SPEAKER_05 0:04

Did you go back and read through our text messages where I initially texted you about this movie? I did. Because I'm a sociopath.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slunge. If you're joining us again, welcome back. I think I might paint this room red. 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 slosh.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

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 slash enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Hola Muchachos.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Carolyn Krieger Ryan. Haya, and the Scream Queen Paris.

SPEAKER_04 0:50

I survive by belonging nowhere.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

The people have spoken this week, and our patrons have decided we'll be checking out a film that released on Netflix last year. Before we get down to business though, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_04 0:59

So we recently reviewed Friday the 13th, The Final Chapter, which as we know, spoiler alert, is not actually the final chapter. So we asked our listeners what they felt about the movie, and I guess this is a surprise to maybe only me, but 15% gave it a hack and 85% slashed it. I felt like this movie wasn't that well favored within the franchise, and I guess I was wrong.

SPEAKER_05 1:19

Oh yeah, people love this shit. I don't know why. I think that part of it comes from the fact that it just goes so bad after this. I think. And so they just like pity the fourth theoretical final chapter.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

They're a little upset that it got to 3D and then came back to this and they felt really good about it. Plus, Tom Savini came back to the franchise in this movie, and then he goes to Manhattan, he's a hellspawn, he goes to space. Things got weird. We're all here to slash Tom Savini.

SPEAKER_04 1:47

With that being said, we have some comments from our listeners. We have a comment from Daniel on Twitter who said, It's hands down the best Friday the 13th movie in the franchise. The window yeeting is gold. The kills are solid, Jason is terrifying in this, and the characters are really not bad.

SPEAKER_05 2:01

I would like to question if Daniel has watched this since he turned 19, because I think that this movie hits different, and I don't know if everybody rewatches the way we do.

SPEAKER_04 2:10

Honestly, Ryan, there was a lot of comments about the window yeeting.

SPEAKER_05 2:13

The window yeeting was great. The horny teenagers, though, the scales didn't weigh out.

SPEAKER_04 2:18

I mean, it's par for the course with this franchise. We have another comment from Rob on Instagram who said, To me, this movie feels like Jason being dropped into an 80s sex comedy, and I love it.

SPEAKER_05 2:26

Yeah, I guess if you just embrace it, then it's great.

SPEAKER_04 2:29

We have another comment from Thomas on Instagram who said, The final chapter is good, but the best in the franchise is Jason Goes to Hell.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

That's legitimately the worst in the franchise.

SPEAKER_04 2:38

Listen, people like different things about this franchise.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

I don't I want to say that was probably tongue in cheek. So if you're listening to this particular episode in this follow-up, please let me know if that's what you meant. Even I am generous as I am. That movie's trash.

SPEAKER_04 2:52

We require a follow-up to this follow-up, Thomas. Please respond post-haste. Speaking of responses, we need post-haste. A user named Cookie had this to say. Too much to say about this entry in the franchise, and even more to say after listening. And I feel like that's just such a tease, Cookie. We need to hear your thoughts. Please call in.

SPEAKER_05 3:09

What does it mean?

SPEAKER_04 3:10

I know. Is it good? Do you hate it?

SPEAKER_05 3:12

Do you hate us? Because it kind of feels like you hate us.

SPEAKER_04 3:16

We have one final comment from Anthony on Patreon, who said, I've slashed the first two and hacked the third. Hey, me too, Anthony. And as for the fourth, I love the kills, especially the first one with Pervy Coroner, Tina's Slow-mo kill, and also Scuba Jason, who doesn't love Crispin Glover's dance moves, right? Part four has the second and final return of Tom Savini, and it is definitely noticed and felt. He is to special effects, as John Williams is to soundtracks. Speaking of soundtracks, loving that we don't revisit that annoying techno beats of part three. The TV to Jason's head makes me want to scream. Get it? For more Jason, this is for sure a slash.

SPEAKER_05 3:49

Also, I don't love Crispin Glover's dance moves. That's the answer to that question. It was me that hates it. Yeah, yeah, I I feel that. Also, I feel like that TV kill is really an ode to Nightmare on Elm Street, if anything.

SPEAKER_04 4:00

Welcome to Primetime, bitch. Yeah. And that's our follow-up.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Years ago, director Remy Weeks was approached by producers expressing their desire to make a horror film surrounding the immigrant experience and provided him an opportunity to make his pitch. In January 2020, he made his feature debut with a film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and ten months later, the film hit Netflix and showed the world the results of Remy's pitch, his vision of a psychological tale of two people learning how to survive after surviving. The film explores the journey that a husband and wife embark on as they escape war-torn southern Sudan, seek political asylum in the United Kingdom, only to be placed in a home that appears to have evil lurking within its walls. This week, we're talking about his house, and let me tell you, this movie just barely squeaked by with the win when it was pitted against the perfection and the devil's backbone, thanks to your campaigning.

SPEAKER_04 4:49

Ryan and I may have tried to influence the voters and patrons. You did not let us down.

SPEAKER_05 4:53

You did sway the vote indeed, but who has seen this one before? Well, part of the reason I was trying to sway the vote on Patreon is because I have been dying for us to review this movie. And I first saw this just after one of my previous picks had actually been reviewed, which was 13 Ghosts, which was horrible, and I wish I'd never done that. So then I saw his house and I was like, oh my gosh, we have to review this. I know we don't do Netflix movies super frequently on here, and so I I've been dying for us to review this. So I saw when it pretty close to when it came out.

SPEAKER_04 5:26

I too was part of the campaigning for this movie, but for the sole reason that I love Woonmi Musaku. I watched Lovecraft Country last year. I think I gave it a shout-out on our end of year episode. And when I saw a trailer for this, I was like, oh, she's in this. I whatever it is, I'll watch it. And the trailer looked pretty promising.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

You know, I wasn't sure if I had heard anything about the movie because I definitely haven't seen it, but as I saw Matt Smith's face, I realized I saw a trailer for it a a while ago. But I thankfully had forgotten the entire trailer, so I had no idea what was going to happen. But this was definitely my first viewing.

SPEAKER_04 5:56

Wait, Mac, I'm pretty sure the early trailers for this movie kind of painted it in a different light than it actually was. Yeah, and that colored my expectations.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

I can't wait to get into that in a minute.

SPEAKER_05 6:06

See, I never saw a trailer, and I'm actually surprised that you guys did because I just feel like this movie really flew under the radar. Nobody was really talking about this. I think I had one other person in life that I talked about this movie with, and that's part of what makes me so excited about it because I'm just happy to be able to share this and I hope that a bunch of our listeners go watch it.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Yeah, I haven't seen this one before, but all I knew about it was that it was received exceptionally well. And you know, if Ryan receives a movie well and is excited about it, except for 13 ghosts, it's gotta be adequate at best. As long as I'm excited about it, and I've seen it within the past like 10 years. But in the time since this movie came out, I've come to learn quite a bit about it, and I was expecting it to be psychologically harrowing for sure. But what were you folks expecting?

SPEAKER_00 6:51

So let me jump in first here because my expectations were completely weird. I think it's based off of those initial trailers, but I expected like a typical home invasion harassment uh type of movie.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Oh yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 7:02

Totally Mac. The original trailers focused on a few very specific elements that actually didn't play a huge part in this movie, but it made it very much seem like black couple moves into white neighborhood is harassed because racism.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Oh, that's not what I got from the trailer at all. I got like the typical dad in the haunted house, we're gonna force ourselves to stay here situation.

