SPEAKER_03 0:04

It was like, dang, that sucks for you, Street. Oh, it sucks to suck street. Got it. Yeah, been there. Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. Do you know how expensive AOL is? 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_00 0:33

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_03 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 Super Fly Space guy Mac. Hola, muchachos, the gore lover Alexis, hey everyone, and the cowardly creeper Ryan. Hiya. The people have spoken once again, and our patrons have decided which movie we're covering this week. But before we give up the goods, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Recently, we watched and reviewed Mandy from 2018, and we had some thoughts about it. Chris gave it a slash, but everyone else hacked it. So we wanted to ask our listeners what they thought, and boy, was it different.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

The tables have turned.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Oh, the turntables.

SPEAKER_03 1:18

The people are with me.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

So we held a poll to see what everyone thought of the movie, and 38% of our listeners gave it a hack, but 62% slashed it. Very different from how we felt, and boy, did they let us know how they felt. We got so many comments sent in. Anthony, Brittany, Jamie, thank you so much for all sending in your comments and and more, but we only had time to highlight a couple of them. Darren said, Well, the hackerslash team broke my heart. It's okay though. I expected this film to be polarizing when I picked it. I agree that Mandy's depiction of its female characters is seriously lacking, but I was completely sold on the relationship between Mandy and Red, which made the cage rage that we got justifiable within the context of the film. Although the voting didn't go the way I would have liked it, it was great to hear you talk about one of my favorite movies.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Darren, I hope that you mean that you did still enjoy the episode, because I'm just so sorry we let you down.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Joseph continued the conversation. He said, Darren, I'm completely with you. I expected this to be polarizing as well, but more of a two hacks, two slash, and a soft hack kind of thing. I was a little saddened when it was four against one. Truth be told, this movie would be an acquired taste in my opinion. Either you liked it or you didn't. But I will say that I totally feel that it was one of Crazy Cage's better Redbox movies. That being said, I still love every hacker slash member and will not hold this against them.

SPEAKER_04 2:41

I appreciate that because I wanted to love this movie. Maybe it was the time, maybe I might revisit it again. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

We always have a chance to take it back at the end of the year, but don't hold out your hopes for me. I'm pretty confident where I'm at.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

And another comment from Rob. He says, I was lucky enough to see this at a festival on the big screen. It was amazing. It's so beautiful visually. It's hard to imagine anyone not liking it. I thought this would go over better on the show.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

I'd like to know. I feel like at a festival I would probably feel differently, which maybe makes me a hypocrite, but I think that's a different scenario to watch something like this. In your house on the couch, it feels weird, you know? It's a little strange.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

That's true. I think the experience really adds to it. You know, I was watching it at like 10 o'clock in the morning, just sitting on the couch, and that's not the right way to watch a movie like this. I feel like it in a theater would have been amazing. At a festival would have been just like mind-blowing, but don't watch it at 10 a.m. I don't know. It just took away some of the value.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Some could say don't watch most of the movies we review at 10 a.m.

SPEAKER_04 3:41

Unless you're a Lexus getting ready for work. Just like me. Or I was gonna suggest that you build a fort and possibly watch this movie. Would be good. Won't make it a slash.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

And that's our follow-up.

SPEAKER_03 3:52

Well, earlier this summer, Netflix treated the world to a three-week event where they release a single film from a horror trilogy each Friday. The trilogy is based on the Gory Teen horror book series by R. L. Stein that centers on the town of Shady Side and its sinister occurrences. While originally filmed between March and September of 2019 with intentions of theatrical release in June 2020, the global impacts of COVID-19 saw the trilogy removed from the schedule. The first film follows a group of friends in the early 90s after they encountered the source of evil behind a series of brutal murders. This week, we're talking about Fear Street Part 1, 1994.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

This was the highest turnout we had for voters, and this movie actually pulled away with 70% of the vote.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

That is overwhelming, honestly. Also very exciting. Because if our patrons like it, maybe we'll love it. Unless it's Mandy.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Now our patrons did give us their comments as to why they thought this was such a great pick. Alex says, great choice. I look forward to hearing their thoughts on Fear Street part one. P.S. Part 2 was my favorite.

SPEAKER_03 4:49

More to come.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Joseph says, if Fear Street wins, they have to do a follow-up on all three and then do a triad trials on which of the three was the better show.

SPEAKER_04 4:57

I actually really like this idea. I vote for this. I think the patrons already decided that for us.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

Yeah, we'll see what uh September and October do for their patron picks. But for now, who's seen this one before?

SPEAKER_00 5:09

This was my first time watching it. I remember when it hit Netflix and I was pretty excited that, you know, maybe I should set aside some time and get into it. But I figured we'll probably cover it eventually. I'll just wait.

SPEAKER_04 5:19

It's interesting because usually a lot of straight to Netflix movies or Netflix originals I'm pretty familiar with. Or, you know, there's that upcoming tab that they have, and I feel like I'm always looking at that. Had not seen this, it came out, and I was like, oh, interesting. Like I really want to see this. Did not know it was R.L. Stein. Did not read the book, so I'm not familiar with this franchise, this movie trilogy.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Yeah, I want to make sure all of our listeners know that my character is very consistent in life, and that is, I don't know old movies or new movies. It sometimes feels like a live under a rock because I had no idea this existed before it was on our lineup. So this was, of course, my first time watching it, and I have found out a lot more information after the fact where I've talked to a couple people about it who have also seen it. That's when I found out it's R.L. Stein. Some people have mentioned Goosebumps adjacent feelings. So it's all new to me, and I'm very excited to be a part of it.

SPEAKER_03 6:16

You were the first of us to watch it.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

I was. I watched this actually super early because once I saw it, I was like, wow, I want to watch this movie. Believe it or not, I wasn't forced. Okay. I'm a willing participant.

SPEAKER_03 6:28

Crazy. Now I've read some of R.L. Stein's work, but never the Fear Street book specifically. I I heard of them, but Goosebumps was always a more like readily available option for me in my age group. And I was really excited when I heard about this, but I knew I was gonna hold off, you know, like Mac did for watching it until we had to cover it for the show. Now, I really tried, though, coming into it with a completely open mind, especially since I had heard nothing but remarkable things about this. You know how I am with hype. Sometimes it builds it up way too high and it meets it creates like an impossible standard. I was really nervous that it would cover my expectations too much, especially because of how highly this was compared to Scream. And I don't know that that's deserved. It's very, very different. There are things in here that are obvious homages, right? And it pays honor to and tribute to, and it has some good 90s nostalgia. But what were you all expecting?

SPEAKER_01 7:18

So I actually, again, I've been talking to a couple of people and have come across the Scream part of the conversation a few times, and I really have a hard time understanding. Like, I didn't go in with any expectations of Scream. I know that this director had done some work with the Scream TV series. So in watching it, I was waiting for some of those things. I didn't get any of that. But I'll say, like, going in, I wasn't sure what to expect. I I guess I was looking for more of the similar things that we're seeing with stranger things feelings, you know, kids running around doing some stuff, some throwback vibes that make us feel good, some cool old music, like those types of things. I guess is what I went in with, but I'm gonna be honest, I wasn't prepared for any of what we got.

SPEAKER_04 8:01

Yeah, I was thinking very goosebumps adjacent and hoping it wasn't as bad as the goosebumps movie. But I was also expecting to come in here tonight having Chris said she's read all of the Fier Street books. Honestly, same.

