SPEAKER_00 0:04

Yeah, so that's the only ghost I believe in is the Holy Ghost.

SPEAKER_06 0:07

That's a different thing, baby.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

So you get to pick and choose which ghosts.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to the spooky season on Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. Wanna play a game of hide and clap? If you're new around here, 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. Unintended.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

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

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Hola, muchachos.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

The gore lover Alexis. Happy October, everyone. The cowardly creeper Ryan. Sometimes when you get haunted, it's like stepping on gum. And the scream Queen Paris.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

So hateful.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

To kick off October this week, we're looking back in a 2013 supernatural film that spawned an entire cinematic universe and is also heralded as one of the scariest films of all time. Before we get to what we've conjured up though, we have some announcements about what we've got brewing this month.

SPEAKER_06 1:16

Yes, for the first time ever, we're holding a month-long event to expand our Patreon family, and we're calling it the New Blood Drive.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Ooh lala.

SPEAKER_06 1:24

So this will consist of a few major things. We've commissioned an artist to create a poster commemorating our fourth anniversary, which is insane. Very exciting. So every new patron who signs up for our $3 or $5 tier in the month of October and stays with us will receive a print of the design included with their welcome package. But don't worry, existing patrons, we didn't forget your undying support. So you too will be receiving your own copy of this incredible artwork featuring your favorite horror podcast host. Or at least the ones with the best Halloween poster.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Now, if you're still on the fence about joining Patreon, why not test drive one of our best patron perks? For our listeners who may not know, after every episode, our patrons are treated to a bonus segment known as B-Sides. B-sides are for things that are besides the point, like pregame chats, bloopers, tangents that really take things off the rails. You understand. Experience how the other half lives with free sides this month only. So last year we celebrated our birthday month and horror movie primetime by doubling up on episodes. And this year we're going to be doubling up again, but we're turning up the heat and putting some of the power into our audience's hands. Since Alexis and Chris get to plan the schedule every month, myself, Ryan, and Mac are going head to head with our own personal selections in what we're officially calling the co-host clash.

SPEAKER_06 2:37

And I'm very excited to kick some butt.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Oh, everyone knows that I have the best picks. Come on.

SPEAKER_04 2:42

Ooh, fighting words.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Listen, I think we can all agree that I have specific tastes, if nothing else. We've all compiled and ranked some of our favorite films that we want to review in October. So each week we're actually going to have a matchup of two of us head to head, and the audience gets to vote on social media to determine which of those movies we're going to review. All of the voting and recording for these episodes will take place in October, so we have a lot of work cut out for us.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Yes, and that work starts right now, dear listener, because the first ever co-host clash is going to feature none other than Paris and Mac.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Ow.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Whoa. Now you're going to get to vote on the movies, but our nominations are The Neon Demon.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

And 28 Days Later.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

Who picked what? What do you mean? Who picked what?

SPEAKER_04 3:29

Obviously.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Yeah. Could you guess?

SPEAKER_04 3:32

You picked Neon Demon. Paris did not pick 28 Days Later. That's surprising that you picked that.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

I'm pretty sure I've seen 28 Days Later, Mac, and I think that's a weak suggestion. There I said it. I have seen both of the movies. No.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

And I think I made the best suggestion. Wait, you've seen the Neon Demon? That's shocking to me. Who hasn't seen Neon Demon? It's 22 and 1. Catch up.

SPEAKER_04 3:52

What? Oh, I haven't seen it. It's been on my list, so now that I'm looking at the artwork, I've never even heard of it. But what's new?

SPEAKER_00 3:58

You'll have plenty of opportunities to watch it next year since obviously people are going to choose 28 days later.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Oh my god, they might choose 28 days later. You definitely went for a more palatable, more popular pick, which I think is a smart strategy. However, if you know what's good for you listeners, you're gonna choose the neon demon.

SPEAKER_06 4:14

I actually disagree. I think that people already know how they feel about 28 Days Later, and maybe no one cares to hear what we have to say about it. Paris, your pick seems like it's a completely out-of-the-box choice. And I'm sure it's not for most people, but we have some fans who love a niche movie, you know? Something special, something different. And you're right, you do have a very specific taste. So I'm very excited to see who I get to face next week.

SPEAKER_04 4:39

Yeah, this is an awesome opportunity because I know Chris and I are always picking the movies, and I know you guys complain sometimes. So I'm super excited to see what you guys pick and how everything turns out.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Yeah, you can't complain now. It's your fault. Let's see if we get another recommendation that the person who recommended it hacks.

SPEAKER_06 4:57

Actually, I can confirm that some of my picks for this co-host clash may or may not be hackable. I don't know. They're not necessarily favorites, just know that I'm it's Ryan. I'm making Ryan picks here, okay?

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Now we've announced a lot, but we've got one last thing to share. We've been making some changes to our online presence and wanted to curate a one-stop shop for folks to find our latest episodes, subscribe on their preferred platform, and enjoy all of what we can offer. Today we are launching Hackerslash.live, so check it out today.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

It's awesome. And it's a good place to catch up on all things October, but let's go ahead and get things started with our movie for this week. In 1971, a family of seven moved into a Rhode Island farmhouse. Almost immediately they experienced small occurrences, strange noises, objects inexplicably moving from where they were last left. Ultimately, those occurrences escalated to terrifying levels, and in 1973, famed demonologist Ed and Lorraine Warren began their investigation. Decades later, Ed Warren played a tape for producer Tony DeRossa Grund, a tape from that early 70s investigation. DeRossa Grund wrote a treatment for a film he envisioned based on that tape and worked for well over a decade to bring the story to life on the big screen. Ultimately, pre-production began in 2011 with James Warren at the helm and with Lorraine Warren and one of the daughters in that aforementioned family as consultants to Juan and the screenwriters. The end result of their labor was a film that was labeled with an R rating not because of violence, gore, sex, nudity, or language, but because it was simply considered that scary. Scary enough, in fact, that cinemas in the Philippines had to hire Catholic priests to bless viewers before even showing it. This week we're talking about The Conjuring. Who's seen this one before?

SPEAKER_04 6:40

I feel like I was definitely on the hype train for The Conjuring. You know, when it came out in theaters 2013, I was going to watch it. And I've paid a lot of attention to the whole franchise too and watched a lot of them. I haven't seen them in some timeline sort of order, but I'm very interested in doing that.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

So I wasn't sure if I had seen this before. And then Chris and I were talking about it, and I was like, oh, I'm pretty sure I definitely saw this. And after watching it, I can confirm that I saw this in theaters actually, and I think a couple times since then. But it's sort of one of those movies that kind of blurs together with other movies. So it's kind of hard to remember for me at least.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Paris, I share that experience so much. Going into this, I could swear I've seen this before, and while watching it, I feel like, yes, I think I have, and I remember some of the scenes, but it felt kind of unsure. I felt like I forgot a lot of it. So it's kind of weird. Like I'm pretty sure that I saw this, not in theater, but at some point, but I don't remember all of it.

SPEAKER_06 7:35

I'm so relieved because when I turned this movie on and realized I had never seen The Conjuring, I was slightly offended by myself. Like, how dare I not see The Conjuring? And let me just say, I've seen the most recent one that came out.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Devil made me do it.

SPEAKER_06 7:52

Yeah, I saw The Devil Made Me Do It. And so the fact that I have seen that and not seen the original Conjuring itself kind of blew my mind. And I thought the whole way through, oh, I'll I'll I'll start remembering something at some moment. Nope.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

That was surprising when you sent me a text saying you'd never seen it. I was a little shook because although I don't expect you to have seen a lot, the conjuring is just that prominent of a movie, right? And it's so recent that I expected sure, surely everyone has seen it.

SPEAKER_06 8:19

Yeah, I was not going to the movies in 2013. That's why.

SPEAKER_02 8:22

Yeah. I wasn't going to the movies in 2013 either, but I still saw it. And I think I rented it actually on through my cable network for some reason. But I saw this movie at home one night, and I didn't walk in expecting very much because spirits in and ghouls don't really get me, right? I'm not demon films are okay, like they're mildly entertaining, but they're not scary to me. And James One, I think for me, has built a reputation of does the first movie in a franchise really well, and then kind of like Ryan Murphy, doesn't know how to end it. No, that's not very fair to James Wan. He's built like three different franchises within horror. He's very talented, a lot of people love him. But to go from this to the Cursor La Llorona, I don't know, man. What were you all expecting?

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Well, Chris, I have some of the same feelings when it comes to ghosts and spirits and apparitions and possessions. Most of the time, I just expect silliness, or what I would consider silliness. So the typical kinds of things that ghosts in movies do, knock things off of tables, make messes when you're asleep, make annoying sounds. Basically, they're just cats is kind of what I was expecting.

SPEAKER_04 9:31

That's fair. It's weird because I hadn't seen this movie in a while, but I know I had seen it multiple times. So I was expecting for this to be kind of ridiculous watching it a second time or watching it, you know, few times removed and being like, okay, is this why I was so scared of this movie? Is this why, you know, what does this movie do to me now that it did before? So I was expected to figure out how I'd feel about it.

SPEAKER_06 9:57

Yeah, I don't know. This movie's like a tough one because you do go in with a lot of like the same old expectations, right? And then for me, I thought I was like just doing a quick rewatch of something. Honestly, I was expecting Insidious. That's what I was expecting. And to be fair, not that different from what you get.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Having not seen Insidious, and also not having seen this movie in a very long time, I didn't really remember what I felt about it. I remember the last thing I saw in this universe was Annabelle. And I saw it in theaters, and it was so bad that I left halfway through. And that's like the only time I've done that. Like, I've done that maybe like three times in my entire life.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

See, that's the thing. This movie was one that I probably considered to be one of quality, but everything that comes after it that I have seen, like, I haven't seen the first Annabelle film, but I did see Annabelle Creation and thought that was trash. It was a really pretty movie that was hollow on the inside, just like that fucking doll.

SPEAKER_06 10:52

So sorry, just to be clear, Annabelle is in the conjuring universe but existed before the conjuring?

SPEAKER_02 10:57

No, this is the first movie that sparked it.

SPEAKER_06 11:00

Or is Annabelle just like an existence?

SPEAKER_02 11:02

This movie introduced Annabelle the doll, and then Annabelle the film came out after this. Okay, interesting.

SPEAKER_06 11:08

Because they kind of like use that character as something that already exists, and I'm like, well, now I know, but in 2013, what will would I have known who this is?