SPEAKER_05 7:23

It sounds like there were maybe like two different trailers that went around. So it's so interesting you could get such a different vibe from it. I didn't watch trailers because you knew you guys know how I feel about trailers. I think trailers really ruin the experience of anything. And so when I watched this, someone told me that it was one of the scariest movies they've seen in a really long time. And I was expecting exactly what you said, Chris. Just like some ghosts, you know, some like creepy people running around when you're like sleeping, you know, you wake up, find out they were really there, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Yeah, there's you know, when you look at the trailers, there's a very big component to this movie that's completely removed from the trailer. So I think it's safe to say that if you see the trailer, you can still go into this with a decent experience. I think you could watch most of the movie and go in and not really know what you're gonna get. For sure. And let me tell you this: like one of the cool things about this show, right, is being able to come to the table when watching a movie like this and think about the vastly different perspectives and experiences that we've all lived through that shape the way that we're gonna watch a movie like this. And then knowing that our listeners have even greater perspective to bring. So I'm really excited to hear what our listeners think about this. But let me tell you, this movie lived up to my expectations in the sense that it was harrowing. There are so many layers to the story, you know, so many nuanced elements of the performances in it. There are layers upon layers of like PTSD mixed with survivor's guilt and the contrast between people fighting their way and taking different approaches to assimilating. And this movie shows two very, very different ends, I think, of the spectrum of healing and survival. And I was I was caught in my feelings a lot. I text Brian like, this movie messed me up emotionally. And it's because there's a very few specific things that are on my mind when I was watching it. One, being the child of a refugee, and my father fled his home, right? The only home he's ever known, uh, in the midst of a revolution where his grandfather was assassinated live on television by a firing squad, and then he was granted political asylum here. Paris, I don't think he knew that. No, I also didn't know that. Intense. Very intense. Yeah. So growing up, right, I would hear stories of like how they adapted to American society. And even then, this is very different from this movie because like American immigration, you United Kingdom immigration seems very different, but they still adapted in a place where like no one spoke their language, they had nothing. They came on a plane with like a passport and the clothes on their back, and that was it, and they had to like rebuild their lives. And then the second, right, is like it's hard not to think about what's currently happening in Afghanistan with you know the incredible number of people who are just risking their lives to flee as the Taliban have regained control. And then the last one is a very obscure one, but it haunted me watching this movie. So in 2010, there was an operation I was involved with in the Navy where I was with Winston Churchill and we encountered a group of Somali and Ethiopian migrants aboard a skiff in the Gulf of Aden. The rest of that story is a little bit spoilery, so I'll share more later. But that was like a huge thing watching this movie, just like took me back to that.

SPEAKER_05 10:12

Yeah, I just want to note that obviously I had seen this movie before we decided to review it, and I knew that Chris hadn't. And so I am very excited for Chris's feelings in this movie because there's a lot to be felt here. I went in not expecting any of this. I mean, I didn't watch the trailer, I had no idea what kind of things I was walking into. And so, one, I'm very thankful that we have lovely Chris on the podcast here to give us some very unique perspectives on things. And at the same time, like I I went in completely blind to this. And I think a lot of my feelings while watching this movie are I can understand what someone else's experience may be, but I don't have a lot of my own personal experiences to apply to this. But I think that's part of what makes me so excited about this movie is I want people to see this because it's so powerful.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

You know, when watching this, I honestly could not take my eyes off of it. It is a very compelling watch. And and that was completely different from my expectations because I thought this was going to be one of those things where again the couple was just harassed or, you know, maybe some evil neighbor or something's like hiding the walls and taunting them. But it was just such a very different story, and you could connect with the characters, and you just I had the experience of just sitting there. I mean, a lot of time it's just sitting there going, like, oh God, no, oh man, oh my gosh, I can't imagine. And you just can't look away.

SPEAKER_04 11:35

I totally agree, Mac. I was very engaged in this movie. My boyfriend and I watched it together last night, and the whole time we were super invested in it. We're like, these characters are really compelling. We felt connected to them, we wanted to see how it would play out. And there were so many twists and turns that it was like I really didn't expect a lot of what happened. But I think something that I was hyper aware of, though, is the allegory and the metaphors that were used in this movie. And sometimes I don't pick up on them at all, but then other times I'm like, oh, this means that, and that means that because they feel this, and oh, and it just really amplified my my watching experience.

SPEAKER_05 12:06

Let me just tell you, when you watch this for a second time, it is insane how intentional every step of this movie feels. The first time you kind of are just like, wait, is that like a is something happening? And like you kind of wonder about things. When you watch it a second time, it is a completely different experience. And I feel like most times re-watching a movie is kind of lame. For me, I've said that so many times. I don't want to re-watch stuff. And something with a story that progresses like this one could very often be that way. But oh my gosh, the things that they hit you with here, it's so good.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Oh, absolutely. And I think because that's so good, this movie is so haunting. I think that's just like a really great word to just summarize the experience that is his house. Oh yeah. And honestly, when looking at this movie, there wasn't much that surprised me about it in terms of like its execution or its quality. I expected it to be good. But what did surprise me is that they didn't just stop at telling a heartbreaking story, right? They included this particular aspect of the story that's absent from the trailers, and it sparks such a guttural reaction and it changes the way you view some of its characters, right? It has you questioning, do I really want a good outcome for this person or not? And I I wouldn't call it a twist specifically because I don't want to overhype something or give you the impression, if you haven't seen it, that you can just like hunt for some kind of plot twist you've seen before. But that point in the story, the like added insight you get into how we got to where we are, that blew my mind.

SPEAKER_05 13:30

Yeah, it's not like a twist, it's just the way the story unfolds. But it's amazing. With that being said, I think for me, there's this huge part of this movie that feels so much like a Jordan Peel movie.

SPEAKER_04 13:43

Toads.

SPEAKER_05 13:44

And it's so surprising for me. It's like something about the suspense that happens here and something about the way the characters are like revealed and everything. It blows my mind to know that it's not from him. And it's in it's such a good thing to say, like, right? Like that's such a compliment. But I I don't know. It's so weird how reminiscent it is for me.

SPEAKER_04 14:02

I totally feel that, Ryan. I feel like the biggest surprise for me, and it was a very pleasant surprise, was that this movie, and it's really because of what I saw in that first trailer, I think this movie was marketed a very different way in the early phases, but I was surprised that this movie was focused on a very black experience, but the antagonist and the the source of conflict had nothing to do with them being black. And in a time when like there's so many movies where it's like, oh, the villain is racism because we all need to look at our own inner racism, which is really important. It was really refreshing to see a story that was like very rich in black culture, but not racist.

SPEAKER_05 14:34

I totally agree. And I wonder if that initial advertising is part of why it flew under the radar so hard. Not that it should have, if it was that type of movie, but this is so different from what you would initially expect.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

And and that's what surprised me is that my expectations were completely wrong. So I don't know if it has to do with just a bad memory of the trailer or advertising, or if maybe they were just misleading. But I I think when watching it, it kind of strikes you that it's just so deep and not like intellectually deep, not like, oh my god, there's a multiverse or something, but emotionally deep, like somebody just like punches you in the chest. That's that's the level of depth that you get. And you're not I don't think you're going into this expecting that. I mean, maybe you are now after hearing us say it.

SPEAKER_05 15:17

You could really go into this movie and just have a kind of normal horror movie experience if you wanted to, if you wanted to be super shallow about things, but if you want to be dense, like they got they got some density here.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Yeah, Ron, I remember you saying how tense this movie felt for you. And I I will never forget the text message you sent talking about how scary you found this movie when you first watched it. Did it still feel that way on the second watch?

SPEAKER_05 15:41

Did you go back and read through our text messages where I initially text you about this movie? I did.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Because I'm a sociopath.

