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Bring Her Back
39 Plays4 days ago
Join Nicholas and Mercedes as they do another THROW BACK HOST PICK! Nicholas has selected Bring Her Back! The movie from the filmmakers and studio that brought us Talk To Me. They discuss the movie's themes of grief, Sally Hawkins villainous performance, and how deeply upsetting some of the imagery is. It's a pretty deep episode from your Morbid hosts!
Tune in on Halloween for their special commentary of Trick r Treat!
Remember to follow us on Instagram @morbid_curiosities_pod
Email us at morbidcuriosities10@gmail.com with comments/questions/concerns/recommendations
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Transcript
Introduction & Film Discussion
00:01:11
Speaker
What's up guys, we're Morbid Curiosities, your favorite horror movie podcast, and we're back, appropriately, we are back. I'm one of your hosts, Nicholas Ewers, and with me is the lightweight champion of the world, the morbid mistress of mayhem herself.
00:01:26
Speaker
Mercedes Martinez. And yes, we are back for Nick's pick of the the month. Bring her back. Bring her back. We brought Mercedes back. We did it. We successfully brought her back. She came back for episode 37 the podcast.
00:01:44
Speaker
Yeah, I really didn't want to. Not for this one. This one was a rough watch for me. So i I don't even know how to start this thing because my jaw was dropped the entire time watching this damn movie.
00:02:01
Speaker
So, oh my God, Nick, tell me, what is your experience with this film? And why the hell did you pick this film? My God. Currently Bring Her Back, I would say, is one of my favorite movies of the year. I've got it sitting up there with Materialist is one of them. I'm Still Here, Oscar-nominated movie that I think may be able to count for this year. I'll have to look at the wide release date.
00:02:29
Speaker
And like Weapons, some pretty great movies, some pretty popular movies. Bring Her Back is one that fell a little under the radar. Not many. I don't really know anybody else who's seen this. My friends Jake and Amy, i think they logged it and their reviews were like...
00:02:48
Speaker
Pretty fucked up or something. Four stars out of five. And i was like, okay, at least got some love. But for the most part, this through but flew pretty under the radar. Guys, if you haven't seen it, we're still in the spoiler-free section, but it's on HBO Max, I think. I want to say it just dropped there.
00:03:08
Speaker
So definitely go check it out. I picked it because I kind of wanted to put it on people's radar, shine a spotlight on it. i This is the movie a movie from Michael and Danny Filippu.
00:03:22
Speaker
I think that's how you pronounce it. They're the Talk To Me guys. Talk To Me is a movie that I really love.
Anticipation & Filmmaker Creativity
00:03:29
Speaker
Mercedes, what are your feelings towards Talk To Me? Talk to me was really good film, but it was also very dreadful to watch. i I knew a lot of people talked about it, and you had said it was a good watch, so I was like...
00:03:47
Speaker
Let me check it out one day and I was by myself watching it and this was one of the times that I wish my dog would actually cuddle with me when I need her to because that just left me so unsettled, so sad and I was just like, damn, what are these guys, like the brothers Michael and Danny, coming up with? Because this is like genius as well as gut-wrenching to watch. So yeah, i was hyped to watch this film because it was from the those two.
00:04:26
Speaker
but at the same time, i was... really really nervous to watch it because of what they brought with talk to me and what you had even said like that it's a little worse in comparison to talk to me so yeah but my god both films it's like they're just cranking it up like more and more with all the like blood and gore that they're bringing to the table. So I'm excited once Talk To Me comes out.
00:05:00
Speaker
But yeah, all both good films. Yeah, I'm excited for Talk To Me as well. i Talk To Me is a movie that i love dearly. I don't know if I've said this on the podcast or if I've even shown you before. I don't know if I've mentioned it to you. I own a replica of The Hand from Talk To Me.
00:05:20
Speaker
think you did tell me that. You should post that on the pod. I will. Yeah. And we will eventually cover Talk to Me on this podcast, too. We'll find the right time to really fit in there fit it in there.
00:05:33
Speaker
Talk to Me would have been my pick, probably, if Bring Her Back didn't come out this year, because I've been looking for a moment to talk about that movie. But that movie, i i was in like rehab at the time for a pretty bad drinking problem. And I got to like the sober living portion and I was like, okay, I'm going to see a movie immediately. And I rallied my friends together, my friend Tiana and Tyler. And was like, let's go see Oppenheimer. And they were like, that movie is three hours. Fuck that.
00:06:03
Speaker
And I was like, okay, let's go see Barbie movie. And they were like... that's the barbie movie fuck that and i was like fuck you guys okay let's go see talk to me it's a horror movie and they're like okay cool and these guys had never seen horror and it was just such a blast and i had such a lovely heartwarming time seeing that and i think about that movie with such fondness even though it's like so brutal i have such happy memories associated with it and I'll end the talk to me story in a bit, but I just adore what these guys are doing.
00:06:40
Speaker
And all of this fueled me picking bring her back. I feel like these guys are really bold filmmakers. They make divisive and Frankly, like, very confident movies for guys who are just two movies into their career.
00:06:57
Speaker
Talk to Me was a slam dunk, in my opinion. They have the sequel coming out. This feels like an actual, like, one-for-them type movie.
00:07:08
Speaker
It feels deeply personal. And... Also, I
Themes of Grief & Trauma
00:07:14
Speaker
just like that it's not afraid to really make you uncomfortable or put you through something.
00:07:21
Speaker
While also having a lot of heart and depth and real characters to it. you know It's not just like a terrifier where you're watching somebody get hacksawed from vagina to jawbone or something horrific. And that's that. You don't have anything to do with it.
00:07:43
Speaker
i mean, this movie does have some moments where I feel like it just leaves you to be like, all right, what do I do with this? And it does feel kind of intentional.
00:07:55
Speaker
Yeah, I just think this movie is a real boundary pusher and is doing something awesome with the genre that I wish like American studios had the confidence to do. This is a Causeway film. it.
00:08:11
Speaker
And it's just, I but thought this movie was just, it brings you a whole experience and more. And whether that hits you in a negative way or a positive way, I feel like this is a movie that will leave you affected.
00:08:30
Speaker
And but because of that, it just feels important to talk about on the podcast. But yeah, that's why I brought Bring Her Back to the Table, I guess.
00:08:40
Speaker
what What are your thoughts on on this movie? Before jumping into it, i was like, am I ready to watch this film today? Because I remember you saying, watch it on a good day. Don't watch it on a day where like you've had a rough day and basically hate the world. That's not really what you said. But yeah, and I was feeling pretty down yesterday. i was really sad.
00:09:08
Speaker
And yeah, I was like, fuck, I need to kind of calm myself down. I'm like, I'll be OK. I can watch this. Yeah. Watching it. Thankfully, it didn't bring me to tears ever. but with each scene,
00:09:25
Speaker
I was just like, what the fuck am I watching? And I'm going to kill you Nick for making me watch this, which is why I was blowing up your phone, because I'm like, what the fuck am I watching? And I yeah i was driving when you were blown up. I'm like, oh, I just see all caps. i hope this is OK.
00:09:45
Speaker
I hope she's not mad at me. yeah I was on my way to watch the movie at home, actually. Yeah, yeah that was that was a rough watch. And I say that with a lot of things. But man, I thought the Terrifier movies were a little like shaky for me to watch. But yeah, like you said, it's not just like you know cutting people open from end to end here. like There's...
00:10:11
Speaker
There's a story behind it. And, you know, you see more of a purpose in here. And it's very like, I'm happy you got some good memories with watching this film. And, you know, it's a little more meaningful to you. Like, I respect that.
00:10:30
Speaker
And I love when people can have memories like that from movies. because Well, that was Talk to Me. that the Oh, Talk to Me. Sorry. it was from Yeah, i saw this movie alone. But I was still like...
00:10:41
Speaker
It was one where I was like just blown away in the theater, how just wild it made me feel. And even I was afraid to watch it yesterday. and Horror movies don't do that to me anymore. It's this movie has a power to it. Sorry, like to cut you off. No, no, no, you're fine.
00:11:01
Speaker
But they are very powerful. And honestly, it's rare when i feel like movies can leave you feeling like that.
00:11:11
Speaker
So with this one, i was still kind of in a shaky headspace like, damn. I don't think I'm going to have a good night now because i'm not in the best state of mind right now and I'm about to watch a really fucked up film, but let's go. It's for the pod and I can always yell at Nick the later.
