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🍽️ EPISODE 153: COOKING IS TERRIFYING
414 Plays14 days ago
Is cooking art? Is it trauma? Is it a gateway to poisoning your enemies? On this week’s FriGay the 13th, we’re stirring the pot — literally and historically — and diving into why the kitchen might be the scariest room in the house. We kick things off with an opening skit featuring Matty eating pasta like a raccoon behind a 7-Eleven (Andrew’s words, not ours). From there, things only escalate.
🔪 HORROR IN REAL LIFE — Foodies and the insufferable beauty of “The Menu” — SNAP, growing up cooking, and why everyone on the internet wants you to “scroll to recipe” — Poisonings throughout history: Aqua Tofana, inheritance powder, arsenic queens, mushroom murders, bleach coffee, and more — Listeria outbreaks + the worst food poisonings on record TL;DR: Trust nobody’s cooking. Especially your spouse’s.
🎥 WHATCHA BEEN WATCHIN’
+Andrew: The Naked Gun, Guts & Glory, Nobody Wants This S2, The Capulets
+Matty: FRANKENSTEIN, IN WAVES AND WAR, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, STRANGER THINGS S4
🍷 FILM 1: THE MENU (2022) Ratings: Matty 4.5 / Andrew 5
🔥 FILM 2: HOUSE OF SPOILS (2024) Ratings: Matty 5 / Andrew 4
🧡 SUPPORT US! Become a Patron, grab merch, and keep this spooky kitchen open at frigay13.com/support ...and welcome to our newest patron: Scott!
And as always — leave a review and tell a friend!
🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.
🍝 The raccoon has won.
#horror #horrorpodcast #lgbtqpodcast #queerpodcast #themenu #houseofspoils #arsenic #foodpoisoning #cooking #truecrime #horrorcommunity #frigay13
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Information
00:00:00
Speaker
Freigay the 13th Horror Podcast is a proud independent podcast. To learn more about the show, visit freigay13.com.
Humor and Culinary Commentary
00:00:09
Speaker
Okay, we need to plate this pasta like we are about to seduce the entire internet. I am already seducing the pasta.
00:00:16
Speaker
Does that count? No, because you're eating it like a raccoon behind a 7-Eleven. Excuse you, this is authentic. People love authenticity. People love angles. People love lighting. People love when the basil is placed casually, yet intentionally, like a gay man reclining on a velvet chaise. If you compare basil to a gay man one more time, I'm going to start calling cilantro straight parsley just to make you mad.
00:00:41
Speaker
Cilantro is bi and you know it. Anyways, I'm hungry. The blog post intro you wrote us six paragraphs about the emotional journey of discovering tomatoes. It was important. I cried. The tomatoes cried. the producer cried. it was a moment.
00:00:56
Speaker
You wrote, and I quote, the sun kissed them like a gentle whisper from a Mediterranean lover. They looked very passionate. This is why our comment section is full of people saying scroll to recipe.
00:01:08
Speaker
Fine, I'll shorten it. But we are still taking the picture before you eat, right? Too late. This raccoon has won. I swear to God, you're my greatest artistic obstacle. Thank you. I take pride in my craft.
Episode 153: Cooking is Terrifying
00:01:23
Speaker
It's episode 153, Cooking is Terrifying. i am the writing on the
00:01:34
Speaker
I'm Marjorie Greene, and I approve this message to save America, stop socialism, and stop China. Faith and five, we ought to be from life to death to rise.
00:01:46
Speaker
Horror in real life. Doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters, they are going to get it wrong. Horror in the movies. Where are you going go?
00:01:58
Speaker
Where are going to run? Where are going to hide? Nowhere.
00:02:08
Speaker
are When do we want it? Let's go! What are you waiting huh? What are you waiting for? I want you to know that the movement we started is only just beginning.
00:02:23
Speaker
Sometimes, that is better. That's lovely. Do you know, it if it had, like, ham in it,
Socioeconomic Issues and Food Security
00:02:34
Speaker
it's it's closer it's closer to a British carbonara.
00:02:39
Speaker
oh No, it is no that's true. Oh, well, that's fine. Glad you're standing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what I mean my grandmother had wheels she would have been a bike You know, what, you know, it's... You know, what, Tyler, it doesn't make any sense what you said. It's a different recipe. It's got nothing to do with macaroni cheese.
00:03:00
Speaker
You know? How random is what... Can, please, anybody help me here in the kitchen? Oh, my God, he he choked.
00:03:11
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Fry Gay the 13th Horror Podcast. My name is Matty. And I'm Andrew. And if this is your first time with us on Fry Gay the 13th Horror Podcast, this is the podcast that talks all about horror in real life and in the movies from an LGBT perspective. And folks, we are coming at you in November 2025 with our 153rd episode. That 153, right? Yeah, it is. And look, folks,
00:03:39
Speaker
and look folks Andrew and I were laughing about this last week because when we are when the last time we recorded because I was, you know, look, if you if you haven't figured out our stick yet, right? Every episode is always blank is or are terrifying one thing or the other. Right. So we've done a little bit of everything. Like what's what's some of the stuff that we've done before? Andrew, just name a few off.
00:04:01
Speaker
Oh, gosh. um Sororities are terrifying. Fraternities are terrifying. um Housing? Maybe that's when we should do it. Plants terrifying. The economy is terrifying. like You name it, we probably talked about it.
00:04:14
Speaker
So at the end of our at the end of our last recording, I said, you know, it's Thanksgiving. What if we do baking is terrifying? we we both laughed pretty hard. But then, you know, we're like, oh, well, if we kind of zoom out a little bit, maybe cooking is a better one. And, you know, look, cooking is terrifying. It's actually a really important thing to talk about right now.
00:04:33
Speaker
Because not only do we have two great films that match this theme perfectly ah with The Menu and with House of Spoils, but, I mean, let's think about the news right now, right? Think about the millions of people in America...
00:04:47
Speaker
who are worried, who are terrified about not being able to cook once their SNAP assistance is taken away, which is about to happen as of this recording. We're recording on November 9th of 2025. That is a very serious thing that so many people are worried about because they rely on that to feed themselves and to feed their families.
00:05:07
Speaker
And ah if that's not terrifying, that the richest country in the world is about to because they just can't figure it out. These two parties just can't figure out how to actually do their jobs and help people because they can't figure it out. People are going.
00:05:23
Speaker
go ahead. No, that's what they want you to believe. Yeah, well, I mean, that's just it. But I mean, like, like, like figure this the fuck out. Like somehow. like Like the political aspect of it doesn't even matter anymore. There's people who won't be able to eat. like They won't be able to get fucking food for their kids. So if that's not terrifying enough, I don't really know what is anymore.
00:05:43
Speaker
You know? Yeah. I think the one important thing to remember, though, is that what the Democrats are standing up for is health care. And that's... Listen, i'm i'm not I'm not saying that like... Andrew, I'm not blaming this on the Democrats. that No, no, no, no, no. no no i'm I'm just simply stating like, yes, I think that this is an awful thing that's happening. I think that we should solve it immediately. But the government can. Like it's literally it they have all the power. They have the power of all of literally every single power of government. where Republicans have it. right They can solve this overnight.
00:06:15
Speaker
ah So completely agree. And and what's so what's so ridiculous about it is, I mean, people may have forgotten because this is how quickly news cycles go now. is that apparently america has no money for anything apparently america is on the verge of an economic collapse if you get right donald trump all day long but somehow somehow we have enough money to bail out argentina right now or uh yeah argentina with 20 billion dollars with a b 20 billion fucking dollars so we have that money to bail out another country In the era, by the way, of America first, all these people talking about America first out there, this thing, that thing, no more immigrants. They're not allowed here anymore. buth Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:06:59
Speaker
America first, all fucking live long day, make America great again. By the way, here's 20 billion fucking dollars for Argentina. Why don't you go fuck yourself? Because none of it is actually true. You just hate people that aren't white. That's what it's about.
00:07:14
Speaker
Well, and also, like, um you know, i I'm stealing this from from another commentator a little bit, but, like, it does resonate very clearly to me. It's like, we also are bailing out Israel. um Sorry, but if you don't if you don't if you don't realize this, Israel, they have free healthcare. care Israel, they have free education. Do you have that in America? You don't. So, I don't know what you're doing. I don't know what you're i don't know what you're fighting for. i really don't. You know, that that's that's the funny thing, is that the Republicans...
00:07:43
Speaker
have done such a great job of convincing poor people that they don't deserve anything. That all they deserve is to be poor. That's just it.
00:07:54
Speaker
and And you see it in ah in the the great troll of a fucking disgusting human being called J.D. Vance. You see it right in him, who wrote this terrible novel about his family, and whatever the fuck it's called.
00:08:08
Speaker
And and you you know that that he he looks at where he comes from in Appalachia and sees all the people that were around him, and he despises them. He despises poor people. And that those are the people that are in control right now. People who despise poor people and somehow...
00:08:28
Speaker
poor people think that they actually stand up for them, that they actually fight for them, that they actually like them, that they get to be in the same club as them. Isn't that interesting? It's same as fucking Moses Mike Johnson. Like he, like he is from Louisiana. One of the poorest. Did just call him the Moses Mike Johnson?
00:08:47
Speaker
You don't know this story? I don't know that. What is that? I haven't even heard that. He literally thinks that he's Moses. He, he has, he, Oh, look, look it up. Look it up. He has a story about how he woke up one night and God told him is the new Moses. I did say the the Onion had a really funny article about him. It was like, ah my Christianity is more about not jacking off instead of helping the poor. Well, you know about this, too. Oh, I do know about that.
00:09:13
Speaker
That he monitors his own son's. uh porn content and and his son monitors his i know which fucked is uh i mean like look they're worried about gay people and kids this is a fucking dad who literally is like talking to his kid about what porn he watches i'm like you're yeah i'm sorry you're worried about drag queens telling a fucking story to people but like seriously we might be a little bit off topic but it all does make sense Things like snap. With everything going on in the world? Yes, absolutely. it's true.
00:09:44
Speaker
Things like snap are going away. Food is becoming more expensive. same The same party that also ran on, we're going your groceries cheaper, has failed utterly. And groceries aren't just, they're they're not they're not cheaper now. In fact, they're more expensive than ever.
00:09:58
Speaker
And like, look, i i I don't live in America anymore, but I live in Ireland where I can tell you, You want to talk about expensive groceries? Welcome to Dublin, my friend. It is absolutely insane the amount of money that I pay for things here. Now, some things are actually sometimes cheaper in a strange way. Like butter is cheaper. And butter here is also really fucking good. Like you have no idea how good it is.
00:10:21
Speaker
um But then there's other things too where I'm paying up the ass for it and and trying to figure out why. And look, Ireland isn't free of this. Ireland is the the richest country in Europe on paper. We have we have the the headquarters of every major software company. Their European headquarters are right here, including mine.
00:10:42
Speaker
um We have ah you know houses that cost... What what what what would cost in in Chicago probably $500,000. We have we have ah houses and and apartments and you know what we would call condos from America. We have them costing $2 or $3 million. here It's absolutely up the wall insane how much things cost here. And, you know, is it any wonder...
00:11:06
Speaker
that like people are really worried about their families. And people are also like not eating as healthy as maybe as they could because healthy food costs so much money. And yeah it's cheaper to just go to to take your kids to McDonald's or you know here to stop at Supermax and just like grab a quick burger or something for them or to get a sausage roll or something like that you know as opposed to like being able to go to the grocery and get some really great food that is nutritious for your family, that is also delicious, that you really love, that you can go back home and cook.
00:11:36
Speaker
And and i I think that's just a really precarious place that we're in So look, just to sum it all up, cooking is terrifying right now because it actually is.
Family Traditions and Cooking Memories
00:11:44
Speaker
Well, yeah, I remember like ah I was for a majority of, you know, my childhood was a a son of a single mother. And, you know, she did every job possible from cleaning offices to a restaurant work to literally anything like she was like ah like a.
00:12:04
Speaker
Like, what do you call that where you like call semis and like tell them where to go? Like she even did like that. job like like And but she also got, you know, back when back when we were younger, they called them food stamps. But she had that for And and honestly, back in the day when we would go to the grocery store, you could only get stamps.
