258: Knock at the Cabin (2023)

SPEAKER_02 0:04

The horsemen are drawing nearer on the leather steeds they ride. They come to take your life.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hackerslash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm just gonna learn about you for a little while. Is that okay? 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.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

A total joke, a waste of time.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Or a slash. Totally killer, pun intended. We believe horror is for everyone and asks us for rating these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the classic horror connoisseur Sean.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

You see, the four of us have a very important job to do. In fact, it might be the most important job in the history of the world.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

And the paranormal paramour, Binks. I will ask for the last time, will you make a choice? This week we went to the theater to check out M.9 Shamalan's take on adapting a 2018 Paul G Tremblade novel. Before we get down to business though, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Let's follow up in a movie. Uh we recently reviewed Skinamarink, which actually just released on Shudder, I believe, on February 2nd, just a few days ago. We gave it three hacks in one slash. We all know who that slash was.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Uh-huh. Shawnamarink.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Shawnamarink, yeah. But we did want to know what our listeners thought of it. And I gotta tell you, the poll results are in, and I'm actually surprised. 54% of our listeners gave it a hack, while 46% thought it was a slash.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

I've got to acknowledge this thing was like neck and neck, and there are trading places for who was more slot hack and what was more slash throughout the voting period. It was tight.

SPEAKER_03 1:50

And I have to tell you, it kind of resembles a little bit of what I'm noticing from my friend group as well that have seen this uh movie because they're pretty 50-50 split as well. So I'm kind of shocked.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

That's uh yeah, that's crazy. I feel like most people I've talked to have have been on the hack side, so I was actually shocked to see it split down the middle like this.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

I feel like I've seen more people who are on the slash side.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Like at least people at work who are just really excited about it. I don't know if if you've revisited yet, Binks, but I know that like you were open to it just to see if it if it hits differently a second time around. But we've also welcomed a bunch of new people into the community on Discord. They all have amazing things to say about it. So I don't know, time will tell.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Yeah, definitely. And you know, we actually have some passionate comments from some of our listeners. We have Chewy Baca, who said, I really enjoyed this movie, but holy hell did it get under my skin. It really brought up memories of a house I used to live in that absolutely terrified me at night.

SPEAKER_03 2:47

Wow. You see, that's the kind of stuff that I've noticed from my friends that have liked this movie. They kind of have similar thoughts. So geez, interesting.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Maybe part of the problem is me not growing up in a two-story house. You know what I mean? Maybe my house was just real unintimidating growing up. Can't relate.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

That's wild. For the people that got that feeling that I was talking about, it kind of brings you back to those moments when you were kind of scared as a child. But we also have Nathan saying, so I really like the concept. I think it effectively captures the feeling of being a kid at night, preoccupied with shadows in corners, under beds, in closets. But that concept in a movie where pretty much nothing happens makes this runtime a disaster for me. This should have been a 20 to 30 minute short at best. It overstays its welcome. By the time something happened that actually should have been scary, I had already mentally punched out by that point, so I didn't care. So for me, it's gonna be a hack.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Nathan, I'm right there with you. I'm telling you, this movie overstayed its welcome. Poor use of time.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Hot take, Nathan.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

What's less of a hot take though, and uh something that I was so excited to see that you had some support with Ansha, because I know a lot of people responded to that episode just so enthusiastic for your love of it. Uh, I want to point out that Jake said every frame of the house in this movie, it was too real for me. I feel like I live in that house, and I understood those images too well. Sean, you described the feeling this movie ignites perfectly. This movie really did tap into my inner child and my perspective of darkness at night when I was a child. I share a slash with you on this, but it's completely reasonable that others will hack it. I can't be mad about it. It's a very narrow experience that can really resonate with a select crowd. Maybe down the road someone can take this concept and make it more receptive and structured because I love this liminal vibe.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Yeah. Great comment, Jake. I think we were pretty aligned on this movie when we were discussing it. I agree, but you know what? The one thing is that seeing all of these slashes, maybe there is a larger uh amount of the population out there watching this film that kind of uh gets that feeling out of it.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Oh, for sure. And I do want to point out that uh when Jake first started talking about this movie early on in our discussion thread for it, y'all were going back and forth on some theories. I remember that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Oh yeah, the theories run deep. Uh, but we also have Miggy Mac, no relation to our Superfly Space Guy Mac. Uh, but Miggy Mac says, I'd say I compare my viewing of this to my viewing of which tension buildup without the uh big explosive payoff, which is fine, but not what I look for in my spooky flicks.

SPEAKER_03 5:24

That quite literally encapsulates my exact thought about skinmark because that is exactly how I feel about the witch, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

We also have when Chell freezes over, y'all, as expected, skinamar ink got me good. All of it was just like a childhood nightmare. The thing that got me most was how you'd see monsters or spooky things, then look harder and realize it's just a toy, uh, or when you'd be convinced there was something moving in the dark when there isn't actually anything there. It just made me distrust what I saw. Then actually spooky stuff came on and it really spooked me. Uh, I was hiding, peeking out from behind a blanket for the majority of the movie.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Damn, that's impactful. Also, great, great Discord handle, Chelsea. Yeah. When Chell freezes over is 10 out of 10. I love your style.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

That is such a great way to describe the feeling that you got throughout this movie. I don't know if I was necessarily hiding from behind a blanket, but it definitely gave me that kind of fear in a sense. But hey, the conversation around this movie definitely doesn't have to end here. So if you want to continue the conversation around Skinner Marink or chat about the movie we're reviewing in this episode, check the link in our show notes to join our free Discord server.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Come on, it's fun.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Oh yeah. And that's our follow-up.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Well, we're keeping the psychological theme going this week as we're discussing the second film in a two-picture deal M. Night Shyamalan's production company had with Universal Pictures. The story follows a young girl and her parents enjoying a nice, quaint family vacation until armed strangers take them hostage and demand they make a choice to avert impending apocalypse. This week, we're talking about knock at the cabin. What were you all expecting going into this?

SPEAKER_03 7:07

I think it's kind of known that uh M-Knight is uh a little bit of a hit or miss creator. So for me, at least I I kind of believe that stereotype a little bit because I'll use an example like old, I think is probably one of the worst movies I've ever seen, and not saying a lot, especially because we've seen the mean one, and I will continue to use that as a reference point. Amazing. But however, however, his Apple TV Plus show Servant is probably one of my favorite shows ever. So freaking good. So I think you know, going into this, I had heard also that it was based on a book, and the book wasn't so great, so I was like, you know, let me just give it a shot. How bad could it be? The cast is solid. I I always go into a movie open-minded as much as I can, right? So kind of went into it with that.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

It's interesting. Were the reviews on the book just bad? Is that is that what you meant?

