Horror Movie Podcast Ep. 216: 30 More 2021 Horror Films For Your Consideration

Okay now kids, clap your hands like there's no tomorrow! Welcome to Horror Movie Podcast, where we are dead serious about horror movies. At Horror Movie Podcasts, you get in-depth horror movie discussions and reviews for classic films and new releases with ratings and recommendations. This episode of Horror Movie Podcast is brought to you by Shudder, the Netflix for horror.

You can try Shudder free for 30 days. Just go to Shudder.com and use the promo code HMP when signing up. That's S-H-U-D-D-E-R.com and promo code HMP. We are your horror hosts, The Wolfman. And Dave, Dr. Shockpecker from just outside Philadelphia, PA. And on this episode of Horror Movie Podcast, we're kind of doing that cleanup episode we do at the end of every year. We spend a lot of time preparing for our top movies of the year, top 10 lists.

And in doing so, we binge and binge and binge a whole bunch of movies. And so we have usually one or two of these types of episodes at the end of every year where it's just like, here's a bunch of new releases you might have missed. that you might want to consider as you're putting together your own top 10 lists so i think this year we've got somewhere in the ballpark of 26 something films dave i'm excited

Yeah, I am. I'm looking forward to this. Absolutely. And the funny thing about it is we both are just scratching the surface. We still, despite all of this, have so many more movies to watch. I probably have as many movies to watch as I've already seen. Yeah, right. Okay, well, we will jump right into it then, unless there's anything else you want to discuss about this year in movies that stood out to you in particular.

Just the fact that a lot of these films, including some of the ones we're going to talk about tonight, just were dark. I mean, it seemed like a sort of bleak year. for horror you know just very dark films that came out this year and that's not to say the other years haven't i thought 2020 had the same thing maybe it's a reflection of the times that we're living in with the pandemic and whatnot um but There just seemed to be a lot of really, yeah, dark movies that came out this year.

Yeah, and I don't know, I think when you have a film, this is maybe reaching, but I think when you have a film that's as successful as Hereditary, I think, just like we've talked about with other sub-genres, you have a lot of people reaching for that. You know, and so I think I'm wondering if that had such a just heavy, dark, personal, bleak. to it and was so successful if that had something to do with the spate of films we're getting in that

And now then I don't know, I'm not sure, but I don't disagree with you. And I think I did happen to see, though, a lot of kind of silly films this year. I did, too. And it's funny because there were a number of them that and I'm like, I almost.

to reserve a spot on my list and pick the best sort of horror comedy just to to cover because there were some good ones this year there definitely were i'm going to talk about um well one of them definitely tonight but um there were a few i that i had a lot of fun with

So I want to read this. I was actually going to save this for my final film discussion of the night for Willie's Wonderland. But this is from Daniel Ehrenberg, a guy. I don't know if you've ever met Daniel, but he's a guy that I had done some podcasting with previously. And I don't know if he's a listener of the show. He does his own podcast that's a lot of fun called The Franchise that's kind of in the similar vein of considering the sequels kind of a thing. Okay, yeah, nice.

So if people haven't checked out the franchise, you can do that. Daniel's a really smart guy, but he's extremely cynical. I've read a couple quotes from him on the podcast before, and they're always just the most cynical points of view, but one of them is kind of along these lines, which I thought was interesting. He said...

Horror movies now are half slow bores trying to get by as elevated and half short empty quirk fests desperately aiming at cult success when there ain't no such thing anymore. I thought that was kind of funny. Yeah.

i i see where he's going again it is like the most cynical point of view on it all but i think um i kind of don't mind that because what else are we rooting for just to have middle of the road films i like to yeah i i like i i enjoy it as well um you know even when you get the slow burns sometimes they pay off sometimes they don't um that's the elevated right um and uh it's funny i mentioned to you that i had seen scream i finally saw the new scream from 2022

Just yesterday. And I know you're going to love it. I do. I know. So you are going to love that movie. But in the very first scene, they talk about elevated horror. Oh, interesting. Okay. And I think this quirk fest thing he talks about is interesting. You know, like I would rather see a wacky Nick Cage movie than not. So, I mean, that's, I agree. Yeah.

And we got quite a few Nick Cage this year. I mean, we got more than our share of Nick Cage, I think, in 2021. I feel like the other guy stays busy. We know that. All right. First, let's go with Antlers. This movie that I saw. Back in November and haven't had a chance to talk about it on the show yet. It starts two actors who I really like, Kerry Russell and Jesse Plemons. They're both fantastic.

And the lead cast of this is really good. This is directed by Scott Cooper, who made his career with... dramas like Crazy Heart and Out of the Furnace. And I know Jay had Out of the Furnace is kind of a horror-adjacent movie the year that came out, but just fantastic films. And here he turns his eye toward more straight ahead horror. It is a slow burn.

And it is weird because it plays kind of like an indie drama for the first half and then just does a hard switch to a monster movie in the second half. And I think it's kind of jarring, and I think that is maybe a problem with the film. Um, it also deals with, I don't know. I don't, I don't want to spoil the type of film this is because it is like such a big halfway moment, you know? Okay.

in terms of going one way and then going the other. So I don't want to talk exactly about what it is. It does it well enough. I think it would almost honestly be the best film in its subgenre. If it had just peppered more of that throughout the first half of the movie, because there aren't a lot of, you know, we talk about werewolf movies, for instance, there aren't a lot of great werewolf movies. Well, this isn't a werewolf movie, but.

In a similar vein, this would be one of the best horror films in a particular horror subgenre, if they just alluded to that a little bit in the first 45 minutes. okay right saying but um but it's it's decent i give this one a six out of ten and i would call it a rental And if people want to know more about it, we can talk about it in the comments at horrormoviepodcast.com. I will tell you, if you are a fan of this particular subgenre, again, this is probably the best movie made in it.

Yeah. So there will be a certain audience that absolutely loves this movie and I get it. I'm pretty sure this was my most anticipated of 2020. one of one of the ones when we did our 2019 end of year i think we you know we did our what what movies are we looking forward to in 2020 i think antlers was definitely one of my based on the trailer that i had seen uh and i did not get a chance to see it yet so that's interesting

It's high quality filmmaking. Most of our listeners that I'm looking at give a very high ratings, higher than me, actually. Many gave it. the same as me, but many give a higher. So it's, it is a film that I think, you know, a certain segment of the audience will really enjoy. All right. Well, that is.

antlers and now we will move down to benny loves you which is not a film i've ever heard of all right benny loves you all right uh well in an early scene from reddit director carl holt's benny loves you Jack, the lead character played by director Holt himself, is celebrating his 35th birthday with his parents, played by Catriona McDonald and Greg Page, who he still lives with, by the way. Unfortunately, mom and dad have a little accident.

a freak accident and when jack finds them dad is lying dead on the floor and mom uh her entire face impaled with toothpicks is about to draw her final breath Now, it's played for laughs, but this is a fairly gruesome scene. But by the time Benny Loves You is over... we'll realize that mom and dad got off pretty easy compared to some of the other characters in this film. This movie is filled to the brim with blood, guts, and gore. It's often gross, but it's also funny.

Now, 10 months after Jack's parents die, he is Jack works as a toy designer and he doesn't have a lot of talent for it. He's on the verge of losing both his house and his job. His humorless boss, Ron, played by James Parsons, demotes him, cutting his pay by 33%. And the rep with his bank, played by Greg Barnett, tries to... quote unquote, help Jack by demanding he pay four times his usual amount to catch up or risk foreclosure on his childhood home.

uh determined to finally grow up and take control of his life jack throws away all of his toys even his beloved stuffed animal benny who has been his best friend since he was a kid but benny has no intention of going anywhere and springs to life tormenting Jack night and day. What's more, Benny is determined to kill anyone who stands between him and his best pal, usually in the most grisly fashion possible. Now, this is a goofy but very fun horror comedy.

And it's going to have you laughing at some of Benny's antics. He just keeps repeating, Benny loves you, Benny loves you, throughout the movie, over and over. And he's about a foot and a half tall, this stuff. I think Chucky might have even been taller. than Benny. But he brings the pain. I mean, he butchers his victims in a way that would impress Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers, to be honest with you. David, the bank rep.

And this happens early on, so it's not much of a spoiler. He's the first to incite Benny's wrath. And by the time he's through, Jack has to dispose of entrails, a butchered body, a severed head, and mop up gallons of blood strewn all over the house. Yet as violent as Benny can be watching him bounce around the house, a smile plastered on his face, it's going to make you laugh. It is. In fact, Benny, despite his homicidal tendencies.

is arguably the film's most endearing character in a way, even more so than Jack or any of the others. I mean, there's not a lot of likable characters in this film, including Jack. He's sort of arrested. He has an arrested development. He just can't seem to grow up. And it's funny because there's a story here about abandoned toys getting their revenge on the owners. We see that in an opening sequence unrelated to the rest of the film.

But this is a movie that gets crazier by the minute. And the characters itself are more caricatures, including Jack. um you know jack has his arch nemesis at work uh richard who kind of kisses ass and he's a you know he's kind of a jerk throughout the movie and the two policemen investigating the rash of recent disappearances are listed in the credits as good cop and bad cop, played by Darren Benedict and Anthony Stiles. But if you're a fan of gore and don't mind comedy with your horror,

And in this movie, the comedy does take center stage. The horror sort of tucked neatly in the background. I think Benny Loves You will definitely make you smile. I give it an eight out of 10. I think it's definitely worth checking out. You know, 10. Wow. And another creepy. killer toys creepy he's basically a stuffed animal is what benny is but this whole movie is about people who discard their toys and the toys coming back for revenge

The Velveteen Killers. Yeah, is what it is. You get an opening sequence, a pre-title. I don't know if it's pre-title, but the very opening sequence is this young girl who gets a new toy, throws her doll into the clan. You know, the girl's a real brat. And that teddy bear ends up coming to life. And there's this whole opening. And it plays throughout, even with other characters throughout the movie. It's not just Jack and Benny. Other characters meet up with toys that they have abandoned.

So that's kind of a running theme in the film. But it's also it's also funny and it definitely is played for laughs. I mean, even when Benny is swinging that knife. Um, you know, he's, he's just, he's got that smiles and Betty loves you. And, and, um, yeah, it's, it's definitely horror comedy. It's from England. It's out of Britain. Um, and it is, uh, it's entertaining. I had a lot of fun with it. All right. Up next, we are going to talk about the boys from country hell. And according to IMDB.

This is a film about a crew of hardy road workers led by a bickering father and son must survive the night when they accidentally awaken an ancient Irish. i'll just say evil i'm not going to read what it says on imdb but essentially what you have here is a new kind of monster or a completely fresh twist on a classic monster which is exciting Always exciting to see something done in a fresh way. And the fascinating thing about it is, again, I don't know my Irish folklore history.

But whereas I'm saying it's a fresh twist because we've never seen a movie, according to the film, this actually comes from the original legend in Ireland. So how cool then to get these specific cultural stories from different places around the world. have that enhance our horror watching and experience. And then on top of that, it's just a funny and fun film on top of that as well. It's really good though. Like it's.

i don't know i feel like the horror comedies of the last several years have all there haven't been any of them completely knocked me out and this one i just think works really really well like it's legitimately a great movie and And funny and endearing. It's written and directed by Chris Bau and also co-written by Brendan Mullen.

and it has a great cast of people i'm not familiar with but some very high quality irish actors i particularly liked michael how or hugh uh who's on the cast i thought he was so much fun but i thought the whole cast was was excellent john lynch also is in this um and when i think of john lynch i think of uh he was in in the name of the father Oh, cool. He was with one of the two guys. He was the John Daniel Lewis's close friend who ended up being imprisoned with him just as long.

I did not recognize him in this. He played the father of the one boy who, let's just say he ends up with his back against the stone. Because I don't want to give anything away. If you're not going to give anything away, I'm not going to give anything away about this one either.

