SPEAKER_02 0:04

Polly's pocket. That's Polly's pocket.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Make sure to watch after use.

SPEAKER_03 0:12

Greetings and salutations and welcome to the Halloween lineup of Hackerslash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. It's fun getting in and it'll be hell getting out. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack, total joke, wasted time, or a slash.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with a perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, and I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Super Fly Space Guy Mac and the Gore Lover Alexis. Hey everyone. We're doing something special this month. Now we want to celebrate October bigger than we ever have before, so for this entire month, you're getting two episodes for the price of one. And that price is free. You'll have our normal releases on Fridays and an extra episode releasing on Tuesdays. And if you're a patron, don't worry, you're also getting extra episodes on top of that. We're kicking off this celebration with a lighthearted slasher that takes place in an amusement park, a park featuring horror shows, rides, and mazes to commemorate the spooky season. Before we get down to business though, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yes, we do, Chris. We asked our followers on Twitter and Instagram if Childs Play 2 was a hack or a slash. 32% of our followers considered it a hack, but a whopping 68% offered up a flattering slash.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Just shy of 69. Is this a sex joke?

SPEAKER_01 1:39

No, just just numbers.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Oh, okay. I didn't know if this was a um sex joke, or I know how Ryan it talks about like the uh AC, so I wasn't sure if it was The Perfect Temperature.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

A few of our friends on Facebook shared their thoughts with us. Ken shared, I love this movie a lot, and it's one of the horror sequels that tops the original. Hands down a slash from me. Can't agree more. Nova Cascade shared, Child's Play 2 was a massive disappointment, a victim, no doubt, of being rushed into production so swiftly after the runaway success of the original.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Interesting. I I just love hearing from our followers all the time because I think I I know you guys well enough. Sometimes I'm like, hmm, I wonder what they're gonna say, but it's always nice hearing from other people, like just their different views and stuff. No hate against you guys.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

No, I I get it, especially some of our followers who tend to reach out often. And like if I know they're into slashers, I would expect them to be in Child's Play 2. Nova Cascade is a fine band of folks, and I was surprised to hear that they didn't like Child's Play 2.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

That's right, but we all have our own thoughts on different movies and they affect us in different ways, so I gotta respect it. Now, over on Twitter, Rob tweeted, Oh, this movie is a major hack. No wonder I went years without watching it. And to close at our follow-up, our patron Daniel sent us this comment. Eat dirt, Tommy, is probably my favorite line. The kid who plays Andy is a great child actor. Overall, I prefer this or Bride of Chucky out of the whole franchise.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Thank you. I love that one. Jennifer Chile as a freaking doll is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Totally agreed.

SPEAKER_03 3:07

Yeah, for sure. And remember, folks, the conversation never ends with us. Please reach out, let us know how you feel. It's been overwhelming the amount of new uh new engagement we've gotten over the last couple months. We're so excited, especially now that we're in October. You know, if you're listening to this for the first time, you may have just discovered us on your quest to check out new horror movie podcasts. So if so, don't hesitate to reach out. We've got a fun one for you this week, folks, as we break down a 2018 film brought to you by the editor of Get Out. This film explores the events that unfold on a night when a group of friends get VIP admission to a traveling horror attraction, an attraction that's also being visited, unbeknownst to them, by a masked serial killer. The director of this film, a horror movie fan through and through, sought to pay homage to the classic slashers of our past, and he did so while not only celebrating the modern October Halloween experience, but also by being a little bit more reflective of our present time. This week we're talking about Hellfest. Now, who has seen this movie before?

SPEAKER_01 4:10

I have not. This was the first for me. I think this might have been the first time I had heard of this movie.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

I've seen it with Chris. So, real quick, Alexis, because I want you to share your side of this, but let me just share that I I saw this movie when it was in theaters. I remember having a particularly rough day at work, and when the day was done, I was like, not even trying to deal with this traffic right now. I had like a 45-minute commune at the time. I was walking outside Mac by the theater that we used to work by together, and I saw the poster for this movie and just it was this like spur-of-the-moment decision to see something before going home. Now we're gonna talk feelings in a minute, but let me just say this. I saw this movie twice in theaters after watching it alone the first time, and the second time was me forcing Alexis to hang out with me outside of work for the first time. Not forcing, was just like, you need to watch this movie. Yeah, now I will say that I had zero expectations before seeing this the first time, but what about you folks? Alexis, I'm sure you expected something given that I was like chomping at the bit to get you to go see it.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

Yeah, you were like really into it. Um so I was like, oh, this is gonna be super cool. When you get super excited about movies, I also get excited. I think we all do here. So um, yeah, it was really interesting. I had no idea what to expect. You kind of told me the premise of it. So I was like, oh, interesting. So House October built, like, what are we talking here? But completely different than those.

SPEAKER_03 5:32

Yeah, for sure. And it also struck me as I was recalling that with Alexis earlier. Mac, I don't know what this says about me. Every single one of you, the first time we've ever hung out outside of work has been to watch a horror movie in a movie theater. It's like the best thing. It's a sign of a good friendship.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

That is, I was gonna say, that's that's a great way to kindle, you know, the beginning of a friendship to get those embers going, is to watch a horror movie together.

SPEAKER_03 5:56

Or filter out shitheads.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

That's true.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

It's so intimate. I love it. I remember this movie feeling like just so fun, you know what I mean? And it was a certain measure of fun that I felt like I hadn't felt in a theatrical slasher in a long time up until that point. Everything felt familiar, but also refreshingly different. And keep in mind that we didn't record this episode of the podcast when this movie came out. This was a total surprise for us. This was the same year that Halloween was coming out. So in my mind, I was like, no horror movie's gonna top Halloween. That's the only slasher I'm interested in seeing. This was just one hell of a ride.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

So I'll be honest, like, I didn't hear about it when it came out. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention in life. I didn't watch a trailer or read any kind of synopsis when going into this movie, and I'm kind of glad that I did because I watched Haunt before this movie, my expectations for a Haunted House movie were very high. I would feel like so. I you know, I I don't want to say that that's it's the best haunted house movie ever, but it you do have to hit pretty close to it for me to to really respect a haunted house film now. I gotta say, Haunt was was amazing. So I'm glad I didn't, I didn't even know this was a haunted house movie until I started watching it. But like you said, this was this was a fun ride. And it's two like very different theme parks, two very different roller coasters you're getting on here, which I which I do say I I enjoy because you know Haunt had a particular feeling and a particular setup. This one we have like that that fear of like the hunt going on the entire time by having a masked serial killer stalk you, but you also have just kind of the crazy setup of the haunted house to set that right atmosphere for feeling kind of freaked out the entire time anyway, because you're kind of trying to guess like what's real, what's a real threat, and what's just part of the haunted house. So I I love the whole setup. It was a lot of fun to watch this.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Yeah, I totally agree. It was a fun ride. It's just interesting how I I don't know. I just love these like movies with teenagers for some reason. Like in the 90s, it really drew me. And I think now too, I just I think it's fun, it's interesting, it's scary. It's like a whole bunch of things at once. And I I like it. I like the comedy that um Bex adds to this. I uh I like the familiarness that I can feel with Taylor and how I can relate to her because I'm all hell naw to know uh Haunted House. I've been to two. I can possibly speak on my experiences. They were horrible only because I made it. We've decided Chris is like it is what you make it with the right people. So exactly. Clearly, not clearly, I'll need to be in a different situation.