00:11:30
Speaker
and yeah, with each scene, Again, my jaw was just on the floor or i was just making like the most uncomfortable face ever because i was cringing at every single scene.
00:11:46
Speaker
And yeah, it these guys, Danny and Michael Filippo, like they are doing They are doing some some work here. like And it's crazy how with each film, it's just getting better. It's getting darker.
00:12:03
Speaker
And for these to be their first two films, it's just crazy. like And it makes me like highly anticipate what else come or what else they have coming out. Yeah. yeah But with this film, I really had to watch something happy or something to make me laugh after because it left me so unsettled.
00:12:23
Speaker
I needed a good hour or so to like come back to Earth and ground myself. It was a rough watch. I can't stress that enough. Yeah, this movie's kind of been living in my mind all day. And when we get done recording, I'm actually rushing out of here to go see a screening of Blue Moon, the new Richard Linklater movie. but I think it's the opening night of Oklahoma.
00:12:46
Speaker
But it's like it looks like a nice Ethan Hawke music history kind of movie. And it's really going to cleanse me of the horror we've watched because we got another horrific Ethan Hawke.
00:12:59
Speaker
movie earlier this week that we talked about and it's just been a really loaded but week of uh some pretty upsetting subject matter in movies a lot of kids in peril that we've had to watch so i'm i'm really looking forward to that uh that palate cleanser even though i love richard linklater as a filmmaker You had shouted out, or we had both mentioned how effective the directing is, the filmmaking as a whole.
00:13:34
Speaker
The special effects artists behind this film, I was watching some videos. The prosthetic work they did for this thing is insane. Like, Billy Barrett, the guy who plays Andy, they made like a whole prosthetic of his torso, his head, his arm.
00:13:53
Speaker
I think, like... yeah well, I won't, I almost spoiled. They have prosthetics for like every body part for like Oliver, that character.
00:14:05
Speaker
And it's all so wild. They have prosthetic teeth for certain scenes and we'll get into why they need those teeth, but The work in that department and the acting too, it like Billy Barrett, Sally Hawkins, Sarah Wong, those three are all incredible. They feel like such real life people.
00:14:28
Speaker
Even like Oliver is so just the the actor, Jonah, w Ren Phillips, he delivers such a crazy and memorable performance, like so much credit to that guy.
00:14:41
Speaker
for being willing to be seen the way he's seen in this movie and even like the case manager she's super funny and awesome for the moments that she's in the movie so like there's a lot of talent in this movie across the board i just i really i'm ready to dive deep into this thing how about you I am ready. Before we jump into it and just go into full spoiler mode, i just want to give a shout out to a couple of our listeners, Emily Rocks and nye
00:15:17
Speaker
Thank you guys for writing in on Spotify. Thank you guys for always tuning in. And, yeah, just anyone else who wants to write in we're still doing our pick listeners pick for next month.
00:15:31
Speaker
And just show some love on our Instagram, morbid underscore curiosities underscore POD. And rate us five stars on Spotify. And yeah, but full fully ready for our spoiler review on Bring Her Back.
00:15:51
Speaker
Where to begin with this one? I guess we can kind of just talk about, do a little table setting right up top. Sarah Wong, the actress I mentioned earlier, she plays this character, Piper.
00:16:03
Speaker
Piper is visually impaired. Sarah Wong, the actress in real life, is also visually impaired. I already shouted her out, thinks she does a fantastic job.
Character Analysis & Manipulation
00:16:13
Speaker
But it opens with her, and you just immediately care for this character. She tries to make friends with these kids who end up really just being shitty behind her back. And her stepbrother Andy comes in to kind of like care for her. You fall in love with him immediately in their dynamics. She calls him a pedophile.
00:16:35
Speaker
in front of those girls is like a joke because she's embarrassed to have him around they come home from school one day and found their father dead on the shower floor it's immediately upsetting it's really hard to watch It kind of reminded me, and it's not as effective, it's not as good of an intro, but it was in the same vein as like Midsommar, where it's like, oh shit, we're beginning this movie at like 10.
00:17:02
Speaker
And yeah, it's right away, you're just left feeling uncomfortable, upset. Like the reveal of the dad being dead too.
00:17:16
Speaker
It starts with like Andy yelling for help, something. But you see Piper running around the house, feeling around. Everything in her perspective has is shot with like a shallow depth of feel.
00:17:30
Speaker
So it's all super out of focus. You just see her hand running across these different surfaces as she grabs a knife to open the door. It's just masterful work from these guys. And I don't want to throw that word around too lightly, but these guys for where they're at in their career, their visual storytelling, the way they're just able to convey information so quickly and get you into this world and these characters lives.
00:17:58
Speaker
It's I think it's just impeccable work. What are your thoughts on this intro? This intro was insane.
00:18:11
Speaker
Starting it off, like you said, starting it at a 10, I was like, well, damn, I know I'm not going to fall asleep during this film. it was very, very unsettling to have this girl.
00:18:24
Speaker
Is it Sarah or Sora Wong? Sora. Did I say Sarah? I think you did, yeah. Okay, Sora Wong, yeah. Yeah, to have an actress in here who is visibly impaired and have her, you know, trying to you know, alert her brother like, hey, dad's not answering.
00:18:47
Speaker
And for them to break into the bathroom just for the brother to find him on the ground, obviously dead. i just felt so bad for the brother because Clearly, he you don't see this right away, but just seeing like how he's you know kind of like the older protector for his sister.
00:19:11
Speaker
One is an older brother, but because she is visibly impaired, like you see that that's a big responsibility on his shoulders. So now the fact that he just walked in and saw...
00:19:23
Speaker
his dad dead on the ground that's already traumatizing just to find dead person but also for it to be your dad that's also going going to be weighing on his shoulders and you see how it's affecting him right then and there he's kind of in that well he is in that state of shock and he can't really answer his sister and he's the one who explains everything to piper And so she's finding him for herself.
00:19:56
Speaker
That was so hard to watch because like, you know, just unfortunately with my mom passing away and you, anyone who has lost someone when you, if you are unfortunately in that, that position where you do find them,
00:20:18
Speaker
That's very, very, very traumatizing and hard to live with and, you know, deal with. So to see it on screen, such a fucked up and brutal way to open this film.
00:20:32
Speaker
they kind of add another layer to it a little later. i don't remember the exact point, but it's show it cuts back. it There's like a flashback and you see that Piper had a little bit more involvement. She was trying to resuscitate the dad.
00:20:49
Speaker
It's a very like bleak and like kind of vivid representation of that experience. And, The way like Andy stands like paralyzed and the thought of it paralyzes him, he doesn't look at like a shower the same. there's something to...
00:21:12
Speaker
it it it feels and i think there's something too he showers with his clothes on at one point. I don't know if that has anything to do with it. I don't really fully know what that's about, but like these characters feel genuinely affected by this in real ways. I, I think.
00:21:32
Speaker
Yeah, and think the dad, he had like thrown up, he vomited or something, he had like bile and- Yeah, even though there's a bit of a question mark behind his death.
00:21:44
Speaker
I don't know if you, did you catch, so we can like hop around a little bit and kind of like pick up pieces in order if we want, but- Like, there's a scene, I know we haven't gotten to Sally Hawkins' character later yet, but there's a scene in a hospital where she reveals, like, she says real quick, when I killed your dad.
00:22:04
Speaker
And did you catch that? I did not catch that, actually. Yeah, so she says to Andy, I know we're getting ahead of ourselves, but everything will be okay. Yeah, we'll go back.
00:22:16
Speaker
Yeah, but so I quoted it. She said, you don't think it's because... So Andy's in the hospital. He's talking about the rain. And he was like, my dad came to me. And when I was in the shower, I saw him in a vision, which it turns out later. I think we can believe or we are to believe that that is actually Oliver, that demon possessing Oliver, whatever's inside of him.
00:22:40
Speaker
kind of he ate the dad's hair and is able to kind of impersonate the people whose flesh he ingests so the dad is like she's going to die in the rain referring to piper and he mentions that to laura sally hawkins character and she responds real quick you don't think it's because your dad died in the shower when i killed him and then he was like And he's like, what did you say? And then she was like, you don't think you're associating like, you know, the shower, your dad's death. And and just it's not talked about. And it just totally breeze past.