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd seen this one. I had. I had seen Boys of County Hell. Yeah, I saw it a while ago. And I enjoyed it, too. I thought it was really good. And it is a fresh twist on what you were saying, sort of a classic mythology. And I liked that. And there are points in the movie where the characters even sort of rely on the standard myths. They go along with that only to find, oh, that didn't work.

That wasn't true. No, I liked it. I liked this one quite a bit as well. I thought this was a really good film. Oh, great. So yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you'd seen this one, Dave. I apologize. No, yeah, that's, that's. i think we're going to find that maybe with a few that and i haven't seen a lot like i said i got a lot more that i have to see but this is one that i that i did see and i did enjoy okay well i what would you rate this one dave

I would probably give this one a 7.5 out of 10, and I think it's definitely worth checking out. I know there's a pretty cool Blu-ray of it out there, but it's one that I think people should see. Um, and again, yeah, I, I don't want to give it away, but yeah, it, it does sort of, um, uh, that's my favorite part of this movie is that it gives you that fresh twist on this and, and it introduces it right up front.

by bringing a legendary writer into it and saying, hey, this is the area that influenced him to write this classic story. Yeah. It's fun. Now I will agree with you. I was on this online, but I think if I was, uh, you know, a monster movie fan and a fan of foreign films, which I am and a fan of horror comedy, this could be a buy for me as well.

one of the better films i saw this year um but yeah it's definitely worth a rental for sure and i would give it a 7.5 out of 10 as well and i've been seeing the boys from country hell this whole time and i just caught county hell county hell county hell yes Yeah. Good to know. That was a little, I don't know, a little dyslexia working there for me. No problem. I didn't see it. Just added one letter in there. That's not too bad.

Yeah. All right. We'll move on to one of the big ones of the year. And I'm not going to give away too much of this because Dave hasn't seen it. And we will be doing a versus episode, which I'm sure every podcast is doing. But, hey, it's what we do. And it is Candyman from 2020. say his name, but not too many times. It's a remake. It's a sequel. It takes place in an alternate universe. It's exactly what I would hope for for a Candy of Man film where it pays homage to...

The original gives us even hints at a much larger universe than we're even aware of of the Candyman world. And then just as a great standalone film on its own, I was really excited about this movie. And then when I was in Alaska the last time, I'm up there with a horror fan as one of the guys that I go up with. And he said, oh, you're going to be disappointed. Oh, don't tell me that. Don't tell me that. And I think maybe he.

lowered my expectations a little bit so maybe that helped actually but um i loved this movie and yeah it wasn't perfect but it was

So interesting, and it's one of my favorite films I saw this year as well. It's directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Nia DaCosta with... with rosenfield and jordan peele and i feel like you know peele clearly had a hand in this and not to take anything away from the director but this has the texture that i expect from his movies you know if you that's really cool that's what i was kind of hoping it would have and i guess i haven't seen it yet but i would i was hoping it would have that

Yeah. If you love Candyman and if you like Jordan Peele's other movies, Us and Get Out, I think this is a no-brainer for me. I think this is one of – it's a lot of fun, and it's really interesting. It's a cool take on the mythology, and it continues the – mythology in such an interesting way i like it i would like to see more it leaves room for not only a sequel but so many more movies in this franchise the way that they set it up and i think which i think is really exciting um i loved it

And I gave Candyman, what did I write Candyman? I have to refer back to my letterbox here. I give it a 9 out of 10. and i would say buy it i'm definitely going to buy it in fact i think i may already bought it yeah i did i bought the about the 4k so i already bought it yeah

I think I have Blu-ray. I don't think I got the 4K, but I already bought it. Yeah, I got the Blu-ray as well. Yeah, it's worth it, Dave. I mean, it's not perfect. It's got a few problems here and there. It doesn't do exactly what you want it to do all the time, but...

If you like those original films, this... ties that in in such an interesting way while still just being totally a standalone film and if you're not familiar with the other films don't worry like it kind of retells a lot of those as well so you get a lot nice yeah it's fun Really, really great job from the cast here, especially there's...

It's not a big deal because I don't want to play it up like it's some big thing because it's a small part of the film, but there are some returning faces from those original films that are just used very tastefully and in really logical, interesting ways.

and it makes sense. And then Yahya, Abdul Mateen II, who plays the main character here of Anthony, he is... fast becoming one of my favorite actors he's in aquaman he plays black manta in aquaman he's great nice he's also in uh the watchman television series he's uh i guess he wasn't in the movie dr manhattan no he's okay

He's in the Watchmen series on HBO, which was so fantastic. He's been in Black Mirror, and he's in the new Matrix movie. So people will recognize him. But yeah, he's... does a great job very cool really great actor up and coming like he's going to be a major force he's going to be a huge star i think um yeah so moving on in our list next i have a movie again i have never heard of called come true dave All right. Come true.

And the synopsis on IMDb, a teenage runaway takes part in a sleep study that becomes a nightmarish descent in the depths of her mind and a frightening examination of the power of dreams. Now, that's a good synopsis to set it up. But I'm telling you, this movie just absolutely blew me away. It stars Julia Sarah Stone. She plays this girl, Sarah. She's the runaway. And she what it is, is she needs a place to sleep. So she signs up for this sleep study thinking, OK.

You know, because she stayed with a friend, but she's like, OK, with this sleep study, this is going to last a few weeks and it'll give me a place to sleep. But Sarah also suffers from. nightmares and it's these visions in her nightmares. Now it's not just a sleep study. There's something more that they're researching. It's something that goes back to.

I want to say almost like, and I don't want to give too much away, but it goes back to like the primordial memories. I don't know if anyone's seen the movie Altered States, where it talks about how you can sort of remember your primordial roots. This movie plays on that a little bit, but it has more to do with things you experience in your dreams and don't remember.

And that's what this sleep study is about ultimately. And I don't want to go too deep into it. I don't want to go too much further into than that. This is just, it's a fascinating film because it builds a mystery around it. It builds a mystery around Sarah. It builds a mystery around this sleep study and the images that they're able to sort of capture. During this during the sleep study and what what everyone else is experiencing and how it then plays into the real world.

I don't know if it goes quite as far as I wanted it to in the end. And there's a little bit of a surprise at the very end where you're like, oh, really? Is that what's been happening here? but I was just absolutely on the edge of my seat throughout this movie. I loved this film. I'm going to give it a 9.5 out of 10. And I think everybody should check this out before you make out your top 10 list. Wow, Dave. That's what we love to hear, man. Yeah. Exciting. Cool. Okay.

I'd be anxious to hear what you think, sir, when you check this one out. wow that was really exciting and julia sarastone does a great job she does a great job as the as the lead character in this film i thought that was she gave an incredible performance

Well, that just pushed up to the top of my must-watch list for the Eidstov Malignant to see, which I anticipate is going to be very high on my list. Right, right. Me too. I haven't seen Malignant either. I'm looking forward to that one as well. This one's right under it now. Cool.

very excited thanks for that dave yes i'd also love to hear your take on a film that i talked about during our sundance coverage around this time last year um it's a film from autorola directed by james ashcroft and when i you know what you hear that there's a an indigenous filmmaker making a horror movie, I was hoping there was going to be some indigenous content in it. Not really, although there is an indigenous character and there is...

deals with some pretty heavy issues in New Zealand that are big cultural issues. I don't know that it touches on them enough to give a general audience an understanding if you're not already aware of it. So I'd really be curious to hear. your take on this one dave um when i when it started out i thought oh this is going to be kind of like the australian film killing ground you know um and it is mean but it's not that mean and it also i think it has

A lot to say, actually, which I was surprised. So, again, I already talked about this on our Sundance coverage. You can go back and hear my review. But I would love to hear, Dave, what did you think of coming home in the dark? All right. And as you said, this is Director James Ashcroft. It's a horror thriller and it's bleak. I mean, we were talking originally, you know, at the beginning about sort of the dark films. This is one of them. There's no doubt about it.

Um, events unravel quickly in this movie and a lot of what transpires is difficult to watch. Uh, there was even a moment or two early on, uh, following a very intense scene, uh, that I considered switching it off. I've got to be honest. But I've seen my share of disturbing movies. But right out of the gate, I knew Coming Home in the Dark was going to be a movie that would really kind of shake me in a way. And yet it is skillfully executed.

by ashcroft and his crew so that i couldn't stop watching i didn't switch it off because i didn't really want to switch it off um school teacher hoagie hogenrod played by eric thomason is enjoying a day trip in the country with his wife jill played by miriam mcdonald and her two teenage sons from her previous marriage micah billy played by billy parentine and jordan played by his brother frankie

paratine uh when two apparent drifters mandrake played by daniel gillies and tubbs matthias uh luafu uh lua futu uh crashed their party What begins is an uncomfortable encounter quickly escalates when Mandrake pulls out a rifle and tells the frightened family to lie face down on the ground. This kicks off what can only be described as the evening from hell. with Mandrake and Tugs leading their hostages into the family vehicle and driving to top speed through the dark New Zealand countryside.

But a secret from Hoagie's past will soon be revealed, and all at once, Jill is wondering if their run-in with the sadistic Mandrake was entirely by chance, or if she and her family were being stalked. Now, the entire cast is in top form. I thought Miriam McDonald did an especially good job as Jill. It's kind of heartbreaking.

character in a way uh she finds herself caught up in this terrifying nightmare yet the standout is daniel gillies as mandrake whose sort of calm demeanor throughout masks uh You know, this guy is a psychopath. He really is. From the moment he first approaches Hoagian family, we know this guy's a loose cannon. And it isn't long before we kind of, we hate him. We don't like this guy.

Yet what is truly fascinating about the movie is how our perceptions eventually change. Beginning the moment that Hoagie, who believes their captors may have once been incarcerated in a group home for troubled boys. a place that he himself worked at years earlier, tells a story from his time there.

From this point on, our feelings, our sympathies, our very reactions to what is playing out before our eyes suddenly shift. And while we still despise Mandrake, his brutality knows no bounds in this movie. We see both he and Tubbs in an entirely different light. This is a movie that it just, this movie really shook me in a way. Like I said, I said that earlier on, this movie really just kind of shook me.

And it's one that I just kept thinking about for days and days. I'm like, you know, it's it's something where you you have this. Like I said, you have the perception of Mandrake and you never really like the guy. Yeah. But there's a. moment when you're like, Oh, all right. Now I kind of understand them. Yeah. And you don't know that you want to understand them. You just kind of want to hate the guy, but you, you still understand them.

It's one that's kind of hard for me to recommend because of that. I mean, this is a brutal film. It really is. And it's this Mandrake character. He is, like I said, he's a psychopath. But I think people should check it out. I would probably give this one. I'm going to come in with a 7.5 out of 10 because I thought it was skillfully made. It's awesome. The acting is incredible in this movie from all of, from everybody.

Um, and there are moments in this that you're just going to be like, sort of, you're going to gasp at some of what happens in this film. Yeah. Yeah, it's, it is a brutal film. It is a bleak film. Um, but.

you know and is inspired by i mean i don't know about this you know this plot that it kind of goes into into action in this film but it is you know the backstory what you know that you alluded to with these two characters the two drifters is based on real events you know and stuff that was a major problem in new zealand schools and um and so i don't know it's interesting it's an interesting little piece of history in a way it makes it with just a totally

brutal drama but yeah i mean you're rooting for one group of characters at the very beginning and um then after a while you're rooting for not quite as many of them yeah you know you're realizing okay Here are some innocent victims, but yeah, another one might kind of deserve. Yeah. And then, you know, and then it plays with that too. I mean, it's, yeah, it does. It's well-made. It's a well-made movie. Absolutely.

