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As Above So Below
31 Plays8 months ago
Decend with us, lovely audience, into the depths of Hell- I mean Paris- as the ReShoot crew tries to fix As Above So Below.
We do not, nor do we claim to, own the rights to this film in any way, shape, or form.
TW: suicide, claustrophobia, death, hell/religion, murder, descriptions of violence
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Horror Movie Experience
00:00:00
Speaker
So, when I watched this, I watched it by myself with headphones so I could warn Hector about jump scares because he really hates jump scares. And I was about two thirds through the movie and I told Hector, don't worry, the jump scares aren't that bad. And not five minutes later, not only did I jump and audibly like yelp, I nearly shat myself.
00:00:43
Speaker
Hello, everyone. Hello. Welcome to reshoot. Welcome to reshoot, an amateur's guide to good or film. I am one of your hosts, Ed. I am another one of your hosts, Ruthie.
00:00:56
Speaker
Hector is missing. Yes. We found him missing a person's report. Yes. were you he I last saw him in my living room. There's now just a pile of homework on top of where he was. I'm sure it's fine. Yeah, totally. Yeah, it's fine.
00:01:15
Speaker
Yeah.
Hector's Reaction and Movie Title Spoiler
00:01:16
Speaker
I also watched this room or this movie alone with headphones at night with my lights turned off. Snack right. Horror movies don't usually do this to me, but this one kind of unsettled me. Yeah.
00:01:34
Speaker
I enjoyed it though, honestly. I really liked it and then Hector watched it a couple nights later because we were going to record today. We knew that in advance and it was stay before Halloween and we were talking about watching a horror movie on Halloween because we did that last year and it was super fun. and We didn't have triggered Raiders and he watched it. I had to warn him about all the jump scares and he's like, I can't, I can't do this. I can't do this tomorrow too. I can't. I can't bring myself to it. But he and I both agree. We really liked the movie. Yeah. um I also liked the movie. Some parts of of it at least. Yeah, yeah. I just don't like I think 35 minutes in is when I stopped enjoying myself. Was that when Benji was having like his five minute panic attack on screen? Because that caught me. Speaking of spooky noises.
00:02:30
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's my ghost. It's fine. Yeah. As Above, So Below is a movie. Yes. Oh, and Ed, ah so the po the title in Spanish, I figured you would like this. Translated title is, Asi en la tierra, como en el fierno. So it would have spoiled the fact that they they went to hell. That's why I was like, don't look
Cave Exploration and Character Development
00:02:51
Speaker
at the the Spanish poster. Asi como en la tierra en el Como en el fierno.
00:02:58
Speaker
Okay. okay Yeah. That's the literal translation back to English is, uh, as in earth, so in hell. Yes. as on artist jo holly yeah Wow. Such a deep, like,
00:03:23
Speaker
one of my favorite things is like translating something from English to Spanish and like how it would be Spanish and then translating directly thee from Spanish back to English is completely different.
00:03:35
Speaker
yeah or like literal verse translations versus like what the meaning of what you're trying to say translations yeah i love honestly yeah no that is always fun when you're like well if you're translating the meaning it's this but if it's literally it's this yeah we we there's people with french accents in this movie ah Do you want to start? Well, this is yours. This is our I am the Cesar and I was gonna offer did you want to go first? Do you want to tell us what you enjoyed about the movie? out of thoughts and feelings Yeah um One thing I didn't like about this movie that I liked from the descent is that like the people a lot of the what is it's like
00:04:31
Speaker
What were their names? It's like Benji, the girl, and then the Benji, Scarlett, and George are not experienced cavers. And yeah, I guess it's a little bit different because they're in the catacombs, not in the cave, like in the descent. But I don't know, I feel like they should be, they should be at least like, what's Scarlett's, it's shown that she like, you know, did that little cave thing in Iran. So like she has a little bit of experience, but like, I don't know, George and Benji, like,
00:05:01
Speaker
She's kind of just like boneheaded. Yeah. yeah always she's She's just adventurous. She's like, I can't sit still. I got bullshit to do. Yeah. I don't know that this is one thing that kind of bugged me because they they did. They do get Pappy on and the other two o to go with them. And they they're actually like experienced in like diving through these catacombs and stuff. um Yeah, I
Symbolism and Traumas in the Story
00:05:28
Speaker
liked all the characters, most of them at least.
00:05:31
Speaker
The other guy that survived, we we that that almost yeah we almost learned nothing from him. um But yeah, and you know, I actually did like most of the characters. I will say that actually. Yeah. Oh, pretty believable things. I. Oh, yeah. And the story was really. I really liked the story, even though it was unsettling as hell in like the environment that I chose to watch it in. But I really liked it. Very cool. Yeah.
00:06:00
Speaker
Um, yeah, and the going backwards through the cave system again, super cool. That was so interesting. Yeah. Um, what else?
00:06:16
Speaker
So George, I hate, I hate this fucking, uh, trope or whatever. When they're like, it's George and and Zed and like George, like whatever happens. That's two weeks in in Turkey with the best of my life. And I'm like, Oh my God.
00:06:38
Speaker
You could save that for later. Also like at the moment in time, not, not the time and place right there, George, like,
00:06:47
Speaker
you you almost literally just died so like I can understand but still can I make a counterpoint counterpoint the whole point of the movie was them coming to terms with the best part of themselves and being honest both with themselves and with the like who they are both to themselves and to other people I feel like hmm that made sense. That did make sense. Yeah, actually, not that you mentioned it like that. Correct. Yeah, like one of the major points is like coming to terms with like, because they all had something that they are
00:07:27
Speaker
They all had some kind of trauma that they brought with them there that was unresolved for all of them. Except for I think Benji and the other girl. Benji and Suksi, it's implied that they had something. Benji especially. We never got to find out what Suksi's thing was. We are kind of told what Papillon's is. His is pretty obvious from the context clues.
00:07:51
Speaker
And from when he gets, when he dies. that That's the context clip. Yeah. But and there's one, there's a couple other hints. Did you pick up the Dante's Inferno comparison? Yeah, I kind of did. So the floor that Suksi died on was the level of hell associated with violence. So everyone assumes that Suksi killed somebody.
