Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
EPISODE 105: DRUGS ARE TERRIFYING
1k Plays1 year ago
Drugs can be FUN, drugs can be WILD, and drugs… can be terrifying. Listen in to hear more about the opioid crisis in America, the drug trade, and how we could be doing all of this better.
HORROR IN THE MOVIES
SHROOMS and MIDSOMMAR are in the bong… TOKE UP!
WHATCHA BEEN WATCHIN’, BITCH?!
Listen in to hear what we’ve been watchin’... bitch!
A DRUG BY ANY OTHER NAME…
Are these names of drugs real or nah?! Listen in as Matty takes a guess!
–
A proud, independent podcast
Support FRIGAY THE 13TH: www.frigay13.com/support
Follow on Twitter, Instagram, Threads, & TikTok: @FriGay13
#horrorpodcasts #lgbtqpodcasts #gaypodcast #queerpodcast #horrorpodcast #horrormovies #horrorfilms #horrorcommunity #horrorjunkie #horrorfanatic #horrorobsessed #getslayed
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Mushroom Discussion
00:00:00
Speaker
Frage the 13th Horror Podcast is a proud, independent podcast. To learn more about the show, visit frage13.com. Matty, I want to be really, really sure. You're really, really sure about these? Yes, Andrew, these mushrooms came from a very trusted person. I know he would only give me stuff that he himself would take, so there's nothing to worry about. Okay, I guess.
00:00:24
Speaker
I guess it's finally time we try these. What do you think will happen? Well, I think you're probably gonna see some bright lights, I think you'll see some textures kind of moving like water, and I don't know, so you know some small hallucinations, but probably nothing big.
00:00:40
Speaker
Is that why I'm seeing the pulsing light now? What do you mean? We haven't even taken them yet. And the bark. The bark on that tree. I think it's moving. This has got to be part of it. Uh, Andrew, the shrooms are literally still in my hands.
Drugs in Real Life and Movies
00:00:56
Speaker
Oh, and over there. A little small puppy named Otis has come to say hello and eat kibble from my hand. Oh, good, Otis.
00:01:05
Speaker
Earth to Andrew, you are not stoned yet. Oh, man. It's episode 105. Drugs are terrifying. I am the writing on the wall, the whisper in the classroom. I'm Marjorie Greene, and I approve this message to save America, stop socialism, and stop China.
00:01:33
Speaker
in real life. Doubters, the Doomsters, the Gloomsters, they are going to get it wrong. Call out their memories. Where are you gonna go? Where are you gonna run? Where are you gonna hide? Nowhere. Because there's no one like you left. What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! Let's go! What are you waiting for, huh?
00:02:04
Speaker
I want you to know that the movement we started is only just beginning. We want you to help us create an outspoken intolerance for drug use. For the sake of our children, I implore each of you to be unyielding and inflexible in your opposition to drugs. Our young people are helping us lead the way.
00:02:30
Speaker
Not long ago in Oakland, California, I was asked by a group of children what to do if they were offered drugs. And I answered, just say no. Welcome to Episode 105 of Friday the 13th Horror Podcast. My name is Andrew. And my name is Maddie.
00:02:48
Speaker
And today we are here to bring, like I said, bring you episode 105 of the podcast that talks about horror in real life and horror in the movies. Today we are talking all about weed and cocaine and MDM and drugs. Yeah. Andrew, it's MDMA. Whatever shows how much I know about drugs.
00:03:14
Speaker
Oh, that's perfect. Drugs can be fun. Drugs can be wild. And you know what? Drugs can indeed be terrifying. And we're going to talk about that today.
UFOs and Alien Bodies Discussion
00:03:27
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. We've got a couple couple of good movies lined up, too. But before we get into the meat of the episode, let's take a slight left over to the certified terrifying corner. Maddie, what do you have to bring us this month week?
00:03:42
Speaker
biweekly, whatever it is. Time is a flat circle, Andrew, as we know. In the certified terrifying corner, I have three items for you today. The first one near and dear to my heart is this. NASA held a space conference. A space conference held a press conference of UAPs. Wow. I don't know why that's, that's a, there you go.
00:04:05
Speaker
NASA held a press conference about UAPs, the new name for UFOs. But to be honest, it was pretty uneventful. I did watch this, everyone knows I'm a UFO, alien fanatic, also a UFO sighting survivor, as I call myself now. I'm joking, I don't call myself that. No, but I'm a big believer, so anything about this stuff, I do take it really seriously. The NASA press conference was basically the NASA nerds saying,
00:04:34
Speaker
We don't know enough. Let's learn some more. It's literally all that it was. But in the same week in Mexico, in Mexico's whatever they call that the house of Kong, their congressional house, like they're like house of reps.
Worker Strikes and Economic Fairness
00:04:50
Speaker
Um, they had their own fucking hearing and some dude brought out like three alien fucking bodies. Like, look, I don't know if you've seen, have you seen the photos of these? No, I didn't know anything about this. Okay. You should definitely go Google it. Cause it was, it was, it was big news that day. And, um,
00:05:09
Speaker
Like, look, I'm a believer and I love to hear news about this ship. But even I will say the photos of these bodies, I was like, is this, are those cakes? Like, is this real? It's not, it's not very good. Anyways, it was an interesting week for UFO enthusiasts to say the least, but I am still looking forward to the invasion happening very soon.
00:05:33
Speaker
Well I will be in Mexico in like three weeks so I'll keep an eye out while I'm there. You should go see those bodies and also Andrew seriously Google that after the after the segment because you will. And it's real like that it was actually in.
00:05:49
Speaker
It was actually in their house government. Next item is this. Auto workers in America are going on strike right now with UAW, United Auto Workers, of course. The main demand in this strike is a 40% increase in pay among a whole lot of other items. And look, there's no way around it. When big strikes in industry like this happen, the economy is always dealt a blow.
00:06:17
Speaker
But you know, look, workers are standing up for their rights. I'm somebody who believes in unions. I don't know, we'll see what happens, but it's gonna be crazy for them.
00:06:27
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, this is an interesting time in America because we do have a lot of strikes happening right now with the writer's strike, with the actor's strike, with this strike. And we were talking about it a lot yesterday. And honestly, these billionaires that control these companies, these CEOs and CFOs and these people at the top, they literally need to give like 1% of their wealth to equal out
00:06:56
Speaker
the demands of these workers. These people are on the front lines. They're literally building the things that you are driving around. Of course, they deserve a fair wage and a fair chance at life. Because let's be honest, in a capitalistic society, the only thing that can save us from poverty is money.
00:07:19
Speaker
If you're going to compete on the capitalist side of making money, you have to compete on the side of the capitalist society that's giving money. That's how it works. You can't just say, we're a capitalist society and you have to put on your bootstraps and get it done because that's not how it works. It's a give and take and that's how money is exchanged. I think that it's really sad that these people have to go on strike and basically not make money to
00:07:49
Speaker
tell people that they need more money, you know what I mean? Yeah, no, no, no, I get it. And I don't know like the full particulars of this one. Like I don't, I'm not aware of like how, like when were the last raises? How do the raises work? You know, is there a cost of living increase? All that kind of thing. But you know, it makes me think about, you know, not just this industry, but other industries too. And you know, like I work in tech, of course.
00:08:12
Speaker
And there's a lot of tech companies that are trying to unionize. I mean, there's even like, you know, for the gay folks out there, you may have heard about like grinder employees have been trying to unionize. And like, look, you know, it's interesting because I can tell you from the tech perspective, there are very few tech companies. I mean, and look, tech companies, we all make a lot of money. I just want to say that flat out, right? Like tech companies are fucking rich.
00:08:37
Speaker
Like there are very few companies where you get a cost of living increase every year. So that means like the only way that you're going to get an increase in your pay is if you get a promotion. That's the only way to get an increase. No, nothing else.
00:08:53
Speaker
And like, that's, that's pretty hard to do. So, you know, you have people in tech who have been in the same position for, I don't know, it's sometimes two, three, maybe even four years before they move up to like a management position or whatever with no raise and
Natural Disasters and Media Coverage
00:09:10
Speaker
like,
00:09:10
Speaker
Get while they're not getting a raise the cost of living just keeps going up and so like, you know, it just doesn't equal out and it's the same thing with these folks like they're working their asses off. They're not getting paid all that much money. They have families. They have houses. They have whatever they have. Like, how are they supposed to take care of of these things? The least of all their children for God's sake, you know, crazy.
00:09:31
Speaker
Yeah, it's really sad. The final one is actually two things and it's two natural disasters. The first one is the earthquake that just happened in Morocco and now that earthquake had happened last week. It's left over 2,000 people dead this earthquake. Just very, very sad stuff.
00:09:51
Speaker
And it's actually kind of weird. This means absolutely nothing to any of the people of Morocco, and it probably means nothing to anyone else listening to this, quite frankly. But I was literally the day before the Moroccan earthquake got announced, I was thinking, boy, I'd really love to take a trip to Morocco.
00:10:11
Speaker
I'm obviously not going to do that right now, but it does make me think in the future, maybe I will just go help people and spend money there. I don't know. Anyways, it's left over 2,000 people dead. It's a very sad story, just absolutely destroying cities like Marrakesh and other places.
00:10:28
Speaker
And then in Libya, not too far away, these crazy floods from this weird typhoon in the desert have killed over 20,000 people. I mean, that's just, it's mind boggling. And I don't know about you, but when I think about Libya, I never think like, oh, you're really in danger for floods. Do you know what I mean? So just really, really sad stories.
00:10:55
Speaker
You know, it just makes me think, too, about how we're going to keep hearing more and more stories like this, you know, as climate change just continues to wreak havoc and do its thing. And it's just so sad. It's just, you know, monumental losses of life for, I don't know, just for nothing. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. I mean, I don't know. This is like not to I'm not discounting any of these natural disasters, but even, you know, here in the US, we just had that major flood that
00:11:24
Speaker
basically shut down Burning Man in the desert, and when you think of the desert, you don't think of floods. It's these places that are not... Forgive me if I'm wrong, but Morocco's not nearly a place that would normally have earthquakes, correct?
Hypocrisy and Horror Movies
00:11:44
Speaker
I mean as far as I know yeah like I can't remember the last time I heard about an earthquake like right there in this and that part of the world so it was it was really I think very surprising to a lot of people.
00:11:55
Speaker
And I think like there are places where we know that there are fault lines and that are susceptible to earthquakes. So we've built those cities differently. Like a city like Morocco that's, you know, thousands of years old is not prepared for a disaster like that. And so I can I can only imagine what they're going through. That's really awful. I will say it has not been covered here in the US at all. I haven't seen anything about this. So it's really sad that they're not getting
00:12:23
Speaker
any any sort of help or relief. So hopefully, you know, the UK or Africa can come together and help them out. You know, why report on that when they can report on Republicans and how insane they are every day? Nonstop. That's the end of our the end of our terrifying corner. I don't know if you saw this, but that Republican lady who was like kick out of Beetlejuice for vaping
00:12:49
Speaker
And then they have more photos or like videos. Yeah. Videos of her being groped by her male companion there and then her like rubbing his crotch. And like it's just this is the same woman who thought we need to get rid of drag queens because they're corrupting our children. You son of a bitch.
00:13:08
Speaker
Yeah, listen, well, Lauren Boebert is she's we will take this a moment just to shit on her. She's such an awful cancer and she's a terrible person. She could hardly pass her GED. And I say that not to denigrate anyone who has had to take the GED before.
00:13:26
Speaker
I say it because she's a fucking congresswoman who cannot get the basics of things down and is intense on not building people up, but instead on destroying people's lives. And she's finally been caught on camera doing something terrible, and I hope that bitch goes down. That's what I hope for. Anyways, that is the end of our certified terrifying corner. Andrew, let's get on with this wonderful episode about drugs.
00:13:54
Speaker
Um, drugs, God, drugs can be, like I said earlier, truly, they can just turn into Dracula for a second. When you said drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs can be fun. They can be wild and they can indeed be terrifying.