SPEAKER_03 7:56

Like the book got bad, like it wasn't as good, or I think it was from one of our patrons, and like I think it was like a a couple of things I found on Goodreads that like weren't necessarily highly rated. Yeah. I didn't I didn't like look too into it though, because at the same time some of my liter literature choices uh, you know, speak for themselves.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 8:17

So, you know, there's that.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Definitely. I was just curious because if the book wasn't uh, you know, widely accepted, then the decision to turn it into a film just seems bizarre.

SPEAKER_03 8:29

Yeah, that's a good point.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

But you know, I I really didn't know, you know, what to expect going into the movie. I I went into it with very little knowledge about it. I think I definitely watched the trailer a couple of times during previews for other films that I was seeing in theaters. I I obviously I know it's M. Night Shyamalan, so I was expecting this to have a good plot twist, something a little out there. Of course, I know it's some kind of play off of the apocalypse given the trailer, but outside of that, I really had no idea. I didn't know it was about uh based off a novel, had no idea what that novel was about, so I was kind of going into this with very little expectations.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Yeah, to be clear, I I didn't read the original novel, so I didn't have any baseline at all, even besides like vaguely remembering the trailer to go off of. I did look into the book after the movie because I was so curious about what deviations there were. But yeah, I I went into this expecting it to be another shyan experience where you're taking on twists and turns, but I had trouble imagining what that could be. Well, first I haven't seen everything there is from my M9 Shyamalan. I I think maybe I just tended to watch the better things. The only thing I've seen of his and disliked was the happening. Uh, and that's because mainly because I I don't really like Mark Wahlberg very much. But before watching this movie, I thought, okay, this can only end one of two specific ways. So I I really went in trying to shut my brain off, sit back, and try to just enjoy the ride in hopes that I wouldn't ruin it for myself by thinking too much. I felt an odd mix of feelings watching this movie. Some I wholeheartedly believe and know were intentional, but others that I I couldn't quite pinpoint a root cause for. And I felt uncomfortable, apprehensive, like bewildered, all those things. But above all of that, I was very much invested in the story. Which what's weird for me about that though, you go into this, okay, it's end night shaman, you expect to be preyed on psychologically, but instead of preying on my mind psychologically, I felt like it preyed on me emotionally, which felt different.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

That's interesting. I definitely didn't get the emotional hits, I guess, in this movie for for lack of a better better way of describing it. I mean, I definitely was was going back and forth throughout the movie on what I think was happening and where I think it was going and what was true and what was not, and all these different things, but um my initial feeling while watching the film was just really trying to grasp the cinematography of it all. The camera angles were one thing that really kind of threw me off, kind of caught me off guard at first, and I just got caught up just in my mind thinking of how this was being shot throughout the whole film. That was my initial impression, but I'm I'm super curious to hear you kind of dive deeper into what this movie brought out of you.

SPEAKER_03 11:20

Yeah, that's funny that you brought up the camera angle specifically, because that's one thing that I I feel like stuck with me throughout the movie that I was so focused on analyzing those kinds of things. But I will say that I don't think it accomplished having me feel all the feels in terms of like the extreme of all of these emotions, but I definitely did feel sad at some points, like angry at others. Um, but overall, I just was very tense. I was captivated. I wanted to know what the outcome was gonna be already, even though I agree it's one of two ways. Well, I guess in some ways. And then I just wanted to finish this uh impending tension that was just continuing on and on throughout the movie, which is a feeling that I didn't necessarily expect considering what the plot is and what you assume the ending and how it's gonna play out.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Yeah, it the tension is so palpable in this movie, and it's wild because I don't know that it deserves it. I know that this all sounds super vague, but when we get to the second half, it's not that there's only two possible scenarios for the ending, but it's more like two overall schools of thought on like if you expect a twist or not, uh and what could that be. Right. And I think for me, I found myself only really disappointed in one moment where I truly couldn't suspend my disbelief. It's a quick thing that happens, and I'm like, wait, what the fuck? How did that happen? And then apart from that, really I was surprised how straightforward this felt. I expect this movie wants you teetering on the edge of two stances in the movie, like I mentioned.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

The whole time I was watching it though, I only felt one side of things, and I know that's vague, and I again, you know, spoiler section, we're gonna clarify, but I think it's really attributed to like Dave Patisse's performance as Leonard and the rest of his associates that I only like let my mind wander in one side of the story.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

Interesting. Yeah, I do think I agree with you about the straightforwardness of the film, but I don't know that I actually felt that necessarily while watching the film. I think I felt that after watching the film because I what I think the film really does is it really leaves a lot of space for, you know, I don't know, reasonable doubt or something like that, right? Like it it really it leaves a lot of space for kind of thinking and wondering and stuff like that. And I'm not sure if it's on purpose or not, but I'm sure we're gonna dive deeper into it. I will say one thing though, I for some reason can't seem to get away from Ron Weasley. Rupert Grint, I I can't get away from him. I I've been watching the Harry Potter Francis uh franchise recently, so I've been getting a lot of Rupert from that. Uh I've also obviously been watching the latest season of The Servant, so I've been getting a lot of Rupert from that, and now this movie, I mean it's just feel like I everywhere I go, I just got a little bit of Rupert in my life, and you know, maybe that's okay. Maybe that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

I do love the name Rupert though.

SPEAKER_03 14:18

I'd I'd say it is a good thing. But actually, while we're while we are talking about Rupert Grin, I think what surprised me was the characters, uh their choices, their backstories. I don't know. I just I know that ultimately this wasn't going to be a typical stranger break-in type of situation because there is the threat of the apocalypse. But I guess a part of me was kind of still hoping or thinking that it wasn't gonna be full on, you know, I don't know, like full-on exploring that uh trope, I guess. I kind of figured that it would still be a little more grounded. So overall, some of the choices that were made and their backstories, how they come to um interact with one another, even with the main characters, I don't know. I I wasn't ready for that, so it was it was pleasantly surprised and definitely a part of what captivated me about the movie.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Yeah, I think the the characters in this movie are super compelling, and it doesn't make it scary. I I think, well, first, let me set the stage. I watched this movie in the theater, and there was one other group of people in there with me. It was two parents and their young child, like elementary school level child. At some point in the movie, the dad erupts in snoring that could parallel a locomotive.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Oh, jeez.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

It was outrageous and so distracting. So maybe that took some of the edge off of the tension in in in in some parts of it. But this movie for me wasn't frightening in the least bit. It was again very emotional though, and it did make you wonder like, okay, if you were to put if you were put in this situation, what choice would you make? How long would it take for you to believe it? And could you live with the outcome of that either way? You know what I mean? So I think it's more it kind of it's more priming you for like an existential crisis than actually just scaring the shit out of you as a horror movie.

