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Lost In The Obsession
38 Plays17 days ago
This week, we're discussing Curry Barkers debut feature, Obsession.
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Transcript
Introduction and Topic Announcement
00:00:15
Speaker
Gee, a one-wish willow. Gosh. I wish for a podcast led by three studs talking about movies and they're all really smart and handsome.
00:00:30
Speaker
Welcome back to Lost in the Frame. I'm your host Malik. I'm your host Tachi. And I'm your host Alex. And today we are very excited to be talking about the latest hit horror movie obsession.
00:00:43
Speaker
But first, how are you guys doing? Doing great. Doing good. T-Money, how was your trip to San Diego? feel like it's been a while since we've all recorded, but I have seen you guys in the last couple weeks, which has been nice.
00:00:56
Speaker
Yeah, you got me sick back to back weekends, which is kind of surprising considering you moved. But no, San Diego is awesome. California is great. um Weather was perfect. It was great.
00:01:07
Speaker
And zoo is sick. want to go to zoo so bad. I'm normally not a ah huge defender of of zoos, but that zoo is awesome. Is the San Diego Zoo, are they bad people?
Zoos and Conservation Ethics
00:01:23
Speaker
I don't know. Or is it a good zoo? Because you know how they have like those those rehab zoos? Yeah. i I wonder if San Diego like that or if it's bad. I want to say most of like the major zoos are good zoos.
00:01:38
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. At least in the States. Because there's some level of preservation that they're doing. Yeah. Or I guess conservation. like Like the Houston Zoo, I think, is a big rehab zoo.
00:01:50
Speaker
Doesn't Austin have a rehab zoo? It does have a rehab zoo. It's a little smaller than some the other zoos. It's very small. I've never been. Yeah, I volunteered there once at our previous employer, Alex, in like 2019 with the BDRs.
00:02:06
Speaker
Nice. Yeah, we we clean monkey cages. Dude, oh my gosh, did you get to hang out with the monkeys? For a little bit we did, yeah. oh it was actually it was that It was actually pretty cool. But yeah, they do have like a singular lion. But yeah, for for a zoo, that's not like, it's not glamorous in any way.
00:02:24
Speaker
And it's not really like that nice. But yeah, is just a rehab zoo. And they just have, I think, a handful of animals that they are just basically taking care of. which is It's better than the Austin Aquarium, which is...
00:02:36
Speaker
From what I understand, a glorified pet store fish section. Yeah, basically. Yeah. And also crazy abusive to fish, which I didn't even know it was possible, but... are they really?
00:02:50
Speaker
Yeah, they like they don't treat those fish well, apparently. oh Oh. Yeah, it's bad. That's unfortunate. They shut down, I think. yeah yeah did Did they shut down? it it should be.
00:03:02
Speaker
they haven't yet. Yeah. San Diego Zoo is like... Feels like Disney level theme park. Is it huge? It's pretty big. Yeah, bro. I gotta go. there is Are there apes at the zoo?
00:03:13
Speaker
There are. What kind of apes? What kind of apes?
00:03:18
Speaker
I don't know. I think there was one named Ben, though. bar Burn. How about you, Alex? How you been?
Movie Reviews and Comparisons
00:03:26
Speaker
I got sick. What you been watching?
00:03:30
Speaker
A lot.
00:03:33
Speaker
I've been continuing my Godzilla run, um so I watched the next four, and I'm almost done with the Showa era of Godzilla. I only have godzllilla versus guy gan Godzilla Godzilla vs.
00:03:48
Speaker
he's like this bug thing Megalon, Godzilla vs. Megalon, and then got ziilla versus mecha Godzilla 1, and then the Terror of Mechagodzilla, and then I'm done with the Showa era, and then on to the Hisei era.
00:04:02
Speaker
That's a lot of Godzilla. Dude. how How many of you watched so far? in total Like lifetime total? It's like 21, I think. I've seen 21 Godzilla movies. Wow.
00:04:15
Speaker
Out of? There's like 40. So
00:04:20
Speaker
so about I'm about halfway done. I'm about halfway done. it only It only took me 27 years of my life to get here. but um Is Godzilla the longest running like franchise that we have?
00:04:32
Speaker
Ooh, did James Bond come out first? m So the first Godzilla, 1954, yeah, Dr. No came out in 1962.
00:04:44
Speaker
Damn. Unless you count like The Wizard of Oz, but... No, I mean more so like consistently. Like a if there's 40 movies of Godzilla, I'm like, I can't really think of anything else that maybe has that amount of of movies.
00:05:04
Speaker
Yeah. ah James Bond, I think is the closest one we've got to it. Okay. The sixties. and All right. um Let's do a rapid review and then we'll get into talking about obsession. Cool.
00:05:16
Speaker
Yep. Cool. All right. Who wants to go first? I will rapid review a little movie we reviewed a while ago and I didn't watch called Send Help.
00:05:28
Speaker
I finally got around to watching Send Help. I liked it. but Three and a half out of five. It's ah it's a good time. a little silly, little stupid. uh rachel mcadams i think probably acted her pants off in it um i think punched way above her weight but it's a good time and it's uh it's exactly what you think it is i forgot we did do that episode but it was just me and tachi think you had dropped off that's like in the middle of the episode because you hadn't watched it yeah yeah
00:06:03
Speaker
I'm glad you liked it, though. That is a fun movie. we had a good time. Yeah, for sure. I'll go next. then ah I watched Thor recently of the MCU, the OG Thor.
00:06:14
Speaker
Nice. last I don't know when I watched it, um but it's a lot better than I remember. It kind of rips a little bit. remember being pretty funny.
00:06:26
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's just like, yeah, I don't know. it's It's a lot better than I remember. And um there are some aura moments.
00:06:37
Speaker
I think it's disappointing um kind of what the character of Thor devolved into. yeah Because I do remember that first one. It was interesting, and I like the... I mean, obviously, he's like a god, but they glen or they went like really heavy in that direction, especially for that first movie.
00:06:55
Speaker
um And then Ragnarok came out, and that was just funny whenever Taika Waititi was in all of our good graces, and then... Right. I don't know what happened. bro fumbled the bag immediately sure he yeah i think just two back to back just bad moments now he's off the map yeah seems that way you haven't heard of him in a while don't know what he's doing He's out there. He could be anywhere.
00:07:24
Speaker
Taika. At 3.5 out of 5, though. Nice. It's fun.
Review of 'Hokum'
00:07:30
Speaker
My rapid review, I watched Hokum, which is another 2026 horror movie starring Adam Scott. ah This was directed by Damian McCarthy. I believe this is his third feature film.
00:07:43
Speaker
His first two are Caveat, which I have not seen, and Oddity, which came out in... 2025 or 2024, I believe, but it was one of my like top horror movies um of that year. I really enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to Hokum.
00:07:57
Speaker
um Basically, Adam Scott is this like disgruntled writer, and he's staying in a hotel, and shit goes down to the hotel. It's a lot of like Irish folklore, it seems, that it leans into, like with...
00:08:13
Speaker
With witches and all of these and all of these things. And so I didn't really know that it was more folklore horror until after the movie because they don't really do too good of a job in exploring that realm and I think horror folklore is like something that could be really really cool when done well um but there were a few things that the movie did that were effective but I'd recommend it um I think it could have done a lot more with its story but Adam Scott gives a pretty good performance and there's some good scares in it so I gave it a three out of five nice does that mean we're not doing a hokum episode were we gonna do a hokum episode no not
00:08:58
Speaker
Now that I've spoiled it. God, now I know Adam Scott's in the movie. and I had no idea.
Anticipation for 'Backrooms' Opening
00:09:06
Speaker
We have two things in movie news that are ah fairly relevant ah before we hop into the movie discussion. The first one is Backrooms. so We're recording this on Monday. It's Memorial Day.
00:09:19
Speaker
ah Backrooms opens this week, and it's pointing to an opening of $40 million to $50 million domestically. We'll talk about that a little later when we talk about Obsessions box office run. But um yeah, what are your thoughts on that? do we know do we know what the budget for backrooms is? That's a good question.
00:09:40
Speaker
think either way, it's still pretty impressive. That is, yeah. So according to Comic Basics on May 6th,
00:09:49
Speaker
um The budget, the Directors Guild of Canada listed the budget range somewhere between nine and 15 million Canadian dollars or roughly 6.6 to 11 million US dollars.
00:10:03
Speaker
Huh. Let's call it 10. They've done quite a bit of marketing as well. For sure. um Yeah, I'm excited for this movie.
