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28 Years Later (2025)
66 Plays1 month ago
Fresh off of the premiere, Ricky Townsend and Travis Talaric dive into Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's long awaited sequel, 28 Years Later!
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Transcript
Daily Mileage and Podcast Development
00:00:02
Speaker
7, 6, 11, 5, 9 and 20 miles a day for 11, 17, 32 the day before. Move, move, move, move.
00:00:16
Speaker
Moving up and down again. There's no discharge in the war.
00:00:26
Speaker
can't let this dangle until we get to the episode I believe you said recording Rick we wanted to make the foundation of this podcast we're still trying to find our voice we noted in our first few episodes we called our shot before this film came out we have a lot of full frontal male nudity in our films we hit on bring her back we hit on 28 days later we missed on 28 weeks later unfortunately but we could count on Garland and Danny Boyle to bring truly the alpha dong, the alpha full frontal entity into this movie. The dong to hang all dongs.
00:01:04
Speaker
It was, um it's honestly what most of my friends are talking about. The first reaction is how they felt about the movie. And the the second thing they're saying before any details is just like, oh my God, did you see that alpha dong?
Evolution of Male Nudity in Films
00:01:15
Speaker
I think we've evolved from, oh kindergarten snickerings about big penises to celebrating the fact that we have some penis issues. in front of us on the screen because for a long time, it was only, ah this was only sport for the women.
00:01:33
Speaker
And I feel like there's finally getting an equal representation. We've been commenting on the hanging dong. And I'm just glad to say that we've capitalized and we're kind of early adopters on this and that yeah that this is truly, we're truly riding the the wave in a progressive manner.
00:01:47
Speaker
So for those of you listening, remember we called our shot beforehand. and now we are three for four on horror films with a full frontal male
'28 Years Later' Film Introduction
00:01:53
Speaker
nudity. So, well We'll have a lot more to talk about the film, but before we do, um this is the Sunday Scaries.
00:01:59
Speaker
I'm Travis Telerik. I'm Ricky Townsend. And today we are covering the new film, 28 Years Later. This is the first time we're covering a film truly right after it was released. It came out this weekend.
00:02:11
Speaker
This is Saturday we're recording this, and this episode will drop tomorrow on Sunday. We have a lot to cover, so this is going a longer episode today because i know we have a ton of thoughts we want to share on 28 Years Later.
00:02:23
Speaker
This was probably my most anticipated film of the year, and guess jumping into like what we thought, like i think it fucking... through a strike like this movie delivered.
00:02:34
Speaker
um yeah We can get a lot more into this, but I think the biggest part is there was high expectations. And I worry about that for films because we we create a movie in our heads before going to see it.
00:02:47
Speaker
that we might not ever see actually delivered upon. And and because that we're disappointed, we can leave the theater disappointed. And then we don't do the film justice when we talk about it. We start to say, oh, it was good, but it it didn't reach the hype. And it's like, it's this unnecessary negative that you don't have to bring into it. But fortunately, I don't think that happened either What's hard to do with the sequel is to make something fresh while also still staying true to the the brand of now the franchise they've created. And I think they yeah definitely delivered there.
00:03:16
Speaker
Do you think the rest of the theater felt the same way as you? The theater was going apeshit. um People reacting to the laughs. People, few jump scares, but the one or two in there, people reacting audibly. And that's great to see. Like, you don't get that watching it at home or streaming it or anything like that. And so that only added to, know, I,
00:03:37
Speaker
I'd like to think had I watched this at home on my own time, I'd still enjoy it
Theater Experience Impact
00:03:41
Speaker
just as much. But i think the truth is the theater experience definitely, definitely adds to it. I don't, I think, I think, I think this is a major film in many ways for a third installment of a horror franchise to be this transgressive, this fresh,
00:03:55
Speaker
this forward thinking and to be as salient when we're talking about the socio political places we find ourselves now as the original text is pretty incredible. um I didn't feel like it was just commenting on post Brexit or and and and I know you mentioned we'll talk about this Garland said he wasn't even thinking about that.
00:04:16
Speaker
But I don't think you have to think about a specific event to capture the sentiment of ah of a population. And if you're a good artist, you're keeping your ear close to the ground about what people are feeling and how we are building or destroying or changing as people.
00:04:33
Speaker
And the the wide landscape, but like the... what what what Boyle calls unreliability of an iPhone 15, a little little fuzziness of the margins. and like But then also it's the cutting, but it's the editing. and You have this, what I'm kind of considered just like an an omniscient perspective where they're just throwing in images, what seems like it's not infrared.
Cinematic Techniques and Creative Freedom
00:04:55
Speaker
That's not right. That's not what it is. It's like this tinted,
00:05:00
Speaker
night vision of like what zombies may or may not have been doing the night before at that same location it's like it's like maybe what our characters thinking it's it's the most horrifying obviously like i think images and you get them in real quick burst intercut through the film yeah zombies ripping up animals or potentially other people all bathed in this red light that like you said it looks like night night vision adjacent yeah And then you have montages of old classic films. I think Hamlet we saw in there. was King Henry Okay, King Henry V. Okay.
00:05:34
Speaker
um I'm just like, it's I'm so excited that Garland and Boyle don't miss a step. And they are props to them for waiting until the rights, you know, they they had the the rights of this film was in Fox Searchlight's hands.
00:05:48
Speaker
Boyle and Garland, who've done great work together, which we covered on previous podcasts, they knew that people were talking about this about 28 days later and that it it had staying power.
00:05:58
Speaker
They're interested in making a sequel. Obviously, they couldn't make 28 weeks, as you pointed out last podcast with their commitments to Sunshine. Then years go by and they keep writing drafts. they keep That was the last film they did together, too. Right.
00:06:10
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah. So even for them together, it's been two decades. Yeah. And so then you you have this situation where they've been sending drafts back and forth involving other writers. It's just not working.
00:06:23
Speaker
And in in that process, you you have to ah submit these scripts and attach stars to it to see if studios will even give you the money to make the damn thing. um and In this case, the studio that has the rights to the IP, they call all the shots. They're going to sanitize it. They're going to make it bigger and better. And like,
00:06:41
Speaker
They're going to make sure Killian Murphy is going to be in this third movie. I think they were really smart. um I think it's, I forgot their, their producer's name, Arnold or somebody, Matt Arnold, who they worked out the rights with or McDonald.
00:06:55
Speaker
You fact check me, yeah but they started to figure out, Oh, you know what? We get the rights back in early 2024. What a beautiful way to leverage your name and resume to,
00:07:06
Speaker
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland are no small
Unique Direction and Plot Twist in '28 Years Later'
00:07:09
Speaker
names. And so to use their leverage to not make something that panders to the past or is a nostalgia play or is just like reiterate what we already know, but to make something fucking weird and brash and and unlike other movies you see that are wide releases,
00:07:28
Speaker
Fucking kudos to them. And then Sony's got to be like, yeah, we'll buy it. like they They can't make notes at this point. yeah it's ah it's a it the The movie's finished. Exactly. They took back all the creative freedom.
00:07:41
Speaker
um It was Andrew McDonald. you're You're right on the other executive producer made it with them. I just, I read that he was instrumental in like figuring out that rights thing, doing it, doing it the right way and and securing funding so that they could make the movie. that I love that on the behind the scenes for how they could, again, truly make their movie um and not be beholden to the studio. So that that's incredible.
00:08:01
Speaker
um I think as part of that too, like what they did that I think is so cool is there's been a lot of zombie movies, right? how How do they give us something fresh? And there's also been a bunch of apocalyptic movies before or post apocalypse where they touched on this in one of their interviews recently we listened to. But you see like humanity has fallen.
00:08:22
Speaker
You have these like CGI cities shown with like overgrowth from like decades of neglect. And it's this very massive undertaking to say, like, look how far we've fallen off.
00:08:32
Speaker
They actually they zigged in a different direction. And that here we're we're actually you focusing on just a small rural pocket of the world, which is the UK, this island. And it's been largely abandoned while the rest of the world has moved on and is still current. Like we get instances of you know, there's the internet and iPhones and all these things.
00:08:54
Speaker
The rest of the world is going on day to day. just kind of ignoring what life is like on this one island. I think that's such a cool context of- Since you're mentioning that, can I mention the synopsis? Because you're basically leading into the synopsis.
00:09:06
Speaker
You're 100% right. we We definitely overlook that. But we can always move Remind us what this film is about for for maybe people listening who don't know. This is from IMDB, so we don't have to go on a huge tangent.
00:09:16
Speaker
A group of survivors of the rage virus live on a small island. And this is an island that's off the coast of mainland UK, right? um When one of the group leaves the island, which is the star Alfie, Alfie Williams, 12, 14 years old, leaves the island on a mission into the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected, but other survivors.
00:09:39
Speaker
I love actually the way they wrote the synopsis. Another aside is there was kind of this um media, what do you call it? Embargo. They weren't letting people preview the film release reviews so prior to coming out.
00:09:50
Speaker
So the way the synopsis was written, I think for a lot of people or at least myself, I thought Aaron Taylor Johnson was going to be the central character in this movie and again they kind of surprised us to show like obviously he's centrally involved but it's this young child actor um i think is it yeah alfie williams who just said he plays a character named spike who that is a surprise to me like watching the movie i i didn't know because they're not been um they did a really good job on keeping a tight lid on this until it came out i think that's a really cool direction where they put
00:10:22
Speaker
a lot of faith in this young child star who, who again, very much delivered in it. You know, it's a huge help that the ensemble around him is Aaron Taylor Johnson, Jody Comer and ah Ray Fiennes like that, that goes a long ways as well, but he his own he was great.
00:10:38
Speaker
And it was really cool that again, I just, I didn't know the movie was going to be about him. It was, it was a cool, fresh lens again to their world. Cause as we get introduced to, know, last time we saw,
00:10:53
Speaker
the UK, it was only, you know, a half a year after the initial outbreak. Here we are 27 and a half years later. What is it like? And we get to see it through his eyes because he is on this kind of remote, but attached by this, excuse me, attached by this like causeway to the mainland.
00:11:10
Speaker
So he has never been to the mainland, either the UK.