00:14:10
Speaker
We're going to talk about a number of things today with drugs. I know that, for example, Andrew, you're talking a little bit about overdoses, if I'm not mistaken, talking about Tylenol and the bad mixes that became the murders for a while. I'm going to talk a little bit about how legalization of drugs really can help
00:14:32
Speaker
I can really help and can really help alleviate addiction it can help alleviate the black market it can help get rid of mafia involvement and mob involvement in the drug in the drug trade i put that in.
00:14:49
Speaker
in air quotes there and can be really beneficial for localities. So that's what we're going to talk about today. And the two movies that we have for you coming up later in the episode are Shrooms, which let me tell you, that's one hell of a movie from 2008 and Midsummer from 2019. So Andrew, I'll tell you what, why don't we start with The Dark Side? Let's start with your stuff first. How does that sound?
00:15:14
Speaker
Yeah, sounds good to me. So according to the Centers for Disease Control, overdose death does remain a leading cause of injury-related death in the US. A majority of these deaths involve opioids, which obviously everyone has heard in the news and knows that it's a huge problem.
00:15:33
Speaker
that we're doing nothing about, but it's fine. Deaths involving synthetic opioids, a lot of this is fentanyl, and I have a personal story about that that I'll tell about just right after this. And stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamines have increased in recent years. In addition, overdose deaths accelerated kind of during the COVID-19 pandemic, not surprising because everyone was stuck at home and didn't have anything to do and got curious and
00:16:02
Speaker
whatever. But the one personal story I have about this involves, you know, my one of my husband's co-workers, she was lives out in the suburbs and was basically sitting at home one night and she started seeing these men going around her windows and like looking in her windows and trying her door and like being really weird. And she was like, what the fuck is going on? So she like went to the door and like, you know,
00:16:29
Speaker
cracked open the door and was like, Excuse me, can I help you? And they're like, Oh, sorry, we're police officers. They showed the badge and whatever. And they were basically doing a health care check on her because her boyfriend had gone out, had gone out that night, went out with his friend, went to a bar, they purchased some cocaine, didn't know it had fentanyl in it.
00:16:53
Speaker
did it and died. And basically what they were doing was going to her house to make sure that she wasn't also partaking. And it just shows that like,
00:17:03
Speaker
These things are so crazy and out of control that it can only take once to just get in your system and kill you. I don't know about you, but I have not dabbled in too many drugs, if I'm being honest. I've smoked weed, I've done cocaine twice in my entire life, and on occasion, I drink alcohol.
00:17:25
Speaker
That's kind of it. Because I mean, for me, drugs are just really scary. And I know that my anxiety is already like, doo doo doo. So to try to introduce a new chemical probably is not good for me. So I try to stay away from that kind of stuff. Not saying that, you know, drugs can't be fun. I mean, some of these movies make mushrooms look real fun.
00:17:49
Speaker
Oh, totally. To your first point about the story that you just told, there's the American viewpoint. Let's think about the two different reactions that people probably have to that story.
00:18:10
Speaker
The first reaction that a lot of people are going to have is, well, you take it and you roll the dice kind of thing, right? And look, to a certain extent, they're not wrong. I mean, if you're not getting this from somebody that you really, really trust or you saw it being made or whatever and you know it could have very harmful effects on you or it might be laced with something else, yeah, look, it's a risk that you're taking.
00:18:38
Speaker
The thing that I was thinking right there, as you were telling it, and like you look, I've had addicts in my family and, you know, have you, have you known any addicts in your life? Um, you know, I think when I was a kid, I maybe had some uncles that had some addiction problems, but I think I was too young to understand it. So
00:19:00
Speaker
I get it. So with addicts, if you're not an addict yourself and you deal with them, I spent a good lot of my life just sort of being really angry at addicts and not liking them, right? Because you see the harmful things that they do and the damage that they cause and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:19:22
Speaker
And, you know, before you learn a little bit of grace and until you mature more, that's just sort of how you feel. And so, you know, as I've grown older and I've grown, I don't know, kinder, I guess, whatever, I try not to do that anymore. Right. And so like the other reaction to bring this full circle is, you know, when I was hearing you tell that story in my head, I was like, God, imagine if America just decriminalized shit and like regulated it.
00:19:52
Speaker
like other countries do and so then you would be mostly assured that the cocaine you were buying from a natural like counter and not from outside some shitty bar in a suburb, like wouldn't have fentanyl in it and those people wouldn't be dying and that sort of thing.
00:20:08
Speaker
And it's just this weird time in the world. America is learning right now about legalization of cannabis, but very few places in America have decriminalized cocaine or shrooms or anything else, except for Portland and some places like that. But it's just wild to think about. I mean, God, how old was the guy that died? I think he was in his 20s.
00:20:33
Speaker
Oh, geez, that's so young. That's so young. That's really, really sad. To your second point about drugs that I'm familiar with.
00:20:43
Speaker
Um, you know, for me, I think, um, I'm not too unlike you to be honest with you. We're like, you know, I, of course I've smoked a ton of weed in my life and I still, you know, I don't smoke weed anymore, but I, I really enjoy edibles. And like, I'm so naturally coked out that I don't need stimulants. Like I am already, I'm already a nutcase. So like it's best if I stick to things that bring me down and that's generally what makes me feel good anyway. So like.
00:21:10
Speaker
I still love to have edibles and every now and then if somebody's got weed to smoke, I'll smoke it with them. But other than that, that's all that I do. I've done my share of drugs in the past, but that's what I stick to is just cannabis really and alcohol. That's it.
00:21:24
Speaker
Yeah. Well, speaking of kind of like prevention and everything, we should bring up, you know, October is coming up really quickly. It marks kind of a national youth substance use prevention month. It's really a time for Americans to renew our commitment to kind of end the drug overdose epidemic. Notice that I say the drug overdose epidemic, not just the drug epidemic.
00:21:45
Speaker
that has claimed nearly 850,000 lives over the last 20 years. It's insane. Research has shows that drug overdose deaths involving stimulants like cocaine, like we said, have increased significantly and are disproportionately affecting racial and ethnic minority populations. Not surprisingly, because these are the people that we put down. And so they turned to other stimulants to help them feel good about their lives.
00:22:13
Speaker
And then just some other things here. From 2004 to 2019, death rates for overdoses involving cocaine were generally higher amongst black persons and other racial and ethnic groups. And death rates for overdoses involving psychostimulants were generally higher amongst American Indian, Alaska Natives persons, and among other racial and ethnic groups. I just wanted to put that in there because
00:22:38
Speaker
I mean, that's what we're giving these people. It's like this life of stay on your reservation and you only get this or you only, it's, it's these people that we put down all the time. So we should, we be surprised that they're turning to, you know, other forms of stimulants. I don't think so. You know what I mean? Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, look, these we're talking about, you know, despair in America.
00:23:03
Speaker
And like, you know, look, like we keep saying in this episode, drugs can be fun, they can be wild, they can be terrifying.
00:23:10
Speaker
And, and you know, look at anything can, could become an addiction and you know, people are going to turn to things like drugs in despair. And yeah, you're also going to turn to them to have fun. You're also going to turn to them to relax or to, you know, have a little bit of an escape or whatever. Like, you know, look, I have my edibles often after work to chill out and calm down and just like sit on my couch and laugh a little bit. And it's fun.
00:23:35
Speaker
But like, you know, when you get into harder drugs, you know, you were talking about despair and why is that despair in people's lives? You know, it's because they don't have proper housing. They don't have jobs. Um, they don't have proper healthcare. I mean, it's the basics of life that if we really want to solve the problem, it's not just like, Hey, do this. And then everything's fine. It's like, no, you gotta, there's a whole system of things that are wrong here, man. And that's why these things keep happening.
00:24:03
Speaker
Yeah. And so just to kind of end that part of it, if you do know someone that is suffering from either mental health or substance abuse, a great resource for them is to call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Helpline. I know that's a huge mouthful, but you can call them at 1-800-662-HELP.
00:24:26
Speaker
Um, and, and that will be a great resource for them to at least start to understand what their issues are and how they can find help. Um, one other one that I wanted to bring up and, um, this involves over the counter drugs because who hasn't woken up, woken up from a bender and needed to take that Advil or that Tylenol. Well, in 1982 in Chicago, of all places, that's why I wanted to bring it up. Um, something crazy happened.
00:24:55
Speaker
So specifically on September 28th of 1982, 12-year-old Mary Kellerman was hospitalized after consuming a capsule of extra strength Tylenol. She actually unfortunately lost her life the next day. And then on September 29th, six other individuals consumed contaminated Tylenol
00:25:15
Speaker
including Adam Janus, who was 27, Stanley Janus, who was 25, and Teresa Janus, who was 20. Each who took Tylenol from a single bottle. Mary McFarland, who was 31, Paul Prince, who was 35, and Mary Reiner, who was 27, would ultimately die from taking Tylenol. Now you say to yourself, it's just Tylenol. What's going on here?
00:25:37
Speaker
Well, basically what happened is nurse Helen Jensen of Arlington Heights, who was actually the only public official, public health official at the time, was asked to kind of go into the Janis's house and figure this out. Like what happened to them?
00:25:53
Speaker
And she found a Tylenol bottle, and she found an accompanying receipt that had been purchased the same day, and she noticed that six pills were missing. She turned the bottle over to Nick Pishos and reported her, investigator Nick Pishos, and reported her suspicion that it was related to the Janice's death. And basically what they found is that these capsules had been contaminated with cyanide.
00:26:20
Speaker
Uh, and they had been basically injected with cyanide and people and put back on the shelf. Um, there was no, there was no look into our, I guess there was no, uh, way to think that it happened at the plant. It seemed like someone took those and bought them and then returned basically, uh, injected them and then return them.
00:26:42
Speaker
Now this led to a lot of investigations and it led to Johnson & Johnson basically pulling all Tylenol production and advertising and basically took a hit of about $100 million, which today's money would be about $303 million, and took all Tylenol off the shelves after that.
00:27:02
Speaker
And it remained kind of a big thing throughout the 80s that, you know, no one trusted Tylenol. And basically what happened is this led to a lot of FDA control over these type of things. And it led to the eventual replacement of capsules with a caplet, which was a lot harder to inject. And it also, it also introduced kind of the tamper proof. So when you, when you think about buying like vitamins or pills, it has like that little flare that you kind of have to
00:27:31
Speaker
It's really annoying. We all hate it, but that's why that's there. Yeah. Well now, and then the crazy thing, no one knows who did it. Like, it still has not been solved to this day. They've tested a lot of people's DNA. They've investigated a lot of people. They even investigated the Unabomber for this Ted Kaczynski.
00:27:58
Speaker
because his family had once lived in Illinois. But they have never found out who did this, and they probably never will. And it was a big sting to public health trust and a big sting to trusting over-the-counter drugs. Thankfully, it led to a lot of new things that have protected people over the years, but just kind of a crazy thing that happened to something so
00:28:26
Speaker
regular because who had like I said before who hasn't taken an Advil or a Tylenol when they have a headache so of course just kind of something crazy to think about I don't know about you Andrew but my magic hangover number for Advil is three caplets when I wake up in the morning it's three that is mine and it does seem to work
00:28:45
Speaker
Crazy stories. Also, the Unabomber, I listened to, very recently, I listened to a podcast about the Unabomber and the history of that whole thing. I will look it up so I can tell you people on this episode because it was really good and it was shit I never knew about that very, very strange man.
00:29:04
Speaker
Yeah. Andrew, thank you for that. Of course. I'd like to tell you about some positive things with drugs. How does that sound? Sounds relatively positive. Good. Wonderful. So this is an article from 2021, not too long ago, and it was from Planet Money on NPR.
00:29:24
Speaker
And the title of the article of the piece is The Data on Legalizing Weed. You can find that on NPR's website. So I'll read you some things here from the article that I thought were really, really interesting. So it's been almost a decade since Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana.
