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EPISODE 120: PUBLIC TRANSIT IS TERRIFYING!
973 Plays6 months ago
EPISODE 120: PUBLIC TRANSIT IS TERRIFYING!
Commuting can really suck— but add in public transit to the mix? The results can be terrifying. Listen in as we chat about etiquette on public transit, horror stories from workers, and some crazy stories from commuters!
HORROR IN THE MOVIES
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON and MIMIC will have you second guessing taking that train…
WHATCHA BEEN WATCHIN’, BITCH?!
Listen in to hear what we’ve been watchin’... bitch!
HOTTIE OF THE EPISODE
Who is the hottest character in these films? Listen in to find out!
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Frage the 13th Horror Podcast is a proud, independent podcast. To learn more about the show, visit frage13.com. Next stop, Leslie Gaye Falls, by Bay Tour Avenue.
00:00:14
Speaker
Andrew, that's our stop. Oh, okay, uh, let's start making our way towards the door. Oh, excuse us, sorry. Fuck off. Oh, sorry, uh, just trying to get off the train. Got any change? Oh, I'm sorry, card only these days. Oh, I have Venmo. Oh, uh, okay, show me your code then.
00:00:37
Speaker
Uh, excuse us, can we get through? Last call for Lesbighay Falls. Doors closing. For fuck's sake, why are these people moving? Yeah, where could they all be going? Next stop, Swiftieville, with a stop off at a little Monsterland. Um... It's episode 120, public transit is terrifying. I am the writing on the wall, the whisper.
00:01:07
Speaker
I'm Marjorie Greene, and I approve this message to save America, stop socialism, and stop China. Thank you all and we honor thee from life to death's horizon! Hoorah in real life. Doubters, the doomsday, the gloomsters, they are going to get it wrong. Hoorah in memory. Where are you going to go? Where are you going to run? Where are you going to hide? Nowhere.
Viral Video Discussion
00:01:59
Speaker
people have been shocked by this video posted on social media, it's a young woman who refuses to move her expensive Louis Vuitton bag on a commuter train so other people could sit down.
00:02:18
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of Frygate the 13th
Episode Milestone and Public Transit
00:02:21
Speaker
Horror Podcast. My name is Matty. And I'm Andrew. And if this is your first time with us at Frygate the 13th Horror Podcast, this is the podcast all about horror. Horror in real life and in the movies from an LGBT perspective because we're both LGBTs.
00:02:37
Speaker
Well, we're both G's. We're part of the LGB team. We're in the family, you know what I mean? We're in that alphabet, right? So folks, this is our 120th episode, which is pretty wild. Another milestone, I feel like. Every time we get into a new 10, I always feel like, oh yeah, new reset. Right, yeah. I was looking at, for some reason,
00:03:05
Speaker
I like to look at how many episodes are in things and what the total runtime is on things. I just like to look at that. And I was looking at Curb Your Enthusiasm and I think there were 122 episodes of that. So Andrew, we've almost beat Curb. There it is. Nice. And with the writing chops, who knows how far we can go.
00:03:27
Speaker
I mean, yeah, I mean, listen to our skits. Our skits are. I mean, Larry David has nothing on us with us, which brings me to the next point. Larry David is our guest today on the show. He's not our guest on the show, but we are. We are your constant guests as the co-host of the show. So, folks, this is an episode all about public transit. I can guarantee you no matter where the fuck you live in the world, it is not good.
00:03:52
Speaker
It just period it's not good. I don't care where you live maybe in England That's that's the one public transit that I'm like fuck. This is good public transit, but even there it will drive you crazy So we'll have plenty to complain about when it comes to that But Andrew before we kick off that we'll do what we always do and go to the certified terrifying corner The first thing is this I'll be you if you if you've listened to the news or watch the news or however you get the news you saw that
00:04:21
Speaker
Israel fired some missiles into Syria and killing a couple of, or I think six Iranian generals, I'm fairly sure. And Iran fired back at Israel. None of those missiles hit Israel except for one missile that hit, I think like somewhere sort of over by the West Bank.
00:04:43
Speaker
And it ended up actually hurting a very young Arab girl, which was pretty ridiculous. And then Israel hit Iran again. And it's sort of like, is that ever going to end? Just like, please let it end. The war is bad enough as it is. Let's not make it get any worse. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. Yeah.
00:05:06
Speaker
Interesting yeah i don't know this is it must be just i feel really bad for people that live in that part of the world right now i don't know how else to put it is just like the people that are in charge and making this all happen at the expense of people that have nothing to do with it is just.
00:05:27
Speaker
Really awful. Yeah, it's war. It's war. The next thing that we have here is that Trump has cut into Biden's lead among young people of a recent poll found this week. In 2020, Biden was leading among young people by 23 points over Trump. Now it's only by eight points.
00:05:49
Speaker
I don't get this. I don't like our people. I do you know where the poll came from? I can't remember. This is it. This was reported pretty widely, though. The article that I read was from Politico, so it would have been one of the major polls.
00:06:06
Speaker
I'm wondering if there is a sense of contrarianism going on? Do you know what I mean? I remember it wasn't really about presidents and stuff when we were younger, but you know how when people are so for something that you just want to be not for that?
00:06:26
Speaker
Does that make sense? I don't know. Yeah. Well, I think especially with young people, I think I think and look, obviously I love young people. We have young people that listen to the show. So I'm not I'm not trying to lambast all y'all. I am saying that there is sort of like a big cringe factor going on right now. Everything. Everything. Ernest is cringe, which I just I can't.
00:06:45
Speaker
Stand that it drives me insane. And so I think that that's part of it I would imagine and I think that the other part of it is Gaza and You know what? I will say is what I've said before if you think that Joe Biden's doing a bad job about Gaza Which is by the way, not even in America. I just want to point that out. He doesn't have that much control over it Good luck with Donald Trump
00:07:09
Speaker
Yeah, seriously, I wonder I wonder what he'll do about Israel and Palestine. Hmm, probably involves a nuclear weapon I think you're probably better off with Joe Biden and we can figure out things after the election But like get your fucking head out of the thought of your ass. Like that's it's ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous
00:07:27
Speaker
Yeah, and we know he won't be convicted of anything until after president. It's not gonna happen there. You know what I mean? Okay, so let's get on with the episode now. So going into going into thinking about public transit.
00:07:42
Speaker
There's a number of things that I think about when I'm getting on to transit here. In Dublin, what we have, we have buses, of course. And the buses are actually not that bad, believe it or not. And buses here, all buses are double-decker, which is nice too. So if you're going on a bit of a longer trip, if you can get the top level up at the front, that's a great seat. It's so nice.
00:08:08
Speaker
Um, but like the main problem with the buses here is that nobody waits in a queue. Nobody. And I gotta tell you, it drives me like, it might be the thing that makes me like, that drives me the most insane about living in Ireland.
00:08:26
Speaker
Is that like, I mean, like when I'm getting on a bus in the morning, I have to get on that bus. And if we're not all in a line, right, the bus is going to come and it's, it's probably going to be full because people are going to work. Right. So if you get in the queue in front of me who, and I've been waiting there for five, 10 minutes, whatever. Why the fuck would you think you get to get on that bus before me? You know what I mean? And then if the bus is full, what the fuck am I supposed to do when your ass is getting on it? Do you know what I'm saying?
Personal Transit Experiences and Etiquette
00:08:56
Speaker
Yeah, no. I mean, coming from Chicago where I mostly take the train, sometimes I'll get on a bus every once in a while, but mostly it's the train, is we have the people that like to get on and then just wait at the door so no one else can get on instead of moving to the middle because apparently
00:09:16
Speaker
they're more important and they need to be by the door at all times instead of walking in. Uh, so I understand your, oh yeah. And, and I have to ride the red line, which in the summertime is also a cub season and socks season, which they connect. So at trying to get home from work when there is a cubs game is a nightmare.
00:09:42
Speaker
The other thing that we have here is we have trains that would take you from city to city, but within Dublin, we have a tram service called The Lewis, the L-U-A-S. And The Lewis, it's not the worst. It's actually, it's kind of a nice little system. It just doesn't go everywhere that you need it to go, unfortunately. But the people on The Lewis can be fucking just the biggest scumbags. My God, scumbags.
00:10:11
Speaker
There's a couple of things that drive us insane here. Number one, it's people vaping on the Lewis, and I don't know if it's happening in Chicago now, but people just fucking rip a vape on a fucking enclosed thing like it's nothing, like it's nothing. It's fucking weird. And then, of course, you've got a lot of drunk people who can get kind of violent, to be honest, and those people are scary. You just don't talk to them, don't look at them, and keep away from them.
00:10:40
Speaker
It's very weird. Yeah, we we have to have special announcements on our trains now to tell people not to smoke. Amazing. Because apparently now it's cool to just like light up on the train.
Public Transit Challenges and Stories
00:10:52
Speaker
And it is like literally you guys like it takes about five seconds for that train to fill up with smoke. Like it is not like it's drafty. And I remember distinctly in Chicago taking the red line. This is in 2019, taking the red line down down to work.
00:11:09
Speaker
I would have taken the brown line to the red line to get there. And we were going down and we had gone into the tunnel and it was kind of like just after that crowded red line train shoulder to shoulder people everywhere.
00:11:24
Speaker
in like the middle of the fucking train this dude lights up a cigarette a cigarette and everyone is just like oh my god how is this happening and you don't want to be the person to say anything because then you are target numero uno what if they fucking kill you so but that morning i'll tell you this i was not going to be fucked around with
00:11:46
Speaker
And so I got my phone out, I didn't care how loud I was. And I'm not a huge fan of calling the cops, you know what I mean? But I will call them when it's necessary. I fucking call the cops. And I was like, hey, I'm on red line, the car number, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And there is a man smoking a cigarette on this train. And they said, okay, we'll take care of it, what stop are you at, blah, blah, blah, blah, great, got it. And I'll tell you what, the fucking next stop, Andrew, those cops were on that fucking train.
00:12:14
Speaker
And he pulled that guy off and I was I felt like a local hero that day. I felt very good about it. That's funny. All right. So that is some minor complaints here. But do we want to get into the unwritten rules? Yeah. Like transit as written and contributed to by us. God damn right. All right. Do you just want to take turns and make sure.
00:12:40
Speaker
My first one is take your backpack off if it is a crowded train. Oh, my God. Literally, you don't know what you're hitting with that giant backpack. And it is. It's basically an assault rifle on a train that takes people down. So please take it off. Put it between your legs. Carry it.
00:12:59
Speaker
And like, okay, if it's like a really thin backpack, like really thin. Nobody has a thin backpack anymore. I'm just saying, if it is, okay, fine. But like, let's face it, that's never the case. You've got your laptop, you've got your notebook, you've got your lunch, you've got your blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever.
00:13:16
Speaker
These days, people got their tent, they got their back. Exactly. And it's fucking huge. Take it off. It basically means another person can't stand there. Not good. Next one is, do not bring other modes of transportation on the transportation.
00:13:32
Speaker
I get that everyone loves these gigantic scooters that they have now and like their gigantic bikes or their fucking like double wide baby stroller. Yes, I don't need it. And like, especially with the strollers, man, I got to tell you, like, look, they don't fit. I'm sorry. Well, and the thing is this, like, I know you got to get around with your kids. I get that. And I don't think it's wrong to bring it on.
00:13:57
Speaker
all that I'm asking, all I'm asking is that during rush hour when people are going to work, that's not the time for your double wide baby stroller. I'm sorry, but it's not. Or if you're gonna get on, you take the baby out and you hold it and you fold up the fucking stroller. It's not hiding. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry.
00:14:18
Speaker
And half the time, it's not even there are two people there and two babies in the double wide stroller. It's one baby and and all your other shit that you're shopping bags. Yeah. So. All right. The next one we've kind of already talked about, but don't crowd the door and I got.
00:14:36
Speaker
You can let people out when the car... Oh my God. Listen, I have seen so many people just stand there when the train pulls up. And I'm like, you know, people are getting out, right? They don't care. Let them get out and then get on the train. It's not that difficult. They don't give a fuck. I remember I was getting off, there's a train here called the Dart, and it takes you to another city kind of thing. And I was coming back and in Dublin, I got off. I was trying to get off.
