Hey there, folks, it is Friday, October the tenth. And yes, I'm sure there have been plenty of horror movies you've watched and thought, nah, that'll never happen to me. Well, this one just happened to me and Roeboch and welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. As we continue on our horror hit list, as we count down to our favorite deep cut horror movies, some that you might not know about. These are some of our favorites and robes.
This one is a heavy hitter on the list, and yes we'll explain our kind of connection to the story, but this is not a horror movie for the faint of heart.
No it is not. It is very intense and graphic and blood curdling. I mean, I think that's the best way to describe it. This one stays with you, It haunts you, It makes you actually and if when you do move, if you move into a new home, you're probably gonna search the attic, some closets, maybe even the basement for anything that could have been left behind, because this movie speaks to that. And yes, we've recently moved.
Or often, or you might you said, people are going to look and maybe into the basement and into the attic. I would argue that if you watch this movie, you're never going to step into a basement attic again and touch anything that looks like it has been there for a while. It's this is a wild ride, but this is one of our I mean, this guy's got to be a top five as far as an actor you enjoy watching. He's pretty incredible.
Yes, we're talking about Ethan Hawk and the twenty fifteen movie Sinister and Man that is a good title for this movie because I actually felt my stomach in knots throughout this movie. You want to ski something well, but like there are people who are like, hell yeah, announce it strange like us who get into that kind of idea. We're wow, I've seen it all, I've watched it all. You're telling me that this movie is gonna make me actually feel something that strongly? I think that. Yes, the
answer is yes. The runtime is an hour and forty nine minutes of sheer terror. By the way, rated R horror mystery thriller is the genre, but the synopsis is fascinating and as we mentioned, potentially real.
Yes, so here you go. The movie is about true crime writer Ellison Oswald he's in a slump. He hasn't had a best seller in more than ten years and is becoming increasingly desperate for a hit. So when he discovers the existence of a snuff film showing the deaths of a family to solve the mystery, he moves his
own family into the victim's home and gets to work. However, when old film footage and other clues hint at the presence of a supernatural force, Ellison learns that living in the house may be fatal.
Uh yeah, what could possibly go wrong? Let me move my family into a murdered family's home so I can write about it, but not tell my family that we're moving into that family's home. That was immediate tension that starts from the beginning of the movie, because you're like, does his wife know that he's moving them to this home?
We watched this recently and I asked you several times, does she know yet?
Not yet? Not yet? But you know, this was a huge success at the box office. The budget was just three million dollars to make the box office total eighty seven point seven millions, so a juggernaut of a horror movie. Especially I think back in twenty fifteen.
Now, the cast we mentioned, like Ethan Hawke is I think he gets credit for how good of an actor.
He's amazing.
He is just so believable at this everyman quality of him. You're rooting for him, and he always looks like he's a little bit of pain. There's a motion to him alway. I love Ethan Hawk but Fred Thompson, yes, Senator Ye, he's in the movie, OK, Tennessee has a He's not in there a lot, but he has a huge impact when he's in there. Vincent Dinafrio, all of which he was SVU for a while, Yes, Law and Order, Yes. And then Claire Foley, who is powerful in her role
as well. Scott Derekson. I don't know his previous work, but that's the director of this film. Rotten Tomatoes. I was surprised to see this.
Yeah, it only got sixty four percent and the audience score just at sixty two percent, And it was interesting. They put together all the critic critics from all over and they call it the critic consensus. I actually was a little confused by this a little bit, but because it seems like it's a good critic synopsis, although the score is less than what you would anticipate for a movie like this. So here's what it reads. It's plot
hinges on typically implausible horror movie behavior. Yeah, I was screaming at the at the TV a couple times at the Ethan Hawk character like, get out, you idiot? Why are you keep why do you keep watching that? Anyway, it's plot hinges on typically implausible horror movie behavior. But we love that and recycles countless genre cliches, but Sinister delivers a surprising number of fresh diabolical twists.
