Attack of the Final Girls is a podcast about the horror genre so listener discretion is advised. Please check the show notes for specific content warnings for this episode. And of course, beware of spoilers. Welcome to Attack of the Final Girls. I'm Juliet. And I'm Teresa. And it is that time of year where we... look back and attempt to ascribe some kind of value to the year in film. So here we are with our best of 2024, where we will not rank the movies. We will simply...
Talk about that. We just list them. Yeah. Because ranking is hard. Ranking is hard. And I have to be the type of person where I like Jackson Pollock it, where I'm just like, here it is. Yeah. Don't touch it. Don't look at it. until you talk about it. And then that's it. Because I will re finagle I and I actually did I did like readjust some of my stuff on my list when I was typing this up. And I was like, don't do that.
don't do that you know as you guys probably know we're virgos so don't ask us to make a list about shit yeah it's hard and well and it's also hard too because like There's so much overlap between our lists that it would probably get very repetitive. Like if we were to choose a number one, I think ours is the same. But, you know, I think that other movies would appear in different spots on our list. So then it would just.
It'd be a whole thing. It'd be a whole thing. So we're just going to do it our way because it's our podcast. And it's easier this way. It's so much easier. Yes. So this year we decided to talk about our honorable mentions first. Yes. And some of the movies that Juliet has on her honorable mentions are on my top 10 and vice versa. So we'll just kind of like cross them off as we go. Yeah, that works. I'll go first. Do it.
Honorable mention number one, in no order. I want to talk about Winnie the Pooh blood and honey. I was really surprised to see this on your list, if I'm being honest. Okay, so. here's what I think about Winnie the Pooh, Blood and Honey 2. Is it a great movie? No. Is it in my top 10? No, it sure isn't. Is this movie miles in a way better than the first one? Yes. Fair. Okay. You can tell that the filmmakers and the director and the writers have grown so much since their first movie. Like...
400%. It's so, so, so much better. Not only the effects, the filmmaking, the writing, as goofy and goobery as it is. I think that this shows so much growth. It was so surprising. to me that it was so much better and I found myself very entertained that's fair through aspects of the movie the premise is goofy as hell. It's so ridiculous. But I was entertained. I came out and I was like, you know what? I am so shocked.
about how much better this movie is than the first one so that's why it made a spot on my honorable mentions so admittedly I never saw the first one I missed the first one in the theater but my partner who we all went to the movie together said the same thing that you did coming out of it. You know, he also said that like,
This was miles in a way better than the first one. And it's, you know, shows real growth in terms of these relatively young and new filmmakers. They're really showing that they can grow from film to film. And that's very important. Well, they're getting ready to make about 50,000 more of them. Oh my God. Bambi and Pinocchio and Peter Pan. Little Mermaid. Oh my God. Now, am I interested in watching every single movie that these guys make? Probably not.
I get it. And this is a project that is ripe for the making, you know, like remaking all of these old school classic, like formerly Disney now, you know, in the open realm. to be remade. They made the Mickey Mouse. I think they were involved in the Mickey Mouse one too. There are like three Mickey Mouse ones, so I'm sure they're involved in one of them. Yeah. So, you know, am I interested in watching all of them? No.
And I wasn't really interested in watching this one because I didn't watch the first one before I saw this one. I didn't watch that until later. But afterwards, I was like, you know what? They're growing. They're really invested in this idea. They're doing a good job. So... like let them have it well the other thing is go have fun exactly like you have fun people are obviously wanting to see these movies people are paying to see these films and
The number one thing that pisses me off about like the horror industry in general is that people will see a movie like this and rather than being like, hey, I recognize your talent and I'm so excited that you're excited about the film. They'll be like, wow, that movie really sucked. And that idea was so.
So stupid. And I think that we really sell ourselves short because like think about the great directors like John Carpenter, just as an example. He went through and made some goofy ass shit in the 70s and 80s. But people watched it and they were like, you know what? you got something kid. And then he went on to make like incredible films. Yeah. So definitely that's why I'm like,
okay, give these kids their laurels. You know, am I interested in it specifically in watching the movie? No, but I recognize that they're doing good work and I want to see them do more stuff. I hope that they don't just do all this Disney shit and then burn out. Like maybe having an original idea. Outside of like a Taylor legend could be good. Anyways, I talked way too much about one. I'm gonna throw it in your court. Do one of your honorable mentions. Okay, so one of my honorable mentions.
In part is an honorable mention because it's kind of a technicality. It both did and did not come out this year. This is a Hindi language film called Thumbad. And it was released in India in 2018. did a very tiny run, did like two U.S. festivals, but was basically impossible to see in the United States until this year when it actually got a proper, granted, very limited theatrical run.
So it is and is not a film that was released this year. This was my first opportunity to see the film this year because... I did not attend the Brooklyn Film Festival in 2018. So like, you know, this is a US audience's kind of first chance to see this movie. It was incredibly made. It was a really, really compelling story. There are like...
Many different film industries within India, like we often think of like Bollywood, for example, but it's really language dependent. So I've seen, and you're going to hear a couple that are from different languages, but in terms of Hindi language, films a lot of them do go in that Bollywood direction of like okay we're going to be scary but we're also going to have these moments of levity with
song and dance and merriment this movie does not do that uh this movie is a straight up horror film it was a very compelling and interesting story that really did keep you guessing the entire time it's a horror film wrapped in a mystery. And I'm really excited that the filmmakers are continuing the story. That was part of the reason they put it out this year is because they are starting to work on a second one.
And it's just a really cool movie. If you're interested in foreign horror, I recommend this one. Cool. Okay, I'm going to do Destroy All Neighbors. Okay. So this was a movie that came out on streaming on Shudder this year. The actor that I knew the most when I went into this movie was Alex Winter, who played Bill from Bill and Ted. He's in some fairly heavy makeup, but he's in this movie.
