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Trick 'r Treat (2007) with Jenna Pumpkin and Benny Townsend
93 Plays16 days ago
Our spooky special episode covering Michael Dougherty's Halloween fixture, Trick 'r Treat. Jenna Pumpkin joins us to dive into the history of Halloween, Rick and Jenna cover the fraught release of the film and why that contributed to its cult status, and Benny Townsend joins us again as we cover our scary movie awards. Go see Trick 'r Treat, back in theaters for only two nights this week (Tuesday, 10/14, and Thursday, 10/16)!
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Transcript
Introduction to Halloween Traditions
00:00:00
Speaker
During the spookiest time of the year, there are a few guidelines all ghosts and goblins should follow. All these traditions, putting on costumes, jack-o'-lanterns, they were started to protect us, but nowadays, no one really cares.
00:00:18
Speaker
This is the one night that the dead run for... freaking
00:00:40
Speaker
All right, we're back.
Introducing New Voices and Changes
00:00:43
Speaker
So, guys, this is, again, going to be a different episode. You're going to have two voices that you don't normally hear on the podcast.
00:00:53
Speaker
We'll introduce them in a second. But we're going to be missing a voice you're used to hearing. Young Travis Telerik had some unexpected childcare responsibilities occur.
00:01:04
Speaker
And so he is going to be joining us in post-production. He's going to help edit this. So his fingerprints will still be all over this, guys. Don't worry. You'll still get Travis's wit and dry humor and medium level of intelligence.
Benny Townsend's Spooky Experience with 'The Conjuring'
00:01:18
Speaker
But with us i is a name that you've seen on another podcast of ours when we did The Conjuring. ah My brother, Benny Townsend.
00:01:31
Speaker
Hello. Hello. How you doing? It's me again. I'm good. No chandeliers are falling. No chandeliers. No, no scaries.
00:01:42
Speaker
I mean, this movie that we just saw wasn't wasn't the same level of scare for me. So tough guy. That's good. Big strong boy. Strong boy.
Jenna Pumpkin's Halloween Expertise
00:01:53
Speaker
uh ben called in on the conjuring episode because he had a spook spooky incident where he watched the movie in theaters came back to an empty home uh and uh chandelier fell right and fell in front of me yeah and now he believes he believes in the devil now like 400 pound chandelier shattered yeah that'll do it um so he's calling in out of danip danip point california
00:02:16
Speaker
out of, ah we're trying to keep you somewhat anonymous, Jenna, so I'll say in the greater DFW Metroplex is ah Jenna Pumpkin. How are you, Jenna? last name isn't really Pumpkin, but I wish it was.
00:02:31
Speaker
I'm great. so I'm drinking spiced wine out of a pumpkin mug. She is, guys. she is going to is Pumpkin's an apt name for Jenna, not because she is rotund or anything, ah but because she knows all about Halloween lore. And so we're going to be doing some Halloween Corner.
00:02:48
Speaker
But Jenna and I used to do trivia together, old friends, former lovers. Do you talk about that, Jenna?
Hosts' Past Relationships and Halloween Storytelling
00:02:56
Speaker
Could be. Could be? What do you mean, could be?
00:02:59
Speaker
We dated. we We're the definitions of friends to lovers to nothing to friends to lovers. Wait, what's the nothing part? Wait, what? when We were lovers twice?
00:03:11
Speaker
was that Was that in order or is like nothing coming?
00:03:17
Speaker
That wasn't chronological. That was just in the ether. What your phase are we in? You never know. Actually, this is this is perfect for this is perfect for trick or treat because trick or treat hops all over the place.
Review of 'Trick 'r Treat' and Its Nostalgia
00:03:30
Speaker
Right. Right. The chronology chronology is, yeah, it's mixed up. So I just wanted preview that. right. I like it. For friends. that you Okay. Right now. Yes. We are friends.
00:03:41
Speaker
we've We've had many iterations our relationship. now. Maybe enemies. That's what we're missing. Yeah. Give us your background again. meant you're an anonymous Jenna Pumpkin. Don't say too much.
00:03:53
Speaker
But what did you study? and What were your interests? Because I think they do color a bit. You know, how do you think about stuff? I um studied history and literature.
00:04:06
Speaker
and theology and a graduate level. And I also just, I really appreciate like lately, and I guess maybe I can get into this with the history part, but lately I've been really appreciating like the,
00:04:19
Speaker
I mean, you could call it the ritual year or like the church calendar year, but the kind of old like folk calendar year that kind of intermingled with the the church, I guess, which is honestly what Halloween is a little bit.
00:04:32
Speaker
um But mostly because it's just such a grant, like celebrating these days, like grounds us in like time and place and season, which I just love. Well, we'll get into it.
00:04:42
Speaker
Yeah. um At this point, I usually, I mean, most people watching this will have seen the film. But if you haven't, and you're interested in going to see it in theaters, again, Tuesday, October 14th, or Thursday, October 16th, the log line for this film, so you understand what it is.
Historical Roots of Halloween
00:05:01
Speaker
um Oh, this one says five Halloween stories. Most people say it's four. Why you think it says five? Okay, is it because of the couple in the beginning?
00:05:11
Speaker
They count. I'll read what it says. It says, five Halloween stories. A principal has a secret life. A virgin is looking for her first time. A group of kids pull a prank. Oh, yeah, you're right. A woman who loathes Halloween does not respect the rules.
00:05:25
Speaker
And a mean old man meets a demonic trick-or-treater. I'm going to disagree with IMDb. i consider the woman who loathes Halloween a proper introduction, like an appetizer, but to each their own.
00:05:39
Speaker
Yeah, it's just not really a story. Yeah. um So we're going to talk a little bit briefly, general thoughts about what we thought of the fantastic movie, Trick or Treat. And Jenna, I'll start with you. And I first saw this movie with you 2020 because we were COVID buddies.
00:05:55
Speaker
What did you think? This is your second time? Third time? It's my third time watching it. Actually, maybe my fourth time. Thoughts from Jenna Pumpkin. Gosh. Well, overall, i mean, my first time I watched it, I remember when we watched it together during COVID, Ricky, i was obsessed with it because this was when I was getting into my, you know, phase of just like, we love the lore of Halloween. It's so delightful. you do. And I remember, think we watched the ah director's like commentary or whatever, and he basically...
00:06:28
Speaker
you'll probably talk about this, but he posed it as like an homage to this nostalgia of Halloween. And just love that. And then I tried to get friends to, the second time I watched this, I invited some friends to watch it on my roof because I have a big projector screen. And I told them this is like what It's a Wonderful Life is to Christmas. This movie is that to Halloween.
00:06:50
Speaker
so it's just kind of fun and delightful. is true. And then my friends who hate horror movies, because I was like, it's really not that scary. They left halfway through the movie so it was a little bit of a bust.
00:07:03
Speaker
Wait, your friends left? Like they walked, where'd they go? Two them. Two of them. Not every, they just like couldn't watch it. They like could not handle how scary it was but it's not a scary movie. What part made them leave?
00:07:15
Speaker
I think they left, I think they, it was too much for them once they got to like the bus with the children, the kids. That is, I do have some things to say about that. It's little, yeah that little tough. that was intense.
00:07:26
Speaker
It's a little dark, but they just, it was my mistake because I thought they were like, you know, they could watch sort of like a kind of scary movie, but they were like absolutely no horror. Although, again, it's not that scary, but you know, to each his own.
00:07:43
Speaker
Vinny, what
'Trick 'r Treat' as a Halloween Staple
00:07:44
Speaker
did you think of Trick or Treat, you little munchkin? i Actually, remember texting you about it and you were like, oh yeah, that movie's great. It's like, it was a sleeper hit kind of like it when it came out people didn't really know about it and now it's kind of come back um but when i saw it it was like to me kind of oh this is this is what i look for in a halloween movie or like what i expect in a halloween movie yeah and i hadn't ever gotten it until i watched this this is like kind of like what jenna said like it's
00:08:17
Speaker
a movie that is truly about like every aspect of Halloween. It puts it together really well. or Comedy, ah some drama, some slasher.
00:08:30
Speaker
And like, even just the, the town it takes place in, like when they have the big parade, it's like, Oh, I want to go to that. Whatever that is. Yeah. Yes. Like the aesthetics are like, just they're on point.
00:08:42
Speaker
Yeah. For a nostalgic American Halloween. Warren, in Warren Valley, Ohio. Let's go. And i I think since then, i've seen it maybe six times.
00:08:55
Speaker
Oh shit. You've seen five or six. Like there's been years where I've watched it twice. Dude. Yeah. It gets you. It it gets it. I think you're right. It's like it, it fills a hole that inexplicably had not been filled before.
00:09:08
Speaker
The guy was a genius and we will at some point in this podcast cover why, ah it was shelved and why it took so long to come out and why it never went to theaters.
00:09:18
Speaker
It's an interesting story. So we'll get to that at another point, but, um So Benny ah has to jump a little earlier. So we're going do things a little bit out of order, but you will hear him come back for the awards at the end of the show.
00:09:33
Speaker
So don't worry. I think one of the reasons this movie, I love this movie. it It feels like a a requirement, almost required viewing ah during the Halloween spooky season because it it doesn't just capture scares or like tired tropes of certain monsters.
00:09:59
Speaker
It goes deep into the lore, which a lot of that a lot of it we don't even really know much about, which you're gonna explain to us, but it does it in a way that's familiar.
00:10:10
Speaker
Like it's teaching us something, but these are like anecdotes and and little archetypes that we're used to seeing, whether it's pumpkins or you know vampires or werewolves,
00:10:22
Speaker
But they're like in this cosmos of a greater rules-based tradition. this is ah This is a movie about sticking to the rules and not letting traditions die.
Evolution from Celtic Traditions to Modern Halloween
00:10:32
Speaker
And if you do, you pay the ultimate price.
00:10:36
Speaker
Humor. They do it with tongue-in-cheek. um Easter eggs. And also, Jenna... i've I don't see many anthology films where they're all related.