00:10:16
Speaker
I guess, yeah. i don't know I don't know if excited is the right word. But I will watch it. I am looking forward to it. to see I'm definitely going to go watch it. i just I worry it's going to be like people are going to think it's groundbreaking and it's going to be House That Leaves.
00:10:38
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Yeah, I think this movie will definitely come up in our conversation with Obsession, so I kind of want to save a little bit of my thoughts there. Sure.
00:10:50
Speaker
um
Discussion on 'Anything But Ghosts'
00:10:51
Speaker
What else? What is Anything But Ghosts? That is the new Curry Barker movie. The one with with Aaron Paul. Oh, that's right. ah Bryce Dallas Howard, Aaron Paul. Yes. yeah Okay, cool.
00:11:05
Speaker
What did he... Go ahead. so For those who don't know, Curry Barker um has already announced his next movie. And apparently it's it's done filming, right?
00:11:17
Speaker
This one's done. i believe so. Yeah. so this is done. It's made. This is not the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, which he's attached to, but it is a it's called anything but ghosts. Uh, two con artists operating a fake paranormal investigation business are pulled into a terrifying nightmare after encountering a real dark entity starring Curry Barker, Cooper Tomlinson, Aaron Paul, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Violet McGraw.
00:11:44
Speaker
Um, I'm in. That sounds awesome. Yeah, i'm I'm in. I hear it's going to be a little more comedic. Yeah. Which I was a little disappointed to hear, but we'll talk about Curry Barker's style a little later, so Okay. All right. That actually sounds just like Ganjama Asylum.
00:12:07
Speaker
The Korean movie we watched. A little bit. ah But funny. Yeah. And it yeah sounds all... What's the... Grave Encounters is another movie. Similar yeah premise. But it's not very funny. It's actually a little scary.
00:12:25
Speaker
All right. Y'all ready to get into the movie? No, it's a really good movie. It's just scary. Okay. Is it actually scary? Yes, I actually... the first... So I've seen it like twice.
00:12:37
Speaker
And the first time I saw it, I fell asleep in like the first 30 minutes. And when I woke up is when like it really starts to get going. And so I woke up and was immediately like...
00:12:49
Speaker
and then so I was like okay where am I what's happening real quick maybe that was just like you know waking up into the movie and you're little confused but I watched it again and was awake through the whole thing and it was still pretty scary how much you want to bet it's on my watch list I bet it's on there I'm gonna look right now ready let's pull it up the uh anyone want to set some odds before we do this I'm gonna plus 200 it's on Malik's watch list That sounds good.
00:13:19
Speaker
Let's see. It's there. That's hilarious. Not surprised. Wait, do I have to pay you guys?
Deep Dive into 'Obsession'
00:13:29
Speaker
I don't know.
00:13:32
Speaker
We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out later. All right, let's get into Obsession.
00:13:36
Speaker
Um, I'll read the synopsis. Obsession, uh, directed by Curry Barker. After breaking the mysterious one-wish willow to win his crush's heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for, but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.
00:13:54
Speaker
And this is starring Michael Johnston as Bear, Indy Navarrete as Nikki, Cooper Tomlinson as Ian, Megan Lawless as Sarah, with a fun little cameo by our favorite Dancing with the Stars guy. Andy Richter.
00:14:09
Speaker
Oh, Andy. What a jump scare. That was one of the top jump scares of the movie was Andy Richter coming out. I wonder how that even happened. like Like, why was he there?
00:14:22
Speaker
Yeah, like, why Andy? don't know.
00:14:26
Speaker
um I'm excited to talk about this movie. Let's do our Letterboxd Love Like Loathe, and then we'll get into our thoughts. Cool? Cool. Cool. All right. Alex has the five, touchy with the three, and I have the one star.
00:14:40
Speaker
Today's five star comes from our friend Eomper, E-O-M-P-R. Five stars and a heart. Amazing. Made me scared of my girlfriend for a while.
00:14:52
Speaker
Super scary, but most important, something different. If you watch this movie and got scared of your girlfriend, buddy, I got some advice for you. Leave.
00:15:08
Speaker
Or stay. yeah actually You know, you know, you know, who am I to judge? All
00:15:18
Speaker
right. I got today's three star comes in from Lauren. Sleeping so good tonight, knowing there's a male loneliness epidemic.
00:15:30
Speaker
I got a couple half stars here. ah The first one comes from Pierre Grenier DeFerre fan. um Algorithm. This is a half star.
00:15:42
Speaker
Algorithm horror. Curry Barker named Hereditary as one of his primary influences, a film that has shaped modern horror into what it is now. Probably recommended to him by the very algorithm that will recommend this.
00:15:53
Speaker
Are we really trusting this guy with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre? i am in I mean in terms of algorithm horror, at least with long legs, you can tell Oz Perkins has at least seen a film pre-1990.
00:16:06
Speaker
um This other half star comes from user SJDCG. um Rewatched. So this person watched it twice. Just now noticing. Great cinematography and acting, but fucking scary scenes. Hence the rating.
00:16:27
Speaker
Which that's a first of its kind for me. um The scary movie was scary. low rating everyone can rate how they want I
00:16:41
Speaker
i thought that was insane um maybe they take scary movies as a challenge where it's like it's a bad movie if I can't like better it in combat if that's the case then that's almost a 5 star if that's how they rate as far as horror movies go alright What was your guys' excitement level for this movie leading up to it?
00:17:08
Speaker
feel like there's a lot of hype right since it's release or since it's a festival release. um But tell me, what were you guys thinking leading up to the movie? I was excited.
00:17:19
Speaker
little nervous because I knew we were going to cover it. But still excited because I like a good movie whether it's going to scare me or not. Unlike that one reviewer. i I was cautiously optimistic ah considering that I had gotten burned by the previous two movies that horror film Twitter told me you were the scariest movies ever made.
00:17:45
Speaker
that being lee cronin's the mummy and undertone undertone was was actually one of the worst movies i've seen in quite some time and everyone seemed to love that movie a lot of people that i know loved which is crazy it was so i thought it was so bad um And it probably, i could do my own episode on it, just ranting about it, but that would maybe require me rewatching it and I don't want to do that.
00:18:16
Speaker
um So I had seen all the hype about this, and I did not want to get bit again. You know, there's an old saying in Texas, you fool me once, shame on you.
00:18:32
Speaker
me twice, shame you.
00:18:36
Speaker
yeah Fool me, we can't get fooled again.
00:18:42
Speaker
um Oh, George. But I didn't want to get fooled again. I didn't want to get W'd.
00:18:51
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's that's where I was at. it's For the last like I don't know, like two years, every horror movie that comes out is the greatest horror movie that's, that's ever been. It's the scariest movie you've ever seen.
00:19:07
Speaker
And outside of like Lee Cronin's The Mummy and Undertone, I feel like there are many such cases that we've discussed on this pod where we leave feeling disappointed with, it doesn't necessarily have to be like a horror movie, but it happened a few times last year.
00:19:24
Speaker
The movie's super hype. The levels are super hype. People are saying, this is the greatest thing we've ever seen. And then i watch it, and it's either just okay or under okay.
00:19:35
Speaker
And... I was getting a lot of deja vu with Obsession. And this deja vu hits maybe every couple months when the next big horror movie comes out. And so while I was excited, i was trying to like manage expectations going into it just because like you said, we've been burned before and it's always disappointing when that happens. So I think I just have to try to level set my expectations, go into it as neutral as possible.
00:20:04
Speaker
And just have a good time. um I was aware of Curry Barker from TikTok. And I think that's probably how most people um first discovered him.
00:20:16
Speaker
He and Cooper are part of a sketch comedy group, um which I'm sure we'll talk about, like the the comedy group to Horror Pipeline. But that was my first um interaction with Curry. Were you guys familiar with any of his sketches previously?
00:20:34
Speaker
Not really. Yeah. There was one. And this guy with a Pringles can. He plays a prank on somebody. You haven't seen it. Go watch it.
00:20:51
Speaker
touch you but you weren't You never saw any of their sketches on TikTok? They never came up? I think I had, but it didn't really stick in my brain. So this this may as well be like the first time I'm seeing him.
00:21:03
Speaker
Yeah, I never went out of my way to watch them like on YouTube. like I don't think I ever typed in, like I don't even know the name of their comedy group. um I don't think I ever like went to YouTube to search them, but they would always pop up on my For You page and I would and i would watch it. cause he was He gives very much like Tim Robinson um in his videos and some of the characters he plays and someone's always like commenting that, but like I thought it was funny.