SPEAKER_03 16:17

Yeah, I'd agree. I think what's scary is the concept of what if this were to happen in real life and the situation itself, more so than the actual movie and what they do, and the again, the actions and you know, some of the things that go on. I I don't think they're scary, I think they're tense, but if this were to be real life, yeah, I mean that's hella scary. So makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Yeah, I mean, here's the thing. To me, this is not a horror film. It's an end-of-the-world film, psychological thriller at best, but it is definitely not a horror film, not in my eyes. It's not scary to me. In fact, I the only person I can really see getting scared or frightened by this film are the crazy doomsayers standing on the corners out there with the end is coming signs, you know. That's really it. This film was definitely not frightening. And it wasn't a horror film.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Okay, it being horror or not being horror, you know, who's to say it's all about our personal taste. But what I will say is that this movie, despite the things that it made me feel, really is just cabin in the woods, but you're all in on it at the same time. And no one's like, you know, doing crazy tricks and making bet and pulls. That's for me, that's what it felt like. Yeah, maybe the novel itself is much more original than this, but I think what it does is really take the tough choices and put them out on Front Street and make you reconcile that, but it doesn't make it particularly fresh. And that's not a knock against the movie, but I don't think it's groundbreaking.

SPEAKER_03 17:44

It's funny that you brought up Cabin in the Woods because when I told one of my friends that I was going to see this movie, they thought it was a sequel to Cabin in the Woods.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Nice. That's funny.

SPEAKER_03 17:53

Yeah, that just goes to show you in terms of originality. I mean, I think it's it's hard to give originality points to another book to movie adaptation, is really what it comes down to, on top of the fact that the apocalypse type of situation is also something that's kind of overplayed. Um yeah, I wouldn't necessarily say that it's original either.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

It's tough. It's definitely tough. Um, I didn't really actually link this to uh the cabin in the woods, but that is that is a great uh point that you brought up for sure. I think I could see I could see the similarities in there. Um, but you know, I think the film, you know, just to defend it a little bit, because I know I was really harsh on calling it not a horror film, and I and I'll stand by that, but the film definitely gets originality points, I think. I mean I I didn't read the novel, uh The Cabin at the End of the World, but it gets originality points for at least showcasing a fresh new approach to an end of the world film. I I I feel like I I've watched a lot of end of the world films, if you will, and I haven't seen one necessarily like this. I guess I can now see kind of the ties to the Cabin in the Woods or whatever, but it's still even compared to that, it's still a slightly different take. And I think for that, I'll give it some originality points.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Yeah, I mean it is a slightly different take, and let me tell you, it also has a fucking better ending.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Okay, Cabin in the Woods has an a good an ending that is good for that movie, cool, but I fucking hate the main girl in that movie so much, and uh, I know we talked about this in our final girl stream beings, but this movie I think has a great ending, and I know that's probably gonna be controversial because it's not the ending that's in the book, and I know that a lot of people have some pretty negative opinions on that, but for me this was like a cathartic release, and I felt like it was a satisfying one and the one that made sense. So it's not like the book? That's interesting. The ending itself is is different from the book. That is interesting, yeah. Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 19:55

I mean, yeah, I'd agree. I I loved the ending. I think it was really moving, um, was peak intensity, it wrapped up the plot really well. There were certain some things in terms of the cinematography that I could have done without that kind of maybe took me out of the moment, just the smidge, but I think the actual message and what they were trying to convey was really well. So, you know, considering it's M night, sometimes those endings are extremely hit or miss. And I think he he hit with for this one.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

All right, all right. That's interesting. I don't think that the ending was um not, I don't know if it was the word is not satisfying. I feel like it ended all right. Uh to me though, the problem was that the ending for me was predictable, and that's something to be said about M-night, right? I feel like in an M-night Shyamalan film, if you're if you're guessing the end, that's pretty wild. Uh, and it's not that the ending was terrible per se, but it was a little lackluster for me, just maybe because one of the only expectations I had going into the film was that this is an M-night film and it's gonna be a crazy twist or whatever, and it just felt like we were building up to all of this and it just kind of fizzled out for me.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Yeah, see though, that's exactly why I tried not to focus on it too much when I went into it. Because, man, carrying the burden of like knowing that you're experiencing an M9 Shyamalan movie, yeah. It's honestly what I expect will almost feel like Jordan Peel in some ways, although two completely different storytellers, right?

SPEAKER_02 21:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

But you go in expecting something like, you know, think about everybody's reaction to nope and how different it was from us and get out, and then like the subsequent disappointment that comes from that instead of like remaining open to the journey or not and all that good stuff.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

I think for sure, so like the ending is one that I saw coming, but I am not mad at the fact that M. Night Shamalan did something a little different, if that makes sense. But you know, we'll see how all of this shakes out into our ratings and impacts our feelings and thoughts on the movies. But before we do that, Sean, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Well, you know, all of the kills in this movie happen pretty much off screen for the most part. Like you do have some violence in the film and you do have kills in this movie, but the gore, uh, it's pretty low. So I gotta give this a low gore score.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

And what about the animal report?

SPEAKER_03 22:16

I'd have to say the same because we'd really be going off of assumption, but in terms of what you see on screen, we are completely safe. So I would recommend.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings then. Knock at the cabin from 2023, now showing in theaters. Was it a hacker or slash?

SPEAKER_03 22:31

I actually will kind of keep it short in terms of my scoring, because I honestly don't feel passionately either which way about this film. But hear me out, you know, like I I enjoyed it and I had a good time watching it. It certainly had me hooked, that's for sure. I didn't really enjoy certain parts or honestly some characters, but at one point I thought this movie was going in an entirely different direction. But that being said, this is absolutely not a movie that I would put in the pile of bad M night movies. So that's good, right? And I think I would definitely recommend it to other people. So, you know, I'm gonna give it a confident slash for sure.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

All right. Well, you know, that it is truly this one is a tough one for me because again, like I find myself on this horror movie review podcast and not reviewing a horror movie. I mean, at least it's not horror for me. I like I told you before, like it it could be a psychological thriller, maybe it just doesn't, I don't I don't feel the horror of it all. That being said, I I can't sit here and hack a film because I don't like or I don't feel like it's technically a horror movie. Um, I did think that the story uh gave maybe too much in some areas and then not enough in other spots. So I think the pacing or just the overall flow of the movie was a bit strange to me. But then again, I never actually felt bored while watching the film. I was actively engaged in the plot, and it did have me trying to figure out the outcome, which I did pretty early on. But nonetheless, I think it was a decent film, and I think I'm gonna have to give this a soft slash, a really soft slash.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

What's the thread count on that slash?