00:23:15
Speaker
And I was like, wait a minute. Did Sally Hawkins kill their father? And now that I kind of brought it up now, rushed to it because we're on the scene. And want like, is there anything in the scene that gives you any kind of indication that she would have done that?
00:23:32
Speaker
I assume there was like some form of foul play here because you know I'm thinking, okay, he might have collapsed or had a stroke in the shower and you know the fall, the impact from his head hitting the ground must have killed him.
00:23:50
Speaker
But then once you see all the vomit on his face and you know Piper, who trying to resuscitate him clearly doesn't see that and you know with the flashback of uh andy seeing her do that you see all of it on her mouth that was so so so repulsive to see but you know clearly in that moment you don't care you're just trying to help your loved one not die and also she can't see it but that just like
00:24:26
Speaker
gives you even more of an inside look on how horrific this film is going to be just at a glance.
00:24:36
Speaker
But yeah, just the fact that you know he had vomit like all on his face, I was thinking something has to be up with that or there has to be like a reason why that happened.
00:24:51
Speaker
So I didn't kind of put two into it together. And I didn't hear what's what's her name, Sally Hawkins, say that. Laura. Laura, yeah. I probably would have... caught it later i do like to watch the movies that we cover at least twice for the podcast but just so the first one I can watch it and actually like experience everything and then the second time around so I could take notes just because the first time I tried to watch a film that I hadn't seen and take notes it took me forever because I kept rewinding previous scenes yeah I do the same exact thing
00:25:30
Speaker
Yeah, after this, I'm like, I cannot rewatch this. I am going to do the best I can. This is literally a one and done deal. I can rewatch Talk To Me. i can't rewatch this.
00:25:42
Speaker
This, oh my God. and i i struggled with this one. And yeah, and I know I just jumped forward a little bit, but I got to jump back because I forgot to mention a little bit more table setting too.
00:26:00
Speaker
The movie opens with something even like weirder. It opens with some like weird ritual, actually. and It's like a woman in a circle, and there's people hanging in the background, and someone's videotaping it on like handheld camera, a camcorder, or whatever.
00:26:20
Speaker
They're filming a tape that becomes a big part of the plot later, but... Yeah, there's a moment after the death scene of the father where Andy and Piper, they're they are in the, what is her name? the Wendy.
00:26:40
Speaker
Wendy. She's like a case manager. check Yeah. Yeah, at this like foster home type of place. Yeah, so she's telling them you know what's going to happen essentially and that you know she found like a great person for Piper.
00:26:57
Speaker
And i forgot how the conversation came up, but before she tells them that they're going to be separated or after, you know they say the word grapefruit.
00:27:09
Speaker
And i guess that's... It's like their safe word. Yeah, so it's like they want to make sure the other person isn't lying or like just, you know, in that safe zone to be vulnerable with each other. And I like that because, you know, a lot of siblings, you know, unfortunately don't have that. The ones that are lucky enough who are able to communicate with each other. I love seeing that bond.
00:27:40
Speaker
you really... you you really feel that with these two because, again, you have the older brother who's trying to be that like you know protector for his sister, and you do see that when it comes to them using that term grapefruit, but you also have her doing that too because he wants to make sure she's okay, and throughout the film she's trying to you know just...
00:28:05
Speaker
let people know, you know, I don't like using my cane because it has people or it makes people treat me differently. So, you know, she's trying to at least show like, you know, I'm just like everybody else.
00:28:18
Speaker
So he always wants to make sure she's okay too. But I love the fact that they have that little say for it here. Yeah, that safe word, the bond that they have. i like, too, that I don't think they ever take the time to explain the safe word. a lesser movie would have been like, oh, we say that because of this. You know, as this happened when we were kids. Yeah.
00:28:39
Speaker
It's like this movie doesn't really hold your hand. it puts a lot of shit in front of you. It's the exact opposite of the Black Phone 2 problem, actually. And so I wouldn't categorize this as a problem necessarily.
00:28:53
Speaker
But Black Phone 2 felt the need to explain, to grind the movie to a halt. And explain what is happening. And at no point does this movie stop to tell you what anything is.
00:29:09
Speaker
Expects you to get it. And I think it does a good job of getting its point across through showing you and not telling you and that grapefruit thing is a great example because you get it right away and it's i forgot who says it to the other first there they both say it back and forth a lot and you get the idea like okay these two like are kind of all that each other has and andy he's they're talking about separating the two. Andy is saying they cannot be separated.
00:29:44
Speaker
He looks after her and she's she tells him, you can apply for guardianship when you're 18. But Laura, Sally Hawkins' character, she ends up accepting both of them into her house.
00:29:59
Speaker
and that Do you have anything else to say about the counseling scene before move ahead? No, we can jump ahead now. All right, so yeah, then they're off to Laura's house.
00:30:10
Speaker
Andy crashes the car, and it it's kind of a fun moment, but as he's walking inside, he turns back around and sees the broken mirror, and he kind of has a reaction, and I read that as, oh, he was fixing the mirror at the time that his dad was found.
00:30:28
Speaker
dead So these little things are still haunting him. And again, it's nothing the movie just explicitly says. You just are supposed to read it from what's happening.
00:30:39
Speaker
But we meet Laura through Piper's POV. And so we're meeting her again, that shallow depth of feel. She's out of focus. And she, I think we're introduced to her voice first and she walks right on screen.
00:30:54
Speaker
And I got to take a moment to shout out Sally Hawkins. She's not in, I mean, she's in a lot of movies. I don't think she's in a crazy amount of,
00:31:06
Speaker
well-known mainstream movies outside of the two first, like, Godzilla, American Godzilla movies that came out from, like, Lionsgate or whatever, and the Paddington movies, and actually Wonka.
00:31:20
Speaker
But she's in, like, The Shape of Water and a bunch of other indie movies, like Happy-Go-Lucky movies. She's an incredible actress. The Shape of Water, that was actually one of my Criterion picks from over the weekend that I mentioned on Blackphone 2. It's a beloved movie to me.
00:31:38
Speaker
Sally Hawkins is one of my favorite working actresses right now. So I right when she comes on screen, I just know I'm in good hands and i knew she was the villain going into this movie.
00:31:52
Speaker
So I was excited to see what she had to bring and we'll get more into her character. But her introduction is great. She loves Piper.
00:32:04
Speaker
seems like she's not too hot on Andy. We also meet, Oliver in this moment. He almost kills her there. Uh, he almost kills Laura's cat after Andy accidentally lets him outside.
00:32:19
Speaker
And, uh, Also in this moment, too, Laura drops a detail saying that she has a dead daughter and named Kathy. She drowned.
00:32:29
Speaker
And she also mentions that she's had Oliver since before Kathy passed away. So that was a detail that caught my eye or caught my ear and piqued my interest.
00:32:41
Speaker
Oh, that detail I didn't hear. the only, well, aside from her strange behavior, i picked up on Okay, she had a daughter who was blind and is now dead, but she still kind of kept the house as is or as it was when her daughter was alive.
00:33:03
Speaker
Like she kept the carpet taped up so her daughter wouldn't trip or anything. So I'm thinking, okay, this is all a setup now because her daughter was blind.
00:33:15
Speaker
Piper is visually impaired. Let's see what's going to happen with this because it's not going to be anything good. But yeah, you can start picking up very quickly.
00:33:28
Speaker
that uh laura does not like andy at all you know she just gives him such a trashed room like she didn't even put in any effort to make his room like was trying to think of the word yesterday and i still can't think of it just like essentially livable. She just like has a crappy mattress in there that he doesn't even fit on. and i mean I figured the room that she gave Piper was how
00:33:58
Speaker
Kathy's room and just kept the exact same It is the exact same. There's a point where Wendy is at the house and she was like, oh, yeah, Piper said she loved the room and to keep it exactly the same and Wendy mumbles under her but breath, thank God, the girl's blind. girl's blind, yeah.
00:34:18
Speaker
was like, oh, that's a good burn. I love Wendy, man. She's like the hero of this movie, MVP almost. Yeah, she's cool. And it's just like, damn, this poor kid, Andy, like...
00:34:30
Speaker
He already knew she didn't want to like bring him into the home, but thankfully she did, so they wouldn't be separated. But he has such a crappy like living space there.
