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Night 13: MIDSOMMAR (2019) – The End of the Harvest | 13 Nights of Halloween Finale
30 Plays2 months ago
🌼 The Final Night. The Final Season. The End of The 13 Nights of Halloween. 🌼 For our grand finale, we’re closing the circle with MIDSOMMAR (2019) — Ari Aster’s sunlit nightmare of grief, ritual, and rebirth. Joining Tim and Johnathan is Ricky from @thenightclubpodcast, bringing his sharp insight into folk horror, psychology, and the human cost of belonging. Together, we unpack one of the most unsettling modern horror masterpieces — where daylight burns brighter than darkness, and every flower hides a secret. ☀️💀 🔥 In this final episode, we explore: • The roots of Midsommar in ancient European ritual and myth • The film’s depiction of grief, control, and emotional manipulation • Aster’s symbolism — from fertility to sacrifice • And how Midsommar represents the perfect closing chapter for The 13 Nights of Halloween: Folk Horror Edition Thank you for joining us on this journey — from the first ritual to the last pyre. 🌾 This might be the end of 13 Nights, but the dread lives on in The Dread Broadcast. ✨ Be part of the conversation! Submit your final score here: 👉 https://tr.ee/iGtZ-DpOO6 📚 Want more horror? Check out our books on Amazon: 👉 https://a.co/d/bUtniBd 🎧 Check out our friends at Zencastr and get 30% off your first 3 months of Zencastr Pro: 👉 https://zen.ai/theaveragereviews 📖 Enjoy $5.00 off your first purchase when you use Tim Umpleby’s code “TIMOTHYREADS” at checkout: 👉 https://pangobooks.com/TIMOTHYREADS 💀 Huge thanks to Ricky from @thenightclubpodcast for helping us close out this era of horror, ritual, and community. 👁️ Don’t forget to LIKE, COMMENT your score for Midsommar, and SUBSCRIBE to follow us into the next chapter — The Dread Broadcast. #Midsommar #13NightsOfHalloween #TheFinalNight #FolkHorror #AriAster #TheNightClubPodcast #TheAverageReviews #HorrorPodcast #FlorencePugh #CultsAndRituals #PsychologicalHorror #MovieDiscussion #ScareScore #Halloween2025 #TheDreadBroadcast
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Transcript
00:00:30
Speaker
It's Halloween night, and you've made it to the final stop on our 13 nights of Halloween. Welcome back to the Average Reviews podcast, where we dig into horror from all angles. And tonight, we end things under the hot, haunting sun of Midsommar.
00:00:46
Speaker
I'm Tim. And I'm Jonathan. And yes, we know it's Halloween, not Midsommar, but trust us, there's no better way to end our folk horror journey than with flower crowns, maypoles, and emotionally devastating rituals in broad daylight.
00:01:01
Speaker
If you've been following along all October, you've already joined us for an unforgettable run through the darker woods of horror. The Witch, The Wicker Man, The Ritual, Blair Witch Project, Pumpkinhead, and more. Each one steeped in tradition, isolation, and the creeping fear that nature itself might be against you.
00:01:24
Speaker
Or at least the locals definitely are. Here at The Average, who we don't just talk scares, we score them. Every film we cover is put through our multi-category breakdown. We judge the story, the acting, the originality, the script, and more, all to give you a final score out of five stars.
00:01:43
Speaker
But we're not the only ones handing out judgments like a Harga elder with a mallet. dark but accurate, you can score the movies too using the templates on our Instagram. Pick your favorites, share your rankings, and let us know where we got it right or were we off.
00:02:00
Speaker
So light your jack-o'-lantern, toss on your favorite spooky sweater, and if you haven't already, like and subscribe, and drop your Midsommar score in the comments. Bonus points if it's written rooms.
00:02:13
Speaker
From black goats and burning effigies to ancient woods and sun-drenched sacrifices, we have come full circle. Thirteen nights, thirteen films, and one unforgettable finale. Let's head to Sweden.
00:02:27
Speaker
This is Midsommar. And tonight, for Halloween, we are joined by the one and only Ricky from the Nightclub Podcast. Ricky, awesome to have you.
00:02:39
Speaker
Hey, man. Thanks for having me. I'm glad to be here. Look, i'm just I'm just, you know, I'm here for ah a good time. Not necessarily a long time. I just want to, like, do some mushrooms, eat some food, see some cool shit, and then maybe, like, go home and break up with my girlfriend. You know? No big deal, right?
00:03:03
Speaker
Sounds like a great time. I don't want to, like, end up, you know, with my lungs falling out of my back or something, you know? And still functioning.
00:03:16
Speaker
Yeah. Somehow. Somehow. Yeah. So before we break this one down category by category, let's talk a little more about how Ari Aster and his team brought this sunlit nightmare to life. Because the behind the scenes on this one is just as fascinating as what made it to screen.
00:03:38
Speaker
Yeah, this wasn't some quick turnaround indie. Aster knew exactly what he wanted, and somehow that included building an entire Swedish commune in Hungary. That's right. The film was shot just outside Budapest.
00:03:51
Speaker
The crew built a village from the ground up, including all the buildings, shrines, maples, and ceremonial spaces. Every structure was designed according to this fictional culture's beliefs and traditions. Nothing was arbitrary.
00:04:07
Speaker
Even the murals and the tapestries? Those were hand-painted and filled real symbols and coded storytelling. Aster worked with artists to build out the entire mythology of the Harga, from birth rituals to sacrifices.
00:04:20
Speaker
And most of the film is shot in natural light, which I love. That meant long shooting days and a ton of challenges with timing, especially when you're trying to capture this dreamlike, sun-drenched dread.
00:04:35
Speaker
There's barely a night scene in the whole film. Yeah, which is kind of genius. like Most horror relies on shadows, but Midsommar throws all of that out. You see everything, and that somehow makes it worse. There's no place to hide.
00:04:49
Speaker
Florence Pugh, who plays Danny, actually shot this right before going into production for Little Women, which is wild when you think about it. She's processing grief, betrayal, existential despair, and then a week later, she's playing Amy Marche.
00:05:04
Speaker
Range, man. And fun fact, Midsommar was originally pitched as a straightforward slasher set during a Swedish festival. But after Hereditary, he was encouraged to go deeper, and it turned out into this hybrid of folk horror and emotional horror.
00:05:18
Speaker
And you can feel that shift. There's brutality here, but it's not a body count movie. It's about how these deaths happen and why. What they symbolize. And that's where it hits hardest.
00:05:31
Speaker
and apparently Aster made the whole crew watch Black Narcissus and Macbeth before filming filming to get the mood right. So, you know, light stuff. Just a casual movie about nuns losing their minds and Shakespearean tragedy. But hey, it worked.
00:05:46
Speaker
The vibe is so specific, so immersive, it pulls you in before you even know how dark it's gotten. And then it gets real dark. Like, cliff jumping, bear burning, carving dark.
00:05:59
Speaker
And yet, beautiful. That's the contradiction that makes Midsommar unforgettable. It's disturbing and it's gorgeous. A breakup movie and a cult indoctrination.
00:06:11
Speaker
A horror film where grief is the real monster, but community is the lure. So let's see how it holds up under the average microscope. Time to score it. Here we go. So, starting off talking about this story...
00:06:28
Speaker
Yeah, man. This one is, it's it's nuts how it starts off. um youve You've got Florence Pugh in the state of emergency because of her sister who's got issues, you know, and then this panic set, dealing with a boyfriend who doesn't seem like he's still interested in being with her and on the fence about it, and then tragedy striking with the loss of her family due to like a combo murder-suicide due to her sister's messed up just mind and just, you don't really get too much backstory on it, but it's just, it goes straight to this tragedy.
00:07:04
Speaker
And then going from there to dealing with her boyfriend, his fucked up friends and this out of nowhere, like, Hey, we're going to Sweden thing to work on our thesis kind of stuff, you know, to go see this festival for our friend, Pell, and then dropping your defenses to, to just kind of like like see what's going on in this commune thinking everything is going to be cool chill a good time and then it's slowly progressing to one horror after the next wondering what's coming next and seeing how everyone deals differently with these different aspects of what's going on in this community and then just like kind of seeing how it builds up and where you see these little hints of where it's leading to until we get to the very end to Yeah. love – said in the intro –
00:07:57
Speaker
and coming out of the grief at the end it's so insane yeah i love the set it in the intro that that kind of slasher characteristics exist even though they're not the bones they're not even the meat of this they're kind of the dressing maybe that's not even accurate they're there we have a cast of like six ish i didn't count um
00:08:28
Speaker
characters who come to this camp for a period of time they one by one start to go missing and while we're not seeing the slashing on camera we're still getting that body count that's drifting to a final act body dump which is ah another slasher trope and even will polter's character mentions that our final girl danny is ah doesn't like sex. He says it at the beginning. So while she's not quite the typical slasher virgin, she doesn't like sex. So that's the modern interpretation of it. But I feel like there's other reasons why she's holding out on Christian. Maybe maybe we'll get to that in character.
00:09:13
Speaker
But I like that that's there. ah i I like how this story just starts super dark and heavy and then we get to this moment like maybe there's hope here.
00:09:25
Speaker
And just the realization at the end that this is not the release we thought we were going to get. But it's still release. It's a very different type of release.
00:09:41
Speaker
There's a few different types of releases in there. Yeah, no kidding. Christian got it. Never mind. Yeah.
00:09:52
Speaker
Ricky, you have anything to add to the story? yeah Yeah, man. I feel like it's a really unique story. um And I'm going to have trouble not talking about Danny's arc, but it it is a big part of it.
00:10:11
Speaker
um But I feel like the the story is rather unique for a story about you know people going to a place that they're not used to and they're uncomfortable and then they start disappearing one at a time.
00:10:29
Speaker
four For a movie about that, it's actually got a lot going on and I feel like Aster tells you things about the characters and about the story in subtle ways.
00:10:44
Speaker
um One of them is after they first get to har to the Harga village, when they're when they drink the mushroom tea, you see the roots in her hand, like they're growing up, the grass is growing into her hand. And I feel like it's It's sort of Aster's way of telling you that, you know, since Danny's lost her, basically her whole family, she's looking for somewhere to belong, looking for somewhere to put roots down.
00:11:19
Speaker
And she doesn't have that in Christian. we We know that because Christian is emotionally inept. he He was going to break up with her.
00:11:29
Speaker
um But then he decided not to because he was he was worried about hurting her more. And I feel like that's the... If this is a morality tale, then that's definitely the biggest sin of the film. You know, that's the... so ah Point your finger, like, du it's because of this, you know?
00:11:53
Speaker
ah And its it sucks because I don't think he... I don't think he means ill intent. I don't think he means harm, but at the same time, he's definitely careless and self-absorbed, you know?
00:12:12
Speaker
And I don't know why I jumped into character right there, but yeah, I feel like the story's done. i feel like the story is interesting enough, even considering all the elements that are very familiar.
00:12:28
Speaker
Yeah, and
00:12:31
Speaker
well, let's let's go ahead. We'll give the story and we can dive into that character a little bit more because that'll be a good jumping off point for that one. So Ricky, Jonathan, you're muted.
00:12:49
Speaker
lately
00:12:52
Speaker
Check the screen.
00:12:55
Speaker
How did I get muted? I have no idea how that happened. I must have done on accident. Scores for... I'm a four. I think the story is pretty great.
00:13:07
Speaker
I do think the... ah Even though he says it wasn't influenced by the Wicker Man, there's clearly Wicker Man influence. Big time Wicker Man. Yeah. yeah so And you were you were talking earlier about...