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Oh gosh, it's like 100.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

I don't know, that doesn't sound very soft, it sounds pretty rough.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

That feels rough, but it's like low thread, so it's very uh yeah, low quality slash. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Gotcha. Low quality, so it could rip very easily. Might not still be a slash at the end of the year. Got it. I understand. I'm following.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

One wash cycle and it's Terry.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

My god. Jesus. So listen, I don't know that if I watched this movie on a different day, if I'd feel completely the same because there is something about today that has me, I don't know, slightly sentimental, a little bit raw in the feelings, maybe. And this movie really just took advantage of every opportunity it could to make me feel that. It's a horror movie in a different sense. It's a horror movie for me in a similar way, not completely the same, but a similar way as The Perfection is. And it's a horror movie that takes some elements of real life and just makes you look at square in the face and reckon with that. And so this movie, while I did see the end coming, while it's the ending that I I I thought we'd get, while we have this very straightforward plot, it's a very straightforward story, I found myself feeling every ounce of this movie. And what was incredibly special to me is to see a same-sex couple in this movie and it not fall into the cheap pandering of homophobia. You know what I mean? Like we have moments where that could be a possibility, and maybe this is what that's what this is for me, right? Maybe it rubbed me raw in that way. But I found Eric and Andrew to be very, very relatable, and I found their family to be something I wanted to believe in and root for, but then the humans on the other side of this story also incredibly compelling. So what this movie really did for me is like, you know, maybe I overlooked some of the issues and the glaring opportunities with its cinematography because the people made this movie come to life, and for that alone, it gets a slash. Now, Knock at the Cabin from 2023 has earned a barely there one wash icon that might not be universal slash. Now, you can currently catch this movie in theaters, and if you're listening to this episode, post its theatrical run, and we'll have a link in the show notes for where you can find it online for rent or purchase. But go check it out, then join us in the second half so we can break down these spoilers together. We'll see you in a bit. Do you ever feel like the world is up to get you? That something terrible is always just around the corner. That everything that could go wrong will go wrong. Well, it's not just you. The Mayans know your dumps, and that one drunk guy in your town were right. The zombies are coming and we're all going to die. Doomsday is coming and it could be any day now. That's why you need Doomsday Assurance. The premier apocalypse insurance covering the unexpected, even the undead. We've got your back for price. We have policies for giant tsunamis heading your way fast, planes spontaneously falling from the sky, black lung, and red bolts of lightning. We cover you all the way to the end of the world. We even offer coverage for your pitchforks, sites, shuttle spots, and other apocalyptic maiming tools. You can rest assured that no matter how bad things get, we'll be there to pick up the beasts or shove them under the rug so nobody will know. You can even take advantage of our best-selling premium hackerslash package. Now for just a low monthly payment of $13 a month, with promo code Hackerslash, you too can be protected by any unnatural disaster that was previously demonstrated in a horror movie. Doomsday Assurance. You can't take it with you, but we won't stop you from trying. Welcome back, folks. You are now entering the spoiler zone for Knock at the Cabin, which has earned a universal slash. Although, we'll see if it stays on at the end of the year. We have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, let's go through the kills.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

Listen, don't let this movie deceive you. There was a ton of kills in this movie. It's just mostly implied and not really shown. You get five total kills from the actual characters that are confirmed or acknowledged during the film, uh, but there are tons of other kills from various so-called plagues throughout the movie, uh, including tsunamis, earthquakes, crazy flu viruses, planes falling from the sky, lightning and fire. It all feels a little too familiar. But what were your favorite kills?

SPEAKER_03 29:00

I'm gonna go with Leonard. I think it was the most heartbreaking. And I think also because he's like such a big guy, he's presumab presumably so intimidating. Uh one of the big reasons that M Knight literally casted Dave Bautista for that reason alone, that he was such a big guy, so intimidating. You would think that he's like so frightening, but he's actually so kind. And so to see him go out on his own in that way as well, I don't know, it's just such a shame. I don't know. Gosh, my heart really broke for him. It really did. I was so sad.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

It was a good one though. I mean, he went out like a G. Like he literally just was like, I'm committed to this, I'm doing this thing, and here's how I'm gonna do it. Bam! I'm gonna slip my throat. That's wild.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Yeah, and you know, by that point, it feels like we really didn't even need him to go, truly. They could have come around to a decision had they waited a couple more minutes, you know? I mean, I get that Andrew needed to see it, perhaps, but it was just such a shame. My favorite death, I'm gonna be very real with you, is Redmond. Not because of why you may think, it's not just because I hate Ron Weasley. They all broke my heart in one way or another. He, though, was the surprise heartbreaker because of the acknowledgement of how scared he was. And, you know, I get it now while you all say that Rupert Grant is such a fantastic actor. I haven't seen him in the Apple TV Plus show. Uh, so this was like a really good moment to see that. But to see him die, but then also get the confirmation later that he was the person who attacked Andrew in the bar. I mean, it gives you so many complicated feelings, but that was just a decisive moment of like, oh what the fuck, shit's getting real. And how nice of them to not let Wen even see that, even though she had to be present for it.

SPEAKER_00 30:47

I I see that. I think those two, those two were were really good kills. I think Redmond, because actually for a different reason, I just wasn't expecting it to come. Like, I think maybe they had told us that that was gonna be what ensues. I don't remember exactly, but when I was watching that scene and Redmond puts like the what the hell was that? A cheesecloth? Like what the hell was that thing?

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Like a hood.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

Either way, I wasn't ready for it. Like he's putting, like, yes, there's some emotions happening, he's scared, he puts the hood, cheesecloth, whatever, on his head. Uh, and for some reason I was waiting for like this plague or whatever to ensue, and I wasn't necessarily ready or expecting for some reason for him to die. And so when it did happen, it was really uh it just hit really hard. Like it just was really impactful, and maybe it was maybe just the sound effects that sounded so good that really caught me off guard, especially in the theater. But that was one that was my favorite kill just because of how abrupt it was and how effective the kill was.

SPEAKER_03 31:54

Well, to answer your question, I think they they don't explicitly say that if they don't choose that one of them is gonna die. Okay. Because I think at that point, and when you think about it plot-wise, if they knew that right from the jump, they would have been like, Alright, so we're just not gonna choose each time, like fuck all of you, because they would have never really believed them, you know.

SPEAKER_02 32:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 32:12

So I agree. Like, I think that's what was most shocking, but also just for the simple fact that I was like, damn, Rupertgrin had to go back to set to keep doing servant, huh? Because he was he was the first one out. Like, I was like, man, I was so excited to see more of him. But I guess I'll just tune into the show again. I I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

Time confliction.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

But here's the thing though, I I appreciated that because we see what's gonna happen, and I think they had already made Adrian and and Leonard and Sabrina likable or empathetic, right? So like take the one that the aggressive guy out of the out of the picture, and then know that the more you start to care about the others, you're gonna start watching them die too, which is really fucking heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

You know, though those were good ones, but let's just talk about Sabrina for a second, right? Like, one, I thought she had already died, and then she had to ensue like another or endure another death. Like, come on, she just couldn't catch a break. She gets shot, then she gets, I don't know, smashed in the head with whatever that pitchfork axe thing was.

