Hey guys, originally we planned to cover Trap in addition to the other two films this episode, but because of issues during recording we had to nix that. The good news is, we've decided that in another episode very soon, we'll not only give Trap its due, but also the one and only the substance. But in the meantime, I hope you enjoy our reviews of the sort of divisive alien Romulus and Irish indie darling Oddity. On to the episode.
This episode was brought to you by our Patreon supporters. Long-time supporters like Greg and Pearl Morgan, Amy Swan, Greg Bench, Joel Robertson, and Dan George. And new patrons like Kate Lamb, Andren, and Carl Davis. Welcome to another episode of Father and Son Watch Horror Movies. I am your co-host. the father, a.k.a. Pastor Matt, and I am joined, as always, by my trusty co-host, Jackson the Sun, and welcome to just the weirdest grab bag of films we've ever covered. No rhyme or reason.
Oh, and happy belated Halloween. Yes. Happy belated Halloween. I hope you had a great spooky season. So we've been teased for a long time. This whole year, you know, we've heard about this movie coming out, that movie coming out, but one of the ones that... seemed to fly under the radar a little bit, maybe because it was a sequel, even though it was connected to Fetty Alvarez. I mean, we've heard a lot about...
Jordan Peele's got a new movie coming out, which unfortunately it's been delayed. If you go listen to the Patreon episode, Jackson predicted that, but how dare he. That's been delayed till next year, but we've got, you know, Robert Agar's Nosferatu and, you know, we've got, and we, yes, well, that one kind of popped up, right? Because, but we heard a lot about Maxine and so forth. But I didn't hear a lot before about Alien Romulus. Yeah. Despite the fact that it's coming from Fetty Alvarez. So.
When did you see alien Romulus? I saw alien Romulus. I want to say about two weeks ago um and in the theater online or yeah it was it was like one of the last days it was there nobody was in the theater in the theater Yeah, and it was, I knew nothing going in. I hadn't seen the trailers. I think I'd scrolled past the trailer on Twitter, just silent. But I didn't want to know anything.
Just to preface how I feel about the Alien series, I think it's a really cool series. I wouldn't list it among my favorites because I think it's too hit or miss, but I think you can at least say that it's an interesting series, right? It doesn't do the... Yeah. maybe the the halloween route where every movie is kind of the same uh the every alien movie is is is very different and comes from kind of a different perspective maybe to a fault you might say because prometheus right and
alien say well prometheus is very different yeah exactly so different and like that's you know obviously coming from ridley scott both those films and they're very different but then you have stuff like alien 3 you know from david fincher or it's like a very unique vision and or alien resurrection which sorry jay sucked that's a unique vision though i think you can say that um but that's just any movie where they play basketball for anything that
That's a bad sign. Other than Hoosiers, any movie where you're playing basketball, that's a bad sign. But it just – that's one thing I've respected about Alien is that it keeps it fresh. And one thing I did here before going in is that this is kind of the Force Awakens of Alien, if you catch my drift. So I did have that in my mind.
And I think that this film does enough things to set itself apart, but I will say there is some, I will give some credence to that. This definitely does feel like after Prometheus, after Alien 3, all that stuff, they're trying. to play it safe a little bit and and i have some theories as to why um and i think it works in some cases and doesn't in others but overall i will say i enjoyed it i enjoyed alien romulus
Yeah, I was shocked. I didn't know that much going in. Like I said, it flew under my radar. I didn't pay that much attention to it. I respect Fede Alvarez, but I... Just, you were the first person who told me, it was like, this is a good movie. and because i was just going to wait for it to hit i thought it's going to hit hulu at some point and the problem was it was such a big box office hit that it still hasn't hit hulu it's a good problem it will at some point yeah um
So I finally just broke down on Halloween night and said, okay, I'm going to pay the 20 some bucks to go ahead and buy this thing and just go ahead and watch it. And I just really enjoyed it. I had problems with it. There are some problems with it. I do think it goes to Alien Resurrection in the third act. But overall, and it's a very simple plot, but I think overall that I really enjoyed it.
i wasn't distracted by the cgi as much as i thought i would be um there were well okay we'll talk about it there were there were a couple there were there's there's the alien resurrection moment yeah
That I didn't care for. That's not my problem. I think we'll get to it. I know what your problem is. We'll get to it. I didn't like that so much. But other than that, I didn't... really mind it and i thought it was just a i thought it was a really fun alien movie which now look i i i gave positive reviews to alien versus predator the first one not the second one I thought it was fun. I thought Alien Covenant was fun. I thought Prometheus was interesting. Right.
But I thought this was a lot of fun and I thought it was really well done. I thought the performances were very good. And so I've got nitpicks, but that's what they are. They're nitpicks. Other than that. Yeah. Nothing but good things to say. Let's start off with positives. I think that it is a beautifully shot movie. I don't know if it was shot on film, but it looks like it was shot on film. It's just gorgeous.
um great cinematography it really does take you back to alien to the first alien with that kind of film kind of grainy it does have that film it does have that feel yeah it does yeah but it's It's also got the, you know, super modern special effects that I think were for the most part, again, really good, really great CGI for the most part, which is what makes other things kind of stand out. I think that there's a great setup.
right we have the main character uh her name is rain uh and her adopted uh android brother andy and they're living on this mining planet who i thought was great by the way he's fantastic yes Andy goes through this like huge arc and just the subtleties of his performance are fantastic. I don't know if I've seen him. The actor is David Johnson. I don't know if I've seen him. He looks vaguely familiar. I've never seen him anything else. And I just I thought he was great.