SPEAKER_03 8:31

We'll treat you better. Thank you. I'm so glad you bring up the characters, Alexis, because I think the characters in this and the cast that went into it was actually one of my biggest surprises, right? I was surprised just how much I loved them. I went in with no clear expectations, but even then, I think I was still subconsciously conditioned to just expect more of the same, right? So frustrating character development, cheap jump scares, stale dialogue, unnecessary nudity. The cast in this movie, though, gave authentic performances. And and that made even the most mundane ad-lib lines feel relatable. And I can't wait to talk about it later.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

I was super surprised about how much I would like looking at these, you know, haunted houses that they're going in. And I'm surprised that they actually use them to the advantage because I feel like you know, we're we've seen haunted house movies before, seen stuff similar. They stick to a room, you go out, it's it you can feel it's smaller when this just felt so big. And I was like, There's these rooms, and I just I mean, we'll talk about in the visuals later on, but it was cool just seeing all these little like gadgets inside. And I love watching haunted houses. Like, I will virtually go through a haunted house, like watching people's reactions. No, no, no. So this is perfect for me. I get to watch them go through it and they can experience the fear without me being there.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

To set the stage though, I mean, this is very different from any haunted house I've ever like heard of. I've I don't know that I've actually been to any, maybe when I was younger, I just don't remember having gone to any. And you always like imagine you're just walking literally around from room to room. This is an amusement park of haunts, and I love it. You're exposed to this wide map, which is super cool, and I was not expecting that, so that was a cool surprise because you didn't feel confined to like, oh man, we're like in a tunnel now, and now we're on this room on the right, now we're in this room on the left. It just feels expansive, which was super surprising. But even more surprising than that for me was that they let the killer stay in the shadows, which was awesome.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

I hated that. Such a tease, such a tease.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

That's the best part. That's what leaves you wanting more, is when you only get that little glimpse and the killer is tucked away and you don't have to see them full force and see every pore on their skin. You you're left a little bit to your imagination. So big surprise. I I really thought we were going to get a killer that was gonna be, you know, overexposed, we're in a haunted house, we're gonna see every you know little clip of them like jumping at the the victims, but no, we're we're left with a killer who actually kind of slinks behind a little bit and stays out of the way. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 11:08

Oh, yeah, I love that because I feel like this killer was given the modern treatment of the way that we saw Michael Myers for the first time, the way that we saw Jason for the first time in Friday the 13th part two. Less POV, right? Not saying the cinematography was the same, but you know, less is more, really. And that's one of the things that was a big success for this. Now, one of the other things that I love is when we look at how frightening this movie is, Mac, you're right, it is a theme park. And I feel like the first time I saw this, I didn't fully appreciate just how scary that would be. My first experience with a haunt at all was Halloween horror nights. So for me, this felt normal. Go to a theme park, the major attractions or mazes, there are a couple rides, but no one goes for the rides on Halloween horror nights. You go for the scare zones and all that good stuff. And it wasn't until I went to some local haunts a couple years ago that I realized just how much smaller and more intimate they could be. Now, when you get the scale of this setting, and then you get the idea that you can just kind of be lost in the mix and lost and you know, weaving through crowds, I think it does lend an element of fright that I didn't pick up on the first time. I do also think that this movie is pretty solid in the way that it builds tension and it lets you dwell in it, but I wouldn't say it's gonna make you jump a ton. I think the most haunting thing about it though is that ending.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

What an ending. What an ending. Yeah, I mean, going going through the film, if you're scared of haunted houses, you might get a couple jumps from this. But thank goodness they're not throwing excessive jump scares into the mix because that just gets so boring. They did really well, like you mentioned, with that pacing, like making you like wonder what's gonna happen, when's it gonna happen, get building that suspense. But when they build up to that ending, I was not expecting it to end the way the way that it does, and was super satisfied, which might surprise you guys because this doesn't end in a super conclusive everyone's dead and the game's over kind of situation here. It it really sets it up for a continual fear of what might happen. So I I was pretty happy with that.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

Yeah, there's no like finite, like def definitive uh like this is what's going on, and this is what might lead to part two. So yeah, I did appreciate that. Um, yes, this movie scared the shit out of me. Brought back memories of when I was in a haunted house. I think it was just watching that, and I was just like, what the heck? I would never be in that situation. I would never be there. So I think it was cool to see the fear in them because I think it was kind of reflective to me, like how I would be, especially like especially Taylor.

SPEAKER_03 13:47

I know we've talked about the ending a little bit, but look, let me just say this. This is undoubtedly among my top 10 favorite horror movie endings. And it is also my favorite scene from the movie, so we'll talk about it later, but it's really just the one thing that stuck with me after watching it, and it's the thing that made me watch it several times, and the reason why I forced Alexis to go watch it with me because I wanted to watch her watch that ending and then see how her mind was blown. Now, it's not gonna be like an M-night Shyamalan type thing. Don't get your hoped up way that high. I just think it it's so different from the tone of the rest of the movie, and I can't wait to get into it because I've been waiting two years to talk about it on this show.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

That was truly one of the original things I think they did for this movie was they're talking about a serial killer roaming around this map of a haunted house kind of situation, but they literally let the killer be a serial killer in the way that they act throughout the entirety of the film from start to end, which is fantastic because they leave you wondering, like, oh my gosh, what else could be going on? Who are they? What's happening? I just want to know all the details. It's kind of like when you get to an episode of Mindhunter and you're learning more about these serial killers, and it really makes you question who are these people that exist in the world and how do they do the things that they do? I don't know. It just really for me was a big change for most, you know, horror films out there.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

Yeah, it was definitely super original. I I don't think the idea of a haunted house is original. I mean, we've seen plenty, we reviewed one that was haunt based on the same thing. But I I do agree with you. It definitely takes what we think and you know lets you dive a little bit deeper, especially with that ending.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

Oh, for sure. Now, look, Devil's Advocate, you can easily just see this as just another slasher, right? If you want to go into this movie expecting it just to be another slasher, you can. But the reality is it's a refreshing take on the modern slasher. You got reasonable amounts of gore that doesn't turn into sex craze torture porn. That's not a knock to you, Alexis, and Saw. It's not like that. But you know some movies do get crazy. They do. This is this doesn't get crazy. You also have strong women who are likable and not shamed or penalized for their love of fun. And you have good guys who are great friends or boyfriends who are just there to have a good time, without this like excessive machismo that makes it seem like they have to be the ones to protect their women. This is exactly the light-hearted slasher I needed and didn't even know I wanted, which I think bodes pretty well here. We have so much to unpack in terms of spoilers because this movie is pretty different. Let's go ahead and start making our way to the scoring. Let's just get it out of the way. Before we rate this movie, Alexis, what do we have for the body count?

SPEAKER_02 16:30

We have a total of six deaths, and you guys would be happy there were no animals that were harmed in the making of this movie.

SPEAKER_03 16:39

Very nice. All right, then let's go ahead and start getting into it. Hellfest from 2018. Was it a hack or was it a slash?

SPEAKER_01 16:46

This was a slash. This was a fun, haunted house style movie. Now it's not a house, it's a whole like haunt situation for this huge amusement park theme park kind of setup, which I have to say is a surprise to me because again, I've never been to any, and this is the kind of thing I would find fun and nerve-wracking because it's so massive. I would just be freaked out by how lost that I would get immediately. I would need a map to know where the map is to figure out where I'm going. But it was a lot of fun. We have we have some great dialogue, I think. You have some also youthful dialogue that you can tell is written for teens or for people in their early 20s, and that's fine. I I found that okay. But I loved the mask killer in this movie. Can't say that enough. I don't know what it is. The mask, I wasn't a huge fan of it, grossed me out. But their methods, the way that they move through the world was a ton of fun. The variety of kills that we get was also a huge ton of fun. And it wasn't like disgustingly bloody or anything, but it wasn't so boring and basic that it should be on TV without having to be reformatted or anything like that. So I think it was worth a watch. I think if you're gearing up for Halloween, it's the perfect movie to watch or to rewatch.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

I know this movie gives me all the feels of going to a haunted house, but not actually going. So I love it. Also, it's getting me super excited um for Halloween, and I I'm just I I love fall. I'm assuming like everyone else does. I watched this movie two years ago, and um, it's the same feeling that I got. It was funny because we were watching it and I was like, I kind of remember the beginning, but I don't remember the rest, and which was good, which was good. So I was kind of watching it with a fresh set of eyes and watched it again with Chris. Uh yeah, we had a nice little FaceTime date.

SPEAKER_03 18:31

It was fun.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Yeah, it was fun, and still an awesome movie. Super fun. I love the characters, I think they're super relatable. And Chris mentioned it before, and I didn't even think about it as they they give you these characters without giving any stereotypes that are like in a negative sort of way. And I think that's why I like it so much because it feels like I'm going with my friends to a haunted house or uh hellfest, as we call it. But I love that. I love the visuals in this. Um, I love the haunted houses, I like the kills, not as much score as I wanted, but we can go into that. Um, but this movie is definitely a slash for me.