Symbolic and Socio-Political Themes
00:11:13
Speaker
And so we're seeing a lot of it. It's a spiritual quest. It's a spiritual quest for him. It's a lot of internal interrogation. I almost, there was a phrase I had rattling in my brain, which is like,
00:11:23
Speaker
this movie is, ah it's like aggressive meditation because there's moments of spiritual calm and like um almost abstract imagery that gets into reflections on life and death and meaning and fulfillment.
00:11:39
Speaker
But then in the the next scene, it's it's something so ah fractured and horrible and and almost fried. I kept using the word fried. The music sounds crispy and fried and like things are just kind of brain rotted into oblivion where nobody can talk to each other and nobody knows what to do or how to move forward.
00:11:59
Speaker
But then there's moments of of bliss and maybe awakening or reawakening. And I think that's where Ray Fiennes character really like is a breath of fresh air. And like, we are all lost. we we don't we have a you know, there's a through line throughout these three movies so far. And that parental figures play a huge role.
00:12:16
Speaker
You know, in the first film, you had Brandon Gleeson and his daughter being the heartbeat of that movie. And ah the second one, it revolves entirely around a disappointing father and then surrogate father and mother who come in to take the place of ah rage virus inflicted father and mother. Jeremy Renner. Exactly. And then in this one, again, the central thrust of the film is a boy disappointed in his father.
00:12:39
Speaker
And so, um you know, we return to that well again. but Heighten it a bit more because the father is almost a representation of the decay of intellectualism and, ki you know, community mores.
00:12:54
Speaker
There's something wrong with that little society they've made, whether it's because they're just, they're just war torn, or sorry, not war torn. They they have bloodlust. They, They grow up too fast. there's We don't know a lot about this little society. Garland does talk intentionally about like there's this nature of regressionism, which you see the society they live in. They're very much like hunter gatherer types. They're using bows.
00:13:21
Speaker
um it It reminds me a lot of if you've ever seen the movie The Village where i if you are still trying to watch that movie and you don't know the twist. Oh, yeah. Spoiler warning. right here.
00:13:32
Speaker
Come back 10 seconds.
00:13:35
Speaker
It's a society that seems like they're living in a past time. And then you learn near the end of the movie that they're just isolated and they're by themselves and their culture regressed to the point where the modern world is still moving on around them and kind of left them behind. So that's very similar with their little group of people that we are introducing.
00:13:55
Speaker
So can is it is it controversial then to say that as a segue to that, Travis, or as ah as a, you know, a related thought that like, And I think even supporters of Brexit and supporters of Trump and supporters of MAGA would say, yes, bring us back to the good old days.
00:14:11
Speaker
Bring us back to where we were more insulated from others and that we had these traditional beliefs. And that's, and again, you know, my political beliefs, I was projecting kind of what I have seen since 2016 into this village of like, let's protect, build the walls ah from these infected who I think Garland is painting more as like,
00:14:33
Speaker
sick, the poor, immigrants, minorities who have problems. And I don't know Ralph Fiennes is trying to cure them or study them or what, but there's a big anti-science thing going on between the doctor and the woods who's been outcast from society.
00:14:48
Speaker
I'm just trying to tie it back to what you just said of like, regressionism and I'm putting it I'm putting a label on it that maybe Garland wouldn't say it was that close but what I'm watching the film I'm watching through the lens of like how does this relate to the world I live in and that's how i related to it Yeah, I mean, i think Garland's point and one I'd agree with, but these are were his words is when you look back on the past, it's often through rose colored glasses. And so when we yearn for or try to imitate things we used to do that, there was a lot of good, but there, I think we we gloss over a lot of the bad as well. And so
00:15:26
Speaker
That's part of it. And then I think to your point with these conflicting philosophies that we're exposed to throughout not just this film, but also like 28 days later, 28 weeks later, there's always these conflicting views of do we need to, you know, mow down, maybe take a more authoritarian or militant stance towards the infected?
00:15:50
Speaker
Or Ralph Fiennes is a great, you know juxtaposition to that where I wouldn't say he's necessarily compassionate. He's more so just indifferent as he would treat like a regular survivor or civilian is how Whether we should have some negotiations with these people or ah maybe hit their nuclear sites, maybe three of them. you know Maybe just to... like the timely tie-in.
00:16:14
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's... we We just bombed Iran for anybody that's listening right now. I i think... i think Maybe this makes me sound like a coward, but I think there are intentionally pros and cons to each character, not choosing a side, but ah pros and cons to both strategies. And I love what filmmakers can do to at least paint the the different stripes of, you know, here's one community that is very much like, let's get out to the mainland UK and go hunt down and kill these infected.
Modern Filmmaking Techniques and Philosophies
00:16:46
Speaker
And then you're introduced later in the film to a character who has very different way for how he's surviving and how over the course of 28 years, he's now found his place in life amongst the infected. Yeah. um i I don't think it's you're a coward for, I think anybody that would call you a coward for saying that are the same misinformed people that call Garland a coward because he has been called a centrist. He's been called politically ambiguous when that's just not the case. I mean, you look at the body of his work, he's left leaning, he's skeptical power structures. He's deeply, deeply concerned with authoritarianism, surveillance, moral ambiguity.
00:17:23
Speaker
But he has nuanced progressive progressivism. like hes He doesn't like buy easy binaries. You know what mean? It's like nothing is purely ah good versus evil.
00:17:36
Speaker
There's context. There's perspective. There's reasons you do these things. There's there's misinformation. And so while I ah do think he's not like... yay big military he's also like we can understand why people put faith in the military to protect them from things that have really ravaged their homeland or ravaged their world 100 100 and honestly i think that's what makes good film these days and again not not again some of these 80 films we were talking about during our zombies list i i do love them but when they're called campy it's because I think for a lot of these older stories, they might play up a trope of clearly like the military is the, or this authoritarianism the,
00:18:16
Speaker
is not the right way to go about things they like to really just dial that up all the way where i think carlin actually has a great touch at showing like sometimes you do need that warrior your spirit and to to kill these things and at the same time though it could make sense to say hey do we do we need to use violence here is there ah more compassionate route or different ways of doing things and He doesn't preach. He has a lot more nuance there where it just seems more realistic. doesn't preach. It's not so heavy handed or like a clear you know his his movies they antagonist that you can't relate to. like That's why he makes good films. These are moral puzzles that are really fun to try to figure out.
00:18:58
Speaker
You know what mean? like he There's a quote he said about when people were giving shit on Civil War for making kind of a what a lot of people felt politically muted movie which I think is really meant miscasting that movie, or misrepresenting the movie, but he said, I'm not really interested in believing what, I'm not really interested in telling people what to think politically.
00:19:18
Speaker
i want to ask, why do we believe what we believe? And I think you just hit on that. Like, why do people do the things they do and what causes that and what's says to fall out? So, I think that nuance and that moral ambiguity and complexity is like at the forefront of this movie.
00:19:36
Speaker
I think it's just a really raw, weird, the the score I could go on forever. i know we need to get into categories, but yeah, I loved it. I, I think it's probably my favorite movie the year. I'm like pretty confident. want to say that.
00:19:51
Speaker
um And I do want to mention one of the reasons that is, is because I think i've I've made my point that like, it's a very, this is mundanity on screen. Like this is something that's capturing 2025, 2025, 2025 right now. Like it's not in the past it's moving us in really cool directions. And one of the reasons doing that is through the way it was filmed.
00:20:12
Speaker
um To this day, if you have only ever seen 28 Days Later on your home screen and you never saw it in theaters, you're probably like, what? People can't see shit. What is this? It has like, it's like forty p um But you know what, he used a camera of the moment of the of the user, of the of the individual, of the consumer.
00:20:32
Speaker
um It captured urgency. It kept it was nimble. And so in the same way, he's now using a camera of the moment, a camera of the consumer, and using the iPhone 15. It's still better than my iPhone 12.
00:20:45
Speaker
But ah nonetheless, it's it's an iPhone. Now, um they were kind of lucky in the fact that Apple has a relationship with Sony, the camera developer, which is also the studio, to make Apple-supported rigs.
00:20:58
Speaker
So a lot of these behind-the-scenes footage shots you'll see of, like, yeah, you'll see an iPhone, but on it is a $10,000 lens that is like capturing what we think. iPhone is the is that the machine, it's the brain, but there's a lot of rigs on these things.
00:21:13
Speaker
And so to use something that is so accessible, ah it's... It kind of mirrors the the the desire to use a DV camcorder aesthetic for 28 days later. well except he wanted to be kind of have this gorilla film style of being able to be mobile and be light and and not have to have this huge production set with these giant more common, but also kind more antiquated, like these huge pieces of equipment.
00:21:38
Speaker
Had some small DSLRs, but it was mainly iPhone 15 Pro. You can do 4K 60 frames per second. um what Boyle calls, he used these multi camera, multi iPhone rigs where he'll have like 20 iPhones in a slight semi circle to make what he calls a poor man's bullet time, which I love that he used that in the interview.
00:21:58
Speaker
Cause that's what it does. It's it captures like, they're all mounted on aluminum rigs and an action will take place. Maybe it's an infected had taken an arrow to the the forehead and all those cameras will capture at the same time and allows it to capture 180 perspective.
00:22:15
Speaker
And then the editor is going fun with it. They can pan around, they can go left to right, they can spread out, you know what i mean? Like, they it gives them a lot of like wiggle room to make it's almost and I'll pause for a second. I want to get your reaction to this, but I almost felt like it was a video game, like a cut scenes, like when you shoot somebody in a video game, and it's like, it's showing you a different perspective of what happened.
00:22:36
Speaker
it It looks beautiful. So, you know, one thing I think I could say I like better than the original 28 Days Later is now with the larger budget and, you know, advances in technology, this film looks incredible. So it's it's both the cinematography. It's also the visual editing.
00:22:53
Speaker
you You're going to see some arrow shots going through zombies that... every one of them felt so satisfying because like you said, the angles panning mid shot where it feels, you know, that matrix esque vibe.
00:23:05
Speaker
And then, and then seeing that come out like it really beautiful on the production side there for how they shot it. Also the visual effects moving us through just a few other production notes. i I want to hear from you, but one I really want to talk about, cause we're mentioning how it looks.
00:23:21
Speaker
The first two films were filmed in, London, essentially, right? I guess the first film gets out of London a bit. This one is entirely rural UK, where I think they did the filming in northeast England. It's supposed to kind of represent the Scottish Highlands.