But yeah, he was fantastic. It looks like he's been on Deep State. industry yeah i haven't seen these but he was fantastic in this i hope he gets more roles but yeah so it's rain and andy and they're living on this mining planet which is like 1984 style controlled by weyland yutani um and rain is trying to get off off planet with her brother her parents died in the mines of like uh mesothelioma or something um and uh and so she's just trying to get off this this like
uh dystopian hellscape um and after her uh after her like work visa is denied basically and she has to she's like still under contract weyland yutani uh revokes her right to to go off planet she decides with you know this ragtag group of of mining families to to kind of stage this escape right um so they go up to this this ship up in space and all this by the way is is so
great like i'm like i'm here for it a hundred percent and you know it's an alien movie so that dread is kind of setting in of like oh no what are they heading into right um but they they take this like rinky dink mining vessel up to this abandoned space station which is floating above the planet which is in 24 hours about to hit this ice belt this like asteroid belt made of ice circling the planet so great setup there's a ticking clock awesome stuff
where i have issues is uh in in the writing later on i think the script could have used another pass because there is a lot of and i don't want to say fan service so i won't i won't even say a fan service there's a lot of This is from Alien, so we're doing it now.
In this film and I think that's probably that's a studio note. I don't think Fetty Alvarez because we've seen his Evil Dead film, right? He doesn't pander to oh well It's it's this is just the way Evil Dead is so I'm gonna do Evil Dead because that Evil Dead remake is nothing evil dead right and that's why it's so refreshing yep um but
A lot of Alien Romulus feels like, oh, we're doing this thing from this movie. We're doing this thing from this movie, right? And that doesn't mean that I don't like it. I still think there's a lot of interesting stuff with Andy. You know, he's, yeah, at a certain point, he gets reprogrammed and starts...
acting in the best interest of weyland yutani so it's kind of interesting it's it's like the david thing from prometheus and alien covenant right you have this cyborg and you're not really sure where his allegiances lie um so that's really cool
But I can't beat around the bush anymore. The person who kind of reprograms Andy, right, to start working against the group is a CGI Ian Holm as his character from... alien it's not the same android obviously because you know he was on the nostromo um i think this takes place between alien and aliens is that is that correct i don't remember exactly i think so yeah i think at the beginning there was some
Yeah. I'm looking it up now. So, yep, the chronology is Prometheus. Okay. And then Alien Covenant. then Alien, the original, 1979, Ridley Scott, then Alien Romulus, then Aliens, then Alien 3, and then Alien Resurrection. Okay, so presumably Ripley is still in... cryo sleep aboard you know the escape pod from the nostromo before the events of aliens right um which is so it's interesting so weyland yutani knows about the xenomorphs in this film
But they haven't discovered Ripley yet. So this is like kind of a weird inter-period between those two things. That's interesting. Okay, so that's kind of cool because...
Because the the people in this movie don't know what a xenomorph is I've never seen them so that kind of brings up the stakes from alien right where the Xenomorph was a new thing That's cool, but but yeah, I mean we get CG ian holmes and it's not just cg it's like a deep fake and it's really awkward i like i genuinely don't know how that got a pass based on how good the rest of the effects are in the film how did they look at that and go yep seems fine
Put that out. I didn't have the same problems that you did. Really? I didn't think it was that bad. Yeah, I could see it was CGI, but I didn't think it was terrible. It was distracting to me. And I think if it's going to be distracting, just don't have it be.
the same android you know because it's not it can be a different model right we see bishop and aliens right so there are different models of androids and obviously andy one of the main characters why does it need to be ian holm from the nostromo even though it's not him he gets blown up that's obviously a studio note
It feels, and maybe the reason the effects aren't up to par is because it was a last minute decision. Maybe it was a different Android and they decided no, at the last minute for, you know, for reaction, for fan service, we're going to make it Ian Holm.
But man, it is just so distracting. And he looks okay when he's on the miniature screens, right? When he's like... communicating with people over screens but we just keep cutting back to him in full 4k and just seeing it's just it's just so so weird
I watched it in 4K. I didn't think it was that bad. I really didn't. And of course, Ian Holm passed away back in what, 2020 or something like that. And so I'm hoping that his... children or grandchildren are getting a residual check but i another thing it's like and his voice has to be like made from like ai like they've obviously like taken ian holmes voice and like run it through like ai like they did with um james earl jones on the
some of the disney star wars shows where they just like have a bunch of recordings of james earl jones and they can just make him say whatever they want which is so creepy i it just feel like People had the same issue, right, with Tarkin in that Star Wars movie in Rogue One where they brought Peter Cushing back. Well, but that didn't look great. This, I thought, looked better.
