Cutting Deep into Horror | The Ritual (2017): Folk Horror, Survivor’s Guilt & the Forest Monster

0:00Who are you there? Oh, hi, sorry. I was just law. I took a shortcut and I was coming through here. Oh, yes. And I got lost through the woods down there. Yeah. And here as well. Yeah. Oh, yes. I mean, it's all around us. Well, yes, sure is. These are gorgeous woods. We don't get a lot of visitors out this way. Yeah. Yeah. And you're like the only person I've seen for like three days. Unfortunately, that makes you our prisoner. Oh. Do not worry. There are many things to enjoy as you worship you. Yes, yes. Oh, yes. Many, many of us. You will have a good time. You'll get to enjoy the finest and Swedish fish. The finest and Swedish bitters. We also provide Swedish massage and Swedish-style bubs and pick and mix. I've never heard of that. Are you from Sweden?

1:01No. How about a Swedish meatball to enjoy? It's good for protein. Thank. OK. Oh, you're noticing the giant creature there. Yeah, I couldn't help but notice because it does. It is large. People think a lot of things about the Swedes. And this is what is on its head. And why is it staring at me? On television, people think that the Swedish chef is only about four feet tall. But in reality, he is about 14 feet tall. And he hungers for not just human flesh, but the humanity itself. Oh, no. No. Now, come along. The meatballs are almost ready. Oh. This podcast is about why horror scares us. What deep, dark secrets scary cinema shines a light on. The discussions are frank. And involve conversations about abuse, trauma, and mental health.

2:05There are also spoilers. So keep that in mind, too. Now, sharpen your machetes and straight razors because this is. Cutting deep into horror. Hello, my spookies and welcome back to Cutting Deep Into Horror. I'm your host Enrique Cuto here with my co-host, Rachel Riddolfi. Rachel, how are you? I'm doing good. Yeah. Yeah. So good you wanted to stomp all over my improvs, huh? Yeah. I was not yes, anding very good with you there. No, you were more just anding. They can't all be winners. Sorry guys. I'm going to ask to come up with the concepts and rub with them. Do we need to roll tape to the time I let you lead one? Please know. So but anyway, we're here this week as Halloween is very quickly approaching.

3:11Yeah. So we're talking about a film that I feel it got a little bit of attention, but maybe kind of, I don't know, kind of disappeared into the ether a little bit. But that's the tricky thing with these. So it's the ritual from 2017. It's a Netflix film. So it's available. If you're in the United States, it's available exclusively on Netflix. And a lot of those Netflix movies. It's hard to really gauge how much of an audience they got. Not only because there's no box office information, but also because you just don't know. I mean, the people I knew didn't seem to watch it very intently, or I didn't hear them talk about it very much, but who knows how many people discovered it. I feel like, like, we just watched that one Netflix movie the last house. Yeah. I haven't really heard anybody talk about it, but I have no idea. Maybe it did really, I mean, like maybe a lot of people tuned in and, you know, we just didn't. Yeah. I'm not sure if it's a movie to those people. I can hear it about it. But the one nice thing about a Netflix movie is that it is relatively accessible.

4:14I mean, you know, Netflix can be a bit pricey, although they dropped the price a lot with the ads version. So if you want to watch this film, it is on Netflix. And I do highly recommend you give this one a watch. I had seen it once before. And I didn't remember a ton. I mean, I remember a decent bit about it, but I think I had it confused in my brain with another wilderness survival movie that was on Netflix around the same time. Okay. Because at first I did not recall any supernatural element at all. Okay. I remembered like a hunter hunting people. Oh. And that was something that I'm almost certain that was a different Netflix movies. Probably also a British movie. This is technically a British movie, even though the director's American. I'm guessing that just I'm guessing when it says a British movie that just means that the money came from Britain. That's got to be it. And I think most of the cast is British. Well, sure. But they're supposed to be Brits who go to Sweden. Yeah. You know, I mean, I get that too. It's just to me, it feels like is it really a British movie just because the characters of British?

5:18That's a good point. Like, I mean, now if the characters are British in Britain, that's a British movie. You know, but I would say that it's more British movie if the film is made in Britain by British people. But this film is directed by David Bruckner, who was born and bred in Atlanta, Georgia. And David has had a very interesting career. He started out relatively speaking in the micro budget world, doing a lot of anthology films with other filmmakers. The first one, unfortunately, I have not seen this one. The first one was called The Signal from 2007. And it has three interconnected segments. He directed one of them. It's a horror kind of film. But then after the signal, he did a short film called Talk Show, which I could not find. But then he did a anthology film that became a big deal called VHS. Didn't we watch VHS? I don't know. Oh, it came out in 2012.

6:19We might have. I really don't know. If we did, we watched it closer to 2012. Yeah, yeah. And but VHS was was a big deal. And I mean, they're still releasing like a sequel every single year for VHS. There was one last year in the year before that in the year before that. They've got to be up to gosh. I don't even know how far along they are now. Oh, it's like a check. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. There are eight VHS films total. And there are. And there's already one announced for this year and next year. Oh, okay. Damn. So it's. Yeah, it's it's shutters basically kind of taken over the reins on on producing it. And it's made by, you know, different young filmmakers every go around. But the first VHS. It was pretty pretty new concept. The idea of making it intentionally analog. But some of the directors that were involved in VHS were Adam Wingard.

7:23I think I know that name. He did the guest and then he did Kong, God's Elevator's Kong. Yeah, yeah. Okay. And he did Blair Witch. Yeah. So he was on there. Ty West. Okay. Yeah. I remember Ty West. Who's Ty West? Pearl and X. You nailed it. You nailed it. Joe Swamberg. That one I don't. Yeah. It figures the one guy I know in the whole list. Joe Swamberg went on to direct an immense amount of films as well as acting in a bunch of movies. I am a huge fan of his for most of his non-horror output like drinking buddies and happy Christmas and digging for fire. Those were some of my favorite movies he's done, but he's done a bunch of really great movies that I've just, yeah, I've always liked. But so, yeah, VHS one was kind of a big kind of proving ground for these younger filmmakers.

8:24And it's weird though saying younger because as I'm looking at this list, I'm realizing that almost all of them are Gen X. Look, I turned 40 in like two weeks. I'm noticing these things, but I just funny because it's like saying like a film, a showcase of younger filmmakers and I'm like, shit, these guys are about how old I am now in 2012. Maybe a little younger. They were like in their thirties. Anyway, it's just this is a funny observation, but I do remember his segment in VHS, which was called amateur night being really good. So he also directed a segment in the film Southbound, which was another anthology film. And I really loved Southbound. I thought it was really good. We might have watched that together. I mean, it was a highway anthology movie. It kind of rings a bell. I, we may not have watched it. I don't know. But he did a film that I think is very, very underrated and then another movie that I

9:25don't know how I feel about it. He did the nighthouse in 2020, which was a film about a woman who is stuck. Well, not stuck. She's, she's living in a house after her abusive husband dies. And basically she's haunted by him. And it starts to reveal a deeper, crazy evil. It's very scary. There's something terrifying about the idea of like being all alone and the realizing you're not alone, but it's because the person that you wanted to escape is just still there. Yeah. It's terrifying. It's a solid film. It didn't do super well, but it also came out in January of 2020. Oh, wait, no, no, no, it came out in August of 2021. That's right. It was supposed to come out in 2020. Okay. So the theaters were still kind of, it did, it did 15 million at the box office against 12 million. So it wasn't a total flop. But then in 2022, he did a little film called Hellraiser, the 2022 reboot film, whatever

10:28you want to call it, which a lot of people referred to as Hulu razor because it was the Hulu Hellraiser. You know, I didn't hate the Hellraiser reboot, whatever, but I didn't like it very much either. I thought it was a very weird decision to make it basically sexless. Yeah. When you, because you, I still haven't seen it, but when you told me that, I was like, that's a decision. Well, I get that some people are like, we don't need all the sex stuff in movies anymore. I mean, because overall horror movies are less like that. Yeah. They're less focused on nudity and gratuity in that way as they used to be. But Hellraiser is literally about sexual gratification. Yeah. I mean, that's literally the point of the film. I love Hellraiser, but like it's literally about a guy who is so perverted and depraved. The only way you can find new excitement and pleasure is to open a gateway to Hell and

11:28have his soul ripped apart. That's it. Yeah, that's the story. I didn't think it was terrible, but I thought that it just kind of was missing a certain degree of oomph that Hellraiser tended to have. So that's just my, my two cents. But that all being said, I really like this film, which I was very impressed with how, how much it kind of pulled me around and took me on the ride. And then it had a very satisfying ending as well. It does. Yeah. So that was something I was very happy about. Yeah. So yeah, revisiting this was awesome. I can't recommend enough people give it a watch. It is for lack of a better term. I mean, it's a horror film, but it's a little bit more of a thriller that starts to branch into kind of folk horror. Yeah. And it's not super gory, but it has its moments. They're used very, very precisely to make the audience uncomfortable.

12:30It's got the wilderness survival element, which is super thick for most of the film for the first half, two thirds of the film. And it's, you know, it's got a big through line about trauma and guilt and grief and grief. I mean, I don't even, I don't even know if I would say it's about grief only because it happened. It's so quick afterward. I feel like you like grief doesn't even have a chance to kick in. I guess so. I mean, that's, you know, we're splitting hairs because that's kind of the point of the show. But, but I mean, I'm with you though, is like, it's about these like senses of loss and stuff like that. Yeah. I guess it would be, it would be more more survival's guilt than actual grief. Survivor? Survivor. Survivor. Dant, dant, dant, dant, dant, survivor. Yeah. So I mean, it's, it's a, it's a solid flick. And also funny because it's called a British movie stars British actors, American director. I think an American writer too. Now I have to know it's written by Joe Barton who, oh, he's British. Okay. So that helps.