00:29:43
Speaker
I prefer to call it cannabis, by the way. So I'll continue to call it cannabis here since they've legalized cannabis. And that's given economists and other researchers more than enough time to study the effects of the policies. And so here are some of the interesting findings. First off,
00:30:01
Speaker
Legalization didn't seem to substantially affect crime rates. So proponents of legalized weed claimed it would reduce violent crimes. Opponents said that it would increase violent crimes. Study by the Cato Institute found that overall violent crime neither soared nor plummeted in the wake of cannabis legalization, which was pretty interesting to see.
00:30:23
Speaker
Something else to note here too is that since 2021, plenty of other places have indeed also legalized cannabis, like Chicago being one of them, for example. So there may be some changes to these by now. Next up, legalization seems to have little or no effect on traffic accidents and fatalities.
00:30:45
Speaker
Opponents of marijuana legalization argue that it would wreak havoc on the road. A few studies have found that that's not the case. Economist Benjamin Hanson, Keaton S. Miller and Caroline Weber, for instance, found evidence suggesting that it had zero effect on trends in traffic fatalities in both Colorado and Washington. Unlike alcohol, which of course kills a lot of people on the road. Isn't that funny?
00:31:10
Speaker
legalization that has barely affected the price of marijuana. Many people believe that marijuana prices would crash after legalization, providing an increased incentive to use it.
00:31:22
Speaker
But a recent study by the Cato Institute found that prices have barely budged. The price of getting high has stayed high. In California, for example, the price of cannabis actually increased after legalization before leveling off at about $260 an ounce. Before full legalization, it cost about $250 an ounce. All the states that have legalized marijuana have seen prices converge around that level.
00:31:47
Speaker
And the authors of this say that the convergence in prices across states is consistent with the idea that legalization diverts cannabis commerce from underground markets to legal retail shops, allowing retailers to charge a premium as the preferred sources of supply. As somebody who just bought a shitload of edibles in Chicago, I can guarantee you that that is true. The prices have not gone down. They are indeed still expensive.
00:32:14
Speaker
Another thing that is really cool, legalization has created jobs, lots of jobs. A report by Leafly and Whitney Economics finds that the cannabis industry is booming. In 2020 alone, they calculated that it created 77,000 jobs. And across America, there are about 320,000 jobs in the legal cannabis industry.
00:32:40
Speaker
That's more jobs than people who work in mining. It's a huge, huge industry for jobs. Legalization, of course, is good for state budgets. Tax revenue from legal recreational cannabis has surpassed everyone's expectations. Colorado collects more than $20 million a month in taxes from this. Geez, oh man.
00:33:03
Speaker
It's so much money. In 2020, the state collected a total of $387 million. The California government collects more than $50 million a month and you can find similar stories in other states and localities, of course, that have legalized.
00:33:19
Speaker
Legalization is good for states' workers' comp programs. A new working paper by economist Rahi Abuk, Keshar Ghimire, Johanna Catherine McLean, and David Powell finds that states that legalized recreational marijuana saw a significant decline in the use of their worker comp systems. They estimate that the number of workers aged 40 to 62
00:33:42
Speaker
who received income from workers comp fell by about 20% following legalization. Evidence suggests that the reason for the decline is that cannabis provides an additional form of pain management therapy that reduces the use of opioids, thank God, which are highly addictive and could be much more debilitating.
00:34:03
Speaker
marijuana's effects on reducing opioid abuse has been documented in other studies. So we'll leave it there. But that's some really good news about legalization. And like on top of that, I do think it's really interesting, you know, sort of across America, watching how like attitudes towards like just basically cannabis have really changed, right? Because I mean, like,
00:34:27
Speaker
There was a time when like cannabis had this very big moral blot on it and people who were podheads were viewed as podheads and people treated them that way. And like that was just kind of it. But now like it's such like a, it's such like a cool mom thing to do. You know what I mean? Like, Oh, we don't, we don't drink as much Chardonnay anymore. And now like the gals come over and we each, we each have one little gummy.
00:34:54
Speaker
But that's how things change. And so it has been really interesting to see. And even in my own brain, I've changed the way that I think about all these things. I'm sure other people listening are the same way. So really incredible stuff. I am very much looking forward to seeing how things progress over here. I think Europe has a whole lot of
00:35:18
Speaker
freedom in many many ways and like it's very non-judgmental and you know people are kind of all over the place about sex and no one cares about this and no one cares about that but like I think it surprises most Americans when they come over here to learn that most European countries like you like even just cannabis is illegal including in Ireland and so I'm looking forward to that changing here soon because
00:35:44
Speaker
it needs to and also weed like the homegrown weed here in ireland is not good have some news for you so um yeah i'm hopeful see a change over here and to watch some of these positive things that i just talked about in america happen over here too
00:35:59
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I can tell you, you know, if it prevents me having to run around with a cocaine person, people are the absolute worst when it comes to partying because they're always looking for the next dose. And it is so annoying because they can't sit fucking still.
00:36:15
Speaker
And if I don't have to deal with that, I'd be very, very happy. But, girl, anyway, I think that will do it. Seriously, I think it will do it for our horror in real life. We will take our first break and we'll be right back with what you've been watching, bitch.
00:36:34
Speaker
Let's all go to the lobby Let's all go to the lobby Let's all go to the lobby To get ourselves a treat
00:36:46
Speaker
It's time for another edition of What You Been Watching, Bitch. What you been watching, you little drug bitch? I don't know what you were going to say there. It's your first time on the show with us. This is the segment where we talk about what we have been watching, of course, beyond the movies that we are about to talk about in the show.
00:37:06
Speaker
So this could be movies, it could be TV shows, sometimes it's books, sometimes it's podcasts, it could be any sort of media. So Andrew is going to tell us what he has been watching, bitch. The first one on my list comes to us from Hulu. If you remember about a year ago, I reported on a little movie called Vacation Friends. I do remember you talking about this.
00:37:28
Speaker
This is a really fun little series. John Cena is kind of the biggest star in it, but there are three other actors that are of significance who are also in the movie. I just can't think of their names right now, but it's the first movie is basically about them meeting and like the one couple being kind of wild and the other couple being a little bit more conservative and like.
00:37:46
Speaker
becoming friends and like on vacation. And this one is kind of a continuation. It picks off where they're going, picks up where they're going on another vacation, but they're actually going together because they're all friends now. What I think that this this this these movies are so funny. Like, I don't know if anybody's not watched these movies. They are just so funny to me. And it's like it's like goofball comedy. It's not like it's not like you have to think about it a lot.
00:38:14
Speaker
But I just think that this was a great continuation. If you think about what I was telling someone yesterday is if you think about the first movie as like kind of the first Pitch Perfect, like how the comedy is to how the comedy evolves to Pitch Perfect three to where it's like kind of just like crazy off the wall comedy. Like you're like, what the fuck is happening? That's kind of like what they amped the comedy up to and vacation friends to. But if you like kind of like
00:38:42
Speaker
wild comedies, like this is this should be right up your alley. And it also stars the one the one actress from Search Party that I really, really love. OK. And so if you like these kind of movies, you're going to love this. So I would definitely recommend Vacation Friends 2 on Hulu.
00:38:59
Speaker
God, search party. I haven't thought about that in a while. Thank you, Andrew. I'm going to do one quick blip just to mention that, yes, I did watch Red, White, and Royal Blue. I did like it. Was the book better? Of course it was, but I still loved it. It was really, really good. Oh, good. I'm glad you liked it. I did. I had a lovely time watching it. I cried just like I thought I would, and it was really good. And also,
00:39:21
Speaker
For my niece, Anna, who's listening to this, hopefully I need you to get that dude's number that you used to date and date him again. You fucking idiot. And then also get the English guys that I can date him. Okay. That's how this is going to work anyways. Um, back to this. Um, my first one is heart stopper two, which you can watch on Netflix. Um, have you watched this yet?
00:39:47
Speaker
I actually haven't even watched the first season yet. This was one that I thought you did. Okay. No, I'm glad that you put it on here because it reminded me that it's out there, but it's just like, it's one of those ones that I knew I'm supposed to watch and I just completely forgot. It happens to me too. I get it. Now look,
00:40:03
Speaker
Uh, if you recall Heartstopper one, I was literally obsessed with it. Um, I've watched it. I've probably watched the whole season of Heartstopper one five or six times. I'm not even, Oh my gosh. Well, I mean, also the episodes aren't that long. Right. Um, but like it's, it is, it's an incredible season of streaming television.
00:40:23
Speaker
So, so good. So well done. It brought Alice Osman's, what do you call those, graphic novels. Graphic novels to life in a really beautiful way. And I just, I absolutely adore season one. I thought it was incredible. I've also read all of the Heartstopper books, including the little novellas. Really love them. So I already know the story in advance going in, right? Sure. Heartstopper 2.
00:40:50
Speaker
was, it was a bit of a disappointment if I'm being honest with you. And let me tell you why I think that. So, I mean, first of all, it's all the same kids, right? And like, you know, it's, this is kids and young adults who are in this, you know, there's not a lot of old people in it, right? But like, you know, they're, they're all still pretty much the same, you know, like they, it hasn't been that long since the first season. So they, you know, there's not some like crazy jump in age. So they don't look out of place in high school or anything like that.
00:41:18
Speaker
The problem with this season is that it just sort of seems like they ran out of time or maybe they didn't know what they were doing. Maybe there was a big change in directors. I don't know. But I wonder if other people feel this way. To me, the whole thing just feels rushed and canned.
00:41:40
Speaker
and that is just so disappointing. It feels can, I can give you an example, in terms of like the soundtrack, right? So season one has this great soundtrack with songs that are put in at just the right moments to amplify them and they're great and they're sort of anthemic and lovely and beautiful and like just like really good stuff. Like the soundtrack in season one just like it sizzles, it really works.
00:42:05
Speaker
In season two, it was like somebody was saying, how many songs can we pack into every single episode at every moment so that we can make more money? That's what it felt like. And I just think that was ridiculous because I can guarantee you there was some sort of deal with the people that produced this and with Netflix that all these people were like, get my songs in that show because kids will listen to it nonstop and here's the money that we're going to pay to do that.
00:42:33
Speaker
And it doesn't work. I mean, it's like literally, there's like an anthem every 20 seconds. And like, you guys, that doesn't work. I've got some news because like, that's just not how it works. So like, that's not great. Some of the acting also felt rushed, which I really don't think is a product of the actors. I think it's a problem of, I think it's a product of the director and the direction, right? And honestly, a bit of the adaptation from the book to the screen.
00:43:01
Speaker
So, you know, look, did I still enjoy it? Yeah. Am I really picky about it because it's a story that I really love deeply and it means a lot to me? Yeah, of course. I definitely concede that. But, you know, beyond those things, like, this is something that they shouldn't be rushing and they are. So, look, there's a lot more of a story to go with Heartstopper. This is not the last season. So I'm hoping that, you know, seasons three, four and probably five will not feel like this and hopefully they learn a lesson from it.
00:43:31
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think you're alone because I do remember when the first season came out, like how much support and, like, emphatic, like, like, emphatic, like, energy was around it from, like, fans and stuff. Yeah. And I honestly didn't feel that this time around. Yes. I didn't see many people talking about it. So I don't think you're I don't think you're in the in the majority or minority or whatever. Yeah, sure.
00:43:58
Speaker
Well, that's that stinks, but hopefully they can turn the ship around. My next one came out of literal nowhere. Nobody knew this movie was coming out. This is this is one of those like memes where it's like no one and then there's nothing. Yeah. And then Netflix. Here's a new River Wild. Why not?
00:44:18
Speaker
So yeah, the not the River Wild, just River Wild, which if you want to hear talk about the River Wild, you can go back to one of our episodes. I forget which one and we talk all about it. No, Andrew, this one, it's it's a reboot of that, though, right, isn't it?
00:44:33
Speaker
Yes, so it has nothing to do with the Meryl Streep movie, you know, from the 90s. This is a whole new story just taking the same name. It stars Adam Brody and Leighton Meester. And it's basically about this girl who's coming back to like, do you do a river trip? And she runs into some people that she went to high school with that.
