Hokum (2026)

Transcript

Speaker: Fado Fado Long long ago

Speaker: We're back. Rick, how are we doing this fine evening? So you've you've gone from all right, we're back and intentionally went with the okay. Okay. I don't think I've heard the ok i know what I did. I know what I did. Trying to get some variety in here.

Speaker: You know, we like we were talking about investments earlier, reinvesting. You're just diversifying your portfolio here. Exactly. not I'm not a one trick show. I got a lot of ah first words I can say before we're back. This is our first pod. Like when we did send help, I was still, did not have a space of my own yet. Now I have an office and I'm in this office. We're both in offices. We've come a long way from from me going out of my closet. I think you occasionally did a pod like in a car parked outside of a home. on just A car, a garage, a hotel, and also a closet.

Speaker: yeah Both out of the closet and so much better for it. Anyways, movie news. what do What do we got to talk about here? I got, I got nothing, man. What do you got? I got something. we intentionally omitted um a movie called ice cream man.

Speaker: Oh, thank God. It's called ice cream man. Yes. And we've covered Eli Roth before. Eli Roth, famous for hostile, famous for playing the bear Jew and a glorious bastards buddy with Quentin Tarantino. Um,

Speaker: has since made a film we actually did like fever cabin fever yeah i didn't love cabin fever but but i like you have to kind of mention it it's like cabin fever is like cabin fever he did um was it green inferno i think was him as well yes but yeah we like thanksgiving but his newest film um it was a new release we decided to skip over and it's not getting the best reviews it's also um putting he's down bad right now he's He's going to hit on one side for some of his political views he's expressed. He's going to hit on the other side because he's using AI in his film and initially denied it, ah generative AI. And now he's come out and said like, oh, yeah, we used a little bit. But he's kind of not planting his flag in the right places these days. Maybe time will will be kind to him and will 100 years from now, we'll look back and be like, man, Netanyahu, not a bad guy. Knew what he was doing. Or AI, look, it saved everybody. But right now, it just doesn't look great.

Speaker: That's all I'm saying. Yeah. he's He's picking unpopular positions, I would say. and so um That movie, like I could smell the stink on that movie even before the AI stuff. it To be fair, maybe we're getting too political and groupy on a lot of other things. I've heard the movie isn't that good by its own merit. like Forget the AI stuff, forget his views. yes People just don't enjoy the movie. so um Yeah, I'm sure I'll probably watch at some point. I like to be a completionist and watch a lot of horror films that come out each year, but it's not top of my priority list. We have ah another 2026 release that we're covering today. And before we get into it, I guess I should say this is the Sunday Scaries. I'm Travis Telerik.

Speaker: I'm Ricky Townsend. Today we are covering the 2026 Damian McCarthy new release in Hocum, which is just like Send Help, a movie that debuted earlier this year while we were on hiatus, but it's had enough buzz and honestly enough positive reviews where we wanted to go back in and cover it now, especially because This is the month it's anticipated. it should go to streaming any day now. I think it's expected to stream on Hulu, but we could probably talk about that a bit later in the ep as well, because this is very much an indie film distributed by Neon. And so it doesn't have a de facto streaming home um like you might get with some of the larger production studios that have their own streaming platform.

Speaker: Yeah, um popped up on a bunch of recommended lists, um kind of a surprise hit, but maybe not that much of a surprise. Damian McCarthy, an Irish filmmaker, has been um churning out well-received movies since 2020. He started with Caveat, um then did the Oddity in 2024.

Speaker: ah twenty twenty four Have you seen Oddity? No, it's on the list as well. It's pretty it's pretty good. It's pretty good. Some people love it. Some people absolutely love it. I see people send its flowers. ah But the main through line between all his work is is folklore, like Irish folklore and trinkets, it seems, and what I'm noticing is like rabbits pop up in each of his films from what I've read about the other two.

Speaker: We'll save of that for deep cuts, but he's got, he's got a he's got a viewpoint. He's got at least an aesthetic position. um And it is, is something that he's using and cutting his teeth on. And yeah,

Speaker: Wants to make original shit. um But I will say- And he's very much like a story first writer. Like he writes his own movies. they are They have exciting plots, right? He doesn't want to just go for the typical, like this is a haunted house, I think storyline, but he wants deeper characters, twists, makes the story more engaging, which is what we see in Hocum as well.

Speaker: Well, it's and not to step on development or production notes or anything, but his writing processes, he's pretty militant about how he has done it for each of his three films. um I went through a few interviews ah with him and several publications, and he's he's got a three point rule. And the first is you write the script.

Speaker: ah Obviously, a script has to be written. And at a certain point, he sends it to people he trusts to get feedback on and see what they think because it's a lonely process. Then the second part of storyboarding, and that's where he gets a lot of his visual cues from and starts working with his DP on the setups and and stuff like that. But the third part i thought was interesting.

Speaker: He takes the scripts and the storyboards and brings them to his actors that he's cast and talks with them about things that he might be bumping up ah against or maybe that doesn't have the same cultural um a translation that maybe his Irish roots has. that will that Will that hit Western audiences? Will that hit American audiences the same way? is Are there things in here that maybe...

Speaker: don't feel as congruent for how the actors see their own characters as saying or doing. So he he takes in a lot of feedback from peers, friends and his actors, which um and, you know so some artists are completely like it's that's antithetical to the how they do their work. It's like I have my vision.

Speaker: I'm sticking with it. Damn what anybody else says. It sounds like he is very collaborative and um willing to listen and like make pivots here and there based on people he trusts and what they say.

Speaker: which not a bad way to go about things. Yeah, no, I i like his stories. I like his writing. um Again, I feel like he's going above and beyond maybe just turn of the mill ah type stories you occasionally can hit with horror. But talk let's talk about it. Do you want to give us ah the plot ah synopsis there for this one? Yes, it is. A horror writer visits an Irish inn to scatter his parents ashes, unaware the property is said to have be haunted by a witch.

Speaker: um You know, Trav, for movies that are ah centered around a a distraught writer who is stuck in a haunted hotel with a drinking problem and a fraught relationship with his immediate family,

Speaker: It's probably my second favorite of of that. ah ah Would first be one that maybe took place in Colorado at the Stanley Hotel. It just it just might. Yeah, the shining. As you mentioned, neither of us could catch this in theaters. We have um we got 100 inch screen TV at our new house and it's in my living room. which I've never watched a movie on today. Humble brag much? Because, well, i I'm just trying to say we've had it since the Superbowl. So what it's been almost six months.

Speaker: And I have never once watched a movie on it myself because my girls own that TV. So there's any TV. Don't you watch a lot of movies late at night though? Yeah, but I can't. We have like a lofted ceiling. It would be way too loud. I would wake the entire household are you doing? Get headphones.

Speaker: I do that all the time. Okay. Dude, I watch most of my movies on a big TV. Like we don't have our setup yet, but I watch most of my movies late at night. And I also use headphones and it's the best experience ever. It's like you can yeah have it as loud as you want. So maybe I will add more. But the point of my story is I did this one during the workday. I fit it in and it was a fun viewing experience to finally watch a movie on a big screen.

Speaker: um The only negative from the viewing experience itself is since it was like afternoon, there's a lot of ah low light settings in the film. Yeah. When you have any kind of light coming into the room.

Speaker: it's hard to see right yeah it should have turned up the brightness on the tv because you start losing the thread a little bit in a few minutes they i mean they opened that they shot this wide open like the lens aperture is open as large as it can go to let in the most amount of light but they do that so they can shoot in low light situations yeah but yeah and there was a lot low light six situations but yeah i i like this film um Again, I like Damian McCarthy's writing. I really like this is not just a horror film, but also a thriller mystery setting. And I didn't know that going in.

Speaker: It's a real whodunit. And I love that in horror films, um a good mystery like that. And so that's great. I love Adam Scott. And he's done a lot of horror.

Speaker: And he does movies occasionally where he's an asshole, stepbrothers most notably. And this is great of marrying those two different Adam Scott personas of him in a horror film and him being just a jerk.

Speaker: And I really like him in it because of it. With that said, I'm leading with a lot of positives. Some parts left me a little lacking. this This is not, again, obsession for me or maybe even send help for me, but it's definitely a a film I would recommend our listeners watch. um if If you like horror movies at all, want to see anything current from this year, this is still very solid installment for 2026 horror.

Speaker: I haven't had a carb since 2004. Exactly. Your Audi enjoys fishing for Bonita. um What other horror movies has he been in?

Speaker: Oh, man. He's been a ton of horror. So he's in Hokum. He's in The Monkey. He's in Krampus. He's in Piranha. He's in Little Evil. That was the one I was searching for. um So he's been a lot. I mean, none of these are big names. Sounds like something like Screen Prince.

Speaker: Yeah. I mean, and that's a... I think you'd be hard-pressed to find... Other actors have been in at least five horror films of different franchises too, right? He's not just coming back like Patrick Wilson for every Conjuring movie, but he's working with different directors and different horror films. So Trav, ask asked me what I thought about Hocum.

Speaker: Yeah. What'd you think? hokum more like ho hum. ah that that I thought that did not like it. I did not like it. I know I don't normally come out of the gate and just say that I try to find and I will mention things I liked about it. But um this really was not for me. I was I was it was bumping up against it.

Speaker: I thought it explained away way too many things. It's funny in some of his interviews he talks about how he doesn't like exposition. And I'm like, well, it doesn't show because you set up and explain and explain away a lot of things.

Speaker: I like the setting. The production design is awesome. The sound design is awesome. um the The cinematography and like we talked about the open wide lens is is beautiful.