SPEAKER_05 15:47

Yes, I did find this to be maybe slightly less horrifying than the first time, but for me, this is a very scary movie in in like a modern sense. You know, it's not the way we were afraid of the ring in like 2001, whatever year that came out. But it's a different type of horror, and and this movie scares me.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

It it really does show the the horror of humankind, you know, especially during civil and and other war. And that's and that's terrifying. It's it's not something you just shake off or escape from as soon as you turn the movie off. So while it's not, I don't think particularly scary for me, you know, in terms of like jump scares and creatures and that kind of stuff. I mean, you you do get some of that, of course, if you're into that. But I think it's the reality of the world that's that's built in front of your eyes that reminds you this is the world around you in the real life, right? And that part is kind of terrifying because I mean, if you had to put yourself in these people's place, like a civil war in your country, like we can't really imagine that, right? We we have the history books, but we can't imagine your neighbors just like wanting to kill you and your entire family, and then having to survive with like no power and no food and all that kind of stuff, right? So it's it's a weird place to put yourself, and then it's even a weirder place to imagine what would I need to do to survive and to get out and to get to safety. And that's that's a lot for your brain.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

It is, Mac, and watching this movie earlier today inspired me to stop and call my dad, which I don't really talk to my dad very often, but I I've known so much about my family's history and known about like what they went through in Cuba. And I've seen the video of my great-grandfather being assassinated and knowing that my grandfather and all his brothers were arrested and scheduled to be executed as well. But I called him, I'm like, what what was that like for you? Right? Because it's it's there's a lot of stuff that he has shared, and then even more that he hasn't shared that I never really dug very deeply on. And I didn't realize that my grandfather, you know, got out of jail, fled to the US, claimed a political asylum, then had to file paperwork. And it was a year that my dad and my grandma and my aunt stayed in Cuba while there was military occupancy and like all their properties were seized and they lost everything and like barely surviving on a certain amount of pounds of rice and beans every week. And I think the ability that this movie has to awaken those feelings of you and look at the horror of humanity or the lack of humanity in the world, that's just fucking mind-blowing. And this movie does that in such a way while still marrying it with classic horror scares that I even though I wasn't scared by the movie itself, it sparked enough in me to be alarmed.

SPEAKER_04 18:19

I totally feel those deep allegorical fears, but this movie also had some great jump scares.

SPEAKER_05 18:26

It did. And they're they're like not cheap jump scares, you know? They're not just someone, you know, closing the fridge and something's behind the door.

SPEAKER_04 18:33

There's a couple that are almost like back to back, and they got me like three in a row, and I was like, oh bitch, they got me. I was stressed out. It builds tension really well. And there's something about like hearing footsteps like moving around within like a spooky house where I'm just like, oh, where are they?

SPEAKER_01 18:47

And one of the more even alarming things about this is knowing that this is what people go through on a regular basis. People who are forced to flee, people who are forced to leave their home, and they think the risk they take leaving was well worth, you know, not having to face the horrors that they have at home. And one of the incredible things one of the main actors in this movie said was immigrants are people who are often talked about but never really talked to. And I think this movie is so unique in its depiction of the immigrant experience, but also melding that within the genre while not being like a genre film. It doesn't feel like something you could only like if you're into horror.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

That is truly one of the things that makes it really unique. It's not like a story that somebody wrote and that they filmed, and then there's some scares here and there. It it feels like a peek into someone's life, into someone's psyche and not documentary style. Thank goodness. It doesn't feel like that, right? It doesn't feel that flat and objective about it, but it it it feels like an emotional look into these people's existence. And it doesn't feel like other horror movies. It's it's so separate.

SPEAKER_05 19:52

Yeah, I completely agree. I think it feels so real, like you said, a peek into somebody's life. Like these are two people you could meet, you know, in a neighborhood in the UK. And I think one of the biggest things that I appreciate about this movie is that fact alone. It's not just about, oh, this is a good horror movie. That's why I wanted to review it so bad, is because I have this opportunity for us to talk about it, but I just want to talk about this movie because it's so special in the way that it looks into these people's lives. It feels like real people, real decisions, real stress. And it I don't know. It feels very original to me. I've never seen anything like this, even in or out of horror.

SPEAKER_04 20:29

That's so true. You could really meet these people anywhere, and it's so innocuous that it could be something that's happening to somebody that you've walked by a hundred times and you have no idea. I mean, I would hope not. But the thing that really stood out to me about this is that it's giving very like classic dad wants to stay in a haunted house, the rest of the family doesn't want to. But I don't think I've ever seen a movie like this where there's like a haunted house or like a paranormal experience inside of a house where the two characters have such different relationships and different views on the paranormal element.

SPEAKER_05 20:58

Which I think is what is so special because as a person who has been in relationships, I've never reacted to anything the way my partner does. And especially something like a paranormal experience, right? I mean, we kind of get like dad doesn't think it's real and mom sees what's happening. But this experience is completely different and so much more realistic to what two people would do, especially these two people. Like you could see how their character would would act in these situations.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Yeah. And, you know, the leading lady in this film even described her character as someone who doesn't run from fear, she runs to fear. You know what I mean? Like she runs to it and she faces it and she embraces it and uses that to work through things.

SPEAKER_05 21:40

She literally says, Do you think I'd be scared of ghosts? Like, girl. Yeah. No, after the things you've seen in life, no, I don't think you'd be scared of ghosts.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 21:48

So she's a Scorpio.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Is that what that means? It does. Oh, lovely. And we know this about her now.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

Diagnosis complete. There's a an action movie that you probably haven't seen, and it's not actually it's not even an action movie. I'll be honest. It's more It's more of a drama, but it's called You Were Never Really Here and it's got Waquin Phoenix in it. And it's not for everybody because again there's there's some action. It's it's not just complete like murder or anything, but it it does a great job of showing moments of PTSD and showing how it creeps in during this like the silence when the the least amount is going on, how it can take over someone's mind. And this really shows that same kind of effect where it's it's not the moments where there's like a lot going on that are the worst necessarily, but the times when there you know there's silence, there's darkness, there's not a lot going on, and like trauma like creeps up and and just stabs you in the back. What compels me, I think, when watching it though, is is seeing an actual arc for our characters. And that would feel that's what feels very different. I think a lot of movies we just see people suffer. And this one, as it moves towards an ending, they go through hell, but when they come out the other side, you you can feel the growth that's happened. And the ending I thought was one of the best like fitting endings of a movie we've we've ever reviewed.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

Absolutely agreed that this ending is the perfect bow on top of a story like this, and it shows you that things aren't ever really over, but it shows a decidedly different approach to confronting the horrors they face on a regular basis. And I know this movie gets some comparisons to The Baba Duck, but I feel like this has a way stronger ending. I feel like they try to do same the same thing. I feel like they try to leave you with a similar sensation. I think this movie was far more successful in it.

SPEAKER_05 23:28

I think everything that could be tied from that to this is so much stronger in this movie, and especially the ending, the feeling that you have at the end of this movie is unmatched. I will say, as far as the climax goes, it's not my favorite thing. So just before our wrap-up, which is still kind of the end, maybe I'm stretching this question here. But it's there's there's some things that happen at the end of this movie that I don't love, but the ending, the the f the final bow at the end is very special, and like you said, Mac, one of the best endings I think we've ever reviewed.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

I think the climax of this movie is a very high point, and I think the ending feels appropriate, but I wouldn't go as far as to say this is one of the best endings we've ever reviewed. It's definitely a great one, but I don't know, it felt appropriate, but also at that point expected.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Okay, what is the what is a better ending than we've reviewed?

SPEAKER_04 24:20

Susperia remake.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

Okay. Okay, well, I was feeling very confident about where we were gonna stand, but I don't know. Maybe Paris likes to surprise us. Let's go ahead and start making our way to our ratings. But before we score this movie, Paris, what's our body count?