00:21:27
Speaker
And then he had released a couple short films, one on YouTube that ah did fairly well. It's like, I say short film, but it was like an hour. um He made it for 800 bucks. It's called Milk and Cereal.
00:21:39
Speaker
um I have not seen it yet, but apparently that's kind of what put his name out there and like help put him on the map for forgetting this this feature film made.
00:21:51
Speaker
I actually watched one of his shorts right before we hopped on to film this called Contemplation. Made it in 2020, and it's almost shot for shot, the obsession ending.
00:22:03
Speaker
um Really? You tell this guy's been cooking this one in the lab for a while. Hmm. Hmm. Not that that's a bad thing. I mean, Heat was originally called l LA Takedown. There's a full, like, original version of Heat. and It's one of the best movies of all time.
00:22:19
Speaker
um But there was, like, a trial run for it before. So I don't have any problem with someone taking a short and incorporating it into something. But you can definitely see that he uses him. He self-scouts a lot, which I think is a good thing.
00:22:36
Speaker
That's cool. But yeah, so Obsession was out there before ah for us. I'll have to ill check it out. Were there any anyone any of your Letterboxd Mutuals that had seen it?
00:22:49
Speaker
No, I'd seen it. I saw it on Twitter today when I was trying to look for for stuff to talk about for the episode. um And so it was like eight minutes long and I i watched it. it's Yeah, it was pretty good. mean...
00:23:05
Speaker
It was pretty good. It was the ending of obsession. but i I'll to check it out. I do want to go back and watch um and watch all of his short films and kind of see his like visual style and see how like that was fine tuned to then creating obsession. But um what did we think of the movie?
00:23:25
Speaker
How did we feel? Tachi, I am going to ask you first. Sure. um It was gnarly. It was brutal. It was that great.
00:23:38
Speaker
I think it was really, really great. um I know it's got some ties in a way, like I guess in the media to Hereditary, a lot of comparisons.
00:23:49
Speaker
And i was thinking the exact same thing. And I just ah haven't been able to stop thinking about it since we watched it. I think I've thought about it every single day.
00:24:01
Speaker
Wow. That's nuts. That's big. It's like I'm obsessed with it or something.
00:24:08
Speaker
all right us I feel very similar. I am proud to announce that that this movie is, it lived up to the hype.
00:24:20
Speaker
It really did. I was genuinely shocked and surprised. Like once like the credits rolled, just like how much I was like, oh yeah, like immediately this was like my shit.
00:24:32
Speaker
And i don't know. It was just a really good time. yeah, I think if you're listening to this episode, you probably feel the same. So I think this episode is just going to be a hype train, in all honesty. um What about you, Alex?
00:24:50
Speaker
What were your thoughts?
00:24:54
Speaker
There were a couple moments where I slouched down in my chair and yelped. Hard to get me to do that in a movie. So, uh, this one lived up to the hype. i was blown away.
00:25:11
Speaker
And it's one of those movies where I can't really explain like why I was blown so away by it. It gives me snack shop vibes in the sense that it didn't do anything like particularly new or unique, which think some people will crucify me over.
00:25:27
Speaker
um, But it did everything so well, and all of the pieces were so well put together that I was i was blown away by it.
00:25:39
Speaker
um The execution here I thought was brilliant, and it really hinges on the actors, right? Because the the the only thing complicated in this movie is is the makeup. Everything else is... is anyone could go and get like the set pieces for this movie made.
00:25:59
Speaker
Cause it was just like a house rooms, a park, a car inside a store. The makeup was very impressive, but we've seen countless horror movies have great gore and makeup, but the acting falls flat. And here it's the, the actors deliver on a script and and really, really drive this movie home. I don't think anything can be said enough about the performances seen in this movie.
00:26:28
Speaker
And I mean all of them, not just... Everyone's talking about Indy Navarrete, and for great reason. ah We'll get into that a little bit more, with more granularity, but I think everybody does a good job in this movie.
00:26:41
Speaker
Everybody. Yeah, agree totally agree. um Yeah, do you bring up a really good point that, like, this movie doesn't really do anything new. Like we've seen a lot of the, a lot of the happenings of what goes on in this, but yeah, like you said, it's just such a tight script and so well executed and learning that this movie was like made for under a million dollars, which we'll get into talking about the insane box office this movie is having right now.
00:27:12
Speaker
Um, it just It just shows that like it can beat like it can be done. and like What can be done with a tight script, good actors, and just a good direction, visual, and stuff yeah clear vision, and then just execute on that.
00:27:29
Speaker
And you can end up with the the next biggest hit. um Let's go for the performances. um Andy Navaretti is Nicky.
00:27:43
Speaker
It's Freaky Nikki. Sorry. ah Nikki and Freaky Nikki. Yeah. Right. Spoilers. Spoilers. Knocked out of the park.
00:27:53
Speaker
Just terrifying in in every way.
00:27:58
Speaker
She was awesome. She flipped the switch between Nikki and Freaky Nikki so well that kind of freaked out by her.
00:28:08
Speaker
Mm-hmm. No, I'm kidding. um She was, I mean, she's fantastic. She really plays two different characters in this movie. um and According to the Oscars, that just gets you instant win.
00:28:24
Speaker
So, so it's free money that Indy Navarrete. Navarrete? Navarrete? i think Navarrete. Yeah, I think, I think I heard her say it as Navarrete. Navarrete. Okay.
00:28:38
Speaker
She Italian? She one of us? She brought a lot of families? She's Hispanic, I think. I don't know. For sure. um Indy is, yeah, I mean, she she plays two characters phenomenally well. And her her her, the voices she can do and like the way she can control her body.
00:29:01
Speaker
i mean mean, she was freaky. She really was. She could do some freaky things. And I'm not saying that as an innuendo or a joke or anything. There's some freaky stuff in this movie.
00:29:13
Speaker
Yeah, I'm very excited to see whatever she does next. um It's interesting watching interviews with her and her talking about like how much she actually steers away from horror. um Because this is... yeah She's done go to her shit. Yeah, this is going to put her on the map. like We will see her in another horror movie.
00:29:32
Speaker
um So it's cool to just like hear her like talk about like even like watching the movie back and her being like scared, just like normally scared watching it. What if she is the final girl in Curren Barber's Texas Chainsaw Massacre?
00:29:45
Speaker
I'm in. I want it. I think that would be awesome. um Yeah, she's she's fantastic in this movie. ah Every performance in this movie is top tier, but her specifically movie hinges on this big performance, and she does it flawlessly.
00:30:06
Speaker
ah Nikki before the one Wishwillow is just... this very sweet, kind, caring person, which just makes what ends up happening to her all the more heartbreaking.
00:30:21
Speaker
um But that initial scene when he breaks the one wish willow and she comes back and just that conversation between the two, I'm like, this is so fucking good. i mean, it's like 10 or 15 minutes into the movie. It starts pretty quick.
00:30:39
Speaker
Yeah. ah and i'm hit I was watching. I'm like, I hate this because it's like, I wanted i want to go home so bad. like yeah it just It's like nails on a chalkboard and for no reason to. Yeah. like She just makes like a seemingly like silly ish.
00:30:56
Speaker
Strange interaction. Just so much dread fills you. um And right before that, I mean, she she's tugging on your heartstrings a little bit with, you know, the movie sets itself up like a rom-com.
00:31:09
Speaker
And i hate to say i was getting really pulled in into that. yeah Yeah. She's like, you know, bear like, like if you if you like me, now's the time to tell me. You're just like, oh, here it comes. Like, here's the big love reveal. And.
00:31:26
Speaker
we We don't get that at all, but she tees it up so well that like if we saw her in you know a romance movie or a love story, i think she could do that very well, too. Because I was bought in.
00:31:45
Speaker
don't know if you guys share the same, but I was bought into that. Now that you bring that scene up again, i think his lack of admitting that he likes her or like loves her cares for her is so indicative of his character like later on in the movie because he clearly does not actually care about her as a person because know spoiler he doesn't really try to fix things he just wants things to be better for him um so that's interesting he yeah um
00:32:27
Speaker
I was going to save this question for later, but with the topic of like of that car scene and her kind of...
Romantic Dynamics in 'Obsession'
00:32:34
Speaker
It seemed like it was like leaning to like that rom-com trope, and she straight up asks him, like, do you like me?
00:32:40
Speaker
And then, you like you said, like he's just a coward and yeah decides not to. What do you guys think are the feelings Nikki has towards Bear pre-One Wish Willow?
00:32:53
Speaker
Is there... Do you think that there's any like romantic interest there? Or does she actually see him as a brother or just a friend? um Because leading up to this, like I'm like, ah he this is definitely just, ah he she sees him as like a just a friend thing.