00:34:40
Speaker
And then yeah you know after they get settled in, Laura does come in his room while he's texting, and he had already bad-mouthed. It's Ollie or Oliver?
00:34:53
Speaker
It's both. Ollie is his nickname. Oliver. Real name something else we'll learn later. yeah. He calls him a fucking weirdo, though. Yeah. That extra fucking, especially reading that in text, man, it stings a little more.
00:35:10
Speaker
It does. And he had sent that message to his friend like right when Laura came in and she's trying to talk to him and say, you know, I'm a counselor. you know, you can talk to me You don't have to be so defensive.
00:35:25
Speaker
And you see he's kind of questioning her like, am I being defensive? So they do have like a bit of tension in the conversation. And her saying, you can talk to me, makes me think that this takes place in the talk to me cinematic universe.
00:35:41
Speaker
Right, exactly. Yeah, good good catch. Mm-hmm. And I guess some Piper needed andy at that moment. like She was banging on the wall for him. And he had left his phone on the bed.
00:35:54
Speaker
and i knew right then and there shit was going to go down because Laura's nosy ass grabs it and is reading it And so she does let him know, like, oh, so you think my son or or Ollie's a fucking weirdo? Yeah.
00:36:09
Speaker
Okay. So it's like, damn, right off the bat, they like she's not going to like him anymore, even though she didn't in the beginning. That's such an aggressive parent or guardian move, though, to grab the phone while you're in the room and start going...
00:36:28
Speaker
through it and the justification to be oh you got a message so it was okay for me to start reading them that if i was just like that is overstepping a line immediately and i mean yeah i i mean he's younger so he's not really at the point where I mean, he's accused of being aggressive or violent, so he's got to watch himself in this home now. And Laura's already really almost like setting him up to try to be aggressive.
00:37:00
Speaker
But Man, in that moment, you got to be like, yeah, I called him a fucking weirdo. Why are you going through my phone? That's that's the bigger line that's being crossed right now. Right. Like, what happened to privacy? And you would think he could say, like, hey, something along the lines of, like, you know...
00:37:19
Speaker
We just met each other. You know, I would like to have a little privacy something. But he doesn't say anything, probably just so he doesn't come off as a troublesome kid since he was already labeled that with Wendy.
00:37:36
Speaker
And that was why Laura initially, quote unquote, didn't want to take him. it was already a strange situation right then and there.
00:37:47
Speaker
Yeah, and Laura just keeps ramping it up even more. The next transgression or aggression that we get from Laura is they're they're at the the funeral for their dad.
Funeral Scene & Manipulative Tactics
00:38:03
Speaker
And basically, like Andy can't look at the dad. The sister says, grapefruit. And he's like, he looks great. Dad looks great.
00:38:14
Speaker
But Andy actually didn't look at the dad. Laura... calls him out on it in front of Piper, completely out of line. But Laura has this positive attitude towards her that makes all of this seem like it's okay for her to do.
00:38:31
Speaker
And I feel like I've met people that do this in real life, these kinds of people who have this very positive demeanor, this cheerful demeanor up front, but they really will make you uncomfortable, and there's something nasty that's behind them, and it occasionally will come out in passive-aggressive moments or overstepping boundaries.
00:38:58
Speaker
and Before we get into like the second aggression, she, at one point in this funeral scene, mentions that the spirit stays in the body, after death for so long. Oh my god. That pissed me off.
00:39:13
Speaker
She's seeding all of this, like, her plan, what's going on with her in the movie pretty early on, but she's also using that as a way...
00:39:24
Speaker
for Andy to kiss the body in the casket, I want to say. And that scene is so uncomfortable. I was just like, I've, again, I've met somebody who would put somebody in this position and really lecture you and make you feel like you're the one in the wrong. it There are people like this in the world. And I was just...
00:39:45
Speaker
Oh, man, it was such a it's such an almost genius idea for a villain. To me, you really just start to despise her pretty early on. And you want other people to see the charade that she has built. And you you yourself want to see behind the straight. What is underneath this woman?
00:40:06
Speaker
This whole scene was very triggering for me personally to watch. like Starting off just with like small things, what Laura is wearing is so inappropriate for a funeral.
00:40:20
Speaker
like i mean, wear black all the time and my dad loves to throw that line out like oh, you know, you look like you're going to a funeral. So I'll be like, well, maybe I am like Johnny Cash.
00:40:34
Speaker
But it's just like, okay, she does say later on, like, oh, funerals don't just have to be, you know, you know, sad, like it's a celebration, you know, blah, blah, blah. It's like, okay, but the way their dad died is not really a way for them to, you know, think of his funeral as a celebratory moment or, you know, a celebration of life.
00:41:03
Speaker
So that was bothering me and how she called the Andy out like, oh, you lied to your sister because you didn't look at him. and like manipulating him to go see his father. It's like anyone who has dealt with death and losing someone, everyone deals with mourning differently.
00:41:26
Speaker
And I would have been the same exact way. Like I was the same exact way when my mom passed away. Like, you know, my siblings and i we didn't want to see her In that state, like we wanted to remember her, how she was when she was alive. And we wanted her siblings to, you her that see her that way too And I have also dealt with people at a different funeral who were so pushy to try to get, you know, you know, the family of the lost one.
00:42:08
Speaker
to do things that they wanted to do or what they thought was right. not what with Not respecting what the family wanted, but only doing what they thought was right. And it's like, this is not about you. Stop fucking overstepping your boundaries and let the family...
00:42:27
Speaker
grieve and deal with this how they can in the only way they know how to so this royally fucking pissed me off and made me loathe this woman so bad hated watching this scene and just with that alone was making me so uncomfortable and then how she was trying to get andy to kiss his dad on the lips oh my God, I wanted to turn the fucking movie off right then and there. This was just making my blood boil.
00:43:03
Speaker
i know exactly what you mean about being at a funeral for someone in your life and somebody there, there's like something is said that is a wrong time. It's like, this isn't that type of funeral, my guy.
00:43:19
Speaker
You know, and all of that, everything you said and everything that happened in the movie reminded me of a funeral that I went to. i'll I'll just say it was for my grandma. And we went to I went to a church in Missouri out where she lived. We had another funeral back at home, but I traveled to be with other family and all of this stuff.
00:43:41
Speaker
But this preacher at this church that we were at went on this whole spiel about like so my grandma basically had a rough last couple years before she passed away. it was not it was The passing was a thank God that she is no longer suffering type of passing.
00:44:05
Speaker
And the preacher in that moment at that funeral was so like, praise the Lord and happy and gung ho and was like, right now she's up there just praising the Lord for everything. She's so happy to be praising the Lord.
00:44:20
Speaker
And I was like, my guy, like she suffered for the the past year or so. Like this, it was making me actively angry. i was like, oh man, this is not the funeral. This is not the setting, man. This is grieving right now. And your happy gung ho attitude feels like it's in pretty poor taste.
00:44:41
Speaker
Yeah, and I hate that because there's a time and place for people to be like that. Again, everyone has their own beliefs and you are welcome to those, but do not like be oblivious to other people's beliefs.
00:44:59
Speaker
not It's not even oblivious. It's kind of being ignorant, too. Don't be like so ignorant to other people's emotions because you can look at a situation a certain way.
00:45:11
Speaker
You can't expect everyone else to you know feel the same way that you are. so yeah this This movie just brings out so many like emotions of grief, of death.
00:45:24
Speaker
It's... very, very difficult to watch everything unfold. Yeah, and I kind of have a little bit of an issue, and I don't know why or where it comes from, but I have a little bit of an issue with people telling me what happened to somebody after they've passed. I've had like a couple people in my life pass away and immediately hear, this is where they're at, this is what they're doing in the afterlife, this is what's happening, and I'm like, I...
00:45:55
Speaker
You don't know that. It almost just is insulting that you're kind of bringing me to this place right now. I don't know. No, I get that because this will be like the last thing I say and then we can jump back to the film because everyone has their own beliefs on what happens in the afterlife.
00:46:17
Speaker
And, you know, losing my mom, that was such a difficult time for me. And, you know, i have my own beliefs. I won't talk about them, but, you know...
00:46:29
Speaker
she also was dealing with, you know, illnesses throughout her life as well. So once she did pass away, you know, obviously it was a hard time, but same thing, like in my eyes, I'm like, at least she's not suffering anymore.