SPEAKER_01 11:17

No, but she got her own spinoff.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

Yeah, I remember when I first saw that, I thought it was just like, oh, that's intriguing.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Really? I'm such a sucker for like spooky dolls, and Annabelle has never done it for me. Like, she looks ugly as hell, but she's not scary for some reason.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Okay, the scene we get in this movie, I think, was was enough to pique my interest. Yeah, it was good for me.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Well, let me tell you, while watching the movie, uh, you know, because I couldn't remember whether or not I had seen it, but I pretty much almost always laugh at ghost movies. Any kind of ghost, any kind of kind of possession movie, they're usually just so ridiculous that I just laugh. But I wasn't really that bored, I wasn't uninterested. But kind of like you mentioned with some of the other movies there, Chris, this movie is pretty damn appealing aesthetically. So that there's more to it, thankfully. We'll get into that. But I I think while I was watching it, I just like kept kept coming back to like looking at frames and looking at all sorts of details that we'll talk about later, but it just looks nice.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

Yeah, I would agree with that. This movie does look really nice, except for one thing, which I do consider to be a huge issue for me in this film. It's not that big of a deal. I'm just being dramatic. We'll talk to them about that later. Well, I think what what I felt in this movie was a level of tension that set me back to when I watched this in my home for the first time alone. And it's this way that James Wan in this movie manages to build this tension, and it's like the everyday tension. It's like the shit that you're normally like kind of sketched out by in the corner of your peripheral vision. The the little things like your feet hanging off the bed one night when you're asleep. Do you really want to do that? Will you subconsciously pull it back on the bed because you're afraid of being grabbed? Things like that. This movie kept me interested the whole time. Whereas I think many demon and ghost movies tend to lose my interest, or the decision making is just so horrible in the film that it becomes laughable.

SPEAKER_06 13:03

I totally agree. And with this, I was watching this in the afternoon and I found myself very thankful that I hadn't started watching it in the middle of the night at some point because it got creepy, and I'm very much like stare into the darkness and swear I see something kind of person, you know. Like I'm a I'm a I swear there's a face behind my door all of a sudden kind of girl. And so I don't need things like this. And I this would have haunted me even more, like had I seen it in theaters, and then I'm like walking to my car later, or walking into my house from my car at night, and there's like a breeze outside. I'm gonna start freaking out and think something's around me, even though it has nothing to do with the movie, and the movie's definitely not real, you know?

SPEAKER_01 13:42

I can definitely relate to that, Ryan. There were a lot of times in this where I was actually very afraid and very tense and very stressed, and some of the jump scares actually got me real good, and that was satisfying. But it was also scattered in between these other scenes that were almost laughable in their attempts to be frightening and completely ineffective for me. So it was it was interesting to have that combination.

SPEAKER_04 14:06

Paris, I wonder if it's kind of the scenes where I'm thinking of, because I was definitely entertained throughout this entire movie up until a certain point, and it hit this certain point for me, and it got honestly a little bit boring. And I think that might be a disappointment and or a surprise for me as well, because for some reason I remembered these jump scares, and I haven't seen that movie maybe three, maybe three times. And I don't know if it's because it's so predictable or it's because I remembered them. So that's where the disappointment kind of was. They still got me. Mind you, I was screaming.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

I think three times is enough to know a movie. I know that like you've shared in some sometimes you've seen a movie and you don't really remember a lot of it, and it has some rewatch value there, but three times is enough to know what's coming in the conjuring. I think this is a movie that's more like about the first time you watch it and that experience.

SPEAKER_06 15:02

What's really funny is that Alexis had texts us and was mentioned something about the movie saying, Oh, what, from all the jump scares. So as I'm watching this the whole time, I'm just thinking, here comes the jump scares that Alexis was talking about. And then it didn't happen. And it actually made everything scarier because the whole time I'm just like, it's just a movie, it's just a movie, nothing's gonna be scary. You don't have to you don't have to flinch, everything's gonna be fine. It's just a screen, no one's jumping out at you, and then half the time no one does jump out at you, and I'm just like, these are fake jump scares that I'm getting scared from because of Alexis, it's all your fault.

SPEAKER_04 15:34

No, this movie is definitely completely filled with jump scares, but not maybe where you thought it was gonna be, but it's just like a crack of a door, and you're like, Are you kidding me? Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

But this is like the newly improved James Wan Scare Factory jump scare that's not a traditional jump scare that you see in other horror movies. It's a result of the tension that you've put yourself on because nothing else mechanically leads you to believe there will be a jump scare, so you know to expect it from this movie from Insidious. Thinking about that famous shot we have in Insidious of Patrick Wilson, where the camera goes to him and away from him and to him and away from him and to him and away from him, and then off beat, you get a scare, right? I think that's really what what it is, and and why, Alexis, you feel like there's a lot of jump scares, but I think the average person walking into this will not find the jump scares that you'd get in like crawl or Friday the 13th or scream.

SPEAKER_04 16:28

Understandable, because a lot doesn't happen sometimes. They're just like, look at that, and you're looking and you're waiting and you're waiting, and then tension builds up and then nothing happens.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

I can say I was also surprised that having seen this movie a few times, the jump scares were still effective, even though I always saw them coming, they still got me. And I think, Chris, you might be on to something with that in saying that they're unexpected in a way because they don't follow the traditional formula. But the thing that surprised me the most is how many actresses are in this, or like how many people I recognized, specifically two of the young daughters. One of them is Rene from Twilight, and I texted Chris immediately. I was like, Is this Renezme? And she's like, I thought the same thing. And I was like, well, then together we can confirm that yes, it is if we both thought so.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

Twilight historians, he referenced us as. It's now in our bios.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

But then another star on the rise is Joey King, who plays one of the younger daughters as well, and she actually has like a dramatic monologue moment in this, and I was like, this is probably how she got cast for the act, in which she plays Gypsy Rose Blanchard, the girl whose mom had like Munchausen's by proxy, so then she like found a guy on the internet to kill her mom. Are you familiar with this?

SPEAKER_02 17:36

No, sounds like I already know what happens though.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Yeah, well, I mean, it happened in real life, but it was like a it was like a gripping Hulu drama starring Joey King and Patricia Arquette. And I was just like, this girl can act. And then I saw her in this, and I was like, oh my god, she was in this. I had no idea. And that was such a surprise.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

I know we're gonna talk about Scaras in just a second, but honestly, the thing that surprised me the most was just that, like, I thought this was this was gonna look bad. I thought it was gonna look super cheesy, it was gonna have a silly set. Obviously, Annabelle, you know, we get a little bit of Annabelle in this movie, and it's like, whatever, it's Annabelle, it looks like a doll, who cares? But the actual rest of the movie, the set quality is really good. Uh, we'll talk about lighting, I'm sure, because Chris probably has thoughts there, but but still for the most part, really good. The cinematography was really interesting. I was just really surprised that it didn't look like crap because most ghost movies look like crap.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

That is true. That's a fact. You you get a glimpse of a ghost from a corner, totally fine. You get a glimpse of nothing, even better. You get an up close and personal look at a ghost or a demon's face in other movies, and you're like, fuck, this looks awful. It doesn't age well.

SPEAKER_06 18:38

Yeah, I totally agree. This movie ages so well, it's about to be 10 years old, and it doesn't feel like it at all. And I think I'm surprised positively by the same thing, how good it looks. But I was also disappointed by how I felt about one of the ghosts in this movie and what we're looking at.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

And I have to agree with that though. As as much as I expect this movie to look terrible, knowing what has come since then, this movie actually ages really, really well aesthetically. And it just makes me think of how much this movie stood apart from other movies at the time. It crafts its scares a particular way. Its framing is done in a certain way that causes you to start looking for things in places, and you'll just get it in a in a spot that you wouldn't expect with the way that your eyes being led through the image. I think that's a really unique element of this. This movie, when you look at this and and then look at you know some of the others that have come out, like again, the Curse of La Llorona, it feels like they don't even belong together. Because those movies may look good, but it doesn't have the soul that this one has, which is weird to say about a demon movie, but it it feels that way, right? It doesn't feel like the energy and the love was poured into those that this one possessed.

SPEAKER_06 19:54

Its lost soul was more soulless than this lost soul in this movie.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

I gotta say though, at one point we see a little bit too much of some of these, let's say, ghouls.

SPEAKER_05 20:05

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

I kind of lost some of my fright. It made things less scary for me. It showed me too much at one point, and I was like, oh well, and Alexis, that might be what you were referring to later, where you said you like reached a threshold where you were kind of like bored.

SPEAKER_04 20:17

Yeah, Paris. It definitely was one of those moments where it felt familiar, but like everyone's mentioning, I've seen it, but they were still effective because they were that one off. Um, now that I'm going back and thinking of it, because I definitely strategically put on lights in my apartment so I wouldn't have to like go across the room to turn a light off, and my bedroom light was on the entire time. But I still had it like dark enough, just enough, where I got some sort of you know ambiance and some mood, but I definitely didn't close my eyes and it was just me in the room, just so I could see part of whatever pops out, and then nothing ever popped out, but then I put my hand down and then all of a sudden something like cracked or something. I'm like shake.

SPEAKER_06 21:02

I think Mac and I are thinking the same thing, which is girl, you gotta get some smart lights so you don't have to ever touch light switches.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Yeah, I mean the scares in this movie I think are the most effective when they don't show you all that stuff. You know, it's those like glimpses of things in real life that I think scare us the most, where we think we see something for a moment and then we look back and it's not there. And that works really well in in this film, but when they full on show us some stuff, it it really loses the power. So I didn't really find this scary because that's just who I am. But I think most of the ghost scenes were kind of silly. If you're already scared of bumps in the night in your house or bumps in general. Yeah, if you're scared of bumps, I don't know. But if you're prone to believing in ghosts or possessions, this'll probably be scary for you.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

Yeah, this is one that I think I wasn't afraid of of the things that we look at. And I think if we hadn't gotten those things at all, this would be a much more successful film in terms of how scary it is. Because there are some moments that take place in some bedrooms. I'm like, fuck that. This gets closed for me.

SPEAKER_06 22:06

I do agree with you. I think this movie had me scared. Like, more scared than normal. More scared than I was prepared for. Like I was ready, I was trying to get out of the house. I was like, I'll just watch this in my car somewhere else in the daylight where there's no like doors for things to hide behind and things to creep me out. I was quite afraid of this movie. And again, I just think had I seen it in theaters in 2013, it would have ruined me. But you've seen the devil made me do it.

SPEAKER_04 22:33

Was that comparable?

SPEAKER_06 22:35

I mean, basically, someone just said, hey, just so you know, this is the room where they like keep all the relics of the things that they've captured. And um that's pretty much it's just the same, same but different.

