I don't know if I want to call it the science of it, ah but I guess the science of it, like that's but super interesting you know as as a way of thinking about why these things endure, like the article says at the very beginning. Because it's like,
00:15:36
Speaker
a lot of these stories could have just floated off into the distance. Like for example, Stagecoach Road. I've been on Stagecoach Road ah dozens of times. I don't know how many times. Nothing's ever happened to me on it. You know what I mean? But there's enough of the stories that I've heard that like make it even to this very day like even me thinking about it right now it makes me feel like oh yeah like that is a haunted place but I don't know if anything ever happened there you you know what I mean or it's well yeah there's a lot of places that like you just assume are haunted because you heard a story like exactly nothing nothing needs to happen to you specifically for you to believe
00:16:12
Speaker
Right, right, right. And then soon enough, your brain will start to attach its own sort of like spooky things to it because you have enough reality with it. So that story will continue to morph and morph and morph until all of a sudden you're telling your own urban legend, which is one that you probably like sort of not deeply believe, but you will at least have a kernel of belief inside of you. It's really interesting.
00:16:36
Speaker
And I think I should tell this story. And like, you know, we'll talk about this later, but you know, we we we watch Urban Legend in this in this out in this episode of of of our podcast.
Bloody Mary and Mirror Rituals
00:16:45
Speaker
And like, you know, look, i've I've got some issues with the movie, but the way at like the beginning and at the end that they're talking about Urban Legends kind of fits right into this in any way, you know? So that's a little bit of that article. If you want to read the rest of it, you can Google it. Like I said, it's on BBC and it is called What Makes an Urban Legend?
00:17:05
Speaker
Cool. Love it. um It's just interesting to like dig into like the psychology side of this fascination. Well, speaking of the Mary of Blood herself,
00:17:19
Speaker
um because I don't like to say the name. I don't care. I'm still a little baby when it comes to this. I won't do it. Fair enough. um So historically, this this Mary of blood um is a divinity divination ritual encouraged young women. ah So this is new to me. I when I Google this, I didn't know that this was like where it came from. But it encouraged young women to walk up a flight of stairs backwards, holding a candle and a hand mirror.
00:17:49
Speaker
in a darkened house. you are never I've never heard of that before. yeah As they gazed into the mirror they were supposed to be able to catch a view of their future husband's face. There was, however, a chance you would see a skull or the face of the Grim Reaper instead indicating that they were going to die before they would have the chance to marry. That's wild. So that's kind of like, I honestly did not know that. I thought that this was just like a ah grade school like playground dare type of thing where you went into the bathroom and turned off the lights and said the name.
00:18:24
Speaker
Well, I mean, if if I had to walk backwards up the stairs with both hands carrying something and one of them was on fire, I would be I would be pretty. We would die. Right. Like I would i would be terrified of this. So, yeah, as of today, I will say it Bloody Mary allegedly appears to individuals groups who real who ritualistically invoke her name in the act of. Oh, I don't know that. I don't cat a trap.
00:18:51
Speaker
<unk> That's a hard word. Catoptramancy. I've never heard that word either. Catoptramancy. By chanting her name into a mirror or into a dimly lit candle lit room. um some I think that it's ah over time kind of like morphed. When I was a kid, it was you say her name three times. This article said that her name must be uttered 13 times. 13 times seems a little over the top, quite frankly, Bloody Mary.
00:19:18
Speaker
so what So what was the explanation behind Bloody Mary? So this article states that staring into a mirror in a dimly lit room for a prolonged period of time can cause one to hallucinate. um Facial features may appear to melt, distort, disappear, and rotate, which I don't spend a lot of time in dimly lit rooms with mirrors, but that's a lot.
00:19:40
Speaker
um So a lot of these things they just call strange face illusion, which is believed to be a consequence of disassociative identity effect, ah which causes the brain's facial recognition ah and recognition system to misfire currently in an unidentified way.
00:19:56
Speaker
um So it's kind of like people don't really know like why this why this happens But there is something there is something behind it there. It's not just people are being weird, you know, sure um So who is who is Bloody Mary? um There's a lot of people who they've speculated that kind of this comes from um it could be ah Mary the ah daughter of Henry VIII,
00:20:22
Speaker
eight henry the eighth henry the a yeah um who had around 300 religious Protestant dissenters burned at the stake during her reign, ah Catherine of Aragon that is, um earning her nickname ah Bloody Mary. It also could be Elizabeth Bathory, a 17th century Hungarian countess who allegedly tortured and killed around 660 girls and women. And also one of the stars of the nightmare VHS game. Just want to point that out.
00:20:51
Speaker
ah Wait, what? Remember in Nightmare, the VHS game? Remember that? No, I don't remember. I remember with with the gatekeeper. I am the gatekeeper. Like Elizabeth. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. but bathrie was Was somehow one of like the characters that you could play or something. I can't remember how it worked, but she was in there. ah what What was that name of that? It was called so it was called something other than Nightmare, though. um The second one, I think my mine was called Nightmare. Yeah, I just remember the one guy would come on the screen me and stop.
00:21:18
Speaker
Who's turn is it next? So it was so ridiculous. um And then um also it could have been Mary Worth, who was been identified as either a woman who killed slaves escaping this American South via the Underground Railroad or a woman who was burned at the stake during the witch trials, depending on which one you believe. Interesting.
00:21:42
Speaker
So, we will never truly know where this story came from, but think about how long it's lasted. We all know this person. We all know this myth. And maybe some of you have tried to invoke her, not me, won't be me. Well, and also too, like I mean, like, think about, like, we wouldn't have had Candyman if Bloody Mary had never been a thing, you know? Correct.
00:22:06
Speaker
Because Candyman was based on, like it's it's actually funny, I just saw an ad on Facebook um for this this book of like um of like front pages from the Chicago Reader. Oh, cool. And one of one of the pages that they have in there is ah the the murders that were happening from people going through ah medicine cabinets in the bathroom, which is, of course, that became part of Candyman Part 1.
00:22:33
Speaker
um So, like, you know, collecting that urban legend with the Bloody Mary urban legend and making an amalgam to create Candyman. Like, imagine if we had never had Bloody Mary, we would never have one of the most seminal horror films of all time.
Local Legends: Dogman and Munger Road
00:22:47
Speaker
You know what I mean? Conic. Yeah. It's crazy.
00:22:49
Speaker
All right, now I have a couple that are more local. I've talked about the Dog Man before on the show, but it was on a bonus episode, so I wanna do a little bit of a relaunch of this who like little guy that comes from my childhood. So um are you familiar with the Dog Man? I've talked about it before, but I don't remember if you remember. I remember some of the details from you, because i mean you you've told me about it over the years, but remind me of all of it, please.
00:23:17
Speaker
So the Dogman was a song that came on and it would usually come on right around September, October. It was on WTCM Country Music Channel in Traverse City, Michigan. ah And it came out in 1997. That plays into it a little bit in here in here in a second. But ah this was a thing that just like happened in my childhood and nobody knew where it came from. Nobody knew if it was real.
00:23:47
Speaker
and it just like took our little community by storm and then all of a sudden when this song came out and I'll read you the end of the song here in a second but um once this came out then all of a sudden all these people started flooding the radio station with sightings of the dog man and like how they had seen them in the past, but they were too afraid to say anything because they thought people would think they were crazy. But like it's it but it's from what I understand, it's all just made up. And so like it's it's so strange. But ah the Dogman essentially is kind of a werewolf type creature. um But it's said to have walked on all fours, but it could also stand on its two hind limbs. It had grayish brown or black fur.
00:24:32
Speaker
and it had long pointed face and ears. So think about like a werewolf, but a little bit more like Doberman Pincher type of, you know what I mean? And it said that the Dogman will appear on the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh year in each decade.
00:24:54
Speaker
So think about when this came out 1997 so I want to read you just kind of the end of this ah yeah ah because i I and you know, maybe I'll intersplice some of this into the episode somewhere but um and So it read it reads and that keep in mind this this is like a six-minute song. So this is just the end. All right in 77 there were screams in the night near the village of Bel Air could have been a bobcat could have been the wind Nobody looked up there. Then in the summer of 87, near Luther, it happened again. At a cabin in the woods, it looked like maybe someone had tried to break in. There were cuts around the doors that could have only been made by very sharp teeth and claws. He didn't wear shoes because he didn't have feet. ah He walked on just two paws.
00:25:46
Speaker
So far this year, no stories have reappeared. Have the dogmen all gone away? Have they disappeared? Soon enough, I and guess we'll know, because this is the time to fear and another 10 years has come around. The seventh year is here and somewhere in the north woods, darkness, a creature walks upright. And the best advice you may ever get is to not go out at night. Ooh.
00:26:14
Speaker
Oh, that's pretty good, right? That's pretty good. Yeah, that's crazy. All right. And so like this just like lived on for like decades in northern Michigan. And there's there's a slice in the song that talks about Buckley, Michigan, which is like very, very close to my hometown. And I lived out in the woods. And so like this really freaked me out as a kid. Oh, totally. Yeah. um And then, OK, so a couple that I picked from the Chicagoland area.
00:26:42
Speaker
Munger Road. I assume you know this because Michael has talked about it. Yeah, because this is out in Bartlett, right? Yeah. Yeah. So this actually did become a major motion picture in 2011. Oh, I forgot about that. That's right. I actually thought about suggesting this movie, but it has one of the most frustrating endings that I've ever seen in a film, and so I couldn't in good faith recommend it.
00:27:09
Speaker
So Munger Road is a road out in DuPage and Cook County is in Illinois running through the villages of Bartlett and Wayne. It runs north to south for 4.12 miles from West Bartlett Road to Smith Road so it's pretty short.
00:27:25
Speaker
um According to local legend, a school bus of children was hit by a train after becoming stuck on the tracks killing everyone aside. Reportedly, if visitors at Munger Road sprinkle baby powder on their car bumpers and sit on the tracks with their car in neutral, the spirits of the children push the car off the tracks to safety. Creepy. And handprints can be seen in the baby powder.
00:27:53
Speaker
So a couple of, uh, local legends that I was able to kind of find through the magic of the internet is that, you know, there was the school bus tragedy, but then there's also another legend of a little girl who was hit by a train at the railroad crossing. Uh, there's also a ah talk of a phantom train, which you can send to be here, like heard in the middle of the night of like, because these train trackers are no longer active. Like they don't yeah have trains on them.