It was hilarious. It's a movie that is absolutely over the top with gore, sort of a funny story of a guy who he lives in this apartment building and he has really terrible neighbors. And he accidentally ends up killing one of them. And then the guy keeps talking to him, even though he's like totally dismembered. And so the guy like.
his mania kind of like increases and increases. And his girlfriend's kind of like, what the hell is going on? He also draws comics and he works at a recording studio where his boss hates him and does a bunch of cocaine. Oh, I love this. So it's absolutely super. super duper goofy, but I thought it was a ton of fun. I was entertained. It's got great effects. The makeup is hilarious. And it was a good story. Like I had fun with it. So it goes on my honorable mentions.
So another of my honorable mentions is actually a film that we have covered here on the podcast. So I won't say too much about it. The Devil's Bath. I don't get to watch a lot of streaming horror movies, especially the year that they come out. It just doesn't work with my schedule. I, as I said in that episode, happen to have a free day, happen to watch this. and was just so impressed with the filmmaking and the story that they told. Is it a fun movie? No it is not. Will I ever watch it again?
debatable, not in the immediate future because it is a heavy film, but it has to get an honorable mention because... Between the story the filmmakers told and the beautiful way it was shot, it is a significant horror film for this year. And you can hear more about it in our episode. Yeah, go listen to that. Late Night with the Devil. So I put this on my honorable mentions.
I love David Desmalchian. That's most of the reason I saw this movie was because I knew that he starred in it and I love him and I can't wait to see him in more stuff. And I wanted to support him specifically. This movie had a lot of... sort of drama surrounding its release because people found out that they used AI to generate some of the art that was featured in the movie. So there were lots of people who like boycotted it. I...
will go ahead and throw it out and say that I found the addition to be fairly inconsequential. It was like bee art, you know? It wasn't like main art. It wasn't replacing something. It was like background shit that they used. So... That's my opinion. And I am against the use of like, you know. AI in general based off of like appropriating people's art or stealing their writing and then reusing it. I disagree with that. I do think that there are some good uses of AI and I hope that we as a...
world will funnel more time and effort into that. Anyways, off my soapbox about AI, I really like this movie until about two thirds of the way through. And I thought it fell off pretty hard. I was really sucked into the late night TV show thing about it. I enjoyed that quite a bit. But then it sort of fell off and it got really predictable. And I didn't like that aspect of it.
But I do think that David Desmalchian is still my favorite. So I'll watch anything that he's in. So it hits honorable mention. Lofty Aspirations. questionable execution. It got onto my honorable mentions because I did enjoy 75% of it. Yeah, this was an almost like if there's a level below honorable mention, this would be it. for me that would just be i watched it yeah i guess yeah i will say like david dash mulchin amazing in it like i liked this movie for him
I agree with you that it fell off about halfway through. I also and I referenced this in our last episode. I didn't say the name of the movie, but I had some fundamental problems with the way they shot this movie. And it like took me out of it. They had this really. cool idea and this really cool conceit and then they didn't follow through with the concept for the rest of the movie and i just couldn't unsee it but he was wonderful in it yeah he's great yeah he's everybody's horror best friend
One more honorable mention for me that I'll say now, I have another one, but I think we're both going to scatter some throughout the list as well. Another Hindi language film, Bulbalaya 3. As I've kind of said, the past few years, my partner and I have been exploring. a lot more Indian horror films from the various language groups. We saw the second Bulbalaya.
which really you could watch any of these on their own and they're fine. We saw the second one. We liked it. It was fun. We were excited to see that there was a third one coming out. And really, this kind of goes into, on a bigger scale, what you were saying about Winnie the Pooh, Blood and Honey.
is the best one to date. The filmmakers obviously had more money and more skill and more resources to make this third movie in this ongoing series. And moreover, The reason it ended up on my honorable mentions was not just that it was a great, fun Indian horror film, more in the Bollywood tradition, is that unexpectedly...
There is a beautiful and heartfelt trans story at the core of this movie that I did not know going in, I did not expect, but was really beautifully and carefully done in a way that I just... appreciated so much it was a pleasant pleasant surprise that I did not know was coming through a good half of the movie
And I was just so thrilled with the care that the filmmakers stuck with it. So honorable mention for sure. They're going to continue the Bulbalaya series and I'm excited to see more. That one sounds cool. Yeah. I'm in. This one did not make Juliet's list at all. And I'm going to call it out. Maxine. Yeah. So, okay. It was not my favorite of the X trilogy.
In fact, I think that this movie should not have been made, personally. However, I think that this was Mia Goth's best acting performance. Yeah, okay, I'll give you that. Man, it's so hard for me to say that because she was so freaking good in Pearl. It was like almost an entire transformation. But she is such a good actress. And I don't want this movie to hurt her. castability for other horror roles because she just nails it every single time. I agree. And her evolution has been so...
obvious since X, like she's very good at an X, but then Pearl was just like, oh my God, which that made my top 10 in a prior year. But this one, I didn't feel like... I needed to see more of Maxine. I kind of wish that we would have left it Texas Chainsaw Massacre style at the end of X. We got the Maxine story. We got the Pearl story. That's it. Like, no more. In fact, on the way home after having seen Maxine, I was so excited for this movie. So excited.
Just so freaking excited. I fixed all of the problems with it. My partner and I do this thing and it's like, it's totally. you know just our opinion but we do this thing where we'll like fix all the problems in a movie and then be like oh that would have been such a better movie i mean it's conceited but that's how we do that too especially with this movie yeah
Because I had the ending that I think was a better ending. Yeah, there were so many ways that this movie could have been improved, I think. And the premise was so interesting. That's what drew me in was like this movie was very 80s. And it did have a really good, like they committed to the bit, like hardcore. It was good. That. aspect of it was very good, very 80s. But there were so many things where it just felt like so flat. And I felt like Mia Goth, like great acting in a bad setting.