SPEAKER_04 22:47

But aren't all these ghost movies same or something? Same same, same but different. But I don't know. I think ghosts are scary because to me it's based in facts. Is it though? I don't know. You'd be stupid to think you're the only person on this earth there isn't like spirits and stuff, and some are causing harm.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

Would we be stupid to think that since there's literally not a single shred of evidence that any of that exists in anywhere? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:15

The Holy Spirit?

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Right. Yeah, so that's the only ghost I believe in is the Holy Ghost.

SPEAKER_06 23:21

That's a different thing, baby.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

So you get to pick and choose which ghosts. Yeah, you get to choose which ghost you you believe in.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

That's not a ghost.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

Okay, hold on. We all know that Mac's favorite ghost is space ghost, coast to coast.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Or the phantom menace.

SPEAKER_06 23:37

If you want to talk about aliens, that's a different conversation.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Yes. Although the chances of them existing, pretty much 100%, the chances of them existing at the same time that we exist and coming to visit us very, very low. Anyway, I don't know how you can compare this to other types of like ghost or possession movies without thinking of the ultimate movie, which is the Exorcist, right?

SPEAKER_04 23:59

Oh, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

What about the poltergeist? I get down with the Exorcist. Poltergeist is pretty good too. But I I mean I'll give it credit. It kicks off a hugely successful franchise. You know, Annabelle gets its own thing. Like it gets some points. It's it's got some some originality points, but come on, it's all it's all silly ghosts like Casper moving stuff around.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Okay. So unpopular opinion here. I don't think the Exorcist has aged as well as it's being lauded for. The effects in that, absolutely, they're stunning. But the movie as a whole, eh. I actually think that while, you know, Ryan, you're right, same, same but different. But this one actually was different when it came out in 2013. This is a movie that started this new wave of supernatural spooks, and I think it gets some originality points in there, not because it is the most unique thing that's ever been done, but because it was a refreshing wave, and it made the spooks kind of tense and scary again without trying to beat you over the head with paranormal activity style spooks.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

This one's honestly hard because like the movie feels super generic and basic. It feels like dad moves family to house, house is haunted, spooky shit happens, let's get a priest, do an exorcism, grand finale, we're done. True. But I feel like the way it approaches jump scares specifically is something that it did originally, and it gets some points for that.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Ooh, okay. I have something to add there, right? Dad moves family into a house. House is haunted, call a priest. Yes. But also, how many times do we have dads who do not believe the mom or the kids and they fail to take action until it's far too late? This one did. He listened. Also, Ed Warren was a World War II vet, and then he was also a cop before they got into all this ghost hunting shit. Ed Warren is a man who took his wife seriously and supported her entire life. Very true. They became a tandem instead of him just doubting her and putting her down the whole time. So I think it also gives a little bit of uh different points on that.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

I did think of you when that was revealed, Chris. Especially when it was like the mom was the reason that they moved there and the dad was like, yeah, some crazy shit is happening. Maybe we should try to leave. Oh, wait, we can't? Fuck. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 26:13

Yeah, to me, I see where you're coming from, Mac, but this seems oddly familiar, this movie. The jump scares seem oddly familiar. It reminds me of other things, but I do like the idea that this is based on a true story, quote unquote. Um, and the Warrens have some sort of buy-in to this whole franchise. So I do love that part. My thing was, and it's tied to the ending, is I wish some sort of the end was played out a little bit more, like it wasn't the exorcist. I feel like this presence, this demonic possession, you don't get a lot of that, you get a lot of the story beforehand, and you don't get a lot of what happens towards the end. It seems very quick, and I kind of like the exorcist where it's like throughout the entire movie, and I appreciate that. And I realize that maybe possibly a character is possessed throughout possibly the entire movie, and not just the end, but still. So, got it. You want more FaceTime for the demon. Agree. I would I would like that. I would I would like um a lot more bodies being levitated, a lot more holy water, a lot more.

SPEAKER_02 27:23

Okay, so maybe the conjuring with 666% more demon. Yes, agree, yes.

SPEAKER_06 27:29

Okay, why are you so creepy?

SPEAKER_02 27:31

That movie's called Insidious.

SPEAKER_04 27:33

Yeah. Why do you require intensity? Yeah, more than I got in this movie, not sure. Yeah. It kind of died in the middle for me a little bit. Yeah, there's a small moment. It was a relief though, for a second. If you're gonna build it up starting in the beginning, you better finish it good. That is what she said.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

I totally agree, Alexis. The ending for me was honestly kind of underwhelming. And when I was trying to look for the words to describe it, it was just like very blah. It was like, let's wrap it up. We didn't get near the intensity that we got in the beginning. There were like not enough kills, not enough blood, not enough really anything for it to feel like a conclusive or satisfying ending. I mean, I guess it was conclusive, but not satisfying.

SPEAKER_02 28:17

I think it's because it's an ending I didn't buy. I didn't I didn't believe that things were suddenly just, you know, no longer needing a runtime.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

Yeah, it was sudden, for sure.

SPEAKER_06 28:28

I agree. The wrap-up was very fast, but also we were almost two hours in. This was not a tight 120, and I was ready to go. So when the wrap-up was quick, I wasn't even mad about it. I was just like, cool. I mean, I already know what's gonna happen, right? I mean, like, it's an exorcism movie. There's only one or two routes this can go. So, like, we already know where we're going. I felt like I got enough along the way that the ending didn't really bother me. I'm also in an oddly emotional place because I I shed a uh not a tear, but I had a little runny eye at the end of this movie at the joy of life, you know? And I'm not proud of that because I don't think this movie deserved a tear to be shed.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

Okay, we need to unpack that in the second half. Absolutely. But before we get to there, we had to write the movie, and that means we had to actually do a little bit of housekeeping. Alexis, how many people died in this film?

SPEAKER_04 29:21

I can say for one thing that there is a lot of death in this movie on the low side, but we'll unpack that when we get to the gore score.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

All right, and what about our animal report?

SPEAKER_06 29:31

You know, I'm real upset about this animal report, to be completely honest. This movie does have an animal death that's significant. It's not P2 or the original Candyman, but it is truly an adorable little bean that didn't deserve what happened, and there's some other animal deaths here. So, like, if you're squeamish, just be prepared. It's not a great one for the animals up in here.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

Well, let's go ahead and get into our rating then. The conjuring from 2013. Was it a hack or a slash?

SPEAKER_06 30:00

For me, this movie is actually quite good in the realm that it exists in. In the realm of these movies that are a haunted house, people are there, someone helps get rid of a ghost, yada yada. I've seen a million of these, it feels like. They don't ever feel unique to me, I'd say. This one feels special, and I think all the credit goes to the visuals in this movie. And it's really good. It's really enjoyable to look at. When you don't care about the story, you care about watching what they're doing with the camera because it does something special. It doesn't feel cheesy. It there's like one moment that kind of was a little questionable for me as far as like story and interest in like what are you guys doing, but there's a good tone through the whole thing. I think the characters are manageable, whereas a lot of these movies, the characters are like, My house is haunted, please help. And then they don't do anything and let themselves die, basically. This movie isn't like that. I appreciate that a lot. I appreciate looking at it. So it's a slash, it's not my favorite movie I've ever seen, but I definitely wouldn't say it's bad.

SPEAKER_04 31:01

So I feel like I've given a lot of crap to this movie saying I was bored and everything like that. But this movie just has a lasting impression on me to where I still know where the jump scares may or may not be off by a certain point. This movie, I love a good backstory. I love a I love a good ghost story. Um, I think because I don't like going into haunted houses, so I enjoy watching them. I enjoy taking tours online and on YouTube of them, and it's this whole realm that I like. And you're right, Ryan, it does something different, and the visuals are amazing. And I would totally recommend this movie to someone. I love all the movies in this conjuring universe. I love how they build off each other, very marvel-ish, and I love that. So this is getting a slash.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Unlike you, Alexis, I did forget this movie, and I wasn't really sure where that left me going into it because I was like, okay, I don't remember how I felt about this. But maybe like 15-20 minutes into it, we got a couple jump scares, and it reminded me of what it was like to see this movie in theaters, and I remember it being so tense and so suspenseful and making me jump out of my seat about a dozen times because you had a really intense experience to view it in when you saw it in theaters with like Dolby Outmosts, which is what I'm imagining I saw it in. But I wasn't really getting that from my TV, so I actually blacked out my curtains, I put in my AirPods, I turned on noise cancellation, I was like, okay, let me get into it, let me recreate the experience. And from that point forward, I actually had a much better time, and the jump scares were starting to hit me all over again. And I was like, okay, I remember why I liked this movie, I remember really enjoying it. Now, there are a few things I don't really like about this movie, like it gets really corny at times, and there's specifically one line of dialogue that my friend and I always joke about that like really makes me laugh every time, and it's not supposed to at all. So there's definitely times where you're taken out of the tension, but I think for the jump scares to have successfully worked on me over a decade later, I think there's something to be said for that, and I think even though the ending isn't the best, it's not so bad that it warrants a hack. So this is getting a soft slash from me.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

I'm just gonna say it. I know I've said it before, ghost movies are not my thing. I just don't understand them, they're so ridiculous, and I don't find them scary in any way. But as a ghost movie, this one was very pleasant to look at. The acting was great. I did laugh a lot while watching it. While watching it though, my wife had some different reactions. There wasn't a lot of laughter coming from her. It did freak her out a good bit. And I have to give the movie some credit for that. So while I found it to be mostly silly, although enjoyable to look at, I like the experience of watching this with somebody who kind of falls victim to those jump scares and who gets kind of creeped out by some of the stuff that it shows. So I'm gonna give it the softest of slashes that I can give, which is about as high as it gets for ghost movies for me. Wow.

SPEAKER_06 34:00

Is this really just a slash on behalf of your wife?

SPEAKER_00 34:02

Well, it's she didn't tell me what to rate it. She didn't even tell me what she thought about it. I'm just rating it on the experience I had while watching it with her.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

So yes, it's for her.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

That's cute.

SPEAKER_02 34:11

That's a fair assessment. This movie is won by a director who I've come to think should just like stop making spooky movies for a little while, specifically supernatural ones. Looking at the way this movie branches off into other films, it's produced a lot that I don't like. It's produced a lot that's hollow. It produced a lot that's more like a factory. Thinking about like Saw, right? Saw came out, loved the first film, it was amazing, and then it just became an annual factory of let's see how much gore and and stuff that we can stuff into a movie. And Alexis, I know that you love them, but it just wasn't good for me after the first one. When I was revisiting this, I was thinking, okay, how gr good can this possibly be from my memory? And it actually held up. This movie, like I said earlier, is tense and it's tense in the way that feels every day. It's tense in the way that feels like Am I gonna leave my my legs hanging off the side of my bed tonight? It's all this shit that you're scared of when you're a little kid. This movie is assembled in a way that causes your mind to race while your body is still trying to catch up, and even though logically you know something may be coming, it's like it's tapping into this subconscious thing where like your heart rate is is doing its own thing at its own time. It's stunning visually. There are some moments here with some of the effects that I am a huge fan of, and I think they age incredibly well. So although I hate a core part of the story, and I'll get into that in a little while, this movie still gets a slash. And with that, the conjuring from 2013 to kick off the month of October 2021 has under Universal Slash.