SPEAKER_04 24:34

I'll be honest, I think it's probably a little bit disappointing. It's only two. But let's put an asterisk on it because not everyone makes it to the end.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Well, that sounds ominous, but what about our animal report? This is a clean animal report. Nothing to worry about. Well, delightful. Let's go ahead and start getting into our ratings and his house from 2020 streaming on Netflix. Is it a hacker slash?

SPEAKER_05 24:54

Well, I think I've made it quite clear, honestly, that this is a huge slash for me. This is one of my favorite movies that I have seen in years, I think. This is a movie that I want everyone to watch. I feel so much in this movie that I don't normally feel. I feel things when I have nothing to relate to them, which I think is a really, really, really big step that a movie can take. I think in the realm of horror, it's great. I think in the realm of everything else, it's also great. I adore it. I am so thankful that we get to talk about movies like this on the podcast because these are the things that I feel like enrich lives. You know, movies can be just like random movies. This movie is special. This movie, I hope, opens your perspective of humans in the world. And that's like a cool thing that a movie can do that people made and put on Netflix that you pay $8 a month for.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

So this movie is a gateway drug to being a better person?

SPEAKER_05 25:47

I hope this movie is a gateway drug to being a better person. I'm not sure. Maybe. Maybe those are extra high hopes, right? Maybe I'm a little bit too idealistic, but I think the acting in this movie is incredible. The story in this movie is incredible. I can't wait to keep talking about it. And it's just a gigantic slash from me.

SPEAKER_04 26:04

So going into this movie, I definitely expected one thing, and I'll be honest, I was kind of like, you know, I love Winmi Masaku, and I'm gonna watch it no matter what because she's enchanting. But I don't know if I'm ready to see like another story of like white people being racist because it's tiring. I couldn't imagine how it feels being black seeing these stories over and over again. But this movie really delivered something completely different, and I loved it. It gave you such a unique perspective on a set of characters. It did a lot with a very small cast, we can say that. And what you see them go through is not only like filled with emotional allegory, but also really great classic horror. You have some great gore, you have some great visuals, actually, some incredible visuals. I can't wait to get into that section. But overall, this movie kind of transcends genre and it could be viewed as just a drama, could be viewed as a horror movie. It really is something worth watching, and I totally agree, Ryan. I think this movie makes you a little bit better and a little bit more empathetic to others after watching it. So this is absolutely a slash for me as well.

SPEAKER_05 27:00

Our powers have combined.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

This I think has to be my biggest slash of 2021. The acting is phenomenal, the sets are perfection, the effects are tasteful, intense, and often unsettling. Uh, but the story is gonna grab your heart and squeeze it until it bursts open. If I could recommend only one film that we've reviewed this year, this would be it.

SPEAKER_01 27:21

This is truly everything I dreamt of, and I'm so happy. Honestly, Mac, I would echo those sentiments, but my heart is slightly reserved for Candyman and also Halloween Kills. True. But I think this is the best emotional movie we've seen since The Perfection, and uh none of you were on that episode.

SPEAKER_04 27:37

But also, what about the orphanage? Kind of same energy.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

I think this was way better than the orphanage. I agree. For me, it would be this, the perfection, in a very close tie, but very different worlds, and then the orphanage is like a third place in a distant way. This movie is so impressive because it takes just enough of the horror genre to soften the emotional undercurrents that I can't always tolerate in the movie. My girlfriend's really into sad movies. I can't do that. I prefer to be on like the real nitty-gritty, like, let me sit with you in your sorrow in person, but I don't want to see that fake shit depicted on television. But this is real horror every day in in people's lives, and it is a very different story from that of my family's, but it helps me to align with and recognize my family's history even more. And I think when a movie can haunt you in the way that I think it's haunted me, it's just it's so indicative of superior filmmaking, and I am impressed that this was his feature film debut. It's just incredible. And with that, his house from 2020 is a universal slash for us, but we also have a call from one of our patrons.

SPEAKER_03 28:45

All right. I am calling in from the house to say that this movie was incredible. I definitely want to give it a slash. Um, towards the middle, I feel like they were getting really hacky by actually showing the ghosts. Um, however, I do think that, you know, besides for being a little hack-esque towards the middle, it was incredible. Like literally, you can put a toe tag on it. I give it a slash. It's incredible. The storyline like twists on you. It's that's it. Oh my god. Thank you guys for taking and picking my call.

SPEAKER_05 29:17

So that call comes to us from Dwight, and I would just like to note I don't accept his part where he said it was a little hacky in the middle. Okay. I'm not aligned with that, but I do appreciate that he got this in our queue.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

Absolutely, Dwight. Thank you so much for making this happen. And I think one of the other things to acknowledge from this call is you know, he says that the middle part gets a little bit hacky, and I can understand the sentiment of being able to see too much and losing less to the imagination, if that makes sense. But for me, this stuck a or struck a really good balance. So thank you so much for calling in, Dwight. Even your rating keeps us at a universal slash for his house 2029. You can find this movie still available on Netflix. Go check it out, then join us in the second half so we can unpack the spooks together. See you in a bit.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

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SPEAKER_01 30:53

Welcome back, folks. You are now entering the spoiler zone for his house, which is earned a universal slash. And we have a lot to unpack here. There are certainly many emotions that will come out through this episode, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, Ryan, what's our gore score?

SPEAKER_05 31:06

So unfortunately, with Noah Lexis tonight, I'm here trying to fill the shoes of the gore lover. And this movie doesn't have a ton of gore. I consider this a low rating on our scale. However, there are some moments, like when there is gore, it's like a little grody, you know? It gets a little intense. Yeah. With that being said, the kills in this movie are heart-wrenching, to say the absolute least. So I don't think this is really the time where we want to talk about our favorite kills.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

Absolutely. I think there's only one kill in this movie that you could not feel bad about. And obviously it's just a witch, but there's so much death in this movie that is just heartbreaking and devastating in the screams of like asking for help or calling for someone's mom. Ugh, it's it's so, so painful.

SPEAKER_05 31:56

Yeah, so instead of talking about our favorite kills, I do have just a few notes about special effects. I think one of the things that is really lovely about this movie is how limited their use of CGI was. So I think there's a couple of obvious scenes where we know we get some CGI, like a lot of the ocean scenes, you know, especially like obviously the room floating in the ocean, stuff like that. There is a good amount of CGI used there. But other than that, they mostly tried to use practical effects. And I think there's a couple of moments where I don't love the effects of this movie, but overall you can tell that a lot of it is practical. And I think that's one of the things that gives this movie the richness that it has, where it feels realistic. It feels like people in your walls, you know?

SPEAKER_00 32:37

Totally agreed. I think even when you look at the very limited gore, it hurts you to watch it. Whereas in a lot of other horror movies, it's something where you're like, oh, come on, make it juicier, make it bloodier. I think everything that happens here that looks painful, you feel. It's like grinding your teeth, you know, it's just it's a lot. And when we when we get to some of the other effects, like even the makeup on these, I guess you could call them zombies, but they're they're they're not really. They're they're the ghosts of a fallen people, really. And and like when you see them, yeah, sure, initially you're supposed to be kind of scared because they're spooky. But really, I think when you start looking at them enough, you just feel like the pain of their death. And so it's just done so tastefully. Every time we get a special effect, you know, I mean, the transitions are are really amazing, and that might have to do with a lot with editing, but the few times where you get that like transition into a CGI scene, you don't feel like, oh, let's go into a CGI scene. You feel like I'm in the mind of this person who is trapped in this moment in time.

