SPEAKER_04 0:04

Also, Laura, best name in Spanish ever. Worst name in English, best name in Spanish.

SPEAKER_06 0:09

Apologies to all of our Laura listeners.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hackerslash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. Seeing isn't believing, it's the other way around. 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. A total joke? A waste of time? Or a slash.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Totally killer. Pun intended.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspective we've all gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Hello, friends.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

The cowardly grouper Ryan. Hiya. And the Scream Queen Paris.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Hola, dosis.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Race for feeling feelings this week, folks, because we're tackling a spooky foreign film that packs an emotional punch. Before we let our emotional walls down, though, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_06 1:04

So as you may recall, we recently reviewed a killer movie about killer pants called Slacks. This is a new release and a shutter exclusive. Um it did pretty well amongst our team. Ryan, you weren't here for this episode, but did you get a chance to watch it?

SPEAKER_04 1:17

I did. This is one that I was super sad to miss. If our listeners heard that episode, you kind of already know. I I gave this a slash, uh, you know, a theoretical, you know, from a far slash, a remote slash, if you will. So I thought this was a pretty interesting movie. It's, you know, it's a goofy one. Definitely my favorite thing about it is the branding, the branding of the slacks. They really did it. They didn't like halfway do it, they went all the way in, and you know, I live here for some branding.

SPEAKER_06 1:43

Yeah, that actually definitely is right up your alley. I didn't even think about that. But we also have some results from our polls this week. Uh, we wanted to hear what our listeners thought about slacks, and only 13% gave it a hack. The rest, 87%, gave it a slash. So I think it's actually doing quite well considering it is a movie about killer pants.

SPEAKER_04 2:01

I mean, the pants look pretty great. I think somewhere people should have a drink on a Friday, open up slacks and shudder, and uh, you know, zip it up, make it happen. It's a fun one.

SPEAKER_06 2:12

It is recommended by our team. We have some comments from our friends. Rob on Twitter said, I love that the Hacker Slash crew gave universal love to slacks. Such a funny and fun movie. Total slash. We also have a comment from the Idol Collective on Twitter who said, I enjoyed this movie way more than I expected. And I feel like that is the sentiment of this movie because you don't expect what you get.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 2:35

We also have a comment from one of our patrons, Freya, who said, This shit is bananas. I've never been so happy to be a secondhand skirt wearer.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

An iconic goddess, that one.

SPEAKER_06 2:43

Truly. And we also want to take a minute to thank one of our newest patrons, Greg. Greg has been a listener and one of our friends for a very long time. Greg, we are so happy to see that you've joined the patron club, and we hope to be hearing from you soon. And that's our follow-up.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

In 1996, writer Sergio G. Sanchez penned a story about a family moving into the mother's childhood home, which was an orphanage, with dreams of expanding their family. Things change, however, when their son makes in a new invisible friend. Sanchez intended to direct the film, but as he hadn't proven himself as a director, no Spanish production company would let him try. The screenplay ultimately landed with another director in 2004, Juan Antonio Bayona, who would ultimately enlist the aid of his friend, Guillermo del Toro, to help him produce, a move which ultimately resulted in a higher budget to help him bring the film to life. Ultimately, Sanchez's story premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007, where it received a 10-minute standing ovation. This week, we're talking about The Orphanage. Who's seen this one before?

SPEAKER_04 3:42

Of course, you guys know I hadn't seen this movie. I had kind of thought of a few other orphan-related movies that I thought this might be, but of course, upon watching it, I hadn't seen this.

SPEAKER_06 3:52

Don't feel bad, Ryan. I have seen this movie and I didn't think it was this movie. I was like, oh, is this the orphan? Is this the omen? And then I was watching it, I was like, have I seen this? I played that game that I always play, but maybe 15 minutes in, I was absolutely certain that I had seen this before. And it's because I absolutely loved Pan's Labyrinth, and after that, I was just ready for whatever Gamble Del Toro had for me next.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

I actually did not hear about this movie until we added it to the list.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

So I've actually never seen this movie. Uh I've only heard of it, and actually I've only heard of it from one of our patrons, Jules, a couple months ago. Uh we were exchanging messages back and forth when she signed up, and we were discussing all manners of horror, and she mentioned this was, and I quote, genuinely one of the most tragic, mysterious, and heart-wrenching films I've ever seen. Jules, I'm so sorry to have forgotten this. I only wish that I had remembered that specific line because when this came up in the random draw, yeah, I looked at it as the result and I was like, oh, okay, yeah, she said this was real mysterious. Like my mind blocked anything regarding this being a really sad story. So I didn't expect anything more than mystery, but what were you all expecting?

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Sadly enough, I was expecting James Wan.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

That is pretty sad.

SPEAKER_04 5:08

Actually, Mac, that's exactly kind of what I was expecting. I mean, when you have an orphanage, there's like a few ways it can go, right? It's haunted. Uh, there's children still there. There's children nearby that have some relation to it. Someone creepy is still part of it and they're gonna show back up. You know, those are the kind of things that you expect when you go into an orphanage movie.

SPEAKER_06 5:28

The orphanage genre is definitely vast. I went into this obviously not realizing that I'd already seen it, so I was kind of expecting it to just be bad. But then as I was recalling, I was like, oh, okay, I actually remember this being decent, but I don't remember what happens. And then there was a certain scene where I was like, okay, I remember this specific detail from the ending, but that's it. So it was sort of like a first watch in some ways.

SPEAKER_04 5:50

I'm sorry, forgive me. I forgot one of the tropes, which is the orphanage, someone who appears to be young but is actually old. That's another one.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Classic orphan action there. So when I was watching this, I I felt a couple distinct things. The first of which, yeah, this movie starts off with, you know, showing the mother's attachment to this physical location, right? So you know that she is an orphan and she's playing outside with her friends. And it reminded me of this quote that my girlfriend sent me recently. And I don't know if this came up for any of you all. The quote says, One day you and your friends went outside to play together, and none of you knew it was the last time that would ever happen. Um, why is that so sad? Right? But also true. Because then you realize that there are a lot of times in your life, aside from just playing with your friends, right? There are plenty of times and things that are happening for the last time with a group of people you love and you never know it. Yeah, I don't like to think about those things.

SPEAKER_04 6:43

I just like to appreciate what I got when I got it.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

Well, beyond that, I'll I'll say this uh straight up emotionally. This movie made me real sad. It has such excellent depictions of you know what it means for parents to go through grief or stress in their relationship and and how their marriage can be impacted. And there's perhaps like one moment in this that made me laugh a little bit, but it was a bit of a downer the whole way through. Now that's not a bad thing, to be clear. I was along for the ride every step of the way, which I find is often pretty hard to do with movies like this, right? Like Spooky House, Spooky Kid. This one, though, was a nice short runtime. So the pacing felt tight, cinematography was beautiful, the story built excellent parallels within itself, so I was interested the whole way through.

SPEAKER_04 7:25

I agree with many things that you have said, Chris. However, Paris and I both made a face when you said this had a tight runtime.

SPEAKER_06 7:32

Yes, we did.

SPEAKER_04 7:33

Because I would disagree. It's like a hundred something minutes.