SPEAKER_00 35:51

I'm surprised.

SPEAKER_02 35:52

I'm very surprised. Same.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

I'm surprised I slashed it.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

Same. I'm honestly not. I walked into this expecting a universal slash because I think even though this is the kind of movie that's not everyone's cup of tea, I think it's among the best in its in its type, right? I think it's among them best in its caliber.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

Best of show for ugly dogs.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

The dogs aren't that ugly. Now, while it has earned a universal slash here, we have to still figure out what you think, dear listener. You can find this movie streaming online. Currently, if you live in the US, it's on HBO Max. So check it out. Then join us in the second half so we can break down the scares together. See you in a bit.

SPEAKER_00 36:36

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SPEAKER_02 37:26

Welcome back, folks. You are now entering the spoiler zone for the conjuring, which has earned a universal slash. Now we have a lot to get to here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, this was, of course, a ghost movie, but we still have the matter of gore to address. Alexis, what's the gore score in this movie?

SPEAKER_04 37:42

Very low, almost insignificant. But like you did say, Chris, this is an old-fashioned ghost story. It truly is. And this movie also comes out after, you know, this gore craze of the Saw movies and uh from all of those remakes that some of us love and some of us don't, like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, My Bloody Valentine, all of those. So, with that said, this movie obviously you see bodies, you hear about all the deaths of this house as well, which I thought was a very cool way to tell the story. You even see some bodies and see the ghost, but essentially no one is dying in this movie, or no one died and you saw the death in this movie.

SPEAKER_02 38:25

You also get demon vomiting blood into another person's mouth. There's that.

SPEAKER_04 38:30

Yeah, I guess I've I've I've seen that before. Um it's pretty hot. It's it's pretty it's pretty uh normal for that to happen in possession movies. Throw up and I think we just came off Evil Dead, so I'm like, what is what is this?

SPEAKER_06 38:42

Alexis, you mentioned that they showed like the house being haunted, which I thought was really cool, specifically because it wasn't just the haunted house, it was a set of stories that happened in the house, but the house itself wasn't the haunting, right? Which I think is sometimes we just get a haunted house with a bunch of people that died in it, you know? Like the mirror from Oculus. This didn't do that, and I like it.

SPEAKER_04 39:00

Yeah, it was especially they talked about how this will follow you, which is and it's attaching to you. So can you imagine?

SPEAKER_02 39:08

It's funny though, and the more you say that, the more I think about the fact that it's the same fucking thing in Insidious.

SPEAKER_04 39:14

Yeah, it definitely is. That's why I thought these two movies were in the same universe, and it's confusing. They still have they have the same actor.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

Insidious does have Darth Maul show up, so it's a nice Star Wars crossover. So bonus points to Insidious.

SPEAKER_04 39:26

And he tiptoes with the tulips. I have that song stuck in my head right now. I wish I could sing it.

SPEAKER_06 39:32

Woo!

SPEAKER_04 39:35

There we go. America's got talent over here on Hackerslash.

SPEAKER_06 39:39

I mean, this movie had some good score too, though.

SPEAKER_02 39:40

We had some great songs in this movie, so except for that one random fucking song with lyrics when they're all like getting the house ready. Yeah, it's a great song. What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_04 39:49

No, it was very off-key.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

It's a great song that I would listen to outside of a movie. Even the lyrics make sense for the movie, but its vibe in that moment did not match the rest of the movie, and it felt real fucking weird. Oh, I loved it.

SPEAKER_06 40:03

There were two songs that played in this movie that I loved.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

I did too. There weren't a lot of musical moments, but when they happened, I was like, oh, this movie's doing a really good job like choosing songs.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

Look, unless this is Blee or an early 2000s teen slasher, I don't want words in my score. What?

SPEAKER_04 40:21

Yeah, I agree with that. I agree. So this movie obviously lacks visual death and gore. But you know, somehow this movie is still terrifying for people. I mean, they were blessing people as they walked into a theater in the Philippines. So this did something. Whatever you say, Mac, this movie was terrifying. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:41

I will agree that you were terrified.

SPEAKER_04 40:43

Okay. So the movie, in my opinion, and I think a lot of you guys will agree too, is this intense imagery that comes from this movie is what is brings the tear, along with a whole bunch of other added elements. But to me, um, iconically, the most disturbing images come from when the mom is actually in the possession sequence. When she's got this makeup and those contacts, and then they put the sheet over her. It's just terrifying for me. I mean, obviously, the jump scares have a lot to do with building up this tension, but I did love that. Obviously, I mentioned I love a good possession and I love it drawn out too.

SPEAKER_02 41:23

A quick thing here before I go into the things that I enjoyed visually about this movie. One, how do you have a mother who is possessed about to stab you with a pair of scissors and then walk away from this, not being completely traumatized by the mere presence of your mother?

SPEAKER_01 41:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:37

That's a lot of years of therapy. So much therapy. Yeah. That's interesting. You know, even looking at is this scary or is this not? And Mac, I know that you're skeptical to what these folks uh claim they experienced, but it's really interesting to hear that the oldest daughter who ended up writing a book talking about like what she actually felt happened, it's really interesting to hear her perspective because she says, Oh, I believe there's for sure a scientific explanation for all this, and we just don't know what it is yet. But then also she talks a big game about this being a portal to the past and present and also being very spir spiritual, so it's it's an it's an interesting mix. I've dropped several links in the show notes that reference some of her statements. It's an interesting thing to explore. I think for me visually, it wasn't the demonic possession of the mom, because that is when it became lackluster. For me, it was all the scares that you couldn't actually see. For example, the daughter being pulled out of the bed by her leg. That was the shit that got my heart racing. Yes. The tension of her looking into the corner, telling her sister that there was something there, sister goes, nothing's there, and then the door slams, right? That got me. And then there's that moment towards the third act where the daughter's hair is being slowly picked up piece by piece, and then she's flung around the room. That was so good. If we had exclusively that with no makeup or like character creature design of like an actual possessed person, I would have been highly satisfied.

SPEAKER_04 43:04

I see where you're coming from in that question. That witch that we saw. I know everyone was mentioning that what you couldn't see was more terrifying. So I didn't know if seeing her turned everyone off or how that worked.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

It was kind of hilarious to see her, to be honest. I laughed at her and I laughed when the mother was possessed because they both looked so silly.

SPEAKER_06 43:23

It wasn't as bad as something like Insidious, where I legitimately was looking at Darth Maul on screen and trying to figure out how I could be afraid of that. But they do have her on screen for too much time. And once I can kind of like see it, it it loses the MySpace jump scare thing that it really does well, that it's really modeled after, once you see it more than for one second.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

Same. There's actually a moment related to my favorite visual element, which is the wardrobe scenes where the daughter's like sleepwalking and just banging her head against the wardrobe mindlessly. And there's something about like that visual of like a child like not knowing what they're doing, but Being drawn towards this like really spooky piece of furniture for a ghostly reason that I really enjoyed, just like the dynamic of that, also the scale. She was very small, and that wardrobe was very large. But then really the peak of those scenes leads up to a moment where we see like this ghost in some pajamas on top of the wardrobe that's like been behind it all. And I was like, no, because that like really ruined it for me seeing that like bad-looking ghost that wasn't scary.

SPEAKER_06 44:24

Yeah, that's the witch that we're all kind of disenfranchised by. Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

That was the witch?

SPEAKER_06 44:30

That's the witch.

SPEAKER_01 44:31

Okay, I thought that was a man, and I thought it was a different ghost.

SPEAKER_02 44:34

So here's what frustrates me the core part of the story that I hated, and that's this woman was a real woman who was accused of this. She was found innocent after her death. Her name has been cleared. And then this movie goes back to saying, nah, but she was a witch though. And I understand that, like logistically speaking, in reference to this story, these are things that these folks say they actually experience, and this is a reflection of Ed and Lorraine's case files. But to just redrag that out, it's just Salem witch trials, so many women were accused of things and weren't actually doing anything, right? But then this movie just goes back and turns it on the head and said, Oh no, they were a witch all along. And that is annoying to me.

SPEAKER_06 45:18

Did you show up to a ghost movie wanting to talk logistics though? Because that's that's a that's a path of failure from the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 45:26

It'd be different if it was a random ghost, but this woman is actually buried in Rhode Island, and her name was cleared. That bit of it annoys me. And now, a lot of this movie, there's some of it that is drawn directly from that, and there's some things that are just made up to make a good movie. I wish they could have just made something up, but then they just chose to say, now this person who was innocent, psh, JK, they're a witch.

SPEAKER_00 45:47

Some of the best stuff they did visually had to do with ghosts that you barely saw, or ghosts that weren't even all that evil. So, like the little boy that you see in the mirror, first of all, seeing something in a mirror that's really not there, but maybe because it's behind you, that's Ryan's favorite thing to do.

SPEAKER_06 46:03

Because mirrors are creepy.

SPEAKER_00 46:04

Right. And so when they give us that little glimpse and you're waiting, and you know you're waiting because we're looking at the mirror and nothing's there yet, and then you get that little, just a little bit in the background, not enough to really make out what it is. That's the right way to do ghosts. You get just a little bit and you wonder, like, oh my god, what was that? And when you see them full on, like we get the witch, if you want to call her that, you don't have that feeling of, oh my god, what was that? You're like, oh, that's a silly-looking person in makeup. Okay, great. But when you see that like just a ghost for a second, or underneath when we're in like in between floors of the house, that's an okay version of like how to show a ghost where they're like super creepy and deranged looking, right? And we see them face on. But the best is when they show the little boy in the mirror. That's like prime ghost time right there, is seeing something in a mirror and then it's disappearing a second later. And I wish they would have done more than that. I think we already mentioned Chris, staring into the darkness with a door that's slightly ajar and you can't see in the corner. That's the best shot they had in the movie, I think. Aside from the cameras, you know, kind of moving while they're upside down and then becoming right side up. That was, I think, the best cool thing they did with cinematography. But having literally nothing in a blank space, having you worried for a child looking into that blank, that's power right there.

