272: Fresh (2022)

SPEAKER_02 0:04

You can wash that thing off before you put it in your mouth.

SPEAKER_03 0:11

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. That's surrender. That's love. 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_02 0:28

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_03 0:30

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're 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 a friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

You're going to have to try one. I don't want you leaving here thinking I'm a weirdo.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

The classic horror connoisseur Sean.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Come on, man, we've seen this movie. We don't make it out this bitch alive. You know this.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

And the paranormal paramour Binks. Does anyone say anything smart on Twitter? This week we're checking out a film that delves into the risks and rewards of stepping outside your comfort zone and the search for something more. This week, we're discussing a film that explores the intricacies of modern dating and the potential dangers that come with taking a chance on someone. We all know the world of dating apps can be a tiresome place, which is why Noah decides to take a chance and give her number to a man she meets at a grocery store. As their connection deepens, she finds herself in a situation that quickly spirals out of control. As we dive into the complexities of chance encounters and the ever-evolving landscape of relationships, we're reminded that sometimes the most intriguing stories and those that stray from the well trodden path. So, pause your dating profile, sit back and get ready for a roller coaster of emotions, folks, because this week we're talking about fresh. Who's seen this one before?

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Okay, I got I gotta say, for some reason, I thought I had never seen this one before, but once I put it on, I realized that I had definitely seen this one before, which is interesting because I now remember that I watched this with my wife a while back.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

This is really giving a deja vu to Alexis. You're really giving Alexis right now.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

I know, I kind of felt that as I was like thinking about this. I was like, no way, I definitely saw this. I looked at the title, I read the synopsis, everything, I'm like, nope, never seen this. Popped it in. I was like, yep, definitely seen this.

SPEAKER_03 2:15

That's pretty foreboding.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Seems ominous. No, I've definitely seen this movie. Actually, when it premiered on Hulu, I believe, I watched it immediately and was so happy to watch it again. Can't wait for us to get into it.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

I remember seeing a like a teaser and a trailer, I think, for this when it was first coming out, but I I never got around to watching it until now.

SPEAKER_03 2:37

I hadn't seen this movie before. Now, a bunch of people were raving about it. I think Paris watched this also when it came out. It was one of those that I intended to get to at some point, and well, folks, hi, here. The moment is now, we've arrived at some point. And you know, going into this, I for some reason have a slight bias with Sebastian Stan. And I don't know why. I don't really have anything against him, but I do think he'd be an amazing Luke Skywalker. Like, give me post-Return of the Jedi, pre-The Force Awakens, just somewhere in that range. We don't need to make it digital. Sebastian Stan will probably be fine. But I haven't watched a lot of his stuff because I thought I read something scandalous a few years ago and thinking, oh, that guy seems pretty shitty. So I wasn't really prepared for what we were about to get from his performance in this one, but I was expecting it to be an alternative take on like a Jeffrey Dahmer meets Ted Bundy meets American Psycho.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

I was I was kind of just expecting 50 spooky shades of gray, to be honest. That was the vibe I was getting.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

50 spooky shades of gray. I love that. I I think for for me, there's really two completely different perspectives here because not remembering this movie, for some reason, going into this watch, I read the synopsis and it doesn't really give you much, right? In fact, it kind of makes you feel like you're gonna get some washed-out basic baby formula of a suspenseful horror film. But once I remembered that I had watched this one before and remembering more details surrounding the plot, I'm actually expecting a more thoughtful horror film, something a bit more interesting than what I thought before.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Yeah, and I think for me it's like re-watching this now as a single woman, like I was a lot more aware of what I was walking into and just spent the whole time like thinking, okay, can I catch the red flag? So that's kind of what I was expecting. The whole time, the plot twist is out for me, right? So I'm like, all right, I'm still gonna enjoy this, but am I really gonna be triggered just an extra level and layer now that I'm single and having to watch this? So it was an interesting rewatch for sure.

SPEAKER_03 4:47

I can only imagine how different this could be, especially considering you probably were in a much different point in your life when you first watched this movie. But you know, we we talked about Barbarian several episodes ago, and we talked about the book that inspired Barbarian, which was The Gifts of Fear, which I fucking love. And this movie felt to me like what Barbarian in a different way, what the writer of Barbarian was probably seeking to do in some way, which is to look at intuition and to explore what happens if we do or we do not acknowledge our own intuition. And I thought that was an interesting landscape for this movie. This felt like a more successful version of that because I felt uncomfortable in some moments. I was not feeling particularly great. I laughed though a lot. I think this had a really interesting blend of making me feel different things, but most of all, I felt seen because Noah orders cherries the same way that I order pickles on a sandwich. Like, give me as many as you can possibly spare.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

You said that you felt seen, and here I am excited, like, man, that's literally what I wrote down, because I felt seen. But it's about cherries.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

And pickles.

SPEAKER_03 6:04

I actually hate cherries, but I just mean I I appreciate the way that you ordered. There are other things in this movie that do seriously make me feel seen in different ways, but that was the the chief among them. I I I had a good time watching this, despite how uncomfortable I felt. And let me just specify that it's uncomfortable in a good way, uncomfortable in the way that they intend you to be.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Which I think is interesting that you bring up barbarian because like to get into it just briefly, like the thing about your instincts and when you're meeting people, and the situation of barbarian, it's not necessarily like a romantic undertone to it. That's the thing about Fresh, though, is that there is a romantic element to it. So your intuition is already skewed with that, right? So when I was watching this movie, that's kind of what I was tapping into because you go into these scenarios with a bit of optimism, you know, like you think of the meat cute at a grocery store or a bookstore, or you think of like, you know, on a dating app with a little bit of optimism, and you just don't expect it to go awry. So I think for me, watching this, it was certainly uncomfortable. My hair was like rising at certain things from how scary the circumstances were, but at the same time, I was laughing. I was like, man, my best friends would say some of this shit, you know, like it was such a good time all around. I was all over the place emotionally for sure.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Yeah, what I felt in this, and you mentioned it earlier, Binks, was like when you when you said that you were looking for the warning signals or the red flags, right? And I immediately felt like I was picking up on all of those signals this time around. They felt a lot more obvious, and maybe they are too for others who are watching this for the first time. My wife said they were obvious to her on the first watch, but it wasn't for me. I didn't really catch all the subtle things that were said. So I don't know. That was the biggest feeling that I had was that I was just picking up, at least for that whole first half.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

I think watching this movie, there's a lot of moments where you go into this whole, like, hey, don't go in there, don't do this kind of mode. But really, I just had some like really strong guttural emotions that I was just a good portion of the movie was aww, and then it gets to ew, and then it gets to oh at the very end, which was which was kind of nice that they had a like a differing in phases, because I think if we had just had an entire movie of the first third of the movie, it would have been probably pretty boring and ended up on lifetime. And if it was just the second part of the movie, I would have barfed a couple times. And then if it was just the third part of the movie, it would just be an action movie or maybe a thriller. I don't know. So kind of somewhere in there. So I think they were able to really mesh it well so that you don't get just too used to everything.