00:33:10
Speaker
But she asked that question. And i can't really tell if that's ah her asking because she's thinking, please, God, don't tell me that you do. Or, hey, I might like you back.
00:33:23
Speaker
If you can just just say something. But what do you guys think? I think he's certainly had a shot.
00:33:31
Speaker
I think if he plays his cards right. The relationship could have worked. I think there's something there. I think so too. it One of the one of the things that I see is like oh he didn't really know her or anything. um But the beginning of the movie it says he's known her since like middle school.
00:33:52
Speaker
like since they were very young, I believe she was like, yeah, she was like the first person that was nice to him when he moved to a town. And it was implied. was a while ago. So I think that like, he does know her pretty well, but obviously, you know, has fallen in love with some sort of version of her that he's,
00:34:10
Speaker
he's create And i think that's, you know, I don't think that means he's a bad person per se. I just think like we all kind of do that when we fall for somebody, um you know, but I think there was something there because their relationship was clearly a little different than everyone else's.
00:34:31
Speaker
ah Maybe not overtly like romantic, like, you know, they're they're jumping at each other. But I think she cared for him on a deeper level that I think was more than a friend.
00:34:45
Speaker
but maybe not necessarily like a romantic kind of relationship yet. Just like a, like a deep confusing level, if that makes yeah sense. Yeah. I think there was some level of like nurturing care that if bear was an actually good person and confident in himself, that I think that there could have been that there in the future maybe could have been something there. um Damn awkward guys are bad people now. Well, so he's not a bad, like leading up to, leading up to the one wish Willow.
00:35:19
Speaker
You can't ask your girl out. You're horrible. He, he, nothing is wrong with him. Like pre one wish Willow, but there are actions that he takes throughout the movie where you're just like, okay, you are actually like a piece of shit. Like incel type guy. Like he's, he's not, a he's not a good person.
00:35:37
Speaker
No. um Not even a little bit. um Let's talk about Bear's performance. Could be seen, I think, as like flying under the radar um when do you compare the performances to to him and Indy. Oh, definitely.
00:35:54
Speaker
Yeah, just as just as much, though, as Indy. The performances of this movie hinge on these two, and i think if one was lacking, the movie would really suffer, and it doesn't. So, I mean, I think he deserves his flowers as much as Indy's getting her flowers, too, um because he plays this...
00:36:13
Speaker
cowardly bitch so well. He does. It's so easy to root against him.
00:36:23
Speaker
Alex, you brought up a really good point earlier about the execution. And there's something about this movie where And every scene where Baron Nikki are together, there's this tension. That's this underlying level of tension. That's always there.
00:36:41
Speaker
But in a lot of cases, it's just building and building and building. And you know, something's coming, you know, something horrible is about to happen. And then it does, but it works so well. It's so jarring and horrible and graphic and just insane.
00:37:01
Speaker
and And it just feels like everything that they put together just works so well. Like, i don't know, the the easies easiest example is the car scene or or even the party scene.
00:37:14
Speaker
um where everyone, like even in the city, or not the city, everyone in the scene knows something terrible is about to happen. Like the ah the the drinking game.
00:37:27
Speaker
Yeah. And it's just... yeah I think... um Going back to like Curry Barker's comedy roots. So like I had mentioned that like a lot of his sketch comedy gives... It's very um ridiculous. Like it gives like like Tim Robinson core. And I think like at its at its root...
00:37:49
Speaker
that type of comedy style is just uncomfortable situations and like things that you would never that literally just what the fuck like that's the entire thing and you can see that with the with the drinking game with the party scene it's literally that but it's just not funny it's just horrifying and like i need to get out of this room immediately exactly Which is why I think a lot of these like comedy people can do horror so well because it's two sides of the same coin, essentially.
00:38:22
Speaker
um the and so what What would we call the entity? One of the things that I really appreciate about this movie is the lack of explanation.
Supernatural Elements in 'Obsession'
00:38:31
Speaker
I'm very happy yes that there's just no explaining what the one wish willow is, that it's just in this world.
00:38:40
Speaker
There are questions you're left with like after about like how it works. Is it always a bad thing to wish upon the one wish willow? I don't know.
00:38:51
Speaker
I really, so that's just one thing I really appreciated from this movie. um We didn't get like a, uh, I think there's a world where this movie explains the demon, the quote unquote demon of, we're I guess we're just go to call her the freaky Nikki part. um And I'm very happy that that just does not happen whatsoever.
00:39:15
Speaker
Yes, the the scene where he calls the support line and ah he's he's trying to get answers. He's trying to like, you know, quote unquote, fix the situation. And the a phone operator gives him a chance to talk to the real Nikki.
00:39:33
Speaker
And you just hear this like blood curdling scream. And it's just so crazy. Horrible. It's terrible. And there's no explanation. like Yeah. What was i Yeah.
00:39:44
Speaker
Like, was it actually Nikki? Why is it Nikki? How is it Nikki? um And it it just leaves it at that. There's no explanation. There's no, I don't know, terrible attempt at world building.
00:39:58
Speaker
You're just left horrified. And that's it. and the audience just has to accept it, and that's it. I don't know. and It's really nice. It's perfect. it's perfect We need more of that, because I'm sorry. like The explanation or like oversaturation of everything is, I think, a huge, huge problem with today's media But the worst part is I've already seen people starting to wish for more.
00:40:24
Speaker
And i was on r slash box office earlier, which is a crazy subreddit. If you guys never been on, I mean, people argue about everything and it's like they're at each other's throat. um But here's someone's wish list for obsession on like what we'll see next from this.
00:40:40
Speaker
ah Different takes on the wish at different points in time. I hope that just means the one wish Willow, which I think we, Curry Barker wants to do in some perspective, like people having different wishes and their outcomes.
00:40:57
Speaker
But a side quill about Nikki observing through the freaky Nikki from her POV and a direct sequel slash prequel about the gang. Like, why do we need any of this? Why can't the movie just be it is?
00:41:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. ah But I mean, it's it's such, it's something I hate about how like our modern audience wants these days. We want to consume so much of like, you know, the franchise, the franchise. No, no, no, no. no Like, i don't really need to see more of this group of people.
00:41:32
Speaker
Yeah. What, what happened happened. The movie, I think puts a bow on it pretty nicely. You make obsession to freaky Nikki Boogaloo. yeah She comes back.
00:41:46
Speaker
um Yeah, that's what makes me dread the the weapons prequel. I don't want to know more about Gladys. Exactly. Yeah. I don't care.
00:41:57
Speaker
Right. I cared for one specific moment in time. It was that movie. Very rarely does like a movie want more.
00:42:06
Speaker
Long Legs as well. Aren't we getting a sequel to that? thought it was a prequel. Or a prequel, but Long Legs is coming back too. Yeah. right Yeah, and that's one where I thought, I liked Long Legs, but it does kind of over-explain everything.
00:42:23
Speaker
Like the whole end of the movie is just exposition. yeah i think yeah for for long legs that's where it loses its steam is yeah the in the over explanation and um yeah there's just there's so many examples of a third act of a horror movie just completely derailing everything that came before and it's yeah like we're saying it's long-winded way of just saying it's very refreshing to see a movie just not do that you know um Let's talk about favorite scenes.
00:42:55
Speaker
Some terrifying scenes. ah The one that immediately jumps to mind for me is her crying when she's out of bed. um That was like of the most uncomfortable images I've ever seen.
00:43:15
Speaker
Just because I'm like, what the fuck is wrong with her face? Why does it look like that? And it was all like it was so freaky. It was so freaky.
00:43:26
Speaker
And I loved it. Is that the one where she's up against the wall? Yeah. She's just like in a dark corner, just crying because she's, and she's, and the scene itself is terrifying because it's like, I don't know if this is like freaky Nikki or normal Nikki, but she's basically saying like this entity is freaked out because she doesn't want to go to sleep because of whatever is happening, like in her dreams.
00:43:48
Speaker
She's like, she's scared of it. And so it's, I think that in itself is a really interesting concept, but just the frame of her in the dark corner of the room as barr is Barry's asking her to get into bed. And she's just, she's just bawling her eyes out, but her face looks like,
00:44:06
Speaker
something It looks crazy. It's so unnatural. Yeah. Uncanny. It was very uncanny. And I'm like, did they do something to her face? Is this some type of CGI special effects? It's just makeup. It's just shading.
00:44:22
Speaker
I saw a picture of her in the light like behind the scenes. And it's just like shading. To make her look, like she almost looks old. Like, it's like stretched out in a way. I don't know.