00:15:02
Speaker
but people were literally like barricading outside the door. I know. And Andrew, all I said was, excuse me. And this guy went off on me, went off on me. And like, I just walked on cause I didn't want to get fucking killed. But in my head, I'm like,
00:15:18
Speaker
Are you literally fucking insane like how do you think you're gonna get on unless people get off. Next one here is move to the middle like you do not need to stand right where you got on move to the middle so that people can get on so the train can actually just like function the way that it's supposed to function.
00:15:39
Speaker
Next one, stop lining up to get off. Like you're at the airport. This is not, you know, you're not group A, you're not group B. Like when you're, when your stop is coming, you can of course make your way to the door, but you do not need to make your way to the door three stops before you're getting off. Like it's you'll don't worry. You're going to get off the train. It's okay, buddy. Andrew, why don't you take this next one too? Cause you wrote that one.
00:16:04
Speaker
All right, don't talk to me unless you're asking something about the stop. If you're saying, hey, hey, is this the stop for A, B, or C? Sure, I'll take out my headphone and say like, yeah, yeah, this is it. Don't talk to me. I don't want to talk to you. I don't need to make small talk on the train. This is not the time for chitchat in the morning. I just want to put my headphones in and make it to my stop and move along on my day. Yeah, yeah. The only thing I will say is this.
00:16:33
Speaker
is if it's like an old person, then I'm fine with it. And like there was this old lady recently on the bus with me, and I think I might even talked about this in a recent episode, but like she just started, like she's old and she just started talking to me and I was, and usually I would be like, okay, and like kind of turn away.
00:16:50
Speaker
But she started talking to me and I was like, something in my head went, you gotta talk to her. And so I did. And she was so lovely. My God. And she had the same name as my mom. And I got off the bus and I started crying. It was so lovely. In contrast to that, I was on the train a couple of weeks ago and had my headphones in just minding my own business.
00:17:11
Speaker
And this punk kid who had been walking up and down the train decided to take the seat next to me, then started harassing all the people around him. He was trying to talk to the person that was standing up. He was trying to talk to the person sitting next to him. Then he tried to talk to me.
Transit Behavior and Safety Concerns
00:17:25
Speaker
And when I didn't talk back to him, he called me, oh, look how gay this person is. This person is so gay. And I was just like, dude, you are like 13 years old. Can you just move along?
00:17:37
Speaker
I mean, Andrew, you are you are pretty gay, you know, so I guess you got that right. You got that right. The next one here is no one wants to hear your music. And I'll tell you what, I'm going to combine this with another one down the list, which is don't play your tic tocs or reels or videos on your phone without headphones. So music and videos, whatever it is on your phone that makes noise.
00:17:58
Speaker
Get a pair of headphones and use them. Use them. It is, I'll tell you, the reason why I hate TikTok so much besides this being a shitty platform is that it has given everyone the perception that they are allowed to listen to insane videos nonstop wherever, whenever, however they wanna do it. And I've got some news for you. If you do that,
00:18:27
Speaker
You need to go to a gulag in Siberia. Goodbye. Next one. Seats are for people, not for bags. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I'm pretty good at being the dick that will walk up to the seat and just go, I'm going to sit here, move your bag. And I kind of enjoy doing it.
00:18:48
Speaker
Um, next one is do not man spread, right? I'm a tall guy. You know, look, I don't always like to have my legs exactly close together, but when I'm on public transit with other people, I respect them enough that I'm not going to like spread my legs open. Like my balls are hanging down or something. It's absolutely ridiculous the way that people do it. It's insane.
00:19:08
Speaker
You have to be mindful of your body. Thank you. Yes. And that's just goes with that is just like, hey, we're all cramped here. They've made these seats like not they made these seats for not real people. So get it. But like try to just be a little smaller. Make yourself as small as you can. That's that's the idea.
00:19:30
Speaker
You can take the next two because I don't think that these should even be done on the train at all. So, so, so I have down here, don't eat like a slob and don't spill your drinks. I mean, now look, there are times when I'm in a rush or like, you know, I have this new collapsible coffee cup that I really love. And I, I like to bring a coffee with me in the morning if I can.
00:19:50
Speaker
So I bring my coffee on the bus or on the Lewis, but I'm responsible. I have it. I hold it. I don't put it down somewhere. I never spill it. I have it under control. It's a collapsible coffee cup that goes back into my bag when I'm done with it.
00:20:07
Speaker
but people who got their giant ass fucking trenta fucking cups of this or that or whatever, you know what's going to happen? You're going to spill it or you're going to get tired of holding it and you're going to leave it there and you're a pig if you do that.
00:20:22
Speaker
Do you hear me? You're a pig. We don't have trashes on the train. And as far as food goes, like I get it. It's the morning. Maybe you're going to have a banana. Maybe you're going to have a bars, you know, something like that. But the people who are bringing like, I mean, fuck, I remember in Chicago, people, I remember like watching people eat like fucking chicken wings on a bus eating like, I don't know, fucking like sloppy burger. And I'm just sitting there thinking, what the fuck is wrong with you? Like, are you, how are you even enjoying that food right now?
00:20:52
Speaker
Yeah, before the pandemic, I remember there were a couple of years where there was just like this thing where there were just chicken bones everywhere. Like literally people would eat them and leave them on the floor of the L. And I just, I can't fathom doing that. I really can't. How you gonna dip your ranch? I know, seriously.
00:21:13
Speaker
And then finally, I think a universal rule that everyone should follow in every situation, not just on the public transit, is don't touch me. I don't want to be touched. Don't touch me. You know, the last time that this happened to me was on the Lewis. I was taking it to go see my friends and there was this drunk idiot. I sat down in one of the seats. There was no one next to me. I was like, ah, good.
00:21:35
Speaker
And this drunk, smelly asshole just had to sit right next to me. And he sits down really hard and he has his leg right up against me. And like, he knows that he's doing it. He knew that he, I think he was like weirdly trying to hit on me or something. It was very fucking weird.
00:21:53
Speaker
And he had like a fanny pack on and like that, like he moved it over so that it was literally on top of me and I moved it and I was like, Hey, could you watch it? And so he was like, Oh, oh, oh, whatever. And he took, he took it back and then his, he just kept pushing his leg onto me until I finally had to like move him over.
00:22:11
Speaker
he jumped up out of the seat and like threatened to hit me. And I was like, okay, all right. Okay. All I was doing was just, I just moved my leg and I was just like in my head. I was like, Oh my God, I could probably flatten this guy right now, but I'm not in a fight. I'm not in fighting mode. And like, I just don't want to get punched right now. You know what I mean? So just like, just, just ignore him, look out the window, do whatever you can. But I fucking hate being touched. And especially on public transit, I fucking hate it.
00:22:40
Speaker
Yeah, too many germs there to begin with, so why are you eating, drinking, or touching? Getting that bacteria, getting that fungus. All right, Matty, I see a couple of articles that you've pulled, and then I have some crazy transit stories. Which way do you want to go first? Let me get through mine. I'm going to bounce around a little bit.
00:23:01
Speaker
I love living here. I do. But there's a lot of scumbags in Dublin. That's just something that you need to know if you ever visit here. And my niece was just here. Hi, Anna. Anna listens to every episode. Hi, Anna. It was so good to have you here.
00:23:17
Speaker
Um, and when I told you and I, when we were going out into Dublin, the first day she was here, I said, listen on the bus, like don't talk to drunk people. Like I really mean that they're going to, they're going to try to talk to you. It's not like Nashville. It's not even like Chicago. Like don't talk to them at all. Just ignore them completely. Because if you don't, they will just.
00:23:37
Speaker
they'll just be scumbags and they'll just do stupid shit because that's what they do. But part of what happens here a lot is a lot of racial attacks and a lot of sexual abuse. And it's really come to the forefront lately. There have been some stories in Dublin of men following young girls up to the top floor of a bus and touching them. It's been some scary things I want
00:24:02
Speaker
There's an article that I'll tell you about from the Irish Independent, and it's about the people who work on public transit. And the article is just called, it's a quote, I see racial attacks and women sexually abused on buses. And there's a driver whose name is Vanessa O'Keefe, and she has seen drug use, racial attacks, women being abused, and sexual assaults during the 17 years she's been a bus driver.
00:24:27
Speaker
She's among transport workers speaking about their experiences as a new survey was published where most believe that antisocial behavior has gotten worse in the last year. The survey from union members in the transport sector shows that 83% feel that abuse and antisocial behavior is an issue for them at work. That is insane. 83% think about that.
00:24:50
Speaker
Wow. Some 21% say they experienced this on a daily basis and 30% on a weekly basis. Antisocial behavior and abuse was an issue for nearly all of them, 98% of them who work on the Lewis service, which I spoke about earlier in Dublin, 84% saying that it was a major concern. And nearly three quarters said that abuse was a daily occurrence for them, while just under a quarter said it occurred at least once a week.
00:25:17
Speaker
A quote here, I had to endure two passengers racially abuse a woman with no response from security. My God. And they said, as a human, morally, where do I stand? I stand that it isn't to be accepted and tolerated in any walk of life.
00:25:34
Speaker
but because I'm a driver and the procedure is to stay in your cab at all times or I can be reprimanded, it's a catch-22, and it's horrible to be in that. Alan O'Brien, who's a customer assurance agent on the Lewis, said he has experienced multiple assaults. He says that, myself and many of my colleagues have been assaulted, threatened with violence, threatened with sexual violence. It's a daily occurrence.
00:25:59
Speaker
It's like our commuter rail, basically. He has noticed a lot of antisocial behavior on trains in recent years, including people dealing drugs. Many frontline staff said that they suffered physical abuse, and staff from minority communities reported that abuse at work has been a greater issue for them.
00:26:20
Speaker
Staff including drivers and ticket staff at Dublin Bus, Go Ahead Ireland, Irn Road Aaron, Lewis, Bus Aaron, and Air Coach were surveyed at the start of the year, and the union launched a campaign for calling the immediate establishment of a National Transport Advisory Council. It said this council has been part of legislation since 2008. They just haven't done it yet. It's insane.
00:26:42
Speaker
And it wants a development of a unit dedicated to policing public transport and a transport charter outlining what is unacceptable behavior towards staff. So, you know, I mean, look, this is stuff that I've seen. And there are times when honestly, like you can be kind of scared here to get off at a stop because you'll look out the window
00:27:04
Speaker
and there's a huge group of teenagers and you know what they're up to. I mean, truly, they are waiting to just fuck somebody up because the other part of it here too in Ireland is that, man, if you're a kid, I mean, if you're under 18,
00:27:21
Speaker
Seriously, it's almost like you're invincible. The cops don't do anything to you. If you're an adult, you can't go anywhere near a fucking kid or you will be in jail. So basically, if a kid attacks you, even if you attack back in self-defense, you're the one that's going to get in trouble. And the kids know this. They know it. So they just do whatever the fuck they want, especially
00:27:45
Speaker
That's weird. It's very, very fucked up. It is something in this country that needs to be reformed. There has to be reform on it because there's so much violence from these kids. I'm not saying that these kids are devils. I'm saying that, look,
00:28:02
Speaker
They clearly are being brought up in some very awful circumstances, or they've got a lot of trauma, or they have mental illness issues, whatever. But that doesn't preclude the fact that they are hurting people and sometimes causing serious damage, especially on public transit. So it's really scary stuff. And it's not just in Dublin. I mean, there's another article here that I'm not going to go through just for time's sake.
00:28:24
Speaker
But it's not just in Dublin. It happens in Cork, it happens in Galway, it happens in the north, and it's not good. And thinking about the recent riots that we had in Dublin, it was on Thanksgiving Day last year, those same people that I'm talking about right now, they hit public transit hard. They burned buses in Dublin. They burned an entire Lewis tram, which was insane to see. So I mean, people here, it's nuts. The country needs to do something more.