SPEAKER_03 8:48

I agree with you. This movie does feel like three separate things, divided up even further into so many different layers, and then neatly arranged in different portions of the movie, and this gave me the same feeling that I had when I watched the reboot of Friday the thirteenth. And I won't spoil anything right now, but it is a very specific choice that is made to divide the storytelling in this movie that I absolutely was surprised by, but also adored. It was a great moment. I was also surprised how much humor there was in this. I was fucking laughing a bunch. You were puns galore. This is like macro the screenplay.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

That is interesting. It's a compliment. I'm curious to hear like your thoughts on that as you unpack that later on, because maybe it's just been a while since I've seen the remake for for Friday the 13th, so maybe I just I'm not putting two and two together right now. But one of the biggest surprises for me is that at least for me, you think you know what direction the movie is going in, and then you realize that it went that direction, and but then it went to the left at the fork in the road, which felt much more different than I would expect for how this movie started. Far more sinister and disturbing, if you ask me.

SPEAKER_03 9:59

You really hit us with a you think you know, but you have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Have to agree, Sean. Like the best part of this movie for me is the fact that it is so surprising at every turn. You think you're about to watch one thing, and then the title card hits, and then you're like, oh shit, we're making a quick left, and then it's a quick right, and you're like, where the hell am I? Where is this going? But in the best way, because sometimes obviously you're watching a movie and you're like, I thought I signed up for one thing, and this is making like a turn that makes no sense, but the the plot here makes sense. So I think that that was super surprising for sure, and adding a little bit of comedy to it, where it's not a typical horror comedy at all. It's not even, I believe, marketed that way, but you're gonna get some good laughs. It's pretty meta for sure.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Absolutely. I was also pleasantly surprised by how much I actually really enjoyed the cinematography and the sound design in this one. They were they were both on point for me.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

I I don't know if surprise is the right word. I'll say I was shocked and a little bit appalled by some of the grossness we get. They went to an unusual length in showing us some some realness when it comes to specifically anatomy and and body parts, and it kind of caught me off guard, and I feel like we lingered for like a little bit too long, but also it still worked because I didn't look away.

SPEAKER_03 11:14

Okay, well, the realness that you're referring to, well, what I understand to be the realness you're referring to didn't really bother me at all. What did bother me are some of the extreme close-ups we get on mouths. It was really giving the 2006 Black Christmas in a way that I absolutely hate. It was jarring, and again, not like a I hate as in this is a poor thing about this movie. No, no, it was exceptionally high quality, but god, I was just cringing inside. Would you say then that perhaps that is what made the movie frightening for you? Absolutely not. Nothing in this movie was frightening at all. But here's the thing I think it's because as women you come to expect these things, and these are the things that you grow up hearing, right? So it's not new, which again is like the audience of like, who is this movie for? Because it ain't me, bro. We know this, we all know this. However, I don't think that makes it less good. I think this is a movie that is suspenseful for sure, and won't keep people guessing if you don't watch these type of movies often.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

That's fair. Because I think to one extent, if you are like queasy and sensitive to certain things, like gore, truthfully, this will take you there. But as far as plot and over all the movie, yeah, it's not frightening because this is our day-to-day lives, like this is what our all of our you know single friends warn us about all the time, anyways. So, you know, like I rewatched this movie and I was like, Yeah, I knew this was, you know, I knew this could be me. So great. Yay, can't wait. So pumped.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Okay, see, but it's it's that right there. Is the movie frightening? No, but this movie is gonna make people afraid to go out and meet new people, to date, to do normal shit. It's frightening because you really never know, you know?

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Yeah, you know what, you're right. I am so close to just hiding and just never meeting a single soul ever again and dying alone.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

We're your friends now. Introduce me to someone. All of us are your collective, like, you know, person. We're anything you need us to be.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

I don't find it scary, but I did find it gross in many parts. And it doesn't even have to be like visually gross. They just use I think a like a combination of things that that hit your senses that make you grossed out, like make you like not want to eat eat food in general, but specifically meat for a while while you're watching this. And like, I'm sitting here watching this going, I think I could have falafel burgers. Like I I can deal with I can deal with that, you know, for for a little bit. I'll I'll get used to it. But to me, that's not that's fear, it's just like you know, like a Hannibal Electric kind of moment where yes, like I I get the graphic is gross, the sounds are gross, the smells that are going into my brain just by watching everything feel gross. I'm not worried that this is going to happen to me or people I know, especially because I think some of the decisions that got us here were obviously just really bad decisions and and and maybe that's what people do in real life. I don't know. These are not the decisions I or anyone I know would make that would land us here, but I'm sure somebody does. But to me, that like that takes us out a little bit. That's that whole don't go in there kind of a moment. It's a horror movie, they gotta go in there. Otherwise, there'd be no story. But I'm not worried about it.

SPEAKER_03 14:24

Yeah, let me tell you though, that I think what when you're when you're considering that element of it, Mac, as you were speaking, I was just thinking about how many other movies we've seen this kind of thing from. And I'm not here to diminish the quality of the movie, but I will say that it's not gonna be like it's not one of those movies that is it's unlike anything you've ever seen, right? Like I've seen so many different parts of this movie splintered off into separate movies, but maybe this is because I watch a lot of the things that I do in terms of true crime, serial killers, etc. That may just be my problem. And maybe if you're not someone who watches a lot of spooky movies or spooky things and you're relatively new to horror, this can be like, wow, this is some fresh shit, no pun intended. But I feel like this is a tale as old as time wrapped up in another tale as old as time and sprinkled with another tale as old as time to go on the side.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

But I would say that although I agree with that statement, it's the combination of two things that we have seen pretty often that I consider pun intended fresh. So I don't know. I I agree that it's not necessarily the most original movie. I guess I just didn't expect both of those themes combined.

SPEAKER_03 15:39

That's interesting. So again, let me just specify that in consideration of that, it doesn't have to be original to still be effective and to take those two themes that you're referring to and nail it.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Okay. Because I think I I can't wait for us to get into the spoiler zone, because there's like one kind of like symbolic element to these themes that I think is kind of like really quirky and fun that to me makes it like, all right, how have we never really seen this combo before, considering a phrase that's usually said about women? So I don't know, it's pretty interesting, but okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Interesting, yes. I think that this film definitely starts off feeling very unoriginal, but then it takes an interesting turn and still explores a familiar path but with a different tone to it. And that's what makes it feel original and fresh to me.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

Yeah, I think this is an original dish full of its own unique flavor because it's able to take those ingredients that we see in other places and we would otherwise just ignore or discard or not even really be bothered by. And it serves it up, right, in a platter in a way that like makes you feel a little bit disturbed for a while, a little bit, you know, a little bit funny though. You know, you get that humor every now and then, but it's not too much, it's not too low. This is it's got some good balance in this recipe. And when I'm watching it and I'm sitting all the way through this, like I'm definitely not thinking, I saw this in that movie, I saw this in that movie. I'm thinking to more than myself that like those things I'm recognizing, those are the setting. This movie is set in a universe where these things happen, and it's not necessarily the whole conceit of the film.