I can't remember what I rated it, but I don't usually rate films, I guess, with my Sundance reviews.

you know in terms of quality i would give it probably an 8.5 but like dave it's not one i easily recommend you have to really be okay with a slow burn and you have to be okay with brutality yes emotional brutality that's right absolutely i mean there there's a there's something that happens at one scene in this film and it happens right after mandrake says you're going to look back on this moment as the moment you probably should have acted yeah and

yeah and it's not i mean that there is some violence for sure in the movie but the but the brutality is almost emotionally more it's think it's more emotional you don't really it's almost like a texas chainsaw massacre in a way that you don't see the gore right but it feels more violent than what you're seeing yeah

All right, well, let's move on. I want to talk about, we will again return to these at a later date to really delve into them because I think they're an interesting collection of films.

and i haven't seen the third one so we're gonna definitely you know be avoiding spoilers this at this stage but what did you think dave of the fear street films and we'll start i don't know if you want to go in order there's you know fair street 1994 right 1978 those are the two that i saw yes how do you want to how do you want to handle these i'll tell you what i mean i'd like to do like you said i like you i'd like to do an episode later on about these films i really enjoyed these movies

there was something about this sort of creating this world yeah in these three films and um i don't know is there is there one general uh sort of uh synopsis for the entirety of for all three of them Honestly, what it feels like is they took the concept of American Horror Story and just said, what if we did this in a film franchise? Take the same characters, but repurpose the actors. tell different stories but then they were all connected through one kind of overarching story yes

This is the second film. I actually didn't mention what the other film was earlier in the night because I didn't want to spoil it. This one I think would be impossible to spoil, but I do think that this basically takes the overarching plot from Paranorman.

just as another film that i've already talked about tonight does and if you kind of take a paranormal concept but then apply it in this case to a 90s slasher a 70s 80s it's and it's funny because uh fear street 1994 is scream yeah fear street 1978 is the halloween's friday i think more friday 13th probably because it takes place in a summer camp yeah definitely

And then when it gets to Fear Street 1666, that's the backstory. That's where they're building everything that created the mythology of the first two films. But then it returns toward the end of that to 1994 again. And I don't want to go any further since you haven't seen that one yet. Right. Okay. You know, but I loved how they built this world in these Fear Street movies. I thought it was awesome.

And that that, you know, the old one or the third film is very much like the crucible. It's kind of like. Yeah. Right. It's like taking place in the world of the crucible, a little bit of the witch maybe thrown in there a little bit. I can even feel a little bit of the new Sabrina series in there a tiny bit. And again, like the overarching story kind of pulled from paranormal. And so, yeah, it's, it's, it's a lot of fun.

I mean, I loved the 94, but it just felt... I mean, I will say all of these movies are just like... doing it's very um post scream like just where you're just taking from every other movie you know it's just reference reference reference reference reference just constantly my letterboxd review is like a little short snappy cheeseball review i wrote pure pastiche

evil fun to make a williamson-esque slasher set before scream a perfect and it's funny because even with 1978 with fierce 1978 everyone's thinking oh that's halloween no That's two years before Friday the 13th because it takes place in the summer camp. So it's like those first two movies are two years before the movies that they're.

referencing referencing yes yeah that's so funny yeah perfect horror fan junk food so sweet it gets stuck in your teeth that's what i said about 1994. and um 78 i liked a lot more um yeah I wrote, the second installment of Fear Street is still pure pastiche, but I enjoyed it more than the first film of the series due to the 70s camp in the woods time period and setting. Again, kind of wicked and brilliant to set this before Friday the 13th, as you said, Dave.

These films are great introductions to the genre for new horror fans. I can't tell if they would delight or annoy old schoolers who recognize all the stolen moments. I kind of fluctuate back and forth, but these films are mostly easy to turn off your brain and enjoy.

You're a horror hound and I would stand by that Review and by the third one They get into the mythology They set up with the first two Yeah and sort of how much of that have you seen i know you said you started watching it have you seen you haven't seen the whole thing yet it started the third one i'm maybe 20 minutes into the okay you still have a lot to go because it does go back

294 and i'm not going to go any further with it than that okay um but that it's the third movie that tied it all together Whereas the first two, you're looking, okay, this is their scream. This is their Friday the 13th. By the third movie, you're realizing, oh, no, this is a world. This is something that the filmmakers created. As, as this, as its own world. And now all of a sudden it's all joining together. Yep. All right. Well, I will, I gave, um, fair street.

92, a seven. And I gave Fear Street 1978 an eight. And I recommend streaming both on Netflix. Dave, what would you give those three films? I would give I'd give all three of them an eight. OK, I would. I had a lot of fun with the first one. Like, I love those sort of those sort of scream moments in that. And then it ends up without giving spoilers away. A few characters end up perishing that I didn't expect to perish. um as as things were playing out uh but

Yeah, I give all three of them an eight. And I especially I would love to hear back from you. And I think we do need to do an episode on all of these to hear what you think about 1666. Because once one of the interesting things is it brings all of the. actors from the other two films back into that world in 1666 yeah fun fun stuff that's yeah that's kind of the american horror story thing i was alluding to right

Which is a lot of fun. Yeah, I mean, this is a long way away, but it would be fun Halloween coverage next year to do an episode with all three of the Fear Street films. I agree.

Well, maybe we get to it earlier, but yeah, that'd be a lot of fun. Okay, cool. So Fear Street, let us know what you thought of Fear Street. I would love to hear your audience feedback on those films. They're such an interesting set of movies. You know, obviously they came out quite a while ago, so people have probably...

been talking about i would still like to hear about him and uh the next film i'm just going to touch on briefly because it's not a horror film but it is kind of horror jason i you know i it started out as what i thought was going to be a sci-fi possibly go into horror film and ultimately it's probably just a drama but man was it one of the better dramas i saw this year yeah and was a bleak yeah and it really wrecked me emotionally like completely destroyed me emotionally

And I would highly recommend people check out Encounter. And I think I saw that on Hulu is maybe what I was saying, Dave. Yeah, when I asked, you said Hulu, yeah. I'll just again relay back to my letterboxd review. I said this movie dismantled me emotionally. um it's as sweet and tender as it is brutal and devastating and it's in contention for my favorite film of 2021 i gave it 10 out of 10.

and uh i highly recommend it riz Ahmed is in it and he is such a good actor and he is fantastic in this as well this plays with and this is what i thought was going into horror territory the same kind of um plot device that frailty from 2001 plays with interesting okay it replaces demons with aliens wow and it replaces religious extremism with shell-shocked military ptsd oh wow

um it's intense man it is really nice that sounds amazing highly recommend the lover is on that awesome okay so next on our list we will jump into one again i have not heard of a ghost waits Right. A ghost waits. This one sort of. This one took me by surprise. Now, this is a ultra low budget film directed by Adam Stovall. Who also wrote the screenplay. It works as a horror film. It's a story of a haunted house.

And it had a few supernatural, you know, creepy scenes in it. It's also a comedy. The ghost in question is not so much an angry, vengeful spirit as she is an employee. who punches the clock and has to deal with meddlesome bosses as she haunts this house. But it also had a romantic subplot. That is what made this film so unique as well as so much fun to watch. Now, Jack, the main character played by co-writer McLeod, McLeod Stevenson.

Is it down on his luck handyman? And he's hired by a property manager to inspect a house that has been nothing but trouble. It seems that everyone who rents this particular house ends up breaking their lease. with some tenants so anxious to get out of there that they leave all of their possessions behind. Before long, Jack understands what the problem is. The house is haunted by a seemingly angry spirit named Muriel, played by Natalie Walker.

Though frightened at first, Jack eventually strikes up a friendship with Muriel. And before long, he even falls in love with her. Muriel in turn develops feelings for Jack, but is a romance between the living and the dead even possible? It's kind of what this movie is looking at. It's a black and white film. i mean this movie uh i want to say it's 2019 not released until 2021 i'm sure for all of the circumstances of you know recent history um

But it gets off to a creepy start. In the film's very first scene, we watched Muriel chase off the house's residents at the time, using every trick in the book to scare the bejesus out of them, including... appearing and manifesting before them. She soon realized that it's going to take more than the usual hornet techniques to make Jack leave. He has a job to do, and ghost or no ghost, he's going to see it through. as for muriel um she's kind of taken aback when jack doesn't run for his life

Being a spirit for well over 200 years, we discover that she's been a ghost for 200 years. She's considered one of the all time best. And I want to put in quotes, spectral agents. We find that out. There's a sequence in this that felt like it goes back to Beetle. juice where muriel goes to the home office to say hey this guy isn't leaving

What do I do now? And has a boss there saying, what did you forget? Don't you remember the basic rules, the basic understanding of how it is to haunt the house? And. And eventually her boss, Miss Henry, played by Amanda Miller, sends another ghost in to help Muriel. Muriel's like, I don't need another ghost. Because there's a really funny scene where the lights start to flicker.

And Jack is like, why are you doing that? I mean, we're talking here and Muriel's like, that's not me. And then another ghost appears and. It leads to more comedic moments when this other ghost appears along with a few jump scares. And I think legitimate jump scares when this other ghost appears. You know, but it's really about these two characters connecting a living, a living human being and a ghost connecting.

and like i said it treats the haunting as if it were a job muriel didn't die in the house she was assigned to it and it does feature this sort of sweet relationship that develops between these two main characters it is for me one of the most original haunted house movies i've seen in years and i'm gonna get i'm giving this one again ultra low budget and it depends on your you know, your tolerance for, for comedy and romance and horror, but I'm giving it a nine out of 10. Wow. I really, really.

kind of blown away by ghost weights i didn't go in with high expectations maybe that's why okay dave you just added another one to my list i hope you're happy i'm busy you know but yeah i know And again, it's it's like ultra low budget. And it's it might have been made for like eight hundred dollars.

You know, the way the movie looks. Right. That's so cool. But it's really skillfully done. And I especially like the character who played Muriel because she plays this ghost as an older ghost. You get the sense that she's been a spirit for a long time.

before you know her backstory or anything about like how long she's been in this area. And it does have moments in it that are going to make you laugh. And I really liked the musical soundtrack in this one as well. I really liked the music that they had in this. So, yeah, I give this one a 9 out of 10. Wow, man. I have very high hopes for that. Nice.

I'm anxious to hear your thoughts. Great. That sounds fantastic. Okay, great. Moving on in our list, then it is another Dave's full of them tonight. One that I have not heard of before. So let's see. Oh, Sorry, I just clicked off of the thing. Dave, I would love to hear. Oh, just kidding. Ghostbusters Afterlife What is that movie I've never heard of it No I haven't seen That's one I'll have to give to you I haven't seen that one yet

That was actually not the one I was referring to. I forgot about that. But I have seen Ghostbusters Afterlife. I loved it. I understand why not everyone does. It is a Jason Reitman film. And so I think... You know, you know, Ivan Reitman is a very specific director. And I think Ghostbusters is his greatest film. I think that is the height of him at the height of his powers.

And I think anybody that was probably going to try to make a Ghostbusters movie was going to come in and try to make a movie that felt like that one. And Jason Reitman, you know, being his son, had, I think, probably some leeway that other directors wouldn't, where he just said, I'm not going to try to make it feel like the first one. I'm going to make it a Jason Reitman movie, you know? And it feels like, if you're familiar with...

Jason Reitman's work it feels like a movie he would make except it's chock full of Ghostbusters stuff which is so much fun and yeah is it like it's a little bit J.J. Abrams in terms of just purely giving the fans everything they want to a sickening degree where it's just you know just fan service constantly I didn't mind it, though. I got to tell you. What else am I going to a Ghostbusters movie for at this point? You know what I mean? Right, right.

It was a ridiculous amount of fan service, but I was on board for all of it, even the stuff that really scared me. There was a scene that came out before the movie came out of... Some mini Stave Puff Marshmallow men. So, you know, they're operating on the size of a regular marshmallow. And when I saw that scene come out, I thought, oh, no, please let this not be a puppet master. situation here you know but um

You know, they reminded me of the Bratzis from Kevin Smith's Yoga Hosers. But it didn't go down that road. And, you know, maybe that scene did. And it's silly. And it is a kid's movie. But I went with my kids. They absolutely had a blast. There was applause in the theater during the movie. There was applause at the end of the movie when the credits ran. The audience I saw this with, including my own kids, absolutely loved it.

i had a great time i give ghostbusters after life a nine out of ten oh wow and um yeah it's still playing in some theaters i think if you're a fan go see it otherwise you know get that blu-ray when it comes out but You know, it's, yeah, it's... In a lot of ways, it's cheap. It's the rock star coming out on stage and going, hello, Denver! But who cares? It pays really nice tribute to everybody.

in the franchise i think rick moranis is the only person they weren't able to get back other than obviously um you know we had a the tragic um passing of harold ramus um but other than other than that i think rick moranis is the only cast member that doesn't make it back for this film and it's more meaningful than the ghostbusters 2016 was up here the other one came out

I think so, yeah. It was a lot more meaningful. It wasn't just these kind of like one-off little cameos. They brought the Ghostbusters back in a meaningful way. You know, that's great. Because for me, Ghostbusters, the experience you're describing of seeing Ghostbusters Afterlife in the theater, that was my experience seeing Ghostbusters in 1984. of people cheering, clapping, just applauding like crazy, laughing. It was an amazing, it's one of my all-time favorite theater experiences.