Speaker: But man, i I just didn't know what this was for. Like I get it. It's Irish folklore. I get that he's trying to create a mood. But I think my neighbors like across the other side of the city could probably have heard my groan when this turned out to be another trauma elevated horror situation where like the whole thing it's undergirded by an event that happened when he was young. And I was just like, God,

Speaker: plays the best part of the movie is Jerry the weird guy in the woods and this movie came dude the movie came alive when they entered the haunted house together haunted sorry the haunted hotel together to go investigate the missing woman we should probably set up the movie a little bit in a second but like And we hardly got any time with them. Like we got separate stuff. with it like at the When they were together, I thought the movie shined and there were some scary parts here and there. But for the most part, i this was not one one for me. Yeah, that's curious then because I felt the same. I like this more than Oddity. Oddity is a film that's, I'd say...

Speaker: praised by a lot of ah hardcore horror buffs. I say hardcore horror buffs because it was lesser known to have a wide theatrical release. Well, Shudder, right? Like Okum did. So it was Shudder exclusive? Yeah, I think it Shudder exclusive.

Speaker: And I will say for Oddity, that had one of the best jump scares or scary scenes in any film in 2024. But outside of that, I found it kind of dull. And I actually really didn't like his story, even though though he goes very deep into that.

Speaker: This one, maybe I'm just getting more used to Damian McCarthy. I like more it a little more. Yeah, it could be a it could be a ah McCarthyism. It could be like a...

Speaker: A way he tells stories and that once you know his shtick, you can kind of engage with it in a more meaningful way. And maybe since you've seen another one of those movies, you understand his filmic language a bit better than I do. Because I didn't know what to expect, but I was expecting something else. I i didn't get it I really liked focusing on positives when Adam Scott, yeah a lot this film centers are around the honeymoon suite in the hotel he's staying at. And I do like what you were starting to talk about when Adam Scott gets up in the honeymoon suite and exploring the space. Because I think set design did a great job with

Speaker: Yeah, they're great. All the little trinkets, secret elevators, secret rooms. like it i really like just following Adam Scott around as he explores that. And we had that like POV perspective of exploring that room. I thought that was really well done. It creates a sense of you know unease. um You have a higher stress level as you're curious, like what is he going to find in there? And so I think if more of more the movie but i Like I could have had just exploring the whole hotel like that and have that be a lot longer piece of the movie. i probably would have enjoyed it even a bit more. I think once he's made himself comfortable in the space, then it's not as scary then. And leading up to when he goes up there, like you said, there's a lot of exposition where it was good, but not not great. And so the first half of the movie drags a little bit.

Speaker: Yeah, I did. I honestly liked Adam Scott's scenes better when he was by himself because... when they're trying to really hammer in that he's a dick and just kind of an irritable person, his one-liners and retorts to people were just cringeworthy to me. like Oh, okay. We're different there.

Speaker: Adam Scott being mean. Love Adam Scott being mean. Yeah, I like him being mean to John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell in a treehouse. Here, the way his delivery didn't work for me. i don't know. Like, it...

Speaker: I understand why they cast him here because they needed somebody who's kind of has a stick up their ass and it's kind of a jerk. um And then obviously he changes throughout the movie because he learns and he has closure. But I just it felt very forced and I just was like, okay so you're going to say these like really dickish things that most people wouldn't say and they're going to have him like commit assault to some dude or burn his hand. Like it's just it just was all over the place. We'll talk more about that scene.

Speaker: Yeah. ah But yeah, just for for people who hadn't seen this, this came out a while ago and or if you haven't seen it yet. Adam Scott plays a writer who's trying to finish his Conquista Dora trilogy and can't think of it ending struggling.

Speaker: Sees a ghost of his mom in his house that prompts him to go. Scatter their ashes as both his parents. Both his parents, yeah. In Ireland at an old inn that they had their honeymoon at. And there he learns about folklore, about a witch.

Speaker: that drags people down into hell, I guess, and that the owner of this hotel seemingly locked this witch in the honeymoon suite. He can't get in.

Speaker: And he's he's a mean to everybody. And then one day, inexplicably, i guess he's just upset with everything. He ah kills himself or tries to. He he hangs himself and um is found by Fiona, the bartender.

Speaker: And then when he wakes up, she's gone. And that is ah of great interest to a man in the woods, some homeless dude named Jerry. And the movie basically really takes off when Jerry convinces Om, which is Adam Scott's character, to go try to find her because he had a vision. Jerry had a vision of Fiona and he thinks she's in the honeymoon suite.

Speaker: And so even though everybody in the world telling them don't go in there, they go in there and they try to find Fiona. So that's the setup. um And he leans, yeah, like we talked about earlier. on There's not a specific... ah I think that what I read was like the closest thing to like an actual um Irish folk story in this is is one of called The Kaliak, which is about like an old old woman or a hag ah who, in Ireland, in Irish mythology, she's like this...

Speaker: ancient primordial thing that is associated with creation of landscape and weather and in this case she's just kind of a universal horror figure like she's you know she she captures sinners and puts them in chains and stuff like that um but yeah that's the setup and i i do i was intrigued by what this witch was i just i found it meandering here and there Yeah. On the folklore a bit, I mean, this this film does reek of Ireland. I think Damian McCarthy does a really good job um with his setting and his own Irish roots and casting Irish actors and actually filming on site in Ireland. And to your point, maybe there's not a specific story, but I do think old Europe and wooded Europe.

Speaker: is is one of the top settings for where you would expect to find a witch. And so um that may be Northeastern United States as well, but because of the European influence when we were like settling this country. um So i I don't need like a specific folklore tale that this is based on. I think this still qualifies pretty well.

Speaker: I like haunted hotel so settings. Have you ever seen 1408 based on the Stephen King? No. I thought you were about to ask me about Hotel Transylvania. ah yeah John Cusack and ah Samuel L. Jackson. How could I forget his name? But um haunted hotels are fun. On to your butts.

Speaker: And of course, The Shining as well. Um, it, what is it with Ireland right now? It seems like there's a burst of creative activity coming out there. Like you, cause you have Lee Cronin who did evil dead rise and not to be confused with the mummy. He did Lee Cronin's, the mummy, um, Lorca Finnegan who did vivarium, uh, corn Hardy. i didn't know she's Irish.

Speaker: Yeah. corn Hardy, uh, did the nun, Kate Dolan is also Irish. Did You Are Not My Mother, which got some buzz in 2021. And then um had the misfortune to a sign up to direct what was supposed to be a big expansion of the Megan universe.

Speaker: But since Megan 2 was so bad, Soulmate was sadly sidelined for a streaming release. That was the film you just sent me. I was like, I've never heard of this. and I've seen both the first both both of the first two Megan installments. I mean, it was like the it was like the reverse Evil Dead rise. It was so supposed to be theatrical.

Speaker: Then everyone saw the reaction and rejection of Megan 2.0 and Soulmate. Man, Megan 2.0 was not bad. It's just everyone felt made and switched. It's not to go see a horror movie. and they saw like an action movie instead.

Speaker: I think the problem is you can do that if it's like a generational film. You know, Terminator 1 truly is a horror film. It is like, yeah it's Jaws in the streets. Like he is just hunting them down. It's dark. It's scary. Terminator 2 is not...

Speaker: really a horror film at all, but it's like the best action movie ever made. And I don't think making 2.0 was the best action movie ever made. So yeah next time, just make the best movie in its genre ever and you'll be fine um All right. Well, let's talk about production notes.

Speaker: Yeah, I wanted to explain one thing before we get into production notes to sure explain the explaining that I didn't like in this film. Yeah. It seemed like every 15 minutes or so, there would be a bend over backwards explanation for something.

Speaker: And like just a lot of expositionposition exposition drops and like, well, because you did this, I can't do this. But well well they went there first and this and that. So like, here's what I wrote down. ah Irish folklore folklore is like.

Speaker: That book keeps showing up, they keep explaining that this story about this witch, um They really go over, like, they they go to great lengths to talk about his parents. And it's it's it's foreshadowed pretty heaven-handedly that, like, he's the one who killed them. He's like, yeah, somebody shot them. He was too young to understand or something. or Oh, really?

Speaker: Oh, yeah. he's I'm very naive then because i i thought that was a great twist. And, you know, stepping on awards as we often do. And guess we're getting into spoilers now. Yeah, sorry. But with the spoiler warning, i did not see that coming at all. Really?

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, that's a young kid shot, shot his mom. He's got this dark cloud or weird relationship with his parents and he hates himself. It seems. So he's like, yeah, somebody shot her too young to go to jail. I'm like Oh, that was him. I don't know why he did it, but mo you are very astute. Have you seen garden state?

Speaker: Yeah. Another son who accidentally kills his mom. and Oh yeah. He left the, uh, he left the, uh, dishwasher thing open. Was that it? I thought i was like a bathtub related. sunset and pull that um The way that Mal explains who Jerry is the way that Jerry explains the milk, the way that ah he explains how Fergal didn't see him when he's sneaking around, how the entrance to the basement was lost to renovations. When it's like, you dropped him into town, then why did you come back here to get a picture frame? It was just like,

Speaker: A lot of words for a little bit, just a little bit of movement is the best way I can describe it. and Like they had to explain their way out of... writing problems i think um and it just kind of i just tripped up on it but hey even though it didn't sound great what they were saying at least it looked pretty uh when i was watching it but does that make sense like they i felt like they just kept having to like stop down to explain things and i wish they would have relied on mood a bit more because there was moments that it did have a great mood i

Speaker: i I generally agree with McCarthy. Like I said, he goes very, like I've said for the top of the episode, when I think he goes very story heavy, it's a lot of dialogue presenting to you, just like you said, the exposition of what's going on in this film. I remember seeing that in Oddity as well. I don't necessarily hate that in and of itself, but I agree with you that it's probably one of the reasons why I don't love these movies, maybe as much as others were, like you said, they're more vibe films or you can see, right? Your show not told kind of what's going on. And and I think you realize a bit more I'm telling here.