SPEAKER_03 17:11

Man, you saying that reminds me of a moment in Black Christmas 2019. I know I'm doing a lot of Black Christmas references right now. I promise I'm not gonna probably I'm probably not gonna reference the original, but there's a moment that we get in the ending that reminded me of this opening scene of Black Christmas. And let me tell you that in one moment I felt like, yes, on top of the earth, this felt great. I know I loved 99.9% of the ending and the way the story concludes, but then it did some shit, and there's an element of the final moment that really takes it down a notch for me. And it's not enough to ruin the movie, it's not enough to even ruin the end, but it sure did hit me as like a little bit of flavor that I didn't like. It was not a bit that I didn't find very necessary.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

I wonder if it's what I'm thinking, because to me I thought the ending was really entertaining, and there's a final moment that I thought was pretty ironic, and I actually enjoyed because it just brings it back to the reality of the situation and like the dating scene in general. So interesting. I wonder if it's the same thing, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 18:25

Okay, our stance on this topic is giving one woman's trash is another woman's treasure. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Interesting. I feel like we're talking about Vince Vaughn.

SPEAKER_03 18:35

But the moment that I disliked, I think you really enjoyed.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Oh really? Okay. Add it to the list for things to talk about.

SPEAKER_03 18:43

We need a running list.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

We'll see, we'll see what that is. I I also thought the ending was was satisfying. I enjoyed how it all played out. I thought all the little things that we get towards the end were good. I really enjoyed the little final scene we get. I don't know if it's a mid-credit or whatever. I love that scene. So I'm sure we'll talk about that more. I don't know if that's what you're all alluding to, but there's also a little snippet before that that I think is what you're all talking about. So, but I enjoyed, I enjoyed it all. I thought it was all satisfying. I thought it was a good way to end the film. I thought it was ironic as well. So we'll see.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

I'm very curious what the heck you guys are talking about because I didn't have anything to nitpick here. I just thought as a whole, the ending, like you said, Sean, it was satisfying. I think when we get to this phase where things are a little bit different, it's more thriller time. I'm down for that. That's definitely more my speed. And I honestly I felt like this part of the movie was the best part of the movie. I think, I mean, we obviously needed the rest of the movie to get here, but it was so satisfying. It was like watching somebody prepare your meal, and then it finally arrives on the plate at your table, and you you finally get to bite into that wafer of truffle, you know, that you've been eyeballing somebody carefully carved with a knife or something. I don't even know. But it just it feels it feels luxurious to make it to the ending because you had to stomach the rest of the film to get there.

SPEAKER_03 19:56

Well, nitpicking aside, it sounds like Binks and I have some things to really unpack here in the second half of our episode. So let's start making our way there. Now, before we score this movie, Sean, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_01 20:08

I feel like this film had an opportunity to be pretty gory, given the whole plot and whatnot, but they did not carpe crew here. They did not seize the gore, but instead they took a more tasteful approach, in my opinion, no pun intended. I would have to give this one a medium gore score overall.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

And what about the animal report?

SPEAKER_00 20:33

You know, I wish I had something clever to say to you know follow up on Sean's phenomenal gore score, but all I've got is the fact that we're safe, we're all good, and I think that that's gotta suffice.

SPEAKER_03 20:45

Let's go ahead and get into our ratings then. Fresh 2022, not streaming on Hulu. Was it a hacker or slash?

SPEAKER_00 20:51

All right, I'll kick us off. This movie for me was a quick watch and one that was like entertaining beyond belief because of how outlandish some of the characters are for sure. I think they walk a fine line between like sinister and silly, and you're entranced by what the main characters will do next or what they won't do, that's for sure. But more importantly, it's incredibly relatable, which makes it almost worse for me. Because the whole time I watched this movie, I thought to myself, and I have to go out and date a stranger after seeing this, like rough, you know. And look, all the things that I've shared so far, I've actually had a positive experience on the dating app. So, like, you know, let's cross our fingers and hope that it continues that way, right? But I've gotta say, this movie is not necessarily the best marketing prop for the dating scene. However, it is definitely a great, fun movie that lightens up the doomsday of these apps, okay? So I have to give it a slash.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Nice. Yeah, what I like about this film is that it it feels well thought out. I loved the attention to detail that this movie had throughout its entirety, from the screenplay or the dialogue to the level of action. We get from the cinematography to the editing and the sound design. It's really well done, in my opinion. I had a good time watching this one, and I also think that this is the type of horror movie that doesn't necessarily feel like you're watching a horror movie while you're watching it. And because of that, I can see a lot of people enjoying this movie, not just horror fans. So I gotta give this one a slash.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

This is a movie that should come with trigger warnings attached to the titles when it opens. Just to be fair, just to be honest. We we finished watching this. My wife was like, What'd you think? What are you gonna give it? What are you gonna rate it? And I was like, I don't know. It was so gross. And then she was like, But it was so good though. It was a good movie. Like, yeah, that's right. They were able to balance that out where they showed some stuff that I did not enjoy seeing. They, I mean, it complete with sounds and everything, right? Where it's just kind of like, oh, like my stomach's a little bit turned, but I can't look away the entire time. I didn't look away, I didn't block my eyes or anything like that. So they were able to gross me out, entertain me, give me comedy, give me true horror, and somehow have it all work out in the end. It was really a great recipe. Now, this is not one that I can think like everyone should watch. It's gonna be hard for many people to watch it, traumatizing for some people to watch it, but this is one that I was able to watch and think to myself, like, yeah, it was actually a really good movie. So it's a slash.

SPEAKER_03 23:19

You've all said it really well. This movie features, from my perspective, a near-perfect pairing of vision, like directorial vision, cinematic execution, and then on top of that, chilling performances to create the sense of unease, dread, and disorientation. It really does put the horrors of dating front and center in a way that's both uncomfortable and engrossing, like a train wreck or a car wreck you can't help but look away from, which I think is a testament to the incredible talent of the filmmakers and cast. And listen, I wasn't thirsting for Sebastian Stan like so many folks in our watch party were a few weeks ago, but his performance was particularly impressive, and his character gave me serious Zach Ephron as Ted Bundy vibes, and enough so that I want to see him do even more of this. I think I'm more of a Sebastian Stan fan now, after seeing this. And the humor in this movie was surprisingly well done. It wasn't overdone, but it did help to cut through the tension of the story and add some levity to the darker moments, and it was a nice touch that added a lot of depth and really thoughtfulness to the overall tone of the film. And while I didn't find anything in the movie particularly surprising or even particularly frightening, I completely see how folks who love suspenseful movies would fall in love with this. So of course it's a slash. And with that, Fresh 2022 has another universal slash. Now you can find this movie streaming now on Hulu, so go check it out, then join us in the second half so we can really debate some shit together. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_02 25:08

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SPEAKER_03 26:05

Welcome back, folks, and you're now entering the spoiler zone for fresh from 2022, which has heard a universal slash. We have lots to unwrap here, but before we get into the specifics of our readings, let's go through the kills.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Well, we sure don't get a lot of kills in this one. There are really only three actual kills in this movie. One that is heavily implied, and then we have the other two. But we know that we see other victims, or at least what's left of them, in that meat locker, all of the different frozen limbs that had name tags on them. Plus, we see that painting that opens up into that strange cubby full of the victim's belongings, and I believe there's like 24 cubbies if I counted correctly, all of which are full, so we can at the very least confirm 24 other deaths that happened prior to this timeline. And I'm not gonna talk about my favorite kill just yet because there really is only three that we see in the film, and one is just like I said, really implied. So I gotta ask all of you what were your favorite kills?