i think this looks worse than tarkin in rose one all right because the mouth is so blurry it's got that blurry deep fake look to it i mean like we love those like deep fake memes right where it's like you know whatever you put like trump's face on somebody or whatever
Those are funny, but they don't look real, right? And they try to use that technology for a motion picture, and it just... it just does not look right there's just something and you can say oh he's an android or whatever but his face is totally intact and we see ian holmes in alien as the android
he doesn't look synthetic like when he's just because that's a reveal right in Alien that he's a synthetic right so whatever it's just and again it's only disheartening because the production design and cinematography are so fantastic and i think it's paced really well in the first two acts i think it's it's got a great structure like i said it's great stakes um because we want to see andy and we want to and rain get to that you know off planet and and kind of escape this world um
We want to see even the one guy that they're with in their group. The other guy is kind of a douche, so we don't care that he gets face-huggered. But you can understand why. He's not a 2D character. His parents were killed when a synthetic... that closed off a mine shaft. So there, you know, all that character writing is great stuff, but just there's the death now.
was the Ian Holmes. I didn't think that was the death knell. Literally, this was a 10 out of 10 for me until... okay third act when it went alien resurrection that's when i was like oh come on here's my thing with the third act the third act we get so much it's like
It's like we get a lot of that Prometheus stuff, right? We get the black goo of the engineers. We get... weyland yutani like the android trying to like get them to bring that black goo back which is like hearkening back to david from prometheus and alien covenant right i There are some creative sequences. I like the part where Rain and Andy have to, they're shooting the xenomorphs, and then they have to swim through zero Gs around the acid blood. That was cool. That was cool.
That was cool. Yeah. But yeah. So, I mean, I like, listen, the one person in their group is a pregnant lady. She injects herself with the engineer goo to like try to. save herself, I guess. I don't know why she thought that would work. I wasn't clear on that either, no. She injects herself with the engineer goo. uh and yes lo and behold her baby is turned into a fetus xenomorph hybrid right um and
I think that the production design, I think the design of it is really cool. And it was practical. I've seen behind the scenes stuff. That thing was practical, which is really cool. Now. Since this film is like The Force Awakens of Alien, where it's kind of playing it close to the chest, and it's like, you know, Alien by the book, that does feel a little out of left field, right? That we have this fetus.
engineer xenomorph hybrid ambling around making baby noises that does feel a little strange i i will say i i will admit but it does feel very feddy alvarez I think that feels very Fede Alvarez to be clear. How so? Because it's that weird, demented, twisted, like your, you know what I mean? It's like, there's this weird dynamic of that thing's her baby.
technically and it like curls up to her and it's like mama and you're like oh no it's that disturbing gut-wrenching like very human feel to it now in execution it is a giant white fetus xenomorph baby and it does look a little goofy and um and of course rain has to do the thing where she gets into the space suit like like ripley and alien and we have to get that
It looks like the engineers from Prometheus is what it is. I think that's what it is. Because we see in Prometheus, like one of the first images we see, right, is the engineer and he drinks that black goo and then he like disintegrates and falls over the... the waterfall so i guess that's what that black goo stuff is but i don't know why no it's all based on based on the theory of panspermia
which is the idea that aliens have engineered human evolution and so forth. That's where it comes from. I agree or disagree with that. But that's kind of where they were headed. And that's kind of where Ridley Scott really wanted to take it. And Stanley Kubrick believed the same thing. That's actually what's behind 2001. 2001, the whole thing with a...
You know, the, what do you call them? Stellas or whatever they are. You know, that's all aliens, you know, promoting human evolution. That's what it's all about. And the whole, all of 2001 is about evolution. So, but I just, it's like, okay. We're going to do fan service for the worst alien movie ever. That's what we're going to do. I would say alien resurrection is worse than Prometheus, but I know what you mean. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's what I mean. I mean, it went to.
because Ripley's baby yeah yes it was it was just like oh my gosh this yeah I see what you mean. I liked it as a visual. I thought it was really cool. But again, you got it. You know what I mean? You can't have it both ways. You're both very conservative with like how close to alien you are. You're just like doing the alien thing.
but also you've got this weird prometheus thing in there alien resurrection thing so it just feels a little out of place based on how like close to the chest this movie was playing it so i really do like it as a visual i love it when stuff goes bonkers like that i just think they could have maybe eased into it more because the it's all just by the books facehugger xenomorph classic alien up until that point where it becomes bonkers and look ridley scott was producing a film
right he wasn't directing it but he was producing it i'm sure he like nudged fede and it was like hey put in some engineer stuff put in the black goo let's try to tie it all together um and again the cgie in home i'm sure that was a studio note because it looks rushed to to be frank um but uh but yeah it is definitely a left turn i will say though just just in summation
I definitely think that the positives outweigh the negatives. It's just always more frustrating when a movie with so many good pieces isn't given the same care in every department. Like if the dialogue had been given another pass, if the CGI Ian Holm had been... better or only ever shown through low quality cams or it just been another
android that's like a possibility you know it could it has been another android i i think this could have been a top five contender but as if i have issues but hey it's not my least favorite alien film so that's that's a huge achievement right now it's in my top five I, despite the third act, I didn't have the same problems. I don't know. Maybe it was the, you know, I think I saw the original Alien when I was like.