SPEAKER_06 7:37

It was like an hour forty-eight.

SPEAKER_04 7:38

Yeah, it's a it's a it's a good one, you know. It's not short, it's not tight, it's not tight. There's a whole there's a whole part of this movie that I could live without. Mitsumara is long. Yeah, yeah. I'm not I'm not saying it's long, but I won't give it points for uh for for being tight. But I will say I did feel a lot of things during this movie. I was definitely entertained the whole time. I talked to my roommate who is deathly afraid of anything even sounding like horror, and I talked her into watching it with me, and we had such a good time. It was definitely like a movie that kept you intrigued because you really didn't know which route it would go. Again, because with an orphanage, there's just so many things that could be going on, and I found myself very, very entertained by this movie.

SPEAKER_06 8:21

Having already seen this before, I was trying to piece together what I remembered. Um, but as the mystery was unfolding, I really did not remember enough to be prepared for what we got. I was also trying to think, like, was this the others? Was this hide and seek? Those movies had like a very similar vibe in which they're like really isolated in a house and there's like an older character, a younger character, and we're really not sure what's real and what's what's actually going on. But I was definitely intrigued throughout. I think Ryan and I may have the same portion of this movie that we could cut out. Um I'll be interested to find out if that's true after the break. But for the most part, yeah, it was really along for the ride, and I was intrigued throughout.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Intrigued is a great way to describe it. It's it generates a feeling inside, it's weird. I don't know if it's the setting or the characters, the actors, or what, but it kind of gives you this feeling of nostalgia. Maybe it's for childhood or something, but the interactions between the mother and the child, it makes childhood like seem so dreamlike in a way, where things are about fun and adventure, and then it takes you on this ride of of true terror and and loss and grief, and it's a huge emotional roller coaster while watching it. It was not something I expected at all. It was I'm not gonna say it was profound or anything, but it just had some serious depth to it that was really enjoyable.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Ooh, yeah. And I think the way this movie focuses on the imagination of children, it sets you up on a whimsical high and then just drops you and it bottoms out real quickly, and then you're just feeling the same note the rest of the way. Not the same note, I mean there's some tension and suspense, but overall, a big part of this at least left me feeling pretty heavy. And I think the only thing I'm disappointed by in this movie was that I wasn't surprised by a certain element of the story, but it's not a heavy disappointment. I think plenty of folks would be surprised by it, but because I'm so familiar with another story outside of this movie, the second it was mentioned, I was like, all right, clearly this is about to be very, very depressing. So not a knock to the movie, just an observation from our watch experience, but did anything surprise you folks? I don't think I have like any one thing.

SPEAKER_04 10:25

I think I was surprised by the turns that this story took. There's again, just so many things that you can see happening as you watch it, and there's several different elements that come into this movie. Um, I I don't I wasn't disappointed by anything, and I I just, you know, it's one of those things you kind of just have to be along for the ride.

SPEAKER_06 10:45

I was surprised by the approach to horror that this movie took. It's definitely not like most horror movies that we've watched for this podcast. It's it feels unique in a certain way. It almost feels like pared down and like minimal in that it's not really trying to hit you over the head with the horror elements, but more involve you in the storytelling to amplify certain moments to be horrific. Um, and I found the effectiveness of that to be very surprising.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

In a pleasant way. Speaking of pleasant, the thing that surprised me most about this movie was Belen Reda. This actress freaking killed it. It was such an amazing performance to watch, like truly enjoyable the entire the entire way through.

SPEAKER_04 11:24

Also, Laura, best name in Spanish ever. Worst name in English, best name in Spanish. That's a strong stance. It's a hot take.

SPEAKER_06 11:32

Apologies to all of our Laura listeners.

SPEAKER_04 11:34

Yeah, listen, one of my favorite people in the world is named Laura. I'm not coming at you, I apologize, but Lauda in Spanish? Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

That's so funny. Uh you know what's uh I noticed that about actually the child's name, Simon. I was like, man, what a cool sounding name in Spanish. But Simon in English just sounds kind of more everyday.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Just don't hit the same. A lot of names sound better in Spanish, but I actually want to look back something that you said, Paris, especially with the way it pairs things down. This isn't frightening in the same way that so many other horror movies can be, because this has a very real visceral human fear in it, particularly as it pertains to the relationship between parents and their children or just really anyone in a family, right? If you have people in your life that you love. This is less about the spooks of things, this is less about the jump scares of things, although they do play some tricks on you throughout the entire movie. But I think this horror feels more real in a different way than what we've experienced previously on the show.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Yeah, that fear of loss is real in this film. You're gonna feel some things while watching this movie, that's for sure. And and I think you can definitely identify with the fear. It's not scary, like you said. It's not, you know, ooh, there's a spooky ghost gonna pop out and hit me in the head or something, and oh, the jump got me or anything like that. I mean, there probably are a couple good jump points, but no, you you can really just empathize with the characters in the movie.

SPEAKER_06 12:50

I think I was empathizing with the characters a little too much, uh, because several of the jump scares actually got me. The first one, I actually screamed out loud, which is something that almost never happens.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

Was it one in the shed?

SPEAKER_06 13:02

Yes, and all of them pertained to that specific character every time got me, and I was like, bitch, stop, okay. And then even when I was prepared for it, I was like, okay, um, I'm braced, it still got me. So I was really surprised by how this movie actually managed to scare me a few times.

SPEAKER_04 13:17

Yeah, I'd like to say there are some moments of tension in here that can get you. Because again, you you're just not sure the way things are gonna go. And as a a couple different characters come in in a couple different scenarios, there are these moments where you know it's like the the expectation of the shots that you're used to seeing. You have, you know, a dark room and like you can see over someone's shoulder and you're just waiting for things to happen. And there's some, you know, more predictable jump scares in here, but a lot of them aren't predictable. And and I I would say it's like, you know, you could get you could you could jump a little in this movie. It's not like the scariest thing I've ever seen, but it could get you.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

You also sent me a text to say that a horror movie with subtitles not speaking English is much scarier.

SPEAKER_04 14:03

Yes. So it is much, much scarier because you have to really pay attention to the screen and you can't kind of like look away in the moments where you're expecting the jump scare or anything like that, because you'll miss like really important dialogue. And it's it's just one of those things like you really want to look away from the dark screen, you know, certain things. You're like, I know something's coming, but if they say something important, I'll miss it. And and when you don't have a choice except for subtitles, you have to see it.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

Okay. I'm very delighted, and it pleases me to know that this was effective for the two of you. I think one of the things that you consider, right? Like on the surface level, this is a movie with a creepy house with creepy kids situation. Maybe you got ghosts, maybe you don't, who knows? This is a movie with a basic formula that people have seen time and time again. Yeah, I know when I was telling my girlfriend about this, she was like, Oh, yeah, only list seven other movies that I also saw at the time that I saw this one that it felt just like. But for me, I feel like it does something different. I feel like it hits differently. I feel like it approaches grief and loss in a different way. So for that, I give it a lot of originality points.

