Urban Legend (1998)

0:00Greetings and salutations and welcome to this ends at prom a coming of age-bad gas highlighting cinema about or marketed towards teen girls I'm one of your hosts B.J. Calangelo and I'm joined by my wife Harmony Calangelo a trans woman who grew up watching none of these movies is today's movie a queen B or are we killing the teen dream? Get in loser we're analyzing the movies people make fun of us for loving We your merch girl I wanna be here God damn my doll and I don't wanna have to work twice as hard For the same motherfuck inside all that I've We love eyes We're blind probably won't be so lucky

1:04I heard from my friends cousin's boyfriends little sister that this is one of B.J. Calangelo's favorite movies of all time What what number what number do you think top top hundred top 50 oh this is making my top 50 Day well horror movies specifically yeah in general In general might be a little bit lower down there a little lower than that but still of horror yes this is Unironically one of my favorite horror movies of all time and I can't believe it has taken us six years to finally talk about urban legend I feel like it was important to do I know what you did last summer first Mm-hmm considering I mean one thing the trailer is like from the producer of and it's like that's not a terribly big selling point I'm being honest with you But if you're gonna make you know a one-to-one point of comparison there's your you know one degree to Kevin Bacon on that

2:04One degree of Kevin Williamson if we're gonna be real honest Hey listen there's a lot of scream rip offs out there and they are not created equal this is better than like almost all of them Oh see and here's the thing that's a very controversial thing to say because a lot of people especially people who were reviewing this movie when it came out Fucking hate this movie Yeah I did see that they also hit the sequel and how dare you I think Final Cut is so good Final Cut is so much fun Okay if you hate fun get out we don't need you here Genuinely the trailer for this we watched you before we sat down the trailer sucks the trailer is not great I like yes the movie did well movie did well I guess we're just diving into context just willy nilly but like it has probably like a 10 million dollar budget It probably did like 75 at box office and did well in rentals like that is pretty dang good for a slash for movie But the trailer makes it not only not look scary It also doesn't make it look funny and it is both I want to say you were very close on your numbers

3:06I know you were pulled those out of your ass, but the budget was about 14 and the box office was 72 and a half plus rentals so there you go good on you listen I look at things at some point and it's in there somewhere and I'll remember about 90% of the details of everything Which will get you most of the way there, but you will inevitably miss very crucial details that make you very wrong Yeah, so I do my best with what's swimming around up there So yeah, no critics really fucking hated this the audience is like did they had a lot of fun with it and they continued to have fun with it This is a movie that people I think revisit quite frequently and There was a lot of people revisiting it in the wake of the very tragic passing of director Jamie Blanks And people were like wait a minute this movie kind of rocks and it's yeah, the movie has always kind of rocked Yeah, it's silly, but like everyone is having so much fun Including like a lot of these these well-known adults

4:07Like look at Robert Higlin doing something outside of Freddie and it being so adorable and fun about it This is my favorite kind of Robert England role and like we'll obviously don't manface Like this in like paper brigade Yes Shout out to paper brigade a movie that is really hard to find and I would love for us to cover on the city hawkins dance But it's really hard to find yeah, just like he's got a sweet old man face. I love him Especially because you don't see his face that often also true because he's in Freddie drag. Yeah Harmony what is your history with urban legend? I Want to say that I saw this at one point, but I don't think I thought anything of it Um, I believe hard to say but I believe I saw this with the neighborhood kid across the street where We would go to the video store that was above the liquor store downtown where people bought lottery tickets and cigarettes and their movie selection was very bad because it was a lot of Contemporary stuff this this is how I saw like Blair witch too book of shadows and the psycho remake and like the stuff that was contemporary at the time

5:13But also inferior to the original thing I saw a lot of the second things first before the first things understandable But those were those were the new ones at the moment, but Yeah, I'm pretty sure I saw that there because I was not my family didn't go to that one We preferred to get our stuff from the drugstore I think there was something about renting movies from above the liquor store that my mom wanted to believe that we were above Instead we went to get them at the cosmetics counter You be I think I saw it then because that's where I saw you know silence of the lambs. I know what you did last summer I saw a lot of horror movies at like nine ten years old or whatever from renting them with this kid and I don't remember having strong feelings about the vast majority of them I think we just watched them and went yeah, we weren't we're not supposed to see this, but like we did It was not until like a decade ago or whatever that I actually properly watched it and was like oh no

6:14This is way more fun me noted. I don't like I know what you did last summer In fact when we did our episode on it last year I talked up and down about how I would just rather be watching urban legends I am so much more on team this movie and think it is so much more fun And I think there's a little bit of like we poisoned the well a little bit because everyone Always talked up. I know what you did last summer and I was like oh this is one of those screamer buffs It's as bad as that like you know somewhere in the back of my mind. It's like no. No. I was wrong. You all were way wrong What about you? I saw urban legend around the same time that I saw I know you did last summer So we're talking like nine or ten years old renting it from the video store And I remember really loving this movie as a kid for a number of reasons namely Rebecca gay heart Just the absolute best we will talk about her we will talk about Brenda. She'll get her own conversations I just want to like incredible. I just want to put that being all your bonnets right now because I'm gonna gush a lot about how much I love her back in gay art in this episode

7:17But as a kid I was really obsessed with urban legends and it started because there are a number of urban legends referenced in the scary stories to tell in the dark books and I was like reading them like a fiend when I was younger and The librarian in my like elementary school and junior high Libraries saw this and was like oh you like urban legends and I'm like what does that mean? I don't know what that means and she's like well These are stories that people have been passing on from like generation to generation Some of it is based in reality some of it is not But this is like a form of oral storytelling. They're like they're modern folklore and I was like oh that's really interesting So I got really into urban legends and like looking up where they come from Why they were able to spread and I also very much more in urban legends because the internet has made it So like that's not really a thing anymore. Well, you can easily just prove them The equil closest you have to that is like creepypasta Which does not scratch the same itch and even then that's morphed over time like

8:19There was the period of time where people thought like the Russian sleep experiment was a real thing right because it's like a compelling read and it had like a scary Image attached to it. It was like scary stories to tell in the dark essentially and That was kind of pulling in like bits of history or whatever and now creepypasta is just like The concept of the back room Which is not the same thing right? It just it really isn't and there's a sense of me always knowing that it's man-made When it's a creepypasta obviously all of these stories are man-made, but you can feel it But you can feel it there is still a little bit of like mystery that surrounds all of it Creepypasta's are a little more sweaty. Yeah, I would agree You some there's something much more organic and simple and easy about an urban legend um, and in like they passed very and I think that's partially because they just moved through culture very organically I was having a conversation and this is not an urban legend, but it is a rumor With one of my friends recently where she was like how in like the mid 90s

9:21Did we all like how did all the kids in America like hear that Richard gear had a dribble up his ass like how did that a get her How did every like ten-year-old know that? How did every ten-year-old hear that Marilyn Manson ripped his ribs out so he could suck his own dick Which also isn't true, but how did you hear that at ten? It's not like adults were talking about it. It was just like a whisper network that got around every single school in the country Yeah, so I think that the fact that it permeated your specific age Made it feel like it was always around and the fact that it was around made it feel more substantive more real rather than this Aetherial thing that you really have to be convinced is a scary thing. Yes That's exactly it and so this movie just sort of hit all of my pressure points of things that I like and I really Like loved this movie and when I first started writing about horror as a teenager That's when I learned that like that's not a universal feeling that there are a lot of people who Don't like this movie who think that it sucks