Yeah. I mean, I feel like this movie is a perfect example of you can build the world of your film beautifully. You can have kick-ass actors, but if you don't have a good story, it's not going to deliver. Right. Or a necessary story. Yeah. Yeah. Did we need to see more of Maxine or could we have left it?
just after the end of X, which that's my impression is that we could have just left it at the end of X. So was I entertained for the most part? Do I really love Mia Goth? And is that why she really made the list? Yes. That's fair. How about I just cross it out and say Mia Goth. Honorable mention to Mia Goth. Yes. She gets honorable mention, maybe not the movie. Yeah, that's fair. Now the list. Now we can go through the list.
Okay, so we will start off with one of my picks. I think what we're going to do is we're going to toggle back and forth between our individual picks and then do one we both picked and then toggle back and forth. That is how we have done it in years past. It seems to have worked. We'll keep it that way. All right. Okay. So I am starting off and remember that these are not ranked with long legs. I really, really liked this movie. It reminded me of...
The things I loved as a young person, like if you watched strange paranormal investigative shows in the 90s, like early X-Files, like Profiler, which I'm rewatching right now. To me, this movie felt like a love letter to those movies. I was very apprehensive about seeing this at first because I'm real lukewarm on the whole, like, Nicolas Cage is the new horror darling thing because I feel like... He's great in certain things, but they overuse him in other things.
He was great in this. He was really, really good. Now, did it need to be Nick Cage? Not necessarily, but he was wonderful in the role that he was cast in. I really, really enjoyed this one. It was really fun. I actually do want to rewatch this because I feel like there was a lot of symbolism stuff and a lot of clues that were happening that I was attempting to clock as I was watching it in real time in the theater. And I want to go back and like...
play with the puzzle pieces that they give us. So it was a fun one for me. It was an entertaining watch that just took me to a very nostalgic place. I initially rated long legs pretty high, but I decided later that I came. So it hit my honorable mentions. I had one more honorable mention than Juliet did. It hit my honorable mentions.
After I sat and thought about it a little bit, I think I was expecting more out of the film than I got. And I was just really excited about my expectation and not so much about the delivery. And I agree with you that Nick Cage... can sort of edge anybody out because he's nick cage yeah like unless we're talking about the unbearable weight of massive talent because nobody can edge pedro out in that oh no yeah no no um they are a perfect duo they are because pedro is like
so much more over the top and big, bigger than life. But anyways, I think that this movie failed in Nick Cage. That's fair. In my opinion, like that's where it stopped, where I was like, I love Micah Monroe. I think that she's great. I want to see her in more horror movies. This is another. victim of like trailer spoils you know where it didn't spoil the movie but it like spoiled all the creepy bits of the movie so
I will watch more Oz Perkins stuff. He's doing The Monkey, which is an adaptation of a Stephen King short story. And I will absolutely watch that. I think that I... love the way that he films. I love the way that he puts movies together. That I didn't have a problem with. I thought that was great. I felt dread during that movie. I felt scared. And I do think that if I go back and watch the movie again, I probably will like it more. But this is one of those things where...
With Maxine and this movie, I have to like temper my expectations a little bit because I was so stoked for both of those movies. And I came out like, oh, so I need to not do that. I need to go in. I mean, that's a real thing, though. Zero expectations. I've had plenty of movie like that. So maybe I just need to, now that I know what the movie is and what it isn't, I need to go back and watch it for what it is. Yeah. And not like what my expectations of it are.
That makes perfect sense. I will go back and rewatch this film. It's not like I will never watch it. I will go back and rewatch it. It just didn't hit my top 10. That's all. So here's a movie that is on my top 10 that is not on Juliet's list. I don't know if you've seen it, but it's called Oddity. I did not get to see it. Okay. We missed it. Okay.
This is a more indie movie. It's a British film. I did not hear anything about it until our mutual friend Victor was like, oh my God, you have to go watch it. So... We picked up tickets and I get to the theater and Victor is actually there to watch it again with one of our other acquaintances. So he was like, I love this movie so much. I'm going to watch it a second time. So, you know, we go to see this movie.
And I was like super pleasantly surprised. It's an interesting crime mystery. Like, oh, the death of this girl's sister. Like, what's happening? It's got a really, really cool creature in it, though. And like a bad husband. And I love that. It's a story of vengeance and finding the truth at all costs. It's got some like incredible jump scares, like the best jump scares. I was like crawling out of my skin at certain points. Nice. So.
It's simple. It's lo-fi. They only have a couple of settings in this movie. It's really good. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and it definitely hit my top 10 this year. Nice. Yeah, I desperately wanted to see it, but... I don't know what happened that I didn't. I think you were out of town. I think I was. And it didn't have a long theatrical run here. Right. It was a bit of a small. I think we had to go to the Regal to see it. Yeah. That's probably why. Okay, so this next one is on...
Both of our lists. And I feel like that should be pretty obvious if you've been listening to this podcast since this movie came out, because I feel like we reference this movie like every other episode. Sorry, not sorry. Yeah, we are talking about. the first omen. Now, this is one that I feel like was, for me at least, perhaps the reverse of your experience with long legs, which is that... Although the trailer was very cool and very compelling, I was very cautious. I was like...
It's a prequel to a franchise that hasn't had a movie in a long time. It's a prequel to a 70s movie. The trailer looks really cool but it'll probably be a really kick-ass trailer. in a lackluster movie. I'm not gonna go in with any expectations at all. Oh, just kidding. This movie was amazing. It was so good. It was far better than it has any right to be as a 2024 prequel to a 70s movie. Like, amazing. Okay, so...