Speaker: Yeah, but I'm glad I watched. It's always good to see what what's hitting with people. And I know I'm in the minority here, so um there is a lot to like about it. It just happened to not sit well with me. But I also found it hard to to to come up with some of these categories. So or awards. But ah I guess we'll get there when we get there. um Before but we also themes real fast. ah It seems that There is something, this is across multiple movies. and He seems to be preoccupied with like trinkets and little objects. I was watching some of his short- You think that's his theme?

Speaker: maybe a recurring motif maybe is better than theme here. But like they these these these trinkets seem to prompt ideas or like scares for Damian McCarthy because even in his short films, there's there's often shots of or so literal stories that revolve around like little antique items. And I know Oddity is like pretty much based around that. And so- Like wicker man. Yeah.

Speaker: Right. and I don't know if that's like a connection to the past or a connection to another world or another dimension. But even in this one, think of how many shots there are of like those little figurines or the little boy on top of the clock who's like hitting the bell and stuff. um Or the bell down behind the reception desk. Which which was used ah in Oddity, apparently. That was the same exact prop. Same bell.

Speaker: Yeah, so he just he seems to have a liking to little antique items that can carry meaning or mystery or something like that. So maybe not a theme, but maybe just a recurring motif that he uses. He likes those extreme close-ups, which we said, you know, think about like Sam Raimi. Like Raimi loves to do a lot of really tight shots.

Speaker: A lot of times it might be on an individual and from like crazy angles, not necessarily ah a prop. But we we see McCarthy doing that here with well to to give us a better sense of the setting and setting the scene and stuff. Wide shots of the entire room. He likes to keep going close up and keep returning to the same objects on the set.

Speaker: Trav, that's a great segue to production notes because that was one of my first production notes I had, both having to do with close up objects and Raimi. So I'll start with the first. um In the storyboards, the...

Speaker: they the sound or sorry the art department noticed just how close up these shots of these specifically the clock had to be. And when they talk to the camera team about what rig they were using, they realize that it's like They could never get the clo the the camera close enough to a clock to show the detail. So the art department created like massive oversized versions of that clock and other clock props just so the camera could capture like the hyper detailed giant close ups and oh cool ability to kind of find the grooves and little imperfections and stuff. so

Speaker: I just thought that was cool that ah how you can solve that. um And then Ramey, he McCarthy first saw Evil Dead 2 when he was like 17 and watched it like incessantly, like time and time again. And he caught himself.

Speaker: just comparing this movie to evil dead two, um, in that it is a guy who is stuck somewhere and has to survive till dawn.

Speaker: And, um, Sure. I guess these movies could not be more different and inspiration can take a lot of forms. Uh, I guess it's funny that you, I was going to kick this off saying that I didn't see any similarities, but it's cool that you, you even picked up Ramey without even us having just to discuss his inspiration. i think it's not as zany, obviously. Right. But he is, he does play it. He does like to get up close and personal with objects and people. And, um,

Speaker: You know, it is ah it is about a man trying to escape a place that he can't get out of. So I see that. But yeah, Ramey was a huge inspiration for ah McCarthy, not just for the movie, but filmmaking in general for him.

Speaker: Mm Yeah. So this movie, it was shot on place in County Cork in Ireland. um You know, it was filmed, I think, in 2025, premiered at TIFF, which is where Neon then got the rights to distribute it.

Speaker: Released, what, I think in May of this year, of 2026. Five million dollar budget, so a lower budget horror film, which is to your point sometimes why you need to rely on more dialogue and exposition.

Speaker: as opposed to being able to show everything if it's a lower budget film. Did pretty well at the box office. Got a good return on that with 24.1 million worldwide. I'm seeing what it did, 17 million in the US and Canada domestic. Not bad. Yeah, it was. I honestly thought i was surprised at the box office numbers.

Speaker: Again, my social media algorithm is tailored to me and knows that I love horror films, but I was seeing so much promotion for this film. I had assumed it was much bigger. I mean, you hear about, you know, back rooms doing over a hundred million obsession over 400 million.

Speaker: I didn't realize that hokum only did, you know, like 25 worldwide. Yeah. But I mean, that's a, Those are generational, like genre defining or like genre impact. button It's shaking up the genre, I guess. It's hard to compare backrooms and obsession with anything right now because they're such zeitgeists. Whereas this, I think, is pretty normal for an international single location horror film. I think they have to be pretty stoked with the return. I think my more point was to the sheer amount of marketing

Speaker: and trailers and stuff I was saying prior to the movie's release, not the reception fueling that further box office run. I just thought it would have made a bigger initial splash. um And then ah back to development. so McCarthy used to be an electrician. you know that?

Speaker: I did not. was electrician. He was moonlighting an aspiring filmmaker, making shorts and stuff. um Does that explain more than why the name of our protagonist is what it is?

Speaker: Ohm? Yeah. Okay. So ah it's a unit of electrical resistance, and he found Ohm the character to be resistant to many things, but also a nod to his old job.

Speaker: um Can you tell us about the rest of the cast, Rav? Because I have not seen any of these people before, but I i did enjoy. That is, i know I've been kind of ragging the movie a bit. The performances are not something that I'll be ragging on. I thought they were all very believable. Honestly, I thought Adam Scott was the weakest link of them all. I thought wow everybody else. You're not a TV guy.

Speaker: No. So you've never seen the series Severance? I have. That is one show that I have seen. Oh, okay. Like, I mean, I loved him already, but he really endeared himself to me in that series. It's a great show. Sarah's worked on it.

Speaker: Oh, really? Oh, that's really cool. She has a lot of stories for you. Love that. Love Parks and Rec. I i really do like everything he's ends maybe Maybe he has a specific audience and I'm part of that and and you're not. Oh, no, that's quite quite the opposite, actually. Like I loved everything I've seen him in um whether it be Severance or ah Step Brothers or whatever.

Speaker: but I just found, like I said, his, when he's by himself, it's his interactions with other people that I, maybe it's not as him as much as like the, he was given retorts and stuff that I just found to be pretty just unrealistic and and didn't roll off the tongue very well. But going back to severance though, um,

Speaker: And that is McCarthy says that he usually writes with a he does he never usually writes with ah an actor in mind. um But as he was ah writing, so he made the ah he made Oddity and Adam Scott like reached out to him and i was like hey, this is a great movie. Like, what are you working on right now? And he's like, oh, this thing called Hocum. He's like, OK, like, tell me more about it because I'd love to know what you do next.

Speaker: McCarthy didn't think much of it. I mean, he was he was flattered that Adam Scott reached out to him. But then he started watching Severance. And it was, you know, an irritable guy who's stuck it formed in in four walls and is in kind of a a claustrophobic situation.

Speaker: And he started to see Adam Scott's face like in the script as he's making it. ah So Severance, he he is on record saying that Severance played a big role in why Adam Scott's in this movie.

Speaker: Well, that makes sense then for him because the rest of the cast, back to your point, a lot of Irish actors. And so Peter Kunin plays Mal. David Wilmot plays Jerry, who you like. David Wilmot's probably the next most famous. Like he was in Hamnet. He was in Crimes of Grindelwald.

Speaker: um Smaller roles, but he's in, I'd say a lot more U.S., well-received films. And then like Florence Ordache plays Fiona. Will O'Connell plays Albie. Michael Patrick plays Fergal.

Speaker: Limited filmographies here in Irish films for the most part that I'm less familiar with. why so many characters in this? Did we, did we need all these people? I thought this is a relatively tight cast. I mean, there's the six of them I named outside of them. You get Brendan Conroy who plays Mr. Cobb, who i think is in all of what one scene, or maybe you see him one other time in passing. um In, you know, we're, we're seeing a hotel and you'd expect if a big part of the plot revolves around the staff there and their relationships with each other,

Speaker: you do need a few people in place. I mean, honestly, the most expendable extra character was probably Jerry, but I feel like he brings the most to the film where I'm glad they added him in as well. Like he brings the heart. He brings the heart and and the magic milk.

Speaker: Yeah. um All right. A few other things. a Costume designer. i thought she did a great job. I looked her up because I was I thought costumes are great, especially in the witch of the little bit that we saw her.

Speaker: But Laura Campbell is her name. And um she and the makeup team, they studied like different species of real mushrooms and then weave their colors, textures and gill structures into the witch's skin and hair. So I, and again, sorry if this was, if I'm sounding like a,

Speaker: Maybe I'm being like om now, a dick. But I also did not think it was a twist to find that he was drinking magic mushroom stuff. He's drinking that flask throughout the movie. Really? I'm like, oh, for sure there's mushroom powder in there. I have no... Okay. Maybe you're just a lot more astute of viewer than I am. No, but you've got me an obsession. I did not see the brick smash come in and you saw them little ways. I think it just...

Speaker: we all That's more like was a common horror trope. And I guess you're thinking of just more screenwriting overall across all genres where maybe these twists are um more common than killing his own mother and the mushrooms. because i Because I had assumed that, I was thinking about him having a trip throughout this. And I think i think it is really cool that they got as as as ah detailed about this that they like...

Speaker: factored in mushroom architecture into into uh costume design with the witch yeah that was awesome because it's cool she did look dude you spooky little witch i'm not gonna lie yeah who okay i'm calling out the cast again she doesn't get a lot of screen time but uh

Speaker: Who plays the... Oh, C.O. Carroll is the actress's name. yo This is her only film she's accredited with. It's S-I-O-U-X. So, Sue. I'm assuming, actually. Sue is the much more normal pronunciation for, like, Sue Falls as well as just the normal name, Sue.

Speaker: Um, yeah, she, maybe she's a specialist in mushroom witches. yeah Um, you going back to, ah the low light situation, um, by opening. So usually you there's, you measure how much light you bring into a camera with F stops, um, which.

Speaker: I would say that's like there's degrees of error there, whereas transmission stops are like. Complete, like you are just opening up to an exact like it's more mathematical, I guess what I'm saying, um like it's an exact reading of how much light is going in versus just a range and by by opening it to one point nine.