00:12:23
Speaker
certain things and you could only get it was very limited like I I don't remember exactly how it was but I remember my mom being like no we can't get the name brand sure like yeah post cereal we have to get like the bag cereal like the ah in in my town it was called Spartan brand but like we had to get like certain brands that you know you that that were provided by the government and so like but like that's the thing is like When you live in a system where you pay into taxes that go towards these things, then when you have to rely on them, that's what should be the guardrails that help you. so like But that's the thing is that America doesn't actually believe in guardrails.
00:13:05
Speaker
I know. America. And look, like i've I've had to use things in my life that I never thought I would have to use. And, you know, I remember after my, when I was 15 and my dad died and we didn't know what the fuck we were going to do. And all the rest of my siblings are either in college or they're married. And it's just me and my mom at home.
00:13:23
Speaker
And, you know, mom works at the library. She's making barely anything. And like, we're like, what are we going to do? And like, dad didn't have a life insurance policy. We had nothing. I remember that we went to whatever the office was in, in my, in my, my, my hometown in Hobart to like go see about assistance for, for food. But you know, yeah what we would just called food stamps then. And they told my mom, no, she made too much money.
00:13:47
Speaker
That's so ridiculous. and i And she, oh my God, she went off. She went off on them, as she should have. you know Here she is. at At that point, she was you know sixty sixty almost 61 years old.
00:14:00
Speaker
Her husband's just died. She doesn't have anything. And she's just been told she can't get food stamps for her It's ridiculous. And it was I'll never forget that day. It was it was humiating it was humiliating.
00:14:11
Speaker
And that's how they've designed the system in America, is to humiliate you. Not to lift you up, not to lift you out of poverty, but to make you feel worse about who you are. and and and and that And that if you, if you haven't figured it out, if you don't know what you're doing, if you can't feed your children, then surely that's your fault.
00:14:30
Speaker
You did something wrong here. Gross. um All right. We need to, we need to dig out of this hole. ah Well, you you know what? I'll tell you what, one thing to think about is what was it like? Like what foods did we eat when we were growing up?
00:14:45
Speaker
Oh, gosh. um A lot of Hamburger Helper. I'll tell you what, Hamburger Helper all day. It's delish. that That was the main staple. like Honestly, like and you know I don't think my mom listens to this, but and no no no detriment to her, but she wasn't the greatest cook. Oh, God, I love her.
00:15:03
Speaker
Like she, it was a lot of, you know, in the eighties and nineties, it was a lot of prepared meals. It was a lot of like, you know, put something in this and then you get it like hamburger helper. Uh, it was the Bisquick era, man. Like, come on. Yeah. Bisquick pie. Like this thing, this quick pie, the impossible cheeseburger pie. Did you ever have that? Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. I got that a lot.
00:15:23
Speaker
Like those kind of things were like the staples of like my household. Like, for instance, I didn't think I liked um lasagna until I was an adult because I learned very early in my adulthood that my mom made it with cottage cheese, not ricotta. Yeah.
00:15:40
Speaker
And so like, it was those kinds of things that like, which pitch to be fair, you can do that. And it's actually not that bad. Well, now in the era of like, and now in the era of unlimited protein, we need to put cottage cheese and everything. yeah but We, um we, I, I was lucky. We, ah you know, look, we, we were never rich or anything, but mom and dad were really good cooks.
00:16:00
Speaker
And, and ah they, they both made things in different ways. Like my mom was a little bit more, Not by the recipe, but, you know, just given that she was a housewife for so long, which is just what happened back then, um you know, she... That's what she did. She made dinners every night. And so she was really great about making things like and like like ah stuffed stuffed peppers and stuffed tomatoes, um beef stroganoff. She made a great beef stroganoff. It was absolutely delicious. Goulash. Like a really rich, delicious things Well, she had to feed a pack. Exactly. Exactly. She also, um, we, she loved to make homemade pizzas. And so when, when it was like, when it was pizza night like that, we all absolutely loved it. But then she would also make a bunch of them and put them in our giant, uh, our giant like cask freezer downstairs. yeah
00:16:49
Speaker
Um, so we would always have these like frozen pizzas that she had made herself down there. That's so funny. Cause I was telling, i was telling Michael, uh, we, we made pizzas. I don't know. This is probably like eight, and like almost a year ago at this point. But like,
00:17:02
Speaker
I was like, hey, let's buy pizza dough and like make pizza at home. um yeah yeah And he literally was like, he was watching me do it. And he was like, how do you know how to do this? And I was like, because we did it as kids. Did you never do this? yeah And he was like, no, we never ever did this. That's hilarious. Oh, my God. But yeah, like that stuff. And then my dad would make, um he would he wasn't really cooking like with a recipe or anything, I would say. You know, like, yeah, more of like a grill cook probably. yeah like he was he was he was the person who grilled and he was the person who made the family pasta sauce or the family gravy. And that was like the biggest hit in our, in our family and in our house. And he was always very proud of it. He knew that it was really good. And like, frankly, yeah, it was absolutely fucking delicious.
00:17:46
Speaker
And like the the only thing is that when he made it, he made so much of it that we would be eating that from Sunday to about Thursday. I hate that. And like, you know, sometimes you were like, yes, this is the best. It's so good. And other times you were like, if I have to eat this one more fucking time, I'm going to go insane. But I think it also completely like colored me as an adult because that's what I do now. Like I can, I like, I can make tacos or whatever on Sunday.
00:18:16
Speaker
And I'll just eat it until Wednesday. I'll just keep going with it. And like, you know what? i I'm kind of like, yeah, that's fine for me. Kind of works. I'm a one night leftover person. Then that's it. and I can't go beyond that. It just, it does not compute in my brain. Now, I would also tell you, you know, we had the benefit of having my, my, my four great aunts who were incredible cooks and they all knew how to make Croatian food, which was really yum.
00:18:39
Speaker
And so like they would make palachinko and they would, be which are like, um they're like crepes basically in in Croatia. um And they were, they were wonderful. I've got this wonderful memory of, of having Palachinka at their, at their, their apartment and in Maribill, Indiana.
00:18:53
Speaker
um My other aunt Eleanor, she made a really great chicken cacciatore because she, she had like the Italian side. So she knew how to cook really, really great Italian food. And my aunt Pat, um she, she like her household was always baking stuff.
00:19:07
Speaker
So like there was always really great brownies and cookies and like, Every family party that we had always had just a bounty, like ah a big, huge dessert table of all the stuff that they would make.
00:19:17
Speaker
So like, you know, no one in my family was ever rich. That's not who we are or where we come from at all. You can stretch a dollar. but You know how to do it. Well, that's just it. We knew how to do that because we came from poor people. You know, like my great grandpa came from Croatia in 1907, fleeing a famine for God's sake. like That's why he came to America.
00:19:35
Speaker
And he brought with him like knowledge of here's how we also make this food. Here's how we eat so that we not only you know get nutrition, obviously, but that we we love it, that we really enjoy it. And like that's such a great thing. and And in our family, food is definitely love, which is probably why you know we eat so much of
Personal Cooking Habits and Skills
00:19:54
Speaker
it.
00:19:54
Speaker
Yeah. Do you, so do you consider yourself like a good cook or are like, what's like, what's your philosophy on your own cooking? I think that I, I think that I'm not bad at cooking.
00:20:05
Speaker
You know, I, I think, I just think I'm sort of unimaginative now, if I'm being honest, like I've got some nice cookbooks. You're autopilot. Yeah. I've got some nice cookbooks. i'm like, every now and then I'll see one. I'm like, Oh, maybe I'll buy that. But I also know like, you're never going to use it. So, yeah, and like, why am I even buying this? um And like every now and then I'll try like maybe baking something new or whatever. But it's pretty rare that I'm like, you know what? I'm going to try cooking something new. I just I just don't do that. And like, i honestly, I wish I did um because i I would love to try more.
00:20:36
Speaker
um So, yeah, I mean, like you know, I i think I'm OK. I think I know what I'm doing in the kitchen. It's just I wish I was maybe a little bit more imaginative. What about you? Yeah, I think i'm ah i'm right i'm I'm right up there with you. I know what I can do really well. um and i And I can make those recipes. the The thing that I struggle for is like, I can't make recipes for two. I make recipes for like eight.
00:20:58
Speaker
Yeah, fair. Yeah, so like... Um, and so we ended up eating it for like, uh, you know, a day or so. But, um, but I, I know what I'm good at. I do know myself enough around a kitchen to know what I'm doing. Like I, you could, you could literally serve me up any protein and I would know how to cook it. Sure. But like you, like, do I stick to the kind of the same herbs and, and stuff? Yeah. It's just kind of habit, but like, it's also like what I like too, you know, like, so,
00:21:28
Speaker
ah you know and i but yeah I think the only thing I really don't like cooking at home is fish. And it's not i like cook fish it's not that I don't like fish. I like fish quite a bit. It's just, I don't know. It's like whenever I cook it, I feel like i ah feel like I'm not doing it right.
00:21:44
Speaker
And I feel like i feel like it's it's it's like too raw or like, I don't know. And I'm always like, you know... I'd rather just pay for that for someone else. If I'm being honest, like I grew up in the Midwest, I leave seafood
Historical Cooking Horrors
00:21:58
Speaker
to the people by the sea. So like that's, yeah no that it sense like unless it's like shrimp, like shrimp I can do. But other than that, and yeah i just i did I'll just buy it somewhere. and That's fine.
00:22:08
Speaker
Yeah. Well, let's talk a little bit about some cooking horror, if you will. Tell me, Andrew, tell me all about it. So I thought about this a lot because there's a lot going on in the world right now. um And I thought about basic human rights.
00:22:24
Speaker
We like them, right? I think i think we do anyway. let So let's think about one that maybe you didn't realize was only popular until about the 1950s. Okay. And that's divorce. Okay.
00:22:39
Speaker
Oh, sure. Yeah. um Women before the 1950s, it was very hard to divorce your husband unless your husband divorced you um in the Georgian era.
00:22:51
Speaker
ah This is obviously very long time ago, but 1700 1857, only about divorces were granted in the United Kingdom. But they're mostly to men and they cost about $185,000 in today's dollars. Andrew, just just for fun, do you want to know when divorce became legal in Ireland?
00:23:12
Speaker
When? Take a guess. a Probably right after America. So I'd guess like 1962. 1996. Oh my Isn't that absolutely fucking wild? It's crazy.
00:23:26
Speaker
It's crazy. Sorry. I just had to say it though. Well, no, you you may be asking yourself, Andrew, we're talking about cooking. why are you talking about divorce? Well, that's because before people could get divorced, what what would women do if they had an abusive husband or if they had a- Goodbye girl.
00:23:43
Speaker
Yeah, a man that stepped out on them or literally just ignored them or didn't involve themselves in their relationship. Well, there was this whole thing about poison. That's great. And they just literally poisoned their husbands. And and listen...
00:24:02
Speaker
I don't blame them. I've had some pretty shitty relationships that I wanted to get out of very quickly. and if the government Everyone's going to Google Andrew Huff boyfriends dead. yeah you dead yeah are ah ah And listen, if you had no other way of the government holding you to these people, how else were you going to get out of it?
00:24:21
Speaker
you know what? Let's talk about it. Wow. Good by Earl, right? Yeah. So during the Renaissance, two Italian women started making and selling a potion called Acquatofana. Of course they're Italian. Of course they are.
00:24:34
Speaker
While it looked like a pretty perfume, it actually contained high levels of arsenic and they sold over so sold it to over 600 women who used it to kill their abusive husbands. And i and i and i want to I want to just... really harp on that they're abusive husbands not that they were just killing people ah ah ah um by the 19th century arsenic had earned the nickname inheritance powder wow widely used as rat poison you could buy it in the pharmacies for next to nothing since it it was tasteless and odorless it was easy to slip into someone's food especially um since a woman's place at that time was in the kitchen
00:25:15
Speaker
ah One woman, Mary Ann Cotton, earned the nickname The Black Widow for using arsenic to poison five husbands. Jesus. God, she was really trying hard there to get the right one, wasn't she? Fuck me. and and And her mother and children, so she wasn't a great lady. Did she do that? but Okay, but was that on accident, though, or did she do that on purpose? I think she just really hated her life.
00:25:38
Speaker
Oh, dear. well Well, you know, actually, come to think of it, there was a ah story in the news recently. I can't remember where it was, but and maybe it was in France. There, there was a woman who, who killed her husband with like, with poisonous mushrooms.