SPEAKER_03 27:05

Okay, I'm gonna fire off real quick because this is the moment that reminded me of the 2019 Black Christmas, and it's Anne's kill. And it's the fact that Anne is stabbed in the neck with keys. Then her okay, sure, yes, her face gets beaten with a shovel. That's great. But it's the key thing for me.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

That's great.

SPEAKER_03 27:22

Because you look at this, right? Keys are so often wielded by women in a parking lot on the street. It is just kind of like the last defense, and you so often see keys weave through the knuckles as a defense mechanism against predatory men. That is what, like, generally you would see, like in Black Christmas 2019, uh, there's a woman walking down a street, there's a guy walking behind her, she grabs her keys. Earlier in this movie, Noah grabs her keys and takes it just like that. So to see this ultimately used not on Steve, but on his wife, right? I think it's just really interesting because it's not about they're just being predatory men. There are also those who enable them. And in this case, it was Anne.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

Okay, that's surprising to me that you went with Anne, because I think in my book there's only one kill. But Anne's kill is a great one. I was a little upset that she didn't that no, it didn't go for the eyes while she was being held down by Anne. Like, come on, like they're right there. Just poke your poke your nails right in those puppies. But I I think the ultimate, the only death that really like stood out to me was Steve or Brendan or whatever you want to call him. I think it was the big one, but I think honestly, the death itself was whatever. The moments leading up to it, the other damage that he took. We gotta talk about that. We gotta talk about, you know, the Animal Report here was not clear, okay? Because there was a rooster harm in this in the making of this movie.

SPEAKER_03 28:49

Damn. Not the dick lie. You're right.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

She just, you know, she pulled the nausea osmore and just bit the head right off of that thing. Just, yeah, it was it was really hardcore. And it was the moment I think all of us, like all of us wanted something bad to happen to this dude, right? Just, you know, some kind of blunt force trauma to the head would have been completely fine. But when we got to that level, because I was really curious, like, what is she going to do to get out of this? Is she gonna have to drug him? Is she gonna get like one of his scalpers or something? No, no, no, no, no. She played the long game, and it was so worth it when there was just that chomp and his face and then the blood everywhere, and I was like, oh my god, they went there. This is amazing. Yeah, what a wonderful form of revenge. It was so fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

Yeah, and I actually really appreciate it because of the let me see your smile line. I think is just so great, and like he still smiles, like what a sadistic, crazy person.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

What an asshole.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

I know, it's just insane. He like still smiles, he's still just the most bizarre character ever. So aloof, like just I don't know, I don't even know how where to begin to describe him. It was just so insane. That kill was definitely it it filled the spirit, it filled the soul. I was happy about it, and so was he. It was weird.

SPEAKER_01 30:06

Yeah, the audacity on that man, literally, that stupid smirk, he deserved it. Yeah, what I thought was was also intense, like, yes, Mac, crazy. That was that was a wild turn of events, and then the the smirk or the smile and all of that, but even just the the shot to his face. Like, normally you get that scene and someone's standing over and they shoot the person in the face, but it cuts away. Like this one like stayed there, and it showed you the hole in his face. Like it was abrupt, like it was intense. The whole thing was intense.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

It's it it caught me a little off guard, but at the same time, I'm I'm kind of a little bit used to it right now because I've been trying to catch up on The Walking Dead like one episode at a time every other week. But yeah, every shot is a headshot in that show, and everything is is always shown. So I'm kind of like kind of numb to it a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 30:57

It reminded me of Terrifier 2016.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

It did, yeah. I could see it, yeah, for sure. We said a lot of good things. Obviously, and Steve, those are the big ones. The implied kill with Melissa. I mean, really think about it. Melissa really had it the worst. Like she was slowly dissected limb by limb, organ by fucking organ, until she was inevitably most likely dead.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

And to think that, like, I think it was her leg, or it might have been another one, who knows at this point, that was kind of sliced, like if it was prosciutto while this guy was cooking.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

Um, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_01 31:32

Nice cut of cured leg.

SPEAKER_00 31:34

However, I do want to say the cured leg and the prosciutto thing, my next thought instantly was like, what cheese pairs well?

SPEAKER_03 31:40

I have a proposal, let's all go to Lagnia and have a little charcuterie board while we unpack this movie.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Sounds like a great idea. Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 31:49

I have so many logistical questions for for eating people like this.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

Listen, between I mean, between eating prosciutto and meatballs, like this is this is a tough one. This is a tough one to swallow right now.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

I just want to know like how big of an issue because he's if he's taking pieces at a time, there's gonna be massive issues with like their immune systems going haywire afterwards. So there's gotta be some some something going wrong with that meat, as he calls it.

SPEAKER_00 32:18

Yeah, well, that's for sure. That's a full on given. I like how you brought up all the other kills that were obviously like maybe not, but clearly, because all those other women obviously were sauteed and served.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

So yikes. It's a lot.

SPEAKER_03 32:35

While I loved how the gore actually looked, the curing of the meat, so to speak, while I thought that was fascinating. There is just so much to appreciate in this movie visually. A the composition of the shots, you know, there's a moment in the bar where he's blurred in the foreground and she's in focus in the background, partial cuts of their faces. There's a shot and one moment of his reflection in her eyes that is just really jarring.

SPEAKER_01 33:01

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_03 33:02

But my absolute favorite choice that they made was what they did with the opening credits, and making it a solid forever into the fucking movie, separating the thirds of this story. It really like dissected this shit as if it were actually meat.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

You know, I had a feeling that I needed to restrain myself from making that comment earlier, and it was because it was that. Wow, good to know. Same wavelength.

SPEAKER_03 33:29

That is the Friday the 13th moment.

SPEAKER_00 33:31

That is the Friday 13th moment. I knew it. I had a feeling, and then I was like, maybe, but then not okay. Yes, absolutely. The title card placement was fantastic, so much so that the second time around, when it happened, I was like, that's right. This is when it debuts. Like, this is when shit really hits the fan when you're really making that turn into the plot, like so great. But aside from that being one of my favorite visual elements for sure, couldn't agree more about like the shots of this movie are incredible. A couple that come to mind, because I can't just pick one, sorry, but the shot of her closely approaching the painting so slowly was really eerie for me because it's like I remember the first time that I watched it, I was like, wait a minute, this is not a regular painting. Like, is this made of something? Like, what's going on, you know? Then Steve, when he's like basically smacking Noah against the paneling at first, and then like the shadows on his face, kind of showing like the split personality almost of like this nice guy, but obviously extremely twisted, very fucked up for sure.