Speaker: um you're basically the only reason that's the only one of the only reasons you actually like see Adam Scott's face and it feels like dark moments. And they're actually only using a single lantern to light those shots. So much in the vein of like Barry Lyndon or other films that were lauded for only using, you know, real light sources. um Pretty impressive to do that here too. They didn't have any,

Speaker: like fake, unnatural movie lighting with like Kinos or like 4Ks or anything like that, like they just shot ah with the light available to them, which i I think makes it seem like really dark without losing your your subject. um And so ah you said that you watched it with in like what a lighter, a brighter room. So it made it a little more difficult to see. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I watched it in my living room where we have like 18 foot high windows and, you know, it was like mid afternoon. And so even with the blinds closed, some light filters through where it can be tough to see. Would recommend watching in a darker place.

Speaker: As I would recommend for most horror films. It's just my mind's wearing... It's a hot take. hot take, man. Yeah.

Speaker: All right. Anything else on production notes before we move to our awards? No, I just, yeah, wanted to highlight some of the, some of the below the line departments because ah it was their work that made this movie worth watching for me, you know? ah Okay. Like it was like the, the, the craftsmanship I should say was stronger than the authority, the writing and the directing and stuff like that.

Speaker: right. Well, let's move to our scrumeter. on three or counting back from three, I should say. Three, two, one, seven.

Speaker: I thought you might go five. You've just been crapping on the movie the whole time. i was like, he's not even gonna say it's dary it's not a four. i I think Damian McCarthy makes actually really scary movies. Oddity as well. Again, even though I don't love the movies as much for the story and the screenwriting, i think he does a very good job engineering new types of jump scares and dread. I don't see a lot of other horror films. And I think this film was no exception to that. So I i definitely find it it sounds like a bit scarier than you.

Speaker: But um there's some moments that legitimately made me jump in this film or caused a lot of dread, like with the witch circling around him in the honeymoon bed as one of them. and I'm sure we'll talk about some of our other key scares here. But yeah, I thought this was If you're looking to be scared, I thought this was a solid entry for this year. In fact, I think that would make it for 2026 films, I'd say my scariest. You're speaking to the right audience ah for people who want to get scared.

Speaker: Yeah. All right. We have a lot of sixes. So the it starts with, you want me to go from the top to the bottom?

Speaker: Sure. Oh, wow, lot of 6.5s, I guess. Okay. So the top of our sixth list is Black Phone 2. Then we get to Barbarian. Then Good Boy.

Speaker: Then Evil Dead Burn. Then Black Christmas. Where do you put, high code i I think this is scarier than all those. Clearly, Kai said it was a seven. But especially with Black Phone 2, starting at the top of the list, there were scarier moments that film. But I keep going back to Ethan Hawke ice skating around.

Speaker: oh All right. Enough film where it really lost its scariness for me where i was like, I guess this is a cool set piece, but I'm not scared. Obviously we have to find some compromise because I'm going to say it's less scary than all those. Give me, let me put it underneath black phone two and barbarian and I can give you the rest. You get, you get it above three other films. Okay. I'm surprised. I found Barbarian scarier than Black Phone 2. But maybe again with time, I'm just thinking sillier moments of Black Phone 2 that took me out of the moment.

Speaker: There's a menace on the ice, man. Yeah. Third string bender playing for the Buffalo Sabres over here. good He's got the form. I want to see a slap shot. All right.

Speaker: all right Highlights. Highlights. Um, yeah, I, you kind of mentioned it, but I, I really enjoyed when the witch started pursuing him. So he's in the haunted in haunted hotel. He has discovered spoiler alert, Fiona's dead body in a bunny costume.

Speaker: Um, and now he's trying to get the bottom of this. He's really just trying to get out, but also his curiosity is trying to discover like what, what is yeah this, what's happening here. And he takes the dumbwaiter, very inventively was able to figure out a way to get down and back up using a, uh,

Speaker: a ah a clock that would chime every hour. And when it would chime, it was a little boy trinket thing that would hit a little toy hammer into a bell. He removes the bell and then positions the clock near the dumbwaiter button because the button inside dumbwaiter doesn't work.

Speaker: so that he would have an hour down there, I guess is what we're assuming. ah And then it can chime and gets him back up. So he goes down and ah lo and behold, a witch starts to pursue. She comes out of the darkness. She is pursuing him. It is scary. I was a little spooked.

Speaker: ah And then, of course, you have a very much in line with you can't open your door with the keys is jingling. He's The chime went off, but the dumb winner's not going up. And so there's a bit of tension there. And um yeah, her crawling Not quite clear why that didn't work that time.

Speaker: No, she's old. She's just student. She'd tested it, yeah. Just old. Old ah old gears in there. um But love once he finally does get up there, the witch is relentless in her pursuit. She is crawling up the um the the elevator shaft yeah the elevator shaft and so yeah i just thought that was exciting and then she gets into the room and he's remembers from the folklore to draw a circle around uh now why he doesn't do it around himself he takes the time to go around the entire ah wedding bed the drapes and stuff he made a very big circle

Speaker: Yes, I think he just wanted the comfort of being behind some veils. Yeah. Some fabric. Yeah, i I had that up there too for my cantaloupe award, but that's okay, Kevin, another one. But yes, when he peers down the elevator shaft and you see the witch crawling up the wall, I thought was a great shot looking down on her vertically and also a very scary, intense moment. So that's up there for me. But my highlight is the one I already said is just when he gets up to the honeymoon suite for the first time, he's not yet found the witch, but he's just exploring the space. I thought they did a great job.

Speaker: You know, it's a true suite with multiple rooms and very much plays in the mystery vibe. He's, you know, trying to unscrew pieces of like a panel beneath the desk.

Speaker: And it's almost like an escape room feel. Oh, yeah. Trying to get out of it. And I like that. i You know, I enjoy escape rooms. i enjoy, you know, especially when it's not just trying to escape, but he knows there's a looming presence of this is supposed to be a haunted room. So you think you don't know when anything scary is going to happen, but, you know, it's only a matter of time.

Speaker: Do you think they'd be more you'd have more of a rush in an escape room if they actually locked the doors? Because everyone I go to, you can just exit whenever you really need. And I know it's probably insurance thing. Wait, really? Every escape room I've been to, it actually has a lock. Now, if you have an emergency, they say like clearly, because they'll have like video surveillance and someone on the mic, so you can say, like I need to get out, and they will let you out.

Speaker: um But i've been every escape room I've been to has actually locked us in. Maybe Colorado has just more. More lax escape room laws. ah the The big escape room lobby here. they're They're really doing wonders for our escape rooms.

Speaker: i like I like a good escape room. Yeah, there was a while of time where Anna and I were about to like buy and launch our own escape room. I was very into them. um I'm glad you talked to me out of it they were a bit of a fad. i don't think nearly as many people go to them as we're going to them like 10 years ago. but You would have been in the hole, I think. I was all in on escape rooms. I was modeling it out, trying to figure out their daily revenue intake to be like, oh yeah, this this is a great investment. At some point, Trav, you would have needed to escape the escape room. but Yeah, that was probably smart financial decision to not invest in that. um But yeah, that was my highlight.

Speaker: um Moving on to what do we got? Jump scares? We got some jump. The Ben Garner jump scare award. but There was two. There's some good jump scares. More than two, but there's two that I wrote down. um You want to go first?

Speaker: Sure. I have when he confronts Jerry in the woods, this is before they've now gone to investigate the honeymoon suite. But when it Jerry is still the prime suspect and the disappearance of Fiona and Jerry's telling Om about him returning to the hotel to look for her.

Speaker: And instead of just saying it here, it shows his perspective. And he talks about the bell to the honey room suite ringing behind the reception desk and you see it ringing. But then it quickly you know, the camera lowers and you see a, like a dead ghost version of Fiona pointing up at it. And that was good.

Speaker: That made me jump. That made jump quite a bit. Oh yeah. Did you, did you utter any noises or do you just move a little bit? It was just the move. I've gotten him pretty good at stifling and he yells, but I definitely do have like the jerk reaction when I'm, when I'm scared. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: That's good. You don't want your daughters to see you scared.

Speaker: um One that got me was probably took place during the and initial investigation of the room or exploration of the room like you were mentioning earlier. But um this is after we've already seen the flashback of ah the...

Speaker: quote, trauma that ah Om went through as a kid. He was playing with a gun, shot his mom. Mom is in a yellow coat and shot, looks like, in the head and kind of collapses near him, on him. um Later on in the film, he's exploring the room and I forget the the the mechanics of the shot or how he got there. All I remember is it It wasn't a conventional tropey, like it's really silent and then you see ah a jump or you see an appearance.

Speaker: She just all of a sudden, the apparition of his mother in that yellow dress is just behind him at one moment. And it happens very suddenly and intensely. And I felt the whole shiver go through my body. It was it was like...

Speaker: It was like orgasm without like the pleasurable release. It was just like shiver. Do you know what I mean? It was like I was shooting blanks. Okay. Never heard a scare described that way before. I was just trying. Look, this is Irish folklore. They're very descriptive. Sometimes when you're scared, talking about my jerk reaction, it does feel like your whole body seizes up.

Speaker: and And so maybe that's that's what you're getting at there. Maybe. i just felt flush. Okay. And then I needed a cigarette.

Speaker: um Awesome. Let's ah move on to our cantaloupe award um for tensest moment here. Yeah, I did. I'm sure I stepped on one for us.

Speaker: Yeah, but I have others. i I love seeing the witch crawling up the elevator shaft, like I mentioned. What was the other one? My other one was just the amount of time you get with Fiona's corpse in the swing. A lot of scary movies, they discover the dead body and then they move on and you don't see it again. it is very unsettling to be trapped in the room that whole time with her corpse still there. And every time they showed it... it It was a scary looking, like starting to decompose, but not so much so corpse. It looked cold. it looked pale.