00:28:18
Speaker
um There's also the tale of like the derailed train where it kind of like went off the went off the thing because of an old, except except an old man and a demon dog who are said to haunt this place. um And then there's also talk of an old farmer who used to live near the tracks who haunts the area. So a lot of weird shit going around Munger Road out in Bartlett, Illinois, which is probably about 45 minutes outside of Chicago.
The Curse of Downers Grove
00:28:45
Speaker
Um, the other one that comes from the suburbs of here is the curse of Downers Grove. Do you know the curse of Downers Grove? I don't. So this one actually has a little bit of fact, i mean it't except the curse being that you live in Downers Grove. Well, I'm so sorry.
00:29:02
Speaker
you know Um, so this was actually also turned into a movie in 2015 and it was actually, the script was written by Brett Easton Ellis. Oh, wow. Crazy. I didn't know that. I, I watched him there or something. Like that's an odd, that's an odd thing. I don't know why he's associated with this because if you've watched the movie, it's one of the most boring movies you've ever seen in your life. They will do it. Right.
00:29:26
Speaker
um It was actually based on an original book that was by Michael Hornberg, ok who he kind of chronicled this weird phenomenon when he was in high school, where basically every year of a graduating class, there was a student that died in some way weird, mysterious and like accident so he quotes and this is from the local paper there he quotes one kid died in a car crash one kid drowned in a quarry a girl the girl who sat next to me in typing class oh god typing class the girl the girl who sat next to me in typing class she was kidnapped outside of an arcade and was found murdered inside of a garbage bag in lyall
00:30:10
Speaker
So there was a lot of murder and mayhem and people getting killed on a scale I never experienced again. What he's talking about is like every year there was a kid that literally died in in the graduating class before the end, you know, before they graduated. And so it's weird.
00:30:27
Speaker
in a four year period, it became kind of the curse of Downers Grove. Now, I tried to look into this even more to see like, where is this? What is this based on? Is this like, who? why Why is the curse there? Was there like something nefarious going on in Downers Grove at the time? I couldn't find anything. So this is just a personal person's telling of like a crazy thing that happened to them like during their high school days.
00:30:51
Speaker
but pretty creepy thinking like going into high school and thinking like, well, one of us is not going to make it. And I don't know about you, but I don't know about you, but we did have one death in our high school um and it was pretty tragic. Um, but then, you know, you don't, when you're that age, you don't really think about death all that much. You know what I mean? So its yeah I think that that's sort of the interesting thing there, right? Cause like, as soon as you said high school, I was thinking about, well, in my high school class,
00:31:20
Speaker
We, I mean, we had multiple kids die when I think about it. Oh, really? Yeah. But like, I mean, if you think about, if you think about it like, here, we'll make this a nerdy thing now, but like, if you think about this, like, environmentally, it's not all that surprising. Like, north of Indiana, you know, where we came from, like, there's plenty of reasons why you might, you know, like, you might overdose, which happened to kids.
00:31:47
Speaker
Well, I mean, the the most tragic thing that happened was what was her name? Kate Corgan, I think was her name. um And she if I remember correctly, like she went in for a surgery or like something like really simple and like somehow she died. I i don't know how that happened. I i can't recall. And it, to be fair, it was extremely tragic and very, very sad. I remember that they named like ah a soccer field after because she was a big soccer player.
00:32:14
Speaker
But like, that aside, because that's obviously like a total outlier, like it was it was a freak, you know, hospital accident thing or whatever, like there, like there kind of can be enough reasons why. And I would imagine like in Downers Grove, that might be
Roots in Reality and Supernatural Elements
00:32:28
Speaker
the case too. It's like,
00:32:29
Speaker
all of these communities aren't that much different from each other. So if if you think about like overdoses, drunk driving, um kids getting into weird fights, having guns, like all of a sudden the idea of like mortality, even if it's just one a year, which of course would like you know knock a small community off its feet, it all of a sudden seems kind of like, well, maybe that's not too far fetched. Now the thing about it though is like what you just said back there, which is like how does your like high school brain make sense of that?
00:32:58
Speaker
Right. And so like one of the things like a young person might do is be like, damn, like we are cursed. Obviously, like like we're cursed. This is happening. I'm afraid it's going to happen to me. I might get the curse next. like it's And and like once again, like back to you know how urban legends both begin and then endure,
00:33:15
Speaker
if you if you have enough reality to ground it, it's not gonna be that hard to attach supernatural um elements yeah elements yeah elements to it, and then it just lives on and on and on. you know It's really interesting. Listen, I think that these type of stories are what got us into this podcast in the first place. Yeah, without a doubt. And so it's really cool to kind of think about them and think about how they've endured because like, think about like we, I'm, I, you know, I'll be 40 this year, you know, you're just in your forties now. Michael's in his 40s now two and and like a week and a and like, think about like,
00:33:57
Speaker
We know these stories still like that's crazy. Like, I don't know. It's just it's insane. Well, and like I said earlier, it's not even just that I know the stories like there are some that I still believe, you know, like, you know, like if if we were to if if if I were to visit home and Michael were to say, do you guys want to go do Munger Road? I would be like, apps a fucking lutely. Let's go. Yeah. Like, let's go try this right now.
00:34:20
Speaker
However, I will not stand in front of a mirror. right Or if you know if we were to go like camping again at the dunes, and I was like, you know what, guys? Let's go down stage coach road. I bet you guys would both be like, yeah, let's fucking do it. you know And like there is that like hope in us that it is true, like that these things are there. Yeah, totally. And that's exciting. you know it's It's one of the reasons why we all love horror so much is that thrill that we get from just that hope that things, like It goes back to something that I talked about for a long time. It's I think it's really attached to the hope that we just don't end. And that doesn't need to be religious at all. It just means to be that like we live on in some way, one way or another. like I'm not just going to be done by the time I take my last breath. And I think that everything kind of goes back to that for humans. You know what I mean?
00:35:11
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. I think that we all have some sort of like, I don't know, umbilical cord onto the world that we're like, oh, come on, if I can just like hang on just a little bit longer. Yes,
Transition to Film Analysis
00:35:24
Speaker
totally. um But that does it for, you know, talking about urban legends. But listen, there's still a lot more to talk about, including our movies and including what we're going to do next, which is what you've been watching, bitch.
00:35:53
Speaker
And we're back with another edition of whatcha been Whatcha been watchin', you storytelling bitch. And this is the section, segment of the show. Why don't I say section? I don't know. This is the segment of the show where we talk about all the things that we have been watchin', listenin', readin' into, readin' into. God.
00:36:12
Speaker
Andrew, yeah you you know, and I bet our listeners would agree, I can be very articulate most days. Today is not that day. Anyways, that's okay. This is the portion of the show where we talk about the things we've been watching besides the films that we watch for this episode. So we each have four for you. And Andrew, why don't you give me your first one?
00:36:32
Speaker
My first one was a recommendation from good friend of the show, Michael Virati. It was a movie that I had never heard of. It's a made for TV movie. You can watch on Amazon Prime. Cool. It came out in the 80s and it's called Invitation to Hell. Perfect. And the reason that this movie struck me is that it's directed by Wes Craven.
00:37:00
Speaker
Oh, no way. Really? And I had no I did not know this movie existed. Now, let me tell what year is it from? ah It's like eighty six. OK. Like right around like mid 80s. It was. ah So let me just tell you who's in this movie. And this is just cracking the surface of the cast. It has the little boy from the never ending story.
00:37:24
Speaker
ah It has Punky Brewster. What? It has Susan Lucci herself. Oh my god. And as the mom character in the movie, it has, I'm right on top of that Rose, the boss from Don't Tell Mom, The Babysitter's Dead. Okay, that is crazy.
00:37:45
Speaker
And also, I have to I have to say, Andrew, I'm a little I'm a little amazed that you didn't know about this. You know, I know. So I think this movie kind of think about the Stepford wives meets the invasion of the body snatchers type of I'm watching. I'm watching. It's all about a family that moves to a new ah community. And they ah and Susan Lucci plays the head of the country club.
00:38:14
Speaker
And of course your course she does. and And if you join the country club, then you become like uber rich and like, you get all the things. So they are they are Scientologists in that case. Yeah, and I don't want to say too much beyond that because listen, you can go watch this on Amazon Prime right now. It's actually a pretty good, um what do you call it, transfer. OK, so it like it looks pretty good. And it it and listen, I loved the hell out of this movie and it was so fun and so stupid. But I thought so. Thank you to friend of the show, Michael Virati, for
00:38:49
Speaker
and like informing me of this masterpiece that is Invitation to Hell. We love Michael Virati. My first one for you is one that we have talked about before, but I just got it in me to watch it again this week. It is called The Guest with Dan Stevens. Yeah. God, The Guest, you know, look, and we talked I can't remember what episode we talked about the song, but you can go back and look good. Impostors are terrifying. That's what it was, yes. um The Guest is fucking awesome. And I was just reminded of it again, watching it this week.
00:39:18
Speaker
And like, ah you know I don't know what else to say. Like you've got Micah Monroe doing great before, what do you call it? It follows. You've got Dan Stevens looking the best he's ever looked in his life. And like also just being fucking cool. And you have just like an amazing crazy fucked up story taking place before your fucking eyes. And you're just amazed the whole time.
00:39:43
Speaker
I love this movie. It was so, so good. Um, and it's even good again, watching it years later. So if you have not seen the guest before, um, and if you were like me, a fan of Downton Abbey, and then all of a sudden you just want to watch Dan Stevens do something entirely different than being the Lord of a manor. Like this is something you, you must watch if you haven't already. Um, but even if you watched it before my friends go back and watch it again, it's so worth it. It's lovely. It's the guest.
00:40:12
Speaker
Or just listen to the soundtrack, which is also okay. And, yeah, the soundtrack is very fucking and good. Cool. Love the guest. ah Actually, like, when you said cool, like, that's like the one thing that I think about with that movie. It's yeah it's a cool movie. Like, I don't know. My God, yes. And the weirdest cameo by Ethan Embry, but I'll leave you to watch the movie to get that.
00:40:36
Speaker
So, ah my next one is on Netflix. It is Unsolved Mysteries, Volume 4. Have you ah have you and had consumed any of these episodes yet? I have watched almost all of it. Okay.