SPEAKER_03 34:33

Yes, and those shadows at some point even look like bars of a jail sale.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

Yeah. Yeah. In which like she's imprisoned. Yeah, a hundred percent. Another one that was just really great that I think we see a lot in movies, is unfortunately, you know, like when women are drugged or obviously like becoming incapacitated, that that haze, that like sudden movement of the camera. We typically see it in movies, but sometimes it's like from zero to five thousand so quickly. This time around, I was really keeping an eye on it. It's so fucking subtle, like it's it's such a slow build where you start to realize wait, things really aren't being so clear, like she really is being drugged way sooner than you realize. Like, almost at the at the start of that scene when she takes that first sip, it already starts the blurring of the camera. Like, yeah, super cool, very, very different.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

I agree. So, first, the painting in the living room or whatever, for sure. I think it is a real painting called Fallen Leaves, I believe, but it reminded me to your point, like of human flesh for some reason, and maybe that's the point. And I also, Chris, I enjoyed that shot where you see the reflection of Steve in Noah's eye when she's on the surgery table. But yeah, just the cinematography work and the choice of camera placement throughout the film, like especially that first dinner scene where Steve and Noah, where he's preparing her that first like meal of human flesh or whatever, and and just the way they filmed some of those shots of the meat, like the fucking meatball. It was beautifully disgusting. And the sound design that's involved in these scenes as well, it made it worse in a good way. All of the noises of squishing and chewing and crunching and whatnot, it was just so well done. And and the lighting too, the lighting throughout the film was done so well.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

There was there was another aspect I think that was done really well, and that was the set design here. It was amazing. Everything, like when we get to his death cellar, everything looks very, very luxury, very expensive. All the wall treatments look like they were just literally this guy must have spent like five million dollars on this house or something because we've got stone on the walls, right? The floors look amazing. But even when we go back to the to the beginning of the movie, when we have that shot of them standing outside of the restaurant, and it's a nice, nice, nice, perfect medium shot. And it's like they're in the center of the frame and everything, it's really great, but you can see the restaurant behind them, and it looks like that it's gotta be an actual restaurant. They just filmed at an actual restaurant, it's not a set. I don't know if it was or not, but I love that feeling of being in the real world, starting out there. Then we go into their homes a little bit, or at least her home a little bit, and you get that feeling of like she lives in this place. It's not as as clean and as perfect as his kill shelter later on, but it's like that's this is her place. It's a real life human. And when we get to his, it's so sterile. Everything is perfect. Everything is like you would expect a very high-end doctor to keep their home. You know, it's just it's too much. It's a it's really a museum more than it is a home. And I guess that kind of makes sense for what he's got going on there because it's kind of a museum to all of these people, you know, that he's killed. But everything about the set was was impeccable.

SPEAKER_03 37:39

Oof, Mac, I'm so glad you bring that up because my absolute favorite scene comes when we get right before the opening credits and is when they arrive and you see just how sterile that environment is. This is my favorite scene for one moment and one moment only. It is when she realizes she doesn't have service, she asks for the Wi-Fi, and he says, Fuck, it must have gone out again. And you see her look up red flag, and she's thinking to herself, and that is the gift of fear. That is that fucking intuition. Does she do anything with it? No, because she has become to trust this man over the course of their interactions, which is a shame. But it was that moment in particular that really sold me on the nuance of Noah and how incredible all these performances were. It was just one subtle glance.

SPEAKER_00 38:26

Well, my favorite scene was definitely not subtle because it's a hundred percent Steve unhinged dancing around his house to My Obsession by Animotion, carrying a fucking leg and cutting it up there. That was just nuts. And you know why specifically? Because now when I'm cooking, I like to play music, and I actually really like that song, My Obsession. Now I'm never gonna think of it the same way because I think of this scene and think of how crazy this guy is having at the time of his life dancing around. He's every average person, you know, when you're cooking, you got some tunes on, you're kind of jamming around to it, but now you're thinking of how this guy is carrying a fucking leg. Like it's just it hits different. It hits different, it's definitely one that's like seared in the brain.

SPEAKER_02 39:10

The soundtrack here is so good. Yeah, that moment was giving major goodbye horses vibes, like Buffalo Bill 100%. There's something about that song that will never be separated from that scene for me, from Silence of the Lambs. And that's kind of how I felt in that moment watching this happen. Is there it's so positive, it's so upbeat in a way, but then it's completely disgusting. It's absolutely grotesque what's going on. And the two of them together, like your brain just doesn't know how to compute that, and it just makes it so much more effective. I think my favorite scene is past all that, and it's when we get the escape, when we finally get to the point where they can they can leave this place, but they have to beat the crap out of them to get there. Because I think in a lot of other movies, you would get one or two good hits and that would be it, and then you would escape. They got to bash on this dude for a good bit, and he threw them around in response as well. He was trying his best, but they beat the crap out of him, and I love that we got to see them beat the absolute crap out of him. That was very satisfying in his own kitchen, nonetheless.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

I can see what you're talking about, Mac, but I definitely got a lot of American psycho vibes from especially the scene that you're talking about, Binks. That whole segment, that was also one of my favorite scenes, like when he gets back from that run. But all of the little things that happen, right? Like you see him go into the fridge and you see all the different Tupperware, but then there's the Tupperware that really looks like pieces of uh meat that you wouldn't normally have in your fridge just sitting there, right? And like you see him slice off the leg, and you're like, that's interesting. And then it goes into the meat locker, and you see all the different pieces of different people with name tags, and then all of a sudden he's cutting ribs off or something, and then the meat's going through the grinder. It was so good. Like the entire sequence of scenes that followed from that moment was just intense for sure.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

I don't care if you told me that that meatball was actually made out of tofu, seeing that on the screen and seeing him put it in his mouth registered a hundred percent as human flesh to me.

SPEAKER_01 41:09

Oh, yeah, a hundred percent, without a doubt.

SPEAKER_03 41:11

The American psycho of it all really was a moment, and I think that's what added a certain level of charm to Sebastian Stan in this role for me. While it's not something that I'm gonna like watch on repeat by any means, I think to see him go to that extreme from the extreme that he was in, there was like this this dryness that I could appreciate about him post-opening title card scene, and she's kind of coming too, and she's thinking, she says, What happened? He says, A drug due. She says, This isn't happening. He said, Yeah, it's happening. It is. Yes, it is. I appreciate how his performance shined here, despite how much I hate the character in the person. So I think to go from that, that that stoicness that I've been here before, I've done this so many times, it's clinical at this point. And if he actually is, and which you assume he is actually a doctor, to think about his bedside banner and to think about, you know, obviously he's a plastic surgeon, but to go from the sterile household to that sterile approach, and then to see all that personality pop out of him in the cooking scene, it was just fucking wild.