SPEAKER_06 15:11

I do want to give this originality points because of its storytelling approach, but it is so reminiscent of things like the others and hide and seek that truly you could blend the three of these stories together and get like a really fantastic choose your own adventure because they all focus on like an isolated parent in a mega mansion and like a spooky child, and you don't know what the fuck's going on.

SPEAKER_04 15:34

Not only that, I mean I, as I was watching this, probably listed maybe three or four other movies that different components of this reminded me of, one of those even being insidious. And like there's a whole moment in this movie where you get like very strong insidious vibes. And I don't know, I think I think I'm kind of on the same page as Chris here, where it's it's not that the story, like this movie doesn't have that many original components, but the movie as a whole feels original. It's the feeling that they give you at the end. That's where the originality comes from.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

I mean, I could see what everyone's saying. I can see where you're getting some of the shared ingredients with other films, but I think it's like if you had spent your entire life eating microwave rice, the kind that comes in the bag and it takes like a minute and a half or whatever, and then suddenly you had some homemade paella and you like had that saffron effect and you had some flavor in your life, and you're like, oh, this is what it's supposed to have been the whole time. So I'm giving it, I'm giving it major originality points for sure.

SPEAKER_04 16:30

Be a hater, but I do not agree with that comparison because I still feel like the components of this movie are the same mic wave rice from other movies. It's just that in the end you feel like you had Bahia.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

But is it this? Is it a situation to draw back Paris's culinary experience? Is it like those same ingredients being prepared in the chopped kitchen by an expert who knows what they're doing, and then all of a sudden it tastes gourmet? I don't know. I don't know, maybe.

SPEAKER_04 16:58

But there's moments in this movie that don't feel original at all. They don't feel different, they don't feel fresh to me.

SPEAKER_06 17:04

I mean, it may be very well done, but at the end of the day, it is still rice.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Only the world's largest food staple. It's okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

Well, when I think about like the feeling that this movie left me with, right, and this is why I think I'm like giving it so much in the area or the arena of originality is because I think of like a m movies that haunt me emotionally after the experience of them, and I think of this Boys Don't Cry in the Perfection. And there's probably a couple others, right? I feel like there may have been something else that we saw recently, whatever that movie was, gets knocked out, and then this takes its place because the ending of this movie is uh I I I won't I won't say anything about the direction that the emotions go, but it is so powerful. And I think the third act as a whole and how we march towards the ending, it it's kind of a whirlwind emotionally. And honestly, I could have done without the last shot that we get, but the final, like as the cards lay on the table, that was pretty powerful.

SPEAKER_06 18:00

I feel like you're right, Chris. That last shot almost felt like it was for people that didn't quite piece everything together. They're like, just in case you were confused, here's this. But I feel like the ending of this movie did something that we've been talking about a lot lately, and they did it really well, which is something we have not talked about lately because we've only been seeing bad examples. I feel like the ending of this movie tied a really nice bow on the whole storytelling. Um, and I feel like it was actually just like a slam dunk, to be honest. This ending nailed it.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

Oh yeah. I mean, I watched the movie with Mimira Naranja, and while watching this, we get to the ending, and she literally says, like, this is probably m the best and most effective horror movie ending that we have watched together.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

So better than the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Obviously. Obviously.

SPEAKER_04 18:45

Yeah, I think this ending it does it does what it needed to do. It really takes it to a different place that I don't know. In some ways you can be prepared for, in some ways I was not prepared for. And I don't know, it's not what you want, but it is what you want at the same time. It's a hard one, but it's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

Okay, so it sounds like things are feeling generally positive. However, knowing Paris and Ryan, that means it could take a real left turn real fast. So let's start making our way towards our ratings. Now, Alexis isn't among us tonight, so Ryan's pulling double duty. Ryan, what's the body count? So we do have nine deaths in this movie.

SPEAKER_04 19:23

And, you know, maybe you'll have some feelings about that as you watch it, but there are nine deaths. But what about the animal report? Fortunately, our animal report is all good to go. Nice and clean, squeaky clean. We really appreciate that around here, you know?

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Yeah, much, much cleaner action after the likes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Texas Chainsaw Massacre to Electric Bulu. Let's go ahead and get into the scorings then. The orphanage. Premiering in Spain in 2007, made its way to the US in 2008. Was it a hack or a slash? I'd be happy to say this movie is a slash for me.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

It was definitely not what I expected. I guess I did go into this expecting to like it, but I really thought we were gonna have like haunted orphanage, someone lying about their age, that kind of thing. And it did not go that route at all. The feelings in this movie are something you have to be okay with. I took it from a very lighthearted standpoint. I wasn't, you know, I didn't have a bad day and then go into this because that might take you to a dark place. And it just kind of depends where you're at. But for me, I I thought it was a really enjoyable watch. I had a really good time watching it, even though it's not necessarily like a feel-good story. I think it is a really, really unique perspective on horror that I haven't seen at least in a very long time, if I have seen it at all. It just, you know, even though it does some very similar things, in the end it takes you somewhere that you don't normally go. And it was really interesting for me. I really liked it, and I would I would recommend anyone watching it. And also only watch it with these Spanish speakers and the English subtitles. Because it is a beauty to listen to. These people speak this lovely language, and you just have to read our silly little English subtitles. You deserve that. It's worth it.

SPEAKER_06 21:06

So I mentioned that I've already seen this movie, but I didn't remember it, and I think I must not have paid very close attention to it because it didn't leave an impact that was memorable. But I feel like this is the kind of movie that really requires you to pay attention, and not because of the subtitles, but because of its storytelling approach. Because there are a lot of really crucial moments that are really small and really intimate, and it's easy to overlook them. And if you miss really any of that, you're not gonna get the powerful ending that this movie delivers. Looking through my notes, I literally only have one bad thing, and I'm gonna save it for the spoiler section when we have to mention the worst part of the movie because that's all I have. I would say that this movie is beautifully filmed, the music is really well done, the portrayal of specifically the character of Laura is exquisite and a true like performance from that woman. In the end, I feel like it's weird to say, but this is the closest thing to. To a perfect movie that we've reviewed so far.

SPEAKER_04 22:03

Perfect?

SPEAKER_06 22:04

It's the closest thing we've gotten to perfect for me. There's just really I have very few notes. I have no notes. I have no I have one thing I would change, but ultimately it's not even that big of a deal. So this is absolutely getting a slash for me. I recommend that you watch it, but I recommend that you give yourself the time and space to like fully watch it and pay attention. This isn't a text on your phone movie, this isn't a background movie, this is like a watch this fucking movie movie.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

And uh, you know, desde el corazon, esta película is absolutamente una slash. This film is a major slash. It is so freaking good from start to finish. The setting's amazing, the wardrobe's amazing, the characters are amazing, the acting's amazing, everything about it is so enjoyable. The storyline, while it seems like something you've seen before, has never been shown to you this way. And like you've mentioned Paris, it does kind of seem like a perfect movie. It feels just like a great story being told. And it's so enjoyable to watch. You have some tension, of course. You feel dread throughout the film, but in the end, your emotions are somehow better for having seen it. I don't know, it feels like it dragged you through the mud but healed you at the end. So it's an absolute slash.