00:25:51
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I've also heard on purpose. I've also heard of people not, not to kill them, but as like a revenge tactic of putting like visine in people's drinks.
Food Safety Concerns
00:26:03
Speaker
Like, uh, I drops. Yeah. yeah It gives you horrible diarrhea. oh no, I did not know that. Wow. Yeah. Um, so i'm I'm making a list of people right now and buying visine. Yeah. And your and your and your ah list underlined, if you know what I mean? um um So I want to talk about some of the the most widely uses of this, the most famous. There are three women that kind of came up. Erin Patterson is a widely publicized Australian case. Erin Patterson was convicted of murdering. I think this is the one that I was thinking of.
00:26:39
Speaker
was convicted of murdering her in-laws and attempting murder on her husband's uncle with a meal of beef wellington containing death cap mushrooms damn tell you what i love a beef wellington too me too that sucks real nice damn i'm gonna be thinking about that now though jesus all right melody johnson arizona woman pleaded guilty to poisoning her husband's coffee with bleach While they were stationed in Germany, her husband became suspicious due to a foul taste using testing strips to confirm high chlorine levels and set up hidden cameras that caught her in the act. Hello, Sixth Sense. Yeah, for real. But like, how did the coffee stay the same color if it was bleach?
00:27:20
Speaker
And how do you not taste bleach? Bleach is like the bleachiest thing on fucking earth. Like, how do you not? Like, i listen, dude, if you're drinking that coffee, that's I think that's kind of on you. If I'm being real, like you're dumb.
00:27:33
Speaker
All right. And ah Sarah Sheffer, a Missouri woman, was arrested after her husband found a bag labeled Lily of the Valley in their home after he fell ill. Hidden camera footage reportedly showed her making a smoothie with a toxic plant's root.
00:27:50
Speaker
She later admitted to putting it the substance in his food to cause harm. Where are all the documentaries about these people with all this hidden footage? I want to see it. i' feeling I'm feeling much better now.
00:28:02
Speaker
ah but And then, um you know, just to bring it back to modern day, we're right literally in the middle of a listeria outbreak here. oh I heard about that with pasta, isn't it? Yeah, it's nine different ready to eat pasta dishes that are sold at popular grocery chains like um Ralph's, ah Sprouts, Trader Joe's, Kroger, Albertsons. um They were provided by Nate's Fine Foods, which is in California. Not so fine anymore. Unfortunately,
00:28:31
Speaker
They just, it, it, it, Listeria is one of those weird things. Like I don't, I don't, I had to look it up because I was like, well, what really is Listeria and Listeria is really it's a bacteria. yeah Yeah. And it really just causes a lot of like, um, abdominal pain and like diarrhea and that kind of stuff. But it's really bad. But for some reason it's really bad for obviously the elderly, but also for pregnant women. It's especially like very bad for them. Probably terrible for your baby. Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:59
Speaker
And so right now, literally, like this happened, I think a week ago, they like sent out the, you know, FDA alert of like, don't buy these things. Or if you have these things in your freezer, you know, get rid of them. That's scary. I mean, like, like, you know, think about it, like it's coming from Trader Joe's. Like, God, I've bought a a shitload of fucking like, you know, ready to eat kind of stuff from from Trader Joe's before. That's terrifying. That's why you go to Trader Joe's is go to the freezer section. Right. God almighty. Jeez.
00:29:26
Speaker
Um, also have you ever, okay. So I'm, I, I don't know this about you, but like, have you ever accidentally caused food poisoning to anyone? Uh, not that I know of me neither, but it is one of those things that I worry about. Like, I remember when learning how to cook chicken, like being like very over paranoid about like, um, like handling chicken, washing chicken, you know, making sure it's cooked all the way through.
00:29:52
Speaker
And so I wanted to talk a little bit about the worst cases of food poisoning that we've ever seen. my God. in the, in the world. I'll tell you, all I can remember the the worst one that I've ever had. I'll tell that story later. Jesus. I don't think I've ever gotten food poisoning. I think that I've just been hung over. You know what? I listen, I pray you never do for real.
00:30:11
Speaker
All right. I don't know if you've ever heard of these. These were all new to me. These these three cases of food poisoning. But in 1984, the Rajanishi bioterror attack. Have ever heard of this? Rajanishi? No. ah So this was 1984, obviously the year I was born. So I didn't hear anything about it. um The followers of the spiritual leader Rajanish deliberately contaminated salad bars with salmonella in the Dallas, Oregon.
00:30:39
Speaker
Their goal was to incap incapacitate voters to influence a local election. Isn't that crazy? is this um Is this the... you Remember the um the... What do you call it? The the Netflix show a documentary about like the...
00:30:59
Speaker
i don' I can't remember the name of it right now, but it was like about ah was about a religious cult in America. and and I wonder this is connected. I'm i'm sorry. keith i'm I'm just talking out loud. keep No, no, no. i I had never heard of it. So I looked it up a little bit. And it was basically about like a local election that they wanted to sway their way so that they could basically keep their... um and keep their cults intact, basically. um But when they went... Yeah, yeah the um the the Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country, that's what I was thinking about. It's about these people. yeah that's Oh, interesting. Yeah, crazy.
00:31:33
Speaker
So 751 people were infected with salmonella during this. That is terrible. Thankfully, no one died, but 45 people were hospitalized. Wow.
00:31:45
Speaker
that If you don't think about that and that how elections are ran nowadays and how corrupt it's become, ooh, child, we might be in for a crazy 2026. Don't give them ideas, Andrew. Don't give them ideas.
00:32:01
Speaker
All right. Between 1992 and 1993, Jack in the Box, which I've actually never had. um I've had it a couple times. Yeah. when i when When I was a kid, when we were doing road trips, we would have stopped at a couple of those.
00:32:12
Speaker
um There was an E. coli outbreak. remember this. I do remember that. Undercooked beef patties were the cause of this outbreak in the United States. 732 confirmed cases and four children died. Did you know another little tidbit about Ireland? It is illegal to cook a burger or any sort of minced ah meat, whether it's turkey or chicken or whatever. You cannot get them anything else than medium, medium well or well done.
00:32:39
Speaker
Those are only two choices. That's it. So yeah, it's, trust me, as someone who really loves medium rare burgers, it's, it's tough here. Sometimes I think if I came to Ireland, I would only be able to eat smash burgers because if I get any sort of thick burger, that's well done. We do he do have some good smash burgers. I will say that we do.
00:32:55
Speaker
And then my final one is in 2008, the Peanut Corporation of America. Yes, that's a thing. PCA, baby. Yes. There there was a salmonella outbreak. It was one of the largest food recalls in American history with 714 people sickened across 46 states. So it spread. actually nine people died. I'll tell you you, know, I mentioned my own, but... um i I got food poisoning in Hawaii when I was there. I might have told this story before, but just because we're talking about cooking, here we go. Yeah. um It was the same day of the nuclear ah the nuclear missile, ah ah what we thought was going to be attack. And it turned out that it was not actually. It was a false alarm.
00:33:39
Speaker
And that night after we were done with our work, me and the people that I was working with, we went to go get dinner as we always did each year. And and we went, you know, we we go somewhere special with a great view and all that kind of stuff. And this time we went to, um, we had not been there before. We went to Maui brewing company and Maui brewing. I big fan of their beer, huge fan of their beer. And they had recently opened a a rooftop in Honolulu.
00:34:04
Speaker
So we go to this, of course, it's a beautiful rooftop thing. You know, but the ocean is right there for God's sake. It's, it's gorgeous. And I was the only one to get fish tacos.
00:34:14
Speaker
The only one. And you know, look, fish in, in Hawaii is incredible as you might imagine. Um, and I go out that night with my friend Amy who lived there and we get to the first bar and like, she like got a babysitter for her kid and everything's cool. And and why we love going out together. So we were about to do like karaoke and all this stuff.
00:34:33
Speaker
And we got to the bar and i so we sat at the bar and I had one beer and I was like, Amy, something's not right in me right now. And it it was more than just like, you know, like when you have to go kind of thing.
00:34:46
Speaker
This felt like something like like a monster was in me. And I was like, Amy, I think I have to go back to the hotel. She's like, are you fucking kidding? I was like, no, I think I had to go back to the hotel right now.
00:34:56
Speaker
We get back there and like i'll so I'll save you the gory details. But it was it was awful. It was awful. And I i was just like crying the whole time because i I felt like I was going to fucking die. like that's That's how terrible it was. i was calling my sister Katie and she's like, you're not going to die. You're not going to die. and like then I also had to tell because i I was supposed to leave the hotel room the next day.
00:35:18
Speaker
I had to call the hotel. we were in the Hilton there. And I was like, I i am so sick. I'm about to die. and they were like, don't worry about it. Just stay in the room. Rest. We'll bring you some stuff. Like those nice people.
00:35:30
Speaker
They brought me like crackers and ginger ale and like that kind of stuff. But it was it was fucking awful. And it was, you know, it was all kinds of things coming out of me. Do you know what i mean? yeah And ah after after it's like after you have food poisoning like that,
00:35:47
Speaker
the next day when you don't have it, hopefully you don't have it, you feel like you have a new lease on life. Yes. you're You're cleaned out. You're ready to go. You're like, oh my God, I feel, I love life. i'm a God, thank you. I'm going to, I'm going to stop sitting and be a good boy from now on. I'm never going to eat a chicken nugget ever again. Right, exactly.
00:36:06
Speaker
But yeah, like, listen, don't, I just pray that none of you ever get food poisoning because you none of you deserve it. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy except for a couple of them.
Media Recommendations
00:36:16
Speaker
to be honest. yeah there There are a couple of people that can get it routinely. That's fine. um But I think that does it for horror in real life. Andrew, a quick... Yeah, i'll so I just want to order some chicken tenders right now, I think.
00:36:28
Speaker
I literally just said don't eat chicken nuggets. i could order chicken don't How about instead of ordering chicken tenders, we go on to our next segment, which is What You've Been Watching, Bitch.
00:36:40
Speaker
Let's all go to the lobby. Let's all go to the lobby. Let's all go to the lobby to get ourselves a treat.
00:36:51
Speaker
And now it's time for the world famous. What you been watching, bitch? What you been watching, you Barefoot Contessa, Anthony Bourdain, Jamie Oliver, Garten, bitch. I was wondering when you were going out of it. Yeah, those are just people that I remember. That's what happened.
00:37:14
Speaker
This is a segment of the show where we talk about what we've been watching, what we have our eyeballs on. And Maddie, please tell me what you've been watching, bitch. Andrew, I'd love to. The first one i will say is Frankenstein.
00:37:28
Speaker
um And I wrote down cinema here, Andrew. Actually, I watched that on Netflix. I lied to you. I don't know why I said cinema. Liar. So and I actually did mean to go see it in the cinema um because this is one of those that that Netflix is releasing in the cinema like a couple weeks before.
00:37:43
Speaker
And then and then it's on Netflix, you know, from that date forward. So um I started watching Netflix last night. I was real hungover yesterday because I was at a benefit gala the night before got home late. I'm too old to pretend like I'm 21, but I did. Anyways, ah started watching Frankenstein yesterday, and this is the new one with Oscar Isaac and Jacob Ellardy and um Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz. And and it's it's a really great cast.
00:38:11
Speaker
I got to tell you, it's really good. huh Good. Really, really loved it. um I think Frankenstein is, it's such a it's such a sad story.
00:38:23
Speaker
like oh yeah. it' So, so incredibly sad. And this version of it, I think Guillermo del Toro, like i've I've seen that you know a couple of a couple of the the the friends that we know from from this podcast land um on Letterboxd really trash it.
00:38:39
Speaker
And like, say it's overblown and it's overdone and the script is this blah, blah, blah, blah. And like, and like one person said, someone needs, someone needs to learn how to tell Guillermo del Toro. No. Oh God. I'm being honest. Y'all can go fuck yourselves. This movie was beautiful. It's gorgeous. It's big. It's epic. It's, it's, it's not that long in terms of like the actual length of the movie. I was, I was actually kind of surprised at it. um It really clips along, which I, which I appreciate.
00:39:07
Speaker
And I think it's it's really perfectly cast. Like Oscar Isaac is fantastic as Dr. Frankenstein. And you, like this is not a spoiler because it's Frankenstein, duh. Like you will hate him so much and he does such a good job at allowing you to hate him. And Jacob Ellardy, or however you say his last name, um as as as as the creature or as the monster, is fantastic.