00:40:51
Speaker
So this is I think there are six new episodes. um But the one that I why I tuned in and I actually watched the last episode first is because it was talking all about the Mothman and the Mothman sightings in Chicago. So um we were still living you were still living here when this was happening was around twenty eight I remember that. yeah i remember People started reporting sightings of the Mothman and Unsolved Mysteries does a pretty good job of like doing like a swath of like trying to figure out like triangulate where people saw the Mothman. um Thankfully, we've had no ah horrible disasters that he predicted or whatever the Mothman does with his time, you know, like in West Virginia.
00:41:37
Speaker
But um it's it's pretty cool little volume of Unsolved Mysteries. i I will say I think the weakest one is the Jack the Ripper one. um But other yeah than that, one that one's kind of just like that one feels like a history channel shitty document. I don't know why they did that. It it was very, it was very strange. And it doesn't really fit like the actual motif of Unsolved Mysteries. It just doesn't.
00:42:04
Speaker
the The one that I found the most fascinating was the woman who ah he her husband came home and she was just dead. And they're trying to figure out if it was an accident, if it like like what happened. But the most frustrating part of the entire episode, and I won't go into it too much, but yeah is that he was talking to his wife on the phone when she like he like heard the dog bark and then she like ah she like he heard like a thud and then like it just goes off like he never and then he he waits a day and a half to go home
00:42:41
Speaker
And I'm like, dude, if I was on the phone with my significant other and I heard something weird and then I didn't, I couldn't get ahold of them via phone afterwards, you best be, ah even if I'm an hour away, I'm still gonna have a, I'm still gonna have a neighbor go check on them or something. Like, ah and this is like the crazy thing about Unsolved Mysteries that I always forget until I'm like watching them is it's just like,
00:43:02
Speaker
There's so much frustration level going into watching these is that you're just like, well, it's obviously the cops didn't do a good job or it's obviously like that guy is an idiot. Like, you know, for real. But it's a it's a good little I listen, you can tell me these stories till the day comes home and I'm going to consume them forever. So exactly. Yes. I still loved it. um But yeah, Unsolved Mysteries newest batch of of little mysteries on Netflix. Whoo hoo.
00:43:29
Speaker
Uh, the next one I saw, um, this is a really, really interesting one. It's called I saw the TV glow. I really want to watch this. Yeah. And I'm going to guess that a lot of our listeners have seen this too. Um, it would fit very well with queer horror fans.
00:43:46
Speaker
um And ah Andrew, I'm especially interested to hear your take on it and and and Michael's take. So I do want you guys to watch this as soon as you can. Maybe we'll rent it today. i Yeah, you should. honest You should. um I saw it in the theater and then i I also bought it like two days ago. oh And and i I bought it because I wanted to watch it again and I just didn't feel like renting it. And so I just I said, you know what? You're probably going to watch this many times because it's that kind of movie.
00:44:16
Speaker
um There's a lot to unpack. Yeah, I guess that that's that's a good word. um The movie is about um young people at an American high school in a very American suburban type town.
00:44:35
Speaker
at exactly the time I was in high school. And so it's it starts actually in 1996, which is when I started high school, which is weird. And um also a great Olympic year. It was, yeah, it was. um And it's about the, it's it's primarily about two characters.
00:44:57
Speaker
um played by ah Justice Smith and I think Bridget Lundy Payne would be the other person. Yeah, um owen Owen and Maddie. um And strangely enough, ah the Maddie character, I would be the same age as that character. Oh, spooky. Yeah. but it It centers around um how these two young people ah really love the show, this TV show in the movie called The Pink Opaque. Now, The Pink Opaque is also the name of a real life album by the Cocteau Twins, who I love quite a bit.
00:45:34
Speaker
Um, and the, um, the pink opaque, like if you think of like, are you afraid of the dark? That's kind of what this is like in the movie, basically, or like, ah or like sort of like a really low budget Buffy the vampire Slayer. Think of it that way. And so like in this, in this TV show, there's like a monster of the week.
00:45:53
Speaker
And like these two people in the TV show, these two young people, two young girls, um we we think anyway, are um are sort of like have to like come together to battle this this monster every single week. And so um I'm gonna stop making too many tangles here because the movie can can get pretty tangled up. And so I just want you to go see it. um The movie is about, it's about a lot of things. um But what I will tell you is like,
00:46:20
Speaker
When I was watching the first three acts of the movie, I was really, really into it. And like often, like tears were coming here and there because it captures then that period of time perfectly. Perfectly. And I mean, like down to like there's a scene where Maddie and Owen are in like this this weird room in their high school and there's a vending machine.
00:46:47
Speaker
And the shit in the vending machine was like exactly right on. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And like, and like, there's all this symbolism on top of it too. Like the high school is called void high school, which in short would be VHS, right? Um, and that's really important because Maddie like makes tapes of each episode of the pink opaque for Owen to watch.
00:47:10
Speaker
and like writes a little notes on them and draws these things. And it just, I don't know, man, it's if you're a horror fan who grew up a weird kid, which we probably all did, um you are going to find a lot that is very emotionally intriguing to you and compelling. And and that that's stuff to watch for. it Now, the only thing about this movie for me is that the final two acts of the movie, I would say it just starts to kind of get a little too off track for me.
00:47:36
Speaker
And so like it it it ends up being, I think, a really beautiful movie. And I think particularly for like people who are non-binary or trans, I think that this movie will probably really, really hit home and in very big ways. and And that makes perfect sense for that experience of which I don't have a you know i don't have a personal clue of what that's like.
00:47:59
Speaker
But what I can say is, for me, as as a a queer person, it's just that it didn't quite come together exactly the way that maybe I wanted it to, or maybe like in a way that made total sense to me. That's probably more what I should say there. So that's why I bought it again. Because, ah now again, that's why I bought it, so I could watch it more.
00:48:17
Speaker
because i I need to to have another experience with it and just sort of let it sit with me. It's a really beautiful movie. The soundtrack is gorgeous. It is filmed just it's filmed in such a lovely way. And um theres there's a particular message in the movie that I think you know no matter how you feel about it or how it landed with you or or you might not even give a fuck about the last two acts or whatever. like the The message of the movie, I think, is really clear, and um and that's that's really important, and that that has really stuck with me. I think it's one of the boldest horror films I've seen in a long time. like This is heavy symbolism, heavy just like like like like artistic value, and um if you stick with it, and like you know but watch this and put your phone away, put your laptop away. like just watch You have to really watch this movie, um and I think you'll be entranced by it too.
00:49:08
Speaker
So it's a little uneven. I grant that for sure. But I did really enjoy it. And it's I saw the TV glow. So go see it cool. I'm excited to watch it. um My next one is interview with the vampire season two. um You can watch this on AMC plus if you have a subscription. um This is the ongoing tale of interview with a vampire. um This new season is more about their time in France.
00:49:35
Speaker
So we get introduced to Armand in Santiago. And they're in the Olympics in Paris. And I'm kind of their time with the theater company in France.
00:49:49
Speaker
<unk> dapierre yeah listen you I don't know how they're getting away with this, but they are making this. i And I only assume because Anne Rice is, but you know, is dead and her gay son is in charge of all of this because this is the gayest show I've ever seen. I love it. Thank God. Thank you, Jesus. it's It's so funny because the interview portion and this is, you know, minor spoilers, but if you watch the first season, you know, like kind of what's going on um is there are it's now um ah him and Armand telling the story of their time in France.
00:50:29
Speaker
And they just bicker back and forth like an old married gay couple like the entire time. I love it. and It's so funny. But um listen, this is going to I don't know what they're doing because they have been greenlit for a season three. I think I'm thinking they're going to go more into um Queen of the Damned territory. Oh, cool.
00:50:49
Speaker
But, um you know, we'll see. But the end and the like the and season two was amazing. It was so good. And like, listen, we've done interview with vampire on this podcast before. We know kind of where we stand with like this story. But like the way that they're modernizing it and the way that they're just letting the vampires be fucking bisexual or gay or whatever, because they've been around for forever. So they want new experiences like.
00:51:14
Speaker
It's cool, man. It's really cool to see a new modern take on this. So if you're not into this, get into it, baby, because it's Interview with the Vampire season two. I love it. Taking a sharp turn away from that, I watched Love is Blind UK. Oh, God, no. I was on a date last night and I watched this because we just didn't have anything else to do. And he was like, do you want to watch Love is Blind? I was like, yeah, you know what? Sure. I've actually never watched it before.
00:51:44
Speaker
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. You haven't. Yeah. And, you know, what's funny is we watch the U.K. version and and on the U.S. version, which is which something funny about this is I know actually two people that I work with that were on shot of his blind in in America when it was in Chicago. um And they yeah I still work with one of them. It's it's very odd. um Look, love is blind, UK.
00:52:09
Speaker
If you don't know what this is, this is basically where they get a bunch of guys and a bunch of girls and they go into this the very strange place that has these pods in it. um They keep the men and the women separated. They're all ah straight or maybe bisexual, I don't know, but like they all they all like the other sex, right? um And they basically just go on a bunch of dates, but they can never see each other.
00:52:32
Speaker
So they only talk through like this glass wall kind of thing and they're each in their own side of the pod and they just have these conversations. And then the only way they get to meet each other is if is if they propose, if one of them proposes to the other. great And um yes, and I do mean proposes marriage to the other person. And so like they're talking And like, I mean, we watched three episodes last night. If it's three hours of my life, I'll never get back. And um like,
00:53:05
Speaker
They get to I Love You very, very quickly in this show. And then they get to marriage really, really quickly. It's a wild. it is It's absolutely insane. and Like, look, there are a bunch of good looking people. They're not like that like like ah the oldest person on this one, I think is like thirty nine. Right. So, I mean, I like whatever it was. It's it's a bizarre fucking show. And the whole time I was watching it, I was just thinking like,
00:53:32
Speaker
This is why people are fucked up with relationships now, yeah like yeah because this is what people think it actually is. like who ah Who in their right fucking mind would honestly think that just having a chat to somebody through a glass wall and not meeting them face to face, you're going to fall in love with that person. That is not love. That is fantasy. it's that That's not even real. You know what I mean?