SPEAKER_02 23:19

We're at three slashes so far, and it's gotten a lot of high praise, and a lot of it is very, very, very accurate. But let me just say this had I known exactly the type of feelings I'd end up feeling while watching this movie, I never would have watched it willingly. It's it's just not something that I particularly like to sign myself up for, right? I should have remembered what Jules said, and I'm not someone who likes to tap into grief, right? Like that's just not a place where I want to live in terms of like watching a movie, which I guess is weird when you consider horror, right? While I do like to feel things, this I think kind of taps into the fear that I have, you know, I'm not afraid of the boogeyman. Not like sure I have a superficial fear of heights, but I also have a fear of the crippling march of death and knowing that technically I should outlive everybody in my family, right? So like this taps into that part of my brain, which is a really dark place. That doesn't make it bad. This is real human horror, the type of horror that happens every day. Obviously, there are fictional elements woven into it. Obviously, there's a supernatural approach to it. But I think if you're someone, and I just want to caution you, because as excellent as this movie is, I think if you are someone who is particularly sensitive to anything involving children, and I'm in no way, you know, indicating what happens or not. I know my sister, for example, is a teacher. She cannot watch things featuring children if there's like this element of danger, because it wrecks her emotionally. I think if you're that kind of person, stay away. But otherwise, give it a watch because Paris, you're right. I think this is as close as you get to a perfect movie. And I don't even like this type of movie usually. So with that, the orphanage from 2007 is a universal slosh. I'm proud of us. Indeed. You can find this movie available for purchase or rent, but clearly it sounds like we think it's worth the $3.99 rental fee if you're in the US. Check it out, join us in the second half so we can get into all the sad stuff. See you in a bit.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

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SPEAKER_02 26:06

We have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, we have the matter of gore to attend to, even though Alexis isn't here. Ryan, what's our gore score?

SPEAKER_04 26:15

I usually have really, really big shoes to fill when I have to fill in for our lovely Alexis. However, in this instance, there isn't a ton to talk about for the gore score. We really only have like a few instances of any gore, but generally speaking, it is like really low. I don't know. I guess I wasn't expecting a ton, but we get all we get almost none. We get one like mm extreme instance of gore with Beninia for almost no reason, but the rest of it is less gore than you'll have cooking dinner with your mom. You had too many beers, you know?

SPEAKER_02 26:49

Yeah. I cringed like like hell with the finger action.

SPEAKER_06 26:54

Really? Oh, the fingernail. Yes, yeah, that's what I was talking about. Ryan, you can relate to that. I know.

SPEAKER_04 26:59

Yeah. Actually, unfortunately, I can because I recently broke off my half of my fingernail. Um, and someone had to pull it off. So it was a lot like this, except no one did it to me.

SPEAKER_02 27:10

I just got chills.

SPEAKER_04 27:12

Yeah, it was gross, it was painful, it was real, real bad. But aside from that, of course, we get Beninha getting hit by a bus, which was the most unexpected moment that I've ever experienced. It's scary. I was so unprepared. Yeah, it was so scary. And then we have this like very interesting. I mean, I guess the gore of it is that we have this view of her like whole jaw broken, like uh you know, dismembered from her face almost.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

Yeah, it reminded me of wrong turn with the log.

SPEAKER_04 27:45

Interesting, yeah. It it was like, I don't know, it really threw me off because he just tried mouth to mouth before we saw that, and I was like, I'm not sure what you were going for, sir.

SPEAKER_06 27:55

Oh my god, I didn't even think about that. What was he doing?

SPEAKER_04 27:58

What was he doing? Just sticking his mouth into her hole, like her cavity?

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Into her mush? You don't have to make contact. You're providing air.

SPEAKER_03 28:08

Oh, buddy, he had blood all over his face. Yeah, he had blood on his face, and you are supposed to make contact. It is supposed to be a seal.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

Nothing about her head was sealed. Yeah. He was using his hands to like create like a suction around the open jaw wound.

SPEAKER_04 28:23

He had blood on his both top and bottom lips, okay?

SPEAKER_06 28:27

Actually feels like a major oversight now that you pointed out. Like, there's no way anybody would have approached that and been like, let me try to resuscitate this woman.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

Maybe he held her jaw up while he was trying to do it. You know, this is like sh-like, she's unconscious. What pain is she gonna feel?

SPEAKER_06 28:42

Her whole face was just busted wide open.

SPEAKER_04 28:44

I think for me, the thing is it could have been like her skull could have been bust open, you know, spread on the ground, whatever it is, but like why the jaw dismembered and he tried mouth to mouth. Like, why those two things in combination?

SPEAKER_02 28:58

Okay, but who did it better?

SPEAKER_03 29:00

Beninya or Terry from Final Destination getting hit by the bus. I don't know. Beninha is like the most satisfying bus hit I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_06 29:08

Yeah, I actually have to give it to Beninha, and I'm a huge Final Destination girl. Hers was both unexpected and at the same time satisfying, but also really annoying because we needed her for information. And then being faced with that gruesome image was really rough. When we first saw it, I just saw like a tiny glimpse and I was like, oh shit, that looked really intense. Should I rewind? And then they're like, no need, here it is again, and here it is again. And I was like, oh fuck, okay, yeah, I'm good. I'm good on that.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

The lingering.

SPEAKER_06 29:36

But then also the jump scare where her wrist grabbed the other woman's or where her hand grabbed the other woman's wrist, I was like, oh fuck. Like, please die and stop scaring me because every jump scare you're doing is killing me.

SPEAKER_02 29:47

Oh, that jump scare was good. And that was a good moment. Her other moments where she there's a jump scare of her in the shed.

SPEAKER_05 29:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

Immediately after that, when she kind of like bounces out of the out of the shed, that was the point that made me laugh in the movie. I was like, this is hilarious, and they know what they're doing.

SPEAKER_04 30:03

The little fun music while she ran away and her little booty was shaken. Just to finish up the gore score, I think the only other thing that we have that could be maybe like gore adjacent is the disformed features that we have in some of the kids. You know, some of them are obviously obviously it's makeup, and some of them are, you know, a little bit gruesome depending on what it is, but I don't know. That doesn't even register as gore to me. And because it wasn't a frightening character, they weren't something that contributed for to f to the fear for me.

SPEAKER_02 30:34

The masa's makeup made my heart so happy because it was so effective for what it was. Uh, and then I think about like, you know, what are the other times that we try to see, you know, disfigured children in horror movies? And I think of like Friday the 13th, and every time they tried to show you what Jason looks like as a kid, uh, this one was super good.

SPEAKER_04 30:55

What this made me think of is how the actor from American Werewolf in London was so distraught by seeing his really intense makeup transformation. And of course, I'm never really that much into a movie where I don't think about what the actors are thinking outside of this. And I'm like, dude, I bet they didn't let any mirrors around this kid with this makeup one.

SPEAKER_06 31:16

Yeah, that's gotta be damaging.

SPEAKER_04 31:18

He would have been traumatized. And I mean, I don't know, I'd be interested to know like how he felt about that. Maybe he's a little bit older now, he could tell us, but I was thinking, man, this is too scary for this kid to see.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Maybe he was into it and he was like, ooh, look, I'm spooky.