00:23:36
Speaker
It is beautiful. it's amazing. You get a lot of wide-angle shots as well, but now we've moved from the city to you are seeing what life is like in these relatively untouched by humanity parts of the northern UK.
00:23:51
Speaker
And I think... it was such a fun setting for a zombie movie getting into the woods seeing the coastline but it also like it it's just like there's multiple times in the film there's a wide angle shot they hold for a little bit where you you really just admire it and you're like that's that's beautiful yeah so like i think what a great we're talking about zigs and zags what a great zag from the claustrophobic boxier, kind of like muddled and messy and and cluttered frames. And obviously there'd be open spaces in London when it was cleared out, but it was a very claustrophobic frame.
00:24:26
Speaker
Here, yes, you're still up in people's faces a lot, but he gives us vistas, vast vistas of the Scottish Highlands. um you yeah Having that wide field of view almost makes you feel like a zombie could come from any direction too. Like where's what's gonna happen?
00:24:43
Speaker
uh so just thought that that visual style was interesting and really helped um yeah and i i thought was gorgeous like you said i mean there are shots too with like hillsides where you'll see zombies come over it and it's so much it has such a bigger payoff when is that wide angle shot from from far away and you slowly see these you know figures emerge over the horizon and so really cool. Especially for horror, right? It doesn't work and be a lot of times focused on those tighter shots or, you know, the the effects and stuff. And so to take a step back,
00:25:17
Speaker
You know, it's reminiscent of Prometheus, which I think is one of my favorite. You know Ridley Scott knows how to do wide angle shots to take in landscapes and make them look beautiful. and And here we saw a lot of the same. So where it's one of the first films since then, which I just fell in love with how it was. do want to ask you, because we're talking about the Scottish Highlands and this land.
00:25:39
Speaker
um What did... Boyle, i didn't listen to this part of the interview. What did Boyle and Garland say about Brexit? Because there is a lot of folks who make the tie, the connection of like, oh, this is this has got to be a commentary on Brexit and and people leaving Brexit the leaving the conflict uh what i say leaving the larger community to secure themselves separate themselves and
Independent Storytelling and Soundtrack
00:26:08
Speaker
try to insulate and and be on their own i mean they made two two points they first entirely brushed it off and they're like you know we can see how there's some themes there and maybe that relates to our a greater theme but that that led a
00:26:22
Speaker
to their second point where they said, we want to stay true to the franchise in the first film. And so that feeling of again, regressionism or that feeling of, this is really a UK movie, right? These are UK filmmakers.
00:26:37
Speaker
um It is based there. This is the only place that the infection is happening is they kind of retcon 28 weeks later a bit to say Europe has fought back the infection. So the UK is the only place where it is still- Why is that a retcon? Because couldn't couldn't it be the fact that like 28 weeks after the initial outbreak- with with America going into the UK and helping things.
00:27:03
Speaker
Can't, can we just say that like they did fight back? Do you remember at the end of 28 weeks later, the last shot is of the helicopter, which has appeared to crash with zombies running all around it. And it pans out and you realize it's right in front of the Eiffel tower in France.
00:27:19
Speaker
So that is where it's trying to show like the zombies have overrun Europe, which is why, you know, again, 28 weeks later, not made by Boyle and Garland, although they were in keys, but they they decided where they wanted to take the franchise, which I think is. Is that a retcon? Is that just like, hey, maybe maybe they fucked around at Neifel Tower in Paris for a bit, but they fought back.
00:27:41
Speaker
Yeah, I guess it's not a full retcon, but essentially they're saying what we left you with at the end of 28 weeks It's not what you thought. All of 18 years ago. Yeah, because 99.9% of the world. supposed to be a UK-based film again. Yes. So your point on Brexit. okay, I see. UK is in very different circumstances than the rest of the world. The rest of the world, again, has moved on.
00:28:02
Speaker
It's kind of just quarantining. this island so they they were more interested in making a british film ipso facto if it's about a british island that is secluded from the rest of the world naturally they can understand why people would make those brexit yes connections 100 and that could again be just garland trying not to be political and maybe he's always trying to be political but also not and really i wouldn't get to have his pr agent maybe like few few other production items before we move on to categories um Okay, importantly, which we haven't mentioned yet in this episode, although I think we covered in the last one, they have shot back-to-back already the sequel film for this, and it is intended to be part of a trilogy where I think already seeing the early success of this film, we're very likely to get that third film as well.
00:28:50
Speaker
Well, we hope. We hope. We hope, Trav. I mean, we could talk about box office, but it's it's not it's not it's not gangbusters right now. it's It's not going to for sure make its money back, so we can... We can discuss that. It was a much larger budget. we're We're only a few days in, but I think the trajectory looks promising. we'll We'll have to do a look back episode maybe on one of our future pods to confirm, but at least we already know that the second film is in post-production. They have filmed it already.
00:29:17
Speaker
They filmed them back to back at the same time. And so we are at least getting a second film, which is actually going to be released 28 weeks from now in January. I don't know if that was intentional, but it's coming out in January, 2026.
00:29:30
Speaker
And so this was made this time as part of a larger, hopefully trilogy. um i think we'll definitely get into that when we get to the spoiler part of this episode for, i think the most polarizing part of the film is probably how it plays into the trilogy and the ending of this first film as part of that trilogy.
00:29:49
Speaker
But I do want to note that from the top that, again, this is going to be part of a larger body of work. And then the last thing I want to call out, if you have other notes hit as well, but um the music for this one, they went with a band to do the entire score. This is different than the first film.
00:30:04
Speaker
And they got this band called Young Fathers. I was not familiar with them, but the music slaps in this. And you do get a variety of different punk, hip hop. The movie starts with like really inspirational music where it's a very morbid Again, classic, like 28 days later, 28 weeks later opening with people getting mauled by infected.
00:30:26
Speaker
And the the music is so cool because's in juxtaposition to that. And i think that's the first taste of it. But the whole film, I think Young Fathers did an incredible job on the soundtrack here. Yeah. I mean,
00:30:37
Speaker
they Talk about like the, one of the, one of the most enduring things about the first film was the soundtrack, whether it's John Murphy's role or Godspeed, you black emperors riffs that they they put out there.
00:30:53
Speaker
And they so could easily gone back to that well and just been like, remember, remember this. And they do towards the end a little bit. They, they have They have that refrain. but like But aside from that, it's, again, this is where I get back to this like immediacy, this like violent urgency, this like modernity, this now, this like real... I mean, I'm always... if Alex Garland's involved in a project who's, I think I've said this before, but like he's probably my favorite actively working filmmaker right now. And I'm just, I will watch anything he writes or directs.
00:31:24
Speaker
And typically for his directed works, his soundtracks are always so compelling. It's always like these... punk, hip hop, um deep cuts, and sometimes, you know, even like alternative country in terms of using Sturgill Simpson in Civil War, like, he's not afraid to stretch our sensibilities and like what we might not traditionally think might work for a zombie film.
00:31:48
Speaker
It makes it work. it scratches up against your membranes. It's it's weird. It's like unsettling. And then we have like some death metal at the end, which i know going to talk about that coda at some point. But ah I love the soundtrack. and i again, with like many elements of this film, it's only going to age super well. Mm-hmm.
00:32:08
Speaker
Yeah, I completely agree. I think it going back to a point I think but I really liked it. It's very hard to make a sequel that has its own identity, but still pays the fan service to stay true to the vision of, you know, the franchise overall.
00:32:21
Speaker
And that's where I think they expertly walk the line again with having a taste of the original score, but then also for, you know, 95% of, of in this case, I think the fan service no is not doing traditional fan service.
00:32:35
Speaker
The fan services, people who truly like this, the original movie, it's because it was ahead of its time and it was in your face and it was, it did its own thing it was kind of a pioneer and this is a really exciting film and i it's almost it's almost like we don't even know how to talk about it yet because we have to see how it settles and it's fresh it's fresh but doesn't that make it cool and exciting that like we we can't even wrap our arms around it like those are my favorite movies the ones that i have to re-watch like sometimes i feel honestly trav and i don't know we haven't talked a lot about our our re-watch um habits i know it's harder for you with with kids but like
00:33:12
Speaker
I almost feel like when I see a movie once, it didn't even really happen. It's like, okay, i know that like I know I saw the movie and I'll remember a few things from it. And obviously maybe doing a podcast will help solidify in some of that and I won't feel that way.
00:33:26
Speaker
But until I see a movie twice, i don't i don't feel like i really can. I wrap my arms around it. And especially a movie like this that's speaking a different language, that is speaking a You know, Oppenheimer, I think, is one of the movies that is was kind of on the forefront of this new form, but it still had a lot of mainstream sensibilities. What I mean by that is, like, it was cut.
00:33:49
Speaker
It has this rhythm like a music video. It's, like, constantly moving. it's it's And I don't know if that's that helps the appetite of people who are always on their phones or, like, we're just used to taking information quicker. But Oppenheimer, to me, was a sign of the times moving towards, like,
00:34:02
Speaker
maybe not as slow cinema. Like you can still grapple with like dramatic, ah heavy things, but in a a propulsive way. And I felt the same way here, only more so. And this is not going to be getting the best picture ah by any means.
00:34:17
Speaker
Do I think it should? I think it should be nominated. Will it? No, because the i Academy is a bunch of hacks. ah But like, i just, it felt like we were, we were eating some new food that we're not even sure if we have the taste for yet. But like,
00:34:31
Speaker
ah you keep thinking about it now i i am still thinking about it and you know i guess we're only 24 hours removed from viewing it but it's tough get what i saw i know we haven't done a sinners pod yet we started podcast after it came out but when i saw sinners i thought that was going to be my favorite horror film of the year and now you're torn has been completely shaken give it a few days so a you did oh damn good Okay, that is all I had for production notes.
00:34:59
Speaker
Do you have anything else before we move to our categories? i had I had one more question about your viewing experience. Yeah. Did you eat anything? And are you and Max, like, will you whisper to him, like, hey, that kill scene was cool? Or like, hey, that Alpha's dick is fucking huge, man. Like, did you guys have... There there was a few whispers.
00:35:18
Speaker
ah Definitely the dong was unavoidable. You had to face the kids.