00:54:02
Speaker
And like then, like, I don't know what happens. It's apparently like they they have to go on a trip or something and then they get married. i don't I don't know what happens. Typically what they do is after they pair off, they go to like a a villa where they live with all the other couples. And then if they make it past that, then they have to go live in real life together and then they go to the altar. And it's all like a big mysterious thing if they're going to show up at the altar or not. Like that's like the stretch of the show.
00:54:30
Speaker
Um, yeah, let' listen, this is total trash. it's e's and like I just, i I think it's, it's, it's very fucked up. And like, I hate to sound like an old geezer now, but like,
00:54:43
Speaker
it really is indicative of like where we are as a society that like this is and like look I watched it as basically a joke and I'm sure you would too but like I think that there are more than a few people that watch this with like like like watching it as though it is actually good and real like think it's real yeah yeah and like I just think that is that if if that is you uh ah you i'm i'm hope I'm praying for you. I hope the remote control down. yeah like and i'll be honest like i don't i don't I don't want to watch anymore. like i I watched enough and that it was just very fucked up. So anyways, love is blind. Do not recommend.
00:55:20
Speaker
Yeah, I watched a season of this when we were on vacation because it like came out and and like we were in Mexico, so it was like, you can only log in on Netflix and that was it. you know And this shit is wild. potatos It is crazy. bi are fucking Fucked up. ah Yeah, don't fall down this hole. yeah it's it's It's not a hole you want, ah unlike many other holes. Yes, exactly. Thank you. so um All right, my last one and then we'll wrap things up quickly is tarot ah This came out in theaters. I think last spring I it was like a blink and you'll miss it movie like i literally was in in and out of theaters so quick And it just premiered on Netflix. So I watched it. Um, listen
00:56:05
Speaker
This is going to be like a popcorn movie like it. So it centers around these kids or teen, I'm sorry, college aged people um who go to a house and they're on like a they rent like an Airbnb and they find like a room with all this like crazy stuff in it, including a box of tarot cards. And the one girl actually knows how to read tarot. But she said to them like, I don't I shouldn't really read these because you're not supposed to use someone else's deck.
00:56:33
Speaker
And they're like, Come on, it's a party like read my tarot. So she reads everyone's tarot, including herself. And um they're very specific things that like they say. And then it goes on to then each one of those characters dying in the way that their tarot is read. And so, you know, take that for what it is. It's it's a pretty dumb movie, like honest, it's pretty dumb. But did I have fun watching it?
00:56:58
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, era it's it's stupid, but it was still kind of fun. And I apologize any if you hear any and background music. It's the Aaron Waters show of Chicago. So I have jets literally flying over my head. Oh, my God. But ah yeah, so that's tarot on Netflix. You know what? Watch it. It's it's fun. It's stupid. ah fair enough so And then my final one is also a Netflix one. It is called Dirty Pop, the boy band scam. if You watch this yet?
00:57:23
Speaker
I saw the cover, I wasn't sure if I was into this or not, but yeah does it sounds like exploitative and I don't know if I love exploitative stuff. You might enjoy it. um i I put it on because it's as as many things that i I watch, it's just because I had nothing else to watch. um And it's it's ah it's a short series a short documentary series um and I think it actually was pretty interesting.
00:57:47
Speaker
Because i didn't and I had really no idea of like the origin of of all these boy bands that we all know very well. um And so ah this is like this is about Backstreet Boys, about NSYNC, about 98 Degrees, about O-Town.
00:58:04
Speaker
every boy band that we know from our generation, they were all basically founded by the same guy, Lou Pearlman. And I just, I hadn't heard the story before. The Orlando guy, right? Yeah. And so it goes into just how like, you know, how he got these bands together.
00:58:23
Speaker
But then also how he like kind of exploited them. But maybe he didn't. And who knows? And how it was all a Ponzi scheme at the end of the day. Fucking weird. And like it's it's it's a lot of shit that I just like I said, I had never heard. And I think that this new documentary just sort of like brings together like firsthand narratives from people in the bands themselves. Although it's not like a bunch of like the big names. It's like Chris Kirkpatrick. You know what I mean? It's like the great seas of all of them. But even still, there's a lot there that I think is interesting to hear about how crazy it was for them and how emotionally invested they were with Lou Pearlman and how he really did a great job of pulling one over their eyes. But then at the same time, it's like without Lou Pearlman, they wouldn't have happened. And so it's this weird conundrum of like, well,
00:59:20
Speaker
Yeah, he wasn't a good guy. like that That's for sure. He stole money from a lot of people. He did this, he did that. But also like he like gave them their big shot. So I don't know. it's It's a really interesting look at something that I think is very uniquely American. um And it was worth it. you know i had I had it on the background while I was working. it So it was it was worth that kind of watch, I would say. Now, here's my question.
00:59:47
Speaker
who who ah from each of the big ones. So we have Backstreet Boys and we have NSYNC. Who were your crushes? Uh, and sync was Lance was Lance. Um, although he wouldn't, you had good instincts. Yeah. He wouldn't be my crush now, but like, I just remember in, um, in high school, like I just like for whatever reason, I was very, very much into Lance. And then from backstreet boys, it would be Nick Carter. Um, he just has that look that I like, you know, and then the other ones, I don't really remember any of their names. Like who was in 98 degrees?
01:00:23
Speaker
Uh, that one guy from the pop star that was married did what's her face? oh Um, uh, Nick Lachey, Nick Lachey. So like Nick Lachey was cute, I guess. And the other ones I'm looking at them right now on my monitor and they don't, they don't look very good. Um,
01:00:41
Speaker
And then O-town, I can't even remember. And the rest of them, who the fuck knows? But for sure, back in the day, it was Lance Bass and definitely Aaron Carter. because Well, wait, not not Aaron Carter, Nick Carter. Nick Carter like nick carter was like legit cute, to be fair.
01:00:55
Speaker
Mine were if I was an in sinker, it was definitely JC Chazay. And then if I was a backstreet boy, it was Kevin, actually. Oh, richardson yeah. Sure. Just because he kind of had tall privilege, if you know what I mean? yeah Like but didn't Aaron Carter die. He died. Yeah, unfortunately. That's actually sad. That's really sad. Anyways. Well, that was another edition of what you've been watching, bitch folks. Uh, Andrew brought us invitation to hell on Amazon prime. Unsolved mysteries on Netflix. Interview with the vampire season two on AMC plus and tarot on Netflix. And Andrew, I realize I didn't give you any of the places where I watched mine.
01:01:35
Speaker
It's OK. You can. And Maddie brought us the guest, which just Google it. I saw the TV glow, which is currently available on demand. Love is Blind UK, which is on Netflix and Dirty Pop, which is on Netflix as well. So that does it for what you've been watching, bitch. Hold your horses and we'll be right back with our first film of the episode when a stranger calls.
01:02:01
Speaker
On a warm September evening, Dr. Malakis, Jill Johnson was babysitting for the two young children of a wealthy doctor. by They told her where they would be and when they would be home. They told her everything she had to know, except what to do when a stranger calls. Hello? Have you checked the children? What? Hello, could you get me the police?
01:02:27
Speaker
I was wondering what you'd do about it down here. Have you checked the children? He's watching me through the
01:02:46
Speaker
What do you want?
01:02:56
Speaker
We've traced a call. It's coming from inside the house. Jill, just get out of that house.
01:03:14
Speaker
And the terror just begins when a stranger calls. Ring, ring. Ring, ring. Is that your neighbor? No, it's a stranger. Maddie, tell us all about when a stranger calls. Fear is the message. A psychopathic killer terrorizes a babysitter, then returns seven years later to menace her again.
01:03:39
Speaker
When a Stranger Calls is directed by Fred Walton, written by Fred Walton and Steve Feck or Feckie. I'm not sure how to pronounce that. i I put something wrong there. i' I'll come back to that. John Clifford was played by Charles Durning. Jill Johnson played by Carol Kane, the one and only Carol Kane.
01:03:58
Speaker
ah Tracy played by Colleen Dewhurst. Also, God, Colleen Dewhurst, so good. Kurt Duncan played by Tony Beckley. Dr. Monk played by Rachel Roberts. Lieutenant Garber played by Ron O'Neill. Steven played by Steven Anderson. Dr. Mandrakis played by car ah ah Carmen R. Genziano.
01:04:19
Speaker
and Mrs. Mandrakas played by Rutanya Alda. The film is rated R, it's 97 minutes out of America. It was released September 28th of 1979, filmed in Los Angeles on a budget of one and a half million, and it raked in 25 million.
01:04:38
Speaker
Andrew, this actually was my first watch of this particular one. um I don't think it was for you though. So tell me your take on when a stranger calls.
01:04:49
Speaker
Yeah, this was a horror blank space for me um until a couple of years ago when I watched this movie. um I think that everyone kind of knows this movie from the first half an hour. Like that's kind of like what's famous about this movie. And then like I kind of forget like the rest of the movie exists because it's just. Sure. So it goes so wacky and it turns in like such a weird police procedural type of movie that you just don't expect from the first year. But later what I will say about this movie is that I see like there are so many things in this movie that other people pick out and like take to other movies. Like there are a lot of things that I can see like this inspired.
01:05:34
Speaker
And so like, I have to give it its roses there. And you know what, I'm a sucker for a sleazy 70s city movie. And you are, you love that shit. You really do. I just I get into it. I don't know what it is. And this isn't even like a New York movie like that. I don't even know where this takes place. Like it's kind of.
01:05:54
Speaker
because he does say at one point in the movie that he's from New York. So like he it's not in New York, but yeah i it it's it's it's city blank space. You know what I mean? Yeah, sure. It's just city. um But listen, I think that the the parts of this movie that are really good, I think the beginning and the end are really good. I think the middle is a little meandering for me.
01:06:19
Speaker
Yeah, mean even though it's only an hour and what 37 minutes. um I have to give it like somebody needed to like either delete a character or tighten things up a little bit because I just think that there's like a middle part of this where I'm just like, what are we doing. What's happening? But overall, I really, really like this movie. i I think that everyone is there to do their job and everyone does it really good. I think Carol Kane playing both a kind of like teenage babysitter and then also playing like a mom is pretty good stretch, even though like it's like just like her and like two different you know roles. But I think she does a good job of like
01:07:01
Speaker
I don't know, maturing herself as ah as an actress. um And I just find the, listen, I did grow up in this time where we didn't have phones at our, you know, at our fingertips at all times, but like, God damn, it wasn't inconvenient. You know what I mean? Oh my god. For real. But but ah yeah, so that's kind of my initial talk on it. What did you think of when A Stranger Calls considering you'd only seen the sequel? Yeah, so yeah, I had only... i When did I watch that sequel? It might have been last year or earlier. Yeah, probably like a year ago. I remember you talking about it. Yeah, but it it was on my my my watch you've been watching um and I really, really loved it.