SPEAKER_05 33:34

Yeah, I totally agree. And I have just two other like little effects things that I think matter a lot to me in this movie. One of them is a very underrated part of filmmaking, but it is how lived in these characters feel. Like just the the wear to their clothes and their shoes, and like even buying new clothes, but then you know, wearing them over and over and over so they're, you know, worn and they look smelly in a way. You know, there's certain scenes where that that's talked about. That stuff is so special in this movie, I think. And the other thing that I thought was really cute from notes about the effects and everything is that they had a bug minder, as in a person literally keeping track of all the bugs on set and making sure none of them got hurt or missing or anything like that, which is adorable in a movie like this. Not that I would say bugs weren't even that big of a deal. Like, you know, maybe just leave some pizza out, let some real bugs show up and film them. But no, that's not how they do things around here.

SPEAKER_04 34:28

Honestly, the bugs had a hard out at eight o'clock, and that was met. I also love that we've gotten to a place in 2021 where bugs are cared for, whereas back in just the 80s and 70s, humans were not cared for in such a way.

SPEAKER_05 34:41

We love to see the growth, really. Accurate. With that being said, my favorite visual element in this movie is real simple, and it is the lighting. And that will actually tie to my favorite scene later, but the way lighting is used in this movie to convey mood, to convey very obvious like times of day and and time change and stuff like that. It's so good. I just feel like uh this movie is so attractive.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

Oh yeah, I would 100% agree with you there. I had a really tough time trying to pick out a singular favorite visual. Obviously, the house's decrepit as it is, is really unique and the way they use the walls. And look, so I'm living in a house where we got some critters and we got some iguanas crawling around on the roof, and I'm hearing things go bump in the night. And you know, I can I can relate to that, but I think what this movie does for me is really stand out in terms of its framing. So every single shot, right, even if it's just looking at these ghouls peering through the wall, the way these certain very, very intentional shapes are cut into the wall and the way that you can see through them, or you're looking from the perspective of being behind the wall, looking at ball, or looking at the shadows moving in the background, it's just so fucking incredible.

SPEAKER_05 35:55

One of those scenes for me is in the ending where they have these shots with this bright lighting that makes them both look like, hi, we're happy homeowners. And it's they're saying, We're we're good, you know, we're gonna be okay. We just had to get to know ourselves a little better. The framing of those shots, it would make such a difference if they didn't frame it the way that they did, because it really conveys this like everything will be okay message.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

I'm gonna go back to something Chris said, and my my favorite thing visually is the set or sets, you know, plural, because you know, the house itself just feels really gritty and grimy. And I think if you walked into that set, you would think like this thing is haunted, right? Like you would feel skeeved out, even if you knew that it was all just made up for the film. But when we get those flashback scenes where we see them in their homeland and you see them living their life before, and you see all the people struggling, like everything's just so visceral. It it it truly feels like you're there in that moment. And I mean, I don't know exactly how they scouted, you know, their locations, but every time we get to one of those scenes, I like fear for them. I just like fear for their survival.

SPEAKER_05 37:01

It's so stressful.

SPEAKER_04 37:02

Honestly, most of this movie is very stressful, but some of it is also very beautiful, and that's why it was so hard to pick a favorite visual element. But when the scene came where Ball was once again alone at sea, and he's looking at his daughter, quote unquote, and you see just these arms pulling his arms back so he can't reach out to her, and then you see these other arms forcing his head to look at her when he tries to turn away. That to me was like such a beautiful visual, and also just like so haunting because these arms are like disembodied, you don't know where they're coming from, but it's so simple and minimal, but it really makes a big impact. And then seeing the daughter with the octopus coming out of her mouth, which was just such a really striking visual for me. I was like, ooh, okay, there's my favorite visual. Easy.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Yeah, and when I was re-watching just a YouTube video of them going over the effects of the movie, like they layer in like what was the footage and then what was composited over it. You notice that one of the hands that's grabbing him is also bandaged. So it's like it's him, it's himself. Oh yeah. It's and I didn't pick that up the first time because I thought, oh, clearly this is the witch forcing him to confront himself. But no, this is him forcing himself in his own psyche to confront himself, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

I think immediately following that is pretty powerful because you know, he doesn't just leave that dream and go back to normal life. He's catatonic right afterwards, to the point of him just sitting there, eyes wide open, having pissed himself. And it's I think it's really powerful for that to follow it because it's not just like, oh, I had another bad dream. He can't leave that state. And while I love that scene for just how real it feels, it's it's not necessarily my favorite scene of the movie. There's so many good scenes in this movie. I mean, one of them that comes to mind is Ball going to shop for new clothing, and there's so many small details in there that make it amazing. But I think that the thing that struck me the most was the flashback scene that reveals that the couple never had the daughter. Like the set in that scene is so gorgeous, but the transitions they do are amazing, like falling out of the window, boom, right into the past, and that's amazing. Um, but I think like using this opportunity to tie in, you know, this truth that we didn't realize, the horror, the terror, the grief that she's feeling, the guilt she's feeling. It was an amazing vehicle to get us to Catharsis. And I didn't expect it like one bit, but even the twist like wasn't the most impactful part of the scene. I think it was the history that went down and seeing the stuff that she went through and like how she's dealing with it and how she feels about these people. Like it was immediate joy to see this big group of women like embracing her, and she like feels so welcomed. And then because of that like safe place that she's in with them, then she's finally able to like break down and like you know, chomp at the past and put it into chewable bites and realize what's been going on.

SPEAKER_04 39:37

I totally love that, Mac, because that scene really gives you a feeling for where these characters came from. But my favorite scene is one that I feel like really encapsulates where they are during this story, and that's actually the dinner scene where Wunmi Musaku's character has created this like really great dinner for them and they're eating on the floor, and she's eating with her hands, which is what they're accustomed to, and her husband comes in and he gives her the fork and knife, and she's kind of like, All I can taste is the metal. And for me, that really gave you an idea of where their meant where their minds were at because he is very much trying to just move forward and trying to assimilate and not look back. And she's very much refusing to look forward, and she's like, We need to hold on to the old things. And that dynamic and how they processed the trauma of what they went through together was so powerful throughout this movie.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

There's a huge disparity there. And even just a little, you know, before he even gets her the silverware, it's like the little like microaggression of next time we'll use the table.

SPEAKER_05 40:32

Yeah, watching it a second time, already knowing what the twist is gonna be. It gave me a second to be able to like assess these things a little bit more, right? That part was really interesting to me because there are kind of two ways that I have heard of people being in a different place approach things, right? It's either the idea of trying to assimilate and be like people where you are, or clinging really intensely to what you know and who you are, right? And I wouldn't say that one is the right or wrong way to go, but it's just so interesting, like little things like that in this movie, that's what makes it so rich because those two people will exist and those two people will react to the same situation differently. And one wants to use a fork and one doesn't. And that's like the humanity of it all, you know? And I'm actually just gonna run it right back to where Mac was for my favorite scene. It is that moment where we get a transition, and it is like to me the biggest transition between reality and the past. And it's where Ryal is with these people that she loves, and you're like, oh my God, like, did she find a sanctuary of people that you know she either recognizes or recognizes as people who will know her, know her history? And then it takes us into this gut-wrenching story. And the first time I watched this movie, I was like relaxed, chilling on a couch. I sat up, my mouth was hanging open. Oh, yeah. Because when you first realize that this isn't her daughter, that like they just snatched her up and and just used her for survival. I think that whole moment where you get thrown into that reality is so different from where you are, and it completely changes the story for me. That is like my piece that is a stance. Okay. That is the the part of this movie that made me realize, like, oh, this is one of the best movies I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_04 42:16

It's so powerful.