SPEAKER_06 47:21

Yes, Mac. I totally agree. And I have some more things to add to that, but I will shout out my favorite visual element. And it's like the little details, it's very hard to describe because this movie has so many moments that are intentional. And the one that like comes to my mind that they could have done nothing and they did something, and it didn't mean anything, but it just felt so good and gives you the creeps, and that's doing laundry outside, and then the sheet blows away, and there's a shape there, and that is just beautiful, and and we don't know what that is, we don't know what that means. It you know, it doesn't add to the story element, but they did little things like that in this movie so many times, over and over again, and it just makes the story feel rich and it feels lived in and it feels like this house is haunted.

SPEAKER_02 48:10

Very Michael Myers, those sheets.

SPEAKER_06 48:12

That's right, all you.

SPEAKER_00 48:13

You know, one of the best parts of the movie, I think, is early on when the dad wakes up at night and hears stuff going on in the house because the TV's on and he gets up and he's like, oh, turns that off and then starts hearing like the banging. We don't have to see anything, and that's so effective. That was my favorite scene in the movie was the dad waking up and dealing with the fact that the house is banging.

SPEAKER_04 48:33

It really would be your favorite scene, just because you essentially are dad.

SPEAKER_02 48:38

Exactly. He's like, that guy, that's me. I can relate to him, and I'm also respectful enough to validate my wife's concerns about hauntings. I feel like that would be Matt. He wouldn't believe shit, but he would not doubt her.

SPEAKER_06 48:50

But also when this dad runs in the house, like when when everything is hitting the fan, and he runs in the house, and all the girls, not because they're hysterical women being stupid, but just because crazy stuff is happening, they're all screaming and crying, and he's like, Someone please tell me what's going on. I can only imagine he's had that moment several times. Yes, but usually probably for much less realistic and scary reasons.

SPEAKER_02 49:13

Oh, absolutely. And one of my favorite scenes actually is the flip side of this, and it's the mom, and it's her navigating the house, thinking that she's playing with one of her kids, and then coming to the realization that it's not, asking who's there, and then getting the door slammed in her face. But mostly it's getting blindfolded and the hands coming out of the wardrobe to clap, and you see the ghoulish claps, and it's just ooh. That wardrobe bit, I think it gets ruined a little bit later with with the witch on top of it, like the lion, the witch in the wardrobe. But the hands coming out of the wardrobe, top-notch.

SPEAKER_06 49:51

He really stole my favorite scene. Hide and clap is such a first off, great game concept. But those hands that come out and just give like a almost like a clownish, like comical, like a terrifier energy in that clap, you know, like, here go my hands, I'm gonna clap right next to you, and you don't even know, you don't know what you're in for. Oh, so good.

SPEAKER_04 50:18

I felt so bad when she just got like the door slammed in her face. I'm like, poor mom, like just bam! I'm like, oh shit. Definitely my favorite scene by far, and it's been mentioned before in visuals, but is the scene with Christine and she says she's seeing something behind the door. But the reason this is entirely my favorite scene is because you're staring in that pitch black, you're waiting for something to come out, then all of a sudden it goes mute, the door closes, and also the movement of the camera this entire time from the time she sees she witnesses this, it's almost like a heartbeat kind of movement. So I honestly felt like I was in that room, and it was just so effective for me. It was so effective.

SPEAKER_06 51:06

Like, have you ever woken up in the middle of the night, felt like you see something, but it's mostly just darkness, right? Oh, hell yeah. Every night. Yeah, and you're just like staring, staring. You don't take your eyes off of one spot because you're just like, I can't tell if I see something. You stare into it until just just knowing that at some point you're gonna realize a face. And that's exactly what this is. They do that in this movie. You're staring into the darkness, staring into the darkness, just waiting for it, and it doesn't happen.

SPEAKER_04 51:33

You don't see it, but it's there, and that's terrifying. It's your mind playing tricks on you.

SPEAKER_01 51:38

So normally, you know me, I love a movie filled with female characters, but I gotta say, we had some dicey ones in this movie. I feel like the mom wasn't necessarily the most, let's say, compelling performance. I definitely understand that she had a lot to do, especially when it comes to like the demon possession of it all, but I feel like it was kind of it felt very like sketch comedy towards the end when she was like fully possessed, and I was like, oh, you you lost me. But the character I'm like most fascinated by is Lorraine, and it's fascinating for me because she's such a an enigmatic, like clairvoyant, like very like gifted kind of woman, but also the actress does like such weird character choices, like there's some kind of an accent there that keeps like coming and going throughout the movie. Um, the fashion choices, I mean, we'll talk about that later. But I feel like she's just like a really interesting woman to like watch navigate the world. And I feel like if I've seen any of the other conjuring movies, it's because I wanted to see what else she was gonna do.

SPEAKER_06 52:41

To go back to what you said about when the mom was fully possessed, I actually didn't hate the possession scene the way that you guys did because they threw that sheet over her, and I felt like it took away so much of the watching someone go through an exorcism, this looks ridiculous kind of element. So I didn't hate that, and I didn't really hate any of the actors here. I do think Lorraine is a bit of a star of the show here. She has an energy that's really enjoyable and a special connection with people that's lovely to watch, but I don't know. I I felt great about the way we didn't really get into too much because there were so many daughters. Like you couldn't get me to name a single one of those while the movie was on. I don't know anybody's name or which one's which, who's old, who's young. I know there's an old crumpy one, but we didn't get too deep into it. So I think it worked really well because it was just kind of like here's a family. You don't have to know everything about them. We knew a little bit about Ed and Lorraine, and that was nice, but not too much. I don't know. I think the characters worked pretty well here, and one of the things I said earlier is that the decision-making quality was pretty high for a ghost movie, and that really makes or breaks it for me.

SPEAKER_02 53:52

I have to agree, I didn't really dislike the exorcism part, but only I disliked like the makeup, right, and the aesthetic of it. But her performance in the exorcism scene, I didn't mind at all. I didn't feel the slapstick comedy that you're describing, Paris. I think she has a tone of voice I wouldn't describe as grating, but certainly not the most pleasant character of the whole movie, but she felt like a real mom, you know what I mean? Like she didn't feel like this classic early 70s mom that you see in so many other horror movies. She felt like a really like this whole family felt like a really cohesive, we love each other, the dad isn't being toxic, the mom loves her kids, all the sisters get along and probably annoy each other, but overall there's a lot of life in the house, which I appreciate. And for me, it wasn't Lorraine that I had the issue with, it was Ed, and it's because Lorraine sells the whole performance for me, and then Patrick Wilson is Ed is kind of hit or miss. There's a point where he describes getting haunted or being possessed, like stepping in a piece of gum, and the delivery of that line just felt so silly.

SPEAKER_06 55:06

That's why I had to use it for my quote. Because when he said that, I was like, of all the ways to describe how something can stick with you and follow you around, I don't think about gum at all.

SPEAKER_02 55:18

And you know, that is a stretch, right? But even the sentence delivered by any other actor probably would have sounded a little bit cooler, but he's like, it sticks with you. And like his eyebrows go up a little bit. It's just it's just weird. I don't dislike Patrick Wilson as a whole. I don't dislike him. I don't even think he's a terrible ed, but I feel like they're not in the same league in terms of their performances.

SPEAKER_01 55:43

I feel like that was intentional, maybe, because he has another line just like that in the beginning where he's talking to the person interviewing them, and he says something to the effect of, like, oh what the the interviewer asks, why don't you just burn all these items? And he said, Well, sometimes it's better to keep the genie inside the bottle. And it made me think, like, okay, so he's kind of just like a he feels more like an everyday kind of guy who like has a uh a great way of like explaining things to like the lay person to so they can understand this like crazy ghost stuff, while his wife is really like the ghost clairvoyant star of the show, and they kind of play off each other wow.

SPEAKER_02 56:18

Yeah, and see that again, right? It's not the words that he's saying, it's just it doesn't even feel like an everyman kind of thing, it just feels like a flat delivery of a line that could have been okay.

SPEAKER_04 56:29

Yeah, I get it. It's like gum. I see, I'm not a fan of Patrick Wilson. I don't know what it is. You know, when you see someone in a movie and you can't unsee them in that movie, and that's how I feel like maybe because I've seen Insidious and seen him in this, and he's such a douche in that movie. And obviously he played his part very well because that's probably what we wanted it to be. He transfers that energy into this movie somehow, probably not intentionally, probably just from me. But somehow I'm still clinging on to that because I was like, you, I love the mom's performance. I thought this family was well lived in, clearly not your modern day dysfunctional family, a very wholehearted family that you want to see in a movie and you want to see pull through. And it was cool seeing the mom's kind of transformation as this entity is following her because you get those glimpses, and she's like, Oh, I have an iron deficiency, and she's getting these bruises, and you can see the entity in her room. But I love that because subtle plays on the bruises, like no one would notice that. And even as a viewer, you might even think, Oh, they're just bruises, yeah. But we know it's more than that, but she is like any person. How the hell did I get this other bruise on my leg?

SPEAKER_06 57:49

True. I would wake up with bruises and I wouldn't go to the doctor. He was like, You better go to the doctor for that. And I was like, A bruise, girl? Bye.

SPEAKER_04 57:56

Yeah, no, who knows? We could have been getting possessed the entire time. We miraculously wake up with all these bruises. Most likely the truth, since we know ghosts are real. Ghosts are real. Not that we were clumsy and hidden on something, but we can't remember.

SPEAKER_00 58:09

Yep. I just thought it was funny when she blamed the first bruise on their late-night passion. She's like, Oh, look what you did to me last night.

SPEAKER_02 58:17

Yeah, the bruises are a thing that everyone can relate to, and I think the mom's love of her family is a thing that a lot of people can relate to as well. But the thing about this family is they're so idyllic in a way that they have a photo of them in the house, and it's supposed to be a day of them at the beach, and it is the most hideously photoshopped image I've ever seen in my life. That is the worst part of this fucking movie.

SPEAKER_01 58:43

I thought so too, until they showed the flashback scene, and I was like, no, they were all there. Why does the picture look so bad?

SPEAKER_02 58:49

Oh, they for sure photoshopped that picture separate from shooting that footage.

SPEAKER_01 58:54

They had to have.

SPEAKER_02 58:55

That cannot be the same fucking day. That was atrocious.

SPEAKER_01 59:00

It was perplexing for sure.

SPEAKER_06 59:02

Yes. Since when has anyone ever in their life taken a picture with like 18 kids and two adults, and there's nothing in the background but blue sky and clouds? Ever.

SPEAKER_01 59:12

When you have the ocean right there.

SPEAKER_06 59:14

Yeah, it's like almost a full-body photo, and there's no perspective on the sky.