10:22There's also a lot of people who don't like Jamie blinks this other movie Valentine a movie We will absolutely cover on the show at some point which I don't understand because I think that movie is saying so much and having conversations that we didn't really start having as like a Society as a whole until very recently in terms of like in-sell culture stuff So like that movie's really ahead of its time and I love it I would like to see Valentine because I remember seeing it on like the shelf You know, it's got them like the mask thing. It's got that thing I remember the artworks and seeing it fairly often but That is one of those movies that I hear everyone either really go hard for with like oh, I watch it every single valentines And I'm like y'all watch blood rage every single Thanksgiving You know, don't try to tell me that Eli Ross Thanksgiving movie was good three years ago And I refuse to forgive you for it So you know, I think that there's just something about holiday horror that makes some people be very very giving So I've been very skeptical of Valentine So I would actually be very interested in visiting it

11:23Knowing that like it might actually be good And I can't wait to show it to you But today we are talking about urban legend and so before we really do anything I want to dispel An urban legend about this movie Oh, yes, which is that this movie is a screamer buff which it is not and also Jamie Blanks who directed this Was doing the meta-slashier thing before scream And so I made a video about this when he passed away because a lot of people were like oh Jamie Blanks He directed the best scream ripoff and it kind of Made my skin itch a little bit because Jamie Blanks is an Australian filmmaker and his thesis project was this movie called silent number and it was essentially a very John Carpenter inspired Retelling of the urban legend of the babysitter as in like have you checked the children When a stranger calls that sort of situation the calls coming from inside the house classic yes classic black Christmas all that classic and

12:23That thesis was made before screen sure and that thesis is what was used as a calling card to get him into Hollywood in a post-screen world Because after screen was so successful That's when they were digging up all of those old scripts for things like I know you did less summer And then also this one because they were all trying to capitalize off of it And so when they hired Jamie Blanks They're not hiring him because we need somebody to do the scream ripoff They're like we need somebody who gets this and he got it before screamed it so he's ahead of the curve We need someone who can direct a teen oriented Erie who done it and I don't think from like an artistic standpoint Because obviously like I know what you did last summer was unolder script that as an example But like in terms of a production in terms of a post-screen world These movies got made because of scream yes totally I just think that it's really important that we Identify the true timeline here because I think it's really easy to dismiss

13:24People like Jamie Blanks's contributions or Jim Gillespie's contributions to the genre as just like oh these are ripoff films But like Jamie Blanks was ahead of the curve. He was doing this before America knew this is what the next direction of the genre was going to be and it's a real shame that we lost him so early Because I would have loved to have seen another Jamie Blanks lacher But if you have somehow never seen urban legend here is your plot synopsis and good news There's not much to do it. Okay What you don't believe can kill you a college campus is plagued by a vicious serial killer murdering students in ways that correspond to various urban legends Sure, yep, that's it that is this movie The Like at least it knows what it's gimmick is doing. It's doing something Different like every single one of these post Scream slash or mysteries like they all have to have a thing to them They couldn't all be based on movies or been legend final cut is based on movies

14:25But then we're getting into like the movie within a movie kind of textual thing and that's that's an extra layer to us something that scream What also do but Every one of these movies had to have something to stand out. That's why cry wolf is like online Mm-hmm. I know what you did last summer doesn't kind of do anything to stand out It's just kind of a great son of book. It was just kind of the first off the starting line It's a secret you have to keep forever. Yeah, it's just the it's the first one off the starting line after scream So it didn't have to try but as they go on it's like how do we differentiate ourselves? What's our thing? How do we differentiate ourselves despite the fact we are all going to have the exact same poster? Yes, just a bunch of faces on a black background with a scary villain in the middle. Yes, of course Well, the scream one is at least just rude drew bay more Yeah, but then when they do re-releases of stuff like that it became a face. Yeah, of course So yeah, I know I get that like I will say As a person who does not have the same affinity For urban legends that you do I like them, but like I was not taking a vested interest in them when I was seeing this movie for the first time

15:30Or even like the proper one like years later There were multiple urban legends I learned about From this movie which I do love actually yeah Yeah, because as being as obsessed with urban legends as I was which is probably a very weird thing for a nine or ten year old It meant that I was like a half step ahead of the movie the entire time which for me I think it's very very fun So when you have the the class lesson on drinking pop rocks and pop and like it exploding your intestines You know that like it's check-offs pop rocks explosion like it's gonna come back at some point So then when you see the funnel it's like a high nowhere. We're going. This is green Or when they introduce Michael Rosenbaum's dog. I'm like Oh, that dog's going into a microwave horn oven at some point like that's what's happening here And so I know what's going to happen ahead of time and for me I like that feeling I like being able to guess and then being proved correct I don't feel like disappointed like oh, I guessed it That means the movie sucks and like haha. I guessed it. That means I'm a smart writer. I love it

16:33Well true, especially when you're pulling from something I feel like when there is an existing thing that you are building your Your story off of either as the killer or as someone watching the movie where the killer is aware of the things that they are doing It's like I don't know watching the Shakespeare and being like oh Well, they're gonna die at the end. I guess like well, yeah, inevitably that's where that's gonna go because that's how this story goes right inevitably someone is going to die You know from someone in the back seat Because that's what the story is yes, so I don't really see why like that would be considered a bad thing as a bamboozle I do think it is Interesting that it is doing that while also doing up you know the the trope of like hey you're learning about something in school today That is directly related to the plot my absolute favorite trope of any movie fantastic shorthand that Followed shortly by like something on the news that is very relevant to what is currently going on in the plot You know if not now then very very soon Like I think the movie does a very good job of setting up these things

17:37And letting you understand them even if you don't have previous knowledge of them You know, it's not a dumb movie It's not the smartest movie because it is a slasher movie not the DaVinci code It's very cute that you use the DaVinci code as a reference for something being smart that movies dumb is rock I meant the book not the movie also dumb is rocks. I said okay. I'm not talking about I'm saying that like it's not some grand mystery that involves Jesus Christ and like church and shit right right now I just like I don't know who's who's under the parka like And here's the thing I do think that the intelligence of this movie is maybe not smart But it is clever exactly because like okay different metrics So like tear reads character dies on Mike and how they introduce that as an urban legend is it's They're listening to love roller coaster and it's like hey, do you know they're the real person scream From them dying is in this is like cool. That's all you need it. So if you don't know shit all about love roller coaster now you do It's set up and pay off. Yes. It's good. It's smart one oh one kind of shit

18:37Like I don't think you need to reinvent the slasher movie in order for it to be seen as like a not brain dead slasher movie There are very very simple ones like I don't know in a violent nature You're just watching a guy walk and kill people and then you just have time to reflect on what that means when you're watching a whole A lot of not much happening for a ju-big chunks of the movie Like it is not Presenting something in this mind bending way. It's just going hey, here's a thing remember it It's gonna come back later and then it pays off That's very clever and it's not complicated it I think something being straight forward and uncomplicated Is not appreciated to the level that it should be especially if it's like Just executed well like this cast is fun the kills are creative It's leaning into these pre-existing notions in like American folklore. I don't know. I just think that that's cool I think that's cool and it doesn't have to go ahead and try to like talk over you about it

19:39Agreed completely now before we dive in any deeper. It is time for everyone's favorite part of the show Welcome to October from party It's it's the high holy season and we're celebrating it with some really really cool Teen boy movies over on the patreon this month for the sanny hawkins dance you were going to get Monster house the only one of those Motion captures humicus movies that doesn't look like a nightmare Which is weird because it's a horror movie as well as chapter one of Stephen King's it because it's primarily a boy cast As voted on by people over on the patreon for the next team v homecoming series that we are going to be covering Clarissa explains it all it won by a sizable margin So I think we all need a lot of things explained to us these are troubling times In addition to those bonus episodes