00:44:57
Speaker
And basically the one guy Adam Brody plays kind of a guy who went to prison and he's just gotten back and his friend basically gave him a job on the river to like help him get back on his feet and basically get back into having a job after going to prison for a significant amount of time. And then it kind of just goes from there. I don't want to give too much away because it
00:45:21
Speaker
It's nowhere near as good as what, you know, the 90s River Wild fantastical adventure. I love that movie. It's so good. It's it's not near as good as that, but it's not bad either. Like, I think it's kind of like if you take the initial concept of the River Wild and kind of give it like a darker. It's like darker cousin. You know what I mean? Like it's golf. Yeah, sure. It's kind of like that. And although
00:45:50
Speaker
You know, I didn't have very many expectations going into this because as we both know, we are huge fans of that original movie. Yeah, sure. And so I think going in with the lower expectations, I was kind of just like, OK, that was that was decent. That was not bad. It was not a bad way to spend a Friday night watching a movie. So OK.
00:46:09
Speaker
If you are into this thriller adventure type movies, is this the worst one you're going to find? No. I'm happy to say that you should probably just go check it out. There you go.
00:46:22
Speaker
But yeah, that's it. The River Wild on the I keep saying the just just called River Wild on Netflix. Wonderful. My next one is an oldie but a goldie. This is dead poet society. And I probably watch this movie once a year, I would say. And it's usually around like the back to school time. Right. Like when when autumn starts to creep around, you know, starts to get a little crispy outside and you want to wear a hoodie and you just think, ah,
00:46:52
Speaker
Let's watch Dead Poets Society, right? Doesn't everyone think that? Well, that's what I think. Listen, I've watched this film, I don't even know how many fucking times. And let me tell you, I cry like a baby every single time. I love this movie.
00:47:07
Speaker
Um, it just so happened that recently I was dating a teacher and so it like gave me like more, more like reason to watch this. It just popped into my head like, Oh, I guess I'll watch this. But I mean, like you got to think about this man. Like, I mean, this is the film that launched the careers of a lot of people.
00:47:24
Speaker
And, you know, like, God, Robin Williams was fantastic in this movie. Like, rest in peace. God, I still miss him. It was directed by Peter Weir, who's just, you know, an incredibly, incredibly replete director, right? It launched the career of Ethan Hawke, of Josh Charles, Robert Sean Leonard. I mean, all these people, just really, really incredible stuff. And, you know, this time around that I watched it,
00:47:51
Speaker
I was just far more attuned to how gay these kids are, like just so gay. And like sort of the really interesting way that it sort of dances around that repression in that particular era.
00:48:09
Speaker
Um, but really just how beautiful it was. Uh, it, you know, it made me want to read a separate piece again. Like, remember reading that in high school? Did you guys have to read? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For a piece. And like, are you kidding me? Like Finney and whatever the other guy's name was, like homosexuals. They were the homosexuals that they were. And it's the same here, baby. And it's probably why I'm crying anyways. I loved watching it again. If for some fucking reason you've never seen dead poets society, I think that you should watch it.
00:48:38
Speaker
I think that you should see this movie. It might move you in the same way that it has moved millions of other people. Anyways, I watched it on demand. You can find it all over the fucking place. Dead Poets Society, watch it again. I'll do you one better. You know, it'd make a great double feature with Dead Poets Society. Tell me, yeah. White Squall. Do not give me masturbation material here. Don't even do that to me, Andrew, because White Squall is very sexy.
00:49:05
Speaker
I think it goes very well with that, that same type of homo erotic weird. Oh my God. I've never thought that is a great double feature. I'm going to, I'm going to do that. It's a wonderful thing. All right. My next one literally just got to who I think this weekend of our recording, uh, and it is called theater camp. Um, this was Justin theaters probably about a month ago. Um, I'm continuously amazed by how fast these things come to streaming services now.
00:49:33
Speaker
And I'm worried about the movie theaters but theater camp is basically about a woman named Joan who is in the audience of a she's in the audience of a high school production of Bye Bye Birdie and she suffers a seizure from the flashing lights of Bye Bye Birdie.
00:49:55
Speaker
And it basically she goes into a coma. I should say that is played by brilliantly by Amy Sedaris. She goes into a coma and then it's basically the fallout of that because she runs a summer theater camp. And my God, you know, her son gets put in power at the theater camp and it's got great character actors like Ben Platt. I'm trying to think of other people in it, but you'll see the people and be like, oh, I know that from Adam.
00:50:23
Speaker
And it's it's it's not taped. We don't use tape anymore. It's filmed in a mockumentary type of way. OK, like, you know, waiting for government or, you know, whatever. And this movie is fucking brilliant. It's so good. It's amazing. And it takes it just kind of follows the summer productions of a theater camp. And when I say theater camp, I think these kids are probably anywhere from like
00:50:51
Speaker
eight or nine to probably like 15 or 16. Like that's kind of like the age range. But it just like in all these brilliant mockumentaries that we've gotten over the years, that just kind of takes a slice of life that if you literally know anything about will crack you up.
00:51:07
Speaker
So if you missed this one in the theater, which I did, unfortunately, I meant to go see it and it kind of just slipped through because a lot of these movies only go into theaters for like two weeks now and then they're gone. But I definitely check this out and give it some hope on Hulu. So that's theater camp. As somebody who both went to theater camp and was a camp counselor at theater camps many times, I look forward to seeing this.
00:51:34
Speaker
You need to watch it. Yeah, yeah. Did you ever see the movie Camp as well? Another homoerotic one from my youth. I will tell you what, now that movie still fucks me up because I saw that in the theater when I was in college with my friend Amalia. Amalia and I were both camp counselors at what was called the Midsummer Theater Program at Indiana University.
00:51:57
Speaker
And it was which was also a thing that we went to when we were in high school. Right. The beginning of that movie camp, beginning of that movie, I if I was watching it right now, I'd be bawling. It's so, so, so fucking good. And if you didn't know this, a guy from the abyss directed it. And if you remember in the abyss, the guy that he's kind of a skinny guy that had the rat. Remember that guy? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's the guy that directed that fucking movie.
00:52:26
Speaker
God, I watch that movie so many times. Oh, the abyss. I love the abyss. Oh, no, the camp. Oh, well, that's why I also watch a plot. Also, because remember, remember the main guy was so cute, whatever his name is. I can't remember. Oh, my God. He went on. He went on to do other gay movies, too. I'll tell you, I'll tell you what he can go on to do. Me. That's what he can go on to do right now. Do you understand?
00:52:48
Speaker
anyway anyways my next one is this um one that i actually just watched the other night and look i've watched this before and i'm sure a lot of the rest of you have too and it is the jinx which is the robert durst uh true crime documentary do you remember this one
00:53:02
Speaker
Yeah, is this this is the one where he accidentally fucks up on Mike, right? It is. It's from 2015, which is when I would have watched it. Right. And I watched it because I had a date with this person and they like true crime and he had not seen this yet. And I was like, oh, you've got to watch this. And so, like, you know, we started watching my house and my head and like, wait a minute, are we going to watch six hours of television?
00:53:26
Speaker
So we watched the first two and then he left and went home. And it was late, but I was like, you know what? I'm going to keep watching because I kind of forget exactly how it all played out. So I watched it all that night and went to bed at like two in the morning.
00:53:41
Speaker
And it was worth it because the end of the jinx is so good. It's like it happens and it's like maybe the most surprising thing you've ever seen on television before. This thing happening in front of your eyes and it blows you away. And so I was really, really glad to have the opportunity to watch it again because it was just
00:54:07
Speaker
absolutely fucking wild. And Robert Durst, who died actually last year, finally he's dead. What a fucking sociopath, psychopath. Like just, I really forgot how crazy that motherfucker was. He was fucking insane. Just wild stuff. So yeah, if you haven't watched it, watch it. I won't say anymore. And by now you already know what the twist is, but just watch it happen. It is glorious how it occurs.
00:54:36
Speaker
Yeah, I might have to go back. My last one is on Paramount Plus. It is called Wrath of Becky. Do you know anything about this movie? Because I've not heard of it at all. Well, did you see Becky, the movie that came out probably like two years ago ish? No, I don't remember that either.
00:54:55
Speaker
So the first movie is called Becky. It's basically got this girl and there's a home invasion of these Nazi supporters. That's a good turn quickly. And they're they're looking for like a like a like a key from
00:55:16
Speaker
from Hitler, basically, and they invade the house. They kill the dad. They kill her dog. And it's like and then it's like kind of like a revenge movie after that. OK. Well, this is Wrath of Becky, and it's basically the continuation of the first movie where she's now in foster care. And she's like basically made it her mission to track down and kill white supremacists. So yes, bring it on.
00:55:44
Speaker
If that sounds up your alley, this movie is right for you. They do it with a lot of comedic timing. There's a lot of like blood gushing everywhere and kind of gross out humor. But sure. I found it to be very satisfying and very fun. So if you liked the first one, go out and search out Wrath of Becky, which I don't know why they just didn't call it Becky, too, because I don't know. I don't think people are putting two and two together with this with this with this
00:56:14
Speaker
movie. And I think that's why it maybe didn't get as much fanfare. But if you liked the first one, this is kind of the continuation of that story, which I thought was really fun. So okay, cool. I've not heard of it. But I will see that out because I do enjoy white supremacist being not killed alive, not alive.
00:56:32
Speaker
My final one is this. I think it's just come out. It's called Scout's Honor, the secret files of the Boy Scouts. It's on Netflix. This deals with, you guessed it, how the Boy Scouts just continually protected child molesters throughout the entire national organization.
00:56:51
Speaker
and move them around and hid files and hid this and hid that, trying to save their own asses. You know, look, as somebody who grew up Catholic and grew up a Cub Scout and was a Boy Scout for like a minute, like these things like always like really like, you know, hit me personally really hard just because I think about myself as a very vulnerable child in all these situations.
00:57:15
Speaker
And I'm extremely grateful that nothing ever happened to me, either in the scouts or in the Catholic Church. But when I hear about the stories around of the thousands and thousands of lives of mostly young men who have grown into older men now,
00:57:35
Speaker
how their lives were just devastated and ruined by these people. It makes me just so furious. And it's especially infuriating because the Boy Scouts did just what the Catholic Church did and blamed all these incidents of child molestation and child rape, call it what it is.
00:57:53
Speaker
blamed all these incidents of child rape on who do you think they blamed it on? The gays. They blamed it on us. And made us out to be child molesters, made us out to be the groomers, like we're being called everywhere now. And I just think that is reprehensible and terrible and awful. And so, you know, thankfully the scouts are just decimated.
00:58:14
Speaker
And I don't even know what happens at the Scouts now in America, I have no idea. But I do know that all these lawsuits have really left them in lurch, and it's exactly how it should be. Because people who allow this sort of stuff to happen to kids, and they allow it to happen, they didn't remember they allow this stuff to happen.
00:58:31
Speaker
when they allow it to happen and then when they blame it on somebody else, like a whole other community of people who have nothing to do with it, nothing to do with it. I just think that's pure evil. So look, I'm not gonna lie, if you watch this documentary, you're probably just gonna get pissed off. I certainly did. But do I think it's important to watch? Yeah, I think it's important to be a witness to these awful things that have happened in our world. So there you go, Scouts Honor, The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts on Netflix.
00:58:59
Speaker
You know, when hearing you talk about this documentary, it makes me remember that super, super cringy SNL skit between Alec Baldwin and Adam Sandler. I don't remember that one. It was basically like Alec Baldwin played played like the at least I think it was Alec Baldwin. I'm almost positive. Played like a scout leader who was hitting on. Oh.
00:59:21
Speaker
And it's like one of the cringiest things, but when you see stuff like that in satire, such as things on SNL, you have to remember it comes from somewhere. So we knew what was going on and we didn't do anything about it.