00:13:23
Speaker
This being maybe a more realized version of that. And I was agreeing with you when you dropped out. no Yeah. So before we dropped out, I said, and sure, hate on me for this all you want. I don't exactly love the original Wicker Man movie. I don't love the remake either.
00:13:41
Speaker
Um, but I can appreciate it, but I do feel like Midsommar kind of perfects what the Wicker Man set out to do.
00:13:51
Speaker
so i think the remake... Oh, my bad. didn't mean to cut you off. no The remake is great for all kinds of different reasons. Yeah. The remake is great because it's Nicolas Cage being crazy and it's a goofy movie, but I do like one.
00:14:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:12
Speaker
But I feel like it's so on the nose. at the I think at the time it probably had to be on the nose to reach a broader audience and make more people understand it.
00:14:24
Speaker
But I do feel like like the lead character is very square. You know, he's very square. He's a man of the time. He's a conservative. He's he's all these things going to a place that is the opposite of him.
00:14:44
Speaker
And it's like a soft core porno. Right. it It just feels very on the nose to me. And so I get what you're saying, because this movie is. puts you in that uncomfortable place as for one, as a more relatable character, just someone grieving, you know, and ah
00:15:08
Speaker
I kind of lost my train of thought there, but yeah, yeah, I agree with that big time. Better than Wicker Man. i'm ah ah So I'm a four on story. I'm a five. I'm actually a five on story. hey Nice. I'm a four also. Okay.
00:15:24
Speaker
All right, so the next category, then diving into that character that we were talking about, we have some great ones in this. Our lead Danny and Florence Pugh, who suffers from i tragic loss at the beginning. And yeah to put it lightly, i Ari Aster has now put on screen some of the most...
00:15:53
Speaker
um
00:15:57
Speaker
I still don't know how to say it. They just groer brief burn in your brain self unalivings that I've ever seen. they We have hereditary where the mom saws her own head off with a wire.
00:16:13
Speaker
We have in this one the sister who connects hoses to the exhaustive car. Two cars. Two cars. Because one of them splits and goes to mom and dad's bedroom. She was at least nice enough to put that under the door. And then she tapes the other one directly to her face.
00:16:34
Speaker
So that's that's something that's burned in your brain that's hard to get oh No doubt. Esther really gets imagery.
00:16:45
Speaker
He really gets it. like Yes, he does. because in every one I haven't seen Bo is Afraid, but in every movie, he... hey The shots, I mean, it's – yeah. yeah it's like It's like he's a photographer. you know Yep.
00:17:00
Speaker
Oh, 100%. And then in Bo is Afraid, the daughter of a couple in that film drinks paint. And like you're talking about, um imagery, of course, is an Ari Aster film. It's not going to be like – beige that she drinks is this vibrant blue paint that comes out of her eye. It's very vivid. It burns in your brain.
00:17:26
Speaker
But yeah, it's those three scenes are just like, man, i they are just so tragic in every one of them. So we have Dani who's dealing with that.
00:17:38
Speaker
Her sister killed her parents and then took herself out in a horrific manner. Yeah. And she's dealing with that. She's dealing with her boyfriend, Christian, who's just... You were saying earlier, um you don't think he's necessarily a bad guy.
00:18:03
Speaker
he is trying to do the right thing. but Right. Right. Because he doesn't want to leave her in this moment, but in conversations that we've seen with his friends, he wanted to leave her before. He just is waiting for the right time, but she's so involved in this.
00:18:23
Speaker
her bipolar Was it bipolar? Yeah. Her sister is bipolar. Yeah. yeah But she ah has this bipolar sister. And so every time he feels like it's the right time to get ready to leave, something happens with his sister. Crisis, crisis, crisis. Yes. yeah And she feels guilty for bringing him into that. He is overwhelmed by it, wants to leave it. It's just not ah not working out.
00:18:46
Speaker
And they – He makes a mistake of just letting it keep going and letting it keep going. And then he digs a hole that he never would get out of. bear-shaped hole.
00:19:03
Speaker
bear-shaped hole. Even the supporting characters are... I'm spacing on the names.
00:19:14
Speaker
um Will Poulter's character is Mark. Forehead. yeah yeah Forehead. Eyebrow guy. He's great.
00:19:28
Speaker
As just kind of like the comic relief for the film. He's the funny one. ah We have Josh, who is the intellectual of the group. And if you're not sure, he like his very first lines of the movie are very ah intellectual.
00:19:47
Speaker
Yeah. Big time. maintains that character and he's a, real I actually really like his character. He's a great character. Serious researcher. He's got like real intent. He knows what he wants to do as a whole plan until he gets fucked over.
00:20:02
Speaker
Yeah, by Christian. So this is – that's the moment that like, yeah, Christian sucks, but he – Right, and this shows you that Christian doesn't just suck at being a boyfriend. He sucks at a lot of stuff. He sucks at being a friend, period. He's not necessarily a bad person.
00:20:18
Speaker
He just sucks at everything he does. yeah like He sucks at every relationship that he has, right? Or maybe maybe he's not intentionally evil.
00:20:30
Speaker
Right. Lack of awareness is just kind of a dumbass. Exactly. Lack of awareness is the best way to to put it. He just does not think about anything other than himself.
00:20:42
Speaker
No, when he goes into... i already forgot the guy's name. Sam? Josh? Josh. whichshs When he goes into Josh and is like, hey, Josh, I think I'll write my doctorate or my thesis on this community that we're staying in. and Josh is like...
00:21:01
Speaker
You knew that's what I was doing. Right. He's like, no, you're going to go to all these other places. and bla like Yeah, but this is whole part of it. You shit. Yeah, he's like, ah well, already got permission, so we can collaborate on it if you want. I was like, okay, okay. Work your own shit, you lazy fucking bastard. Yeah, get out of here. i was super pissed at that. i was like, you scumbag. That's yeah just, what an asshole move.
00:21:28
Speaker
The next step would have been, hey bro, you mind if I copy your homework, bro? Might as well. Straight up. A-shat. I want to pick it up.
00:21:38
Speaker
i still I might because my Walmart still has it. um There was a director's cut of Midsommar that is 27 minutes longer. Jesus. This is already a long film. It's already two and a half hours. I wonder what's in it though.
00:21:57
Speaker
I know, right? It's also Okay. So no oh crap okay so oh Hopefully it's not more tush pushing. That was awkward. It's probably probably some more tush pushing, probably some more grotesqueries.
00:22:13
Speaker
yeah But apparently I was reading some of the differences and ah one of the things it does is develop this relationship a little bit more, this Christian And his friends and kind of being kind of being a knob goblin with all his friends. It kind of develops that a little bit more. And so I'm definitely – this is a movie that I actually want to see the director's cut because there's so much detail in every frame of this film.
00:22:47
Speaker
That makes sense. I want to see more. Yeah, it was originally given an NC-17 rating, and then they cut it down because obviously NC-17 doesn't do well at the box office. Right. they cut it down to an R rating, which I'm like, you left quite a bit in there. I can't imagine what what else there is. i really want to see that now. I do, too. Same. I might go to Walmart because that's the only place i only place I've literally...
00:23:15
Speaker
Been able to find the director's cut I'm really interested in exploring The uh his relationship to his friends Because now that you mention it It's like every one of them except Pele Has some kind of beef with him You know Pele is just too nice And Pele's got motives. you know Yeah, also Pele knows he's... So is it seeming.
00:23:36
Speaker
Pele knows what is about to happen. Oh yeah, Pele's a little snake in the grass, I guess. yeah Nice guy artist. Can I? Do you get the feeling that he
00:23:55
Speaker
He knew nothing would happen to Dany? Oh, yeah. like It seems so unsuspecting because it's like, oh, I'm so glad that you're actually coming with us. Right. You know you know there's something underlying there in that moment and before they actually get to Sweden. And then as it plays on and how he's so sensitive with her.
00:24:14
Speaker
Yeah. like Right. mark Because at first you're just like like, not to cut you off, I'm sorry, I'm bad for that. But at first you're like, okay, this dude likes her.
00:24:25
Speaker
You know? Yes. and And maybe that's where this is going. um But you find out it goes deeper than that. Like, I do think he likes her. I mean, that's obvious.
00:24:37
Speaker
But it's a little different. He was also out to pull the biblical King David and have her boyfriend killed so he could be with her. Right. So so that...
00:24:50
Speaker
It's like, hey, my sister likes you. don't you bang her? you know what? Okay, you know what? I wonder if that was – okay, it's all falling into place now.
00:25:01
Speaker
So Pele had an originally invited the guys to go, not Danny. over And then Danny was like – surprises Christian. He's like, you know what? Yeah, I think would be good for me. I'll go with you. And all the guys are like, fuck.
00:25:16
Speaker
But – the room of it, like, does she really go to come with us? Like, dude, I – Yeah, I love it when Will Poulter's character goes, um can can i see can I talk to you outside?
00:25:27
Speaker
Can I did he show you this paragraph? Yeah, Christian. He's like – He gets his laptop, you know. yeah I like when he's like, so did you break up with her? And he just kind of puts his head down and he's like, she's coming with us.
00:25:42
Speaker
It's so funny. She's probably not going to go. she's said she might. She's probably not going to go. Yeah. then Sheldon was like, I guess I'm going. Yep. But it makes sense now that Pele invited all of them knowing they weren't going to return home. So he could still have Dany when he returned home. Oh, good point.
00:26:04
Speaker
Yeah. It's like, oh, I'm so glad you're coming. New blood into the commune, you know. Uh-huh. And they're they're all for that new blood in that commune. Makes sense. They Christian to good use.
00:26:15
Speaker
That way they don't get any more oracles. Yeah.
00:26:21
Speaker
Until it's intentionally done, as they say. Yeah, until it's planned out. That is the other slightly slasher-ish element of this, is that they give us a couple red herrings like...
00:26:37
Speaker
like You watch enough 70s and 80s slashers and it's always the misunderstood – not always. I shouldn't say always. There's a couple good twists.
00:26:49
Speaker
But it's usually like the misunderstood outcast. And in this commune, the misunderstood outcast is the Oracle who is kind of this voyeur character who watches everything but participates in nothing.
00:27:06
Speaker
Innocent, just bystander, freed from like the regular thoughts of everybody else. yeah doing his own art thing that they interpret into the oh yeah rest old wris thought ah whatever book that's that's refrigerator material there bud yeah some good finger painting so you know they own some good shit over there bro that they look at me shitty paintings that boy does and they're like yeah this is this is the bible to us now we're gonna shrink word all these ruines from darkest or from lightest to dark and we're gonna drink this tea and interpret this finger painting ready right
00:27:44
Speaker
This means we need to kill seven more virgins. Right. This finger painting is telling me I need to change my life. It definitely says we should hollow out a bear. Oh, speaking of the bear, this goes under a script category.
00:28:00
Speaker
But I like how they're like kind of walking around getting the tour of the compound. And one of the characters goes, are we not going to talk about the bear? And Pellet goes...
00:28:11
Speaker
It's a bear. And then they just move on. It's there. So it's it. It's so funny. But the characters, the character arc in this movie is.
00:28:28
Speaker
It's very subtle, but we do get Danny dealing with that tragedy that we already mentioned. right But kind of coming to her own and finding her own strength to rise above it. And it comes from unexpected places. It's not what I think any of us quite anticipate going into this film. No.
00:28:52
Speaker
and And I don't think it's at all what she anticipated going into this journey. No, because even she's horrified at first when you get the first real...
00:29:03
Speaker
impactful scene of... Impactful. Yeah. When you get that first real impact, you know, she is mortified. Yes.