20:40You're going to go ahead and get your monthly q&a the playlist Access to the discord access to the suggestion box the schedule ahead of time the ability to help vote for a movie for the following month As well as everything else we've ever released on there, you know all that good stuff that you hear about all the time on here Will all my should be all out of the way here's bj with our monthly charity shoutout This month we are supporting the Cornell daily sun the independent original reporting provided by Cornell universities editorial board who are brave enough to publish cornell won't we will to bring to light the names of Matthew Ingalls Jonathan Newell Winston Lee Gila Lopez Diego Saurabia Scott Norris and Scott Cresmar the seven men named as defendants in a civil complaint filed on September 14th alleging They drugged and gang raped a Cornell student identified as Jane Doe Independent journalism is vital now more than ever and they deserve our support Tax deductible donations can be made to the Cornell Daily Sun alumni association A not-for-profit dedicated to aiding the Sun

21:42For more information visit cornellsun.com backslash page backslash donate There's no fun way to pivot out of that one so I'll just say you know all the ways to support independent shows So thank you so much for listening now back to the movie All righty so one of the first things I want to talk about is the fact that Jared leto bullshitting knowledge um Once lied and tried to claim that he didn't remember being in this movie Why but sure he did this interview. I'm gonna ask why would he do that but why does he do most things? He's a fucking weirdo. Yeah correct. So during an interview in 2012 somebody brought up him being an urban legend And he was like that so weird. I've never even heard of that movie and the reporter was like You're joking right and leto was like no and he like tried to joke and being like, yeah, you know He was like a blackout. I don't remember and It like went very viral because people were like what are you talking about and here's the thing I first off don't believe him for a fucking second

22:45And I think that the reason he said this is because so many people have Perpetuated the idea that urban legend is a bad movie and it's not a bad movie It's actually quite a good movie. Oh he desperately wants to be taken seriously So I suppose wanting to distance oneself from a movie would be a thing Yeah, I think that that's exactly it I think he was trying to distance himself from this because there is a stigma attached to being in horror movies especially horror movies that were of the post-screen slasher boom and The thing that I find so ironic to that is he's been in way fucking worse movies than urban legend So for him to be like, I don't even remember being in that shut up You have way worse movies that you should be like I've seen suicide squad. Yeah, so you know the British period piece Basil Wappen 0% on rot tomatoes. That's a movie probably never even heard of because it's so bad. I sure haven't but like you know I care and tea. This is nowhere near his worst movie. Oh I remember the time he plays a US Marine who joins the Yakuza family in the outsider

23:46No one does and that movie came out in 2018 that movie success too That's we just make a lot of movies. Yeah, it seems like we don't make a lot of movies But we do oh even better his truly his worst film his absolute worst film It's a movie called black and white. He's a white teen who gets captivated by Harlem's hip-hop scene great awful Awful terrible fucking movie and did uh I I feel like I'd have to look at it to be really confident in saying this But I think I can say it confidently with this movie for sure is I never need Jared Leto in anything he's in I really like the cast of this movie so much so that I have to actively think about the names of everyone in this movie Rather than just call them by their actor name because I'm so excited to see so many of these people all in one movie together I do not need Jared Leto here. He just happens to be the up and coming pretty boy at the time and he is Remarkably fine. Yeah, because Paul is just like this weird red hairing of a character like I he's the prize to be one

24:47Dare I say his personality is journalist boy his personality is journalist boy his personality is Exploited to have journalist boy can I say that like aside from him being this movie's gale weather's But he's way worse than gale including scream one when she's her worst I something that I do like is when you see the killer's eyes later in the movie Uh, he does have the same eyes as Rebecca Gayhard and that's kind of great. Yeah, I do Listen, they're gonna have the same eyes then use it. Yeah, and it works. It's good. It's a good little swerve I like it. Yeah, I just I really don't care about him I have such like go home heat for these boy characters that are like But I'm here to get to the root of the story shut up shut the fuck out. I don't care about you I don't care about you You don't care about the actual school You don't care about the people that are actually dying all you care about is you want to have a good headline so that you can get a good job In a newspaper one day you fucking suck your worm. I don't like you. Yeah, he's exploitative. Yeah, that's why he's the gale Weathers of this movie not really helping with the scream comparisons

25:49But you know, you know, you know So our our final girl that we follow in this is Natalie played by Alicia wit and I love that this is also her kind of playing against type because of everything she's doing with like Twin Peaks and Dune and like David Lynch. I believe you on that one I will say we did finish watching the Drew Carey show and by we I mean You kind of tapped out there in season seven and I soldered alone until we got to the end of it And then I skipped to the sad ass finale that was really really bad and called it a day We're looking for a new show with twin peaks might be it. I would be very excited if you watch twin peaks with me Yeah, but like it's though. It's their long episode They're not my like cool little 20-minute sitcom episodes. I I yearn for the sitcom BJ suck it up bro. I don't know to tell you this is the whole reason that I haven't watched as much of Reachers I would like is there also long I know I know when you're in it's easy to get going But like it's hard to get you know It's you got to kick the rust off and really get in the motion Well meant them's hard to gain when it comes to something like that

26:50I love me a 20-minute episode. I know. I love my sitcoms. So Yeah, like I will take your word for that this is against type. Mm-hmm This is probably the role I know her the best for which is so interesting to me and you know what that feels like a slight back in Oh, that's that's interesting choice It's not that well It's not that it's just like because when I think of her I do think of her in like twin peaks first But I will say if I imagine like what does Alicia wit look like in my mind I do pull this one because her lipstick in this movie is how I feel about Dami Moore's lipstick and now in then It is just that perfect 90s like coffee brown with like a little bit of a purple hue. Oh my god her makeup in this isn't she's so stinking cute But yes her makeup is god damn elegant and her hair is like she's got like such beautiful like volume with like the face framing curls when everybody was like post-Rachael cut like oh my god She looks so good in this movie. She looks fantastic as a final girl. She's also a little bit of fine

27:53Yeah, I would agree with that. This is one of those movies. I know we're not doing a good job of selling anybody on it right now I'm like the two leads. I'm like yeah, they're all right This is one of those movies that is carried so extensively by the overall slasher Yes, yes, it is also that I love all the other characters Yeah, it is carried by the horror of the gimmick and the killer reveal like that is what makes this movie just a knock out of the park for me true and like I think that she gets more to do as the movie goes on and there's actually like a little more urgency attached to her because There's stuff happening around her You know, there's there's threats that are directed kind of in her general direction But there's no actual threat to her until like the last half hour of the movie And that's when she gets to do more that's when she gets to act a little bit more that's when there's more stakes I love all of that It follows Yeah, in a way Kind of the Halloween of it all where a Laurie Strode is kind of the boring responsible one In comparison to all of the other ones like Linda's way cooler and more fun and has way better giant hair

28:58Looking at this movie and being like I love Brenda and her giant fucking hair. She's way cooler So you know, she is kind of the safe one and there's nothing wrong with that Yeah, and like that's exactly the role that she is supposed to play like she has to be a survivor She has to deal with all this fuckery. She has to be the every girl like that's her role in this movie classic final girl shit Final girl shit And so the people she's surrounded by though are fucking great So her roommate is the one that we see the least amount of time but is probably the most memorable character like side character in this movie I see a lot of stills of people just being like this is me on the computer. Yeah, Daniel Daniel Harris Speaking of Halloween as Tosh who is just like your typical cyber goth and I Love this character so much because it's like I'm on lithium and that's how you know that she has depression She has like these horrible like vinyl sheets even though she's like fucking weird goth dudes every day that she finds on the internet and every time They like panda those sheets. I'm like there's no way that feels good like there that is just like a recipe for sweat like I

30:03Want to sweat all that goth to make up off. It's gonna be a mess. I agree I okay like you pointed this out where you were like oh hate those sheets and I'm like yeah They're satin they suck and you're like they're not satin their vinyl. I'm like oh, I like that less But like satin sheets are also kind of bad to fucking because you slip in slide well you slip inside But also like if you have a fitted satin sheet it will undo itself because it doesn't have anything to hold in place It's got too it's got too little friction. Yes, so then you're just getting caught in the satin sheet Fucking unfitted satin sheets is a lot like fucking in the shower. It sounds awesome It's not like it's practice. It is booty you shave everything down you get in you're like oh Okay, and then you like start doing stuff And it's like god I was like no control the shit the way it's like a water bed this sucks But like she is she is so snotty. She is so mean She hates Natalie She's such an inconsiderate roommate. I love her Parable fucking roommate also the dorm rooms in this university are crazy to me