Personal Theater Experiences and Sequel Speculation
00:35:23
Speaker
you know yeah it's weird if you don't it's weird if you don't mention it like yeah exactly um and there's few audible gas and scares and stuff you know i wasn't too big like usually my popcorn consumption habits and snack consumption habits is very heavy for previews and then usually by the time the film starts i'm done eating and that that's kind of what happened here i don't know you're you're a more experienced moviegoer is that Same for you, or are you just kind of chowing down?
00:35:50
Speaker
i have an I have a neutral center, and then I veer off, depending how I'm feeling. But my my my center is medium popcorn and a Coke. Medium popcorn, I feel so at home if I get seat J7, or sorry, j fourteen in this case, in the Dolby Cinema at AMC North Park, by myself, at least the two seats next to me are empty, which is ideal.
00:36:13
Speaker
Medium popcorn, large Coke, If I want to get crazy, I get some sour patch. If want to get real crazy, I'll throw some, um, raisin nets into the popcorn. That's only if I'm feeling super silly.
00:36:24
Speaker
And then, and do you, you recline your seat fully? Yes. I have a bad back. I have a herniated disc, my, uh, L four. So typically when I'm sitting in normal seats, I have, this is like totally old guy speaking now, but like I have to, I'm not supposed to sit anywhere for more than an hour at a time.
00:36:42
Speaker
Uh-oh, this pod has to killing you right now then. We're at an hour and a half. Promises kept, promises delivered, Travis. like I promised that I would get on this pod at this time and we would finish it. but So typically I have to get up, go to the aisle, and watch the film for 15 minutes, and then go back.
00:36:59
Speaker
When I have the full recline at AMC Dolby, I don't have to do that because my vertebrae are supported enough that I'm like almost horizontal. So i was i was sitting pretty, ah laying down pretty, did not get the popcorn and Coke,
00:37:14
Speaker
did have a through my rewards program on AMC, the AMC app, I had a Q4 investors free dip and dots. So I cashed that in. I was not at this investors meeting. I don't know what and didn't know I was an investor for AMC. i i think I have one share from that whole GameStop situation.
00:37:30
Speaker
But that's a great did have cookies and cream. Dippin dots was my was my choice. Ice cream of the future. Like they've been saying this for like, or three decades now, like the The future never arrived, man. It was a novel concept. but now But now it's like this nostalgic thing of the past that I love. It's like back to the future. it's The it' the that oh my ice cream is is like we're going back to the future. You know what I mean? like when i were My girls love Dippin' Dots too. So even this next generation is... Don't let it die. That is like the peak peak ice cream experience. If Dippin' Dots ever were to go under, i would try to find a way to be like Matthew McConaughey and like go back in time kind of and find the...
00:38:07
Speaker
You know an Interstellar where he's crying? as I'd be like him crying as the CEO of Dib and Don't just like, the future never came. And they're like closing up all their boxes. And I'd be like, no, you fucking idiot, man. We loved it. It just wasn't like as cool as you thought, but it's so good.
00:38:21
Speaker
Pushing the books off the bookshelf. try to Please don't take away the cookies and cream. Awesome. All right. Highlights. Are we ready?
00:38:31
Speaker
Yes. but I feel good. ah do you do Do you feel like, is there anything that we have not covered before? that we need to cover. Well, there there's definitely more I want to cover, but I think this is definitely a section of the pod now where this will be spoiler heavy. We might've had a few slip through the cracks. I think we're pretty good though. But now if you haven't seen the film yet, like go see the movie, everybody can come back and listen to this podcast at this moment.
00:38:56
Speaker
yeah um Also a quick production. No, we didn't mention it, but, uh, the of this trilogy Travis was talking about, the second movie will be directed by DaCosta, who is known for Candyman and the Marvels.
00:39:09
Speaker
But Alex Garland will still be penning all three scripts, and Boyle comes back to direct the third. um And then I guess this is in line with the spoiler territory, because... Boyle said this in an interview and um some people could consider this a spoiler, but he did mention that Killian Murphy will come back in a quote major way at some point in the future. So yeah I noticed he was, and I don' know if you stayed for the credits, Trav. He was an EP in this film.
00:39:34
Speaker
um yeah Interesting. but ah But yeah, as we move into spoiler territory, I thought I would just mention that. That got me excited. I wasn't like, oh, I wish you didn't tell me. Cause I'm like, you, Kind of be silly not to evolve them somehow.
00:39:45
Speaker
So I I will kind of circle back on that in just a minute because want to talk about highlights. These are best parts of the film for us. Best set pieces, best scenes and you know I'll do these chronologically as they appear in the film, but when we get to how the film ends, which is one of the scenes I want to talk about, I think we can actually talk about that a bit more. But starting chronologically, these films, I think, have set the standard.
00:40:11
Speaker
In fact, credit to 28 Weeks Later, because it did it better than 28 Days Later, for an opening sequence, a memorable opening sequence, and you get that again in this film with something that will forever change how I view the Teletubbies...
00:40:27
Speaker
Because you have a lot of kids gathered in a room and you quickly realize that apparently the infected have essentially arrived at this building. And this is the initial outbreak, the onset of the infection. So we haven't done 28 years later yet.
00:40:42
Speaker
The parents have kind of gathered their kids in a room to, you know, have them focus on, I guess, something uplifting. If you can call Teletubbies that or distract them.
00:40:53
Speaker
but that is only short lived before the infected break into this room as well. And this thing starts off again, just like pedal to the metal. You don't actually see these kids get ripped apart, but you can, um you know what's happening. But you see blood and body parts flying and you see their parents get ripped apart.
00:41:11
Speaker
right from the gate goes you follow we're getting long this is this is like anakin at the jedi temple with that little oh my god going hand like it was and this is like within seconds of the film starting so it is right from the get-go you see one boy kind of scape and as he's navigating his way out of there amongst infected attacking children attacking the parents he he goes to be I don't know if it is his father or if he's using father colloquially for a priest, but he runs to the local church who finds a priest who's essentially accepted his fate thinks this is God's will and lets the zombies are infected again just swarm him and tear him to pieces as well so ah lights out opening my eyes.
00:41:53
Speaker
it would be a nomination spoiler but i'm gonna that i'm that is probably that's not the top of list for like best death for me the the priest i had that on my best priest well just his religious fanaticism and just thinking this is a good thing and like being like my children and just welcoming all this this horde of zombies just as take him Now, I was a little thrown off in the movie. I thought this was 28 years later, and we were seeing just how far we've gone with, like, okay, we built into these middle mini cults.
00:42:24
Speaker
Once I realized, no, that's not the case, this was short like very shortly after, right, the the outbreak. he Did he just think it think it yeah, the initial onset. So he he probably just thought it was, like, the signs of the seven trumpets or, like, the revelations was happening, maybe.
00:42:37
Speaker
But yeah either way, i think it was just, like, so... It was just... It was bizarre. It was... it was In your face. yeah that yeah People go to this to see a zombie film and Boyle and Garland were like, you want zombies? We will give you... Good for Boyle to finally come around on that. He was kind of a little punk about like not calling these zombie films and like they're infected and like I'm not a horror filmmaker.
00:43:01
Speaker
He seems to have with old age... like come to peace with being like, dude, you made a horror film. It's a really fucking good zombie movie. but Make another one. And he did. i think the fans of the media have just been persistent enough where he just got tired of trying to that, swap that down, deny it. And so he's like, yeah, yeah, there's zombies. Sure.
00:43:19
Speaker
He's like, yeah, now one's going to have a huge dick too. That's a great, and so that leads to not, you know, swing and dong is a big part of that, but my next best scene is now you have Spike and his father.
00:43:33
Speaker
What is Aaron Taylor Johnson's character's name? I'm trying to remember. I don't remember. um Can I talk about this scene? and While you look that up? Yeah, well, do you know? I know what you i know exactly what you're talking about.
00:43:45
Speaker
It's my favorite scene of the movie. At least I think it is. This is when um he takes his son, played by Alfie Williams. And what's this character's name? Aaron Taylor Johnson.
00:43:56
Speaker
Oh, it's Jamie. um Alfie is, you know, gets his first kill on a slow zombie. ah Not sure why they didn't just go back at that point, but they they stick around for a bit. They overstay their welcome.
00:44:09
Speaker
The causeway has a high tide. They can't go back. They got to spend the night. we get to a point where they're being chased by tracked down by an alpha who is a huge ass zombie with a huge swing and dong. And he is just menacing. It takes 12 arrows to get these guys down. There's actually two of them, which I didn't really understand until after the film.
00:44:27
Speaker
there is more than one the first one they dispatch of earlier in the film and okay the second one lasts for well one of them um is is not about to just let them walk casually across this this causeway now the causeway the they're trying to get back early so they can't wait until the tides completely causeway again i'm assuming you've seen the movie if you're listening to this but that is just so you know that's a real island as well that's a real causeway real island but it's this it looks like you know at least half mile stretch where it' the so it's the it's the image it's the image i keep returning to and track across it to the to the smaller island off the coast of the uk where this right settlement has kind of cropped up the image of jamie or aaron and alfie uh now very smart visual choice to make it so that it's not only more dread and danger that like
00:45:21
Speaker
oh, the tide is still there, meaning they're going to be in shin-deep water, so run slower. But also, if you have one of these traditional boil-wide shots from a drone, and it's it's nighttime with this beautiful northern light sky-looking deal, I don't know what you call that. It's like the Aurora Borealis. Sure, yeah.
00:45:39
Speaker
whatever they're trying to mimic it, I don't even care what it was. It just visually was really stunning. you have that as a backdrop. And then you have the causeway as like our visual eye line of like, what were were the actions taking place? And it's it's typical, it's like, it's like one-on-one storytelling, and point People trying to get from point A to point B, left to right.
00:45:59
Speaker
And you know, as the viewer, that you just need these people to get away from that thing. And the cue to see what's happening is the little white ruffles of the of the foam of the water. Even if you're a wide shot, you can see the man and his son running and a big-ass...
00:46:15
Speaker
blip with a bigger uh splashes of water that's gaining on them closing in on and i can't remember the music i was playing um but i i can't wait to revisit it when i watch the movie but i just remember thinking like i'm levitating right now i'm i'm watching this like ethereal really weird strange but tense moment and i don't know what's going to happen and it was beautiful i loved it yeah i That was such a cool shot of him slowly gaining and you know they'd have these relentless like shots of them running but then keep going to that you know overhead super wide angle shot to see the entire causeway and you could track their progress to like how close to back to safety are they how far away is this alpha is he gaining on them. um
00:47:00
Speaker
Really good spatial storytelling, like really, really good, like visually you knew where everything was. Yes. And jumping around in categories, kind of like you said as well, I had only two scenes for what we call our watch through the gaps in your finger scene. This is, these are these highten high tension, high stress environments.