00:10:48
Speaker
Anthology films, they might be related by one thing, like a theme or like one character, but these are all intertwined in a ah way that is really difficult to do and very rare for anthology film.
00:11:02
Speaker
Yeah, you're right. It's not like, what's the other ones? Like um New Year's Day or Valentine's Day. The other holiday movies. Yeah. Right.
00:11:13
Speaker
That'd be a fun binge to do all these together. This one's the best one by far. um We were talking off pod that you think it have been different if it was not made in 07, which is true. yeah why Why are you glad it was made in 07?
00:11:26
Speaker
Yeah, I was thinking about this. I mean, I think I mentioned this in our our first little like why we liked it a little bit, but it. I think even more and I'll talk, talk a little bit about the the Halloween lore, but even more than like the super historical lore, it feels like it captures maybe what like our generation. I don't know how old the director is, but when he made this, he was probably what? Like this was maybe ten is this 10 years? And this is almost 20 years ago. 2007. Yes. He was our age when he made it.
00:11:57
Speaker
OK, so. you know, the experience of Halloween in the like, let's say like 80s and 90s and early 2000s, I think is very specific, especially to American culture.
00:12:11
Speaker
And to the point of I'm glad it was made in 2007. Because if this was a 20 20 movie and up, it would feel so different because I think that we just, but you know, this was 2007 is like right, I think it was literally right before.
00:12:26
Speaker
Like, that's like the year like Facebook like came out, right? I don't know. Yeah. I was like when I was in high school. I got my first iPhone around that year. Yeah. Honestly, 2007, you probably got it a little after that.
00:12:39
Speaker
um But yeah. Yeah. And so something about this movie, I think captures kind of the like
00:12:47
Speaker
the other worldliness of like Halloween, like we love it because it's kind of magical. And I think the world after 2010 just doesn't really feel that way as much. And so it kind of captures like this, like, oh, not super old timey, but like American nostalgic when we were kids before the world felt super different.
00:13:09
Speaker
Halloween is one of the reasons I love it. But isn't it weird how it hearkens that nostalgia feeling, but anchors it to something more archaic and sinister and real? Like, this isn't about the joy of trick-or-treating. This is like making that shit seem real, which makes trick-or-treating so much more fun.
00:13:28
Speaker
Like, this isn't about, you know what mean? Like, it's not about... like but It's actually spooky. Yeah. Right, they take it seriously. Like, the director takes tradition seriously. It's in a fun way, obviously, but it melds the nostalgia you're talking about with the fall and costumes, but there's this underlying seriousness about, like, why we dress up and that monsters are real.
00:13:52
Speaker
You know what mean? Yeah. Yeah, no, and I agree. I think it's like we and I think we love that about especially in nostalgic Halloween, because our like postmodern world is just it is so disconnected from anything like magical, I guess, even if it's spooky magical, it's just it's really appealing.
00:14:11
Speaker
yeah Yeah, 2007, directed by Michael Daughtry. We'll get into production notes in a second. um I think it is important to note the importance of it going back to theaters, which we'll get into more, is that this was a film that was supposed to be released in 07 and then went direct to DVD in 09, developed a cult following and finally it got its ah first time in theaters in 2022 and now it's our second time seeing happening in theaters this year, 2025.
00:14:43
Speaker
So just want to set the stage before we start talking about Halloween itself. I love the movie because it's a synthesis of so many feelings about Halloween in one place. It's like it checks so many boxes.
00:14:56
Speaker
Well, and it also kind of captures like the like your life stage or like there's like the kids trick or treating. There's like the slutty party. There's like the neighborhood parade or like the little small town parade.
00:15:08
Speaker
There's the old people. Remember the kids like open the door and the like, I don't know, late old lady. They're all like getting drunk. It's like a keys party. Drop the keys, little swinger thing happening.
00:15:21
Speaker
That's yeah. I wasn't really sure what's your mind. You know, it reminded me of was a, there's that little part in, a what is it? How the Grinch stole Christmas, the Jim Carrey one where it's a flashback scene and little Grinch is like looking at all the adults of who they'll go to this party and they're all dropping their keys in the bowl.
00:15:41
Speaker
little like no to having some fun. um But yeah, you're right. It's like captures so many, pivotal moments of of Halloween and, and the pitfalls of each one too.
00:15:53
Speaker
Like all the mistakes that you can make assumptions. Don't go to parties or don't, or stop. Don't stop going to parties, you know, like continue the, don't stop when you're right. that's and That's off my new EP. Don't stop going to parties.
00:16:08
Speaker
um But yeah, great movie. um But I think what makes it, Even better is when you know more about Halloween and one of the reasons you're here Jenna is to tell us a bit about Halloween That's right and the history now I I did a little bit of research so I could like at least Pretend to keep up with you here.
00:16:30
Speaker
So I just want to let you tell us a little bit about the the history of the holiday how we got here and Maybe how ties in the movie That's right. OK, well, I looked up there's a historian, a plug for him. His name is um Ronald Hutton, and he's like the most famous. I think he's like probably
Exploring Halloween's Origins and Influences
00:16:48
Speaker
the biggest folklore historian.
00:16:52
Speaker
um ah friend of mine had him on his podcast, actually, who's also really into the ritual year. But so I looked up what he had to say a little bit about it. So also feel free to stop me because I feel like I have a lot of lot of bullet points here.
00:17:06
Speaker
Oh, I will. If anything sounds incorrect or if it's fake news, I'll stop you. OK, um, So, okay most people, myself included for a while, I feel like heard um that Halloween is originally descended from this Celtic festival. It's called Samhain.
00:17:28
Speaker
And the kel like the Celts, as in the people that were pre and right after the Roman Empire, like ancient Celts, um who didn't have any- From Ireland?
00:17:39
Speaker
They were in- Britain, Northern Britain, and some Ireland. Yeah, kind of the British Isles. But they didn't leave, they were illiterate, and they didn't leave any written records, which is the reason why nobody really knows anything about them.
00:17:51
Speaker
um So this is where I looked up. Do you have answers for why we call the Boston Celtics the Celtics instead of the Celtics? You know I love sports, so. I know, and Trav and I do thread in a lot of sports into this podcast, and this is not one that to it's going to be missing here, sorry. But I was trying to give you a layup.
00:18:08
Speaker
No pun intended, layup. Oh, it's a sports reference. All right. Sorry. Continue. Anyway. um So it's actually not quite correct that Halloween is like a direct descendant of Samhain.
00:18:25
Speaker
So Ronald Hutton says... that we would consider, Samhain was like celebrated around the same time, like November 1st.
00:18:35
Speaker
And there were many kind of pagan pre-Christian festivals celebrated at this time because it was also kind of the beginning of winter. It's not the equinox, but it's like halfway to winter.
00:18:47
Speaker
So we're like almost there kind of thing. And so generally this would have been kind of like a harvest festival. Wasn't necessarily it wasn't really like witches, demons, ghosts, but this is what I i really love.
00:19:03
Speaker
The Celts and also the Gaelic people, they, and even into the 19th century, their supernatural beliefs, like they believed in fairies. Fairies were like their spooky guys.
00:19:16
Speaker
So there's probably some belief that there was like with the change of seasons. Not like a Tinkerbell, probably like a scarier fairy. Honestly, I feel like Sam is a fairy.
00:19:26
Speaker
Sam is like the Halloween fairy. hit That's my theory. are demonic to me. Well, maybe the fairies were kind of demonic, but they do believe in fairies. And even the the like the pagans and the Christian, like they all believe in fairies.
00:19:39
Speaker
It's really interesting. That's like the that's the spooky guy there. um But anyway, so this transition, like from this this season of like the end of summer, beginning of fall, whatever to winter, these festivals kind of like had a sense of darkness and fear, because especially in like northern Europe and England,
00:19:58
Speaker
the transition to winter was actually really scary because it was cold and dark and it was a much bigger deal back then because they didn't have they didn't have what we have. So like the the seasons were a huge deal.
00:20:09
Speaker
But the other worldliness that they kind of had really didn't have much to do with like what we have in Halloween, like, you know, dead people and witches and whatever it was. It was probably a little bit more like the spirits or like the what what was the overall goal?
00:20:24
Speaker
Like to prepare themselves for winter or celebrate? Like what was the why? We don't know that this is the thing we have like zero information about them. didn't write shit down. It's more just like we know that these these festivals probably these seasonal festivals probably existed, but we don't really know exactly what was going on except that it was like harvest.
00:20:43
Speaker
You know, it's wild that we don't. Isn't that weird? Totally illiterate culture. Yeah. Like we have so much about the Roman empire. That's why the Boston Celtics, they're pretty illiterate.
00:20:58
Speaker
Does that make you cancel? Are they illiterate? Wow. Canceled. No, i just it's just a joke you make about Boston because they're a bunch of like... Oh, because they're stupid there or something? No, they're stupid. No, they're not. now We have people in Boston listening. um I love Boston. That's a fun place to go.
00:21:12
Speaker
but But people do make fun of it for being like rough and tumble, kind of blue collar. Like, hey. Boston. The Departed. Yes. That's right. a with Vera Farmiga's worst Boston accent in the world.
00:21:31
Speaker
Anyways, yeah illiterate. Talking about Boston, illiterate. Illiterate. Very illiterate.
Impact of Victorian Romanticism on Halloween
00:21:35
Speaker
So when the the celebration of the dead really came onto the scene for Halloween was, of course, the medieval holiday of All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day.
00:21:50
Speaker
So this is a tritium of holidays that the Catholic Church came up with back in like, I thought, see, I had always heard like, oh, the the Catholic church came up with it because people were celebrating these spooky holidays. Yeah, I thought so too. This, apparently not.
00:22:04
Speaker
This came on the scene in like the year 700 and it came, they like started it in Rome. it was like not even connected with the kind of Northern Europe, British culture.
00:22:16
Speaker
um thought I thought it was in response. It was in response to the pagan holidays. So they made Alt-Saint's Day. You know what I think that what people probably got that from is because in the Reformation many years later that they like had the November 1st was the day that Martin Luther like nailed the things on the the door. And so I think they kind of like tried to like wash it of all its...
