188: Poltergeist (1982 vs 2015)

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Rest in peace to your pipes, bro.

SPEAKER_04 0:11

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hack or Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. They're here. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack, a total joke, a waste of time, or a slash.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_04 0:28

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're raiding these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of figure 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. Hola, Muchachos, the Gore Lover Alexis, hey everyone, and the cowardly creeper Ryan. Hiya. This week we're checking out a paranormal 1982 film penned by one Steven Spielberg and comparing it against its 2015 remake. Before we get down to business that we had some follow-up.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

So when we reviewed Hush, it was a universal slash. And when we asked our audience, they also agreed it was a universal slash.

SPEAKER_04 1:06

How good does it feel since that was your winner in the co-host clash? Oh, it is still so redeeming.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

I can't get over it. What a way to turn it around from 13 Ghosts, honestly. Amen. Well, with all that positivity, I wanted to throw in a comment here from Rob on our Patreon where he had to be a bit of a contrarian. He said, I watched this movie when it was new and I loved it. I didn't think it held up all that well on the rewatch though. The pacing issues really stood out and I found myself getting bored at points. I'm surprising myself by giving this a hack. And we are surprised as well, Rob. We are too.

SPEAKER_04 1:40

Absolutely. A lot of people actually were very passionate about this, including one of our new patrons, Matt, who actually uh we bonded a little bit over our love of Mike Lanning in a particularly emotional scene in that movie. So I see you, Matt.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Yes, there was lots of love for Hush. I also just wanted to shout out one of our Instagram comments from Horror Princess who said, just wanted to say I love this podcast. I'm a huge horror fan, and it took me so long to find a really good horror review podcast. I found you guys back when I was searching for a review of my favorite movie, House of a Thousand Corpses, which we will forgive you for. Don't talk bad about that movie. And they say, and ever since then I've been listening to you guys every morning while I get ready for work. I'm a hospital corpsman currently stationed in Japan. But anywho, you guys are great, and thank you for giving me something to genuinely look forward to every week. I see you out here, shipmate. Thanks. So sweet of you. Yes, let us know when you get sick of us. And last but of course not least, I just want to shout out our new patron, Kiola.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Welcome to the family.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Yes, we're happy to have you here, and that is our follow-up.

SPEAKER_04 2:40

Well, a week before audiences enjoyed Spielberg's film E.T. in Theatres back in the summer of 1982, a different Spielberg film hit theaters. This one though directed by Toby Hooper. The film, which centers around a family whose home is haunted by demonic ghosts, was a combination of a real life cemetery debacle and Spielberg's childhood fears. While it ultimately became the highest grossing horror film of both 1982 and Toby Hooper's career, it eventually became equally known for its allegedly cursed cast. In 2013, 20th Century Fox and MGM began working together to bring audiences a new version of the film, one that would pay homage to its predecessor while amping up its horror angle. This week we're talking about both versions of Poltergeist. Now who's seen either of these before?

SPEAKER_00 3:24

I wanted to say before this that I had seen the original Poltergeist, but while I watched it, I actually have I think I've only seen clips. I don't think I've ever sat down and watched the full movie start to finish, and I've definitely never seen the 2015 until now.

SPEAKER_04 3:39

But have you seen Petergeist, the Family Guy parody of Poltergeist?

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Cannot say that I have.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

That's so surprising. Because I've seen it multiple times. And with my family, we have certain inside jokes for this movie. I mean, I'm not surprised.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

This does feel like a hey, I watched this with my family movie. So you're not this one is not that weird, I'd say. Some of the ones you've seen with your family are this one, Abuela was leading you the right way this time. That's like my stepdad and my mom, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:20

I've seen the original before several times growing up. It's one of those that I don't think I was ever super crazy about, but it was a classic and we did watch it probably about as frequently as we watched like E.T. or Back to the Future, etc. But what I hadn't seen was the 2015 version. And I wanted to when it came out because I remember seeing a poster for it and then just really focusing on the clown from the kid's bedroom. And I'm thinking, man, this could be really, really good. And then I heard it was pretty, pretty meh. So I think I just held off until uh we'd eventually do it here.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Yeah, I think it goes without saying, you know, I haven't seen either of these movies. I don't really know a lot about poltergeist. It's just like a thing that I know exists, but you know, like I haven't seen The Exorcist, but I know a lot of things about it and scenes and stuff like that. I realized as I was starting this, I know nothing about Poltergeist, and then I realized I have to figure out what it means that Steven Spielberg is a part of this and like what kind of movie he makes. So I spent a lot of the time starting this movie figuring that out, like kind of trying to find the direction this we're gonna take me. But my expectations were quite low, generally speaking. I mean, we've got an old and then we've got a remake. I I kind of just went in like numb and ready for whatever was gonna come at me.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

I feel like I felt the same way, but seeing as I saw the original, you know, I was expecting to pick up on things I didn't miss or nuances or stuff like that. So I figured it would be loaded with other things. And I was really interested in see the remake. And Chris, like you mentioned, I heard so much stuff about it in the beginning. I heard it was really expected to be scary, it was just some a very updated version of this movie. So I was expecting to really enjoy it. Although Sam Rockwell, I can tell you, is the worst actor in my opinion. So I had very much vibes that I wasn't gonna like this movie because of him.

SPEAKER_04 6:16

Okay, his voice annoys me. Also, watched an interview with him. I don't even like his facial expressions in interviews. He seems very blase and very like, I'm just gonna dip my head real low, not really make eye contact with you, not because I'm shy, but because I think you're not worth the eye contact.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

That's what it felt like to me. Yeah, he has creepy vibes, creepy, needs to be in jail vibes.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

What on earth is happening right now? How do you guys like like not like Sam Rockwell? I don't understand it.

SPEAKER_04 6:44

I'm sorry, why should I like him?

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Galaxy quests, moon, all sorts of other things that he's great in.

SPEAKER_04 6:50

All very sci-fi things that you were passionate about, and I give no shits about, sir. I'm just saying he was uh not super impressive, bruh. I mean, I feel like he was a dad, you know?

SPEAKER_01 7:00

He was a dad here. That's what we got. We got a real dad, not a cool dad, not a movie dad, just a real dad.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

He didn't have some great new balances though, so he was missing out.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

It's too modern. This was 2015, they didn't know. They didn't know it was coming back.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

When going into the original, you know, we're I watched this one with my wife. We we sat down to watch it one evening, and uh she was kind of like, oh, I don't know what's gonna happen, right? Because she's never never seen it. And I knew what to expect. I knew it was gonna be kind of like a family-friendly spook fest, so nothing too insane. And I was just kind of expecting a a good time, like E.T. but for horror in a way.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

E.T. for horror is not a bad way to look at it. I remember having this sense of adventure watching this movie. Not like it's the most exciting thing that ever happens, right? But there's something about the way it's filmed that feels very we're thrown into the life of a suburban family, and it for some reason, I know this is gonna sound really weird. It has like Honey, I shrunk the kids energy minus all the comedy, but it's something cinematically that that feels very similar to that. And I really think it's because we get so much perspective from the younger kids in the family. And I think I just associate it in my mind with other movies I saw around the time. So I expected to go into this with Polzergash from 1982 being like rock solid classic. I know exactly what's going on here. You know, you've seen it once, you've seen it a million times, and if you've seen it three times or four times, whatever, then you know, there's nothing left to really discover. But I then I remembered I hadn't really seen it since I was a teenager. So that was a really interesting thing for me to like reconcile with. For the remake though, I I was really hoping they'd make things a lot more sinister. So I knew that with some of the marketing from the film, it was gonna look a little bit darker. How do they make this for a modern audience in 2015? How do they up the ante a little bit? So I expected it to not be as good, but I expected it to really stand on its own, which I found that my reactions to both going into them pretty meh. I've I feel like 2015 was pretty meh for me, and the 1982, I mean, I think I walked into it with it built up in my mind for nostalgia, and I found myself a little bit bored.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

It was so much meh feeling during both of these movies that it shocked me. It's not like I'm here to tell you I I hate this movie that I didn't feel that, but I don't I think it has to do with the honey I shrunk the kids but horror feeling of this. It's almost like I didn't know movies like this existed and they appeared in this form, and I'm just like, why is that there? Why did anyone do that? Why is it classic VHS but horror? I don't know how to describe it. I guess, I guess because like ET is like the classic VHS thing I'm thinking of, but it's just this type of movie, Honey I Shrunk the Kids is the perfect way to describe it, and it's supposed to be horror. And I don't know, it's a very weird feeling, and it still feels weird in the new one, even though I think it they did that slightly less.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

I wouldn't say meh was my feeling for this, but yes, I do get these Honey I Shrunk the Kids vibes, the ET, and it's the setting, like the setting to me, and I know we'll talk about originality later, but it wasn't original, so I I found myself, although I had high expectations for watching this after I'd seen it multiple times, I was kind of bored. Like I was like, I feel like I'm missing something. Like this used to be when I was younger, a fun movie to watch, entertaining, and it really lost me during that part. I was like, I must be missing some part of this movie because it used to be a fun watch.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Interesting. I did not have the same reaction as everyone here. I wasn't bored. I felt that it was a pretty interesting watch. It's not like super high-stakes action where you're on the edge of your seat sweating into the ground or anything, but they sure made it act like it was supposed to be. They yeah, but you know what? This is I think it's targeted for the family. I don't think this is a movie for, you know, 30-something to go sit alone and and feel like they're going to be stressing the whole time. I think this is something where parents can sit with a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old, and everyone can still kind of enjoy it, and you eat your popcorn and and you know, have your big soda or something like that, or chocolate milk, and you're like, oh, that was fun at the end of it.