Speaker: It's sad, right? She's still wearing her Halloween costume. And so every time they showed that, I i was ready for like the corpse to get possessed, maybe scare him. Like I was keeping a side eye on it at all times as well. Very aware of where she was in the room. like that.

Speaker: i did. Yes. It was very unsettling to see her there. Um, ma i thought the one you were going to say uh similar to the bell ringing is at the end um when the witch is doing her signature you know every wwf wrestler has an signature move right like uh was it a it was the rock who had the people's elbow it was you're talking about sting what was his

Speaker: he would sit on you and pretend he's stinking you with a stinger coming out of his hand. Oh, nice. Yeah. Well, that was that was Rafiki's too, right? The big dude? Oh, I don't i don't know. I'm only thinking like early 90s wrestlers. Goldmember, Goldmember, Goldberg did the Piledriver, I think. Yeah, yeah. All my wrestling friends are going to kill me for this because I was not a big WF guy. I was like on the sidelines for that. But the witch does her signature move.

Speaker: And that is to clasp shackles onto you or your wrists and then drag you basically into hellish pit or pitt gray hellish yeah room. i like She never really like attacked someone like quickly or viscerally. She would just like slowly approach them, shackle them, and pull them in. so Also, yeah i Your wrestler friends are going to be very upset if we don't at least mention Stone Cold Steve Austin and the stunner.

Speaker: Oh, the stunner was great. ah He loved his beers too. Yeah. um So she shackles Mal, who is a muy mal person, bad guy. um but And she's dragging him into hell.

Speaker: But she he is also... that There's a chain from that, his cuff his cuffs to Adam Scott's character, Ohm, as well. But there's more slack, and so he has some time to try to...

Speaker: ah saw off the chains and so while they're sawing that off it's getting more taut and I butthole buckered a little bit yeah I like what Damian McCarthy did where he made Adam Scott's character Om kind of a dick because you know in horror movies if it's a very pure heart person they almost always survive to the end right your final girl If it's an evil person, often they see their comeuppance and they will get killed.

Speaker: And this was a good gray where I genuinely didn't know if Om was going to survive the night or not. And so in that moment, like you said, i think it could have gone either way. And I like that uncertainty of not, you know, knowing what the cliche ending is likely to be for the character.

Speaker: Yeah. I mean, he was such a dick. I don't think I really would have cared if he died. i would be like, all right, fine. Let's get Jerry back in there. Where's Jerry? ah Deep cuts.

Speaker: I kind of already so mentioned this. um I don't know enough about Irish folklore. There is probably a bevy of Irish folklore nods to things. um I just went with the rabbit. There's a rabbit in all three of his movies and Very much similar to Donnie Darko, honestly.

Speaker: um The look of some of these rabbits. Oh, so you're talking about the scary rabbit on the TV. two There's two. There's a scary rabbit on the TV, and then there's Fiona's rabbit costume. And then Oddity, there's a rabbit doll in the...

Speaker: and I guess there's a character that has a bunch of odd collections of things. and and Yes, she does. The main character. And then in his first feature film, Caveat, um there is a rabbit drummer toy. Like a rabbit drummer in feature.

Speaker: And then I think in some of his short films too. So he's got a thing for rabbits. um that's I don't think he has much more thought put beyond this, except that he...

Speaker: likes bunnies but there's a deep cut for you that's something I noticed that he likes bunnies it's his calling card it really bugged me did it bug you get it bugs bugs bunny oh yeah I did not get it I thought you were just still shitting on Damian McCarthy and his movie hair no I'm sure he'll make a good movie one day

Speaker: oh all right let's move to ah some of our kills ah you want to start with cannon fodder There's not enough kills in this movie, but the one that made the least amount of sense and was the least consequential for the movie it had to be our boy Jerry, right?

Speaker: Yeah. Like, shot the head with an arrow. Great line drop. Oh, it is one of my favorites. week we Jerry's been... He's been through the ringer. He jumped out of the back of, like, that van. He is struggling. While he was driving at full speed. And you could see he's bloodied.

Speaker: He's limping. and so when Omas... I'm like... Are you okay? And he says, I'll live right as you see Maul entering the background of the scene with the crossbow and then just shooting him directly to the head. it was that that got That is the probably the only laugh. I had like two laughs in this movie and they brought that to the jury. I have one other. for straight I have a non-jury laugh as well. It was great timing. Yes, that was good yeah timing. Yeah.

Speaker: But like every other death is really significant. I mean, yeah, the he kills his mother. That's the whole reason that he's on the outs with his father and in this you know down bad for everything. um Fiona's death is like the crux of the entire movie of like what they're searching for. And so I just and then, you know, killing the witch seemingly kills all. And that's a huge.

Speaker: Yeah, I think that would be my best death. I like when the gates to hell open up the doorway and you see all the writhing bodies or demons or whatever are. They had glowy eyes. Yeah, and and he gets pulled into those. That would be that'd be a tough way to go.

Speaker: Yeah. Well, like Raimi, he probably, you know, getting dragged into hell is something that Raimi has ah has has yeah delved into, which is a movie we should cover at some point. I love Draggy Well.

Speaker: believe It's got old hags. It's got Justin Long. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, that's the best death. That is cool. It is. It's probably the most intriguing part of the movie or so ah moment, not entire scene, but just that sequence of him. Where is this? It looks like hospital doors and there's writhing people and it's it's spooky. But i he deserved it. That guy was horrible.

Speaker: Horrible dude. deserve Yeah. he I like how they present him, and he kind of stays consistently meek throughout the film, even when it's revealed that he's the the killer of Fiona. And and yeah, you you want to see him get his comeuppance.

Speaker: um Well, best twist, again, we touched on this, and for you it wasn't a twist at all. But for me, the fact that he was the one who killed his mother, um you know that that was the big twist that McCarthy put in the film, and it it did pay off, at least for me.

Speaker: I guess I'm just a genius. yeah

Speaker: Are you the person where if you see a movie with a friend, so I know you watch this by yourself, but if you're watching with someone, do you try to evidence that you know where the plot's going and like pull them aside mid movie and be like, I bet this is going to happen? Or do you just let it play out? It's a great question. I think it depends on my relationship with the person and like how impressed they are with me in general at that moment in life. Like, If this is somebody that I've already built a lot of goodwill with and they know that I'm funny and smart and kind, the big three, then I don't really need to. you know i've I've built that up with them. But if there's somebody I'm really trying to curry favor with or that I feel like I've slipped a bit, maybe I've said some dumb remarks lately or my jokes haven't landed or I've just kind of not been a great person and I feel like, oof, if I need them to remember who I am, who Rick is, why he's here,

Speaker: then yes, I will occasionally be like, this is going to happen. And hoping that they're impressed. But normally what just happens is they get annoyed that i'm talking to her in a movie and then we're back to square in one again. So. Okay. Yeah. i That's my thought process. I think I do sometimes as well. I think we're both extroverts and I'm, i if I feel very confident, I know where the movie's going. I'll usually turn to the person next to me and say, this is going to happen.

Speaker: It's kind of Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is kind of fun, especially because I miss occasionally. And then it's still fun when it gets thrown back in my face of like, oh, that got caught in the misdirection here by the director.

Speaker: You got to have there's got to be some stakes here. If you only call out the ones that you're like 100 percent are going to happen, that's you're not playing the game right. What else we got? Don't go in there. Oh, the whole movie is like, don't go in there.

Speaker: ah yeah so don't Don't go in the honeymoon suite, right? It was very foreboding the whole time. It's locked for a reason. Even if it wasn't haunted, you know, you're breaking and entering back into the hotel at this point and in the off season.

Speaker: It's funny, in one of the articles I read, one of the interviews, McCarthy goes into this a lot. He's like, they're talking about horror tropes. And he's like, yeah, one of my he's like, I love horror because there' there's expected tropes. And I think we should lean into them. And he's like, for example, characters making dumb decisions. And I was like, hey, we have a word about this. And he's like specifically going into the honeymoon suite. Everybody's told him not to. There's no upside. He shouldn't do it.

Speaker: But he does it anyway. And I agree with him. He shouldn't have done it. What is the reason? Because he wants to say thank you. This is not a kind of guy that seems to be very like sympathetic. He has a heavy conscious at this point. I like his motivation of like she saved his life. sure He feels like he owes her something.

Speaker: But like, what is he expecting to find? Like she's just holed up there and like eating rancrackers. I don't know. But that the the movie lives and dies on its don't go in there decision, because if he does not go in there, we don't have a movie. So that's to me, that's like an easy award here.

Speaker: Jerry, very convincing. um Speaking of Jerry, are we ready for best lines? Yeah, dude. I'm a little bummed on this. Trav, the same thing happened with Evil Dead Burn.

Speaker: where there's a really good line in the movie and it's so good on its own. And then the fucking movie decides to bring it back just to remind you that the line was said. And it's like, fucking got it. I know. I hate when the directors are heavy handed when they had a great piece of screen. And so in this case, it was Jerry and, um, and Ohm getting some rest before having to go over to the hotel. and they're like sleeping on the ground, hanging out campfire.

Speaker: And Jerry's trying to explain to him that like magic is real in some shape or form, whether it's it's your mind has to be open to it or it's there. You just don't see it or whatever. But he's like, you know, all these things do exist.

Speaker: It's just people with closed minds that can't see them. And I like that. I do. I kind of agree with that. And it's not like a it's not a big advocacy for psychedelics or anything. um Although I do think people can come to realizations or awareness that they they didn't have before by using them.