00:47:18
Speaker
this was one and I think probably the easy favorite for it the only other one was that very first scene we just talked about and that was only because you're seeing kids get kids get slaughtered what do you want to since since jumped to that category quickly and since we're talking about scenes what what was the other no let I was saying like ah let's finish the highlights ah yeah finish okay so we have the opening sequence we have that causeway chase um the others i have so probably we should probably just cap it at like four because there's ah this is a movie this is a great great movie this is not the movie where we're trying to struggle with like highlight scenes i i have three more that i feel like i can't drop one of them but this one probably isn't the favorite but we have to shout it out is the middle of the film
00:48:01
Speaker
We're introduced to a character named Eric, who I think is low-key, like doing a lot with a little here. It's this actor, Edwin Reidling, who is Swedish, and his entry into the film, where he runs into them at the Shell gas station. Also, quick shout-out, I think every movie in the franchise we've mentioned, they have some distinct product placement.
00:48:21
Speaker
The first film was a... a can of pepsi killian murphy chugs the second film you see them escaping past mcdonald's here we have a shell gas station where the s has fallen off so it just says i'm not sure shell and work that one has' done a few times as ah as people get annihilated from what is that butane or something that yeah exactly so that's where eric runs into them and there's all this lingering gas in the air and he fires bullets and he yells at them to duck because they're being pursued by zombies and so they do and when he fires bullets into the gas it sparks a fire and instantly incinerates all the all the zombies there and i thought that was great but more than that i just love the middle of them because right after that we get eric who is injected my audience with with comic relief like yeah for about 15 minutes not just comic relief but yeah keep going
00:49:10
Speaker
I think he did a lot with a little so that was probably the signature scene the Shell gas station, but the next 15 to 20 minutes of the film he's in I actually loved because I brought this up before but horror movies are all about pacing.
00:49:22
Speaker
And this is a great respite in the in the middle of the film where you catch your breath and you you get a few laughs in for diving right back into it. Oh yeah. ah at one point he's carrying, Alfie's sick mother, Jodie Comer.
00:49:37
Speaker
And then like, they take a break and then he, they talk about her illness and it's a bit more complicated. And then they just, she starts walking and he's like, well, she can walk or something like that. Like that was funny. yes Um, I, I really, even though this was kind of played for laughs, I really liked, uh, it did again, make me feel that, that post COVID kind of isolationist world where,
00:50:00
Speaker
these are two people that cannot understand each other. One has a smartphone. One doesn't. One has a semi-automatic rifle. The other has a bow and arrow. The other lives in normal society. Talking about delivery trucks and Amazon, the other FedEx. And his only fans girlfriend, which was, it's a great, great. Oh my gosh. That was hilarious. A girl with, you know,
00:50:18
Speaker
like Hey, you know what? I know beauty standards are tough, everybody. This is a female-friendly pod. If you want to use that Botax, go ahead. i think Alex Garland was just merely saying that you don't have to do as much as you think. They used a duck-faced, kind of plastic-looking blonde that then the kid was like...
00:50:37
Speaker
uh what's wrong with the face i got someone else at the village back home who's like but she eats shellfish she looks like that but yeah exactly and so that that was amazing that played for a lot of laughs in the theater and that's why it's fun to see in the theater because the the audience ate that up um so so that one probably isn't a favorite for for highlight but i think one worth mentioning and then last two is our introduction to Ralph Fiennes as we find what I'm assuming is that they're calling the second film The Bone yeah Temple. And I'm assuming this is our introduction to the Bone Temple anyway because he is
00:51:12
Speaker
a doctor who has kind of taken the bones of the deceased, the bones as well as the skulls, and created these elaborate structures and kind of like his residence and that whole exposure to where he's living. And this is where the tone of the movie also significantly shifts.
00:51:28
Speaker
I love that introduction to him and his philosophy towards how he's more passive and living amongst the infected. And that's just ah a really cool set piece. He reminded me a lot of Dr. Frankenstein from day of the dead, 1985. He's and and, and maybe a bit more, he's a bit more, um, meditative and human. Dr. Frankenstein is kind of like, I think he had a heart, but he was mainly a heart for science and he was studying these zombies in a scientific way. And like, I do feel Ray, Ray finds is like, he's examining them. He knows them. Um,
00:52:04
Speaker
he's trying to do this with a pacifist penchant and it's difficult, but he's kind of got a solution with these um shots of, of what is it? Valium? Not Valium, sorry. He's got these shots of morphine, which another throwback to brain dead um where he's trying to keep our, our protagonist is trying to, yeah, he's trying to keep them at bay.
00:52:28
Speaker
So great character. immediately pops off the screen is like, you know exactly. Ralph Fiennes, like, I don't think there's a lot of other natural places for us to talk about him. He fucking has been killing it and everything he's been coming out in recently. Like, he... I am so glad they cast him in this role because, like... It's perfect. He he is funny.
00:52:46
Speaker
Like, a lot of stuff is, like, tongue-in-cheek or, like, you know, he's actually moving the plot forward, but the way he... says it and presents it it it gets you a good laugh it's just so damn likable um where he he killed it he's the i he's the iodine teletubby exactly um and then last scene i have is the ending which i call it as a highlight but i i do think in talking to my friends and saying you know red reddit and stuff to date it's probably the most polarizing portion of the film because you kind of have the natural plot coming to an end of this first film
00:53:23
Speaker
But then it seems like a a nod or direct segue to the second film, as well as a callback to that first opening sequence where he met the boy who is, again, he he sees this priest or presumably his dad give himself to the zombies. But right before he does, he gives him this cross necklace.
00:53:40
Speaker
And we're introduced to the character Jimmy, who's played by Jack O'Connell, which shout out to him. He was in Sinners and now this in the same year, which are very much my two favorite horror films of the year so far.
00:53:53
Speaker
But um the tone once again takes a, I'd say a violent left turn. Dude, people on my screen were like, what the fuck is happening right now? I went with my buddy, Rosie, my buddy, Blaine and my friend Megan.
00:54:05
Speaker
And I just heard Megan who's two seats away from me. Just keep going. What the fuck? What? What the fuck just happened? What is this? Yeah. So Spike runs into, you know, it's kind of deuce ex machina, like Spike runs into him when he thinks he's about to get torn apart by zombies chasing him because he comes to dead end, this like kind of impasse.
00:54:25
Speaker
And you meet Jimmy and his band of followers or fanatics who are kind of dressed like the Teletubbies wearing these like warm... It's another teletuby slaughter, but it's inverted. Outfits.
00:54:35
Speaker
And then suddenly, you know, you you get the young fathers playing this metal soundtrack while these guys are essentially doing kung fu. So that was young fathers too? would be to annihilate Yes, that was young fathers as well. They did the entire soundtrack how do they as they annihilate these zombies. And so, and that's what we're left with. So it's very much like, you know, come back in January to see who the heck Jimmy and his band of Mary Stalwart's are.
00:55:00
Speaker
um And it it was interesting. That is honestly, so I've given the film on Letterboxd four and a half stars. It's not because I dislike that scene, but it's the one I'm wrestling with the most for whether I like it or not. I don't know if it takes away. I don't know if it adds to the film. You're not saying that it kept you from a five. You're just saying you wanted to let people know that you like the film.
00:55:25
Speaker
Are you saying it kept the film with five? I'm saying that is the only part I'm wrestling with where I'm not sure how that will age. I think it also, it pushes a lot of chips in on what the second film will bring, which I am once again, a little nervous because, um remind me, it's Nia DaCosta. Is that the second film?
00:55:47
Speaker
DaCosta. And I have seen the Marvels and I have seen the Candyman remake and they are both good films okay past they are films they're passable like i don't necessarily dislike them but she is now going to bear a heavy burden and i think this first film put a lot of chips on like just wait till where the story goes next as opposed to having more natural conclusion um maybe in and of so i i'll i'll push back a bit on on not push back i will try to justify the scene
00:56:19
Speaker
I agree. It's polarizing. People aren't going to get it They're going to be like, what what am i watching? it's a It's becoming a lot more commonplace to do these movies that are shot back to back and movies that are split part one and part two. You have across the universe, you have wicked, ah you have the Harry Potter movies even earlier.
00:56:41
Speaker
um Lord of the Rings. Lord of the Rings. I always consider that different because they were always going to shoot it at one thing. And like Tolkien even said, it wasn't a trilogy. He was like, this is one story, but whatever. But yes, the same thought.
00:56:55
Speaker
I think it's a nice signal to the audience that, Hey, there's more to come because without that, the, the film ends a bit cleanly. Like, yes, this, this boy is still off on a soul quest, like figure himself out.
00:57:09
Speaker
i just I love this little weird coda, A, because I love a curveball like that and a mainstream wide-release film. B, it's a total shake-up. You're like, what what am I watching? And C, it it's ah it's a reminder that says, like hey, there's more.
00:57:22
Speaker
There's more here. like Don't worry. And here's a little teaser. It's almost like having a teaser. um i For me, as someone who loves exploring like different sects of religion and ways they can splinter, anytime you have post-apocalyptic...
00:57:39
Speaker
ah setting, I'm always interested in like how people believe what they believe cult of personality and like this. I don't know where it's going. I know it's weird. I know there's like some fanaticism going on and there's an upside down cross. So something's changed in those 28 years and how he sees the Lord, our savior.
00:57:53
Speaker
Maybe Jimmy's the savior now. But these little breadcrumbs that led up to the reveal of Jimmy was cool. You know, yeah you have you see his name in graffiti and inscribed. y'all No, and it's also carved in that guy's torso. If you saw closely. Yeah.
00:58:06
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Yeah, the zombie that hanging upside down with the bag collecting his blood around the head, which I'm very interested in why they were doing that. oh So that's why i don't.
00:58:17
Speaker
Yeah, I think those are all fair points. That's why it's just part of the movie i'm wrestling with more because it was so unexpected. I felt like Boyle and Garland had already wowed me enough with, hey, we're going to make this original and fresh.