00:08:19
Speaker
And that was her punishment. And Benji, the YouTube that i video that I saw that was about ah as above, so below, he said that Benji had a wife and child that he also didn't talk to. Like he abandoned his child as well. But oh he died on the floor of fraud. And the baby that the woman shoves in his face before he dies doesn't look like him and the baby looks like it's dead. I think he scammed this woman like he might have said like, Oh, I'll make a documentary about you. And then like, something happened there like a stone, like some kind of fraud happened, but it's never implied.
00:09:05
Speaker
Okay, or
Ghosts and Fear Themes Exploration
00:09:06
Speaker
it's never like clearly spoken out. Yeah, but then we got Scarlett with her dad, George with his little brother. ah Zed with he tells us what it is. Yeah, but but we do get a lot of clues throughout because we hear a baby crying. And then a Papillon with the with the car. And the ah person that tells Scarlett to seek out Papillon to find a to get into the catacombs.
00:09:34
Speaker
Oh yeah, that dude. he was Was he a ghost or what? Yes. He was a ghost? He and the woman that was chasing Benji, she popped up as they were entering the club. She was leaving. She was leaving the church service in the catacombs. And yeah, she was following around Benji. Why? Because it's hell. Because it's hell. Yeah.
00:10:02
Speaker
i The explanation that the video that I saw a shout out found flicks Thank you for explaining the movie the explanation that he gave is like because Scarlett ends up with the philosopher's stone It's like the the philosopher's stone is retroactively making sure that she will have the philosopher's stone I think that's what he was saying or maybe I'm That's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. When she mentioned the Philosopher's Stone, I'm just like, oh, Fullmetal Alchemist. Hector also mentioned like, oh, Fullmetal Alchemist. It's easy to make a Philosopher's Stone. Yeah. You're not a coward.
00:10:46
Speaker
in full of an alchemist it takes a lot of human souls to make a philosopher's stone yeah like if you're not a coward if you're not a coward it's a lot though um but yeah uh i e i don't deal well with enclosed spaces this one got me yeah I okay ah so like Ruthie you and I we want we listen to the Magnus archives I want to start listening to their other new thing anyways shouldn't have said that should just continued Magnus archives they have these entities that are based on basically base fears more or less yeah and one of them is the buried
00:11:40
Speaker
And the ah the the fears can be like very literal or they can be very esoteric. yeah So there's like one episode where they're talking about the buried, but the person's not buried literally, it's they're being buried in like a mountain of debt.
00:11:55
Speaker
Yes. But this is very, ah very literal, the buried. Yeah. And like, because also with the buried, there's also like literally being buried under dirt or it's also can be water as well being buried underwater and all of that.
00:12:14
Speaker
Sometimes the vast would also. Yeah, but there there is that one. Because every time they list, they set a story that involved the buried. I was always very unsettled and I did not like listening to it. Lost John's cave.
00:12:33
Speaker
Yes, okay, but the one that that's really stuck in my mind was ah in the in the final season, when he's talking about that guy that's buried alive, and the or it's like in the buried ah area, what they call it. yeah And there's just all these people, domain, there's all these people buried, and then it rains.
00:12:56
Speaker
So like when the when the rain comes down, it like gets rid of all of the trace of like which way is up and all that. So when they get to the part in the movie where they're like in the catacombs, they have to go underwater while also being a pretty small place to swim through underground.
00:13:17
Speaker
who I paused the movie and I did not want to deal with it. Is that when you texted me? Yeah, where I'm like, dope nope, nope, nope, I it was like water was going to set you off that much. Otherwise I would have warned you because I did. I did watch it before you watched it because I knew you didn't like enclosed spaces. And I was thinking like, maybe I should warn Ed about the five minute panic attack where Benji stuck. But then I slipped my mind. Mm hmm.
00:13:52
Speaker
I didn't even think about the underwater. So the Benji part was really rough. I was actually like I kept hitting the fast forward five seconds button every couple seconds because I'm like, I don't want to know. No, please stop. Yeah, it is a very good scene if you're into that. Very cool. I'm not into it. I didn't like it. But yeah, the underwater underground stuff really like it gets me just like
00:14:24
Speaker
I feel that I handle stress very well, or I have a high stress tolerance. That shit piqued me immediately. I'm just like, no, I can't handle this. ah Luckily it was only like.
00:14:42
Speaker
a one minute sequence. We didn't have to
Podcast Format and Speculations
00:14:45
Speaker
experience it with every character going underwater. Just, just Skarlet. But I still did not like it.
00:14:55
Speaker
Yeah, see, that's why when you texted me, I was like, I didn't even register it because it wasn't like a trigger for me. So I'm like, what? They wonder water for what expanded? There's like the bit where Scarlett dives underwater, but then she comes back out immediately. Yeah, again, I paused it right before she went underwater. Yeah. Because I was like, no.
00:15:16
Speaker
Yeah, and honestly, I didn't, I didn't think it would peak me like immediately, but just like, it just did. And I'm like, I know. No, that's fair. Because I remember watching a movie. Well, in the desert, they had cave diving, too. But there wasn't water. Yeah, there was.
00:15:37
Speaker
did Did they have to go underwater at some point? When? Before they find out that the cave is a brand new cave, before Samantha Sam goes through the bit where ah where she loses the rope bag, there's a part where they have to cave dive. Oh, I must have blocked it out of my memory.
00:16:03
Speaker
Or maybe you looked away at the red lights on that. Or maybe, yeah. Also, I was watching The Descent with my friend also. Oh, that'll do it too, yeah. Yeah. And I watched that movie twice, or almost three times, actually. So maybe I was desensitized to it. Either way, I don't- And they didn't film underwater either. It was just like, oh, they come out of the water. They go underwater and then they come back out, yeah. This one they filmed underwater, which...
00:16:28
Speaker
Yeah. But also, I also think that this one also just had a better job at just like making me unsettled before this scene even happened. So I was maybe already a little bit on edge. Yeah. Oh, yeah. The buried is literally like the scariest one for me. I can't handle I can't handle it. Anyways, I kind of went through like just the likes and dislikes back and forth. Yeah.
00:17:01
Speaker
And honestly, I honestly wouldn't change the movie at all. Really? Not even a little bit. I i mean.