00:39:35
Speaker
he's so Andrew, he's so good. And ah you you almost like can't believe how good he is. like Anything else that he's done before, this this takes the cake. He was outstanding as the creature. And like I've seen different versions of Frankenstein, as we all have. I have never felt so much sympathy for the creature before. Like like to the verge of crying. like it's the The way that it gets done in this is so well done.
00:40:00
Speaker
And he plays it, you know, like Jacob Ellardy is extremely good looking. We all know this. He's got a great body. We all know this. You forget about all that stuff because he's able to play the the humanness of the creature in a way that maybe I've never seen before. I really enjoyed it. Mia Goth is is really great, although she's not...
00:40:19
Speaker
She's not in it like all that much just because of of of her character. um And Christoph Waltz is Christoph Waltz as always, to be honest. So like I i had a great time with it. um It really moved me. I actually went and bought the book today. Believe it or not, never I've never read Frankenstein.
00:40:33
Speaker
And i thought, you know what? This is the time to read it. Because as as far as I know, this version is pretty close to what Mary Shelley actually wrote. um And so I went and bought it at the bookstore today and I started reading it already. And I'm i'm just I'm I'm really delighted that the story was made new and made fresh for me. So I don't know. I i hope that all of you like it because I just thought it was so beautiful. um Andrew, I think I think you're going to like it. I do.
00:40:57
Speaker
um And I and I hope that you do. That's it. Cool. Yeah, I just haven't had a chance to check it out. It literally came out this weekend as of this recording. So ah maybe maybe today. I don't know. i don't know where the day takes me. yeah um my My first one is currently on Paramount Plus for those that have subscribed or you can rent it or whatever. And it's the Naked Gun. How was this?
00:41:21
Speaker
This is the new one with Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson. um that it It famously is it's Frank Drebin Jr. So it's it's it's literally like the son of, you know, Frank Drebin continuing on. So and listen, I grew up on these absurdist comedies yeah of of these like the naked gun. I'm trying to think of what was the Charlie Sheen one. Oh, I'm blanking on the name. I know what you're talking about. i can't think of the name at all.
00:41:49
Speaker
ah But like these were you know scary movie before scary movie. like These were like these kind of like just absurdist comedies where everything is fucking insane. And i'm I'm happy to see it come back because I think we all need a little bit of absurdist in this time where literally our real our our real life seems like absurdist comedy. so Honestly, yeah.
00:42:11
Speaker
I had a ton of fun with it. It's an easy, like exactly like 90 minute watch. Pamela Anderson is is back being just, you you forget how funny Pamela Anderson is. She's awesome. you You kind of always think of her as like, you know, Baywatch obviously, but like she, she's actually a really, really funny actress and she like plays it up. Seeing Liam Neeson come down from like his like taken, have a set of skills. Right. And doing like the more like, you know, ah this kind of comedy is really fun. And and they do a little homages to the originals, um which I think was really sweet. And I really liked it. So I would definitely recommend the naked gun. Good. I'm glad you liked it. That's awesome. And you're right. We do need more laughter because.
00:42:56
Speaker
I don't know about you. Are you crying every day, too, anymore? think I'm crying right now. Yeah. Like, I mean, for real. i was I was talking to some other friends about this, too. Like, literally, I cry every fucking day.
00:43:06
Speaker
awful. And I am... I think we're all depressed. Yeah. just I'm just going to say, i think I think everyone that I know is, like, is like clinically depressed right now. Yeah.
00:43:18
Speaker
Okay, anyways, on to the next movie. And here's here's one that's really happy. It's called In Waves and War. um This is a documentary that is on Netflix. Apparently it came out in 2024, but I think it's only on Netflix now. um And um it is ah it's it's it's very good. it It is about Navy SEALs.
00:43:43
Speaker
And the the the the title comes from ah Homer's Odyssey. And it's when Odysseus says, by now I am used to suffering. I have endured so much in waves and war.
00:43:56
Speaker
And so it's talking about these these Navy SEALs who and just in case anyone out there doesn't know what that is. It's like the most elite force of the American military. Like these guys can do literally anything and they are expected to do anything. Basically, um these are guys that were in Afghanistan.
00:44:15
Speaker
And like they, you, you, you meet, you meet probably about like five or six of them, I would say. And they have all come back from war, um, completely traumatized with PTSD.
00:44:28
Speaker
And, you know, there, they, there, there's a lot of, they, but within the documentary that you, you meet them, you meet their family if they have one. And they just kind of discuss like what the aftermath of it was. And and in each of these cases, it's always like, you know, these are like, these are warriors. Like that's what they are. That's what we're built up to be.
00:44:45
Speaker
And these warriors have come back to, you know, that in the most cases, suburban America and have to learn how to be human again and then not like not go out and do what their job was, which is basically to kill.
00:44:56
Speaker
And and how hard that was and and the the incredible trauma that they went through and all the terrible things that they've seen. And what there's there's there's this one really like what the.
00:45:07
Speaker
the The main point of the film, I'm talking all over the place tonight, I'm sorry. The main point of the film is they all go get therapy and they get therapy by using psychedelics. And there is a lot of research right now that I think a lot of people don't want to pay attention to, that psychedelics can be incredibly therapeutic for people with trauma and for people with depression.
00:45:29
Speaker
And that for whatever reason, it helps to rewire your brain so that you can become just like normal again. And you're not suffering all the time again. So anyways, that's that's sort of like the end point of this. But in order to get there...
00:45:43
Speaker
um You know, each of these guys went through this therapy and they have to like go through this interview first and they they show some of the interviews. And there's this one interview where um the the the the woman who was the doctor is asking them questions.
00:45:55
Speaker
And she asked them questions about like, you know, about their time in war and how many things they saw, how many times they were put in danger, how many times this, how many times that, how many times this. And I've never thought about that before with them. And like there was like one guy who... like it was like the The question was something like, were you ever in a ah time and place where you thought you were definitely going to die? And he says, yes. And she says, is it one to 10 times? No. Is it 10 to 20 times? No. Is it 30 times? No. Is it 40 times? No. Is it 50 times? No. Is it 70 times? No. Is it like 200 times? Yes.
00:46:34
Speaker
Like imagine that. Like, I mean, I've had a couple of times where like maybe I thought this might be it, but like imagine that happening to you over and over and over and over and over again. Like eventually your brain is going to freak the fuck out. And that's, you know, for a lot of guys that that's what, that's what happened.
00:46:51
Speaker
Anyway, it's a really great documentary um because like i really respect people who go into the military. but've' you know i've got you know Many people in my family were in the military. My dad was. My my my grandpa was. my My nephews are right now. um And I think it's insane the things that we ask some of our soldiers to do and then expect them to just be normal after.
00:47:16
Speaker
And I think that we should really think about, you know, what are we, where are we sending these people? What sort of situations are we getting ourselves in that we're putting these guys in such harm's way and, and in some cases ruining their lives?
00:47:29
Speaker
Is it really worth it at the end of the day? I don't know. There's a lot of questions that you have from this. So it's a good documentary. I really do recommend it. Um, and it's really interesting stuff about, about psychedelic drugs too. So there you go. More on Netflix.
00:47:43
Speaker
You know, you brought up the Odyssey and it triggered in me an obsession that I had as a child with that story. Really?
00:47:53
Speaker
And i just thought to myself, why have we never gotten like a big budget Odyssey? And then I looked it up. Christopher Nolan's literally making it right now. so Oh, isn't he making it with um a ton of people? It's like every person. but Isn't Ralph Fiennes? Is he Odysseus?
00:48:08
Speaker
I don't know. i just, look I literally Googled it. So hopefully it's good. Yeah. um Yeah. Like most young boys, I was obsessed with mythology and Greek mythology and all that stuff. They're all like half naked.
00:48:21
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. It was an excuse. but All right. My next one is a new reality competition show on Shudder. It is called Guts and Glory. Have you heard of this? Not at all.
00:48:35
Speaker
um So basically, it's it's Greg Nicotero, who's famous like makeup ah prosthetics person. That's awesome. And he put on a show, and it's ah it's five episodes. It's really easy to digest. And it's ah ah basically about these people that think they're going on a competition show. And it's it's kind of like a weird blend of like competition show, but then some of it is staged... like I honestly think that that half the cast is actors and half the cast is real people because they need to like play a narrative. Like each episode is like a little like competition, but it's framed within like a horror movie.
00:49:13
Speaker
Like ah there's one episode where their, their ah bus breaks down and they have to go into a, ah ah what do you call that? Like a yard junkyard to go like find parts for the bus. But there's also like a monster in the, in the junkyard. And so they have to like try to figure that out and everything. God.
00:49:32
Speaker
I don't know. it's It's not a bad show, but it definitely reads like um early Boulay Brothers like kind of filming. You know what I mean? like where they they're They're still kind of figuring out what the show is and like how to do it. But because it's only five 25-minute episodes, it's very easily digestible. And it's pretty fun if you like horror, but like it's not like the best reality show I've seen. Listen, as it is a connoisseur of reality competition shows... You That is true um it wasn't my favorite but i still thought it was fun i don't know if if you ever watched like fear factor or um god there was this one on sci-fi that shannon doherty hosted back in the day where they would just scare people scare tactics scare tactics yeah i i love the description where they would just scare people they they literally would but um um And it's kind of a blend of those. So I would say like scare tactics and fear factor kind of blended into like a weird Greg Nicotero device. That's cool. And well then the winner gets a Hyundai Santa Fe. so All right, baby. Yes.
00:50:41
Speaker
But it was it was a fun show. but And it's something on Shudder. Listen, I just actually forgot to cancel my Shudder account, so I just got charged for the year. So I gotta watch it. and I haven't watched stuff on Shudder
Film Review: The Menu
00:50:52
Speaker
in so long. wow It's the thing, like I already pay for AMC+, plus which comes with all the stuff on Shudder. I'm just an idiot and Rocket Money didn't tell me to cancel it. you know i'm I'm at this point now where I i am starting to like get rid of stuff. Me too. i I got rid of Disney Plus because of of all the the Jimmy Kimmel shit and and even after they brought him back i was like, you know what, actually, I'm still fucking done with you.
00:51:16
Speaker
um and like and There's other things now where I'm like, you know what, I actually don't use you enough. Like I'm, I'm done having you. I'm done paying for this. Just, just so that I, like I think I need to have it. Like it's, it's a little ridiculous. It really is. Yeah. Um, my next one is one battle after another. Um, this is the latest film from Paul Thomas Anderson. Um, and man, it's really fucking good.
00:51:41
Speaker
It's really, really good. This has Leo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Chase Infinity, Benicio Del Toro, Regina. I really love Regina Hall, by the way. I just think Regina Hall would no wrong. Especially, I've talked about it before on the show, but Master, God, I fucking love that movie. She's so fucking good in it. ah Tiana Taylor, but a bunch of people. It's a huge cast.
00:52:01
Speaker
And um it's really, really good. I really, really enjoyed this movie. um This is ah the the little blurb about it is when their evil nemesis resurfaces after 16 years, a band of ex revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own.
00:52:19
Speaker
um And that pretty much explains it right there. that You know, I i think um it's been fun to watch like directors that I really like ah make Westerns because that that that's happening a lot now. And like this is definitely Paul Thomas Anderson's Western, even though There Will Be Blood was also a Western. I get it. But like this is definitely ah a Western and and it's a big shooter you know good big good car chase kind of kind of thing but it also has so much heart and i think leonardo dicaprio does such a great job in this role um he plays a stoner dad who also happens to be a leftist revolutionary who you know back in the day was doing some really crazy, cool shit. And then when he had to go into hiding, he just became a stoner.
00:53:04
Speaker
He just became a stoner dad. that that That's what he became. And so all of a sudden, when he has to reactivate, you know as the as the thing said there, after 16 years, and he's got this daughter who's you know grown up and she's in a lot of trouble, and he has to go and find her again and figure it all out and like...
00:53:21
Speaker
get there, it's really remarkable. it's i think it's I think it's a wonderful story. i think it's a wonderful story about love. I really do. about About family love and about loving your children and about loving your parents and about the bonds that you can never... Oh, going to start crying. The bonds that you can never break and and and the the things that you will do for the people that you love. And i think that's what it's about.
