The Diva Doll Herself

that is literally a doll at Megan and Threegan. We have both seen the new film and a lot of y'all wanted us to talk about it, so we will be talking about it today and other, you know, sort of dumb horror movies that we love to watch. Because this is like a virgin the show we'll give yes based pop culture. Today's takes. I'm Rosdamino and I'm Fran Toronto.

Hi Fran. We are doing something that we almost never do, which is recording our news segment in person, and something else that we also never do, which is talk about

drag race. That's not true. We did talk about drag race, right, but we we only talk about main season drag race, which is to me kind of the only drag race that exists, and even that is pushing at pushing it because we don't want to be, as we've said before, a drag Race recap high and several people slid into our g ms to warn us not to do and we were like, we are not becoming a drag Race podcast.

But obviously we both have watched the premiere of season fifteen, so we want to give our upfront thoughts about the premiere, about the queens, and then throughout the season, when we feel moved, maybe we'll check in about it, but we will not be doing weekly recaps or roocaps, and not to tute our on Horn. It's like you hand get like drag Race recaps anywhere, right, like all your other

culture podcast person about it. However, they're all like you know, sis fag opinions, and so our opinion on this is you know, nuanced, and there's I don't believe it. That's when it comes to I uh am dying When I saw when I when I saw that you you were watching this season when you decided to you know, join in,

I was shook what I knew I was gonna. I always watched the main season well because literally, like I invited you to a drag Race screening on Thursday, and you said, I do not want to be in a room with people watching drag racers. But that's the difference. I want to watch it at home alone. I don't want to be in community with gay people watching. It. Wasn't all um, it was not all men, luckily, um. But I also have to I didn't understand that. I thought you were just like I do not want to

be in a space where drag races present. Yeah, I don't want to be around a bunch of watching I understand it's not fun for me. I bought the season pass on iTunes. I will be watching it every Saturday or Sunday. Is it too redundant of a question for me to ask? Like? What? What? Why you don't want to be in a space watching it versus like watching? Like why do you want to watch it at home? And what do you not like about? And I'm not making this about me. I'm saying, like you would never

go to a gay bar and watch it? I mean I have so I was a very late joiner. I guess, well, I mean we're on season fifteen, But I was. I was a holdout, Like like even when I was very involved in gay night life, I was very like my things like I don't watch drag Race, and then um, I did start watching it like weirdly enough at a fairy sanctuary and it's very strange. Um that was the first place I ever watched drag Race and what season

season seven? The first episode I ever watched was the John Waters episode of season seven, which was like the only in a good episode and otherwise kind of boring season, which did give us some legends. But um, I did enjoy watching drag Race in bars the first couple of seasons that I watched it live, Like, um, I used to watch it at Don Pedro at bath salts Um.

But it's you know, it's overwhelming. It's like, yes, it's fun to be around people like screaming at the screen, but it's like it becomes like a whole other thing when you're watching it with people, and I just like, I just wanted to enjoy it in the silence and privacy of my own home. Yeah, my friend group and I we also like, I like watching in bar settings, but everyone else in my group is like it's too loud. I can't hear any of the jokes. Everyone ruins it.

They talk over you know, what's going on because everyone's trying to get their gaggon and the audience and everyone's everyone thinks they're like funny, they're yeah, everyone thinks they're funny. Everyone, And like, I have no patience for sis gay men who think they know more about drag than drag queens. Yeah, and like I don't need a guy in fucking Bnobo's short being like her look is disgusting, that's not fashion. It's like, babe, but you are not one to talk?

Is such an accurate drag I am? Okay, so I have to say, you know, I am. I am a drag race stand all, all of of course acknowledging all the annoying things about drag race that come with it. I went to our friend James scully Um from the Fire Island movie invited me to the premiere, and so I went to like the New York premier quote unquote of drag Race, And it was at Regal Regal Cinema Battery Park, like in that interesting like are that one,

And it was just the weirdest vibe. It was not like an event then you kind of thing, and then the after party it was overall like a lovely, lovely time. And I loved the event and loved being there, but rose. The after party for the Drag Race premiere was in the center of the mall, at the Oculus, in the whitest lighting, the brightest, widest lighting, and I'm like, why

would you put drag queens under this? I'm sure you know, but is Yeah, there's like something going on where like anytime Drag Race contestants convene, like the event planners always like, let's put them in the overhead of overhead lights. Turn the a c off. Oh my god. Anyways, Okay, dying to know, initial takes, initial thoughts, favorites, like how did you feel watching this episode? In this season, it's a

little different from usual seasons. I feel in what way because it feels well, one, it's the hugest season ever, most contestants ever. The premiere was split up in a way that was like dynamically different than other premiers, and I felt like, in a way that was more prominent than other seasons. We're getting this kind of Instagram girls versus like old schools, not even Instagram girls, TikTok girls. Yes,

now we are. We now have even progressed because the whole like Instagram drag thing is old at this point. Those are seasoned queens. That's like, you know, really like talented social media queens who have already done the thing. Now there's a whole other thing of like Amethyst coming in saying I'm the first queen whoever went viral on TikTok. It's like, I don't know that that's the thing yet. Also just like I wouldn't if if that were me.