00:46:47
Speaker
But, you know, when other people have passed away, hearing how they believe things happen in the afterlife, you know, just like certain things. I can't think of the words essentially or exactly.
00:47:05
Speaker
But some people believe, you know, people suffer like in their lives before they pass away because they're Making up for all their sins. like That's something that my mom had told me at one point, which I really did not like because she told me that as a kid.
00:47:22
Speaker
Some people believe you know you're stuck after you pass away because what if you can't find your way to heaven or, you know, what if you're suffering because of all the things you did in life? It's like some of those things when I heard it, it was like, wait, I i can't listen to the stuff like that right now because if I do, it's going to make me go crazy about my own mother.
00:47:48
Speaker
so like then if you have people who are more so on the happier side, like, oh, you know, like, they're in a better place, you know, this and this, or just trying to, like, speak on their behalf. Like, it's like, please don't do that. Like, you are probably coming from a good place. Or like, you have like, good intentions to say that. But like,
00:48:11
Speaker
just kind of like be a little more sensitive to when someone is dealing with losing a loved one. Like there's so many different stages of grief and no one grieves the right way because there is no right way.
00:48:26
Speaker
So seeing this shit in this film was so fucking hard to watch. And even like some of the scenes in Talk to Mute were hard to watch too, just because of how it is to lose someone.
00:48:39
Speaker
But yeah, these these two films bring out a lot of emotions of grief. It's hard to deal with. Yeah, these are this one especially is a very grief-stricken movie, and everything you said right there it was very beautifully put.
00:48:56
Speaker
I wish what I said came across as good, but- yeah Stop. At the end of the day, people grieve in their own ways. And you can't really come in and dictate or control people's grieving process.
00:49:15
Speaker
Like in this movie, Andy and Piper, their dad hasn't really been dead that long. And Laura comes in and is already like, you're grieving the wrong way. This should be a celebration where, yes, that is a perspective.
00:49:29
Speaker
And you can encourage people if they're stuck in a certain type of grief for too long. You can encourage them to maybe try something else But this is like very early on. It almost feels inappropriate.
00:49:45
Speaker
But she basically gets them. They get drunk, which I mean, that is something people do to cope. and And it turns ends up turning into a bit of a party that ends up kind of believable. It successfully gets them out of their a bit of depression But it ends up being a totally manipulative manipulative play from Laura. She has a heartfelt conversation with Andy after all of this.
00:50:15
Speaker
And yeah, and completely lies about it. She tells Piper the next day that Andy got aggressive and is like, I'll tell you in the car. I'll tell you in the car, but tell you in the car, Piper.
00:50:27
Speaker
But then we also get the reveal that she's been pissing Andy's pants for him. he woke up with piss pants, but she's been pissing his pants for him. That's so diabolical, man. That's like the most villainous act I've seen in a movie.
00:50:42
Speaker
Yeah, I was like, I don't think this kid wet himself. I don't think he's at that state of trauma or anything of the sort.
00:50:55
Speaker
So I wonder, like, what happened there? I'm like, maybe she just, like, threw something on him, whatever. But the whole act of her making sure he's like knocked out and well passed out, I should say.
00:51:11
Speaker
And then the whole act of her peeing in that cup so she could pour it on him. I'm like, are you serious? Did I really just see that?
00:51:22
Speaker
That's like witchy culty stuff, like the creepy coulty stuff. Oh, my God. Would you do that to your worst enemy? Would you stoop to those? Hell I've done some fucked up shit to people, but I would never do that. No, that's- You've never peed somebody's pants for them?
00:51:42
Speaker
No, no. All right, what about putting on their pants, peeing, then taking them off? Would you would you do that? No, not at all. That's like enter entering seat of Chucky's own. We don't do that here.
00:51:56
Speaker
Fair enough. Yeah, basically, so we don't see the aftermath of, like, Laura saying that he was aggressive.
00:52:08
Speaker
I think this might, this is where I think Laura also outs that he peed his pants or peed the bed in front of Piper. And just the way she does it, she's like, is that piss? And, like, just completely throws Andy under the bus. It's so shitty.
00:52:24
Speaker
So, yeah, we don't see any payoff to the Laura, Andy being aggressive thing. But Andy gets left alone with Oliver. I think this is the point where all of that happens.
00:52:38
Speaker
And basically, Ollie, he's locked in... Laura's room and Andy is like okay I'm gonna fuck around and get Ollie out of here he grabs a knife gets him out of the room and is offering Ollie cantaloupe right this is that that moment I think yeah yeah he offers him cantaloupe on a knife and then Andy's like let me get you a plight you know, in his Australian accent.
00:53:05
Speaker
And as he's going to get a plate, you hear this knife gnawing noise. It just immediately, so in the theater, everybody knew what the fuck was happening. The moment Andy turned around, it's like, you hear that crunch. It's like, is this kid just eating the knife?
00:53:24
Speaker
Oh, my God. And that sound effect, it was one of the brothers. They actually, I guess, actually chewed on a knife to get that chewing on a knife. they did it. Are you lying?
00:53:34
Speaker
He said that in an interview. I don't know which one of the twins it was, but it was one of them. It was the one who what isn't bald and wasn't wearing a yellow hoodie. How the fuck did they do that?
00:53:48
Speaker
He might not have been chewing on the sharp part of the knife. He might have just been chewing on the flat side of it pretty aggressively. Oh, God. That sounds so hard on your teeth. But also, I mean, I might be telling tales out of school, but I think I saw from following these guys on Instagram that one or both of them does, like, hardcore wrestling, like,
00:54:09
Speaker
Serious hardcore wrestling where they're getting hurt and like going through glass and getting nails stuck in them or whatever crazy shit.
00:54:20
Speaker
So these guys are pretty hardcore in real life. These fucking crazy Australians, these dudes from down under. Seriously, like, how are you pulling this off? Yeah, because when I saw Ali, like, grab the knife with his hand, I'm like, oh, my God, this kid, like, Andy's going to turn around and this kid's hand is going to be all sliced up or he's going to be chopping off his hand or something.
00:54:48
Speaker
And then as soon as I started hearing that, I'm like, wait a minute. No, we have not entered this area. And I think at this point, too, it's I want to say I'm getting the movie out of order a little bit, but I want to say it's already been revealed at this point, too, that Ali is some type of demon bathtub creature.
00:55:08
Speaker
Because Sally Hawkins, the the wonderful Sally Hawkins, is chatting with him in the bathtub and she's like, how can I believe you're real? This might be later. I think no want to say this is earlier. I don't know. Listeners, you'll correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure.
00:55:25
Speaker
But yeah, she and she's like, show me that you're real. And he turns on the sink, hot water. I want to say that's how it plays out. It gets all steamy and it's revealed. Yeah, he's like a fucking demon.
00:55:39
Speaker
And she calls him an angel later. You got all this backwards. Did you not see the shit that I saw what was in the mirror? Did you not see? Didn't look like no angel to me. I just saw a good fortune the other day where Keanu Reeves plays an angel.
00:55:54
Speaker
That fucking bathtub demon didn't look like Keanu Reeves to me. Yeah, no, this was so so insane to watch because I'm like, all right, this kid is not just a fucking weirdo. He's a demon. And you even see, oh, no, maybe let me not jump to that part.
00:56:20
Speaker
so quickly well we can obviously jump back but yeah you see like Ollie doing like some strange things like how he tried to kill the cat in the pool earlier in this movie and he took a bite out of the cat's tail too yeah and that and he impersonates the cat in the bathtub as well because he ate the cat's hair I'm just now picking up on that's why it was part he was purring And like he's, you know, chewing on a knife and everything, doing all this crazy stuff.
00:56:54
Speaker
But then you see a part where when Laura is in the room with Ali, you see her watching... footage from like kind of like the culty stuff that was going on at the beginning and then she has she looks at Ali at one point and you see yeah his face like normally he's he looks like he's in like a trance and his eyes like are that trippy color but that he's looking at her and you see
00:57:26
Speaker
like pure fear on his face and he says like you know who are you or what do you want or he says something yeah this is after andy brings him out of the circle yeah yeah after the knife scene yeah oh yeah this all happens right back to back this is fucking a crazy 10 minutes of movie we're watching Yeah, you just see all this crazy stuff unfold. And then she turns up like some music really loud. So Andy and Piper don't hear.
00:57:56
Speaker
But then you see the kid. He's like like screaming at this point because he doesn't know what's going on. And she does like some type of like.