00:28:53
Speaker
It really does. Yeah, that's that's correct. I mean, I will say anytime I see a group of especially teenage boys, I I I cross the street. Yep, it's not worth it. They are. They're going to say something to you. They're going to throw something. Who would have thought this is this is the thing about teenagers. And I will I will break it down this way and feel free to weigh in. But I really do think that teenage girls are all about words and teenage boys are all about like action.
00:29:22
Speaker
Like girls will cut you down within an inch of your life within moments and boys will just fucking push you or hit you or throw something at you. I think that's pretty accurate. Yeah.
00:29:37
Speaker
but teenagers are scary. Maybe we should do an episode. That's our next episode, Andrew, right there. That's it. All right. Well, do you want to hear some crazy public transit stories that were submitted, submitted anonymously? Do I? Yes, I do. So this is from the site board panta, if our panda, sorry, if you've never been to that site, it's a lot like Reddit where people anonymously post things or post questions and people answer things.
00:30:04
Speaker
So they put up a post about like, what's your craziest transit story? And then they put it to a vote and they kind of had like the top like 75 stories. So I just picked a couple of random ones that I thought were either funny or terrifying. The first one, I was waiting for the bus late at night when a guy with a trench coat approached me. First of all, I'll just say, walk the other way.
00:30:26
Speaker
and whispered, Psst, hey, want some meat? Oh, God. Why? I immediately thought he was going to flash me. But before I could react, he opened his trench coat to reveal meat, actual meat in styrofoam packages, in his trench coat pockets, ground meat, chicken, all kinds of meat.
00:30:47
Speaker
I didn't even know what to say. So I mumbled something about being a vegetarian and ran to the nearby convenience store. That is, I just don't, I don't understand, but you know, that, that person should watch the midnight meat train. Yeah. It also sounds like some sort of like weird tick tock prank. Like, yeah, though that makes sense. Yeah.
00:31:05
Speaker
Um, next one I could, I couldn't get into a general chem class, um, at my uni. So I was taking it at a local community college after my courses at uni. Um, the days we had lab, but the class ended at 11 45 at night, which I'm going to stop you there. Number one, don't take a class that ends at midnight.
00:31:26
Speaker
I do. I don't think I want a fuck. I don't think I've ever had a class that ended after like eight. I don't really remember, to be honest, but like for fucking sure, I'm never OK. We're going to stop victim blaming this person. I'm sorry. OK, go, go, go. One night I got on the train and stood in the middle section standing area as to not to disturb the characters around on the train. A guy gets on at the next stop and stands across from me. I was reading a book and ignored him, although I kept noticing that he was eyeing me.
00:31:55
Speaker
As I looked up to check the next stop, he says, you could fit in my trunk. Wow. Oh boy. I immediately got off the train with the next large group of people and called my boyfriend to pick me up. You know, funny enough, that's what I say on first dates too. And I wonder if that has anything to do with why I'm still single, do you think?
00:32:14
Speaker
No, I don't think so. Okay. Next one. I was taking the last bus home from a friend's house at about 1 a.m. There's your first mistake. We have Uber now. Yeah. The bus is completely empty except for me and the bus driver until we get to a stop about 15 minutes from my house. A man gets on holding an animal carrying cage.
00:32:38
Speaker
He sits directly next to me and pulls out a large fuzzy rabbit out of the cage. Oh no. He then proceeds to stick the rabbit down the front of his sweatpants and smiles creepily at me until I get off the bus. I mean, rabbits, rabbits are soft, Andrew. You know, they are, they are soft.
00:33:04
Speaker
Oh, gosh. And then final one, I'm a little big boned and I usually have to sit off the seat a little bit on the NYC bus. He was. They were husky pants. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And on a day on a busy rush hour day at the 42nd Street stop, a woman comes on the bus and sat on my knee.
00:33:27
Speaker
Oh, wow. That's something else. She was late 30s dressed like she worked in a nice office and by all accounts normal, but except she sat on my knee. Can you imagine someone just sits on your knee? I'll tell you what, at this age, I've seen so much shit. I actually can't imagine that. I can.
00:33:48
Speaker
I didn't say anything for about two blocks. Tried to gather the courage to say something for the next two blocks, but then she got up and left. No one said a word, nor even looked at us.
00:34:01
Speaker
You provided a public place for people to sit down. Congratulations, my sir. A public service. Give that person the key to the city, quite frankly. That's what I think. And the end of that is something that I don't know how to fix.
00:34:20
Speaker
People on the train or bus don't do anything to stop anything. I know a friend who recently got spit on and then punched and didn't do anything and nobody did anything about it. The person who got punched didn't do anything?
00:34:38
Speaker
that no one around them did anything. What did they do? I think that he just got off the next stop. Like I don't know. Listen, if I got punched, I wouldn't know what to do because I don't have I don't have like that. I don't have a fight mentality. You're you're you're no offense to you, Andrew, but you would get your ass beat.
00:34:56
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm a major I'm a major pacifist like I don't know how to fight. I don't want to fight Whereas I would probably go berserk and likely smash the person's head into the into the wall or something That is that but I mean honestly that that is terrifying. I'm not trying to make fun of your friend at all it's that that's terrifying shit because the people who
00:35:17
Speaker
Like, the people who do it, they know, they know full well that when they do it, that the person won't know what to do. It's for attention. Like, it's an attention thing. It's attention. And like, there is like, I mean, you mentioned it earlier, but like these like, tick tock challenges and shit, like, somebody was probably filming that.
00:35:38
Speaker
You know what I mean? Like that's and that's what I think is so fucked up about where we are now is like that shit happens because people like want to get the content and the laughs out of it, which I just think is fucking you're a sociopath. It's fucking sociopathic. It's fucking awful. Are they OK? Your friend? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything's fine. But it's just like it's those things that like there is no camaraderie or like
00:36:07
Speaker
hey, that's not right. It's all like, oh, not my problem. I'll film it, though. At risk of sounding like a very old person, and maybe even a little conservative, I don't think that people have values anymore. And I really do mean that. People don't have a sense of morality inside themselves. They don't have any meaning, and they don't know how to walk through the world or be in it.
00:36:35
Speaker
with ways that they're like, this is who I am. I am a good person when I do these things. They don't have it. And I do think that is fucked up. I don't know why it is. I can't tell you why. I'm not saying it's a religious thing because I don't think that.
00:36:50
Speaker
Because obviously I don't think you have to be religious to have values. That's way well beyond the point. But people aren't interested in values. They're not interested in being like, hey, here's how I can be a good person in the world. Bam. Instead, all they want to do is just consume and call things cringe and not know who they fucking are. I think it's a sorry state. I really do. I think it's very, very fucked up.
00:37:16
Speaker
Yeah, I blame America's funniest home videos. Seriously, right? I mean, come on. My God, you've been punked, baby. Andrew, look, that does it for our horror in real life section. Section, it's called a segment, Maddie. Why did I call it a section? So I think what we'll do now, Andrew, is get some water, and then we're gonna come back, and we're gonna talk about the things that you've been watching, you fine person, or as we sometimes say, what you've been watching, bitch.
00:37:48
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. All right, it's time for the segment we like to call what you've been watching, bitch. What you've been watching, you commuting bitch.
00:38:07
Speaker
Yeah, this is the part of the episode where we talk all about what we've been watching, reading, consuming, all the things that we do as a human. That was a wrap in all the things we do as a human. It's so bad work. Tell me, what have you been watching?
00:38:24
Speaker
I watched I watched for the second time, actually this show, this movie on Netflix called Things Heard and Seen. Have you seen this? No, I don't. I don't know what that is. So I actually I'm pretty sure that I talked about this way back in twenty twenty one, but I'm not sure if I did or not. It's on Netflix and it's a movie with Amanda Seifried and James Norton.
00:38:49
Speaker
And like I said, I'd watched it before, and also F. Murray Abraham is in it, which is kind of funny that he's in mimic too that we'll talk about later today. But my niece was just here, as I mentioned earlier, and we just needed something to watch one night.
00:39:04
Speaker
And I was like, Oh, you didn't watch Irish wish. No, no. I chose not to. But I was like, Oh, you know what? I've seen this before. It was pretty good. Let's watch it. And so I watched it. And I got to tell you, the second time around, it's really bad. Like it's it's not a good movie. And I don't know why I thought it was good the first time. But I mean, with with all
00:39:27
Speaker
It has the pieces to to be good. You know, like I like Amanda Seifried. I like James Norton. I fucking love F. Marie Abraham. And like this is like a spooky movie. And, you know, like the husband is the husband is James Norton and the wife is Amanda Seifried. There's like some spooky qualities to it. And like he might be this and he might be that. And she's worried about all this kind of stuff. But I don't know. The second time that I watched it, I looked at Anna and I was like, Anna, this is not a good movie.
00:39:56
Speaker
And I was like, OK, then we're like, well, let's finish it anyway. So, yeah, things heard and seen. Maybe you've seen it before. Maybe you haven't. I would say if you haven't, you don't need to. That's it. Have a good day. All right. My first one is currently on Amazon Prime. Apparently this was a Screambox exclusive at one point. I don't know what Screambox is. So whatever it's called Who Done It? The Clue Documentary.
00:40:24
Speaker
Um, so this is all about the making of the movie clue, which if you've listened to Friday's movies, which was a segment we did in 2019, um, we did the movie clue, which I, is one of my absolute favorite movies, if not my favorite movie of all time.
00:40:40
Speaker
And so there was this documentary, um, talking all about the making of it and had some interviews with people like Leslie and Warren and Colleen camp and, um, Michael McKean and just people that are still alive, basically from this movie. Um, and it's, it's a fan made documentary. So I'm just going to say that this guy put a, he put four years of work into this. So I don't want to negate anything that he did. Um, because
00:41:07
Speaker
I think that like there's there's a good documentary in there. I think that the filmmaker maybe being an amateur filmmaker made some choices like so whenever he interviews himself about the movie, he's always like in his car with like the like the phone camera on and he's like going somewhere and he's like talking and I'm like, can't you just like set up like a real interview space and like talk to the camera? Like, I don't know.
00:41:32
Speaker
And then, you know, he he interviews some of these people that I'm so surprised he even got access to, you know, like Leslie and Warren and Colleen Campin from the movie, but he doesn't like them. So it's like really echoey and like that. And I don't know if it's just like his interview style, but they tend to ramble a lot like in. I don't know. It's just I wanted to like it so much. And there are some nuggets in there like he animates the alternate ending that was never filmed, which is kind of which was kind of cool.
00:42:01
Speaker
But like overall, I think it's just it needs to be cleaned up a little bit. And I think that there's nuggets of good stuff in there. And you know what? This might just be me because I have such an affinity for that movie. Yeah, fair enough. But I just thought it was really messy. I don't know. That's a shame. My favorite. But it was good to see some of those people from that movie that
00:42:21
Speaker
You know, and he was going to he was going to interview the lead Rocky Horror Picture Show. Why am I blanking on Tim Curry? But apparently he he diagnosed positive for covid the day that he was gone. Oh, no. Poor, poor, poor Tim Curry.
00:42:37
Speaker
And Tim Curry is obviously not in good in good health right now. So, yeah, you know, I want to expose him to more. Leave him be. Leave him be, I say. So, yeah, overall, I mean, if you're really passionate about that movie and you want to see some cool little nuggets of information, I'd say watch it. But it's it gets a little like, couldn't we have cleaned this up a little bit? Yeah, fair enough.
00:42:56
Speaker
Um, my next one is civil war. Uh, the big new film from age 24 directed by, uh, by Alex Garland. Um, so I saw this last night, uh, at the lighthouse cinema. Um, and, uh, boy, um, civil war at first of it has Kirsten Dunst and Wagner Murrah and, uh, Kaylee Spanney and, um, a bunch of other people, uh, Jesse Plemmons and some other folks.
00:43:26
Speaker
Oh, and Nick Offerman too, of course. Civil War was interesting. It's a really weird movie. It's very weird. And by the end of it, I'll be honest, I was very like, I was very depressed after watching this movie.
00:43:43
Speaker
Yeah. And, um, I think I, I mean, there, there's a good deal of, I'll be honest, like it's, I didn't think it was great. I really, I think that the people who are like giving it five stars and shit, I'm like, did we watch the same movie that there's, there's a lot of weird writing in this. Um, I think that that the worst writing occurs or I'm not going to tell you what happens, but there, there's a scene with Jesse Plemmons is in the movie for like five minutes.