I mean, I loved Amethyst, but I was like, if I were the first Instagram queen, I just would never say that. I'm also glad that my algorithm never is not aware of that. I'm glad I'm not being served, you know, viral drag queens. I feel on TikTok. I feel although now that I've said it, I'm sure it'll come up the next time I phones away I turned on I do not disturb. So I have to say I'm very proud of the fact that I had never

heard of Sugar and Spice. Ever, I actually had seen seen a video of their's before, because I don't know why. I think maybe it was on Twitter. Can we start with Sugar and Spice? What did you think? So I actually think they're kind of furious. They are kind of furious.

I mean they came in. I was like, who are these at as like fashion nova, you know girls, and then you know, like I there were a couple of moments where they like showed their ass a little bit, I think in you know, talking about how long they would take to get ready and like running around the workroom not knowing where anything was. But also like that's drag, I think, um it's I was watching the pit stop yesterday and one of them said something about how drag

I think Jink said, drag queens are like gas. They will fill any given space. So it's like to give them half an hour to get ready, they'll get ready in half an hour, four hours, they will take four hours. And like, knowing a lot of drag queens, I know that to be true, so like it doesn't surprise me that they take a long time to get ready. But when it came to the actual like work of drag, they were kind of sickening. I thought Spices number with

the Coffin was actually really good. She and unlike a lot of the lip sinkers for the Talent Show, she was giving facial performance like she was emoting she was funny. She got the jokes like obviously this whole song was like written by a team. Probably as were like what the fuck like Lucien or I really need I mean, I don't know why girls keep doing original lip sn songs.

I mean Spice. I think they probably like give them like, Okay, you can record this little lip sync number, or you can figure something out yourself, and they like just I actually would be very interested to get some kind of behind the scenes look at how these things are produced, but that might ruin the magic. A little um Sugar's number was not as good to me, and I actually was a little surprised by how positive the judge's reactions

to it were. But then their runway looks was it was giving a little like leg Avenue Halloween costume, but executed really well. I thought the bell look was amazing.

I thought, you know, obviously they were going to be safe, but if they weren't going to be I felt like Michelle would have dragged them for having corresponding costumes because like when the when the aerial costume, when the aerial look came out, I was like, oh, well, does the area look look as good without the bell costume right, and so like, what's their strategy outside of each other's like some of the questions that are buzzing in my

head about sugar and spice. But I also immediately was like, oh, no, do I stand And I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that they entered the workroom and they immediately cut themselves down. They like, they

made they made jokes at their own expense. They were not they didn't take themselves too seriously, and they felt pretty honest about the fact that they knew they had to earn rapport and respect from their felt queens who were who have been doing this on the ground for so long, and I think that is the only way they could have done it right. So they were very

self aware. I also did really like the moment where they thought that Irene and Mistress hated each other and they were like, no, you've just never been around literally never experienced shade, And that's really interesting and so tell I think that will be a very interesting um narrative to see play out over the course of the season, depending on how long they stick around. Is like them for the first time being part of a sisterhood of drag queens. And also I loved Irene and when Irene

was like I did, I'm sorry I did. And I met her at the premier end, and my love for Irene doubled down when I met her because she said so many different funny things and but I um when she was like when she said in the workfroom, she was like, I have to be honest. Girls, like I wish you would throw it back at me. I was like me too, because like back in the days of I just rewatched or I'm rewatching currently season re Raja's season,

I'm watching season five, babe. Okay. After after our Harri convo, I was like, to go back to the Golden spoiler alert we talk about it with Harri in the future spoiler alert where we have an episode of coming Out. Yes, um, I missed that shade. I missed that era of Shade. And now the girls are way too cognizant of the camera and how they're going to be perceived online or get the villain at it, and so they don't want

to to throw it back. And I was like, no, Irene, yeah, because like there's no worse people in the world than drag Race exactly, and you know Irene, you know some of her some of her things were not funny. That which is the issue. It's like that's actually just like rude and but like a lot of other most of them were not funny. Also, after they after they got out of Drag and she was like sitting on that table, she was like, I can't wait for them to see me and see how hot I am out of drag.

It's like, girl, I don't know if you're doing quite what you think you're doing. I I like, well, yeah, I mean you don't ever want to say that. Similar with like Aura when or I thought Ura was obviously the hottest, but when Ura was like I'm hot, And when she said she you can't call yourself of the season. Someone has to call you that really quickly. Can we talk about Trade of the season because I thought Oura was going to be it, but there are a lot

of rene of them. Or Trade of the season. Okay, this is a fundamental mission of what trade is, because trade is trade is unclockable, and all of these girls are clocky t shots and I can say that Ura is the most mask but yeah, I do tend to agree with you. Well, this is a total creation of drags, which is like the idea of the split between being a queen and being a hot boy. Like this is

something Charlie has talked about before. It's like this is like totally toxic, and I just think the queens who are very preoccupied with being hot men out of drag are really fucking annoying and like that is like not listen, I'm not drag queen, but it's like not very true to the legacy of drag. This idea of like the

split between you and your drag character. It's a very Rupaulian invention and its just like it's not it's it's giving misogyny a little bit, it is and it's giving um oh, like do you even really care about drag or you just like, you know, like a b F A kid who was like, well, I guess I'm going to be successful as a drag queen. And because I can't get cast in like a pilot god. I mean there's a lot of b A fake girls in this season, but mar mar I have to talk about Marsha, but

like not to be that girl. Trade also is like one of the many words within drag race lexicon that has like come from black culture and so like when when these like all these girls like try to use it in this like very specific like TV way that is not rooted in like how it's originally created, it's just like not true. So not using the word trade though, I will have to say, there are a lot of hot queens, Like I think a Nietra is so fine.