13:31Okay. And he wrote the Lazarus project, which I actually liked. Most people did not. Um, but, uh, and it was shot in Romania, but set in Sweden. Yeah. So it was actually shot in the Carpathian mountains in Romania. Yeah. I mean, I don't, but it's, it's basically the story of a group of friends going on, they're on holiday, which is always blows my mind. These are these young guys who don't have a lot of, uh, they don't have like, what do you keep looking at? Uh, I'm, I'm, I'm, I just saw the little ghost over there and I'm, uh, I'm talking my attention. Your eyes dart over like seven times. I'm like, I, what is happening? No, but, uh, they basically, they're on holiday. Yeah. Which that alone, that, that European concept does not click. I don't understand this idea of like, we're just, uh, fucking off for two weeks. It's like, Oh, is that why your economies are just not good in the toilet? I mean, I'm just asking questions at like, but, uh, so they, they're, you know, kind of

14:34traveling around and their, their buddy is like, let's go to Sweden and go hiking. Yeah. I don't know. But then as we find out very, or right away, pretty much, their buddy gets killed in a, uh, robbery gone wrong. Yeah. And that's pretty much the, the set up of the movie. Now there, we have a hiking in the woods, getting, uh, lost and eldritch horror type deals start happening. And I'm guessing, I mean, you probably know more about a lot of, although I love folklore and I try to learn a lot about it. I probably know more about European, uh, Eastern European folklore or Northern European folklore than I do. It's like, like the monster and this is based on something of theirs. You've talked about before that I can never remember the name of the thing with the, the skullhead. But we'll get into that more, you know, a little bit later. But that's basically the rundown of the ritual. Yeah. And that's me giving you one last chance to check out on Netflix before we just tear through it. I'm ruined it. Tell me every element about it.

15:34So, uh, but we're going to take a quick break and then we'll, we'll jump into, uh, what all we think and what all we've dissected from the ritual right after this. So we're back talking about the ritual from 2017 and I do not remember the first time I watched it. I'm sure it was just like one of those home alone Netflix, you know, pop it on because I definitely watched it because I recognize one of the lead actors because he was also in, the big short. Oh, okay. And although he was playing in American and that and he's actually British, um, in fact, the lead actor, um, I think it's, yeah, Rafe Spal. I think is how you say his name are a F E. Oh, yeah. Rafe Spal. Yeah. He was in the big short name. I mean, pretty much, but, uh, yeah, I remembered him like I, that helped me know that I'd

16:40seen the movie because I would think like, oh, it's that guy from the big short. Okay. He's very good in big short. Everybody was good in the big short though. But, uh, what was the first time you watched it? Uh, the first time I watched it was by myself and I believe it was like in, like in 2020. Uh, yeah, I was looking for something to do. Uh, you know, aside from work. Yes, I from door dash. I guess I'd from door dash because I was a quote unquote essential worker. So like I was one of the few people where it's like, okay, you can go out and do whatever. Like, okay, cool. Um, but yeah, so I sat down alone one night and watched it with my rats and was like terrified. And the reason that I wanted to watch it is because I kept hearing how good the creature design in it is. Where'd you hear that? It just from several friends who had seen it. Um, and you know, I'm a huge creature feature kind of person. And what I really liked about it and this is kind of like jumping into it is, yeah, this

17:43does have like really great creature design. It does have supernatural, you know, like folk horror elements to it. But like you were saying, like the first half to two thirds of the movie is just like survival horror. I really, really dig that because it's very psychological. Yeah, very, very much. So so yeah, that's that was my first impression. So did you was there anything that really started to come back to you when we watched it together? I mean, the big one was I actually mostly remembered the robbery gone wrong where his friend gets, gets killed. I remembered that and I remembered the imagery of that how it would be kind of pushed into the woods. How it there were times later in the movie where he would like look to the left and it would just be cut out of the woods would be the like looking right into that Canadian store where it happened. I also remembered the creepy house they find and how will they all wake up and they've

18:45all had like different horrible nights. Yeah. That stuff I remembered very, very vividly. I remembered some of the creepy, the creepy villager stuff to yeah, yeah. Although I wonder if my brain like mushed that up with the remake of Wrong Turn that came out like a year after lockdown. That was a very intro. I liked it, but it was a very strange way to go after the wrong turn movies being what they were. Really? I guess you've never seen a wrong turn movie or heavy. No, I feel like you showed me one of the wrong turn movies when we were at the cabin a while back. It's possible. I've never been a huge wrong turn person, but they're nuts. I mean, the later sequels just go totally haywire and when they did a remake of it, which was actually shot around Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio. Oh, really? When they when they did it, they they decided to make them not cannibals, which just

19:47threw everybody for a loop because that was pretty much the consistent element of the entire movie series was that. Yeah. So instead they were more of a cult and they sacrificed humans, but it wasn't and they were and they were like a old world kind of Celtic cult. Oh, okay. Or maybe Nordic. I can't remember off the top of my head, but they were like a very European cult. Okay. So that makes me think of this film. Yeah, it's very similar. Very similar. In some ways they kind of like check similar boxes. Yeah. So, but yeah, those were the things I remembered right away. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For me, like, obviously the monster, I have to agree that the robbery scene gone wrong. Like that as soon as that happened, a lot of the movie just like snap back for me. Yeah. And I think like when when they were in the like when they first went off into the woods and they find the like dead elk thing hung up in the tree, I really like that had left

20:50a really big impression on me. And so like that came back to me pretty fast. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. So, and so what made you want to put this because this is one of I would say what you pick probably, I mean, you usually dig up what movies were going to watch or or or pick my brain randomly and I'll throw a couple titles at you. Yeah. So, you know, I think I've done with it. But this is one of like, I would say maybe what do you think one and five, one and four are straight up your choices? Yeah. I'd say that's pretty different. Like you just say, let's do this one and sometimes I've never seen it. Or in this case, like I kind of remembered it, but I remembered liking it. Yeah. Which that is, you know, of a value in another self. So what made you feel like this one needed to be uncutting deep? Well, one because I remember it leaving a really big impression on me like the ending. Yeah. And once we got to the end, I remembered like, oh, yeah, that is pretty powerful. And the other thing is as silly as it is, I thought it would pair really well with tonight

21:56she comes because they're both in the wilderness. And I thought it's kind of a nice change of pace with, you know, tonight she comes as like really off the wall goofy kind of like what the fuck did I just see sort of thing. And this is also kind of like what the fuck did I just see, but in a very, very different way. Yeah. Well, it's, you know, it's not, and it's not like a giant movie, but it is a, it is a higher end small movie, you know, it's a higher end low budget film. And, you know, probably cost a couple million dollars. So it's got a lot of gloss and it's got some really impressive moments and really impressive effects. Mm hmm. But yeah, it has kind of a WTFness to it. Yeah. I would say, especially because it escalates. So it's kind of in that way, the opposite of tonight she comes. It escalates so gradually that you almost slip into the eldritch horror part seamlessly. You really do.

22:57No, I have to agree because even the way the creature is revealed. To you and to the characters is very slow and methodical and piece by piece. So by the time you get to the full reveal, you don't even realize that you've seen most of the creature before in bits and pieces. Yeah. Um, you just didn't have the full context for it. And it was manipulating things. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And I didn't mention, I should have mentioned this is based on a book called The Rich Will from 2011, British novel by Adam Neville. Very British. Yeah. That won some awards and seemed very well liked. Yeah. I have not read it. I maybe should because I like this movie so much. Like you read books. I've seen your kind of like gave you sit on the dresser for actually might be years but it's busted. Everybody point and laugh. Everybody point and laugh.

23:58Oh, they're looking at me. It's true. But no, it's a solid one. And it's in that cliche space of the wilderness in a horror. Oh, yeah. Which is a cliche for a reason because it is scary to be away from dial tone. It's scary to be away from modern convenience and modern comfort because we don't realize that you know a modern convenience is calling for help. Yeah. Because we're so spoiled. We think of convenience as things that are nice to have but no, it's very convenient not to have to run three miles to the nearest person for help. That's highly convenient. Very, very convenient. Yes. It is. Yeah. It is very convenient. Because you probably won't die every time you need help because you have to run a mile or two to get help. But it sure is a lot easier when you could just pick up your phone and you know, pop them up. Someone will be there in 20 minutes.

24:58Exactly. But these guys they want to go hiking and for American audiences it's way more exciting because they're going to go hiking in Norway which you know, for being in England, although I think they're in Paris at the beginning. I think they were hanging out in Paris when it's pretty cool. I think so. They were somewhere other than England, I believe. Yeah. They were already started, you know, scaring around here. They started there a holiday. It's funny though because like them going to Norway that's that's like closer than us going to Colorado. You know, that's like them going to from where we are to Wisconsin. But you know, but for Americans we're like, ooh, that's so so exotic. So exotic. I had to explain that when I produced that movie in the United Kingdom. I had to explain to Phil. He was like, I'm worried that like the humor is going to be too Scottish or this is going to be this whatever. And I told him was like, dude, you don't understand. I'm selling this to Americans. Everything you do is exotic. Like we're so excited. Like film it. Oh, like, oh, you're worried because you're filming it too much in rural areas.