00:22:39
Speaker
not only its pagans associations, but also the Catholic doctrine of purgatory, which is that's what that's what all saints day was trying to do. It's like you pray for the souls in purgatory.
00:22:52
Speaker
and So it has this kind of spooky dead souls vibe going for it from the early medieval ages. So there's three things. You mentioned there's Salmon is happening November 1st. Salmon, yeah.
00:23:07
Speaker
Salmon's happening, and that's from an illiterate ah Celtic peoples. And that kind of died, like that wasn't really happening in the medieval ages. Okay, so that goes away kind of but it did happen.
00:23:19
Speaker
Kind of goes away. Yeah, and I'll explain that later. are yeah are we Do we assume that that influenced then the people that made All Saints Day, which turned into All Hallows' Eve and all that? like What's the relationship between those? Yeah, why did they do it that day? um That was a little fuzzy. I was trying to figure that out.
00:23:38
Speaker
The November 1st day was random because they, whoever consecrated this day chose this chapel in Rome in the 700s and just decided this was the day.
00:23:51
Speaker
Was that related to just this time of year, this season of like harvest sea festivals was a good time to have your pray for the dead festival? Maybe, but there's not really any hard evidence either way.
00:24:05
Speaker
I don't think there's any intentional connection between the two, but I do think the two became friends later on. Okay. And I'll tell you why. Yeah. um Anyway, so just before I get to that, though, the we have all we have the all souls, all saints, all hell's Eve day.
00:24:24
Speaker
The practice of like trick or treating probably came from this this practice called going souling, which was making these things called soul cakes during this time where you pray for the souls of the dead and you like go in like get soul cake, like you get food or money in exchange for singing. Oh, interesting.
00:24:45
Speaker
Going soul-ing. Wow. Instead of trick or treating. How cute. And that sounds like what you do in missions trips.
00:24:55
Speaker
What are you saving souls? Saving souls. Yeah, that's right. oh Anyway. Okay. So then the Protestant Reformation came like, what, like 500 years later, 16 something.
00:25:06
Speaker
And they, anti-purgatory, obviously that's a very, that's a very Catholic belief. um They kind of stripped it of all of its real meaning.
Commercialization of Halloween in the 20th Century
00:25:17
Speaker
But then, you know, this holiday still kind of existed just in, probably collective culture. And the only thing that really remained of it was just sort of this general spooky vibe and obviously still the turn of the seasons.
00:25:32
Speaker
So. Yeah, I see them. Yeah. So what we know to be Halloween and probably it's any connection it has with like the celtic origins came with the age of romanticism and like the victorians and so these people much like us i think how we do this a little bit they kind of became fascinated with kind of the old pagan celtic culture which they didn't really have anything to go off of so they kind of you know, made in general.
00:26:03
Speaker
They kind of made, they zhuzhed up. Yeah. Which we do this too. And they kind of infused it with this like romanticized old world, you know, so spooky Celtic harvest holiday.
00:26:14
Speaker
and I think that's kind of what started to become Halloween. Also at the same time of this holiday, which still existed. All Saints Day. In the Catholic church, at least. All Saints Day. There's three. It's still All Saints Day, All Souls Day, and then All Hallows Eve.
00:26:27
Speaker
So... Now we have this like Halloween that the Victorians kind of made like cool and Celtic and like have this harvest imagery. what' What's like the year? What's our year at this point? with age I would say this would have been like the 19th century, kind of the eighteen hundreds Okay.
00:26:45
Speaker
Then we have Irish and English immigrants come into America. They're bringing this lore. They're bringing their jack-o'-lanterns. So the 20th century, aka the it's always, you know, one number behind.
00:26:58
Speaker
um Halloween kind of became commercialized. We have capitalism. We have advertisement links. Boo.
00:27:09
Speaker
I know. Edgar Allan Poe and Mary Shelley also were like writing their spooky literature. So this whole genre kind of became a thing in general. And... The holiday was mostly for kids.
00:27:23
Speaker
Like children were going in the streets and like they were doing basically essentially trick-or-treating, kind of playing pranks, the the like rowdiness that would come on. You know what? It made me think of um what's the Mardi Gras?
00:27:38
Speaker
Like Mardi Gras started as like it's the eve of Lent. So it's just like a big party. What I heard about trick-or-treating or one of the things was that like During this time, kids were rowdy and they were playing pranks and like smashing pumpkins and like doing bad things. And so the ah town came together and was like, how can we how can we dissuade them from doing that?
00:28:07
Speaker
And so they would have these little like. like house parties or like little stop and chats. Like they would have candy at each of these houses and they would give candy the kids so they didn't do pranks. So the kids are like, well, we won't like, I either can do a trick, like do a prank on you and make your life horrible or you can give me a treat.
00:28:30
Speaker
And so that was, that was like, a way for, you know, just basic basically enable these kids. Let me just, let me reward you for not doing bad things, I guess. For not being the worst.
00:28:44
Speaker
The, ah this is the last kind of thing I have, but the Halloween now with like adults do it and the costumes are really scary and there's a lot of horror.
00:28:56
Speaker
That kind of came up in the 1970s because of film, so. Really? Not till then? Yeah. Yeah. Like before then, it wasn't really an adult holiday. holiday seventy s Yeah.
00:29:08
Speaker
Or like super horror. That's why I think Trick or Treat, to kind of bring it full circle, it kind of glazes over, know, it's not like nostalgic about, I guess, the origins of Halloween, but it does capture kind of like what it became, which is like this kind of joyful...
00:29:27
Speaker
and terrifying, nostalgic time that also is very seasonally aware. It's also like a little bit like spiritually aware because this is kind of the time when people are, it's winter. It's like, it just has that vibe, I guess.
00:29:44
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you for doing some research, Jenna, and giving us your Samwin All Saints Day, modern day Halloween history lesson because.
00:29:54
Speaker
of course. I think it is it is it is ah fulfilling to be able to see these weird images on screen or even out your front door during in Halloween and and then be able to say, okay, that's why they do that.
00:30:08
Speaker
They're warding off spirits or they're hearkening back to a... It's not it's like pre-pre-nostalgia. Yeah. It's like a bunch of Victorians looking over these spooky, mysterious traditions that they had then translated into something a bit more...
00:30:24
Speaker
palatable than we just, but then we commercialized. It's pretty interesting. But like, I think it's, I think it's for a reason. I think like it shows like this human impulse from like ancient times till now to kind of like live seasonally, I guess, in a way. And like this particular season just has a little bit more so somber tone to it.
00:30:44
Speaker
So there's something
Halloween Rules in 'Trick 'r Treat'
00:30:46
Speaker
there. Well, speaking of tradition, Michael Daughtry, he channels his love through Halloween through adhering to certain rules. So and we should probably say this is ah going to be a spoiler filled conversation because it's hard to talk about trick or treat without like mentioning the reveals and twists and stuff.
00:31:03
Speaker
But um I'm going to either I can list them. or We can go back and forth. Do you remember some rules not to break? OK, I mean, the first one is like, don't blow out your Halloween candles, yeah your jack-o'-lanterns before Halloween's over, which is insane in the first.
00:31:18
Speaker
Who would ever do that? Halloween night? You're going to go take down your decorations? That's why perfectly justifiable to murder her. Perfectly. She deserved to die. Who breaks it? Emma, played by Leslie Bibb in the opening scene.
00:31:30
Speaker
What's the consequence? Sam kills her for disrespecting the spirit of Halloween with his very sharply bitten lollipop. All right. sharp. I'll do the next one. Always hand out candy to trick-or-treaters.
00:31:43
Speaker
Always. Yes. Who breaks it? Mr. Krieg, played by Brian Cox. What's the consequence? Sam attacks him, doesn't kill him, maims him.
00:31:54
Speaker
puts him into so many wrappings that the kids think he's a mummy. The moment Sam finally gets that chocolate bar, he leaves. He's like, right, he's not a he's not a cold hearted killer. He's a he's got principles.
00:32:08
Speaker
But do you think he knew that the spooky kids were coming? I think Sam knows a bit more than he lets go on. i't He's a Halloween fairy. Call him that. He's he's a bit he's a ghoul. He's a bit more ghoulish.
00:32:22
Speaker
What's another one? Like a ghost. Okay. Always check your candy, right? yeah Like make sure it's not opened already. Is that what Mr. Wilkins said? He said, like, always yeah check your candy.
00:32:34
Speaker
it's But I think the real rule, like, that is something that's just to be smart. It was don't steal candy because the little boy was taking all the candy and it says just take one, you know? Right.
00:32:44
Speaker
He actually, if you think about it, Charlie broke three. He wasn't wearing a costume because he had a shirt that said this is my costume. That's lame. That's like trying to be too cool. Yeah. He stole candy and he didn't check his candy.
00:32:57
Speaker
so Oh, that's so true. He was dead before he knew it. Yeah. Ricky, I'm having a Halloween party. Should i make people follow the rules? Yes, and if they don't if they don't adhere to them, murder with a phallic weapon.
00:33:11
Speaker
Yeah. Or a Yannick one. Either way. Anyway. Another one, respect the dead.
Behind the Scenes of 'Trick 'r Treat'
00:33:22
Speaker
So the group of kids who mock the story of the drowned bus children.
00:33:26
Speaker
And what happens? They're killed by the ghost with that bus, but have the bus victims. And rightly so. Yeah. It was pretty disturbing to see those kids sitting in like heavy chains on a bus.
00:33:40
Speaker
It's rough. Buses often have chains. I mean, that was just weird. I will say that is a part of the movie that is hard. So as you know, the community of special needs and people with intellectual development disabilities is important to me.
00:33:55
Speaker
Um, been volunteering that space for 20 years, but, uh, I'm not, look, I'm not like, um, I don't think I'm overly sensitive to a lot of things. It's not like ah you can't, as long as you're not punching down. And I don't think movie punches down at the population, but it it's a pretty, um for a movie that is so fun, I guess.
00:34:18
Speaker
it's a tonal It's a tonal shift. It's like we're having fun and you're having women disembowel men just because they're werewolves.