00:58:07
Speaker
circular motions with her fingers on his head while she's watching them do the same on that uh video she's watching and then you see him kind of like become not paralyzed, but, you know, in that trance state again.
00:58:25
Speaker
So it's like, OK, this boy, he obviously is a boy, you know, and he's still in his body. He's still alive. But she has like some demonic shit going on where she's like kind of keeping a demon hostage. So it's like she's probably doing that to get what she wants, whatever it is.
00:58:48
Speaker
Probably has to do with Piper. But it just made me feel so bad because it's like, wow, not only are these two kids, Andy and Piper, in danger, but obviously so is this boy, Oliver. Yeah, it's fucking wild. But so after all of this, we do get a shot, an overhead shot of the house, and you see there's a giant circle.
00:59:11
Speaker
So we're kind of able to put it together at the audience. Like, okay, Andy brought him outside of the circle. There's some type of weird ritual going on. This kid's got a bathtub demon inside of him, and her doing circle massages on his head,
00:59:29
Speaker
keeps the demon in the that's all it takes it's just the circle there's no other part of the ritual there's nothing else she's doing Not that I so remember, no. Yeah, and she's doing it while watching the yeah the video footage of what we saw earlier in the movie.
00:59:46
Speaker
And whatever circular motion she's doing, whatever ritual has taken a normal kid and welcomed a demon inside of him. And this like demon kid, whenever he ingests some type of flesh, we've seen this,
01:00:03
Speaker
And he in some way has that person or creature inside of him. We're about to get another look of it coming up in the movie, but we get a good idea of it when he's eating a part of the cat and he's imitating cat sounds.
01:00:20
Speaker
After all of this freak out shit with Ollie and chewing on the knife and it being so fucked up. And I mean, dude, that knife scene lives in my head. I'm never going to be able to shake it.
01:00:31
Speaker
I went to bed with that scene in my head and think about it often. But Laura feeds Ollie a bit of the dad's hair that she must have gotten from the funeral. I want to say maybe we got a shot of her clipping the hair. I can't fully remember.
01:00:50
Speaker
So she feeds it to Ollie and you're like, okay, what the hell is happening there? And later when Andy is in the shower, he sees his dad telling him she's going to die in the rain. We are to believe referring to Piper.
01:01:06
Speaker
So, and that I'm pretty sure is Ollie, him eating the dad's hair. He's somehow the steam in the way that she was able to see the demon through the steam.
01:01:17
Speaker
He is seeing the dad through the steam. So that's. That's the logic we are to believe the that this movie is working by. But so to kind of dive deeper into what is happening here, the demon is inside of Ollie.
01:01:35
Speaker
Laura has a dead kid in her freezer. We're going to find out later. A little freezer kid. Very upsetting. That's her daughter, Kathy. And she's got Piper, this new daughter.
01:01:47
Speaker
And so the plan is, and what she's been watching in the videos we see in the video, this woman eats the face of somebody they just hung and vomits inside of somebody else's face. And that person wakes up and they're all crying in Russian or whatever.
01:02:04
Speaker
and So we're to believe what's going to happen is Ali, demon Ali, bathtub demon, is going to eat the frozen dead kid, Kathy, Laura's daughter, her her face, and vomit into dead Piper's body.
01:02:22
Speaker
that Then Piper is going to become Kathy. Kathy is going to inhabit Piper's body. I also got details behind the video wrong. I think the person they're hanging is the person that the spirit is going into. It's all fucked up, but you have to kill the person in the way that the person you're bringing back died.
01:02:44
Speaker
So I might have done a bad job of explaining it, but that's the logic that we're operating at at this point when Ollie is being a shower dad instead of a shower demon to Andy.
01:02:55
Speaker
And it just, these movies bring those questions up. It's like, how far are you willing to go for that relief where you can bring a loved one back?
01:03:10
Speaker
And it's like, there have been all these like stories and movies where it's like, oh, if you do it, or if it's like accomplished, it's not truly the person that you lost. like it's only a piece of them or something evil attached to it or they're completely different so it's like you know as much as we would love to have our loved ones back obviously we are not going to get them back with something like this it's just going to be something completely different or it's going to go horribly wrong
01:03:50
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, things continue to just go horribly wrong for everybody in this movie. There's a rule that says punish your characters, treat your characters poorly. That's what gets the audience hooked.
01:04:03
Speaker
And this movie treats its characters pretty poorly. Andy slips and falls in the shower after seeing his dead dad and ends up waking up in the hospital. And so you're worried. You're like, what is you're worried for Piper being there with this crazy lady in the bathtub demon.
01:04:20
Speaker
And this is where we get that scene where Laura is in the hospital. Andy like tries to leave and they, you know, classify him as dangerous or aggressive or whatever. Laura talks about it later that he had a psychotic break and they just release him later. But look this is where Laura reveals that she killed her dad. We're still not fully sure how she did it. They don't give us, they don't really give us much insight beyond that.
01:04:48
Speaker
And, uh, Laura, back at home with Piper, ends up... They're watching emotional videos together, too. I think this is before the hospital visit, actually.
01:05:00
Speaker
And you see... Like, Piper can't see in the video. She can only hear. But Laura calls Ollie's name in the video of Kathy that they're watching. And it's a little redhead boy who doesn't look anything like the Ollie that we've known to love. The boy who loves to chew on knives. and Oh, man.
01:05:22
Speaker
But Sally Hawkins, her character is at the hospital with Andy and is like, but I promise I won't take her out in the rain. Cut to, they're in the fucking rain.
01:05:33
Speaker
This woman can't be trusted. It's pretty insane. And, uh... This is where Laura starts to really prepare for her plan. Andy gets out of the hospital.
01:05:45
Speaker
She's watching the videotape over and over, hoping that it works. She ends up taking Andy's body spray, spraying herself with it, going and in a very like upsetting scene, like fucking hammer fisting Piper in the face when she's asleep and running out of the room in the spray to make you her think it was Andy.
01:06:05
Speaker
So she's trying to put a wedge between them. and prepare for Andy to kind of be out of the picture at this point.
Climax & Emotional Conclusion
01:06:13
Speaker
Once you see this happening,
01:06:17
Speaker
you kind of learn, well, you learned when Andy had like that vulnerable moment with Laura like he said you know their dad would abuse him as a kid but he never hit Laura at all and you mean Piper oh Piper sorry yeah that's such a detail to drop too man Exactly. And he's like, you know, Piper never knew about that. He did it when, you know, she she wasn't home or whatever.
01:06:55
Speaker
And it's just like, damn. So you see that... obviously had an effect on him to where he probably was like okay well why isn't she ever getting hit and he like started trouble or getting into trouble at school which is why he was labeled like a troublesome kid but it was like he wanted that attention from his dad like good attention, nothing bad, but like, you know. Well, I think any attention he could get at this point, even just like attention-seeking behavior, can you could be seeking negative attention too.
01:07:37
Speaker
True, yeah And it got to the point where he hit Piper or Andy hit Piper himself because, you know, he just like reached a limit there.
01:07:48
Speaker
But he felt guilty about that like immediately after. And then you can see like, OK, maybe that's why he is more so of that, you know,
01:07:59
Speaker
protector brother for her because he feels bad and you can see he clearly loves her like it's not like he's been like faking like that type of relationship with her or he has resentment has resentment towards her at all but yeah laura ends up like Tell like bringing that up to Piper.
01:08:22
Speaker
So now she's like full on manipulating the situation there to literally keep that like, you know, drive that wedge, like you said, in between them. And Andy loses it in this moment and punches a wall.
01:08:36
Speaker
And you God, it feels so good to see him fucking really show that he could give it to Laura. But you're just like, Andy, man, yeah you can't do that. I want you to do that, but you can't do that.
01:08:50
Speaker
But so he gets on top of it, goes to Wendy, their case manager. And while he's waiting, he sees a poster for a kid, which I think is an actual photo of Jonah w Ren Phillips that they use for the movie. But it's a missing kid poster for this kid, Connor.
01:09:06
Speaker
He takes the poster, goes to Wendy and is like, did you do background checks? or And Wendy's like, Laura's been working here for 20 years. And he gets Wendy to go over to the house.