Speaker: It's more just like. We live in a weird world, strange things happen, you can't explain everything, but you should not close off just to what the book of science says, just because it's not been tested or there's theories like,

Speaker: it There's a lot going on, a lot of energies. And he's just saying like, ah you got to keep an open mind. it it's It's a flowery way of saying that, which I really loved. But then they do a fucking flashback to him saying that at the end. And I'm like, guys, yeah that was literally less than an hour ago. Yeah, I love that. I always love faith versus like logic, right? And I'm a big believer in that in the real world as well.

Speaker: Yeah. um And I like ah and what maybe saved it for me is that he there's another line right afterwards, which I really like that. I might even like it more than that one. It's um Jerry is um he's kind of on the fringe of society living in the woods because um he put his wife out of misery. She was suffering from some disease and she wanted to die. And so they arranged ah assisted suicide and he did it.

Speaker: um likely not legal in Ireland like in many places and so people are calling him murderer but he's confident he's like calm in his decision he he loved her and he wanted to put her out for misery but she came to visit him he says and she spoke to him and he saw her And Om says, were you drinking this magic milk when you saw her? And instead of being like, it wasn't the milk or like, shut up. He was like, that's how I saw her because I was drinking it. My mind was open. Don't you understand? and I thought that was great. it It really is a I think it's the most compelling idea in the movie that I wish they fleshed out a bit more that like and maybe they do just more of a subtle way. But

Speaker: just because your mind is altered by something and you see something doesn't mean that thing isn't important. doesn't mean something. So I liked it. Yeah. Well, yeah, I think they do flesh that out pretty well because that is kind of the device that allows ohm to forgive himself for what he did to his mom by literally seeing his mom while he's tripping on mushrooms.

Speaker: That is true. he's He's able to conquer his trauma. um i have trauma Trauma in a horror film. would have thought? yeah I didn't mind this one as much. I've seen it heavier handed before. But I agree.

Speaker: yeah if You don't always need this as a plot device. And this film does fall back on that. um My two quotes are a little more lighthearted, but i we got to talk about the scene when Ohm's spending his first night at the hotel and he meets Albie, the bellhop.

Speaker: Because it's it's just so outlandish that, of course, he's being a dick to him. And it's the classic, like, Ohm's the writer. Albie has a script. He's like, would you want to read it? And he's being a dick and being like, absolutely not. But then it goes above and beyond in the scene where you see Ohm kind of messing with that ah intricate, again, kind of trinkety candle. And he lights his spoon or heats up his spoon and then places it on Albie's skin and burns him on his hand. Which is assault, right? in Which is assault. Like the fact that charges weren't pressed or they kind of just let it go. He did get him back.

Speaker: Yeah, that's true. um But I do love Ohm's line where he goes, you need thicker skin than that if you want to make it as a writer. so um So I like that. And then I i really like Maul has a line at the end of the movie where Jerry has returned to the hotel. He did see the honeymoon suite bell ring.

Speaker: He's going up there expecting that Ohm's up there. Someone needs his help. Maul's trying to stop him. starts to confess to what he's done and is just having a breakdown.

Speaker: ah with his justification for why he killed Fiona is he says she threatened to tell Mr. Cobb and he hates me. He threatened to kill me for less over the years. it was just like is Almost convinced me. He's just scared of his father-in-law where he had to kill his his girlfriend or the woman he knocked up because he's just afraid of his ah his father-in-law's judgment.

Speaker: Drag him to hell. to hell you Not girlfriend, his mistress. Right, his mistress. Alright, I have one more. And it was a. I guess it's the show or it's supposed to represent a twisted version of the show that was on the TV when young Oum was playing with a gun that killed his mom.

Speaker: And so it's just a recurring nightmare kind of thing for him. And in the honeymoon suite, he is watching this show and it's it's a Demented looking ah humanistic rabbit person. Do you know that's played by Will O'Connell? The same person who plays Albie?

Speaker: I was wondering who that was. It's the bellhop. Yeah. Okay. He's doing double duty. ah The bulging eyes reminded me of weapons. Yeah.

Speaker: Benedict Wong's character specifically. Yeah. Same bulging eyes moment in um Hungry Hickory, a short film he did.

Speaker: um But it's the line he says when as it's getting a bit more demented, he's he's reading a fan letter from home who is sad that he killed his mom. And none of this really happened. But ah He's interacting with the chi the the the children audience and he's like live reacting to the note that is trying to solicit like remorse sympathy and he's just saying I feel really bad my dad doesn't like me and ah he's like oh you killed your mom and he looks to the audience he's like alright kids.

Speaker: he's He's like, your mom's dead. He's like, ah let me ask you, what dies, kids? And they all go, everything. Like, he's trying to downplay it Like, it's fine. Everything dies.

Speaker: Which is almost sweet until he totally trashes him ah a few moments later. He's telling he should feel guilty and stuff. and He shouldn't play it with a gun. But i thought he was going for something kind of philosophical there at first. Like, everything dies. Everything.

Speaker: If you live, you die. That's just life, kid. um But yeah, I like that.

Speaker: All right. Dole knives. I have a few. Yeah, I got a few. All You go first. So i have two that are pretty interconnected here.

Speaker: But ah first would be when Om learns of Fiona's murder. Again, I don't know if he's been in a coma, but he's been in the hospital for a little bit of time after his attempted suicide.

Speaker: And he returns to the hotel to get his belongings, learn that Fiona's disappeared. Everyone at the hotel, all the staff are convinced that Jerry had it in for her and killed her, the homeless man in the woods. And so Om goes to seek him out again, trying to make good to Fiona because she saved his life.

Speaker: And I just find it less than convincing how quickly like the Ohm confronts the prime suspect in a disappearance, potentially murder case, and just buys his excuse that, oh, no, it wasn't you. Like, right? She she disappeared elsewhere. You didn't kill her. That's because, you know, we're we're getting close to act two and we have to get them into the haunted honeymoon suite. it's it's a They can't write themselves into a corner here. You got to get from A to B.

Speaker: Yeah, and then just kind of piling on that a bit, Rick, you're you're the self-described nice guy of the two of us. why know yes You describe me as a nice guy. I describe myself as an asshole. So you you've gone on record ah talking about your charitable acts. I don't have nearly as many to my name.

Speaker: But even you as the nice guy, you seek out... a homeless person, an unhoused person who is the prime suspect in a murder investigation.

Speaker: And he tells you, you and then you ask him, is it true you killed your wife? And he admits to already killing his wife. it's not investigation just yet they haven't found the body. So it's a disappearance. It's the prime suspect in the disappearance. He confesses to, yes, I did kill my wife.

Speaker: but hey, I didn't kill Fiona. Do you want to go return with me to a hotel that is closed down for the season at night, break into what has been described as the honeymoon suite with me to go traipsing around there and try to hunt her down with me?

Speaker: Do you just instantly sign on and be like, yeah, that's a great idea. I'll go with you. Let me ask, I'll answer your question with the question. Did he did he say to me, the following line.

Speaker: You know, all these things do exist. It's just people with closed minds that can't see them. Because if he hits with that... Now you're dropping the line twice. Now you're dropping twice too. We're getting metatextual here.

Speaker: Uh, Jerry, i would follow that guy anywhere. if it was any other person, probably no, but I just like his big eyes and he's very convincing and he's authentic and that you would probably charm me in into going to that honeymoon suite. But in most cases I would agree. There's just, there's just too many red flags at that point.

Speaker: Even for me, I, for me, it was a jump using that as a plot device. This is our pessimist here. And Adam Scott's character. Ohm, just like willingly signing up for like, I don't know you. You, you killed your wife. You might've killed this other lady. Let's break into this hotel at night and go searching for her.

Speaker: it It's, it's kind of what I was mentioning at the top of the episode. It's, it was, I had to make, to justify a lot of these decisions. it It felt like a lot of plot vehicle problems. Like, yeah,

Speaker: over explaining or like having to make leaps like improbable leaps to get somewhere so that we can move things along. It is, it kind of, I noticed it, I guess I would say.

Speaker: Um, all right. My first one is dude, when they found him hanging from the rafters, he looked pretty dead. He looked like he had been there for a minute. I, I, I don't know. uh,

Speaker: I don't know the mechanics behind how quickly it takes to. I mean, asphyxiation takes minutes, right? It's typically not instantaneous. So that there is a small window of time where you can get in there and save someone. And it looks like it had been a few minutes because, again, he was in the hospital, I think, for a good time. But I agree with you. That wasn't him. His body was not still swinging back and forth. He was pretty still. That rope was taut and he was looking pretty dead.

Speaker: So speaking of minutes, how many minutes of footage are missing from the Epstein cell footage? How much is it? Three? so I have no idea. Got to get back into that. i think i think people forgot about the Epstein ah situation. We should bring that back up. Good. Yes. that's Let's talk about that for a while on our podcast.

Speaker: Okay. Another one I had was... Why? and Maybe you answered it earlier because he's just a little pussy, but... If Maul is so concerned with Ohm finding Fiona, his best solution is to just lock him in there versus just kill him.

Speaker: Like, he's got a crossbow somewhere. I don't know. think he was just a coward. He didn't want to result a murder right away. the more we talk about Maul, the more I... He locks Fiona and he locks helocks o in there. He there. He's just like, I'll just come there and not hatch. I have to do the deed myself.

Speaker: Okay. At one point, this movie became a video game. And what I say that by that is... And it has to do with a dull knife. I really was amused by how Adam Scott's character, Ohm, discovers the most important discovery of of the movie for him. That is, he found Fiona. It is who he was looking for. It's why he went back. It's why he, against better judgment, went into the honeymoon suite.

Speaker: And not only did he find her dead, But she miraculously has his tape recorder, which she uses to record her final moments. Travis, if you found that, would you either a listen to all of it in one sitting to really understand context and what's going on, and what happened?

Speaker: Or would you b do what he did, which is dramatically just tease out the things that she said and breadcrumb the audience with ah revealing information as we go on and as he turns around corners and opens doors?