12 years old or something like that and the fact that okay there's you know there's Ian Holm again and and so forth and i i was kind of geeked for that i that was fan service that worked okay it just it worked on me maybe it shouldn't have but it did um but
the third act i thought it really broke down from because the first two acts i'm like oh this is this is the best alien movie since cameron's aliens in 86 this is a 10 out of 10 this is an alien 1979 is in my top 10 horror movies of all time so i'm like oh this is this is doing it right and um when it got to the third act i got a little disappointed um sure i i still recommend it i still like it but that's where i think things faltered yeah
I'm going to give it what I'm feeling right now is a 7 out of 10. I did like it. I think it was a beautiful film. I definitely think it's worth owning for sure. But I do have some issues with the execution. It's definitely trying. And I mentioned.
earlier like i understand why it is the way it is stylistically i don't know if you if you're aware of this but there's a video game called uh alien isolation which is like i've heard of it i don't know it yeah It was like, it kind of like kept the Alien franchise treading water for a number of years because of how good the game was compared to how the movies were, right?
and alien isolation has this style it has this like grainy film you know back to the original alien type thing which i think is what What they took from that was, okay, we need to do more of that and less of David playing the flute. So that's what we got in Alien Romulus. But as a point of pride, Ridley Scott couldn't have them not mention Prometheus and Alien Covenant at all. So we get the black goo, we get...
the engineer, we get the sabotaging android. We get those elements. So 7 out of 10 for me. I don't know that it'll be a top 5 or even a... It'll probably be a top 10 contender based on its aesthetics alone. But yeah, 7 out of 10. I did like it. I think a lot of people are either overselling it or underselling it. Oh, this is the best daily movie ever. Or, oh, this sucks so bad, you know.
I think it was a solid attempt, and I like Fede Alvarez. I think the parts I didn't like were probably studio interference, as much as I hate to admit it. Well, yeah, I think it was more Ridley Scott. probably but I just looked it up and yes he is a He, along with Stanley Kubrick, is a proponent of panspermia. And so, yeah, he's trying to make this statement and so forth. But co-written by, well, I mean, obviously it's probably a based on.
uh type thing right dan o'bannon but there's some kind of concepts taking maybe like an early draft of a script taken from him because he's credited as co-writer with fede alvarez so yeah well it's based on dark star Dark Star was Dan O'Bannon and John Carpenter. And then Dan O'Bannon took it. And John Carpenter said the greatest thing I ever did for Dan O'Ban was not suing him for aliens because we basically wrote that script and he didn't give me credit. Yeah, well, quality-wise.
I don't blame Dan Abandon for not wanting to have John Carpenter involved. Well, I don't know. You're looking at if you're looking at their careers anyway. Right. I just mean I just mean Dark Star versus Alien. I love Dark Star. I think it's a lot of fun. But Alien basically.
is dark star i mean dan o'bannon co-wrote dark star with john carpenter and he basically just turned it into something which ron schusetz went with this whole other thing and then they got uh oh gosh what's his name the guy who created the xenomorph um geiger Yeah, they got him involved and so forth. But it was actually, if you go back and look it up, it was basically John Carpenter's idea. But anyway.
I prefer the themomorph to the beach ball, to be honest. Yeah, well, they couldn't afford that, and John Kirk thought he was being funny, but... you know, that's the one twist they put on it. But still, it's basically John Carpenter's story. But anyway, let's talk about... Now, let me just say, okay, so Alien Romulus, I would actually give it an 8. Nice. Okay. I would give it an 8 out of 10. Like I said,
But watching the first two acts, you know, it was going to be a 10 out of 10 for me. The third act is where I think they kind of dropped the ball. And maybe that was Ridley Scott. Maybe that was the studio. But I still agree with you. This is worth owning. this is this is solid the effects are typically up until you get the alien resurrection thing are great i and i don't have the same problems with the ian holm part but anyway yeah all right
Let's get to our next movie. Let's talk about a little movie from Ireland, I believe. Oddity. It's just, this is one of those films, and we've had several of this over the last, like, what, five, ten years. These films that pop up that you haven't really heard anything about. And... suddenly it jumps up to like 80% on Rotten Tomatoes or 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. And the IMDB summary just says, a psychic medium.
attempts to uncover the truth behind her sister's murder at the site of the crime. That's pretty much it. Yeah. Yeah, not bad. This is one I hadn't even heard of until I saw that it was on your top 10 list. And I was like, okay, I guess I've got to check this out. And I'm glad that I did for sure. I think it's a scrappy little movie. I think it's got a lot of great ideas. I think it looks great. Great. This is a beautifully shot movie. Especially for a low budget movie, right? It looks great.