SPEAKER_03 8:15

No, honestly, it was I was a goosebumps kid and uh was not a Fear Street teen because it was goosebumps, and then I graduated to horror movies, right? Like it's just like there was no middle step in between those two things. There was no transition. No, I mean my first movie ever was Children of the Corn, so here we go.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

I don't know what I missed in life, but I was none of these kids. And I really think I it's l it's a loss for me. I feel like I missed goosebumps or something. Something needed to be in there. You're a blue suede shoe kind of kid.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

It's fine. Yeah, but I could have been both like you. That's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Did d d yeah, I was a goosebumps kid. That's a reference to the theme song of the TV show. I I read the books and I loved the TV show as a kid, but as soon as I started hitting like teenage years, I just read nothing but Michael Crichton. So I'd that was kind of my thing. But in terms of what I expected, honestly, I was expecting American horror story level stuff. I was expecting horror anthology. Uh initially I didn't know it was based on Arl Stein, so I didn't get the goosebumps like premonition. But then when I found out, it definitely colored my expectations a lot. I was expecting this to be purely a kid's movie, kind of like the old goosebumps TV show. But I thought I like misread because I figured, oh, this has to be an anthology thing, so it's going to be the oldest one first in time. So it's going to be like 1666, then 74, then 94. And it was surprising to me to find out that 94 was the first one. I was not expecting that whatsoever.

SPEAKER_03 9:41

Yeah, I actually hadn't even considered the timeline of things. I knew of the titles, and I knew generally that they all connected and wrapped up together. But beyond that, I didn't want to look too deeply into it. And I'm surprised to say that I actually had a really fun time watching this movie. It hit a lot of like satisfying notes of nostalgia, but even better than that, it built up a lot of characters I really enjoyed and actually managed to keep me in suspense a time or two. I don't know that some of the things that take place are particularly surprising, but it created this world where anything could have been possible, and that was a new feeling that I don't think I've had in a movie in a really long time. But a show you have, it's uh called Riverdale.

SPEAKER_04 10:26

Or it's called Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.

SPEAKER_03 10:29

But see, almost, but no, because in those shows, you know they're not gonna kill the principal characters. Like there's this thing where they tried to make you think that Jughead was dead, and like obviously he's not dead, and then he wasn't dead. So it's like not everything is possible, you know?

SPEAKER_04 10:43

Yeah, that's true. They wouldn't kill him off because no one would watch that. I was super intrigued watching this. I don't know if it's because I didn't have much context of what this was about, and then also I was learning that it was in a trilogy and knowing that they had other movies that came out after this. I was like, oh wow, where is this going? This is an awesome thing. And I was very intrigued by the colors too. I love that in Riverdale and it came through in this. I don't know, it's something that Netflix does a lot, and I really like that. It's super rich, and I can't wait to talk about that in the visuals later.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

I felt very different while watching this. It I just felt very old. I felt like that I wasn't the target audience whatsoever. So I'm watching this, and all I have are questions while I'm watching, like, where are these kids' parents? Where are the other adults? Why are they doing these things? How do they get away with this stuff in life the entire time? These are the kind of questions I had.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

Again, you get married one time and then you're a dad.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

And also, Mac, that's like literally the point of the whole shady side thing is that like nobody's taking care of you, no one's looking out for you. You know, that's their that's their shtick.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Apparently, because the entire time I'm thinking, like, how are these kids just running around fighting these evil killers or whatever, and no one's stopping them and being like, hey kids, like stop what you're doing and get inside the safety. No, instead they're just off living their own lives, and the adults are none the wiser.

SPEAKER_03 12:04

Uh, the same way all those kids in Dairy Maine were all fighting a parademon clown, and no one was any the wiser.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Their parents were more concerned, but here, you know, the whole concept is everyone's uh everyone's parents drink a little too much, work a little too late, need 15 jobs to pay the bills. It's rough out here in these shady side streets.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

That does sound like Ohio.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

With that being said, I don't know that they did that very well, making us understand how tough it really was supposed to be. I have a very, again, different feeling than you guys during this movie, and I felt overwhelmed for a lot of this movie. There is something about the way that this movie is shot that it's intense, not intense from like a gore perspective or anything, just like everything feels like it's screaming at you, and again, not from a volume perspective, but just something about it is overwhelming for me. I think it's because when I went in, I wasn't expecting so much at once, and even just like the title sequence is a lot at once, and they're you're just kind of gotta step back for a second. Um, I wouldn't say it was all bad intense feelings, but for me, this movie was overwhelming.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

There is a level of intensity that happens in this movie with gun violence that I found to be surprising, and this is a weird thing to say. I understand that because I mean in this movie it's all merited, it's done well, but I feel like outside of Scream, right? You just so rarely see gunshots in slashers, right? You see them in zombie movies or or final girls trying to shoot the undead or like the final girls' boyfriend in an 80s movie trying to shoot Jason or Michael, and I think having guns available in the 90s setting, it just I don't know. It made that's part of what made Terrifier so shocking when that gets pulled out. And for me, it just I I think it did a better job of like bridging the gap between 80s slashers that I love and modern day. It's it was a really weird feeling, and and I can agree with you in terms of like that intensity.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

There there was more intensity than I was expecting. I'll I'll give you that because that was the thing that surprised me the most was I'm expecting, you know, like a kids-friendly, almost kind of horror thing, and then we get the gore that we get in this movie. And I'm not saying the entire thing is like blood on the floor and and heads being chopped off, but there was a level of gore that I was not like ready for whatsoever. And there's there's a kill we'll talk about, obviously, in in the second half that I think we're all gonna want to talk about. But when when we hit that point, I was honestly shocked. I was very shocked. And that's not something that I thought was going to happen whatsoever. Like there is like a lot of there's a lot of kills in this movie. Can't wait to talk about that. But there's a lot of kills, and some of those kills are pretty hardcore, and it didn't feel like RL Stein to me. Maybe I should have kept reading into the into the Fear Street books, but this that was that was a lot to to walk into.

SPEAKER_04 15:08

Yeah, I yelled, whoa, when that happened. Pretty sure I described this as Riverdale, but gorier and more action. I love Riverdale so much, so I'll probably reference that a lot. But I do obviously get Stranger Things vibes, but I thought that was just an obvious thing.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

It's implied.

SPEAKER_04 15:25

You guys are essentially a little bit right. There was a lot going on. I think what surprised me most was that there was a great balance with comedy in here. And I know we'll talk about characters later, but Josh just brought this comedy that wasn't too cheesy and corny, but it was just perfect, and it was just witty enough and quick that I appreciated it a lot and was surprised about that because I was not expecting that in this.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Yeah, I agree about him, especially. He was uh a big part of this movie for me. My biggest surprise was the ending. Like there's a point where things kind of change and then they go on from there. And to me, it's like two different movies, and I feel completely different about the first three quarters of this movie and the last quarter.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

The thing for me that was consistent from start to finish, even though there's like a lot of kills and everything, is it didn't really feel scary to me. Maybe that's because I'm numb to the whole thing at this point, but it felt so familiar in a lot of the kills that it was like I was watching somebody reenact other horror movies on screen. So I didn't get the fright factor myself.

SPEAKER_03 16:35

Yeah, I don't think this is something that's going to really spook you. I think there's a lot that's done well to build up suspense and build up this atmosphere. It's funny you said that like it's almost like reenacting other horror movies because it does enough on its own to make its own rules. And again, there are moments where I wasn't mad with where they went, but I thought there's at least three or four other ways they could have gone. And it's so rare because often movies are just this is very predictable. This is clearly the one road this is gonna end at. And this one, there are a few different options that had me on the edge of my seat, kind of hoping for a better outcome for some of the characters.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

I feel like this movie doesn't follow a familiar set of rules for a horror movie. It kind of takes some things and does it on its own, but it's not it's almost like an anything can happen movie. It's not, hey, there's a ghost in the house and we're, you know, we're gonna try to catch them on camera, and that's all we can do for the rest of this movie. This movie takes you some places and some things change and you know, things happen. It's not m the most familiar set of horror tropes, I guess. But even with that being said, I I it's not scary after you watch it, but it it it is a little uh there's some tense feelings in this movie that you know you're stressed. You're a little stressed for them.

SPEAKER_03 17:53

So for being called Fear Street, this was all like chill street for you.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

It was like, dang, that sucks for you, street.

SPEAKER_04 18:00

Oh, sucks to suck street, got it, yeah, been there. Yeah, I can agree with that. I don't think it was scary, but the antagonists in this movie, in my opinion, a little bit terrifying, tall, scary, kind of got vibes from other movies, but not something I'd, you know, remember at night what they looked like. But I think, you know, the feelings that they build and the action that they bring is kind of frightening.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

Yeah, also their speed, a lot of running.