And to hear that this movie sort of recaptures that gives me a lot of hope. And I've heard mixed things. well about it but i've always held out because the trailer for me and i don't watch trailers usually i ended up watching this one because i was stuck in the theater playing in the theater uh before a film um i just remember thinking wow i hope that movie is as awesome as that trailer was it's look it's fan service and it's you know it's also you know for people who aren't

you know haven't seen jason reitman's films it's going to come off as a stranger things fan service as well it has that kind of you know even though it's set in present day it has that kind of retro vibe movies with kids so you have to be on board for all that but um If you are, you're going to enjoy it, I think. I mean, and it also plot-wise, it doesn't do anything new. Let me just say that. Like, it's not reinventing the story. It's really going back to the basics of what is this.

universe about you know and so um yeah i mean Is it going to compare to 1984 Ghostbusters? I don't think – like, no, it's not. But I think if you're going to take kids of this generation who were raised on – this generation of horror movies and Stranger Things, and they see this in the audience, this might do for them something similar to what happened to us. But is it going to hit you the way Ghostbusters hit you? No, but I think you'll...

You can appreciate it on the level of... you know nostalgia which i think is what i think a lot of that applause was for nostalgia you know yeah that's that's what i'm thinking that's what that's that's sort of what i was thinking that that's how it's gonna uh

that would be my reaction to it the people who really hated you know all the fan service in the in the force awakens they're not gonna like this movie you know it's it's the similar kind of thing it's just giving you all those moments like hey there's that old character i love that old character you know Like, hey, here's this new character, you know, that maybe is related to this old character. You know, it's fun in that way.

All right, Ghostbusters Afterlife. Yeah, I don't know. I hope they make more movies. At this point, it's kind of like I didn't want her to make any more, and then 2016 happened.

and then they announced this and i just thought you know what like you've got a fun universe here you can just keep playing in you know the world of the ghostbusters i think they were trying to open this up they kind of the way they did with the star wars universe too where they kind of like well those character stories are done but this there are ghosts in the world and

Other people can bust them, you know what I mean? Like, I think that was kind of the thought process here. I don't know. I liked it. Moving on to another I haven't heard of, David's House on the Bayou. This is a Blumhouse film, House on the Bayou. uh 2021 and it follows a troubled this is imdb now follows a troubled couple and their daughter who go on vacation to an isolated house in the louisiana bayou to reconnect as a family but when unexpected visitors arrive

The unity starts to unravel. Well, the unity was unraveling a little bit before the inspectors arrived or the visitors arrived, I should say. This one stars Angela Serafian as Jessica Chambers. Paul Schneider plays her husband, John Chambers. Liam McHugh plays Anna Chambers. It's his family.

uh the movie opens with um jessica finding out something about john he's been having an affair um says look i my family means everything to us i'm not going to divorce you but you're taking me on vacation and they go to the bayou and once they get there of course she's just sniping at him um go get food uh you know just sort of making his life a living hell Um, Anna, the daughter knows nothing about what's going on when they get to this little, um, out of the way store, they run into.

It's Grandpappy, played by Doug Van Leeu. He's the one who runs the place. And Isaac, Jacob Laughlin, who sort of tries to strike up a friendship with Anna. Uh, well, it's grandpappy and Isaac who show up at the house that they're staying at. Uh, what it is, is, um, uh jessica they found this house jessica is a realtor and she knew about this house and so she's forced john to take her on vacation into the bayou to this beautiful house that's a swimming pool which is it's lovely

But Isaac and Grandpappy show up. Well, as it starts playing out, there are several revelations in the film. You know, we come to find out that Isaac and Grandpappy may not be related. As we originally think, Isaac's calling him Grandpappy, but they might not actually be related. We kind of find out that one of the characters has a previous relationship with these two.

But yet that doesn't mean anything because the whole idea of this movie is retribution. And we come to find out that Isaac and grandpappy may not be who they seem to be. this was a decent one i thought it was um entertaining enough um I liked that sort of tension they built at the beginning of, you know, Jessica finding out John was having an affair. and just making his life a living hell when they're on vacation and just sort of sniping at him and whatnot.

And then there's finally a scene where there's sort of a reconciliation. And that's the moment that the doorbell rings and there's Isaac and grandpappy there. They brought dinner over. They want to they want to spend the night. There's also this sort of mystery about this room that nobody can open in this house. There's a key.

Um, that, you know, nobody has the key to open this room. Um, and they hear strange noises coming from it. Um, I don't know. I thought this one was, I don't know that it's, I wouldn't say it's a must watch. for anybody i'd probably come in at a seven out of ten and say it's worth renting, worth checking out, mostly for the mystery. And then, you know, that it sort of builds up about Isaac and Grandpappy and, you know, what exactly is going on here.

And it does have a few twists thrown in there that I wasn't expecting. But then at the very end, it sort of has a reveal that. felt a little more standard than some of the other twists uh twists that happened earlier in the film but i'd say seven out of ten it's a rental it's it's worth uh it's worth seeing at least once nice okay what about jacob's wife

All right. Jacob's wife. Now, vampires, by their nature, are kind of like the harbingers of doom. But the main character in the Jacob's wife is Anne Fetter, played by the great Barbara Crampton. For her, a bite from a vampire has the opposite effect. It gives her a new lease on life. The whole story is that for 30 years in.

has been the dutiful and unfulfilled wife of Minister Jacob Fetter, played by Larry Fessenden. Hoping to liven things up a bit, Anne meets with an old flame of hers named Tom Lowe, who's in town to assess. whether or not it's his job to assess whether or not a dilapidated mill on the outskirts of town can be transformed into a viable business. Unfortunately, Ann and Tom visit the mill and they find that it's already occupied by the master.

played by Bonnie Ahrens, who's this sort of Nosferatu-like vampire. During this encounter, Anne is bitten, and though frightened at first, she soon realizes that she's never felt more alive. And while a craving for blood could put a strain on any marriage, this change in Anne even has Jacob seeing her in an entirely new light. Now, this was directed by Travis Stevens.

It's a story about marriage in the guise of a horror film is what I would best. That's how I describe it. Crampton delivers a really strong performance as Anne, who's like I said, she's sort of this bored wife of this minister. And she undergoes this transformation. The early scenes do a really good job of letting us know what Anne's situation is like. She plays the role of the loving wife well enough in public.

But you could tell that she's not happy. In her eyes, we see this sort of growing contempt for Jacob, who relies on routine. Everything about him is routine, and it's kind of slowly driving her crazy. Yet as convincing as Crampton is in the movie's first act, she's even better after her characters run in with the master, at which point she starts experiencing life as she never has before.

She does grapple with her new desires from time to time, you know, especially the craving for blood. She's thinking, no, this isn't right. I shouldn't be doing this. But there's rarely a moment when we feel that Anne would have it any other way at this moment in her life. Uh, Fessington did a good job as well, playing the, um, the, the, uh, you know, this, this preacher, this, uh, reverend. Um, and.

The later scenes where he's realized what Anne has become results in some of the film's funnier moments, actually. We'll just put it that way. Also good is Bonnie Ahrens as the master. You know, she has this sort of hideous appearance. I'm talking Nosferatu. I mean, that's what this character, you know, that's the best description I can come up with for her.

Uh, but yes, she seems to have Anne's best interest in mind. And we start to wonder who should she listen to? Should she listen to the master or should she listen to Jacob? But the thing is, even with its lofty themes, looking at marriage, looking at a bored housewife, looking at an unfulfilled woman, this movie never forgets that it's a horror film.

There are moments that will make you jump and there's plenty of blood and gore to go around in this one as well. And the fact that it also gives you other things to think about just sort of. heightens it a little bit i give this one an 8.5 out of 10. oh wow okay sounds good okay one more dave uh for you that i've not heard of the last matinee the last matinee

This is one I'd be interested to hear what you had to say about. So let me up real quick. It is an homage to both Italian Jello films and the American slasher subgenre. It was directed by Maxi Contenti. And this movie, The Last Matinee, is first and foremost, it's a love letter to the cinema. It's set in the year 1993, and a small theater in Montevideo, Uruguay is screening a low-budget horror film.

Now, the lead character, Anna, she's convinced that her father, who is the theater's projectionist, is working himself too hard. So she agrees to fill in for him for the evening. But what neither she nor the handful of patrons in attendance that night realized is that. A Killer in Black Gloves, played by Ricardo Islas, has also bought a ticket and is waiting for the perfect moment to turn the dilapidated cinema into a bloodbath.

Now, when he talked about his movie, The Last Matinee, director Contenti said he wanted to pay tribute to the movie theater, to the ceremony of going to see a movie in a theater. And he sets the entire film within the confines of a movie house. So he managed to do just that from the plethora of posters lining the walls of Anna's projection booth to the popcorn container containers and candy wrappers that are kind of tucked.

under the seats. You feel as if you're there watching the movie in the dark along with the other patrons. Of course, once the killer gets down to business, you'll be damn happy you aren't there. And for a low budget film, according to the director, I listened to, I have this on DVD and I listened to the commentary. He said the budget for this movie was about $350,000.

The gore effects are damn impressive. I mean, one young couple who only just hooked up made a particularly gruesome end, and the killer has a penchant for removing his victim's eyeballs. And it results in what is one of the grossest reveals. Those who like their jalouse or slashers soaked in blood will get a kick out of the last matinee, especially a late scene in which the entire theater.

Ends up tinted red. And what was my favorite bit of casting in the film? Ricardo Islas, who plays the killer. is himself a Uruguayan filmmaker and the guy who directed the movie that's screaming when whole hell breaks loose. It's a movie called Frankenstein Day of the Beast. That's the movie they're all watching.

when the killer finally strikes and the killer is the director of that movie. Now, South America has been responsible for some of my favorite horror films of the last five years. I loved Terrified. and the night shifter both of those were my top movies in consecutive years i want to say it was 2018 and 2019 was when they finally were released here in the states and i also liked the sort of werewolf musical good manners

This one is a joint production between Uruguay and Argentina. And I think it's another really strong addition to an already impressive list from South America. And if you're a fan of horror. or even just movies in general, I think this is a film you're going to want to see. I give it an 8.5 out of 10. I really was sort of blown away by this one. Not only that veneration of the cinema.

but the fact that it does then go pay tribute to the giallo and the slasher subgenres as well okay wow that sounds great well i'm going to talk about a movie that pays a lot of homage To some Italian horror as well. And that is Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho. Nice. I haven't seen this one, but I am very anxious. This is like toward the top of my list of wanting to see. it's a really fun film um it's it's not right it's best in my opinion and i think

In my opinion, he does all his films. He's a very reference-heavy guy, and he knows his movies way better than I do. He's on that Quentin Tarantino level of... movie knowledge that like i can't even compete with like i'm sure he's referencing films i've never seen like hundreds of films i've never seen but there it does have that it has a trans familiar territory and it's pretty predictable so i think those are

what it has going against it what i was going for it is just so stylish and cool and sleek um my uh letterboxd review i called it a chic psychosexual throwback and um i referenced a few films that it reminds me of which i won't mention here um but then uh mentioned that it was bathed in the blood of Italian horse some of the 60s and 70s so you kind of have this hot supernatural thriller

with um with a very italian feel set in london though which is cool you know and um you know wright's playing in his own backyard and yeah i mentioned several times throughout the course of this podcast starting with our Nightmare on Elm Street franchise review way back then, that I would love to see Michel Gondry make a Nightmare on Elm Street film, something that dealt with...

kind of nightmare scenario this movie feels like edgar wright had that idea like he's like let's take everlong and turn that into a horror movie conceit or engine you know and that's what he did and it's cool it's really cool movie um cast is all fantastic um you know it looks amazing you know as you know if you've seen any edgar right movie his stuff is just meticulously shot and edited

So the technical aspects are on an extremely high plane. And I give this one an 8.5 out of 10, and I'm going to be buying it. So I saw it in the theater. It was one of the films I saw in the theater this year. I was really glad. I actually did a double feature with this in Antlers, and this really redeemed my Antlers experience, which was such a dark, miserable one. This is the one I had a lot of fun with.