00:44:09
Speaker
And there's the whole scene around that I thought was really just kind of like cheap. And so that was weird. I thought some of the acting was weird. The writing was odd. And the other thing that's odd about the movie, which you may have already heard this, but
00:44:27
Speaker
The movie is really like a political so like you you there's obviously a civil war going on there's like you don't know all of it because like you kinda like you get what's going on. In drabs and drabs so through conversations you kinda figure out okay here's what the war is basically like.
00:44:46
Speaker
And the war in America is between sort of like the, you know, America and what's called the Western Front, the WF or the Western forces. I can't quite recall. And the WF is basically Texas and California together.
00:45:01
Speaker
which doesn't doesn't make any sense to begin with. And it's just it's weird. It's very odd. But you never find that I'm not. This isn't really a spoiler. So, you know, here it is. You never find out about like, OK, why did the war start? You don't know what the politics are behind any of the sides. You don't know who's who. You don't know why everyone's mad at each other. And you never find that out. I'm just going to say, like, you're never you're not going to learn that in this movie.
00:45:28
Speaker
And so, you know, I'm not gonna tell you what happens, but you don't walk away with that. And I do think that that's odd. There are people out there who are like, yeah, well, that's what the movie's about and blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, that's kind of cheap. Like, you don't know what's what. You can kind of guess, like kind of, like this side might be like this and this side might be like that. And I'll leave it to you to figure that out. But even still, you just, you don't fully know.
00:45:56
Speaker
But whatever, all that stuff aside, I do think it was good in terms of showing an America that is not that far away. And you and I have talked about this a lot on the show, and as friends we've talked about this. I really do believe that America is on a razor's edge right now of truly being on the verge of civil war. And that if things go the wrong way in this election especially, I think that that's exactly what could happen.
00:46:24
Speaker
And so while this is a little bit fantastic because obviously it's a movie.
00:46:28
Speaker
It wasn't all that fantastic. It was pretty real. I walked out and I was a little bit tipsy because I had had some drinks during it, but not drunk. I texted some friends here and I was like, God, it was a depressing movie. I was like, I'm going to get drunk. I'm going to get drunk right now. It was sad to watch because this is probably what it would look like in America. I don't know. That was the thing that I think made it good.
00:46:54
Speaker
is that it was at least authentic enough that you're like, yep, that's probably how it would be.
00:47:01
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't really. So like, listen, this is not a movie for me. Like, it's not something I'm going to really seek out. But like from the advertisements that I was fed, because oh my God, this movie had a lot of marketing. Yeah. I didn't really get like what the movie was trying to tell me. And so I'm guessing from what you're saying, like it doesn't really have a true stance, which is interesting.
00:47:25
Speaker
Anyway, all right. And the other thing that I would say about it is, you know, it's interesting to think about the no-stance kind of thing because it's told through the lens of journalists. So Kirsten Dunst and her compatriots in this, they're all photojournalists. That's what they're doing. That's basically the entire movie. They're just going around taking photos. So it kind of makes sense there because journalists shouldn't have a side. You know what I mean? Like, you know, theoretically. So I'll leave it there. That's it. Okay.
00:47:52
Speaker
My next one is kind of in the same vein, if you will. It's called the antisocial network memes to mayhem. It's currently on Netflix. Oh, I haven't watched yet, but I really want to. It was a good.
00:48:06
Speaker
Yeah, this is interesting because I didn't know I didn't know anything about going into it. We were just like it was a Sunday. We wanted something to put on that basically. And this was featured on Netflix. So we're like, oh, let's try it. So this tells the story of how to Chan, which was a message board in in Japan, was like it kind of took off as like kind of an anti-government, you know, like, you know, mock the government without punishment, basically what to Chan was.
00:48:34
Speaker
in a sense. And then what happened was a guy in America came up with 4chan and really started 4chan. And really what started 4chan was just a bunch of people just sending memes and just trying to be funny on top of being funny, on top of being contrarian. It was like, that's the way it started. And it shows this evolution of the first 4chan meetup and it's all these people, all these nerds just wanting to hang out and
00:49:04
Speaker
Yeah, sure. Like have fun and just like make fun of each other and like da da da da da. And then like what it becomes through the 2016 election and how it just gets usurped and used for various nefarious things. And just like the downfall of what this like innocent message board turned into.
00:49:24
Speaker
and what it exists as today and how the creators of it have disavowed themselves. I don't want to give it all away, but it's crazy to see something so innocent and stupid turned into something that is now
00:49:43
Speaker
Used for like like war type things. It's crazy, but I would definitely recommend it If you want to kind of see like the history of that stuff and see how we got to where we are today because let's face it like There's there's there's pockets of action in the world and mainly in the United States But a lot of it is just people behind the screen and it's it's kind of crazy to think about I
00:50:10
Speaker
Scary shit, man, scary shit. My next one is Glass. This is M. Night Shalaman's, or as I call him, M. Night Shalamaningdong. His sort of, well, it's not even sort of, it was a sequel to Unbreakable. And, you know,
00:50:29
Speaker
M. Night Shyamala Madingdong. I just love saying that, it makes me laugh every time to myself. You know, if you can make yourself laugh, that's what I always say, you're gonna be fine. You know, I used to really love M. Night Shyamala Madingdong, and I still do, like I still love Signs, and I still love Sixth Sense, and I still love The Village, and I did love Unbreakable. I thought it was a really good movie. And so I just never got around to watching Glass, don't know why, but I didn't.
00:50:59
Speaker
Well, everyone said it was awful. Yeah. And I thought, you know what? Why not watch it now? It's not good. It's just it's just not good. And it's just awkward all over the place, if I'm being honest, like, uh, you know, like even Bruce Willis. God, I love Bruce Willis. I'm so sad for his condition and what's happened to him. And it's going to be really sad when he's no longer with us. I just I love him to death.
00:51:27
Speaker
But even he is kind of awkward in this movie, to be honest. And Samuel L. Jackson is awkward in it, and James McAvoy, I don't know, that character, I've never really been a huge fan of it, like the crazy character. Split guy? Yeah, Split. Yeah, that's what it's called.
00:51:43
Speaker
So, you know, it's all in that M. Night Shyamalama ding-dong universe. And, you know, it is what it is. Sarah Paulson's in it too. She's not very good. Anya Taylor-Joy. I mean, there's a big fucking cast in this. Anya Taylor-Joy is in it. She's not that good. Spencer Treat Clark is Bruce Willis's son. He's all grown up now. Boy, he got cute. Let me tell you, he is good looking. He has a face that is so unique.
00:52:08
Speaker
But all in all, I don't need to watch this again, you know. And that's the thing with M Night is just like when M Night is good, he can be really, really great. But damn, when he's not on it, it's just it doesn't work, does it? You know, like and this this is one of them, I think.
00:52:26
Speaker
We'll say that that new movie that's coming out looks pretty good. I don't know which one preview for trap. No, I haven't. I haven't even heard of it yet. Goodness. Yeah, Josh Hartnett is the lead. Oh, go, go take a look at that preview after this. It's little for sure. All right. My next one is currently on Netflix, although it is a Paramount plus original. So I don't know how that works, but whatever it's called school spirits. You can watch it on Netflix. You can also watch it on Paramount plus.
00:52:56
Speaker
This is about a girl who is, and this is not giving away because this is like the essence of the show, she is killed in her high school and then she wakes up and she doesn't remember how she was killed and she's a ghost now and there's a bunch of other ghosts in the school that were all, that have either died at the school or have been murdered at the school over the last like whatever, 150 years.
00:53:20
Speaker
And they're all trying to figure out, well, she's trying to figure out who murdered her. The rest of them are trying to figure out what do I need to do to have my unresolved thing so I can move on, basically. Because they're trapped in the confines of the school property, and they can't go anywhere else. So they're all just trying to figure it out together. It's mostly a comedy. It's got some thriller elements to it. I think the main girl, I don't have her name right in front of me, but I think she's really good.
00:53:48
Speaker
Um, and the, and the main ghosts around her all really good. Um, uh, I just think it's a fun show. I mean, if you're, if you like shows kind of like Veronica Marzi, like that kind of a, you know, quippy kind of show, uh, with a little bit of mystery, this one should be right up your alley. So that's school spirits currently on Netflix.
00:54:06
Speaker
Nice. My final one is a movie that I guarantee you, you have not heard about, but it's one that you should watch and I hope that you will. It is called double down south and double down south. The reason why I watched it is because my sister, Rebecca lines is in it and she has a pretty big role in it.
00:54:25
Speaker
Double Down South was written and directed by a guy named Tom Schulman. Tom Schulman is a writer that you might not know, but you definitely know. Tom Schulman wrote Dead Poets Society, for which he won the Academy Award. He also wrote, and I actually didn't realize this, he also wrote Honey I Shrunk the Kids. He wrote What About Bob, which is one of my favorite fucking movies of all time with Bill Murray, of course.
00:54:50
Speaker
Um, medicine man, um, with fucking, um, Sean Connery, um, and like a few other things too. So he's had a pretty prolific, like writing career in Hollywood. Um, and with this one, uh, my sister got to be in this really great movie. Um, it's a, it's a feature film. Um, it's also starring Igby Rigney, um, who you'll remember from, um, uh, from what is it called midnight? Um, the midnight club. What is it called, Andrew?
00:55:18
Speaker
Oh, yeah, yeah. Midnight Club. Yeah. Yeah. Midnight Club. And also he was he was also just in the other one for Mike Flanagan. Follow the House of Usher. So he's he's in like that kind of stuff. Right. And he's a little cutie and and it's good. So this takes place in the south. There is a guy that names that is named Nick and he runs this. He runs this like old run down plantation. I forget it's in Louisiana. I can't I can't remember it right now, but whatever it's in the south.
00:55:44
Speaker
And there's this crazy game of pool that people play. And I can't remember what the name of it is right now, but you shoot the pool cue onto this wooden board and you have to get it into certain slots. I've never heard of this before until I saw this movie. But apparently, there is this big time, high stakes gambling that happens around this specific game.
00:56:11
Speaker
And so this movie is kind of all about that. And my sister plays this woman who works at this plantation house that Nick owns. So honestly, it was so much fun to see my sister, Rebecca, sometimes we call her Becky, to see her up
00:56:29
Speaker
On the screen like that like in a full on feature film it was really cool i don't think it's streaming on anything as far as i know but you can rent it through apple or through amazon or youtube or you know all those kind of things so give it a watch and when you see rebecca lions no that's my sister.
00:56:45
Speaker
Cool. A question for you on that front. Yeah. When you see it, are you able to separate your it being your sister or is it like, do you know what I mean? Like, can you separate and like see that her as a character or do you just always see your sister? No, I think that's it's a good question. I think like at first at first I see my sister. You know what I mean? Because like how can I how can I not like it's yeah, I've known her like literally my entire life.
00:57:13
Speaker
But then it doesn't take long for me to let that go and go into the character that she's playing because I've seen her in other stuff too, of course. So like it's it's it's it always starts that way. And then very quickly it turns into what she's actually doing because she's really good. She does a great job. Cool.
00:57:29
Speaker
I just wondering, because I don't really have it's a good question. I don't really have anybody that has been that that that much of a I have people that have been in good cameo roles and stuff, but that sounds like a bigger part. So, yeah. Well, you know, let's ask our guest today, Larry David, about what I'm joking. He's not on the show. I'm joking. Go ahead. All right. My last one is Night Swim, which is the new James Wan produced movie on Peacock now. I haven't even heard of this. OK.