26:01Your rural areas are like, whoa, I pay good money to see that. Look at the, look at the English countryside. That's why I just was like just lean into it. Like because that's all that's why we're doing it this way. Yeah, we can't pay for that here. Yeah, I mean, I can't. So, yeah. But we're going to take a quick break and then we'll jump into some more about the ritual. Right after this. So the movie starts. It opens on our five friends in a pub discussing, you know, where they want to go on the next leg of their journey. And one of the friends, Dom, or no, Rob, there's so many friends. He suggests, let's go hiking up in Sweden. They stop at a liquor store and Rob and Luke go in. And that's when there's a robbery that goes wrong, goes wrong.

27:05And Rob gets killed. And Luke was like hiding, he managed to hide behind a, like a shelf. Yeah, a rack. A rack. But it is like, I don't know, for me, it was a pretty heartbreaking scene because he does have that moment where he like locks ice with his friend before he like dies. Yeah. And you do see throughout the rest of the movie, it's reflected in he kind of carries that with him throughout the rest of the film. Yeah. So that's, you know, a huge, huge moment. I mean, who wouldn't? No, yeah. No, I mean, it's kind of the big punctuating, you know, not punctuating because I would end it. But you know, it's kind of the big, I don't know, I'm not sure what the term would be inciting. Insighting incident. Yeah. Yeah, it's an inciting incident into the emotional side of the story that's being told, as opposed to, you know, the drama that's unfolding with the horror elements and stuff

28:10like that. Exactly. Yeah. So on this hike, they go to the peak and kind of have a little ceremony ritual where they sit there and like pour one out for Rob and set up his picture. Yeah. Well, before Rob died, it wasn't even a popular choice. Like, no, then we're really into the idea of going hiking in the middle of nowhere in northern Sweden. Yeah. But now they're doing it to honor him. Yeah. So and that's another thing is, you know, this is the first ritual of many that is included in this movie. So I like the way that it's kind of layered on top of each other. So as they're coming back down the mountain, Luke and one of the other friends, they do notice like often the distance down in the woods. They see like fire, like it could potentially be a lodge or, you know, people down there,

29:13but it's way off in the woods. And they kind of like just note that. Oh, so that's not when they saw the chalet, right? No, because that's a different moment. Okay. Because the chalet is when they realize that's where they have to hike to. Yeah. No, and I know what you're talking about because there's another point after they've gotten in the woods where they see fire again. Don't they? No. I think you're confusing. The the moment when they're on the top of the big hill and they see across on another big hill, it's not in the woods. Oh, okay. The shot. That's the chalet. That's where they're heading because they even say like I didn't think we'd be that close so soon. But then they realize that because the the way the hike goes, they have to take this long route to get to it. And then they're starting to, you know, get tired of this crap. So that's what leads them to take the shortcut. Yeah. So the thing is the, yeah, the fires at the chalet that they were hiking toward. Yeah. But it does it does go wrong when the next day one of the guys like twists his ankle.

30:14Yeah, buses need a bus. Buses need. And so at first it was like we could take a shortcut through the woods because then it would be so much faster to get to the chalet. But then it was, well, now we have to take the shortcut through the woods because he literally can't make it the whole way all around. And he's kind of the, the pitcher of the group was always complaining about something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So he was, he was very pleasant to be around as, as he's complaining about his busted up knee. Yeah. But so that's, that's what leads them to take a shortcut, quote, unquote, through the woods, which is always a great decision. Never. I mean, shortcuts are the best. And I loved, because you and I have talked about it, you know, personally, I think we've talked about it on, on the show. But I love the way they filmed the woods in this because, you know, you and I have had

31:15the discussion that woods is woods. Yeah. You can kind of point a camera in any direction and you get lost visually in it. And they lean into that very, very heavily with this movie because they will play with, you know, how narrow the field of vision is between the trees. And just like you can hardly see anything between the trees or between the branches and you kind of like lose the guys as they're walking down the path. I just think it's really effective. Well, what they did as far as I could tell was they went for a lot of deep photography, yeah, which means, you know, the opposite of shallow photography. So by having more of the visual plane and focus, it makes it harder to differentiate the trees and how far away some are from the ones that are close by. So it makes everything look more dense and close together. It compresses everything together. That's a good word for it. Yeah, I mean, that is definitely an element.

32:17I mean, and the forest is just that's a very thick, dense forest anyway, because the whole mantra of woods is woods comes from the fact that you can kind of point the camera anywhere once you're in the woods. And it's very hard for the audience to get their bearings at all. Yeah. So and that's true. I mean, unless you have a tree that looks very, very peculiar or it's troll too and they do their, they do their cutaways in a spruce forest when everything else was in a regular forest. But we all can't be a masterpiece like that film. Exactly. Exactly. No, so it immediately there's a stark contrast from when they're on the trail, you know, up in the mountains and everything like you can see the sky and you can see all around you and then bam, they're in the woods and you can like, can't hardly see like, deep in front of your nose.

33:17The contrast is really strong because it's all wide open spaces and then it's all the opposite of wide open spaces from the moment they start the shortcut. That's a really good point. Yeah. And almost immediately they discover something. And this like I said, once, when we were watching this together, once this happened, I was like, oh yeah. As they're walking along, they see something like suspended up in the trees. And so they bend, you know, turn around a bend and there's like a giant elk dead suspended in the trees. And it's like recently been killed. It is still bleeding. Yeah. Yeah. It's reminded me of the movie Predator. Yeah. It's not hung up in the trees. It's a good 10 feet above the ground. It's not like when hunters dress an animal by hanging it off a branch or whatever. No, it's like way up there. Yeah, it would take an incredible amount of effort to do that.

34:19And it's a very large creature. It's not like a white tail deer where you could be like, oh, I could, you could kind of get it up there. Yeah. No, it was a very large creature. So they're all freaked out about it. They notice like there's there's sigils and runes around. And then the one friend who's like really level headed, he's the one who points out like, guys, the blood is fresh. It's still dripping blood. Whatever killed this thing is probably still around, we should all leave. Yeah, we should keep moving. We should we should keep going. Yeah. And so they all leave and they're immediately talking about like, are there bears in the area? I mean, because you're in Switzerland, like what else? Well, Sweden, yeah. Sweden. Uh, what else would it be? Yeah, I mean, I, I'm not even sure how many bears they have in Sweden, but even so, I mean, bears have been known to do some weird stuff, but they don't tend to be doing it 12 feet off the ground.

35:20And they have even more things to worry about, which we'll talk about right after this. So one of the great things about being out in nature is how quickly the weather changes, can't you agree? I mean, I think it's a much more aggressive when you're in mountains and stuff though. Yeah, yeah. Then if you were in the plain states, like we often are. Yeah. Um, but I mean, being outside, yeah, the weather is a, is a thing. It's a constant um, factor. And it is also a factor for our friends in the forest. Uh, it did not mean for there to be so much alliteration there, but it happened. I was going to let it go, but okay. I mean, because like after they move off from finding that, that elk, high up in the trees, it starts raining and it gets worse and worse and worse and like it's getting

36:24dark and they managed to find some kind of shelter. It's like a shack cabin. Yeah, it looks like a hunting cabin. Yeah. And um, it's, it's locked up. One of the friends manages to like break down a window so they can get in or break in a door so they can get in. And um, pretty instantly everyone's on guard because once again, there's runes and sigils everywhere and like stuff hung up, but that's not the worst of it because then they go upstairs and there's a room upstairs and there's something in one of the rooms. One of the guys finds it and he like kind of screams and like calls everybody up and it's a giant like Wicker Man effigy, but it's got like antlers for arms. Yeah, and no head and no head. So that begins an argument of like, do we really want to stay the night here or not?

37:30But the other option is we go back out in the woods where it's raining. And it's the middle of the night. And it's the middle of the night. That's not ideal. That's not a good choice either and there could be bears or whatever did that to the elk. So they all decide to stay in here. And that's when we start to get acquainted with how odd the flashbacks slash hallucinations to the robbery are. Right, right. Because it's not like regular flashbacks, it's like the memory tears its way into the forest and like superimposes itself into the forest all those. Okay, that's a really cool way to put it. So yeah, it's so our guy Luke, he goes down to sleep and dreams that he opens up a door, that the door opens to the liquor store where the robbery happened.

38:33And his friend got murdered. It's the first time we get this like reality bending thing where the world around you opens up to a nightmare memory of sorts. Yeah. So he walks through this nightmare memory and then comes to hearing screaming and then realizes he's outside of the cabin runs back in. Two of his friends are still down on the main floor. One of them's like pissed himself. Yeah. And the other one is babbling and screaming for his wife, Gail. Yeah, he keeps yelling Gail, Gail. And that's the friend who has the injured knee who is a bit of a complainer as we mentioned. But the other friend is nowhere to be found. But then he hears like a voice coming from upstairs. So he goes up there and his other friend is like dressed down to a skibby's or I don't even like totally buck naked, I can't remember. And prostrated in front of the F.E.G.

39:36Like praying in tongues. Yeah. I mean, you pretty much that's what Mark said about it. Was he whipping him? I remember he, I don't know if it was clear how he got all these marks on him, but he has marks. And we need to mention that when Luke wakes up initially, his chest is covered in blood and he's got like these bloody marks on it. Yeah, it almost looks like he's been punctured. Yeah, there's like a few like a few bloody dots circling another one. Yeah. Like could almost be a bite, but not quite. Yeah, it's just a weird concentric circles. So they, they immediately are like, okay, it is time to leave. Yeah. Now we should have left before and now we need to leave now. But the problem is following the trail would take them like way longer and dom the friend with the injured knee. He wants to take a different trail that he feels is going to be much, much faster.