SPEAKER_04 18:28

There's a lot of like fast-paced walking, too.

SPEAKER_03 18:30

It's exhausting, honestly.

SPEAKER_04 18:32

That's what was intense about this movie, why watching all the cardio, right?

SPEAKER_03 18:35

So I will say that even though I I didn't read the books, it gave me this curiosity about the series because I'm like, man, if this is what the series is, I think I want to read it. But as it turns out, this is an original story created within the confines and like built loosely within the universe of Fear Street. Like the characters that you see in this, you know, I think one there's one of the books is purchased in the bookstore earlier in this movie, and the name of the character of that book is the name of the one of the main characters in this movie. So there are bits and and and bobs that are borrowed from the books, but overwhelmingly it's an original story. And I think that's really cool when you think when you think about how they chose to approach this, because even R. L. Stein did an interview and said they captured the spirit while creating their own work. Like they captured the spirit of his books and then ramped up the intensity to make it more gory, which I absolutely love. I'm curious to read them, but I'm really glad that they didn't stick to what was already written.

SPEAKER_04 19:34

Chris, we are the same person at some moments, and in this moment we are, because I'm pretty sure I just Googled how much these books are. They're only five bucks, so I think I might grab a few and then re-watch all these. Although it did feel very familiar for me, like I've mentioned, it felt like Riverdale, it felt like Stranger Things. It still did its own thing, and I appreciate that. And I love this sort of anthology kind of vibe that I'm getting, and I think that's truly original, especially to have a series come out of movies, so three movies. And when I think of Netflix, I think it shows. I don't think of movies in a series, essentially.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Yeah, I'm like 50-50 on originality here. I can see some bits that feel kind of fresh and new and different, but at the same time, I also see so many things that remind me of other things. I mean, story-wise, it's kind of original, but at the same time, it's also nothing I haven't ever seen. So I'm not I don't know. This is a tough one.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

I'm I'm feeling that but stronger because I think this was deliberately unoriginal. I think it's it's kind of the point is to pay homage to all these other things. Now, I'm not saying it's a ripoff, I'm not saying it's like a copy of other stuff. I'm just saying like as you parse through the scenes and the dialogue and the killer and all this kind of stuff, it's I think it's on purpose that it's tying into the rest of of horror.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Right. It's a bit meta, but I I don't think it's like it's not scream meta.

SPEAKER_03 21:06

I'm really curious to see how those feelings continue for you, Mac, with the rest of the series. I don't think you're giving it enough credit.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

We'll we'll have to see, because I've only seen the first part so far.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

And Chris and I have both watched the second part now.

SPEAKER_03 21:19

Yeah, the second one is basically our birthday episode. Slightly less slutty, but not that much.

SPEAKER_04 21:25

Honestly, arguably, only a 1% difference. Less poop, though. I feel like I missed out. I really feel like I missed out. I'm kind of upset because I was like, there's no way I can do three movies in three days.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Oh, don't worry. If once you watch the second one, it's a different place. It takes you somewhere else. It's not more of the same. So um it's good that we are reviewing the first one and then we can move on to reviewing the rest eventually.

SPEAKER_03 21:49

I will say, in terms of something else this movie did differently, is I think me growing up as a young girl in the closet, this is the kind of movie I wish I could have seen when I was young. Younger and this tells a very relatable story that you know I've had those conversations before and it feels different. And I'm so glad that we're in the place now where these kind of characters can be written. But I will say that for all the chaos that happens in this movie, I'm actually really satisfied by the ending. I absolutely loved it.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

I have to agree. The ending makes this movie for me. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

I have to be the contrarian because you know how I'm picky, and sometimes I like movies that have an ending that leads to something else, and other times I like movies that are just done. You know what I mean? Fully encapsulated. This was one of those times where I wish it was just a singular story and we were done.

SPEAKER_03 22:41

But you know it's a trilogy.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

I know, but that's my favorite kind of anthology. Is like you get to you get to do the work as a viewer and see how things are related. You don't have to be like told specifically these things are related.

SPEAKER_03 22:51

We're never told it's an anthology, Mac.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

Right.

SPEAKER_03 22:53

We're told it's a trilogy.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Well, sure.

SPEAKER_03 22:56

An anthology is a standalone story. This is like part one of a three-part story.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Yeah, but you know, it it all has to do with expectations not matching reality. That's all it is. Even as a trilogy, because they're separated by time, it's I I just wish it was completely separated on its own, had its own singular ending, and then part two also complete story on its own. And that's just because I'm picky sometimes and I change my mind all the time.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

You know, that's really interesting because I realize I shouldn't be talking about this one here yet, but as I was watching the second one, I was thinking, okay, but can we get back to how we loop this into the the first one? Because I wanna, you know what I mean? I actually want more integration and not less.

SPEAKER_04 23:36

I was a big fan of the integration, and I felt like this ending was an extended cut, which I appreciated. Like I thought it was done, and then I'm like, no, no, no, no. For example, when you're watching a movie and they say stay after the credits, but you leave anyway, and yeah, you just feel like you missed out, but this time I did not miss out. There's nothing after the credits that I believe, but it feels like it is.

SPEAKER_03 23:58

All I'm saying is this ending was so good that I had to text Ryan and and share my desire to watch the next movie. Then I finally gave in and watched the second movie, and then I was mad. I didn't have enough time to watch the third movie before this episode.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

I'm just saying it I feel like it would have been very dangerous territory, but I would have loved to as well.

SPEAKER_03 24:19

Absolutely. Well, we'll see how these mixed feelings affect this movie's score, which I can't believe what Mac is saying, but we'll get there. Now, before we get into rating this movie, Alexis, what's our body count?

SPEAKER_04 24:31

Our body count is seven this week, which is obviously what Matt counts as high. Uh it's a good number.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

For teenagers, that's pretty high.

SPEAKER_03 24:39

I mean, yeah, we had like 17 last week, so there were way more kills alluded to and and mentioned. It's just the seven that you see.

SPEAKER_04 24:48

Yes, this is seven you see. If we go through a lot of things, there's a lot of massacres in this movie. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 24:54

But what about the animal report? Yeah, our animal report is all good this week. Good to know. No animals were part of those massacres. Now let's go ahead and get on to our ratings. Fear Street Part 1, 1994. Was it a hacker or slash?

SPEAKER_00 25:08

I'm gonna jump in first because I think I see how things are moving, and I'm just gonna go ahead and get ahead of it and uh have my voice heard, so you can all tell me why I'm wrong. But this movie is challenging to sort out in my mind. Who is the target audience? The odd dialogue and the story seem to be made for young teens, but some of the Gore and themes are kind of pointed at older teens, maybe young adults. I don't know. I had a hard time connecting as an adult, even though I disappointingly tried to reach for any nostalgia points I could find. It's obvious though that you can't watch just one installment to get a full enough picture of the setting to properly enjoy the lore of the main antagonist, but I'm not reviewing all three parts, and I feel like this was enough screen time to paint a complete picture all on its own. The world it's set in and the story itself felt really underdeveloped to me. Uh, it seems to be sprinkled with generic horror tropes and odds to major franchises, but it unfortunately lacks a sense of its own identity. It felt mediocre to me. If one of my friends were to ask me, should I watch this, I would say no. So for that reason, it's a hack.