31:06Why do they have bed frames? But like you know, that's my other uniform there Well, like you get the end thing where it's like the final showdown is in like an old shut down The dorm building and they have these like old-timey wire frame bed frames in every room There's like eight beds in some room. There's something I'm like what is this room? Was it a sorority house who knows it looks like a psych ward? Yeah, so you have the character like Tosh which is like so memorable because it's like oh hell Yeah, we love the 90s goth care girl that is in every Single slasher movie in the back half of the 90s and a couple years into the 2000s speaking of Book of Chertles Blair Witch 2 the movie that has my favorite of this character. Yes So yeah her roommate is this weird gop and her Her death is the urban legend of not turning on the light of like hearing the struggle thinking it's fucking and not doing anything to step in Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the lights? Aren't you glad you didn't say banana? Yeah, yeah exactly And like Tosh's death is so good for like one. It's so goth

32:09This is like a very on brand death and I love that this also plays into this like pre-columbine But like it's still this mindset that was definitely circling around goth Which is this idea of like well? We think she killed herself and Natalie's like She wrote with her own blood on the wall and they're like well. Yeah, she's goth She's just dramatic. That's just what happened. That's just what happens And it's like what the fuck are you talking about that's crazy But you know, we love a movie where the police and the people in power are fucking idiots. So I I love This era of like the brooding dark character that you had in horror movies because later on once you get far enough into the 2000s Then you get like the whiny emo boys You get like final destination three or you get Kyle Galner in Jennifer's body They get a little snottier and a little skinnier and they kind of like fuck a lot But like they're not dramatic. They don't see that they don't Because they're not got their emo exactly Or it's just like the or it's just a different kind of goth

33:10It's 2000s goth like once it's gone a little bit more mainstream And you just get people who like lean into the look a little bit more rather than people being like I live God I breathe goth. I believe god Those are the ones who you genuinely do think in a movie Maybe she would write her suicide note in bullet on the wall This is a different breed of this character in these kinds of movies. Yeah, and I I love her. I love her so much So then we also have a blonde Joshua Jackson and god the part where they get in the car because he's gonna go to like make out in the woods And it cues the Dawson's Creek music good joke Fennel and Luke so good again this movie's funny and I struggle to look at this and go yeah, your characters name is It's like your blonde Joshua Jackson See in my brain when I think of blonde Joshua Jackson. I think of like cruel intentions sure he's like gay and wonderful And in this is like I love it. He's so straight and not wonderful. He's so straight He's not wonderful. He's so toxic. He's such a horrible human being. He's just like yeah

34:12I'm gonna use this like a murder that happened on campus to try and get in your pants Like what a fucking his whole excuses just being like you know my girlfriend died so You could blow me Like that's what he's pulling like he sucks so bad and yet this was such a guy during this time period Like the late 90s early 2000s granted this guy's always existed in some form But like we saw a lot of that a lot of this guy I think it's because people's decided we're gonna pull this move But like we hadn't become wise at the trick on the level that we would yet Because it was still a little fresher and now it's like oh no, we know your tricks now. We've seen it Yeah, and he's he's a trickster. He's a prankster He's the one who pulls the like fake out in the middle of class with the pop rocks in the pop by pretending He actually is exploding and Robert English just lets that happen He just what because he's like this is a He has so much confidence knowing that he'll be fine and he's just being a shit He just lets him go And lets all of these other kids think they're witnessing a teacher kill a student

35:16He has the same level of confidence as physics teachers when they put the bowling ball in front of a kids face And let go so it does the swing back and forth and doesn't hit them in the face Well, the kids are all flinching or they do like weird stuff with a Bunsen burner where it explodes and you're like wow Just like you could I don't why that seems so sketchy Like it's just physics. Yeah, and that's pretty much like it's just an urban legend. Yeah, those before Yeah, they're pop rocks they crackle in your mouth eat some thirsty Oh, what's wrong something you might have heard about mixing pop rocks and soda Well supposedly there's something in your intestine everything first Well really Anyone you know die this way Mikey from the cereal commercial give it to Mikey. He lead anything You mean him

36:20Yeah What if I told you that this is my life and well and working as an ad executive in New York City would you drink some then? So he's like a real shithead so when he does die This is the one death in the movie that I'm like All right, I All alone this is one of the deaths that I learned about from this movie See and this is one that's in the scariest stories to tell in the dark Which is like the the make-out point urban legend it comes in many forms But it's like you hear the feet on the top of the roof because somebody's hanging there It's the hook hand on the side door I know about Carter. I know about Cardor Hook hand one. I don't know about getting strung up upside down on the car like that Yeah, it's it's the sound of the feet against the top of the of the car And then you drive away unknowingly killing the person because they're hanging there. Yes Yes, I learned about this urban legend from this movie Interesting and you're like but scary to her to tell in the dark I'm like I did not read scary stories to tell in the dark. They might have been banned in my school

37:21Or I also just didn't read see in what's funny as I'm sitting here because it's been a very long time This is I've actually read those books. I think hook hand is scary stories telling the dark I don't think hanging actually is but because they're conflating the two urban legends together I think that's why I was like it's getting right on the dark What's that I one of one of the best times I've ever had in a movie theater is when we saw the scary stories telling the dark movie I love that movie. I think that movie's fun. I think that movie is very fun people are way too mean to that movie that movie Kind of rocks the movie's goofy. It's it's you know a post it kind of movie. We're just doing we're just having fun We're having silly little guys and there's like the pale lady and she's like I love her a lumpy frog woman and I love her She moves so slow and I do not have any context for like people going oh she's so scary and I'm like she's so dumb looking I love her it's like it's like the slowest lumpiest bull frog coming out of the TV in the ring It's so silly. I was cry laughing and no one else was I'm obsessed with her and what sucks is that for many years

38:23I was like I'm gonna get a pale lady tattoo and then someone I know who sucks got one so now I can't now it's ruined Boo is so like yeah I probably would have liked scary stories to tell in the dark I I liked reading goose bumps specifically the give yourself goose bumps I liked to choose your own adventure one so I probably would have liked them. I think they weren't around I don't know but yeah, he dies and I don't feel bad about it at all I don't either cuz he sucks But I do love that his death. They're like he's leaving to go on like the trip and he's like snowboarding or whatever Like he's leaving so therefore his disappearance We don't have to investigate. We're just gonna just assume he's gone because he kind of sucks And we just assume that he would leave a not telling of us because he sucks. There's that There also is like kind of the the safety net of it being what is I think the 25th anniversary of like the so so and so Fred house massacre yeah, yeah, and so there's a lot of pranks going on and he's a noted prankster Late in the movie Robert England calls and is like Police ignore calls for help on this particular date because we have some rim bunkers little shit head kids

39:28And so the cops are useless. Yep as they often are Like I they do write in enough excuses within the movie for why we're just gonna let the movie play out Yeah, and I'm fine with that. I'm okay with that too. Don't get in the way of the fun. We're here for a fun time We are we are and as we're talking about this I'm realizing we didn't even talk about this cold open. Yeah, which rocks What a good cold open and Jamie blinks filmed the scene to basically show the studios like hey you don't have to worry about it And they watch the opening and they're like yeah man this rocks it shows because there's like a lot of cranes shots And they're like a lot of good uses of rain like like he's using rain There's like a twisting crane shot in this opening that looks great You get uncredited cameo from Brad Dorif And he's just this poor gas station attendee who is being very nice and trying to be very helpful Has a stutter oh no and that means that he's creepy He's poor and has a stutter therefore he can't be trusted