00:17:15
Speaker
Yeah, because I had a hard time even just like thinking of anything to do with this movie. But because it's so good, honestly.
00:17:26
Speaker
I had a hard time coming up with fixes too. this is that This is great podcasting. This is great podcasting for our specific podcast about yeah making movies objectively better. objective Objectively. Objectively. This is, I think, one of the ones where it's going to be objectively worse. Okay. so In general. If you could make it objectively worse, let's play this game. How would you make it worse? Turn it into a dumpster fire. Turn it into a dumpster fire.
00:17:53
Speaker
Maybe we'll find a way to fix it by making it worse. Maybe we have to dive deeper before we can ascend back. Oh wait, we're still in hell. This is Paris. This is Paris. I don't know. The thing is, I don't even have anything. I don't really, I literally couldn't think of anything. You couldn't think of anything to make it worse either? Worse or good. Really? Yeah. I mean,
00:18:20
Speaker
it's It's pretty like, I don't know. like The only thing I could do is like make it more like, make it different, more interesting, I guess. Yeah, like okay, let's do that. With like a, I'm just stupid. I guess I could make it worse that her dad was wrong.
00:18:41
Speaker
There was a philosopher's stone. She's just here. That's what I would like one of the things that I thought of is just like, Oh, what if like her dad was actually crazy? Because that's the thing that they talk about. And that's the thing that like, they question her sanity also. So what's the it was so weird shit in the catacomb? Is it just ever they just accident they just accidentally, stump they just accidentally stumble into hell. Hell's just under Paris.
00:19:11
Speaker
Yeah, of but yeah, but then again, then again, yeah, like, no, you see that that would make it worse that her that her dad was actually crazy. They go to the place. they Like some of it is true. Like they they find that little like Egyptian little Rolling Stone block thing. But then they get to the place and there's just nothing there.
00:19:31
Speaker
and yeah and then they just accidentally stumble into hell and that would be a funny stupid reason of like how they got there yeah but yeah again i just really liked how the movie progressed and they go forwards into the place and then they stumble into hell and then they go backwards it's so good Can I can I share a gripe with you? Yes. So there's a point about halfway through when they're actually like when they're like, Oh, haha, that's what's supposed to be on the gate of hell. That's when they're like halfway through.
00:20:15
Speaker
I'll spoil one of my fixes. That should have been like on the bad chain, like on top of the little thing that they go through at the very least. The very least. Wait, hold up. Yeah. Cause they find the the inscription of Ben and all hope you enter here. Yeah. But that's technically that's when they enter hell, but they already were experiencing like some of this hell stuff when they entered that specific tunnel.
00:20:44
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And this was after they found the dead guy. This is after they found the dead guy. Okay. Yeah, this is after they find this is after they get the fake Philosopher's Stone. This is Yeah, but before susy die right before dies Suksi dies. Oh, right. That's right. Yeah layer of Hell The sixth do they go do they go like actually like layer by layer? Oh film, found f flicks, I think it the YouTube name. Yes. So the first layer where they find Latope, that's purgatory, and then they descend. Papillon dies in layer 10, betrayal.
00:21:27
Speaker
o And then they're able to escape eventually. Yeah. They are able to escape while they're in layer 10. Yes. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Because you have to go all the way through hell to be able to escape, which is another part of Dante's Inferno.
00:21:45
Speaker
Dante's in. Sorry. You ruined it. Now we have to start all over again. 25 minutes. Um,
00:21:57
Speaker
Speaking of Dante's Inferno, Dante's a terrible person. Wait, and Dante of Dante's Inferno, or are you talking about? Isn't he a bad person? I thought he just wanted to go see his dead girlfriend and rescue her out of hell. Because he left for war, is lee and and then his girlfriend like made a deal ah that he would stay faithful, and he didn't. And that's where she goes to hell.
00:22:26
Speaker
What a how. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's that's what happens. Maybe it's from the video games specifically, but it's from Devil May Cry. No, there's a game called Dante's Inferno. But yeah, I don't know. That's what I remember at least. Maybe maybe I'm wrong.
00:22:43
Speaker
Yeah, I couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell you. I'm mostly familiar with Dante's Inferno because I am obsessed with the Cartoon Network short series Over the Garden Wall, which is also entirely off of Dante's Inferno. I saw a little bit of Over the Garden Wall. It's so good. Inject that whole shit wholesome shit into my veins. Very good, yeah.
00:23:06
Speaker
um
00:23:09
Speaker
I had an idea. Oh. And then I forgot. is
Building Tension and Character Motivations
00:23:13
Speaker
it Is it based off of what you told me just now about Dante? No. Scarlett condemned Georgie to a Turkish prison and then cheated on him? Honestly?
00:23:30
Speaker
It's yeah, it's well, I guess you see the tenth layer being betrayal. Mm hmm. I would think that that's one. Well, Georgie almost died in betrayal. Yeah. Because he felt betrayed by Scarlett after he went to Turkish prison for what was it a week. ah I don't know how long he was in Turkish jail. Yeah. But the thing is that she abandoned him basically. Yeah. And then he went to jail because of that. Yeah.
00:23:59
Speaker
in Turkey.
00:24:05
Speaker
But yeah, I don't know. ah It's all honestly pretty good for me. ah And yeah, the only way I would make it worse is that like her dad was wrong and she was actually just kind of crazy.
00:24:23
Speaker
Okay, here's or or or or or borrowing from Dante's Inferno. Okay, maybe maybe he kind of like notices that he does have like a depression disorder. And then he kind of makes a deal with the devil saying I know Scarlett will always be there for me.
00:24:42
Speaker
And then once Scarlett doesn't pick up the phone, the deal goes awry. And then he he dies. And then this is kind of like her dad was was wrong about the Philosopher's Stone, but they have to go through hell because Scarlett didn't pick up the phone. Basically, it was almost almost like like the Dante's Inferno thing.
00:25:05
Speaker
And yeah, they they get there that she's looking for the philosophers to on the ship, but they don't find it. And then when they try to turn around, it caves in and then they have to go through hell. And then I guess.
00:25:18
Speaker
It would revolve more a around Scarlett, Scarlett's being more targeted than all the other people, but everyone else is also targeted. I would also make it clear what trauma Benji and the other girl so are actually going through. Yeah. Also, ah just delete the mole that the other, the other dude that shows up. What?