01:09:17
Speaker
And This is where, I mean, I'm like fully on the edge of my seat when he goes to Wendy and they get there and Wendy's not fully on board. Andy breaks into the backyard to catch Ollie eating the face of Kathy in the freezer.
01:09:37
Speaker
and while Wendy's going through and is kind of like, oh, you know, fucking kids or whatever. She sees the blood on, uh, Laura's hand because Ollie goes after Laura pretty aggressively.
01:09:53
Speaker
while Andy's going to talk to Wendy and like is trying to eat her, gets a good bite in on her. It's a fucking horrific scene.
01:10:03
Speaker
i want to say, Ali is also eating a table at one point. He's totally trashed the house. And they actually had, it's pretty clear it's prosthetic teeth, but watching the behind the scenes of him chewing on that table and the prosthetic teeth was really awesome.
01:10:21
Speaker
But I mean, Laura has like rushed to get the house completely clean for Wendy to come over, but it was all for not because the blood is a total giveaway.
01:10:32
Speaker
she here Wendy hears Andy in the backyard being like, Wendy, Wendy. And it's like the whole charade is coming undone on Wendy, on Laura. And Laura is just like, she just fully like lets her crazy out. And it's like, you don't get it. You know, Kathy, we can bring her back. We can bring her back.
01:10:53
Speaker
And shit goes wild from there. end they end up running andy and wendy are trying to book it out of there oh man and you love that they're working together youre like yes yes yes get out of here and laura comes and mows them over with the car wendy's dead andy's on the ground dying and she drowns andy in a puddle we've talked about puddle deaths before maybe in the final destination miniseries. It felt very M. Night Shyamalan's Glass to me. It felt like their homage to Glass.
01:11:28
Speaker
If you know, you know. But it's just, oh man, a puddle death. It was so, this is the only moment in the movie where I'm like, what is the point of killing Andy? Is it, it feels so punishing. I don't hate it, but it's one of those horror movie things where I'm like, why this character?
01:11:50
Speaker
Yeah. And i was even like, nah, he's he's going to make it. He's going to make it. But even to was thinking, like, dude, just act like you're dead. Just like stop moving. And then she'll she'll think you're dead. And once she walks away, you could kind of like breathe. But I'm like, he can't do much right now because he is hanging on to like that last sliver of life that he has there.
01:12:15
Speaker
And I was like, fuck, he like Wendy's dead. he is now dead. What the fuck are we doing here? And yes, it is one of those moments in movies that are unfair. It's like this person does not deserve to die.
01:12:32
Speaker
And what purpose does it like serve for him to die? Nothing. This is just one maniacal bitch that we are dealing with.
01:12:43
Speaker
i was devastated. Yeah, it's pretty upsetting. And I don't know if there's like a moment at a certain point where Sally Hawkins is doing her blood circle on the window. i don't know at what point that comes into play, but I wanted to shout out that imagery. It's very cool. Everything that takes place in the rain looks pretty awesome.
01:13:08
Speaker
But like... After all of this devastation, Piper gets picked up from a sporting event that she was participating in. I don't know what the sport was. I wanted to look it up before recording. She's wearing some pretty awesome Plague Doctor-esque mask. I don't know if that's insulting to say that. I apologize to any people who are visually impaired. but The mask looked kind of cool. The sport looked kind of cool.
01:13:37
Speaker
But so Piper gets brought home from all of this and here's Andy's voice upstairs. It's actually Ollie. So the idea Ollie's eaten a little bit of Andy.
01:13:51
Speaker
That's even more horrific. And Piper knows pretty quickly that it's not Andy and fights back. And you love to see her fight back.
01:14:02
Speaker
She kind of knows her way around the house a little bit. But it's all unfortunate because she runs into a pole. It almost feels insulting to have her run into a pole.
01:14:14
Speaker
Nobody in my audience laughed. I'm glad they didn't play that as a bit. it It just felt like, oh man, we're really doing that to her. She's going to hit a pole.
01:14:26
Speaker
And the pole, I don't remember if that comes at before or after her discovering Andy's body, but she discovers Andy's body through feeling his face and touching the braces.
01:14:38
Speaker
I thought that was a great touch. hmm. even more tragic she want sandy to get up and she can't but piper left in pretty fucking rough situation like laura's got her on the ropes The sport is called goalball. Goalball?
01:14:58
Speaker
Yeah, so it is Goalball. Yeah, they the ball, I guess, has like little bells inside it. I don't know. I really want to like look more into that now.
01:15:08
Speaker
Maybe that's the sport that Slatterball is based on. Yes, definitely. We had it first. But yeah, that part got me mad too because i would...
01:15:22
Speaker
assume that you know piper has a good feel of the house and is pretty comfortable there so she should have like a you know a so somewhat of a solid understanding of the layout of the house you know but cut to like a flashback in that moment or like at some point it's like sally hawkins like putting up a pole real quick in the middle of the house Yeah, that would have been more believable. But for her just to like hit it there, it's like one, you just felt that. And two, come on now. I figured you're, you know, I don't know. I agree with you. that was pretty insulting to do that to her.
01:16:05
Speaker
it's pretty rough, but so, well, so yeah, but before Piper, I'm like mixing up the order, but before Piper gets knocked unconscious and all this, Laura does deliver a pretty good speech where she's like, I found a beautiful angel.
01:16:22
Speaker
and she basically reveals, yeah, this is right before she hits the pole. She revealed, Piper's like, what are you going to do? And she's like, I'm going to drown you now. And it's so, as you said, to steal one of your words, devastating to hear. And you, it's so matter of fact too, this is a character that's spent so much time being full of shit.
01:16:44
Speaker
And just to hear them for once say what they're going to do, it really is kind of jarring. And I, I like that touch. It's like, okay, she's, Yeah, this is where we're at.
01:16:55
Speaker
She can't hide it. She's going to drown her. And Piper ends up getting knocked unconscious, and she takes Piper to the pool, this rainy pool, and starts to drown her.
01:17:09
Speaker
The takes are... They look, like, continuous. i'm I was, like, wondering, did they have an air pocket or something for her to breathe in? It was a very somber and melancholy and just dark scene.
01:17:28
Speaker
Ali is just sitting there. He walks out almost comedically with like a big belly. That's a reveal. It's like, oh, Ali has been just munching on that freezer girl.
01:17:39
Speaker
And Laura can't go through with drowning Piper because Piper comes up and yells, Mom. It sounds like she says Mom, but the subtitle said Mom.
01:17:50
Speaker
So going to go with Mom. But so, yeah, it's a real Martha in Batman versus Superman situation. like it kind of reminded me of that. Like, wait, you're Martha, why did you say that name? Your mom's name is Martha.
01:18:06
Speaker
But like, it reminded me of that a little bit, but I still really liked that touch. It's what breaks through to Sally Hawkins character and kind of makes her look at herself like, what am I doing? This like, this would be like if I were to drown Kathy. I like, I can't murder this little girl. Look, what what have I done? There's a fat demon kid over here.
01:18:35
Speaker
waddling around that I got to deal with now. It's just reality comes crashing in and she decides to make a different choice with everything.
01:18:47
Speaker
And that surprised me as soon as she said, you know mum, and it just like hit Laura like, yeah, what am i doing here?
01:18:58
Speaker
Yeah. It's like, okay, now she's snapping back to reality and seeing like what she's doing is fucking wrong. And i'm like, wait, now she's hugging her.
01:19:12
Speaker
i was so happy to see like, you know, Piper actually making her way to get out of the pool And i was fully anticipating Laura to chase her.
01:19:24
Speaker
The fact that she didn't, I was like, great, she's going to be able to escape. And I thought, you know, little Ollie was going to then attack Laura, but he still tries to go and attack Piper,
01:19:42
Speaker
And that little subtle pause there, or not subtle, but like her pausing because she, I guess, could, you know, sense or feel Ollie behind her right before he tried to attack her. It's like, okay, you were able to pick up on that, but you couldn't remember this poll that you ran into like 20 minutes ago or so.
01:20:05
Speaker
That scene kind of bothered me. The energy was a bit different when she ran into that pole. There's a lot more going on. She had a bit more room for spidey senses in this moment.