SPEAKER_01 42:24

Yeah, for sure. I that's literally what I put down was like Steve, so charming, so comforting at times, and then at times so fucking cold. Like, definitely reminds me Christian Bale and American Psycho. Like, that was the vibe that he was given off in the whole second half of the movie. It was just beautifully done.

SPEAKER_00 42:41

And to think that he's like a father is nuts.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

Yeah, wait, hold on. A father to a wife who was also a fucking victim.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:49

Like this dude is fucked up.

SPEAKER_00 42:51

Definitely fucked up, certified for sure. How else could this movie have been, though? You know what I mean? Like, you needed to also approach this in the way that the main character needed to have that nice guy charisma for it to really land. Because if he had been just slightly like too cold when he was talking to Noah, or like you know, in that whole dating scenario is the first half of the movie, we would have never bought in, and neither would Noah, right? So you needed to have a little bit of that charisma and charm and nice guy, but that's what makes it even crazier because he can go from zero to five thousand.

SPEAKER_01 43:27

Absolutely. And and while we're talking about him being a father and a husband, right? Let's talk about Anne, right? Because you learn that she's in on it, but then she goes into the shower and you realize that she was one of the victims, and this movie just got a whole lot heavier for sure. Like that was a moment thinking back on it that I was like, oh shit, she's not just in on it, like she was fucking in it.

SPEAKER_00 43:51

And then it goes to a scene of him running, like your wife was clearly a victim of you. And is struggling to even shower, and you are just having the time of your life jogging.

SPEAKER_03 44:07

Like, what is happening? It's wild though, because I think it shows also how deep his manipulation runs. Oh, yeah. How intense it can be when, hey, you think about the situation that she was in, much like Noah, much like Melissa, much like Hope, much like even Molly would have been pretty soon. What do you have to do to survive? What are the choices that you have to make? Okay, what does it mean to put up a fight? What does fighting look like? But then what does survival look like? What does adapting look like? And I think there comes a point where her entire being hinged upon, okay, I have to survive, I have to adapt. But where did it where where did the line stop? Where was the line between survival adapting? And did she actually have these feelings for him with how heavily he manipulated her? Or did it become a circumstance in which she was attacking her? A, not just out of like what I think the movie is implying, which is just like this jealousy and this envy, like, oh, you're with another woman, but was it the he can't replace me or I'm fucking dead? If he likes and loves another woman, he has no use for me. He'll just cut me up again. So was this a play for her survival or was it a play of envy? So I think it's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 45:25

You know what? You bring up a very good point. I think of the ending though, and what she does, and after he dies, it's not like she's like, okay, I'm free, you know, like that's it. No, she literally has some people help out and still pursues these women. Like at that point, you would think if he's gone, then I'm free regardless. I don't need to worry about if I'm replaced, then he's gonna get rid of me. And she's still. You know what I'm saying? I think it was a matter of, well, this was a source of me being able to sustain this life that I want. Like, yeah, I'm a victim. However, I have a husband that provides me this nice house, and I have two kids, and things at the end of the day are working out like happy, you know, hunky dory, you know?

SPEAKER_03 46:08

Yeah, but is there then the also the the reality that okay, he's gone, that life is gone, but also these women get away. I'm going to prison for my culpability in this situation.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

Yep, that's what I took away from that moment is she has to clean up the mess because she's in on it, because she's part of it and she would absolutely go to prison.

SPEAKER_00 46:27

At that point, that goes back to your whole bit about like surviv surviving. That's survivor instinct. She did what she had to do to survive being in that scenario in prison by Steve, and now has to survive, you know, being imprisoned by the system for you know being an accomplice for all these murders and cannibalism because she also ate them.

SPEAKER_03 46:46

Has to survive accountability, it's so crazy. Wow. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 46:50

Oh man, now I just thought of these kids are probably eating that shit too, man. They had it in the fridge.

SPEAKER_00 46:56

Oh, you're right. Oh my oh wow, that's nuts.

SPEAKER_01 47:00

Man, I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_00 47:02

But you know, one thing that I was thinking about, I was like, oh, should I say it out loud? Should I not? It's kind of lightening the whole mood. But so would we then say that Anne was digmatized? I'm sorry. I had to. I had to, because you know what? When that line was said about Noah that she was digmatized, I was like, good point, because I'm sorry, but it is a straight girl's fantasy come true, you know? And that's the problem. It's like we then get eaten, you know? We then get eaten to get whisked away on a weekend trip and vacations and like, oh my god, this guy's so sweet, and then you know, wrecked.

SPEAKER_03 47:35

Big you bring up such a good point because you're like, okay, this is this is the dream. You get whisked away in a weekend, and then we get eaten. It's so interesting to me that this movie went this direction because A, you think about how women are references just being a piece of meat, a hot piece of ass, literally and figuratively, but then it's also a messaging on human trafficking and how often women's bodies are captured and sold.

SPEAKER_00 48:01

When I was talking earlier about how these themes like really relate to a phrase that is often used to describe women, it is that, right? Like, what a concept to make a movie that basically takes the phrase women are a piece of meat and brings it to life. Quite literally. So much so that in the grocery store, when Noah meets Steve in the background, you see a large sign that says fresh meat. Like that couldn't have been better placed. Oh, yeah. Couldn't have been better done. But of course, that being said, so much so that obviously trafficking is a massive issue that exists in our world, obviously prevalent in women because we are perceived in that way. Like, oh, the layers to it. But again, with the approach of like making it a little bit more meta with some comedy is what makes this movie so crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy.

SPEAKER_01 48:51

Shout out to the fucking real ones because Molly was fucking badass in this movie. Like, she didn't trust the dude from the get-go. She got all the red flags, she knew she did her research. Like, come on, you want a friend like Molly in your life.

SPEAKER_03 49:06

You absolutely do. Honestly, a queen. And my favorite moment was when she was talking about the perks of dating women. She's like, less games, more emotional dependence. I was like, Yeah, see, there it is, right there. You got it, Molly. But she was honestly so fantastic. Not only the comedic elements, but the perseverance and the boldness with which to charge forward and find her friend. Absolutely fucking loved it.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

Yeah, because she knew that something was wrong from the start. Like she knew Noah enough to notice even the small things. And that's why it's like, get yourself a Molly, bro. For sure, she said some things that are direct quotes from my own best friends. Like, I remember when I went on my first date on the app, my best friends are instantly were like, Why are you in the middle of a tree? You know, like like looking at my my location or whatever. They had me tracked to make sure I was okay, made sure I was responding, like all of those things because you got to stay alert out there, you know? So I appreciate that she wasn't just like, okay, I'll just let my friend be digmatized and go off on a little vacation. No, incorrect.

SPEAKER_02 50:09

I love that she knew her friend so well that all it took was a single emoji to set things off. That's all it took. I love you. And she fired back, or he fired back rather in her place, that hard emoji, and she was like, mm-mm, that's not her. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 50:23

To be clear, her spidey sense was tingling long before that because he was also making it way too fucking obvious with the way that he was speaking.