SPEAKER_04 26:07

Very interesting, Mac, because while I was watching this, probably 10 minutes in, texted two people. I'm like, you have to watch this. So I can watch part two and part three. I see where you're coming from. There is a mixture of where the audience needs to be, but I really think it's people our age who read these books who now are grown up. It's kind of like when you go to a concert of a band you used to listen to, especially me, because I like emo bands. So I go and there's a very mixed crowd. It's sometimes younger folks that are listening to it and then older people dressed like you and me, very normal. But I don't know, I love the visuals. I fell in love with the characters and just their involvement, and I really enjoyed to love every single one of them. I liked it. I love this idea of a movie trilogy that is in Netflix original. It comes out during the summer where not a lot of things are coming out in the theater. So I appreciate that. And I love the nostalgia of everything. The clear phones, Orange Julius. I can't wait to unpack all of this, but it's a definite slash for me for sure.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Well, we have some feelings here. I feel a little bit like Mac, where this movie has a lot to unpack for me. I started this movie, I'm watching, I'm chilling, I think I know what I'm in store for. And then I get an overwhelming title sequence that comes through. And I know that this is a random thing to be fixated on, but it just like I was not prepared for it at all. And then we get a setting that I kind of don't relate to. I think that they it is a it does feel a little bit young in certain places, especially with certain characters. And like for me, Josh is one of those characters that feels like he's like 12. And the shady side, Sunnyville thing, I don't think quite hits in this movie. I think they try to say, like, oh hey, it's this and this, and they're blah, blah, blah. But none of those things are relatable because I don't know any place that's like this, right? But it's also not built as like a fantasy, it's built as a real place. So I don't know. There's just a bunch going on throughout this movie that I didn't get down with, and I was just like, it's not doing it for me, you know? You have to do more than just play some nostalgic music for me to be into this. And halfway through this movie, I was like, I have to finish this for the podcast, but I don't really like it. And then the ending comes, and the ending is so good. And it took all the things that I was hating and like wrapped them up and put a bow on them, not because they were tied up nicely, but just to make them look cute, you know? And it worked for me. And then I was so excited to watch the second one. And let me just tell you, if nothing else, you should watch this one just to be able to watch the rest of them. And I'm not even finished yet. But it's a journey, and we're all on together. We all have to start somewhere, okay? Everyone didn't like me a long time ago, but hopefully you stuck around long enough to like me now, because I'm great, much like this movie. It gets great at the end, and that's what that's what matters. That's what we're here for. So it's a slash for me, but I will say I didn't like it most of the way through. Well, this has taken a turn.

SPEAKER_03 29:15

This movie isn't perfect, okay? I'm not I'm not here to say that it is. There are a couple things that gave me pause or made me feel like, okay, but it's nowhere near enough to even consider giving this a hack. This movie is a lot of fun, and it blows me away. You could even watch this and assess it on its own, knowing how it leads. Like this movie's ending wraps ups in such a great way to make you want to watch what's next in the series. It's gory in all the right ways, but it doesn't go overboard. I love the struggles in the central romance. I love the different sides we get to these characters, characters I started off being really annoyed with, and then you hear a little bit more about their background, and you're like, oh, okay, so you're actually a decent human. It's beautiful to look at, and it created, again, this feeling of, oh shit, this is a world where anything can happen. So this is a slash, and I personally cannot wait to see what's next in the series, and I can't wait to wrap up with the 1666 film. But for now, only one of us has disliked it. Fear Street Part 1, 1994, has managed to squeak by with three slashes and one hack. Now you can find this movie streaming on Netflix, so go check it out. Then join us in the second half so we can unpack this together. See you in a bit.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

Did you leave the door open all day and get accused of consorting with the devil? Did your acne disappear overnight and your whole family shunned you? Does your hair look good even when you don't try? Don't get dragged to the town center on false accusations. B Sermon is here to defend you against witchcraft falsehoods. We would take those overly pious accusers to a court of law and win your case or your dear skins back guaranteed. We're here to stake our claim, see, and burn the competition. Fight the burn and call B-Sermon.

SPEAKER_03 31:12

Welcome back, folks. You're now entering the spoiler zone for Fear Street Part 1, 1994, which is earned three slashes and one hack. Now we have a lot to get to here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, this movie is bloodier than you might expect. Alexis, what's the gore score for this movie?

SPEAKER_04 31:28

It's definitely high. Even though we only have seven bodies, all of them are gory kills, which I am obsessed with.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

These are the kind of kills that we should have had in Scream, because we have a Scream Style Killer doing better kills than Ghostface in in some cases.

SPEAKER_03 31:44

I don't know. Casey Becker's death was way better than Heather's death, although Heather's death in this movie was pretty cool. And it was obviously like the homage to Casey Becker.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

That's true. I mean it was filmed almost exactly the same way.

SPEAKER_04 31:55

I would love to know what everyone's favorite kill is, but I wonder if everyone wants to give me it all at once, because I feel like everyone has the same one. I mean, we do have to say Kate, right? Kate. Yeah, Kate takes the bread.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

Oh Cake.

SPEAKER_04 32:10

Would you say that she's the breadwinner?

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:13

Oh, she wins the bread for sure.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

She slices the competition.

SPEAKER_04 32:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 32:19

We're all fired. She's not actually my favorite kill.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Of course not.

SPEAKER_03 32:23

It was undoubtedly like the coolest mechanism of death for sure. I was sad to see her go. So that's the only reason why it's not my favorite. My favorite is Simon, because I actually didn't give a fuck about Simon. And I know it's kind of lame. It's just an axe to the head. Big deal. But it was the moment where Kate had just died, and then Simon goes, and then that created the like, there's a very real possibility Josh could just die, or Dina could die. Or the cops could interrupt them before she's able to resuscitate Sam, in which case they'd all be dead.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

You know, Chris, I actually have to agree with you. Although, so Kate, this kill is like just mind-blowing. You're so unprepared. You're like, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. That head's not gonna go through the bread slicer. We didn't have anything like that leading up to it, right? We got some, you know, slit necks, a little stabbing here and there, a little something. When that head goes through a bread slicer, bro, I was so unprepared. And then the axe to the head for Simon. So I would actually say if I pick a favorite, Simon's also my favorite kill, but we have to talk about the Kate one, you know? Oh yeah. One does not simply ignore Kate. Right. Can't ignore Kate, but the axe to the head with Simon was like so in your face, so classic, felt good.

SPEAKER_00 33:39

I think it's the pause that really sets it apart because you just see Kate get sliced up and like literally pieces of flesh falling onto the ground, which where was that the rest of the film, first of all? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:50

And my mouth was literally still hanging open from that.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

Right. And so the two of them arrive at the end of the aisles and they're just, oh my gosh, like they can't process what's happened. And then you get that thwack to the head, which is why I think it's most effective, is because it's not like right back to back, like head goes through bed, bread slicer, and then okay, like axe in the head. They take that moment to pause and to look and to like feel the fear, and you're thinking, oh my gosh, what are they gonna do next? Doesn't matter, he's dead.

SPEAKER_03 34:15

Yeah, there was so much suddenness in this movie, and I think that really threw me off. And I was talking about like the gun violence earlier. For some reason, the gunshot to Ryan Torres's head was really intense for me. And I it made me feel super uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

I think it had to do with literally the blood pouring out the front of his face.

SPEAKER_04 34:34

I agree with both of you. I think it was something for me that had to do with the special effects. You know, you have Heather, and it just seems like she's really fighting for her life, very reminiscent of Scream. And just I don't know, I just really felt for her being stabbed, and then, you know, she's coughing up the blood, and none of it's like it's it's graphic, but it's not overly where you're like, this is so fake. It honestly felt real to me, and then I feel like you never see bullets. I mean, maybe I don't pay attention too much, but I never actually either pay attention or directly see a bullet hit someone in movies, and I was not expecting to see that straight in his head. It was kind of it was very jarring.

SPEAKER_03 35:17

Yeah, it's really weird because you do get that at the end of Scream. Like Sydney does shoot Billy. I'm just remembering now the parallel of even Casey Becker pulling off the mask of Ghostface, but we just never see who Ghostface is. And the parallels there are are pretty crazy, but it was something about the look of this particular gunshot to the head and just like the sudden lack of life in his body was just ooh.