SPEAKER_03 19:08

All right, folks. Look, I'm not gonna beat around the bush here because I respect this movie too much. It's a slash. It's a clean, it's a firm, super intense, unquestionable slash. It has genuine characters, which we've discussed, gorgeous set design, which we've also discussed and will discuss in a bit, and an ending I still love two years later. And I'm keeping it brief like that, folks, because I really want to make sure that you watch this movie and join us in the second half. With that being said, Hellfest from 2018 is a universal slash. You can find this movie streaming on Showtime, or if you don't have Showtime, you can also get a free trial for a bundle, you know, depending on how many email addresses you have laying around. Give it a shot, buy it, rent it, whatever you have to do, but join us in the second half so we can unpack the mayhem that unfolds in that park. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

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SPEAKER_03 20:32

Welcome back, folks. You're now entering the spoiler zone for Hellfest. The 2018 film has earned a universal slash from the three of us that are here tonight. We have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, we have the matter of gore to get to. Alexis. What is the gore score for this movie?

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Personally, I would say low because it's not filled with scenes um like we typically see in other movies and typically other slashers, believe it or not. Um, usually we'll see a lot of deaths, we see them full on, there's a lot of blood. But like Chris, I will quote you as saying this is a reasonable gore.

unknown 21:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

And it is like, and we talked about this last night. I was like, I don't know what I'm gonna say about the gore because there it wasn't, but like it was. So it's like this the especially two kills in particular were super gory um and super intense and full on. I didn't think we'd see what we saw, and I was like, oh shit, we just saw that. So I don't clearly Gavin, unfortunately, Gavin dying hurts my soul. Oh yeah, boy. Hurts my soul. Nice guy, but his kill was the best because I just love using that mallet to come down on his head. Cause that's when I was like, they're not showing this because this has been kind of PG a little bit since this, since this part, and they did it. And I love the little like when the bell goes off. I mean, it was cool, it was like.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Kind of funny, but I love that you think that was funny, but heartbreaking. It was so soon into the film though. It was kind of surprising to me because he's the love interest. I I figured they were gonna try to draw that out to the very end, and they were like, we're gonna dispatch him as soon as possible.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

That would be your typical slasher movie that you're used to.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Turn it on its head, kill him first off. I love it. I I think Asher was probably my favorite kill.

SPEAKER_04 22:26

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

And not because I thought it was particularly cool or especially gruesome or anything like that, but because you felt an intense feeling of helplessness for a character that any other movie would put into the super macho role where he would be like fighting back and would probably escape and then later on would get taken out in some kind of weird way. No, it was pure fear from this character and acting like an animal, trying to escape and not able to do so, and also eyeballs.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Yes. Oh my gosh, the special effects in this were so good. Like they were really realistic, especially in that scene. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

Man, Mac, you you brought up something I hadn't even considered because only now am I connecting the fact that he wasn't really able to successfully fight back, and he was also the buffest dude in the group. Like he was muscular.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Oh yeah. The dude was a little bit built and still only kind of managed to die.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

It's not all about bronze over here. Right.

SPEAKER_03 23:22

I feel bad for him. You know, and even that was a great kill. And look, realistically, if we're talking about like gore and the intensity of death, first place would have to go to Gavin, like Alexis said. And man, I was not happy to see him go. I think you'd more often expect, as you were saying, to the boyfriend of the main girl to be one of the final two. But hey, Gavin, thanks, man. At least you let this girl survive with her best friend, so that's cool. My other favorite death was actually Quinn, because he was so easily dispatched. They didn't make a big deal out of him. He runs to interfere as the killer is killing Taylor, and he just gets stabbed suddenly, just so easily dispatched, and it's front of all these people. It's just so insane to me. It was one of those like shocking moments of like, I don't know how many more people are gonna die in this movie. But that felt shocking.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

Yeah, I felt kind of disappointed though, because I was like, I think because I was kind of wanted a little bit more gore. Like I wanted these people to be picked off one at a time, but that's your typical slasher. That's like your typical, like, so I while I appreciate that, I was like, man, I really wish that like something cool would have happened. But you know, I'm not upset about it. Yeah. You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

I mean, it was kind of like a prison shank in that moment where it's it's so fast and so fierce that there's nothing that the character can do to prevent it from happening.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

You speak from experience.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Yeah, I I've all often been shanked, but uh androids don't die, so I'm still here.

SPEAKER_03 24:54

There you go. But it's also nuts because you have the chaos of that moment, right? You have all these people freaking out around you witnessing this, and the park is just shutting it down. Hey, find the nearest exit. And it's crazy because I I didn't even think about this at first, but you know, with all the mass shootings we've had in our time, you think about so many people who have just gone about their day or gone to a concert, and then there's a mass shooting. And it's it's handled very differently, obviously. I mean, obviously, this is one guy with a knife killing people in a park, but I can't even imagine the chaos that would cause if that like happened while I was attending Halloween horror nights. It gives you a whole different element of fear.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

I'm gonna say that that fear's been with me all the time. Like, I'm just like, whatever this person really wanted to kill me. Like, and that's it, like it's just fearful. It's like a that's what I actually think about before any of this, just in general at a haunted house. Yeah. That's how I think before all this happened. I really thought it was interesting and I wasn't expecting this, was when our bad guy was chasing around the second girl around the park, and they go and they're in the haunted house, and Natalie's there and looking, and she's like, clearly, like this isn't real. Maybe it's one of those extreme haunted haunts where you see someone get stabbed, but it's not real. Also, I would be the same way. I'm like, clearly, I'm in a haunted house. This isn't real. I would hope I would think that, but it was just like this kind of connection that they felt. It was just really weird for me because it was just like they were both looking, and I was like, he's not gonna do it. And she was like, I I could just see the internal, like, and then he just stabs her. And I thought it was crazy because she actually, and we said that she called her out. She's like, She went in there. Like, and I'm like, damn, she must feel really bad now for sure.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

That is true, and what a way to set everything up, you know, showing the murder right in front of who he hopes will be a victim later in the film. And then she's just like watching the whole thing go down. I I don't care if it's if it's a professional haunt and I'm paying to see this, if I think it might be real, I'm probably gonna call somebody. Or at least run away really fast. One of the two. Because if I were to see that happening, I wouldn't be like, this is part of the park. I would probably be like, hey, are you a worker here? Because I'm calling the police right now, and then see if they stop me.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Yeah, he'd be like, uh no, I don't work here.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Right. Yeah, if the victim was like, Oh my gosh, please don't call them. This is part of the park, I'd be like, Okay, that's cool. But if they're like, oh my gosh, please call the cops, I'd be like, Yeah, we're taking this dude down. It's going, it's going down right now.

SPEAKER_03 27:28

It's almost like all these scare actors need a safe word.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Yeah. I agree. Give them a little card, and if they say the safe word, it's like, oh, I see, okay. They said Armadillo, this is fine, this is part of the act.

SPEAKER_03 27:39

It's part of it. The first death that we get, I love that opening scene when Jody is kind of picked off from her friends in that haunted house, and she's walking through one of the last rooms, and you just see one of the statues in that room, in that room turn and look at her. And that was just so freaky to me. And I think it's also because it reminded me, obviously, now in retrospect, this movie came out before Haunt did, but it reminded me of Damien as the devil in Haunt, just because it had that similar kind of mask. And to see her get hung and strung up with the rest of the legs hanging, first off, innovation. Second, that is tragic to just be lost for a couple days and no one knows what happened to you.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

What a way to go. Tragic indeed. And to think that like your friends are probably like, oh, they're probably just went home. It's it's fine. They got too scared or they're running around or they're lost. And in reality, you're hanging from the ceiling.