00:34:31
Speaker
And here's a kid getting, you know, ah ah an actual child getting his head chopped off, but it's still played for laughs. But this story is a little different because it's it's children who have disabilities, who cannot speak, and But the one that hurts your heart is like the reason this happened is their parents sent them to their doom because they were just too tired of dealing with them.
00:34:54
Speaker
The idea that you have like, um like what is it? Is it eight or 12? It's a lot. that That many parents are just like, yeah, we're done with our... there's too many responsibilities. Like that is a, get on the bus. That's a type of evil that it, it's the, it's one of the most unrealistic parts of a very unrealistic anthology because it's like, as a parent, how do you, how do you find that many parents who are in the same town who are just willing to send their kids it to their doom?
00:35:24
Speaker
And I know it's, it's an anthology and it's being exaggerated, but, and it's, you know. No, you're right. Like the tone of it feels extra evil and dark. It's,
00:35:35
Speaker
you but You're right. Like the killing the the fat kid is just like, yeah, it's it's not it's not nearly as dark. this Yeah, it's it's just like a weird another level of all of the and of all the stories.
00:35:45
Speaker
And it's I don't know how they could have made it different. Maybe not disabled kids. I don't know. In my opinion, it's like maybe maybe it make them trouble the kids like delinquents, you know, like juvenile detention and stuff where it's not a cognitive thing that's keeping them back, but it's more behavioral or whatever.
00:36:07
Speaker
I don't know. I'm not what I'm not one to go back in time and change things. I love the movie the way it is, but it is the one part where I'm like, I know hard to watch. Yeah, it's just odd. Yeah. Yeah. It's like oddly dark. Visually, it's it's it looks great. It's like that sepia tone and it's and it's told it's a flashback. So everything kind of looks a bit more aged and their masks even are more vintage.
00:36:30
Speaker
Oh, they're creepy. Yes. The Dracula mask. And one of the masks looks like ah like Leatherface before he's Leatherface. don't know. I like the way it looks. Yeah. and i don't And I don't think it's like, I don't think it's like, um there's no malice here. It's just, it's a little it's a little messy. It's a little messy is all I'm saying. I don't love i don't love that scene. Yeah.
00:36:51
Speaker
Okay. So some production notes. um This movie. was made by Michael Daughtry, who I think we already figured out the time was like in his late 20s, early 30s, came off of a or inspired by a 1986 little thesis he made, an animated short called Seasons Greetings, which we have both seen.
00:37:13
Speaker
um It's cute. It's like shows little Sam trick or treat. It's cute. Walking around with his bag and then ah big guy corners him in an alleyway and there's a big fight and you imagine that the big guy got him.
00:37:28
Speaker
But spoiler, Sam comes out of there unscathed with the well sam big sack of something in there that's not moving much more anymore. But it's if you just tell. The style's kind of giving spooky, scary skeletons to kind of that old timey cartoon.
00:37:43
Speaker
Well, I was going to say, if I just tell you the plot, it doesn't say much, but if you watch it, there's all these, you know from the music to little crows here and there to the beginning with this jack-o'-lantern, like he's already tapping into these little choices that,
00:37:58
Speaker
go a long way, you know? um So he um is a screenwriter, works with Bryan Singer a lot.
00:38:08
Speaker
um Co-wrote Superman Returns um yeah with with Bryan Singer. and is part of his production company called Bad Hat. And they're under they're like they have a first look deal with Warner Brothers.
00:38:23
Speaker
Now, before we get into what happens after that, let's talk a bit about the making of the movie itself, like production. um Shot in Vancouver, a lot of like practical effects.
00:38:34
Speaker
um I thought you'd be interested in some of the deleted like scenes they almost filmed but didn't, or some scenes they did, they left out. um One of them was this, was the the the Halloween bus massacre.
00:38:50
Speaker
The twist was gonna be the reason they bring her down to the graveyard is that she's already dead and shes she doesn't realize she's dead and they're trying to show her that she's dead. Oh my gosh.
00:39:01
Speaker
I feel like I would have liked that twist. Wow. Reason he didn't, he didn't put it in was because the sixth sense had come out like six years before and so many people had done the whole, you were a ghost the whole time.
00:39:15
Speaker
yeah so he just thought it was a bit too cliche, but a little bit of a homage, but yeah, I know. I feel like it could work now because we don't see that much as much anymore. But think you're in the you're still in that seven-year aftershock of Sixth Sense, which just took the world by storm.
00:39:33
Speaker
yeah um And then another one was a bit more Christmas-oriented. He fuses Christmas and Halloween, um like the end of one holiday, the beginning of the other. And in his mind, it was just like too much Christmas, which is funny because he actually ends up going to direct Krampus, which is a Christmas horror film.
00:39:51
Speaker
later i saw that he directed kranfus which is another movie that is like drawing on weird spooky lore but about christmas interesting i haven't seen i still i haven't seen it i want to see it you should see it yeah well like everything he's done he he did this he also did my favorite godzilla movie ah which one king of the monsters 2019 it's the i've only cried in two godzilla movies and that's one of them
00:40:19
Speaker
I can't believe you've cried in Godzilla movies. That's cute. funny because Godzilla is like Japanese folklore. So this guy loves some lore. Yeah. The name of the film was going October the 31st.
00:40:36
Speaker
Halloween terrors. Jack-o-lantern tails. oo i was going to like that one. um And they almost named it trick or treat. But the reason they didn't is because there's an existing movie from 1986 that includes Ozzy Osbourne and Gene Simmons from Kiss.
00:40:56
Speaker
I'm going to read you part of the plot here of this 1986 movie. And ah tell me this doesn't sound awesome. An 86 American supernatural slasher film directed by Charles Martin Smith.
00:41:07
Speaker
The plot centers on an outcast metalhead teenager who is haunted by the ghost of his rock hero. but And you have Ozzy Osbourne and Gene Simmons in the movie as well.
00:41:19
Speaker
And the goat, Robert Elswit, does the cinematography, who has made a few, just a couple movies.
Film's Journey to Becoming a Cult Classic
00:41:28
Speaker
ah Boogie Nights, Magnolia.
00:41:32
Speaker
Wow. Punch Drunk Love, works with PTA a lot. Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood, The Town, Mission and Impossible Ghost Protocol, Born Legacy, Nightcrawler. Oh, goodness. um Yeah.
00:41:46
Speaker
So. Wow. The guy knows what he's doing. He made trick or treat, which is awesome. So then, so then anyways, the, the, oh, and also they shot in the winter agenda. talking about the seasons.
00:41:56
Speaker
ah huh They shot in the winter. So they had to paint the leaves and like the pumpkins and the trees. Like, wow. I think it works though, because it it has this like supernatural, like,
00:42:10
Speaker
charged feel to it that I wonder if they shot in the real fall and they didn't have to be intentional with like painting everything that it maybe wouldn't have been the same. But it's like this, this extra kind of, I don't know. It doesn't feel fake, but it doesn't feel totally real either.
00:42:26
Speaker
And it's literally. Yeah. it feels like a little otherworldly town. I'm like, that town's not real, yeah but I want it to be. Yeah. Yeah. At this time 05 and 06 when the thing's getting made, and this is important, this like goes into why this became a cult classic and an under-seen film for a while, is that um there was three regime changes at the studio.
00:42:48
Speaker
And so one regime was there led by Alan Horn, the COO, when he greenlit the project and he was like very auteur friendly and they were taking big chances.
00:42:59
Speaker
And while the movie was getting made, or at least into ah post-production, um ah ironically enough, one of Bad Hat's movies, Superman Returns, which Daughtry worked on, really underperformed.
00:43:14
Speaker
Like, was a really big, expensive swing, and it didn't land. And so another guy gets promoted COO, Josh Robinoff. And at this point...
00:43:29
Speaker
Daughtry kind of loses his political sway with the studio. So then, um during production, sorry, during post-production the regime changes, like i said, to Robinoff and while he's there, um, some things happen. So ah ah by Mark, they had set a date for this film to be released October 5th, 2007. Um,
00:43:53
Speaker
um A few months before that, they're already blast like blasting trailers everywhere. so like in march In March of that year, 300, the movie Gerard Butler about the Spartans, big movie, they put the trick-or-treat trailer on that film.
00:44:10
Speaker
so That's a big decision. That's like, hey, wow wherere we're leading with this. We're going for this. um and By mid-September, so this is a less than a month away, the title disappears from the exhibitor release schedules.
00:44:30
Speaker
It's just pulled last minute. Like no explanation, no big press release, just done. And so I should say that ah it didn't mean that they couldn't find ways to get theatrical screenings at like festivals and stuff.
00:44:49
Speaker
So their first public screening was at Harry Knowles' Butt Numathon film in Austin, Texas, film festival in Austin, Texas. He's the guy that started Ain't It Cool News, who had a fall from grace.
00:45:02
Speaker
And um it played at several other places, like probably 15 festivals. and Rave reviews wherever it went. um um Two years go by. Another regime change happens. And they didn't just postpone it generally. They actually canceled it. Like it doesn't exist. And there's not really a good reason why.
00:45:22
Speaker
Well, we'll get into that. There's some there's some theories. Warner Brothers is never going to say why. They're just going that we made a business decision. Um, but, uh, but yeah, so it's not until October, 2009, another regime comes, they have this like direct to DVD line, like this new initiative. I didn't realize that power of buzz though. Like this developed a huge cult following because of how just, uh, like perfectly it captures the holiday and there's such a reverence for it.
00:45:54
Speaker
And whether you're like a Halloween person or horror person or both, it just, you know, didn't have its first actual release in theaters until 2022. Very limited.
00:46:05
Speaker
and then again, we're getting that we're getting it soon. So long after. Yeah. But Throughout all this time, everybody's wondering, why the fuck did this happen? Why did this happen? why up So here's some theories.
00:46:15
Speaker
And a lot of the lot of this is from Daughtry himself. So something he said to IGN in 2009 was, after Superman returns, the regime at Warner Brothers changed. New executives came in, and I don't think they were very interested in projects associated with the previous team.