01:07:39
Speaker
And so yeah I remember you mentioning to me, well, duh, there's a first one. I was like, oh, okay, I'll have to watch that. um Yeah, like i I think I really agree with you on this. The first main sequence of the movie is is the one that everyone knows. It's the one that that has inspired so many things. The reason why we picked it for this one is because it is sort of based around that urban legend of um it's it's coming from inside the house, right? And so that's that's why we chose this.
01:08:08
Speaker
um And like that first part of it is just, it's it's well done, especially for 1979. And I think it plays out even better in the 1993.
01:08:21
Speaker
Sequels at ninety-three. Yeah, and I think that I think that sequels are made for TV movie if I remember. Yeah. Yeah um But like I mean even for for 79 watching it and in our modern context now like it still tracks pretty well I will definitely say, you know, like I grew up with it with a telephone that ring like that. Mm-hmm I never want to hear a telephone ring again in my life like nave that motherfucker rings so many times like by the end of it You're like, oh my god, just fucking stop ringing Pick up the phone. Exactly. Please pick it up or just take it off the hook. One of the two. um And, ah you know, I imagine, you know, ah there there there was a little ephemera piece about um when when Carol Kane went to go see it in the theater, how she said that in that in that big first part, like the people were just screaming, watching it. oh And ah and I can understand why, like.
01:09:11
Speaker
it creates such a sense of dread. And like, you know, back in the day, like you just said, like, I mean, I think we kind of forget this sometimes. Like we really didn't have cell phones back then. And we really didn't have like talent, like TV that like went on all night and we didn't have this and we didn't have that. And so I guess what I'm trying to say is like back then you really were more alone at night. And so if you think about it, like,
01:09:36
Speaker
Here's a teenage babysitter. Pretty much all of us have babysat somebody at some point in our lives, you know? And especially when you're a teenager on your own in someone else's house or maybe even your own. Like that can be really scary because you've got responsibility and you've got this and you've got that and all of a sudden it's nighttime and like the the deep dark starts to creep in around you and that can be really spooky.
01:10:00
Speaker
if you add in somebody prank calling you over and over again, saying something spooky to you, ooh, that just makes it even worse. So I can definitely see why audiences back in the day were just going gaga over this. And especially with like a trope that just kind of keeps going on and on and on. Because what does he say? Have you checked the children? Have you checked the children? And like she never does it until, ooh, it's too late. But like that alone is enough to just like haunt you over and over and over again. So yeah, if you think about it, if she would have checked with the children, she would have been killed. She'd be dead too. you think So yeah, I mean, I agree with you. ah the The opening is I think really fantastic. The middle is just it's a little too much and just goes on too long. The film is 97 minutes. It's a long 97 minutes. And like definitely those seven minutes could have been taken away. for sure, to make this a 90 minute movie, but maybe even more. This movie could have gotten away with a solid, honestly, 80 minutes and been way, way better just to get us forward. um One interesting thing is that the killer, Kurt, I did not know this. He died like oh very shortly after this came out. He died in April of 1980, six months after the film premiered. Is that not fucking crazy? Just fucking crazy.
01:11:21
Speaker
Um, and like, you know, maybe, I don't know, maybe there was something wrong with them, but like you can almost see it in his face. Like something was wrong with that dude. You know, um, it's, it's, I think it's a really interesting take on stocking too. Like, you know, I, I might've mentioned this a long time ago, but like I directed a play called boy gets girl when I was in college. It's by Rebecca Gilman and it's a wonderful play. It's all about stocking. And you know, part of what we did for that was we had to do a little bit of research at least on, on st stocking.
01:11:50
Speaker
And I was really kind of amazed to learn um that like, basically, if you have a stalker, you're just shit out of luck. There's yeah very little that anyone can do to help you because stalkers are really good about not breaking the law. They're stalking you, but unfortunately, like unless they threaten you or unless they like actually touch you or hurt you, like the cops can't do anything.
01:12:16
Speaker
And that plays out in this opening scene. Like, you know, she calls the cops. She says ah there's this guy calling me, he's bothering me, he's making me scared. And the cop is like, well, has he threatened you? And she's like, no. And then he says something else. And she's also like, no. And so which is yeah it just kind of shows you like you're powerless when this kind of thing happens. And that's one of the scariest things about it is like, if this ever did happen to you, and this could still happen today, in you know, just in different ways.
01:12:44
Speaker
um you're just kind of fucked. And that is, that's the terrifying part of this. And yeah and it it plays out so well in this when he does come back to her years later after she's a mother and all of her worst fears just kind of come true. I will say it's interesting not to jump too far forward, but to jump too far forward.
01:13:05
Speaker
Um, I, I watched it with subtitles on just because sometimes I do that. And so at the very end, when, um, when he's like in the bedroom and she doesn't know that he's in the bed next to her, right? Oh, so creepy. Oh, was so creepy. But in like, she doesn't know what he, she thinks he's in the closet or whatever.
01:13:22
Speaker
And, um, on the, on the screen, she's like, you know, the, the subtitles are going and like, she says something, of course, the subtitle is there and it's like, and then like, if you know, subtitles will describe the sound that is coming out. And so before the reveal of Kurt, the fucking subtitle says Kurt groaning.
01:13:40
Speaker
Oh, and I'm like way to fucking ruin it subtitles. It was really was kind of kind of bizarre. Anyways, look, I'm i'm really glad that we watch this one because it it it helps to fill that that horror blind spot that I had.
01:13:53
Speaker
um I do like the s sequel a lot better, I'll be honest. like i I just think the sequel really rocks. It's just so fucking good, especially when he blends into that fucking wall. but like Don't give it away. Oh yeah, maybe we'll edit that out. Anyways, um but like for this one, yeah, it's it's it's crazy. Not my favorite, but I think it was a really solid choice.
01:14:13
Speaker
Yeah, um a couple of things that really like I don't know. I don't know if you experienced this. I watched this on Amazon Prime. um I think with my AMC Plus or shutter membership, I'm not quite sure. But um the the copy that I watched for the first like 15 minutes, it was really hard to hear. Like, huh don you did you experience any of this?
01:14:36
Speaker
Uh, I had to rent it. Um, I don't really recall to be honest. I just remember like anything when she, like any time that she was like on the phone, like it was really hard to hear what he was saying. I don't know if it was just like the sound mixing or whatever. That is true. There there were there was actually the first time that the first second and maybe third times that he talks, I was kind of like, wait, what did he just say?
01:15:00
Speaker
Yeah, so and and the score is very strange like yeah it's weird like when he is like um like the quote unquote like killer music it sounds like i I don't know if you got this but it comes in kind of like ah like a and it sounds like a production company like logo it sounds like it sound I thought of it this today it sounds it sounds at the the THX sound and Yeah, yeah, that's what it is. And I'm just like, this is so strange. But like there was a lot I listen with this movie, did I have to do a lot of turn it up, turn it down, turn it up, turn it down? Yes. Yeah, I did. Like I had to be honest. So like, I don't know if that's just the copy that I was watching or if that's how the movie is overall. Well, and speaking of the score, too, I think that um like the 70s ness of it. um Yeah. Like when the 70s sounds come on, that's where I'm like, oh, that doesn't that just doesn't
01:15:56
Speaker
sit as well as it probably did that and I'm sure they're talking about like the but don good don go don yeah like that right and like even when they're at like the party and like like they have like the 70s sort of like funk going on like it just it's like it's a little too much that that that's probably one of the only problems that I have with the movie is just like it's so dated it's really really dated and you know it just it's it feels a little archaic here and there Well, and it's funny because like, yes, our killer is obviously like, it feels antique. That's what I mean. I'm sorry. yeah Um, the killer is obviously like the, the one you're supposed to be afraid of, but like the actor that they ah chose for the detective, but like the private detective guy, he is so creepy too. yeah You're like, is there something weird going on here?
Film Review and Analysis
01:16:44
Speaker
Because like,
01:16:45
Speaker
and like i didn't Listen, everyone in this movie is a horrible weapon picker. every yeah like she She walks by what I called a cradle of weapons in the beginning of this movie because there's like a little umbrella stand of like a bunch of shit. I don't know why that guy has so many canes and umbrellas or whatever, but like I noticed that.
01:17:08
Speaker
Because Dr. Mandrek seems pretty able bodied, so I'm not really sure. It's a very rich person thing to have like a like an umbrella stand of like walking sticks. Yeah. Yeah. um But she walks by that no less than like five times and finally picks a weapon. And what does she pick? An umbrella. yeah What are you doing? Literally the the fucking whiskey bottle that she pours out of would have been a better fucking weapon.
01:17:33
Speaker
She does take that Jameel like a champ though, I will say that. i well I was like, oh, look at that vintage bottle of Jameson right there. How nice. And then later on in the movie when the private detective gets involved, who was the original detective on the police force in the and in the first part of the movie.
01:17:50
Speaker
Um, but he, he's talking to his cop buddy and he's like, you know, I gotta find this guy. He escaped the mental institution. You know, he's on the loose and, and he's like, well, what are you going to do? And he's like, I'm going to kill him. And the he, the the other cop guy is kind of like, Oh, you know, make it look like an accident, I guess. Like, sure and then he's like, well, what are you going to use? And I was like, Oh yeah, what is he going to use? And what does he choose?
01:18:13
Speaker
like lock pins is what he calls them. yeah And I'm like, it's very weird. What are you going to stab him with it? Like what? Because we we see later on in the movie when he is like running after him and he finally corners him in the one building in the homeless shelter.
01:18:31
Speaker
And he throws it at him and it like sticks in the wall. And I'm like, is this the plan? Like, what is what is going on here? And so like there's just like some choices in this movie that are very strange, yeah if I'm being honest. um But I still like I just really liked like all the like character elements of this, especially the woman that plays the bargoer in the big in the middle of the movie.