We're talking about the first Omen 2024, not the 1976 version. Yes. Because that always... Yes. Confusing name aside. Yeah. I guess we should start saying the original Omen when we're talking about the 76 version, but... Yes, this definitely had a really, really cool trailer. And we thought it was going to suffer from trailer syndrome, which is what I'm going to call it now, where the trailer was like the best part of the movie. Right. Yeah.
Or it like spoils all the good bits. Yeah. And we knew from the trailer, like, okay, this is going to be a prequel to 76 Omen. And it's going to deal with whatever, you know, some baby is going to be born and it's going to be Damien, right? Right. Because in the 76 Omen, Damien is adopted by these rich folks. And that's how. our story starts. So we know that we're going to get the baby part of this.
I had never seen Nell Tiger Free in anything else, but I think she is a powerhouse and it makes me want to go watch that M. Night Shyamalan show, which I don't say lightly because M. Night Shyamalan has just disappointed me. so many times so I don't typically like throw you know my
banner in his court very often. But I also love Charles Stanz and Bill Nighy are both in this movie as like high clergy in the Catholic Church. And I was like, yes, Bill Nighy, absolutely convincing as a... member of the catholic clergy it's a possession movie i feel like that has a lot of teeth it is scary it keeps you guessing it's relevant, although neither of us lived in the 70s in Italy, it is culturally relevant to what was happening in their country at the time.
And also to like around the world, you know, at the time, there's a lot of tumult happening in the world in the in the 70s. So that makes sense. And. It fits like a good puzzle piece up to the 1976 helmet movie. Yeah. I really enjoyed it. Yeah. To have a movie that is set firmly in the 70s.
feel relevant in a way that is not forced to today's political world and to kind of seamlessly create historical fiction that is also... so relevant and feels like it could be happening today in some way shape or form that takes some skill and this movie pulled it off brilliantly there were just so many things you know, sitting here watching it in spring of 2024, that I was like, holy shit, you know, is the real horror...
Damien? Or what has wrought Damien? Or is the real horror the fact that we are still dealing with a lot of the issues in this movie it was just so well done in that way it is hard to make a period piece that feels that timeless and they did an amazing amazing job i have been talking about this movie ad nauseum since I saw it like it just keeps coming up anytime I'm talking about horror or horror's relevance or horror's ability to help us think through and
process you know a moment we're in or a movement or or history or the present i keep coming back to this movie and so i'm just you know what a pleasant pleasant surprise yeah Definitely. After we came out of it, I was like, shit. That was... way better than i was expecting yes because i mean we have had so many possession movies that have happened this year this year last year and the year before like pretty much since saint maud it's been like non-stop possession movies we got another
none movie you know like catholic possession films are back in vogue and so it's easy to get tired of it because like i'm not catholic you know and i don't know a lot about catholic possession except for like what I see in movies right yeah and there was that friggin Russell Crowe movie. There's two Russell Crowe movies in the past couple years. There was the Exorcist movie. There's Immaculate, Conception, Consecration. Yeah. Pretty much just like...
If you have a verb from some sort of Catholic right, there's going to be a movie titled that. Yes. it's easy to get real burnt out on that because it's like, okay, how many more Catholic possession movies can we make? How much different can they be from one to the next? Especially because Immaculate came out and it has that, um, God, what's her name? What's the actress's name? Sydney Sweeney. Yeah. It had Sydney Sweeney in it. She's the hot...
you know, the hot commodity right now. So a lot of people want to see that. I would say if you were not satisfied with Immaculate, go see The First Omen. Yes. It's amazing. Yeah. It's better than Immaculate. Yeah. And it really does a good job of... taking elements from all of the familiar Catholic possession, exorcism, demonic movies that we know and love, but really telling a different story. Really, too, the challenge of this movie is we know where it's going to end up.
We know that it's going to end in little baby Damien. So what a challenge to the filmmakers to say, all right, you have to... keep the audience entertained when they know what the ending of this film is, ultimately. And they did that and they were able to not... tell the same damn story over and over again. That's always tough is like, okay, I know where I have to end. Now I have to unwind and like...
Spin the movie up to that point in a way that's convincing and not like changing too many details. Right. I think they did a great job. And Ralph Inneson is in this too. I also really like Ralph Inneson. He was in The Witch. He was the dad in The Witch. He's been in lots of stuff. Like he's always such a good actor. So yeah, I like this one quite a bit. Yeah. Highly recommend. The next one on my list that I don't know if you saw this one.
is The Watchers. Nope, I did not see this one. Okay, so directorial debut of Isshana Knight Shyamalan, who is the daughter of M. Night Shyamalan, who is stepping into the filmmaking world. I was excited going into this. It was an interesting idea. I definitely had to really tell myself over and over again, like, okay, like you cannot judge this person's film on the films that...
their parent made. Because I'm 50-50 on M. Night Shyamalan stuff. There's stuff of his that I love to this day. And there's other stuff that just did not work for me. So going into this, I was intrigued by the premise, excited to see a first-time film from a new director who I hope will keep her feet in the horror world. It was...
interesting. It was fun. It was really compelling. The premise was kind of weird, which is that a person gets stranded in the woods and comes upon this compound where there's this window and at night. Something is watching the people in the compound through the window and it unravels from there. So a very...
Yes, M. Night Shyamalan-esque premise, but also if you're into things like Lost or Tannis, like weird shit happening in the woods that might be organic and... more folklore but might also be technology this movie does that it was a really fun story it took some turns i didn't expect i really liked the world of the film oh that's cool i saw a trailer for it but i didn't get a chance to see it
So one that showed up on my list that's not on Juliet's list is Alien Romulus. I know lots of people did not like this movie. However... I love Fede Alvarez so much. I literally wrote on my list, I would watch him make TV commercials if he made them. And I hate commercials, so that should tell you something.