40:31And I love his kind of but that is what gets her got Well yeah is and I also love that this character's name Michelle Mancini Which is our like one really obvious horror reference in here which is funny because Don Mancini did Chuckie Brad Dorif is Chuckie Like I love that that's a cute thing Jamie blinks is showing his work here and I like that Well, I there's what joke going around right now on the internet Which is like I love it when horror fans write movies because it'll be like oh no there's there's a there's a guy killing people on the corner of Carpenter and our gentle and it's like oh okay We just really like to hamphys to least squeeze those names and And listen some of those names I think you can get away with like Carpenter and Craven I think you can get away with all the time. I think we're stretching a lot on but when you start getting into like the Argento's or the Kronenbergs Yeah, you might as well just be like Hello, I'm in an alien movie and I live on one two one Spielberg way and it's like shut up What are you talking about? Listen, we're having fun as long as we can make fun of it then we're having fun

41:33So it's all right. I think that it's very cute in this movie Something that I didn't really connect the dots for Until I think this most recent watch which is my fault. It's not the movie's fault is that when he's like oh There's a problem with the the phone company. There's a problem with the credit card You know you got to come inside and he's trying to get her away from the car Because there's somebody who's been in the backseat the whole time Whatever many miles the whole time yes for however many miles someone has been in the backseat of the car I how long was Rebecca gay heart just fucking sleeping back there? She's hanging out in that big ass coat. Yeah, just cooking that sounds awful. Yeah, she's wearing that That's a thing so sweaty. She's wearing a winter coat with like a furry hood on it like you are Insulating in that thing. Well, it's it's rainy and it's New England Based on the fact that there is a full-service pump. I'm assuming New Jersey. Yeah, I get I mean the shot in Canada But I think can no one like we speaking it's supposed to be in New Jersey. I think it's New Jersey Also, I don't know can Canada. Do you have full-service pumps? Yes or no, please answer. Thank you

42:37Okay, but I think I assumed that he got her out And then that's when the killer got in because otherwise like them being in the backseat for like four hours possibly However long it is is just really preposterous. I'm like no he was genuinely trying to do a good thing Yeah, and I I'm dumb and didn't notice that but like bless is hard of just like you get that Brad Dorif Chuckie scream of there's someone in the backseat Chef's kiss so good one of our greatest living actors bless Brad Dorif. Oh look my grandson People tell me like oh you should watch Deadwood because he's really good in that and I'm like I'm sure he is and also I'm sure those are long episodes too. They are it's an issue. Damn it Yeah, Harmony and I have really grown to saying my grandson like Brad Dorif because he says it with his back to the camera on the first season of the pit And it's just it's just Chuckie because that's just what his voice is it's so good Yeah, so anyway, she gets her head absolutely popped off by an axe in the backseat

43:41Such a fucking Bonnie Tyler if someone was going here in trivia night and being like who's the first death in urban legend and people would be like Michelle Mancini and I go no, it's Bonnie Tyler. They butchered her All right, be Bonnie Tyler Yeah, that rendition is not good. I'm pretty sure That they had her sing that without the music track so then when they added the music track She sounds even worse and like out of time which is a good choice good choice Yes, he butchers that's all right P Bonnie Tyler and also Jim Steinman and so many my favorites who are all passing It's so goddamn sad, but like you know how when I have a you want to have a good fun time go on some Bonnie Tyler music videos Because that woman has such a powerful voice and absolutely no presence in a music video She stands there and does a little arm waving she does not move at all. Yeah, it's pretty great. She's fantastic It's like yes, give us all voice and less

44:42Okay, so getting getting back to our our core group of people here. So then we also have Parker Michael Rosenbaum. This is like a very early film role for him and I love that he's here I think he's stoked to see him he's so good in this because he's like a douchebag But he's not a douchebag who sucks if that makes sense like I don't know how to describe him He's a typical drunken kind of jerk. Yeah, he's just a bro like he's a bro I think he's a bro and his worst tendencies come out when he drinks He's a bro at a liberal arts college. There you go That's really what he's got going on here, which means pretty much every man there is a dick This is very true, but yeah, I mean he's he owns a Westie like what man do you know is like this is my boy And it's a Westie a little adorable little cute little white dog that dog can bust a beer bomb like it's nobody's business Love him I'm just happy to see Michael Rosenbaum here like

45:42This is one of those like emotional support celebrities who I know for very few things Because I haven't seen like smallville I haven't seen a lot of his best known roles, but I'm like, but you're a dina and sorority boys. I'm just happy to see you and everything Truly like if there is one thing that we must do before this ends up prom comes to an end whatever Whenever that may be We have to talk to Michael Rosenbaum and let him know how much we love him and how important a dina is To the trans community like he needs to know I know he's ashamed of that movie. I'm sure it doesn't need to be I'm sure that I that's the thing it's like I think in the way that like Jared Lotto is like I was in a shitty horror movie when we made nothing but shitty horror movies I'm sure That Michael Rosenbaum is like I was in this dirtball sex comedy when we made nothing but dirtball sex comedy I'm like no you don't understand you made some best ones of the era you did something important here Did something so profound and nobody knows how good it is No one appreciates it. It's just us. We've been dying on the front lines. We have no support

46:46We're just crawling towards you trying to tell you you did it my heart. We're getting killed out here The fucking trenches of sorority boys appreciation But you don't understand Simpsons writers were here Hey Hey there, Monorazo. I'm gonna show cry All of the ways that we're just like going so hard Like the villain has a stupid voice and we compare with a man gates all the time What's up me every time he's on screen every time that's all I can think about Oh like god, I'm so I'm just happy whenever I see Michael Rosenbaum in things and he's really charming and funny in this even when he's trying a guy who sucks Like that's the thing he's my favorite kind of asshole. Yeah, he's good at it when he's being a dick at the party He's being a dick because he's a college guy and that's just what they do But he's funny about it And you know what I will excuse dick bag guys as long as they get a little come up And as long as they eat a little shit or in this case drain cleaner and pop rocks and unfortunately

47:50Sorry to people who have issues with dog that dog does blow up in the microwave Yeah, you know fucking don't don't go running to does the dog die calm We'll just tell you straight up that dog explodes into my quake. Yeah, it's gross. I learned about that urban legend from maniac mansion What you know what maniac mansion is no so maniac mansion is a very old game from the 80s. Oh, that's why it's a game Yes, it's a game. It hasn't any s version. I believe it was also on PC and I think they I think it like this was one of those like You know, they took the blood out of the super Nintendo version of Mortal Kombat It was one of those things were on the PC version. It was like you can put the hamster in the microwave It would explode, but they cut that part from the NES. Oh wait. I did hear about that And then I think they cut like give you dialogue in the NES version where you try to put the hamster in the microwave And they're just like why would you do that you sick? Oh, no, you're right. Oh my god. This is all coming back to me. Holy shit Ha, that's a different Jim's diamond song. Yeah fuck off

48:50Devor You're gonna divorce me for Jim No, I'm gonna tell you being smarter and funnier than me Because I'm insecure. So there you go. That's where I learned about it was maniac mansion. Wow Okay, now that makes sense. But again, like that's an urban legend being portrayed in like 1986 or something Did you know that this is the second movie we've covered on the show that has a version of this urban legend? You know, I'm sure if I thought about it long enough I could figure out what the other one is However, I don't want to have to cut that thinking time later. So how about you just tell me it's refer madness There you go because she cooks the baby in the oven because she got so high She forgot. Yeah, that's one of the origin points of this urban legend is the original like Scare tactic movie of refer madness And so then they of course make fun of it in the musical which we've covered on the show and yes That is the evolution of like oh, and then the old lady tried to dry her dog and she put it in the microwave Because obviously when the urban legend was first formed we know microwaves we had ovens. She's just experiencing all