00:44:34
Speaker
Yeah. And apparently it was like a TikTok trend of these, like, of people doing that exact makeup look. And I was like, that is so cool. If I saw someone wearing that makeout or makeup in public, I would run. there so they weren't in public, but people were just doing like little horror shorts on TikTok. No, I'm just saying, but someone wears like the the freaky Nikki makeup out yeah public.
00:44:56
Speaker
Just, I'm leaving. I'm going. How many ah Halloween costumes of freaky Nikki makeup in that particular scene? Me at the party just...
00:45:06
Speaker
Just me like, get down. Get your black ass down.
00:45:15
Speaker
o What about you guys? I think for me, the the scene that gave me the biggest heebie-jeebies was the the lunch scene in the the guitar store. Oh, yeah. The food critic scene with the the the the dead cat as a sandwich.
00:45:35
Speaker
Because what's what's like the Hitchcock line about, you know, like the scariest thing about like a bomb in a movie is if the audience knows that it's ticking, but the characters don't.
00:45:48
Speaker
Yeah. like I watched that and like, she messed with his lunch. It's the cat. And so he's eating it and he's like making a face. He's like, taste it's like what's that smell? and it's like I'm watching it and I'm like, no.
00:46:05
Speaker
yeah no like Just please be tuna. Not tuna the cat. It wasn't. It was so like
00:46:15
Speaker
it was so like You're watching and the scene goes on for so long because he's having like a real conversation with um Sarah with Sarah and.
00:46:30
Speaker
it drags and drags and drags and the whole time. You're just like, let's make this end, like make it stop, make it end. And oh it ends with the with the bomb exploding.
00:46:44
Speaker
Sure does. And it's a very well written scene getting this new dynamic between Bear and Sarah. Because again, this movie does a really good job at shifting tones to making me feel like I'm now watching a different movie. Now i'm watching the rom-com again.
00:47:02
Speaker
And I was fully bought in.
00:47:06
Speaker
That's just, it's it's done so well. Like, I loved seeing that conversation. But then you think the bomb.
00:47:17
Speaker
It's great. and And she's still unaware of the bomb. She's she's just in the background saying, like, oh what's the joke? What is it? Yeah. Like, what's going on? ha ha. But for me, the worst part of the movie was the backwards walk.
00:47:34
Speaker
I have never in my life gotten goosebumps from being scared. And i'm I'm pretty easily scared. I really don't enjoy being scared. I don't like war movies. Unless they're great.
00:47:47
Speaker
But oh my God, i like curled up in my seat. I had chicken skin all over me. It was horrible. ah Yeah. I don't know how they did that, but it was.
00:47:59
Speaker
It was really cool. Yeah. Really cool. fact, um the cinematography in this movie is like really, really good. Specifically, the way they shoot Nikki in a lot of these scenes, and then in particular, this that scene where she's walking backwards.
Cinematic Influences and Homages
00:48:16
Speaker
Her silhouette. Yeah, her silhouette. Lots of shadows with with freaky Nikki. like we We talked about this in the parking lot about um some of the influences he may have had, and I think we both came to the consensus, ah you and me, Malik, because I don't think touch you had seen either of these ones. um Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
00:48:39
Speaker
definitely i can see the influences coming through yeah you bring the lighting cure cure um and then uh for me pulse by kiyoshi kurosawa the backwards walk specifically tachi there's a scene in the movie pulse um where there's like an entity doing a very inhuman walk it's like an anti-jump scare it's like or maybe i should call it not inhuman but overtly human Like someone trying to pretend too hard to be a person. Right.
00:49:10
Speaker
And it's a walk they do. it And it's very, very similar to the way that freaky Nikki moves in the shadows. Um, there was actually a a YouTube video, like a YouTube essay, all about the, that scene in pulse and knowing that Curry Barker is terminally online. Like us, I know he saw that.
00:49:29
Speaker
And I know like, you know, I know he probably studied that video and that whole scene as a, as as an inspiration for this. ah The guy clearly knows his stuff. He knows his history.
00:49:41
Speaker
um And i I can't wait to see what else he pulls, right? Because it's not like copying or anything. It's it's homages, you know inspirations, but never like a wholly direct lift, right?
00:49:57
Speaker
Yeah. um So the more we get of this, the more that I'm going to watch anything this guy puts out.
00:50:06
Speaker
100%. And that review half that was... ah the halft star that was kind of bashing on him for naming hereditary, like as an influence. And you just see the a subgroup of like people that if you don't like this movie, like that's totally fine.
00:50:22
Speaker
But where, where I can't engage in an argument in good faith is when I see people complain about like, Oh, you just named hereditary. Like, have you ever seen a movie pre 1990 or these YouTubers can't be filmmakers at that point? I'm just like, okay, then that's, I think that's a very close minded way of thinking.
00:50:41
Speaker
Um, I mean, it there's it's a whole new, like younger generation of filmmakers showing the different avenues in which you can make a horror movie and where your inspirations come from.
00:50:53
Speaker
um And I think it's just awesome. And yeah, I'm very excited to see what else, what else he does.
00:51:05
Speaker
um Anything that doesn't work for you guys in this movie, any criticisms if you can. ah i'll I'll say for me, um how long is this movie?
00:51:17
Speaker
Like just shy over an hour and a half? It was closer to two. Closer to two? Yeah. 108 minutes. 108 minutes. In between an hour and a half and two, yeah.
00:51:30
Speaker
I think towards the middle of the movie, it gets ah ah ah just a little repetitive. on on that Because there's not much... There's nowhere to to really go. um Which is totally fine.
00:51:44
Speaker
I still think it's a very well-written, tight script. ah But yeah, just towards the middle, it's just like waiting for the next crazy, awkward thing to happen. And it just feels like that kind of happens... um a little repeatedly for just a bit but mean other than that I don't really know this movie's great yeah there's this movie this movie fade this movie made me feel really bad about where I'm at in life me
00:52:14
Speaker
As a so-called writer, creator, artist, I've done nothing, dude. What am I with my life? We gotta lock in. i i I actually left my theater and i was in the car was like, I hate myself. Dude, literally, I was like, god damn it. oh You were in the car with me. We drove home together. Yeah, it's like it's ah it's very inspirational, but also just like God damn it. Harsh reality check, I guess. Yes, yes.
00:52:42
Speaker
He's younger than me. Those people are all younger than me. And I'm the youngest one here. Yeah, the the whole crew, I think, was like under 30, basically. Yeah, I think they're all like 26 and under. It's really impressive.
00:52:57
Speaker
It's very impressive. Like, it's so cool. And like, all he did was just make these short films and upload them to YouTube. Like, as far as I'm aware, I'm sure he's not a Nepo baby.
00:53:09
Speaker
Do we have any Neppo Baby hints for Curry Barker? Son of Travis Barker? Maybe. Maybe distant relative of Andy Richter? Maybe. Mobile, Alabama.
00:53:23
Speaker
Shout out the Bible Belt.
00:53:28
Speaker
he He was a self-described straight C&D student.
00:53:35
Speaker
And according to Wikipedia... No, I don't think he's a Nepo baby. Let's go. It's a guy who loves horror movies.
00:53:51
Speaker
That's great. That's great.
00:53:54
Speaker
um So do we do we answer the question, is Bear a villain? Oh, yeah, 100%.
00:54:02
Speaker
yeah I think we want to talk a little bit more about where he like truly turns into one. And there's there's one specific scene that does it for me, going to just see if it's the same one for you guys. It probably is. Because there's really like one pivotal moment, and it's ah where he says, like what's so bad about being with me?
00:54:25
Speaker
Of other Nikki coming out and talking for a little bit. And he just handles that in... In the way that a good, decent person would not.
00:54:38
Speaker
he's very He's very selfish, and it's all spelled out right there. um And it's just so it's so heartbreaking for the real Nikki. Like, the little glimpses that we see of her.
00:54:50
Speaker
She's pleading. Pleading for help. Yeah. And in particular... one of the jumps ah or like one of the cuts to the next scene of them having sex together was just like, oh so oh my God, yeah so uncomfortable and so tough to look at.
00:55:09
Speaker
um That was insane. At that point, you're just like anything bad that happens to Bear is fully deserved. Yeah. And at that time, I feel like I don't even know if that's Nikki or Freaky Nikki. It could be either.
00:55:24
Speaker
yeah Honestly. But her just like coming to real quick and she's like, Bear, what are you doing? And then immediately like freaking Niki taking back over. Yeah. You're just like, Jesus Christ, bro. This is crazy. Just, yeah.