00:29:14
Speaker
And... yeah Up until that point, i i put in my notes, I was like, Dani is always crying. She is always crying for like the first half of the film. She seems to be in tears. And then it's, she's in tears most of the film, honestly, which part of me is like a small part of me started to feel for Christian at some point. So I'm like, dude, she's, she's crying again.
00:29:41
Speaker
but What do you expect when she's dealing with this shit and then seeing like all this giant family as a community and then yeah all the other small mentions of family while she's still processing her shit?
00:29:52
Speaker
run sinces It's hard. Well, she's processing losing her family, everybody she had, really. so it sounds like she didn't have – It sounds like her family connection wasn't strong to begin with.
00:30:07
Speaker
And we already know her connection to Christian wasn't strong. So this girl's probably this girl and maybe I'm inferring too deeply, but this girl's been searching to belong somewhere in a sense to ah to be validated and all all this other shit.
00:30:29
Speaker
For a lot longer than the runtime of the movie. And... Yeah, man. I think that's where the majority of her character growth comes from. Because at first, she's scared of it. But... As we see later on, she...
00:30:47
Speaker
see ah She embraces it. She takes to it like a duck in water. and Once they start involving her in the processes of what they're doing, you know they're distracting her from all that stuff and making her feel something more and something different than just the grief by slowly drawing her into the community And it's so subtle.
00:31:20
Speaker
and then like everything in while she's super fucking tripping balls how she just kind of runs with it it starts to feel it even at one point where they're doing the maypole dance to to choose the major.
00:31:31
Speaker
And she, it's like, she's tripping so hard that she thinks she's speaking their language. right but Like she's speaking, like the other girl's speaking back. It's like, somehow she's like, all of a sudden she can speak the Swedish tongue. mind It can communicate. its It's crazy. I think it's all brilliantly symbolic and written. I don't know if Aster wrote it all himself, but you know, brilliantly written by Aster. Yeah.
00:31:58
Speaker
It's well, and like you mentioned, it's so subtle. They slowly bring her in. Like you don't even think about like the wake up, step outside. And one of the leaders is there and says, all right, guys, you're going to go this way. And then Danny, you're going to join the girls over there. Right. And the guys are just going to observe something. Danny is going to participate in something. That's a good point.
00:32:24
Speaker
And it's so – like you don't even think about it. You're just watching it and they're slowly bringing her in keeping the guys separate. It's brilliant. Also, when they take her in to make the meat pies, is the meat pie their friend?
00:32:40
Speaker
Well, it seems so unsuspecting and it seems normal except with Pell's sister, the redhead who is falling in love with Christian. You know, she she is clearly she selects him and they begin that whole process. Everyone else seems to have normal food.
00:32:56
Speaker
But he's got the one with the hair pie and the the menstrual drink. Who's the first character to disappear? is it? no It's the British, the British couple, right?
00:33:09
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, the guy disappears first. first gotcha And we do see... I think we he's the one whose lungs are pulled out of his body while he's still alive.
00:33:20
Speaker
Yeah, hanging out of his back while he's suspended in the chicken coop. Yeah. Hell yeah. I have no idea what that was about. That's one of those things like – I want to know more about that. is It's probably in a painting on the wall.
00:33:34
Speaker
It could be in a director's cast. There's so many tells from just the imagery from what's inside the buildings and the pictures and the tapestries. There's so many hints throughout that early part and as the story continues that kind of tell you, clue you in into what's going on and what's going to happen before it actually does.
00:33:51
Speaker
And then seeing how that affects – each of those characters and how they're involved in the different ways. It's it's's crazy, man. yeah That's a real execution method, too, that was used back in the day.
00:34:04
Speaker
Really? During medieval ah medieval times. It's a Viking thing, man. They did that to punish traitors and ah stuff like that. They would just basically...
00:34:17
Speaker
cut your lungs out of your back but they wouldn't puncture them and they would just leave them after presumably after they beat the living shit out of you and you actually died from suffocating because your diaphragm doesn't push on your lungs so wow which is which is interesting that they would just do this to this random guy because you know in the nordic culture it's like a horrible and the sacrifices of nine, as they were stating at the end, when they're talking about all of that and how you see how each of the characters, how all of like Christian and his friends are involved in these sacrifices, you know, cause Pell's friend, he brings that couple Sykes. They clearly send people out into the world scout people to bring in for the festival as these sacrifices. Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:09
Speaker
and i think i think maybe I think maybe you're right. Maybe they do eat the people because later on we see – what is his name? Mark? Isn't Mark's leg just sticking out of the ground or something? Josh's leg. Josh's leg is sticking out of the ground. But then – Gets it back later it seems though at the end when they're putting him in the the sacred triangle. Yeah. But Mark, we only see his face.
00:35:35
Speaker
Right. We don't know – I don't know what happened to Mark's body. But Mark dies after the meat pie eating scene. After the tree pissing scene. After the tree pissing. The sacred tree. The ancestral tree.
00:35:51
Speaker
The ancestral tree in the ashes of our dead. You're pissing all over. i love like what I love the guy's dialogue, dude. The little closed caption at the bottom. He's like – Get your filthy American dick away from our train. so ah the Which even that that that goes in a direction. I can't go into that. um
00:36:19
Speaker
I just had this distinct feeling that, yeah, she's putting her pubes in that meat pie when she's making it The redhead girl. Yeah, she's got the love rune under Christian's bed. Then there's the meat pie. And then you see the discoloration of the drink right when they sit at table, which is already kind of foretold in those tapestries that you see before you get to it.
00:36:39
Speaker
And those are all things that are tied to real like ritual magic and shit. So, yeah. It's well-researched. But then that is where I just got this feeling. I was like, I feel like they're eating one of their friends.
00:36:54
Speaker
one of the people who've already disappeared. I feel it could be. Especially with Mark. ah Yeah, but Mark ate those pies. That's what's confusing. Oh, wait, no, that's right. Yeah, he was at dinner. That's right. Never mind.
00:37:08
Speaker
But then, I don't know, and I could be making it up. It could just be a feeling I had watching it, but I was like, they're they're eating human. Well, they didn't seem like they were cannibalistic.
00:37:20
Speaker
But we didn't really see any like livestock either. Right.
00:37:27
Speaker
You got a point, though. But they did have the chicken coop and then other stuff like that. Oh, they did have the chicken coop. then you see the fish, the salted herring and some other stuff that's laid out on the table. wonder what the salted herring meat pie tastes like. I wonder where the salted herring comes from.
00:37:42
Speaker
Well, they try to get Danny to eat it like it's a joke for the luck thing. And she's like, ah, while she's fucking drug-locking. yeah, yeah. eat queen stylele like And she's like, oh, and the fish pops off. They're like all laughing about it. Yep. at least satfa time It's weird how like each character, like they don't really have an arc necessarily. Like Josh is aspiring researcher wants to do this thing about all these different cultures and ceremonies and stuff and wants to go off and do all this thing. And like his greed for this information, you know, gets him killed in the end, ultimately, even though he was already intended to be a sacrifice. It's like his greed for that knowledge though, just kind of led it to a faster, know, Mark and his idiocy and ignorance.
00:38:21
Speaker
lock stack up a little bit faster and awareness yeah yeah and in christian just like him just being a jag bag, like, Oh God, him being picked out by the sister. It's everyone needs, he's getting their little own. And like the, the British couple, the freak out spasm after, you know, the, the two elders, eldest people, you know, end up doing their thing for the ritual. It's crazy how each one, they not much art, but it's still kind of like a weird tinge to it. And like how there is kind of into the ending of them.
00:38:53
Speaker
But Dani overall is like, she's got the whole arc with, you know, kind of being freed from all the emotional stress and everything with the family and becoming, ultimately becoming part of the community, you know, at the end, which is is amazing. And in Pell, thereellai like he he just continues on and he's almost like, it seems like he's almost kind of like a prince of the community for bringing a new May Queen, bringing a new woman in second youre helping bring these sacrifices you know to help continue with their traditions that have been going on for centuries as you can see from all the different books in in the the one room so many all finger paintings and they're like no thousands of these books lying on the walls on both sides you know right that's man no pictures little sign little sign out front
00:39:40
Speaker
No, I agree. ah Also, i do think each of those side characters has ah arc, strangely, because they each have their kind of Achilles heel. their Their faults. Their fault.
00:40:00
Speaker
But, and I'm sure it's there. I got to watch closer again and again. But each death seems to line up with something they did.
00:40:11
Speaker
some kind of character trait that they display. And then that is how they're taken out. And I think that in itself is a little bit of an arc kind of in its unique way. Like, Oh, um, who trying to think of who a good one is.
00:40:34
Speaker
So Mark, says something earlier. He's kind of a womanizer. We get that at least in his words. Uh, cause he says early on that he'd like to give that girl a bath.
00:40:47
Speaker
hey But then the last time we see him is when she stands up from the table and kind of nods at him. Like, come with me. Let me show you. Let me show you. It doesn't really say what she's going to show him. Nope. And then the next time we see him, he's just a, it's just his face on a scarecrow.
00:41:04
Speaker
Right. So they're all related a little bit. So for me, i actually, even if the character arcs aren't exactly redemptive and positive, I gave these character arcs a five.
00:41:20
Speaker
I don't remember what I gave mine and it's not it's necessarily a great time to bring this up, but, um, It closed out on my phone and it didn't bring me back to the same page. You're a four.
00:41:37
Speaker
I'm a four.
00:41:40
Speaker
So, okay. i'm good I'm comfortable at a four. um went with a three, but I'm changing mine to a four. Okay.
00:41:49
Speaker
All right. So, on to the music and sound design for this. This...
00:41:59
Speaker
Folky, folky, folky, folky community commune music. I feel the music is, like, above average, but only because of a few key points where, like, you really hear...
00:42:18
Speaker
um that whatever that that Norse violin type instrument is. I think it might even be called a hurdy-gurdy or something stupid like that. exactly. When you hear that, dude like that thing just sounds old and ancient and beautiful.
00:42:37
Speaker
Oh, fuck this. And there's, like, like it's it's not super memorable, but... I guess it's subdued is what I'm trying to get at. It it's it feels subdued, but at times it just ramps up.
00:42:53
Speaker
oh I feel like it it it matches the pace, the scene very well, the scenes in particular. So what I think is so unique about this soundtrack is, yeah, we get like the Swedish folk music. Sounds great.
00:43:15
Speaker
And it's appropriate. But what stood out to me watching it is one of the things that makes some of these scenes so unsettling is the beautiful, like peaceful music while these men are burning alive.
00:43:35
Speaker
You know, it's not horrific shrieking violins or whatever. This is soft, serene, peaceful, like music of the valley while this guy is burning alive or while it's actually dead silent when the two elders jump off a cliff to their deaths, you know, but Some of the most horrific scenes, the intro has the kind of, not shrieking shrieking guitar, but kind of the more typical of what we expect from a horror movie.
00:44:12
Speaker
But that ending, when the fire starts, and they're all just sitting there, and it's peaceful, beautiful music. And it's so weird. It's so weird, and I think that's what leads to the discomfort.
00:44:26
Speaker
The other thing is the... sound effects themselves are... Yeah. I want to say insanely realistic.
00:44:38
Speaker
Like, we don't get the toxic Avenger crunching of the skull in this movie. Right. It's almost...
00:44:49
Speaker
It's almost a less impactful in the sound. It's soft. It's like wit. Yeah. It's like a wit-thumping thud. Yeah, instead of a watermelon crunch. you know it's not It's not quite the exaggerated sound. it almost seems more realistic.