SPEAKER_04 11:18

Well, I think the important distinction here though, right, is even you in your 30s, you're watching this for the first time, but it's for the first time. So I think it's really interesting to see even that parallel of, you know, Alexis and I, we walked into this with great expectations because we'd know and we've loved this movie, we've grown up to it with all this nostalgia. But there's something about it that hits different. And I think it's almost as if it's kind of like the Mandela effect where you imagine all these movies. I think I imagined a different poltergeist movie that is different from the poltergeist movie that we get because the ending is wild. And logistically on paper, I could sit down and before watching this and write down everything that happens, and it for sure happens. But I found that there were some lulls in there that I don't know how it kept my attention as a kid because it I for sure paid attention to it, but I found myself feeling the runtime more than I ever have before.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Whoo, that runtime was long, baby. On the old one. It is like it feels like three hours. And it feels like three hours from like 10 minutes in. Like every second of that movie feels like it's so long. You never get a break from that runtime.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Yeah, I watched this on a streaming service, Foo Boo, like the clothing, and it was streaming, I guess, from BBC or something. I'm telling you, they have the longest commercials ever. I was like, this movie is now for fucking hours.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Well, what I was most surprised by was specifically while watching 2015 poltergeist, is how this movie is so much like a line-for-line remake. I mean, it's not. I understand that it's not, and I get I mean, I guess what do I expect out of a remake if it's not gonna be a complete re-imagination, you know? But when they kept doing the exact same things with just slightly different settings, I was truly the least happy I could have been. I I was so disappointed with how similar the remake is. And I maybe that sounds dumb and that's my own expectation, but I don't feel like they improved in the places that need improvement. I feel like they just did it again.

SPEAKER_04 13:29

Interesting. So I actually, for all the mehness that I walked away from the whole experience with, I actually felt they did a lot different. Now, a lot of things they did the same. A lot of things they did the same, so don't don't come at me quite yet. Like, you know, we have the classic quotes, you're here, but you also know that you have it the legend, the icon, Zelda Rubenstein from the first film, who you can't recreate, so they go a more modern direction with that, with like the paranormal ghost hunter who's like popular on in the media coming into the house. So I think you have some slightly different directions there, but what I was most surprised about was how totally different it was because A, you get an arc for one of the siblings that you don't get in the original, there's a lot of added value there. Uh, you also get basically the entire structure of the story in the first film. You discover some things along the way, and then you're thrown into that reality immediately with the remake. So they are learning this upfront. It's not some big we're gonna hold it to the end and just really shock you in the last bit here. They really put all their cards on the table. I think they made a lot of improvements visually. Now, I think the original Polter Guys, it's impressive what they did in the time that they did it for sure. And I think nothing beats that classic feel, but they went a really interesting direction in the remake that I wasn't expecting in terms of how they brought to life what the little girl sees. And I wasn't expecting that.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Yeah, they're they're two very different vibes, and that that surprised me because you know, a lot of times when you get a remake, like like Ryan mentioned, you get that line for line bit, and so they they do that. You know, they pull some scenes, they pull some some ideas from it, they pull some literal lines from from the original scripts, but the vibes are so different. Like the family dynamic from the first movie is its own thing. You got like Stoner, Stoner mom, and you know, you got the parents to kind of let their kids do their own thing, and they're pretty chill with them. And then when you get to the remake, like the dynamic is very different between them. I mean, they go a little bit deeper in in what's going on with the parents and why they're moving into this house, and like the story's different, like how they handle you know some things that the kids want or can't have, or whatever it is, you know, like they just like they talk to each other differently. The dads are very different dads in both movies. The moms are very different moms, and the kids, I think, are also like their own unique people. So, like, obviously, the setup is there. You've got parents, you've got three kids, one of them is a little girl. Done, right? But like they're just two completely separate families. They could have completely renamed them and completely like changed all the stuff about it, kind of like they did, and it could still be set in the same universe if they wanted to.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

I just have to s disagree for a second. The backstories are different, but the vibes are not different in this movie for me, from one to the other.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Yeah, it seemed like a more upgraded problem sort of thing. I guess credit card debt was, you know, around in the 80s, you know, still around in the 2000s.

SPEAKER_04 16:37

Okay, so that's gonna be a really interesting thing to unpack. I think, especially as we get down into the characters, because I'm right there with you, Mac. There's a lot that's totally it's there's subtle differences, but totally this movie is different. It's not the exact rinse and repeat. Like we saw with Psycho, for example. With Psycho, they can try to do a damn thing different, right? And I think that's like behind the bane of Alexis's existence on this podcast. It'll always come up, we'll never forget it, it'll live in infamy. And I think this wasn't that. I do think they made a little bit of effort to try to shift some things around.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

I know the remake isn't line for line, but it's vibe for vibe. What I appreciate and what surprised me most about both of these movies was how early the action and the antagonists are brought into the picture, which I truly appreciate. So, you know, I wasn't expecting that. I was expecting a typical movie where, you know, you see a little bit of struggle, but you know, the buildup is towards the middle of the movie. It's 30 minutes in, it's 45 minutes in where you get some sort of action. But I will take that back and say it was flip. So once you get the action, you get action and then it's gone for a while till the end, which was also a disappointment.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Equally disappointing is how these movies truly could not be any less scary. And I don't know how poltergeist is the classically renowned thing that it is when it's not a scary horror movie.

SPEAKER_04 18:03

Sure, in terms of it being like a blockbuster, it was a good film in the t at the time, but I think it's gained even greater presence because of the curse associated with the cast and the terrible things that have befallen them.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Yeah, I don't know. I just need a l a little more fright here. I don't know, a little bit of shaking in my boots.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

I don't I don't think this is meant to scare you, Ryan, like adult Ryan. I think this is meant to scare a child who's watching this with their parents and with their older sibling, and the sibling's not really scared, but it's like still fun for them to watch a little bit. And like you, as like an eight or a ten-year-old, are like, oh, I probably shouldn't be watching a scary movie, but they're here, so it's okay. And they like grow up with this memory of it as being this scary thing, and then they watch it as an adult, and they're like, ah, it's not scary.

SPEAKER_04 18:49

That's exact it's it's me. It's me. All right, it's growing up with the youngest of five kids. We all have our family pizza night with the horror movie emphasis on the horror. I don't know how we went from watching Children of the Corn to this, but we have our little you know, Pizza Hut pizza bond over some poultry guys, and then you grow up thinking, Man, that movie was kind of spooky, and then you realize, oh shit, it has zero spooks. Zero.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

Yeah, Chris, I can totally relate because when I watched this, I was like, oh my gosh, I just remember certain things from feeling stuff as a child, you know, when things are coming out of a closet, you know, clowns, you know, this and that, and then just watching it for the nth time. So after not seeing it for a while and then seeing it as an adult, I was like, these could have been scarier. And I thought the remake did a good job at making it a little bit more terrifying as a part through the visuals, but honestly, it still didn't have the fright that it could have had.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

I find it funny that you that you feel like the visuals helped it be scarier because I kept thinking, like, oh, they're gonna do something more violent just because of the visuals. I didn't think it made it scarier though. I just expected them to try to like up the ante in some way because of how gritty certain things looked. I was like, oh, they're gonna do something crazy here and it's gonna hurt somebody, even though it doesn't really need to.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Well, I'm not saying I'm like cowering under my sheets after watching this movie, but it's definitely a different tone. It's darker. And I was watching this with headphones on and I jumped a lot and I turned a lot. So I don't know, that's something to be said for this movie.

SPEAKER_04 20:24

I'm sorry, you jumped at which one?

SPEAKER_02 20:26

The remake. Yeah, the remake.

SPEAKER_04 20:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:30

2015 jump scares. It's not surprising.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

Yeah, it's a very, very true to the time. I'm not saying this is like scary, okay?

SPEAKER_04 20:37

Okay, okay. Yeah, no, no worries. You don't have to defend yourself. It's fine. We're good, we're good, all good.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

It's the headphones, because I also had on headphones, and it grabs your attention more than the rest of the movie.