00:53:43
Speaker
That's what I think it's about. And I think it's really, really beautiful. And it's also fucking funny. There are so many funny parts in this movie. So bla blah, blah, blah, blah. If you had the chance to see it in the cinema, I hope you did. um But if if not, yeah, watch it on your TV anyway. i I can't wait to buy it so I can watch it again. It's a fantastic movie. One of my favorites from 2025. Cool. Yeah, I don't know. I honestly don't think I've even seen a preview for this. So I'll have to look it up.
00:54:09
Speaker
um my next one is on netflix it's nobody wants this season two um have you watched any of this show yet didn't even know season one existed so i brought it up on this show before about again tell me so it's basically about um kristin bell uh she plays a podcaster of of all things um and she falls in love with adam brody's character who is a rabbi Oh, yeah you you talked about this very recently, didn't you?
00:54:37
Speaker
ah Season one, I talked about it like a year ago, probably. yeah but um Season two just premiered. um I, of course, binged the whole thing. That's fun. I'm in love with this cast. And um this season is more about um Adam Brody being a very devout rabbi and his family being very devout Jewish and him um kind of tossling with the idea that he may be...
00:55:04
Speaker
Yeah, maybe the woman that he fell in love with is never going to convert. And what does that mean? And what does that do to their relationship? And they are figuring that out. And that's like what season the crux of season two is all about. And so like,
00:55:19
Speaker
Once again, i just really love hearing other faiths understanding of how the world works and like understanding like different religions and like how it all works and like how it works within communities and like how they all evolve and figure things out. And I think that this is a wonderful illustration of you know kind of more of an atheist side of things and more of a Jewish side of things and coming to ah be in a relationship with one another and how you figure that part out.
00:55:50
Speaker
And so I think it's a really good show. It's really funny. It's really heartfelt. It's, um ah you would love it because the mom of Kristen Bell is the mom from Hocus Pocus. And she does, she does a little bit of an homage when they have a little bit of a Jewish Halloween party. So I'll just say that.
00:56:08
Speaker
Madonna. Well, obviously. um That's awesome. I love it. Yeah. So that sounds heartfelt. I'm looking forward to watching it. ah My final one, guess what, is a throwback. It's Stranger Things Season 4. Yes, it came out a while ago. I thought about going back to what rewatch this just in preparation. So let me tell you, because the new one comes out like right after Thanksgiving, I'm pretty sure, or maybe right yeah before. It's like three three different release dates. It's very yeah strange. but So look, like i I highly recommend going back to watch it because there is a fuckton that I forgot, and like...
00:56:43
Speaker
like connections that i didn't remember and how is this person related to that person and actually what is that character's name even there's so much that i forgot because it's just it's been a long time since season four came out um so i recommend going back to watching the whole thing um i did and you know what i had a blast watching it i really did it's like after all these years i mean how long has the show been going on now since 2016. don't started that Are you for fucking real?
00:57:12
Speaker
And this is only season five. So, so I mean, basically 10 years. ten Basically 10 years. um It's wild. And like, you know, it's such a great show. After all this time, it is such a great show. And I'm so glad that something like this was made. And the kids are all so good. And the adults are all so good. And the story is so good. And I i can't wait to see them come back. I can't wait for this last season. and It's going to be emotional. I can tell you that much. You know me. um But I'm looking forward to it. And season four, it was a delight to watch again. So look, you know what it's about. I'll leave it there. That's it. Watch season four of Stranger Things before the new one comes out. There you go.
00:57:52
Speaker
Yeah, I'm I'm um I'm happy that they have put a period on the sentence because we need this to like wrap it up.
00:58:02
Speaker
But I still enjoy watching it. So I don't know what I'm talking about. Totally agree. All right. My last one is is very local. I apologize, but I just wanted to send out a little shout out this. This is the things that we do sometimes.
00:58:17
Speaker
um This is the shock Chicago Repertory Ballet's version of it. It's called the Capulets. It's basically it lives in the Romeo and Juliet universe.
00:58:28
Speaker
um Let me tell you a little bit about it. So um I went to the ballet. ah It's ah Michael's ah high school friend. He is the director of this. That's awesome. We went to it.
00:58:39
Speaker
And um think about it this way. So what if Lady Capulet, when she finds out that Tybalt died and you see her very emotional ah reaction to that, what if there was something more to that that you didn't know about?
00:58:58
Speaker
And what if Lord Capulet had some, I don't know, some eyes on Paris and maybe there was something going on there that we didn't know about. Love it. Into it. And it's all played out through ballet. That's awesome. And so it's the Capulets. It's going on right now in Chicago. You can go get tickets. And I think it's going through November. So you should be able to go see it. Wonderful little ballet little bit. of a smaller theater so you really get to see up close all of the fucking thighs man these people have thighs for days i love them you know and it was really fun i dated a ballet dancer once i would never do it again is so intimidating it's so intimidating andrew like it's just it's like you think you want that and you're like actually i i can't even look at you kind of thing to be honest yeah it's crazy
00:59:52
Speaker
um That sounds wonderful. um god I haven't been to the ballet in forever. I love Romeo and Juliet. So that sounds really interesting. And good on them for making something really bold and original. if that think that's And it's cool because it's cool because Romeo and Juliet are in it, but they're very backseat characters. It's really not about them.
01:00:10
Speaker
Get those love-lorn teenagers out of here. um Andrew, what a great addition of what you've been watching, bitch. Andrew, did you know that you brought us these four things? You brought us the Capulets at Chicago Repertory Ballet. Nobody Wants This, season two on Netflix, Guts and Glory on Shudder, and The Naked Gun on Paramount+. plus And I don't know if you remember, but you brought us Stranger Things on Netflix season four, One Battle After Another, which is currently in theaters, and Waves and War and Frankenstein, both on Netflix. How wonderful. Listen, folks, take a little break right here. and We'll be right back with our first film of the episode, The Menu.
01:00:58
Speaker
Good evening.
01:01:01
Speaker
Welcome to Harthorn. It'll be our pleasure to feed you. Tonight will be magical. Over the next few hours, you will
01:01:18
Speaker
We're eating the ocean. We're eating the ocean. Are you crying? It's just I find it all very moving. So it's okay that I'm not as into this as you are?
01:01:30
Speaker
Oh, my God.
01:01:33
Speaker
You shouldn't be here tonight.
01:01:38
Speaker
You, my dear guests, are not the common man. Isn't that right? Yes, sir! So you're gonna keep doing that? What happens inside this room is meaningless compared to what happens outside. Yes, sir!
01:01:53
Speaker
We are but a frightened nanosecond. Yes, sir! Nature is timeless. Yes, sir! What the hell is going on? I love you all. We love you too, chef.
01:02:06
Speaker
Any questions? Is this bergamot I'm getting, a chef? Yes, it is.
01:02:23
Speaker
I'm not really sure what I'm in the mood for. Do you think I could see the menu? Maddie, tell me all about the menu. Painstakingly prepared, brilliantly executed.
01:02:35
Speaker
A young couple travels to a remote island to dine at an exclusive restaurant where the reclusive celebrity chef has prepared a lavish tasting menu. With shocking surprises for every guest.
01:02:48
Speaker
As the evening unfolds, the dinner turns into a macabre spectacle that forces the diners to confront their secrets, guilt, and privilege. The menu is directed by Mark Milod, or Milod. I don't know.
01:03:01
Speaker
how Do you add did you know how to pro pronounce his name? Nope. Milod? Maybe it's Milod. I think I'm the last person to ask about pronunciation. That is that's a that is a good point, Andrew. Um... the ah The menu was written by Seth Reese and Will Tracy.
01:03:16
Speaker
Production was by Hyper Object Industries and Gary Sanchez. Production distribution by Searchlight Pictures. Ralph Fiennes plays chef Julian s Slowick.
01:03:26
Speaker
Anya Taylor-Joy plays Margot and Aaron. Guess what? She wasn't really Margot. Nicholas Hoult plays Tyler Ledford. Hong Chao plays Elsa. Janet McTeer plays Lillian Bloom. And a lot of other people are in this, including John Leguizamo and some other people that like you don't really know their name.
01:03:42
Speaker
um the film is rated r it's 107 minutes made in the usa ah came out november 18th 2022 which is a lot earlier than i thought i thought it was only a couple years ago uh filmed in savannah georgia and the budget was 30 million and of course because it's on netflix we don't but there there wouldn't be any gross here so that is the menu andrew i know this is not a first watch for either of us so tell me what it was like for you on this watch well I don't think this was a Netflix release because I saw this in the theater. Oh, not Netflix. and and Right, right. Sorry. Sorry, sorry. got Never mind. But regardless, I was not able to find any gross on this, which is kind of strange. But there we go.
01:04:22
Speaker
Yeah, but I mean, I i think ah Oscar nominated ah Ray Fiennes, I think, of this movie. Did he get that for that? I know that he was up for some ah some awards this year. but Interesting. um Yeah, so I saw this in the theater back in 2022. This would have been one of the...
01:04:40
Speaker
I think the first movie I went back for after COVID was scream. And then maybe this one after that, but I don't really remember. um But ah yeah, I remember going into this thinking one thing.
01:04:53
Speaker
ah I thought it was going be cannibalism and getting something else, which was a good surprise. freak movie um I, I think that this movie is brilliantly shot. I think that it's a beautiful looking movie. Yeah. I think that all of the character actors, you know you you mentioned ah John Leguizamo. I'm trying to think of what the woman from, ah not Judith. Yeah, Judith Light, right? Judith Light, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:05:22
Speaker
and So a lot of those those people all do a great job of their like own little ah inner like monologue type of... ah you know They all have like their own little pocket of like what's going on in their lives. I think that those are really interesting. I think that Elsa is brilliantly played by Hong Chao. I think that Annie Taylor-Joy is Annie Taylor-Joy. I think she's fine. i think that Nicholas Holt is a disgusting human being. in this movie but that's what he's supposed to be there usually I usually love him so much and this one I'm like god I actually fucking hate you yeah I bet that's the point um yeah so like overall like I think this movie is really good um I'll dive into what I think is a little bit flawed about the movie in a in know as we kind of talk about like the inner workings of the plot and everything but like when I look at this from like a top-down perspective I think it's a really fun like great looking movie
01:06:17
Speaker
What about you? Yeah, no, i I would agree with you. The the movie looks beautiful. um I mean, not not to mention just like the actual location where they are. um I didn't know that it was in Savannah, um but it makes perfect sense that it that it is. um Because that's what Savannah is like down there. um It's that beautiful island with those, you know, like the the the the timbers on the beach and all that kind of thing. The grasses. Whatever building that is. It's ah it's it's stunning. like it's ah It's a stunning set for this movie.
01:06:47
Speaker
um On top of like, you know, a really, ah but some some great some great costume work. Very simple costume work, but great costume work. I mean, these people look like they work in a fine dining restaurant and they act like it too. And they are dressed like they do. um I think that um i think that it's it is a fun movie. they go it' is This is a fun one in in whatever way, you know, a bunch of people getting killed could be fun.
01:07:15
Speaker
um And I think that it's maybe just a little uneven in the writing for me. And and that's that's where it just doesn't always work for me exactly. um But I don't know. I mean, like, I think, you know, that this was my, what, probably my third time watching it. I think I had a better time watching it this time than I did the first time.
01:07:34
Speaker
I remember okay the first time when I saw it, I would have seen it at at my house. Why did I think this was on Netflix? What am I thinking of? I don't know. Who knows? Who knows what's in my brain? i don't even what's in my brain. um But I would have seen it at my house. I would have streamed it. so i would have rented it or however. i would maybe Maybe it was on. Is it on Disney Plus? Is that how I watched it?
01:07:52
Speaker
Probably. I think it's definitely on something because I watched it for free. so It's on Hulu or whatever. So it's probably on Disney Plus for here hear for me. So yeah, I would have watched it on Disney Plus. um And the first time I watched it, I just remember thinking like, God, i i really hate Nicholas Holt so much in this. And I remember like thinking like, I just feel like this movie is full of a bunch of cartoons.
01:08:12
Speaker
But then like, I don't know, like sometimes you you you come down off your high horse and you're like, actually, maybe that's the point. And like, especially with Nicholas Holt, like, That is exactly what he is supposed to be. He's supposed to be a foodie cartoon who, frankly, is extremely goddamn annoying. Like he's in a very annoying person, which, quite frankly, a lot of foodies are.