00:59:38
Speaker
Anyway, that ends what you've been watching, Mitch. Maddie brought us Heartstopper Season 2 on Netflix, The Dead Poet Society, which you can probably find literally everywhere, The Jinx, which is on demand, and Scouts Honor, the secret files of the Boy Scouts on Netflix.
00:59:55
Speaker
And Andrew brought us Vacation Friends 2 on Hulu, River Wild on Netflix, Theater Camp on Hulu, and Wrath of Becky on Paramount+. So that ends our what you've been watching bitch segment. Stay tuned because we're coming right back with our first horror in the movies, which is the Oscar winning achievement called Shrooms.
01:00:22
Speaker
So, a shrimp trip has to be outdoors. The right environment with the right people. Are you sure this is a good time to go looking for mushrooms? No, I've had it. We'll have the whole park to ourselves. So tell us a ghost story. Strange things happen up here around shrimp season. People are missing only for their bodies to turn up mutilated, but always have one thing in common. What?
01:00:56
Speaker
Supposed to hide the sexual experience tenfold. Holy shit! There's someone there. Pluto, I'm back! As my conclusion, Pluto's having Force 10 visual hallucinations. He took the fuzz. Her dick face.
01:01:26
Speaker
I told you this isn't funny. You hear that? There's somebody there. Hello? You're freaking me out. This is a trip, man, right? This is a trip. Hello? That's what happens. Yeah, let's go. Hello? I should have taken the lead.
01:01:51
Speaker
I don't know what's going on in my head. What's real and what's not? No, this isn't real. What is happening?
01:02:11
Speaker
Hope you're ready to get really fucking stoned. Cause I got a bag of shrooms. Andrew, tell us all about this film from 2008 shrooms. I can't believe this is the plot line, but I'm going to say it on the paper. Get ready to get wasted. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go.
01:02:31
Speaker
A group of American teens come to Ireland to visit a friend who takes them on a camping trip in search of the local fabled magic mushrooms. When the psychedelics start taking hold, the panicked friends are attacked by a ghostly creature. But how can they determine whether what they're experiencing is reality or a hallucination? Directed by Patty Brannock, written by Pierce Elliott, production company. There's literally like seven here, so I'm not going to read them all. There's a lot.
01:03:01
Speaker
Um, but basically this is a Northern Ireland, uh, kind of, you know, thing. Well, well, wait, wait, just one thing I will say there and not, I've always got a little Irish tidbit for you. One cool thing about this film is that it's not just Northern Ireland. So it's, it's fish air in, which is screen Ireland and Northern Ireland screen. So every now and then over here we get, we get films where they, where they are product of both the North and the South. And this is one of them, which honestly is pretty cool for this country.
01:03:27
Speaker
Yeah. Terra is played by Lindsay Hawn. Jake is played by Jack Houston. Troy is played by Max Cash. Lisa is played by Maya Hazen. Holly is played by Alice Greskin. Gretchen, I think maybe. Yeah, maybe. And Bluto is played annoyingly by Robert Hoffman.
01:03:45
Speaker
This is not rated. It was released on February 8th of 2008. It comes in at a sleek 84 minutes and was mostly filmed in and around Ireland and the UK, including Denmark in the Gosford Forest Park in Northern Ireland.
01:04:03
Speaker
Maddie, is this your first time taking the shrooms and what were your initial thoughts? Uh, yeah. Yes, it was. Um, I never even heard of this movie to be honest. Um, but you know, look, when, when Andrew and I think about what the episodes are going to be, right? Um, we'll just, we'll pop off with any sort of topic, right? And as, as everyone who listens knows, or maybe, you know, if you're a new listener, you might not know.
01:04:28
Speaker
Every one of our episodes is always called blank is or are terrifying. That's every single episode, right? And so for this one, we were like, well, let's do drugs. We haven't done that yet. And so we said, okay, drugs are terrifying. So what movies will fit this mid summer, which we'll talk about next. Pretty easy one to go. Yeah, let's do that one. Um, but then shrooms.
01:04:48
Speaker
Um, Andrew had seen this, what you said like 10 years ago, you saw it, Andrew. Like initially when it came out. So 2008. So there you go. And like, also like when I was doing a little research about, you know, like a simple Google search horror movies about drugs, this was on a couple of lists. Um, but other than that, I had never heard of it.
01:05:04
Speaker
Um, I was really, um, of course, you know, my, my whole, uh, brain perks up when I start watching the movie and, um, I hear them talking about, yeah, we're going to Ireland. I was like, Oh, this is going to be an Ireland. That's fun. Um, so you know, that, that was a lot of fun to watch them sort of like get through the Dublin airport in 2007. So it's, it's changed since then, but you know, they look, they were in Ireland filming this. That's cool. Um, they very quickly leave Dublin.
01:05:33
Speaker
Um, which I just assumed they were there unless maybe they, they filmed it somewhere else, but they very quickly leave Dublin and they head north and they find themselves in, as Andrew said, in the forest around County Armagh in Northern Ireland. Although some of this was also filmed in County cabin from what I understand, um, which is just south of, of, of there. Um, look, the movie is, um,
01:05:58
Speaker
Uh, this is a complicated movie. This movie is not great. And like, do I really want to watch it again? No. But like, look, I do think that this movie has some things that are going for it, right? Um, I don't, I don't know this director, um, but he does have some other films under his belt. So, I mean, he's done, he's done more than a few things that are feature length films.
01:06:22
Speaker
And I would say that the first thing that this film has going for it is that it's filmed really well. I mean, the photography in this is pretty damn good. It's never grainy or weird. The quality of it, especially for 2007, I think is pretty fucking good. The editing, I thought, was OK. Whatever little score they had behind it, yeah, I mean, it worked. I didn't really notice it, so I guess that's fine. So there are those things.
01:06:51
Speaker
And I would say even this, like I'm like, I'm not a fan of the movie, but honestly, even the actors do a pretty good job. You know, like the main girl, Tara, played by Lindsay Hahn, you know, is it written? Well, I would say probably not. But does that girl give it her all? I would say, yeah, like she really she really devotes herself to the role and it works. And to be fair, I think the rest of them do, too. I really do think that.
01:07:18
Speaker
Even the one that you said was annoying, which I agree with, who guy who plays Bluto and named Robert Hoffman. Like, thank God that guy dies very quickly. Um, I will say that the casting choice for Jake was really weird. Like that guy's not Irish. It doesn't take you very long to figure that out because he very clearly sounds English. And so I did not understand
01:07:40
Speaker
like the only thing that he sounds Irish on is when he first meets them at the airport and he says, and he says, came in the falch, uh, like you American assholes or something like that, which means a hundred thousand welcomes. And like, I was like, Oh, he's going to be Irish. And then very quickly he's not. So I just, I really didn't understand that choice if I'm being honest, because like, that's like to begin.
01:08:02
Speaker
This is a movie, you know, like the synopsis said about these American college students, they're not really teens, but they're college students. They're all flying to Ireland for like, I don't know, basically spring break kind of thing, or maybe fall break. And they're going, they're flying there to do mushrooms with this dude. So it begs the question right away.
01:08:20
Speaker
Why do they have to fly to Ireland to do mushrooms? They're not from Ireland. They all live in America. So it's a pretty expensive ticket. It's a lot of time to get there. I could go on and on and on about how dumb this is. But for whatever reason, they're flying.
01:08:35
Speaker
And I can tell you that throughout the film that the answer is never really given to you, right? So like, I mean, maybe it's because this guy knows a lot about mushrooms, which he does. But even that doesn't really matter. I mean, like you could find that same person in America if you wanted to. There's no real reason for them to be there to do mushrooms. It just doesn't make any sense.
01:08:57
Speaker
So, you know, you've got that going. But on top of it, you've got this English guy traipsing them around. And it just, I don't know, it just doesn't make any sense. It made no sense to me. So I thought that was, you know, maybe not a great choice there. Now, when you do finally meet some Irish people, Andrew, guess what type of Irish people you meet?
01:09:19
Speaker
The backwoods kind. Yeah, you meet Irish people who are basically like from that X-Files episode called Home because they're like the product of incest and they're drooling all the time and they talk about how they fuck pigs and fuck cows. So I think that that's not a great start to a horror film in Ireland, basically like casting the only Irish people as like trolls, I guess. That was very, very fucked up and weird. I just don't I don't understand that.
01:09:48
Speaker
And it's sort of loosely based on this story within a story of this boy's home that was for bad kids. And even that isn't really fleshed out all that well. You hear it in a ghost story that the fake Irish English dude tells you around the campfire. And I don't know, that shit just doesn't work.
01:10:11
Speaker
And, um, you know, I don't know. I think to another thing that maybe works for the film is a little bit of a plot. Like if it were, if it, if some of those parts that I just mentioned weren't there or if they were better, the idea of Tara.
01:10:27
Speaker
ending up being the killer. Right. So like she sees she eats the mushroom. She's the bad mushroom. She eats the bad mushroom. She gets the power of like, I can't think of it right now, foresight or whatever. But actually, it's not foresight. It just turns out that you become the killer. Right. You know, that's interesting that that is that is a compelling plot line. Unfortunately, the ship that I just mentioned really muddies it up for me and made it unenjoyable. So that's where I stand on the film.
01:10:57
Speaker
What do you think? Yeah, I mean, I agree with you on a lot of those things. And I think that a lot of the issues that you have could have been very easily fixed with better writing. Because a lot of the writing is just not I feel like it's like the first draft. You know what I mean? That makes sense. And they didn't have a good like editor to tell the writer like, hey, this is a really cool idea. Like let's clean it up a bit because it's a little bit all over the place because
01:11:26
Speaker
The whole concept is they're going to take shrooms, they're going to get wasted in the woods and trip out on each other. But the whole friend group doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. No, it does not. Because they all hate each other. Apart from Terra and Lisa, those are the only two that really act like friends. And even in between those two, they end up portraying each other at the end. Yeah, sure, right.
01:11:54
Speaker
It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I will say I did. However, that being said, I will say all of the interactions between Lisa and Holly I thought were really funny because they hate each other so much. Do you think he wants to look at your hairy stash?
01:12:09
Speaker
I just thought some of that stuff was funny. I will rip that hair off of you Chewbacca. But I did think it was funny when she gets her haircut a la SMG in I know you did last summer and it actually looks good. I thought that that was funny. But no, overall, I'm I'm kind of like middle of the road on this one because I remember when I watched it,
01:12:34
Speaker
the first time, and I've only seen this movie once beyond the watch for this episode, that I really didn't care for it the first time I watched it. I thought that the twist was not earned, but now that I've watched it, knowing what the twist is,
01:12:53
Speaker
I kind of think it does work. So I think that that's maybe where it is successful in giving like a twist that is interesting at least. Wait, let me ask you this. When you say it works, what do you mean works?
01:13:07
Speaker
Like when you watch it, knowing what the twist is at the end, you kind of understand that she's having that that she's having memories, not like episodes, basically. I think the only time that maybe it cheats a little bit is the end guy, because she clearly is like across the woods with the axe when he gets killed.
01:13:27
Speaker
And so I don't know if that works all that well, but I mean, just like it's a decent twist that I did not see coming the first time around. And I think rewatching it, I think it does make sense given the timeline of everything, if that makes a whole lot of sense. Fair enough.
01:13:47
Speaker
Um, I will say, I know that you didn't like the casting of him, but I will say that man has my hair goals. So there's that. I mean, the guy is good looking. I just, you know, I'm not, I'm not just being picky because I live in Ireland. I really do promise you like other films and other things too. I'm very, I'm very aware of what people's voices sound like.
01:14:10
Speaker
And I think it's a choice that can really make or break something that not enough people pay attention to because it will determine whether your film feels real or not. And I just don't understand that and it's never explained.