This is a jumpy one, this one. There are some moments you have that surround sound up in the house. It's going to mess with you.
So we've watched this movie several times. We rewatched it just before recording this, and I was embarrassed how many times I jumped, even though I knew it was coming, even though I knew something was about to happen, and still I jumped.
And it's not the jumps where the monster jumps out and attacks and violence ensues. It's creepy stuff, just even something falling with a loud noise accompanying it, or a face that shows up, or a person that shows it's surprising moments you aren't expecting and they throw you off by giving you an image you weren't ready for.
We both mentioned how good the music is in this particular film. The music is so good at building tension, at creating some of the suspense. The audio track in this film is just as effective as the visual. I think in this one particularly, it was of note because that was contributing significantly to my level of tension and terror throughout all of it. But it's visually also incredibly scary.
So we've got some critic reviews, and these are always interesting, and I always like to either feel validated or outrage at what the critics say. But most of them were pretty good. I got a bad one in here. But this is a slow build type of horror film where most of the audience can see the endgame long before the characters in the film, thus the screaming at the TV. Even so, it's well crafted piece of work with some genuinely scary moments.
I don't think it was a GIF. They said, I don't think it's predictable.
I did not predict the end.
I don't think it's predictable.
I did not predict the ending at all, So I guess someone who maybe thinks they know more or maybe does no more, actually was able to predict it. I thought this one was good to an interesting beast that combines both classic and modern scares to create a film that should have you whimpering in your seat by the end.
Yes, it's uh, it grabs you and it won't let go. There's not a lot of moments of relief in this movie, even when it's not. You're not worry about the whatever, supernatural, whatever thing is out there, even the moments with his wife, like, there are some tense fights that are uncomfortable, and so tension is there throughout. You get no relief, There is no joy.
The only relief is from the sweet deputy who helps Ethan Hawke in his investigation. And that was almost It was so needed. There was this lighter, cute moments that he created that we appreciated.
And you know what he was and a lot of times was common sense. He was all of us like he was our guy, because thank you for telling.
Him that, yes he's lost in his artistic writer world and can't see truth from fiction, but this guy really, like I did appreciate that character. I do want to read an ouch one because I again I actually felt outraged by this critique. This critic writes cheapened scare sequences, an ambiguous monstrous myth, transparent characterizations, and a mixed bag of a supernatural storyline barely put any sinister thoughts in our heads worth contemplating. That is offensive if that's.
Your opinion, and this is what they are. These are opinions, and I guess these are professional. I don't know if that's a professional critic or not, but people have their opinions.
Those that was a professional critic, by the way, I mean whatever that is, but yes, was labeled as an official critic. Now there was a recent one. Again, I love these because I do feel like some of these movies that we have on our list, who weren't appreciated at the time, have garnered more appreciation as time goes by. So this recent one, just this past year, I liked this. I can see why people like this movie and keep
bringing it up to us. It has it's got a distinctive dark tone while still being very approachable for mainstream audiences. It's like if the Crow had a baby with the Nun from the conjuring.
Oh my goodness, Okay.
All right, the audience reviews I think are some of the most fun ones because these are real people like us, and most of them that I saw. There were some of them were like whatever, dismissive of it, but these were some of the ones that I really liked. Honestly, this is one of the scariest movies ever. It's not like The Exorcist or Hereditary, for example, but a total different kind of horror movie. Yet it's super scary. And I use horror movies to sleep on sometimes as the
background same, so I'm not easily scared. But this one is scary. The score, the atmosphere, the subject matter, the cinematography, and of course one of my favorite actors, Ethan Hawk, are just perfect.
No, we didn't necessarily mention, but she brings it up. An element that makes this particularly scary is the fact that it's kind of a found footage movie and he's going through this old eight millimeter film.