SPEAKER_01 42:17

It really is. And I think that scene in conjunction with Ball having to confront himself made for my two favorite scenes in here. And it's really crazy to look at this situation and look at these characters that you've been feeling for this entire time. And then you can't help but feel a little bit of resentment in your heart for Ball having, you know, done this thing to save his own skin, but also save his wife. But to take this little girl who is screaming from her mother and her mother is chasing the bus, because not only is she facing death, she's now facing the separation between her and her child. And you can only hope, right? She can only hope that maybe, you know, knowing that she's on that bus and knowing that she may be safe, just to know that her daughter ends up drowning, it's heartbreaking. And that's part of what makes this movie so horrific. And earlier I was talking about one of the things that like was on my mind watching this movie, and it really came up in the scene with Ball and the Night Witch, and he's confronting it and seeing his quote unquote daughter, and you don't realize it's not his daughter yet, but he has this guilt. And it made me think about that moment where you know he was sitting down at dinner with her and said they can start a family, and she looked at him with such pain in her eyes, and it's like, Oh, are you trying to just forget that you had a daughter? He's like, let the let it slip.

SPEAKER_05 43:31

The second time you watch this and you know it is insane because the first time you're just kind of like, Why do they is that just pain of losing her, or is there something else? You're kind of just wondering. The second time, everything is just like, Oh my gosh, it's so clear in their eyes. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 43:48

Incredible performances. And in that flashback scene, when we see what happens with that skiff and the motor going out and people in the water, and and people drowning, and her drowning, and calling for. Her mom and balls trying to save Riyal. It reminded me of the situation we were in where we're aboard the Churchill, we're trying to provide aid to like a skiff of like 60 some odd migrants, um, most of whom were Ethiopians, some of them were Somali, and you know, they got closer in the rib boat to deliver this like food and supplies, and they all rushed to one side of the boat and it capsized and they all went in the water. And most of them were rescued, but 13 of them drowned. And part of my job in the Navy was as a mass communications specialist. So, like you do broadcast journalism, print journalism, photojournalism, etc. But you're also a historian and you have to photograph that. So you have to photograph like investigation photos, crime scene photos, etc. And I'll never forget what it's like to like looking at the body of someone who's drowned and then thinking about like those chaotic last moments, right? And just like thinking about what the people in this story went through drowning in the water. You know, you don't think about it that much like in the 90s when Titanic came out, right? It feels very different because that was like a freak accident with a luxury cruise ship. This is a group of people who were running for their lives and trying to find a different option. And that's what really hit me in this movie because this movie wasn't just a group of adults. This is children. Like you see a child drown on screen, and that is just fucking heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_05 45:20

Yeah, again, one of these things that this movie kind of makes you realize is it's not just like at first you're watching this and you don't realize they lost a kid, right? You just think there's just the trauma of seeing people that you were with not make it as far as you've made it, right? At the very base level, this movie could just be about the guilt of surviving. It could just be that. But then it goes so much deeper with the daughter and everything like that. And it's there's just so many aspects emotionally to this movie that I hope everyone just like pays attention to because we don't all have these experiences, but these things are very real and it sucks. This makes you feel bad about humanity, but we can be better humans. That's like the the one saving grace, you know, you can you can make a change in the world. But it's tough watching this. It's not always, oh, hey, this is a great horror movie.

SPEAKER_00 46:08

And I think that's what makes the ending so powerful is that moment we get with the recognition of the guilt. And like, you know, the idea that you could do this and the witch would like take you back in time or undo something, right? Where it's like, I have to do this, and this time I'm gonna try to, I'm gonna try to save her. I should have done more. And it's like you could feel the pain because you know watching it that like there's nothing you can do at this point. You guys have to accept what happened, but he's he's like doing this last stitch effort to to try to make everything better and realizing at the same time that like I should have just done more.

SPEAKER_01 46:38

And there's that complexity, right? Because it's not just guilt that you're the one who made it, and in comparison to all those others who who've tried and failed and didn't make it, it's also knowing that you were responsible for that life and you abducted that girl to be able to travel. And when faced with this opportunity, you saved your wife. Obviously, you love your wife, you want to save your wife, but this girl was so far away and drowning and and real wanted to protect her. She had promised to protect her and they couldn't.

SPEAKER_04 47:07

And also it's like 100% his fault, which is so hard to deal with.

SPEAKER_05 47:11

Right. She wasn't a part of it, like taking her at all, right? And then she wasn't able to be the person saving her either. Yeah. It I mean, definitely his fault. And there's still a partnership when we meet them in this movie, which I think is kind of surprising because sometimes things like this could be a big could cause a little bit of a riff, you know? That's a that's a big deal, a big change to make in the relationship.

SPEAKER_04 47:32

I think you're totally right, Ryan. There's a rift that sort of manifests itself in almost like little microaggressions. I think one pair of scenes where we really see these characters and where they're at is the first scene where we have Ball and he's in like the English pub with all the guys and they're all singing this very like English song, and he comes home and he's like, Oh, I had this really great moment. It was really like good for me. And she was like, That sounds like a really stupid song. And it kind of lets you know like he's very much diving headfirst into the the situation they're in now without processing obviously the the pain of the say their situation. And then at the end of the movie, we have a scene where she goes into a a room full of women that she knows and they're all singing, and there's so much joy there for her. And that's also where we have that reveal of that super painful moment that she finally has to confront because she's been clinging to where they came from, resisting where they are now because she hasn't been able to get over how they got there.

SPEAKER_05 48:27

Yeah, it's very much like he's trying to hide it. She has to embrace it. Also, like the difference between him, his first trip out, and then when she takes her trip out and like just trying to get directions, you know, like as a woman myself that isn't in a foreign place, I feel stressed walking down a street to take a left and not really knowing where I'm going. So God only knows what it would feel like to be someone in a place that speaks a different language and and lives a completely different way.

SPEAKER_01 48:52

And you're seeking aid from the one group of people you've encountered who look like you. Right. And then they're horrible. And you're looking for that sense of familiarity. And I think that reminds me of, you know, even this this adjustment to moving back to South Florida. Obviously, you grew up in South Florida, you're in a very culturally diverse area, and I then moved to like North Carolina and Texas, and then I left home and spent my like 11 years in Virginia, and I lost a lot of my Spanish, and I came back to work down here, and then like everybody just walks up to me, assuming me, assuming I speak Spanish. And then at first it's like, okay, well, I I don't, so let me see how I can help you, but you know, it it's just like this struggle of like realizing, no, like this person is just looking for safety and familiarity.

SPEAKER_05 49:32

Yes, but also truly, nothing will make you feel worse about yourself than speaking one language in South Florida.

SPEAKER_04 49:38

Or approaching a group of teenage boys for anything.

SPEAKER_01 49:41

Yeah, that's true. Also, it is wild though, looking at the relationship between them and looking at how much love is there despite all that pain. I think one of the really big things that stood out to me, it reminded me a lot of my parents. And it's it's my dad, I'll never forget this. We're in Puerto Rico for a summer. We used to like spend our summers there in like my grandparents' house. Uh, my father's from Cuba, my mom's from Puerto Rico. And my dad was like driving in this car, and he was on the phone with his very like Caucasian co-workers, and he was like, Oh yeah, I'm in uh I'm in Ponce. And the city's name is Ponce. And I'm like, why the fuck did you say Ponce? Right. It was like this really weird thing. My mom clowned him for it forever. But my dad, again, right, like thinking about his experience coming to America as a refugee versus my mom already being an American citizen, having it tough because she didn't speak English, but they moved into a housing area and they had money and they weren't rich by any means, but like they got their way by versus my dad having to be processed into the country of the Liberty Tower, being given very like specific rations of things and then coming with literally nothing. It was really interesting to even see this reflection in my own parents in a completely different situation. Like that the way you adapt is so different. And like that complexity of these characters is part of what makes this movie so amazing.