SPEAKER_04 31:33

Probably. So yeah, that's pretty much what I have for the gore. Obviously, we only have a few on-screen kills here, so what are your favorite kills?

SPEAKER_01 31:42

It's hard for me to pick a favorite because most of them are tragic, and I don't want to choose a tragic death of a child as a favorite kill in the movie. So um I'm just not gonna pick one.

SPEAKER_06 31:52

Alright, well, I apparently had no problem choosing the tragic death of a child as my favorite kill. And it is Tomas. The story of him, like, first of all, wearing a bag on your head because you're disfigured, and like that being your childhood is depressing, and to say the least.

SPEAKER_04 32:08

And being hidden in an orphanage.

SPEAKER_06 32:09

Yeah, and just like being this like little like hidden secret and just like never actually being able to be a kid. And then finally, like you get to hang out with some kids and they like lure you into a cave, and then the tide comes in and you drown in this cave. To me, that's just like so tragic, but also like morbidly beautiful in a way, because like the tides of it all are just like really I I can imagine that, you know what I mean? Like the the way they told that story, I could see that entire mini-movie or like that scene play out in my head, and they didn't even have to film it, but I wish I kind of wish they did, because it would have been like really beautifully done.

SPEAKER_04 32:41

So, of course, we've already said it's very difficult here to pick a favorite kill because these are very traumatic deaths. So I'm gonna go with uh a little bit of a cheat here and say that my favorite kill was Lauda killing these I'm chill, beachy, Spanish, free living vibes. These outfits that she was killing, she had this like white dress on at one point and just running around running around the house, obviously looking for her lost son, which is very sad, but the outfit was killing it. She looked so good, and I was like, man, the things I would do to be this like almost middle-aged Spanish woman just roaming around in this giant castle in Spain, oh, a lot of things. There's a lot of things I would do.

SPEAKER_06 33:24

Yeah, I would love to live in that orphanage.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

I'd agree that uh Laura was killing the game and killing the vibes. Like, she looked great the entire movie, and as much as it kills me to say it, her death is not my favorite, but it's the one that I think Simone hurt the most, but her her death also hurt, and then just the revelation of everything that happened there, that was such a a painful moment that it really brought the whole way through. Like when she's taking those pills, it it perfectly encapsulates grief and like just not being able to truly grasp the reality that you have in front of you. So that I think is my favorite only because visually the composition of that was one of my favorites, like sitting right in front of that window, you know, ultimately seeing that these children are surrounding you. The way they framed that shot, the way they executed that shot, and just the revel the realization of like Simon raising his hand and actually coming back to life with her, it was one of the most powerful moments in the movie.

SPEAKER_04 34:27

Chris, I truly agree. It was very intense, and there were a lot of feelings in that moment. And honestly, my biggest feeling was just like I was happy for Lauda, even though I know obviously not really a happy moment.

SPEAKER_06 34:38

Yeah, Chris, that ending was like in a strange way beautiful, but also so dark and so sad. Um, but it it almost felt uplifting in that she was able to she was able to be reunited with Simone and the rest of her childhood friends in a way that she could be happy with and sort of take care of them, which is super morbid because it involved suicide.

SPEAKER_04 34:59

But the moment when her friend felt her face and said, It's Lauda. Oh my god, my heart exploded. Yeah, she she grew old like Wendy. I could have died. Oh my gosh, it was adorable. I can't live.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

That was the best part though, realizing that she's Wendy and she's now in Neverland. Like, how satisfying.

SPEAKER_04 35:19

Yeah, on that note, I've never seen Peter Pan, but my roommate said this is very Peter Pan y.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

Like, not even not even like Hook, the movie?

SPEAKER_04 35:27

No. I was Captain Hook for Halloween last year.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

So I actually have a few links in the show notes for this talking about like the very morbid origins of Peter Pan. But basically, Ryan, if you were to watch Peter Pan, it wouldn't actually be that sad, right? Because Disney makes things all white and happy. But the other interpretation is that Peter Pan takes children to Neverland because the children are dead. Either they either die there or they just never grow old because they've stopped aging. And that's like the sadness of it. That's why when um when Simone brings that up early on, like, I'm not gonna grow old. I'm not gonna grow up. Like that's heartbreaking. So the the parallel there with Peter Pan was it was really, really dark and really, really poetic, but it was something that like tipped me off really early. I'm like, fuck no, Simone, not Simone. Oh, so that's what that's how you knew. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:21

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:21

Oh, so interesting.

SPEAKER_06 36:23

I mean, I am not very familiar with Peter Pan. I did not know that he was a ghost. When Simone said that I'm not gonna grow old, I was like, oh god, the foreshadowing, oh god.

SPEAKER_02 36:31

Yeah, and the idea of like if Peter Pan came for me, would you come too?

SPEAKER_03 36:36

Foreshadowing her committing suicide.

SPEAKER_05 36:38

Oh, missed that one.

SPEAKER_03 36:40

Oh man, wow, they really give us the whole movie in like the first 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 36:43

Yeah, but that's just the thing about movies. Movies tend to start the way they end, you know, reunited with her friends. There's symmetry there. So that was like the biggest suspicion on you. Like, there's no way this is gonna end happily. But the second she slapped him, I'm like, oh fuck, this is gonna be the last time she sees him alive.

SPEAKER_06 36:59

Ugh.

SPEAKER_02 36:59

I was like, no, it's too much. It is too much. But what stood out to you folks visually about this?

SPEAKER_04 37:06

I think for me, my favorite element was the I don't know, do we call it a castle? The orphanage. The orphanage just had this feeling to it, and obviously it's in the most beautiful setting you could ever see, you know, like on this like beach, rock, cliffside type of thing with a lighthouse out there and everything. I I don't know. This place is like the thing that I dream of visiting. I don't think I could ever live in a place like this, but every moment in this orphanage felt like something special. And then, and especially my favorite particular visual element was when she kind of converted it to be back like the old days and brought in like the old beds and everything like that. I just love this orphanage and it really brought it took me into this movie and made me want to be there.

SPEAKER_06 37:52

Yeah, it's really hard to pick one visual element of this movie because it's truly just gorgeous from top to bottom. There were some really stunning landscape compositions, um, and I'm just like such a sucker for like a coastal, rocky, intertidal vibe. But I think my favorite visual is just like a beautiful Spanish woman running through a rising tide and breaking her leg and just like trying to save her child, but also being like swallowed by the rising tide. And I was just like, oh my god, this is stunning and so tragic and so devastating, but so beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 38:23

It was just so intense.

SPEAKER_06 38:24

And the leg break of it all, we forgot to mention that bone fully exposed.

SPEAKER_02 38:28

Yeah, I was a little confused on what I was seeing for a moment there, and then it hit me. I was like, this is a little shocking.

SPEAKER_01 38:33

My my favorite thing about this movie visually has to be the way that shots are just composed, like what's in frame. And talk about balance. I mean, there's so many, so many shots where like visually things are nice and centered or balanced, and it just has a good weight to them. Um I think one of the shots that you pulled for us, Chris, is is Laura sitting at a table. And just like that shot alone is is amazing. Sitting at the end of the table, everything's arranged, it looks like a painting. Like just really great composition in almost everything throughout the entire film. And I I just have to give them mad props for what they're able to achieve. And you're watching, you're not focusing on any of that, but you go back and like just pick a random frame from it, and it really does seem like you could just take photos out of this thing.