01:14:27
Speaker
If it was explained that like, okay, these friends from America are coming over and they're meeting their friend who's flying in from London because he has heard about this crazy strain of mushrooms that they all need to go try. Even if you just did that, it already takes care of that problem, but they didn't. Instead, the director and whoever wrote it, Pierce Elliott,
01:14:50
Speaker
were cheap and didn't, didn't flesh that out enough. And so because like, I don't know, maybe Jack Houston was like, you know, Patty, Patty Bronick's friend or something. I have no fucking idea. And look, he's a fine actor and you know, he's, he's attractive and like you decide he's got great hair, you know, all of it. Cool. But like, why did you cast him? That just, it doesn't make any fucking sense.
01:15:11
Speaker
And I think once again, look, it becomes especially problematic, especially in a country like this, where you've got an English, a person with an English accent is the smart one. And the people with Irish accents are literally pig fuckers. That is a dynamic that you don't want to have in a film in Ireland. There's something wrong with that. And I think that people who aren't used to being in this community,
01:15:40
Speaker
won't maybe read that deeply enough so let me make it even clearer for you that would be like having a movie in america where the white people are talking smart and the black people are talking stupid that's what that would be like and that's how people here would read that kind of shit so i was actually also pretty amazed when i looked at the ephemera for the movie.
01:16:03
Speaker
that this was up for best film at the Irish Film and Television Awards. Can you imagine that? And so it just makes me think, man, maybe 2008 was a really bad year for film here. And this one just rose to the top because it was something. But I find that whole dynamic very, very strange.
01:16:22
Speaker
Yeah, well, what I will say is strong in the movie for me, as I like you said, I think the visuals are really good. I actually really do like when the like kind of ghostly creature comes on this totally agree. I'm with you that it's that it's kind of like.
01:16:38
Speaker
I don't know how to explain it, but this was obviously put in post kind of as like a CGI thing, but I think it works given the context of what it's placed in as kind of like a hallucination. So I do think that that works. I think that the ghost story, I wanted to know more about like that, like boys home and like all about like, I forget exactly what they call the guy, like the black cousin or something like that. Like a knight or something.
01:17:04
Speaker
Yeah, I wanted to know more about that story because I did think it was an interesting take on kind of like a I do think it's hilarious that they call it a home. And I'm like, that is a mansion and or a hospital, but that's fine. Some other things that I have just written down, I thought that the whole trip with the guy that does the dogging like this. So yes, there's this there's this thing in
Confusion and Critique in 'Shrooms'
01:17:31
Speaker
they talk about it in the car, which another thing that I just found so strange is why is the guy who lives in Ireland not driving the car? That's a great point. Tara is the one driving the car and she was the one that hits the goat in the woods and I'm like, why is he not driving? He would have all the experience of driving on the other side of the road
01:17:53
Speaker
In Ireland, you know what, Andrew, maybe he didn't pass his driver's test, which I just passed two weeks ago here in Ireland. Hello. Hi. I passed it.
01:18:04
Speaker
But anyway, there's a story about dogging and what dogging is in this movie is, is that a couple goes out into the woods and parks in the woods. And if a stranger comes around, they flash their inner lights three times. And that means that like, hey, we're up for a third. And they roll down the window and basically give the third person a blowy.
01:18:30
Speaker
And I did think that that was a little strange because I was like, if you're doing it inconspicuously, you wouldn't know if it was the man or the woman giving you the, giving you the head. So I guess that's a hole as a whole, Andrew, as they say in the, in the ancient tome.
01:18:45
Speaker
But I'm sorry, Bluto is having an hallucination where he sees talking cows, which I did think was actually really funny. It was funny. But then he stumbles upon this car that looks like it has been parked there for 400 years.
01:19:02
Speaker
And he decides this is when we're going to do the dogging and eventually gets killed because of it. I don't know how much of that was a. And so this is where I like I get a little bit confused in the movie, because I don't know how much of this is actually a hallucination and how much of this is them knowing that Tara is like doing all of this because they show flashbacks, but they're not clear on like, hey, which because when we see these characters, we see them in like a black hood.
01:19:29
Speaker
or we see them in like a, what would you call that? Like a potato sack over their head. Like was she dressed up like that or do they know who's doing it? You know what I mean? Like it's just not quite clear enough, but you know, some of the dialogue I thought was pretty, pretty fun. And then some of it is like the two guys that are obsessed with martial arts. And he says like, so dumb.
01:19:56
Speaker
He says, I got my high. Yeah. And I'm like, what? What does that even mean? Like, yeah, like, I don't know. There's just some of it that I felt could have been trimmed from the script and maybe just like cleaned up. Like there's a part where where Bluto is hitting on Holly, who's not his girlfriend. And she says, it's not fun to cheat on your girlfriend. And then he just says, yes, it is. And I was like, this is really
01:20:25
Speaker
This is just really lame. And there's a part where- Lame is a great word for it. Exactly. I don't know if you heard this or not, because it's a blink and you'll miss it moment, but there's a part where Bluto and Lisa are fighting. And it's right before she gets all her hair chopped off, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, where he says to her, you fart in your sleep. And then there is a little fart noise that happens in the movie.
01:20:51
Speaker
Yeah, so I watched it with the subtitles on. Did it say fart noise? It said it said it imitates fart noise. Imitates. So he was. So he was the one doing it. But that's just the thing is if you don't know that that's what the script actually said, then what would you think that was? And it's and like, you know, listen, I am I really don't like fart things. Like, I don't think it's funny. I don't laugh at it. It's just not it's not my fucking thing, you know.
01:21:20
Speaker
And for me, when I hear fart stuff, it makes me think of two things, my ex, and also just immature boys. Yeah. And it doesn't fit. It's just dumb.
01:21:38
Speaker
Yeah. And if you don't know the context of that, like if you didn't have subtitles on, you'd be like, what the fuck was that? Yeah. The other part that I thought. So we do have boobies in this movie. There's a mysterious woman walking around the, you know, walking around the woods with her boobs right out. Sure. But there's a part. So Bluto is getting his, you know, his excitement at the at the dogging and he gets pushed back
01:22:03
Speaker
And he has no boner. And I was like, I'm sorry, you were just getting blown and you have no boner, like the minor minor thing. But I'm just saying, if we're going to have boobies running around here, equal, you know, equal equity. Listen, exactly.
01:22:18
Speaker
But that was just weird because it's like his he's wearing boxers. You'd clearly be able to see something even if it was inside of his pants. The bone would be out, man. That's that's how that thing works. I think that all of the premonitions are kind of fun, you know, seeing how people die. And I think that that all works. I just think that like like I said before, I think it's the writing. I think it's just a little lazy and lazy.
01:22:44
Speaker
could just be cleaned up a bit. And I think this could be a movie that people would go back and watch. Whereas now I think that people just kind of see it as kind of a one and done type of movie, you know? I think that that's the main thing that drives me nuts about the movie is that it's lazy. And I don't appreciate laziness in anything, let alone something that I'm, you know, in this case, I rented it, I literally paid to watch this movie, right? And, you know, I don't know about you. When I'm at my job, I don't have the luxury of being lazy.
01:23:13
Speaker
And so why, when you're making a movie like this, would you cut any corner? And that's just it. You cut a lot of corners. You cut corners in thinking about the way people's voices sound. You cut corners about the writing. And that's just a shame because going back to even what I said on top of what Andrew said here, I think that the plot actually works, that it's compelling.
01:23:39
Speaker
But it's not going to be compelling in action if you ruin it with this other shit. That's how I feel about it in the end. So Maddie, here at Fraggie the 13th Horror Podcast, we judge on a seven stripe scale for the seven stripes of the gay old rainbow. What are your final takeaways and what did you give shrooms? Sure. So I think it was generous of me to give it a four, to be honest. And I said, boy, they sure tried at least and I do indeed give them credit for that.
01:24:08
Speaker
I also gave it a four and I said, at times this movie feels a little bit student film, but I like the swings it takes. And the twist is actually pretty satisfying. Nice. So folks, that is shrooms. Um, you can probably, how did you watch it, Andrew? This was on Paramount plus. Okay. So Paramount plus in the States. Um, if you're in Europe, I think you just have to rent it, but it was like two bucks. So don't feel that bad about it. Anyways, that is shrooms. We'll be right back after our break with the next film. Midsummer.
Exploring 'Midsommar' Themes and Analysis
01:24:43
Speaker
Christian says that you've got some special thing planned. Yeah, it's like a crazy nine-day festival. It only happens every 90 years. Hi. Hello. Thank you.
01:25:14
Speaker
You can't speak. You can't move. But this opens you up to the influence. It breaks down your defenses. Trust me. All right?
01:25:51
Speaker
You gonna love it?
01:26:04
Speaker
Well, here it might be the end of summer, but let's talk about midsummer. Matty, tell us all about it. Let the festivities begin. Several friends traveled to Sweden to study as anthropologists on a summer festival that is held every 90 years in the remote location of one of them. This is a really poorly written one. I didn't read this before I put that in there.
01:26:27
Speaker
What begins as a dream vacation in a place where the sun never sets gradually turns into a dark nightmare as the mysterious inhabitants invite them to participate in their disturbing festive activities. Midsommar was written and directed by Ari Aster himself, a production company and distribution by A24, Danny played by Florence Pugh, Christian played by Jack Rayner, Pella played by Wilhelm Blomgren, what a name.
01:26:55
Speaker
Josh, played by William Jackson Harper, Mark, played by Will Poulter, Simon, by Archie Medekwe, and Connie, by Ellora Torcia. The film is rated R. It's 148 minutes long, unless you watch the director's cut, which is much longer. It is out of USA and Sweden. It was released July 3rd of 2019.
01:27:19
Speaker
It is not filmed in Sweden at all, by the way. It is filmed in Brooklyn, New York. It is filmed in Utah. And it is filmed in Budapest, Hungary. So go figure that, huh? And the budget on this, I have that wrong, Andrew. I'll come back with the budget figures. I forgot to change that before I did this.
01:27:39
Speaker
Look, Midsummer, I think there's nary a person out there, Andrew, who has not seen this film if they are a horror fan, largely due to A24's just burgeoning fame as sort of a powerhouse for horror films over the past several years. So I know, obviously for you and me, this is not our first watch. So it is a multiple watch for us. What did you think about it this time?
01:28:05
Speaker
Yeah, so I had not seen this since I saw it in the theater. So it was a fun to go back to. I remember we went saw this together. I think we did. I think we may have even talked about it on the podcast as what you've been watching at one point. But
01:28:21
Speaker
Watching it this time, I still had a lot of the same reactions of like, you know, when we went to see this movie, we were fresh off of, you know, his first movie hereditary, which, you know, classically, we both really loved. And so going into, I think we had a lot of expectations of like, is this going to be his sophomore slump or is this going to be a really good movie?
01:28:43
Speaker
And thankfully, it's a really good movie. I think that Florence Pugh gives an Oscar-worthy performance in this movie, and I think that everyone does a pretty good job. I think Mark's a little over the top, if I'm being honest, but I think that's kind of like his character flaw.
01:29:01
Speaker
that he doesn't know he's he's the annoying american that doesn't know how to shut up but um i think that everyone does a great job i think that the this time around i was definitely you know just knowing what's going to happen you're filled with a lot more dread i sure yeah because on the first watch you're kind of like well is this just
01:29:21
Speaker
how what these people do or is this like something more sinister? Like you don't know. So going into it knowing that it's something a little bit more sinister, you kind of pick up on little cues here and there from the people that live in the village of like they know more than everyone else knows. And so it's kind of like you see it like it's little things like the way they smile at them or the way that they like look at them or the way they greet them.
01:29:49
Speaker
that they see them as a means to an end and not necessarily as friendly as what you initially may thought. So I thought that that was interesting to watch it from that lens this time around. Overall, I do think the movie may be slightly a little too long because I think that there's parts that they could trim up a little bit, but I'm not going to be too hard on the movie for that.