00:25:41
Speaker
lato Let's just delete. I don't like him at all. Yeah, because he's supposed to be kind of like a Virgil figure, but he's not a Virgil figure. No, just get him out of there. That is not needed. Yeah. But yeah, I couldn't think of anything to make it worse or better or better. It's a pretty solid movie. I thought of a way to make it worse. You have Scarlett's dad and Georgie's little brother.
00:26:10
Speaker
actively pursuing the group Like trying to be like what the fuck you killed me like your actions directly I'm in hell now you sent me to hell I Do what that would actually make do think the the dad and the brother are actually in hell or is that just how fucking with them? I don't know I yeah i don't know i don't think the kid is uh i'm pretty sure
Religious Views and Alternate Movie Endings
00:26:42
Speaker
i don't know if it's in christianity Catholicism uh what scarlet's how scarlet's father died i think he hung himself yeah uh you see i think i think that's a i think that's a sin
00:27:00
Speaker
it depends ah depends It depends. I think in Catholicism, it is considered a sin to yeah go with through with that kind of action. In Protestantism, like a lot of other denominations, it's not considered a sin.
00:27:18
Speaker
who I just remember watching a movie where they talked about that and they they said the the quote guaranteed spot in hell yeah if you do that yeah which is kind of uh super fucked up gross yeah yeah it's really dumb in my opinion yeah
00:27:41
Speaker
Cause like, I don't know, like, I don't know how, how, how it is, but like sometimes people, or I recently experienced something where somebody accidentally killed themselves. Flames, flames on the side of my face. What? Have you not seen Clue? Clue? No, I haven't.
00:28:10
Speaker
but we can't do this movie on the podcast because it's so good ah okay it came out in the 80s so here's the fun fact about Clue I don't know if I'll keep this bit in but um there when the movie came out there's three endings. So different movie theaters got different endings. And you didn't know which ending you got. And the, you know, it's clue, it's based off the video game. You're finding out who the murderer is. And we have the DVD or the, I can't remember if I brought it when I moved or if my mom still has it, but ah you can watch all three versions of the ending.
00:28:50
Speaker
But yeah, you'd be like, oh, this character did it with this weapon in this room. And technically, yeah you have three options and they're all right.
00:29:04
Speaker
So with the what the with the clues that they give you in the movie Clue, it could have been any of those three. Yeah. Dang. Yeah, because they they ah it's like the last like 10 minutes of the movie. That's different. And then the character will reveal themselves and then they'll show here's all the clues that could have been this character. Oh, okay. Oh, wow. they They did a lot of edits to make three different versions of it. What the fuck? That's insane. Wow, that's I want to watch k clue again, man.
00:29:42
Speaker
thing. Yeah. I will say one last thing about this movie. that i ah Oh, actually, there's a big fix. Oh, don't make it. This didn't need to be found footage. It added nothing. I mean, it added to claustrophobia, but it didn't need to be at all. That's interesting, because you wanted the descent to be found footage.
00:30:08
Speaker
That was the first thing I noted down in my life. That's true. That is true. That is true. Why? Why did this one? Why is it? Because there are no monsters. No monsters. Yeah, but there are. Oh, with your fixes, you wouldn't know. I'm just saying in this one, there are no monsters. It's just wibbly wobbly shit with hell.
00:30:31
Speaker
What about the statues? that eat Oh my god, that's I totally forgot about them. But it's not a big part of the movie is what I'm saying. I'm saying I think i think with ah with a standard ah filming technique, you could probably portray this hell going through the rings of hell a little bit better, in my opinion. Because then you could you could like do some really cool shit.
00:30:55
Speaker
of like when they're going down through stuff while they're already in hell you can have like a ah kind of like a cross section very and wide shot and you can show this like little red line going through of like oh they're they're going passing another layer and then another one another one because it wasn't very like, yeah, I recognize while watching the movie that there are late, that there's the nine or 10 layers, right? And i I kind of recognize that they were kind of going just deeper and deeper in. But it was hard to keep track of everything. i Yeah. keep track of that So like, I think with a with a with a standard technique, you could do like what I just imagined my head is just the like a very far out cross section of them going through going down and then just like a little
00:31:44
Speaker
like another layer there, and then just do that every time they go through a section. And then, obviously, there's there's what, six of them there? Yeah, there's six. There's six. Six characters. I guess they they would get a free pass for the first four layers, where nobody dies, and then I would kill one person every every layer until the end. Yeah. yeah i don't Would Scarlet be the last one?
00:32:14
Speaker
Yeah, but I don't think anybody would get out. Oh, so everybody would die. Yeah. Damn. Brutal.
Catacombs Filming and Personal Experiences
00:32:21
Speaker
Like, like, I think, I think Scarlett will like, be the one to recognize that like, to have a chance of getting out, you have to like, uh, you know, like what you said, like counter terms with the trauma that they came in, but it's just too late for her at the end. She finally realizes it, but she's in the 10th layer.
00:32:42
Speaker
Yeah. Damn. There we go. i just I just had to talk about it. And then wing it. Talking helps. Yeah, wing it. Fuck it. We'll do it live. Fuck it. All right. Since Hector's not here, it falls to me. What I liked about this movie, my first like, word for word, it's kind of funny that Ed's Fix for the Descent is the main difference of this film to the previous one that we did. Yeah.
00:33:12
Speaker
I didn't hate the found footage thing. Also, I think the reason that they did found footage is they actually shot this movie in the Parisian catacombs. They actually did. They did. And they brought a whole ass car into the catacombs and set it on fire. That was a practical. How did they get that in the real catacombs? How did they let them put a car down there? They got permission. Did they pull it out?
00:33:43
Speaker
I imagine they did. Well, that's actually a thing that a lot of movie sets do, is they put shit somewhere for a scene, and then they abandon it. And that shit stays there. I don't think they'd have that luxury of anonymity though, because they had to get permission to get into the catacombs.
00:34:02
Speaker
I know, but like, I'm just saying, like, yeah, I guess maybe the catacombs people that like manage, are like, you clean a shut shit yeah clean the shit up. Get it out of here.