00:46:31
Speaker
Meaning, not only was my were my projects... with a previous team, our projects didn't do well. Right? Yeah. um And then another thing is that um there was a lot of other horror films that Warner Brothers was putting out around the same time.
00:46:49
Speaker
So August 31st was Rob Zombie's Halloween um reboot, which was huge. It did 31 million opening weekend. It's a Labor Day record. So that's a lot of marketing money behind that.
00:47:01
Speaker
October was Saw 4, was saw four Also opened over $30 million over the weekend. Did like over $130 million worldwide. And then December 14th, I Am Legend.
00:47:15
Speaker
um I know that's later in the year, but still when you so make your slate, you have to space things out so people don't get fatigued. And that did $585 million. so I think and ah from a business perspective, it's like, well, maybe they in their mind and maybe in reality they made the right decision because they they released these other three horror films, which each did phenomenal.
00:47:32
Speaker
And they wonder if trick or treat might have cannibalized some of those sales or diluted the effectiveness of those other projects. So that's another theory. and Another one is that they just didn't know how to market it.
00:47:45
Speaker
Like you have this like tonally all over the place anthology film, which historically speaking, anthology films do not do well at the box office at all. Especially in the 2000s, like Creepshow 2, Tales from the Crypt, even Grindhouse earlier that year, like Quentin Tarantino and Rodriguez's projects. You remember that? Like Death Proof and Planet Terror.
00:48:07
Speaker
None of them, all disappointments. So add all those things in the mix and then you have like children dying like pretty like frequently and without much care.
00:48:19
Speaker
and then you have the scene we talked about. So it's not once you start to look into it, it's not hard to see what happened. like He lost his political sway. It's a weird movie and a crowded marketplace.
00:48:32
Speaker
So yeah interesting. i just thought that was interesting. It is interesting. So then when he did release it in 2009, was it still with Warner Brothers? Yeah, but they just put it on DVD.
00:48:42
Speaker
They didn't go to theaters. Oh, that's right. den Yeah. Because they had their own... they were They were excited about this new... And I forget what it's called. like some Some line of DVDs or it's like boutique.
00:48:55
Speaker
And yeah they're like, we're going to put Trick or Treat on there. so So... Weird. um But here we are now.
Favorite Scenes and Creative Impact of 'Trick 'r Treat'
00:49:03
Speaker
It succeeded. Yeah. And so i wanted what I wanted to finish with was that ah he has...
00:49:10
Speaker
bit assed ad nauseum and toyed around with the idea of a sequel and it's like it's that same old Hollywood story of like yeah it's in development or the script's really good but we don't know of any money behind it there's no studio circling it like it's just but I would love it oh we'd all love you can tell from his interviews like he he would not do it unless it was the right the right one yeah you know Right.
00:49:37
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, man. Well, fingers crossed that happens soon. So, yeah, normally we talk about box office, but ah there's like no verified box office information for this movie.
00:49:48
Speaker
If you go anywhere, it's like they made $27,000. I'd love to know what it made in its 22 re-release. I don't know why we don't have better information on that. If somebody has that, please send it our way. Anna Paquin, do you know her from?
00:50:00
Speaker
She plays Lori. Oh, no. Yeah. What is she from? Oh, I can't remember. I've seen her before, though.
00:50:08
Speaker
One of the youngest Oscar winners of all time. Really? The piano, 93, she won age 11. But her, the thing you probably know her from is True Blood. Oh, yeah. She was super. Yeah, that's right. True Blood. Yes.
00:50:19
Speaker
Yeah. Fitting. um Dylan Baker played the principal. ah He's in a really weird movie called Happiness from 98. What i like remember him from, Requiem for a Dream, he plays a southern doctor in a very tough movie.
00:50:37
Speaker
um He's also in ah Spider-Man 2 as director Dr. Kirk Connors, of course. Yes, Spider-Man 2.
00:50:46
Speaker
But honestly, I think this is my favorite role for him. This is where he like he hands it up the most. He has the most screen presence. Yeah. Yeah. Um, did you recognize Brian Cox old man Krieger? Okay. I did not recognize him and I, I would have, cause I definitely know him.
00:51:03
Speaker
So he was unrecognizable to me. Yeah. Um, so weird. There's a lot of people in this movie. i wasn't going like mention everybody, but anybody else?
00:51:14
Speaker
Oh, you you mentioned, um, the girl from whatchamacallit. Um, Oh, Leslie Ben from white, is she from white Lotus? White Lotus. Yeah. What did she do in White Lotus?
00:51:26
Speaker
She was one of the three, the blonde the blonde Bob girls. She was in the, have you seen it? No. Oh, okay. She was in the latest season in Thailand and she was one of the three blonde friends.
00:51:38
Speaker
The girls trip. Yep. She was really, she was great in that. ah did I did find... i just Finding out that quinn a guy named Quinn Lord played Sam when he was a little kid. i I just always thought... you know um you know sometimes they They use little people in those kind of roles, but they used a kid.
00:51:57
Speaker
yeah You know, Rick, I was reading about it this week, and... They said that some of the scenes were filmed too late for child actors, so they actually did use little people for some of the kids running through the streets and Oh, for the little running around? Yeah.
00:52:14
Speaker
Wow. okay too late i Okay. miss i go to bed I'm not surprised. Um, fun little cameo. There is a part where Sam, the kid who played Sam has a cameo. Like you see his real face and he's the kid with a lollipop. Who's like looking, he's like peeping through the gates or something.
00:52:33
Speaker
He's like looking through the fence. don't remember that. Oh, that's really funny. All right, well, before we throw it over to ah ourselves, <unk>ve before we move to ah awards and bring Benny back in the fold, anything else, Jenna, that we need to promote or mention? Or do you think we've, I mean, we've covered a lot of ground, I feel like.
00:52:53
Speaker
We talked about everything. I mean, I feel like we appropriately expressed our personal love for this movie, which clearly many people share. I agree. So let's watch Krampus for Christmas.
00:53:04
Speaker
I do want to see Krampus. Awards time. go. All right. We'll move on to the awards. How we start the awards each time, guys, as you know, is the Scarometer. And to give you some, I only gave you guys, hey, I said, give me a one out of 10.
00:53:18
Speaker
I'll give you one last chance to maybe change if you think you need change. ex because I'm going to give you ratings of former movies, okay? of what we gave Of what we gave these other movies that we've covered. um At the top of the list, we've never got a 10, but the top of the list is The Ring at nine.
00:53:35
Speaker
Conjuring is at eight. Conjuring two is also at eight. Bring her back, which is a new film. We saw saw that this year, seven weapons is seven poltergeist, six conjuring four, six conjuring three is six barbarian, six, 28 days later is five. The long walks five.
00:53:52
Speaker
ah You haven't seen those movies. 28 weeks later is four. 28 years later is four. Jaws is three. Him is three. Then in final destination is a two because that's mainly just fun. Where? ah Benny, I'll go with you first on this. Where would you rank?
00:54:06
Speaker
four and a half. Okay. um Almost an average scary movie. I think it's... if ah yeah I don't see it as like... so I think it' more it's more creepy than like scary or terrifying or anything like that. Like the like Conjuring ones, like those, you're you're scared the whole time. This is just like, there's some creepy aspects.
00:54:26
Speaker
There's a couple little scary parts, but it's not like... crazy i mean It might be a five, but I think the the way that it's like it's hopping around and it's kind of they they they're playing they're poking fun at a lot of stuff and it's somewhat light.
00:54:41
Speaker
I just don't see major scariness in it, except for like the the but bus massacre. Yeah, it's a little of of kids with intellectual development disabilities.
00:54:53
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. that scene is definitely has a lot of i have a lot of questions about it. yeah It's effective, but it's tough. Jenna, you. um You know, I agree with Benny. i would say i would say a four But with the exception of the the bus scene, the bus scene is the one scene that's like kind of just gives me the chills a little bit. yeah It's disturbing.
00:55:20
Speaker
It's disturbing. But yeah, it really, to me, it's just, it's not that much horror. And the horror that does happen, it's very kind of tongue in cheek. And it's not it's not trying to conjuring us. It's not, you know. Right. It's not like this could happen to you.
00:55:35
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. um I'm with you guys. I gave it between a three and a four. um Okay. All right. Highlights. um The movie is separated into four parts if you don't include the if you don't include the conclusion or the intro.
00:55:52
Speaker
You got Principal, you got Halloween School Bus Massacre, you got Surprise Party, and you got Sam. ah I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the highlight for me is the slow is is the werewolf party.
00:56:11
Speaker
I just love that. I'm like, that's when I'm like so the most jazzed up. I'm like, what is happening? The first time I saw it, I did i knew something it was up, I just didn't get it. um Because you have you have so many reveals, and like we'll get into this with our Shyamalan Twist Award and stuff, but like the man in the cloak is revealed to be a character that you already know, and then all of a sudden everybody's turned werewolves, and it's it's funny, it's sexy, it's it's scary. It's like all the emotions at once,
00:56:39
Speaker
It's like all primal and they're using like a real effects. Like that's an actual animatronic. I like They were fully real like werewolf effects. so Nothing was CGI. Yeah. They're like ripping off their skin. Yeah.
00:56:54
Speaker
Yeah. ah Yeah. So that's, that's my hair is wet because they're inside the skin. I don't know the mechanics behind that. And I did the snout pop. Does it like pop out when they ah unzip their face? Like how doess it get stay smushed in there?
00:57:09
Speaker
Like, do they turn hot again after they um do they have to pick up the same old skin and put it on? Right. That's my question. Well, we see them at the end, but that's, I guess that's the beginning of when they're on the way to the party.
00:57:24
Speaker
They're in that car. That's the beginning. Yeah. We don't see them after they have to get a new skin. Maybe. They have to grow their skin back. Yeah. All right, so that's my highlight.
00:57:35
Speaker
what is yeah What's one of y'all's highlights? Ricky, mine was the exact same highlight. Well, go into it. I remember that first, when we first watched it, I think I like freaked out. I was like, oh my gosh.