And a lot of that's down to the location. I mean, basically this castle that it's set in is a beautiful location. So that does a lot of work for it. And you really get to know the geography. right of this of this film over of the location over the film because basically the film only has two locations it has this castle and it has the uh mental hospital right So you really get to know that space. And that works well to set up stuff later on. Because in a lot of ways, this is a... It's a...
wait until dark. It's that kind of film, right? We have to really know the location. And know what kind of peril our lead, our blind protagonist is in. That is what that Audrey Hepburn movie is called, right? Is it Wait Until Dark? Yes. Yep. Yep. Definitely shades of that. but yeah but with weird weird mystical supernatural twist to it right yeah and and some real just
Evil. And I'm telling you, when we get to our horror Oscars, I'm going to argue. So Carolyn Bracken plays two parts here. She plays both twins. I thought she was fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't even realize until the scene with what's the name of the husband, Ted, when Ted comes into the shop.
uh, and talks to, is it Danny? Is Danny the wife for the, uh, there's Danny and Darcy. Yeah. There's Danny. Okay. When, when Ted comes into Darcy shop, um, and, and, uh, and as talking to her it took me like a solid two or three minutes to realize they were the same person because they act so different they look so different and yeah so great performance from her
i think great performance from everyone involved ted is great ivan is really creepy um and then the short time we get olin he's he's fantastic too and i did not i when i was watching i was like The guy who plays Ted, I was like, I knew that guy. Where do I know that guy? And Gwilym Lee is his name. And of course... He is in one of your favorite movies of the last 10 years, Bohemian Rhapsody playing. Yes.
He wasn't bad in Bohemian Rhapsody. He plays Brian May, right? He plays Brian May, yes, in Bohemian Rhapsody. He's great. He's fine. Yeah, don't love that movie. Don't love its director. But yeah. I don't love the director. either but I do like the movie but anyway Best editing winner, Bohemian Rhapsody. So he's fantastic in the film. Great cast. I mean, it's basically a stage play, right? This is what it kind of you get shades of a stage play. It really is a stage play. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
And it looks great. I love the tone. Love that cold open. We get a great cold open in this film. Danny is home alone. Ted is off at the mental hospital, and she's home alone in this castle that they're renovating. And a man comes to her door named Olin. He's one of Ted's patients.
and he's at the door and he tells her somebody just went into your house while you were out you need to come with me open the door there's somebody in there with you and of course she doesn't believe him right because he's one of ted's patients he sounds he looks crazy um but
She starts to hear creaks inside the house and maybe there's some credence to it. And we cut right as we see her walking to the door. What's she going to do? We see her walking to the door. Cut. Flash forward. Great cold open.
fantastic hold open um i love how it sets up the tone of the film and kind of establishes the central mystery um which is and we'd learn more pieces we're learning pieces about this mystery until literally one minute before the film man so it's like as the film goes we just learn more and more and more and i like that about it i like that structure to it um i do have some grievances with execution we'll talk about later um but i think overall the central mystery is strong
the cast of characters are strong we're invested we want darcy to figure out what happened to danny um and uh and yeah and some very memorable images oh i think that okay so She brings, what would you call it, a mannequin? It's like a golem, I guess. Yeah, this wooden doll, this horrifying wooden doll that fits with this terrifying... expression on its face and she puts it's got holes in the back of its head and she puts out like um uh
She puts elements of Dany into it, you know, lock of hair, you know, whatever, or like, or pieces of the killer, Olin, the presumed killer, just to like try to get that connection to the spiritual world. It's like her vessel. for accessing the spiritual world, I guess. Gotcha. So whoever did that, yeah, golem, mannequin, whatever you want to call it.
Absolute chef's kiss. I thought that was so well done. That is so creepy just sitting there. You've done art long enough. I think you could see how you could do this as a stage play. Yeah, absolutely. Again, two sets. Small cast of characters. You really get to know the geography. Like you said, that PD on the production design on that wooden golem is great. Super cool design for the killer, too, right? Eventually, at a certain point, it's revealed that there is a killer foot.
and he has a mask on um and that mask in that tent scene so cool so creepy so memorable um just fantastic and the whole setup with the camera that's set on a timer There are so many things here where I think this is one of those movies where I think we could be talking about this in 10 years, just some of the visual images. Because I think they're so well done. And we'll get to it in a minute, the ending. The bell. Sure, yes. Fantastic.
But you have problems with some of the execution. What are your problems? Well, first of all, let me just say, I think there are some really great scare sequences. Again, we get the camera on the timer with the tent. Great scare sequence. the bedroom scene with Yana where she's watching the video and then we get, you know, we get Danny's corpse in the tent as it jumps here and then she drops the camera and it flashes and we see Danny's ghost. That stuff is all great.
uh cool really cool uh payoffs well you know i don't want to get to i wore a spoiler podcast really cool payoff at the trap door right that's the first image is is danny placing the trap door down which i did not see that coming that was brutal that's a very wait until dark type thing right where we get that reveal later on
I have some issues with how information is doled out in this film with the use of flashbacks. I don't think that's a bad thing necessarily. I think that the execution is a little iffy at times, but that is a good reveal. Again, neat payoff in concept with the bell like you were just talking about. The fact that Darcy knew Ted wouldn't be able to resist ringing it just to try to disprove to himself that ghosts aren't real and therefore Danny isn't still around. He's so arrogant.
going to have to do this and then that last shot honestly is i think if you would have told me beforehand i would go that's lame but in real time that was fantastic
I think the execution could have been stronger on that. I think it feels more like a comedy beat than a final scare. And you can say that's fine that it's like a comedy of errors, right? It's like irony that... you know darcy knew ted would do this and it's it's less like a final scare and more like a well well you know like womp womp we knew this would happen kind of thing but
let's think about tone for a second you know when you end on what looks like a flat comedy shot at the end of your thriller it is a little strange i think um but that that might come down to the low budget or maybe that they just didn't want to have a jump scare you know Emotionally, for me, that worked. If you go back and you track through the script where she's talking about that, it works. What's happening is she's essentially sacrificing herself and she has called every beat correctly.