00:55:38
Speaker
Yeah. Curry Barker, I think cooked a little too hard. I think that guy needs to be investigated. Check his hard drive. ah um Indy makes a great face, a great frowny face, and this.
00:55:52
Speaker
Love it. I can't it. I've never seen frown that low. That's awesome. Alex can do it. That's pretty good. And she can do it like it goes lower. I saw a video where she's like, oh, it can go like even more. She's just like straight up, upside down. It's awesome.
00:56:07
Speaker
um That scene was brutal where Nikki comes out again and smashes the glass. the party. Yeah. Oh. Brutal. Yeah. ah The pole party scene with the One Wish Willow monologue.
00:56:21
Speaker
Yeah. Just. Terrible. And the car scene. That was. Okay. So here's a fun fact. The movie was cut a little bit from what was shown at TIFF.
00:56:36
Speaker
ah because it apparently cut down the car scene a bit, or else the movie would have been NC-17. Yeah, really? Yeah, they had to take out some smashes.
00:56:47
Speaker
Yeah, like 10 plus head smashes or something. It's like 10 more. Oh my God, for real? Yeah. I can't believe that gets worse, because that is so bad.
00:57:01
Speaker
It's crazy to know that there are a certain number of heads and ashes you can do before you get an NC-17 rating. Dude, at some point, these directors to be like, all right, it's NC-17. Yeah.
00:57:14
Speaker
I mean, it was like they pulled that scene out of Invincible. It was so yeah gnarly.
00:57:22
Speaker
Well, don't know. Kudos to them, I guess. but the The thing I didn't realize until after was, and I guess this was also supposed to be worse. I don't think this ever made it into any cut.
00:57:33
Speaker
But, um you know, in the end where Freaky Nikki is, like, giving herself Sarah's tattoos. Yeah. ah well Apparently, like, the original draft had her wearing Sarah's face. Ew. Oh.
00:57:47
Speaker
Oh. Don't like that. And I'm just like, this guy is going to make the best Texas Chainsaw Massacre that's ever been made. That would have been awesome.
00:57:59
Speaker
He needs to go to jail, bro. I mean, we gotta lock this guy Yeah, really talked about that. I'm kidding, Curry. Curry, I love you. Very complimentary that we want you to go to jail. This is a very complimentary threat of arrest. That you should.
00:58:16
Speaker
We haven't really covered the finale much, but um that scene with him and and Cooper, I forget his character in the movie. ah Ian, I think. That guy sucks. Oh, yeah.
00:58:28
Speaker
What horrible friend. For sure. Great performance. Horrible friend. Yeah. Terrible. um And I don't know. it the The movie does a great job of like kind of wanting you to sympathize with Bear a little bit.
00:58:44
Speaker
and just seeing the light leave his eyes when Ian makes that wish and I'm just like, i don't know, get fucked. h The scores in particular on that scene um was giving me like hereditary vibes with whatever was going on with ah just like the like watching the money fall down.
00:59:03
Speaker
Yeah. So that I think that's where I saw the hereditary ah influence for sure. But yeah, it's just that look on his face. He just couldn't believe it. Yeah.
00:59:15
Speaker
and Because, yeah, how do you convince your friend that that it's not bullshit? um I mean, I feel like I'd have to believe somebody after seeing what their new girlfriend has been doing. Right. Like the party scene should have been a pretty good indicator. Yeah. Like, that's not Nikki.
00:59:31
Speaker
so Something did happen here.
00:59:35
Speaker
Someone's cooking, but I don't want to eat. And then the the like immediate return, the the cut to him and his apartment, and he's contemplating just, you know, ending things in a certain way.
00:59:50
Speaker
Yeah. And still is a coward. Still does not free these people of his his villainy. Well, how is he supposed to? So, like...
01:00:03
Speaker
the the guy The operator literally was like, oh just kill her, you kill yourself, like that's it.
01:00:10
Speaker
like what I guess is the option just that? like That's what it sounds like. like i mean, i'm not i'm not i'm like i'm not saying Bear's a good person, i'm not defending Bear before anyone gets up in arms.
01:00:23
Speaker
But like he's made a bad choice, and he continues to double down on it. I don't know what else he's supposed to do except lock Nikki up in an asylum.
01:00:35
Speaker
without killing her or himself. But there's no winning. There's no winning in this situation. There's no way it's, it's, it's a very, like, it's complicated.
01:00:46
Speaker
We see actions of bear that make him a bad person. But like, if we reframe it and try to think, like, if he did try to do the right thing, what would that
Themes and Moral Dilemmas in 'Obsession'
01:00:57
Speaker
thing be? Because like, you wouldn't like, how was he supposed to know that this one, which will have worked?
01:01:03
Speaker
Like, I don't know. Like, look like what do you do? but We could have just read the packaging, bro. Like, hey, this works. I want to say it's the, like, there he didn't, like, light it or something. so like, I wonder if he had just followed the instructions if it would have gone well.
01:01:20
Speaker
I think it comes down to the phrasing from what I've seen in interviews with the cast and crew. And I really like this about the one wish willow is that it's not inherently evil.
01:01:31
Speaker
It's not bad. yeah It's all in the phrasing. It's like a genie. Like genies aren't bad, but like just that's the saying, be careful what you wish for. You got to, it's all, it's all in the phrasing.
01:01:42
Speaker
Right. I wonder if he does move forward with the anthology series, if he's going to make an episode where it's kind of set up as a horror. the The person makes the wish and you're just waiting for something horrible to happen the entire episode.
01:01:56
Speaker
And then it doesn't because they phrase their wish really carefully. Yeah. And it's just so so the beginning of Barbarian basically. Yeah.
01:02:11
Speaker
Yeah, the last shot in this movie... of bears soul essentially leaving thus breaking the curse and Nikki coming back and seeing the horrors of her mutilated dead friend in the chair bear on the floor herself covered in blood. Yeah. a guy with the bone in his brain. Yeah. Oh, I forgot. He had walked in and got shot. Um, he deserved it. He deserved it. 100%. Um,
01:02:42
Speaker
come And her blood-cuddling screams as the credits rolled. I was literally like, John, the floor. I literally, I wanted to stand up and salute the screen. I was like, this was my shit.
01:02:59
Speaker
Gosh, she cried for so long. i don't know how long the credits were, but she sobbed. and Yeah, as we're walking out of the theater, she's still so wailing. Crazy.
01:03:12
Speaker
Hmm. And that song playing the Little Dipper's needle drop. Yeah. Hold me. Good needle drops. Yeah. In this movie.
01:03:23
Speaker
Very good. What was the other one? Kids? in the Yeah. In the car with Sarah? Yeah. There were two Current Choice needle drops, I think. Kids and I forget the other name. I forget the other one. It's earlier in the movie.
01:03:36
Speaker
i was like, hurry nose ball. Um, one question, why did Ian go back to bear's house saying that he has a billion dollars when bear was already there? When bear saw that he got the billion dollars, like, why did he and go back to the house?
01:03:54
Speaker
I don't know. Rub it in. I don't know. Yeah. I thought that part was a little funny. Cause like he knocked on the door. He's like dude, I just got a billion dollars. I'm like, wait, he already knew that. I think he was just like, what do I do with it? Like, cause I guess he realized that Bear wasn't lying about the wish.
01:04:08
Speaker
He's like, okay, like what's next? What do we do? i have a billion dollars now. yeah and then He opens the door and he gets his head blown smooth off.
01:04:19
Speaker
God, it was so quick. So many things just happen so quickly in this movie. It's just a descent into hell. yeah Essentially. What happens with Nicky after? What do we think?
01:04:34
Speaker
Probably the asylum that I brought up. yeah That or another bullet.
01:04:42
Speaker
Oh.
01:04:46
Speaker
Because if she's if if her soul is trapped in this body and is and is witnessing all this stuff, I just can't imagine the trauma being like, I don't know.
01:04:58
Speaker
Survivable is not really the right word, but like how do you live with that? I don't think you do. thats That's why the concept of obsession two is so stupid. Like, i don't want to know. Right. Yeah.
01:05:09
Speaker
I do think you genuinely do blow your own shits move off after that, after the horrors.
01:05:21
Speaker
ah Anything else you guys want to shout out? And then we can have a little conversation on this YouTube to filmmaker and the few that we have, but I'm ready for a final rating. If you guys are sure.
01:05:35
Speaker
All right. Oh, we should probably talk about the budget.
Financial Success and Smart Filmmaking
01:05:41
Speaker
For sure. Under a million dollars, 750K to make this movie, and it is probably going to hit 100 million domestically.