Speaker: Kind of like a video game. When you get to a certain level, it's like, okay, now the voice recorder is going to say something to you. Which what would you do? Just asking. Honestly, I would do neither. If I was stuck in that hotel room, I would have not even listened to the tape recorder and I'd still just be looking for a way out. so you would You would escape room yourself out of there? I agree. Dueling out slow bits of information from that over time. It works for the movie, but it it's not as realistic in real life. yeah But it's just one of those like very clunky things to do. so ah

Speaker: And then the other one we already talked about was the repeating of the lines. I was like, guys, you had you had a good thing coming here. Oh, man. Okay. So let me let me touch on some of mine. and I'll be quick. I still have a few more. Okay. um one Really? You could just like lock that fence that that's going to contain a witch in the honeymoon suite for years and years?

Speaker: Like she seems pretty resourceful, Spider-Man crawling up walls and stuff like that. i'm I'm shocked she was not able to find a way out after all this time. Yeah. um not not ah Not very ah robust security here.

Speaker: Two, when Adam Scott's up in the honeymoon suite and he sees Jerry outside now pull up in his car, he tries to ring the bell. When that doesn't work and he sees Jerry approaching the car again, it looks like Jerry's about to drive off.

Speaker: He's looking at him through a window. the beginning of the movie. Yeah. The beginning of the movie starts with, I need a hard object to smash through glass. Right. So I was like, oh, this is great screenwriting. Like Adam Scott's going to find that hard object or maybe use his own head, which is what the character from his book should have done as opposed to using the child's head.

Speaker: So thought was going to get all tied together there with a nice bow on it. But of course he doesn't, he doesn't even try to break the window. Like he's panicking. He's about to die. And he he doesn't even try to break through the glass. And there's lots of hard objects in that room he could have used. Yes. And there's, yeah, there are countless hard objects that he could have used. So that was another dull knife. But then my biggest dull knife for the film.

Speaker: So Om has discovered the witch and he's retreated up to the honeymoon suite. He had just enough time to draw a chalk circle around the bed to keep the witch out.

Speaker: But the witch does not retreat to the basement. You can see her lurking behind the curtains, ah just pacing around the bed, which is extra creepy. Somehow with all this going on, Ome manages to fall asleep for a few hours. i was like, are you kidding me? There's literally a demonic witch like three feet away from you. That's great.

Speaker: And he takes a nap and he wakes up like well rested in the morning. Do you think he was scared to sleep? Like he was so frightened he just passed out I don't know. i i mean maybe Or maybe he was double down comforters.

Speaker: Like maybe it was super feathered. That bed didn't look too modern, but maybe if it was like one of those sleep number ones and it had his number already preset, like it's hard to resist.

Speaker: Maybe it was just set to his perfect number. Yeah. none But I, I could not believe that when it's a cut to, right? Cause you don't see him fall asleep. It's a cut to like him waking up in the morning. I'm like, you know, for and for so being such a big Raimi fan, youd think he would have done a fade to black.

Speaker: That's the perfect moment to do it. You know, to depict falling asleep, passing of time. But yeah, that was, that was my biggest old knife. All right, winners and losers. A winner I had was reenacting how a ghost looks.

Speaker: We watch a lot of horror films, Trav. You do these quick flash jump scares of like a so creepy ghost making a certain gesture maybe or a zombie or a monster. Never in a movie have I seen another character...

Speaker: try to replicate that look when Jerry is describing to Ohm what he saw when he went to go get his pills and he is yeah mimicking a dead Fiona. And he did it like three times. I thought it was so great. There were some good match cuts in this film. So I had that as a winner as well, where it cuts from Fiona to Jerry making the same emotion that jump scare Fiona did. I also liked at the ah very beginning of the film,

Speaker: you know There's the circle they draw around whatever they're trying to access in the middle of the desert. And then it cuts to the ring on Adam Scott's desk from his mug of coffee. I guess it wasn't coffee. It was a cocktail that he was drinking. so yeah, I had match cuts as a winner here.

Speaker: um Crossbows. For some reason, i guess it's because we're not in America. Firearms aren't as accessible in Ireland. And so characters in this film, their projectile weapon of choice is a crossbow.

Speaker: uh got a lot of crossbow action out of this from crossbows are cool i need more crossbows have you ever used one nope neither have i i've used i've i've shot an actual bow and arrow but never ah never a crossbow um guess who guess who a huge crossbow enthusiast is that i know blue patrick the benefactor of the poster behind you Oh, Kurt Russell, huge, huge bow guy. huge crime Really?

Speaker: uses to go i can see that. He's a cool guy. He uses cool weapons. um I remember now my my other winner. because We've called out before, and i I am not getting tired of this. I i welcome this more horror films.

Speaker: Creepy VHS footage. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. the the Again, the TV show with the creepy rabbit. Yeah. ah These scenes are just, I don't know why, but VHS is just so much scarier than everything we get in digital today. So whenever you can interject that in modern day horror films, I'm a big fan. You know, I think you and I are huge fans of Skinner Inc.

Speaker: I don't know if I'd say huge. Really? I thought you were. i think i had a, like a 3.5 out of five stars. It drags. I love the concept. It's just, did I tell you I might, I might be going away from my star system.

Speaker: i might just I might just be doing rankings and hearts, but I might be going away from the 3.5. I don't know. I had this shower thought recently that like I didn't like the idea of like a numeric rating towards something that is so fluid and like things change and my feelings change and it just felt too permanent. I might just keep doing it, but it's just an act of thought I'm sharing with you.

Speaker: Interesting. Do you just feel self-conscious? Because we've guilted you for like your average rating on Letterboxd being like a 4.3. Look, I've been guilted for having an average something else um enough in my life to not do be too worried about my average rating. Also 4.3. Come on.

Speaker: know on I'm at least above the ah the the American average, if you're bone-pressed, at least. um So another one ah winner I had, Bunnies. We already discussed that, though. He likes his bunnies. I don't know why. He just does.

Speaker: But another one, ah the the the movie is...

Speaker: unnecessarily bookended by scenes from his book, so to speak, of a father and son traipsing through the desert to find buried treasure. And in the beginning, it seems like the man is going to crack the bottle that carries the treasure map that he got stuck in there, which is such a stupid. I just think that's so stupid. Like you're not going to find a rock or something to break that glass. Like, come on, like.

Speaker: As we saw in the end, there's a skull right nearby. But anyways, and then the end, he's not gonna crack his son's head to get it open. He's gonna have the sun crack his head and then did they decide not to do it and they love each other. they hug But my winner here is Morians.

Speaker: you know what Morian is? I do not. It is that aluminum kind of tent shaped helmet that conquistadores wore.

Speaker: And it just reminds me of those old DK books that dive into old, arc like old cool things in history, like whether it be military ah vehicles or old ships,

Speaker: And I never knew what they were called. And all I had to do was Google conquistador hat or conquistador helmet. And learned about Morians. they're They're an open-faced combat helmet originally from Spain. And they were used between the 16th and 17th century.

Speaker: Are conquistadors unique to Spain as well? Like you don't have French conquistadors, right? It has to be Spanish. I, I believe. Yeah. It's like Castilian and, and Spanish and Portuguese colonists.

Speaker: I don't, I think that is like specific to them. Well, since we're talking about Morians, is that what they're called? Yes. One loser I had was the conquistador character because as we're introduced to him at the very start of this film,

Speaker: He is traipsing around the desert, still wearing full Conquistador garb and armor, right? He has the Morian. He has a steel armor breastplate. Extremely heavy, extremely hot if you're going to be traipsing around the desert. But then the irony of...

Speaker: When he needs to break open the bottle, he's just ditched all of his armor, what seems like fairly recently, which could have been the hard object he needed to actually break that bottle open. right Probably have doubled back and and just taken an hour out your time instead of killing your son to open up the bottle. Yeah.

Speaker: I mean, just imagine how frustrated you'd be, though, if you've been traipsing around wearing that for for what seemed like days. You finally ditch it and then you're like, damn it, I really need a hard object. and i I would probably be so pissed that I would just want to ah murder my firstborn child. That's probably what I would do. Yeah. Was that his son? i never knew that definitively.

Speaker: Could have just been some kid. I think that takes the whole juice out of the movie. If it's just, I like, we, we talk about, we like films where you have to assume the father position or assume or the rule of a father. not the stepdad or the dad who stepped up.

Speaker: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. um What are some losers, Trav? um So that was one of them. Let's see. ah Losers making your own milk.

Speaker: what looks like goat milk and trying to pass it off to other people. No, no one's going to drink that. Yeah. unless nonpasteeurized Unless you see the process with your own eyes. It's probably one of the homegrown things that I will not take. Yeah. I was even close. I dated a, ah cougar for a couple of months when I was a bartender.

Speaker: um She made her own milk. She had her own chickens and she provided with eggs. You can't a chicken. You can't milk a chicken. But the thing the weird part was that she would not refrigerate the eggs.

Speaker: Yeah. I didn't know this. I didn't know that oh natural eggs without preservatives or the thing that we do to them to make them jumbo sized. I guess whatever we do in the the for our grocery store eggs, some process makes them ah need to be refrigerated. But if you just get them straight from the chicken, they don't need to be refrigerated, which makes sense because chickens don't have refrigerators.

Speaker: I don't, do you know for a fact you have to refrigerate grocery store bought eggs? I thought it's like common practice, but I think those sit on the shelf for while. would it be common practice if you didn't need to do it? I think it's like a uniquely American thing. Like I think, do do you put ketchup in your fridge? Because i know like some people do other people don't.

Speaker: A lot of people don't even put beer in their fridge. But this is what I learned from the nice woman who um took me to Santana concerts and fed me ah natural eggs.