01:19:00
Speaker
I think she's really enigmatic. um i I love when she's like, I don't know why I keep coming back to this dump because she's just been like, because like in that whole sequence in the bar is so strange because and not only is there like she's she's being hit on by the guy like this bartender is the worst bartender of all time. It is the grimest bar in the world. It is fucking like what it was called or cheese.
01:19:27
Speaker
Torches, which is which is a real bar in LA, by the way. um It is the most boring bar in the world. There's no music. It's silent. And like there's an old elderly couple having a drink and they're like and he's like wearing like like fucking like Sherlock Holmes shit. And then you got this woman at the bar who like actually seems pretty cool.
01:19:50
Speaker
doing a crossword, and you have one guy playing pool by himself and then you've got the killer. yeah And it's just, it's very, very odd. It's a very, very odd place. And I would agree with you. The bartender fucking sucks. And in my opinion, Bill had the right idea here. Well, the guy who would like that a fight breaks out because he's like the one guy who's playing pool, which I can only assume is maybe the bar owner because of the way that they interact.
01:20:15
Speaker
um that he gets in a fight with the guy because he's trying to like it's it's honestly so funny you have to watch it to believe it but like yeah the interaction between the killer and this woman and she moves down one stool and then he moves down one stool and then she moves down two stools and he moves down two stools like it's it's actually a total kind of comical um but he essentially beats up the guy doses him in um alcohol so it looks like he was just a drunk um and throws him outside and in this entire time the bartender does nothing. Like he eventually goes to try to make a phone call, but I'm just like, dude, that's your job to like say like, Hey, uh, she probably doesn't want to talk to you or say like break it up. Like that kind of a thing. And this guy just sucks. He just watches the whole thing happen. Um, you know, but yeah
01:21:00
Speaker
i'm I'm looking at some of the letterbox reviews and there there's somebody who's who's sort of like an adjacent friend of the pod, Calvin Dyson. Calvin's actually pretty cool. he does it He does a lot of like um James Bond stuff. Anyways, um Calvin said, I think this is pretty accurate. Definitely peaks too soon.
01:21:17
Speaker
and features flashes of brilliance, but ultimately lacks a coherent spine of a story. And I think that's pretty dead on. Like the the opening sequence is just so good. It's so good. But then like to have it just sort of shift over and then it's all about the detective. It's a little bit there, I think.
01:21:38
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree with you. But I think like, ultimately, this sounds bad, but I think you could probably delete the middle section and just be it about Carol Kane's character. i agree with And you're and you're probably in a better movie, but um because I do think that end sequence where they go out to eat and she has kids that are right around the age of the kids that died. And like it's a very similar set up. And like when she gets that phone call at the restaurant and it's him on the other end,
01:22:08
Speaker
That is eerie as fuck like it is you're like on the edge of your seat like holy shit um I will say I love Carol Kane's Choice in kitchen because those that was a that was a choice kitchen. I know with that like fan lamp. I don't know if you saw that or not, but um there's just some things that are just like so 70s about this movie. um I can only I can only think that maybe they made it a couple of years earlier and it took a little time for it to, you know, it could come into production. But like,
01:22:42
Speaker
I just think that, like, this movie is one of those ones where, like, the beginning is really good, the end is really good, but there's kind of just this weird middle part where it's almost, and I don't want to take this too far out of context, but it's almost comical, like, how weird the angle is. I agree with you. It's like the killer isn't really scary enough in the middle, to be honest. You can just tell that he's just mentally, like, just not... Yeah, he's just kind of a freak. And so, like, he's not... What do they call him? They call him a psychopathic killer in the summary or whatever. I'm not sure I necessarily agree with that. Look, he's not a good guy, but I think you just said he's mentally ill at the end of the day as opposed to being a psychopathic killer, which is what scream would be.
01:23:31
Speaker
I think that's the reason why we all like scream. And like look, the opening sequences are are obviously different in substance, but like there they're extremely similar in in in structure. right And so like there's a reason why scream is so successful as opposed to this, which is you know certainly iconic, but I wouldn't call it nearly as successful as scream.
01:23:52
Speaker
And Scream keeps you more in because it is a psychopathic killer. like There's something completely deranged about the person or persons doing it. And so that that kind of like keeps you in. But like with this one, the middle, you're just kind of wandering around as they're wandering the city looking for this guy. And it just doesn't it doesn't it doesn't catch you enough, I would say.
01:24:13
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like you just like you it lacks a little focus. That's awesome. But I still like, ah you know, like so I can't I can't discount all the stuff that I do like about it, though. yeah You know what I mean? Like it's it's hard for me to like balance this this one because like there is so much good, but there's just like a little bit of bad. You know what I mean? I agree with that. I agree with that. What what what would you rate it?
01:24:35
Speaker
You know, I'm going to give this one. I'm going to come down just a little bit from where I was at. I'm going to give it a five. um I said, Who doesn't love a good late 70s sleaze movie? um Clean up the score. And this might be a great movie. It's fun. I'm coming down a little bit to go to four and a half for me.
01:24:53
Speaker
And I said, though, I actually prefer the sequel. It's a solid piece of psychological stalker horror. The 70sness of the film can sometimes make it feel quite dated, but it still pops off of the fury that can only be part of the insanity of stalking. Cool. Well, that will do it for our review of when a stranger calls, but don't go away because we still have one more movie and that's Urban Legends. Last week, we discussed folklore.
01:25:22
Speaker
May we get more specific? This is what we call an urban legend. Contemporary folklore passed on as a true story. Something you might have heard about seeing Pop Rocks and soda? Supposedly, your stomach and your intestines burst. Voila, still alive. Mr. Rocks, please. He's here to explode!
Urban Legend Film Discussion
01:25:47
Speaker
Somebody call 911!
01:25:51
Speaker
um They are the legends we've all heard. Gang members drive around at night with their headlights off. And when someone goes to flash them their high winds to warn them, they kill them. The stories we've all told. Dying a girl when they're parked out in the woods. The guy steps out and the girl starts to hear these scratching noises. It's her dead boyfriend hung from a tree. The tales we've all listened to.
01:26:16
Speaker
Isn't there another story about a guy with an axe hiding in a woman's backseat? My mom still checks the backseat before getting into a car. But just because it never happened doesn't mean it never will.
01:26:31
Speaker
okay The decapitated body was found in her car. I knew I should have gone to NYU. This girl, she could have been any one of us. What if there is a lunatic on campus? What is he gonna do next, huh? Maybe put spider eggs and bubble issues? The idea of an urban legend serial killer. It's a The call's coming from inside the house. Could it be an urban legend?
01:27:23
Speaker
Someone out there is taking all these urban legends and making them reality. Urban legend. Had you heard the one about the microwave?
01:27:39
Speaker
We're not talking about Keith Urban, the country legend. but ah We're talking about the film Urban Legend. Andrew, tell us about it. What you don't believe can kill you. A college campus is plagued by a vicious serial killer murdering students in ways that correspond to various so urban legends.
01:28:01
Speaker
Urban Legend is directed by Jamie Blanks, written by Silvio Horta. Production and distribution were handled by TriStar. Paul is played by Jared Leto. I don't know why he's top cast, but he is very strange. is um Natalie is played by Alicia Witt.
01:28:18
Speaker
Brenda is played by Rebecca Gayhart. Damon is played by Joshua Jackson. Michelle Mancini, the best name in all of horror besides Helen Shivers, is played by Natasha Wagner. Reese is played by Loretta Devine. Sasha is played by Tara Reid. Parker is played by Michael Rosenbaum.
01:28:35
Speaker
and Tosh is played by Daniel Harris with Dean Adams, played by John Neville, Professor Wexler by Robert England, and finally Michael, the gas station attendant played up by Brad Dureff. This is rated R, comes in at 100 minutes, and it came out on September 25th of 1998. University of Toronto, Canada is the location.
01:28:58
Speaker
And the budget was 14 million and it raked in 72.5 million dollars, which is crazy for 1998. But I know this is not a new watch for either of us, but Maddie, tell us all about your initial thoughts of Urban Legend.
01:29:16
Speaker
Oh, yeah. It's sort of like a museum piece of 90s horror, you know, like it's a bunch of people that we remember. I mean, like it's it's got it's got everybody from the fucking 90s, dude. Taro, Joshua Jackson, Jared Leto. I mean, like Joshua Jackson with that bleached hair. Oh, my God. Joshua Jackson and Joshua Jackson just plays such a creep in this movie. um Just such a creep. I i texted Andrew and I was watching it whatever night it was and I was like, God, it I really forgot what an asshole he is in this. Um, yeah, look, I, I, I watched it for the episode. I had to watch it a couple of times. I was really harsh on it the first time that I watched it for this episode and just, I was not in a good mood with it for whatever reason. And like I watched it again today and I'm less in the bad mood about it, but like still it's, it's not, it's definitely not one of my favorites for sure. I think, I think it's okay.
01:30:12
Speaker
And um i think it ah I think maybe the reason why it's just okay for me is that like it it look it has a good basis. like The idea of a killer that goes around like killing people in like the guise of urban legends is is is really interesting. I think it's a good idea. I just don't think like they do it well enough in this.
01:30:36
Speaker
And like, unless yeah I just kind of feel like unless you knew the urban legends, like like really knew them, that like you're going to get kind of lost in this. And like, yeah, you see some great kills, some some fun things happen. And like you have the classic 90s like sexual motifs. But like, I don't know. I just think it could have been maybe a little bit better. um And ah it's it also does has that sort of like 90s feel of just like college sexual energy that is like kind of gross. You know what I mean? It's not even like sexy. It's just like a bunch of guys like talking about like girls giving them head kind of thing. And I'm just, I'm just not into that. And I think, you know, back, back in the day when we were, you know, young, why I would have been how old was I? 98. So I was 16 when I saw this. Um, you know, that stuff would have been funny when I was like a teenager, but now I'm kind of like, man, whatever kind of gross. Yeah. kind Kind of gross. And like, there's a lot of like little, like, like little funny things that you'll pick up on. Like there's the part where Joshua Jackson tries to start his car and he takes forever to start it. But when it finally starts the radios on and what is the radio blaring?
01:31:45
Speaker
I don't want to wait for our lives to be over. Which is very funny, of course, because everyone would have known Dawson's Creek right then. whole Yeah. And so, like you know, like there's that funny, like inside jokey stuff that just for me made it feel like obviously like like the the quality of watching this actually in the 90s right then what it makes it that that would have been a a very, very fucking different experience and watching it in 2024, for God's sake.