00:45:09
Speaker
And I think that goes to make you a little bit more uncomfortable. So I think the sound design is done really well, especially multiple times when you hear one of our characters screaming in the distance or in the background. You can...
00:45:27
Speaker
um Or like when Danny comes out after blessing the crops or whatever after the May Queen Festival and she hears the sounds of Christian and that girl coming.
00:45:41
Speaker
The tush pushing. Yeah, the tush pushing. yeah you She hears that from a distance and that is done really well. or Because that chanting they're doing is very musical.
00:45:54
Speaker
it's it's weird. It's uncomfortable, man. There's a lot of there's a lot of breathy sound and in in their music notes and how they're talking with some of the stuff throughout that. So what I noticed is on multiple times, because we get that scene when she's climaxing and they're all repeating her same sound.
00:46:12
Speaker
awesome They're all repeating it in their voices. Or when Danny hears that and runs away and starts sobbing, The women surround her and start repeating that same sound in their voices. So we get this like communal sharing. Sharing pain.
00:46:32
Speaker
Yes. They're sharing each other's pain, but they're also sharing in each other's pleasure. Yeah. So they share these emotions and we see that, I think the first time we see that is when the guy jumps from the cliff and is unsuccessful.
00:46:48
Speaker
Yeah. Oh God. we' bring It is. Yeah. Cause everyone's screaming at the same time. Everyone starts screaming with them. And she, and you know, this goes back to her arc, man. This is, this is her finding exactly the community that I guess in a way she needs. Yeah.
00:47:05
Speaker
Yeah, it's so weird. They're just here for you emotionally, man. the The very beginning kind of threw me off, though, because with that kind of like old school, ah like papyrus book writing kind of stuff, like you get that weird fairy tale tinkle of music and then it cuts straight to have the yeah life urban setting. Yeah, it threw me off. It was kind of weird.
00:47:30
Speaker
That is a little jarring. It's a it's a Ari Aster thing, though. he has unique ways of telling his stories like hereditary.
00:47:45
Speaker
The mom, is it the mom or the grandma does the little dolls houses? The mom, so the mom, she does. She miniatures does miniature stuff. Yep.
00:47:56
Speaker
So like he'll zoom in on the miniature house and then the will transition. It's brilliant. So gorgeous. So good. the And I love the – man, we got to talk hereditary one day. Because just the storytelling alone that he uses with those miniatures, you know, by showing you stuff with the miniatures instead of showing you on screen is i think so brilliant, man.
00:48:22
Speaker
I don't enjoy Hereditary because it's not an enjoyable film. It's not meant to be. It's not meant to be. But I do think that film is a masterpiece. Absolutely. and um But not to talk about Hereditary. Right, right.
00:48:42
Speaker
Which is so good. But yeah, he has unique ways of telling it. We'll talk about more on direction. But when it comes to the sound design, Every, I mean, we covered a lot from the music, sound effects, to the way this community uses sound together to express emotions and pain and all that. I actually, i bumped mine up to a five. but I can't.
00:49:10
Speaker
There's no identifying theme. It's a four and a half. Four and a half. I think I came in at a four. I'm a four on the music sound design. Yeah, yeah,
00:49:22
Speaker
Okay, so then off to the next one, which I don't know. Editing and special effects. Hot damn. Which, this is insane because there's very little. Okay, I'll go to editing. My favorite editing part on this film, the fact that most of it was shot with natural lighting. Yeah.
00:49:48
Speaker
Yeah. Insane and beautiful. You can see it. You can see it. Like, there are times when Dany steps in front of the sun and her face isn't perfectly lit like someone stepping in front of the sun would be. And it adds to this realism yeah that...
00:50:08
Speaker
is part of what makes this movie off-putting the sun-drenched, like we said in the intro. There's no getting away from this. There's no hiding it in the shadows.
00:50:19
Speaker
We are bringing it all to the light, and it's intense. i love I love that part of the editing. ah Aster knows how to transition a scene in a unique way.
00:50:32
Speaker
There's that scene early on where she's talking to Pell, and Pell's like, oh, I lost my parents too. And she starts to get flustered and stands up to go to the bathroom. Overhead shot.
00:50:43
Speaker
Love overhead shots. But it follows her through a doorway, and on the other side of the doorway is the airplane bathroom. Mm-hmm. Amazing scene transition. He does that a lot.
00:50:58
Speaker
He does great stuff like that. So I'm not even sure. is there there's special effects during her little dream sequence? Yeah. and Other than that, it's mostly practical. Yeah.
00:51:12
Speaker
Right. and it mostly and and It's it's in little tricks here and there. like When she goes to that little... It almost looks like a damn outhouse when they first arrive.
00:51:28
Speaker
And you see her sister in the reflection of the mirror really fast. That kind of freaked out. yeah. There's parts where you see her sister's face superimposed on the tree line.
00:51:43
Speaker
as they're carrying her, oh once she becomes a May Queen. There's just little things like that, and I think they're and think they're used for storytelling purposes to just kind of get you in her headspace.
00:52:02
Speaker
Yeah. and Someone wants to play. Right. Yeah. I'm trying tear up my socks. Shap upper.
00:52:15
Speaker
But there's also the fucking watermelon head from the old man. Mm-hmm. That's pretty gnarly. it's It's such a good effect. Yeah, it looks gross.
00:52:27
Speaker
It looks gross. It looks so real. I appreciate the fact that... the gore isn't insane with that scene. Like they just didn't splatter red everywhere because that makes it feel more realistic. I know there's probably gore hounds out there. Who's like, Oh, you can, whatever. I'm like, no, but,
00:52:51
Speaker
I've got Twitter. I've seen people. Like it's not as bloody as we see on movies. Dude, that woman though, when she takes that first plunge onto the flat rock and her face just kind of explodes out when she hits the rock. Dude, oh my god. That was brutal.
00:53:08
Speaker
That was like, dude, the they detail in that and the bits of bone and how everything just kind of exploded out with the eye and everything. that was That was amazing. yeah That would looked really good. And it's not, and like you're saying, it's not like super spray city going on. right It's very localized to where the impact was on the rock and then off.
00:53:28
Speaker
yeah you know And then the guy and then the man, the older elder man next, and it's just the broken legs while he survived. ah a broken guy And it transitions from his face down to where you see that leg twisted back broken and the bones sticking out and everything. It's like, oh my gosh. So a couple years ago, if I had seen that, I might have passed out of that scene. like I might ah might have just done me in because broken bones to do that for me. yeah But I am at the point in my horror movie experience where I appreciate, as weird as this sounds, i appreciate the art in those gory moments because
00:54:10
Speaker
A practical effect like that, somebody made those prosthetics. Someone made that shit, dude. Yeah, and they made it look real, and that is impressive. That looks so good. Even the lungs being pulled outside of the body, that scene is beautifully done. Still inflating. Yeah. yeah Will Poulter's face being worn by the Oracle at one point.
00:54:37
Speaker
Was it the Oracle? I couldn't tell who it was because you could see both normal eyes where the Oracle kind had one kind of swollen shot. Oh, okay. It seemed like maybe the guy that he pissed off yeah was the one wearing his face. Oh, wearing his face. There you go. That makes sense. That makes sense.
00:54:53
Speaker
ah That's insane. a Even as little as it is, man, it disturbs me. Just like in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, certain deaths always like – When they twitch after they die, when... You're talking about the hammer kill.
00:55:12
Speaker
Yeah, the hammer kill. When he gets... Josh. When Josh gets bashed. Yeah, when he gets bashed on the head and then he's just laying there like... we you making little noises And the way it's shot is so good because you just see his legs, bro. Just fucking kicking.
00:55:29
Speaker
Those are always so upsetting. So upsetting. But yeah, man... Editing effects from scene transitions to the kills. Masterfully done.
00:55:41
Speaker
it's It's like, if you told me this was Aster's second movie, second real movie, he did a short before he did Hereditary. Have y'all ever seen it?
00:55:55
Speaker
Dude, i I've heard it is messed up. Mm-hmm. Not in the way you're thinking, but yeah. No, it's a son. oh do you know? do you know? Don't spoil it if you know, because Jonathan should watch it and be like blindsided because it's fucked up.
00:56:12
Speaker
Okay, yeah. I've seen a lot of Harry Aster movies. I've got a lot of catching up to do. I was told I'd like to watch a lot of the A24 stuff because like that's a lot of him. So I'm like, okay. It's on YouTube. You can find So if you told me that this was his second film ever, if you told me Hereditary was his first film, I'd be like, shut up. Right. Yeah. and No, it's not. Get out of here. No, it's not.
00:56:36
Speaker
Because this is a tour de force of every part coming together. So it is impressive. But yeah. So for me, i did a lot of misbehaving other comments.
00:56:53
Speaker
Um, God, man, there's something else I was going to talk about. I feel like we had a good back and forth on that one. Oh, dude, when you see them getting Christian ready, when you see them, one of the elders teaching the boys about how to remove the organs from the bear. Oh, yeah. And you see all that, taking all that out. They're going to put him up on the I totally thought they were going to do him the same way and gut him out. I didn't guess for a second they were going stuff him inside It blew my mind. I'm like, what? Okay. Next level of something else. Holy crap.
00:57:29
Speaker
It would fit with them. He's like teaching them to disembowel the bear and then they just plop k Christian up there and he's alright boys, show me it. Do it on him. No, instead they just send him to Valhalla with the fucking permanent bear onesie. Special effects though.
00:57:48
Speaker
After... After Danny drinks the the mixture to do the dance and stuff where she's getting all stoned up, the effects of everything in the background. All the trippiness. Even her headdress, the flower puckering in and out, you know, like it's breathing, all of that.
00:58:07
Speaker
Through most of that end of the film from once that point hits, you still see so much of that and yeah ah and in the environment. and I was like, dude, that is cool. Yeah, I forgot to mention that. All the trippiness.
00:58:20
Speaker
When they even go to sit at the table, like the turkey on the table is fluctuating. Yeah. it i It's like everything is breathing as part of nature.
00:58:30
Speaker
yeah that's in It's wild. It's wild. I was a five on this category. i So was I. yeah there's There's no flaws to be found on this one. It's impeccable.
00:58:43
Speaker
So, on to script.
00:58:47
Speaker
Script.
00:58:50
Speaker
I liked the script. I liked how they went with it, with the dialogue from the first part of everyone explaining what's going on, trying to talk about between Christian and Danny and letting go of her, you know, and what's leading up to the trip.
00:59:03
Speaker
And then... a lot of the of like the explanation of what's going on with Pele trying to tell his friends and kind of clue them in as to what's going on in like his kind of deceptive way you know and then like especially how he tries to comfort Danny with it being her birthday especially you know and you know trying to talk her into stuff Christian forgot I know dude straight up what the fuck with the sun I thought it was yesterday laughing laughing
00:59:36
Speaker
But there's a lot of interesting dialogue, especially when you see the community going through the ceremonies, you know, especially like at the opener on the big round dais and talking about what's going on with, you know, the dark one and then the dancing ritual.
00:59:50
Speaker
There's so much dialogue in there as far as script goes with explaining what's going on in the community as part of the festival. You know, I really dug that lot. Yeah. There's a lot of back and forth to like,
01:00:06
Speaker
like Kind of like what you were saying earlier with the characters doing something and then you get to them disappearing. I feel like the pacing in this is done really well.
01:00:19
Speaker
um There's always something to worry about. You know what I mean? Aside from the just the fact that, you know, we're we're in bumfuck Sweden and people are disappearing. There's always something. Here's a great place to vacation. It's Christian forgetting about her birthday. It's Christian not being there. It's it's ah fucking what's his name? Pissing on the tree.