Nobody, especially Ted, Ted doesn't. OK, that's his sister-in-law, you know, he kind of puts up with her. He's you feel like he's doing his duty, you know, all that kind of stuff. But in the end, she's smarter than anyone else involved. Right. Yeah. And I do like, again, I like that.
image and theory you know she talks about it when she's in her shop she runs an antique shop with all these um these cursed items yeah yeah um and uh and he's not really into all that that witchy stuff he doesn't believe it he doesn't believe in this
supernatural maybe partly because he doesn't want to believe in it because it means that danny might still be around in the house in some form or fashion but um you know she's talking to him about the bell and he's like what happens if you ring it and he's like well uh at this hotel they rang the bell and the dead bellboy came running you know towards towards her
That is a cool image. I think that I've been mulling it over. I think a cool way they could have executed it instead of just cutting to a wide and the bellboys just standing behind Ted in a wide comedy shot. Maybe you just like have him ring it and he's like haha, you know not obviously nothing happened You have that beat of well, obviously nothing's gonna happen and then you just hear just footsteps, you know what I mean? And that are getting faster and then cut to credit. Oh, I, I, okay.
You won me over. No, I kind of like that. When you were talking, I was thinking, well, maybe they should have done a tight shot, just a medium shot of him, and then maybe... the image of just the outline of a bellboy behind him and then cut out. But no, I like your idea better.
No, I like that. That's great. Both ways. I mean, I just think it could have been handled better. It's a great concept. And I feel that way about a lot of things. The wooden golem, we talked about that earlier. Such a cool visual. And we know that thing is going to move.
point we see that it teleports around but we know we're going to see that thing move by the end and when ivan comes to the house to take care of darcy we're pretty sure that's what's about to happen but the way it starts moving is so like uh there's no pomp and circumstance at all it just in full light just starts moving around and ivan isn't even
Matt's surprised when he sees it. It's a very strange reveal. Maybe it's because Ivan is like a psychopath. Maybe it's like he, you know, he's not surprised by anything. I don't know. But like he sees the wooden gall moving and his reaction is, huh? you know what i mean which is like not the way i would have gone about executing that. I don't know what the thought process behind that was. That's a fair criticism. I'm with you. That's a fair criticism. But that scene is great with Ivan.
you know, coming to finish the job with Darcy and him getting followed around by the golem. That is a really cool. And again, since we know the geography of that house so well, we know, you know, where Ivan can be cornered, you know, what's going to happen to him. But then we kind of back off of, you know, the golem picks him up. It's got his head in his hands, and it's about to crush his head.
but then right before it does darcy dies from her wounds and and ivan is is still alive is saved and we're like oh that's kind of lame but then what happens with ivan and the in the final one final scenes of the film were like oh this is cooler okay i'm glad that this is what's happening um but you've won me over but you are the filmmaker in progress and so yep you i i agree with you yeah that's those are man
yeah that would have been a cooler movie honestly what i'm just sitting back and thinking about it's like if they would have done this or the thump thump thump and it was like yeah that's a really cool idea And this is one that's like prime, right? And I know I hate to say this, but we've talked about this before. This is a film with a super strong script with a very strong script and great cast.
great yeah great great cast great great great script the execution because of the low budget at times is a little you know iffy this is one of the ones i would be okay if there was an american remake and i know that's crazy because i railed on speak no evil on the speak no evil remake which i still haven't seen i've heard people say It's good. I've heard people say it's different. I have actually heard people say that James McAvoy delivers like an Oscar level performance in it.
Sure. And you can say, I mean, the performance is fine. My issue originally with Speaking of Evil was the original is an English language film. Right. So doing another English language film is very strange. Just two years after. Speak New Evil was 2022, then Speak New Evil 2024. And they're both English language. That seems a little weird.
But I kind of get it. Now that I've heard people talking about it, yes, the execution because the low budget in that film was a little strange. Yes, the execution and oddity is a little strange. This could be one that's ripe for a remake. I don't know. I'm just throwing that. I don't know if I...
agree with that totally and just throwing that out there's a possibility um but there are a lot of things i'm not down for a remake unless you make it so okay you've convinced i'll talk to damian mccarthy there you go By the way, writer-director Damian McCarthy, total new voice. He's made a film called Caveat, which I haven't seen. I've seen it. It's a good movie. Yep, it's a good movie.