SPEAKER_03 33:16

You know, she actually was when I had first thought about it, and like when I left the theater, I was thinking to myself, I think Sabrina's gonna be my favorite kill because I was also just so again, what a great performance. Like, man, it was so sad because she just really took a beating, for lack of a better word. But I'm still confident in my Leonard choice. I but I would agree that Sabrina even like it wasn't enough that he killed her. You still had to go and like practically cut her head off, I guess, or whatever the hell you did.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

And that's the that's the heartbreaking thing about it. So the actress who plays her gave such a great performance as her and just like won me over so early on. And I hated that this woman who was seen as like the healer, right? The the empathetic nurse, the one who has a sister back home and is reminded of her when she sees when she got the worst of it.

SPEAKER_02 34:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:07

Because it's not even just the sacrifice, right? It's being shot by a guy in his house or in a vacation home. And it's like insult added to injury that left a bad taste in my mouth, but not like a a distasteful one, not like it's in poor taste. It just it just hurt. It really fucking hurt. And I think all of these deaths, I think Redmond the least, but yeah, for sure. They all hurt.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

I mean, even Eric's was tough, man. Like it you knew you knew that it was gonna happen, right? But just watching it unfold was like, man, you really felt for them. You really did feel for them.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

Yeah, especially Adrian, like to also know that she did have a son named Charlie.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

At no point did I think they were making this shit up. I did like the seeds they planted to try to redirect or you know, sow distrust or mistrust when we had the pre-recording, or this happened four hours ago, or his name is Redmond, or his name isn't Redmond, it's O'Bannon. Um, and then you know, Adrian acknowledged, we don't know shit about him. We just met him on a message board. Did he say this thing first? But I still believed that this is a very real situation because of how earnest they seemed as people, and I didn't believe that like the group manipulation was just gonna pan out and there isn't there is no apocalypse.

SPEAKER_03 35:31

You know, we're talking so much about all of them that uh I have to say I don't know if this is considered a visual element, maybe. I mean, it is wardrobe to some extent, but those weapons were incredibly intimidating. Um but I have to say also that they were honestly like like the first indication to me that they might have been actually the four horsemen. It I don't know, something about it in the way that they were walking with that kind of weaponry, how they held them, how they were acting before they had to die. It was giving very much four horsemen. And maybe it's because I've seen Supernatural and I'm a big fan, and so that's already like tainted for me. But I believed it for a moment, and then I was like, nah, it's not gonna go this route. And then, well, obviously it did. So there's that.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

Okay, so that actually makes me glad that I don't know much about it. So, you know, you hear about the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and I think I've maybe seen it what, like was it American Dad that had an apocalyptic like series of episodes for a bit, and you see the four horsemen in that, but I have had very little contact with that otherwise or in any other context. So I was quite pleased that that was like a nice little surprise for me towards the end. I think for me visually, I actually love the choices they made when it came to showing blood in the movie. Um, and it wasn't even that they did it much with it, it's very brutal. This movie feels brutal. We see planes fall from the sky, but the blood is so sparing, and that's what I really respect. It was like the slow trickle during Redmond and Leonard's death. Yeah. And even then the choices Abrina made to scrub the blood from the floor, yeah, it just it felt very dark, but also light. Also, like there's some humanity there, and even that slow push-in on Leonard, right before he slits his own throat, and we see the the cutting just slightly off. Ah man, the the it's not often that I like the gore or the blood in a movie, but this just felt like the perfect amount of it.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

It was tasteful for sure. I I have to agree. The character, I mean, these four horsemen, if you will, if we're calling it now because that's you know, it's out in the open, they were so hospitable. They're cleaning up after themselves, they're trying to fix the door that they kicked in, they're you know, they're trying to tend to the wounds. Like, how nice of these intruders to come in, wreck your whole life, and then try to make it seem a little bit more comfy.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

You know, I guess they weren't trying to wreck their lives in the first place, though. You know, it really was just a group of people just trying to figure this shit out together.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

Yeah, yeah. And you know, I I uh while I did think the the film was predictable in the sense of like the outcome and things like that. I too also didn't necessarily predict four horsemen of the apocalypse, which so that was kind of cool uh to to kind of come to fruition. The the closest I know to like four horsemen is is the Metallica song.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

That feels on brand.

SPEAKER_03 38:35

Should have known.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

The horsemen are dragon near the steeds they ride, they come to take your life.

SPEAKER_03 38:43

Could you imagine if that song started playing? Right? That would be great.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

That would be great. Not the musical moment. Well, like we already have boogie shoes.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

I know, I know. But you know what? I think for me, overall, like if we're thinking about what visually stood out to me, it was actually the cinematography because even though it threw me off at first, once I adjusted to those close-up scenes, those strange camera angles, the overall cinematography really did grow on me. Um, I believe they used like a 90s lens uh to really give it that 90s thriller vibe. Uh, and I don't know if I necessarily got 90s vibes from this movie, but I did really enjoy the way it looked, and I think that was my favorite visual overall.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

You know, it really was a sight to behold. And let me tell you though, the cinematography grew on you, but these fucking characters grew on me, and none more so than even in my favorite scene, uh, which was a collection, really. It's every flashback we got of Eric, Andrew, and Wen. It was clear how much pain Andrew had felt all throughout life, and then Eric's presence in his life, what that meant, right? We see so much like rejection or pain or anger at so many different places. And you know, he's someone who has faced so much who's had so much difficulty with healing. It gave such a nicer, richer backstory to it. And I I think it made Eric's uh Eric Eric's sacrifice feel all the more beautiful. Granted, I'm gonna just say this and you know, I'll get there later. We'll we'll talk about it later more in characters, but I feel like they could have made a fucking decision way sooner than this.

SPEAKER_00 40:25

They probably could have. They probably could have. The flashbacks for me, um, you know, I thought definitely some of them gave, you know, enough to the story, but I did feel like overall the amount of flashbacks we got, there was like maybe a couple of them that I just felt like maybe didn't need to be in there per se, but and then listening to what you're saying, it kind of built off of you know who these people were and you know how they built this family and who and kind of more backstory to them. And I don't know, I I did come into this movie kind of in a funky mood, so maybe I just didn't give that enough of a chance to kind of see, but I I maybe I was just surface level for most of the movie and not looking too deep into it.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

Yeah, I mean I I think there's so much going on in this movie that it's only natural that you're gonna gravitate to certain parts of it, right? Like I think for me, I could see so much of myself and Eric and Andrew, or like even in past relationships I've been in, right? Like I've been the Eric who is encouraging uh Andrew to come out or have their family over to try to accept us as a couple, only for them to have a very conservative or devoutly religious background to just like drive seven hours and then stay for 45 minutes. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, I think there's just so much of that that I I personally took investment in. And I was like, oh shit, this is this is hitting deep, right? To like to see these two people who have gone through so much and still found such a beautiful love, yeah, and to have built this family this way, and even down to the little things that they had to do, like pretend they weren't a married couple when adopting went.