01:30:11
Speaker
because I think it does sell a compelling story. The only thing this time around that I will say that I have to give just like a little bit of attention to and I don't know if this is a negative thing for me or just like a thing for me is like they should
01:30:26
Speaker
should have realized what was happening earlier than they do. I think that some of the character choices, I feel especially bad for the character of Connie, who I'm just like, girl, you got to just get out of there. You know something's wrong. I feel especially bad for Simon and Connie just because
01:30:50
Speaker
we don't get to know them enough to know that they like quote unquote like deserved this. You know what I mean? Like Christian, Josh, Mark, they all do stuff that would warrant them as like, as a viewer, you would warrant them like, Oh, you guys are shitty. Like what happens to you happens to you. But with Connie and Simon,
01:31:09
Speaker
they literally all that happens is he freaks out during that one where they sacrifice themselves at 72. And rightly so because everyone would freak out if you didn't know what was going on. And so like, I don't know, I just felt like
01:31:27
Speaker
They should have figured this out earlier, and I don't think that they're the smartest characters. And but overall, I think that this is a really good portrait of grief, a really good portrait of gaslighting and like what that really looks like, because I think a lot of people overuse that term and don't really know exactly what it means. So agree with that.
01:31:48
Speaker
Um, but watching it this time, I definitely noticed that Christian or Christian, if you want to, they say in so many different ways in this movie, but, um, that he's just a real piece of shit from the very beginning. And I think on the first watch, I kind of gave him a lot more grace and this watch, I was like, no, you're just manipulating right from the beginning.
01:32:08
Speaker
I think that Ari Aster delivers kind of a fantastic look at this part of the world and some of the visuals that he chooses are just amazing. And I think that setting this in the daylight really gives you some weird feelings as a horror movie watcher because you're so used to things being in the dark that it is so
01:32:32
Speaker
It's it's just it throws you off kilter as like a horror movie watcher. And so I congratulate him on that of kind of giving me a new experience that maybe I did not have before. But like I said, I think just some of the character choices are a little off, but I can totally forgive it for that because I think it tells a really good movie, a really good plot or whatever. What are your thoughts?
01:32:55
Speaker
Uh, yeah, you know, look, I've, I've seen this many times, I saw it a couple of times in the theater. Um, a funny story about the first time we all saw it in the theater together. Cause it was me, Andrew, Michael, and we took our friend Bobby too, if you remember. Um, and so, you know, we were in the theater and of course like we all had popcorn and whatever.
01:33:11
Speaker
And so we get out of out of the film, right? And like, you know, we're all goofing around as we're leaving. And like I did that and I did it to Bobby, but I didn't realize that I still had popcorn in my mouth, if you remember. And I spit like popcorn all over Bobby. And it was it was very funny. Anyways, look,
01:33:33
Speaker
Uh, yeah, I agree with you on a lot of that. I think, you know, look, I've seen it many times this time watching it. I did. It's been a while since I watched it. So I was trying to remember like, wait a minute. Is it clear that Pella is bringing them there for this reason? Or like, you know, you know, did he was it would it would it be clear enough to me watching the film now, whether Danny was supposed to be part of his plan or not?
01:34:02
Speaker
And so I tried to remember a couple of those things. And, you know, going through the film, obviously you learn like, yeah, it was completely all part of his plan in the same way that his brother Ingmar was bringing Connie and Simon from London for whatever reason. We never get to know those reasons, but he brought them as the new blood sacrifices for this for this community. And, you know, it was one of the things that I thought about watching this, right?
01:34:27
Speaker
And this is this is a little it's a little left field, but just just roll with me on this if you could. Right. So like. They're all Americans, except for Simon and Connie, they're English, but the main group of people here, they're all Americans, right? Florence Pugh and Jack Rayner and Will Poulter and William Harper. So they're all Americans. They're all going to Europe for what you can guess is kind of the first time. It certainly seems that way. And they're going into a culture that they have no idea about.
01:34:55
Speaker
And it made me think about this moment that I had here a couple months ago. And I think I might have told you about this, Andrew, but I don't know. Maybe I didn't. I was at this little party in this community where I live. And it's a couple of gay guys that I was friendly with. And they were having people over. And they said, hey, come on over tonight. Just come by yourself, whatever. And so I went over there. I brought up a bottle of whiskey and was hanging out.
01:35:22
Speaker
And there was a another American woman who had recently moved here that joined this little get together, right? And not a big party. It's like a little house thing, right? So like, you know, seven or eight people basically. And so, you know, I met her and she's from Cape Cod and we're talking and whatever, whatever, you know, we're all hanging out for the night. And she like, you know, we're getting drunk and whatever. And she starts talking to the table about like reclaiming the swastika.
01:35:48
Speaker
And I was just drunk enough to hear that anti-Semitic bullshit. And I was like, what did you just say? And then we kind of went back and forth. And it was just some crazy bullshit that I had not heard before about literally reclaiming the symbol of the Nazis, which I understand, of course, is an ancient symbol. I get that. But for a white lady from Cape Cod, you don't have anything to reclaim, honey.
01:36:13
Speaker
Um, and also you're not Jewish, so shut the fuck up. Um, so it was this very weird moment, right? And like, I got really upset, um, because I really read that as antisemitic and I literally stood up from the table, I told her off and I left. And I, I was very hopping mad about this, right? As frankly, I think I should have been.
01:36:33
Speaker
Now, that's not the part of the story I want you to focus on. The part of the story I want you to focus on is what happens next, right? So, in that room, only me and her are the Americans. The rest are all people, mostly from Ireland or, you know, there was a guy from the Netherlands, right?
01:36:50
Speaker
What happened in that room, what she said about reclaiming a swastika, which no one has any room to say. Right. They really could have cared less about that. What they cared more about was my reaction to it. Right. And so those people were all more angry.
01:37:11
Speaker
that I wasn't allowing her opinion in this culture, then they worry about what had actually happened. So why do I bring that story up? I bring that story up because I'm an American constantly sort of butting up against different parts of the culture that I'm still learning, even in Ireland, which is a pretty easy culture to assimilate to.
01:37:32
Speaker
watching the movie this time as someone who has lived here for a long time at this point, like it was a it was a new lens for me watching this. It really was. And so what I tried to do watching this was like at the start of the film, the Horgas.
01:37:47
Speaker
I tried to like actually give them a lot more grace for the first time, if that means anything. And so I was watching them and like, well, this is just what they do, right? Like, actually, wait, why did I think this when I first watched this film that they were like evil people? Now I'm kind of like, actually, no, this is this is literally just their community and that's what it is. So the only way that that argument breaks down, though, is this.
01:38:11
Speaker
And it's obvious is that, yeah, they've got this community and yeah, they have their own little customs and yeah, they're odd to me, but you know, look, I can step back and deal with that. That's fine. Except for the fact that they do actually commit kidnapping and murder when you do. Right. Right. And so like, that's the part of it that just breaks the whole thing down. And then you are kind of left wondering like, well, wait a minute, how do I view this community of people? Like,
01:38:36
Speaker
I don't know. I still have a lot of questions about it, but it's interesting stuff. I totally agree with you about Connie and Simon, especially what happens to Simon. He gets the worst of it. That is wild.
01:38:51
Speaker
And folks, if you don't remember, what happens to him is they somehow open up his back and tie him up to like the roof of the barn where the chickens are and like hang him so that he's looking over the chickens. They put flowers in his eyes and they somehow still keep him alive while his lungs are literally on the outside of his body breathing.
01:39:15
Speaker
And it is gruesome when you see that. And on this watch, I forgot how gruesome that was. It's terrible. It's terrible to see. And just like you were saying, I don't really know what he did to deserve that. It's very, very fucked up, as opposed to the other people that, like you said, you don't really care what happens to them.
01:39:37
Speaker
Mark, I think, is definitely over the top, but I think he is exactly what he's supposed to be. And he ends up as the fool in the dunce cap at the very end, because he's the total foolish American that literally pisses on, like, basically their cemetery. Like, he's such a fucking idiot.
01:39:53
Speaker
that he ends up exactly where he's supposed to go. Josh ends up being a total prick by breaking into their sacred temple. And Christian is just a fucking idiot. The only thing I thought about with Christian this time, though, I will say this, is I also tried to remember, God, they all are just like kind of kids.
01:40:13
Speaker
Do you know what I mean? Think about yourself when you were that age in college. I was a fucking idiot back then, which I'm sure you were and most people were, because you're barely even 22 coming out of college. I did try to think, God, Christian is just a 22-year-old fucking dude, or however old he was.
01:40:36
Speaker
It kind of actually makes sense for him that he's being a fucking idiot with his girlfriend. But, you know, barring any of that, he's a fucking asshole. He's a total fucking asshole. And it's amazing to watch in the movie, the evolution of Danny from the very start where she is completely codependent.
01:40:55
Speaker
to the very end where her codependency is literally burned away and she finally learns to smile of her own accord and so I think the movie is just brilliant for that alone for the evolution that we see play out.
01:41:11
Speaker
And it's incredible, you know, the world that they create for, for housing land, for, for the Horgas is out of this world. Like it's, it's so fucking cool. And like you said, how about a horror film that is 95% in sunlight? Like that's absolutely fucking wild. So yeah, look, I could go on and on. I have a million great things to say about this movie and about Ari Aster in general.
01:41:33
Speaker
But you know, look, this one, watching it this time gave me a lot more questions to think about, gave me new things to consider, and once again, I highly enjoyed it.
01:41:44
Speaker
Yeah, I have two I have to like, I don't know, quirky questions to ask you about this movie to see, like, if you maybe thought some of the same things. There's two things. The first one I had in my notes is wouldn't those death rocks be stained a little bit more if every time somebody turns 72, they jump to their death onto them? Because it's out in the middle of nowhere. It's not like they have like hoses that are like, you know, rinsing them off afterwards.
01:42:11
Speaker
And then the only other one that I thought about this time that I had not thought about before is we have a lot of these moments where Danny sees visions of her sister. And every time every time she has this vision of her sister, apart from maybe one that I can think of, she has that hose contraption on her face. Basically, Danny never sees that.
01:42:37
Speaker
So I don't know why she would know what that looks like. Do you know what I'm saying? No, no, no, I get that. So I think, um, wait, what was your first question again? The rocks, rocks, rocks, rocks. Okay. So I think that that is actually an interesting point about the rocks, right? Because, okay. So yeah, they live in housing land and yeah, like,
01:42:57
Speaker
time is, I guess, kind of meaningless for them. I don't really know. But at the same time, obviously, it's present day. It's 2019. And they have a truck, right? So it's not like they're completely living off the land here, right? So I mean, there is something to be said about like, all right, this festival happens. And when people turn 72, they throw themselves off the rock or whatever.
01:43:21
Speaker
It's not an exactly efficient way to die. You know, one guy misses it completely. I know. Oh my God, it's awful. So I mean, like there, there is a question asked about like, I mean, why, why does this group of people think that suffering is so important, right? Because they could achieve the same results here with an injection that just puts them to sleep.
01:43:44
Speaker
Right, right over there. They could they could jack of working in this and just like, you know, have it be assisted suicide and you're done. It doesn't have to be people jumping off. They like like old old people getting up on top of a mountain, which is also probably hard for a 72 year old. And then they have to not only get up there, but they have to aim at the fairly small rock down below that they have to hit in order to die. You know what I mean?
01:44:08
Speaker
That's not exactly the best way of doing this, I would say. So, you know, why is it important for them that suffering occurs? And then, you know, we see that played out in other things, right? So it's like with Simon, we don't know why he's up there, but it's horrific. And he's certainly suffering very, very badly.
01:44:26
Speaker
So, you know, why was that important to them to have them suffer in that way too? Or I assume when Mark dies and they cut off his skin to make a body suit, that probably hurt. You're going to guess that he was probably alive when they did that or something.
01:44:42
Speaker
So I mean, there's a whole lot about this community that seems so peaceful, that seems so serene, everything looks perfect and clean, that they are actually fucking insane about that shit, for sure. And why aren't the rock stain? I don't fucking know, but that's very, very odd. For the next question,
01:45:00
Speaker
about why why she was seeing that. I don't know. The only thing that I can guess there is like she certainly she she would have been told what happened. Yeah. So maybe it's just like her imagining it basically I would say.