00:57:46
Speaker
the werewolf like the girls they're where they're killing the men i love it and then the reveal and that because it came before the vavich and midsmar the other kill all men movies so of it um ah you know ah there but Like you said, there reveal there's so many reveals. The reveal of the... thing is, like I think men men die in movies way more than women. So when you say kill all men, we're already getting killed off and up. Also, of our suicide our suicide rates are much higher than y'all, too. I just want to put that out there.
00:58:17
Speaker
Are you saying in movies or in reality? The suicide's reality. yeah You're not a men's rights activist, MRA? thought you were an ally, Jenna.
00:58:28
Speaker
Men's rights activist. So aside from killing men, what else do you like about it? Well, I mean, I just love this. I think it's, it's the most like, it's the best. Yeah. want to get Everything clicks. Yes. Everything clicks. yes Everything synthesizes. I agree. It's funny.
00:58:42
Speaker
It's not taking itself too seriously. it's got a, it's got a, uh, is it a Marilyn Manson cover of, sweet dreams?
00:58:53
Speaker
Yeah. Sweet dreams are made of these. It's good. ah Marilyn Manson, one of three people involved with this project that got canceled that we'll we'll also talk about.
00:59:07
Speaker
All right, Benny, what's your highlight?
00:59:11
Speaker
The same one.
00:59:15
Speaker
It's the best scene. i was kind of, you know, I was thinking about like, OK, what are the the big highlights for me that that just like when I first watched it really resonated?
00:59:28
Speaker
And it was this was this was the clear winner. But I was also thinking of like, the whole scene where they go down to after the school bus with the girl and they scare her, you know, that just that's burned in my memory. And then also um at the end with Sam and yeah and the neighbor.
00:59:48
Speaker
little Sam, yeah very angry. This one is just like, it's in a league of its own because it's like you you're seeing again, the guy come in, who you don't know. I thought that they were, i thought that they were actually witches at first. Yeah. When I first saw them. And cause they started like cackling and stuff. And I was like, Oh, they're going like a seance.
01:00:09
Speaker
Then when there's in the werewolves, when I watched it the second time, you pick up so many little things in the beginning. Yes. but yes say Like, all right, let's get, let's get into that. We'll, we'll huff and we'll puff and we'll blow your, yeah your door down or whatever. They're getting changed.
01:00:23
Speaker
And now when you see it, you pick them all these little things. Runt of the litter. Runt of the litter, big eyes big eyes you have. She's literally dressed as Red Riding Hood. um Another thing is that ah she's like, yeah, ah my first time was this is this person. And they're like, then we found out it was a girl.
01:00:42
Speaker
And she's like, yeah, well, she had a nice ass. And then some then she's like, it it all tastes the same to me. And so we're thinking it's like some ass-eating joke. And then you realize, no, it's about eating the person, literally.
01:00:52
Speaker
Also, ah there's another part there in the car and another girl is talking about her first time and she's like, oh, remember that time I was vomiting because I had some bad Mexican.
01:01:04
Speaker
oh I remember. Yeah. I forgot about that line. Yes, that's. So, ah yeah, i it is that is a really, it's always great when a reveal still holds its, like, you can get rewatch enjoyment because of little stuff like that. It's like, some movies are like, and once the twist is there, it's like, it blew its load. But in this case, it's it's even more rewarding in some cases because you see all the breadcrumbs.
01:01:31
Speaker
Yeah, yeah those are some of but those are some of my favorite lines. um Okay, Ben Gardner jump scare award. ah Jenna, let's go with you first. What was your Ben Gardner jump scare award?
01:01:43
Speaker
Okay, i I forgot that this like moment had happened. So it's when um Principal, what's his name, Principal Wilkins, when he he's in like the basement with his son and he's holding up the knife and he's about to stab...
01:01:59
Speaker
We think it's his son.
01:02:03
Speaker
i mean, the kid is pretty annoying. He does his deserve to be stabbed because he is a serial killer in training. But you think he's getting his hours. That kind of got that got me even though I've seen it before.
01:02:16
Speaker
ah was like, he's gonna kill his son. But no, he stabbed the head of the other kid. This made you jump? Yeah, ah was just like freaked out. I don't know. There's not that many jump scares in this movie, but yeah, I don't want them to be stabbed.
01:02:31
Speaker
Jenna, Jenna Pumpkin quote 2025. I don't want children to be stabbed. How brave of you. ah Benny, what was your Ben Gardner award? I think that was the, I feel like that was like probably the only semi jump scare in the movie.
01:02:46
Speaker
Oh, there's one more. It's the very beginning when he is, when she's a woman, the ah what's her name? God damn it. ah Halloween hater. Oh, the white Lotus girl.
01:02:58
Speaker
yeah emma emma emma and henry so emma is pulling the the ghosts off of the whatever the posts and then sam just jumps out and like slashes her to death yeah benny as a married person um did that affect you like would you be would you be a little shocked if you saw that of your wife um well it depends because The way that I have, I feel for Sam because I want to keep the spirit of Halloween going on further than it should.
01:03:31
Speaker
But she loves it right now. If she's out there kicking pumpkins, ah throwing them away, snuffing them out on the night of Right. I don't know. Maybe Sam's got point.
01:03:42
Speaker
Maybe. Yeah. we You live and die by the sword. You live and die by the pumpkin. i mean, this is a movie about rules and tradition. And he did leave some candy, technically, in her face.
01:03:54
Speaker
He did. did. Look, he's, he's yeah ah he's ah what do you call lawful neutral? Or lawful evil? What would you say? I'd say lawful neutral.
01:04:07
Speaker
Because he's literally, he's not doing it spite. No, he's doing it out of Guardian. um Yeah. Yeah, I had another one where the the the kid that ah the serial killer principal is burying, he like jumps out at him too when he's like still alive. Oh, yeah.
01:04:22
Speaker
Another kid. um All right. Cantaloupe Award. This is a ah scene that's kind of hard to watch. It's tense. It's gross. um Not many here because it's kind of so jumpy and fun and bouncy.
01:04:37
Speaker
ah I'll go first this time. i only had one and that was like when he, he, sta when little Sam stabs old man Krieger in the leg and like, it's like he gets him like the near the Achilles or the ankle just remember being like, oof, that must really hurt. I like felt it in my leg.
01:04:54
Speaker
That's the only time that I was like, eek. But. Well, this one, I said, Charlie throwing up on the porch. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It was so gross. And I had just made chili that night for dinner. And I was like, I can't eat this right now.
01:05:09
Speaker
Yeah, that was gross. And he's like, bring up like brown, like it looked, I don't even, it's flowing out of his mouth. He gets it on his like shoulder or whatever, but it looks like it's blood. Like it's it's all over him.
01:05:21
Speaker
So gross. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's one scene, it's a really small scene, but like when Wilkins falls and they show like how messed up his leg is, like it's like open and there's like, there's bones and stuff sticking out of it.
01:05:37
Speaker
the principal? Yeah. yeah When she drops it from the trees. Yeah. And then, but i but I was thinking in that scene when he like, the kid like tries to wake up and he slams him with the, with the shovel, like in the face or the neck or something. Or right before that, he severs his finger with the shovel. Yeah. that whole Yeah. Yummy.
01:05:59
Speaker
um It's one of the reasons that I think people theorize it wasn't released to theaters is because they didn't know how to market a movie that's so willingly and gleefully kills children.
01:06:09
Speaker
um All right. Cannon fodder award. Jenna, you said you had a tough time with this one, so I'll go with Benny first. like so So this just means like not like it has nothing to do with... Well, Jenna made a good point before you hopped on. It's like all these deaths are meaningful.
01:06:26
Speaker
they They exist to show something. It's the one that feels the the least weighty. It's the one that feels like we needed somebody to den die here to increase the excitement.
01:06:39
Speaker
Aside from like all the random deaths at the werewolf party.
01:06:44
Speaker
that's also what I wrote down, if anything. those are just like that You can pick that. Okay, so I mean, I think those are the Yeah, it's it bunch it's it's a bunch of red shirts getting just demolished.
01:06:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I think that's the... Bunch of men. I mean, bunch of men getting killed. That's Jenna's favorite kink.
01:07:05
Speaker
i I got one that I think you guys will agree with. I got one. I think you'll agree with this is somebody who didn't break any rules who we only meet once and it's fleeting but it's the girl that principal Wilkins kills as a vampire.
01:07:20
Speaker
He sucks her blood in the alleyway and leaves her for dead. We never see her again. Now does she actually die though or does he just leave her for dead and that's all we see. I think she's dead. Her eyes are open aren't they.
01:07:33
Speaker
Oh, you're right. yeah People start walking by. She's like sitting there and people just think she's drunk. And now initially when I saw it, I thought, yeah, this is a hard one because the movie is so well put together and everything is meaningful and it's not like a dumb slasher, but these ah this is the best we can do.
01:07:49
Speaker
um Best death. What is the best death in the movie? Benny, do you have one that pops up in your head? I mean, I love the werewolf ripping everyone apart.
01:08:01
Speaker
um have We haven't even talked about that one yet. Honestly, I like when when ah Sam kills the bus driver. But Sam doesn't kill the bus driver.
01:08:14
Speaker
going to say, yeah. Doesn't he... gives him candy. He leaves him alive. Yeah, Betty... Yeah. Well, okay. I guess that was a higher death. It's it's the kids the the ghosts of the kids with the intellectual development disabilities. They come come up later. yeah I guess that. I like i like when he that when he he was the most satisfying death.
01:08:40
Speaker
Yes. he his he he He didn't just break Halloween tradition. He was involved in killing like a vulnerable population. Yeah.
01:08:51
Speaker
Yenna? I think it has to be Principal Wilkins because that moment before you know that he's the one in the vampire outfit, you think he's going to like attack... What's her name? la No. Is it Laurie? Yeah. um But then he lands on the ground injured.
01:09:10
Speaker
And then his his death feels really good because it's all tied up with the reveal. That's Principal Wilkins, who deserves the death. I think you you guys are picking the two most satisfying ones. I agree. Those are the people who did, again, they didn't just break Halloween tradition. They like murdered people.