00:57:58
Speaker
Uh, basically the essence of the story is that, um, this guy who's, I think, if I remember correctly, he's a baseball player and he gets injured. And so they have to like move because they can't like afford their, you know, big house anymore. So they are moving to like a smaller house, but in the backyard of this house, there is a swimming pool and it's like all dilapidated and nobody's, you know, use it for a while. So they decided to fix it up. Um, and then, you know,
00:58:27
Speaker
to no one's surprise the pool is haunted oh no um listen i think that there is some genuinely like scary parts in this movie especially for people that grew up like in the fear of jaws and like you even thought that there was a shark in your swimming pool so yeah sure
00:58:45
Speaker
But beyond that, like beyond like just kind of like the scary parts, the story's kind of dumb. I don't know. I hate to hate on movies, but like this one just didn't do anything for me. And by the end, there's some
00:59:01
Speaker
There's some CGI choices that they chose to make that just really take you out of it. And so like, unfortunately, I can't recommend this movie. I mean, you know, still go see it if you want to see it, but like it didn't, it didn't do much for me, unfortunately. That sucks. Well,
00:59:16
Speaker
Well, even though that sucked, we still had some good stuff in this, what you've been watching bitch. Andrew brought us who done at the clue documentary on Amazon, the antisocial network memes to mayhem on Netflix school spirits, also on Netflix and night swim on peacock.
00:59:33
Speaker
And Maddie brought us Things Heard and Seen on Netflix, Civil War, which is currently in theaters, Glass on Netflix, and Double Down South, which you can rent on various platforms. So that does it for what you've been watching, bitch, for this episode. We'll be right back with our first film of the episode, An American Werewolf in London. Isn't this fun, lovely stroll on the moors? Did you hear that? I heard that.
01:00:04
Speaker
What is it? You think it's a dog? Nice doggy. Good boy. What happened to them? The police report said they were attacked by an escaped lunatic. A wolf. My friend Jack was just here. Told me that I will become a monster in two days. You're dead, friend Jack. Yes. Gotta believe me, David. Believe what? You're one of the undead. And I'm a werewolf.
01:00:34
Speaker
Tomorrow night's the full moon. You're gonna change. You'll be coming. I know, I know. A monster. A naked American man stole my balloon. What? What did I do last night? You don't remember?
01:01:00
Speaker
The last remaining werewolf must be destroyed. It's you, David. Run! Good heart.
01:01:30
Speaker
There's a werewolf nearby, but there's definitely an American one in London. Andrew, tell us all about an American werewolf in London. Beware the moon. Two American tourists in England are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists.
01:01:48
Speaker
Directed and written by John Landis. Production and distribution were handled by Universal. David is played by David Naughton. Jack is played by Griffin Dunn. Nurse Alex is played by Jenny Augeter. Inspector Villiers is played by Don McKillop.
01:02:03
Speaker
Dr. Hirsch is played by John Woodvine, and Mr. Collins is played by Frank Oz. Rated R, this comes in at 97 minutes. It was released on August 21st of 1981 with filming locations around Buckinghamshire and London with a budget of $5.8 million, making, wow, $62 million. Why did this take so long for an American werewolf in Paris to come out tonight with her? I don't know.
01:02:33
Speaker
All right, so this was kind of a first time watch for me. For me too, Andrew. That's same. I've definitely seen like parts of this movie. Same, exactly, right. But I'm pretty sure this is the first time where I like legit sat down and like watched it and paid attention and like watched the whole thing. So that's where I'm coming from. Obviously, I think you're coming from kind of a similar place. So what are your initial thoughts?
01:03:00
Speaker
Yeah, same thing. I, you know, and I, um, you know, I feel like I always say the same thing when I haven't seen something. It's like, I don't know why I haven't seen this. Um, and it's funny because I've said, again, I've definitely seen an American werewolf in London or in Paris. So many times. Yeah. And so I, you know, I think like, cause American werewolf in Paris came out when we were younger, like late nineties. Yeah. So I would have been, I don't even know how old I was. I wasn't even 20 yet. Right.
01:03:26
Speaker
So I mean like, or I wasn't even, was I even 18? I don't know. I might've been like 17 or something when it came out. I remember seeing an American werewolf in Paris and I remember not liking it very much. And probably because I just didn't get it, if I'm being honest. And I think the same thing with this one too is I do remember like getting it from the library once or something like that.
01:03:48
Speaker
and not understanding it. And it's probably because I was just too young for it, to be honest. So this time around, with the eyes and the brain of a 41-year-old, that's not saying much, quite frankly, but certainly with a lot of experience, I was very glad to have watched it for this episode because I think bringing a very full adult experience to it helps make a lot of sense of what's going on.
01:04:14
Speaker
And I think that this is a really wonderful film. And I think there's so much good about it. I think that the writing is really, really good.
01:04:25
Speaker
I think that the direction was actually really fantastic. And I think there's a lot of style in here, you know, especially for a movie from 1981, which by the way, it was released exactly a year before I was born. But like, I mean, there are things that were that were done here that I thought they were really surprising from Shotland. It's like even how the movie ends.
01:04:48
Speaker
the way that the way that it ends with like, just like, you know, he's dead in the alleyway and she's crying and then it just jumps to the song. Like what I like the way that it ended, it kind of was like a little journey. Yeah. And I think that that's the mark of a director who was really confident with this. And I think that his style just like really exuded throughout all of it. It's somebody who knew what they were doing. They were making choices throughout the whole thing. And he knew exactly how he wanted to
01:05:18
Speaker
how he wanted to punctuate it at the end, and bam, that's it. And that happens throughout the movie, I think. I think the other thing with this, too, is that I wasn't expecting a movie that was so tender. And by far, the tenderest moment is when David, who was sometimes called Kessler in the movie, when he's about to consider killing himself in the phone booth, and he calls home,
01:05:45
Speaker
In America and he's talking to his sister who we don't know how old but she's obviously kind of young Oh, no, actually we do because she's like 10 or something like that in his in his like nightmare. We see her. Oh, right, right that that that too But the way that they that the discussion that that that they have the way that it is performed and the way that it's written
01:06:06
Speaker
I was genuinely touched. I don't know if you were too, but I just didn't expect that extremely tender moment and some other tender moments throughout it as well. I thought that was really interesting. I think, you know, too, just going straight to the obvious, I think that the transformation that he undertakes into the wolf for the first time
01:06:28
Speaker
is so well done. So well done. And like, you know, we've talked about this before when we did our Monsters Are Terrifying series. Why don't we watch for that? I can't think of it right now.
01:06:39
Speaker
Uh, we watch ginger snaps and the howling and the howling. Right. And we, and we, we talked about, you know, how, how well done the, uh, the transitions were there too. This transition is horrifying. It's horrifying. And I think my painful looking bingo, just where I was going, it's the pain of it.
01:06:59
Speaker
And you know you're sitting there watching it happen and you're thinking to yourself a very elementary thought like my thought was oh this is why werewolf howl because it because it hurts so much and i don't think that we've really seen that in other werewolf films quite done quite as well as it as it is here.
01:07:18
Speaker
I mean, certainly there's a big transformation and, you know, clothes happen and this happens and blah, blah, blah, blah. But this one, I mean, David Naughton played it like he was genuinely in the worst pain he could possibly imagine. And it just it shined through through the film. And so I think that was just so incredibly well done. So, yeah, I mean, look, look, I mean, there's a lot more to talk about, but overall, I was extremely impressed. And, you know, the only regret that I have is that I didn't buy the movie and I only rented it because now I got to buy it, you know.
01:07:48
Speaker
Yeah, I'm kind of in the same boat as you. We'll talk about some of my weird, like they're not necessarily like criticisms of the movie, but just like weird, weird things about the movie, because let's face it, there are some very weird tonal shifts in this movie. Oh, for sure.
01:08:03
Speaker
So we'll talk about it in a little bit. But as far as like initial thoughts, like I obviously knew what this movie was about. It's in the zeitgeist. It's in like the horror, like, you know, background of everything, like, you know. And so like I knew what happened. But like, I guess I didn't expect like, like you said, I didn't expect like the love story to be so intense. Right. And I didn't expect like the friendship ankle to be so intense because
01:08:30
Speaker
Throughout the course of the movie, you know, we lose we lose Jack very early in the movie. And but throughout the movie, we see him kind of deteriorate over time. And you can see that, you know, David is really remorseful about what happened. But he also doesn't want to die. And so, like, he's trying to explain this to his friend. And his friend is like, I'm dead. Like, there's nothing I can do unless you die. So like, I don't know what to tell you. Like, I'm not going to coddle you at this moment. But like,
01:09:00
Speaker
I don't know, there was just something in there that was very interesting to me that you don't see in many movies, because in most cases, it would be like, I understand, you know, and you know, I'll just I'll move on. And, you know, I don't know, there was just something about the writing and that that was interesting to me. And that took me off guard and kind of threw me for a loop.
01:09:21
Speaker
Um, but yeah, overall, I think that it's a filmed really well. I don't know what I, I think I, I forget where I watched this. I think I streamed it somewhere, but like the, the one that I watched looked really good. Like it looked really crisp and like nice, a nice, uh, you know, blue ray version of it. And so like everything popped really nice. I liked, I liked the whole like village aspect of it. Like the village versus the city, like kind of mentality that was going on because.
01:09:51
Speaker
It really is like that, even in America, like where if you go, like if you're from the big city and you go to the country, they're not going to protect you and they're not going to like coddle you. Basically, you're not one of them, you know, which is a very, a very thing to think about.
01:10:06
Speaker
Um, but yeah, overall, I thought it was really good. I'll bring up some of my things in a little bit here, but yeah, I was pleasantly surprised. I know that everyone loves this movie. I don't know why I thought I was going to hate it, but I, I don't tend to love werewolf movies. I'm just going to be honest because
01:10:22
Speaker
It seems like there is only one ending that can happen. And that's either the werewolf gets away and continues on their, you know, murder streak every full moon or they die. And that's what happens here. And so it's kind of contrived. But like, I really liked what they did with, you know, David's short life as a werewolf.
01:10:43
Speaker
So yeah, I'm glad you mentioned the outsider part of it too. Um, cause I think that you're right with that. The, um, when they go to the pub, a slot, the soldered lamb, right? Yeah. The soldered lamb. Yes. When they go to that pub, I mean that I have, I've experienced that here. You know what I mean?
01:11:03
Speaker
And it's not quite that bad. And obviously there was no werewolf, at least not that I know of. But I know what that feels like to go in someplace in another country, especially when clearly you can never hide the fact that you're an American. And they don't want you there. They don't want you there. And I remember actually the first time I went to England to visit Bridget, I was with Michael, then it was kind of 2011, it's so long ago.
01:11:30
Speaker
There was a pub that wasn't too far from where she lived then. And it just looked cool. And I was like, oh, we should go there. And she was like, no. And I was like, why? And she said, we're not welcome there. We're just not welcome there.
01:11:45
Speaker
And I had never really thought of that before. Growing up where I grew up, you just went to the bars. And in Chicago, I'd go to whatever bar I want to. You know what I mean? But it was weird. I had never thought about that. And this movie, I think, does a really good job of pushing the outsider perspective.
01:12:06
Speaker
Um, which I think was well done. Um, and I think it's important too, because like, you know, the, the whole like werewolf tradition and the, you know, the way that they talk about sex in the movie, it really, it mirrors so much of like what like lycanthropy mythology is kind of all about, like a young, a young man and transforming into something that, that can be dangerous.
Film Discussion and Character Analysis
01:12:27
Speaker
And so it's becoming sexually alive. And we see it in the movie after he transitions the first time. He's horny. He gets back from the zoo and he's ready to fuck, right? And I get it. It's like after you're done being hungover, do you know what I mean? It's almost a guarantee the next day you're going to be horny as hell. It just happens with your body.
01:12:50
Speaker
And that's what happens here too. And so that same mythology keeps going throughout it. And that is part of the outsider nature of it. Finding yourself as a young man and trying to figure out where do you actually fit in into any of this.
01:13:07
Speaker
and to like to amplify the lens of it by taking this young man out of the country where he's from. Putting him somewhere completely different and then having to find out all that stuff even on top of this is insane. And then at the same time to be contemplating do I kill myself? Do I continue my life? What the fuck am I gonna do? I mean what a character arc.
01:13:29
Speaker
You know what I mean? What an incredible story. All these things that this sort of anti-hero, sort of hero that you're kind of rooting for but you're also not rooting for. It's very strange. I don't think there's anything else quite like it. Can you think of another character that's that complicated? It's kind of wild when you look at it.