40:40Right. But that again, it kind of causes a, a little fight between the guys. And this is the part of the movie where now that I have a little more of a horror education, I was starting to get, I was reminded a little bit of the infighting in the Blair Witch project. Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, I think that, you know, the Blair Witch project pretty much nails the kind of like frustration of being stuck in the woods and you're hungry and you're lost and everything. And I feel like, you know, anybody, it'd be very easy to compare just about any film that tries to accurately depict how people get in that way. But I agree. And especially because they're hungry and they're wet. Yeah. And the other thing is it's very, very wet there. Yeah. It's been pouring rain.

41:41They basically have no food. Yeah. And yeah, they tried to like build a fire in the like wood stove in the cabin, but there was no like wood to burn. So it was not a good time. So as they're, as they're trying to make their way through the forest, Luke climbs up a ridge above everyone to like get a, get a better view, try to like be a lookout and see if he can, if he can kind of discern where they're going. And while he's up there, he sees something in the trees. And it's one of those things where like this, you almost miss it. You see a hand and it starts to move. And then your brain tells you that hand is 16 feet off the ground. Yeah. It's high up and it doesn't make any sense to be there. Like how, how would it be?

42:43And it just moves and then hides behind a tree. And it freaks us out. It freaks Luke out. But what freaks Luke out even more is his chest begins bleeding again. So he runs back down to the rest of the guys and starts trying to tell them like what he saw. And this is when things really blow up because now Dom is even more upset because Luke is like pulling their legs. And he starts accusing Luke saying like we wouldn't even be here if you had saved Rob. And that's where things start to get really hinky because that level of vitriol is really not not appropriate. No. And it, but it's being slung and it's the first of many that will dig deeper into right after this.

43:49Luke, group of friends kind of trudges along in very awkward and hurt silence. That's a good way to put it. And Luke does, he like bolts ahead and the rest of the guys are barely keeping up with them. But Hutch, the friend that's kind of like the mediator, the level headed one. He's yeah, well, he's that's getting tested quite a bit too. Yeah, he's he's really pulling his weight in the group. So he's kind of like trying to lead the other guys and keep them all together. And then they all find something. There's like this mossy overgrowth and they all stop at it because they realize that it's strange. They start to peel back the moss and they find a tent. Yeah. And it, I mean, it is buried underneath brush and leaves and it's clearly been there

44:54a very long time. Very, very long time. Very, you know, compost is built over top of the physically. Yeah. Like the forest is done reclaiming us. It is part of the forest now. Yeah. That's a way to put it. So they keep digging and they find a wallet. Open up the wallet. And the credit card expired in 1984. I mean, that's a, that's a, which is a little, that's a little while ago. So the guys, they get a little more distressed because they're like, okay, this is, this is kind of proof that people get lost out here a lot. But Dom is saying this is proof that we're getting more and more close to that like the lodge because that would be the only explanation for why people would be camping out here in the first place. Okay. And I can see the argument, like the idea that your first instinct is of course going to be that these people died. Yes.

45:55Right? Yeah. But if you want to be generous, it doesn't, it doesn't actually bring that much more comfort because if you want to be generous about it, then the other thing will be or whatever that came after or scared these people or what have you was just scary enough that they left literally everything, including a single shoe and their, their documents, their wallets, their everything. Yeah. Which isn't that much more comforting. I would venture to say it is not more comforting. Yeah. That's it all. I mean, that's probably two cents. Yeah. You know, I have a feeling. I have a feeling. Again, the guys are arguing and you start to get the sense as they're arguing more and more. This is not just the stress of them trying to survive. Yeah. This is the more they start to see in the forest, the more they're all getting on edge

46:57because something is going on. So that night, Huch and Luke are kind of talking and unfortunately the other guys cannot keep up. Yeah, they're, they're dragging. They're like, and Huch is like really worried for Dom because Dom like is a complainer and he's like a crybaby, but like he is not doing well either. Like, they know their friends. So they decide that it is up to Luke in the next morning, he should go ahead. The guys will stay behind. He should go ahead and find help. Yeah. Which would help. I mean, which would be a wise move. Yeah. But they can't really enact that plan. They go to sleep that night. Luke has another liquor store nightmare, but things are starting to change because now the nightmare knows he's there. Yeah, which is, it sounds kind of like a stupid turn of phrase.

48:00If you don't see how it's done because the first few times he has these nightmares, these flashbacks, these whatever, that's just what they are. They're flashbacks. It's playback. And now all of a sudden, as things are happening, the people and in these memories are noticing him watching. And it is very off putting when they first kind of look over and see you watching as the audience and then being his perspective, it kind of reminds me of in funny games when the bad guy in there suddenly just looks right at the camera and talks to the audience. And it like stars you're like, Oh, God, he knows I'm here. I'm glad that you pointed that out because as you were talking, I realized what one of the things that is so unsettling about that scene is the robber that killed Rob. It kills his friend, the rob robber, the rob robber.

49:01He, you know, like, bash his head in, looks at Luke, but we're the camera. And he does look dead in the camera. And I think that's part of why it's so unsettling is because he makes eye contact with us. And he looks at Luke and he, he growls in this demonic voice, coward, which is just cruel. And it's just like you are subconscious to do that to you. Luke wakes up and he hears screaming and huts his missing. It's the dead of night. They all start like scrambling around, try to find him, but they realize like that's worse. So they huddle up in the darkness and like, wait out the night, which is, that's great. I mean, like, there's kind of a desperation there. Yeah. To that. Yeah. Not, not my first choice for what to do to handle the situation, but I mean, what else

50:01can you do but wait and see? And the fact that the strongest of them, both as a hiker, as a navigator, as well as just physically, he's the, at that time was the least injured, the least exhausted, you know, having him get cut out is quite a blow. Yeah. It was a less than ideal loss, I suppose. I think that's a fair way to put it, almost, almost too fair. But it gets worse because they do find hudg again. Yeah. And it's not the way, well, unless you really hate these characters, it's not in the way you're hoping that they'll find him. And wait, is this these names Dutch, isn't it? No, it's Dutch. Dutch. Sorry, my brain was like, wait, Dutch. I wish it was Dutch because I would tie into predator and we'll explain why right after

51:01this. So we find hutch, but he's not alive anymore. He's not doing too many. No, not per se. Not per se. And remember that elk earlier? Oh, yeah, that elk. Well, he has now also been eviscerated and hung up 16 feet up high in the tree. And he's like, the thing about him and the elk and we'll see other victims, they're not just suspended, they're like impaled in the tree and suspended from the tree. Yeah, I don't remember seeing exactly how they're held up per se. Yeah, because they're per se. But yeah, so I noticed this watch through that they're like impaled like in branches and

52:07stuff. Yeah, definitely. And I on this watch through, it reminded me of a kind of bird. There's these birds, they're commonly called butcher birds. Oh, perfect. Great. And it's as awful as it sounds. So butcher birds are technically songbirds. They don't have like sharp talons or beaks or anything. So what they do to kill their prey is they'll catch it and then they'll find like thorns on branches and just impale it and leave it there. And when they get hungry, they just have a cache of food that they'll just go to. And there's so it's just this tiny little bird that like kills things by impaling it and looking at looking at hutch up in the tree, I was just very, very reminded of that because you have something that is just leaving prey up in a tree.

53:08It just reminded me of that very, very much. I don't know if that was an inspiration, but I would like to believe that. I mean, nature's just just the worst. It can be grace. It can be grace. It can be. It really is just. Yeah, you know, just a minus, I'm a D minus D minus, I stand by that just just no thank you. No, thank you on the on the. So the remaining guys, we've got Dom and Luke and I can never remember the third guy's name. That's fine. It's fine. It's just some guy's name. Just some guy. So we got I think it's Peter. See, there's Luke. Bill is full of one who died. No, it's Phil. Phil is the one who's still left. Yeah. So we've got Phil, Dom and Luke. They're still left. But there is as much as they want to just leave, they also can't imagine just leaving Dom there.

54:13Yeah, of course not. I mean, there's something inherently awful about leaving your friend's body, especially you haven't even had the time to really comprehend that they're going. Yeah, you know, it's it's really horrific. So against better judgment, they take him down. They do take the time to like cover his body. But that means that they've just spent way more time in this really dangerous, dark, difficult to navigate for us. Burning daylight in a place where only where only horrific things happen at night. Yeah. And the person that was their navigator, they just buried. So yeah. So they really should get they should really get going. They start making their way through the darkness. And this is where the movie again really rewards you for being paranoid and looking in the background because you see this giant shape just slowly moving behind them.

55:19And you can't parse out like exactly what it is. It's just ginormous. No, I was just laughing at you saying it really rewards your paranoia because you're right. Like that's completely accurate. Um, and they do like they see lights out in the distance, Luke again being kind of the ostracized one. He goes off to try and like figure out what's going on. Now that's the ostracized one, not the ostrich sized one. Yes. We'll get to that. It's important to have a delineation. But not a decalination. Not a desalination. Yes. So when Luke gets back, uh, he can't find Dom anywhere. Phil's just crouched in the shadows, like under a bush just shaking. And when Luke like tries to get to him, he's like, what's happening? He just gets dragged away into the darkness, like a rag doll.