Awesome. It does have some kind of bad CGI stuff that I don't think it needed. It reminded me of another film that I'm going to talk about tonight. I don't know. There are some films that just... I don't know. I feel like they just put unnecessary CGI in them to make them feel like big studio films. Maybe to justify their big studio budgets, I don't know what. Other than that, it worked really great. is a master of the cinema. Nice.

Next, we will talk about Lucky, which is a film that when I saw the poster, I'm like, I saw Lucky? I have no recollection of this movie. That has to do with the bad poster art, I will say, Shudder. did not give very, I don't know, an interesting option there with this postcard, which they sometimes struggle with, I think, honestly, as a fan of Shudder, who, you know, they're paying the bills, like they're...

I don't like their thumbnail posters for their originals, you know? Well, I got to tell you, I saw the DVD cover for this, and I agree with you. There was nothing that really grabbed me about it. Well, and, you know, and I noticed that with the advent calendar, I was like, not interested in this or one of my favorite films from last year.

the exorcism film i'm blanking on the name of the cleansing hour i was just like it was like pulling teeth to get me to watch and i had a blast when i was once i watched it because just the artwork just was so unappealing to me um lucky even though if you look at imdb page the festival artwork that the filmmakers were running with isn't the best so i don't know i mean this maybe film just struggled with finding its poster look

But it did struggle with its actual feel. I mean, it looks incredible. This movie is shot so well. It's so beautiful to look at. It's directed by Natasha Kermani. who had directed one other film, Imitation Girl, from 2017. This is her second film. And then this one was actually written by the star, Bria Grant. So Bria Grant wrote and stars in Lucky. Bria Grant...

People who watch low-budget indie horror will recognize her. As far back as Midnight Movie, she was in that movie if you ever saw it. She's also, people will recognize her from Beyond the Gates. She's in that movie, A Ghost Story. Ooh, A Ghost Story. Fantastic. Yeah, that is really good. All the creatures were stirring after midnight. So people have seen her in all these. Wow.

Both of those, all the creatures we're starring is that anthology holiday film. And then after midnight, that's really cool. Yeah, she is the love interest in that film. She also has done a lot of TV. She was on Dexter for several episodes. She was on Friday Night Lights for several episodes. And Heroes, she was on 17 episodes of Heroes. Wow.

People will recognize her, I guess, if you've seen her from any of those places. Still, even though I kind of knew who she was, she was a pretty fresh face, and she's good in this film. The movie... It starts out like a little bit of a slow burn and then just knocked me over the head pretty soon in. I'm going to, again, reference my Letterboxd review because I want to keep these short because we have so many films to get through. But it says...

If you think like I did, that you're in for a slow burn at minute eight, you're about to have your world rocked like I did by minute nine. Unfortunately, it's also totally on the nose by an hour and 11 minutes in, making the social commentary a bit hand-pisted. I don't even want to give away the twist that happens at minute nine, but it's exciting. It's like, whoa, okay, what are we dealing with here? This is interesting.

And then what it does with it, you can be the judge of whether you liked where they went with it. It's dealing with some social issues of our day, and I don't know that those are completely effective. It wasn't totally clear to me, of course.

It was aimed at gentlemen, and I am a man, so I'm not picking up, I'm sure, on the nuances that maybe a woman would pick up on of how... men can treat women you know which i think is definitely like the main thrust of this film and also how women can treat women i think that's

a big part of it as well but basically you have a lady here who according to imdb is as a suburban woman fights to be believed as she finds herself stalked by a threatening figure um And once she can't get help from those around her, she is forced to take matter into her own hands.

And one of the interesting things about this film is that this character is an author. She's like a self-help author. And so publicly, she's this character who kind of has it all together. But she is put in the position of, you know. fighting for her life and um it's interesting to see kind of like how her philosophies meet her actual experiences she's she's it's kind of like i don't know if you're familiar with brene brown um

who wrote like really popular self-help book called Daring Greatly. This is like if Brene Brown was the star of a horror movie, that's what. In fact, I guarantee you it's based on her. I would be shocked if it wasn't. Yeah, it's decent. I'm seeing mixed reviews on it. Some people really loved it. Pastor Matt, others struggled with feeling like they were kind of...

Head over the head with the social commentary. I don't know if I felt either of those things. I enjoyed it for what it was, you know. So I gave Lucky a 6 out of 10. And I would say it's a low recommendation stream on Shudder. OK, next would be The Night House. All right. Now, the story of The Night House. This movie was directed by David Bruckner.

And it's about a school teacher named Beth who is searching for answers, specifically why her husband of 14 years, Owen, recently and unexpectedly took his own life. Convinced they were happy together, Beth has a hard time accepting Owen's death, and the more she delves into this tragedy, the more she realizes he may have been leading a double life. Owen is the one who built the beautiful lake house they called home.

But what she finds out is that he even went so far as to construct a similar house in the middle of the woods. Why did Owen go to all that trouble? And what did he mean with the final line of his suicide note when he told Beth? That she was now safe. That's weird. Yeah. Now, the matter in which the night house pieces this puzzle together is easily its biggest strength. With Rebecca Hall delivering one hell of a performance.

as the grieving widow who won't stop asking questions until she uncovers the truth. Each evening, Beth experiences what appears to be waking nightmares, which grow in intensity from one night to the next. uh occasionally she even sees owen himself as if he's reaching out to her from behind the grave Bruckner does a really good job of building the tension with each successive dream sequence. And it isn't long before we, the audience, are dreading the sun down.

It almost to the level that we dreaded the sun down in the Blair Witch. You know, when the Blair Witch, every night when the sun would go down, we're like, oh, what's going to happen tonight? You get that same feeling in this one. But what's interesting is, is that Beth herself seems to embrace the darkness.

and sees it as another chance to understand why Owen did what he did. You know, whereas we, the audience, are in fear, she wants to know. She wants to experience all the terror coming down on her. Oh, wow. And I thought that was a real interesting twist. It features a number of clever jump scares, the most effective of which involves a home stereo system.

All the while offering up clues to help Beth and us piece together a mystery that only gets darker with each new reveal. I mean, each time Beth uncovers something new about her husband. You know, she's kind of like, boy, do I really want to know? No, I have to know. And we might be saying to her, geez, you know, don't take it any further because it just gets darker.

And this movie really was ingenious. Now, the director said I watched the special features on this. I have this on on Blu-ray and the special features. He said he called it an innovative new take on the horror house genre. that I knew I had to be a part of. He read the script for this and he fell in love with it. It was written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski. And Bruckner said he fell in love with the script. And after seeing the movie, it's easy to see why, because it really is. It's eerie.

But it's smart. And it's one of the more clever movies that I've seen in years. And you ready for this one? I'm giving this one a 9.5 out of 10. Dang. Wow. Okay. Jeez, Dave. I know. I just keep adding here. It was with these ratings. All right. Here we go. We got a lot of work to do, folks. Okay. Better buckle in.

Okay, well, next on our list, thanks for that, Dave, is Nightmare Alley, which is not horror, I wouldn't say. It's horror-adjacent. I'm just going to touch on it really quickly because it's from the horror master, Yelma Del Toro. deals with a man played by Bradley Cooper who is struggling through life, you know, and he kind of starts out lowly. has a chance at greatness and is faced with whether or not he's going to hold on to that or not, or risk it all and destroy everything he's built.

And it's a really fun film. It takes place in the world of the circus. And Bradley Cooper is a carny. And so it has that kind of carnival. aesthetic and you know you can imagine what young del toro does with that it's not as it doesn't feel as rich an environment as a lot of his other films because so many of his films like if i think about um Crimson Peak or Pan's Labyrinth, those films are interior. And so he can production design those to the hilt, you know, and in this case.

you know you're an outdoor circus and so yes there is i mean every frame is filled with cool like well-designed either antique stuff or original stuff and it looks cool but it doesn't have that same

I don't want to say oppressive, because I love the way his films feel, but you almost feel like you're transported inside this other world because you're so in it. And I don't feel like this had that, because... you know you're out you're outdoors i don't know it just had a different feeling than a lot of his films do to me but i still loved it um and it has kind of a yeah it's really about pride and about um

the damage that we can do to ourselves and others if we are not careful and um there is a little bit of gore in here and there is some there are some hints at the paranormal throughout and that stuff's really cool and it is kind of um horrifying in in the arc of true human drama but it's far from a horror film so i liked it i saw it in the theater um i'm glad i saw it it's not

going to make it's it's probably i dare say it's my least favorite guillermo del toro film but i still but that's such a high bar because i love all movies you know what i mean so um but i i still really really really enjoyed it uh it maybe is a little bit higher than the original hellboy it's kind of maybe on the it's on the kind of the in the realm of the hellboy movies for me i like it less than his other originals

But it's still good. It's still better than most movies you'll see. Within his world, it's just a high bar. Okay, moving on to Night Teeth. This was a film, again, that I judged by the cover, had no interest in scene. The poster looked stupid to me, and it was surprisingly good. It was actually very enjoyable. It still wasn't mind-blowing, but I enjoyed every minute of watching it. I had a lot of fun watching it. It's a vampire comedy.

It's original. It plays also in the world of kind of like the Los Angeles nightclub scene, which I was just like, I just don't enjoy that kind of environment. Based on the first 10 minutes, I was like, this might be a slog, but it wasn't. It was surprisingly enjoyable throughout. I feel like it was marketed to the lowest common denominator, and it's better than that. The filmmaker pays a lot of attention.

to details throughout um i loved its kind of central premise like the conceit was great um it's just a bad title and a bad poster so Don't do what I did. Don't judge a book by its clever. It's a totally watchable vampire slash vampire slayer flick. I only gave it a 5 out of 10. It's a low-priority stream, but it's on Netflix if you have nothing else to watch. Worth checking out. Awesome. And our next film is part of our Shutter-sponsored Screaming Online segment.

Really, there were several films we could put in here, but this is the most fun film that I saw, I think, this stretch. So that's why I wanted to include it as our Shudder-sponsored film, Shudder. is the best streaming service for horror thriller and supernatural films and series this is our shutter sponsored screaming online segment you can stream shutter for

Just $5.99 per month or $56.99 per year. And you can turn your normal seven-day free trial into a 30-day free trial by using our promo code. Shudder has the largest, fastest-growing, human-curated selection of thrilling and dangerous entertainment. on the planet. That's why we call it the Netflix for Horror. You have unlimited access to stream ad-free on all your favorite devices. That's including your Apple devices and Android devices.

Apple TV, Xbox, Amazon Fire, Google Chromecast, Roku, and more. Shudder has a unique collection of exclusive and original films and series, horror classics, and blockbuster hits, and tonight I want to talk about one called Psycho Goreman. Did you see Psycho Gorman, Dave? I saw Psycho Gorman. Yes, I did. This is the most fun that I had watching a movie this year. Just in terms of pure, silly...

Laugh out loud. Goofiness. This felt like Masters of the Universe movie with a little bit of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers thrown in. Meets. Thanos from the Marvel movies meets horror. I had a blast. So much fun. I agree. Astron six. Yes. Guys who made this. Yep. I enjoyed it as well. I had a lot of fun with it. And it's one of those ones where there's a couple of characters in this where you're not necessarily warming up to them at first, but.