SPEAKER_02 59:18

Yeah, it's like a crab was taking the photo for them. He's just so low looking up. Obviously.

SPEAKER_01 59:24

Yeah, that was definitely perplexing to me as well, Chris. But the thing that really sits with me as the worst part of this movie, and it's the thing that first came to my mind when I was remembering if I had seen this or not, it's the styling. Mostly on Lorraine, the costume choices are so bizarre to me. Like there's times where she's dressed like a ghost from the 1800s, and then there's other times where she's dressed like a mom in a minivan from the 2000s, and I don't know what the vision was for this because almost everybody else is solidly dressed like in the 70s, but she is all over the place with her outfits. And at one point she wears this like big frilled collared thing with like a petticoat, and I was waiting for her to like pull out like a pocket watch. And I was like, What era are you in, lady? Is she a ghost? Is that revealed later?

SPEAKER_06 1:00:07

She's a clairvoyant. I feel like you're not really giving her enough like freedom in her wardrobe choices, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:14

She's a steampunk cosplayer.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:16

She's kind of a wild gal. She's got a lot of different senses.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:20

And then just like randomly comes in and like Elisa Renna Cardigan from the home shopping network collection.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:26

That's just her work clothes. You gotta look the part. You are deep into the analysis of this character, okay? And her wardrobe.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:34

It's the thing I think about most, it's these outfits.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:37

Well, I'll tell you what really missed the mark for me, and it is like the very out-of-place, goofy officer and like equipment bits that we get right in the middle of the movie where they show up to do the like the first kind of screenings. So we have officer Brad. Why? I don't know. Why did he have like a bit of backstory or like information? Don't care. And then Drew, and they had like weird energy, and then like Drew's like flirting with the older daughter, and and they're kind of like goofing around, and you know, there's an explanation for everything. And like, sure, the cop had like something to do in the story, which was to get bit. Yeah, in in the cheek, which is just a weird. I thought we were going for a vampire thing for a second. I don't know, it got weird, but I don't know why they were in the middle of this movie, and I don't know why they were like goofy when the tone of the movie was not that. There, I don't know. It was very strange. I did not like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:35

Hopper is the comedic relief.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:37

Yeah, I was definitely getting some dewy vibes from that for sure. I appreciate Drew just because he's in some of the other movies, so when you see those, you'll be like, oh, okay, this all makes sense. But Ryan, that's exactly where I started to get really bored in the movie. And I understand you needed some release of tension from what the beginning of the movie did. But for me, that's when you got this music that came on that had lyrics. It just seemed like very happy, and it still didn't have this ominous tone that this entire movie had. So to me, it just felt like not continuous for this movie. I understand what they needed to do, but I felt if they cut that short a little bit, and maybe while they were setting up or something, some sort of stuff was happening earlier on, I think that would have made me feel better about that scene.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:25

I don't have too much to point out when it comes to best part, worst part. I think the movie does what it does, but I think one of the interesting things that it does towards the very end, it's just a subtle mention to the fact that they're being asked to go to Long Island to check out a case.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:40

I thought about that too, Mac, and then I looked it up. I was like, Amityville's in Long Island, right? I've been there. It absolutely is.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:46

That's one thing I'm very surprised. I mean, I think the Amneyville horror, the original movie and the remake were both pretty solid, and I don't think we need Amneyville horror within the conjuring universe, but I'm surprised that it wasn't done any earlier.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:01

Absolutely. And it seemed like sequel baiting for a moment. And I guess obviously there are sequels, but it definitely seemed like a moment where they're like, oh, we're being called to Long Island. I don't know, where is it? Maybe somebody, uh maybe someplace called Amneyville, maybe there's a horror there.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:15

Oh my god, Ronald Defao murdered his family.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:18

Right. I mean, it is interesting that they're obviously tied to the Amineville horror, but I don't know. It was it it was it felt kind of cheesy, but also felt kind of good that they like made a solid reference. Like good reference, bro.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:28

I would say it was so not on the nose that I didn't get it, so it seems like a successful reference. Not too far. Also, I would just like to throw this out there because we'd kind of talked about this earlier. This isn't like a best part, worst part, but the thing at the end that made me have like a little juicy eyeball was just the family coming together. And I don't know why. Evidently, I just really want a family. But since we're talking about the end, I just wanted to mention that's the thing. Like they're all sitting in the sunshine together, like hugging each other, even though the mom just tried to kill the daughter. Everybody's just totally fine with it, evidently. So they're just all sitting there hugging, and I just had like a moment of like, oh, this is so sweet. And this movie definitely didn't deserve an all this is so sweet to have a tear in my eye moment. But you know, I gotta be honest about what happened.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:17

I gotta confess, I also had a tear in my eye in this movie, but it wasn't that, it was when Sadie died.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:22

Yes, when Sadie died, it was so sad because my only thought when that dog was on screen is wow, this is the most beautiful dog I've ever seen in my life. And of course we couldn't have her for long. It was the worst.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:35

Yeah, Ryan, I agree. She was booked and busy, couldn't stay on set very long, and it had to have a heartbreaking emotional moment in this movie, which is part of the reason why I'll avoid re-watching it with any frequency. I think it has some rewatch value. I don't think this is a movie that I could watch every single year because it would lose some of its meaning for me. But this is something that I think I'll watch a few years down the road when I'm in the mood for something spooky.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:00

I don't see any reason why I will watch this again. Like I said, I've I've seen the last one. I'll probably watch some other conjuring movies, but I can't see myself turning this on.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:10

Yeah, for me, it might be something I watch in a series once I'm done with the Friday the 13th. But it does, like you mentioned, Chris, have to be a little bit removed, or I think it'll lose its uh rewatchability, in my opinion. But yeah, definitely worth it again.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:24

Yeah, it sounds like even though this was a universal slash, none of us are itching to watch it again. And I find myself in the same boat. However, I am open to watching some of the sequels if I haven't already seen them. I actually still don't know if I have or not.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:39

I would actually rewatch this movie several times before ever watching the sequels voluntarily.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:43

I don't know if I feel that strongly. I just I'm good with having watched this, and I'm also good not watching any of the sequels. So if you asked me to pick one, rewatching this one several times or watching the sequels, I would say no thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:56

That's fair. But you know what you are going to do? You are gonna hit us with some fact or fiction.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:00

Oh, you know it. I can't just leave the episode without some of that. So let's start out with number one. The real life parent family said that the events that took place in the house were so scarring that they would never set foot there again.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:12

Likely a fact.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:13

This feels like an obvious fact, but almost too obvious. So I'm gonna say fiction.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:18

Fact?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:19

Nope, this one's fiction. Most of the real life parent family would apparently feel comfortable moving back into the house. The five daughters basically spent their prime growing up years there. They lived there for ten years almost, like nine years, I think. Andrea Perrin has visited multiple times and said, always feels like I'm home when I'm there.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:34

I guess like if this was just what happened when you first moved in and then you moved past it and then made memories for ten years afterwards, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:42

Just every now and then you hear some knocking on the door that's no one.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:45

You know, it would be useful if the ghosts would do things like take the trash out. Then it would be like, you can make a sound now and then, just take the trash out.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:51

Grab the mail. That's what I want.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:53

Number two. Lorraine Warren did not believe in ghosts until later in life.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:57

Hmm. I'll go with a fact.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:59

I'm gonna say fiction. She seems to me like a lifelong clairvoyant who probably saw a bunch of ghosts and shit when she was a child.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:07

Um, down the middle, but I have to pick one, so fact.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:10

This one is indeed a fact. So, while she was a clairvoyant and apparently from a young age felt those kind of powers or whatever they are. Um, but she said she was wary of the people they initially spoke to with Supposed Haunting, saying, I thought they were kind of suffering from overactive imaginations or were just making things up to get attention. But over time, helping her husband, helping these people, apparently she eventually believed in it. Number three. The Warrens did not charge for their services and made most of their money from donations given from the affected families and local churches.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:41

Ooh, this feels like a hard fact.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:43

Yeah, that sounds factual.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:44

Fiction?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:45

It is indeed fiction. While they didn't charge, they made money from college lectures and from licensing rights about themselves to books, movies, and TV shows.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:54

I guess that's so obvious it's unbearable, really. That's literally what we're talking about, is the movie.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:02

And in the movie, we even see one of those or two of those lectures happening.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:05

And they talk about a book. It's great.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:07

Yeah. Gotta make that bank. Number four. The real life parent family has said there were multiple other spirits in the house, including nice ones that might act up and make a little noise to get attention when guests visited.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:17

My dad used to say that this woman in a beautiful purple dress stood on his stairs all the time in his house, so I believe in this. We'll go fact.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:25

I'm gonna say fact as well. That place seemed like it'd be full of ghosts.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:29

Fact.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:30

Yeah, this one's a fact. And number five. Mr. Warren stated that during the real life exorcism, he could feel the entity reach into his chest and squeeze the air out of his lungs to keep him from continuing the right.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:41

Uh I don't know. I'm just gonna keep saying fact. I've been going with it all night.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:46

I mean, true or not, he probably said this in his book because it sounds compelling.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:50

So fact.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:51

Definitely fiction.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:53

This one's a fiction, because what exorcism? They didn't even do an exorcism. So eventually, they're having all these troubles, they're working with the family, they bring in a medium and they perform a seance, which is what supposedly caused Beth Sheba, I guess is how you say her name, uh, to no longer give the family trouble. She gave them a hard time. Apparently, you know, the the mother got tossed around into the air. Sounds like somebody jumped off the bed to me. I don't know. But afterwards, after this seance, all was good and they learned to be uh pretty happy. I mean, again, they lived in the house for nine years, they got used to having the nice ghosts, uh, and they looked fondly upon it uh in their memories.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:29

Can you imagine? It's like someone comes over and they're like, what's that sound of nah? It's just George.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:34

It's just one of the ghosts.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:35

He's just looking in the cupboard to see if there's any food.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:38

George, you're not getting any more attention. Okay, we've already played with you today. Go back to your room. We'll see you next year. Well, that's been factor fiction.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:45

Well, as interesting as it is to learn that the Warrens did not, in fact, do an exorcism, at least the movie ended a little bit more climatically. And with that, folks, the conjuring from 2013 has earned a universal slash. Now, obviously, there is a lot to discuss about this movie. It's extremely highly regarded in terms of how scary it is, so we want to know what you think. We want to know if you also were scared by this movie. Now, keep in mind there are a number of ways you can reach out to us, starting with our new website, hackerslash.live, and on our social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:16