01:32:13
Speaker
So I mean, look, it it was it was mildly fun to watch it again. I don't need to watch it ever again, to be honest, because it's just it's not my cup of tea. um But there are some interesting things in it that we'll talk about.
01:32:25
Speaker
Yeah, I have seen this movie approximately 47,000 times. So I've owned it in many formats. ah This was like, I don't know, there are just like certain movies that take me back to like the age of like, you know, scream. I know you did last summer this movie.
01:32:44
Speaker
And then, you know, maybe something gets a little bit carried away like Valentine or something. Yeah, sure, sure. But like, this is just a sort of movie that like permeated like the mid to late 90s that you just couldn't get away from, like if you were a horror fan in in that time period. And so like, I love returning to this kind of movie. Is it is it kind of stupid? Like when you like think about it like on surface level, like, like,
01:33:09
Speaker
Someone that is trying to get revenge on like one character, but it's really they're just like killing everybody around them before you know It's kind of stupid like if you really think about it um When she could have just like killed her like just but how she killed Michelle Mancini like right at the beginning, right? sure So it gets a little like goofy when you like try to like think about like why this is all happening but like at the end of the day like I still have so much fucking fun with this movie because it's just it's such because of the cast and because of where it takes place and because of like the just the 90s of it all it's so nostalgic for some reason for like a person like me or maybe someone like you that like you're just like wow like this was the time you know what I mean like I don't know like when I see like
01:33:59
Speaker
When I see Jared Leto here and I'm like, wow, my God, he had, he had such a different promise of an actor and a of like one, 1000% yes. And he, and to see what he morphed into, because that's only, that's the only thing I can say about Jared Leto now is like, it's just incredible. And then to see someone like Alicia wit, who I think a lot of people saw as maybe the weaker,
01:34:26
Speaker
actor in this movie, yeah um then what she's doing now with being in long legs and and everything, like she's still out there like and she's still doing the damn thing. like She had a great little stint on The Walking Dead. like she's still She's actually morphed into the better actress, so it's just kind of crazy to see. And then, you know unfortunately, you know Rebecca Gayhart went through her tragedy and that's why she doesn't really act that much anymore. but like Her in this movie, when she does that monologue at the end, I gotta tell you, that is a 10 out of 10 for me. So wild. I tried therapy.
01:35:01
Speaker
yeah It obviously didn't stick. But no, I just think, listen, I grew up with these kind of stories. I think I even have a book called like The the the Haunted hichched Hitchhiker or something and it has like all these urban legends in it. So like to see it on screen, you know, this was just really fun for me. um There's one urban legend that they depict in a little movie called Campfire Tales. Have you ever seen Campfire Tales? No, no.
01:35:31
Speaker
So it's not widely available. Like they've never done like a Blu-ray release of it. They've never done like, if you can't find it anywhere, you'd have to like, like try to look it up on YouTube or something. okay But there's a specific urban legend called, are humans can lick too? Do you know this one? No, not at all.
01:35:49
Speaker
So I'll briefly tell you about it because it's one of my favorites. But it's about this little girl who in the middle of the night when she gets scared, she puts her hand down to like let her dog like give it a kiss. So like she she feels like, you know, like it was good. Like it creates like a sense of calm for her. And then there's one night where she reaches down and she gets her little, you know, lick and then she wakes up in the morning and her dog is murdered in the bathroom and on the mirror it says humans can lick too. Oh, God, gross. And it reminds me of Tasha's death and this, where it says, like, aren't you glad you didn't turn on? Yeah, right. So like there are little things in here that I just like, I don't know. I think I like this movie way more than you do. And it's totally fine. And it's totally like kind of our alley. You know what I mean? Right. And so like I just this is not one that I I don't think that I can dissect this movie because I have such like nostalgic glasses for it. You know what I mean?
01:36:49
Speaker
And so like I just I just turned down and I watch it like I could be literally watch this today. Like, you know, mean it makes makes perfect sense to me that there there is a list of of what in the film is attached to urban legends. Would you like to hear it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Michelle is murdered by a killer in the backseat. This legend is also referenced by various people looking at the backseat or talking about it. That's one.
01:37:11
Speaker
Coverage of Michelle's murder in the University newspaper is covered up by the dean, referencing the university cover-up of a campus murder. Subsequent years of the students reference the hatchet man legend, which is an unnamed killer targeting college campuses at random. The origins of the latter have been traced to serial killer Richard Speck.
01:37:29
Speaker
Brenda and Natalie attempt to invoke Bloody Mary at the entrance to Stanley Hall. Professor Wexler suggests eating Pop Rocks and drinking soda at the same time. The death of little Mikey from this is mentioned by Brenda. The killer later re-enacts that on Parker, substituting soda with cleaning cleaning chemicals, namely Drano. Damon is hanging from a tree while Natalie is waiting in the car below. Gangs driving with their headlights turned off, ah pursuing the first driver to flash them.
01:37:59
Speaker
and running him off the road mentioned by Sasha in the library is later revealed that Natalie and Michelle did this killing a young man. And then it's reenacted by the killer on Natalie and the janitor finally revealed as central to the killer's motive. Natalie finds her roommate strangled to death in her bed with the note aren't you glad he didn't turn on the light The ankle slasher under the car legend is reenacted on Dean Adams. A guest at the fraternity party claims that the song Love Roller Coaster contains a real murder scream. Meanwhile, Sasha screams for her life on air during her radio broadcast. Parker finds the remains of his dog in the microwave resembling the old lady drives wet dog and microwave legend. The killer attempts to reenact the kidney heist on Natalie. A caller to Sasha's radio show states that she replaced her roommate's birth control with baby aspirin.
01:38:47
Speaker
Another caller asks about having her stomach pumped after performing oral sex and ingesting semen. A couple suffering from penis captivus call into Sasha's radio show. Professor Wexler discusses the babysitter and the man upstairs during his lecture, and Brenda claims it happened in her hometown. And then finally, Parker suggests placing spider eggs in the bubble yum as the killer's next move.
01:39:10
Speaker
So that gives you all of the urban legends that are like referenced and then like somehow touched in the movie. Yeah. What I wish would have happened is that the killer could have been like more explicit about those things like left. Like you you I was the note is left there when it's like, aren't you like you didn't turn out the light. But I wish there would have been more of a signature like that for each of these things like a like a page out of a book or something. Exactly. Like some kind of thing like that, I think, could have could have made this a lot better because Like for me, it's like the stuff just happens and it just happens. And like you don't, like like I said earlier, you don't necessarily know if it's an urban legend or not. Like it's just a thing that that's occurring. And like for some of them you do, it makes sense, but not everything. And I think that could have made the movie stronger.
01:39:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I get it. um I unfortunately was like entranced by these stories. So, i yeah, sure. So you didn't know that. Yeah, right. um But I will say like the first time did you get can you invoke the first time that you saw this movie and did you figure out who the killer was? God, honestly, no. I mean, I because this was 98. I'm sure I would have gone with my friends to go see it, but I honestly can't remember it.
01:40:22
Speaker
Well, because i and the only reason I say this is because there are no less than like five red herrings in this movie. Yes. But I will say when my little brain, when I was what, 14, I guess, when I saw this movie, I did figure out who the killer was at one point in the movie. Do you know what point that was? No, tell me.
01:40:45
Speaker
The part where Sasha is killed in the recording studio and Natalie is down on the ground floor. There's a part where the killer gave gives her like a signature little like wave like with her, just her fingers. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. she Sure. That's when I figured it out. I'm like, no, no dude is going to wave like that. So that's a good point. Yeah. But it was I knew that it was the but female killer.
01:41:10
Speaker
um However, I did not put together the whole Michelle Mancini, boyfriend, that thing. i don You know what I mean? It's any way that you could have. You know what I mean? young it's It's kind of out of left field. But I will say like, I think like, listen, did Rebecca Gayhart kill someone on accident? Yes.
01:41:30
Speaker
ah Should it have derailed her entire career? I i don't know. But it was it was an accident. And i i I just think like between this and Jawbreaker, um I just I love Rebecca Gayhart. I think she's such a good actress. And, you know, even Scream 2. I mean, we just saw it's so funny because we just saw so many of these people in Scream 2 like we Rebecca Gayhart, Joshua Jackson. yeah All those people were in Scream 2. So it's just weird to see them like show up again.
01:42:00
Speaker
um And then like we also go on to see Joshua Jackson in um cruel intentions with this same like hair this bleach blonde hair that he did for a number of years um so like I don't know I don't know where I'm going with that but like it's just funny to see like all these people and then like even to get like Loretta Devine um to play Reese. And she's kind of doing like ah she's kind of doing like a Foxy Brown, you know, trying to play like that kind of a character is pretty funny. And she actually shows up in the sequel. I don't know if you've ever seen Urban Legends final. I haven't. No, I haven't. But also there there's supposed to be like a reboot that Colin Minahan was writing. And apparently like this like was happening before the pandemic.
01:42:44
Speaker
And so like it it might be just sort of like a casualty of it. I'm only seeing this because it's on letterboxed and like it's not actually out there yet. But there was a an article from twenty twenty three where Catherine McNamara had had some updates on it. So I don't know. Maybe maybe it will happen. A reboot of it.
01:43:03
Speaker
Gotta to bring back Rebecca Gayhart though. She's got to be in it some way shape or form. That's the thing is that she's listed on on the cast list in Letterboxd. It's si Sydney Chandler, Catherine McNamara, Keith Powers, Rebecca Gayhart, and Loretta Devine.
01:43:18
Speaker
Cool. Love it. So we wish wish um some funny things about this movie that just make it of a time is I thought it was so funny that her and Tash get into it about the phone line. And also, to like I'm not going to lie, when Tash gets killed, I'm kind of like, I don't care, like.
01:43:36
Speaker
well You are an awful roommate, Jesus Christ. That one girl says, did you check her did you check her pulse? Because she's looked like that for a year. I was like, Jesus Christ. Total bitch move, but I loved it. I was like, yes, thank you. Oh God. But yeah, when they're fighting over the phone line, it was so of a time because you you were you distinctly remember picking up that phone and hearing the internet and hearing the internet and being like, blahbra but And I love that she's on um the website goth for goth. Oh, my God. It's hilarious. Hilarious. um A couple of other things that I pulled out. Pepsi was definitely a sponsor in this movie because Pepsi is seen no no less than like five times in the movie, which is over and over and over again. Fucking drinks Pepsi. You crazy people. It's very odd.