56:19Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it's, it's very sudden and it's a perfect escalation because so far, everything's happened when you turn away. This is the first time we've actually witnessed something happening. Before it seemed like everything always happened when everybody was asleep. And now it's, it's really interacting with them. Yeah. But Luke doesn't really have a chance to help Phil because as he's trying to like get through the forest, he stumbles forward and he's back in the liquor store. And he has to like push his way through the liquor store and like knock over aisles to be able to get back into the forest just so that he can find Dom. And so his reality is very quickly breaking. Yes. Yeah. Very, very much. And the, the two of them, they now know like it's now or never. So they're like, we, you know, on the count of three, we have to just

57:23haul ass through the woods toward the light and just try to get out of here. Yes. Run toward the light. I mean, if you've got a better plan, I'd love to hear it. I mean, you know, I, whenever I've heard people yell, run toward the light, it's always been a good idea. Yeah. So one, two, three, they bolt and as they're running through the woods, they can hear the creature around them. And again, your paranoia is rewarded because it's not just fair forest noises anymore. You can hear something and it feels like it's hurting them. Yeah. And as they're running, they find fill again, dead, impaled, suspended up in the trees. And they don't even have time to react now. No, no, there's, there's, I mean, really, there's only enough time to, um, like what's, what's, what's less than reacting? There's only enough time to like acknowledge it. Yeah. You know, to go, that's, that's that.

58:25And then just run, they, they find a lit path. They find a small like little cabin thing and they run into it. What's, appears to be safety, um, and have a short moment of like what the fuck just happened to fill a very short moment, very short moment. Someone comes up behind them and just knocks them both unconscious. So apparently the safety they thought they found was not so safe. Well, which, you know, thank goodness that, uh, uh, it seems so welcoming and nurturing before then, you know, they thought they found safety. I mean, you know, that's a stretch, a little, a little bit of a stretch because it seems like there was never a safe moment at all in the entire monstrous experience. Uh, this films, once you're lost in the woods with them, you are lost in the woods with them, but now they're actually about to kind of not be lost. And this is where the film really takes a turn that I, I sincerely believe

59:30could have wrecked it, but instead really kind of solidified it for me. And we'll talk about it right after this. When Dom and Luke come to, they are restrained. They're, I mean, I would say they're, they're, you know, stoic. Yeah. Level headed. Yeah, they're very restrained. That's, it's a good thing to be every. So they've been locked up or I mean, like, chained up together. They're in a room. Yeah. Um, there's a, like, people gathering around outside, um, and it's, it's very clear now that this wasn't just one building. This is a entire little village inside the forest.

1:00:32Yeah. Uh, this little lady comes and she lets Luke drink. And as she's like giving him some water, he realizes she's got marks on her chest, just like his. Yeah, they match pretty much exactly. Yeah. And she even like recognizes and like gives him like a knowing look. But this moment of brief rest doesn't last very long. No, not at all. Cause then, uh, some guys come and they take Dom away, just drag him off. And we can hear what's happening upstairs and it's not great. Yeah, it doesn't sound like a good time. And I don't, I don't know if you caught this, but I think this was even more brutal for Luke because this was another instance of one of his friends and he couldn't, he couldn't help. Yeah, it's definitely a call back to his feeling that, you know, he should have protected

1:01:38his friend and couldn't. Now here he is yet again, a friend is being taken away. And, you know, as far as he knows to be murdered and he's stuck there, he's doing everything he can to try and get out of his, yeah, his binds to the point where he's, you know, very much hurting his wrists and it's tearing his skin. And he's trying everything in his life to, to get out of there and it ain't happen. And beer can do some love. He beer can do some off, man. Nobody's going to get that joke. I know. I'm sorry guys. I know. I know. Um, while he's like their alone listening to his poor friend be tortured, a young woman comes and kind of she, she's the one person in the village aside like the old lady wasn't even like that nice to him. She's the one person in the village that really seems like she's trying to make peace with

1:02:39Luke. Right. And she explains like he asks, what's that thing out there? And she explains very matter of factly, it's a God which okay. I guess, you know, I mean, well, okay, I'll tell you what, you know, okay, little laughing, but okay. So what is it to you then? Yeah, you name, you name what it is. You think you're so smart. You're like, how they say it's a God? Okay, what is it then? That's a way. I'm just saying like, I can't like, can you really, you can't, it's not an animal because it seems way too powerful and big for that. Yeah. I'm going to agree with that. And she does go a little bit into an explanation of why they are able to interact with it that they are the worshipers and in exchange it grants them immortality. But she makes it really clear that it needs obedience.

1:03:43It, and it needs them to worship it. But immortality doesn't mean eternal youth. No. And she, she doesn't explicitly say like what that means. She just says like, you get to be here forever, but that's it. Yeah, it's about it there, pal. And Luke has a choice. He can be the next person in the village to start worshiping this creature or he can be the next victim. Those are his two choices. Well, the weird thing is that, that, I mean, yes, like what you're describing is exactly the plot's point. The way it's presented doesn't make it sound like, I'm trying to get to put this, not let that like you don't have a choice because like we've got a gun to your head. I mean, they make it sound like it's not a choice because it's simply like no one would ever choose the other one. Yeah. Like if the options are eternal life or immediate painful death, but also because I guess

1:04:46they're starry eyed to their, their God. Yeah. Because I really, it's hard to describe, but like the sense I got was that they described the option is basically not an option, but not in that like threatening kind of way. Yeah. No, absolutely. It's very obvious what you'll choose because who would choose, yeah, who's going to choose the die? Well, no, but it feels beyond that. I guess, but who would choose not, who would choose to not have what we have? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Like a deep brainwash cult mindset is my point. Yes. Probably a lot of that is to be able to stand oneself for the choices you made by having the idea like no one, why would anybody ever refuse this? Like it's impossible to refuse an opportunity like this. It might also be a way to kind of like cope with the fact that they're a bunch of monsters who want to even bigger monsters. Yeah. No, yeah, there is no, I think I think that's a very good point.

1:05:46And I think that touches on one of the thesis of the movie is the thesis. The thesis, the site. The thesis. What is the plural? I guess with the plural of thesis, just be thesis. I think it be theses. Theses. But now I'm checking. Yes, theses. Theses. Theses. Okay. So I guess one of the main theses of the movie. Is about the mindset of survivors. Yeah. I do. Because that's Luke. That is in essence, that is anyone who is living in this village is a survivor. They have made a decision. Yeah, that's a really good point. And so that, you know, maybe it's getting too deep into it, but I guess that's kind of like as we finish the movie, we kind of learn like maybe Luke is the one who confronted it the right way and the village, you know, they're the ones who just kept their heads

1:06:50in the sand and didn't didn't really confront anything. Yeah. But we'll get to that in a little bit. Yeah, we're on our own way there. We'll get there because they have plans for Dom. You know, like they bring him back, Luke and Dom get a chance to like talk a little bit and Dom knows he's doomed. Yeah. Luke's like trying to tell him he's like, no, I'm almost out of my bonds. Like we can make it. We can get out of here. I mean, he's literally saying things like, you know, I won't let this, I won't let anything happen to you. Like, it's just period. And his buddy's just kind of like, dude, it is what it is, man. Yeah, like Dom has kind of made peace. Yeah, he's definitely in the acceptance phase. And it's, it's really sad to see, but it's also just kind of, I mean, he starts doing the thing, you know, the tell my wife thing, which is, you know, one of the ultimate,

1:07:51you know, movie cliches, tell my wife, I love her. It's, it's, it's a, it's pretty heartbreaking in a movie that is pretty consistently heartbreaking from about minute three. Yeah. But things are going to get stranger and go in directions you might not be expecting right after this. So what, what was going through your mind when the villagers dragged Dom up and like, tied him up and put him, put him out in the village square. And then we're, we're bracing for this creature to come out of the woods. And then we see his face and we see this look of relief and almost like admiration, wash

1:08:56over his face. And then we see a woman walk out of the woods. Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah. Were, were you like, were you already thinking like, oh, the creature is playing tricks or what were you thinking? Well, the fact that he was screaming out to his wife that first night when they were all having the, their different types of night terror stuff happening, I kind of figured that it can change its appearance, probably to, probably to usher compliance to an extent. Yeah. Which actually made me wonder because this creature, do you remember what that, that type of being is that it kind of looks like? There's a festival in Europe that they do where that being exists. Well, I, I did some research and the director and the creators said that they were inspired. Like they did research and were inspired by Norse mythology and the Yotan, which are

1:10:00like the giants. That's, but that's the thing with the like skull head too. Because Yotan like is translated as giants, but that's a more loose term. It's any kind of like supernatural, predator natural, all powerful being that is not a god. Um, I'm looking at some of them online. Yeah. Yeah. They are like tall and a lot of them have weird animal heads with arms and stuff coming out of their heads. So I would, I mean, I would say it's more than a little inspired. I'd say it's pretty much what it's going for. Pretty derived from. So I mean, we obviously see this kind of thing, this kind of elder god thing. Yeah. And when he, when we see his perspective and it's his wife walking up to him and he's happy to see her, there were a few, I actually had a lot of thoughts about this part of the film. And one of them was that his smile and reaction to her was not necessarily that he believed she was there because he was surprisingly cogent.