I have watched some fan theories about this movie, which I already liked the movie before it, but I think enhance it even more. And it made me really excited to see where else they're going to take the alien universe because they are making a TV show called Alien Earth. which they announced when this movie came out. I think it feels like an alien movie. I think this is the next sort of like step that the movie needed to take in order to be.
in the alien universe and to like stay true to the concept where this movie fell flat for a lot of people was there is some de-aging like fake face stuff, which lost a lot of people. Fair. It was kind of frustrating, especially because it didn't have to be that way. Like it could have been in literally any other way because it's in space in the future. So like, who cares? But I liked the story. I liked the team up.
Because a lot of times the marriage of human with android in prior alien movies is always antagonistic. And this was a symbiotic relationship and like a loving... friendly relationship between the android and the human and like family. So I really appreciated that. I also really love the creatures. I thought that the gore was incredible. After Fede Alvarez made the 2013 Evil Dead, I was like, I will watch anything that he does. And this was no exception.
I really like this one. I really like this one too. It just barely didn't make it on my list. I think I still have some like residual trauma from the whole like Prometheus alien covenant. Michael Fassbender ought to have just made out with himself. What? I was not expecting you to say that. That's a very veiled reference. I don't even know if it was Covenant or Prometheus, but there was one of them where it was like...
Michael Fassbender and Michael Fassbender. And I'm like, just kiss already. It was Covenant. You know. It was Covenant. OK, sure. That one. But yeah, I did really like this one. And I'm excited. And I hope that they can keep. this turn in the alien universe back to horror consistent. Yeah. So next, another one that's on both Juliet and my lists is I Saw the TV Glow. I want to preface this by saying like genre wise, I agree that it's horror, but I would say like, think about that last.
in the genre I would agree listing because I think lots of people went into this movie thinking like it's going to be terrifying based off of the trailer and it is straight up not but like what I wrote in my notes It's not horror as in jump scare. It's scary as in here is your immortality. Did you make your life what you wanted it to be? Yeah.
That's the horror of the movie. It made me feel some type of way for like several weeks after we saw it. I feel like it's a movie made for 90s kids who fell hard for the things that they loved. And then. also fell for the people that loved it with them. And so it made me feel some type of way. I feel like this is already getting recognition
And will continue to get recognition for being an important movie in terms of like, you know, horror or horror adjacent or whatever you want to call it. Like this movie has. been impactful for a lot of people for a variety of reasons you know and I think that's the beauty of the film is you can apply a lot of different identities and circumstances to
the characters and to their experiences, and you will get something out of this. And I think that that's really, really special. I also just have not, to your point about 90s kids, I have not seen a movie or a piece of media up to this point that has so accurately portrayed what it is like to Fall in love with a piece of media and then find kinship in your love for that piece of media.
I feel like those of us who are kind of of that particular generation, like I know it happened with like especially science fiction fandom prior to the 90s, but there was a very particular thing happening there and I haven't seen anybody really get it. right in media yet until this movie.
And it was just nice. It's just like, you know, I felt really seen. And I think that's the special thing about this movie is whether you're coming at it from a fandom perspective, from a gender identity perspective or another perspective, I feel like so many people felt seen. by this movie and so it is a very special movie yeah I hope that more people will see it because it was limited release but it's really really good yeah
Next on my list is A Quiet Place Day One. And kind of going back to a theme that we've been talking about here, expectation versus execution, I was very doubtful. of this movie. I really fell into that camp that I was like, why do we need this movie in the Quiet Place universe? To me, some of the beauty of the first two Quiet Place films was the isolation, the more rural, natural setting, and that core family group, like the dynamics between the family.
Based on the trailers, I was not convinced that I was going to like this movie. I love Lupita Nyong'o, so I was willing to give it a shot. But I was really feeling like, oh, this is going to be like every... Cloverfield, you know, even Godzilla 2014, giant monster attacks the city situation, but it's just going to be quiet. Well, this movie proved me wrong. It is that...
Yes, but really it is Lupita Nyong'o's acting that just... sold it for me she was incredible in this movie it does have a cat which also is a big point for me who is a great little kitty actor frodo but her acting and the Choices they made around her character, I have not seen before and just really gave it a compelling angle that I didn't expect. You know, I was really wondering.
Like what is there that is going to make this a quiet place movie and not just another like horror action film? And it was really. her and her character that gave it like a beautiful emotional dimension that I just didn't expect going in. It definitely was my least favorite of all the Quiet Place movies. So it didn't make my list. Not to take away from her acting because it was very, very good.
I just kind of felt like, okay, I'm more concerned about the world around like the aliens. And this didn't really give us any more insight into that world. So that's fair. That's the only reason I didn't like it. Her acting, though, is great. It's a really pretty, poignant story of help. And isolation and depression and mortality. And those things were great. I also love that they looped it into the world in the second Quiet Place movie. Yes.
In part two, that was a nice little like cliffhanger thing. So I appreciated that. But it didn't make my list, though. That's fair. Yeah. Worth watching, though. It is entertaining. VHS Beyond. I am a sucker for VHS movies. I love an anthology. I love like little short movies that keep my attention surrounded by like a really good wraparound and the VHS movies since the first one.
have in varying degrees really done that for me. Shudder has a hold of it now. They're Shudder exclusives now. So they're starting to get some like higher. like named people to do those shorts, which works and doesn't, which I will actually talk about in this one. I haven't actually been excited for a VHS movie in a while.
This one focuses 90% of it around space. So that's like the beyond thing is like alien interactions and things like that. There was one short in this film that I thought didn't make any sense and I did not understand. why it was in this anthology and it was the short that was directed by Justin Long and so I was like oh that kind of sucks I don't know if he just like didn't understand the assignment or what happened but But Kate Siegel's directorial debut was in this. Oh, awesome. And her...
Short is at the end, which we all know they save the end for the best one. Yes. And it truly is the best one. It is very, very good. I really dug this one. I watch all of the VHS movies. It doesn't matter if all of them suck. I'm going to watch it. But I was really excited about this one. And I was really excited to see Kate Siegel's directorial debut. And it was very good. So it's a popcorn flick. The first one and the last one are the best.