SPEAKER_05 50:57

Yeah, the characters that we get here make me want so much more from these actors and these writers and maybe these producers, I don't know. I think for this to be generally a group of people I don't know, it's like exciting for the future of movies because these characters are amazing. Even to like the white guy at the agency, right? Mark, he's a very realistic, hey, are you good? Because you don't really seem good, but if you're not good, I'm gonna have to report it to people. So, like, can you be good? Like, you know, not that he was necessarily an a great person, but he was playing a role. He's playing a role of somebody who doesn't want to be doing this job and doesn't want to do what he has to do, but also at the same time, like has to look after these homes and stuff like that. I just think every element of these characters was so well thought out that it blows me away that we don't have more movies like this.

SPEAKER_04 51:44

Yes. You know a movie is good when Ryan has hope for the future of film after watching it. But Mac, that white guy, was he one of the Doctor Who's?

SPEAKER_00 51:53

Yeah, he was. That's uh Ah, okay, I knew it. Yeah. So he's not the not the latest, not the second latest, but the third latest Doctor Who. He came right after David Tennant.

SPEAKER_04 52:03

Okay, I think that is the only period of Doctor Who time that I am vaguely familiar with.

SPEAKER_00 52:07

No, but good points there when it comes to these background characters. You know, if if I think if you go through some of them, obviously, you know, Mark as a character is is pretty interesting, and you and you kind of you don't you don't hate the guy, right? But some of the other characters and the way that they interact with this couple, you truly have a distaste for them. And they either have complete ambivalence towards them, or they distrust them, or they think lowly of them, or like, you know, the guy in the background of the store watching him as he comes in, right? It's just a small thing, and they don't point it out and they don't make a big deal out of it, but really shows that they're not only in an alien environment, but they're in an environment where people are like constantly thinking down on them, right? So they just think, you know, it doesn't necessarily think like they're not showing us thinking bad things about them or like assuming anything about them. They're just kind of like, ugh, are you one of those refugees?

SPEAKER_05 52:58

Yeah, and again, unfortunately, the lame part about it is it feels so real. Like this movie just makes me want to go be kind to people.

SPEAKER_00 53:05

Yeah, because I mean there's just a an immediate sense of condescension from everyone they interact with.

SPEAKER_01 53:10

Yeah. Yeah, and it was really interesting to hear Remy Week's perspective when he was like researching the immigration process into the UK and like the really draconian rules that they have in place that people have to adapt to. You know, how do you live off a hundred US dollars a week? Oh my gosh. And you can't get a job or supplement your income. Like, what do you mean?

SPEAKER_04 53:29

Or move.

SPEAKER_01 53:30

And then they were saying, right, like, you're only considered a good immigrant if you make people feel comfortable. If you eat the way that your country eats, if you dress the way that your country dresses, etc. If you strip yourself of your culture and your heritage and just assimilate as fast as possible to the environment you're put in.

SPEAKER_05 53:49

I would just like to say for myself, I don't want anyone to assimilate around me. I want everyone to be their own person.

SPEAKER_00 53:55

You know, it is interesting because there are immigrants who actively want to assimilate, right? And not just to fit in, but they look to, let's let's use America as an example. They they think like coming to America, they cannot wait to eat hamburgers and eat hot dogs and have barbecues and have the flag on the porch and wear the khakis and the button-downs or whatever it is. Like that's their goal, right? But even then, I you know, you have to question like, what is it about that that you want? Is it the feeling of splendor? Is it the feeling of like being part of this, you know, this this new fresh thing? But I don't think that's every immigrant. I think a lot of immigrants, like, they want a better life, but that doesn't mean leaving behind who you've been and and and your family and your culture. And you can tell here, like, that they are torn between the two. They are torn between, like, we need to adapt to being here, but at the same time, like, that doesn't mean you need to leave behind the language that your mother spoke. And I I love that part.

SPEAKER_05 54:48

Yes, I totally agree. And speaking of not leaving things behind, the ending of this movie is the best part for me. The very, very end where we see the images of the people that they have known with them in their home, right? After the little inspection, and you know, they shouldn't be using a barbecue or whatever silly things they say. For me, this ending addresses the guilt that they feel in this in a way that I am not prepared to deal with as a human because I've never had to survive something like this. So they carry this guilt and then learn to accept it, learn to understand that just because they survived, it's okay for them to be there. And it's not a negative thing that they survived, but that they carry the people who couldn't survive with them. They carry them to this new place, they carry them to this safe place, this place where they can thrive and build a life one day and everything like that. For me, it's not even about the visuals of the ending or anything like that. It's just the emotion of it, which I'm so not the like, hi, I'm here to feel emotions on this podcast person, Chris. Hi. But for me, with everything you feel in this, just to have that moment at the end, like, we're not perfect. We just had to address ourselves, we have to look in the mirror, realize who we are, and understand that like it's okay we survived, and it's okay we made mistakes, we can still be good people and still go somewhere in the world. It does something for me that I'm not okay with. Honestly, I don't like the feelings. I want less feelings, but it's a great, great ending. That's my best part.

SPEAKER_04 56:15

Honestly, Ryan, that was so beautiful that I can forgive you for not choosing a worst part of the movie, which is what you are required to do since you slashed it.

SPEAKER_05 56:21

That's right. I didn't even consider that. I just wanted to talk about the best part.

SPEAKER_01 56:25

Paris is a stickler for the rules, and I love it.

SPEAKER_04 56:28

Listen, I had to really scrape for this one, but the worst part of the movie for me actually was mentioned by our caller earlier. The couple moments towards the middle where we see a lot of the ghosts in scenes that we had previously been very like little peaks of ghosts, which was the scary part to me. You see a lot of the daughter, but she's in this mask and she keeps disappearing in the shadows. There's a couple scenes in the middle where you see like a room full of ghosts and they're all there and the lighting is very bright. And that's where sort of the CGI was kind of weak for me because it felt almost like Pirates of the Caribbean. It was like these are like CGI sea monster zombie characters, and I was kind of like, okay, if I'm looking at them this close, they're not as scary to me anymore. But it also kind of signified a tonal shift in the movie that was like these aren't necessarily something to be afraid of. There's something more sinister at play here. I think that could have been handled a little bit better. So for me, that's gonna be the worst part because there aren't that many.

SPEAKER_05 57:20

Okay, so I'll fix my answer. And mine's kind of similar. Mine's actually seeing the witch. That's actually the worst part for me. The first time I watched it in this time, I really did not like the part where we see the witch like coming out of the ground and attacking him. Now reaching your hand through my skin, kind of exciting. But I I I felt like that moment, even though I think it was heavily practical in its effects, something about like the glowing eyes and that it didn't work for me. It took away from how I felt about the horror of everything, I think, all the way through. I really liked seeing the really creepy kids and everybody running around and like, you know, the lights on, lights off thing. But what I see is like the climax, that fight with the witch. I actually hated that. Like if I could take that out, I'd take it out. But obviously it's necessary.

SPEAKER_01 58:08

Well, thank you for seeing my worst part of the movie. I appreciate that. I'm sorry, and I love you.

SPEAKER_05 58:13

I tried to say the best part and then I got called out.

SPEAKER_01 58:15

Yeah, I should not have let you correct the record just yet. The aesthetic of the witch is absolutely the worst. I actually love killing the witch, though. Agreed. And here's why it's the worst for me, Paris. The second I saw it, if I if I saw this movie on its own, I had never seen any other recent horror movie, I'd be like, okay, yeah, that looks dope. It's cool. In my head, I could only think of scary stories to tell in the dark. As if that one naked creature lost all the weight. Okay, yes.