SPEAKER_04 20:48

I think what this is for me though, I think there's some perils in the filmmaking in the original that I know made life a little bit difficult when they're actually making the movie, but it's it's not scary at all. But even in the remake though, I think I was just left wanting so much more because they go some interesting directions to try to make it feel more horrific, right? We get some people being slammed into walls, we get some specters, we get some visuals that they don't dare to do in the original Alexis, like you're saying, but it still didn't do quite enough to pivot it into a a direction where I'd say it's not even family friendly. You know what I mean? Like Poltergeist, for sure, a family-friendly horror movie. If you're trying to like bring your kids into horror and you want to start them off real easy, I think the 2015 is just like a half step above it. Like it doesn't do enough to really cement it as it's going down now. You know what I mean? It doesn't distinguish itself enough in that way. And I think that's where I struggle because obviously we have covered so many supernatural films on this show. We know that family moving into a house, house being haunted is something. Something that's done, it's been done even before Poltergeist. But I do think there's an approach to this film and traveling through this other space and the way that the family tries to navigate that and bringing in a medium. You know, obviously we've seen Insidious and what that looks like in a modern day. I feel like the original is iconic for a reason. I don't give a whole lot of fare to supernatural films altogether, but I feel like it in itself was absolutely original.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

Yeah, I would agree. They take a route in the original that's almost like I felt like I was there, as opposed to, you know, seeing it through a lens, or, you know, at this point seeing it through footage, you know, with other movies. And I really felt that that made that original. You really feel like you're encapsulated with this family and you're traveling with them, you're understanding what they're going through, which you don't typically get in those sort of movies. It's haunting this, that someone comes in, someone abolishes the ghost and it's gone. Psych, it's not by, you know, you get that so much. So adding these, you know, touches with the characters, I think is really important. The remake obviously sets itself apart, but to me, not enough or not in a good enough way.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

I would argue the remake didn't set itself apart, and I can only judge these things from the lens that I'm in here in 2021, and I can only say that these things don't feel original. Hate me for it if you want.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

I think the original Poltergeist is an original film, and I think it has some really like remarkable characters, some really memorable characters, some great scenes, some great lines, and it's just like it's got so many parts of it that are iconic that it doesn't have to be super scary to make it like a great horror film. It's just so darn memorable. I mean, when you watch this, I'm sure we've all seen like the they're here thing, right? And you know, we've all seen that clip a bazillion times. We've seen a lot of the actors a bazillion times on TV shows or on looper videos while you're browsing on Facebook or whatever it is. Um, and and I think it's just something that like individual moments can be pulled apart and and put on a you know in a in a still, and you would know exactly what you're looking at. You're looking at poltergeist. The the 2015 though, like I feel like it's when you know a company releases a pair of sneakers that they used to have and they re-release them and they like change like one color and the materials are newer. And so it's like, yeah, it's been updated. We refreshed it for the current market, and that's kind of what they did. They're like, we're gonna make a version of this film for the 2015 or 2013 when they started. We're gonna make that for this market. It's gonna basically be the same shoe, and that's fine, uh, but we want to use some newer materials and a couple new colors.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

I just need to throw out really quick, as I'm here, probably making everyone mad, complaining about poltergeist not being original. The most original thing in the original poltergeist is the stairs in their home. Those stairs will live in my brain for a long time. Those were stairs of luxury. Okay, they don't have stairs like that in homes anymore. Just open, beautiful, high ceilings and plants around. That's what's gonna stick out for me. Nothing else.

SPEAKER_04 25:10

So it's interesting you say that, Mac. I think the idea of taking a nostalgic product and reskinning it, so to speak, you know, just kind of like same character in a video game, just get a different outfit. It reminds me of this thing that I heard of just like in the last couple days, where there is a thing called Space Hay that is apparently in the new MySpace, but it looks like classic MySpace before you could like HTML code. I'll drop a link in the show notes so you know what I'm talking about. But for sure, Poltergeist 2015 is the space hay to the original Poltergeist. I think there are some things that they did just enough to make me feel like okay, you earn points for distinguishing yourself a little bit, specifically what they do with some of the characters. Even that feels like a little bit of a generous bone to throw because ultimately these movies end in very similar places and the original feels like an oh shit whirlwind where it's like, oh my gosh, what isn't happening at the end of this movie, right? But then I don't know that the remake really captured that same feeling for me. It for sure did a lot, it did its thing, but I think in terms of the chaos that's thrown at you, I think the original makes it feel more traumatic.

SPEAKER_02 26:21

Totally agree. The original ending is my favorite part, actually. But the remake, yeah, just kinda was delivered, and there are a few things that happen that I just was like, are they trying to add comedy? And it just didn't work for me.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

I'll agree that the original ending is pretty epic. Like, you know, a lot of movies I think followed, you know, the classic rule where you need to start out well and you need to end well. And as long as it's fairly entertaining in between, most people are gonna enjoy themselves. And I think it really follows it. It has a has a good opening, has a really, really, really strong ending, and the stuff in between, like it it kind of goes up and down in waves, and that's fine. The ending of 2015 is a little lackluster. I mean, it it's a remake, so they can't exactly copy shot for shot what's going to happen, even though they every now and then copy a line or two. They have to make it somewhat different. I just feel like they had the opportunity to go really, really big because they weren't scared of using CGI, like go crazy big at this point, and they kind of just missed out there.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Yeah, the r remake ending just felt like they were trying to do it all uh and over and over again, and it was just a bit too much. I feel I feel pretty meh about both endings, I guess. I don't feel bad. Just just okay. Like you just ate a bag of chips that was mostly air. Yeah, or like if you like pirate's booty, but you leave the bag open for too long, they start to go stale really fast, but they're still quite tasty. They're just slightly stale like that. Still really good because it was tasty, and it was a pirate's booty, but a little bit stale.

SPEAKER_04 27:53

Well, mixed feelings about non-the ending, but let's see how that starts to translate to our ratings now before we actually start scoring this film. Alexis, what's the body count for each movie?

SPEAKER_02 28:01

It is very low in each movie, and I can't wait to talk about that after the spoiler break. But what about the animal report?

SPEAKER_01 28:10

The animal report, not not not perfect this week, but there is such a good boy in the original poltergeist that I would argue makes it worth watching on his own, okay? He's adorable, he's lovely, he's smart, he's just great, and and I support that part of this movie 1000%.

SPEAKER_04 28:33

He is a very regal boy, but let's go ahead and get into the ratings. We'll start with the original Poltergeist from 1982. Was it a hacker or a slash?

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Hi, I'd like to get my hack out of the way. You guys feel like you really appreciate this movie a lot more than me. And I just gotta be honest, it ran too long, I didn't care very much, it was real corny, the effects were corny, the people were corny. I don't feel strongly, I don't hate it. I don't like even think I hated some of the characters like I normally would. I just feel meh. So it's a hack.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

Meh is very interesting. Is it? It's gonna be a common theme, I feel like, throughout this episode. Take a shot every time I say meh, we'd be wasted. But I know we had talked about how this movie is extremely family friendly. I mean it's not trolls, but you know, it borders on the E.T. And E.T. was terrifying for me as a kid, and so was this movie, and I was expecting coming in like I've talked about it before, but it's something I really wanted to appreciate, you know, and be scared again. I wanted that feeling that I had when I was younger, and I didn't get it. The cinematic notoriety that this movie has is great, you know. I get it, but to me, I was bored watching this movie, and I feel bad because I feel like if I was 13 and younger, I would have loved this. But to me, I had to watch this movie three times just to get it and felt at that point, okay, this is the third time. I'm definitely not missing anything. This is just the movie that I'm just gonna have to hack this one as much as I don't want to, but it it's not the worst movie I've seen. I actually like it. It's just kind of was a waste of time for me.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

Some some pretty strong feelings so far. I mean, I know Ryan, you said meh.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

I literally said no strong feelings, but you're right.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

But the way you described it was pretty strong in the way that you the way that you felt apathetic. It was a strong apathy.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

How rude would I be if all I said was it's a hack.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

Um not rude, just honest. You would be true to yourself. I I feel like this is one of those films that really plays at the like nostalgia string on it's on your guitar, right? It's it's playing that note. And if you're hit too hard with it, you'll get so bored and so burnt out by the whole nostalgia thing. Like you can only watch the Princess Bride every so often before you start to hate it.

SPEAKER_04 31:01

Oh, shut your dirty mouth. Mm-mm. No, no, no, you take that back.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

No, so for me, the rate of the Princess Bride before you start to get burned out is about once every three weeks. I could literally watch it that often and I would be happy. It's one of my top movies of all time, and it has a good feeling. Um, there's a couple other movies that are like that, you know. But I think this is kind of one of those movies where it is family friendly, but that's actually a good thing, you know? Who doesn't love Pixar movies? And I and if if you exist in the world, why? Why do you not love them like I do? I just I think they're so good. I do. Pixar movies are amazing. The like Toy Story One came out so long ago. So, so long ago. But you could watch it today and you'd still have a great reaction to it. You could watch it by yourself or you could watch it with children. That's how I feel, at least. I see Ryan shaking her head. And I feel like this is one of those movies that yeah, your kids, it may not have the same reaction that you had as a kid, especially because they've seen more modern things and they might be bored and that might be slow for them. But I think as a unit, you could sit down together with multiple people and just have a good time, have your pizza party, have your big bowls of popcorn, and sit together and watch it, and it would just be a fun experience. And I think because it's so just like decently good to watch in any mixed group, it's a slash.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

It would be fun to make fun of.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

That's every movie.

SPEAKER_04 32:21

Very true. Obviously, really loaded on nostalgia, thinking, cool, it's a classic, it's an icon, it's gotta be great. But then I should have remembered how I felt about The Exorcist because it's a movie that just doesn't hit it for me. You know what I mean? It's one of those that obviously the effects are incredible for what they are. Obviously, the movie itself is iconic, but it doesn't do it for me. And so when I think about poultry guys, I'm left with this really odd mix of technically this movie's amazing. This movie is fun when it's fun, it it kind of peaks in some ways that's really, really entertaining. But I felt the runtime so much more than I ever have before. So I think where this movie strikes is the uh the the proper place for watch this at home again with Mac, like you said, as a family unit or just as like a unit of people, not all friends drinking in your 30s, maybe not, right? Unless you want to just make fun of anything and clown on it. Like if I want to watch a movie with Ryan, I know I'm gonna be laughing the whole time, or like that time that I watched Leprechaun with Alexis, great time. But when I think about the quality of performances that we get in this, when I think about the technical proficiency of the effects in this, when I think about how this movie has built such a monstrous legacy, it's clear why, right? This movie, even watching it, I felt meh about the runtime, but there are so many pockets in this movie where it's like, okay, I'm I'm here, I'm in it, and it has a chaotic ending that I think ends in a really funny way that I appreciate, and I can see myself watching this with my kids, and I think that's where it is for me. Let me just make this clear, it's getting a soft slash. I think, will I ever watch this again? Having the taste that I do in my mouth right now, and I do want to watch it with my kids one day, but I'm not gonna watch it on my own recreationally. Like I think it's a good get let's get started into horror kind of movie.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

This is a generous slash. I just want to throw that out there. This is a look at the legacy slash, that's all this is.