That's how it is in anthologies. They hook you with the first one and they save the cake for the last one. So watch it all the way through, even though Justin Long sucks. Sorry, Justin Long, you're great and everything else. I loved you in Barbarian. You made my top 10 list last year. But even outside of that, even though I didn't really... dig that one in the theming of the rest of them. It's very good.
Worth watching. That's fair. I'm so behind on that franchise. I realize I don't need to watch them in order, but something in my head is like, no, you need to watch them all in order. Like, it's an anthology. I don't need to do that. You sure don't. And they don't have anything to do with each other. Yeah, I should just skip ahead. for kate siegel yes you should you should julia i'm telling you you will love it okay as an x-files fan oh okay watch it yeah see yeah you're
I said all the keywords. You did. Manipulate. Yes. All right. Smile 2. Can a sequel replicate? a cool premise original movie? That was the question. going into this one smile really hit it out of the park both with the viral marketing that they did and with like sort of a new fresh horror premise that felt familiar but was also like a different spin
I was simultaneously excited and apprehensive when they announced it was going to be a franchise because I definitely think it is an idea that can keep going. But also, like, will the second one... live up to the first one or do something new and original and interesting with the premise. And I would say that it did. I agree. That was really my worry is that, is this going to be able to say something new?
and do something different and different enough from the first one that it'll keep you interested. And this one has to do more with like, okay, so the first one revolves around a psychiatrist who... people don't believe her because she saw something traumatic. And so they think that she is just like experiencing that trauma and not that she's actually, you know, experiencing anything real. And this one.
The person is a former addict who is... relapsing not to like where she was prior but she's still in recovery very much and she's dealing with this back injury and like also processing trauma but more that she's not being believed because she is a former addict and that she is like hiding stuff that happened to her. So it was new enough and it was coming from a different enough perspective that it definitely made sense, like isolation wise and, you know.
people not believing you because you're an addict. So the inherent mistrust of folks who... experience addiction and it was still scary it was still very scary so i appreciated that quite a bit they really went with it with the gore in this movie like we haven't seen a
sort of mass market franchise horror film, save for Evil Dead Rise, I would say, which is a little more expected from the Evil Dead franchise, like go that gory for a wide theatrical release. So that was very exciting too, that they really... decided to commit to like being a horror franchise that really brings the horror and the gore. I also think that this franchise's kind of seeming commitment to center the horror within the world of mental health.
is interesting and new. It really is setting it apart from other franchises or other attempts at modern franchises. And I think that that will give it some legs and it does keep it very fresh. And I also liked that it was firmly in the world of the... pop star. And it just happened to be timed really, really well, you know, in the year of Brat Summer and Sabrina Carpenter and the rise of Chapel Rhone and a lot of women pop stars who were seeing rise to superstardom.
but also deal with sort of the public-private persona issues. I'm thinking of Chaperone really specifically. It felt very relevant in a way that was really fun. Yeah. It's not a best of 2024 episode of literally anything if you... Don't mention Chapel Rhone. Truly. For this year. Because it was the year of Chapel Rhone. Chapel Rhone is the best of 2024. And Sabrina Carpenter, I would say, too. Yeah. And dealing with that whole, like, hey.
I have a private life and I have an expectation of privacy outside of this. Just because I'm a star doesn't mean that you get access to all of me. This movie definitely, although it was not. entirely made obviously during 2024 it was still very relevant yes so I dug it quite a bit the next one on my list is the third Indian horror film that
showed up on my list. This one, not Hindi. This one, a Malaylam language film. That is a language that is spoken in the south of India, in the state of Kerala. Just like Hindi language films, there's a whole other film industry happening with that specific language group. This movie is called Brahma Yugam, which translates to The Age of Madness.
It is Indian folk horror. And a lot of people have cited and the filmmakers have said there was a little bit of influence with The Lighthouse. But a distinctly Indian take. on the premise of the lighthouse it was fascinating really really interesting it is filmed in black and white just like the lighthouse again not a merry bright music filled movie uh like the bollywood movies that we kind of know and love this was
dark. This was tense. This was uncomfortable. It really took all of the hallmarks of folk horror and put it in this beautiful setting and really steeped it in Indian cultural traditions and Indian folklore. and, you know, some scary things within Indian folklore. It was excellent, super compelling, very small cast, just like The Lighthouse, and all of the actors were incredibly compelling. The sort of most despicable...
character just the whole time you're watching it you're like oh you know it was really really wonderful worth a watch if you're interested in exploring global folk horror definitely put this one on your list uh it was a really really strong showing the last one that's just on my list it's a free
YouTube movie. It's called Milk and Cereal. It's only about an hour long, but it is made by Curry Barker of the That's a Bad Idea YouTube channel. You might know them as Curry and Coop, like as a duo. They kind of make... videos together. But they have also made short films together that are very scary. This one came out this year.
It's a movie that was filmed entirely on like lo-fi, low budget stuff like iPhones and stuff like that. It shocked the shit out of me. I had never watched anything else by this duo or by this group before I watched this one, but I did go back. and watch one that they did called The Chair, which is 20 minutes long. Also extremely good. This one, though, it's a crime thriller that turns into...
something more sinister. There's so many twists. I never knew what the hell was going on. I never knew like who the bad guy really was and who is pranking who. It never lets up. Once it starts, it's... you're in for the ride the entire year or the entire hour not the entire year luckily it's not a year long it's just not long But after I found out the other day that 28 years later is also being filmed entirely on iPhone 15s, I am just really excited to see how the platform can...