SPEAKER_03 28:34

That was a great way to kick things off. I felt like that particular maze gave me so many memories of other mazes that I've been through, especially at Hallowscream. And let me just say this: Halloween Horror Nights is the superior haunt attraction in terms of like theme parks. Hallow Scream has nothing on Halloween Horror Nights. But Hallowscream does have that like cheap chintzy feel that that opening house did. Beyond that, though, I really want to talk about this ending, guys. Mac, you said that that ending surprised you and shocked you, yes?

SPEAKER_01 29:04

I think so, because it's not what I expected whatsoever from this film. I thought we were gonna get a final showdown with a clear winner-loser, somebody's dead, somebody's alive, and either we're getting a sequel or boom, one and done because the killer's killed. So it was surprising to me that both the final girls live and the serial killer not only survives, but literally walks into his suburban house and greets his child. What even is happening?

SPEAKER_03 29:33

Right. That scene that you just mentioned haunted me. And I feel like the ending in this one is one that just punches you in the gut and rewrites the memory you have of this movie, and then you have to watch it again to re-experiencing it with that in mind. Up until that point, it's a fun run-in-the-mill slasher, right? And then it hits you with a killer just going home to his daughter like he's just coming home from work. For context, right? Just before this movie was released, so many people in America watched the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee. During that hearing, Kamala Harris asked these extremely intentional, pointed, thorough questions. Now, look, I'm not here to discuss that whole hearing or the politics behind it, nothing associated with it, but there was just one moment, one powerful question that came from that that resonated with me watching this movie. She asked him, and he ultimately agreed, do you agree that it is possible for men to both be friends with some women and treat other women badly? And that's what this movie is, right? That's what this ending is. It's the confirmation that people, in this specific instance, a man, can come from a good suburban home, have a young woman in his life, a woman he loves, a woman he's raising, but he can still be a monster. He can hurt people. The two things are not mutually exclusive. So pardon us if we don't back down from you know concerns at the first sight of, oh no, I don't hurt women, I love women. And the same can be said for any marginalized group, right? Like, I don't hate blank. I have friends who are blank. It just that was the lasting impression I got.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

Yeah, the lasting impression for me was that, but it was also like he keeps these mementos and keeps these masks and everything like that. And it's creepy because it's like, you know, everyone has their different things that they keep. And we see that in movies too. Like people will keep certain uh certain items from their victims. It's like this guy's like kind of like, oh, look how many years I've been doing this for Halloween. Like, look at or whatever the case may be. And maybe it's like whatever's I was like trying to look on like any of these, I'm like trending that year. Like that kind of would have been cool. Like if you'd seen like things that were trending the past couple ones, so you know, Game of Thrones or something like that. I'm just kidding. This isn't funny, but but yeah, no, I totally it was very chilling. I was like, What? Because I thought at first he had came into the house. He's like, Well, whatever. I uh like there's a kid, and I was like, Oh my god, he's gonna kill a kid, he's gonna freaking kill the kid. And when she gets up and she's like, Dad, I'm like, Wow, this is so interesting, so interesting.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

It's like a Ted Bundy situation, which I love because it gave it some depth. It was like, this is a serial killer, this is not just another killer from a slasher movie that doesn't really belong anywhere in the world, and they're just out there killing people because they love it or they're supernatural or whatever. This is like this is another human being that every year goes out and gets their rocks off on killing young people, specifically young women that seem to look a certain way. That's what they're hunting for in the world, and then the rest of their year, it's like it's like the purge, they just switch it off and they go about their normal lives.

SPEAKER_03 32:47

Like, what it's hard to imagine that it is hard to imagine that, but also it's funny that you point that out, Mac, because now I'm just realizing that his young daughter is blonde. So, like, he he's brunette, his young daughter is blonde. Maybe safe to assume, I'm not sure how genes work. Someone who's smarter than me, please let us know. Mother might be blonde or someone in that family. I wonder if his loathe for women who look a certain way is kind of like maniac where the killer has mommy issues.

SPEAKER_01 33:13

Totally possible. And I think the mask setup and the whole daughter setup, I just it left you wanting to know more. Yeah. Because as soon as I saw the closet full of masks, all I can think of is either these are past Halloweens that we haven't been able to learn about, or these are all the future situations that we could potentially get to see one day in a sequel or sequels. And this is like a major plan that's happening. But it also seems so strange that a killer like this would have so many different personas of all these all these masks and all these disguises that they're going to attend these haunts with. Because it seems pretty different from other serial callers where they always have that like consistent MO. So yeah, in either way, it was just like really interesting to see that at the end.

SPEAKER_02 33:57

Well, it's kind of like um if you're if you're going with the movie when they go to the deadlands, then they're all there. I was like, okay, that's when I was like, WTF is going on in this movie. I was so confused. I was like, oh, he's getting paid. And I was like, no, that guy actually killed someone back there. Uh this isn't a joke. But then I was like, oh, interesting. Park worker, like, I I just wasn't sure.

SPEAKER_03 34:20

Yeah. My theory is he's a guy who auditions as a scare actor at local haunts, like part-time. He seems like he probably has a full-time job living in a house that big. But my assumption is he is a park employee or a a seasonal employee just for that haunt, and that was his night off. That would explain for me at least how he knew about all the employee entrances, how he got around, how he had access to a mask. Maybe he isn't even a scare actor, but maybe he just auditioned and somehow got away to steal a mask.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Really strange thought would be what if he was the person that created the company that hosts these things?

SPEAKER_03 34:58

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

And then like stepped away. Right? Like he's just, you know, in the board, like making some money off of this thing. And then also, I wanted to make this so that I could hunt people once a year.

SPEAKER_03 35:09

So smart. Mac, that's the movie I want to see.

SPEAKER_01 35:12

Oh, the most dangerous game.

SPEAKER_03 35:15

Obviously, I have this attachment to the ending and I have my own perspective of how I see it. Can I tell you what the director was actually inspired by?

SPEAKER_01 35:21

Oh, please do.

SPEAKER_03 35:22

So this director was my my mainly an editor in his past. He edited every paranormal activity movie except for the first one. He got a lot of hate on the internet. He actually said that the other, which is the name of the killer in this movie, is inspired by internet trolls. So people who say the worst things, um, they write you messages saying about how you deserve to die. I'm gonna kill you, this, this, and that. But then they go into their normal jobs, they smile, they go about their business, and as soon as they get behind the keyboard, they're just allowed to be awful. So the other putting on this mask, going on his killing spree, then coming home to his suburban home was like his way of representing that.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

That's brilliant.

SPEAKER_03 36:02

That is, I like that.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Although now all I think of when I think of internet trolls is what we do in the shadows. Totally spoiled it for me.

SPEAKER_03 36:09

I haven't got there so yet.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Well, it's it's a good one, so look forward to it.

SPEAKER_03 36:13

Absolutely. Now, look, I already said that ending is my favorite scene, but what about for you folks?

SPEAKER_01 36:18

Favorite scene for me would be Natalie and Brooke hiding as part of the props in a room, like waiting for the killer to either leave or waiting to where they can try to attack him, or whatever the plan is gonna be. One, it was just like a really cool visual in that room, but like the tension there, you can see their eyeballs just like moving and watching the killer, waiting, like not knowing, does the killer know that we're here? Are they gonna leave? Are we gonna are we gonna be safe? It's so uncertain, and then ultimately having to take the opportunity to attack and and flee. But it was such a cool scene to see them like planning and plotting all in the eyes, all just waiting, all just watching. Loved it.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

My favorite scene, I really loved, like I mentioned, when Natalie first meets the other, um, and then that whole scene. But I also really love um Chris is watching it with me. But when they're going through this top C turvy blackout light lockers, people, you know, and it's just like this the camera's moving out of a different, it was just fun to me. I was like, oh, that's the kind of one fun I want to have. No one really scaring me. Just and then you know, they're able to call that's when someone's coming out of there, there, there, oh look, right there. I just thought it was super fun, and I really like that.

SPEAKER_03 37:36

Yeah, so you want to be the person who's small enough to climb on someone else's back and have them run you through the house while laughing.

SPEAKER_02 37:43

Uh yes, because I'm not walking. Um, I'm too terrified that something's gonna grab at my feet.