01:44:26
Speaker
Listen, I get it. If you drink Mountain Dew, I don't get it. If you drink Pepsi, sorry, I don't understand why we choose the inferior soda. But some funny things, ah Michelle Mancini's death is like literally impossible because there is not enough room in that car to swing that. It's going to go like that. You know what I mean? Also that when she is out singing the songs at the start of this movie,
01:44:53
Speaker
Yeah. Every now and then I fell apart. Holy Jesus. Like it's, she's so bad. She's so bad. Oh my God. I do love the part though, where she gets the, she gets the lyrics wrong and then she goes more than ever. Yes. And I will say like the other part about that death is like, so let's get this straight. She's driving.
01:45:15
Speaker
in a, you know, she's driving in a rush because she's like got spooked by Brad Dureff, the gas station attendant. So she's going at like top speed, you would think it's also raining. And then she gets her head chopped off. What happens after that? Because the car has to go somewhere. Where's the car? yeah Where's the killer?
01:45:32
Speaker
Yeah. So I thought about that this time. I was like, wait a minute. Wouldn't the car get in an accident and would the killer live through that because he's not buckled in? I don't know. that the The killer lives through an awful lot in this. So yeah. So that is something that I I have to like give it up to like the like movie magic because there's no way that no way. Rebecca Gayhart can put like Joshua Jackson up like on a tree. You know what I mean? Like so.
01:46:00
Speaker
Well, and then at the end, too, like she survives a gunshot. She survives this. She survived. It's like, oh, my God. And then I was getting thrown. She gets survived getting thrown out of a out of a car through the windshield. And then at the very end, she looked like nothing ever touched her. Like, I mean, like it's insane. I do love that little slice of pop culture there, though, at the end where she's like the one girl is like, well, I heard the killers that girl in the Noxema commercials where. That is totally. And Rebecca Gayhart is famously known for being in like a very like like of the time. Very meta. Very meta. Yeah. Yeah. So I do think that Jamie Blanks does do a lot of really good things with that kind of stuff. I think he also directed Valentine, I want to say. I think also. I think he did too.
01:46:43
Speaker
Yeah. Um, I hate that they do the dog kill because that, well, you would hate that thankfully that dog is taken out of its misery because they're just like making it drink beer and like throwing it around the frat house. for real shes um But I do, I hate that death because that just sounds so awful. I'm in a microwave death. I don't not terrible ah Like I said earlier, I think that Michelle Mancini, God, what a character name that like, listen, I said it before, but I'm going to say it again. It's right up there with Helen Shivers, which is my favorite my favorite name of all time. um I just wish that I had like a I wish I had a name like that. That's so cool. like But um the one death that I will say is the most frustrating. There's two actually that I think are the most frustrating.
01:47:33
Speaker
ah The Dean, number one, because all he had to do was crawl the other way. I love that actor, too. He's so good. um And then the other one that I'm really frustrated by is Professor Wexler, because that's obviously Robert England, as we know from the Nightmare on Elm Street. He kind of does like a kind of cameo role in this movie as the as the professor. And you never even see like what happens to him. He just shows up in the backseat of Paul's car as like another victim.
01:48:01
Speaker
um And so like i i I don't know, because he's such like a ah seminal part of the movie and because he's such a red herring, it was kind of frustrating to me that we don't see what happens to him because we also learned that he's the only survivor from the Stanley Hall massacre. So I don't know, to him to be taken out off screen was just like, oh, that sucks.
01:48:23
Speaker
Um, and then like we get to the end and I, I do think that Brenda is one up there is one of like the more like surprising reveals in these, in these movies. I mean, obviously scream probably did it the best. Like we, just we can't really, we can't really like say anything about that, but like, I do think that this was a surprise for at the time. You know what I mean? Like having, you know, you said you, you, you kind of figured it out right there. I i doubt that I would have like, and even watching it again now that I haven't watched it in a long time.
01:48:54
Speaker
i was I was surprised by who it was. I was like, oh, that's right. It's her. There you go. Yeah, I do. There is a funny part at the end when um Paul comes into the room and he's kind of like he's trying to pull one over on on Brenda and he's trying to like make her think that he's on her side. And then she she goes.
01:49:13
Speaker
We would be fucking hot together, Paul." But then she perfectly sums up how I felt about Jared Leto at the time when she goes, you're cute, Paul, but not that fucking cute. And I was like, is true yes. Exactly. Like, yeah, it's it's it's always been true of him. Yeah. I mean, I know that everyone like from my so-called life was in love with was in love with Jared Leto. He never did it for me. Sorry. Those those baby blues are not doing it. um But yeah, overall, I mean, listen, i've I've waxed and waned about Urban Legend for long enough. um i I like this movie quite a bit. um Do I think it's a good like with the quote unquote, like a right good movie?
01:49:56
Speaker
I kind of can't say that, but tall I still just get ah get a lot of enjoyment out of it. So out of seven stripes, or the seven stripes of the gay old rainbow, I give Urban Legend a 4.5, and I said that it's a good movie. That's on the other side.
01:50:16
Speaker
It says, I'm going to be biased because I grew up with this movie, but it still has one of the best killer monologues in the business. And I, uh, I give it a three and a half and I said, you know, look, it's, it's like I said earlier, it's a bit of a museum piece of nineties horror. Could be worse, but it doesn't make it good. So that's where we end up on urban legend. Maybe that reboot will come out. I would actually watch that. I would love to see how they redo it. But in the meantime, Andrew, let's take a break here and we'll come back with our final game of the episode.
01:50:46
Speaker
Shante, you stay. Shante, you stay. Shante, you stay. Shante, you stay. And folks, that was episode 127 of Friday, the 13th horror podcast. But before we let you go, we have a final game. And it's one that we played an awful lot um on this show um because frankly, it's a good one and it's pretty easy to play. It's called a hottie of the episode. And what we're going to do is just pick one character that we think was really hot. So the rules aren't that hard. You know what I mean?
01:51:15
Speaker
um Andrew, tell us who your choice is. So this one is a little harder for me because there's not like a clear winner and yeah i hate not yeah in in my in my book just like based on like what I like essentially. So I think I'm gonna go with ah ah Carol Kane's husband who we don't we don't get a name for him. I can only assume it's Bobby because that's what she's talking to on the phone or trying to get to talk to on the phone.
01:51:43
Speaker
Um, but there's something about that seventies style and that little, uh, app, like Jew Afro that he has. I'm just yeah, you know what? He would probably do it for me. So, but yeah, I'm going to go with, uh, I, what I am assuming is Bobby from one of stranger calls. Got it. Mine. it's It's really, you're, you're absolutely right. It's really hard to choose anybody in this. is Isn't it? Um, I guess mine is going to be Joshua Jackson in urban legend.
01:52:12
Speaker
And like, it makes sense. I mean, he has like that sort of just like dumb sort of like weird frat boy kind of look, especially with his frosty tips in this one. So I guess he would have done it for me back then. So there it is. I choose him.
01:52:26
Speaker
Yeah, I ah he looks like your type, especially, right, especially at that age and time. So lately, entirely. He looks like he might punch you in the stomach and then, you know, sure. But I'm kind of kind of into that too sometimes. You know what I mean? Anyways, folks, that was episode 127. Thank you for spending your time with us as always. um Just a couple of things before we let you go. First off, look.
01:52:50
Speaker
If it's your first time with us, or if you're still kind of new to the show, we would very much welcome your support. We are a ah proud, independent podcast, which means we pay for everything. um But we do have a great cadre of people who help us with that. And they are our patrons on Patreon. So you can join our Patreon really easily. You can either just go to Patreon and and search for us, or you can go to our website, www.fraget13.com slash support.
01:53:19
Speaker
The links are right there for both Patreon and our merchandise. um And once you're at Patreon, you can support us for as little as a dollar a month. um And it's great because it really does help the show keep going. um you know When you do a podcast, there are surprising things you have to pay for, believe it or not.
01:53:36
Speaker
Um, and in our case, that means stuff like movie rentals, especially for me, because I can usually not get anything over here in Europe. Um, and then also equipment and, uh, software that we have to use and, you know, things like that. It costs money every month. We love producing the show. Um, but if you're able to help us with that, it just helps us make it even better as we go. So if you, if you've been thinking about supporting us, why not give it a shot today? Like I said, you can do it for as little as a dollar a month.
01:54:03
Speaker
And by doing that, you also gain access to our chat, which is always kind of funny. Like it, you know, listen, do we have like the most patrons ever? No, but like the ones that we do have, like are really cool. They're very like, they're into it. Like they want to talk, like they want to like chat with each other. great So it was funny. We just released episode one 26 about the woods.
01:54:26
Speaker
And our good patron, Brett, put in the chat, he said, um I wanted to recommend a better movie based around the suicide forest. So, you know, we obviously did not like the forest. Like, we just legit didn't like it. not like the movie Um, and so he said, um, it's called suicide forest village and hits on screen box or possibly other apps. So I'll definitely be checking that out. So thanks to Brett for suggesting that, but also like, thank you for taking the time to like say that sounds weird, but like, but yeah, um, uh, another way you can support us if you don't have the monetary funds to do so, which we totally get. Um, but little, as little as $12 a year or so, you know, figure it out. Um,
01:55:10
Speaker
But you can also leave us a review on Apple podcasts or your podcast player of choice um I'm gonna say if you don't do Apple We would love for you to Spotify because that's the only other one where it like really counts if I'm being honest But you know if you just want to reach out to us You can do so on social media by searching for Friday 13 on on literally all of them I think now even threads which rear weirdly threads is getting more popular now because of thank God and Because of some guy called, uh, you know, yeah. longer Twitter fucking sucks. It's it's, uh, we've been saying this for a while, but like it really does suck now and like giving that dude.
01:55:53
Speaker
literally anything. I'm just, I'm not into it. That place fucking blows. We'll probably eventually get off of that platform. So make sure you follow us on Instagram and threads and even Facebook, even though we don't use it for sure. But that does it for episode 127. We only have just one little thing to leave you with. And that's that we hope that you have a great week and that you get slayed.