SPEAKER_02 39:19

Mm-hmm. Ryan, you were mentioning the bed arrangement earlier, and I was just thinking about this when Mac mentioned the table setting. Did you notice that there were eight beds and only six orphans? So the last two beds were for her and Simon. Oh my gosh, no, I did not notice that. They're gonna stay forever. Oh so sweet. So sweet, so sad.

SPEAKER_06 39:36

I also feel like this movie was very careful to use like stylistic choices as far as like set design and like clothing and wardrobe, um, to keep itself timeless. Like this movie is very classic and could take place really anytime in the past like 200 years or next 200.

SPEAKER_04 39:54

Yeah, it was very ambiguous about its era.

SPEAKER_06 39:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:57

Like because technology didn't really matter in the in the storyline. And so you could kind of like lose track of what year it was supposed to be. Even at some point we were like, what year is this? But it actually doesn't matter. It could be very old, it could be very recent. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 40:12

Yeah, and that's one of the cool things, right? Because even the technology that they do use, right? Think about like uh when the medium's in the house, it's all pretty generic technology that exists in a basic form, so it makes sense for what it is, right? Like it's reasonable to believe that that kind of technology would be used even currently in 2021, if it's like some ragtag cheap setup. And I absolutely love that. I think the other thing that this benefits from is that because of the way it's filmed, right? Because of the cinematography, because of that set design that you mentioned, this has the Guillermo del Toro feel. And that thing is also what keeps it timeless, right? Like you can watch this at any point and still feel like it's a fresh experience. This did not feel like 2007. This felt like a love letter to tragedy, and it it was just so beautiful along the way.

SPEAKER_06 40:58

I also feel like another thing that Guillermo del Toro does really well in his movies is use classical music to really drive the emotional beats in a way that also remains timeless because it's not a stylistic choice of like the 80s or like the 70s where you can tell, like, oh, that's when this is from. He keeps it like very ambiguous in a way that I think is very successful. Like you were saying, Chris, with the cinematography, um, there were a couple shots that were handheld that I really that really stood out to me. Um, specifically like as the climax is building in the third act. There's like a shot of the final game where she's knocking on the wall. But the way the handheld camera kept looking back at the kids and looking back to her perspective, it was like really getting you into her shoes to like prepare you for the emotional devastation that you as a viewer and her as a character were about to uh encounter. And then when she finally opens up the closet and the camera's like frantically looking around inside of it, I was like, This is how you put me in the shoes of this person, and it was so well done.

SPEAKER_04 41:56

On the note of handheld shots, there is a handheld shot, or maybe not, there's a specific shot of Lauda spinning in the room, or the camera is spinning around Lauda, and I almost lost it because it was spinning for like two minutes.

SPEAKER_06 42:12

In the basement?

SPEAKER_04 42:13

In the yes, in the basement where she like everything starts to go back to dark and she realizes that he's not there. Oh my god, it was so much spinning. I was like, are is Matt gonna be okay?

SPEAKER_01 42:24

Good question. I was okay.

SPEAKER_02 42:25

So that was actually my favorite scene, Ryan, and that's because of everything, like her performance in that moment was so intense and just everything that she's telling him, right? Think about next Christmas, think about what you're gonna be like when you're older, think about this, think about that. And it's oh man, I'm getting choked up even just thinking about it, right? Because like I think about holding my nephews, you know, who have like been his who have been his age and I've been in their life, like uh like two of my nephews were born in 2008, right? And I'm just thinking of like holding them in my arms if something were to ever happen to them, and that is a scary feeling. And um when you think about this whole the whole movie's approach to the child's imagination, if you believe it, it's real. And she's saying this, and in a way she's trying to convince herself that this is real. She wants him to believe that this is real, so maybe he can come back to her. It's so powerful, and like that is straight up when I started crying. I was bawling my eyes out. I'm like, oh my god, he's dead, right? Like he's dead. The second you see him alive, you know that he's actually dead. And um, it was just it was completely devastating.

SPEAKER_06 43:29

It's really hard for that not to be your favorite scene, I think, for all of us, just because it's so powerful and it's so well done. Um, but what I love most about it is how successfully it uses flashbacks because that's something we've been seeing a lot in movies lately, just doing it so poorly, either overusing flashbacks where we don't need them, or flashbacking way too much and like showing you the whole movie again, real quick, just in case you forgot what happened at the beginning. But this one, it used these really small, seemingly innocuous moments to build a greater story where you're you really. The absolute worst possible scenario is the truth, and it's like literally there's no other word for it, but devastating emotionally.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

Yeah. To go back and realize that she had a hand in her child's death without realizing it.

SPEAKER_06 44:13

And then heard him die. Ugh.

SPEAKER_02 44:15

The guilt and the responsibility there.

SPEAKER_04 44:17

That was horrible. I have to, I have to kind of like step away from those really deep moments, and they're not. I think these things in this movie will weigh on different people differently. And I would say they don't weigh on me the way they weigh on Chris. And I know that because of how different we are as people. But for me, I have to go a different route. My favorite scene is actually the scavenger hunt that we have with Simone before he's gone. And he's like, Oh my gosh, let's go! And like he runs to where his teeth used to be. And that whole little sequence of like we're running around the house, and they have that like fun music playing, which we also see um with Beninha in the backyard. But they have that fun little music playing. I thought that was such a fun time, and then we get a little bit of that again later when she's kind of doing the scavenger hunt, but definitely when Simona's running around the house and they had that excitement, that fun time together before it all goes bad at the end. That's my favorite scene.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

I want to take it back to the beginning too, because my favorite scene was in the beginning, like the first like cave scene that we get, you know, exploring, running along the beach, yes, going into the caves, and it's so magical. But then you see that there's something disturbing going on when obviously a child is talking to nobody, and and when she realizes that that there's nobody there, or at least that they don't seem to be there, it's like that look in her eyes, which was just pure concern. And then like heading back, of course. Now we're very concerned because we know, we know there's nobody there, we know it's an invisible friend. We're the viewer.

SPEAKER_02 45:43

Yeah, and at this point it's no longer just Watson and Pepe. It's not just the first two invisible friends he had.

SPEAKER_04 45:48

I totally thought everything was gonna be Carlos's fault. I thought it was gonna be the dad's fault. I thought he was gonna know something and he wasn't being honest about it, he wasn't telling the truth, and I think that that's just me being like conditioned from other scary movies where you know it is like the dad lying about something or something like that. But it really wasn't, and I think, you know, they had a tough marriage in this movie. Obviously, they're going through something really difficult, and it's you know, puts a weight on a marriage, but I don't know. I felt that these characters each were played really, really well, and he didn't he wasn't an over-the-top miserable dad. She wasn't an over-the-top insane mom. And I I don't know. I I really enjoyed the characters in this movie.

SPEAKER_02 46:30

Yeah, because they were real people responding to real tragedy, right?