SPEAKER_02 42:05

Right.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

You know what I mean? Yeah, we think about every sacrifice they've made every step of the way, they deserve their happy ending, and their happy ending was only seven years.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:14

And that's it's it's fucking sad, man. It's fucking sad. But that's why I I love the context that that those flashbacks gave. That's just me being sappy.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

No, for sure. And that I think, you know, it it is true, it is sad, and I think the flashbacks overall, the one one of the flashbacks was my favorite scene, and it was the flashback scene where they're in the car singing to Boogie Shoes. I think it was just a happy moment. It was a fun moment. It was great. All three of them, it was an intimate moment. I think all three of them really did a good job in that scene. And I especially loved the scene at the end where they kind of brought it back and had the same song come on, and it was like kind of like heartbreaking and you know, kind of, you know, nice, like you didn't know how to feel at that moment, and they didn't know how to feel at that moment, and you could see that happening in the scene, right? They it comes on, they're kind of like, what the fuck? Turn it off. The other one turns it on, turns it off, then they decide, you know what, let's turn this on, we're gonna make this a good moment, and then they you know drive off or whatever. And I just thought, man, what a good way to tie it all back together.

SPEAKER_03 43:20

So yeah, I I would say that a hundred percent agree that what's great about the you know, tying in that song again at the end is that you really do feel just like they do. And I've I'm sure that if I was in their shoes, like I also would be like, what the fuck? That well, I'm turning on this radio and this is the song that's playing, you know. Like, what are the chances, right? You know, we're talking so much about the these characters and their backstories. My favorite scene for sure was you know, the four horsemen talking about their introductions, their speeches on who they were. Because, like I said earlier, it's not what you typically see in a home invasion type of movie, you know, you never Have the invaders or like you know the killers per se talking about who they are, much less trying to appeal to them in the sense of like I have a son or I'm you know a second grade teacher, like all of these things about them to try to get these people to understand that they're humans too, and this is what has to be done. So I really liked that kind of change in in a type of horror movie like this one.

SPEAKER_00 44:28

I I think that's a uh a great point for sure. And you know what? Like the characters overall, like you know, you're talking about the horsemen, you're talking about this family. There was some pretty darn good acting in this one. Yeah. When it comes down to it, you think about all of these different characters and the the weight that they pulled throughout this film. I mean, it really didn't let up. I I feel like I was genuinely surprised. For me, I was genuinely surprised by Batista's performance because he hasn't, you know, he hasn't done a whole lot of serious roles. I think I could be wrong, but I think the last real serious role he might have had was in Tron, like the new Tron. But he had some really good emotions going on in this film, and I was really taken aback by his performance.

SPEAKER_03 45:11

I agree. I I don't know if this is a hot take or not. Quite frankly, I don't really care. Dave Patissa is probably one of the best wrestler gone acting actors that there is.

SPEAKER_02 45:23

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:24

And and I'm not trying to say that just for the culture, but like it's I feel like it is true. I mean, he's acted in so many different things. Now we've got, you know, a horror movie in the slot. And recently he had interviewed saying that he really wants to try to do a rom-com next, you know, and and he gets it. He's massive and like, you know, it doesn't really you don't really see him in that, but he did so great in in Knives Out Glass Onion. Um, I think he did obviously I love Guardians of the Galaxy, like all these other things, and to see him in this movie where he's playing that range of being someone who's compassionate, who you know teaches children, who really wants to bond with Wen, but feels so bad for what he has to do and still carries it through to the very end. Wow, he did fantastic. Another one that was my favorite is Adrian. Actually, I know I talk a lot about Leonard, but I think Adrian was my favorite character because she was absolutely nuts. She was frickin' bonkers, and I loved every moment of it. I've I don't think I know that actress, truthfully, but I would definitely watch her things after that. She was so good.

SPEAKER_01 46:32

She was absolutely incredible. She was, again, you know, I think of the the four of them, closer to being one of my favorites. I loved her reaction to uh the door, for example. Like there was just something about her that was so human. And not even not even that the the the any of the others were less human, but I feel like she was almost the most innocent in a way. She appeared to be the youngest, the less experienced. Um, you know, it it breaks my heart when she was talking about her son and you know, the kind of pancakes that he likes. It it was just fucking devastating, man. And to think about the quality of the performances that we get there, like again, their earnest performances, the humanity in their eyes, none of it had me convinced for a second that the apocalypse wasn't real. So, hey, you know what? I'm gonna be real. If the three of us were in a cabin and these people show up at the door, I see one person go and I'm like, cool, I'm out, y'all can take me. I'm the willing sacrifice, let's go. Because I would have fucking believed this. Hook, line, and sinker.

SPEAKER_00 47:36

Dang. That's so nice of you. I hope I'm with you in these scenarios.

SPEAKER_03 47:40

Yeah, because meanwhile, Sean and I, the Virgos, are like, Yeah. And and if Mac, are you kidding me? Mac Mac would be like, this is such a load of shit.

SPEAKER_00 47:50

Mac's definitely the one saying this is bullshit.

SPEAKER_03 47:53

Yeah, yeah, 120%.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

There's so much in the in this movie, even with Andrew as a character, even with seeing the background that he has and seeing how he comes to terms and comes to peace with Eric going. I 100% adore the way this worked out. I'm gonna I'm gonna make things a little bit sad for a second. He has brought so much peace and love to Andrew, and I think provided so much growth there. I think to me, it only made sense for Eric to go because he's also the most willing to make the selfless sacrifice. Right. Because Andrew has fought tooth and nail every fucking second to just be able to have some kind of peace and enjoy it, even at the cost of literally the rest of the fucking world. At least that's the vibe that I got. But I also deeply appreciate Andrew for his logical perspectives because as crazy as this shit sounds, and as much as I believed the four horsemen's earnest uh portrayals of things, Andrew was just someone trying to be logical and reasonable, and everything he said made sense. You can be mad at it.

SPEAKER_00 48:57

Oh, a hundred percent. It was they were both such relatable characters. It's uh I I would probably also be much like that. Like if if I'm thrown into a situation like this and I have four random people knocking on my door telling me some bullshit, like I gotta kill one of my loved ones to save the world. I'm like, go go fuck yourself, dude. Kill yourself. I'm not killing anybody. Like, we're we're good.