And if you, like me, are pretty confident ghosts don't exist, but you'd like to tell us some stories about it, you can reach out to our Hackerslash Hotline. You can leave us a voicemail at 757-606-0128, or visit hackerslash.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:30

Or if you're more than pretty sure because you know for a fact ghosts do not exist just like I do, you can send us an email to feedback at hackerslash.com.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:38

And if you've enjoyed listening to this episode, consider joining the New Blood Drive and becoming one of our patrons. You can visit patreon.com slash hacker slash to earn cool perks for as low as $1 a month. But don't forget, if you decide to join our $3 or $5 tier, you'll also receive our fourth anniversary Halloween poster.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:54

We'll see you next time, folks, and remember, sometimes it's better to keep the genie in a bottle. Bye.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:07

Alright, team. So I think all of you know, but I don't know if all of our patrons realize that our patrons now get to suggest topics for us to discuss during this B-side segment. So in reality, this is now free side.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:20

For a little while, not forever.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:22

It's kind of fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:24

It's like a free sample at a Wegmans.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:26

Wegmans, really? Is that the that that's a free sample place you go for?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:30

That's the best free samples.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:31

It's not Costco, because I love that. Because you can get anything.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:35

Well, anything can happen on free side. So here we go.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:38

So let's start out with our first one ever. So this one comes from our patron Zach, who says, definitely should talk about how all of you met. Still confused on the backstory behind that. I'm a sucker for a good origin story, as long as it doesn't mess with original canon stuff. So I think everybody here knows how it began, right? Everyone knows it all ties back to 1666. To Chris.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:00

Exactly. Part one.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:02

There's always a lesbian involved somewhere. And we're all tied to her.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:08

Figuratively, wouldn't complain about that.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:10

She swore she'd never tell any of you.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:12

She did try to keep me in Florida, so there's that. I did.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:15

So I think the first of us of the group that's here now that got to work with Chris is you, Alexis.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:21

Oh. I am very fortunate.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:24

I am OG, kinda sorta. I'm sure you all knew her, but in the creation of this podcast, yes, we were bonding over horror movies, Chris, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:34

Yeah. There was a time where chronologically speaking, the first person here I ever met was Mac. Oh. And I met Mac at work back in 2015. Yeah. He did his James Earl Jones impression and was love at first sight, honestly. Oh no. This is a guy that I could be friends with. And then we never spoke again.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:52

Right. We did have a meeting at one point in a Dunkin' Donuts. So that's pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:56

That was uncomfortable, honestly. But then many years after that, there's a time when I left that job that I met Mac at. I joined a different company, and I got to meet Alexis not at the office building, but at a cheesecake factory, because it was like a lunch introduction situation. Yes, it was. Yeah. And I was like, who is this girl with such nice hair? And then I was trying to figure out if you're gay or not, and it was like a whole thing for a few months.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:22

Which uh jury's still out wrong, but I could see why.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:27

Uh short nails. It was just never clear. It was just never clear. I am ambiguous on my social media, unless I'm totally with someone. Then you know. Once you're out of my life, you're you're like dead. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:38

As they should be.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:40

Yeah, but it was just so fun like bonding with you over horror movies. I feel like it you don't really get that nowadays, or especially on my work, I'm not sitting there talking about like horror movies or anything like that. And I remember the first time I was so nervous. I'm sure, like both of you, or all three of you guys, but I was just, what do I what am I gonna say?

SPEAKER_03 1:13:59

What if I mess up? And I'm like, hell, I've messed up plenty of times. Thank you, Chris, for fixing all my mistakes.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:07

But yeah, it was just such a sweet, sweet story.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:10

Yeah, what was it? Um, I think I was standing in your office one day and I found out that you liked horror movies. And I mentioned that I had a horror movie podcast. It was like then like almost six months later, I think that you ended up you and I actually hung out outside of work for the first time, and that was for the podcast. Yeah, it was awesome.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:25

It was it it was quite a quite a journey that the podcast has taken, and being able to be a part of it's been awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:31

So that was step two out of this group here. So step one was Mac in 2015, step two was Alexis in 2016, and then in 2017, I went back to my job that I met Mac at, and it was now a part-time second job, in addition to the job I was working with Alexis at. I walked into a room one day, and this is where I locked eyes with Ryan, and she told me that she hated her job, but jokingly, of course, because we all know she actually loves it.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:58

Yes, very true. And I think that the story of how I ended up here is not so much about like Chris and I necessarily talking about horror, although we did a little bit of that, because obviously that's what Chris is about. But I think it was mostly just Chris enjoying the way I talk about things and just being like, Hi, can you come talk on my podcast about horror movies? And I was like, But I'm an idiot, I don't know what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:21

Well, hold on a second, because here we have the intersection, we have a gap because Ryan and Mac met each other before I met Ryan. Yes. And then there was a point where the four of us hung out with Alexis, and that was Alexis's first time, and like my two worlds were crossing. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:39

And I had heard so much about Alexis, and I honestly am a person that a lot of people meet and don't immediately love because of whatever reasons that exist in the world. But sometimes people are a little offended. Some usually because I think I'm funny and people don't think I'm funny. Usually people want you to be like nice and like, oh my gosh, it's so nice to meet you, and like, I'm just not that girl. But I walked up to Alexis and we were just like immediately friends, and it was so lovely, and we had no like awkward moments because it's just the Chris that we both love. It was basically a triangle forming. It it really was. And the two sides needed to connect, you know?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:18

And then I disconnected, and they're still connecting very often.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:22

This is like the story of the Wizard of Oz and Chris's Dorothy just like gathering friends along the way.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:27

I did used to have glittery ruby red slippers when I was a child and couldn't dress myself.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:32

Yeah, it was such a lovely experience. Like the three of us just meeting at the movies, falling in love together, having a great time, and then a Mac arrived. I do have to say one thing.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:43

Uh, my mom was obsessed with Mac. I don't know, she still might be, but she's with someone. But she's like, Who is that man on there with the sexiest voice? And I was like, Yep, perfect edition.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:54

Sex appeal, late night talks. Here we go. Thank you, Mac. You two are meant to be.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:58

Even crazier to the story. I I actually met Alexis' mom before I met Alexis. I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:07

The Puerto Rican Day Festival.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:08

Right, right. We you go to the Puerto Rican Club, all the Puerto Ricans meet. That's how it works. Um, so you know, I had listened to the podcast, and for me, it was when I would like save up because it's it's a good length, and so I'd save it up for for long drives to go see my parents. So that's eight hours potentially of listening time, and you could just like listen like back to back to back. And then I remember mentioning something to Chris about how I just disagreed with whatever statement was made or like it was Pet Cemetery. It was it was a pet cemetery, yeah. The Pet Cemetery episode, I did not agree with some of the sentiments on. I was really passionate about it because I had a lot of thoughts about that movie. And I just thought it was so cool, first of all, to have a podcast as someone who had listened to podcasts. And when the opportunity came up to potentially, you know, join an episode, I was so psyched.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:59

Yeah, so we all went to go see Crawl together, and then Mac was this is all at a point where Alexis, Mac, and Ryan joined in the turmoil of us going through some changes with people who were on the show and then were considering not being on the show anymore. And it was really in the process of us finding our stride. So Mac came on to be a guest, Ryan came on to be a guest, and then I really enjoyed, and Alexis agreed, really enjoyed both of them and the chemistry that they had with us, and so we invited them both to come hang out.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:32

So some of you may also remember Pegge, who was a joy to work with, especially uh once at you know, at at work, that was fun, but then on the pod, a lot of fun. What a great guy. And Pejge went on to do some really cool stuff career-wise, but then there was a gap, right? Because now, okay, we have four people, and that's fine. But there was another voice that needed to be heard, and we didn't even know that the hole that was left here was para-shaped.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:58

It's true, and we needed the vampire teeth for sure, because that was the first photo I got, and I was like, Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:05

So that was the thing, right? Because we fell into a stride with Page not being here, where the four of us we'd all either hack a movie or slash a movie, but there wasn't a lot of discourse within there. We needed a little bit of dissent.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:19

Wow, here I am. And I think that makes a lot of sense now that I'm hearing this, Chris. Um, because when you and I met and we started talking about horror, you were like, Oh, I have a podcast. And I was like, You have a podcast? Well, I'll listen to it to see if it's any good. And I was like, Okay, it's good, I enjoy it. But then I would listen to the episodes and I would come into work and I'd be like, Okay, I just listened to this episode and nobody said this. Also, somebody said this, and that was insane, and there's just like not enough of these things being said. And I was like, You should have me as a guest on your podcast so I can be the voice of Reason. And Chris was like, Yeah, you can be on like a test episode.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:49

Yeah, well, first you volunteered to start taking doing our Twitter because life was very hard for me and I couldn't keep up with it.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:55

Oh, that's true too. You were talking about how you need help with social media, and I was like, I'm on social media all day, I can do it. Give me the login.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:02

And then he got the keys to the castle before he ever really saw what the castle looked like.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:07

That's true. And then I got here and I was like, okay, we're gonna change this, we're gonna change this, and everyone was like, Nobody asked you, Paris. Sit down.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:13

We love it. But we did meet for clarity's sake, you know, in honor of Zach's original question. Paris and I met through work, and that's at the same company that I've met everybody except Alexis.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:25

Yeah, we're all one team, and then Alexis is here, and so sometimes we have a bunch of conversations that are work adjacent, and she's just asleep in the side.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:34

Yeah, I'm just okay, when they want to talk about something else, because I have no idea what the hell is going on. But it's cool. I enjoy I enjoy some work drama, no matter where it's coming from.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:44

But I think it also should be said that Chris and I met when she moved to Florida, and as a result, I've actually never met Mac or Alexis in person. And I only recently met Ryan in person for the first time.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:55

Yeah. And let me tell you guys, if you don't like Paris, he's even better in person. Something about Paris' personality hits different when you meet him. Okay, I don't know how to explain it. It's like the sassiness, is it it works in person. Here, sometimes I'm like, shut up, Paris. Like Paris is trying to rush us at the beginning of every podcast because he's ready to go to bed. And I'm like, Paris, no.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:20

No, it's because I see Chris's face and she won't say it.

SPEAKER_06 1:21:23

Oh, I know, but now it's different, it hits different now that I've seen you in person. I don't know why. I cannot explain it. I've never felt that way before. Usually you like people less in person, honestly, because you know, you can pretend to be cool on a podcast in person. I gotta see the true colors.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:39

Well, I'm glad I translate better.