00:58:31
Speaker
where i did not think there was any surprises left for the movie and this one still caught me by i think a second rewatch will tell you that or second watch tell you that also i think the follow-up 28 weeks from now will tell us to what how this how this age i hope oh man i'm excited i get nervous i do too but like i trust garland and boyle they they don't miss a lot they miss here and there like but They would not have chosen me if they didn't see something in her. And um I don't know. I feel we have Garland yeah behind the script. So you want to go to I think we've already agreed. Let's pick our winner.
00:59:06
Speaker
Well, I. So did you say your favorite was the opening sequence? Because my favorite is actually that. No, my my's mine's the causeway why's the causeway. I said I said, yeah well, let's go to this next. Let's do best death next. Because I said my my favorite death scene, I think, was the priest.
00:59:20
Speaker
was jimmy's dad there's a lot of spine tingling other deaths that i want you to talk about travis that was the only other one um that i had my list i'll keep it short for the sake of time because we're running way long um getting your spinal cord ripped out by these alphas very cool touch um My only grief is so Eric, the Swede does meet his demise by an alpha pulling him out of the train and then ripping out a spinal cord.
00:59:47
Speaker
That's that's probably up there for best death. But I'm actually with you and I've written down Jimmy's dad as well well because it's it's off screen, which means I like that. And it's cool artistic direction, but I can't give best death award.
00:59:59
Speaker
to a death that was off screen. Also, um head feel attached to the spinal I'm sorry. Anybody who's like screaming in bliss as they get ripped apart by zombies as has my vote.
01:00:10
Speaker
So it was not even a question. Jimmy's dad. Good to see it you see it Jimmy's dad. got the bang Okay, then going back to I only had one jump scare. jump scare Like Max next to me gasped.
01:00:25
Speaker
People in the theater did. I don't know he any others, but it is when Spike and his father, Jamie, are first exploring the island, and they first duck into that old farmhouse.
01:00:37
Speaker
And right when they opened the door, think it was a fox or an animal You're always getting spooked by the left turns. like the You're getting spooked by the decoys, Travis. You got spooked by Jeremy Renner walking up onto his buddy during 28 weeks later. Yeah.
01:00:51
Speaker
They do make it a jump scare. Like that was the intent of the director is to, you know, they build it with the white sound and the sudden cut. You can have that one This is not a big, we should give a shout out to that, that website that we talked about that has, uh,
01:01:04
Speaker
yeah several jumps, it clocks how many jumps, Hey, actually you vamp about go to the next category. Cause I don't think we have many jump scares as you're vamping though. that was Okay. Then go to the next one. Cause I'm going to see if this one has registered the jump scares in this new movie. So we, we talked about watching through the gaps in our fingers.
01:01:22
Speaker
Um, it's either the opening sequence or the causeway chase it. I think it's the causeway chasing again for me. That is where my heart rate was the highest. um on that category as well. And I know we touched on that.
01:01:33
Speaker
So then we'd get to the don't go in there award. So poor decisions by characters. Well, I did have another one for gaps in the fingers. Oh, okay. other than The opening sequence of the cause. Yeah.
01:01:45
Speaker
The birth scene. All right. I was like, Oh, I'm like, what is that? Like, look, I'm an ally. I, the future is female, but childbirth is still tough for me. I'm sorry. Trav you, maybe, maybe this didn't scare you. Cause you've gone through this three times, but, uh, I'm sorry. A zombie woman in a train giving birth to a baby and some up close shots. I was like, it's tough.
01:02:04
Speaker
It's tough to watch, but glad they put it in there. ah Having obviously never given birth, but having been close witness to three births now, um I will say the only thing that very much high stress scene, I think it is a bit unrealistic for the ah zombie woman to immediately revert to her feral state right after giving birth. Because I think for most women, they are overcome with both exhaustion and joy and emotion where I don't, I don't know.
01:02:33
Speaker
That was kind of a tough conversation. that was one yeah where i don't know if i would put it as nitpick but it was is a bit silly well we don't we again we don't really do nitpicks we do dull knives which are more like practical mistakes but if we just want to isolate yeah i think this is a great example of i think boyle's sentimentality getting the best of him sometimes he's much more of a humanist than alex garland is alex garland's more interested in ideas and dread and and cosmic consequences and Boyle is like he likes he likes hopeful endings honestly I mean 28 weeks later 28 days later has a more hopeful ending than a lot of people remember depending on which one you're watching but uh I think this is it didn't take anything away from me i was just kind of like ah that's Boyle being Boyle and honestly it's anything that expands the world of 28 years days weeks I'm gonna be happy with but I agree with you it was a a quasi eye roll I guess
01:03:31
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. The power of the placentia, man. The power of the placentia. I think my winner, though, for watching the gaps in your fingers is still that cosmic chase scene. I think this scene like stole stole the movie for me. Can I tell you both the highlight scene and also where can I tell you a quick a quick story about this? So, yeah you know, I was wondering myself, how did how did this baby get and we should mention the baby this is very important um like a baby gets born from the zombie woman she goes feral as you mentioned the swede then just lights her up she's dead but the baby survives jody comer is able to deliver her um and it's not as ah it's not infected
01:04:09
Speaker
um You know, and it's a symbol of hope and new beginnings and like the future and all that nice stuff. But I did find myself wondering, like, how how is it not? And you can't get too sciencey about this because it's a zombie movie. But I was like, how is it infected? Not infected.
01:04:22
Speaker
And Ray Fiennes has like a passing comment where he's like, the power of the placentia. Sorry, the where's the jump? in In the months that you and I have been like trying to develop this podcast and we're excited by the website, it has now gone defunct. So maybe we have a new pastime, Travis, that we can start clocking how many jump scares.
01:04:39
Speaker
But yeah, I don't think we need to do a huge category for that one. um But we both agree that the causeway is the highlight, right? don't have a jump scare and watch the gaps and and gaps in the fingers. no we had the, it was the animal darting. I only, I think we're two.
01:04:54
Speaker
We're all the way now to the, um, don't go in there i only had i only have two can i can i okay i bet one was the train like just don't go in there there's there's no way out yep you hear noises you don't go to close space so there's one space um the the second one was i mean i get it because he loves his mother but like just don't go don't go try to find the doctor like you should stay stay your village.
01:05:20
Speaker
I did add that one to my list, but agree with you. Or he could have gone and just leave your mother at home. Like your mother's crew. Yeah, bring him and like meet him at the causeway. Like, hey, dude, go grab the doctor, bring the doctor back. So i'm I'm with you there. So I guess I did have one more though.
01:05:34
Speaker
Again, it was a point you already made, but. you know he gets his first kill on the island with his dad and then his dad's like, hey, let's go check out. Yeah, like farmhouse. Who knows what's in there? And like, come on, that's like horror 101, like just going blindly. And I agree. Well, I think I think my default is we both pick the train. That's probably number one.
01:05:50
Speaker
Yes. Yep. I think that is it as the tightest space where you just know you do that. We're going to run into trouble. that um Cannon fodder. Yeah. i I got one really liked for this one, which there there were. I have one too. and We're first introduced to Eric's character.
01:06:05
Speaker
There's this militia group running from the zombies and escape. And they get down to this like trenched area. And they're actually doing a pretty good retreat and fallback with like one soldier turning back at a time to fire on the zombies chasing them.
01:06:17
Speaker
And then you just get a zombie falling out of the sky on some dude. And comes down right on top of him. And you're like, well, yeah, I guess that could happen. And instantly turn. And so... i i hate hate when zombies follow me i had a good plan and then just zombie hate when a zombie just falls on my head sucks that's my cannon fodder kill what uh i i don't like either of my choices i like yours better because there was narrative reasons for their death so cannon fodder should be just be dying to die like we just needed a death in this scene yeah it's usually a small character who just gets taken out abruptly
01:06:52
Speaker
I had Eric. I was just like, he was in our lives for a bit and then he was killed, but he was, but I kind of retract the inclusion of that. Cause like he was in our lives for a reason to remind us that there's world happening outside of this secluded Island.
01:07:06
Speaker
There's civilization. So yeah, I I'll go with unnamed red shirt who just got like blasted by a falling zombie carcass. um Cool. Best lines. I don't have any. I did not.
01:07:18
Speaker
I was not able to write any down in my screen. ah wrote down a bunch of other notes that I've already shared, but I couldn't remember any lines. Yeah, I got I got two. So I'll let you pick one is more serious and it is when they are out there.
01:07:32
Speaker
And it's probably the reason why they stayed on the island out there as been spikeed in Spike and Jamie. And Jamie is telling his son, the more you kill, the easier it gets.
01:07:43
Speaker
um i i like that line and because it kind of shows how he has become so numb and not even numb like embracing this lifestyle of hunting down the infected and then the uh second line is eric when he is trying to tell that story to spike and he realizes it doesn't know what amazon is doesn't know what the internet is and so he just gets to the end of it and in summary he's just like i'm saying should have been a delivery driver um so that that got a good chuckle so one one serious one funny what what i assuming you don't know any others outside of that that that jumps off the page kind of we just saw what would you pick between those two i liked i like the uh the one about it the easier it is to kill more you kill but easier gets yeah once i rewatch i'm going to try to remember what ray fine says because
01:08:31
Speaker
Having power of then that is that is the not the power of placenta and not the carnal screams from hanging dong alpha guy. But no, I, I was so I watched this one of the people I watched this with, they had a immediate family member pass away from cancer and it happened when they were way too young to die.
01:08:52
Speaker
um And I asked them after the screening um if they thought about that person. We're close enough. I can ask those. Like, did you think about that person um during Ray Fiennes is during the moment when we should again, spoiler, but Jodie Comer has a very elegant death.
01:09:10
Speaker
She is peacefully. Yeah, we're we're all. spoil She is. She is euthanized by Ray Fiennes character, in a but surrounded by loved ones. And my friend said you know what i did think a lot about her um i thought a lot about how she also um his family member and i'll just say it was his sister like she passed away with loved ones around her and i don't remember i want to try to remember what he said next time but i it's a very it was a very
01:09:40
Speaker
i don't know it was a very poignant reflection on life and death and the weirdness of it and how things aren't forever. Things change. We we love this podcast. We're having it now. It feels like the constant has happened forever. One day this pocket's going to end, you know, one day our lives are going to end. And like, i think Ray finds it.