SPEAKER_01 37:48

You need one of those baby carriers.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

Baby Bjorn, Alexis Bjorn.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

You can like face forward and and watch the park, but still be carried throughout the yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:58

There we go. I like that. I like that. I just want the one that faces the person, not on the back, because then something can get me.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

Oh, that's true. You have to be you have to be on the front facing forward so that they run.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

I could just hug the person holding me. Like, ah, get me out of here. I'm pretty sure that was my first haunted house experience with my dad. It was all fake, and my dad's like, no, it's a it's a cave in this restaurant. Oh, yeah. We were in Japan.

SPEAKER_01 38:21

Well, you never know in Japan.

SPEAKER_02 38:23

And he's like, Don't worry, it's not scary. And I was like, look at all the stuff outside of it, and it's all fake, like all of it's fake. And I was terrified he had to carry me out of there. It was it was oh damn. Yeah, it was traumatic. Clearly, I'm still thinking about it.

SPEAKER_03 38:35

I love that you brought that scene up, Mac. Um, about the that room with the faces and them hiding them on the props. So the white masks in that room were actually a rejected mask for the other, and they had the mold, and you know, it didn't make the cup for the final mask, right? But they actually just printed out like 50 of them and slapped them on the mannequins. And that's I feel like is capitalizing on some good work that you've already done.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

That's brilliant. What a brilliant use of props you've already designed because they were still effective, just not for the killer in a different scene. They were perfect, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:05

Not to be wasteful or anything. Hell yeah. Now, there's so much to be said about the way Hellfest and and even the Orange Grove Community Fair in the beginning came to life. The set design in this movie was stunning, right? Some of the mazes looked absurdly fun. Alexis, you mentioned out the black light lock, uh black light lockers, and there was one shot in particular that stood out to me. It was with all the craze of Hellfest kind of playing out, and the killer turns around after Julie walks away, right? So he bumps into her. This is the so far we've only seen the back of his head or his weird hoodie pocket that made him look like he had an erection for a little bit. But he turns around to look at her, and as he turns slowly, we see his mask design, and with the depth of field in that shot, it just it felt like the entire amusement park just melted away.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

Love it. There were some amazing shots in this film. They did such a good job like capturing the feelings that you would have while going through the park. And while I appreciate the shots, I was more of a fan of kind of the way they lit this movie. That was so well done, and that's why I love the fact that the killer gets to remain in the shadows. But even when they're like out and about and they're around other people, it still feels like nighttime. You know, a lot of films that are set at night just seem like really well-lit, like CW style shows where hey, you know what? I mean, nothing wrong with them, but there are incredibly brightly lit shows. I feel like I don't know, maybe I haven't seen enough of them, but a lot of like made-for-tv stuff, a lot of TV, you know, shows in general. We're inside of a house and it seems like we're in a hangar bay full of the the sun. Literally, the sun's inside of it. But this one, it didn't feel like that. It was well lit, but it felt like we were at night, which I love. It felt like there was some real shadow. It felt like the moon was up above, casting the light down, but we had enough light to make out features. We could still see everything clearly. It it wasn't you know shot in the dark with with no lighting, so it it it was nice. It was nice to see shadow, it was nice to see light, it was nice to see the right characters in either one.

SPEAKER_02 41:09

Yeah. No, I that it's funny because that's my favorite part visually. And yes, I'm a fan of the CW. So um going back to that. That's not saying much. Definitely a Riverdale, but not going there either. But I I love the colors that they're using. They're using a red light, they're using uh green lights. My fate two of my favorites is an overview of they have of the park, and you see how like big it is, and then there's this green, all the green smoke that's coming up, and you can see that. I just loved it. I loved looking at it's like it reminds me of when I opened up my poly pocket back in the 90s, and it had all these like little nooks and crannies, and I was like, oh my gosh, it's like my little poly pocket.

SPEAKER_01 41:50

Can can you explain to me what a poly pocket is? Because I don't know what that is.

SPEAKER_02 41:54

Oh my gosh. Oh, it sounds like a sex toy, right? I just realized that it does. Polly's pocket. That's Polly's pocket.

SPEAKER_01 42:01

Make sure to wash after use.

SPEAKER_02 42:02

So it opens up, it's like a little chest. It could be it's about the size of my hand. It opens up, and the way it opens up, it's like a shape of a house and it has like a little garden. It's like a mini house and it and it had these little little things that you can like characters you can put in. I'm assuming I'm c I'm explaining this correctly.

SPEAKER_01 42:20

That makes sense to me the way you're describing it.

SPEAKER_02 42:22

No, you are. I also had a polypocket. Oh, yeah. They were so cool because you could your mom could just throw it in the back of the car. She didn't need to bring all these toys, and you're entertained for hours. That was some efficient entertainment. Hell yeah. We don't have that anymore. Well, I guess it's all in one like device. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:38

It's all on a tiny flat screen now.

SPEAKER_02 42:41

Yeah. But I also love that. And then I'm trying to recall like the actual situation. I believe it was when she was actually on that ride coming through, and she's sitting there, and there's like these green lights and the fog, and then like you have the other coming in, and it's that red spotlight. And I just loved it, just the way it was. And I was like, Oh, I'm totally getting Susperia feels with all these colors. I was like, Max's gonna be so happy.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

Don't shy away from color, color is amazing.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

Yes, no, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

It's such a bummer when every movie just goes for like this really flat tone. So don't do it, be like this movie. Use some color, use some lighting.

SPEAKER_03 43:18

Hell yeah. Man, okay, and for all my classic Clasher fans out there who are also enthusiasts, He Knows You're Alone. That point where the ride breaks down and she is seeing the other, it's very different, shot very differently, but it reminded me of He Knows You're Alone when we have our main heroine riding in the ride, and she's seeing flashes of the killer's face inside of there. It was just so good. I do have plenty of great things to continue saying about this movie, but I do have an issue. It's not without its flaws. May I may I just point out something for a moment?

SPEAKER_01 43:52

Of course you may. You always have permission to do so.

SPEAKER_03 43:55

Oh, thank you. I just want to double check and ask for consent and never want to assume it. My one Issue with this movie is Taylor's escape from the guillotine. It was far too obvious what she was doing, right? So, like re like unbuckling everything, and he could have chosen to ignore that, but she was strapped on the back. So why was he surprised? How like he's he must have heard her. He had to have seen her. And I feel like it he his vision just could not have been that impaired by that mask.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

Yeah, it happened really quickly, and then she's like up and out. I'm like, how did that happen?

SPEAKER_01 44:26

Yeah, maybe she's got some skills because she seemed pretty flexible. If I was tied down at all, I'm not gonna be able to unbuckle anything. So if my if I can't move my hands well enough, like I'm not gonna be able to do anything. If if my back is tied down, I I don't even think I can reach there. I can't even scratch my own back.

SPEAKER_04 44:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

So I I'm impressed, but people are more flexible than I am. So I gotta I gotta give her some credit for escaping that scene. I thought when we had that cut across the neck, I thought it was game over when I saw that. I was like, oh, like paralyzed. I thought it went in deeper than it did.

SPEAKER_02 45:02

Clearly, he didn't get the memo.

SPEAKER_03 45:03

We ain't got no real guillotines in here.

SPEAKER_02 45:06

Um I didn't have any disappointments, but I definitely had like hell no moments that uh hell and naw moments. And I was I say hell nah moments because I definitely was like, oh hell and uh when we were watching the movie. First one is one, you will never catch me at this place. That's the first hell nah.

SPEAKER_03 45:23

We got VIP bands, Alexis. Yes, hell no.

SPEAKER_02 45:26

Yeah, I'm like, yeah, sorry you paid for me. Didn't ask you to. The Hall of Hands, hell no. If I saw that, I'd turn my ass around. And I'm like, I don't care if I have to go through 20 rooms to go back, and I there's only two in front of me going through all 20 behind me. If any of you had said deadlands, I'd be like, oh hell no. Not doing that. Let's go the deadlands. No, how about I'll stay in this part.

SPEAKER_03 45:49

So was it the deadlands or was it the fact that you had to sign a liability waiver to get into the deadlands?

SPEAKER_02 45:55

Um, probably both of those. The name and the fact that I had to sign something.