01:20:17
Speaker
she she had She got to breathe. She was like, okay, I can hear. I don't have somebody fucking monologuing in my face now while they're chasing me. true i was just a little mad because i was like damn you just fully let yourself get manipulated by this woman and now your brother is dead so i was i was nitpicky at that point but yeah so she's like making her way out she actually falls down like a little hill
01:20:48
Speaker
and Ollie reaches the point where it's the big circle around the house, and he does step over it, and whenever he steps over, you see him like kind of convulsing and screaming in pain. Really well acted by Jonah w Ren Phillips, too. It looks like he's in pain. I was like, what did you do to this kid? Were you shocking him the whole time or something?
01:21:13
Speaker
Yeah, that was that was, oh my God. he He deserves a fucking award for this. And then this part confused me. So Laura goes to you know the little freezer and carries Kathy's corpse to the water and just kind of like cradles her.
01:21:39
Speaker
What was the point of that? She's dying. She like rips open her wound where Ali bit her. When Ali bit her, i was like, oh, it looks like he got her on like an artery. She might bleed to death if this doesn't get taken care of.
01:21:56
Speaker
But she rips it open even more, allows her to bleed to death and just decides I'm going to die with my daughter. It's incredibly sad. The police come and find her. I think everything about this ending is actually pretty sad, and it almost like grief and loss leaves you in a place of, what do I do with this? What is the takeaway from all of this?
01:22:21
Speaker
Is there a lesson to be learned in any of this? Is life trying to teach me something? We don't really see the outcome of what happens to Piper. She flags down a car and these people pick her up.
01:22:35
Speaker
Laura dies in the pool with her daughter. And Ollie, while he gets found by the police, I don't know if that kid's ever okay. Connor is his real name? Connor Bird?
01:22:47
Speaker
Yeah. Shout out to him. He writes down bird on a piece of paper earlier in the movie. Turns out to be his last name. It was like right before the knife scene. But yeah, nice little nice little work right there. i like Because I was like, bird? What the fuck?
01:23:02
Speaker
Why do you write bird? is I thought he wrote Lord on there. I could not read that for the life of me. Oh, yeah. I was like, what bird? the I guess there might be a bird later in this movie, but it turns out he was the bird all along.
01:23:19
Speaker
The real bird were the friends we made along the way. i don't know. But yeah, I don't think Connor is going to be all right at all. He's got a person inside of him that can't be good for his health.
01:23:33
Speaker
Like his belly has expanded with how much he's eaten. His stomach might be bursting. It's the implications. are horrific and it almost is upsetting that we're left with that as one of the final shots. Ollie getting discovered, yeah, but I mean, that kid is not going to be okay. We have like three stages of like somebody has accepted what they're, what has happened and they,
01:24:01
Speaker
ultimately end it all you have piper who i think will in some way end up in a better position she's lost a lot but she's the one who makes it at the best and connor is just like he's not gonna be okay there's no way that kid is okay That scene reminded me of this movie, Deliver Us From Evil.
01:24:25
Speaker
There was, have you seen that? Maybe, it sounds so familiar. It might ring a bell as you talk about it. Yeah, it's some this one cop, he ends up... you know working with this former priest, or I don't i don't think he was like an active priest, but like they start working on like a case with or dealing with demonic possession.
01:24:50
Speaker
But there was a scene where I think they were trying to exorcise this one demon from this guy, and the person was possessed had like...
01:25:02
Speaker
All these markings and like these like basically like a whole incantation carved on his body from head to toe everywhere.
01:25:14
Speaker
And they were successful in exercising him. But in the guy, he was still, you know, alive and he was crying after that. So it's like, damn, this guy was like alive during all of that. So he basically witnessed everything that this like demon was like thinking and doing and then inflicting all that pain on him.
01:25:44
Speaker
and now he has to deal with that and every time he looks in the mirror or even looks at his body he's going to be reminded of that so this kid obviously yes is going to be dealing with all of the pain that he endured he had to witness it too he fucking has like cuts all in his mouth now from fucking chomping on a knife and wood for that matter so it's like yeah his dental bill is gonna be through the roof that must like when sally hawkins is covering his mouth when he's partially connor before she turns him to ollie i was thinking he just had a knife in his mouth and you're putting pressure on his teeth that's awful man
01:26:29
Speaker
Yeah, it's like 20 times worse than Halloween 2 when you see that kid pop up and he has like a fucking razor in his mouth from eating it from his candy. Like, oh my God, this, that poor kid, he, poor Connor, he, at least he was able to remember who he was and see that picture and say who he was when he saw the missing picture and he finally came to.
01:26:53
Speaker
but yeah, this kid is like fucked for life. Yeah, it reminds me of the kid from Talk to Me who gets basically is the subject of all the horrific things throughout the movie.
01:27:06
Speaker
He like tries to rip out his own eye at one point in this fucked up scene. Oh, man. that It reminded me of that a lot. These guys just really like to fuck up their characters in permanent ways.
01:27:20
Speaker
Yeah, they really leave an impact on you when you watch these films. You... are not in a happy state of mind after unless you're Nick and you get to watch talk to me and have some good memories from that. But yeah, these films really leave you unsettled.
01:27:38
Speaker
Yeah, but I had a blast with Talk to Me. I always do. It's such a well-done horror film. And these guys are, again, I'll say it again, masterful at what they do, not even just in horror, but as early filmmakers in general. I'd love to see where their career goes. I'm so excited for Danny and Michael Philippou.
01:28:01
Speaker
But yeah, do you have any final thoughts on Bring Her Back? It was and insane watch. There are people who, like, almost everyone who has watched this film said to watch it. And they all hyped it up.
01:28:18
Speaker
You had said your piece on it. I did not know what to expect other than a fucked up movie. I will never watch it again. it was cool to cover it for the podcast, but my God, it is insane to watch. Guys, I really hope you watched it before you listened to our episode.
01:28:38
Speaker
Yeah, I think this is going to be a movie that is over time going to find its fan base. And I think five years from now, 10 years from now, we're going to start seeing articles being written that are like, bring her back, the overlooked horror masterpiece or the punishing experience of the 2020s.
01:29:00
Speaker
i I mean, it's more than punishing. There's a lot going on here. It's not saying like a whole lot new about grief, but the way what it's doing with grief works for me more than what a lot of horror movies do. And I think because it's willing to push a boundary and take you to such a specific place.
01:29:25
Speaker
And while this isn't the feel-good movie of the year, is probably going to end up in my top 10 because I can't think of a horror movie experience that I've had like this in a long time. Maybe not since the 2013 Evil Dead have I had a theatrical horror experience where I was legitimately horrified by everything I was seeing on screen and Yeah, a lot of credit to this movie for that. I and don't know when I'll ever watch it again. I'm glad we talked about it this year while it was still pretty new.
01:30:00
Speaker
And we can... Hopefully get people checking it out and get people hopefully maybe checking out Talk To Me if they got to see this one but didn't get to see Talk To Me, which I don't know how that would happen, but maybe that's the case for some people.
01:30:15
Speaker
But yeah, fantastic movie. I rated it five stars on Letterboxd. Follow me on Letterboxd at Nicholas Ewers. It's going to stay there just because, yeah, I can't think of a horror movie like this and a horror experience quite like this.
01:30:31
Speaker
guys just stay tuned for whatever Michael and Daniel Filippo Filippo Filippo I'm terrible terrible terrible with names have in store for us especially with Talk To Me coming out and then also just stay tuned for our trick or treat commentary coming up but we are just flying through October and yeah just having a good time with all these traumatic movies we got here Yeah, and on our trick-or-treat commentary, I guess we will announce the movie that we're going to be covering for the fan pick.
01:31:08
Speaker
Yeah, guys, get in on writing in about what you want to see. You have a little bit more time. By the time this episode drops, you have, like, a day, basically. So, write in.
01:31:20
Speaker
Get on it. At least I think that's how the release order is going with these episodes. But, yeah, get on it. And... Quick plug, too. Go check out Blue Moon. Lovely filmmaker Richard Linklater. The before trilogy. We've talked about that with Ethan Hawke.
01:31:35
Speaker
School of Rock. Everybody's favorite Jack Black movie. Go support this dude's movies. I'm seeing it tonight. I gotta rush out of here when we end the recording. keep movies alive and support movies like Bring Her Back, support movies like Blue Moon. We gotta support the small ones, the the indies. We can't just, can't always go see the fucking Avengers and the Deadpool versus Wolverines, you know, or the Batman versus Superman. So, you know, keep movies alive.
01:32:07
Speaker
We've been Morbid Curiosities. Yeah.