Speaker: um She, this is what she explained to me. So I'm just going off of her word. I'm not sure if if that's what. the end all truth is but we can you know have a computer right in front of me i can look it up unrefrigerated eggs are good for only about 21 days that's a long time okay that's what i was thinking does that make sense um refrigerated eggs from the grocery store are they still good to eat people say because they're three hours is fine

Speaker: Here it is, Trav. In the US, eggs are washed and sanitized before reaching consumers, which removes a natural protective layer, the cuticle, that helps prevent bacteria from entering the egg. That that act alone necessitates refrigeration prevent bacterial growth.

Speaker: So when my old flame... would take the eggs from the chickens, obviously, she's not sanitizing them um and washing them to a point where the cuticle is being removed. But because mass grocery stores do that, they no longer have the protection to keep bacteria get inside.

Speaker: Got it. So that's why sometimes when you can go abroad or other other countries where they're pre washing and removing the cuticle, got to keep the cuticle can keep them keep them on the shelf for 21 days.

Speaker: I'm pro cuticle. right. You have it any other losers? Um, yes. People who love each other killing each other. So. Om kills his mom by accident.

Speaker: He loves his mom. kills his wife. Jerry kills his wife. Maul kills Fiona. kills his mistress. And then the dad in the beginning almost kills his son. with the bottle and then he asks his son to kill him. Ooh, this is good.

Speaker: This is good. So it's in the loser category because it's not a great thing to happen, but yeah I just noticed it just did a lot. It happened a lot in this movie. Ah, okay. There we go for theme. I like this theme a lot better than your theme of trinkets.

Speaker: Especially because you insisted on like, Travis, let's talk themes. Let's themes. The only theme we trinkets. He likes little old toys. He likes bunnies and he likes trinkets. I'm trying to give McCarthy the benefit of the doubt here. And that's all I can muster up. yes Loved ones ah killing loved ones. I like that.

Speaker: um I don't have any other losers. I mean, assaulting somebody ah just to prove a writing point, I thought was kind of a losing act. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker: That was wild. but Again, there's a few moments that take you out of what out of the movie. so What would have you in that situation if you're Albie? I probably would have hit him. probably would have punched him. Again, that's assault. I would not call you a very aggressive person. You have firm positions on things. You're opinionated. You don't get too hot about stuff. I have never seen you resort to physical violence, but I do think you would punch him in this case. Mm-hmm.

Speaker: it's And it's Adam Scott, right? If it was a big dude who burned me, I'd probably let slide. But you size up Adam Scott, you're like, this guy needs to get punched in the face. Yeah, he's got a very punchable face. yeah Remember when ah when John C. Reilly punches him in the treehouse?

Speaker: Adam Scott's wife is so turned on by that, no they fuck in the bathroom. That's one of the best plot lines of the whole movie. Sorry, that just really turned me on. yeah Is it true that you punched him?

Speaker: I want to roll you up into little ball and just stick it up in my vagina. Keep you up there. Keep you safe.

Speaker: um All right. Well, Scream King, Scream Queen.

Speaker: Man, I didn't think about this for minute here. It's easy for me. I think you'll have... Yeah, I think I know yours. I think we're going to differ wildly. I know you won't get on board with mine. but'll I'll probably defer to you because mine's a bit more off the beaten path. the Mine's Jerry. I love Jerry. He's the heart of the movie. he's He's kind of the wise old soul that no one listens to, but if you did, your life would probably be better. And I thought he was the best performance in the film too, so that's...

Speaker: Well, you identified my Scream King as the worst performance in the film, but I love Adam Scott and horror films. I want i want more horror films with Adam Scott. And so, ah again, I really like McCarthy. And I am a lot more positive on this film than you are. Again, I think I'm, unlike Letterboxd, it's like a three out of five for me, ah which is generally like more than dislike, right? That's why I'd recommend it. But McCarthy and I haven't completely clicked yet where it's like the perfect film I want to be a huge advocate of.

Speaker: but Adam Scott and I have clicked. And I like whenever we can get, kind of like Justin Long, um who also does not just horror movies for one franchise. He's versatile, at least in the sub-genre. You could throw him into a lot of different roles. Sometimes he could be the villain. Sometimes he could be the good guy. And I see that with Adam Scott as well.

Speaker: yeah I don't think it was a bad performance. I just think the of the performances, it was the one that I was least interested in That being said, I can objectively say that he won this movie. He is probably a reason for his box ah box office success. I know that he championed it a lot and it was a draw for people to see the film.

Speaker: And it was a big get for McCarthy to get a bigger American. He was working with only Irish people, stayed most of his production stayed in Ireland and the fact that he was able to wrangle in a more household name to get that big American box office kind of draw, like that's hard to, you know, and I'm not trying to like say we're a special country or anything, but like that's a big audience and like it's Hollywood. So if you could plant star. That had the highest return on investment for this film. Just like you said, if Adam Scott wasn't attached to it, I don't know if this even gets a wide release. No. But nobody's putting him in there.

Speaker: Yeah, no. it it i I am happy. Although I enjoyed Jerry more, I can agree with you that he is the Scream King in this case, because like, yeah, the the business side and the reception side probably changes if you just have another no name, you know? so My final warden, Adam Scott, the Scream King here.

Speaker: All right. Well, that does it for us. We don't know what we're covering next week. yeah We don't, but if you like and subscribe, you'll know. So on Instagram, we are the Sundayscaries.pod.

Speaker: ah We are also on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, and Overcasts, where ah you can follow us and hear when we have new episodes and stuff like that, or when we have polls. We'll see you guys next week.

Speaker: See you next week.

Speaker: Bye. Holcomb. Bye.

Speaker: I just had to say this. The Odyssey is going gangbusters, right? It's about to hit a billion. um Although it's been... ah Usurped um as the biggest gangbuster film here. Yeah, I mean, it smart its it's Marvel. Another Tom Holland vehicle.

Speaker: ah But um so if you're not just 70 millimeter, but just normal digital IMAX, it is very hard to find a good seat these days. um Any showing that's like in the afternoon or later that you're not trying to book out less than but you're not trying to book out more than a week in advance or something, it's going to be almost completely packed. And then within like five days, maybe three days, it gets completely booked, even the front seats.

Speaker: So I took Sarah to go see it This is my second time. It'll be my second of three. I'm going again. 70 millimeter. I've done, I've done 70, just normal 70. And then I just did normal IMAX and then I'll do the both later on, but yeah there were three different seat disputes while we were in that showing that all happened during the movie.

Speaker: So the the first one, um we're just sitting there and like somebody keeps bumping, like hitting my chair. you're, you ever been on a plane and like some kid is kicking the back of your chair and you kind of just have to get my kids kicking the back of the chair in front of them. But yes, I'm sure you've been on both sides though. Yeah.

Speaker: And, uh, And so I look back and there's this woman, she has her phone light out and it's like 10 minutes in the movie and she's crouched down and she's like arguing with this lady like, hey, that's my seat. And the woman's like, I'm not moving. And she's like, but you just need to go over one. She's like well, there's someone next to me and that's my seat. They took my seat. And she's like, well, tell them to move. And so she's going to each person to tell them to move and none of them are moving.

Speaker: So then she leaves and like, all right, finally it's, it's good again. Another five minutes goes by and a theater manager comes up in the middle of the movie and tells the entire family of six in front of us to move over one. So this other woman can get into her seat, which is like a new lady.

Speaker: This is a new lady. And this is halfway through the movie? This is like now 20 minutes in. Okay. Then 30 minutes in something happens and like near the front that I can't really see, but you can tell there's a thing happening.

Speaker: And as the movie goes, and then credits, it says the Odyssey, and the credits are going into that weird Travis Scott song. And this guy stands up and this older gentleman, like 60s or 70s and says to this other guy in his 40s, like you were wrong. And the other guy's like, try me. He's like, oh, I am. And he pulls out his phone. He's like, you're going to be famous within a week. Ever heard of social media? And the guy's like, get lost. He's like, uh-uh, they're all going to find you. You're not getting lost or something like that. And he's like, bite me. Like they're doing these like PG-13 like insults to each other.

Speaker: And then i I kind of linger and I'm just like eavesdropping on what the old guy is. He, the old guy leaves in a huff and he's so mad and he goes to the theater manager. He's like, I need to tell you something. There is a problem happening in in the Odyssey. He's like, I got to my seat and somebody was there. And when I asked him to move, he said, somebody took his seat and he looked me dead in the eyes and said, he wasn't moving.

Speaker: And they're like, I'm sorry that it happened. um He's like, well is that what should have I had done? They're like, well, you should have come told us and we would have told him to move. Like, we have a process for this thing. He's like, yeah, well, so I should just leave during the movie? And they're like, well, you got there like 30 minutes late, right? And he's like, well, yes.

Speaker: just seemed like very preventable. But it's just funny. People who don't go to the movies a lot just expect seats to kind of just be at their whim. feels... Not to be like I'm an in-crowd guy, but like I go to the movies so often. It's like now these people who are not as experienced doing it are just flummoxed with the demand and all this c anger. so See, this isn't that relatable because I'm always doing like midday matinees where it's like,

Speaker: I look forward to having a few people sitting in the theater with me because sometimes it can be very lonely. What movie was that? I think it was Bring Her Back, our very first episode. i was the only person in my theater seeing that movie. That's scary. was very scary movie. That's a scary one to see by yourself. Yeah. A movie theater vacant of other people is is a scary setting in and of itself.

Speaker: Well, this one was not vacant. And yeah also learned the hard way that Sarah is really not into a violence at all. Like, at all. Like, had to close her eyes throughout half the movie and had a horrible experience. So we learned something about each other. That's great.

Speaker: i mean, Send Help had some violent moments. I know. like that But they were in fits and starts, whereas The Odyssey is like has long battle scenes and whatever. Okay. Yeah. But and so anyways, that was more exciting than my hokum viewing experience, which was on my laptop ah in my little office.