SPEAKER_03 45:59

So if we said let's cross over the rainbow bridge and go to the happy fields, but you had to sign a waiver, you wouldn't do it?

SPEAKER_02 46:06

Uh depends what's what exactly is happy. Whose happy is this? The others. The others, nope.

SPEAKER_01 46:14

Hey, there was there was a liability waiver visible when we went sunflower picking today, okay? And it mentioned death, that they're not liable for your death from agritourism. Like what's gonna happen if you take that sunflower picking real bad allergies. Well, that's what I don't think I could think of as like.

SPEAKER_03 46:30

But if I have a parasite on it or something, and probably also COVID.

SPEAKER_01 46:33

Yeah, COVID, parasites, allergies, who knows? But yeah, literally big bold letters, big old liability waiver, that they're not responsible because it's agritourism. So yeah, I mean, I guess I'm unlike Alexis, I probably would have been like, okay, let me read it for just a moment and hand me the pen. I'll sanitize my hands afterwards.

SPEAKER_02 46:52

But oh gosh, this is before all that. Oh the last one was the faces room. Like, that's just so creepy to me. It's like if it that would be more terrifying than walking into a room and seeing like some crazy doctor jumping on the table like with a chainsaw. I'm like, I'd rather get that than that room where I don't know what's touching me or what's popping out. But if I follow you guys, maybe you guys will give me hints, like check their hands out or something, which I thought was great. Yeah, that's totally me.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

Totally. See, I would have been totally different walking through here. I would have looked around and been like, oh, look at the design on that one. Oh, they did such great makeup work on this one. Or, oh man, look at the lighting in this corner, or those sound effects are horrible, or I can't believe that they designed this room this way. They really need to repaint it.

SPEAKER_02 47:35

So you'd be super critical.

SPEAKER_01 47:36

I'd be super, super critical, super analytical. That would be analytical.

SPEAKER_02 47:40

That'd be me walking through there.

SPEAKER_01 47:41

Just be analyzing everything about it. I wouldn't be worried about the killer behind me stabbing me in the neck. I'd be just be like, oh, that's fine, I'll be okay. But anyway, the archway here is horrible.

SPEAKER_03 47:50

Excuse me, sir. I'm here to appreciate the immense amount of work that went into this place.

SPEAKER_01 47:56

Exactly. Please don't shank me. I'm trying to enjoy someone else's hard work.

SPEAKER_03 48:01

Look, if you're gonna kill me, can you save it before I have to walk back to the car?

SPEAKER_01 48:06

The one thing I can be super critical of in this film, however, or maybe super analytical, really small thing, just the friends bantering back and forth together, the grade school comment.

SPEAKER_02 48:16

Yeah, sexual stuff was a little much.

SPEAKER_01 48:18

Oh, yeah. I mean, I wasn't bothered by that, whatever. Of course. Because it's it's young kids. You know that's gonna be in the script. You know they're gonna try to write that in. There's there has to be like that feeling between them where they're they they have to make them seem like they're 20-year-olds or whatever it is, but I kind of expected it. But the whole like grade school comment just seemed like so out of place for that character as well, because everything else about the character was like super duper fun, right? Super small thing. That's it. I really enjoyed most of the aspects of this film, and it was just like that small thing kind of up front. I was like, they couldn't think of like a better nickname for one character to have for the other. I don't know, like it was it wasn't really a major thing for me. It didn't ruin the movie whatsoever, right?

SPEAKER_03 49:02

My understanding of why is because Taylor is now Brooks' college best friend, like roommate, etc. Right. And Natalie was Brooks' grade school best friend. So she just like, oh yeah, grade school, okay. It didn't then, it's still not great, it's still not original. It's like, okay. However, I will say that Taylor as a character was really hard to swallow at first, eventually became more fun and more tolerable as they got into the park, and it felt like the energy between Natalie and Taylor started kind of like flowing a little bit more organically. But I do think that's that chalks up to a great performance all around because that moment in the beginning is supposed to feel awkward. It's supposed to feel like, oh, who is this? And you feel that you feel that resentment from Natalie, like, why is she here? It's so good.

SPEAKER_01 49:52

Yeah, they they did a good job at expressing a feeling in the film, whether it was in the park or outside, whether it was between characters, like the script, while it had its moments of where you're just kind of like, okay, this is a horror movie script, like it mostly made you like feel a certain way that it needed to. That was that was effective.

SPEAKER_02 50:10

Yeah, especially with like Natalie. I I definitely I mean, I related to Taylor because you know, I am short.

SPEAKER_03 50:17

Um be picked up and taken away.

SPEAKER_02 50:20

Yes, exactly, exactly. And nabbed, I could totally see myself just being, yeah, just nabbed just like that. But um, I really felt for Natalie. Like I I really like I it was just interesting to see her character because everyone was saying these little side comments, like, are you okay? Are you this? Are you that? And I just like wanted to know more. Like it seemed like it was more than just like work stress, or I'm sorry, it seemed like it was more college stress, more than college stress. And I was like, um, interesting. I I was like getting bits of pieces, but not like it was thrown at me, like you know, when they recite a story of what's going on in their life. So I didn't need that. But so I appreciate these little tidbits that every character was giving um towards Natalie or for Natalie's character development. And one I can relate because why are my friends dragging me to a haunted house?

SPEAKER_03 51:09

Oh, yeah. I promise you I will get you to one. All right. I tried. I'm telling you, 2021 is our year.

SPEAKER_02 51:15

Okay, yeah, whatever. After this year, fuck it.

SPEAKER_01 51:18

2020 is a haunted house.

SPEAKER_02 51:20

There you go. I've lived the haunted house. I don't need to be in another one next year.

SPEAKER_03 51:24

I mentioned earlier that this has one of my favorite mix of characters in a modern slasher, and I think it's because I had so many, at least for me, competing for most likable. And I have to say, Brooke takes it for me, but Gavin and Natalie were actually really great additions. Um, another reason is is the fact that everyone played into a I I feel the comedic relief. They weren't huge moments, but there were a ton of little quips, and I want to share a few of my favorites with you. One, Natalie to Taylor, are you sexually harassing a zombie right now? Because that's that's just a lot. Brooke, I really wish you didn't. And I love that moment because that's when Taylor tells her she listens after divulging these really intimate private details about Natalie that Natalie is clearly uncomfortable, Taylor knows. I have a couple from Gavin. One, he says, I have a very specific phobia of demon clowns. And then when he's in the house, when he's showing Natalie the hand trick, he's like, busted, sir. Or ma'am, I can't tell really tell. Natalie's like, Oh, how dare you assume. It was just fucking hilarious. And obviously, I'm not doing these characters justice by just quoting them dryly on a podcast, but those are the moments that really shined for me.

SPEAKER_01 52:33

They did have some great back and forth, which I liked because it always makes things feel more organic. I mean, I told you before we started recording that I had a hard time remembering some of the names for the characters, but I can remember the characters in this film. They each have their like independent personalities, which is nice. And I know some people that we know don't enjoy some of the characters in this film, which is fine and probably deliberate in many ways. But if you make it through the entire film, I think you'll earn an appreciation for who they are independently. I think it's it's kind of like your real friends in real life, where everyone's a little bit different. Sometimes there's people you get along with and you share a lot of things with, but everybody's separate. They have their own things, they have their own personalities, and you can remember people, whether it's based on the way they act or the way they they speak, or like they have the I don't know, a unique affection for horror movies or whatever it is, you know, that they're rememberable for. But that's what I like about this film is that you have that feeling for each person. Unfortunately, some of them go sooner than others, but looking back at the movie, I can like clearly remember like this person's that person, that other person's the other person, this one died in this way. And it it's kind of cool because in a lot of slashers you get just forgettable characters. It's fine if you forget their names, you can always look them up on IMDB, but if you forget like that they were in the movie, what a what a waste of time. But in this one, if you watch this thing through, I think they really did a good job of setting them apart and giving them those those neat little, you know, different personalities like you would get out of people in real life.