01:45:14
Speaker
Yeah, it was just something I thought about this time because some other things. I have some things written down here. I thought that the most brilliant shot of the movie is where we do the transition of her in the apartment bathroom to the plane bathroom. Yeah. Agree. It's so well done.
01:45:32
Speaker
I think that was just really well done and it kind of struck me this time around. The first clue that I had that Christian really was just kind of a dick bag is when he basically is talking to her about going to Sweden and he's like, I just decided today that I'm going. And then she looks at him and she goes, you already have a ticket. Yeah.
01:45:53
Speaker
Yeah, what the fuck, dude? Trying to think there, I think all of the I think all of the drug stuff, which obviously we're here to talk about, I think all of that is done really well. I think the trip, I think that the trips are like accurately portrayed, even though I've never tripped on shrooms before, but like.
01:46:12
Speaker
It's not so over the top. It's a lot of just everything's a little bit more fluid, everything's a little bit more wavy, and that's kind of what I imagined. There's some of these times in shrooms where it's portrayed as you're having an out of body, out of mind experience. I think that this is just maybe a little bit more accurate and a little bit more accessible when thinking about what a trip could be.
01:46:39
Speaker
Agreed. This one keeps them housed in their bodies, which is actually a little bit more terrifying.
01:46:47
Speaker
Yeah, I do think that the one thing I think that was really funny with Mark is where he is tripping. And he's like, what time is it? And they're like nine p.m. And he's like, what? No, no, no, no, no. And he kind of has like a minor freak out and he like tells everybody, like, lay down, everyone lay down. I thought that that was that was actually a pretty endearing part of the character. That was pretty funny. I do have my notes. Ari Aster has a thing about heads in his movies I've noticed.
01:47:14
Speaker
I have not seen Beau is afraid yet. If this tradition carries on, but in both hereditary and in this movie, there is like significant smashing of, of heads, which I thought was just something interesting to think about.
01:47:29
Speaker
I thought this time around the dream that she has of all of them getting up in the middle of the night and leaving her was actually much more sinister upon this watch just kind of knowing what's about to happen. I think that Pele is the secret villain of the entire movie. Totally.
01:47:48
Speaker
He plays it off like he is the nicest, most gentlest guy when he is in actuality leading all four of these people, or wait, three, three of these people to their deaths, which I was like, oh, you are much more sinister than I gave you credit for the first time around.
01:48:04
Speaker
Um, and you know, it really is kind of his doing that brings Danny along because he kind of sits her down and like, you know, talks to her like a human being, like none of these other guys do. And so it wins the trust of her. And I think that he's the whole reason. I don't think Christian's the whole reason. I think Pelé is the whole reason why she even goes in the first place. Um,
01:48:27
Speaker
I think that there's a couple of there's one really funny part that cracked me up this time around, and it's right before they're going to do the dance contest. And she gives the one girl I don't know that I don't think they say her name. So I'm not saying the character's name, but she's the one that leads her into the dance and everything. And she gives her the tea and they both drink it. And then she goes, oh, here we go. I know. Yes, it's so good. Oh, my God.
01:48:54
Speaker
I think that the depiction of how the Horgas all feel each other's feelings up and into the part at the end where they're basically all on fire with that guy that's on fire. I think that that's all very interesting how they kind of share emotion and share feelings in a certain way. And I would like to know more about how that all kind of like works in their little community because I thought that that was really interesting.
01:49:22
Speaker
I think that, like I said, I think the characters just, they take disappearances of people really lightly and I don't know why because there's only like six of them there that don't belong. And so when those people start to systematically disappear and they're just like, well, I guess he's just with that girl or well, I guess he ran off with the book or well. And I'm like, yeah, guys, come on. I like the one when they're at the table and the random Swedish dude is like, oh, I can speak to that.
01:49:50
Speaker
I drove her here and I'm like, Oh, okay. Um, you know, and I think part of that is, you know, I think, I think a lot of that, um, the parts of that, that feel like, boy, if I was in that situation, I would react differently. I think that that's all really deliberate from Ari Aster, right? I mean, like, I mean, I think that what he is creating here is just a very long nightmare and, um, and it, and it largely works. And you know, it looks sometimes in your nightmares, you, you know, what you're doing and stuff.
01:50:17
Speaker
Pardon me and sometimes you don't. A few things about the film too that are interesting. Original rating for the movie was NC-17, but about 30 minutes were cut from the final film. You can see those in the director's cut and those are the parts of it that would have given at the NC-17.
01:50:37
Speaker
i'm the only american in the film is william jackson harper i was gonna say when i was looking at the group i was like florence pew not american will not american and jack rainer was born in colorado but he is irish
01:50:53
Speaker
And Jack Rainer was in a film that I talked about a long, it would have been a long time ago in one of the What You've Been Watchin's film called What Richard Did from 2012, which is really pretty damn good. I recommend seeing that one. Florence P. was Irish, is English, pardon me, and Will Poulter, of course, is English, and all the rest of the actors were either Swedish, British, or Hungarian. One interesting thing that I found was this, and it is this. Midsummer's Feast turns around the number nine.
01:51:22
Speaker
The complete ritual lasts for nine days, in which nine lives are sacrificed to purify all of the town. In addition, Pele explains to Danny and the rest of the newcomers that the cycle of life conceived by Horga's people marks at 18 years the end of childhood, or nine times two.
01:51:42
Speaker
of youth at 36, or 9 times 4, of maturity at 54, or 9 times 6, and of the aged and the end of life at 72, which is 9 times 8. In addition, the feast itself is celebrated every 90 years, which is 9 times 10, of course, implying that each one of the sacrificed equal 10 years of purity for Horgas people.
01:52:07
Speaker
Even the feast's name, Midsummer, has nine letters. Also, at the beginning of the movie, when Dani leaves a message for her parents, the answering machine number counts up to nine before it leaves the frame. The importance of nine derives from the old myth of Odin, father of all Norse gods, who was hung up upside down for nine days in Yggdrasil, tree of the world, in order to bring knowledge to the world, creating the Futhark, or the Runic language.
01:52:36
Speaker
Isn't that interesting? Yeah, that's really interesting. I didn't know it went that deep. But now that I'm thinking about it, that makes a lot of sense. I guess I have one other question and I want to get your thoughts on it. So Pele tells Danny at one point when he's kind of giving her the speech about Christian and like, does he feel like home to you?
01:52:56
Speaker
And he says, you know, I lost my parents, too. They burned up in a fire. So are we to imply that his parents were the sacrifice, the festival before? You know, I was thinking about that, too. But I, you know, I don't know because part of it also is like, it doesn't the festival only happen every 90 years.
01:53:15
Speaker
See, my understanding is that, I mean, I guess you could see it either way, but like for the amount of May queens that they have up on that wall, so they have like a wall of pictures of all the May queens. That's true, and there's an awful lot of them. And I think that the festival happens every year, but the sacrifice happens every 90 years.
01:53:37
Speaker
Okay, so okay, wait, wait, let's get this straight. You turn 72, you die. That happens every time. We know that. The festival happens every year. We know that. But the killing of the nine people, that's only every 90 years. That's the way I understand it. Okay, yeah, I mean, but you know, this is a good point. If we're looking for things that aren't necessarily perfect in an Ari Aster film, this is maybe one of them.
01:54:04
Speaker
And it's not a surprise because there's an awful it's an awful lot to keep track of in this movie. And so this is one that maybe isn't fully fleshed out that we have a full understanding of it.
01:54:14
Speaker
Yeah, because for him to know his parents and to know that they were the sacrifice, that math doesn't make sense for nine years. I don't know. Maybe some little listener will reach out on social media and explain that to us. Andrew, is there any other insights you'd like to share about Midsummer?
01:54:35
Speaker
All I'll leave it with is when when they are doing the deed and that woman comes up and starts singing right in front of Christian's face. I was like, whoa, boner killer. Or how about the other one pushing his ass into it? Oh, my frickin God. Andrew, what did you rate this film?
01:54:52
Speaker
I'm going to give it a 5.5, and I'm going to say brilliantly shot and acted by all, but I find a little bit of flaws in some of the character choices. Fair enough. It's not my favorite Ariastre film, but it's right up there, and I give this one a 6.5. I think that the scope of the film is incredible, and Ariastre continues to find ways to winnow down the depths of our beings as humans and discover the darkest parts of who we are that we hide from ourselves every day.
01:55:20
Speaker
I think the film is terrifying, thought-provoking, empowering, and haunting. Awesome. Well, that will do it for Midsommar. We are going to take our final break of the episode, and we'll be right back with a brand new game called A Drug By Any Other Name. I get angry just thinking about it makes me mad. Little kid's doing drugs. It turns my stomach. That stuff hurts.
01:55:46
Speaker
to stop you from living up to your potential. It holds you back. It hurts the user. It hurts his family. And it hurts his friends. I just want to shake some sense into you kids that I use in drugs and think about using it. So remember,
01:56:00
Speaker
Don't! Or else! Folks, this is the end of episode 105 of Friday the 13th Horror Podcast. But before we go, as we end every episode, we have a little game for you, and Andrew has cooked one up called A Drug by Any Other Name. So Andrew, take us through what this game is. So yes, this is a game that I've devised where I've taken popular drugs and picked out their meat. You've taken popular drugs? Yes.
01:56:28
Speaker
Um, right on this episode, I'm tripping as we speak, but, um, no, uh, I took kind of maybe their most, um, maybe not as common name. I don't want to say straight name because I don't like that connotation of drugs. Um, but just kind of maybe what they're, what else they're called in culture. Um, so we're going to start with
01:56:49
Speaker
maybe a little of an easier one and we'll get into the harder ones. I have five here. Sounds good. So do your best to give me what you think the regular drug name is on these. Sounds crazy. The first one is Jolly Green.
01:57:03
Speaker
So wait, you want me to tell you what drug this is? Yes. Jolly green is cannabis. Yes. That's correct. Got it. Um, and that's the next one is disco biscuits. Um, is this quaaludes MDMA MDMA. Okay. Okay. Next one is Scooby snacks. Scooby snacks. Is that like,
01:57:29
Speaker
Is this like, like edibles, methamphetamines? Really? They call that Scooby Snacks? Yes. Okay. All right. Um, the next one is pizza toppings. Pizza? What's pizza? What the fuck? Pizza toppings. Well, it had to be like a pizza topping, wouldn't it? So like, is that like, Oh my God, Andrew, I have no idea. Is it just like ecstasy or something? We've talked about them a lot on this episode.
01:57:59
Speaker
We did shrooms. Yeah. We put shrooms on pizza. Duh. Oh man. And then your final one is Georgia homeboy. Georgia homeboy. Is this heroin? Uh, GHB or the date rape drug. Oh fun. Great. That's awesome. Yes. Perfect. Everyone's favorite drug really in the end.
01:58:22
Speaker
Yeah, well that will do it for episode 105. Want to do a couple little housekeeping things if you want to support Frage the 13th Horror Podcast. If you've enjoyed what you've been listening to for the last two hours, please become a patron on Patreon if you can, or buy merch at frage13.com slash support.
01:58:40
Speaker
And folks too, speaking of new patrons, we have a new patron from Ireland. His name is Lee. And Lee and I follow each other on Twitter. You can follow Lee at Hooray Horror. So H-U-R-R-A-Y Horror. Good dude. We've been to a couple of the same premieres together and we're often on Twitter bantering about a couple of things happening over here.
01:59:01
Speaker
So Lee, thank you very much for your support. It really, really means a lot to us. And thank you everyone who is considering becoming a patron with us or already is. Like Andrew said, it's important to us. We are an independent podcast and the money that we get from things like Patreon is invested directly back into the show. So it helps us with doing
01:59:28
Speaker
going on the trip that we did to Salem to do some really cool research, or if we ever need a new microphone or anything, that's what that stuff pays for. So if you have a minute to even just drop us a dollar a month, that's super, super helpful. So Andrew, that is fun. And I think that the only thing left to say really, am I right, is just this, and that is to get slayed.