It's just, it wins you over. It does. It's such a fun, it's an Astron 6 sort of movie. When you think of what they've done, Father's Day and the editor. Yeah. Both of which I really enjoyed. I put this one right up there with it is, you know, there's this little girl who takes control of this alien. And it's just what he's saying.

And she's not afraid. I love that about this little girl. She's not afraid controlling this alien. Yeah, and it is really... ballsy if i can use that word like it's it it doesn't do what you think it's going to do like you kind of think at least i did i kind of thought i know okay well i know what the arc for this is This is the mean monster guy learns to love because of these sweet little kids. But then these kids are not sweet. They're awful. Right.

And it's smart enough to not do the cliche thing, but then still make it back around to like the story that it should be. You know what I mean? Like it's really smart and really funny, really brash. And what happens to the little girl's crush in the movie is just like insane. That is definitely a meme and gif worthy. Those are scenes I can use over and over again for the rest of my life.

Yeah, I highly recommend this film. You know, in terms of quality, I'm still only giving it like a 6.5, but it's a high, high priority recommendation for me. I think it's just a fun movie. I'd come in probably 7.5. And I highly recommend it as well. Awesome. So that is Psycho Goreman. Watch it at a party with a bunch of goofy friends and stream it on Shudder and you'll have a good time.

And again, you can get started streaming the best horror thriller and supernatural content on Shudder. To try Shudder free for 30 days, go to Shudder.com and use promo code HMP. That's S-H-U-D-D-E-R.com. And promo code HMP. Okay, that was a good one. Yeah, I agree. I enjoyed that one.

I hope that makes people's lists. I'm interested. And up next is a film that I've heard a lot of talk about being the top of people's lists. I don't know if it's going to be there for me, Dave. And I'm really excited to talk with you about Saint Maude. What did you think?

all right well i've been if that's the case i definitely think i enjoyed this one probably a little bit more than you did it's not that i didn't enjoy it well okay actually i will say i didn't enjoy it like it was it was kind of a miserable experience

Well, I can understand that. And it's psychological horror. Yes. And there are times when the psychological horror can be frustrating for the viewer. They want to know, are the events playing out? Are they real? Are they a figment of the character's imagination? Yeah. But I thought this movie made those questions a moot point, because whether what we're seeing is genuine or not, the time we spend in the company of its lead character is enough to kind of really unnerve us.

You know, it's Hospice Nurse Maude played by Morfid Clark, a what I gathered to be a recent convert to Christianity who is convinced that God communicates with her directly. Well, she becomes the living caretaker for Amanda, played by Jennifer L., a former dancer who is dying. The two women eventually strike up a friendship, but when Maud takes it upon herself to save Amanda's eternal soul...

It causes a rift between the two. Is Maud actually doing the Lord's work or have the traumas of her own past cause her mind to splinter, warping her perceptions of right and wrong and fantasy and reality? I mentioned frailty earlier on with Encounter, and this was another film that made me think of frailty. Yeah, in a way. Yeah, absolutely. Now, despite it being her first film, director Rose Glass shows...

a real steady hand behind the camera. I thought she infused this movie with style and atmosphere to spare. She sort of utilized sharp angles and upside down images to take us inside her lead character's damaged psyche. And it is every bit as disturbing a trip as you'd imagine. I thought also that Morford Clark delivered a strong performance as the pious Maude, a woman who's...

prayers cause the power of God to surge through her. Her response to these prayers when she feels the power of God, it's borderline orgasmic. And her penchant for self-flagellation results in some of the film's most uncomfortable scenes. At one point, she lines the inside of her shoes with nails and walks around town in extreme pain.

Now, there are hints scattered throughout the film, both with the opening scene and Ma's eventual run in with former colleague Joy, that something traumatic happened to Ma during her previous position on a hospital nurse. And while we never learned what actually occurred, it clearly had a profound effect on her life and more likely might have been the root of her newfound faith. And it is to, you know, the lead actress Clark's and, of course, director Glass's credit.

that we pity Maude as much as we fear her. And even when her actions cross the line, which they do on a number of occasions, we kind of never lose our connection to her. It's almost like a taxi driver type scenario. You know, where we know we're with Travis. We fear Travis, but he's the main character. He's the one we're connected to in the film. Yeah.

Yet we know that this is something people he is. This is a person people should be fearing and should be wary of. And we get that same connection with Maude. I thought Jennifer was also really strong as the dying Amanda.

Yeah. She's affectionate one minute, cruel the next. And the scenes where she and Maude are discussing life and religion give the movie its center as well as its key conflict. In addition, there are moments scattered throughout the movie, especially towards the end, that have us wondering. If more does indeed communicate with the almighty, all leading to a final 15 minutes that I thought were absolutely shattering.

the last 15 minutes of this movie especially the final image of this movie yeah as mentioned statement one was rose glass's feature film debut as both writer and director. And based on what she accomplished here, I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. So I'll turn it over to you to get your take on it. You know, I just saw it today. So there's that. It's still processing for me.

Yeah, I don't know. It's very well made. The first two thirds felt like a slog to me just because it just was... I don't know, kind of a miserable experience. Like it really did take off toward the end for me. And man, was it exciting and the visuals, you know, the way that. And it was CGI, but CGI done in the way I love. This was an example of great CGI. And the visuals that depict how she is experiencing God.

I was like, yep, I love it. I mean, I really, really enjoyed those visualizations. It reminded me of the witch. The way she speaks to God is the exact way that the character whose name I'm blanking on speaks to the devil in the witch. so that was cool um and uh there were a lot of cool things but yeah i mean i don't know like the world it takes place in is and that's maybe i'm just

I don't know. Maybe I'm weak, Dave. I don't know. But like, you know, I do really love that kind of, you know, the thing that Jordan Peele does so well is like take this idyllic location and beautiful. places and then kind of bring horror to them i've never enjoyed kind of the sod dank dark depressing places for horror as much right and you you get that in this movie you do with that with that sort of seaside town there yeah

But it's great. It is high quality film. I gave it an 8 out of 10 when I rated it earlier today on Letterboxd. It's definitely a quality film. It didn't... Like, you know, I'm kind of keeping a running tally of the films I see on the list, you know, and right now it's not landing in my top 10, but it's certainly a high quality movie. So I don't know. I'll be interested.

seen a couple people's lists who had it in their top three already so nice yeah i'll be interested all right i'd come in a little more i'd probably give this one a nine out of ten just because i was really sort of blown away by by how the director handled taking us into mode even if we even if what we're seeing is not real even if what we're seeing is a figment of her imagination it is still strong stuff especially the

Second to last instance of that Yes It was amazing I agree I agree Maybe I just need to let it sink in a little bit more I haven't sat with it for very long.

Okay, next up is Seance, which is a movie that, for the first 40 minutes, I was just like, oh man, I'm really regretting this movie. But then it kind of goes Nancy Drew at the 40-minute mark, and it becomes like, ooh, there's a mystery here to decode, and now we've got to figure out who the... person and it was just kind of a breezy fun film from there on in for me but basically it has kind of a similar

setting to the Black Coats daughter. You have Camille, a young woman, arrives at Fairfield Academy following one of the students' untimely and violent deaths. And then with Camille, we kind of meet the other. girls at the school and um they one of their favorite activities is to is to take part in seances and try to contact the dead which leads to uh this first student's death at the beginning of you know the opening cold open to the film and

We're always wondering how that's going to play out for the rest of the movie. This is directed by Simon Barrett. Now, Simon Barrett is a really well-known horror writer. He wrote... you're next um then he worked with that same director on the guest and blair witch and so he's done all those um vhs and abcs of death movies and so um he's a very well respected horror

writer he also did direct segments of vhs2 and vhs94 so um he had done some short work but as far as i know this is his first or feature at least you know in the current era he may have done some stuff earlier on in his career before he kind of broke out but um yeah it's it's decent it was fun and uh it's it's one i'd recommend people check out i gave seance a 7.5 out of 10 and i was streaming on shutter all right well i i did see this one and i'll tell you what you liked it better than i did

oh um i thought it was routine i i thought you know that opening and like you're saying the first 40 minutes i was with you i'm like wow this is just sort of stuff we've seen before it does sort of get into a mystery with with camille You know, Suki Waterhouse, her character and what's going on there. But then what happens is I thought that the jump scares in this were even I could see all of them coming.

You know, what's going to happen with the flickering light, what's going to happen with the character under her sheets, you know, under her bed sheets and so forth. But it does differentiate itself with the big reveal at the end. Not so much the reveal itself, but the fact that it comes earlier. I mean, there's a good 20 minutes left when we find out what's going on in this movie. Yeah. You know, and but instead of doing.

I thought they didn't do anything interesting with those 20 minutes. It just felt a little like padding to me. You know, so this one didn't quite do it to me. I came in right in the mid range of like a five out of 10. with wow okay i didn't hate it i didn't hate it it wasn't a waste of time but it just felt a little more pedestrian um yeah to me

Honestly, that's how I felt about a lot of Simon Barrett's writing, to be honest. So, you know, I don't feel much different about this. And I was feeling the same as you for the first 40 minutes, but I really got my interest in the second. Okay, cool.

pretty good okay so uh moving on our next one is slacks did you see this one dave i did see slacks yes um this is what i said about it on I said, put in fabric in a blender with stage fright Aquarius and brand with the United Colors of Benetton and you're well on your way to slacks.

It's a satirical horror comedy about some killer genes, basically. If you took Bad Hair and Rubber, you enjoyed those movies, you'll probably enjoy this one. Personally, I was more of a fan of Deerskin, but as far as killer clothes go... was a fun one it's not i it's not high quality for me like it's like kind of middle of the road kind of what you said about um seance is how i feel

pedestrian but fun like it was i didn't feel like my time was wasted i enjoyed watching it um and it kind of just takes the piss out of like those like it does yeah Yeah, it does. And it's sort of like it's a fun movie. I mean, you've got to start wondering after a while, geez, how come nobody's looking for these characters who are disappearing? That happens at one point. But it's funny because at the end, it almost...

As goofy as this film is, it tries to do something that would be quote unquote elevated horror. with where it's ultimately going with the store. Now, does it quite get there? Does it work with everything that came before it? I don't know. I don't know how elevated you can get with...

As I said, dangerous dungarees. Yeah, I mean, they try to do it based on where the cotton or whatever is happening. They try to make it... to do it i again i don't know if it if it totally worked well one of our listeners pointed this out i'm sorry i don't remember who it was but i i felt similarly i think it was actually eric yvonne um if i'm not mistaken but i think had they taken

Libby, who's kind of the superfluous lead anyway, doesn't really even need to be in the movie, and replaced her with Shruti, who is a character who is connected to that kind of elevated element you're talking about. It's not even elevated, but it's like a social issue kind of.

they've made shrewdy the main character you could have done a lot more with this on like a social level but again it could have yeah you're with killer pants so i don't know like right anyone's taking it right all right uh slacks um for me that is a recommend you know i'd say streaming on shutter it's the low priority but i'd recommend it i would say i'd say about the same thing i'd say probably uh i i'd say check it out on shutter um you know i it was it was

entertaining while i was watching it i don't know that it stays as long in the mind as some of the other films were we're discussing did you give a rating i said it was a six out of ten i'd probably committed like a 6.5 okay yeah That's Slacks. Next up on my list is a movie that I had never heard of and expected nothing of, but this was recommended by a listener, a friend of the show.

j zombie so thanks shout out to j zombie for showing me super hot um have you heard of super hot dave i have not this is a new one for me Okay. First of all, Lead Actress was great. It's not a great film. It reminds me very much of Satanic Panic and Slice. um remember those films i remember satanic panic definitely yeah okay i mean this film stars a pizza delivery girl this is from imdb

discovers her next-door neighbor is moving – actually, her cross-the-street neighbor is moving into a sorority house of vampires. It's a race against the clock to stop her crush from being sacrificed at midnight. So if you've seen Vamp U – or Slice or Satanic Panic. It's that same kind of over-the-top comedy, but also low-budget indie.

vibe with you know in this case some vampires and it's it's fun like it's it's not good but it's fun and you know totally watchable and um kind of in the same vein as slacks i would say in terms of i didn't feel like i wasted my time but it's not something i would really recommend to people unless it's very much your kind of thing. Also night teeth, you know, again, very much kind of, I saw a lot of movies like this, um, recently, but, uh, super hot. I give a four out of 10.