01:09:27
Speaker
so And I like seeing him as like the the victim for once when he's looking around and he's so scared and he's asking for help and all this stuff. And it's like, well, you didn't give that to anybody else. So...
01:09:41
Speaker
yeahp Amen. um I'll make mine quick. It changes each year that I watch this, but I think this time, it's I always forget that he actually kills Charlie, like the little tubby kid. I'm like, talk about a tone setter.
01:09:56
Speaker
like Immediately, once you realize that he's dead, it's like, this movie's not going pull punches. It's going to make fun of like, kid death like yeah that's hard to do without making it feel sick uh all right shamalan award we've already kind of touched on these so we'll just briefly go through them um you know the sir the principal is a serial killer that's one reveal like we thought his principal normal guy. No, he's a serial killer.
01:10:24
Speaker
Then the next reveal is that he's not going to kill his son. He's training his son. And then the next reveal is that this vampire we're seeing is principal Wilkins and that he's actually not a vampire. He's just, you know, it's like four.
01:10:40
Speaker
He's involved in like the four big twists, four of the big twists. That's true. Interesting. Yeah. Like a lot of twists and turns with Dylan Baker's character. But obviously I'm missing the the big one is what the scene we keep talking about.
01:10:58
Speaker
Also the bus driver finding him out. Yeah. um All right. the The don't go in there award. um okay the one i was gonna pick here is actually something you mentioned earlier benny it's the tv news guys like can you not smell it trap a mile away here's those guys are in their 40s maybe 50s probably 40s average looking dudes working a late shift and like some smoke shows all scantily dressed are like
01:11:33
Speaker
they don't even want to know their personalities or anything. They're just like, Hey, come to this party with us. Is that not a clear sign that you are like, don't go like either ask questions or figure it out. Like, you know, it's crazy is I, agree, but I think that's probably the most realistic thing happen in the movie.
01:11:52
Speaker
It was like, there are so many guys like that that would do that and wouldn't even ask a question. It's true. The men, think with their penis, not the men, the girls,
01:12:04
Speaker
The girls were hot, but I, I like, i don't think I would go. I like, I, I know my value. I'm a more of a personality hire. I know I'm not a Brad Pitt or anything.
01:12:17
Speaker
And if they just come up to me, just based on how I look, I would be very concerned. I'd be like, that's true. You know what i mean? Okay, you're not supposed to agree with that, Jenna. ah Good point.
01:12:32
Speaker
Hot people would never just come and bite you. Yeah, hot people would just come and talk to you. Joke's on you, Jenna.
01:12:42
Speaker
That's true. All right. Do you guys have anything for this? Yeah. I mean, okay on Halloween night, Are you going to go whether you're Rhonda, who doesn't really know better, or you're the friends of the bullies?
01:12:57
Speaker
You don't go into a foggy pit. You also don't go in a cage, slow moving elevator that has a lock and a key on it I just, I would never have followed those bullies down there.
01:13:14
Speaker
Even I was a fellow bully. You are blaming Rhonda, who's clearly on the spectrum, for just like trying to fit in with her friends. And you're punishing her for saying that she made some bad choices.
01:13:27
Speaker
i think I just want to understand where you stand i ah i do I wish Rhonda could know better, but it's not her fault. But the adjacent bullies, like the ones who weren't as bad, i would have thought twice about following Macy down to the abyss.
01:13:41
Speaker
I'm going to say this. Anytime I watch this movie, i Rhonda does remind me of you.
01:13:48
Speaker
this is community all right we have uh three awards left and benny i know we actually have gone over i just noticed i'm sorry can we finish up real fast yeah um sorry dude my my my don't go in there is um oh cute even though he is on a time crunch he wants to give his award is probably the kid in the beginning but he but he shouldn't go he shouldn't go up to the a stranger's house eat candy with them He was already doing bad things, he should have ran away.
01:14:17
Speaker
Yeah. Yes. do you Do you think had he run away, do you think Principal Wilkins, is it his style to run after him or is he too calm and collected? because he was already worried when when the other kids come up to trick-or-treat after.
01:14:30
Speaker
That's right. The bullies. Yeah. Preventable, for sure. Yeah.
Humor and Iconic Moments from the Film
01:14:37
Speaker
um All right. Best lines. um Most of mine were used because I was so excited about all the werewolf reveals. So I only had one left.
01:14:47
Speaker
um And it's when Principal Wilkins is trying to bury that kid. And then his own son is in the up in the window. And he's like, Dad, Dad. Like... what are you doing? And he's trying to get to shut up.
01:14:59
Speaker
And he's like, go watch Charlie Brown and I'll be in in a minute. And he goes, Charlie Brown's an asshole. And he's like, Billy Wilkins, don't you say that. Don't you say that about Charlie Brown.
01:15:10
Speaker
loved, I loved that. It's like so random. How dare you? In what world is Charlie Brown an asshole? You can say he's pathetic. You can say he's passive. Doesn't make a lot of, you know, incentive or decisions, but he he's not, he's never an asshole.
01:15:23
Speaker
No, he's not asshole. that was my favorite line.
01:15:30
Speaker
Mine was the first line in the film, which before you watch it, you think that, man, yeah, I agree with that. She says, ah wait, what's the White Lotus's name?
01:15:41
Speaker
Emma or Emily or something? Emma. Emma. So this is a great idea, honey. Really, it's just magical. It makes me wish every night was Halloween. I was like, me too. Oh, no, she's being sarcastic.
01:15:54
Speaker
But you agree with the text. Yeah. I agree with the text. And the way she says it, it doesn't sound like it's sarcastic. You only know it is until he's like, I'm sorry, blah, blah, blah. And then, of course, overhears that. I wonder if that's one of the reasons.
01:16:09
Speaker
Maybe that's one of the reasons Sam is so violent with her. like Not just that she broke the rule, but he tricked him. She's a hater. He's monitoring the Halloween vibes. He's just checking things out. He's like, oh, look at this young...
01:16:22
Speaker
or younger young middle-aged people. what do we what I don't know. they i would consider six year old I think- 10 years ago, I'd say middle-aged. Now I'd say young. Yeah, they're like definitely younger than us.
01:16:36
Speaker
They're definitely younger than us. ah Late 20s, early 30s, about to have kids, maybe don't have kids, whatever. ah And yeah, like he's just surveying the scene. He's probably excited to like Halloween, but Jen, I think you're right. She says that, and he's like, oh, Halloween vibes are good, and then boom, shit gets itself.
01:16:54
Speaker
That's right. um Was there a line that spoke to you, Betty? when the kid talks about cutting the the head with his dad.
01:17:05
Speaker
And he's like, you're going let me do the ah do the eyes this time.
01:17:11
Speaker
ah so creepy. Yeah, I like that too. um All right, dull knives. I have a few. i have a few questions, guys. And I'm going to start with this one.
01:17:27
Speaker
There's a party going on and Anna Paquin's character, Lori, is like looking for a lover. we we or We think it's a lover. If you, the first time watching it, we think she's trying to lose her virginity, find some man.
01:17:39
Speaker
And she's looking around and each time she sees somebody, she's like attracted. And then it's like, oh, they're with somebody else or something. Right. Well, one of the people she looks at, she's looking at this cute guy who's in a horse costume.
01:17:54
Speaker
Right? And then it reveals that his girlfriend is like the back half of the horse. Well, because I know there's the costumes where like your legs are like the horse front legs and you're the centaur and the back legs just kind of like protrude off.
01:18:08
Speaker
So it looks like that. But if she was actually in it, I don't know. But let's practically break this down. Is she just like in his ass the entire time of the night? Like she's literally bent over like like that it cannot be a sustainable costume.
01:18:29
Speaker
Like, do you know what i'm talking about? Like there's other ways. I know what they were trying to do. They're trying to do your two people are a horse, right? Right. But if you watch that, she pops out and it's like she was like, she's like this the whole time.
01:18:44
Speaker
oh, I'm out of there. Give me a hot dog or something. I just don't see how How can you be in that costume for like an hour or even two hours? Isn't that the costume?
01:18:57
Speaker
Okay, if if that's a real costume, how does that work?
01:19:01
Speaker
It just looked like not a good time. um Yeah, you couldn't walk around in that. Yeah, I don't know what she's holding on to. All right, what's a dull k knife that you guys have?
01:19:14
Speaker
I thought that the bullies in the, back to the bullies, the bus bullies, when they played the prank on poor Rhonda, like where did they, they had like really elaborate costumes and like they had like heavy metal chains with them.
01:19:30
Speaker
And all they brought down there was like Rhonda was like pulling her little like pumpkin wagon and that's it. So I was Right. It's like little a little too pre-planned for these bullies.
01:19:42
Speaker
Yeah, the amount of effort was very unrealistic like for kids to go through just to like pull a prank on somebody. Yeah, because the only way i see that happening is if they if they had pre-planned, brought that all down there, created the costumes, made sure that they looked good, hid them, knew that it was going to be really foggy, and then went down there.
01:20:05
Speaker
got dressed and played that out. But I feel like they were all there for the first time anyways. Right. They were all like, so yeah, like they didn't know what's going on Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
01:20:18
Speaker
I would say just the fact that that the bus driver It's still in town, still living there. Nobody's saying anything about it. That's true. He goes and does that, and then he just lives in the same town after.
01:20:33
Speaker
i have a dull knife that's related to that, but it might and this might answer both of our dull knives. My dull knife was going to be that Why, there's two things I noticed about Brian Cox's character. a is that he has like a nose.
01:20:48
Speaker
Fake nose. Fake nose. B, he has fat hands. Did you notice that? He has, like, those are not his hands. He has fat hands. Do we think it's a disguise to blend into the town that people don't want to know who he is?
01:21:03
Speaker
But why not just move to another town? I know, I was trying to i just trying to give him a way out.
01:21:11
Speaker
I feel like he just he did he he wanted to do this movie because it was fun, but he didn't want people to know that it was him in it. He's such like a good actor.