help elevate filmmakers that maybe otherwise would not have been able to afford to get into filmmaking. And this Curry Barker guy is a perfect example of that. He's been making movies on iPhones since he was like four. He's a kid. making these incredible movies on this format that when you and I were four years old was not accessible to us right yeah so I'm really excited to see how filmmaking evolves on the iPhone because
It used to be such a highfalutin thing where like, oh, well, if you don't have the latest, you know, 35 millimeter cough, cough, Quentin Tarantino, cough, cough, then you're not shit. And now we're seeing like whole ass wide release movies. filmed entirely only on like modified iPhones. And I think that that is so freaking cool. Well, I think we're seeing the same kind of boom that we saw in mini DV cameras became accessible, you know, where we had like...
first VHS cameras, the shot on VHS movement, and then the mini DV movement. I think this modified iPhone thing is like the next movement in terms of like... backyard filmmaking and making filmmaking accessible and it's really really exciting that there are ways for folks to make movies outside of
the Hollywood system and outside of having a huge budget like I love that someone if they want to make a movie They can pull the phone out of their pocket and go in their backyard with their friends and make a movie like that only helps, you know, get more voices into film. and distribute it this this found footage so milk and cereal i should also clarify is found footage it has 1.3 million views and it came out four months ago i love that on youtube so
Like it's possible. It's possible for folks to see your movie and for you to make it and edit it and distribute it all for no money. And literally, literally everybody has a phone. Like not everybody has an iPhone, obviously, whatever. Android iPhone supremacy is like beyond me. But everybody has. I would say like 99.3% of people have a phone that is capable of film now. And the other thing is, this is a great example of how you don't have to have the highest quality.
you know, platform in order to make a really good movie. You could have an iPhone six and still make film, you know, so like, don't get bogged down by quality. I think that there are so many people are like, Oh, if it's not good quality, it's not good. And it's like, Yeah, the VHS movies are made to look like they were shot on tape. So don't get down on yourself just because the quality isn't good. People will still watch it if it's a good premise.
Up next, I think this was the first horror film we saw this year. Came out very early in the year. Kind of got slept on, but I think we'll find its following as a cult classic. lisa frankenstein which i love i definitely think you're right i think it got flipped on earlier in the year and then it like flourished yeah on streaming yeah people freaked out and were like oh shit this movie is great
Yeah, I'm like 50-50 on Diablo Cody stuff. So I really went in wanting to like this movie, but also knowing that I don't like all of her movies. And I was so happy. Just this movie is... I was like, oh, did you make this movie just for me? It's just great. It's fun. It's horror. It's a visual delight.
Catherine Newton is the best. Like, she's great in everything she does. She was excellent in this. I like that this movie... is simultaneously aiming to be like a stereotypical late 80s movie, but also flips and inverts a lot of tropes of that era of film or that era of teen film, especially.
That was really refreshing and exciting. I could just gush on and on about this movie. So it wasn't the first one we watched. This one was in February. We watched Night Swim before this one. Oh, yeah. That one was like right at the beginning of the year. Night Swim. was, but at least Frankenstein was around Valentine's Day, which I think is a perfect movie to release around Valentine's Day.
It was dark. It was broody. It felt like my 14-year-old self absolutely needed to watch this movie. I love the Cole Sprouse Jughead glow up. Oh my God, I know. This movie had Echo and the Bunnymen, the Jesus and Mary chain. And Cole Spross played, well, I think it was a combination of him and Catherine Newton, but they played Lacrimosa on the piano, which like my little goth heart couldn't handle it. So I loved it. I loved it so much. I thought it was great.
Okay, so a movie that made my top 10, but Juliet's honorable mentions, is Daddy's Head, which is another Shudder exclusive. It's a movie that deals with the loss of a... father from the point of view of his son and his new wife, who is not his son's mom and doesn't want a child.
And there is also an entity in the woods that is pretending to be the dad. Yes. And trying to gain the trust of the child. I thought it was very scary. And we're sort of in this like era of horror movies, I think now where. We are dealing with loss and grief and mental health in a much more like raw and realistic way. And I think that this movie does it very well. Megan did this last year too. where we talk about a person who is a parent that doesn't want to be yes and
I think that's something that's sort of new where like we're starting to be like, hey, parenthood isn't always magical and not everybody wants to have a kid and that's valid. And this is sort of one of those movies where like. The mom is getting like shithouse drunk every night. She like dresses totally inappropriately for the funeral. Everybody judges her. She gets shithouse drunk. And this kid is just like, cool, I guess.
I'm going to make friends with this thing out in the middle of the woods. Bye. But in a way, that's like, it is serious. I mean, she's truly fallen out. Like, she's not having a good time. And this kid is lonely. He doesn't like her and she doesn't really like him. But it was good. I feel like this is sort of a spiritual successor to the Babadook.
in a lot of ways like there are a lot of parallels between this like they are very different movies but some of the theming and things like that were very similar the reason this is on my honorable mention and not my top 10 is because i actually haven't seen the whole movie oh fair okay it was on shutter on their like live thing before the chainsaw awards okay and so we tuned in to like get ready because sometimes we have trouble
with our internet and shutter live streaming so we tuned in and the movie was maybe 15 minutes in but we were like so compelled by it that we were like oh no let's actually watch this movie but i have not seen the whole okay fair i missed the whole beginning okay so um yeah i really liked what i saw i do want to go back and watch the whole thing it was very very good uh visually really nice too yeah
Love a movie out in the middle of nowhere. It also felt a little bit like Goodnight Mommy. Yeah. Where it's like kid out in the middle of nowhere with mom. Shit goes down. Yeah. Okay. So my last one that is on. My list, but not your list. I think this is one that you haven't seen yet, is The Front Room. Brandy's triumphant return to horror. Welcome back. Glad to have you. This one was great. It was just so weird. in a lot of it brandy was fantastic in it the sort of complicated story of
her relationship to her husband and her husband's family, her pregnancy. She is dealing with the loss of a prior child that was born stillborn. There's a lot of stuff going on there. And I think they really did a good job of making a movie that sort of in a big way, in an explicit way, gets at... all of the microaggressions that women of color deal with on a day-to-day basis through a horror lens, of course. Some of the issues in this movie will be relatable.
to any woman. Some of them are very, very specific to a Black woman's experience. And I just thought that the way that they handled it... And having Brandy really in that driver's seat as the lead character was fantastic. It was also just a visually delightful movie. Like there is so much happening within the world of the home that is visually fascinating.