00:34:14
Speaker
um My second life, like the Parisian catacombs, are cool AF. I went to some catacombs in London when we went last year. ah I had a grand old time. Hector's not ah a claustrophobic guy. Luckily the ones that we didn't go- the ones that we went to weren't anything like that. But if I do get a chance to go to Paris, I do want to visit those catacombs. That sounds rad as shit. Same.
00:34:40
Speaker
This movie was too claustrophobic. Even I was affected, lovely audience. Benji's five-minute panic attack sold me, finally understood the whole claustrophobia thing, finally clicked. I've always been like the opposite. I like being snug, but that was too snug. When you're underground... When you're underground, it's the earth giving you a hug.
00:35:03
Speaker
wow
00:35:06
Speaker
It's not a good hug though. Who said the Earth was good at hugging? It's very pointy. ah The tag on the wall as they enter. Oh yeah, there was a tag. I think i i don't think it was Papillon's tag.
00:35:23
Speaker
It was Papillon's tag. Yes, when they enter in and Papillon's like, that's not mine, but that's his. the food That was such good shit. the for The forbidden. Oh yeah, because when that Benji gets stuck in that thing, in the thing that they're crawling through, and then they just kind of come back out the same way.
00:35:41
Speaker
and then they're like well
Scarlett's Journey and Thematic Depth
00:35:42
Speaker
and then it caves in also so then they have to go through the forbidden one that Papillon was like warning about because that's the one where the the friend that's called the mole but la ah th and he never came out and yeah wait wait what was oh yeah and then they go in there Papillon said he's never been there and they find that his tag in there and I'm like You bitch. You bitch. But I think, I think that's, uh, I thought that was hell fucking with them. yeah ah i What I thought is that, uh, Le Top did the tag. Cause he, why would Le Top do the tag? Cause he's part of Papillon's entourage crew. But Papillon was the only one doing his own tag. You know? Le Top probably knew what the tag was like.
00:36:31
Speaker
And he just did it from memory. Maybe, I don't know. But that's probably just how fucking with them. Yeah. Um, I really liked the bit when they're like first entering that creepy tunnel with the piano and with Scarlett's phone, the phone with Scarlett and she knows what's going on. And we're all like, what the hell? And the piano's in hell and they're like, or the piano's in the catacomb and he's like, Oh, well, the A5 key was always, the A5 key didn't work. And then he started doing it and they hit the A5. Oh.
00:37:00
Speaker
Yeah, the piano scene was of the very first time I'm like, oh, I don't like this. Wait, that was the first, but that's after Benji's panic attack. That's the second time.
00:37:13
Speaker
Oh, well, like Benji's Panic Attack was like, I don't like this because of claustrophobia thing. This is the first part that started unsettling me about the movie. that there's thing There's the claustrophobia like hate and then this is unsettling. This movie does unsettling really well. Yeah. And I feel like they're definitely taking advantage of having being in the catacombs themselves. Also, when they were hearing the ringing and Scarlett just runs off ahead of them. I'm like, what are you doing? She's such an asshole. She does that a couple of times. And I'm like, girl, chill. I will say she was kind of badass.
00:37:57
Speaker
Uh, were she like, uh, Georgia's hurt and she runs all the way back to put the philosopher's stone back. h Yeah. Cause she ran from 10 all the way back to all the way back up five. Yeah. And then runs from five all the way back down to 10.
00:38:20
Speaker
Although by the time that she gets back, from she starts to come back from five, the so like gum descending from five to ten, she found out that the Philosopher's Stone was in her the whole time, so was like she's like, hell's my bitch now.
00:38:34
Speaker
Well, I don't think the philosopher's stone was inside her. I think when she moved the the philosopher's stone from outside of hell into hell, that's when she got she got it. So that she had to replace it. And then the implication that I under here's how I understood it. The stone that she grabbed was an actual stone. The stone was fake. That was not it was a one time use. Oh.
00:39:01
Speaker
It wasn't even a one-time use. No, it was a one-time use, because Suksi got healed. I know, but she put her hand over the thing also, her wound, and then it healed. And they thought it was a stone, but it wasn't. It was her hand. But by putting the stone back, that's how she unlocked it. And the implication that found flix found films.
00:39:26
Speaker
The implication I got from the YouTube video was that Scarlett now, because she had all these, she had restored her soul in that way. She realized all of her negatives. She'd done all of these things. She was the Philosopher's Stone. The Philosopher's Stone was in her the whole time. Not really, but pretty much.
00:39:49
Speaker
I thought the action of returning to stone is what gave her the power. That was a part of it, yes. Yes, that is what like triggered it. But from then on, she had the stone because the stone was her. The movie is actually really funny. There was a bunch of times where I would like actually laugh. Like the dialogue did not feel forced. It was really good. Yeah, the dialogue was not forced. Also Benji being a bit of a Just checking out all these women and Scarlett teasing him about it was also pretty funny. o ah This is going to sound weird. In the last movie, I talked about like stupid shit horror versus like you set yourself up for this, you totally earned it, retribution horror. This is my example of retribution horror because Scarlett absolutely set them up to fail. Yeah.
00:40:41
Speaker
She told Papillon there would be treasure, just apropos. Yeah, this is a treasure hunt. So Papillon,
Cultural Portrayals and Character Analysis
00:40:49
Speaker
when they get to the treasure, they get to the level with greed and they see a bunch of treasure and she doesn't think to say, hey, Papillon, maybe that's not the real treasure. Maybe the treasure is the friendship that we found along the way here in Hell. Yeah, the one piece is the friends we made along the way. Yeah, in Hell. In Hell.
00:41:08
Speaker
And then they have to actually enter hell, but surprised they were in hell the whole time. Also layer four is greed. Yeah. And my last like, so the film could have chosen to sexualize Scarlett, Suksi, and even the naked ladies in the underground church, but it didn't. And I respect that.
00:41:33
Speaker
um My dislikes in the movie. I didn't like that first bit with Iran. I don't know, it just had a weird taste in my mouth. Maybe it's with all the like current events lately with what's going on in the Middle East. but Oh, the first bit with Iran? With Iran, yeah. Like, I felt like it was it wasn't fully Islamophobic, but I felt like not Islamophobic, but like, you know, like, mm hmm. I didn't feel like it was racist, but I feel like if you do you get what I mean? Like, it's kind of. Yeah, I understand. But I.