01:09:59
Speaker
Memento Mori. you You could put that as your best quote. Yes, exactly. right ah what Remember to love. Remember that we die. Remember. Well, no. guy Well, he has to remember.
01:10:11
Speaker
Amore is love. but um morte More. Yes. More. Memento. More. Yeah. What are those? We should probably get those right. Also, while I'm fixing you on pronunciations, I do have them right.
01:10:25
Speaker
I believe it's also placenta, not placentia. So again, I've mispronounced things on a past episode that I owned up to. So if I'm wrong, I'll own up again. What ah what a girl, dad.
01:10:35
Speaker
i i can't stomach you. You can't stomach me saying placentia. Wow. yeah Well, can I tell you why I do that? I grew up in Orange County and there is a town of placentia.
01:10:46
Speaker
like nearby. Oh, you think it was named after the it's a powerful city, powerful town? Yeah, that is where the power in Southern California resides.
01:10:57
Speaker
Just across from the caseey so I'm with you on the quote for again for simplicity. The more you kill, the easier it gets. but TBD, we might come back at a later date if we ever do a rewatch and pick another one.
01:11:10
Speaker
Dull Knives. Let's remind the listeners what Dull Knives are. We have conflated a bit. where we they ied it They veered into nitpicks, which I don't think... it's it'snna be Just things we think are silly. like Sometimes it's... I know why they did in the film too, but it's... um You know, maybe it's even like character decisions or just like, oh, we really? like um But i have two.
01:11:35
Speaker
Do you want to share any of yours first? You want me to run through? So um I saw this film again. One of the people i saw it with Ryan Rosenbaum, who is I've gone camping with. He is like we're like the odd couple. Like I'm not efficient at all. I like take forever to do things.
01:11:49
Speaker
And he is like a to B knows how to like. That's why we get along so well is because like. I'm like, let's stop the smell. He forgets to smell the roses, but I stick around the roses too long. And I was like, Rose, I need some help with what my dull knives are, because I can't think of and i the train one. But he's like, oh, I've got one for you. he's like He's like, they didn't take the high ground. I was like, what do you mean? I'm like, that first camping spot they took or when he was with his mom,
01:12:15
Speaker
The whole reason that slow moving zombie could get them was like they have this whole fortress and they could have gone up and and they stay on the ground where there's like slow things. I was like, all right, I was writing that down.
01:12:26
Speaker
When he even said when Spike even said that's where we're going to sleep tonight and the camera showed like the whole, you know, Paris or parapet or whatever. i was like, OK, that's smart. They're going up there. stay on the ground level.
01:12:38
Speaker
So it was that one. And then his other one I agree with was like, I think we kind of already mentioned in passing, but after he killed his first, why did they just turn right back around? Yeah. Yeah.
01:12:49
Speaker
um Okay, I have two others I'm adding to that. I understand to move the plot forward why, but it is a bit silly when you think about how quickly, once they met Ralph Fiennes, you have a scene where, sorry, Ralph Fiennes, where they have a scene where he diagnoses his mother, Isla, or Isla,
01:13:10
Speaker
with cancer, euthanizes her, and then within what seems like a matter of minutes, gives him like a severed and clean skull. like That would be an unbearable amount of trauma to go through in just you know it matter of minutes to be like, yeah, your mom's sick. She's going to die.
01:13:27
Speaker
Killing her right now. And here's her skull. Hey, time moves quickly, man, in this new world. The the way my brain bought that was just like, they everybody's heads are upside down, no pun intended. Everybody's just in a weird space. And like I think in his he was also on some so morphine,
Character Analysis and Survival Strategies
01:13:46
Speaker
I think, right? To to handle it all. Although I would have been a little confused.
01:13:51
Speaker
Thanks. Thanks for the skull. And then um only the only other one, I can't really say a dull knife. I think you're going to hate this because this is very much playing to the crowd, but not staying true to their artistic direction.
01:14:04
Speaker
but I can't help but imagine at the very end of the film, when Spike runs to the end of a dead end, realizes he has nowhere to go with plenty of infected chasing him.
01:14:16
Speaker
And you see a figure on top of that overpass. If that would have been Killian Murphy, the crowd would have gone fucking bananas. Like that, that would have done it for me. If could have just ended right there. we're like Oh shit.
01:14:29
Speaker
Like there he is. So I know, i know Boyle has promised us. Killian Murphy is making his return. I'm sure he'll still do it in dramatic and fashionable way, but that felt like such a good opportunity to put him in there. So excited, excited, definitely to see a Jack O'Connell with the role that I'm sure we'll see more fleshed out in the next film, but can't,
01:14:49
Speaker
can't help think there's a wasted opportunity. I'm torn. i i also I'm i'm a fan as much as I am someone who wants to see like transgressive art. and so i didn't think about Killian in that moment.
01:15:03
Speaker
I did think of... Can you see the figure silhouetted before it zooms in? I don't remember. I may have or may not, but I guess the point I'm trying to make is part part of me, part of me doesn't need Killian Murphy in this, any of these three movies. And here's why this series, this series has never been about the characters. This has been about situations. It's been about systems. It's been about societal breakdown and like communities and ideologies. And so i would have been fine and understood if Boyle was like, dude, we don't killian had his moment. And then render and Rose Byrne had their moment. And now we have these people.
01:15:41
Speaker
Will I be licking my chops when I see Killian Murphy, hopefully hanging dong in the first scene um of the next movie? I'll be excited. I'll be stoked to see him. Who doesn't want to see Killian Murphy in any movie?
01:15:55
Speaker
But um I don't need him. I really don't need him. I'll be i but be happy he's there. I hope we don't have to get a whole backstory on him. I want to see him pushing the story forward. Oh, there's immediately immersed in it. Yeah.
01:16:06
Speaker
Well, that, that could be the chance, but yes, I'm, I'm with you. But, um, I think actually I like what you said the best, what Rosie proposed. They, they should have taken the high ground. That was silly. That was silly. Shout out to Rosie. Um, also it's kind of a random scene because we see his mom, I believe was his mom super efficiently kill that zombie.
01:16:23
Speaker
where I'm like, oh, that's interesting. But it's kind of a whole throwaway scene. I'm so glad you brought that up That never comes Yeah, so kind of was just an interesting scene overall that the son, Spike, makes a dumb decision.
01:16:34
Speaker
They take the lower ground. His mom secretly shows that she could be a badass and I think kills and then suffocates or bags the head of the zombie. Well, you know You just made me think of something. The two moments that she all of a sudden has these like moments of of salient or life and death.
01:16:52
Speaker
She gives life, but giving birtht like helping deliver the baby in a real tense scene in a moment where like timing mattered. And then in another moment, she takes a life. and so When i needed.
01:17:04
Speaker
It's like classic, give a mom a lot of adrenaline. She can lift up a car. I want to test that. so I was thinking about the other day driving. I was like driving by... I try all the time. I try to stage it with my kids. You can't, but you kind i can pick up her maybe don't think they're actually in peril. It doesn't work, right?
01:17:18
Speaker
It's pretty convincing. We've used ketchup as fake blood. Jesus Christ. Have you done any research on this? like No. But it's happened, right?
01:17:29
Speaker
Is this an urban legend? yeah I've heard stories. yeah i think i think okay so is it like Where's the line? because there's like I could see you picking and you work out traffic i see you pick it up maybe like a two thousand ten vw bug No, not picking up, but like just lifting it up.
01:17:44
Speaker
If I try to lift up a car, what's going to happen is I'm going to grab that front bumper and just rip the bumper off or back bumper. Like, i don't know how you lift up an entire car. Grab from the wheel. well Exactly.
01:17:55
Speaker
Maybe it's like you're jacking a car. You're on the side of it, like grabbing the steel frame and lift it. I don't know. We should, we should try this on a live pod at some point. Maybe a smart car.
01:18:07
Speaker
Dumb car. Mini Cooper. Um, maybe Maybe that's sort what I never saw. i typed in those stories I forgot to even try to clock winners and losers. I know you have some for these.
01:18:17
Speaker
i don't have, I don't have any. So this is all you. Okay, so this a new category, at my suggestion. Quick hits, just winners and losers coming out of the film. Winners.
01:18:29
Speaker
The zombie island survival strategy. This is a hell yeah for me because when I was in high school, we, again, on the heels of 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead, would all talk about what is our zombie survival strategy. And it's clearly if you go to an island, that is your best chance of survival where you could actually have a natural survival.
01:18:48
Speaker
geographic barrier between you and the zombies. So seeing that in movie, love that. Are you saying that people did not believe you? You seem like you have some vindication. I just feel like there was a lot of movies with like zombie survival where they were never. You don't feel like you were being heard. You don't feel like you your ideas. that Do you think, did you have any high school buddies who like disagreed with you or were they just like,
01:19:07
Speaker
No, I think there's unanimous can agreement that that the island strategy, occasionally we'd say like oil rig, so same idea, right? You're out in the middle of the ocean, but you have generators and stuff like oil rig as well.
01:19:22
Speaker
So glad to see that. Another winner, getting rats back in the 28 Days Later franchise. we We do see a running of the rats again, which I know we talked about our last pod episode about 28 Days Later. um Another winner, zombies being sexual.
01:19:37
Speaker
Like you can tell they they do have a bit of humanity. One has a you clearly confirmed case of having had sex. I mean, that guy is so hungry. He could just turn left and impregnate somebody. ja Giant, giant alpha dog.
01:19:49
Speaker
like The only reason I'm worried Killian Murphy won't return hanging dong again is because he has been you know shown up by by a few magnitudes. Look, there is nothing wrong with the natural human body that Killian Murphy has shown. like he's he's no he was He's doing fine. He was relatable. Yes. he was again is relatable.
01:20:11
Speaker
Power of the penis. But this alpha. so um good Good for the zombies. And then one last winner. is rebooting a decade plus old franchise because this thing had been out of sight for so long.
01:20:25
Speaker
And so it come back like this. Like, I think that's an overall winner to see it be this much of a success as we're both calling it. So I actually, now that I didn't know where to fit this in the pod, but I guess I can fit it here.
01:20:36
Speaker
ah Another, another win, I guess is, you know, I think you and I both like doing this. We try to like, we try to pinpoint maybe patterns, behavioral patterns, artistic patterns that like directors or franchises include.