01:08:35
Speaker
They are annoying and they think they know everything about food. And they take pictures of every single fucking thing and put it on Instagram. And it's annoying. Like it's, it's, it's really, really annoying. um and it doesn't like make you any better of a person that like, you know, what something is supposed to taste like. And like, you know, here it is, this guy's at a natural fucking creep. um What else? I think that I liked Ralph Fiennes better on this watch in this one. I mean, look, Ralph Fiennes is a fucking master. um But for whatever reason, when I watched it the first time, I just remember like not being fully into it. But this one, no. I mean, look, he really, he fucking commits to it. um You know, Anya Taylor-Joy is a story's
01:09:14
Speaker
so she but Is she ever really bad in anything? Do you know what i mean? No, I think that she is pegged to play kind of the same in everything she's in Completely agree. And you know what? It continues to work. It does it just does. So that's really great. I think Hong Chao was really good in this. I think she's an absolute delight. Seeing Judith Light in anything always makes me happy, you know? Um, John Leguizamo was surprisingly less annoying than he usually is, if I'm being honest. So I enjoyed seeing him in this again. So I guess what I'm saying here is like, you know, yeah, I had a better time watching this around on like the I think this was my my third my third view.
01:09:52
Speaker
Then I did on the first for sure. yeah And also I really wanted a cheeseburger after and I ordered a cheeseburger immediately after. But no, i I mostly agree with you. I think that just like the thing on this watch for me was just like the... um the reasons why that these people are there in, in Ralph Fiennes' eyes and in Chef Sloick's eyes, his motivations are a little bazonkers to me. yeah Like it's like, so like, he so he had a bad day and he watched a bad movie. And so now all of a sudden, John Leguizamo and his, and his ah assistant have to die. Like, you know what I mean? like guys It doesn't make any, that like that doesn't make any sense. Like his regulars that pay him, what was it? $1,250 a head. ah You know, he, he only cares that they don't remember the food. Like, I don't know. There's just like certain like things on this watch. I was like, seriously, like, but then like when you think about the movie and you think about like what it is, it is about the narcissistic nature of, you know, chef slow. Like he thinks the literally the world revolves around him. Like that's true. Like, yeah. Like that's the whole movie. And so I kind of have to like divorce myself of logic when it comes to the motivation of our of our main antagonist. And I think that they do a good job of like ah slowly um rolling out like what's going on and slowly rolling out like what's really going on with Margo, you know, slash Aaron. And you find out, you know, much much later in the movie that he hired her to basically, basically she's a sex worker and he hired her to accompany him on this because if he doesn't have a plus one, he can't come. But, he but the thing that really fucking drug me this time was he knew all along that this was a suicide mission and he drug, he dragged this poor woman with him. And like,
01:11:53
Speaker
that struck me this time is just like what a fucking asshole man i mean i think i think that you know just thinking about like like the sort of over the top reasons that's that's yet like another thing that's a little bit over the top is like okay nicholas holt's character is a complete asshole is a complete piece of shit but like would he really go knowing that he's gonna die It seems to. i guess so. I mean, like, I mean, it's just I guess that's a some of the stuff that is, pardon the pun, a hard to swallow. Yeah,
01:12:25
Speaker
It's like, man, that's a little bit too out there, if we're if we're being honest. But I mean, look, sometimes you you just got to let it go and watch a movie. Yeah, you know, look, I i think when ah just i ah I'll go back to it again, and then I won't talk about it again. But like, I think I was really hard on this movie when I first saw it. And this time i was a lot less so and sometimes it's good. Like, you know, like I said earlier, you got to come off your high horse sometimes.
01:12:49
Speaker
Yeah, i I did think that like some of the stylistic choices of the director or cinematographer, I'm not really sure who decided on this, but like there's some of those things that they do really well. like I loved, and I didn't clock this the last time I watched it, i clocked it this time, is like the even the title cards, it it the title card opens with invites you to experience the menu. like i like I like those kind of like little things, and I like that we get like the little shots of...
01:13:18
Speaker
um each of the courses, like even like breadless bread plate. And the best one, of course, is at the end when it's like s'mores and then like it's like, you know, graham crackers, entire marshmallows, and then staff, chef, guests. Like that that's actually like really fucking funny.
01:13:34
Speaker
Yeah. And and so those are the parts that I think are highlights of this movie. I think like, I don't know, like ah it's really hard for me to get over like the, the meaningless, meaningful things. Like, know I mean? Like, uh,
01:13:50
Speaker
like The guy that like gave him the restaurant, essentially, is the first one that he drowns like because he's a capitalist and had exploited like the system. like Yeah, so does so does every fucking buddy in capitalism. It's just how it works. like I don't know. like Guess what? if you if you but Chances are you listening to this and us actually doing the show, we're actually all sort of like symbolic capitalists. You just got to get over that, man.
01:14:15
Speaker
Yeah. And like, there's a one point I love the back and forth because at the the ah John Leguizamo's assistant, he's like, well, why does she have to die? And he goes, oh, what school did you go to? And she says, Brown. And then and then he goes, did you have student loans? And she goes, no. And then he goes, I'm sorry, you're dying. like wait a minute Wait, remind me, because I honestly don't I can't remember this right now. And I hate myself for it.
01:14:41
Speaker
Why did Judith Light have to die? uh she was one of the ah regulars who didn't remember what they had they had been there like 10 or 11 times and they couldn't name one dish that they actually tried like okay like i'm sorry that's actually a bullshit reason like judith light didn't do shit her fucking husband's cheating on her and like ah and like she's like look he was the one that probably i mean look given their relationship i just want to point that out i'm not trying to make a statement about feminism here the the The husband is the one with probably with the money. He's like a lawyer or some shit. Like, it's not her fault. Come on. Well, and he's horny for his own daughter, which is yeah really gross. Like this, it's it's pretty fucked up, man. Like, i I think Judith Light did not have to die. I'm just saying that out loud.
01:15:23
Speaker
That's how I feel about the assistant, too. And and the and honestly, the ah assistant food writer guy. Yeah. What did he do, for God's sake? Agreed, I guess. Yeah. Like, come on um But listen, i I'm kind of like poking a lot of holes in this movie, but I do think that there's a lot of ah little writing things in here that I think are really funny. Tell me. think that when... um the uh bros are asking for bread for the breadless bread plate and um you know hong chow kind of leans down and she goes you'll eat less than you desire and more than you deserve i was like oh that's pretty good oh yeah um i liked the whole thing about how why do you why do you think she did that what do you what do wait what do you mean like why do you why do you think she she chose to say that to him and because he's being an entitled asshole yeah
01:16:15
Speaker
Um, I, I like the whole, um, when they go outside and they make the men run to like, try to escape because hilarious. My God. But I just really liked that. Like that one, um, server or cook, I can't remember if she's a server or cook. Um, but she basically tells a story about how he came on to her and she denied him and he came on to her and she denied him. And then she stabs him in the thigh. It's like a, it's like punishment.
01:16:41
Speaker
um And then all the men have to run around and you know try to try to figure out how to get off the island and they capture them. There's a lot of things to really like about this movie. One thing I do want to talk about.
01:16:52
Speaker
Why? Okay. Thrust yourself into this situation for a second. Do you not think you're going to fight harder than literally any of these people did?
01:17:03
Speaker
To stay alive. Well, and that's what's interesting is that he actually tells them that later on, you know, he know says, you, you're going to be thinking about how you could have fought back and you, and you, and you could have escaped. And honestly, you probably could have, and they're all sitting there probably thinking, my God, he's right. Why didn't we do anything? But like ah you know, that's the thing. It's like, when you get that, who can ever imagine that you're going to be in that situation?
01:17:26
Speaker
I don't know. i mean, it's like, i I would hope that I would, but also maybe I would be so aghast at what I'm looking at that I couldn't. Or maybe there's a part of me that's like, I have to keep seeing what will happen next.
01:17:39
Speaker
I think it would depend on who I'm there with. Like if I'm there by myself, I probably blend in to the, to the, like how these people did. Sure. But if I'm there with like you or Michael or like any of my friends that I really, really care about and really know their, how their intentions are, I think that we would band together and beat the shit out of these people. I i tell you what, I have fucking hope we would. Jesus Christ.
01:18:05
Speaker
um A couple other things I thought was really funny. um There's a part where they're eating like I think it's the scallop that's like on like the raw rock like the seaweed and the one guy just goes we're eating the ocean. It's really funny.
01:18:20
Speaker
um I thought that, you know, the kind of like the the shocking part that kind of kicks off like the the main action is Jeremy, who like creates the mess ah when he shoots himself. And and I was like, know it's holy shit.
01:18:36
Speaker
um I just thought that that that that was very shocking and the way that it plays out. And like, i I would never like, I'm sorry, like, I could never have that kind of blind allegiance to anyone i work for. Like never ever in my life.
01:18:51
Speaker
my god no i mean to literally kill yourself to literally shoot yourself in the head for it my god it's insane i did like these twist with the coast guard character i thought that that was wild i actually even though it was the third time watching it i forgot about that and so when he uses the gun as a lighter it was like oh fuck that's right how mean How mean is that?
01:19:12
Speaker
Right. And just to think of like all the, that that's like the craziest thing about this movie is that you have to imagine that someone went through so much to set this entire thing up. Like that's the insane part of this. Like I understand that it's like the ending of his life. And so he's, he's making a spectacle of it, but like to think even, Oh, on the off chance that someone finds the worst, one radio behind the locked door that only one person has the key to we have to have like a backup plan.
01:19:44
Speaker
you know You know, I gotta tell you, like, is there any movie or story about a chef where they're just normal? Do you know what I mean? It is always, have you ever worked for a chef? It's the fucking bear where they're going fucking crazy and constantly on the verge of a panic attack, or it's the menu where he's literally going to kill every guest that he has and himself, or it's the next movie that we're going to talk. mean, it's like anytime you see a chef, they're always fucking insane. It's crazy. Well, as someone that worked in restaurants for almost a decade, can tell you this is true. Yeah.
01:20:16
Speaker
Especially when I worked in fine dining. um Our chef was ah amazing and wonderful, but he was very intense. like like well say Say more about that. I worked for a restaurant that was at the ah a top of a hotel. It was fine dining. I think that our price point, i would say probably it was like about $100 a head. Okay. Sure. All in. um And we had a chef. a He was Eastern European. I can't remember if he was German or French.
01:20:44
Speaker
from like that area you know i mean and he he was really wonderful he was actually a big marathon runner and like did all this stuff but when he got intense like when you fucked something up he got in tense and it was like turning on a different switch that you had never seen before and it was one of those things where you were just like okay whatever oh can you give all good can you give us an example Um, I, he never really was really like that mean to me, but I did have a, uh, actually the person that catered my, my wedding actually, uh, was his, uh, uh, for a time was his sous chef. Really? And, um, there were a couple times where I saw him go off on him that I was like, and you know, at the end of, at the end of shift or whatever, they would always, you know, be like, Oh, sorry about that. Like we were just in a moment, dah, dah, dah, dah. But I think the the people that we were serving were like the Mr. Bissell, like a Bissell vacuum. Yeah. Sure. that
01:21:38
Speaker
the van andles the the devosses like we were serving very high-end clientele that if you didn't get it perfect it was gonna you know it was it was gonna be the end of you and so that was a lot of pressure and i think it just caught up to him sometimes wow as it did everybody i think we were all under a lot of pressure it was the weirdest two and a half years of my life that's crazy that's so wild it really is But yeah. ah Anyway, back to this movie. I don't have too much more to say. i um i thought it was interesting that he wanted to kill his own mom also. yeah the The end is... I mean, that's just it. like it's it's there there I think that there's like... I mean, you know, what you just said there, there's not much more to say. i think I think it's kind of it about this movie. Like...
01:22:24
Speaker
Don't get me wrong. It's fun. And I was just telling Andrew, like I actually bought the movie because it was the same price to rent it or to buy it and because I don't have that streaming service anymore. um It's like I have it and like I'm not mad that I own it. Like i'll I will watch it again. I might watch it like on on the plane going back to America, for example, that would be a good plane watch. But like, i don't know, there's this there's not a whole lot more to say about it. Like, I think like it, it the, maybe the statements that it's making like as we, as you and I just expounded, right. It's like, they don't, I don't know. It's like, you're, don't know. You're killing her cause she doesn't have student loans. Like yeah it's not really her fucking fault if her family paid for it. like that my favorite list It's not, it's not really saying anything. It's just saying like, Oh, chefs are crazy. That's basically what it says.