1:11:04Remember how he was like, I'm going to die. Yeah. Yeah. Like, he's like, no, he's like, just you get out of here. Promise me because I'm going to die. No, you're not. I'm going to die. So part of me thinks that he's so cogent that the reason he smiled is that he was just happy to see her face because he knew this was part of his death process that this thing lies and betrays your mind and takes advantage of anything human in you. So that's number one, I thought I had. I'm not saying that I 100% think that's what happened, but that is something that crossed my mind. But that opened up to me, something else, which is I wonder what the followers see when they look at him because we never see their perspective. You know, that's a really good point. So what if they don't see what, what it looks like or if you want to go even further, what if because our perspective is strictly the hikers, what if the way that we're seeing

1:12:06it as the hikers perspective is just based on what they vaguely know subconsciously about Norse mythology because they're in northern Sweden. I mean, it could be. So the being could have no corporeal form that you can necessarily fully grasp or that could be its real. It's real form. It's real form. I mean, that's the part that's definitely a little bit harder to say. And I will say it's a little bit of a stretch. I mean, because they don't really show it changing form constantly. No, but that's kind of the genius of the creature design. And you know, and you know me, I love monsters. I love monster design. But so the thing is kind of like a centaur. It's got like a half elk or deer body. And then it's got a human-esque torso where the neck would be. And then a deer skull head. But it's got like multiple arms in the antlers look like they could also be arms.

1:13:10Yeah. And it almost looks like it's absorbed worshipers into its corporeal form. Could be. Like that's kind of the, so and that's what's cool is from one angle, it looks more like a more traditional monster. And then from another angle, it looks more like a more human being kind of thing. Yeah. And when it moves, it's got, you know, those weird movements that it will rear back and then move its antlers, but the arms will wave around. And it's, so it's like really weird and every angle is different. Yeah. It's kind of like, like if you asked someone to draw the Wendy go, but they had like weapons grade ADHD. Yeah. Weapons grade. I like that. Yeah. That's a new one that I just came up with. I feel like that's how you end up with the kind of yotun that's in the ritual.

1:14:12Yeah. Weapons grade ADHD. You're welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed that. So, but this is, this is the big reveal because at first, as the creature, the being comes out, it looks like Gale and Dom looks relieved. Um, you know, almost starts crying seeing her. Yeah. And he does like get down on his knees because he's so relieved. And then once he falls to his knees, that's when he sees what it truly is. And it picks him up, you know, and does what it is known to do, which is impale things on trees and then leave them to die. And it does that. And as it's doing that, you know, um, Luke is in there and breaks his thumb so that he can get out of his bonds. Yeah. Oh. And he, he hears what's going on. He sees through slats in the wood. He sees what's going on. So he knows that it's just him now.

1:15:15And so now that there's no chance for him to save his friend, the only option is get revenge or as much revenge as he can. Well, that's the thing though. I mean, what does this guy have to live for? There's no reference to a girlfriend at home. There's no reference to, I mean, there's really no reference to his life outside of there. I mean, like the most, the most reference to his life outside of the, the holiday is, gosh, I don't even remember. Did he give an example when they were all hungry really early in the movie and they each said the thing they wanted? Because one guy was like, I want to stake it. The other guy was like, I want sushi and the other guy was like, I just want a burger and fries alone because he's a family. He's like, I just want to eat a burger and fries by myself. No one bothering me. Nobody's trying to get my attention. I don't even remember if Luke... He doesn't really even give an example. So like we have so little of him that's outside of this space and that matters because when

1:16:22that woman was explaining what motor, right, was the name of the creature, motor. Yeah. Yeah, a motor or motor. Well, it's not like they were saying mother. Yeah. So it might be because they are saying mother and Sweden for all, Swedish, for all I know, for all I can. But my point is they remember when they say that he was chosen, I mean, they say it's because he carries this pain with him. Yeah. And that's an interesting element because you can't really torment him with anything that hasn't already happened. So everything he envisions, everything that they make him envision to terrorize him, to torment him, it's in the past. As to where we don't really see entirely whatever he's tormented with, but obviously, like this guy's wife, it was tormenting him with visions of his wife, his wife who is waiting at home for him. So it must have been, you know, making him think that she was in danger or that he would

1:17:25never be able to see her or something like that. So he's reaching outward. His desires, his thoughts, his feelings are reaching outward while Luke has nothing. Yeah. And I think that might be what the creature prays on. I think that's a really good point because what we, what we learn about it is it clearly uses the thing that has the most control over people to get in and to get to get their worship. So with Luke, it's his trauma, with Dom, it's his wife. Phil, he was the one who was up there praying to the effigy and like, you know, flagulating himself. You know, he's even the one who's, he was like immediately like the creature got into my head. Yeah. And, and is totally freaked out by the fact that without having even met it, it made

1:18:32him pray to it. Yeah. And he's one of, he kind of does come off as a little more like spiritual or religious of the guys. So it uses what you hold. I hold dear makes it sound weird because trauma. It's not a deer. It's a yutton or whatever. But it's the, it's the thing that you and trying in your life. Yeah. Yeah. I would agree. Although I think it might be a little bit more direct. Yes. I'll explain that right after this. My point is, I mean, I, I think it's praying on people, but I think that as much as it needs. And I know that I talked about this when we watched it last time and, and we'll go into it more once we talk about the finale. It needs sacrifices, but it needs praise.

1:19:35Yeah. And the only way to make Luke a perfect future followers to take everything else from him too. It's almost like, it's almost like his despair is, is like a spark. Yeah. And he has to push the, the creature has to push kindling to it. Yeah. And then it's like a fire to warm itself and, and survive. So that's what the whole movie kind of is. Is just keeping that spark of despair and hopelessness and, and solitude. Yes. Yes. And, and growing it, gardening it until it goes from being a sprout to being, you know, a mighty oak tree that it can hang a corpse from. It's kind of the way I see it developing. And I think that that makes sense because when you, when you see how the others in the tri-bar, this little whatever tribe in the woods, it, it seems like they were all the last

1:20:42of their group, you know. So it seems like that's what it does is it, it is by taking it makes you join it, whether it's by, whether you want to look at it as feeding a, an amount of grief so much that it can't like that, that that whole can only be filled by like worshiping an elder God, or just it being that by killing all your friends, you have, you now understand how powerful it is. It could go either way. Oh, yeah. And it could be that it depends on the personality of the person that it sees is capable of accepting it, I guess, or something like that. And I have a funny, when we get to the end, I have a funny kind of turn, a phrase on that because I think that this movie has a, is very funny to compare to midsummer. I was, I'm glad you're saying that because I was thinking as we were watching it like, man, this has got like all the shit that I like that midsummer.

1:21:43I hoped would have and it didn't. Well, I mean, they're both in Europe. And that's really the big. That's it. Yeah, well, but there's, but there is a trauma element because midsummer about trauma as well. But we'll talk about that once we get to the resolution, the climax, because that's where I feel like it's the best point to make a comparison. Yeah. Yeah. So, but I, I derailed a lot with that, but I, that's what I, that's kind of what I got from it was, was this kind of sense that it creates lost souls so that it can find them. I think that's a very good comparison. And it ties into, it very much ties into what's going to happen in the movie next as Luke escapes because he escapes. He finds a torch so he can kind of like see, he runs upstairs. Well, luckily the place is just magony with candles and torches because I, I guess the utility company hasn't really got that. They haven't run any lines yet.

1:22:45Or they took it down there like for the last time, pal, we told you you put corpses on the lines. That's public property. You can't just use it anyway. You want, I don't know why I'm from Boston quit asking. Just has to be that way. Yeah. The law, the law. So Luke finds the, I guess the ultimate, the ultimate, I wouldn't call it goal, but the ultimate consequence of worshipping the creature because he finds some of the immoral. Well, so he, yeah, he walks into like the steeple kind of spot. Yeah. He, here's like chanting. Yeah. So he goes in there because that's where they took, that's where they took Dom the first time for some kind of ritualistic torment or something in front of that congregation up there. Yeah. It looks literally when you first see it, it looks like a room full of mummies of mummified corpses.

1:23:46Yeah. But then we start to realize that they're, I guess, closer to alive than dead. Mostly alive. Alive enough that they can move vaguely. Yeah. They like start to turn their heads to look at them. Yeah, yeah. And they start to acknowledge him and it's, it's very awesomely creepy and suggest what you were mentioning about it. Eternal life doesn't guarantee eternal youth. Yeah, it just means you're sticking around to worship this thing forever. Yeah. And I love this sequence. This is the sequence that made me go this movie's boss and I love it because I, I like to consider myself not a vindictive person. But when really awful things are done to people, I love it when it comes back. Karma. It always makes me happy when it comes back. Like I love a movie where there's some person who just messes with people with impunity and now all of a sudden, you know, they're laying on the ground begging for their lives.

1:24:46And somebody's like, oh, is it mean that I'm going to kill you? Is murder mean? And then they kill them. I'm like, yeah, that's the most, that's the most vindictive I get when I'm watching a movie. But like, I love that as that he, it's, it's the performance is perfect here because he's, he's observing all of this, right? He sees them turning. They're obviously not a threat. This is ghastly horror. But yeah, they're going to do dust on him. Yeah, yeah, exactly. They can't even get up. But after you just kind of, but he basically looks around and looks around and then once he fully figures out what this is, he just starts touching the torch to the bottom of the people. And it's just the way he does it. And we both cheers. Yeah. It's so matter of fact, though, just tap and they're. And then tap and I'm like, yeah, that's what I want because he promised his buddy revenge and he and, and frankly, why wouldn't you want revenge against these people?

1:25:46Yeah. And, and, yeah, I don't know. There's something so poignant about what he, what he's been through and what his journey has been because it started very recently. Mm-hmm. You know, I mean, I mean, like we said, the movie star. It starts with his friend dying and it's, they're on the same holiday they were on. So it could have only been a few days. I think, I think the movie it says it's been like six months. Oh, no, you're totally right. I'm, but that is still like six months. Six months is not a lot. But you're totally right. No, you're totally right. It's they, they restart the holiday for him. Right. So no, no, you're totally right. But it's still a very fresh and it's clearly stuck with him. And I think that Survivor's guilt is something I wish would be, would be dug into more. I think it's a really fascinating curse for a person who's fortunate enough to live to have.