I think is so fine. I mean he's like okay, yeah, I thought actually that Amethyst was pretty cute and unfortunately, unfortunately, unfortunately sugar. How much do you think people offer to like them to like do you mean they like constantly get like ingreious. I don't know. They were giving me you know that video of the twins who were like who are like on vacation. They're like, yeah, we want you to come and funk us with that, Like that's

what they were giving me. What if Okay, this is my conspiracy theory, is that one of them isn't gay and they were like that and it's all marketing them. They were like yeah, they were like, this will be good for the brand for both drag queens. It's probably sugar because sugar wasn't as good. Yeah, okay, that's a great conspiracy theory, so we'll see how that plays out

over the course of the season. Um, I'm sorry, dear visions that it's taken up, taken us this long to talk about or to say the name Sasha Colby mother mother. There was so a mother of her, and to show up the way she did and the way they were all gagged when she walked in the doors that they're like, oh fuck, I guess I'm not winning this season. And every drag queen's favorite drag queen is who she is. She is. It's like how they say that so and so is a comedians comedian, Sasha Colby is a drag

queen's drag queen exactly. And and if you have never had the sublime experience of seeing Sasha perform in person, I can only say that it is only in person that you understand like the magnitude that Sasha carries like she has a visceral emotionality that is a full body

and face performance. And she also, unlike all the other girls, doesn't do kicks, turns, dips and splits as much as she does interpretive like body horror, like super weird like dancing that is like antithetical to a lot of like drag style, which is why I think her performance and the Talent Show didn't translate. It wasn't quite as as like gaggy through the screen, but it was tell major

you can tell from the judges faces. Yeah you oh the way Ariana was, you know, like I know that if I was in a room watching that that I would have been living. And here's the other thing. Sasha like she's done that Cranberry's performance before, she had it in her repertoire, like she knows she's not gonna blow her all her tricks in the first go, like she's going to save them so which which is glad she did.

It's smart. But I think some of the other girls who don't have the kind of you know, um uh air, don't have the legend around them that Sasha Kolby does did need to come right up the gate and show off their best ship like a Nietra who I mean she tour tour deserve to win. I'm now in love with her online and I followed her, and I really I'm very very specific about who I follow on Instagram, Like I'm I do not follow unless I have to, yes, you, It's it's sort of the same way with real Housewives.

It's like it takes a yeah for me. I don't mean I don't really follow direct people. I do sometimes, especially during the season, and then I'm on follow laid if you get annoying after a season over, but I get annoying. I was already following Sasha and Jack's but I did decide to follow Anitra because I was like, I love your story. And I also don't know any Vegas queens. But yeah, speaking of you know, girls that have to prove themselves. Back to Marsha, Marsha, Marsha, she

surprised me. Yeah, I I thought it was very close to Willow Hill's performance from last season. Was almost a little too close. Yes, but she did something different, which was the dance element, and she executed it well. And I have to say when she came out, like, I

do like the look, I love the name. I think it's very funny, and I hope that, especially in some of the acting challenges, she will get a chance to show up her b f A or whatever, but definitely not her makeup skip No, I mean she was wearing no makeing. Wait, baby, did you clock this? I mean, this is like such a you and I thing. But when Ari came in her idol Arianna and she was like freaking out because this is like her favorite person.

She is like her her role model or whatever. Marcia said to Ari, I'm wearing a full face of your makeup right now, and I was like, babe, they don't make foundations. Yes, I was like, honey, Ari, m beauty is like daytime, like mall girl makeup, Like it's not drag makeup like that. But it is good. It is. It is yeah, um, But I love that they dragged her immediately for like not having makeup on and also

saying she had an unstyled human unit. Again, it's like a lot of those The first couple of girls who walked in, it was give and because I'm rewatching season five right now, and I also did watch the first episode of season four, it was giving like old drag race where they used to come in with shaking the

wigs on. Absolutely it was and no makeup and listen, you know that we're I know that we're doing the same thing that I was annoyed about before, which is we are people who do not do and we are giving our opinions on people who do the insane amount of work that it takes to get into drags. So like, please take everything we say with a grain of salt.