49:54Alzheimer's and let me tell you what'll be a good campfire story right God But his ultimate death is you know getting the pop rocks and the drain cleaner. He's going out like Heather beer bond Yeah, beer bond listen, you brought together all these elements You got you got me a throwback. He dies by a beer bomb because he's his worst cared. He's his worst version of himself when he drinks perfect Yeah, it's great. Look at that synergy. I love it. I love it. We did great here And then his girlfriend in this is Tara Reed ah all-time great screamer Tara Reed and her character is Sasha. She has a radio show Yes, Tara Reed all-time great screamer because she definitely has kind of like the raspy collic voice that like Emma Stone has She's very very horrors and also she was smoking a lot around this time. So like her scream is so good But her at this party is my favorite Tara Reed has ever looked in any movie ever She's got big volume. She's got this perfect like muted cool tone nude lip and this like spiky choker

50:54Yes, and then she's got this white dress and the jacket. She honestly like she kind of looks like Tiffany in bright of jucky I agree Like what's so funny about this is when we booted this up We brought it up on the Roku menu and be like who has this for streaming for free And we watched it wherever it was But the actual like Pluto TV Was it on Pluto is that we remembered there you go Uh, we love you Pluto TV the actual banner for this movie was to still of Tara Reed from that party And she is probably the fifth most important character in this movie they know what the people want she looks great And honestly her death is great. I love this because it's an it's an extended chase sequence We love a chase but she's mic'd up so everybody's hearing her and everyone thinks it's part of the show So nobody is like second guessing it at all fun call back to you know, love roller coaster. Mm-hmm. It's good stuff It's good stuff This is my second favorite use of love roller coaster in a horror movie final destination three final destination three Second time bringing a final destination three and I will bring up you know I almost brought up final destination earlier and we were talking about that sky high last week

51:55But I almost brought it up when we were talking about the intersection of carpenter and Argento Because the first final destination movie and then some of the subsequent sequels to it I think do a very good job at incorporating horror names because they use ones that are not super fucking Obvious and used all the time. Yeah, like the fact that the teacher's name is Val Luton The average person in the 2000s doesn't know who the fuck Val Luton is do I cat people Original cat the original one not the pulsator one. Well, yeah, then the character would be named Paul fucking traitor I'm sorry like the bad 80s one better Oh like okay listen sidebar sidebar we have a lot of them This is one of it. We're having fun on this episode because it's a fun movie sidebar brings the best out of me Pulsrator Do you know about pulsator losing his fucking mind to AI? Listen, I just need everyone to know everyone's just like oh my god like you such a piece of shit How could all this happen? I'm like you're telling me that the guy who wrote lonely in cell masterpiece taxi driver

52:56sexually repressed weirdo who did the last temptation of Christ and didn't know how to repress all that so he made the cat people be weirdly Incessuous and New Orleans in cat people you're gonna tell me you are surprised that that fucking weird guy Has an AI girlfriend and those losing his mind out in the public square where we all can observe him Are you not appreciating the gift that he is giving us and thinks that he is smarter than us? It's amazing Look at him just die on the vine Credible you're starting to sound like Paul here You got to write an article about why this is good why it's good thing to watch this old man lose his mind I'm not saying it's a good thing, but I'm saying if it's gonna happen it couldn't happen to a more pulsrator guy Right there. I'll get you that God I hate how much I love blue collar The movie's great. I'm sorry. It's a great fucking movie. Ah, it's a great movie Oh, it does, but yes this chaise scene with Terry to so cool

53:58um I love that she has like Such a snarky shitty college radio show. Oh, yeah, she's like giving weird advice to also a very henshess thing Yeah, all she's doing is belittling people that call her yeah the call and like yeah, they're kind of dumb their college kids But it's like hey, I have a question. She's like hey, have you considered not being a fucking moron? Honestly, I kind of think more people need to hear that Probably I'm turning into a boomer every single day where it's just like Some people need to be told they fucking suck like I'm sorry. Uh, I'm a bad person You're you're not a bad person. We just live in very difficult times where there's a lot of really bad people who have a little too much Not a lot of too much confidence I think I mean, I don't know Maybe it's like living out here in LA now because like we come from such like a hostile place where I'm just like Oh, you don't know what it feels like to worry someone's gonna rock your shit Do you confrontational? I think that between the Midwest and also like the East Coast The East Coast is more confrontational than the West Coast is yeah, Southern California is famously like breezy and chill man

55:05Like that's it's a whole thing and New Yorkers are like get the fuck out of my way Okay, I need you to know that for a half second I thought you were gonna do the line from food of the gods too that West shares all the time on Instagram of Bobby the large Inflated boy And I want you to get the fuck out of here Shares it every day and you know we all need monstrous. We all need some routine in our lives Yeah, I just I love connexploitation so much. I'm sorry Listen, Canadians get to be mean. They're not famously known to do that even though they they are This is why the Midwest and Canada like we have such shared culture because do you do you think that that's part of this? Why we love this movie and a lot of other people don't because like okay, but let's pull this thread here actually between Unravel the sweater for me. Yes, between Los Angeles and New York That is where most working critics are gonna be and also Chicago like that's the vast majority of the critic ecosystem for many many decades That's not the great lakes New York and Los Angeles

56:09That is not sharing you know the coast the north coast with Canada where we have created a An ecosystem of intense cultural sharing where Canada is not that different than a lot of like northern American cities like that Yeah, a lot of my Canadian friends say that they feel like very at home in like rust belt cities because they're like This is just how it is for us, too Yeah, so like maybe that's one reason that we're sitting here just being like it could be reading too much into it I don't know the movies fucking sat on the East Coast allegedly, but like but they filmed in Canada And it's also an Australian director and All the conversations we've had with our Australian friends. I feel like I would love Australia also shared cultural sharing of that sort of working class Rough and tumble kind of shit. Yes. Oh, we're gonna go to the pub absolutely. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I think that there is maybe Something and there might be something for why people didn't appreciate this because you know, I just movies kind of mean It's mean, but it's different kind of me. It's not it's not refined the way that like

57:12Scream is you know scream up until like say the third one and then four gets good again and then it's up becomes something else I think that Critics liked scream they liked having like their golden goose They liked the thing that they could bet on and go that's our one You know fright master West Craven we love him look at him go and everything else after that is like Well, I don't know that's an inferior version to our guy We had our one guy with our one series and now everything else is just a cheap ripoff Instead of appreciating like the specific traits that make it different. Oh, yeah I mean, it's the thing that we talk about in our sleepboy camp book where the biggest critique that critics had of sleepboy camp at the time was that it was a Rfrited the 13th ripoff and they completely well, yeah, but they would completely Disengage with the queerness or the gender stuff going on because they're like the age of the cast Which like they're younger that does change things. It does it changes things entirely You know, maybe it's that we also Were raised on a lot of Canadian television in the 90s. So like there is just innate qualities to this that speak our language

58:19There's probably a lot of subtle things about this that are just That are just more our flavor Like we recognize something we're feeling something Um, maybe other people just choose not to engage with the movie just because they see it as bad because it's not really Scary a lot of the characters aren't like well-defined characters to some degree It's a lot of the critiques you could have for what critics thought of a lot of 80s slasher movies Which is here's a villain they've got a look maybe not as iconic of a look as like the the top tier slasher movies You know your your Freddy's your Jason's your Michael Myers, but like they have a look and there is blood to be spilled You know and so People don't really engage with like I don't know that the simple pleasures of Going into folklore Yeah, and I mean something else to keep in mind is that because we really haven't talked about the screenwriter So the screenplay was written by Sylvia Horta and Sylvia Horta is