1:26:46Yeah. Well, and, and also think of it, think of Luke's growth and progression because the movie starts with the main inciting incident being his inaction, kind of culminating in the loss of a friend and culminating in all of this. Well, he's interpreted in action. In his interpreted. By the time he realizes that, that this is a seriously dangerous situation, his friend's already dead. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he's already laying on the floor, bleeding out. And the only option is should I go and get beaten up? Should I get my head bashed in too? Right. That's kind of the darkest part is it's like, yeah, you're as like I should have died to. Yeah, your your mind is the one telling you like, yeah, I could have done something. Well, dying. Well, no, but I mean, but I don't think he ever believed. That's kind of why I love this concept. I don't think he ever believed he could save his friend. I think it's literally what he regrets is not dying that day as well. Yeah, I get what you're saying.

1:27:47Yeah, that's why I think it's really like fascinating and sad and, you know, but it has a beauty in its honesty about how dark the mind can go over loss and regret. Oh, yeah. But we'll take a quick break and then you can, you know, get back on the track. I stole you off of right after this. So we're cheering loops burning the mummy people. And that obviously gets the notice of the villagers and the Yotan because I can only assume it would notice that it's not getting worship from certain people because they're they're blessing of eternal life is to literally what is what's that phrase like sit in not in pew. What's the term when you're sitting in in like congregation or whatever?

1:28:49Oh, I wish I knew, but I don't I don't remember. Okay, fair enough. Yeah, I can't I can't remember. I didn't think you did. I was waiting for you to keep going. Oh, so he runs downstairs and finds a rifle and grabs it. So he's at least got some way to defend himself when he gets out of the building and the young lady that had talked to him like runs out and tries to reason with him like you don't want to do this. And she is, you know, clearly one of the newer converts, but she's got full faith in the Yotan and that's very clearly misplaced trust because as she's trying to, you know, reason with Luke, he's getting upset and the creature is getting upset that she's standing

1:29:55between them. So it just grabs her and and kills her. Yeah. One of its own followers because it was because she was standing in the way. So we're getting even more of a sense of like this creature really does not care about its followers. It really is just using them as a source of power and it wants Luke now. So he shoots it, but that doesn't do much except angry, but it does give him enough time to like start running off into the woods and it starts tearing down the village. It's like a child throwing a temper tantrum because it didn't get its way. Yeah. That's kind of what it reminded me of. So it's chasing Luke through the forest and as he's running, again, it's so cool the way the liquor store just invades the forest. It's not overlaid. It's like the lighting even changes.

1:30:55It's like that gross, yotrash green fluorescent light. Yeah, yeah. It's just really great. And the creature is messing with his mind and he seems to at this point kind of recognize it. And now when it confronts him and like stops him and he doesn't it forces him to his knees, but he doesn't like bow and you can see that he's finally confronting the trauma because it's kind of like the forest and the liquor store are totally merged now. So it's like he's totally accepted it and he manages to stand up. He's got an axe and he runs behind the tree after like striking it with the axe. And as he's running, he manages to like break through the tree line and the creature's

1:32:01galloping galloping and it just stops dead. Well, the way he breaks through the tree line is by running through the vision. Yeah. Oh, which is, which is that's the thing is because I mean, you mentioned that that the liquor store became a part of the woods like all of a sudden, like the floor of liquor store was the woods floor, but it was built in the woods. So it didn't feel like it was inserted anymore. It felt like it was literally the same space entirely. And that was one of my favorite moments was he runs through that vision and that was when I realized like, oh man, it's he's it shows him that to get him to go the opposite direction he needs to go. Yeah. Which is a great symbolism of he had to face what he was hiding from or running from. If he ran into it, he would be okay. He could get to safety, but if he runs away from it, well, the only other arms are motor. Yeah. Yes. That's waiting for you. Yeah. So yeah, no, it was really cool like as he burst through the door of the liquor store

1:33:05and that rhymed. Burst through the door of the liquor store and ran, you know, ran through the tree line and he's suddenly like in a field like really close to a road and motor's like stops dead at the trees and just roars. And it's this deep like primordial like really, really screechy roar. Yeah. Luke turns around and I love it. He screams back. Yeah. And it's so it's like so powerful. He screams back and then motor, the the Yutin turns around. It starts going back into the forest. He like takes a moment to breathe walks toward the road and that's the that's the end of the film. But we realize like as it's ending that the way he won, like you're saying is instead of running from what scared him instead of running from the trauma, he ran toward it.

1:34:10He confronted it. He finally took action and I wouldn't say embraced it but enfolded it into himself and was like, okay, this is what happened and this is how I'm going to get through it by accepting that this is what happened. Yeah. I think that what motor was going for was when it got to look into all of their minds to start plotting whatever it does. It saw his despair and pain and was like, if I give you more of that, like you're already nearly lost. So I give you more of that you will be lost and then you will be mine. So I'll get these sacrifices and then I'll get another worshipper. But what I loved about him turning back and screaming back at it is it really showed what a little bitch motor is. And I mean, we're laughing.

1:35:11But I mean, it's the best way I could describe it because this thing is so powerful, is so strong. It's an elder god, a god of a forgotten time. It can't walk out of the tree cover. Yeah. It's stuck in its own woods. Well, but, but, but it can't because it can't live without its home is where it's worshiped, feared, revered, et cetera, et cetera. It has to have those things or it dies. But our man Luke is a, he's a free man. He's a man of his own choices, his own volition. He can walk into any woods he wants. He can walk out of any woods he wants as long as he chooses. He's free. Yeah. Motor is a prisoner of what it is. Oh, I like that. It literally has no ability without the worship of others.

1:36:11Yeah. It's like living a life of seeking validation. It ends up being very empty and disappointing and stressful. That's why when he screams at it, I think that's because at that moment, he realized, I am stronger than this god. Yeah. The only thing that makes this god so strong is that people believe in its strength. Mm-hmm. I mean, at the end of the day, that's the number one thing. I mean, don't get me wrong. It's a giant beast that can, but who knows how weak it got by the time, you know, all of its followers were gone. Mm-hmm. I mean, because another thing to keep in mind, like did, did, did motor kidnap the guys and lock them up to wait to be sacrificed? No, it was the people that did it. Motor was doing stuff when no one was looking. Motor is a coward in the night. Yeah. So that, I think, is another element that's really worth thinking about because when, when he catches up with Luke as we were saying, like before he finally runs through his vision and finds the tree line, the creature, everybody else that we've seen, he lifts it

1:37:13up and kills it, but him, he was pushing him down to his knees because he needs worship. Yeah. Yeah. And I wonder if it killed it because all of its followers were dead. And that was why he didn't kill him in revenge, like that it, it's a petulant god. So it killed all of its followers and then was like, oh, well, I got to make sure I have one. Yeah. Yeah. And that's why it especially, like it roars out. Maybe that, maybe that wasn't in rage or to intimidate. Maybe that was it realizing that it's time has come indecent. In desperation. There's no one left to worship it. No one left to observe it. And that's something that really got my imagination going with this film. Yeah. What was that element? Because yeah, once you couldn't cross the tree line, it's like, how weak can you get? Yeah. You can take three steps because then you'll be in man's world and you can't exist there. Yeah. But you have no power fascinating to me.

1:38:14No, it is, it is very fascinating. And that was, that was why it left such a big impression on me is because of that, that underlying concept of, you know, a god is only as powerful as it is because of its followers. Once you, once you remove that, like, it's really not nothing. No, you're not wrong. And we'll dig into it a little bit more right after this. If you want to go even deeper, oh, by the way, before we keep going on that, it's adoration is what it's called. Adoration. Adoration, sorry. So when we were talking about the church full of the, like, mummy people who are sitting in the pews, but there's no service. Yes.

1:39:14They're just sitting there. That's called sitting in adoration or ad, or eucharistic adoration in certain orthodox Catholic and Lutheran faiths. Okay. That's where, that's basically where you're allowed to rest because you're with God basically. Okay. Like when you go back to like the early days of churches because you know, rest was pretty rare. There was this idea that like one of the perks of church was that you could sit in adoration of God and relax. Okay. No expectation to do anything. You're not even actively worshiping because there's no service. Yeah. But you're, you're waiting for the eventual eucharist or the eventual preaching or whatever. That's what I was trying to think of. They're all sitting in adoration. They're, they're, they're, they're permanent, permanent adoration. That's where you get to be once you have no, you know, nothing left. You're sitting in, in just praise of this, this God. But it's also interesting because I think about this a lot lately, this whole concept, because every now and then you'll talk to somebody, I'm not a religious person, but you'll talk

1:40:17to people who are also not religious people, but they're in some kind of like a, of a flaky spiritual, spirituality thing. And no, no, hate, but like sometimes they say stuff and it doesn't make any sense to me. And one of them is that they, they, they pulled this thing where like they kind of believe like every God that was ever written about was real. And then something happened to them, which is interesting, an interesting concept. And but and that concept would suggest that it's the amount of believers you have that gives you your literal power. Yeah. As opposed to figurative power if it's, you know, all just games of men. So that was the other thing I was thinking about too is like, you know, it's possible that this being was worshiped by like everybody in that part of Sweden for, you know, hundreds of years. And then one day, you know, whether it was Christian settlers or it could have been anything or even just like other pagans, you know, came along and all of a sudden it gets pushed

1:41:19and pushed and pushed and pushed until it's this little corner of the woods. Yeah. So I don't know, I just thought that that was the other thing I thought of too is that it seems like they're going for that like that idea that like no literal power comes from belief. Like as in the more belief it has the more literally it can like lift you up off the ground. Yeah. But it has no followers. It can't do anything like Freddy Krueger basically. Yeah. Once people stop being afraid of him, he has no power. If you don't, if you die in the woods, you die in real life. I mean, that is completely accurate. No, so that that's that was just the side thought I had, but you were you were what were you saying about this elder God being knocked down by this Luke by him being tough guy. Oh, man, his name is even Luke. They're a biblical name. It is a very biblical name. And actually, now I'm curious or all I think he's the only one with it. Yeah, he's the only one with a biblical name because there's Luke Phil Hutch, Dom and Robert.