SPEAKER_05 58:40

And also, why was he naked? Why did we have to see the nudity?

SPEAKER_04 58:44

I feel like it was a very specific choice that was made for the main antagonist of the film to look like a gross old British white guy.

SPEAKER_01 58:54

Am I saying that intent is bad? Absolutely not. Am I saying the loose, saggy stomach is? Yeah. I'm also saying that. There was like a little, like, not crotch but kind of crotch situation. Gross. But the person who plays the witch, Javier Patet, we've seen a lot of his work. He was in Mama. He was in a a ton of other horror films that we reviewed on this, and he's just like this really tall, lanky guy. He did that role really well. I just wish the CGI they added on top of that actor was a little bit different. However, since Ryan has covered that very well, I'm gonna say the worst part of this movie for me, aside from, and this isn't like a really big criticism, it was a necessary part of the movie, but emotionally the worst part for me was when Ball is burning all their belongings and he confronts her to try to take the daughter's necklace, and then she's just like, don't leave me with nothing, and he does anyway. That fucking broke me.

SPEAKER_05 59:51

There is a line that goes through this movie that kind of has to do with submission, and like that's a moment of it, and I'm not fully prepared to address it, but it's intense for her to just be left with nothing. And it's not the only time she's left with nothing without her choice.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:07

Yeah, but one of the things that I really found interesting is the actor who plays ball, and I'll link this interview in the show notes for our listeners. He was talking about how he played this actor with the with this really interesting perspective of like, what does masculinity look like now in modern day? And how do we not be toxic? But then he was saying, like, you know, reading this character and thinking about his African heritage, does he want to be the strong man who provides for his family? And he said he played him very much like that. But had he had the wherewithal to be vulnerable and to have a conversation with his wife about what he was feeling and seeing, the movie would have been a lot shorter. But it's that, it's it's moments like that with the burning of the belongings at the fire that play into this like inherent masculine like, I have to be the man, I have to protect, I have to provide, I have to keep us moving forward. That it adds a lot of emotional weight to the film, causes a lot of problems in the film. But I'm really glad that he played it in the way that he did.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:03

Well, there's also so many scenes where he doesn't talk about what he's feeling, you know. She brings up a couple of things, but most of this is them not talking about stuff. They don't talk about the daughter, they don't talk about what happened, they don't talk about his decision to grab her.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:16

Yeah. In the very beginning of the movie, he has a nightmare. She asked him what he dreamt about. He said, the day we got married. And she's like, Well, if that explains the screaming.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:23

Yeah. I think it's I think he played it so well because it is such a classic, like, male role to, you know, maybe be trying to protect, but maybe not be doing the right thing every time.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:34

Well, first of all, the worst part of the movie was definitely the way the witch looked, and you both stole that from me. So I think just great minds think alike. There's no theft here. It's just it's that's okay. But it's hard for me to to look at this film and and pick something that I wish it didn't have. Like I love the balance that it had with everything in there. Because even the stuff that you like don't want to see, because it's just like, ugh, it it adds something to it. There's nothing that I that I would like to take away, right? The only I I'll get really nitpicky and I'll say the only thing that I'll I'll call the worst part was falling asleep with a candle lit in the middle of the room because the tension there for me was, oh my god, are they gonna burn the house down? Like what happens while you're sleeping, you accidentally kick it over and it lights something on fire.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:13

And literally they're like introduced into this home and they're like, we have a few rules. One of them is no candles, and every single night there were like several candles.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:21

I saw that as Ryal taking a little bit of her power back and just being very deliberately non-compliant.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:27

They also asked him to like take great care of things, and then he took a, you know, set of tools to the wall. So there's that.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:34

It's true. I am nothing if not a stickler for the rules. I guess I could also complain that I love the character of Rial so much, and I wish there was more from Ryal's perspective. Now I know that we we do get a pretty good balance between the two, but I think most of it is is from Ball's perspective.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:49

Yeah, that's very true.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:51

Mac, have you watched Lovecraft Country?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:53

I have not. You know, when it when it came out, I was I was really interested. When I found out that it wasn't gonna continue, though, it really soured things for me.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:00

Don't let it, because the season finale leaves you with everything you need, and you don't need another season. It's very sci-fi, which I know you'll love, and Win Mi Musaku gives you so much more performance in it. Her character really steals the show, even though she's not like the main protagonist or one of the main protagonists, but I think you would absolutely love it. And if you want more, at least from that actress, maybe not necessarily the same character you get in here, absolutely check that out. It also has some of the best score I've seen of 2020.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:27

Now I know you're you guys aren't Marvel fans, but she also is in the Marvel TV show Loki, and you know, a small bit, not like a super major role, but a fairly like major secondary role, and definitely loved every moment I got of that.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:40

Wait, that's so good. She needs to be in the MCU. This is great. This is a great time for Winwee Masako.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:46

I'm here to support it. And I'm also here to support literally every single person watching this movie for a second time because it's so different. It's so special. I have nothing if not a broken record at this point.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:59

Absolutely. I fully endorse it. I've already told my girlfriend that she's gonna love this movie and I'm gonna watch it with her. And let me tell you, just that going back to that conversation he has with the night witch, and the witch is telling him, Your life is not yours, you stole it, repay what you owe, you are the beast, I'm the butcher, no matter where you go, I follow your mind. Just the weight of that and looking at this whole movie just with that quote and those sentences, just like re-going back and back and forth in your mind. I cannot wait to watch this a second time.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:28

I mean, listen, it's literally his house. That being said, I will probably watch this movie again eventually. I don't know that I'm in a rush to see it again because it is an emotional journey, but my boyfriend and I really enjoyed it, so this will definitely be something that we are open to seeing. I w I would definitely watch this again with somebody.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:44

I I think having seen it the first time and my wife and I watched it together, and it was, I think, powerful for both of us. But I think if there was another opportunity to watch it with somebody else, having already seen it, it would make things even better because it would get to see them kind of go through the roller coaster, and then you would get to spend the time like looking for all the little details you missed.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:02

That's exactly right. Well, I can't wait to hear how this movie lasts when we do our end of year recap. I am so sure that we're all still gonna love it and no one will be rehashing these slashes. But folks, in lieu of fact or fiction tonight, obviously this movie is a really heavy one. It's it's one that we hope, you know, as Ryan said earlier, is a gateway for you to explore humanity a little bit more. So we'd like to encourage you to just do a little bit of research on your own, right? Think about, you know, the state of the world right now. Think about all those who are suffering and looking to, you know, immigrate to another country or seek political asylum in hopes of bettering their own lives. And we want to hear what you find out, we want to hear what you learned. This movie, I think, is going to be one of those to really open up a lot of eyes and open up a lot of minds. But for now, his house has earned a universal slash. Thanks to our patrons for sharing this and recommending this. We've had a lot to talk about here, but the conversation doesn't end here. This movie is much too good for the conversation to stop there, so keep in mind they're a number. Ways you can reach out to us, starting with our website, hackerslash.com, or our social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:07

And if you are ready to go out and evangelize this movie the way that I have, we really want to hear from you. You can reach out to our Hacker Slash Hotline by leaving us a voicemail at 757-606-0128 or visit hacker slash.com slash contact to send us an audio message.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:22

Or if you just want to tell Ryan how right she is and make her feel really good, you can send us an email at the feedback at hackerslash.com.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:29

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

SPEAKER_01 1:06:37

We'll see you next time, folks. And remember, your ghosts follow you. They never leave, they live with you.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:43

Bye.