01:13:50
Speaker
And I also really liked that they were self aware in the movie. Like, you know, like no one was like, I mean, they're like, of course, like you're not a werewolf. Like, shut up. But like the fact that he like knew about like the Bela Lugosi movie and like, yeah, they know like the lore and everything. I thought that that was
01:14:06
Speaker
a choice that was fun because then you don't have to go through this whole rigmarole of what am I and what do I have to do and how does this work and they just kind of knew which was kind of fun just to let it go. Some things about the movie that I have questions about. What is their plan at the beginning of the movie?
01:14:30
Speaker
They are just they don't they don't have tents. They don't have sleeping bags. They don't have anything. And they just get dropped off in the middle. Like, what is their plan? I don't understand. I think that they were like going to like I mean, obviously, their backpack came through England. But like on top of that, I think that they were hoping to find a pub that was also an inn. So like you would go to the pub and you would stay there because they would have a room up above.
01:14:57
Speaker
So that's what I'm guessing, basically. Yeah, it just seemed like they had no plan. But I mean, you're right. I mean, like that's something that could have been like, I don't know, maybe John Landis just thought the audience would get it kind of thing. But like, you're absolutely right. It would have actually been interesting and it would have made the film better.
01:15:15
Speaker
If we had known a little bit about that, like, what are you actually doing here? Like, what is the point of this big trip that you've been saving for probably? It's very expensive and it's out of the country. Blah, blah, blah, blah. What are you doing there? And also, knowing about that story would have given us a lot more about their friendship, too. Yeah. Yeah. And also, they say that they're on a three-month trip. I was like, what the fuck? How can you do that? But good luck. Yeah.
01:15:43
Speaker
Um, and some of the other things I think that, um, this movie definitely smacks of a time because there are a lot of like weird things in this. Like when, when he has his dream about his whole family being slaughtered by like werewolf soldiers slash werewolf Nazis, that's the stuff that that's the stuff where I was definitely like, what, these are some wild choices going on right now.
01:16:08
Speaker
Um, also when, um, the nurses, when he's still in a coma and the one nurse is like, I think he's a Jew. And then the other nurse is like, how would you know that? And she's like, I had, I took a peek.
01:16:24
Speaker
The other thing in this movie that besides kind of the the upfront special effects done by Rick Baker, which were amazing. Yeah, this movie does not shy away from male nudity, which was which was interesting for 1981 because I don't think I.
01:16:40
Speaker
Listen, I don't think I saw a dick on screen until talented Mr. Ripley, and that was only shadow. Yeah. And like this one, like, you know, you see, you see him and he's like, he's not he's not bad to look at, quite frankly. And there it is. It's right there for you.
01:16:56
Speaker
Yeah, he's like the guy he's like the guy from Gremlins adjacent. That makes sense. Like I get older, like his older, dumber, jock brother. Yes. So why did we so why did we pick this for public transit? Yes.
01:17:13
Speaker
So there is a very famous scene in this movie where first of all, there's a scene where them in the in the tube kind of with all these punks. And it's so funny because the punks are just so punky. That's a very, very 80s punk. Yeah. And then there's another very famous scene in the movie where a businessman is coming home from work and he gets attacked in the tube station, which I think is like probably, I mean, maybe my favorite part of the movie because it's awesome.
01:17:42
Speaker
The way it's all set up and then the intricate maze to get out of a train station sometimes. That's really true. Especially if you've never been on the underground before. What's great about the underground is that there's signs everywhere so you can very easily figure out where you need to go. But if you've never been on it before, it is huge.
01:18:07
Speaker
huge it's it is such an amazing transit system it's just it's fucking gigantic and you can go anywhere pretty much on it but I mean it is your first time it's like what where the fuck am I so it was fun to see how they use the size of it like that
01:18:23
Speaker
Yeah. And the only thing that was frustrating to me was that business guy, he falls on the, on the, on the, uh, escalator. And then he just sits there. I was like, dude, if that giant, if anything, I'm thinking when he gets to the top is closer, going to get stuck in the thing. Rescue 911. Yes, exactly.
01:18:43
Speaker
But so that's kind of why we chose this movie for for for public transit, because it's very highly featured. And then also when they're in Piccadilly Circus, there's tons of buses and taxis and like just it it it really speaks to London for me. Like it feel it felt real to me. I don't know. London is a city that that thrives on public transit. Like, I mean, honestly, when if you if you're if you're a person who's ever been to London before,
01:19:10
Speaker
When you go, you should really think about how you're not going to take a lot of taxis because number one, they're expensive as hell. Number two, it's honestly easier to just take transit. You'll get to where you need to go way faster and honestly way better. It's almost like London's transit system is a character in this too, just by and large. Another thing that I love about the movie too is the soundtrack.
01:19:37
Speaker
because it's so ridiculous. It's very cheek, very cheeky. Oh, yeah. They're like, they were like, how how can we get as many songs with the word moon in this fucking movie? Yeah. And like, and honestly, I didn't even I didn't even I didn't even clock it until Moon Dance comes on from from Van Morrison.
01:19:55
Speaker
And I was like, why are they playing moon dance? Oh, we're werewolves. I get it now. And then, of course, like there's like four versions of Blue Moon in this and Bad Moon Rising. So it's it's it's it's honestly like you said, it's cheeky. And I and I think it's fun, too. I think I think they did a good job with it. I mean, the only thing with it is like it is a little weird sometimes. Like, for example, when Moon Dance comes on,
01:20:21
Speaker
It's the wrong song for that moment. It doesn't make a lot of sense. It works, but in a very canned way. It's like a teenager would choose that song for that moment. But when you remember, it fits in with the whole cheek of it and with the director's style, then it makes sense to you.
01:20:40
Speaker
Yeah, I did clock a couple of gay moments. I wanted to bring these because listen, we're gay podcast. I love a gay moment. So when Dr. Hirsch goes to the small town to try to figure out what's going on and he meets up with the two guys in the bartender at the pub and then the one guy kind of excuses himself and like says he's going to go check on the dogs or whatever. Yeah. And then, you know, Dr. Hirsch kind of excuses himself to go back to London and he goes out to his car
01:21:08
Speaker
And there's a there's a moment that they share and there's a stare between those two men that is definitely like a cruising stare. Like I was like, is he trying to cruise him right now? And listen, Andrew knows that stare. Yeah. And then the other one is when David is escaping the zoo and he's naked and he's trying to find like something to cover up. And he spots this little boy and he's like, hey, little boy, come on.
01:21:37
Speaker
I'll tell you what that that scene I was like oh no oh no where is this going but the funny thing is is like the little kid when he after he gets the bulldog my god that little boy is looking at him like oh my god when he goes up to his mom and he's like
01:21:55
Speaker
An American man, a naked American man stole my balloons. Yeah, that was pretty funny. A couple of things that I kind of pulled out of my knowledge about this movie is so Mr. Collins, who plays an American embassy worker, has a little cameo in the play by Frank Oz, for God's sake.
01:22:19
Speaker
Well, and that's what I'm getting to, is did you clock that they were watching the Muppets in his dream and Frank Oz is the voice of Kermit the Frog. I did not even think about that. Even in the credits, Kermit and Miss Piggy are credited as themselves. Are they really? No way!
01:22:37
Speaker
Oh, that's wonderful. Speaking of credits, by the way, did you know that at the close of the credits is a congratulatory message for the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer? It was included because when David is trying to get arrested, he shouts, Prince Charles is a faggot.
01:22:55
Speaker
Oh, I thought he said Prince Charles is a bigot. He said is a faggot. And the film was shot several months before the preparations for the couple's July 1981 wedding. And one more quick little ephemera thing too. I did not know this. And this is just straight from Wikipedia. An American Werewolf in London was the first film allowed to shoot in Piccadilly Circus in 15 years before that. Isn't that wild?
01:23:21
Speaker
And what did they feature? A porno theater. Right. Exactly. Seriously. Another one that I that I kind of knew is that I don't know if you noticed, but at the very beginning of the movie, there's a credit that says for Jim or or work. You know, I did see it. I meant to look it up. Do you know what that is? So he was a producer on the movie. And basically what happened is very early on into working on this movie, he died of lung cancer. Oh.
01:23:46
Speaker
And that caused John Landis to basically ban smoking on the set of this movie, which was just something to think, something that was interesting about the making of the movie. Especially in 1981 when like everyone smoked, you know what I mean? Like that's a pretty cool thing.
01:24:04
Speaker
I do like his little scream outs, though, to try to get to try to get arrested in England. He says, Queen Elizabeth is a man. And what I thought was Prince Charles is a bigot. And I went, well, he's not lying. And then he goes, Winston Churchill is full of shit. And I was like, well, he's not lying. I will say another thing that that that was like another kind of hole, not really a hole, but another thing I was like, yeah, right, is like when they're walking to her to her flat,
01:24:32
Speaker
And she's like, oh, it's nothing special kind of thing. They get there. I'm like, that would have been like a million bucks in one in line. I was like, and plus it's in Pimlico. Like, are you fucking kidding me? I thought it was really expensive. I thought it was funny that she had a weird affinity for Mickey Mouse. I didn't know. Yeah, that was weird, too.
01:24:49
Speaker
Also, another little ephemera thing that I drug up was the location shooting of the front of Alex's flat and surrounds was filmed on Lupus Street in Pimlico, which of course, in Latin, lupus means wolf.
01:25:03
Speaker
oh cool isn't that funny um but yeah i mean i think i'm trying to think of my notes if i have any other thing i think i did like when he yeah i did like when he woke up i did like when he woke up in the wolf enclosure and those wolves are just like hey what's up oh you're you're one of us you're a little bit weird but you're one of us
01:25:22
Speaker
Um, why do I have this in my name? The Naked Truth about Naughty Nina. Was that, that was the name of some, oh, it was the commercial that was on the commercial TV. And I was like, this expose about like a born worker or something. I don't know. And that's the thing about the movie is like the movie is really playful. Like it's, it's, it's horny. It's, it's horny and it's playful and like, and it also is like serious and tender at the same time. Like I,
01:25:52
Speaker
I really do mean it. Like, it's I just I think it's I just never thought that this is how I would feel about this film, that it is just wonderfully complex.
Mimic Film Overview and Critique
01:26:01
Speaker
And I think that they did a great job with that. Yeah. All right. So here at Fraggle, the 13th or podcast, we judge on a seven stripe scale. Maddie, what do you give? American Marvel from London. I give it five and a half stripes. And I said that a great and surprisingly tender film with a naked man with a naked man.
01:26:21
Speaker
I said I also gave it a five and a half. I said, apart from a couple of plot holes and some kind of weird tonal shifts, this one is really a classic. And I forgot to mention this, but it really does set up like what werewolves are like for the foreseeable future. Like, yeah, we're still leaning on this movie to tell us about America, like what a werewolf is, you know, so that's something. But all right. Well, that will do it for an American werewolf in London. We'll take a break and come right back with the buggy classic mimic.
01:26:55
Speaker
Three years ago, a team of brilliant scientists found a way to stop a deadly disease. Now, the cure they created has taken on a life of its own. So you think your little Frankenstein's got the better of you? There's some weird stuff here. Lots of it. They all died in the lab. But you let them out. Evolution is a way of keeping things alive.
01:27:21
Speaker
Sometimes it will evolve to mimic its predator. They are breeding. Whatever it becomes, it destroys. Peter, these are lungs. Yesterday, it became human. Is that thing that's been around? How come nobody's ever seen it? I think we have. You see the signs of that thing? We changed its DNA.
01:27:52
Speaker
Survive this. A smart, hit, adrenaline rush. First rate, heart pounding. And Cisco and Ebert give it two thumbs up. Way up. Mira Sorvina. Jeremy Northam. Josh Brolin. Charles Dutton. Giancarlo Gianini. F. Murray Abraham.
01:28:20
Speaker
Get ready for everyone's favorite insect, the cockroach. Mattie, tell us all about mimic. For thousands of years, man has been evolution's greatest creation until now. God, that is so stupid. A disease carried by common cockroaches, pardon me, is killing Manhattan children. In an effort to stop the epidemic, an entomologist, Susan Tyler, creates a mutant breed of insect that secretes a fluid to kill the roaches.