01:21:22
Speaker
They're like just use a different name, please. They're like, yeah, we've got to sell the movie. Yeah. Brian Pumpkin. Yeah, Jenna jenna Pumpkin. um Another one I had, i kind of mentioned earlier, ah really want to know the mechanics of the wolf.
01:21:40
Speaker
Like, yeah but they make it seem so tactile. Like, oh, i just zip open my skin. There has to be a magical element here. geny like I don't think that they're like wearing a skin costume. I think they were transforming. Yeah. And I think you have to think about every other werewolf movie.
01:22:00
Speaker
something weird, their bodies change. It's not like, like vampires are easy because it's like, oh, my teeth. But werewolves, they have to turn into dogs. Oh, my teeth. Oh, my teeth.
01:22:12
Speaker
Oh, my teeth. Vampires. Yeah, there's definitely some magic, some Halloween magic there. Was it a full moon, though? I don't know. I wonder. when When Sam bites into his lollipop, I really wanted to hear a crunch. I didn't hear a crunch. It was just like, it was just kind of silent.
01:22:28
Speaker
Oh, another thing. Benny, I thought of you, because you're but growing up, you were always big on like helmets and like action figures where you could take helmets on and off and like see their face. But you're also into mystery and stuff.
01:22:40
Speaker
Did you like that we saw Sam's real head at the end of the movie, or did you want to keep it under a burlap side? No, I liked it. I, um, I wouldn't.
01:22:53
Speaker
I think I would have, I mean, I would have never known that that was an option if they never took his mask off, but I loved one, seeing his face or having it come off and then seeing that it was literally just like a dirty pumpkin.
01:23:13
Speaker
He's a dirty pumpkin. and He really is. He's an angry, dirty pig. He's in this burlap sack. sack But he's like way cuter with the the sack.
01:23:27
Speaker
We're like, oh, cute little Sam. But, you know, as a dirty pumpkin. Not so much. um I like Sam too. All right. Any other dull knives before we move on to our so our second last category winners and losers?
01:23:41
Speaker
I have one thought. Okay. At the very end when it's it it shows like the, don't know, the time goes out of order. We see Rhonda coming out of, what looks like Krieg's house covered in all these jack-o'-lanterns.
01:23:57
Speaker
But it must have been, maybe there's just another house that has a bunch of floating jack-o'-lanterns. I was just really confused by know where she was coming from. i think I think that's because Sam was at the graveyard. He was collecting pumpkins and he put them there as like a sign or something. Oh, really? Oh, interesting.
01:24:15
Speaker
that's my I thought about that too. i was like, i don't really... ah I didn't get it either. Well, there you go. Good theory. All right. Winners and losers. One winner I had.
01:24:28
Speaker
ah good old, good old fashioned sex tape. You know, the whole, the beginning. Yeah. oh She's like, go put on the tape, honey.
01:24:39
Speaker
And what I thought was interesting was like, I thought, I always thought it was going to be ah video of them themselves, but no, they just both have a video they both like, and it gets them in the mood. And it's like a fun, it's like the same, it's a VHS. This was made in 2007. There's Blu-rays out at but that point, DVDs out, but they have a VHS called nature time or something.
01:25:00
Speaker
And good for them to be sex positive, you know still trying new things in marriage. I just thought that was nice. I thought that was a win for the relationship, a win for intimacy. Well, it also was one of the reasons that she died, though.
01:25:17
Speaker
Oh, because he was all horned up and like left her? No, he he wakes up to her screams and then sees the movie on the TV and thinks it's part of the movie and falls back asleep.
01:25:31
Speaker
But he's not going to save her from Sam. Oh, i mean i guess maybe maybe you didn't get to the juggler till late you know maybe sam's very methodical it's true and sam is weird he sometimes gives gives uh grace you know like you yeah um any winner what's a winner for you guys I would say Halloween candy brands because there's you cannot see any branded candy in there. and Not in the movie. It's a loser then.
01:26:04
Speaker
Well, I don't know, though, because when um Charlie eats the candy, he throws up like ah fountain of disgusting vomit. you wouldn't want them to see what it is.
01:26:15
Speaker
Yeah, I would be like, no, don't put my candy in that movie. And then obviously put Halloween itself as a winner, which is like the easiest one in the world. Yeah. um Losers, I put predators.
01:26:27
Speaker
So you have Marilyn Manson, ah who's singing the song during the werewolf scene. Bryan Singer produced this film, ah was kind of caught up in the whole Kevin Spacey luring younger actors, in one case a minor, to his home. He produced, he directed X-Men, he directed X2, he did Usual Suspects.
01:26:53
Speaker
And then the where this film debuted was a ah film festival called Buttnumathon, and it was hosted and owned by Ain't It Cool News founder Harry Knowles, who also was brought down by a bunch of sexual assaults in 2017.
01:27:11
Speaker
So this movie lives on despite being littered with, again, the director's fine. the actors are fine. The people intimately involved are fine.
Controversies and Sam's Character Significance
01:27:21
Speaker
I'm just saying there's some, there's some bad people on the fringe here.
01:27:26
Speaker
So any jokes guys about that? Sounds like they're they're losers.
01:27:33
Speaker
Bus drivers, losers. Don't want to be bad luck for bus drivers in this movie. um What about boundaries? Boundaries are a loser. Boundaries?
01:27:45
Speaker
No, because all of these people, if they had used their boundaries, they wouldn't get into the situations. That's not true. if They followed rules. kid kid says Kid says yes to candy, shouldn't say yes to candy.
01:27:59
Speaker
ah Rhonda goes out with the friends shouldn't have gone out with a friend guys go with the werewolves shouldn't have gone with the werewolves guy leaves job people should have just said no like have self-restraint just say no yeah Halloween lore is one part following the specific lore two is just just say no have have some self-restraint yeah agreed um any other winners or losers guys
01:28:29
Speaker
I mean, the werewolves, of course. big winners They're the winners. yeah yeah Bullies, losers. They do win. They have the most they have the most fun. Nothing goes wrong with them, either. Yeah, they're successful in their endeavors. Oh, you know who's kind of the winners?
01:28:46
Speaker
Like, at the end, is the ah the bus of kids. Because they get to get back. That's true. wonder how they make it out of the abyss. Yeah. How did they get out there? How did they get back? Also, why did they wait till they and now?
01:29:05
Speaker
I think Sam brought... Is he not always around for Halloween? Oh, Rhonda brought him up, maybe, yeah. But how does Rhonda know Krieger is the bus driver?
01:29:18
Speaker
They're neighbors, i think. How does she know? They live next door to each other. Yeah, I feel like everybody lives on the same street. yeah um all right our final award guys who is the scream queen or king of this movie as a reminder this can be director writer actor an actual character it can be in some cases a concept usually it's a person involved in making the film normally it's a real person but it can be a character who did you guys have down i feel like i have to say sam or else i'm gonna get
01:29:57
Speaker
punished i had sam too i had sam he's the halloween king rarely do i pick a character but ah he is so formidable i'm like he's gonna jump yeah out of the screen but i kind of i kind of respect his game though yeah it's not like you don't hate sam like he's definitely you he's the king he's halloween king it's like Yeah, he he has like a he has his own kind of like code of ethics. You know, it's like you have to you follow the rules. These are the rules. And if you break them.
01:30:29
Speaker
Things happen. That's society. hail Sam. Yeah, he's not bad. he's I think he's a winner. or the the scream king, but I think kind of the werewolves.
01:30:43
Speaker
They win this whole movie. We love the werewolves. You know, honestly, it is good because I don't think werewolves get enough screen time either. They're usually kind of like secondary, tertiary even on in films. Right.
01:30:59
Speaker
You've always... Would we call this a werewolf movie? It is on some werewolf movie lists, but in the description will be like movies that have werewolves in them.
01:31:10
Speaker
Hmm. Hmm. I mean, like Hotel Transformation. Yeah, I've seen. Yeah. Or like Monster Squad. No, Betty and I watched Brotherhood of the Wolf recently. That's pretty good. Oh, very good. It's a that's your style. It's a period piece.
01:31:26
Speaker
Jenna, you'd love it. But watch out because the only one they have streaming. They have, they, it's only dubbed in English. They don't have the original. oh Oh. Gross. Sad. ah Best werewolf movie of all time though is American Werewolf in London.
01:31:40
Speaker
That's like top. I still haven't seen that. ah Jenna, you would fucking love it. It's like so funny, so good, scary as well. All right, so i think we're all in agreeance that Sam, how do you say it, Jenna Pumpkin?
01:31:55
Speaker
Samhain? Samhain. Samhain. It's Samhain. He has a last name? No, she's talking about this. The like holiday that Rhonda is like, it's it's spelled S-A-M-H-A-I-N, but it's pronounced Samhain, which doesn't make any sense, but it's Celtic.
01:32:15
Speaker
All right, guys. um This was fun. This was a good time. Yeah.
Upcoming Halloween Specials and Film Re-release
01:32:22
Speaker
you came Thanks for having us. you You came with your tricks and your treats. Yeah.
01:32:29
Speaker
ah Next week, these two knuckleheads won't be here, but Travis and I will, and we will be covering ah ah Black Phone 2.
01:32:44
Speaker
directed by Scott Derrickson. And, oh promo for this film, guys, go see it in theaters. A film that famously didn't get a theatrical release.
01:32:55
Speaker
It's for the second time only, going back to theaters October 14th, that's a Tuesday, and Young Benny's birthday, Thursday, October 16th, in theaters only, those two days.
01:33:06
Speaker
Go watch it there. Come listen to the pod. Have a good time. Have a few laughs. Have a few scares. Oh, Benny, birthday idea? I know what I'm doing for my birthday.
01:33:18
Speaker
Then watch it again. And Jenna's going to kill men for her birthday. but um All right, guys. Thanks for joining. We'll see you next time.
01:33:30
Speaker
Happy Halloween.
01:33:33
Speaker
Bye. Bye.
01:33:44
Speaker
Hi, Benny. Welcome. Welcome to what? Welcome to me. The Benny Show.