59:19Most famous for adapting the telenovela that would then become ugly Betty Okay, and so this is also a screenwriter who sees the value in like working class stories underdog stories and I think there's a little bit of a through line in there I know that this screenplay did go through a lot of work once Jamie Blanks was brought on board But you know things with like writers guild in terms of like who gets credit for what can get like really complicated very quickly but The team that's at play here I think it's like a lot of people that you wouldn't expect for a slasher movie of this caliber And so yeah, it just it does feel different It doesn't feel like fright master west craven like he's a fucking legend for a reason And so I think like trying to Match that level is like judging a movie on like a very unfair barometer Well, yes, also I think if you're gonna go with like a director because You know movie fans critics. They love a director Mm-hmm. They love to go ahead and say like look at west craven west cravens are guy. He did Freddy

1:00:22He did ghost face look at our guy John Carpenter one of the best to ever do it except famously a lot of critics didn't appreciate John Carpenter enough in his time and most of his movies bombed or underperformed. Yeah, so like You know, I think that there is maybe it's a little extreme to extrapolate this to like a John Carpenter movie because the man was on an Unbelievable win streak for like 12 movies or something like just Absolutely, okay Maybe it's a little extreme to go with that, but like It's easier to appreciate something in hindsight, especially if you're not the target demographic This is a teen oriented thing and it could be very new Maybe you're learning about the urban legends for the first time and it's this whole world that you aren't understanding That's true for me. Maybe you're seeing Maybe you're 13 and you're seeing like a really bloody film that has no real nudity that that's maybe bit of an oddity for this genre It's a bit classy about it You have that you're seeing something. It's a little too mature for you

1:01:23Maybe you are just here for a little silly fun time where you get to watch some shitty people get killed because Everyone's a little bit of a dick, but that's more human I think that those are not enough to sell your average person who has to watch 700 movies a year on why this is a good movie when they have to stack it against the most Eritically acclaimed shit of the year I would agree with that But there's one character in this movie who is not a dick. Uh-huh Loretta divine is here bless her heart. Oh my god Campus security obsessive Pam Greer. I'm obsessed with her watching Foxy Brown. Oh my god What an incredible character to just exist in this movie and make me root for campus security Unbelievable, right? Yeah, she's so good. She hates the police. She fucking hates the police She hates everybody that's in charge of this college She's the only one who knows that something is going on and no one listens to her And I'm just obsessed that she wants to have her her Pam Greer moment She wants to be coolest fuck and shoot somebody and it be righteous

1:02:24She just wants to kick in the door and just be like don't move you piece of shit. God. She's so good She's so cool and I love that the sequel gives so much more to her Oh, yeah, the sequel was like you know what we only got one person coming back. We're making the most of it This is her movie now like I was having a conversation with somebody of note and I'm not gonna say who but like They were talking about Loretta divine and I was like oh the the urban legend movies and she goes Mm-hmm, you know, I think she's in a lot better movies than that and it's like excuse you she loves those movies She loves those movies like she has done so many interviews talking about how much fun they were and how much she loves that character Yeah, and it's like I'm sorry that other people can't appreciate horror movies But she fucking does yeah, she got to be so cool. She got to do cool things. She's so funny. She's the hero Yes, she's the fucking hero because that's the thing is as much as Natalie is the final girl in this the true hero He's officer Wilson like she's the one who actually saves the day Yeah, maybe okay

1:03:25Maybe that's one reason that like as a final girl We're a little lukewarm on Natalie because not only do you have Loretta divine barging in to save her from the the kidney The kidney cutting out black market urban legend moment But later on when they're running for their lives and she's in the backseat of the car because we love a cyclical story It's perfect Jared let us the one driving which sends her for corneering through the front window and to a river like as a final girl She kind of doesn't do anything. Mm-hmm. She just survives which that's very lower than the road Yeah, that is what you want. It's very Texas chainsaw like she doesn't really do she just gets away That's that's a good enough reason So you know, maybe maybe that's one reason that people don't resonate with her the way they resonate with some other Final girls like a Nancy is a good example Nancy's a doer. We love we love a doer. Yeah, um, I don't know But like she's so fucking funny and maybe I'm just like there's a lot of uh Sequel sequel mine said coming yeah, she's so good in final cut

1:04:25She's so fun in final cut that I'm looking back on this one going like listen She only probably has like six minutes of screen time, but god damn it. What a meal. I love her I love her so much and speaking of women that I love in this movie. Ah we got to talk about her Rebecca gay heart Rebecca gay heart be still my gay heart as Brenda Bates the other character in this movie who has a horror name Brenda Bates Rebecca gay hearts performance after the villain reveal should be studied in action classes and I'm so serious I I love her not only does this movie get like a prominent black hero in a horror movie which you know up to this point Especially not a ton of them. Mm-hmm. It's gonna be a few more. We're gonna see more examples going on in years past this Um, that's an example, but also female villain. Mm-hmm. You don't get that as often which is a damn shame But like oh my god her her her maniacal like crazy eye giant hair monologues That's how you know she's evil her hair got bigger her hair's big and gorgeous and she has beautiful eyes and you know what?

1:05:25I think just I just think she's great and she's pretty and I'm not gonna say she didn't do anything wrong because she absolutely did but I'm willing to entertain the idea that she doesn't because I love her Well, and also like she explains why she's doing it and it's like hey you and your friend killed my boyfriend As a like a prank and got away with it like you you were reenacting an urban legend of like the flashing of the lights Which I don't know for you, but like for me that urban legend was who's a gang initiation? I yes It was gang initiation. Yeah, which is where I was ridiculous which like rural Ohio What gang rural college in New Jersey what gang? Yeah, so like you've got this going on and so I get why she's kind of snapped like I truly get it I'm not saying that she is right to then just kill a bunch of innocent people Okay, but like listen we're gonna moralize this a little more than a slasher movie deserves by being like I don't know if she was right for that. It's like she's justified enough for losing it. Yeah

1:06:27Like that is what you want out of a slasher movies You want the motivation to make sense and sometimes it does more than others You know why is Jason a tiny boy and now he's a big man and then becomes an even bigger man You know why why is that what happens with Jason? You know he has mommy issues except he doesn't sometimes He hates water except sometimes he's fine with it You know we don't always put a lot of thought into how our slasher villains operate This is you know the good the good twist reveal of like hey evil villains gonna monologue it's emotionally satisfying look at her co and I love that she gets to have this fucking Phil Collins thing where like the urban legend of in the air tonight by Phil Collins is that Phil Collins did not watch someone drown However, he watched someone watch someone drown And essentially she's just sitting here going Natalie it doesn't matter if you didn't watch them drown You watched her watch Which is an urban legend not in this movie, but it is the transit property. Yes

1:07:27It's like you could have done something and you didn't which means you are just as guilty Yes, and I love her attention and her flair to the dramatics because first off she is going to Drag all of these dead bodies into a house of horrors specifically to terrorize Natalie She's also going to set up a projector so that she can flash news articles on the wall And I have a self evil powerpoint party evil powerpoint party I'm obsessed with her like everything she does is incredible is deserving of praise Can you believe they almost didn't cast her in this movie? Yeah, she said that she had to fight for this role And I'm so glad that she won that fight because I truly cannot imagine anyone else delivering this performance And a lot of people have complained about this performance. We're like I don't get it. I think it's true for the top Boo you you have bad taste. She's amazing. She's so much fun Every decision she makes in this movie is the correct one every like I put this on level of evil villain monologue as billions to Yeah, I do too. It's just as good. She's so much fun and considering Jason doesn't talk

1:08:31Michael Myers doesn't talk Freddie doesn't go into monologues about his backstory Like she's better in this regard than a lot of other slasher villains because she's showing like this human side It's like oh this comes from pain. Yes comes from grief that she did not handle correctly And that's interesting and nobody supported her like like I get it I'm here to support women's rights and women's wrongs and I I just I love her. I think she's amazing and I love once you know this reveal when you go back and watch it You can see a little bit of breadcrumbing happening of like the ways that she's reacting to certain people's deaths The way that she's either over over reacting or under reacting to certain events and things that she's learning Like the movie does telegraph that she's the killer, but only if you know what to look for Now if I remove the gag You've got to promise me that you won't scream Lord knows I had enough of that with Sasha