1:42:20He's the only one with a big name. Yeah. I'm pretty sure. Philop might have been biblical actually. Is biblical? Okay. Then I give up. Maybe. I don't know. I don't know anymore. That's fair. I mean, yeah, it's a philop Philop's totally a biblical name. I give up. Okay. I was trying to make a good point. You make a good point then. Jeez. I'm pointing at him. So no, but I really like, I really like where you're going with that because I did get that sense from the world building and the storytelling of this that they were kind of going with that concept. Like the more believers there are, the more powerful a God is. And so, you know, that's why kind of why Luke was able to escape is once he killed a bunch of the mummies and once motor killed a bunch of his own followers, there wasn't anyone

1:43:25there to believe in him. So it was that much easier for Luke to take control and believe in himself so that he could get free. Well, there's also the element that it's kind of giving a, like a humanity, although not, you know, a great humanity to what makes people so desperate that they would believe in something so like everybody else's definition evil. Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, no, that's very true. And I mean, there's something to be said again, going back to the whole concept of, you know, survivors. People who survived traumatic incidents build up weird beliefs and weird, you know, they develop weird headspaces because they've survived trauma. So it's kind of like your brain rewires itself a little bit. So that's very similar, you know, the believers of motor were able to kind of overlook all

1:44:25these heinous things that it does because they survived. So that makes it okay. Yeah. Well, because motor made it seem like it was by his grace that they survived, which is to some extent true, but, you know, if I push you over the over a balcony and then grab you before you fall over, I mean, I didn't save your life. I just almost killed you. Yeah. I mean, you know, but it depends on which way you look at it. Like, is the glass half empty or is it half full of paganist bullshit? You know, that's, that's, you know, that's kind of where my mind went with it is that, you know, this, this idea of lying. I hate the idea of taking advantage of people when they're at their weakest or when they're at their most desperate. And that's usually when people are grieving and they've been victimized, they've experienced loss. Those are usually the times when people get taken advantage of bicolts and get taken

1:45:27advantage of by faith healers and psychics and, and all the mystics, churches. I, I, it's, that's where it happens. Yeah. And that's what I think is actually kind of underlying all of this to an extent. Um, is, you know, look at these people that are all so desperate and so scared that they would believe this ridiculous thing that is real. Yeah. Somehow. Yeah. Um, but when we get back, I'm going to tear into midsummer a little bit and then we'll kind of wrap up and, uh, and tell you about what we're going to be watching next time right after this. I know there are a lot of midsummer lovers and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with loving a movie because you do. Um, I, I thought that midsummer had a lot of promise, but there are also a lot of things

1:46:32that really bothered me like the characters had to be kind of unmitigatedly, uh, stupid to just always stick around when things were getting really crazy. Yeah. But a lot of horror movies have that problem. So I'm not going to say that that's, it's, yeah, it's not special to, and I mean, the movie's really just about how white people just desperately want to join European cults. Yeah. That's mostly white women, especially in particular. Yeah. But that's what it's kind of about. My biggest problem with midsummer, and I know I'm not the only person who thinks this because I posted a video of me saying this on TikTok. It was not, it was out of context from a podcast I had done, um, but I mentioned that my problem is that the moral of the story becomes if you are a victim and you've been traumatized, then you are just malleable and can be convinced to do anything awful and it doesn't matter like you, you are ruined forever. Yeah. Some people were commenting like, what are you talking about?

1:47:33And some people were saying like midsummer, question mark, and I was like, yeah, people, there, I'm not the only one who thought that that was kind of the moral because a lot of people were like, good for him. Like, yeah, good for her. She found a new abusive relationship. Right. She didn't have any progress as a human being. Yeah, she just lives. Yeah. Same shit different day. I mean, I think it's worse to work for a murder cult than to have an asshole boyfriend. And he wasn't even, he was kind of an asshole, but he was just dense. I mean, he could have been a lot worse. I'll give you that. But my point is that in that film, a cult sees like paid dirt with a traumatized young woman and is like, we're going to give you everything you want and all you have to do is like, you know, aid in a bed, constant murder. And she was like, dope. But in this movie, it's like, hey, we've taken away everything you hold dear in every way possible and tormented you so deeply. And then it's like, but you're going to you persevere and realize that you are your own person and that what matters is what you do every day and how you live and the things

1:48:37you, the promises you keep. That's a good, to me, that's a great ending. Yeah. Really solid, you know, heroes journey. Yeah. No, I absolutely agree. Because he doesn't just escape. He potentially ends the entire whole, the whole shebang by just believing he can. Yeah. So that's too strong. I don't even think he believed he could by just doing it. Just doing it. You try. Yeah. That's all. Yeah. That's all it was. Because that's why I think when he just starts lighting them on fire and it's so matter of fact, I think it's because he just was like, he just, his brain was like, start now. Yeah. You know, just start the revenge now, like not knowing if he would complete it. Yeah. It's like, well, at least you take this step. Yeah. Well, you know, one step at a time, you know, one day at a time. Yeah. One foot in front of the other. Yeah. So just like the Drunks. But yeah, so I love this movie and I think it has, it has something to say about how a survivor's mentality is not a curse. Mm-hmm. You know, especially when it comes to like, I think it's implied, you know, by him surviving,

1:49:43their deaths don't have to be a mystery, their families don't have to wonder. Even though it's a horrible thing, they'll get to have that closure. And I think that that's important and beautiful. So I love this movie. I think it has a lot to say. I think it's a fun, creepy, woods romp that has, you know, some elder chore elements that has some, some great stuff in it. It really does. Yeah. I'm glad we watched it again. I, um, yeah, the second watch through, I think I like it even more than the first. I, I agree. I think it has a lot to say. I think that it has a lot to offer and I like it so much more than midsummer. Day, um, you hear that every after. Yeah. He's too busy. Uh, I don't know. I don't have a joke. I can't believe he made two really expensive parts. Small ones, his own parts. That did a really bad job. I don't hate the guy. I mean, he made it one really good movie. Hereditary is pretty solid, although I didn't really like the ending that much, but that's

1:50:43a personal tasting, I think more than anything. Mm-hmm. Kind of like I love the witch, but I really like the full ending. Yeah. I really didn't like like the last bit of either ending, um, but then I mean, he made Bo as afraid and we both really like, you know, uh, well, you know, but anyway, we're not here to crap on that, but I will say I mean, like everything I hated about how midsummer treated the topic of traumatized people and, and hurt people. This movie did it really well. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. So that's, that's where I stand on the ritual. Yeah. I, yeah, that's where I stand too. And I'm not going to stand too close to the woods because then motor will get me. Yep. You're exactly his, uh, his, I really am though. Yeah. And out in the woods all the time. Oh, dear. So, well, what are we talking about next show? Because we're, we're, we're, we have one more film before we enter spooky season, officially full blown spooky season, you know, October and we'll be covering some, uh, appropriate

1:51:44Halloween movies. But, uh, what are we covering next show? Next show we're going to be covering the cell from 2000. Yeah. The kind of turning point horror film that was breaking the mold that was being established by scream by kind of doing something different after the trend had been established by scream. Yeah. The whole meta slash yourself aware thing. But the cell goes in a whole other way, a dreamy direction. I've always felt that the film was kind of underrated, although it was a pretty big deal when it came out. Was it a flop? I, I came out too long ago for me to have known as a kid if it was a flop. Yeah. Uh, no, it was not a flop. It did $104 million against a $33 million budget. Holy. So, it was a phenomena. Okay. Good for them. And if you've never seen the, the cell, it's available to rent by on YouTube, Google play, Apple TV, Fandango at home, Amazon Prime Video, basically anywhere you rent movies.

1:52:45Yeah. You can check it out before we talk about it in a week or two. I highly recommend it. Well, what was that? How'd that go? I mean, I had. So, uh, with that all being said, anything else you've got to say? I'm afraid to because my tongue doesn't want to cooperate now. That is very fair point. Well, thank you all for joining us here on Cutting Deep Into Horror. We sure do appreciate it. If you want to send us an email, whether it's to recommend a film, tell us where right or wrong about a movie opinion, anything at all. We'd love to hear from you at weekly spooky at gmail.com. Just send us an email. We'd love to hear from you. Also, if you love this show and you want to help us in a very direct way, there's two things you can do. One that doesn't cost a penny, which is to head to Apple podcasts or Spotify and leave us a five star rating. So other horror movie and horror story lovers will know they're in the right place. Before you head to weekly spooky.com slash join, where for as little as $1 a month, you get two bonus shows every month and over six years of exclusive audio books and creepypasta readings at weekly spooky.com slash join.

1:53:48So thank you guys so much for joining us and we'll be back next time to talk all about the cell and J.Lo. Until then, stay out of the woods. What, she's in the film. She is. She is. And we'll catch you next time.