But also we are people who exist in very close proximity to a lot of drag queens and have for a long time, So like, our opinions are somewhat educated, but also like we we know nothing. Actually, no, no, no, no no, I I disagree. I disagree with that. I think it is important, yes, to say like people that don't do drag, like you need to understand your place and criticizing drag. But you and I we know a fucking lot about drag because we've been in that world

for a very long time. I actually think that not to do I'm sorry. Maybe I'll only speak for myself, but I do think that you and I have been in nightlife for a very long time, and I personally drag is my favorite art form. I've consumed it like massively for years and years and have relationships and um use and hire and work with so many queens that you know, the majority of which have never been on drag race. And so I do actually feel extremely qualified

in my opinion to talk about drag. I mean, I feel qualified to talk about sort of the over but I understand the sentiment of what I'm saying. I feel qualified to talk about the overall performance, but like, I just want everyone who listens to take it with a grain of songs that talk about people's makeup and like these skills that we absolutely could not replicate it. I'm

not saying we could. It's just as someone who has spent a long time in proximity to drag queens, has higher drag queens, has done drag before, has like worked

with people who have been on drag race. Like, yes, I do feel like I can give my opinion, but I also like, please always take that with a grain of salt, because we are not working drag queens exactly, and and to the effect of what you're saying, like the experience of being on drag race is like terror, Like it is like a physically emotionally mentally thing difficult thing to do, and you have to do everything you're good at and really compressed amount of time and a

really compressed amount of time under pressure in front of people you don't know and cameras and you know, and and just to be a drag queen without all that stuff is hard enough, and so you know, that's I think a great you know point. And all of you watching drag Race at home, you absolutely can never give your opinion about any drug queen ever, any drag queen online. If you have not ever been somewhere where you saw a drag queen before live and handed her at least

one dollar. If your only context or experience of drag is watching drag Race at home, shut the funk up. Yeah, And also sorry, like dry queens are under attack right now, and we have inflation, so it's actually the minimum is not a dollar tip, it's two dollars. With inflation, we've we've, we've we have a dent inflation increase. Your minimum tip

is two dollars. And as we should always be reminding everyone, when a new season of Drag Race comes around, support your local queens in whatever way it is possible for you to do so, whether that's going out to a bar and tipping them, whether that's you know, tipping them on Venmo or buying their merch or buying tickets to

their fucking drag Queen story hour. Also, sometimes people are in the back of the crowd and they're holding up the dollar and they're like, oh, if they're not going to come get the dollar, then I'm not gonna It's like no, crumple it up and throw it onto the stage, like give them money. There are ways to give drag queens money, and you should be doing that in ways

that aren't just giving repall money, pitiod. So I guess we can lows the drag Race Library for now and then maybe open up the Rose Oh yes, I wanted to. We're in Rose's book corner right now, hear of it. I feel like we should come up with like a little like music musical, let's have a little a jingle. Um. So I did mention this on our Instagram yesterday at like a virgine. If you're not following it, you should be. But I just started a new book and if you

all would like to read along. I'm not sure how this Rose's Book Corner thing is going to work exactly, but I think for now what we'll do is um I picked I. I bought this book actually when we were in San Francisco from from Fabuloso Um. It's called

man Hunt. It's by Gretcher Felker Martin. It's a sort of post apocalyptic trans horror novel um about a sort of zombie plague that has taken over the world, but it only affects people with an excess of testosterone, so like the only survivors are trans women and six women and there's like a roving band of turfs hunting down trans women. I just started it yesterday. It's really good

so far. So if you want to read along, um, pick up the book, get it at the library or like audiobook whatever, and in a few weeks I will once I finished it, Um, I'll talk about the book on the show. And that's just how we'll start the year off with Rose's bookcorn. Yeah, and for the virgins. You know, we're still figuring out the cadence of this thing, So tell us, like what you want to do in Rose's book Corner, and like what you want my part

to be in it? Because I famously cannot read at the pace that Rose can, Like I can, I mean, reading even a book a month and be hard for me, but I will. You know, this book looks like an easy read, and maybe I could try to read it or also just read a great plot summary and contribute that way. Very gross, Oh, I like I think I can get into that, I can get into that. I'm really excited myself am very gross. Okay, great, UM, and uh is there anything else you're excited about and kind

of like gross genre stuff? Yeah. I actually this morning watched the series premiere of Mayfair Witches on AMC plus UM So. It is a new show that exists in the same television universe as Interview with the Vampire. So and Rice's two most famous book series are The Vampire Chronicles, which Interview with the Vampire was the first of, and then The Lives of the Mayfair Witches, which I've actually

never read. And so when and Rice before she died, she and her son we're shopping this kind of package for adaptation because they wanted to create a shared cinematic universe so that these stories, because they are interconnected in the writing, UM, could be told on screen in an interconnected way. So Interview the Vampire came out last year. It was, as we've talked about, it was one of my favorite shows of possibly my favorite show two and so this new series UM just started airing yesterday. It

is also set in New Orleans. It's about a neurosurgeon who discovered who is adopted and discovers. She's part of a long lineage of witches. Um It stars Alexandra Jadario from the first season of White Lotus. She was the young wife who was married to the like dick guy. Oh, I literally forgot her performance. I'm not gonna lie, but she's her whole thing is like she has really big blue eyes. That's like her main. Tim Burton is about to make a sequel about her. I'm sure. Also, Harry

Hamlin's in the show what wait are you fucking? Yeah, Harry Hamlet. I would watch just for Harry is gonna now that Lisa is not on a real houseves of Beverly Hill, She's going to make a guest me. She would be a great vampire. She um she really she might be a vampire in real life. Did AMC like buy a bunch of ann rice I P or something? Yeah, that's as I was saying. They bought this shared universe.