SPEAKER_03 46:34

They did feel real, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 46:36

Yeah, it's it could be very easy to chalk him up as just another dad who doesn't believe in anything unless he has hardcore proof. What really won me over about him was when she's in the hospital after her leg has been tended to, and Pilot comes in, and then she's like, Your husband mentioned there was an intruder on the grounds, right? And that's something that he never saw her, he kind of thought it was silly, but he still mentioned it, right? And I was like, Okay, this man is actually semi-reasonable, even if you know the conflict here is frustrating, even if it's frustrating that he uh won't go along with some of the things that she wants to, but it's also understandable because of course he wouldn't want to be scammed, right? Of course he'd be skeptical to so many things. But no, that's an excellent point, Ryan.

SPEAKER_01 47:21

I just love the relationship between the parents, uh, at least at the beginning of the film, um, to see them just talk to each other. It was it wasn't annoying, and I feel like that's what you normally get when you're watching especially horror movies, are the people are you know, people that are in obviously a bad relationship or people who just argue, and it just I don't want to see that. Like just let them be normal human beings living their everyday lives, and that was enjoyable. And then seeing you know their relationship with their child as well, and like how much they cared and how much they wanted the best for him, um, it was a nice change. I feel like too often we see, you know, nefarious things going on, or parents who don't care or whatever, just so we can set somebody up to seem bad. But in in this case, it was just like this decent little family that bad things happened to, but they did seem so real, Chris, just like you mentioned.

SPEAKER_02 48:07

And can we just give a moment for a shout out to the incredible performances from the children in this movie?

SPEAKER_04 48:14

So, so good. Especially Simone. He was just like such a good little kid with like such genuine feelings and reactions to things. We've had some real good luck with kid actors lately.

SPEAKER_02 48:26

Yeah. The other thing that tied me emotionally is that Simone kind of has like a little bit like for a child, a little bit deeper and a little bit raspier of a voice. He sounds so similar to my one of my nephews, Nicholas. And the void, like every time he spoke, I could only hear Nicholas, and it just like dug even deeper into my heart, especially since he speaks Spanish. I was just like, Oh my god, I can't, like, I can't fathom this happening.

SPEAKER_04 48:52

Bro, nothing in the world is better than a little, little tiny kid with a really deep voice, right?

SPEAKER_02 48:58

Like this grown-ass man.

SPEAKER_04 49:00

The best thing ever, especially if they're like little grumpy boys all the time. Oh my gosh. Obviously, we had a lot of love for the characters in this movie, but I I do want to talk about the worst part of this movie for me.

SPEAKER_06 49:12

Let's do it, Ryan. I'm certain we're on the same page.

SPEAKER_04 49:15

I really hope we are. The worst part that can absolutely be completely cut out of this movie with not one second of explanation needed, is the whole like bringing in the lady that does the like seancey vibes. Like it's not an exorcism, but like that whole thing, it just felt so cliche. And that was the moment where I was just like, we don't need this, they don't need to be here. We don't need this like insidious moment in here. And like I know that she says really deep things to Lauda to make her believe, you know, you can you can figure this out or whatever you get from that. I got almost nothing from it, and honestly, she would have been able to figure it out anyway. She had that mother's intuition. I don't know. I thought it was so useless, and it was it was just like a a complete throwaway moment for me.

SPEAKER_06 50:02

Same. It definitely is the one like bad note that I had for this movie, so it's also my worst part. It felt unnecessary and it didn't feel like it added a lot of value. Now that being said, it wasn't so offensive that I was like, God, why is this happening? This ruined the movie.

SPEAKER_04 50:19

Yeah, it wasn't bad.

SPEAKER_06 50:20

Yeah, it wasn't so bad that it was like like awful, but it was also like cut this out, slim that runtime down. It also kind of felt like they put it in there to make it more spooky or like add a little bit more horror because they felt like they needed to. I'm not sure if that's the case. Um, but you know me, I normally love when a group of psychics come to a giant house, but this time I just like didn't need it.

SPEAKER_02 50:39

See, I actually loved that. I loved that scene. Uh, because I do I do think it added a little bit more of that like tension in there, and I think it added, you know, sure, maybe Lauda could have figured it out eventually, but it's been it's been nine months since Simon disappeared. It was nine months, right? So I think she needed that kick. I think she needed that reframing. So I had absolutely no issues with that scene. However, the one thing, the small thing that did annoy me in this movie, Simone is missing. She goes out into the party. She's pulling masks off children, right? Just like in the wicker man. But how is it that she wants to pull a mask off of a child that is obviously a little girl with red, long red hair?

SPEAKER_03 51:20

She did it like three times. I was like, okay, clearly not your son. Try again.

SPEAKER_02 51:24

If she was, you know, running into the adults, I could be like, okay, well, maybe she's trying to find this creepy old woman, right? But the child, the child with the long red hair. What are you doing, Laura? They did not deserve.

SPEAKER_01 51:36

It's hard for me to pick anything about this movie that I would consider a worst part because I feel like it was such an enjoyable watch from start to finish.

SPEAKER_02 51:44

Did you particularly enjoy the little uh Saint Anthony nod, the patron saint of lost items?

SPEAKER_01 51:50

See, and that's what makes these characters even more realistic, though, because that is a thousand percent what your family members would do. They'd be like, We'll say a little prayer to Saint Anthony, or here's here's the Saint Anthony medal. And that that part I just gave me a little kick. Because anytime you lose anything, they're like, You need to you need to pray to St. Anthony. And so it was like, that's that's not crazy, it's not silly, it's not like trying to tell you anything. It's just like this is just real people being real people right here.

SPEAKER_02 52:15

Yeah. Although I enjoy the idea of him finding the medallion and then looking up and realizing and then being at peace, like I know that she found him, right? Because now he's getting that medallion back. Still felt a little cheesy to me. The doors opening, you know what I mean? Like it just felt all a little bit too much for a man who had no belief in anything the entire way through. It was a bit cheesy. I I can't lie. The addition of the doors opening, it was like it was adding a paranormal element there that I don't think he really needed. I think he could have just had peace with just finding it and just having that like moment alone.

SPEAKER_01 52:50

I do wish that instead of the doors opening, he had just seen something out of the corner of his eye. And then and then there was nothing. You know, because they when they go to the support group and the the mother mentions seeing her child, like just seeing her, even though she knows that she knows that she's passed, right? But she sees her with all of her heart. And I I kind of wish he had that kind of moment at the end where he, like, oh, I I saw her. And then he looks and it's it's you know, she's not there, or he's not there. Neither of them are there, but but he knows. I I think that would have been more profound than like you know, finding the metal, showing the doors opening, the smile on his face, because it's like, what what exactly is he seeing? Is he seeing them in a full visage because that's a little extra?

SPEAKER_02 53:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:28

Like when the mom comes back and Casper.

SPEAKER_02 53:30

Yes, just like that. Obviously, this movie is a very heavy emotional toll, but is it one you think you'll revisit?