01:00:49
Speaker
It's the girl kicking Christian on the butt to try to get her to get him to chase her. There's just always something going on. Everything feels very meticulous and important.
01:01:02
Speaker
The only thing I would maybe say would be maybe an afterthought would be the extra couple. They do feel they do feel a little bit like...
01:01:15
Speaker
less important like they were just there to add to the body count possibly which i could i could forgive that i can forgive that because i don't care but um i feel like i feel like the script i feel like just the writing and the flow of the movie is damn near perfect so I like that one line, though, when they're sitting down with the pies and Christian finds the hair and they're like, ugh.
01:01:45
Speaker
And then Mark's just like, why are you embarrassed? You're not the one giving out hair pies. i i think the movie is really well written.
01:01:56
Speaker
It borders on National Geographic at times. Like more about the culture. they're...
01:02:10
Speaker
it's not necessarily poetic. Like there's not deep insights into grief that are happening in the dialogue. It is an exploration of community and how that affects everything. And so there's no like, wow, that line really hit me.
01:02:31
Speaker
I don't feel that with this movie. Like, wow, that line was really powerful. If you, um, Like, Hereditary had that.
01:02:42
Speaker
Hereditary, but it's a much more intimate and personal story in Hereditary. But this one is just missing that little bit of, like, I don't want to say quotability, because, like, Family Guy is quotable, but it's not powerful.
01:02:59
Speaker
This is missing, like, that little bit of emotional resonance in the script. Yeah. I think it does a great job handling a lot of the topics.
01:03:11
Speaker
ah There's just a little bit of emotional element that I would like to have in there. So, I mean, like, last Halloween, the three of us were talking about House of Wax with Vincent Price, which had some poetic bangers of lies in it.
01:03:30
Speaker
And that's what, like, I'm missing just that little bit of that. Even if there was one line from... Somebody about like, well, Danny, this is where you've been to where you are now. Something like that.
01:03:43
Speaker
But Ari chooses to tell it all visually. So that's and that's OK. But for me, I'm a four on the script. Yeah, I'm feeling a four. Same. A strong four.
01:03:56
Speaker
Maybe a four and a half, but I'm not willing to commit. I'm mean being very Christian about it. You're being very Christian about it. Yeah. I can't commit to this So the acting, though, who can commit to this one is ah Florence Pugh.
01:04:12
Speaker
think she does fantastic job. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. She's great. I can't wait to see her in, well... Um, we record these out of order if you don't follow us on Facebook. Uh, I'm going to see, I'm going to see Thunderbolts tomorrow because nice she's in that one. Yeah. Teresa really wants to see it too.
01:04:34
Speaker
Yeah. I'm like, you know what? I'll watch anything she's in. She's great. It's the first Marvel movie I've seen since Deadpool and I don't really count that one. So it's the first Marvel movie I've seen since, um,
01:04:51
Speaker
Doctor Strange
01:04:56
Speaker
and the Multiverse of Madness came out. i still want to watch that one. and that one left of bad That one left a bad bad taste in my mouth. Oh, man. Yeah, so i haven't I haven't even with the Reims. Wait, did Ant-Man come out after that?
01:05:13
Speaker
um I don't think so. I think Ant-Man came out before. Ant-Man was so bad. Ant-Man, it was so bad. Like the mini-verse or whatever it was? Yeah, Quantumania. I haven't seen that one. yeah i didn't I didn't watch that one yet. It was hot garbage. and so i like I went to see Deadpool Wolverine because it's Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jack. Hell yeah, dude. That's why i went to that one.
01:05:39
Speaker
But Thunderbolts is it actually the first one to me that looks worth a trip to the movie theater yeah again. So anyways, but yeah, Florence Pugh is fantastic.
01:05:50
Speaker
um Like I said, she she cries too much in this movie, but I get it. i get it. get why. like get why, but it is a lot of crying. um I just kind of wanted to see her happy.
01:06:04
Speaker
Yeah. At some moment, just to add some range. And we get little hints of it here and there. Christian is kind of one note. Yeah. And I don't know if that's just his character or his performance.
01:06:17
Speaker
I think Will Poulter is great as the comic relief. um
01:06:24
Speaker
William Jackson Harper, who plays Josh, is really good. That's bad for him. Yeah. He's one of my standout characters. I really like the character of Josh in this film. Same.
01:06:36
Speaker
But one of my other favorite characters is Pele. Yeah. Played by Wilhelm Blomgren. I think he's awesome. Even though he's like, hey, I brought you all here to die. Right. But I'm like, i kind of like Pele because I feel like he genuinely cares about Danny.
01:06:55
Speaker
Yeah. And he's not like... I don't think he's like, hey, I'm bringing you all here. He might be like, I'm bringing you all here to die because you're all crappy humans. But he is also from that culture where like this is what we do. This is just part of life. It's life it's totally normal for him. Yep.
01:07:12
Speaker
I love when he is explaining because strangely enough, it makes sense to me. The four seasons of life. oh yeah. Yeah. When he's like from birth to 18 is spring. Yep.
01:07:24
Speaker
spring yep 18 to whatever, 32? It's like your're your... It's summer. Yeah, summer, then you have your fall, and then your winter goes to like 72 or whatever. And then at 72, you die.
01:07:41
Speaker
you die Right. And they're like, they just think it's a joke. Yeah. this caselar is Right. Right. Yeah. And he's like, no you're about to see, they're going to jump off this really tall cliff. And that's what happens on your 72nd birthday. Uh, but part of me was like, Hey, that actually makes some sense.
01:08:01
Speaker
I really did resonate with the line about like, we put people in nursing homes. I'm sure that's weird to them. And I've had two experiences with nursing homes lately. One of my grandfather and one of my wife's great grandfather.
01:08:16
Speaker
One of them, beautiful nursing home, great facility. Second one, I was like, this is a nightmare. Never put me in this. And so my grandfather died in one man from malpractice.
01:08:30
Speaker
that That's what I mean. Straight up. They left a catheter in that man too long. What? Yeah. Straight up, dude. What? Yeah.
01:08:41
Speaker
Yeah. Well, they just they just sucked. They just suck. They left a catheter in him and he and he got an infection and died, dude. Straight up. So there are some that are very good.
01:08:53
Speaker
Right. But then there are others that are a living nightmare. yeah And so when he's talking about like, yeah, at 72, we just kind of draw the line.
01:09:04
Speaker
And I'm like – I kind of get it, dude. I kind of get it. I kind of get it for real. like yep di drove Dying... dying like There's just something horrible about getting to a certain point where you can't take care of yourself.
01:09:21
Speaker
Yep. Exactly. You're pooping your pants again. Yeah, man. like hook ah You think I want to live if I can't... like go just get up and go check the mail. Like, like, come on, man. I don't want to just my rot in a bed.
01:09:40
Speaker
you know, I, I still, I'll probably never forget till the day I die. Um, I was my grandfather's closest living relative in his final months, but I picked him up from the hospital to take him to the nursing home. Um,
01:09:57
Speaker
And one of the last things, and I visited a ton during that time, but because he was only in the nursing home to recover, but we knew that, you know, that's not the case. um But I took him to a nursing home and I pulled up to the door and he said to me before I got out of the car,
01:10:17
Speaker
just kind of like a train of thought, he goes, that you should never live this long.
01:10:26
Speaker
Because he was 95. Yeah. Wow. And he's just like, the last couple of years weren't great. Yeah. You know, he's not having a good time. And he genuinely was like, I hope you never live to get to where I am. Yeah. Yeah.
01:10:44
Speaker
And I wasn't taking that as like, that' wow, I'm so sorry, Grandpa. like i That's not how it took it. ah But like that's why when he's talking about like at 72, we voluntarily leave.
01:10:59
Speaker
Right. and ah um there's I hate saying that there's something beautiful about that. Sounds weird, but it's also – think it just sounds weird to our modern sensibilities.
01:11:15
Speaker
yeah yeah maybe you know you know you see people live into like 102 now or whatever and it's just like yeah but when you know right do who I want that right dude like sometimes I'm tired of it and I'm 38 I'm ready to go sometimes like man no I get it i get it it's like do I gotta wake up today I got to say though, man, like aside from your main cast, the community itself, the acting of the community, the children, the young people, the adults, the elders, it's all so natural for them. It's believable. Everyone does it did it so naturally. because like it's just ingrained as an everyday part life for them. Another day, nothing's different.
01:12:08
Speaker
And they all gave that portrayal of this commune and just how tight-knitted it is, even though it's secluded with the lack of technology, with with the exception of like a truck or a car.
01:12:20
Speaker
Everything else is old school. And just like, they were all just these people in the woods like it it felt it it just seems so natural. And there's a lot of beauty in that too. this mediaish this this This community that has no distractions from each other. There's a lot of a lot of ancient sort of an ancient beauty, like almost an antiquated, I don't want to say antiquated, but there's there's a ah lot of beauty in that as well.
01:12:50
Speaker
you know Yeah. Man. the ah man I am brain farting. It was something Jonathan was just talking about. Never mind.
01:13:03
Speaker
Me, words, stuff. Yeah, i was going to riff off what you were just saying, but I forgot it. Sorry. It's all right. No, I was more distracted by my screen. but Oh. They were burning the guy after his face issue. Okay.
01:13:22
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Okay, the community. And the community is really believable in the background. But I was reading – so it's because most of the community didn't speak English. A lot of them – there were three different English or languages spoken on set.
01:13:40
Speaker
So Ari Aster was trying to corral this – group I mean, I assume they spoke cursory English as much of the world does. With some interpreters probably here. Yes. But like a lot of that cast was not native English speakers. So a lot of that was natural. And I think that that was awesome.
01:14:04
Speaker
But yeah, the acting in this movie...
01:14:11
Speaker
Do I give it a five? I'm tempted because there's really no flaw in the performances in this movie. That's where I'm at with it, man. I feel like Florence Poe does more than her share to carry the acting and everyone else is serviceable at worst.
01:14:30
Speaker
Yeah. So I have to give it a five. I'm sitting at a four on it I feel like that's that's pretty good for me. That's pretty fair. Hell yeah. The so then the direction. and just see if I may. you um Oh, oh, yeah. I feel like you may. clean but how I normally feel in about direction because normally I'm not good at coordinating my thoughts and how I talk about it.
01:14:56
Speaker
Direction, I think, was pretty amazing in this one. um One of the big things like early on was like when they get to Sweden and they're driving there, that that rotating, twisting scene up and over and around as they pass the Harlingsland sign, it's like kind of an indicator of passing into a different world. Almost like you're entering the fairy tale now. yeah Exactly. you know i think that was really impactful with how he did that, we especially especially being not just a short drop. It was a long, drawn-out way yeah doing it with that rotation and the up and over until you get that focus back straight again when you start getting further into
01:15:44
Speaker
Not only that, but just everything that kind of hints to what's going to go down because of the imagery that you see, what's in the walls of the community house, what you're seeing on the tapestry, how it tells you, includes you into what's going on and what you can expect if you know to pay attention to those cubes. So it's kind of already telling you what's going to go down you know where to look.
01:16:10
Speaker
Exactly. And the hints all of that that are splayed out everywhere, even in the different houses, not just the community house, but when Christian goes to meet with like that elder mother woman. and starts explaining like hey she's chosen you we we We approve of you to mate with her. And the stuff, everything, with even not just the runes, but everything and how it leads to telling the story itself while you're already seeing it play out, I thought was fantastic.