SPEAKER_02 50:30

That's true. That's very true. He did not portray her at all.

SPEAKER_03 50:34

I need a technology break. Bitch, your phone's been off this and told to this whole time. What are you breaking from?

SPEAKER_02 50:39

Oh, that's true though. Should have turned do not disturb on.

SPEAKER_03 50:42

Yeah. See, notifications have been silenced. That's when you would know it's actually me.

SPEAKER_00 50:46

No. But even my well, maybe it's just me, but my best friends are like, I'm sorry, am I on do not disturb right now? Like they need to be on like the the feature where no matter what you can get through, you can be contacted. That's how at least that's how they are with me, and like vice versa, because if something happens, like I don't want to be hit with a do not disturb. It's like deliver anyway, deliver anyway, keep going. And so you better find out, you better figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 51:11

Notify anyways.

SPEAKER_00 51:12

Yeah, notify anyway because we are not having that.

SPEAKER_01 51:15

Fuck your do not disturb.

SPEAKER_00 51:16

Yeah, are you kidding me? Like, do not disturb when you're on a weekend trip with some guy that you met a few weeks ago. I don't know about all that.

SPEAKER_03 51:23

And also for as good as Molly was, I also appreciated the voice from the other room, Penny. She had one quote in particular that really sold me on her, and that was it's not our fault, Noah. It's always theirs. Ooh, ooh, ooh. I know that we're here for Noah. I know that we're here for Molly, but I was so fucking thrilled to see her rescued and to actually get to see her face and associate the face with that voice. And I was really scared that she was gonna be a lot worse off.

SPEAKER_01 51:52

Yeah. And I agree, the the voice that you hear before you see her at all, it's just so many stages of different emotions or different vibes that you're getting from like trying to comfort to complete desperation and loss of all hope, and just you can start to feel like she's slowly spiraling and just you know losing it. I was also glad that she was saved. I think that was that was really good to be able to portray all that just in your voice. Really well done.

SPEAKER_00 52:23

Yeah, I'm glad she was safe too, because she ultimately like didn't really have to, in essence, help the other person. Like, I know it and sometimes in these kind of movies, like they're used as a tactic to then save yourself, but then you don't necessarily care about who lives or dies. Like at the end of the day, I gotta worry about my own self, but I don't know, it seemed like this kinship was there. She was really trying to like teach Noah how things are, you know?

SPEAKER_02 52:47

I I love that it was immediate too. Like immediately, you're you're one of us, and she's gonna reach out to her and and try to fill her in on some of the info about how to survive around there. I also think having that magazine with a little writing from a former victim, obviously very helpful, but like it's that same mentality of all the women that were there where it's like we gotta try to take care of each other.

SPEAKER_03 53:09

And I think the power of that camaraderie and the solidarity, the absolute refusal to die, the refusal to quit, the persistence to survive is exactly why the last moment of this movie is so terrible to me. And I think it's meant to be lighthearted and tongue in cheek. But when Chad hits her up one last time, I absolutely fucking hated it. Because in my mind, some people might look at that and say, you're better off with the safety of Chad. At least Chad is an acannible. I don't think any wise person would, but I do feel that there's that hanging subtle implication. Not on the part of the filmmaker, but an oversight.

SPEAKER_02 53:51

I mean, the answer is it's right there all along. Molly. Molly's what's up.

SPEAKER_03 53:55

Obviously.

SPEAKER_02 53:56

It was a silly part of the movie. I don't know if it was the worst part of the movie, but I think it was one of the most realistic parts of the movie, and that is truly sad. People will be going through some really messed up stuff and get hit with those kind of text messages out of Fleffield.

SPEAKER_00 54:09

Yeah. Absolutely. That's what I was gonna say. I don't necessarily know if it's like, oh, you're better off with Chad. No, it's that that's the reality. The reality is that there are going to be nice guys that turn out to be actually very fucking shitty, and then there are shitty guys that are just shitty.

SPEAKER_01 54:25

Period. You know what that actually reminds me of now that we're just talking through it? It reminds me of Razor Ramon because Razor Ramon says hard work pays off, bad times don't last, but bad guys do. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 54:40

It is sad though. I I think I'll go with you on a different, kind of different kind of ship here into the storm. That it's not necessarily the worst part of the movie, but it was an unnecessary addition to the ending, absolutely, and kind of takes you out of the mood that you're in leading up to that point because you have this feeling of revenge, of victory, of of survival, of making it through, and then it's like slap with silliness, don't forget, Chad is always there.

SPEAKER_01 55:06

Yeah, well, you see, I didn't dislike it at all. Like, I thought it need to be there. I don't know. Like it, I don't know that the movie it would have been unsuccessful if it wasn't there, but I thought it was really effective in the way that it takes you through the ending and you're like, okay, it's finally over. Like, okay, they got out, right? They got out, and then you see that text, and you're like, oh man, there's still horrors out there. And it's not necessarily somebody eating you, but it's these fucking douchebags that are out there using you, right? Like the horrors of dating, it's like it ain't over. Like, you still gotta face this bullshit.

SPEAKER_03 55:42

It's the one clever part here, right? It's the dog piss that resurrects Freddy in the next Nightmare on Elm Street movie. It is the killers coming back, it is the you you fail to double tap because it's not gonna end. It's the resurgence of another villain, but still, I'm just not a fan.

SPEAKER_00 55:58

I said this at the beginning. I think maybe when we started recording, like to our listeners, right? Our patrons, I said, Fuck boys are everywhere. And that last moment is what reminded me and everyone else about that. It's like you said, Sean, the horrors aren't over. And ultimately, you know, this whole dating scenario that she went through didn't pan out the way that she thought. And so now she's gonna have to get back out there and entertain not just one Chad, but many until she finds someone who actually won't eat her after some lovely dates.

SPEAKER_02 56:33

I'm going to choose a worst part of the movie. Actually, I have three worst parts of the movie, but one of them kind of echoes the sentiment, and I'll fire that one off first, and that is the unsolicited dick pic. It's reality, one billion percent. But it's also like, wow, y'all y'all went ahead and did that on screen. Kind of kind of surprised by that. Kind of in all that you could. Number two would be probably all of the shots, the lingering shots of body parts as we're turning them into food. Something in my brain just doesn't appreciate that. Really, though, I think the mutilated booty is what did it for me. Even though it's like a two-second clip of them dropping it into the tray, that was like way too much for me. And then, of course, Sebastian Sand chewing. Didn't need 27 shots of that.

SPEAKER_01 57:12

It's bad enough you can't trust dating apps, right? But not even meeting people in the wild anymore, like at a grocery store nonetheless, right? That's that's the worst part right there. And it's really just saying it's all bad out there. But in all seriousness, like in the movie, if we're trying to dissect the movie, I think maybe for me, the fact that we didn't get to see more effects and more of the gore, like I I think it was subtle, and what they did was really, really well done. But I think getting to see a little bit more, maybe just the surgery work in action might have been really effective, would have been really good. Like, I mean, that would have brought it over the top to more of like a hostel or a tourist type thing, but you know, I think they could have still held back a little bit and showed some of that, you know.