They that's the whole thing that well, they bought these two book properties um and and have created this thing that they called the Immortal Universe. And so Interview with the Vampire has been um was was renewed first second season before the first season even came out, so that's coming back probably not um and I think Mayfair Witches

will be probably. I know that they're adapting the first book for the first see in and so we'll see if this gets renewed, and it'll be interesting to watch if maybe some characters we recognize from Interview with the Vampire make appearances. Uh. There there was like a brief mention of the Mayfair which is on one of the early episodes of Interview the Vampire. I like to the first episode. It was interesting, was very much setting up

all the different characters. There's a sort of like demon guy. There's some like weird incest e stuff. Maybe I don't know. I'm intrigued, uh, and will definitely be watching. All right, so let's get this out of the way. If there's a fight that needs to happen. What did you think of Mega there is no fight. I loved it. I mean, oh thank god, I don't think god it was so worried really Okay, Look, I know I notoriously have like feedback for like everything, but that's like, you know, not

always true. Like I feel like sometimes when when a movie just delivers what it promises, like I don't have other expectations like this is a movie about an animatronic haunted AI doll, Like I'm not I'm not going to come out of it trying to give it some sort of like fucking like fu call like Michelle Fuco, kind of like, you know, girl, you probably still will. But it's not not even you always are trying to find some nuanced take. It is just that we often have

the exact opposite opinion on things. Well, and just when I left the movie theater being like I loved it, I was like, oh no, did Fran hate it? I know right, No, I loved it. I loved it. It really delivered exactly what it promised, and it not to stop entertainment, and it was also scary totally. When Ryan and I my my friend Ryan and I left the movies, he said, oh, I kind of thought the trailer was

better than the movie. And I said, no, but like it was exactly what the trailer promised and nothing more. And I loved that. You know, I actually do. Um, I think all trailers are better than movies in a lot of ways. Um, But I think to the effect to what Ryan said, like I did walk out and

I thought to myself. The trailer did spoil almost all of the best parts, but I also felt like if the trailer hadn't shown Megan doing that dance, like we wouldn't the internet when she would have, the Internet never would have freaked out. So I can't really fault them for that. I think that you know, um and it's so funny, like I, okay, just on like just we're talking about like the negative feedback loop and like how

we respond to things. I think Megan is actually a great example of like why I always try to find something to say. And it's like when we're talking about something like that has just really been overextended in the game meme universe, Like it's like Megan's really getting some mileage on the faggot accounts. Okay, like when we when we decided to do a podcast episode about it um or anything that's in this kind of like category of culture.

I I, you and I both really want to like add something new to the conversation, right, Like we're not just we don't want to like get on here and be like Megan slim mother, Oh my god mother, No no no, no, it's not it's not virgins, it's not but like the thing is, you know, that's usually why I have this little tick, but just wanted to contextualize that because Megan was genuinely good and I honestly I

want to know your like raw reactions. But one of the first things that I responded to was the like eleven year old girl that played the Megan doll and like so many practical call effects in like the kind of animatronics of Megan, Like it was so real and I'm so glad that they didn't like use majority c G I you know what I mean, Yes, it was. It was a very um in a way simple movie, a simple story about you know, humanity's own hubris um coming to bite us in the ass or Alice and

Williams own hubris as a NEPO baby. I love that Alison Williams just plays different versions of Marnie from Girls, and in this movie she was Marnie if Marnie was a scientist, which would never happen. But honestly, like it is, like, she is genuinely great at it. And there are tons of actresses across the board that do the same character in different scenarios, and this is her character and she's

good at this. I loved the moment. Like, okay, well first, before we get into it, I just want to, like anyone listening, we are going to spoil this movie. Yes, we're going to talk in depth about it, so spoilers, spoilers, and then just like a quick synopsis if you haven't

seen it and don't care about spoilers. Megan is a story about UM, a genius toy UM inventor played by Alison Williams, whose UM sister and her husband die, leaving her as the caregiver for their young daughter, who she like doesn't really know how to relate to, so she instead gives her with this experimental like AI robot doll to be her new friend, and the doll is evil UM.

That is the basis of truly no no embellishments needed, but like I loved just like the Alison Williams is ums of UM, Like when she brought her home and uh, the little girl whose name I truly cannot remember, UM wanted to play with her collectible toys and Alison Williams was like, oh you like you don't actually play with those? And just so many little things like that. Alison. Also, I have to say, I mean skipping very far ahead.