SPEAKER_03 54:02

And I also have one small honorable mention, and that is the clown who slides past Brooke and Natalie as they're screaming, and uh he has like the blade on the ground and he's like sparking things up, and then the other clown who comes up right behind them and just starts throwing uh streamers at them is so good. Terrifying. Even the haunt actors in this movie were amazing. But I do want to take just a brief moment to to talk about this killer. So we've already established he he's similar and yet somehow different from some of the slashers that we've gotten, and it's really interesting, even his wardrobe, right? So he has like a green hoodie, a navy undershirt, he's wearing these brown boots that are clearly lived in. The killer is like an everyman. What stood out to you in particular about the killer and just kind of the way he was portrayed through this movie?

SPEAKER_02 54:50

I thought it was interesting when you get like a further, like you see him coming in, and I guess I just never seen a um horror movie where like a masked killer, you kind of see them without it. So I was like, Oh, this is really interesting. So it's like that first shot, and you're kind of seeing his face. And I was like, keep turning, keep turning, keep turning, keep turning. I need to see what you look like. So I'm like, maybe he's in the, you know, maybe, and then he's in this crowd and I can help pick him out and help my friends out. But like I couldn't because then he put his mask on. But I thought that was interesting, and you kind of like it, it like you guys mentioned, it's like this eerie feel that it could be anyone, and you're just putting on a mask on. And same when he's at home, it's it's you can see that you can see that side of him that he's clearly just your everyday uh shithead who probably hasn't had sex, but we're all good.

SPEAKER_01 55:40

Was that a shot at trolls again? Is that what we were doing? Yes, okay, I think it was it was really cool that the killer was watchful because we get that out of a lottery because we get that out of a lot of good killers in slasher films, is that they take their time and they watch from the shadows and then they act and they have a nice slow pace to them. Sometimes it doesn't make any sense because they're walking at one mile per hour, but somehow they're overtaking characters that who were running, but whatever. In this one, we don't have to worry about that. The killer is is moving very intelligently. So there's always that that feeling that they're somewhere looking at the characters, they're planning, they're plotting, they're being really intentional about everything, which is which is really cool because in a lot of like cheaper slasher films, you get a killer who is just there because it's convenient for the writers to have them just show up whenever they need to. But this one's like planning, plotting, stealing the photograph, waiting, pawing at the hair, but only in the air, no actual contact. Gotta love it.

SPEAKER_02 56:42

Like a psychopath, like a crazy ex-boyfriend kind of mood. Maybe crazy boyfriends in general. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 56:50

It just adds to the feeling that this is a serial killer and not just a disposable like prop that shows up when we need them to kill somebody to make it scary.

SPEAKER_02 57:00

Which is what we get in the typical slashers, especially 80s ones. No, no offense. Michael Myers is a person, but uh he has feelings. He cries in more movies. I don't know what feelings, but uh maybe he feels remorse.

SPEAKER_01 57:16

But even Michael Myers, you would kind of imagine Michael Myers to be out there like thinking through everything the entire time, and sometimes killing just because kids are stupid and they're so easy to kill, but other times planning, plotting, moving into position like playing chess.

SPEAKER_02 57:34

God, this feels so you feel icky thinking about people planning and plotting. Yes, I it I feel kind of like wow, this is nuts. I'm just thinking like maybe about my past, I don't think too much, but I'm just like, wow, people are that manipulative.

SPEAKER_03 57:50

You know how Stephanie Meyer recently released um Midnight Sun, which is Twilight, but from Edward's perspective. I did not know this. What the hell? Yeah, it's news to me. Yeah, big Twilight fan here. Let me just say, I wouldn't mind a novelization from a classic slasher's perspective. And I know that Stephen King wanted to do that for Jason from Friday the 13th. I know he wanted to do that because Jason's one of the more sympathetic killers, but I feel like that would be a really interesting take on the other from this movie.

SPEAKER_01 58:22

That's true, and I could see it happening in like that present tense prose that we get from like Mr. Mercedes or something, where you're getting the action as it's happening because it seems like someone's like telling you a story, which makes it really like tangible. It makes it feel like someone's sitting across the table from you, like describing things that are going on, and you're like waiting for what's next. So that would be super creepy, but I could totally appreciate that feeling of the other just being like, Yeah, and then she walks in, and then I'm watching from the corner, you know what I mean? Where it would it would feel like you were interviewing the serial killer.

SPEAKER_03 58:55

And that's behind the mask, the rise of Leslie Rodman. Did you watch Mr. Mercedes on TV?

SPEAKER_01 59:00

I did not. Is there a show? I started reading. Okay, so I started reading. I didn't finish it, but I read enough to get the feeling. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 59:07

It is, yeah. It's a good book.

SPEAKER_01 59:09

I feel bad for not finishing. I have a really bad habit of starting a book and not finishing it.

SPEAKER_02 59:12

Well, it's no offense. I love Stephen King, but it's also Stephen King.

SPEAKER_01 59:16

That's true.

SPEAKER_02 59:16

If it were from his perspective, I think it would just be like super interesting to see why he picks his victims. Or, like, I mean, I always I'm a fan of Mindhunters too, so I just love this idea of like why, like, what is your victimology? Like, what is this about? Like, what is it about you that draws? And and we talked about it before. Like, is it a mommy issue? Is it a daddy issue? I'm not sure which one's worse. Mommy, maybe the mommy issues, from what I've seen. We don't need any more dolls with scalps on them, but but yeah, no, I think it would be cool just to see like what makes is it people like g disrespecting him? Is it you know, someone cutting off in traffic and him being like, Oh, I'll get you, bitch, and following them and killing them, or is it just a simple they just look familiar, maybe possibly someone from his past?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:08

Indeed. So many questions. You know what I think is the ultimate compliment to how good this cast is, though?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:14

What's that?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:15

We have gotten this far without even talking about the fact that Tony Todd is in this movie.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:20

That's crazy because normally, if this was any other slasher, if it was like a B slasher, you'd be like, Oh, well, Tony Todd was a saving grace. And this one, it was just like, here's a little, here's a little nod to horror fans, here's a little pleasant surprise. Thanks for sticking around.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:34

I do he has such a rich voice that I appreciated him being this like announcer or like you know, spokesperson for Hellfest. Just like the Linda Billier's voice is very familiar. The little old lady from Poltergeist, her voice is annoying and familiar. Um, but yeah, I know that's crazy that we haven't noticed that. Very surprising. I feel like he is literally been in every movie review the past month.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:59

Well, we have a couple more coming up. So obviously, we have Candyman if and when that comes up. You know, we'll see how Tony Todd is approached in that movie. Um, obviously, Candyman, he is Candyman, right? Even if a new movie didn't have a minute, right? You can't talk about Candyman without talking about Tony Todd. But we also have him in the new versus old that's coming up of Night of the Living Dead, who's in the 1990 version.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:23

We just watched him in Final Destination.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:26

Oh yeah. You're getting your feel on Tony Todd. It should have been called Tony Todd Month on Hacker Slash, really. Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:33

If it if it were Tony Todd Month, I would make you all watch Star Trek.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:37

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:38

Because there's episodes with Tony Todd. Just saying.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:41

He's everywhere.

unknown 1:01:42

Everywhere.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:43

I know we've spoken highly of this movie, but one of the true measures of how good it is is whether or not you'd watch it again.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:50

I would. I would watch this again. Specifically if somebody that I know forced me to go to a haunted house or something similar, I would say only if you watch this movie and haunt and perhaps a couple others the night before.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:07

I love that. I'll take that. I definitely would watch this because I think I want to look at the house. Like I would like to pause this and look inside and look at all the doohickeys and everything. It's an odd word to use, but you guys know the props. I guess they're not just doohickeys, they're props. I should give them the correct word.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:25

Yeah. You got who's it's and what's its galore. It's fine. Yeah, there you go. You want thing about bobs? Tony Todd's got 20.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:32

See, doohickey just sounds like a command to somebody after you get out of a haunted house. Like, baby mimmy, go in there. Now doohickey.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:40