So it's not still on the void, but it's a very, very low priority rental. So next up we have Teddy. Did you see Teddy? No, I have not seen Teddy. Teddy was a very interesting film.

You know, it's got like this very European, very indie film tone and pacing for most of the film, but then it throws into the mix kind of this mystery and monster element, which... is a lot of fun and and the monster element is straight out of the wolfman in fact the way that they play the monster is exactly the way it would be played in the wolfman if the wolfman were directed by

pod salons like it feels like you know i don't know salons are salons but this feels very much like happiness welcome to the dollhouse palindromes like If Welcome to the Dollhouse were French and had a werewolf in it, that's what Teddy is. And I'm looking it up now. It looks like it was directed by, well, they look like they're either.

related or married. I'm not sure. Ludovic Bokerma and Zoran Bokerma. Okay. And I don't know what the relationship is between the two of them, but they were the co-directors of Teddy. And this is funny. The Madsatologist on Letterboxd says, so. this is what Napoleon Dynamite would be like if it was French in a horror movie. I would say, yeah, a little bit Napoleon Dynamite, but it's more Todd Sollins. Like it's that mean kind of disgusting.

version of Napoleon Dynamite you know what I mean but yeah it was good it was fun I really enjoyed it I liked You know, I'm going to say this again in a minute, but I wish they would just make a straight-out werewolf movie at some point. I feel like Teddy is really well done. There's another one I'm going to talk about later. And then The Wolf of Snow Hollow from last year. they're all they're fun and they but like just give more like why not just give us a full world it's funny because it

And, you know, when you think about it, it's like, yeah, there's been quite a few werewolf comedies in the last few years, the ones you just mentioned. But then you go back and you think, well, you know what? American Werewolf from London. Yeah, that was comedy. That has some comedy in there as well. The Howling.

Maybe not quite as much, but had a little bit of comedy in there with Joe Dante, you know, directing that one. So even some of the more time honored, beloved werewolf movies of the last. 40 45 years whatever um had comedy in them i mean you've got to go back to like you know um was it the well the wolfman With Lon Chaney. I mean, that was a very serious, very sort of intense horror film. And I'm not saying that all werewolf movies have been that way. They haven't. What was that? Bad Moon.

I know was definitely a more serious-minded werewolf film. And of course, what was the Stephen King one? Oh, boy. Why am I blank? Silver Bullet. Yeah, Silver Bullet definitely had some more serious-minded moments in there as well. But I was thinking about that because I was thinking the same thing you were. It's like, why are we getting, why isn't anyone treating the werewolf as a more serious sort of horror character? And then I was thinking, yes, some of the more beloved werewolf movies also.

you know walk that line of comedy and for me i mean the comedy is one element of it i wasn't even honestly hadn't even thought of that but you're right that is a major element that you've just described and i totally agree with you I'm just saying, like, you just barely ever see the werewolves. They're just like these. That's true. You know, that's true. You don't see them. They're like in one scene, you know, right.

And then, like, the rest of the movie is talking about the werewolf we don't see. Like, I don't know. I'd just rather see – give me some – we can put vampires in the movie. Why can't we put werewolves in it? That's very true. And Dog Soldiers is another more serious-minded one. Yeah, but you're right. I agree with you. But anyway, I really enjoyed Teddy. It's one I'd highly recommend. And I would say, Teddy, I gave a 7.5 out of 10.

It's a high priority recommendation from me. I can see it sneaking up on the bottom of my list. I can see it being an honorable mention. It's too early to say, but I really liked it. Next up, there's someone inside your house. And I don't know what the community reaction to this one has been. I'll check here in a second. But it's a decent film. I would say that this is the less successful version of Fear Street 1992. This is what...

It's doing the same exact thing. It's trying to make a current scream. It's utilizing all of the cliches and moments from other movies. And it's updating the technology and the issues for our time. um and it's okay it's decent but ultimately the ending ruined it for like i was completely along for the ride and then the ending ruined it for me like i think if this was like if um You know, this was Scream era. This would fall into the kind of teaching Mrs. Tingle, the fog.

you know region more than it would fall into the scream and i know he did last summer region or maybe it's not that bad maybe it's just in the urban legends which a lot of people really like that like I could understand people liking this movie. It's a fun enough ride, but ultimately it sucks. It has some tragedy roles elements to it also, where it's basically like... the concept is everybody has a secret

And the killer is going to kill you and then out your secret to everybody. And it just doesn't really make logical sense throughout. Like the motivations don't make sense. you know some of the first things that people do is like this extreme hazing bullying that almost kills someone and then the next one's like i tell little lies here and there like it's just like i don't know the

the vengeance that the killer is getting doesn't really follow for me. Um, and then this is written and directed by Patrick Bryce, who is a really hit or miss director for me. Cause I feel like he did these creep movies with Mark Duplass that I think are fantastic.

like i love creep and i like even more i think creep 2 is so good and then he made just one of my least favorite movies of the last 10 years that i've ever seen like maybe the worst movie i've ever seen at sundance um patrick bryce directed and it was the one with demi moore um i'm blanking out with the people who get stuck in a cave i don't think i've seen that one

Let's see. Corporate Animals. Gosh, I hated that movie. And Overnight's okay. That's not horror in any way. It's just a comedy, and it's all right. But it just in no way loads up to Creepin' Creep 2, you know, as a horror.

my opinion it's just it just feels like and again maybe this could be a good thing for a lot of horror fans but if you enjoyed that post scream era where we were just kind of getting cheap knockoffs this feels like that same kind of 90s slasher but with updated technology for our time and as i'm looking over our listeners most people are in like the six out of ten range the majority of people are six out of ten a couple of people are seven out of ten and then a couple of people are down with me

And I'm going to go with five out of 10. I see even a couple of people down to the four out of 10 range. So for me, I would even just say it's an avoid unless you're a big time fan of those post scream. slashers so okay yeah all right i have not seen this one and uh i don't know that i'll put it on my short list i got a lot of movies to watch so yeah that's a waste time with that one it's not bad but it's just not good like

Up next, I have Vicious Fun. Did you see Vicious Fun? No, that's toward the top of my list of movies that I want to see. I liked it. It was a little camp for, it's not going to make my list because of its campiness, but I enjoyed it again. Like it.

It's interesting, but it's just a little on the nose for my tastes. I rated it lower than I liked it. I gave it a five, but for me, it's like... i very much enjoyed it you know it kind of it kind of reminded me of like all the creatures were stirring like it kind of has the it feels like a lot of those shutter original comedy right right

but like scare me, but I like scare me a lot more than this one, but it's fun. Basically you have a guy who's like a writer for Fangoria and he follows this guy who is, he's kind of fallen in love with his roommate and she doesn't even know.

that like she's just like you get a life man you know and he's in love with her and she hooks up with this hot guy and so he decides he's gonna follow this guy and figure out who this guy is and what he's all about and he accidentally falls into a self-help group for or like a like a addicts anonymous group for serial killers. And he finds himself in the midst of a guy who's a Jigsaw and a guy who's a Patrick Bateman and a guy who's a Jason Voorhees and a chick who's the girl with the dragon.

tattoo and and then a couple of other folks as well and he's they think he belongs in the group but he doesn't he just kind of accidentally fell into it and so he's got a escape from all these killers and kind of deal with the consequences. I got to say, that setup sounds pretty cool. Okay, well, enjoy it. See, I just don't like the behind-the-mask stuff. I just don't enjoy that kind of stuff that much. Understood. But if you do...

You know, which sounds like you do. Like, yeah, enjoy that. Like, I don't know. We have a lot of listeners. A couple of listeners here giving it eight. Jonah gave it an eight out of ten. Kel, Matzotologist, Samuel, Jessica. A lot of people really like this movie. So maybe it's just me, David Gifford. Just not my kind of movie, I guess.

OK, I did know you weren't a fan of the Leslie Vernon behind the mask. I do remember talking about that in the past. It just doesn't. I don't know. It just seems goofy to me. I don't know. not a fan of that kind of like that kind of stuff right all right um up next the vigil the vigil the vigil um The basic setup of this one, and it goes back to a tradition in the Hasidic Jewish, I guess, community, where when one of the members passes away.

A shomer or watchman spends the night with the corpse, reciting psalms to comfort the deceased soul and protect it from an evil, any unseen evil that might show up. A lot of times it's a family member or a friend, but there are paid Shomers. They're hired to sit the vigil when no one else will. And that's what it is. They sit this thing. The vigil is what it is in the faith. um and that right there sort of sets up what the story is going to involve but

The thrills and the chills that you get from this movie, it kind of earns on its own. I mean, what it is, is there's a title screen at the beginning that tells you all about what a Shomer is. But then the movie just sort of builds upon that. To the point that it takes you within this new culture. You learn about this culture at the same time, this very inherently creepy story.

is taking place. And I've just set it up. It's Yakov, played by Dave Davis. He's sort of disillusioned with the faith. He had left the Hasidic community. Part of which is dealing with the guilt of a recent family tragedy, which we learn a little bit more as the movie goes on. He's trying to start a new life outside of the. to see the community that he grew up in. But he's having a tough time making ends meet. So when Rev Shulman, a member of his former Orthodox community,

offers to pay him cash to sit as a showman for the night, Yakov agrees. The recently deceased is a Holocaust survivor named Ruben Litvak, who lived alone with his wife. And rarely, if ever, left his house. And there's talk of his wife actually suffers from dementia. But what seems like an easy payday becomes a living nightmare when Yakov is tormented by a magic, an unseen demon that feeds off his fear and pain.

What's more, according to Mrs. Litvak, the Masic will never allow Yakov to leave that house again. But there is something he can do. He finds out to break free of this unusual entity. But if it does grab hold of him, it will never loosen its grip. Now it opens with a flashback. to, um, it's World War II and there's a young man holding a gun on a woman forced to do so by a Nazi officer. You get the feeling that this is a concentration camp.

And from that point, it builds. We find out Yakov has this similar pain, something with his younger brother. Something happened to his younger brother that he blames himself for. And it was really a strong performance by Dave Davis in this film. I thought he gave a really strong performance as Yakov. What happens is he's sitting there in the house, in the Litvax house.

And he's hearing noises. He's experiencing things that he can't understand. And the whole idea of it is that this magic attaches itself to pain. And. There's a transference going on here, and I really don't want to go any further with it than that. You know, there are times when Yakov will call.

people during the night his physician dr kohlberg because we get the idea he's on medication and he starts to wonder if what he's experiencing are hallucinations and then he calls this girl that he met at the support group for ex, you know, or former Hasidic members of the Hasidic community who are trying to live now outside of it. And that's, you know, that's when we first meet Yakov. He's at one of these.

you know, support groups. And he met this girl there, Sarah, who sort of has a thing for him. And he talks to both of them on his phone. But then we realized, is he really talking to them?

So there are psychological elements going on there, but there are also visceral thrills in this movie. At one point, Yakov tries to leave the house and experiences severe pain. The further he gets from the house, his bones start... cracking and distorting to the point that he has to stumble back to the house, at which point there is a little bit more greeting him than Mrs. Litvak.

Uh, it's a unique story and it brings you, as I said, into a culture that that's brand new to me. And it has some pretty intriguing mysteries that go along with it. You know, it's like, what's playing out here. What's going on. uh and i thought there was some genuine scares in it i thought this one offered um again it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout from start to finish i give this one um I give it an 8.5 out of 10. Okay. Wow. Nice. The vigil. All right.

Well, I'm going to talk about one that I was really hopeful for would be at the top of my list. It's not going to be the very top, but it could still possibly creep on there. I don't know. We'll see how. I've got a lot of movies to watch now. Dave's put in my lap. This is a werewolves within. I had heard a lot about it and everybody who saw it was like, you're going to love this. Have you seen it yet? You're going to love it.