01:23:06
Speaker
My favorite line from that assistant lady is when they're all kind of sitting around awkwardly during the women's dinner and she goes, yeah it's the emoji for me. Because she doesn't know like what she's talking about. But but but but you know just just to say, it like i'm not I'm not panning it. I'm just saying like, okay, all right, some people die. There you go. that's base I mean, that's basically it.
01:23:28
Speaker
Yeah, yeah it's it's a very, for being like a very complicated movie, it's pretty straightforward. If that makes literally any sense. Well, Andrew, what did you rate it? Tell me that. So so here after I get the 13th, we judge on a seven stripe scale for the seven stripes of the gay old rainbow. And I give the menu a five. i think it was ah a wonderful little movie. And I said, while the main villain's motives are very flawed, the character work and plot made this a very enjoyable watch.
01:23:53
Speaker
Very nice. I gave it a four, but i'm going to give it a four and a half. because I just I feel like I'm being too mean with it um and I said you know I think this one enjoys a very talented cast but sometimes the script makes it a little bit insufferable but maybe that's the point yeah well that will do it for the menu we will take a quick break and be right back with House of Spoils this filet about look so sexy you're gonna leave your wife hell yeah that's how it's done watch and learn I'm leaving to be head chef at my own restaurant
01:24:25
Speaker
We have a beautiful site upstate. All yours, baby.
Film Review: House of Spoils
01:24:29
Speaker
We're pulling off a fine dining restaurant in the boonies. It is make or break. We gotta make you the next big thing. I don't need them burnt, I need them delicious.
01:24:45
Speaker
Move, move, go. I've never seen queens like these. them we only want the best. Got it.
01:24:54
Speaker
What's pro-Sciuto? Prosciutto? Oh. You OK, Chef?
01:25:03
Speaker
Yeah, I'm great.
01:25:15
Speaker
yeah okay job yeah and great The previous owner? You know about her? Everyone around here has a witch lady story. I wouldn't need anything from her garden. You've been watching too many tales from the crypt, my dude.
01:25:31
Speaker
Come this way. Come. We have a squading risotto.
01:25:42
Speaker
It was hot. This spoon can get very hot. What was that all about? Look, there is something very wrong with this place. You are the chef. Oh my god. This is on you. You're continuing to have anxiety? This feels different.
01:26:06
Speaker
I really believed you when you said that you were ready for this.
01:26:11
Speaker
Now watching you fall apart.
01:26:16
Speaker
Ugh. Hope you're all still hungry.
01:26:39
Speaker
Well, we hope we don't spoil this movie too much for you. Andrew, tell us about the House of Spoils. Hope you're all still hungry. An ambitious chef accepts the challenge of opening her own fine dining restaurant on a secluded estate. As she battles kitchen chaos, self-doubt, and and a demanding investor, she also begins to uncover increasingly disturbing signs ah that the property itself harbors a dark history and a powerful presence to determine and sabotage her success.
01:27:11
Speaker
Directed by Bridget Savage-Cole and Danielle Crudy, also written by the same team, production distribution were handled by Blumhouse Television, Divide & Conquer, Secret Engine, Amazon, and MGM Studios.
01:27:24
Speaker
ah Ariana DeBose plays Chef. Oh, I didn't realize she was unnamed, just named Chef. um Barbie Ferreira plays Lucia. a Arian Moed plays Andreas. Martin Kasokas plays Marcelo. And Amara Karin plays Hirel Sen.
01:27:43
Speaker
This is rated R. It comes in at 101 minutes. It was in filmed in Hungary and released on September 21st of 2024 to Amazon Studios. you can If you have an Amazon account, you can go stream this movie right now. Woo! Because I did miss this the first time around, even though Maddie brought it up and I forgot to watch it. But anyway, Maddie, tell us all about your experience with House of Spoils. Yeah, sure. um So a House of Spoils, I mean, the reason why I watched it is because Arian Mojada's in it. And Arian, I've talked about him before on the show, but he just happens to be somebody I went to college with. And, um, we've had other people on the show before I went to college with, uh, for example, and also happy Anderson who was in bird box and mind hunter and a lot of other stuff.
01:28:30
Speaker
Um, and I would say out of all the people that I went to college with, um, Ariane and happy have, have hit it the biggest for sure. yeah And, um, and there, and, and like, thank God, because they're really, really great people. And, um It's, you know, i've I've said this before, but like, it's fun to watch Arian be an absolute dick on screen, because it is 100% not who he is in real life. He's just, he's a very nice guy. it's I think that's how probably all of us would remember him from from i you um He's just a really sweet dude who was always nice to people. And You know, took acting really, really seriously and was always friendly and and always, you know, really generous with his art, too. um And i'll I'll tell you that I buts looking back at college, my God, it's so so long ago. um But seeing him on stage in college was electric. I mean, he was just he was so fucking good.
01:29:27
Speaker
Anyways, um that's why I watched this. I think I watched it last year. um and And it was just like a random thing. I just happened to see that he was in it. And i was like, oh you know what? I'll turn it on. Why not?
01:29:39
Speaker
And um and i I found myself watching a really little wild, bold film. like strange horror movie. And, uh, you know, I don't think this is a perfect movie by any means, but I think it's pretty good. and like, it's a pretty cool idea. Um, it, the, I'd say the only thing about the movie that can be tough is if like you don't like watching people eat things oh yeah this is going to be a tough one for you because like there's a lot of like close-ups on people's mouths yeah and it's like squishy and they're biting off like it's just like it's like it's it's kind of gross in that way but you know look it's it's supposed to gross you out that's that's kind of the whole point
01:30:22
Speaker
um This is the story of Chef and, and you know, Andrew explained it in the the synopsis, but Chef is enticed to go and and open up her own restaurant with with an investor played by Arian. And she leaves this really, we don't know what the restaurant is, but apparently. Taurus. The name of the movie is Taurus. Taurus. Oh, was it, was it Taurus? Okay. Yeah.
01:30:42
Speaker
So she leaves Taurus, which is a ridiculous name for a restaurant. but the Exactly. She leaves Taurus, which is apparently in in the world of this movie is like a really great restaurant. And when she leaves, you know, she tells Marcello, Marcello, the guy who owns it. And she's like, Hey, I'm going to go do this. And he's like, I'll double your salary.
01:30:59
Speaker
And, um, She says to that, I would say yes, exactly. 100%. we don't know what she makes, but he says right after, hey, sit down, have a glass of wine. You're rich now. So it must be a lot of money. um And she decides, nope, I'm not going to do that. And she goes off on this venture. And, you know, sure as shit, things start to go really, really wrong. um And like, you know, at first glance, it seems like, wow, this is going to be really cool. It's this beautiful house ah in in like upstate New York, i'm I'm guessing. And, um, it's, you know, it's beautiful. It's, real it's old. It needs work, obviously, but like, it's, you know, what a cool place to have like a, a, a, a Michelin star kind of restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Like that might be really, really cool. And it must be really enticing for a chef like her who clearly can command a very big salary and must have a great, uh, uh, reputation.
01:31:50
Speaker
um Watching things go wrong is really interesting. What I like about the movie is that you you you pretty quickly find out that there's a ghostly presence, a witchy presence that is involved in what's going on here.
01:32:01
Speaker
And it really toys with you. And you don't really find out until you know nearer the end about what this force is actually trying to do. And and i I think it's interesting how it continues to play with you. I will say this time, the part where she goes into the tunnel.
01:32:21
Speaker
i like Tunnel stuff tunnel stuff i is very hard for me to watch. like I don't know about you, but look yeah the descent? Oh my god. The idea of being in a cave and not being able to back up or get out of the the tunnel that you're in or whatever the fuck.
01:32:37
Speaker
That makes my heart beat really fast. And i and like that's like anxiety inducing. and And I'm never going to be in that situation. Hopefully never. um Because if if I was, I would just probably die. like i would just I would just be dead. um And that part was very, very hard to watch. um And look, and it turns out in the end that you know this the the presence that is in this house is the presence of this woman, Sarah, who ah you know like the local legend is that she was a witch and she was sacrificing people. Actually, it turns out she was just helping people. And so you know you get a little like kind of feminist sort of story here, and you know it works out in the end. you know is this Is it one of my favorite movies? No.
01:33:19
Speaker
But do i do I think it works because the people all really do commit to it? Yeah, I do. like i think um I think Chef commits to it in a really big way. She doesn't have a choice. I think sometimes the writing for her can be a little silly. It just sounds a little...
01:33:35
Speaker
It sounds a little too like highfalutin sometimes in a weird way. um I think Arian does a great job being a dickhead. Even like Lucia, who who could be a throwaway character. You know, she actually does a pretty good job in this. I really love the kid Alvin, who's like the kitchen help.
01:33:51
Speaker
yeah um And I just think he's kind of funny. And yeah, that's where I'm at on it. How about you? Yeah, so obviously the first time watch for me. So um i don't have any issues with any of the characters. I think that those are actually pretty well, ah you know, pronounced. And I actually think that for the most part, they're pretty well written. had my biggest issue with this movie is that it just can't stick to like what it wants to do. Like,
01:34:18
Speaker
I feel like when it wants to get spooky, it gets spooky, but then it kind of leaves it alone. when it wants to get serious, it gets serious, and then it leaves it alone, and she's pooping. You know what I mean? Like it just like the whole like the idea of the movie. I just wish that they would just like commit to the bit, if you will. Like I wish that they would just like pick a lane and like try to figure out like what you want to do with it. Because like every time that it gets silly, it gets serious. And every time that it gets serious, it gets spooky. And then every time that gets spooky, it gets silly again. Like it's just kind of fair assessment.
01:34:53
Speaker
It's just kind of the the tone is just a little bit all over the place for me. And so it was hard for me to like settle into the universe of this movie, if you will. You know, I'll tell you that along with that, one thing that I noticed this because this is my second time watching it. One thing I noticed this time is that it definitely seemed long to me. Like it's, just it's a little long long yeah and like, and like, look, I wasn't, I wasn't not enjoying it. Like that wasn't it. But I, I just, I remember looking up and going, Oh wow. ive Is it not over yet? Like I, I kind of forgot like how long I had been watching it and it's, it's a hundred. to So it's ah an hour 41. It's not, I mean, it's not that long if you think about it, but like it feels a little long. So I'm, I'm with you. Like I do think like,
01:35:34
Speaker
Some of that dithering that they did could have been taken away. Like, I mean, to be fair, like we didn't, we didn't need her on the toilet. If I'm being honest, like right we we could have known in another way that she got sick somehow or that she's experimenting, but I don't know. Do I need to see you with diarrhea? Not necessarily. You put your hand over your mouth and you run away like that. Exactly. Right. And then and you you get rid of another two minutes right there. you know I don't need to see acclaimed actress Ariana DeBose on the toilet. but like Honestly, yeah. But I mean, like like, listen, I hope I never have to do a scene like that in my life, but she did a pretty good job with it even still.
01:36:07
Speaker
Yeah. um But like, because there are certain aspects of this movie that I really like that I don't think get explored enough. Like, I like like the witchy stuff. Like, I wish we could get more, like more of that. Yeah, because it doesn't ever get it doesn't truly get revealed until the last like five minutes of the movie. Like what's going on?
01:36:26
Speaker
um And they don't really it never really truly understands. Like, so when she first gets to the house, everything keeps showing up either spoiled or she sees it as spoiled or moldy or bugs. And like, we never really understand like why, because if like, if this witch was truly about like healing and about like helping and all that stuff, then why is this happening at this house? Like I, the the two stories don't go together. Like I don't, I don't really get it. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. I i do like, I i do have to say like, I'm intrigued by mold bread and I, yeah there's actually a part of me that wants to try it. Cause it actually sounds kind of weirdly good.
01:37:08
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I'm sorry. that ah I'm going to say with this one thing about this chef. She definitely does not eat with her eyes because everything she makes looks are awfully disgusting. Right. Well, I mean, and that's the thing. Like, it's like our Aryan's character even says that it's like, this looks like a belong. like like It came off the bottom of a shoe is one thing that he says. yeah And they're like, just try it. and they And he's like, oh my God, it's the best thing i've ever had in my life. So it it is one of those things. Like once again, like the stuff that they eat in this, it just looks so bad It's very gloopy. Yeah, it's gloopy is a's a good word for it, but apparently it tastes very good.