01:16:35
Speaker
ah So I just wanted to throw that out there. That's my follow-up direction. No, I'm glad. Glad you brought it up. but This is the difference between watching –
01:16:47
Speaker
Man, I'm trying to – like a Howard the Duck versus versus this film where Ari Aster is a superb director. And even – I hate saying that, but I have to when he's done three full-length movies so far.
01:17:09
Speaker
Fourth one was on the way this year at the time of recording. It has not come out yet. The biggest tragedy to me is that he is ah straying from horror. Yeah.
01:17:21
Speaker
Bo is Afraid is a very dark comedy. i did not care for it, but it was impeccably directed. He did a fantastic job. um I don't know what this next one is going to look like. We'll see. It doesn't sound interesting to me. Next movie takes place during COVID and uses COVID as the backbone to the story. I'm like, i don't.
01:17:43
Speaker
I don't really care. Man. i don't really care. Boy, am I not tired of dealing with COVID. Exactly. Jesus Christ. So that's where I'm like, i'm I'm going to wait on that one to see if it's worth my time because I don't really care for that as a story structure. But Hereditary and Midsommar are two – fantastic films in the genre, and both of them in their niche genres from, I don't know what the hell you call hereditary. It's not a possession film.
01:18:17
Speaker
It's just... It's a family drama with with possession, haunting... Cult elements. don't know. Cult elements. It's insane. Insane.
01:18:31
Speaker
And then... Midsommar, which is full color. Almost a polar opposite, man. Yeah. And he does the planning that has to go behind this. so you mentioned the fantastic shot that flips upside down. But there are numerous shots in this movie.
01:18:52
Speaker
where the camera just doesn't cut for an extended period of time. Like when they first arrive in that field where they're doing mushrooms, they first arrive, get out of the car, and that camera like follows them and moves them and just for minutes.
01:19:11
Speaker
And couple things I love about that, it's incredible to watch. But it also requires the actors to stay in character more like a stage play.
01:19:22
Speaker
no So extended lines and they're moving more like a dance. And that happens with some of the rituals. So like when Florence becomes the May Queen,
01:19:34
Speaker
And they put the flowers on her head and the camera pans back and everybody runs close to her. And then they bring out that pedestal, lay it down. and then the camera comes back in and zooms in on her face, but it doesn't cut, comes back in and lifts her up. And then we see that she's stay like, that is so tightly orchestrated.
01:19:59
Speaker
It's insane. To pull that off is fantastic. Like, not that it's a particularly tricky shot, but to plan that all out, to have, like, okay, you six extras run in now.
01:20:12
Speaker
And, like... that is awesome. It is a dance. It is, it is as much of a dance for that shot as it would have been to put on a musical, you know, that arranging all of that is super impressive.
01:20:28
Speaker
And then like Jonathan mentioned, the paintings and stuff on the wall, you pick up more every time you watch it. So like my last watch through, I picked up, ah there's a painting on the wall, specifically when Christian is in the shot of a dude with wings between some girl's legs while other people stand around.
01:20:53
Speaker
And you're like, oh, this is foreshadowing. yeah you know's Yeah, there's foreshadowing everywhere. And i guarantee if I go back and I want to get my hands on that director's cut because I bet there's answers there.
01:21:07
Speaker
If I go back, I can find reference to every person's death in the walls at some point. Oh, I guarantee it probably. Yeah. yeah Like the amount of planning that goes into that. it's insane.
01:21:21
Speaker
Insane. Centuries of process. Centuries and centuries of process in this community. yeah it's It's beautiful. It's so well thought out. i told my wife, she loves Hereditary.
01:21:34
Speaker
And I think... Up until this week, she said like that's one of her favorite movies. Rosemary's Baby is her favorite movie because she said every time she watchs it watches it, she feels like she's going to throw up. So she loves it. it ah But prior to Rosemary's Baby, it was Hereditary.
01:21:54
Speaker
But I think we were watching this one and we finished it and she goes, you know, i think I might like this one more than Hereditary. Wow. And I think it's just a different... They're two very different vibes. Definitely. ah Hereditary feels evil. This one does less so.
01:22:14
Speaker
ah But... I just can't praise the way he structures shots, the way he transitions scenes, the way he instructs his actors, like the way he plans out this entire film.
01:22:32
Speaker
is insane. That's why this film is so good, is Ari Aster's fingerprints being all over it.
01:22:44
Speaker
And to choose to shoot this movie in natural lighting is... Honestly insane because you're battling shadows from these structures that you built. And if you cut and your shadows aren't lined up, like you basically have to shoot. If you were shooting the scene of Florence standing in this spot and you didn't get your cut, your take from 12 to one,
01:23:13
Speaker
on day one, you have to shoot it again day two, assuming the lighting is the same. If there's cloud cover, you got to change it all. Right. Like that, that, that changes everything.
01:23:28
Speaker
That's insane. The sex scene was the final scene shot for the movie.
01:23:37
Speaker
And that was a very awkward scene to shoot according to the actor because the girl in that scene did not speak English and the guy did not speak her language.
01:23:48
Speaker
Right. And so it was very much like we're trying to trying to do this the best we can, guys. But that was the final scene shot for the film.
01:23:59
Speaker
Damn. Save the most awkward for last. No, no. I mean, fair. That's fair. and Why not? Yeah. Man, I just feel like Aster, he has a vision and he's going to see it through.
01:24:15
Speaker
Whatever you get, like it or not, like it that's his vision. There's intent behind everything. um And I think there's intent in the storytelling.
01:24:27
Speaker
with like the way he wants things shot, like you mentioned, the upside down that slowly goes ah back, right. On that long drive. I feel, I feel like that's meant to tell you that like, now you're almost like getting into the fairy tale.
01:24:47
Speaker
Cause you know, like you said, it's jarring at first, you have that fairy tale music and then boom, now you're, now you're in the real world. this is sort of a way to transition you back.
01:24:59
Speaker
Yeah, there you go. the The roots, the grass and the roots growing into Danny's flesh, you know, um i just, I feel like that's a storytelling element. This is her groping, just grasping for somewhere to belong, you know, put roots down somewhere.
01:25:19
Speaker
Literally, yeah, yeah. There's just so much, I mean, the tapestries, you know, the the whole movie is... told in the tapestries. Oh, what's up?
01:25:32
Speaker
Oh, you said the tapestries. i realized on my recent rewatch, um, there's a scene before we even get to Sweden where Danny is sitting on a couch and I don't remember whose apartment it is. If it was hers, if it was Pele's, um,
01:25:49
Speaker
But she's sitting on a couch and there's a painting behind her. Anyone else catch that painting? Yeah, the bear with the girl kissing the the nose of the bear. Oh, yeah wow. No, I did not.
01:26:00
Speaker
There is a painting of a girl like kissing. it kind of like If you were just watching it without knowing the full context of the movie, you're probably thinking in like Little not little red Riding Hood. um
01:26:16
Speaker
Goldilocks. Goldilocks. Yeah, yeah. Goldilocks. Oh, okay. You're probably thinking something fairly along those lines. Knowing the full context of the movie, that shot from the first 10 minutes of the film goes to the final scene of the film, the girl kissing the giant bear.
01:26:39
Speaker
It's just another example of like that perfect planning execution. Yeah. Oh, you see that one shot of one of the murals of the bear on fire. Yeah. yeah so much Oh my gosh. And then I saw the, the, some of those overhead shots from the dinner scenes, like when you've got the two elders who are about to like give their lives, you know, you see them going through the whole process and then everyone's waiting, sitting so silently, quietly,
01:27:08
Speaker
And then they finally take their drink. Right. And then they pick up their silverware. And then you see that overhead shot. And then everyone in conjunction going down the line. And then across in that runic symbol to like the head mother at the end of the table and the other guy.
01:27:23
Speaker
As everyone down the line picks up their stuff and starts going to dinner. And then also with Danny, she becomes the summer queen or the May queen my queen. And then like everyone waiting on her patiently. And then her kind of like.
01:27:37
Speaker
finding understanding, accepting her role and getting into it. And then you see everybody else on that overhead shot down the line, picking up their silverware and starting to participate in the dinner fest. You know, it's amazing stuff through all that overhead shots. Ari's Ari is the man. Good utilization. He, he just, he just has a way with visual storytelling and it's, it's hard to, I can't right now. I can't think of his equal, but,
01:28:03
Speaker
Thinking about this movie, thinking about Hereditary. um this This guy just, he's an artist, man. He's an artist. In horror, on movies, period, making movies right now, people who are artists kind of tend to fall to the horror category. doubt. Because I can think of two.
01:28:30
Speaker
Ari Aster? Mm-hmm. I can think of ah Robert Eggers. Nassaracha was insane. yeah So awesome. So beautiful. Another impeccable movie.
01:28:46
Speaker
Dennis Villeneuve, whatever that French name. People really like Dune 2. It looks really good. um i don't know that I see the art as quite the same level as these two guys.
01:29:00
Speaker
But he is – he does have a – he's visionary. Yeah. I give him that. Big time. As far as you're saying, like, no. I wish more horror was to this level. And that's what I mean, like, when I say, you tell me this is Ari Aster's second film? Right. Get out. It's crazy, man. How did you get this dude so fucking quick? gee Dude, he – this man really – just came out of the gate with Hereditary, man. And that's insane to me, dude. like which That is the most visually...
01:29:36
Speaker
stunning and disturbing and impactful movie i may have ever seen, man. Yeah, 100% agree with you. And you look at him and he looks like worked for the ID department of a tech startup. like Right. he' i But man, okay, let me find...
01:29:59
Speaker
so
01:30:05
Speaker
I wanted to see if I could find, i don't want trivia on Ari Aster, but Hereditary itself was one of the, I think it was the highest grossing movie for A24, which is what sent him into like the stratosphere of
01:30:34
Speaker
Oh, well, he knocked it out of the park, and that's a movie that you can never forget once you've seen it.
01:30:44
Speaker
I mean, that's one of the few... Hereditary is one of the few movies to, like... make me cry and make me want to vomit both.
01:30:56
Speaker
So I can't find where it says if it was the highest, but like, it's what basically allowed him to be like, you want to make Midsommar, can do whatever you want. You can do whatever. yeah Yeah. I think that's what it is. He made hereditary. And then they were like, you can do whatever the fuck you want to do.
01:31:14
Speaker
a a half hour Two and a half hour movies shot in natural light, go for it. And that's another thing. The natural light, the color palette in this movie.
01:31:26
Speaker
Yes. I think that's another reason because I was thinking about how you said Hereditary feels evil. It's darker. You know, it's...
01:31:36
Speaker
it's Darker subject matter also, but this movie, these people who were are would-be villains are always draped in the cleanest, purest white clothes.
01:31:51
Speaker
Yes. Everything is beautiful and picturesque and not the least bit dirty. Even though they're it's basically Amish Swedish people. The colors are vibrant, but they're not like forcibly pushed as bright colors. Right. It's not oversaturated. It's not oversaturated. But the palette, I feel like is the palette is very important because I feel like all that white portrays these people as innocent. You know, this is pure. This is just what they do.
01:32:25
Speaker
There's a purity in it and innocence to it. um And I feel like that's intentional. I feel like everything does is intentional and thought out more than I've i've thought about it.
01:32:40
Speaker
ah I'm just drop my score. I would be remiss not to give him a five, dude. like yeah How do you not? It's a five for me.
01:32:51
Speaker
I went with a four. Which is way better than what I'd normally do. I'm using very average middle ground on this since I actually had some sense of thought and feeling and direction it. You did. And you were a spot on. You were spot on. When y'all cover Hereditary, I want to be there, man. Because I've got so much shit I want to say about Hereditary right now.