My hopes are pretty high. Did you see the werewolves within Dave? I did. I'll let you take this one, but yes, I did see this one. Okay. Well, I'm looking forward to hearing what you thought of it. I did enjoy it. it's a horror comedy um as i alluded to there's not as much werewolf in it as i would like you know they spent a lot of time i think even pretty deep into the film like

like probably three-fourths of the way into the movie, the main character says, is this even a werewolf? You know, like, you know, is there even a werewolf? I'm like, I know, is it? I don't know. I want to know. But it was a lot of fun. It was a good time. You know, I think it struggles from a lot of these lower budget.

films do is you know these lower budget horror comedies is that the scripts aren't super tight there seems like there's a lot of improv the improv is funny so but the problem i think is that they don't feel as tight as they could because there's so much improv but one of the things i did like about it is that

it did what clue does really well which is it has all these characters in frame and they're all talking and so there's there's a scene you know it is like a whodunit in a lot of ways and and like wolf of snow hollow when i

reviewed that i i have to feel like this movie and that movie just stemmed from somebody played the werewolves of miller's hollow one night and said hey we should turn that into a movie um it's basically the townspeople versus the werewolf and who can catch who first and that's a great setup for me like this is absolutely you know my kind of setup it has agatha christie feel to it it's set in the snow it's a werewolf movie what's not to like come on wolfman

And I did like it. It just ultimately, I don't know, I don't feel like it paid off in the way I was hoping it would by the end. But it was good. It had some good twists and turns. I enjoyed the performances. It was a little over the top.

I just didn't think it had to be so over the top because it was... it would have worked and it would have been funny and if it just stayed a tiny bit more grounded for me for my tastes you know but uh but yeah it was good um that's where comedies go and i'm looking over the listeners here um they a lot of them felt about the same about it as I did which is for me I'm in like kind of like the 7 7.5 range what about you Dave how are you feeling about this movie

This might be one of my, you know, there were some horror comedies. We've talked about a few of them tonight. This might be the one I really enjoyed the most. And I think it was. What you were talking about, the characters and all of them together in that house and going back and forth, it was sort of a motley crew of characters in there from all. from all walks of life, from all political affiliations and everything. I mean, it was a very broad spectrum of characters in this movie.

and sort of anchored by that, you know, the lead in this, the ranger, you know, who has just arrived to this town and doesn't really understand a lot about it. I did laugh quite a bit. in this movie i did think it was very funny and i can't say that i knew where it was ultimately going to go Right. You know, I was definitely surprised with with where this where the story went. So I enjoyed it. The red herrings. What's that? I bought into a few of the red herrings. OK. Yeah.

okay there's one you know i won't say exactly what it is about a character who had kind of been in a lot of the different locations and i was like oh that's interesting i wouldn't have expected yes I did. And it was sort of throwing you like, you know, as the movie is playing out, anyone could be this creature.

Yeah. Which is my favorite kind of setup. Yeah. Yeah. And who, who is it? And I enjoyed that quite a bit and I did find it funny and I did laugh at it. So I, I'm, I enjoyed it. I'd probably say, maybe say eight out of 10. Okay. And I think this had the opposite advertising issue for me, which is the main character on the poster and also the thumbnail for the trailer.

is our main character holding two axes you know an axe in each hand and especially on the poster looks just totally badass and i'm like oh i i'm i'm so into this

And he just doesn't get to that point very early. No, I can't say he does, yeah. I'd like to see that at midpoint and a lot of werewolf battling going on in this movie. I would have enjoyed that more, you know, but... but again like it's just a little light on werewolf for my taste but yeah i love this i love the uh the cast and i and i love this situation and it was a fun one

yeah like it would it would be a great double feature with the wolf of snow hollow from i was thinking the same thing as i was watching it yeah even though if you think about it because one of the things you you disliked about wolf of snow hollow was that lead character yeah You really disliked him. I'm guessing you didn't have the same reaction to the lead character in this film. No. It was much more likable. I believed him more. Yeah.

And I don't know. I kind of chilled out about that opinion. You did. I think eventually you did sort of come down. I watched that movie like 11 times. I was trying to figure out what I didn't like about it. And I also had purchased it for like. 15 bucks. So I was just like, I'm just going to keep watching this and figure out because I love the setting. And this also has Guillermo from, um, uh, what we do in the shadows, the series, if people.

like that show and like him he's he's awesome in it he's uh what's his name harvey gillian i'm not sure how to pronounce his last name but guillermo from that from People, if you know what we do in the Shadows of the Series, you know who he is, and he's so funny in that. He's nice in this. And then Michaela Watkins, I couldn't remember what I'd seen her in. She's... She's a little frenetic in this movie, but they're all ultimately good actors. Yes. Everyone just slightly crazy.

Yeah, and I really liked the character, Cecily, the post, the mail carrier. Yes. Milana Vantreb. She's really good. Definitely. Yeah, so good overall cast. I enjoyed it. I'll probably buy it because I love werewolves. And yeah, it was it was decent. I'd like to know more about the making of if they have any like making of stuff on the DVD. I'll definitely purchase it.

Okay, last one for the night, Dave. We survived. That I have, unless you have more you want to talk about. No, I think I'm done. Okay, the last one I have here is Willie's Wonderland. And is that one you've seen?

I have seen Willy's Wonderland, yes. That's the last one I intended to talk about tonight. And it is basically Five Nights at Freddy's, the movie. I mean, I think that Five Nights at Freddy's movie has been... in talks since the the game originally came out most recently i think jason blum in 2020 even said it was still happening but it just has never materialized and i think someone at some point must have just said hey if they're not going to make it let's go make it

Basically what that is, it's like if the Rockafire explosion, which was the showbiz pizza band or the Chuck E. Cheese band came to life.

and wanted to kill you uh that's what we have here i mean this literally is the same plot i think as the five nights at freddy's games which i haven't played but a lot of people have um very very popular you know those all take place at um like a five night at freddy's restaurant and you know and a night worker has to deal with the animatronic band coming to life and that's basically what happens here um Nicolas Cage plays the janitor, and he's a character who, as I...

as far as i know i don't think he speaks the entire movie not once he grunts when he drinks his soda that's about it okay and he um due to a deal he makes has to spend the night inside Willy's Wonderland, which is a Chuck E. Cheese, showbiz pizza, family pizza type of place, and clean it. And unfortunately, these... These toys, these demonic toys, as it were, these animatronic figures are possessed and they come to life. And I think I loved.

Everything that was in it, I loved the backstory especially. I think it could have been a lot better. There was so much potential. When I heard about they were making the Five Night at Freddy's movie, even though I wasn't a fan of the property, I was excited because it's just like... you know i don't know if you saw the rocker fire explosion documentary from a few years back i loved it and um

i love chuckie cheese as a kid showbiz pizza kid and so just the idea of horror happening in that kind of environment with those characters because they are terrifying even from the time you're a little kid they're like they're really cool but they're also kind of scary and when you can hear the gears moving within just so and i just don't feel like the movie

It just felt like a lot of missed opportunities to actually make that world work. I feel like what they did with the backstory and how it all came to pass and what Nicolas Cage did, that all worked, like how the town worked, that where Willie's is located.

that was all great but then i just feel like there are just some basic ideas when you're dealing with animatronic characters like i don't just i don't know felt like you could have done a lot lot more with it so that was my only complaint i also felt like if you have a disposable team cast like you did i think you could have utilized just that those kills maybe even a little bit better because um we get a few in before

you know, with just Nicolas Cage fighting them and we know he's not going to die. So, right. Exactly. So it's a more horror, you know? So, so when those characters are introduced, you're like, okay, here's where we're going to get. Yeah. This is serving up the victim, so to speak. Yeah. What do you think, Dave? What was your experience with Willie Zander? I think I'm kind of along the same lines as you. I really did have fun with it. Even without speaking a word, you still get crazy Nick Cage.

In this with the look in his eyes and what he's able to sort of convey as this silent character. So I liked that. I liked how. I didn't necessarily need to know much about his character and what he was able, why he was able to, you know, do what he was. What he did throughout the movie. Probably my biggest laugh is when they go to sort of save him. They're trying to save him, these young characters, and one in particular.

and they end up in there and they look and there's a couple trash bags off to the side and one character says oh that's badass you know i thought that was pretty cool um again it's just sort of a goofy uh fun I'd say check your brain at the door type of movie but yeah I think that it's also a little bit neat

you know with with a lot of what it's giving with with the uh with the story and whatnot um and even the backstory and and setting things up but i did have a lot of fun with it from start to finish i really did yeah i just yeah i mean

If you're a kid, use your imagination, let loose and have a horror movie take place in Chuck E. Cheese. I can just think of a million more scenarios that don't happen in this movie. Do you know what I mean? I don't know. Just have fun with that world a little bit more, in my opinion. Agreed. It was cool. And you can imagine.

You know, a franchise spawning from this. You can imagine the Five Nights at Freddy's movies doing well based on this. So I liked it for what it was. This was produced by Saturn Films, I noticed in the opening. So that is Nicolas Cage's own production company. So he really liked it. Nice, yeah. This was his kind of thing. He's like, yeah, I want to do this. I don't want to pay for it. This is how much I like it. I want to pay for it. No, that's cool.

He's a funny guy. And yeah, it has like a man with no name kind of thing. You know, I can see why that would be appealing to an actor of his.

experience saying okay i'd like to do a movie where i don't talk the whole time what would that be like and um it's good so and yet still play that nicholas cage type character that we've come to uh to expect yes um i'm gonna give this one a seven what about you i'd make it a little more 7.5 okay yeah i can see that i can see the 7.5 also and um i honestly again if this was a loaded disc i would buy this but otherwise i would call it a rental okay nice

I actually do own this one, and I know there are some interesting special features, some behind the scenes. They interview Nick Cage, and I think there might be a commentary track on it. oh nice oh well i guess i'm gonna buy it then yeah cool yeah i would either say buy the blu-ray or or otherwise i would call it a rental you know if you're not making up stuff but i feel like a movie like this would have an interesting backstory yeah Definitely.

Okay, well, that will do it for this episode of Horror Movie Podcast. It was a bit of a marathon, not quite as long as I thought it was going to be, but still longer than you hope. Right. So thanks, Dave, for sticking us out.

Thanks to the listeners. And we were going to do our best to see even more movies and then record our year. And are you still thinking the same date? Are you thinking now there's more you want to push it back a little bit? No, no. I think what I say that last week of January, I'll be ready.

i'll be ready to go so we'll plan on recording the last week of january don't plan on seeing it till february but we do still have one more unreleased episode that's going to be coming out as well as this episode of course so we'll keep you guys in content until our top 10 of 2021 episode, which will be coming shortly. Find all of our contact information at horrormoviepodcast.com.

You can find links to all of your horror hosts, everything we're doing, as well as links for t-shirts and our sponsor, Shudder.com. Shudder is the Netflix for horror. To try Shudder free for 30 days, go to Shudder.com and use the promo code HMP when signing up. That's S-H-U-D-D-E-R.com and the promo code HMP. We want to thank our dear friend, composer Kagan Breitenbach for the music used in this episode. He's the creator of the Horror Movie Podcast theme song.

as well as the screaming online theme. You can find more of Kagan's work at kaganbreitenbach.com. And please do us a favor and check out his latest musical project, Bloody Cabaret, which is a really cool musical project we're going to be talking about in an upcoming Lost. episode it's absolutely worth listening to you can find it on any place you can find music but i would especially recommend checking it out on youtube where you can see the full kind of music video concert presentation

of this amazing work that Kagan's put together with our friends Meg and Quinn, Veda Wave, Quinn previously of The Used. Again, that's Bloody Cabaret. Plenty of new content is coming your way. So stay tuned right here at Horror Movie Podcast, where we're dead serious about horror movies. Okay, take care, man. Talk to you soon. You too. Have a good one. Take care, sir.