00:42:10
Speaker
ah
00:42:14
Speaker
Because isn't is it Iran that's like being less or more more accepting of like women being able to do stuff now, right? Because they were a allowed to they're a allowed to drive now or something? Is that Iran? I don't know if that's Iran. I know right now they're protesting. A lot of women in Iran are protesting. to the job Yeah, another girl just got arrested today. Well, I say girl. A woman in university got arrested because she was protesting.
00:42:44
Speaker
so I'm still mad about the girl that died from the protests, from her protests. But yeah, like, I don't know, it might be a little bit dated because she was like, it was like very big thing that it was dangerous for her to be in Iran, you know, and as a woman, which I guess that probably still is, let's be real, probably still is a little danger, a little more little dangerous. Yeah, ah them like,
00:43:15
Speaker
I guess it could be a little bit Islamophobe because ah they're they're like blowing up the cave to like to bury it and it's like some kind of like historical stuff is there and I guess that's the read I got on it. It's a little bit because the some terrorist organization organizations did blow up that Buddha statue that was like carved into the side of a mountain that was like I don't know, like 15 stories tall or some insane height and they blew it all up. So, yeah. Well, there are two of them. There was one that was like really tall and one that was at like 36 feet or something. And they blew both of them up and it sucks. But yeah, that's that's the read I got, but I don't know if that's what they were going for. Yeah, it just felt a little... Not tackiness, but...
00:44:08
Speaker
Yeah, it's a little, a little odd. Yeah, didn't really bother me too much. But yeah, I was a little odd. Also, and another dislike. Scarlett's an asshole, man. roping in Georgie and constantly kneeling him into a cave. He's always said his brother died in a cave. She's like, Georgie, you're gonna come with us. Don't worry about it. It's fine. Yeah, he's coming with us. He's coming every single time George is like I don't want to go yeah I'm not going with you and then later Benji's like well Why doesn't he want to show up and she's like you be gentle with him his brother died in the cave bitch. You knew that this whole time I think I think Georgie like kind of felt forced. Yeah, as of Scarlett continue to say he's coming and also because he's the only one that could translate the stuff and
00:45:03
Speaker
Well, and here's the weird thing. I feel like the sound the YouTube video that I've watched, it mentioned that sometimes Scarlett kind of felt like a little bit of a Mary Sue because she knew all these languages, but just the one that she needed, that's why she needed Georgie. Yeah, she didn't know. And she knew Kraft Maga and she had like three degrees. She knew everything. She had what, two PhDs and a master's?
00:45:31
Speaker
Yeah, like three bachelors, two masters and a PhD. I don't think she had that many bachelors. I think she had more PhDs in it. Oh, oh, no, she must have gotten a bachelors for all of those. So, yeah, because she had two PhDs, a master's and I think I think four bachelor's degrees or something. Well, you can do one bachelor and then get the master's, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it's and you can do. I don't know. So, yeah, she had at least had a bachelors for all of all three of the things that she mentioned. Yeah.
00:46:00
Speaker
She's very, very educated. Very educated. And like, she mentioned that like, she, for her age, like she she was very, she was raised in a studious household and stuff. So like, they explained it away, I think, pretty well.
00:46:17
Speaker
They kind of hand waved it. oh yeah Oh, she's just very educated. She comes from a studious household. But yeah, she does. She's not a Mary Sue because she does have this flaw of like, I'm gonna she kind of uses people. Yeah.
Fantasy Elements vs Realism
00:46:31
Speaker
But yeah, she's a lot. You could divvy up all the things that she brings to the table into several characters. You don't even have to bring in new characters. Just divvy it up to Suksi and Zed, because they don't get a lot of characterization. And it'd still be a pretty well-rounded crew. Yeah. But she does have a lot. She's a lot. She's just a lot.
00:47:01
Speaker
Uh, Papillon is supposed to be leading the crew, but again, it's always, it's always Scarlett. And Papillon always kind of seems to be kind of lagging behind. Well, he he he led them for a little bit. And then once they go into the forbidden tunnels, when Papillon's like, I don't don't want to do it anything anymore. And Scarlett's like, you know, we have to keep going deeper. Yeah, yeah. We need to go deeper. We have to go back, Kate. I found the beginning to be a little hokey, just with the Philosopher's Stone stuff.
00:47:29
Speaker
i grew i ah I grew up as a Potter head, so I'm used to Philosopher's Stone being bandied around in conversations. like you know in Professor Quirrell, the three-headed dog, the key the room with the keep flat floating keys, you know? So it was hard for me to kind of enter into this movie and take it seriously when they're like, we're gonna find the Philosopher's Stone. And I've also seen Full Metal Alchemist, so I'm like, you know I'm just so steeped in like the fantasy like yeah bit of it. It was hard for me to be like, okay, this movie is positing, what if a Philosopher's Stone is like a real thing?
00:48:10
Speaker
And I also was thinking about um the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, because I think they mentioned, don't they mention Nicholas Flamel? I think so, yeah. Yeah. So I was like, I was just like, that was where my brain was at. And so it was really hard for me to be like, no, this is supposed to be real life. Stop thinking about a guy with a metal arm and a sick red jacket. Stop it.
00:48:32
Speaker
And um I didn't like Papillon's death at first, because I was just a little confused. but ah Because Papillon's death is wild. It's wild, but it doesn't make sense ah without the the knowledge of Dante's Inferno. The way his death worked, if you haven't seen the movie Audience, they get to the tenth level of Hell, which is Betrayal. And he sees somebody that they saw in the in the earlier catacombs at the very beginning of the movie who had recommended Scarlet that she should see Papillon. What we didn't know is this person has been dead the whole time. He is in a car that is on fire and he looks to Papillon, I think he says something but I don't remember what, and he points at Papillon and Papillon says, it wasn't my fault, it wasn't my fault. Then he starts
Tension Moments and Potential Improvements
00:49:23
Speaker
floating towards the car
00:49:26
Speaker
and the guy grabs him and they try to pull him away but eventually he's sucked in and the only thing left as the car kind of folds in on itself is his two legs sticking out from the ground and he's like kind of kicking him but then he dies yeah he suffocates which is the most brutal like yep it's the one that icks me out the most of the deaths um But the the way that he died, that is described in Dante's Inferno, especially for the 10th layer of hell, that was their punishment was to be buried alive with only your feet to your knees sticking up.