SPEAKER_01 35:41

Yeah, and and that's the thing. It's not the shot to the head that made this movie intense for me. It's the way it's done that made it intense, the way you can watch him die from this shot and see the blood pour out his little forehead.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

It also worked with my expectations or lack thereof because I didn't know enough to know what was gonna happen. So I figured this was the killer, and for some reason we just know who it is going into the movie. And then to see the the, you know, the killer's head just pop like a grape, I was not expecting it whatsoever.

SPEAKER_04 36:08

Yeah, Chris, you did mention that opening scene definitely plays tribute to Scream. And even the camera work, too, and the way he like catches and stabs Heather. Um, it's it's very reminiscent of Scream. But also, there is a scene towards the end where they go into the supermarket, which is one of my favorite scenes, but we'll talk about later. It's um a tribute to Intruder from 1989, in which a character gets killed by a meat saw, and here's a character who gets killed in a very similar way, Kate, poor thing, by a bread saw. And lastly, I kind of want to know what you guys think about the whole scene where they're in the bathroom and all the killers are in there and they all blow up. To me, it didn't look crazy special effects, it looked essentially real, and then when it starts gelling back together, I was just like, ew. Yeah, it it felt good to me.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

It didn't feel like felt good, yeah, it felt nice and gooey to me. It didn't feel like a lot of CGI, yeah, and goofiness, you know?

SPEAKER_00 37:13

It reminded me of Hellraiser, which I know you haven't seen yet, but there's a scene in Hellraiser, the first one, where a like decomposed body comes to life in a way, so it's like blood starts forming into other tissue, and then that tissue like forms into a body, and um it it was reminiscent of that, but I also enjoyed that special effect. I think that was actually cooler than when they get blown up.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

I'm sorry, Hellraiser? It doesn't remind you more of Terminator. I was just gonna say, I think my only point of reference is Terminator, our little silver dude that's just like piles of aluminum goo. Little gooey Phoenix demons rising from the ashes.

SPEAKER_04 37:50

So familiar, obviously. I do appreciate a movie that will go extra to make this CGI not look crazy. And I appreciate that about this this visual that they have done. The beginning credits, you know, I love those 90s colors and the news clippings. Those are my that's like my favorite visual for this movie, I think. Just getting that little backstory. Although you hear more about the backstory through the entire movie, it was cool to read and it felt very crime junkies. Uh very crime junkies, very CSI. And I was like, ooh, I'm putting this together.

SPEAKER_01 38:27

Well, I'm glad you enjoyed that because the intro and the flashbacks that we get, which I they're kind of aligned in my head, are my least favorite visuals because they overwhelmed me. I could not handle the amount of information coming at my face at one time. My favorite visual is the end of the bus and car interaction, the accident, but most importantly, the car being off the side and like the woods are red, especially when she starts crawling out of the car and everything. It is so cool, so intense. It starts kind of at the point with like the bucket of Gatorade being thrown, and just everything looks so freaking cool. That whole bit there. And like, don't don't even think of witches buried where there's a red forest, you know? Like, it just feels right. It feels creepy.

SPEAKER_03 39:18

Oh, okay. So visually, for me, it's the lighting in this movie. It shows up in a strong way at that scene, Ryan. But I think the moment for me, it's such an obscure one, and it's one that I think many people won't even look at as one of the best moments of the movie. But it's the headlights illuminating Dina's head while she's lying in the bus as it gets closer to the bus. I don't know what it was about that moment. Maybe it's just the beauty of her face. I don't know. But the way that lighting expanded on her and filled up the bus, it was just so good and it felt really practical and motivated. Whereas I feel like sometimes movies, I think we see a little bit of this in Mandy, right? As as beautiful as the colors were, as incredible as the lighting was, it feels very inauthentic. It feels very created, right? It feels very like this is a production we're gonna just show off. Whereas this, everything felt so natural and real.

SPEAKER_01 40:14

Yes, you're missing the staged element of the color, which I think is really, really important because so many times we're like, oh my gosh, the colors in this movie are amazing, but it's not because they're realistic colors, it's because it's like, hey, we wanna be cool. Like, look at these neon signs lighting this person's face. Whereas in this movie, it's just like, yeah, this is just how things look, but they also look freaking cool. Yeah, they didn't try too hard to complete that. Yeah, the natural lighting is so nice.

SPEAKER_00 40:43

Talk about freaking cool. My favorite part of this movie to look at was the Nightwing Killer.

SPEAKER_01 40:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:48

So the the costume, the rebirth, it was just all so awesome to look at. Honestly, the best Jason I think I've seen in a movie, especially for a movie that wasn't Friday the 13th.

SPEAKER_04 40:58

I think he was good at a mix between Jason and Michael Myers. He has a stature of Michael, but the way he just picks up and is just goes for it. I mean, I don't know. Him going down through the hallways in the school was terrifying to me.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

He's got some hustle in him. Oh yeah. Mac, let me just tell you, you don't know what you're in store for. Cause that killer is something, okay? It's something. There are some things that happen in the next movie.

SPEAKER_04 41:27

Can I ask if it's something good or bad? Oh, it's exciting. Okay, I'll take that.

SPEAKER_00 41:33

I I I'm looking forward to that because that was one of my favorite parts of the movie. Just to see that happen on screen, to see that hustle come through, like running through the hallways, running through the aisles in the grocery store, it's like a bull chasing you, and you're gonna get hit by the horns. And that would be something to truly be afraid of if that was what's coming after you. The dude in the skeleton costume, you know, that is worrisome, I guess, in a way, because there's a knife. But to see this big, like brawny looking dude running through with an axe and not, you know, some people that are big can't run that fast. I'm I'm not even that big and I can't run that fast anymore. But, you know, this dude's booking it and big axe and can hit stuff with it. I mean, mostly shelves and and and walls, but sometimes human heads, apparently. So I don't know. I just I really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

All I'm saying is Michael Myers would never run. I love a killer that runs. I have to be honest. I uh we've been doing the walking thing for so long. I understand the concept. I walk slow, I still catch up to you, you die, that's the whole point. But I love a killer with enthusiasm, okay? Give me something. An asthma, apparently.

SPEAKER_03 42:41

This is why student bodies did the breather.

SPEAKER_01 42:43

I mean, they're running, okay. That's exactly what I would sound like if I was running with an axe.

SPEAKER_00 42:51

So maybe, maybe you know, Jason and Ghostface do have a little bit in common that they are kind of goofy. You know, they do have to run to catch up to people. Whereas Michael Myers doesn't have Michael Myers is just like, I'm just gonna vanish and show up at the right time because I got skills. They don't have those skills, they just gotta be fast.

SPEAKER_04 43:07

I'm a super big fan of this whole mall scene in the beginning. One, very reminiscent of Scream, but two, malls in the 90s are amazing. You have this cat and mouse chase that I am a big fan of as well, and the death in that is just amazing. So I think when you wrap all of that together, it's just a really nice bow to start off a movie, and that's why I think made me so intrigued and wanted to continue watching this movie.

SPEAKER_03 43:33

Two sides of the same coin here, because while your favorite scene was the beginning, my favorite scene was the end. And honestly, it was the the entire segment once we realized that Sam is still possessed by the witch and stabs Dina, and it's just that like stabbing, but Dina looks down to realize that she was stabbed, and I was just terrified for a moment, thought none of them were making it out alive. And for Sam to end up being bound with like. A telephone cable, totally fine. But that moment, it's just I was flying high thinking things like thinking these two girls were gonna have a happy ending, and then catapulted into oh shit, nothing is over.

SPEAKER_01 44:14

Man, I knew like I was not sold on the idea of everything being okay, not for one second. And it I think someone already said it kind of felt like we got like an extended cut in that moment, and it did feel that way, and I loved it so much.

SPEAKER_04 44:30

See, I wasn't a fan. Give me a little bit of mystery. I know you're gonna eventually talk about the witch, but I don't need to like see it right there.

SPEAKER_01 44:39

But you knew she was gonna be possessed, you know? Like we didn't get enough. Like we had these monsters chasing her blood, but we saw her name in the stone, so like we knew things were not gonna be okay. There's some permanence there, it's not something that can come and go.