SPEAKER_04 34:43

No, hold on, because it's also look at the effects, look at the performances. There's a lot of good things in this movie. I think this is less generous of a slash as I've definitely given in the past. I know several episodes ago I was feeling real generous, and I think I even stated in that episode that I'd be taking back that slash at some point at the end of the year, so we'll see. But I think this movie is a quality film. It gets a soft slash because it doesn't hit me the way that it used to when I was a kid, but it certainly doesn't do enough poorly for me to never want to watch it again or never want to introduce you know my future horror fan children. What's interesting for me is the 2015 version because we get into the situation where it's taking a movie that was iconic in its own way and trying to do something a little bit different. And there are some things that it does differently, but I don't know that it does it differently enough. The biggest win that I think they hit is with some of the visuals, with some of the ways that they try to, you know, provide a ethereal kind of like body for some of the things that we see in the TV. Like in the original, we have a little girl talking to the TV, but we see some things in the TV in this one that aren't just like a ghostly staticky hand. And the other element of that is what they do in terms of who they're focusing on in the family. And I think there's some really interesting dynamics there in terms of how they approach life being lived through some of the kids and thinking about like middle child and thinking about middle children and how they get lost in the mix sometimes. So there's a lot that's compelling in this movie, but ultimately it doesn't do enough to distinguish itself, and it doesn't do enough to really stand behind it. This is one, again, I'll show my kids the original Bultergeist, I'm not showing them the 2015. They can seek that shit out on their own, so it's getting a hack.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

I think I enjoyed watching both films. So I think the 2015 is still a slash in my book. It's it's still a good watch. It's not like a bad movie. Yes, it is very, very, very similar to the OG, and there are like lines lifted straight out of the script, and there's occurrences that are translated almost identically. But I think if you just think about it as a movie all on its own, having not seen the original, you'd be like, okay, this is like an enjoyable watch. I watching the original right beforehand is probably gonna taint your view of it, though. I think if you had to score the two, you should put some time in between them. I I separated them by several days, um, and I think it was effective. Like I wasn't bored when watching the 2015. I thought it was like generally good. I actually really enjoyed the performances in both films, but I like them because they were different. They were different enough to keep my interest. It wasn't just like watching somebody do Hamlet all over again. And no, guess what? Here's another actor playing Hamlet or something. I think it was like different vibes, the family dynamics were were also like updated, you know. It it again, it's like the like the reskinning, like Chris mentioned. It's fresh and jest enough to seem like things are things are changed, uh, but it's still got the core of the original inside of there. So I don't think it's one that I would go back and watch again necessarily. I don't know that there's a reason to, but I'm not gonna hate on it. I don't think it was a bad watch. It wasn't a waste of time to watch it. So it's it's still a slash in my book.

SPEAKER_02 38:14

Very interesting. So updated that the kids curse in all of them and mock, you know, the adults. And no one gets in trouble for some reason. No one gets their ass whooped, which we know is very updated. So I'm struggling because I'd hate to give the original a hack and this one a slash. But if it's standing on its own, Mac, I can understand how you would give it a slash. To me, I was entertained. I didn't have to re-watch this movie. I like the ending, the cinematography was great. I think it did a little bit of what I wanted it to with the antagonist and go deeper. And I love certain scenes as well. But it wasn't like it was to quote Chris a love letter to the original, it was uh just a movie, and honestly, it was just that. Like I was entertained, would I watch it again? No. Was it a total joke waste of time? No, but it was kind of a joke. So I don't know. I'm just gonna have to give this a hack.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

I am also conflicted about this movie because I think I am very tainted by having one, never seen poltergeist when I was younger, and then having to watch the old and the new in a somewhat short period of time. I feel like if I watched this fresh with no perspective from the original, I'd probably enjoy it a lot more. I I definitely was entertained. I enjoyed some of what they expanded upon as far as effects and things. I did miss some of the practical effects, of course. But unfortunately, they picked up a lot of the things that I didn't care for from the original and brought those in and didn't really improve in the places that I needed improvement. And so I ended up missing like even the cute, funny corniness of the original. And I just got like, why are you guys using these lines when it doesn't work with these characters? And there are some things that were done really well where, like Chris said, who they focus on in the family and who the story is through the eyes of works out really well. Some stuff went well, some stuff didn't. It's really confusing for me because I don't understand how this movie exists. It's so similar to the original and so different at the same time. It's strange, it's a hack. Maybe if I had never seen the original and didn't have to talk about both of them, I would have enjoyed it more, but it's still got the quirky honey I shrunk the kids thing going on, and I didn't enjoy that.

SPEAKER_04 40:45

Well, it seems like there was a lot to not enjoy tonight because Poultry Guys from 1982 has only earned two slashes and two hacks, while its 2015 counterpart actually earned three hacks and one slash. Now, you can find these movies available online. The original is streaming on HBO Max if you so subscribe. Otherwise, you can find some random four-hour version like Alexis did on TV. But either way, check them out and then join us in the second half so we can compare and contrast together. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_00 41:20

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SPEAKER_04 42:30

Now we have a lot to get to here, but before we get into specifics of our ratings, I mean Alexis, good luck.

SPEAKER_02 42:36

What's the gore score for these movies? Low, very low, almost as low as the fucking body count, but zero for both of the films, and I'm so fucking disappointed. This might be why they both got a hack. Honestly, just ectoplasm and real skeletons? Grape jelly. I don't know. That was the most interesting thing about both of the movies was the investigators' face being ripped off from the original. Agreed. But also the maggots that the dad was seeing, you know, that was kind of interesting in the remake. I don't know, there isn't much to say. I'm I'm digging and I'm sorry for everyone listening. I know you depend on me every week to give you some gore, but there is none this week. I apologize.

SPEAKER_01 43:21

I mean, that like digging into your face scene, it's you know, it's intense. It doesn't last for a very long time. But like, you know, it gets pretty gnarly. The problem is it just like isn't real.

SPEAKER_02 43:34

It looks very 80s to me, like it's trying to be like funny, like dead alive or you know, some weird, quirky thing.

SPEAKER_01 43:41

Yeah. Also, maggots are one of my like creepiest things of all time. So that was really gross for me. But if you don't care about maggots, it's not gonna get to you.

SPEAKER_00 43:52

I did think the soil that was being unearthed in the basement or whatever black goo that was, that looked pretty gross. Like it looked like it would be impossible.

SPEAKER_01 44:01

In 2015?

SPEAKER_00 44:02

Yeah, in 2015, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:03

Yeah, it was cool, but then just like nothing nothing creepy comes of it, you know?

SPEAKER_02 44:07

So you know it would have been better than zero bodies.

SPEAKER_00 44:11

Negative one?

SPEAKER_02 44:12

No, positive one. And it would have been Carol Ann.

SPEAKER_04 44:15

Damn, Alexis, that's cold.

SPEAKER_00 44:17

Wow. It got really dark.

SPEAKER_02 44:19

Pretty cold, but you know, originally as Toby Hooper and Steven Spielberg and the other screenwriters were plotting out the screenplay. Carol Ann was actually supposed to be the first to be killed in the first act in the haunted house. But they decided that that was gonna be too dark and they opted to have her kidnapped by the ghost. Honestly, I would have had her die in the haunted house first.

SPEAKER_04 44:41

But then you can't pair this with E.T., like a you know, like a cheese and crackers kind of situation. We don't need an E.T. But that was the whole thing. It was the summer of Spielberg. They wanted to run them both side by side. Yeah. Come for one, stay for the other.

SPEAKER_02 44:55

You know, E.T. is very homey. He's very family-oriented. And some of the visuals, and it might have been the practical effects, you know, felt very Disney, felt very family friendly to me. In the original, when the ghost hand comes out and there's this smoke, vapor, whatever it is, it felt as if I was in a Disney movie and it was just floating around. It was just a very interesting vibe.

SPEAKER_01 45:25

I think it's really interesting because there are practical effects in the original that I really enjoyed, like the steak and the maggots, and the face and and the more horror elements of it. But then when you get to like the the ghostly figures and the skeleton-ghosty situation and the hand and all that stuff, it was all really, really corny. And it was on screen forever, so it was corny, and we saw so much of it that it ruined anything that I would have felt in regards to that. I there was nothing about it that was scary. It was it did feel like something coming out of like a magic mirror or something. Like it was just floating through the air. It was rough.

SPEAKER_04 46:06

Oh, I absolutely loved the big ghoulie head coming out of the closet. I absolutely loved it. Because I thought it was technically impressive for the time. Because you're a Disney girl and you love a showtune, I'm not surprised. It's very haunted mansion, and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that, Ryan.