SPEAKER_00 57:56

You know, that's such a good point. I don't have that as my worst part, but I would agree, like I could do for a little bit more of surgery action. I think it would really kind of create that intense separation between the comedic nature of this film every now and then and the way that Steve is, to the extremism of what's happening, right? Because it's already pretty extreme, but it would have just really pushed that disparity between the two. So I think I could have done with that, which is crazy because I think as a part of being, you know, in this podcast at this point, like now I'm getting more into gore than I ever thought I would. So crazy coming from me. So that's like the my technical worst part. So I I'm there with you, Sean. Now, the non-technical part I've set at nauseum, and I'll say it again. Like, you know, I'm the single one of the four of us, right? So I'm just like out here swimming on my own. And I think of this like movie on a more in a in a more serious note. Like, I think I've always struggled a little bit of the fact that I've in the past I've dated like my friends, you know, and I think the meat cutes of that was always very glamorized. Oh my god, you like dated your high school best friend or whatever, and like everyone thinks that's adorable. And so something about the glamorization of that, of like how you meet someone and how you end up together, is so much pressure that at this point going into dating, it's like if the love of my life isn't, you know, oh my god, at a bookstore or you know, walking down the street, or if we didn't hit it off on the first date after after a dating app, like it just seems like it's doomed for me. And so that's kind of what this movie like kind of did in a way. It's like, you know what? That that I guess idea that the love of your life is gonna be in this cute scenario also turns out to be very wrong and extreme for you. So it's like, great. Now, how do you meet someone? Like you were saying, Sean, right? Like, how do you meet someone in full and in full confidence feel like things are gonna be okay and go great and maybe they'll turn out to be something? And maybe that's just my anxiety speaking, just a bit, right? And the fact that like I'm new to this world a bit, but uh it's not a worst part, right? Because it's just the point of the movie, but I think it's just like the worst part of my life right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:11

Okay, so I'd like to file a petition and make a motion. I make a motion to hereby ditch, disregard, reject the idea of meet cutes between people you're dating and appreciate meat cutes from your friends.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:26

Yeah, which is true because we have a meet cute as friends, right? So, like we for sure do, you know, and then obviously also with you know Mac and Sean. So, like that's awesome. I like I like that energy. I think it's just a lot of pressure when it comes to the dating world of how you meet someone and how that goes about, and then the polarizing extreme of oh my god, dating apps are horrendous and they're terrible, and every date that you're gonna go on is gonna be a creep. Like, luckily, I I shared this. I've had a actually a great experience so far and it's going really well. So I'm hoping that that continues to be the case, but I'm trying to be realistic as well, where like if it doesn't, which is also okay, I'm back at it with the you up text, and that sucks.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:10

The triple I have with a lot of these movies is that they continue to show this idea that love has to happen completely by chance and on a whim or whatever. It's actually like a really deliberate thing that you engineer in your life and that you have to make room for and make time for. And that whole concept of you just happen upon it, you know, when the when the stars align and you're in the right bookstore, it's it's all it's kind of BS, you know. It's something where you have to be in the correct mode in your life. You don't have to be actively looking for it necessarily, but you have to know what you want and you have to create that space for it to happen.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:42

I agree with you 100%, because no matter what or no matter how good a person is for you theoretically, it doesn't fucking matter if you are not in a good space to be meeting people. However, I do think it's also fun to appreciate the absolute wild amount of things that happen between you and meeting someone that you end up caring about. Like, let's even go away from our romantic instinct, right? Like the things that had to happen, Mac, for you and I to meet, for me and Sean to meet, all the fucking insane things, and like I think Binks, I even shared with you the amount of heartache that I had to go through that led to you and I meeting. So I think yes, there are a lot of things in life that don't happen by chance. I think things can happen by chance, but it's about uh how are you creating the space and being intentional and allowing yourself for that. And it's really weird because I was actually just listening to a talk by Jamie Lee Curtis, and she said that life is I can't remember the exact quote, but life is not based on who you are, where you came from, how many degrees you have or what your job is, but it's a couple of seconds and what you decide to do with those seconds and how it impacts you and what you decide to do about it, and that everything you do in life is a choice. And that I think is a way deeper take than I expected to have after watching this movie.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:01

So thank you. And with that being said, though, is exactly why I don't know when I'm gonna re-watch this movie, although I loved it. I think I'm gonna maybe watch it next year and see what what state of life I'm in then, right? Just kind of give it another beat, see where we're at. When this first debuted, I was fresh after, you know, out of a breakup, pretty rough for me. So I guess I was single, right? But like what I meant by that was kind of like definitely not in a place to start dating, right? Now, I mean, I am kind of like, you know, I'm out there seeing someone, you know, like that kind of thing, you know, perusing whatnot. So I'm you know, I'm dipping my toes, you know. Maybe next year, who knows what'll happen. Maybe I'll, you know, be single again, maybe I'll not, you know, let's manifest.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:43

Okay. Prediction. Regardless of whatever your situation is in life, how about we just watch this again next Valentine's Day?

unknown 1:03:50

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:50

Because then it's either like a rejection, a projection, or a gratitude moment that we're not in that situation. But I will say that that is the only context in which I will watch this movie. I will only watch it with one of you or someone else who wants to see it. Because I, as good as this movie is, I think I'll pass on ever just putting it on on my own. It didn't hit me with any sensation of feeling like I need more of it in my life because I don't feel like it taught me anything. But I'm really glad that I watched it the first time, and I do think that people should watch it.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:19

It is way too rich for any more than just a single serving. I think that's that's enough for me, but my stomach can't really handle much more than that. Nicely put.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:29

I don't know. I wouldn't necessarily mind watching this one again, but yeah, I'm not gonna go out of my way to watch it again. I think you all said it best. Like it's not something that I would put into my regular rotation by any means, but if somebody wanted to watch it or it just happened to be on, I wouldn't mind watching it.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:44

Well, I love that for us, and I'm so excited to see what happens when Binks and I watch this next Valentine's Day, but for now, there you have it, folks. Fresh has earned a universal slash. Now we certainly had a robust discussion here, but it doesn't end here by any means.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:58

We want to know what you think. Tell me your uh dating stories, horror stories, any of that nature. Would you have fallen for the charisma and charm of Sebastian Stan? I bet you would have, just a little bit, and it's okay. It's acceptable. You gotta let us know. You can join in on the conversation by hanging out with us for free in our Discord. Click the link in our show notes to sign up.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:18

If you've enjoyed listening to this episode and you're hungry for more, consider becoming one of our patrons. Visit patreon.com slash hacker slash to enjoy more of the show with early access, extended episodes, bonus content, and live shows.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:30

We'll see you next time, folks. And remember, you don't need a man, okay? Or anybody for that matter.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:35

I'm not even sure what time of day it is, to be honest.