SPEAKER_00 44:54

Maybe this would have been more successful as a TV show for me, because I think that was the perfect time to cut it off at the end of an episode, is right when the name appears in the stone. That would have been like boom, fade to black, and you're like, oh no, we need to see what happens next. And then we get to see, you know, an actual like finale finale. But I understand that it's a movie and I can't change history or the universe. So that that scene's okay, you know. I I I have trouble with the ending. I know you both really loved it. I have a lot of trouble with it. I think as we're getting closer to the ending, it definitely improves. The whole the whole movie gets a lot better when we get all that action. You know, there's those those interesting little scenes where we've got the girl in the you know, singing the song in the street, and then we approach because we don't know at this point that there's all these other like killer ghosts, I guess you could call them, that are gonna appear. And so that that kind of thing is like a nice little nice little thing to spike into there. But I I think my favorite, just from a stupid nostalgic point, is literally the scene sitting in the basement on AOL.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

It's a good one. That's okay. You can love that scene because it was lovely.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

It's interesting though, because that like little AOL chat tells you a little bit about the character and a little bit about the town, and a little bit about the backstory, and that's a fun way to add some exposition in, is just this dialogue over AOL and St. Messenger.

SPEAKER_04 46:15

I have a question for you all. Do you think this movie put too much emphasis on the backstory? Because I feel like it is intertwined throughout the entire movie. I don't know if it hit the hammer.

SPEAKER_00 46:28

I think the movie went too far with the witch. I would have loved for the witch to be something that happened way towards the end as a reveal versus something that was always part of it.

SPEAKER_01 46:38

I was totally happy with it. Yeah, I'm kind of torn. I think I could have seen a little more like uncertainty about what was going on. Like we kind of knew from the very beginning exactly what was going on. Literally from the title sequence, we knew, oh, cool, there's a witch that haunts people and kills people. But yeah, it was a little again, I said I was overwhelmed, it was a little overwhelming for me throughout the whole thing. Like, we get it, there's a witch, but it is what it is. It came together in the end.

SPEAKER_03 47:04

I feel like if the emphasis wasn't on the witch, it'd just be another slasher, and I don't think it would have stood alone on its own well enough as a slasher without the allure of Sam being possessed.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

I'm curious to see how this this trilogy plays in reverse. You know, it had like how would I feel about it if I see the 1666 stuff first and then watch the 74 and then watch the 94 stuff?

SPEAKER_01 47:28

Yeah, so someone I talked to about this was saying, Oh, I'd like to watch them in backwards. And I was like, no, I haven't seen the last one yet, but it feels like you need to watch this in order. I think it will be interesting once you've seen it to do it backwards, but I don't know. I don't know if it would have the same energy. We'll see.

SPEAKER_04 47:46

To me, why would you watch part three before you watch part one? Because technically they're consecutive.

SPEAKER_00 47:51

Right. And I like things in consecutive order in terms of like chronology. You know, I'm not a fan of prequels.

SPEAKER_03 47:57

But here's the thing I don't think it's a it's a situation where it's exclusively stuff happening in 1666 or exclusively 1978. Agreed. You know what I mean? Like I think it's you're gonna have bits of like any timeline mixed in there. So I don't know that you can just watch one after the other and it make chronological sense.

SPEAKER_01 48:17

Yeah, I gotta agree with that. Seeing the second one, I think it would they're in this order for a reason. But with that being said, my favorite scene is actually just the little moment when we find out that Sam is a woman because it was we were all fully unprepared. 100%, I don't believe that anyone in this room knew that was coming.

SPEAKER_03 48:35

I was so excited and I heard, and like I knew that there would be a same-sex couple in this movie, but I didn't know it'd be the main couple, right? I didn't know that Sam was gonna be a girl. I thought it was gonna be the douchebag boy who was groping that. Oh, I was like, oh man, this I love this so much. And uh, I just I wish this was a thing when I was younger. You know what I mean? Like to be able to watch and like feel okay with and feel good about and feel like you're not alone with. Uh, I fucking loved it so much. It was such a good moment.

SPEAKER_01 49:05

Yeah, it was just so good the way they set it up because you don't realize that they're not saying he or she, they're just saying Sam. And you don't realize that they're not talking about, you know, why are they gonna be at the game? Are they in the game? Well, we all assume they're in the game, and it's just it was just such a good moment with of surprise where I wasn't prepared at all. You see a couple guys grabbing some girl's butt, and you're like, what the heck? Sam sucks. And then Sam's getting her butt grabbed, and you're like, wait a minute, what happened here? It was so good. That was one of the moments of romance in this movie that I did like, and I was not prepared. It was very exciting.

SPEAKER_03 49:45

Oh, yeah. And then when things escalate between the girls fighting and then the actual town douchebags fighting, uh, so good. So good. And to know that like Kate was super supportive and chill throughout the whole thing. Absolutely loved that. Kate started off semi-unlikable to me and then became so endearing as the movie went on.

SPEAKER_01 50:04

I totally agree. She was a positive character arc for me, whereas someone like Simon was really just completely useless, and I hated him, and I don't know why he's in this movie at all.

SPEAKER_03 50:15

There are supposed to be static characters in any story, but the thing that you get about Simon is that he's been supporting his whole family since he was 15, right? Like that's that one little nugget of oh, that's nice. Because then you realize, well, he really was employee of the month every month.

SPEAKER_01 50:30

He also said that his brother didn't really have a real OD because he came back to life. So, like, eh. Oh, he was an idiot no matter what.

SPEAKER_04 50:38

I'm not saying I like the dude. I was happy he was dead. Right. Simon to me seemed as if he had a bad backstory or just some sort of, you know, family dynamic that not everyone can relate to. And I just kind of felt bad. He was like rough around the edges a little bit, and I don't know, he was in a woman in the window, which if Pierce was on here, we would go back and forth talking about him on here because he is a complete psycho. So all I could imagine him in this is being complete psycho. Well, he was also very fuzzy, and that was gross. Also, him jacking off in the bathroom, which is kind of weird. But I guess, you know, what do you do when you realize you might die? Sex is not the number one thing, surprisingly.

SPEAKER_03 51:21

Also, why didn't they just go to the gym with there's inevitably a locker room where they could take a real shower?

SPEAKER_01 51:26

Yeah, there's a lot that you can say about that scene. Um, but we haven't got to best part, worst part yet, so hold your tits. For me to go back to characters, Simon, to be fair, is the only character that feels truly rough around the edges to me. I think one of the things that I had an issue with is the hardness of these characters wasn't sold to me at all. The like misery of shady side, because all it really is is that they keep running around saying, we're cursed, it's shady side, we are cursed, but like I don't feel anything except for they put some beer cans on the table and we don't see parents, but I don't feel like these kids are hard. Like I'm valedictorian and I'm selling drugs hard.

SPEAKER_04 52:05

You didn't feel that way at the football game? There was some sort of disconnect between the two.

SPEAKER_01 52:11

None of those main characters were involved with that. Like, that was just like some people getting in like kind of a brawl. But I didn't like there our main characters here to me don't feel rough. Simon being the exception.

SPEAKER_00 52:23

That was the worst part of the movie to me was that the tension between the two schools, the drama between the kids themselves, everything didn't feel earned. It feels like we're being told what's going on, but I don't think that we're actually truly shown. And that's probably just a limitation of time, and and maybe there's just too much to go into in in less than two hours. But I feel like all of that was like these are the things that are happening, and that's why. Because I because we told you, not because we can see them struggling. If we had seen, you know, Simon going through what he was going through with his family, and I honestly his attitude didn't really match apparently the life that he was living. You know, this it's kind of a hard life that he's going through, especially as a teenager, but his like attitude doesn't match at all. You would just think he was like a silly stoner kind of dropout dude, and then you hear about like the background, but like the the stuff going on between the two schools, it seemed a bit like Pawnee Eagleton in a way. I mean, that's a Parks and Rec reference if you need one per episode. But both schools seemed fine, they both kind of seemed like decent schools in a way.