01:28:49
Speaker
This mutant breed was engineered to die after one generation, but three years later, Susan finds out that the species has survived and evolved into a large, gruesome monster that can mimic human form.
01:29:05
Speaker
This film was directed by Guillermo del Toro, it was written by him as well with Matthew Robbins, produced and distributed by Miramax, Susan played by Mira Servino, Peter by Jeremy Northam, Maslow by Josh Brolin, Officer Norton by Charles Dutton, Manny by Giancarlo Giannini, Jeremy by Norman Reedus, Chewy by Alexander Goodwin, and Dr. Gates by F. Murray Abraham.
01:29:34
Speaker
Rated R, 106 minutes from the USA. Released August 22nd, 1997. It's funny.
01:29:45
Speaker
Isn't that funny? Where with London was August 21st and this was August 22nd. Isn't that interesting? Sometimes that happens here. That's really odd. Um, filmed in Toronto and with a budget of 30 million only made 25 and a half million. There's also two sequels to this movie I didn't know about. I have not watched them and I don't really want to, if I'm being honest. Um, Andrew, this is not a first time watch for either of us. So go ahead and tell me what you think about it.
01:30:12
Speaker
So mimic, yes, this comes at a time. So think about 1997. I mean, this is like horror heyday for a little Andrew. So, yes, I've seen this movie many, many times. However, it's been probably over a decade since I've seen it. Yeah. So it felt a little fresher to me. However, some of the themes which we'll get into didn't feel so fresh these days.
01:30:37
Speaker
Overall, listen, it's a monster movie. I remember when I first watched this not really understanding. It was a big reveal to me when it was a giant bug and it wasn't a person. So let's just put it there. That's my brain was that developmentally watch this the first time. Whereas now I'm watching and I'm like, Andrew, how did you not understand what was going on here? But that's fine.
01:31:03
Speaker
Yeah, I just think that this is like a fun monster movie. I will. I do have some things to say about like the overall like theme here that I thought this time around watching it, I got this time that I haven't gotten before, which we can get into in a little bit here. But overall, I think that this is just like a for the time star studded, first of all, because completely so many people in this movie. I forgot that Norman Reed has had a little bit character moment in this movie.
01:31:32
Speaker
And I just think it's fun. I don't know. I never thought too much into this. I did have a little bit more of a feeling this time around. But does it suffer from being like a late 90s movie with like the over the top score and like the over the top acting and the hero moments?
01:31:48
Speaker
Yeah, but you know what, it's, it's, it's, it's that kind of movie. So I can't really fault it for that. But, um, this is, oh, I had, I, until we started credits on this, I did not remember this. It was a Guillermo del Toro movie. So that was, neither did I.
01:32:05
Speaker
a weird thing to see his name attached to kind of a more blockbuster movie like this. But yeah, overall, I had fun with it. I have some criticisms that we can talk about, but overall, still had fun. What about you? Yeah, I mean, I think I mostly the same. I mean, I am really not into bug shit. I'll be honest. I just I don't like it. So even with that knowledge, like I still liked it, which is funny because I do like other movies with bugs, like even just bug, for example, I quite enjoy.
01:32:35
Speaker
I don't like roaches. Roaches truly fucking terrify me. They are demons. They should not be alive.
01:32:44
Speaker
Um, yeah, I mean, look, I think it's mostly good. Right. And I honestly, I think we pretty much feel the same about this. And if I'm being real, like all the things that you said that are the things that like kind of driving nuts are the same things that drive me nuts. Like like the over the top score, for example, it's it's it's a bit silly, especially at the end. Oh my God. Yeah. And like some weird acting choices. And like there there there was definitely there are some parts where like you just like the the sequence is just weird. The flow is weird.
01:33:13
Speaker
But I don't know, it generally works. And it is funny to think about how F. Murray Abraham would be in later Guillermo del Toro stuff because F. Murray Abraham is just such an amazing actor. I think he's just one of the best ever with all the crazy shit that he's done.
01:33:34
Speaker
from fucking amadeus to mimic to fucking white lotus you know what i mean like he's 13 ghosts yeah i mean he's done a little bit of everything and like and he's got an academy award and this and that it's just it's wild um amira storvino i i mean look the the movie is a little bit ridiculous to start with right like there's there's a disease being called caused by cockroaches killing children
01:33:56
Speaker
And we're going to invent a new cockroach to kill the cockroaches. Like, it's it's a bit ridiculous when you get right down to it. But cheers to Mira Sorvino and Jeremy Northam, for that matter, for playing it straight. I mean, like, you know, they really believe it in this movie. And very big cheers to Jeremy Northam. Yes, a very big one. And Jeremy, this is
01:34:23
Speaker
I think that Jeremy Northam in the role was was a bit of a stretch. I'm not sure that I agree with the casting choice, if I'm being honest. I think that he works. But Jeremy Northam is just such a he's such a he is. But he's also such like such a very particular English actor that I would have I would have never thought about him for this role ever, ever, ever.
01:34:47
Speaker
My thing with that character in general is I don't, and listen, we're gonna preface this as we watched the theatrical cut of Mimic. Apparently there is a director's cut. Yeah, so I actually watched the director's cut and I didn't realize that I was doing it until I started watching it because I had to rent it and it was the only one to rent, but it didn't even say director's cut. So what I will say is that the director, I'm just gonna say this really quick, the director's cut is definitely longer.
01:35:16
Speaker
And it was about 10 minutes longer, I would say. And it was longer to the point of me being like, is this over yet? Like, come on, like enough. Like, we get it. Let's go. Let's go. So honestly, the director's cut was kind of annoying if I'm being real.
01:35:32
Speaker
that I was just thinking because the character of Peter, I just I didn't know how to take him in the movie because it almost felt like they were trying to cast him as kind of a villain at some points in the movie, but kind of a hero, but kind of a hero at the same time. So because like.
01:35:52
Speaker
This is unlike a movie like this where we have multiple protagonists that we're rooting for because in any in any other movie of this time, you'd probably just be rooting for Susan. But like they do a weird thing where you're kind of rooting for Peter, too. But you kind of think like, is he going to turn on her at any moment and like choose the bugs over her? You know what I mean? You know, it's interesting. I think maybe I've got a little bit of a different take on him. To me, he almost seems a little bit hapless in some ways.
01:36:22
Speaker
Like that's that's what I took away from watching at this time. I felt like he was almost like a bit of a fuddy duddy in a lot of ways, which I guess in some ways like maybe casting Jeremy Northam as like a not full on fuddy duddy here, but like at least a little bit actually kind of works for the role. Yeah, I guess I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop either with Dr. Gates or with Peter because like they're kind of like. Yeah.
01:36:47
Speaker
either this they're like one works for the CDC and one is like, you shouldn't have done you shouldn't have done this, Susan. And so I was like waiting for the other shoe to drop of like one of them to like we need a sample and we'll take anything that we need to get that sample or something like that. I think I think with Dr. Gates, I was surprised as how little he's really in the movie and like unconsequential he is. Yeah, completely inconsequential. And like and once again, it's it's F. Marie Abraham. Like you're going to use him for like three minutes in this movie.
01:37:16
Speaker
He gets the famous line, yes, but the world is a much bigger lab. Yes, I know. But like, you know, it's just that I think that a lot more could have been done with the Dr. Gates relationship. And I think that was sadly just not developed nearly enough so that when he comes back at the end, I kind of didn't care. Like he just kind of just like shows up out of nowhere again. And I'm like, oh, you've just been in the lab this whole time. Who cares? Yeah. I mean, like I just I think that that was a silly, a silly choice.
01:37:45
Speaker
Um, another thing of this time that will continue to go on for the next almost a decade until we kind of figure out what to do with this kind of character is the, is the special child. And that's like something that happens in this era of movie making is where we either have like,
01:38:04
Speaker
A magical American Indian or we have or their autistic. Yeah, we have like a magical autistic kid or we have a magical Native black person like you know what I mean? There's always like something like this in this decade of movie making And so it was just interesting to like go back to that and be like, oh I forgot this was part of this movie and I don't really get
01:38:27
Speaker
Like I get that he's in the movie because like they have to draw people down into the sewer. Like the man, he has to be drawn down to the sewer. So like that's what we need this character for. Yeah, sure. But like he's kind of also inconsequential because I get like I get like the arc of like she's not pregnant and now she wants to, you know, fight for this kid. And now she has him as a kid. Yeah, that's kind of like how it's set up at the end.
01:38:55
Speaker
and it was just kind of weird. It was weird writing for that character and it felt like he never felt like truly in jeopardy if that makes any sense. I completely agree with you and I think also too with speaking of that character and speaking about the relationship with Manny, who I can't remember, is it his dad or his grandpa? I think so. I think his dad.
01:39:19
Speaker
But it's hard to tell, we never find out. Giancarlo Giannini, if you don't know, he's a very famous actor in Italy. And like around the world too. I also just think that like, I don't know, he was kind of underused too in a lot of ways. And I don't know, there were weird things around that whole thing. Why did it have to be Giancarlo Giannini? Why did it have to be, I don't know, the whole thing didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, if I'm being honest.
01:39:47
Speaker
And then we have a random Josh Brolin in this movie, too. So, so random and almost almost to God, now I'm kind of talking myself out of this movie, almost too random, in my opinion. Like Josh Brolin is just such a presence on screen. He his voice is he's got a big old voice. He's got a big old body, too. I mean, he's just like he's a fucking you can't miss him. I don't know why they chose him for that. What do you think about that?
01:40:16
Speaker
I think he kind of fits if I'm being honest. He fits as like a New York cop like to me. I don't know. Fair enough. I actually really do. His death scene is actually one of my favorites. It's well done. Yeah. I think when he's trying to get up through that great and like he's holding on to that thing and he falls back down and then like how they film it.
01:40:36
Speaker
to where he gets kind of like, I think like cut in half kind of thing. Seems that way. I just thought I was really well done. And that's what I will say about this movie is that like the deaths and everything are actually pretty brutal. Like there is one scene with two like kids.
01:40:54
Speaker
where they get fucking born apart. Which I was like, wow, that's kind of a... I don't know. There were certain people in this movie that felt like, oh, you're definitely going to die. And then there were certain people in this movie, AKA Susan, who you just knew wasn't going to die. Because
01:41:15
Speaker
The bugs have many, many opportunities to kill her. There is a very famous scene where she is in the train station and she asks the man, you know, oh, do you have the time? And then she like discovers that that's one of the bugs that's mimicking a man. And it definitely could have just killed her right there. But oh, no, for story's sake, it just takes her and takes her down into the place. Same with Chewy. They could have just killed that kid at any moment, but they choose to take him.
01:41:43
Speaker
Because he because he can clack his spoons like that. Yeah, like, OK, got it. Yeah. So that part of the movie, not so great. But like once we get into the action, it's I think it's still like a fun movie and it it plays a lot on those like, you know, like of course the one cop is going to sacrifice himself for the fam for the quote unquote family and like things like that. And maybe I'm talking myself out of this movie. I know. Right. Exactly. I mean, look, the thing the thing about it is like it's
01:42:13
Speaker
It's a movie where you kind of want to go deep on it, but then almost as soon as you do, you're like, there's not a whole lot to go deep on at the end of the day. What I will say is I did like the idea of Strickler's disease and what we would do if it was affecting kids. Imagine if COVID went after kids. Fair enough. They would do anything they needed to do. Do they need to create a new species?
01:42:36
Speaker
or just bug bomb the sewers? I'm just saying. There's got to be a way to just kill the fucking cockroaches. You know what I mean? Well, don't you think we would have figured that out by now? We still have them. So it's true. God, it is true. You know, I haven't seen a roach in a very long time and I hope that I never do again.
01:42:53
Speaker
Yeah. Um, I, and so I liked that Strickler's disease thing. I liked that infected kids because that like it, it makes it more, for some reason it makes it more dire that we have to like figure this out. So they just do whatever they have to do. Right. What I found interesting in this watch is that they talk in the, in the front of the movie, they talk a lot about Strickler's disease and how about it will, you know, take down a generation of kids and a generation of kids will not grow up in, in, in Manhattan.