SPEAKER_01 49:20

Like, no, thanks. We have enough.

SPEAKER_00 49:22

Yeah. Uh here, hi. Uh, my name's Sean. I want to live, so I'm gonna be right here. You figure this shit out.

SPEAKER_03 49:28

Aren't you the same person that was like, I want to be like a vampire or something so I can live forever? And like Sean wants I'm living forever one way or the other. That is true.

SPEAKER_01 49:37

Yeah, no, if Sean is posed with sacrifice potentially yourself or someone you love, and then the rest of humanity gets to live, or you definitely don't die, but you do walk the earth forever alone with your family. Sean's like, oh, forever alone? Fuck yeah, let's go.

SPEAKER_00 49:53

Yeah, I can I can I can handle that. Uh it's just the it's the decision, or it's more so being in the situation of they're presenting this kind of uh outcome to happen, if you will, and I'm just not buying into it. Now, if they if they for some reason convinced me that this was gonna happen, I'm definitely the one that's not dying. Like I'm definitely be like, yo, you guys need to figure out which one of you are going to sacrifice yourselves, and then one of you needs to kill the other one because I don't have it in me to kill somebody, I don't think. Uh, but uh but I'm definitely the one that's living.

SPEAKER_03 50:27

And you know what, you know what's gonna end up happening is that you say that and they're gonna choose you to die.

SPEAKER_00 50:31

Oh well, I'm not consenting to that shit.

SPEAKER_03 50:34

Right. No, right. Consent is so important.

SPEAKER_01 50:36

Yeah, he has he has to be willing. He has to be willing to do that.

SPEAKER_03 50:38

Oh, I guess that's true. Yeah, the part is that he has to be willing. All right, fair enough. Fair enough. Look, my thing, my thing is to kind of go back to Andrew. Let me start off with I think that it's important to say that I definitely loved seeing this kind of dynamic, especially, you know, uh Andrew and Eric and their story. Obviously, it's something that I can't relate to, but I am clearly extremely empathetic towards. But was it just me? Maybe it sounds like it was. Andrew truthfully rubbed me the wrong frickin' way for a good while there, because he just seemed like such a gaslighter and was just uh at one point he tells Eric, like I'm or he looks at Eric being like, Oh, it's because you hit your head, like you're not thinking straight, and then says, You're only gonna speak to me. Like, I don't know, that did not hit very, very well. And I understand to some extent it is fact, he did hit his head. Maybe he like, you know, is a little more um willing to accept that this is true, but ultimately it was true. So you know what, Andrew? Screw you a little bit. It's is is kind of what I felt like towards the end. And I understand that you want to protect your family and all this other stuff, but man, did he just rub me the wrong way? So much so that for a good while there, probably up until the last half, I almost thought to myself, before things like really hit the fan, where it was clearly like, okay, this really is an apocalypse that's happening. I really thought that Andrew purposely did all of these things and manipulated these four horsemen and did all these pre-recordings and things to basically like have revenge on what was done to him, especially with Redmond. I I promise you, that's literally what I thought was happening until the plane started falling from the sky, and then I was like, no, this is really the apocalypse.

SPEAKER_01 52:36

Okay, fair enough. Damn. Okay, so that that would have been a hell of a twist. Uh, I could have I could have been down for that.

SPEAKER_02 52:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:43

I think it's 100% reasonable for you to have felt that way about Andrew, especially because there are moments of his humanity that are imperfect and flawed and unlikable. And it is really a testament to his love with Eric and Eric's love for him, that they stay together and try to get better through that. Um, but I think the only thing that really the only thing that that that didn't uh I think have me go towards that side of things of like, fuck Andrew, why is he telling him who he can he can't talk to? It was the flashbacks and the culmination of the flashbacks because we see that they have a relationship that's built on honesty, vulnerability, empathy, love, and and choosing each other and choosing their future in some in spite of some tough shit. So I think by the time we get to a lot of that and we then see and we know that Sabrina has said this man is severely concussed. You know, he needs to rest in a dark room and to know that like the light is still shining, and these aren't good situations. I saw it more as like him trying to be protective over uh trying to be overly aggressive and assertive in a way that he doesn't trust Eric to be able to make a decision. That's just me.

SPEAKER_00 53:59

Listen, I think we've we've really talked a lot about all of these different characters, but let's just take a moment to acknowledge when. I feel like she was such a lovable character. She did such a great job absorbing like all of the empathy from the audience. Like, she like that was the one character that I was like rooting for the entire time. Like, no matter what happens, this kid has got to make it out of here.

SPEAKER_03 54:24

Absolutely. I was having a conversation recently about child actors, whether they really are like have good performances or not, if they really, you know, are they great actors? Those kinds of things, right? Yeah, especially in horror. Wow. Fantastic. Wen was just such a cutie, loved her, so sassy. She was out here doing her part. Oh, yep. Big fan of her. I I'm I'm definitely like rooting for that actress. I can't wait to see what she, you know, who she becomes in the future for sure, because she killed it with this one.

SPEAKER_01 54:58

No, I absolutely loved her. I think you know, her casting in particular in particular made Wen even more lovable because obviously she has some great dialogue, she has a lot of cute moments, but there is something about the fear on her face and the skill with which she portrayed that that really just took things to another level for me. Let me say though, there was something about her connection with uh Eric and Andrew that kind of set things for me in the beginning, and this is when I knew Eric was gonna be the one to go. And that was a moment where Eric says, You're not gonna separate me from Andrew and when he's standing alone or he's sitting alone, and when we already see her with Andrew, and she has her arms around it, I'm like, this feels like fucking foreshadowing.

SPEAKER_00 55:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:48

For all that though, for all the fucking greatness that came in throughout the throughout the performances in this movie, let me tell y'all the single worst part. The moment that pulled me from the movie, the moment that made me go, how the fuck did that happen? The moment we get the newscast, and it's about the tsunami, and it says, We got this footage moments ago, how the fuck are you receiving footage of a cam from a camera clearly fucking underwater, its owner clearly drowned or expiring, you didn't fucking get that footage. Like what the fuck, bro? If you had told me, or if you just stopped it moments earlier and show like, okay, person's running to their car, like they sent their cell phone video in whatever, no fucking way. That one thing dropped me out of being able to suspend my disbelief.

SPEAKER_03 56:34

If I had a nickel for every time that that kind of bullshit is in a horror movie or in a movie in general, truthfully, I'd probably be able to buy a whole city. I don't understand why they continue to do that. Like it makes zero sense. And to be honest, that was what kicked off my theory that oh, this thing is all planted. Because even this guy, uh Andrew was like, oh, that was pre-recorded, or I knew about that happening. You know what? I was I was about to pop off being like, this man knew too much. He every time that something happened, oh, I knew about it. I knew about it from this. You know too much, sir. Get off. Like, ugh.