SPEAKER_01 53:28

Agreed.

SPEAKER_03 53:29

I think the thing for me is that a Simon can be an optimist who's you know trying not to be too down on his luck and is just trying to smile and and get high and just grin and bear it, right? But I didn't have an issue with Sunnyvale versus Shady Side because for me, there's obviously a rivalry. Yeah, sure, maybe Pawnee Eagleton, but it seemed like they just can't have anything good because the moment they have something good in their lives, it gets ruined. Look at Dina and Sam. Sam's parents split up, she moves to Sunnyvale. Dina loses a core relationship in her life and kind of gets left behind. And also, yeah, there are a lot of beer cans on the table, but it also kind of sounds like they're afraid of their dad in some regards. And honestly, I don't care to see what happened to Simon because I didn't care enough about him, right? He's a static character in the background to you know be a little bit of a mechanism in the plot. So I didn't mind not seeing more. I think if I did see more, I would have gotten bored because I only cared about what was happening here in this moment with those characters. I did for sure think that Simon was being possessed the first time that he meets Ruby. When she starts singing, I'm like, oh shit, Ryan heard something in the mall. Like he heard his name being whispered, and that that that nursery rhyme, whatever, talks about you know turning good men into wicked slaves. I thought Simon was going to be turned and then turn on the group.

SPEAKER_01 54:53

Yeah, there was a few moments where I thought the story was gonna take a different turn. That was one of them. I guess we get like a few of those little moments of like like Mac mentioned earlier, like little unique moments where you don't know exactly what's gonna happen. I could have easily seen him getting possessed, but it would have been overwhelming to have two possessions in one little group of friends.

SPEAKER_03 55:15

It would have been can we all agree that Kate would have been Paris offering up Sam to get murdered? Absolutely, for sure. First thing I wrote in my notes.

SPEAKER_01 55:24

I have to go ahead and be the person that says the worst part of the movie for me, and I feel very strongly about this, and it is locker room sex scene or high school bathroom sex scene. Like, again, Josh presents as far too young to be hanging out with these kids for me, and I feel very uncomfortable about the way these kids are presented in this movie and then the level of sex scene that we get. We didn't get like implied sex scene, we got like a little further than that, right? We didn't get like butt cheeks on camera, but we got more than like we started kissing and I unbuttoned my shirt, and we're somewhere in between. And for me, I understand that everyone may not agree. For me, the the three versions of sex scene that we get here are all too much, and I didn't need them. It is the turning point of the movie for me where everything after that is much better than before, but that moment I did not need. And maybe that's an allegory about sex all together, but I didn't like it in the movie.

SPEAKER_03 56:26

Yeah, I I didn't need Simon's bit. Dina and Sam, I get, but even then it's okay. Like, is this really like I mean, the circumstances of your life right now, is this what you want to do here in this moment, knowing that a ghoul is gonna bob in at any time? But I didn't think that Josh and Kate actually had sex. I assumed that she kissed him and they made out. But also when he went in there to help her, I thought, hmm, okay, something nefarious is about to happen. Two, when nothing nefarious did happen, I was like, you did not need to close the door. Like, that's not a thing that needs to happen here. So you could have left the door open. Some things definitely happened.

SPEAKER_01 57:02

They did more than kiss.

SPEAKER_03 57:03

She's got a fairly first base.

SPEAKER_00 57:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:05

She's obviously just saying it like she's saying that, like what she says to people. Like, you know what I mean? You don't come out and say, Oh, hey, we went to third base just so everyone knows.

SPEAKER_00 57:16

But what is he, 12 years old or something?

SPEAKER_01 57:18

He's in high school.

SPEAKER_03 57:19

Yeah, he's probably like 14, 15, and then his sister is probably like 17.

SPEAKER_01 57:24

Yeah, in high school I was 15, but he presents as 12, so it's it's rough. It's rough for me to watch from home.

SPEAKER_03 57:31

You you know men look like children until they suddenly look like men.

SPEAKER_00 57:34

Remember, I had a mustache when I was 12, so it's a little bit different for me.

SPEAKER_03 57:37

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 57:38

The real question I have is did we need those scenes in any way? Did they add anything to the story?

SPEAKER_01 57:44

The sex scenes?

SPEAKER_00 57:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:45

Literally nothing. I'm okay with Gina and Sam making you up. Duh. But here's the thing. I feel like a good, passionate kiss gets you back on board in that moment, you know?

SPEAKER_03 57:55

Yeah. But I think because I watched the second movie almost right after, it's a little blurry in my mind because I feel like the sex in that movie is way more intense. I wasn't expecting that.

SPEAKER_01 58:05

Yeah, I agree. I feel you on that. You're not wrong. But in this, in the moment of this movie where everyone starts getting nasty, I was like, why are we doing this? It doesn't do anything for me. We could have had a little intimate moment, not a sex moment.

SPEAKER_03 58:21

I just feel like Gina and Sam's intimacy did not strike me as getting filthy.

SPEAKER_00 58:26

No, it wasn't dirty. It just like didn't need to happen. And it's not as loving. Like Ryan mentions, like, if they were sitting down together and started kissing and holding hands, we would have gotten their connection. We would have felt that like, oh, they're getting close again. But seeing like Josh dragged into a room with an older girl, and he's like, Well, we might die though. Can I see your boobs? Like, did we meet that though? I don't think we did. That's that's a bit of crazy.

SPEAKER_03 58:52

And he's reciting cheat codes. Agree on the second point, but on the first point, let me have this.

SPEAKER_01 58:58

Yes, you can have it. Listen, have what you have, Chris, but also they were ripping each other's clothes off. It was not calm, it was not chill, it was a sex scene. It's not a make out session, it's a sex scene. It was the prelude to the sex scene. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 59:12

It felt awkward to me, but I enjoyed the arc or somewhat of an arc that Dina and Sam have because I needed that because Sam was the worst part of this movie for me. Ooh, hot take, but not wrong. She felt so flat. One, I just didn't like her character. I don't know if it's because she was coming across as mean or she needed this guard up. But to me, half the scenes I forgot she was in. She's felt like a backdrop. Uh, she was a vessel for this witch because she ended up in the ditch, but that was about it.

SPEAKER_01 59:49

She did take a backseat to a lot of things going on because she's playing the person that is the victim of the witch, right? So she isn't the one doing most of the things. She's just like along for the ride, and everyone's kind of trying to help her. I think that's what makes you kind of like feel that way.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:04

Yeah, because she couldn't do much because everything she touched, she got her blood on, and everything would all the monsters would come to her.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:11

Yeah, I agree. I think the story was really realistic for people who don't feel accepted and have to lie about who they are. But I didn't love Sam's character in all of the movie. It wasn't the worst to me, but I didn't love her.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:27

I'll say then, I'm gonna just go the opposite way here that Dina is the best part of the movie.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:32

Interesting. Visually, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:34

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:36

Yes. And and what I love here is we have a lot of strength to the character, and there's no apologies needed for that strength. Because I feel like a lot of times when you have a strong female character, you have to maybe weaken them at some point to show that they're not as strong or show a reason why they have to be strong, like I have to be this way, or otherwise I'd you know be taken advantage of or be reminded of my drunk father, whatever it is. No, she's just strong because she's just a strong person, and I love that. But this strength that she has is from the very beginning of the movie and goes up until the very end. Because she's obviously mad at Sam, right? And we and we get that. It's a little high school like lovers thing that they fought and now they're broken up, and she's really mad at her, and she has the F U on the note and everything. Um, but she's not mad at her because they broke up, and and I and I like that that they add that at the end because if that's the only reason to be mad, like it's you know, get over it, right? But when we find out why, and then we see their arc getting back together, and then we see at the very end where she has to fight her off because she literally just stabbed her in the stomach. This this girl can take a beating and keep on going. She's not afraid to fight for the ones that she she loves. And it it really did kind of infuse her with a no apology needed kind of kind of power, kind of strength, and I and I enjoyed that about her because I don't think any other movie would show that type of character in that type of way.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:53