Oh my god, that's awful. This has become an annual watch for me, uh, especially now that I can't go to Halloween horror nights this year, but it perfectly captures the Halloween spirit, and it's not so brutal that it's a burden to stomach. You know what I mean? Like it's it's very palatable. Now, the thing about it though is that this isn't the last haunt movie that we have in our lineup. We have at least two more movies that are coming up on our regular feed that's gonna that are gonna feature some haunts, so we have plenty to discuss. Now, we've said a lot about this movie, but we do have so much to learn about it. Mac, may I have your blessing to borrow factor fiction from you this episode?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:18

I think it's only right that you should lead factor fiction this episode.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:22

Thank you so much, Mac. Now let's get started. Now, Mac, have you been on an episode while I've done factor fiction?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:28

You know, I don't know that I have. I think the entire time it's probably been me or we've skipped it.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:32

Yeah, yeah. Or you've been absent, in which case you don't know that I'm a bit of a storyteller. Excellent. This factor fiction.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:39

Excellent. I love context.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:40

We have some differences here in our style, so let's kick it off with your first one. The original draft of the script featured a very different rendition of Taylor. The character was originally intended to be a blonde bohemian Coachello girl, like the kind of girl who wears a straw hat. Gregory Plotkin, the director, knew as soon as Bex was reading during auditions that they had found the Taylor. Now, none of the six-foot-tall blonde models auditioning after Bex could match that performance.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:08

This is a tricky one because you make it so believable, so I can't tell either way. So I'm gonna say fiction only because I just couldn't see anyone else in this role. Now that obviously could make this story a fact, but for me, I'm I'm just gonna say fiction just because that seems like it just seems like it was written for the actor.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:26

Fiction as well? Alright, I'm sorry to break your hearts, that's a fact.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:31

Well, it it makes it does make sense. Because it does seem like nobody else could be in this role. Perfectly acted. The character was very memorable, so it would make sense that you would you know see somebody audition for this, and then you'd be like, no, I don't care what anybody else does, this is now my character.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:49

Absolutely, absolutely. Now let's keep things jiving with number two. Plotkin has actually spent the majority of his career in the editorial department, as we mentioned earlier. You know, we talked about him editing Get Out, Paranormal Activity 2 and Beyond. He's even done Happy Death Day and so many others. He had his first and last acting stint in the 1988 film Warlords. While he deeply appreciates the work actors put in, he actually hates doing it himself and prefers to be behind the camera. He has vowed to avoid being on camera as much as possible, which is a noticeable break from the likes of John Carpenter Wes Craven.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:21

This is a tricky one because I know that he made a uh cameo in this film, so I'm gonna I'm gonna again say fiction.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:27

I'm gonna say fact. It is fiction. He actually has three appearances in this movie.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:31

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:31

Uh the first one, he crosses the street as Natalie is arriving at Brooke's apartment. Uh, he plays the other who's riding the night bumps cart with Natalie, and his hand is the one cranking the guillotine for the close ups. Interesting. I like that. Yeah. He actually had worked and communicated a lot with uh Stephen Conroy, who played the other, but he felt like he knew the movements he wanted. And since it wasn't really the other and was a fake the other, he felt he could get away with just hopping in the cart and doing it himself.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:00

Brilliant.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:00

Now, number three. The cast of this film bonded incredibly fast. For example, they even got together a few days before filming and stayed up all night watching horror movies. It was this activity that inspired them to request changes to the script, which was welcomed by Plotkin since he was fostering a highly collaborative production. Rain and Amy in particular, who played Brooke and Natalie, requested that they not be helped by their male counterparts so the women could exclusively femme for themselves in the movie.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:26

I'm gonna go for fact only because I hope this was true.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:28

I know you don't trick us like Mac does and like make it half true and half not, so I'm gonna say fact.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:33

It's fiction. So sorry. It's fiction only because they didn't have to ask for that, because that was Plotkin's approach to the movie. He very specifically didn't want to have women who had to rely on men to survive the movie.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:46

So wait, did they not get together and watch horror movies beforehand though?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:49

Oh, they absolutely did. A lot of the things I give you are littered with factual context here.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:55

Okay, no, that so that makes me happy because I feel like if I was going to be in a horror film as an actor, I would demand that of my other actors. Like, what are we doing if we don't watch horror films beforehand?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:06

Yeah. And the really cool thing is that a lot of the talent was actually from Atlanta, Georgia. And so they're all local. He had his wife and his kids back in LA. So he would actually have them come over to his place for dinners, and he had dinner with a lot of the cast's uh family and friends, had dinner at uh Passover dinner at Bex's family's home. Uh so they had a great relationship. Now, number four. While most cast members had to rely on the director describing what sort of sounds their character would be hearing during tense scenes, Bex was actually able to use genuine fear in their portrayal. Bex was extremely freaked out when strapped to the table and actually requested that the styrofoam blade be removed from the guillotine.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:44

I'm gonna say fact because if I was Bex, I would definitely feel the same exact way. Like, please put something else in there.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:53

Now I'm torn because it doesn't look like it would have been removed during filming. This shot is so seamless. So I'm gonna go with fiction?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:01

It's fact.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:02

Oh man.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:03

I feel like I'm getting you guys good though, one way or another. You are, I got one fucking right.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:07

I'm so glad that I don't play this game on a regular basis. I'm only the one that has to lead it.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:11

Oh though, that's okay. That's why I try to just, you know, give give some some facts, you know, lead up to the context. Let's see how you fare on this last one. We talked earlier about a change that was made to Bex, right? The original script also featured a different dynamic between its main cast. There was originally supposed to be a love triangle between Taylor, Brooke, and Natalie. This change was made at the request of Bex, who sought separation from their performance as Audrey Jensen, a bisexual character in the Scream TV series.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:37

I think this sounds believable. I don't know enough context about that TV show, so I'm just gonna go for fact.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:44

I know of the TV show, so I don't know how much context I need, but I'm gonna say fact.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:49

It is fiction. So, first off, let me just say this. Yes, Bex is uh is non-binary, uses they them pronouns. The character in this movie is Taylor, uses she, her pronouns. Their character in Scream was Audrey Jensen, who was a bisexual woman. That's all that's all true. The script did also feature a different dynamic. There was supposed to be a love triangle. However, this change was made actually and demanded by the director. When he was originally handed the script and he saw the hot mess, he was like, I'm never making this film. If you want to make my film, I'll give you some notes. But I'm not making this movie. We're changing everything. I just gotta give so much credit to Gregory Plotkin. He saved this movie and redeemed it because it would have been total shit if he hadn't if it had been anybody but him.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:36

You mentioned the modernization of the slasher and major thanks to the director for making that happen. Because while watching it, you didn't have to wince constantly at the bad decisions that filmmakers made. You got to just enjoy the film and the characters and their dynamic.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:52

Absolutely. And I think the great thing about him is he's so well known for his editing, and when you edit, and he is described as such, it's the final rewrite of the movie, and he has an eye and knows the atmosphere of fear. So that is what I think you know, a lot of the success in this movie is attributed to, not only to the notes that he made, not only to the cast performances, but the environment that he fostered that made that all happen. So I think you guys you guys did pretty alright for fact of fiction, not too bad.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:22

I don't know if I got any right.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:24

You got some right. I got one right. Yeah, you got the cameo one right. Well, there you have it, folks. Hellfest from 2018 has earned a universal slash, at least from the three of us here at this table. We'll check in with Paris and Ryan when they get back. While we've certainly had a robust discussion here, remember it does not end here. We want to know what you think. We have to know what you think about that ending. Did you also find Taylor amusing after being annoying? Who knows? Keep in mind there are so many ways you can reach out to us, starting with our website, hackerslash.com, and on our social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:58

Or if you've had your own spooky haunt experience, you can also reach out to us on our Hackerslash Hotline. You can call us, text us, leave us a voicemail, or send us an audio message to 757-606-0128. That number is also down in the show notes. And of course, if you have not experienced a haunt but are the person that haunts people, you can send us an email to feedback at hackerslash.com. Just don't follow us around when we're going through a haunted house.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:26

And if you too loved this episode and our other ones, consider becoming one of our patrons. And you can do so at patreon.com slash hacker slashed and earn cool perks for as little as one dollar a month.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:38

We'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:39

Bye.