SPEAKER_01 46:22

Just let it be. I did I have seen Haunted Mansion several times.

SPEAKER_04 46:26

You're not wrong.

SPEAKER_01 46:27

Oh, I was talking about the ride. It is also like the ride, I'm sure, because it's like the movie.

SPEAKER_04 46:31

Yeah, I just haven't seen the movie. Just the ride. My only connection is the ride. It's just like the movie.

SPEAKER_02 46:37

So, along with this, is how fake everything looked. And I'm gonna be honest, in the beginning, it looked bad. I said, this fake ass haunted tree. And then I was like, you know, I take this back because when it almost eats the sun, I I loved it. I was there for it. And I do appreciate that. And Chris, I do like the skeleton coming out of the closet.

SPEAKER_04 46:59

Okay, look. Obviously, it's a fake ass haunted tree. Obviously, it's a fake ass haunted tree. I mean, I thought it was very effective for the time. Like the flexibility, that haunted tree had better joints than me. Let's just be clear.

SPEAKER_02 47:15

The mobility on that one, incredible. It does rival the one in Harry Potter, though. I would say way more flexible.

SPEAKER_04 47:21

I was thinking about the evil dead, so that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

I am so upset that you mentioned the tree because that was going to be my favorite visual element because it is really cool. As soon as it opens up to eat the child, amazing tree. Loved it.

SPEAKER_04 47:34

Terrific stuff from the tree. We need some more action from the tree. Get him on the nightly roster.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

Okay, but genuinely, when the tree was first shown when he was gonna climb it, I sat for a few minutes thinking, is this a real tree? Do they have to find the location that they're gonna shoot at based on this tree? Or do they build this tree? Is this a fake tree? Before I knew that he was gonna eat people. So I mean, he he he did do work, you know, he had me wondering. He's a vital character to the story, I'd say.

SPEAKER_04 48:04

The tree for sure is I actually have a couple standouts for visuals in the positive and the negative side of things for the original film, one of which was the ominous storm clouds. I really, really enjoyed it. It's the moment right after I the mom and Carolyn are in the kitchen and the chairs get stacked on top of one each other of one another, and the dad's driving home, and you see these ominous storm clouds in the background, and I absolutely loved that. The storm does get a little weird looking at some points in the movie, but that's that one shot of the clouds, mmm, so good. The one thing that messed me up though, I really loved in the beginning we have the flickering against Carolyn, and it feels very much like, okay, TV static going on in the room, and we see how it kind of like casts a light around her and it's like rim lighting. Where it falls apart for me is later on in the movie when she's in the bedroom, and it's right before the ghostly figure comes out, and it's just so flickery that I thought for sure Mac would have a problem, and it it feels like very much like a there should be a epileptic trigger warning before watching this movie.

SPEAKER_01 49:13

Absolutely. You are so right, Chris. It's one of these things where I was thinking, hmm, I guess we didn't really care about that that much back in the day. Like it doesn't feel like we would make a movie these days with so much flickering and so much flashing lights.

SPEAKER_00 49:27

It didn't get me, I didn't make me sick or anything like that. I'm usually not too bad about like strobing, I just don't enjoy it. Like I could definitely do without it almost always.

SPEAKER_01 49:36

Well, I was gonna give a bit of a visual sandwich with a bad one in the middle, and that was gonna be the flashing lights. So that was a rough part of the visuals of this movie. One of my favorites was the mom climbing around on the ceiling as it like toward the end of the movie when she's like getting pulled out of the bed basically and then makes her way literally across the entire room. It's so good and it looks so legit. I can only imagine how much work went into making that look as good as it did. There were a few moments where, like, you know, her hair was falling up, but we'll let that slide. That for me was one of the things that stood out. And then, of course, my other favorite is the practical effects like the stake and the face and those things that I already mentioned.

SPEAKER_04 50:20

I'm sorry, but also just another shout out to those chairs because the technical feat of that, right? Like the camera just pans to the right and then pans back to the left. And people are on set having to make that happen while the camera is just over to the side. I absolutely love it. And it's the OG paranormal activity.

SPEAKER_00 50:36

Yeah, it's such an impressive thing that they were able to just bust that out in like less than seven seconds. It's insane.

SPEAKER_01 50:42

Everybody on their mark. Gotta do what you gotta do.

SPEAKER_00 50:45

Since we already kind of, you know, used the tree in general discussion. I will have to pick another one. And that for me is the set design. This feels like I don't know what the vibe is back in the 80s, but everything felt very lived in. This place feels so lived in. Even when, like, you know, the researcher goes in, just like cracks open the fridge to like grab apparently a steak that doesn't belong to him and eat it. Just like, first of all, they didn't have chopperware apparently. That's crazy. Just like everything, when they when they're walking through the house, when you know, the moving in and the moving out, the way they interact with the set, all the different rooms that they have set up. It just seems like everywhere you look, nothing is too perfect. And I feel like I hate that about modern movies. Everything looks like museum houses, and maybe that's just because people like their houses to look like that now. But like I feel like you could walk into this movie set and like sit on the couch and crack open a beer and you would feel at home because it just looks real.

SPEAKER_01 51:38

Yeah, you'd smell that beer that shot all over the living room, and he just kept going along with it. You'd definitely smell that in this living room.

SPEAKER_00 51:46

A hundred percent. And when you're talking about a setting here where where there's a haunting of a house, I think a house has to be on its A game. You can't have a house that looks too fake. You can't have an empty house that's boring. It has to be a house with little eccentricities to it. It has to be eclectic, it has to have things to be thrown around.

SPEAKER_01 52:06

Exactly. It's gotta have that awesome stair stairway. It just does.

SPEAKER_00 52:10

Yeah, the staircase is beautiful. I get it, you know. I I liked it too. But even in the kids' rooms, when you go in to have all the little knickknacks and little toys, when they go to like suck everything in through the closet, like how lame would it be if there was like four stuffed animals on the bed and that was it, and that's all the kid owns. Like, no, it's the place is like chalk full of stuff, and that's what happens in real houses. So I think they did an amazing job like staging everything.

SPEAKER_04 52:34

See, that's the interesting thing because they staged everything really well. The house really had a personality, the kids really had a personality. And I think they went a different way with having the family just move in in the remake, and I think you lose a lot of that visually, you lose a lot of the attachment and the personality that the family brings into the house. It's all very new and early in this relationship.

SPEAKER_01 52:55

Also, imagine you just go looking at a house and you buy it and move in same day.

SPEAKER_02 53:00

Okay, what are we on about? Can't imagine what that's like, and I work in the mortgage industry. Doesn't happen.

SPEAKER_04 53:06

Obviously not. Obviously not. But I think the remake still had plenty of good things in it visually. I think it certainly has some moments that are better looking. For me though, I'm gonna just I have to narrow it down because all my visuals center around moments with the character Maddie, who's like the remakes version of Carol Ann. And I think my favorite one and it hurts it breaks my heart to even have to choose between the three. My favorite one is gonna be that shot after the car accident, after the car flipped over, you see her off in the distance, and then she just gets yanked up the stairs, and she just like goes zooming up. That was impressive, and I fucking loved it.

SPEAKER_00 53:48

It's cool. I like how it's disorienting because you're upside down, so it kind of makes it really, really interesting to look at.

SPEAKER_02 53:54

That was one of the parts that I got a jump scare from. Even though I knew it was coming when you have headphones on, it's a different experience. Headphones do change the game 100%. Yeah, they really do. Mine also involved Maddie. I there's these parts where you're getting snippets of this house being haunted. And I don't know, it's very simplistic, but the CGI on the hair when the their hair is standing up. It was so cool. It was cool, it was interesting, and it was kind of fun, but you knew what was coming. You knew that's this isn't just static. This is a haunting, this is obviously gonna go bad if you've seen the original. So it to me it was a light-hearted piece, but I like the visual effects on that.

SPEAKER_01 54:38

I'm surprised that your favorite part is not the upside down.

SPEAKER_02 54:42

Nah, I I don't know. A lot of things stood out for me. I think I just liked this movie visually, and I think it was just because they had the power of CGI on their hands.

SPEAKER_01 54:51

The upside down is great though. It reminded me of the River Sticks. Okay, well, regardless, that upside down, more or less, and of course I'm talking about when they go into the closet and kind of see what's going on. That is my favorite visual element from this movie, because we didn't get that from the first one, we just got like in and out, basically. So it was really nice to see a little bit more detail and a little bit like just so much weird stuff in different corners, and as the more I feel like you can watch that scene several times and get a lot out of it because there's just like creepy faces in corners and stuff that I loved.

SPEAKER_00 55:25

I was so torn about it because I love in the original not seeing that stuff. I think it kind of adds something to it because it's it's the unknown and therefore we shouldn't know it, right? But it is it is really interesting to look at, and I think the way it pays off at the end when it's all of the spirits coming out to grab her, that I liked. That was probably one of my favorite visuals of the 2015 was instead of the big face and the big the big monster mouth coming out is epic. Like that's not gonna be beat, but when they had instead like all these bodies like piling over each other to try to get out and grab her and bring her back in, loved that.

SPEAKER_04 56:04

Let me say though, there's a moment where she is snatched by the people in the closet and you have like arm, arm, go. It was very coordinated, like very theatric. I didn't like that very much. I like the chaos of the moment. It's actually one of the better scenes, but it was just that brief moment of her just getting taken back into the closet. It was just weird, man. I couldn't I couldn't vibe with it. I also couldn't vibe with a predator vision spontaneously. It's just like a hard cut into predator mode. I'm like, nah, man, thermal body imaging, nah, we don't need to see this. Stop doing this.