Agreed. Yeah, I absolutely love their relationship, and I'll get to the worst part of the movie in just a second, but I love it so much, and I don't dislike Sam because their relationship struggle isn't limited to just being some high school thing, right? It's not that, it is such a core struggle when you have people in two different places in their lives in terms of comfort of being their authentic selves and live and being comfortable in their own skins, and that's an argument I've had not only in high school, in my senior year of high school, but then in my early to mid-20s, even up to my late 20s. It's a very real conversation. I mean, there's nothing like, you know, calling or meeting your girlfriend's family wondering if this is gonna be the moment they snap on you saying that you're a bad influence, right? And I absolutely love the way this movie portrayed that and saw that through Sam and Dina. And they I think they did a good job of making Sam likable in spite of that because it'd be so easy to root against her. But worst part of this movie for me, it's it's not I I think it says a lot that this is it for me, but it's Heather, Maya Hawk, on the phone with 911, freaking out, not even thinking to finish the sentence of I'm I'm being attacked. That's it. It's just like I'm at the mall, and 911 operators asking more questions, and then she just leaves the phone when she has so much time to at least finish a sentence to get more response than just the local sheriff.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:25

Man, it's usually me in Paris like really struggling to come up with a worse part or a best part. This is the first time I've felt like Chris really had to dig deep to find this because she really loved this movie.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:37

Yeah, I really did. Yeah, that I mean it's not it's not a big complaint. I love the rest of that scene, but that was the first thing I wrote down where I was like, uh, what are you doing, girl?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:48

I have an easy solve when she's on the phone and she starts speaking, having the killer cut the phone cord, and then she runs away.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:56

I have an easy solve, which is an Apple Watch. She made that call from her watch, she can finish it, let him know where she is and what's going on.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:03

And a time machine, apparently.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:04

Uh, here we go. Fear streak, part four, two thousand twenty-one. I have solutions and nobody dies. It's great.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:11

I can only imagine that as a spoof of the other three where nobody cares because they're like, we just lived through the pandemic. Like, try me, bro. Try me.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:18

Actually, actually, we're gonna see that movie. That's gonna happen. I guarantee you it will be like Sean of the Dead, but you know, post-COVID, and people are like, please, Jason, come kill me. With all that being said, I think this movie, and I'm willing to say the series as a human who's only seen two of the three has rewatch value. This one alone you could rewatch, and I think the whole thing is gonna end up being something to note in our society that came out this summer.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:49

Oh, I'm really excited. After this podcast, I am watching episodes two and three of Ted Lasso with my girlfriend. But right after that, I'm staying up watching 1666. And then I'm gonna re-watch these once I convince her to watch it with me.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:02

So stoked about this series. Yeah, definitely re-watching this again and excited to see part two and part three.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:08

I will say that it has re-watch value, but it mostly has continued the series value. Because I feel like this one was rough for me because it left me wanting more. And I from what I'm hearing from you, that's delivered when you keep going. And and so obviously I need to keep going and watch parts two and and three and see how as a big picture it all shakes out. But it would be interesting to watch this with somebody else in the room and see how they react.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:32

I think continue watching value is so important when it comes to how I rated this movie. It's so much continue watching value. It's hard to even state how much the end of this movie makes you want to keep going.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:46

Well, that's high praise, Ryan, but let's keep things going on this episode with Max Factor Fiction.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:52

Number one, Ryan, Alexis, and I have been within a few miles of Shadyside.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:57

Recently?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:58

Yeah, that depends on your Idea of recent. I'm just gonna say, in general, the three of us have.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:04

I hope it was near where you got married, so this is a fact. Oh my gosh, that's gonna be exactly what it is.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:09

Fact. It's in Ohio.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:10

Yeah, that's a fact. So Shady Side is a real Ohio town, about eight miles away from the resort where I had my wedding reception. However, Ohio wasn't a witch hunting state and wasn't even really settled by Europeans until after the American Revolution. So that whole backstory thing is totally made up and doesn't even make sense historically.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:26

I mean R. L. Stein guy. Good to know.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:29

Number two. The film is set in 1994 and tried to tie back to that time, but oops, it featured several songs from the years after.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:36

Oh, fact. I love the soundtrack to this movie. It seemed like everything I had ever listened to back in the 90s. And I think you're messing with us, so I'm gonna say fact.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:47

Yeah, this is a fact. Only Happy When it Rains came out in 1995. More Human Than Human, 1995. Firestarter by Prodigy, 96. Your Woman by Whitetown, 1997. So they got pretty close to the, you know, to 1994, but they did borrow from the future a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:03

I find that to be so disappointing because it's such a they're trying to do so many specific things with this movie. Why couldn't you stick to music that was legitimate, you know?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:13

Also, do you only listen to music from 2021?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:16

No.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:17

Right. You're gonna listen to music from years past.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:19

Yeah, but it's a movie. I get it. You know, it's not all music being played in the scenes, but I feel like we need to stick to the year.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:26

Number three. The killer's backstories were kept as vague as possible, as to clearly point toward their original film equivalents, without giving too much unnecessary exposition on screen.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:36

I'm gonna go fiction because I feel fewer ties to previous horror films than and evidently anyone else that watched this movie.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:42

I only picked up on a few, but maybe I haven't watched a lot of horror movies, which is ridiculous, but I'm gonna say fiction too.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:49

This one's a fiction. The director said it was so fun creating the killers. I created a page backstory for each of the killers. I wanted to be able to have that for the actors that were playing them, and then also hint at this world that could exist. So they get that backstory, they get to know who the killer is and has been, but if you go through each one of them, they obviously tie back to other horror icons.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:11

It's 2021, everything ties to something.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:14

Well, final question here. The director was absolutely sure that a human head would go through a bread slicer, but the art department disagreed. They purchased a bread slicer and passed a watermelon through it, ultimately proving the director right.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:27

Wait, does a watermelon have anything to do with a human head?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:30

I'm assuming it's close in consistency and strength.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:34

This is a fiction.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:35

There's no way. I'm very torn here. I feel like it really depends on the power and torque behind the bread slicer. I actually was thinking about this after this movie for a significant amount of time, the reality of a head going through a bread slicer. You gotta think about a bread slicer cutting bone. Lots of bone. I think I'm gonna say that it wouldn't, because they're kind of flimsy, you know, serrated knives. That's what I'm going with.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:00

Okay, so this is a fact. The watermelon did indeed pass through, and the director was proven correct. I don't know if an actual human head would go through there because they didn't try that. They didn't have a spare human head lying around, but it worked so well that everybody celebrated right afterwards.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:14

Well, she was a small lady with she's a teenager, so she's not fully formed with her bones.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:19

But also, is this not Mythbusters? Why couldn't we get a pig's head? I need the facts here.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:25

You know, maybe they didn't want to clean that up afterwards. Maybe that's what it was.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:28

Dexter style of room, you know? Like, come on, I really need an answer about bread slicer in a head, just for knowledge, you know?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:36

Okay. So that's gonna be the hackerslash YouTube channel, Mythbusters with Ryan.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:41

And for our listeners, please don't try it and try to find out for us. Don't do it. Just saying, please don't.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:46

Yes. Do not do this at home.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:48

And that's been factor fiction.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:49

Well, there you have it, folks. Fear Street Part 1, 1994, has earned three slashes and one hack. Now we've had a lot to talk about here, but it doesn't end here by any means. We know so many of you out there are excited about this and have your own thoughts on the trilogy. Now we want to know what you think. Keep in mind there are a number of 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 1:10:12

And if you have a girlfriend named Sam, we want to hear from you. You can reach out to our Hacker Slash Hotline. Leave us a voicemail at 757-606-0128, or visit hackerslash.com slash contact to send us an audio message.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:24

Or since we've moved on from AOL Instant Messenger, you can send us an email to feedback at hackerslash.com.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:30

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

SPEAKER_03 1:10:38

We'll see you next time, folks, and remember, it's not your future if you're pretending to be someone else. Bye.