Halfway through the movie, I turned to Ryan and said, oh, the they're gonna kill Megan with the robot that she showed her in the Yeah, was like and Ryan was like, can you not? And when we left, I was like, it was the Chekhov's robot. I just call him, like I see him, you know, like storytelling stories are so powerful, and the narrative structure was right there. I didn't see a lot of things coming, but I I, yeah, I did see. I did see that coming, just because the

robot was so big. Um, But yeah, I'm on the on the topic of Alison Williams, she is she was a comically bad mom, like like it was like like protective services like get in there, like it is actually like comically the therapist was trying and in any sense, so why didn't the therapist die? I don't know or remember, Um,

I don't know. I remember. There are a lot of you know, like questions on the kind of you know, uh, there are a lot of a lot of questions about the plot that like I just didn't really bother asking. I was just I don't know. I was like, I don't care. I'm having a good time you know, um, have you read this thing that apparently the movie was originally um Gorrier and originally had an R rating, and they made it PG thirteen so that more people would be able to see it. Um, I would have liked

a version that had more kills, more gore. I agree, I would have watched the director's cut. I'm glad that it has as wide of an audience as it did, because this is a record, Like the record for an opening week like this in the first week of the year has not been broken in a decade. It made forty five million dollars this weekend, made more money than Babylon.

And I think that, well, Babylon's I mean, but I I think that you know, this movie is going to pave the way for so many more like spooky movies like it, Like it's it's going to pave the way for four more Megan movies. Yeah, that too, that too. And I hope this this girl that plays her, I can't even remember what her name is. It's like Jenna something, but she's like, you know, this eleven year old like Jim, like Olympic gymnast who apparently invented like a lot of

like the moves and mannerisms of Megan herself. Isn't that sick? Okay, well, that we should keep an eye on her because she might be a serial killer. I r L. Well, it's incredible, Like she's really talented. Like Jenna Davis plays the voice of Megan, Amy Donald plays the body. Amy Donald is an eleven year old girl, and she was the one who discovered that she could do this, like really creepy running on all four. It's like she added that that

moment was incredible. She literally did that, and she added that into the script. She did almost all of her own stunts. She can she was she physically can do a backbend and lift her body back up with just her legs. Like she's the one that added these weird held head tilts and like um and I guess apparently like the animatronics face was not c G. I thought it was c G I a lot of the time, and apparently a lot of the time the face was

a literal prosthetic animatronic. Wow. I love practical effects. You know what else? I love Megan's cover of Sia's Titanium, which that was the best part of that. I think it was. It was the Definitely. It was when the audience when I saw it, laughed the hardest. I mean there was It was so fun to see it in a theater full of people, and everyone like clearly enjoyed

it so much. It was such a like no thoughts, head empty, just vibes kind of movie, even though I did find myself thinking, like when the movie ends, like the next scene is Alison Williams and all of her coworkers getting arrested and put in prison for the rest of their lives and that little girl being taken to foster care, because that was Alison Williams's fault. It was

she created a monster. She killed several people. Yeah, she was just drinking her own juice, like her own genius, I guess, just mad scientists kind of on her own supply. I kind of wish the Alison Williams character had had had been even crazier, Like I almost didn't want to root for her, but the movie kind of wanted you to root for her. But like, honestly, I was just rooting for Megan pretty much the whole time. Like I was like, you go, girl, like you have your motives down,

like she will she will return. Yeah, she absolutely will, and I'm like I I honestly I was reading more about just like how they kind of like piece this doll together, and I'm thinking about, you know how you said that that the movie was originally going to be more violent, and I think that when they were trying to like think about Megan as a character and like what kind of things she would do. I think they

were so smart to make this like haunted doll. Like her movements extremely minimal, like right, like she's silent when she's when she needs to be silent, and like the way they we're putting together the kind of personality of Megan, they were like Megan. Every single thing that Megan does and this is if you haven't seen the movie yet, this is something to keep in mind. Every single thing Megan does is a intentional and calculated and she would not do or say anything unless it's in her like

programming benefit to like do it. And so that's why like something like this like weird dance sequence is like so genius because outside of without context, you're like, what the fun is going on? But then with the like in the context of the film, you're like, oh my god, this like doll creature is like dancing to like distract and disorient the person she's about to kill by pretending to be just like a play doll. And it's like, but it's also just it's also just for the gag. Yeah,

it's but but it's both. It like it's sold me on both component of like the script and like the soul shoal kind of viability and like market ability that it has. And I think it's even cooler to know that this eleven year old like kind of co choreographed it and it wasn't in the original script. Um I did love when she ripped that kid's ear off, and um, children suck. That little boy was such a monster associopath. And I'm glad that he's dead. I'm glad Megan killed him.

I am always happy when children are killed in movies. It's funny, you know. I don't find the idea of like killer dolls scary, Like Chucky was never scary to me. I've never seen any of the Annabelle or Conjuring movies. I don't think toys are scary. Um, Megan, you know, she did maybe how to make me change my mind a little bit. I think there is something about the

the Uncanny Valley of it all? Um, the Untranny Valley. Um, are you saying there's certainly an argument argument that could be made for Megan being trans of course, maybe that'll be the second Maybe that will be the sequel. Maybe I think at the end of the episode we should we should plot out a Megan sequel. Okay, m Tougan, but I I don't know. There there's something about how humanoid she looks but without being human that is just

very unsettling. And you're so right. Her silence and her stillness speak volumes every little every every time that she was supposed to be shut down and you realized she wasn't. Every time she would be somewhere and then the camera would move and she was gone, was ooky, spooky, It was. She was great. Megan is the moment, she is mother.