SPEAKER_01 56:39

Yeah, some of the technology here got a little weird for no reason.

SPEAKER_00 56:43

Well, it's 2015 and drones exist, so you have to use them. And that we have better infrared now, so we have to show it off apparently. Again, it's the reskinning for the for the current market.

SPEAKER_04 56:52

Yeah, like that subtle title card in the grass when the movie starts. I see you.

SPEAKER_00 56:56

Oh yeah, that was like very much the zeitgeist in 2015.

SPEAKER_04 57:00

Big shout-out though to the other clown in this movie. He honestly had a lot to live up to. You have Strangly Boy Clown in the original that apparently like a mechanism went wrong when they were filming, and the kid thought that he was actually being choked. So it's supposed to be like real fear that you see on screen. But let me tell you something. I saw I grew up with porcelain dolls, the kind that kind of like sit on the swings and they're spooky looking, whatever. I don't really have a thing with dolls. But there's a different level of spookiness when you see the doll, and there's another level of spookiness when the doll's face is kicked in and all you have is jagged porcelain and eyeballs. It's real weird.

SPEAKER_01 57:36

Mm-hmm. That was real creepy, and like the voice like drowning out. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 57:40

I also didn't like the idea of multiple clown dolls.

SPEAKER_01 57:43

Yeah, and the bit that was hanging started like retracting upwards. Like, no, no, no, no, thank you.

SPEAKER_04 57:50

Bro, we have so many clown dolls in my house.

SPEAKER_02 57:52

We're just waiting for a haunting. Clown dolls are very different, I feel like. Yeah, I grew up with the porcelain dolls that stay in the box that sat on a shelf for my whole life. I'm pretty sure my mom still has them. Those are creepy, but doll clowns not in my house one bit because this movie terrified me as a kid.

SPEAKER_00 58:13

Speaking of clowns though, in in the original, I love where we have the build-up where the son is just staring, right? So he like feels so uneasy with the tree outside. And I love the shots that we get with the clown sitting in the chair. Because these days, no child would allow a clown doll to sit on a chair near their bed. It just like would not be okay. It wouldn't happen.

SPEAKER_03 58:39

Duh.

SPEAKER_00 58:40

Yeah, I mean, it's like it's not it's not okay. I don't think anyone should even buy clown dolls for their kids anymore. Just like it's gonna give them nightmares. But my favorite scene goes to the tree scene and the tree scenes leading up to it, where we see the tree outside and he's staring and he's uneasy. I I loved it because like you know something bad's gonna happen every time we see a little glimpse of it, like peeping through the window. That whole like segment, I legit thought the kid was gonna get eaten. Because again, I thought I had seen this, but I actually didn't, so I didn't know exactly what was gonna happen. I thought he was gonna get sucked in that tree and it was gonna be, you know, that game over, we got two kids gone.

SPEAKER_04 59:12

I wish he did. Honestly, hearing, and this is something that I think is worse for me now as an adult watching this. It's one thing to be a kid watching a movie where other kids scream for help, and it's another to be an adult with little kids in your life watching a movie where kids are screaming for help, and that's just hard. It wasn't as bad in the original, but for some reason it hit me a little bit more in the remake.

SPEAKER_00 59:35

It is hard to also like watch the parents run around and try to do something about what's going on, and just it's completely futile because you're like, I wouldn't want to be in that situation where I literally can't do anything and I'm covered in mud.

SPEAKER_01 59:46

God, the amount of mud swimming that happened in this movie, whew.

SPEAKER_02 59:50

Yeah, but the dad showing up late to the third act, literally favorite scene. No, the whole ending is my favorite, and I think it's because as many times as I've seen this, even though it's been quite a number of years removed, I still didn't remember the ending. So I said, Wow, I thought they were not staying at the house that night, and then they're staying there, and then it was just very calm, like so serene that I was like, something is really gonna pop off. But I looked at the time, I'm like, there's only 13 minutes. I guess something could happen, but this movie's been going on for so long. What's 13 minutes? They could just she could be shaving her legs for 13 minutes, but I did love the chaos that ensued, and it was at my favorite part. It had me intrigued, and you know, she gets zapped, and you know, it's just go through all the scenes, and yeah, then the dad shows up. I'm like, Where have you been?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:47

Yeah, it was so weird for him not to be there. It was just so unnatural after what's gone on, but that's all right. He is, however, a part of my favorite scene, which is what Chris was talking about earlier, and it is the chairs. So everything from when they discover the chair is happening, which is great, to when dad comes home and she's like, Hold on, let me show you this. The first time is funny, the second time with Caroline is hilarious, and she's like, It hurts.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:18

I love that, Ryan. It's also my favorite scene. Specifically, reach back into our past when you used to have an open mind. Remember that? It was just these little digs of dialogue just peppered throughout this movie that just made it so much better. Having that like helmet on on Caroline, it was just so good, and it had worked so well because like we see them like upstairs, like smoking weed, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:40

So they've clearly lived, you know, a life, and it's just like, hey man, like just go back to our hippie days real quick. I just gotta show you something crazy, bro. Bro, wait, when do you see this shit? It was so good. That is a hundred percent my favorite scene of this entire movie.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:56

I love how they did that in the original, where in the beginning it's like crazy and weird and cool and curious and like having fun with it, and and you miss out on that when you get to uh 2015.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:07

I missed that like cute little stuff so much, and I feel like they got rid of all of it and kept stuff that was just random and not cute.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:14

Yeah, they had a dad with a spending issue, which was very weird to have in the movie.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:20

I mean, he was a guilty dad. I just don't get how it's even feasible because he his getting his card declined with multiple credit cards at one store, and then he's immediately able to just go buy shit at the mall because he feels bad. But like how what how?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:34

He found the one card that was working.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:35

You guys have clearly never been around somebody that doesn't have money that feels bad about it because what happened is he got into his car and felt so much like trash for having his cards declined that he took that one that worked and went and bought a bunch of stuff that he couldn't afford just to make people feel better.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:51

No, and I get the psychology behind it. I get it. It just seemed like he was walking out with nothing, and so it just seemed random that like he still has this one card that's available that has all that shit. I don't know. Feels like as as someone who is broke and has been broke and definitely has had in a situation where he's like, ooh, I don't have any room to be even remotely flexible if I feel guilty about something and I can't treat someone as something.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:15

I don't know, it fell out of nowhere. It was just showing his instability. Now, did we need it here? Probably not.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:21

It was just a way to get a drone into the picture. That's right. So I know you guys mentioned it in visuals, but for the remake, my favorite scene was definitely when the brother goes in to the, I guess, upside down of the house to go get Maddie. And it was just eerily creepy, and it was something I wanted from the original that I got, and I haven't seen anything like that before. I know you referenced something, Mac, earlier, that I have no idea what that means, but it was just weird having like all these bodies on top of each other. It just brought that eeriness that I wanted from this movie. Although I have to say it didn't feel congruent with the movie. That scene was so vicious and very out of place for the movie, but I liked it, but I just wish either it was spread out throughout the movie or just they took it back a tad bit. Because that's bodies on top of each other. It was just very eerie and creepy. I don't know how to describe it. Like it was very out of place to me, but I did appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:31

I think you're totally right. I already said how much I enjoyed that, so I won't go on about that again. But my favorite scene in 2015 is because of the improvements they made on what happened in the original. So it's the beginning of the TV and the hands and things like that happening. The scenes of the discovery of their coming and all of that are consolidated in this one. And I enjoyed it because in the first one we didn't get much the first time, and then the second time we also didn't get much, and then we just get the daughters and they're coming. In 2015, it felt a lot more efficient and it worked well, and it made me more creeped out than it did in the original. So that part was one of the most successful improvements for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:14

Yeah, when she said they're here, I said, Oh shit. She just went from they're coming to they're here, bitch. Yeah, all at once.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:22

My favorite scene from the 2015, I got to steal from Chris because I know Chris loved this, but it's the whole like, let me drill into the wall thing so I can get this thermal detector set up in the kids' closet, and then like go back and forth with the force that I don't actually think is there. First of all, why are you like a paranormal investigator and then like you also don't believe any of it? It's kind of interesting to me because the team we get from the OG is like totally bought into everything that's happening. And this guy is just kind of like, now you guys are all lying and trying to make money. Maybe he's just a bit jaded, maybe he has to be a skeptic. But when his hand goes through that wall, first of all, you drop some. Something into a wall and it's dark, you put your flashlight in there. You don't just stick your hand in all the way to your shoulder.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:06

I totally would have done that.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:08

No.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:08

Why would you stick your hand in?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:10

You don't know what's it? There could be wires, there could be like sharp things. People put like all sorts of stuff in walls.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:14

Okay, I was under the understanding that he was pulled because he didn't he couldn't get out.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:19

Yeah, but he stuck his hand in on purpose, thinking like I'll just find the drill without knowing where it dropped.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:25

Oh, I didn't realize. Yeah, that's dumb. Also, I'm not gonna find anything. If it falls into a wall, it's gone forever. I'm not looking into walls for stuff. Very his house. Exactly. I learned my lesson.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:37