Something about that is hearing that the hum of the Yes, uh okay, someone else wrote this is one of the most creepy, disturbing movies I've ever seen. That's totally unbrand And then here's another one. This is hands down one of these scariest movies I've ever seen. It gave me the same nightmarish feelings as the original Nightmare on Elm Street. Worth a watch. Spoiler alert. Once you've seen some parts of this movie, you can never unsee them, so agree with that.
Yeah, there are some images. Haunting is a good way to put it. There are some haunting images in.
There, disturbing, haunting, scary. This is scary like our last movie Lake Placid. Not that scary. We thought we'd do a complete about face and go really really scary with Sinister. So why it made our list? Yes, that's it. It's one of the scariest and creepiest movies we have ever seen.
And you this, Yes, this is one where this is an event. This is an event for you to sit and enjoy and be prepared. Always say we've been talking about through this series, people watch other movies, you experience a horror movie, and this one hits everything. The sound, the sight, Your heart rate's gonna go up. You are immersed in this.
Movie, and you're not just under threat when you're watching this movie, you're imagining your entire family. Isn't the threat, and that's what makes it so scary. This isn't just about you facing evil. This is about you placing evil in the home, or you putting your family in harms
a way that is part of the scariness of this movie. Now, when we come back, we're gonna tell you about our own Sinister experience, and then we'll talk about who it's for, who it's not for, what you should pair it with, and of course give you a tease for the next movie on our list, And we continue with number twenty two on our list, Schonder, keep counting there. Sinister one of these scariest movies we have ever seen in our lives. And it just came top of mind to us as
we just moved a few weeks ago. I ended up being away and you ended up sending me a text about something you found buried deep in a closet.
So the uh, yes, we were talking about Sinister. The whole premise of the movie, he moves his family to this home where these horrific murders took place, and then he finds all this stuff, this old Super eight film in the basement, and he starts going through it, and some disturbing stuff is on all this film. Obviously Robes and I we've been familiar with this movie four years years,
so that's always in the back. We're just aware of that. So, yes, we moved not too terribly long ago, and you did not spend well, we didn't spend the first month almost in the apartment together because you were traveling. Then we were traveling fine, but one of those weekends where I'm getting everything settled in, we have a storage closet and the top shell, I mean the high ceilings, but the top shelf and in the very very back, like tucked away.
How would you describe that box. It's a metal It's almost a thin toolbox, is.
How it's It looks like a metal, thin baby blue toolbox, and just by the color and materials used, you can tell it's old. It was in good condition, but it looked like it was from something from the nineteen fifties.
And so I only discovered I couldn't see it from where it was because it was just so far up high. But I was trying to put another box up there and it wouldn't go all the way in, so I had to go get a ladder and see what it was, and sure enough it was that. Now I am trying to look up. I'm trying to remember what my messages were to you at the time that this happened, because
it freaked me out terribly. I opened this box, and there are perfectly organized in their slides, these picture slides, and these things are some of them labeled with years on them in nineteen, I think fifties and nineteen sixties. And I held a few of them up to the light and it looked like they were images of art, like works of art. But then there were others that you saw images of people. And I got through about at least five of them, and I said, hell, no, I'm done.
They were scary, are they or because of the movie?
No, we're freaking out.
I'm telling you, Okay, I've got it. Okay, you just wrote yeah, I've got it all. Okay, here you go. I'm gonna read this, Okay.
So, yes, this is me. I'm home alone in a home that hasn't been necessarily filled in yet. There's a lot of space. So I was freaking out a little.
Bit, Babe. I found some creepy horror movie shit in the house legitimately spooked me. Then you took a picture of the box. That box was on the very top shelf and tucked in the very back of the shelf. Thought it might be a little toolkit. But it's filled with picture slides. Yes, old ass picture slides of various things. I stopped looking after holding a few up to the light. I'm talking one hundred and fifty plus slides with the
picture is perfectly organized. Then you send me a picture of a man standing with his shadow behind him, and I'm sorry, I don't want to say weird, but a weird looking woman behind him, standing in an awkward thing with a weird shadow behind her. It's black and white, it's from the nineteen it is actually it says spring Training nineteen sixty five, And that sounds so much like Sinister because it's like sleepy time, oh party with the date, so it's like literally labeled the same way Sinister is.