She is mother. Yeah. And honestly loved like the puppet work, Like there was like puppets and like there was just like so many different things where I was just like, thank god they didn't like c G I the whole thing. And like I actually was fiercely afraid of Chucky as a child, unlike you, like Chucky definitely haunted many of my dreams as a kid. And I never even saw the movie. I've never seen the movie. I just like saw commercials of it and was terrified. But Megan, I

think like I sat in it. I I sat in the chair and I was I was there for like the action, plaw and the laughs. Like I think the movie delivered exactly what I thought it was going to, and um, everything else was just Uncanny Valley, just as you said, like psychological thriller, like really engaging visuals, like surprisingly good thrills considering how absurd and gay and stupid it is, you know what I mean? It was It was exactly what it promised to be and I had

so much fun watching it. And um, apparently they are talking about releasing a director's cut in theaters and I would absolutely go see it again. I don't need to see it again, but I'm very excited for the sequel. You know, we're in that time of year where they dump a lot of the sort of dumb scary movies. Oh do they usually put those kind of do they do? We call it spoopy? Did you introduce me to this term? Um?

I don't know if I introduced you to it. It's it's a term that's been around for a while, so but it is. It's it's you're saying they drop a

lot of spooky movies in January, which I didn't. Yeah, well, like January February are famously where a lot of sort of mid to low budget movies get released because it's that dead space between um, the holidays where all the big budget Awards movies come out, and then the spring, which is when the kind of blockbuster movies like Marvel movies start rolling out, and it traditionally has been like a dumping ground for things that people thought would be

like big hits and then tested badly, so they get kind of shuffled to the beginning of the year. But then that leads that has led to some of those films because there's not a lot of other things in theaters being surprise hits like Megan Um or just being total flops. Like one one movie I can think of that was released at a similar time was have you ever I know the answer to this, but have you ever seen or heard of the film Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters? Yeah? Actually I have you've seen it? No,

I haven't seen it. Sorry, I've heard of it. I've heard of Okay, you've heard of it. It is one of my favorite movies. Oh it's good. No, it's horrible, but it's but it's good bad, it's yeah, it's spooky. It's um. It's Hansel and gretel Um. It's exactly what is promised. It's um sort of scott steampunk vibes. It's like Hansel and Gretel Um after they killed the witch and the fairy tale, grew up to be witch hunters

and they hunt evil witches around and it's um. Famka Jesson, who was Jean Gray and the original X Men films is the main antagonist. It's lots of like UM really like gross um special effects makeup to make the witches look ugly, really dumb jokes, really anachronistic like um weapons and action sequences. It's so dumb and funny and perfect. And I love it. And it definitely was released like

in January of whatever year it came out. I don't I don't really know anything about like the significance of of when things are released in January, but like just in general, like I want to see like the spooky genre like be released with like increased frequency, right, like in a post like get Out World, because I think get Out maybe a little less spooky because it was

genuinely scary. Get Out had amazing jokes, and like I I you know, watching that film, I remember just that balance and and how things after it, like Mas for example, Um, I mean one of the best films of all time, please mam is incredible, or like you know this uh or honestly with the resurgence of Jennifer's body or something like Zombie Lander. Zombieland was like kind of a long time ago, but like I just want more like it.

And so yeah, watching the trailers, like I was like, oh my god, are we gonna get a trailer for like Winnie Poo, Blood and Money or like there was or also we got the rent Field trailer. I think that looks really good. Um, Renfields maybe like more comedy than actual spooky, but like I want I want to scream. I want scream, you know what I mean? Well, we're

getting things like so my showing. They showed the trailer for Cocaine Bear, which comes out in just a couple of weeks, and that's exactly the kind of movie we're talking about. It. Yes, it is exactly um the M. Knight Shamalan movie, not Knock at the Cabin, which I was wondering, like, what is it there? Is it like that? There? It's like some weird like conversion therapy thing because they're gay. No, and it's I don't think it's gonna be I think

it's going to be the least funny movie ever. I think M. Knight Shamalan has no sense of humor whatsoever. Like I still haven't seen Old. I have no desire to see that or even I mean this movie. I think the casting is amazing, but the plot sounds sloken dump um. Well, once I found out that don't actually say there's something wrong with this beach in Old, I lost all interest in it. There's something wrong with um? Okay, what other Okay? So one of my favorite UM franchises

is definitely falls in this category. Have you ever seen Happy Death Day or Happy Death Day? To you know you brought this up. I've never seen it. What is what is the premise of that? Oh? My god? So it's about it's sort of like a groundhogs Day thing where this girl is um being there's like a serial killer in her college campus and she dies and then wakes up the next day and she's the only one who remembers it, so she has to figure out who the murderer is. And it's so stupid but so funny

and um so it's not scary in any way. Um it's spooby. And the sequel was so good it also became like a trending TikTok sound. I think it's on point last year. Some quote from it. Um, I highly recommend I probably won't watch that, and I probably won't. Maybe the virgins will, Yeah, maybe the virgins will. I also, the virgins will really have to organize to get me to watch scary movie, which you constantly tell whatever you

have to watch scary movie. I'm sure I watch scary movies one and two one day, one day when you know it's on at a Halloween party or something, I'm going to watch it. Um. But I don't think I'll go out of my way to to watch scary movie because that's just not my tea. Well, that's I mean,