Franchise Patterns and Collaborations
01:20:50
Speaker
And um I've just, I've never seen anybody write about this or talk about it, but as a Garland head, so many of his movies feature somebody burning alive. And I'm just going to mention them. Okay.
01:21:01
Speaker
So um in men, one final sequences of men, um there's an unnamed characters and spoilers, but they're lit on fire. They're crawling on the ground and they're mutating. It's gross. It's awesome. yeah Annihilation um probably are top five movie for me.
01:21:21
Speaker
if you've seen that movie, you know what the climax involves. There's doppelganger self emulating in a horrible way. It's awesome. It's bizarre. It's great. uh, sunshine. um everyone is burning a line by fire.
01:21:34
Speaker
ah that's like the most extreme civil war. It shows a person letting themselves on fire with like an American flag. um okay. I forgot. And then warfare, which he did just recently.
01:21:47
Speaker
There's, ah if I'm not mistaken, and if I am, I'll cut this out because I'm a coward, but I'm pretty sure somebody gets either fire bombed or the run around on flames. Um,
01:21:59
Speaker
28 weeks later, which he didn't direct or write, but he did EP. Jeremy Renner meets his demise by getting lit on fire. And in... What about ah Ex Machina, though? Ex Machina? No. No deaths before that. Doesn't happen.
01:22:15
Speaker
Dread, it does happen. um i Carl Urban would say that Garland was like the unofficial director on that because he took control in post-production. But what I'm saying is he likes to see people burn alive and it happens in this movie too.
01:22:30
Speaker
All right. Give it a win. That's by emulation. Well, it's not always emulation. it's not always self. but Is emulation just fire in general? think it's just. Okay. Self emulation is if you light yourself on fire.
01:22:41
Speaker
Exactly. One of the coolest album. You're learning a few things. trying, dude. big Big placenta guy. If you make that joke one more time, I want to self emulate placentia. and to the town square ah that's where they get all their power man human sacrifices um I had few losers. ah I realized I buried the lead because I forgot I'd written this down, but yeah.
01:23:08
Speaker
Killian Murphy's full frontal scene, just getting a upshined. Oh, oh shined by yeah. it's umt Tough to compete. Loser.
01:23:19
Speaker
Loser is having my impression of the Teletubbies forever tainted. Yeah. And how about that? How about that shot of the blood being splattered on the TV screen with the Teletubbies on there? ah Oh, man. Yeah.
01:23:30
Speaker
It was... I've never been a fan the Tall Tubby, so it's it's not a huge loss for me, but now it will be hard to distinguish everything about the Tall Tubby again without this movie. um And one other loser... Again, they say the baby is not infected, but we learned that 28 weeks later, you could be a carrier without showing the symptoms. So I'm saying a loser is whoever is going to take the risk of first kissing that baby because...
01:23:56
Speaker
i would be terrified of interacting with that baby that village doesn't look like they take kindly to outsiders i'm i don't know if that baby's gonna have a great time i wish that baby much success i'm sure we'll they they have to follow where's your where do your zombie babies rank and why is brain dead number one yeah it's just brain dead brain dead and then i think it's fucking amazing but I would watch it with my Kent, and he was like, this is a mix of that old weird TV show called The Ghoulies and the the the dinosaur baby from the show Dinosaur. the dinosa
01:24:29
Speaker
that That is exactly where I was going to go. was It's the dinosaur baby from the animatronic show. And even as I'm talking about it, i like loving that movie more because... what they would probably be peter jackson but i' probably pissed off that i'm pointing this out but i loved tracking whenever it was a puppet just a head or like a small little person running you know what i mean like they would those it would be one of those three things so great And i I know we're way removed from our top zombies list, but that's why Shaun of the Dead is satire with like highbrow humor.
01:25:00
Speaker
It's a wink. It's a wink. It's like, let's, let's fucking go for it. Let's swing for the home run and make this thing. It's also self-aware. It's just not satire. It's just like, it's, yeah it's not, it's like, it's not, um, camp in the sense that it does. I think camp sometimes doesn't know it's camp, you know, until later yeah that knew what it was from the get go.
01:25:21
Speaker
was like, exactly screen queen or king last category exactly you can start us off as long as you give me a chance that's just i'm sorry i was just so sure that you agreed with me but i should never ever be sure of that especially since you didn't want to put a living dead 1968 or top 10.
01:25:38
Speaker
Um, so I'm going with, I'll give you a little journey. I almost was going to say Jodie Comer. Her acting was phenomenal. Um, I almost was going to say Alfie Williams. He just like, he did a lot of work.
01:25:52
Speaker
First movie. And he's having to go up against Ray Fiennes and Aaron Tyler Johnson, Jodie Comer, like established names. Like this is really super hard. Um, but I had to go with my heart and, uh,
01:26:03
Speaker
I had to go with what I was initially excited about in this movie and like another theme in our podcast promises kept promises delivered. Am I saying that right? Promises. Promises made promises kept.
01:26:14
Speaker
I'm going to have to go back. I'm going to to back to ah a phrase of a used say our podcast. Travis promises made promises kept. Is that right? Okay. yes And that is the, I want my, my nomination would be the bromance between Boyle and Garland. I am so happy they're working together again.
01:26:33
Speaker
um I love every movie they'd done together. Again, I haven't seen the beach, but that's kind of a unofficial one because Garland didn't write the script. He wrote the book that was adapted off of whatever. They are just both in the pocket.
01:26:47
Speaker
Their sensibilities at an all time high, They're not retreading. They are working off each other. i just they're yin and yang. It's so great. And I'm i'm just the bromance between them two is what I think won the movie and what I my nomination for Scream Double King.
01:27:05
Speaker
Yeah. And know what I had written down um Danny Boyle is so back. And I was going to give it to Boyle again, who I gave it to for 28 Days Later. But you just convinced me. It's the marriage of the two of them making this movie. Don't you think, though, and that that Alex Garland's voice is much more pronounced in this movie than in 28 Days Later?
01:27:26
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. Well, it's, you know, he has had... much more of his career yeah play out since then. he's Where Boyle's kind of on the back end of his career. And that's why this film's still very exciting to see him make another movie. That's right. Garland has had a lot of success.
01:27:43
Speaker
I guess age-wise or just like volume, you're right. car Garland's kind of still in the, depending on how many more movies he makes. Garland is one of the it directors and writers right now who has only gained more prominence where Boyle had a lot of success before 28 days. And i'm I'm so glad that he's had the chance to direct his, to, for Garland to direct his own stuff and write more because he's a better writer and a better filmmaker now. And it's what this franchise needed 22 years later that I don't think he could have offered in 2004 or five or seven, or you know?
01:28:16
Speaker
Yeah. Cool, man. Well, I'm with you. um Last notes, because this has been a long pod, but we knew it going
Horror Film Predictions and Conclusion
01:28:23
Speaker
in. We'll ah keep working on our time and going forward, but I i do think this film is deserving.
01:28:28
Speaker
um We do our annual horror award, so for 2025. I think this film will be nominated for so many of them that's probably not worth calling them all out. Other than I think we both agree this is definitely a nominee for best horror our film of 2025 because I'm with you.
01:28:44
Speaker
I think this is, you know, the best film of 2025 caliber. So easily it's up there, you know, with Sinners. I think we threw bringer back into that category as well. Has this podcast helped you twenty three five discern where it is in your 2025? Do you still need a few days?
01:29:02
Speaker
I think it is my number one. I was just waiting to put it above Sinners until we recorded this. Um, eight and I can't believe that I like a movie more Sinners so shortly after seeing Sinners, but this was... And look, I love Sinners. It is it is probably a more complete film. It's more it's more enjoyable. It's funnier.
01:29:22
Speaker
But there is something that I can't touch that I keep wanting to touch. There's like something... It's leading me somewhere. This 28 years later movie that i I want to investigate further. Whereas Sinners, I feel like is...
01:29:33
Speaker
complete i know what it is it's referring to the past a very important um moment in our past jim crow yeah south yeah but this is forward thinking and they're both important um and you know i don't have you know maybe i just don't have as much what do you think are the chances that so there's only been seven horror films ever nominated for best picture never more than one in a year.
01:29:58
Speaker
Do you think there's any world where both of these films get a nod for best picture of the series? I think 28 years is too weird. I just don't see that happening. likely, yes. i think that I think Sinners is a lock.
01:30:11
Speaker
Favorite to to get a known... God, I would love if 28 years later did it. While we're the topic of our of our annual spookies, how many... lock Are you the only one to make a lock yet?
01:30:26
Speaker
Yeah, so I locked Brigger back. It's the only other film we've done, the 25 release thus far. So yeah, if you want to if you want to lock this one. um but you But didn't you do two locks? Was it just for movie or did you do actress as well or something?
01:30:41
Speaker
i I think there's a lot more. No, I know. I want to this movie. I think for the sake of time, though. and so but No, no, no. I'm talking about, I'm asking for Bring Her Back. Did you only do one lot? yeah. I wanted Sally Hawkins as one of our nominees for Best Actress.
01:30:55
Speaker
Okay. I just want i want to keep record of this. that for Bring Her Back. I have, if you look at my 2025 horror movies ranked list, I have it up to date other than 28 years later. I haven't updated this. I'm with you. We're making our own...
01:31:09
Speaker
nominations but i too am adding yeah do we can have you know nominations to well put some fanfare let's put some pan for them or we get fanfare in the post-production because i this is my first lock of our of our short-lived podcast but i love it um i without a doubt 28 years later will be in my top five horror films of the year if not films yeah Yeah.
01:31:35
Speaker
Perfect. And then i think that's it from us. Oh, oh so follow us. We have socials now. oh um We're still working on getting, we don't Twitter, blue sky and all that. We'll figure that later. But ah Instagram, we are the Sunday scaries dot pod.
01:31:52
Speaker
You can find us there. that right? You're looking me strange. Yep. That is, that is correct. And then I was just gonna say, you can follow us on letterbox as well. I am just Travis. tilaric Rick town.
01:32:04
Speaker
And we look for us there. Join us again next week. We're doing another new release sticking in 2025, staying in the flames with Megan 2.0. And so join us next week. We'll be able to listen to that. Thanks guys for listening.
01:32:19
Speaker
Bye. Bye.