SPEAKER_01 57:09

You know what? All they had to do was give us one good overlay of a screen recording from someone's iPhone or their screen recording an Instagram live of the tsunami hitting while someone was live streaming on the beach. That's it. That's all you had to fucking do. But nah, you wanted to use that fancy ass footage and you wanted to fucking keep the cameras rolling underwater, bro. What? Sorry, I'm done. But it was a fucking glaring oversight and over an otherwise great movie. An incredible camera.

SPEAKER_00 57:38

Amazing camera.

SPEAKER_01 57:39

It could have been a GoPro, but no. Okay, I'm done.

SPEAKER_00 57:42

Okay, okay. I I know I'm supposed to pick a worse part because I slashed this film, but I'm gonna hear me out. I'm gonna go off the rails here for a second and just say that the worst part of this movie could also be the best part. I don't know, but hear me out. The worst part of this movie for me is probably the predictable plot. Or maybe it's just the fact that I went into this thinking there was going to be some major plot twist and that there was no way I predicted the outcome already. Um, surely M-Night isn't gonna let me down, but you know what? The more I thought about it, the more I feel like it might actually be the best part of the film because it really had me guessing or at least thinking, is this apocalypse really happening? Are these people just part of a cult looking to play a sadistic game? Uh, it just did a good job not showing you too much of the apocalypse unfolding and most of it through news reports to what you're saying. This was effective in it in at least giving you just enough reasonable doubt for both sides, right? Uh, so maybe there didn't need to be a major twist at the end. Maybe it was just the way it should be or should have been.

SPEAKER_03 58:50

I agree. All right, all right. Well, goodness. Um, I think for me, my worst part is very small. I mentioned it earlier in terms of like the cinematography and like scene choices and stuff, like how they filmed that. The rotating in the end during that whole little like what was supposed to be very dramatic, kind of that's what really pulled me out of the emotion. I was like, I'm getting dizzy watching this. It seems like a lot. Yeah, so I I would say that, but you know, it's such like a very small thing to say worst part. So I'm gonna pick another thing. And I would say that during the whole movie, another thing that I had been thinking about was you said it earlier, Sean. There are full-on doomsday people, like QAnon people that definitely think that this stuff could happen, is real, etc. And the worst part of this movie is that although the apocalypse probably would not be actually happening, could these people show up to your house and pull that kind of shit? Um, yes. Could this encourage them to pull some kind of shit? I don't know, maybe. Um I'm gonna start gearing up with a weapon and I don't know, start doing some weights or something so I can pick it up, but I'm gonna have to figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:02

Dang, I never really thought about it that way.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:04

Oh, leave it to me. Yeah. To be the only thing I think about. So there's that.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:08

My anxiety is riddled. Okay, uh, well, that glaring red flag aside, this movie is for me pretty high quality, and I think it is so worthy of a rewatch. But I have to be honest with you, friends, and I feel like I'm gonna be vulnerable with you, and you may make fun of me. I teared up a few times in this movie, and I don't think I want to have an emotional roller coaster anytime soon, so if and when I rewatch this, I'm gonna have to really be specific about when I schedule it into my life. I was particularly vulnerable today, and I cannot revisit this movie in another emotional state. This shit got me in my feelings.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:46

Yeah, I don't I don't know why we would make fun of you for it, considering, you know, the main characters, obviously you can relate to their story and like the the hardship that they've had to go through that like Sean and I obviously cannot to some extent, right? So although, but however, we regardless of that, it's still just emotional to put yourself in the position of if you had to pick your partner, the love of your life, or I mean, honestly, no one even considered it, but really the child as well could have been an option to some extent. It would have been rough as hell. So yeah, I think that that's of course that's normal to be teary-eyed. I don't know why we would make fun of you for that.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:26

I felt like I had to hide my tear-stained hoodie when I left the theater. Oh, no, no, no. I think that's fine. Not me booing in the back.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:34

Yeah, no, uh, but all that being said, like I didn't necessarily feel extremely sad though, or or emotional to that extreme. Sure, did I think about what I would do in that situation? I mean, yeah, but then I was like, eh, let's see what happens. I don't know. Like, rock, paper, scissor, I guess. What are you gonna do? Like, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:52

Drawing straws.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:53

Right, right? Like, okay. You know how people always say don't keep scoring a relationship. I feel like this is why you keep scoring a relationship.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:00

Oh, who's messed up and who's oh yeah, then the other person is probably screwed. I hope I I hope I end up with I hope my husband like literally has receipts just as much as I do so that I can be a fair fight, because if not, I'm gonna win. So there's that. However, I mean, yeah, yeah. I I also am not like cold. I wouldn't want them to go either.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:21

But like But I got them receipts. But I got them winning.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:25

Exactly. Exactly. I mean, I'm a receipt machine, so here we go. There you go. For sure, for sure. Um, look, I so like I was saying, you know, I I'm not necessarily like an emotional type of person sometimes, depends on what I watch, and so I wasn't teary-eyed or anything like that in this movie. I really enjoyed it though, and it was very tense. I I had a good time watching it. It's not one of my favorite M night movies, but I would put it up there in terms of the would recommend category, like I mentioned, so I could watch it again. I actually was supposed to see this movie with my mom. She ended up getting very sick, so I went by myself. And afterwards I called her to check in on her, see how she was doing, and she um was like, oh, you know, how was the movie? I was like, Mom, you know, I honestly will see this again with you next week if you're feeling better. So I might actually re-watch this sooner than I thought. How sweet.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:13

Yeah, you know, I wouldn't I wouldn't mind watching this one again either. Uh, once it's available to stream, I don't know if I'm going back to theaters, but once it's available to stream, I could see myself watching it again for sure. It's one of those where uh you might be able to get you know more little details from the second watch and just keep getting more and more out of the film the more you watch it. Um that's kind of how I feel about it. So I definitely think I'll be watching this one again at some point.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:37

Well, that all sounds promising, but for now, there you have it, folks. Knock at the cabin.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:51

Yeah, absolutely. What what do you think? Let us know. Uh you can join in in the conversation by hanging out with us free on our Discord. Click the link in our show notes to sign up.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:00

Yeah, honestly, if you've enjoyed listening to this episode, I really hope that you did, because it was very, very fun and you know, lots of heated debates, I think. Not too many, but just enough. I think that you should honestly consider being one of our patrons. Visit patreon.com slash hack or slash to enjoy more of the show. You'll get early access, extended episodes, bonus content, which is my personal favorite. We got some some great uh behind the scenes chat that you can tune into, and more importantly, live shows.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:30

We'll see you next time, folks. And remember, our choices make our destiny.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:33

All of humanity has been judged.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:36

By me, personally, the Capricorn.