that's just your loss. It is my loss. It is I I I really am missing out on a huge chunk of the culture, really and kind of you know, one of the premier spooky names in the spooky genre, even though it's more I guess satire than spoop, Like it's not really it's it's straight up parody. Like the thing about The thing about the movies that we're talking about is a lot of times they are unintentionally funny,

and I appreciate that. In recent years films like M threegen like Happy Death Day, like probably Cocaine Bear, which I definitely am going to see in theaters. Um know how ridiculous they are and are leaning into it, whereas I think in years past, like the Funny, the funny campiness was sort of accidental, and um yeah, I think you should lean into it. They knew Megan, they knew exactly what they were doing, and they did it worked

so well they did. I wonder if they had an original if they had a different concept like at the beginning, like if it wasn't supposed to be funny or something, or if they knew from jump that it was going to be like a meme movie honestly, um, but regardless of had to be somewhat intentional, because like, you don't film something like that dance sequence and not realize what you're doing. No, no, no, I mean I know it's

intentional in how the movie. I'm saying when they concepted it, like at the very beginning, before they shot everything, I was like, I wonder if they are they wrote this originally to like not be funny. Um, and then they were like no, no, no, we need like we needed to be funny, you know what I mean, Like because the dance sequence wasn't in the original script. A lot of things you know. Obviously all movies like change a

lot from like beginning to end. I mean, I think the best horror movies do have a little humor in them. So I'm sure it was part of the DNA of the film from the beginning. So before we go, if we were the writers of Megan two, um, what would what would that be? So I'm gonna say, okay, okay, I've got something. So um Megan obviously like the movie the way the way the first Megan ends is like

Megan's consciousness still like exists somewhere in the cloud. Um. So I'm gonna say in the second movie, Um, there's a young trans girl who is like online like trying to find resources because she lives in some state that has like you know, like restrictive like policies on gender affirming care. And on a message board, someone starts like chatting with her and giving her advice, and they're like, yeah, I really want a new body to oh my god. Okay, okay, okay,

let me let me meet you, let me beat you. Okay. So this trans girl chatting with the new bot is like starting to like develop a kinship with this, like you know this like anonymous person on online assist. Well, I was gonna say maybe sister hooding, but the let's say, I was going to say the Megan talking, because it is Megan's consciousness is trying to find reasons to connect to a new primary partner, right and and and Megan says, I myself experienced gender dysphoria, and I would like to

be an having a boy doll's body. And my name is Egan, oh Swiss, and it's called and the movie is called Egan. And then it's like maybe like a little boy like twink doll and with him. Yeah, And so the trans girl is like she's like a young scientist. She's like a prodig everyone is scientist. So she so she builds Egan a body, and Egan's like, if you build me this body, I will help you get the

gender affirming care. You know. So Egan comes to life and then starts like killing doctors and psychiatrists and getting the little girl the estrogen she needs. Literally every movie we've ever concepted is a trans revenge story, like a story, And yeah, that that's the genre. That's the genre. Okay, So which which see a song is Megan going to cover in the sequel? Chandelier Chandeliers too obvious? Elastic Heart would be good because maybe like Egan is maybe more

made of like rubber and like silicon. Great, And the movie ends with um Met Egan killing Governor Rohnda Santa in Florida and becoming and installing himself as the new governor and making gender firm and care accessible to all the end the end. Wait, will Alison Williams come back? Oh absolutely, but like she has a she has more of a cameo role like she appears in the in the third act for sure. For sure it's like a

big and she does miss gender Egan. Wait, okay, we we need some sort of so we need a kind of like concerned mother figure who is playing the trans girls like mom right, like, maybe it's a concerned father figure. Let's flip the script. Yeah, I was I was gonna say Judy Greer, But who's the male Judy Greer Elijah Wood. No, he's gonna be in yellow jackets. That's too close. It's too close. What about what about Justin Long Justin Long. Since we're in the middle of the Justin Longest songs,

Long Sons, she should have a gay dad. Oh and Jonathan Croft is going to be in the m Night Shamalan movie. Damn it. Okay, who's a gay guy that's gonna be? Who would be great in like Thrills? And you know, you know Murray Bartlett, Murray Bartlett from White Lotus and the Little Transkirl has to be Australian. No, I don't because I don't support you know, he could,

he could have a he could do an American accent. Okay, great, Yeah for sure, Okay, Okay, Megan three Egan Megan to Megan to Egan, coming to you, um Winter to Agan. Next week we will be back with an episode all about Julia Roberts, a k a mother, not just in the film Mother's Day. Um, So make sure that you rewatch your favorite Julia Roberts performance, whatever that is, and we will be diving into her filmography, her existence as the Last movie Star and more. Please rate and review

us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really helps us out. Uh, my name's Rose Damn. You can find me anywhere online at Rose Damn You and my name is Fran. You can find me at friends, quish Goo, anywhere you like. Like a Virgin is an iHeart Radio production our producers Phoebe Unter, with support from Lindsay Hoffman and Nikki Etre. Until next week our Revoir Virgins