SPEAKER_04 53:37

I wouldn't be mad if it was on, but I'm I'm not much of a re-watcher. I don't see myself seeking out to rewatch this movie. I will say, if somebody close to me was like, Man, I really want to watch something horror and kind of like not too heavy in the horror, as far as horror elements, not not heavy elements, um, I would recommend it. I would watch it with somebody if they wanted to.

SPEAKER_06 53:58

This movie is super timeless and classic for me, so I will happily watch this again. It's also one of those movies that I would love to like watch with somebody for the first time just to see how they react to the emotional devastation, which might be a little bit dark-sided of me. Um, but you know, I feel like everybody should watch this movie, and I would love to be a part of that.

SPEAKER_01 54:16

This movie does have a certain feel. There's a TV show on Amazon that it deliberately goes for Timeless, the sci-fi called Tales from the Loop. And it's also just got this aesthetic that just makes it kind of stick out as like this could be set 50 years ago or this could be set 50 years from now. And I feel like this is this is another film that just has that vibe of it doesn't really matter. Kind of like you said, Ryan, like when this is set, it just feels timeless. So I could definitely see myself watching this again.

SPEAKER_02 54:44

Could I rewatch this? Absolutely. Will I? Absolutely not. I've handled enough emotional burden and heaviness from this. I think I have been haunted for a lifetime. Uh, I think everybody should see it, but I'm a one and done on this one. Now, there actually is so much to learn about this movie, so let's see what few little scraps uh Mac has selected for us in fact or fiction.

SPEAKER_01 55:08

Okay, let's jump into some factor fiction. Number one, the director, Juan Antonio Bayona, hid under a bed and grabbed Geraldine Chaplin, who played Aurora the Medium, by the leg while she knelt down in the dark, causing a genuine scream that was used in the film.

SPEAKER_04 55:25

I'm gonna go fact just because I hope it's a fact.

SPEAKER_01 55:27

I feel like that's unprofessional and I hope that it's fiction. Well, this is a fact. Apparently, running and hiding in the background to scare the actors was a key directorial tool for keeping the actors fresh. And who would be able to stop themselves from pranking Charlie Chaplin's daughter? Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 55:42

Paris, why do you hate fun?

SPEAKER_06 55:44

Listen, as somebody who dated somebody who like really got off on scaring me and like hiding behind corners, I hate that.

SPEAKER_01 55:50

Number two, taking her performance very seriously, Belén Rueda decided to invest time in the genre and watched Poltergeist and the Omen to prepare for the role.

SPEAKER_04 55:58

I'm gonna go fiction because I feel like this is just such a different vibe.

SPEAKER_01 56:02

Same, this feels like a random selection of movies that Mac made up. This is a fiction, but Bayona had her watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Innocence.

SPEAKER_06 56:11

A less random collection of movies.

SPEAKER_01 56:13

Right.

SPEAKER_06 56:14

In some way.

SPEAKER_01 56:15

Yeah, more adjacent to the feeling of this film. Number three, although she offered an absolutely astounding performance in my book, Belén Uruira was actually the third actor chosen to play Laura after the two previous actors had scheduling conflicts.

SPEAKER_04 56:28

I want to say fact. I don't know why. It just feels right.

SPEAKER_06 56:31

Yeah, a lot of times it always happens that like the perfect person for the movie was never the first one they considered.

SPEAKER_01 56:36

So I'm gonna say fact too. This is a fiction. She was Bayona's first choice, especially after seeing her in Alejandro Amanabar's The Sea Inside.

SPEAKER_04 56:44

Can we just make you keep pronouncing Spanish people's names?

SPEAKER_01 56:47

Poorly? I can do that all night long. This film was a major box office hit in Spain, coming in second behind the wildly popular Pan's Labyrinth from the year before.

SPEAKER_04 56:57

Oh god, I have no idea. Fact? Fiction? Fact.

SPEAKER_06 57:01

I feel like fiction. I feel like this movie had more commercial appeal than Pan's Labyrinth. And also, like, if you do a movie like Pan's Labyrinth and it's well received, everyone's gonna eat up your second one. So I'm gonna say fiction. This is a fiction.

SPEAKER_01 57:14

Not only did it beat Pan's Labyrinth, it defeated Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean at World's End. And it was the biggest box office success in Spain in the five preceding years, challenged only by Spider-Man 3 and 300, which of course was number one at the box office because this is Sparta.

SPEAKER_06 57:32

I'm glad this movie did well and better than Shrek and that other movie you said.

SPEAKER_01 57:37

Yeah, Pirates of the Caribbean, I mean, think about it, they're mass appeal movies, though. Like these are huge movies that always generate revenue, and this thing crushed them.

SPEAKER_02 57:45

I'm proud of it. And I also want to point out here how significant it is that the trailer for this paints this movie to be a very different movie, and it's built in a way that captfishes people into thinking Guillermo del Toro directed it.

SPEAKER_06 57:59

They love doing that. Like when a movie's advertised is like from the people who worked alongside Tim Burton movies.

SPEAKER_01 58:06

And number five, writer Sergio G. Sanchez complimented the child actor playing the blind orphan on her beautiful eyes, causing her to cry uncontrollably in response as she is truly blind and her eyes are prosthetic. And she was still very uneasy explaining this to strangers.

SPEAKER_04 58:22

Oh, I truly, truly hope that this is a fact, because that would make me so happy.

SPEAKER_06 58:27

I truly hope this is a fact because how dark would it be if Mac made this up?

SPEAKER_04 58:31

Oh my god, so true.

SPEAKER_01 58:32

So this is a fiction. Jesus, Mac. But which part? She didn't cry, but instead responded, Oh, do you like them? I picked them out myself.

SPEAKER_04 58:41

Oh my god. Okay, it's better.

SPEAKER_01 58:42

It's better. Okay. She lost her sight when she was young due to a degenerative eye disease, and while she was still sighted, her parents let her choose her new eyes from a big selection.

SPEAKER_04 58:52

Oh my god. We love legitimate representation, especially regarding abilities in movies. Okay? If it's a deaf character, give me a deaf person. If it's a blind character, give me a blind person, and so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_01 59:04

And that's factor fiction.

SPEAKER_02 59:06

Well, there you have it, folks. A rich round of factor fiction for what has been described as a nearly perfect movie. At least according to Paris, I support it, and even Mac couldn't find a damn thing wrong with it. Now, as such, it's earned a universal slash, and while we've certainly talked about a lot here, there's a lot we need you to weigh in on as well. So keep in mind there are a number of ways you can reach out to us, starting with our website, hackerslash.com, or on our social media accounts, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

SPEAKER_04 59:34

And if you've ever been to a beautiful beach in Spain, like the one in this movie, please reach out to our Hackerslash Hotline. You can leave us a voicemail at 757-606-0128, or visit hackerslash.com slash contact to send us an audio message.

SPEAKER_01 59:48

Or if you've ever played the 123 knock on the wall game, you can send us an email to feedback at hackerslash.com.

SPEAKER_06 59:54

If you've enjoyed listening to this episode, consider becoming one of our patrons like Greg. You can visit patreon.com slash hacker slash to earn cool perks for as low as $1 a month.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:04

We'll see you next time, folks, and remember, you won't find the Nexorcist in the yellow pages.