01:43:21
Speaker
and then later on in the movie, so that's like the main problem, right? Well, then later on in the movie, the main solution is to wipe out a generation of these bugs, which I thought was a weird dichotomy of like,
01:43:36
Speaker
Who are we really? You know what I mean? Like are we as man? Like aren't we doing the same thing? You know what I mean? It just struck me a little differently this time. I think maybe I was trying to find a little bit more meaning in this movie and that's what I came away with.
01:43:53
Speaker
And so I thought that that was something that maybe people don't think about when they're watching like, you know, a monster movie about giant bugs, you know? Yeah, no, I get that. I think that's a really astute observation. I didn't really think of it that way.
01:44:07
Speaker
Um, some of the things that stood out to me, I love that whole part, even though we have to see bugs and they're really disgusting. I do like that whole gross dude. I do like that whole part though, where she's explaining to the kid like, okay, so this one's like the, the, the, um, the cop bug. You know what I mean? Like the warrior bug.
01:44:24
Speaker
and he takes them down into this pit and it's basically outlining the rest of the movie because you know Peter ends up in the nest at the end and like it's like the whole thing and it's kind of a anatomy of the train system and that's why we chose it for public transit because the majority of the movie takes place in the lower parts of the New York transit system. I'm trying to think
01:44:49
Speaker
I think that all the action is really good. Some of the CGI doesn't hold up as well anymore. What were your thoughts on that? I think it was interesting to look at the beast itself. I'm calling it the beast. I haven't said beast in so long.
01:45:04
Speaker
and like the different iterations of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like there, it was, it was, I think it was like a mixture of like Mothman almost. And like, God, what else? Almost like Darkman. Remember Darkman? Remember Darkman? Like Jeepers Creepers kind of. It's kind of all that same imagery. And like, it's, yeah, that's kind of, I mean, like, when did, when did Mothman prophecies come out?
01:45:29
Speaker
When was around this? Maybe like a couple of years after this. Yeah. And then and then Jeepers Creepers would have been kind of around here, too. Right. Yeah. Like early 2000s. Yeah. So and also I can't believe I just thought of Darkman, but like Darkman was around then, too. Like so I guess it's not a super surprise that like it's it may be a little bit of a conglomeration of all those things together in one.
01:45:52
Speaker
It was also funny to see the beast move because when it moves, it almost wasn't a roach anymore. It was like a wasp almost. They changed its DNA, Maddie. The thing itself is kind of cool, the way that it's done. It's disgusting. Like I said, I really don't like bug stuff.
01:46:17
Speaker
But I think it's pretty impressive the way that they do it. I like that whole mask thing. I think that's really cool. The mask thing is crazy and it's weird. It's not a surprise from Guillermo. His name is so hard to say. Guillermo del Toro. Not a surprise that he did really great with a creature because that's what he does. But I think that this is one that he did a very good job on, especially back then.
01:46:42
Speaker
Yeah, I did like the part where she was like, they're they're rubbing the glands all over them to make them all basically smell like the bugs. So, so gross. She looks at Peter and she goes, try not to sweat. And I was like, oh, well, I'm dead. Yeah, sure. Got it.
01:47:00
Speaker
Um, the part that I forgot about that really like, Ooh, kind of made me like take a little bit of a, Ooh, that's so gross. And I don't know why is like, when she's examining the dead bug on the train and she's like, Peter, it has lungs. And I was like, Oh, like this, for some reason that really grossed me out. And I don't know why it's disgusting that that's why it's gross.
01:47:22
Speaker
Um, but yeah, and then we of course get like the, the hero ending. We think that Peter sacrificed himself for the, to the greater good, but no, he jumped into the water. So he's the only one that lived. Um, and they do kind of like that, that not jump scare, but that like, uh, pull your out from the rug where they make it look like he's Mr. Funny shoes in the
01:47:44
Speaker
in the in the thing. Yeah. Right. And then he just like walks up and he's got a blanket. And I was like, they like, listen, like F. Murray Abraham, Dr. Gates just said they did a sweep three times and he just casually walks out from the from the sewer system. I was like, this is this is such a Hollywood like he's here. Oh, thank God. No, they can be a family. Yeah.
01:48:09
Speaker
It does push that dynamic a little too hard if you're asking me about family values of it all. A couple of things about the film too. Released the same year along another insect movie, Starship Troopers. Remember that good one? I used to sometimes touch myself to Starship Troopers.
01:48:28
Speaker
It was very hot remember remember the shower scenes though. Yes, and I also remember being very attracted to the main main. Oh Yeah, like remember folks. We didn't have the internet back then really it was a series of pictures Yeah, I was like, oh let's get this DVD again And also also I really like the action. Yeah, so it's so good Yeah, I'm gonna stay home from school today mom. I don't feel good
01:48:52
Speaker
According to Guillermo del Toro, Mira Sorvino and Jeremy Northam could not stand each other on set. They really hated each other. I should also say that I am a huge stan of Mira Sorvino. I love Mira Sorvino. God, rest in peace Paul Sorvino, her father. The escalator in Delancey Street Station is shown as dismantled for maintenance.
01:49:13
Speaker
Because the film, it was filmed in Toronto. It was one of Toronto's subway station platform that was closed in 1966, so its escalator was removed. Hmm. And apparently also that would have been a set in thrill seekers. Another movie, huh? I don't know that movie, but so, Maddie, what do you give mimic? Are you going to watch the sequels to this? I'm not considering it. Well, no, only because I just I have precious viewing time. Do you know what I mean?
01:49:43
Speaker
And I had fun watching this, but I don't have a desire to watch more bug movies if I'm being real. I just want to know if they're going to continue on with Susan and Peter or if it's going to be something different. Well, Andrew, I have homework for you. For our next episode, for what you've been watching, bitch, I expect to see two of those sequels in your list.
01:50:03
Speaker
Yeah. Remember when I said that I was going to do that with species too, and I never did. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Well, in that case, I want, there's your four for the next episode. Um, Andrew, I gave mimic a four and a half. I brought it down just a little bit from my initial, uh, assessment. And I said, I do not like bugs, but I liked Del Toro and I love F Murray Abraham. That's it for me.
01:50:24
Speaker
Yeah, I gave it a 4.5 as well. I said it's a strong premise and it's surrounded by a great cast, but some weird 90s acting in the score keep this one just above average.
Lighthearted Wrap-Up and Listener Engagement
01:50:34
Speaker
So folks, that does it for our second and final film of the episode. We'll be right back to close out the episode and play a little game.
01:50:50
Speaker
And folks, that does it for episode 120 of Friday the 13th Horror Podcast. But before we go, we'll play a little game, one we played many times. It's called Hottie of the Episode. It's pretty fucking simple. We're gonna tell you who we think is hot. So Andrew, who do you think was the hottest in both of these films today?
01:51:07
Speaker
You know, a lot of times we don't have a ton to choose from, but I feel like we had quite a few to choose from. But it's no surprise. Mine is definitely Peter, Jeremy Northam. I don't know. There's something about that Fuddy Duddy kind of guy that gets my gears going. I didn't know that you had such a crush on Jeremy Northam. I didn't either until I was watching this movie. I would say he's pretty atypical for you.
01:51:37
Speaker
You think so? I do. Yeah, I think when I when I think about about Andrew's type, I don't think Jeremy Northam, I think it's really interesting. I think it was the way he was styled in this movie, like with with those glasses and kind of like, I don't know. Yeah, like, I don't know. I don't know. There's something about that.
01:51:53
Speaker
It got me going, so there we go. Mine is gonna be David Naughton, who plays David Kessler in an American werewolf in London. I mean, look, he's naked in it. And like, you know, there's nothing left to the imagination. Do you know what I mean? He's got a nice butt, and as you might know, as a person who engages in homosexual sex, I enjoy butts.
01:52:21
Speaker
quite a bit. I'm obsessed with asses and I enjoyed that. And he also looks like he might've called you an F word in high school. So yeah, which also kind of fits the bill, you know, like, Oh God, it gets me going. And I just, you know, I want to fuck him because of it. You know, that that's basically it.
01:52:36
Speaker
Andrew, that is it for our 120th episode, but before we let these fine people go back to their day, we want to remind everyone that we are a proud, independent podcast, my friends. What does this mean? It means that everything that we do for it, we do on our own.
01:52:55
Speaker
So that means, you know, paying for software. It means renting movies. It means buying new equipment now and then because it doesn't last forever. Editing and research. Truly, truly hours, hours of other stuff, which we love to do. But what we would love is your support. And you can support us in a really easy way. Well, actually in a couple of ways.
01:53:16
Speaker
The first way that you can do it, if you're able, is by becoming a patron on Patreon. Patreon is super, if you've never done it before, it's really easy to do. And you can do it for a lot of different shows. So not just us, if you're interested in, you know, being a patron for others too, you can do that. What I like particularly about the way that we do it here, and I'm not trying to, you know, sell you on this, but I kind of am, is that look,
01:53:38
Speaker
We don't put anything behind a paywall. And there are a lot of podcasters out there that I deeply respect that do that, but I really disagree with that practice. I think, and Andrew, I'm pretty sure you feel the same way here, that like, look, all of our stuff, I want everyone to listen to it. Every single person out there, I don't want anyone to have to pay to hear the shit that we talk about. Because frankly, while Andrew and I are brilliant, we're not that brilliant. Do you know what I mean? Like, let's just face the facts here.
01:54:07
Speaker
So nothing we're saying here, you should be paying for all that much. So in other words, what I'm saying is this, you're not paying to get something secret or something special. You're giving us, you're supporting us with your hard earned money to help us make the show even better. And that's something cool about the way that we do this. I'll be very honest about it because it's all about building community for us and it has been from day one.
01:54:31
Speaker
We create these shows, we put our blood, sweat, and tears into it, and we do it because we know that you guys like it, and it's fun to listen to, hopefully, and you enjoy it, and it brings people together in a weird way, and we know it does because we get messages from you guys all the time. So it's a labor of love, but you can be a patron with us for as little as $1 a month. That's nothing.
01:54:57
Speaker
So for 12 bucks a year, you could help us make the show a little bit better. And you can join in with... How many patrons do we have now, Andrew? I think like 50 or so. And that's pretty fucking cool. You can join a little club of people that just wants to support a little show and make it better. And that's, I think, a really admirable thing. So if you're able to, please consider that. And Andrew, how else can folks support us?
01:55:24
Speaker
Well, first I do want to mention that there is a new function on Patreon that we're fooling around with that can add to that community function, is that they now have a group chat that you can kind of just... Oh, fantastic. ...that only patrons can be involved with it, so unfortunately you have to sign up for this, but you can sign up for free now on Patreon too, you don't have to pay for it. And it's just a group chat of all the people that are patrons of our show, so you can go and chat with other people that are passionate about the show.
01:55:51
Speaker
And I love it. So that is very, very cool. But you can also buy merch. Um, the merch store needs a refresh. I'll be honest, but if you want some contact, you can go over there. Remember my voice. No, it's okay. Remember good old suka deek. And folks, you can do both of these things. You can become a patron and you can buy our merch by going to our website, which is www.frygay13.com slash support. And finally,
01:56:17
Speaker
If you don't want to buy merch and if you don't want to do a group chat and if you don't want to do Patreon, fine, no problem. But one thing that we do need you to do is go leave a review. And what we want you to do is smash those five stars. Smash them. Smash them. Also, we want you to smash that subscribe button on whatever you're listening to right now or follow button, whatever it is.
01:56:36
Speaker
And tell people about your experience with us. All the studies show that people latch onto a podcast because of the reviews. They're looking for what other people say before they give their precious time away to anything.
01:56:52
Speaker
So if you have not left us a review yet, please, please, please consider doing that today. In fact, don't consider it. Just do it, please. As long as it's good. And if it's not good, then don't do it. Don't do that. We don't care about you. And we hope that you never listen again.
01:57:09
Speaker
And you know, that about does it for, you know, I can't believe this. We've made it to 120. And at the end of every show, even at episode, did we do it on episode one? I don't remember. I don't think we did. Since I can remember, we have always encouraged you to get slayed.