But it also didn't exactly just like fall in, like it it went into it, like it got pulled in with the cable and everything. He was like, oh crap, I best I gotta, you know, I gotta reach in here and find it. It's like, dude, that didn't just drop onto the ground. You could feel that with gravity. No, yours got like sucked in.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:52

Okay, so if I were a couple months from now gonna go up to Virginia, I'm like, yo, I think there might be some ghosts in a spot. Obviously, I wanna investigate. Macy, you wouldn't join me as a skeptic.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:06

I'm always skeptical about everything. I'm just saying I'm not a paranormal investigator. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 1:07:11

Yeah, but like what if like you were among friends who wanted to investigate some paranormal shit?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:17

I see.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:18

Wouldn't it be wise to have someone who is skeptical and reasonable to keep things balanced?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:23

That makes sense. I guess like I would be him in that case, but I also wouldn't stick my hand through a wall without looking with the flashlight first to figure out where the drill dropped.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:31

Well, I didn't say you'd be an idiot, did I?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:33

Oh, yeah. Okay. But the drill coming back at the wall was a great turn.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:38

So good.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:39

Because I literally I this is where I thought for sure they're gonna get bloody. They're gonna like completely up the ante from the original film. Because we get those three drills like just directly in a row, and then it pauses, of course. Uh, and I was like, okay, this is when it's gonna go through his temple and he's gonna bleed, and they're gonna be like, oh my god, we should call the cops, no, but we can't, or whatever. However, they would have responded. But no, they let him live. They kept it, you know, they kept it going, and that was and that was okay because they're keeping it family friendly.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:08

I thought we were at least gonna get a hand drill, you know? Oh yeah, stake through the palm or something, but no, nothing. A little slumber party massacre action.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:16

I was bummed though that they undid everything like it was all on his mind. Because when he pulls back and he's and he's back there, like even the marks on his wrist were gone.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:24

Yeah, I wish they kept that in so he would run downstairs and you know, have some sort of evidence. He seemed to just go back downstairs and get back on the computer. Like I'm crazy. No.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:35

And they have that in the first movie. They have it in the original movie, rather, where there are marks left behind and they kind of, you know, and they buy into it. I was surprised though that his boss didn't like look at his face and be like, What'd you see? Because you obviously saw something.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:49

If only. She was so worried about getting with her boo.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:53

The drill moment was an excellent moment. I think it was also a missed opportunity because that was like that was walking right up to the edge and saying, Let's be different, and then just be like, nah, just kidding, we don't want to be that different. For me, my favorite scene is when everything comes together and you have Maddie being taken, and then you have Griffin being abducted by the tree, and he has some wherewithal. He's running around the house, he goes to her room, and then he ends up getting ganked. But for me, it was that very specific choice they made for him to look her in her eyes as she's surrounded, oh my god, by all her little stuffed animals for protection. He was basically telling her to be safe, and then he just leaves, and you hear her saying, Please don't leave me. And I'm just thinking about like I was thinking about me being the youngest, like wanting my like that protection and that like safety for my older siblings and how they were always there for me. I'd be pissed if I had Griffin for a brother. I think it sets up such an incredible arc for him. And it was that moment of like him going on, grabbing the line, he's going into the closet and saying, I never should have left her. It was this really touching moment of this is a kid who's seen as the baby, he's seen as needy, he's misunderstood, he's overlooked as like the middle child. He fucked up, right? He left his little sister alone, but he's standing up and facing the consequences of that and doing whatever he can to save her. And I I absolutely love that. I totally agree.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:23

And they were like treating him like he was some alien at the beginning of this movie. They're like, oh my god, how are we gonna deal with him? He, you know, do we need to get a medication? All this stuff. And it's like, bro, he's just like a little stressed because y'all are a little crazy. Like, I would be stressed too. I didn't like that, but you're right. The way that they made that change for this movie, it was so much better. It was such a better lens to see this movie through than just like a mother trying to chase down for her daughter.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:52

Yeah, because we've seen that, right? Like, we know that a parent in these movies is going to be painted as the hero who's gonna stop at nothing to get their child back. You get it. But I think the power between siblings is always a really interesting thing to explore, and specifically for a younger child, especially even a middle child, right? Because you go from being the youngest, then to the middle, and then he's also the only boy in his family, so he probably also feels a little bit alienated and isolated from that. So I think there's just some interesting like family dynamics in this movie overall, which I think is such a refreshing change of pace because you have that same breakdown in the original, but you don't really get anything with it. It's just Robbie really likes Star Wars. Oh, he's gonna get eaten by a tree. That's it. And you know, Chris loves nothing more than a family dynamic, I tell you what.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:42

It's important.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:43

So my favorite character in this movie is the son, Robbie, his teeth specifically. And I'm only saying this and I'm trying to be funny, but also this has a reference to my family because I literally texted my stepdad and sister. I said, Which one of you used to joke the kid's teeth in this movie? And my stepdad got raises his hand in the chat, and I just remember him laughing. And I have so many memories with this because this family is just quirky and Robbie quirky, and we it was just a funny moment that my family and I have, and I love it. But in all actuality, this family is so lived in, and I love it. The mom, you know, the mom is smoking weed, the dad is reading, and then he's doing push-ups in bed, and you know, after that he's sticking his stomach out, sticking his stomach in. I'm like, we all do these like weird things in bed with our significant other or behind closed doors, and it just seemed real. Like all these characters just seem like people you would have as neighbors.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:50

I have to agree. It's like a little bit goofy and over the top at times, but more real to me than most characters that I see in things. And I think there's a certain level of it that I kind of just write off, just like with how some of the effects are a little corny and cheesy at times and you know, a little easy to see through. Some of these characters, like, you know, are you doing push-ups in bed? Maybe it's a little bit much. Everything they do is maybe a little bit much, but it's still enjoyable. I like had a good time with them. And like I said, those cute little moments that we get with them really are are cute, and I liked it. I just didn't like them enough to care. And they did the perspective of the story so much better in 2015, so it it's a it's an L for this one in the original, but the characters are still fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:38

Although one of the characters was not cool because you don't reach through my window and eat my sauce.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:43

Bruh, that literally that happened, and I text Chris and said, This movie is literally a joke. Like, what are we on about? But you just have to be here for the good time. Like, I think he reached in and grabbed the coffee and ate a scoop of sauce out of the pan with like the spoon that it's been cooking with. It was just a lot. And then put it back in. And put it back in, of course. What do you mean? He's in somebody's window.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:08

Yeah, and she knew, and she did nothing about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:11

After cat calling the daughter, like it was just a lot. It was a lot going on with the extra characters in this movie.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:17

It did seem like the teenage daughter in both films was kind of weak sauce compared to the two younger ones.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:24

Absolutely. Okay, so agreed. I think the general character presence was a little bit weak sauce, but this is where a lot of the curse talk begins because she was tragically murdered after this movie came out by her ex-boyfriend. And Ryan, this is a little bit thing for you. Does she look familiar to you?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:45

Um not particularly that I'm thinking of right now.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:49

Her brother was in an American werewolf in London, and he's the friend who gets killed. Oh his name is Griffin, and that's why the little boy's name is Griffin in the remake.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:00

Oh, I'm into that. Mm-hmm. Yeah. We love to see it.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:05

There is a link in the show notes to Cursed Films on Shudder. There is an episode specifically about poultry guys, and it talks about Dominique Dunn and it talks about Heather O'Rourke and the tragedies that befell both of them, and how it continued on beyond even just the two of them.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:21

I think from this movie, at least at least three people died tragic deaths. Just from actors in this film. The guy who like peeped in to grab some of the sauce died a tragic death. I think one of the best parts of the movie is of each of each movie is the mom. The mother in each movie. So in the first one, she's really cool. Like she's a cool mom. She's not like other moms. She smokes weed. She has an open mind. She deals with things very differently than you might expect her to, especially for someone on screen in the early 80s. And I just I don't know, I feel like she had a great presence. In the 2015, I love that she's the responsible one. You know, when he goes out and he spends the money that they don't have to spend, like her reaction is so real where she's having to hold in, like getting angry at him in front of the kids. But she's still like visibly letting him know that like this is not okay, and we like did not talk about you doing this, and we're gonna have to return this stuff because we need to eat spaghetti for the next three months or whatever it's gonna be. But um I obviously in the first one, like she's she's really you know into saving her daughter, like she's gonna be on the rope, she's gonna go get her, she's gonna listen to my voice. And I think it was a cool change where they didn't have her do that in the 2015 remake where they had the son go in, but I still feel like she was really involved and she was you know very serious about stuff. So I mean she's two different mothers, but I think each of them played such such a crucial part.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:44

I I would agree with that. I think one of the best things from the original, right, is looking at the moment where she's trying to flush the bird and then Caroline finds her and like and then she's like, oh shit, now we're gonna bury this damn bird. Now we're gonna bury this damn bird and give it a proper burial. That was really cute. Okay, also flushing birds?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:03

No question mark?