And really sort of signals like what is happening with her mother-in-law and the oppressive sort of way that she takes over the house. Also, Catherine Hunter as Solange was inspired. inspired. She was just over the top in the best possible way. I did want to see it. I just haven't had a chance to yet. Before we talk about our last one, it's probably going to be both of our favorites of the entire year.
I do want to say neither of us have been able to see Nosferatu because obviously we're recording this ahead of the end of the year and it doesn't come out till Christmas. So like... we're gonna see it but it's probably gonna at least make the honorable mentions because yes
It looks very good. I love Willem Dafoe. I love Robert Eggers. I love Bill Skarsgård and I love Lily Rose Depp. So like, doesn't seem like it's going to be a miss for me, but... we haven't been able to see it yet so yes yeah the omission of Nosferatu is not because we didn't like it it's because We're recording this a good 10 days before it even comes out. And we had thought about holding recording this episode until we could both see it. And we realized that...
That would not have worked schedule wise with holidays and work and families and all of that. So we will talk about Nosferatu, just not today. Yeah. And then the last movie, the one that was probably easiest for both of us to put on our list this year, the one that everybody is talking about and making merch about and doing all the things about is The Substance. If you haven't heard of this movie...
Like, please, at least look at the IMDb. I know, like, have you listened at all? No. This movie was such a surprise. The director is Coralie Fargeat. Fargeau, probably. It's French. I'm not good with French. If you haven't heard it, it's Demi Moore. It's Margaret Qualley. It's Dennis Quaid. It's wild.
I could literally write a book on this movie. It might sound trite, but this comes close to a 100% perfect film for me. And I'm not even saying that because everybody is saying that right now. It's because it deals with... A mystery, the horrors of aging, expectation of femme folks in real life to be perfect and never age and also never get wrinkly or a little fat or have like their capabilities decrease. It's got...
An obscene amount of practical gore. Dennis Quaid eating a shrimp like an absolute caveman. And Demi Moore. I feel like Stefan. This movie has everything. Yeah, it really does. It truly does. It made me laugh hysterically. I could not stop laughing because it was absurd and poignant and hard and it hurt. And it was so over the top. Yeah, it was wild. Yeah, this movie has so many things happening with it. It is body horror in a way that should make...
David Cronenberg kind of ashamed of his last movie you know like like sorry they just did it better and I say Cronenberg should be ashamed because this is like body horror firmly ensconced in the real world and real issues in a way that I feel like he hasn't been able to do in a while. Demi Moore is inspired in this. Her performance is amazing. And this movie has this like really meta thing happening where you're like watching Demi Moore play Elizabeth Sparkle knowing.
that Demi Moore, the human, has dealt with all of the shit that her character is dealing with in terms of being an actress of a certain age, you know, having those expectations about body and self and your worth and your castability. It's just, it's so good. The soundtrack just rocks so hard, like amazing techno visually. This movie is amazing. It's one of those movies that like builds this world that is a near reality, but does so much with like color and lines. There are some like...
Kubrickian like shining things happening with the visuals that just like re-emphasize all of the themes of the movie same like I could write a book about this I could go on and on about it the meme culture around the substance has been glorious too you know it's so good this is a good segue because we're actually covering
Covering the next movie that we're doing is Revenge, which is a Coralie Fargeau movie as well. So it's so, so good. If you haven't had a chance to watch it, it's streaming on MUBI right now. You can get a free trial to watch it. Free Sunday trial. We're not sponsored by MUBI. We haven't watched it on MUBI. I just know that that's how a lot of people are watching it. We're not opposed to being sponsored by MUBI, though. Call us. Dear MUBI. 2025 is our year.
But yeah, it was so good. I was so surprised. I saw a trailer for it. I didn't know a lot going in. That's the perfect way to view this movie. Yes. You'll get uncomfortably familiar with Margaret Qualley's ass in this movie, specifically around the pump it up scene. It's like she was uncomfortable with how close the camera had gotten to her ass in this movie.
It's so good. It's so good. Yeah, it's fantastic. It's, I think, a movie that's going to really go down in the horror canon. Oh, for sure. All right. So... 2024. 2024. I'm excited to see what 2025 holds. We know that there will be quite a few beloved franchises with new installments, obviously 28 years later, which just dropped the trailer. We just got the...
a date for the new Final Destination movie, which will be Tony Todd's final horror film. The last Conjuring movie that's probably going to make me cry my eyes out, even if it's terrible. Bro. is coming out in September. Vera Farmiga's fucking Instagram post saying goodbye. Dude, I like wept a little bit. I know, I was like... Excuse me. Stop it. Yeah, I know. She's like, he's just gonna walk off the set. And I was like, uh-uh. Like, no. You guys are my horror parents. I know. Damn it.
Rough. Yeah. And, you know, there will be a thousand things that we don't know about yet. So really excited to see what's coming. We don't know a lot about like what A24 and Neon have in store for us next year, save for the Osgood Perkins movie. So we shall see. Thanks for listening to Attack of the Final Girls. Find us online at attackofthefinalgirls.com and hear bonus episodes at patreon.com slash attack of the final girls.
We're Attack of the Final Girls on Instagram and TikTok. Our theme music is by House Ghost and is available on Rad Girlfriend Records. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcasting app so you don't miss an episode and rate and review on Apple Podcasts so more... I'm Juliet. And I'm Teresa. Until next time, stay scary.