1:09:31You're fucking crazy I prefer the term eccentric I guess you could say I'm a little nettie Why? Why? Why? Why? Still haven't figured it out, have you? Looking for you miss thing. I've got a visual aid There I am Natalie With my boyfriend The love of my life Have you found the love of your life yet Natalie? Of course She's self-involved to father Pick ring any bells, Nat Oh my god His name was David Evans

1:10:34We just got to see Rebecca Gayhard like two weeks ago in jawbreaker the musical And we got to watch her at like 50 be sexy 10 feet from us. She was so hot And she was so hot with her giant hair and her beautiful eyes And she was so funny because she was doing a carol cane And she was really good at it and she can't sing But they only gave her one song and she knows she can't So she's leaning into just being like sexy and older Yeah, which is great. Yeah So I don't know I just find this to be so worth the price of admission You know what do you want to get out of a slasher movie? You got you got some cool lore You got a good little gimmick You get a fun cast you get creative kills that work with the lore And you get a crazy evil villain monologue from a female slasher Truly what what what a joy what a people lot what already why god damn treat It is and like she's not done and she's not dumb No, she's not they try to pull her one on where it's like hey, uh, you know, uh, you know You and me like Jared let her break in and he's like oh, you know what you're right

1:11:34I'm gonna be with you and we're gonna make beautiful blue eyed babies together And he tries to pull a fucking Tommy Jarvis of like I'm gonna trick you Yeah, and she goes hey you're cute, but you're not that fucking cute And just like yeah, you know what she's not dumb No, she planned all of this she did all this. I'm glad that it just keeps building and building and building And honestly, I think this movie has the most perfect ending to a slasher Obviously where the franchise ghost does not pick off where this one left off Which is a shame because I would have loved to see just Brenda go in ham and like different just pivoted to the She's the main character now. Yeah, I love that just give me that I'm just gonna follow her now I get give me a couple years of her going from college campus to college campus Just raining down havoc until she eventually ages out of being able to be like 21 Yes, like I would love that but the fact that it ends with them thinking like oh, we defeated her But you know, they don't find the body and then we find her at a different college campus And it's talking about her crimes at the other school and being like oh no, no the story so true But like you didn't tell it right. This is the real story like and keeping the urban legend going

1:12:38That's good writing that is a good way to end this movie. I love it That's one of the things that people praised about Halloween 2018 Mm-hmm, you know one of the only actually good movies in that franchise because most of them are bad um Like that movie just decides like listen we have like the first and the second movie Uh, and then we just ignore all the other stuff everything else is just an urban legend It is just hearsay about Michael Myers and everyone that's a really good choice And then you have this movie end with the same thing of like her her being aware of her own legend and being like I'm gonna perpetuate my own legend by doing this and people are just like oh no, this movie sucks I don't know they want I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know please people I just don't they cook they cooked you a meal and you were just like no thank you Just pushed it away. Just fucking thrown it across the room You won grateful slums I don't know I just I have no other Big thoughts or feelings about this movie. I just think it's fun. It's fucking fun. It's fun

1:13:40It looks like fall I like the cast like yeah When when I think of like I'm not demanding the world out of slasher movies and maybe that's An issue that we've gotten with like the legacy ones Where like they have to be substantive and incredible because they have legacy That when we get like a new one that is just like listen We're gonna make a true slasher movie, but we're gonna be silly about it Mm-hmm. It just feels nice It's not having to be like listen. We're fans. We're fans, right? Look at the fans. We're doing like look We're gonna do all these little things about the movies that we're fans of and I mean this for all slasher movies Every slasher movie is just like I'm a big fan of this thing We named it after that we shot it in the the town that scream set in we did all these other things It's like this one's just said fuck it. We're shooting a movie in Canada. It's gonna be great Yeah, and it is great and I love it so very much But my opinion on this movie doesn't matter harmony urban legend is asking you to the prom. Yes, no or maybe or are you buying them? Take it's they can go in their own amazing fucking. Yes, hell yeah. Who's so much fun? This is why you're my wife Yes, of course because if you were like, oh, I don't know about this we'd have to have a discussion because like okay like to compare this to

1:14:45Scream obviously scream is like this phenomenal the masterclass and how to put a movie together But like comparing it to the other movies that come out around this time like a lot of them get fucking edgy And they get dark and they're not fun and the ones that are fun are really stupid like I know what you did last summer Which it just makes me want to watch a better one I think that this strikes a good balance between being like a thriller With stuff going on because it is it is ultimately a mystery that's just gonna reveal itself Natalie's not gonna solve the mystery the mystery is just gonna happen to her yeah, you know, I I think as A slasher movie doing all of that and striking this really fun balance of being a bona fide horror movie without being a full comedy But also still being fun. Yeah, well, it's great. It's great. It's great. It nails it. I agree I'm so glad we're on the same page and I'm sure that anybody who's listening to this episode that doesn't like this movie is like thinking we're insane You're goddamn mind. Let me just had so we just have so much fun with it. We do slasher's are popcorn movies

1:15:46This and yes, and that's exactly what I want out of it is I want it to be fun I want it to be a little silly and this movie does that it knows exactly what it is Yeah, and like the sequel is also it's but honestly it's kind of doing like the the the chucky thing Mm-hmm. It's really meta with its own lore by the time you get to like say seed of Chuckie Where I at movie two it's just examining itself. Mm-hmm. And as a result, it's probably it's definitely less scary And it's funnier and maybe a little less of a popcorn movie because it's being more thinking But it's more fun. So yeah, yeah, I'm fine with that. I can't wait to do our budget final cut Yeah, and then there's also bloody Mary which I have so many feelings about because the caliber of the people behind that movie is just ridiculous I have not heard great things about bloody Mary But to be fair most people don't say good things about the other two. So yeah, that's true. Who could say who could say Already all thank you so much for listening as always you can follow the show on all forms of social media at this ends at prom

1:16:47You can follow me on social media at bjclandelo and you can go ahead and check out whatever I'm posting when I have the time on Instagram and blue sky at Harmonyclandelo And thank you to the song derbombs for allowing us to use title as our theme song Harmony what band are you recommending inspired by urban legend? Listen, we're in the first episode of five for the high holy season. Hell yeah. It's got to be something that fits the right tone I honestly, I think the most notable song from this movie is Love roller coaster So not that one, but just the overall tone of Halloween and what movies around this time sound like This is a band that was recommended to me by like our friends John and Heather at one point I'm like I'm gonna put that in my back pocket for October You're getting Bambara which is named after like an a on flux character But the bands like I don't we have no strong investment in that character We just think that we think the show's cool, but like it's a good name And they have an album from last year called birthmarks If you love like Gothic post punk This is a great band

1:17:49They have real percussion and bass heavy dancing grooves very Operatic when they feel like being with like their synth This sort of nick cave typo negative deep voice singing that almost gets into like spoken word stuff that just creates The perfect feeling for the Halloween season I was listening to this album earlier today while editing editing completely non haunted episodes And I just thought it was so much fun like it just it gets it gets the exact mood This would be wonderful to put on in the background like all their stuff is great But like this would be wonderful to put on the background at like your next Halloween function Go ahead and check out Bambara Amazing Alrighty, all we will see you next week and don't forget save that last dance for us Goodbye You What's modern then a female rock star

1:18:50The kind you want to picture on her knees I don't plan on being anyone else's So I'm not a prior Friday I I I I Not now I'm sorry, but I don't have any as these yet I guess you'll just have to bite down real hard on that gag and hope that you go into shocks Please don't do this Don't you want to be an urban legend all your friends are now This episode was brought to you by pod people productions to find more episodes of this show and others Please visit podpeople.me