SPEAKER_04 1:17:05

Yeah, it is intense. I think this is the 80s and nobody cared. Rest in peace to your pipes, bro. They didn't know. I mean, look at what else was underneath there. I think they had bigger problems to worry about. That's more bodies that were gonna resurface.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:18

They didn't have flushable wipes yet.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:20

Exactly. Less issues than got it. There is a worse part that I have of the original, absolutely. But I do want to just give a quick shout-out to a lot of the dialogue, right? Because it was those little moments. It's like the interactions between the characters, and there's that moment where the mom is saying that she has to go, she has to be the one to get Carolyn, and we have the medium who's just like, You've never done this before, and the mom's like, neither of you, and then just like a beat, a comedic beat, and she's like, You're right, you go. That was hilarious to me, and that was like the added comedy I needed to kind of counteract some of the pacing issues I had in this movie. A lot of this movie felt like time wasted, not in terms of like my life, big picture, it was a waste of time, I'm gonna hack it. But it sounded it felt like it could have been trimmed quite a bit more to be more productive and to make it feel more worthwhile. This first film was a little bit of a labor to get through.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:19

Totally. I love that comedic beat as well. I think it added to it. I don't think it took away though much from the runtime because it still felt so long. But one of my best parts from the original is going to have to be the backstory. Now I know that this backstory is very overplayed, especially in Stephen King novels and or movies. But I don't know, I liked it. I like that you get some sort of piece of the puzzle and you put it together, like when the mom and dad have the dinner party and they start telling them about the burial site, and then you learn some from the realtor or andor builder, whatever he is. But I don't know, it was very interesting to have that backstory, even though I know sometimes when we watch movies, we would rather have less. I think we got just the right amount.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:09

So as overplayed as that backstory is, is it is inspired by an actual situation when they were trying to relocate a cemetery, they didn't have the money, and the builder just started only moving the headstones. Then employee ended up confessing to it and they stopped the whole project. But now there's a park named Chiesman Park in Denver, Colorado, that is partially built on top of bodies. That's terrifying.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:36

Link in the show notes. It's fine as long as you don't want to pool. That's when things can be a little rough.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:42

That's fine if you just don't want to disrespect the graves.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:45

Yeah, just dirt and boxes.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:48

That like brings up a quick worst point, which is where they're like, at least it wasn't an in-name burial ground.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:53

And then they felt the need to repeat it in 2015.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:56

Yeah, just like really casually. Like, whatever. Like that, oh whoo, that would have been bad. But these white people don't worry about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:04

Let's be real here for a moment. You guys have talked about some nice things, some not so nice things. The runtime here definitely hurts. But the best part of the original poltergeist is the dog. Ebaz is a dream come true. He's so lovely, he's such a vital part of every scene he's in. He is on cue, okay, when he needs to be. I just gotta be honest, he kept me even caring a little bit because I wouldn't let Chris tell me if he was gonna die or not. Because I had to suffer through that if that was what was gonna happen. And it didn't. Thank God it didn't, okay? I think Paris would describe Ebuzz as pulling focus the entire movie.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:45

He's the hot blonde in this movie.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:47

I love that they put him in the taxi though. Like they're we're not taking chances about a dog. Get him in the taxi, get him out of here.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:53

Just so cute.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:54

No liability there. Yes, so so sweet. For the remake, since I have to give a best part, which is fairly easy to do. I love how they played upon the clowns. You know, I love how they had multiple clowns. I know we've talked about it previously, but that was my favorite part because I wish they had done more in the original, and I think they did enough to get me to like that part a little bit more. You down with the clown. I'm down with the clown. I even in my notes said loved how they played with the clown. I'm not into that.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:24

I didn't enjoy that at all. I don't really have an original thing to say. We've already kind of touched on this, but the best part of the remake is what they did with the characters and how they made the story more related to the sun and the and it being hit her brother finding her. All of that was so much better than the way it was done in the first one.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:43

The worst part of the remake is clearly that there's no dog.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:47

Duh. Well, I couldn't say that.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:49

I do think the I agree with you, the best part of this movie is the angle they take with making the relationship with the characters feel a little bit deeper. Granted, I think the family as a whole isn't as like lived in and enjoyable as the original, but focusing it more on Griffin was a really big success to me. I think a backup for that would be the way they incorporate some of those visuals, right? We talked about the hands inside the TV. That was a big win. So to speak, would be the river sticks and just seeing all these corpses and all these bodies as he's trying to, you know, transit this this space. But I think the other thing that I didn't get to shout out earlier was the fact that you could see her shadow moving along the walls, running through the house. Instead of getting that hokey she'd pass right through me. Smell my clothes, you'd smell her, just smell her, it's her. Instead of getting that, we actually get to see her, which I really appreciated. It made me fear for her a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:49

But I have to pick a worse part because I also slashed this movie. And that's a little bit harder. I think it's overall just like a pretty decent film. I think the thing that bothered me the most though was what they did with the story, what they did with the parents and their jobs or lack thereof. And I think it made things like interesting because it like gave them a crisis and let them kind of go back and forth, but it was just kind of painful to watch. Like it was more like a you know, married with children family dynamic where they kind of like hated on the dad a little bit, and then like he hated himself because of that, and that was just a like a bit too much. So I wish that he had still worked at John Deere and maybe he was on like a leave of absence or something, and they were just like, ah, I can't wait to get him back to work. But instead it was just like, yeah, like I'll get a job one day, but secretly let me drink away my pain.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:39

And asking at the hardware store, like, do you you get a good pension? Like, oh god, it's pitiful. However, I'm so sorry. You did just remind me of the funniest part of this remake, and that is when they're looking at the house and he's like, sorry, hang on a second, honey. I'm having a really awkward exchange with our realtor.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:00

That was great.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:01

Hilarious. I was like, wait, is this really is did he really say that? Is this like a a break in the fourth wall thing right now? What's happening?

SPEAKER_00 1:24:09

And that's and that's why he was cast because that's the quality that he brings to the film.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:14

I don't dislike him. It's these two. Okay, that one moment wasn't worth his entire casting. I would have loved someone more enjoyable.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:21

Well, I don't know, maybe it was.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:23

I don't know if it's enough to make me watch the 2015 again, his his performance, but I I think I would definitely watch the original again.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:32

Yeah, I'm only saving the original for a watch with my kids one day kind of thing, never watching the remake again.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:40

Interesting, because I don't want my kids to watch this, get scared, and then be disappointed years later. So I'm not re-watching either of these.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:48

You don't want to torture your kids like you're tortured right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:51

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:52

They're not gonna get scared. I'm sorry. Look at you're gonna be showing them saw when they can like barely form words.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:58

They're gonna be fine. Then I'm gonna show them the picture. I'm like, you want to see your mom in a saw head trap? Pretty great. I um you know I ain't watching these again.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:06

Well, let's see if there's anything that Mac has up his sleeve for fact or fiction to sway you otherwise.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:11

Number one. Steven Spielberg passed on Drew Barrymore for the part of Carol Ann because he wanted someone more angelic.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:19

Well, she was an E.T. So confused.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:24

This is fiction. Words are hard, Alexis. I'm also gonna go fiction.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:29

It's not a fiction, it's a fact. But the audition that she did landed her the role of Gertie in E.T. So yeah, he wanted somebody a little bit more angelic. Number two, Oliver Robbins started to choke in real life during the clown strangling scene. But Spielberg and Hooper just thought that he was ad-libbing cries for help.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:48

Fact. I'm gonna say fiction because his acting in that scene did not sell it for me.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:54

This is a fact. They literally thought he was ad-libbing, like, like, please help me, I'm choking, or whatever he was doing with his face or whatever, right? Uh, to the point where they're like, hey, look in the camera. Because they thought he was like acting. Um, but you know, his whole like face turning purple, kind of a giveaway eventually, and Spielberg ran over and freed him from the arms of the clown. Which brings us to number three. That fake ass steak that moved across the countertop was a prop typically used in restaurant commercials.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:19

Uh, I don't think it was even that. I think it was something else. Fiction. Fiction.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:23

It's a fiction, but it's because it was a real steak.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:25

Ooh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:26

It looked super fake though, but they just moved it with wires.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:30

Yeah, I figure that you use something real.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:31

And number four, Heather Overwork said the first thing she would buy with her earnings from the film was a goldfish, like Carol Ann had in the film.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:38

Oh, the cute overfeeding. I'll say fact. I'm gonna say fiction.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:42

Okay, this is a fiction. Um, but she did keep the actual goldfish from the movie after filming. Unfortunately, she did tragically pass away. I think it was during the filming of Poltergeist 3, um, due to medical issues.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:54

Is this one of those curse things?

SPEAKER_00 1:26:56

That's it's part of the curse.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:58

Yeah, and the director of that film talks about like the emotional weight, right, uh, of working with her every day, and she talked about how she wanted to be a director one day, and she had all these ideas and dreams, and he talks about like the devastation of nobody wanting to continue working on that film, and the studio is basically forcing them to, and then having to like obviously shoot an ending where she's no longer a part of it. So there's like a shot where they dress someone up who looks kinda similar, as she's being carried from this like angelic kind of light. It's just the saddest thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:33

RIP, gone too soon, and that's been fact or fiction.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:37

Well, there you have it, folks. The original Poltergeist earned two hacks and two slashes, but it's 2015 remake didn't fare as well, earning a staggering three hacks and one slash. We've had a lot to talk about here, but it doesn't end here by any means. We want to know what you think. We want to get your take on the Poltergeist franchise and which film you preferred. Keep in mind there are a number of ways you can reach out to us, starting with our website hackerslash.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:00

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SPEAKER_01 1:28:03

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SPEAKER_00 1:28:16

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SPEAKER_01 1:28:22

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SPEAKER_04 1:28:34

We'll see you next time, folks. And remember, there is no death. There's only a transition to a different sphere of consciousness. Bye.