SPEAKER_06 1:21:41

Me too. It was a great experience meeting you. And also, your boyfriend is like my spirit animal. We're me and him are very much aligned, whereas you and Chris are much more aligned on other things.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:52

This is true, as evidenced by the one time we tried to do anything together.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:57

Very true. So much evidence. I have to admit, I don't know about Mac, but I did have some FOMO when you were all together. Not some FOMO, lots of FOMO. I'm pretty sure and I was on vacation and I was like, can you believe they're all meeting?

SPEAKER_02 1:22:10

It's it's so funny because I was editing the Basket Case episode after we already met, and in that B-side segment, we talk about what it is gonna be like for Ryan to meet Paris, and then we also talked at some point about Ryan asked, Paris, whenever we like eventually get together and have drinks, can you talk tell us stories? And then that never happened. We just went and saw Candyman. It's so true.

SPEAKER_06 1:22:34

We really should have had like an extended experience, but I think we were just all very like old people that are tired. And we we were we were out watching a movie on a Tuesday.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:44

I think we did a lot in the short time we had together.

SPEAKER_06 1:22:46

I mean, I did. I had chicken tenders, we watched a movie, recorded an entire podcast. We did record a podcast, yeah. We oh we had pizza, yeah. We we had a couple drinks, we just didn't do many stories.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:58

I was gonna say, seems like you guys did a lot in the group chat.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:01

We did, but the beautiful thing is that Alexis had FOMO before anything ever happened because in that episode she was talking about can you guys FaceTime me?

SPEAKER_01 1:23:08

Oh, and we didn't.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:10

You didn't, it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:11

I mean, we FaceTime you every week.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:12

We did during the pro podcast. Oh no, she wasn't on the episode. Oh, I could have answered, I guess, but what was I doing? Oh, I was traveling.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:19

In the mountains, getting hills have eyes.

SPEAKER_06 1:23:22

It was really interesting recording in Florida because so normally our setup here is that me, Mac, and Alexis are in Virginia and the rest are in Florida separately. And when we were in Florida, it was me, Chris, and Paris, and then Mac was just up here all by himself, just annoyed that we were going on and on talking trash in person, and we were like, We're so sorry the whole time.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:44

I was not annoyed.

SPEAKER_06 1:23:45

I was gonna say, I don't think you was.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:47

The most likely situation, I was very tired. Just like I I am every time that you speak to me ever. I'm always tired. I will say though, it it's interesting to me that I have seen more of I I've seen Paris's nipples more times than I've ever met. I'll say that. Because, you know, when when you were when you were being invited to join on, and of course, we're gonna check out your Instagram, and you have these amazing, like model style photos at the beach and stuff, and you're wearing the speedo, and it's like, okay, I've seen a lot of this human being. Never, never had a chance to to meet you yet.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:16

But honestly, Mac, you've pretty much got the full experience. I talk to you every week, you've seen my nipples, I don't have much else to offer.

SPEAKER_06 1:24:23

Also, this is very true. Also, as far as humans go, there's a lot of him to see. He's a large human, so you've seen plenty. So much. He's really tall, huh? Very tall.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:33

This is so weird talking about how someone tall someone is, but you've like known them for a year. Like I know.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:38

Almost two years. Isn't that wild? It is weird. So for Zach, we record remotely every week over FaceTime.

SPEAKER_06 1:24:45

Yeah, and and I like to think that people can't tell that because our podcast is so well produced by the lovely Chris. Because if I knew a podcast I was listening to was on FaceTime, I'd be annoyed.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:55

Yeah, you can always tell like one person's audio is like janky because it's FaceTime.

SPEAKER_06 1:24:59

Yeah, and the awkward lag of like waiting for someone to talk and then like if you ever see a FaceTime or like video podcast episode on like YouTube and it's recorded that way and it's video, it's miserable.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:11

We do care about the little things here. And I think it's also interesting, you know, we talked about how we met. It's also interesting to think about the evolution of how we've even made the show. We started out initially back in 2017 remotely. We didn't flip to in-person, even though we're all living within the same city, until Alexis joined the show. We we went we went local like uh two episodes before Alexis joined. We used to do it all in person. We went back remote when I would record alone from Florida, and the three of them stayed together, and then Paris and I would record together, and then just before the pandemic hit, we started recording separately, just so we could, and then uh haven't seen you since.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:52

Yeah, so basically, if if you look at our devices when we're when we're recording, it looks like the pretty bunch.

SPEAKER_06 1:25:57

Yeah, pretty much.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:58

It's true, but we're the Freddy bunch because we're afraid of the movies.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:03

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:03

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:04

I'm truly so sick of you, especially after that B minus joke from Candyman. I cannot deal with you anymore. Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:12

That was so good. I was devastated that it only was on B sides.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:16

Uh it didn't work, okay. Well, I for one am thankful that the lovely Chris Rojas has brought us all together because I was talking to somebody recently about how they had started a podcast and they're not gonna keep doing it. And I was like, yeah, you really, really, really have to have some passion because there's no point. It's uh there's no end goal. You just work and like we just keep trying to be better. But if somebody doesn't care a lot about things, it will not keep going. Like, we don't want to show up a bunch of times, not because we don't want to be here, but just because we're tired humans. And if we didn't like each other as much, I'm sure that we wouldn't be here by now. And if Chris didn't put in the hard work she does, we wouldn't be here. So shout out to our showrunner, baby. I'm just glad y'all keep showing up. We do our best.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:02

I always love that Chris's whole like philosophy when starting this was to like bring people together over a shared love of horror, and she's done that with all of us, but then she's also done that on an even larger scale with all of our patrons.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:14

Right. It's wild to think about. Well, all of our listeners, really.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:18

True. Myself, Mac, and Ryan are going head to head with our recommendations in what we're officially calling the co-host clash.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:27

The co-host clash?

SPEAKER_01 1:27:31

Not what I expected, but great. Love that energy.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:35

Yeah, you're waiting for something. We can do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:37

Well, I figured just some sort of fanfare, but that's absolutely perfect. That's gorgeous. Should we do that again? No, it's fine. Okay. Since Alexis and Ryan get to plan the schedule every month.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:49

Alexis and Chris? Damn it, Ryan.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:52

Damn you, Ryan.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:56

But I'm not sure how I got into the movies because I was definitely. A grown-ass woman in 2013. I was 23, not 13. What the fuck? I'll just read that.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:10

Funny side story. I was an extra in a movie that had Patrick Wilson in it and Kate Winslet, and I got to watch them hang out by a pool with their pretend children.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:18

What movie is this?

SPEAKER_01 1:28:20

Something about children. Little children? Little children? I think it's little children. I did. I actually got paid, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:28:26

My brother was an extra once and he got a breakfast sandwich. It's actually called Little Children.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:31

Yes, it's called Little Children. Um they did feed us as well craft services. It's always great when you're an extra in a movie. I did that for like one summer, one year. I just did a bunch of random bullshit. But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about this movie. But it was sort of interspersed. Is that the word?

SPEAKER_06 1:28:48

Dispersed, interlaced.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:49

Interspersed is a word too.

SPEAKER_06 1:28:50

Like don't say that word. It sounds fake. Aligned. Combined with. Mixed in, peppered in, sprinkled.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:58

Sprinkled throughout.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:01

What are you guys laughing at? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:06

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:10

Oh man. Annabelle low key bad as fuck. Okay, but actually, what people on Instagram look like, though.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:16

That is. My Annabelle head is missing, actually. Chill.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:22

You have an Annabelle head?

SPEAKER_04 1:29:23

That's one thing I will not put in my fucking house.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:26

Yeah, I have an Annabelle figure on my shelf, and I have one of her spare heads on my dresser, and now it's gone.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:32

Randomly spare Annabelle head.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:34

This is once again throwback to the Candyman episode where every five seconds I just said, chill. Every time y'all try to say Candyman, I feel the same way about Annabelle. Chill. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:43

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:46

Okay, but actually, where's my Annabelle head? Okay, chill.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:50

It moved across the room.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:52

Obviously.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:52

Let her live.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:53

It's been sitting here untouched for months. Exactly. Wow. She was in a box.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:58

Maybe she wanted to find somebody to touch her.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:01

I don't know. You'd be stupid to think you're the only person on this earth. There isn't like spirits and stuff. And some are causing harm.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:10

Well, I I but the Okay, Ryan.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:15

I love this discourse.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:17

You just got that man shook. I thought you were gonna say you've seen that in a bedroom. I don't know where. I thought you were gonna go with that. If I'm throwing up, normally I'm not seeing it.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:29

Two ghosts, one cup. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:32

I I have something to get us back on board. Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:36

Probably need to go to a psychiatrist for this. An demonologist, actually. Probably that too, but I started seeing things like I made myself see stuff when I was younger. Like I was seeing bloody handprints on the wall. My mom's like, what are you talking about? I watched way too much unsolved mysteries when I was younger. But yeah, it w it was bad. My mom probably thought it was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:57

Seeing things in the dark like that is a completely normal human thing to do. Like pretty much everyone does it. It's our brain's way of like preparing for what we need to defend ourselves against.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:06

That's why I got bells on my door, just so I know when someone comes in, I can hear it. You got that idea from this movie, yeah? Yeah. Yeah, my counselor. Yep. She's like to make yourself self-feel safe. Literally, they're Christmas ones. Yeah, ghosts can move through walls. Don't ruin that for me, Chris. Well, ghosts aren't real, so it doesn't matter. Ghosts are real. Then you better get something besides bells. Hey, they use bells and shit in this movie, okay? When they did that setup.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:31

If you've ever seen The Sixth Sense, you know that the scariest ghost is usually the nicest one. Because the one that freaked me out the most when I was watching that was the little girl that pops up like suddenly, and then she's puking, and then she ends up being just a sweet little girl. So I think if you're worried about ghosts, you just need to befriend them. And that's what the little girl in this movie does to the little boy ghost. I just thought it was funny when she blamed the first bruise on their late-night passion. She's like, oh, look what you did to me last night.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:58

I will confirm that sometimes happens. Yep. Sure does. Bingo. I would describe, but uh I'll stop there.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:05

No need. Like we all know that it has happened before.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:10

Exactly. I definitely got um scream doofy.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:14

Dewey. That's that's the other one.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:18

That's scary movie.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:19

That's a scary movie.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:22

I gotta confess, I also had a tear in my eye in this movie. But it wasn't that. It was when Sadie died. Hello? Is this Alexis? Look, I'm not gonna not cry about a dog dying.

SPEAKER_06 1:32:32

Oh, oh my god, I thought you said Satan.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:34

I thought you said Satan too. That's why I was confused. Also, Ronnie's saying, okay, Alexis.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:42

It sounds like fact or fiction.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:44

Sounds like your stomach hurts.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:45

Oh, that's Tofu snoring. Can you hear it? Oh my god. Mm hmm.