01:05:52
Speaker
It probably is. It may have already hit 100 million domestically. No, I think it's at 75 of today.
01:06:00
Speaker
That's nuts. As of May 25th, it's at 75 million. actually crazy. It's week two went up, which for those listening who have no idea about how box office stats work, usually they go down week two.
01:06:14
Speaker
This went up 39%. It was the largest jump In a movie this century, this decade. Yeah. Yeah, this century for a wide release. That's awesome.
01:06:27
Speaker
39% increase in the second weekend. Unheard of. Take note, studios. This is what the people want, and you can actually turn a profit. Yes. This type of movie is exactly what we need more of. We need fresh new voices in filmmaking, smaller budgets, and and less sort of intervention yeah less studio intervention and word of mouth can take something So what we're seeing this is, but we, it is already a hundred times its budget.
01:06:57
Speaker
It doesn't even need to be a micro budget. Godzilla minus one, I think was like 20 or 30 million budget. Yeah. And it blew out its number, even just in the U S cuz a word of mouth.
01:07:08
Speaker
Right. But it was still like lower budget. And yeah, I get, you know, I play devil's advocate in Japan, the animation studios and CGI is a little cheap and run.
01:07:22
Speaker
not well. Right. But there's got to be a happy medium somewhere, right? There has to be. These ballooned budgets of $100 million, $150 million, $250 million, that's not viable.
01:07:37
Speaker
like That's an uphill battle that I feel you're going to lose most of the time. mean, I think that you look at Doomsday. budget's probably going to be like $500 million. Half of it's just salary.
01:07:53
Speaker
Like, why? Doomsday budget. ah uh an estimated this is just the ai overview so don't know if it's accurate but this is saying 700 700 million let's even call it 500 million 700 million dollar budget there's features an estimated total spend of 700 million uh okay 400 million production 300 million in marketing so we'll just call it 400 million
01:08:13
Speaker
ah okay they guess for four we four hundred million production three hundred million in marketing so we'll just call it four hundred million Yeah, that's insane. god But even when you look at it like that, that's would you rather one Avengers Doomsday for a $400 million budget or 400 obsessions?
01:08:31
Speaker
I would rather the 400 obsessions from up-and-coming directors, well-known directors, whoever, give me more. Well, maybe not all up-and-coming directors. Yeah, maybe not all of them, but a good chunk.
01:08:51
Speaker
Could get 400 Shelby Oaks.
01:08:55
Speaker
let's We'll talk about it. Let's do our ratings and let's talk about these other ah real quickly. Some of these other similar stories. um I gave it this a 4.5. This is a 4.5. Yes.
01:09:09
Speaker
I also gave this 4.5. Let's go. I don't know why I couldn't give it a five. Maybe it's just like. maybe it's just like the re-watchability of horror movies for me i i don't know if i can go back and watch them as like a comfort or i don't know like i have the memory i have i have the scares i have the appreciation but i just don't know when or if i'll ever go back and watch so for that i think it just can't get to a five that's fair i wouldn't say for me anything is like
01:09:45
Speaker
missing we've had this discussion plenty of times but like the gap between four and a half and five is i think something just personal and emotional right personally um so yeah 4.5 i think for me is i mean this movie's fantastic like it's like essentially perfect this yeah shit's awesome yeah i'm locked in and i i will watch it again for sure i could watch this one again same where does this rank on first date movies
01:10:13
Speaker
Honestly, not bad. High. Yeah. Because I think it can also just make for a really great conversation afterwards. You're not like that, right, babe?
01:10:27
Speaker
like So what did you think of Nikki? Do you relate? do you?
01:10:34
Speaker
Let's say my cat died. What would you do with it? Would you cook it?
01:10:46
Speaker
How many people out there do you think Freaky Nicky wouldn't be a deal breaker? There's a lot. Probably a lot.
01:10:56
Speaker
Unfortunately. okay You know there's one guy out there who watched this movie he's like, dude, this is this isn't even half of it. I wish I had that. it's just There's one guy out there who's like, oh there's a cop. He's like laughing through the whole thing. Like, oh it could be way worse.
01:11:16
Speaker
um Yeah, let's talk about these other YouTubers to horror pipeline.
YouTube Creators Transitioning to Filmmaking
01:11:20
Speaker
um We've got Curry Barker with this and he's doing the upcoming Texas Chainsaw. Kane Parsons with Backrooms coming this week.
01:11:30
Speaker
um Markiplier with Iron Lung. I never watched it. i don't know. Are you guys familiar with Markiplier? Not really. Yeah. Yeah, it's not and not really for me, but I mean, his whole deal was, I think his movie was self-financed.
01:11:47
Speaker
I think for like a million dollars, like of a small budget as well. Huge for a part for like personally putting your own money. That's a lot of money, but he also made, i think, like well over 10 times the money back.
01:11:59
Speaker
So he's got like a dedicated audience that went out to watch this and it was just extremely successful. And he went outside of the studio system, which is really cool story. um And then Chris Duckman, a famous movie reviewer on YouTube who's been around for a long time, who had Shelby Oaks come out.
01:12:18
Speaker
Was that last year or 24? It was last year. Last year? it was wide release last year. It could have been like a festival in 24, but wide release was last year. Yeah, we also had the Philip Who Brothers who were also on YouTube. They were a sketch comedy group.
01:12:32
Speaker
they did They directed Talk To Me and Bring Her Back. um I wasn't a fan of Talk To Me. i wasn't that big of fan of Talk To Me. Did we do an episode on that?
01:12:44
Speaker
No. No? um i enjoyed Bring Her Back a lot more, I will I heard that one was a lot better. Yeah, but I've also seen a lot of people hate Bring Her Back.
01:12:57
Speaker
which I'm not sure why. I saw people comparing the the performance of the actress in Talk To Me to to the indie in ah Obsession. I'm just like, what are we doing? Yeah, no. It was a great horror movie performance from the last two years. It's like...
01:13:13
Speaker
These don't even compare. like Yeah. um Not necessarily YouTube to horror, but obviously Jordan Peele, who had his star in and sketch comedy.
01:13:23
Speaker
um he's All of his movies, I think, have been fantastic. But, I mean, there's there's a trend going on, and I think we'll probably see more of it of those that grew up on the internet.
01:13:36
Speaker
kind of just taking this quote unquote unconventional route. um And you can see stuff like this, but ah Alex, you recently watched Shelby Oaks.
01:13:49
Speaker
And so I wanted to talk about that for a little bit.
01:13:57
Speaker
People are saying that you know the YouTube to horror movie pipeline needs to be expanded upon. And we do need to give some of these smaller creators a chance. But you guys got to remember that that everyone's perfect.
01:14:08
Speaker
Just because you can film a skit doesn't mean you can write a movie. And I think Shelby Oaks is the best example of that because that was a mess. it was ah It was a complete mess. And it opened so well. yeah It not being a mockumentary was like...
01:14:24
Speaker
like, what do you doing? Like immediate fumble. And the last four minutes is just so stupid. I i laughed at the end, like out loud.
01:14:36
Speaker
um God, it's just such a missed opportunity. And it made no sense. Like, that's the worst part. It's like, what what was this? Yeah. Yeah.
01:14:47
Speaker
It was very disappointing. That was a really big one that I was very excited for because like I've watched Chris Stuckman on YouTube for a long time and he was always very transparent about his like aspirations and dreams of becoming a filmmaker and he had done...
01:15:04
Speaker
a short film and then did like the Kickstarter for forgetting for wanting to get this feature made. i think I donated like 20 bucks at some point, like to the Kickstarter myself.
01:15:14
Speaker
Um, as I was very excited for him. I did. I'm a yoaks i'm a producer on Shelby Oaks. Um, and so I was very excited for him and i'm like, this is sick. And it was getting great reception.
01:15:26
Speaker
And is that why the credits were like 11 minutes long? Yeah, I think he put like everybody in it. Then they also released a poster that had like everyone who like donated um like the it was like an image, but you zoom in and it's just like made up of words and names, which is really cool.
01:15:41
Speaker
um Get me off this, bro. I went I got a Sharpie and I like crossed out my name. But yeah, that one was just a huge disappointment.
01:15:54
Speaker
And I think it opens so strong. It did. It's tough. And I don't know where they filmed it because where are that many abandoned buildings? Because it's certainly not Austin, Texas. No, I forget where he's from.
01:16:11
Speaker
is it dark County, Ohio? It is a real county. I had to look that up. I'm like dark County. Like I couldn't think of a better name than looked it up. it was a real place. Why would you live there? That's scary.