And it's like this man standing in like perfect formation with just like trunks on. It's weird. It looks like it's by a pool. So I said, holy shit, it's like that Ethan Hawk movie that is so scary and cool all at the same time. You right back, is it okay? That recursing here creepy is fun. I want to throw them out, but I might get cursed. Oh god, that's what you said, he said, Yeah, you were just like And then I started zooming in on the pictures.
We I don't know. We can't probably put them online because there's someone else's photographs, But if I can, please tell you that these are the scariest photos I have ever seen of people, I said, and I said, the guy looks like Patrick Wilson he did in the movie. Anyway, I'm telling you it was so scary.
Anybody else might have found those and thought nothing of it because they haven't seen Sinister and they're not horror movie freaks. We found the box, immediately think about Sinister and say one picture is from the guy who was enconjuring it.
True though, Okay, we have to find out who the owners of these are because I would love to actually just put If you guys saw these photos, I'm telling you there's no one who wouldn't be freaked out. Even if you hadn't seen the movie Sinister, they would still be creepy people. Okay, it might just be degree, all right, So this movie is for anyone who wants to be scared. Shitless. Bottom line, you also have to be okay with entire
families being murdered. If you're not on board with that in a horror movie, you should not watch this movie. So yes, who it's not for anyone who can't handle that, who doesn't like a lot of dread and foreboding, because that's a huge part of this movie. And it's just you have to have a tough stomach, and we have we should say ropes because a lot.
Of people hear everything you just described, Like, why would anybody appreciate want to see in God forbid enjoy a movie like that? Well, because it is a movie experience. You see obviously great acting, but there's great storytelling throughout. Like you said, it's a great shot, it's a great music, and it's shot in a cool way. It is a I'm sorry, it is a fun experience. You will enjoy watching this movie.
If you like that kind of thing, it should be a caveat. We need that caveat.
It's kind of a family I know.
God, no, it's not. I would say that the other thing just to try and defend our like of this movie, because once you see it, you probably will judge us. If you aren't into that, but there's so much awful stuff that's going on in the world. It's it's a form of escapism, and this might it just it's so absurdly awful and supernatural too that you feel like it's a departure from actual issues. But it could cut too close for home for people. I just want to put
that warning out there. It is. It is a tough watch, you know, and.
It does well for us. It's a wonderful watch, right because this is what I want to be scared.
You know.
We have a difficult time sometimes getting scared and horrible because we've seen so much. We know what's coming this it's fun to.
Be scared, yes, so I guess it will. And in terms of food drink pairing, I'm gonna go ahead and say, have drinks before, have dinner before. I don't think that this is appetite inducing. This movie is really tough, not because it's so gory, but because the material is so dark and sinister. So I would just if you're gonna have snacks or drinks, just keep them non acidic. That's what I would say. You don't want to contribute to the bubbles. You're already gonna feel in your gut watching
this movie. That's just my two cents on this one. So enjoy with all of that praise. All right, Our next, our next movie, we want to go, Oh wait, where can we watch this? We watched Sinister where I didn't put that in there. I think you can watch it, Okay, Hulu you can watch it, and Amazon Prime. You have to have a subscription to either Disney Plus, but you can always obviously all of these you can get on
Apple tv Vandego at home. But if you want to get it for free O two B and if you have a Disney Plus subscription of Hulu subscription, or if you have an add on to Amazon Prime. So just so you know, that's where you can watch it if you want to be scared to death. Our next episode is a movie that has one of our all time face favorite horror movie actors in it, right, and I believe the first ten minutes will hook you for the entire movie.
That's a good, good.
Tease, all right, And with that, thank you for listening to this episode of Amy and TJ. I'm Amy Robot alongside TJ. Holmes. We will talk to you soon