No, he's a solid filmmaker. Yeah, he's a solid filmmaker. I know Jay of the Dead liked it, so I'll have to check it out. But yeah, so a new voice. um which is always exciting and and always good to see irish film um so so yeah but a lot of things i liked about out of the a lot of the little nitpicks i had um uh the one thing i will say is some things are revealed to us in flashback right the reveal is spoiler alert again the reveal is ted killed his wife danny his his ex-wife right he killed her
to be with he had her killed yeah right he had her killed by ivan who works at his mental hospital uh who was obviously looking for a reason right like he was he was totally down with this plan
It appears that he's looking for a relationship with him. That's what it appears to me. Well, maybe a little bit, yeah. They definitely have this weird kind of relationship, which comes to a head at the final scene, which again... so disturbing that that that end for ivan uh with this setup that we've we've gotten this setup throughout the film i don't know that it was handled the best but we get this like implication that there's this guy in a muzzle you know um
silence of the land style uh and he's kind of a visual throughout and then he's brought back for ivan's end right which is cool but that so that's cool but there are things like you know the trapdoor reveal We didn't need a flashback for that, I think. Couldn't we have just seen Ted doing it while he's talking to Darcy? Like, wouldn't that have upped the stakes in that scene instead of having to see it twice with new information both times? Maybe. Maybe.
I have to give that some thought. But I'm just thinking as you're talking and looking back on the film, it's like things like the tent scene were handled so well. so well. I really love the 10th scene. Maybe, but I don't know there. That's... It's not, I don't feel any strong way about it either way. I'm just throwing stuff out there. Movies like this get me thinking, right? When there's a great script, a great concept. Isn't that great? Isn't that a sign of they've won? This is a great movie.
yeah yeah there's a lot of awesome ideas and it's definitely a very memorable film um it's it's definitely elevated horror as people like to say um but but yeah it's just it's there because i think it's mostly due to the low budget
like you can see what they were going for but there are some strange things in the way it's edited I feel the same way about David Cronenberg's Spider I don't know if you've seen that film but there's a lot of great ideas in that film but the way they're executed are very strange
And so I kind of feel the same way about Oddity, where it's like there are a lot of great ideas, but the way they're executed, mostly in the edit, and again, I'm an editor, so I'm looking for these things, are kind of strange. This may have been the way the screenplay is written, right? That Ted...
that we just see Ted be like, answer the phone, Darcy, and he leaves. And then later we get the flashback showing him opening the trap door. Maybe that's in the script. But in editing, you have to ask yourself, why are things this way? And you have to look at what you can tighten up. if it doesn't make continuity sense, you do things that are right for the story first and foremost. So that's just what I'm thinking about.
But overall, I really, really did like Oddity. I think it's an awesome, tight 98-minute film. It's a new voice, Damian McCarthy. Great cast, great script. Little nitpicks here and there, but I do think this is one that I definitely wouldn't begrudge people putting on their top 10 list, and I think it's a really cool film. All right, so what grade would you give it? What score would you give it?
I'm going to give Odyssey a 7.5 with room for improvement. I really did like it. I'll be curious to see what Damian McCarthy does next.
um but uh but i have little issues here and there and it's a very simple story um but i would be curious to re-watch it at least once just to see going in with the knowledge of of having seen the film how does it play right knowing ted's motivations throughout the film how does it play and seeing those little intricacies in his performance because surely the actor knew in those early scenes he knew all this stuff right so he's
playing that into his performance, and I think that'll be interesting to see. Some things that I'm curious to see how they hold up, just like I'm dubious of, Ted visits Darcy in her shop, right? And he's like talking to her and divulging all this information.
Maybe this is just me. I'm a bad liar. But I feel like if you had killed somebody, wouldn't you not want to associate yourself with like... I think he's just doing the very Western... british american thing of this is what i'm supposed to do and so this is what we do and so i think even hannibal lecter would do that right i mean that's just yeah um I liked it more than you. I, I like your suggestions, but this is a nine out of 10 for me. Yeah. And this is.
Right now, below Long Legs in my top ten. I think this is a solid film. I think this is a film that everyone should see. It's on Shudder. If you don't have a Shudder account, get the free 30 days and go watch this if nothing else because I think this is a solid, solid film. Yeah, agreed. Again, I can't begrudge you that and a lot of original voices. I'd be curious to see what you think of the substance when you see that because that is my number one. I have not had a chance to see that yet.
We will get to that. And in fact, I have to get to church in like 30 minutes. So we're going to cut this short. So I'm really encouraged. I think this year has been a pretty solid year. We've talked about it. You had mixed feelings on Maxine. I really liked it. We both loved Long Legs.
With Oddity coming in and Alien Romulus, and now we've got Nosferatu to look forward to. We don't have Jordan Peele's film because... jackson i'm sorry it's the monkeys paul right cursed it son you cursed it um but anyway we've got some great films ahead I think this is going to be a really cool top 10. And I do look forward actually to seeing Speak No Evil because I've heard so much about the performances.