01:16:22
Speaker
um Yeah, I live dark County, bro. Yeah, i don't I don't know what went wrong with that movie, but it was just... It was funny. because Yeah, this poorly written. And so I think he has a good visual style. I think there's some promise there.
01:16:42
Speaker
But I also think he would benefit from maybe another writer, from a different writer, and have him just direct. That I would be excited to see. like Whatever he does next, I will watch. But don't know.
01:16:53
Speaker
Yeah, I just think the writing was... was lacking for sure. Let's hope he takes that in stride. You know, learned lot lessons.
01:17:05
Speaker
I feel really bad because like he's just he's been doing this for so long and there's ah obviously a lot of work that goes into making like any movie. um I just want I wonder how he feels seeing the success of obsession because like it was it's not just us like I think it's a pretty popular opinion that Shelby Oaks is not good.
01:17:26
Speaker
So I mean, what did it get on?
01:17:30
Speaker
The box. Let's see.
01:17:36
Speaker
2.5 out of five. Oh my God. That's an average. That's pretty rough. That's rough. Yeah. For all my mutuals that have seen it, the highest I'm seeing here is a three, but a lot, lots of twos and lots of ones.
01:17:49
Speaker
Um, i personally gave that one to 2.5. That's the highest I'm seeing for my mutuals. Compared to obsession with an average rating of 4.2. Yeah. Crazy.
01:18:04
Speaker
crazy
01:18:07
Speaker
Maybe that 0.5 came from you being a producer. yeah It should have been a two, but I gave it that little boost. If we ever make it big, you should tag yourself as a producer. like Get it added to your IMDB letterbox. Does you tell producer Shelby Oaks?
01:18:25
Speaker
That'd be hilarious. um How are you feeling about Curry Barker taking on Texas Chainsaw? I'm hyped. I'm hyped. As soon as I heard the whole, the the whole Sarah Tatt bit on Freaky Nikki was such a good choice. And then um the fact that she almost wore her face, feel like the he he is what this franchise needs because everything else has been, with the exception of the first one, I think it's pretty much been hot garbage.
01:18:56
Speaker
How insane to give this 26 year old the keys to this iconic horror franchise before the movie was released before obsession was released publicly.
01:19:08
Speaker
Like that news came out and I went, what? He's doing what? What else do they have to lose? Cause like Alex said, ah so much of this of the franchise has been garbage.
01:19:22
Speaker
And I felt really indifferent about the series um or about the movies in general. I don't think I've even even seen any of them. But now I'm excited. So I think it's a good thing.
01:19:33
Speaker
I think it's a great thing. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is one of the funniest posters I've ever seen. I love it so much just for just for that. I got to see this. Yeah, I got to see it.
01:19:48
Speaker
Poster. Yeah, it's the... ah What? you'll know No way. What is that? The Breakfast Club. Is that real? Yes. That's amazing.
01:20:00
Speaker
That's what it's the poster is on HBO. This is hilarious. Why does he look like that? Bro's flexing in the background. That's crazy.
01:20:14
Speaker
Wow. you know I've never seen the second. Yeah, I've never seen the second. I haven't either. There's there's a few of the Texas Chainsaws that I haven't seen. um Obviously, I've seen the original, but like I haven't seen a lot of the remakes. But man yeah, I don't think any of them were good. So yeah, I guess you're right. There's really nothing to lose.
01:20:32
Speaker
um Glenn Powell's producing, if I'm not mistaken, isn't he? I think he's attached in some way. That's cool. Can the movie be filmed in Texas again? A lot of the TCM filming locations are outside of Austin.
01:20:45
Speaker
it Yeah, I think that's like a requirement needs to be needs to be filmed in Texas. you pissed I think you would be able to tell if it wasn't and then you'd piss a lot of people off right off the bat.
01:20:57
Speaker
um
01:21:00
Speaker
What did you guys Alex, did you want to say something about back rooms specifically? um No, just I hope it's not.
Future Expectations and Hypothetical Wishes
01:21:10
Speaker
I hope it's good.
01:21:12
Speaker
I'm rooting for it. I'm also rooting for it. I hope people don't act like it's the greatest thing ever since sliced bread. I did just read House of Leeds. It's like this is clearly like the back rooms or this is where the back rooms came from. I'm excited for the discourse.
01:21:30
Speaker
Excited for the movie. I just sound like an old grumpy guy, but whatever. Old man yells at cloud. Literally. you can You kids gotta read.
01:21:41
Speaker
House of Leaps. it now. What else? Anything else for you guys?
01:21:49
Speaker
That's it for me. Yeah. What are the lessons we learned here? Small budgets. Word of mouth. be Be very specific about your kind of wish. Oh, before we go.
01:22:02
Speaker
You had a one wish. What was your one wish? be
01:22:10
Speaker
What are there? Are there rules? What are the parameters of this? Are there any? You you make the wish and then the other two will poke holes in it. OK.
01:22:22
Speaker
Hmm.
01:22:26
Speaker
I've thought about this. um And I'm having a really hard time not having a basic answer. And it's one that we see in the movie and it's wishing for a billion dollars.
01:22:40
Speaker
Because what are the repercussions of that? Taxes. You're going to get taxed. The SEC is going to probably seize the money. There's going to be like a RICO investigation into you and how you got it. like ah Okay, so I guess I would have to word it.
01:23:00
Speaker
I like just saying like I wish for a billion dollars with no strings attached. How's that?
01:23:11
Speaker
Yeah, the federal government is still going to come after you. I feel like the willow might do something weird with the strings part. I don't know.
01:23:23
Speaker
I don't know. Because that would solve a lot of things. Yeah. A billion. a billion Sure would. I wonder if you could phrase it as like, I wish I could afford every purchase I want to make.
01:23:39
Speaker
But like, what are the repercussions of that? Like, where's the money coming from? How is the purchase actually going through? It's out of poor people's bank accounts. Yeah. That would be fucked up if I wished for a billion and you just pulled from from the bottom 5% of people. I don't care if I'm taking money from Elon Musk. I'll take all of it.
01:23:59
Speaker
Then you should ask for, like i would say you you would ask for a billion of Elon Musk's money, or a gift of a billion dollars from Elon Musk with no strings attached. oh the gift is good.
01:24:13
Speaker
Yeah, the gift is good.
01:24:17
Speaker
But it's from him. I think I'll ask for like 100 billion. the The consequences now you have to be Elon Musk's friend. oh i feel like the consequences you have to be a bag holder in like Tesla stock and you're completely beholden to it. he You just keep showing to your house.
01:24:34
Speaker
You just keep showing up to your house unannounced. hey Hey, you see this meme that I posted? steve We could have dinner. We could have dinner together.
01:24:45
Speaker
ah Please.
01:24:48
Speaker
That's my Elon Musk. um What are you guys's wishes?
01:24:54
Speaker
m
01:25:09
Speaker
I don't know. if it's if it's not money related. going try to do a different example. Maybe like. ah
01:25:21
Speaker
Oh, know itd be sick? Like an Iron Man suit.
01:25:25
Speaker
Ooh. That would be sick. That's where mine would be. Mine would be ah all the superhuman abilities of a Viltrumite from Invincible. Just fly across space? That'd be sick.
01:25:37
Speaker
Space, super strength, super speed, yeah invincibility, basically, like... I don't even care what the downside would be. Poke a hole in it, I dare you.
01:25:50
Speaker
If we follow the Marvel logic based on what Vision said, that strength invites conflict, then you're going to bring a lot of scary aliens to Earth.
01:26:02
Speaker
That would be the consequence. Until there's one stronger. I'll be the scary alien coming to Earth. Bro turns evil.
01:26:16
Speaker
That's a good one. I like that.
Wrap-up and Preview of Next Episode
01:26:21
Speaker
Yeah, if I didn't do money, I don't know. I would have to, I would spend a lot of time making sure i was phrasing it properly iron clad like yeah yeah no holes i'd run it through a lawyer it'd be like hey just just pretend with me for a second let's say you're getting paid for this don't worry you will get be paid handsomely if we can figure this out ah All right. Well, thank you so much for listening. um Go watch Obsession if you haven't seen it.
01:26:56
Speaker
Go watch Obsession again if you have seen it because that's probably what I'm going to do. Won't be me. Nah, bro. You got homework to do for our next episode. We're to record Friday.
01:27:07
Speaker
Next episode will be the Mandalorian and Grogu. Yay. Very excited for it. ah But thank you so much for listening and we will see you guys in the next one.
01:27:18
Speaker
Bye. Bye.