01:33:10
Speaker
I got to give that one. That's a movie that I can't... Man. i ending never I have never... seen a more
01:33:23
Speaker
guttural, gut-wrenching portrayal of grief than Tony Collette in that film. Tony Collette, the dinner table scene. Oh, God. yeah let's do help Oh, my God. Watch this movie.
01:33:40
Speaker
We got we gotta to... Toni Collette is another level herself. We might have to... affect the it's That was an Oscar snub. Big sign. Yes.
01:33:51
Speaker
Absolutely. Oscar snub. Because Oscars didn't consider horror to be a real film until 2024 when we got The Substance. And what was the other one nominated?
01:34:06
Speaker
um
01:34:09
Speaker
Substance and... Hell, I can't remember. Yeah, we got we got two horror movies, and we've had a couple. But yeah, that was a snub because Tony Collette deserved a lot of that. I don't know if I've ever seen better acting.
01:34:26
Speaker
I'll go ahead and say it. I don't know if I've ever seen better acting than Tony Collette in that movie, dude. We might need to fast-track that one before Halloween to get Jonathan in on Hereditary. Dude, that's...
01:34:40
Speaker
It's not a movie I like to watch, but it's also a movie I love to watch. and it's It's full of the same type of direction that we're talking about in Midsommar.
01:34:51
Speaker
just Everything is so intentional and it's meant to be viewed multiple times because you're just going to miss stuff. That's just all it is to me. You know?
01:35:03
Speaker
Oh, man. It's perfect. All right. I'll stop gushing. I'm just, I'm just like, that's stuck with me. Yeah, yeah. okay All right. So, from direction on to the it factor and cultural significance. This one is a, this one's a,
01:35:22
Speaker
Bit tough. A bit tough. Give me one second right back. I got to check something. No doubt. Paranoid about my dog running around. No, you're good. You're cutty watching you're good. That's cool. I'll go grab a beer. Yeah.
01:36:02
Speaker
Like, one of her lines in there even makes me feel like it's... Like it's... Ad-libbed.
01:36:13
Speaker
When she's like, that face on your face. You know what I'm talking about? At the dinner table? i don't, because to be honest... Okay. The last time I watched that movie was about three years ago. Gotcha. Because it makes me...
01:36:30
Speaker
so upset that if it's not an enjoyable experience, even though I'm like, this movie's insanely well made. The line I'm talking about always makes me kind of giggle because it it's like, it's the type of thing that someone says when they're so mad.
01:36:51
Speaker
that they're not good at speaking anymore. Yeah. It's very realistic. Right. yeah You know what? Now that you say that, I think I remember having the same thought, like right how it seems funny, but It's actually because this is how she's... Dude, it's crazy. anyways yeah Sorry about that, guys. I got paranoid. I thought I smelled dog poo, and I think it was just her being gassy. She poots a lot. i was like, please don't tell me she craps somewhere. It is her telling you that she will need to poo soon. Right. That's the early warning system. I went to the physical therapist, so she should have been okay. It seems like we're okay. Please, not again.
01:37:29
Speaker
We are nearing the end, so we'll be okay. I'm just marking down the time spot on when to edit that out. And... All right, so we gave our direction. The cultural in effect are so this one's this one's a little challenging.
01:37:47
Speaker
Yeah. ah I remember when this movie came out because I saw hereditary in theaters. Mm-hmm. I remember walking out of Hereditary.
01:37:58
Speaker
Like, that was one of the movies that I needed to go home and watch, like, The Big Bang Theory for a couple hours. Just some mindless happiness for a while. Yes. Yeah, no doubt.
01:38:11
Speaker
Bright colors and laugh tracks, please. All day. Yep. But then this one came out and there was a ton of hype about it and it was fairly well received.
01:38:24
Speaker
I... But I avoided it because of the, and I don't want to say bad taste hereditary left in my mouth. The taste hereditary left in my mouth was one that was so uncomfortable. Like the movie succeeded massively in what it was trying to do that I didn't see Midsommar for a long time because I didn't know if I was ready to be that uncomfortable.
01:38:52
Speaker
Right. So I waited a long time. But now I've watched this movie multiple times and I like it more every time. I feel like it's more accessible than Hereditary is.
01:39:06
Speaker
Agreed. Because the end the final 10 minutes of Hereditary is going to mess people up. And they are either going to love the movie for that or hate the movie for that. Mess me up then.
01:39:21
Speaker
a So that is – like I remember we were recently with my brother-in-law for a family thing. I think it was Easter. We were together for Easter. And he was like – I watched her red and Terry. i didn't think it was that I didn't think it was that crazy. And I was like, you didn't think – and I proceeded to describe the scene because Jonathan hasn't seen it. Right, right, right. I'll hold out. on It involved a bunch of naked old people. i was like, you didn't think that was messed up? And he was like, i don't remember that. I was like, oh
01:39:57
Speaker
He's like, maybe I need to rewatch it. His mind blocked it out unconsciously to like block it out so he doesn't traumatize him. Yeah, definitely. has enough that he blocked ah Every single Ari Aster movie has senior citizens naked. so that's an all That's an interesting point that I hadn't thought about. every Bo is Afraid, Midsommar, and Hereditary. He likes the old naked people.
01:40:24
Speaker
good up Good on you, Aster. you got You got your thing? Get some old oxygen bushes out there. yo Yeah, so was fairly well received. i just don't know how much this movie was in, like, the cultural zeitgeist to be a film bro about it.
01:40:49
Speaker
But I do know now, like,
01:40:53
Speaker
Of the three movies of Aster's, this one is tied for number one with Hereditary, and then Bo is Afraid is number three. oh yeah But that's just why my personal opinion, I did not like Bo is Afraid at all. And not because I didn't like Bo is Afraid at all because it made me uncomfortable like Hereditary did or uncomfortable like Midsommar did. I didn't like Bo is Afraid because – Thought it was pointless. So that that that's the difference. yeah And maybe there's a point to it. Maybe i need to give it a second chance, but that's going to be a ways away.
01:41:37
Speaker
um Cultural significance. I feel like most of
01:41:43
Speaker
feel like most of the recognition or the audience that it had, it probably had because of Hereditary. Yes. That being said, I feel like it holds its own because it's very unique and surprisingly, a lot of people that don't watch horror that I know, know about the movie.
01:42:06
Speaker
Like, ah my sister knew about it only because Florence Poe was in it. Um, A random streamer that I watch sometimes who plays a lot of really shitty horror games ah that are made in, like, Russia mentioned Midsommar the other day because the game kind of looked like like like the people wore all white clothes and shit. It kind of... So it's like, oh, shit, it's almost like Midsommar, you know?
01:42:39
Speaker
I feel like um it's out there, but not... Not as much as I initially scored I'll put it there.
01:42:52
Speaker
So yeah, it's like with it factor or cultural significance, it's hard to for me to give much on that one because, I mean, it makes me more paranoid about going to foreign like foreign countries, small communities than anything. It's like, man, if somebody involves me invites me to some backwoods place like this out in the middle of nowhere, I think I'm going to be extremely hesitant or weird to have any part of that because like, oh man,
01:43:17
Speaker
They're going to get me. They're going to con me into something. going to ripped into some shit i don't want to be in. so Double check that Airbnb listing. yeah Dude, for real. It's not just the dark corners of Texas you want to worry about, bud.
01:43:29
Speaker
For sure, dude. For sure. Especially way out in the middle of nowhere in West Texas. oh you never know. But ah it' when how it plays into the idea of of cult films, you know you know, communes and how weird or quirky or off-putting that those kind of places can be because of how – what's the word? How isolated they are and how kept to themselves with little to no contact otherwise from the rest of what would be considered normal society and average social mores.
01:44:06
Speaker
um I don't feel like there's really a big impact in that way with this aside from just making people kind of wary of going to these outer rim places.
01:44:18
Speaker
you Right. <unk> No, I think that's accurate in pair. The, I, so I contacted my, so I hate that I brought this up.
01:44:31
Speaker
um I contacted my friend from Norway and I asked her if she'd seen this movie. She didn't really care for this movie. But I was like, can you, like, I know you're in Norway, but you're neighbors to Sweden. That's much closer than I am. Can you tell me anything? she was like, well, i'm I'm not Swedish. And I was like, she didn't say that exactly. i'm like, I know. But I want to know, like it is based on a lot of real festivals.
01:45:08
Speaker
It's just those horror elements are added for the film. But I wanted to know like how are there similar like rural... like We have Amish in America. We have the Amish.
01:45:22
Speaker
Does Sweden... do yeah Does Sweden have this? Like not smashing people with mallets at 72, but do they have things like this in Norway and Sweden and those Scandinavian areas? I think that is super fascinating. I want to know.
01:45:43
Speaker
But yeah, so i I'm at a three on the cultural significance. for That's where I'm comfortable with too. I started to say four, but thinking on it,
01:45:57
Speaker
more, I got to come down a little. so um So I'm also at a three, but when I think about it now, even a little more about that rural isolated community thing, it makes me think back to metalocalypse on adult swim. and how Toki war tooth. Came from Norway, out in the middle of nowhere, and his weird religion, like, isolated community family. Yeah. how dark that was. Yeah, it's a cartoon. And also the suite. Yeah, it came out way before this came out. But still, it's got some kind of, like...
01:46:32
Speaker
Dark similar elements in ah in a little way. And if you remember the Swedish when they go to Sweden and they they wake up the lake troll, they're in that Swedish village that ah i guess it knocked the power out. reckon But the village doesn't look like it would have had power anyway. And they're like, no, you got to play these acoustic instruments to put it back to sleep.
01:46:56
Speaker
Oh, it's a grandpa's guitar. murder face they They open the door and show them. And the first thing Murderface says is, what are those things, chairs? My brain doesn't work that way.
01:47:10
Speaker
how do you my brain doesn't work that way
01:47:15
Speaker
my My sister can quote the Office or Brooklyn Nine-Nine all day long. Yeah. Just be like, oh, you remember this scene when they say this exact thing and this? And I'm like,
01:47:26
Speaker
No. But that sounds like it's real, so go for it. And I've seen both of those shows. most My brain just, like, I can't remember names.
01:47:36
Speaker
I can barely remember lines unless it's, like, music that I've heard 10 or 15 times. you know That's when I start remembering things. My brain, I can remember an image, though, if you tell me, like oh, do you remember that shot? I'm like, yes, I do. Can I can i tell you what was said in that scene?
01:48:00
Speaker
No, can't. Except the music, it connects in my brain for me with a lot of weird stuff like that, you know? Awaken, awaken, Mooster Cracky's coming true. I just remember, was it Metalocalypse or Death?
01:48:12
Speaker
is Is Death Clock related to Metal Oculos? Yeah, Death Clock is the band in Metal Oculos. Okay, that's what I thought. Brandon Small and his amazing fucking mind and his amazing music skills. Okay. My my buddy in high school used to play the Do You Folks Like Coffee? Mm-hmm. Coffee. do Yeah, Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle. they He used to play that all the time. because That's still – I'll get that into my head every night. i couldn play I used to be able to play a a part of that because like if you get the the DVD for Metalocalypse, there's extras in there where they've got it animated where Squizgar Squiggle – The Duncan Hills coffee jingle. And I was like, that is so fucking awesome. And I would sit there and pray they play it over and be playing along with the tabs, trying to like get that shit down. Oh my God. It was so much fun. Y'all know what my favorite episode is?