And so forth. We know how the story is going to go because you and I have both seen the film based on. But I've heard that the performances are really good, which means we're going to have a really cool horror Oscars. Yeah. 2025. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. We'll have, for sure, we'll have Carolyn Bracken as Danny and Dorothy and Oddity. We'll have James McAvoy. The lead performance is going to be stacked this year. And of course, we've got to have our friends on board.
So Brian Scott, Greg Bench, if you're listening, you guys got to be. you know, Ashley, if you're listening, we got, we got to have you on board. We got to do the horror Oscars because this is going to be a cool year because, and I do have to say, this is, I know this is a bummer way to end the podcast. The great Tony Todd died. Yeah. Yeah. Devastating. 69 years old. Crazy. So young. Too young these days, right? When you're living to...
You know, most people are living their 80s. Oh, man. That sucks. But acting up until the end and turning in some great performances right up until the end. And how great was Tony Todd, honestly? Absolutely. One of my favorites. I mean, just, just.
a presence you know what i mean you talk about actors you talk you throw that buzzword around presence you know he's got a presence but tony todd is a definition of that word whenever he walks into a scene you're like whoa that's tony todd um and definitely yeah there's a there's a there's a six foot five hole in in in horror uh in the horror world right now because so
I'm a Greek scholar. That's what I do. I'm a New Testament Greek scholar. The word charisma actually means gift. Yeah. Tony Todd had that touch of God gift. He had it. Wow. You go back, Platoon, The Crow, Candyman. You go through all of his roles. He was just... You're right. He was a presence. He was the kind of guy, he walked into a room, everyone noticed, right? Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Rest in peace, sir. I'll see you when I get there, maestro.
Just a great actor. And he used to say he had one of my favorite lines. He said, well, movies buy the house. TVs furnish the house. TV roles. but plays feed the soul. Yeah. And that was his, that was his desire was he loved to do, he loved to do theater. That's what he really loved to do. And I love that about that guy. Never met him, but he actually followed us on Father and Son. Oh, yeah. He followed us on Twitter.
God bless him. And so rest in peace, sir. Yeah, absolutely. Well, buddy. All right. I got to bring this episode to a close, but. This has been fun. Where can they find you online? Well, you can find me on Twitter at Kane underscore Hero 12. It's K-A-I-N-E underscore Hero 12. Yeah, keep posted there. You can find all my links there. Looking to do, you know, we're going to talk about Trap next.
episode along with the substance i've been re-watching m night movies in in uh preparation for that and you know i'm thinking now why not just do an m night ranked video on the patreon so uh that's what i'm thinking you have to do that i want to talking to brian scott about that earlier so definitely going to want to do that um good buddy brian scott and i should say so there's been a huge shake up in a horror movie podcast with jackson and i jackson
and Megan and I all own. Nathan just couldn't produce content. No fault of his own. He's got kids. He's got life, man. It just happens. We're going to shift things over, but here's the cool thing. Every HMP episode from here on out will feature at the beginning and the closing, Jay of the dead going. Hi, and welcome to Horror Movie Podcast. Jay is committed to that, and we're going to have a whole new group, but Brian Scott will be a part of that.
Vicious Victor hopefully will be a part of that we'll have but that is going forward Jay of the Dead is working with us on this that is going to happen very soon and it's going to be very cool because I can tell you that a very special point of contact between Jackson and I has been H and P. Oh yeah, definitely. Yeah. And I'm excited to see it move forward.
And yeah, for sure. Excited to keep the original HMP crew involved. I mean, Dave, Dr. Shockbecker and Jay of the Dead. And so, yeah, so that's fun. And horror movie podcast, of course, we got to, you know.
bring that back because that's that's like the you know that's the grandfather that's the godfather if you're if you're doing an seo for a podcast or what are you going to come across horror movie that's the genius of jay of the dead it's the genius and then what did he do what did he do for his next podcast you know it's like new horror movies absolutely genius So that will be moving forward. That will be coming back soon. Jay's got some great ideas that will be hitting.
by he wants to do a thing by thanksgiving so jackson letting you know he wants you to be on me but oh yeah he wants to do a thanksgiving episode for hmp and so to relaunch it and nice Yeah, super excited. All right, buddy. Well, people can find me if they want to at Pastor Matt R at X Twitter. I don't know why you would want to find me because I don't post that often. I'm not on social media that often, but. Yeah, I've got a blog, but that's only for Bible nerds, so you can do that, but anyway.
We thank you for listening. Be sure to check out Father and Son Watch Horror Movies at patreon.com. There's so much extra content there. Jackson does so many extra videos there and so forth.
and you're helping put him through film school so yeah and hey remember the family that watches horror movies together slays together see ya Once again, I want to thank our Patreon supporters, Trey Whetstone, Stefan Sitter, Amy Swan, Ryan Bratton, Greg and Pearl Morgan, Nick Stumpf, Kevin Corpy, Kate Lamp, Joel Robertson, Ian West, Ian Urza, Greg Russell, Greg Bench,
Dave Becker, Dan George, Carl Davis, Brian Scott, Billy Dee, Ashley Pinkard, and Ann Dredd. Thank you guys so much for supporting the podcast. You're the best. Like I've said before, you make this podcast possible.