00:50:09
Speaker
Oh, also the jump scares were scary. and Not that it's a dislike, but like, I was trying to calm my husband down. Benji had like, this was like a, just two minutes. Suksi had just died. I paused the screen he with Benji on screen right before he dies. And he asked me, how are the jump scares? And I'm like, you know, this movie isn't surprisingly, it's not very jump scare heavy. It's just unsettling. He leaves the room, he comes back and then I play the movie again and
00:50:40
Speaker
Benji gets jumpscared and and jump the shout myself then then Benji dies. Anyway, long story short, here's how I fix the movie. um I thought there were only nine circles in the No, because what I'm reading is purgatory limbo is the first circle. okay And then there's the center.
00:51:07
Speaker
a So there are ten, just the last, the tenth is the center. Gotcha. How I would fix this movie, I think I would just tidy up some of the things. Like, I do one of two things with that layer of hell thing, right? that the When you enter in hell, woe to all ye who enter here, abandon all hope ye who enter here, however you translate it.
00:51:34
Speaker
You could do that where it's scrawled in over the tunnel, the forbidden tunnel tunnel that Papillon doesn't want to go into. We can say that's L'Etteaupe's handwriting. Or for shits and giggles, as the, because at the, it starts with her in Iran, but then you cut like as she's like transitioning, she's coming to Paris.
00:51:59
Speaker
have em a bit with her scarlet on the plane with Benji and she makes a ah like a a gag. They're flying over Paris, they're about to land. She's like, haha, woe to all ye who enter here. We're in Paris. I'm British. I hate the French. So then all of yeah, like, you one could argue, yeah, I don't know. Um,
00:52:23
Speaker
Suksis I would make their I would make the characters sins Not the main three. Well, yeah not I'd clarify some of these people's sins, right? I would make it more obvious of my interpretation with Benji where like I He made this documentary about this woman, about her story. He had promised her that he would share the funds with her and her baby would get the money that they need to survive. And at the last minute, he kept the money for himself. That's his sin. He defrauded her of that this money that she was owed.
00:53:01
Speaker
Um, Suksi, trying to think, cause if she dies on violence, I've been going back and forth about Suksi's death or like her, her sin, right? Cause she doesn't do anything that's actually violent. I wish that it was like foreshadowed. Yeah. Actually, what if, what if she was the one who sealed up the tunnel behind Latope and trapped him in there and trapped him in there? The violence wasn't necessarily on Latope, but she knew he would die in there.
00:53:32
Speaker
Eventually. I guess, yeah. I don't know. Hector had a really good one. His
Ending Analysis and Recommendations
00:53:43
Speaker
fix, he'd he'd kind of mentioned it to me, where she was a music student, and he ah her professor had stolen her symphony, and was making a lot of money on it, and she just killed him in blind rage. I thought that was really interesting. I didn't want to steal it from him, so I'm giving him credit. Love you, babe. When you miss some of this.
00:54:05
Speaker
um Yeah, I'd make I'd make Zed's a little bit more clear. Like maybe as they're traveling down, he's getting a lot of phone calls from his baby mama and he keeps just decline, declined decline, decline.
00:54:21
Speaker
and And yeah, I don't know what else I would do. would Would the three still make it out? Yeah, I'd keep that because I do like the way that they survived. Oh, also another cool thing. I'm going back to my like, sorry.
00:54:37
Speaker
The three characters that receive GoPro cameras on their heads are the ones that survive. Scarlett, Zed, Georgie. Well, oh shit. Wait, no, I thought Benji had a camera. Benji had the man camera. He had the man camera. Or he had the the main camera. That's right. He was gonna have Georgie's camera, but then he gave it to Georgie. Yeah, that's right. That's why I keep calling him Georgie, but he's Georgie. The only one who calls him georggie a scarlet Georgie Georgie.
00:55:07
Speaker
Because it's cute. Yeah, it's a good pet name. Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty good. I will mention one last thing. Okay. how When they escape.
00:55:21
Speaker
I don't know how they filmed or how they got to because how they escape they're like upside down and they have to go like down to go on top of the earth. Yeah. her Their feet are like they're reversed, right? Yeah. I don't know how they filmed that.
00:55:41
Speaker
I have no idea how they feel. Because it's because they put their feet over and then they like they have to push themselves up a weird way because they're going from one side to the other one gravity to another gravity. Yeah, it was such a it was so cool. But yeah, how the hell did they film that? Maybe that part was like a set.
00:56:00
Speaker
Yeah, I think that that part was a set, but it was, it's crazy how they they made it look like it was them going from one to the other. That was a good effect, no matter how they did it. Somebody sold their shoulders. It'd be it would be so weird as an actor to like sit upside down and then film it that way. I'm just curious on how they did that. Yeah, no, that but that was a good effect. And the the movie the ending was kind of funny because like,
00:56:28
Speaker
Scarlett and George are just kind of like, oh my god, we survived. And Zedd's like, I gotta find my baby. Get me out of here. So is Zedd's lost? Is that his sin? is that Or is that Benji's? Because no, when when does what circle does Benji die in?
00:56:54
Speaker
Well, technically, he gets scared out of fraud, I think it was. And then he lands in, I think it's the 8th or the 9th? Fraud is the 8th. Oh, then yeah, he dies in fraud. He dies in fraud? Okay. And so she died in violence? And she died in violence, yeah. And then Papillon dies in treachery, is the last, is the ninth circle.
00:57:23
Speaker
And I guess ah the other three make it through the center of hell. Yeah. Where the devil is its supposed to be. Maybe that's the devil, the guy in the in the and the black coat. Yes, that was the implication. That was that that was the devil that was the devil. Interesting.
00:57:46
Speaker
Which was funny because when I saw that, ah I didn't realize it was a dude. I thought that was a lady and I was like, oh, is that the lady from the top of the church? Is that benji ah the the Benji's lady? She's just there. And then the movie was like, ah the the YouTube video was like, and that dude is probably Satan. I'm like, did not peg him as a dude.