01:37:43
Speaker
No, and that's what I'm saying about the movie. Like, I'm not faulting any of the characters because I actually do think that Chef, Lucia, Andreas, Marcelo, like they all have very well-rounded characters that I understand and I understand their motivations and everything. It's the plot that doesn't quite...
01:38:01
Speaker
match up for me that like i'm just like what are we like what are we trying to tell like is this like a is this a spooky witchy movie or is this like a perseverance of like this main character movie like it i don't know i'm being a little bit hyperbolic about it but like it just it it made me a little bit frustrated as a viewer to just be like no i don't i don' I don't think it's hyperbole. I i think i think i think you're right. I mean, like I don't know. Who was the director again? The name is... bridget Savage it Cole. And Danielle Crudy. um You know, look, i I don't know those people at all. I'm sure that they're very talented people. But look, if you've got two directors, sometimes that can be a problem.
01:38:41
Speaker
Maybe that's the issue. Yeah. You know, like, I mean, how you don't often see a film with two directors. And in this case, it looks like they also wrote it. Right. And that's wonderful. But works. And there you go. But I mean, two directors means two different ideas about a vision and about the direction and about the storytelling. And so like, ah you know, once again, look, I know nothing about how this film was made at all.
01:39:04
Speaker
But, you know, with with two people, it's not just one person making decisions. So maybe it's not a surprise that you feel that way based on having two people in that role.
01:39:14
Speaker
Well, it just it's it's like, think about this. So, we you know, we're supposed to believe at the end of this movie that um the ah the the quote unquote witch or coven of witches were like healing witches and da da da da. But they also have a jar of braids. Like, what?
01:39:29
Speaker
why Why do you need a jar of braids of women's hair? you're like a healing witch. i mean, youre and like, maybe that was, but ah but and that's the thing is that because we don't learn enough about them, we don't know. So like, you know maybe the braids were like, maybe that was like, maybe like that was like their initiation. Like they like, okay, ah but a lock of our hair goes in here. And like, that means you're part of the coven now or whatever. the fuck i mean, who knows?
01:39:50
Speaker
But if there had been a little bit more about that, that could have been really interesting. Now, i mean just looking really quick at these two women, looks like they were both on the stand. The the late the one from 2020. Rough, which really not good. And they were they were both directors during that series. Oh, interesting. you're both directors. So, I mean, there there's one thing for sure. There's also another one called... um Now, here's one thing I will say is that they... I did not know this. They they both directed Blow the Man Down. So they must work as a team all the time. Yeah. yeah um So they directed ah a film called Blow the Man Down, which I have seen, um and it is very good. I really, really enjoyed that movie. But like that one is is sort of like a we hate men. Let's let's let's kill these awful dudes, which is a great thing. um and like and And it's and it's wonderful. like I had a great it's from 2019. If you haven't watched it, highly recommend. um But I don't know. Just two people as directors. That's tough.
01:40:53
Speaker
I think. Yeah. And like, there are certain things in the plot that like, don't make a ton of sense. Like I, I'm not, I don't want to speak for these two directors, but I don't think that they've worked in restaurants before because like, you don't just like blindly buy into someone having a restaurant without even having, like they go to that, that dinner at the beginning at that like coastal estate or whatever. yeah And they're having like, they're having like a meeting about like what the restaurant's going to be.
01:41:17
Speaker
And I'm like, you guys didn't talk about this before? yeah That would have been done a long time ago. it does and does um And there are parts like that are played for shock value, like when she accidentally chops the top tip of her finger off. Like that. It's a it's a shocking moment. But then like a scene later, she's totally fine.
01:41:35
Speaker
like like what happened i will say this this this movie did remind me that i need to buy a new set of knives and i actually want to take a knife skills course fun like yeah that would be really just fun to do and and good to have yeah um yeah you know look like i said definitely not perfect did i enjoy it yeah i did i still i still liked the movie i'm it sounds like i'm like hating out of no but it doesn't have way at all I still liked it. I think a lot of the dialogue is really good. I love the part where she's talking to Lucia. It's towards the third act, but she basically says something about her being a woman. And she just looks at her and she goes, fuck you, you sexist ass bitch in my beliefs. And I was like, that's awesome. She said, you can sleep your way into a job, but it doesn't mean that you can keep
01:42:25
Speaker
Yeah, that's rough. to A woman talking to a woman that way is honestly. Yeah, it's true. um So I do think that there is a lot of it's weird because like, I actually do think the writing in this, especially the dialogue, especially with those three principal characters, I think are really good. totally it's like It's like the story that doesn't quite work for me. so like I think it definitely could have benefited from just being a tighter a tighter story, a tighter plot, and a tighter film. yeah and And if they had followed those things and maybe given us a little bit more about the witches, i think that i think that both of us would have probably scored this higher.
01:43:02
Speaker
Yeah, because guess what I really liked? I really liked the line, um life to dead, fruit to spoil. Now it's time to feed the soil. I was like, that's good. I like that. More of that, please. And it's cool. And I like i really love that. i the The one shot like where you see all the women who are part of the coven. Yeah, yeah. like I thought that that was like it was like really touching. You know what I mean?
01:43:24
Speaker
But like i you know I suppose, too, part of the mystery like really does revolve around, like, not knowing what this coven actually did and so then i i understand the challenge but then what is all the stuff at the beginning about like all of the like spoiling of the food and the bugs and all that stuff like what does that have to do with them being healing loving witches like you know what you know what andrew that's a fair question i mean what do yeah what do you think I mean, the only thing I can think of is that they were just trying to protect their own property or whatever. And like, that's how they were trying to like get rid of her before they know her like true motivations of being there. That's the thing I'm kind of handing to the the directors and and the writers of this movie. um But I don't, that's like the one thing I don't think they do a very good job of just like conveying of like, what are the motivations of these like ah spirits? Because explaining the main thrust of the movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:44:20
Speaker
Because I think they do a great job at the end of like showing like, oh, this is the twist and this is the the witches. And now all of a sudden she has the power to like, ah you know, go off the cuff and like do her own thing and like heal people through food. I like that part of it, but you didn't tie it to the beginning.
01:44:37
Speaker
So, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fair, but it's fair. Okay, Andrew, what'd you rate it? Tell me. um I'm going to give this one a four. um And i said i said, this one is just just doesn't commit to the tone. Is it spooky or is an underdog story of triumph? I still don't know.
01:44:53
Speaker
i'm going to give it a five just for the Aryan factor. I can't help it. And also I did like it. I said, look, I think it's a bold if long idea and one that actually does commit. It's by no means perfect, but what a story and what a turnaround at the end.
01:45:07
Speaker
Yeah, well, that will do it for horror in the movies. We'll take a quick break and be right back to close out the show with a little game. Shantae, you stay. Shantae, you stay. Shantae, you stay.
Conclusion and Game Segment
01:45:19
Speaker
Shantae, you stay. Shantae, you stay. Well, folks, that does it for episode 153 of Friday the 13th Horror Podcast. But before we go, a little game. And it is a simple one. It's called Hottie of the Episode. And basically, we're just going to tell you who we think was the hottest person in these movies. Andrew, who is the hottest person for you?
01:45:40
Speaker
Listen, i'm I'm going to be honest. There were a lot of choices, but not a lot of choices, if that makes sense. It makes perfect sense to me. It truly does. um So ah me personally, um thinking about all the people that I i spied, ah we were talking a little bit before this, but like there are a lot of really good-looking background people in the menu, so it's kind of hard to pick them out of like a a lineup. So i I just have to pick the one that kind of came forward in the movie.
01:46:06
Speaker
And that is ah Jeremy, the one that kills himself in the menu, played by Adam Alderks. It looks like his name is. He was probably, you know, i like a person with a pronounced nose, if that makes any sense. think it does He has a pronounced nose. So I think I'm going to go with with him as my choice for hottie of the episode. What about you?
01:46:26
Speaker
In a rare occasion, Andrew and I have the same choice. In real life, we mostly have different different tastes in men. um But, yeah, I mean, look, I i think he's good looking. now The only thing I will tell you is that Andrew and I were we're just Googling him together.
01:46:40
Speaker
And there is, listen, Adam, if you're listening to you listening to this and you're you're not, but you are you're a good looking man. i just want to point that out. But there's one photo of you. need to change your Google photo. On Google and on IMDb, that is not a great photo. And look, look it's ah everyone has a bad photo, including me. I have many bad photos of me. um But this one, not great. um But you and the menu, looking good, my friend.
01:47:05
Speaker
Looking very good. Why do you have... Why do you have a mugshot as your IMDb picture? That one needs to go. So look, that is Hottie the episode, folks. And once again, Andrew and I chose the same person in a rare occasion. Listen, folks, we hope you enjoyed the episode. And if you did, i want you to remember that we are a proud, independent podcast. And that means that no one funds us but us. And some of you. And you. So listen, if you want to be a part of that, ah we very much welcome your support. But here's the thing. We're not like some other podcasts out there where we have a Patreon where you got to pay like 10 bucks a month or this thing or that thing or there's hidden episodes. We don't do any of that shit um because we don't want to. And we never wanted to. And we don't want to ever because honestly, it just doesn't make sense for us. And we don't want to ever put things behind a paywall. So.
01:47:56
Speaker
That means that if you want to support us, the best way that you can do it ah is possibly by going to our website at www.frygay13.com slash support, where you can become a patron on our Patreon. And look, ah people who have heard this before. You can you know stop listening. But um if you're new with us, listen, there's there's different levels there. But Andrew and I say this every single episode.
01:48:20
Speaker
We just want you to do the dollar a month. That's it. And a dollar a month, just 12 little bucks a year is a great way to support us because thankfully we have a really great community of listeners who really enjoy the show.
01:48:32
Speaker
And enough of you at 12 bucks a month, that helps us keep it even, baby. We don't make any money on this show, trust me. But we ah we we do have to pay for quite a few things during the year, whether it's equipment, whether it's the Zencaster service that we use to record, whether it's our website or this thing or that thing, it all costs a little bit of money. So we would really appreciate if you can help us. And listen, if you can't afford it, that's okay too. There's another way that you can support us. Andrew, tell us about it.
01:49:01
Speaker
Yeah, and before we move on really quick, I just wanted to say thank you to our new patron, Scott. Oh, fantastic. Awesome, Scott. Scott, you have a message in your Patreon inbox about recommending a movie for us, so please go take a look. Yeah, thank you for being with us, Scott. Thank you. If you didn't know, if you join at the $5 level, you can recommend What You Been Watching bitch for us to watch. Yeah, baby, yeah. watch report back. So another little fun thing. And there's also like group chat in there that's pretty fun. There's things that we do do on there. It's just not our main thing. Yeah. thing is for you to follow us on socials so that would be blue sky uh facebook we still one of those if you remember what that is and instagram um along with threads but i don't think threads is the thing that people do but i don't know what people do anymore at all it's like facebook facebook is basically just a garage sale all day you know it's weird ads yeah it's such a weird thing
01:49:58
Speaker
um But you can also for free ah and for the for the low, low price of free, you can leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or $3.99 baby free $3.99.
01:50:10
Speaker
I want to say thank you to Louisa who all always comments on our Spotify episodes. I really appreciate you giving us the feedback. Honestly, like sometimes it feels like we speak into a void and nobody ever hears us. So like when people do reach out to us on social media or leave a review or leave a comment on Spotify, It does mean a lot to us, least at least to me. i'm I'm not speaking for Maddie, but I'm pretty sure it does. Oh, it doesn't mean anything to me. I mean, I hate these people that. the Yeah, we've but just been doing this for eight years for for no reason. so like yeah Listen, folks, if you if you can keep doing literally anything for eight years, but especially a podcast um and and, you know, at and at one point was something that becomes an international podcast.
01:50:52
Speaker
you gotta like it. Yeah. Like that's just how it works, man. Yeah. Sorry. It comes with the, comes the territory. but like I this, this podcast is the low, low cost of free. So if you can do anything to help us, we would truly, truly appreciate it. But at the end of the day, all that we truly do ask for you to do is for you to go ahead and go slayed.