01:49:01
Speaker
What? The one where they learn to play the blues and they go to Southern Mississippi and meet Mash Potato Johnson.
01:49:11
Speaker
And he's like, Sunbite. He's like trying to get them to play play like this slow, bendy, soulful sound and like just one strum. by our homebo But those riffs... cinder blocks tied to their fingers. All they can do is play fast, dude. They're like... I'm a sucker for some bluesy metal, though. you get the ball whos You get that blues in the hard rock and I'm i'm weak in the knees.
01:49:43
Speaker
Yeah, dude. All that, all that, all that, stilogy stoner shit, man. Yeah, dude. Stoner doom metal. Slow, deep, heavy. Oh yeah. Crowbar acid bath. Slow, deep, heavy. That's how they describe me.
01:49:56
Speaker
yeah All right. ah um So were you gentlemen? how entertained were you gentlemen I'm sitting on nine, baby.
01:50:14
Speaker
I'm sitting on a nine also. It's a nine for me. The first time I saw this, I would have said it's a ten, but although there's a lot of rewatch value in this... yeah Yeah. Although there's a lot of rewatch value in it, it doesn't have the same impact as the first couple of times. And at this point, I've seen this more than a handful. i'm not sure exactly how many.
01:50:41
Speaker
so So I'm going to – the only reason I – I'm not going to say you're wrong. ah The only reason – so first time I watched this, it probably would have been like a seven.
01:50:53
Speaker
Oh, wow. I'm at a nine now because those rewatches are what I pick up on the brilliance of the production. Right. And that makes me appreciate it more. It still gives me that just uncomfortable – feeling ah And each time I rewatch it, I pick up a little bit more on strangely the beauty of it yeah as far as appreciating a different culture entirely from my own.
01:51:28
Speaker
There's, you know, growing up taught about Aztecs and Incas and whatever, and the human sacrifices. And it's just made out to be this horrific point in history.
01:51:42
Speaker
But what if it wasn't portrayed that way? What if it was portrayed the way Ari Aster did here? right and There's no doubt that those people had beauty in their lives. You know what I mean? Yeah. that was Sacrifice was a normal part of their culture. Right. that was yeah anything It wasn't something they sweated on and they accepted those roles. Seems like most likely.
01:52:03
Speaker
i think that's I think that's kind of what Ari's trying to shed some light on is the beauty in different cultures. While we see and what they're doing is horrific – There's beauty in these things and how they arrived at these isn't barbaric.
01:52:23
Speaker
and You know, it's, it's not like, Oh, we want blood sacrifice the elders. Like that's not it. Right. So there's beauty in that, that I didn't pick up on the first time. And each time I rewatch it, I see more of this beauty, more of this intentional,
01:52:42
Speaker
set design more and more. And I'm at the point now, I'm about to go track down that 27 minute longer director's cut because I want to know more of all of this.
01:52:59
Speaker
And I don't know if the director's cut makes it a better movie or not. It's a great movie as is, but it has grown on a rewatch. Right now, the only reason it's a nine and for me is because while i'm ah while I'm saying I'm about to go get the longer version, this version is too long.
01:53:17
Speaker
Yeah. It is long. and i am at the – I'm at the point in my life where I would rather watch two 90-minute movies yeah than one three-hour movie.
01:53:29
Speaker
Yeah, I get that. so Same, same. –
01:53:35
Speaker
That's this elf long movies, bro. Oh, man. Yep. Like, I love them. I love them. Me too. But when it comes to that total enjoyment factor, man, give me – what was it? Was it Turtles was like a solid 92 minutes. I'm like, yep, perfect. Just so perfect. Yeah. Give me a perfect 92-minute movie and I can move on with my life.
01:53:56
Speaker
but but see i was so I was so drawn and immersed in watching the story and what was playing out. I didn't even think about the time and it didn't really register to be. I remember starting the movie and being like, oh shit, this is a long-ass movie being like two hours and 20-some-odd minutes. Like, oh god, this is going to take a while. But once I got into it, it did just – Not even there. Well, that's the power of pacing. That's the power of pacing, though. You know what i mean? like Absolutely. I feel like he just knows how to pace a movie.
01:54:24
Speaker
you know He keeps you interested in in what's happening at all times, whether it is the trauma of the sister's story at the beginning, the discovery of this culture's practices, and the...
01:54:43
Speaker
it's really kind of divided into four sections. Um, section two, and then, yeah, my, my, because there's not really, i was thinking about that earlier when we' were talking about story, there's not the traditional three arcs in this movie.
01:55:04
Speaker
We have the beginning that gets us to Sweden. We have the arrival to, um,
01:55:17
Speaker
Hagen-Dazs introduction to the community. yeah And then like we get – no. that I mean that's right. I'm trying to think of when the first couple disappears. Then we have from the first couple disappearing to the crowning of the May Queen and then we have the end of the movie.
01:55:35
Speaker
And so, like, there's not really a definable... Somebody else might be able to like, oh, there's actually a perfect represent representation of three arcs. Like, okay. It's your scholarly article on filmbro.com. Right. um But... Anyways.
01:55:56
Speaker
i Yeah. What was I saying before that? I just went out of tamed. Shut the hell out of space. Yeah. ah You were rolling, dude. I was just letting you go.
01:56:07
Speaker
Okay. I just enjoy this movie. I enjoy this movie more every time I see it. Honestly, it's the same with Hereditary. I enjoy it more every time I see it, even though Hereditary and Rosemary's Baby are two of the movies that still just like – I've said it for years.
01:56:26
Speaker
Horror should do two things. entertaining. Be entertaining. And or get under your skin. Yeah. And this movie, this movie, hereditary, Rosemary's Baby, those fall under the categories that managed to do both. It gets me gets under the skin and it stays there.
01:56:49
Speaker
And like the clarification on be entertaining, like – Friday the 13th, entertaining. Doesn't get under my skin, but I have a fun time watching that movie. So that's that's the difference. That's the clarification on that.
01:57:03
Speaker
Hereditary, it gets under my skin. So this one, it manages to get under my skin but be a better, a more enjoyable ride.
01:57:15
Speaker
I get that. so I get that for sure.
01:57:20
Speaker
Alright, time to tally up then, I guess? Yes, it is. I'm going to need your help with that there, Jim. Well, I I sitting at a 41.
01:57:28
Speaker
You are sitting at a 41? Yes, sir. Okay, and i am sitting... me oh Let me do my math here real quick. Numbers! Ooh!
01:57:46
Speaker
numerical reference should have done my math before this uh ricky did you see yours yes sir thank you okay i am sitting at a 45 whoa got 45 44 41 41 oh 41 okay there we go so forty six forty five and forty four forty one forty oh forty one one good okay Don't you put numbers in my mouth. Man, I'm not buying it. I was about to be like, this average is real easy, guys. Right.
01:58:21
Speaker
So let me try put it into my handy-dandy calculator here, and we're going to get this exact. Did we get any other feedback from anybody else about this? No, we did not. Sadness. We did not.
01:58:35
Speaker
Y'all are you tripping, car? 43 point we still have i mean guys if you're listening we are recording this wednesday night april 30th we got lots of time till october hey y'all know what tomorrow is right no it's gonna be may it's gonna be oh yeah i've seen that i've seen that All right, so our average is 43.3333, rounded up to out of four and a half stars, making this movie a great
01:59:14
Speaker
option for your movie party, whatever gatherings you want to do with it. Watch it with your grandparents.
01:59:25
Speaker
It makes it an amazing option, actually. Watch it with your friends and decide who is what main character that gets killed. to Be like, oh, you're going to be this person. You're this person. No, this is totally you. You're going to get whacked. I like Ricky. Watch it with your grandparents, especially if they're like 80.
01:59:40
Speaker
eighty Right. Or, or or you know, before they get to that point, be like, you know, yeah we're looking at options, Grandpa. you What what they're seventy one what do you think about What do you think about such and such nursing home? Okay, well, what do you think about Midsommar?
02:00:01
Speaker
like how How does this cliff flip to you You want to become a harga? but Harga. Harga. Harga. yeah a good doll That's an option for you.
02:00:13
Speaker
Harga and sland. Yeah, man. hu it I still like the Haagen-Dazs. All right. Jonathan, you got the outro ready?
02:00:27
Speaker
I certainly do, sir. Okay. So, Ricky, thank you so much for joining us for the Halloween episode of our Folk Horror 13 Nights of Halloween episode.
02:00:41
Speaker
Thanks for having me, guys. It's a blast. I can't wait to come back for Hereditary. Yeah, that'll probably, if we do her, we can talk about it, but that'll probably come out before this. Coming to you from the future. From the future. That's fine with me.
02:01:01
Speaker
That would be sick. So yeah, ah where can where can people find you, Ricky? what's Oh, well, I'm from the Nightclub podcast, and you can find us on Apple, Spotify, Fireside, ah anywhere except YouTube. We're not on there yet.
02:01:23
Speaker
um But anywhere you can listen to podcasts, we're there. And we'd we'd love to have you a check it out.
02:01:36
Speaker
Definitely do. It's hilarious. And it's a blast. Yeah, we like to have fun. That's that's that's all it is. The nightclub podcast where horror comes to party. There you go. I said the thing. I said the thing. You said the thing. Travis will be happy. I said the thing.
02:01:52
Speaker
yeah
02:01:56
Speaker
Alright, and just like that, our daylight dance through Midsommar brings us to the end of the road. That's right. Thirteen nights, thirteen films, folk horror, witchy rituals, cursed woods, angry scarecrows, and so much blood-soaked weirdness, we've covered it all.
02:02:19
Speaker
From the witch to pumpkin head. The Wicker Man to Blair Witch Project. And tonight's grand finale, what a lineup. Hell yeah, man. We want to give a huge thank you to everyone who tuned in, joined the discussion, submitted scores, and celebrated the creepy season with us. love doing this, and your support is what makes it worth it all.
02:02:42
Speaker
Seriously, whether you've been with us from episode one or just jumped in this season, we're grateful for every listen, every like, and every share.
02:02:55
Speaker
And now we want to hear from you. Out of all 13, which movie was your favorite? Let us know over on Instagram or YouTube. Comment your winner. Comment your rating from the score system that we have in our Instagram.
02:03:10
Speaker
Or maybe... the movie that messed you up the most. And hey, if you're listening to this on Halloween night, stay safe out there. Whether you're partying with your coven, handing out candy to future final girls, or just watching horror movies in the dark, have a great night.
02:03:27
Speaker
Eat some candy, lock your doors, maybe don't follow any mysterious flower trails into the woods. That sounds like a good idea. That wraps up our 13 nights of Halloween and the end of season three.
02:03:42
Speaker
Thank you for spending it with us here at The Average. We'll be back next year with more movies, more laughs, and probably more obscure cult movies than anyone asked for.
02:03:55
Speaker
So until then, stay spooky. Stay safe. And last last thing before I go. Head over to Amazon.
02:04:07
Speaker
Timothy James. At this point, I have two books up there for your spooky season. You can find my first one, The Harvest of Briarville, which came out early this year in January. so awesome. Rural Horror Story.
02:04:23
Speaker
Kid goes to a farm and ah encounters more than he expected. They're really small intimate story. But then my new one just came out last month.
02:04:36
Speaker
And that is Like, Comment, Survive. love that title. A found footage horror story told through transcripts, text message threads, and...
02:04:50
Speaker
Not traditional pros, but about YouTube ghost hunters who get exclusive access to a new location and encounter more than they bargained for.
02:05:01
Speaker
nice So head over to Amazon, find those, give those a read. And thanks for tuning into The Average, where the real review happens with your friends.