00:58:07
Speaker
Yeah, I understood that they were going through hell, but I didn't like, I never knew about like the whole nine circles of hell thing that deeply. So
Final Thoughts and Future Content
00:58:16
Speaker
yeah, I did. I just made the connection that that dude in the thing is probably the devil. Yeah. Yeah. How would you grade this movie? This is a really good movie. Yeah, this is like, I think it nailed the assignment. It's so good. Yeah.
00:58:34
Speaker
ah just I don't know I think I like the subtlety of the nine circles but like I would have liked to more a little bit something yeah a little bit more of just like showing that that that's what they're going through then but not really because how I said is they're just going through another level but I wouldn't I wouldn't say like what circle they've held there and they're just during but you could therere therere i like People recognize that it was violence in the level that Suksi died. Unlike in Betrayal where Papillon died, there was like the the the thing where they pulled from Dante's aferno Inferno. You can pull things to like give audience clues to the audience of what's going on. Yeah. I just would have liked... I think that aesthetic of ah like showing them going deeper and deeper would be pretty cool. Yeah.
00:59:27
Speaker
But yeah, it's an A movie. It's really good. the you Any media you've consumed recently? Not consumed recently, but lovely audience. If you are like Ed and you haven't seen Clue, ah sorry that I spoiled the three endings bit, but it's so good. You're still just going to enjoy it. You don't know the three endings, you just know that there's three.
00:59:51
Speaker
And there's a whole cast, so you know, good luck trying to guess the murderer. Spoilers, there's a murderer in Clue. Oh, who would have guessed? And ah Hector and I just bought Mamma Mia, here we go again. So I've seen Mamma Mia, he has not seen Mamma Mia, so now we need to watch Mamma Mia, and then I'm gonna make him watch Mamma Mia, here we go again with me, because I haven't seen it. Mamma Mia. Dude, okay. So you have Mamma Mia? The daughter is getting married?
01:00:21
Speaker
Yeah, total bitch for what she did. Oh, for trying the three dads for inviting her three maybe pair dads and not telling anybody. Nobody said that she was smart. She's like 18. She's getting married at 18. Yeah. No, that's like a pivotal point of the movie where where her mom's like, you're 18. Why are you trying to get married so young? Chill, girl.
01:00:46
Speaker
like because Because her mom had her when she was very young. yeah mom was very young yeah I think her mom was older than her when she had her.
01:00:55
Speaker
Oh gosh. Yeah. Any media I've consumed recently? Yeah, ed what media have you consumed? Why are you asking me? I don't know.
01:01:06
Speaker
um nothing really new honestly uh but i i did oh i've been watching this anime called the most notorious talker controls the strongest clan that's the entire name of the anime crunchyroll it's pretty good honestly I like it because the main character is not a goody two-shoes. He's kind of cruel and kind of evil in a sense. He's very ah brutal. It gives some Code Geass Lelouch vibes.
01:01:50
Speaker
Since Hector's not here, I can say a third media. I played and beat Disco Elysium recently. So much fun. assume So good. Also, everyone here should buy Rivals of Aether 2 and play the game. It's really good. 30 books. all All new characters will be free DLC.
01:02:09
Speaker
Oh, that's cool. Yeah. The only the only transactions that there are are cosmetics, which are valid totally like the the good the good way of doing microtransactions. Yeah.
01:02:24
Speaker
It's a platform fighter like Super Smash Brothers, but actually they made it to be competitive and it's really good. It's so much fun. It is a little bit harder to pick up than Smash Brothers, but once you get a, they have new player guys that tells you all the little like mechanics and tech that you can learn. And once you pick that up, it's actually pretty fun, pretty cool. If you have experience with Smash Brothers, you'll love it. Yep. Very good game.
01:02:55
Speaker
I think it's Hector's turn to pick the movie. Is it Hector's turn? because you you for because i cause I skipped it because I had to watch two movies. You paid it in advance. a It is Hector's turn, and then it'll be your turn, and then it'll be finally my turn again. are you are you Do you regret your decision at all? Nope, I don't. Okay. Will you work good will you regret it if I do another claustrophobia movie? No, not really.
01:03:26
Speaker
I won't. For the record, I'm not gonna. It is what it is. Actually, with timing, I think it might be Hector's movie, then our Hallmark Christmas special. Or my mine may be Christmas special, then you. Yeah. It'll be either Hector's Christmas special or Hector's you, then Christmas special. Yeah, there's gonna be a Christmas special in the mix. That has not been finalized. Ilya's been watching a ton, but so far, I think our worst movie Eligible Bachelor is Red 1? Red 1? The really bad one with Chris Evans and Dwayne The Rock Johnson that i I suggested and you both immediately vetoed. Oh god, I just saw a trailer for that. Yeah, no, I don't want to watch it. Still vetoing? Coward. Not vetoing, but I really don't want to watch it. Hector's vetoing.
01:04:25
Speaker
Cause I, again, I have my standing veto on cats until they released the butthole cup. Elia's, Elia is helping you. She's trying to find a really good, and by good I mean bad, homework movie.
01:04:44
Speaker
Yeah. I'll also look into like homework movies that came up this year and see if any of them stick out to me as something, I'm not going to watch them. I'll just look into them.
01:04:54
Speaker
and so don't pray watch Which one has like the most hated fucking fan base or whatever was here to the all Yeah, ah yeah join us next time for Whatever Hector picks whatever Hector picks insert movie here I'll let you know in the end credits lovely audience. Have a good day. Maybe even a night Yeah, or a morning. Those are your three options. You have to pick them. You have to pick one, only one. Yes. And it's a permanent choice just from now from then on. Yeah. No take backsies. Goodbye. Goodbye.
01:05:40
Speaker
to- Today's film was As Above, So Below, directed by John Eric Dottle. The writers were John Eric Dottle and Drew Dottle, and the cinematographer was Leo Hinston. Go show some love to their various social media accounts. They made a movie, which is more than we can say here.
01:06:00
Speaker
So that's it for spooky season folks. No more horror movies for the time being, just horrible movies for the foreseeable future. Speaking of, join Hector and I on a date night recording of reshoot Dragon Ball Evolution. Goodbye.